"Stop, father," he replied, "you interrupt me too soon; we thought of that possibility too, and provided against it. We stretched a long line right across the defile and strung on it feathers and rags and all sorts of other things, which danced and fluttered in the wind and looked so strange that I am perfectly certain that the herd will never attempt to pass it; in fact, Levaillant, from whom I learned the trick, says, in his 'Voyage au Cap de Bonne Espérance,' that the Hottentots make use of the method for penning in the antelopes they have caught in the chase." "Well done," said I, "I am glad to see that you remember what you have read. The antelopes are welcome to New Switzerland, but, my boy," I added, "I cannot say the same for the rabbits you have there; they increase so rapidly that if you establish a colony of the little wretches your next difficulty will be to get rid of them." "True," he replied, "but my idea was to place them upon Whale Island, where they would find abundant food, and at the same time in no way trouble us. May I not establish a warren there? It would be so useful. Do you know, my eagle caught these pretty little fellows for me? I saw a number of them running about and so unhooded him, and in a few minutes he brought me three--one dead, with whose body I rewarded him, and these two here, unhurt." "Now, father," said Jack, interrupting him, "do listen to me and hear my story, or else Fritz will begin upon my adventures and tire you out with his rigmarole descriptions." "Certainly, Jack," I said, "I am quite ready to listen to you. First and foremost, how did you bring down those beautiful little animals you have there?" "Oh, we galloped them down. The dogs sniffed about in the grass while Fritz was away after the rabbits, out popped those little fawns, and away they went bounding and skipping, at the rate of thirty miles an hour, with Storm, Grumble, and the dogs at their heels. In about a quarter of an hour we had left the dogs behind and were close upon our prey. Down went the little creatures in the grass, and, overcome with terror and fatigue, were at our mercy. So we shouted to Fritz, and----" "My dear boy," said I, "according to your statement, Fritz must have been seven miles and a half off."