Part 20 (1/2)

'Next morning after breakfast, while I was making up a fresh cast for my rod, I saw a man approaching the hut. As this was the only intrusion from human beings that we had suffered for more than a month, I was not a little surprised. Where the deuce could a man come from? and what the d.i.c.kens could he want? It soon proved to be old Tronhuus with a note for Jens.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The old stone Hut near Gloptind]

'I must explain that Besse Saeter where Jens lives belongs to a man who comes from Christiania, and Jens is only his tenant there. This man had arrived at his saeter two days before this with a young English n.o.bleman, whom he was proud to have as his guest, and to whom he naturally wished to show some sport; but he had been unable to do so for want of a good stalker. This was of course very unfortunate for him and his guest, but it by no means justified his present conduct. He had addressed a letter to Jens, but written it in English, so that I should read it, sending merely a verbal message to Jens by his father, to ensure our both knowing the purport of the letter, which was to the following effect:--”Jens. If you do not return with the bearer of this letter to Besse Saeter to show myself and Lord ---- some deer, you will at once lose your tenancy of Besse Saeter.” I could not keep Jens and thus cause him to be unfairly ejected from his home, so having no paper with me, I wrote in pencil on the back of the note that Peter had brought: ”As you must be aware that Jens is acting as my servant this summer, and that by calling him away you leave me absolutely alone at the stone hut on Rus Vand, I hope that you will not detain him after receiving this note.”

'With this missive Jens departed, and soon old Peter followed him, and left me, like Robinson Crusoe, alone on my desert highland. I am bound to say that I felt inclined to inquire with Selkirk, ”O solitude, where are the charms?” as I turned to perform the duties of the day, absolutely deserted in that desolate spot, with no companions but the lake and solemn mountain heights around me; so after a short time I put the Lares and Penates----'

'Hollo, what's that?' broke in Esau; 'you never said anything about bringing that with you before.'

'You duffer!' said the Skipper; 'it's Norwegian for the frying-pan and tea-kettle: do you mean to say you've been all this time in the country without learning that?'

'Oh, all right,' grunted Esau, 'go on.'

'Well, I put them into the boat and sculled the seven miles back to this hut, as I did not feel inclined to remain alone in that little stone hutch for the night.

'Three days pa.s.sed before they let Jens return to me; and during that time I was certainly rather dull, and at night felt a trifle creepy, but the days did not pa.s.s as slowly as you might have imagined; for being without a.s.sistance my time was fully occupied in catching my daily supply of fish, chopping firewood, cooking, was.h.i.+ng, and so on. At night the wind howled dismally round the cabin walls, but after the hard work of the day I soon fell asleep, and at last began almost to like the solitary life. Still I longed for Jens to come back, as I could not go out stalking alone; the season was far advanced, and the weather very cold.

'How I cursed that Englishman' (gentle murmurs of 'Bet you did' from the other two) 'as I cleaned out the tea-pot and scoured the frying-pan! and how I pictured him to myself wandering with my faithful Jens over the best reindeer-fjeld, and scaring away all the deer with his loud-sounding Bond Street express!'

'I say, Skipper,' put in Esau, 'did _his_ Bond Street express make any more row than _yours_? because if----'

'My dear fellow,' said the Skipper, 'you always put that kind of expression into narrative; it's Homeric; an educated man would be pleased with it.

'I was always expecting Jens; every sound, real or imaginary, caused me to look up over the deserted lake, and hold my breath while I listened to make out his voice in the distance; and when I went down the river I heard his cheery shout in the rush of every rapid and the roar of every fall.

'After all it was only three days, and then one afternoon I found him waiting for me at the hut. I was glad to see him--gladder than I am to hear the dinner-bell at home, as glad as a bee is to get into the open air after bunting its head against a window-pane for three days'

('Beautiful simile!' from John), 'and especially glad to see how pleased old Jens was to return to me again. I was also not particularly sorry to hear that he had found a herd of deer and taken Lord ---- within shot; and the only result was a calf, which Jens himself shot after the Englishman had missed.

'After this I had a good time with grand fis.h.i.+ng and more deer, but we did not stay much longer at Rus Vand; as you know, I was back in England by the end of September.'

The story ended, we called the men in and had a great settlement of wages and milk bills, and arranged how the Skipper's baggage should be transported tomorrow, and the rest next week.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Night at Rusvasoset, after a Day at Haircutting]

Then we filled up gla.s.ses round with whisky and drank a solemn Skaal (p.r.o.nounced Skole) to every one, and then to Gammle Norge, and finished the evening with 'Auld Lang Syne.' It must have been a ludicrous sight as we stood tightly packed in that tiny room, with heads all bent towards the centre to avoid the rafters, our hands crossed in orthodox fas.h.i.+on, and roaring at our highest respective pitches as much of the words as we knew, while we swayed our arms up and down in the manner essential to the proper rendering of the good old song.

When the men cleared out, Esau produced a gorgeous counterpane which he had commissioned Peter to buy in Vaage six weeks ago, and which the old man brought over from Besse Saeter to-day. Its manufacture is peculiar to this district; it is woven in most tasteful colours, red, magenta, blue, and green being the most prominent, with a kind of diamond pattern in white running diagonally across it; but, from the 'What's the next article?' air with which Esau exhibited it, we began to suspect that he was rather disappointed with it, and wanted to induce some one to buy it. Suffice it to say that its introduction was received with coldness.

This was a bad day for sport; we caught very little, and shot less. We did spy a reindeer directly after breakfast, but as he was about six miles away, close to the top of one of the highest mountains, and running as if Loki were after him, no one cared about pursuing him.

John fis.h.i.+ng in the lake managed to lose a 'twa and saxpenny' minnow, trace, and twenty yards of reel line, and was quite discontented.

At night the wind had increased to a storm, and the clouds were right down on the water, and hurrying past in endless wreathing drifts like witches trooping to their nocturnal Sabbath.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.