A Yacht Voyage to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden Part 18

"However, you can make some excuse," I observed, "if there be not sufficient wind, for it is no good floating on the Fiord in a calm."

"Very good, sir," answered D----; "the wear and tear are certainly more than the pleasure. But, I think, my Lord wants to reach Larvig as soon as possible."

"I know that," I said; "but a day won't make any difference."

"As you please, sir," replied D----; and I went below to know if R----, and P----, were getting up.

"Hollo! old fellow!" exclaimed R----, when he saw me, "what the devil brought you out of bed so early?"

"Why, simply because I could not remain there later."

"I suppose so," replied R----; and then, whistling, singing, and humming, he commenced his toilet.

"What sort of a day is it?" at length he asked. "The sun s.h.i.+nes I see; but how is the wind?"

"What little there is, is southerly," I replied.

"That's a bore, isn't it?" R---- observed.

"Why, that's as one may think," I said. "I am just as happy here as anywhere else."

"What's the good of frousting here at Christiania;" asked R----, disappointed at my difference of opinion.

"Why, look at the scenery. Nothing in the world is like it," I said warmly.

"Pooh!" replied R----, disgustedly, "all my eye! I came to fish, not to look at scenery. I suppose you want to go up to that confounded hill again. But do as you like. I am for Larvig."

The sun mounted towards the zenith, and still his beams had no power upon the sluggish atmosphere; and the quiet and warmth of the day were unrelieved by a breath of air. R---- consulted D----, and found it useless to get under weigh. As soon as I learned the decision that had been come to, I jumped into a boat, and began to row myself towards the mountain where I had met Gunilda.

"Mind you keep a sharp look out," shouted R----, to me, "for should the wind get up, we'll be off."

I raised my hand in the air, in token of a.s.sent, and to intimate I heard what he said.

"We'll fire a gun," he added in a louder voice. Again, I raised my hand aloft; and then applying myself to the oars, soon reached the land. I made the boat fast to a tree's stump, and commenced my ascent of the mountain. No Gunilda, as yesterday, stood near the stone.

Musing, I sat, watching the crew on board the yacht making preparations for our departure, should the wind s.h.i.+ft fair. I saw them running, like mice, up the shrouds, as they _boused_ up the mainsail, and heard them chaunt a cheering chorus, as they heaved in the slack of the cable. It was mid-day. I rose, and turning to the left hand, took my way through the fir forest. I had proceeded about half a mile, when I discerned the kneeling figure of a woman through the closely-planted trees. I approached. It was Gunilda.

A little mound of earth, overgrown with flowers, denoted the humble grave of some one dear to the recollection of the Norwegian girl. A crucifix of black wood, round the top of which was wreathed a small garland of wild flowers, was fixed at one end of the grave; and on the cross the two Norwegian letters "G.H." signified the initials of the dead one's name. By Gunilda's side lay a basket of fresh flowers, culled while yet the morning's dew was sparkling on them.

"I did not think, sir, to see you again," said Gunilda, as soon as she had perceived me; and ceasing in her dutiful care of removing the weeds that had crept up since her last visit.

"Yes, I am here once more; but I shall not disturb you again after to-day; though I regret my departure from Christiania, now that I have known you."

"You regard me well," she replied sadly; "and, perhaps, it is, sir, because you have seen me thus dutifully employed; but I do no more than she would have done for me, had I been the first to die. This, sir, is my mother's grave."

The girl turned away her face, and busied herself with the renewal of her task, and plucked the weeds, one by one, from the grave. How great was the contrast with my own country, England, where the moss and long gra.s.s soon conceal the tomb of relative and friend, and living footstep comes no more near the spot where the dead lie; but here, in simple Norway, the ties between those who breathe, and those who are gone, are still existent; nor does "death bring oblivion to the living as well as to the dead." Strewn with the flowers of yesterday, the grave gives no evidence that death has broken the strong links of affection; and while I gazed and marked this young girl's sweet solicitude, a melancholy feeling, even in the soul's desolation, came with a hope, that I too may not rest altogether unremembered.

"How can I fail," I replied, "to love one who has not only affectionate tenderness of heart, but surpa.s.sing beauty of form? G.o.d has denied you nothing."

"Oh! sir, do not say so," she exclaimed. "Heaven has been good to me; but I am also afflicted. My father sleeps in a distant land, and my poor mother here; and, look, how young I am to be alone."

The tears followed each other down her face, and the intensity of her grief was too great to allow Gunilda, for some moments, to speak.

Looking up into my face, her eyes still filled with tears, she said,

"My condition is one of extreme sorrow and loneliness; and if you could hear it all, you would confess that I have cause to weep as well as others. But think me not ungrateful."

"One whose heart is so guileless can never know ingrat.i.tude," I replied.

"But may I know your sorrows?"

"Would you like to hear them, sir?"

"I would."

"As I told you, then, sir," Gunilda said, rising from her kneeling att.i.tude, and sitting at my feet on the ground, "my father was a sailor.

