I intrust it to God's hands,
hoping that it may reach you safely; and as I shall not be there, I
beseech you to be present at the drawing. Accept the ticket with
my last thought of you. Hulda, do not forget me in your prayers.
Farewell, my beloved, farewell!

"OLE KAMP."

CHAPTER XII.

So this was the young man's secret! This was the source from which he
expected to derive a fortune for his promised bride--a lottery ticket,
purchased before his departure. And as the "Viking" was going down,
he inclosed the ticket in a bottle and threw it into the sea with the
last farewell for Hulda.

This time Sylvius Hogg was completely disconcerted. He looked at the
letter, then at the ticket. He was speechless with dismay. Besides,
what could he say? How could any one doubt that the "Viking" had gone
down with all on board?

While Sylvius Hogg was reading the letter Hulda had nerved herself to
listen, but after the concluding words had been read, she fell back
unconscious in Joel's arms, and it became necessary to carry her to
her own little chamber, where her mother administered restoratives.
After she recovered consciousness she asked to be left alone for
awhile, and she was now kneeling by her bedside, praying for Ole
Kamp's soul.

Dame Hansen returned to the hall. At first she started toward the
professor, as if with the intention of speaking to him, then suddenly
turning toward the staircase, she disappeared.

Joel, on returning from his sister's room, had hastily left the house.
He experienced a feeling of suffocation in the dwelling over which
such a dense cloud of misfortune seemed to be hanging. He longed for
the outer air, the fierce blast of the tempest, and spent a part of
the night in wandering aimlessly up and down the banks of the Maan.

Sylvius Hogg was therefore left alone. Stunned by the stroke at first,
he soon recovered his wonted energy. After tramping up and down the
hall two or three times, he paused and listened, in the hope that he
might hear a summons from the young girl, but disappointed in this,
he finally seated himself at the table, and abandoned himself to his
thoughts.

"Can it be possible that Hulda is never to see her betrothed
again?" he said to himself. "No; such a misfortune is inconceivable.
Everything that is within me revolts at the thought! Even admitting
that the 'Viking' has gone to the bottom of the ocean, what conclusive
proof have we of Ole's death? I can not believ