the
search. He did not seem to like this, but no more was said. That day we
spent on shore, and came back to our boat to sleep at night. Next day we
were to change our course, and trace our way back, for the wind now blew
from the sea.

When I went on deck next day I found a short note from Fritz, in which
he told me that he could not give up the search, but had gone some way
up the coast in his small boat. "Let me beg of you," he wrote, "to lie
in wait for me here till I come back."

When he had been gone two days, I felt that I ought to tell my wife the
cause of our trip, as it might ease her mind, and she now had some fear
lest her son should not be safe. She heard me to the end, and then said
that she was sure he would not fail, but soon bring back good news.

As we were all on the look-out for Fritz, we saw his boat a long way
off.

"There is no one with him in the boat," said I to my wife; "that does
not say much for our hopes."

"Oh, where have you been?" said the boys, all at once, as he came on
board. But they scarce got a word from him. He then drew me on one side,
and said, with a smile of joy, "What do you think is the news I bring?"

"Let me hear it," said I.

"Then I have found what I went forth to seek, and our search has not
been in vain."

"And who is it that you have found?"

"Not a man," he said, "but a girl. The dress she wears is that of a man,
and she does not wish at first that her sex should be known to more that
we can help, for she would not like to meet Ernest and the rest in that
state, if they knew that she was a girl. And, strange to tell," said
Fritz, "she has been on shore three years."

While I went to tell the news to my wife, Fritz had gone down to his
berth to change his clothes, and I must say that he took more care to
look neat in his dress than was his wont at home.

He was not long, and when he came on deck he bid me say no word to the
rest of whom he had found. He leaped like a frog in to his light craft,
and led the way. We were soon on our course through the rocks and
shoals, and an hour's sail, with the aid of a good breeze, brought us to
a small tract of land, the trees of which hid the soil from our view.

Here we got close in to the shore, and made our bark safe. We all got
out, and ran up the banks, led by the marks that Fritz had made in the
soil with his feet. We soon found a path that led to a clump of trees,
and there saw a hut, with a fire in front, fr