We now filled our three wheelbarrows with such things as we could
carry, not forgetting the sheets of iron and the graters, and trudged
home. Our dogs announced our approach, and all rushed out to meet us. A
curious and merry examination commenced. They laughed at my graters; but
I let them laugh, for I had a project in my head. The penguins I
intended for our poultry-yard; and, for the present, I ordered the boys
to tie each of them by a leg to one of our geese or ducks, who opposed
the bondage very clamorously; but necessity made them submissive.
My wife showed me a large store of potatoes and manioc roots, which she
and her children had dug up the evening before. We then went to supper,
and talked of all we had seen in the vessel, especially of the pinnace,
which we had been obliged to leave. My wife did not feel much regret on
this account, as she dreaded maritime expeditions, though she agreed she
might have felt less uneasiness if we had had a vessel of this
description. I gave my sons a charge to rise early next morning, as we
had an important business on hand; and curiosity roused them all in very
good time. After our usual preparations for the day, I addressed them
thus: "Gentlemen, I am going to teach you all a new business,--that of a
baker.
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