‘Only, that he would have gone ashore a richer man by a good bit. Surely he told you what a bad time he’s been having of it lately? Anybody else would have been stone-broke long ago. And last night, by way of a finish, that unspeakable little reptile, Barnett Moss, took a lot of money out of him at écarté. Never saw a man hold such cards in my life!’
‘It’s a good thing Paul was able to pay the little beast,’ I said, trying to speak easily, and miserably failing, as I recalled what had passed between us the night before.
‘Pay!’ replied Abinger; ‘I believe you! Why, Paul must have brought a perfect bank on board with him! I only hope he hasn’t lost enough to spoil his holiday.’
‘Never mind, Jack; he’ll be all right. He has gone to stay with friends in Cornwall for a week—to economise, I expect.’
‘A week!’ shouted Jack. ‘Why, I know I shouldn’t be able to go ashore for the next year or two, if I had had his bad luck!’ And he ran off on some duty or other, leaving me in perplexed and restless cogitation. If, as Abinger said, Paul had ‘brought a perfect bank on board with him’—the words ran in my head—what could have been his object in seeking to produce exactly the opposite impression upon myself—even going so far as to borrow money during the voyage ostensibly to replace his losses—repaying the amount, too, at the very moment when his ill-luck had reached a climax, with a few light words about the ‘revenge’ which, as it now appeared, he had been so very far from obtaining? The whole affair was inexplicable and disquieting; and I was glad when the necessity for making my final preparations left me little further time for thoughts which, do what I would, kept crossing the border-line into the hateful regions of doubt.
A SKATING REGIMENT.
BY A NORWEGIAN.
The following account of a Norwegian corps of soldiers, called in their language skielober-corpset, as they existed some years since, will no doubt be interesting to readers of your Journal. Whether any changes have been made of late years, the writer is unable to say. The denomination skielober (skater) comes from skie, which signifies a long plank, narrow and thin, fastened upon the feet for sliding on the snow.
It is well known that during four or five months of the year Norway is covered with snow, which at a few leagues’ distance from the borders of the sea is driven into such heaps as to render it impossible for the traveller to go out of the beaten track, either on foot or on horseback. It is even found necessary to clear this road after every fall of snow, which is done by means of a machine in the form of a plough, pointed at the front, and of a triangular shape. It is drawn by horses. It pierces and levels the snow at one and the same time, and thus opens a passable road. Notwithstanding these difficulties, hunting has at all times been the great sport and exercise of that country, formerly abounding in fierce animals, and still in deer and most kinds of smaller game. Hunting is indeed an occupation which appears to be in a peculiar manner prescribed to the inhabitants by the shortness of the days and the length of the winters. It is therefore natural that the Norwegian should have occupied himself from the earliest period about the means of quitting his hut and penetrating into the forest in every direction and with all possible speed. The skier or skates presented these means.
Let us figure in our minds two planks of wood as broad as the hand, and nearly of the thickness of the little finger, the middle underneath being hollowed, to prevent vacillation, and to facilitate the advancing in a direct line. The plank fastened under the left foot is ten feet in length; that intended for the right is only six, or thereabouts; both of them are bent upwards at the extremities, but higher before than behind. They are fastened to the feet by leather straps, attached to the middle, and for this purpose are formed a little higher and stronger in that part. The plank of the right foot is generally lined below with the skin of the reindeer or the sea-wolf, so that in drawing the feet successively in right and parallel lines with skates thus lined with skins, and very slippery in the direction of the hair, the skater finds them nevertheless capable of resistance, by affording a kind of spring when he would support himself with one foot in a contrary direction, as by such movements he raises up the hair or bristly part of the skin. It is affirmed that an expert skater, however loose and uncompact the snow may be, will go over more ground in an open place, and will continue his course for a longer time together, than the best horse can do upon the trot over the finest and best paved road. If a mountain is to be descended, he does it with such precipitation, that he is obliged to moderate his flight, to avoid losing his breath. He ascends more slowly, and with some trouble, because he is compelled to make a zigzag course; but he arrives at the summit as soon as the best walker or foot-soldier, with this advantage, that however little consistence the snow may have acquired, he can never sink into it.