The Land of the Long Night Part 19

aegir and Ran had nine daughters, and their names were emblematic of the waves. They were called _Hefring_ the Hurling, _Hronn_ the Towering, _Bylgja_ the Upheaving, _Bara_ the Las.h.i.+ng.

The five other daughters were called _Himinglaefa_ the Heaven Glittering, _Blodughadda_ the b.l.o.o.d.y Haired, _Kolga_ the Cooling, _Unn_ the Loving, _Dufa_ the Dove.

The Vikings dreaded Hefring, Hronn, and Bylgja when far out at sea, and Bara when they were approaching the sh.o.r.e. These four waves are those the mariners dread to-day.

They believed that these daughters of aegir and Ran were seldom partial to men, that the wind awakened them and made them angry and fierce. They called them "The white-hooded daughters of aegir and Ran." They called the spray their hair. They believed that in calm weather they walked on the reefs and wandered gently along the sh.o.r.es, and that their beds were rocks, stone-heaps, pebbles, and sands.

I had not been long on the sea before I found that I had exchanged the terrific winds of Arctic "Snow Land" for the gales of the Arctic Ocean.

The weather was fearful! Snow, sleet, hurricanes, treacherous heavy squalls, followed each other in succession.

"This is the winter weather we have here," said the captain; "we do not expect any better at this time of the year. When there is a lull, it is only to deceive us; then it blows harder than ever, and the snow or the sleet falls thicker than before."

My fancy recalled again to me the words of the "Long Night": "I send terrific gales and mighty snowstorms over oceans and lands."

As I looked at the ocean I saw a big towering wave rolling up towards the stern of the s.h.i.+p and apparently gaining upon us. It was transparent and of a deep green color. I imagined I could see Hefring with glittering eyes, one of her arms directing the wave against us.

The men looked anxiously towards the wave, which was steadily advancing, but our s.h.i.+p rode over it as if she were a gull resting on the ocean.

Then the ugly wave formed a crest, curled upon itself, and with a heavy boom broke into fragments of snowy foam.

I said to the men: "This wave has missed us." They answered in serious voices, "And we must watch, for a more towering one will follow, as there are always three of them going together, and this second one may come and break over us."

These words were hardly uttered when I saw far off another mountainous wave rolling up. I imagined it was Hronn. It was so high as it neared us that we could not see the horizon beyond; it looked fierce and dangerous. Its crest gradually rose higher and higher, as if getting ready to strike. Steadily Hronn advanced. We are lost, and our s.h.i.+p is sure to founder if her wave breaks over our stern. The faces of the captain and men were serious. I said to myself: "If we get into the whirlpool of its crest there will be no escape; we are sure to founder."

The wave broke about fifty yards before reaching us. It had become harmless, but the foaming, scattered billows enveloped the s.h.i.+p in their thick spray. It was a narrow escape; but we were saved thus far! Then in the wake of the imaginary Hronn rose another wave. I imagined Bylgja was coming. It advanced slowly and angrily towards us, ready to sweep our deck and to do the work the two others had tried to do and missed--demolish our s.h.i.+p. It broke before reaching us with a loud boom, making the sea a surging sheet of foam as white as snow for a long distance. This was a beautiful sight. We gave a great shout of joy; we had had a narrow escape.

After these three heavy seas came a lull. The captain said thoughtfully, "Those are the waves that disable or founder s.h.i.+ps and send them to the bottom of the sea!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "I saw a big towering wave rolling towards the stern of the s.h.i.+p."]

We were indeed still in the midst of a great gale. But the captain and our crew had thus far fought against the storm successfully. I thought of the great Viking Half, and of his champions. It was their custom always to lie before capes, never to put up a tent on board, and never to reef a sail in a storm. Half had never more than sixty men on board of his s.h.i.+p, nor could any one go with him who was not so hardy that he never was afraid or changed countenance on account of his wounds. I wondered if Half and his men had ever encountered such a storm as we were having. If so his s.h.i.+p must have been a staunch vessel indeed.

As the hours pa.s.sed the storm continued, the Daughters of aegir and Ran rose again and again, trying to strike our s.h.i.+p; when their hoods were rent asunder, their long hair streamed on the gale.

In the afternoon the dark clouds were lower than usual and moved rapidly over our heads. The wind howled and hissed through the rigging. Wave after wave struck against the s.h.i.+p's side and deluged the deck with water. One of them took me off my feet and pitched me to the other side against the bulwarks, almost was.h.i.+ng me overboard.

