uld touch the handle, it was opened from without, and Fritz came into
the apartment.

"Hurrah, mother!" he shouted out in joyful tones. "Here's news from
Eric at last! A letter in his own dear handwriting. I have not opened
it yet; but it must have been put on board some passing vessel homewards
bound, as it is marked `ship's letter,' and I've had to pay two
silbergroschen for it. Open it and read, mother dear; I'm so anxious to
hear what our boy says."

With trembling hands Madame Dort tore the envelope apart, and soon made
herself mistress of the contents of the letter. It was only a short
scrawl which the sailor lad had written off hurriedly to take advantage
of the opportunity of sending a message home by a passing ship, as his
brother had surmised--Eric not expecting to have been able to forward
any communication until the vessel reached the Cape; and, the stranger
only lying-to for a brief space of time to receive the despatches of the
_Gustav Barentz_, he could merely send a few hasty lines, telling them
that he was well and happy, although he missed them all very much, and
sending his "dearest love" to his "own little mother" and "dear brother
Fritz," not forgetting "darling, cross old Lorischen," and the "cream-
stealing Mouser."

"Just hear that, the little fond rascal!" exclaimed the worthy old
nurse, when Madame Dort read out this postscript. "To think of his
calling me cross, and accusing Mouser of stealing; it is just like his
impudence, the rogue! I only wish he were here now, and I would soon
tell him a piece of my mind."

Eric added that they had had a rough passage down the North Sea, his
vessel having to put into Plymouth, in the English Channel, for repairs;
and that, as she was a bad sailer, they expected to be much longer on
the voyage than had been anticipated. He said, too, that if the wind
was fair, the captain did not intend to stop at the Cape, unless
compelled to call in for provisions and water, but to push on to Batavia
so as not to be late for the season's produce. He had overheard him
telling the mate this, and now informed those at home of the fact that
they might not be disappointed at not receiving another letter from him
before he reached the East Indies, which would be a most unlikely case,
unless they had the lucky chance of communicating a second time with a
homeward-bound ship--a very improbable contingency, vessels not liking
to stop on their journey and lay-to, exce