The Swiss Family Robinson

While Robinson, Elizabeth, and Ernest repair the winter storm damage and build a sugar mill, the other boys set out to collect more bamboo and clay. Jack brings the pigeons along to carry messages back and forth. En route, the boys encounter a large hyena which killed two sheep and a ram. The mastiffs and some gunfire finish it off. After skinning the hyena, the boys continue on to a swampy area where they mark the shallowest spots for crossing. Next on the itinerary is Prospect Hill, where they discover that their old nemeses, the monkeys and apes, ravaged the storage house. After cleaning up the mess, they set out poison traps. The poison works a bit too well, however. That night, the boys are unsettled by the screaming of the poisoned monkeys which is echoed by cries of nearly every other creature in the vicinity. The next morning, they discover “dozens of monkeys and baboons, all dead, with their bodies and faces contorted in pain” (279). For the first time, the boys feel some semblance of regret.

That evening, the boys send a note to their father calling for help. A large animal broke through the gap in the cliff face and destroyed everything they built there.