rmured it upon the day she died, although to all
appearances she had become an Englishwoman; and the first line of it,

"'Hail to thee, Sky King! Hail to thee, Earth King!'

were the last words that the gentlest creature whom I ever knew, my
sister Gudrun, muttered before she became unconscious. This song it
has always been held unlucky to sing except upon the actual approach
of death, since otherwise, so goes the old saying, 'it draws the arrow
whose flight was wide,' and Death, being invoked, comes soon. Still,
for me I believed there was no escape, for I was quite sure from her
movements that the steamer would soon come off the rocks, and I had
made my confession and said my prayers. So I began to sing, and sang my
loudest, pleasing myself with the empty, foolish thought that in some
such circumstance as this many a Danish sea-king's daughter had sung
that song before me.

"Then, as I sang, a wind began to blow, and suddenly the mist was driven
before it like puffs of smoke, and in the east behind me rose the red
ball of the sun. Its light fell upon the rocks and upon the waters
beyond them, and there to my amazement, appearing and disappearing
upon the ridges and hollows of the swell, I saw a man alone in a
sailing-boat, which rode at anchor within thirty yards of me. At first I
thought that it must be my father, then the man caught sight of me, and
I saw his face as he looked up, for the sun shone upon his dark eyes,
and knew that he was a stranger.

"He lifted his anchor and called to me to come to the companion ladder,
and his voice told me that he was a gentleman. I could not meet him as I
was, with my hair loose, and bare-footed like some Norse Viking girl. So
I took the risk, for now, although I cannot tell why, I felt sure that
no harm would come to him or me, and ran to the cabin, where also was
this volume of my diary and my mother's jewels that I did not wish to
lose. When at last I was ready after a fashion, I came out with my bag,
and there, splashing through the water of the saloon, ran the stranger,
shouting angrily to me to be quick, as the ship was lifting off the
rock, which made me think how brave it was of him to come aboard to look
for me. In an instant he caught me by the hand, and was dragging me up
the stairs and down the companion, so that in another minute we
were together in the boat, and he had told me that my father was on
shore--thank God!--though with a broken thigh."

Then some pa