cutter.

"Ay, the anchor's away," said the Consul; and the yacht, with flapping
jib, began to move, like a colossal swan with erected crest, proudly
through the water.

The main-sail being well brailed up, the two boats were hauled alongside
to the davits, and while they were being hoisted on them, a third gun
was fired. The ladies, delighted with the flash and thundering of the
guns, begged me to linger a little longer, that another gun might be
fired; but fearful that R---- would play some mad prank, and stand out
of the fiord without me, I promised the fair dames, that the next time I
came to Norway, I would comply with their request, and never leave them,
or Larvig again.

The Consul's eldest son soon rowed me to the yacht. When I stood on
deck, and looked towards the shore, I could see the white handkerchiefs
of those whom I had just left, waving through the dusky air.

"There are some of your loves," said R---- to me.

"They do not wish you well less than they do me," I replied.

The separation from Larvig was the feeling of a second regret I
confessed since my departure from England. Dear old Larvig! It is the
green oasis where recollection, ever loving, turns to rest; and where
the springs of Friendship's warm simplicity, may quench the thirst of
him who sighs for Sympathy upon the Desert of Society.

At midnight we cleared the Larvig Fiord, and shaped our course for
Christiansand. The weather had been sultry and calm; and at three
o'clock in the morning, a tremendous thunder-storm spent the principal
part of its anger upon us. The rain descended as if it had been spouted
at the yacht through water-pipes; and the uproar of the thunder among
the mountains, and the frequency and vividness with which the lightning
gleamed, showing every object on the sea and land, were so terrific,
that, each man turned in his hammock, and rubbing his eyes, wished to
know what all the noise and light on deck were about.

"Lord! how it thunders!" I heard one man growl, as the peal awoke him.

"The lightning's no better," answered another, as a strong, red flash
followed close after the sledge-hammer blow of the clap. The officer of
the watch gave some command in muffled tones, and immediately afterwards
the man at the helm muttered in a gruff voice,

"Seven bells."

When the hour had been struck, the silence was again profound; and only
the pattering of the drops of rain on the deck, as the storm receded,
could be heard