224 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



When I at length got on board the Beta I bade fare- 

 well to Ole and Sivert with many regrets, and turned 

 in the little cabin, laying my head upon the very 

 hardest cushion it has ever been my ill fortune to 

 strike. I could realise Jacob's feelings when he laid his 

 head upon a stone ; but I had very little sleep, and no 

 dreams of angelic ladders ! At six o'clock the skipper 

 brought me in the bottle of hot coffee which Miss Cole 

 had thoughtfully provided, and it proved a most 

 welcome refreshment. Soon afterwards we dropped 

 anchor at Christiansund, and I got on board the Aaro, 

 a fine vessel, and a 1 great improvement on the old 

 Tasso and Salmo which had conveyed my party on 

 former journeys. I had the very calmest voyage home 

 I ever remember ; the North Sea was in its best 

 humour, but we would have welcomed a little wind to 

 dissipate the fog which kept the unfortunate captain 

 and officers on the bridge during the greater part of 

 the last twenty-four hours. The mist only just 

 reached the top of our masts, and we could see blue 

 sky and sun above us, while a sort of rainbow of fog 

 seemed to hang by our starboard bow. It was im- 

 possible to see any distance, and the boom of our fog- 

 horn, answered by others from time to time, was by no 

 means a pleasant sound as we passed through the 

 fishing fleet on the Dogger Bank. We were some 

 hours late at Hull, and the Custom House examination 

 of our baggage was even more perfunctory than usual. 

 I missed the first train from Paddington, but reached 

 home by six o'clock on 1st September, delighted with 

 my short visit to beloved Norway. 



