Chapter 12 Chapter Twelve

The situation became so serious that a storm ruthlessly extinguished the most basic hope of life of this already extremely unfortunate family, shattering their vision of the future.How will this group of people live without fire?How will they prepare the food they need in the future?How can you resist the cold in the cave in winter without a fire?How can one defend against wild beasts without fire?All these questions came to poor Flip at once.Although he is a strong-willed man, he also seems to be overwhelmed by the accident in front of him.He squatted in the dark night blankly, his eyes glazed over, and he didn't say a word. His clothes were completely soaked by the rain and covered with mud, but he didn't realize it.

And poor Mark was so distraught that he couldn't stop crying. "Forgive me, forgive me," he murmured. Flapp took the boy's hand, and held it firmly in his own, but could not find a word to comfort him. "Mom, my miserable mother." Mark kept chanting. "Don't wake her, my young sir," said the seaman to him, "she's asleep, and the children are asleep, don't wake them! Let us try to remedy the disaster to-morrow." "It's irreparable," Mark said, his chest heaving up and down with sobs. "No," replied Flip, "no . . . maybe . . . just wait and see!"

The confident sailor now doesn't know how to express what he doesn't even believe. As the downpour was still pouring, he advised Mark to go into the cave, but the poor boy persisted. "It's my fault, it's my fault!" he kept repeating. "No," said Flip, "no, young sir, it's not your fault at all. Misfortune would have happened if I had been there. No one can stop the storm! You're blown down, and I Yes, I will be the same as you, and there is no way to keep a single bit of coal fire. Don't be like this, Mr. Mark, go in. Go into the hole."

Mark accepted Flip's constant comfort and persuasion, returned to the cave, and threw himself on his seaweed bed, and Flip followed into the cave. The strong seaman felt desperate from the bottom of his heart, and he seemed to be crushed up.All night, he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.From time to time he heard the poor child sobbing in the corner. About five o'clock, when the first rays of morning light appeared in the east, a ray of light entered the cave.Flip got up and went outside, seeing the messy scene left by the storm before him: the yellow sand blown by the wind was piled up into small disorderly piles; some big trees were uprooted and blown far away; The waist was broken, and it fell to the ground in a mess; the ashes in the stove were blown and scattered all over the ground.Unable to control his anger and desperation, Flip was pumping his fists involuntarily towards the sky.

At this moment Mrs. Clifton came out of the cave, and was astonished at the frantic movements of the sailor.She approached the sailor and saw the despondent expression on his face.Seeing Mrs. Clifton, he tried to hide his gaffe, but could not. "What's the matter with you, Flip friend?" "Nothing, ma'am." "Speak, Flip, I would like to know everything." "But, Mrs. Clifton..." said Flip hesitantly. "Flip," said Mrs. Clifton mournfully, "has a worse disaster befall us than what we have already suffered?" "Yes, ma'am, there is only one," said the sailor Fang in a low voice.

"What is it?" "Look!" With this, Flip led Mrs. Clifton to the ruined stove. "Fire, the fire is out!" said the poor woman in amazement. "Yes ma'am, in the night, a gust of wind..." Mrs. Clifton wrung her hands together and looked at Flip. "You, you couldn't stop..." she said. "Yes ma'am... I..." the kind sailor replied falteringly, "I'm too stupid... I didn't guard well... I forgot..." Mark also came out of the hole quietly. He saw his mother and heard Flip's answer. He understood that the seaman wanted to take the blame on himself.He ran to Mrs. Clifton and shouted, "It's not his fault, mother, it's my fault, my fault..."

The hapless mother opened her arms and wrapped her son in her arms, with Mark wailing in his mother's arms. "Don't cry baby, don't cry," said the mother, "you're breaking my heart." Robert, Jack, and Bell also gathered around Mrs. Clifton.Robert tenderly whispered all the kind words he could to his brother.Jack and Bell also hugged him tightly, and this sad picture made people cry. "Well, well, boys," said Flip, "in this case, no one is to blame, no one is to blame, no fire anymore? Well, even if we can't get back Light the fire, we'll find a way to get over it! We'll make it through."

