t fiord lying far east of Hekla when they should have followed
the course of it down to the sea. So, counting the time that had been
wasted, he concluded to take ship to a point of the southern coast in
the latitude of the Westmann Islands, thinking to meet old Adam
somewhere by the fiord's mouth. The storm delayed him, and he reached
the fiord too late; but he came upon some good news of Adam there:
that, all well, though sore beset by the hard weather, and enfeebled
by the misfortunes that had befallen them, the little band of
ship-broken men had, three days before his own coming, passed up the
western bank of the fiord on foot, going slowly and heavily laden,
but under the safe charge of a guide from Stappen.

Greatly cheered in heart at these good tidings Michael Sunlocks had
ordered a quick return, for it was unsafe, and perhaps impossible, to
follow up through the narrow chasms of the fiord in a ship under
sail. On getting back to Reykjavik he intended to take ponies across
country in the direction of Thingvellir, hoping to come upon old Adam
and his people before they reached the lake or the great chasm on the
western side of the valley, known as the Chasm of All Men.

And thinking, amid the flutter of joyful emotions, that on the
overland journey he would surely take Greeba with him, for he could
never bear to be so long parted from her again, all his heart went
back to her in sweet visions as his ship sped over the sea. Her
beauty, her gentleness, her boldness, her playful spirits, and all
her simple loving ways came flowing over him wave after wave, and
then in one great swelling flood. And in the night watches, looking
over the dark waters, and hearing nothing but their deep moan, he
could scarce believe his fortune, being so far away from the sight of
her light figure, and from the hearing of her sweet voice, that she
was his--his love, his wife, his darling. A hundred tender names he
would call her then, having no ear to hear him but the melancholy
waves, no tongue to echo him but the wailing wind, and no eye to look
upon him but the eye of night.

And many a time on that homeward voyage, while the sails bellowed out
to the fair breeze that was carrying him to her, he asked himself
however he had been able to live so long without her, and whether he
could live without her now if evil chance plunged his great happiness
into greater grief. Thinking so, he recalled the day of her coming,
and the message he