t a pity we have no boat!" they both exclaimed together.

They looked as if they could have plunged into the sea, ready dressed as
they were, so as to swim off to the welcome vessel!

Eric waved his handkerchief frantically to and fro.

"The skipper will soon know that something has prevented our coming off,
and will send in a boat," he said; and the two then waited impatiently
for the next act of the stirring nautical drama in which they had so
deep an interest.

In a few minutes, they could see a boat lowered from the side of the
ship; and, presently, this was pulled towards the shore by four oarsmen,
while another individual, whom Eric readily recognised in the distance
as Captain Brown, sat in the stern-sheets, steering the little craft in
whaling fashion with another oar.

"It's the good old skipper!" exclaimed Eric, dancing about and waving
his hat round his head so wildly that it seemed as if he had taken leave
of his senses. "I can see his jolly old face behind the rowers, as
large as life!"

Two or three minutes more, and the boat's keel grated on the beach, when
Fritz and Eric sprang into the water to greet their old friend.

"Waall, boys!" cried the skipper, "I guess I'm raal downright glad to
see you both ag'in, thet I am--all thet, I reckon. It's a sight for
sore eyes to see you lookin' so slick and hearty."

So saying, Captain Brown shook hands with the two in his old,
thoroughgoing arm-wrenching fashion, their hands when released seeming
to be almost reduced to pulp in the process, through the pressure of his
brawny fist.

Of course, they then had a long talk together, the brothers recounting
all that had happened to them in the past year, Captain Fuller of the
schooner _Jane_ having taken to the Cape an account of their doings
during the preceding twelve months.

"Waal," exclaimed the skipper, when he was showed their little cargo of
sealskins and oil, and told also of the treasure which they had found,
"I guess you h'ain't made half so bad a job o' crusoeing, arter all! I
reckon them skins an' He, along o' what you shipped afore, will fetch
you more'n a couple o' thousan' dollars; an' what with them doubloons
you mention, I guess you'll hev' made a pretty considerable pile fur the
time you've been sealin'!"

There being no object to be gained by the vessel remaining any length of
time at the island--which indeed was the reason that the skipper had not
brought the _Pilot's Bride_ to ancho