known to him, had taken possession of his 
mind. Seeing that, while recounting his 
history, his guest discontinued dropping the 
pearls, he said.— 
“Surely you have not given me all your 
treasures?” 
“You have the last, my friend,” said the 
traveler. “This, indeed, I have still,” added 
he, opening a small red case, and showing 
a string of the same costly materials; but it 
is a necklace for my betrothed.” 
The old peasant seemed each moment to 
become uneasy. “It is hardly safe,” he mut¬ 
tered, “to travel with such valuable prop¬ 
erty ; but of course you are armed ?” 
“Not I,” returned the other. “Against 
whom should I arm myself—against our 
good Norwegian peasants?” 
“And yet those pearls,” said the old man. 
“Those pearls,” returned the other, “are 
the least part of my riches; the contents of 
my pocket book are a hundred times more 
valuable.” 
“A hundred times,” repeated Eric, looking 
round, and he unconsciously grasped his 
long knife. He approached the casement, 
and in trying to open it, broke one of the 
small panes of glass. The wind rushed 
through the aperture with a shrill noise that 
startled the traveler and Margaret from their 
seats. 
“It is the voice of the demon of the storm!” 
.said Eric, staring wildly about him. 
“It is the wind rushing through the broken 
glass,” replied the stranger, smiling. Be 
composed, my good friend; why do you 
handle your knife? Had it been the demon 
you feared it was, your weapon would no 
more have availed against him than the 
wind itself.” He hung his cloak before the 
broken window, and resumed his story. 
“Sometimes working,sometimes begging, 
it was many weeks before I arrived at 
Stockholm. The capital once reached,I fan¬ 
cied my difficulties over. Alas! they were 
but beginning. It was there, father Eric, 
that on many a long night, when I lay sleep¬ 
less from hunger, snch a supper as yours 
would indeed have been precious to me. At 
length my fortune changed. A learned man 
of the name of Linnaeus employed me to 
execute some commissions for him. My 
diligence pleased him, and he took me into 
his service. I found that, like myself, he 
had a passion for flowers and was then em¬ 
ployed in classing those of our northern re¬ 
gions. Seeing the attention with which I 
observed him, he asked me some questions, 
and emboldened by his condescension, I 
showed him a collection of dried plants I had 
brought with me from Norway. There were 
some among them that he had not been able 
to procure, and the circumstance gave him 
so much satisfaction that he interested him¬ 
self in my story. I told him of my love for 
Margaret, and the hopes with which I had 
left home; and my kind master, for e\*er 
honored be his name! from that moment 
became my friend. his advice I learned 
reading and writing, and I then remained 
for two years in his house pursuing my 
studies. At the end of that time he recom¬ 
mended me to the captain of a vessel bound 
for the island of Ceylon. We arrived on the 
very day that the pearl fishery commenced. 
It was a beautiful morning in the month of 
February, and the waters of Condatchy Bay 
sparkled in the sun as though millions of 
precious stones were floating on their surface. 
The shore was covered with huts, crowded • 
with inmates of every land and of every 
region. Goldsmiths, jewelers, and mer¬ 
chants were driving their bargains at the 
very edge of the sea. The wives and daugh¬ 
ters of the pearl-fishers greeted with songs 
the return of the successful barks, which 
were gayly decked out with flags, and crowds 
pressed round the fortunate divers to barter 
for their precious freight. 
“Among the crowd an old Indian woman 
particularly attracted my attention. She 
was poorly clad, and I saw her weeping as 
she gazed on the animated scene around her. 
My interpreter informed me that a few 
months previously she had lost both husband 
and son; who, it was supposed had been de¬ 
voured by some of the monstrous fish that 
are so often fatal to the divers. Since that 
time the poor woman was thought to have 
become deranged, for she wandered about, 
repeating continually: ‘Had they returned 
that day, they would have been rich for 
life!’ 
“As my interpreter concluded his tale, the 
subject of it approached us, and addressed 
him. 
