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diff --git a/old/bnrwy10.txt b/old/bnrwy10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cb411b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bnrwy10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6668 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext of Boyhood in Norway, by Hjalmar Boyesen + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +BOYHOOD IN NORWAY + +STORIES OF BOY-LIFE IN THE LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN + +BY + +HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN + + + + +CONTENTS + +THE BATTLE OF THE RAFTS +THE CLASH OF ARMS +BICEPS GRIMLUND'S CHRISTMAS VACATION +THE NIXY'S STRAIN +THE WONDER CHILD +"THE SONS OF THE VIKINGS" +PAUL JESPERSEN'S MASQUERADE +LADY CLARE THE STORY OF A HORSE +BONNYBOY +THE CHILD OF LUCK +THE BEAR THAT HAD A BANK ACCOUNT + + + + +THE BATTLE OF THE RAFTS + +I. THE ORIGIN OF THE WAR + +A deadly feud was raging among the boys of Numedale. The +East-Siders hated the West-Siders, and thrashed them when they +got a chance; and the West-Siders, when fortune favored them, +returned the compliment with interest. It required considerable +courage for a boy to venture, unattended by comrades, into the +territory of the enemy; and no one took the risk unless dire +necessity compelled him. + +The hostile parties had played at war so long that they had +forgotten that it was play; and now were actually inspired with +the emotions which they had formerly simulated. Under the +leadership of their chieftains, Halvor Reitan and Viggo Hook, +they held councils of war, sent out scouts, planned midnight +surprises, and fought at times mimic battles. I say mimic +battles, because no one was ever killed; but broken heads and +bruised limbs many a one carried home from these engagements, and +unhappily one boy, named Peer Oestmo, had an eye put out by an +arrow. + +It was a great consolation to him that he became a hero to all +the West-Siders and was promoted for bravery in the field to the +rank of first lieutenant. He had the sympathy of all his +companions in arms and got innumerable bites of apples, cancelled +postage stamps, and colored advertising-labels in token of their +esteem. + +But the principal effect of this first serious wound was to +invest the war with a breathless and all-absorbing interest. It +was now no longer "make believe," but deadly earnest. Blood had +flowed; insults had been exchanged in due order, and offended +honor cried for vengeance. + +It was fortunate that the river divided the West-Siders from the +East-Siders, or it would have been difficult to tell what might +have happened. Viggo Hook, the West-Side general, was a +handsome, high-spirited lad of fifteen, who was the last person +to pocket an injury, as long as red blood flowed in his veins, as +he was wont to express it. He was the eldest son of Colonel Hook +of the regular army, and meant some day to be a Von Moltke or a +Napoleon. He felt in his heart that he was destined for something +great; and in conformity with this conviction assumed a superb +behavior, which his comrades found very admirable. + +He had the gift of leadership in a marked degree, and established +his authority by a due mixture of kindness and severity. Those +boys whom he honored with his confidence were absolutely attached +to him. Those whom, with magnificent arbitrariness, he punished +and persecuted, felt meekly that they had probably deserved it; +and if they had not, it was somehow in the game. + +There never was a more absolute king than Viggo, nor one more +abjectly courted and admired. And the amusing part of it was +that he was at heart a generous and good-natured lad, but +possessed with a lofty ideal of heroism, which required above all +things that whatever he said or did must be striking. He +dramatized, as it were, every phrase he uttered and every act he +performed, and modelled himself alternately after Napoleon and +Wellington, as he had seen them represented in the old engravings +which decorated the walls in his father's study. + +He had read much about heroes of war, ancient and modern, and he +lived about half his own life imagining himself by turns all +sorts of grand characters from history or fiction. + +His costume was usually in keeping with his own conception of +these characters, in so far as his scanty opportunities +permitted. An old, broken sword of his father's, which had been +polished until it "flashed" properly, was girded to a brass- +mounted belt about his waist; an ancient, gold-braided, military +cap, which was much too large, covered his curly head; and four +tarnished brass buttons, displaying the Golden Lion of Norway, +gave a martial air to his blue jacket, although the rest were +plain horn. + +But quite independently of his poor trappings Viggo was to his +comrades an august personage. I doubt if the Grand Vizier feels +more flattered and gratified by the favor of the Sultan than +little Marcus Henning did, when Viggo condescended to be civil to +him. + +Marcus was small, round-shouldered, spindle-shanked, and +freckle-faced. His hair was coarse, straight, and the color of +maple sirup; his nose was broad and a little flattened at the +point, and his clothes had a knack of never fitting him. They +were made to grow in and somehow he never caught up with them, he +once said, with no intention of being funny. His father, who was +Colonel Hook's nearest neighbor, kept a modest country shop, in +which you could buy anything, from dry goods and groceries to +shoes and medicines. You would have to be very ingenious to ask +for a thing which Henning could not supply. The smell in the +store carried out the same idea; for it was a mixture of all +imaginable smells under the sun. + +Now, it was the chief misery of Marcus that, sleeping, as he did, +in the room behind the store, he had become so impregnated with +this curious composite smell that it followed him like an +odoriferous halo, and procured him a number of unpleasant +nicknames. The principal ingredient was salted herring; but +there was also a suspicion of tarred ropes, plug tobacco, prunes, +dried codfish, and oiled tarpaulin. + +It was not so much kindness of heart as respect for his own +dignity which made Viggo refrain from calling Marcus a "Muskrat" +or a "Smelling-Bottle." And yet Marcus regarded this gracious +forbearance on his part as the mark of a noble soul. He had been +compelled to accept these offensive nicknames, and, finding +rebellion vain, he had finally acquiesced in them. + +He never loved to be called a "Muskrat," though he answered to +the name mechanically. But when Viggo addressed him as "base +minion," in his wrath, or as "Sergeant Henning," in his sunnier +moods, Marcus felt equally complimented by both terms, and vowed +in his grateful soul eternal allegiance and loyalty to his chief. + +He bore kicks and cuffs with the same admirable equanimity; never +complained when he was thrown into a dungeon in a deserted pigsty +for breaches of discipline of which he was entirely guiltless, +and trudged uncomplainingly through rain and sleet and snow, as +scout or spy, or what-not, at the behest of his exacting +commander. + +It was all so very real to him that he never would have thought +of doubting the importance of his mission. He was rather honored +by the trust reposed in him, and was only intent upon earning a +look or word of scant approval from the superb personage whom he +worshipped. + +Halvor Reitan, the chief of the East-Siders, was a big, burly +peasant lad, with a pimpled face, fierce blue eyes, and a shock +of towy hair. But he had muscles as hard as twisted ropes, and +sinews like steel. + +He had the reputation, of which he was very proud, of being the +strongest boy in the valley, and though he was scarcely sixteen +years old, he boasted that he could whip many a one of twice his +years. He had, in fact, been so praised for his strength that he +never neglected to accept, or even to create, opportunities for +displaying it. + +His manner was that of a bully; but it was vanity and not malice +which made him always spoil for a fight. He and Viggo Hook had +attended the parson's "Confirmation Class," together, and it was +there their hostility had commenced. + +Halvor, who conceived a dislike of the tall, rather dainty, and +disdainful Viggo, with his aquiline nose and clear, aristocratic +features, determined, as he expressed it, to take him down a peg +or two; and the more his challenges were ignored the more +persistent he grew in his insults. + +He dubbed Viggo "Missy." He ran against him with such violence +in the hall that he knocked his head against the wainscoting; he +tripped him up on the stairs by means of canes and sticks; and he +hired his partisans who sat behind Viggo to stick pins into him, +while he recited his lessons. And when all these provocations +proved unavailing he determined to dispense with any pretext, but +simply thrash his enemy within an inch of his life at the first +opportunity which presented itself. He grew to hate Viggo and +was always aching to molest him. + +Halvor saw plainly enough that Viggo despised him, and refused to +notice his challenges, not so much because he was afraid of him, +as because he regarded himself as a superior being who could +afford to ignore insults from an inferior, without loss of +dignity. + +During recess the so-called "genteel boys," who had better +clothes and better manners than the peasant lads, separated +themselves from the rest, and conversed or played with each +other. No one will wonder that such behavior was exasperating to +the poorer boys. I am far from defending Viggo's behavior in +this instance. He was here, as everywhere, the acknowledged +leader; and therefore more cordially hated than the rest. It was +the Roundhead hating the Cavalier; and the Cavalier making merry +at the expense of the Roundhead. + +There was only one boy in the Confirmation Class who was doubtful +as to what camp should claim him, and that was little Marcus +Henning. He was a kind of amphibious animal who, as he thought, +really belonged nowhere. His father was of peasant origin, but +by his prosperity and his occupation had risen out of the class +to which he was formerly attached, without yet rising into the +ranks of the gentry, who now, as always, looked with scorn upon +interlopers. Thus it came to pass that little Marcus, whose +inclinations drew him toward Viggo's party, was yet forced to +associate with the partisans of Halvor Reitan. + +It was not a vulgar ambition "to pretend to be better than he +was" which inspired Marcus with a desire to change his +allegiance, but a deep, unreasoning admiration for Viggo Hook. +He had never seen any one who united so many superb qualities, +nor one who looked every inch as noble as he did. + +It did not discourage him in the least that his first approaches +met with no cordial reception. His offer to communicate to Viggo +where there was a hawk's nest was coolly declined, and even the +attractions of fox dens and rabbits' burrows were valiantly +resisted. Better luck he had with a pair of fan-tail pigeons, +his most precious treasure, which Viggo rather loftily consented +to accept, for, like most genteel boys in the valley, he was an +ardent pigeon-fancier, and had long vainly importuned his father +to procure him some of the rarer breeds + +He condescended to acknowledge Marcus's greeting after that, and +to respond to his diffident "Good-morning" and "Good-evening," +and Marcus was duly grateful for such favors. He continued to +woo his idol with raisins and ginger-snaps from the store, and +other delicate attentions, and bore the snubs which often fell to +his lot with humility and patience. + +But an event soon occurred which was destined to change the +relations of the two boys. Halvor Reitan called a secret meeting +of his partisans, among whom he made the mistake to include +Marcus, and agreed with them to lie in ambush at the bend of the +road, where it entered the forest, and attack Viggo Hook and his +followers. Then, he observed, he would "make him dance a jig +that would take the starch out of him." + +The others declared that this would be capital fun, and +enthusiastically promised their assistance. Each one selected +his particular antipathy to thrash, though all showed a marked +preference for Viggo, whom, however, for reason of politeness, +they were obliged to leave to the chief. Only one boy sat +silent, and made no offer to thrash anybody, and that was Marcus +Henning. + +"Well, Muskrat," cried Halvor Reitan, "whom are you going to take +on your conscience?" + +"No one," said Marcus. + +"Put the Muskrat in your pocket, Halvor," suggested one of the +boys; "he is so small, and he has got such a hard bullet head, +you might use him as a club." + +"Well, one thing is sure," shouted Halvor, as a dark suspicion +shot through his brain, "if you don't keep mum, you will be a +mighty sick coon the day after to-morrow." + +Marcus made no reply, but got up quietly, pulled a rubber sling +from his pocket, and began, with the most indifferent manner in +the world, to shoot stones down the river. He managed during +this exercise, which everybody found perfectly natural, to get +out of the crowd, and, without seeming to have any purpose +whatever, he continued to put a couple of hundred yards between +himself and his companion. + +"Look a-here, Muskrat," he heard Halvor cry, "you promised to +keep mum." + +Marcus, instead of answering, took to his heels and ran. + +"Boys, the scoundrel is going to betray us!" screamed the chief. +"Now come, boys! We've got to catch him, dead or alive." + +A volley of stones, big and little, was hurled after the +fugitive, who now realizing his position ran for dear life. The +stones hailed down round about him; occasionally one vicious +missile would whiz past his ear, and send a cold shudder through +him. The tramp of his pursuers sounded nearer and nearer, and +his one chance of escape was to throw himself into the only boat, +which he saw on this side of the river, and push out into the +stream before he was overtaken. + +He had his doubts as to whether he could accomplish this, for the +blood rushed and roared in his ears, the hill-side billowed under +his feet, and it seemed as if the trees were all running a race +in the opposite direction, in order to betray him to his enemies. + +A stone gave him a thump in the back, but though he felt a +gradual heat spreading from the spot which it hit, he was +conscious of no pain. + +Presently a larger missile struck him in the neck, and he heard a +breathless snorting close behind him. That was the end; he gave +himself up for lost, for those boys would have no mercy on him if +they captured him. + +But in the next moment he heard a fall and an oath, and the voice +was that of Halvor Reitan. He breathed a little more freely as +he saw the river run with its swelling current at his feet. +Quite mechanically, without clearly knowing what he did, he +sprang into the boat, grabbed a boat-hook, and with three strong +strokes pushed himself out into the deep water. + +At that instant a dozen of his pursuers reached the river bank, +and he saw dimly their angry faces and threatening gestures, and +heard the stones drop into the stream about him. Fortunately the +river was partly dammed, in order to accumulate water for the +many saw-mills under the falls. It would therefore have been no +very difficult feat to paddle across, if his aching arms had had +an atom of strength left in them. As soon as he was beyond the +reach of flying stones he seated himself in the stern, took an +oar, and after having bathed his throbbing forehead in the cold +water, managed, in fifteen minutes, to make the further bank. +Then he dragged himself wearily up the hill-side to Colonel +Hook's mansion, and when he had given his message to Viggo, fell +into a dead faint. + +How could Viggo help being touched by such devotion? He had seen +the race through a fieldglass from his pigeon-cot, but had been +unable to make out its meaning, nor had he remotely dreamed that +he was himself the cause of the cruel chase. He called his +mother, who soon perceived that Marcus's coat was saturated with +blood in the back, and undressing him, she found that a stone, +hurled by a sling, had struck him, slid a few inches along the +rib, and had lodged in the fleshy part of his left side. + +A doctor was now sent for; the stone was cut out without +difficulty, and Marcus was invited to remain as Viggo's guest +until he recovered. He felt so honored by this invitation that +he secretly prayed he might remain ill for a month; but the wound +showed an abominable readiness to heal, and before three days +were past Marcus could not feign any ailment which his face and +eye did not belie. + +He then, with a heavy heart, betook himself homeward, and +installed himself once more among his accustomed smells behind +the store, and pondered sadly on the caprice of the fate which +had made Viggo a high-nosed, handsome gentleman, and him--Marcus +Henning--an under-grown, homely, and unrefined drudge. But in +spite of his failure to answer this question, there was joy +within him at the thought that he had saved this handsome face of +Viggo's from disfigurement, and--who could know?--perhaps would +earn a claim upon his gratitude. + +It was this series of incidents which led to the war between the +East-Siders and the West-Siders. It was a mere accident that the +partisans of Viggo Hook lived on the west side of the river, and +those of Halvor Reitan mostly on the east side. + +Viggo, who had a chivalrous sense of fair play, would never have +molested any one without good cause; but now his own safety, and, +as he persuaded himself, even his life, was in danger, and he had +no choice but to take measures in self-defence. He surrounded +himself with a trusty body-guard, which attended him wherever he +went. He sent little Marcus, in whom he recognized his most +devoted follower, as scout into the enemy's territory, and +swelled his importance enormously by lending him his field-glass +to assist him in his perilous observations. + +Occasionally an unhappy East-Sider was captured on the west bank +of the river, court-martialed, and, with much solemnity, +sentenced to death as a spy, but paroled for an indefinite +period, until it should suit his judges to execute the sentence. +The East-Siders, when they captured a West-Sider, went to work +with less ceremony; they simply thrashed their captive soundly +and let him run, if run he could. + +Thus months passed. The parson's Confirmation Class ceased, and +both the opposing chieftains were confirmed on the same day; but +Viggo stood at the head of the candidates, while Halvor had his +place at the bottom.[1] + +[1] In Norway confirmation is always preceded by a public +examination of the candidates in the aisle of the church. The +order in which they are arranged is supposed to indicate their +attainments, but does, as a rule, indicate the rank and social +position of their parents. + + +During the following winter the war was prosecuted with much +zeal, and the West-Siders, in imitation of Robin Hood and his +Merry Men, armed themselves with cross-bows, and lay in ambush in +the underbrush, aiming their swift arrows against any intruder +who ventured to cross the river. + +Nearly all the boys in the valley between twelve and sixteen +became enlisted on the one side or the other, and there were +councils of war, marches, and counter-marches without number, +occasional skirmishes, but no decisive engagements. Peer Oestmo, +to be sure, had his eye put out by an arrow, as has already been +related, for the East-Siders were not slow to imitate the example +of their enemies, in becoming expert archers. + +Marcus Henning was captured by a hostile outpost, and was being +conducted to the abode of the chief, when, by a clever stratagem, +he succeeded in making his escape. + +The East-Siders despatched, under a flag of truce, a most +insulting caricature of General Viggo, representing him as a +rooster that seemed on the point of bursting with an excess of +dignity. + +These were the chief incidents of the winter, though there were +many others of less consequence that served to keep the boys in a +delightful state of excitement. They enjoyed the war keenly, +though they pretended to themselves that they were being ill-used +and suffered terrible hardships. They grumbled at their duties, +brought complaints against their officers to the general, and +did, in fact, all the things that real soldiers would have been +likely to do under similar circumstances. + + +II. + +THE CLASH OF ARMS + +When the spring is late in Norway, and the heat comes with a +sudden rush, the mountain streams plunge with a tremendous noise +down into the valleys, and the air is filled far and near with +the boom and roar of rushing waters. The glaciers groan, and +send their milk-white torrents down toward the ocean. The +snow-patches in the forest glens look gray and soiled, and the +pines perspire a delicious resinous odor which cheers the soul +with the conviction that spring has come. + +But the peasant looks anxiously at the sun and the river at such +times, for he knows that there is danger of inundation. The +lumber, which the spring floods set afloat in enormous +quantities, is carried by the rivers to the cities by the sea; +there it is sorted according to the mark it bears, showing the +proprietor, and exported to foreign countries. + +In order to prevent log-jams, which are often attended with +terrible disasters, men are stationed night and day at the +narrows of the rivers. The boys, to whom all excitement is +welcome, are apt to congregate in large numbers at such places, +assisting or annoying the watchers, riding on the logs, or +teasing the girls who stand up on the hillside, admiring the +daring feats of the lumbermen. + +It was on such a spring day, when the air was pungent with the +smell of sprouting birch and pine, that General Viggo and his +trusty army had betaken themselves to the cataract to share in +the sport. They were armed with their bows, as usual, knowing +that they were always liable to be surprised by their vigilant +enemy. Nor were they in this instance disappointed, for Halvor +Reitan, with fifty or sixty followers, was presently visible on +the east side, and it was a foregone conclusion that if they met +there would be a battle. + +The river, to be sure, separated them, but the logs were at times +so densely packed that it was possible for a daring lad to run +far out into the river, shoot his arrow and return to shore, +leaping from log to log. The Reitan party was the first to begin +this sport, and an arrow hit General Viggo's hat before he gave +orders to repel the assault. + +Cool and dignified as he was, he could not consent to skip and +jump on the slippery logs, particularly as he had no experience +in this difficult exercise, while the enemy apparently had much. +Paying no heed to the jeers of the lumbermen, who supposed he was +afraid, he drew his troops up in line and addressed them as +follows: + +"Soldiers: You have on many previous occasions given me proof of +your fidelity to duty and your brave and fearless spirit. I know +that I can, now as always, trust you to shed glory upon our arms, +and to maintain our noble fame and honorable traditions. + +"The enemy is before us. You have heard and seen his challenge. +It behooves us to respond gallantly. To jump and skip like +rabbits is unmilitary and unsoldierlike. I propose that each of +us shall select two large logs, tie them together, procure, if +possible, a boat-hook or an oar, and, sitting astride the logs, +boldly push out into the river. If we can advance in a tolerably +even line, which I think quite possible, we can send so deadly a +charge into the ranks of our adversaries that they will be +compelled to flee. Then we will land on the east side, occupy +the heights, and rout our foe. + +"Now let each man do his duty. Forward, march!" + +The lumbermen, whose sympathies were with the East-Siders, found +this performance highly diverting, but Viggo allowed himself in +nowise to be disturbed by their laughter or jeers. He marched +his troops down to the river-front, commanded "Rest arms!" and +repeated once more his instructions; then, flinging off his coat +and waistcoat, he seized a boat-hook and ran some hundred yards +along the bank of the stream. + +The river-bed was here expanded to a wide basin, in which the +logs floated lazily down to the cataract below. Trees and +underbrush, which usually stood on dry land, were half-submerged +in the yellow water, and the current gurgled slowly about their +trunks with muddy foam and bubbles. Now and then a heap of +lumber would get wedged in between the jutting rocks above the +waterfall, and then the current slackened, only to be suddenly +accelerated, when the exertions of the men had again removed the +obstruction. + +It was an exciting spectacle to see these daring fellows leap +from log to log, with birch-bark shoes on their feet. They would +ride on a heap of lumber down to the very edge of the cataract, +dexterously jump off at the critical moment, and after half a +dozen narrow escapes, reach the shore, only to repeat the +dangerous experiment, as soon as the next opportunity offered +itself. + +It was the example of these hardy and agile lumbermen, trained +from childhood to sport with danger, which inspired Viggo and his +followers with a desire to show their mettle. + +"Sergeant Henning," said the General to his ever-faithful shadow, +"take a squad of five men with you, and cut steering-poles for +those for whom boat-hooks cannot be procured. You will be the +last to leave shore. Report to me if any one fails to obey +orders." + +"Shall be done, General," Marcus responded, with a deferential +military salute. + +"The bows, you understand, will be slung by the straps across the +backs of the men, while they steer and push with their poles." + +"Certainly, General," said Marcus, with another salute. + +"You may go." + +"All right, General," answered Marcus, with a third salute. + +And now began the battle. The East-Siders, fearing that a +stratagem was intended, when they saw the enemy moving up the +stream, made haste to follow their example, capturing on their +way every stray log that came along. They sent ineffectual +showers of arrows into the water, while the brave General Viggo, +striding two big logs which he had tied together with a piece of +rope, and with a boat-hook in his hand, pushed proudly at the +head of his army into the middle of the wide basin. + +Halvor Reitan was clever enough to see what it meant, and he was +not going to allow the West-Siders to gain the heights above him, +and attack him in the rear. He meant to prevent the enemy from +landing, or, still better, he would meet him half-way, and drive +him back to his own shore. + +The latter, though not the wiser course, was the plan which +Halvor Reitan adopted. To have a tussle with the high-nosed +Viggo in the middle of the basin, to dislodge him from his +raft--that seemed to Halvor a delightful project. He knew that +Viggo was a good swimmer, so he feared no dangerous consequences; +and even if he had, it would not have restrained him. He was so +much stronger than Viggo, and here was his much-longed-for +opportunity. + +With great despatch he made himself a raft of two logs, and +seating himself astride them, with his legs in the water, put off +from shore. He shouted to his men to follow him, and they needed +no urging. Viggo was now near the middle of the basin, with +twenty or thirty picked archers close behind him. They fired +volley after volley of arrows against the enemy, and twice drove +him back to the shore. + +But Halvor Reitan, shielding his face with a piece of bark which +he had picked up, pushed forward in spite of their onslaught, +though one arrow knocked off his red-peaked cap, and another +scratched his ear. Now he was but a dozen feet from his foe. He +cared little for his bow now; the boat-hook was a far more +effectual weapon. + +Viggo saw at a glance that he meant to pull his raft toward him, +and, relying upon his greater strength, fling him into the water. + +His first plan would therefore be to fence with his own boat- +hook, so as to keep his antagonist at a distance. + +When Halvor made the first lunge at the nose of his raft, he +foiled the attempt with his own weapon, and managed dexterously +to give the hostile raft a downward push, which increased the +distance between them. + +"Take care, General!" said a respectful voice close to Viggo's +ear. "There is a small log jam down below, which is getting +bigger every moment. When it is got afloat, it will be dangerous +out here." + +"What are you doing here, Sergeant?" asked the General, +severely. "Did I not tell you to be the last to leave the +shore?" + +"You did, General," Marcus replied, meekly, "and I obeyed. But I +have pushed to the front so as to be near you." + +"I don't need you, Sergeant," Viggo responded, "you may go to the +rear." + +The booming of the cataract nearly drowned his voice and Marcus +pretended not to hear it. A huge lumber mass was piling itself +up among the rocks jutting out of the rapids, and a dozen men +hanging like flies on the logs, sprang up and down with axes in +their hands. They cut one log here and another there; shouted +commands; and fell into the river amid the derisive jeers of the +spectators; they scrambled out again and, dripping wet, set to +work once more with a cheerful heart, to the mighty music of the +cataract, whose thundering rhythm trembled and throbbed in the +air. + +The boys who were steering their rafts against each other in the +comparatively placid basin were too absorbed in their mimic +battle to heed what was going on below. Halvor and Viggo were +fighting desperately with their boat-hooks, the one attacking and +the other defending himself with great dexterity. They scarcely +perceived, in their excitement, that the current was dragging +them slowly toward the cataract; nor did they note the warning +cries of the men and women on the banks. + +Viggo's blood was hot, his temples throbbed, his eyes flashed. +He would show this miserable clown who had dared to insult him, +that the trained skill of a gentleman is worth more than the rude +strength of a bully. With beautiful precision he foiled every +attack; struck Halvor's boat-hook up and down, so that the water +splashed about him, manoeuvring at the same time his own raft +with admirable adroitness. + +Cheer upon cheer rent the air, after each of his successful +sallies, and his comrades, selecting their antagonists from among +the enemy, now pressed forward, all eager to bear their part in +the fray. + +Splash! splash! splash! one East-Sider was dismounted, got an +involuntary bath, but scrambled up on his raft again. The next +time it was a West-Sider who got a ducking, but seemed none the +worse for it. There was a yelling and a cheering, now from one +side and now from the other, which made everyone forget that +something was going on at that moment of greater importance than +the mimic warfare of boys. + +All the interest of the contending parties was concentrated on +the duel of their chieftains. It seemed now really that Halvor +was getting the worst of it. He could not get close enough to +use his brawny muscles; and in precision of aim and adroitness of +movement he was not Viggo's match. + +Again and again he thrust his long-handled boat-hook angrily +against the bottom (for the flooded parts of the banks were very +shallow), to push the raft forward, but every time Viggo managed +to turn it sideward, and Halvor had to exert all his presence of +mind to keep his seat. Wild with rage he sprang up on his +slender raft and made a vicious lunge at his opponent, who warded +the blow with such force that the handle of the boat-hook broke, +and Halvor lost his balance and fell into the water. + +At this same instant a tremendous crash was heard from below, +followed by a long rumble as of mighty artillery. A scream of +horror went up from the banks, as the great lumber mass rolled +down into the cataract, making a sudden suction which it seemed +impossible that the unhappy boys could resist. + +The majority of both sides, seeing their danger, beat, by means +of their boat-hooks, a hasty retreat, and as they were in shallow +water were hauled ashore by the lumbermen, who sprang into the +river to save them. + +When the clouds of spray had cleared away, only three figures +were visible. Viggo, still astride of his raft, was fighting, +not for his own life, but for that of his enemy, Halvor, who was +struggling helplessly in the white rapids. Close behind his +commander stood little Marcus on his raft, holding on, with one +hand to the boat-hook which he had hewn, with all his might, into +Viggo's raft, and with the other grasping the branch of a +half-submerged tree. + +"Save yourself, General!" he yelled, wildly. "Let go there. I +can't hold on much longer." + +But Viggo did not heed. He saw nothing but the pale, frightened +face of his antagonist, who might lose his life. With a +desperate effort he flung his boat-hook toward him and succeeded +this time in laying hold of the leather girdle about his waist. +One hundred feet below yawned the foaming, weltering abyss, from +which the white smoke ascended. If Marcus lost his grip, if the +branch snapped no human power could save them; they were all dead +men. + +By this time the people on the shore had discovered that three +lives were hanging on the brink of eternity. Twenty men had +waded waist-deep into the current and had flung a stout rope to +the noble little fellow who was risking his own life for his +friend. + +"Keep your hold, my brave lad!" they cried; "hold on another +minute!" + +"Grab the rope!" screamed others. + +Marcus clinched his teeth, and his numb arms trembled, mist +gathered in his eyes--his heart stood still. But with a clutch +that seemed superhuman he held on. He had but one thought-- +Viggo, his chief! Viggo, his idol! Viggo, his general! He must +save him or die with him. One end of the rope was hanging on the +branch and was within easy reach; but he did not venture to seize +it, lest the wrench caused by his motion might detach his hold on +Viggo's raft. + +Viggo, who just now was pulling Halvor out of the water, saw in +an instant that he had by adding his weight to the raft, +increased the chance of both being carried to their death. With +quick resolution he plunged the beak of his own boat-hook into +Marcus's raft, and shouted to Halvor to save himself. The +latter, taking in the situation at a glance, laid hold of the +handle of the boat-hook and together they pulled up alongside of +Marcus and leaped aboard his raft, whereupon Viggo's raft drifted +downward and vanished in a flash in the yellow torrent. + +At that very instant Marcus's strength gave out; he relaxed his +grip on the branch, which slid out of his hand, and they would +inevitably have darted over the brink of the cataract if Viggo +had not, with great adroitness, snatched the rope from the branch +of the half-submerged tree. + +A wild shout, half a cheer, half a cry of relief, went up from +the banks, as the raft with the three lads was slowly hauled +toward the shore by the lumbermen who had thrown the rope. + +Halvor Reitan was the first to step ashore. But no joyous +welcome greeted him from those whose sympathies had, a little +while ago, been all on his side. He hung around uneasily for +some minutes, feeling perhaps that he ought to say something to +Viggo who had saved his life, but as he could not think of +anything which did not seem foolish, he skulked away unnoticed +toward the edge of the forest. + +But when Viggo stepped ashore, carrying the unconscious Marcus in +his arms, how the crowd rushed forward to gaze at him, to press +his hands, to call down God's blessing upon him! He had never +imagined that he was such a hero. It was Marcus, not he, to whom +their ovation was due. But poor Marcus--it was well for him that +he had fainted from over-exertion; for otherwise he would have +fainted from embarrassment at the honors which would have been +showered upon him. + +The West-Siders, marching two abreast, with their bows slung +across their shoulders, escorted their general home, cheering and +shouting as they went. When they were half-way up the hillside, +Marcus opened his eyes, and finding himself so close to his +beloved general, blushed crimson, scarlet, and purple, and all +the other shades that an embarrassed blush is capable of +assuming. + +"Please, General," he stammered, "don't bother about me." + +Viggo had thought of making a speech exalting the heroism of his +faithful follower. But he saw at a glance that his praise would +be more grateful to Marcus, if he received it in private. + +When, however, the boys gave him a parting cheer, in front of his +father's mansion, he forgot his resolution, leaped up on the +steps, and lifting the blushing Marcus above his head; called +out: + +"Three cheers for the bravest boy in Norway!" + + + +BICEPS GRIMLUND'S CHRISTMAS VACATION + +I. + +The great question which Albert Grimlund was debating was fraught +with unpleasant possibilities. He could not go home for the +Christmas vacation, for his father lived in Drontheim, which is +so far away from Christiania that it was scarcely worth while +making the journey for a mere two-weeks' holiday. Then, on the +other hand, he had an old great-aunt who lived but a few miles +from the city. She had, from conscientious motives, he feared, +sent him an invitation to pass Christmas with her. But Albert +had a poor opinion of Aunt Elsbeth. He thought her a very +tedious person. She had a dozen cats, talked of nothing but +sermons and lessons, and asked him occasionally, with pleasant +humor, whether he got many whippings at school. She failed to +comprehend that a boy could not amuse himself forever by looking +at the pictures in the old family Bible, holding yarn, and +listening to oft-repeated stories, which he knew by heart, +concerning the doings and sayings of his grandfather. Aunt +Elsbeth, after a previous experience with her nephew, had come to +regard boys as rather a reprehensible kind of animal, who +differed in many of their ways from girls, and altogether to the +boys' disadvantage. + +Now, the prospect of being "caged" for two weeks with this +estimable lady was, as I said, not at all pleasant to Albert. He +was sixteen years old, loved out-door sports, and had no taste +for cats. His chief pride was his muscle, and no boy ever made +his acquaintance without being invited to feel the size and +hardness of his biceps. This was a standing joke in the Latin +school, and Albert was generally known among his companions as +"Biceps" Grimlund. He was not very tall for his age, but +broad-shouldered and deep-chested, with something in his glance, +his gait, and his manners which showed that he had been born and +bred near the sea. He cultivated a weather-beaten complexion, +and was particularly proud when the skin "peeled" on his nose, +which it usually did in the summer-time, during his visits to his +home in the extreme north. Like most blond people, when +sunburnt, he was red, not brown; and this became a source of +great satisfaction when he learned that Lord Nelson had the same +peculiarity. Albert's favorite books were the sea romances of +Captain Marryat, whose "Peter Simple" and "Midshipman Easy" he +held to be the noblest products of human genius. It was a bitter +disappointment to him that his father forbade his going to sea +and was educating him to be a "landlubber," which he had been +taught by his boy associates to regard as the most contemptible +thing on earth. + +Two days before Christmas, Biceps Grimlund was sitting in his +room, looking gloomily out of the window. He wished to postpone +as long as possible his departure for Aunt Elsbeth's +country-place, for he foresaw that both he and she were doomed to +a surfeit of each other's company during the coming fortnight. +At last he heaved a deep sigh and languidly began to pack his +trunk. He had just disposed the dear Marryat books on top of his +starched shirts, when he heard rapid footsteps on the stairs, and +the next moment the door burst open, and his classmate, Ralph +Hoyer, rushed breathlessly into the room. + +"Biceps," he cried, "look at this! Here is a letter from my +father, and he tells me to invite one of my classmates to come +home with me for the vacation. Will you come? Oh, we shall have +grand times, I tell you! No end of fun!" + +Albert, instead of answering, jumped up and danced a jig on the +floor, upsetting two chairs and breaking the wash-pitcher. + +"Hurrah!" he cried, "I'm your man. Shake hands on it, Ralph! +You have saved me from two weeks of cats and yarn and moping! +Give us your paw! I never was so glad to see anybody in all my +life." + +And to prove it, he seized Ralph by the shoulders, gave him a +vigorous whirl and forced him to join in the dance. + +"Now, stop your nonsense," Ralph protested, laughing; "if you +have so much strength to waste, wait till we are at home in +Solheim, and you'll have a chance to use it profitably." + +Albert flung himself down on his old rep-covered sofa. It seemed +to have some internal disorder, for its springs rattled and a +vague musical twang indicated that something or other had +snapped. It had seen much maltreatment, that poor old piece of +furniture, and bore visible marks of it. When, after various +exhibitions of joy, their boisterous delight had quieted down, +both boys began to discuss their plans for the vacation. + +"But I fear my groom may freeze, down there in the street," Ralph +ejaculated, cutting short the discussion; "it is bitter cold, and +he can't leave the horses. Hurry up, now, old man, and I'll help +you pack." + +It did not take them long to complete the packing. Albert sent a +telegram to his father, asking permission to accept Ralph's +invitation; but, knowing well that the reply would be favorable, +did not think it necessary to wait for it. With the assistance +of his friend he now wrapped himself in two overcoats, pulled a +pair of thick woollen stockings over the outside of his boots and +a pair of fur-lined top-boots outside of these, girded himself +with three long scarfs, and pulled his brown otter-skin cap down +over his ears. He was nearly as broad as he was long, when he +had completed these operations, and descended into the street +where the big double-sleigh (made in the shape of a huge white +swan) was awaiting them. They now called at Ralph's lodgings, +whence he presently emerged in a similar Esquimau costume, +wearing a wolf-skin coat which left nothing visible except the +tip of his nose and the steam of his breath. Then they started +off merrily with jingling bells, and waved a farewell toward many +a window, wherein were friends and acquaintances. They felt in +so jolly a mood, that they could not help shouting their joy in +the face of all the world, and crowing over all poor wretches who +were left to spend the holidays in the city. + + +II. + +Solheim was about twenty miles from the city, and it was nine +o'clock in the evening when the boys arrived there. The moon was +shining brightly, and the Milky Way, with its myriad stars, +looked like a luminous mist across the vault of the sky. The +aurora borealis swept down from the north with white and pink +radiations which flushed the dark blue sky for an instant, and +vanished. The earth was white, as far as the eye could reach +--splendidly, dazzlingly white. And out of the white radiance +rose the great dark pile of masonry called Solheim, with its tall +chimneys and dormer-windows and old-fashioned gables. Round +about stood the tall leafless maples and chestnut-trees, +sparkling with frost and stretching their gaunt arms against the +heavens. The two horses, when they swung up before the great +front-door, were so white with hoar-frost that they looked shaggy +like goats, and no one could tell what was their original color. +Their breath was blown in two vapory columns from their nostrils +and drifted about their heads like steam about a locomotive. + +The sleigh-bells had announced the arrival of the guests, and a +great shout of welcome was heard from the hall of the house, +which seemed alive with grownup people and children. Ralph +jumped out of the sleigh, embraced at random half a dozen people, +one of whom was his mother, kissed right and left, protesting +laughingly against being smothered in affection, and finally +managed to introduce his friend, who for the moment was feeling a +trifle lonely. + +"Here, father," he cried. "Biceps, this is my father; and, +father, this is my Biceps----" + +"What stuff you are talking, boy," his father exclaimed. "How +can this young fellow be your biceps----" + +"Well, how can a man keep his senses in such confusion?" said +the son of the house. "This is my friend and classmate, Albert +Grimlund, alias Biceps Grimlund, and the strongest man in the +whole school. Just feel his biceps, mother, and you'll see." + +"No, I thank you. I'll take your word for it," replied Mrs. +Hoyer. "As I intend to treat him as a friend of my son should be +treated, I hope he will not feel inclined to give me any proof of +his muscularity." + +When, with the aid of the younger children, the travellers had +divested themselves of their various wraps and overcoats, they +were ushered into the old-fashioned sitting-room. In one corner +roared an enormous, many-storied, iron stove. It had a picture +in relief, on one side, of Diana the Huntress, with her nymphs +and baying hounds. In the middle of the room stood a big table, +and in the middle of the table a big lamp, about which the entire +family soon gathered. It was so cosey and homelike that Albert, +before he had been half an hour in the room, felt gratefully the +atmosphere of mutual affection which pervaded the house. It +amused him particularly to watch the little girls, of whom there +were six, and to observe their profound admiration for their big +brother. Every now and then one of them, sidling up to him while +he sat talking, would cautiously touch his ear or a curl of his +hair; and if he deigned to take any notice of her, offering her, +perhaps, a perfunctory kiss, her pride and pleasure were charming +to witness. + +Presently the signal was given that supper was ready, and various +savory odors, which escaped, whenever a door was opened, served +to arouse the anticipations of the boys to the highest pitch. +Now, if I did not have so much else to tell you, I should stop +here and describe that supper. There were twenty-two people who +sat down to it; but that was nothing unusual at Solheim, for it +was a hospitable house, where every wayfarer was welcome, either +to the table in the servants' hall or to the master's table in +the dining-room. + + +III. + +At the stroke of ten all the family arose, and each in turn +kissed the father and mother good-night; whereupon Mr. Hoyer took +the great lamp from the table and mounted the stairs, followed by +his pack of noisy boys and girls. Albert and Ralph found +themselves, with four smaller Hoyers, in an enormous low-ceiled +room with many windows. In three corners stood huge canopied +bedsteads, with flowered-chintz curtains and mountainous +eiderdown coverings which swelled up toward the ceiling. In the +middle of the wall, opposite the windows, a big iron stove, like +the one in the sitting-room (only that it was adorned with a +bunch of flowers, peaches, and grapes, and not with Diana and her +nymphs), was roaring merrily, and sending a long red sheen from +its draught-hole across the floor. + +Around the big warm stove the boys gathered (for it was +positively Siberian in the region of the windows), and while +undressing played various pranks upon each other, which created +much merriment. But the most laughter was provoked at the expense +of Finn Hoyer, a boy of fourteen, whose bare back his brother +insisted upon exhibiting to his guest; for it was decorated with +a facsimile of the picture on the stove, showing roses and +luscious peaches and grapes in red relief. Three years before, +on Christmas Eve, the boys had stood about the red-hot stove, +undressing for their bath, and Finn, who was naked, had, in the +general scrimmage to get first into the bath-tub, been pushed +against the glowing iron, the ornamentation of which had been +beautifully burned upon his back. He had to be wrapped in oil and +cotton after that adventure, and he recovered in due time, but +never quite relished the distinction he had acquired by his +pictorial skin. + +It was long before Albert fell asleep; for the cold kept up a +continual fusillade, as of musketry, during the entire night. +The woodwork of the walls snapped and cracked with loud reports; +and a little after midnight a servant came in and stuffed the +stove full of birch-wood, until it roared like an angry lion. +This roar finally lulled Albert to sleep, in spite of the +startling noises about him. + +The next morning the boys were aroused at seven o'clock by a +servant, who brought a tray with the most fragrant coffee and hot +rolls. It was in honor of the guest that, in accordance with +Norse custom, this early meal was served; and all the boys, +carrying pillows and blankets, gathered on Albert's and Ralph's +bed and feasted right royally. So it seemed to them, at least; +for any break in the ordinary routine, be it ever so slight, is +an event to the young. Then they had a pillow-fight, thawed at +the stove the water in the pitchers (for it was frozen hard), and +arrayed themselves to descend and meet the family at the nine +o'clock breakfast. When this repast was at an end, the question +arose how they were to entertain their guest, and various plans +were proposed. But to all Ralph's propositions his mother +interposed the objection that it was too cold. + +"Mother is right," said Mr. Hoyer; "it is so cold that 'the chips +jump on the hill-side.' You'll have to be content with indoor +sports to-day." + +"But, father, it is not more than twenty degrees below zero," the +boy demurred. "I am sure we can stand that, if we keep in +motion. I have been out at thirty without losing either ears or +nose." + +He went to the window to observe the thermometer; but the dim +daylight scarcely penetrated the fantastic frost-crystals, which, +like a splendid exotic flora, covered the panes. Only at the +upper corner, where the ice had commenced to thaw, a few timid +sunbeams were peeping in, making the lamp upon the table seem +pale and sickly. Whenever the door to the hall was opened a +white cloud of vapor rolled in; and every one made haste to shut +the door, in order to save the precious heat. The boys, being +doomed to remain indoors, walked about restlessly, felt each +other's muscle, punched each other, and sometimes, for want of +better employment, teased the little girls. Mr. Hoyer, seeing +how miserable they were, finally took pity on them, and, after +having thawed out a window-pane sufficiently to see the +thermometer outside, gave his consent to a little expedition on +skees[2] down to the river. + +[2] Norwegian snow-shoes. + + +And now, boys, you ought to have seen them! Now there was life in +them! You would scarcely have dreamed that they were the same +creatures who, a moment ago, looked so listless and miserable. +What rollicking laughter and fun, while they bundled one another +in scarfs, cardigan-jackets, fur-lined top-boots, and overcoats! + +"You had better take your guns along, boys," said the father, as +they stormed out through the front door; "you might strike a +couple of ptarmigan, or a mountain-cock, over on the west side." + +"I am going to take your rifle, if you'll let me," Ralph +exclaimed. "I have a fancy we might strike bigger game than +mountain-cock. I shouldn't object to a wolf or two." + +"You are welcome to the rifle," said his father; "but I doubt +whether you'll find wolves on the ice so early in the day." + +Mr. Hoyer took the rifle from its case, examined it carefully, +and handed it to Ralph. Albert, who was a less experienced +hunter than Ralph, preferred a fowling-piece to the rifle; +especially as he had no expectation of shooting anything but +ptarmigan. Powder-horns, cartridges, and shot were provided; and +quite proudly the two friends started off on their skees, gliding +over the hard crust of the snow, which, as the sun rose higher, +was oversown with thousands of glittering gems. The boys looked +like Esquimaux, with their heads bundled up in scarfs, and +nothing visible except their eyes and a few hoary locks of hair +which the frost had silvered. + + +IV. + +"What was that?" cried Albert, startled by a sharp report which +reverberated from the mountains. They had penetrated the forest +on the west side, and ranged over the ice for an hour, in a vain +search for wolves. + +"Hush," said Ralph, excitedly; and after a moment of intent +listening he added, "I'll be drawn and quartered if it isn't +poachers!" + +"How do you know?" + +"These woods belong to father, and no one else has any right to +hunt in them. He doesn't mind if a poor man kills a hare or two, +or a brace of ptarmigan; but these chaps are after elk; and if +the old gentleman gets on the scent of elk-hunters, he has no +more mercy than Beelzebub." + +"How can you know that they are after elk?" + +"No man is likely to go to the woods for small game on a day like +this. They think the cold protects them from pursuit and +capture." + +"What are you going to do about it?" + +"I am going to play a trick on them. You know that the sheriff, +whose duty it is to be on the lookout for elk-poachers, would +scarcely send out a posse when the cold is so intense. Elk, you +know, are becoming very scarce, and the law protects them. No +man is allowed to shoot more than one elf a year, and that one on +his own property. Now, you and I will play deputy-sheriffs, and +have those poachers securely in the lock-up before night." + +"But suppose they fight?" + +"Then we'll fight back." + +Ralph was so aglow with joyous excitement at the thought of this +adventure, that Albert had not the heart to throw cold water on +his enthusiasm. Moreover, he was afraid of being thought +cowardly by his friend if he offered objections. The +recollection of Midshipman Easy and his daring pranks flashed +through his brain, and he felt an instant desire to rival the +exploits of his favorite hero. If only the enterprise had been on +the sea he would have been twice as happy, for the land always +seemed to him a prosy and inconvenient place for the exhibition +of heroism. + +"But, Ralph," he exclaimed, now more than ready to bear his part +in the expedition, "I have only shot in my gun. You can't shoot +men with bird-shot." + +"Shoot men! Are you crazy? Why, I don't intend to shoot anybody. + +I only wish to capture them. My rifle is a breech-loader and has +six cartridges. Besides, it has twice the range of theirs (for +there isn't another such rifle in all Odalen), and by firing one +shot over their heads I can bring them to terms, don't you see?" + +Albert, to be frank, did not see it exactly; but he thought it +best to suppress his doubts. He scented danger in the air, and +his blood bounded through his veins. + +"How do you expect to track them?" he asked, breathlessly. + +"Skee-tracks in the snow can be seen by a bat, born blind," +answered Ralph, recklessly. + +They were now climbing up the wooded slope on the western side of +the river. The crust of the frozen snow was strong enough to +bear them; and as it was not glazed, but covered with an inch of +hoar-frost, it retained the imprint of their feet with +distinctness. They were obliged to carry their skees, on account +both of the steepness of the slope and the density of the +underbrush. Roads and paths were invisible under the white pall +of the snow, and only the facility with which they could retrace +their steps saved them from the fear of going astray. Through +the vast forest a deathlike silence reigned; and this silence was +not made up of an infinity of tiny sounds, like the silence of a +summer day when the crickets whirr in the treetops and the bees +drone in the clover-blossoms. No; this silence was dead, +chilling, terrible. The huge pine-trees now and then dropped a +load of snow on the heads of the bold intruders, and it fell with +a thud, followed by a noiseless, glittering drizzle. As far as +their eyes could reach, the monotonous colonnade of brown +tree-trunks, rising out of the white waste, extended in all +directions. It reminded them of the enchanted forest in +"Undine," through which a man might ride forever without finding +the end. It was a great relief when, from time to time, they met +a squirrel out foraging for pine-cones or picking up a scanty +living among the husks of last year's hazel-nuts. He was lively +in spite of the weather, and the faint noises of his small +activities fell gratefully upon ears already ap-palled by the +awful silence. Occasionally they scared up a brace of grouse +that seemed half benumbed, and hopped about in a melancholy +manner under the pines, or a magpie, drawing in its head and +ruffling up its feathers against the cold, until it looked frowsy +and disreputable. + +"Biceps," whispered Ralph, who had suddenly discovered something +interesting in the snow, "do you see that?" + +"Je-rusalem!" ejaculated Albert, with thoughtless delight, "it +is a hoof-track!" + +"Hold your tongue, you blockhead," warned his friend, too excited +to be polite, "or you'll spoil the whole business!" + +"But you asked me," protested Albert, in a huff. + +"But I didn't shout, did I?" + +Again the report of a shot tore a great rent in the wintry +stillness and rang out with sharp reverberations. + +"We've got them," said Ralph, examining the lock of his rifle. +"That shot settles them." + +"If we don't look out, they may get us instead," grumbled Albert, +who was still offended. + +Ralph stood peering into the underbrush, his eyes as wild as +those of an Indian, his nostrils dilated, and all his senses +intensely awake. His companion, who was wholly unskilled in +woodcraft, could see no cause for his agitation, and feared that +he was yet angry. He did not detect the evidences of large game +in the immediate neighborhood. He did not see, by the bend of +the broken twigs and the small tufts of hair on the briar-bush, +that an elk had pushed through that very copse within a few +minutes; nor did he sniff the gamy odor with which the large +beast had charged the air. In obedience to his friend's gesture, +he flung himself down on hands and knees and cautiously crept +after him through the thicket. He now saw without difficulty a +place where the elk had broken through the snow crust, and he +could also detect a certain aimless bewilderment in the tracks, +owing, no doubt, to the shot and the animal's perception of +danger on two sides. Scarcely had he crawled twenty feet when he +was startled by a noise of breaking branches, and before he had +time to cock his gun, he saw an enormous bull-elk tearing through +the underbrush, blowing two columns of steam from his nostrils, +and steering straight toward them. At the same instant Ralph's +rifle blazed away, and the splendid beast, rearing on its hind +legs, gave a wild snort, plunged forward and rolled on its side +in the snow. Quick as a flash the young hunter had drawn his +knife, and, in accordance with the laws of the chase, had driven +it into the breast of the animal. But the glance from the dying +eyes--that glance, of which every elk-hunter can tell a moving +tale--pierced the boy to the very heart! It was such a touching, +appealing, imploring glance, so soft and gentle and unresentful. + +"Why did you harm me," it seemed to say, "who never harmed any +living thing--who claimed only the right to live my frugal life +in the forest, digging up the frozen mosses under the snow, which +no mortal creature except myself can eat?" + +The sanguinary instinct--the fever for killing, which every boy +inherits from savage ancestors--had left Ralph, before he had +pulled the knife from the bleeding wound. A miserable feeling of +guilt stole over him. He never had shot an elk before; and his +father, who was anxious to preserve the noble beasts from +destruction, had not availed himself of his right to kill one for +many years. Ralph had, indeed, many a time hunted rabbits, +hares, mountain-cock, and capercaillie. But they had never +destroyed his pleasure by arousing pity for their deaths; and he +had always regarded himself as being proof against sentimental +emotions. + +"Look here, Biceps," he said, flinging the knife into the snow, +"I wish I hadn't killed that bull." + +"I thought we were hunting for poachers," answered Albert, +dubiously; "and now we have been poaching ourselves." + +"By Jiminy! So we have; and I never once thought of it," cried +the valiant hunter. "I am afraid we are off my father's +preserves too. It is well the deputy sheriffs are not abroad, or +we might find ourselves decorated with iron bracelets before +night." + +"But what did you do it for?" + +"Well, I can't tell. It's in the blood, I fancy. The moment I +saw the track and caught the wild smell, I forgot all about the +poachers, and started on the scent like a hound." + +The two boys stood for some minutes looking at the dead animal, +not with savage exultation, but with a dim regret. The blood +which was gushing from the wound in the breast froze in a solid +lump the very moment it touched the snow, although the cold had +greatly moderated since the morning. + +"I suppose we'll have to skin the fellow," remarked Ralph, +lugubriously; "it won't do to leave that fine carcass for the +wolves to celebrate Christmas with." + +"All right," Albert answered, "I am not much of a hand at +skinning, but I'll do the best I can." + +They fell to work rather reluctantly at the unwonted task, but +had not proceeded far when they perceived that they had a full +day's job before them. + +"I've no talent for the butcher's trade," Ralph exclaimed in +disgust, dropping his knife into the snow. "There's no help for +it, Biceps, we'll have to bury the carcass, pile some logs on the +top of it, and send a horse to drag it home to-morrow. If it +were not Christmas Eve to-night we might take a couple of men +along and shoot a dozen wolves or more. For there is sure to be +pandemonium here before long, and a concert in G-flat that'll +curdle the marrow of your bones with horror." + +"Thanks," replied the admirer of Midshipman Easy, striking a +reckless naval attitude. "The marrow of my bones is not so +easily curdled. I've been on a whaling voyage, which is more +than you have." + +Ralph was about to vindicate his dignity by referring to his own +valiant exploits, when suddenly his keen eyes detected a slight +motion in the underbrush on the slope below. + +"Biceps," he said, with forced composure, "those poachers are +tracking us." + +"What do you mean?" asked Albert, in vague alarm. + +"Do you see the top of that young birch waving?" + +"Well, what of that!" + +"Wait and see. It's no good trying to escape. They can easily +overtake us. The snow is the worst tell-tale under the sun." + +"But why should we wish to escape? I thought we were going to +catch them." + +"So we were; but that was before we turned poachers ourselves. +Now those fellows will turn the tables on us--take us to the +sheriff and collect half the fine, which is fifty dollars, as +informers." + +"Je-rusalem!" cried Biceps, "isn't it a beautiful scrape we've +gotten into?" + +"Rather," responded his friend, coolly. + +"But why meekly allow ourselves to be captured? Why not defend +ourselves?" + +"My dear Biceps, you don't know what you are talking about. +Those fellows don't mind putting a bullet into you, if you run. +Now, I'd rather pay fifty dollars any day, than shoot a man even +in self-defence." + +"But they have killed elk too. We heard them shoot twice. +Suppose we play the same game on them that they intend to play on +us. We can play informers too, then we'll at least be quits." + +"Biceps, you are a brick! That's a capital idea! Then let us +start for the sheriff's; and if we get there first, we'll inform +both on ourselves and on them. That'll cancel the fine. Quick, +now!" + +No persuasions were needed to make Albert bestir himself. He +leaped toward his skees, and following his friend, who was a few +rods ahead of him, started down the slope in a zigzag line, +cautiously steering his way among the tree trunks. The boys had +taken their departure none too soon; for they were scarcely five +hundred yards down the declivity, when they heard behind them +loud exclamations and oaths. Evidently the poachers had stopped +to roll some logs (which were lying close by) over the carcass, +probably meaning to appropriate it; and this gave the boys an +advantage, of which they were in great need. After a few moments +they espied an open clearing which sloped steeply down toward the +river. Toward this Ralph had been directing his course; for +although it was a venturesome undertaking to slide down so steep +and rugged a hill, he was determined rather to break his neck +than lower his pride, and become the laughing-stock of the +parish. + +One more tack through alder copse and juniper jungle--hard +indeed, and terribly vexatious--and he saw with delight the great +open slope, covered with an unbroken surface of glittering snow. +The sun (which at midwinter is but a few hours above the horizon) +had set; and the stars were flashing forth with dazzling +brilliancy. Ralph stopped, as he reached the clearing, to give +Biceps an opportunity to overtake him; for Biceps, like all +marine animals, moved with less dexterity on the dry land. + +"Ralph," he whispered breathlessly, as he pushed himself up to +his companion with a vigorous thrust of his skee-staff, "there +are two awful chaps close behind us. I distinctly heard them +speak." + +"Fiddlesticks," said Ralph; "now let us see what you are made of! + +Don't take my track, or you may impale me like a roast pig on a +spit. Now, ready!--one, two, three!" + +"Hold on there, or I shoot," yelled a hoarse voice from out of +the underbrush; but it was too late; for at the same instant the +two boys slid out over the steep slope, and, wrapped in a whirl +of loose snow, were scudding at a dizzying speed down the +precipitous hill-side. Thump, thump, thump, they went, where +hidden wood-piles or fences obstructed their path, and out they +shot into space, but each time came down firmly on their feet, +and dashed ahead with undiminished ardor. Their calves ached, +the cold air whistled in their ears, and their eyelids became +stiff and their sight half obscured with the hoar-frost that +fringed their lashes. But onward they sped, keeping their +balance with wonderful skill, until they reached the gentler +slope which formed the banks of the great river. Then for the +first time Ralph had an opportunity to look behind him, and he +saw two moving whirls of snow darting downward, not far from his +own track. His heart beat in his throat; for those fellows had +both endurance and skill, and he feared that he was no match for +them. But suddenly--he could have yelled with delight--the +foremost figure leaped into the air, turned a tremendous +somersault, and, coming down on his head, broke through the crust +of the snow and vanished, while his skees started on an +independent journey down the hill-side. He had struck an exposed +fence-rail, which, abruptly checking his speed, had sent him +flying like a rocket. + +The other poacher had barely time to change his course, so as to +avoid the snag; but he was unable to stop and render assistance +to his fallen comrade. The boys, just as they were shooting out +upon the ice, saw by his motions that he was hesitating whether +or not he should give up the chase. He used his staff as a brake +for a few moments, so as to retard his speed; but discovering, +perhaps, by the brightening starlight, that his adversaries were +not full-grown men, he took courage, started forward again, and +tried to make up for the time he had lost. If he could but reach +the sheriff's house before the boys did, he could have them +arrested and collect the informer's fee, instead of being himself +arrested and fined as a poacher. It was a prize worth racing +for! And, moreover, there were two elks, worth twenty-five +dollars apiece, buried in the snow under logs. These also would +belong to the victor! The poacher dashed ahead, straining every +nerve, and reached safely the foot of the steep declivity. The +boys were now but a few hundred yards ahead of him. + +"Hold on there," he yelled again, "or I shoot!" + +He was not within range, but he thought he could frighten the +youngsters into abandoning the race. The sheriff's house was but +a short distance up the river. Its tall, black chimneys could he +seen looming up against the starlit sky. There was no slope now +to accelerate their speed. They had to peg away for dear life, +pushing themselves forward with their skee-staves, laboring like +plough-horses, panting, snorting, perspiring. Ralph turned his +head once more. The poacher was gaining upon them; there could +be no doubt of it. He was within the range of Ralph's rifle; and +a sturdy fellow he was, who seemed good for a couple of miles +yet. Should Ralph send a bullet over his head to frighten him? +No; that might give the poacher an excuse for sending back a +bullet with a less innocent purpose. Poor Biceps, he was panting +and puffing in his heavy wraps like a steamboat! He did not once +open his mouth to speak; but, exerting his vaunted muscle to the +utmost, kept abreast of his friend, and sometimes pushed a pace +or two ahead of him. But it cost him a mighty effort! And yet +the poacher was gaining upon him! They could see the long +broadside of windows in the sheriff's mansion, ablaze with +Christmas candles. They came nearer and nearer! The church-bells +up on the bend were ringing in the festival. Five minutes more +and they would be at their goal. Five minutes more! Surely they +had strength enough left for that small space of time. So had +the poacher, probably! The question was, which had the most. +Then, with a short, sharp resonance, followed by a long +reverberation, a shot rang out and a bullet whizzed past Ralph's +ear. It was the poacher who had broken the peace. Ralph, his +blood boiling with wrath, came to a sudden stop, flung his rifle +to his cheek and cried, "Drop that gun!" + +The poacher, bearing down with all his might on the skee-staff, +checked his speed. In the meanwhile Albert hurried on, seeing +that the issue of the race depended upon him. + +"Don't force me to hurt ye!" shouted the poacher, threateningly, +to Ralph, taking aim once more. + +"You can't," Ralph shouted back. "You haven't another shot." + +At that instant sounds of sleigh-bells and voices were heard, and +half a dozen people, startled by the shot, were seen rushing out +from the sheriff's mansion. Among them was Mr. Bjornerud +himself, with one of his deputies. + +"In the name of the law, I command you to cease," he cried, when +he saw down the two figures in menacing attitudes. But before he +could say another word, some one fell prostrate in the road +before him, gasping: + +"We have shot an elk; so has that man down on the ice. We give +ourselves up." + +Mr. Bjornerud, making no answer, leaped over the prostrate +figure, and, followed by the deputy, dashed down upon the ice. + +"In the name of the law!" he shouted again, and both rifles were +reluctantly lowered. + +"I have shot an elk," cried Ralph, eagerly, "and this man is a +poacher, we heard him shoot." + +"I have killed an elk," screamed the poacher, in the same moment, +"and so has this fellow." + +The sheriff was too astonished to speak. Never before, in his +experience, had poachers raced for dear life to give themselves +into custody. He feared that they were making sport of him; in +that case, however, he resolved to make them suffer for their +audacity. + +"You are my prisoners," he said, after a moment's hesitation. +"Take them to the lock-up, Olsen, and handcuff them securely," he +added, turning to his deputy. + +There were now a dozen men--most of them guests and attendants of +the sheriff's household--standing in a ring about Ralph and the +poacher. Albert, too, had scrambled to his feet and had joined +his comrade. + +"Will you permit me, Mr. Sheriff," said Ralph, making the officer +his politest bow, "to send a message to my father, who is +probably anxious about us?" + +"And who is your father, young man?" asked the sheriff, not +unkindly; "I should think you were doing him an ill-turn in +taking to poaching at your early age." + +"My father is Mr. Hoyer, of Solheim," said the boy, not without +some pride in the announcement. + +"What--you rascal, you! Are you trying to, play pranks on an old +man?" cried the officer of the law, grasping Ralph cordially by +the hand. "You've grown to be quite a man, since I saw you last. +Pardon me for not recognizing the son of an old neighbor." + +"Allow me to introduce to you my friend, Mr. Biceps--I mean, Mr. +Albert Grimlund." + +"Happy to make your acquaintance, Mr. Biceps Albert; and now you +must both come and eat the Christmas porridge with us. I'll send +a messenger to Mr. Hoyer without delay." + +The sheriff, in a jolly mood, and happy to have added to the +number of his Christmas guests, took each of the two young men by +the arm, as if he were going to arrest them, and conducted them +through the spacious front hall into a large cosey room, where, +having divested themselves of their wraps, they told the story of +their adventure. + +"But, my dear sir," Mr. Bjornerud exclaimed, "I don't see how you +managed to go beyond your father's preserves. You know he bought +of me the whole forest tract, adjoining his own on the south, +about three months ago. So you were perfectly within your +rights; for your father hasn't killed an elk on his land for +three years." + +"If that is the case, Mr. Sheriff," said Ralph, "I must beg of +you to release the poor fellow who chased us. I don't wish any +informer's fee, nor have I any desire to get him into trouble." + +"I am sorry to say I can't accommodate you," Bjornerud replied. +"This man is a notorious poacher and trespasser, whom my deputies +have long been tracking in vain. Now that I have him I shall +keep him. There's no elk safe in Odalen so long as that rascal +is at large." + +"That may be; but I shall then turn my informer's fee over to +him, which will reduce his fine from fifty dollars to twenty-five +dollars." + +"To encourage him to continue poaching?" + +"Well, I confess I have a little more sympathy with poachers, +since we came so near being poachers ourselves. It was only an +accident that saved us!" + + + +THE NIXY'S STRAIN + +Little Nils had an idea that he wanted to be something great in +the world, but he did not quite know how to set about it. He had +always been told that, having been born on a Sunday, he was a +luck-child, and that good fortune would attend him on that +account in whatever he undertook. + +He had never, so far, noticed anything peculiar about himself, +though, to be sure, his small enterprises did not usually come to +grief, his snares were seldom empty, and his tiny stamping-mill, +which he and his friend Thorstein had worked at so faithfully, +was now making a merry noise over in the brook in the Westmo +Glen, so that you could hear it a hundred yards away. + +The reason of this, his mother told him, according to the +superstition of her people, was that the Nixy and the Hulder[3] +and the gnomes favored him because he was a Sunday child. What +was more, she assured him, that he would see them some day, and +then, if he conducted himself cleverly, so as to win their favor, +he would, by their aid, rise high in the world, and make his +fortune. + +[3] The genius of cattle, represented as a beautiful maiden +disfigured by a heifer's tail, which she is always trying to +hide, though often unsuccessfully. + + +Now this was exactly what Nils wanted, and therefore he was not a +little anxious to catch a glimpse of the mysterious creatures who +had so whimsical a reason for taking an interest in him. Many and +many a time he sat at the waterfall where the Nixy was said to +play the harp every midsummer night, but although he sometimes +imagined that he heard a vague melody trembling through the rush +and roar of the water, and saw glimpses of white limbs flashing +through the current, yet never did he get a good look at the +Nixy. + +Though he roamed through the woods early and late, setting snares +for birds and rabbits, and was ever on the alert for a sight of +the Hulder's golden hair and scarlet bodice, the tricksy sprite +persisted in eluding him. + +He thought sometimes that he heard a faint, girlish giggle, full +of teasing provocation and suppressed glee, among the underbrush, +and once he imagined that he saw a gleam of scarlet and gold +vanish in a dense alder copse. + +But very little good did that do him, when he could not fix the +vision, talk with it face to face, and extort the fulfilment of +the three regulation wishes. + +"I am probably not good enough," thought Nils. "I know I am a +selfish fellow, and cruel, too, some-times, to birds and beasts. +I suppose she won't have anything to do with me, as long as she +isn't satisfied with my behavior." + +Then he tried hard to be kind and considerate; smiled at his +little sister when she pulled his hair, patted Sultan, the dog, +instead of kicking him, when he was in his way, and never +complained or sulked when he was sent on errands late at night or +in bad weather. + +But, strange to say, though the Nixy's mysterious melody still +sounded vaguely through the water's roar, and the Hulder seemed +to titter behind the tree-trunks and vanish in the underbrush, a +real, unmistakable view was never vouchsafed to Nils, and the +three wishes which were to make his fortune he had no chance of +propounding. + +He had fully made up his mind what his wishes were to be, for he +was determined not to be taken by surprise. He knew well the +fate of those foolish persons in the fairy tales who offend their +benevolent protectors by bouncing against them head foremost, as +it were, with a greedy cry for wealth. + +Nils was not going to be caught that way. He would ask first for +wisdom--that was what all right-minded heroes did--then for good +repute among men, and lastly--and here was the rub--lastly he was +inclined to ask for a five-bladed knife, like the one the +parson's Thorwald had got for a Christmas present. + +But he had considerable misgiving about the expediency of this +last wish. If he had a fair renown and wisdom, might he not be +able to get along without a five-bladed pocket-knife? But no; +there was no help for it. Without that five-bladed pocket-knife +neither wisdom nor fame would satisfy him. It would be the drop +of gall in his cup of joy. + +After many days' pondering, it occurred to him, as a way out of +the difficulty, that it would, perhaps, not offend the Hulder if +he asked, not for wealth, but for a moderate prosperity. If he +were blessed with a moderate prosperity, he could, of course, buy +a five-bladed pocket-knife