"This isn't bad," said Scott, as the party paused to look down into the garden.
"Not at all," replied Sanford. "I suppose they have music here in the evening, and it would be a capital place to loaf."
"See the steamers!" exclaimed Laybold, as a couple of the miniature craft, which abound in the waters of Stockholm, whisked up to the quay.
"A fellow could put half a dozen of them into his trousers pocket," laughed Scott. "We must go on a cruise in some of them, as soon as we get settled."
"Well, where's the hotel?" asked Sanford.
It was in plain sight from the bridge, which they crossed to the Square of Gustavus Adolphus, on which the hotel faced.
"Good morning, young gentlemen. I am happy to see you," said Mr. Blaine, the head steward of the ship, who was the first person to greet them as they entered the hotel.
"Ah, Mr. Blaine!" exclaimed Sanford, his face glowing with apparent satisfaction. "I am delighted to see you; for I was afraid we should never find the ship."
"Were you, indeed? Well, I had the same fear myself. I have been looking for you ever since the ship sailed."
"We have done our best to find the ship, Mr. Blaine," added Sanford.
"O, of course you have; but of course, as you didn't find her, you were not so babyish as to sit down and cry about it."
"Certainly not; still we were very anxious to find her."
"Mr. Peaks says you came down from Christiania before he did."
"And you were so anxious to find the ship, that you took a train to the interior of the country, expecting, no doubt, to come across her on some hill, or possibly on some of these inland lakes," continued Mr. Blaine.
"We were looking for the ship's company. We met Scott and Laybold, who were going into the interior, and we concluded to join them, as they wanted to find their shipmates," replied Sanford, who was now not entirely confident that "the independent excursion without running away" was a success.
"Ah! so you have picked up those two young gentlemen, who ran away," added the head steward, glancing at Scott and Laybold.
"Not exactly, sir; they picked us up," answered the coxswain.
"I think it was a mutual picking up, and we picked each other up," laughed Scott. "We knew that Sanford and his crew were extremely anxious to find the ship's company, and if we joined them we should be sure to come out right."