44 SIR VICTOR BROOKE CHAP. 



which was that it should not be my fault if an English- 

 man was not the first as usual, even in so trivial a matter 

 as the present case. I called my courrier, and told 

 him I meant to start that very night, and should be 

 quite ready in one hour's time. He talked about cold, 

 etc. etc.; but I was not going to be deterred, so away 

 he went to get guides, etc. Exactly at 10.30 I was in 

 the saddle and off, much to the disgust of the Dutchmen. 

 I had two guides ; one to guide me to the base of the 

 mountain, which was fourteen English miles off across 

 the trackless Fjeld, the other to help me in the ascent. 

 I also took with me lots of provisions in the shape of 

 hard eggs, black bread, brandy, and port wine. Having 

 heard the cold was intense, almost unbearable, as the 

 top was approached, I had put on my warmest shooting 

 coat and big sailor's jacket, also my waterproof gaiters 

 and a wideawake hat. The ride to the foot of the 

 mountain was truly wild ; in fact, to any one who really 

 enjoys nature in her wildest haunts, what could be more 

 glorious than picking your way across a 14 -mile 

 desert of nothing but rocks of the most fantastic 

 shapes rising in every direction out of the stunted 

 heath, surrounded with mountains on all sides ? All 

 the time the object of our expedition stood straight 

 before us like a gigantic ghost, seeming to get farther 

 away the faster you go to reach it. The light also 

 added to the wildness and strangeness of the scene 

 everything looked distorted into unnatural shapes ; it 

 was just the kind of light that would make one 

 mistake a house for a mountain 2000 or 3000 feet 

 high. Just as we got on to the snow three animals 

 glided swiftly away from under a ravine. I took them 

 for wolves, but upon them coming a little nearer into 

 the light I saw they were three magnificent reindeer. 

 They soon stopped galloping, and, settling into their 



