_NEW VENTURE_
Ramsay stirred sleepily and raised a restless hand to shield his eyes
from the morning sun. Almost the whole night through, until the first
waking birds had begun to chatter just outside his window, he had lain
restlessly awake. Just thinking of Hans Van Doorst, and fishing, had not
permitted him to sleep.
Now, with the sun high, he was at last deep in slumber. Ramsay could not
know that Pieter had arisen shortly after the first birds and had the
milking all finished, or that Hans Van Doorst sat in the kitchen, eating
the hearty breakfast which Marta had prepared for him. He knew only that
he seemed to be hearing strange sounds.
There were throaty chucklings and gurglings and low-pitched laughter,
and all of it was punctuated by raucous squawks. Troubled, Ramsay rolled
over in bed and covered his head with the quilt. Even that did not shut
out the sounds, and finally he came fully awake. Sleepy-eyed,
tousle-haired, he sat up in bed.
For a moment he could not define the sounds, which seemed to originate
very near the roof of the house, and he was puzzled. Then he identified
the various noises a sea gull makes. Ramsay slipped out of bed, pushed
the double windows open, and looked into a calm morning.
There was a rustle of wings overhead and a flutter of feathers. Captain
Klaus took strong wing to circle the house. He swung back to alight on
the window ledge, and tilted his head sidewise while he regarded Ramsay
with bright, intelligent eyes. "_Qu-uark!_" he chattered.
Ramsay grinned, but when he put out a hand to touch him Captain Klaus
again took flight and sailed down to the now-calm lake. He alighted on
the shore, folded his wings across his back, and walked down the beach
until he found a storm-killed perch. With the fish in his bill, he flew
back to the house's ridge-pole to eat his breakfast while he awaited the
reappearance of Hans Van Doorst.
A little bit embarrassed, Ramsay dressed hurriedly. The working day in
this country began with dawn and ended with dark. Everything that needed
doing--and there was much to be done--had to be crowded into such
daylight as there was, and there was never enough. Hurrying down the
steps leading to the kitchen, he saw Hans Van Doorst at the table. Marta
greeted him pleasantly, "Good morning."
"Good morning," Ramsay replied. "I overslept! I didn't mean to. Why
didn't somebody call me?"
"Yaah!" Marta laughed. "Pieter said not to. You earned your sleep,
Pieter said. Sit down with Hans and have some breakfast."