His heart was as affectionate as his form was manly; and his was a nature not long to roam the world without the sigh of sympathy. In the summer of 1832, my father's vessel sailed from Christiania, bound to the Black Sea; and he has often told me how dreary his fate felt, doomed, as he was, to leave his country without one heart to think of him when absent, or rejoice when he should return. After a prosperous voyage the Mediterranean was reached, and the s.h.i.+p entered, with a fair wind, the Straits of the h.e.l.lespont. On one side, sir, of the h.e.l.lespont, is a small town called Sestos; it is a spot ign.o.ble now, but was, once, one of note. At Sestos a Turkish n.o.bleman, removed by age from the cares of State, had retired to pa.s.s in quietude the remainder of his life; and, surrounded by his harem, desired no other felicity than the companions.h.i.+p of his mistresses.

"The castle of this Turk lay by the Dardanelles, and from its windows the clear blue waters might be seen.

"Beautiful, and having yet the innocence of youth, and brought from her mountain home, near the Caucasus, to pant beneath the influence of a warmer sun, a Circa.s.sian maiden pined. One day, oppressed by the heat, the Circa.s.sian stole to a window overlooking the Straits, and strove to catch the freshness of the wind that pa.s.sed, cooled, from the surface of the sea. While she stood there, the barque which bore my father sailed in sight, and making her way with speed upon the water, soon drew, by her gallant trim and flowing canva.s.s, the attention of the girl; and with swelling heart she sighed to see the vessel move towards that part of earth from whence she came. That I may not weary you," Gunilda continued, "my father's vessel arrived in safety at her destined port; but, on her return homewards, a gale of wind arose, and the s.h.i.+p was stranded under the walls of the castle where the Circa.s.sian dwelt. My father and three other sailors were the only men saved from a crew of twenty-five."

Gunilda stopped; and, turning towards me, said,

"Were you ever, sir, in Turkey?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Because, sir," she answered, "they say the Turkish people are not compa.s.sionate; but I do not think that, for hear how kindly the Turkish n.o.bleman behaved to my poor father. When the tidings flew round the country that a European vessel had been cast away, a mult.i.tude of people hurried to the sh.o.r.e, some to see, and some to give aid; and among this latter cla.s.s, the good old Turk. My father, almost lifeless, by the n.o.bleman's command, was taken to the castle, and with kind attention, was soon sensible of recovery. Though a.s.siduity and tender care were shown alike by all, my father selected from the group of maidens who waited on him, a fair, slender girl, whose looks of sadness secured his solicitude to learn the sorrow that oppressed her youthful heart. When all were busy to restore my father's health and secure his comfort, this young girl would sit apart, and, mutely, gaze for hours on him; but when my father caught her glance, she would smile with sadness, and then look another way.

"In our country, Norway, we are betrothed for many months before marriage; and I suppose, sir, this custom is observed, that the dispositions may a.s.similate; but, sir," observed Gunilda, retaining my attention by her earnest countenance of inquiry, "do you not think that two youthful creatures may love instinctively? Must the affections be always fostered by the caution of time?"

"I think not," I replied, smiling to see her face beaming with anxiety to learn my answer. "As the sun-flower turns to the sun, and the petals of the rose open to the dew, so the human heart sighs for sympathy.

Nature is joined together by links identical to all; and the same law that governs the sap, and external freshness of that little herb, rules inexplicably our own affections, and visible demeanour. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I do," she answered; and clasped my hand with much delight.

"Indeed, Gunilda," I continued, "I believe in that heart's faith which, in England, is called 'love at first sight.'"

"And so do I," she exclaimed, sidling closer to my feet, "and so did my father. One day he took occasion, when all had retired, and left the youthful Circa.s.sian watching by his couch alone, to tell her how he loved her, and how devotedly he would watch over her happiness if she would become his bride. The maiden wept, and told him, in return, how reciprocal was her affection; but how insurmountable were the barriers between their union, since she had been purchased as a slave, and destined for the Turk's seraglio. Boldly defined as the forms of these mountains are against the heavens, my father's n.o.ble character yielded only to the sensitiveness of his heart; and when the Circa.s.sian made known to him her destined abjection, he turned his face away and wept in agony. Listen now to me, and hear the reason why I have been taught to love your countrymen.

"Resident in Sestos, a young Englishman met, by accident, my father a few days after his recovery, and seeing his dejected mien, entered into conversation; and desired, finally, to know if he could aid him in his return to Norway. My father told him he had no wish to see his native land again, since he had seen at Sestos that which an unhappy destiny had rendered dearer than the soil of his nativity.

"'No sorrow,' answered the young Englishman, 'is without alleviation.'

"'But this, sir,' my father said, 'is without remedy.'

"'If you desire money,' observed the Englishman, 'here is my purse; and when I come, some day, to Christiania, you can then repay me.'

"'I desire not gold, sir,' and my father bowed his head in sorrow.