It was late afternoon before the trampers reached the green alp where
Gretel's father and brothers were pasturing their cows.
It was milking time. Franz and his father were milking the big, brown
cows near the cabin. Sep was milking his goats. The pigs were eating
their supper of skimmed milk, and Barry, the dog, was keeping his eye
on them all.
It was Barry who first saw the trampers, and away he bounded to meet
them. His bark was very fierce until Gretel called him by name, then he
almost wagged his tail off, he was so glad to see her. He was even glad
to see the strangers, because they had brought Gretel with them.
Franz and Sep and their father were just as happy as Barry to see
their little Gretel and her strange friends from America.
[Illustration: _It was milking time, and Franz and his father were
milking the big, brown cows near the cabin_]
Soon they were all eating supper together, sitting around a rough table
in the small cabin. It was a simple supper, but the hungry boys thought
they never had eaten a nicer one. There was a long loaf of bread, and
a great round cheese with holes all through it, and a dish of wild
strawberries, and a pitcher of warm milk.
While they were eating, they suddenly heard the clear, sweet notes of
a horn. The sound came from the high mountain above the cabin. In a
moment the same notes came more softly from the mountain on the other
side of the alp, and again still more softly they came.
[Illustration: _Then the herdsman took his great horn, which was taller
than himself, and blew a few long, clear notes on it in answer_]
"What is that?" cried Joe.
"It is my neighbor, who pastures his cows on the alp above us," said
Gretel's father. "He is blowing his great horn to tell us that the sun
is just setting behind that snow-covered peak. I must answer him, so
he may know that all is well with us."
Then the herdsman took his great horn, which was taller than himself,
and went out in front of his cabin. He blew a few long, clear notes,
which meant, he said, "Praise ye the Lord." Again and again the same
notes came back in echo from the mountain walls, each time more softly.
The snow-covered peaks were no longer white, but glowing red from the
rays of the setting sun. Then darkness came on very quickly.
The tired travelers were glad to find a small inn on the alp where they
could spend the night. Of course Gretel stayed with her father and
brothers in their little cabin.
There were only two rooms in the cabin. The larger room belonged to the
cows. They came in here to be milked in stormy weather. In the other
room the family cooked and ate and made their cheeses. Their bedroom
was a low balcony over one end of this room, and they reached it by
climbing up a short ladder.
[Illustration: _Early the next morning Jack and Joe went with Sep and
his goats up the rocky mountain side_]
Next morning the boys were wakened early by Sep calling to them outside
of their window.
"Oh, Jack and Joe," he called, "come with me. I have to take my goats
up the mountain to their pasture. There is something fine up there that
I want to show you."
So Jack and Joe went with Sep and his goats up the rocky mountain side.
It was a hard climb, but it was fun.
The little goats could climb anywhere. They went into dangerous places
where the cows could not go, and they found many tender bits of grass
to eat.
When the boys had climbed very high, Sep crept carefully out on a
narrow shelf of rock. He lay face downward and reached far over the
edge. The mountain side was very steep below him.
"Watch me, boys!" he cried. "But don't you come too near."
Then, very carefully, he picked a small, furry, white flower which was
growing on the steep, rocky wall. He picked another and another of the
flowers, until his hand was full of them.
"There now!" he cried. "You know my secret. I have shown you where my
edelweiss grows. It grows only in the most dangerous places on the
high mountains. I pick a few of the flowers every day, when they are
in bloom, to sell to travelers who cross our alp, but you are the only
people I have ever brought up here to see them growing."
"Oh, thank you, Sep!" cried Jack. "We'll never, never tell your
secret. But please let us pick a few of the flowers ourselves."
So each of the boys carried down the mountain a handful of the proud
little flowers which they had picked themselves.
[Illustration: _Edelweiss_]
The Overall Boys were real mountain climbers at last, for only mountain
climbers ever find and pick the edelweiss.
When the boys reached the cabin, Sep's father was watching a great
kettle of milk, over an open fire. He had put more than a hundred
quarts of milk into the copper kettle, with a little rennet to make it
turn into curd.
Herdsmen make their rennet by soaking a calf's stomach in water or in
whey; they then save this liquid to use in making their cheeses.
Sep's father stirred and watched the milk in his great copper kettle
until the curd began to form. He then swung the kettle away from the
fire, and put both bare arms into the warm milk. He worked the cheese
into one large lump, and lifted it out on a great tray, where he worked
it still more to squeeze out the milk.
[Illustration: _Sep's father stirred and watched the milk in his great
copper kettle until the curd began to form_]
It was then put into a round, wooden press a few days. Each day the
press was opened and the cheese rubbed with salt.
When it was just right, it would be taken out and laid on a shelf in
the small cheese house, where all the cheeses were kept until they
could be carried down the mountain and sold. But they were not really
good to eat until they were at least six months old.
Sep's father made one of these cheeses every day, and he made cheeses
from his goats' milk, too. He and his boys lived a busy life on the
mountain. They had no time to be lonesome.
The Overall Boys told Franz and Sep how they often had Swiss cheese
for dinner in America. They said when they got home again they should
certainly tell their grocer just how his big Swiss cheeses were made.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: A SUMMER BLIZZARD.]
[Illustration]