The record-union., 1894-09-15

| ing stars they slept as only tired noun
| tain climbers may.
The next morning their ascent was re-
sumed through holiows, over ridges
where ice and snow lay concealed beneath
| thin layers OF black sediment and slime,
around soundless tarns still and dark as
the walls inclosing them, past copses of
stunted fir, through nature tunnels as dark
| as Eblis' depths, until, late in the afternoon,
they came TO the lonely saeter OF klippe-
hui, truly lonely hollow between the
crags.
| From distance nothing could be dis
| tingulshed but low, wide hut at the
! side of a pockety ravine, through which
| narrow torrent poured, the whole shut
in from Romsdal way by black and
tooth-like crags, and on the other by
! broken rocks, here and there Splatched
by already browning bits of verdure,
| above which lay the eternal snow
upon the measureless pedestal of gilt
tering ice.
| At first no human being was in sight
| about the saeter, but shortly Il faXen-
haired maiden of splendid figure stood
beside the hut door. Shading her eyes
with her round, bare arm, she gazed long
and earnestly at the advancing couple.
Lars gurgled nightly at this, made
| wonderful gestures and cried out ecsta-
tically:
'Hansine! Hansine"
Suddenly the girl rushed at them in a
! sort of bounding gallop, and, seiZing the
postboy guide, hugged him wildly,
Wrestled with him, turned him round
and about and again hugglng him, while
tears of joy flowed down her winsome
! face, poured torrents of endearing ques-
| tions and Calculations upon him, while
| the Professor, not without trace of won
| der and admiration in his keen little eyes,
| stood impatiently by.
Then came the wondrous hospitality of
| these mountain eeries. The cows might
| come or stay in their mountain fast
nesses, until the new corners were given
their bowls of milk and drink and drink
! again they must, water for washing
some curious old half-wooden SHOES to
replace their heavy boots, and such an
aftensmad or supper as was never piled
| before Professor Detrius Moraine, groed
or stirabout enough for the saeter pigs,
! cream by the quart, butter by the stone
weight, milk by the gallon, coffee and
| black bread and bacon in alarming
measure, while they were ceaselessly
| piled with importunate commands TO
eat and never stop eating, and beset with
mournful reproots, after the kindly Nor
Wegian fashion, because they could not
eat it all.
But Professor Moraine had not come to
the Midttjeld for either dalliance or food.
! The gentle modulation of welcoming
tones, the amplitude OF hospitality, even
the tenderness of affection between Lars
and Hansine, could not for a moment
hold back his impatient footsteps.
Out upon the mountain valley he
coursed like some happy animal freed
| from winter restraint. Here and there
he sped from valley side to side, then
i back up the tortuous stream, thence
| along the frozen face of the field, now
and then rubbing his hands gleefully
or tossing his large head rollickingly,
until he finally disappeared up the
| frozen banks into the painless space be-
| yond.
| The cows had come, were MIXED and
were huddling sleepily beneath the huge
shed behind the cabin before Lars and
| Hansine, in their loving concourse, had
noticed the Professors absence.
| Then they sped TO the point where they
had last seen him bounding over the
| banks of snow. At last they found him
| just at the edge of what seemed great
| ice wave held back by few projecting,
black and pinnacled rocks. Here he was
seen pacing back and forth as if calculat-
| ing measurements.
Soon they saw him begin hacking the
ice with "A piece of Jagged rock. He
worked furiously in the long and linger-
ing twilight like some Arctic gnome or
frost sprite delving for buried treasure.
When they came softly to his side he
scarcely noticed them. Finally he
placed the splintered rock. like rude
stone monument above the center of the
little orifice he had effected and laughed
gleefully.
''Ha, ha. ha!'
The strangeness of the sight caused
Lars and Hansine to respond with,
''Ha, ha. hap
The Professor looked up with changed
countenance and plying glance.
'Ah, poor ignorant children!" he sighed
| fnFNrRa NIEsaV Nrrtr
derstand the pleasure l experience in at
last beginning my great experiment to
prove TO the scientific world, beyond
cavll, the correctness of my theory of the
viscosity OF glacier ice!"
Lars and HanSine in turn now looked
upon Professor Detrius Moraine with
plying commiseration, and gently led
him to his couch. with Lars, beside that
of beautiful Hansine, just as the sturdy
| herbergerer of the little inn at Ormeim
said it would surely be.
Lars should have set out on his return
to Ormeim the next morning, but the
Professors impetuous earnestness kent
him. Scarcely without their knowing
how, certainly without knowing why.
the brother and sister found themselves
with their strange companion working
yalorously upon a tunnel into the heart
OF the ice mountain.
The Professor labored heroically with
them. In the one day the three had dug
horizontal excavation, something like
miners diminutive DRIFT, wide and high
enough for scant passage and nearly forty
feet III length, the entrance to which the
Professor carefully covered with skins
and blankets.
Lars departure the next morning and
Hansine'S frequent references to the near
abandonment of the saeter, only nerved
the Professor to greater exertion and
his boundless enthusiasm seemed like
wine to Hansine. Unquestioning she
worked beside him for two days more,
carroling her strange mountain airs,
while they toiled or rested together.
her splendid energy, her winSome
face, her gran0ly developed figure, her
unerring stroke as she swung the stout
iceaX. with numbers of which every sac
ter is provided, ana her gladstone eager
ness IN her blind obedience to the Pro-
fessors slightest command must have
wrought upon the scientist strangely.
For, when at last they had fashioned
little chamber fully eight feet square and
as high as their axes could reach, had re-
moved all the clippings and debris, and
had brought a little bench from the sac
ter upon which he could sit, wrapped in
skins and blankets, to make his curious
observations, the strange old-young
woman hater that he was drew the glow
ing girl behind him, and, carressing her
abstractedjy as he would have pettet
faithful horse or dog, said. with radiant
elation:
All, Hansine, Hansine! I shall
achieve victory here through your grand
and noble aid. If you could always be
with me what could L not accomplishv'
And yet Professor Detrius Moraiue
meant nothing by this; nothing more
than he would have meant to faithful
horse or dog, and it was nothing more
than audible thought of gadness for
greattul forceful aid which had oyercoma