Three in Norway Part 1

Three in Norway.

by James Arthur Lees and Walter J. Clutterbuck.

INTRODUCTION.

HISTORY.

'Canadian canoes are the only boats that will do' was our conclusion after a thorough inspection of every existing species of boat, and long consultation with 'Sambo' of Eton about a totally new variety, invented but fortunately _not_ patented by one of our number.

Our party consisted of three men, who shall be briefly described here.

First, 'the Skipper,' so called from his varied experience by land and sea in all parts of the world, but especially in Norway, whither we were now intending to go in search of trout, reindeer, and the picturesque.

The Skipper is lank and thin, looking as though he had outgrown his strength in boyhood, and never summoned up pluck enough to recover it again. His high cheek-bones and troubled expression give one the idea of a man who cannot convince himself that life is a success, which is perhaps pretty nearly the view he actually takes of existence.

Secondly, 'Esau,' who received this name in consequence of the many points in which his character and history resemble that of the patriarch who first rejoiced in it: for our Esau, like his prototype, is 'a cunning hunter and man of the fjeld;' and we are sure that if he ever had such a thing as a birthright, he would willingly have sold it for a mess of pottage. Esau is short and joyous, and is one of those people who never indigest anything, but always look and always are in perfect health and spirits. It is annoying to see a man eat things that his fellow-creatures can not without suffering for it afterwards, but Esau invariably does this at dinner, and comes down to breakfast next morning with a provoking colour on his cheek and a hearty appet.i.te. His office in this expedition was that of Paymaster; not because he possessed any qualifications for the post, but because the Skipper had conclusively proved that such employment was too gross and mundane for _his_ ethereal soul, by constantly leaving the purse which contained our united worldly wealth on any spot where he chanced to rest himself, when he and Esau went to spy out the land two years before this.

Lastly, 'John,' so called for no better reason than the fact that he had been christened Charles: he had never yet visited the wilds of Scandinavia. John is an Irishman, whose motto in life is 'dum vivimus vivamus:' he is tall and straight, with a colossal light moustache. He generally wears his hat slightly tilted forward over his forehead when engaged in conversation; and the set of his clothes and whole deportment convey an idea that he is longing to tell you the most amusing story in the world in confidence. He is no gossip, and the anecdotes of his countrymen, of which he has an inexhaustible supply always ready, are merely imparted to his listeners from philanthropic motives, and because he longs for others to share in the enjoyment which he gleans from their mental dissection.

The general idea of the campaign was that the Skipper and Esau should leave England in the early part of July; fish their way up a string of lakes into the Jotunfjeld, getting there in time for the commencement of the reindeer season; establish a camp somewhere; and then that John, starting a month later, should join, and the three of us sojourn in that land until we were tired thereof. How we accomplished this meritorious design we have tried to relate in the following pages.

GEOGRAPHY.

The map of Norway, apart from Sweden, presents an outline something like a tadpole with a crooked irregular tail. The Jotunfjeld is an extensive range of the highest mountains which are to be found in Northern Europe: before 1820 A.D. they were totally unexplored, and at the present time they are still perfectly wild and desolate, their summits covered with eternal ice and snow, and even their valleys uninhabited. That part of the Jotunfjeld which we intended to make our goal and headquarters is situated about the middle of the tadpole's body, and nearly equidistant from Throndhjem and Christiania.

LANGUAGES.

It is customary when writing a book on any foreign country to scatter broadcast in your descriptions words and phrases in the language of that country, in order to show that you really have been there. We propose to depart from this usage in the course of this work; but if at any time the exigencies of narrative seem to demand the use of the foreign tongue, we have little doubt that the English language will provide an equivalent, which shall be inserted for the benefit of the uninitiated.

MATHEMATICS.

Foreigners have a curious prejudice which leads them to adopt different systems of coinage and measurement from those in favour in England.

But shall a Briton pander to this prejudice by making any use of their ridiculous figures? Decidedly not. What matters it to us that a Norwegian land-mile contains seven of our miles, and a sea-mile four? we speak only of the British mile. What care we that the Norwegian krone is worth about 13d.? Shall that prevent us from always calling it a shilling? Never! And shall the fact that it is divided into ten 10-ore pieces (which are little nickel coins worth about five farthings each) restrain us from alluding to them as the 'threepenny bits' which they so much resemble? Not while life remains.

EXTRA SUBJECTS.

Some of the statements that will be found in these pages may strike the reader as being, to say the least of it, improbable. We therefore wish to explain that all the incidents of sport and travel are simple facts, but that here and there is introduced some slight fiction which is too obviously exaggerated to require any comment.

THREE IN NORWAY.

CHAPTER I.

THE VOYAGE.

_July 8._--At ten P.M. on the platform of the Hull station might have been seen the disconsolate form of Esau, who had arrived there a few minutes before. To him entered suddenly an express train, with that haste which seems to be inseparable from the movements of express trains, adorned as to the roof of one of its carriages by a Canadian canoe. From that carriage emerged the lanky body of the Skipper, and general joy ensued.

Then in the hotel the Skipper related his perilous adventures; how he had crossed London in a four-wheeler with the canoe on the quarter-deck, and himself surrounded by rods, guns, rugs, tents, and ground-sheets in the hold, amid the shouts of 'boat ahoy!' from the volatile populace, and jeers from all the cabs that they met (there are many cabs in London); how the station-master at King's Cross--may his shadow never be less!--had personally superintended the packing of the canoe on a low carriage which he put on to the train specially; and how the G.W.

charged four times as much as the G.N. He had seen John the day before, and on being asked to 'wander about, and get some things with him,' the Skipper had replied that it was quite impossible, as his time was occupied for the whole day: but when John said, 'I wanted your advice chiefly about flies, and a new rod that I am thinking of buying,' he replied, 'Sir, I have nothing of the slightest importance to do; my time is yours; name the moment, and place of meeting, and I will be there.'

