e hesitated a moment, then
stretched out her little hand and said: "Good-by. May you both fare
well. Thanks for this summer."

"Thanks to you for the same," said Ole. "We are to meet again, then,
next summer?"

"Yes."

"May you fare well," said Peter.

He stood holding her hand awhile; then, thinking he ought to say
something more, he added, "I will greet Jacob from you, Lisbeth."

After that the boys vanished along the fence as noiselessly as they had
come.

* * * * *

Inside the saeter inclosure the farm hands were putting the packs on the
horses, and the military horse had been led to the gate. Lisbeth ran
into the inclosure, drove her animals together and counted them,
certainly for the tenth time that day. Soon everything stood ready for
the homeward march.

The milkmaid appeared in the doorway, clad in her Sunday best, as on
the day she came. She closed the saeter door with a bang, turned the
large key solemnly in the lock, took it out and put it in her pocket.
That key she would not intrust to any one else; she wanted to deliver
it to Kjersti Hoel with her own hand. After trying the door vigorously
to be sure that it was securely locked, she went to the window and
looked in to assure herself that everything was in order and the fire
entirely out. Then, going over to the military horse, she climbed into
the saddle. One of the farm hands opened the gate for her as if she had
been a queen, and out she rode.

After her followed the pack horses, one by one, and the cows in the
same order as when they came up,--the bell cow, Brindle, and the whole
long line. Behind the cows came the smaller animals, and, last of all,
Lisbeth Longfrock with a stick in her hand, her birch-bark hat on her
head, and her lunch bag on her back.

Lisbeth turned and looked at the scene she was leaving. There lay the
saeter, desolate now. The mountain, too, appeared lonely and forsaken.
Of course she, like all the others, had longed for home during these
last days; but it was strange, after all, for her to be going away from
everything up here. A little of the same feeling she had had when
leaving Peerout Castle crept over her. How singular that she should
happen to recall that sad time just at this moment! She had not thought
of it at all since coming up on the mountain,--not once during the
whole long summer.

Nor would she think of it now; there were other and happier things to
remembe