when the wind, which had at first been merely unfavourable, and had forced us to a process of weary tacking, changed on the second day to a violent storm.  For twenty-four hours we had to struggle against it under disadvantages which were quite new to us.  In the captain’s painfully narrow cabin, in which one of us was without a proper berth, we were a prey to sea-sickness and endless alarms.  Unfortunately, the brandy cask, at which the crew fortified themselves during their strenuous work, was let into a hollow under the seat on which I lay at full length.  Now it happened to be Koske who came most frequently in search of the refreshment which was such a nuisance to me, and this in spite of the fact that on each occasion he had to encounter Robber in mortal combat.  The dog flew at him with renewed rage each time he came climbing down the narrow steps.  I was thus compelled to make efforts which, in my state of complete exhaustion from sea-sickness, rendered my condition every time more critical.  At last, on 27th July, the captain was compelled by the violence of the west wind to seek a harbour on the Norwegian coast.  And how relieved I was to behold that far-reaching rocky coast, towards which we were being driven at such speed!  A Norwegian pilot came to meet us in a small boat, and, with experienced hand, assumed control of the Thetis, whereupon in a very short time I was to have one of the most marvellous and most beautiful impressions of my life.  What I had taken to be a continuous line of cliffs turned out on our approach to be a series of separate rocks projecting from the sea.  Having sailed past them, we perceived that we were surrounded, not only in front and at the sides, but also at our back, by these reefs, which closed in behind us so near together that they seemed to form a single chain of rocks.  At the same time the hurricane was so broken by the rocks in our rear that the further we sailed through this ever-changing labyrinth of projecting rocks, the calmer the sea became, until at last the vessel’s progress was perfectly smooth and quiet as we entered one of those long sea-roads running through a giant ravine—­for such the Norwegian fjords appeared to me.

A feeling of indescribable content came over me when the enormous granite walls echoed the hail of the crew as they cast anchor and furled the sails.  The sharp rhythm of this call clung to me like an omen of good cheer, and shaped itself presently into the theme of the seamen’s song in my Fliegender Hollander.  The idea of this opera was, even at that time, ever present in my mind, and it now took on a definite poetic and musical colour under the influence of my recent impressions.  Well, our next move was to go on shore.  I learned that the little fishing village at which we landed was called Sandwike, and was situated a few miles away from the much larger town of Arendal.  We were allowed to put up at the hospitable house of a certain ship’s captain, who was then away at sea, and here we were able to