THIS 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs. Helen A. Dillon 
 
 GROWTH of the SOIL 
 
 a 
 
 lavish wuh my pra,se, but indeed the book impresses me as among the very geatest 
 novels I have ever read It is wholly beautiful; it is saturated with ^om and 
 humor and tenderness; these peasants are a ^triumph of creative understanding." 
 TI. x! C ca v pti , va ' es the imagination more than any conventional romance " savs 
 The Neu, York Evening Post; " ....... powerfully and finely conceived."
 
 Growth of the Soil
 
 I have the honor to announce that I have been 
 made the sole authorized American publisher of 
 
 Knut Hamsun 
 
 Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1020 
 
 The following novels are now ready; others are in 
 preparation and will be issued at regular intervals. 
 
 Hunger 
 
 Translated by George Egerton. 
 
 With an Introduction by Edwin Bjorkman. 
 
 " This very unusual and notable book . . . the product of a 
 most remarkable imagination, so real is it, so vivid, so mov- 
 ing, so compelling in its claims upon the reader's emotions 
 and sympathies." New York Times. 
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Translated, with an essay on Hamsun, 
 
 by W. W. Worster. 
 
 Two volumes, photogravure portrait. 
 
 " I do not know how to express the admiration I feel for this 
 great book without seeming extravagant. One of the very 
 greatest novels I have ever read." H. G. Wells. 
 
 To be ready in the fall of iQ2i: 
 
 Pan 
 
 " We all know the difficulties of simplicity, and most English 
 novelists have frankly given it up because they hope elab- 
 orate drapery will hide the mistakes which they can't help 
 making. But in ' Pan ' we have a beautiful, merciless sim- 
 plicity, for Knut Hamsun is too great an artist to need cover 
 for mistakes." Westminster Gazette.
 
 kA'M.^X
 
 8ft 
 
 8 
 "**^ 
 
 Growth of 
 the Soil 
 
 Translated from the Norwegian of 
 
 Knut Hamsun 
 
 by W. W. Worster 
 
 Volume One 
 
 New York 
 
 Alfred A Knopf 
 
 1921
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY 
 GYLDENDALSKE BOGHANDEL, NORDISK. FORLOG 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY 
 
 ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. 
 
 [ORIGINAL TITLE " MARKENS GR^M "3 
 
 PMNTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA
 
 PT 
 
 H3 
 * / 
 
 Book I
 
 Chapter I 
 
 THE long, long road over the moors and up 
 into the forest who trod it into being first 
 of all? Man, a human being, the first that 
 came here. There was no path before he came. 
 Afterward, some beast or other, following the faint 
 tracks over marsh and moorland, wearing them 
 deeper ; after these again some Lapp gained scent of 
 the path, and took that way from field to field, look- 
 ing to his reindeer. Thus was made the road 
 through the great Almenning the common tracts 
 without an owner; no-man's-land. 
 
 The man comes, walking toward the north. He 
 bears a sack, the first sack, carrying food and some 
 few implements. A strong, coarse fellow, with a 
 red iron beard, and little scars on face and hands; 
 sites of old wounds were they gained in toil or 
 fight? Maybe the man has been in prison, and is 
 looking for a place to hide ; or a philosopher, maybe, 
 in search of peace. This or that, he comes ; the fig- 
 ure of a man in this great solitude. He trudges on; 
 bird and beast are silent all about him; now and 
 again he utters a word or two ; speaking to himself. 
 " Eyah well, well . . ." so he speaks to him- 
 self. Here and there, where the moors give place 
 
 7
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 to a kindlier spot, an open space in the midst of the 
 forest, he lays down the sack and goes exploring; 
 after a while he returns, heaves the sack to his shoul- 
 der again, and trudges on. So through the day, 
 noting time by the sun; night falls, and he throws 
 himself down on the heather, resting on one arm. 
 
 A few hours' rest, and he is on the move again : 
 " Eyah, well . . ." moving northward again, not- 
 ing time by the sun ; a meal of barley cakes and goats' 
 milk cheese, a drink of water from the stream, and 
 on again. This day too he journeys, for there are 
 many kindly spots in the woods to be explored. 
 What is he seeking? A place, a patch of ground? 
 An emigrant, maybe, from the homestead tracts; he 
 keeps his eyes alert, looking out; now and again he 
 climbs to the top of a hill, looking out. The sun 
 goes down once more. 
 
 He moves along the western side of a valley; 
 wooded ground, with leafy trees among the spruce 
 and pine, and grass beneath. Hours of this, and 
 twilight is falling, but his ear catches the faint purl 
 of running water, and it heartens him like the voice 
 of a living thing. He climbs the slope, and sees 
 the valley half in darkness below; beyond, the sky 
 to the south. He lies down to rest. 
 
 The morning shows him a range of pasture and 
 woodland. He moves down, and there is a green 
 hillside; far below, a glimpse of the stream, and a 
 hare bounding across. The man nods his head, as it 
 were approvingly the stream is not so broad but 
 that a hare may cross it at a bound. A white grouse 
 
 8
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 sitting close upon its nest starts up at his feet with 
 an angry hiss, and he nods again: feathered game 
 and fur a good spot this. Heather, bilberry, and 
 cloudberry cover the ground; there are tiny ferns, 
 and the seven-pointed star flowers of the winter- 
 green. Here and there he stops to dig with an iron 
 tool, and finds good mould, or peaty soil, manured 
 with the rotted wood and fallen leaves of a thou- 
 sand years. He nods, to say that he has found him- 
 self a place to stay and live: ay, he will stay here 
 and live. Two days he goes exploring the country 
 round, returning each evening to the hillside. He 
 sleeps at night on a bed of stacked pine; already 
 he feels at home here, with a bed of pine beneath an 
 overhanging rock. 
 
 The worst of his task had been to find the place; 
 this no-man's place, but his. Now, there was work 
 to fill his days. He started at once, stripping birch 
 bark in the woods farther off, while the sap was still 
 in the trees. The bark he pressed and dried, and 
 when he had gathered a heavy load, carried it all 
 the miles back to the village, to be sold for building. 
 Then back to the hillside, with new sacks of food 
 and implements; flour and pork, a cooking-pot, a 
 spade out and back along the way he had come, 
 carrying loads all the time. A born carrier of loads, 
 a lumbering barge of a man in the forest oh, as if 
 he loved his calling, tramping long roads and carry- 
 ing heavy burdens; as if life without a load upon 
 
 ( one's shoulders were a miserable thing, no life for 
 
 \ him. 
 
 9
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 One day he came up with more than the load he 
 bore; came leading three goats in a leash. He was 
 proud of his goats as if they had been horned cat- 
 tle, and tended them kindly. Then came the first 
 stranger passing, a nomad Lapp; at sight of the 
 goats, he knew that this was a man who had come to 
 stay, and spoke to him. 
 
 " You going to live here for good? " 
 
 " Ay," said the man. 
 
 " What's your name? " 
 
 " Isak. You don't know of a woman body any- 
 where'd come and help? " 
 
 " No. But I'll say a word of it to all I meet." 
 
 " Ay, do that. Say I've creatures here, and none 
 to look to them." 
 
 The Lapp went on his way. Isak ay, he would 
 say a word of that. The man on the hillside was no 
 runaway; he had told his name. A runaway? He 
 would have been found. Only a worker, and a 
 hardy one. He set about cutting winter fodder for 
 his goats, clearing the ground, digging a field, shift- 
 ing stones, making a wall of stones. By the autumn 
 he had built a house for himself, a hut of turf, sound 
 and strong and warm; storms could not shake it, 
 and nothing could burn it down. Here was a home ; 
 he could go inside and shut the door, and stay there ; 
 could stand outside on the door-slab, the owner of 
 that house, if any should pass by. There were two 
 rooms in the hut; for himself at the one end, and for 
 his beasts at the other. Farthest in, against the wall 
 of rock, was the hayloft. Everything was there. 
 
 10
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Two more Lapps come by, father and son. They 
 stand resting with both hands on their long staves, 
 taking stock of the hut and the clearing, noting the 
 sound of the goat-bells up on the hillside. 
 
 " Goddag," say the Lapps. " And here's fine folk 
 come to live." Lapps talk that way, with flattering 
 words. 
 
 " You don't know of any woman hereabouts to 
 help? " says Isak, thinking always of but one thing. 
 
 "Woman to help? No. But we'll say a word 
 of it." 
 
 " Ay, if you'd be so good. That I've a house and 
 a bit of ground here, and goats, but no woman to 
 help. Say that." 
 
 Oh, he had sought about for a woman to help each 
 time he had been down to the village with his loads 
 of bark, but there was none to be found. They 
 would look at him, a widow or an old unmarried one 
 or so, but all afraid to offer, whatever might be in 
 their minds. Isak couldn't tell why. Couldn't tell 
 why? Who would go as help to live with a man in 
 the wilds, ever so many miles away a whole day's 
 journey to the nearest neighbour? And the man 
 himself was no way charming or pleasant by his 
 looks, far from it; and when he spoke it was no tenor 
 with eyes to heaven, but a coarse voice, something 
 like a beast's. 
 
 Well, he would have to manage alone. 
 
 In winter, he made great wooden troughs, and 
 sold them in the village, carrying sacks of food and 
 tools back through the snow; hard days when he was 
 
 II
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 tied to a load. There were the goats, and none to 
 look to them ; he could not be away for long. And 
 what did he do? Need made him wise; his brain 
 was strong and little used; he trained it up to ever 
 more and more. His first way was to let the goats 
 loose before starting off himself, so that they could 
 get a full feed among the undergrowth in the woods. 
 But he found another plan. He took a bucket, a 
 great vessel, and hung it up by the river so that a 
 single drop fell in at a time, taking fourteen hours to 
 fill it. When it was full to the brim, the weight was 
 right ; the bucket sank, and in doing so, pulled a line 
 connected with the hayloft; a trap-door opened, and 
 three bundles of fodder came through the goats 
 were fed. 
 
 That was his way. 
 
 A bright idea; an inspiration, maybe, sent from 
 God. The man had none to help him but himself. 
 It served his need until late in the autumn; then 
 came the first snow, then rain, then snow again, snow- 
 ing all the time. And his machine went wrong; the 
 bucket was filled from above, opening the trap too 
 soon. He fixed a cover over, and all went well 
 again for a time; then came winter, the drop of 
 water froze to an icicle, and stopped the machine 
 for good. 
 
 The goats must do as their master learn to do 
 without. 
 
 Hard times the man had need of help, and 
 there was none, yet still he found a way. He 
 worked and worked at his home ; he made a window 
 
 12
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 in the hut with two panes of real glass, and that was 
 a bright and wonderful day in his life. No need of 
 lighting fires to see; he could sit indoors and work 
 at his wooden troughs by daylight. Better days, 
 brighter days . . . eyah! 
 
 He read no books, but his thoughts were often 
 with God; it was natural, coming of simplicity and 
 awe. The stars in the sky, the wind in the trees, 
 the solitude and the wide-spreading snow, the might 
 of earth and over earth filled him many times a day 
 with a deep earnestness. He was a sinner and 
 feared God; on Sundays he washed himself out of 
 reverence for the holy day, but worked none the less 
 as through the week. 
 
 Spring came; he worked on his patch of ground, 
 and planted potatoes. His live stock multiplied ; the 
 two she-goats had each had twins, making seven in 
 all about the place. He made a bigger shed for 
 them, ready for further increase, and put a couple 
 of glass panes in there too. Ay, 'twas lighter and 
 brighter now in every way. 
 
 And then at last came help; the woman he needed. 
 She tacked about for a long time, this way and that 
 across the hillside, before venturing near; it was 
 evening before she could bring herself to come down. 
 And then she came a big, brown-eyed girl, full- 
 built and coarse, with good, heavy hands, and rough 
 hide brogues on her feet as if she had been a Lapp, 
 and a calfskin bag slung from her shoulders. Not 
 altogether young; speaking politely; somewhere near- 
 ing thirty.
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 There was nothing to fear; but she gave him 
 greeting and said hastily: " I was going cross the 
 hills, and took this way, that was all." 
 
 " Ho," said the man. He could barely take her 
 meaning, for she spoke in a slovenly way; also, she 
 kept her face turned aside. 
 
 " Ay," said she, " 'tis a long way to come." 
 
 " Ay, it's that," says the man. " Cross the hills, 
 you said? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 "And what for?" 
 
 " I've my people there." 
 
 " Eh, so you've your people there? And what's 
 your name? " 
 
 " Inger. And what's yours? " 
 
 " Isak." 
 
 " Isak? H'm. D'you live here yourself , maybe ?" 
 
 " Ay, here, such as it is." 
 
 " Why, 'tis none so bad," said she to please him. 
 
 Now he had grown something clever to think out 
 the way of things, and it struck him then she'd come 
 for that very business and no other; had started out 
 two days back just to come here. Maybe she had 
 heard of his wanting a woman to help. 
 
 " Go inside a bit and rest your feet," said he. 
 
 They went into the hut and took a bit of the food 
 she had brought, and some of his goats' milk to 
 drink; then they made coffee, that she had brought 
 with her in a bladder. Settled down comfortably 
 over their coffee until bedtime. And in the night, 
 he lay wanting her, and she was willing.
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 She did not go away next morning; all that day she 
 did not go, but helped about the place; milked the 
 goats, and scoured pots and things with fine sand, 
 and got them clean. She did not go away at all. 
 Inger was her name. And Isak was his name. 
 
 And now it was another life for the solitary man. 
 True, this wife of his had a curious slovenly way of 
 speech, and always turning her face aside, by reason 
 of a hare-lip that she had, but that was no matter. 
 Save that her mouth was disfigured, she would 
 hardly have come to him at all; he might well be 
 grateful for that she was marked with a hare-lip. 
 And as to that, he himself was no beauty. Isak 
 with the iron beard and rugged body, a grim and 
 surly figure of a man; ay, as a man seen through a 
 flaw in the window-pane. His look was not a gentle 
 one; as if Barabbas might break loose at any min- 
 ute. It was a wonder Inger herself did not run 
 away. 
 
 She did not run away. When he had been out, 
 and came home again, there was Inger at the hut; 
 the two were one, the woman and the hut. 
 
 It was another mouth for him to feed, but no loss 
 in that; he had more freedom now, and could go and 
 stay as he needed. And there were matters to be 
 looked to away from home. There was the river; 
 pleasant to look at, and deep and swift besides; a 
 river not to be despised; it must come from some big 
 water up in the hills. He got himself some fishing 
 gear and went exploring; in the evening he came back 
 with a basket of trout and char. This was a great
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 thing to Inger, and a marvel ; she was overwhelmed, 
 being no way used to fine dishes. She clapped her 
 hands and cried out :" Why ! wherever . . ." And 
 she was not slow to see how he was pleased at her 
 surprise, and proud of it, for she said more in the 
 same strain oh, she had never seen the like, and 
 how had he ever managed to find such things ! 
 
 Inger was a blessing, too, in other ways. No 
 clever head nor great in wit, maybe but she had 
 two lambing ewes with some of her kinsfolk, and 
 brought them down. It was the best they could have 
 wished for at the hut; sheep with wool and lambs, 
 four new head to their stock about the place; it was 
 growing, getting bigger; a wonder and a marvel how 
 their stock was grown. And Inger brought more; 
 clothes, and little trifles of her own, a looking-glass, 
 and a string of pretty glass beads, a spinning-wheel, 
 and carding-combs. Why, if she went on that gait, 
 the hut would soon be filled from floor to roof, and 
 no room for more ! Isak was astonished in his turn 
 at all this wealth of goods, but being a silent man, 
 and slow to speak, he said nothing, only shambled out 
 to the door-slab and looked at the weather, and 
 shambled in again. Ay, he had been lucky indeed; 
 he felt himself more and more in love, or drawn 
 towards her, or whatever it might be. 
 
 " You've no call to fetch along all such stuff," 
 said he. " 'Tis more than's needed." 
 
 " I've more if I like to fetch it. And there's 
 Uncle Sivert besides you've heard of him? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 16
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Why, he's a rich man, and district treasurer be- 
 sides." 
 
 makes a fool of the wise. Isak felt he 
 
 must do something grand himself, and overdid it. 
 ' What I was going to say; you've no need to bother 
 with hoeing potatoes. I'll do it myself the evening, 
 when I come home." 
 
 And he took his ax and went off to the woods. 
 
 She heard him felling in the woods, not so far 
 off ; she could hear from the crash that he was felling 
 big timber. She listened for a while, and then went 
 out to the potato field and set to work hoeing. Love 
 inake^foplswise. 
 
 Isak came home in the evening, hauling a huge 
 trunk by a rope. Oh, that simple and innocent Isak, 
 he made all the noise he could with his tree-trunk, 
 and coughed and hemmed, all for her to come out 
 and wonder at him. And sure enough : 
 
 " Why, you're out of your senses," said Inger 
 when she came out. " Is that work for a man sin- 
 gle-handed? " He made no answer; wouldn't have 
 said a word for anything. To do a little more than 1 
 was work for a man single-handed was nothing to y 
 speak of nothing at all. A stick of timber 
 huh! "And what are you going to do with it?" 
 she asked. 
 
 " Oh, we'll see," he answered carelessly, as if 
 scarcely heeding she was there. 
 
 But when he saw that she had hoed the potatoes 
 after all he was not pleased. It was as if she had 
 done almost as much as he; and that was not to his
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 liking. He slipped the rope from the tree-trunk and 
 went off with it once more. 
 
 " What, haven't you done yet? " 
 
 " No," said he gruffly. 
 
 And he came back with another stick like the last, 
 only with no noise nor sign of being out of breath; 
 hauled it up to the hut like an ox, and left it there. 
 
 That summer he felled a mass of timber, and 
 brought it to the hut. 
 
 18
 
 Chapter II 
 
 INGER packed up some food one day in her calf- 
 skin bag. " I'd thought of going across to see 
 my people, just how they're faring." 
 
 " Ay," said Isak. 
 
 " I must have a bit of talk with them about 
 things." 
 
 Isak did not go out at once to see her off, but 
 waited quite a while. And when at last he shambled 
 out, looking never the least bit anxious, never the 
 least bit miserable and full of fear, Inger was all but 
 vanished already through the fringe of the forest. 
 
 " Hem ! " He cleared his throat, and called, 
 "Will you be coming back maybe?" He had not 
 meant to ask her that, but . . . 
 
 " Coming back? Why, what's in your mind? 
 Of course I'll be coming back." 
 
 " H'm." 
 
 So he was left alone again eyah, well ... I 
 With his strength, and the love of work that was in 
 him, he could not idle in and out about the hut doing 
 nothing; he set to, clearing timber, felling straight, 
 good sticks, and cutting them flat on two sides. He 
 worked at this all through the day, then he milked 
 the goats and went to bed. 
 
 Sadly bare and empty now in the hut; a heavy 
 silence clung about the peat walls and the earthen 
 
 19
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 floor; a deep and solemn loneliness. Spinning-wheel 
 and carding-combs were in their place; the beads, 
 too, were safe as they had been, stowed away in a bag 
 under the roof. Inger had taken nothing of her 
 belongings. But Isak, unthinkably simple as he was, 
 grew afraid of the dark in the light summer nights, 
 and saw Shapes and Things stealing past the win- 
 dow. He got up before dawn, about two o'clock 
 by the light, and ate his breakfast, a mighty dish of 
 porridge to last the day, and save the waste of time 
 in cooking more. In the evening he turned up new 
 ground, to make a bigger field for the potatoes. 
 
 Three days he worked with spade and ax by turns; 
 Inger should be coming on the next. 'Twould be 
 but reasonable to have a platter of fish for her when 
 she came but the straight road to the water lay 
 by the way she would come, and it might seem . . . 
 So he went a longer way; a new way, over the hills 
 where he had never been before. Grey rock and 
 brown, and strewed about with bits of heavy stone, 
 heavy as copper or lead. There might be many 
 things in those heavy stones; gold or silver, like as 
 not he had no knowledge of such things, and did 
 not care. He came to the water; the fly was up, 
 and the fish were biting well that night. He brought 
 home a basket of fish that Inger would open her eyes 
 to see ! Going back in the morning by the way he 
 had come, he picked up a couple of the heavy little 
 stones among the hills ; they were brown, with specks 
 of dark blue here and there, and wondrous heavy in 
 the hand. 
 
 20
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Inger had not come, and did not come. This was 
 the fourth day. He milked the goats as he had 
 used to do when he lived alone with them and had 
 no other to help; then he went up to a quarry near 
 by and carried down stones; great piles of carefully 
 chosen blocks and flakes, to build a wall. He was 
 busy with no end of things. 
 
 On the fifth evening, he turned in to rest with a 
 little fear at his heart but there were the carding- 
 combs and spinning-wheel, and the string of beads. 
 Sadly empty and bare in the hut, and never a sound; 
 the hours were long, and when at last he did hear 
 something like a sound of footsteps outside, he told 
 himself that it was fancy, nothing more. " Eyah, 
 Herregud! " l he murmured, desolate in spirit. 
 And Isak was not one to use words lightly. There 
 was the tramping of feet again outside, and a mo- 
 ment after something gliding past the window; some- 
 thing with horns, something alive. He sprang up, 
 over to the door, and lo, a vision! " God or the 
 devil," muttered Isak, who did not use words lightly. 
 He saw a cow; Inger and a cow, vanishing into the 
 shed. 
 
 If he had not stood there himself and heard it 
 Inger talking softly to the cow in the shed he 
 would not have believed. But there he stood. And 
 all at once a black misgiving came into his mind: a 
 clever wife, ay, a manager of wonders but, after 
 all ... No, it was too much, and that was the only 
 
 1 Literally, "Lord God." The word is frequently used, as here, 
 in a sense of resignation, as it were a sigh. 
 
 21
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 word for it. A spinning-wheel and carding-combs 
 at a pinch; even the beads perhaps, though they were 
 over fine to be come by in any way proper and natu- 
 ral. But a cow, picked up straying on the road, 
 maybe, or in a field it would be missed in no time, 
 and have to be found. 
 
 Inger stepped out of the shed, and said with a 
 proud little laugh : 
 
 " It's only me. I've brought my cow along." 
 
 " H'm," said Isak. 
 
 " It was that made me so long I couldn't go 
 but softly with her over the hills." 
 
 " And so you've brought a cow? " said he. 
 
 " Yes," said she, all ready to burst with greatness 
 and riches on earth. " Don't you believe me, per- 
 haps?" 
 
 Isak feared the worst, but made no sign, and only 
 said: 
 
 " Come inside and get something to eat." 
 
 " Did you see her? Isn't she a pretty cow? " 
 
 " Ay, a fine cow," said Isak. And speaking as 
 carelessly as he could, he asked, " Where d'you get 
 her?" 
 
 " Her name's Goldenhorns. What's that wall to 
 be for you've been building up here? You'll work 
 yourself to death, you will. Oh, come and look at 
 the cow, now, won't you? " 
 
 They went out to look, and Isak was in his under- 
 clothes, but that was no matter. They looked and 
 looked the cow all over carefully, in every part, and 
 
 22
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 noted all the markings, head and shoulders, buttocks 
 and thighs, where it was red and white, and how it 
 stood. 
 
 " How old d'you think she might be? " asked Isak 
 cautiously. 
 
 " Think? Why, she's just exactly a tiny way on 
 in her fourth year. I brought her up myself, and 
 they all said it was the sweetest calf they'd ever seen. 
 But will there be feed enough here, d'you think? " 
 
 Isak began to believe, as he was only too willing 
 to do, that all was well. " As for the feed, why, 
 there'll be feed enough, never fear." 
 
 Then they went indoors to eat and drink and 
 make an evening together. They lay awake talking 
 of Cow; of the great event. " And isn't she a dear 
 cow, too? Her second's on the way. And her 
 name's Goldenhorns. Are you asleep, Isak? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 "And what do you think, she knew me again; 
 knew me at once, and followed me like a lamb. We 
 lay up in the hills a bit last night." 
 
 "Ho?" 
 
 " But she'll have to be tied up through the sum- 
 mer, all the same, or she'll be running off. A cow's 
 a cow." 
 
 " Where's she been before? " asked Isak at last. 
 
 " Why, with my people, where she belonged. 
 And they were quite sorry to lose her, I can tell you ; 
 and the little ones cried when I took her away." 
 
 Could she be making it all up, and coming out with 
 
 23
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 it so pat? No, it wasn't thinkable. It must be 
 true, the cow was hers. Ho, they were getting well- 
 to-do, with this hut of theirs, this farm of theirs; 
 why, 'twas good enough for any one. Ay, they'd 
 as good as all they could wish for already. Oh, 
 that Inger; he loved her and she loved him again; 
 they were frugal folk; they lived in primitive wise, 
 and lacked for nothing. " Let's go to sleep ! " 
 And they went to sleep. And wakened in the morn- 
 ing to another day, with things to look at, matters 
 to see to, once again; ay, toil and pleasure, ups and J 
 
 /aowns, the way of life. 
 
 "-x As, for instance, with those timber baulks 
 should he try to fit them up together? Isak had 
 kept his eyes about him down in the village, with that 
 very thing in mind, and seen how it was done; he 
 could build with timber himself, why not? More- 
 over, it was a call upon him; it must be done. 
 Hadn't they a farm with sheep, a farm with a cow 
 already, goats that were many already and would be 
 more? their live stock alone was crowding them 
 out of the turf hut; something must be done. And 
 best get on with it at once, while the potatoes were 
 still in flower, and before the haytime began. Inger 
 would have to lend a hand here and there. 
 
 Isak wakes in the night and gets up, Inger sleep- 
 ing fine and sound after her long tramp, and out he 
 goes to the cowshed. Now it must not be thought 
 that he talked to Cow in any obsequious and disgust- 
 ful flattery; no, he patted her decently, and looked 
 her over once more in every part, to see if there 
 
 24
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 should, by chance, be any sign, any mark of her be- 
 longing to strange owners. No mark, no sign, and 
 Isak steals away relieved. 
 
 There lies the timber. He falls to, rolling the 
 baulks, then lifting them, setting them lip against 
 the wall in a framework; one big frame for a par- 
 lour, and a smaller one there must be a room to 
 sleep in. It was heavy work, hard-breathing work, 
 and his mind being set on it, he forgot the time. 
 There comes a smoke from the roof-hole of the hut, 
 and Inger steps out and calls to breakfast. 
 
 " And what are you busy with now? " asked Inger. 
 
 " You're early about," says Isak, and that was all. 
 
 Ho, that Isak with his secrets and his lordly ways ! 
 But it pleased him, maybe, to have her asking and 
 wondering, and curious about his doings. He ate a 
 bit, and sat for a while in the hut before going out 
 again. What could he be waiting for? 
 
 " H'm," says he at last, getting up. " This won't 
 do. Can't sit here idling today. Work to be 
 done." 
 
 " Seems like you're building," says Inger. 
 "What?" 
 
 And he answered condescendingly, this great man 
 who went about building with timber all by himself, 
 he answered: "Why, you can see as much, I take 
 it." 
 
 " Yes. . . . Yes, of course." 
 
 " Building why, there's no help for it as I can 
 see. Here's you come bringing a whole cow to the 
 farm that means a cowshed, I suppose? " 
 
 25
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Poor Inger, not so eternally wise as he, as Isak, 
 that lord of creation. And this was before she 
 learned to know him, and reckon with his way of 
 putting things. Says Inger: 
 
 " Why, it's never a cowshed you're building, 
 surely? " 
 
 " Ho," says he. 
 
 " But you don't mean it ? I I thought you'd be 
 building a house first." 
 
 " Think so? " says Isak, putting up a face as if 
 he'd never in life have thought of that himself. 
 
 " Why, yes. And put the beasts in the hut." 
 
 Isak thought for a bit. " Ay, maybe 'twould be 
 best so." 
 
 " There," says Inger, all glad and triumphant. 
 " You see I'm some good after all." 
 
 " Ay, that's true. And what'd you say to a house 
 with two rooms in? " 
 
 " Two rooms? Oh . . . ! Why, 'twould be 
 just like other folks. Do you think we could? " 
 
 They did. Isak he went about building, notching 
 his baulks and fitting up his framework; also he man- 
 aged a hearth and fireplace of picked stones, though 
 this last was troublesome, and Isak himself was not 
 always pleased with his work. Haytime came, and 
 he was forced to climb down from his building and 
 go about the hillsides far and near, cutting grass and 
 bearing home the hay in mighty loads. Then one 
 rainy day he must go down to the village. 
 
 " What you want in the village? " 
 
 " Well, I can't say exactly as yet. . . ." 
 26
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 He set off, and stayed away two days, and came 
 back with a cooking-stove a barge of a man surg- 
 ing up through the forest with a whole iron stove 
 on his back. " 'Tis more than a man can do," said 
 Inger. " You'll kill yourself that gait." But Isak 
 pulled down the stone hearth, that didn't look so 
 well in the new house, and set up the cooking-stove 
 in its place. " 'Tisn't every one has a cooking- 
 stove," said Inger. " Of all the wonders, how we're 
 getting on! . . ." 
 
 Haymaking still; Isak bringing in loads and 
 masses of hay, for woodland grass is not the same 
 as meadow grass, more's the pity, but poorer by far. 
 It was only on rainy days now that he could spare 
 time for his building; 'twas a lengthy business, and 
 even by August, when all the hay was in, safely stored 
 under the shelter of the rock, the new house was still 
 but half-way done. Then by September: "This 
 won't do," said Isak. " You'd better run down to 
 the village and get a man to help." Inger had been 
 something poorly of late, and didn't run much now, 
 but all the same she got herself ready to go. 
 
 But Isak had changed his mind again; had put on 
 his lordly manner again, and said he would manage 
 by himself. " No call to bother with other folk," 
 says he; "I can manage it alone." 
 
 " 'Tis more than one man's work," says Inger. 
 " You'll wear yourself out." 
 
 " Just help me to hoist these up," says Isak, and 
 that was all. 
 
 October came, and Inger had to give up. This 
 27
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 was a hard blow, for the roof-beams must be got up 
 at any cost, and the place covered in before the au- 
 tumn rains; there was not a day to be lost. What 
 could be wrong with Inger? Not going to be ill? 
 She would make cheese now and then from the 
 goats' milk, but beyond that she did little save shift- 
 ing Goldenhorns a dozen times a day where she 
 grazed. 
 
 " Bring up a good-sized basket, or a box," she had 
 said, " next time you're down to the village." 
 
 " What d'you want that for? " asked Isak. 
 
 " I'll just be wanting it," said Inger. 
 
 Isak hauled up the roof-beams on a rope, Inger 
 guiding them with one hand; it seemed a help just 
 to have her about. Bit by bit the work went on; 
 there was no great height to the roof, but the timber 
 was huge and heavy for a little house. 
 
 The weather kept fine, more or less. Inger got 
 the potatoes in by herself, and Isak had the roofing 
 done before the rain came on in earnest. The goats 
 were brought in of a night into the hut and all slept 
 there together; they managed somehow, they man- 
 aged everyway, and did not grumble. 
 
 Isak was getting ready for another journey down 
 to the village. Said Inger very humbly : 
 
 " Do you think perhaps you could bring up a 
 good-sized basket, or a box?" 
 
 " I've ordered some glass windows," said Isak. 
 " And a couple of painted doors. I'll have to fetch 
 them up," said he in his lordly way. 
 
 28
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Ay well, then. It's no great matter about the 
 basket." 
 
 " What did you want with a basket? What's it 
 for?" 
 
 " What's it for? . . . Oh, haven't you eyes in 
 your head! " 
 
 Isak went off deep in thought. Two days later 
 he came back, with a window and a door for the 
 parlour, and a door for the bedroom; also he had 
 hung round his neck in front a good-sized packing- 
 case, and full of provisions to boot. 
 
 " You'll carry yourself to death one day," said 
 Inger. 
 
 " Ho, indeed ! " Isak was very far indeed from 
 being dead; he took out a bottle of medicine from 
 his pocket naphtha it was and gave it to Inger 
 with orders to take it regularly and get well again. 
 And there were the windows and the painted doors 
 that he could fairly boast of; he set to work at once 
 fitting them in. Oh, such little doors, and second- 
 hand at that, but painted up all neat and fine again in 
 red and white; 'twas almost as good as having pic- 
 tures on the walls. 
 
 And now they moved into the new building, and 
 the animals had the turf hut to themselves, only a 
 lambing ewe was left with Cow, lest she should feel 
 lonely. 
 
 They had done well, these builders in the waste; 
 ay, 'twas a wonder and a marvel to themselves. 
 
 29
 
 Chapter III 
 
 ISAK worked on the land until the frost set in; 
 there were stones and roots to be dug up and 
 cleared away, and the meadow to be levelled 
 ready for next year. When the ground hardened, he 
 left his field work and became a woodman, felling 
 and cutting up great quantities of logs. 
 
 " What do you want with all these logs? " Inger 
 would say. 
 
 " Oh, they'll be useful some way," said Isak off- 
 handedly, as though he had no plan. But Isak had 
 a plan, never fear. Here was virgin forest, a dense 
 growth, right close up to the house, a barrier hedg- 
 ing in his fields where he wanted room. Moreover, 
 there must be some way of getting the logs down to 
 the village that winter; there were folk enough 
 would be glad of wood for firing. It was sound 
 enough, and Isak was in no doubt; he stuck to his 
 work in the forest, felling trees and cutting them 
 up into logs. 
 
 Inger came out often, to watch him at work. He 
 took no notice, but made as if her coming were no 
 matter, and not at all a thing he wished for her to 
 do; but she understood all the same that it pleased 
 him to have her there. They had a strange way, 
 too, of speaking to each other at times. 
 
 30
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Couldn't you find things to do but come out here 
 and get stark frozen? " says Isak. 
 
 " I'm well enough for me," says Inger. " But I 
 can't see there's any living sense in you working your- 
 self to death like you do." 
 
 " Ho ! You just pick up that coat of mine there 
 and put it on you." 
 
 " Put on your coat? Likely, indeed. I've no 
 time to sit here now, with Goldenhorns ready to calve 
 and all." 
 
 " H'm. Calving, you say?" 
 
 " As if you didn't know ! But what do you think 
 now about that same calf. Let it stay and be 
 weaned, maybe? " 
 
 " Do as you think; 'tis none of my business with 
 calves and things." 
 
 " Well, 'twould be a pity to eat up calf, seems 
 to me. And leave us with but one cow on the 
 place." 
 
 " Don't seem to me like you'd do that anyway," 
 says Isak. 
 
 [ That was their way. Lonely folk, ugly to look 
 I at and overfull of growth, but a blessing for each 
 other, for the beasts, and for the earth. 
 
 And Goldenhorns calved. A great day in the 
 wilderness, a joy and a delight. They gave her 
 flour-wash, and Isak himself saw to it there was no 
 stint of flour, though he had carried it all the way 
 himself, on his back. And there lay a pretty calf, a 
 beauty, red-flanked like her mother, and comically 
 bewildered at the miracle of coming into the world. 
 
 31
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 In a couple of years she would be having calves of 
 her own. 
 
 ' 'Twill be a grand fine cow when she grows up," 
 said Inger. " And what are we to call her, now ? I 
 can't think." 
 
 Inger was childish in her ways, and no clever wit 
 for anything. 
 
 " Call her? " said Isak. " Why, Silverhorns, of 
 course; what else? " 
 
 The first snow came. As soon as there was a 
 passable road, Isak set out for the village, full of 
 concealment and mystery as ever, when Inger asked 
 his errand. And sure enough, he came back this 
 time with a new and unthinkable surprise. A horse 
 and sledge, nothing less. 
 
 " Here's foolishness," says Inger. " And you've 
 not stolen it, I suppose ? " 
 
 "Stolen it?" 
 
 "Well, found it, then?" 
 
 Now if only he could have said: " 'Tis my horse 
 our horse. . . ." But to tell the truth, he had 
 only hired it, after all. Hired horse and sledge to 
 cart his logs. 
 
 Isak drove down with his loads of firewood, and 
 brought back food, herrings and flour. And one 
 day he came up with a young bull on the sledge; 
 bought it for next to nothing, by reason they were 
 getting short of fodder down in the village. Shaggy 
 and thin, no ways a beauty, but decently built for all 
 that, and wanted no more than proper feed to set it 
 right. And with a cow they had already . . . 
 
 32
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " What'll you be bringing up next? " said Inger. 
 
 Isak brought up a host of things. Brought up 
 planks and a saw he had got in exchange for timber; 
 a grindstone, a wafer iron, tools all in exchange 
 for his logs. Inger was bursting with riches, and 
 said each time: " What, more things ! When we've 
 cattle and all a body could think of ! " 
 
 They had enough to meet their needs for no little 
 time to come, and were well-to-do folk. What was 
 Isak to start on again next spring? He had thought 
 it all out, tramping down beside his loads of wood 
 that winter; he would clear more ground over the 
 hillside and level it off, cut up more logs to dry 
 through the summer, and take down double loads 
 when the snow came fit for sledging. It worked out 
 beautifully. 
 
 But there was another matter Isak had thought 
 of times out of number: that Goldenhorns, where 
 had she come from, whose had she been? There 
 was never a wife on earth like Inger. Ho ! a wild 
 thing she was, that let him do as he pleased with 
 her, and was glad of it. But suppose one day 
 they were to come for the cow, and take it away 
 and worse, maybe, to come after? What was it 
 Inger herself had said about the horse : " You 
 haven't stolen it, I suppose, or found it? " That 
 was her first thought, yes. That was what she had 
 said; who could say if she were to be trusted what 
 should he do? He had thought of it all many a 
 time. And here he had brought up a mate him- 
 self for the cow for a stolen cow, maybe ! 
 
 33
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 And there was the horse he would have to return 
 again. A pity for 'twas a little friendly beast, 
 and grown fond of them already. 
 
 " Never mind," said Inger comfortingly. " Why, 
 you've done wonders already." 
 
 " Ay, but just now with the spring coming on 
 and I've need of a horse. . . ." 
 
 Next morning he drove off quietly with the last 
 load, and was away two days. Coming back on 
 foot the third day, he stopped as he neared the 
 house, and stood listening. There was a curious 
 noise inside. ... A child crying Eyah, Herre- 
 gud! . . . Well, there it was ; but a terrible strange 
 thing. And Inger had never said a word. 
 
 He stepped inside, and there first thing of all was 
 the packing-case the famous packing-case that he 
 had carried home slung round his neck in front; there 
 it was, hung up by a string at each end from the 
 ceiling, a cradle and a bedplace for the child. Inger 
 was up, pottering about half-dressed she had 
 milked the cow and the goats, as it might have been 
 just an ordinary day. 
 
 The child stopped crying. " You're through with 
 it already? " said Isak. 
 
 u Ay, I'm through with it now." 
 
 " H'm." 
 
 " It came the first evening you were gone." 
 
 " H'm." 
 
 " I'd only to get my things off and hang up the 
 cradle there, but it was too much for me, like, and 
 I had to lie down." 
 
 34
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Why didn't you tell me before? " 
 
 " Why, I couldn't say to a minute when it'd be. 
 'Tis a boy." 
 
 " Ho, a boy." 
 
 " And I can't for the life of me think what we're 
 to call him," said Inger. 
 
 Isak peeped at the little red face; well shaped it 
 was, and no hare-lip, and a growth of hair all thick 
 on the head. A fine little fellow for his rank and 
 station in a packing-case; Isak felt himself curiously 
 weak. The rugged man stood there with a miracle 
 before him; a thing created first of all in a sacred 
 mist, showing forth now in life with a little face like 
 an allegory. Days and years, and the miracle would 
 be a human being. 
 
 " Come and have your food," said Inger. . . . 
 
 Isak is a woodman, felling trees and sawing logs. 
 He is better off now than before, having a saw. 
 He works away, and mighty piles of wood grow up ; 
 he makes a street of them, a town, built up of stacks 
 and piles of wood. Inger is more about the house 
 now, and does not come out as before to watch him 
 at his work; Isak must find a pretext now and then 
 to slip off home for a moment instead. Queer to 
 have a little fellow like that about the place ! Isak, 
 of course, would never dream of taking any notice 
 'twas but a bit of a thing in a packing-case. And as 
 for being fond of it ... But when it cried, well, it 
 was only human nature to feel just a little something 
 for a cry like that ; a little tiny cry like that. 
 
 35
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "Don't touch him!" says Inger. "With your 
 hands all messed up with resin and all ! " 
 
 " Resin, indeed ! " says Isak. " Why, I haven't 
 had resin on my hands since I built this house. Give 
 me the boy, let me take him there, he's as right 
 as can be! " 
 
 Early in May came a visitor. A woman came 
 over the hills to that lonely place where none ever 
 came; she was of Inger's kinsfolk, though not near, 
 and they made her welcome. 
 
 " I thought I'd just look in," she says, " and see 
 how Goldenhorns gets on since she left us." 
 
 Inger looks at the child, and talks to it in a little 
 pitying voice : " Ah, there's none asks how he's get- 
 ting on, that's but a little tiny thing." 
 
 " Why, as for that, any one can see how he's get- 
 ting on. A fine little lad and all. And who'd have 
 thought it a year gone, Inger, to find you here with 
 house and husband and child and all manner of 
 things." *"*'# J *?] 
 
 " 'Tis no doing of mine to praise. But there's 
 one sitting there that took me as I was and no more." 
 
 " And wedded? Not wedded yet, no, I see." 
 
 " We'll see about it, the time this little man's to 
 be christened," says Inger. " We'd have been 
 wedded before, but couldn't come by it, getting down 
 to a church and all. What do you say, Isak?" 
 
 " Wedded? " says Isak. " Why, yes, of course." 
 
 " But if as you'd help us, Oline," says Inger. 
 
 36
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Just to come up for a few days in the off time once, 
 and look to the creatures here while we're away? " 
 
 Ay, Oline would do that. 
 
 " We'll see it's no loss to you after." 
 
 Why, as to that, she'd leave it to them. . . . 
 " And you're building again, I see. Now what'll 
 that be for? Isn't there built enough? " 
 
 Inger sees her chance and puts in here : " Why, 
 you must ask him about that. I'm not to know." 
 
 " Building? " says Isak. " Oh, 'tis nothing to 
 speak of. A bit of a shed, maybe, if we should 
 need it. What's that you were saying about Golden- 
 horns ? You'd like to see her ? " 
 
 They go across to the cowshed, and there's cow 
 and calf to show, and an ox to boot. The visitor 
 nods her head, looking at the beasts, and at the 
 shed; all fine as could be, and clean as couldn't be 
 cleaner. " Trust Inger for looking after creatures 
 every way," says Oline. 
 
 Isak puts a question: "Goldenhorns was at your 
 place before? " 
 
 " Ay, from a calf. Not my place, though; at my 
 son's. But 'tis all the same. And we've her mother 
 still." 
 
 Isak had not heard better news a long while; it 
 was a burden lighter. Goldenhorns was his and 
 Inger's by honest right. To tell the truth, he had 
 half thought of getting rid of his trouble in a sorry 
 way; to kill off the cow that autumn, scrape the hide, 
 bury the horns, and thus make away with all trace 
 
 37
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 of Cow Goldenhorns in this life. No need for that 
 now. And he grew mightily proud of Inger all at 
 once. 
 
 " Ay, Inger," says he. " She's one to manage 
 things, that's true. There's not her like nor equal 
 to be found. 'Twas a poor place here till I got a 
 woman of my own, as you might say." 
 
 " Why, 'tis but natural so," says Oline. 
 
 And so this woman from across the hills, a soft- 
 spoken creature with her wits about her, and by name 
 Oline, she stayed with them a couple of days, and 
 had the little room to sleep in. And, when she set 
 out for home, she had a bundle of wool that Inger 
 had given her, from the sheep. There was no call 
 to hide that bundle of wool, but Oline took care that 
 Isak should not see it. 
 
 Then the child and Isak and his wife again; the 
 same world again, and the work of the day, with 
 many little joys and big. Goldenhorns was yielding 
 well, the goats had dropped their kids and were 
 yielding well; Inger had a row of red and white 
 cheeses already, stored away to get ripe. It was her 
 plan to save up cheeses till there were enough to buy 
 a loom. Oh, that Inger; she knew how to weave. 
 
 And Isak built a shed - he too had a plan of his 
 own, no doubt. He set up a new wing built out from 
 the side of the turf hut, with double panelling boards, 
 made a doorway in it, and a neat little window with 
 four panes; laid on a roof of outer boards, and made 
 do with that till the ground thawed and he could get 
 turf. All that was useful and necessary; no floor- 
 
 38
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ing, no smooth-planed walls, but Isak had fixed up a 
 box partition, as for a horse, and a manger. 
 
 It was nearing the end of May. The sun had 
 thawed the high ground; Isak roofed in his shed with 
 turf and it was finished. Then one morning he ate 
 a meal to last for the day, took some more food 
 with him, shouldered pick and spade, and went down 
 to the village. 
 
 " Bring up three yards of cotton print, if you can," 
 Inger called after him. 
 
 " What do you want with that? " said Isak. 
 
 Isak was long away; it almost seemed as if he had 
 gone for good. Inger looked at the weather every 
 day, noting the way of the wind, as if she were ex- 
 pecting a sailing-ship; she went out at nighttime to 
 listen; even thought of taking the child on her arm 
 and going after him. Then at last he came back, 
 with a horse and cart. " Ptrof " shouted Isak as he 
 drew up ; shouted so as to be heard. And the horse 
 was well behaved, and stood as quiet as could be, 
 nodding at the turf hut as if it knew the place again. 
 Nevertheless, Isak must call out, " Hi, come and 
 hold the horse a bit, can't you? " 
 
 Out goes Inger. " Where is it now? Oh, Isak, 
 have you hired him again? Where have you been 
 all this time? 'Tis six days gone." 
 
 " Where d'you think I'd be ? Had to go all sorts 
 of ways round to find a road for this cart of mine. 
 Hold the horse a bit, can't you? " 
 
 " Cart of yours ! You don't mean to say you've 
 bought that cart? " 
 
 39
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Isak dumb; Isak swelling with things unspoken. 
 He lifts out a plough and a harrow he has brought; 
 nails, provisions, a grindstone, a sack of corn. 
 "And how's the child? " he asks. 
 
 " Child's all right. Have you bought that cart, 
 that's what I want to know? For here have I been 
 longing and longing for a loom," says she jestingly, 
 in her gladness at having him back again. 
 
 Isak dumb once more, for a long space, busied 
 with his own affairs, pondering, looking round for a 
 place to put all his goods and implements; it was 
 hard to find room for them all. But when Inger 
 gave up asking, and began talking to the horse in- 
 stead, he came out of his lofty silence at last. 
 
 " Ever see a farm without a horse and cart, and 
 plough and harrows, and all the rest of it? And 
 since you want to know, why, I've bought that horse 
 and cart, and all that's in it," says he. 
 
 And Inger could only shake her head and murmur: 
 " Well, I never did see such a manl " 
 
 Isak was no longer littleness and humility; he had 
 paid, as it were, like a gentleman, for Goldenhorns. 
 " Here you are," he could say. " I've brought 
 along a horse; we can call it quits." 
 
 He stood there, upright and agile, against his 
 wont; shifted the plough once more, picked it up and 
 carried it with one hand and stood it up against the 
 wall. Oh, he could manage an estate ! He took up 
 the other things: the harrow, the grindstone, a new 
 fork he had bought, all the costly agricultural im- 
 plements, treasures of the new home, a grand array. 
 
 40
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 All requisite appliances nothing was lacking. 
 
 " H'm. As for that loom, why, we'll manage 
 that too, I dare say, as long as I've my health. And 
 there's your cotton print; they'd none but blue, so 
 I took that." 
 
 There was no end to the things he brought. A 
 bottomless well, rich in all manner of things, like a 
 city store. 
 
 Says Inger: " I wish Oline could have seen all 
 this when she was here." 
 
 Just like a woman ! Sheer senseless vanity as 
 if that mattered! Isak sniffed contemptuously. 
 Though perhaps he himself would not have been 
 displeased if Oline had been there to see. 
 
 The child was crying. 
 
 " Go in and look after the boy," said Isak. " I'll 
 look to the horse." 
 
 He takes out the horse and leads it into the stable : 
 ay, here is Isak putting his horse into the stable! 
 Feeds it and strokes it and treats it tenderly. And 
 how much was owing now, on that horse and cart? 
 Everything, the whole sum, a mighty debt; but it 
 should all be paid that summer, never fear. He 
 had stacks of cordwood to pay with, and some build- 
 ing bark from last year's cut, not to speak of heavy 
 timber. There was time enough. But later on, 
 when the pride and glory had cooled off a little, there 
 were bitter hours of fear and anxiety; all depended 
 on the summer and the crops; how the year turned 
 out. 
 
 The days now were occupied in field work and 
 
 41
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 more field work; he cleared new bits of ground, get- 
 ting out roots and stones ; ploughing, manuring, har- 
 rowing, working with pick and spade, breaking lumps 
 of soil and crumbling them with hand and heel; a 
 tiller of the ground always, laying out fields like 
 velvet carpets. He waited a couple of days longer 
 there was a look of rain about and then he 
 sowed his corn. 
 
