d come, and was apparently loath to lose sight of the hut; but
the animals drifted rapidly off in the distance and she had to follow
so as not to lose sight of them altogether, and after a while, when she
looked back, the hut could not be seen. Around her were only the
unending wastes of hill and marsh and the faraway mountain peaks. How
spacious and silent it was! Not a sound was to be heard except that of
the bells; not even the river's rushing harmonies reached up to where
she stood.

She suddenly felt herself so utterly alone and remote and had such a
longing to caress some living creature that she went among the flock
and petted now this one and now that. The bell goat became so envious
that it butted the others out of the way and stood rubbing itself
against her.

All at once there came a call, "Ho-i-ho! ho-i-ho!" so loud and clear
that the mountains echoed with it. The goats pricked up their ears, and
Lisbeth, too, listened breathlessly. The call was so unexpected that
she had not distinguished from what quarter it came. It sounded near,
and yet, because of the echoes, from all directions.

"Ho-i-ho! ho-i-ho!" This time the call was still louder. Presently she
heard bells, several bells, and then she saw a large flock of sheep and
goats come straggling over the crest of a hill.

Very likely it was the other herders who were calling. Lisbeth saw two
straw hats rise above the hill, and by degrees two tall boys seemed to
grow up out of the hilltop,--boys about as big as Jacob.

At sight of them Lisbeth felt so shy that she kneeled down and hid
herself behind a bushy little mound.

The boys shaded their eyes with their hands and looked down from the
hilltop.

"Ho-i-ho!" they called, and then listened. "Ho-i-ho!"

No answer. All was still.

Then one of the boys cried out:

Oh, ho! you boy from Hoel, don't you hear?
If you have pluck, we call you to appear!

They stood awhile, watching. Then they darted forward, turned two or
three somersaults, and ran down the hill toward her, repeating their
call and shouting. Again they stopped and listened, as if uncertain.

"Ho-i-ho!" Again they challenged:

If you lie hid behind some bush or stone,
Come out and show there's marrow in your bone!

Then the two boys came to the bottom of the hill, where Lisbeth's flock
was, and looked around. No, they did not see any one. The new herder
from Hoel, who dared to lose track of his flock the first day,