Swiss Family Robinson | Page 9

of the juice of good meat, boiled till it becomes a strong stiff jelly--people take them when they go to sea, because on a long voyage they can only have salt meat, which will not make nice soup.'
Fritz, leaving a loaded gun with me, took another himself,* and went along the rough coast to see what lay beyond the stream; this fatiguing sort of walk not suiting Ernest's fancy, he sauntered down to the beach, and Jack scrambled among the rocks searching for shellfish.
* Even today all adult male Swiss are required by law to possess, and know how and when to use, firearms. A father who did not teach his sons these things, as well as firearms safety, would be very neglectful.
I was anxious to land the two casks which were floating alongside our boat, but on attempting to do so, I found that I could not get them up the bank on which we had landed, and was therefore obliged to look for a more convenient spot. As I did so, I was startled by hearing Jack shouting for help, as though in great danger. He was at some distance, and I hurried towards him with a hatchet in my hand.
The little fellow stood screaming in a deep pool, and as I approached, I saw that a huge lobster had caught his leg in its powerful claw. Poor Jack was in a terrible fright; kick as he would, his enemy still clung on. I waded into the water, and seizing the lobster firmly by the back, managed to make it loosen its hold, and we brought it safe to land.
Jack, having speedily recovered his spirits, and anxious to take such a prize to his mother, caught the lobster in both hands, but instantly received such a severe blow from its tail, that he flung it down, and passionately hit the creature with a large stone.
This display of temper vexed me. `You are acting in a very childish way, my son,' said I. `Never strike an enemy in a revengeful spirit, or when the enemy is unable to defend itself. The lobster, it is true, gave you a bite, but then you, on your part, intend to eat the lobster. So the game is at least equal. Next time, be both more prudent and more merciful.'
Once more lifting the lobster, Jack ran triumphantly towards the tent. `Mother, mother! A lobster! A lobster, Ernest! Look here, Franz! Mind, he'll bite you! Where's Fritz?' All came crowding round Jack and his prize, wondering at its unusual size, and Ernest wanted his mother to make lobster soup directly, by adding it to what she was now boiling.
She, however, begged to decline making any such experiment, and said she preferred cooking one dish at a time. Having remarked that the scene of Jack's adventure afforded a convenient place for getting my casks on shore, I returned thither and succeeded in drawing them up on the beach, where I set them on end, and for the present left them.
On my return I resumed the subject of Jack's lobster, and told him he should have the offending claw all to himself when it was ready to be eaten, congratulating him on being the first to discover anything useful.
`As to that,' said Ernest, `I found something very good to eat, as well as Jack, only I could not get at them without wetting my feet.'
`Pooh!' cried Jack, `I know what he saw--nothing but some nasty mussels--I saw them too. Who wants to eat trash like that! Lobster for me!'
`I believe them to be oysters, not mussels,' returned Ernest calmly. "They were stuck to the rocks, so I am sure they are oysters."
`Be good enough, my philosophical young friend, to fetch a few specimens of these oysters in time for our next meal,' said I. `We must all exert ourselves, Ernest, for the common good, and pray never let me hear you object to wetting your feet. See how quickly the sun has dried Jack and me.'
`I can bring some salt at the same time,' said Ernest, `I remarked a good deal lying in the crevices of the rocks; it tasted very pure and good, and I concluded it was produced by the evaporation of sea water in the sun.'
`Extremely probable, learned sir,' cried I, `but if you had brought a bag full of this good salt instead of merely speculating so profoundly on the subject, it would have been more to the purpose. Run and fetch some directly.'
It proved to be salt sure enough, although so impure that it seemed useless, till my wife dissolved and strained it, when it became fit to put in the soup.
`Why not use the sea-water itself?' asked Jack.
`Because,' said Ernest, `it is not only salt, but bitter too. Just try