Chapter III: Act II

_A resting-place near one of the large folds into which the sheep are driven in the autumn, when they are gathered down from the hills. A grass-grown dell. On the left, a steep heather-covered slope, here and there in the heather gray, jutting stones. To the right, a low bluff, where grass, flowers, and juniper bushes grow in the clefts and on the ledges. Toward the background, the bluff becomes lower and more bushy, and bending somewhat to the left, it partly shuts off the view into a hilly, rock-studded landscape with the distant mountains beyond. In the foreground, at the foot of the bluff, several saddles. The women's saddles have broad, brass-mounted backs._

_It is a fine autumn day. Gudfinna alone is busy with the luggage._

_Enter Arngrim carrying a roll of paper under his arm.
His face is livid and drawn._

_Arngrim._

So you are all alone here.

_Gudfinna._

Indeed I am. I did not want to leave the luggage, and it seemed a pity to keep the boy from the folds.

_Arngrim._

Is Halla up at the folds?

_Gudfinna._

I don't know where she is now. She is so restless to-day. A while ago she climbed up on a knoll to see if the last drove was coming down from the hills. I hardly know whether it's the sheep or Kari she is looking for.

_Arngrim._

We don't get tired of watching for what we are looking forward to. I have but one thing to look forward to. (_Sits down on one of the rocks._)

_Gudfinna._

And what is that, poor fellow?

_Arngrim._

To hear the nails being driven into my coffin. Then I should say like the man in the story: "Now I'd laugh if I weren't dead."

_Enter Halla, happy and smiling, wearing a silver girdle
around her waist._

_Halla._

The last flock is coming, and it is not the smallest. Kari is with it.

_Gudfinna._

Of course he is with it.

_Halla (laughing)._

Yes, of course. (_To Arngrim._) I am glad to see you here.

_Arngrim._

Did you happen to bring anything good from home?

_Halla (smiling)._

You never can tell. (_Searching in one of the saddle-bags, she finds a blue flask which she hands to Arngrim._) You may keep the bottle.

_Arngrim._

That is just like you. (_Holds the flask up to the light._) There are juniper berries in it. (_Takes a pull._) It is like drinking sunshine.

_Halla (has moved toward the background and stands gazing)._

What a change in the sheep since spring. Then they were yellow and dirty, but now they are white as ptarmigans in winter. It always makes me happy to see a flock of sheep coming down the mountain side.

_Gudfinna._

Kari's shoes must be a sight. He doesn't save his legs, that man.

_Halla._

No, you are right in that. (_Goes to Gudfinna._) But he runs swifter than any one else.

_Arngrim._

No one can run away from his fate, were he fleeter than the wind.

_Halla (turns to Arngrim)._

Are you sure of that? May not a strong will turn the tide of fate?

_Arngrim._

My fate no one can alter. (_Looks up._) An old song comes to my mind when I look at you. I cannot remember how it runs, but it is about some one who had the thoughts of her soul written on her forehead.

_Halla (smiling)._

I feel only the sun shining on my brow. [_Exit._

_Arngrim._

She deserves to be happy. (_Brings out the roll of paper._) Should you like to see what I am doing to make the days slip by?

_Gudfinna (goes to him)._

Yes, let me look at it.

_Arngrim (opens the roll, which is seen to contain drawings in bright colors)._

These are birds from the garden of Eden-- too bad I never heard them sing!-- and here is a blue flower so sensitive that it closes at the slightest touch, and here is a small plant from Gethsemane with red berries lying like drops of blood on the ground.

_Enter the Boy, running._

_The Boy._

Kari is coming!

_Gudfinna._

We know that.

_The Boy._

I must be off again to help drive the sheep into the fold. (_Leaps with joy._) What fun to be here! It's most as good as Christmas! [_Exit._

_Arngrim._

He skips about like a merry little lamb.

_Gudfinna (calling after him)._

Take care the rams don't butt you!

