CHAPTER XVII 



LAST DAYS WITH NORWAY AND ITS SEA 

 TROUT 



TO-DAY we say " farvell " to the willing, good-hearted 

 fellows who have served us so loyally these bygone 

 weeks, and to the kindly people with whom you cannot 

 help making friends after a brief residence amongst the 

 simple farmer and village folk of Norway. We have, 

 therefore, to prepare for flight of seventy miles down 

 the fiord in order to catch the English boat at Bergen ; 

 and, to do this, we have had to charter a small craft 

 on our own account if we would intercept the next 

 regular steamer plying from Trondjhem southwards. 

 The greater part of the day has been, in consequence, 

 spent perforce in the odious work of packing up ; but 

 I need here only say, as cognate to packing up, that 

 the tackle one carries is considerable, and that many of 

 us undoubtedly get into the habit of taking much 

 more than is necessary. At any rate, the occupation 

 of stowing away impedimenta has gobbled a consider- 

 able slice out of this day. Yet I have not only 

 managed to get a bit of fishing but, strange to say, have 

 made exactly the same bag of fish as to number and 

 weight as I did on that bright day aforetime described. 

 Perhaps it is unnecessary to begin by affirming that 

 once more, as diem per diem for three weeks, we have 

 had to work at our play amidst rain unceasing from 



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