Gerda in Sweden | Page 8

Sea and the Gulf of
Bothnia are covered with solid ice; but on the south and west coasts the
lighthouses and even the lightships are lighted all winter."

"Why is that?" questioned Birger, coming to join them.
"There is a warm current which crosses the Atlantic Ocean from the
Gulf of Mexico and washes our western coast. It is called the Gulf
Stream. This current warms the air and makes the climate milder, and it
keeps the water from freezing, so that shipping is carried on all winter,"
Lieutenant Ekman explained.
Just then a sailor came to tell them that their dinner was ready. While
they were eating, the launch made a landing at the first of the
lighthouses which the inspector had to visit.
While their father was busy, the twins clambered over the rocks,
hunting for starfishes and sea-urchins, and Gerda picked a bouquet of
bright blossoms for their table on the boat.
At the next stopping-place, which was Gefle, the captain took them on
shore to see the shipyard where his own launch, the North Star, was
built; and so, all day long, there was something to keep them busy.
As the boat steamed farther north, each new day grew longer, each
night shorter, until Birger declared that he believed the sun did not set
at all.
"Oh, yes it does," his father told him. "It sets now at about eleven
o'clock, and rises a little after one. You will have to wait until you cross
the Polcirkel and get to the top of Mount Dundret before you have a
night when the sun doesn't even dip below the horizon."
"We must be pretty near the Arctic Circle now," exclaimed Gerda. "It is
growing colder and colder every minute."
"That is because the wind is blowing over an ice-floe," said her father,
pointing to a large field of ice which seemed to be drifting slowly
toward them.
"Look, look, Birger!" cried Gerda, "there are some seals on the ice."

"Yes," said Birger, "and there is a seal-boat sailing up to catch them."
"I'm going to draw a picture of it for Mother," Gerda announced, and
she sat still for a long time, making first one sketch and then another,--a
seal on a cake of ice, a lighthouse, a ship being dashed against the rocks,
and a steam-launch cutting through the water, with a boy and girl on its
deck.
"Oh dear!" she sighed after a while, "I wish something enormous would
happen. I'm tired of water and sky and sawmills and little towns with
red houses just like the pictures in my geography."
"What would you like to have happen?" questioned her father.
"I should like to see some of my girl friends," replied Gerda quickly. "I
haven't had any one to tell my secrets to for over a week."
"Perhaps something enormous will happen tomorrow," her father
comforted her. "We'll see what we can do about it."
So Gerda went to sleep that night thinking of Hilma and Sigrid at home;
and she slept through the beautiful bright summer night, little dreaming
that the boat was bearing her steadily toward a new friend and a dearer
friendship than any she had ever known.
CHAPTER IV
GERDA'S NEW FRIEND
"Look, Gerda," said Lieutenant Ekman, as their launch steamed the
next morning toward a barren island off the east coast of Sweden, "do
you see a child on those rocks below the lighthouse?"
Gerda looked eagerly where her father pointed. "Yes, I think I see her
now," she said, after a moment.
Birger ran to the bow of the boat. "Come up here," he called. "I can see
her quite plainly. She has on a rainbow skirt."

"Oh, Birger!" cried Gerda, "can it be the little girl who received our
box? If it is, her name is Karen. Don't you remember the letter of
thanks she wrote us?"
As she spoke, the child began clambering carefully over the rocks and
made her way to the landing-place. The twins saw now that she wore
the rainbow skirt and the dark bodice over a white waist, which forms
the costume of the Rättvik girls and women; but they saw, also, that she
walked with a crutch.
"Oh, Father, she is lame!" Gerda exclaimed. Then she stood quietly on
the deck, waving her hand and smiling in friendly greeting until the
launch was made fast to the wharf.
"Are you Gerda?" asked the little lame girl eagerly, as Lieutenant
Ekman swung his daughter ashore; and Gerda asked just as eagerly,
"Are you Karen?" Then both children laughed and answered "Yes,"
together.
"Come up to the house, Gerda, I want to show you my birds," said
Karen at once; and she climbed up over the rocks toward the tiny
cottage.
Gerda followed more slowly, looking