he man at the helm watched the compass, which
was lighted by a lamp. A man at the prow was on the lookout for sudden
danger--ships, derelicts, or rocks. Another stood amidships. The first
mate paced the deck, watching for any change in the wind. Suddenly the
man at the prow shouted:

"Light on the starboard bow!" It was the light of a ship sailing in the
opposite direction towards us. In a snowstorm, in a fog, we might have
collided; then both might have gone to the bottom of the sea.

To the leeward of us was the barren, forbidding coast; to the windward
lay rocky islands. "Dear compass," I whispered, "we trust in thee; lead
us right; the night is very dark, and our eyes cannot see rocks ahead,
except, perchance, when it is too late."

Suddenly the bell struck: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight. It was midnight--time for the watch below to relieve the one on
duty, and for the captain to take the place of the mate. Every four
hours this change is made. I remained on deck, for I wanted to watch
this dark night.

I came on deck early the next morning, for I smothered in the close
confined cabin--I had been so accustomed to the bracing open air. As I
looked around me I saw nothing but the great horizon which surrounded
us. It had seemed so near every day, as we sailed towards it, and yet,
no matter how long we sailed, we never came nearer. This was because the
horizon is the boundless space in the midst of which the earth moves on
its axis round the sun.

In the morning we came to a place full of people dressed in furs. They
were Laplanders and Finlanders. A great fair was taking place, and most
of the people had crossed the mountains to the Arctic Sea, taking with
them for sale reindeer meat, butter, cheese, reindeer cheese made in the
summer and autumn, frozen ptarmigans, skins of reindeer, bears, foxes,
ermines, and other animals; ready-made clothing, gloves and shoes of
reindeer skin; hoofs of reindeer, and other things. They bought salted
and dried codfish, sugar, coffee, salt, and other groceries, flour, lamp
oil, tobacco, and things for their wives and children, and took back
cash with them.

After a short stay we raised our anchor, and continued to sail along
that bleak coast until we came to a hidden harbor, well protected by a
number of barren islands from the storms of the Arctic Ocean, and cast
anchor before a large fishing settlement. It was the beginning of April.

It was a strange place