Then they twain had spent a happy day; for decidedly the next best thing to using your own rod is buying one for another man--at his expense.

Poor Esau had no charming experiences to relate: he was a little depressed because an intelligent tyke at Doncaster had looked into the horse-box in which his canoe was travelling, hoping no doubt to see some high-mettled racer, and had asked if 'yon thing were some new mak o'

a coffin.'

_July 9._--We walked about Hull and made a few last purchases. In the course of our wanderings we chanced to come to a shop, in the window of which many strawberries, large and luscious, were exposed for sale. We immediately entered that shop without exchanging a word, and the Skipper said to the proprietress, 'This gentleman wants to buy a quant.i.ty of strawberries for a school feast;' while Esau remarked, as he fastened on to the nearest and largest basket, 'My friend has been ordered to eat strawberries by his doctor.' After this a scene ensued over which it were best to draw a veil.

At six o'clock we were safely aboard the good ship 'Angelo,' and saw our baggage stowed. It consisted of three huge boxes of provisions, weighing more than 100 lbs. each, two portmanteaus, two smaller bags, a tent, a large waggon-sheet intended to form another tent, a bundle of rugs and blankets, a large can containing all cooking utensils, four gun-cases, seven rods, a bundle of axes, a spade and other necessary tools, and the canoes with small wheels for road transport. Those wheels were the only things in the whole outfit that turned out to be not absolutely necessary. We did use them, but only once, and might have managed without them.

When the aforesaid was all on board, there did not appear to be much room for anything else in the steamship 'Angelo;' registering 1,300 tons; yet this vast pile was destined to travel many miles over a desperately rough country in the two little canoes.

We were warped out of dock about eight o'clock, and steamed down the Humber with a west wind and a smooth sea. It was showery up to the moment of our departure, but as Hull faded from our sight it became fine, and with the sh.o.r.es of England we seemed to leave the cloud and rain behind.

_July 10._--The day pa.s.sed as days at sea do when the weather is all that can be wished, and the treacherous ocean calmly sleeps. The pa.s.sengers were as sociable as any collection of English people ever are, and we spent the time very pleasantly chatting, smoking, eating enormously, and playing the ordinary sea games of quoits and horse-billiards.

The Skipper was much exercised in spirit because Esau had told him that he believed a certain pa.s.senger to be an acquaintance of a former voyage, named, let us say, Jones, and that he was a capital fellow. So the Skipper went and fraternised with Jones, and presently, trusting to the 'information received,' remarked, 'I believe your name is Jones?'

and was a little annoyed when Jones replied, 'No, it's not Jones; it's Blueit, and I never heard the name of Jones as a surname before.' Then the Skipper arose and remonstrated with his perfidious friend, who with great good temper said, to make it all right, 'You see that man by the funnel? That is a Yankee going to see the midnight sun; go and talk to him.' Now the Skipper has been in America a good deal, and likes to talk to the natives of those regions, so he sailed over to the funnel and tackled the Yankee. Presently, with that admirable tact which is his most enviable characteristic, he observed, 'I understand that you have come all the way from America to see the midnight sun: it is a very extraordinary phenomenon. Imagine a glorious wealth of colour glowing over an eternal sunlit sea, and endowing with a fairy glamour a scene which Sappho might have burned to sing; where night is not, nor sleep, but Odin's eye looks calmly down, nor ever sinks in rest.' As he paused for breath the Yankee saw his opportunity, and said, 'No, I was never in America in my life. I am a Lincolnshire man, and am going over to Arendahl to buy timber. I have seen the midnight sun some dozen times, and I call it an infernal nuisance.' Here the Skipper hastily left, and came over and abused Esau until he made an enemy of him for life.

CHAPTER II.

CHRISTIANIA.

_Sunday, July 11._--We reached Christiansand about six, and set sail again at eight. There was what the mariners called a nice breeze with us. Esau declared it to be a storm, and was prostrate at lunch, owing as he said to attending church service, which was conducted under considerable difficulties, members of the congregation occasionally shooting out of the saloon like Zazel out of her cannon, or a.s.suming rec.u.mbent postures when the rubric said, 'Here all standing up.'

However, we came along at a great pace, and arrived at Christiania about nine at night, after a first-rate pa.s.sage.

The Fjord was not looking as beautiful as usual, as there had been a great deal of rain, and the storm clouds and mist were still hovering about the low hills, so that no glories of the northern sunset were visible.

We arranged that the Skipper should go straight to the Victoria Hotel for rooms, as we heard that the town was very full, and Esau was to follow with the luggage. Now there was a young Englishman on board, very talkative, extremely sociable, remarkably kind-hearted, and overflowing with the best advice. He had gone round the whole ship entreating every one to go to the 'Grand,' as he intended to do, because it was by far the best hotel.

Just as the Skipper had engaged our rooms at the 'Victoria,' in rushed this guileless child of nature, panting from the speed at which he had come from the quay, and the Skipper had the gratification of witnessing his discomfiture and listening to his apologies for having lied unto us, which of course he had done in order to get rooms for his own party at the 'Victoria.'

We say nothing against the 'Grand' because we know it not, but any one who has once tried the 'Victoria' will go there again: the man who is not at home and happy there must be a very young traveller.