"Stop," said Ernest, "don't kill the poor creature, he is but following his natural instincts; give him to me, and I will tame him." Fritz hesitated. "No, no," he said, "I don't want really to kill the bird, but I can't give him up; tell me how to tame him, and you shall have Master Knips." "Very well," replied Ernest, "I will tell you my plan, and if it succeeds, I will accept Knips as a mark of your gratitude. Take a pipe and tobacco, and send the smoke all around his head, so that he must inhale it; by degrees he will become stupefied, and his savage nature from that moment subdued." Fritz was rather inclined to ridicule the plan, but, knowing that Ernest generally had a good reason for anything of the sort that he proposed, he consented to make the attempt. He soon seated himself beneath the bird, who still struggled furiously, and puffed cloud after cloud upward, and as each cloud circled round the eagle's head he became quieter and quieter, until he sat quite still, gazing stupidly at the young smoker. "Capital!" cried Fritz, as he hooded the bird, "capital, Ernest; Knips is yours." CHAPTER VIII. Prop our young trees--A lecture on grafting--A new idea broached--Why should we not build stairs within the trunk of our tree?--Jack finds one objection--I make a beehive, and we drive the bees from the tree--Stair-making--Additions to our family of domestic animals--The education of the "pets"--Shoemaking--We lead water from the stream to Falconhurst--A strange animal approaches--Our old ass and his companion--The onager captured--Provisioning our winter quarters--Capture of ruffed grouse--We discover flax--The rainy season. Next morning the boys and I started with the cart, laden with our bundles of bamboos, to attend to the avenue of fruit trees. The buffalo we left behind, for his services were not needed, and I wished the wound in his nostrils to become completely cicatrized before I again put him to work. We were not a moment too soon; many of the young trees, which before threatened to fall, had now fulfilled their promise, and were lying prostrate on the ground, others were bent, some few only remained erect. We raised the trees, and digging deeply at their roots, drove in stout bamboo props, to which we lashed them firmly with strong broad fibers. "Papa," said Franz, as we were thus engaged, and he handed me the fibers as I required them, "are these wild or tame trees?" "Oh, these are wild trees, most ferocious trees," laughed Jack, "and we are tying them up lest they should run away, and in a little while we will untie them and they will trot about after us and give us fruit wherever we go. Oh, we will tame them; they shall have a ring through their noses like the buffalo!"