He asked for the fullest possible particulars in regard to everything connected with the "Viking" and her cruise, and inquired if some event, unforeseen or otherwise, had made it necessary to send the vessel to a different port from that for which it was originally destined.

He also expressed a strong desire to hear as soon as possible how the shipping merchants and sailors of Bergen explained the delay.

In short, he begged his friend Help to give him all possible information in regard to the matter by return mail.
This urgent letter also explained Sylvius Hogg's interest in the mate of the "Viking," the invaluable service rendered him by the young man's betrothed, and the pleasure it would afford him to be able to give some encouragement to Dame Hansen's children.
As soon as this letter was finished Joel took it to Moel so it would go on the following day.

It would reach Bergen on the eleventh, so a reply to it ought to be received on the evening of the twelfth or the morning of the thirteenth at the very latest.
Nearly three days of dreary waiting! How interminable they seemed! Still, by dint of reassuring words and encouraging arguments, the professor contrived to alleviate the painful suspense.

Now he knew Hulda's secret, was there not a topic of conversation ever ready?
And what a consolation it was to Joel and his sister to be able to talk of the absent one! "I am one of the family now," Sylvius Hogg repeated again and again.
"Yes, I am like an uncle that has just arrived from America or some foreign land." And as he was one of the family, they must have no more secrets from him.
Of course he had not failed to notice the children's constrained manner toward their mother, and he felt satisfied that the reserve the parent displayed had its origin in something besides the uneasiness she felt on Ole Kamp's account.