ng teams of horses, making
arrangements with owners of land by the waterside; what--what was it
all about? This is in the wilds, where folk never came but those who
lived there? Well, they were going to start that copper mine, that was
all.

So it had come to something after all; Geissler had not been merely
boasting.

It was not the same big men that had come with him that time--no, the
two of them had stayed behind, having business elsewhere, no doubt.
But the same engineer was there, and the mining expert that had come
at first. They bought up all the sawn planks Isak could spare, bought
food and drink and paid for it well, chatted in kindly fashion and
were pleased with Sellanraa. "Aerial railway," they said. "Cable
haulage from the top of the fjeld down to the waterside," they said.

"What, down over all this moorland here?" said Isak, being slow to
think. But they laughed at that.

"No, on the other side, man; not this way, 'twould be miles to go. No,
on the other side of the fjeld, straight down to the sea; a good fall,
and no distance to speak of. Run the ore down through the air in iron
tanks; oh, it'll work all right, you wait and see. But we'll have to
cart it down at first; make a road, and have it hauled down in carts.
We shall want fifty horses--you see, we'll get on finely. And we've
more men on the works than these few here--that's nothing. There's
more coming up from the other side, gangs of men, with huts all
ready to put up, and stores of provisions and material and tools and
things--then we meet and make connection with them half-way, on the
top, you see? We'll make the thing go, never fear--and ship the ore to
South America. There's millions to be made out of it."

"What about the other gentlemen," asked Isak, "that came up here
before?"

"What? Oh, they've sold out. So you remember them? No, they've sold.
And the people that bought them out have sold again. It's a big
company now that owns the mine--any amount of money behind it."

"And Geissler, where'll he be now?" asks Isak.

"Geissler? Never heard of him. Who's he?"

"Lensmand Geissler, that sold you the place first of all."

"Oh, him! Geissler was his name? Heaven knows where he is now. So you
remember him too?"

* * * * *

Blasting and working up in the hills, gangs of men at work all through
the summer--there was plenty doing about the place. Inger did a
busy trade in milk and farm produce, and