ice and base deceit lurked, ill
concealed, beneath that smile; yet, as he was wont to do, he welcomed
the foreman kindly.

"Siegfried," said Veliant, "let us be friends again. I am sorry that I
was so foolish and so rash yesterday, and I promise that I will never
again be so rude and unmanly as to become angry at you. Let us be
friends, good Siegfried! Give me your hand, I pray you, and with it your
forgiveness."

Siegfried grasped the rough palm of the young smith with such a gripe,
that the smile vanished from Veliant's face, and his muscles writhed
with pain.

"I give you my hand, certainly," said the boy, "and I will give you my
forgiveness when I know that you are worthy of it."

As soon as Veliant's aching hand allowed him speech, he said,--

"Siegfried, you know that we have but little charcoal left for our
forges, and our master will soon return from his journey. It will never
do for him to find us idle, and the fires cold. Some one must go to-day
to the forest-pits, and bring home a fresh supply of charcoal. How would
you like the errand? It is but a pleasant day's journey to the pits; and
a ride into the greenwood this fine summer day would certainly be more
agreeable than staying in the smoky shop."

"I should like the drive very much," answered Siegfried; "but I have
never been to the coal-pits, and I might lose my way in the forest."

"No danger of that," said Veliant. "Follow the road that goes straight
into the heart of the forest, and you cannot miss your way. It will lead
you to the house of Regin, the master, the greatest charcoal-man in all
Rhineland. He will be right glad to see you for Mimer's sake, and you
may lodge with him for the night. In the morning he will fill your cart
with the choicest charcoal, and you can drive home at your leisure; and,
when our master comes again, he will find our forges flaming, and our
bellows roaring, and our anvils ringing, as of yore."

Siegfried, after some further parley, agreed to undertake the errand,
although he felt that Veliant, in urging him to do so, wished to work
him some harm. He harnessed the donkey to the smith's best cart, and
drove merrily away along the road which led towards the forest.[EN#5]
The day was bright and clear; and as Siegfried rode through the flowery
meadows, or betwixt the fields of corn, a thousand sights and sounds met
him, and made him glad. Now and then he would stop to watch the reapers
in the fields, or to listen to t