"You had better go into the cabin," said the captain; "this is no weather for you." But I replied, "Yes, captain, it is; I want to see this big storm with its mighty sea." I had hardly said these words when another wave came aboard of us. Two men were nearly washed overboard; fortunately they held fast to the rigging.

Soon after another big wave struck our port side, and carried away a part of our bulwarks, swamping our decks with a huge ma.s.s of water; this time nearly was.h.i.+ng overboard all of us who were on deck. Looking at the havoc the wave had wrought, I remembered the saga which tells of the storm the celebrated Viking Fridthjof encountered at sea, and which says:

"Then came a wave breaking so strongly that it carried away the gunwales and part of the bow, and flung four men overboard, who were lost.

"'Now it is likely,' said Fridthjof, 'that some of our men will visit Ran. We shall not be thought fit to go there unless we prepare ourselves well. I think it is right that every man should carry some gold with him!' He cut asunder the arm ring of his sweetheart Ingibjorg, and divided it among his men."

We had been running before the wind with all the sails we could carry safely, so that the s.h.i.+p might not be overtaken and swamped. As long as the s.h.i.+p can sail faster or quite as fast as the waves, it is all right; but if the waves go faster then there is great danger that the s.h.i.+p will be p.o.o.ped by the sea,--that is, that the seas may come over the stern, and sweep over the deck, carrying everything away. In such a case it happens sometimes that all those who are on deck are swept overboard.

The sea finally became so high and so threatening that the captain ordered that we should heave to and wait for the storm to abate. To heave a s.h.i.+p to before the wind is a dangerous manoeuvre. We waited until three big seas had pa.s.sed. There is generally a lull after that, and then is the time to bring the s.h.i.+p's head to the wind. During the evolution the s.h.i.+p is liable to get in the trough of the sea, when she rolls heavily, and has her deck swept by the waves. The dangerous operation in our case proved successful.

While our s.h.i.+p lay to we had just sail enough to keep her head to the wind, and she rode like a big albatross on the water, drifting a little to leeward. When she was in the hollow of two waves, these seemed like mountains ready to engulf us, but we rode safely over every one. As we lay to we felt perfectly secure. Our s.h.i.+p did not roll as if broadside to the seas, but pitched, rising slowly, over every wave.

After lying to for over six hours, the storm having somewhat moderated, we sailed east towards the sh.o.r.e; but before the day was over we encountered a cross-sea, the waves coming in every direction and striking against each other. The man at the helm had to watch them.

Evidently there had been two or three heavy storms blowing in different directions. A cross-sea is very dangerous, for the man at the helm never knows where the wave will strike. After a while the wind s.h.i.+fted and was ahead, and now we had to beat against it and we sailed under close reefed sails. The wind seemed ten times stronger than before, for when a s.h.i.+p runs before the wind, the wind is not felt so much, as it goes with the s.h.i.+p.

As we came to a barren island, running parallel with the main land, we saw the angry sea las.h.i.+ng itself with a tremendous force against the solid base of mountain walls, filling the air each time it struck with a deep booming sound which seemed like the roar of cannon heard far off; the waves, as they struck the immovable wall of rocks which stopped their advance, breaking into a tumultuous ma.s.s of seething billows, which recoiled from the barrier that opposed them and fell back into a surging, boiling ma.s.s of white which soon after was hurled forward again by another advancing wave rus.h.i.+ng on to meet the same fate. The whole coast was fringed as far as the eye could see with a ma.s.s of angry white billows. It was an awful sight.

Seamen dread the coast in a storm more than they do the waves in the middle of the ocean. We steered for the leeward of the island, and when we reached the sound separating it from the main land we came into smooth water where we cast anchor. We were to remain there until the storm abated, to give a good rest to the crew.

CHAPTER XXVII

A DARK NIGHT AT SEA.--WAKE OF THE _RAGNILD_.--THOUSANDS OF PHOSPh.o.r.eSCENT LIGHTS.--A LIGHT AHEAD.--AN ARCTIC FAIR.--A FIs.h.i.+NG SETTLEMENT.--HOW THE COD ARE CURED.--FISH AND FERTILIZER FRAGRANCE.

The weather having moderated, we raised our anchor and with a fair wind continued our voyage. When the night came it was so pitch-dark that I could not distinguish the sea from the horizon and the sky. It was impressive. I felt so little in the immensity that surrounded our craft.

Our s.h.i.+p, to my eyes, when compared with the size of the ocean, was not bigger than a tiny hazelnut tossed to and fro upon it.

