The National tribune., 1909-10-21

! Nn.aZonian rs had given MS IL = ifur-cs-
/ sion that they did not arcSdrtl this
! American Duchess as Of an particular
importance, nor her doinss Of the least
interest. Nevertheless every man jack
of them. as the saying goes, hung over
THAT deck rail to see her go on. =
About II o'clock or so small vessel
pushed out of the mist and approached
MS. All was excitement Was tbs the
Dukes yacht, and would we witness
the greeting between the two? Our
hopes were. however, soon dashed TO
iearth for we very quickly saw that it
was a Norwegian bark, brig or schoon-
er; | don't know the difference myself.
but perhaps you do. 1t came along
and anchored by the side of US, and a
Sorrier-l looking vessel L never before
saw It's deck was sloppy and dirty,
and the only place which aitorded any
shelter whatever was small covered
place at one end. The deck was strewn
with ropes and the truck usually found
on such ships, everything was wet from
| the rain, and, as / before remarked,
YOU never saw a more unnviting or un-
worthy looking convoy OF lovely
Duchess to her lord than she was. Our
gangway ladder was lowered, and a
man, possibly the Captain, came on
board the Amazon. Every incident was
| of the 1iveliest interest to that black
line hanging over the deck rail. In
about Is or 20 minutes this mysterious
person returned to his vessel Then
there was a long wait, and finally the
luggage of the Duchess appeared, and
was taken from one boat to the other.
You remember that told you how very
simple she dressed on the Amazon
She only wore two suits all the time
she was with us, one a dark blue and
the other a dark red, both the plainest
of the plain. She never changed her
dress for dinner and she did not wear
any jewelry whatever. Now we were
amazed to see what loads of things she
had brought with her for this hshlng
cruise. First came steamer trunks, and
there were several of these. then boxes
and hold-alls till we grew tired count
ing them. Some belonged to her maid,
of course, and some to the Englishman
with her, but the most of it belonged
to her, for we saw the stamp OF nobility
on them. Then her ladyship's maid
came tripping down the ladder, very
trim and stylish-looking, and hnaily hef
grace herself. She was exceedingly chic
and fetching in short brown SKIRT
which displayed very pretty feet clad in
brown Swede shoes, with a very fasci-
mating red coat, quite long, finished with
a white collar and cuffs. She wore a
most becoming red hat with wing in
it, and altogether looked very smart, as
the English say. Close at her heels
came the English officer, and the two
boarded the Norwegian vessel and were
soon out of our ght, sailing off into
the mist. Then, the show being over,
we went below to our cabins.
Hammerfest is the most northern
most town in the world, you know, and
tho it was raining harder than ever the
next morning, which was this morning,
Elizabeth and ] felt it our duty to go
ashore, and look 1t over. Baedeker tells
YOU that it has some 1000 inhabitants;
that it has schools, Protestant chnrch'
town hall; that it is quite lively in sum-
mer Gas contrasted with Winter, sup-
pose), when the sun does not set from
Nav 13 to July 90; that 1T carries on
quite a brisk trade with Russia; that
great quantities of-eOd-liver oil are
made there (Which smells to Heaveno,
all of which is quite true. Elizapetn
and 1 put on rubbers and mackintoshes,
pinned up our skirts, and tried to real
ize where, we were, way, way up there,
almost at the top of the map. We
walked a little up and down the one
street, went into a few of the shops,
where I bought q little embroidered
baby's cap for a krone (about 20 cents),
and then we returned to the boat which
brought us over from the Amazon. 1t
was really too rainy and muddy to plod
seemed absolutely nothing TO see. Some
few of the houses up back of the street
looked quite nice, and we noticed that
the children, and particularly thosH
playing around the landing, were con-
spicuously fat and rosy. Perhaps even to
smell cod-liver oil conduces to round
ness of curves.
have now brought you up to almost
the present moment. 1t has ra1ned all
n'pInpk reached
Cape. We are lying opposite to 1t now
The great dark-gray slate rock, with its
deep clefts, rising abruptly from the
sea- looks even darker and gloomler
than usual, / imagine, with Its sur
roundings of heavy clouds. Usually
the people leave the ship and climb
up the side of the rock by a path
which the Steamboat Company has
constructed to the top of the plateau,
which takes about so minutes. There
in the pavilion they await the midnight
hour, when the s ght of the midnight
sun as it sinks below the horizon and
reappears is said to be truly sublime.
The time OF waiting Is generally passed
by singing, dancing and quaffing cham
pagne. l understand each fellow pays
for his own drink.
Tonight only a very few adventurous
spirits have left the Amazon. 1t rains
harder than ever, and the walk up the
cliff must be very difficult. From time
to time some of these have returned,
reporting that they only went up part
of the way. There is a large German
cruising steamer here tonight as well
as we / am told that the band from
that walked all the way up, carrying
their heavy instruments, and played
the German National air on the top of
North Cape. Some of the ladies from
the German ship, in high-heeled slip
pers, were seen attempting the climb.
fancy they did not go far. We have
in a way become hardened to our dis
appointment, and yet. every little while,
it comes over me that here we are at
North Cape, where We should be seeing
this wonderful spectacle, instead of
which l am sitting in the soc al half
of the Amazon finishing this letter.
Do you remember the character /
told you about in my last letter, to
whom someone on the ship had given
the name of 'Tootsy?" Well she is sit
ting very near me now, reading, and /
would give a good deal if you could see
her. Poor little thing! l do wish she
had a daughter or someone to keep her
from making such a circus of herself.
People have been saying all the even
ing, Have you seen Tootsy ?" DO for
gracious sake, go and look at her!" and
while, nf course, she is quite suncon-
scious of all this, yet it seems cruel that
she should be made the butt of this
sport, and I wish she would go below
TO her cabin. But. my dear, she cer-