_Thursday, April twenty-eighth_.
The following day the weather was clear and beautiful. There was a
strong west wind; people were glad of that, for it dried up the roads,
which had been soaked by the heavy rains of the day before.
Early in the morning the two Småland children, Osa, the goose girl, and
little Mats, were out on the highway leading from Sörmland to Närke. The
road ran alongside the southern shore of Hjälmar Lake and the children
were walking along looking at the ice, which covered the greater part of
it. The morning sun darted its clear rays upon the ice, which did not
look dark and forbidding, like most spring ice, but sparkled temptingly.
As far as they could see, the ice was firm and dry. The rain had run
down into cracks and hollows, or been absorbed by the ice itself. The
children saw only the sound ice.
Osa, the goose girl, and little Mats were on their way North, and they
could not help thinking of all the steps they would be saved if they
could cut straight across the lake instead of going around it. They
knew, to be sure, that spring ice is treacherous, but this looked
perfectly secure. They could see that it was several inches thick near
the shore. They saw a path which they might follow, and the opposite
shore appeared to be so near that they ought to be able to get there in
an hour.
"Come, let's try!" said little Mats. "If we only look before us, so that
we don't go down into some hole, we can do it."
So they went out on the lake. The ice was not very slippery, but rather
easy to walk upon. There was more water on it than they expected to see,
and here and there were cracks, where the water purled up. One had to
watch out for such places; but that was easy to do in broad daylight,
with the sun shining.
The children advanced rapidly, and talked only of how sensible they were
to have gone out on the ice instead of tramping the slushy road.
When they had been walking a while they came to Vin Island, where an old
woman had sighted them from her window. She rushed from her cabin, waved
them back, and shouted something which they could not hear. They
understood perfectly well that she was warning them not to come any
farther; but they thought there was no immediate danger. It would be
stupid for them to leave the ice when all was going so well!
Therefore they went on past Vin Island and had a stretch of seven miles
of ice ahead of them.
Out there was so much water that the children were obliged to take
roundabout ways; but that was sport to them. They vied with each other
as to which could find the soundest ice. They were neither tired nor
hungry. The whole day was before them, and they laughed at each obstacle
they met.
Now and then they cast a glance ahead at the farther shore. It still
appeared far away, although they had been walking a good hour. They were
rather surprised that the lake was so broad.
"The shore seems to be moving farther away from us," little Mats
observed.
Out there the children were not protected against the wind, which was
becoming stronger and stronger every minute, and was pressing their
clothing so close to their bodies that they could hardly go on. The cold
wind was the first disagreeable thing they had met with on the journey.
But the amazing part of it was that the wind came sweeping along with a
loud roar--as if it brought with it the noise of a large mill or
factory, though nothing of the kind was to be found out there on the
ice. They had walked to the west of the big island, Valen; now they
thought they were nearing the north shore. Suddenly the wind began to
blow more and more, while the loud roaring increased so rapidly that
they began to feel uneasy.
All at once it occurred to them that the roar was caused by the foaming
and rushing of the waves breaking against a shore. Even this seemed
improbable, since the lake was still covered with ice.
At all events, they paused and looked about. They noticed far in the
west a white bank which stretched clear across the lake. At first they
thought it was a snowbank alongside a road. Later they realized it was
the foam-capped waves dashing against the ice! They took hold of hands
and ran without saying a word. Open sea lay beyond in the west, and
suddenly the streak of foam appeared to be moving eastward. They
wondered if the ice was going to break all over. What was going to
happen? They felt now that they were in great danger.
All at once it seemed as if the ice under their feet rose--rose and
sank, as if some one from below were pushing it. Presently they heard a
hollow boom, and then there were cracks in the ice all around them. The
children could see how they crept along under the ice-covering.
The next moment all was still, then the rising and sinking began again.
Thereupon the cracks began to widen into crevices through which the
water bubbled up. By and by the crevices became gaps. Soon after that
the ice was divided into large floes.
"Osa," said little Mats, "this must be the breaking up of the ice!"
"Why, so it is, little Mats," said Osa, "but as yet we can get to land.
Run for your life!"
As a matter of fact, the wind and waves had a good deal of work to do
yet to clear the ice from the lake. The hardest part was done when the
ice-cake burst into pieces, but all these pieces must be broken and
hurled against each other, to be crushed, worn down, and dissolved.
There was still a great deal of hard and sound ice left, which formed
large, unbroken surfaces.
The greatest danger for the children lay in the fact that they had no
general view of the ice. They did not see the places where the gaps were
so wide that they could not possibly jump over them, nor did they know
where to find any floes that would hold them, so they wandered aimlessly
back and forth, going farther out on the lake instead of nearer land. At
last, confused and terrified, they stood still and wept.
Then a flock of wild geese in rapid flight came rushing by. They
shrieked loudly and sharply; but the strange thing was that above the
geese-cackle the little children heard these words:
"You must go to the right, the right, the right!" They began at once to
follow the advice; but before long they were again standing irresolute,
facing another broad gap.
Again they heard the geese shrieking above them, and again, amid the
geese-cackle, they distinguished a few words:
"Stand where you are! Stand where you are!"
The children did not say a word to each other, but obeyed and stood
still. Soon after that the ice-floes floated together, so that they
could cross the gap. Then they took hold of hands again and ran. They
were afraid not only of the peril, but of the mysterious help that had
come to them.
Soon they had to stop again, and immediately the sound of the voice
reached them.
"Straight ahead, straight ahead!" it said.
This leading continued for about half an hour; by that time they had
reached Ljunger Point, where they left the ice and waded to shore. They
were still terribly frightened, even though they were on firm land. They
did not stop to look back at the lake--where the waves were pitching the
ice-floes faster and faster--but ran on. When they had gone a short
distance along the point, Osa paused suddenly.
"Wait here, little Mats," she said; "I have forgotten something."
Osa, the goose girl, went down to the strand again, where she stopped to
rummage in her bag. Finally she fished out a little wooden shoe, which
she placed on a stone where it could be plainly seen. Then she ran to
little Mats without once looking back.
But the instant her back was turned, a big white goose shot down from
the sky, like a streak of lightning, snatched the wooden shoe, and flew
away with it.