with corkscrew and all other +appurtenances, and still have something left over. + +He had a dreadful struggle with this question, for he was well +aware that the proper things to wish were long life and happiness +for his father and mother, or something in that line. But, +though he wished his father and mother well, he could not make up +his mind to forego his own precious chances on their account. +Moreover, he consoled himself with the reflection that if he +attained the goal of his own desires he could easily bestow upon +them, of his bounty, a reasonable prospect of long life and +happiness. + +You see Nils was by no means so good yet as he ought to be. He +was clever enough to perceive that he had small chance of seeing +the Hulder, as long as his heart was full of selfishness and envy +and greed. + +For, strive as he might, he could not help feeling envious of the +parson's Thorwald, with his elaborate combination pocket-knife +and his silver watch-chain, which he unfeelingly flaunted in the +face of an admiring community. It was small consolation for Nils +to know that there was no watch but only a key attached to it; +for a silver watch-chain, even without a watch, was a +sufficiently splendid possession to justify a boy in fording it +over his less fortunate comrades. + +Nils's father, who was a poor charcoal-burner, could never afford +to make his son such a present, even if he worked until he was as +black as a chimney-sweep. For what little money he earned was +needed at once for food and clothes for the family; and there +were times when they were obliged to mix ground birch-bark with +their flour in order to make it last longer. + +It was easy enough for a rich man's son to be good, Nils thought. + +It was small credit to him if he was not envious, having never +known want and never gone to bed on birch-bark porridge. But for +a poor boy not to covet all the nice things which would make life +so pleasant, if he had them, seemed next to impossible. + +Still Nils kept on making good resolutions and breaking them, and +then piecing them together again and breaking them anew. + +If it had not been for his desire to see the Hulder and the Nixy, +and making them promise the fulfilment of the three wishes, he +would have given up the struggle, and resigned himself to being a +bad boy because he was born so. But those teasing glimpses of +the Hulder's scarlet bodice and golden hair, and the vague +snatches of wondrous melody that rose from the cataract in the +silent summer nights, filled his soul with an intense desire to +see the whole Hulder, with her radiant smile and melancholy eyes, +and to hear the whole melody plainly enough to be written down on +paper and learned by heart. + +It was with this longing to repeat the few haunting notes that +hummed in his brain that Nils went to the schoolmaster one day +and asked him for the loan of his fiddle. But the schoolmaster, +hearing that Nils could not play, thought his request a foolish +one and refused. + +Nevertheless, that visit became an important event, and a +turning-point in the boy's life. For he was moved to confide in +the schoolmaster, who was a kindly old man, and fond of clever +boys; and he became interested in Nils. Though he regarded +Nils's desire to record the Nixy's strains as absurd, he offered +to teach him to play. There was good stuff in the lad, he +thought, and when he had out-grown his fantastic nonsense, he +might, very likely, make a good fiddler. + +Thus it came to pass that the charcoal-burner's son learned to +play the violin. He had not had half a dozen lessons before he +set about imitating the Nixy's notes which he had heard in the +waterfall. + +"It was this way," he said to the schoolmaster, pressing his ear +against the violin, while he ran the bow lightly over the +strings; "or rather it was this way," making another ineffectual +effort. "No, no, that wasn't it, either. It's no use, +schoolmaster: I shall never be able to do it!" he cried, +flinging the violin on the table and rushing out of the door. + +When he returned the next day he was heartily ashamed of his +impatience. To try to catch the Nixy's notes after half a dozen +lessons was, of course, an absurdity. + +The master told him simply to banish such folly from his brain, +to apply himself diligently to his scales, and not to bother +himself about the Nixy. + +That seemed to be sound advice and Nils accepted it with +contrition. He determined never to repeat his silly experiment. +But when the next midsummer night came, a wild yearning possessed +him, and he stole out noiselessly into the forest, and sat down +on a stone by the river, listening intently. + +For a long while he heard nothing but the monotonous boom of the +water plunging into the deep. But, strangely enough, there was a +vague, hushed rhythm in this thundering roar; and after a while +he seemed to hear a faint strain, ravishingly sweet, which +vibrated on the air for an instant and vanished. + +It seemed to steal upon his ear unawares, and the moment he +listened, with a determination to catch it, it was gone. But +sweet it was--inexpressibly sweet. + +Let the master talk as much as he liked, catch it he would and +catch it he must. But he must acquire greater skill before he +would be able to render something so delicate and elusive. + +Accordingly Nils applied himself with all his might and main to +his music, in the intervals between his work. + +He was big enough now to accompany his father to the woods, and +help him pile turf and earth on the heap of logs that were to be +burned to charcoal. He did not see the Hulder face to face, +though he was constantly on the watch for her; but once or twice +he thought he saw a swift flash of scarlet and gold in the +underbrush, and again and again he thought he heard her soft, +teasing laughter in the alder copses. That, too, he imagined he +might express in music; and the next time he got hold of the +schoolmaster's fiddle he quavered away on the fourth string, but +produced nothing that had the remotest resemblance to melody, +much less to that sweet laughter. + +He grew so discouraged that he could have wept. He had a wild +impulse to break the fiddle, and never touch another as long as +he lived. But he knew he could not live up to any such +resolution. The fiddle was already too dear to him to be +renounced for a momentary whim. But it was like an unrequited +affection, which brought as much sorrow as joy. + +There was so much that Nils burned to express; but the fiddle +refused to obey him, and screeched something utterly discordant, +as it seemed, from sheer perversity. + +It occurred to Nils again, that unless the Nixy took pity on him +and taught him that marvellous, airy strain he would never catch +it. Would he then ever be good enough to win the favor of the +Nixy? + +For in the fairy tales it is always the bad people who come to +grief, while the good and merciful ones are somehow rewarded. + +It was evidently because he was yet far from being good enough +that both Hulder and Nixy eluded him. Sunday child though he +was, there seemed to be small chance that he would ever be able +to propound his three wishes. + +Only now, the third wish was no longer a five-bladed +pocket-knife, but a violin of so fine a ring and delicate +modulation that it might render the Nixy's strain. + +While these desires and fancies fought in his heart, Nils grew to +be a young man; and he still was, what he had always been--a +charcoal-burner. He went to the parson for half a year to prepare +for confirmation; and by his gentleness and sweetness of +disposition attracted not only the good man himself, but all with +whom he came in contact. His answers were always thoughtful, and +betrayed a good mind. + +He was not a prig, by any means, who held aloof from sport and +play; he could laugh with the merriest, run a race with the +swiftest, and try a wrestling match with the strongest. + +There was no one among the candidates for confirmation, that +year, who was so well liked as Nils. Gentle as he was and +soft-spoken, there was a manly spirit in him, and that always +commands respect among boys. + +He received much praise from the pastor, and no one envied him +the kind words that were addressed to him; for every one felt +that they were deserved. But the thought in Nils's mind during +all the ceremony in the church and in the parsonage was this: + +"Now, perhaps, I shall be good enough to win the Nixy's favor. +Now I shall catch the wondrous strain." + +It did not occur to him, in his eagerness, that such a reflection +was out of place in church; nor was it, perhaps, for the Nixy's +strain was constantly associated in his mind with all that was +best in him; with his highest aspirations, and his constant +strivings for goodness and nobleness in thought and deed. + +It happened about this time that the old schoolmaster died, and +in his will it was found that he had bequeathed his fiddle to +Nils. He had very little else to leave, poor fellow; but if he +had been a Croesus he could not have given his favorite pupil +anything that would have delighted him more. + +Nils played now early and late, except when he was in the woods +with his father. His fame went abroad through all the valley as +the best fiddler in seven parishes round, and people often came +from afar to hear him. There was a peculiar quality in his +playing--something strangely appealing, that brought the tears to +one's eyes--yet so elusive that it was impossible to repeat or +describe it. + +It was rumored among the villagers that he had caught the Nixy's +strain, and that it was that which touched the heart so deeply in +his improvisations. But Nils knew well that he had not caught +the Nixy's strain; though a faint echo--a haunting undertone--of +that vaguely remembered snatch of melody, heard now and then in +the water's roar, would steal at times into his music, when he +was, perhaps, himself least aware of it. + +Invitations now came to him from far and wide to play at wedding +and dancing parties and funerals. There was no feast complete +without Nils; and soon this strange thing was noticed, that +quarrels and brawls, which in those days were common enough in +Norway, were rare wherever Nils played. + +It seemed as if his calm and gentle presence called forth all +that was good in the feasters and banished whatever was evil. +Such was his popularity that he earned more money by his fiddling +in a week than his father had ever done by charcoal-burning in a +month. + +A half-superstitious regard for him became general among the +people; first, because it seemed impossible that any man could +play as he did without the aid of some supernatural power; and +secondly, because his gentle demeanor and quaint, terse sayings +inspired them with admiration. It was difficult to tell by whom +the name, Wise Nils, was first started, but it was felt by all to +be appropriate, and it therefore clung to the modest fiddler, in +spite of all his protests. + +Before he was twenty-five years old it became the fashion to go +to him and consult him in difficult situations; and though he +long shrank from giving advice, his reluctance wore away, when it +became evident to him that he could actually benefit the people. + +There was nothing mysterious in his counsel. All he said was as +clear and rational as the day-light. But the good folk were +nevertheless inclined to attribute a higher authority to him; and +would desist from vice or folly for his sake, when they would not +for their own sake. It was odd, indeed: this Wise Nils, the +fiddler, became a great man in the valley, and his renown went +abroad and brought him visitors, seeking his counsel, from +distant parishes. Rarely did anyone leave him disappointed, or +at least without being benefited by his sympathetic advice. + +One summer, during the tourist season, a famous foreign musician +came to Norway, accompanied by a rich American gentleman. While +in his neighborhood, they heard the story of the rustic fiddler, +and became naturally curious to see him. + +They accordingly went to his cottage, in order to have some sport +with him, for they expected to find a vain and ignorant +charlatan, inflated by the flattery of his more ignorant +neighbors. But Nils received them with a simple dignity which +quite disarmed them. They had come to mock; they stayed to +admire. This peasant's artless speech, made up of ancient +proverbs and shrewd common-sense, and instinct with a certain +sunny beneficence, impressed them wonderfully. + +And when, at their request, he played some of his improvisations, +the renowned musician exclaimed that here was, indeed, a great +artist lost to the world. In spite of the poor violin, there was +a marvellously touching quality in the music; something new and +alluring which had never been heard before. + +But Nils himself was not aware of it. Occasionally, while he +played, the Nixy's haunting strain would flit through his brain, +or hover about it, where he could feel it, as it were, but yet be +unable to catch it. This was his regret--his constant chase for +those elusive notes that refused to be captured. + +But he consoled himself many a time with the reflection that it +was the fiddle's fault, not his own. With a finer instrument, +capable of rendering more delicate shades of sound, he might yet +surprise the Nixy's strain, and record it unmistakably in black +and white. + +The foreign musician and his American friend departed, but +returned at the end of two weeks. They then offered to accompany +Nils on a concert tour through all the capitals of Europe and the +large cities of America, and to insure him a sum of money which +fairly made him dizzy. + +Nils begged for time to consider, and the next day surprised them +by declining the startling offer. + +He was a peasant, he said, and must remain a peasant. He +belonged here in his native valley, where he could do good, and +was happy in the belief that he was useful. + +Out in the great world, of which he knew nothing, he might indeed +gather wealth, but he might lose his peace of mind, which was +more precious than wealth. He was content with a moderate +prosperity, and that he had already attained. He had enough, and +more than enough, to satisfy his modest wants, and to provide +those who were dear to him with reasonable comfort in their +present condition of life. + +The strangers were amazed at a man's thus calmly refusing a +fortune that was within his easy grasp, for they did not doubt +that Nils, with his entirely unconventional manner of playing, +and yet with that extraordinary moving quality in his play, would +become the rage both in Europe and America, as a kind of +heaven-born, untutored genius, and fill both his own pockets and +theirs with shekels. + +They made repeated efforts to persuade him, but it was all in +vain. With smiling serenity, he told them that he had uttered +his final decision. They then took leave of him, and a month +after their departure there arrived from Germany a box addressed +to Nils. He opened it with some trepidation, and it was found to +contain a Cremona violin --a genuine Stradivarius. + +The moment Nils touched the strings with the bow, a thrill of +rapture went through him, the like of which he had never +experienced. The divine sweetness and purity of the tone that +vibrated through those magic chambers resounded through all his +being, and made him feel happy and exalted. + +It occurred to him, while he was coaxing the intoxicating music +from his instrument, that tonight would be midsummer night. Now +was his chance to catch the Nixy's strain, for this exquisite +violin would be capable of rendering the very chant of the +archangels in the morning of time. + +To-night he would surprise the Nixy, and the divine strain should +no more drift like a melodious mist through his brain; for at +midsummer night the Nixy always plays the loudest, and then, if +ever, is the time to learn what he felt must be the highest +secret of the musical art. + +Hugging his Stradivarius close to his breast, to protect it from +the damp night-air, Nils hurried through the birch woods down to +the river. The moon was sailing calmly through a fleecy film of +cloud, and a light mist hovered over the tops of the forest. + +The fiery afterglow of the sunset still lingered in the air, +though the sun had long been hidden, but the shadows of the trees +were gaunt and dark, as in the light of the moon. + +The sound of the cataract stole with a whispering rush through +the underbrush, for the water was low at midsummer, and a good +deal of it was diverted to the mill, which was working busily +away, with its big water-wheel going round and round. + +Nils paused close to the mill, and peered intently into the +rushing current; but nothing appeared. Then he stole down to the +river-bank, where he seated himself on a big stone, barely out of +reach of the spray, which blew in gusts from the cataract. He sat +for a long while motionless, gazing with rapt intentness at the +struggling, foaming rapids, but he saw or heard nothing. + +Then all of a sudden it seemed to him that the air began to +vibrate faintly with a vague, captivating rhythm. Nils could +hear his heart beat in his throat. With trembling eagerness he +unwrapped the violin and raised it to his chin. + +Now, surely, there was a note. It belonged on the A string. No, +not there. On the E string, perhaps. But no, not there, either. + +Look! What is that? + +A flash, surely, through the water of a beautiful naked arm. + +And there--no, not there--but somewhere from out of the gentle +rush of the middle current there seemed to come to him a +marvellous mist of drifting sound--ineffably, rapturously sweet! + +With a light movement Nils runs his bow over the strings, but not +a ghost, not a semblance, can he reproduce of the swift, +scurrying flight of that wondrous melody. Again and again he +listens breathlessly, and again and again despair overwhelms him. + +Should he, then, never see the Nixy, and ask the fulfilment of +his three wishes? + +Curiously enough, those three wishes which once were so great a +part of his life had now almost escaped him. It was the Nixy's +strain he had been intent upon, and the wishes had lapsed into +oblivion. + +And what were they, really, those three wishes, for the sake of +which he desired to confront the Nixy? + +Well, the first--the first was--what was it, now? Yes, now at +length he remembered. The first was wisdom. + +Well, the people called him Wise Nils now, so, perhaps, that wish +was superfluous. Very likely he had as much wisdom as was good +for him. At all events, he had refused to acquire more by going +abroad to acquaint himself with the affairs of the great world. + +Then the second wish; yes, he could recall that. It was fame. It +was odd indeed; that, too, he had refused, and what he possessed +of it was as much, or even far more, than he desired. But when +he called to mind the third and last of his boyish wishes, a +moderate prosperity or a good violin--for that was the +alternative--he had to laugh outright, for both the violin and +the prosperity were already his. + +Nils lapsed into deep thought, as he sat there in the summer +night, with the crowns of the trees above him and the brawling +rapids swirling about him. + +Had not the Nixy bestowed upon him her best gift already in +permitting him to hear that exquisite ghost of a melody, that +shadowy, impalpable strain, which had haunted him these many +years? In pursuing that he had gained the goal of his desires, +till other things he had wished for had come to him unawares, as +it were, and almost without his knowing it. And now what had he +to ask of the Nixy, who had blessed him so abundantly? + +The last secret, the wondrous strain, forsooth, that he might +imprison it in notes, and din it in the ears of an unappreciative +multitude! Perhaps it were better, after all, to persevere +forever in the quest, for what would life have left to offer him +if the Nixy's strain was finally caught, when all were finally +attained, and no divine melody haunted the brain, beyond the +powers even of a Stradivarius to lure from its shadowy realm? + +Nils walked home that night plunged in deep meditation. He vowed +to himself that he would never more try to catch the Nixy's +strain. But the next day, when he seized the violin, there it +was again, and, strive as he might, he could not forbear trying +to catch it. + +Wise Nils is many years older now; has a good wife and several +children, and is a happy man; but to this day, resolve as he +will, he has never been able to abandon the effort to catch the +Nixy's strain. Sometimes he thinks he has half caught it, but +when he tries to play it, it is always gone. + + + +THE WONDER CHILD + +I. + +A very common belief in Norway, as in many other lands, is that +the seventh child of the seventh child can heal the sick by the +laying on of hands. Such a child is therefore called a wonder +child. Little Carina Holt was the seventh in a family of eight +brothers and sisters, but she grew to be six years old before it +became generally known that she was a wonder child. Then people +came from afar to see her, bringing their sick with them; and +morning after morning, as Mrs. Holt rolled up the shades, she +found invalids, seated or standing in the snow, gazing with +devout faith and anxious longing toward Carina's window. + +It seemed a pity to send them away uncomforted, when the look and +the touch cost Carina so little. But there was another fear that +arose in the mother's breast, and that was lest her child should +be harmed by the veneration with which she was regarded, and +perhaps come to believe that she was something more than a common +mortal. What was more natural than that a child who was told by +grown-up people that there was healing in her touch, should at +last come to believe that she was something apart and +extraordinary? + +It would have been a marvel, indeed, if the constant attention +she attracted, and the pilgrimages that were made to her, had +failed to make any impression upon her sensitive mind. Vain she +was not, and it would have been unjust to say that she was +spoiled. She had a tender nature, full of sympathy for sorrow +and suffering. She was constantly giving away her shoes, her +stockings, nay, even her hood and cloak, to poor little invalids, +whose misery appealed to her merciful heart. It was of no use to +scold her; you could no more prevent a stream from flowing than +Carina from giving. It was a spontaneous yielding to an impulse +that was too strong to be resisted. + +But to her father there was something unnatural in it; he would +have preferred to have her frankly selfish, as most children are, +not because he thought it lovely, but because it was childish and +natural. Her unusual goodness gave him a pang more painful than +ever the bad behavior of her brothers had occasioned. On the +other hand, it delighted him to see her do anything that ordinary +children did. He was charmed if she could be induced to take +part in a noisy romp, play tag, or dress her dolls. But there +followed usually after each outbreak of natural mirth a shy +withdrawal into herself, a resolute and quiet retirement, as if +she, were a trifle ashamed of her gayety. There was nothing +morbid in these moods, no brooding sadness or repentance, but a +touching solemnity, a serene, almost cheerful seriousness, which +in one of her years seemed strange. + +Mr. Holt had many a struggle with himself as to how he should +treat Carina's delusion; and he made up his mind, at last, that +it was his duty to do everything in his power to dispel and +counteract it. When he happened to overhear her talking to her +dolls one day, laying her hands upon them, and curing them of +imaginary diseases, he concluded it was high time for him to act. + +He called Carina to him, remonstrated kindly with her, and +forbade her henceforth to see the people who came to her for the +purpose of being cured. But it distressed him greatly to see how +reluctantly she consented to obey him. + +When Carina awoke the morning after this promise had been +extorted from her, she heard the dogs barking furiously in the +yard below. Her elder sister, Agnes, was standing half dressed +before the mirror, holding the end of one blond braid between her +teeth, while tying the other with a pink ribbon. Seeing that +Carina was awake, she gave her a nod in the glass, and, removing +her braid, observed that there evidently were sick pilgrims under +the window. She could sympathize with Sultan and Hector, she +averred, in their dislike of pilgrims. + +"Oh, I wish they would not come!" sighed Carina. "It will be so +hard for me to send them away." + +"I thought you liked curing people," exclaimed Agnes. + +"I do, sister, but papa has made me promise never to do it +again." + +She arose and began to dress, her sister assisting her, chatting +all the while like a gay little chirruping bird that neither gets +nor expects an answer. She was too accustomed to Carina's moods +to be either annoyed or astonished; but she loved her all the +same, and knew that her little ears were wide open, even though +she gave no sign of listening. + +Carina had just completed her simple toilet when Guro, the +chamber-maid, entered, and announced that there were some sick +folk below who wished to see the wonder child. + +"Tell them I cannot see them," answered Carina, with a tremulous +voice; "papa does not permit me." + +"But this man, Atle Pilot, has come from so far away in this +dreadful cold," pleaded Guro, "and his son is so very bad, poor +thing; he's lying down in the boat, and he sighs and groans fit +to move a stone." + +"Don't! Don't tell her that," interposed Agnes, motioning to the +girl to begone. "Don't you see it is hard enough for her +already?" + +There was something in the air, as the two sisters descended the +stairs hand in hand, which foreboded calamity. The pastor had +given out from the pulpit last Sunday that he would positively +receive no invalids at his house; and he had solemnly charged +every one to refrain from bringing their sick to his daughter. +He had repeated this announcement again and again, and he was now +very much annoyed at his apparent powerlessness to protect his +child from further imposition. Loud and angry speech was heard +in his office, and a noise as if the furniture were being knocked +about. The two little girls remained standing on the stairs, +each gazing at the other's frightened face. Then there was a +great bang, and a stalwart, elderly sailor came tumbling head +foremost out into the hall. His cap was flung after him through +the crack of the door. Agnes saw for an instant her father's +face, red and excited; and in his bearing there was something +wild and strange, which was so different from his usual gentle +and dignified appearance. The sailor stood for a while +bewildered, leaning against the wall; then he stooped slowly and +picked up his cap. But the moment he caught sight of Carina his +embarrassment vanished, and his rough features were illuminated +with an intense emotion. + +"Come, little miss, and help me," he cried, in a hoarse, +imploring whisper. "Halvor, my son--he is the only one God gave +me--he is sick; he is going to die, miss, unless you take pity on +him." + +"Where is he?" asked Carina. + +"He's down in the boat, miss, at the pier. But I'll carry him up +to you, if you like. We have been rowing half the night in the +cold, and he is very low." + +"No, no; you mustn't bring him here," said Agnes, seeing by +Carina's face that she was on the point of yielding. "Father +would be so angry." + +"He may kill me if he likes," exclaimed the sailor, wildly. "It +doesn't matter to me. But Halvor he's the only one I have, miss, +and his mother died when he was born, and he is young, miss, and +he will have many years to live, if you'll only have mercy on +him." + +"But, you know, I shouldn't dare, on papa's account, to have you +bring him here," began Carina, struggling with her tears. + +"Ah, yes! Then you will go to him. God bless you for that!" +cried the poor man, with agonized eagerness. And interpreting +the assent he read in Carina's eye, he caught her up in his arms, +snatched a coat from a peg in the wall, and wrapping her in it, +tore open the door. Carina made no outcry, and was not in the +least afraid. She felt herself resting in two strong arms, +warmly wrapped and borne away at a great speed over the snow. +But Agnes, seeing her sister vanish in that sudden fashion, gave +a scream which called her father to the door. + +"What has happened?" he asked. "Where is Carina?" + +"That dreadful Atle Pilot took her and ran away with her." + +"Ran away with her?" cried the pastor in alarm. "How? Where?" + +"Down to the pier." + +It was a few moments' work for the terrified father to burst open +the door, and with his velvet skull-cap on his head, and the +skirts of his dressing-gown flying wildly about him, rush down +toward the beach. He saw Atle Pilot scarcely fifty feet in +advance of him, and shouted to him at the top of his voice. But +the sailor only redoubled his speed, and darted out upon the +pier, hugging tightly to his breast the precious burden he +carried. So blindly did he rush ahead that the pastor expected +to see him plunge headlong into the icy waves. But, as by a +miracle, he suddenly checked himself, and grasping with one hand +the flag-pole, swung around it, a foot or two above the black +water, and regained his foothold upon the planks. He stood for +an instant irresolute, staring down into a boat which lay moored +to the end of the pier. What he saw resembled a big bundle, +consisting of a sheepskin coat and a couple of horse blankets. + +"Halvor," he cried, with a voice that shook with emotion, "I have +brought her." + +There was presently a vague movement under the horse-blankets, +and after a minute's struggle a pale yellowish face became +visible. It was a young face--the face of a boy of fifteen or +sixteen. But, oh, what suffering was depicted in those sunken +eyes, those bloodless, cracked lips, and the shrunken yellow skin +which clung in premature wrinkles about the emaciated features! +An old and worn fur cap was pulled down over his ears, but from +under its rim a few strands of blond hair were hanging upon his +forehead. + +Atle had just disentangled Carina from her wrappings, and was +about to descend the stairs to the water when a heavy hand seized +him by the shoulder, and a panting voice shouted in his ear: + +"Give me back my child." + +He paused, and turned his pathetically bewildered face toward the +pastor. "You wouldn't take him from me, parson," he stammered, +helplessly; "no, you wouldn't. He's the only one I've got." + +"I don't take him from you," the parson thundered, wrathfully. +"But what right have you to come and steal my child, because +yours is ill?" + +"When life is at stake, parson," said the pilot, imploringly, +"one gets muddled about right and wrong. I'll do your little +girl no harm. Only let her lay her blessed hands upon my poor +boy's head, and he will be well." + +"I have told you no, man, and I must put a stop to this stupid +idolatry, which will ruin my child, and do you no good. Give her +back to me, I say, at once." + +The pastor held out his hand to receive Carina, who stared at him +with large pleading eyes out of the grizzly wolf-skin coat. + +"Be good to him, papa," she begged. "Only this once." + +"No, child; no parleying now; come instantly." + +And he seized her by main force, and tore her out of the pilot's +arms. But to his dying day he remembered the figure of the +heart-broken man, as he stood outlined against the dark horizon, +shaking his clinched fists against the sky, and crying out, in a +voice of despair: + +"May God show you the same mercy on the Judgment Day as you have +shown to me!" + + +II. + +Six miserable days passed. The weather was stormy, and tidings +of shipwreck and calamity filled the air. Scarcely a visitor +came to the parsonage who had not some tale of woe to relate. +The pastor, who was usually so gentle and cheerful, wore a dismal +face, and it was easy to see that something was weighing on his +mind. + +"May God show you the same mercy on the Judgment Day as you have +shown to me!" + +These words rang constantly in his ears by night and by day. Had +he not been right, according to the laws of God and man, in +defending his household against the assaults of ignorance and +superstition? Would he have been justified in sacrificing his +own child, even if he could thereby save another's? And, +moreover, was it not all a wild, heathenish delusion, which it +was his duty as a servant of God to stamp out and root out at all +hazards? Yes, there could be no doubt of it; he had but +exercised his legal right. He had done what was demanded of him +by laws human and divine. He had nothing to reproach himself +for. And yet, with a haunting persistency, the image of the +despairing pilot praying God for vengeance stared at him from +every dark corner, and in the very church bells, as they rang out +their solemn invitation to the house of God, he seemed to hear +the rhythm and cadence of the heart-broken father's imprecation. +In the depth of his heart there was a still small voice which +told him that, say what he might, he had acted cruelly. If he +put himself in Atle Pilot's place, bound as he was in the iron +bonds of superstition, how different the case would look? He saw +himself, in spirit, rowing in a lonely boat through the stormy +winter night to his pastor, bringing his only son, who was at the +point of death, and praying that the pastor's daughter might lay +her hands upon him, as Christ had done to the blind, the halt, +and the maimed. And his pastor received him with wrath, nay, +with blows, and sent him away uncomforted. It was a hideous +picture indeed, and Mr. Holt would have given years of his life +to be rid of it. + +It was on the sixth day after Atle's visit that the pastor, +sitting alone in his study, called Carina to him. He had +scarcely seen her during the last six days, or at least talked +with her. Her sweet innocent spirit would banish the shadows +that darkened his soul. + +"Carina," he said, in his old affectionate way, "papa wants to +see you. Come here and let me talk a little with you." + +But could he trust his eyes? Carina, who formerly had run so +eagerly into his arms, stood hesitating, as if she hoped to be +excused. + +"Well, my little girl," he asked, in a tone of apprehension, +"don't you want to talk with papa?" + +"I would rather wait till some other time, papa," she managed to +stammer, while her little face flushed with embarrassment. + +Mr. Holt closed the door silently, flung himself into a chair, +and groaned. That was a blow from where he had least expected +it. The child had judged him and found him wanting. His Carina, +his darling, who had always been closest to his heart, no longer +responded to his affection! Was the pilot's prayer being +fulfilled? Was he losing his own child in return for the one he +had refused to save? With a pang in his breast, which was like +an aching wound, he walked up and down on the floor and marvelled +at his own blindness. He had erred indeed; and there was no hope +that any chance would come to him to remedy the wrong. + +The twilight had deepened into darkness while he revolved this +trouble in his mind. The night was stormy, and the limbs of the +trees without were continually knocking and bumping against the +walls of the house. The rusty weather-vane on the roof whined +and screamed, and every now and then the sleet dashed against the +window-panes like a handful of shot. The wind hurled itself +against the walls, so that the timbers creaked and pulled at the +shutters, banged stray doors in out-of-the-way garrets, and then, +having accomplished its work, whirled away over the fields with a +wild and dismal howl. The pastor sat listening mournfully to +this tempestuous commotion. Once he thought he heard a noise as +of a door opening near by him, and softly closing; but as he saw +no one, he concluded it was his overwrought fancy that had played +him a trick. He seated himself again in his easy-chair before +the stove, which spread a dim light from its draught-hole into +the surrounding gloom. + +While he sat thus absorbed in his meditations, he was startled at +the sound of something resembling a sob. He arose to strike a +light, but found that his match-safe was empty. But what was +that? A step without, surely, and the groping of hands for the +door-knob. + +"Who is there?" cried the pastor, with a shivering uneasiness. + +He sprang forward and opened the door. A broad figure, +surmounted by a sou'wester, loomed up in the dark. + +"What do you want?" asked Mr. Holt, with forced calmness. + +"I want to know," answered a gruff, hoarse voice, "if you'll come +to my son now, and help him into eternity?" + +The pastor recognized Atle Pilot's voice, though it seemed +harsher and hoarser than usual. + +"Sail across the fjord on a night like this?" he exclaimed. + +"That's what I ask you." + +"And the boy is dying, you say?" + +"Can't last till morning." + +"And has he asked for the sacrament?" + +The pilot stepped across the threshold and entered the room. He +proceeded slowly to pull off his mittens; then looking up at the +pastor's face, upon which a vague sheen fell from the stove, he +broke out: + +"Will you come or will you not? You wouldn't help him to live; +now will you help him to die?" + +The words, thrust forth with a slow, panting emphasis, hit the +pastor like so many blows. + +"I will come," he said, with solemn resolution. "Sit down till I +get ready." + +He had expected some expression of gratification or thanks, for +Atle well knew what he had asked. It was his life the pastor +risked, but this time in his calling as a physician, not of +bodies, but of souls. It struck him, while he took leave of his +wife, that there was something resentful and desperate in the +pilot's manner, so different from his humble pleading at their +last meeting. + +As he embraced the children one by one, and kissed them, he +missed Carina, but was told that she had probably gone to the +cow-stable with the dairy-maid, who was her particular friend. +So he left tender messages for her, and, summoning Atle, plunged +out into the storm. A servant walked before him with a lantern, +and lighted the way down to the pier, where the boat lay tossing +upon the waves. + +"But, man," cried the pastor, seeing that the boat was empty, +"where are your boatmen?" + +"I am my own boatman," answered Atle, gloomily. "You can hold +the sheet, I the tiller." + +Mr. Holt was ashamed of retiring now, when he had given his word. + +But it was with a sinking heart that he stepped into the frail +skiff, which seemed scarcely more than a nutshell upon the +tempestuous deep. He was on the point of asking his servant, +unacquainted though he was with seamanship, to be the third man +in the boat; but the latter, anticipating his intention, had made +haste to betake himself away. To venture out into this roaring +darkness, with no beacon to guide them, and scarcely a landmark +discernible, was indeed to tempt Providence. + +But by the time he had finished this reflection, the pastor felt +himself rushing along at a tremendous speed, and short, sharp +commands rang in his ears, which instantly engrossed all his +attention. To his eyes the sky looked black as ink, except for a +dark-blue unearthly shimmer that now and then flared up from the +north, trembled, and vanished. By this unsteady illumination it +was possible to catch a momentary glimpse of a head, and a peak, +and the outline of a mountain. The small