Nils Holgerssons underbara resa. English
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ground, and it seemed as if shewould reach solid land in safety; but when she was almost there a knollwhich she had stepped upon sank into the mire, and she went down withit. She tried to rise, but could get no secure foothold, so she sank andsank. Karr stood and looked on, not daring to move. When he saw that theelk could not save herself, he ran away as fast as he could, for he hadbegun to think of the beating he would get if it were discovered that hehad brought a mother elk to grief. He was so terrified that he dared notpause for breath until he reached home.
It was this that the dog recalled; and it troubled him in a way verydifferent from the recollection of all his other misdeeds. This wasdoubtless because he had not really meant to kill either the elk cow orher calf, but had deprived them of life without wishing to do so.
"But maybe they are alive yet!" thought the dog. "They were not deadwhen I ran away; perhaps they saved themselves."
He was seized with an irresistible longing to know for a certainty whileyet there was time for him to find out. He noticed that the game-keeperdid not have a firm hold on the leash; so he made a sudden spring, brokeloose, and dashed through the woods down to the marsh with such speedthat he was out of sight before the game-keeper had time to level hisgun.
There was nothing for the game-keeper to do but to rush after him. Whenhe got to the marsh he found the dog standing upon a knoll, howling withall his might.
The man thought he had better find out the meaning of this, so hedropped his gun and crawled out over the marsh on hands and knees. Hehad not gone far when he saw an elk cow lying dead in the quagmire.Close beside her lay a little calf. It was still alive, but so muchexhausted that it could not move. Karr was standing beside the calf, nowbending down and licking it, now howling shrilly for help.
The game-keeper raised the calf and began to drag it toward land. Whenthe dog understood that the calf would be saved he was wild with joy. Hejumped round and round the game-keeper, licking his hands and barkingwith delight.
The man carried the baby elk home and shut it up in a calf stall in thecow shed. Then he got help to drag the mother elk from the marsh. Onlyafter this had been done did he remember that he was to shoot Karr. Hecalled the dog to him, and again took him into the forest.
The game-keeper walked straight on toward the dog's grave; but all thewhile he seemed to be thinking deeply. Suddenly he turned and walkedtoward the manor.
Karr had been trotting along quietly; but when the game-keeper turnedand started for home, he became anxious. The man must have discoveredthat it was he that had caused the death of the elk, and now he wasgoing back to the manor to be thrashed before he was shot!
To be beaten was worse than all else! With that prospect Karr could nolonger keep up his spirits, but hung his head. When he came to the manorhe did not look up, but pretended that he knew no one there.
The master was standing on the stairs leading to the hall when thegame-keeper came forward.
"Where on earth did that dog come from?" he exclaimed. "Surely it can'tbe Karr? He must be dead this long time!"
Then the man began to tell his master all about the mother elk, whileKarr made himself as little as he could, and crouched behind thegame-keeper's legs.
Much to his surprise the man had only praise for him. He said it wasplain the dog knew that the elk were in distress, and wished to savethem.
"You may do as you like, but I can't shoot that dog!" declared thegame-keeper.
Karr raised himself and pricked up his ears. He could hardly believethat he heard aright. Although he did not want to show how anxious hehad been, he couldn't help whining a little. Could it be possible thathis life was to be spared simply because he had felt uneasy about theelk?
The master thought that Karr had conducted himself well, but as he didnot want the dog, he could not decide at once what should be done withhim.
"If you will take charge of him and answer for his good behaviour in thefuture, he may as well live," he said, finally.
This the game-keeper was only too glad to do, and that was how Karr cameto move to the game-keeper's lodge.
GRAYSKIN'S FLIGHT
From the day that Karr went to live with the game-keeper he abandonedentirely his forbidden chase in the forest. This was due not only to hishaving been thoroughly frightened, but also to the fact that he did notwish to make the game-keeper angry at him. Ever since his new mastersaved his life the dog loved him above everything else. He thought onlyof following him and watching over him. If he left the house, Karr wouldrun ahead to make sure that the way was clear, and if he sat at home,Karr would lie before the door and keep a close watch on every one whocame and went.