_Enter Halla._

_Halla._

Now the sheep will soon be at the fold. (_Brushes her hair back from her forehead._) Aren't you clever enough to know a cure for freckles? I am so tired of my freckles.

_Arngrim (smiling)._

Perhaps you have a new looking-glass.

_Halla (smiling)._

Perhaps I have.

_Enter Jon and two other peasants, followed directly by
two peasant women, Jon's Wife, and her friend with two
little daughters, eight and nine years old._

_Jon (slightly intoxicated)._

Now a bite of shark's meat would taste first-rate. You didn't happen to be so thoughtful as to bring some, did you?

_Halla (laughing)._

That is just what I did. (_Looks in the saddle-bags._)

_Jon._

Didn't I tell you so! (_Takes a brandy-flask out of his pocket._) Do you mind if I bring out my bottle?

_Halla._

Please yourself.

_Jon_ (_sits down. The others follow suit, until only the children remain standing_). If I didn't have so fine a wife, I should have asked you to marry me long ago. (_Takes a pull at the flask and hands it to the one sitting next to him._) Let the bottle go the rounds!

_Halla_ (_to Jon's Wife_). Your husband is happy to-day.

_Jon's Wife._ Yes, he loves everybody to-day.

_First Peasant (hands the flask to Jon)._

Thanks!

_Jon._

Don't think I am forgetting you, Arngrim. (_Hands him the flask._)

_Arngrim._

The blood grows colder as one gets old, and then the warmth of the bottle feels good.

_Halla_ (_hands Jon a piece of shark's meat_). Help yourself.

_Jon._

Bless you! My mouth waters. (_Takes a knife from his pocket and cuts off a slice._) It is white as milk and sweet-smelling. I say, shark's meat and brandy are the best things the Lord ever made-- next to women! (_Hands the fish to one of the peasants._)

_Halla_ (_finds a piece of sugar-candy and divides it between the children_). Have the little girls been to the folds before?

_Peasant Woman._

No, this is the first time. I promised them last spring that if they were good and worked hard I would bring them, and they have surely earned it. It's past belief how much they can do, no older than they are.

_Halla._

Did you see the last flock? That was a large one. (_Goes toward the background._)

_Jon's Wife._ Indeed it was.

_Jon._

My brown bell-wether was the leader of the flock. He generally stays in the hills till they gather in the sheep for the last time, unless there are signs of bad weather. (_Gudfinna crosses over to the peasant women and fingers their clothes. They stand talking together._)

_First Peasant._

I should not wonder if the winter were to come early after so good a summer.

_Second Peasant._

God knows how many sheep the hills have taken this year! Do you remember those cold days in the spring? It may be a good many lambs froze to death.

_First Peasant._

And then those cursed foxes!

_Jon._

The foxes are nothing to the men-- both those down here and those in the hills.

_Second Peasant._

I don't believe there is anybody living in the hills, at least not in these parts.

_Jon._

You don't believe it? I tell you, my good man, there are more outlaws than you think. To my mind, the laws are to blame for it. If I had my say, all thieves would be strung up.

_Second Peasant._

Well, I look at it in another way. I believe the laws are too strict. It seems to me it is making too much of the sheep, when a man is locked up for life because he has stolen two or three of them.

_Jon._

You always have to be of a different mind from anybody else.

(_Halla comes back and listens._)

_Second Peasant._

I don't know about that, but those who flee to the hills do it from need. If the laws were milder, I believe there would be no outlaws. What do you say, Arngrim?

_Arngrim._

If we were all to be judged by our thoughts, the hills would be swarming with outlaws.

_Halla._

It is too light yet to be talking about thieves. Can't you tell us something funny?

_Jon's Wife._ Tell about our calf.

_Jon (laughing)._

When he saw the sun for the first time in his life, he fell down on his tail from fright.

_Enter Arnes, somewhat intoxicated._

_Jon._

There comes the man who can tell us stories. (_Rises and goes to meet him._)

_Arnes._

Good day to you all! So you want a story?

