Up The Baltic Part 48

The boy spoke again.

"Stick to it, my hearty; but I don't believe a word of it."

"What does he say, Scott?"

"He says the moon is made of green cheese. Didn't you, my lad?"

The boy nodded, and spoke again.

"It is a hard case, Young Sweden; but I can't do anything for you."

"What's a hard case, Scott?" asked Laybold.

"Why, he says he has six fathers and five mothers, and he has to support them all by guiding tourists round the falls."

"Get out!"

"I am afraid they don't have roast beef for dinner every day."

"Here's the steamer," added Laybold.

The boy became more importunate as the time came to go on board, but Scott was obstinate.

"Now, out of my way, my lad. Give my regards to your six fathers and five mothers, and I'll remember you in my will; but I won't give you a solitary red now, because I don't like the principle of the thing. I didn't employ you, and I didn't want you. I told you so, and shook my head at you, and told you to get behind me, Satan, and all that sort of thing; and now I'm not going to pay you for making a nuisance of yourself. On the naked question of charity, I could do something for you, on account of your numerous fathers and mothers. As it is, good by, Sweden;" and Scott went on board of the steamer.

The boat started again, and soon the bell rang for breakfast. The boys hastened to the forward saloon, where they found two tables spread. At a sideboard was the Swedish lunch, or snack, of herring, sliced salmon, various little fishes, sausage, and similar delicacies, with the universal decanter of "finkel," flanked with a circle of wine gla.s.ses. The tourists partook of the eatables, but most of them were wise enough to avoid the drinkable. The Swedish bread, which is a great brown cracker, about seven inches in diameter, was considered very palatable. Ordinary white bread is served on steamers and at hotels, and also a dark-colored bread, which looks like rye, and is generally too sour for the taste of a foreigner. The breakfast at the tables consisted of fried veal, and fish, with vegetables, and all the elements of the snack. When the boys had finished, one of the women handed Scott a long narrow blank book.

"Thank you, marm; I am much obliged to you," said he. "Will you have the kindness to inform me what this is for?"

The woman laughed, and answered him in her native tongue.

"Precisely so," added Scott.

"What does she say?" asked Sanford.

"She wants me to write a love letter in this book to her; but as she is rather ancient, I shall decline in your favor, Sanford."

"Don't do it, old fellow! Face the music."

"Not for Joseph!"

"What did she say, Ole?" inquired Sanford.

"She said you were to keep your account in that book," replied the interpreter.

"Are we to keep our own reckoning?"

"Yes; every one puts down in this book what he has had."

"That means you, Burchmore. You are the cashier for the party."

"How many fellows had coffee this morning?" asked the cashier, as he took the book.

"All of them, of course."

Burchmore made the entries for the coffee and the breakfasts of the whole party.

"Well, that's one way to do the thing," said Scott. "Every man his own book-keeper. I'll bet everybody doesn't charge what he has had."

Ole was requested to ask the woman about the matter. She said the Swedes were honest, but the waiters were required to see that everybody paid for what he had had before leaving the steamer. The having of this book is certainly a better plan than that of the Norwegian steamers, by which the pa.s.senger, if he means to be honest, is compelled to recollect all he has had in a pa.s.sage of thirty hours.

The Wadstena continued on her course through a rather flat country, just coming into the greenness and beauty of the spring time, till she came to Wenersberg, a town of five thousand inhabitants, which is largely engaged in the lumber and iron trade. The boat stopped there a short time, and the party had an opportunity to examine the lake craft at the wharves; but, after seeing them, it was difficult to believe they were not in some New England coast town. The steamers, however, were very different, all of them being very short, to enable them to pa.s.s through the locks in the ca.n.a.l, and most of them having the hurricane deck forward and aft, to afford sufficient s.p.a.ce for the cabins. All of them were propellers.

The Wadstena started again, the bridges opening to permit her pa.s.sage.

The great Wenern Lake lay before them, which is the third in size in Europe, Onega and Ladoga alone exceeding it in extent. It is about a hundred miles long by fifty in breadth, very irregular in shape, and portions of it are densely crowded with islands. Its greatest depth is three hundred and sixty feet near the Island of Luro, but a considerable part of it is very shallow, and difficult of navigation.

It is one hundred and forty-five feet above the level of the Baltic.

Thirty rivers flow into it, and sometimes cause it to rise ten feet above its ordinary level. But the Gota River is its only outlet, and is always supplied with an abundant volume of water. The wind was fresh when the Wadstena steamed out upon the broad expanse, and the lake had a decidedly stormy aspect.

"Will you be seasick?" asked the captain, as the little steamer began to bob up and down with a very uncomfortable jerk.

"Seasick!" laughed Scott. "We are all sailors, sir, and we don't intend to cave in on a fresh-water pond."

"But the lake is very rough to-day."

"If your little tub can stand it, captain, we can."

"I am very glad, for some people are very sick on this part of the pa.s.sage. It is sometimes very bad, the worst we have in the whole trip."

