Page:The Swiss Family Robinson (Kingston).djvu/384

 exclaimed Fritz, as we took its beautiful feathers; “it must, I am sure, have stood more than six feet high, and two of us might have mounted him at once!”

“In the vast sandy deserts where nothing grows, what can flocks of these birds find to live upon?” inquired Ernest.

“That would indeed be hard to say, if the deserts were utterly barren and unfruitful,” returned I; “but over these sandy wastes a beneficent Providence scatters plants of wild melons, which absorb and retain every drop of moisture, and which quench the thirst as well as satisfy the hunger of the ostriches and other inhabitants of the wilds. These melons, however, do not constitute his entire diet; he feeds freely on grasses, dates, and hard grain, when he can obtain them.”

“Does the ostrich utter any cry?”

“The voice of the ostrich is a deep hollow rumbling sound, so much resembling the roar of the lion as to be occasionally mistaken for it. But what does Jack mean by waving his cap, and beckoning in that excited fashion? What has the boy found, I wonder!”

He ran a little way towards us, shouting: “Eggs, father! Ostriches' eggs! a huge nest-full—do come quick!”

We all hastened to the spot, and in a slight hollow of the ground, be held more than twenty eggs, as large as an infant's head.

The idea of carrying more than two away with us was preposterous, although the boys, forgetting what the weight would be, seriously contemplated clearing the nest.

They were satisfied when a kind of landmark had been set up, so that if we returned we might easily find the nest.

As each egg weighed about three pounds, the boys soon found the burden considerable, even when tied into a handkerchief and carried like a basket. To relieve them, I cut a strong elastic