Fritz and Eric Part 42

Eric burst out into a loud fit of laughing; so hearty that he nearly doubled himself up in the paroxysms of his mirth.

"Ha, ha, ha, what a funny fellow you are, Fritz!" he exclaimed. "I wonder where we are going to find a tailor here?"

"Oh, I know one," said his brother coolly, in such a matter-of-fact way that the lad was quite staggered with surprise.

"Do you?" he asked in astonishment. "Who is he?"

"Your humble servant," said Fritz, with a low bow. "Can I have the pleasure of measuring you for a new suit, meinherr?"

Eric began laughing again.

"You can measure away to your heart's content," he replied; "but, I fancy it will puzzle even your lofty intellect to discover the wherewithal to make clothes with--that is, except sailcloth, which would be rather cold wear for winter, I think, eh, Master Schneider?"

"How about those two last sealskins we didn't salt down, or pack up with the rest in the puncheon?" enquired Fritz with a smile.

"O-oh!" exclaimed Eric, opening his mouth wide with wonder.

"A-ah," rejoined his brother. "I think they'll do very well to make a couple of good coats for us; they'll be warm and serviceable."

"Of course they will," said Eric, jumping at the idea. "And, they will be fashionable too! Why, sealskin jackets are all the rage in Berlin and Hanover; so, we'll be regular dandies!"

"Dandies of the first water, oh yes," replied Fritz quizzingly. "I wonder what they would think of us at, Lubeck if they could just see us now!"

"Never mind, brother, we'll astonish them when we go back with our pockets full of money," said Eric in his happy fashion; and then, without further delay, the two set to work making themselves winter garments, as Fritz had suggested, from the sealskins.

These had been dried, instead of being salted down with the rest, in the ordinary way whalers preserve them for the furriers; so, now, all that remained for the brothers to do was to make the skins limp and pliable.

This they managed to effect by rubbing grease over the inner surface of the skins with a hard piece of lava slab selected from the volcanic debris at the foot of the cliff, in the same way, as Eric explained, that sailors holystone the decks of a ship; and, after the pelts of the seals were subjected to this process, they underwent a species of tanning by being steeped in a decoction of tea leaves, keeping, however, the hair out of the liquor. Lastly, the outside portion of the skins was dressed by pulling off the long fibrous exterior hairs, concealing the soft fur below that resembled the down beneath a bird's rough feathers.

The skins being now thoroughly prepared, all that remained to do was to cut out the coats, a feat the crusoes accomplished by using their old garments for patterns; and then, by the aid of the useful little housewife which Celia Brown had given Eric, after an immense amount of st.i.tching, the brothers were able at last to clothe themselves in a couple of fur jackets. These, although they were perhaps roughly made, the good people at home could not have turned up their noses at, for the articles were certainly intrinsically worth more than the best-cut masterpiece of the best outfitter, even if not of so perfect a fit or style!

Fritz was the chief tailor in this operation; but, while he was busily engaged with needle and thread, Eric was employed in another way, equally for the good of both.

The hut had been found somewhat cold and damp in consequence of the sun's power beginning to wane by reason of its shifting further north, through the periodic revolution of the earth; so it was determined to build a fireplace within the dwelling.

This had not been necessary before, all their cooking operations having been carried on without the hut at an open-air campaigner's stove designed by soldier Fritz.

Now, however, Master Eric devoted himself to the task of improving their household economy, accomplishing the feat so well that, wonderful to relate, the place never smoked once after the fire had been lit in the new receptacle for it, excepting when the wind blew from the westward.

Then, indeed, coming from over the top of the plateau above, it whirled down the gorge, roaring through the lad's patent chimney like a cyclone.

From May, until the end of July--during which time the extreme severity of the winter lasted--the brothers did little, save stop indoors and read, or play dominoes.

Really, there was nothing else for them to occupy their minds with; for, it was impossible to cultivate the garden, while the weather was too rough for them to venture out in the whale-boat.

Early in August, however, the penguins returned.

The birds did this as suddenly as they had left; although they did not come all together, as at the period of their migrating from the island.

It need hardly be said that Fritz and Eric welcomed them joyfully as the early swallows of the coming summer; for, as the summer advanced, their life would be more varied, and there would be plenty for them to do.

Besides, the brothers had not forgotten Captain Brown's promise to return at this period and visit them with the _Pilot's Bride_, the arrival of which vessel might be expected in a couple of months or so.

The male penguins were the first to make their reappearance in the bay, Eric returning to the hut with the news of this fact one morning in August.

"I say, Fritz," he called out, when yet some distance off from their dwelling--"I've just seen two penguins down by the sea!"

"Have you?" exclaimed the other eagerly. "That's good news."

"Is it?" said Eric. "I didn't think you cared about them so much."

"Ah, I'm looking out for their eggs," replied Fritz.

"Why, you never seemed to fancy them last year, old fellow," said the sailor lad surprised. "What means this change of view on your part?"

"Well, you know, when we arrived here first, the birds were already sitting; and, I certainly confess I did not care about the eggs then, for they would probably have been half addled! Now, however, if we look out each day, we can get them quite fresh, when they'll be ever so much better. Young Gla.s.s told us, as you ought to remember, that they tasted very nice and not in the least fishy."

"Oh, yes, I recollect," said Eric. "I will keep a good look-out for them now you say they're worth looking after!"

And he did.

The two male birds, who first came, were succeeded on the following day by half a dozen more, a large number coming later on the same afternoon.

All these penguins were in their best plumage, and very fat and lazy, contenting themselves with lolling about the beach for a day or two, as if to recover from the fatigues of their journey.

Then, after a solemn conference together close to the rookery, the birds began to prepare their nests, so as to be ready for the reception of the females, which did not make their appearance for nearly a month after the first male penguins were seen.

A fortnight later, there was in almost each nest an egg of a pale blue colour, very round in shape and about the size of a turkey's--the sight of which much gratified Master Eric, who, fearless of consequences, made a point of investigating the tussock-gra.s.s colony every morning. He called the birds habitat his "poultry yard," seeming to be quite unmindful of his mishap there the previous year; although now, as the penguins had not begun regularly to sit yet, they were not so noisy or troublesome as when he then intruded on their domain. Besides, as the sailor lad argued, the eggs were uncommonly good eating, and well worth risk getting them.

September came; and the brother crusoes were all agog with excitement, watching for the expected coming of the old Yankee skipper.

"Do you know what to-day is?" asked Fritz one morning, as Eric woke him up in turning out.

"What a fellow you are for dates!" exclaimed the other. "You ought to go and live in the East, where they cultivate them, brother! No, I can't say I recollect what day it is. Tuesday, is it not?"

"I don't mean that," said Fritz petulantly. "I alluded to the sort of anniversary, that's all."

"Anniversary of what?"

"Our landing here last year," replied Fritz.

"Oh, I forgot that!" exclaimed Eric.

"It strikes me you forget a good many things," said his brother in his dry way. "Still, what I was thinking of was, that we might now really begin to look out for Captain Brown. What a pity it is that you can't ascend to your old signalling station on top of the gully."

"Yes, it was all on account of the gra.s.s burning that our ladder got spoilt and--"

"Of course you didn't set it on fire, eh?" interposed Fritz.