single floating plank
or spar did they meet on the whole of this route, which is so much
frequented at the conclusion of the fishing season. Still, we must
take measures to secure information of a more positive nature. If we
receive no further news of the 'Viking' during the coming week, nor
any letter from Ole, I shall return to Christiania and ask the Naval
Department to make careful inquiries, and I feel sure that the result
will prove eminently satisfactory to all concerned."

In spite of the hopeful manner assumed by the professor, Joel and
Hulda both felt that he did not speak as confidently as he had spoken
before the receipt of the letter from Bergen--a letter whose contents
gave them little if any grounds for hope. In fact, Sylvius Hogg no
longer dared to venture any allusion to the approaching marriage of
Hulda and Ole Kamp, though he said to himself again and again:

"No, no, it is impossible! Ole Kamp never cross the threshold of Dame
Hansen's house again? Ole not marry Hulda? Nothing will ever make me
believe such a misfortune possible."

He was perfectly sincere in this conviction. It was due to the energy
of his character, to a spirit of hopefulness that nothing could crush.
But how could he hope to convince others, especially those whom the
fate of the "Viking" affected so directly?

A few days were allowed to elapse. Sylvius Hogg, who was now entirely
well, took a long walk every day, and persuaded Hulda and her brother
to accompany him. One day all three of them went up the valley of
Vesfjorddal half-way to the falls of the Rjukan. The next day they
went to Moel and Lake Tinn. Once they were even absent twenty-four
hours. This time they prolonged their excursion to Bamble, where the
professor made the acquaintance of Farmer Helmboe and his daughter
Siegfrid. What a cordial welcome the latter gave to her friend Hulda,
and what words of tenderness she found to console her!

Here, too, Sylvius Hogg did all in his power to encourage these worthy
people. He had written to the Navy Department, and the government was
investigating the matter. Ole would certainly return at no distant
day. He might drop in upon them, indeed, at any moment. No; the
wedding would not have to be postponed more than six weeks! The good
man seemed so thoroughly convinced of all this, that his auditors were
influenced rather by his firm conviction than by his arguments.

This visit to the Helmboe family did the young Hansens g