but cold. The peasants laid themselves around the fire. Mrs. Astrid,
anxious on account of Harald's shoulder, prayed him to come into the
cave, where it was sheltered from the keen air; but Harald preferred to
keep watch on the outside, and sate before the fire wrapped in his
cloak. Susanna laid herself softly down at his mistress's feet, which
she hoped by this means to keep warm. Strange shapes flitted before her
inward sight whilst her eyelids were closed. Shapes of snow and ice came
near to her, and seemed to wish to surround her--but suddenly vanished,
and were melted before the warm looks of love, and the sun shone forth
in glory; and happy, sweet feelings blossomed forth in her soul. Amid
such she slept. Then a new image showed itself. She was again in
Heimdal; she stood upon the bank of the river, and looked with fearful
wonder on the opposite shore; for there, amid the dark fir-trees, shone
forth something white, mist-like, but which became ever plainer; and as
it approached the brink of the river, Susanna saw that it was a child,
and she knew again her little Hulda. But she was pale as the dead, and
tears rolled down her snow-white cheeks, while she stretched forth her
little arms to Susanna, and called her name. Susanna was about to throw
herself into the waves which separated them, but could not; she felt
herself fettered by an invisible power. At this, as she turned round
with inexpressible anguish to free herself, she perceived that it was
Harald who thus held her; he looked so cold, so severe, and Susanna felt
at the game time both love and hatred for him. Again anxiously called
the tender child's voice, and Susanna saw her little sister sink upon
the stones of the shore, and the white waves beat over her. With a
feeling of wild despair Susanna now awoke from sleep, and sprang up.
Cold perspiration stood upon her brow, and she looked bewildered around.
The cave darkly vaulted itself above her; and the blazing fire outside
threw red confused beams upon its fantastically decorated walls. Susanna
went softly out of the cave; she wished to see the heavens, the stars;
she must breathe the free fresh air, to release herself from the terrors
of her dream. But no beaming star looked down upon her, for the heavens
were covered with a grey roof of cloud, and the pale moonlight which
pressed through cast a troubled light over the dead country, and gloomy
and hideous shapes. The fire had burnt low, and flickered up, as if
sleepily, now and then, with red flames. The peasants slept heavily,
lying around it. Susanna saw not Harald at this moment, and she was glad
of it. In order to dissipate the painful impression she had experienced,
Susanna took a water-jug, and went down to the river with it, to fetch
water for the morrow's breakfast. On the way thither she saw Harald, who
with his gun upon his shoulder, walked backwards and forwards some
little distance from the cave. Unobserved by him, she, however, came
down to the river, and filled her jug with the snow-mingled water. This
little bodily exertion did her good; but the solitary ramble was not
much calculated to enliven her spirits. The scene was indescribably
gloomy, and the monotonous murmuring of the snow-brook was accompanied
by gusts of wind, which, like giant sighs, went mournfully whistling
through the desert. She seated herself for a moment at the foot of a
rock. It was midnight, and deep silence reigned over the country. The
rocks around her were covered with mourning-lichen, and the pale
snow-lichens grew in crevices of the mountains; here and there stuck out
from the black earth-rind the bog-lichen, a little pale-yellow
sulphur-coloured flower, which the Lapland sagas use in the magic arts,
and which here gives the impression of a ghastly smile upon these fields
of death. Susanna could not free herself from the remembrance of her
dream; and wherever she turned her glance she thought that she saw the
image of her little dying sister. Perhaps in this dream she had received
a warning, perhaps a foretelling; perhaps she might never leave this
desert; perhaps she should die here, and then----what would become of
her little Hulda? Would not neglect and want let her sink upon the hard
stones of life, and the waves of misery go over her? In the midst of
these gloomy thoughts, Susanna was surprised by Harald. He saw that she
had been weeping, and asked, with a voice so kind it went to Susanna's
heart--
"Why so dejected? Are you uneasy or displeased? Ah! tell it openly to me
as a friend! I cannot bear to see you thus!"
