lonely. The moon was
visible through the mist, and in Hoernitz the lights were seen
glimmering.

"'Oho!' thought Klaus, 'godfather is lighting his pipe, is he? We shall
soon see, then, how the world wags with him. Hollo! Godfather
Stringstriker, be good and kind to your child, and show yourself. Tell
me, dear godfather, how I am to fill my money-bags again; for you know
who had the emptying of them! There's a nice dear old gentleman, come
out to me--I do so long to see you!'

"It was all very proper for Klaus to evince such amiability, but it had
not the effect intended. Not a sound could he hear in reply. He waited
for a space; then bellowed again into the open air--waited again, and
holloed again. But all was quiet save the water of the spring which
purled amongst the pebbles, and the grassy reeds that rustled and sighed
through the mist, now reeking thicker and thicker around the speaker and
his sorry jade. Klaus waxed spiteful.

"'Godfather!' he cried, striking poor Whiteface in his wrath, 'thou art
a thick-lipped, crooked-legged lubber; that's what you are! Every
question is worth an answer; it is a rule that holds good with man and
beast; and why not amongst ghosts? Why did you beckon to me yesterday if
you did not mean to show? You invited me here, and now that I have come,
the tortoise creeps into his hole. You are a cruel, hard-hearted
godfather. But never mind--good-night, Dwarf-piper Here's a present for
thee. I bear thee no malice!'

"So speaking, Klaus threw a pocket-knife into the well, which he passed
at the moment. The knife dropped into the water; a flame shot suddenly
up, and was as quickly out. Klaus pressed his nag again; but the poor
beast reared, snorted, and dragged at the gearing, without being able to
move the cart an inch. The fog severed a little, and the moonbeams lay
in great beauty upon a hundred acres. Klaus attempted to give his animal
ease; but let Whiteface tug as she would, the cart stood still as if it
had been frost-bound.

"'That ugly thick head of godfather's has certainly caught amongst the
felloes," said Klaus, almost worried to death, and looking about him
half-curiously, half-timorously. It wanted very little to pitch him
backwards out of the vehicle, so astonished and affrighted was he with
all that he beheld. The ghost-seer had seen many sights, but this
beggared them all. His cart, in length and breadth, was covered with
millions of dwarfs; every fir-spray, every dark