CHAPTER XVIII.

CHAPTER XVIII.

The wind was favourable, but we advanced slowly, the floating mass that
we had to tug retarding us. Fritz had been some time regarding a large
object in the water; he called me to steer a little towards it, that he
might see what it was. I went to the rudder, and made the movement;
immediately I heard the whistling of the cord, and felt a shock; then a
second, which was followed by a rapid motion of the boat.

"We are going to founder!" cried I. "What is the matter?"

"I have caught it," shouted Fritz; "I have harpooned it in the neck. It
is a turtle."

I saw the harpoon shining at a distance, and the turtle was rapidly
drawing us along by the line. I lowered the sail, and rushed forward to
cut the line; but Fritz besought me not to do it. He assured me there
was no danger, and that he himself would release us if necessary. I
reluctantly consented, and saw our whole convoy drawn by an animal whose
agony increased its strength. As we drew near the shore, I endeavoured
to steer so that we might not strike and be capsized. I saw after a few
minutes that our conductor again wanted to make out to sea; I therefore
hoisted the sail, and the wind being in our favour, he found resistance
vain, and, tugging as before, followed up the current, only taking more
to the left, towards Falcon's Nest, and landing us in a shallow, rested
on the shore. I leaped out of the boat, and with a hatchet soon put our
powerful conductor out of his misery.

Fritz uttered a shout of joy, and fired off his gun, as a signal of our
arrival. All came running to greet us, and great was their surprise, not
only at the value of our cargo, but at the strange mode by which it had
been brought into harbour. My first care was to send them for the
sledge, to remove some of our load without delay, and as the ebbing tide
was leaving our vessels almost dry on the sand, I profited by the
opportunity to secure them. By the aid of the jack-screw and levers, we
raised and brought to the shore two large pieces of lead from the raft.
These served for anchors and, connected to the boat and raft by strong
cables, fixed them safely.

As soon as the sledge arrived, we placed the turtle with some difficulty
on it, as it weighed at least three hundredweight. We added some lighter
articles, the mattresses, some small chests, &c., and proceeded with our
first load to Falcon's Nest in great spirits. As we walked on, Fritz
told them of the wondrous cases of jewellery we had abandoned for things
of use; Jack wished Fritz had brought him a gold snuff-box, to hold
curious seeds; and Francis wished for some of the money to buy
gingerbread at the fair! Everybody laughed at the little simpleton, who
could not help laughing himself, when he remembered his distance from
fairs. Arrived at home, our first care was to turn the turtle on his
back, to get the excellent meat out of the shell. With my hatchet I
separated the cartilages that unite the shells: the upper shell is
convex, the lower one nearly flat.

We had some of the turtle prepared for dinner, though my wife felt great
repugnance in touching the green fat, notwithstanding my assurance of
its being the chief delicacy to an epicure.

We salted the remainder of the flesh, and gave the offal to the dogs.
The boys were all clamorous to possess the shell; but I said it belonged
to Fritz, by right of conquest, and he must dispose of it as he
thought best.

"Then," said he, "I will make a basin of it, and place it near the
river, that my mother may always keep it full of fresh water."

"Very good," said I, "and we will fill our basin, as soon as we find
some clay to make a solid foundation."

"I found some this morning," said Jack,--"a whole bed of clay, and I
brought these balls home to show you."

"And I have made a discovery too," said Ernest. "Look at these roots,
like radishes; I have not eaten any, but the sow enjoys them very much."

"A most valuable discovery, indeed," said I; "if I am not mistaken, this
is the root of the _manioc_, which with the potatoes will insure us from
famine. Of this root they make in the West Indies a sort of bread,
called cassava bread. In its natural state it contains a violent poison,
but by a process of heating it becomes wholesome. The nutritious tapioca
is a preparation from this root."

By this time we had unloaded, and proceeded to the shore to bring a
second load before night came on. We brought up two chests of our own
clothes and property, some chests of tools, the cart-wheels, and the
hand-mill, likely now to be of use for the cassava. After unloading, we
sat down to an excellent supper of turtle, with potatoes, instead of
bread. After supper, my wife said, smiling, "After such a hard day, I
think I can give you something to restore you." She then brought a
bottle and glasses, and filled us each a glass of clear, amber-coloured
wine. I found it excellent Malaga. She had been down to the shore the
previous day, and there found a small cask thrown up by the waves. This,
with the assistance of her sons, she had rolled up to the foot of our
tree, and there covered it with leaves to keep it cool till our arrival.

We were so invigorated by this cordial, that we set briskly to work to
hoist up our mattresses to our dormitory, which we accomplished by the
aid of ropes and pulleys. My wife received and arranged them, and after
our usual evening devotions, we gladly lay down on them, to enjoy a
night of sweet repose.

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