I leaped out of the boat, and with a hatchet soon put our
powerful conductor out of his misery.
Fritz uttered a shout of joy, and fired off his gun, as a signal of our
arrival. All came running to greet us, and great was their surprise, not
only at the value of our cargo, but at the strange mode by which it had
been brought into harbour. My first care was to send them for the
sledge, to remove some of our load without delay, and as the ebbing tide
was leaving our vessels almost dry on the sand, I profited by the
opportunity to secure them. By the aid of the jack-screw and levers, we
raised and brought to the shore two large pieces of lead from the raft.
These served for anchors and, connected to the boat and raft by strong
cables, fixed them safely.
As soon as the sledge arrived, we placed the turtle with some difficulty
on it, as it weighed at least three hundredweight. We added some lighter
articles, the mattresses, some small chests, &c., and proceeded with our
first load to Falcon's Nest in great spirits. As we walked on, Fritz
told them of the wondrous cases of jewellery we had abandoned for things
of use; Jack wished Fritz had brought him a gold snuff-box, to hold
curious seeds; and Francis wished for some of the money to buy
gingerbread at the fair! Everybody laughed at the little simpleton, who
could not help laughing himself, when he remembered his distance from
fairs.
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