Chasing the Sun

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER EIGHT.

  VISIT TO A STRANGE PEOPLE--THE MIDNIGHT SUN.

  One day the _Snowflake_ lay becalmed in one of those long narrow fiordsby which the whole of the west coast of Norway is cut up, and some ofwhich extend from seventy to a hundred miles inland.

  There was no prospect of a breeze, so another boat excursion was talkedof. Hearing this, Hans Ericsson informed his master that there was asmall settlement of Laplanders about thirty miles or so inland, and thathe would be very glad to guide him and his friends to it if they chose.

  They jumped at the proposal at once, and in less than half an hour theywere on their way to it. Bob Bowie also went on this expedition.

  No carioles could be procured in that wild region, but at a poorfishing-village on the coast they got two of the country carts. Theseare small rough machines, with a seat on wooden springs. They can holdonly two persons, and are light and serviceable, well suited to therough roads. Fred and Sam led the way; Grant and the steward followed.Hans acted the part of shooscarle to the former, and the owner of thecarts drove the latter.

  The first start was up the side of a hill at least two thousand feet,and the road was so steep that it was all that the ponies could do todrag up the empty carts. Having gained the top of the first hill, theycame upon a level plateau, resembling the bleak Scottish moorlands,which terminated in a range of wild snow-capped mountains. Afterresting the ponies a few minutes, they set off at a brisk trot, and weresoon across the level ground. Ascending to another plateau, theycrossed it, and finally reached the higher mountain-range of theinterior. Here they crossed several patches of snow which the summerheat had not yet been able to melt away.

  As soon as they were fairly amongst the mountains, the roads becamehorrible, and it was a matter of wonder that the springs of the cartswere not broken. Toiling up hills, and dashing down on the otherside,--crashing over fallen rocks, and shaving the edge of yawning gulfsand precipices,--thus they advanced till evening, through a countrywhich was the picture of barrenness and desolation.

  Rocks were the chief feature of the scenery. They had got to such aheight above the level of the sea that there were no pines, only a fewstunted birch-trees. There was little soil, but that little was wellclothed with vegetation. Rocky mountains, rocky masses, and rocky glenseverywhere; but as they went farther inland the scenery improved alittle.

  Soon they found that instead of travelling inland they had been onlycrossing one of these broad necks of high land which separate the fordsof Norway from each other, and ere long they came in sight of the sea,with precipitous mountains dipping into it.

  Here, on a green slope facing the fiord, were seen the conical tents ofthe strange people whom they had travelled so far to visit.

  The inhabitants of Lapland are a distinct race from their southernneighbours the Norwegians, in size, intelligence, civilisation, andmanner of life. They are as near as may be _savages_ in appearance, andin some of their habits, insomuch that on first visiting them a strangermight be apt to set them down as _real_ savages. Yet they are manydegrees higher than the savage, such as the Red Indian of North America.The Lapp is as dirty as the Indian, and dwells in as poor a hut, andlives in as simple a style; but he is rich in _property_--his propertybeing herds of reindeer, while the Indian depends entirely on the chasefor wealth and subsistence. Then again, although the Lapp has nothingworthy of the name of a house, he is an educated man, to a small extent.He can read, and, above all, he possesses the Word of God in a languagewhich he understands.

  In bodily size, however, the Red Indian beats him; for as a race theLapps are particularly small, though they are well proportioned andactive.

  They are seldom visited by strangers; and it is not improbable that whenthe two carts dashed into their village our friends were the firstEnglishmen they had ever seen.

  It happened to rain heavily during the last part of the journey to theLapp village. To the surprise and amusement of the travellers, BobBowie drew forth from his cart a huge red cotton umbrella which he hadpurchased at Bergen, and which, seeing the sky cloudy, he had broughtwith him in the hope that he might have occasion to use (that is, todisplay) it.

  The rain, however, did not depress the spirits of the party a whit.Nothing in the shape of water could damp their enthusiasm.

  If any one wants to see a poor, ragged, diminutive, wizened, yet jollyrace of human beings,--a race of beings who wear hairy garments, supreindeer's milk with wooden spoons, and dwell in big bee-hives,--he hasonly got to go to Lapland and see the Lapps.

  Quitting the carts at the outskirts of the village, the travellersadvanced into the centre of it just as the natives were driving a herdof reindeer into an enclosure to be milked.

  There could not have been fewer than three hundred reindeer-stags, does,and numerous fawns; and these, they afterwards learned, constituted theentire wealth of three families of Lapps.

  As Fred and his friends strode into the enclosure, and came upon thesegood people rather suddenly, their amazement was unspeakable at findingthey had bagged a party of giants along with their deer. Even scraggySam Sorrel looked quite big compared with them.

  After the first gaze and shout of surprise, they crowded round thestrangers, and they all--men, women, and children--began to eye and pawthem over, and to examine their costumes with deep interest. Thediminutive size of the Lapps became very apparent as they were thusengaged. None of the men were much, if at all, above five feet, severalwere considerably under that height, and the women were short inproportion.