 For generations back, into forgotten time, his 
 fathers before him had sowed corn; solemnly, on a 
 still, calm evening, best with a gentle fall of warm 
 and misty rain, soon after the grey goose flight. 
 Potatoes were a new thing, nothing mystic, nothing 
 religious; women and children could plant them 
 earth-apples that came from foreign parts, like cof- 
 fee; fine rich food, but much like swedes and man- 
 golds. Corn was nothing less than bread; corn or 
 no corn meant life or death. 
 
 Isak walked bareheaded, in Jesu name, a sower. 
 Like a tree-stump with hands to look at, but in his 
 heart like a child. Every cast was made with care, 
 in a spirit of kindly resignation. Look! the tiny 
 grains that are to take life and grow, shoot up into 
 ears, and give more corn again; so it is throughout 
 all the earth where corn is sown. Palestine, Amer- 
 ica, the valleys of Norway itself a great wide 
 world, and here is Isak, a tiny speck in the midst of 
 it all, a sower. Little showers of corn flung out 
 f anwise from his hand ; a kindly clouded sky, with a 
 promise of the faintest little misty rain.
 
 Chapter IV 
 
 IT was the slack time between the seasons, but 
 the woman Oline did not come. 
 Isak was free of the soil now; he had two 
 scythes and two rakes ready for the haymaking; he 
 made long bottom boards for the cart for getting in 
 the hay, and procured a couple of runners and some 
 suitable wood to make a sledge for the winter. 
 Many useful things he did. Even to shelves. He 
 set up a pair of shelves inside the house, as an ex- 
 cellent place to keep various things, such as an 
 almanac he had bought one at last and ladles 
 and vessels not in use. Inger thought a deal of 
 those two shelves. 
 
 Inger was easily pleased; she thought a great deal 
 of everything. There was Goldenhorns, for in- 
 stance, no fear of her running away now, with the 
 calf and bull to play with; she ran about in the woods 
 all day long. The goats too were thriving, their 
 heavy udders almost dragging on the ground. Inger 
 made a long robe of blue cotton print, and a little 
 cap of the same stuff, as pretty as could be and 
 that was for the christening. The boy himself 
 watched her at work many a time ; a blessed wonder 
 of a boy he was, and if she was so bent on calling him 
 Eleseus, why, Isak supposed she must have her way. 
 
 43
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 When the robe was finished, it had a long train to it, 
 nigh on a yard and a half of cotton print, and every 
 inch of it money spent; but what of that the child 
 was their first-born. 
 
 "What about those beads of yours? " said Isak. 
 " If as they're ever to be used at all . . ." 
 
 Oh, but Inger had thought of them already, those 
 beads of hers. Trust a mother for that. Inger 
 said nothing, and was very proud. The beads were 
 none so many; they would not make a necklace for 
 the boy, but they would look pretty stitched on the 
 front of his cap, and there they should be. 
 
 But Oline did not come. 
 
 If it had not been for the cattle, they could have 
 gone off all three of them, and come back a few days 
 later with the child properly christened. And if it 
 had not been for that matter of getting wedded, 
 Inger might have gone by herself. 
 
 " If we put off the wedding business for a bit? " 
 said Isak. But Inger was loth to put it off ; it would 
 be ten or twelve years at least before Eleseus was 
 old enough to stay behind and look to the milking 
 while they went. 
 
 No, Isak must use his brains to find a way. The 
 whole thing had come about somehow without their 
 knowing; maybe the wedding business was just as im- 
 portant as the christening how should he know? 
 The weather looked like drought a thoroughly 
 wicked drought; if the rain did not come before 
 long, their crops would be burnt up. But all was 
 in the hand of God. Isak made ready to go down 
 
 44
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 to the village and find some one to come up. All 
 those miles again! 
 
 And all that fuss just to be wed and christened! 
 Ay, outlying folks had many troubles, great and 
 small. 
 
 At last Oline did come. . . . 
 
 And now they were wedded and christened, every- 
 thing decently in order; they had remembered to 
 have the wedding first, so the child could be christ- 
 ened as of a wedded pair. But the drought kept 
 on, and the tiny cornfields were parched, those velvet 
 carpets parched and why? 'Twas all in the hand 
 of God. Isak mowed his bits of meadow; there 
 was little grass on them for all he had manured 
 them well that spring. He mowed and mowed on 
 the hillsides, farther and farther out; mowing and 
 turning and carting home loads of hay, as if he would 
 never tire for he had a horse already, and a well- 
 stocked farm. But by mid- July he had to cut the 
 corn for green fodder, there was no help for it. 
 And now all depended on the potato crop. 
 
 What was that about potatoes ? Were they just a 
 thing from foreign parts, like coffee; a luxury, an 
 extra? Oh, the potato is a lordly fruit; drought or 
 downpour, it grows and grows all the same. It 
 laughs at the weather, and will stand anything; only 
 deal kindly with it, and it yields fifteen-fold again. 
 Not the blood of a grape, but the flesh of a chest- 
 nut, to be boiled or roasted, used in every way. A 
 man may lack corn to make bread, but give him 
 potatoes and he will not starve. Roast them in the 
 
 45
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 embers, and there is supper; boil them in water, 
 and there's a breakfast ready. As for meat, it's 
 little is needed beside. Potatoes can be served with 
 what you please ; a dish of milk, a herring, is enough. 
 The rich eat them with butter; poor folk manage 
 with a tiny pinch of salt. Isak could make a feast 
 of them on Sundays, with a mess of cream from 
 Goldenhorns' milk. Poor despised potato a 
 blessed thing! 
 
 But now things look black even for the potato 
 crop. 
 
 Isak looked at the sky unnumbered times in the 
 day. And the sky was blue. Many an evening it 
 looked as if a shower were coming. Isak would go 
 in and say, " Like as not we'll be getting that rain 
 after all." And a couple of hours later all would 
 be as hopeless as before. 
 
 The drought had lasted seven weeks now, and 
 the heat was serious; the potatoes stood all the 
 time in flower; flowering marvellously, unnaturally. 
 The cornfields looked from a distance as if under 
 snow. Where was it all to end? The almanac 
 said nothing almanacs nowadays were not what 
 they used to be ; an almanac now was no good at all. 
 Now it looked like rain again, and Isak went in to 
 Inger: " We'll have rain this night, God willing." 
 
 " Is it looking that way? " 
 
 " Ay. And the horse is shivering a bit, like they 
 will." 
 
 Inger glanced towards the door and said, " Ay, 
 you see, 'twill come right enough." 
 
 4 6
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 A few drops fell. Hours passed, they had their 
 supper, and when Isak went out in the night to look, 
 the sky was blue. 
 
 "Well, well," said Inger; "anyway, 'twill give 
 the last bit of lichen another day to dry," said she 
 to comfort him all she could. 
 
 Isak had been getting lichen, as much as he could, 
 and had a fine lot, all of the best. It was good 
 fodder, and he treated it as he would hay, covering 
 it over with bark in the woods. There was only 
 a little still left out, and now, when Inger spoke of 
 it, he answered despairingly, as if it were all one, 
 " I'll not take it in if it is dry." 
 
 " Isak, you don't mean it! " said Inger. 
 
 And next day, sure enough, he did not take it in. 
 He left it out and never touched it, just as he had 
 said. Let it stay where it was, there'd be no rain 
 anyway; let it stay where it was in God's name! 
 He could take it in some time before Christmas, if 
 so be as the sun hadn't burnt it all up to nothing. 
 
 Isak was deeply and thoroughly offended. It was 
 no longer a pleasure and a delight to sit outside on 
 the door-slab and look out over his lands and be the 
 owner of it all. There was the potato field flower- 
 ing madly, and drying up ; let the lichen stay where 
 it was what did he care? That Isak! Who 
 could say; perhaps he had a bit of a sly little thought 
 in his mind for all his stolid simpleness; maybe he 
 knew what he was doing after all, trying to tempt 
 the blue sky now, at the change of the moon. 
 
 That evening it looked like rain once more. " You 
 
 47
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ought to have got that lichen in," said Inger. 
 
 " What for? " said Isak, looking all surprised. 
 
 " Ay, you with your nonsense but it might be 
 rain after all." 
 
 ' There'll be no rain this year, you can see for 
 yourself." 
 
 But for all that, it grew curiously dark in the 
 night. They could see through the glass window 
 that it was darker ay, and as if something beat 
 against the panes, something wet, whatever it might 
 be. Inger woke up. " 'Tis rain! look at the 
 windowpanes." 
 
 But Isak only sniffed. " Rain? not a bit of it. 
 Don't know what you're talking about." 
 
 " Ah, it's no good pretending," said Inger. 
 
 Isak was pretending ay, that was it. Rain it 
 was, sure enough, and a good heavy shower but 
 as soon as it had rained enough to spoil Isak's lichen, 
 it stopped. The sky was blue. " What did I say," 
 said Isak, stiff-necked and hard. 
 
 The shower made no difference to the potato crop, 
 and days came and went; the sky was blue. Isak 
 set to work on his timber sledge, worked hard at it, 
 and bowed his heart, and planed away humbly at 
 runners and shafts. Eyah, Herregud! Ay, the 
 days came and went, and the child grew. Inger 
 churned and made cheeses; there was no serious 
 danger; folk that had their wits about them and 
 could work need not die for the sake of one bad year. 
 Moreover, after nine weeks, there came a regular 
 blessing of rain, rain all one day and night, and six-
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 teen hours of it pouring as hard as it could. If it 
 had come but two weeks back, Isak would have said, 
 " It's too late now! " As it was, he said to Inger, 
 " You see, that'll save some of the potatoes." 
 
 " Ay," said Inger hopefully. " It'll save the lot, 
 you'll see." 
 
 And now things were looking better. Rain every 
 day; good, thorough showers. Everything looking 
 green again, as by a miracle. The potatoes were 
 flowering still, worse than before, and with big 
 berries growing out at the tops, which was not as it 
 should be ; but none could say what might be at the 
 roots Isak had not ventured to look. Then one 
 day Inger went out and found over a score of little 
 potatoes under one plant. " And they've five weeks 
 more to grow in," said Inger. Oh, that Inger, al- 
 ways trying to comfort and speak hopefully through 
 her hare-lip. It was not pretty to hear when she 
 spoke, for a sort of hissing, like steam from a leaky 
 valve, but a comfort all the same out in the wilds. 
 And a happy and cheerful soul she was at all times. 
 
 " I wish you could manage to make another bed," 
 she said to Isak one day. 
 
 "Ho!" said he. 
 
 " Why, there's no hurry, but still . . ." 
 
 They started getting in the potatoes, and finished 
 by Michaelmas, as the custom is. It was a middling 
 year a good year; once again it was seen that 
 potatoes didn't care so much about the weather, but 
 grew up all the same, and could stand a deal. A 
 middling year a good year . . . well, not per- 
 
 49
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 haps, if they worked it out exactly, but that they 
 couldn't do this year. A Lapp had passed that way 
 one day and said how fine their potatoes were up 
 there; it was much worse, he said, down in the vil- 
 lage. 
 
 And now Isak had a few weeks more to work the 
 ground before the frost set in. The cattle were out, 
 grazing where they pleased; it was good to work 
 with them about, and hear the bells, though it did 
 take some of his time now and again. There was 
 the bull, mischievous beast, would take to butting at 
 the lichen stacks; and as for the goats, they were 
 high and low and everywhere, even to the roof of 
 the hut. 
 
 Troubles great and small. 
 
 One day Isak heard a sudden shout; Inger stood 
 on the door-slab with the child in her arms, pointing 
 over to the bull and the pretty little cow Silverhorns 
 they were making love. Isak threw down his 
 pick and raced over to the pair, but it was too late, 
 by the look of it. The mischief was done. " Oh, 
 the little rascal, she's all too young half a year 
 too soon, a child! " Isak got her into the hut, but 
 it was too late. 
 
 ' Well, well," says Inger, " 'tis none so bad after 
 all, in a way; if she'd waited, we'd have had both 
 of them bearing at the same time." Oh, that Inger; 
 not so bright as some, maybe, yet, for all that, she 
 may well have known what she was about when she 
 let the pair loose together that morning. 
 
 Winter came, Inger carding and spinning, Isak 
 
 50
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 driving down with loads of wood; fine dry wood and 
 good going; all his debts paid off and settled; horse 
 and cart, plough and harrow his very own. He 
 drove down with Inger's goats' milk cheeses, and 
 brought back woollen thread, a loom, shuttles and 
 beam and all; brought back flour and provisions, 
 more planks, and boards and nails; one day he 
 brought home a lamp. 
 
 " As true as I'm here I won't believe it," says 
 Inger. But she had long had in her mind about a 
 lamp for all that. They lit it the same evening, 
 and were in paradise; little Elese-us he thought, no 
 doubt, it was the sun. " Look how he stares all 
 wondering like," said Isak. And now Inger could 
 spin of an evening by lamplight. 
 
 He brought up linen for shirts, and new hide shoes 
 for Inger. She had asked for some dye-stuffs, too, 
 for the wool, and he brought them. Then one day 
 he came back with a clock. With what? A clock. 
 This was too much for Inger; she was overwhelmed 
 and could not say a word. Isak hung it up on the 
 wall, and set it at a guess, wound it up, and let it 
 strike. The child turned its eyes at the sound and 
 then looked at its mother. " Ay, you may wonder," 
 said Inger, and took the child to her, not a little 
 touched herself. Of all good things, here in a lonely 
 place, there was nothing could be better than a clock 
 to go all the dark winter through, and strike so pret- 
 tily at the hours. 
 
 When the last load was carted down, Isak turned 
 woodman once more, felling and stacking, building 
 
 5'
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 his streets, his town of wood-piles for next winter. 
 He was getting farther and farther from the home- 
 stead now, there was a great broad stretch of hillside 
 all ready for tillage. He would not cut close any 
 more, but simply throw the biggest trees with dry 
 tops. 
 
 He knew well enough, of course, what Inger had 
 been thinking of when she asked for another bed; 
 best to hurry up and get it ready. One dark even- 
 ing he came home from the woods, and sure enough, 
 Inger had got it over another boy and was ly- 
 ing down. That Inger ! Only that very morning 
 she had tried to get him to go down to the village 
 again: " 'Tis time the horse had something to do," 
 says she. " Eating his head off all day." 
 
 " I've no time for such-like nonsense," said Isak 
 shortly, and went out. Now he understood; she 
 had wanted to get him out of the way. And why? 
 Surely 'twas as well to have him about the house. 
 
 " Why can't you ever tell a man what's coming? " 
 said he. 
 
 ' You make a bed for yourself and sleep in the 
 little room," said Inger. 
 
 As for that, it was not only a bedstead to make ; 
 there must be bedclothes to spread. They had but 
 one skin rug, and there would be no getting another 
 till next autumn, when there were wethers to kill 
 and even then two skins would not make a blanket. 
 Isak had a hard time, with cold at nights, for a 
 while ; he tried burying himself in the hay under the 
 rock-shelter, tried to bed down for himself with the 
 
 52
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 cows. Isak was homeless. Well for him that it 
 was May; soon June would be in; July. . . . 
 
 A wonderful deal they had managed, out there in 
 the wilderness ; house for themselves and housing for 
 the cattle, and ground cleared and cultivated, all in 
 three years. Isak was building again what was 
 he building now? A new shed, a lean-to, jutting out 
 from the house. The whole place rang with the 
 noise as he hammered in his eight-inch nails. Inger 
 came out now and again and said it was trying for 
 the little ones. 
 
 " Ay, the little ones go in and talk to them then, 
 sing a bit. Eleseus, he can have a bucket lid to ham- 
 mer on himself. And it's only while I'm doing these 
 big nails just here, at the cross-beams, that's got to 
 bear the whole. Only planks after that, two-and-a- 
 half-inch nails, as gentle as building dolls' houses." 
 
 Small wonder if Isak hammered and thumped. 
 There stood a barrel of herrings, and the flour, and 
 all kinds of food-stuffs in the stable; better than ly- 
 ing out in the open, maybe, but the pork tasted of it 
 ajready; a shed they must have, and that was clear. 
 As for the little ones, they'd get used to the noise in 
 no time. Eleseus was inclined to be ailing somehow, 
 but the other took nourishment sturdily, like a fat 
 cherub, and when he wasn't crying, he slept. A won- 
 der of a child! Isak made no objection to his being 
 called Sivert, though he himself would rather have 
 preferred Jacob. Inger could hit on the right thing 
 at times. Eleseus was named after the priest of her 
 parish, and that was a fine name to be sure; but 
 
 S3
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Sivert was called after his mother's uncle, the dis- 
 trict treasurer, who was a well-to-do man, with 
 neither wife nor child to come after him. They 
 couldn't do better than name the boy after him. 
 
 Then came spring, and the new season's work; all 
 was down in the earth before Whitsun. When there 
 had been only Eleseus to look after, Inger could 
 never find time to help her husband, being tied to 
 her first-born ; now, with two children in the house, it 
 was different; she helped in the fields and managed 
 a deal of odd work here and there; planting pota- 
 toes, sowing carrots and turnips. A wife like that is 
 none so easy to find. And she had her loom besides; 
 at all odd minutes she would slip into the little room 
 and weave a couple of spools, making half-wool stuff 
 for underclothes for the winter. Then when she had 
 dyed her wools, it was red and blue dress material 
 for herself and the little ones ; at last she put in sev- 
 eral colours, and made a bedspread for Isak all by 
 herself. No fancy work from Inger's loom ; useful 
 and necessary things, and sound all through. 
 
 Oh, they were doing famously, these settlers in the 
 wilds ; they had got on so far, and if this year's crops 
 turned out well they would be enviable folk, no less. 
 What was lacking on the place at all? A hayloft, 
 perhaps ; a big barn with a threshing-floor inside 
 but that might come in time. Ay, it would come, 
 never fear, only give then time. And now pretty 
 Silverhorns had calved, the sheep had lambs, the 
 goats had kids, the young stock fairly swarmed about 
 
 54
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the place. And what of the little household itself? 
 Eleseus could walk already, walk by himself wher- 
 ever he pleased, and little Sivert was christened. 
 Inger? By all signs and tokens, making ready for 
 another turn; she was not what you'd call niggardly 
 at bearing. Another child - oh, a mere nothing to 
 Inger ! Though, to be sure, she was proud enough 
 of them when they came. Fine little creatures, as 
 any one could see. 'Twas not all, by a long way, 
 that the Lord had blessed with such fine big children. 
 Inger was young, and making the most of it. She 
 was no beauty, and had suffered all her girlhood by 
 reason of the same, being set aside and looked down 
 on. The young men never noticed her, though she 
 could dance and work as well. They found nothing 
 sweet in her, and turned elsewhere. But now her 
 time had come ; she was in full flower and constantly 
 with child. Isak himself, her lord and master, was 
 earnest and stolid as ever, but he had got on well, 
 and was content. How he had managed to live till 
 Inger came was a mystery; feeding, no doubt, on 
 potatoes and goats' milk, or maybe venturesome 
 dishes without a name; now, he had all that a man 
 could think of in his place in the world. 
 
 There came another drought, a new bad year. 
 Os-Anders the Lapp, coming by with his dog, 
 brought news that folk in the village had cut their 
 corn already, for fodder. 
 
 " 'Tis a poor look out," said Inger, " when it 
 comes to that." 
 
 " Ay. But they've the herring. A fine haul, 'tis 
 
 55
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 said. Yiour Uncle Sivert, he's going to build a coun- 
 try house." 
 
 ' Why, he was none so badly off before." 
 ' That's true. And like to be the same with you, 
 for all it seems." 
 
 " Why, as to that, thank God, we've enough for 
 our little needs. What do they say at home about 
 me up here? " 
 
 Os- Anders wags his head helplessly; there's no end 
 to the great things they say; more than he can tell. 
 A pleasant-spoken fellow, like all the Lapps. 
 
 " If as you'd care for a dish of milk now, you've 
 only to say so," says Inger. 
 
 'Tis more than's worth your while. But if 
 you've a sup for the dog here. . . ." 
 
 Milk for Os-Anders, and food for the dog. Os- 
 Anders lifts his head suddenly, at a kind of music 
 inside the house. 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 'Tis only our clock," says Inger. " It strikes 
 the hours that way." Inger bursting with pride. 
 
 The Lapp wags his head again : " House and 
 cattle and all manner of things. There's nothing a 
 man could think of but you've that thing." 
 
 " Ay, we've much to be thankful for, 'tis true." 
 
 " I forgot to say, there's Oline was asking after 
 you." 
 
 " Oline? How is it with her? " 
 
 " She's none so poorly. Where will your husband 
 be now? " 
 
 " He'll be at work in the fields somewhere."
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " They say he's not bought yet," says the Lapp 
 carelessly. 
 
 " Bought? Who says so? " 
 
 " Why, 'tis what they say." 
 
 "But who's he to buy from? 'Tis common 
 land." 
 
 " Ay, 'tis so." 
 
 " And sweat of his brow to every spade of it." 
 
 " Why, they say 'tis the State owns all the land." 
 
 Inger could make nothing of this. " Ay, maybe 
 so. Was it Oline said so? " 
 
 " I don't well remember," says the Lapp, and his 
 shifty eyes looked all ways around. 
 
 Inger wondered why he did not beg for anything ; 
 Os-Anders always begged, as do all the Lapps. Os- 
 Anders sits scraping at the bowl of his clay pipe, and 
 and lights up. What a pipe ! He puffs and draws 
 at it till his wrinkled old face looks like a wizard's 
 runes. 
 
 " No need to ask if the little ones there are yours," 
 says he, flattering again. " They're as like you as 
 could be. The living image of yourself when you 
 were small." 
 
 Now Inger was a monster and a deformity to look 
 at; 'twas all wrong, of course, but she swelled with 
 pride for all that. Even a Lapp can gladden a 
 mother's heart. 
 
 " If it wasn't that your sack there's so full, I'd 
 find you something to put in it," says Inger. 
 
 " Nay, 'tis more than's worth your while." 
 
 Inger goes inside with the child on her arm; 
 
 57
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Eleseus stays outside with the Lapp. The two make 
 friends at once; the child sees something curious in 
 the sack, something soft and fluffy, and wants to pat 
 it. The dog stands alert, barking and whining. 
 Inger comes out with a parcel of food; she gives a 
 cry, and drops down on the door-slab. 
 
 " What's that you've got there? What is it? " 
 
 " 'Tis nothing. Only a hare." 
 
 " I saw it." 
 
 " 'Twas the boy wanted to look. Dog ran it 
 down this morning and killed it, and I brought it 
 along. . . ." 
 
 " Here's your food," said Inger.
 
 Chapter V 
 
 I f "V NE bad year never comes alone. \ Isak had 
 I I grown patient, and took what fell to his 
 \^_S lot. The corn was parched, and the hay 
 was poor, but the potatoes looked like pulling 
 through once more bad enough, all things to- 
 gether, but not the worst. Isak had still a season's 
 yield of cordwood and timber to sell in the village, 
 and the herring fishery had been rich all round the 
 coast, so there was plenty of money to buy wood. 
 Indeed, it almost looked like a providence that the 
 corn harvest had failed for how could he have 
 threshed it without a barn and threshing-floor? 
 
 V Call it providence ; there's no harm in that some- 
 
 | times. 
 
 There were other things not so easily put out of 
 mind. What was it a certain Lapp had said to In- 
 ger that summer something about not having 
 bought? Buy, what should he buy for? The 
 ground was there, the forest was there; he had 
 cleared and tilled, 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 l about the matter when 
 
 1 Sheriff's officer, in charge of a small district 
 
 59
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 he went down to the village, but had always put it 
 off; the Lensmand was not a pleasant man to deal 
 with, so people said, and Isak was not one to talk 
 much. What could he say if he went what had 
 he come for? 
 
 One day that winter the Lensmand himself came 
 driving up to the place. There was a man with him, 
 and a lot of papers in a bag. Geissler himself, the 
 Lensmand, no less. He looked at the broad open 
 hillside, cleared of timber, smooth and unbroken un- 
 der the snow; he thought perhaps that it was all 
 tilled land already, for he said : 
 
 " Why, this is a whole big farm you've got. You 
 don't expect to get all this for nothing? " 
 
 There it was ! Isak was terror-stricken and said 
 not a word. 
 
 " You ought to have come to me at first, and 
 bought the land," said Geissler. 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 The Lensmand talked of valuations, of bounda- 
 ries, taxes, taxes to the State, and, when he had ex- 
 plained the matter a little, Isak began to see that 
 there was something reasonable in it after all. The 
 Lensmand turned to his companion teasingly. 
 " Now then, you call yourself a surveyor, what's the 
 extent of cultivated 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 
 
 60
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 summer no one could get up there at all. What did 
 Isak think himself about the extent of woodland and 
 pasturage? Isak had no idea at all; he had always 
 thought of the place as being his own as far as he 
 could see. The Lensmand said that the State re- 
 quired definite boundaries. " And the greater the 
 extent, the more you will have to pay." 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 " And they won't give you all you think you can 
 swallow; they'll let you have what's reasonable for 
 your needs." 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 Inger brought in some milk for the visitors; they 
 drank it, and she brought in some more. The Lens- 
 mand a surly fellow? He stroked Eleseus' hair, and 
 looked at something the child was playing with. 
 " Playing with stones, what? Let me see. H'm, 
 heavy. Looks like some kind of ore." 
 
 " There's plenty such up in the hills," said Isak. 
 
 The Lensmand came back to business. " South 
 and west from here's what you want most, I sup- 
 pose? Shall we say a couple of furlongs to the 
 southward? " 
 
 " Two furlongs ! " exclaimed his assistant. 
 
 " You couldn't till two hundred yards," said his 
 chief shortly. 
 
 " What will that cost? " asked Isak. 
 
 " Can't say. It all depends. But I'll put it as 
 low as I can on my report; it's miles away from any- 
 where, and difficult to get at." 
 
 " But two furlongs ! " said the assistant again. 
 61
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 The Lensmand entered duly, two furlongs to the 
 southward, and asked: "What about the hills? 
 How much do you want that way? " 
 
 " I'll need all up as far as the water. There's a 
 big water up there," said Isak. 
 
 The Lensmand noted that. " And how far 
 north?" 
 
 " Why, it's no great matter that way. 'Tis but 
 moorland most, and little timber." 
 
 The Lensmand fixed the northward boundary at 
 one furlong. "East?" 
 
 " That's no great matter either. 'Tis bare f jeld 
 all from here into Sweden." 
 
 The Lensmand noted down again. He made a 
 rapid calculation, and said: " It'll make a good- 
 sized place, even at that. Anywhere near the vil- 
 lage, of course, it'd be worth a lot of money; nobody 
 could have bought it. I'll send in a report, and say 
 a hundred Daler would be fair. What do you 
 think? " he asked his assistant. 
 
 " It's giving it away," said the other. 
 
 " A hundred Daler? " said Inger. " Isak, you've 
 no call to take so big a place." 
 
 No o," said Isak. 
 
 The assistant put in hurriedly: 'That's just 
 what I say. It's miles too big for you as it is. 
 What will you do with it? " 
 
 " Cultivate it," said the Lensmand. 
 
 He had been sitting there writing and working in 
 his head, with the children crying every now and 
 then ; he did not want to have the whole thing to do 
 
 62
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 again. As it was, he would not be home till late that 
 night, perhaps not before morning. He thrust the 
 papers into the bag; the matter was settled. 
 
 " Put the horse in," he said to his companion. 
 And turning to Isak: " As a matter of fact, they 
 ought to give you the place for nothing, and pay you 
 into the bargain, the way you've worked. I'll say 
 as much when I send in the report. Then we'll see 
 how much the State will ask for the title-deeds." 
 
 Isak it was hard to say how he felt about it. 
 Half as if he were not ill-pleased after all to find his 
 land valued at a big price, after the work he had 
 done. As 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 hitherto, clearing and culti- 
 vating, fetching loads of timber from the untended 
 woodlands. Isak was not a man to look about \ 
 \ anxiously for what might come; he worked. 
 
 Inger thanked the Lensmand, and hoped he would 
 put in a word for them with the State. 
 
 1 Yes, yes. But I've no say in the matter myself. 
 All I have to do is to say what I have seen, and what 
 I think. How old is the youngest there? " 
 
 " Six months as near as can be." 
 
 "Boy or girl?" 
 
 " Boy." 
 
 The Lensmand was no tyrant, but shallow, and 
 not overconscientious. He ignored his assistant, 
 Brede Olsen, who by virtue of his office should be 
 an expert in such affairs ; the matter was settled ou/ 
 
 63
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 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 pleased him, making a 
 document of it on the spot. Withal a kindly man; 
 he took a bright coin from his pocket and gave it to 
 little Sivert ; then he nodded to the others and went 
 out to the sledge. 
 
 Suddenly he asked: " What do you call the 
 place?" 
 
 "Call it?" 
 
 " Yes. What's its name? We must have a name 
 for it." 
 
 No one had ever thought of that before. Inger 
 and Isak looked at each other. 
 
 " Sellanraa ? " said the Lensmand. He must have 
 invented it out of his own head; maybe it was not a 
 name at all. But he only nodded, and said again, 
 " Sellanraa ! " and drove off. 
 
 Settled again, at a guess, anything would do. 
 The name, the price, the boundaries. . . . 
 
 Some weeks later, when Isak was down in the 
 village, he heard rumours of some business about 
 Lensmand Geissler; there had been an inquiry about 
 some moneys he could not account for, and the mat- 
 ter had been reported to his superior. Well, such 
 things did happen; some folk were content to stumble 
 through life anyhow, till they ran up against those 
 that walked. 
 
 Then one day Isak went down with a load of 
 wood, and coming back, who should drive with him 
 
 6 4
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 on his sledge but Lensmand Geissler. He stepped 
 out from the trees, on to the road, waved his hand, 
 and simply said: " Take me along, will you? " 
 
 They drove for a while, neither speaking. Once 
 the passenger took a flask from his pocket and drank; 
 offered it to Isak, who declined. " I'm afraid this 
 journey will upset my stomach," said the Lensmand. 
 
 He began at once to talk about Isak's deal in land. 
 " I sent off the report at once, with a strong recom- 
 mendation on my own account. Sellanraa's a nice 
 name. As a matter of fact, they ought to let you 
 have the place for nothing, wouldn't do to say so, of 
 course. If I had, they'd only have taken offence and 
 put their own price on it. I suggested fifty Daler" 
 
 "Ho. Fifty, you said? Not a hundred? " 
 
 The Lensmand puckered his brow and thought a 
 
 moment. " As far as I recollect it was fifty. Yes. 
 
 
 
 " And where will you be going, now? " asked Isak. 
 " Over to Vesterbotten, to my wife's people." 
 " 'Tis none so easy that way at this time of year." 
 " I'll manage. Couldn't you go with me a bit? " 
 " Ay; you shan't go alone." 
 
 They came to the farm, and the Lensmand stayed 
 the night, sleeping in the little room. In the morn- 
 ing, he brought out his flask again, and remarked: 
 " I'm sure this journey's going to upset my stomach." 
 For the rest, he was much the same as last time, 
 kindly, decisive, but fussy, and little concerned about 
 his own affairs. Possibly it might not be so bad 
 after all. Isak ventured to point out that the hill- 
 
 65
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 side 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 earthly 
 good. But they work it out by table. With all the 
 ground as I entered it, and only so few loads of hay, 
 so few bushels of potatoes, they'll say at once that 
 it must be poor soil, cheap soil, you understand. I 
 did my best for you, and you take my word for it, 
 that'll do the trick. It's two and thirty thousand 
 fellows of your stamp the country wants." 
 
 The Lensmand nodded and turned to Inger. 
 " How old's the youngest? " 
 
 " He's just three-quarters of a year." 
 
 "And a boy, is he?" 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " But you must see and get that business settled as 
 soon as ever you can," said he to Isak again. 
 ' There's another man wants to purchase now, mid- 
 way 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 way, 
 you'll be getting some return for all the work you've 
 put into it. It was you that started cultivating here 
 at all. 'Twas all wilderness before." 
 
 They were grateful for his advice, and asked if it 
 was not he himself that would arrange the matter. 
 He answered that he had done all he could; every- 
 
 66
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 thing now depended on the State. " I'm going 
 across to Vesterbotten now, and I shan't be coming 
 back," he told them straightforwardly. 
 
 He gave Inger an Ort, and that was overmuch. 
 " You can take a bit of meat down to my people in 
 the village next time you're killing," said he. " My 
 wife'll pay you. Take a cheese or so, too, any time 
 you can. The children like it." 
 
 Isak went with him up over the hills ; it was firm, 
 good going on the higher ground, easier than below. 
 Isak received a whole Daler. 
 
 In that manner was it Lensmand Geissler left the 
 place, and he did not come back. No great loss, 
 folk said, he being looked on as a doubtful person- 
 age, an adventurer. Not that he hadn't the knowl- 
 edge ; he was a learned man, and had studied this and 
 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 of- 
 ficially, and they went on living there a good while 
 after his wife and three children. And it was not 
 long before the money unaccounted for was sent 
 from Sweden, so that Geissler's wife and children 
 could not be said to be held as hostages, but stayed 
 on simply because it pleased them. 
 
 Isak and Inger had no cause to complain of Geiss- 
 ler's dealings with them, not by a long way. And 
 there was no saying what sort of man his successor 
 would be perhaps they would have to go over the 
 whole business again! 
 
 6 7
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 The Amtmand 1 sent one of his clerks up to the 
 village, to be the new Lensmand. He was a man 
 about forty, son of a local magistrate, by name Hey- 
 erdahl. He had lacked the means to go to the uni- 
 versity 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, hav- 
 ing never been able to afford a wife. His chief, 
 Amtmand Pleym, had inherited him from his pre- 
 decessor, and paid him the same miserable wage that 
 had been given before ; Heyerdahl took it, and went 
 on writing at his desk as before. 
 
 Isak plucked up his courage, and went to see him. 
 
 " Documents in the Sellanraa case . . . ? Here 
 they are, just returned from the Department. They 
 want to know all sorts of things the whole busi- 
 ness is in a dreadful muddle, as Geissler left it," said 
 the official. " The Department wishes to be in- 
 formed as to whether any considerable crop of mark- 
 etable berries is to be reckoned with on the estate. 
 Whether there is any heavy timber. Whether pos- 
 sibly there may be ores or metals of value in 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 trusted, and here have I to go through 
 the whole affair again after him. I shall have to 
 come up to Sellanraa and make a thorough inspection 
 and valuation. How many miles is it up there? 
 The Department, of course, requires that adequate 
 
 1 Governor of a county. 
 
 68
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 boundaries be drawn : yes, we shall have to beat the 
 bounds in due order." 
 
 " 'Tis no light business setting up boundaries this 
 time of year," said Isak. " Not till later on in the 
 summer." 
 
 " Anyhow, it'll have to be done. The Depart- 
 ment can't wait all through the summer for an an- 
 swer. I'll come up myself as soon as I can get away. 
 I shall have to be out that way in any case, there's 
 another plot of land a man's inquiring about." 
 
 " Will that be him that's going to buy up between 
 me and the village? " 
 
 " Can't say, I'm sure. Very likely. As a matter 
 of fact, it's a man from the office here, my assistant 
 in the office. He was here in Geissler's time. 
 Asked Geissler about it, I understand, but Geissler 
 put him off; said he couldn't cultivate a hundred 
 yards of land. So he sent in an application to the 
 Amtmand, and I'm instructed to see the matter 
 through. More of Geissler's muddling ! " 
 
 Lensmand Heyerdahl came up to the farm, and 
 brought with him his assistant, Brede. They had 
 got thoroughly wet crossing the moors, and wetter 
 still they were before they'd finished tramping the 
 boundary lines 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 part, pointing and shouting directions. 
 There was no further talk about prospecting for ore 
 in the " adjoining hills," and as for marketable ber- 
 
 6 9
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ries they would have a look at the moors on the 
 way back, he said. 
 
 The Department requested information on quite 
 a number of points there were tables for all sorts 
 of things, no doubt. The only thing that seemed 
 reasonable was the question of timber. Certainly, 
 there was some heavy timber, 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 all the many miles to 
 where it could be sold? Only Isak, trundling like a 
 tub-wheel through the forest in winter-time carting 
 some few heavy sticks down to the village, to bring 
 back planks and boards for his building. 
 
 Geissler, the incomprehensible, had, it seemed, 
 sent in a report which was not easily upset. Here 
 was his successor going through the whole thing 
 again, trying to find mistakes and blatant inaccuracies 
 but all in vain. It was noticeable that he con- 
 sulted his assistant at every turn, and paid heed to 
 what he said, which was not Geissler's way at all. 
 That same assistant, moreover, must presumably 
 have altered his own opinion, since he was now a 
 would-be purchaser himself of lands from the com- 
 mon ground held by the State. 
 
 "What about the price?" asked the Lensmand. 
 
 " Fifty Daler is the most they can fairly ask of 
 any buyer," answered the expert. 
 
 I.ensmand Heyerdahl drew up his report in ele- 
 gant phrasing. Geissler had written : " The man 
 
 70
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 will also have to pay land tax every year ; he cannot 
 afford to pay more for the place than fifty Daler, in 
 annual instalments over ten years. The State can 
 accept his offer, or take away his land and the fruits 
 of his work." Heyerdahl wrote : " He now hum- 
 bly begs to submit this application to the Depart- 
 ment: that he be allowed to retain this land, upon 
 which, albeit without right of possession, he has up 
 to this present effected considerable improvements, 
 for a purchase price of 50 fifty Speciedaler, the 
 amount to be paid in annual instalments as may seem 
 fit to the Department to apportion the same." 
 
 Lensmand Heyerdahl promised Isak to do his 
 best. " I hope to succeed in procuring you posses- 
 sion of the estate," he said.
 
 Chapter VI 
 
 THE big bull is to be sent away. It has grown 
 to an enormous beast, and costs too much 
 to feed; Isak is taking it down to the village, 
 to bring up a suitable yearling in exchange. 
 
 It was Inger's idea. And Inger had no doubt her 
 own reasons for getting Isak out of the place on that 
 particular day. 
 
 " If you are going at all, you'd better go today," 
 she said. " The bull's in fine condition; 'twill fetch 
 a good price at this time of year. You take him 
 down to the village, and they'll send him to be sold 
 in town townsfolk pay anything for their meat." 
 
 " Ay," says Isak. 
 
 " If only the beast doesn't make trouble on the 
 way down." 
 
 Isak made no answer. 
 
 " But he's been out and about now this last week, 
 and getting used to things." 
 
 Isak was silent. He took a big knife, hung it in 
 a sheath at his waist, and led out the bull. 
 
 A mighty beast it was, glossy-coated and terrible 
 to look at, swaying at the buttocks as it walked. A 
 trifle short in the leg; when it ran, it crushed down 
 the undergrowth with its chest; it was like a railway 
 engine. Its neck was huge almost to deformity; 
 there was the strength of an elephant in that neck. 
 
 72
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 u If only he doesn't get mad with you," said Inger. 
 
 Isak thought for a moment. " Why, if as he 
 takes it that way, I'll just have to slaughter him 
 half-way and carry down the meat." 
 
 Inger sat down on the door-slab. She was in 
 pain; her face was aflame. She had kept her feet 
 till Isak was gone; now he and the bull were out of 
 sight, and she could give way to a groan without 
 fear. Little Eleseus can talk a little already; he 
 asks: "Mama hurt?" "Yes, hurt." He mim- 
 ics her, pressing his hands to his sides and groaning. 
 Little Sivert is asleep. 
 
 Inger takes Eleseus inside the house, gives him 
 some things to play with on the floor, and gets into 
 bed herself. Her time was come. She is perfectly 
 conscious all the while, keeps an eye on Eleseus, 
 glances at the clock on the wall to see the time. 
 Never a cry, hardly a movement; the struggle is in 
 her vitals a burden is loosened and glides from 
 her. Almost at the same moment she hears a 
 strange cry in the bed, a blessed little voice; poor 
 thing, poor little thing . . . and now she cannot 
 rest, but lifts herself up and looks down. What is 
 it? Her face is grey and blank in a moment, with- 
 out expression or intelligence; a groan is heard; un- 
 natural, impossible a choking gasp. 
 
 She slips back on the bed. A minute passes; she 
 cannot rest, the little cry down there in the bed grows 
 louder, she raises herself once more, and sees O 
 God, the direst of all ! No mercy, no hope and 
 this a girl! 
 
 73
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Isak could not have gone more than a couple of 
 miles or so. It was hardly an hour since he had left. 
 In less than ten minutes Inger had borne her child 
 and killed it. ... 
 
 Isak came back on the third day, leading a half- 
 starved yearling bull. The beast could hardly walk ; 
 it had been a long business getting up to the place at 
 all. 
 
 " How did you get on? " asked Inger. She her- 
 self was ill and miserable enough. 
 
 Isak had managed very well. True, the big bull 
 had been mad the last two miles or so, and he had 
 to tie it up and fetch help from the village. Then, 
 when he got back, it had broken loose and took a 
 deal of time to find. But he had managed somehow, 
 and had sold for a good price to a trader in the 
 village, buying up for butchers in the town. " And 
 here's the new one," said Isak. " Let the children 
 come and look." 
 
 Any addition to the live stock was a great event. 
 Inger looked at the bull and felt it over, asked what 
 it had cost; little Sivert was allowed to sit on its 
 back. " I shall miss the big one, though," said 
 Inger. " So glossy and fine he was. I do hope 
 they'll kill him nicely." 
 
 It was the busy season now, and there was work 
 enough. The animals were let loose; in the empty 
 shed were cases and bins of potatoes left to grow. 
 Isak sowed more corn this year than last, and did all 
 he could to get it nicely down. He made beds for 
 
 74
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 carrots and turnips, and Inger sowed the seeds. All 
 went on as before. 
 
 Inger went about for some time with a bag of hay 
 under her dress, to hide any change in her figure, tak- 
 ing out a little from time to time, and finally discard- 
 ing the bag altogether. At last, one day, Isak no- 
 ticed something, and asked in surprise : 
 
 "Why, how's this? Hasn't anything happened? 
 I thought. ..." 
 
 " No. Not this time." 
 
 " Ho. Why, what was wrong? " 
 
 " 'Twas meant to be so, I suppose. Isak, how 
 long d'you think it'll take you to work over all this 
 land of ours? " 
 
 " Yes, but . . . you mean you had your trouble 
 didn't go as it should? " 
 
 " Ay, that was it yes." 
 
 " But yourself you're not hurt anyway after 
 it?" 
 
 " No. Isak, I've been thinking, we ought to have 
 a pig." 
 
 Isak was not quick to change the subject that way. 
 He was silent a little, then at last he said: " Ay, a 
 pig. I've thought of that myself each spring. But 
 we'll need to have more potatoes first, and more of 
 the small, and a bit of corn beside ; we've not enough 
 to feed a pig. We'll see how this year turns out." 
 
 " But it would be nice to have a pig." 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 Days pass, rain conies, fields and meadows are 
 
 75
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 looking well oh, the year will turn out well, never 
 fear! Little happenings and big, all in their turn: 
 food, sleep, and work; Sundays, with washing of 
 faces and combing of hair, and Isak sitting about in 
 a new red shirt of Inger's weaving and sewing. 
 Then an event, a happening of note in the ordinary 
 round : a sheep, roaming with her lamb, gets caught 
 in a cleft among the rocks. The others come home 
 in the evening. Inger at once sees there are two 
 missing, and out goes Isak in search. Isak's first 
 thought is to be thankful it is Sunday, so he is not 
 called away from his work and losing time. He 
 tramps off there is an endless range of ground to 
 be searched; and, meanwhile, the house is all anxiety. 
 Mother hushes the children with brief words; there 
 are two sheep missing, and they must be good. All 
 share the feeling; what has happened is a matter for 
 the whole little community. Even the cows know 
 that something unusual is going on, and give tongue 
 in their own fashion, for Inger goes out every now 
 and then, calling aloud towards the woods, though 
 it is near night. It is an event in the wilderness, a 
 general misfortune. Now and again she gives a 
 long-drawn hail to Isak, but there is no answer; he 
 must be out of hearing. 
 
 Where are the sheep what can have come to 
 them? Is there a bear abroad? Or have the 
 wolves come down over the hills from Sweden and 
 Finland? Neither, as it turns out. Isak finds the 
 ewe stuck fast in a cleft of rock, with a broken leg 
 and lacerated udder. It must have been there some 
 
 7 6
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 time, for, despite its wounds, the poor thing has nib- 
 bled the grass down to the roots as far as it could 
 reach. Isak lifts the sheep and sets it free; it falls 
 to grazing at once. The lamb makes for its mother 
 and sucks away a blessed relief for the wounded 
 udder to be emptied now. 
 
 Isak gathers stones and fills up the dangerous 
 cleft; a wicked place; it shall break no more sheep's 
 thighs! Isak wears leather braces; he takes them 
 off now and fastens them round the sheep's middle, 
 as a support for the udder. Then, lifting the animal 
 on his shoulders, he sets off home, the lamb at his 
 heels. 
 
 After that splints and tar bandages. In a few 
 days' time the patient begins twitching the foot of 
 the wounded leg; it is the fracture aching as it grows 
 together. Ay, all things getting well again until 
 next time something happens. 
 
 The daily round; little matters that are all impor- 
 tant to the settler-folk themselves. Oh, they are not 
 trifles after all, but things of fate, making for their 
 happiness and comfort and well-being, or against 
 them. 
 
 In the slack time between the seasons, Isak 
 smooths down some new tree-trunks he has thrown; 
 to be used for something or other, no doubt. Also 
 he digs out a number of useful stones and gets them 
 down to the house; as soon as there are stones 
 enough, he builds a wall of them. A year or so 
 back, Inger would have been curious, wondering what 
 her man was after with all this now, she seemed 
 
 77
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 for the most part busied with her own work, and 
 asked no questions. Inger is busy as ever, but she 
 has taken to singing, which is something new, and 
 she is teaching Eleseus an evening prayer; this also 
 is something new. Isak misses her questioning; it 
 was her curiosity and her praise of all he did that 
 made him the contented man, the incomparable man 
 he was. But now, she goes by, saying nothing, or 
 at most with a word or so that he is working himself 
 to death. " She's troubled after that last time, for 
 all she says," thinks Isak to himself. 
 
 Oline comes over to visit them once more. If all 
 had been as before she would have been welcome, 
 but now it is different. Inger greets her from the 
 first with some ill-will; be it what it may, there is 
 something that makes Inger look on her as an 
 enemy. 
 
 " I'd half a thought I'd be coming just at the right 
 time again," says Oline, with delicate meaning. 
 
 " How d'you mean? " 
 
 " Why, for the third one to be christened. How 
 is it with you now? " 
 
 " Nay," says Inger. " For that matter you might 
 have saved yourself the trouble." 
 
 11 Ho." 
 
 Oline falls to praising the children, so fine and big 
 they've grown; and Isak taking over more ground, 
 and going to build again, by the look of things 
 there's no end to things with them; a wonderful 
 place, and hard to find its like. " And what is he 
 going to build this time? " 
 
 78
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Ask him yourself," says Inger. " I don't 
 know." 
 
 " Nay," says Oline. " 'Tis no business of mine. 
 I just looked along to see how things were with you 
 here; it's a pleasure and delight for me to see. As 
 for Goldenhorns, I'll not ask nor speak of her 
 she's fallen into proper ways, as any one can see." 
 
 They talk for a while companionably; Inger is no 
 longer harsh. The clock on the wall strikes with 
 its sweet little note. Oline looks up with tears in 
 her eyes; never in all her humble life did she hear 
 such a thing 'tis like church and organ music, says 
 Oline. Inger feels herself rich and generous-minded 
 towards her poor relation, and says : " Come into the 
 next room and see my loom." 
 
 Oline stays all day. She talks to Isak, and praises 
 all his doings. " And I hear you've bought up the 
 land for miles on every side. Couldn't you have got 
 it for nothing, then? There's none as I can see 
 would take it from you." 
 
 Isak had been feeling the need of praise, and is 
 the better for it now. Feels a man again. " I'm 
 buying from the Government," says Isak. 
 
 " Ay, Government. But they've no call to be 
 grasping in a deal, surely? What are you building 
 now?" 
 
 " Why, I don't know. Nothing much, anyway." 
 
 "Ay, you're getting on; building and getting on 
 you are. Painted doors to the house, and a clock 
 on the wall 'tis a new grand house you're building, 
 I suspect." 
 
 79
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' You, with your foolish talk . . ." says Isak. 
 But he is pleased all the same, and says to Inger: 
 " Couldn't you make a bit of a dish of nice cream 
 custard for one that comes a-visiting? " 
 
 ' That I can't," says Inger, " for I've churned all 
 there was." 
 
 " 'Tis no foolish talk," puts in Oline hurriedly; 
 " I'm but a simple woman asking to know. And if 
 it's not a new grand house, why, 'twill be a new big 
 barn, I dare say; and why not? With all these fields 
 and meadow lands, fine and full of growth ; ay, and 
 full of milk and honey, as the Bible says." 
 
 Isak asks: " How's things looking your way 
 crops and the like? " 
 
 " Why, 'tis there as it is till now. If only the 
 Lord don't set fire to it all again this year, and burn 
 up the lot Heaven forgive me I should say the 
 word. 'Tis all in His hand and almighty power. 
 But we've nothing our parts that's any way like this 
 place of yours to compare, and that's the solemn 
 truth." 
 
