SPOKT AND TRAVEL IN NORWAY. O 



called Stromsdal, which had been built for deerstalk- 

 ing purposes, packing up our belongings on ponies, and 

 next day megot tidlig, before daybreak, we were u still- 

 hunting," or creeping silently through the woods on 

 the chance of coming on a stag. I had handed my 

 rifle to the Norwegian who was with me to hold for a 

 moment, and unknown to me he had moved the safety 

 bolt, rendering the trigger immovable. In a few 

 moments we suddenly came upon a Krone yort, one of 

 the most magnificent stags I ever saw, browsing 

 quietly within twenty yards of us in an open glade of 

 the forest, so noiselessly had we approached. Over 

 what followed I draw a veil, for the remembrance is 

 painful, the struggle with the safety bolt with cold 

 hands, the crash in the underwood, and he was gone. 



Yet once again he was seen. P had just 



arrived and was out early. Having passed through 

 a wood, he was ascending an incline to obtain a view 

 of a hollow beyond. At this moment his rifle, which 

 was resting on his shoulder, from some unknown 

 cause went off, and this same stag, so the Norwegian 

 declared, was seen making tracks in the dim distance, 

 having been alarmed by the report of the rifle, which 

 was a single-barrelled one, nor was there time to 

 reload. My friend declares he was carrying the 

 weapon u at the slope," and that nothing was in 

 contact with the trigger. Nor was the third of our 

 trio left without mishaps, for on one occasion a car- 

 tridge missed fire, and on another the mechanism of 

 the trigger went wrong at a critical moment. After 



