We then made the best of our way home, chatting merrily about our various adventures. The first thing to be done on arriving was to obtain some of the turtle's flesh to cook for supper. To my wife this appeared necessarily a work of time, as well as of difficulty; but I turned the beast on its back, and soon detached a portion of the meat from the breast with a hatchet, by breaking the lower shell; and I then directed that it should be cooked, with a little salt, shell and all.
`But let me first cut away this disgusting green fat,' said my wife, with a little shudder. `See how it sticks all over the meat. No one could eat anything so nasty.'
`Leave the fat, whatever you do!' exclaimed I. `Why, my dear, that is the very best part, and the delight of the epicures. If there be really too much, cut some off-it can be used as lard, and let the dogs make a supper of the refuse.'
`And the handsome shell!' cried Fritz. `I should like to make a water-trough of that, to stand near the brook, and be kept always full of clear water. How useful it would be!'
`That is a capital idea,' I replied, `and we may manage it easily, if we can find clay so as to make a firm foundation on which to place it.'
`Oh, as to clay,' said Jack, `I have a grand lump of clay there under that root.'
`Well done, my lad! When did you find it?'
`He found a bed of clay near the river this morning,' said his mother, `and came home in such a mess, I had regularly to scrape his clothes and wash him thoroughly!'
`Well, mother, I can only tell you I should never in all my days have found the clay, if I had not slipped and fallen amongst it.'
`That I can well believe,' returned his mother, `only, to hear your talk this morning, one would have thought your discovery of clay the result of very arduous search indeed.'