e beyond lay the
dismal expanse of the western sea, without a sail upon its leaden waste
of waters, so shunned by all. Dreariness, wreck, and desolation were on
every side; and it seemed to Salve that it was only a reflection of his
own life. He had got to be the owner of a brig, and there it lay, what
remained of it, buried in the sand. He had succeeded in making Elizabeth
his own, but had he thereby added anything to the happiness of his life?

He stood gazing at the remains of his brig, over which the yellow waves
were breaking, in a state of gloomy abstraction, from which he was only
aroused by the approach of Ib Mathisen and a party of his own crew, who
had followed him to the shore to see if possibly they might retrieve
some of their property. He joined them in the search, and with but small
result; three ship chests and the compass being all the reward of an
hour's labour among the timber-ends and bolts and pieces of rigging that
strewed the beach, or made ripples in the sand for a long distance in
either direction.

They remained that day in the fishing hamlet; and when Salve had made
his declaration before the authorities, and had paid the crew what he
owed them with the greater part of the money he had saved, he and
Elizabeth took passage for Christiansand in a corn ship from Harboere.

He was very silent on the way, thinking about his future; and the
prospect was not a bright one: he knew that there prevailed but one
opinion among the crew about the loss of the brig, that he had his own
folly only to thank for it; and as this, of course, would get about, his
chance of being employed as a skipper by any shipowner would be very
small. Elizabeth's popularity in Tonsberg might probably be of service
to him, but he would sooner starve than help himself to a situation by
means of it; and in her present circumstances she should not even return
to Tonsberg.

One only course remained open to him if he was not to begin again from
the very beginning--he would become an uncertificated pilot for the
Arendal district. No one knew the coast there better than he did; he had
always had the idea in his mind, ever since the night when he brought
the Juno into Merdoe; and out there, or in some other spot along the
coast, he reflected gloomily that he could have Elizabeth all to
himself.

When he announced his decision to Elizabeth, she entered with animation
into the project; and when he went on to add, that she would have