ingly. Sometimes they were correct, sometimes
altogether wrong.

Sometimes the fishing was best after it had been declared that the
herrings had spawned and gone out to sea. Sometimes, again, there was
no fishing, even when enormous shoals were reported; and people were
left with dearly purchased salt and empty barrels.

At the club after the dinner hour, and when business was considered
over for the day, there was a good deal of drinking and singing.

There was almost always some young skipper who, stepping forward,
would, in the deepest and gruffest tones at his command, ask
permission to treat the company to a glass. They know that he has
made more than a hundred dollars on one cargo, so he can afford to be
free with his money.

When the punch-bowl is placed before the seniors of the party,
Harbour-master Snell and the master pilot, a song in praise of the
herring is struck up; they empty their glasses after the fashion of
their forefathers, and sing in honour of "Gamle Norge," of the
shipping trade, and of the constitution.

Late into the night the windows rattled again with the chorus, and
the longer they sat the louder they sang, beating time on the table
with the thick tumblers.

But there were others in the town who never drank, nor set their feet
in the club, and yet whose interest and welfare lay in the fishing.
These were the Haugians, the holy ones, as scoffers called them.

Besides Sivert Jespersen and the brothers Egeland, who carried on a
large salting business in addition to their store, many other
Haugians speculated in herrings. Generally they had been peasant
boys, who had come to the town to take service with some of the
elders, and had thus learnt the Haugian frugality, exactness, and
diligence. As soon as they could start some little business on their
own account, they advanced rapidly.

At the fishing, where the life was very wild, they took their part,
although they were much ridiculed, because they sang hymns instead of
drinking and using bad language.

Gradually people began to see that these good folks were not to be
despised. There was nothing whatever against them; they were neither
rioters nor spendthrifts; their boats were always ready, and their
gear in good order, and although they neither swore nor drank, they
would sail a boat with the most daring.

While they bore themselves peaceably and quietly they were ever ready
to assert their rights, and people thought twice before