You shan't be forgotten, if
all goes well. But you must spit three times after me when I've
gone."

"Ay, that I will," said the widow, "and I wish you luck."

* * * * *

Here was an opportunity for him to work. A little luck with the
catch, and all would be well. He was glad Lars Jensen's widow wished
him no ill in his new undertaking. The curse of widows and the
fatherless was a heavy burden on a man's work.

Now that Lars Peter was in the hamlet, he found it not quite what he
had imagined it to be; he could easily think of many a better place
to settle down in. The whole place was poverty-stricken, and no-one
seemed to have any ambition. The fishermen went to sea because they
were obliged to. They seized on any excuse to stay at home. "We're
just as poor whether we work hard or not," said they.

"Why, what becomes of it all?" asked Lars Peter at first, laughing
incredulously.

"You'll soon see yourself!" they answered, and after a while he
began to understand.

That they went to work unwillingly was not much to be wondered at.
The inn-keeper managed everything. He arranged it all as he liked.
He paid for all repairs when necessary, and provided all new
implements. He took care that no-one was hungry or cold, and set up
a store which supplied all that was needed--on credit. It was all
entered in the books, no doubt, but none of them ever knew how much
he owed. But they did not care, and went on buying until he stopped
their credit for a time. On the other hand, if anything were really
wrong in one of the huts, he would step in and help.

That was why they put up with the existing condition of things, and
even seemed to be content--they had no responsibilities. When they
came ashore with their catch, the inn-keeper took it over, and gave
them what he thought fit--just enough for a little pocket-money. The
rest went to pay off their debts--he said. He never sent in any
bills. "We'd better not go into that," he would say with a smile,
"do what you can." One and all of them probably owed him money; it
would need a big purse to hold it all.

They did not have much to spend. But then, on the other hand, they
had no expenses. If their implements broke or were lost at sea, the
inn-keeper provided new ones, and necessaries had only to be fetched
from the store. It was an extraordinary existence, thought Lars
Peter; and yet it appealed to one somehow. It was hard to provide
what was ne