Tímarit Þjóðræknisfélags Íslendinga - 01.01.1966, Page 77

WESTWARDjourney
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something which we did not under-
stand; then he disappeared im-
mediately. — We waited for a
long time; each moment seemed
an eternity. This period of waiting
must have been agonizing for my
grandmother although she did not
reveal her inner feelings to me. At
last my grandfather returned with
Halldor’s English primer in his hand
and two men, one on each side. These
naen took us to a house a short dis-
tance from the station. It was not an
lnn, for the house was small; in it
Were a woman and two children.
The woman immediately set the
table with food for us and grand-
father was given to understand that
the food was free. As we sat down
my grandfather commented that
never had he been more receptive
to f°od than on this occasion. After
the meal sleeping accommodation
Was provided for us on the floor.
One of the men that had brought us
the house left at once but the
°ther, who was presumably the head
°f the household, remained. I quick-
*y asleep but woke up imme-
iately as three well-dressed men en-
tered the room. They spoke for some
i-irne to the man whom we thought
be the master of the house and
aii the while they wrote in little
Pocket books which they held in
their hands. They began to talk to
my §randfather, who as well as my
§randmother had risen to his feet
again. It dicl not take my grand-
ather long to reach for Halldor’s
Primer which the trio examined very
Carefully. Then they began to mea-
fUre my grandfather’s height and the
readth of his shoulders. They felt
the muscles of his arms and they
examined his clothes and his shoes
with great care. During these pro-
ceedings they wrote continuously in
their pocket 'books and talked in-
cessantly. They were not as forward
with respect to my grandmother,
yet it was evident that they observed
her very carefully. Suddenly they
noticed me. They examined me
minutely, patted the top of my head
and one of them gave me a big apple.
Then they took out some silver coins
and gave to my grandfather who by
this time had become somewhat sus-
picious of the strange behavior of
these men. The men then left after
they had bowed to my grandmother
and shaken hands with my grand-
father. One of them was certainly
writing in his pocket book as he
walked out of the room.
“These are certainly remarkable
men,” said my grandfather when
they were gone; “but what do you
think their strange behavior was
intended to mean?”
“I don’t know,” said my grand-
mother.
“Do you think that they were do-
ing this for their own amusement?”
said my grandfather.
“I don’t know,” said my grand-
mother.
“Surely the men were not mental-
ly deranged,” said my grandfather.
“I don’t know,” said my grand-
mother.
The following morning we were
taken in a closed carriage to an inn
within the city and then we first
noticed that the house in which we
had spent the night was located out