see,and here and there were cracks, where the water purled up. One had towatch out for such places; but that was easy to do in broad daylight,with the sun shining.
The children advanced rapidly, and talked only of how sensible they wereto have gone out on the ice instead of tramping the slushy road.
When they had been walking a while they came to Vin Island, where an oldwoman had sighted them from her window. She rushed from her cabin, wavedthem back, and shouted something which they could not hear. Theyunderstood perfectly well that she was warning them not to come anyfarther; but they thought there was no immediate danger. It would bestupid for them to leave the ice when all was going so well!
Therefore they went on past Vin Island and had a stretch of seven milesof ice ahead of them.
Out there was so much water that the children were obliged to takeroundabout ways; but that was sport to them. They vied with each otheras to which could find the soundest ice. They were neither tired norhungry. The whole day was before them, and they laughed at each obstaclethey met.
Now and then they cast a glance ahead at the farther shore. It stillappeared far away, although they had been walking a good hour. They wererather surprised that the lake was so broad.
"The shore seems to be moving farther away from us," little Matsobserved.
Out there the children were not protected against the wind, which wasbecoming stronger and stronger every minute, and was pressing theirclothing so close to their bodies that they could hardly go on. The coldwind was the first disagreeable thing they had met with on the journey.
But the amazing part of it was that the wind came sweeping along with aloud roar--as if it brought with it the noise of a large mill orfactory, though nothing of the kind was to be found out there on theice. They had walked to the west of the big island, Valen; now theythought they were nearing the north shore. Suddenly the wind began toblow more and more, while the loud roaring increased so rapidly thatthey began to feel uneasy.
All at once it occurred to them that the roar was caused by the foamingand rushing of the waves breaking against a shore. Even this seemedimprobable, since the lake was still covered with ice.
At all events, they paused and looked about. They noticed far in thewest a white bank which stretched clear across the lake. At first theythought it was a snowbank alongside a road. Later they realized it wasthe foam-capped waves dashing against the ice! They took hold of handsand ran without saying a word. Open sea lay beyond in the west, andsuddenly the streak of foam appeared to be moving eastward. Theywondered if the ice was going to break all over. What was going tohappen? They felt now that they were in great danger.
All at once it seemed as if the ice under their feet rose--rose andsank, as if some one from below were pushing it. Presently they heard ahollow boom, and then there were cracks in the ice all around them. Thechildren could see how they crept along under the ice-covering.
The next moment all was still, then the rising and sinking began again.Thereupon the cracks began to widen into crevices through which thewater bubbled up. By and by the crevices became gaps. Soon after thatthe ice was divided into large floes.
"Osa," said little Mats, "this must be the breaking up of the ice!"
"Why, so it is, little Mats," said Osa, "but as yet we can get to land.Run for your life!"
As a matter of fact, the wind and waves had a good deal of work to doyet to clear the ice from the lake. The hardest part was done when theice-cake burst into pieces, but all these pieces must be broken andhurled against each other, to be crushed, worn down, and dissolved.There was still a great deal of hard and sound ice left, which formedlarge, unbroken surfaces.
The greatest danger for the children lay in the fact that they had nogeneral view of the ice. They did not see the places where the gaps wereso wide that they could not possibly jump over them, nor did they knowwhere to find any floes that would hold them, so they wandered aimlesslyback and forth, going farther out on the lake instead of nearer land. Atlast, confused and terrified, they stood still and wept.
Then a flock of wild geese in rapid flight came rushing by. Theyshrieked loudly and sharply; but the strange thing was that above thegeese-cackle the little children heard these words:
"You must go to the right, the right, the right!" They began at once tofollow the advice; but before long they were again standing irresolute,facing another broad gap.
Again they heard the geese shrieking above them, and again, amid thegeese-cackle, they distinguished a few words:
"Stand where you are! Stand where you are!"
The children did not say a word to each other, but obeyed and stoodstill. Soon after that the ice-floes floated together, so that theycould cross the gap. Then they took hold of hands again and ran. Theywere afraid not only of the peril, but of the mysterious help that hadcome to them.
Soon they had to stop again, and immediately the sound of the voicereached them.
"Straight ahead, straight ahead!" it said.
This leading continued for about half an hour; by that time they hadreached Ljunger Point, where they left the ice and waded to shore. Theywere still terribly frightened, even though they were on firm land. Theydid not stop to look back at the lake--where the waves were pitching theice-floes faster and faster--but ran on. When they had gone a shortdistance along the point, Osa paused suddenly.
"Wait here, little Mats," she said; "I have forgotten something."
Osa, the goose girl, went down to the strand again, where she stopped torummage in her bag. Finally she fished out a little wooden shoe, whichshe placed on a stone where it could be plainly seen. Then she ran tolittle Mats without once looking back.
But the instant her back was turned, a big white goose shot down fromthe sky, like a streak of lightning, snatched the wooden shoe, and flewaway with it.
THUMBIETOT AND THE BEARS
THE IRONWORKS
_Thursday, April twenty-eighth_.
When the wild geese and Thumbietot had helped Osa, the goose girl, andlittle Mats across the ice, they flew into Westmanland, where theyalighted in a grain field to feed and rest.
A strong west wind blew almost the entire day on which the wild geesetravelled over the mining districts, and as soon as they attempted todirect their course northward they were buffeted toward the east. Now,Akka thought that Smirre Fox was at large in the eastern part of theprovince; therefore she would not fly in that direction, but turnedback, time and again, struggling westward with great difficulty. At thisrate the wild geese advanced very slowly, and late in the afternoon theywere still in the Westmanland mining districts. Toward evening the windabated suddenly, and the tired travellers hoped that they would have aninterval of easy flight before sundown. Then along came a violent gustof wind, which tossed the geese before it, like balls, and the boy, whowas sitting comfortably, with no thought of peril, was lifted from thegoose's back and hurled into space.
Little and light as he was, he could not fall straight to the ground insuch a wind; so at first he was carried along with it, drifting downslowly and spasmodically, as a leaf falls from a tree.
"Why, this isn't so bad!" thought the boy as he fell. "I'm tumbling aseasily as if I were only a scrap of paper. Morten Goosey-Gander willdoubtless hurry along and pick me up."
The first thing the boy did when he landed was to tear off his cap andwave it, so that the big white gander should see where he was.
"Here am I, where are you? Here am I, where are you?" he called, and wasrather surprised that Morten Goosey-Gander was not already at his side.
But the big white gander was not to be seen, nor was the wild gooseflock outlined against the sky. It had entirely disappeared.
He thought this rather singular, but he was neither worried norfrightened. Not for a second did it occur to him that folk like Akka andMorten Goosey-Gander would abandon him. The unexpected gust of wind hadprobably borne them along with it. As soon as they could manage to turn,they would surely come back and fetch him.
But what
was this? Where on earth was he anyway? He had been standinggazing toward the sky for some sign of the geese, but now he happened toglance about him. He had not come down on even ground, but had droppedinto a deep, wide mountain cave--or whatever it might be. It was aslarge as a church, with almost perpendicular walls on all four sides,and with no roof at all. On the ground were some huge rocks, betweenwhich moss and lignon-brush and dwarfed birches grew. Here and there inthe wall were projections, from which swung rickety ladders. At one sidethere was a dark passage, which apparently led far into the mountain.
The boy had not been travelling over the mining districts a whole dayfor nothing. He comprehended at once that the big cleft had been made bythe men who had mined ore in this place.
"I must try and climb back to earth again," he thought, "otherwise Ifear that my companions won't find me!"
He was about to go over to the wall when some one seized him frombehind, and he heard a gruff voice growl in his
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