A few hours later, after carefully threading her way through narrow channels, between numerous rocky islets that rose boldly from the water, the Fish-hawk dropped her anchor, and furled her sails in the harbor of Reykjavik. There were two or three square-rigged vessels in the port, and a number of fishing boats; but though it was still broad daylight, there were no signs of life aboard them, nor in the forlorn-looking little town in front of them. A solemn stillness, broken only by the occasional barking of dogs, brooded over the entire scene, and it was hard to realize that this was the capital of one of the oldest nations of the old world.
Breeze thought they must have made some mistake, and got into the wrong place, and Captain Coffin would have been inclined to agree with him if it had not been for the evidence of his chart; but there was no room for doubt there. Probably no coasts on the globe have been more accurately or thoroughly surveyed than those of Iceland, and no one who has a knowledge of how they were made ever disputes the maps issued by the Danish War Office.
“It’s all right, Breeze,” said the skipper. “This is the place we’ve been hunting for, miserable as it appears. We’d better turn in now for a few hours’ sleep, and perhaps things will look better to us to-morrow.”
But they did not; for under the lowering skies, and through the drizzling rain in which they next came on deck, the scene looked, if possible, more dreary than it had done the night before. About six o’clock the schooner was boarded by a man wearing an official cap, a long-skirted coat, and big boots, who was rowed off from the town in a small boat carrying a green flag. He was very polite, and talked a great deal of Danish, together with a few words of English, some French, and another language, which Breeze afterwards discovered to be Latin.
In spite of all this, he finally succeeded in giving them to understand that he was the Health Officer of the port, and wished to see the schooner’s papers. Being shown into the cabin, he carefully inspected these, though he was evidently unable to make anything from them, except that the vessel came from the United States.
In return, he handed the captain a long printed paper, of which nobody on board could read a word, and gravely selected a single silver coin from the handful that was offered him in payment of the port charges and his services. He satisfied himself by looking at them, that the crew were all in good-health; and learning that the schooner was in need of water, accepted one more dollar as a water fee, and pointed out a place on shore where they could take all they wanted. Then politely lifting his cap, he stepped into his boat, and was pulled back to the town.
“Well, boys,” said the skipper, when this official had gone, “I suppose it’s all right now, and we are free of the city, though I’m blamed if I can make out who that chap was. He may have been the governor himself for all I know. However, let’s get our water aboard, have a look at the place, and get away again as soon as we can, for we’ll all have the blues if we stay here many hours.”
When Captain Coffin and Breeze went on shore, soon afterwards, they found the city to consist of about a hundred one-story houses, painted black, and containing two or three rooms each, half a dozen stores in two-storied buildings, a comfortable-looking governor’s residence, a university, a forlorn-looking hotel, a stone church called the cathedral, and a windmill. These were crowded together, without any attempt at regularity, on a narrow strip of rocky land between the harbor and a lagoon.
Drawn up on the beach, in front of a row of rickety old wooden warehouses, were scores of fishing boats, and the whole place reeked with the smell of fish, fresh, dried, and decaying. Everywhere were nets, oars, and piles of fish. Brawny, hard-featured women trudged along the ill-paved streets carrying great loads of fish on frames like stretchers; while the men of the town lounged at the corners, with pipes in their mouths, and watched them. A drove of ponies fastened in a line, each to the tail of the one ahead of him, bore immense packs of merchandise on their backs; and between the houses prowled lean, villanous-looking dogs in search of something to eat or a chance to fight.
Inside of an hour Breeze and the captain had seen all they wanted to see of the city, and began to retrace their steps towards the landing. Just before they reached it they heard a great noise of shouting and laughter, and upon turning a corner they came upon a most comical sight.