John Hardy consulted the pilot, and the yacht was brought up and anchored under Stevn's Klint, in shelter, much to Pastor Lindal's comfort, who appeared at lunch fully recovered from his sea-sickness.
"Præstø," said he, "is so called after a priest called Anders; he was a monk at the time of the Reformation, but adopted the reformed religion. He had only a small copper coin, which always returned to him when he spent it, and received no other payment for his services. In the arms of the town of Præstø is a man in a priest's dress, supposed to be in his memory."
"Were there any Underjordiske in the cliff at the yacht's bow?" asked Hardy.
"There was fabled to be an Elle Konge," replied Pastor Lindal, "or king of the elves, and he occupied not only Stevn's Klint, but also an adjoining church, where a place in the wall is shown as his residence, and is called Elle Kongen's Kammer, or the king of the elves' chamber. In the neighbourhood of this church are the remains of an oak wood. The trees therein are said to have been trees by day, but the soldiers of the elf king by night. The church referred to is Storehedinge, and was built by a monk against the wishes of the great man of the locality, who, when the church was built, cut off the monk's head. The figure of a monk's head is on a stone in the wall by the altar.
"The church a little to the south of the lighthouse is called Høierup, and was built in fulfilment of the vow of a seaman when in danger. As the cliff crumbles away, the church is said to go a cock's footstep back on the mainland every Christmas night."
"What is the meaning of 'rup' as a termination to so many Danish places?" asked Hardy.
"It is your English 'thorp,' or Swedish 'torp,' or German 'dorf,' a village," replied the Pastor. "Vandstrup, for instance, is 'the village by the water,' as the Danish word for water is Vand. It is, as you know, close to the river."
The pilot had predicted that the wind would lessen at four o'clock in the afternoon, and the yacht got under weigh, and, carrying plenty of sail and full steam, made a rapid passage across Kiøge Bay, so disturbing sometimes to the breakfast of the Kiøbenhavner, who trusts himself to a pleasure excursion on its waters.
Off Dragør, the jack was again hoisted for the Copenhagen pilot, and the Rosendal steam yacht was at anchor off the Custom House at Copenhagen, before a late dinner, that evening.
"We must fill up with coal and water, mother, and it had better be done here," said Hardy; "it would give us time for an excursion to Roeskilde to see the Domkirke, or elsewhere."