Lendle

CONTENTS.

page
I. A Waif on the North Sea 11
II. Off the Naze of Norway 27
III. An Accident to the Second Cutter 43
IV. Norway in the Past and the Present 59
V. Mr. Clyde Blacklock and Mother 76
VI. A Day at Christiansand 92
VII. Up the Christiania Fjord 110
VIII. Sights of Christiania, and other Matters 128
IX. The Excursion without Running away 146
X. Gottenburg and Finkel 164
XI. On the Way to the Rjukanfos 181
XII. The Boatswain and the Briton 201
XIII. The Meeting of the Absentees 218
XIV. Through the Sound to Copenhagen 237
XV. Copenhagen and Tivoli 255
XVI. Excursion to Klampenborg and Elsinore 274
XVII. To Stockholm by Göta Canal 292
XVIII. Up the Baltic 310
XIX. The Cruise in the Little Steamer 329
XX. Stockholm and its Surroundings 349
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A WAIF ON THE NORTH SEA.

“Boat on the weather bow, sir!” shouted the lookout on the top-gallant forecastle of the Young America.

“Starboard!” replied Judson, the officer of the deck, as he discovered the boat, which was drifting into the track of the ship.

“Starboard, sir!” responded the quartermaster in charge of the wheel.

“Steady!” added the officer.

“Steady, sir,” repeated the quartermaster.

By this time a crowd of young officers and seamen had leaped upon the top-gallant forecastle, and into the weather rigging, to obtain a view of the little boat, which, like a waif on the ocean, was drifting down towards the coast of Norway. It contained only a single person, who was either a dwarf or a boy, for he was small in stature. He lay upon a seat near the stern of the boat, with his feet on the gunwale. He was either asleep or dead, for though the ship had approached within hail, he neither moved nor made any sign. The wind was light from the southward, and the sea was quite calm.

“What do you make of it, Ryder?” called the officer of the deck to the second master, who was on duty forward.

“It is a flat-bottomed boat, half full of water, with a boy in it,” answered Ryder.

“Hail him,” added the officer of the deck.

“Boat, ahoy!” shouted Ryder, at the top of his lungs.

The person in the boat, boy or man, made no reply. Ryder repeated the hail, but with no better success. The officers and seamen held their breath with interest and excitement, for most of them had already come to the conclusion that the occupant of the boat was dead. A feeling akin to horror crept through the minds of the more timid, as they gazed upon the immovable body in the dilapidated craft; for they felt that they were in the presence of death, and to young people this is always an impressive season. By this time the ship was within a short distance of the water-logged bateau. As the waif on the ocean exhibited no signs of life, the first lieutenant, in charge of the vessel, was in doubt as to what he should do.