sail was double-reefed, +yet the boat careened so heavily that the water broke over the +gunwale. The squalls beat down upon them with tumultuous roar +and smoke, as of snow-drifts, in their wake; but the little boat, +climbing the top of the waves and sinking into the dizzy black +pits between them, sped fearlessly along and the pastor began to +take heart. Then, with a fierce cutting distinctness, came the +command out of the dark. + +"Pull out the reefs!" + +"Are you crazy, man?" shouted the pastor. "Do you want to sail +straight into eternity?" + +"Pull out the reefs!" The command was repeated with wrathful +emphasis. + +"Then we are dead men, both you and I." + +"So we are, parson--dead men. My son lies dead at home, though +you might have saved him. So, now, parson, we are quits." + +With a fierce laugh he rose up, and still holding the tiller, +stretched his hand to tear out the reefs. But at that instant, +just as a quivering shimmer broke across the sky, something rose +up from under the thwart and stood between them. Atle started +back with a hoarse scream. + +"In Heaven's name, child!" he cried. "Oh, God, have mercy upon +me!" + +And the pastor, not knowing whether he saw a child or a vision, +cried out in the same moment: "Carina, my darling! Carina, how +came you here?" + +It was Carina, indeed; but the storm whirled her tiny voice away +over the waves, and her father, folding her with one arm to his +breast, while holding the sheet with the other, did not hear what +she answered to his fervent exclamation. He only knew that her +dear little head rested close to his heart, and that her yellow +hair blew across his face. + +"I wanted to save that poor boy, papa," were the only words that +met his ears. But he needed no more to explain the mystery. It +was Carina, who, repenting of her unkindness to him, had stolen +into his study, while he sat in the dark, and there she had heard +Atle Pilot's message. Even if this boy was sick unto death, she +might perhaps cure him, and make up for her father's harshness. +Thus reasoned the sage Carina; and she had gone secretly and +prepared for the voyage, and battled with the storm, which again +and again threw her down on her road to the pier. It was a +miracle that she got safely into the boat, and stowed herself +away snugly under the stern thwart. + +The clearing in the north gradually spread over the sky, and the +storm abated. Soon they had the shore in view, and the lights of +the fishermen's cottages gleamed along the beach of the headland. +Presently they ran into smoother water; a star or two flashed +forth, and wide blue expanses appeared here and there on the +vault of the sky. They spied the red lanterns marking the wharf, +about which a multitude of boats lay, moored to stakes, and with +three skilful tacks Atle made the harbor. It was here, standing +on the pier, amid the swash and swirl of surging waters, that the +pilot seized Carina's tiny hand in his big and rough one. + +"Parson," he said, with a breaking voice, "I was going to run +afoul of you, and wreck myself with you; but this child, God +bless her! she ran us both into port, safe and sound." + +But Carina did not hear what he said, for she lay sweetly +sleeping in her father's arms. + + + +"THE SONS OF THE VIKINGS" +I. + +When Hakon Vang said his prayers at night, he usually finished +with these words: "And I thank thee, God, most of all, because +thou madest me a Norseman, and not a German or an Englishman or a +Swede." + +To be a Norseman appears to the Norse boy a claim to distinction. + +God has made so many millions of Englishmen and Russians and +Germans, that there can be no particular honor in being one of so +vast a herd; while of Norsemen He has made only a small and +select number, whom He looks after with special care; upon whom +He showers such favors as poverty and cold (with a view to +keeping them good and hardy), and remoteness from all the +glittering temptations that beset the nations in whom He takes a +less paternal interest. Thus at least reasons, in a dim way, the +small boy in Norway; thus he is taught to reason by his parents +and instructors. + +As for Hakon Vang, he strutted along the beach like a +turkey-cock, whenever he thought of his glorious descent from the +Vikings--those daring pirates that stole thrones and kingdoms, +and mixed their red Norse blood in the veins of all the royal +families of Europe. The teacher of history (who was what is +called a Norse-Norseman) had on one occasion, with more patriotic +zeal than discretion, undertaken to pick out those boys in his +class who were of pure Norse descent; whose blood was untainted +by any foreign admixture. The delighted pride of this small band +made them an object of envy to all the rest of the school. +Hakon, when his name was mentioned, felt as if he had added a +yard to his height. Tears of joy started to his eyes; and to +give vent to his overcharged feelings, he broke into a war-whoop; +for which he received five black marks and was kept in at recess. + +But he minded that very little; all great men, he reflected, have +had to suffer for their country. + +What Hakon loved above all things to study--nay, the only thing +he loved to study--was the old Sagas, which are tales, poems, and +histories of the deeds of the Norsemen in ancient times. With +eleven of his classmates, who were about his own age and as Norse +as himself, he formed a brotherhood which was called "The Sons of +the Vikings." They gave each other tremendously bloody surnames, +in the style of the Sagas--names that reeked with gore and +heroism. Hakon himself assumed the pleasing appellation +"Skull-splitter," and his classmate Frithjof Ronning was dubbed +Vargr-i-Veum, which means Wolf-in-the-Temple. One Son of the +Vikings was known as Ironbeard, another as Erling the Lop-Sided, +a third as Thore the Hound, a fourth as Aslak Stone-Skull. But a +serious difficulty, which came near disrupting the brotherhood, +arose over these very names. It was felt that Hakon had taken an +unfair advantage of the rest in selecting the bloodiest name at +the outset (before anyone else had had an opportunity to choose), +and there was a general demand that he should give it up and +allow all to draw lots for it. But this Hakon stoutly refused to +do; and declared that if anyone wanted his name he would have to +fight for it, in good old Norse fashion. + +A holm-gang or duel was then arranged; that is, a ring was marked +out with stones; the combatants stepped within it, and he who +could drive his antagonist outside of the stone ring was declared +to be the victor. Frithjof, who felt that he had a better claim +to be named Skull-Splitter than Hakon, was the first to accept +the challenge; but after a terrible combat was forced to bite the +dust. His conqueror was, however, filled with such a glowing +admiration of his valor (as combatants in the Sagas frequently +are), that he proposed that they should swear eternal friendship +and foster-brotherhood, and seal their compact, according to +Norse custom, by the ceremony called "Mingling of Blood." It is +needless to say that this seemed to all the boys a most +delightful proposition; and they entered upon the august rite +with a deep sense of its solemnity. + +First a piece of sod, about twelve feet square, was carefully +raised upon wooden stakes representing spears, so as to form a +green roof over the foster-brothers. Then, sitting upon the +black earth, where the turf had been removed, they bared their +arms to the shoulder, and in the presence of his ten brethren, as +witnesses, each swore that he would regard the other as his true +brother and love him and treat him as such, and avenge his death +if he survived him; in solemn testimony of which each drew a +knife and opened a vein in his arm, letting their blood mingle +and flow together. Hakon, however, in his heroic zeal, drove the +knife into his flesh rather recklessly, and when the blood had +flowed profusely for five minutes, he grew a trifle uneasy. +Frithjof, after having bathed his arm in a neighboring brook, had +no difficulty in stanching the blood, but the poor +Skull-Splitter's wound, in spite of cold water and bandages, kept +pouring forth its warm current without sign of abatement. Hakon +grew paler and paler, and would have burst into tears, if he had +not been a "Son of the Vikings." It would have been a relief to +him, for the moment, not to have been a "Son of the Vikings." +For he was terribly frightened, and thought surely he was going +to bleed to death. The other Vikings, too, began to feel rather +alarmed at such a prospect; and when Erling the Lop-Sided (the +pastor's son) proposed that they should carry Hakon to the +doctor, no one made any objection. But the doctor unhappily +lived so far away that Hakon might die before he got there. + +"Well, then," said Wolf-in-the Temple, "let us take him to old +Witch-Martha. She can stanch blood and do lots of other queer +things." + +"Yes, and that is much more Norse, too," suggested Thore the +Hound; "wise women learned physic and bandaged wounds in the +olden time. Men were never doctors." + +"Yes, Witch-Martha is just the right style," said Erling the +Lop-Sided down in his boots; for he had naturally a shrill voice +and gave himself great pains to produce a manly bass. + +"We must make a litter to carry the Skull-Splitter on," exclaimed +Einar Bowstring-Twanger (the sheriff's son); "he'll never get to +Witch-Martha alive if he is to walk." + +This suggestion was favorably received, the boys set to work with +a will, and in a few minutes had put together a litter of green +twigs and branches. Hakon, who was feeling curiously +light-headed and exhausted, allowed himself to be placed upon it +in a reclining position; and its swinging motion, as his friends +carried it along, nearly rocked him to sleep. The fear of death +was but vaguely present to his mind; but his self-importance grew +with every moment, as he saw his blood trickle through the leaves +and drop at the roadside. He appeared to himself a brave Norse +warrior who was being carried by his comrades from the +battle-field, where he had greatly distinguished himself. And +now to be going, to the witch who, by magic rhymes and +incantations, was to stanch the ebbing stream of his life--what +could be more delightful? + + +II. + +Witch Martha lived in a small lonely cottage down by the river. +Very few people ever went to see her in the day-time; but at +night she often had visitors. Mothers who suspected that their +children were changelings, whom the Trolds had put in the cradle, +taking the human infants away; girls who wanted to "turn the +hearts" of their lovers, and lovers who wanted to turn the hearts +of the girls; peasants who had lost money or valuables and wanted +help to trace the thief--these and many others sought secret +counsel with Witch-Martha, and rarely went away uncomforted. She +was an old weather-beaten woman with a deeply wrinkled, +smoky-brown face, and small shrewd black eyes. The floor in her +cottage was strewn with sand and fresh juniper twigs; from the +rafters under the ceiling hung bunches of strange herbs; and in +the windows were flower-pots with blooming plants in them. + +Martha was stooping at the hearth, blowing and puffing at the +fire under her coffee-pot, when the Sons of the Vikings knocked +at the door. Wolf-in-the-Temple was the man who took the lead; +and when Witch-Martha opened the upper half of the door (she +never opened both at the same time) she was not a little +astonished to see the Captain's son, Frithjof Ronning, staring up +at her with an anxious face. + +"What cost thou want, lad?" she asked, gruffly; "thou hast gone +astray surely, and I'll show thee the way home." + +"I am Wolf-in-the-Temple," began Frithjof, thrusting out his +chest, and raising his head proudly. + +"Dear me, you don't say so!" exclaimed Martha. + +"My comrade and foster-brother Skull-Splitter has been wounded; +and I want thee, old crone, to stanch his blood before he bleeds +to death." + +"Dear, dear me, how very strange!" ejaculated the Witch, and +shook her aged head. + +She had been accustomed to extraordinary requests; but the +language of this boy struck her as being something of the +queerest she had yet heard. + +"Where is thy Skull-Splitter, lad?" she asked, looking at him +dubiously. + +"Right here in the underbrush," Wolf-in-the-Temple retorted, +gallantly; "stir thy aged stumps now, and thou shalt be right +royally rewarded." + +He had learned from Walter Scott's romances that this was the +proper way to address inferiors, and he prided himself not a +little on his jaunty condescension. Imagine then his surprise +when the "old crone" suddenly turned on him with an angry scowl +and said: + +"If thou canst not keep a civil tongue in thy head, I'll bring a +thousand plagues upon thee, thou umnannerly boy." + +By this threat Wolf-in-the-Temple's courage was sadly shaken. He +knew Martha's reputation as a witch, and had no desire to test in +his own person whether rumor belied her. + +"Please, mum, I beg of you," he said, with a sudden change of +tone; "my friend Hakon Vang is bleeding to death; won't you +please help him?" + +"Thy friend Hakon Vang!" cried Martha, to whom that name was +very familiar; "bring him in, as quick as thou canst, and I'll do +what I can for him." + +Wolf-in- the-Temple put two fingers into his mouth and gave a +loud shrill whistle, which was answered from the woods, and +presently the small procession moved up to the door, carrying +their wounded comrade between them. The poor Skull-Splitter was +now as white as a sheet, and the drowsiness of his eyes and the +laxness of his features showed that help came none too early. +Martha, in hot haste, grabbed a bag of herbs, thrust it into a +pot of warm water, and clapped it on the wound. Then she began +to wag her head slowly to and fro, and crooned, to a soft and +plaintive tune, words which sounded to the ears of the boys +shudderingly strange: + +"I conjure in water, I conjure in lead, +I conjure with herbs that grew o'er the dead; +I conjure with flowers that I plucked, without shoon, +When the ghosts were abroad, in the wane of the moon. +I conjure with spirits of earth and air +That make the wind sigh and cry in despair; +I conjure by him within sevenfold rings +That sits and broods at the roots of things. +I conjure by him who healeth strife, +Who plants and waters the germs of life. +I conjure, I conjure, I bid thee be still, +Thou ruddy stream, thou hast flowed thy fill! +Return to thy channel and nurture his life +Till his destined measure of years be rife." + + +She sang the last two lines with sudden energy; and when she +removed her hand from the wound, the blood had ceased to flow. +The poor Skull-Splitter was sleeping soundly; and his friends, +shivering a little with mysterious fears, marched up and down +whispering to one another. They set a guard of honor at the +leafy couch of their wounded comrade; intercepted the green worms +and other insects that kept dropping down upon him from the alder +branches overhead, and brushed away the flies that would fain +disturb his slumbers. They were all steeped to the core in old +Norse heroism; and they enjoyed the situation hugely. All the +life about them was half blotted out; they saw it but dimly. +That light of youthful romance, which never was on sea or land, +transformed all the common things that met their vision into +something strange and wonderful. They strained their ears to +catch the meaning of the song of the birds, so that they might +learn from them the secrets of the future, as Sigurd the Volsung +did, after he had slain the dragon, Fafnir. The woods round +about them were filled with dragons and fabulous beasts, whose +tracks they detected with the eyes of faith; and they started out +every morning, during the all too brief vacation, on imaginary +expeditions against imaginary monsters. + +When at the end of an hour the Skull-Splitter woke from his +slumber, much refreshed, Witch-Martha bandaged his arm carefully, +and Wolf-in-the Temple (having no golden arm-rings) tossed her, +with magnificent superciliousness, his purse, which contained six +cents. But she flung it back at him with such force that he had +to dodge with more adroitness than dignity. + +"I'll get my claws into thee some day, thou foolish lad," she +said, lifting her lean vulture-like hand with a threatening +gesture. + +"No, please don't, Martha, I didn't mean anything," cried the +boy, in great alarm; "you'll forgive me, won't you, Martha?" + +"I'll bid thee begone, and take thy foolish tongue along with +thee," she answered, in a mollified tone. + +And the Sons of the Vikings, taking the hint, shouldered the +litter once more, and reached Skull-Splitter's home in time for +supper. + + +III. + +The Sons of the Vikings were much troubled. Every heroic deed +which they plotted had this little disadvantage, that they were +in danger of going to jail for it. They could not steal cattle +and horses, because they did not know what to do with them when +they had got them; they could not sail away over the briny deep +in search of fortune or glory, because they had no ships; and +sail-boats were scarcely big enough for daring voyages to the +blooming South which their ancestors had ravaged. The precious +vacation was slipping away, and as yet they had accomplished +nothing that could at all be called heroic. It was while the +brotherhood was lamenting this fact that Wolf-in-the-Temple had a +brilliant idea. He procured his father's permission to invite +his eleven companions to spend a day and a night at the Ronning +saeter, or mountain dairy, far up in the highlands. The only +condition Mr. Ronning made was that they were to be accompanied +by his man, Brumle-Knute, who was to be responsible for their +safety. But the boys determined privately to make Brumle-Knute +their prisoner, in case he showed any disposition to spoil their +sport. To spend a day and a night in the woods, to imagine +themselves Vikings, and behave as they imagined Vikings would +behave, was a prospect which no one could contemplate without the +most delightful excitement. There, far away from sheriffs and +pastors and maternal supervision, they might perhaps find the +long-desired chance of performing their heroic deed. + +It was a beautiful morning early in August that the boys started +from Strandholm, Mr. Ronning's estate, accompanied by +Brumle-Knute. The latter was a middle-aged, round-shouldered +peasant, who had the habit of always talking to himself. To look +at him you would have supposed that he was a rough and stupid +fellow who would have quite enough to do in looking after +himself. But the fact was, that Brumle-Knute was the best shot, +the best climber--and altogether the most keen-eyed hunter in the +whole valley. It was a saying that he could scent game so well +that he never needed a dog; and that he could imitate to +perfection the call of every game bird that inhabited the +mountain glens. Sweet-tempered he was not; but so reliable, +skilful, and vigilant, and moreover so thorough a woodsman, that +the boys could well afford to put up with his gruff temper. + +The Sons of the Vikings were all mounted on ponies; and +Wolf-in-the-Temple, who had been elected chieftain, led the +troop. At his side rode Skull-Splitter, who was yet a trifle +pale after his blood-letting, but brimming over with ambition to +distinguish himself. They had all tied their trousers to their +legs with leather thongs, in order to be perfectly "Old Norse;" +and some of them had turned their plaids and summer overcoats +inside out, displaying the gorgeous colors of the lining. +Loosely attached about their necks and flying in the wind, these +could easily serve for scarlet or purple cloaks wrought on Syrian +looms. Most of the boys carried also wooden swords and shields, +and the chief had a long loor or Alpine horn. Only the valiant +Ironbeard, whose father was a military man, had a real sword and +a real scabbard into the bargain. Wolf-in-the-Temple, and Erling +the Lop-Sided, had each an old fowling-piece; and Brumle-Knute +carried a double-barrelled rifle. This, to be sure, was not; +quite historically correct; but firearms are so useful in the +woods, even if they are not correct, that it was resolved not to +notice the irregularity; for there were boars in the mountains, +besides wolves and foxes and no end of smaller game. + +For an hour or more the procession rode, single file, up the +steep and rugged mountain-paths; but the boys were all in high +spirits and enjoyed themselves hugely. The mere fact that they +were Vikings, on a daring foraging expedition into a neighboring +kingdom, imparted a wonderful zest to everything they did and +said. It might be foolish, but it was on that account none the +less delightful. They sent out scouts to watch for the approach +of an imaginary enemy; they had secret pass-words and signs; they +swore (Viking style) by Thor's hammer and by Odin's eye. They +talked appalling nonsense to each other with a delicious +sentiment of its awful blood-curdling character. It was about +noon when they reached the Strandholm saeter, which consisted of +three turf-thatched log-cabins or chalets, surrounded by a green +inclosure of half a dozen acres. The wide highland plain, eight +or ten miles long, was bounded on the north and west by throngs +of snow-hooded mountain peaks, which rose, one behind another, in +glittering grandeur; and in the middle of the plain there were +two lakes or tarns, connected by a river which was milky white +where it entered the lakes and clear as crystal where it escaped. + +"Now, Vikings," cried Wolf-in-the-Temple, when the boys had done +justice to their dinner, "it behooves us to do valiant deeds, and +to prove ourselves worthy of our fathers." + +"Hear, hear," shouted Ironbeard, who was fourteen years old and +had a shadow of a moustache, "I am in for great deeds, hip, hip, +hurrah!" + +"Hold your tongue when you hear me speak," commanded the +chieftain, loftily; "we will lie in wait at the ford, between the +two tarns, and capture the travellers who pass that way. If +perchance a princess from the neighboring kingdom pass, on the +way to her dominions, we will hold her captive until her father, +the king, comes to ransom her with heaps of gold in rings and +fine garments and precious weapons." + +"But what are we to do with her when we have caught her?" asked +the Skull-Splitter, innocently. + +"We will keep her imprisoned in the empty saeter hut," +Wolf-in-the-Temple responded. "Now, are you ready? We'll leave +the horses here on the croft, until our return." + +The question now was to elude Brumle-Knute's vigilance; for the +Sons of the Vikings had good reasons for fearing that he might +interfere with their enterprise. They therefore waited until +Brumle-knute was invited by the dairymaid to sit down to dinner. +No sooner had the door closed upon his stooping figure, than they +stole out through a hole in the fence, crept on all-fours among +the tangled dwarf-birches and the big gray boulders, and +following close in the track of their leader, reached the ford +between the lakes. There they observed two enormous heaps of +stones known as the Parson and the Deacon; for it had been the +custom from immemorial times for every traveller to fling a big +stone as a "sacrifice" for good luck upon the Parson's heap and a +small stone upon the Deacon's. Behind these piles of stone the +boys hid themselves, keeping a watchful eye on the road and +waiting for their chief's signal to pounce upon unwary +travellers. They lay for about fifteen minutes in expectant +silence, and were on the point of losing their patience. + +"Look here, Wolf-in-the-Temple," cried Erling the Lop-Sided, "you +may think this is fun, but I don't. Let us take the raft there +and go fishing. The tarn is simply crowded with perch and bass." + +"Hold your disrespectful tongue," whispered the chief, warningly, +"or I'll discipline you so you'll remember it till your dying +day." + +"Ho, ho!" laughed the rebel, jeeringly; "big words and fat pork +don't stick in the throat. Wait till I get you alone and we +shall see who'll be disciplined." + +Erling had risen and was about to emerge from his hiding-place, +when suddenly hoof-beats were heard, and a horse was seen +approaching, carrying on its back a stalwart peasant lass, in +whose lap a pretty little girl of twelve or thirteen was sitting. + +The former was clad in scarlet bodice, a black embroidered skirt, +and a snowy-white kerchief was tied about her head. Her blonde +hair hung in golden profusion down over her back and shoulders. +The little girl was city-clad, and had a sweet and appealing +face. She was chattering guilelessly with her companion, asking +more questions than she could possibly expect to have answered. +Nearer and nearer they came to the great stone heaps, dreaming of +no harm. + +"And, Gunbjor," the Skull-Splitter heard the little girl say, +"you don't really believe that there are trolds and fairies in +the mountains, do you?" + +"Them as are wiser than I am have believed that," was Gunbjor's +answer; "but we don't hear so much about the trolds nowadays as +they did when my granny was young. Then they took young girls +into the mountain and----" + +Here came a wild, piercing yell, as the Sons of the Vikings +rushed forward from behind the rocks, and with a terrible +war-whoop swooped down upon the road. Wolf-in-the-Temple, who +led the band, seized the horse by the bridle, and flourishing his +sword threateningly, addressed the frightened peasant lass. + +"Is this, perchance, the Princess Kunigunde, the heir to the +throne of my good friend, King Bjorn the Victorious?" he asked, +with a magnificent air, seizing the trembling little girl by the +wrist. + +"Nay," Gunbjor answered, as soon as she could find her voice, +"this is the Deacon's Maggie, as is going to the saeter with me +to spend Sunday." + +"She cannot proceed on her way," said the chieftain, decisively, +"she is my prisoner." + +Gunbjor, who had been frightened out of her wits by the small +red- and blue-cloaked men, swarming among the stones, taking them +to be trolds or fairies, now gradually recovered her senses. She +recognized in Erling the Lop-Sided the well-known features of the +parson's son; and as soon as she had made this discovery she had +no great difficulty in identifying the rest. "Never you fear, +pet," she said to the child in her lap, "these be bad boys as +want to frighten us. I'll give them a switching if they don't +look out." + +"The Princess Kunigunde is my prisoner until it please her noble +father to ransom her for ten pounds of silver," repeated +Wolf-in-the-Temple, putting his arm about little Maggie's waist +and trying to lift her from the saddle. + +"You keep yer hands off the child, or I'll give you ten pounds of +thrashing," cried Gunbjor, angrily. + +"She shall be treated with the respect due to her rank," +Wolf-in-the-Temple proceeded, loftily. "I give King Bjorn the +Victorious three moons in which to bring me the ransom." + +"And I'll give you three boxes on the ear, and a cut with my +whip, into the bargain, if you don't let the horse alone, and +take yer hands off the child." + +"Vikings!" cried the chief, "lay hands on her! Tear her from the +saddle! She has defied us! She deserves no mercy." + +With a tremendous yell the boys rushed forward, brandishing their +swords above their heads, and pulled Gunbjor from the saddle. +But she held on to her charge with a vigorous clutch, and as soon +as her feet touched the ground she began with her disengaged hand +to lay about her, with her whip, in a way that proved extremely +unpleasant. Wolf-in-the-Temple, against whom her assault was +especially directed, received some bad cuts across his face, and +Ironbeard was driven backward into the ford, where he fell, full +length, and rose dripping wet and mortified. Thore the Hound got +a thump in his head from Gunbjor's stalwart elbows, and +Skull-Splitter, who had more courage than discretion, was pitched +into the water with no more ceremony than if he had been a +superfluous kitten. The fact was--I cannot disguise it--within +five minutes the whole valiant band of the Sons of the Vikings +were routed by that terrible switch, wielded by the intrepid +Gunbjor. When the last of her foes had bitten the dust, she +calmly remounted her pony, and with the Deacon's Maggie in her +lap rode, at a leisurely pace, across the ford. + +"Good-by, lads," she said, nodding her head at them over her +shoulder; "ye needn't be afraid. I won't tell on you." + + +IV. + +To have been routed by a woman was a terrible humiliation to the +valiant Sons of the Vikings. They were silent and moody during +the evening, and sat staring into the big bonfire on the saeter +green with stern and melancholy features. They had suffered +defeat in battle, and it behooved them to avenge it. About nine +o'clock they retired into their bunks in the log cabin, but no +sooner was Brumle-Knute's rhythmic snoring perceived than +Wolf-in-the-Temple put his head out and called to his comrades to +meet him in front of the house for a council of war. Instantly +they scrambled out of their alcoves, pulled on their coats and +trousers; and noiselessly stole out into the night. The sun was +yet visible, but a red veil of fiery mist was drawn across his +face; and a magic air of fairy-tales and strange unreality was +diffused over mountains, plains and lakes. The river wound like +a huge, blood-red serpent through the mountain pastures, and the +snow-hooded peaks blazed with fiery splendor. + +The boys were quite stunned at the sight of such magnificence, +and stood for some minutes gazing at the landscape, before giving +heed to the summons of the chief. + +"Comrades," said Wolf-in-the-Temple, solemnly, "what is life +without honor?" + +There was not a soul present who could answer that conundrum, and +after a fitting pause the chief was forced to answer it himself. + +"Life without honor, comrades," he said, severely, "life--without +honor is--nothing." + +"Hear, hear!" cried Ironbeard; "good for you, old man!" + +"Silence!" thundered Wolf-in-the-Temple, "I must beg the +gentlemen to observe the proprieties." + +This tremendous phrase rarely failed to restore order, and the +flippant Ironbeard was duly rebuked by the glances of displeasure +which met him on all sides. But in the meanwhile the chief had +lost the thread of his speech and could not recover it. +"Vikings," he resumed, clearing his throat vehemently, "we have +been--that is to say--we have sustained----" + +"A thrashing," supplied the innocent Skull-Splitter. + +But the awful stare which was fixed upon him convinced him that +he had made a mistake; and he shrunk into an abashed silence. +"We must do something to retrieve our honor," continued the +chief, earnestly; "we must--take steps--to to get upon our legs +again," he finished, blushing with embarrassment. + +"I would suggest that we get upon our legs first, and take the +steps afterward," remarked the flippant Ironbeard, with a sly +wink at Thore the Hound. + +The chief held it to be beneath his dignity to notice this +interruption, and after having gazed for a while in silence at +the blood-red mountain peaks, he continued, more at his ease: + +"I propose, comrades, that we go on a bear hunt. Then, when we +return with a bear-skin or two, our honor will be all right; no +one will dare laugh at us. The brave boy-hunters will be the +admiration and pride of the whole valley." + +"But Brummle-Knute," observed the Skull-Splitter; "do you think +he will allow us to go bear-hunting?" + +"What do we care whether he allows us or not?" cried +Wolf-in-the-Temple, scornfully; "he sleeps like a log; and I +propose that we tie his hands and feet before we start." + +This suggestion met with enthusiastic approval, and all the boys +laughed heartily at the idea of Brumle-Knute waking up and +finding himself tied with ropes, like a calf that is carried to +market. + +"Now, comrades," commanded the chief, with a flourish of his +sword, "get to bed quickly. I'll call you at four o'clock; we'll +then start to chase the monarch of the mountains." + +The Sons of the Vikings scrambled into their bunks with great +despatch; and though their beds consisted of pine twigs, covered +with a coarse sheet, and a bat, of straw for a pillow, they fell +asleep without rocking, and slept more soundly than if they had +rested on silken bolsters filled with eiderdown. +Wolf-in-the-Temple was as good as his word, and waked them +promptly at four o'clock; and their first task, after having +filled their knapsacks with provisions, was to tie Brumle-Knute's +hands and feet with the most cunning slip-knots, which would +tighten more, the more he struggled to unloose them. Ironbeard, +who had served a year before the mast, was the contriver of this +daring enterprise; and he did it so cleverly that Brumle-Knute +never suspected that his liberty was being interfered with. He +snorted a little and rubbed imaginary cobwebs from his face; but +soon lapsed again into a deep, snoring unconsciousness. + +The faces of the Sons of the Vikings grew very serious as they +started out on this dangerous expedition. There was more than +one of them who would not have objected to remaining at home, but +who feared to incur the charge of cowardice if he opposed the +wishes of the rest. Wolf-in-the-Temple walked at the head of the +column, as they hastened with stealthy tread out of the saeter +inclosure, and steered their course toward the dense pine forest, +the tops of which were visible toward the east, where the +mountain sloped toward the valley. He carried his fowling-piece, +loaded with shot, in his right hand, and a powder-horn and other +equipments for the chase were flung across his shoulder. Erling +the Lop-Sided was similarly armed, and Ironbeard, glorying in a +real sword, unsheathed it every minute and let it flash in the +sun. It was a great consolation to the rest of the Vikings to +see these formidable weapons; for they were not wise enough to +know that grown-up bears are not killed with shot, and that a +fowling-piece is a good deal more dangerous than no weapon at +all, in the hands of an inexperienced hunter. + +The sun, who had exchanged his flaming robe de nuit for the rosy +colors of morning, was now shooting his bright shafts of light +across the mountain plain, and cheering the hearts of the Sons of +the Vikings. The air was fresh and cool; and it seemed a luxury +to breathe it. It entered the lungs in a pure, vivifying stream +like an elixir of life, and sent the blood dancing through the +veins. It was impossible to mope in such air; and Ironbeard +interpreted the general mood when he struck up the tune: + +"We wander with joy on the far mountain path, +We follow the star that will guide us;" + +but before he had finished the third verse, it occurred to the +chief that they were bear-hunters, and that it was very +unsportsmanlike behavior to sing on the chase. For all that they +were all very jolly, throbbing with excitement at the thought of +the adventures which they were about to encounter; and concealing +a latent spark of fear under an excess of bravado. At the end of +an hour's march they had reached the pine forest; and as they +were all ravenously hungry they sat down upon the stones, where a +clear mountain brook ran down the slope, and unpacked their +provisions. Wolf-in-the-Temple had just helped himself, in old +Norse fashion, to a slice of smoked ham, having slashed a piece +off at random with his knife, when Erling the Lop-Sided observed +that that ham had a very curious odor. Everyone had to test its +smell; and they all agreed that it did have a singular flavor, +though its taste was irreproachable. + +"It smells like a menagerie," said the Skull-Splitter, as he +handed it to Thore the Hound. + +"But the bread and the biscuit smell just the same," said Thore +the Hound; "in fact, it is the air that smells like a menagerie." + +"Boys," cried Wolf-in-the-Temple, "do you see that track in the +mud?" + +"Yes; it is the track of a barefooted man," suggested the +innocent Skull-Splitter. + +Ironbeard and Erling the Lop-Sided flung themselves down among +the stones and investigated the tracks; and they were no longer +in doubt as to where the pungent wild odor came from, which they +had attributed to the ham. + +"Boys," said Erling, looking up with an excited face, "a she-bear +with one or two cubs has been here within a few minutes." + +"This is her drinking-place," said Ironbeard: "the tracks are +many and well-worn; if she hasn't been here this morning, she is +sure to come before long." + +"We are in luck indeed," Wolf-in-the-Temple observed, coolly; "we +needn't go far for our bear. He will be coming for us." + +At that moment the note of an Alpine horn was heard; but it was +impossible to determine how far it was away; for the echo took up +the note and flung it back and forth with clear and strong +reverberations from mountain to mountain. + +"It is Brumle-Knute who is calling us," said Thore the Hound. +"The dairymaid must have released him. Shall we answer?" + +"Never," cried the chief, proudly; "I forbid you to answer. Here +we have our heroic deed in sight, and I want no one to spoil it. +If there is a coward among us, let him take to his heels; no one +shall detain him." + +There were perhaps several who would have liked to accept the +invitation; but no one did. Skull-Splitter, by way of diversion, +plumped backward into the brook, and sat down in the cool pool up +to his waist. But nobody laughed at his mishap; because they had +their minds full of more serious thoughts. Wolf-in-the-Temple, +who had climbed up on a big moss-grown boulder, stood, gun in +hand, and peered in among the bushes. + +"Boys," he whispered, "drop down on your bellies--quick." + +All, crowding behind a rock, obeyed, pushing themselves into +position with hands and feet. With wildly beating hearts the +Vikings gazed up among the gray wilderness of stone and +underbrush, and first one, then another, caught sight of +something brown and hairy that came toddling down toward them, +now rolling like a ball of yarn, now turning a somersault, and +now again pegging industriously along on four clumsy paws. It +was the prettiest little bear cub that ever woke on its mossy +lair in the woods. Now it came shuffling down in a boozy way to +take its morning bath. It seemed but half awake; and +Skull-Splitter imagined that it was a trifle cross, because its +mother had waked it too early. Evidently it had made no toilet +as yet, for bits of moss were sticking in its hair; and it yawned +once or twice, and shook its head disgustedly. Skull-Splitter +knew so well that feeling and could sympathize with the poor +young cub. But Wolf-in-the-Temple, who watched it no less +intently, was filled with quite different emotions. Here was his +heroic deed, for which he had hungered so long. To shoot a +bear--that was a deed worthy of a Norseman. One step more--then +two--and then--up rose the bear cub on its hind legs and rubbed +its eyes with its paws. Now he had a clean shot--now or never; +and pulling the trigger Wolf-in-the-Temple blazed away and sent a +handful of shot into the carcass of the poor little bear. Up +jumped all the Sons of the Vikings from behind their stones, and, +with a shout of triumph, ran up the path to where the cub was +lying. It had rolled itself up into a brown ball, and whimpered +like a child in pain. But at that very moment there came an +ominous growl out of the underbrush, and a crackling and creaking +of branches was heard which made the hearts of the boys stand +still. + +"Erling," cried