IV
HANS AND GRETEL FIND A FRIEND
At noon our young friends poured forth from the schoolhouse intent uponhaving an hour's practicing upon the canal.
They had skated but a few moments when Carl Schummel said mockingly toHilda:
"There's a pretty pair just coming upon the ice! The little rag-pickers!Their skates must have been a present from the king direct."
"They are patient creatures," said Hilda, gently. "It must have beenhard to learn to skate upon such queer affairs. They are very poorpeasants, you see. The boy has probably made the skates himself."
Carl was somewhat abashed.
"Patient they may be, but as for skating, they start off pretty wellonly to finish with a jerk. They could move well to your new _staccato_piece I think."
Hilda laughed pleasantly and left him. After joining a small detachmentof the racers, and sailing past every one of them, she halted besideGretel who, with eager eyes, had been watching the sport.
"What is your name, little girl?"
"Gretel, my lady," answered the child, somewhat awed by Hilda's rank,though they were nearly of the same age, "and my brother is calledHans."
"Hans is a stout fellow," said Hilda, cheerily, "and seems to have awarm stove somewhere within him, but _you_ look cold. You should wearmore clothing, little one."
Gretel, who had nothing else to wear, tried to laugh as she answered:
"I am not so very little. I am past twelve years old."
"Oh, I beg your pardon. You see I am nearly fourteen, and so large of myage that other girls seem small to me, but that is nothing. Perhaps youwill shoot up far above me yet; not unless you dress more warmly,though--shivering girls never grow."
Hans flushed as he saw tears rising in Gretel's eyes.
"My sister has not complained of the cold; but this is bitter weatherthey say----" and he looked sadly upon Gretel.
"It is nothing," said Gretel. "I am often warm--too warm when I amskating. You are good, jufvrouw,[9] to think of it."
[Footnote 9: Miss--Young lady (pronounced yuffrow). In studied or politeaddress it would be jongvrowe (pronounced youngfrow).]
"No, no," answered Hilda, quite angry at herself. "I am careless, cruel;but I meant no harm. I wanted to ask you--I mean--if----" and hereHilda, coming to the point of her errand, faltered before the poorlyclad but noble-looking children she wished to serve.
"What is it, young lady?" exclaimed Hans eagerly. "If there is anyservice I can do? any----"
"Oh! no, no," laughed Hilda, shaking off her embarrassment, "I onlywished to speak to you about the grand race. Why do you not join it? Youboth can skate well, and the ranks are free. Any one may enter for theprize."
Gretel looked wistfully at Hans, who tugging at his cap, answeredrespectfully.
"Ah, jufvrouw, even if we could enter, we could skate only a fewstrokes with the rest. Our skates are hard wood you see," (holding upthe sole of his foot), "but they soon become damp, and then they stickand trip us."
Gretel's eyes twinkled with fun as she thought of Hans' mishap in themorning, but she blushed as she faltered out timidly:
"Oh no, we can't join; but may we be there, my lady, on the great day tolook on?"
"Certainly," answered Hilda, looking kindly into the two earnest faces,and wishing from her heart that she had not spent so much of her monthlyallowance for lace and finery. She had but eight kwartjes[10] left, andthey would buy but one pair of skates, at the furthest.
[Footnote 10: A kwartje is a small silver coin worth one quarter of aguilder, or 10 cents in American currency.]
Looking down with a sigh at the two pairs of feet so very different insize, she asked:
"Which of you is the better skater?"
"Gretel," replied Hans, promptly.
"Hans," answered Gretel, in the same breath.
Hilda smiled.
"I cannot buy you each a pair of skates, or even one good pair; but hereare eight kwartjes. Decide between you which stands the best chance ofwinning the race, and buy the skates accordingly. I wish I had enough tobuy better ones--good-bye!" and, with a nod and a smile, Hilda, afterhanding the money to the electrified Hans, glided swiftly away to rejoinher companions.
"Jufvrouw! jufvrouw von Gleck!" called Hans in a loud tone, stumblingafter her as well as he could, for one of his skate-strings was untied.
Hilda turned, and with one hand raised to shield her eyes from the sun,seemed to him to be floating through the air, nearer and nearer.
"We cannot take this money," panted Hans, "though we know your goodnessin giving it."
"Why not indeed?" asked Hilda flushing.
"Because," replied Hans, bowing like a clown, but looking with the eyeof a prince at the queenly girl, "we have not earned it."
Hilda was quick-witted. She had noticed a pretty wooden chain uponGretel's neck.
"Carve me a chain, Hans, like the one your sister wears."
"That I will, lady, with all my heart; we have white wood in the house,fine as ivory; you shall have one to-morrow," and Hans hastily tried toreturn the money.
"No, no," said Hilda decidedly. "That sum will be but a poor price forthe chain," and off she darted, out-stripping the fleetest among theskaters.
Hans sent a long, bewildered gaze after her; it was useless he felt tomake any further resistance.
"It is right," he muttered, half to himself, half to his faithfulshadow, Gretel, "I must work hard every minute, and sit up half thenight if the mother will let me burn a candle; but the chain shall befinished. We may keep the money, Gretel."
