ould speak nothing but their native
tongue. However, this did not prove a great stumbling-block, for, while
Grant talked French with the pastor, Fred entertained his hostess in his
best Norse, and Sam Sorrel, not to be behindhand, got the children round
him, and made such wonderful use of _ver so goot_ and his other pet
phrases, that he succeeded in getting the boy on his knee, and in
setting the girls off into giggles of laughter.

They spent that Sunday and the following Monday at this pleasant place,
and were taken by the pastor all over his house and grounds and village,
after which he conducted them to the summit of a mountain, whence they
obtained one of the finest views they had yet seen in Norway.

Here, for the first time since leaving England, they regarded a fair
wind with disfavour; they bade adieu to the pastor and his family with a
little of that sad feeling which one experiences when parting, perhaps
for ever, from dear friends.

But time and the sun would not wait. The anchor was tripped; the sails
were spread; in half an hour the place had dwindled away to a bright
green spot in the far distance; then they rounded the beetling crags of
an island--and it vanished from their view.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

VISIT TO A STRANGE PEOPLE--THE MIDNIGHT SUN.

One day the _Snowflake_ lay becalmed in one of those long narrow fiords
by which the whole of the west coast of Norway is cut up, and some of
which extend from seventy to a hundred miles inland.

There was no prospect of a breeze, so another boat excursion was talked
of. Hearing this, Hans Ericsson informed his master that there was a
small settlement of Laplanders about thirty miles or so inland, and that
he would be very glad to guide him and his friends to it if they chose.

They jumped at the proposal at once, and in less than half an hour they
were on their way to it. Bob Bowie also went on this expedition.

No carioles could be procured in that wild region, but at a poor
fishing-village on the coast they got two of the country carts. These
are small rough machines, with a seat on wooden springs. They can hold
only two persons, and are light and serviceable, well suited to the
rough roads. Fred and Sam led the way; Grant and the steward followed.
Hans acted the part of shooscarle to the former, and the owner of the
carts drove the latter.

The first start was up the side of a hill at least two thousand feet,
and the road was so steep that i