258 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



heavens often seemed to be on fire, and the general 

 effect was even more gorgeous than the sunsets of 

 August and September. Such sunsets as those of 

 northern Europe are not to be seen in any other 

 part of the world. 



One evening I dashed in one of these, using nearly 

 every colour in the spectrum, and when I looked 

 at it next morning it seemed as if I had upset the 

 paint-box. But a local merchant who saw it said 

 it was just right, and bought it on the spot. Often 

 I used to take a boat, have a little saithe fishing, 

 and then paint the breaking sea on the outer islands 

 as backgrounds for my eagle pictures, but the 

 fishermen, who regarded me as a harmless lunatic 

 or a cunning fellow with deep designs on the coast, 

 were mostly unsympathetic, and thought more of 

 the elusive kroner than the claims of art or sport. 

 These men were not at all of the same class as 

 the charming hunters and fishermen of the interior 

 valleys, with whom I have spent many happy days 

 in old times chasing the elk and the reindeer, 

 and only exhibited a greed for money and material 

 things. The oil motor has spoilt their skill as 

 sailors, and the great price of fish has rendered 

 them lazy and independent, without developing 

 any tastes for the beautiful either in art or Nature. 



Entirely different from them was my dear friend 

 E., whom I sent for early in September to under- 

 take certain confidential work. He was a hunter 

 from the south, a man I had known intimately 

 in former years, and one of the most charming 

 creatures God ever made. He was a devoted 

 friend and a born actor, as well as a very clever 

 man. Well read, too, in spite of the fact that all 