"Yes, let us suffer all this misfortune!" whispered Mrs. Clifton resignedly. But Flip is not one to take his word for it.For several days, he tried every means, at any cost, to try to light the fire again. It is relatively easy to use flint to attract Mars. Flint can be found everywhere on the beach.Flapp used a knife to draw sparks on the flint, but there must be a special substance to ignite these sparks.Tinder was, of course, designed to start fire; a porous fungus such as the spongy, soft dried mushroom flesh that can be made by soaking it in a solution of nitrates or potassium chlorate, or by soaking it in gunpowder. Extremely flammable substance.It may be possible to find this mushroom for tinder in the land, but it will take time to find it.Flip tried again with algae, but to no avail.

After a variety of methods failed, the sailors turned to the savage's method of drilling wood to make fire.This requires specialized wood, and it also requires grinding at breakneck speed.Flip tried everything he could to get Mark and Robert to do the same, but in the end he got nothing but blisters on his hands. Flip was too young to give up the method of drilling wood to make fire. He hoped to find a polypore fungus, or a plant whose pulp and rod pith could replace tinder. Four more days have passed since that terrible disaster.The trust in Flip and the hope for the future that had been established in the hearts of the abandoned people quietly disappeared.All the staff were silent, and the children and Flip had nothing to say, and there were no more current plans or future plans.

People's daily material life can only be maintained by the reserves of smoked fish and bacon.But reserves are shrinking every day.What's the use of hunting and fishing without fire?As a result, excursion plans have also been put on hold.Flip feeds small group members only plant-based food every day. Of these plant foods, the most valuable is of course the coconut, which contains a lot of cool coconut juice.The children made a few holes in the soft end of the coconut shell, and happily drank the liquid inside. Once, Robert poured the leftover coconut juice into bamboo tubes and gourd containers. The juice ferments and sours into a frothy drink that tastes great.But it's a bit high, and if you drink too much, you will be intoxicated.When the coconut is fully ripe, the coconut juice coagulates and hardens, becoming coconut pulp, which is very hygienic and nutritious.

