“Two Kos,” returned Grant; “did you not tell me that Ko is the Norse word for a sheep?”
“Why, as I live, you have ordered two cows to be killed. Quick, come with me to the butcher’s!”
The two friends rushed out of the house, and reached the shop of the man of meat just in time, fortunately, to arrest the fatal blow. The order was of course countermanded, and they were thus saved the necessity of setting up a butcher’s shop in Bergen to get rid of their superabundant beef!
That night the Snowflake set sail for the far north, and next morning our three adventurers were galloping through the wilds of Norway.
Chapter Five.
Cariole Travelling—Miserable Lodging and Poor Fare—Native Peculiarities—A Night Battle.
As I am now about to drag my reader through the wild interior of Norway, let me try to describe it. Don’t be alarmed, dear reader, I do not mean to be tedious on this point, but I candidly confess that I am puzzled as to how I should begin! Norway is such a jumble of Nature’s elements. Perhaps a jumbled description may answer the purpose better than any other. Here it is, then.
Mountains, and crags, and gorges, and rocks, and serried ridges; towering peaks and dark ravines; lakes, and fords, and glens, and valleys; pine-woods, and glaciers, (For a full description of glaciers, see “Fast in the Ice,” page 86, volume 3 of this Miscellany) streamlets, rivulets, rivers, cascades, waterfalls, and cataracts. Add to this—in summer—sweltering heat in the valleys and everlasting snow and ice on the mountain-tops, with sunlight all night as well as all day—and the description of Norway is complete. No arrangement of these materials is necessary. Conceive them arranged as you will, and no matter how wild your fancy, your conception will be a pretty fair idea of Norway. Toes these elements into some chamber of your brain; shake them well up,—don’t be timid about it,—then look at the result, and you will behold Norway!