straits of the Sound, before which every year there pass fifteen thousand ships of all nations.
The castle of Kronberg soon disappeared in the mist, as well as the tower of Helsingborg, built on the Swedish coast, and the schooner passed lightly on her way urged by the breezes of the Kattegat.
The Valkyria was a splendid sailer, but on a sailing vessel you can place no dependence. She was taking to Reykjavík coal, household goods, earthenware, woollen clothing, and a cargo of wheat. The crew consisted of five men, all Danes.
“How long will the passage take?” my uncle asked.
“Ten days,” the captain replied, “if we don’t meet a nor’-wester in passing the Faroes.”
“But are you not subject to considerable delays?”
“No, M. Liedenbrock, don’t be uneasy, we shall get there in very good time.”
At evening the schooner doubled the Scaw at the northern point of Denmark, in the night passed the Skagerrak, skirted Norway by Cape Lindesnes, and entered the North Sea.
In two days more we sighted the coast of Scotland near Peterhead, and the Valkyria turned her lead towards the Faroe Islands, passing between the Orkneys and Shetlands.
Soon the schooner encountered the great Atlantic swell; she had to tack against the north wind, and reached the Faroes only with some difficulty. On the 8th the captain made out Mykines, the southernmost of these islands, and from that moment took a straight course for Cape Portland, the most southerly point of Iceland.