merry-makers, for the first time in her
life she had a feeling of envy.

When Gerda left the skaters at last, to sit for a while beside her
friend, she saw at once the thought that was in Karen's mind. So, instead
of speaking about the fun of skating, she began to talk about the
doctor's promise that the lame back would be entirely cured before
summer.

"And there is really just as much fun in the summer-time," she said, "for
then we can swim, and bathe, and row boats on the lake. You can go to
Raettvik with us, too, and then you shall dance and be gayer than any one
else."

"Oh, see, there are some men on skis!" cried Karen suddenly, forgetting
her feeling of envy in watching the wonderful speed made by the party
of ski-runners who came into sight on the crest of the long hill opposite
the ice-basin.

The skis, or snow-skates, are a pair of thin strips of hard wood about
four inches wide and eight or nine feet long, pointed and curved upward
in front. The snow-skater binds one on each foot and glides over the
snowy fields, or coasts down the hills as easily as if he were on a
toboggan.

"That is the best way in the world to travel over the snow," said Birger,
who had come to find Gerda. "See how fast they go!"

Suddenly one of the men darted away from the others, balanced himself for
a moment with his long staff, and then shot down the hill like an arrow.
A mound of snow six feet high had been built up directly in his path, and
as he reached it, he crouched down, gave a spring, and landed thirty or
forty feet below, plowing up the light snow into a great cloud, and then
slipping on down the hill and out upon the frozen bay.

Many others tried the slide and jump: some fell and rolled over in the
snow, others lost off their skis, which came coasting down hill alone
like runaway sleds, while others made a long leap with beautiful grace
and freedom.

"This method of travelling across country on skis, when there is deep
snow, is hundreds of years old," said Fru Ekman, who had come to send the
twins away for more fun, while she took her place again beside Karen.

"Men were skiing in Scandinavia as long ago as old Roman times, and
Magnus the Good, who defeated the Roman legions, had a company of
ski-soldiers. Gustav Vasa organized a corps of snow-skaters, and Gustavus
Adolphus used his runners as messengers and scouts."

At that moment there was a sudden commotion outside the door, and a crowd
of the skaters came