lf!"

"Oh, I've read up all this in some books Captain Brown lent me," said
the boy. "I wanted to learn everything that was to be learnt about a
whaler's life, and to become acquainted with the special parts of the
ocean that have to be visited by vessels in the trade in order to find a
profitable fishing ground."

"But you've been talking about seals, not whales," remarked Fritz.

"Yes, because it is with seals that my present business lies," said the
other, not a bit put out by the correction.

"Banished now from their once favourite waters around Cape Horn,
adjacent to the islands of the Pacific, there are yet some stray
outlandish spots left which the animals frequent, so as to be able to
breed in peace and multiply, without fear of that wholesale
extermination which is their unhappy lot elsewhere. Amongst such
isolated places is the Tristan d'Acunha group; and, to Inaccessible
Island as well as the other islets they come in countless numbers every
year. Seal fishing is a very profitable concern; for, not only is the
oil valuable, but the skins fetch the most extravagant prices in the
market, especially those of the finer sort. Now, do you see what I'm
after, brother?"

"You want to go sealing, I suppose; but, won't you have plenty of that
in the _Pilot's Bride_ with Captain Brown, eh?"

"Not in the way I mean," replied Eric. "I have an idea of settling for
a time at Tristan d'Acunha, going in thoroughly for the thing as a
business on shore."

Fritz appeared to prick up his ears at this.

"But, I thought you said there was a colony there already; why don't the
people manage to cultivate the trade? Besides, if they have it all
their own way, I think they would not like a couple of strange
interlopers, like you and me, going amongst them to rob them of their
harvest from the sea!"

"Ah, I see you're bitten with the idea," exclaimed Eric, clapping his
hands triumphantly. "But, it was not of Tristan, the larger island, I
was thinking; it was of Inaccessible Island, where there wouldn't be
another living soul but ourselves, the seals, and sea birds."

"`Monarchs of all we survey,' eh, like Robinson Crusoe?" said Fritz with
a smile. "That would be very nice, wouldn't it?"

"Don't laugh, brother," returned Eric, speaking earnestly. "I assure
you I've considered this thing well. The people living at Tristan told
me that they went fishing to the other islands once a year; but, the
weather is generally