I saw anger welling up into violence inside him. But he was tired. He only sighed and pressed his great belly closer to the cast-iron casing of the stove. 'We will talk about that later,' he said.
There was a momentary silence. I could see the blood flowing back into his face. It was no longer blue. His features began to take on a ruddy glow. The man was incredibly tough. He had done the same trek as I had and had been skiing steadily in the biting snowstorm all the time I had been here, huddled against the fire. Yet already he was recovering. I remember how Sunde's little legs had covered the ground. And this man was accustomed to the cold. He had been on an antarctic whaling expeditions. I glanced across at Jill. He'd work on her. He was a dangerous man and he was playing for high stakes. He was going outside the law. And he would go further outside it to achieve his end. Only by discovering what Farnell knew would he be safe. I moved slowly towards my rucksack.
'Stay where you are please, Mr Gansert.' Lovaas's voice was sharp. 'Halvorsen. Ga gjennom tingene deres. Se om der er noen skyterpen.'
His mate crossed the room to my rucksack and took out my pistol. Then he searched Jill's pack. Finally he came behind each of us and ran his hands over our clothing. Then he took the gun across to Lovaas. He broke it open. 'So,' he said. 'You have not fired any shot. But perhaps your friend, fired a shot, eh?'
I ignored the question and gazed at the window. Then suddenly my nerves stiffened the tired muscles of my body. The snow was being pushed away from the window. A hand was rubbing the glass clear from the outside. Then a face looked in through the cleared patch. Farnell? I couldn't be certain. I just made out the shape of the nose and mouth and two eyes looked for a second into mine.
'Well? What happened to Gaarder?' Lovaas demanded.
I turned away from the window. If it was Farnell, then I must warn him. He couldn't have seen Lovaas from where he was looking in. But if I kept talking he'd know someone else was in the hut. 'Was this fellow, Gaarder, with you when you started out?' I asked.
'Of course,' Lovaas answered. 'There were three of us left Aurland. You knew that, Mr Gansert. What happened at Osterbo?'
'What should have happened?' I asked.
'I'm asking you what did happen?', 'And I am asking you what you expected to happen, Captain Lovaas,' I countered. 'You left him behind, I suppose. Was he meant to kill us?'