There are a large number of coconut trees not far from the cave, so nata de coco became a staple food in the daily life of the whole family. Picking coconuts is not difficult. Mark and Robert used the rope made by Flip to make safety belts, tied them on their bodies, and then nimbly climbed up tall coconut trees, picked coconuts, and threw them on the ground.Because the coconut shell is very hard, it will not break.Then, they use big stones to break open the coconut shell and eat the coconut meat inside.It pained Flip to see the broken coconut shells, which, if he had had a saw, would have made excellent living vessels. Flip discovered another plant, which soon became a daily staple for members of the small group.This is a sea plant that is often eaten by Asians, and Flip has eaten it.This is a species of sargassum that can be found in abundance on rocky reefs below cliffs.The plant is sticky, jelly-like, and has an odd smell, but it's nutritious.At the beginning, children would make funny faces when they saw this kind of food, but later they got used to eating it and thought it tasted pretty good, so they ate more and more. Because protein is also an essential nutrient for the body, razor clams, mussels and other shellfish that can be eaten raw have also become supplementary foods for daily meals.In addition, Mark was lucky enough to discover a new shellfish under the cave and on the rocks on the south coast. "Flip, one day," Mark called to the seaman, handing him a mollusc. "An oyster!" cried Flip. "Yes, Flip, an oyster produces between fifty and sixty thousand eggs a year, so we have an inexhaustible supply of strong oysters." "Yes, Mr. Mark, you have made another important discovery. We should take a good look at the number of oysters. This kind of shellfish can be eaten raw, but I don't know if they are particularly nutritious." "No," replied Mark. "Oysters contain only a small amount of nitrogen. If a person only eats oysters a day, he must eat at least fifty or sixty dozen." "Okay! As long as the reef can supply us with enough oysters, we'll eat them by the dozen or so dozen. I haven't heard of any indigestion from eating oysters." "Very well, I'll go and tell my mother the good news." "Wait a minute, Mr. Mark, we'd better inspect the oyster reef bed first and make sure of the situation." The next day, April 16, Mark and Flip crossed the dunes and headed south along the west coast.Five or six kilometers away from the camp, the coastline becomes full of strange rocks, and the scenery is strange, like a scene of a limestone coast; some rocks tower like chimneys, and some appear and disappear like black hills in the sea.The tide was surging, and the sound of the waves was like thunder.In the distance countless reefs line up to the southernmost tip of the cape.As a result, even the smallest ships were unable to land on the northern coast. Flip and Mark walked south one after the other, and they had nothing to say along the way.The sailor had only one thing on his mind, and that was how to solve the fire problem.As they walked, many empty shells were crushed under their feet from time to time, making a series of chattering noises.Under the flat rocks that are submerged by the sea at high tide, there must be countless conchs hidden. This is also a very delicious seafood, but it is a pity that it must be cooked to taste. They also met a big turtle with a light green back, very beautiful.It must be very exciting for them to be in the past. Flip was the first to spot the reptile, which was weaving between the rocks and making its way out to sea. "Help me, Mr. Mark," he called. "What a beautiful animal, but how can I catch it?" asked the boy. "It's so easy," replied Flip, "just turn it over, belly up. Use a stick, like me." The turtle had sensed the imminent danger, and immediately huddled up, neither its head nor its claws could be seen. Flip and Mark thrust the stick under the turtle's body and together they turned it upside down.Sea turtles are one meter long and weigh two hundred kilograms. Turned over, the reptile's small flat head can be seen slightly, with most of its body hidden in the arched carapace. "Now, what do we," Mark asked Flip, "do with this reptile?" "What to do with it, my young sir, I don't know! If we had a fire, we could make it delicious. It's a herbivore, and it eats the eelweed on the beach. Its meat is so tender that it has a It smells like grass. The famous turtle porridge is made from its meat." Had it not been for his fatal blow and his present predicament, Flip's voracious and humorous tone of voice would have made one laugh.The look in his eyes when he looked at the turtle, the excessively exposed white teeth when he spoke, and the way he seemed to have tasted the delicious food when he licked his lips, are both ridiculous and sympathetic. Listening to his companion's words, Mark understood the meaning very well in his heart, and he thought of that stormy night again, the terrible scene that made him never forgive himself. "Come on," said Flip, stomping his foot. "We've got nothing to do here. Come on!" "So, what about this turtle?" Mark asked. "Really," said Flip, "we couldn't eat it, it wasn't its fault, it didn't deserve to die like this, it was cruel. Come, stick out the stick, and turn him over." The reptile was turned over again, and Flip and Mark moved a few steps away.The turtle was still motionless at first, but when it could not hear the footsteps, it exposed its head, turned its big eyes around, and looked around. Swallowing it, but with great force, it "sprinted" towards the sea, and soon disappeared into the waves. "Bon voyage, Mr. Turtle," cried Flip, his tone both pathetic and comic. "You can brag to your friends that you're a lucky guy." Flip and Mark continued on their way, and they soon came to the place where Mark had found the oyster, where there was a continuous stretch of relatively flat rock.Flip thought it was full of rocks, but collecting oysters was not difficult.There are thousands of oysters under the rocks. They are small in size but delicious in meat.Flip and Mark found a few half-shelled oysters to taste first.Their taste rivaled that of the best oysters from Cancale. "When the sea was calm," said Flip, "when the wind was blowing from the land, I steered our skiff round the reef, and anchored just a strand from the oyster bed, and we took It takes a boatload of oysters and keeps them in the sea under the cliff so we can eat them whenever we want." On this day, Mark and Flip quickly picked dozens of oysters. After forty-five minutes, they returned to the cave with the oysters. Oysters were rightfully popular, and it became an instant dinner staple of the day. Prying the oysters from their shells was difficult, as only Flip's knife worked.If there is a fire, simply sear the oysters over the coals and they will open their shells on their own.In reality, how difficult it is for members of a small group to feel that there is no fire at any time. Flip pried the oysters one by one with his knife, and the children gathered round him to watch him attentively. While prying the eighth oyster, Flip failed to get his knife into the gap where the two shells joined, so, with a snap, the blade snapped off in the middle, and a piece fell onto the table. "Bastard, what a bad luck!" Flip could no longer restrain the anger in his heart and jumped up, cursing. The fire went out, the knife broke, and the situation worsened.What will the days be like in the future?Flapp respected and loved the family so much that he would have given his life and soul for them.Now he really doesn't know how their life will go on?