Clang! Clang! sounded the bell of the boat. Lars and Kari hurriedly said
good-bye to father and mother and ran over the narrow plank to the boat.
Lars and Kari live in Hammerfest. They were going to visit their
grandmother who lives about a two-days’ ride to the south of their home.
Soon their bags were put into the cabins where they would sleep that
night and they were on the deck waving their hands to their parents.
Then in big comfortable chairs, they sat on the deck. It was August and
the air was cool and pleasant.
Lars liked best to watch the boatmen do their work, but Kari wanted to
see the land they passed. You might think that Kari could see land only
to the left, for on the left is the coast of Norway, and surely there is
only water on the right toward the sea. But much of the time Kari saw
land on both sides. Sometimes, though, the land on the right was only
huge rocks in the water, or small spots of land with water all around
them where only birds live. But part of the way the pieces of land on
the right were so large that Kari could not see the ends of them. They
were only small islands with water all around them too. Lars and Kari
were going to an island. Their grandmother lived in a town built on an
island off the coast of Norway.
[Illustration: LARS AND KARI ON THE DECK OF THE SHIP]
For a long time both Lars and Kari watched the coast of Norway on their
left. For miles and miles they saw rolling banks of earth covered with
shrubs of birch not even as tall as the one-story houses along the coast
which were the homes of fishermen.
Soon they heard the whistle of the boat. Lars said that the whistle was
blowing because they were coming to a town. They ran to the other side
of the boat. By that time the boat was stopping, but it was still out in
the water some distance from the town. A rowboat was coming from the
town to meet the boat. The rowboat was bringing mail and packages for
the large boat, and it would take back to shore the mail, packages, and
passengers.
Lars and Kari had plenty of time to see the town. It was a fishing town.
Fish were hanging on lines all along the bank, and more fish were
stretched upon the ground to dry in the sun. The captain told Lars that
the fish were herring. Perhaps some of the boxes that were loaded on the
boat were boxes of herring which would be sent to America, for American
merchants buy a great deal of herring from Norway.
The boat had not gone far from the fishing town when Lars saw a fishing
boat. He called to Kari and together they leaned over the rail of their
boat to watch the fishermen. They had never seen so many fish before.
But they were soon watching the large gulls that flew along after the
fishing boat. Some of the birds left the fishing boat and followed their
boat. The gulls came so close that Kari almost touched one as it floated
along right over her head.
Kari told the captain about the gulls that evening when they were eating
supper in the dining room on the boat. The captain said, “During the
night the boat will pass a mountain where thousands and thousands of
birds roost on the rocks.”
“Can we see the birds from the boat?” asked Lars.
“You could see them,” replied the captain, “if you were awake, but the
boat will pass that rock at three o’clock in the morning. You will be
sound asleep.”
But Lars and Kari begged so hard that the captain promised to have them
called when the boat was near the bird roost.
Lars and Kari didn’t want to go to bed that night. They watched the sun
on the mountain peaks of the islands to their right and then back of
them to the north. At ten o’clock the sun was still sending a glowing
light over the water. The captain said that it would shine until about
eleven that night. But Kari thought that they should go to bed at ten
o’clock so that they could get a good sleep before three o’clock.
At three o’clock the steward of the boat knocked at the cabin door. Lars
and Kari jumped up quickly. Each one pulled on warm stockings and shoes
and coat and cap. They hurried to the deck. The sun was shining brightly
again; in fact it had risen two hours earlier.
[Illustration: BIRDS FRIGHTENED BY THE BOAT]
Suddenly the boat moved close to a rocky wall. Such a screaming of bird
cries! There on the rocks were so many, many birds that they never could
have counted them. And many more, frightened by the boat, were flying
about in the air crying wildly.
Lars and Kari were delighted to have seen the thousands of birds at
their resting place on the rocks, but they were glad to go back to bed,
even though the sun was so high in the sky. And they slept until eight
o’clock too.
Before noon they reached the island where their grandmother lived. A
boat came from the shore to meet them. They said good-bye to the captain
and the other workers on the boat and went to the shore where their
grandmother was waiting for them.