Once in a while the crest of a wave broke into a long snowy-white line which appeared to be filled with a thousand lights; this effect was caused by the infinite number of animalculae, which are struck together by the movement of the wave and give out phosph.o.r.escence. These animalculae are living creatures which cannot be seen without the help of the microscope. It is wonderful that such small things can give such glowing light.

The long heavy swells, pushed by the southerly gales that had pa.s.sed away, moved irresistibly on towards the North, one after another, to break the wall of ice the Long Night had built round the pole. What terrific booming must take place there at times, when the ice gives way, breaks up, and rises in great ridges over the Long Wall!

A light at our masthead told of our presence to the mariners of the fis.h.i.+ng boats, or the vessels coming from far northern ports across our course, and warned them of danger.

Our s.h.i.+p ploughed her way through the sea, raising a ma.s.s of foam brilliant with globules of light. These globules swept astern along the sides of the s.h.i.+p, and disappeared further on. We left behind us an undulating luminous wake, resembling a long bright snake following us, which was gradually in the distance engulfed by the ocean. This luminous track seemed to be reeled off from a windla.s.s at the stern of the s.h.i.+p.

As I watched this white serpentine phosph.o.r.escent pathway, I thought of the countless wakes that had been made in like manner since vessels sailed upon the seas, on their way to different lands, for thousands of years past, yet not one of those tracks has ever been seen again. No wonder that the Nors.e.m.e.n called the sea "The Hidden Path."

On deck were four men on the watch, who guarded the lives of those who had gone below to sleep. The man at the helm watched the compa.s.s, which was lighted by a lamp. A man at the prow was on the lookout for sudden danger--s.h.i.+ps, derelicts, or rocks. Another stood amids.h.i.+ps. The first mate paced the deck, watching for any change in the wind. Suddenly the man at the prow shouted:

"Light on the starboard bow!" It was the light of a s.h.i.+p sailing in the opposite direction towards us. In a snowstorm, in a fog, we might have collided; then both might have gone to the bottom of the sea.

To the leeward of us was the barren, forbidding coast; to the windward lay rocky islands. "Dear compa.s.s," I whispered, "we trust in thee; lead us right; the night is very dark, and our eyes cannot see rocks ahead, except, perchance, when it is too late."

Suddenly the bell struck: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. It was midnight--time for the watch below to relieve the one on duty, and for the captain to take the place of the mate. Every four hours this change is made. I remained on deck, for I wanted to watch this dark night.

I came on deck early the next morning, for I smothered in the close confined cabin--I had been so accustomed to the bracing open air. As I looked around me I saw nothing but the great horizon which surrounded us. It had seemed so near every day, as we sailed towards it, and yet, no matter how long we sailed, we never came nearer. This was because the horizon is the boundless s.p.a.ce in the midst of which the earth moves on its axis round the sun.

In the morning we came to a place full of people dressed in furs. They were Laplanders and Finlanders. A great fair was taking place, and most of the people had crossed the mountains to the Arctic Sea, taking with them for sale reindeer meat, b.u.t.ter, cheese, reindeer cheese made in the summer and autumn, frozen ptarmigans, skins of reindeer, bears, foxes, ermines, and other animals; ready-made clothing, gloves and shoes of reindeer skin; hoofs of reindeer, and other things. They bought salted and dried codfish, sugar, coffee, salt, and other groceries, flour, lamp oil, tobacco, and things for their wives and children, and took back cash with them.

After a short stay we raised our anchor, and continued to sail along that bleak coast until we came to a hidden harbor, well protected by a number of barren islands from the storms of the Arctic Ocean, and cast anchor before a large fis.h.i.+ng settlement. It was the beginning of April.

It was a strange place indeed. The port was filled with fis.h.i.+ng boats.

Hundreds of them were drawn up on the sh.o.r.e, and other hundreds were at anchor. There were also a number of good-sized vessels and smaller craft. All along the rocky sh.o.r.e were huge piles of codfish caught that day. The water was crowded with boats moving in every direction, loaded with cod.

Alongside the big piles of fish, men dressed in wide trousers and overalls of leather were busy preparing the codfish. Some were cutting the heads off and throwing them into a pile, while others were opening the fish, cleaning them, and then, after flattening them, throwing them to other men, who salted them. After this operation they were carried to the warehouses and were ready for drying.

By some of the piles men opened and cleaned the fish and tied them together by twos. After this they were hung on frames or poles. In other places the men divided the cod in halves, taking their spines out, but kept them connected by their gills. These were also hung on the poles.

When dry the fish is as hard as wood.