l
day, his eyes fixed on the sick child.

The little one lay in her own crib with only a couple of straw
pillows under her, and no sheets. It must have been hard on the
delicate little body, made sensitive by rash and inflammation, to
lie upon the coarse tow-cloth pillow-casings.

Strange to say, every time the child began to toss on the bed Jan
would think of the finest thing he had to his name--his Sunday
shirt.

He possessed only one good shirt, which was of smooth white linen,
with a starched front It was so well made that it would have been
quite good enough for the superintendent at Doveness. And Jan was
very proud of that shirt. The rest of his wearing apparel, which
was in constant use, was as coarse as were the pillow-casings the
little girl lay on.

But maybe it was only stupid in him to be thinking of that shirt?
Katrina would never in the world let him ruin it, for she had given
it to him as a wedding present.

Anyhow, Katrina was doing all she could. She borrowed a horse from
Eric of Falla, wrapped the little one in shawls and quilts and rode
to the doctor's with her. That was courageous of Katrina--though
Jan could not see that it did any good. Certainly no help came out
of the big medicine bottle she brought back with her from the
apothecary's, nor from any of the doctor's other prescriptions.

Perhaps he would not be allowed to keep so rare a jewel as the
little girl, unless he was ready to sacrifice for her the best that
he had, mused he. But it would not be easy to make a person of
Katrina's sort understand this.

Old Finne-Karin came into the hut one day while the girl lay sick.
She knew how to cure sickness in animals, as do all persons of her
race, and she was not so bad, either, at conjuring away styes and
boils and ringworms; but for other ailments one would scarcely
think of consulting her. It was hardly the thing to expect help
from a witch doctor for anything but trifling complaints.

The moment the old woman stepped into the room she noticed that the
child was ill. Katrina informed her that it had the scarlet fever,
but nobody sought her advice. That the parents were anxious and
troubled she must have seen, of course, for as soon as Katrina had
treated her to coffee and Jan had given her a piece of plug-tobacco,
she said, entirely of her own accord:

"This sickness is beyond my healing powers; but as much I'm able to
tell you; you can find out whether it's life or death. Keep awak