I saw Sunde freeze in the act of cutting the square slab of brown cheese. He dropped the knife and started for his gun which lay at the other end of the table. 'Sta stille ellers sa skyter jeg.' He stopped and stared at the window. I followed the direction of his gaze. Framed in the opening were the head and shoulders of a man — and the muzzle of a gun. The flickering firelight shone on him with a ruddy glow. His face was dark and bearded. His eyes were like two coals. He wore a fur-skin cap with ear flaps. 'Hva er del De vil?' Sunde asked.
The man's voice was harsh as he replied in Norwegian. And when he finished his teeth showed white in his beard as he grinned.
'What's he say?' I asked.
'E says 'e won't do us no 'arm, s'long as we don't cause no trouble. 'E's the third of Lovaas's party — Lovaas an'
'is mate ave gone on a'ter Farnell. Seems they spotted us just as it were gettin' dark. 'E's bin 'anging ara'nd, waitin' fer us ever since. Gor blimey! Couple o' mugs we are.'
I looked at my revolver. It lay more than a yard away from me. And suddenly a deep sense of drowsiness crept over me. This meant I couldn't go on. I could just stay here and rest. But something in Sunde's eyes caused my lethargy to vanish in a flash. His small body was tense, his hands crooked like claws under the table. 'Kom in,' he said quietly.
CHAPTER EIGHT
On The Sankt Paal Glacier
The man at the window hesitated, considering how best to lever himself through the narrow gap. The room was very still. The only sound was the hiss and crackle of the logs blazing in the stone grate. The flames threw flickering shadows on the walls of the nut. Sunde's motionless figure was a shadowy giant scrawled from floor to ceiling. I felt my limbs relaxing. God, how tired I was! The luxury of knowing that it was impossible to do anything further, that the matter had been taken out of my hands, stole over me in a comforting wave of lethargy. My whole body sighed luxuriously as the muscles relaxed.
But I could sense Sunde's alertness. He glanced at the fire and then back to the window.