132 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



fell early in the month, and lay for many days, and 

 drifted to some depth on the higher f jelds. This cir- 

 cumstance alone increased tenfold the difficulties of 

 approaching in cover that wily and sagacious animal 

 the old hull elk, the crunching of the frozen snow 

 under our feet constantly giving us away. But we 

 managed to get a couple of bulls, all the same ; and 

 had certain rifle hullets heen a trifle more accurate in 

 then 1 flight, another couple at least of these great deer 

 would have been added to our bag. 



Four days after leaving Hull, we that is, the good 

 ship Tasso steamed up Throndhjem Fjord, and 

 dropped anchor about noon in the harbour of the 

 historic Scandinavian capital, where for centuries a 

 line of Viking Kings have come to be crowned. The 

 modern advantages of a telephone and a railway 

 enabled us to make all our arrangements for stores, 

 etc., that afternoon, to enjoy two square meals at the 

 Hotel Britannia, and to reach our happy hunting- 

 grounds that same evening, by what purported to be 

 the fast night (7.15) mail- train south. This meant 

 for us a leisurely run of fifty miles or thereabouts in 

 the dignified time of three hours or more along the 

 Throndhjem-Christiania Railway, up the banks of the 

 rushing Gula (Yellow) River, one of the great streams 

 that drain the western watershed of the backbone of 

 Norway into Throndhjem Fjord. 



We reached Singsaas about 10.30 p.m., and found 

 our henchmen awaiting our arrival on the platform. 

 There was Johan Bergan, landlord and general utility 

 man, also Ivor Hugaas, Peder Kirkvold, and Hans 

 Aasen, hunters, each with a curly-tailed Norske collie 

 On a string. Hans Aasen was an extra, and came from 

 the farm already mentioned on the south end. He 



