the gyrations of the whirl grew gradually less and less violent. By degrees, the froth and the rainbow
disappeared, and the bottom of the gulf seemed slowly to uprise. The sky was clear, the winds had
gone down, and the full moon was setting radiantly in the west, when I found myself on the surface of
the ocean, in full view of the shores of Lofoden, and above the spot where the pool of the Moskoe-ström
had been. It was the hour of the slack but the sea still heaved in mountainous waves from the effects
of the hurricane. I was borne violently into the channel of the Ström, and in a few minutes, was hurried
down the coast into the grounds of the fishermen. A boat picked me upexhausted from fatigueand
(now that the danger was removed) speechless from the memory of its horror. Those who drew
me on board were my old mates and daily companionsbut they knew me no more than they would
have known a traveller from the spirit-land. My hair, which had been raven-black the day before, was as
white as you see it now. They say, too, that the whole expression of my countenance had changed. I
told them my storythey did not believe it. I now tell it to youand I can scarcely expect you to put
more faith in it than did the merry fishermen of Lofoden.