Just then the door opened, and in came Lars. He was about twelve years old; but his face was so rosy, his eyes so clear and round and blue, and his golden hair was blown back from his face in such silky curls, that he appeared to be even younger. I was surprised that his mother should be willing to send him twenty miles through the dark woods on such a night.
“Come here, Lars,” I said. Then I took him by the hand, and asked, “Are you not afraid to go so far to-night?”
He looked at me with wondering eyes, and smiled; and his mother made haste to say: “You need not fear, sir. Lars is young, but he’ll take you safe enough. If the storm doesn’t get worse, you’ll be at Umea by eleven o’clock.”
I was again on the point of remaining; but while I was deliberating with myself, the boy had put on his overcoat of sheep-skin, tied the lappets of his fur cap under his chin and a thick woolen scarf around his nose and mouth so that only the round blue eyes were visible, and then his mother took down the mittens of hare’s fur from the stove, where they had been hung to dry. He put them on, took a short leather whip, and was ready.
I wrapped myself in my furs, and we went out together. The driving snow cut me in the face like needles, but Lars did not mind it in the least. He jumped into the sled, which he had filled with fresh, soft hay, tucked in the reindeer-skins at the sides, and we cuddled together on the narrow seat, making everything close and warm before we set out. I could not see at all, when the door of the house was shut, and the horse started on the journey. The night was dark, the snow blew incessantly, and the dark fir-trees roared all around us. Lars, however, knew the way, and somehow or other we kept the beaten track. He talked to the horse so constantly and so cheerfully, that after a while my own spirits began to rise, and the way seemed neither so long nor so disagreeable.
“Ho there, Axel!” he would say. “Keep the road,—not too far to the left. Well done. Here’s a level; now trot a bit.”
So we went on,—sometimes up hill, sometimes down hill,—for a long time, as it seemed. I began to grow chilly, and even Lars handed me the reins, while he swung and beat his arms to keep the blood in circulation. He no longer sang little songs and fragments of hymns, as when we first set out; but he was not in the least alarmed, or even impatient. Whenever I asked (as I did about every five minutes), “Are we nearly there?” he always answered, “A little farther.”
Suddenly the wind seemed to increase.
“Ah,” said he, “now I know where we are; it’s one mile more.” But one mile, you must remember, meant seven.
Lars checked the horse, and peered anxiously from side to side in the darkness. I looked also but could see nothing.