er pours in and lifts the boat slowly higher and higher until it is on
a level with the water in the lock above. The gates in front of the boat
are opened, it sails slowly into the next lock, the gates close behind
it; and that lock in turn is filled to the level of the one above.

The boat now wound along between the high green banks of the
Soedertelje Canal until it entered the first of the locks. Birger and
Erik ran to the rail to watch the opening and closing of the gates, and
the lowering of the boat to the level of the Baltic Sea; but Gerda
preferred to talk with some old women who came on board with baskets full
of kringlor,--ring-twisted cakes.

The cakes looked so good, and everyone who bought them seemed to find
them so delicious, that at last she ran to ask her father for some money;
and when the boat had passed the lock and was once more on its way, she
presented a bagful of cakes to Birger and Erik.

"The Vikings had no such easy way as this of getting from Lake Maelar out
into the Baltic Sea," said Lieutenant Ekman, coming up to find the
children, and helping himself generously to the kringlor.

Gerda looked at the gnarled and sturdy oaks that lined the banks of the
canal like watchful sentinels. "The Vikings must have loved the lakes and
bays of the Northland," she said. "Perhaps they begged All-father Odin to
let their spirits come back and make their homes in these trees."

"No doubt they did," replied her father, gravely enough. "I suppose when
the trees wave their arms and shake themselves so violently they are
saying to each other something like this: 'See how these good-for-nothing
children go in good-for-nothing boats over this good-for-nothing
ditch.'"

"With their good-for-something father," cried Gerda, throwing her arms
around his neck and giving him a loving kiss.

"Am I really good for something?" he asked, as soon as he could
speak. "Well then, you must be good for something, too. In olden
times the Vikings sailed the seas and brought home many a treasure
from foreign shores. See that you take home some treasures from your
journey,--something that will remind you of the towns we visit and the
sights we see," and he put his hand into his pocket and took out three
coins.

"The Vikings had a fashion of taking what they wanted without paying for
it," suggested Birger.

"You'd better not try it now, my son," replied Herr Ekman; and he gave
each one of the children a krona.

"Here's a