Who was ever happier than Rolf, when abroad in his skiff, on one of the
most glorious days of the year? He found his angling tolerably
successful near home; but the further he went, the more the herrings
abounded; and he therefore dropped down the fiord with tide, fishing as
he receded, till all home objects had disappeared. First, the
farm-house, with its surrounding buildings, its green paddock, and
shining white beach, was hidden behind the projecting rocks. Then Thor
islet appeared to join with the nearest shore, from which its bushes of
stunted birch seemed to spring. Then, as the skiff dropped lower and
lower down, the interior mountains appeared to rise above the rocks
which closed in the head of the fiord, and the snowy peak of Sulitelma
stood up clear amidst the pale blue sky; the glaciers on its sides
catching the sunlight on different points, and glittering so that the
eye could scarcely endure to rest upon the mountain. When he came to
the narrow part of the fiord, near the creek which had been the scene of
Erica's exploit, Rolf laid aside his rod, with the bright hook that
herrings so much admire, to guide his canoe through the currents caused
by the approach of the rocks, and contraction of the passage; and he
then wished he had brought Erica with him, so lovely was the scene.
Every crevice of the rocks, even where there seemed to be no soil, was
tufted with bushes, every twig of which was bursting into the greenest
leaf, while, here and there, a clump of dark pines overhung some busy
cataract, which, itself over-shadowed, sent forth its little clouds of
spray, dancing and glittering in the sunlight. A pair of fishing eagles
were perched on a high ledge of rock, screaming to the echoes, so that
the dash of the currents was lost in the din. Rolf did wish that Erica
was here when he thought how the colour would have mounted into her
cheek, and how her eye would have sparkled at such a scene.
Lower down, it was scarcely less beautiful. The waters spread out again
to a double width. The rocks were, or appeared to be lower; and now and
then, in some space between rock and rock, a strip of brilliant green
meadow lay open to the sunshine; and there were large flocks of
fieldfares, flying round and round, to exercise the newly-fledged young.
There were a few habitations scattered along the margin of the fiord;
and two or three boats might be seen far off, with diminutive figures of
men drawing their nets.
"I am glad I brought my net too," thought Rolf. "My rod had done good
duty; but if I am coming upon a shoal, I will cast my net, and be home,
laden with fish, before they think of looking for me."
Happy would it have been if Rolf had cast his net where others were
content to fish, and had given up all idea of going further than was
necessary: but his boat was still dropping down towards the islet which
he had fixed in his own mind as the limit of his trip; and the long
solitary reach of the fiord which now lay between him and it was
tempting both to the eye and the mind. It is difficult to turn back
from the first summer-day trip, in countries where summer is less
beautiful than in Nordland; and on went Rolf, beyond the bounds of
prudence, as many have done before him. He soon found himself in a
still and somewhat dreary region, where there was no motion but of the
sea-birds which were leading their broods down the shores of the fiords,
and of the air which appeared to quiver before the eye, from the
evaporation caused by the heat of the sun. More slowly went the canoe
here, as if to suit the quietness of the scene, and leisurely and softly
did Rolf cast his net: and then steadily did he draw it in, so rich in
fish that when they lay in the bottom of the boat, they at once sank it
deeper in the water, and checked its speed by their weight.
Rolf then rested awhile, and looked ahead for Vogel islet, thinking that
he could not now be very far from it. There it lay looming in the
heated atmosphere, spreading as if in the air, just above the surface of
the water, to which it appeared joined in the middle by a dark stem, as
if it grew like a huge sea-flower. There is no end to the strange
appearances presented in northern climates by an atmosphere so different
from our own. Rolf gazed and gazed as the island grew more like itself
on his approach; and he was so occupied with it as not to look about him
as he ought to have done at such a distance from home. He was roused at
length by a shout, and looked towards the point from which it came; and
there, in a little harbour of the fiord, a recess which now actually lay
behind him--between him and home--lay a vessel; and that vessel, he knew
by a second glance, was the pirate-schooner.
