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Updated: June 12, 2025
The young man had been in the woods all winter, and was on his way to the lighthouse, which he had hoped to reach in a few days, for the river current was swift and the logs were making good progress down to Luleå. "You shall reach home sooner than you expected," said Lieutenant Ekman the next morning, "for you shall go with us this very day." "Fine! Fine!
It seemed as if everyone in Stockholm were skating, or snow-shoeing, or skimming over the fields of snow on long skis. Even Fru Ekman, after making Karen comfortable in the casino, strapped a pair of skates on her own feet and astonished the little girl with the wonderful circles and figures she could cut on the ice. There was no place for beginners in such a company.
Lieutenant Ekman asked Gerda, after the milking was over and the Lapp mother had gone back to the tent with her children. "Not very well, if I had to live in that tent," Gerda answered. Then suddenly something attracted her attention, and she held up her hand, saying, "Listen!" A faint call sounded in the distance, a call for help.
"I suppose Birger is going to try for a skating prize some day," she added rather wistfully. Fru Ekman bent and kissed the little girl. "Yes," she answered, "that is why he puts on his skates every day and practices figure-skating on the ice in the canals. But keep a brave heart, little Karen. You, too, shall wear skates some day."
"There are many peaceful ways by which a man may serve his country," Lieutenant Ekman told his son; "but King Gustavus II had to fight to keep Sweden from being swallowed up by the other nations." "I could never understand how Sweden happened to have such a great fighter as Gustavus Adolphus," said Karen; but Gerda shook a finger at her.
"Our dear Girl-friend in the North: " said Hilma for a beginning; and as Fru Ekman wrote at their dictation, first one and then another added a message, until finally she leaned back in her chair and told them to listen to what she had written. "We are a club of capital boys and girls because we live in Sweden's capital city," she began.
Grandmother Ekman always followed the good old custom of rowing with her neighbors in the long boat, and six o'clock found her at the wharf with the three children, all carrying a beautiful branch of white birch with its shining green leaves.
"Look, Gerda," said Lieutenant Ekman, as their launch steamed the next morning toward a barren island off the east coast of Sweden, "do you see a child on those rocks below the lighthouse?" Gerda looked eagerly where her father pointed. "Yes, I think I see her now," she said, after a moment. Birger ran to the bow of the boat. "Come up here," he called. "I can see her quite plainly.
"I was thinking that it will make Karen sad to hear of my good times this winter," Gerda told him. "She will like to have your letters to think about," replied Lieutenant Ekman cheerfully. Then he pointed to a little town on the shore ahead. "There is Luleå," he said. "You will soon be travelling on the railroad toward Mount Dundret and the midnight sun."
"Are you Gerda?" asked the little lame girl eagerly, as Lieutenant Ekman swung his daughter ashore; and Gerda asked just as eagerly, "Are you Karen?" Then both children laughed and answered "Yes," together. "Come up to the house, Gerda, I want to show you my birds," said Karen at once; and she climbed up over the rocks toward the tiny cottage.
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