Having succeeded so well, I was quite ripe for another journey with my cart; which I accordingly undertook, taking my route over the stone bridge, to see what the other side of the lake produced. In travelling through the trees, I met, amongst other things, with abundance of large gourds, which, climbing the trees, displayed their fruit to the height of twenty or thirty feet above the ground. I cut a great many of these, and some very large ones of different hues and forms; which of themselves making a great load, with some few new sorts of berries and greens, were the gathering of that day. But I must tell you I was almost foiled in getting them home; for coming to my stone bridge, it rose so steep, and was so much ruggeder than the grass or wood ground, that I was at a set upon the first entrance and terribly afraid that I should either break my wheels or pull off my axle-trees. Hereupon I was forced to unload, and carry my cargo over in my arms to the other side of the bridge; whither having then, with less fear but much caution, drawn my cart, I loaded again and got safe home.
I was mightily pleased with the acquisitions of this journey; for now, thought I, I shall have several convenient family utensils; so spent the next day or two in scooping my gourds and cleaning away the pulp. When I had done this, finding the rinds to be very weak and yielding, I made a good fire, and setting them round it at a moderate distance to dry, I went about something else without doors: but, alas! my hopes were ill founded; for coming home to turn my gourds and see how dry they were, I found them all warped and turned into a variety of uncouth shapes. This put me to a stand; but, however, I recovered some pieces of them for use, as the bottom parts of most of them, after paring away the sides, would hold something, though they by no means answered my first purpose.
Well, thought I, what if I have lost my gourds, I have gained experience. I will dry them next time with the guts in, and having stiffened their rinds in their proper dimensions, then try to cleanse them. So next morning (for I was very eager at it) I set out with my cart for another load; and having handed them over the bridge, got safe with them to the grotto. These by proper management proved exceedingly valuable to me, answering, in one way or other, the several uses of plates, bottles, pans, and divers other vessels.
I now got a large quantity of the vegetable ram's-horn, and filled a great many of the gourds with the treacle it yielded; I also boiled and dried a large parcel of my cheeses, and hung them up for use, for I had now for some time made all my bread of the latter, scraping and bruising the flour, and mixing it with my treacle and water; and this indeed made such a sweet and nourishing bread, that I could even have lived wholly upon it; but I afterwards very much improved it by putting the milky juice of the ram's-horn, unboiled, to my flour in a small quantity, and then baking it on the hearth, covered over with embers. This detracted nothing from the sweetness and mellowness of my bread, but made it much lighter than the treacle alone would have done.
Finding there was no fear of starving, but so far from it, that from day to day I found out something new to add to my repast, either in substantials or by way of dessert, I set me down very well contented with my condition. I had nothing to do but to lay up store against sickness and the dark weather, which last I expected would soon be upon me, as the days were now exceeding short. Indeed, though I had now been here six months, I had never seen the sun since I first entered the gulf; and though there was very little rain, and but few clouds, yet the brightest daylight never exceeded that of half an hour after sunset in the summer-time in England, and little more than just reddened the sky. For the first part of my time here, there was but little if any difference between day and night; but afterwards, what I might call the night, or lesser degree of light, took up more hours than the greater, and went on gradually increasing as to time, so that I perceived total darkness approached, such as I had on board my ship the year before.
CHAPTER XIII.
The author lays in a store against the dark weather-Hears voices—His thoughts thereon—Persuades himself it was a dream—Hears them again—Determines to see if any one lodged in the rock—Is satisfied there is nobody—Observations on what he saw—Finds a strong weed like whipcord—Makes a drag-net—Lengthens it—Catches a monster—Its description— Makes oil of it
I had now well stored my grotto with all sorts of winter provisions, and feeling the weather grow very cold, I expected and waited patiently for the total darkness. I went little abroad, and employed myself within doors endeavouring to fence against the approaching extremity of the cold. For this purpose I prepared a quantity of rushes, which being very dry, I spread them smoothly on the floor of my bed-chamber a good thickness, and over them I laid my mattress. Then I made a double sheet of the boat's awning or sail, that I had brought to cover my goods; and having skewered together several of the jackets and clothes I found in the chest, of them I made a coverlid; so that I lay very commodiously, and made very long nights of it now the dark season was set in.
As I lay awake one night, or day, I know not which, I very plainly heard the sound of several human voices, and sometimes very loud; but though I could easily distinguish the articulations, I could not understand the least word that was said; nor did the voices seem at all to me like such as I had anywhere heard before, but much softer and more musical. This startled me, and I rose immediately, slipping on my clothes and taking my gun in my hand (which I always kept charged, being my constant travelling companion) and my cutlass. Thus equipped, I walked into my ante-chamber, where I heard the voices much plainer, till after some little time they by degrees died quite away. After watching here, and hearkening a good while, hearing nothing, I walked back into the grotto, and laid me down again on my bed. I was inclined to open the door of my ante-chamber, but I own I was afraid; besides, I considered that if I did, I could discover nothing at any distance by reason of the thick and gloomy wood that enclosed me.