"I have had a bad dream!" said Susanna, wiping away her tears and
standing up, "all is so ghastly, so wild here around us. It makes me
think on all the dark and sad things in the world! But it is no use
troubling oneself about them," continued she more cheerfully, "it will
be all well enough when the day dawns. It is the hour of darkness, the
hour in which the under-earth spirits have rule!" And Susanna attempted
to smile. "But what is that?" continued she, and her smile changed
itself suddenly to an expression of anxiety, which made her
involuntarily approach Harald. There was heard in the air a low
clattering and whistling, and at the same time a mass resembling a grey
cloud came from the north, spreading over the snow-fields and
approaching the place where they stood. In the pale moonlight Susanna
seemed to see wild shapes with horns and claws, moving themselves in the
mass, and the words, "the under-earth spirits," were nearly escaping her
lips.
"It is a herd of reindeer!" said Harald, smiling, who seemed to divine
her thoughts, and went a few paces towards the apparition, whilst he
mechanically shouldered his gun. But at the same moment the herd took
another direction, and fled with wild speed towards the east. The wind
rose, and swept with a mournful wail through the ice-desert.
"It is here really fearful!" said Susanna, and shuddered.
"But to-morrow evening," said Harald, cheerfully, "we shall reach
Storlie-Säter, which lies below the region of snow, and then we shall
find birch-woods, quite green yet, and shall meet with friendly people,
and can have there a regularly comfortable inn. The day afterwards we
shall have a heavy piece of road; but on that same day we shall have a
view of scenes so magnificent, that you certainly will think little of
the trouble, on account of the pleasure you will enjoy, for there the
beautiful far exceeds the terrific. That spot between Storlie-Säter and
Tverlic, where the wild Leira-river, as if in frenzy, hurls itself down
over Högfjell, and with the speed of lightning and the noise of thunder
rushed between and over splintered masses of rock, in part naked, in
part clothed in wood, to tumble about with its rival the furious
Björöja,--that spot exceeds in wild grandeur anything that man can
imagine."
Thus spake Harald, to dissipate Susanna's dejection; but she listened to
him half-dreaming, and said as if to herself--
"Would that we were well there, and passed it, and at our destination,
and then----"
"And then?" said Harald, taking up the unfinished sentence--"what then?"
"Home with my Hulda again!" said Susanna, deeply sighing.
"What, Susanna? Will you then leave us? Do you really hate Norway?"
"No, no!--a long way from that!--But one cannot serve two masters, that
I now feel. Hulda calls me. I shall have no rest till I return to her,
and never will I part from her again, I have dreamed of her to-night;
and she was so pale, so pale--Ah! But you are pale too, terribly pale!"
continued Susanna, as she looked at Harald with astonishment; "you are
certainly ill!"
"It is this lovely moonlight and this sweet scenery which gives me this
ashy-grey colour," said Harald jokingly, who wished to conceal the true
cause of his paleness; which was, that his shoulder began to be acutely
painful during the night. And he endeavoured to turn Susanna's attention
to another object.
The two had in the mean time reached the cave. Harald revived the
smouldering fire with fresh fuel, and Susanna crept softly into the
cave, and resumed her former place at the feet of her mistress. But it
was not till late that she sunk into an uneasy sleep.
She was awoke by a loud and rushing noise. A pale light came into the
cave, and she heard Harald's voice saying aloud outside, "It is time
that we are preparing for the journey, that as soon as possible we may
get into quarters. We have a laborious day before us."
Susanna looked around her for her lady. She stood quite ready near
Susanna, and was regarding her with a gentle, attentive look.
Susanna sprang up, shocked at her own tardiness, and went all the
quicker now to make arrangements for breakfast. The bouillon was again
had recourse to, the servants were refreshed with salmon, bacon, and
curds thawed in snow-water.
A tempest had blown up after midnight, which promised our travellers not
at all an agreeable travelling-day. The river and the brooks roared
loudly, and raged and thundered amid the rocks around them. In the
course of the morning the wind, however, abated, but Harald cast now and
then thoughtful glances upon the grey roof of cloud which grew ever
thicker above their heads. Susanna saw him once cast an inquiring glance
upon the guide, and he shook his grey head. In the mean time all the
_men_ seemed cheerful; and Harald seemed to wish by his animation, to
remove the impression which his continued unusual paleness might
occasion.
Through the whole forenoon they continued to ascend higher into the
region of winter, and the snow-fields stretched out wider and wider. No
one living thing showed itself in this desert, but they frequently saw
traces of reindeer, and here and there flies lay upon the snow in deep
winter-sleep. The wind fortunately subsided more and more, and let its
icy breath be felt only in short gusts. But ever and anon were heard
peals and roarings, as if of loud thunder. They were the so-called
"Fjellskred;" or falls of great masses of rocks and stones, which
separate themselves from the mountains, and plunge down, and which in
these mountain-regions commonly occur during and after tempests. The
peasants related many histories of houses and people who were crushed
under them.
