She watched eagerly as her mother lifted it to her lips and blew a deep, mellow blast to call the cows home. Then, to her delight, her mother handed it to her and said, “You try it, Bergel. It will take more than one blast to bring the cows home.”
Perhaps Bergel would have blown a good blast the first time if Arne had not stood mimicking her, pretending with great effort to lift an imaginary horn to his lips, puffing out his cheeks, pursing his lips, and bringing out a small squeak.
Bergel had to laugh, and so did the others. But Margret gave her brother a brisk shake and told him to try to behave himself for once. “Try again, Bergel,” she said. This time the little girl managed to bring out, if not as long and deep a blast as her mother had, at least a very creditable sound.
The girls would have to go out into the woods and valleys and up the mountainside to get some of the goats and even some of the cows, for the first few evenings at any rate. But before long, most of them would answer the call of the saeter horn.
The bells on the cows and goats were ringing over the valleys, and the saeter horn sounded again and again through the clear mountain air as they started down the path, Arne running ahead of everyone.
It had been a wonderful day, but he was glad to be going home. He wanted to hear all about the rescue of Torger Blessom, to see Torger himself and make sure he was all right. And he wanted very much to find out how Gustav felt going down those wires.
3
Gustav only laughed when Arne asked him how it felt to go down those wires. “You’ll really have to try it yourself to find out,” he said. “It wasn’t much. Now you’d better run over and see Torger.”