His brothers burst into a roar of laughter, and I must confess I found it no easy matter to keep my countenance.
`Come, Ernest,' said I, `now we have had our amusement, tell the little fellow what gunpowder really is.'
`It is not seed at all, Franz,' Ernest explained. `Gunpowder is made of charcoal, sulphur and saltpetre, mixed cleverly together; so you see it cannot be sown like corn, any more than shot can be planted like peas and beans.'
My carpentering meantime went on apace. In order to shape my sledge with ends properly turned up in front, I had chosen wood which had been part of the bow of the vessel, and was curved in the necessary way for my purpose. Two pieces, perfectly similar, formed the sides of my sleigh, or sledge, and I simply united these strongly by fixing short bars across them. Then, when the ropes of the donkey's harness were attached to the raised points in front, the equipage was complete and ready for use.
My attention had been for some time wholly engrossed by my work, and I only now observed that the mother and her little boys had been busily plucking above two dozen of the wild birds, and were preparing to roast them, spitted in a row on a long, narrow sword blade, belonging to one of our ship's officers.
It seemed somewhat wasteful to cook so many at once, but my wife explained that she was getting them ready for the butter-cask I was going to fetch for her on the new sledge, as I had advised her to preserve them half-cooked, and packed in butter.
Amused at her promptitude, I could do nothing less than promise to go for her cask directly after dinner. For her part, she resolved in our absence to have a grand wash of linen and other clothes, and she advised me to arrange regular baths for all the boys in future.
Early in the afternoon Ernest and I were ready to be off. Fritz presented us each with a neat case of margay skin to hang at our girdles.
We harnessed both cow and ass to the sledge and, accompanied by Juno, cheerfully took our departure, choosing the way by the sands, and reaching Tentholm without accident or adventure.
There, unharnessing the animals, we began at once to load the sledge, not only with the butter-cask, but with a powder-chest, a barrel of cheese, and a variety of other articles—ball, shot, tools and Turk's armour, which had been left behind on our last visit.