nvoy drawn by an animal whose
agony increased its strength. As we drew near the shore, I endeavoured
to steer so that we might not strike and be capsized. I saw after a few
minutes that our conductor again wanted to make out to sea; I therefore
hoisted the sail, and the wind being in our favour, he found resistance
vain, and, tugging as before, followed up the current, only taking more
to the left, towards Falcon's Nest, and landing us in a shallow, rested
on the shore. I leaped out of the boat, and with a hatchet soon put our
powerful conductor out of his misery.

Fritz uttered a shout of joy, and fired off his gun, as a signal of our
arrival. All came running to greet us, and great was their surprise, not
only at the value of our cargo, but at the strange mode by which it had
been brought into harbour. My first care was to send them for the
sledge, to remove some of our load without delay, and as the ebbing tide
was leaving our vessels almost dry on the sand, I profited by the
opportunity to secure them. By the aid of the jack-screw and levers, we
raised and brought to the shore two large pieces of lead from the raft.
These served for anchors and, connected to the boat and raft by strong
cables, fixed them safely.

As soon as the sledge arrived, we placed the turtle with some difficulty
on it, as it weighed at least three hundredweight. We added some lighter
articles, the mattresses, some small chests, &c., and proceeded with our
first load to Falcon's Nest in great spirits. As we walked on, Fritz
told them of the wondrous cases of jewellery we had abandoned for things
of use; Jack wished Fritz had brought him a gold snuff-box, to hold
curious seeds; and Francis wished for some of the money to buy
gingerbread at the fair! Everybody laughed at the little simpleton, who
could not help laughing himself, when he remembered his distance from
fairs. Arrived at home, our first care was to turn the turtle on his
back, to get the excellent meat out of the shell. With my hatchet I
separated the cartilages that unite the shells: the upper shell is
convex, the lower one nearly flat.

We had some of the turtle prepared for dinner, though my wife felt great
repugnance in touching the green fat, notwithstanding my assurance of
its being the chief delicacy to an epicure.

We salted the remainder of the flesh, and gave the offal to the dogs.
The boys were all clamorous to possess the shell; but I said it belonged
to Fritz, by righ