"How long are we on the lake?" asked Scott.

"About seven hours; but not all of it is so bad as this. We go among the islands by and by."

Doubtless the Wenern Lake fully maintained its reputation on the present occasion, though none of the young salts were sick. The boat stood to the northward, and the short steamer and the short chop sea would have made the pa.s.sage very trying to landsmen. Nothing but the distant sh.o.r.es were to be seen, and the monotony of the pa.s.sage was the only disagreeable circ.u.mstance to our tourists. For the want of something better to do, they went below, and, lying down on the sofas in their state-rooms, went to sleep without much difficulty, for the red-backs and fleas kept shady in the daytime. The boys were accustomed to being "rocked in the cradle of the deep;" but at the expiration of three hours, the heavy motion ceased, and the change waked them. Going on the hurricane deck again, they found the steamer was among the islands, which were generally low, rocky, and covered with firs and pines. A crooked channel was carefully buoyed off, and the boat was threading its tortuous way with no little difficulty.

Presently the Wadstena made a landing at a rude pier on an island where only a rough shanty was in sight. Several row-boats at the wharf indicated that pa.s.sengers came to this station from other islands.

Again the steamer went out upon the open lake, and soon after entered another group of islands, among which she made a landing at a small town. Pa.s.sing over another open s.p.a.ce, the entrance to the ca.n.a.l was discovered, marked by two low light-houses, in the form of the frustum of a pyramid. As the Wadstena entered a lock, the captain told the party they might take a walk if they pleased, as there were several locks to pa.s.s in the next three miles. This was a grateful relief to the voyagers, and they gladly availed themselves of the opportunity.

The country was a dead level, with an occasional small farm-house, and with many groves and forests. But the walk was interesting, and the boys would gladly have continued it longer; but at the last lock of the series, the gate-man told them, through Ole, that they must wait here in order to go on board, for the steamer could not make a landing again for several miles. The party remained on the hurricane deck till the cold and the darkness drove them below. Turning in at an early hour, they slept as well as the vermin would allow, until six o'clock the next morning, when the steamer was approaching the Wettern Lake, the second in size in Sweden. The boat was on a broad arm of the lake, called the Viken, for the ca.n.a.l is built only across the narrowest section of country, between two natural bodies of water.

The Wettern Lake is ninety miles long and fifteen miles wide, surrounded by hills, from which sudden gusts of wind come, producing violent squalls on the water. This lake is noted for big trout. After crossing the Wettern, the steamer approached Wadstena, which contains an ancient church and convent, and a castle built by Gustavus Vasa, and often occupied by his family. Ten miles farther brought the steamer to Motala, which contains several iron founderies and manufactories. Many iron steamers and steam engines are built at this place. The scenery on this portion of the ca.n.a.l is very beautiful, though not grand. Going through another portion of the artificial ca.n.a.l, the boat enters the Roxen Lake, perhaps the most beautiful in Sweden, and makes a landing at Linkoping. There are half a dozen towns with this termination in the country, as Norrkoping, Soderkoping, Jonkoping, the last two syllables being p.r.o.nounced like _chepping_; as, Lin-chep-ping.

Leaving the Roxen Lake, the steamer pa.s.ses through more ca.n.a.ls into an arm of the Baltic, and then into the sea itself, voyaging among a thousand small islands, stopping at Soderkoping and Nykoping, important commercial and manufacturing towns. Night came, and our tourists did not stay up to see the lights on the way. The steamer leaves the Baltic, and pa.s.sing another piece of ca.n.a.l, enters the waters of the Maler Lake, seventy-five miles long, and containing fourteen hundred islands. The boys were up in season to see the beauties of this lake. Many of the islands rise to a considerable height above the water, and are so thick that one hardly believes he is sailing on a large lake. For quiet beauty and "eternal stillness,"

the Maler can hardly be surpa.s.sed. In the middle of the forenoon, the spires of Stockholm were to be seen, and the tourists were all attention. From the lake the city presents a fine appearance. Indeed, Stockholm, seen from either of its water approaches, is hardly excelled in beauty by any city in Europe.

The Wadstena made her landing at the Island of Riddarholm. As the party were not burdened with any baggage, they decided to walk to the hotel. Ole inquired the way to the Hotel Rydberg, where they had agreed to go; and crossing a bridge to the largest of the three islands of the city, called Stadeholm, they arrived at the palace, beyond which is the quay. Between this island and the main land, on which the greater portion of the town is built, is the pa.s.sage from the Baltic to the Maler Lake, and in the middle of it is the Island of Helgeandsholm, or Holy Ghost's Island, with two bridges connecting it with either side. On it are the king's stables, and a semicircular garden, improved as a _cafe_, with a handsome face wall on the water side.

"This isn't bad," said Scott, as the party paused to look down into the garden.

"Not at all," replied Sanford. "I suppose they have music here in the evening, and it would be a capital place to loaf."