Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

Once the fence was built, it was time to stock up on various foods again.Needless to say, Mr. Clifton has recovered and his wounds have healed and are pain free.He will devote all his energies and ingenuity to improving the lives of small groups. Wednesday, May 7th.After breakfast, the children went fishing and dug out eggs.And Harry Clifton and Uncle Robinson sailed to Oyster Rock.The weather was fine, the sea was as calm as a mirror, and the boat sailed smoothly.Clifton carefully observed the coast: twisted and hideous boulders stood everywhere, obviously caused by the explosion of the geocentric force.An engineer who has studied the natural sciences cannot be mistaken.Facing the barbaric scene in front of him, he was often shocked.

When Uncle Robinson and the engineer arrived at the oyster reef, they began to pick oysters, and soon filled a boat. The oysters here are really endless. Before sailing away, my uncle thought about the turtle.Seeing no reason to pass up the opportunity to sample sea turtles, he suggested that Clifton search the reef.So they disembarked and searched on the shore.Small dunes bulge here and there on the ground, which caught Clifton's attention.He opened the small sand dune and found many white round hard-shelled eggs buried inside. These are some sea turtle eggs. Like the egg white of a bird, its white part will not solidify even at a certain low temperature.Turtles seem to love this beach in particular, swimming up from the sea to lay their eggs, which are then hatched in the sun's favor.Turtle eggs are abundant on the beach, which is not surprising since each turtle can lay up to 250 eggs per year.

"Wow, what a field of turtle eggs! The crops are ripe, and the harvest season is here." Uncle cried happily. "Enough is enough, and don't take too much, my brave mate," Clifton replied. "Turtle eggs don't do well when they're unearthed. We might as well let them hatch into turtles and give us more." turtle eggs." Uncle picked up only a dozen eggs.Then they returned to the boat, hoisted their sails, and in half an hour they landed under the cliffs of the cave.They kept oysters in shallow water, and gave Mrs. Clifton eggs to cook their lunch.

After lunch Uncle and Mr. Clifton discussed weapons, for one cannot always hunt with stones, or with clubs.This method is also too primitive, neither offensive nor defensive.Since there is no gunpowder, bows and arrows are powerful weapons, Uncle Robinson decided to make bows and arrows. The first thing to do is to find the right wood for your bow.Fortunately, Mr. Harry Clifton found in the coconut groves a kind of wattle used by the North American Indians for making bows and arrows.The father and the children cut off many thorn branches and carried them back to the cave.After a few hours, Uncle Robinson made three bows of different sizes.Its bow is bent very standard for flexibility and range.The string is a rope made of coconut fiber, which is very strong.The arrows are made of bamboo, and the arrows are tied with hedgehog's steel spines.In order to make the arrows fly smoothly, the nocks are cut flat and bird feathers are installed.

The children were eager to try out the capabilities of the new weapon that day.They first tried the range of the bow and arrow, both in height and distance, they were all satisfactory, and they could be used as both defensive and offensive weapons.After that, the engineer also wanted to understand the penetration power of the bow.They chose a hackberry stump as a target, and after several test shots, the arrows were firmly inserted into the stump.After the experiment, the father told the children to take good care of their arrows, because it still takes a lot of time to make them. Night fell.The whole family stayed in the fenced yard and did not go out.According to the engineer's watch, it was about half-past eight.The engineer's watch is a precision instrument that is only installed in a gold case. Although it has been soaked in sea water for a long time, it is still not damaged, but it has stopped when the engineer fell asleep.Later, the engineer readjusted the hour hand according to the height of the sun to determine the time.

There were still occasional howlings of jackals at night, mixed with sounds Mrs. Clifton had heard.Apparently, there is a group of monkeys that frequent the neighborhood.For these nimble monkeys, the defensive function of their fences appears to be far from adequate.Fortunately, monkeys are not very scary compared to beasts.Mr. Harry Clifton resolved to find out what species these monkeys belonged to in his subsequent investigations. Wednesday, May 8th, was the day planned for stockpiling dry wood and food.They went to the rabbit farm again and shot several rabbits with bows and arrows.On this day, Mrs. Clifton announced that she needed a lot of salt because she wanted to salt the rabbit.Mark and his father went to the rocky depressions by the sea to collect sea salt left after the seawater evaporated.They quickly brought back several pounds of this useful substance, the only mineral in their food.Mrs. Clifton thanked her husband, and hoped that he would solve the soap problem.Mr. Clifton replied that some plants have soap properties and can be used as a substitute for soap.He believed that he would be able to find this kind of plant in the place where the plants grew densely.He thought that they should take special care of their clothes. Although they don't have to wear bark and leaves like savages, when the weather is warm, they should try to wear as little as possible until Uncle Robinson finds a way to replace them.

This evening, a new dish appeared on their dinner table.This is the river prawn caught from the upper reaches of the river.Uncle Robinson put a bundle of branches in the river with a piece of meat in it as bait.A few hours later, he picked up the branch, which was covered with river prawns.This fresh river prawn is a cobalt light blue color and has a delicious flavor when cooked. In the evening, to pass the time, Uncle Robinson went on to make his bamboo wares of different sizes.But bamboo utensils cannot be grilled on fire.So far they still have only one iron pot to cook food.When will Mrs. Clifton have a pot?Uncle promised that once he found the right clay, he could make clay pots to use as pots.