 Inger asks after other relatives, her Uncle Sivert 
 in particular. He is the great man of the family, 
 and owns rich fisheries ; 'tis almost a wonder how he 
 can find a way to spend all he has. The women talk 
 of Uncle Sivert, and Isak and his doings somehow 
 drop out of sight; no one asks any more about his 
 building now, so at last he says : 
 
 " Well, if you want to know, 'tis a bit of a barn 
 with a threshing-floor I'm trying to get set up." 
 
 " Just as I thought," says Oline. " Folk with real 
 80
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 sound sense in their heads, they do that way. Fore- 
 thought and back-thought and all as it should be. 
 There's not a pot nor pitcher in the place you haven't 
 thought of. A threshing-floor, you said? " 
 
 Isak is a child. Oline's flattering words go to his 
 head, and he answers something foolishly with fine 
 words : " As to that new house of mine, there must 
 be a threshing-floor in the same, necessarily. 'Tis 
 my intention so." 
 
 "A threshing-floor?" says Oline, wagging her 
 head. 
 
 " And where's the sense of growing corn on the 
 place if we've nowhere to thresh it? " 
 
 " Ay, 'tis as I say, not a thing as could be but you 
 have it all there in your head." 
 
 Inger is suddenly out of humour again. The talk 
 between the other two somehow displeases her, and 
 she breaks in : 
 
 " Cream custard indeed! And where's the cream 
 to come from? Fish it up in the river, maybe? " 
 
 Oline hastens to make peace. " Inger, Lord bless 
 you, child, don't speak of such a thing. Not a word 
 of cream nor custard either an old creature like 
 me that does but idle about from house to neigh- 
 bour ... I " 
 
 Isak sits for a while, then up, and saying sud- 
 denly: " Here am I doing nothing middle of the 
 day, and stones to fetch and carry for that wall of 
 mine!" 
 
 " Ay, a wall like that'll need a mighty lot of stone, 
 to be sure." 
 
 81
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "Stone?" says Isak. " Tis like as if there'd 
 never be enough." 
 
 When Isak is gone, the two womenfolk get on 
 nicely together for a while; they sit for hours talk- 
 ing of this and that. In the evening, Oline must 
 go out and see how their live stock has grown : cows, 
 a bull, two calves, and a swarm of sheep and goats. 
 " I don't know where it'll ever end," says Oline, with 
 her eyes turned heavenwards. 
 
 And Oline stays the night. 
 
 Next morning she goes off again. Once more she 
 has a bundle of something with her. Isak is work- 
 ing in the quarry, and she goes another way round, 
 so that he shall not see. 
 
 Two hours later, Oline comes back again, steps 
 into the house, and asks at once: "Where is 
 Isak? " 
 
 Inger is washing up. Oline should have passed 
 by the quarry where Isak was at work, and the chil- 
 dren with him; Inger at once guesses something 
 wrong. 
 
 " Isak? What d'you want with him? " 
 
 "Want with him? why, nothing. Only I 
 didn't see him to say good-bye." 
 
 Silence. Oline sits down on a bench without be- 
 ing asked, drops down as if her legs refuse to carry 
 her. Her manner is intended to show that some- 
 thing serious is the matter; she is overcome. 
 
 Inger can control herself no longer. Her face is 
 all terror and fury as she says : 
 
 82
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " I saw what you sent me by Os-Anders. Ay, 
 'twas a nice thing to send! " 
 
 11 Why . . . what ... ? " 
 
 11 That hare." 
 
 " What do you mean? " asks Oline in a strangely 
 gentle voice. 
 
 " Ah, don't deny it ! " cries Inger, her eyes wild. 
 " I'll break your face in with this ladle here see 
 that!" 
 
 Struck her ? Ay, she did so. Oline took the first 
 blow without falling, and only cried out: " Mind 
 what you're doing, woman! I know what I know 
 about you and your doings! " Inger strikes again, 
 gets Oline down to the floor, falls on her there, and 
 thrusts her knees into her. 
 
 " D'you mean to murder me? " asks Oline. The 
 terrible woman with the hare-lip was kneeling on her, 
 a great strong creature armed with a huge wooden 
 ladle, heavy as a club. Oline was bruised already, 
 and bleeding, but still sullenly refusing to cry out. 
 " So you're trying to murder me too! " 
 
 " Ay, kill you," says Inger, striking again. 
 " There ! I'll see you dead before I've done with 
 you." She was certain of it now. Oline knew her 
 secret; nothing mattered now. "I'll spoil your 
 beastly face." 
 
 "Beastly face?" gasps Oline. "Huh! Look 
 to your own. With the Lord His mark on it ! " 
 
 Oline is hard, and will not give in ; Inger is forced 
 to give over the blows that are exhausting her own 
 
 83
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 strength. But she threatens still glares into the 
 other's eyes and swears she has not finished with her 
 yet. " There's more to come, ay, more, more. 
 Wait till I get a knife. I'll show you ! " 
 
 She gets on her feet again, and moves as if to look 
 for a knife, a table knife. But now her fury is past 
 its worst, and she falls back on curses and abuse. 
 Oline heaves herself up to the bench again, her face 
 all blue and yellow, swollen and bleeding; she wipes 
 the hair from her forehead, straightens her kerchief, 
 and spits; her mouth too is bruised and swollen. 
 " You devil ! " she says. 
 
 " You've been nosing about in the woods! " cries 
 Inger. " That's what you've been doing. You've 
 found that little bit of a grave there. Better if 
 you'd dug one for yourself the same time." 
 
 " Ay, you wait," says Oline, her eyes glowing re- 
 vengefully. " I'll say no more but you wait 
 there'll be no fine two-roomed house for you, with 
 musical clocks and all." 
 
 " You can't take it from me, anyway! " 
 " Ay, you wait. You'll see what Oline can do." 
 And so they keep on. Oline does not curse, and 
 hardly raises her voice; there is something almost 
 gentle in her cold cruelty, but she is bitterly danger- 
 ous. "Where's that bundle? I left it in the 
 woods. But you shall have it back I'll not own 
 your wool." 
 
 " Ho, you think I've stolen it, maybe." 
 
 " Ah, you know best what you've done." 
 
 So back and forth again about the wool. Inger
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 offers to show the very sheep it was cut from. Oline 
 asks quietly, smoothly: " Ay, but who knows where 
 you got the first sheep to start with? " 
 
 Inger names the place and people where her first 
 sheep were out to keep with their lambs. " And you 
 mind and care and look to what you're saying," says 
 she threateningly. " Guard your mouth, or you'll 
 be sorry." 
 
 " Ha ha ha ! " laughs Oline softly. Oline is never 
 at a loss, never to be silenced. " My mouth, eh? 
 And what of your own, my dear? " She points to 
 Inger's hare-lip, calling her a ghastly sight for God 
 and man. 
 
 Inger answers furiously, and Oline being fat, she 
 calls her a lump of blubber " a lump of dog's blub- 
 ber like you. You sent me a hare I'll pay you 
 for that." 
 
 "Hare again?" says Oline. "If I'd no more 
 guilt in anything than I have about that hare. What 
 was it like? " 
 
 " What was it like ? Why, what's a hare always 
 like?" 
 
 " Like you. The very image." 
 
 "Out with you get out!" shrieks Inger. 
 
 'Twas you sent Os-Anders with that hare. I'll 
 have you punished; I'll have you put in prison for 
 that." 
 
 " Prison was it prison you said? " 
 
 " Oh, you're jealous and envious of all you see; 
 you hate me for all the good things I've got," says 
 Inger again. ' You've lain awake with envy since 
 
 8s
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 I got Isak and all that's here. Heavens, woman, 
 what have I ever done to you? Is it my fault that 
 your children never got on in the world, and turned 
 out badly, every one of them? You can't bear the 
 sight of mine, because they're fine and strong, and 
 better named than yours. Is it my fault they're 
 prettier flesh and blood than yours ever were? " 
 
 If there was one thing could drive Oline to fury it 
 was this. She had been a mother many times, and 
 all she had was her children, such as they were ; she 
 made much of them, and boasted of them, told of 
 great things they had never really done, and hid their 
 faults. 
 
 " What's that you're saying? " answered Oline. 
 " Oh that you don't sink in your grave for shame 1 
 My children! They were a bright host of angels 
 compared with yours. You dare to speak of my 
 children? Seven blessed gifts of God they were 
 from they were little, and all grown up now every 
 one. You dare to speak. . . ." 
 
 ' What about Lise, that was sent to prison? " asks 
 Inger. 
 
 " For never a thing. She was as innocent as a 
 flower," answers Oline. " And she's in Bergen now ; 
 lives in a town and wears a hat but what about 
 you?" 
 
 " What about Nils what did they say of him? " 
 
 " Oh, I'll not lower myself. . . . But there's one 
 of yours now lying buried out there in the woods 
 what did you do to it, eh? " 
 
 " Now . . . I One-two-three out you go ! " 
 86
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 shrieks Inger again, and makes a rush at Oline. 
 
 But Oline does not move, does not even rise to her 
 feet. Her stolid indifference paralyses Inger, who 
 draws back, muttering: "Wait till I get that 
 knife." 
 
 " Don't trouble," says Oline. " I'm going. But 
 as for you, turning your own kin out of doors one- 
 two-three. . . . Nay, I'll say no more." 
 
 " Get out of this, that's all you need to do ! " 
 
 But Oline is not gone yet. The two of them fall 
 to again with words and abuse, a long bout of it 
 again, and when the clock strikes half of the hour, 
 Oline laughs scornfully, making Inger wilder than 
 ever. At last both calm down a little, and Oline 
 makes ready to go. " I've a long road before me," 
 says she, " and it's late enough to be starting. It 
 wouldn't ha' been amiss to have had a bite with me 
 on the way. . . ." 
 
 Inger makes no answer. She has come to her 
 senses again now, and pours out water in a basin for 
 Oline to wash. ' There if you want to tidy 
 yourself," she says. Oline too thinks it as well to 
 make herself as decent as may be, but cannot see 
 where the blood is, and washes the wrong places. 
 Inger looks on for a while, and then points with her 
 finger. 
 
 " There wash there too, over your eye. No, 
 not that, the other one; can't you see where I'm 
 pointing? " 
 
 " How can I see which one you're pointing at," 
 answers Oline. 
 
 87
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " And there's more there, by your mouth. Are 
 you afraid of water? it won't bite you! " 
 
 In the end, Inger washes the patient herself, and 
 throws her a towel. 
 
 " What I was going to say," says Oline, wiping 
 herself, and quite peaceable now. " About Isak and 
 the children how will they get over this? " 
 
 " Does he know? " asks Inger. 
 
 " Know? He came and saw it." 
 
 "What did he say?" 
 
 "What could he say? He was speechless, same 
 as me." 
 
 Silence. 
 
 " It's all your fault," wails Inger, beginning to 
 cry. 
 
 " My fault? I wish I may never have more to 
 answer for ! " 
 
 " I'll ask Os-Anders, anyhow, be sure of that." 
 
 " Ay, do." 
 
 They talk it all over quietly, and Oline seems less 
 revengeful now. An able politician, is Oline, and 
 quick to find expedients ; she speaks now as if in sym- 
 pathy what a terrible thing it will be for Isak and 
 the children when it is found out 1 
 
 " Yes," says Inger, crying again. " I've thought 
 and thought of that night and day." Oline thinks 
 she might be able to help, and be a saviour to them 
 in distress. She could come and stay on the place 
 to look after things, while Inger is in prison. 
 
 Inger stops crying; stops suddenly as if to listen
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and take thought. " No, you don't care for the 
 children." 
 
 " Don't care for them, don't I? How could you 
 say such a thing? " 
 
 " Ah, I know. . . ." 
 
 " Why, if there's one thing in the world I do feel 
 and care for, 'tis children." 
 
 " Ay, for your own," says Inger. " But how 
 would you be with mine? And when I think how 
 you sent that hare for nothing else but to ruin me 
 altogether oh, you're no better than a heap of 
 wickedness ! " 
 
 " Am I? " says Oline. " Is it me you mean? " 
 
 " Yes, 'tis you I mean," says Inger, crying; 
 " you've been a wicked wretch, you have, and I'll not 
 trust you. And you'd steal all the wool, too, if you 
 did come. And all the cheeses that'd go to your 
 people instead of mine. . . ." 
 
 " Oh, you wicked creature to think of such a 
 thing! " answers Oline. 
 
 Inger cries, and wipes her eyes, saying a word or 
 so between. Oline does not try to force her. If 
 Inger does not care about the idea, 'tis all the same 
 to her. She can go and stay with her son Nils, as 
 she has always done. But now that Inger is to be 
 sent away to prison, it will be a hard time for Isak 
 and the innocent children; Oline could stay on the 
 place and give an eye to things. " You can think it 
 over," says Oline. 
 
 Inger has lost the day. She cries and shakes her
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 head and looks down. She goes out as if walking 
 in her sleep, and makes up a parcel of food for Oline 
 to take with her. " 'Tis more than's worth your 
 while," says Oline. 
 
 " You can't go all that way without a bite to eat," 
 says Inger. 
 
 When Oline has gone, Inger steals out, looks 
 round, and listens. No, no sound from the quarry. 
 She goes nearer, and hears the children playing with 
 little stones. Isak is sitting down, holding the crow- 
 bar between his knees, and resting on it like a staff. 
 There he sits. 
 
 Inger steals away into the edge of the wood. 
 There was a spot where she had set a little cross in 
 the ground; the cross is thrown down now, and 
 where it stood the turf has been lifted, and the 
 ground turned over. She stoops down and pats the 
 earth together again with her hands. And there 
 she sits. 
 
 She had come out of curiosity, to see how far the 
 little grave had been disturbed by Oline; she stays 
 there now because the cattle have not yet come in 
 for the night. Sits there crying, shaking her head, 
 and looking down. 
 
 90
 
 Chapter VII 
 
 AND the days pass. 
 A blessed time for the soil, with sun and 
 showers of rain; the crops are looking well. 
 The haymaking is nearly over now, and they have 
 got in a grand lot of hay; almost more than they can 
 find room for. Some is stowed away under over- 
 hanging rocks, in the stable, under the flooring of 
 the house itself; the shed at the side is emptied of 
 everything to make room for more hay. Inger her- 
 self works early and late, a faithful helper and sup- 
 port. Isak takes advantage of every fall of rain to 
 put in a spell of roofing on the new barn, and get the 
 south wall at least fully done; once that is ready, 
 they can stuff in as much hay as they please. The 
 work is going forward; they will manage, never 
 fear! 
 
 And their great sorrow and disaster ay, it was 
 there, the thing was done, and what it brought must 
 come. ( Good things mostly leave no trace, but some-*"7 
 | thing always comes of evil. Isak took the matter' 
 V sensibly from the first. He made no great words 
 about it, but asked his wife simply: " How did you 
 come to do it?" Inger made no answer to that. 
 And a little after, he spoke again: " Strangled it 
 was that what you did? " 
 " Yes," said Inger. 
 
 91
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " You shouldn't have done that." 
 
 " No," she agreed. 
 
 " And I can't make out how you ever could bring 
 yourself to do it." 
 
 " She was all the same as myself," said Inger. 
 
 " How d'you mean? " 
 
 " Her mouth." 
 
 Isak thought over that for some time. " Ay, 
 well," said he. 
 
 And nothing more was said about it at the time; 
 the days went on, peacefully as ever; there was all 
 the mass of hay to be got in, and a rare heavy crop 
 all round, so that by degrees the thing slipped into 
 the background of their minds. But it hung over 
 them, and over the place, none the less. They could 
 not hope that Oline would keep the secret; it was too 
 much to expect. And even if Oline said nothing, 
 others would speak; dumb witnesses would find a 
 tongue; the walls of the house, the trees around the 
 little grave in the wood. Os-Anders the Lapp would 
 throw out hints ; Inger herself would betray it, sleep- 
 ing or waking. They were prepared for the worst. 
 
 Isak took the matter sensibly what else was 
 there to do? He knew now why Inger had always 
 taken care to be left alone at every birth; to be alone 
 with her fears of how the child might be, and face 
 the danger with no one by. Three times she had 
 done the same thing. Isak shook his head, touched 
 with pity for her ill fate poor Inger. He 
 learned of the coming of the Lapp with the hare, 
 and acquitted her. It led to a great love between 
 
 92
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 them, a wild love ; they drew closer to each other in 
 their peril. Inger was full of a desperate sweet- 
 ness towards him, and the great heavy fellow, lum- 
 bering carrier of burdens, felt a greed and an endless 
 desire for her in himself. And Inger, for all that 
 she wore hide shoes like a Lapp, was no withered 
 little creature as the Lapland women are, but splen- 
 didly big. It was summer now, and she went about 
 barefooted, with her naked legs showing almost to 
 the knee Isak could not keep his eyes from those 
 bare legs. 
 
 All through the summer she went about singing 
 bits of hymns, and she taught Eleseus to say prayers; 
 but there grew up in her an unchristian hate of all 
 Lapps, and she spoke plainly enough to any that 
 passed. Some one might have sent them again; like 
 as not they had a hare in their bag as before; let 
 them go on their way, and no more about it. 
 
 "A hare? What hare?" 
 
 " Ho, you haven't heard perhaps what Os-Anders 
 he did that time? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Well, I don't care who knows it he came up 
 here with a hare, when I was with child." 
 
 " Dear, and that was a dreadful thing ! And 
 what happened? " 
 
 " Never you mind what happened, just get along 
 with you, that's all. Here's a bite of food, and get 
 along." 
 
 " You don't happen to have an odd bit of leather 
 anywhere, I could mend my shoe with? " 
 
 93
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " No ! But I'll give you a bit of stick if you don't 
 get out! " 
 
 Now a Lapp will beg as humbly as could be, but 
 say no to him, and he turns bad, and threatens. A 
 pair of Lapps with two children came past the place; 
 the children were sent up to the house to beg, and 
 came back and said there was no one to be seen 
 about the place. The four of them stood there a 
 while talking in their own tongue, then the man went 
 up to see. He went inside, and stayed. Then his 
 wife went up, and the children after; all of them 
 stood inside the doorway, talking Lapp. The man 
 puts his head in the doorway and peeps through into 
 the room; no one there either. The clock strikes 
 the hour, and the whole family stand listening in 
 wonder. 
 
 Inger must have had some idea there were strang- 
 ers about; she comes hurrying down the hillside, and 
 seeing Lapps, strange Lapps into the bargain, asks 
 them straight out what they are doing there. 
 "What do you want in here? Couldn't you see 
 there was no one at home? " 
 
 " H'm . . ." says the man. 
 
 " Get out with you," says Inger again, " and go 
 on your way." 
 
 The Lapps move out slowly, unwillingly. " We 
 were just listening to that clock of yours," says the 
 man; " 'tis a wonder to hear, that it is." 
 
 " You haven't a bit of bread to spare? " says his 
 wife. 
 
 " Where do you come from? " asks Inger. 
 
 94
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " From the water over beyond. We've been 
 walking all night." 
 
 " And where are you going to now? " 
 
 " Across the hills." 
 
 Inger makes up some food for them; when she 
 comes out with it, the woman starts begging again: 
 a bit of stuff for a cap, a tuft of wool, a stump of 
 cheese anything. Inger has no time to waste, 
 Isak and the children are in the hayfield. " Be off 
 with you now," she says. 
 
 The woman tries flattery. " We saw your place 
 up here, and the cattle a host of them, like the 
 stars in the sky." 
 
 " Ay, a wonder," says the man. " You haven't 
 a pair of old shoes to give away to needy folk? " 
 
 Inger shuts the door of the house and goes back 
 to her work on the hillside. The man called after 
 her she pretended not to hear, and walked on 
 unheeding. But she heard it well enough: "You 
 don't want to buy any hares, maybe? " 
 
 There was no mistaking what he had said. The 
 Lapp himself might have spoken innocently enough ; 
 some one had told him, perhaps. Or he might have 
 meant it ill. Be that as it may, Inger took it as a 
 warning a message of what was to come. . . . 
 
 The days went on. The settlers were healthy 
 folk ; what was to come would come ; they went about 
 their work and waited. They lived close to each 
 other like beasts of the forest; they slept and ate; 
 already the year was so far advanced that they had 
 tried the new potatoes, and found them large and 
 
 95
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 floury. The blow that was to fall why did it not 
 come ? It was late in August already, soon it would 
 be September; were they to be spared through the 
 winter? They lived in a constant watchfulness; 
 every night they crept close together in their cave, 
 thankful that the day had passed without event. 
 And so the time went on until one day in October, 
 when the Lensmand came up with a man and a bag. 
 The Law stepped in through their doorway. 
 
 The investigation took some time. Inger was 
 called up and examined privately; she denied noth- 
 ing. The grave in the wood was opened, and its 
 contents removed, the body being sent for examina- 
 tion. The little body it was dressed in Eleseus' 
 christening robe, and a cap sewn over with beads. 
 
 Isak seemed to find speech again. " Ay," said 
 he, " it's as bad as well can be with us now. I've 
 said before you ought never to have done it." 
 
 " No," said Inger. 
 
 " How did you do it?" 
 
 Inger made no answer. 
 
 " That you could find it in your heart. . . ." 
 
 " She was just the same as myself to look at. 
 And so I took and twisted her face round." 
 
 Isak shook his head slowly. 
 
 " And then she was dead," went on Inger, begin- 
 ning to cry. 
 
 Isak was silent for a while. " Well, well, 'tis too 
 late to be crying over it now," said he. 
 
 " She had brown hair," sobbed Inger, " there at 
 the back of her head. . . ."
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 And again no more was said. 
 
 Time went on as before. Inger was not locked 
 up; the law was merciful. Lensmand Heyerdahl 
 asked her questions just as he might have spoken to 
 any one, and only said, " It's a great pity such things 
 should happen at all." Inger asked who had in- 
 formed against her, but the Lensmand answered that 
 it was no one in particular; many had spoken of the 
 matter, and he had heard of it from several quar- 
 ters. Had she not herself said something about it to 
 some Lapps? 
 
 Inger ay, she had told some Lapps about Os- 
 Anders, how he came and brought a hare that sum- 
 mer, and gave her unborn child the hare-lip. And 
 wasn't it Oline who had sent the hare? The Lens- 
 mand knew nothing about that. But in any case, 
 he could not think of putting down such ignorant sup- 
 erstition in his report. 
 
 " But my mother saw a hare just before I was 
 born," said Inger. . . . 
 
 The barn was finished; a great big place it was, 
 with hay-stalls on both sides and a threshing-floor in 
 the middle. The shed and the other makeshift 
 places were emptied now, and all the hay brought 
 into the barn; the corn was reaped, dried in stacks, 
 and carted in. Inger took up the carrots and tur- 
 nips. All their crops were in now. And everything 
 might have been well with them they had all they 
 needed. Isak had started on new ground again, be- 
 fore the frost came, to make a bigger cornfield; Isak 
 was a tiller of the soil. But in November Inger said 
 
 97
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 one day, " She would have been six months old now, 
 and known us all." 
 
 " 'Tis no good talking of that now," said Isak. 
 
 When the winter came, Isak threshed his corn on 
 the new threshing-floor, and Inger helped him often, 
 with an arm as quick to the work as his own, while 
 the children played in the haystalls at the side. It 
 was fine plump grain. Early in the new year the 
 roads were good, and Isak started carting down his 
 loads of wood to the village ; he had his regular cus- 
 tomers now, and the summer-dried wood fetched a 
 good price. One day he and Inger agreed that they 
 should take the fine bull-calf from Goldenhorns and 
 drive it down to Fru Geissler, with a cheese into the 
 bargain. She was delighted, and asked how much it 
 cost. 
 
 " Nothing," said Isak. " The Lensmand paid 
 for it before." 
 
 " Heaven bless him, and did he? " said Fru Geiss- 
 ler, touched at the thought. She sent things up for 
 Eleseus and Sivert in return cakes and picture- 
 books and toys. When Isak came back and Inger 
 saw the things, she turned away and cried. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Isak. 
 
 " Nothing," answered Inger. " Only she'd 
 have been just a year now, and able to see it all." 
 
 " Ay, but you know how it was with her," said 
 Isak, for comfort's sake. " And after all, it may 
 be we'll get off easier than we thought. I've found 
 out where Geissler is now."
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Inger looked up. " But how's that going to help 
 us?" 
 
 " I don't know. . . ." 
 
 Then Isak carried his corn to the mill and had it 
 ground, and brought back flour. Then he turned! 
 woodman again, cutting the wood to be ready for 
 next winter. His life was spent in this work and 
 that, according to the season; from the fields to the 
 woods, and back to the fields again. He had worked 
 on the place for six years now, and Inger five; all 
 might have been well, if it were only allowed to last. 
 But it was not. Inger worked at her loom and 
 tended the animals; also, she was often to be heard 
 singing hymns, but it was a pitiful singing; she was 
 like a bell without a tongue. 
 
 As soon as the roads were passable, she was sent 
 for down to the village to be examined. Isak had 
 to stay behind. And being there all alone, it came 
 into his mind to go across to Sweden and find out 
 Geissler; the former Lensmand had been kind to 
 them, and might perhaps still lend a helping hand 
 some way to the folks at Sellanraa. But when Inger 
 returned, she had asked about things herself, and 
 learned something of what her sentence was likely to 
 be. Strictly speaking, it was imprisonment for life, 
 Paragraph i. But . . . After all, she had stood up 
 in the court itself and simply confessed. The two 
 witnesses from the village had looked pityingly at 
 her, and the judge had put his questions kindly; but 
 for all that, she was no match for the bright intellects 
 
 99
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 of the law. Lawyers are great men to simple folk; 
 they can quote paragraph this and section that; they 
 have learned such things by rote, ready to bring out 
 at any moment. Oh, they are great men indeed. 
 And apart from all this knowledge, they are not al- 
 ways devoid of sense; sometimes even not altogether 
 heartless. Inger had no cause to complain of the 
 court ; she made no mention of the hare, but when she 
 tearfully explained that she could not be so cruel to 
 her poor deformed child as to let it live, the magis- 
 trate nodded, quietly and seriously. 
 
 " But," said he, " think of yourself; you have a 
 hare-lip, and it has not spoilt your life." 
 
 " No, thanks be to God," was all she said. She 
 could not tell them of all she had suffered in secret 
 as a child, as a young girl. 
 
 But the magistrate must have understood some- 
 thing of what it meant; he himself had a club-foot, 
 and could not dance. " As to the sentence," he said, 
 " I hardly know. Really, it should be imprisonment 
 for life, but ... I can't say, perhaps we might get 
 it commuted, second or third degree, fifteen to twelve 
 years, or twelve to nine. There's a commission sit- 
 ting to reform the criminal code, make it more hu- 
 mane, but the final decision won't be ready yet. 
 Anyhow, we must hope for the best," said he. 
 
 Inger came back in a state of dull resignation; 
 they had not found it necessary to keep her in con- 
 finement meantime. Two months passed; then one 
 evening, when Isak came back from fishing, the Lens- 
 mand and his new assistant had been to Sellanraa. 
 
 IOO
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Inger was cheerful, and welcomed her husband 
 kindly, praising his catch, though it was little he had 
 brought home. 
 
 "What I was going to say has any one been 
 here? " he asked. 
 
 " Any one been? Why, who should there be? " 
 
 " There's fresh footmarks outside. Men with 
 boots on." 
 
 "Why there's been no one but the Lensmand 
 and one other." 
 
 "What did they want?" 
 
 " You know that without asking." 
 
 " Did they come to fetch you? " 
 
 " Fetch me? No, 'twas only about the sentence. 
 The Lord is kind, 'tis not so bad as I feared." 
 
 " Ah," said Isak eagerly. "Not so long, 
 maybe? " 
 
 " No. Only a few years." 
 
 " How many years? " 
 
 " Why, you might think it a lot, maybe. But I'm 
 thankful to God all the same." 
 
 Inger did not say how long it would be. Later 
 that evening Isak asked when they would be coming 
 to fetch her away, but this she could not or would 
 not tell. She had grown thoughtful again, and 
 talked of what was to come; how they would man- 
 age she could not think but she supposed they 
 would have to get Oline to come. And Isak had no 
 better plan to offer. 
 
 What had become of Oline, by the way? She had 
 not been up this year as she used to do. Was she 
 
 101
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 going to stay away for ever, now that she had upset 
 everything for them? The working season passed, 
 but Oline did not come did she expect them to go 
 and fetch her ? She would come loitering up of her- 
 self, no doubt, the great lump of blubber, the mon- 
 ster. 
 
 And at last one day she did. Extraordinary per- 
 son it was as nothing whatever had occurred to 
 make ill-feeling between them; she was even knit- 
 ting a pair of new stockings for Eleseus, she said. 
 
 " Just came up to see how you were getting on 
 over here," said she. And it turned out that she 
 had brought her clothes and things up in a sack, and 
 left in the woods close by, ready to stay. 
 
 That evening Inger took her husband aside and 
 said: " Didn't you say something about seeking out 
 Geissler? 'Tis in the slack time now." 
 
 " Ay," said Isak. " Now that Oline is come, I 
 can go off tomorrow morning, first thing." 
 
 Inger was grateful, and thanked him. " And take 
 your money with you," she said " all you have in 
 the place." 
 
 ' Why, can't you keep the money here? " 
 
 " No," said she. 
 
 Inger made up a big parcel of food at once, and 
 Isak woke while it was yet night, and got ready to 
 start. Inger went out on the door-slab to see him 
 off; she did not cry or complain, but only said: 
 ' They may be coming for me now any day." 
 
 ' You don't know when? " 
 
 " No, I can't say. And I don't suppose it will be 
 1 02
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 just yet, but anyhow. ... If only you could get 
 hold of Geissler, perhaps he might be able to say 
 something." 
 
 What could Geissler do to help them now? 
 Nothing. But Isak went. 
 
 Inger oh, she knew, no doubt, more than she 
 had been willing to say. It might be, too, that she 
 herself had sent for Oline. When Isak came from 
 Sweden, Inger was gone and Oline was there with 
 the two children. 
 
 It was dark news for a homecoming. Isak's voice 
 was louder than usual as he asked : " Is she gone ? " 
 
 " Ay," said Oline. 
 
 "What day was it?" 
 
 " The day after you left." And Isak knew now 
 that Inger had got him out of the way on purpose 
 that was why she had persuaded him to take the 
 money with him. Oh, but she might have kept a 
 little for herself, for that long journey! 
 
 But the children could think of nothing else but 
 the little pig Isak had brought with him. It was all 
 he had for his trouble ; the address he had was out of 
 date, and Geissler was no longer in Sweden, but had 
 returned to Norway and was now in Trondhjem. 
 As for the pig, Isak had carried it in his arms all the 
 way, feeding it with milk from a bottle, and sleeping 
 with it on his breast among the hills. He had been 
 looking forward to Inger's delight when she saw it ; 
 now, Eleseus and Sivert played with it, and it was a 
 joy to them. And Isak, watching them, forgot his 
 trouble for the moment. Moreover, Oline had a 
 
 103
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 message from the Lensmand; the State had at last 
 given its decision in the matter of the land at Sel- 
 lanraa. Isak had only to go down to the office and 
 pay the amount. This was good news, and served 
 to keep him from the worst depth of despair. Tired 
 and worn out as he was, he packed up some food in 
 a bag and set off for the village at once. Maybe he 
 had some little hope of seeing Inger once again be- 
 fore she left there. 
 
 But he was disappointed. Inger was gone for 
 eight years. Isak felt himself in a mist of darkness 
 and emptiness; heard only a word here and there of 
 all the Lensmand said a pity such things should 
 happen . . . hoped it might be a lesson to her . . . 
 reform and be a better woman after, and not kill 
 her children any more! 
 
 Lensmand Heyerdahl had married the year be- 
 fore. His wife had no intention of ever being a 
 mother no children for her, thank you ! And she 
 had none. 
 
 " And now," said the Lensmand, " this business 
 about Sellanraa. At last I am in a position to settle 
 it definitely. The Department is graciously pleased 
 to approve the sale of the land, more or less accord- 
 ing to the terms I suggested." 
 
 " H'm," said Isak. 
 
 " It has been a lengthy business, but I have the 
 satisfaction of knowing that my endeavours have not 
 been altogether fruitless. The terms I proposed 
 have been agreed to almost without exception." 
 
 104
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Without exception," said Isak, and nodded. 
 
 "Here are the title-deeds. You can have the 
 transfer registered at the first session." 
 
 " Ay," said Isak. " And how much is there to 
 pay?" 
 
 " Ten Daler a year. " The Department has 
 made a slight alteration here ten Daler per an- 
 num instead of five. You have no objection to that, 
 I presume? " 
 
 " As long as I can manage to pay . . ." said Isak. 
 
 " And for ten years." Isak looked up, half 
 frightened. 
 
 " Those are the terms the Department insists. 
 Even then, it's no price really for all that land, 
 cleared and cultivated as it is now." 
 
 Isak had the ten Daler for that year it was the 
 money he had got for his loads of wood, and for the 
 cheeses Inger had laid by. He paid the amount, 
 and had still a small sum left. 
 
 " It's a lucky thing for you the Department didn't 
 get to hear about your wife," said the Lensmand. 
 " Or they might have sold to some one else." 
 
 " Ay," said Isak. He asked about Inger. " Is 
 it true that she's gone away for eight years? " 
 
 "That is so. And can't be altered the law 
 must take its course. As a matter of fact, the sen- 
 tence is extraordinarily light. There's one thing 
 you must do now that is, to set up clear boundaries 
 between your land and the State's. A straight, di- 
 rect line, following the marks I set up on the spot, 
 
 105
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and entered in my register at the time. The timber 
 cleared from the boundary line becomes your prop- 
 erty. I will come up some time and have a look at 
 what you have done." 
 
 Isak trudged back to his home. 
 
 1 06
 
 Chapter VIII 
 
 TIME flies? Ay, when a man is growing old. 
 Isak was not old, he had not lost his vigour; 
 the years seemed long to him. He worked 
 on his land, and let his iron beard grow as it would. 
 
 Now and again the monotony of the wilderness 
 was broken by the sight of a passing Lapp, or by 
 something happening to one of the animals on the 
 place, then all would be as before. Once there came 
 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 line, they said. And 
 once came Geissler Geissler himself, and no other. 
 There he came, free and easy as ever, walking up 
 from the village, two men with him, carrying mining 
 tools, pick and spade. 
 
 Oh, that Geissler ! Unchanged, the same as ever ; 
 meeting and greeting as if nothing had happened, 
 talked to the children, went into the house and came 
 out again, looked over the ground, opened the doors 
 of cowshed and hayloft and looked in. " Excel- 
 lent! " said he. " Isak, have you still got those bits 
 of stone?" 
 
 " Bits of stone? " said Isak, wondering. 
 107
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Little heavy lumps of stone I saw the boy play- 
 ing with when I was here once before." 
 
 The stones were out in the larder, serving as 
 weights for so many mouse-traps; Isak brought them 
 in. Geissler and the two men examined them, talk- 
 ing together, tapped them here and there, weighed 
 them in the hand. " Copper," they said. 
 
 " Could you go up with us and show where you 
 found them? " asked Geissler. 
 
 They all went up together; it was not far to the 
 place where Isak had found the stones, but they 
 stayed up in the hills for a couple of days, looking 
 for veins of metal, and firing charges here and there. 
 They came down to Sellanraa with two bags filled 
 with heavy lumps of stone. 
 
 Isak had meanwhile had a talk with Geissler, and 
 told him everything as to his own position: about 
 the purchase of the land, which had come to a hun- 
 dred Daler instead of fifty. 
 
 " That's a trifle," said Geissler easily. " You've 
 thousands, like as not, on your part of the hills." 
 
 " Hoi "said Isak. 
 
 " But you'd better get those title-deeds entered in 
 the register as soon as ever you can." 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 ' Then the State can't come any nonsense about it 
 after, you understand." 
 
 Isak understood. " 'Tis worst about Inger," he 
 said. 
 
 " Ay," said Geissler, and remained thoughtful 
 108
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 longer than was usual with him. " Might get the 
 case brought up again. Set out the whole thing 
 properly; very likely get the sentence reduced a bit. 
 Or we could put in an application for a pardon, and 
 that would probably come to the same thing in the 
 end." 
 
 " Why, if as that could be done. . . ." 
 
 " But it wouldn't do to try for a pardon at once. 
 Have to wait a bit. What was I going to say . . . 
 you've been taking things down to my wife meat 
 and cheese and things what?" 
 
 " Why, as to that, Lensmand paid for all that be- 
 fore." 
 
 "Did I, though?" 
 
 " And helped us kindly in many a way." 
 
 " Not a bit of it," said Geissler shortly. " Here 
 take this." And he took out some Daler notes. 
 
 Geissler was not the man to take things for noth- 
 ing, that was plain. And he seemed to have plenty 
 of money about him, from the way his pocket bulged. 
 Heaven only knew if he really had money or not. 
 
 " But she writes all's well and getting on," said 
 Isak, coming back to his one thought. 
 
 "What? Oh, your wife!" 
 
 " Ay. And since the girl was born she's had 
 a girl child, born while she was there. A fine little 
 one." 
 
 "Excellent!" 
 
 " Ay, and now they're all as kind as can be, and 
 help her every way, she says." 
 
 109
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Look here," said Geissler, " I'm going to send 
 these bits of stone in to some mining experts, and 
 find out what's in them. If there's a decent percent- 
 age of copper, you'll be a rich man." 
 
 " H'm," said Isak. " And how long do you think 
 before we could apply for a pardon? " 
 
 " Well, not so very long, perhaps. I'll write the 
 thing for you. I'll be back here again soon. What 
 was it you said your wife has had a child since she 
 left here?" 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Then they took her away while she was expect- 
 ing it. That's a thing they've no right to do." 
 "Ho!" 
 
 " Anyhow, it's one more reason for letting her out 
 earlier." 
 
 " Ay, if that could be . . ." said Isak gratefully. 
 Isak knew nothing of the many lengthy writings 
 backward and forward between the different author- 
 ities concerning the woman who was expecting a 
 child. The local authorities had let her go free 
 while the matter was pending, for two reasons: in 
 the first place, they had no lock-up in the village 
 where they could keep her, and, in the second place, 
 they wished to be as lenient as possible. The con- 
 sequence was something they could not have fore- 
 seen. Later, when they had sent to fetch her away, 
 no one had inquired about her condition, and she 
 herself had said nothing of it. Possibly she had con- 
 cealed the matter on purpose, in order to have a 
 child with her during the years of imprisonment; if 
 
 IIO
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 she behaved well, she would no doubt be allowed to 
 see it now and again. Or perhaps she had been 
 merely indifferent, and had gone off carelessly, de- 
 spite her state. . . . 
 
 Isak worked and toiled, dug ditches and broke 
 new ground, set up his boundary lines between his 
 land and the State's, and gained another season's 
 stock of timber. But now that Inger was no longer 
 there to wonder at his doings, he worked more from 
 habit than for any joy in what he did. And he had 
 let two sessions pass without having his title-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 be- 
 cause he did not care. He got out hides because it 
 had to be done goatskins and calfskins steeped 
 them in the river, laid them in bark, and tanned them 
 after a fashion ready for shoes. In the winter 
 at the very first threshing he set aside his seed 
 corn for the next spring, in order to have it done; 
 best to have things done and done with; he was a 
 methodical man. But it was a grey and lonely life ; 
 eyah, Herregud! a man without a wife again, and all 
 the rest. . . . 
 
 What pleasure was there now in sitting at home 
 Sundays, cleanly washed, with a neat red shirt on, 
 when there was no one to be clean and neat for! 
 Sundays were the 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 
 
 in
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 all that should have been done. He always took the 
 children with him, always carried one on his arm. 
 It was a distraction to hear their chatter, and an- 
 swer their questions of everything. 
 
 He kept old Oline because there was no one else 
 he could get. And Oline was, after all, of use in a 
 way. Carding and spinning, knitting stockings and 
 mittens, and making cheese she could do all these 
 things, but she lacked Inger's happy touch, and had 
 no heart in her work; nothing of all she handled 
 was her own. There was a thing 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 maliciously ; next day, all the cuttings were dead. 
 It was not so easy for Isak to bear with such things ; 
 he looked displeased, and showed it, and, as there 
 was nothing swanlike and gentle about Isak, it may 
 well be that he showed it plainly. Oline cared little 
 for looks; soft-spoken as ever, she only said: 
 11 Now, could I help it?" 
 
 " That I can't say," answered Isak. " But you 
 might have left the things alone." 
 
 " I'll not touch her flowers again," said Oline. 
 But the flowers were already dead. 
 
 Again, how could it be that the Lapps came up to 
 Sellanraa so frequently of late? Os- Anders, for in- 
 stance, had no business there at all, he should have 
 
 112
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 passed on his way. Twice in one summer he came 
 across the hills, and Os-Anders, it should be remem- 
 bered, had no reindeer to look to, but lived by beg- 
 ging and quartering himself on other Lapps. As 
 soon as he came up to the place, Oline left her work 
 and fell to chatting with him about people in the 
 village, and, when he left, his sack was heavy with 
 no end of things. Isak put up with it for two years, 
 saying nothing. 
 
 Then Oline wanted new shoes again, and he could 
 be silent no longer. It was in the autumn, and Oline 
 wore shoes every day, instead of going in wooden 
 pattens or rough hide. 
 
 " Looks like being fine today," said Isak. 
 " H'm." That was how he began. 
 
 " Ay," said Oline. 
 
 " Those cheeses, Eleseus," went on Isak again, 
 " wasn't it ten you counted on the shelf this morn- 
 ing?" 
 
 " Ay," said Eleseus. 
 
 " Well, there's but nine there now." 
 
 Eleseus counted again, and thought for a moment 
 inside his little head; then he said: " Yes, but then 
 Os-Anders had one to take away; that makes ten." 
 
 There was silence for quite a while after that. 
 Then little Sivert must try to count as well, and says 
 after his brother: " That makes ten." 
 
 Silence again. At last Oline felt she must say 
 something. 
 
 " Ay, I did give him a tiny one, that's true. I 
 didn't think that could do any harm. But they chil-
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 dren, they're no sooner able to talk than they show 
 what's in them. And who they take after's more 
 than I can think or guess. For 'tis not your way, 
 Isak, that I do know." 
 
 The hint was too plain to pass unchecked. " The 
 children are well enough," said Isak shortly. " But 
 I'd like to know what good Os-Anders has ever done 
 to me and mine." 
 
 "What good?" 
 
 " Ay, that's what I said." 
 
 11 What good Os-Anders ... ? " 
 
 " Ay, since I'm to give him cheeses in return." 
 
 Oline has had time to think, and has her answer 
 ready now. 
 
 ' Well, now, I wouldn't have thought it of you, 
 Isak, that I wouldn't. Was it me, pray, that first 
 began with Os-Anders? I wish I may never move 
 alive from this spot if I ever so much as spoke his 
 name." 
 
 Brilliant success for Oline. Isak has to give in, 
 as he has done many a time before. 
 
 But Oline had more to say. " And if you mean 
 I'm to go here clean barefoot, with the winter com- 
 ing on 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 three and four weeks gone, that I needed shoes, 
 but never sign of a shoe to this day, and here I am." 
 
 Said Isak: 'What's wrong with your pattens, 
 then, that you can't use them? " 
 
 ' What's wrong with them? " repeats Oline, all 
 unprepared. 
 
 114
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Ay, that's what I'd like to know." 
 
 "With my pattens?" 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 " Well . . . and me carding and spinning, and 
 tending cattle and sheep and all, looking after chil- 
 dren here have you nothing to say to that? I'd 
 like to know; that wife of yours that's in prison for 
 her deeds, did you let her go barefoot in the snow? " 
 
 " She wore her pattens," said Isak. " And for 
 going to church and visiting and the like, why, rough 
 hide was good enough for her." 
 
 " Ay, and all the finer for it, no doubt." 
 
 " Ay, that she was. And when she did wear her 
 hide shoes in summer, she did but stuff a wisp of 
 grass in them, and never no more. But you you 
 must wear stockings in your shoes all the year 
 round." 
 
 Said Oline: " As for that, I'll wear out my pat- 
 tens in time, no doubt. I'd no thought there was 
 any such haste to wear out good pattens all at once." 
 She spake softly and gently, but with half-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. And this is 
 what we get for it. Because I've a daughter that 
 lives in Bergen and wears a hat, I suppose that's 
 what Inger must be gone away south for; gone to 
 Trondhjem to buy a hat, he he ! " 
 
 Isak got up to leave the room. But Oline had 
 opened her heart now, unlocked the store of black- 
 
 "5
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ness within; ay, she gave out rays of darkness, 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 worse for that, maybe. 
 No, 'twasn't every one was so quick and handy at get- 
 ting rid of the young they bore strangling them 
 in a twinkling. . . . 
 
 " Mind what you're saying," shouted Isak. And 
 to make his meaning perfectly clear, he added: 
 " You cursed old hag ! " 
 
 But Oline was not going to mind what she was 
 saying; not in the least, he he! She turned up her 
 eyes to heaven and hinted that a hare-lip might be 
 this or that, but some folk seemed to carry it too 
 far, he he ! 
 
 Isak may well have been glad to get safely out of 
 the house at last. And what could he do but get 
 Oline the shoes? A tiller of earth in the wilds; no 
 longer even something of a god, that he could say to 
 his servant, " Go ! " He was helpless without 
 Oline ; whatever she did or said, she had nothing to 
 fear, and she knew it. 
 
 The nights are colder now, with a full moon ; the 
 marshlands harden till they can almost bear, but 
 thawing again when the sun comes out, to an impas- 
 sable swamp once more. Isak goes down to the 
 village one cold night, to order shoes for Oline. He 
 takes a couple of cheeses with him, for Fru Geissler. 
 
 Hal^-way down to the village a new settler has 
 appeared. A well-to-do man, no doubt, since he had 
 called in folk from the village to build his house, 
 
 116
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and hired men to plough up a patch of sandy moor- 
 land for potatoes; he himself did little or nothing. 
 The new man was Brede Olsen, Lensmand's assist- 
 ant, 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 her- 
 self. Oh, Brede was not so well off, perhaps, after 
 all; 'twas no great money he could earn running 
 hither and thither on all odd businesses, and collect- 
 ing taxes from people that would not pay. So now 
 he was trying a new venture on the soil. He had 
 raised a loan at the bank to start house in the wilds. 
 Breidablik, he called the place ; and it was Lensmand 
 Heyerdahl's lady that had found that splendid name. 
 
 Isak hurries past the house, not wasting time on 
 looking in, but he can see through the window that 
 all the children are up already, early as it is. Isak 
 has 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 
 think of, to reckon out and fit in as best can be. It 
 is not the busiest time for him just now, but he is 
 anxious about the children, left all alone with Oline. 
 
 He thinks, as he walks, of the first time he had 
 come that way. Time has passed, the two last years 
 had been long; there had been much that was good 
 at Sellanraa, and a deal that was not eyah, Her- 
 regud! And now here was another man clearing 
 ground in the wilds. Isak knew the place well; it 
 was one of the kindlier spots he had noted himself 
 
 117
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 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 fellow Brede would find it took 
 more than a mere turning over of the soil to made 
 a field that would bear. And why hadn't he built 
 out a shed from the end of the hay-loft for carts 
 and implements? Isak noticed that a cart had been 
 left standing out in the yard, uncovered, in the 
 open. 
 
 He got through his business with the shoemaker, 
 and, Fru Geissler having left the place, he sold his 
 cheeses to the man at the store. In the evening, 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 say when Geissler 
 would be back, now that his wife had gone; maybe 
 he would not be coming at all? Inger was far away, 
 and time was getting on. . . . 
 
 He does not look in at Brede's on the way back; 
 on the contrary, he goes a long way round, keeping 
 away from the place. He does not care to stop and 
 talk 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 
 of his own now, and a shed to house it, but none the 
 happier for that. His home is but half a thing; it 
 had been a home once, but now only half a thing. 
 
 It is full day by the time he gets within sight of his 
 own place up on the hillside, and it cheers him some- 
 
 118
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 what, weary and exhausted as he is after forty-eight 
 hours 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 goes into the house, and finds 
 a couple of Lapps sitting down. Oline starts up in 
 surprise: "What, you back already!" She is 
 making coffee on the stove. Coffee? Coffee! 
 
 Isak has noticed the same thing before. When 
 Os-Anders or any of the other Lapps have been 
 there, Oline makes coffee in Inger's little pot for a 
 long time after. She does it while Isak is out in the 
 woods or in the fields, and when he comes in unex- 
 pectedly and sees it, she says nothing. But he knows 
 that he is the poorer by a cheese or a bundle of 
 wool each time. And it is to his credit that he does 
 not pick up Oline in his fingers and crush her to 
 pieces for her meanness. Altogether, Isak is trying 
 hard indeed to make himself a better man, better 
 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 : the shed 
 where he kept his store of provisions was simply 
 
 119
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 built on high stone feet at the corners, with nothing 
 between. After a while, little birds began to find 
 their way in through the big gaps in the wall, and 
 stayed fluttering about inside, unable to get out. 
 Oline complained that they picked at the food and 
 spoiled the meat, and made a nasty mess about the 
 place. Isak said: "Ay, 'tis a pity small birds 
 should come in and not be able to get out again." 
 And in the thick of a busy season he turned stone- 
 mason and filled up the gaps in the wall. 
 