  If the bosoms of these Lapps were small, their hearts must certainlyhave been very large, for they received their visitors with great warmthand delight. Altogether they were a jovial and hearty, thoughuncommonly ill-dressed race of mortals.

  The men were clothed partly in deer-skin, partly in coarse cloth, andthese garments were reduced by long service to a uniform dirty-browncolour. They showed signs of being slept in by night as well as worn byday.

  There was a schoolmaster amongst them. Only fancy, a Lapp schoolmaster,four feet nine or ten inches high! Sam Sorrel took a sketch of thisgentleman on the spot, with his wife and child. What the schoolmastertaught, or whom he taught, or when or where he taught, are questions towhich Fred could obtain no answer. To look at him, one would haveimagined that eating, sleeping, and herding reindeer were the onlylessons that he was able to teach. Yet it was found on inquiry thatsome of them could read Norse; and Sam actually discovered an old man inone of the huts poring over a New Testament in that language. Thereseemed something strangely incongruous in all this. They were dirty anduncouth; they had no houses, no tables or chairs, no civilised habits ofany kind; yet they could read, and they had a schoolmaster! A verydirty one, to be sure, and not very deeply learned, I dare say; still adominie, without doubt. On the strength of their acquirements, Fredpresented the tribe with a Norse New Testament.

  Besides being four feet ten, the schoolmaster was comical and quizzical.He was evidently the wit of his tribe. His face was yellow and dirty;his nose was short and red, in addition to which it was turned up at thepoint; his eyes were small, and sloped downwards at the inner cornerstowards the nose, like those of the Chinese. His dirty leathern tunicwas belted so low down, and his little legs were so short, that therewas considerably more of him above the belt than below it. On his headhe wore a cap, somewhat like that of a jockey in shape, and his lowerlimbs were encased in tight but ill-fitting leggings. Altogether, thisman was the most disreputable-looking schoolmaster that was ever seeneither at home or abroad.

  While both parties were making acquaintance with each other, the rainfell more heavily.

  "You'd better put up your umbrella, Bob Bowie," said Fred.

  Bob, who had forgotten the umbrella, in consequence of being so muchtaken up with the Lapps, at once put it up. Being extremely proud ofthis curiosity, he was glad of the opportunity to display it. A shoutof surprise and delight greeted its appearance. It was clear that th
eLapps had never seen one before. The schoolmaster at once seized it outof Bob's hand, and strutted about with it over his head, to theinexpressible joy of the children, who ran after him and crowded roundhim. Undoubtedly he must have been a kind schoolmaster. For some timethe earnest attention of old and young was entirely given to thisumbrella, while they tried to find out how many could get under it atonce.

  The costume of the women was as rude as that of the men. Theschoolmaster's wife wore a sort of cloth helmet, and a rough yellowcloth gown, which was not by any means too long. Her little girl wore atight-fitting skull-cap, and another youngster had on a thing much toolarge for it--like a huge extinguisher, which seemed to be its father'snightcap.

  They were extremely ugly, all of them, but very happy-looking andgood-natured.

  Of course Fred had taken a few trinkets with him, such as beads,thimbles, scissors, sugar-plums, knives, etcetera; and as every one inthe village received something, the whole place resounded withexclamations of joy.

  Despite the rain, Sam Sorrel pulled out his sketch-book and began totake portraits. Here was another source of wonder to the Lapps. Forsome time they knew not what to make of it, but crowded round Sam withlooks of inquisitive surprise, and, getting on tip-toe, peeped at hisbook. When one or two lines had been drawn, exclamations of interestwere uttered by one and other; and when in a few minutes, the smallyouth with his father's extinguisher on his head became clearly definedon the paper, there was a regular burst of laughter.

  Sam instantly received a far greater number of "orders" than he couldexecute. The stout little woman in the cloth helmet placed herself inan attitude which was no doubt meant to be irresistibly attractive.Several of the youngsters plucked the artist by the sleeve, and thrustforward their pert little faces, as if to say, "Do me!" or "Here's achance for you!" and the schoolmaster, promptly clearing a space infront of Sam, placed himself in an attitude, and by his commanding lookordered him to begin at once. He did begin, on the spot and finishedthe portrait in five minutes--rather a long sitting, considering thestate of the weather, and the impatience of the schoolmaster to seehimself on canvas!

  While this was going on in one quarter, Bob Bowie had attracted roundhim a circle of warm admirers, whose souls he captivated by showing andexplaining to them the interior of his watch. As the lecture wasdelivered in English, it is not to be supposed that the audienceprofited much by means of their ears, but their eyes did double dutythat day; at least one might reasonably suppose so, from the immensesize to which they were constantly expanded!

  They evidently did not know whether to regard the watch as a mechanicalcontrivance or a living creature. In the study of this mysterious thingthey were somewhat distracted by the presence of their first love theumbrella, which the lecturer had erected over his head in order toshield his timepiece from the rain. Fred and Grant went abouteverywhere, looking at everything, and talking, as they best could, toeverybody.

