CHAPTER TWO.
A THUNDERCLAP! It was late in the autumn when Eric left Lubeck on his way to Rotterdam, where he was to go on board the good ship _Gustav Barentz_, bound on a trading voyage to the eastern isles of the Indian Ocean; and, as the year rolled on, bringing winter in its train--a season which the Dort family had hitherto always hailed with pleasure on account of its festive associations--the hours lagged with the now sadly diminished little household in the Gulden Strasse; for, the merry Christmas-tide reminded them more than ever of the absent sailor boy, who had always been the very life and soul of the home circle, and the eagerly sought- for guest at every neighbourly gathering.
"It does not seem at all the same now the dear lad is away on the seas," said old Lorischen, the whilom nurse, and now part servant, part companion of Madame Dort.

"Indeed, I cannot fancy him far-distant at all.

I feel as if he were only just gone out skating on the canal, and that we might expect him in again at any moment!" "Ah, I miss him every minute of the day," replied Madame Dort, who was sitting on one side of the white porcelain stove that occupied a cosy corner of the sitting-room, facing the old nurse, who was busily engaged knitting a pair of lambs-wool stockings on the other.
"It is now--aye, just two months since the dear lad left us," continued Lorischen, "and we've never had a line from him yet.

I hope no evil has befallen the ship!" "Oh, don't say such a thing as that," said Madame Dort nervously.

"The vessel has a long voyage to make, and would only touch at the Cape of Good Hope on her way; so we cannot expect to hear yet.