"G.o.d help me! G.o.d help me!" cried Karin. Then she began to shout for help, although she knew there was no one near.
The little girl bent laughingly over the fire. Suddenly a burning ember rolled out and fell on her little yellow frock. Instantly Karin sprang to her feet, rushed over to the fireplace, and s.n.a.t.c.hed the child in her arms. Not until she had brushed away all the sparks from the child"s dress, and had made sure that her baby was unharmed, did she realize what had happened to herself. She was actually on her feet; she had been walking again, and would always be able to walk!
Karin experienced the greatest mental shake-up she had ever felt in her life, and at the same time the greatest sense of happiness. She had the feeling that she was under G.o.d"s special care and protection, and that G.o.d Himself had sent a holy man to her house to strengthen her and to heal her.
That autumn h.e.l.lgum often stood on the little porch of Strong Ingmar"s cottage, looking out across the landscape. The country round about was growing more beautiful every day: the ground was now a golden brown, and all the leafy trees had turned either a bright red or a bright yellow. Here and there loomed stretches of woodland that shimmered in the breeze like a billowy sea of gold.
Against the shadowy background of the fir-clad hills could be seen splashes of yellow; they were the leaf trees that had strayed in among the pines and spruces and taken root there.
As an humble gray hut, when ablaze, gives out light and brilliancy, thus did this humble Swedish landscape flame into a marvel of splendour. Everything was so wondrously golden, exactly as one might imagine that a landscape on the surface of the sun would look.
h.e.l.lgum was thinking, as he viewed this scene, that a time was coming when G.o.d would let the land reflect the brightness of His Glory, and when the seeds of Truth which had been sawn during the summer would yield golden harvests of righteousness.
Then, to and behold, one evening Tims Halvor came over to the croft and invited h.e.l.lgum and his wife to come with him to the Ingmar Farm!
On arriving they found everything in holiday order; around the house all the old dry birch leaves had been cleared away; farm implements and carts, which at other times were scattered about the yard, had now been put out of sight.
"They must be having a number of visitors here," thought Anna Lisa.
Just then Halvor opened the front door, and they stepped inside.
The living-room was full of people who were seated upon benches all along the walls, solemnly expectant. h.e.l.lgum noticed that they were the leading people of the parish. The first persons he recognized were Ljung Bjorn Olofsson and his wife, Martha Ingmarsson; also Bullet Gunner and his wife. Then he saw Krister Larsson and Israel Toma.s.son with their wives, all of whom were members of the Ingmar family. Presently he saw Hok Matts Ericsson and his son Gabriel, the councillor"s daughter Gunhild, and several persons besides.
Altogether there were about twenty people present.
When h.e.l.lgum and Anna Lisa had gone round and shaken hands with every one, Tims Halvor said:
"We who are a.s.sembled here have been thinking over the things h.e.l.lgum has said to us during the summer. Most of us belong to an old family whose wish it has ever been to walk in the ways of G.o.d.
If h.e.l.lgum can help us do this, we are ready to follow him."
The next day the news spread like wildfire throughout the parish that a new religious sect had sprung up on the Ingmar Farm, which was supposed to embody the only correct and true principles of Christianity.
THE NEW WAY
In the spring, soon after the snow had disappeared, young Ingmar and Strong Ingmar returned to the village to start the sawmill.
They had been up in the forest the whole winter cutting timber and making charcoal. And when Ingmar got back to the lowlands he fell like a bear that had just crawled out from its lair. He could hardly accustom himself to the glaring sunlight of an open sky, and blinked as if the light hurt him. The roaring of the rapids and the sound of human voices seemed almost intolerable to him, and all the noises on the farm were a veritable torture to his ears. At the same time he was glad; heaven knows he did not show it, either in speech or manner, but that spring he felt as young as the fresh shoots on the birches.
Oh, but it seemed good to him to sleep once more in a comfortable bed, and to eat properly cooked food! And then to be at home with Karin, who looked after his comfort as tenderly as a mother! She had ordered new clothes for him; and she had a way of coming in from the kitchen and handing him some dainty or other, as if he were still a little boy. And what wonderful things had happened at home while he was up in the forest! Ingmar had heard only a few vague rumours about h.e.l.lgum"s teachings; but now Karin and Halvor told him of the great happiness that had come to them, and of how they and their friends were trying to help one another to walk in the ways of G.o.d.
"We are sure you will want to join us," said Karin.
Ingmar replied that maybe he would, but that he must think it over first.
"All winter I longed for you to come home and share our bliss," the sister went on, "for now we no longer live upon earth, but in "The New Jerusalem which is come down from Heaven!""
