398 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



at the strange apparition that met his astonished 

 gaze, the old mate sprang out of bed and rushed 

 to the companion ladder in his shirt, in order to 

 escape on deck. Out went the light. " Pull him 

 back by his leg/' roared the skipper, which I man- 

 aged to do ; and I had better have left him alone, 

 for he immediately turned on me, and, pinning 

 me down on the table, began hammering away at 

 my head as I lay under him. If I had wished, I 

 could not have defended myself, for I was so con- 

 vulsed with laughter. In the mean time, the cap- 

 tain (who had sprung into his cabin, cast off the 

 skin and horns, and lit a candle) came to the 

 rescue. And if the old mate's astonishment was 

 great when he woke and saw the strange figure 

 by his bedside, it was far greater now, when he 

 saw only two human beings like himself in the 

 cabin. The pantomime — and I never saw a panto- 

 mime in my life half so good — did not take so long 

 to act as to describe. It was all a mystery to 

 him ; but he went back to his bunk a sober man, 

 and all he begged of us was, not to be left again 

 in the dark ; so the captain and I sat up yarning 

 in his cabin till the pilot came aboard. In the 

 morning, the old mate, who soon got excellent 

 friends with me, took, me on one side, and told me 

 confidentially that it was all a mistake about 

 Saatan being black ; he was grey — he could swear 



