The remaining fish had been given to the men, by whom they were subjected to a variety of culinary operations; one of which was making soup of them; and the fires began to grow bright and cheery in the increasing darkness, when Jacob paraded his kettle of teal-soup, and Tom set before each of the fishermen a turf of toasted salmon.
In return, they received the men’s rations of brandy, the only part of the provisions on which any limitation was affixed. This in Norway, perhaps, was considered but a small modicum: it would have been, however, quite enough to make twice the number of Englishmen roaring drunk.
The men collected round their fires, looking like so many gipsies; provisions were dispatched in enormous quantities, pipes were lighted, horns produced and filled with pure brandy, in which each man drank “du” with his neighbour,—an ancient Scandinavian ceremony, which entitles the drinkers henceforward to address one another in the second person singular, and to consider themselves on terms of intimacy.
In the meanwhile, the principal personages of the expedition sat at the door of their tent, for which the Captain received his due meed of praise, he having brought the canvas. They tempered their brandy with a little water, after the custom of their country, and they smoked somewhat better tobacco than the Norwegians; but after their kind, they indulged in very nearly the same relaxations as their attendants.
And thus fell the shades of night upon the first day of the expedition.
CHAPTER VII.
THE ENCAMPMENT MOSSE EURD.
“Our good house is there,
Though it be humble:
Each man is master at home.”