_Jon._

You shall have a drink if you tell us a story, but it must be a good one.

_Arnes._

Hand me the bottle. (_Drinks._) I could tell you some spook stories that would make your hair stand on end, but they are better told in the gloaming. (_Laughs._) The girls are less afraid of us men folks when they hear about spooks.

_Jon (laughing)._

Yes, of two evils men are better than spooks.

_Arnes (sees Halla)._

Now I know what I shall tell you. Hush! Once upon a time there were two outlaws. What their crime had been I don't know, but they had to flee to the hills to save their lives. They found a green spot among the glaciers, hemmed in by huge rocks. There they built their hut, for there they knew they would be left in peace. But the hills were hankering for their old loneliness and hated those two, and swore they would drive them away. First they sent the storms and the frost. There came a winter night so terrible that the roots of the grass trembled with fear under the snow, but unknown to those two their love had built an invisible wall around the hut, and the storm and the snow could not get in. Then the hills sent hunger. It came to them in their dreams, tempting them with sweet-smelling hot bread and butter fresh from the churn. It would have them barter their love--

_Enter a Farm Hand._

_The Farm Hand._

Is Arnes here by any chance?

_Arnes._

Here I am.

_The Farm Hand._

There is a sheep with earmarks that nobody can make out. Will you come over and take a look at it?

_Arnes (rising)._

No peace to be had!

_Halla (holding out her hand to Arnes)._

Thanks for the story. [_Arnes takes Halla's hand. Exit._

_The Farm Hand (to Jon)._

Your brown bell-wether ran away from the men as they were trying to drive it in.

_Jon (rising)._

That promises a fine fall. (_All the peasants rise._)

_Jon's Wife_ (_to Halla_). We shall see each other later.

_Halla._

So we shall. [_Exeunt peasants._

_Gudfinna._

They have not been sparing of the shark's meat. (_Packs it away._)

_Enter Kari, warm from running, happy and smiling._

_Kari._

Good day to you, Halla! (_Shakes hands with her._)

_Halla (has gone to meet Kari)._

Good day to you, and welcome back!

_Arngrim (rising)._

Now I am so drunk that I can enjoy listening to the bleating of the sheep. By the way, washing with lukewarm milk is good for freckles. [_Exit._

_Halla._

Thanks! (_To Gudfinna._) You may go now, if you like. You have been here with the luggage long enough.

[_Exit Gudfinna._

(_Halla and Kari stand silent until Gudfinna has disappeared.
Then Kari draws her to him and kisses her._)

_Halla._

I would rather wait for you here than meet you at the fold. I was so frightened! I thought you had gone and would never come back. (_Takes his hand and looks at him in loving wonder._) Where do you get your courage? I can't understand that you have not fled long ago.

_Kari._

I will tell you where I get my courage. (_Kisses her._) I don't know how the days can be so gloriously long. It seems to me that I have lived more than the age of man since the first time you kissed me.

_Halla._

You love me!

_Kari (is silent for a moment)._

I love you.

_Halla._

You don't know how much that one word promises me. It means the sunshine on the hills. It means the streams and lakes. Shall I tell you something, Kari? Something you don't know?

_Kari._

What could that be?

_Halla._

I am not going to say it just now, but I will tell you something else. I care a thousand times more for you now than I did three months ago. Do you know why?

_Kari._

No.

_Halla._

Because you are so brave. You sleep in my arms as calmly as if you had not a foe in the whole country.

_Kari (smiling)._

I must have borrowed your courage.

_Halla._

It is dear to see you smile. Your hair is like a cloud, and when you smile it seems to lift from your forehead.

_Kari._

You must not make me out braver than I am. Part of my courage is recklessness. I close my eyes and let the sun shine on my face.

_Halla._

Do you never think of the future?

_Kari (earnestly)._

I do.