Of the schooner itself he had no fear, for there was so little wind that
it could not have come out in time to annoy him; but there was the
schooner's boat, with five men in it--four rowing and one steering--
already in full pursuit of him. He knew, by the general air and native
dress of the man at the helm, that it was Hund; and he fancied he heard
Hund's malicious voice in the shout which came rushing over the water
from their boat to his. How fast they seemed to be coming! How the
spray from their oars glittered in the sun, and how their wake
lengthened with every stroke! No spectator from the shore (if there had
been any) could have doubted that the boat was in pursuit of the skiff,
and would snap it up presently. Rolf saw that he had five determined
foes gaining upon him every instant; and yet he was not alarmed. He had
had his reasons for thinking himself safe near Vogel islet; and
calculating for a moment the time of the tide, he was quite at his ease.
As he took his oars he smiled at the hot haste of his pursuers, and at
the thought of the amazement they would feel when he slipped through
their fingers; and then he began to row.
Rolf did not overheat himself with too much exertion. He permitted his
foes to gain a little upon him, though he might have preserved the
distance for as long as his strength could have held out against that of
the four in the other boat. They ceased their shouting when they saw
how quietly he took his danger. They really believed that he was not
aware of being their object, and hoped to seize him suddenly, before he
had time to resist.
When very near the islet, however, Rolf became more active, and his
skiff disappeared behind its southern point while the enemy's boat was
still two furlongs off. The steersman looked for the reappearance of
the canoe beyond the islet; but he looked in vain. He thought, and his
companions agreed with him, that it was foolish of Rolf to land upon the
islet, where they could lay hands on him in a moment; but they could
only suppose he had done this, and prepared to do the same. They rowed
quite round the islet; but, to their amazement, they could not only
perceive no place to land at, but there was no trace of the canoe. It
seemed to them as if those calm and clear waters had swallowed up the
skiff and Rolf in the few minutes after they had lost sight of him.
Hund thought the case was accounted for when he recalled Nipen's
displeasure. A thrill ran through him as he said to himself that the
spirits of the region had joined with him against Rolf, and swallowed
up, almost before his eyes, the man he hated. He put his hands before
his face for a moment, while his comrades stared at him; then, thinking
he must be under a delusion, he gazed earnestly over the waters as far
as he could see. They lay calm and bright, and there was certainly no
kind of vessel on their surface for miles round.
The rowers wondered, questioned, uttered shouts, spoke altogether, and
then looked at Hund in silence, struck by his countenance, and finished
by rowing two or three times round the islet, slowly, and looking up its
bare rocky sides, which rose like walls from the water; but nothing
could they see or hear. When tired of their fruitless search they
returned to the schooner, ready to report to the master that the fiord
was enchanted.
Meantime, Rolf had heard every plash of their oars, and every tone of
their voices, as they rowed round his place of refuge. He was not on
the islet, but in it. This was such an island as Swein, the sea-king of
former days, took refuge in; and Rolf was only following his example.
Long before, he had discovered a curious cleft in the rock, very narrow,
and all but invisible at high-water, even if a bush of dwarf-ash and
birch had not hung down over it. At high-water, nothing larger than a
bird could go in and out beneath the low arch; but there was a cavern
within, whose sandy floor sloped up to some distance above high-water
mark. In this cavern was Rolf. He had thrust his little skiff between
the walls of rock, crushing in its sides as he did so. The bushes
drooped behind him, hanging naturally over the entrance as before. Rolf
pulled up his broken vessel upon the little sandy beach, within the
cave, saved a pile of his fish, and returned a good many to the water,
and then sat down upon the sea-weeds to listen. There was no light but
a little which found its way through the bushy screen and up from the
green water; and the sounds--the tones of the pirates' voices, and the
splash of the waters against the rocky walls of his singular prison--
came deadened and changed to his ear; yet he heard enough to be aware
how long his enemies remained, and when they were really gone.
It was a prison indeed, as Rolf reflected when he looked upon his broken
skiff. He could not imagine how he was to get away; for his friends
would certainly never think of coming to look for him here: but he put
off the consideration of this point for the present, and turned away
from the image of Erica's distress when he should fail to return. He
amused himself now with imagining Hund's disappointment, and the reports
which would arise from it; and he found this so very entertaining that
he laughed aloud; and then the echo of his laughter sounded so very
merry that it set him laughing again. This, in its turn, seemed to
rouse the eider-ducks that thronged the island; and their clatter and
commotion was so great overhead that any spectator might have been
excused for believing that Vogel islet was indeed bewitched.