HVILESTED. THE UPPEE WATER 157 



drop of water fall from a height at intervals on the 

 head of a criminal or suspect. Gradually the sound 

 of many waters mingled with my dreams, then I 

 lost all consciousness and slept soundly, until the 

 housemaid coming in to call us in the morning, was 

 surprised to find me alone and all the furniture in 

 confusion. Fortunately, although the roof leaked 

 in many places, no others of the party had been 

 quite washed out of bed. Although rain had fallen 

 all through the night, the tropical deluge had been 

 only temporary ; but I did not hurry to get up. 

 I felt pretty well convinced that for the first time 

 in my Norwegian experiences, fishing would be im- 

 practicable even in the shallows and backwaters, 

 so I was content for once to be almost the last at 

 the breakfast-table. 



The roof of our house, like that of most of the 

 buildings in Norway, was constructed of birch bark 

 spread over planks, and covered with turf on which 

 long grass grows, giving it a curious and unshaven 

 appearance* The year before, after the long drought, 

 we had been led to expect some leakage, if rain came, 

 from the natural shrinkage of the timber caused by 

 the heat ; but there had been sufficient wet this autumn 

 to obviate any exceptional risk of that description. 

 The cause of our ducking was the extraordinary and 

 almost unprecedented volume of water which fell in a 

 short time, which no ordinary gutter could be expected 

 to carry away. I have little doubt that our discomfort 

 was shared by the inmates of many of the farms and 

 dwellings in the district. My first thought was a 

 feeling of thankfulness that the big spate had come 

 on a Saturday, and that there were forty-eight hours 



