[Confused cries and shrieks are heard in the distance, from the direction of the fiord.]
BORGHEIM. [Going to the glass door.] What noise is that?
ASTA. [In the doorway.] Look at all those people running down to the pier!
ALLMERS. What can it be? [Looks out for a moment.] No doubt it's those street urchins at some mischief again.
BORGHEIM. [Calls, leaning over the verandah railings.] I say, you boys down there! What's the matter?
[Several voices are heard answering indistinctly and confusedly.]
RITA. What do they say?
BORGHEIM. They say it's a child that's drowned.
ALLMERS. A child drowned?
ASTA. [Uneasily.] A little boy, they say.