The shoals of herring made their appearance just as we finished our agricultural operations. This year we pickled only two barrels of them; but we were not so merciful toward the seals, which arrived on the coast directly afterward. We hunted them vigorously, requiring their skins for many purposes, more especially for the completion of the cajack. On the little deck of that tiny vessel I had made a kind of magazine, in which to store pistols, ammunition, water, and provisions, and this I meant to cover with sealskin, so as to be quite watertight. A couple of harpoons furnished with seal bladders were to be suspended alongside. CHAPTER XV. Trial of the cajack--Fritz kills a walrus--We carry home its head--The storm--Where is Fritz?--Safe at last--The fishing season--An expedition proposed--Three of the boys start for Woodlands--Pigeon post--Encounter with a hyena--Wood Lake explored--A tapir--Prospect Hill pillaged--A tragedy--The boys in danger--We join them--We build a summer house--Discover the cacao plant--Fritz ascends the stream--He sees elephants and hippopotami--Jack's "moist secret"--We return to Rockburg--Grace and beauty--Shark Island is fortified. At last came the day when Fritz was to make his trial trip with the cajack. Completely equipped in swimming costume--trousers, jacket, and cap--it was most ludicrous to see him cower down in the canoe and puff and blow till he began to swell like the frog in the fable. All trace of his original figure was speedily lost, and shouts of laughter greeted his comical appearance. Even his mother could not resist a smile, although the dress was her invention. I got the other boat out, that my wife might see we were ready to go to his assistance the moment it became necessary. The cajack was launched from a convenient shelving point, and floated lightly on the sea-green ocean mirror. Fritz with his paddles then began to practice all manner of evolutions: darting along with arrowy swiftness, wheeling to the right, then to the left; and at last, flinging himself quite on his side, while his mother uttered a shriek of terror, he showed that the tiny craft would neither capsize nor sink. Then, recovering his balance, he sped securely on his further way. Encouraged by our shouts of approbation, he now boldly ventured into the strong current of Jackal River, and was rapidly carried out to sea. This being more than I had bargained for, I lost no time in giving chase in the boat, with Ernest and Jack; my wife urging us to greater speed, and declaring that some accident could not fail to happen to "that horrid soap-bubble." We soon arrived outside the bay, at the rocks where formerly lay the wreck, and gazed in all directions for signs of the runaway.