CHAPTER ELEVEN

That evening, I took a short walk around the city, came back early and fell asleep. When I woke up, I heard my uncle talking in the next room. I quickly got up and went to join him.

He was talking in Danish with a tall, muscular man, who looked uncommonly strong. He had a big head and calm blue eyes, with long red hair. He looked intelligent, but made very little movement. He never moved his arms while he spoke. He looked as if nothing could ever surprise or disturb him.

I watched him as he watched my uncle speak with great excitement and movement The Icelander sat silently listening. I was quite surprised to see that he was a hunter. He certainly would not scare away the animals he was hunting, but how would he get to them? Mr Fridriksson then told me that this calm man was only a hunter of eider duck feathers. The eider is a rather pretty kind of duck with soft feathers. The island's main wealth came from the sale of eider feathers, used to make thick blankets.

In early summer, the female eider duck builds her nest near the coast. When the nest is finished, she fills it with feathers, which she pulls from the lower part of her body. Then, the "hunter" comes and takes the nest. The female then begins building another one. This continues until she has no more feathers, then the male takes his own feathers, but since his feathers are tough, they cannot be sold to make blankets, so this nest is not taken. The female lays her eggs in it, and the following year, the hunter again returns to take the female eider's feathers.

That quiet hunter, named Hans Bjelke, was now sitting with my uncle, ready to be our guide into the center of the Earth. His behavior was quite different from my uncle's. Neither of them cared about money. No agreement on payment was ever easier.

My uncle estimated that the trip would take us seven or eight days to journey to Sneffels. Hans would stay with us as long as we needed his help. He would receive three rix-dollars a week, and would be paid every Saturday morning, something he considered to be important for his services. We were to leave on June 16. My uncle offered to pay him in advance, but Hans refused with a single word.

"Efter," he said.

"After," my uncle translated for me.

After the meeting was over, Hans left without another word.

"He's an excellent man," my uncle said, "but he still has no idea of how his life will change after this experience with us."

"Do you mean he'll come with us to ... "

"Yes, Axel, to the center of the Earth."

We still had two days before we would leave. To my disappointment, I was forced to spend my time preparing for our trip. Our last evening was spent with Mr Fridriksson, who I had come to like very much. At five in the morning, I woke up to the sound of four horses, which we would use on our journey to Sneffels. By six o'clock, everything was ready. Mr Fridriksson shook hands with us. My uncle thanked him warmly in Icelandic.

(end of section)