e leaves!" cried Eric heartily on the keel of
their whale-boat touching the beach, when they then proceeded to draw
her up on the shingle and take all their traps and gear out of her.
They did this in case their American friend might persuade the islanders
to come round to the bay and make a raid on their property, so as to
prevent them from interfering with their sealing--that being the only
grievance which they could possibly have against them.

However, as next morning, the whale-boat lay intact where they had left
her, their suspicions of the Tristaners' bad faith proved to be quite
unfounded.

Still, the brothers were glad to find, from Eric's observations on the
tableland, whence he kept a constant watch on the visitors' movements,
that, after a ten days' stay they left the little island once more to
them alone; although, as they also discovered to their grief a short
time after their departure, the Tristaners took away with them the
greater number of the goats on the plateau, or else killed them for
their sustenance whilst they remained.

This was a sad discovery. The islanders were quite welcome to the pigs,
thought the brother crusoes; but the flesh of the goats was so delicate
and needful besides, as a change of diet to their ordinary salt
provision, that any diminution of their numbers was a serious loss to
them.

It was not until a week at least after the Tristaners had left, that
Eric reported the presence of seals again on the west beach, where,
probably, the fact of the islanders camping on the spot had quite as
much to do with scaring away the timid creatures from the coast as the
warfare waged upon them. Fortunately, however, the poor animals had an
affection for the place; for, having now observed, no doubt from some of
their number sent out as scouts, that their enemies had departed, they
once more returned to the rock caverns they had before frequented.

"There are some of those `elephants,' as you call them, amongst them,
too," said Eric when he came down the cliff with the news to Fritz.
"There are a great many more than I saw last time."

"Ah, we must try and catch some of the gentlemen this trip," remarked
Fritz. "Perhaps it will be the last chance we may have of capturing sea
elephants!"

"Right you are," replied the lad. "I'll do my best to kill them; but
really, brother, they look awfully formidable fellows!"

"Oh, they're not half so dangerous as they look," said Fritz. "They're