d the broken oar brought it out here."

"Indeed! But won't you tell us your story, Ole?"

"A story? O, yes. Once there was a king of Norway whose name was Olaf,
and half the men of his country were named after him, because--"

"Never mind that story, Ole. We want to hear the story about
yourself."

"About myself? Well, last year things didn't go very well with me; the
crop of potatoes was rather short on my farm, and my vessels caught
but few fish; so I decided to make a voyage up the Mediterranean, to
spend the winter."

"What did you go in, Norway?" asked Wilde.

"In my boat. We don't make voyages on foot here in Norway."

"What boat?"

"You won't let me tell my story; so I had better finish it at once. I
got back as far as the North Sea, and almost into the Sleeve, when a
gale came down upon me, and strained my boat so that she leaked badly.
I was worn out with fatigue, and dropped asleep one afternoon. I was
dreaming that the King of Sweden and Norway came off in a big
man-of-war, to welcome me home again. He hailed me himself, with,
"Boat, ahoy!" which waked me; and then I saw this ship. You know all
the rest of it."

"Do you mean to say you went up the Mediterranean in that old craft?"

"I've told my story, and if you don't believe it, you can look in the
almanac, and see whether it is true or not," laughed Ole. "But I must
go and show myself to the captain and the big gentleman."

"He's smart--isn't he?" said Sanford, as the young Norwegian went aft
to exhibit himself to the officers on the quarter deck.

"Yes; but what's the reason he won't tell how he happened out here in
that leaky tub?" added Rodman.

"I don't know; he wouldn't tell the captain, nor the principal."

"I don't understand it."

"No one understands it. Perhaps he has done something wrong, and is
afraid of being found out."

"Very likely."

"He's just the fellow for us," said Stockwell, in a low tone, after he
had glanced around him, to see that no listeners were near. "He speaks
the lingo of this country. We must buy him up."

"Good!" exclaimed Boyden. "We ought not to have let him go till we had
fixed his flint."

"I didn't think of it before; but there is time enough. If we can get
hold of his story we can manage him without any trouble."

"But he won't tell his story. He wouldn't even let on to the
principal."

"No matter; we must have him, somehow or other. Sanford can handle
him."

"I don't exactly believe in th