chap, xvi BY SASSEN BAY 225 



perhaps he will take you, for he is not a bad man. He is 

 a good man. He brought me round here for nothing, and 

 treated me very well." "What is his name ?" "He is Cap- 

 tain Ekrem of Tromso. If you like, I will row out with 

 you to him ; but it is quite possible he cannot take you, for 

 he has landed his men, and some have gone up that valley 

 to shoot reindeer, and others have gone up the Sassendal. 

 He is waiting here for them." 



We rowed off to the sloop, and the boy climbed on board 

 and awoke the captain, an uncommonly comfortable-looking, 

 well-dressed sailor, about thirty years of age. He put on 

 an ostentatiously indifferent manner when he saw us. Mr. 

 Jorgensen acted as interpreter. "Oh yes," he said, "I could 

 take you to Advent Bay, but I should lose time, and you 

 must pay. How much would you pay?" "Well, tell us 

 how much you want." " I don't know ; it is for you to say 

 what you are willing to give." With the breeze that was 

 blowing, the run would have taken perhaps three hours. 

 There was a man and a boy on the sloop. I offered to pay 

 about a guinea (twenty kroner). " He says that is not enough." 

 "Well then, how much does he want ?" " He doesn't know. 

 He says in one hour on shore he can shoot a hundred kroners' 

 worth of reindeer, and that he will lose several hours going 

 with you. In fact, I believe he would not take you for less 

 than a hundred kroner." I made again a reflection that has 

 occurred to me both before and since ; the farther north 

 you go in Norway, the more shameless is the swindling an 

 Englishman has to encounter. The simple folk within the 

 Arctic Circle can give points to the veriest Shylock. We 

 bade the man go and make his hundred kroner, and left 

 him. He lolled below and returned to sleep, nor did he 

 make any attempt to land during the whole day. 



We rowed back to the botanist's camp, to land him and 

 his boy, then rowed away in his boat, which he most kindly 



P 



