ipated. This being the 24th of May and the
Queen's birthday; to commemorate the event and keep our loyalty in good
trim, we fired, even under the ramparts of Cronenborg Castle, which is
not always liked, a royal salute; and, when we had accomplished about
one-half of our Lilliputian cannonade, a large French war-steamer passed
within thirty yards of us, and, not heeding the approximation of such a
terrible and sensitive neighbour, we continued our firing, and sent a
broadside right into the Frenchman's larboard ports, much to his
astonishment; for anticipating more deference to the French flag, the
engines were immediately stopped, and a Lieutenant in gold banded cap,
and thick moustache, started into sight, showing his chin just elevated
above the bulwarks, and eying us with great ferocity over the
lee-quarter; but repeating our salute with all the precision of an hour
glass, which R---- held, and the apparently sublime ignorance of
land-lubbers, Monsieur le Lieutenant seemed to feel some consolation for
our breach of etiquette, and paddled away again as hard as ever.

Not a breath of air was abroad, and the Sound lay silent as a lake. In
answer to the booming of our guns, from the town of Helsingborg, five
miles off, on the opposite coast of Sweden, we could hear the sound of
human tongues, and the bay of dogs, come echoing over the sea, so calm
was the day. A thousand vessels of all nations, some going up, others
returning from the Baltic, the deep blue sky, and the hot sun, reminded
me more of the Mediterranean than of the northern climate in which I was
wandering.

After we had concluded our salute, R---- ordered a swivel to be charged,
and, loading it with a handful of rifle balls, fired it towards the
coast of Sweden. The experiment was tried in order to satisfy our
speculations as to the distance our guns would carry. An immense flock
of wild ducks, rather more than a mile from us, rose as we fired; but
whether the report, or the bullets interfered with their fishing
amusements, I know not, for we did not see the smooth surface of the
water disturbed anywhere. Some of the sailors, however, were fanciful
enough to assert that they heard the balls strike the rocks on the
Swedish shore.

Every other object, except the high land of Sweden, lost to the eye,
Cronenborg was still, for a long way, visible; and, as the sun began to
descend, the old Castle, throwing its dark shadows almost across the
Sound, seemed to s