My wife was satisfied when she saw the straw carried home and stacked; our crop of maize, which of course had not been threshed like the other corn, afforded soft leaves which were used for stuffing mattresses, while the stalks, when burnt, left ashes so rich in alkali as to be especially useful.
I changed the crops sown on the ground to rye, barley, and oats, and hoped they would ripen before the rainy season.
The shoals of herring made their appearance just as we finished our agricultural operations. This year we pickled only two barrels of them; but we were not so merciful toward the seals, which arrived on the coast directly afterward. We hunted them vigorously, requiring their skins for many purposes, more especially for the completion of the cajack. On the little deck of that tiny vessel I had made a kind of magazine, in which to store pistols, ammunition, water, and provisions, and this I meant to cover with sealskin, so as to be quite water-tight. A couple of harpoons furnished with seal bladders were to be suspended alongside.
CHAPTER XV
ADVENTURES OF THE BOYS AT WOODLANDS——THE ELEPHANT TRAIL
At last came the day when Fritz was to make his trial trip with the cajack. Completely equipped in swimming costume—trousers, jacket, and cap—it was most ludicrous to see him cower down in the canoe and puff and blow till he began to swell like the frog in the fable.
All trace of his original figure was speedily lost, and shouts of laughter greeted his comical appearance. Even his mother could not resist a smile, although the dress was her invention.
I got the other boat out, that my wife might see we were ready to go to his assistance the moment it became necessary.
The cajack was launched from a convenient shelving point, and floated lightly on the sea-green ocean mirror. Fritz with his paddles then began to practice all manner of evolutions: darting along with arrowy swiftness, wheeling to the right, then to the left; and at last, flinging himself quite on his side, while his mother uttered a shriek of terror, he showed that the tiny craft would neither capsize nor sink. Then, recovering his balance, he sped securely on his further way.