ill you do
me the favour of taking these few coppers and purchasing a blue bowl
with them? Put a little gruel and milk in it, and to-morrow morning set
it out under the steps of Bollnaes cottage."

The old Laplander looked surprised, but there was no time for Clement to
explain further, as he had to be off to the railway station.

The Laplander went down to the zooelogical village to purchase the bowl.
As he saw no blue one that he thought appropriate, he bought a white
one, and this he conscientiously filled and set out every morning.

That was why the boy had not been released from his pledge. He knew that
Clement had gone away, but _he_ was not allowed to leave.

That night the boy longed more than ever for his freedom. This was
because summer had come now in earnest. During his travels he had
suffered much in cold and stormy weather, and when he first came to
Skansen he had thought that perhaps it was just as well that he had been
compelled to break the journey. He would have been frozen to death had
he gone to Lapland in the month of May. But now it was warm; the earth
was green-clad, birches and poplars were clothed in their satiny
foliage, and the cherry trees--in fact all the fruit trees--were covered
with blossoms. The berry bushes had green berries on their stems; the
oaks had carefully unfolded their leaves, and peas, cabbages, and beans
were growing in the vegetable garden at Skansen.

"Now it must be warm up in Lapland," thought the boy. "I should like to
be seated on Morten Goosey-Gander's back on a fine morning like this! It
would be great fun to ride around in the warm, still air, and look down
at the ground, as it now lies decked with green grass, and embellished
with pretty blossoms."

He sat musing on this when the eagle suddenly swooped down from the sky,
and perched beside the boy, on top of the cage.

"I wanted to try my wings to see if they were still good for anything,"
said Gorgo. "You didn't suppose that I meant to leave you here in
captivity? Get up on my back, and I'll take you to your comrades."

"No, that's impossible!" the boy answered. "I have pledged my word that
I would stay here till I am liberated."

"What sort of nonsense are you talking?" protested Gorgo. "In the first
place they brought you here against your will; then they forced you to
promise that you would remain here. Surely you must understand that such
a promise one need not keep?"

"Oh, no, I must keep it," said