The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

A DESCENT INTQ THE MAELSTROM
yond Moskoe, nearly to Vurrgh. In all violent eddies
at sea there is good fishing, at proper opportunities,
if one has only the courage to attempt it; but among
the whole of the Lofoden coastmen we three were the
only ones who made a regular business of going out
to the islands, as I tell you. The usual grounds are
a great way lower down to the southward. There
fish can be got at all hours, without much risk, and
therefore these places are preferred. The choice spots
over here among the rocks, however, not only yield
the finest variety, but in far greater abundance; so
that we often got in a single day what the more timid
of the craft could not scrape together in a week. Infact, we made it a matter of desperate speculation -
the risk of life standing instead of labor, and courage
answering for capital.
"We kept the smack in a cove about five miles
higher up the coast than this; and it was our practice,
in fine weather, to take advantage of the fifteen minutes' slack to push across the main channel of the
Moskoe-str6m, far above the pool, and then drop
down upon anchorage somewhere near Otterholm, or
Sandflesen, where the eddies are not so violent as
elsewhere. Here we used to remain until nearly time
for slack-water again, when we weighed and made for
home. We never set out upon this expedition without a steady side wind for going and coming- one
that we felt sure would not fail us before our return
-and we seldom made a miscalculation upon this
point. Twice, during six years, we were forced to
stay all night at anchor on account of a dead calm,
which is a rare thing indeed just about here; and
once we had to remain on the grounds nearly a week,
starving to death, owing to a gale which blew up
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