REINDEER.
_August 12._--We wonder whether our friends in Scotland and Yorkshire have such a day as this: if they have, it is rough on the grouse.
There is not a breath the bottle-green wave to curl, and the sun shines as if Odin had redeemed his other eye.
The Skipper and ola went forth to pursue, and walked over an enormous distance into the previously unknown region of Memurutungen. Up on the mountains life on a day of this kind is bliss; there is more air there than in the valley, and it is delightful to be far away from the busy world--consisting of your two pals and Ivar--below; surrounded by the snowy peaks and sky, with not a living thing save perhaps an eagle in sight.
[Ill.u.s.tration: The two "Meget Stor Bocks" (very big Bucks) on Memurutungen]
In the middle of the day they came on fresh deer tracks, at which of course their flagging interest revived; and presently they descried on a snow fjeld about a mile away, two deer "scooting" over the opposite mountain side. These they followed, and made a long detour to get the right side of the breath of wind that occasionally made itself felt up there, for the reindeer has probably the most acute scent of all the deer tribe. In the midst of this detour they suddenly came in sight of two other bucks, about 300 yards away, much finer animals than the first two; in fact, they had the best heads the Skipper ever saw. But luck was against him; they were wrong for the wind, and a puff came just at the moment, which carried the unwelcome intelligence to those deer that their hated enemy was upon them, and they departed round a corner at a rapid trot, and were no more seen. Then ola looked at the Skipper with a sorrowful shake of the head, and said, "Meget store bocks!" (very big bucks), and the Skipper replied with a still more portentous shake, "Meget, meget." So they were left with their mouths wide open, muttering, "Meget, meget store bocks." And after following the tracks some time without seeing anything more of the deer, they gave up the chase and returned to camp, getting home in a very exhausted state about 6.30.
During dinner old Peter Tronhuus arrived in camp with a packet of letters and papers, and a fore-quarter of venison from Rus Vand. Mr.
Thomas had been like ourselves reindeer-less until yesterday, when he found a large herd, and was lucky enough to get two out of them.
Peter also told us that two friends of Thomas"s who had been staying with him were walking over the mountain to see our camp, and would then go to Gjendesheim with him in the boat in which he had come.
Presently these two men arrived extremely hot, and looking as if they would like beer; so we appeased them with one of our few remaining bottles, and after showing them all the sights of the camp took them out on the lake in the canoes. One of them spoke a little English, the other only French and Norwegian. The latter asked the Skipper, in the Gallic tongue, "if we had entrapped many fish?" and "if we had not fear to venture on the lake in such small boats?" and informed him that "there were many savage ducks about this year." The other one, regardless of his own life and safety, and also of Esau"s--in whose canoe he was sitting--_would_ keep throwing up his arms and exclaiming, "It gives us moch playsure to make a travel in the Canadian cano." But we think they were proud and thankful when the experiment was over, and they were safe in Peter"s boat. These strangers displayed unwonted courage, for the ordinary native has a wholesome dread of our frail craft. The hardy Norseman"s house of yore was doubtless on the foaming wave, but that was before the days of Canadian canoes.
At dinner John informed the company that his bath in the lake yesterday was the third of a series the first of which took place in Montenegro, the second in Algiers, and now this in Norway. He calls this a humble tribute to the geniality of the English summer, and thinks that he may be termed "a polyglot ablutionist." Some of the sojourners in this camp say it may be so, but it does not speak highly for John"s love of water when undiluted with whisky.
Subsequently we found that the bath which he swaggered about only occurred because he fell off a rock into the lake, and so dabbled about afterwards while his clothes were drying, which does not take long in this weather. This also accounts for the condition in which he returned to camp, "sans bags, sans shirt, sans everything,"--barring his boots.
Late at night Esau, who was up last, put his head into the tent to remark that there was a first-rate comet on view, but he was received with such execrations from the other two lazy people in bed that he thought it prudent to say no more about it, and not to look at it any more himself.
