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?"