"Then be off, and, remember, sharp six."
"Ay, ay, sir," cried the old seaman in a nautical tone that he had not
used for many years, and the very sound of which stirred his heart with
old memories. He was about to retire, but paused at the threshold of
the green door.
"Beg parding, sir, but if I might make so bold as to ax--"
"Go on, Bob," said Fred encouragingly.
"I heerd ye say to our cashier, sir, that you wos goin' for to _chase
the sun_. Wot sort of a chase may that be, sir?"
"Ha! Bowie, that's a curious chase, but not a wild goose one, as I hope
to show you in a month or two. You know, of course, that in the regions
of the earth north of the Arctic Circle the sun shines by night as well
as by day for several weeks in summer?"
"In coorse I do," answered Bob; "every seaman knows that or ought for to
know it; and that it's dark all day as well as all night in winter for
some weeks, just to make up for it, so to speak."
"Well, Bob, I am very desirous to see this wonderful sight with my own
eyes, but I fear I am almost too late of setting out. The season is so
far advanced that the sun is setting farther and farther north every
night, and if the winds baffle us I won't be able to catch him sitting
up all night; but if the winds serve, and we have plenty of them we may
yet be in time to see him draw an unbroken circle in the sky. You see
it will be a regular chase, for the sun travels north at a rapid pace.
D'you understand?"
Bob Bowie grinned, nodded his head significantly, retired, and shut the
door.
Fred Temple, left alone, seized a quill and scribbled off two notes,--
one to a friend in Scotland, the other to a friend in Wales. The note
to Scotland ran as follows:--
"MY DEAR GRANT,--I have made up my mind to go to Norway for three
months. Principal object to chase the sun. Secondary objects, health
and amusement. Will you go? You will find my schooner comfortable, my
society charming (if you make yourself agreeable), and no end of
salmon-fishing and scenery. Reply by return of post. I go to Hull
to-morrow, and will be there a week. This will give you ample time to
get ready.
"Ever thine, FRED TEMPLE."
The note to Wales was addressed to Sam Sorrel, and was written in
somewhat similar terms, but Sam being a painter by profession, the
beauty of the scenery was enlarged on and held out as an inducement.
Both of Fred's friends had been prepared some time before for this
proposal, and both of them at once agreed to assist him in "chasing the
sun!"
That night Frederick Temple dreamed that the sun smiled on him in a
peculiarly sweet manner; he dreamed, still further, that it beckoned him
to follow it to the far north, whereupon Fred was suddenly transformed
into a gigantic locomotive engine; the sun all at once became a green
dragon with pink eyes and a blue tail; and he set off in chase of it
into the Arctic regions with a noise like a long roar of the loudest
thunder!