Growth of the Soil

potatoes looked like pulling through once more-bad enough, all things together, but not the worst. Isak had still a season's yield of cordw

ad failed-for how could he have threshed it without a barn and thr

built up a homestead in the midst of a natural wilderness, winning bread for himself and his, asking nothing of any man, but working, and working alone. He had often thought himself of asking the Lensmand [Footnote: Sheriff's officer, in charge of

papers in a bag. Geissler himself, the Lensmand, no less. He looked at the broad open hillside, cleared of t

m you've got. You don't expec

was terror-stricken

e to me at first, and

ssl

A

ltivated ground here?" He did not wait for the other to reply, but noted down himself, at a guess. Then he asked Isak about the crops, how much hay, how many bushels of potatoes. And then about boundaries. They could not go round the place marking out waist-deep in snow; and in summer no one could get up th

A

k you can swallow; they'll let you ha

A

e Lensmand a surly fellow? He stroked Eleseus' hair, and looked at something the child was p

such up in the h

st from here's what you want most, I suppose? Sha

!" exclaimed

wo hundred yards," s

that cost?"

as low as I can on my report; it's miles a

gs!" said the a

uly, two furlongs to t

lls? How much do y

s the water. There's a big

ted that. "And

that way. 'Tis but moorla

e northward boundary

r either. 'Tis bare fi

ed

at that. Anywhere near the village, of course, it'd be worth a lot of money; nobody could have bought it.

it away," s

nger. "Isak, you've no ca

" said

just what I say. It's miles too big for

it," said t

hen; he did not want to have the whole thing to do again. As it was, he would not be home till late

t to give you the place for nothing, and pay you into the bargain, the way you've worked. I'll say

for the hundred Daler, he could manage to pay that off, no doubt, in course of time. He made no further business about it; he could go on working as he had done h

and hoped he would put in a

. All I have to do is to say what I have seen,

s as near

or

oy

ttled out of hand, by guesswork. Yet for Isak and his wife it was a serious matter enough-ay, and for who should come after them, maybe for generations. But he set it all down, as it please

d: "What do you

ll

name? We must h

f that before. Inger and

out of his own head; maybe it was not a name at all. But

nything would do. The name,

d been an inquiry about some moneys he could not account for, and the matter had been reported to his superior. Well, su

rive with him on his sledge but Lensmand Geissler. He stepped out from the tre

flask from his pocket and drank; offered it to Isak, who declined.

own account. Sellanraa's a nice name. As a matter of fact, they ought to let you have the place for nothing, wouldn't d

you said? No

nd thought a moment. "As far as

you be going,

rbotten, to my

sy that way at t

ouldn't you go

shan't

after all. Isak ventured to point out that the hillside was not all under cultivation yet, but only some small squares here and there. The Lensmand took the information in a curious fashion. "I knew that well enough, of course, last time I was here, when I made out the report. But Brede, the fellow who was with me, he didn't see it. Brede, he's no eart

d turned to Inger. "Ho

hree-quarter

boy,

es

between here and the village, and as soon as he does, this'll be worth more. You buy now, get the place first, and let the price go up after-that wa

atter. He answered that he had done all he could; everything now depended on the State. "I'm g

n to my people in the village next time you're killing," said he. "My wife'l

s firm, good going on the higher ground, ea

that, but he lived too freely, and spent other people's money. It came out later that he had left the place after a sharp reprimand from his superior, Amtmand Pleym; but nothing was done about his family officially, and they went on living there,

, not by a long way. And there was no saying what sort of man his succes

means to go to the university and enter the service that way; instead, he had been constrained to sit in an office, writing at a desk, for fifteen years. He was unmarried, having never been able to affo

his courage, and

s to be reckoned with on the estate. Whether there is any heavy timber. Whether possibly there may be ores or metals of value an the hills adjoining. Mention is made of water, but nothing stated as to any fishery in the same. This Geissler appears to have furnished certain information, but he's not to be tr

setting up boundaries

ll later on i

for an answer. I'll come up myself as soon as I can get away. I shall have to b

s going to buy up betwe

in Geissler's time. Asked Geissler about it, I understand, but Geissler put him off; said he couldn't cultivate a hundred yards

ines through melting snow and slush up and down the hills. The Lensmand set to work zealously the first day, but on the second he had had enough, and contented himself with standing still for the most par

imber, and that within the limits of Isak's proposed holding, but not enough to reckon with for sale; no more than would be required to keep up the place. Even if there had been timber in plenty, who was to carry it a

s and blatant inaccuracies-but all in vain. It was noticeable that he consulted his assistant at every turn, and paid heed to what he said, which was not Geissler's way at all

e price?" aske

hey can fairly ask of any

The State can accept his offer, or take away his land and the fruits of his work." Heyerdahl wrote: "He now humbly begs to submit this application to the Department: that he be allowed to retain this land, upon which, albeit witho

is best. "I hope to succeed in procuring