[Ill.u.s.tration: ALONG THE Sh.o.r.e OF THE NORTH SEA]
"Look, Greta, at the two little patches of green gra.s.s in the middle of that field of hay. Why in the world did the farmer skip those spots?"
"I"ll tell you why, Anna," said her uncle. "You will notice that those little green patches are always on small hills. They are the graves of Vikings."
"But I thought that the Vikings lived more than a thousand years ago,"
interrupted Anna.
"Yes, they did. They were a strong, bold race who lived in what is now Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. They roamed the sea and conquered many other lands. Some of them even went to America, long before the time of Columbus. It is against the law for anyone to disturb a Viking grave.
You will see many of these little mounds on the farms in this part of the country. The farmers never plant anything on these graves. They carefully plow all around them."
"We must be quite near the ocean now, for there"s a lighthouse," said Greta. "It would be fun to climb to the top of it. May we, Father?"
"Yes, if you want to."
It didn"t take Greta and Anna long to climb the narrow, winding stairs.
From the top of the lighthouse they could see for many miles over the ocean and over the land. Heavy waves beat upon the beach, and even as they looked, the sand hills kept shifting, for the wind from the North Sea was very strong. Not far away was the harbor, and in its quiet waters some of the fishermen had fastened their sailboats. Near by they had hung up their nets to dry. Each net was carefully spread over a rope that was fastened to stakes in the ground. Other fishing boats, with sails full spread, were far out at sea.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THERE ARE MANY BOATS IN THE HARBOR]
"Anna, do you see those people way down the beach? I wonder what they are looking for." Greta pointed to two women who were evidently searching for something along the sh.o.r.e.
"I haven"t any idea. Shall we go help them with their search? Look, Greta. Your father is motioning to us to come down. I think Chouse wants us, too."
Greta"s father had to go on to the next village, but he told the girls that they could stay here until he came back.
"Chouse will take good care of you while I"m gone," he said, "that is, if he doesn"t run off and get into some kind of mischief himself."
Greta and Anna were curious about the women they had seen down the beach, so they decided to join them. With Chouse jumping and barking at their heels, they ran along the water"s edge. The tide was coming in, and every now and then a large wave almost caught them. As they went farther from the harbor, they found more and more sand dunes: gently rolling hills with long blades of gra.s.s poking up here and there through the sand. Along this part of the beach there were many summer cottages, with fences around them to keep the sand from covering them completely.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ALMOST EVERY FARM HAS ITS WINDMILL]
"Have you lost something?" asked Anna as they came near the two women.
"We"ll be glad to help you look for it."
"No, we haven"t lost anything," answered one of the women. "We thought we might find some amber along the beach."
"Amber?" asked Greta in surprise. "I didn"t know it was found here."
"Oh, certainly. We have often found some very fine pieces of amber on this very beach."
"Is amber a stone?" asked Greta. "Of course I know what it looks like, but what is it made of?"
"It has taken thousands of years to form the lovely clear yellow material that we call amber," explained the second woman. "It was once the sticky, yellowish fluid given off by the pine trees. As time went by, those trees were buried under the ground or under the water. The sticky fluid gradually became hard as stone. It is those stone-like pieces that we sometimes dig up along the beach of the North Sea."
[Ill.u.s.tration: CHOUSE LIKES TO PLAY]
"They are very valuable, aren"t they?" asked Anna.
"Yes, some of them are. Those that are perfectly clear and have no flaws always bring a good price."
"We"ll help you look," said Greta.
The two girls began to search for the little yellow lumps that lay hidden in the sand. At first it was fun, but after a while they got tired. They were just about to quit, when one of the women called out happily, "Here is a beautiful, large piece. It must weigh a pound."
The others rushed up to look at it. Amber is very light, so it took a large piece indeed to weigh a pound. After this they began searching with fresh interest. Suddenly Greta found what she thought was a beautiful piece of amber. But when she showed it to the two women they said it was much too heavy for amber.
Greta got down on her knees and began poking among the stones and sh.e.l.ls. Every now and then she dug into the sand and poked and looked and dug some more. While the girls were busy in this absorbing work, Chouse ran up and down the beach. No one paid any attention to him. Once in a while he ran up to Greta to see if she would play with him. But she just pushed him away. "Run away, Chouse. I"m too busy to play now."
[Ill.u.s.tration: FISH NETS SPREAD OUT TO DRY]
When Chouse got tired of playing by himself, he lay down on the sand near Greta, watching her every minute. Suddenly he noticed something wriggling along the sand not far away. He sat up and looked. Soon the wriggling stopped. But Chouse kept on watching this strange object. Then he got up and walked nearer to it, walking ever so quietly and carefully. He simply _must_ see what this strange creature was. Greta wasn"t paying any attention to Chouse or to the strange object near by.
She was too busy looking for amber. Chouse stood without moving, watching the now motionless creature.
"Oh, Greta, I think I"ve found a real piece of amber!" Anna ran across the beach in great excitement. When she was ten feet from Greta she stopped in terror. "Greta!" she screamed. "Look out! Run!"
Greta stood up and looked around, too startled to run. What had happened? Then she saw. Not two feet away lay a green snake, coiled and ready to strike. Greta knew at once that this was the most poisonous snake in all Denmark. Her father had often warned her about it. But she simply couldn"t run. She was so frightened that she had lost the power to move. Greta knew that in less than a minute the snake would strike her. She knew that she must get away. But she couldn"t.
At that very instant Chouse sprang forward. He had been watching this crawling green creature for many minutes. Now was the time for him to act. And he did act. He seized the snake by the neck and quickly carried it off to a high sand dune. In less than two minutes the snake was dead.
Greta sank down on the sand and Anna rushed up to her. "Oh, Greta, are you all right?"
"Yes, Anna, I"m all right. But I was so frightened that I couldn"t move."
Chouse came back to Greta and she took him in her lap. "After this, Chouse, I think you will have to go with us wherever we go. I am quite sure that Father won"t send you away."
CHAPTER VIII
A SECOND VISIT TO VOSBORG
"Are you coming with us, Hans?"
"Where are you going, Greta?"
"Oh, didn"t you know? Mr. Christianson has invited Anna and me to visit Vosborg. He wants to show us the whole castle. I"m sure he would be glad to have you come, too."
"Thank you, Greta, but I think I"ll go fishing today. Old Peter says they are biting. Come along, Chouse." Hans started toward the river.
Chouse had run ahead and was already waiting in the boat.
"Shall we go on our bicycles, Greta?" asked Anna, who never walked any place if she could take her bicycle.
"No, let"s walk. It"s only a mile; besides, it"s way too steep a hill to climb on a bicycle."
The girls walked happily down the road, never once looking back. If they had looked back, they would have seen something very strange. Hans had started down the river, but he suddenly stopped the boat when he reached the first bend. He paddled over near the sh.o.r.e and drew the boat up on the bank. Then he cautiously hid behind a large tree trunk. The strange thing was that he didn"t take his fishing pole out of the boat. He stood behind the tree for quite a little while, watching Greta and Anna as they hurried along to Vosborg.