My wife did not share this dread. "Why should we go back?" she would
say. "We have here all that we can wish for. The boys lead a life of
health, free from sin, and live with us, which might not be the case if
we went out in the world. Let us leave our fate in the hands of God."
CHAPTER XIV.
As Fritz and Ernest were now men, they were of course free to go where
they chose, and to come back when their will led them home. Thus, from
time to time they took long trips, and went far from Rock House. They
had fine boats and strong steeds, and of these they made such good use
that there was scarce a spot for leagues round that was not well known
to them.
At one time, Fritz had been so long from home that we had a dread lest
he should have lost his way, or fallen a prey to wild beasts. When he
came back he told us a long tale of what he had seen and where he had
been, and how he had brought with him birds, beasts, moths, and such
strange things as he thought Ernest would like to see. When he had
done, he drew me out into our grounds and said he had a strange thing
to tell me. It seems that he found a piece of white cloth tied to the
foot of a bird which he had struck down with a stick, on which were
these words: "Save a poor soul, who is on the rock from which you may
see the smoke rise.
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