The road became continually more and more difficult. They were often
obliged to wade through running rivers, and to pass over snow-bridges,
under which the rivers had made themselves a path. Harald, alike bold,
as prudent and determined, often averted danger at his own risk, from
Mrs. Astrid and Susanna. Neither was he pale any longer. The exertions
and fever, which nobody suspected, made his cheeks glow with the finest
crimson.
In the afternoon, they had reached the highest point of the rocks. Here
were piled up two great heaps of stones, in the neighbourhood of a
little sea called Skiftesjö, which is covered with never-melted ice in
the hottest summer. Here the brooks begin to run westward, and the way
begins from here to descend. The giant shapes of the Vasfjern and
Ishaug, together with other lofty snow-mountains, showed themselves in
perspective.
The wind was now almost still; but it began to snow violently, and the
cloudy sky sank down, dark and heavy as lead, upon the travellers.
"We must hasten, hasten," said the old Halling peasant, as he looked
round with an intelligent glance to the party whom he led, "else we
shall be snowed up on the mountains, as it happened to the late Queen
Margaret, when----"
He ended not, for his horse stumbled suddenly on a steep descent, and
threw him over. The old man's head struck violently against a stone, and
he remained lying senseless. It was a full hour before they succeeded in
bringing him to consciousness. But the blow had been so severe, and the
old man was so confused in his head, that he could no longer serve as
guide. They were obliged to place him on the same horse as his grandson
rode, and the high-spirited young man took charge of him with the
greatest tenderness. Harald rode now at the head of the party, but every
moment increased the difficulties of his undertaking, for the snow fell
with such terrible rapidity, and the thickness of the air prevented him
distinguishing with certainty "the comfortable waymarks,"--the
traveller's only means of safety. They were obliged often to make
windings and turnings, to come again upon the right path. Nevertheless,
they succeeded in reaching Björöi-Säter, an uninhabited Säter, but which
stands upon the broad and rapid Björöia.
Here they halted to take counsel. The Björöia was now so swollen, and
rushed along so violently, that they soon saw the pure impossibility of
passing it at this place. The old Halling-peasant advised them to make a
circuit to another place, where they might with safety cross the river;
this would take them near to the Storlie-Säter, and near to the great
waterfall of the same name, the roar of which might be heard at three
miles' distance. It is true that they must make a circuit of some miles,
but what could they do? Great was the danger of pursuing the journey in
this storm, but greater yet to stand still in this desert, where the
snow frequently fell to the depth of many yards. The old Hallinger,
however, chose this last; for he found himself unable to sit on the
horse, and prayed to be left quiet in the hut, with provisions for a few
days, in which time he hoped that the snow would cease and begin to
thaw. He did not wish that his grandson should remain with him, but he
was resolute not to leave his old grandfather, and the rest considered
it alike proper and necessary; and the two, therefore, were hastily
supplied with whatever they might require in this winterly solitude.
Their horses were supplied with provender, and led likewise into the
hut.
Susanna bound up the old man's head with the carefulness of a daughter.
It was to her infinitely difficult to leave the old man behind them
there. "And if no thaw come?" said she; "if snow and winter still
continue, and thou art buried in here and frozen?"
"That has happened before now to many a better fellow than me," said the
old man calmly. "One cannot die more than once, and God is also at home
in the wilderness. And he who rightly can utter the Lord's Prayer need
not to fear the under-earth spirits. With me, an old man, it may go as
it will. My best time is, in any case, past; I am anxious only for the
youth. Think on him when thou comest to human beings."
Susanna was affected. She impressed a kiss upon the old man's forehead,
and a warm tear fell from her cheek upon his. The old man looked up to
her with a cordial, bright-beaming glance. "God's angel guide thee!"
cried he after her, as she left the hut to attend the rest.
Again was the little train in motion, and wandered over snow-fields,
naked rocks, and half-thawed morasses. The snow reached high up the legs
of the horses, and only slowly and almost reluctantly went they forward.
It grew darker and darker. No one spoke a word. Thus they went on for an
hour's space.
