HVILESTED. THE UPPER WATER 159 



visible above the grey water. My fishermen had 

 been out all night looking after the boats, and it was 

 lucky that they had succeeded in dragging them up 

 high and dry ; otherwise they would doubtless all 

 have been washed away, as ordinary chains could not 

 have resisted the force of the current. 



No wonder the fish would not rise on Saturday ! 



The farm at Fladvad, a few hundred yards above 

 the long pool, was occupied by a dear old woman who 

 looked after the primitive telephone exchange of the 

 district. We used to leave our cart by the stabbur 

 or byre, of this farm, and to turn the pony out in the 

 adjacent fields. Naturally we repaid this hospitality 

 by leaving a goodly supply of fish when we returned 

 with full baskets. This unfortunately aroused the 

 gratitude of the recipient, who adopted a method of 

 showing it which after a time became inconvenient. 

 Every time we fished the upper water she used to 

 come down to the bank about five o'clock, accompanied 

 by a small boy bearing a basket, and signal to us. 

 Generally we were discovered above our waists in 

 water fishing away for dear life, with Ole watching 

 from the shingle. The boat was tied up near the 

 bottom of the pool, and we had to take a weary 

 walk, waste much valuable time, and disturb a lot 

 of the best water by rowing over it, before we could 

 get across. The basket was found to contain hot 

 coffee, always delicious in Norway, with cups and 

 saucers, a clean napkin, and scones, fladbrod, and 

 bread and butter. It was undeniably refreshing, and 

 at first we were duly grateful, and properly appreci- 

 ated the delicate attention, but when we found that 

 the picnic became an invariable practice we would have 