 Heaven knows what was in his mind that he took 
 things so ; whether maybe he fancied Inger might be 
 given back to him the sooner for his gentleness. 
 
 120
 
 Chapter IX 
 
 THE years pass by. 
 Once more there came visitors to Sellanraa ; 
 an engineer, with a foreman and a couple 
 of workmen, marking out telegraph lines again over 
 the hills. By the route they were taking now, the 
 line would be carried a little above the house, and a 
 straight road cut through the forest. No harm in 
 that. It would make the place less desolate, a 
 glimpse of the world would make it brighter. 
 
 " This place," said the engineer, " will be just 
 about midway between two lines through the valleys 
 on either side. They'll very likely ask you to take 
 on the job of linesman for both." 
 
 "Ho! "said Isak. 
 
 " It will be twenty-five Daler a year in your 
 pocket." 
 
 " H'm," said Isak. " And what am I to do for 
 that?" 
 
 " Keep the line in repair, mend the wires when 
 necessary, clear away forest growth on the route as 
 it comes up. They'll set up a little machine thing 
 in the house here, to hang on the wall, that'll tell 
 you when you're wanted. And when it does, you 
 must leave whatever you're doing and go." 
 
 Isak thought it over. " I could do it all right in 
 winter," he said. 
 
 121
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " That's no good. It would have to be for the 
 whole year, summer and winter alike." 
 
 " Can't be done," said Isak. " Spring and sum- 
 mer and autumn I've my work on the land, and no 
 time for other things." 
 
 The engineer looked at him for quite a while, and 
 then put an astonishing question, as follows: " Can 
 you make more money that way? " 
 
 " Make more money? " said Isak. 
 
 " Can you earn more money in a day by working 
 on the land than you could by working for us? " 
 
 " Why, as to that, I can't say," answered Isak. 
 " It's just this way, you see 'tis the land I'm here 
 for. I've many souls and more beasts to keep alive 
 and 'tis the land that keeps us. 'Tis our living." 
 
 " If you won't, I can find some one else," said the 
 engineer. 
 
 But Isak only seemed rather relieved at the threat. 
 He did not like to disoblige the great man, and tried 
 to explain. " 'Tis this way," he said. " I've a 
 horse and five cows, besides the bull. I've twenty 
 sheep and sixteen goats. The beasts, they give us 
 food and wool and hide; we must give them food." 
 
 " Yes, yes, of course," said the other shortly. 
 
 " Well, and so I say, how am I to feed them when 
 I've to run away all times in the busy season, to work 
 on the telegraph line?" 
 
 " Say no more about it," said the engineer. " I'll 
 get the man down below you, Brede Olsen; he'll be 
 glad to take it." He turned to his men with a brief 
 word: " Now, lads, we'll be getting on." 
 
 122
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Now Oline had heard from the way Isak spoke 
 that he was stiff-necked and unreasonable in his mind, 
 and she would make the most of it. 
 
 " What was that you said, Isak? Sixteen goats? 
 There's no more than fifteen," said she. 
 
 Isak looked at her, and Oline looked at him again, 
 straight in the face. 
 
 " Not sixteen goats? " said he. 
 
 " No," said she, looking helplessly towards the 
 strangers, as if to say how unreasonable he was. 
 
 " Ho ! " said Isak softly. He drew a tuft of his 
 beard between his teeth and stood chewing it. 
 
 The engineer and his men went on their way. 
 
 Now, if Isak had wanted to show his displeasure 
 with Oline and maybe thrash her for her doings, here 
 was his chance a Heaven-sent chance to do that 
 thing. They were alone in the house ; the children 
 had gone after the men when they went. Isak stood 
 there in the middle of the room, and Oline was sit- 
 ting by the stove. Isak cleared his throat once or 
 twice, just to show that he was ready to say some- 
 thing if he pleased. But he said nothing. That was 
 his strength of soul. What, did he not know the 
 number of his goats as he knew the fingers on his 
 hands was the woman mad? Could one of the 
 beasts be missing, when he knew every one of them 
 personally and talked to them every day his goats 
 that were sixteen in number? Oline must have 
 traded away one of them the day before, when the 
 woman from Breidablik had come up to look at the 
 place. " H'm," said Isak, and this time words were 
 
 123
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 on the very tip of his tongue. What was it Oline 
 had done? Not exactly murder, perhaps, but some- 
 thing not far from it. He could speak in deadly 
 earnest of that sixteenth goat. 
 
 But he could not stand there for ever, in the mid- 
 dle of the room, saying nothing. " H'm," he said. 
 " Ho ! So there's but fifteen goats there now, you 
 say?" 
 
 " That's all I make it," answered Oline gently. 
 " But you'd better count for yourself and see." 
 
 Now was his time he could do it now : reach out 
 with his hands and alter the shape of Oline consid- 
 erably, with but one good grip. He could do it. 
 He did not do it, but said boldly, making for the 
 door: " I'll say no more just now." And he went 
 out, as if plainly showing that, next time, he would 
 have proper words to say, never fear. 
 
 " Eleseus! " he called out. 
 
 Where was Eleseus, where were the children? 
 Their father had something to ask them; they were 
 big fellows now, with their eyes about them. He 
 found them under the floor of the barn; they had 
 crept in as far as they could, hiding away invisibly, 
 but betraying themselves by an anxious whispering. 
 Out they crept now like two sinners. 
 
 The fact of the matter was that Eleseus had found 
 a stump of coloured pencil the engineer had left be- 
 hind, and started to run after him and give it back, 
 but the big men with their long strides were already 
 far up in the forest. Eleseus stopped. The idea 
 occurred to him that he might keep the pencil if 
 
 124
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 only he could ! He hunted out little Sivert, so that 
 they might at least be two to share the guilt, and the 
 pair of them had crept in under the floor with their 
 find. Oh, that stump of pencil it was an event in 
 their lives, a wonder! They found shavings and 
 covered them all over with signs; the pencil, they 
 discovered, made blue marks with one end and red 
 with the other, and they took it in turns to use. 
 When their father called out so loudly and insistenly, 
 Eleseus whispered: "They've come back for the 
 pencil!" All their joy was dashed in a moment, 
 swept out of their minds at a touch, and their little 
 hearts began beating and thumping terribly. The 
 brothers crept forth. Eleseus held out the pencil at 
 arm's length; here it was, they had not broken it; 
 only wished they had never seen the thing. ' 
 
 No engineer was to be seen. Their hearts settled 
 to a quieter beat; it was heavenly to be rid of that 
 dreadful tension. 
 
 " There was a woman here yesterday," said their 
 father. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " The woman from the place down below. Did 
 you see her go? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Had she a goat with her? " 
 
 " No," said the boys. " A goat? " 
 
 " Didn't she have a goat with her when she left? " 
 
 "No. What goat?" 
 
 Isak wondered and wondered. In the evening 
 when the animals came home, he counted the goats 
 
 125
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 once over there were sixteen. He counted them 
 once more, counted them five times. There were 
 sixteen. None missing. 
 
 Isak breathed again. But what did it all mean? 
 Oline, miserable creature, couldn't she count as far 
 as sixteen? He asked her angrily: "What's all 
 this nonsense? there are sixteen goats." 
 
 " Are there sixteen? " she asked innocently. 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 " Ay, well, then." 
 
 " A nice one to count, you are." 
 
 Oline answered quietly, in an injured tone, " Since 
 all the goats are there, why, then, thank Heaven, 
 you can't say Oline's been eating them up. And well 
 for her, poor thing." 
 
 Oline had taken him in completely with her trick- 
 ery; he was content, imagining all was well. It did 
 not occur to him, for instance, to count the sheep. 
 He did not trouble about further counting of the 
 stock at all. After all, Oline was not as bad as she 
 might have been; she kept house for him after a 
 fashion, and looked to his cattle; she was merely a 
 fool, and that was worst for herself. Let her stay, 
 let her live she was not worth troubling about. 
 But it was a grey and joyless thing to be Isak, as life 
 was now. 
 
 Years had passed. Grass had grown on the roof 
 of the house, even the roof of the barn, which was 
 some years younger, was green. The wild mouse, 
 native of the woods, had long since found way into 
 the storehouse. Tits and all manner of little birds 
 
 126
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 swarmed about the place ; there were more birds up 
 on the hillside ; even the crows had come. And most 
 wonderful of all, the summer before, seagulls had ap- 
 peared, seagulls coming all the way up from the coast 
 to settle on the fields there in the wilderness. Isak's 
 farm was known far and wide to all wild creatures. 
 And what of Eleseus and little Sivert when they saw 
 the gulls? Oh, 'twas some strange birds from ever 
 so far away; not so many of them, just six white 
 birds, all exactly alike, waddling this way and that 
 about the fields, and pecking at the grass now and 
 then. 
 
 " Father, what have they come for? " asked the 
 boys. 
 
 " There's foul weather coming out at sea," said 
 their father. Oh, a grand and mysterious thing to 
 see those gulls ! 
 
 And Isak taught his sons many other things good 
 and useful to know. They were of an age to go to 
 school, but the school was many miles away down in 
 the village, out of reach. Isak had himself taught 
 the boys their A B C on Sundays, but 'twas not for 
 him, not for this born tiller of the soil, to give them 
 any manner of higher education; the Catechism and 
 Bible history lay quietly on the shelf with the cheeses. 
 Isak apparently thought it better for men to grow 
 up without book-knowledge, from the way he dealt 
 with his boys. They were a joy and a blessing to 
 him, the two; many a time he thought of the days 
 when they had been tiny things, and their mother 
 would not let him touch them because his hands were 
 
 127
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 sticky with resin. Ho, resin, the cleanest thing in 
 the world! Tar and goats' milk and marrow, for 
 instance, all excellent things, but resin, clean gum 
 from the fir not a word ! 
 
 So the lads grew up in a paradise of dirt and ig- 
 norance, but they were nice lads for all that when 
 they were washed, which happened now and again; 
 little Sivert he was a splendid fellow, though Eleseus 
 was something finer and deeper. 
 
 " How do the gulls know about the weather? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " They're weather-sick," said his father. " But 
 as for that they're no more so than the flies. How 
 it may be with flies, I can't say, if they get the gout, 
 or feel giddy, or what. But never hit out at a fly, 
 for 'twill only make him worse remember that, 
 boys! The horsefly he's a different sort, he dies of 
 himself. Turns up suddenly one day in summer, 
 and there he is; then one day suddenly he's gone, 
 and that's the end of him." 
 
 " But how does he die? " asked Eleseus. 
 
 " The fat inside him stiffens, and he lies there 
 dead." 
 
 Every day they learned something new. Jumping 
 down from high rocks, for instance, to keep your 
 tongue in your mouth, and not get it between your 
 teeth. When they grew bigger, and wanted to smell 
 nice for going to church, the thing was to rub one- 
 self with a little tansy that grew on the hillside. 
 Father was full of wisdom. He taught the boys 
 
 128
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 about stones, about flint, how that the white stone 
 was harder than the grey; but when he had found a 
 flint, he must also make tinder. Then he could 
 strike fire with it. He taught them about the moon, 
 how when you can grip in the hollow side with your 
 left hand it is waxing, and grip in with the right, it's 
 on the wane ; remember that, boys ! Now and again, 
 Isak would go too far, and grow mysterious; one 
 day he declared that it was harder for a camel to 
 enter the kingdom of heaven than for a human being 
 to thread the eye of a needle. Another time, tell- 
 ing them of the glory of the angels, he explained that 
 angels had stars set in their heels instead of hob- 
 nails. Good and simple teaching, well fitted for set- 
 tlers in the wilds; the schoolmaster in the village 
 would have laughed at it all, but Isak's boys found 
 good use for it in their inner life. They were 
 trained and taught for their own little world, and 
 what could be better? In the autumn, when ani- 
 mals were to be killed, the lads were greatly curious, 
 and fearful, and heavy at heart for the ones that 
 were to die. There was Isak holding with one hand, 
 and the other ready to strike; Oline stirred the 
 blood. The old goat was led out, bearded and wise ; 
 the boys stood peeping round the corner. " Filthy 
 cold wind this time," said Eleseus, and turned away 
 to wipe his eyes. Little Sivert cried more openly, 
 could not help calling out: " Oh, poor old goatl " 
 When the goat was killed, Isak came up to them and 
 gave them this lesson: " Never stand around say- 
 
 129
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ing * Poor thing ' and being pitiful when things are 
 being killed. It makes them tough and harder to 
 kill. Remember that! " 
 
 So the years passed, and now it was nearing spring 
 again. 
 
 Inger had written home to say she was well, and 
 was learning a lot of things where she was. Her 
 little girl was big, and was called Leopoldine, after 
 the day she was born, the I5th November. She 
 knew all sorts of things, and was a genius at hem- 
 stitch and crochet, wonderful fine work she could do 
 on linen or canvas. 
 
 The curious thing about this letter was that Inger 
 had written and spelt it all herself. Isak was not so 
 learned but that he had to get it read for him down 
 in the village, by the man at the store; but once he 
 had got it into his head it stayed there; he knew it 
 off by heart when he got home. 
 
 And now he sat down with great solemnity at the 
 head of the table, spread out the letter, and read it 
 aloud to the boys. He was willing enough that 
 Oline also should see how easily he could read writ- 
 ing, but he did not speak so much as a word to her 
 directly. When he had finished, he said: "There 
 now, Eleseus, and you, Sivert, 'tis your mother her- 
 self has written that letter and learned all these 
 things. Even that little tiny sister of yours, she 
 knows more than all the rest of us here. Remem- 
 ber that ! " The boys sat still, wondering in silence. 
 
 " Ay, 'tis a grand thing," said Oline. 
 
 And what did she mean by that? Was she doubt-
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ing that Inger told the truth? Or had she her sus- 
 picions as to Isak's reading? It was no easy matter 
 to get at what Oline really thought, when she sat 
 there with her simple face, saying dark things. Isak 
 determined to take no notice. 
 
 " And when your mother comes home, boys, you 
 shall learn to write too," said he to the lads. 
 
 Oline shifted some clothes that were hanging near 
 the stove to dry; shifted a pot, shifted the clothes 
 again, and busied herself generally. She was think- 
 ing all the time. 
 
 " So fine and grand as everything's getting here," 
 she said at last. " I do think you might have bought 
 a paper of coffee for the house." 
 
 " Coffee? " said Isak. It slipped out. 
 
 Oline answered quietly : " Up to now I've bought 
 a little now and again out of my own money, 
 but . . ." 
 
 Coffee was a thing of dreams and fairy tales for 
 Isak, a rainbow. Oline was talking nonsense, of 
 course. He was not angry with her, no; but, slow 
 of thought as he was, he called to mind at last her 
 bartering with the Lapps, and he said bitterly: 
 
 " Ay, I'll buy you coffee, that I will. A paper of 
 coffee, was it? Why not a pound? A pound of 
 coffee, while you're about it." 
 
 " No need to talk that way, Isak. My brother 
 Nils, he gets coffee ; down at Breidablik, too, they've 
 coffee." 
 
 " Ay, for they've no milk. Not a drop of milk 
 on the place, they've not."
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " That's as it may be. But you that know such 
 a lot, and read writing as pat as a cockroach run- 
 ning, you ought to know that coffee's a thing should 
 be in everybody's house." 
 
 " You creature ! " said Isak. 
 
 At that Oline sat down and was not to be silenced. 
 " As for that Inger," said she, " if so be I may dare 
 to say such a word. . . ." 
 
 " Say what you will, 'tis all one to me." 
 
 " She'll be coming home, and learned everything 
 of sorts. And beads and feathers in her hat, 
 maybe? " 
 
 " Ay, that may be." 
 
 " Ay," said Oline; " and she can thank me a little 
 for all the way she's grown so fine and grand." 
 
 " You? " asked Isak. It slipped out. 
 
 Oline answered humbly: "Ay, since 'twas my 
 modest doing that she ever went away." 
 
 Isak was speechless at that; all his words were 
 checked, he sat there staring. Had he heard aright? 
 Oline sat there looking as if she had said nothing. 
 No, in a battle of words Isak was altogether lost. 
 
 He swung out of the house, full of dark thoughts. 
 Oline, that beast that throve in wickedness and grew 
 fat on it why had he not wrung her neck the first 
 year? So he thought, trying to pull himself to- 
 gether. He could have done it he? Couldn't 
 he, though ! No one better. 
 
 And then a ridiculous thing happened. Isak went 
 into the shed and counted the goats. There they 
 are with their kids, the full number. He counts the 
 
 132
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 cows, the pig, fourteen hens, two calves. " I'd all 
 but forgotten the sheep," he says to himself; he 
 counts the sheep, and pretends to be all anxiety lest 
 there should be any missing there. Isak knows very 
 well that there is a sheep missing; he has known that 
 a long time; why should he let it appear otherwise? 
 It was this way. Oline had tricked him nicely once 
 before, saying one of the goats was gone, though all 
 the goats were there as they should be; he had made 
 a great fuss about it at the time, but to no purpose. 
 It was always the same when he came into conflict 
 with Oline. Then, in the autumn, at slaughtering 
 time, he had seen at once that there was one ewe 
 short, but he had not found courage to call her to 
 account for it at the time. And he had not found 
 that courage since. 
 
 But today he is stern; Isak is stern. Oline has 
 made him thoroughly angry this time. He counts 
 the sheep over again, putting his forefinger on each 
 and counting aloud Oline may hear it if she likes, 
 if she should happen to be outside. And he says 
 many hard things about Oline says them out loud; 
 how that she uses a new method of her own in feed- 
 ing sheep, a method that simply makes them vanish 
 here's a ewe simply vanished. She is a thieving 
 baggage, nothing less, and she may know it! Oh, 
 he would just have liked Oline to be standing outside 
 and hear it, and be thoroughly frightened for once. 
 
 He strides out from the shed, goes to the stable 
 and counts the horse ; from there he will go in will 
 go into the house and speak his mind. He walks so 
 
 133
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 fast that his shirt stands out like a very angry shirt 
 behind him. But Oline as like as not has noticed 
 something, looking out through the glass window; 
 she appears in the doorway, quietly and steadily, with 
 buckets in her hands, on her way to the cowshed. 
 
 " What have you done with that ewe with the 
 flat ears? " he asks. 
 
 " Ewe? " she asks. 
 
 " Ay. If she'd been here she'd have had two 
 lambs by now. What have you done with them? 
 She always had two. You've done me out of three 
 together, do you understand? " 
 
 Oline is altogether overwhelmed, altogether an- 
 nihilated by the accusation; she wags her head, and 
 her legs seem to melt away under her she might 
 fall and hurt herself. Her head is busy all the time ; 
 her ready wit had always helped her, always served 
 her well; it must not fail her now. 
 
 " I steal goats and I steal the sheep," she says 
 quietly. " And what do I do with them, I should 
 like to know? I don't eat them up all by myself, I 
 suppose? " 
 
 " You know best what you do with them." 
 
 " Ho ! As if I didn't have enough and to spare 
 of meat and food and all, with what you give me, 
 Isak, that I should have to steal more? But I'll 
 say that, anyway, I've never needed so much, all 
 these years." 
 
 'Well, what have you done with the sheep? 
 Has Os-Anders had it?" 
 
 " Os-Anders? " Oline has to set down the
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 buckets and fold her hands. " May I never have 
 more guilt to answer for! What's all this about a 
 ewe and lambs you're talking of? Is it the goat 
 you mean, with the flat ears? " 
 
 " You creature ! " said Isak, turning away. 
 
 " Well, if you're not a miracle, Isak, I will say 
 . . . Here you've all you could wish for every sort, 
 and a heavenly host of sheep and goats and all in 
 your own shed, and you've not enough. How 
 should I know what sheep, and what two lambs, 
 you're trying to get out of me now? You should be 
 thanking the Lord for His mercies from generation 
 to generation, that you should. 'Tis but this sum- 
 mer and a bit of a way to next winter, and you've 
 the lambing season once more, and three times as 
 many again." 
 
 Oh, that woman Oline ! 
 
 Isak went off grumbling like a bear. " Fool I was 
 not to murder her the first day! " he thought, calling 
 himself all manner of names. " Idiot, lump of rub- 
 bish that I was ! But it's not too late yet; just wait, 
 let her go to the cowshed if she likes. It wouldn't 
 be wise to do anything tonight, but tomorrow . . . 
 ay, tomorrow morning's the time. Three sheep lost 
 and gone ! And coffee, did she say ! " 
 
 135
 
 Chapter X 
 
 NEXT day was fated to bring a great event. 
 There came a visitor to the farm Geiss- 
 ler came. It was not yet summer on the 
 moors, but Geissler paid no heed to the state of 
 the ground; he came on foot, in rich high boots with 
 broad, shiny tops; yellow gloves, too, he wore, and 
 was elegant to see; a man from the village carried 
 his things. 
 
 He had come, as a matter of fact, to buy a piece 
 of Isak's land, up in the hills a copper mine. 
 And what about the price? Also, by the way, he 
 had a message from Inger good girl, every one 
 liked her; he had been in Trondhjem, and seen her. 
 " Isak, you've put in some work here." 
 
 "Ay, I dare say And you've seen Inger? " 
 
 "What's that you've got over there? Built a 
 mill of your own, have you? grind your own corn? 
 Excellent. And you've turned up a good bit of 
 ground since I was here last." 
 
 "Is she well?" 
 
 "Eh? Oh, your wife! yes, she's well and fit. 
 Let's go in the next room. I'll tell you all about 
 it." 
 
 " 'Tis not in order," put in Oline. Oline had 
 her own reasons for not wishing them to go in. 
 
 136
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 They went into the little room nevertheless, and 
 closed the door. Oline stood in the kitchen and 
 could hear nothing. 
 
 Geissler sat down, slapped his knee with a power- 
 ful hand, and there he was master of Isak's fate. 
 
 "You haven't sold that copper tract yet?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Good. I'll buy it myself. Yes, I've seen In- 
 ger and some other people too. She'll be out before 
 long, if I'm not greatly mistaken the case has 
 been submitted to the King." 
 
 "The King?" 
 
 " The King, yes. I went in to have a talk with 
 your wife they managed it for me, of course, 
 no difficulty about that and we had a long talk. 
 'Well, Inger, how are you getting on? Nicely, 
 what? ' ' Why, I've no cause to complain.' ' Like 
 to be home again ? ' ' Ay, I'll not say no.' ' And 
 so you shall before very long,' said I. And I'll tell 
 you this much, Isak, she's a good girl, is Inger. No 
 blubbering, not so much as a tear, but smiling and 
 laughing . . . they've fixed up that trouble with her 
 mouth, by the way operation sewed it up 
 again. 'Good-bye, then,' said I. * You won't be 
 here very long, I'll promise you that.' 
 
 " Then I went to the Governor he saw me, of 
 course, no difficulty about that. ' You've a woman 
 here,' said I, ' that ought to be out of the place, and 
 back in her home* Inger Sellanraa.' 'Inger?' 
 said he ; ' why, yes. She's a good sort I wish 
 
 137
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 we could keep her for twenty years,' said he. 
 ' Well, you won't,' said I. ' She's been here too 
 long already.' * Too long? ' says he. * Do you 
 know what she's in for?' 'I know all about it,' 
 says I, ' being Lensmand in the district.' ' Oh,' 
 says he, ' won't you sit down? ' Quite the proper 
 thing to say, of course. ' Why,' says the Governor 
 then, ' we do what we can for her here, and her 
 little girl too. So she's from your part of the 
 country, is she? We've helped her to get a sew- 
 ing-machine of her own; she's gone through the 
 workshops right to the top, and we've taught her 
 a deal weaving, household work, dyeing, cutting 
 out. Been here too long, you say? ' Well, I'd got 
 my answer ready for that all right, but it could wait, 
 so I only said her case had been badly muddled, and 
 had to be taken up again; now, after the revision of 
 the criminal code, she'd probably have been acquitted 
 altogether. And I told him about the hare. ' A 
 hare ? ' says the Governor. ' A hare,' says I. 
 ' And the child was born with a hare-lip.' ' Oh,' 
 says he, smiling, ' I see. And you think they ought 
 to have made more allowance for that?' 'They 
 didn't make any at all,' said I, ' for it wasn't men- 
 tioned.' ' Well, I dare say it's not so bad, after 
 all.' ' Bad enough for her, anyway.' * Do you be- 
 lieve a hare can work miracles, then?' says he. 
 ' As to that,' said I, * whether a hare can work 
 miracles or not's a matter I won't discuss just now. 
 The question is, what effect the sight of a hare might 
 have on a woman with her disfigurement, in her con- 
 
 138
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 dition.' Well, he thought over that for a bit. 
 ' H'm,' says he at last. ' Maybe, maybe. Anyhow, 
 we're not concerned with that here. All we have 
 to do is to take over the people they send us; not 
 to revise their sentences. And according to her 
 sentence, Inger's not yet finished her time.' 
 
 " Well, then, I started on what I wanted to say all 
 along. ' There was a serious oversight made in 
 bringing her here to begin with,' said I. ' An over- 
 sight? ' ' Yes. In the first place, she ought never 
 to have been sent across the country at all in the 
 state she was in.' He looks at me stiffly. ' No, 
 that's perfectly true,' says he. ' But it's nothing 
 to do with us here, you know.' ' And in the second 
 place,' said I, ' she ought certainly not to have been 
 in the prison for full two months without any notice 
 taken of her condition by the authorities here.' 
 That put him out, I could see; he said nothing for 
 quite a while. ' Are you instructed to act on her 
 behalf?" says he at last. 'Yes, I am,' said I. 
 Well, then, he started on about how pleased they 
 had been with her, and telling me over again all 
 they'd taught her and done for her there taught 
 her to write too, he said. And the little girl had 
 been put out to nurse with decent people, and so on. 
 Then I told him how things were at home, with 
 Inger away. Two youngsters left behind, and only 
 a hired woman to look after them, and all the rest. 
 ' I've a statement from her husband,' said I, ' that I 
 can submit whether the case be taken up for thor- 
 ough revision, or an application be made for a par- 
 
 139
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 don.' ' I'd like to see that statement,' says the 
 Governor. ' Right,' said I. ' I'll bring it along to- 
 morrow in visiting hours.' ' 
 
 Isak sat listening it was thrilling to hear, a 
 wonderful tale from foreign parts. He followed 
 Geissler's mouth with slavish eyes. 
 
 Geissler went on: "I went straight back to the 
 hotel and wrote out a statement ; did the whole thing 
 myself, you understand, and signed it ' Isak Sellan- 
 raa.' Don't imagine, though, I said a word against 
 the way they'd managed things in the prison. Not 
 a word. Next day I went along with the paper. 
 4 Won't you sit down? ' says the Governor, the mo- 
 ment I got inside the door. He read through what 
 I'd written, nodded here and there, and at last he 
 says : ' Very good, very good indeed. It'd hardly 
 do, perhaps, to have the case brought up again for 
 revision, but . . .' * Wait a bit,' said I. ' I've an- 
 other document that I think will make it right.' 
 Had him there again, you see. ' Well,' he says, all 
 of a hurry, ' I've been thinking over the matter since 
 yesterday, and I consider there's good and sufficient 
 grounds to apply for a pardon.' ' And the applica- 
 tion would have the Governor's support? ' I asked. 
 4 Certainly; yes, I'll give it my best recommendation.' 
 Then I bowed and said: 4 In that case, there will be 
 no difficulty about the pardon, of course. I thank 
 you, sir, on behalf of a suffering woman and a 
 stricken home.' Then says he : ' I don't think there 
 should be any need of further declarations from 
 the district, I mean about her case. You know 
 
 140
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the woman yourself that should be quite enough.' 
 I knew well enough, of course, why he wanted the 
 thing settled quietly as possible, so I just agreed: 
 said it would only delay the proceedings to collect 
 further material. . . . 
 
 " And there you are, Isak, that's the whole story." 
 Geissler looked at his watch. " And now let's get 
 to business. Can you go with me up to the ground 
 again? " 
 
 Isak was a stony creature, a stump of a man; he 
 did not find it easy to change the subject all at once; 
 he was all preoccupied with thoughts and wondering, 
 and began asking questions of this and that. He 
 learned that the application had been sent up to the 
 King, and might be decided in one of the first State 
 Councils. " 'Tis all a miracle," said he. 
 
 Then they went up into the hills; Geissler, his 
 man, and Isak, and were out for some hours. In 
 a very short time Geissler had followed the lie of 
 the copper vein over a wide stretch of land and 
 marked out the limits of the tract he wanted. Here, 
 there, and everywhere he was. But no fool, for all 
 his hasty movements; quick to judge, but sound 
 enough for all that. 
 
 When they came back to the farm once more with 
 a sack full of samples of ore he got out writing 
 materials and sat down to write. He did not bury 
 himself completely in his writing, though, but talked 
 now and again. " Well, Isak, it won't be such a big 
 sum this time, for the land, but I can give you a 
 couple of hundred Daler anyway, on the spot." 
 
 141
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Then he wrote again. " Remind me before I go, I 
 want to see that mill of yours," said he. Then he 
 caught sight of some blue and red marks on the 
 frame of the loom, and asked, " Who drew that? " 
 Now that was Eleseus, had drawn a horse and a 
 goat; he used his coloured pencil on the loom and 
 woodwork anywhere, having no paper. " Not at all 
 bed," said Geissler, and gave Eleseus a coin. 
 
 Geissler went on writing for a bit, and then 
 looked up. " You'll be having other people taking 
 up land hereabouts before long." 
 
 At this the man with him spoke : " There's some 
 started already." 
 
 " Ho ! And who might that be ? " 
 
 " Well, first, there's the folk at Breidablik, as 
 they call it man Brede, at Breidablik." 
 
 " Him puh! " sniffed Geissler contemptuously. 
 
 " Then there's one or two others besides, have 
 bought." 
 
 " Doubt if they're any good, any of them," said 
 Geissler. And noticing at the same moment that 
 there were two boys in the room, he caught hold of 
 little Sivert and gave him a coin. A remarkable 
 man was Geissler. His eyes, by the way, had begun 
 to look soreish; there was a kind of redness at the 
 edges. Might have been sleeplessness; the same 
 thing comes at times from drinking of strong waters. 
 But he did not look dejected at all; and for all 
 his talking of this and that between times, he was 
 thinking no doubt of his document all the while, for 
 
 142
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 suddenly he picked up the pen and wrote a piece 
 more. 
 
 At last he seemed to have finished. 
 
 He turned to Isak: "Well, as I said, it won't 
 make you a rich man all at once, this deal. But 
 there may be more to come. We'll fix it up so that 
 you get more later on. Anyhow, I can give you 
 two hundred now." 
 
 Isak understood but little of the whole thing, but 
 two hundred Daler was at any rate another miracle, 
 and an unreasonable sum. He would get it on 
 paper, of course, not paid in cash, but let that be. 
 Isak had other things in his head just now. 
 
 " And you think she'll be pardoned? " he asked. 
 
 " Eh? Oh, your wife! Well, if there'd been a 
 telegraph office in the village, I'd have wired to 
 Trondhjem and asked if she hadn't been set free al- 
 ready." 
 
 Isak had heard men speak of the telegraph; a 
 wonderful thing, a string hung up on big poles, some- 
 thing altogether above the common earth. The 
 mention of it now seemed to shake his faith in 
 Geissler's big words, and he put in anxiously: " But 
 suppose the King says no? " 
 
 Said Geissler: " In that case, I send in my supple- 
 mentary material, a full account of the whole affair. 
 And then they must set her free. There's not a 
 shadow of doubt." 
 
 Then he read over what he had written; the con- 
 tract for purchase of the land. Two hundred Daler
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 cash down, and later, a nice high percentage of 
 receipts from working, or ultimate disposal by fur- 
 ther sale, of the copper tract. " Sign your name 
 here," said Geissler. 
 
 Isak would have signed readily enough, but he 
 was no scholar; in all his life he had got no farther 
 than cutting initials in wood. But there was that 
 hateful creature Oline looking on; he took up the 
 pen a beastly thing, too light to handle anyway 
 turned it right end down, and wrote wrote his 
 name. Whereupon Geissler added something, pre- 
 sumably an explanation, and the man he had brought 
 with him signed as a witness. 
 
 Settled. 
 
 But Oline was still there, standing immovable 
 it was indeed but now she had turned so stiff. What 
 was to happen? 
 
 " Dinner on the table, Oline," said Isak, possibly 
 with a tough of dignity, after having signed his name 
 in writing on a paper. " Such as we can offer," he 
 added to Geissler. 
 
 " Smells good enough," said Geissler. " Sound 
 meat and drink. Here, Isak, here's your money! " 
 Geissler took out his pocket-book thick and fat it 
 was, too drew from it two bundles of notes and 
 laid them down. " Count it over yourself." 
 
 Not a movement, not a sound. 
 
 " Isak," said Geissler again. 
 
 " Ay. Yes," answered Isak, and murmured, 
 overwhelmed, " 'Tis not that I've asked for it, nor 
 would after all you've done." 
 
 144
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Ten tens in that should be, and twenty fives 
 here," said Geissler shortly. " And I hope there'll 
 be more than that by a long way for your share 
 soon." 
 
 And then it was that Oline recovered from her 
 trance. The wonder had happened after all. She 
 set the food on the table. 
 
 Next morning Geissler went out to the river to 
 look at the mill. It was small enough, and roughly 
 built; ay, a mill for dwarfs, for trollfolk, but strong 
 and useful for a man's work. Isak led his guest a 
 little farther up the river, and showed him another 
 fall he had been working on a bit; it was to turn a 
 saw, if so be God gave him health. " The only 
 thing," he said, " it's a heavy long way from school: 
 I'll have to get the lads to stay down in the village." 
 But Geissler, always so quick to find a way, saw 
 nothing to worry about here. " There are more 
 people buying and settling here now," said he. " It 
 won't be long before there's enough to start a 
 school." 
 
 " Ay, maybe, but not before my boys are grown." 
 
 " Well, why not let them live on a farm down in 
 the village? You could drive in with the boys and 
 some food, and bring them up again three weeks 
 six weeks after; it would be easy enough for you, 
 surely? " 
 
 " Ay, maybe," said Isak. 
 
 Ay, all things would be easy enough, if Inger 
 came home. House and land and food and grand 
 things enough, and a big sum of money too he had, 
 
 H5
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and his strength ; he was hard as nails. Health and 
 strength ay, full and unspoiled, unworn, in every 
 way, the health and strength of a man. 
 
 When Geissler had gone, Isak began thinking of 
 many presumptuous things. Ay, for had not Geiss- 
 ler, that blessing to them all, said at parting that he 
 would send a message very soon would send a 
 telegram as soon as ever he could. " You can call 
 in at the post office in a fortnight's time," he had 
 said. And that in itself was a wonderful thing 
 enough. Isak set to work making a seat for the 
 cart. A seat, of course, that could be taken off when 
 using the cart for manure, but to be put in again 
 when any one wanted to drive. And when he had 
 got the seat made, it looked so white and new that it 
 had to be painted darker. As for that, there were 
 things enough that had to be done! The whole 
 place wanted painting, to begin with. And he had 
 been thinking for years past of building a proper 
 barn with a bridge, to house in the crop. He had 
 thought, too, of getting that saw set up and finished; 
 .of fencing in all his cultivated ground; of building 
 a boat on the lake up in the hills. Many things he 
 had thought of doing. But hard as he worked, un- 
 reasonably hard what did it help against time ? 
 Time it was the time that was too short. It was 
 Sunday before he knew, and then directly after, lo, 
 it was Sunday again! 
 
 Paint he would, in any case ; that was decided and 
 emphatic. The buildings stood there grey and 
 bare stood there like houses in their shirt sleeves. 
 
 146
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 There was time yet before the busy season; the 
 spring was hardly begun yet; the young things were 
 out, but there was frost in the ground still. 
 
 Isak goes down to the village, taking with him a 
 few score of eggs for sale, and brings back paint. 
 There was enough for one building, for the barn, 
 and it was painted red. He fetches up more paint, 
 yellow ochre this time, for the house itself. " Ay, 
 'tis as I said, here's going to be fine and grand," 
 grumbles Oline every day. Ay, Oline could guess, 
 no doubt, that her time at Sellanraa would soon be 
 up; she was tough and strong enough to bear it, 
 though not without bitterness. Isak, on his part, no 
 longer sought to settle up old scores with her now, 
 though she pilfered and put away things lavishly 
 enough towards the end. He made her a present of 
 a young wether; after all, she had been with him a 
 long time, and worked for little pay. And Oline 
 had not been. so bad with the children; she was not 
 stern and strictly righteous and that sort of thing, 
 but had a knack of dealing with children: listened 
 to what they said, and let them do more or less as 
 they pleased. If they came round while she was 
 making cheese, she would give them a bit to taste; 
 if they begged to be let off washing their faces one 
 Sunday, she would let them off. 
 
 When Isak had given his walls a first coat, he went 
 down to the village again and brought up all the 
 paint he could carry. Three coats he put on in all, 
 and white on the window-frames and corners. To 
 come back now and look at his home there on the
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 hillside, it was like looking at a fairy palace. The 
 wilderness was inhabited and unrecognizable, a bless- 
 ing had come upon it, life had arisen there from a 
 long dream, human creatures lived there, children 
 played about the houses. And the forest stretched 
 away, big and kindly, right up to the blue heights. 
 
 But the last time Isak went down for paint, the 
 storekeeper gave him a blue envelope with a crest 
 on,, and 5 shilling to pay. It was a telegram which 
 had been forwarded by post, and was from Lens- 
 mand Geissler. A blessing on that man Geissler, 
 wonderful man that he was ! He telegraphed these 
 few words, that Inger was free, " Home soonest 
 possible: Geissler." And at this the store took to 
 whirling curiously round and round; the counter and 
 the people in the shop were suddenly far away. 
 Isak felt rather than heard himself saying, " Herre- 
 gud! " and " Praise and thanks to God." 
 
 " She might be here no later than tomorrow the 
 day," said the storekeeper, " if so be she's left 
 Trondhjem in time." 
 
 "Ho!" said Isak. 
 
 He waited till the next day. The carrier came 
 up with letters, from the landing-stage where the 
 steamer put in, but no Inger. " Then she won't 
 be here now till next week," the storekeeper said. 
 
 Almost as well, after all, that there was time to 
 wait Isak has many things to do. Should he 
 forget himself altogether, and neglect his land? 
 He sets off home again and begins carting out 
 manure. It is soon done. He sticks a crowbar into 
 
 148
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the earth, noting how the frost disappears from day 
 to day. The sun is big and strong now, the snow is 
 gone, green showing everywhere; the cattle are out 
 to graze. Isak ploughs one day, and a few days 
 later he is sowing corn, planting potatoes. Ho, the 
 youngsters too, planting potatoes like angels ; blessed 
 little hands they have, and what can their father do 
 but watch? 
 
 Then Isak washes out the cart down by the river, 
 and puts the seat in. Talks to the lads about a little 
 journey; he must have a little journey down to the 
 village. 
 
 " But aren't you going to walk? " 
 
 " Not today. I've took into my head to go down 
 with horse and cart today." 
 
 " Can't we come too? " 
 
 " You've got to be good boys, and stay at home 
 this time. Your own mother'll be coming very soon, 
 and she'll learn you a many things." 
 
 Eleseus is all for learning things; he asks: 
 " Father, when you did that writing on the paper 
 what does it feel like? " 
 
 "Why, 'tis hardly to feel at all; just like a bit 
 of nothing in the hand." 
 
 " But doesn't it slip, like on the ice? " 
 
 "What slip?" 
 
 " The pen thing, that you write with? " 
 
 " Ay, there's the pen. But you have to learn to 
 steer it, you'll see." 
 
 But little Sivert he was of another mind, and said 
 nothing about pens; he wanted to ride in the cart; 
 
 149
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 just to sit up on the seat before the horse was put in, 
 and drive like that, driving ever so fast in a cart 
 without a horse. And it was all his doing that 
 father let them both sit up and ride with him a 
 long way down the road. 
 
 150
 
 Chapter XI 
 
 ISAK drives on till he comes to a tarn, a bit of a 
 pool on the moor, and there he pulls up. A 
 pool on the moors, black, deep down, and the 
 little surface of the water perfectly still; Isak knew 
 what that was good for; he had hardly used any 
 other mirror in his life than such a bit of water on 
 the moors. Look how nice and neat he is today, 
 with a red shirt; he takes out a pair of scissors now, 
 and trims his beard. Vain barge of a man; is he 
 going to make himself handsome all at once, and cut 
 away five years' growth of iron beard? He cuts 
 and cuts away, looking at himself in his glass. He 
 might have done all this at home, of course, but was 
 shy of doing it before Oline; it was quite enough to 
 stand there right in front of her nose and put on a 
 red shirt. He cuts and cuts away, a certain amount 
 of beard falls into his patent mirror. The horse 
 grows impatient at last and is moving on; Isak is 
 fain to be content with himself as he is, and gets up 
 again. And indeed he feels somehow younger al- 
 ready devil knows what it could be, but somehow 
 slighter of build. Isak drives down to the village. 
 
 Next day the mail boat comes in. Isak climbs up 
 on a rock by the storekeeper's wharf, looking out, 
 but still no Inger to be seen. Passengers there were,
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 grown-up folk and children with them Herregud! 
 but no Inger. He had kept in the background, 
 sitting on his rock, but there was no need to stay 
 behind any longer; he gets down and goes to the 
 steamer. Barrels and cases trundling ashore, people 
 and mailbags, but still Isak lacked what he had come 
 for. There was something there a woman with 
 a little girl, up at the entrance to the landing-stage 
 already; but the woman was prettier to look at than 
 Inger though Inger was good enough. What 
 why but it was Inger! " H'm," said Isak, and 
 trundled up to meet them. Greetings: " Goddag" 
 said Inger, and held out her hand; a little cold, a 
 little pale after the voyage, and being ill on the 
 way. Isak, he just stood there ; at last he said : 
 
 " H'm. Tis a fine day and all." 
 
 " I saw you down there all along," said Inger. 
 " But I didn't want to come crowding ashore with 
 the rest. So you're down in the village today? " 
 
 " Ay, yes. H'm." 
 
 " And all's well at home, everything all right? " 
 
 " Ay, thank you kindly." 
 
 " This is Leopoldine; she's stood the voyage much 
 better than I did. This is your papa, Leopoldine; 
 come and shake hands nicely." 
 
 " H'm," said Isak, feeling very strange ay, he 
 was like a stranger with them all at once. 
 
 Said Inger: " If you find a sewing-machine down 
 by the boat, it'll be mine. And there's a chest as 
 well." 
 
 Off goes Isak, goes off more than willingly, after 
 152
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the chest; the men on board showed him which it 
 was. The sewing-machine was another matter; 
 Inger had to go down and find that herself. It was 
 a handsome box, of curious shape, with a round 
 cover over, and a handle to carry it by a sewing- 
 machine in these parts ! Isak hoisted the chest and 
 the sewing-machine on to his shoulders, and turned 
 to his wife and child: 
 
 " I'll have these up in no time, and come back for 
 her after." 
 
 "Come back for who?" asked Inger, with a 
 smile. " Did you think she couldn't walk by herself, 
 a big girl like that? " 
 
 They walked up to where Isak had left the horse 
 and cart. 
 
 "New horse, you've got?" said Inger. "And 
 what's that you've got a cart with a seat in? " 
 
 " Tis but natural," said Isak. " What I was 
 going to say: Wouldn't you care for a little bit of 
 something to eat? I've brought things all ready." 
 
 " Wait till we get a bit on the way," said she. 
 " Leopoldine, can you sit up by yourself? " 
 
 But her father won't have it; she might fall down 
 under the wheels. " You sit up with her and drive 
 yourself." 
 
 So they drove off, Isak walking behind. 
 
 He looked at the two in the cart as he walked. 
 There was Inger, all strangely dressed and strange 
 and fine to look at, with no hare-lip now, but only a 
 tiny scar on the upper lip. No hissing when she 
 talked; she spoke all clearly, and that was the won- 
 
 153
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 der of it all. A grey-and-red woollen wrap with a 
 fringe looked grand on her dark hair. She turned 
 round in her seat on the cart, and called to him : 
 
 " It's a pity you didn't bring a skin rug with you ; 
 it'll be cold, I doubt, for the child towards night." 
 
 " She can have my jacket," said Isak. " And 
 when we get up in the woods, I've left a rug there 
 on the way." 
 
 " Oh, have you a rug up in the woods? " 
 
 " Ay. I wouldn't bring it down all the way, for 
 if you didn't come today." 
 
 " H'm. What was it you said before the boys 
 are well and all? " 
 
 " Ay, thank you kindly." 
 
 " They'll be big lads now, I doubt? " 
 
 " Ay, that's true. They've just been planting 
 potatoes." 
 
 " Oh ! " said the mother, smiling, and shaking her 
 head. " Can they plant potatoes already? " 
 
 " Why, Eleseus, he gives a hand with this, and 
 little Sivert helps with that," said Isak proudly. 
 
 Little Leopoldine was asking for something to 
 eat. Oh, the pretty little creature; a ladybird up 
 on a cart ! She talked with a sing in her voice, with 
 a strange accent, as she had learned in Trondhjem. 
 Inger had to translate now and again. She had 
 her brothers' features, the brown eyes and oval 
 cheeks that all had got from their mother; ay, they 
 were their mother's children, and well that they were 
 so ! Isak was something shy of his little girl, shy 
 of her tiny shoes and long, thin, woollen stockings 
 
 154
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and short frock; when she had come to meet her 
 strange papa she had curtseyed and offered him a 
 tiny hand. 
 
 They got up into the woods and halted for a rest 
 and a meal all round. The horse had his fodder; 
 Leopoldine ran about in the heather, eating as she 
 went. 
 
 " You've not changed much," said Inger, looking 
 at her husband. 
 
 Isak glanced aside, and said, " No, you think not? 
 But you've grown so grand and all." 
 
 " Ha ha 1 Nay, I'm an old woman now," said 
 she jestingly. 
 
 It was no use trying to hide the fact : Isak was not 
 a bit sure of himself now. He could find no self- 
 possession, but still kept aloof, shy, as if ashamed 
 of himself. How old could his wife be now? She 
 couldn't be less than thirty that is to say, she 
 couldn't be more, of course. And Isak, for all that 
 he was eating already, must pull up a twig of heather 
 and fall to biting that. 
 
 " What are you eating heather? " cried Inger 
 laughingly. 
 
 Isak threw down the twig, took a mouthful of 
 food, and going over to the road, took the horse 
 by its forelegs and heaved up its forepart till the 
 animal stood on its hindlegs. Inger looked on with 
 astonishment. 
 
 " What are you doing that for? " she asked. 
 
 " Oh, he's so playful," said Isak, and set the horse 
 down again. 
 
 155
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Now what had he done that for? A sudden im- 
 pulse to do just that thing; perhaps he had done it 
 to hide his embarrassment. 
 
 They started off again, and all three of them 
 walked a bit of the way. They came to a new farm. 
 
 " What's that there? " asked Inger. 
 
 " 'Tis Brede's place, that he's bought." 
 
 "Brede?" 
 
 " Breidablik, he calls it. There's wide moorland, 
 but the timber's poor." 
 
 They talked of the new place as they passed on. 
 Isak noticed that Brede's cart was still left out in 
 the open. 
 
 The child was growing sleepy now, and Isak took 
 her gently in his arms and carried her. They 
 walked and walked. Leopoldine was soon fast 
 asleep, and Inger said: 
 
 ' We'll wrap her up in the rug, and she can lie 
 down in the cart and sleep as long as she likes." 
 
 'Twill shake her all to pieces," said Isak, and 
 carries her on. They cross the moors and get into 
 the woods again. 
 
 " Ptro! " says Inger, and the horse stops. She 
 takes the child from Isak, gets him to shift the chest 
 and the sewing-machine, making a place for Leo- 
 poldine in the bottom of the cart. " Shaken? not a 
 bit of it!" 
 
 Isak fixes things to rights, tucks his little daughter 
 up in the rug, and lays his jacket folded under her 
 head. Then off again. 
 
 Man and wife gossiping of this and that. The
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 sun is up till late in the evening, and the weather 
 
 warm. 
 
 
 Oline," says Inger " where does she sleep? " 
 
 " In the little room." 
 
 ''Ho! And the boys?" 
 
 ' They've their own bed in the big room. 
 There's two beds there, just as when you went 
 away." 
 
 " Looking at you now," said Inger, " I can see 
 you're just as you were before. And those shoul- 
 ders of yours, they've carried some burdens up 
 along this way, but they've not grown the weaker 
 by it, seems." 
 
 " H'm. Maybe. What I was going to say : 
 How it was like with you all the years there? Bear- 
 able like?" Oh, Isak was soft at heart now; he 
 asked her that, and wondered in his mind. 
 
 And Inger said: "Ay, 'twas nothing to complain 
 of." 
 
