weapon.

"Yes, I suppose we had better take something to shoot with," replied
Fritz. "We need not pot our old friend the goat yet, however. Judging
by his horns and beard, he must be the kaiser of the flock, and so may
be a little tough; still, we may find some daintier morsel to shoot. I
confess I should be glad of a little fresh meat for a change--a real
roast this time, eh, Eric?"

"Oh, bother that roast salt beef; I suppose I'll never hear the end of
it!" cried the lad pathetically, although he could not refrain from
laughing at Fritz's allusion to the unsuccessful banquet. "You just get
me something proper to cook, and I bet you'll not be disgusted with the
way in which I dress it!"

"We'll see," replied Fritz, taking up the fowling piece and slinging a
powder flask and shot case round his neck. "As you're going to carry a
rifle for heavy game, laddie, I'll take this for the benefit of any
likely-looking birds we may come across."

"All right," responded Eric; when the two, packing up some biscuit and
cheese for their refreshment by the way and barricading the door of the
hut from the outside--lest the penguins might chance to pay them a visit
in their absence--set forth towards the base of the waterfall up the
gorge. Here, the Tristaner had told them, they would be able to climb
up by the aid of the tussock-grass should they wish to reach the summit
of the cliff.

It was a tedious ascent, the top of the ridge being over a thousand feet
above the little valley in which they lived.

As for Fritz, he was quite worn-out when they arrived at the head of the
crags above the waterfall; but Eric found the climbing easier work from
his practice in the rigging aboard the _Pilot's Bride_. This was just
as well, for he had to pull his brother up nearly all the way.

However, once arrived at the summit, the two had the whole tableland
exposed to their view. This sight alone well rewarded them for their
trouble, for the plateau stretched like an undulating plain before them,
occupying the entire extent of the island--with the exception of the
three-cornered slice taken out of it by their valley, like a segment cut
from a round cheese. There was, also, a slight depression on the
western side, where there was a little cave, although this was not
nearly so wide as the bay on the east fronting their valley.

Groups of stunted trees grew in the hollows, in which sprang up in great
luxuriance the inevitable tussock-