With great uneasiness had Susanna fancied for some time that she
observed Harald to reel in his saddle; but she endeavoured to persuade
herself that it might be only a delusion, which the unequal paces of the
horse occasioned, and by the thick snow-mist through which she saw him.
All around her had, in fact, a bewildering appearance, and seemed to her
waving and spectral. A dull cry from Mrs. Astrid broke the ghostly
silence--was this also a delusion? Harald's horse stood still, and was
without its rider. Of a truth, it was only too certain! Harald had,
seized by dizziness, fallen down beside his horse. He had borne for long
in silence the increasing pain in his shoulder and breast, and
endeavoured to conceal from himself, as well as from others, feelings of
feverish dizziness which seized his head. Even now, when it threatened
to overpower him, he would not allow it to be of any consequence. With
the help of the servant, he made several attempts to seat himself again
upon his horse, but in vain. He could no longer lift up his fevered
head. Lying upon the snow on his knees, and with silent misery, he
leaned his burning forehead against a piece of rock.
"Here, then, here shall we die!" said Mrs. Astrid, half aloud to
herself, in a gloomy voice; "and this young man must be sacrificed for
my sake. My fate is always the same!"
Then followed a moment of fearful silence. Men and animals stood
immoveable, and as if turned to stone, whilst the snow fell over them,
and seemed to threaten to bury them. But now a clear, cheerful voice
raised itself, and said--
"I see a flat rock yonder, which will shelter us from the snow. We must
carry him there!" And Susanna raised up Harald and seized his arm,
whilst the servant went before and made a path through the snow. About
forty paces from the place where they stood, a vaulted projecting rock
stretched forth, under which they could obtain shelter from the snow,
which reared itself in high walls around the open space.
"Support yourself on me; better--better! Fear not; I am strong!" said
Susanna, whilst she, with a soft but vigorous arm, embraced Harald. He
allowed himself to be led like a child: although he was not properly
conscious, still he felt a certain pleasure in submitting himself to the
young girl's guidance, who talked to him with such a mild and courageous
voice.
As commodiously as possible was Harald laid under the sheltering rock,
and Susanna took off her shawl, which she wore under her fur cloak, and
made of it a soft pillow for Harald. "Ah! that is good!" said he softly,
and pressed Susanna's hand, as he found himself relieved by this
position. Susanna returned now to her mistress.
"Susanna," said she, "I would also gladly get there. It seems safe
resting there; but I am so stiff that I can scarcely move myself."
Susanna helped her lady from her horse; and guided and supported by her,
Mrs. Astrid reached the sheltering vault. Here, in comparison with that
of the open plain, the air was almost of a mild temperature, for the
rock walls and the piled-up snow prevented the cold wind from entering.
Here Susanna placed softly her lady, who was almost stiffened with cold
and fatigue.
Susanna also was frozen and weary; but, oh, what a southern clime of
life and warmth cannot love and a strong will call forth in a human
being! It was these powers which now impelled the young girl's pulse,
and let the blood rush warm from the chambers of her heart to her very
finger ends. She rubbed the stiffened limbs of her mistress, she warmed
them with kisses and tears, she warmed her with her throbbing breast.
She prevailed upon her to drink from a bottle of wine, and prepared also
for Harald's parched and thirsty lips a refreshing draught of wine and
water. She moistened her handkerchief with snow, and laid it upon his
aching brow. Around them both she piled cloaks and articles of clothing,
so that both were protected from the cold. Then stood she for a moment
silent, with a keen and serious look. She was thinking on what was
further to be done to save these two.
Harald had raised himself on his sound arm, and looked silently down
with the pain which a manly nature experiences when it is compelled to
renounce one of its noblest impulses--sustaining and helping the weak
who are confided to their care. A tear--the first Susanna had ever seen
him shed, ran down his cheek.
Mrs. Astrid gazed with a mournful look up to the grave-like vault.
But Susanna's eyes beamed even brighter. "Hark, hark!" said she, and
listened.
Mrs. Astrid and Harald fixed upon her inquiring looks.
"I hear a noise," resumed Susanna, "a noise like that of a great
waterfall."
"It is the roar of the Storlie-force!" exclaimed Harald, for a moment
animated--"but what good of that?" continued he, and sunk down
disheartened, "we are three miles off--and cannot get there!"
"Yes, we can, we will," said Susanna, with firm resolution. "Courage,
courage, my dear lady! Be calm, Mr. Bergman! We will reach it, we will
be saved!"
