who was wearing a pretty blue travelling dress, with blue ribbons
on her hat and in her hair, threw her arms around her friend. "I wish
you were going, too," she answered. "Birger is the best brother any girl
could have; but he isn't like a sister, and that is what you are to me,
Hilma."

At the same moment, Birger was confiding to his friend, "I wish you were
going with us, Oscar. Gerda is a good sister; but she isn't like a
brother."

All the other boys and girls were talking and laughing together, telling
of the strange sights that Birger and Gerda would see on their trip into
Lapland; and what they would do if only they were going, too.

Suddenly a warning whistle from the steamer sent them hurrying back to
the quay, where they stood waving their handkerchiefs and shouting good
wishes until the twins were out of sight.

The vessel's course lay first between two islands, and Gerda lifted her
eyes to the windows of the King's Palace, which stood near the quay of
one; but Birger found more to interest him in the military and naval
buildings on the other.

"There is a ship from Liverpool, England," said Lieutenant Ekman,
pointing to a vessel which was lying beside the quay in front of the
palace.

"It is hard to believe that we are forty miles from the ocean when we see
such big ships in our harbor," said Birger. "How did it happen that
Stockholm was built so far from the open sea? It would be easier for all
these vessels if they didn't have to come sailing up among all the
islands to find a landing-place."

"Lake Maelar was the stronghold of the ancient Viking warriors," replied
his father; "and it was just because there were forty miles of difficult
sailing among narrow channels, that they chose to live at the head of the
Saltsjoe, and make this fjord their thoroughfare in going out to the
Baltic Sea."

"Did they like to make things as hard as possible for themselves?" asked
Gerda with interest.

"Not so much as they liked to make it as hard as possible for their
enemies," said Herr Ekman. "Centuries ago, hunters and fishermen built
their rude huts on the wooded islands at the outlet of Maelar Lake. They
often found it convenient to slip away from their pursuers among these
islands; but they were not always successful, for their settlements on
the site of the present city were repeatedly destroyed by hostile
tribes."

"Why didn't they build fortifications on the islands and hold the enemy
at bay?" quest