"What a good little lady!" cried Gretel clapping her hands with delight,"oh! Hans, was it for nothing the stork settled on our roof last summer?Do you remember how the mother said it would bring us luck and how shecried when Janzoon Kolp shot him? And she said it would bring himtrouble. But the luck has come to us at last! Now, Hans, if mother sendsus to town to-morrow you can buy the skates in the market-place."
Hans shook his head. "The young lady would have given us the money tobuy skates, but if I _earn_ it, Gretel, it shall be spent for wool. Youmust have a warm jacket."
"Oh!" cried Gretel, in real dismay, "not buy the skates! Why, I am notoften cold! Mother says the blood runs up and down in poor children'sveins humming 'I must keep 'em warm! I must keep 'em warm.'
"Oh, Hans," she continued with something like a sob, "don't say youwon't buy the skates, it makes me feel just like crying--besides, I wantto be cold--I mean I'm real, awful warm--so now!"
Hans looked up hurriedly. He had a true Dutch horror of tears, oremotion of any kind, and, most of all, he dreaded to see his sister'sblue eyes overflowing.
"Now mind," cried Gretel, seeing her advantage, "I'll feel awful if yougive up the skates. _I_ don't want them. I'm not such a stingy as that;but I want _you_ to have them, and then when I get bigger they'll do forme--oh-h--count the pieces, Hans. Did ever you see so many!"
Hans turned the money thoughtfully in his palm. Never in all his lifehad he longed so intensely for a pair of skates, for he had known of therace and had, boy-like, fairly ached for a chance to test his powerswith the other children. He felt confident that with a good pair ofsteel runners, he could readily distance most of the boys on the canal.Then, too, Gretel's argument was so plausible. On the other hand, heknew that she, with her strong but lithe little frame, needed but aweek's practice on good runners, to make her a better skater thanRychie Korbes or even Katrinka Flack. As soon as this last thoughtflashed upon him his resolve was made. If Gretel would not have thejacket, she should have the skates.
"No, Gretel," he answered at last, "I can wait. Some day I may havemoney enough saved to buy a fine pair. You shall have these."
Gretel's eyes sparkled; but in another instant she insisted, ratherfaintly:
"The young lady gave the money to _you_, Hans. I'd be real bad to takeit."
Hans shook his head, resolutely, as he trudged on, causing his sister tohalf skip and half walk in her effort to
keep beside him; by this timethey had taken off their wooden "rockers," and were hastening home totell their mother the good news.
"Oh! _I_ know!" cried Gretel, in a sprightly tone. "You can do this. Youcan get a pair a little too small for you, and too big for me, and wecan take turns and use them. Won't that be fine?" and Gretel clapped herhands again.
Poor Hans! This was a strong temptation, but he pushed it away from him,brave-hearted fellow that he was.
"Nonsense, Gretel. You could never get on with a big pair. You stumbledabout with these, like a blind chicken, before I curved off the ends.No, you must have a pair to fit exactly, and you must practice everychance you can get, until the Twentieth comes. My little Gretel shallwin the silver skates."
Gretel could not help laughing with delight at the very idea.
"Hans! Gretel!" called out a familiar voice.
"Coming, mother!" and they hastened toward the cottage, Hans stillshaking the pieces of silver in his hand.
* * * * *
On the following day, there was not a prouder nor a happier boy in allHolland than Hans Brinker, as he watched his sister, with many adexterous sweep, flying in and out among the skaters who at sundownthronged the canal. A warm jacket had been given her by the kind-heartedHilda, and the burst-out shoes had been cobbled into decency by DameBrinker. As the little creature darted backward and forward, flushedwith enjoyment, and quite unconscious of the many wondering glances bentupon her, she felt that the shining runners beneath her feet hadsuddenly turned earth into Fairy-land, while "Hans, dear, good Hans!"echoed itself over and over again in her grateful heart.
"By den donder!" exclaimed Peter van Holp to Carl Schummel, "but thatlittle one in the red jacket and patched petticoat skates well. Gunst!she has toes on her heels, and eyes in the back of her head! See her. Itwill be a joke if she gets in the race and beats Katrinka Flack, afterall."
"Hush! not so loud!" returned Carl, rather sneeringly. "That little ladyin rags is the special pet of Hilda van Gleck. Those shining skates areher gift, if I make no mistake."
"So! so!" exclaimed Peter, with a radiant smile, for Hilda was his bestfriend. "She has been at her good work there, too!" And Mynheer vanHolp, after cutting a double 8 on the ice, to say nothing of a huge P,then a jump, and an H, glided onward until he found himself besideHilda.
Hand in hand, they skated together, laughingly at first, then staidlytalking in a low tone.
Strange to say, Peter van Holp soon arrived at a sudden conviction thathis little sister needed a wooden chain just like Hilda's.
Two days afterward, on St. Nicholas' Eve, Hans, having burned threecandle-ends, and cut his thumb into the bargain, stood in themarket-place at Amsterdam, buying another pair of skates.
Hans Brinker; Or, The Silver Skates Page 7