_August 13._--We spent the morning making a meat safe. This meat safe consists of a hole in the ground, neatly flagged with flat stones, and walled with the same, and furnished at the top with a wooden frame, into which fits a lid with hooks underneath it for birds. The whole is covered with a piece of muslin to keep off the villanous bluebottles.
The muslin was brought to make into mosquito nets inside the tent, but in this happy spot the "skeeter" is unknown, the sand-fly very rare, and the great green-eyed Moge--which bites a lump out of your leg and then flies to the nearest tree to eat it--is conspicuous by its absence.
We have always been very careful not to prepare in any way for game before it is killed, but this usually successful plan has been a failure this year, so now we are desperate, and have made a safe which will hold a reindeer, and probably with a little more bad luck shall even go out stalking with ropes in our pockets ready to tie up the animal when killed. We caught ola a week ago carving a piece of stick into the double-ended thing that butchers put between the legs of sheep to keep them apart (name unknown), but we promptly seized it, and made it into the handle of a frying-pan. But who can escape his destiny? We hoped that we had averted misfortune, but the deed was done, and no doubt it was owing to this that the Skipper failed to get a shot at the "store bocks."
When John and Esau had finished the safe and succeeded in catching enough nice fish for the requirements of the camp, they were seized with the desire of making a good bath. We have no first-rate bathing-place near the camp, as the glacier-river has made the lake too shallow round its mouth, and it is some distance to where the sh.o.r.e becomes bold and rocky.
They selected a nice little stream on the hill just above the tent, and toiled like navvies there for about four hours under a blazing sun, excavating and paving with flat stones, making a most palatial bath in the bed of the stream; when behold! just as it was completed, to use the graphic language of one of the constructors, "May I be dodderned, and doggoned, and dingblamed by Pike, if the blooming stream didn"t cease to run!" It did just supply about a pint of water before it quite stopped, into which Esau"s watch flew as he flung on his coat with some slight, and perhaps excusable, show of temper. A pint of water is not enough for a man to bathe in, but it is quite sufficient to saturate a watch, especially if a stone obligingly smashes the gla.s.s and makes a hole in its face obliterating the vii. viii. and ix. at the time of its immersion. However, he dug the mud out of the works, filled them with Rangoon oil, and is under the impression that that watch can be made to go again, and that a new face and gla.s.s and silver case will make it look all right. He is of a sanguine disposition.
They returned to camp saying that it would be all right as soon as the first rain came, but they reckoned without their host; the stream came from a little snowdrift on the mountain, and next time that Esau went up there he found that the heat of the last few days had melted it all away; hence its sudden stop. It never ran again. Perchance some future traveller will find the bath ages hence, and rejoice in its luxurious arrangements. In antic.i.p.ation of this John wrote the following beautiful lines on the most prominent rock:--
"Stranger, pause and shed a tear: There used to be a streamlet here; But seeing Esau strip to lave His sordid body "neath its wave, All filled with shame and blushing red, The streamlet left its gravel bed; Its only wish from him to flee, It ran away and went to sea."
The Skipper returned rather late with some very good fish from our old lake Rus Vand, and dinner was consequently at the extremely fashionable hour of 8.30.
MENU.
_Poisson._ Truite a la Norvege.
_Gibier._ Teal en matelote de Bacon.
Pommes de terre sauted in a frying-pan.
_Potage._ Skoggaggany.
Potage is frequently eaten last, for it keeps hot longer than the other dishes, and as we always feed in the open air in fine weather, they cool more quickly than in civilisation.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Hot Soup and Northern Lights]
About nine o"clock a splendid display of northern lights was produced for our benefit, and we stayed up till twelve o"clock baking bread and gazing at the ever-changing beauties of this glorious sight. In the course of conversation it transpired that the same thing happened last night in a milder form, and it was this that Esau had announced as a comet. To-night he was immensely delighted with the show, because he says it will bring good luck; quoting "Aurora bright, dear harbinger of dawn." He said this was Shakespeare, and if Shakespeare called Aurora a "deer harbinger," that ought to be enough for us. The other two agreed, but did not believe Shakespeare ever wrote that, or anything like it.