According to the schedule, the small group members arranged plans for the next day.Before venturing further inland, they decided to check out the small rectangular island, where they could fish and hunt at the same time.The children have already geared up and vowed never to return empty-handed. That night, the whole family had a false alarm.When it was time to go into the cave, Mrs. Clifton discovered that Little Jack had disappeared.Everyone called out his name loudly, but there was no answer; they searched everywhere inside and outside the cave, but couldn't find it. You can imagine how anxious everyone was when they couldn't find this child. No one could tell when the child disappeared.Night was hanging over the coast, and a new moon had just risen.The father, uncle and brothers immediately split up and looked around.Some went to the coast, some to the lake, and everyone shouted Jack's name vigorously.

It was Uncle Robinson who was the first to let go of Jack's fate.Among the hackberry bushes, in the darkest shadows, he saw the little fellow standing motionless with his arms folded on his chest. "Hi, Mr. Jack, is that you?" he called. "Yes uncle," the sailor heard Jack reply in a trembling, inflected voice, "I'm so frightened." "what are you doing?" "I'm practicing courage!" Ah, what a lovely child!The uncle hugged him excitedly, picked him up, and hurried back to his place of residence to hand him over to his mother.When everyone heard that the little guy wanted to exercise himself to be more brave, who would have the heart to lose his temper at him?Everyone just took turns touching him and comforting him.It was already late at night, and after arranging the guardianship of the stove, everyone went to bed.

The next day, Thursday, May 9th, people followed the plan and went to Changfang Island to investigate.Harry Clifton, his three sons, and Uncle Robinson all went aboard.They intend to sail around the island first.Crossing the channel, they began to observe; the rocky side of the island facing the coast was very steep; rounding its northern end, the engineer found that its west bank was covered with reefs.The island is about a nautical mile and a half long, and a quarter of a mile at its widest point in the south; its narrow, pointed northern extremity makes it appear to be an excellent hunting-ground.The explorers landed from the northern tip of the island, and they immediately startled countless herring gulls.This bird often makes nests on sandy beaches or in crevices in rocks.From their pointed tails, the engineer recognized that this bird is also commonly known as the skua.

"Ah!" said Clifton, "this bird is obviously afraid of people." "Because they know we're armed," replied the uncle. "But, look, there are people who are not afraid of death." The uncle pointed out to everyone a bird, a diving bird; it was as big as a goose, but its wings were no longer suitable for flying. "What a silly, stupid bird!" cried Robert. "It's a penguin," Clifton said. "It's Latin for fat, stupid bird. It's a name that suits them perfectly." "Okay, let them prove the power of our bows and arrows," Mark said. "It's no use blunting our arrows," replied the uncle, "these dull birds can be easily killed with a stick." "Their meat is not good," said the father. "Yes," said the uncle, "but they are fat, and their fat is useful to us, so don't dislike them." After saying this, everyone raised their sticks.It wasn't a hunt, it was a massacre.Twenty-eight penguins were killed in such a stupid way, and their bodies were thrown into the boat.Not far away, people discovered another type of penguin, which is also very clumsy in appearance, but their meat is still delicious.Their wings have been reduced to flat fins and their feathers have become scaly.This time people only killed a few penguins.The poor stupid bird blew like a donkey.This kind of carnage hunting, which showed neither bravery nor wisdom, bored the children, so they went back on the road and made new explorations. The scouting team continued on, and they reached the northern tip of the island.Numerous penguin nests make this beach patchy.Suddenly, the uncle stopped and made a gesture to tell everyone to stay still, and then he pointed out to everyone that there were several large black spots floating on the sea surface at the top of the island, setting off blossoming waves. Splashes, like reefs out of the water. "What is it?" Mark asked. "A few," replied the uncle, "brave amphibians, who can provide us with coats, coats, trousers..." "Yes," said Mr. Clifton, "it's a pack of seals." "We'll catch some of them at any cost," said the uncle, "but be careful and clever, and use some tricks, or it's impossible to get close to them." First of all, let these seals climb to the land first.Because they are slender and streamlined; their fur is smooth and clings to their chests; and in water, they are master swimmers.But when they land on land, it is difficult for them to walk, because their stripped feet are thick and short, like oars, and they can actually only crawl. Uncle Robinson really knew this amphibian very well.He knew they would soon fall asleep in the sun as soon as they landed.All waited patiently, even Robert, the most impatient, showing great patience.A quarter of an hour later, seven or eight of these marine mammals climbed ashore, lay down on the beach in the sun, and soon fell asleep soundly. Uncle Robinson and Mark decided to go around to the northernmost part of the island, behind the seals, and attack the seals with an axe; while the engineer and his two children went around and hid behind the rocks between the seals and the sea.When you hear your uncle's order, come out and stop them with a stick to cut off their retreat. Uncle and Mark arrived at the scheduled place in a short while.The engineer, Robert, and Jack tiptoed down to the beach. Suddenly, the seafarer's tall body stretched out, and he jumped up with a loud cry.Immediately, my uncle's ax fell heavily on the heads of the two seals. In an instant, they were killed on the sand, and the other seals immediately fled towards the sea.Clifton and the two boys went forward and tried to cut their way back.Uncle ran over and shot and killed two seals who were stopped by the engineer.The rest fled desperately into the sea.One also knocked Jack to the ground, but he got up again without injury. "Wonderful victory," cried Uncle, "our pantry, our closet has something to store!" These seals are less than one and a half meters long, relatively small in size, and their heads are shaped like dogs.The uncle drove the boat over, and everyone loaded the prey on the boat, and the boat returned to the coast under the cave smoothly. Working with sealskin is difficult work.In the next few days, my uncle devoted all his energies to this work.He skillfully peeled off the seal skin, dried it, and processed it.These skins can only be used as winter clothes, but it is not enough.Uncle also planned to make Mr. Clifton a bearskin coat to keep him warm in the winter.But he didn't tell anyone about this idea. He wanted to do it in private, alone, so as to surprise the engineer.