The Treasure

The Treasure, by Selma Lagerlof

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Treasure, by Selma Lagerlof
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing
this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: The Treasure
Author: Selma Lagerlof
Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5161] [This file was first
posted on May 24, 2002] [Most recently updated: October 15, 2003]
Edition: 10

Language: English
Character set encoding: US-ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE
TREASURE ***

E-text prepared by Nicole Apostola, Charles Franks, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team. John Mark Ockerbloom provided
additional information about the original edition.

The Treasure
By Selma Lagerlof
Contents
I. At Solberga Parsonage
II. On the Quays
III. The Messenger
IV. In the Moonlight
V. Haunted
VI. In the Town Cellars
VII. Unrest
VIII. Sir Archie's Flight
IX. Over the Ice
X. The Roar of the Waves

Because the Foreword contains key elements about the end of the book,
it is located at the end of the e-text.
CHAPTER I
AT SOLBERGA PARSONAGE

In the days when King Frederik the Second of Denmark ruled over
Bohuslen [FOOTNOTE: Frederik the Second reigned from 1544 to
1588. At that time, Bohuslen, now a province of southwest Sweden,
formed part of Norway and was under the Danish Crown.--Trans.]
there dwelt at Marstrand a poor hawker of fish, whose name was
Torarin. This man was infirm and of humble condition; he had a
palsied arm, which made him unfit to take his place in a boat for
fishing or pulling an oar. As he could not earn his livelihood at sea like
all the other men of the skerries, he went about selling salted and dried
fish among the people of the mainland. Not many days in the year did
he spend at home; he was constantly on the road from one village to
another with his load of fish.
One February day, as dusk was drawing on, Torarin came driving along
the road which led from Kungshall up to the parish of Solberga. The
road was a lonely one, altogether deserted, but this was no reason for
Torarin to hold his tongue. Beside him on the sledge he had a trusty
friend with whom to chat. This was a little black dog with shaggy coat,
and Torarin called him Grim. He lay still most of the time, with his
head sunk between his feet, and answered only by blinking to all his
master said. But if his ear caught anything that displeased him, he stood
up on the load, put his nose in the air, and howled worse than a wolf.
"Now I must tell you, Grim, my dog," said Torarin, "that I have heard
great news today. They told me both at Kungshall and at Kareby that
the sea was frozen. Fair, calm weather it has been this long while, as
you well know, who have been out in it every day; and they say the sea
is frozen fast not only in the creeks and sounds, but far out over the
Cattegat. There is no fairway now for ship or boat among the islands,

nothing but firm, hard ice, so that a man may drive with horse and
sledge as far as Marstrand and Paternoster Skerries."
To all this the dog listened, and it seemed not to displease him. He lay
still and blinked at Torarin.
"We have no great store of fish left on our load," said Torarin, as
though trying to talk him over. "What would you say to turning aside at
the next crossways and going westward where the sea lies? We shall
pass by Solberga church and down to Odsmalskil, and after that I think
we have but seven or eight miles to Marstrand. It would be a fine thing
if we could reach home for once without calling for boat or ferry."
They drove on over the long moor of Kareby, and although the weather
had been calm all day, a chill breeze came sweeping across the moor, to
the discomfort of