"What play was it in?" "Play!" said Esau, with the utmost contempt, "you awful duffers, it"s in the sonnets; I dare say you never read all of them." This was unanswerable, for of course no one ever did read all the sonnets. But in revenge John composed some poetry about Esau, after the manner of Walt Whitman, he said.
If Walt Whitman ever wrote anything like this, he ought to be made to read it. We give a few lines:--
""Twas he who culled the bluest berry sweet, And with his jodelling made the heights reply To airs that oft have graced the music hall: Anon when work or sport was put aside, The fragrant omelette he would deftly roll; No better man to fry the curling trout, None with more appet.i.te to make it scarce.
When tired nature seeks repose in bed, To lie when others rise and calmly rest, He most surpa.s.sed the seven Sleepers" selves.
This is the sort of rubbish men can write Who to inanity devote their minds; But nought save great experience will suffice To do the trick; no amateur can hope To vie with those who"ve studied it from youth."
And so on for pages.
On examining the diaries which we all keep, the following remarks on the aurora were found:--
NO. 1.--BY THE SKIPPER.
"The heavens were illuminated by most brilliant northern lights, which flickered in a great arch over the starry sky."
NO. 2.--BY ESAU.
"A most glorious display of northern lights, huge bands of light across the sky; waving, flickering, and disappearing, then suddenly shining out again more brilliantly than before, while all the time straight streamers of light were shooting upwards from the horizon."
NO. 3.--BY JOHN.
"The glow of a remarkably fine aurora borealis, whose silvery shimmering shafts flickered incessantly all over the heavens in the most fantastic shapes."
It will be observed that we all agree in the flickering, consequently you may bet it _did_ flicker. But for this fortunate fact it would be hard to recognise the three descriptions as identical, and yet this is the way history is written.
CHAPTER XVIII.
SUCCESS AT LAST.
_August 14._--This was a most eventful day in our quiet life, and one fraught with episode. For the first time there was a breeze, so the Skipper went out fishing, and John to practise canoeing in a wind, which is an art requiring considerable dexterity in these Canadian canoes.
They are beautiful sea boats, and beat the "Rob Roy" hollow for any purposes where room for baggage is required. In our two, which are only small, we have transported between 800 and 900 lbs.; but their worst feature is decidedly exhibited in a wind, for the broad flat bottom and absence of keel cause them to drift very fast, and make it difficult to keep them straight. It can only be done by paddling from amidships instead of from the stern.
Esau went out stalking, full of hope from the aurora and the favourable wind.
The Skipper was lucky and caught some very good fish, and then returning to camp constructed a most lovely wimberry tart. He had just finished the enclosure of the same in the oven, and was proceeding to remove the flour and ashes and other debris from his hands, while John reclined at his ease under an awning with our latest "Field"--three weeks old--when they heard a hail overhead, and behold a swarm of visitors from Rus Vand! Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, Miss A----, and their friend F----, who is the most celebrated deerstalker in the country. He is reported to never miss a shot, and occasionally shoots flying ryper with a rifle.
They tumultuously demanded lunch, and the Skipper with John had a pretty busy time of it for about twenty minutes, and the wimberry tart had to be left to its fate in the sultry climate of the oven. Our larder just now is not well supplied with anything except fish; so that the utmost exertions could only produce a meal which to people who have had reindeer for several days must have seemed poor indeed. Fried trout, Skoggaggany soup, tea, beer, bread, biscuits, and marmalade, was the bill of fare, for there was no time to do anything in the "gibier" line, birds taking some time to pluck and clean. However, to our guests there were some points of this meal decidedly worthy of attention, viz. the beer, marmalade, and bread: they have none of these at Rus Vand, as their attempts at bread have hitherto been failures, while ours has been very first-rate ever since the oven was built, and was much appreciated.