_Halla._

I have blamed myself much these last days. I ought to have sent you away long ago, but I could not. I had to be sure that you loved me. Last night I heard the hills calling you, and I called against them with all my soul. If you had never come back, I would have forgiven you, though it had broken my heart. (_Exultantly._) And then I saw you coming down the mountain like a god, driving a white snowslide before you!

_Kari._

Did you think I could have gone without letting you know? I remember once you had fallen asleep in my arms. The night was light. Your eyes were closed, but I could see through your eyelids. I saw a little girl with black hair. (_Fondly stroking her hair._)

_Halla (taking his right hand)._

How well I know this hand! (_Lays it on her heart._) My heart beats with joy.

_Kari._

I am like the man in the fairy-tale who fell down into a deep well. He thought he would never again see the sun, but suddenly he stood in a green meadow. There was a tall castle, and the king's daughter came out to meet him. Halla, do you understand? If I had not stolen, we two should never have met.

_Halla._

That is true.

_Kari._

The year I lived in the hills, I would sometimes get into such a rage that I wanted to give myself a good thrashing. Once I really did it-- I beat myself with a knotted rope.

_Halla._

How you must have suffered!

_Kari._

If anybody had told me in those days that I should ever become a happy man, I would have laughed at him. Then I believed riches and honors meant happiness. I used to dream of riding through the parish where I was born, dressed in fine clothes and with many horses.

_Halla (laughing)._

I did not know you were vain.

_Kari._

Nor am I any more, but I have grown stingy. The minutes are my gold-pieces. (_Takes her hand._) When I hold your hand in mine, I am happy. Before I cared for you, I did not see the sun shining, and now when it rains, all the drops prattle about you.

_Halla._

You do love me!

_Kari._

I seem to be in a church. I hold a torch in my hand and light one taper after another. For every taper that is lighted, the church grows larger and more beautiful. But I am a thief. If I am caught I must be buried alive, and now the church-bells are ringing. I hear the crowd gathering outside.

_Halla._

You frighten me.

_Kari (taking her face between his hands)._

I must have a long look at your face. If I were to become blind this moment, I should always remember it. Your soul is in your eyes. When you look at me, I feel an unseen hand fondling my face. Whenever the sun shines, I shall see your eyes. It is hard to tell you, but when the sky grows red to-morrow, I shall be on my way to the hills. I must flee this very night.

_Halla._

I knew it. (_Sits down._) Tell me how you have planned your flight.

_Kari._

I must be off before the winter sets in, and besides the letter from the south may be here any day now.

_Halla._

I know all that.

_Kari (sits down)._

When I come home to-night, I shall say that I have seen the tracks of a flock of sheep farther up in the hills than we usually go to look for them. I shall ask you for two horses. You won't refuse me them? (_Halla shakes her head._) I shall say that I must start at once, this very night, before the tracks disappear. When I don't come back, they will think I have come across outlaws or have met with an accident.

_Halla._

And where shall you go?

_Kari._

To the mountain plain where the warm springs are. I lived there before I came to you.

_Halla._

How long will it take you to reach it?

_Kari._

Three days. It is about in the middle of the country.

_Halla._

And there you will build your hut?

_Kari._

No; last time I lived in a lava cave. I had brought with me some tools that my brother gave me, and I left them there. Something told me that I might need them again. (_He is silent._)

_Halla (taking his hand)._

You must tell me more, much more. I want to see the place where you will live (_with a strange smile_), so that I can come and visit you in my thoughts.

_Kari._

I forget what I have told you and what I have not told you. You may think that the hills are wild and forbidding, but that is not so at all. In the summer, when the sun is shining, they are beautiful. The glaciers lie like white untrodden land in a sea of sand, their lower rim flashing green and blue in the sunlight. When you come nearer, you see a chain of jagged sandhills like a dark surf, where the glacier and the sand waste meet. (_He is silent again. Halla has picked a flower and is pulling its petals._) Why are you doing that? What are you asking about?

_Halla._

You love me!

