e saw the little girl tighten her hands round
her apron, he felt sorry for her. Only he was puzzled to know how
he should manage this thing so that she could keep her apples; for
if he were to let her off without further ado, it might result in
his having his whole orchard stripped.

"So you've been up in the apple trees, have you?" said the
lieutenant. "You have gone to school and read about Adam and Eve,
so you ought to know how dangerous it is to steal apples."

At that moment Jan came forward and placed himself beside his
daughter; he felt quite put out with her for having spoiled his
pleasure, but of course he had to stand by her.

"Don't do anything to the little girl, Lieutenant!" he said. "For
it was I who gave her leave to climb the tree for the apples."

Glory Goldie sent her father a withering glance, and broke her
silence. "That isn't true," she declared. "I wanted the apples.
Father has been standing here the whole evening holding onto my
hand so I shouldn't go pick any."

Now the lieutenant was tickled. "Good for you, my girl!" said he.
"You did right in not letting your father shoulder the blame. I
suppose you know that when Our Lord was so angry at Adam and Eve it
wasn't because they had stolen an apple, but because they were
cowards and tried to shift the blame, the one onto the other. You
may go now, and you can keep your apples because you were not
afraid to tell the truth."

With that he turned to one of his sons, and said:

"Give Jan a glass of punch. We must drink to him because his girl
spoke up for herself better than old Mother Eve. It would have been
well for us all if Glory Goldie had been in the Garden of Eden
instead of Eve."

BOOK TWO

LARS GUNNARSON

One cold winter day Eric of Falla and Jan were up in the forest
cutting down trees. They had just sawed through the trunk of a big
spruce, and stepped aside so as not to be caught under its branches
when it came crashing to the ground.

"Look out, Boss!" warned Jan. "It's coming your way."

There was plenty of time for Eric to have escaped while the spruce
still swayed; but he had felled so many trees in his lifetime that
he thought he ought to know more about this than Jan did, and stood
still. The next moment he lay upon the ground with the tree on top
of him. He had not uttered a sound when the tree caught him and now
he was completely hidden by the thick spruce branches.

Jan stood looking round not knowing what had b