Thelma | Page 5

dreamland, the watcher of the midnight sun gave
himself up to the half painful, half delicious sense of being drawn in,
absorbed, and lost in infinite imaginings, when the intense stillness
around him was broken by the sound of a voice singing, a full, rich
contralto, that rang through the air with the clearness of a golden bell.
The sweet liquid notes were those of an old Norwegian mountain
melody, one of those wildly pathetic FOLK-SONGS that seem to hold
all the sorrow, wonder, wistfulness, and indescribable yearning of a
heart too full for other speech than music. He started to his feet and
looked around him for the singer. There was no one visible. The amber
streaks in the sky were leaping into crimson flame; the Fjord glowed
like the burning lake of Dante's vision; one solitary sea-gull winged its
graceful, noiseless flight far above, its white pinions shimmering like
jewels as it crossed the radiance of the heavens. Other sign of animal

life there was none. Still the hidden voice rippled on in a stream of
melody, and the listener stood amazed and enchanted at the roundness
and distinctness of every note that fell from the lips of the unseen
vocalist.
"A woman's voice," he thought; "but where is the woman?"
Puzzled, he looked to the right and left, then out to the shining Fjord,
half expecting to see some fisher-maiden rowing along, and singing as
she rowed, but there was no sign of any living creature. While he
waited, the voice suddenly ceased, and the song was replaced by the
sharp grating of a keel on the beach. Turning in the direction of this
sound, he perceived a boat being pushed out by invisible hands towards
the water's edge from a rocky cave, that jutted upon the Fjord, and, full
of curiosity, he stepped towards the arched entrance, when,--all
suddenly and unexpectedly,--a girl sprang out from the dark interior,
and standing erect in her boat, faced the intruder. A girl of about
nineteen, she seemed, taller than most women,--with a magnificent
uncovered mass of hair, the color of the midnight sunshine, tumbled
over her shoulders, and flashing against her flushed cheeks and
dazzlingly fair skin. Her deep blue eyes had an astonished and certainly
indignant expression in them, while he, utterly unprepared for such a
vision of loveliness at such a time and in such a place, was for a
moment taken aback and at a loss for words. Recovering his habitual
self- possession quickly, however, he raised his hat, and, pointing to the
boat, which was more than half way out of the cavern, said simply--
"May I assist you?"
She was silent, eyeing him with a keen glance which had something in
it of disfavor and suspicion.
"I suppose she doesn't understand English," he thought, "and I can't
speak a word of Norwegian. I must talk by signs."
And forthwith he went through a labored pantomime of gesture,
sufficiently ludicrous in itself, yet at the same time expressive of his
meaning. The girl broke into a laugh--a laugh of sweet amusement

which brought a thousand new sparkles of light into her lovely eyes.
"That is very well done," she observed graciously, speaking English
with something of a foreign accent. "Even the Lapps would understand
you, and they are very stupid, poor things!"
Half vexed by her laughter, and feeling that he was somehow an object
of ridicule to this tall, bright-haired maiden, he ceased his pantomimic
gestures abruptly and stood looking at her with a slight flush of
embarrassment on his features.
"I know your language," she resumed quietly, after a brief pause, in
which she had apparently considered the stranger's appearance and
general bearing. "It was rude of me not to have answered you at once.
You can help me if you will. The keel has caught among the pebbles,
but we can easily move it between us." And, jumping lightly out of her
boat, she grasped its edge firmly with her strong white hands,
exclaiming gaily, as she did so, "Push!"
Thus adjured, he lost no time in complying with her request, and, using
his great strength and muscular force to good purpose, the light little
craft was soon well in the water, swaying to and fro as though with
impatience to be gone. The girl sprang to her seat, discarding his
eagerly proffered assistance, and, taking both oars, laid them in their
respective rowlocks, and seemed about to start, when she paused and
asked abruptly--
"Are you a sailor?"
He smiled. "Not I! Do I remind you of one?"
"You are strong, and you manage a boat as though you were
accustomed to the work. Also you look as if you had been at sea."
"Rightly guessed!" he replied, still smiling; "I certainly HAVE