"What is the name of the long, richly wooded stretch of land to the left?" asked Regina of the helmsman standing near.
"Wolf's Island," answered the man.
"There you have it yourself, dear lady ... Wolf's Island! That is the first name we hear on Finland's coast, and shows us what we have to expect."
The vessel now turned to the north, and sailed between Langskär and Sundomland, again veered towards the east, passed Brändö, went safely over the shoals, which now exclude large vessels from its waters, into Vasa's at that time superb harbour, and then saluted with sixteen cannon the castle of Korsholm.
CHAPTER IV.
THE PEASANT—THE BURGHERS—AND THE SOLDIER.
When the rich Aron Bertila seated himself in his nice chaise to take a short journey to Vasa, it was decided, as a pledge of the restored good feeling between father and daughter, that Meri should take the seat by his side, and purchase in town some salt fish, hops, and certain spices, ginger and cinnamon, which already began to be seen in the houses of the wealthiest peasants. Both father and daughter had their private interests in the journey; but neither would confess that it was news from Germany which each sought. Larsson had charge in the meantime of the home work.
It was just when Gustaf Adolf and Wallenstein stood opposed at Nürnberg. Soldiers were badly wanted, and Oxenstjerna wrote constantly from Saxony to hasten the arrival of additional reinforcements. The harvesting at its height, clashed with the harvesting of war, also at its greatest altitude. A large number of conscripts were compelled to go down to Vasa from the neighbouring villages, then they were taken to Stockholm, and thence to the scene of war in Germany.
At that epoch military drill was not nearly so complicated as it is now; to stand fairly in the ranks, rush straight at the enemy on command, to aim well—as the East Bothnians had learned beforehand in the seal-hunts—and to hew away manfully, these were the chief things. Thus one can understand why many of these peasant boys, just taken from the plough, were able to fall with honour by the side of their king at Lützen.
The town of Vasa was then only twenty years old, and much smaller than now, not merely on account of its youth, but because all expansion was stopped on the south side by the crown fields of Korsholm. Around the old Mustasaari church, on the northern side of "Kopmans" and "Stora" streets, were a few rows of newly built one-storey houses, with six or eight small shops. Near the harbour stood storehouses, and that neighbourhood was also filled with fishermen's and sailors' huts in groups, for regular streets were considered superfluous by the architects of that time, and the closer the houses stood together, the greater the mutual protection in stormy periods.