"Return to the wreck by all means," replied my wife, cheerfully. "Patience, order, and perseverance will help us through all our work, and I agree with you that a visit to the wreck is without doubt our first duty. Come, let us wake the children, and set to work without delay." They were soon roused, and Fritz, overcoming his drowsiness before the others, ran out for his jackal; it was cold and stiff from the night air, and he placed it on its legs before the tent, in a most life-like attitude, and stood by to watch the effect upon the family. The dogs were the first to perceive their enemy, and growling, seemed inclined to dispose of the animal as they had disposed of its brethren in the night, but Fritz called them off. The noise the dogs made, however, had the effect of bringing out the younger children, and many were the exclamations they made at the sight of the strange animal. "A yellow dog!" cried Franz. "A wolf!" exclaimed Jack. "It is a striped fox," said Ernest. "Hullo," said Fritz. "The greatest men may make mistakes. Our Professor does not know a jackal when he sees one." "But really," continued Ernest, examining the animal, "I think it is a fox." "Very well, very well," retorted Fritz, "no doubt you know better than your father! He thinks it is a jackal." "Come, boys," said I, "no more of this quarreling; you are none of you very far wrong, for the jackal partakes of the nature of all three, dog, wolf, and fox." The monkey had come out on Jack's shoulder, but no sooner did it catch sight of the jackal than it fled precipitately back into the tent, and hid itself in a heap of moss until nothing was visible but the tip of its little nose. Jack soothed and comforted the frightened little animal, and I then summoned them all to prayers, soon after which we began our breakfast. So severely had we dealt with our supper the previous night that we had little to eat but the biscuits, which were so dry and hard, that, hungry as we were, we could not swallow much. Fritz and I took some cheese to help them down, while my wife and younger sons soaked theirs in water. Ernest roamed down to the shore, and looked about for shell-fish. Presently he returned with a few whelks. "Ah," said he, "if we had but some butter." "My good boy," I replied, "your perpetual if, if, quite annoys me; why do you not sit down and eat cheese like the rest of us?" "Not while I can get butter," he said; "see here, father," and he pointed to a large cask, "that barrel contains butter of some sort or another, for it is oozing out at the end."