at was very considerate of you, laddie," replied Fritz; "so, now to
reward you for your thoughtfulness, I vote that we proceed there as soon
as we can get the boat ready and prepare for the excursion. Apart from
its being in the nature of a little pleasure trip--my convalescent tour,
as it were, for change of air--it is really necessary work for us to
know when we can begin, if we are going to be seal hunters and trade in
skins and oil!"

"Right you are," said Eric, quite convinced by this argument that
nothing could be more wise or sensible than a voyage round the island in
the whale-boat, especially as the plan agreed with his own views of the
matter to an iota; and, in his usually impulsive way, in spite of having
already inspected the little craft that morning, he rushed off down to
the beach, scaring multitudes of penguins on his way, to see whether she
was as sound and seaworthy as he had said, and thoroughly fit for the
cruise.

Everything was right, fortunately; so, early on the following day, they
shoved off the whale-boat from the beach. This was a rather fatiguing
operation, although it was greatly facilitated by some rollers which
Eric sawed off a spare topgallant mast that was amongst the old spars
the skipper gave them. The brothers then started on their trip round
the island, the wind being fair from the south-east--the same point,
indeed, from which it had blown almost entirely during their stay, with
the exception of a short spell from the south-west just after their
arrival.

The coast, after clearing the headland, was bold and precipitous, the
wall of rock continuing round to the west side; although here it broke
away, with a lower ridge of soft dolomite that had caves worn into its
face from the action of the sea, and one or two creeks that the boat
could run into. This was evidently the haunt of the seals, for numbers
of fish bones were scattered about on the floor of the caves and on the
fragments of volcanic rock that were scattered on the beach below, piled
and heaped up in pyramid fashion.

Landing at one of the little caves, just under a tussock-grass-grown
gully, like that close to their hut on the eastern side, Eric ascended
with his rifle to the ridge above. He soon gained the tableland,
returning anon with a well-grown kid which Fritz had told him to shoot,
so that they might take it home with them. The ascent to the plateau,
the lad said, was much easier from this part of the coa