"I wish you could think of some other sort of gift," suggested Willis;
"what do you say to a couple of seal or shark skins?"

"Won't do," replied both Fritz and Jack in one voice. "What objections
have you to the others?"

"Well, you are in some sort consigned to my care; I should like you to
return to your parents with your own skins entire."

"Then you think it is a terrific affair to kill a tiger or two? You
have been accustomed to the sea, and fancy landsmen are good for
nothing but shooting crows and wild-cats; that is a mistake, however;
we are familiar with larger game."

"Shiver my timbers! do you call bears and tigers game?"

"I am afraid, Willis, you are a bit of a milksop."

"Avast heaving there, Master Fritz! as it is, I am a half-hanged man
already, so death has now no terrors Dov me; it is the first pang that
is most felt."

"Yes; but in the case of tigers, they never give you time to feel a
second pang; miss your aim, and it is all over with you."

"True; and therefore I wish you would give up the project. As for
myself, I would face anything with a four-pounder, but rifle practice
on board ship is mostly confined to the marines; it is not that,
however, I am troubled about; I am certain your worthy father would
never forgive me if I countenance this project."

"You need not tell him anything about it."

"Where, then, are the skins to come from? Can you say you bought them
at the furrier's? You must really hit upon some other fancy."

"But it is not a fancy, Willis, it is a necessity; it is not our own
amusement we are consulting. Just imagine yourself what will happen
during the excursion now being arranged. Our parents will, of course,
offer their bear skins to Mr. and Mrs. Wolston; there will be refusals
on the one side and entreaties on the other."

"And, as is usual in these sort of discussions," added Jack, "Mrs.
Wolston will call her carriage."

"Yes," continued Fritz, "and my mother will most certainly deprive
herself of a covering that is absolutely indispensable during the cold
nights of this climate."

"There is reason in what you say," observed Willis, scratching his
ear.

"You see, Willis, the thing ought and must be done."

"As you put it, yes; but it will take time to prepare the skins."

"They will not be ready in time for this expedition certainly, and my
mother must do without her skin this journey; but it is our duty to
prevent anything of the sort happening in f