foxes. To
settle the point, we broke an egg: it looked sound. Weymouth then
filled his cap with them.

_Boom!_

While climbing down to our muskets, I startled a canvas-backed duck
sitting on a nest of eleven eggs. These I appropriated; and, before
getting round to where we had fired on the sea-horse, Weymouth espied
an eider-duck sitting on a shelf of the shore crags. From her we got
five eggs of a beautiful pale-green color.

"No need of starving here, I should say," Weymouth remarked as we made
our way along the ledges, pretty well laden with muskets, geese, and
our caps full of eggs. "There won't be much bread, to be sure; but
then a fellow can live on eggs and birds, can't he?"

"I hope so, Weymouth. Hard case for us if we can't."

"That's so. But don't you be down in the mouth about this scrape. I
don't believe they'll catch 'The Curlew,' sir. Capt. Mazard will be
back here, I think."

"I hope so."

Truly, I thought to myself, if this young sailor doesn't complain, and
even tries to offer consolation to us who have got him in this
predicament, it isn't for me to look glum about it; though I am bound
to own that some of the most cheerless moments of my life were passed
during the twenty-four hours succeeding the ominous appearance of the
"_Honorable Company's_" ship.

A great shouting and heave-ho-ing told us of our near approach to
where the rest of our party were; and, turning a bend of the crags, we
discovered them all four tugging at a line.

"What are they dragging, I wonder?" Weymouth said to me. "Oh! I see.
It's the sea-horse."

They were trying to pull the walrus up out of the water, where they
had found him floundering about, fatally wounded with the slugs we had
fired through his back. The sea about the rocks was discolored with
his blood, and turbid with the dirt he had torn up. Donovan had
slaughtered him with the butcher-knife; and, with the boat's painter
noosed over the head of the carcass, they were now trying to draw it
up on the ledge. Weymouth and I at once bore a hand; and it took all
six of us, tugging hard, to get it up.

"What a mass of fat and flesh!" Kit exclaimed, puffing.

"I don't believe I could ever stomach it!" Wade groaned.

"We can offer you something better!" exclaimed Weymouth, holding up
the geese. "What think of those fellows? Wild-geese! And look at
these!" holding up his cap. "Nice fresh eggs!--to be had by the dozen!
and nothing to pay, either!"

"Why, fel