om the port of Bergen where the "Viking"
would never more be seen?

"Ole! my poor Ole!" sighed Hulda, and hearing this pathetic
exclamation, Joel led her gently away from the wharves, and up into
the city proper.

There, from the crowds that filled the streets and the public squares,
they overheard more than one remark in relation to themselves.

"Yes," said one man; "I hear that ten thousand marks have been offered
for ticket 9672."

"Ten thousand!" exclaimed another. "Why, I hear that twenty thousand
marks, and even more, have been offered."

"Mr. Vanderbilt, of New York, has offered thirty thousand."

"And Messrs. Baring, of London, forty thousand."

"And the Rothschilds, sixty thousand."

So much for public exaggeration. At this rate the prices offered would
soon have exceeded the amount of the capital prize.

But if these gossips were not agreed upon the sum offered to Hulda
Hansen, they were all of one mind in regard to the usurer of Drammen.

"What an infernal scoundrel Sandgoist must be. That rascal who showed
those poor people no mercy."

"Yes; he is despised throughout the Telemark, and this is not the
first time he has been guilty of similar acts of rascality."

"They say that nobody will buy Ole Kamp's ticket of him, now he has
got it."

"No; nobody wants it now."

"That is not at all surprising. In Hulda Hansen's hands the ticket was
valuable."

"And in Sandgoist's it seems worthless."

"I'm glad of it. He'll have it left on his hands, and I hope he'll
lose the fifteen thousand marks it cost him."

"But what if the scoundrel should win the grand prize?"

"He? Never!"

"He had better not come to the drawing."

"No. If he does he will be roughly handled. There is no question about
that."

These and many other equally uncomplimentary remarks about the usurer
were freely bandied about.

It was evident that he did not intend to be present at the drawing,
as he was at his house in Drammen the night before; but feeling his
sister's arm tremble in his, Joel led her swiftly on, without trying
to hear any more.

As for Sylvius Hogg, they had hoped to meet him in the street; but
in this they were disappointed, though an occasional remark satisfied
them that the public was already aware of the professor's return, for
early in the morning he had been seen hurrying toward the wharves, and
afterward in the direction of the Naval Department.

Of course, Joel might have asked anybody where P