Chapter 18 Island Mail The storm had wrecked many things, and everything was flooded.
Our bridge had been broken, and our pipes were all burst.
We had much to do.
After days of work, I could see the boys were becoming bored.
It was time for another adventure.
Ernest decided to stay with his mother and me while the other boys got ready to go on a journey to the farm.
They left with Storm and Grumble and the dogs.
I noticed that Jack had left with a cage full of pigeons, but I didn't really think much about it.
The next morning, while my wife and Ernest and I sat on the porch, we talked about how the boys might be doing on their adventure.
Ernest told us just to wait and that we would know the next day.
But just then, a pigeon flew into the coop, and Ernest ran off.
He came back with a small bit of paper in his hand.
It's a letter from the pigeon post office, he said.
We laughed at the wonderful surprise.
Ernest read the letter to us.
A hyena has killed a sheep and two lambs, but we have taken care of him.
We are all fine.
Love to all.
Fritz Every night after that, we got a letter by pigeon telling us of the boys' adventures.
After their hyena fight, Fritz took the kayak from the beach and paddled up the river, and the boys on the shore caught a pair of black swans.
While they were there, they also saw an amazing animal come running out of the woods.
By their description, I knew it was a tapir.
Then they went back to the farm to collect all the cotton and rice they could.
Next they headed up to Prospect Hill.
They found it again taken over by monkeys who attacked them when they got there.
After fighting off the monkeys, they spent a long and scary night alone.
'We are afraid', wrote Fritz, 'because we heard a noise during the night that was so loud all the animals ran from it.
It was a roar like an elephant and a lion, and the dogs were very scared.'
There are giant footprints everywhere.
Come to us, father.
We are safe, but we are no match for this danger.
After reading this last message by Pigeon, I jumped up and ran to my donkey.
I told Ernest to come after me the next morning with his mother and supplies.
I rode through the night by moonlight and got to the boys in the morning out of breath.
The boys were thrilled to see me, and we went to inspect the footprints.
I thought they were from an elephant, but the more I looked, the more I thought it must be from an entire herd of elephants.
They were nowhere to be seen however, and we all spent a night telling tales around the fire, too excited to sleep.
The next morning, my wife and Ernest, along with the ostrich, got to camp and were happy to find us all safe.
We decided to make a wall to keep out the elephants, and then the boys explored.
Fritz went upriver in his kayak and found banana and cocoa plants to take home to a farm.
When he came back, he told us what he had seen.
I saw 15 to 20 elephants feeding by the river and bathing in the marsh, and I saw jaguars on the banks.
As I was getting close to the elephants, the water started to bubble around the kayak.
I thought I had paddled into the middle of a spring.
Just then, a hippo came right up beside my canoe and scared the life out of me.
I turned and came rushing back to you.
It was a wonderful story and it told us what kind of land was around us.
Fritz handled his brother Jack a bag.
Whatever was inside, they kept a secret.
Fritz begged me to be able to head back home by kayak and I told him he could.
We headed back and Jack carried the bag on the back of Master Hurricane.
When we got back to Rockburg, he put his bag into the swamp.
That night, we sat around and listened to Fritz's stories of his adventures on the kayak.
Suddenly, we heard a loud and strange noise from the swamp.
Jack jumped and ran at once as the boys all sprang to their feet.
I turned to see Fritz laughing and waited to see what was to come.
Soon Jack came back with his wet bag.
He opened it at our feet and out plopped a giant pair of frogs.
This, said Jack, is grace, and this is beauty.
With that, we laughed and the frogs croaked away comically.
It was a return worth remembering, and we all turned in early, tired and spent.
The next day we all set back to work, starting on a new project to put a flag post and a gun at Shark Island in case of danger.
Our plan was to fly a red flag for danger if we spotted it, so the others could be warned, and a white flag for calm.
When the project was all finished, I let the boys celebrate by firing off the cannon, with a loud shot that echoed round the island and had them laughing with joy.
