ing in the direction I saw the
mountains, which I guessed were not visible from the deck.

The mate soon came aloft to judge for himself. "You are right, Peter,"
he said. "We have made a good landfall, for if I mistake not we are
just abreast of the entrance to the Bay of Jeltefiord, at the farther
end of which stands Bergen, the town we are bound for."

The mate was right. The breeze freshening we stood on, and in the
course of the morning we ran between lofty and rugged rocks for several
miles, through the narrow Straits of Carmesundt into the bay--or fiord
rather--till we came to an anchor off the picturesque old town of
Bergen. It was a thriving, bustling place; the inhabitants, people from
all the northern nations of Europe, mostly engaged in mercantile
pursuits.

We soon discharged our cargo and began taking on board a very
miscellaneous one, including a considerable quantity of spars to form
the masts and yards of small vessels. The day seemed to me wonderfully
long, indeed there was scarcely any night. Of course, we had plenty of
hard work, as we were engaged for a large part of the twenty-four hours
in hoisting in cargo. I should have thought all hands would have been
too tired to think of carrying on any tricks, but it seemed that two or
three of them had conceived a spite against Jim because he would not
turn against me.

One of our best men, Ned Andrews, who did duty as second mate, had
brought for his own use a small cask of sugar, as only molasses and
pea-coffee were served out forward. One morning, as I was employed aft
under the captain's directions, Andrews came up and complained that on
opening his cask he found it stuffed full of dirty clouts and the sugar
gone. I never saw the captain so indignant.

"A thief on board my brig!" he exclaimed; "verily, I'll make an example
of him, whoever he is."

Calling the mate, he ordered him forthwith to examine all the men's
chests, supposing that the thief must have stowed the sugar in his own.

"Go, Peter, and help him," he added, "for I am sure that thou, my son,
art not the guilty one."

I followed the mate into the fore-peak. Having first demanded the keys
from the owners of those which were locked, he examined chest after
chest, making me hold up the lids while he turned out the contents or
plunged his hands to the bottom. No sugar was found in any of them. He
then came to my chest, which I knew was not locked, and the idea came
into my