[Illustration: "Fritz, with a strong hatchet forced the chest open, and
we all eagerly crowded to see the contents."]
As we ate, we talked of the chest, and our curiosity being stronger than
our hunger, we swallowed our repast hastily, and then ran down to the
shore. We were obliged to plunge into the water up to the waist, and
then had some difficulty to extricate it from the weed and slime, and to
push it on shore. No sooner had we placed it in safety than Fritz, with
a strong hatchet, forced it open, and we all eagerly crowded to see the
contents. Fritz hoped it would be powder and fire-arms; Jack, who was
somewhat fond of dress, and had notions of elegance, declared in favour
of clothes, and particularly of linen, finer and whiter than that which
his mother wove; if Ernest had been there, books would have been his
desire; for my own part, there was nothing I was more anxious for than
European seeds, particularly corn; Francis had a lingering wish that the
chest might contain some of those gingerbread cakes which his grandmamma
used to treat him with in Europe, and which he had often regretted; but
he kept this wish to himself, for fear his brothers should call him
"little glutton," and assured us that he should like a little
pocket-knife, with a small saw, better than anything in the world; and
he was the only one who had his wish.
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