_Kari._

Do you need to ask a flower about that? (_Rising._) Are you not the least bit sorry that we must part?

_Halla (rising)._

Would it make it easier for you, if I were to whine and weep like a child?

_Kari._

I don't know. (_He is silent._) Yet you need not pity me. I am rich-- I am king of the hills! The fire on my hearth never dies, day or night. The country is mine, as far as my eyes can reach. Mine are the glaciers that make the streams! When I get angry, they swell, and the stones gnash their teeth against the current. And I own a whole lake with a fleet of ice-ships and a choir of swans.

_Halla._

I never said that I pitied you.

_Kari._

But one thing you must promise me. You must not marry the bailiff.

_Halla._

But, dear man--

_Kari._

If you do, I shall come some night and kill you both, first him and then you.

_Halla._

Are you really jealous of the bailiff? He hates me.

_Kari._

Why should he be hounding me like a wild beast, if it were not for your sake? I have never done him any harm.

_Halla._

I promise you that I shall never marry the bailiff. (_Puts her arms around his neck and tries to draw him to her._) Kiss me, Kari!

_Kari (gently pushing her away)._

My name is not Kari. From this day on my name is Eyvind-- "Eyvind of the Hills," they call me in the southland, my brother told me.

_Halla._

From my lips you shall never hear any other name than Kari. By that name I learned to love you. A man who is not loved has no name. (_Takes his hands._)

_Kari (in a sudden outburst, drawing her to him and kissing her forehead)._

God bless you, Halla! (_With difficulty mastering his voice._) Now I am going to the fold. (_Turns away from Halla._)

_Halla (calling)._

Kari! (_Kari turns back._) Must I ask you to marry me a second time? I thought we two were married.

_Kari._

So we are before God.

_Halla._

So far as I know, it is the custom that when a man moves from one place to another, he takes his wife with him.

_Kari._

Do you think there is anything in the world I would rather do than live with you?

_Halla._

Then ask me if I am willing.

_Kari._

Will you be my beloved wife and go with me through all suffering?

_Halla._

I will!

_Kari._

Will you take upon yourself half of my guilt and become an outcast like me?

_Halla (exultantly)._

I will!

_Kari._

Will you face hunger and cold and all terrors for my sake?

_Halla._

Have you not always known that I would go with you? Could you believe me so low that I would keep you here with this dread hanging over you, if I had not meant to go with you? Every night I thought: To-morrow he will ask if you will go with him.

_Kari._

How beautiful you are! All the days we have had together live in your face!

_Halla._

Did you believe I could rest satisfied in thinking of you with the mountains between us? Then you don't know me yet. I will live! I will sail with you in your white ships!

_Enter Bjørn._

_Bjørn._

Good day to you, Halla. I looked for you at the fold. It is a long time since we two neighbors have met.

_Halla (confused)._

Yes, it is a long time.

_Bjørn._

Who sees to it that your sheep are taken out of the fold? Your cots seem to be standing empty.

_Halla._

Kari attends to that.

_Bjørn._

Then it is time you sent him about his work.

_Kari._

Perhaps the bailiff has come to lend a hand?

_Bjørn (to Halla)._

I should like to have a few words with you.

_Halla._

We were just starting for the fold. Perhaps we could have our talk on the way up.

_Bjørn._

If it is the same to you, I prefer to stay here. It is a matter of some weight, which I do not care to discuss in the presence of your overseer or any one but yourself.

_Halla (to Kari)._

Then you had better go up to the fold.

_Kari._

Don't forget to ask the bailiff if it is true that he has been rubbing his knee-joints with fat every night the whole summer through. [_Exit._

_Bjørn._

He's bold enough, that fellow. It is well we shall soon be rid of him.

_Halla (roused)._

And what was it you wanted to see me about?

_Bjørn._

We were both somewhat angry when we met last. Shall we let it be forgotten?

