Even to this day I am sorry that I didn't run to her at once and go back with her down the hill. That didn't occur to any of us, I think. When we found that she hadn't been hit, but was only terribly frightened at seeing the great stone in the air right over her, we almost thought, up there in the fort, that it was rather unseemly of the dean's wife to scream out so.
She crept down the hill alone; she had just gone up to see to a white bed-spread that was hanging on a bush to dry.
Our festive mood was gone, however,—shocked out of us, as it were.
Karsten struck into the air with clenched fists, as he always does when he is excited. It wasn't so very dangerous, he protested; for if he had been the dean's wife, of course he would have seen what direction the stone was taking in the air, and if it went that way, why then he would have jumped to one side—like this—and if the stone went the other way, why then you could just jump to the other side. Besides, if the dean's wife had been, as she ought to have been, as strong as Nils Heia, for instance, then she might have stood perfectly still, fixed her eyes on the stone, held her hands to catch it, and tossed it away. Yes, wouldn't Nils Heia have done it that way? Wouldn't he be strong enough for that?
But very soon the horror of it came over me; just think, if Peter had killed his own mother! I remember clearly that I wouldn't have anything more either to eat or drink, and Nils Trap teased me, and said I had grown quite white around the nose with fright.
As we sat there looking at each other and not able to get started on anything again, suddenly we heard a voice:
"Peter."
"That's Father," said Peter, and crouched away down so that he couldn't possibly be seen from below.
"Hush—sh—keep still—hush!" We lay in a heap, frightened and silent.
"Peter," came again from below. "Come down this instant. I know you are up there."