When all was quiet at the lodge, when no footsteps were heard on theroad, and the game-keeper was working in his garden, Karr would amusehimself playing with the baby elk.
At first the dog had no desire to leave his master even for a moment.Since he accompanied him everywhere, he went with him to the cow shed.When he gave the elk calf its milk, the dog would sit outside the stalland gaze at it. The game-keeper called the calf Grayskin because hethought it did not merit a prettier name, and Karr agreed with him onthat point.
Every time the dog looked at it he thought that he had never seenanything so ugly and misshapen as the baby elk, with its long, shamblylegs, which hung down from the body like loose stilts. The head waslarge, old, and wrinkled, and it always drooped to one side. The skinlay in tucks and folds, as if the animal had put on a coat that had notbeen made for him. Always doleful and discontented, curiously enough hejumped up every time Karr appeared as if glad to see him.
The elk calf became less hopeful from day to day, did not grow any, andat last he could not even rise when he saw Karr. Then the dog jumped upinto the crib to greet him, and thereupon a light kindled in the eyes ofthe poor creature--as if a cherished longing were fulfilled.
After that Karr visited the elk calf every day, and spent many hourswith him, licking his coat, playing and racing with him, till he taughthim a little of everything a forest animal should know.
It was remarkable that, from the time Karr began to visit the elk calfin his stall, the latter seemed more contented, and began to grow. Afterhe was fairly started, he grew so rapidly that in a couple of weeks thestall could no longer hold him, and he had to be moved into a grove.
When he had been in the grove two months his legs were so long that hecould step over the fence whenever he wished. Then the lord of the manorgave the game-keeper permission to put up a higher fence and to allowhim more space. Here the elk lived for several years, and grew up into astrong and handsome animal. Karr kept him company as often as he could;but now it was no longer through pity, for a great friendship had sprungup between the two. The elk was always inclined to be melancholy,listless, and, indifferent, but Karr knew how to make him playful andhappy.
Grayskin had lived for five summers on the game-keeper's place, when hisowner received a letter from a zooelogical garden abroad asking if theelk might be purchased.
The master was pleased with the proposal, the game-keeper wasdistressed, but had not the power to say no; so it was decided that theelk should be sold. Karr soon discovered what was in the air and ranover to the elk to have a chat with him. The dog was very muchdistressed at the thought of losing his friend, but the elk took thematter calmly, and seemed neither glad nor sorry.
"Do you think of letting them send you away without offeringresistance?" asked Karr.
"What good would it do to resist?" asked Grayskin. "I should prefer toremain where I am, naturally, but if I've been sold, I shall have to go,of course."
Karr looked at Grayskin and measured him with his eyes. It was apparentthat the elk was not yet full grown. He did not have the broad antlers,high hump, and long mane of the mature elk; but he certainly hadstrength enough to fight for his freedom.
"One can see that he has been in captivity all his life," thought Karr,but said nothing.
Karr left and did not return to the grove till long past midnight. Bythat
time he knew Grayskin would be awake and eating his breakfast.
"Of course you are doing right, Grayskin, in letting them take youaway," remarked Karr, who appeared now to be calm and satisfied. "Youwill be a prisoner in a large park and will have no responsibilities. Itseems a pity that you must leave here without having seen the forest.You know your ancestors have a saying that 'the elk are one with theforest.' But you haven't even been in a forest!"
Grayskin glanced up from the clover which he stood munching.
"Indeed, I should love to see the forest, but how am I to get over thefence?" he said with his usual apathy.
"Oh, that is difficult for one who has such short legs!" said Karr.
The elk glanced slyly at the dog, who jumped the fence many times aday--little as he was.
He walked over to the fence, and with one spring he was on the otherside, without knowing how it happened.
Then Karr and Grayskin went