e to the
cabin. It had a thick mast at midships, with a large lantern,
containing several burners and reflectors, on the top of it; and this
could be lowered and hoisted up again as often as required, by means
of ropes and pulleys. The vessel was firmly moored upon an extensive
sand-bank, the beacon being intended to warn seamen to avoid a part of
the ocean where many lives and vessels had been lost in consequence
of the latter running aground. The accommodations below decks were
narrow, and of an inferior description; however, I gladly retired to
the berth that was allotted me by my entertainers, and fatigue and
the rocking of billows combined to lull me into a quiet and dreamless
sleep.

Next morning, one of the men, whose name was Angerstoff, came to my
bedside, and called me to breakfast in a surly and imperious manner.

Others looked coldly and distrustfully when I joined them, and I saw
that they regarded me as an intruder and an unwelcome guest. The meal
passed without almost any conversation, and I went upon deck whenever
it was over. The tempest of the preceding night had in a great measure
abated, but the sea still ran very high, and a black mist hovered over
it, through which the Norwegian coast, lying at eleven miles distance,
could be dimly seen. I looked in vain for some remains of the sloop or
boat. Not a bird enlivened the heaving expanse of waters, and I turned
shuddering from the dreary scene, and asked Morvalden, the youngest of
the men, when he thought I had any chance of getting ashore. "Not very
soon, I'm afraid," returned he. "We are visited once a-month by people
from yonder land, who are appointed to bring us supply of provisions
and other necessaries. They were here only six days ago, so you may
count how long it will be before they return. Fishing-boats sometimes
pass us during fine weather, but we won't have much of that this moon
at least."

No intelligence could have been more depressing to me than this. The
idea of spending perhaps three weeks in such a place was almost
insupportable, and the more so, as I could not hasten my deliverance
by any exertions of my own, but would be obliged to remain, in a state
of inactive suspense, till good fortune, or the regular course of
events, afforded me the means of getting ashore. Neither Angerstoff
nor Morvalden seemed to sympathise with my distress, or even to care
that I should have it in my power to leave the vessel, except in so
far as my de