Zachariah tried with his rod and line, as we went along the road, but without success, and at last he put up his tackle.
Shortly afterwards we arrived at the Stee Station. The house was not far from the road on our left. Taking Noah with us, we went up to purchase for our commissariat.
The guest-chamber is tolerably large, and well lighted, but not very lofty. All the furniture was in the old Norwegian style. On the walls we noticed likenesses of Prindsesse Alexandra og Prindsen af Wales; also Eugenie Keiserinde and Napoleon 3rd Keiser af Frankrig.
Two travellers appeared below with carrioles. The very civil and obliging mistress, we supposed her to be, of the Stee Station, soon provided us with a beautifully cooked pink trout from the Slidre Fjord, fladbröd, eggs and potatoes and butter, for which we paid—
| m. | s. | |
|---|---|---|
| Fladbröd | 1 | 0 |
| Fiske | 0 | 12 |
| 12 eggs. | 0 | 12 |
| 1 lb butter | 1 | 0 |
| Potatoes | 1 | 0 |
| —— | —— | |
| 4 | 0 |
Then our young Norwegian hostess came down to the road, with one or two piges of the house, to see our donkeys, and have a chat with us, each knowing very little of what the other said. Yet it is astonishing how we managed to make ourselves understood, with our small vocabulary of Norwegian words. They wanted us to play, but Zachariah’s violin was out of order, and time pressed. Bidding them all farewell, we were once more en route.
The Stee Station is pleasantly situated, not far from the Slidre Fjord. Bears and game are said to be in plenty in the neighbourhood; and we are able to say that the trout are excellent. Those caught by Mephistopheles in the river, a short distance before we came to Stee, at our last camp, were delicious. Very shortly after we had left Stee, the melancholy discovery was made, that our donkey’s tether-rope, and neck-strap, had been left behind at the last camp.
General recrimination among our gipsies. Esmeralda had unloosed the Puru Rawnee the first thing in the morning, to give it more liberty, and the rope was left on the ground. Noah thought it was put up. Well, after all, it may be of some use to those who found it. They had no chance of restoring it, and we managed without, during the rest of our travels.
Now we were again in enclosures. The road lay along the left shore, and a short distance along the length of “Slidre Fjord.” It is a long, and considerable extent of water.
Our party had not gone very far, when we passed an excellent house on the right of the road—much better than those generally seen. Soon after, when we had partly passed down the short descent beyond the house, a gentleman came after us. As he came up and addressed us, we at once called a halt.