  Meanwhile the three hundred deer, in the midst of which they had beenstanding all this time, kept moving about the enclosure, emitting apeculiar grunting sound, and making a strange clicking noise with theirankle-joints. This is a well-known peculiarity of the reindeer. Everytime they lift or set down their feet, the ankle-joints crack as do theknuckles of a man when he pulls his fingers. As these deer wereconstantly getting up and lying down, the twittering rattle of theirankle-joints was unceasing.

  Presently the schoolmaster's wife took a small wooden cup, milked one ofthe does, and handed the proceeds to Fred. He was surprised to find themilk as thick and as pleasant to the taste as the richest cream; and hewas still more surprised to be told that all that could be got from adoe at any one time was about half a tea-cupful.

  The deer varied in colour from dark brown to almost white. The stagsstood about three feet eight inches high at the shoulder, and theantlers were about three feet long, following the curve.

  Quitting the enclosure, the party next visited several of the huts,--which were made of moss, turf, sticks, etcetera, put together in such aconfused way, that it was difficult to make out how they had beenformed. A hole in the side was the only door to each hut, and a hole inthe top was the window and chimney. In one of these they found anextremely old woman seated on a pile of dirty deerskins. Sam Sorrelsaid he was convinced she was the schoolmaster's great-grandmother. Shelooked like a living mummy, so small and wrinkled and brown and dried upwas the poor old body. Yet she was lively enough to show signs ofpleasure when Fred patted her back gently and presented her with a pairof scissors and a pair of worsted gloves.

  It was a late hour before the curiosity of our friends was satisfied;the sun was dipping low on the horizon when at last they bade adieu tothe Lapps, and harnessing their ponies, set out on the return journey.The way was long, and their eyes were heavy. They tried by means ofconversation and song to keep themselves awake, but were unsuccessful.Despite their utmost efforts their heads _would_ nod, and brief littledreams kept perpetually reminding them of Laplanders, dirty littleschoolmasters, and reindeer.

  Now, while Fred was nodding in his cart, and trying to keep awake thatnight, he little thought that he was so nearly attaining the greatobject for which he had come to Norway. Yet so it was. They came, incourse of time, to the summit of a ridge from which could be had asplendid view of the fiord, and the sea with its thousands of islandsbeyond, and the _Snowflake_ floating like a white speck on the bluewater far below. Here Hans pulled up and touched Fred on the shoulder.

  "Well, Hans, anything wrong?" said Fred starting and looking round.

  "Sun not set here," replied Hans with a grin.

  "What!" cried Fred, jumping out of the cart, rubbing his eyes, andstaring at the great luminary which was dipping close to the sea."Impossible! we are not yet far enough north. You must be mistaken,Hans."

  To this Hans replied that he was _not_ mistaken. That he had been onthat same spot at the same time of the year long ago, and had noticedthat the sun had not descended below the horizon. Pointing to the sharptop of a hill that rose some six or eight hundred feet close besidethem, he said that from that point the sun would be seen complete, whilefrom the place where they then stood the lower part of it would be hidbelow the horizon.

  "Hallo! Grant Sam, d'ye hear that?" shouted Fred with enthusiasm."We've no time to lose, quick, follow!"

  Away Fred Temple went up the mountain-side like a deer, followed by Samand Grant, who having been more than half-asleep when aroused by theircomrade's shout, scarce knew what they were about. Even Bob Bowie'sspirit was stirred, and he went stumbling after his friends rubbing hiseyes and yawning as he went.

  The highest peak was soon reached. Here they sat down to watch. Thesun was close upon the horizon now, and Fred's heart beat fast withanxiety lest it should descend below it.

  "There's but a narrow line of sky between the sea and the lower edge ofthe sun now," said Fred. "It looks no more than an inch broad, and itis narrowing, I think."

  "No, it is growing broader," said Grant.

  "No, narrower," whispered Sam.

  "Broader it is!" said Fred eagerly.

  For a few seconds they remained uncertain and silent, gazing earnestlyat the sun. At last there could be no doubt of it. The line of sky wasevidently broader: _the sun had begun to rise without having set_.

  "Huzzah," shouted Fred Temple, springing up, tossing his cap into theair, and cheering as enthusiastically as if he had just discovered a newgold-field! Infected with the same spirit, the others joined him, andthen they expended their energies in building a _cairn_ of stones on thehill-top to commemorate the event!

  "Hans, thou son of Eric," said Fred, grasping the hand of his pilot andguide when this was finished. "I like thee, man; thou hast done me goodservice this day. But for you I should have missed this chance, so Iconsider myself thy debtor, lad; mark me well, I will discharge thisdebt when we return to the south. So now, let us be gone."

  How Fred discharged this debt remains to be
seen. Meanwhile the partydescended the hill, and returned once more to their floating home.