“Do you think he might let me go on the boat some time, Gustav?” asked Arne eagerly.
“I can’t promise a thing yet. You skip ashore now, and we’ll see. The ship’s bell is ringing. They want to get started. And our captain wouldn’t care for a stowaway aboard, I know that.”
So it came about that Arne was laughing as he ran down the gangplank just as they were about to pull it up. And instead of feeling sad as the boat steamed away with Gustav aboard, he was thinking of the day when he might be aboard too.
He looked up to see his father standing there, smiling down at him. “I thought for a minute there I was going to have two sons on that ship this time,” he said. “Looked to me as if the captain could find a use for you.”
“Oh, I wish I could be aboard, especially when the Stjerne sails out,” said Arne, heaving a great sigh. “That’s the life, isn’t it, Father?”
His father laughed, a contented, good-natured laugh. “That’s the natural way for a Norwegian boy to feel, I guess. I did my share of sailing, too, in my early days. But I understand there’s such a thing as school. I hear boys are expected to go to that in Norway.”
Arne knew his father was joking; so he smiled back, though school never seemed to him a very good subject for a joke. “I suppose so,” he said. “But I like outdoor things so much better than schoolwork. I just wish it were summer all the year around.”
Arne was not the only one who wished it were summer all the year around. Up at the saeter, the girls were having a merry time in spite of the work of caring for the cows and goats, milking and making cheese. There were berry-picking excursions through the woods and valleys to gather blueberries, raspberries, and the lovely bright multer berries which grew thick and red on their low bushes. There were visits with girls in neighboring saeters and fishing trips up the mountain.
“Don’t forget I’m to learn to make cheese,” Bergel reminded Signe one day.
“Oh, yes. Mother wouldn’t like it a bit if we didn’t get that tended to. We’ll start with gammelost. That’s best, anyway.”