The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-09-15


 gravely, Lars is a widows son; and widows children are the best and brav- est of the young in Norwayf'
 "Amenw said the professor solemnly and we liked him none the less for the heartiness of his response.
 But here our curiosity was both piaued and baffied by the disappear ance of the three. after whispered consultation between the landlord and the professor, who meantime gave sev- eral well-defined head-jerkings toward us. within a private room. -t.. | On emerging from this an hour later, the landlord was swelling with impor- tance; the professor wore as contented n face as 1t seemed possible for hlm to wear. and there was a look of eager expectancy in the eyes of young Lars, whom we privately piled with questions without avail. Our last recourse was to draw the professor out at supper. This would be an easy task, We thought, as we were alone with him at table. | Our wager must be definitely decided | and besides, we were becoming more deeply interested in the personality of the supposititious scientist, In young Lars. who had certainly been engaged as his guide, and in this wondrous | scholar sister, about whom we built all | manner of pretty romances among her olden loved mountain saeter scenes To every fair inquiry of the road the | professor politely responded. We gave him our names and vacations, which he received with conciliatory "A-a-ahs?" We descanted upon the scenery, the curiosities of the Norwegian travel, the peculiar customs of the country, and even endeavored to awaken responsive condolences through railing at the plen- itude of women in Norway. But the professor with his "Ahsw "Exactlys" Quite sos! and the like, merely munched his food and blandly permitted us to interest each other as best We might At last my friend, with a sly wink, set out upon an audacious venture. My chief disappointment in visiting Norway" he gravely began, "has been in failing to discover multitudinous evidences of glacial striationsv' The professor here nearly upset his bowl of groed in his excitement of in- dignation.
 Bah! Tut, tut! Nonsense! An ab- surd statement from an apparently in- telligent traveller Why, they are ev- anywhere. Thick as the leaves. Mark every rock at each valley slde You must be dreaming, sir. Bah" My friend merely opened his eyes as if in polite inquiry for definite rebuttal of his observation and calmly pro- ceeded.
 "I am also satisfied from most pains- taking investigations-and this has been a source of perturbed anxiety to me in Norway!-that the so-called true glacier is. as body, quiescent; that it does not itself move; that only de- tached portions of the parent accumula- ton"
 Here Professor Detrius Moraine wrung his lips with his napkin as if in 8 very agony of impatience, tossed 1t from him with snapping fingers, and brought his fist down upon the table with so resounding a whack that the dishes danced jigs and galops of the Hveliest description. -+ .t.. That only detached portions of the parent accumulation"
 '"The detached portion of the parent accumulation represented in any per- son who will give utterance to such idiocies, sir, is either scelestic ruff1an or an illimitible ass, sir! There's my card, sir. I shall be here until morn- ing sir. Oh, Lord! what stupefaction of ignorance! Bah" B.
 With this the doughty professor stormed out of the room, slamming the door viciously behind him; and my in genious friend, after deciphering the card and handing it to me with, "Twen- ty kroners, please" broke into as hear ty laughter as ever rang through the droning passages of a stuffy Norwegian inn, in which I hilariously joined, we'll repaid in the result of the petty invest ment. .-. 2,
 We fully resolved to present our humblest apologies in the morning and endeavor to secure the professors toler- ance if not his friendship and esteem; but we were informed by the innkeeper Sthat the brave knight of science had paced his room until after midnight tawaiting some message from the two sdolts he had met at supper" and, dis appointed in this, had snatched few hours of rest, and departed long before we had risen to the dreary Midtfjeld with happy-hearted Lars.
 In relating this the weather-wise landlord shrugged his shoulders and shook his head forebodingly. Then. glancing at the frozen wastes of the Midtfjeld, he said gloomily:
 Lars will come beck. His sister, Hansine, will return. All the scatter girls and the herds will descend in good time to the valleys. But the mountain storms are making early; and if we see that forhaerdet (obdu- rate) man again, I fear the folk of Romsdal will have to dig him out from under the Mtdtjeld snows"
 It was this remark which determined our remaining in and around Ormeim until we had set eyes on the fair Han sine and could surely know that Pro- lessor Detrius Moraine had turned his back upon the dangerous fields of Nor way. . Y. It is no easy task to climb tosthese Norwegian seaters. Some are efrom twenty to sixty miles from the valley hamlets and farms. That of Klippes hul or Graz hollow. which Lars and the