followed Eric up the incline that led to the
cottage.

Considering all things, the two had a capital Christmas dinner. Indeed,
Eric, the cook, so greatly distinguished himself on this occasion that
he blotted out all recollection of his previous mishaps when undertaking
a similar role.

What say you to a splendid ham, one of those given them by Captain
Brown; green peas, fresh and tender and dressed to perfection; and, new
potatoes?

Many a person might have a worse meal on a warm summer day, like it was
this anniversary of the festival on Inaccessible Island!

Nor was this all; for, after the more substantial portion of the feast,
Eric introduced a wonderfully savoury compound in the confectionery
line, which he had manufactured with some care. This consisted of flour
and sugar made into a thick paste, with some of those very preserved
peaches which had figured so prominently in the despised stew that had
been Eric's first essay in cooking, placed within the envelope, the
compound being then boiled in a saucepan until thoroughly done.

During the early months of the new year, the brothers had little to do
save attending to their garden, digging up the remaining potatoes when
ripe, and then storing them in a corner of their hut. They also cleared
some more land and planted out the little seedling cabbages in long
rows, so that in time they had a fine show of this vegetable, which was
especially valuable as an antiscorbutic to the continuous use of salt
meat,--now their main nutriment with the exception of a few birds which
Fritz brought down occasionally with his fowling piece.

Once or twice they went round the promontory in their boat, in pursuit
of stray single seals; but, the animals were so shy that only a long
shot could be had at them. This made it a risky and almost needless
task to waste gunpowder in their pursuit; for, in the event of the
animals being merely wounded and not killed right out at once, they
invariably slipped off the rocks, disappearing in deep water before the
brothers had time to row up to them and haul them into the boat.

Under these circumstances, therefore, although they expended a
considerable number of bullets, they had only two more sealskins to show
in return to add to their great hauls at the commencement of the season;
so, after a third unsuccessful expedition early in the new year, they
made up their minds to leave the animals alone until the following
summer. Then, the