The family Robinson Crusoe

by Johann David Wyss

Jack.—Well, papa, I will tell you. As soon as you were gone, mamma sat down outside the tent and began to work, while Francis and I took a little walk towards the river, to find out a proper place for you to begin the bridge.

Father.—Bravo! Mr. Architect, it is you then who will direct the workmen; but joking apart, I am much gratified to find that careless head of yours for once employed upon a useful subject. Well then, did you find a proper place for me to begin the bridge?

Jack.—Yes, father, yes. But listen, and you will know all. We were advancing towards the river, and Francis was amusing himself with taking up some parti-coloured stones, calling out whenever he found one that seemed extraordinary: Jack, Jack, look what a beautiful stone I have found, all yellow! I am sure it must be gold, so I shall pound it, and make sand of it for my writing. As we reached the river, he saw a stone of this kind just upon the brink, and kneeling down with his head out over to take it up, he all at once cried out: Jack, Jack, Fritz’s jackall is covered all over with lobsters! Run as fast as you can. I sprang to him in an instant, and I saw not only the jackall covered with them, but legions more coming in with the stream. I ran to tell mamma, who immediately got the net which you brought from the vessel. Partly with this net, and partly with our hands, we caught those you see in a very few minutes; and we should have caught a much larger number if we had not heard you call, for the river is quite full of them. You took quite enough for once, my boy, said I: A little at a time is the maxim that suits us best, and I should even advise your taking the smallest of them back to the river, where they will grow larger; we shall still have sufficient for several magnificent repasts. This then, said I to myself, is a new source for our support: even here, in these arid regions, we find means to procure, not only the necessaries of life, but luxuries in abundance. May we never cease to evince our gratitude to Providence, by the exercise of a more than ordinary care and industry!

It was now our turn to relate the events of our voyage on the water. Ernest gave an account of his seagulls, but it did not inspire his mother with a desire for one of them for our next day’s dinner. We now put our remaining lobsters into the handkerchiefs and the net, and the boys took them to the place allotted for keeping our provisions. My wife set about dressing some of them, and in the mean time Fritz and I employed ourselves in untying the raft of timbers and planks, and in taking them out of the boat. I then imitated the example of the Laplanders, in harnessing their rein-deer for drawing their sledges. Instead of traces, halters, &c., I put a piece of rope with a running knot at the end, round the neck of the ass, and passed the other end between its legs, to which I tied the piece of wood which I wished to be removed. The cow was harnessed in the same manner, and we were thus enabled to carry our materials, piece by piece, to the spot which our architect Jack had chosen at the river, as the most eligible for our bridge; and to say the truth, I thought his judgement excellent; it was a place where the shore on each side was steep, and of equal height; there was even on our side, an old trunk of a tree lying on the ground, on which I rested my principal timber.

Now then, boys, said I, the first thing is to see if our timbers are long enough to reach to the other side: by my eye I should think they are; but if I had a surveyor’s plane, we might be quite sure, instead of working at a venture.

But my mother has some balls of packthread with which she measured the height of the giant tree, interrupted Ernest, and nothing would be more easy than to tie a stone to the end of one of them, and throw it to the other side of the river; then we could draw it to the very brink, and thus obtain the exact length that would be required for our timbers.

Your idea is excellent, cried I; nothing gives me more pleasure than to see you exercise your invention; run quickly and fetch the packthread. He returned without loss of time; the stone was tied to its end, and thrown across as we had planned; we drew it gently back to the river edge, marking the place where the bridge was to rest; we next measured the string, and found that the distance from one side to the other was eighteen feet. It appeared to me necessary, that to give a sufficient solidity to the timbers, I must allow three feet at each end of extra length for fixing them, amounting therefore in all to twenty-four feet; and I was fortunate enough to find that many of those we had brought, did not fall short of this length. There now remained the difficulty of conducting them across the stream; but we determined to discuss this part of the subject while we ate our dinner, which had been waiting for us more than an hour.

We all now proceeded homewards, and entering the kitchen, we found our good steward had prepared a large dish of lobsters for us; but before she would let us taste them, she insisted we should see another useful labour she had been employed about; she accordingly displayed two sacks intended for the ass, which she had seamed with packthread; the work she assured us, had with difficulty been accomplished, since for want of a needle large enough to carry packthread, she had been obliged to make a hole with a nail for every stitch: we might therefore judge by her perseverance in such a task, or the ardour with which she longed to see her plan of a removal executed. She received on this occasion, as was well her due, abundance of compliments and thanks from her companions, and also a little good-humoured raillery. For this time, we hurried through our meal, all being deeply interested in the work we were about to undertake, and concerning which, each gave his advice without the least ceremony. The impatience we all felt to begin, scarcely left us time to strip the lobsters of their shells, each thinking only of the part which might be assigned him towards the execution of the Nonpareil; for this, for mutual encouragement, was the name we gave our bridge, even before it was in existence.

Having consulted together as to the means of laying our timbers across the river, the first thing I did, was to attach one of them to the trunk of the tree of which I have already spoken, by a strong cord, long enough to turn freely round the trunk; I then fastened another cord to the other end of the beam; this cord I fastened round a stone, and then threw the stone across the river. I next passed the river as I had done before, furnished with a pulley, which I secured to a tree; I passed my second cord through the pulley, and recrossing the river with this cord in my hand, I contrived to harness the ass and the cow to the end of the cord. I next drove the animals from the bank of the river; they resisted at first, but I made them go by force of drawing. I first fixed one end of the beam firm to the trunk of the tree, and then they drew along the other end, so as gradually to advance over the river: presently, to my great joy, I saw it touch the other side, and at length become fixt and firm by its own weight. In a moment Fritz and Jack leaped upon the timber, and, in spite of my paternal fears, crossed the stream with a joyful step upon this narrow but effective bridge.

The first timber being thus laid, the difficulty of our undertaking was considerably diminished; a second and a third were fixt in succession, and with the greatest ease. Fritz and I, standing on opposite sides of the river, placed them at such distances from each other, as was necessary to form a broad and handsome bridge: what now remained to be done, was to lay some short planks across them quite close to each other, which we executed so expeditiously, that our whole undertaking was completed in a much shorter time than I should have imagined possible. The reader should have seen our young workmen, to form the least conception of the delight they felt: they jumped, and danced, and played a thousand antics, and uttered a thousand joyful sounds upon their bridge. For my own part, I could hardly restrain myself from joining in these demonstrations of their perfect happiness; and my wife, who had been the mover of all our operations, was as little disposed to a silent calm enjoyment of our success, as any of the rest: she ran to one, and then to another, embracing each in turn, and was never tired of passing and repassing on our piece of workmanship, which was every where safe and even, and at least ten feet in breadth. I had not fastened the cross planks to each other, for they appeared to be close and firm without it; and besides, I recollected that in case of danger from any kind of invasion, we could with the greater ease remove them, and thus render the passage of the river more difficult. Our labour however had occasioned us so much fatigue, that we found ourselves unable for that day to enter upon new exertions; and the evening beginning to set in, we returned to our home, where we partook heartily of an excellent supper, and went to bed.