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Page 29
"Assuredly!"
"Perhaps you think you have a right to my Quintilian?"
"I hope in any case to be able to prove my right, thanks to your
discovery, if you will only give me time by renewing the bet."
"I am willing. I ask nothing better. How much time do you want?"
"Let us take two more years, and wait until the second Christmas after
this one."
"It is agreed," answered Mr. Bredejord. "But be assured, doctor, that
you will finally see me in possession of your Pliny!"
"By my faith no. It will make a fine appearance in my book-case beside
your Quintilian."
CHAPTER VII.
VANDA'S OPINION.
In the beginning, Erik burning with zeal at the sacrifice which he had
made, devoted all his energies to a fisherman's life, and tried to
forget that he had ever known any other. He was always the first to rise
and prepare the boat for his adopted father, who found every morning all
the arrangements completed, and he had only to step on board. If the
wind failed, then Erik took the heavy oars, and rowed with all his
strength, seeming to choose the hardest and most fatiguing duties.
Nothing discouraged him, neither the long waiting for the fish to seize
the bait, nor the various preparations to which the captive was
subjected--first, the removal of the tongue, which is a most delicate
morsel; then the head, then the bones, before placing them in the
reservoir, where they receive their first salting. Whatever their work
was, Erik did his part not only conscientiously, but eagerly. He
astonished the placid Otto by his extreme application to the smallest
details of their business.
"How you must have suffered, when you were shut up in the town," said
the lad to him, naively. "You only seem to be in your element when you
are on the borders of the fiord or on the open sea."
When their conversation took this turn, Erik always remained silent.
Sometimes, however, he would revert to the subject himself, and try to
prove to Otto, or rather to himself, that there was no better state of
existence than their own.
"It is what I have always heard," the other would answer with his calm
smile.
And poor Erik would turn away and stifle a sigh.
The truth is that he suffered cruelly after renouncing his studies and
seeing himself condemned to a life of manual labor. When these thoughts
came to him he fought against them with all his might. He did not wish
any one to suspect that he felt in this way, and in hiding them within
his own breast he suffered all the more.
A catastrophe which occurred at the beginning of the spring, only served
to increase his discouragement.
One day, as there was a great deal of work to do at home in piling
together the salted fish, Mr. Hersebom had intrusted it to Erik and to
Otto, and had gone out to fish alone. The weather was stormy, and the
sky very cloudy for the time of the year. The two young men, although
they worked actively, could not help noticing that it was exceptionally
dull, and they felt the atmosphere very heavy.
"It is singular!" said Erik, "but I feel a roaring in my ears as if I
were some distance above the earth in a balloon."
Almost immediately his nose began to bleed. Otto had a similar
sensation, although not quite so severe.
"I think the barometer must be very low," said Erik. "If I had time I
would run to Mr. Malarius' and see."
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