eightage to Inaccessible Island, which
any one else would have expected them to pay.

Could Fritz desire more?

Hardly.

"I guess, mister," concluded the skipper, "so be it as how you kinder
makes up yer mind fur the venture, thet you two coons will start in
bizness with a clean sheet an' no book debts, like the boss of a dry
goods store; an' if you don't make a pile in less than no time, why it
won't be Job Brown's fault, I reckon!"

This settled the matter; when, the captain giving them a short
memorandum of certain necessary articles which they would find useful on
the island and which they could readily procure in Providence while the
_Pilot's Bride_ was refitting, the two brothers set to work making their
preparations without delay for the novel enterprise to which Eric's
project had given birth--that of going crusoeing in the South Atlantic!

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

THE "PILOT'S BRIDE."

The more Fritz thought over the project, the more enthusiastic he became
about it.

Unlike Eric, he was deeply reflective, never adventuring into any scheme
or undertaking action in any matter until he had fully weighed the pros
and cons and had considered everything that could be said for and
against it; but, once his judgment was convinced, there was no more
hearty co-operator than he.

It was so in this instance.

Eric's idea had struck him as feasible at the first blush, the boy being
so eager in giving vent to his own impressions and experiences of what
he had seen at Tristan d'Acunha with regard to the advantage of starting
a new sealing station of their own; but, when Fritz came to ponder over
the plan, it seemed so chimerical that he felt inclined to be angry with
himself for having entertained it for a moment. These second thoughts,
however, did not long stand their ground after old Captain Brown had
been consulted; for, that experienced mariner, who had, as he thought,
such better means of judging than himself, immediately took so sanguine
a view of the enterprise, that Fritz's original opinion in favour of it
became confirmed, and he entered upon the preparations for the
expedition with even greater zest than Eric, its first inceptor and
propounder.

"Brother," said he to the latter, on Captain Brown's approving of the
plan and promising his cordial assistance in helping them to carry it
out to a successful issue, "we'll not leave anything to chance. We will
put our shoulders to the wheel and determine t