The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-15


word and I added quickly:
will give-wiil pay2'
please please Tank! Yees, sir. How
much you viii give2"
Her head bo0bed up and down rapidly
and was thrust forward and upward in
anticipation.
All the money you wish ~
She drew back from me a moment as if
startled. I could see that l had unlocked
IN her heart some repressed and hidden
longing. She shook her head gravely,
but the sadness in her smile of perplexity,
l thought, was sweetness itself. Then
asked her plainly:
Have you need of much money,
Freda, '
She rubbed the palms OF her hands to-
gether back and forth circlingly, in a way
which winsomely lifted her elbows, while
gathering courage for so sudden a conf
dence and the words for its expression.
She looked in my face difidently for
little, and then said in a low, determined
tone:
Greatly greatly 1t will never get
for my-myself 2"
Poor Fredal She was excitedly trying
to make me understand that she needed
much, and that its acquisition seemed to
her dreary, almost hopeless task. But
/ said to her in simple, earnest words:
Have good heart, E'reda! We will
speak of this on our journey. will pay
you well. Maybe that viii help you
much"
"Oh, yees, yees! If you please! Tank
u!-tank you greatly" she responded
with that wondrous voice of song and that
radiant face of light, which, TO me, were
revelations in human speech and look !;
and we at once parted, Freda to get her
boat in readiness and to advise with my
host as to the necessary stores for the
journey
These were soon procured from the
landlords larder and storhaus, and COM
prised fuel as well as food, blankets,
matches in tiny sealed cases, spiked boots
and slaves for climbing and slender ropes
of great strength with wide bands of
leather for scaling, if needed, ugly
nights.
During all these preparations my stolid
host had not expressed the slightest Gu
riosity or surprise at my arrangements
for an absence of at least several nights,
perhaps of weeks, with this young and
beautiful girl. | endeavored, by refer
ence to the wildness of the ford, the lack
of housing at night, the remoteness of
hamlets and the ike, to draw from him
some sign of consciousness of the strange
ness of the situation. The utmost could
secure was:
"Freda will attend to allY'
All, yes, thought I, visions of insnare-
ments and unknown dangers in a strange
land fitting through my mind but do
not know Freda Perhaps he saw some
thing of this in my lingering at the inn
after all was done, and in my anxious
face; for by and by he grunted
'Freda will cooSyour food. F'reda will
find you place to 5zHep. Freda will bring
you back to Bake safely"
That was enough. He followed me to
the ford side. He wrung my hands, at
parting, after the good Norwegian fash
ion. He began shouting "Favels!" after
us as our boat glided into the shadowy
stream. Then, wildly gesticulating, he
roared final inquiry as to what should be
done with my mau should he arrive dur
ing my absence.
All, that Peter again! Peter, Peter,
Peter, and his huge grand form were now
vexatious presence, clouding the de-
parture, the tarrying and the return!
''Keep him until l Gomez I shouted
back irritably, as ! settled myself COM
fortably in the stern of the boat looking
into the one face which now seemed to
shut out all others in the wide, wide
world
"F'a. ial-og Favel !" he roared heartily;
for he was as glad to hold the coming
guest as l now was to have him stay.
For hours l sat silently in my place,
gazing at the majestic scenery; the most
stupendous, and often appalling, contin-
uous spectacle so far accessible to the
traveller in any part of the habitable
globe.
Stone walls rise 1000 and 5000 feet
above the narrow, shadowy ford from
which huge waterfalls tum bic with hoarse
cries sheer into the water beside you,
these precipices broken only at-great dis
tances, by narrow, lateral chasms, through
which pour river-like torrents, or now
and then by tiny viks, with foaming
vosses or wooded sides, over which a
slender path may wind to some little up
land dal
AT long distances again the ford walls
part for brief shore of crags with wild
and gloomy valley line above Beyond
this featherly line of forest will be seen !;
then an amphitheater of rock, touched
by the bright sunlight until its masses
glow like FURNISHED bronze; and far and
high beyond, lies a glittering rim of sap
phire blue, where the trackless ice
fields seem throbbing and pulsing with
their fadeless fires in the ghostly upper
light.
The first night we tarried in the nuts of
Helmenas; the second, Freda secured NE
a couch on n bonder's floor, near Styve;
the third night we were housed at the lit
tie inn of Dyrdal; the fourth, we slept in
the open boat moored to a Jagged rock
where I could see that the ford boatmen
had from time immemorial sought
the same friendly shelter; and on
the fifth day and night 1 began TO re
allie k'reda's wondrous fiord-craft-an
unconscious cunning like the Indians
woodlore or the coast sailors uuexplain-
able added sense of instructive pre-know-
ledge OF location IN fair weather or foul
which made clearer to her than an ordi-
nance chart every hidden chasm. seques-
tered waterfall, saeter farm upon the
mountains, cluster of peasants huts be.
side the viks or tiny dals, or unseen home
nest among the crags above.
l discovered also how the Flooding, pa
tient soul was acquiring her meager store
of my language.
When opposite some tremendous water
fail she would rest upon her oars, point
TO the tumbling, spumy mass and utter
the Morse word, "Vandfold :" with a be-
wltching smile of eager inquiry.
Waterfall, - would answer: and then,
as her long, steady strokes were resumed
she would repeat the word aloud in those
tones which were liquid music to my
ears.
If glazier was espied above the crags
she would call out ''IsbraeW An eagle
Tapping along the precipice edge would
bring the query: Germ" Cattle. like
tiny specks in some pockety hollow of
stone and mist above US, would be pointed
out as, "Kvoeg! :" A shadowy gorge would
bring the ejaculation, "Strube" But we
II