told her.

"And here is a woodpecker, and a cuckoo, and a magpie," said Gerda,
looking into the cages.

"Yes," said Karen, "and last year I had an eider-duck, and I often have
sea-gulls. Sometimes, when there is a big storm, the gulls are blown
against the windows of the lighthouse and are hurt. I find them on the
rocks in the morning with a broken leg or wing, and then I put them in a
cage and take care of them until they can fly away. Father and I call
this the Sea-gull Light."

"What do you do with the birds in the winter?" asked Gerda.

"The lighthouse is closed as soon as the Gulf freezes over, and then we
go to live on the mainland," Karen replied. "One of my brothers built
a bird-house near our barn, and if my birds are not strong enough to fly
away, Father lets me take them with me in the cages, and I feed them
all winter with crumbs and grain."

"How many brothers have you?"

"There are five, but they are all much older than I am. They work in the
woods in the winter, cutting out logs or making tar; and in the summer
they go off on fishing trips. I don't see them very often."

"We met a great many vessels loaded with lumber on our way up the coast,"
said Gerda, "and, wherever we stopped, the wharves were covered with
great piles of lumber, and barrels and barrels of tar."

"The lumber vessels sail past this island all summer," said Karen. "I
often wonder where they go, and what becomes of all the lumber they
carry. There is a sawmill near our house on the shore and it whirrs and
saws all day long."

"There were sawmills all along the coast," said Gerda. "Birger and I
began to count them, and then there were so many other things to see that
we forgot to count."

Karen stooped down to open the door of the magpie's cage, and he hopped
out and began picking up the grain which she held in her hand for him. "I
think this magpie is going to stay with me," she said. "He is very tame
and I often let him out of the cage. Mother says he will bring me good
luck," she added rather wistfully.

"It must be lonely for you here, with only the birds to play with," said
Gerda. "You must be glad when the time comes to live on shore and go
to school again."

For answer, Karen looked at her crutch. "I can't go to school," she said
soberly; "but my brothers taught me to read and write, and Mother has a
piano which I can play a little."

Then her face lighted up with a cheery smile. "When your box came this
spring, it