Growth of the Soil

he had not lost his vigour; the years seemed long to him. H

ame a number of men at once; they rested at Sellanraa, and had some food and a dish of milk; they asked Isak and Oline about the path across the hills; they were marking out the telegraph lin

to the children, went into the house and came out again, looked over the ground, opened the doors of c

ne?" said Is

I saw the boy playing with

; Isak brought them in. Geissler and the two men examined them, talking toget

h us and show where

ssl

hey stayed up in the hills for a couple of days, looking for veins of metal, and firing charg

everything as to his own position: about the purchase of t

easily. "You've thousands, like a

said

itle-deeds entered in the reg

A

me any nonsense about it

"'Tis worst about

ught up again. Set out the whole thing properly; very likely get the sentence reduced a bit. Or we c

that could

wait a bit. What was I going to say ... you've been takin

Lensmand paid fo

I, th

us kindly in

r shortly. "Here-take this." An

in. And he seemed to have plenty of money about him, from the way

nd getting on," said Isak, c

Oh, you

he's had a girl child, born while

elle

s kind as can be, and help

tone in to some mining experts, and find out what's in them. I

long do you think before we

for you. I'll be back here again soon. What was it yo

es

she was expecting it. That's

H

ore reason for lett

ld be ..." said

illage where they could keep her, and, in the second place, they wished to be as lenient as possible. The consequence was something they could not have foreseen. Later, when they had sent to fetch her away, no one had inquired about her condition, and she herself had said nothing of it.

itle-deeds registered, caring little about it; at last, that autumn, he had pulled himself together and got it done. Things were not as they should be with Isak now. Quiet and patient as ever-yes, but now it was because he did not care. He got out hides because it had to be done-goatskins and calfskins-steeped them in the river, laid the

e longest days of all, days when he was forced to idleness and weary thoughts; nothing to do but wander about over the place, counting up all that should have be

Isak had bought once at the village store, a china pot with a dog's head on the lid. It was a sort of tobacco box, really, and stood on a shelf. Oline took off the lid and dropped it on the floor. Inger had left behind some cuttings of fuchsia, under glass. Oline took the glass off and, putting it back, pressed it down hard and

ed Isak. "But you might ha

again," said Oline. But th

he came across the hills, and Os-Anders, it should be remembered, had no reindeer to look to, but lived by begging and quartering himself on other Lapps. As soon as he came up to the place,

no longer. It was in the autumn, and Oline wore shoes ev

today," said Isak. "H'm

said

Isak again, "wasn't it ten you c

said E

e's but nin

nside his little head; then he said: "Yes, but th

. Then little Sivert must try to count as well

ast Oline felt she

hey children, they're no sooner able to talk than they show what's in them. And who they

are well enough," said Isak shortly. "But I'd like to

t go

t's what

od Os-An

to give him che

to think, and has h

t. Was it me, pray, that first began with Os-Anders? I wish I may n

Isak has to give in, as he

and all, and never own the like of a pair of shoes, why, you'll please to say so. I said a word of it

with your pattens, then,

them?" repeats Ol

what I'd l

my pat

A

ng after children here-have you nothing to say to that? I'd like to know; that wif

r going to church and visiting and the lik

the finer for

, she did but stuff a wisp of grass in them, and never no more. B

closed eyes, the same sly Oline as ever. "And as for Inger," said she, "the changeling, as we called her, she went about with children of mine and learned both this and that, for years she did

ss, did Oline. Thank Heaven, none of her children had their faces slit like a fire-breathing dragon, so to speak; but they were none the w

ak. And to make his meaning perfectly

, he he! She turned up her eyes to heaven and hinted that a hare-lip

e shoes? A tiller of earth in the wilds; no longer even something of a god, that he could say to his serva

hawing again when the sun comes out, to an impassable swamp once more. Isak goes down to the villag

, a man to go to when the doctor had to be fetched, or a pig to be killed. He was not yet thirty, but had four children to look after, not to speak of his wife, who was as good as a child herself. Oh, Brede was not so well off, perhaps, after all; 'twas no great money he could earn running hither an

s no time to lose, if he is to be back as far as this on the homeward journey next night, while the roads are hard. A man living in the wilds has much to th

l; it was one of the kindlier spots he had noted himself on his way up, but he had gone on farther. It was nearer the village, certainly, but the timber was not so good; the ground was less hilly, but a poorer soil; easy to work on the surface, but hard to deal with farther down. That

ening, he starts out for home. The frost is getting harder now, and it is good, firm going, but Isak trudges heavily for all that. Who could sa

alk to folk, only trudge on. Brede's cart is still out in the open-does he mean to leave it there? Well, 'tis his own affair. Isak himself had a cart

on the road. The house and buildings, there they stand, smoke curling up from the chimney; both the little ones are out, and come down to meet him as he appears. He g

er and better, whatever may be his idea, whether it be for the sake of peace in the house, or in some hope that the Lord may give him back his Inger the sooner. He is something given to superstition and a pondering upon things; even his rustic wariness is innocent in its way. Early that autumn he found the turf on the roof of the stable was beginning to slip down inside. Isak chewed at his beard for a while, then, smiling like a man who understands a jest, he laid some poles across to keep it up. Not a bitter word did he say. And another thing:

hings so; whether maybe he fancied Inger might b