kets being cast-off
and the bunts dropped. The men, also, were forward, heaving away at the
windlass and getting up the cable, of which a considerable length had
been paid out, the ship riding in over forty fathoms of water.

"Hullo, mister," exclaimed Captain Brown, when he noticed Fritz looking
about him, as if perplexed as to what these signs meant,--"I told you we
might hev to cut an' run any moment!"

"Why?" said Fritz.

"Can't you see, man," retorted the other. "I thought you'd hev been
half a sailor by this time, judgin' by your smart lad of a brother!
Why, the wind is jest choppin' round to the west'ard, I reckon; an', as
I don't kinder like to let the ship go to pieces on them thaar cliffs to
loo'a'd, I guess we're goin' to make tracks into the offin' an' give the
land a wide berth."

"Are you going to start soon?" asked Fritz.

"Waall, there ain't no 'mediate hurry, mister; but I allers like to be
on the safe side, an' when them islanders bring their second boatload o'
taters an' t'other grub, I reckon we'll be off. They've brought one lot
already, in return for the dry goods an' bread-stuffs I've let 'em hev;
an' when they bring the second, I guess the barg'in'll be toted up!"

Not long afterwards, Fritz saw the islanders' boat coming off from the
landing-place. It was pretty well laden, and the swell had increased so
greatly that it sometimes was lost to sight in the trough between the
heavy rollers that undulated towards the shore. The Tristaners,
however, being accustomed to the water and experienced boatmen, did not
make much of the waves; but, pulling a good steady stroke, were soon
alongside--the bowman catching a rope which was hove from the chains and
holding on, while the various contents of the cargo brought were handed
on board. This operation had to be performed most dexterously; for, one
moment, the little craft would be almost on a level with the ship's
bulwarks, while the next she would be thirty feet below, as the billowy
surface of the sea sank below her keel.

Eric was beside the skipper, checking the quantities of provisions which
had been accurately calculated beforehand, for the Tristaners showed a
keen eye to business and weighed everything they bartered for the
whaler's goods, when one of the men hailed him. This was the identical
young fellow of whom he had spoken to Fritz when first expounding his
projected scheme for going sealing to Inaccessible Island, and who, he
me