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Perhaps he did not believe that the Viborg girls were prettier than any others; at any rate, he was thinking of one from Skagen, and he was now about to join her. The vessel had a fair, fresh breeze; therefore he arrived at Christiansand in half a day. Early one morning the trader, Mr. Brönne, went out to the lighthouse that is situated at some distance from Gammel-Skagen, and near Grenen.
For miles and miles, interspersed with sand-hills and cultivated land, houses, farms, and drifting sand-banks, stretched, and stretch still, towards Gammel-Skagen, Wester and Osterby, out to the lighthouse near Grenen, a waste, a desert, where the wind drives before it the loose sand, and where sea-gulls and wild swans send forth their discordant cries in concert.
It was made in Holland for Peter the Great, but the ship which carried it was wrecked near Grenen, and the model was saved by the Skaw fishermen. Denmark is renowned for its educational system and for its schools. These schools are all under Government control, and meet the wants of every class.
At that time Old Skjagen, with the eastern and western town, extended for miles, with sand hills and arable land as far as the lighthouse near "Grenen." Then, as now, the houses were strewn among the wind-raised sand-hills a wilderness in which the wind sports with the sand, and where the voice of the sea-gull and wild swan strikes harshly on the ear.
In the south-west, a mile from "Grenen," lies Old Skjagen; merchant Bronne dwelt here, and this was also to be Jurgen's home for the future. The dwelling-house was tarred, and all the small out-buildings had been put together from pieces of wreck.
The ship set sail for Christiansand in Norway, and as the wind was favourable it soon arrived there. One morning merchant Bronne went out to the lighthouse, which stands a little way out of Old Skjagen, not far from "Grenen." The light was out, and the sun was already high in the heavens, when he mounted the tower.
It is not to be wondered at that this merciless and cruel coast is dreaded by all seamen. How thankful they must feel when they see the great lighthouse at Grenen the northernmost point of Jutland and can signal "All's well!" "Alt vel! passeret Grenen" flash the lights across the water, and both passengers and crew breathe a little more freely if it has been a stormy passage.
Something like eighty thousand vessels pass by this coast in a year, so you may be sure the gallant fishermen of Denmark who live on the iron coast have plenty of rescue work to do. You should see this coast on a stormy day, more especially at Grenen, where those two mighty seas, the Skagerack and Cattegat, meet.
To the south-west, a few miles from Grenen, lies High, or Old Skagen, where the worthy Brönne lived, and where Jörgen was also to reside. The house was tarred, the small out-houses had each an inverted boat for a roof. Pieces of wrecks were knocked up together to form pigsties.
Like other famous Danes, he chose a unique burial-place. Away at Grenen, in the sand-dunes, overlooking the fighting waters of the Skagerack and Cattegat, stands his cromlech-shaped tomb, near the roar of the sea he loved so much, where time and sand will soon obliterate all that remains of the Byron of Denmark.
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