ck houses, with a lighthouse at
the edge of the breakwater, and brown fishing nets hanging in the drying
yard.

"Now look down! Look well! This is how it looks along the coasts in
foreign lands."

After Akka had been flying about in this manner a long time she alighted
suddenly on a marsh in Vemminghoeg township and the boy could not help
thinking that she had travelled over Skane just to let him see that his
was a country which could compare favourably with any in the world. This
was unnecessary, for the boy was not thinking of whether the country was
rich or poor.

From the moment that he had seen the first willow grove his heart ached
with homesickness.

HOME AT LAST

_Tuesday, November eighth_.

The atmosphere was dull and hazy. The wild geese had been feeding on the
big meadow around Skerup church and were having their noonday rest when
Akka came up to the boy.

"It looks as if we should have calm weather for awhile," she remarked,
"and I think we'll cross the Baltic to-morrow."

"Indeed!" said the boy abruptly, for his throat contracted so that he
could hardly speak. All along he had cherished the hope that he would be
released from the enchantment while he was still in Skane.

"We are quite near West Vemminghoeg now," said Akka, "and I thought that
perhaps you might like to go home for awhile. It may be some time before
you have another opportunity to see your people."

"Perhaps I had better not," said the boy hesitatingly, but something in
his voice betrayed that he was glad of Akka's proposal.

"If the goosey-gander remains with us, no harm can come to him," Akka
assured. "I think you had better find out how your parents are getting
along. You might be of some help to them, even if you're not a normal
boy."

"You are right, Mother Akka. I should have thought of that long ago,"
said the boy impulsively.

The next second he and the leader-goose were on their way to his home.
It was not long before Akka alighted behind the stone hedge encircling
the little farm.

"Strange how natural everything looks around here!" the boy remarked,
quickly clambering to the top of the hedge, so that he could look about.

"It seems to me only yesterday that I first saw you come flying through
the air."

"I wonder if your father has a gun," said Akka suddenly.

"You may be sure he has," returned the boy. "It was just the gun that
kept me at home that Sunday morning when I should have been at church."

"The