“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.”