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@@ -0,0 +1,6338 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Boyhood in Norway, by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Boyhood in Norway + +Author: Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen + +Posting Date: July 23, 2008 [EBook #784] +Release Date: January, 1997 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYHOOD IN NORWAY *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Keller + + + + + +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] + +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. + +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. + +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 rescuer 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. + + + + + +[Footnote 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.] + +[Footnote 2: Norwegian snow-shoes.] + +[Footnote 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.] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Boyhood in Norway, by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOYHOOD IN NORWAY *** + +***** This file should be named 784.txt or 784.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/7/8/784/ + +Produced by Charles Keller + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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