AN ELK SEASON. 157 



introduced him in form " Dis mann haf elg ve schutt dag/' 

 which seemed to indicate that our visitor was the farmer 

 on whose rights I had fired at the elk, and that had I killed 

 it he would have become the pleased possessor of the re- 

 sulting meat. Acutely conscious that in the eyes of Mathias 

 my shot should have procured a winter's supply of food 

 for his household, I felt there was nothing for me to say 

 for myself. But Peder was clearly far from holding the 

 same ^opinion, for he broke out into a rising tide of Norsk 

 narrative. Meantime Mathias had been supplied with hot 

 tea, and to its comforting effects I attributed the almost 

 seraphic smile v/hich, as he listened, slowly overspread his 

 weather-wilted features. Then he in his turn began to 

 speak, while Peder translated after his own fashion, and 

 I learned the signification of that breadth of smile. I gath- 

 ered that Mathias prophesied smooth things ; it appeared 

 that he had a boat upon the lake into which the elk had 

 plunged, and he predicted that we should get the animal, 

 and that he and his should yet eat the meat thereof. At 

 length he took his departure, it having been arranged that 

 he and his boat should be at my disposal a little before dawn. 

 The hour found us at the rendezvous. We stood high 

 on the side of a hill and watched the mists coiling in the 

 valleys below us. At first the summits which rose all round 

 showed like giants wading shoulder high in a foggy sea, 

 but as the sun mounted higher into the sky the mists began 

 to uncurl and heave and finally to drain away into the 

 warmth of the upper air. We descended quickly to the 

 lake-side, and the woods sweet with dew and dawn seemed 

 still and listening as we pushed out upon the bosom of the 

 water. In the boat I found a cast antler of great size and 

 beauty, over which I sighed, and which I suspect Mathias 

 had placed there as a spur to my enthusiasm. Tyr knows 

 it needed none ! Before long we arrived at the spot 

 where the elk had taken to the water ; there we landed 