_Halla (relieved)._

I thought perhaps you had got your letter from the southland with the proofs that you had been wrong in your suspicions.

_Bjørn._

Everything in good time. Did you say anything to him?

_Halla._

I told you I wouldn't.

_Bjørn._

I might have known that, since he is still here. Do you think I am beginning to look old?

_Halla (amazed)._

To me you look as you have always looked. (_Watches him keenly._)

_Bjørn._

I admit you were right in some of the things you said to me when we met last, but we all have our failings, and since my mother died I have had no one who dared to speak plainly to me except you.

_Halla._

You may not often have wished to listen to others.

_Bjørn._

Perhaps you are right, but somehow there must be two different souls in every one of us.

_Halla._

Have you had a good hay crop this summer?

_Bjørn._

Fairly good. At least I have enough for myself. Don't you understand what I want to say to you, or don't you want to understand?

_Halla._

You said that it was a matter of weight. That is all I know.

_Bjørn._

I am not skilled in fine words. Could you think of becoming my wife? (_Halla laughs. Bjørn flushes._) Is that so laughable?

_Halla._

You can't be in earnest.

_Bjørn._

In dead earnest. I shall soon be forty-eight years old, but you are not a child any longer either, and we are of equal standing. If we two marry and make our farms into one, I think we should have to look outside of this parish for a finer property.

_Halla._

So we two should marry in order to join our farms?

_Bjørn._

I will not deny that I should like to see the boundary line gone between the two farms, but that is not the reason why I have made up my mind to ask you to marry me. It is not good for a man to be alone, and you are the only woman in this parish whom I could think of taking for a wife. You are healthy and strong of body, and you are good-looking. What answer do you give?

_Halla._

I must have some time to think it over. This comes upon me unawares. Within three days you shall have my answer. Are you satisfied with that?

_Bjørn._

I think it is but natural that you should want some time to make up your mind, and all the more as we have not always been the best of friends. Perhaps you will now more readily understand why I did not wish you to have a thief as overseer of your farm, and I am sorry to say that my distrust was well founded. (_Pulls from his pocket a letter with a large seal._) This letter came yesterday.

_Halla (holding out her hand)._

May I see it?

_Bjørn._

It is an official letter, which I do not like to give out of my hands, but I am not afraid to trust you with it. (_Halla takes the letter; reads._) I can lend you one of my men to drive your sheep home this evening, for you will have to do without your overseer. It is lucky that the judge is here to-day.

_Halla._

I shall keep this letter.

_Bjørn._

I can understand a joke.

_Halla._

Kari has been with me for more than a year. He has been a hard worker and an able man. I will not have any one lay hands on him so long as he is in my service. I want to give him a chance to get away. That is what you yourself advised, three months ago.

_Bjørn._

At that time the case was very different. There was no proof of his guilt then.

_Halla (putting her hand to her forehead)._

I can't believe yet that he is a thief. (_Hands the letter to Bjørn._) Bjørn, I beg of you to show me a great favor. You must let this matter rest, till we get home.

_Bjørn._

In that I cannot serve you.

_Halla._

Perhaps I can do something for you in return.

_Bjørn._

I don't understand how you can pity a felon and a thief.

_Halla._

Nor do I understand it myself, but somehow I do. You have just asked me if I would be your wife. Surely you will grant me the first thing I ask of you!

_Bjørn._

One would think you were pleading for your best friend.

_Halla._

I may have cared more for him than I knew myself. If you will let him get away, I shall have no objection to making our two farms into one.

_Bjørn._

I never thought your overseer would be the means of my getting you for a wife, but I yield on those terms. Once we are married, you will surely forget him. But he must be gone from here within twenty-four hours, and I want you to know that if he ever shows himself in these parts again, he will have to take his punishment.

_Halla._

You need have no fear that he will ever come back here.

_Bjørn._

Then let us forget all about him. You have saved him from jail for a time, but he's sure to end there any way. (_Goes to her._) Who would have thought that you should become my little wife! (_Tries to put his arm around her waist._)

_Halla (draws back)._

So many things happen that we do not look for.

