t be one which will strike Peder; for he will be the first to
hear, as Oddo always is to see. Some of them will think it is a spirit
mocking, and some that it is my ghost; and my master and madame will
take it to be nothing but my own self. And then, in the doubt among all
these, my poor Erica will faint away; and while they are throwing water
upon her face, and putting some camphorated brandy into her mouth, I
shall quietly step in among them, and grasp Peder's arm, and pull Oddo's
hair, to show that it is I myself; and when Erica opens her eyes, she
shall see my face at its very merriest; so that she cannot possibly take
me for a sad and solemn ghost. And the next thing will be--"

He stopped with a start, as his eye fell upon his crushed boat, lying on
its side, half in the water and half out.

"Ah!" thought he, in a changed mood, "this is all very fine--this
planning how one pleasant thing will follow upon another; but I forgot
the first thing of all. I must learn first how I am to get out."

He turned his boat about and about, and shook his head over every
bruise, hole, or crack that he found, till he finished with a nod of
decision that nothing could be done with it. He was a good swimmer; but
the nearest point of the shore was so far off that it would be all he
could do to reach it when the waters were in their most favourable
state. At present, they were so chilled with the melted snows that were
pouring down from every steep along the fiord, that he doubted the
safety of attempting to swim at all. What chance of release had he
then?

If he could by any means climb upon the rocks in whose recesses he was
now hidden, he might possibly fall in with some fishing-boat which would
fetch him off; but, besides that the pirates were more likely to see him
than anybody else, he believed there was no way by which he could climb
upon the islet. It had always been considered the exclusive property of
the aquatic birds with which it swarmed, because its sides rose so
abruptly from the water, so like the smooth stone walls of a lofty
building, that there was no hold for foot or hand, and the summit seemed
unattainable by anything that had not wings. Rolf remembered, however,
having heard Peder say that when he was young there might be seen
hanging down one part of the precipice the remains of a birchen ladder,
which must have been made and placed there by human hands. Rolf
determined that he would try the point.