and spun herself slowly down into the crater. It was dark down there, and the heat and sulphur made her eyes smart, but she could see enough to make out that the fire lay sleeping under a very thin black coverlet. The spider knew nothing but the finger-language, and she moved her legs incessantly, telling fully and truly all about the havoc that was wrought, and urging the fire to come to the rescue lest the whole land be swallowed up by the sea. Yet the fire did not stir. Then the spider bent her legs up under her and let herself fall all the way down to the fire. She stretched out one leg and poked the black coverlet. From that moment she could n't remember anything till she was lying at the rim of the crater again. She peeped down and saw that the fire had thrown off the coverlet and was red and blazing. Then the spider understood that her task was done. Everybody knows how the fire had its reckoning with the sea and filled up whole fjords with lava and ashes. (Sølvi is seen approaching from the "hraun.”)

Ljot (rising). You must tell me that story over again some time. I could not listen rightly.

Einar (rising). Who is that coming so late? (Looking.) Now I know him; it 's Sølvi.

Ljot. I saw him a while ago walking over the hraun. Einar. He may bring us news.

Enter Sølvi carrying a gun and with a game-bag on his back. Sølvi. Good evening.

Einar. Good evening.

Sølvi. How good it seems to meet people! You have moved out, of course?

Einar. You are walking late.

Sølvi. You will have to take the earthquake as my

excuse. This has been a bad day. What has happened here

at your place?

Einar. One of the outbuildings came down and a part of the yard-fence.

Sølvi. At Hol one wall of the house fell. The folks barely got out. (Lays down his gun.)

Einar. Was anybody hurt?

Sølvi. No. I could not stay there any longer. I saw your house standing, and that was a relief. (Looking at Ljot.) Yet I had to come.

Einar. What do you think? Do you believe the earthquake is over?

(Sølvi fails to answer; looks at Ljot.)

Ljot. My father and mother are sleeping in the house. Sølvi. Why in the world are they doing that!

Ljot. We were ready to go to bed, but father would not come into the tent. Mother begged him to stay, but it was no use, and when father went back to the house, mother went with him.

Sølvi. But the buildings may fall at any moment if there should be another shock.

Einar. Sveinungi knows that as well as we do, but he would not let the house stand forsaken.

Sølvi. We must hope that no harm will come to them. So that is why you are still up. Have the others been in bed long?

Ljot. No, they went in a little while ago.

Einar. May I look at your gun?

Sølvi. As much as you like.

Einar. Is it loaded?

Sølvi. It is. (To Ljot.) You are not angry with me for coming so late? It seemed an eternity till Sunday.

Ljot. I knew you would come.

Sølvi. You knew it! Won't you sit down? I have something to show you. (Ljot sits down. Sølvi opens the game-bag; takes from it a large fern.) I found this out on the hraun. Is it not beautiful? (Sits down.) Look, the stem is no thicker than a hair, while the leaf can easily hide your whole face. (Holds it up before her face.) It trembles when your breath

touches it.

Ljot. You have pulled it up by the roots. May I have the moss that came with it? (Sølvi loosens the moss from the roots. Ljot lays it in her hand; smiles.) When it withers, I'll keep it in my shoes.

Sølvi. Will you keep it in your shoes? See these two small ferns on one root. They look like two slim hands. (Looks at Ljot.)

Einar (puts the gun aside). It's a fine one. It must have cost a good deal. Perhaps you bought it yourself abroad? Sølvi. I did. (Lays down the fern. To Ljot.) If you have time, you can plant it to-morrow. It won't hurt it to lie overnight in the wet grass.

Einar (goes to Sølvi). How long were you abroad?
Sølvi. Seven years.

Einar. That's a long time. (Sits down.)

Ljot. My father was angry with me for keeping your bird's skin.

Sølvi. Was he? And I was thinking of asking you to visit me at Hol some time before I leave.

Ljot. I hardly think I dare to.

Sølvi. You could take Einar with you. It is not much more than an hour's ride, and I have a number of things I should like to show you,-petrified tree-trunks that I have dug out of the earth, in which you can see plainly every

bud

and shoot, and stone slabs with impressions of flowers and leaves that lived thousands of years ago. Should you like to see them?

Ljot. I should like it ever so much.

Sølvi. I have some rocks, too, baked by fire and furrowed by ice. If you knew all the tales they tell me! They lay bare to me things that are hidden from every one else. (A whirring of wings is heard far away.)

Einar (stands up, pointing with his finger). Look, there is a flock of ducks flying over the hraun. (Stands gazing.)

Sølvi (in a low voice). It made me so happy to see you. This evening, when the sun was setting, I reached out toward it. I did the same when I saw you.

Einar. They're flying unusually low. There they alight -I'll get my gun.

Sølvi (rising). I'll lend you mine. (Hands him the gun.) It will carry a distance of a hundred and thirty feet. Einar. What size shot have you?

Sølvi. Duck-shot.

Einar. Ljot, you don't mind, do you? I shall not be gone long. If they rise, I'm not going after them. (Ljot rises.)

[Exit.

Sølvi (goes to her). My star must be in the heavens tonight.

Ljot. You must not think that I was sitting up so late because I was waiting for you I saw you walking over the hraun-but we shan't talk about that.

Sølvi. Shall I tell you why I came home from abroad? It was for your sake.

Ljot (sits down). That is not true.

Sølvi (sits down). One night, the last winter I was away, I must have been dreaming, but it seemed to me that I was

awake. I had come back home and was walking on the hraun. The hraun was covered with ashes. As I walked, I suddenly fell into a deep cleft and kept on falling and falling. At last I found myself lying on the bottom, unable to stir. Death came and sucked the life out of my eyes and held it in her hand like a tiny flame. Suddenly a woman stood beside me dressed in moss. She pleaded for me so long that death gave her my life. She looked like you. It was you. Don't you know that you hold my life in your hands? (They rise.)

Ljot. I think I shall go in. It is hard to tell when Einar will be back. When he is out hunting he forgets everything.

Sølvi. I love you, Ljot! You have not been out of my thoughts since the first time I saw you. Everything reminds me of you—the sun, the sky—

Ljot. I too have been happy in seeing you and talking with you. (Stands still as death.) This morning, right after you had gone, my father told me that on his way home from town he had seen his old friend,—and my father wanted me to promise myself to the son of his old friend, but I would not, because I was thinking of you. Then my mother came and talked to me—and I gave in. I could not do anything else.

Sølvi. Why did I not speak before! You won't feel hurt at what I say, Ljot? You must not let your parents decide your life. That is for you to do.

Ljot. You don't know my father. If he thought I was standing here talking to you, I can't tell what he would do.

Sølvi. I am convinced your parents have but one wish, and that is for your happiness.

Ljot. I don't know. My mother does not say much about