side--

"It blows away, it blows away!"

And, again and again, the rope drove in and out and hither and thither.

"You had better take a spring at once, and not wait till you're tired,"
thought he.

It was a pretty long leap to take, but he went back a sufficient
distance, and then out he sprang.

Bardun was not the man to fall short of anything. He caught the rope and
held it tight.

And, oddly enough, it seemed now to run up the cliff-side of its own
accord, just as if some one were hoisting it.

But in front of the rocky crag to which he had fastened the rope, he
heard a soughing and a sighing, and something said, "I am the daughter
of the Wind-Gnome, and now thou hast dominion over me! When the blast
blows and whines about thee 'tis I who long for thee. And here thou hast
a rudder which will give thee luck and a fair wind whithersoever thou
farest. He who is with thee shall thrive, and he who is against thee
shall suffer shipwreck and be lost. For 'tis I who am in the windy
gusts."

Then all at once everything was quite still; but down on the sea below
there swept a heavy squall.

There stood Bardun with the rudder in his hand, and he understood that
it was not a thing to be lightly cast away.

Homeward he steered with a racing breeze behind him, and he had not
sailed far before he met a galeas which gave him the Bergen price for
his eider-down.

But Bardun was not content with only going thither once. He went just
the same as before, and he returned from the Dyrevig rock with a pile of
sacks of eider-down on his boat right up to the mast.

He bought houses and ships; mightier and mightier he grew.

And it was not long before he owned whole fishing-grounds, both
northwards and southwards.

Those who submitted to him, and did as he would have them do, increased
and prospered, and saw good days; but all who stood in his way were
wrecked on the sea and perished, for the Wind-Gnome was on his side.

So things quickly went from good to better with him. What was to him a
fair wind was the ruin of all those who were in any way opposed to him.
At last he became so rich and mighty that he owned every blessed
trading-place and fishing-station in all Finmark, and sent vessels even
as far as Spitzbergen.

Nobody durst sell fish up north without his leave, and his sloops sailed
over to Bergen eighteen at a time.

He ruled and gave judgment as it seemed best to him.

But the magistrates thought that such a