Wolf-in-the-Temple, "hand me your gun, and load +mine for me as quick as you can." + +The words were scarcely out of his mouth when the head of a big +brown she-bear became visible among the bushes. She paused in +the path, where her cub was lying, turned him over with her paw, +licked his face, grumbled with a low soothing tone, snuffed him +all over and rubbed her nose against his snout. But unwarily she +must have touched some sore spot; for the cub gave a sharp yelp +of pain and writhed and whimpered as he looked up into his +mother's eyes, clumsily returning her caresses. The boys, half +emerged from their hiding-places, stood watching this +demonstration of affection not without sympathy; and +Skull-Splitter, for one, heartily wished that the chief had not +wounded the little bear. Quite ignorant as he was of the nature +of bears, he allowed his compassion to get the better of his +judgment. It seemed such a pity that the poor little beast +should lie there and suffer with one eye put out and forty or +fifty bits of lead distributed through its body. It would be +much more merciful to put it out of its misery altogether. And +accordingly when Erling the Lop-Sided handed him his gun to pass +on to the chief, Skull-Splitter started forward, flung the gun to +his cheek, and blazed away at the little bear once more, entirely +heedless of consequences. It was a random, unskilful shot, which +was about equally shared by the cub and its mother. And the +latter was not in a mood to be trifled with. With an angry roar +she rose on her hind legs and advanced against the unhappy +Skull-Splitter with two uplifted paws. In another moment she +would give him one of her vigorous "left-handers," which would +probably pacify him forever. Ironbeard gave a scream of terror +and Thore the Hound broke down an alder-sapling in his +excitement. But Wolf-in-the-Temple, remembering that he had +sworn foster-brotherhood with this brave and foolish little lad, +thought that now was the time to show his heroism. Here it was +no longer play, but dead earnest. Down he leaped from his rock, +and just as the she-bear was within a foot of the Skull-Splitter, +he dealt her a blow in the head with the butt end of his gun +which made the sparks dance before her eyes. She turned suddenly +toward her new assailant, growling savagely, and scratched her +ear with her paw. And Skull-Splitter, who had slipped on the +pine needles and fallen, scrambled to his feet again, leaving his +gun on the ground, and with a few aimless steps tumbled once more +into the brook. Ironbeard, seeing that he was being outdone by +his chief, was quick to seize the gun, and rushing forward dealt +the she-bear another blow, which, instead of disabling her, only +exasperated her further. She glared with her small bloodshot +eyes now at the one, now at the other boy, as if in doubt which +she would tackle first. It was an awful moment; one or the other +might have saved himself by flight, but each was determined to +stand his ground. Vikings could die, but never flee. With a +furious growl the she-bear started toward her last assailant, +lifting her terrible paw. Ironbeard backed a few steps, pointing +his gun before him; and with benumbing force the paw descended +upon the gun-barrel, striking it out of his hands. + +It seemed all of a sudden to the boy as if his arms were asleep +up to the shoulders; he had a stinging sensation in his flesh and +a humming in his ears, which made him fear that his last hour had +come. If the bear renewed the attack now, he was utterly +defenceless. He was not exactly afraid, but he was numb all +over. It seemed to matter little what became of him. + +But now a strange thing happened. To his unutterable +astonishment he saw the she-bear drop down on all fours and vent +her rage on the gun, which, in a trice, was bent and broken into +a dozen fragments. But in this diversion she was interrupted by +Wolf-in-the-Temple, who hammered away again at her head with the +heavy end of his weapon. Again she rose, and presented two rows +of white teeth which looked as if they meant business. It was +the chief's turn now to meet his fate; and it was the more +serious because his helper was disarmed and could give him no +assistance. With a wildly thumping heart he raised the butt end +of his gun and dashed forward, when as by a miracle a shot was +heard--a sharp, loud shot that rumbled away with manifold +reverberations among the mountains. In the same instant the huge +brown bear tumbled forward, rolled over, with a gasping growl, +and was dead. + +"O Brumle-Knute! Brumle-Knute!" yelled the boys in joyous +chorus, as they saw their resuer coming forward from behind the +rocks, "how did you find us?" + +"I heard yer shots and I saw yer tracks," said Brumle-Knute, +dryly; "but when ye go bear-hunting another time ye had better +load with bullets instead of bird-shot." + +"But Brumle-Knute, we only wanted to shoot the little bear," +protested Wolf-in-the-Temple. + +"That may be," Brumle-Knute replied; "but the big bears, they are +a curiously unreasonable lot--they are apt to get mad when you +fire at their little ones. Next time you must recollect to take +the big bear into account." + +I need not tell you that the Sons of the Vikings became great +heroes when the rumor of their bear hunt was noised abroad +through the valley. But, for all that, they determined to +disband their brotherhood. Wolf-in-the-Temple expressed the +sentiment of all when, at their last meeting, he made a speech, +in which these words occurred: + +"Brothers, the world isn't quite the same now as it was in the +days when our Viking forefathers spread the terror of their name +through the South. We are not so strong as they were, nor so +hardy. When we mingle blood, we have to send for a surgeon. If +we steal princesses we may go to jail for it--or--or--well--never +mind--what else may happen. Heroism isn't appreciated as once it +was in this country; and I, for one, won't try to be a hero any +more. I resign my chieftainship now, when I can do it with +credit. Let us all make our bows of adieu as bear hunters; and +if we don't do anything more in the heroic line it is not because +we can't, but because we won't." + + + +PAUL JESPERSEN'S MASQUERADE + +There was great excitement in the little Norse town, Bumlebro, +because there was going to be a masquerade. Everybody was busy +inventing the character which he was to represent, and the +costume in which he was to represent it. + +Miss Amelia Norbeck, the apothecary's daughter, had intended to +be Marie Antoinette, but had to give it up because the silk +stockings were too dear, although she had already procured the +beauty-patches and the powdered wig. + +Miss Arctander, the judge's daughter, was to be Night, in black +tulle, spangled with silver stars, and Miss Hanna Broby was to be +Morning, in white tulle and pink roses. + +There had never BEEN a masquerade in Bumlebro, and there would +not have been one now, if it had not been for the enterprise of +young Arctander and young Norbeck, who had just returned from the +military academy in the capital, and were anxious to exhibit +themselves to the young girls in their glory. + +Of course, they could not afford to be exclusive, for there were +but twenty or thirty families in the town that laid any claims to +gentility, and they had all to be invited in order to fill the +hall and pay the bills. Thus it came to pass that Paul +Jespersen, the book-keeper in the fish-exporting firm of Broby & +Larsen, received a card, although, to be sure, there had been a +long debate in the committee as to where the line should be +drawn. + +Paul Jespersen was uncommonly elated when he read the invitation, +which was written on a gilt-edged card, requesting the pleasure +of Mr. Jespersen's company at a bal masque Tuesday, January 3d, +in the Association Hall. + +"The pleasure of his company!" + +Think of it! He felt so flattered that he blushed to the tips of +his ears. It must have been Miss Clara Broby who had induced +them to be so polite to him, for those insolent cadets, who only +nodded patronizingly to him in response to his deferential +greeting, would never have asked for "the pleasure of his +company." + +Having satisfied himself on this point, Paul went to call upon +Miss Clara in the evening, in order to pay her some compliment +and consult her in regard to his costume; but Miss Clara, as it +happened, was much more interested in her own costume than in +that of Mr. Jespersen, and offered no useful suggestions. + +"What character would you advise me to select, Mr. Jespersen?" +she inquired, sweetly. "My sister Hanna, you know, is going to +be Morning, so I can't be that, and it seems to me Morning would +have suited me just lovely." + +"Go as Beauty," suggested Mr. Jespersen, blushing at the thought +of his audacity. + +"So I will, Mr. Jespersen," she answered, laughing, "if you will +go as the Beast." + +Paul, being a simple-hearted fellow, failed to see any sarcasm in +this, but interpreted it rather as a hint that Miss Clara desired +his escort, as Beauty, of course, only would be recognizable in +her proper character by the presence of the Beast. + +"I shall be delighted, Miss Clara," he said, beaming with +pleasure. "If you will be my Beauty, I'll be your Beast." + +Miss Clara did not know exactly how to take this, and was rather +absent-minded during the rest of the interview. She had been +chaffing Mr. Jespersen, of course, but she did not wish to be +absolutely rude to him, because he was her father's employee, +and, as she often heard her father say, a very valuable and +trustworthy young man. + +When Paul got home he began at once to ponder upon his character +as Beast, and particularly as Miss Clara's Beast. It occurred to +him that his uncle, the furrier, had an enormous bear-skin, with +head, eyes, claws, and all that was necessary, and without delay +he went to try it on. + +His uncle, feeling that this event was somehow to redound to the +credit of the family, agreed to make the necessary alterations at +a trifling cost, and when the night of the masquerade arrived, +Paul was so startled at his appearance that he would have run +away from himself if such a thing had been possible. He had +never imagined that he would make such a successful Beast. + +By an ingenious contrivance with a string, which he pulled with +his hand, he was able to move his lower jaw, which, with its red +tongue and terrible teeth, presented an awful appearance. By +patching the skin a little behind, his head was made to fit +comfortably into the bear's head, and his mild blue eyes looked +out of the holes from which the bear's eyes had been removed. +The skin was laced with thin leather thongs from the neck down, +but the long, shaggy fur made the lacing invisible. + +Paul Jespersen practiced ursine behavior before the looking-glass +for about half an hour. Then, being uncomfortably warm, he +started down-stairs, and determined to walk to the Association +Hall. He chuckled to himself at the thought of the sensation he +would make, if he should happen to meet anybody on the road. + +Having never attended a masquerade before, he did not know that +dressing-rooms were provided for the maskers, and, being averse +to needless expenditure, he would as soon have thought of flying +as of taking a carriage. There was, in fact, but one carriage on +runners in the town, and that was already engaged by half a dozen +parties. + +The moon was shining faintly upon the snow, and there was a sharp +frost in the air when Paul Jespersen put his hairy head out of +the street-door and reconnoitred the territory. + +There was not a soul to be seen, except an old beggar woman who +was hobbling along, supporting herself with two sticks. Paul +darted, as quickly as his unwieldly bulk would allow, into the +middle of the street. He enjoyed intensely the fun of walking +abroad in such a monstrous guise. He contemplated with boyish +satisfaction his shadow which stretched, long and black and +horrible, across the snow. + +It was a bit slippery, and he had to manoeuvre carefully in order +to keep right side up. Presently he caught up with the beggar +woman. + +"Good-evening!" he said. + +The old woman turned about, stared at him horror-stricken; then, +as soon as she had collected her senses, took to her heels, +yelling at the top of her voice. A big mastiff, who had just +been let loose for the night, began to bark angrily in a back +yard, and a dozen comrades responded from other yards, and came +bounding into the street. + +"Hello!" thought Paul Jespersen. "Now look out for trouble." + +He felt anything but hilarious when he saw the pack of angry dogs +dancing and leaping about him, barking in a wildly discordant +chorus. + +"Why, Hector, you fool, don't you know me?" he said, coaxingly, +to the judge's mastiff. "And you, Sultan, old man! You ought to +be ashamed of yourself! Here, Caro, that's a good fellow! Come, +now, don't excite yourself!" + +But Hector, Sultan, and Caro were all proof against such +blandishments, and as for Bismarck, the apothecary's collie, he +grew every moment more furious, and showed his teeth in a very +uncomfortable fashion. + +To defend one's self was not to be thought of, for what defence +is possible to a sham bear against a dozen genuine dogs? Paul +could use neither his teeth nor his claws to any purpose, while +the dogs could use theirs, as he presently discovered, with +excellent effect. + +He had just concluded to seek safety in flight, when suddenly he +felt a bite in his left calf, and saw the brute Bismarck tug away +at his leg as if it had been a mutton-chop. He had scarcely +recovered from this surprise when he heard a sharp report, and a +bullet whizzed away over his head, after having neatly put a hole +through the right ear. Paul concluded, with reason, that things +were getting serious. + +If he could only get hold of that blockhead, the judge's groom, +who was violating the law about fire-arms, he would give him an +exhibition in athletics which he would not soon forget; but, +being for the moment deprived of this pleasure, he knew of +nothing better to do than to dodge through the nearest +street-door, and implore the protection of the very first +individual he might meet. + +It so happened that Paul selected the house of two middle-aged +milliners for this experiment. + +Jemina and Malla Hansen were just seated at the table drinking +tea with their one constant visitor, the post-office clerk, +Mathias, when, all of a sudden, they heard a tremendous racket in +the hall, and the furious barking of dogs. + +With a scream of fright, the two old maids jumyed up, dropping +their precious tea-cups, and old Mathias, who had tipped his +chair a little backward, lost his balance, and pointed his heels +toward the ceiling. Before he had time to pick himself up the +door was burst open and a great hairy monster sprang into the +room. + +"Mercy upon us!" cried Jemina. "It is the devil!" + +But now came the worst of it all. The bear put his paw on his +heart, and with the politest bow in the world, remarked: + +"Pardon me, ladies, if I intrude." + +He had meant to say more, but his audience had vanished; only the +flying tails of Mathias's coat were seen, as he slammed the door +on them, in his precipitate flight. + +"Police! police!" someone shouted out of the window of the +adjoining room. + +Police! Now, with all due respect for the officers of the law, +Paul Jespersen had no desire to meet them at the present moment. +To be hauled up at the station-house and fined for street +disorder--nay, perhaps be locked up for the night, if, as was +more than likely, the captain of police was at the masquerade, +was not at all to Paul's taste. Anything rather than that! He +would be the laughing stock of the whole town if, after his +elaborate efforts, he were to pass the night in a cell, instead +of dancing with Miss Clara Broby. + +Hearing the cry for police repeated, Paul looked about him for +some means of escape. It occurred to him that he had seen a +ladder in the hall leading up to the loft. There he could easily +hide himself until the crowd had dispersed. + +Without further reflection, he rushed out through the door by +which he had entered, climbed the ladder, thrust open a +trap-door, and, to his astonishment, found himself under the +wintry sky. + +The roof sloped steeply, and he had to balance carefully in order +to avoid sliding down into the midst of the noisy mob of dogs and +street-boys who were laying siege to the door. + +With the utmost caution he crawled along the roof-tree, trembling +lest he should be discovered by some lynx-eyed villain in the +throng of his pursuers. Happily, the broad brick chimney +afforded him some shelter, of which he was quick to take +advantage. Rolling himself up into the smallest possible +compass, he sat for a long time crouching behind the chimney; +while the police were rummaging under the beds and in the closets +of the house, in the hope of finding him. + +He had, of course, carefully closed the trap-door by which he had +reached the comparative safety of his present position; and he +could not help chuckling to himself at the thought of having +outwitted the officers of the law. + +The crowd outside, after having made night hideous by their +whoops and yells, began, at the end of an hour, to grow weary; +and the dogs being denied entrance to the house, concluded that +they had no further business there, and slunk off to their +respective kennels. + +The people, too, scattered, and only a few patient loiterers hung +about the street door, hoping for fresh developments. It seemed +useless to Paul to wait until these provoking fellows should take +themselves away. They were obviously prepared to make a night of +it, and time was no object to them. + +It was then that Paul, in his despair, resolved upon a daring +stratagem. Mr. Broby's house was in the same block as that of +the Misses Hansen, only it was at the other end of the block. By +creeping along the roof-trees of the houses, which, happily, +differed but slightly in height, he could reach the Broby house, +where, no doubt, Miss Clara was now waiting for him, full of +impatience. + +He did not deliberate long before testing the practicability of +this plan. The tanner Thoresen's house was reached without +accident, although he barely escaped being detected by a small +boy who was amusing himself throwing snow-balls at the chimney. +It was a slow and wearisome mode of locomotion--pushing himself +forward on his belly; but, as long as the streets were deserted, +it was a pretty safe one. + +He gave a start whenever he heard a dog bark; for the echoes of +the ear-splitting concert they had given him were yet ringing in +his brain. + +It was no joke being a bear, he thought, and if he had suspected +that it was such a serious business, he would not so rashly have +undertaken it. But now there was no way of getting out of it; +for he had nothing on but his underclothes under the bear-skin. + +At last he reached the Broby house, and drew a sigh of relief at +the thought that he was now at the end of his journey. + +He looked about him for a trap-door by which he could descend +into the interior, but could find none. There was an inch of +snow on the roof, glazed with frost: and if there was a +trap-door, it was securely hidden. + +To jump or slide down was out of the question, for he would, in +that case, risk breaking his neck. If he cried for help, the +groom, who was always ready with his gun, might take a fancy to +shoot at him; and that would be still more unpleasant. It was a +most embarrassing situation. + +Paul's eyes fell upon a chimney; and the thought flashed through +his head that there was the solution of the difficulty. He +observed that no smoke was coming out of it, so that he would run +no risk of being converted into smoked ham during the descent. + +He looked down through the long, black tunnel. It was a great, +spacious, old-fashioned chimney, and abundantly wide enough for +his purpose. + +A pleasant sound of laughter and merry voices came to him from +the kitchen below. It was evident the girls were having a +frolic. So, without further ado, Paul Jespersen stuffed his +great hairy bulk into the chimney and proceeded to let himself +down. + +There were notches and iron rings in the brick wall, evidently +put there for the convenience of the chimney-sweeps; and he found +his task easier than he had anticipated. The soot, to be sure, +blinded his eyes, but where there was nothing to be seen, that +was no serious disadvantage. + +In fact, everything was going as smoothly as possible, when +suddenly he heard a girl's voice cry out: + +"Gracious goodness! what is that in the chimney?" + +"Probably the chimney-sweep," a man's voice answered. + +"Chimney-sweep at this time of night!" + +Paul, bracing himself against the walls, looked down and saw a +cluster of anxious faces all gazing up toward him. A candle +which one of the girls held in her hand showed him that the +distance down to the hearth was but short; so, to make an end of +their uncertainty, he dropped himself down--quietly, as he +thought, but by the force of his fall blowing the ashes about in +all directions. + +A chorus of terrified screams greeted him. One girl fainted, one +leaped up on a table, and the rest made for the door. + +And there sat poor Paul, in the ashes on the hearth, utterly +bewildered by the consternation he had occasioned. He picked +himself up by and by, rubbed the soot out of his eyes with the +backs of his paws, and crawled out upon the floor. + +He had just managed to raise himself upon his hind-legs, when an +awful apparition became visible in the door, holding a candle. +It was now Paul's turn to be frightened. The person who stood +before him bore a close resemblance to the devil. + +"What is all this racket about?" he cried, in a tone of +authority. + +Paul felt instantly relieved, for the voice was that of his +revered chief, Mr. Broby, who, he now recollected, was to figure +at the masquerade as Mephistopheles. Behind him peeped forth the +faces of his two daughters, one as Morning and the other as +Spring. + +"May I ask what is the cause of this unseemly noise?" repeated +Mr. Broby, advancing to the middle of the room. The light of his +candle now fell upon the huge bear whom, after a slight start, he +recognized as a masker. + +"Excuse me, Mr. Broby," said Paul, "but Miss Clara did me the +honor----" + +"Oh yes, papa," Miss Clara interrupted him, stepping forth in all +her glory of tulle and flowers; "it is Paul Jespersen, who was +going to be my Beast." + +"And it is you who have frightened my servants half out of their +wits, Jespersen?" said Mr. Broby, laughing. + +"He tumbled down through the chimney, sir," declared the cook, +who had half-recovered from her fright. + +"Well," said Mr. Broby, with another laugh, "I admit that was a +trifle unconventional. Next time you call, Jespersen, you must +come through the door." + +He thought Jespersen had chosen to play a practical joke on the +servants, and, though he did not exactly like it, he was in no +mood for scolding. After having been carefully brushed and +rolled in the snow, Paul offered his escort to Miss Clara; and +she had not the heart to tell him that she was not at all Beauty, +but Spring. And Paul was not enough of an expert to know the +difference. + + + +LADY CLARE +THE STORY OF A HORSE + +The king was dead, and among the many things he left behind him +which his successor had no use for were a lot of fancy horses. +There were long-barrelled English hunters, all legs and neck; +there were Kentucky racers, graceful, swift, and strong; and two +Arabian steeds, which had been presented to his late majesty by +the Sultan of Turkey. To see the beautiful beasts prancing and +plunging, as they were being led through the streets by grooms in +the royal livery, was enough to make the blood dance in the veins +of any lover of horse-flesh. And to think that they were being +led ignominiously to the auction mart to be sold under the +hammer--knocked down to the highest bidder! It was a sin and a +shame surely! And they seemed to feel it themselves; and that +was the reason they acted so obstreperously, sometimes lifting +the grooms off their feet as they reared and snorted and struck +sparks with their steel-shod hoofs from the stone pavement. + +Among the crowd of schoolboys who followed the equine procession, +shrieking and yelling with glee and exciting the horses by their +wanton screams, was a handsome lad of fourteen, named Erik +Carstens. He had fixed his eyes admiringly on a coal-black, +four-year-old mare, a mere colt, which brought up the rear of the +procession. How exquisitely she was fashioned! How she danced +over the ground with a light mazurka step, as if she were shod +with gutta-percha and not with iron! And then she had a head so +daintily shaped, small and spirited, that it was a joy to look at +her. Erik, who, in spite of his youth, was not a bad judge of a +horse, felt his heart beat like a trip-hammer, and a mighty +yearning took possession of him to become the owner of that mare. + +Though he knew it was time for dinner he could not tear himself +away, but followed the procession up one street and down another, +until it stopped at the horse market. There a lot of jockeys and +coarse-looking dealers were on hand; and an opportunity was +afforded them to try the horses before the auction began. They +forced open the mouths of the beautiful animals, examined their +teeth, prodded them with whips to see if they were gentle, and +poked them with their fingers or canes. But when a loutish +fellow, in a brown corduroy suit, indulged in that kind of +behavior toward the black mare she gave a resentful whinny and +without further ado grabbed him with her teeth by the coat +collar, lifted him up and shook him as if he had been a bag of +straw. Then she dropped him in the mud, and raised her dainty +head with an air as if to say that she held him to be beneath +contempt. The fellow, however, was not inclined to put up with +that kind of treatment. With a volley of oaths he sprang up and +would have struck the mare in the mouth with his clinched fist, +if Erik had not darted forward and warded off the blow. + +"How dare you strike that beautiful creature?" he cried, +indignantly. + +"Hold your jaw, you gosling, or I'll hit you instead," retorted +the man. + +But by that time one of the royal grooms had made his appearance +and the brute did not dare carry out his threat. While the groom +strove to quiet the mare, a great tumult arose in some other part +of the market-place. There was a whinnying, plunging, rearing, +and screaming, as if the whole field had gone mad. The black +mare joined in the concert, and stood with her ears pricked up +and her head raised in an attitude of panicky expectation. Quite +fearlessly Erik walked up to her, patted her on the neck and +spoke soothingly to her. + +"Look out," yelled the groom, "or she'll trample you to jelly!" + +But instead of that, the mare rubbed her soft nose against the +boy's cheek, with a low, friendly neighing, as if she wished to +thank him for his gallant conduct. And at that moment Erik's +heart went out to that dumb creature with an affection which he +had never felt toward any living thing before. He determined, +whatever might happen, to bid on her and to buy her, whatever she +might prove to be worth. He knew he had a few thousand dollars +in the bank--his inheritance from his mother, who had died when +he was a baby--and he might, perhaps, be able to persuade his +father to sanction the purchase. At any rate, he would have some +time to invent ways and means; for his father, Captain Carstens, +was now away on the great annual drill, and would not return for +some weeks. + +As a mere matter of form, he resolved to try the mare before +bidding on her; and slipping a coin into the groom's hand he +asked for a saddle. It turned out, however, that all the saddles +were in use, and Erik had no choice but to mount bareback. + +"Ride her on the snaffle. She won't stand the curb," shouted the +groom, as the mare, after plunging to the right and to the left, +darted through the gate to the track, and, after kicking up a +vast deal of tan-bark, sped like a bullet down the race-course. + +"Good gracious, how recklessly that boy rides!" one jockey +observed to another; "but he has got a good grip with his knees +all the same." + +"Yes, he sits like a daisy," the second replied, critically; "but +mind my word, Lady Clare will throw him yet. She never could +stand anybody but the princess on her back: and that was the +reason her Royal Highness was so fond of her. Mother of Moses, +won't there be a grand rumpus when she comes back again and finds +Lady Clare gone! I should not like to be in the shoes of the man +who has ordered Lady Clare under the hammer." + +"But look at the lad! I told you Lady Clare wouldn't stand no +manner of nonsense from boys." + +"She is kicking like a Trojan! She'll make hash of him if he +loses his seat." + +"Yes, but he sticks like a burr. That's a jewel of a lad, I tell +ye. He ought to have been a jockey." + +Up the track came Lady Clare, black as the ace of spades, acting +like the Old Harry. Something had displeased her, obviously, and +she held Erik responsible for it. Possibly she had just waked up +to the fact that she, who had been the pet of a princess, was now +being ridden by an ordinary commoner. At all events, she had +made up her mind to get rid of the commoner without further +ceremony. Putting her fine ears back and dilating her nostrils, +she suddenly gave a snort and a whisk with her tail, and up went +her heels toward the eternal stars--that is, if there had been +any stars visible just then. Everybody's heart stuck in his +throat; for fleet-footed racers were speeding round and round, +and the fellow who got thrown in the midst of all these trampling +hoofs would have small chance of looking upon the sun again. +People instinctively tossed their heads up to see how high he +would go before coming down again; but, for a wonder, they saw +nothing, except a cloud of dust mixed with tan-bark, and when +that had cleared away they discovered the black mare and her +rider, apparently on the best of terms, dashing up the track at a +breakneck pace. + +Erik was dripping with perspiration when he dismounted, and Lady +Clare's glossy coat was flecked with foam. She was not aware, +apparently, that if she had any reputation to ruin she had +damaged it most effectually. Her behavior on the track and her +treatment of the horse-dealer were by this time common property, +and every dealer and fancier made a mental note that Lady Clare +was the number in the catalogue which he would not bid on. All +her beauty and her distinguished ancestry counted for nothing, as +long as she had so uncertain a temper. Her sire, Potiphar, it +appeared, had also been subject to the same infirmities of +temper, and there was a strain of savagery in her blood which +might crop out when you least expected it. + +Accordingly, when a dozen fine horses had been knocked down at +good prices, and Lady Clare's turn came, no one came forward to +inspect her, and no one could be found to make a bid. + +"Well, well, gentlemen," cried the auctioneer, "here we have a +beautiful thoroughbred mare, the favorite mount of Her Royal +Highness the Princess, and not a bid do I hear. She's a beauty, +gentlemen, sired by the famous Potiphar who won the Epsom +Handicap and no end of minor stakes. Take a look at her, +gentlemen! Did you ever see a horse before that was raven black +from nose to tail? I reckon you never did. But such a horse is +Lady Clare. The man who can find a single white hair on her can +have her for a gift. Come forward, gentlemen, come forward. Who +will start her--say at five hundred?" + +A derisive laugh ran through the crowd, and a voice was heard to +cry, "Fifty." + +"Fifty!" repeated the auctioneer, in a deeply grieved and +injured tone; "fifty did you say, sir? Fifty? Did I hear +rightly? I hope, for the sake of the honor of this fair city, +that my ears deceived me." + +Here came a long and impressive pause, during which the +auctioneer, suddenly abandoning his dramatic manner, chatted +familiarly with a gentleman who stood near him. The only one in +the crowd whom he had impressed with the fact that the honor of +the city was at stake in this sale was Erik Carstens. He had +happily discovered a young and rich lieutenant of his father's +company, and was trying to persuade him to bid in the mare for +him. + +"But, my dear boy," Lieutenant Thicker exclaimed, "what do you +suppose the captain will say to me if I aid and abet his son in +defying the paternal authority?" + +"Oh, you needn't bother about that," Erik rejoined eagerly. "If +father was at home, I believe he would allow me to buy this mare. + +But I am a minor yet, and the auctioneer would not accept my bid. + +Therefore I thought you might be kind enough to bid for me." + +The lieutenant made no answer, but looked at the earnest face of +the boy with unmistakable sympathy. The auctioneer assumed again +an insulted, affronted, pathetically entreating or scornfully +repelling tone, according as it suited his purpose; and the price +of Lady Clare crawled slowly and reluctantly up from fifty to +seventy dollars. There it stopped, and neither the auctioneer's +tears nor his prayers could apparently coax it higher. + +"Seventy dollars!" he cried, as if he were really too shocked to +speak at all; "seven-ty dollars! Make it eighty! Oh, it is a sin +and a shame, gentlemen, and the fair fame of this beautiful city +is eternally ruined. It will become a wagging of the head and a +byword among the nations. Sev-en-ty dollars!"--then hotly and +indignantly--"seventy dollars!--fifth and last time, seventy +dollars!"