"The calf shall be yours, my boy. Make him as tame as you can, and we will see about letting you mount him some day; but remember, he will be a great bull long before you are nearly a man. Now, what will you call him?"
"Shall I call him Grumble, father? Hear what a low muttering noise he makes!"
"Grumble will do famously."
"Grumble, Grumble. Oh, it beats your buffalo's name hollow, Jack!"
"Not a bit," said he; "why, you can't compare the two names. Fancy mother saying, 'Here comes Franz on Grumble, but Jack riding on the Storm.' Oh, it sounds sublime!"
We named the two puppies Bruno and Fawn, and so ended this important domestic business.
For two months we worked steadily at our salt-cave, in order to complete the necessary arrangement of partition walls, so as to put the rooms and stalls for the animals in comfortable order for the next long rainy season, during which time, when other work would be at a standstill, we could carry on many minor details for the improvement of the abode.
We leveled the floors first with clay; then spread gravel mixed with melted gypsum over that, producing a smooth, hard surface, which did very well for most of the apartments; but I was ambitious of having one or two carpets and set about making a kind of felt in the following way:
I spread out a large piece of sailcloth, and covered it equally all over with a strong liquid, made of glue and isinglass, which saturated it thoroughly. On it we then laid wool and hair from the sheep and goats, which had been carefully cleaned and prepared, and rolled and beat it until it adhered tolerably smoothly to the cloth. Finally it became, when perfectly dry, a covering for the floor of our sitting room by no means to be despised.
One morning, just after these labors at the salt-cave were completed, happening to awake unusually early, I turned my thoughts, as I lay waiting for sunrise, to considering what length of time we had now passed on this coast, and discovered, to my surprise, that the very next day would be the anniversary of our escape from the wreck. My heart swelled with gratitude to the gracious God, who had then granted us deliverance, and ever since had loaded us with benefits; and I resolved to set to-morrow apart as a day of thanksgiving, in joyful celebration of the occasion.