Evening star., 1937-02-28
Febrvory 20. 1887

the lirl was sleeping there. He realized with
pang that he would soon again be alone. When
the girl had left him He could already sense
how empty his cabin would be without her.
How had he ever endured his loneliness
these long evenings. these Sundays with no
one to speak to! The girls coming had made
him realize what in his heart he had always
been wishing for - someone, someone to
love and to work for; someone on whom to
lavish all the stored-up tenderness hidden
behind his stolid Scandinavian front That
girl there on the bunk The tiny small faced
girl with her red lips e.
After while he went and stuffed more
wood into the stove When he returned into
the room the blanket had slipped off the girl
Niels looked down on her and wished she
would never leave the barge Suppose she
stayed! Suppose she never left him. Never in
her life! He would take care of her; he would
protect her against all evil against the city
over there behind the mist from which she had
fiuttered so suddenly into his cabin.
He put his watch on the table and sat wait
ing while the hour hand slowly Crept around
the dial Ten O'Clock. The girl slept. .
Eleven, and twelve, and one. And still she
slept. Poor little thing! She must have been
terribly tired! At half past two Niels felt she
would soon wake up. And most likely she
would be hungry. Perhaps he ought to make
some coffee.
He stepped noseessly into the kitchen and
put the coffee pot on the stove. As usual on
Sundays he had cake in the closet. That was
habit from Norway, for his mother used to
bake something extra for holidays. He set the
table for two - sugar, cream and the sliced
cake. ltlooked very nice with the white table
cloth. The steaming coffee smelled good. The
stove was red-hot The window dim with
moisture. But outside it was chilly and bleak
From the sea came dull, long drawn cry of
siren.
The girl slept.
Niels peered out into the fog. Once more the
srenscreamed hoarsely Ithowled andshrieked
and sounded full of fury and malice. The Man
haitian skyscrapers hovered, lowering and
sullen, away in the dripping mist. There was
not sound i'll the cabin. Niels again sat down
and waited, watching the sleeper's face. She
looked so young. And there was something
SO helpless about her. Like a straying
bird she had fitted into his lonely cabin. 1t all
seemed so unreal. IN way the girl herself
seemed unreal as she slept there on the bunk,
trusting and unafraid as if she had known him
for long time.
He rose from the chair and stood motion
less, watching her He took step toward the
bunk and then one more, The girl slept on.
Presently he bent down as if to kiss her, but
lost his courage and stepped back. Good God,
suppose she woke up But she didn't She
slept. Niels turned abruptly and walked into
the kitchen where he sat down. His otherwise
steady hands trembled as he put more wood
on the fire.
The siren groaned. Grayish-red fog drifted
over the dock water and massed around the
barge with its tiny cabin. 1t was like scene
out of the tales Niels had heard as child in
Norway, stories of Evil Powers greedy for the
souls of human beings; strange yarns of
gnomes and goblins and sprites Of the air and
water; beautiful princesses spirited into the
mountains sea-maidens losing their hearts
to handsome fishermen.
A shrek from a tugboat' steam whistle
cut through the mist Niels raised his head
and glanced out through the window into the
gray Of the winter afternoon. We're the trolls
haunting about out there! One would almost
think so. Evil Powers crowding in on the
cabin to reclaim the girl they had held captive