moon
lighted our way. After recommending ourselves to the protection of God,
I desired Fritz to commence his melancholy recital.

"It will be melancholy, indeed," said the poor boy, weeping; "if we do
not find my dear Jack, I shall never forgive myself for not having
stained his skin before my own; then he should have been with you now--"

"But I have you, my dear son, to console your father," said I. "I can do
nothing myself, in my sorrow. I depend on you, my two eldest, to restore
to me what I have lost. Go on, Fritz."

"We went on," continued he, "with courage and hope; and as we proceeded,
we felt that you were right in saying we ought not to judge of the
island by the borders. You can form no idea of the fertility of the
island, or of the beauty of the trees and shrubs we met with at every
step, quite unknown to me; some were covered with fragrant flowers,
others with tempting fruits; which, however, we did not venture to
taste, as we had not Knips to try them."

"Did you see any monkeys?" asked Ernest.

"Not one," replied his brother, "to the great vexation of Jack; but we
saw parrots, and all sorts of birds of the most splendid plumage. Whilst
we were remarking these creatures, I did not neglect to look carefully
about for any trace that might aid our search. I saw no hut, no sort of
dwelling, nor anything that could indicate that the island was
inhabited, and not the slightest appearance of fresh water; and we
should have been tormented with thirst if we had not found some
cocoa-nuts containing milk, and an acid fruit, full of juice, which we
have in our own island--Ernest calls it the _carambolier_; we quenched
our thirst with this, as well as with the plant, which we also have, and
which contains water in the stem. The country is flat and open, and its
beautiful trees stand at such a distance from each other, that no one
could hide amongst them. But if we found no dwellings, we often
discovered traces of the savages,--extinguished fires, remains of
kangaroos and of fish, cocoa-nut shells, and even entire nuts, which we
secured for ourselves; we remarked, also, footmarks on the sand. We both
wished anxiously to meet with a savage, that we might endeavour to make
him comprehend, by signs, whom we were in search of, hoping that natural
affection might have some influence even with these untaught creatures.
I was only fearful that my dress and the colour of my skin might terrify
them. In the mean time, Jack,