The turtle was evidently greatly exhausted, and no wonder, since it had been acting the part of a steam tug, and had been dragging, at full speed, a couple of heavily laden vessels. Its intention was to escape to land; but I leaped into the water, and wading up to it, dispatched it with my ax. Such was its tenacity of life, however, that it did not cease its struggles, until I had actually severed its head from its body.
As we were by no means far from Falconhurst, Fritz gave notice of our approach by firing off his gun, as well as shouting loudly in his glee; and, while we were yet engaged in securing our boats and getting the turtle on shore, the whole family appeared in the distance, hastening eagerly toward us; and our new prize, together with the well-laden boat and raft, excited the liveliest interest; my wife's chief pleasure, however, consisted in seeing us back, as our night's absence had disturbed her, and she was horrified by the description of our dangerous run in the wake of the fugitive turtle.
Being anxious to remove some of our goods before night, the boys ran off to fetch the sledge; while I, having no anchor, contrived to moor the boats by means of some of the heavy blocks of iron we had brought.
It required our united strength to get the turtle hoisted on to the sledge, its weight being prodigious; we found it, indeed, with the addition of the sapling fruit trees, quite a sufficient load.
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 and cook it 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 epicure. 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."