Bevis: The Story of a Boy
One morning a large wooden case was brought to the farmhouse, and Bevis, impatient to see what was in it, ran for the hard chisel and the hammer, and would not consent to put off the work of undoing it for a moment. It must be done directly. The case was very broad and nearly square, but only a few inches deep, and was formed of thin boards. They placed it for him upon the floor, and, kneeling down, he tapped the chisel, driving the edge in under the lid, and so starting the nails. Twice he hit his fingers in his haste, once so hard that he dropped the hammer, but he picked it up again and went on as before, till he had loosened the lid all round.
After labouring like this, and bruising his finger, Bevis was disappointed to find that the case only contained a picture which might look very well, but was of no use to him. It was a fine engraving of “An English Merry-making in the Olden Time,” and was soon hoisted up and slung to the wall. Bevis claimed the case as his perquisite, and began to meditate what he could do with it. It was dragged from the house into one of the sheds for him, and he fetched the hammer and his own special little hatchet, for his first idea was to split up the boards. Deal splits so easily, it is a pleasure to feel the fibres part, but upon consideration he thought it might do for the roof of a hut, if he could fix it on four stakes, one at each corner.
Away he went with his hatchet down to the withy-bed by the brook (where he intended to build the hut) to cut some stakes and get them ready. The brook made a sharp turn round the withy-bed, enclosing a tongue of ground which was called in the house at home the Peninsula, because of its shape and being surrounded on three sides by water. This piece of land, which was not all withy, but partly open and partly copse, was Bevis’s own territory, his own peculiar property, over which he was autocrat and king.
He flew at once to attack a little fir, and struck it with the hatchet: the first blow cut through the bark and left a “blaze,” but the second did not produce anything like so much effect, the third, too, rebounded, though the tree shook to its top. Bevis hit it a fourth time, not at all pleased that the fir would not cut more easily, and then, fancying he saw something floating down the stream, dropped his hatchet and went to the edge to see.
Richard Jefferies
Bevis
The Story of a Boy
Volume One—Chapter One.
Bevis at Work.
Volume One—Chapter Two.
The Launch.
Volume One—Chapter Three.
The Mississippi.
Volume One—Chapter Four.
Discovery of the New Sea.
Volume One—Chapter Five.
Volume One—Chapter Six.
Central Africa.
Volume One—Chapter Seven.
The Jungle.
Volume One—Chapter Eight.
The Witch.
Volume One—Chapter Nine.
Swimming.
Volume One—Chapter Ten.
Savages.
Volume One—Chapter Eleven.
Savages Continued—The Catamaran.
Volume One—Chapter Twelve.
Savages Continued—Making the Sails.
Volume One—Chapter Thirteen.
Savages Continued—The Mast Fitted.
Volume One—Chapter Fourteen.
The Council of War.
Volume One—Chapter Fifteen.
The War Begins.
Volume One—Chapter Sixteen.
The Battle of Pharsalia.
Volume Two—Chapter One.
The Battle Continued—Scipio’s Charge.
Volume Two—Chapter Two.
The Battle Continued—Mark Antony.
Volume Two—Chapter Three.
Bevis in the Storm.
Volume Two—Chapter Four.
Mark is put in Prison.
Volume Two—Chapter Five.
In Disgrace—Visit to Jack’s.
Volume Two—Chapter Six.
Sailing.
Volume Two—Chapter Seven.
Sailing Continued—“There She Lay, All The Day!”
Volume Two—Chapter Eight.
Sailing Continued—Voyage to the Unknown Island.
Volume Two—Chapter Nine.
Sailing Continued—The Pinta—New Formosa.
Volume Two—Chapter Ten.
Making a Gun—The Cave.
Volume Two—Chapter Eleven.
Building the Hut.
Volume Two—Chapter Twelve.
Provisioning the Cave.
Volume Two—Chapter Thirteen.
More Cargoes—All Ready.
Volume Two—Chapter Fourteen.
New Formosa.
Volume Two—Chapter Fifteen.
New Formosa—First Day.
Volume Two—Chapter Sixteen.
New Formosa—Morning in the Tropics.
Volume Two—Chapter Seventeen.
New Formosa—Planning the Raft.
Volume Two—Chapter Eighteen.
New Formosa—Kangaroos.
Volume Three—Chapter One.
New Formosa—Bevis’s Zodiac.
Volume Three—Chapter Two.
New Formosa—The Raft.
Volume Three—Chapter Three.
New Formosa—No Hope of Returning.
Volume Three—Chapter Four.
New Formosa—Something has been to the Hut.
Volume Three—Chapter Five.
New Formosa—The Story of the Other Side.
Volume Three—Chapter Six.
New Formosa—The Matchlock.
Volume Three—Chapter Seven.
New Formosa—Sweet River Falls.
Volume Three—Chapter Eight.
New Formosa—The Mainland.
Volume Three—Chapter Nine.
New Formosa—The Something Comes Again.
Volume Three—Chapter Ten.
New Formosa—The Tiger from the Reeds.
Volume Three—Chapter Eleven.
New Formosa—The Fortification.
Volume Three—Chapter Twelve.
New Formosa—The Trail.
Volume Three—Chapter Thirteen.
New Formosa—Voyage in the Calypso.
Volume Three—Chapter Fourteen.
New Formosa—The Captive.
Volume Three—Chapter Fifteen.
New Formosa—The Black Sail.
Volume Three—Chapter Sixteen.
Shooting with Double-Barrels.
Volume Three—Chapter Seventeen.
American Snap-Shooting.
Volume Three—Chapter Eighteen.
The Antarctic Expedition—Conclusion.