re do you belong, Ole?"

"I don't belong anywhere," answered the waif, looking doubtfully about
him.

"Where were you born?"

"In Norway, sir."

"Then you are a Norwegian."

"I reckon I am."

"In what part of Norway were you born?"

"In Bratsberg."

"That's where all the brats come from," suggested Sheridan.

"This one came from there, at any rate," added Mayley. "But where is
Bratsberg, and what is it?"

"It is an _amt_, or province, in the south-eastern part of Norway."

"I came from the town of Laurdal," said Ole.

"Do the people there speak English as well as you do?" asked the
captain.

"No, sir. I used to be a _skydskarl_, and--"

"A what?" demanded the crowd.

"A _skydskarl_--a boy that goes on a cariole to take back the horses.
I learned a little English from the Englishmen I rode with; and then I
was in England almost a year."

"But how came you out here, alone in an open boat?" asked the captain,
returning to his first inquiry.

Ole put one of his dirty fingers in his mouth, and looked stupid and
uncommunicative. He glanced at the young officers around him, and
then over the rail at the sea.

"Were you wrecked?" inquired the captain.

"No, sir; not wrecked," replied Ole. "I never was wrecked in my life."

"What are you doing out here, out of sight of land, in a boat half
full of water?" persisted the captain.

"Doing nothing."

"Did you get blown off from the shore?"

"No, sir; a southerly wind wouldn't blow anybody off from the south
coast of Norway," answered Ole, with a smile which showed that he had
some perception of things absurd in themselves.

"You are no fool."

"No, sir, I am not; and I don't think you are," added Ole, again
glancing at Captain Cumberland from head to foot.

The young tars all laughed at the waif's retort, and the captain was
not a little nettled by the remark. He pressed Ole rather sharply for
further information in regard to his antecedents; but the youth was
silent on this point. While the crowd were anxiously waiting for the
stranger to declare himself more definitely, eight bells sounded at
the wheel, and were repeated on the large bell forward by the lookout.
From each vessel of the fleet the bells struck at nearly the same
moment, and were followed by the pipe of the boatswain's whistle,
which was the signal for changing the watch. As the officers of the
ship were obliged to attend to their various duties, Ole Amundsen was
left alone with t