 They talked more feelingly together, and Isak 
 asked if she wasn't tired of walking, and would get 
 up in the cart a bit of way. " No, thanks all the 
 same," said she. " But I don't know what's the 
 matter with me today; after being ill on the boat, I 
 feel hungry all the time." 
 
 " Why, did you want something, then? " 
 ' Yes, if you don't mind stopping so long." 
 
 Oh, that Inger, maybe 'twas not for herself at 
 all, but for Isak's sake. She would have him eat 
 again; he had spoiled his last meal chewing twigs of 
 heather. 
 
 157
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 And the evening was light and warm, and they had 
 but a few miles more to go; they sat down to eat 
 again. . 
 
 Inger took a parcel from her box, and said: 
 
 " I've a few things I brought along for the boys. 
 Let's go over there in the bushes, it's warmer there." 
 
 They went across to the bushes, and she showed 
 him the things ; neat braces with buckles for the boys 
 to wear, copy-books with copies at the top of the 
 page, a pencil for each, a pocket-knife for each. 
 And there was an excellent book for herself, she 
 had. " Look, with my name in and all. A prayer- 
 book." It was a present from the Governor, by 
 way of remembrance. 
 
 Isak admired each thing in silence. She took out 
 a bundle of little collars Leopoldine's, they were. 
 And gave Isak a black neckerchief for himself, shiny 
 as silk. 
 
 " Is that for me? " said he. 
 
 " Yes, it's for you." 
 
 He took it carefully in his hands, and stroked it. 
 
 " Do you think it's nice? " 
 
 " Nice why I could go round the world in 
 such." 
 
 But Isak's fingers were rough; they stuck in the 
 curious silky stuff. 
 
 Now Inger had no more things to show. But 
 when she had packed them all up again, she sat there 
 still; and the way she sat, he could see her legs, 
 could see her red-bordered stockings. 
 
 158
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "H'm," said he. " Those'll be town-made 
 things, I doubt?" 
 
 " 'Tis wool was bought in the town, but I knitted 
 them myself. They're ever so long right up 
 above the knee look. . . ." 
 
 A little while after she heard herself whispering: 
 11 Oh, you . . . you're just the same the same 
 as ever! " 
 
 And after that halt they drove on again, and Inger 
 sat up, holding the reins. " I've brought a paper of 
 coffee too," she said. " But you can't have any this 
 evening, for it's not roasted yet." 
 
 " 'Tis more than's needed this evening and all," 
 said he. 
 
 An hour later the sun goes down, and it grows 
 colder. Inger gets down to walk. Together they 
 tuck the rug closer about Leopoldine, and smile to 
 see how soundly she can sleep. Man and wife talk 
 together again on their way. A pleasure it is to 
 hear Inger's voice; none could speak clearer than 
 Inger now. 
 
 " Wasn't it four cows we had? " she asks. 
 
 'Tis more than that," says he proudly. 
 11 We've eight." 
 
 "Eight cows I" 
 
 " That is to say, counting the bull." 
 
 " Have you sold any butter? " 
 
 " Ay, and eggs." 
 
 '' What, have we chickens now? "
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Ay, of course we have. And a pig." 
 
 Inger is so astonished at all this that she forgets 
 herself altogether, and stops for a moment 
 " Ptro!" And Isak is proud and keeps on, trying 
 to overwhelm her completely. 
 
 "That Geissler," he says, "you remember him? 
 He came up a little while back." 
 
 "Oh?" 
 
 " I've sold him a copper mine." 
 
 " Ho ! What's that a copper mine? " 
 
 " Copper, yes. Up in the hills, all along the 
 north side of the water." 
 
 ' You you don't mean he paid you money for 
 it?" 
 
 " Ay, that he did. Geissler he wouldn't buy 
 things and not pay for them." 
 
 " What did you get, then? " 
 
 " H'm. Well, you might not believe it but it 
 was two hundred Daler." 
 
 ' You got two hundred Daler! " shouts Inger, 
 stopping again with a " Ptro! " 
 
 " I did yes. And I've paid for my land a long 
 while back," said Isak. 
 
 " Well you are a wonder, you are ! " 
 
 Truly, it was a pleasure to see Inger all surprised, 
 and make her a rich wife. Isak did not forget to 
 add that he had no debts nor owings at the store or 
 anywhere else. And he had not only Geissler's two 
 hundred untouched, but more than that a hun- 
 dred and sixty Daler more. Ay, they might well be 
 thankful to God ! 
 
 1 60
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 They spoke of Geissler again; Inger was able to 
 tell how he had helped to get her set free. It had 
 not been an easy matter for him, after all, it seemed; 
 he had been a long time getting the matter through, 
 and had called on the Governor ever so many times. 
 Geissler had also written to some of the State Coun- 
 cillors, or some other high authorities; but this he 
 had done behind the Governor's back, and when the 
 Governor heard of it he was furious, which was 
 not surprising. But Geissler was not to be fright- 
 ened; he demanded a revision of the case, new trial, 
 new examination, and everything. And after that 
 the King had to sign. 
 
 Ex-Lensmand Geissler had always been a good 
 friend to them both, and they had often wondered 
 why; he got nothing out of it but their poor thanks 
 it was more than they could understand. Inger 
 had spoken with him in Trondhjem, and could not 
 make him out. " He doesn't seem to care a bit 
 about any in the village but us," she explained. 
 
 "Did he say so?" 
 
 " Yes. He's furious with the village here. 
 He'd show them, he said." 
 
 "Ho!" 
 
 " And they'd find out one day, and be sorry they'd 
 lost him, he said." 
 
 They reached the fringe of the wood, and came 
 in sight of their home. There were more buildings 
 there than before, and all nicely painted. Inger 
 hardly knew the place again, and stopped dead. 
 
 161
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " You you don't say that's our place all 
 that? " she exclaimed. 
 
 Little Leopoldine woke at last and sat up, thor- 
 oughly rested now; they lifted her out and let her 
 walk. 
 
 "Are we there now? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes. Isn't it a pretty place? " 
 
 There were small figures moving, over by the 
 house; it was Eleseus and Sivert, keeping watch. 
 Now they came running up. Inger was seized with 
 a sudden cold a dreadful cold in the head, with 
 sniffing and coughing even her eyes were all red 
 and watering too. It always gives one a dreadful 
 cold on board ship makes one's eyes wet and alll 
 
 But when the boys came nearer they stopped run- 
 ning all of a sudden and stared. They had forgot- 
 ten what their mother looked like, and little sister 
 they had never seen. But father they didn't 
 know him at all till he came quite close. He had 
 cut off his heavy beard. 
 
 162
 
 Chapter XII 
 
 ALL is well now. 
 Isak sows his oats, harrows, and rolls it 
 in. Little Leopoldine comes and wants to 
 sit on the roller. Sit on a roller? nay, she's all 
 too little and unknowing for that yet. Her brothers 
 know better. There's no seat on father's roller. 
 
 But father thinks it fine and a pleasure to see little 
 Leopoldine coming up so trustingly to him already; 
 he talks to her, and shows her how to walk nicely 
 over the fields, and not get her shoes full of earth. 
 
 " And what's that why, if you haven't a blue 
 frock on today come, let me see ; ay, 'tis blue, so 
 it is. And a belt round and all. Remember when 
 you came on the big ship ? And the engines did 
 you see them ? That's right and now run home 
 to the boys again, they'll find you something to play 
 with." 
 
 Oline is gone, and Inger has taken up her old 
 work once more, in house and yard. She overdoes 
 it a little, maybe, in cleanliness and order, just by 
 way of showing that she was going to have things 
 differently now. And indeed it was wonderful to 
 see what a change was made ; even the glass windows 
 in the old turf hut were cleaned, and the boxes swept 
 out. 
 
 163
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 But it was only the first days, the first week; after 
 that she began to be less eager about the work. 
 There was really no need to take all that trouble 
 about cowsheds and things; she could make better 
 use of her time now. Inger had learned a deal 
 among the town folk, and it would be a pity not to 
 turn it to account. She took to her spinning-wheel 
 and loom again true enough, she was even 
 quicker and neater than before a trifle too quick 
 hut! especially when Isak was looking on; he 
 couldn't make out how any one could learn to use 
 their fingers that way the fine long fingers she had 
 to her big hands. But Inger had a way of drop- 
 ping one piece of work to take up another, all in a 
 moment. Well, well, there were more things to 
 be looked to now than before, and maybe she was 
 not altogether so patient as she had been; a trifle of 
 unrest had managed to creep in. 
 
 First of all there were the flowers she had brought 
 with her bulbs and cuttings; little lives these too, 
 that must be thought of. The glass window was too 
 small, the ledge too narrow to set flower-pots on; 
 and besides, she had no flower-pots. Isak must 
 make some tiny boxes for begonias, fuchsias, and 
 roses. Also, one window was not enough fancy 
 a room with only one window ! 
 
 And, " Oh, by the way," said Inger, " I want an 
 iron, you know. There isn't one in the place. I 
 could use a flat iron for pressing when I'm sewing 
 dresses and things, but you can't do proper work 
 without an iron of some sort." 
 
 164
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Isak promised to get the blacksmith down at the 
 village to make a first-rate pressing-iron. Oh, Isak 
 was ready to do anything, do all that she asked in 
 every way; for he could see well enough that Inger 
 had learned a heap of things now, and matchless 
 clever she was grown. She spoke, too, in a differ- 
 ent way, a little finer, using elegant words. She 
 never shouted out to him now as she used to : " Come 
 and get your food! " but would say instead: " Din- 
 ner's ready, if you please." Everything was differ- 
 ent now. In the old days he would answer simply 
 " Ay," or say nothing at all, and go on working 
 for a bit before he came. Now, he said " Thanks," 
 and went in at once. Love makes the wise a fool: 
 now and then Isak would say " Thanks, thanks." 
 Ay, all was different now maybe a trifle too fine 
 in some ways. When Isak spoke of dung, and was 
 rough in his speech, as peasants are, Inger would 
 call it manure, " for the sake of the children, you 
 know." 
 
 She was careful with the children, and taught them 
 everything, educated them. Let tiny Leopoldine go 
 on quickly with her crochet work, and the boys with 
 writing and schooling; they would not be altogether 
 behindhand when the time came for them to go to 
 school in the village. Eleseus in particular was 
 grown a clever one, but little Sivert was nothing 
 much, if the truth must be told a madcap, a jack- 
 anapes. He even ventured to screw a little at 
 Mother's sewing-machine, and had already hacked 
 off splinters from table and chairs with his new 
 
 165
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 pocket-knife. Inger had threatened to take it away 
 altogether. 
 
 The children, of course, had all the animals about 
 the place, and Eleseus had still his coloured pencil 
 besides. He used it very carefully, and rarely lent 
 it to his brother, but for all that the walls were 
 covered with blue and red drawings as time went on, 
 and the pencil got smaller and smaller. At last 
 Eleseus was simply forced to put Sivert on rations 
 with it, lending him the pencil on Sunday only, for 
 one drawing. Sivert was not pleased with the ar- 
 rangement, but Eleseus was a fellow who would 
 stand no nonsense. Not so much as being the 
 stronger, but he had longer arms, and could man- 
 age better when it came to a quarrel. 
 
 But that Sivert ! Now and again he would come 
 across a bird's nest in the woods; once he talked 
 about a mouse-hole he had found, and made a lot of 
 that; another time it was a great fish as big as a 
 man, he had seen in the river. But it was all evi- 
 dently his own invention; he was somewhat inclined 
 to make black into white, was Sivert, but a good sort 
 for all that. When the cat had kittens, it was he 
 who brought her milk, because she hissed too much 
 for Eleseus. Sivert was never tired of standing 
 looking at the box full of movement, a nest of 
 tumbling furry paws. 
 
 The chickens, too, he noticed every day: the cock 
 with his lordly carriage and fine feathers, the hens 
 tripping about chattering low, and pecking at the 
 
 166
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 sand, or screaming out as if terribly hurt every time 
 they had laid an egg. 
 
 And there was the big wether. Little Sivert had 
 read a good deal to what he knew before, but he 
 could not say of the wether that the beast had a 
 fine Roman nose, begad! That he could not say. 
 But he could do better than that. He knew 
 the wether from the day when it had been 
 a lamb, he understood it and was one with it a 
 kinsman, a fellow-creature. Once, a strange prim- 
 itive impression flickered through his senses: it was 
 a moment he never forgot. The wether was graz- 
 ing quietly in the field; suddenly it threw up its head, 
 stopped munching, simply stood there looking out. 
 Sivert looked involuntarily in the same direction. 
 No nothing remarkable. But Sivert himself felt 
 something strange within him : " 'Tis most as if he 
 stood looking into the garden of Eden," he thought. 
 
 There were the cows, the children had each a 
 couple, great sailing creatures, so friendly and 
 tame that they let themselves be caught whenever 
 you liked; let human children pat them. There was 
 the pig, white and particular about its person when 
 decently looked after, listening to every sound, a 
 comical fellow, always eager for food, and ticklish 
 and fidgety as a girl. And there was the billy-goat; 
 there was always one old billy-goat at Sellanraa, for 
 as soon as one died another was ready to take his 
 place. And was there ever anything so solemnly 
 ridiculous to look at? Just now he had a whole 
 
 167
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 lot of goats to look after, but at times he would 
 get sick and tired of them all, and lie down, a 
 bearded, thoughtful spectacle, a veritable Father 
 Abraham. And then in a moment, up again and 
 off after the flock. He always left a trail of sourish 
 air behind him. 
 
 The daily round of the farm goes on. Now and 
 again a traveller comes by, on his way up to the 
 hills, and asks: " And how's all with ye here? " 
 And Isak answers: " Ay, thank ye kindly." 
 Isak works and works, consulting the almanac for 
 all that he does, notes the changes of the moon, pays 
 heed to the signs of the weather, and works on. He 
 has beaten out so much of a track down to the vil- 
 lage that he can drive in now with horse and cart, 
 but for the most part, he carries his load himself; 
 carries loads of cheese or hides, and bark and resin, 
 and butter and eggs; all things he can sell, to bring 
 back other wares instead. No, in the summer he 
 does not often drive down for one thing, because 
 the road down from Breidablik, the last part of the 
 way, is so badly kept. He has asked Brede Olsen 
 to help with the upkeep of the road, and do his 
 share. Brede Olsen promises, but does not hold 
 to his word. And Isak will not ask him again. 
 Rather carry a load on his back himself. And In- 
 ger says: " I can't understand how you ever man- 
 fcge it all." Oh, but he could manage anything. 
 He had a pair of boots, so unimaginably heavy and 
 thick, with great slabs of iron on the soles, even the 
 
 168
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 straps were fastened with copper nails it was a 
 marvel that one man could walk in such boots at all. 
 
 On one of his journeys down, he came upon sev- 
 eral gangs of men at work on the moors; putting 
 down stone sockets and fixing telegraph poles. 
 Some of them are from the village, Brede Olsen 
 is there too, for all that he has taken up land of his 
 own and ought to be working on that. Isak won- 
 ders that Brede can find time. 
 
 The foreman asks if Isak can sell them telegraph 
 poles. Isak says no. Not if he's well paid for 
 them ? No. Oh, Isak was grown a thought 
 quicker in his dealings now, he could say no. If he 
 sold them a few poles, to be sure it would be money 
 in his pockets, so many Daler more ; but he had no 
 timber to spare, there was nothing gained by that. 
 The engineer in charge comes up himself to ask, but 
 Isak refuses. 
 
 ' We've poles enough," says the engineer, " but 
 it would be easier to take them from your ground up 
 there, and save transport." 
 
 " I've no timber to spare myself," says Isak. " I 
 want to get up a bit of a saw and do some cutting; 
 there's some more buildings I'll need to have ready 
 soon." 
 
 Here Brede Olsen put in a word, and says: " If I 
 was you, Isak, I'd sell them poles." 
 
 For all his patience, Isak gave Brede a look and 
 said: " Ay, I dare say you would." 
 
 " Well what? " asks Brede. 
 
 " Only that I'm not you," said Isak. 
 169
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Some of the workmen chuckled a little at this. 
 
 Ay, Isak had reason enough just then to put his 
 neighbour down; that very day he had seen three 
 sheep in the fields at Breidablik, and one of them he 
 knew the one with the flat ears that Oline had 
 bartered away. He may keep it, thought Isak, as 
 he went on his way; Brede and his woman may get 
 all the sheep they want, for me ! 
 
 That business of the saw was always in his 
 thoughts ; it was as he had said. Last winter, when 
 the roads were hard, he had carted up the big cir- 
 cular blade and the fittings, ordered from Trondh- 
 jem through the village store. The parts were 
 lying in one of the sheds now, well smeared with 
 oil to keep off the rust. He had brought up some 
 of the beams too, for the framework ; he could begin 
 building when he pleased, but he put it off. What 
 could it be? was he beginning to grow slack, was he 
 wearing out? He could not understand it himself. 
 It would have been no surprise to others, perhaps, 
 but Isak could not believe it. Was his head going? 
 He had never been afraid of taking up a piece of 
 work before; he must have changed somehow, since 
 the time when he had built his mill across a river 
 just as big. He could get in help from the village, 
 but he would try again alone; he would start in a 
 day or so and Inger could lend him a hand. 
 
 He spoke to Inger about it. 
 
 " Hm. I don't know if you could find time one 
 of these days to lend a hand with that sawmill? " 
 
 Inger thought for a moment. 'Ye s, if I can 
 170
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 manage it. So you're going to set up a sawmill? " 
 
 " Ay, 'tis my intention so. I've worked it all out 
 in my head." 
 
 " Will that be harder than the mill was? " 
 
 " Much harder, ten times as hard. Why, it's all 
 got to be as close and exact down to the tiniest 
 line, and the saw itself exactly midways." 
 
 " If only you can manage it," said Inger thought- 
 lessly. 
 
 Isak was offended, and answered, " As to that, we 
 shall see." 
 
 " Couldn't you get a man to help you, some one 
 that knows the work? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 ;< Well, then, you won't be able to manage it," 
 said she again. 
 
 Isak put up his hand to his hair it was like a 
 bear lifting his paw. 
 
 " 'Twas just that I've been fearing," said he. 
 ' That I might not manage it. And that's why I 
 wanted you that's learned so much to help me." 
 
 That was one to the bear. But nothing gained 
 after all. Inger tossed her head and turned aside 
 unkindly, and would have nothing to do with his 
 saw. 
 
 11 Well, then " said Isak. 
 
 " Why, do you want me to stand getting drenched 
 in the river and have me laid up? And who's to do 
 all the sewing, and look to the animals and keep 
 house, and all the rest? " 
 
 " No, that's true," said Isak. 
 171
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Oh, but it was only the four corner posts and the 
 middle ones for the two long sides he wanted help 
 with, that was all. Inger was she really grown 
 so different in her heart through living among folk 
 from the towns? 
 
 The fact was that Inger had changed a good deal; 
 she thought now less of their common good than of 
 herself. She had taken loom and wheel into use 
 again, but the sewing machine was more to her taste ; 
 and when the pressing-iron came up from the black- 
 smith's, she was ready to set up as a fully-trained 
 dressmaker. She had a profession now. She be- 
 gan by making a couple of little frocks for Leo- 
 poldine. Isak thought them pretty, and praised 
 them, maybe, a thought too much ; Inger hinted that 
 it was nothing to what she could do when she tried. 
 
 " But they're too short," said Isak. 
 4 They're worn that way in town," said Inger. 
 " You know nothing about it." 
 
 Isak saw he had gone too far, and, to make up 
 for it, said something about getting some material 
 for Inger herself, for something or other. 
 
 " For a cloak? " said Inger. 
 
 " Ay, or what you'd like." 
 
 Inger agreed to have something for a cloak, and 
 described the sort of stuff she wanted. 
 
 But when she had made the cloak, she had to find 
 some one to show it to; accordingly, when the boys 
 went down to the village to be put to school, Inger 
 herself went with them. And that journey might 
 have seemed a little thing, but it left its mark. 
 
 172
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 They came first of all to Breidablik, and the 
 Breidablik woman and her children came out to see 
 who it was going by. There sat Inger and the two 
 boys, driving down lordly-wise the boys on their 
 way to school, nothing less, and Inger wearing a 
 cloak. The Breidablik woman felt a sting at the 
 sight ; the cloak she could have done without 
 thank heaven, she set no store by such foolishness! 
 but . . . she had children of her own Barbro, 
 a great girl already, Helge, the next, and Kathrine, 
 all of an age for school. The two eldest had been 
 to school before, when they lived down in the village, 
 but after moving up to Breidablik, to an out-of-the- 
 way place up on the moors, they had been forced to 
 give it up, and let the children run heathen again. 
 
 " You'll be wanting a bite for the boys, maybe," 
 said the woman. 
 
 " Food? Do you see this chest here? It's my 
 travelling trunk, that I brought home with me 
 I've that full of food." 
 
 " And what'll be in it of sorts? " 
 
 "What sorts? I've meat and pork in plenty, 
 and bread and butter and cheese besides." 
 
 " Ay, you've no lack up at Sellanraa," said the 
 other; and her poor, sallow-faced children listened 
 with eyes and ears to this talk of rich things to eat. 
 "And where will they be staying?" asked the 
 mother. 
 
 " At the blacksmith's," said Inger. 
 
 " Ho ! " said the other. " Ay, mine'll be going to 
 
 173
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 school again soon. They'll stay with the Lens- 
 mand." 
 
 "Ho!" saidlnger. 
 
 " Ay, or at the doctor's, maybe, or at the par- 
 sonage. Brede he's in with the great folks there, of 
 course." 
 
 Inger fumbled with her cloak, and managed to 
 turn it so that a bit of black silk fringe appeared to 
 advantage. 
 
 'Where did you get the cloak?" asked the 
 woman. " One you had with you, maybe? " 
 
 " I made it myself." 
 
 " Ay, ay, 'tis as I said: wealth and riches full and 
 running over. . . ." 
 
 Inger drove on, feeling all set up and pleased 
 with herself, and, coming into the village, she may 
 have been a trifle overproud in her bearing. Lens- 
 mand Heyerdahl's lady was not pleased at the sight 
 of that cloak; the Sellanraa woman was forgetting 
 her place forgetting where it was she had come 
 from after five years' absence. But Inger had at 
 least a chance of showing off her cloak, and the 
 storekeeper's wife and the blacksmith's wife and the 
 schoolmaster's wife all thought of getting one like 
 it for themselves but it could wait a bit. 
 
 And now it was not long before Inger began to 
 have visitors. One or two women came across from 
 the other side of the hills, out of curiosity. Oline 
 had perhaps chanced to say something against her 
 will, to this one or that. Those who came now 
 
 174
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 brought news from Inger's own birthplace; what 
 more natural than that Inger should give them a 
 cup of coffee, and let them look at her sewing- 
 machine! Young girls came up in pairs from the 
 coast, from the village, to ask Inger's advice ; it was 
 autumn now, and they had been saving up for a 
 hew dress, and wanted her to help them. Inger, of 
 course, would know all about the latest fashions, 
 after being out in the world, and now and again 
 she would do a little cutting out. Inger herself 
 brightened up at these visits, and was glad; kindly 
 and helpful she was too, and clever at the work, be- 
 sides; she could cut out material without a pattern. 
 Sometimes she would even hem a whole length on 
 her machine, and all for nothing, and give the stuff 
 back to the girls with a delightful jest: " There 
 now you can sew the buttons on yourself! " 
 
 Later in the year Inger was sent for down to the 
 village, to do dressmaking for some of the great 
 folks there. Inger could not go; she had a house- 
 hold to look after, and animals besides, all the work 
 of the home, and she had no servant. 
 
 Had no what? Servant! 
 
 She spoke to Isak one day. 
 
 " If only I had some one to help me, I could put 
 in more time sewing." 
 
 Isak did not understand. " Help? " 
 
 " Yes, help in the house a servant-girl." 
 
 Isak must have been taken aback at this; he 
 
 175
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 laughed a little in his iron beard, and took it as a 
 jest. " Ay, we should have a servant-girl," said he. 
 
 " Housewives in the towns always have a ser- 
 vant," said Inger. 
 
 "Ho!"saidlsak. 
 
 Well, Isak was not perhaps in the best of humour 
 just then, not exactly gentle and content, no, for he 
 had started work on that sawmill, and it was a slow 
 and toilsome business; he couldn't hold the baulks 
 with one hand, and a level in the other, and fix ends 
 at the same time. But when the boys came back 
 from school again it was easier; the lads were useful 
 and a help, bless them! Sivert especially had a 
 genius for knocking in nails, but Eleseus was better 
 at handling a plumb-line. By the end of a week, 
 Isak and the boys had actually got the foundation 
 posts in, and soundly fixed with stretcher pieces as 
 thick as the beams themselves. 
 
 It worked out all right everything worked out 
 all right somehow. But Isak was beginning to feel 
 tired in the evenings now whatever it could be. 
 It was not only building a sawmill and getting that 
 done there was everything else besides. The 
 hay was in, but the corn was standing yet, soon it 
 would have to be cut and stacked; there were the 
 potatoes too, they would have to be taken up before 
 long. But the boys were a wonderful help. He 
 did not thank them; 'twas not the way among folk 
 of their sort, but he was mightily pleased with them 
 for all that. Now and again they would sit down in 
 the middle of their work and talk together, the 
 father almost asking his sons' advice as to what they 
 
 176
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 should do next. Those were proud moments for the 
 lads, they learned also to think well before they 
 spoke, lest they should be in the wrong. 
 
 " 'Twould be a pity not to have the saw roofed 
 in before the autumn rains," said their father. 
 
 If only Inger had been as in the old days ! But 
 Inger was not so strong as she had been, it seemed, 
 and that was natural enough after her long spell 
 within walls. That her mind, too, seemed changed 
 was another matter. Strange, how little thought, 
 how little care, she seemed to take now; shallow and 
 heedless was this Inger?" 
 
 One day she spoke of the child she had killed. 
 
 " And a fool I was to do it," she said. " We 
 might have had her mouth sewed up too, and then I 
 needn't have throttled her" And she never stole 
 off now to a tiny grave in the forest, where once she 
 had patted the earth with her hands and set up a 
 little cross. 
 
 But Inger was not altogether heartless yet; she 
 cared for her other children, kept them clean and 
 made new clothes for them; she would sit up late at 
 night mending their things. It was her ambition to 
 see them get on in the world. 
 
 The corn was stacked, and the potatoes were 
 taken up. Then came the winter. No, the sawmill 
 did not get roofed in that autumn, but that could not 
 be helped after all, 'twas not a matter of life or 
 death. Next summer would be time and means 
 enough. 
 
 177
 
 Chapter XIII 
 
 THE winter round of work was as before; 
 carting wood, mending tools and imple- 
 ments. Inger kept house, and did sewing 
 in her spare time. The boys were down in the vil- 
 lage again for the long term at school. For several 
 winters past they had had a pair of ski between 
 them; they managed well enough that way as long 
 as they were at home, one waiting while the other 
 took his turn, or one standing on behind the other. 
 Ay, they managed finely with but one pair, it was the 
 finest thing they knew, and they were innocent and 
 glad. But down in the village things were different. 
 The school was full of ski; even the children at 
 Breidablik, it seemed, had each a pair. And the 
 end of it was that Isak had to make a new pair for 
 Eleseus, Sivert keeping the old pair for his own. 
 
 Isak did more; he had the boys well clad, and 
 gave them everlasting boots. But when that was 
 done, Isak went to the storekeeper and asked for a 
 ring. 
 
 " A ring? " said the man. 
 
 " A finger ring. Ay, I've grown that high and 
 mighty now I must give my wife a ring." 
 
 " Do you want a silver one, or gold, or just a 
 brass ring dipped to look like gold?" 
 
 178
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Let's say a silver ring." 
 
 The storekeeper thought for a while. 
 
 " Look you, Isak," he said. " If you want to do 
 the proper thing, and give your wife a ring she 
 needn't be ashamed to wear, you'd better make it a 
 gold ring." 
 
 "What!" said Isak aloud. Though maybe in 
 his inmost heart he had been thinking of a gold ring 
 all the time. 
 
 They talked the matter over seriously, and agreed 
 about getting a measurement of some sort for the 
 ring. Isak was thoughtful, and shook his head and 
 reckoned it was a big thing to do, but the storekeeper 
 refused to order anything but a gold ring. Isak 
 went home again, secretly pleased with his decision, 
 but somewhat anxious, for all that, at the extrava- 
 gant lengths he had gone to, all for being in love 
 with his wife. 
 
 There was a good average snowfall that winter, 
 and early in the year, when the roads were passable, 
 folk from the village began carting up telegraph 
 poles over the moors, dropping their loads at regular 
 intervals. They drove big teams, and came up past 
 Breidablik, past Sellanraa farm, and met new teams 
 beyond, coming down with poles from the other side 
 of the hills the line was complete. 
 
 So life went on day by day, without any great 
 event. What was there to happen, anyway? 
 Spring came, and the work of setting up the poles 
 began. Brede Olsen was there again, with the 
 gangs, though he should have been working on his 
 
 179
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 own land at that season. " 'Tis a wonder he's the 
 time," thought Isak. 
 
 Isak himself had barely time to eat and sleep; it 
 was a close thing to get through the season's work 
 now, with all the land he had brought under tillage. 
 
 Then, between seasons, he got his sawmill roofed 
 in, and could set to work putting up the machine 
 parts. And look you, 'twas no marvel of fine wood- 
 work he had set up, but strong it was, as a giant of 
 the hills, and stood there to good use. The saw 
 could work, and cut as a sawmill should; Isak had 
 kept his eyes about him down in the village, and 
 used them well. It was hearty and small, this saw- 
 mill he had built, but he was pleased with it; he 
 carved the date above the doorway, and put his 
 mark. 
 
 And that summer, something more than usual did 
 come about after all at Sellenraa. 
 
 The telegraph workers had now reached so far 
 up over the moors that the foremost gang came to 
 the farm one evening and asked to be lodged for the 
 night. They were given shelter in the big barn. 
 As the days went on, the other gangs came along, 
 and all were housed at Sellanraa. The work went 
 on ahead, passing the farm, but the men still came 
 back to sleep in the barn. One Saturday evening 
 came the engineer in charge, to pay the men. 
 
 At sight of the engineer, Eleseus felt his heart 
 jump, and stole out of the house lest he should be 
 asked about that coloured pencil. Oh, there would 
 be trouble now and Sivert nowhere to be seen ; 
 
 1 80
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 he would have to face it alone. Eleseus slipped 
 round the corner of the house, like a pale ghost, 
 found his mother, and begged her to tell Sivert to 
 come. There was no help for it now. 
 
 Sivert took the matter less to heart but then, 
 he was not the chief culprit. The two brothers went 
 a little way off and sat down, and Eleseus said: " If 
 you'd say it was you, now! " 
 
 "Me?" said Sivert. 
 
 ' You're younger, he wouldn't do anything to 
 you." 
 
 Sivert thought over it, and saw that his brother 
 was in distress; also it flattered him to feel that the 
 other needed his help. 
 
 " Why, I might help you out of it, perhaps," said 
 he in a grown-up voice. 
 
 " Ay, if you would ! " said Eleseus, and quite sim- 
 ply gave his brother the bit of pencil that was left. 
 ' You can have it for keeps," he said. 
 
 They were going in again together, but Eleseus 
 recollected he had something he must do over at 
 the sawmill, or rather, at the cornmill ; something he 
 must look to, and it would take some time he 
 wouldn't be finished just yet. Sivert went in alone. 
 
 There sat the engineer, paying out notes and 
 silver, and when he had finished, Inger gave him 
 milk to drink, a jug and a glass, and he thanked her. 
 Then he talked to little Leopoldine, and then, notic- 
 ing the drawings on the walls, asked straight out 
 who had done that. "Was it you?" he asked, 
 turning to Sivert. The man felt, perhaps, he owed 
 
 181
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 something for Inger's hospitality, and praised the 
 drawings just to please her. Inger, on her part, 
 explained the matter as it was: it was her boys had 
 made the drawings both of them. They had no 
 paper till she came home and looked to things, so 
 they had marked all about the walls. But she hadn't 
 the heart to wash it off again. 
 
 " Why, leave it as it is," said the engineer. " Pa- 
 per, did you say? " And he took out a heap of big 
 sheets. " There, draw away on that till I come 
 round again. And how are you off for pencils? " 
 
 Sivert stepped forward simply with the stump he 
 had, and showed how small it was. And behold, the 
 man gave him a new coloured pencil, not even sharp- 
 ened. " There, now you can sta.rt afresh. But I'd 
 make the horses red if I were you, and do the goats 
 with blue. Never seen a blue horse, have you?" 
 
 And the engineer went on his way. 
 
 That same evening, a man came up from the vil- 
 lage with a basket he handed out some bottles 
 to the workmen, and went off again. But after he 
 had gone, it was no longer so quiet about the place ; 
 some one played an accordion, the men talked loudly, 
 and there was singing, and even dancing, at Sellan- 
 raa. One of the men asked Inger out to dance, and 
 Inger who would have thought it of her? she 
 laughed a little laugh and actually danced a few 
 turns round. After that, some of the others asked 
 her, and she danced not a little in the end. 
 
 Inger who could say what was in her mind? 
 Here she was dancing gaily, maybe for the first time 
 
 182
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 in her life; sought after, riotously pursued by thirty 
 men, and she alone, the only one to choose from, no 
 one to cut her out. And those burly telegraph men 
 how they lifted her! Why not dance? Eleseus 
 and Sivert were fast asleep in the little chamber, un- 
 disturbed by all the noise outside; little Leopoldine 
 was up, looking on wonderingly at her mother as 
 she danced. 
 
 Isak was out in the fields all the time; he had gone 
 off directly after supper, and when he came home to 
 go to bed, some one offered him a bottle. He drank 
 a little, and sat watching the dancing, with Leopold- 
 ine on his lap. 
 
 " 'Tis a gay time you're having," said he kindly 
 to Inger " footing it properly tonight! " 
 
 After a while, the music stopped, and the dance 
 was over. The workmen got ready to leave 
 they were going down to the village for the rest of 
 the evening, and would be there all next day, com- 
 ing back on Monday morning. Soon all was quiet 
 again at Sellanraa; a couple of the older men 
 stayed behind, and turned in to sleep in the barn. 
 
 Isak woke up in the night Inger was not there. 
 Could she be gone to see to the cows? He got up 
 and went across to the cowshed. "Inger!" he 
 called. No answer. The cows turned their heads 
 and looked at him; all was still. Unthinkingly, 
 from ancient habit, he counted heads, counted the 
 sheep also ; there was one of the ewes had a bad habit 
 of staying out at night and out it was now. 
 "Inger!" he called again. Still no answer. 
 
 183
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Surely she couldn't have gone with them down to the 
 village ? 
 
 The summer night was light and warm. Isak 
 stayed a while sitting on the door-slab, then he went 
 out into the woods to look for the ewe. And he 
 found Inger. Inger and one other. They sat in 
 the heather, she twirling his peaked cap on one fin- 
 ger, both talking together they were after her 
 again, it seemed. 
 
 Isak trundled slowly over towards them. Inger 
 turned and saw him, and bowed forward where she 
 sat; all the life went out of her, she hung like a rag. 
 
 " H'm. Did you know that ewe's out again? " 
 asked Isak. " But no, you wouldn't know," said he. 
 
 The young telegraph hand picked up his cap and 
 began sidling away. " I'll be getting along after 
 the others," he said. " Good-night to ye." No 
 one answered. 
 
 " So you're sitting here," said Isak. " Going to 
 stay out a bit, maybe ? " And he turned towards 
 home. Inger rose to her knees, got on her feet and 
 followed after, and so they went, man in front and 
 wife behind, tandem-wise. They went home. 
 
 Inger must have found time to think. Oh, she 
 found a way. " 'Twas the ewe I was after," said 
 she. " I saw it was out again. Then one of the 
 men came up and helped me look. We'd not been 
 sitting a moment when you came. Where are you 
 going now? " 
 
 "I? Seems I'd better look for the creature my- 
 self." 
 
 184
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " No, no, go and lie down. If any one's to go, let 
 me. Go and lie down, you'll be needing rest. And 
 as for that, the ewe can stay out where she is 
 'twon't be the first time." 
 
 " And be eaten up by some beast or other," said 
 Isak, and went off. 
 
 Inger ran after him. " Don't, don't, it's not 
 worth it," she said. " You need rest. Let me go." 
 
 Isak gave in. But he would not hear of Inger 
 going out to search by herself. And they went in- 
 doors together. 
 
 Inger turned at once to look for the children; 
 went into the little chamber to see to the boys, as if 
 she had been out on some perfectly natural errand; 
 it almost seemed, indeed, as if she were trying to 
 make up to Isak as if she expected him to be 
 more in love with her than ever that evening after 
 she had explained it all so neatly. But no, Isak was 
 not so easy to turn; he would rather have seen her 
 thoroughly distressed and beside herself with con- 
 trition. Ay, that would have been better. What 
 matter that she had collapsed for a moment when he 
 came on her in the woods; the little moment of 
 shame what was the good of that when it all 
 passed off so soon? 
 
 He was far from gentle, too, the next day, and 
 that a Sunday; went off and looked to the sawmill, 
 looked to the cornmill, looked over the fields, with 
 the children or by himself. Inger tried once to join 
 him, but Isak turned away : " I'm going up to the 
 river," he said. " Something up there . . ."
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 There was trouble in his mind, like enough, but he 
 bore it silently, and made no scene. Oh, there was 
 . something great about Isak; as it might be Israel,/ 
 \ promised and ever deceived, but still believing. 
 
 By Monday the tension was less marked, and as 
 the days went on, the impression of that unhappy 
 Saturday evening grew fainter. Time can mend a ] 
 /"deal of things ; a spit and a shake, a meal and a good ( 
 ] night's rest, and it will heal the sorriest of wounds. / 
 Isak's trouble was not so bad as it might have been; 
 after all, he was not certain that he had been 
 wronged, and apart from that, he had other things 
 to think of; the harvesting was at hand. And last, 
 not least, the telegraph line was all but finished now; 
 in a little while they would be left in peace. A 
 broad light road, a king's highway, had been cut 
 through the dark of the forest; there were poles 
 and wires running right up over the hills. 
 
 Next Saturday paytime, the last there was to be, 
 Isak managed to be away from home he wished it 
 so. He went down into the village with cheese and 
 butter, and came back on Sunday night. The men 
 were all gone from the barn; nearly all, that is; the 
 last man stumbled out of the yard with his pack on 
 his shoulder all but the last, that is. That it was 
 not altogether safe as yet Isak could see, for there 
 was a bundle left on the floor of the barn. Where 
 the owner was he could not say, and did not care to 
 know, but there was a peaked cap on top of the 
 bundle an offence to the eye. 
 
 Isak heaved the bundle out into the yard, flung 
 1 86
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the cap out after it, and closed the door. Then he 
 went into the stable and looked out through the 
 window. And thought, belike: "Let the bundle 
 stay there, and let the cap lie there, 'tis all one whose 
 they may be. A bit of dirt he is, and not worth my 
 while " so he might have thought. But when the 
 fellow comes for his bundle, never doubt but that 
 Isak will be there to take him by the arm and make 
 that arm a trifle blue. And as for kicking him off 
 the place in a way he'd remember why, Isak 
 would give him that too ! 
 
 Whereupon Isak left his window in the stable and 
 went back to the cowshed and looked out from there, 
 and could not rest. The bundle was tied up with 
 string; the poor fellow had no lock to his bag, and 
 the string had come undone Isak could not feel 
 sure he had not dealt over hardly with that bundle. 
 Whatever it might be he was not sure he had 
 acted rightly. Only just now he had been in the 
 village, and seen his new harrow, a brand-new har- 
 row he had ordered oh, a wonderful machine, an 
 idol to worship, and it had just come. A thing like 
 that must carry a blessing with it. And the powers 
 above, that guide the footsteps of men, might be 
 watching him now at this moment, to see if he de- 
 served a blessing or not. Isak gave much thought 
 to the powers above; ay, he had seen God with his 
 own eyes, one night in harvest-time, in the woods; 
 it was rather a curious sight. 
 
 Isak went out into the yard and stood over the 
 bundle. He was still in doubt; he thrust his hat back 
 
 -87
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and scratched his head, which gave him a devil-may- 
 care appearance for the moment; something lordly 
 and careless, as it might have been a Spaniard. But 
 then he must have thought something like this: 
 " Nay, here am I, and far from being in any way 
 splendid or excellent; a very dog." And then he 
 tied up the bundle neatly once more, picked up the 
 cap, and carried all back into the barn again. And 
 that was done. 
 
 As he went out from the barn and over to the mill, 
 away from the yard, away from everything, there 
 was no Inger to be seen in the window of the house. 
 Nay, then, let her be where she pleased no doubt 
 she was in bed where else should she be? But 
 in the old days, in those first innocent years, Inger 
 could never rest, but sat up at nights waiting for him 
 when he had been down to the village. It was dif- 
 ferent now, different in every way. As, for instance, 
 when he had given her that ring. Could anything 
 have been more utterly a failure? Isak had been 
 gloriously modest, and far from venturing to call it 
 a gold ring. " 'Tis nothing grand, but you might 
 put it on your finger just to try." 
 
 " Is it gold?" she asked. 
 
 " Ay, but 'tis none so thick," said he. 
 
 And here she was to have answered: "Ay, but 
 indeed it is." But instead she had said: " No, 'tis 
 not very thick, but still . . ." 
 
 11 Nay, 'tis worth no more than a bit of grass, be- 
 like," said he at last, and gave up hope. 
 
 But Inger had indeed been glad of the ring, and 
 
 1 88
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 wore it on her right hand, looking fine there when 
 she was sewing; now and again she would let the 
 village girls try it on, and sit with it on their finger 
 for a bit when they came up to ask of this or that. 
 Foolish Isak not to understand that she was 
 proud of it beyond measure ! . . . 
 
 It was a profitless business sitting there alone in 
 the mill, listening to the fall the whole night through. 
 Isak had done no wrong; he had no cause to hide 
 himself away. He left the mill, went up over the 
 fields, and home into the house. 
 
 And then in truth it was a shamefaced Isak, 
 shamefaced and glad. Brede Olsen sat there, his 
 neighbour and no other; sat there drinking coffee. 
 Ay, Inger was up, the two of them sat there simply 
 and quietly, talking and drinking coffee. 
 
 " Here's Isak," said Inger pleasantly as could be, 
 and got up and poured out a cup for him. " Even- 
 ing," said Brede, and was just as pleasant too. 
 
 Isak could see that Brede had been spending the 
 evening with the telegraph gangs, the last night be- 
 fore they went; he was somewhat the worse for it, 
 maybe, but friendly and good-humoured enough. 
 He boasted a little, as was his way: hadn't the time 
 really to bother with this telegraphic work, the farm 
 took all of a man's day but he couldn't very well 
 say no when the engineer was so anxious to have him. 
 And so it had come about, too, that Brede had had 
 to take over the job of line inspector. Not for the 
 sake of the money, of course, he could earn many 
 times that down in the village, but he hadn't liked 
 
 189
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 to refuse. And they'd given him a neat little ma- 
 chine set up on the wall, a curious little thing, a sort 
 of telegraph in itself. 
 
 Ay, Brede was a wastrel and a boaster, but for all 
 that Isak could bear him no grudge ; he himself was 
 too relieved at finding his neighbour in the house that 
 evening instead of a stranger. Isak had the peas- 
 ant's coolness of mind, his few feelings, stability, 
 stubbornness; he chatted with Brede and nodded at 
 his shallowness. " Another cup for Brede," said 
 he. And Inger poured it out. 
 
 Inger talked of the engineer ; a kindly man he was 
 beyond measure; had looked at the boys' drawings 
 and writings, and even said something about taking 
 Eleseus to work under him. 
 
 " To work with him? " said Isak. 
 
 " Ay, to the town. To do writing and things, be 
 a clerk in the office all for he was so pleased with 
 the boy's writing and drawing." 
 
 "Ho! "said Isak. 
 
 ' Well, and what do you say? He was going to 
 have him confirmed too. That was a great thing, to 
 my mind." 
 
 " Ay, a great thing indeed," said Brede. " And 
 when the engineer says he'll do a thing, he'll do it. 
 I know him, and you can take my word for that." 
 
 ' We've no Eleseus to spare on this farm as I 
 know of," said Isak. 
 
 There was something like a painful silence after 
 that. Isak was not an easy man to talk to. 
 
 " But when the boy himself wants to get on," said 
 190
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Inger at last, " and has it in him, too." Silence 
 again. 
 
 Then said Brede with a laugh : " I wish he'd ask 
 for one of mine, anyway. I've enough of them and 
 to spare. But Barbro's the eldest, and she's a girl." 
 
 " And a good girl enough," said Inger, for polite- 
 ness' sake. 
 
 "Ay, I'll not say no," said Brede. "Barbro's 
 well enough, and clever at this and that she's go- 
 ing to help at the Lensmand's now." 
 
 " Going to the Lensmand's? " 
 
 " Well, I had to let her go his wife was so set 
 on it, I couldn't say no." 
 
 It was well on towards morning now, and Brede 
 rose to go. 
 
 " I've a bundle and a cap I left in your barn," he 
 said. " That is if the men haven't run off with it," 
 he added jestingly. 
 
 191
 
 Chapter XIV 
 
 AND time went on. 
 Yes, Eleseus was sent to town after all; 
 Inger managed that. He was there for a 
 year, then he was confirmed, and after that had a 
 regular place in the engineer's office, and grew more 
 and more clever at writing and things. To see the 
 letters he sent home sometimes with red and black 
 ink, like pictures almost. And the talk of them, the 
 words he used. Now and again he asked for money, 
 something towards his expenses. A watch and 
 chain, for instance, he must have, so as not to over- 
 sleep himself in the morning and be late at the office ; 
 money for a pipe and tobacco also, such as the other 
 young clerks in the town always had. And for 
 something he called pocket-money, and something he 
 called evening classes, where he learned drawing and 
 gymnastics and other matters proper to his rank and 
 position. Altogether, it was no light matter to keep 
 Eleseus going in a berth in town. 
 
 " Pocket-money? " said Isak. " Is that money to 
 keep in your pocket, maybe? " 
 
 " That must be it, no doubt," said Inger. " So 
 as not to be altogether without. And it's not much; 
 only a Daler now and then." 
 
 "Ay, that's just it," said Isak harshly. "A 
 192
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Daler now and a Daler then . . ." But his harsh, 
 ness was all because he missed Eleseus himself, and 
 wanted him home. " It makes too many Dalers in 
 the long run," said he. " I can't keep on like this; 
 you must write and tell him he can have no more." 
 
 " Ho, very well then! " said Inger in an offended 
 tone. 
 
 " There's Sivert what does he get by way of 
 pocket-money? " 
 
 Inger answered: " You've never been in a town, 
 and so you don't know these things. Sivert's no 
 need of pocket-money. And talking of money, 
 Sivert ought to be none so badly off when his Uncle 
 Sivert dies." 
 
 " You don't know." 
 
 " Ay, but I do know." 
 
 And this was right enough in a way ; Uncle Sivert 
 had said something about making little Sivert his 
 heir. Uncle Sivert had heard of Eleseus and his 
 grand doings in town, and the story did not please 
 him; he nodded and bit his lips, and muttered that a 
 nephew called up as his namesake named after 
 Uncle Sivert should not come to want. But 
 what was this fortune Uncle Sivert was supposed to 
 possess? Had he really, besides his neglected farm 
 and his fishery, the heap of money and means folk 
 generally thought? No one could say for certain. 
 And apart from that, Uncle Sivert himself was an 
 obstinate man; he insisted that little Sivert should 
 come to stay with him. It was a point of honour 
 with him, this last; he should take little Sivert and 
 
 193
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 look after him, as the engineer had done with 
 Eleseus. 
 
 But how could it be done? Send little Sivert 
 away from home? it was out of the question. 
 He was all the help left to Isak now. Moreover, 
 the lad himself had no great wish to go and stay 
 with his famous uncle ; he had tried it once, but had 
 come home again. He was confirmed, shot up in 
 stature, and grew; the down showed on his cheek, 
 his hands were big, a pair of willing slaves. And he 
 worked like a man. 
 
 Isak could hardly have managed to get the new 
 barn built at all without Sivert's help but there it 
 stood now, with bridge-way and air-holes and all, as 
 big as they had at the parsonage itself. True, it was 
 only a half-timbered building covered with boarding, 
 but extra stout built, with iron clinches at the corners, 
 and covered with one-inch plank from Isak's own 
 sawmill. And Sivert had hammered in more than 
 one nail at the work, and lifted the heavy beams for 
 the framework till he was near fainting. Sivert got 
 on well with his father, and worked steadily at his 
 side; he was made of the same stuff. And yet he 
 was not above such simple ways as going up the hill- 
 side for tansy to rub with so as to smell nice in 
 church. 'Twas Leopoldine was the one for getting 
 fancies in her head, which was natural enough, she 
 being a girl, and the only daughter. That summer, 
 if you please, she had discovered that she could not 
 eat her porridge at supper without treacle simply 
 
 194
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 couldn't. And she was no great use at any kind of 
 work either. 
 
