256 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



where Grizzly Bears have been burrowing for gophers, 

 but by October all is hidden again under a merciful 

 winter shroud. 



" Next to a rise of ten kroners per kilo in the 

 price of cod, perhaps the greatest joy in life to the 

 Norwegian peasant is a nice little explosion. Go 

 where you will here, the Sabbathian calm in spring 

 is sure to be broken by the crash of dynamite. 

 There is a fire station about thirty yards from this 

 house where they use blasting foundations of 

 course under a house already built and eight or 

 ten times a day the peaceful fjord and mountains 

 reverberate with deafening reports. When the 

 fuse is set two men are supposed to go out and warn 

 passers-by to keep clear, but this they do not 

 always do, with the result that I nearly had a 

 nasty accident one day. Seeing the coast clear 

 and no sentry in view, I walked up the rocks past 

 the building under repair, and had just reached it 

 when I saw two men sitting smoking under the lee 

 of some rocks. At the same moment a deafening 

 explosion took place from the fire station about 

 twenty yards to my left, and I was violently 

 thrown to the ground amid a shower of earth and 

 rocks. For one moment I was half stunned, and 

 feeling a stinging sensation at the back of my neck. 

 I put my hand up and found it covered with blood. 

 However, I soon ascertained that only the skin had 

 been cut by flying gravel and nothing serious was 

 the matter, so I went up to the men and said 

 several things to them about their gross careless- 

 ness which might easily have had serious conse- 

 quences. They were most apologetic, and begged 

 me not to mention the matter to the authorities." 



