he woods, far ahead of Oline; he could wait
for her farther up. He ran like a calf; he hurried. Eleseus had in a
way stolen off from the farm; he was afraid of being seen. For,
to tell the truth, he had taken with him both spring coat and
walking-stick for the journey. Over on the other side there might be a
chance of seeing people, and being seen himself; he might even be able
to go to church. And so he sweated happily under the weight of an
unnecessary spring coat in the heat of the sun.

They did not miss him at the building, far from it. Isak had Sivert
back again, and Sivert was worth a host of his brother at that work;
he could keep at it from morning to night. It did not take them
long to get the framework up; it was only three walls, as they were
building out from the other. And they had less trouble with the
timber; they could cut their planks at the sawmill, which gave them
the outside pieces for roofing at the same time. And one fine day
there was the house all finished, before their eyes, roofed, floored,
and with the windows in. They had no time for more than this between
the seasons; the boarding and painting would have to wait.

And now came Geissler with a great following across the hills from
Sweden. And the men with him rode on horseback with glossy-coated
horses and yellow saddles; rich travellers they must be no doubt;
stout, heavy men; the horses bowed under their weight. And among all
these great personages came Geissler on foot. Four gentlemen and
Geissler made up the party, and then there were a couple of servants
each leading a packhorse.

The riders dismounted outside the farm, and Geissler said: "Here's
Isak--here's the Margrave of the place himself. _Goddag_, Isak! I've
come back again, you see, as I said I would."

Geissler was the same as ever. For all that he came on foot, his
manner showed no consciousness of inferiority to the rest; ay, his
threadbare coat hung long and wretched-looking down over his shrunken
back, but he put on a grand enough air for all that. He even
said: "We're going up into the hills a bit, these gentlemen and
myself--it'll do them good to get their weight down a bit."

The gentlemen themselves were nice and pleasant enough; they smiled
at Geissler's words, and hoped Isak would excuse their coming rioting
over his land like this. They had brought their own provisions, and
did not propose to eat him out of house and home, but they would be
glad of a roof over t