OF OBERHAUSEN AND A POACHER 261 



murderous as you hope, you must blame the 

 Norwegian character, not Oberhausen. Nor me. 



The rent which MacAlister and Oberhausen 

 and I paid to the commune of our island was 

 employed for the good of all the inhabitants. 

 Our lease was granted by the commune. It 

 was executed by several of the more important 

 members of the commune. This is to be noted. 



From the first there had been talk of nets. 



Mr. Thorwaldsen, in whose house we lived, 

 had warned us that we might light upon some 

 of these engines of destruction. I was shocked 

 to hear this, for I did not know, as did Mr. Thor- 

 waldsen, that the first thought of a Norwegian 

 peasant on seeing a bit of water is, " How soon 

 can I put a net through it ? " But for ten days 

 we never saw a sign of a net. Then Oberhausen's 

 great adventure took place. 



I lay at rest upon the bosom of the lake. 

 Across half a mile of unruffled water I could 

 see Oberhausen at work, his form silhouetted 

 against the water of the sea-stream. This was 

 in the days before we learned how to fish this 

 place the finnocky days. His rod flashed in the 

 pitiless sun as he flailed manfully away. Where 

 I was no fish moved, for there was no fly on the 

 water. And yet I went on fishing dry, sunk, 

 even trailed for there were hungry mouths in 



