Part 7 (1/2)

He at once took the bird, which was an AL-BA-TROSS, tied the strip of cloth to its foot, and let it go.

”And now,” said he, ”tell me what you think of this. If we should, find a new friend, what a source of joy it will be. Will you join me in the search?”

”To be sure I will,” said I; ”and so shall the rest; but we will not yet tell them of this.”

They were all glad to take a trip in the large boat, but they could not make out why we went in such haste.

”The fact is,” said Jack, ”Fritz has found some queer thing on the coast that he can't bring home, and wants us to see it. But I dare say we shall know what it all means in good time.”

Fritz was our guide, and went first in his bark boat, or CA-NOE. In this he could go round the rocks and shoals that girt the coast, which would not have been safe for the large boat. He went up all the small creeks we met with on the way, and kept a sharp look-out for the smoke by which he would know the rock we came out to find.

I must tell you that once when he came to these parts with Ernest he met with a TI-GER, and would have lost his life had it not been for his pet Ea-gle. The brave bird, to save Fritz from the beast, made a swoop down on its head. Fritz thus got off with a scratch or two, but the poor bird was struck dead by a blow from the paw of its foe. This was a sad loss to Fritz, for his pet had been a kind friend, and would go with him at all times when he went far from home.

There was scarce a spot we came to that did not bring to the mind of one of us some such tale as this, so that we were full of talk while the boat bore us on.

We had been out some days, but could find no trace of what we went in search. I rose from my berth at dawn, and went on deck with Fritz. I told him that as we had no clue to the place, we must now give up the search. He did not seem to like this, but no more was said. That day we spent on sh.o.r.e, and came back to our boat to sleep at night. Next day we were to change our course, and trace our way back, for the wind now blew from the sea.

When I went on deck next day I found a short note from Fritz, in which he told me that he could not give up the search, but had gone some way up the coast in his small boat. ”Let me beg of you,” he wrote, ”to lie in wait for me here till I come back.”

When he had been gone two days, I felt that I ought to tell my wife the cause of our trip, as it might ease her mind, and she now had some fear lest her son should not be safe. She heard me to the end, and then said that she was sure he would not fail, but soon bring back good news.

As we were all on the look-out for Fritz, we saw his boat a long way off.

”There is no one with him in the boat,” said I to my wife; ”that does not say much for our hopes.”

”Oh, where have you been?” said the boys, all at once, as he came on board. But they scarce got a word from him. He then drew me on one side, and said, with a smile of joy, ”What do you think is the news I bring?”

”Let me hear it,” said I.

”Then I have found what I went forth to seek, and our search has not been in vain.”

”And who is it that you have found?”

”Not a man,” he said, ”but a girl. The dress she wears is that of a man, and she does not wish at first that her s.e.x should be known to more that we can help, for she would not like to meet Ernest and the rest in that state, if they knew that she was a girl. And, strange to tell,” said Fritz, ”she has been on sh.o.r.e three years.”

While I went to tell the news to my wife, Fritz had gone down to his berth to change his clothes, and I must say that he took more care to look neat in his dress than was his wont at home.

He was not long, and when he came on deck he bid me say no word to the rest of whom he had found. He leaped like a frog in to his light craft, and led the way. We were soon on our course through the rocks and shoals, and an hour's sail, with the aid of a good breeze, brought us to a small tract of land, the trees of which hid the soil from our view.

Here we got close in to the sh.o.r.e, and made our bark safe. We all got out, and ran up the banks, led by the marks that Fritz had made in the soil with his feet. We soon found a path that led to a clump of trees, and there saw a hut, with a fire in front, from which rose a stream of smoke.

As we drew near I could see that the boys did not know what to make of it, for they gave me a stare, as if to ask what they were to see next.

They did not know how to give vent to their joy when they saw Fritz come out of the hut with a strange youth, whose slight make, fair face, and grace of form, did not seem to match well with the clothes that hung upon his limbs.

It was so long since we had seen a strange face, that we were all loth to speak first. When I could gain my speech I took our new friend by the hand, and told her in words as kind as I could call to my aid, how, glad we were to have thus found her.

Fritz, when he bade Ernest and Jack shake bands with her, spoke of our new friend as James, but she could not hide her s.e.x from my wife, for her first act was to fall on her breast and weep. The boys were not slow to see through the trick, and made Fritz tell them that ”James” was not the name they should call her by.

I could not but note that our strange mode of life had made my sons rough, and that years of rude toil had worn off that grace and ease which is one of the charms of well-bred youth.