Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific, Page 3

  CHAPTER THREE.

  The next morning the _Pacific_ arrived at the Cape and anchored in TableBay.

  "Why do they call this Table Bay, Ready?" said William.

  "I suppose it's because they call that great mountain the TableMountain, Master William; you see how flat the mountain is on the top."

  "Yes, it is quite as flat as a table."

  "Yes, and sometimes you will see the white clouds rolling down over thetop of it in a very curious manner, and that the sailors call spreadingthe tablecloth: it is a sign of bad weather."

  "Then I hope they will not spread the tablecloth while we are here,Ready," said William, "for I shall certainly have no appetite. We havehad bad weather enough already, and mamma suffers so much from it. Whata pretty place it is!"

  "We shall remain here two days, sir," said Captain Osborn to MrSeagrave, "if you and Mrs Seagrave would like to go on shore."

  "I will go down and ask Mrs Seagrave," said her husband, who went downthe ladder, followed by William.

  Upon the question being put to Mrs Seagrave, she replied that she wasquite satisfied with the ship having no motion, and did not feel herselfequal to going on shore; it was therefore decided that she should remainon board with the two younger children, and that, on the following day,Mr Seagrave should take William and Tommy to see Cape Town, and returnon board before night.

  The next morning, Captain Osborn lowered down one of the large boats,and Mr Seagrave, accompanied by Captain Osborn, went on shore withWilliam and Tommy. Tommy had promised his mamma to be very good; butthat he always did, and almost always forgot his promise directly he wasout of sight. As soon as they landed, they went up to a gentleman'shouse, with whom Captain Osborn was acquainted. They stayed for a fewminutes to drink a glass of lemonade, for it was very warm; and then itwas proposed that they should go to the Company's Gardens and see thewild beasts which were confined there, at which William was muchdelighted, and Tommy clapped his hands with joy.

  "What are the Company's Gardens, papa?" inquired William.

  "They were made by the Dutch East India Company, at the time that theCape of Good Hope was in their possession. They are, properly speaking,Botanical Gardens; but, at the same time, the wild animals are keptthere. Formerly there were a great many, but they have not been paidattention to lately, for we have plenty of these animals in Englandnow."

  "What shall we see?" said Tommy.

  "You will see lions, Tommy, a great many in a large den together," saidCaptain Osborn.

  "Oh! I want to see a lion."

  "You must not go too near them, recollect."

  "No, I won't," said Tommy.

  As soon as they entered the gates, Tommy escaped from Captain Osborn,and ran away in his hurry to see the lions; but Captain Osborn caughthim again, and held him fast by the hand.

  "Here is a pair of very strange birds," said the gentleman whoaccompanied them; "they are called Secretaries, on account of thefeathers which hang behind their heads, as the feather of a pen doeswhen a clerk puts it behind his ear: but they are very useful, for theyare snake-killers; indeed, they would, if they could, live altogetherupon snakes, which they are very great enemies to, never letting oneescape. They strike them with their feet, and with such force as tokill them immediately."

  "Are there many snakes in this country?" inquired William.

  "Yes, and very venomous snakes," replied Mr Seagrave; "so that thesebirds are very useful in destroying them. You observe, William, thatthe Almighty, in his wisdom, has so arranged it that no animal(especially of a noxious kind) shall be multiplied to excess, but keptunder by being preyed upon by some other; indeed, wherever in anycountry an animal exists in any quantity, there is generally foundanother animal which destroys it. The Secretary inhabits this countrywhere snakes exist in numbers, that it may destroy them: in England thebird would be of little value."

  "But some animals are too large or too fierce to be destroyed by others,papa; for instance, the elephant and the lion."

  "Very true; but these larger animals do not breed so fast, and thereforetheir numbers do not increase so rapidly. For instance, a pair ofelephants will not have more than one young one in the space of twoyears or more; while the rabbits, which are preyed upon and the food ofso many other beasts as well as birds, would increase enormously, ifthey were not destroyed. Examine through the whole of creation, and youwill find that there is an unerring hand, which invariably preserves thebalance exact; and that there are no more mouths than for which food isprovided, although accidental circumstances may for a time occasion aslight alteration."

  They continued their walk until they came to the den of the lions. Itwas a large place, in closed with a strong and high wall of stone, withonly one window to it for the visitors to look at them, as it was openabove. This window was wide, and with strong iron bars running from thetop to the bottom; but the width between the bars was such that a lioncould put his paw out with ease; and they were therefore cautioned notto go too near. It was a fine sight to see eight or ten of thesenoble-looking animals lying down in various attitudes, quite indifferentapparently to the people outside--basking in the sun, and slowly movingtheir tufted tails to and fro. William examined them at a respectfuldistance from the bars; and so did Tommy, who had his mouth open withastonishment, in which there was at first not a little fear mixed, buthe soon got bolder. The gentleman who had accompanied them, and who hadbeen long at the Cape, was relating to Mr Seagrave and Captain Osbornsome very curious anecdotes about the lion. William and they were sointerested, that they did not perceive that Tommy had slipped back tothe grated window of the den. Tommy looked at the lions, and then hewanted to make them move about: there was one fine full-grown younglion, about three years old, who was lying down nearest to the window;and Tommy took up a stone and threw it at him: the lion appeared not tonotice it, for he did not move, although he fixed his eyes upon Tommy;so Tommy became more brave, and threw another, and then another,approaching each time nearer to the bars of the window.

  All of a sudden the lion gave a tremendous roar, and sprang at Tommy,bounding against the iron bars of the cage with such force that, hadthey not been very strong, it must have broken them. As it was, theyshook and rattled so that pieces of mortar fell from the stones. Tommyshrieked; and, fortunately for himself, fell back and tumbled head overheels, or the lion's paws would have reached him. Captain Osborn andMr Seagrave ran up to Tommy, and picked him up: he roared with frightas soon as he could fetch his breath, while the lion stood at the bars,lashing his tail, snarling, and showing his enormous fangs.

  "Take me away--take me on board the ship!" cried Tommy, who was terriblyfrightened.

  "What did you do, Tommy?" said Captain Osborn.

  "I won't throw any more stones, Mr Lion; I won't indeed!" cried Tommy,looking terrified towards the animal.

  Mr Seagrave scolded Tommy well for his foolish conduct, and by degreeshe became more composed; but he did not recover himself until they hadwalked some distance away from the lion's den.

  They then looked at the other animals which were to be seen, Tommykeeping a most respectful distance from every one of them. He wouldn'teven go near to a Cape sheep with a broad tail.

  When they had seen everything, they went back to the gentleman's houseto dinner; and, after dinner, they returned on board.