“I have given up the whisky idea,” he said, with a laugh. “Not only because I don’t really care for it, but it throws one off one’s balance too easily. No; I have found something else.”
“Oh? And what may that be?”
“Mountaineering.”
The doctor laughed. “I prefer the whisky,” he said. “It elevates the mind without moving the body, and the fall is thus less painful.”
“No need to fall at all,” suggested Ørlygur.
“If you are still thinking of going up Borgarfjall, I should say there’s every chance of it,” returned the other.
“I am,” said Ørlygur. “I am going up tomorrow, to build that cairn.”
The doctor looked at him.
“Surely you are not serious?” he said.
“Indeed, I am,” answered Ørlygur. And with a smile he added: “I want to get up and look about a little—see something of the world.”