IN WHICH THE SITUATION ALREADY GRAVELY COMPROMISED BECOMES MORE AND MORE COMPLICATED.
The presence of a formidable wild beast in Phina Island was, it must be confessed, calculated to make our friends think the worst of the ill-fortune which had fallen on them.
 
Godfrey—perhaps he was wrong—did not consider that he ought to hide from Tartlet¹ what had passed.
 
"A bear!" screamed the professor, looking round him with a bewildered glare as if the environs of Will Tree were being assailed² by a herd³ of wild beasts. "Why, a bear? Up to now we had not even got a bear in our island! If there is one there may be many, and even numbers of other ferocious⁴ beasts—jaguars, panthers, tigers, hyænas, lions!"
 
Tartlet already beheld⁵ Phina Island given over to quite a menagerie escaped from their cages.
 
Godfrey answered that there was no need for him to [Pg 217]exaggerate. He had seen one bear, that was certain. Why one of these animals had never been seen before in his wanderings on the island he could not explain, and it was indeed inexplicable⁶. But to conclude from this that wild animals of all kinds were prowling in the woods and prairies was to go too far. Nevertheless, they would have to be cautious and never go out unarmed.
 
Unhappy Tartlet! From this day there commenced for him an existence of anxieties, emotions, alarms, and irrational⁷ terrors which gave him nostalgia⁸ for his native land in a most acute form.
 
"No!" repeated he. "No! If there are animals—I have had enough of it, and I want to get off!"
 
He had not the power.
 
Godfrey and his companions then had henceforth to be on their guard. An attack might take place not only on the shore side or the prairie side, but even in the group of sequoias. This is why serious measures were taken to put the habitation in a state to repel¹¹ a sudden attack. The door was strengthened, so as to resist the clutches of a wild beast. As for the domestic animals Godfrey would have built a stable to shut them up in at least at night, but it was not easy to do so. He contented¹⁴ himself at present with making a sort of enclosure of branches not far from Will Tree, which would keep them as in a fold.[Pg 218] But the enclosure was not solid enough nor high enough to hinder a bear or hyæna from upsetting it or getting over it.
 
Notwithstanding the remonstrances¹⁶ made to him, Carefinotu persisted in watching outside during the night, and Godfrey hoped thus to receive warning of a direct attack.
 
Decidedly Carefinotu endangered his life in thus constituting himself the guardian¹⁸ of Will Tree; but he had understood that he could thus be of service to his liberators, and he persisted, in spite of all Godfrey said to him, in watching as usual over the general safety.
 
A week passed without any of these formidable visitors appearing in the neighbourhood. Godfrey did not go very far from the dwelling¹⁹, unless there was a necessity for his doing so. While the sheep and goats grazed on the neighbouring prairie, they were never allowed out of sight. Generally Carefinotu acted as shepherd. He did not take a gun, for he did not seem to understand the management of fire-arms, but one of the hunting-knives hung from his belt, and he carried an axe²⁰ in his right hand. Thus armed the active negro would not have hesitated to throw himself before a tiger or any animal of the worst description.
 
However, as neither a bear nor any of his congeners had appeared since the last encounter Godfrey began to gather confidence. He gradually resumed his hunting [Pg 219]expeditions, but without pushing far into the interior of the island. Frequently the black accompanied him; Tartlet, safe in Will Tree, would not risk himself in the open, not even if he had the chance of giving a dancing lesson. Sometimes Godfrey would go alone, and then the professor had a companion to whose instruction he obstinately²¹ devoted²³ himself.
 
Yes! Tartlet had at first thought of teaching Carefinotu the most ordinary words in the English language, but he had to give this up, as the negro seemed to lack the necessary phonetic²⁴ apparatus²⁵ for that kind of pronunciation. "Then," had Tartlet said, "if I cannot be his professor, I will be his pupil!"
 
And he it was who attempted to learn the idiom spoken by Carefinotu. Godfrey had warned him that the accomplishment²⁶ would be of little use. Tartlet was not dissuaded²⁷. He tried to get Carefinotu to name the objects he pointed²⁸ at with his hand. In truth Tartlet must have got on excellently, for at the end of fifteen days he actually knew fifteen words! He knew that Carefinotu said "birsi" for fire, "aradore" for the sky, "mervira" for the sea, "doura" for a tree, &c. He was as proud of this as if he had taken the first prize for Polynesian at some examination!
 
It was then with a feeling of gratitude²⁹ that he wished to[Pg 220] make some recognition of what had been done for him, and instead of torturing the negro with English words, he resolved on teaching him deportment and the true principles of European choregraphy.
 
At this Godfrey could not restrain his peals³⁰ of laughter. After all it would pass the time away, and on Sunday, when there was nothing else to do, he willingly assisted at the course of lectures delivered by the celebrated³¹ Professor Tartlet of San Francisco. Indeed, we ought to have seen them! The unhappy Carefinotu perspired³² profusely³³ as he went through the elementary exercises. He was docile³⁴ and willing, nevertheless; but like all his fellows, his shoulders did not set back, nor did his chest throw out, nor did his knees or his feet point apart! To make a Vestris or a Saint Leon of a savage³⁵ of this sort!
 
The professor pursued his task in quite a fury. Carefinotu, tortured as he was, showed no lack of zeal³⁶. What he suffered, even to get his feet into the first position can be imagined! And when he passed to the second and then to the third, it was still more agonizing³⁷.
 
"But look at me, you blockhead!" exclaimed Tartlet, who added example to precept³⁸. "Put your feet out! Further out! The heel of one to the heel of the other! Open your knees, you duffer! Put back your shoulders, you idiot! Stick up your head! Round your elbows!"
 
[Pg 221]
 
"But you ask what is impossible!" said Godfrey.
 
"Nothing is impossible to an intelligent man!" was Tartlet's invariable response.
 
"But his build won't allow of it."
 
"Well, his build must allow of it! He will have to do it sooner or later, for the savage must at least know how to present himself properly in a drawing-room!"
 
"But, Tartlet, he will never have the opportunity of appearing in a drawing-room!"
 
"Eh! How do you know that, Godfrey?" replied the professor, drawing himself up. "Do you know what the future may bring forth⁹?"
 
This was the last word in all discussions with Tartlet. And then the professor taking his kit³⁹ would with the bow extract from it some squeaky little air to the delight of Carefinotu. It required but this to excite him. Oblivious⁴⁰ of choregraphic rules, what leaps, what contortions⁴¹, what ............