his was a noted fishing ground,
and here they would live, in little wooden huts, till autumn and bad
weather came round again.

The maiden and the two young men happened to share the same hut with
some friends, and fished daily from the same boat. And as time went on,
one of the youths remarked that the girl took less notice of him
than she did of his companion. At first he tried to think that he was
dreaming, and for a long while he kept his eyes shut very tight to what
he did not want to see, but in spite of his efforts, the truth managed
to wriggle through, and then the young man gave up trying to deceive
himself, and set about finding some way to get the better of his rival.

The plan that he hit upon could not be carried out for some months; but
the longer the young man thought of it, the more pleased he was with it,
so he made no sign of his feelings, and waited patiently till the
moment came. This was the very day that they were all going to leave the
islands, and sail back to the mainland for the winter. In the bustle
and hurry of departure, the cunning fisherman contrived that their boat
should be the last to put off, and when everything was ready, and the
sails about to be set, he suddenly called out:

'Oh, dear, what shall I do! I have left my best knife behind in the hut.
Run, like a good fellow, and get it for me, while I raise the anchor and
loosen the tiller.'

Not thinking any harm, the youth jumped back on shore and made his way
up the steep hank. At the door of the hut he stopped and looked back,
then started and gazed in horror. The head of the boat stood out to sea,
and he was left alone on the island.

Yes, there was no doubt of it--he was quite alone; and he had nothing to
help him except the knife which his comrade had purposely dropped on
the ledge of the window. For some minutes he was too stunned by the
treachery of his friend to think about anything at all, but after a
while he shook himself awake, and determined that he would manage to
keep alive somehow, if it were only to revenge himself.

So he put the knife in his pocket and went off to a part of the island
which was not so bare as the rest, and had a small grove of trees. From
one of these he cut himself a bow, which he strung with a piece of cord
that had been left lying about the huts.

When this was ready the young man ran down to the shore and shot one or
two sea-birds, which he plucked and cooked for supper.

In this way th