 Inger had not yet given up her idea of keeping a 
 servant; she brought up the question every spring, 
 and every time Isak opposed it stubbornly. All the 
 cutting out and sewing and fine weaving she could do, 
 not to speak of making embroidered slippers, if she 
 had but the time to herself! And of late, Isak had 
 been something less firm in his refusal, though he 
 grumbled still. Ho, the first time! He had made 
 a whole long speech about it; not as a matter of right 
 and reason, nor yet from pride, but, alas! from 
 weakness, from anger at the idea. But now, he 
 seemed to be giving way, as if ashamed. 
 
 " If ever I'm to have help in the house, now's the 
 time," said Inger. " A few years more, and Leo- 
 poldine'll be big enough to do this and that." 
 
 " Help? " said Isak. " What do you want help 
 with, anyway? " 
 
 " Want with it, indeed? Haven't you help your- 
 self? Haven't you Sivert all the time? " 
 
 What could Isak say to a meaningless argument 
 like that? He answered: " Ay, well; when you get 
 a girl up here, I doubt you'll be able to plough and 
 sow and reap and manage all by yourselves. And 
 then Sivert and I can go our ways." 
 
 " That's as may be," said Inger. " But I'll just 
 say this: that I could get Barbro to come now; she's 
 written home about it." 
 
 " What Barbro ? " said Isak. " Is it that Brede's 
 girl you mean? " 
 
 195
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Yes. She's in Bergen now." 
 
 " I'll not have that Brede's girl Barbro up here," 
 said he. " Whoever you get, I'll have none of 
 her." 
 
 That was better than nothing; Isak refused to 
 have Barbro; he no longer said they would have no 
 servant at all. 
 
 Barbro from Breidablik was not the sort of girl 
 Isak approved of; she was shallow and unsettled like 
 her father maybe like her mother too a care- 
 less creature, no steady character at all. She had 
 not stayed long at the Lensmand's; only a year. 
 After her confirmation, she went to help at the store- 
 keeper's, and was there another year. Here she 
 turned pious and got religion, and when the Salva- 
 tion Army came to the village she joined it, and went 
 about with a red band on her sleeve and carried a 
 guitar. She went to Bergen in that costume, on the 
 storekeeper's boat that was last year. And she 
 had just sent home a photograph of herself to her 
 people at Breidablik. Isak had seen it; a strange 
 young lady with her hair curled up and a long watch- 
 chain hanging down over her breast. Her parents 
 were proud of little Barbro, and showed the photo- 
 graph about to all who came ; 'twas grand to see how 
 she had learned town ways and got on in the world. 
 As for the red band and the guitar, she had given 
 them up, it seemed. 
 
 " I took the picture along and showed it to the 
 Lensmand's lady," said Brede. " She didn't know 
 her again." 
 
 196
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " Is she going to stay in Bergen? " said Isak sus- 
 piciously. 
 
 " Why, unless she goes on to Christiania, per- 
 haps," said Brede. " What's there for her to do 
 here? She's got a new place now, as housekeeper, 
 for two young clerks. They've no wives nor 
 womenfolk of their own, and they pay her well." 
 
 " How much? " said Isak. 
 
 " She doesn't say exactly in the letter. But it 
 must be something altogether different from what 
 folk pay down here, that's plain. Why, she gets 
 Christmas presents, and presents other times as well, 
 and not counted off her wages at all." 
 
 "Ho! "said Isak. 
 
 " You wouldn't like to have her up at your 
 place? " asked Brede. 
 
 " I? " said Isak, all taken aback. 
 
 " No, of course, he he ! It was only a way of 
 speaking. Barbro's well enough where she is. 
 What was I going to say? You didn't notice any- 
 thing wrong with the line coming down the tele- 
 graph, what? " 
 
 "With the telegraph? No." 
 
 " No, no ... There's not much wrong with it 
 now since I took over. And then I've my own ma- 
 chine here on the wall to give a warning if anything 
 happens. I'll have to take a walk up along the line 
 one of these days and see how things are. I've too 
 much to manage and look after, 'tis more than one 
 man's work. But as long as I'm Inspector here, and 
 hold an official position, of course I can't neglect 
 
 197
 
 my duties. If I hadn't the telegraph, of course 
 . . . and it may not be for long. . . ." 
 . " Why? " said Isak. " You thinking of giving it 
 up, maybe? " 
 
 " Well, I can't say exactly," said Brede. " I 
 haven't quite decided. They want me to move 
 down into the village again." 
 
 " Who is it wants you? " asked Isak. 
 
 " Oh, all of them. The Lensmand wants me to 
 go and be assistant there again, and the doctor wants 
 me to drive for him, and the parson's wife said more 
 than once she misses me to lend a hand, if it wasn't 
 such a long way to go. How was it with that strip 
 of hill, Isak the bit you sold? Did you get as 
 much for it as they say? " 
 
 " Ay, 'tis no lie," answered Isak. 
 
 "But what did Geissler want with it, anyway? 
 It lies there still curious thing ! Year after year 
 and nothing done." 
 
 It was a curious thing; Isak had often wondered 
 about it himself; he had spoken to the Lensmand 
 about it, and asked for Geissler's address, thinking 
 to write to him. . . . Ay, it was a mystery. 
 
 " 'Tis more than I can say," said Isak. 
 
 Brede made no secret of his interest in this matter 
 of the sale. " They say there's more of the same 
 sort up there," he said, " besides yours. Maybe 
 there's more in it than we know. 'Tis a pity that 
 we should sit here like dumb beasts and know noth- 
 ing of it all. I've thought of going up one day my- 
 self to have a look." 
 
 198
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " But do you know anything about metals and 
 such-like? " asked Isak. 
 
 " Why, I know a bit. And I've asked one or two 
 others. Anyhow, I'll have to find something; I 
 can't live and keep us all here on this bit of a farm. 
 It's sheer impossible. 'Twas another matter with 
 you that's got all that timber and good soil below. 
 'Tis naught but moorland here." 
 
 " Moorland's good soil enough," said Isak 
 shortly. " I've the same myself." 
 
 " But there's no draining it," said Brede. . . . 
 " It can't be done." 
 
 But it could be done. Coming down the road 
 that day Isak noticed other clearings; two of them 
 were lower down, nearer the village, but there was 
 one far up above, between Breidablik and Sellanraa 
 ay, men were beginning to work on the land now; 
 in the old days when Isak first came up, it had lain 
 waste all of it. And these three new settlers were 
 folks from another district; men with some sense 
 in their heads, by the look of things. They didn't 
 begin by borrowing money to build a house ; no, they 
 came up one year and did their spade work and went 
 away again; vanished as if they were dead. That 
 was the proper way; ditching first, then plough and 
 sow. Axel Strom was nearest to Isak's land now, 
 his next-door neighbour. A clever fellow, unmar- 
 ried, he came from Helgeland. He had borrowed 
 Isak's new harrow to break up his soil, and not till 
 the second year had he set up a hayshed and a turf 
 hut for himself and a couple of animals. He had 
 
 199
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 called his place Maaneland, because it looked nice 
 in the moonlight. He had no womenfolk himself, 
 and found it difficult to get help in the summer, lying 
 so far out, but he managed things the right way, no 
 doubt about that. Not as Brede Olsen did, building 
 a house first, and then coming up with a big family 
 and little ones and all, with neither soil nor stock to 
 feed them. What did Brede Olsen know of drain- 
 ing moorland and breaking new soil? 
 
 He knew how to waste his time idling, did Brede. 
 He came by Sellanraa one day, going up to the hills 
 simply to look for precious metals. He came 
 back the same evening; had not found anything 
 definite, he said, but certain signs and he nodded. 
 He would come up again soon, and go over the 
 hills thoroughly, over towards Sweden. 
 
 And sure enough, Brede came up again. He had 
 taken a fancy to the work, no doubt; but he called it 
 telegraph business this time must go up and look 
 over the whole of the line. Meanwhile his wife and 
 children at home looked after the farm, or left it 
 to look after itself. Isak was sick and tired of 
 Brede's visits, and went out of the room when he 
 came; then Inger and Brede would sit talking heart- 
 ily together. What could they have to talk about ? 
 Brede often went down to the village, and had al- 
 ways some news to tell of the great folk there; 
 Inger, on the other hand, could always draw upon 
 her famous journey to Trondhjem and her stay there. 
 She had grown talkative in the years she had been 
 away, and was always ready to gossip with any one. 
 
 200
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 No, she was no longer the same straightforward, 
 simple Inger of the old days. 
 
 Girls and women came up continually to Sellanraa 
 to have a piece of work cut out, or a long hem put 
 through the machine in a moment, and Inger enter- 
 tained them well. Oline too came again, couldn't 
 help it, belike; came both spring and autumn; fair- 
 spoken, soft as butter, and thoroughly false. " Just 
 looked along to see how things are with you," she 
 said each time. " And I've been longing so for a 
 sight of the lads, I'm that fond of them, the little 
 angels they were. Ay, they're big fellows now, but 
 it's strange ... I can't forget the time when they 
 were small and I had them in my care. And here's 
 you building and building again, and making a whole 
 town of the place. Going to have a bell to ring, 
 maybe, at the roof of the barn, same as at the par- 
 sonage? " 
 
 Once Oline came and brought another woman 
 with her, and the pair of them and Inger had a nice 
 day together. The more Inger had sitting round 
 her, the better she worked at her sewing and cutting 
 out, making a show of it, waving her scissors and 
 swinging the iron. It reminded her of the place 
 where she had learned it all there was always 
 many of them in the workrooms there. Inger made 
 no secret of where she had got her knowledge and 
 all her art from; it was from Trondhjem. It almost 
 appeared as if she had not been in prison at all, in 
 the ordinary way, but at school, in an institute, where 
 one could learn to sew and weave and write, and do 
 
 201
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 dressing and dyeing all that she had learned in 
 Trondhjem. She spoke of the place as of a home; 
 there were so many people she knew there, superin- 
 tendents and forewomen and attendants, it had been 
 dull and empty to come back here again, and hard 
 to find herself altogether cut off from the life and 
 society she had been accustomed to. She even made 
 some show of having a cold couldn't stand the 
 keen air there; for years after her return she had 
 been too poorly to work out of doors in all seasons. 
 It was for the outside work she really ought to have 
 a servant. 
 
 " Ay, Heaven save us," said Oline, " and why 
 shouldn't you have a servant indeed, when you've 
 means and learning and a great fine house and 
 all!" 
 
 It was pleasant to meet with sympathy, and 
 Inger did not deny it. She worked away at her 
 machine till the place shook, and the ring on her fin- 
 ger shone. 
 
 " There, you can see for yourself," said Oline to 
 the woman with her. " It's true what I said, Inger 
 she wears a gold ring on her finger." 
 
 " Would you like to see it? " asked Inger, taking 
 it off. 
 
 Oline seemed still to have her doubts; she turned 
 it in her fingers as a monkey with a nut, looked at 
 the mark. "Ay, 'tis as I say; Inger with all her 
 means and riches." 
 
 The other woman took the ring with veneration, 
 and smiled humbly. ' You can put it on for a bit if 
 
 202
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 you like," said Inger. " Don't be afraid, it won't 
 break." 
 
 And Inger was amiable and kind. She told them 
 about the cathedral at Trondhjem, and began like 
 this: " You haven't seen the cathedral at Trondhjem, 
 maybe? No, you haven't been there!" And it 
 might have been her own cathedral, from the way 
 she praised it, boasted of it, told them height and 
 breadth; it was a marvel ! Seven priests could stand 
 there preaching all at once and never hear one an- 
 other. " And then I suppose you've never seen St. 
 Olaf's Well? Right in the middle of the cathedral 
 itself, it is, on one side, and it's a bottomless well. 
 When we went there, we took each a little stone with 
 us, and dropped it in, but it never reached the 
 bottom." 
 
 " Never reached the bottom? " whispered the two 
 women, shaking their heads. 
 
 " And there's a thousand other things besides 
 in that cathedral," exclaimed Inger delightedly. 
 ' There's the silver chest to begin with. It's Holy 
 St. Olaf his own silver chest that he had. But the 
 Marble Church that was a little ehurch all of 
 pure marble the Danes took that from us in the 
 war. . . ." 
 
 It was time for the women to go. Oline took 
 Inger aside, led her out into the larder where she 
 knew all the cheeses were stored, and closed the 
 door. " What is it? " asked Inger. 
 
 Oline whispered: " Os-Anders, he doesn't dare 
 come here any more. I've told him." 
 
 203
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "Ho!"saidlnger. 
 
 " I told him if he only dared, after what he'd done 
 to you." 
 
 " Ay," said Inger. " But he's been here many 
 a time since for all that. And he can come if he 
 likes, I'm not afraid." 
 
 " No, that's so," said Oline. " But I know what 
 I know, and if you like, I'll lay a charge against 
 him." 
 
 " Ho I " said Inger. " No, you've no call to do 
 that. Tis not worth it." 
 
 But she was not ill pleased to have Oline on her 
 side; it cost her a cheese, to be sure, but Oline 
 thanked her so fulsomely: " 'Tis as I say, 'tis as 
 I've always said: Inger, she gives with both hands; 
 nothing grudging, nothing sparing about her ! No, 
 maybe you're not afraid of Os-Anders, but I've for- 
 bid him to come here all the same. 'Twas the least 
 I could do for you." 
 
 Said Inger then: "What harm could it .do if he 
 did come, anyway? He can't hurt me any more." 
 
 Oline pricked up her ears: " Ho, you've learned a 
 way yourself, maybe? " 
 
 " I shan't have any more children," said Inger. 
 
 And now they were quits, each holding as good a 
 trump as the other: for Oline stood there knowing 
 all the time that Os-Anders the Lapp had died the 
 day before. . . . 
 
 Why should Inger say that about having no more 
 children? She was not on bad terms with her hus- 
 
 204
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 band, 'twas no cat-and-dog life between them far 
 from it. They had each their own little ways, but 
 it was rarely they quarrelled, and never for long at 
 a time; it was soon made up. And many a time 
 Inger would suddenly be just as she had been in the 
 old days, working hard in the cowshed or in the 
 field; as if she had had a relapse into health again. 
 And at such times Isak would look at his wife with 
 grateful eyes; if he had been the sort of man to 
 speak his mind at once, he might have said, " H'm. 
 What does this mean, heh?" or something of the 
 sort, just to show he appreciated it. But he waited 
 too long, and his praise came too late. So Inger, 
 no doubt, found it not worth while, and did not care 
 to keep it up. 
 
 She might have had children till past fifty; as it 
 was, she was perhaps hardly forty now. She had 
 learned all sorts of things at the institution had 
 she also learned to play tricks with herself? She 
 had come back so thoroughly trained and educated 
 after her long association with the other murder- 
 esses; maybe the men had taught her something too 
 the gaolers, the doctors. She told Isak one day 
 what one young medical man had said of her little 
 crime : " Why should it be a criminal offence to kill 
 children ay, even healthy children? They were 
 nothing but lumps of flesh after all." 
 
 Isak asked: "Wasn't he terribly cruel himself, 
 then?" 
 
 " Him ! " exclaimed Inger, and told how kind he 
 had been to her herself; it was he who had got an- 
 
 205
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 other doctor to operate on her mouth and make a 
 human being of her. Now there was only a scar to 
 be seen. 
 
 Only a scar, yes. And a fine woman she was in 
 her way, tall and not over-stout, dark, with rich hair ; 
 in summer she went barefooted mostly, and with her 
 skirt kilted high; Inger was not afraid of letting 
 her calves be seen. Isak saw them as who did 
 not! 
 
 They did not quarrel, no. Isak had no talent for 
 quarrelling, and his wife had grown readier-witted 
 to answer back. A thorough good quarrel took a 
 long time to grow with Isak, heavy stub of a man 
 as he was; he found himself all entangled in her 
 words, and could say next to nothing himself; and 
 besides, he was fond of her powerfully in love 
 was Isak. And it was not often he had any need 
 to answer. Inger did not complain; he was an 
 excellent husband in many ways, and she let him 
 alone. What had she to complain of at all? Isak 
 was not a man to be despised; she might have mar- 
 ried a worse. Worn out, was he? True, he 
 showed signs of being tired now at times, but noth- 
 ing serious. He was full of old health and unwasted, 
 strength, like herself, and in this autumn of their 
 married life he fulfilled his part at least as affection- 
 ately as she did. 
 
 But nothing particularly beautiful nor grand about 
 him? No. And here came her superiority. Inger 
 might well think to herself at times how she had 
 seen finer men; handsome gentlemen with walking- 
 
 206
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 sticks and handkerchiefs and starched collars to 
 wear oh, those gentlemen of the town! And so 
 she kept Isak in his place, treated him, as it were, 
 no better than he deserved. He was only a peas- 
 ant, a clodhopper of the wilds; if her mouth had 
 been as it was now from the start she would never 
 have taken him; be sure of that. No, she could 
 have done better than that! The home he had 
 given her, the life he offered her, were poor enough; 
 she might at least have married some one from her 
 own village, and lived among neighbours, with a 
 circle of friends, instead of here like an outcast in 
 the wilds. It was not the place for her now; she 
 had learned to look differently at life. 
 s\ Strange, how one could come to look differently at 
 ings! Inger found no pleasure now in admiring 
 a new calf; she did not clap her hands in surprise 
 when Isak came down from the hills with a big 
 basket of fish; no, she had lived for six years among 
 greater things. And of late she had even ceased to 
 be heavenly and sweet when she called him in to 
 dinner. " Your food's ready, aren't you coming 
 in?" was all she said now. And it didn't sound 
 nice. Isak wondered a little at first; it was a curi- 
 ous way to speak; a nasty, uncaring, take-it-or-leave- 
 it way to speak. And he answered : " Why, I didn't 
 know 'twas ready." But when Inger pointed out 
 that he ought to have known, or might have guessed 
 it, anyway, by the sun, he said no more, and let the 
 matter drop. 
 
 207
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Ah, but once he got a hold on her and used it 
 that was when she tried to steal his money from him. 
 Not that Isak was a miser in that way, but the money 
 was clearly his. Ho, it was nearly being ruin and 
 disaster for her that time ! But even then it was not 
 exactly thoroughgoing, out-and-out wickedness on 
 Inger's part; she wanted the money for Eleseus 
 for her blessed boy Eleseus in town, who was asking 
 for his Daler again. Was he to go there among all 
 the fine folk and with empty pockets ? After all, she 
 had a mother's heart. She asked his father for the 
 money first, and, finding it was no good, had taken 
 it herself. Whether Isak had had some suspicion 
 beforehand, or had found it out by accident any- 
 how, it was found out. And suddenly Inger found 
 herself gripped by both arms, felt herself lifted 
 from the floor, and thumped down on to the floor 
 again. It was something strange and terrible a 
 sort of avalanche. Isak's hands were not weak, not 
 worn out now. Inger gave a groan, her head fell 
 back, she shivered, and gave up the money. 
 
 Even then Isak said little, though Inger made no 
 attempt to hinder him from speaking. What he did 
 say was uttered, as it were, in one hard breath: 
 " Huttch ! You you're not fit to have in the 
 place!" 
 
 She hardly knew him again. Oh, but it must have 
 been long-stored bitterness that would not be re- 
 pressed. 
 
 A miserable day, and a long night, and a day 
 beyond. Isak went out of the house and lay out- 
 
 208
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 side, for all that there was hay to be got in; Sivert 
 was with his father. Inger had little Leopoldine 
 and the animals to keep her company; but lonely she 
 was for all that, crying nearly all the time and shak- 
 ing her head at herself. Only once in all her life 
 before had she felt so moved, and this day called 
 it to mind; it was when she had lain in her bed and 
 throttled a newborn child. 
 
 Where were Isak and his son? They had not 
 been idle; no, they had stolen a day and a night or 
 thereabouts from the hay-making, and had built a 
 boat up on the lake. Oh, a rough and poor-looking 
 vessel enough, but strong and sound as their work 
 had always been; they had a boat now, and could 
 go fishing with nets. 
 
 When they came home the hay was dry as ever. 
 They had cheated providence by trusting it, and suf- 
 fered no loss; they had gained by it. And then 
 Sivert flung out an arm, and said: " Ho I Mother's 
 been haymaking 1 " Isak looked down over the 
 fields and said " H'm." Isak had noticed already 
 that some of the hay had been shifted; Inger ought 
 to be home now for her midday meal. It was well 
 done indeed of her to get in the hay, after he had 
 scolded her the day before and said "Huttch!" 
 And it was no light hay to move; she must have 
 worked hard, and all the cows and goats to milk 
 besides. . . ; " Go in and get something to eat," he 
 said to Sivert. 
 
 " Aren't you coming, then? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 209
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 A little while after, Inger came out and stood 
 humbly on the door-slab and said: 
 
 " If you'd think of yourself a little and come 
 in and have a bite to eat." 
 
 Isak grumbled at that and said " H'm." But it 
 was so strange a thing of late for Inger to be humble 
 in any way, that his stubbornness was shaken. 
 
 " If you could manage to set a couple of teeth in 
 my rake, I could get on again with the hay," said 
 she. Ay, she came to her husband, the master of 
 the place, to ask for something, and was grateful 
 that he did not turn scornfully away. 
 
 " You've worked enough," said he, " raking and 
 carting and all." 
 
 " No, 'tis not enough." 
 
 " I've no time, anyway, to mend rakes now. You 
 can see there's rain coming soon." 
 
 And Isak went off to his work. 
 
 It was all meant to save her, no doubt; for the 
 couple of minutes it would have taken to mend the 
 rake would have been more than tenfold repaid by 
 letting Inger work on. Anyhow, Inger came out 
 with her rake as it was, and fell to haymaking with 
 a will; Sivert came up with the horse and haycart, 
 and all went at it, sweating at the work, and the hay 
 was got in. It was a good stroke of work, and 
 Isak fell to thinking once more of the powers above 
 that guide all our ways from stealing a Daler to 
 getting a crop of hay. Moreover, there lay the 
 boat; after half a generation of thinking it over, 
 the boat was finished; it was there, up on the lake. 
 
 " Eyah, Herregud! " said Isak. 
 2IO
 
 Chapter XV 
 
 IT was a strange evening altogether: a turning- 
 point. Inger had been running off the line for 
 a long time now; and one lift up from the floor 
 had set her in her place again. Neither spoke of 
 what had happened. Isak had felt ashamed of him- 
 self after all for the sake of a Daler, a trifle of 
 money, that he would have had to give her after all, 
 because he himself would gladly have let the boy 
 have it. And then again was not the money as 
 much Inger's as his own? There came a time when 
 Isak found it his turn to be humble. 
 
 There came many sorts of times. Inger must 
 have changed her mind again, it seemed; once more 
 she was different, gradually forgetting her fine ways 
 and turning earnest anew: a settler's wife, earnest 
 and thoughtful as she had been before. To think 
 that a man's hard grip could work such wonders! 
 But it was right; here was a strong and healthy 
 woman, sensible enough, but spoiled and warped by 
 long confinement in an artificial air and she had 
 butted into a man who stood firmly on his feet. 
 Never for a moment had he left his natural place 
 on the earth, on the soil. Nothing could move him. 
 Many sorts of times. Next year came the 
 drought again, killing the growth off slowly, and 
 
 211
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 wearing down human courage. The corn stood 
 there and shrivelled up ; the potatoes the wonder- 
 ful potatoes they did not shrivel up, but flowered 
 and flowered. The meadows turned grey, but the 
 potatoes flowered. The powers above guided all 
 things, no doubt, but the meadows were turning 
 grey. 
 
 Then one day came Geissler ex-Lensmand 
 Geissler came again at last. It was good to find 
 that he was not dead, but had turned up again. 
 And what had he come for now? 
 
 Geissler had no grand surprises with him this 
 time, by the look of it; no purchases of mining rights 
 and documents and such-like. Geissler was poorly 
 dressed, his hair and beard turned greyer, and his 
 eyes redder at the edges than before. He had no 
 man, either, to carry his things, but had his papers 
 in a pocket, and not even a bag. 
 
 " Goddag'' said Geissler. 
 
 " Goddag'' answered Isak and Inger. " Here's 
 the like of visitors to see this way! " 
 
 Geissler nodded. 
 
 " And thanks for all you did that time in 
 Trondhjem," said Inger all by herself. 
 
 And Isak nodded at that, and said : " Ay, 'tis two 
 of us owe you thanks for that." 
 
 But Geissler it was not his way to be all feel- 
 ings and sentiments; he said: "Yes, I'm just going 
 across to Sweden." 
 
 For all their trouble of mind over the drought, 
 Sellanraa's folk were glad to see Geissler again; 
 
 212
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 they gave him the best they had, and were heartily 
 glad to do what they could for him after all he had 
 done. 
 
 Geissler himself had no troubles that could be 
 seen; he grew talkative at once, looked out over the 
 fields and nodded. He carried himself upright as 
 ever, and looked as if he had several hundreds of 
 Daler in his pockets. It livened them up and 
 brightened everything to have him there; not that 
 he made any boisterous fun, but a lively talker, that 
 he was. 
 
 " Fine place, Sellanraa, splendid place," he said. 
 u And now there's others coming up one after an- 
 other, since you've started, Isak. I counted five my- 
 self. Are there any more ? " 
 
 " Seven in all. There's two that can't be seen 
 from the road." 
 
 " Seven holdings; say fifty souls. Why, it'll be 
 a densely populated neighbourhood before long. 
 And you've a school already, so I hear? " 
 
 " Ay, we have." 
 
 "There what did I say? A school all to 
 yourselves, down by Brede's place, being more in 
 the middle. Fancy Brede as a farmer in the 
 wilds ! " and Geissler laughed at the thought. " Ay, 
 I've heard all about you, Isak; you're the best man 
 here. And I'm glad of it. Sawmill, too, you've 
 got?" 
 
 " Ay, such as it is. But it serves me well enough. 
 And I've sawed a bit now and again for them down 
 below." 
 
 213
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "Bravo! That's the way!" 
 
 " I'd be glad to hear what you think of it, Lens- 
 mand, if so be you'd care to look at that sawmill for 
 yourself." 
 
 Geissler nodded, with the air of an expert; yes, 
 he would look at it, examine it thoroughly. Then 
 he asked: " You had two boys, hadn't you -. what's 
 become of the other? In town? Clerk in an of- 
 fice? H'm," said Geissler. " But this one here 
 looks a sturdy sort what was your name, now? " 
 
 " Sivert." 
 
 "And the other one?" 
 
 " Eleseus." 
 
 " And he's in an engineer's office what's he 
 reckon to learn there? A starvation business. 
 Much better have come to me," said Geissler. 
 
 " Ay," said Isak, for politeness' sake. He felt 
 a sort of pity for Geissler at the moment. Oh, that 
 good man did not look as if he could afford to keep 
 clerks; had to work hard enough by himself, belike. 
 That jacket it was worn to fringes at the wrists. 
 
 ' Won't you have some dry hose to put on? " said 
 Inger, and brought out a pair of her own. They 
 were from her best days; fine and thin, with a 
 border. 
 
 " No, thanks," said Geissler shortly, though he 
 must have been wet through. " Much better have 
 come to me," he said again, speaking of Eleseus. 
 " I want him badly." He took a small silver 
 tobacco box from his pocket and sat playing with it 
 
 214
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 in his fingers. It was perhaps the only thing of 
 value left him now. 
 
 But Geissler was restless, changing from one thing 
 to another. He slipped the thing back into his 
 pocket again and started a new theme. " But 
 what's that? Why, the meadow that's all grey. I 
 thought it was the shadow. The ground is simply 
 parched. Come along with me, Sivert." 
 
 He rose from the table suddenly, thinking no more 
 of food, turned in the doorway to say " Thank you " 
 to Inger for the meal, and disappeared, Sivert fol- 
 lowing. 
 
 They went across to the river, Geissler peering 
 keenly about all the time. " Here ! " he cried, and 
 stopped. And then he explained: "Where's the 
 sense of letting your land dry up to nothing when 
 you've a river there big enough to drown it in a 
 minute? We'll have that meadow green by to- 
 morrow ! " 
 
 Sivert, all astonishment, said " Yes." 
 
 "Dig down obliquely from here, see? on a 
 slope. The ground's level; have to make some sort 
 of a channel. You've a sawmill there I suppose 
 you can find some long planks from somewhere? 
 Good! Run and fetch a pick and spade, and start 
 here; I'll go back and mark out a proper line." 
 
 He ran up to the house again, his boots squelching, 
 for they were wet through. He set Isak to work 
 making pipes, a whole lot of them, to be laid down 
 where the ground could not well be cut with ditches. 
 
 215
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Isak tried to object that the water might not get so 
 far; the dry ground would soak it up before it 
 reached the parched fields. Geissler explained that 
 it would take some time; the earth must drink a little 
 first, but then gradually the water would go on 
 " field and meadow green by this time tomorrow." 
 
 " Ho ! " said Isak, and fell to boxing up long 
 planks as hard as he could. 
 
 Off hurries Geissler to Sivert once more : " That's 
 right keep at it didn't I say he was a sturdy 
 sort? Follow these stakes, you understand, where 
 I've marked out. If you come up against heavy 
 boulders, or rock, then turn aside and go round, but 
 keep the level the same depth ; you see what I 
 mean? " 
 
 Then back to Isak again : " That's one finished 
 good ! But we shall want more half a dozen, 
 perhaps. Keep at it, Isak; you see, we'll have it 
 all green by tomorrow we've saved your crops ! " 
 And Geissler sat down on the ground, slapped his 
 knees with both hands and was delighted, chattered 
 away, thought in flashes of lightning. " Any pitch, 
 any oakum, or anything about the place? That's 
 splendid got everything. These things'll leak at 
 the edges you see, to begin with, but the wood'll 
 swell after a while, and they'll be as taut as a bottle. 
 Oakum and pitch fancy you having it too ! 
 What? Built a boat, you say? Where is the boat? 
 Up in the lake? Good! I must have a look at 
 that too." 
 
 Oh, Geissler was all promises. Light come, 
 216
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 light go and he seemed more giving to fussing 
 about than before. He worked at things by fits and 
 starts, but at a furious rate when he did work. 
 There was a certain superiority about him after all. 
 True, he exaggerated a bit it was impossible, of 
 course, to get all green by this time tomorrow, as he 
 had said, but for all that, Geissler was a sharp 
 fellow, quick to see and take a decision; ay, a strange 
 man was Geissler. And it was he and no other that 
 saved the crops that year at Sellanraa. 
 
 " How many have you got done? Not enough. 
 The more wood you can lay, the quicker it'll flow. 
 Make them twenty feet long or twenty-five, if you 
 can. Any planks that length on the place? Good; 
 fetch them along you'll find it'll pay you at har- 
 vest-time! " 
 
 Restless again up and off to Sivert once more. 
 "That's the way, Sivert man; getting on finely. 
 Your father's turning out culverts like a poet, there'll 
 be more than I ever thought. Run across and get 
 some now, and we'll make a start." 
 
 All that afternoon was one hurrying spell; Sivert 
 had never seen such a furious piece of work; he was 
 not accustomed to see things done at that pace. 
 They hardly gave themselves time to eat. But the 
 water was flowing already! Here and there they 
 had to dig deeper, a culvert had to be raised or 
 lowered, but it flowed. The three men were at it till 
 late that night, touching up their work, and keenly 
 on the look out for any fault. But when the water 
 began to trickle out over the driest spots, there was 
 
 217
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 joy and delight at Sellanraa. " I forgot to bring 
 my watch," said Geissler. " What's the time, I 
 wonder? Ay, she'll be green by this time tomor- 
 row I " said he. 
 
 Sivert got up in the middle of the night to see how 
 things were going, and found his father out already 
 on the same errand. Oh, but it was a thrilling time 
 a day of great events ! 
 
 But next day, Geissler stayed in bed till nearly 
 noon, worn out now that the fit had passed. He did 
 not trouble to go up and look at the boat on the 
 lake; and but for what he had said the day before, 
 he would never have bothered to look at the saw- 
 mill. Even the irrigation works interested him less 
 than at first and when he saw that neither field 
 nor meadow had turned green in the course of the 
 night, he lost heart, never thinking of how the water 
 flowed, and flowed all the time, and spread out far- 
 ther and farther over the ground. He backed down 
 a little, and said now: "It may take time you 
 won't see any change perhaps before tomorrow 
 again. But it'll be all right, never fear." 
 
 Later in the day Brede Olsen came lounging in; he 
 had brought some samples of rock he wanted Geiss- 
 ler to see. " And something out of the common, 
 this time, to my mind," said Brede. 
 
 Geissler would not look at the things. " That 
 the way you manage a farm," he asked scornfully, 
 " pottering about up in the hills looking for a for- 
 tune?" 
 
 Brede apparently did not fancy being taken to task 
 218
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 now by his former chief; he answered sharply, with- 
 out any form of respect, treating the ex-Lensmand 
 as an equal: " If you think I care what you say . . ." 
 
 " You've no more sense than you had before," 
 said Geissler. " Fooling away your time." 
 
 " What about yourself? " said Brede. " What 
 about you, I'd like to know? You've got a mine of 
 your own up here, and what have you done .with it? 
 Huh! Lies there doing nothing. Ay, you're the 
 sort to have a mine, aren't you? He he! " 
 
 " Get out of this," said Geissler. And Brede did 
 not stay long, but shouldered his load of samples and 
 went down to his own menage, without saying good- 
 bye. 
 
 Geissler sat down and began to look over some 
 papers with a thoughtful air. He seemed to have 
 caught a touch of the fever himself, and wanted 
 now to look over that business of the copper mine, 
 the contract, the analyses. It was fine ore, almost 
 pure copper; he must do something with it, and not 
 let everything slide. 
 
 " What I really came up for was to get the whole 
 thing settled," he said to Isak. " I've been think- 
 ing of making a start here, and that very soon. Get 
 a lot of men to work, and run the thing properly. 
 What do you think?" 
 
 Isak felt sorry for the man, and would not say 
 anything against it. 
 
 " It's a matter that concerns you as well, you 
 know. There'll be a lot of bother, of course; a lot 
 of men about the place, and a bit rowdy at times, 
 
 219
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 perhaps. And blasting up in the hills I don't 
 know how you'll like that. On the other hand, 
 there'll be more life in the district where we begin, 
 and you'll have a good market close at hand for farm 
 produce and that sort of thing. Fix your own price, 
 too." 
 
 " Ay," said Isak. 
 
 " Besides your share in the mine you'll get a 
 high percentage of earnings, you know. Big money, 
 Isak." 
 
 Said Isak: "You've paid me fairly already, and 
 more than enough. . . ." 
 
 Next morning Geissler left, hurrying off eastward, 
 over toward Sweden. " No, thanks," he said 
 shortly, when Isak offered to go with him. It was 
 almost painful to see him start off in that poor fash- 
 ion, on foot and all alone. Inger had put up a fine 
 parcel of food for him to take, all as nice as she 
 could make it, and made some wafers specially to 
 put in. Even that was not enough ; she would have 
 given him a can of cream and a whole lot of eggs, 
 but he wouldn't carry them, and Inger was disap- 
 pointed. 
 
 Geissler himself must have found it hard to leave 
 Sellanraa without paying as he generally did for his 
 keep; so he pretended that he had paid; made as if 
 he had laid down a big note in payment, and said to 
 little Leopoldine : " Here, child, here's something 
 for you as well." And with that he gave her the 
 silver box, his tobacco box. " You can rinse it out 
 and use it to keep pins and things in," he said. " It's 
 
 22O
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 not the sort of thing for a present really. If I were 
 at home I could have found her something else ; I've 
 a heap of things. . . ." 
 
 But Geissler's waterwork remained after Geissler 
 had gone; there it was, working wonders day and 
 night, week after week; the fields turned green, the 
 potatoes ceased to flower, the corn shot up. . . . 
 
 The settlers from the holdings farther down be- 
 gan to come up, all anxious to see the marvel for 
 themselves. Axel Strom, the neighbour from 
 Maaneland, the man who had no wife, and no 
 woman to help him, but managed for himself, he 
 came too. He was in a good humour that day; he 
 told them how he had just got a promise of a girl 
 to help through the summer and that was a 
 weight off his mind. He did not say who the girl 
 was, and Isak did not ask, but it was Brede's girl 
 Barbro who was to come. It would cost the price 
 of a telegram to Bergen to fetch her; but Axel paid 
 the money, though he was not one of your extrava- 
 gant sort, but rather something of a miser. 
 
 It was the waterwork business that had enticed 
 him up today; he had looked it over from one end 
 to the other, and was highly interested. There was 
 no big river on his land, but he had a bit of a stream; 
 he had no planks, either, to make culverts with, but 
 he would dig his channels in the earth; it could be 
 done. Up to now, things were not absolutely at 
 their worst on his land, which lay lower down the 
 slopes; but if the drought continued, he, too, would 
 have to irrigate. When he had seen what he 
 
 221
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 wanted, he took his leave and went back at once. 
 No, he would not come in, hadn't the time; he was 
 going to start ditching that same evening. And off 
 he went. 
 
 This was something different from Brede's way. 
 
 Oh, Brede, he could run about the moorland 
 farms now telling news: miraculous waterworks at 
 Sellanraa ! " It doesn't pay to work your soil over- 
 much," he had said. " Look at Isak up there; he's 
 dug and dug about so long that at last he's had to 
 water the whole ground." 
 
 Isak was patient, but he wished many a time 
 that he could get rid of the fellow, hanging about 
 Sellanraa with his boastful ways. Brede put it all 
 down to the telegraph; as long as he was a public 
 official, it was his duty to keep the line in order. 
 But the telegraph company had already had occa- 
 sion several times to reprimand him for neglect, and 
 had again offered the post to Isak. No, it was not 
 the telegraph that was in Brede's mind all the time, 
 but the ore up in the hills ; it was his one idea now, 
 a mania. 
 
 He took to dropping in often now at Sellanraa, 
 confident that he had found the treasure; he would 
 nod his head and say: " I can't tell you all about 
 it yet, but I don't mind saying I've struck something 
 remarkable this time." Wasting hours and energy 
 all for nothing. And when he came back in the 
 evening to his little house, he would fling down a 
 little sack of samples on the floor, and puff and blow 
 after his day's work, as if no man could have toiled 
 
 222
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 harder for his daily bread. He grew a few pota- 
 toes on sour, peaty soil, and cut the tufts of grass 
 that grew by themselves on the ground about the 
 house that was Brede's farming. He was never 
 made for a farmer, and there could be but one end to 
 it all. His turf roof was falling to pieces already, 
 and the steps to the kitchen were rotten with damp ; 
 a grindstone lay on the ground, and the cart was 
 still left uncovered in the open. 
 
 Brede was fortunate perhaps in that such little 
 matters never troubled him. When the children 
 rolled his grindstone about for play, he was kind 
 and indulgent, and would even help them to roll 
 it himself. An easy-going, idle nature, never seri- 
 ous, but also never down-hearted, a weak, irresponsi- 
 ble character; but he managed to find food, such 
 as it was, and kept himself and his alive from day to 
 day; managed to keep them somehow. But it was 
 not to be expected that the storekeeper could go on 
 feeding Brede and his family for ever; he had said 
 so more than once to Brede himself, and he said 
 it now in earnest. Brede admitted he was right, 
 and promised to turn over a new leaf he would 
 sell his place, and very likely make a good thing 
 out of it and pay what he owed at the store ! 
 
 Oh, but Brede would sell out anyhow, even at a 
 loss; what was the good of a farm for him? He 
 was home-sick for the village again, the easy gos- 
 siping life there, and the little shop it suited him 
 better than settling down here to work, and trying 
 to forget the world outside. Could he ever forget 
 
 223
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the Christmas trees and parties, or the national 
 feastings on Constitution Day, or the bazaars held 
 in the meeting-rooms? He loved to talk with his 
 kind, to exchange news and views, but who was there 
 to talk with here? Inger up at Sellanraa had 
 seemed to be one of his sort for a while, but then 
 she had changed there was no getting a word out 
 of her now. And besides, she had been in prison; 
 and for a man in his position no, it would never 
 do. 
 
 No, he had made a mistake in ever leaving the 
 village; it was throwing himself away. He noted 
 with envy that the Lensmand had got another as- 
 sistant, and the doctor another man to drive for 
 him; he had run away from the people who needed 
 him, and now that he was no longer there, they man- 
 aged without him. But the men who had taken his 
 place they were no earthly good, of course. 
 Properly speaking, he, Brede, ought to be fetched 
 back to the village in triumph ! 
 
 Then there was Barbro why had he backed up 
 the idea of getting her to go as help to Sellanraa? 
 Well, that was after talking over things with his 
 wife. If all went well, it might mean a good future 
 for the girl, perhaps a future of a sort for all of 
 them. All very well to be housekeeper for two 
 young clerks in Bergen, but who could say what she 
 would get out of that in the long run? Barbro was 
 a pretty girl, and liked to look well; there might be 
 a better chance for her here, after all. For there 
 were two sons at Sellanraa. 
 
 224
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 But when Brede saw that this plan would never 
 come to anything, he hit on another. After all, 
 there was no great catch in marrying into Inger's 
 lot Inger who had been in prison. And there 
 were other lads to be thought of besides those two 
 Sellanraa boys there was Axel Strom, for in- 
 stance. He had a farm and a hut of his own, he 
 was a man who scraped and saved and little by 
 little managed to get hold of a bit of live stock 
 and such-like, but with no wife, and no woman to 
 help him. " Well, I don't mind telling you, if you 
 take Barbro, she'll be all the help you'll need," said 
 Brede to him. " Look, here's her picture; you can 
 see." 
 
 And after a week or so, came Barbro. Axel was 
 in the midst of his haymaking, and had to do his 
 mowing by day and haymaking by night, and all 
 by himself and then came Barbro ! It was a 
 godsend. Barbro soon showed she was not afraid 
 of work; she washed clothes and cleaned things, 
 cooked and milked and helped in the hayfield 
 helped to carry in the hay, she did. Axel deter- 
 mined to give her good wages, and not lose by it. 
 
 She was not merely a photograph of a fine lady 
 here. Barbro was straight and thin, spoke some- 
 what hoarsely, showed sense and experience in vari- 
 ous ways she was not a child. Axel wondered 
 what made her so thin and haggard in the face. 
 " I'd know you by your looks," he said; " but you're 
 not like the photograph." 
 
 225
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' That's only the journey," she said, " and living 
 in town air all that time." 
 
 And indeed, she very soon grew plump and well- 
 looking again. " Take my word for it," said Bar- 
 bro, " it pulls you down a bit, a journey like that, 
 and living in town like that." She hinted also at the 
 temptations of life in Bergen one had to be care- 
 ful there. But while they sat talking, she begged 
 him to take in a paper a Bergen newspaper so 
 that she could read a bit and see the news of the 
 world. She had got accustomed to reading, and 
 theatres and music, and it was so dull in a place 
 like this. 
 
 Axel was pleased with the results of his summer 
 help, and took in a paper. He also bore with the 
 frequent visits of the Brede family, who were con- 
 stantly dropping in at his place and eating and 
 drinking. He was anxious to show that he appre- 
 ciated this servant-girl of his. And what could be 
 nicer and homelier than when Barbro sat there of a 
 Sunday evening twanging the strings of a guitar and 
 singing a little with her hoarse voice? Axel was 
 touched by it all, by the pretty, strange songs, by 
 the mere fact that some one really sat there singing 
 on his poor half-baked farm. 
 
 True, in the course of the summer he learned to 
 know other sides of Barbro's character, but on the 
 whole, he was content. She had her fancies, and 
 could answer hastily at times; was somewhat over- 
 quick to answer back. That Saturday evening, for 
 instance, when Axel himself had to go down to the 
 
 226
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 village to get some things, it was wrong of Barbro 
 to run away from the hut and the animals and leave 
 the place to itself. They had a few words over 
 that. And where had she been? Only to her 
 home, to Breidablik, but still . . . When Axel came 
 back to the hut that night, Barbro was not there; he 
 looked to the animals, got himself something to eat, 
 and turned in. Towards morning Barbro came. 
 " I only wanted to see what it was like to step on a 
 wooden floor again," she said, somewhat scornfully. 
 And Axel could find nothing much to say to that, 
 seeing that he had as yet but a turf hut with a floor 
 of beaten earth. He did say, however, that if it 
 came to that, he could get a few planks himself, and 
 no doubt but he'd have a house with a wooden floor 
 himself in time! Barbro seemed penitent at that; 
 she was not altogether unkindly. And for all it was 
 Sunday, she went off at once to the woods and gath- 
 ered fresh jumper twigs to spread on the earthen 
 floor. 
 
 And then, seeing she was so fine-hearted and be- 
 haved so splendidly, what could Axel do but bring 
 out the kerchief he had bought for her the evening 
 before, though he had really thought of keeping it 
 by a while, and getting something respectable out 
 of her in return. And there ! she was pleased with 
 it, and tried it on at once ay, she turned to him 
 and asked if she didn't look nice in it. And yes, 
 indeed she did; and she might put on his old fur cap 
 if she liked, and she'd look nice in that! Barbro 
 laughed at this and tried to say something really nice 
 
 227
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 in return; she said: "I'd far rather go to church 
 and communion in this kerchief than wear a hat. 
 In Bergen, of course, we always wore hats all 
 except common servant-girls from the country." 
 
 Friends .again, as nice as could be. 
 
 And when Axel brought out the newspaper he had 
 fetched from the post office, Barbro sat down to read 
 news of the world: of a burglary at a jeweller's shop 
 in one Bergen street, and a quarrel between two 
 gipsies in another; of a horrible find in the harbour 
 the dead body of a newborn child sewed up in an 
 old shirt with the sleeves cut off. " I wonder who 
 can have done it? " said Barbro. And she read the 
 list of marketing prices too, as she always did. 
 
 So the summer passed. 
 
 228
 
 Chapter XVI 
 
 GREAT changes at Sellanraa. 
 There was no knowing the place again, 
 after what it had been at first: sawmill, 
 cornmill, buildings of all sorts and kinds the 
 wilderness was peopled country now. And there 
 was more to come. But Inger was perhaps the 
 strangest of all; so altered she was, and good and 
 clever again. 
 
 The great event of last year, when things had 
 come to a head, was hardly enough in itself, perhaps, 
 to change her careless ways; there was backsliding 
 now and then, as when she found herself beginning 
 to talk of the " Institute " again, and the cathedral 
 at Trondhjem. Oh, innocent things enough; and 
 she took off her ring, and let down that bold skirt 
 of hers some inches. She was grown thoughtful, 
 there was more quiet about the place, and visits were 
 less frequent; the girls and women from the village 
 came but rarely now, for Inger no longer cared to 
 see them. No one can live in the depth of the wilds 
 /* and have time for such foolishness. Happiness and 
 nonsense are two different things. 
 
 In the wilds, each season has its wonders, but al- 
 ways, unchangingly, there is that immense heavy 
 sound of heaven and earth, the sense of being sur- 
 
 229
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 rounded on all sides, the darkness of the forest, the 
 kindliness of the trees. All is heavy and soft, no 
 thought is impossible there. North of Sellanraa 
 there was a little tarn, a mere puddle, no bigger 
 than an aquarium. There lived some tiny baby fish 
 that never grew bigger, lived and died there and 
 were no use at all Herregud! no use on earth. 
 One evening Inger stood there listening for the cow- 
 bells; all was dead about her, she heard nothing, 
 and then came a song from the tarn. A little, little 
 song, hardly there at all, almost lost. It was the 
 tiny fishes' song. 
 
 They had this good fortune at Sellanraa, that 
 every spring and autumn they could see the grey 
 geese sailing in fleets above that wilderness, and hear 
 their chatter up in the air delirious talk it was. 
 And as if the world stood still for a moment, till 
 the train of them had passed. And the human souls 
 beneath, did they not feel a weakness gliding through 
 them now? They went to their work again, but 
 drawing breath first; something had spoken to them, 
 something from beyond. 
 
 Great marvels were about them at all times ; in the 
 winter were the stars; in winter often, too, the 
 northern lights, a firmament of wings, a conflagra- 
 tion in the mansions of God. Now and then, not 
 often ; not commonly, but now and then, they heard 
 the thunder. It came mostly in the autumn, and a 
 dark and solemn thing it was for man and beast; 
 the animals grazing near home would bunch to- 
 
 230
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 gather and stand waiting. Bowing their heads 
 what for? Waiting for the end? And man, what 
 of man standing in the wilds with bowed head, wait- 
 ing, when the thunder came? Waiting for what? 
 
 The spring ay, with its haste and joy and mad- 
 cap delight; but the autumn! It called up a fear of 
 darkness, drove one to an evening prayer; there were 
 visions about, and warnings on the air. Folks might 
 go out one day in autumn seeking for something' 
 the man for a piece of timber to his work, the 
 woman after cattle that ran wild now after mush- 
 room growths: they would come home with many 
 secrets in their mind. Did they tread unexpectedly 
 upon an ant, crushing its hind part fast to the path, 
 so the fore part could not free itself again? Or 
 step too near a white grouse nest, putting up a flut- 
 tering hissing mother to dash against them? Even 
 the big cow-mushrooms are not altogether meaning- 
 less; not a mere white emptiness in the eye. The 
 big mushroom does not flower, it does not move, but 
 there is something overturning in the look of it; it 
 is a monster, a thing like a lung standing there alive 
 and naked a lung without a body. 
 
