Eric had wondered much at not having come across this young man on the previous day when they had visited the settlement, although he looked about for him, so he was doubly pleased to see him now.
"Hullo!" cried out this Tristaner to the young German.

"So you are back again, eh ?" "Yes," said Eric.

"Come aboard a moment; I want to speak to you." "All right," exclaimed the other, who was a fine, stalwart young fellow, with jet-black hair and a bronzed face that appeared to be more tanned by the weather than owing its hue to coloured blood; when, in a jiffy, he had swung himself into the chains by the rope attached to the boat's bows and was by Eric's side on the deck of the _Pilot's Bride_, his face all over smiles.
"You're the very chap I was wanting to see," said Eric, shaking hands with him cordially.

"I was puzzled to know what had become of you yesterday.

I did not see you anywhere." "I was away up the mountain, gathering grass," replied the young fellow.
"So, you've returned here, as you said you would, early in the year ?" "You told me such fine accounts of the fishing," retorted Eric with a laugh, "that, really, I couldn't stop away.