And why not? observed Jack—Have we not an island, rocks, and tools from abroad as good as he had, and, as brother Fritz says, more hands to use them?
We assembled, and read the famous history with an ardent interest; it seemed though so familiar, quite new to us: we entered earnestly into every detail and derived considerable information from it, and never failed to feel lively gratitude towards God who had rescued us all together, and not permitted one only of us to be cast a solitary being on the island. The occurrence of this thought produced an overwhelming sense of affection among us, and we could not refrain from throwing ourselves into each others arms, embracing repeatedly, and the pathetic scene ended in mutual congratulations.
Francis repeated his wish to have a Man Friday; Fritz thought it better to be without such a companion, and to have no savages to contend with. Jack was for the savages, warfare and encounters. The final result of our deliberations was to go and survey the rocks round Tent-House, and to examine whether any of them could be excavated for our purpose.
Our last job for the winter, undertaken at my wife’s solicitation, was a beetle for her flax and some carding-combs. I filed large nails till they were even, round, and pointed; I fixed them at equal distances in a sheet of tin, and raised the sides of it like a box; I then poured melted lead between the nails and the sides, to give firmness to their points, which came out four inches. I nailed this tin on a board, and the machine was fit for work. My wife was impatient to use it; and the drying, peeling, and spinning her flax, became from this time a source of inexhaustible delight.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Spring;—spinning;—salt mine.
I can hardly describe our joy when, after many tedious and gloomy weeks of rain, the sky began to brighten, the sun to dart its benign rays on the humid earth, the winds to be lulled, and the state of the air became mild and serene. We issued from our dreary hovels with joyful shouts, and walked round our habitation breathing the enlivening balmy ether, while our eyes were regaled with the beauteous verdure beginning to shoot forth on every side. Reviving nature opened her arms, every creature seemed reanimated, and we felt the genial influence of that glorious luminary which had been so long concealed from our sight, now returned like a friend who has been absent, to bring us back blessings and delight. We rapidly forgot in new sensations the embarrasments and weary hours of the wet season, and with jocund, hopeful hearts, looked forward to the toils of summer as enviable amusements.
The vegetation of our plantation of trees was rapidly advancing; the seed we had thrown into the ground was sprouting in slender blades that waved luxuriantly; a pleasing tender foliage adorned the trees; the earth was enamelled with an infinite variety of flowers, whose agreeable tints diversified the verdure of the meadows. Odorous exhalations were diffused through the atmosphere; the song of birds was heard around; they were seen between the leaves joyfully fluttering from branch to branch; their various forms and brilliant plumage heightened this delightful picture of the most beautiful spring, and we were at once struck with wonder and penetrated with gratitude towards the Creator of so many beauties. Under these impressions we celebrated the ensuing Sunday in the open air, and with stronger emotions of piety than we had hitherto felt on the fertile shores upon which we had been so miraculously saved and fostered. The blessings which surrounded us were ample compensation for some uneasy moments which had occasionally intervened, and our hearts, filled with fresh zeal, were resolved to be resigned, if it should be the will of God, to pass the residue of our days in this solitude with serenity of soul and every due exertion. The force of paternal feelings, no doubt, made me sometimes form other wishes for my children; but these I buried in my own breast, for fear of disturbing their tranquillity: but if I secretly indulged a desire for some event that might prolong and even increase their happiness, I nevertheless wholly submitted all to the Divine will, the manifestation of which I awaited in becoming thankfulness and patience.
Our summer occupations commenced by arranging and thoroughly cleaning Falcon’s Nest, the order and neatness of which the rain and dead leaves blown by the wind had disturbed: in other respects, however, it was not injured, and in a few days we rendered it completely fit for our reception; the stairs were cleared, the rooms between the roots re-occupied, and we were left with leisure to proceed to other employments. My wife lost not a moment in resuming the process of her flax concern. Our sons hastened to lead the cattle to the fresh pastures, already dried by the sun; whilst it was my task to carry the bundles of flax into the open air, whereby heaping stones together I contrived an oven sufficiently commodious to dry it well. The same evening we all set to work to peel, and afterwards to beat it and strip off the bark, and lastly to comb it with my carding machine, which fully answered the purpose. I took this somewhat laborious task on myself, and drew out such distaffs full of long soft flax ready for spinning, that my enraptured wife ran to embrace me, to express her heartfelt acknowledgement, requesting me to make her a wheel without delay, that she might enter upon her favourite work.
At an earlier period of my life I had practised turnery for my amusement; now, however, I was unfortunately destitute of the requisite utensils; but as I had not forgotten the arrangement and component parts of a spinning-wheel and reel, I by repeated endeavours found means to accomplish those two machines to her satisfaction; and she fell so eagerly to spinning, as to allow herself no leisure even for a walk, and scarcely time to dress our dinners: nothing so much delighted her as to be left with her little boy, whom she employed to reel as fast as she could spin, and sometimes the other three were also engaged in turns at the wheel, to forward her business whilst she was occupied in culinary offices; but not one of them was found so tractable as the cool-tempered quiet Ernest, who preferred this to more laborous exertions, though such was our want of linen and clothes, that we ought all readily and even eagerly to have joined in procuring them; but our excursions, and the necessary liberty they involved, were more agreeable to us than this female occupation. Our first visit was to Tent-House, as we were anxious to ascertain the ravages of winter there, and we found them much more considerable than at Falcon’s Stream, and even dreadful: the tempest and rain had beaten down the tent, carried away a part of the sail-cloth, and made such havoc amongst our provisions, that by far the largest portion of them was spotted with mildew, and the remainder could be only saved by drying them instantly. Luckily, our handsome pinnace had been for the most part spared; it was still at anchor, ready to serve us in case of need; but our tub-boat was in too shattered a state to be of any further service.
In looking over the stores we were grieved to find the gunpowder most damaged, of which I had left three barrels in the tent instead of placing them in a more sheltered situation in the cavity of the rock. The contents of two were rendered wholly useless. I thought myself fortunate on finding the remaining one in tolerable condition, and derived from this great and irreparable loss a cogent motive to fix upon winter quarters where our stores and wealth would not be exposed to such cruel dilapidations.