 Inger grew despondent at last, the wilds op- 
 pressed her, she turned religious. How could she 
 help it? No one can help it in the wilds; life there 
 is not all earthly toil and worldliness; there is piety 
 and the fear of death and rich superstition. Inger, 
 maybe, felt that she had more reason than others 
 to fear the judgment of Heaven, and it would not 
 pass her by; she knew how God walked about in the 
 
 231
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 evening time looking out over all His wilderness 
 with fabulous eyes; ay, He would find her. There 
 was not so much in her daily life wherein she could 
 improve; true, she might bury her gold ring deep 
 in the bottom of a clothes chest, and she could write 
 to Eleseus and tell him to be converted too; after 
 that, there was nothing more she could find beyond 
 doing her work well and not sparing herself. Ay, 
 one thing more; she could dress in humble things, 
 only fastening a blue ribbon at her neck of Sundays. 
 False, unnecessary poverty but it was the expres- 
 sion of a kind of philosophy, self-humiliation, stoi- 
 cism. The blue ribbon was not new; it had been 
 cut from a cap little Leopoldine had grown out of; 
 it was faded here and there, and, to tell the truth, 
 a little dirty Inger wore it now as a piece of 
 modest finery on holy days. Ay, it may be that she 
 went beyond reason, feigning to be poor, striving 
 falsely to imitate the wretched who live in hovels; 
 but even so would her desert have been greater 
 if that sorry finery had been her best? Leave her 
 in peace; she has a right to peace! 
 
 She overdid things finely, and worked harder than 
 she ought. There were two men on the place, but 
 Inger took the chance when both were away at once, 
 and set to work herself sawing wood; and where 
 was the good of torturing and mortifying the flesh 
 that way? She was so insignificant a creature, so 
 little worth, her powers of so common a sort; her 
 death or life would not be noticed in the land, in the 
 State, only here in the wilds. Here, she was almost 
 
 232
 
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 great at any rate, the greatest; and she may well 
 have thought herself worth all the chastening she 
 ordered and endured. Her husband said: 
 
 " Sivert and I, we've been talking about this; we're 
 not going to have you sawing wood, and wearing 
 yourself out." 
 
 " I do it for conscience' sake," she answered. 
 
 Conscience! The word made Isak thoughtful 
 once more. He was getting on in years, slow to 
 think, but weighty when he did come to anything. 
 Conscience must be something pretty strong if it 
 could turn Inger all upside down like that. And 
 however it might be, Inger's conversion made a 
 change in him also; he caught it from her, grew 
 tame, and given to pondering. Life was all heavy- ^ 
 like and stern that winter; he sought for loneliness, ( 
 for a hiding-place. To save his own trees he had 
 bought up a piece of the State forest near by, with 
 some good timber, over toward the Swedish side, 
 and he did the felling now alone, refusing all help. 
 Sivert was ordered to stay at home and see that 
 his mother did not work too much. 
 
 And so, in those short winter days, Isak went out 
 to his work in the dark, and came home in the dark; 
 it was not always there was a moon, or any stars, 
 and at times his own track of the morning would 
 be covered with snow by nightfall, so he was hard 
 put to it to find his way. And one evening some- 
 thing happened. 
 
 He was nearing home; in the fine moonlight he 
 could see Sellanraa there on the hillside, neat and 
 
 233
 
 f. 
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 clear of the forest, but small, undergroundish to look 
 at, by reason of the snow banked high against the 
 walls. He had more timber now, and it was to be 
 a grand surprise for Inger and the children when 
 they heard what use he would make of it the won- 
 derful building he had in mind. He sat down in 
 the snow to rest a bit, not to seem worn out when he 
 came home. 
 
 All is quiet around him, and God's blessing on this 
 quiet and thoughtf ulness, for it is nothing but good ! 
 Isak is a man at work on a clearing in the forest, 
 and he looks out over the ground, reckoning what 
 is to be cleared next turn; heaving aside great stones 
 in his mind Isak had a real talent for that work. 
 There, he knows now, is a deep, bare patch on his 
 ground; it is full of ore; there is always a metallic 
 film over every puddle of water there and now he 
 will dig it out. He marks out squares with his eye, 
 making his plans for all, speculating over all; they 
 are to be made green and fruitful. Oh, but a piece \ 
 of tilled soil was a great and good thing; it was like 
 right and order to his mind, and a delight beyond . . . 
 
 He got up, and felt suddenly confused. H'm. 
 What had happened now? Nothing, only that he 
 had been sitting down a bit. Now there is some- 
 thing standing there before him, a Being, a spirit; 
 grey silk no, it was nothing. He felt strange 
 took one short, uncertain step forward, and 
 walked straight into a look, a great look, a pair of I 
 eyes. At the same moment the aspens close by 
 began rustling. Now any one knows that an aspen j 
 
 234
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 can have a horrible eerie way of rustling at times; 
 anyhow, Isak had never before heard such an utterly 
 horrible rustling as this, and he shuddered. Also 
 he put out one hand in front of him, and it was 
 perhaps the most helpless movement that hand had 
 ever made. 
 
 But what was this thing before him? Was it 
 ghost-work or reality? Isak would all his days 
 have been ready to swear that this was a higher 
 power, and once indeed he had seen it, but the thing 
 he saw now did not look like God. Possibly the 
 Holy Ghost? If so, what was it standing there for 
 anyway, in the midst of nowhere; two eyes, a look, 
 and nothing more ? If it had come to him, to fetch 
 away his soul, why, so it would have to be ; it would 
 happen one day, after all, and then he would go to 
 heaven and be among the blest. 
 
 Isak was eager to see what would come next; he 
 was shivering still; a coldness seemed to radiate 
 from the figure before him it must be the Evil 
 One! And here Isak was no longer sure of his 
 ground, so to speak. It might be the Evil One 
 but what did he want here? What had he, Isak, 
 been doing? Nothing but sitting still and tilling 
 the ground, as it were, in his thoughts there could 
 surely be no harm in that? There was no other 
 guilt he could call to mind just then; he was only 
 coming back from his work in the forest, a tired and 
 hungry woodman, going home to Sellanraa he 
 means no harm. . . . 
 
 He took a step forward again, but it was only a 
 
 235
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 little one, and, to tell the truth, he stepped back 
 again immediately. The vision would not give way. 
 Isak knitted his brows, as if beginning to suspect 
 something. If it were the Evil One, why, let it 
 be; the Evil One was not all-powerful there was 
 Luther, for instance, who had nearly killed the fiend 
 himself, not to speak of many who had put him to 
 flight by the sign of the cross and Jesu name. Not 
 that Isak meant to defy the peril before him; it was 
 not in his mind to sit down and laugh in its face, but 
 he certainly gave up his first idea of dying and the 
 next world. He took two steps forward straight 
 at the vision, crossed himself, and cried out: "In 
 Jesu name ! " 
 
 H'm. At the sound of his own voice he came, as 
 it were, to himself again, and saw Sellanraa over on 
 the hillside once more. The two eyes in the air 
 had gone. 
 
 He lost no time in getting home, and took no steps 
 to challenge the spectre further. But when he 
 found himself once more safely on his own door- 
 slab, he cleared his throat with a sense of power 
 and security; he walked into the house with lofty 
 mien, like a man ay, a man of the world. 
 
 Inger started at the sight of him, and asked what 
 made him so pale. 
 
 And at that he did not deny having met the Evil 
 One himself. 
 
 "Where?" she asked. 
 
 " Over there. Right up towards our place." 
 
 Inger evinced no jealousy on her part. She did 
 236
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 not praise him for it, true, but there was nothing in 
 her manner suggestive of a hard word or a con- 
 temptuous kick. Inger herself, you see, had grown 
 somewhat lighter of heart and kindlier of late, what- 
 ever the cause; and now she merely asked: 
 
 "The Evil One himself?" 
 
 Isak nodded: as far as he could see it was him- 
 self and no other. 
 
 " And how did you get rid of him? " 
 
 " I went for him in Jesu name," said Isak. 
 
 Inger wagged her head, altogether overwhelmed, 
 and it was some time before she could get his supper 
 on the table. 
 
 " Anyhow," said she at last, " we'll have no more 
 of you going out alone in the woods by yourself." 
 
 She was anxious about him and it did him good 
 to know it. He made out to be as bold as ever, 
 and altogether careless whether he went alone or 
 in company; but this was only to quiet Inger's mind, 
 not to frighten her more than necessary with the 
 awful thing that had happened to himself. It was 
 his place to protect her and them all; he was the 
 Man, the Leader. 
 
 But Inger saw through it also, and said: " Oh, I 
 know you don't want to frighten me. But you must 
 take Sivert with you all the same." 
 
 Isak only sniffed. 
 
 ' You might be taken poorly of a sudden, taken 
 ill out in the woods you've not been over well 
 lately." 
 
 Isak sniffed again. 111? Tired, perhaps, and 
 
 237
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 worn out a bit, but ill ? No need for Inger to start 
 worrying and making a fool of him; he was sound 
 and well enough; ate, slept, and worked; his health 
 was simply terrific, it was incurable! Once, felling 
 a tree, the thing had come down on top of him, and 
 broken his ear; but he made light of it. He set the 
 ear in place again, and kept it there by wearing his 
 cap drawn over it night and day, and it grew to- 
 gether again that way. For internal complaints, he 
 dosed himself with treak boiled in milk to make him 
 sweat liquorice it was, bought at the store, an 
 old and tried remedy, the Teriak of the ancients. 
 If he chanced to cut his hand, he treated the wound 
 with an ever-present fluid containing salts, and it 
 healed up in a few days. No doctor was ever sent 
 for to Sellanraa. 
 
 No, Isak was not ill. A meeting with the Evil 
 One might happen even to the healthiest man. And 
 he felt none the worse for his adventure afterwards; 
 on the contrary, it seemed to have strengthened 
 him. And as the winter drew on, and it was not 
 such a dreadful time to wait till the spring, he, the 
 Man and the Leader, began to feel himself almost 
 a hero : he understood these things ; only trust to him 
 and all would be well. In case of need, he could 
 exorcise the Evil One himself ! 
 
 Altogether, the days were longer and lighter now; 
 Easter was past, Isak had hauled up all his timber, 
 everything looked bright, human beings could 
 breathe again after another winter gone. 
 
 Inger was again the first to brighten up; she had 
 238
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 been more cheerful now for a long time. What 
 could it be? Ho, 'twas for a very simple reason; 
 Inger was heavy again; expecting a child again. 
 Everything worked out easily in her life, no hitch 
 anywhere. But what a mercy, after the way she 
 had sinned! it was more than she had any right to 
 expect. Ay, she was fortunate, fortunate. Isak 
 himself actually noticed something one day, and 
 asked her straight out: " Looks to me as if you're 
 on the way again; what do you say yourself? " 
 
 " Ay, Lord be thanked, 'tis surely so," she 
 answered. 
 
 They were both equally astonished. Not that 
 Inger was past the age, of course; to Isak's mind, 
 she was not too old in any way. But still, another 
 child . . . well, well. . . . And little Leopoldine 
 going to school several times a year down at Breida- 
 blik that left them with no little ones about the 
 place now besides which, Leopoldine herself was 
 grown up now. 
 
 Some days passed, and Isak resolutely threw 
 away a whole week-end from Saturday evening 
 till Monday morning on a trip down to the vil- 
 lage. He would not say what he was going for 
 when he set out, but on his return, he brought with 
 him a girl. " This is Jensine," he said. " Come to 
 help." 
 
 ; 'Tis all your nonsense," said Inger. " I've no 
 need of help at all." 
 
 Isak answered that she did need a help just 
 now. 
 
 239
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Need or not it was a kind and generous 
 thought of his; Inger was abashed and grateful. 
 The new girl was a daughter of the blacksmith, and 
 she was to stay with them for the present; through 
 the summer, anyhow, and then they would see. 
 
 " And I've sent a telegram," said Isak, " after 
 him Eleseus." 
 
 This fairly startled Inger; startled the mother. 
 A telegram? Did he mean to upset her com- 
 pletely with his thoughtfulness ? It had been her 
 great sorrow of late that boy Eleseus was away 
 in town in the evil-minded town ; she had writ- 
 ten to him about God, and likewise explained to 
 him how his father here was beginning to sink under 
 the work, and the place getting bigger all the time; 
 little Sivert couldn't manage it all by himself, and 
 besides, he was to have money after his uncle one 
 day all this she had written, and sent him the 
 money for his journey once for all. But Eleseus 
 was a man-about-town now, and had no sort of 
 longing for a peasant's life; he answered something 
 about what was he to do anyway if he did come 
 home? Work on a farm and throw away all the 
 knowledge and learning he had gained? " In point 
 of fact," that was how he put it, " I've no de- 
 sire to come back now. And if you could send me 
 some stuff for underclothes, it would save me getting 
 the things on credit." So he wrote. And yes, his 
 mother sent him stuff sent him remarkable quan- 
 tities of stuff from time to time for underclothes. 
 But when she was converted, and got religion, the 
 
 240
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 scales fell from her eyes, and she understood that 
 Eleseus was selling the stuff and spending the money 
 on other things. 
 
 His father saw it too. He never spoke of it; he 
 knew that Eleseus was his mother's darling, and how 
 she cried over him and shook her head; but one piece 
 of finely woven stuff went after another the same 
 way, and he knew it was more than any living man 
 could use for underclothes. Altogether, it came to 
 this : Isak must be Man and Leader again head 
 of the house, and step in and interfere. It had cost 
 a terrible lot of money, to be sure, getting the store- 
 keeper to send a telegram; but in the first place, a 
 telegram could not fail to make an impression on 
 the boy, and also it was something unusually fine 
 for Isak himself to come home and tell Inger. He 
 carried the servant-girl's box on his back as he strode 
 home; but for all that, he was proud and full of 
 weighty secrets as he had been the day he came home 
 with that gold ring. . . . 
 
 It was a grand time after that. For a long while, 
 Inger could not do enough in the way of showing her 
 husband how good and useful she could be. She 
 would say to him now, as in the old days : " You're 
 working yourself to death!" Or again: " 'Tis 
 more than any man can stand." Or again: " Now, 
 you're not to work any more ; come in and have din- 
 ner I've made some wafers for you I " And to 
 please him, she said: " I should just like to know, 
 now, what you've got in your mind with all that 
 wood, and what you're going to build, now, next ? " 
 
 241
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' Why, I can't say as yet," said Isak, making a 
 mystery of it. 
 
 Ay, just as in the old days. And after the child 
 was born and it was a little girl a great big 
 girl, fine-looking and sturdy and sound after that, 
 Isak must have been a stone and a miserable crea- 
 ture if he had not thanked God. But what was he 
 going to build? It would be more news for Oline 
 to g gadding about with a new building again 
 at Sellanraa. A new wing of the house a new 
 house it was to be. And there were so many now at 
 Sellanraa they had a servant-girl ; and Eleseus, 
 he was coming home; and a brand-new little girl- 
 child of their own, just come the old house would 
 be just an extra room now, nothing more. 
 
 And, of course, he had to tell Inger about it one 
 day; she was so curious to know, and though maybe 
 Inger knew it all beforehand, from Sivert, they 
 two were often whispering together, she was all 
 surprised as any one could be, and let her arms fall, 
 and said : " 'Tis all your nonsense you don't mean 
 it?" 
 
 And Isak, brimming over with greatness inside, he 
 answered her: "Why, with you bringing I don't 
 know how many more children on the place, 'tis the 
 least I can do, it seems." 
 
 The two menfolk were out now every day getting 
 stone for the walls of the new house. They worked 
 their utmost together each in his own way: the one 
 young, and with his young body firmly set, quick to 
 see his way, to mark out the stones that would suit; 
 
 242
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the other ageing tough, with long arms, and a 
 mighty weight to bear down on a crowbar. When 
 they had managed some specially difficult feat, they 
 would hold a breathing-space, and talk together in 
 a curious, reserved fashion of their own. 
 
 " Brede, he talks of selling out," said the father. 
 
 " Ay," said the son. " Wonder what he'll be 
 asking for the place ? " 
 
 " Ay, I wonder." 
 
 " You've not heard anything? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " I've heard two hundred." 
 
 The father thought for a while, and said : " What 
 d'you think, '11 this be a good stone? " 
 
 " All depends if we can get this shell off him," 
 said Sivert, and was on his feet in a moment, giving 
 the setting-hammer to his father, and taking the 
 sledge himself. He grew red and hot, stood up to 
 his full height and let the sledge-hammer fall; rose 
 again and let it fall ; twenty strokes alike twenty 
 thunder-strokes. He spared neither tool nor 
 strength; it was heavy work; his shirt rucked up 
 from his trousers at the waist, leaving him bare in 
 front; he lifted on his toes each time to give the 
 sledge a better swing. Twenty strokes. 
 
 " Now! Let's look! " cried his father. 
 
 The son stops, and asks: " Marked him any? " 
 
 And they lay down together to look at the stone ; 
 look at the beast, the devil of a thing; no, not 
 marked any as yet. 
 
 " I've a mind to try with the sledge alone," said 
 
 243
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 the father, and stood up. Still harder work this, 
 sheer force alone, the hammer grew hot, the steel 
 crushed, the pen grew blunt. 
 
 " She'll be slipping the head," he said, and 
 stopped. "And I'm no hand at this any more," he 
 said. 
 
 Oh, but he never meant it; it was not his thought, 
 that he was no hand at the work any more ! 
 
 This father, this barge of a man, simple, full of 
 patience and goodness, he would let his son strike 
 the last few blows and cleave the stone. And there 
 it lay, split in two. 
 
 " Ay, you've the trick of it," said the father. 
 " H'm, yes . . . Breidablik . . . might make 
 something out of that place." 
 
 " Ay, should think so," said the son. 
 
 " Only the land was fairly ditched and turned." 
 
 " The house'd have to be done up." 
 
 " Ay, that of course. Place all done up 
 'twould mean a lot of work at first, but . . . What 
 I was going to say, d'you know if your mother was 
 going to church come Sunday? " 
 
 " Ay, she said something like it." 
 
 " Ho I ... H'm. Keep your eyes open now 
 and look out for a good big door-slab for the new 
 house. You haven't seen a bit would do? " 
 
 " No," said Sivert 
 
 And they fell to work again. 
 
 A couple of days later both agreed they had 
 enough stone now for the walls. It was Friday 
 
 244
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 evening; they sat taking a breathing-space, and talk- 
 ing together the while. 
 
 " H'm what d'you say?" said the father. 
 " Should we think it over, maybe, about Breida- 
 blik?" 
 
 " How d'you mean? " asked the son. " What to 
 do with it?" 
 
 ' Why, I don't know. There's the school there, 
 and it's midway down this tract now." 
 
 "And what then?" asked the son. "I don't 
 know what we'd do with it, though; it's not worth 
 much as it is." 
 
 " That's what you've been thinking of? " 
 
 " No, not that way. . . . Unless Eleseus he'd 
 like to have the place to work on." 
 
 " Eleseus? Well, no, I don't know " 
 
 Long pause, the two men thinking hard. The 
 father begins gathering tools together, packing up 
 to go home. 
 
 " Ay, unless . . ." said Sivert. " You might ask 
 him what he says." 
 
 The father made an end of the matter thus: 
 " Well, there's another day, and we haven't found 
 that door-slab yet, either." 
 
 Next day was Saturday, and they had to be off 
 early to get across the hills with the child. Jensine, 
 the servant-girl, was to go with them; that was one 
 godmother, the rest they would have to find from 
 among Inger's folk on the other side. 
 
 Inger looked nice; she had made herself a dainty 
 
 245
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 cotton dress, with white at the neck and wrists. 
 The child was all in white, with a new blue silk rib- 
 bon drawn through the lower edge of its dress ; but 
 then she was a wonder of a child, to be sure, that 
 could smile and chatter already, and lay and listened 
 when the clock struck on the wall. Her father had 
 chosen her name. It was his right; he was deter- 
 mined to have his say only trust to him! He had 
 hesitated between Jacobine and Rebecca, as being 
 both sort of related to Isak; and at last he went to 
 Inger and asked timidly: "What d'you think, now, 
 of Rebecca?" 
 
 " Why, yes," said Inger. 
 
 And when Isak heard that, he grew suddenly in- 
 dependent and master in his own house. " If she's 
 to have a name at all," he said sharply, " it shall be 
 Rebecca ! I'll see to that." 
 
 And of course he was going with the party to 
 church, partly to carry, and partly for propriety's 
 sake. It would never do to let Rebecca go to be 
 christened without a decent following ! Isak trimmed 
 his beard and put on a red shirt, as in his younger 
 days; it was in the worst of the hot weather, but 
 he had a nice new winter suit, that looked well 
 on him, and he wore it. But for all that, Isak was 
 not the man to make a duty of finery and show; as 
 now, for instance, he put on a pair of fabulously 
 heavy boots for the march. 
 
 Sivert and Leopoldine stayed behind to look after 
 the place. 
 
 Then they rowed in a boat across the lake, and 
 246
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 that was a deal easier than before, when they had 
 had to walk round all the way. But half-way across, 
 as Inger unfastened her dress to nurse the child, Isak 
 noticed something bright hung in a string round 
 her neck; whatever it might be. And in the church 
 he noticed that she wore that gold ring on her fin- 
 ger. Oh, Inger it had been too much for her 
 after all I 
 
 247
 
 Chapter XVII 
 
 ELESEUS came home. 
 He had been away now for some years, 
 and had grown taller than his father, with 
 long white hands and a little dark growth on his 
 upper lip. He did not give himself airs, but seemed 
 anxious to appear natural and kindly; his mother, 
 was surprised and pleased. He shared the small 
 bedroom with Sivert; the two brothers got on well 
 together, and were constantly playing tricks on each 
 other by way of amusement. But, naturally, Ele- 
 seus had to take his share of the work in building 
 the house; and tired and miserable it made him, all 
 unused as he was to bodily fatigue of any kind. It 
 was worse still when Sivert had to go off and leave 
 it all to the other two ; Eleseus then was almost more 
 of a hindrance than a help. 
 
 And where had Sivert gone off to? Why, 'twas 
 Oline had come over the hills one day with word 
 from Uncle Sivert that he was dying; and, of course, 
 young Sivert had to go. A nice state of things all 
 at once it couldn't have happened worse than to 
 have Sivert running off just now. But there was no 
 help for it. 
 
 Said Oline : " I'd no time to go running errands, 
 and that's the truth; but for all that . . . I've 
 taken a fancy to the children here, all of them, and 
 
 248
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 little Sivert, and if as I could help him to his 
 legacy . . ." 
 
 " But was Uncle Sivert very bad, then? " 
 
 " Bad? Heaven bless us, he's falling away day 
 by day." 
 
 "Was he in bed, then?" 
 
 " In bed? How can you talk so light and flighty 
 of death before God's Judgment-seat? Nay, he'll 
 neither hop nor run again in this world, will your 
 Uncle Sivert." 
 
 All this seemed to mean that Uncle Sivert had 
 not long to live, and Inger insisted that little Sivert 
 should set off at once. 
 
 But Uncle Sivert, incorrigible old knave, was not 
 on his death-bed; was not even confined to bed at all. 
 When young Sivert came, he found the little place 
 in terrible muddle and disorder; they had not fin- 
 ished the spring season's work properly yet had 
 not even carted out all the winter manure; but as 
 for approaching death, there was no sign of it that 
 he could see. Uncle Sivert was an old man now, 
 over seventy; he was something of an invalid, and 
 pottered about half-dressed in the house, and often 
 kept his bed for a time. He needed help on the 
 place in many ways, as, for instance, with the herring 
 nets that hung rotting in the sheds. Oh, but for 
 all that he was by no means at his last gasp ; he could 
 still eat sour fish and smoke his pipe. 
 
 When Sivert had been there half an hour and seen 
 how things were, he was for going back home again. 
 
 " Home? " said the old man. 
 249
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' We're building a house, and father's none to 
 help him properly." 
 
 " Ho ! " said his uncle. " Isn't Eleseus come 
 home, then?" 
 
 " Ay, but he's not used to the work." 
 
 ' Then why did you come at all? " 
 
 Sivert told him about Oline and her message, how 
 she had said that Uncle Sivert was on the point of 
 death. 
 
 " Point of death? " cried the old man. " Said I 
 was on the point of death, did she? A cursed old 
 fool!" 
 
 "Ha ha ha! "said Sivert. 
 
 The old man looked sternly at him. "Eh? 
 Laugh at a dying man, do you, and you called after 
 me and all ! " 
 
 But Sivert was too young to put on a graveyard 
 face for that; he had never cared much for his uncle. 
 And now he wanted to get back home again. 
 
 " Ho, so you thought so, too? " said the old man 
 again. " Thought I was at my last gasp, and that 
 fetched you, did it? " 
 
 " 'Twas Oline said so," answered Sivert. 
 
 His uncle was silent for a while, then spoke again : 
 
 " Look you here. If you'll mend that net of mine 
 and put it right, I'll show you something." 
 
 " H'm," said Sivert. " What is it? " 
 
 " Well, never you mind," said the old man sul- 
 lenly, and went to bed again. 
 
 It was going to be a long business, evidently. 
 Sivert writhed uncomfortably. He went out and 
 took a look round the place ; everything was shame- 
 
 250
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 fully neglected and uncared for; it was hopeless to 
 begin work here. When he came in after a while, 
 his uncle was sitting up, warming himself at the 
 stove. 
 
 " See that? " He pointed to an oak chest on the 
 floor at his feet. It was his money chest. As a 
 matter of fact, it was a lined case made to hold bot- 
 tles, such as visiting justices and other great folk 
 used to carry with them when travelling about the 
 country in the old days, but there were no bot- 
 tles in it now; the old man had used it for his docu- 
 ments and papers as district treasurer; he kept his 
 accounts and his money in it now. The story ran 
 that it was full of uncounted riches; the village folk 
 would shake their heads and say: " Ah ! if I'd only as 
 much as lies in old Sivert his chest ! " 
 
 Uncle Sivert took out a paper from the box and 
 said solemnly: " You can read writing, I suppose? " 
 
 Little Sivert was not by any means a great hand 
 at that, it is true, but he made out so much as told 
 him he was to inherit all that his uncle might leave 
 at his death. 
 
 " There," said the old man. " And now you can 
 do as you please." And he laid the paper back in 
 the chest. 
 
 Sivert was not greatly impressed; after all, the 
 paper told him no more than he had known before; 
 ever since he was a child he had heard say that he 
 was to have what Uncle Sivert left one day. A 
 sight of the treasure would be another matter. 
 
 " There's some fine things in that chest, I doubt," 
 said he. 251
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' There's more than you think," said the old man 
 shortly. 
 
 He was angry and disappointed with his nephew; 
 he locked up the box and went to bed again. There 
 he lay, delivering jets of information. " I've been 
 district treasurer and warden of the public moneys 
 in this village over thirty year; I've no need to beg 
 and pray for a helping hand from any man ! Who 
 told Oline, I'd like to know, that I was on my death- 
 bed? I can send three men, carriage and cart to 
 fetch a doctor if I want one. Don't try your games 
 with me, young man ! Can't even wait till I'm gone, 
 it seems. I've shown you the document and you've 
 seen it, and it's there in the chest that's all I've 
 got to say. But if you go running off and leave me 
 now, you can just carry word to Eleseus and tell him 
 to come. He's not named after me and called by 
 my earthly name let him come." 
 
 But for all the threatening tone, Sivert only 
 thought a moment, and said: "Ay, I'll tell Eleseus 
 to come." 
 
 Oline was still at Sellanraa when Sivert got back. 
 She had found time to pay a visit lower down, to 
 Axel Strom and Barbro on their place, and came 
 back full of mysteries and whisperings. " That girl 
 Barbro's filling out a deal of late Lord knows 
 what it may mean. But not a word that I've said 
 so! And here's Sivert back again? No need to 
 ask what news, I suppose? Your Uncle Sivert's 
 passed away? Ay, well, an old man he was and an 
 aged one, on the brink of the grave. What not 
 
 252
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 dead? Well, well, we've much to be thankful for, 
 and that's a solemn word! Me talking nonsense, 
 you say? Oh, if I'd never more to answer for! 
 How was I to know your uncle he was lying there 
 a sham and a false pretender before the Lord? 
 Not long to live, that's what I said. And I'll hold 
 by it, when the time comes, before the Throne. 
 What's that you say? Well, and wasn't he lying 
 there his very self in his bed, and folding his hands 
 on his breast and saying 'twould soon be over? " 
 
 There was no arguing with Oline, she bewildered 
 her adversaries with talk and cast them down. 
 When she learned that Uncle Sivert had sent for 
 Eleseus, she grasped at that too, and made her own 
 advantage of it: " There you are, and see if I was 
 talking nonsense. Here's old Sivert calling up his 
 kinsfolk and longing for a sight of his own flesh and 
 blood; ay, he's nearing his end! You can't refuse 
 him, Eleseus; off with you at once this minute and 
 see your uncle while there's life in him. I'm going 
 that way too, we'll go together." 
 
 Oline did not leave Sellanraa without taking Inger 
 aside for more whisperings of Barbro. " Not a 
 word I've said but I could see the signs of it! 
 And now I suppose she'll be wife and all on the 
 farm there. Ay, there's some folk are born to great \ 
 things, for all they may be small as the sands of \ 
 the sea in their beginnings. And who'd have ever | 
 thought it of that girl Barbro ! Axel, yes, never 
 doubt but he's a toiling sort and getting on, and 
 great fine lands and means and all like you've got 
 
 253
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 here 'tis more than we know of over on our side 
 the hills, as you know's a true word, Inger, being 
 born and come of the place yourself. Barbro, she'd 
 a trifle of wool in a chest; 'twas naught but winter 
 wool, and I wasn't asking and she never offered me. 
 We said but Goddag and Farvel, for all that I'd 
 known her from she was a toddling child all that 
 time I was here at Sellanraa by reason of you being 
 away and learning knowledge at the Institute ..." 
 
 ' There's Rebecca crying," said Inger, breaking 
 in on Oline. But she gave her a handful of wool. 
 
 Then a great thanksgiving speech from Oline: 
 ay, wasn't it just as she had said to Barbro herself 
 of Inger, and how there was not her like to be found 
 for giving to folk; ay, she'd give till she was bare, 
 and give her fingers to the bone, and never complain. 
 Ay, go in and see to the sweet angel, and never was 
 there a child in the world so like her mother as 
 Rebecca no. Did Inger remember how she'd 
 said one day as she'd never have children again? 
 Ah, now she could see ! No, better give ear to 
 them as were grown old and had borne children of 
 their own, for who should fathom the Lord His 
 ways, said Oline. 
 
 And with that she padded off after Eleseus up 
 through the forest, shrunken with age, grey and 
 abject, and for ever nosing after things, imperish- 
 able. Going to old Sivert now, to let him know 
 how she, Oline, had managed to persuade Eleseus to 
 come. 
 
 But Eleseus had needed no persuading, there was 
 
 254
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 no difficulty there. For, look you, Eleseus had 
 turned out better, after all, than he'd begun; a 
 decent lad in his way, kindly and easy-going from a 
 child, only nothing great in the way of bodily 
 strength. It was not without reason he had been 
 unwilling to come home this time; he knew well 
 enough that his mother had been in prison for child- 
 murder; he had never heard a word about it there 
 in the town, but at home in the village every one 
 would remember. And it was not for nothing he 
 had been living with companions of another sort. 
 He had grown to be more sensitive and finer feeling 
 than ever before. He knew that a fork was really 
 just as necessary as a knife. As a man of business, 
 he used the terms of the new coinage, whereas, out 
 in the wilds, men still counted money by the ancient 
 Daler. Ay, he was not unwilling to walk across 
 the hills to other parts; here, at home, he was con- 
 stantly forced to keep down his own superiority. 
 He tried his best to adapt himself to the others, 
 and he managed well; but it was always having to 
 be on his guard. As, for instance, when he had first 
 come back to Sellanraa a couple of weeks ago, he 
 had brought with him his light spring overcoat, 
 though it was midsummer; and when he hung it up 
 on a nail, he might just as well have turned it so as 
 to show the silver plate inside with his initials, but 
 he didn't. And the same with his stick his walk- 
 ing-stick. True, it was only an umbrella stick really, 
 that he had dismantled and taken the framework off ; 
 but here he had not used it as he did in town, swing- 
 
 255
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ing it about only carried it hidden against his 
 thigh. 
 
 No, it was not surprising that Eleseus went across 
 the hills. He was no good at building houses; he 
 was good at writing with letters, a thing not every 
 one could do, but here at home there was no one in 
 all the place that set any store by the art of it save 
 perhaps his mother. He set off gaily through the 
 woods, far ahead of Oline; he could wait for her 
 farther up. He ran like a calf; he hurried. Ele- 
 seus had in a way stolen off from the farm; he 
 was afraid of being seen. For, to tell the truth, he 
 had taken with him both spring coat and walking- 
 stick for the journey. Over on the other side there 
 might be a chance of seeing people, and being seen 
 himself; he might even be able to go to church. 
 And so he sweated happily under the weight of an 
 unnecessary spring coat in the heat of the sun. 
 
 They did not miss him at the building, far from 
 it. Isak had Sivert back again, and Sivert was 
 worth a host of his brother at that work; he could 
 keep at it from morning to night. It did not take 
 them long to get the framework up; it was only 
 three walls, as they were building out from the 
 other. And they had less trouble with the timber; 
 they could cut their planks at the sawmill, which 
 gave them the outside pieces for roofing at the same 
 time. And one fine day there was the house all fin- 
 ished, before their eyes, roofed, floored, and with 
 the windows in. They had no time for more than 
 
 256
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 this between the seasons; the boarding and painting 
 would have to wait. 
 
 And now came Geissler with a great following 
 across the hills from Sweden. And the men with 
 him rode on horseback with glossy-coated horses 
 and yellow saddles; rich travellers they must be no 
 doubt; stout, heavy men; the horses bowed under 
 their weight. And among all these great person- 
 ages came Geissler on foot. Four gentlemen and 
 Geissler made up the party, and then there were a 
 couple of servants, each leading a packhorse. 
 
 The riders dismounted outside the farm, and 
 Geissler said: " Here's Isak here's the Margrave 
 of the place himself. Goddag, Isak! I've come 
 back again, you see, as I said I would." 
 
 Geissler was the same as ever. For all that he 
 came on foot, his manner showed no consciousness 
 of inferiority to the rest; ay, his threadbare coat 
 hung long and wretched-looking down over his 
 shrunken back, but he put on a grand enough air for 
 all that. He even said : " We're going up into the 
 hills a bit, these gentlemen and myself it'll do 
 them good to get their weight down a bit." 
 
 The gentlemen themselves were nice and pleasant 
 enough; they smiled at Geissler's words, and hoped 
 Isak would excuse their coming rioting over his land 
 like this. They had brought their own provisions, 
 and did not propose to eat him out of house and 
 home, but they would be glad of a roof over their 
 
 257
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 heads for the night. Perhaps he could put them up 
 in the new building there? 
 
 When they had rested a while, and Geissler had 
 been inside with Inger and the children, the whole 
 party went up into the hills and stayed out till even- 
 ing. Now and again in the course of the afternoon, 
 the folks at Sellanraa could hear an unusually heavy 
 report from the distance, and the train of them 
 came down with new bags of samples. " Blue cop- 
 per," they said, nodding at the ore. They talked 
 long and learnedly, and consulting a sort of map 
 they had drawn; there was an engineer among them, 
 and a mining expert; one appeared to be a big land- 
 owner or manager of works. They talked of aerial 
 railways and cable traction. Geissler threw in a 
 word here and there, and each time as if advising 
 them; they paid great attention to what he said. 
 
 " Who owns the land south of the lake? " one of 
 them asked Isak. 
 
 " The State," answered Geissler quickly. He 
 was wide awake and sharp, and held in his hand the 
 document Isak had once signed with his mark. " I 
 told you before the State," he said. " No need 
 to ask again. If you don't believe me, you can 
 find out for yourself if you please." 
 
 Later in the evening, Geissler took Isak aside and 
 said: " Look here, shall we sell that copper mine? " 
 
 Said Isak: " Why, as to that, 'twas so that Lens- 
 mand bought it of me once, and paid for it." 
 
 " True," said Geissler. " I bought the ground. 
 But then there was a provision that you were to 
 
 258
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 have a percentage of receipts from working or sale; 
 are you willing to dispose of your share? " 
 
 This was more than Isak could understand, and 
 Geissler had to explain. Isak could not work a 
 mine, being a farmer and a clearer of forest land; 
 Geissler himself couldn't run a mine either. Money, 
 capital? Ho, as much as he wanted, never fear! 
 But he hadn't the time, too many things to do, al- 
 ways running about the country, attending to his 
 property in the south, his property in the north. 
 And now Geissler was thinking of selling out to these 
 Swedish gentlemen here; they were relatives of his 
 wife, all of them, and rich men. " Do you see what 
 I mean?" 
 
 " I'll do it what way you please," said Isak. 
 
 A strange thing this complete confidence 
 seemed to comfort Geissler wonderfully in his 
 threadbareness. " Well, I'm not sure it's the best 
 thing you could do," he said thoughtfully. Then 
 suddenly he was certain, and went on: " But if you'll 
 give me a free hand to act on my discretion, I can do 
 better for you at any rate than you could by your- 
 self." 
 
 " H'm," began Isak. " You've always been a 
 good man to us all here. . . ." 
 
 But Geissler frowned at that, and cut him short: 
 " All right, then." 
 
 Next morning the gentlemen sat down to write. 
 It was a serious business; there was first of all a 
 contract for forty thousand Kroner for the sale of 
 the mine, then a document whereby Geissler made 
 
 259
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 over the whole of the money to his wife and chil- 
 dren. Isak and Sivert were called in to witness the 
 signatures to these. When it was done, the gentle- 
 men wanted to buy over Isak's percentage for a 
 ridiculous sum five hundred Kroner. Geissler 
 put a stop to that, however. " Jesting apart," he 
 said. 
 
 Isak himself understood but little of the whole 
 affair; he had sold the place once, and got his money. 
 But in any case, he did not care much about Kroner 
 it was not real money like Daler. Sivert, on the 
 other hand, followed the business with more un- 
 derstanding. There was something peculiar, he 
 thought, about the tone of these negotiations; it 
 looked very much like a family affair between the 
 parties. One of the strangers would say: " My 
 dear Geissler, you ought not to have such red eyes, 
 you know." Whereto Geissler answered sharply, 
 if evasively: "No, I ought not, I know. But we 
 don't all get what we ought to in this world! " 
 
 It looked very much as if Fru Geissler's brothers 
 and kinsmen were trying to buy off her husband, 
 secure themselves against his visits for the future, 
 and get quit of a troublesome relation. As to the 
 mine, it was worth something in itself, no doubt, no 
 one denied it; but it lay far out of the way, and the 
 buyers themselves said they were only taking it over 
 in order to sell it again to some one better in a 
 position to work it. There was nothing unreason- 
 able in that. They declared too, quite frankly, that 
 they had no idea what they would be able to get for 
 
 260
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 it as it stood; if it were taken up and worked, then 
 the forty thousand might turn out to be only a frac- 
 tion of what it was worth; if it were allowed to lie 
 there as it was, the money was simply thrown away. 
 But in any case, they wanted to have a clear title, 
 without encumbrance, and therefore they offered 
 Isak five hundred Kroner for his share. 
 
 " I'm acting on his behalf," said Geissler, " and 
 I'm not going to sell out his share for less than ten 
 'per cent, of the purchase-money." 
 
 " Four thousand I " said the others. 
 
 " Four thousand," said Geissler. " The land was 
 his, and his share comes to four thousand. It wasn't 
 mine, and I get forty thousand. Kindly turn that 
 over in your minds, if you please." 
 
 " Yes, but four thousand Kroner! " 
 
 Geissler rose from his place, and said: " That, or 
 no sale." 
 
 They thought it over, whispered about it, went 
 out into the yard, talking as long as they could. 
 " Get the horses ready," they called to the servants. 
 One of the gentlemen went in to Inger and paid 
 royally for coffee, a few eggs, and their lodging. 
 Geissler walked about with a careless air, but he was 
 wide awake all the same. 
 
 " How did that irrigation work turn out last 
 year? " he asked Sivert. 
 
 " It saved the whole crop." 
 ' You've cut away that mound there since I was 
 here last, what? " 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 261
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' You must have another horse on the farm," 
 said Geissler. He noticed everything. 
 
 One of the strangers came up. " Now then, let's 
 get this matter settled and have done with it," he 
 said. 
 
 They all went into the new building again, and 
 Isak's four thousand Kroner were counted out. 
 Geissler was given a paper, which he thrust into 
 his pocket as if it were of no value at all. " Keep 
 that carefully," they told him, " and in a few days 
 your wife shall have the bankbook sent." 
 
 Geissler puckered his forehead and said shortly: 
 " Very good." 
 
 But they were not finished with Geissler yet. Not 
 that he opened his mouth to ask for anything; he 
 simply stood there, and they saw how he stood 
 there: maybe he had stipulated beforehand for a 
 trifle on his own account. The leader gave him a 
 bundle of notes, and Geissler simply nodded again, 
 and said: " Very good." 
 
 " And now I think we ought to drink a glass with 
 Geissler," said the other. 
 
 They drank, and that was done. And then they 
 took leave of Geissler. 
 
 Just at that moment came Brede Olsen walking 
 up. Now what did he want? Brede had doubt- 
 less heard the reports of the blasting charges the day 
 before, and understood that there was something on 
 foot in the way of mines. And now he came up 
 ready to sell something too. He walked straight 
 past Geissler, and addressed himself to the gentle- 
 
 262
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 men; he had found some remarkable specimens of 
 rock hereabouts, quite extraordinary, some blood- 
 like, others like silver; he knew every cranny and 
 corner in the hills around and could go straight to 
 every spot; he knew of long veins of some heavy 
 metal whatever it might be. 
 
 " Have you any samples? " asked the mining ex- 
 pert. 
 
 Yes, Brede had samples. But couldn't they just 
 as well go up and look at the places at once? It 
 wasn't far. Samples oh, sacks of them, whole 
 packing-cases full. No, he had not brought them 
 with him, they were at home he could run down 
 and fetch them. But it would be quicker just to 
 run up into the hills and fetch some more, if they 
 would only wait. 
 
 The men shook their heads and went on their way. 
 
 Brede looked after them with an injured air. 
 If he had felt a glimmer of hope for the moment, it 
 was gone now; fate was against him, nothing ever 
 went right. Well for Brede that he was not easily 
 cast down; he looked after the men as they rode 
 away, and said at last: " Wish you a pleasant jour- 
 new ! " And that was all. 
 
 But now he was humble again in his manner to- 
 wards Geissler, his former chief, and no longer 
 treated him as an equal, but used forms of respect. 
 Geissler had taken out his pocket-book on some pre- 
 text or other, and any one could see that it was 
 stuffed full of notes. 
 
 263
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 " If only Lensmand could help me a bit," said 
 Brede. 
 
 " Go back home and work your land properly," 
 said Geissler, and helped him not a bit. 
 
 " I might easily have brought up a whole barrow- 
 load of samples, but wouldn't it have been easier to 
 go up and look at the place itself while they were 
 here?" 
 
 Geissler took no notice of him, and turned to 
 Isak: " Did you see what I did with that document? 
 It was a most important thing a matter of several 
 thousand Kroner. Oh, here it is, in among a bundle 
 of notes." 
 
 "Who were those people?" asked Brede. 
 " Just out for a ride, or what? " 
 
 Geissler had been having an anxious time, no 
 doubt, and now he cooled down. But he had still 
 something of life and eagerness in him, enough to 
 do a little more; he went up into the hills with 
 Sivert, and took a big sheet of paper with him, and 
 drew a map of the ground south of the lake 
 Heaven knows what he had in mind. When he 
 came down to the farm some hours later, Brede was 
 still there, but Geissler took no notice of his ques- 
 tions; Geissler was tired, and waved him aside. 
 
 He slept like a stone till next morning early, then 
 he rose with the sun, and was himself again. 
 " Sellanraa," said he, standing outside and looking 
 all round. 
 
 " All that money," said Isak; " does it mean I'm 
 to have it all?" 
 
 264
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "All?" said Geissler. "Heavens, man, can't 
 you see it ought to have been ever so much more? 
 And it was my business really to pay you, according 
 to our contract; but you saw how things were it 
 was the only way to manage it. What did you get? 
 Only a thousand Daler, according to the old reckon- 
 ing. I've been thinking, you'll need another horse 
 on the place now." 
 
 " Ay." 
 
 " Well, I know of one. That fellow Heyerdahl's 
 assistant, he's letting his place go to rack and ruin; 
 takes more interest in running about selling folk up. 
 He's sold a deal of his stock already, and he'll be 
 willing to sell the horse." 
 
 " I'll see him about it," said Isak. 
 
 Geissler waved his hand broadly around, and said: 
 " Margrave, landowner that's you ! House and 
 stock and cultivated land they can't starve you 
 out if they try! " 
 
 " No," said Isak. " We've all we could wish for 
 that the Lord ever made." 
 
 Geissler went fussing about the place, and sud- 
 denly slipped in to Inger. " Could you manage a bit 
 of food for me to take along again?" he asked. 
 " Just a few wafers no butter and cheese; there's 
 good things enough in them already. No, do as I 
 say; I can't carry more." 
 
 Out again. Geissler was restless, he went into 
 the new building and sat down to write. He had 
 thought it all out beforehand, and it did not take 
 long now to get it down. Sending in an application 
 
 265
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 to the State, he explained loftily to Isak " to the 
 Ministry of the Interior, you understand. Yes, I've 
 no end of things to look after all at once." 
 
 When he had got his parcel of food and had taken 
 leave, he seemed to remember something all of a 
 sudden: "Oh, by the way, I'm afraid I owe you 
 something from last time I took out a note from 
 my pocket-book on purpose, and then stuck it in my 
 waistcoat pocket I found it there afterwards. 
 Too many things to think about all at once. . . ." 
 He put something into Inger's hand and off he went. 
 
 Ay, off went Geissler, bravely enough to all seem- 
 ing. Nothing downcast nor anyway nearing his 
 end; he came to Sellanraa again after, and it was 
 long years before he died. Each time he went away 
 the Sellanraa folk missed him as a friend. Isak had 
 been thinking of asking him about Breidablik, get- 
 ting his advice, but nothing came of it. And maybe 
 Geissler would have dissuaded him there; have 
 thought it a risky thing to buy up land for cultiva- 
 tion and give it to Eleseus; to a clerk. 
 
 266
 
 Chapter XVIII 
 
 UNCLE SIVERT died after all. Eleseus 
 spent three weeks looking after him, and 
 then the old man died. Eleseus arranged 
 the funeral, and managed things very well; got hold 
 of a fuchsia or so from the cottages round, and bor- 
 rowed a flag to hoist at half-mast, and bought some 
 black stuff from the store for lowered blinds. Isak 
 and Inger were sent for, and came to the burial. 
 Eleseus acted as host, and served out refreshments 
 to the guests; ay, and when the body was carried 
 out, and they had sung a hymn, Eleseus actually said 
 a few suitable words over the coffin, and his mother 
 was so proud and touched that she had to use her 
 handkerchief. Everything went off splendidly. 
 
 Then on the way home with his father, Eleseus 
 had to carry that spring coat of his openly, though 
 he managed to hide the stick in one of the sleeves. 
 All went well till they had to cross the water in a 
 boat; then his father sat down unexpectedly on the 
 coat, and there was a crack. " What was that? " 
 asked Isak. 
 
 " Oh, nothing," said Eleseus. 
 
 But he did not throw the broken stick away; as 
 soon as they got home, he set about looking for a bit 
 of tube or something to mend it with. " We'll fix 
 
 267
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 it all right," said Si vert, the incorrigible. " Look 
 here, get a good stout splint of wood on either side, 
 and lash all fast with waxed thread. . . ." 
 
 " I'll lash you with waxed thread," said Eleseus. 
 
 " Ha ha ha ! Well, perhaps you'd rather tie it 
 up neatly with a red garter? " 
 
 " Ha ha ha," said Eleseus himself at that; but he 
 went in to his mother, and got her to give him an old 
 thimble, filed off the end, and made quite a fine fer- 
 rule. Oh, Eleseus was not so helpless after all, 
 with his long, white hands. 
 
 The brothers teased each other as much as ever. 
 "Am I to have what Uncle Sivert's left?" asked 
 Eleseus. 
 
 " You have it? How much is it? " asked Sivert. 
 
 " Ha ha ha, you want to know how much it is 
 first, you old miser! " 
 
 " Well, you can have it, anyway," said Sivert. 
 
 " It's between five and ten thousand." 
 
 " Daler? " cried Sivert; he couldn't help it. 
 
 Now Eleseus never reckoned in Daler, but he 
 didn't like to say no at the time, so he just nodded, 
 and left it at that till next day. 
 
 Then he took up the matter again. " Aren't you 
 sorry you gave me all that yesterday? " he said. 
 