_Enter Kari._

_Bjørn._

You are just in time. It will surely please you to hear that your mistress is to marry me within a short time.

_Kari (turning to Halla)._

What does this mean?

_Bjørn (laughing)._

You hadn't expected this. (_Goes to Halla._) My sweetheart might give me a kiss.

_Halla (warding him off)._

No, no!

_Kari_ (_grasping Bjørn's arm_). That man lies! She is mine. (_To Halla._) If you two get married to-morrow, still you are mine.

_Bjørn._

Has my brother's wife become a harlot? [_Exit._

_Halla._

What have you done, Kari? It was to save you I promised to be his wife. I hoped to get a chance to speak to you. He has the letter and is going to give you up to the judge to-day.

_Kari._

I could not bear that man to touch you.

_Halla._

You must run for the horses and flee!

_Kari._

That would be madness. The others have just as good horses. We must take what comes. I shall deny everything.

_Halla._

What good would that do? It is impossible to mistake the description. I have read it myself.

_Kari._

Did you really mean to marry the bailiff to save my life?

_Halla._

I lied to him, so that I could flee with you. I hate him.

_Kari._

I love you, Halla.

_Halla (in rising fear)._

What shall we do? (_Wrings her hands._) It is all my fault for holding you back. (_On the point of weeping._) I am an unhappy woman.

_Kari._

You must not cry. Even if I faced the death warrant, I should not be sorry that I stayed. (_Kisses her hands._) These summer days we have had together-- in all eternity no one can take them from us.

_Halla (withdraws her hands excitedly)._

Don't you know of any way? Say that the bailiff is your enemy and has had the letter framed up.

_Kari._

You know yourself that it would be no use. (_Goes to her._) I believe it is God's will that you should not flee with me. I have told you how beautiful it can be in the hills, but all the terrors I have not told you of-- the sand-storms, when the whole plain seems to be on fire, the nights as long as a whole winter, and the hunger stealing close to you like an evil mist. You might have come to hate me.

_Halla._

I will hear nothing of all that. (_Under her breath in terror._) They are coming!

_Enter Bjørn and the District Judge, followed by a crowd of
peasants and farm hands. Others come in as the action proceeds._

_Bjørn (pointing)._

There stands the man.

_The Judge (goes to Kari)._

You say your name is Kari. (_Shows the letter._) According to this letter, your name is Eyvind, and you are an escaped thief.

_Kari._

That is a lie.

_Bjørn._

Read the letter.

(_The Judge gives him a sharp look. He opens the letter and
reads to himself, now and then raising his eyes from the letter
to Kari's face._)

_A Peasant (in a low voice)._

What does the judge say?

_Bjørn._

In the early spring, a man came here who knew him (_pointing_) as an escaped thief. I wrote to have the case looked up, and yesterday I got the answer.

_The Judge._

The description fits you. It is my duty under the law to take you into custody.

(_Murmuring among the peasants._)

_First Peasant._

I never should have believed it.

_Kari._

It is the bailiff to whom this letter was sent. May I be allowed to ask where it came from?

_Bjørn._

From the southland where you were born.

_Kari._

I was born in the east and have never been south.

_Bjørn._

Will the judge look at the seal?

_The Judge._

The seal is correct. (_To Halla._) He is in your service. Have you found this man to be a thief?

_Halla._

No. He has shown himself a trustworthy and an able man. (_To the people._) Don't you believe, as I do, that Kari is innocent?

_The Crowd (murmuring)._

Yes, yes!

_The Judge._

I cannot judge this case. I must send him to the district where Eyvind's home is. (_To Halla._) Can you vouch for him a few days? At present I cannot well spare two men for the journey.

_Halla._

I am not afraid to do that.

_Bjørn._

It seems to me unwise to set a woman to watch a thief. If the judge wishes it, I will take him into safe-keeping myself.