"And how?" said Harald, "the servant is a stupid fellow, he never could
find his way."
"But I can find it, be sure of that," replied Susanna; "and come back
hither with people and help; tell me only the signs by which I may know
the right way. These and the roar of Storlie-force will guide me."
"It is in vain! You would perish, alone, and in the snow-*storm!"
"I shall not perish! I am strong! No one shall hinder me. And if you
will not tell me the way, I shall, nevertheless, find it out."
When Harald saw her so firmly resolved, and her cheerful and determined
tone had inspired him with some degree of confidence, he endeavoured to
point out to her the objects by which she must direct herself, and which
consisted of rock and crag, which, however, in the snowy night, she
probably could no longer distinguish.
With deep attention, Susanna listened, and then said cheerfully, "Now I
have it! I shall find the way! God preserve you! I shall soon be back
again with help!"
When she came out into the open air, she found the servant seeking his
comfort in the brandy-bottle, and the horses sunk in a spiritless
stupor. She admonished him to take care of these, and charged him
earnestly both with threats and promises of reward, to think about his
employers and watch over their safety. She herself gave to her horse
fodder and water, patting him the while, and speaking to him kind and
encouraging words. After that she mounted to commence her solitary,
dangerous journey. But it was only with great difficulty that she could
make the horse part from his companions, and when it had gone about
twenty paces forward, it stopped, and would return again to its company.
This manoeuvre it repeated several times, at length it would obey
neither blows nor encouragement. Susanna therefore dismounted and let
the horse go. A few tears filled her eyes as she saw him thus abandon
her, and beseechingly she lifted her hands to Him, who here alone saw
the solitary defenceless maiden.
After that she pursued her way on foot.
This indeed was not long, and the length of it was not the difficulty;
but he who had seen Susanna making her way through the deep snow, then
clambering up rocks, then wandering over morasses, where at every step
she feared to sink, would have been filled with amazement at her courage
and her strength. But "God's angel," whom the old man had prayed might
guide her, seemed to be with her on the way, for the fall of snow
ceased, and ever and anon shot a moonbeam forth, and showed her some of
the objects which Harald had described as landmarks. Besides, the din of
the Storlie-force grew ever louder and louder, like the trumpet of the
resurrection in her ears. A strong resolve to attempt the uttermost, a
secret joy in testifying her affection, even though it should be with
the sacrifice of her life, gave wings to her feet, and prevented her
courage falling for a single minute.
So passed two hours. Susanna now heard the water roaring beneath her
feet. She seemed to be on the point of plunging into an abyss; all
around was darkness and snow. She stood still. It was a moment of
terrible uncertainty. Then parted the clouds, and the half-moon in full
glory beamed forth, just as it was about to sink behind a rock. Susanna
now saw the abyss on whose brink she stood; she saw the Storlie-force
spread its white masses of water in the moonlight, saw the Säter-huts
there below!...
Beneath the stone vault where Mrs. Astrid and Harald found themselves,
prevailed for some time after Susanna's departure, a deep and wild
silence. This was at length broken by Mrs. Astrid, who said in a solemn
tone--
"I have a request to make of you, Harald!"
"Command me," answered he. "Might I but be able to fulfil your wish!"
"We seem both," resumed Mrs. Astrid, "now to stand near the grave; but
you are stronger and younger than I, you I hope will be rescued. I must
confide to you an important commission, and I rely on the honour and the
soundness of heart which I have observed in you, that you will
conscientiously execute it, in case I myself am not in a condition to
do, and you as I trust, will outlive me!"
Mrs. Astrid had uttered this with a firm voice, but during the following
relation, she was frequently agitated by contending emotions. She spoke
rapidly, and in short, abrupt sentences, as thus--
"I had a sister. How I loved her I am not able to express. She was as
gay and gentle in her mood as I was serious. When I married, she
accompanied me to my house. But there was no good luck.--The fortune
which my sister possessed placed her in a condition to follow her own
heart's bias, and she gave her hand to a poor but amiable young man, a
Lieutenant Wolf, and lived with him some months of the highest earthly
felicity. But brief was the happiness to be. Wolf perished on a
sea-voyage, and his inconsolable wife sunk under her sorrow. She died
some hours after she had given birth to a son, and after she had laid
her tender babe in my arms, and prayed me to become its mother.