Ingmar said he was glad to hear that h.e.l.lgum was still in the neighbourhood. The summer before the preacher had often dropped in at the mill to chat with Ingmar, and the two had become good friends. Ingmar thought him the finest chap he had ever met. Never had he come across any one who was so much of a man, so firm in his convictions, and so sure of himself. Sometimes, when there had been a great rush of work at the mill, h.e.l.lgum had pulled off his coat and given them a lift. Ingmar had been amazed at the man"s cleverness; he had never seen any one who was so quick at his work.
Just then h.e.l.lgum happened to be away for a few days, but was Expected back shortly.
"Once you"ve talked with h.e.l.lgum, I think that you will join us,"
Karin said. Ingmar thought so, too, although he felt a little reluctant about accepting anything which had not been approved by his father.
"But wasn"t it father himself who taught us that we must always walk in the ways of G.o.d?" argued Karin.
Everything seemed to be so bright and so promising! Ingmar had never dreamed that it would be so delightful to get back among people once more. There was only one thing wanting: no one ever spoke of the schoolmaster and his wife, or of Gertrude, which was most disquieting to him. He had not seen Gertrude for a whole year.
In the summer he had never been without news of her; for then hardly a day went by that some one did not speak of the Storms. He thought that perhaps this silence regarding his old friends was accidental. When one feels timid about asking questions, and when no one voluntarily speaks of that which one longs above everything to hear about, it is mighty provoking, to say the least.
But if young Ingmar seemed to be happy and content, the same could not be said of Strong Ingmar. The old man had of late become sullen and taciturn and difficult to get on with.
"I believe you are homesick for the forest," Ingmar said to him one afternoon as they sat on separate logs eating their sandwiches.
"G.o.d knows I am!" the old man burst forth. "I only wish I had never come back at all!"
"Why, what"s gone wrong at home?"
"How can you ask! You must know as well as I that h.e.l.lgum has been raising the deuce around here."
Ingmar answered that, on the contrary, he had heard that h.e.l.lgum had become a big man.
"Yes, he has grown so big and strong that he"s been able to upset the whole parish," Strong Ingmar sneered.
It seemed strange to Ingmar that the old man never evinced a particle of affection for any of his own kin. He cared for n.o.body and for nothing save the Ingmarssons and the Ingmar Farm. Therefore Ingmar felt that he must stand up for the son-in-law.
"I think his doctrine a good one," he said.
"Oh, you do, do you?" snapped the old man; and he gave him a withering look. "Do you think Big Ingmar would have thought so?"
Ingmar replied that his father would have upheld any one who worked for righteousness.
"It"s your belief, then, that Big Ingmar would have approved of calling all persons who do not belong to h.e.l.lgum"s band devils and anti-Christs, and that he would have refused to a.s.sociate with his old friends because they held to their old faith?"
"I hardly think that such people as h.e.l.lgum and Halvor and Karin would behave in that way," said Ingmar.
"Just you try to oppose them once, and you"ll soon hear what they think of you!"
Ingmar cut off a big corner of his sandwich and stuffed his mouth full, so he would not have to talk. It irritated him to see Strong Ingmar in such bad humour.
"Heigho, hum! It"s a queer world," sighed the old man. "Here you sit, the son of Big Ingmar, with nothing to say, while my Anna Lisa and her husband are living on the fat of your land. The best people in the parish bow and sc.r.a.pe to them, and every day they"re being feted, here, there, and everywhere."
Ingmar kept on munching and swallowing. There was nothing he could say. Strong Ingmar, however, went at him again.
"Yes, it"s a fine doctrine that h.e.l.lgum is spreading! That"s why half the parish has gone over to him. No one has ever had such absolute influence over the people, not even Strong Ingmar himself.
He separates children from their parents by preaching that those who are of his fold must not live among sinners. h.e.l.lgum need only beckon, and brother leaves brother, friend leaves friend, and the lover deserts his betrothed. He has used his power to create strife and dissension in every household. Of course, Big Ingmar would have been pleased to death with that sort of thing! Doubtless he would have backed h.e.l.lgum up in all this! I can just picture him doing it!"
Ingmar looked up and down; he wanted to get away. He knew, to be sure, that the old man had been drawing heavily on his imagination, but all the same this talk depressed him.
"I don"t deny that h.e.l.lgum has done wonders," he modified. "The way in which he manages to hold his people together, and the way he can get those who formerly would have nothing to do with each other to live on friendly terms, is certainly remarkable. And look how he takes from the rich to give to the poor, and how he makes each person protect the other"s welfare. I"m only sorry for those on the outside, who are called children of the devil and are not allowed in the game. But, of course, you don"t feel that way."