_Halla._

Does the bailiff think he can give counsel to the judge? I offer my farm as surety for Kari.

_The Judge (interrupting Bjørn, who is about to reply)._

Silence! (_To Halla._) Then you are responsible. [_Exit._

_Bjørn._

I must say that the former judge was not wont to delay the law.

_Halla (to the peasants)._

You came here to listen to false charges, but you shall have a better pastime. You shall see the bailiff himself play at _glima_ with the man he calls thief.

_Bjørn._

You must be crazy! I won't touch him.

_Halla._

My dear brother-in-law made me a promise last spring that he would wrestle with Kari here at the folds. It was a wager, and now he is backing out of it. What do you say to that?

_Bjørn._

An honest man does not play with a thief.

_Halla._

He is no more thief than you are. Should you be a thief, because I said so? (_To the people._) He is only too glad to get out of the _glima_. He is a coward! He is a coward!

(_Loud or suppressed laughter all around._)

_Bjørn._

Never before has Bjørn Bergsteinsson been called a coward. (_Takes off his coat._)

(_Kari throws off his coat. The crowd draws back, leaving an
open space. The "glima" begins. Bjørn pushes Kari out to the
back, and the people follow. The heads of the wrestlers are
seen; then they disappear to the left. A moment of silence,
then a sudden outcry._)

_All._

Kari has won! Kari has won! (_Silence again._) Bjørn is hurt!
[_Exeunt some of the crowd._

_Kari._

I think he has had enough. (_Goes to Halla._)

_A Peasant._

Bjørn had his leg broken. We must help him.

_Jon._

I told them to look out for the rocks.

_Halla._

It was the bailiff who drew Kari out on the rocks.

[_Exeunt the rest of the peasants._

_Bjørn's voice is heard, threatening._ You shall pay me back for this, Halla!

_Arnes._

I am glad he got it.

_Arngrim._

"Hard upon hard," said the old woman; she sat down on a stone.

_The Boy (goes to Kari, almost weeping)._

You are not a thief!

_Kari (patting him on the head)._

No, no!

_Halla (to Arnes)._

Will you do me the favor to see that my sheep are driven home to-night? I don't want Kari to stay here any longer.

_Arnes._

I will do it gladly. (_To Kari._) I meant to warn you against what has overtaken you now.

_Kari._

I know it. You meant well.

_The Boy._

May I go home with Kari?

_Halla._

No, you must stay here and help Arnes. I will go home with Kari myself. (_Laughs._) You know I must watch my prisoner. You may bring the horses, the black and the sorrel.

[_Exit the Boy._

_Gudfinna._

Why all this hurry?

_Halla (goes to her)._

You always had a liking for the little box where my husband kept his money. When we get home, I want you to have that box and all that is in it.

_Gudfinna._

But you keep your own money there!

_Halla._

Not all. I meant to buy quite a number of sheep here to-day.

_Gudfinna (on her way out)._

I must be getting old. I don't understand anything any more.

_Halla._

You need not tell them up at the folds that I am going home.

_Gudfinna_ (_taking Halla's hand_). God bless you! (_Her voice breaks._)
[_Exit._

_Arnes (to Arngrim)._

We had better be off, too.

_Arngrim (goes to Kari)._

If you should happen to ride astray, take care you don't lose her in the mist.

[_Exeunt._

_Kari (to Halla)._

What do you mean by riding home now?

_Halla._

Thank God, we have good horses! The folks won't get home with the sheep before nightfall, and they will not begin to look for us until to-morrow. By that time we shall have a good start.

_Kari._

You must not flee with me, Halla. You don't know the life you are going to.

_Halla._

You are a great child. Don't you think that I have weighed it all? (_Smiles._) If you won't let me come and live with you, I will marry the bailiff.

_Kari (kneeling before her)._

Halla!

_Halla (stands for a moment in silence; takes a long breath)._

To-night we two shall ride alone in the hills!