The Penguins' Rock

by Guy de Maupassant

　　

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This is the season for penguins.From April to the end of May, before the Parisian visitors arrive, onesees, all at once, on the little beach at Etretat several old gentlemen,booted and belted in shooting costume. They spend four or five days atthe Hotel Hauville, disappear, and return again three weeks later. Then,after a fresh sojourn, they go away altogether.One sees them again the following spring.These are the last penguin hunters, what remain of the old set. Therewere about twenty enthusiasts thirty or forty years ago; now there areonly a few of the enthusiastic sportsmen.The penguin is a very rare bird of passage, with peculiar habits. Itlives the greater part of the year in the latitude of Newfoundland andthe islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. But in the breeding season aflight of emigrants crosses the ocean and comes every year to the samespot to lay their eggs, to the Penguins' Rock near Etretat. They arefound nowhere else, only there. They have always come there, have alwaysbeen chased away, but return again, and will always return. As soon asthe young birds are grown they all fly away, and disappear for a year.Why do they not go elsewhere? Why not choose some other spot on the longwhite, unending cliff that extends from the Pas-de-Calais to Havre? Whatforce, what invincible instinct, what custom of centuries impels thesebirds to come back to this place? What first migration, what tempest,possibly, once cast their ancestors on this rock? And why do thechildren, the grandchildren, all the descendants of the first parentsalways return here?There are not many of them, a hundred at most, as if one single family,maintaining the tradition, made this annual pilgrimage.And each spring, as soon as the little wandering tribe has taken up itsabode an the rock, the same sportsmen also reappear in the village. Oneknew them formerly when they were young; now they are old, but constantto the regular appointment which they have kept for thirty or fortyyears. They would not miss it for anything in the world.It was an April evening in one of the later years. Three of the oldsportsmen had arrived; one was missing--M. d'Arnelles.He had written to no one, given no account of himself. But he was notdead, like so many of the rest; they would have heard of it. At length,tired of waiting for him, the other three sat down to table. Dinner wasalmost over when a carriage drove into the yard of the hotel, and thelate corner presently entered the dining room.He sat down, in a good humor, rubbing his hands, and ate with zest. Whenone of his comrades remarked with surprise at his being in a frock-coat,he replied quietly:"Yes, I had no time to change my clothes."They retired on leaving the table, for they had to set out beforedaybreak in order to take the birds unawares.There is nothing so pretty as this sport, this early morning expedition.At three o'clock in the morning the sailors awoke the sportsmen bythrowing sand against the windows. They were ready in a few minutes andwent down to the beach. Although it was still dark, the stars had paleda little. The sea ground the shingle on the beach. There was such afresh breeze that it made one shiver slightly in spite of one's heavyclothing.Presently two boats were pushed down the beach, by the sailors, with asound as of tearing cloth, and were floated on the nearest waves. Thebrown sail was hoisted, swelled a little, fluttered, hesitated andswelling out again as round as a paunch, carried the boats towards thelarge arched entrance that could be faintly distinguished in thedarkness.The sky became clearer, the shadows seemed to melt away. The coast stillseemed veiled, the great white coast, perpendicular as a wall.They passed through the Manne-Porte, an enormous arch beneath which aship could sail; they doubled the promontory of La Courtine, passed thelittle valley of Antifer and the cape of the same name; and suddenlycaught sight of a beach on which some hundreds of seagulls were perched.That was the Penguins' Rock. It was just a little protuberance of thecliff, and on the narrow ledges of rock the birds' heads might be seenwatching the boats.They remained there, motionless, not venturing to fly off as yet. Someof them perched on the edges, seated upright, looked almost like bottles,for their little legs are so short that when they walk they glide alongas if they were on rollers. When they start to fly they cannot make aspring and let themselves fall like stones almost down to the very menwho are watching them.They know their limitation and the danger to which it subjects them, andcannot make up their minds to fly away.But the boatmen begin to shout, beating the sides of the boat with thewooden boat pins, and the birds, in affright, fly one by one into spaceuntil they reach the level of the waves. Then, moving their wingsrapidly, they scud, scud along until they reach the open sea; if a showerof lead does not knock them into the water.For an hour the firing is kept up, obliging them to give up, one afteranother. Sometimes the mother birds will not leave their nests, and areriddled with shot, causing drops of blood to spurt out on the whitecliff, and the animal dies without having deserted her eggs.The first day M. d'Arnelles fired at the birds with his habitual zeal;but when the party returned toward ten o'clock, beneath a brilliant sun,which cast great triangles of light on the white cliffs along the coasthe appeared a little worried, and absentminded, contrary to hisaccustomed manner.As soon as they got on shore a kind of servant dressed in black came upto him and said something in a low tone. He seemed to reflect, hesitate,and then replied:"No, to-morrow."The following day they set out again. This time M, d'ArneUes frequentlymissed his aim, although the birds were close by. His friends teasedhim, asked him if he were in love, if some secret sorrow was troublinghis mind and heart. At length he confessed."Yes, indeed, I have to leave soon, and that annoys me.""What, you must leave? And why?""Oh, I have some business that calls me back. I cannot stay any longer."They then talked of other matters.As soon as breakfast was over the valet in black appeared. M. d'Arnellesordered his carriage, arid the man was leaving the room when the threesportsmen interfered, insisting, begging, and praying their friend tostay. One of them at last said:"Come now, this cannot be a matter o such importance, for you havealready waited two days."M. d'Arnelles, altogether perplexed, began to think, evidently baffled,divided between pleasure and duty, unhappy and disturbed.After reflecting for some time he stammered:"The fact is--the fact is--I am not alone here. I have my son-in-law."There were exclamations and shouts of "Your son-in-law! Where is he?"He suddenly appeared confused and his face grew red."What! do you not know? Why--why--he is in the coach house. He isdead."They were all silent in amazement.M. d'Arnelles continued, more and more disturbed:"I had the misfortune to lose him; and as I was taking the body to myhouse, in Briseville, I came round this way so as not to miss ourappointment. But you can see that I cannot wait any longer."Then one of the sportsmen, bolder than the rest said:"Well, but--since he is dead--it seems to me that he can wait a daylonger."The others chimed in:"That cannot be denied."M. d'Arnelles appeared to be relieved of a great weight, but a littleuneasy, nevertheless, he asked:"But, frankly--do you think--"The three others, as one man, replied:"Parbleu! my dear boy, two days more or less can make no difference inhis present condition."And, perfectly calmly, the father-in-law turned to the undertaker'sassistant, and said:"Well, then, my friend, it will be the day after tomorrow."

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