"Neither have I," said another, "because we all thought the same thing, but now we're going to settle some money on this son of a maiden!"
A collection was taken up, with Helgesen as the cashier. Then Bengt hailed a cab, invited the girl to enter, and got in after her.
"Go ahead--I want to go to Langes Street!" he called to the driver.
Bengt was taking the child home to his mother, the others said. The group were rather silent after this.
"Your eyes are so ridiculously wet, Bolt; are you crying about the money?"
"What about you?" Bolt replied. "You're as sentimental as an old woman!"
They grew cheerful again, and there were further "opportunities." A peasant came down the street with a cow he was taking to the butcher's.
"What will you charge for letting our guest of honor ride your cow?" young Rolandsen asked him. The peasant smiled and shook his head. So they bought the cow from him, paying cash for it. "Wait a minute," they said to the peasant. Then they put a label on the cow, addressed to a lady they knew.
"Take it to this address," they said to the peasant.
By the time they had finished with this, Bengt had returned.