"I suspect the fairy in this instance is more anxious to pelt us and drive us away than to bestow dainty gifts upon us," said I. "I think there is most likely a cross-grained old ape sitting up among those shadowy leaves and branches."
We examined the nuts, thinking they were perhaps old ones, and had fallen, in consequence, naturally, but they were not even quite ripe.
Anxious to discover what was in the tree, we all surrounded it, gaping and gazing upward with curious eyes.
"Hullo! I see him!" shouted Fritz presently. "Oh, a hideous creature! what can it be? flat, round, as big as a plate, and with a pair of horrid claws! Here he comes! He is going to creep down the tree!"
At this, little Franz slipped behind his mother, Ernest took a glance round to mark a place of retreat, Jack raised the butt-end of his gun, and every eye was fixed on the trunk of the tree, down which a large land-crab commenced a leisurely descent. As it approached within reach, Jack hit at it boldly, when it suddenly dropped the remaining distance, and opening its great claws, sidled after him with considerable rapidity, upon which he fairly turned tail and ran. We all burst into a roar of laughter, which soon made him face about, and then, to our infinite amusement, the little fellow prepared for a fresh onset; laying down all he was carrying, pulling off his jacket and spreading it wide out in both hands, he returned to the charge, suddenly threw his garment over the creature, wrapped it well round it, and then pummeled it with all the strength of his fists.
For a few minutes I could do nothing but laugh, but then running to him with my hatchet, I struck several sharp blows on his bundle, which we opened carefully, and found within the land-crab perfectly dead.
"Well, this is an ugly rascal!" cried Jack; "if he hadn't been so hideous, I should not have dealt so severely with him. I wasn't a bit afraid. What is the creature's name?"
"This is a crab, a land-crab," said I, "of which there are many varieties, and this, I think, is called a cocoanut crab, or at least it deserves the name, for it is evidently very fond of eating these nuts, since it takes the trouble to climb the trees for them; the difficulty of getting at the kernel, too, is considerable. You showed no little presence of mind, Jack, when you thought of catching it in your jacket; in fact, it might have been more than a match for you otherwise, for some are most determined fighters, and are very swift, too. Now let us take it, as well as the nuts, to the sledge, and go on our way."
Progress became difficult, for we were constantly stopped in passing through the wood, by having to cut away the hanging boughs and creeping plants which interlaced them. Ernest was behind, and by-and-by called me back to see what proved to be an important discovery; from the several stalks of one of these creepers flowed clear cold water, and I recognized the "liane rouge," which is known in America, and is so precious to the thirsty hunter or traveler. This is truly one of God's good gifts to man!
The boys were much delighted with this curious plant. "Only fancy, mother," said Ernest, as he showed it to her, "how cheering and refreshing to find this if one were lost and alone in a vast forest, wandering for days and days without being near a natural spring of water."