 "Woodenhead! Of course not," said Sivert. 
 That was what he said, but well, five thousand 
 Daler was five thousand Daler ; and no little sum; 
 if his brother were anything but a lousy Indian sav- 
 age, he ought to give back half. 
 
 " Well, to tell the truth," explained Eleseus, " I 
 268
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 don't reckon to get fat on that legacy, after all." 
 
 Sivert looked at him in astonishment. " Ho, 
 don't you?" 
 
 " No, nothing special, that is to say. Not what 
 you might call par excellence." 
 
 Eleseus had some notions of accounts, of course, 
 and Uncle Sivert's money-chest, the famous bottle- 
 case, had been opened and examined while he was 
 there; he had had to go through all the accounts 
 and make up a balance sheet. Uncle Sivert had not 
 set this nephew to work on the fields or mending of 
 herring nets; he had initiated him into a complex 
 muddle of figures, the weirdest book-keeping ever 
 seen. If a man had paid his taxes some years back 
 in kind, with a goat, say, or a load of dried cod, 
 there was neither flesh nor fish to show for it now; 
 but old Sivert searched his memory and said, " He's 
 paid!" 
 
 " Right, then we'll cross him out," said Sivert. 
 
 Eleseus was the man for this sort of work; he was 
 bright and quick, and encouraged the invalid by as- 
 suring him that things were all right; the two had 
 got on well together, even to jesting at times. Ele- 
 seus was a bit of a fool, perhaps, in some things, but 
 so was his uncle; and the two of them sat there 
 drawing up elaborate documents in favour not only 
 of little Sivert but also to benefit the village, the 
 commune which the old man had served for thirty 
 years. Oh, they were grand days ! " I couldn't 
 have got a better man to help with all this than you, 
 Eleseus boy," said Uncle Sivert. He sent out and 
 
 269
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 bought mutton, in the middle of the summer; fish 
 was brought up fresh from the sea, Eleseus being 
 ordered to pay cash from the chest. They lived well 
 enough. They got hold of Oline they couldn't 
 have found a better person to invite to a feast, nor 
 one more sure to spread abroad the news of Uncle 
 Sivert's greatness to the end. And the satisfaction 
 was mutual. " We must do something for Oline, 
 too," said Uncle Sivert, " she being a widow and 
 not well off. There'll be enough for little Sivert, 
 anyhow." Eleseus managed it with a few strokes 
 of the pen; a mere codicil to the last will and testa- 
 ment, and lo, Oline was also a sharer in the inherit- 
 ance. 
 
 " I'll look after you," said Uncle Sivert to her. 
 " If so be I shouldn't get better this time and get 
 about again on earth I'll take care you're not left 
 out." Oline declared that she was speechless, but 
 speechless she was not; she wept and was touched 
 to the heart and grateful; there was none to com- 
 pare with Oline for finding the immediate connec- 
 tion between a worldly gift and being " repaid a 
 thousandfold eternally in the world to come." No, 
 speechless she was not. 
 
 But Eleseus? At first, perhaps, he may have 
 taken a bright enough view of his uncle's affairs, but 
 after a while he began to think things over and talk 
 as well. He tried at first with a slight hint: " The 
 accounts aren't exactly as they should be," he said. 
 
 " Well, never mind that," said the old man. 
 " There'll be enough and to spare when I'm gone." 
 
 270
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 'You've money outstanding besides, maybe?" 
 said Eleseus. " In a bank, or so? " For so report 
 had said. 
 
 " H'm," said the old man. " That's as it may 
 be. But, anyhow, with the fishery, the farm and 
 buildings and stock, red cows and white cows and 
 all don't you worry about that, Eleseus, my boy." 
 
 Eleseus had no idea what the fishery business 
 might be worth, but he had seen the live stock; 
 it consisted of one cow, partly red and partly white. 
 Uncle Sivert must have been delirious. Some of the 
 accounts, too, were difficult to make out at all ; they 
 were a muddle, a bare jumble of figures, especially 
 from the date when the coinage was changed; the 
 district treasurer had frequently reckoned the small 
 Kroner as if they were full Daler. No wonder he 
 fancied himself rich ! But when everything was re- 
 duced to something like order, Eleseus feared there 
 would not be much left over. Perhaps not enough 
 to settle at all. 
 
 Ay, Sivert might easily promise him all that came 
 to him from his uncle ! 
 
 The two brothers jested about it. Sivert was not 
 upset over the matter, not at all; perhaps, indeed, 
 it might have irked him something more if he really 
 had thrown away five thousand Daler. He knew 
 well enough that it had been a mere speculation, 
 naming him after his uncle ; he had no claim to any- 
 thing there. And now he pressed Eleseus to take 
 what there was. " It's to be yours, of course," said 
 he. " Come along, let's get it set down in writing. 
 
 271
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 I'd like to see you a rich man. Don't be too proud 
 to take it! " 
 
 Ay, they had many a laugh together. Sivert, in- 
 deed, was the one that helped most to keep Eleseus 
 at home; it would have been much harder but for 
 him. 
 
 As a matter of fact, Eleseus was getting rather 
 spoiled again; the three weeks' idling on the other 
 side of the hills had not done him any good. He 
 had also been to church there, and made a show; ay, 
 he had even met some girls there. Here at Sell- 
 anraa there was nothing of that sort; Jensine, the 
 servant-maid, was a mere nothing, a worker and no 
 more, rather suited to Sivert. 
 
 " I've a fancy to see how that girl Barbro from 
 Breidablik turned out now she's grown up," said 
 Eleseus one day. 
 
 " Well, go down to Axel Strom's place and see," 
 said Sivert. 
 
 Eleseus went down one Sunday. Ay, he had been 
 away, gained confidence and high spirits once more ; 
 he had tasted excitement of a sort, and he made 
 things livelier at Axel's little place. Barbro her- 
 self was by no means to be despised; at any rate she 
 was the only one anywhere near. She played the 
 guitar and talked readily; moreover, she did not 
 smell of tansy, but of real scent, the sort you buy in 
 shops. Eleseus, on his part, let it be understood 
 that he was only home for a holiday, and would soon 
 be called back to the office again. But it was not so 
 bad being at home after all, in the old place, and, of 
 
 272
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 course, he had the little bedroom to live in. But it 
 was not like being in town ! 
 
 " Nay, that's a true word," said Barbro. 
 " Town's very different from this." 
 
 Axel himself was altogether out of it with these 
 two town- folk; he found it dull with them, and pre- 
 ferred to go out and look over his land. The pair 
 of them were left to do as they liked, and Eleseus 
 managed things grandly. He told how he had been 
 over to the neighbouring village to bury his uncle, 
 and did not forget to mention the speech he had 
 made over the coffin. 
 
 When he took his leave, he asked Barbro to go 
 part of the way home with him. But Barbro, thank 
 you, was not inclined that way. 
 
 " Is that the way they do things where you've 
 been," she asked "for the ladies to escort the 
 gentlemen home ? " 
 
 That was a nasty hit for Eleseus; he turned red, 
 and understood he had offended her. 
 
 Nevertheless, he went down to Maaneland again 
 next Sunday, and this time he took his stick. They 
 talked as before, and Axel was out of it altogether, 
 as before. " 'Tis a big place your father's got," 
 said he. " And building again, now, it seems." 
 
 " Ay, it's all very well for him," said Eleseus, 
 anxious to show off a little. " He can afford 
 it. It's another matter with poor folk like our- 
 selves." 
 
 " How d'you mean? " 
 
 " Oh, haven't you heard? There's been some 
 
 273
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Swedish millionaires came down the other day and 
 bought a mine of him, a copper mine." 
 
 " Why, you don't say? And he'll have got a heap 
 of money for it, then?" 
 
 " Enormous. Well, I don't want to boast, but it 
 was at any rate ever so many thousands. What was 
 I going to say? Build? You've a deal of timber 
 lying about here yourself. When are you going 
 to start? " 
 
 Barbro put in her word here: " Never! " 
 
 Now that was pure exaggeration and imperti- 
 nence. Axel had got his stones the autumn before, 
 and carted them home that winter; now, between 
 seasons, he had got the foundation walls done, and 
 cellar and all else all that remained was to build 
 the timbered part above. He was hoping to get 
 part of it roofed in this autumn, and had thought of 
 asking Sivert to lend him a hand for a few days 
 - what did Eleseus think of that? 
 
 Eleseus thought like as not. " But why not ask 
 me? " he said, smiling. 
 
 'You?" said Axel, and he spoke with sudden 
 respect at the idea. " You've talents for other 
 things than that, I take it." 
 
 Oh, but it was pleasant to find oneself appreciated 
 here in the wilds ! " Why, I'm afraid my hands 
 aren't much good at that sort of work," said Ele- 
 seus delicately. 
 
 " Let me look," said Barbro, and took his hand. 
 
 Axel dropped out of the conversation again, and 
 went out, leaving the two of them alone. They 
 
 274
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 were of an age, had been to school together, and 
 played and kissed each other and raced about; and 
 now, with a fine disdainful carelessness, they talked 
 of old times exchanging reminiscences and 
 Barbro, perhaps, was inclined to show off a little 
 before her companion. True, this Eleseus was not 
 like the really fine young men in offices, that wore 
 glasses and gold watches and so on, but he could 
 pass for a gentleman here in the wilds, there was no 
 denying that. And she took out her photograph 
 now and showed him that's what she looked like 
 then " all different now, of course." And Bar- 
 bro sighed. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter with you now?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " Don't you think I've changed for the worse since 
 then?" 
 
 " Changed for the worse, indeed! Well, I don't 
 mind telling you you're ever so much prettier now," 
 said he, " filled out all round. For the worse? 
 Ho! That's a fine idea!" 
 
 " But it's a nice dress, don't you think? Cut 
 open just a bit front and back. And then I had that 
 silver chain you see there, and it cost a heap of 
 money, too ; it was a present from one of the young 
 clerks I was with then. But I lost it. Not exactly 
 lost it, you know, but I wanted money to come 
 home." ' 
 
 Eleseus asked: " Can I have the photo to keep? " 
 
 "To keep? H'm. What'll you give me for 
 it?" 
 
 275
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Oh, Eleseus knew well enough what he wanted to 
 say, but he dared not. " I'll have mine taken when 
 I go back to town," he said instead, " and send it 
 you." 
 
 Barbro put away the photograph. " No, it's the 
 only one I've left." 
 
 That was a stroke of darkness to his young heart, 
 and he stretched out his hand towards the picture. 
 
 " Well, give me something for it, now," she said, 
 laughing. And at that he up and kissed her prop- 
 erly. 
 
 After that it was easier all round; Eleseus bright- 
 ened up, and got on finely. They flirted and joked 
 and laughed, and were excellent friends. ' When 
 you took my hand just now it was like a bit of swan's 
 down yours, I mean." 
 
 " Oh, you'll be going back to town again, and 
 never come back here, I'll be bound," said Barbro. 
 
 " Do you think I'm that sort?" said Eleseus. 
 
 " Ah, I dare say there's a somebody there you're 
 fond of." 
 
 " No, there isn't. Between you and me, I'm not 
 engaged at all," said he. 
 
 " Oh yes, you are; I know." 
 
 " No, solemn fact, I'm not." 
 
 They carried on like this quite a while; Eleseus 
 was plainly in love. " I'll write to you," said he. 
 "May I?" 
 
 ' Yes," said she. 
 
 " For I wouldn't be mean enough if you didn't 
 care about it, you know." And suddenly he was 
 
 276
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 jealous, and asked: "I've heard say you're promised 
 to Axel here; is it true? " 
 
 "Axel?" she said scornfully, and he brightened 
 up again. "I'll see him farther! " But then she 
 turned penitent, and added: "Alex, he's good 
 enough for me, though. . . . And he takes in a 
 paper all for me to read, and gives me things now 
 and again lots of things. I will say that." 
 
 " Oh, of course," Eleseus agreed. " He may be 
 an excellent fellow in his way, but that's not every- 
 thing. . . ." 
 
 But the thought of Axel seemed to have made 
 Barbro anxious; she got up, and said to Eleseus: 
 " You'll have to go now; I must see to the animals." 
 
 Next Sunday Eleseus went down a good deal later 
 than usual, and carried the letter himself. It was 
 a letter! A whole week of excitement, all the 
 trouble it had cost him to write, but here it was 
 at last; he had managed to produce a letter: " To 
 Froken Barbro Bredesen. It is two or three times 
 now I have had the inexpressible delight of seeing 
 you again. . . ." 
 
 Coming so late as he did now, Barbro must at 
 any rate have finished seeing to the animals, and 
 might perhaps have gone to bed already. That 
 wouldn't matter quite the reverse, indeed. 
 
 But Barbro was up, sitting in the hut. She looked 
 now as if she had suddenly lost all idea of being nice 
 to him and making love Eleseus fancied Axel had 
 perhaps got hold of her and warned her. 
 
 " Here's the letter I promised you," he said. 
 277
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ' Thank you," said she, and opened it, and read 
 it through without seeming much moved. " I wish 
 I could write as nice a hand as that," she said. 
 
 Eleseus was disappointed. What had he done 
 what was the matter with her? And where was 
 Axel? He was not there. Beginning to get tired 
 of these foolish Sunday visits, perhaps, and pre- 
 ferred to stay away; or he might have had some 
 business to keep him over, when he went down to 
 the village the day before. Anyhow, he was not 
 there. 
 
 " What d'you want to sit here in this stuffy old 
 place for on a lovely evening? " asked Eleseus. 
 " Come out for a walk." 
 
 " I'm waiting for Axel," she answered. 
 
 " Axel? Can't you live without Axel, then? " 
 
 " Yes. But he'll want something to eat when he 
 comes back." 
 
 Time went, time dribbled away, they came no 
 nearer each other; Barbro was as cross and contrary 
 as ever. He tried telling her again of his visit 
 across the hills, and did not forget about the speech 
 he had made : " 'Twasn't much I had to say, but all 
 the same it brought out the tears from some of 
 them." 
 
 "Did it?" said she. 
 
 " And then one Sunday I went to church." 
 
 "What news there?" 
 
 " News? Oh, nothing. Only to have a look 
 round. Not much of a priest, as far as I know any- 
 thing about it; no sort of manner, he had." 
 
 278
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Time went. 
 
 " What d'you think Axel'd say if he found you 
 here this evening again? " said Barbro suddenly. 
 
 There was a thing to say! It was as if she had 
 struck him. Had she forgotten all about last time? 
 Hadn't they agreed that he was to come this even- 
 ing? Eleseus was deeply hurt, and murmured: " I 
 can go, if you like. What have I done? " he asked 
 then, his lips trembling. He was in distress, in 
 trouble, that was plain to see. 
 
 "Done? Oh, you haven't done anything." 
 
 " Well, what's the matter with you, anyway, this 
 evening? " 
 
 " With me ? Ha ha ha ! But come to think of 
 it, 'tis no wonder Axel should be angry." 
 
 " I'll go, then," said Eleseus again. But she was 
 still indifferent, not in the least afraid, caring noth- 
 ing that he sat there struggling with his feelings. 
 Fool of a woman! 
 
 And now he began to grow angry; he hinted his 
 displeasure at first delicately: to the effect that she 
 was a nice sort indeed, and a credit to her sex, huh ! 
 But when that produced no effect oh, he would 
 have done better to endure it patiently, and say 
 nothing. But he grew no better for that; he said: 
 " If I'd known you were going to be like this, I'd 
 never have come this evening at all." 
 
 " Well, what if you hadn't? " said she. " You'd 
 have lost a chance of airing that cane of yours that 
 you're so fond of." 
 
 Oh, Barbro, she had lived in Bergen, she knew 
 279
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 how to jeer at a man; she had seen real walking- 
 sticks, and could ask now what he wanted to go 
 swinging a patched-up umbrella handle like that for. 
 But he let her go on. 
 
 " I suppose now you'll be wanting that photo- 
 graph back you gave me," he said. And if that 
 didn't move her, surely nothing would, for among 
 folks in the wilds, there was nothing counted so 
 mean as to take back a gift. 
 
 " That's as it may be," she answered evasively. 
 
 " Oh, you shall have it all right," he answered 
 bravely. " I'll send it back at once, never fear. 
 And now perhaps you'll give me back my letter." 
 Eleseus rose to his feet. 
 
 Very well; she gave him back the letter. But 
 now the tears came into her eyes as she did so; this 
 servant girl was touched; her friend was forsaking 
 her good-bye for ever ! 
 
 " You've no need to go," she said. " I don't 
 care for what Axel says'." 
 
 But Eleseus had the upper hand now, and must 
 use it; he thanked her and said good-bye. " When 
 a lady carries on that way," he said, " there's noth- 
 ing else to be done." 
 
 He left the house, quietly, and walked up home- 
 ward, whistling, swinging his stick, and playing the 
 man. Huh! A little while after came Barbro 
 walking up; she called to him once or twice. Very 
 well; he stopped, so he did, but was a wounded lion. 
 She sat down in the heather looking penitent; she 
 fidgeted with a sprig, and a little after he too soft- 
 
 280
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 ened, and asked for a kiss, the last time, just to 
 say good-bye, he said. No, she would not. " Be 
 nice and be a dear, like you were last time," he 
 begged, and moved round her on all sides, stepping 
 quickly, if he could see his chance. But she would 
 not be a dear; she got up. And there she stood. 
 And at that he simply nodded and went. 
 
 When he was out of sight, Axel appeared sud- 
 denly from behind some bushes. Barbro started, 
 all taken aback, and asked: "What's that where 
 have you been? Up that way? " 
 
 "No; I've been down that way," he answered. 
 " But I saw you two going up here." 
 
 " Ho, did you? And a lot of good it did you, I 
 dare say," she cried, suddenly furious. She was 
 certainly not easier to deal with now. " What are 
 you poking and sniffing about after, I'd like to know? 
 What's it to do with you? " 
 
 Axel was not in the best ofx temper himself. 
 " H'm. So he's been here again today? " 
 
 ; ' Well, what if he has? What do you want with 
 him?" 
 
 " I want with him? It's what you want with 
 him, I'd like to ask. You ought to be ashamed." 
 
 "Ashamed? Huh! The least said about that, 
 if you ask me," said Barbro. " I'm here to sit in the 
 house like a statue, I suppose? What have I got 
 to be ashamed of, anyway? If you like to go and 
 get some one else to look after the place, I'm ready 
 to go. You hold your tongue, that's all I've got 
 to say, if it's not too much to ask. I'm going back 
 
 281
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 now to get your supper and make the coffee, and 
 after that I can do as I please." 
 
 They came home with the quarrel at its height. 
 
 No, they were not always the best of friends, 
 Axel and Barbro; there was trouble now and again. 
 She had been with him now for a couple of years, 
 and they had had words before; mostly when Bar- 
 bro talked of finding another place. He wanted her 
 to stay there for ever, to settle down there and 
 share the house and life with him; he knew how hard 
 it would be for him if he were left without help 
 again. And she had promised several times ay, 
 in her more affectionate moments she would not 
 think of going away at all. But the moment they 
 quarrelled about anything, she invariably threatened 
 to go. If for nothing else, she must go to have 
 her teeth seen to in town. Go, go away . . . Axel 
 felt he must find a means to keep her. 
 
 Keep her? A lot Barbro cared for his trying to 
 keep her if she didn't want to stay. 
 
 " Ho, so you want to go away again? " said he. 
 
 "Well, and if I do?" 
 
 " Can you, d'you think?" 
 
 "Well, and why not? If you think I'm afraid 
 because the winter's coming on ... But I can get 
 a place in Bergen any day I like." 
 
 Then said Axel steadily enough : " It'll be some 
 time before you can do that, anyway. As long as 
 you're with child." 
 
 " With child? What are you talking about? " 
 
 Axel stared. Was the girl mad? 
 282
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 True, he himself should have been more patient. 
 Now that he had the means of keeping her, he had 
 grown too confident, and that was a mistake; there 
 was no need to be sharp with her and make her 
 wild; he need not have ordered her in so many words 
 to help him with the potatoes that spring he 
 might have planted them by himself. There would 
 be plenty of time for him to assert his authority 
 after they were married; until then he ought to have 
 had sense enough to give way. 
 
 But it was too bad, this business with Eleseus, 
 this clerk, who came swaggering about with his walk- 
 ing-stick and all his fine talk. For a girl to carry 
 on like that when she was promised to another man 
 and in her condition ! It was beyond understand- 
 ing. Up to then, Axel had had no rival to com- 
 pete with now, it was different. 
 
 " Here's a new paper for you," he said. " And 
 here's a bit of a thing I got you. Don't know if 
 you'll care about it." 
 
 Barbro was cold. They were sitting there to- 
 gether, drinking scalding hot coffee from the bowl, 
 but for all that she answered icy cold: 
 
 " I suppose that's the gold ring you've been prom- 
 ising me this twelvemonth and more." 
 
 This, however, was beyond the mark, for it was 
 the ring after all. But a gold ring it was not, and 
 that he had never promised her 'twas an inven- 
 tion of her own; silver it was, with gilt hands 
 clasped, real silver, with the mark on and all. But 
 ah, that unlucky voyage of hers to Bergen ! Barbro 
 
 283
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 had seen real engagement rings no use telling 
 her! 
 
 ' That ring! Huh! You can keep it yourself." 
 
 " What's wrong with it, then? " 
 ' Wrong with it? There's nothing wrong with 
 it that I know," she answered, and got up to clear 
 the table. 
 
 ' Why, you'll needs make do with it for now," 
 he said. " Maybe I'll manage another some day." 
 
 Barbro made no answer. 
 
 A thankless creature was Barbro this evening. A 
 new silver ring she might at least have thanked 
 him nicely for it. It must be that clerk with the 
 town ways that had turned her head. Axel could 
 not help saying: " I'd like to know what that fellow 
 Eleseus keeps coming here for, anyway. What does 
 he want with you?" 
 
 "With me?" 
 
 " Ay. Is he such a greenhorn and can't see how 
 'tis with you now? Hasn't he eyes in his head? " 
 
 Barbro turned on him straight at that: " Oh, so 
 you think you've got a hold on me because of that? 
 You'll find out you're wrong, that's all." 
 
 " Ho ! " said Axel. 
 
 " Ay, and I'll not stay here, neither." 
 
 But Axel only smiled a little at this; not broadly 
 and laughing in her face, no; for he did not mean 
 to cross her. And then he spoke soothingly, as to a 
 child: " Be a good girl now, Barbro. 'Tis you and 
 me, you know." 
 
 And of course in the end Barbro gave in and was 
 284
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 good, and even went to sleep with the silver ring on 
 her finger. 
 
 It would all come right in time, never fear. 
 
 For the two in the hut, yes. But what about 
 Eleseus? 'Twas worse with him; he found it hard 
 to get over the shameful way Barbro had treated 
 him. He knew nothing of hysterics, and took it 
 as all pure cruelty on her part; that girl Barbro 
 from Breidablik thought a deal too much of her- 
 self, even though she had been in Bergen. . . . 
 
 He sent her back the photograph in a way of his 
 own took it down himself one night and stuck it 
 through the door to her in the hayloft, where she 
 slept. 'Twas not done in any rough unmannerly 
 way, not at all; he had fidgeted with the door a long 
 time so as to wake her, and when she rose up on 
 her elbow and asked, "What's the matter; can't 
 you find your way in this evening? " he understood 
 the question was meant for some one else, and it went 
 through him like a needle ; like a sabre. 
 
 He walked back home no walking-stick, no 
 whistling. He did not care about playing the man 
 any longer. A stab at the heart is no light matter. 
 
 And was that the last of it? 
 
 One Sunday he went down just to look; to peep 
 and spy. With a sickly and unnatural patience he 
 lay in hiding among the bushes, staring over at the 
 hut. And when at last there came a sign of life and 
 movement it was enough to make an end of him alto- 
 gether: Axel and Barbro came out together and went 
 across to the cowshed. They were loving and affec- 
 
 285
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 donate now, ay, they had a blessed hour; they 
 walked with their arms round each other, and he was 
 going to help her with the animals. Ho, yes ! 
 
 Eleseus watched the pair with a look as if he had 
 lost all; as a ruined man. And his thought, maybe, 
 was like this : There she goes arm in arm with Axel 
 Strom. How she could ever do it I can't think; 
 there was a time when she put her arms round me ! 
 And there they disappeared into the shed. 
 
 Well, let them! Huh! Was he to lie here in 
 the bushes and forget himself? A nice thing for 
 him to lie there flat on his belly and forget him- 
 self. Who was she, after all? But he was the 
 man he was. Huh ! again. 
 
 He sprang to his feet and stood up. Brushed the 
 twigs and dust from his clothes and drew himself up 
 and stood upright again. His rage and desperation 
 came out in a curious fashion now: he threw all care 
 to the winds, and began singing a ballad of highly 
 frivolous import. And there was an earnest expres- 
 sion on his face as he took care to sing the worst 
 parts loudest of all. 
 
 286
 
 Chapter XIX 
 
 ISAK came back from the village with a horse. 
 Ay, it had come to that; he had bought the 
 horse from the Lensmand's assistant; the ani- 
 mal was for sale, as Geissler had said, but it cost 
 two hundred and forty Kroner that was sixty 
 Daler. The price of horseflesh had gone up beyond 
 all bounds : when Isak was a boy the best horse could 
 be bought for fifty Daler. 
 
 But why had he never raised a horse himself? 
 He had thought of it, had imagined a nice little foal 
 that he had been waiting for these two years 
 past. That was a business for folk who could spare 
 the time from their land, could leave waste patches 
 lying waste till they got a horse to carry home the 
 crop. The Lensmand's assistant had said: " I don't 
 care about paying for a horse's keep myself; I've no 
 more hay than my womenfolk can get it in by them- 
 selves while I'm away on duty." 
 
 The new horse was an old idea of Isak's, he had 
 been thinking of it for years ; it was not Geissler who 
 had put him up to it. And he had also made prep- 
 arations such as he could; a new stall, a new rope 
 for tethering it in the summer; as for carts, he had 
 some already, he must make some more for the 
 autumn. Most important of all was the fodder, and 
 
 287
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 he had not forgotten that, of course ; or why should 
 he have thought it so important to get that last 
 patch broken up last year if it hadn't been to save 
 getting rid of one of the cows, and yet have enough 
 keep for a new horse ? It was sown for green fod- 
 der now ; that was for the calving cows. 
 
 Ay, he had thought it all out. Well might Inger 
 be astonished again, and clap her hands just as in 
 the old days. 
 
 Isak brought news from the village; Breidablik 
 was to be sold, there was a notice outside the church. 
 The bit of crop, such as it was, hay and potatoes, 
 to go with the rest. Perhaps the live stock too ; 
 a few beasts only, nothing big. 
 
 " Is he going to sell up the home altogether and 
 leave nothing?" cried Inger. "And where's he 
 going to live ? " 
 
 " In the village." 
 
 It was true enough. Brede was going back to the 
 village. But he had first tried to get Axel Strom 
 to let him live there with Barbro. He didn't suc- 
 ceed. Brede would never dream of interfering with 
 the relations between his daughter and Axel, so he 
 was careful not to make himself a nuisance, though 
 to be sure it was a hard set-back, with all the rest. 
 Axel was going to get his new house built that 
 autumn; well, then, when he and Barbro moved in 
 there, why couldn't Brede and his family have a 
 hut? No! 'Twas so with Brede, he didn't look 
 at things like a farmer and a settler on new land; 
 he didn't understand that Axel had to move out be- 
 
 288
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 cause he wanted the hut for his growing stock; the 
 hut was to be a new cowshed. And even when this 
 was explained to him, he failed to see the point of 
 view; surely human beings should come before ani- 
 mals, he said. No, a settler's way was different; 
 animals first; a man could always find himself a 
 shelter for the winter. But Barbro put in a word 
 herself now: " Ho, so you put the animals first and 
 us after? 'Tis just as well I know it! " So Axel 
 had made enemies of a whole family because he 
 hadn't room to house them. But he would not give 
 way. He was no good-natured fool, was Axel, but 
 on the contrary he had grown more and more care- 
 ful; he knew well that a crowd like that moving in 
 would give him so many more mouths to fill. Brede 
 bade his daughter be quiet, and tried to make out 
 that he himself would rather move down to the vil- 
 lage again; couldn't endure life in the wilderness, 
 he said 'twas only for that reason he was selling 
 the place. 
 
 Oh, but to tell the truth it was not so much Brede 
 was selling the place; 'twas the Bank and the store- 
 keeper were selling up Breidablik, though for the 
 sake of appearances they let it be done in Brede's 
 name. That way, he thought he was saved from 
 disgrace. And Brede was not altogether dejected 
 when Isak met him; he consoled himself with the 
 thought that he was still Inspector on the telegraph 
 line; that was a regular income, anyway, and in 
 time he would be able to work up to his old position 
 in the place as the Lensmand's companion and this 
 
 280
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 and that. He was something affected at the change, 
 of course; 'twas not so easy to say good-bye to a 
 place where one had lived and toiled and moiled so 
 many years, and come to care for. But Brede, good 
 man, was never long cast down. 'Twas his best 
 point, the charm of him. He had once in his life 
 taken it into his head to be a tiller of the soil, 'twas 
 an inspiration had come to him. True, he had not 
 made a success of it, but he had taken up other plans 
 in the same airy way and got on better; and who 
 could say perhaps his samples of ore might after 
 all turn out something wonderful in time ! And 
 then look at Barbro, he had got her fixed up there 
 at Maaneland, and she'd not be leaving Axel Strom 
 now, that he could swear 'twas plain indeed for 
 any one to see. 
 
 No, there was nothing to fear as long as he had 
 his health and could work for himself and those that 
 looked to him, said Brede Olsen. And the children 
 were just growing up, and big enough now to go out 
 and make their own way in the world, said he. 
 Helge was gone to the herring fisheries already, and 
 Katrine was going to help at the doctor's. That 
 left only the two youngest well, well, there was 
 a third on the way, true, but, anyhow . . . 
 
 Isak had more news from the village: the Lens- 
 mand's lady had had a baby. Inger suddenly inter- 
 ested at this: " Boy or girl? " 
 
 " Why, I didn't hear which," said Isak. 
 
 But the Lensmand's lady had had a child after 
 all after all the way she'd spoken at the women's 
 
 290
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 club about the increasing birth-rate among the poor ; 
 better give women the franchise and let them have 
 some say in their own affairs, she said. And now 
 she was caught. Yes, the parson's wife had said, 
 " She's had some say in lots of things but her 
 own affairs are none the better for it, ha ha ha ! " 
 And that was a clever saying that went the round 
 of the village, and there were many that understood 
 what was meant Inger no doubt as well; it was 
 only Isak who did not understand. 
 
 Isak understood his work, his calling. He was a 
 rich man now, with a big farm, but the heavy cash 
 payments that had come to him by a lucky chance he 
 used but poorly; he put the money aside. The land 
 saved him. If he had lived down in the village, 
 maybe the great world would have affected even him; 
 so much gaiety, so many elegant manners and ways; 
 he would have been buying useless trifles, and wear- 
 ing a red Sunday shirt on weekdays. Here in the 
 wilds he was sheltered from all immoderation; he 
 lived in clear air, washed himself on Sunday morn- 
 ings, and took a bath when he went up to the lake. 
 Those thousand Daler well, 'twas a gift from 
 Heaven, to be kept intact. What else should he do ? 
 His ordinary outgoings were more than covered by 
 the produce of his fields and stock. 
 
 Eleseus, of course, knew better; he had advised 
 his father to put the money in the Bank. Well, 
 perhaps that was the best, but Isak had put off doing 
 it for the present perhaps it would never be done 
 at all. Not that Isak was above taking advice from 
 
 291
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 his son; Eleseus was no fool, as he showed later on. 
 Now, in the haymaking season, he had tried his hand 
 with the scythe but he was no master hand at 
 that, no. He kept close to Sivert, and had to get 
 him to use the whetstone every time. But Eleseus 
 had long arms and could pick up hay in first-rate 
 fashion. And he and Sivert and Leopoldine, and 
 Jensine the servant-maid, they were all busy now 
 in the fields with the first lot of hay that year. Ele- 
 seus did not spare himself either, but raked away till 
 his hands were blistered and had to be wrapped in 
 rags. He had lost his appetite for a week or so, 
 but worked none the worse for it now. Something 
 had come over the boy; it looked perhaps as if a 
 certain unhappy love affair or something of the sort, 
 a touch of never-to-be-forgotten sorrow and dis- 
 tress, had done him a world of good. And, look 
 you, he had by now smoked the last of the tobacco 
 he had brought with him from town; ordinarily, that 
 would have been enough to make a clerk go about 
 banging doors and expressing himself emphatically 
 upon many points; but no, Eleseus only grew the 
 steadier for it; firmer and more upright; a man in- 
 deed. Even Sivert, the jester, could not put him out 
 of countenance. Today the pair of them were lying 
 out on boulders in the river to drink, and Sivert 
 imprudently offered to get some extra fine moss and 
 dry it for tobacco " unless you'd rather smoke it 
 raw? " he said. 
 
 " I'll give you tobacco," said Eleseus, and reach- 
 ing out, ducked Sivert head and shoulders in the 
 
 292
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 water. Ho, one for him! Sivert came back with 
 his hair still dripping. 
 
 u Looks like Eleseus he's turning out for the 
 good," thought Isak to himself, watching his son at 
 work. And to Inger he said: " H'm wonder if 
 Eleseus he'll be staying home now for good? " 
 
 And she just as queerly cautious again: ' 'Tis 
 more than I can say. No, I doubt if he will." 
 
 " Ho ! Have you said a word of it to himself? " 
 
 " No well, yes, I've talked a bit with him, may- 
 be. But that's the way I think." 
 
 " Like to know, now suppose he'd a bit of land 
 of his own . . ." 
 
 " How do you mean? " 
 
 " If he'd work on a place of his own? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 ' Well, have you said anything? " 
 
 " Said anything? Can't you see for yourself? 
 No, I don't see anything in him Eleseus, that way." 
 
 " Don't sit there talking ill of him," said Isak 
 impartially. " All I can see is, he's doing a good 
 day's work down there." 
 
 " Ay, maybe," said Inger submissively. 
 
 " And I can't see what you've got to find fault 
 with the lad," cried Isak, evidently displeased. 
 " He does his work better and better every day, and 
 what can you ask more? " 
 
 Inger murmured: " Ay, but he's not like he used 
 to be. You try talking to him about waistcoats." 
 
 "About waistcoats? What d'you mean?" 
 
 " How he used to wear white waistcoats 
 
 293
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 in summer when he was in town, so he says." 
 
 Isak pondered this a while; it was beyond him. 
 'Well, can't he have a white waistcoat? " he said. 
 Isak was out of his depth here ; of course it was only 
 women's nonsense; to his mind, the boy had a per- 
 fect right to a white waistcoat, if it pleased him; 
 anyhow, he couldn't see what there was to make a 
 fuss about, and was inclined to put the matter aside 
 and go on. 
 
 ;< Well, what do you think, if he had Brede's bit 
 of land to work on? " 
 
 "Who?" said Inger. 
 
 " Him Eleseus." 
 
 " Breidablik? Nay, 'tis more than's worth your 
 while." 
 
 The fact was, she had already been talking over 
 that very plan with Eleseus, she had heard it from 
 Sivert, who could not keep the secret. And indeed, 
 why should Sivert keep the matter secret when his 
 father had surely told him of it on purpose to feel 
 his way? It was not the first time he had used 
 Sivert as a go-between. Well, but what had Eleseus 
 answered? Just as before, as in his letters from 
 town, that no, he would not throw away all he had 
 learned, and be an insignificant nothing again. That 
 was what he had said. Well, and then his mother 
 had brought out all her good reasons, but Eleseus 
 had said no to them all; he had other plans for his 
 life. Young hearts have their unfathomable 
 depths, and after what had happened, likely enough 
 he did not care about staying on with Barbro as a 
 
 294
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 neighbour. Who could say? He had put it loftily 
 enough in talking to his mother ; he could get a bet- 
 ter position in town than the one he had; could go 
 as clerk to one of the higher officials. He must get 
 on, he must rise in the world. In a few years, per- 
 haps, he might be a Lensmand, or perhaps a light- 
 house keeper, or get into the Customs. There were 
 so many roads open to a man with learning. 
 
 However it might be, his mother came round, was 
 drawn over to his point of view. Oh, she was so 
 little sure of herself yet; the world had not quite 
 lost its hold on her. Last winter she had gone so 
 far as to read occasionally a certain excellent devo- 
 tional work which she had brought from Trondhjem^ 
 from the Institute; but now, Eleseus might be a 
 Lensmand one day! 
 
 " And why not? " said Eleseus. " What's Hey- 
 erdahl himself but a former clerk in the same de- 
 partment? " 
 
 Splendid prospects. His mother herself advised 
 him not to give up his career and throw himself 
 away. What was a man like that to do in the wilds? 
 
 But why should Eleseus then trouble to work hard 
 and steadily as he was doing now on his father's 
 land? Heaven knows, he had some reason, maybe. 
 Something of inborn pride in him still, perhaps; he 
 would not be outdone by others; and besides, it 
 would do him no harm to be in his father's good 
 books the day he went away. To tell the truth, he 
 had a number of little debts in town, and it would be 
 a good thing to be able to settle them at once 
 
 295
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 improve his credit a lot. And it was not a question 
 now of a mere hundred Kroner, but something worth 
 considering. 
 
 Eleseus was far from stupid, but on the contrary, 
 a sly fellow in his way. He had seen his father 
 come home, and knew well enough he was sitting 
 there in the window at that moment, looking out. 
 No harm in putting his back into it then for a bit, 
 working a little harder for the moment it would 
 hurt no one, and might do himself good. 
 
 Eleseus was somehow changed; whatever it might 
 be, something in him had been warped, and quietly 
 spoiled; he was not bad, but something blemished. 
 Had he lacked a guiding hand those last few years? 
 What could his mother do to help him now? Only 
 stand by him and agree. She could let herself be 
 dazzled by her son's bright prospects for the future, 
 and stand between him and his father, to take his 
 part she could do that. 
 
 But Isak grew impatient at last over her opposi- 
 tion; to his mind, the idea about Breidablik was by 
 no means a bad one. Only that very day, coming 
 up, he had stopped the horse almost without think- 
 ing, to look out with a critical eye over the ill-tended 
 land; ay, it could be made a fine place in proper 
 hands. 
 
 "Why not worth while?" he asked Inger now. 
 " I've that much feeling for Eleseus, anyway, that 
 I'd help him to it." 
 
 " If you've any feeling for him, then say never a 
 word of Breidablik again," she answered. 
 
 296
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 "Ho!" 
 
 " Ay, for he's greater thoughts in his head than 
 the like of us." 
 
 Isak, too, is hardly sure of himself here, and it 
 weakens him; but he is by no means pleased at hav- 
 ing shown his hand, and spoken straight out about 
 his plan. He is unwilling to give it up now. 
 
 " He shall do as I say," declares Isak suddenly. 
 And he raises his voice threateningly, in case Inger 
 by any chance should be hard of hearing. " Ay, 
 you may look; I'll say no more. It's midway up, 
 with a schoolhouse by, and everything; what's the 
 greater thoughts he's got beyond that, I'd like to 
 know? With a son like that I might starve to death 
 is that any better, d'you think? And can you 
 tell me why my own flesh and blood should turn and 
 go contrary to to my own flesh and blood? " 
 
 Isak stopped; he realized that the more he talked 
 the worse it would be. He was on the point of 
 changing his clothes, getting out of his best things 
 he had put on to go down to the village in; but no, 
 he altered his mind, he would stay as he was 
 whatever he meant by that. " You'd better say a 
 word of it to Eleseus," he says then. 
 
 And Inger answers: " Best if you'd say it your- 
 self. He won't do as I say." 
 
 Very well, then, Isak is head of the house, so he 
 should think; now see if Eleseus dares to murmur! 
 But, whether it were because he feared defeat, Isak 
 draws back now, and says: "Ay, 'tis true, I might 
 say a word of it myself. But by reason of having 
 
 297
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 so many things to do, and busy with this and that, 
 I've something else to think of." 
 
 ' Well ... ? " said Inger in surprise. 
 
 And Isak goes off again not very far, only to 
 the farther fields, but still, he goes off. He is full 
 of mysteries, and must hide himself out of the way. 
 The fact is this: he had brought back a third piece 
 of news from the village today, and that was some- 
 thing more than the rest, something enormous; and 
 he had hidden it at the edge of the wood. There it 
 stands, wrapped up in sacking and paper; he un- 
 covers it, and lo, a huge machine. Look! red and 
 blue, wonderful to see, with a heap of teeth and a 
 heap of knives, with joints and arms and screws and 
 wheels a mowing-machine. No, Isak would not 
 have gone down today for the new horse if it hadn't 
 been for that machine. 
 
 He stands with a marvellously keen expression, 
 going over in his mind from beginning to end the in- 
 structions for use that the storekeeper had read out; 
 he sets a spring here, and shifts a bolt there, then he 
 oils every hole and every crevice, then he looks over 
 the whole thing once more. Isak had never known 
 such an hour in his life. To pick up a pen and 
 write one's mark on a paper, a document ay, 'twas 
 a perilous great thing that, no doubt. Likewise in 
 the matter of a new harrow he had once brought up 
 there were many curiously twisted parts in that 
 to be considered. Not to speak of the great circular 
 saw that had to be set in its course to the nicety of 
 a pencil line, never swaying east nor west, lest 
 
 208
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 it should fly asunder. But this this mowing- 
 machine of his 'twas a crawling nest of steel 
 springs and hooks and apparatus, and hundreds of 
 screws Inger's sewing-machine was a bookmarker 
 compared with this! 
 
 Isak harnessed himself to the shafts and tried the 
 thing. Here was the wonderful moment. And 
 that was why he kept out of sight and was his own 
 horse. 
 
 For what if the machine had been wrongly put 
 together and did not do its work, but went to pieces 
 with a crash! No such calamity happened, how- 
 ever; the machine could cut grass. And so indeed it 
 .ought, after Isak had stood there, deep in study, for 
 hours. The sun had gone down. Again he har- 
 nesses himself and tries it; ay, the thing cuts grass. 
 And so indeed it ought! 
 
 When the dew began to fall close after the heat 
 of the day, and the boys came out, each with his 
 scythe to mow in readiness for next day, Isak came 
 in sight close to the house and said : 
 
 " Put away scythes for tonight. Get out the new 
 horse, you can, and bring him down to the edge of 
 the wood." 
 
 And on that, instead of going indoors to his sup- 
 per as the others had done already, he turned where 
 he stood and went back the way he had come. 
 
 " D'you want the cart, then? " Sivert called after 
 him. 
 
 " No," said his father, and walked on. 
 
 Swelling with mystery, full of pride ; with a little 
 299
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 lift and throw from the knee at every step, so em- 
 phatically did he walk. So a brave man might walk 
 to death and destruction, carrying no weapon in his 
 hand. 
 
 The boys came up with the horse, saw the machine, 
 and stopped dead. It was the first mowing-machine 
 in the wilds, the first in the village red and blue, 
 a thing of splendour to man's eyes. And the 
 father, head of them all, called out, oh, in a careless 
 tone, as if it were nothing uncommon: "Harness 
 up to this machine here." 
 
 And they drove it; the father drove. Brrr! said 
 the thing, and felled the grass in swathes. The 
 boys walked behind, nothing in their hands, doing 
 no work, smiling. The father stopped and looked 
 back. H'm, not as clear as it might be. He screws 
 up a nut here and there to bring the knives closer 
 to the ground, and tries again. No, not right yet, 
 all uneven; the frame with the cutters seems to be 
 hopping a little. Father and sons discuss what it 
 can be. Eleseus has found the instructions and is 
 reading them. " Here, it says to sit up on the seat 
 when you drive then it runs steadier," he says. 
 
 " Ho ! " says his father. " Ay, 'tis so, I know," 
 he answers. " I've studied it all through." He 
 gets up into the seat and starts off again; it goes 
 steadily now. Suddenly the machine stops working 
 the knives are not cutting at all. " Ptro! 
 What's wrong now? " Father down from his seat, 
 no longer swelling with pride, but bending an anx- 
 ious, questioning face down over the machine. 
 
 300
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 Father and sons all stare at it; something must be 
 wrong. Eleseus stands holding the instructions. 
 
 " Here's a bolt or something," says Sivert, pick- 
 ing up a thing from the grass. 
 
 " Ho, that's all right, then," says his father, as if 
 that was all that was needed to set everything in 
 order. " I was just looking for that bolt." But 
 now they could not find the hole for it to fit in 
 where in the name of wonder could the hole be, now? 
 And it was now that Eleseus could begin to feel 
 himself a person of importance; he was the man to 
 make out a printed paper of instructions. What 
 would they do without him? He pointed unneces- 
 sarily long to the hole and explained: "According 
 to the illustration, the bolt should fit in there." 
 
 " Ay, that's where she goes," said his father. 
 " 'Twas there I had it before." And, by way of 
 regaining lost prestige, he ordered Sivert to set 
 about looking for more bolts in the grass. " There 
 ought to be another," he said, looking very import- 
 ant, as if he carried the whole thing in his head. 
 " Can't you find another? Well, well, it'll be in its 
 hole then, all right." 
 
 Father starts off again. 
 
 ' Wait a minute this is wrong," cried Eleseus. 
 Ho, Eleseus standing there with the drawing in his 
 hand, with the Law in his hand; no getting away 
 from him ! " That spring there goes outside," he 
 says to his father. 
 
 "Ay, what then?" 
 
 i{ Why, you've got it in under, you've set it wrong. 
 301
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 It's a steel spring, and you have to fix it outside, 
 else the bolt jars out again and stops the knives. 
 You can see in the picture here." 
 
 " I've left my spectacles behind, and can't see it 
 quite," says his father, something meekly. " You 
 can see better you set it as it should go. I don't 
 want to go up to the house for my spectacles now." 
 
 All in order now, and Isak gets up. Eleseus calls 
 after him : " You must drive pretty fast, it cuts bet- 
 ter that way it says so here." 
 
 Isak drives and drives, and everything goes well, 
 and Brrr! says the machine. There is a broad track 
 of cut grass in his wake, neatly in line, ready to take 
 up. Now they can see him from the house, and all 
 the womenfolk come out; Inger carries little Re- 
 becca on her arm, though little Rebecca has learned 
 to walk by herself long since. But there they come 
 four womenfolk, big and small hurrying with 
 straining eyes down towards the miracle, flocking 
 down to see. Oh, but now is Isak's hour. Now he 
 is truly proud, a mighty man, sitting high aloft 
 dressed in holiday clothes, in all his finery; in jacket 
 and hat, though the sweat is pouring off him. He 
 swings round in four big angles, goes over a good bit 
 of ground, swings round, drives, cuts grass, passes 
 along by where the women are standing; they are 
 dumbfounded, it is all beyond them, and Brrr ! says 
 the machine. 
 
 Then Isak stops and gets down. Longing, no 
 doubt, to hear what these folk on earth down there 
 will say; what they will find to say about it all. He 
 
 302
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 hears smothered cries; they fear to disturb him, these 
 beings on earth, in his lordly work, but they turn to 
 one another with awed questionings, and he hears 
 what they say. And now, that he may be a kind and 
 fatherly lord and ruler to them all, to encourage 
 them, he says: " There, I'll just do this bit, and you 
 can spread it tomorrow." 
 
 " Haven't you time to come in and have a bite of 
 food? " says Inger, all overwhelmed. 
 
 " Nay, I've other things to do," he answers. 
 
 Then he oils the machine again; gives them to 
 understand that he is occupied with scientific work. 
 Drives off again, cutting more grass. And, at long 
 last, the womenfolk go back home. 
 
 Happy Isak happy folk at Sellanraa ! 
 
 Very soon the neighbours from below will be com- 
 ing up. Axel Strom is interested in things, he may 
 be up tomorrow. But Brede from Breidablik, he 
 might be here that very evening. Isak would not be 
 loth to show them his machine, explain it to them, 
 tell them how it works, and all about it. He can 
 point out how that no man with a scythe could ever 
 cut so fine and clean. But it costs money, of course 
 oh, a red-and-blue machine like that is a terribly 
 costly thing ! 
 
 Happy Isak! 
 
 But as he stops for oil the third time, there! his 
 spectacles fall from his pocket. And, worst of all, 
 the two boys saw it. Was there a higher power be- 
 hind that little happening a warning against over- 
 weening pride? He had put on those spectacles 
 
 303
 
 Growth of the Soil 
 
 time and again that day to study the instructions, 
 without making out a word; Eleseus had to help 
 him with that. Eyah, Herregud, 'twas a good 
 thing, no doubt, to be book-learned. And, by way 
 of humbling himself, Isak determines to give up his 
 plan of making Eleseus a tiller of soil in the wilds; 
 he will never say a word of it again. 
 
 Not that the boys made any great business about 
 that matter of the spectacles; far from it. Sivert, 
 the jester, had to say something, of course; it was 
 too much for him. He plucked Eleseus by the 
 sleeve and said : " Here, come along, we'll go back 
 home and throw those scythes on the fire. Father's 
 going to do all the mowing now with his machine ! " 
 And that was a jest indeed. 
 
 304
 
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