ts at Krogskogen were
Dutch. In a manner, the nationalities did not seem really to mix. The
reason of this probably was that the Dutch element was not pure
Dutch--if it had been, it would have intermingled more easily with the
Norwegian; it was a mixture of Dutch and Spanish. The black hair, the
bright eyes, the lean body, were inherited by the men from generation to
generation; the women inherited the fairness and the strong build; in
them Norwegian blood flowed along with Dutch. Rarely indeed did the one
sex make over any of its family characteristics to the other;
occasionally fair and dark hair met in red, and once in a way the bright
eyes would make their appearance in a woman's face.

It was a peculiarity of the race that in all its families more daughters
than sons were born. The Krogs were fine-looking men and women, and, as
a rule, were well off; consequently, the family made good connections
and held a good position. They had the character of being clannish and
able to hold their own.

One quality which marked them all was that of prudent moderation. In
Norway a fortune rarely descends to the third generation. If it is not
squandered in the second, it is certain to be in the third. Not so in
this case. To the main branch of the Krog family the woods were now the
same source of wealth that they had been three hundred years before.

A desire which was transmitted from generation to generation was the
desire to travel. In the book-cases at Krogskogen books of travel
predominated, and additions were constantly made to their number. Even
as children the Krogs travelled. They planned tours with the help of
books, pictures, and maps. They sat at the table and played at
travelling. They voyaged from one town built of coloured card-board
houses to another of the same description. They navigated cardboard
ships, loaded with beans, coffee, salt, and wooden pegs. In the bay they
rowed and sailed and swam from the pier to the island. One day it was
from Europe to America, another, from Japan to Ceylon. Or they crossed
the ridge, that is the Andes, to the most wonderful Indian villages.

No sooner were they grown up than they insisted on seeing something of
the world. They generally began with a voyage to Holland and a visit to
their kinsfolk there. Some two hundred years ago a youth of the family,
after a very short stay in Holland, went off in a Dutch East Indiaman.
He, however, returned to Amsterdam, resolved to becom