--here he raised his hammer threateningly--"seventy +dollars!" + +"One hundred!" cried a high boyish voice, and in an instant +every neck was craned and every eye was turned toward the corner +where Erik Carstens was standing, half hidden behind the broad +figure of Lieutenant Thicker. + +"Did I hear a hundred?" repeated the auctioneer, wonderingly. +"May I ask who was the gentleman who said a hundred?" + +An embarrassing silence followed. Erik knew that if he +acknowledged the bid he would suffer the shame of having it +refused. But his excitement and his solicitude for the fair fame +of his native city had carried him away so completely that the +words had escaped from his lips before he was fully aware of +their import. + +"May I ask," repeated the wielder of the hammer, slowly and +emphatically, "may I ask the gentleman who offered one hundred +dollars for Lady Clare to come forward and give his name?" + +He now looked straight at Erik, who blushed to the edge of his +hair, but did not stir from the spot. From sheer embarrassment +he clutched the lieutenant's arm, and almost pinched it. + +"Oh, I beg your pardon," the officer exclaimed, addressing the +auctioneer, as if he had suddenly been aroused from a fit of +abstraction; "I made the bid of one hundred dollars, or--or--at +any rate, I make it now." + +The same performance, intended to force up the price, was +repeated once more, but with no avail, and at the end of two +minutes Lady Clare was knocked down to Lieutenant Thicker. + +"Now I have gone and done it like the blooming idiot that I am," +observed the lieutenant, when Lady Clare was led into his stable +by a liveried groom. "What an overhauling the captain will give +me when he gets home." + +"You need have no fear," Erik replied. "I'll sound father as +soon as he gets home; and if he makes any trouble I'll pay you +that one hundred dollars, with interest, the day I come of age." + +Well, the captain came home, and having long had the intention to +present his son with a saddle-horse, he allowed himself to be +cajoled into approving of the bargain. The mare was an exquisite +creature, if ever there was one, and he could well understand how +Erik had been carried away; Lieutenant Thicker, instead of being +hauled over the coals, as he had expected, received thanks for +his kind and generous conduct toward the son of his superior +officer. As for Erik himself, he had never had any idea that a +boy's life could be so glorious as his was now. Mounted on that +splendid, coal-black mare, he rode through the city and far out +into the country at his father's side; and never did it seem to +him that he had loved his father so well as he did during these +afternoon rides. The captain was far from suspecting that in +that episode of the purchase of Lady Clare his own relation to +his son had been at stake. Not that Erik would not have obeyed +his father, even if he had turned out his rough side and taken +the lieutenant to task for his kindness; but their relation would +in that case have lacked the warm intimacy (which in nowise +excludes obedience and respect) and that last touch of devoted +admiration which now bound them together. + +That fine touch of sympathy in the captain's disposition which +had enabled him to smile indulgently at his son's enthusiasm for +the horse made the son doubly anxious not to abuse such kindness, +and to do everything in his power to deserve the confidence which +made his life so rich and happy. Though, as I have said, Captain +Carstens lacked the acuteness to discover how much he owed to +Lady Clare, he acknowledged himself in quite a different way her +debtor. He had never really been aware what a splendid specimen +of a boy his son was until he saw him on the back of that +spirited mare, which cut up with him like the Old Harry, and yet +never succeeded in flurrying, far less in unseating him. The +captain felt a glow of affection warming his breast at the sight +of this, and his pride in Erik's horsemanship proved a +consolation to him when the boy's less distinguished performances +at school caused him fret and worry. + +"A boy so full of pluck must amount to something, even if he does +not take kindly to Latin," he reflected many a time. "I am +afraid I have made a mistake in having him prepared for college. +In the army now, and particularly in the cavalry, he would make a +reputation in twenty minutes." + +And a cavalryman Erik might, perhaps, have become if his father +had not been transferred to another post, and compelled to take +up his residence in the country. It was nominally a promotion, +but Captain Carstens was ill pleased with it, and even had some +thought of resigning rather than give up his delightful city +life, and move far northward into the region of cod and herring. +However, he was too young a man to retire on a pension, as yet, +and so he gradually reconciled himself to the thought, and sailed +northward in the month of April with his son and his entire +household. It had long been a question whether Lady Clare should +make the journey with them; for Captain Carstens maintained that +so high-bred an animal would be very sensitive to climatic +changes and might even die on the way. Again, he argued that it +was an absurdity to bring so fine a horse into a rough country, +where the roads are poor and where nature, in mercy, provides all +beasts with rough, shaggy coats to protect them from the cold. +How would Lady Clare, with her glossy satin coat, her slender +legs that pirouetted so daintily over the ground, and her +exquisite head, which she carried so proudly--how would she look +and what kind of figure would she cut among the shaggy, stunted, +sedate-looking nags of the Sognefiord district? But the captain, +though what he said was irrefutable, had to suspend all argument +when he saw how utterly wretched Erik became at the mere thought +of losing Lady Clare. So he took his chances; and, after having +ordered blankets of three different thicknesses for three +different kinds of weather, shipped the mare with the rest of his +family for his new northern home. + +As the weather proved unusually mild during the northward voyage +Lady Clare arrived in Sogn without accident or adventure. And +never in all her life had she looked more beautiful than she did +when she came off the steamer, and half the population of the +valley turned out to see her. It is no use denying that she was +as vain as any other professional beauty, and the way she danced +and pirouetted on the gangplank, when Erik led her on to the +pier, filled the rustics with amazement. They had come to look +at the new captain and his family; but when Lady Clare appeared +she eclipsed the rest of the company so completely that no one +had eyes for anybody but her. As the sun was shining and the +wind was mild, Erik had taken off her striped overcoat (which +covered her from nose to tail), for he felt in every fibre of his +body the sensation she was making, and blushed with pleasure as +if the admiring exclamations had been intended for himself. + +"Look at that horse," cried young and old, with eyes as big as +saucers, pointing with their fingers at Lady Clare. + +"Handsome carcass that mare has," remarked a stoutish man, who +knew what he was talking about; "and head and legs to match." + +"She beats your Valders-Roan all hollow, John Garvestad," said a +young tease who stood next to him in the crowd. + +"My Valders-Roan has never seen his match yet, and never will, +according to my reckoning," answered John Garvestad. + +"Ho! ho!" shouted the young fellow, with a mocking laugh; "that +black mare is a hand taller at the very least, and I bet you +she's a high-flyer. She has got the prettiest legs I ever +clapped eyes on." + +"They'd snap like clay pipes in the mountains," replied +Garvestad, contemptuously. + +Erik, as he blushingly ascended the slope to his new home, +leading Lady Clare by a halter, had no suspicion of the +sentiments which she had aroused in John Garvestad's breast. He +was only blissfully conscious of the admiration she had excited; +and he promised himself a good deal of fun in future in showing +off his horsemanship. He took Lady Clare to the stable, where a +new box-stall had been made for her, examined the premises +carefully and nailed a board over a crevice in the wall where he +suspected a draught. He instructed Anders, the groom, with +emphatic and anxious repetitions regarding her care, showed him +how to make Lady Clare's bed, how to comb her mane, how to brush +her (for she refused to endure currying), how to blanket her, and +how to read the thermometer which he nailed to one of the posts +of the stall. The latter proved to be a more difficult task than +he had anticipated; and the worst of it was that he was not sure +that Anders knew any more on the subject of his instruction at +the end of the lesson than he had at the beginning. To make sure +that he had understood him he asked him to enter the stall and +begin the process of grooming. But no sooner had the unhappy +fellow put his nose inside the door than Lady Clare laid back her +ears in a very ugly fashion, and with a vicious whisk of her tail +waltzed around and planted two hoof-marks in the door, just where +the groom's nose had that very instant vanished. A second and a +third trial had similar results; and as the box-stall was new and +of hard wood, Erik had no wish to see it further damaged. + +"I won't have nothin' to do with that hoss, that's as certain as +my name is Anders," the groom declared; and Erik, knowing that +persuasion would be useless, had henceforth to be his own groom. +The fact was he could not help sympathizing with that +fastidiousness of Lady Clare which made her object to be handled +by coarse fingers and roughly curried, combed, and washed like a +common plebeian nag. One does not commence life associating with +a princess for nothing. Lady Clare, feeling in every nerve her +high descent and breeding, had perhaps a sense of having come +down in the world, and, like many another irrational creature of +her sex, she kicked madly against fate and exhibited the +unloveliest side of her character. But with all her skittishness +and caprice she was steadfast in one thing, and that was her love +for Erik. As the days went by in country monotony, he began to +feel it as a privilege rather than a burden to have the exclusive +care of her. The low, friendly neighing with which she always +greeted him, as soon as he opened the stable-door, was as +intelligible and dear to him as the warm welcome of a friend. +And when with dainty alertness she lifted her small, beautiful +head, over which the fine net-work of veins meandered, above the +top of the stall, and rubbed her nose caressingly against his +cheek, before beginning to snuff at his various pockets for the +accustomed lump of sugar, he felt a glow of affection spread from +his heart and pervade his whole being. Yes, he loved this +beautiful animal with a devotion which, a year ago, he would +scarcely have thought it possible to bestow upon a horse. No one +could have persuaded him that Lady Clare had not a soul which +(whether it was immortal or not) was, at all events, as distinct +and clearly defined as that of any person with whom he was +acquainted. She was to him a personality--a dear, charming +friend, with certain defects of character (as who has not?) which +were, however, more than compensated for by her devotion to him. +She was fastidious, quick-tempered, utterly unreasonable where +her feelings were involved; full of aristocratic prejudice, which +only her sex could excuse; and whimsical, proud, and capricious. +It was absurd, of course, to contend that these qualities were in +themselves admirable; but, on the other hand, few of us would not +consent to overlook them in a friend who loved us as well as Lady +Clare loved Erik. + +The fame of Lady Clare spread through the parish like fire in +withered grass. People came from afar to look at her, and +departed full of wonder at her beauty. When the captain and his +son rode together to church on Sunday morning, men, women, and +children stood in rows at the roadside staring at the wonderful +mare as if she had been a dromedary or a rhinoceros. And when +she was tied in the clergyman's stable a large number of the men +ignored the admonition of the church bells and missed the sermon, +being unable to tear themselves away from Lady Clare's charms. +But woe to him who attempted to take liberties with her; there +were two or three horsy young men who had narrow escapes from +bearing the imprint of her iron shoes for the rest of their days. + +That taught the others a lesson, and now Lady Clare suffered from +no annoying familiarities, but was admired at a respectful +distance, until the pastor, vexed at her rivalry with his sermon, +issued orders to have the stable-door locked during service. + +There was one person besides the pastor who was ill pleased at +the reputation Lady Clare was making. That was John Garvestad, +the owner of Valders-Roan. John was the richest man in the +parish, and always made a point of keeping fine horses. +Valders-Roan, a heavily built, powerful horse, with a tremendous +neck and chest and long tassels on his fetlocks, but rather squat +in the legs, had hitherto held undisputed rank as the finest +horse in all Sogn. By the side of Lady Clare he looked as a +stout, good-looking peasant lad with coltish manners might have +looked by the side of the daughter of a hundred earls. + +But John Garvestad, who was naturally prejudiced in favor of his +own horse, could scarcely be blamed for failing to recognize her +superiority. He knew that formerly, on Sundays, the men were +wont to gather with admiring comment about Valders-Roan; while +now they stood craning their necks, peering through the windows +of the parson's stable, in order to catch a glimpse of Lady +Clare, and all the time Valders-Roan was standing tied to the +fence, in full view of all, utterly neglected. This spectacle +filled him with such ire that he hardly could control himself. +His first impulse was to pick a quarrel with Erik; but a second +and far brighter idea presently struck him. He would buy Lady +Clare. Accordingly, when the captain and his son had mounted +their horses and were about to start on their homeward way, +Garvestad, putting Valders-Roan to his trumps, dug his heels into +his sides and rode up with a great flourish in front of the +churchyard gate. + +"How much will you take for that mare of yours, captain?" he +asked, as he checked his charger with unnecessary vigor close to +Lady Clare. + +"She is not mine to sell," the captain replied. "Lady Clare +belongs to my son." + +"Well, what will you take for her, then?" Garvestad repeated, +swaggeringly, turning to Erik. + +"Not all the gold in the world could buy her," retorted Erik, +warmly. + +Valders-Roan, unable to resist the charms of Lady Clare, had in +the meanwhile been making some cautious overtures toward an +acquaintance. He arched his mighty neck, rose on his hind legs, +while his tremendous forehoofs were beating the air, and cut up +generally--all for Lady Clare's benefit. + +She, however, having regarded his performances for awhile with a +mild and somewhat condescending interest, grew a little tired of +them and looked out over the fiord, as a belle might do, with a +suppressed yawn, when her cavalier fails to entertain her. +Valders-Roan, perceiving the slight, now concluded to make more +decided advances. So he put forward his nose until it nearly +touched Lady Clare's, as if he meant to kiss her. But that was +more than her ladyship was prepared to put up with. Quick as a +flash she flung herself back on her haunches, down went her ears, +and hers was the angriest horse's head that ever had been seen in +that parish. With an indignant snort she wheeled around, kicking +up a cloud of dust by the suddenness of the manoeuvre. A less +skilled rider than Erik would inevitably have been thrown by two +such unforeseen jerks; and the fact was he had all he could do to +keep his seat. + +"Oho!" shouted Garvestad, "your mare shies; she'll break your +neck some day, as likely as not. You had better sell her before +she gets you into trouble." + +"But I shouldn't like to have your broken neck on my conscience," +Erik replied; "if necks are to be broken by Lady Clare I should +prefer to have it be my own." + +The peasant was not clever enough to make out whether this was +jest or earnest. With a puzzled frown he stared at the youth and +finally broke out: + +"Then you won't sell her at no price? Anyway, the day you change +your mind don't forget to notify John Garvestad. If it's +spondulix you are after, then here's where there's plenty of +'em." + +He slapped his left breast-pocket with a great swagger, looking +around to observe the impression he was making on his audience; +then, jerking the bridle violently, so as to make his horse rear, +he rode off like Alexander on Bucephalus, and swung down upon the +highway. + +It was but a few weeks after this occurrence that Captain +Carstens and his son were invited to honor John Garvestad by +their presence at his wedding. They were in doubt, at first, as +to whether they ought to accept the invitation; for some +unpleasant rumors had reached them, showing that Garvestad +entertained unfriendly feelings toward them. He was an intensely +vain man; and the thought that Erik Carstens had a finer horse +than Valders-Roan left him no peace. He had been heard to say +repeatedly that, if that high-nosed youth persisted in his +refusal to sell the mare, he would discover his mistake when, +perhaps, it would be too late to have it remedied. Whatever that +meant, it sufficed to make both Erik and his father uneasy. But, +on the other hand, it would be the worst policy possible, under +such circumstances, to refuse the invitation. For that would be +interpreted either as fear or as aristocratic exclusiveness; and +the captain, while he was new in the district, was as anxious to +avoid the appearance of the one as of the other. Accordingly he +accepted the invitation and on the appointed day rode with his +son into the wide yard of John Garvestad's farm, stopping at the +pump, where they watered their horses. It was early in the +afternoon, and both the house and the barn were thronged with +wedding-guests. From the sitting-room the strains of two fiddles +were heard, mingled with the scraping and stamping of heavy feet. + +Another musical performance was in progress in the barn; and all +over the yard elderly men and youths were standing in smaller and +larger groups, smoking their pipes and tasting the beer-jugs, +which were passed from hand to hand. But the moment Lady Clare +was seen all interest in minor concerns ceased, and with one +accord the crowd moved toward her, completely encircling her, and +viewing her with admiring glances that appreciated all her +perfections. + +"Did you ever see cleaner-shaped legs on a horse?" someone was +heard to say, and instantly his neighbor in the crowd joined the +chorus of praise, and added: "What a snap and spring there is in +every bend of her knee and turn of her neck and flash of her +eye!" + +It was while this chorus of admiration was being sung in all keys +and tones of the whole gamut, that the bridegroom came out of the +house, a little bit tipsy, perhaps, from the many toasts he had +been obliged to drink, and bristling with pugnacity to the ends +of his fingers and the tips of his hair. Every word of praise +that he heard sounded in his ears like a jeer and an insult to +himself. With ruthless thrusts he elbowed his way through the +throng of guests and soon stood in front of the two horses, from +which the captain and Erik had not yet had a chance to dismount. +He returned their greeting with scant courtesy and plunged +instantly into the matter which he had on his mind. + +"I reckon you have thought better of my offer by this time," he +said, with a surly swagger, to Erik. "What do you hold your mare +at to-day?" + +"I thought we had settled that matter once for all," the boy +replied, quietly. "I have no more intention of selling Lady +Clare now than I ever had." + +"Then will ye trade her off for Valders-Roan?" ejaculated +Garvestad, eagerly. + +"No, I won't trade her for Valders-Roan or any other horse in +creation." + +"Don't be cantankerous, now, young fellow, or you might repent of +it." + +"I am not cantankerous. But I beg of you kindly to drop this +matter. I came here, at your invitation, as a guest at your +wedding, not for the purpose of trading horses." + +It was an incautious speech, and was interpreted by everyone +present as a rebuke to the bridegroom for his violation of the +rules of hospitality. The captain, anxious to avoid a row, +therefore broke in, in a voice of friendly remonstrance: "My dear +Mr. Garvestad, do let us drop this matter. If you will permit +us, we should like to dismount and drink a toast to your health, +wishing you a long life and much happiness." + +"Ah, yes, I understand your smooth palaver," the bridegroom +growled between his teeth. "I have stood your insolence long +enough, and, by jingo, I won't stand it much longer. What will +ye take for your mare, I say, or how much do you want to boot, if +you trade her for Valders-Roan?" + +He shouted the last words with furious emphasis, holding his +clinched fist up toward Erik, and glaring at him savagely. + +But now Lady Clare, who became frightened perhaps by the loud +talk and violent gestures, began to rear and plunge, and by an +unforeseen motion knocked against the bridegroom, so that he fell +backward into the horse-trough under the pump, which was full of +water. The wedding-guests had hardly time to realize what was +happening when a great splash sent the water flying into their +faces, and the burly form of John Garvestad was seen sprawling +helplessly in the horse-trough. But then--then they realized it +with a vengeance. And a laugh went up--a veritable storm of +laughter--which swept through the entire crowd and re-echoed with +a ghostly hilarity from the mountains. John Garvestad in the +meanwhile had managed to pick himself out of the horse-trough, +and while he stood snorting, spitting, and dripping, Captain +Carstens and his son politely lifted their hats to him and rode +away. But as they trotted out of the gate they saw their host +stretch a big clinched fist toward them, and heard him scream +with hoarse fury: "I'll make ye smart for that some day, so help +me God!" + +Lady Clare was not sent to the mountains in the summer, as are +nearly all horses in the Norwegian country districts. She was +left untethered in an enclosed home pasture about half a mile +from the mansion. Here she grazed, rolled, kicked up her heels, +and gambolled to her heart's content. During the long, bright +summer nights, when the sun scarcely dips beneath the horizon and +reappears in an hour, clothed in the breezy garments of morning, +she was permitted to frolic, race, and play all sorts of +improvised games with a shaggy, little, plebeian three-year-old +colt whom she had condescended to honor with her acquaintance. +This colt must have had some fine feeling under his rough coat, +for he never presumed in the least upon the acquaintance, being +perhaps aware of the honor it conferred upon him. He allowed +himself to be abused, ignored, or petted, as it might suit the +pleasure of her royal highness, with a patient, even-tempered +good-nature which was admirable. When Lady Clare (perhaps for +fear of making him conceited) took no notice of him, he showed +neither resentment nor surprise, but walked off with a sheepish +shake of his head. Thus he slowly learned the lesson to make no +exhibition of feeling at the sight of his superior; not to run up +and greet her with a disrespectfully joyous whinny; but calmly +wait for her to recognize him before appearing to be aware of her +presence. It took Lady Clare several months to accustom Shag +(for that was the colt's name) to her ways. She taught him +unconsciously the rudiments of good manners; but he proved +himself docile, and when he once had been reduced to his proper +place he proved a fairly acceptable companion. + +During the first and second week after John Garvestad's wedding +Erik had kept Lady Clare stabled, having a vague fear that the +angry peasant might intend to do her harm. But she whinnied so +pitifully through the long light nights that finally he allowed +his compassion to get the better of his anxiety, and once more +she was seen racing madly about the field with Shag, whom she +always beat so ignominiously that she felt half sorry for him, +and as a consolation allowed him gently to claw her mane with his +teeth. This was a privilege which Shag could not fail to +appreciate, though she never offered to return the favor by +clawing him. At any rate, as soon as Lady Clare reappeared in +the meadow Shag's cup of bliss seemed to be full. + +A week passed in this way, nothing happened, and Erik's vigilance +was relaxed. He went to bed on the evening of July 10th with an +easy mind, without the remotest apprehension of danger. The sun +set about ten o'clock, and Lady Clare and Shag greeted its last +departing rays with a whinny, accompanied by a wanton kickup from +the rear--for whatever Lady Clare did Shag felt in honor bound to +do, and was conscious of no disgrace in his abject and ape-like +imitation. They had spent an hour, perhaps, in such delightful +performances, when all of a sudden they were startled by a deep +bass whinny, which rumbled and shook like distant thunder. Then +came the tramp, tramp, tramp of heavy hoof-beats, which made the +ground tremble. Lady Clare lifted her beautiful head and looked +with fearless curiosity in the direction whence the sound came. +Shag, of course, did as nearly as he could exactly the same. +What they saw was a big roan horse with an enormous arched neck, +squat feet, and long-tasselled fetlocks. + +Lady Clare had no difficulty in recognizing Valders-Roan. But +how big and heavy and ominous he looked in the blood-red +after-glow of the blood-red sunset. For the first time in her +life Lady Clare felt a cold shiver of fear run through her. +There was, happily, a fence between them, and she devoutly hoped +that Valders-Roan was not a jumper. At that moment, however, two +men appeared next to the huge horse, and Lady Clare heard the +sound of breaking fence-rails. The deep hoarse whinny once more +made the air shake, and it made poor Lady Clare shake too, for +now she saw Valders-Roan come like a whirlwind over the field, +and so powerful were his hoof-beats that a clod of earth which +had stuck to one of his shoes shot like a bullet through the air. + +He looked so gigantic, so brimming with restrained strength, and +somehow Lady Clare, as she stood quaking at the sight of him, had +never seemed to herself so dainty, frail, and delicate as she +seemed in this moment. She felt herself so entirely at his +mercy; she was no match for him surely. Shag, anxious as ever to +take his cue from her, had stationed himself at her side, and +shook his head and whisked his tail in a non-committal manner. +Now Valders-Roan had cleared the fence where the men had broken +it down; then on he came again, tramp, tramp, tramp, until he was +within half a dozen paces from Lady Clare. There he stopped, for +back went Lady Clare's pretty ears, while she threw herself upon +her haunches in an attitude of defence. She was dimly aware that +this was a foolish thing to do, but her inbred disdain and horror +of everything rough made her act on instinct instead of reason. +Valders-Roan, irritated by this uncalled-for action, now threw +ceremony to the winds, and without further ado trotted up and +rubbed his nose against hers. That was more than Lady Clare +could stand. With an hysterical snort she flung herself about, +and up flew her heels straight into the offending nose, +inflicting considerable damage. Shag, being now quite clear that +the programme was fight, whisked about in exactly the same +manner, with as close an imitation of Lady Clare's snort as he +could produce, and a second pair of steel-shod heels came within +a hair of reducing the enemy's left nostril to the same condition +as the right. But alas for the generous folly of youth! Shag +had to pay dearly for that exhibition of devotion. Valders-Roan, +enraged by this wanton insult, made a dash at Shag, and by the +mere impetus of his huge bulk nearly knocked him senseless. The +colt rolled over, flung all his four legs into the air, and as +soon as he could recover his footing reeled sideways like a +drunken man and made haste to retire to a safe distance. + +Valders-Roan had now a clear field and could turn his undivided +attention to Lady Clare. I am not sure that he had not made an +example of Shag merely to frighten her. Bounding forward with +his mighty chest expanded and the blood dripping from his +nostrils, he struck out with a tremendous hind leg and would have +returned Lady Clare's blow with interest if she had not leaped +high into the air. She had just managed by her superior +alertness to dodge that deadly hoof, and was perhaps not prepared +for an instant renewal of the attack. But she had barely gotten +her four feet in contact with the sod when two rows of terrific +teeth plunged into her withers. The pain was frightful, and with +a long, pitiful scream Lady Clare sank down upon the ground, and, +writhing with agony, beat the air with her hoofs. Shag, who had +by this time recovered his senses, heard the noise of the battle, +and, plucking up his courage, trotted bravely forward against the +victorious Valders-Roan. He was so frightened that his heart +shot up into his throat. But there lay Lady Clare mangled and +bleeding. He could not leave her in the lurch, so forward he +came, trembling, just as Lady Clare was trying to scramble to her +feet. Led away by his sympathy Shag bent his head down toward +her and thereby prevented her from rising. And in the same +instant a stunning blow hit him straight in the forehead, a +shower of sparks danced before his eyes, and then Shag saw and +heard no more. A convulsive quiver ran through his body, then he +stretched out his neck on the bloody grass, heaved a sigh, and +died. + +Lady Clare, seeing Shag killed by the blow which had been +intended for herself, felt her blood run cold. She was strongly +inclined to run, for she could easily beat the heavy Valders-Roan +at a race, and her fleet legs might yet save her. I cannot say +whether it was a generous wrath at the killing of her humble +champion or a mere blind fury which overcame this inclination. +But she knew now neither pain nor fear. With a shrill scream she +rushed at Valders-Roan, and for five minutes a whirling cloud of +earth and grass and lumps of sod moved irregularly over the +field, and tails, heads, and legs were seen flung and tossed +madly about, while an occasional shriek of rage or of pain +startled the night, and re-echoed with a weird resonance between +the mountains. + +It was about five o'clock in the morning of July 11th, that Erik +awoke, with a vague sense that something terrible had happened. +His groom was standing at his bedside with a terrified face, +doubtful whether to arouse his young master or allow him to +sleep. + +"What has happened, Anders?" cried Erik, tumbling out of bed. + +"Lady Clare, sir----" + +"Lady Clare!" shouted the boy. "What about her? Has she been +stolen?" + +"No, I reckon not," drawled Anders. + +"Then she's dead! Quick, tell me what you know or I shall go +crazy!" + +"No; I can't say for sure she's dead either," the groom +stammered, helplessly. + +Erik, being too stunned with grief and pain, tumbled in a dazed +fashion about the room, and scarcely knew how he managed to +dress. He felt cold, shivery, and benumbed; and the daylight had +a cruel glare in it which hurt his eyes. Accompanied by his +groom, he hastened to the home pasture, and saw there the +evidence of the fierce battle which had raged during the night. +A long, black, serpentine track, where the sod had been torn up +by furious hoof-beats, started from the dead carcass of the +faithful Shag and moved with irregular breaks and curves up +toward the gate that connected the pasture with the underbrush of +birch and alder. Here the fence had been broken down, and the +track of the fight suddenly ceased. A pool of blood had soaked +into the ground, showing that one of the horses, and probably the +victor, must have stood still for a while, allowing the +vanquished to escape. + +Erik had no need of being told that the horse which had attacked +Lady Clare was Valders-Roan; and though he would scarcely have +been able to prove it, he felt positive that John Garvestad had +arranged and probably watched the fight. Having a wholesome +dread of jail, he had not dared to steal Lady Clare; but he had +chosen this contemptible method to satisfy his senseless +jealousy. It was all so cunningly devised as to baffle legal +inquiry. Valders-Roan had gotten astray, and being a heavy +beast, had broken into a neighbor's field and fought with his +filly, chasing her away into the mountains. That was the story +he would tell, of course, and as there had been no witnesses +present, there was no way of disproving it. + +Abandoning, however, for the time being all thought of revenge, +Erik determined to bend all his energies to the recovery of Lady +Clare. He felt confident that she had run away from her +assailant, and was now roaming about in the mountains. He +therefore organized a search party of all the male servants on +the estate, besides a couple of volunteers, making in all nine. +On the evening of the first day's search they put up at a saeter +or mountain chalet. Here they met a young man named Tollef +Morud, who had once been a groom at John Garvestad's. This man +had a bad reputation; and as the idea occurred to some of them +that he might know something about Lady Clare's disappearance, +they questioned him at great length, without, however, eliciting +a single crumb of information. + +For a week the search was continued, but had finally to be given +up. Weary, footsore, and heavy hearted, Erik returned home. His +grief at the loss of Lady Clare began to tell on his health; and +his perpetual plans for getting even with John Garvestad amounted +almost to a mania, and caused his father both trouble and +anxiety. It was therefore determined to send him to the military +academy in the capital. + +Four or five years passed and Erik became a lieutenant. It was +during the first year after his graduation from the military +academy that he was invited to spend the Christmas holidays with +a friend, whose parents lived on a fine estate about twenty miles +from the city. Seated in their narrow sleighs, which were drawn +by brisk horses, they drove merrily along, shouting to each other +to make their voices heard above the jingling of the bells. +About eight o'clock in the evening, when the moon was shining +brightly and the snow sparkling, they turned in at a wayside +tavern to order their supper. Here a great crowd of lumbermen +had congregated, and all along the fences their overworked, half- +broken-down horses stood, shaking their nose-bags. The air in +the public room was so filled with the fumes of damp clothes and +bad tobacco that Erik and his friend, while waiting for their +meal, preferred to spend the time under the radiant sky. They +were sauntering about, talking in a desultory fashion, when all +of a sudden a wild, joyous whinny rang out upon the startled air. + +It came from a rusty, black, decrepit-looking mare hitched to a +lumber sleigh which they had just passed. Erik, growing very +serious, paused abruptly. + +A second whinny, lower than the first, but almost alluring and +cajoling, was so directly addressed to Erik that he could not +help stepping up to the mare and patting her on the nose. + +"You once had a horse you cared a great deal for, didn't you?" +his friend remarked, casually. + +"Oh, don't speak about it," answered Erik, in a voice that shook +with emotion; "I loved Lady Clare as I never loved any creature +in this world--except my father, of course," he added, +reflectively. + +But what was the matter with the old lumber nag? At the sound of +the name Lady Clare she pricked up her ears, and lifted her head +with a pathetic attempt at alertness. With a low, insinuating +neighing she rubbed her nose against the lieutenant's cheek. He +had let his hand glide over her long, thin neck, when quite +suddenly his fingers slid into a deep scar in the withers. + +"My God!" he cried, while the tears started to his eyes, "am I +awake, or am I dreaming?" + +"What in the world is the matter?" inquired his comrade, +anxiously. + +"It is Lady Clare! By the heavens, it is Lady Clare!" + +"That old ramshackle of a lumber nag whose every rib you can +count through her skin is your beautiful thoroughbred?" +ejaculated his friend, incredulously. "Come now, don't be a +goose." + +"I'll tell you of it some other time," said Erik, quietly; "but +there's not a shadow of a doubt that this is Lady Clare." + +Yes, strange as it may seem, it was indeed Lady Clare. But oh, +who would have recognized in this skeleton, covered with a +rusty-black skin and tousled mane and forelock in which chaff and +dirt were entangled--who would have recognized in this drooping +and rickety creature the proud, the dainty, the exquisite Lady +Clare? Her beautiful tail, which had once been her pride, was +now a mere scanty wisp; and a sharp, gnarled ridge running along +the entire length of her back showed every vertebra of her spine +through the notched and scarred skin. Poor Lady Clare, she had +seen hard usage. But now the days of her tribulations are at an +end. It did not take Erik long to find the half-tipsy lumberman +who was Lady Clare's owner; nor to agree with him on the price +for which he was willing to part with her. + +There is but little more to relate. By interviews and +correspondence with the different parties through whose hands the +mare had passed, Erik succeeded in tracing her to Tollef Morud, +the ex-groom of John Garvestad. On being promised immunity from +prosecution, he was induced to confess that he had been hired by +his former master to arrange the nocturnal fight between Lady +Clare and Valders-Roan, and had been paid ten dollars for +stealing the mare when she had been sufficiently damaged. John +Garvestad had himself watched the fight from behind the fence, +and had laughed fit to split his sides, until Valders-Roan seemed +on the point of being worsted. Then he had interfered to +separate them, and Tollef had led Lady Clare away, bleeding from +a dozen wounds, and had hidden her in a deserted lumberman's shed +near the saeter where the searchers had overtaken him. + +Having obtained these facts, Erik took pains to let John +Garvestad know that the chain of evidence against him was +complete, and if he had had his own way he would not have rested +until his enemy had suffered the full penalty of the law. But +John Garvestad, suspecting what was in the young man's mind, +suddenly divested himself of his pride, and cringing dike a +whipped dog, came and asked Erik's pardon, entreating him not to +prosecute. + +As for Lady Clare, she never recovered her lost beauty. A pretty +fair-looking mare she became, to be sure, when good feeding and +careful grooming had made her fat and glossy once more. A long +and contented old age is, no doubt, in store for her. Having +known evil days, she appreciates the blessings which the change +in her fate has brought her. The captain declares she is the +best-tempered and steadiest horse in his stable. + + + +BONNYBOY + +I. + +"Oh, you never will amount to anything, Bonnyboy!" said +Bonnyboy's father, when he had vainly tried to show him how to +use a gouge; for Bonnyboy had just succeeded in gouging a piece +out of his hand, and was standing helplessly, letting his blood +drop on an engraving of Napoleon at Austerlitz, which had been +sent to his father for framing. The trouble with Bonnyboy was +that he was not only awkward--left-handed in everything he +undertook, as his father put it--but he was so very good-natured +that it was impossible to get angry with him. His large blue +innocent eyes had a childlike wonder in them, when he had done +anything particularly stupid, and he was so willing and anxious +to learn, that his ill-success seemed a reason for pity rather +than for wrath. Grim Norvold, Bonnyboy's father, was by trade a +carpenter, and handy as he was at all kinds of tinkering, he +found it particularly exasperating to have a son who was so +left-handed. There was scarcely anything Grim could not do. He +could take a watch apart and put it together again; he could mend +a harness if necessary; he could make a wagon; nay, he could even +doctor a horse when it got spavin or glanders. He was a sort of +jack-of-all-trades, and a very useful man in a valley where +mechanics were few and transportation difficult. He loved work +for its own sake, and was ill at ease when he had not a tool in +his hand. The exercise of his skill gave him a pleasure akin to +that which the fish feels in swimming, the eagle in soaring, and +the lark in singing. A finless fish, a wingless eagle, or a dumb +lark could not have been more miserable than Grim was when a +succession of holidays, like Easter or Christmas, compelled him +to be idle. + +When his son was born his chief delight was to think of the time +when he should be old enough to handle a tool, and learn the +secrets of his father's trade. Therefore, from the time the boy +was old enough to sit or to crawl in the shavings without getting +his mouth and eyes full of sawdust, he gave him a place under the +turning bench, and talked or sang to him while he worked. And +Bonnyboy, in the meanwhile amused himself by getting into all +sorts of mischief. If it had not been for the belief that a good +workman must grow up in the atmosphere of the shop, Grim would +have lost patience with his son and sent him back to his mother, +who had better facilities for taking care of him. But the fact +was he was too fond of the boy to be able to dispense with him, +and he would rather bear the loss resulting from his mischief +than miss his prattle and his pretty dimpled face. + +It was when the child was eighteen or nineteen months old that he +acquired the name Bonnyboy. A woman of the neighborhood, who had +called at the shop with some article of furniture which she +wanted to have mended, discovered the infant in the act of +investigating a pot of blue paint, with a part of which he had +accidentally decorated his face. + +"Good gracious! what is that ugly thing you have got under your +turning bench?" she cried, staring at the child in amazement. + +"No, he is not an ugly thing," replied the father, with +resentment; "he is a bonny boy, that's what he is." + +The woman, in order to mollify Grim, turned to the boy, and +asked, with her sweetest manner, "What is your name, child?" + +"Bonny boy," murmured the child, with a vaguely offended +air--"bonny boy." + +And from that day the name Bonnyboy clung to him. + + +II. + +To teach Bonnyboy the trade of a carpenter was a task which would +have exhausted the patience of all the saints in the calendar. +If there was any possible way of doing a thing wrong, Bonnyboy +would be sure to hit upon that way. When he was eleven years old +he chopped off the third joint of the ring-finger on his right +hand with a cutting tool while working the turning-lathe; and by +the time he was fourteen it seemed a marvel to his father that he +had any fingers left at all. But Bonnyboy persevered in spite of +all difficulties, was always cheerful and of good courage, and +when his father, in despair, exclaimed: "Well, you will never +amount to anything, Bonnyboy," he would look up with his slow, +winning smile and say: + +"Don't worry, father. Better luck next time." + +"But, my dear boy, how can I help worrying, when you don't learn +anything by which you can make your living?" + +"Oh, well, father," said Bonnyboy, soothingly (for he was +beginning to feel sorry on his father's account rather than on +his own), "I wouldn't bother about that if I were you. I don't +worry a bit. Something will turn up for me to do, sooner or +later." + +"But you'll do it badly, Bonnyboy, and then you won't get a +second chance. And then, who knows but you may starve to death. +You'll chop off the fingers you have left; and when I am dead and +can no longer look after you, I am very much afraid you'll manage +to chop off your head too." + +"Well," observed Bonnyboy, cheerfully, "in that case I shall not +starve to death." + +Grim had to laugh in spite of himself at the paternal way in +which his son comforted him, as if he were the party to be +pitied. Bonnyboy's unfailing cheerfulness, which had its great +charm, began to cause him uneasiness, because he feared it was +but another form of stupidity. A cleverer boy would have been +sorry for his mistakes and anxious about his own future. But +Bonnyboy looked into the future with the serene confidence of a +child, and nothing under the sun ever troubled him, except his +father's tendency to worry. For he was very fond of his father, +and praised him as a paragon of skill and excellence. He +lavished an abject admiration on everything he did and said. His +dexterity in the use of tools, and his varied accomplishments as +a watch-maker and a horse-doctor, filled Bonnyboy with ungrudging +amazement. He knew it was a hopeless