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250 THROUGH NORWAY WITII A KNAPSACK.
inquiries, and did not show any symptoms of intending
to rise. I was quite disgusted, and made up my mind
to walk on. It appears that this station and the one
previously passed are not used at all as sleeping-places,
but merely for the changing of horses: tourists coming
this way all sleep at Gudvangen.
Walking on a mile or two farther, I made another
attempt to get a bed, which was equally unsuccessful.
Close by the road was a tempting liayfield, with the
new-mown hay stacked on wooden frames or horses, so
I spread a little of this upon the ground, and laid down
by the side of one of the frames ; but in a very few
minutes I found—what in the dark I had not observed
—that the field was a spongy semi-bog; the water soon
soaked through my bed of hay, and my clothes also,
and I was glad to walk on again to dry myself.
In the . absence of the dry, crisp heather, or reindeer
moss, a nice fiat piece of rock is, after all, the best
outdoor bed; and it is always safer to sleep upon a
mountain than upon a plain. The dews and night mist—
dampness and malaria—settle in the plains and lower
valleys; but upon the mountain sides and summits,
when it is not actually raining or " mizzling," there is
dry, safe ground always to be found, and an atmosphere
which may be cold and benumbing to the toes and
fingers, but is not liable to engender ague or
rheumatism. I found such a stone a little farther on,
where the road rose, and slept comfortably upon it for
a couple of hours, until the clay dawned.
Walking on through grand and beautiful scenery,
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