"By sea, crossing the bay. That's the most direct way." "No doubt; but it is impossible." "Why?" "Because we don't possess a single boat at Rejkiavik." "You don't mean to say so?" "You will have to go by land, following the shore. It will be longer, but more interesting." "Very well, then; and now I shall have to see about a guide." "I have one to offer you." "A safe, intelligent man." "Yes; an inhabitant of that peninsula. He is an eider-down hunter, and very clever. He speaks Danish perfectly." "When can I see him?" "To-morrow, if you like." "Why not to-day?" "Because he won't be here till to-morrow." "To-morrow, then," added my uncle with a sigh. This momentous conversation ended in a few minutes with warm acknowledgments paid by the German to the Icelandic Professor. At this dinner my uncle had just elicited important facts, amongst others, the history of Saknussemm, the reason of the mysterious document, that his host would not accompany him in his expedition, and that the very next day a guide would be waiting upon him. CHAPTER XI. A GUIDE FOUND TO THE CENTRE OF THE EARTH In the evening I took a short walk on the beach and returned at night to my plank-bed, where I slept soundly all night. When I awoke I heard my uncle talking at a great rate in the next room. I immediately dressed and joined him. He was conversing in the Danish language with a tall man, of robust build. This fine fellow must have been possessed of great strength. His eyes, set in a large and ingenuous face, seemed to me very intelligent; they were of a dreamy sea-blue. Long hair, which would have been called red even in England, fell in long meshes upon his broad shoulders. The movements of this native were lithe and supple; but he made little use of his arms in speaking, like a man who knew nothing or cared nothing about the language of gestures. His whole appearance bespoke perfect calmness and self-possession, not indolence but tranquillity. It was felt at once that he would be beholden to nobody, that he worked for his own convenience, and that nothing in this world could astonish or disturb his philosophic calmness. I caught the shades of this Icelander's character by the way in which he listened to the impassioned flow of words which fell from the Professor. He stood with arms crossed, perfectly unmoved by my uncle's incessant gesticulations. A negative was expressed by a slow movement of the head from left to right, an affirmative by a slight bend, so slight that his long hair scarcely moved. He carried economy of motion even to parsimony.