thing for him to aspire to +rival such genius, and he took the thing philosophically, and did +not aspire. + +It occurred to Grim one day, when Bonnyboy had made a most +discouraging exhibition of his awkwardness, that it might be a +good thing to ask the pastor's advice in regard to him. The +pastor had had a long experience in educating children, and his +own, though they were not all clever, promised to turn out well. +Accordingly Grim called at the parsonage, was well received, and +returned home charged to the muzzle with good advice. The pastor +lent him a book full of stories, and recommended him to read them +to his son, and afterward question him about every single fact +which each story contained. This the pastor had found to be a +good way to develop the intellect of a backward boy. + + +III. + +When Bonnyboy had been confirmed, the question again rose what +was to become of him. He was now a tall young fellow, +red-checked, broad-shouldered, and strong, and rather +nice-looking. A slow, good-natured smile spread over his face +when anyone spoke to him, and he had a way of flinging his head +back, when the tuft of yellow hair which usually hung down over +his forehead obscured his sight. Most people liked him, even +though they laughed at him behind his back; but to his face +nobody laughed, because his strength inspired respect. Nor did +he know what fear was when he was roused; but that was probably, +as people thought, because he did not know much of anything. At +any rate, on a certain occasion he showed that there was a limit +to his good-nature, and when that limit was reached, he was not +as harmless a fellow as he looked. + +On the neighboring farm of Gimlehaug there was a wedding to which +Grim and his son were invited. On the afternoon of the second +wedding day--for peasant weddings in Norway are often celebrated +for three days--a notorious bully named Ola Klemmerud took it +into his head to have some sport with the big good-natured +simpleton. So, by way of pleasantry, he pulled the tuft of hair +which hung down upon Bonnyboy's forehead. + +"Don't do that," said Bonnyboy. + +Ola Klemmerud chuckled, and the next time he passed Bonnyboy, +pinched his ear. + +"If you do that again I sha'n't like you," cried Bonnyboy. + +The innocence of that remark made the people laugh, and the +bully, seeing that their sympathy was on his side, was encouraged +to continue his teasing. Taking a few dancing steps across the +floor, he managed to touch Bonnyboy's nose with the toe of his +boot, which feat again was rewarded with a burst of laughter. +The poor lad quietly blew his nose, wiped the perspiration off +his brow with a red handkerchief, and said, "Don't make me mad, +Ola, or I might hurt you." + +This speech struck the company as being immensely funny, and they +laughed till the tears ran down their cheeks. At this moment +Grim entered, and perceived at once that Ola Klemmerud was +amusing the company at his son's expense. He grew hot about his +ears, clinched his teeth, and stared challengingly at the bully. +The latter began to feel uncomfortable, but he could not stop at +this point without turning the laugh against himself, and that he +had not the courage to do. So in order to avoid rousing the +father's wrath, and yet preserving his own dignity, he went over +to Bonnyboy, rumpled his hair with both his hands, and tweaked +his nose. This appeared such innocent sport, according to his +notion, that no rational creature could take offence at it. But +Grim, whose sense of humor was probably defective, failed to see +it in that light. + +"Let the boy alone," he thundered. + +"Well, don't bite my head off, old man," replied Ola. "I haven't +hurt your fool of a boy. I have only been joking with him." + +"I don't think you are troubled with overmuch wit yourself, +judging by the style of your jokes," was Grim's cool retort. + +The company, who plainly saw that Ola was trying to wriggle out +of his difficulty, but were anxious not to lose an exciting +scene, screamed with laughter again; but this time at the bully's +expense. The blood mounted to his head, and his anger got the +better of his natural cowardice. Instead of sneaking off, as he +had intended, he wheeled about on his heel and stood for a moment +irresolute, clinching his fist in his pocket. + +"Why don't you take your lunkhead of a son home to his mother, if +he isn't bright enough to understand fun!" he shouted. + +"Now let me see if you are bright enough to understand the same +kind of fun," cried Grim. Whereupon he knocked off Ola's cap, +rumpled his hair, and gave his nose such a pull that it was a +wonder it did not come off. + +The bully, taken by surprise, tumbled a step backward, but +recovering himself, struck Grim in the face with his clinched +fist. At this moment. Bonnyboy, who had scarcely taken in the +situation; jumped up and screamed, "Sit down, Ola Klemmerud, sit +down!" + +The effect of this abrupt exclamation was so comical, that people +nearly fell from their benches as they writhed and roared with +laughter. + +Bonnyboy, who had risen to go to his father's assistance, paused +in astonishment in the middle of the floor. He could not +comprehend, poor boy, why everything he said provoked such +uncontrollable mirth. He surely had no intention of being funny. + +So, taken aback a little, he repeated to himself, half +wonderingly, with an abrupt pause after each word, +"Sit--down--Ola--Klemmerud--sit--down!" + +But Ola Klemmerud, instead of sitting down, hit Grim repeatedly +about the face and head, and it was evident that the elder man, +in spite of his strength, was not a match for him in alertness. +This dawned presently upon Bonnyboy's slow comprehension, and his +good-natured smile gave way to a flush of excitement. He took +two long strides across the floor, pushed his father gently +aside, and stood facing his antagonist. He repeated once more +his invitation to sit down; to which the latter responded with a +slap which made the sparks dance before Bonnyboy's eyes. Now +Bonnyboy became really angry. Instead of returning the slap, he +seized his enemy with a sudden and mighty grab by both his +shoulders, lifted him up as if he were a bag of hay, and put him +down on a chair with such force that it broke into splinters +under him. + +"Will you now sit down?" said Bonnyboy. + +Nobody laughed this time, and the bully, not daring to rise, +remained seated on the floor among the ruins of the chair. +Thereupon, with imperturbable composure, Bonnyboy turned to his +father, brushed off his coat with his hands and smoothed his +disordered hair. "Now let us go home, father," he said, and +taking the old man's arm he walked out of the room. But hardly +had he crossed the threshold before the astonished company broke +into cheering. + +"Good for you, Bonnyboy!" "Well done, Bonnyboy!" "You are a +bully boy, Bonnyboy!" they cried after him. + +But Bonnyboy strode calmly along, quite unconscious of his +triumph, and only happy to have gotten his father out of the room +safe and sound. For a good while they walked on in silence. +Then, when the effect of the excitement had begun to wear away, +Grim stopped in the path, gazed admiringly at his son, and said, +"Well, Bonnyboy, you are a queer fellow." + +"Oh, yes," answered Bonnyboy, blushing with embarrassment (for +though he did not comprehend the remark, he felt the approving +gaze); "but then, you know, I asked him to sit down, and he +wouldn't." + +"Bless your innocent heart!" murmured his father, as he gazed at +Bonnyboy's honest face with a mingling of affection and pity. + + +IV. + +When Bonnyboy was twenty years old his father gave up, once for +all, his attempt to make a carpenter of him. A number of +saw-mills had been built during the last years along the river +down in the valley, and the old rapids had been broken up into a +succession of mill-dams, one above the other. At one of these +saw-mills Bonnyboy sought work, and was engaged with many others +as a mill hand. His business was to roll the logs on to the +little trucks that ran on rails, and to push them up to the saws, +where they were taken in charge by another set of men, who +fastened and watched them while they were cut up into planks. +Very little art was, indeed, required for this simple task; but +strength was required, and of this Bonnyboy had enough and to +spare. He worked with a will from early morn till dewy eve, and +was happy in the thought that he had at last found something that +he could do. It made the simple-hearted fellow proud to observe +that he was actually gaining his father's regard; or, at all +events, softening the disappointment which, in a vague way, he +knew that his dulness must have caused him. If, occasionally, he +was hurt by a rolling log, he never let any one know it; but even +though his foot was a mass of agony every time he stepped on it, +he would march along as stiffly as a soldier. It was as if he +felt his father's eye upon him long before he saw him. + +There was a curious kind of sympathy between them which expressed +itself, on the father's part, in a need to be near his son. But +he feared to avow any such weakness, knowing that Bonnyboy would +interpret it as distrust of his ability to take care of himself, +and a desire to help him if he got into trouble. Grim, +therefore, invented all kinds of transparent pretexts for paying +visits to the saw-mills. And when he saw Bonnyboy, conscious +that his eye was resting upon him, swinging his axe so that the +chips flew about his ears, and the perspiration rained from his +brow, a dim anxiety often took possession of him, though he could +give no reason for it. That big brawny fellow, with the frame of +a man and the brain of a child, with his guileless face and his +guileless heart, strangely moved his compassion. There was +something almost beautiful about him, his father thought; but he +could not have told what it was; nor would he probably have found +any one else that shared his opinion. That frank and genial gaze +of Bonnyboy's, which expressed goodness of heart but nothing +else, seemed to Grim an "open sesame" to all hearts; and that +unawakened something which goes so well with childhood, but not +with adult age, filled him with tenderness and a vague anxiety. +"My poor lad," he would murmur to himself, as he caught sight of +Bonnyboy's big perspiring face, with the yellow tuft of hair +hanging down over his forehead, "clever you are not; but you have +that which the cleverest of us often lack." + + +V. + +There were sixteen saw-mills in all, and the one at which +Bonnyboy was employed was the last of the series. They were +built on little terraces on both banks of the river, and every +four of them were supplied with power from an artificial dam, in +which the water was stored in time of drought, and from which it +escaped in a mill-race when required for use. These four dams +were built of big stones, earthwork, and lumber, faced with +smooth planks, over which a small quantity of water usually +drizzled into the shallow river-bed. Formerly, before the power +was utilized, this slope had been covered with seething and +swirling rapids--a favorite resort of the salmon, which leaped +high in the spring, and were caught in the box-traps that hung on +long beams over the water. Now the salmon had small chance of +shedding their spawn in the cool, bright mountain pools, for they +could not leap the dams, and if by chance one got into the mill- +race, it had a hopeless struggle against a current that would +have carried an elephant off his feet. Bonnyboy, who more than +once had seen the beautiful silvery fish spring right on to the +millwheel, and be flung upon the rocks, had wished that he had +understood the language of the fishes, so that he might tell them +how foolish such proceedings were. But merciful though he was, +he had been much discouraged when, after having put them back +into the river, they had promptly repeated the experiment. + +There were about twenty-five or thirty men employed at the mill +where Bonnyboy earned his bread in the sweat of his brow, and he +was, on the whole, on good terms with all of them. They did, to +be sure, make fun of him occasionally; but sometimes he failed to +understand it, and at other times he made clumsy but good-humored +attempts to repay their gibes in kind. They took good care, +however, not to rouse his wrath, for the reputation he had +acquired by his treatment of Ola Klemmerud made them afraid to +risk a collision. + +This was the situation when the great floods of 188- came, and +introduced a spice of danger into Bonnyboy's monotonous life. +The mill-races were now kept open night and day, and yet the +water burst like a roaring cascade over the tops of dams, and the +river-bed was filled to overflowing with a swiftly-hurrying tawny +torrent, which filled the air with its rush and swash, and sent +hissing showers of spray flying through the tree-tops. Bonnyboy +and a gang of twenty men were working as they had never worked +before in their lives, under the direction of an engineer, who +had been summoned by the mill-owner to strengthen the dams; for +if but one of them burst, the whole tremendous volume of water +would be precipitated upon the valley, and the village by the +lower falls and every farm within half a mile of the river-banks +would be swept out of existence. Guards were stationed all the +way up the river to intercept any stray lumber that might be +afloat. For if a log jam were added to the terrific strain of +the flood, there would surely be no salvation possible. Yet in +spite of all precautions, big logs now and then came bumping +against the dams, and shot with wild gyrations and somersaults +down into the brown eddies below. + +The engineer, who was standing on the top of a log pile, had +shouted until he was hoarse, and gesticulated with his cane until +his arms were lame, but yet there was a great deal to do before +he could go to bed with an easy conscience. Bonnyboy and his +comrades, who had had by far the harder part of the task, were +ready to drop with fatigue. It was now eight o'clock in the +evening, and they had worked since six in the morning, and had +scarcely had time to swallow their scant rations. Some of them +began to grumble, and the engineer had to coax and threaten them +to induce them to persevere for another hour. The moon was just +rising behind the mountain ridges, and the beautiful valley lay, +with its green fields, sprouting forests, and red-painted +farm-houses, at Bonnyboy's feet. It was terrible to think that +perhaps destruction was to overtake those happy and peaceful +homes, where men had lived and died for many hundred years. +Bonnyboy could scarcely keep back the tears when this fear +suddenly came over him. Was it not strange that, though they +knew that danger was threatening, they made not the slightest +effort to save themselves? In the village below men were still +working in their forges, whose chimneys belched forth fiery +smoke, and the sound of their hammer-blows could be heard above +the roar of the river. Women were busy with their household +tasks; some boys were playing in the streets, damming up the +gutters and shrieking with joy when their dams broke. A few +provident souls had driven their cattle to the neighboring hills; +but neither themselves nor their children had they thought it +necessary to remove. The fact was, nobody believed that the dams +would break, as they had not imagination enough to foresee what +would happen if the dams did break. + +Bonnyboy was wet to the skin, and his knees were a trifle shaky +from exhaustion. He had been cutting down an enormous mast-tree, +which was needed for a prop to the dam, and had hauled it down +with two horses, one of which was a half-broken gray colt, unused +to pulling in a team. To restrain this frisky animal had +required all Bonnyboy's strength, and he stood wiping his brow +with the sleeve of his shirt. Just at that moment a terrified +yell sounded from above: "Run for your lives! The upper dam is +breaking!" + +The engineer from the top of the log-pile cast a swift glance up +the valley, and saw at once from the increasing volume of water +that the report was true. + +"Save yourselves, lads!" he screamed. "Run to the woods!" + +And suiting his action to his words, he tumbled down from the log +pile, and darted up the hill-side toward the forest. The other +men, hearing the wild rush and roar above them, lost no time in +following his example. Only Bonnyboy, slow of comprehension as +always, did not obey. Suddenly there flared up a wild resolution +in his face. He pulled out his knife, cut the traces, and leaped +upon the colt's back. Lashing the beast, and shouting at the top +of his voice, he dashed down the hill-side at a break-neck pace. + +"The dam is breaking!" he roared. "Run for the woods!" + +He glanced anxiously behind him to see if the flood was +overtaking him. A great cloud of spray was rising against the +sky, and he heard the yells of men and the frenzied neighing of +horses through the thunderous roar. But happily there was time. +The dam was giving way gradually, and had not yet let loose the +tremendous volume of death and desolation which it held enclosed +within its frail timbers. The colt, catching the spirit of +excitement in the air, flew like the wind, leaving farm after +farm behind it, until it reached the village. + +"The dam is breaking! Run for your lives!" cried Bonnyboy, with +a rousing clarion yell which rose above all other poises; and up +and down the valley the dread tidings spread like wildfire. In +an instant all was in wildest commotion. Terrified mothers, with +babes in their arms, came bursting out of the houses, and little +girls, hugging kittens or cages with canary-birds, clung weeping +to their skirts; shouting men, shrieking women, crying children, +barking dogs, gusty showers sweeping from nowhere down upon the +distracted fugitives, and above all the ominous, throbbing, +pulsating roar as of a mighty chorus of cataracts. It came +nearer and nearer. It filled the great vault of the sky with a +rush as of colossal wing-beats. Then there came a deafening +creaking and crashing; then a huge brownish-white rolling wall, +upon which the moonlight gleamed for an instant, and then the +very trump of doom--a writhing, brawling, weltering chaos of +cattle, dogs, men, lumber, houses, barns, whirling and struggling +upon the destroying flood. + + +VI. + +It was the morning after the disaster. The sun rose red and +threatening, circled with a ring of fiery mist. People encamped +upon the hill-side greeted each other as on the morn of +resurrection. For many were found among the living who were +being mourned as dead. Mothers hugged their children with +tearful joy, thanking God that they had been spared; and husbands +who had heard through the night the agonized cries of their +drowning wives, finding them at dawn safe and sound, felt as if +they had recovered them from the very gates of death. When all +were counted, it was ascertained that but very few of the +villagers had been overtaken by the flood. The timely warning +had enabled all to save themselves, except some who in their +eagerness to rescue their goods had lingered too long. +Impoverished most of them were by the loss of their houses and +cattle. The calamity was indeed overwhelming. But when they +considered how much greater the disaster would have been if the +flood had come upon them unheralded, they felt that they had +cause for gratitude in the midst of their sorrow. And who was it +that brought the tidings that snatched them from the jaws of +death? Well, nobody knew. He rode too fast. And each was too +much startled by the message to take note of the messenger. But +who could he possibly have been? An angel from Heaven, perhaps +sent by God in His mercy. That was indeed more than likely. The +belief was at once accepted that the rescuer was an angel from +heaven. But just then a lumberman stepped forward who had worked +at the mill and said: "It was Bonnyboy, Grim Carpenter's son. I +saw him jump on his gray colt." + +Bonnyboy, Grim Carpenter's son. It couldn't be possible. But +the lumberman insisted that it was, and they had to believe him, +though, of course, it was a disappointment. But where was +Bonnyboy? He deserved thanks, surely. And, moreover, that gray +colt was a valuable animal. It was to be hoped that it was not +drowned. + +The water had now subsided, though it yet overflowed the banks; +so that trees, bent and splintered by the terrific force of the +flood, grew far out in the river. The foul dams had all been +swept away, and the tawny torrent ran again with tumultuous +rapids in its old channel. Of the mills scarcely a vestige was +left except slight cavities in the banks, and a few twisted beams +clinging to the rocks where they had stood. The ruins of the +village, with jagged chimneys and broken walls, loomed out of a +half-inundated meadow, through which erratic currents were +sweeping. Here and there lay a dead cow or dog, and in the +branches of a maple-tree the carcasses of two sheep were +entangled. In this marshy field a stooping figure was seen +wading about, as if in search of something. The water broke +about his knees, and sometimes reached up to his waist. He stood +like one dazed, and stared into the brown swirling torrent. Now +he poked something with his boat-hook, now bent down and purled +some dead thing out of a copse of shrubbery in which it had been +caught. The sun rose higher in the sky, and the red vapors were +scattered. But still the old man trudged wearily about, with the +stony stare in his eyes, searching for him whom he had lost. One +company after another now descended from the hill-sides, and from +the high-lying farms which had not been reached by the flood came +wagons with provisions and clothes, and men and women eager and +anxious to help. They shouted to the old man in the submerged +field, and asked what he was looking for. But he only shook his +head, as if he did not understand. + +"Why, that is old Grim the carpenter," said someone. "Has +anybody seen Bonnyboy?" + +But no one had seen Bonnyboy. + +"Do you want help?" they shouted to Grim; but they got no +answer. + +Hour after hour old Grim trudged about in the chilly water +searching for his son. Then, about noon, when he had worked his +way far down the river, he caught sight of something which made +his heart stand still. In a brown pool, in which a +half-submerged willow-tree grew, he saw a large grayish shape +which resembled a horse. He stretched out the boat-hook and +rolled it over. Dumbly, fearlessly, he stood staring into the +pool. There lay his son--there lay Bonnyboy stark and dead. + +The cold perspiration broke out upon Grim's brow, and his great +breast labored. Slowly he stooped down, drew the dead body out +of the water, and tenderly laid it across his knees. He stared +into the sightless eyes, and murmuring a blessing, closed them. +There was a large discolored spot on the forehead, as of a +bruise. Grim laid his hand softly upon it, and stroked away the +yellow tuft of hair. + +"My poor lad," he said, while the tears coursed down his wrinkled +cheeks, "you had a weak head, but your heart, Bonnyboy--your +heart was good." + + + +THE CHILD OF LUCK + +I. + +A sunny-tempered little fellow was Hans, and his father declared +that he had brought luck with him when he came into the world. + +"He was such a handsome baby when he was born," said Inga, his +mother; "but you would scarcely believe it now, running about as +he does in forest and field, tearing his clothes and scratching +his face." + +Now, it was true, as Hans's mother said, that he did often tear +his clothes; and as he had an indomitable curiosity, and had to +investigate everything that came in his way, it was also no +uncommon thing for him to come home with his face stung or +scratched. + +"Why must you drag that child with you wherever you go, Nils?" +the mother complained to Hans's father, when the little boy was +brought to her in such a disreputable condition. "Why can't you +leave him at home? What other man do you know who carries a +six-year-old little fellow about with him in rain and shine, +storm and quiet? + +"Well," Nils invariably answered, "I like him and he likes me. +He brings me luck." + +This was a standing dispute between Nils and Inga, his wife, and +they never came to an agreement. She knew as well as her husband +that before little Hans was born there was want and misery in +their cottage. But from the hour the child lifted up its tiny +voice, announcing its arrival, there had been prosperity and +contentment. Their luck had turned, Nils said, and it was the +child that had turned it. They had been married for four years, +and though they had no one to provide for but themselves, they +scarcely managed to keep body and soul together. All sorts of +untoward things happened. Now a tree which he was cutting down +fell upon Nils and laid him up for a month; now he got water on +his knee from a blow he received while rolling logs into the +chute; now the pig died which was to have provided them with salt +pork for the winter, and the hens took to the bush, and laid +their eggs where nobody except the rats and the weasels could +find them. But since little Hans had come and put an end to all +these disasters, his father had a superstitious feeling that he +could not bear to have him away from him. Therefore every +morning when he started out for the forest or the river he +carried Hans on his shoulder. And the little boy sat there, +smiling proudly and waving his hand to his mother, who stood in +the door looking longingly after him. + +"Hello, little chap!" cried the lumbermen, when they saw him. +"Good-morning to you and good luck!" + +They always cheered up, however bad the weather was, when they +saw little Hans, for nobody could look at his sunny little face +without feeling something like a ray of sunlight stealing into +his heart. Hans had a smile and a wave of his hand for +everybody. He knew all the lumbermen by name, and they knew him. + +They sang as they swung the axe or the boat-hook, and the work +went merrily when little Hans sat on the top of the log pile and +shouted to them. But if by chance he was absent for a day or two +they missed him. No songs were heard, but harsh words, and not +infrequently quarrels. Now, nobody believed, of course, that +little Hans was such a wizard that he could make people feel and +behave any better than it was in their nature to do; but sure it +was--at least the lumbermen insisted that it was so--there was +joy and good-tempered mirth wherever that child went, and life +seemed a little sadder and poorer to those who knew him when he +was away. + +No one will wonder that Nils sometimes boasted of his little son. + +He told not once, but a hundred times, as they sat about the +camp-fire eating their dinner, that little Hans was a child of +luck, and that no misfortune could happen while he was near. +Lumbermen are naturally superstitious, and though perhaps at +first they may have had their doubts, they gradually came to +accept the statement without question. They came to regard it as +a kind of right to have little Hans sit on the top of the log +pile when they worked, or running along the chute, while the +wild-cat strings of logs shot down the steep slide with lightning +speed. They were not in the least afraid lest the logs should +jump the chute, as they had often done before, killing or maiming +the unhappy man that came too near. For was not little Hans's +life charmed, so that no harm could befall him? + +Now, it happened that Inga, little Hans's mother, came one day to +the river to see how he was getting on. Nils was then standing +on a raft hooking the floating logs with his boat-hook, while the +boy was watching him from the shore, shouting to him, throwing +chips into the water, and amusing himself as best he could. It +was early in May, and the river was swollen from recent thaws. +Below the cataract where the lumbermen worked, the broad, brown +current moved slowly along with sluggish whirls and eddies; but +the raft was moored by chains to the shore, so that it was in no +danger of getting adrift. It was capital fun to see the logs +come rushing down the slide, plunging with a tremendous splash +into the river, and then bob up like live things after having +bumped against the bottom. Little Hans clapped his hands and +yelled with delight when a string of three or four came tearing +along in that way, and dived, one after the other, headlong into +the water. + +"Catch that one, papa!" he cried; "that is a good big fellow. +He dived like a man, he did. He has washed the dirt off his +snout now; that was the reason he took such a big plunge." + +Nils never failed to reach his boat-hook after the log little +Hans indicated, for he liked to humor him, and little Hans liked +to be humored. He had an idea that he was directing his father's +work, and Nils invented all sorts of innocent devices to flatter +little Hans's dignity, and make him think himself indispensable. +It was of no use, therefore, for poor Inga to beg little Hans to +go home with her. He had so much to do, he said, that he +couldn't. He even tried to tear himself away from his mother +when she took him by the arm and remonstrated with him. And then +and there the conviction stole upon Inga that her child did not +love her. She was nothing to him compared to what his father +was. And was it right for Nils thus to rob her of the boy's +affection? Little Hans could scarcely be blamed for loving his +father better; for love is largely dependent upon habit, and Nils +had been his constant companion since he was a year old. A +bitter sense of loneliness and loss overcame the poor wife as she +stood on the river-bank pleading with her child, and finding that +she annoyed instead of moving him. + +"Won't you come home with mamma, little Hans?" she asked, +tearfully. "The kitten misses you very much; it has been mewing +for you all the morning." + +"No," said little Hans, thrusting his hands into his pockets, and +turning about with a manly stride; "we are going to have the +lumber inspector here to-day? and then papa's big raft is going +down the river." + +"But this dreadful noise, dear; how can you stand it? And the +logs shooting down that slide and making such a racket. And +these great piles of lumber, Hans--think, if they should tumble +down and kill you!" + +"Oh, I'm not afraid, mamma," cried Hans, proudly; and, to show +his fearlessness, he climbed up the log pile, and soon stood on +the top of it, waving his cap and shouting. + +"Oh, do come down, child--do come down!" begged Inga, anxiously. + +She had scarcely uttered the words when she heard a warning shout +from the slope above, and had just time to lift her eyes, when +she saw a big black object dart past her, strike the log pile, +and break with a deafening crash. A long confused rumble of +rolling logs followed, terrified voices rent the air, and, above +it all, the deep and steady roar of the cataract. She saw, as +through a fog, little Hans, serene and smiling as ever, borne +down on the top of the rolling lumber, now rising up and skipping +from log to log, now clapping his hands and screaming with +pleasure, and then suddenly vanishing in the brown writhing +river. His laughter was still ringing in her ears; the poor +child, he did not realize his danger. The rumbling of falling +logs continued with terrifying persistence. Splash! splash! +splash! they went, diving by twos, by fours, and by dozens at +the very spot where her child had vanished. But where was little +Hans? Oh, where was he? It was all so misty, so unreal and +confused. She could not tell whether little Hans was among the +living or among the dead. But there, all of a sudden, his head +popped up in the middle of the river; and there was another head +close to his--it was that of his father! And round about them +other heads bobbed up; for all the lumbermen who were on the raft +had plunged into the water with Nils when they saw that little +Hans was in danger. A dozen more were running down the slope as +fast as their legs could carry them; and they gave a tremendous +cheer when they saw little Hans's face above the water. He +looked a trifle pale and shivery, and he gave a funny little +snort, so that the water spurted from his nose. He had lost his +hat, but he did not seem to be hurt. His little arms clung +tightly about his father's neck, while Nils, dodging the bobbing +logs, struck out with all his might for the shore. And when he +felt firm bottom under his feet, and came stumbling up through +the shallow water, looking like a drowned rat, what a welcome he +received from the lumbermen! They all wanted to touch little +Hans and pat his cheek, just to make sure that it was really he. + +"It was wonderful indeed," they said, "that he ever came up out +of that horrible jumble of pitching and diving logs. He is a +child of luck, if ever there was one." + +Not one of them thought of the boy's mother, and little Hans +himself scarcely thought of her, elated as he was at the welcome +he received from the lumbermen. Poor Inga stood dazed, +struggling with a horrible feeling, seeing her child passed from +one to the other, while she herself claimed no share in him. +Somehow the thought stung her. A sudden clearness burst upon +her; she rushed forward, with a piercing scream, snatched little +Hans from his father's arms, and hugging his wet little shivering +form to her breast, fled like a deer through the underbrush. + +From that day little Hans was not permitted to go to the river. +It was in vain that Nils pleaded and threatened. His wife acted +so unreasonably when that question was broached that he saw it +was useless to discuss it. She seized little Hans as a tigress +might seize her young, and held him tightly clasped, as if daring +anybody to take him away from her. Nils knew it would require +force to get his son back again, and that he was not ready to +employ. But all joy seemed to have gone out of his life since he +had lost the daily companionship of little Hans. His work became +drudgery; and all the little annoyances of life, which formerly +he had brushed away as one brushes a fly from his nose, became +burdens and calamities. The raft upon which he had expended so +much labor went to pieces during a sudden rise of the river the +night after little Hans's adventure, and three days later Thorkel +Fossen was killed outright by a string of logs that jumped the +chute. + +"It isn't the same sort of place since you took little Hans +away," the lumbermen would often say to Nils. "There's no sort +of luck in anything." + +Sometimes they taunted him with want of courage, and called him a +"night-cap" and a "hen-pecked coon," all of which made Nils +uncomfortable. He made two or three attempts to persuade his +wife to change her mind in regard to little Hans, but the last +time she got so frightened that she ran out of the house and hid +in the cow stable with the boy, crouching in an empty stall, and +crying as if her heart would break, when little Hans escaped and +betrayed her hiding-place. The boy, in fact, sympathized with +his father, and found his confinement at home irksome. The +companionship of the cat had no more charm for him; and even the +brindled calf, which had caused such an excitement when he first +arrived, had become an old story. Little Halls fretted, was +mischievous for want of better employment, and gave his mother no +end of trouble. He longed for the gay and animated life at the +river, and he would have run away if he had not been watched. He +could not imagine how the lumbermen could be getting on without +him. It seemed to him that all work must come to a stop when he +was no longer sitting on the top of the log piles, or standing on +the bank throwing chips into the water. + +Now, as a matter of fact, they were not getting on very well at +the river without little Hans. The luck had deserted them, the +lumbermen said; and whatever mishaps they had, they attributed to +the absence of little Hans. They came to look with +ill-suppressed hostility at Nils, whom they regarded as +responsible for their misfortunes. For they could scarcely +believe that he was quite in earnest in his desire for the boy's +return, otherwise they could not comprehend how his wife could +dare to oppose him. The weather was stormy, and the mountain +brook which ran along the slide concluded to waste no more labor +in carving out a bed for itself in the rock, when it might as +well be using the slide which it found ready made. And one fine +day it broke into the slide and half filled it, so that the logs, +when they were started down the steep incline, sent the water +flying, turned somersaults, stood on end, and played no end of +dangerous tricks which no one could foresee. Several men were +badly hurt by beams shooting like rockets through the air, and +old Mads Furubakken was knocked senseless and carried home for +dead. Then the lumbermen held a council, and made up their minds +to get little Hans by fair means or foul. They thought first of +sending a delegation of four or five men that very morning, but +finally determined to march up to Nils's cottage in a body and +demand the boy. There were twenty of them at the very least, and +the tops of their long boat-hooks, which they carried on their +shoulders, were seen against the green forest before they were +themselves visible. + +Nils, who was just out of bed, was sitting on the threshold +smoking his pipe and pitching a ball to little Hans, who laughed +with delight whenever he caught it. Inga was bustling about +inside the house, preparing breakfast, which was to consist of +porridge, salt herring, and baked potatoes. It had rained during +the night, and the sky was yet overcast, but the sun was +struggling to break through the cloud-banks. A couple of +thrushes in the alder-bushes about the cottage were rejoicing at +the change in the weather, and Nils was listening to their song +and to his son's merry prattle, when he caught sight of the +twenty lumbermen marching up the hillside. He rose, with some +astonishment, and went to meet them. Inga, hearing their voices, +came to the door, and seeing the many men, snatched up little +Hans, and with a wildly palpitating heart ran into the cottage, +bolting the door behind her. She had a vague foreboding that +this unusual visit meant something hostile to herself, and she +guessed that Nils had been only the spokesman of his comrades in +demanding so eagerly the return of the boy to the river. She +believed all their talk about his luck to be idle nonsense; but +she knew that Nils had unwittingly spread this belief, and that +the lumbermen were convinced that little Hans was their good +genius, whose presence averted disaster. Distracted with fear +and anxiety, she stood pressing her ear against the crack in the +door, and sometimes peeping out to see what measures she must +take for the child's safety. Would Nils stand by her, or would +he desert her? But surely--what was Nils thinking about? He was +extending his hand to each of the men, and receiving them kindly. + +Next he would be inviting them to come in and take little Hans. +She saw one of the men--Stubby Mons by name--step forward, and +she plainly heard him say: + +"We miss the little chap down at the river, Nils. The luck has +been against us since he left." + +"Well, Mons," Nils answered, "I miss the little chap as much as +any of you; perhaps more. But my wife--she's got a sort of +crooked notion that the boy won't come home alive if she lets him +go to the river. She got a bad scare last time, and it isn't any +use arguing with her." + +"But won't you let us talk to her, Nils?" one of the lumbermen +proposed. "It is a tangled skein, and I don't pretend to say +that I can straighten it out. But two men have been killed and +one crippled since the little chap was taken away. And in the +three years he was with us no untoward thing happened. Now that +speaks for itself, Nils, doesn't it?" + +"It does, indeed," said Nils, with an air of conviction. + +"And you'll let us talk to your wife, and see if we can't make +her listen to reason," the man urged. + +"You are welcome to talk to her as much as you like," Nils +replied, knocking out his pipe on the heel of his boot; "but I +warn you that she's mighty cantankerous." + +He rose slowly, and tried to open the door. It was locked. +"Open, Inga," he said, a trifle impatiently; "there are some men +here who want to see you." + + +II. + +Inga sat crouching on the hearth, hugging little Hans to her +bosom. She shook and trembled with fear, let her eyes wander +around the walls, and now and then moaned at the thought that now +they would take little Hans away from her. + +"Why don't you open the door for papa?" asked little Hans, +wonderingly. + +Ah, he too was against her! All the world was against her! And +her husband was in league with her enemies! + +"Open, I say!" cried Nils, vehemently. "What do you mean by +locking the door when decent people come to call upon us?" + +Should she open the door or should she not? Holding little Hans +in her arms, she rose hesitatingly, and stretched out her hand +toward the bolt. But all of a sudden, in a paroxysm of fear, she +withdrew her hand, turned about, and fled with the child through +the back door. The alder bushes grew close up to the walls of +the cottage, and by stooping a little she managed to remain +unobserved. Her greatest difficulty was to keep little Hans from +shouting to his father, and she had to put her hand over his +mouth to keep him quiet; for the boy, who had heard the voices +without, could not understand why he should not be permitted to +go out and converse with his friends the lumbermen. The wild +eyes and agitated face of his mother distressed him, and the +little showers of last night's rain which the trees shook down +upon him made him shiver. + +"Why do you run so, mamma?" he asked, when she removed her hand +from his mouth. + +"Because the bad men want to take you away from me, Hans," she +answered, panting. + +"Those were not bad men, mamma," the boy ejaculated. "That was +Stubby Mons and Stuttering Peter and Lars Skin-breeches. They +don't, want to hurt me." + +He expected that his mamma would be much relieved at receiving +this valuable information, and return home without delay. But +she still pressed on, flushed and panting, and cast the same +anxious glances behind her. + +In the meanwhile Nils and his guests had entirely lost their +patience. Finding his persuasions of no avail, the former began +to thump at the door with the handle of his axe, and receiving no +response, he climbed up to the window and looked in. To his +amazement there was no one in the room. Thinking that Inga might +have gone to the cow-stable, he ran to the rear of the cottage, +and called her name. Still no answer. + +"Hans," he cried, "where are you?" + +But Hans, too, was as if spirited away. It scarcely occurred to +Nils, until he had searched the cow- stable and the house in +vain, that his wife had fled from the harmless lumbermen. Then +the thought shot through his brain that possibly she was not +quite right in her head; that this fixed idea that everybody +wanted to take her child away from her had unsettled her reason. +Nils grew hot and cold in the same moment as this dreadful +apprehension took lodgement in his mind. Might she not, in her +confused effort to save little Hans, do him harm? In the blind +and feverish terror which possessed her might she not rush into +the water, or leap over a precipice? Visions of little Hans +drowning, or whirled into the abyss in his mother's arms, crowded +his fancy as he walked back to the lumbermen, and told them that +neither his wife nor child was anywhere to be found. + +"I would ask ye this, lads," he said, finally: "if you would help +me search for them. For Inga--I reckon she is a little touched +in the upper story--she has gone off with the boy, and I can't +get on without little Hans any more than you can." + +The men understood the situation at a glance, and promised their +aid. They had all looked upon Inga as "high-strung" and "queer," +and it did not surprise them to hear that she had been frightened +out of her wits at their request for the loan of little Hans. +Forming a line, with a space of twenty feet between each man, +they began to beat the bush, climbing the steep slope toward the +mountains. Inga, pausing for an instant, and peering out between +the tree trunks, saw the alder bushes wave as they broke through +the underbrush. She knew now that she was pursued. Tired she +was, too, and the boy grew heavier for every step that she +advanced. And yet if she made him walk, he might run away from +her. If he heard his father's voice, he would be certain to +answer. Much perplexed, she looked about her for a hiding-place. + +For, as the men would be sure to overtake her, her only safety +was in hiding. With tottering knees she stumbled along, carrying +the heavy child, grabbing hold of the saplings for support, and +yet scarcely keeping from falling. The cold perspiration broke +from her brow and a strange faintness overcame her. + +"You will have to walk, little Hans," she said, at last. "But if +you run away from me, dear, I shall lie down here and die." + +Little Hans promised that he would not run away, and for five +minutes they walked up a stony path which looked like the +abandoned bed of a brook. + +"You hurt my hand, mamma," whimpered the boy, "you squeeze so +hard." + +She would have answered, but just then she heard the voices of +the lumbermen scarcely fifty paces away. With a choking +sensation and a stitch in her side she pressed on, crying out in +spirit for the hills to hide her and the mountains to open their +gates and receive her. Suddenly she stood before a rocky wall +some eighty or a hundred feet high. She could go no farther. +Her strength was utterly exhausted. There was a big boulder +lying at the base of the rock, and a spreading juniper half +covered it. Knowing that in another minute she would be +discovered, she flung herself down behind the boulder, though the +juniper needles scratched her face, and pulled little Hans down +at her side. But, strange to say, little Hans fell farther than +she had calculated, and utterly-vanished from sight. She heard a +muffled cry, and reaching her hand in the direction where he had +fallen, caught hold of his arm. A strong, wild smell beat +against her, and little Hans, as he was pulled out, was enveloped +in a most unpleasant odor. But odor or no odor, here was the +very hiding-place she had been seeking. A deserted wolf's den, +it was, probably--at least she hoped it was deserted; for if it +was not, she might be confronted with even uglier customers than +the lumbermen. But she had no time for debating the question, +for she saw the head of Stubby Mons emerging from the leaves, and +immediately behind him came Stuttering Peter, with his long boat- +hook. Quick as a flash she slipped into the hole, and dragged +Hans after her. The juniper-bush entirely covered the entrance. +She could see everyone who approached, without being seen. +Unhappily, the boy too caught sight of Stubby Mons, and called +him by name. The lumberman stopped and pricked up his ears. + +"Did you hear anybody call?" he asked his companion. + +"N-n-n-n-aw, I d-d-d-d-didn't," answered Stuttering Peter. +"There b-be lots of qu-qu-qu-qu-eer n-noises in the w-w-w-woods." + +Little Hans heard every word that they spoke, and he would have +cried out again, if it hadn't appeared such great fun to be +playing hide-and-go-seek with the lumbermen. He had a delicious +sense of being well hidden, and had forgotten everything except +the zest of the game. Most exciting it became when Stubby Mons +drew the juniper-bush aside and peered eagerly behind the +boulder. Inga's heart stuck in her throat; she felt sure that in +the next instant they would be discovered. And as ill-luck would +have it, there was something alive scrambling about her feet and +tugging at her skirts. Suddenly she felt a sharp bite, but +clinched her teeth, and uttered no sound. When her vision again +cleared, the juniper branch had rebounded into its place, and the +face of Stubby Mons was gone. She drew a deep breath of relief, +but yet did not dare to emerge from the den. For one, two, three +tremulous minutes she remained motionless, feeling all the while +that uncomfortable sensation of living things about her. + +At last she could endure it no longer. Thrusting little Hans +before her, she crawled out of the hole, and looked back into the +small cavern. As soon as her eyes grew accustomed to the +twilight she uttered a cry of amazement, for out from her skirts +jumped a little gray furry object, and two frisky little +customers of the same sort were darting about among the stones +and tree-roots. The truth dawned upon her, and it chilled her to +the marrow of her bones. The wolf's den was not deserted. The +old folks were only out hunting, and the shouting and commotion +of the searching party had probably prevented them from returning +in time to look after their family. She seized little Hans by +the hand, and once more dragged him away over the rough path. He +soon became tired and fretful, and in spite of all her entreaties +began to shout lustily for his father. But the men were now so +far away that they could not hear him. He complained of hunger; +and when presently they came to a blueberry patch, she flung +herself down on the heather and allowed him to pick berries. She +heard cow-bells and sheep-bells tinkling round about her, and +concluded that she could not be far from the saeters, or mountain +dairies. That was fortunate, indeed, for she would not have +liked to sleep in the woods with wolves and bears prowling about +her. + +She was just making an effort to rise from the stone upon which +she was sitting, when the big, good-natured face of a cow broke +through the leaves and stared at her. There was again help in +need. She approached the cow, patted it, and calling little +Hans, bade him sit down in the heather and open his mouth. He +obeyed rather wonderingly, but perceived his mother's intent when +she knelt at his side and began to milk into his mouth. It +seemed to him that he had never tasted anything so delicious as +this fresh rich milk, fragrant with the odor of the woods and the +succulent mountain grass. When his hunger was satisfied, he fell +again to picking berries, while Inga refreshed herself with milk +in the same simple fashion. After having rested a full hour, she +felt strong enough to continue her journey; and hearing the loor, +or Alpine horn, re-echoing among the mountains, she determined to +follow the sound. It was singular what luck attended her in the +midst of her misfortune. Perhaps it was, after all, no idle tale +that little Hans was a child of luck; and she had done the +lumbermen injustice in deriding their faith in him. Perhaps +there was some guiding Providence in all that had happened, +destined in the end to lead little Hans to fortune and glory. +Much encouraged by this thought, she stooped over him and kissed +him; then took his hand and trudged along over logs and stones, +through juniper and bramble bushes. + +"Mamma," said little Hans, "where are you going?" + +"I am going to the saeter," she answered; "where you have wanted +so often to go." + +"Then why don't you follow the cows? They are going there too." + +Surely that child had a marvellous mind! She smiled down upon +him and nodded. By following the cows they arrived in twenty +minutes at a neat little log cabin, from which the smoke curled +up gayly into the clear air. + +The dairy-maids who spent the summer there tending the cattle +both fell victims to the charms of little Hans, and offered him +and his mother their simple hospitality. They told of the +lumbermen who had passed the saeter huts, and inquired for her; +but otherwise they respected her silence, and made no attempt to +pry into her secrets. The next morning she started, after a +refreshing sleep, westward toward the coast, where she hoped in +some way to find a passage to America. For if little Hans was +really born under a lucky star--which fact she now could scarcely +doubt--then America was the place for him. There he might rise +to become President, or a judge, or a parson, or something or +other; while in Norway he would never be anything but a lumberman +like his father. Inga had a well-to-do sister, who was a widow, +in the nearest town, and she would borrow enough money from her +to pay their passage to New York. + + +It was early in July when little Hans and his mother arrived in +New York. The latter had repented bitterly of her rashness in +stealing her child from his father, and under a blind impulse +traversing half the globe in a wild-goose chase after fortune. +The world was so much bigger than she in her quiet valley had +imagined; and, what was worse, it wore such a cold and repellent +look, and was so bewildering and noisy. Inga had been very +sea-sick during the voyage; and after she stepped ashore from the +tug that brought her to Castle Garden, the ground kept heaving +and swelling under her feet, and made her dizzy and miserable. +She had been very wicked, she was beginning to think, and +deserved punishment; and if it had not been for a vague and +adventurous faith in the great future that was in store for her +son, she would have been content to return home, do penance for +her folly, and beg her husband's forgiveness. But, in the first +place, she had no money to pay for a return ticket; and, +secondly, it would be a great pity to deprive little Hans of the +Presidency and all the grandeur that his lucky star might here +bring him. + +Inga was just contemplating this bright vision of Hans's future, +when she found herself passing through a gate, at which a clerk +was seated. + +"What is your name?" he asked, through an interpreter. + +"Inga Olsdatter Pladsen." + +"Age?" + +"Twenty-eight a week after Michaelmas." + +"Single or married?" + +"Married." + +"Where is your husband?" + +"In Norway." + +"Are you divorced from him?" + +"Divorced--I! Why, no! Who ever heard of such a thing?" + +Inga grew quite indignant at the thought of her being divorced. +A dozen other questions were asked, at each of which her +embarrassment increased. When, finally, she declared that she +had no money, no definite destination, and no relatives or +friends in the country, the examination was cut short, and after +an hour's delay and a wearisome cross-questioning by different +officials, she was put on board the tug, and returned to the +steamer in which she had crossed the ocean. Four dreary days +passed; then there was a tremendous commotion on deck: blowing of +whistles, roaring of steam, playing of bands, bumping of trunks +and boxes, and finally the steady pulsation of the engines as the +big ship stood out to sea. After nine days of discomfort in the +stuffy steerage and thirty-six hours of downright misery while +crossing the stormy North Sea, Inga found herself once more in +the land of her birth. Full of humiliation and shame she met her +husband at the railroad station, and prepared herself for a +deluge of harsh words and reproaches. But instead of that he +patted her gently on the head, and clasped little Hans in his +arms and kissed him. They said very little to each other as they +rode homeward in the cars; but little Hans had a thousand things +to tell, and his father was delighted to hear them. In the +evening, when they had reached their native valley, and the boy +was asleep, Inga plucked up courage and said, "Nils, it is all a +mistake about little Hans's luck." + +"Mistake! Why, no," cried Nils. "What greater luck could he +have than to be brought safely home to his father?" + +Inga had indeed hoped for more; but she said nothing. +Nevertheless, fate still had strange things in store for little +Hans. The story of his mother's flight to and return from +America was picked up by some enterprising journalist, who made a +most touching romance of it. Hundreds of inquiries regarding +little Hans poured in upon the pastor and the postmaster; and +offers to adopt him, educate him, and I know not what else, were +made to his parents. But Nils would hear of no adoption; nor +would he consent to any plan that separated him from the boy. +When, however, he was given a position as superintendent of a +lumber yard in the town, and prosperity began to smile upon him, +he sent little Hans to school, and as Hans was a clever boy, he +made the most of his opportunities. + +And now little Hans is indeed a very big Hans, but a child of +luck he is yet; for I saw him referred to the other day in the +newspapers as one of the greatest lumber dealers, and one of the +noblest, most generous, and public-spirited men in Norway. + + + +THE BEAR THAT HAD A BANK ACCOUNT + +I. + +You may not believe it, but the bear I am going to tell you about +really had a bank account! He lived in the woods, as most bears +do; but he had a reputation which extended over all Norway and +more than half of England. Earls and baronets came every summer, +with repeating-rifles of the latest patent, and plaids and +field-glasses and portable cooking-stoves, intent upon killing +him. But Mr. Bruin, whose only weapons were a pair of paws and a +pair of jaws, both uncommonly good of their kind, though not +patented, always managed to get away unscathed; and that was +sometimes more than the earls and the baronets did. + +One summer the Crown Prince of Germany came to Norway. He also +heard of the famous bear that no one could kill, and made up his +mind that he was the man to kill it. He trudged for two days +through bogs, and climbed through glens and ravines, before he +came on the scent of a bear, and a bear's scent, you may know, is +strong, and quite unmistakable. Finally he discovered some +tracks in the moss, like those of a barefooted man, or, I should +rather say, perhaps, a man-footed bear. The Prince was just +turning the corner of a projecting rock, when he saw a huge, +shaggy beast standing on its hind legs, examining in a leisurely +manner the inside of a hollow tree, while a swarm of bees were +buzzing about its ears. It was just hauling out a handful of +honey, and was smiling with a grewsome mirth, when His Royal +Highness sent it a bullet right in the breast, where its heart +must have been, if it had one. But, instead of falling down +flat, as it ought to have done, out of deference to the Prince, +it coolly turned its back, and gave its assailant a disgusted nod +over its shoulder as it trudged away through the underbrush. The +attendants ranged through the woods and beat the bushes in all +directions, but Mr. Bruin was no more to be seen that afternoon. +It was as if he had sunk into the earth; not a trace of him was +to be found by either dogs or men. + +From that time forth the rumor spread abroad that this Gausdale +Bruin (for that was the name by which he became known) was +enchanted. It was said that he shook off bullets as a duck does +water; that he had the evil eye, and could bring misfortune to +whomsoever he looked upon. The peasants dreaded to meet him, and +ceased to hunt him. His size was described as something +enormous, his teeth, his claws, and his eyes as being diabolical +beyond human conception. In the meanwhile Mr. Bruin had it all +his own way in the mountains, killed a young bull or a fat heifer +for his dinner every day or two, chased in pure sport a herd of +sheep over a precipice; and as for Lars Moe's bay mare Stella, he +nearly finished her, leaving his claw-marks on her flank in a way +that spoiled her beauty forever. + +Now Lars Moe himself was too old to hunt; and his nephew +was--well, he was not old enough. There was, in fact, no one in +the valley who was of the right age to hunt this Gausdale Bruin. +It was of no use that Lars Moe egged on the young lads to try +their luck, shaming them, or offering them rewards, according as +his mood might happen to be. He was the wealthiest man in the +valley, and his mare Stella had been the apple of his eye. He +felt it as a personal insult that the bear should have dared to +molest what belonged to him, especially the most precious of all +his possessions. It cut him to the heart to see the poor wounded +beauty, with those cruel scratches on her thigh, and one stiff, +aching leg done up in oil and cotton. When he opened the +stable-door, and was greeted by Stella's low, friendly neighing, +or when she limped forward in her box-stall and put her small, +clean-shaped head on his shoulder, then Lars Moe's heart swelled +until it seemed on the point of breaking. And so it came to pass +that he added a codicil to his will, setting aside five hundred +dollars of his estate as a reward to the man who, within six +years, should kill the Gausdale Bruin. + +Soon after that, Lars Moe died, as some said, from grief and +chagrin; though the physician affirmed that it was of rheumatism +of the heart. At any rate, the codicil relating to the enchanted +bear was duly read before the church door, and pasted, among +other legal notices, in the vestibules of the judge's and the +sheriff's offices. When the executors had settled up the estate, +the question arose in whose name or to whose credit should be +deposited the money which was to be set aside for the benefit of +the bear-slayer. No one knew who would kill the bear, or if any +one would kill it. It was a puzzling question. + +"Why, deposit it to the credit of the bear," said a jocose +executor; "then, in the absence of other heirs, his slayer will +inherit it. That is good old Norwegian practice, though I don't +know whether it has ever been the law." + +"All right," said the other executors, "so long as it is +understood who is to have the money, it does not matter." + +And so an amount equal to $500 was deposited in the county bank +to the credit of the Gausdale Bruin. Sir Barry Worthington, +Bart., who came abroad the following summer for the shooting, +heard the story, and thought it a good one. So, after having +vainly tried to earn the prize himself, he added another $500 to +the deposit, with the stipulation that he was to have the skin. + +But his rival for parliamentary honors, Robert Stapleton, Esq., +the great iron-master, who had come to Norway chiefly to outshine +Sir Barry, determined that he was to have the skin of that famous +bear, if any one was to have it, and that, at all events, Sir +Barry should not have it. So Mr. Stapleton added $750 to the +bear's bank account, with the stipulation that the skin should +come to him. + +Mr. Bruin, in the meanwhile, as if to resent this unseemly +contention about his pelt, made worse havoc among the herds than +ever, and compelled several peasants to move their dairies to +other parts of the mountains, where the pastures were poorer, but +where they would be free from his depredations. If the $1,750 in +the bank had been meant as a bribe or a stipend for good +behavior, such as was formerly paid to Italian brigands, it +certainly could not have been more demoralizing in its effect; +for all agreed that, since Lars Moe's death, Bruin misbehaved +worse than ever. + + +II. + +There was an odd clause in Lars Moe's will besides the codicil +relating to the bear. It read: + +"I hereby give and bequeath to my daughter Unna, or, in case of +her decease, to her oldest living issue, my bay mare Stella, as a +token that I have forgiven her the sorrow she caused me by her +marriage." + +It seemed incredible that Lars Moe should wish to play a +practical joke (and a bad one at that) on his only child, his +daughter Unna, because she had displeased him by her marriage. +Yet that was the common opinion in the valley when this singular +clause became known. Unna had married Thorkel Tomlevold, a poor +tenant's son, and had refused her cousin, the great +lumber-dealer, Morten Janson, whom her father had selected for a +son-in-law. + +She dwelt now in a tenant's cottage, northward in the parish; and +her husband, who was a sturdy and fine-looking fellow, eked out a +living by hunting and fishing. But they surely had no +accommodations for a broken-down, wounded, trotting mare, which +could not even draw a plough. It is true Unna, in the days of +her girlhood, had been very fond of the mare, and it is only +charitable to suppose that the clause, which was in the body of +the will, was written while Stella was in her prime, and before +she had suffered at the paws of the Gausdale Bruin. But even +granting that, one could scarcely help suspecting malice +aforethought in the curious provision. To Unna the gift was +meant to say, as plainly as possible, "There, you see what you +have lost by disobeying your father! If you had married according +to his wishes, you would have been able to accept the gift, while +now you are obliged to decline it like a beggar." + +But if it was Lars Moe's intention to convey such a message to +his daughter, he failed to take into account his daughter's +spirit. She appeared plainly but decently dressed at the reading +of the will, and carried her head not a whit less haughtily than +was her wont in her maiden days. She exhibited no chagrin when +she found that Janson was her father's heir and that she was +disinherited. She even listened with perfect composure to the +reading of the clause which bequeathed to her the broken-down +mare. + +It at once became a matter of pride with her to accept her +girlhood's favorite, and accept it she did! And having borrowed +a side-saddle, she rode home, apparently quite contented. A +little shed, or lean-to, was built in the rear of the house, and +Stella became a member of Thorkel Tomlevold's family. Odd as it +may seem, the fortunes of the family took a turn for the better +from the day she arrived; Thorkel rarely came home without big +game, and in his traps he caught more than any three other men in +all the parish. + +"The mare has brought us luck," he said to his wife. "If she +can't plough, she can at all events pull the sleigh to church; +and you have as good a right as any one to put on airs, if you +choose." + +"Yes, she has brought us blessing," replied Unna, quietly; "and +we are going to keep her till she dies of old age." + +To the children Stella became a pet, as much as if she had been a +dog or a cat. The little boy Lars climbed all over her, and +kissed her regularly good-morning when she put her handsome head +in through the kitchen-door to get her lump of sugar. She was as +gentle as a lamb and as intelligent as a dog. Her great brown +eyes, with their soft, liquid look, spoke as plainly as words +could speak, expressing pleasure when she was patted; and the low +neighing with which she greeted the little boy, when she heard +his footsteps in the door, was to him like the voice of a friend. + +He grew to love this handsome and noble animal as he had loved +nothing on earth except his father and mother. + +As a matter of course he heard a hundred times the story of +Stella's adventure with the terrible Gausdale bear. It was a +story that never lost its interest, that seemed to grow more +exciting the oftener it was told. The deep scars of the bear's +claws in Stella's thigh were curiously examined, and each time +gave rise to new questions. The mare became quite a heroic +character, and the suggestion was frequently discussed between +Lars and his little sister Marit, whether Stella might not be an +enchanted princess who was waiting for some one to cut off her +head, so that she might show herself in her glory. Marit thought +the experiment well worth trying, but Lars had his doubts, and +was unwilling to take the risk; yet if she brought luck, as his +mother said, then she certainly must be something more than an +ordinary horse. + +Stella had dragged little Lars out of the river when he fell +overboard from the pier; and that, too, showed more sense than he +had ever known a horse to have. + +There could be no doubt in his mind that Stella was an enchanted +princess. And instantly the thought occurred to him that the +dreadful enchanted bear with the evil eye was the sorcerer, and +that, when he was killed, Stella would resume her human guise. +It soon became clear to him that he was the boy to accomplish +this heroic deed; and it was equally plain to him that he must +keep his purpose secret from all except Marit, as his mother +would surely discourage him from engaging in so perilous an +enterprise. First of all, he had to learn how to shoot; and his +father, who was the best shot in the valley, was very willing to +teach him. It seemed quite natural to Thorkel that a hunter's +son should take readily to the rifle; and it gave him great +satisfaction to see how true his boy's aim was, and how steady +his hand. + +"Father," said Lars one day, "you shoot so well, why haven't you +ever tried to kill the Gausdale Bruin that hurt Stella so badly?" + +"Hush, child! you don't know what you are talking about," +answered his father; "no leaden bullet will harm that wicked +beast." + +"Why not?" + +"I don't like to talk about it--but it is well known that he is +enchanted." + +"But will he then live for ever? Is there no sort of bullet that +will kill him?" asked the boy. + +"I don't know. I don't want to have anything to do with +witchcraft," said Thorkel. + +The word "witchcraft" set the boy to thinking, and he suddenly +remembered that he had been warned not to speak to an old woman +named Martha Pladsen, because she was a witch. Now, she was +probably the very one who could tell him what he wanted to know. +Her cottage lay close up under the mountain-side, about two miles +from his home. He did not deliberate long before going to seek +this mysterious person, about whom the most remarkable stories +were told in the valley. To his astonishment, she received him +kindly, gave him a cup of coffee with rock candy, and declared +that she had long expected him. The bullet which was to slay the +enchanted bear had long been in her possession; and she would +give it to him if he would promise to give her the beast's heart. + +He did not have to be asked twice for that; and off he started +gayly with his prize in his pocket. It was rather an odd-looking +bullet, made of silver, marked with a cross on one side and with +a lot of queer illegible figures on the other. It seemed to burn +in his pocket, so anxious was he to start out at once to release +the beloved Stella from the cruel enchantment. But Martha had +said that the bear could only be killed when the moon was full; +and until the moon was full he accordingly had to bridle his +impatience. + + +III. + +It was a bright morning in January, and, as it happened, Lars's +fourteenth birthday. To his great delight, his mother had gone +down to the judge's to sell some ptarmigans, and his father had +gone to fell some timber up in the glen. Accordingly he could +secure the rifle without being observed. He took an affectionate +good-by of Stella, who rubbed her soft nose against his own, +playfully pulled at his coat-collar, and blew her sweet, warm +breath into his face. Lars was a simple-hearted boy, in spite of +his age, and quite a child at heart. He had lived so secluded +from all society, and breathed so long the atmosphere of fairy +tales, that he could see nothing at all absurd in what he was +about to undertake. The youngest son in the story-book always +did just that sort of thing, and everybody praised and admired +him for it. Lars meant, for once, to put the story-book hero +into the shade. He engaged little Marit to watch over Stella +while he was gone, and under no circumstances to betray him--all +of which Marit solemnly promised. + +With his rifle on his shoulder and his skees on his feet, Lars +glided slowly along over the glittering surface of the snow, for +the mountain was steep, and he had to zigzag in long lines before +he reached the upper heights, where the bear was said to have his +haunts. The place where Bruin had his winter den had once been +pointed out to him, and he remembered yet how pale his father +was, when he found that he had strayed by chance into so +dangerous a neighborhood. Lars's heart, too, beat rather +uneasily as he saw the two heaps of stones, called "The Parson" +and "The Deacon," and the two huge fir-trees which marked the +dreaded spot. It had been customary from immemorial time for +each person who passed along the road to throw a large stone on +the Parson's heap, and a small one on the Deacon's; but since the +Gausdale Bruin had gone into winter quarters there, the stone +heaps had ceased to grow. + +Under the great knotted roots of the fir-trees there was a hole, +which was more than half-covered with snow; and it was noticeable +that there was not a track of bird or beast to be seen anywhere +around it. Lars, who on the way had been buoyed up by the sense +of his heroism, began now to feel strangely uncomfortable. It +was so awfully hushed and still round about him; not the scream +of a bird --not even the falling of a broken bough was to be +heard. The pines stood in lines and in clumps, solemn, like a +funeral procession, shrouded in sepulchral white. Even if a crow +had cawed it would have been a relief to the frightened boy--for +it must be confessed that he was a trifle frightened--if only a +little shower of snow had fallen upon his head from the heavily +laden branches, he would have been grateful for it, for it would +have broken the spell of this oppressive silence. + +There could be no doubt of it; inside, under those tree-roots +slept Stella's foe--the dreaded enchanted beast who had put the +boldest of hunters to flight, and set lords and baronets by the +ears for the privilege of possessing his skin. Lars became +suddenly aware that it was a foolhardy thing he had undertaken, +and that he had better betake himself home. But then, again, had +not Witch-Martha said that she had been waiting for him; that he +was destined by fate to accomplish this deed, just as the +youngest son had been in the story-book. Yes, to be sure, she +had said that; and it was a comforting thought. + +Accordingly, having again examined his rifle, which he had +carefully loaded with the silver bullet before leaving home, he +started boldly forward, climbed up on the little hillock between +the two trees, and began to pound it lustily with the butt-end of +his gun. He listened for a moment tremulously, and heard +distinctly long, heavy sighs from within. + +His heart stood still. The bear was awake! Soon he would have to +face it! A minute more elapsed; Lars's heart shot up into his +throat. He leaped down, placed himself in front of the entrance +to the den, and cocked his rifle. Three long minutes passed. +Bruin had evidently gone to sleep again. Wild with excitement, +the boy rushed forward and drove his skee-staff straight into the +den with all his might. A sullen growl was heard, like a deep +and menacing thunder. There could be no doubt that now the +monster would take him to task for his impertinence. + +Again the boy seized his rifle; and his nerves, though tense as +stretched bow-strings, seemed suddenly calm and steady. He +lifted the rifle to his cheek, and resolved not to shoot until he +had a clear aim at heart or brain. Bruin, though Lars could hear +him rummaging within, was in no hurry to come out, But he sighed +and growled uproariously, and presently showed a terrible, +long-clawed paw, which he thrust out through his door and then +again withdrew. But apparently it took him a long while to get +his mind clear as to the cause of the disturbance; for fully five +minutes had elapsed when suddenly a big tuft of moss was tossed +out upon the snow, followed by a cloud of dust and an angry +creaking of the tree-roots. + +Great masses of snow were shaken from the swaying tops of the +firs, and fell with light thuds upon the ground. In the face of +this unexpected shower, which entirely hid the entrance to the +den, Lars was obliged to fall back a dozen paces; but, as the +glittering drizzle cleared away, he saw an enormous brown beast +standing upon its hind legs, with widely distended jaws. He was +conscious of no fear, but of a curious numbness in his limbs, and +strange noises, as of warning shouts and cries, filling his ears. + +Fortunately, the great glare of the sun-smitten snow dazzled +Bruin; he advanced slowly, roaring savagely, but staring rather +blindly before him out of his small, evil-looking eyes. +Suddenly, when he was but a few yards distant, he raised his +great paw, as if to rub away the cobwebs that obscured his sight. + +It was the moment for which the boy had waited. Now he had a +clear aim! Quickly he pulled the trigger; the shot reverberated +from mountain to mountain, and in the same instant the huge brown +bulk rolled in the snow, gave a gasp, and was dead! The spell +was broken! The silver bullet had pierced his heart. There was +a curious unreality about the whole thing to Lars. He scarcely +knew whether he was really himself or the hero of the fairy-tale. + +All that was left for him to do now was to go home and marry +Stella, the delivered princess. + +The noises about him seemed to come nearer and nearer; and now +they sounded like human voices. He looked about him, and to his +amazement saw his father and Marit, followed by two wood-cutters, +who, with raised axes, were running toward him. Then he did not +know exactly what happened; but he felt himself lifted up by two +strong arms, and tears fell hot and fast upon his face. + +"My boy! my boy!" said the voice in his ears, "I expected to +find you dead." + +"No, but the bear is dead," said Lars, innocently. + +"I didn't mean to tell on you, Lars," cried Marit, "but I was so +afraid, and then I had to." + +The rumor soon filled the whole valley that the great Gausdale +Bruin was dead, and that the boy Lars Tomlevold had killed him. +It is needless to say that Lars Tomlevold became the parish hero +from that day. He did not dare to confess in the presence of all +this praise and wonder that at heart he was bitterly +disappointed; for when he came home, throbbing with wild +expectancy, there stood Stella before the kitchen door, munching +a piece of bread; and when she hailed him with a low whinny, he +burst into tears. But he dared not tell any one why he was +weeping. + +This story might have ended here, but it has a little sequel. +The $1,750 which Bruin had to his credit in the bank had +increased to $2,290; and it was all paid to Lars. A few years +later, Martin Janson, who had inherited the estate of Moe from +old Lars, failed in consequence of his daring forest +speculations, and young Lars was enabled to buy the farm at +auction at less than half its value. Thus he had the happiness +to bring his mother back to the place of her birth, of which she +had been wrongfully deprived; and Stella, who was now twenty-one +years old, occupied once more her handsome box-stall, as in the +days of her glory. And although she never proved to be a +princess, she was treated as if she were one, during the few +years that remained to her. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext of Boyhood in Norway, by Hjalmar Boyesen + diff --git a/old/bnrwy10.zip b/old/bnrwy10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0660ad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/bnrwy10.zip |