Wanderers by Knut Hamsun

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The Captain praised my pipe, and asked how I had managed to fix the nail;
he said I was an artist and a master. All the others were standing by and
heard his words--and it counted for something to be called an artist by
the Captain himself. I believe I could have won Emma at that moment.

That night I learned to shiver and shake.

The corpse of a woman came up to me where I lay in the loft, and stretched
out its left hand to show me: the thumbnail was missing. I shook my head,
to say I had had a thumbnail once, but I had thrown it away, and used a
shell instead. But the corpse stood there all the same, and there I lay,
shivering, cold with fear. Then I managed to say I couldn't help it now;
in God's name, go away! And, Our Father which art in heaven.... The corpse
came straight towards me; I thrust out two clenched fists and gave an icy
shriek--and there I was, crushing Falkenberg flat against the wall.

"What is it?" cried Falkenberg. "In Heaven's name...."

I woke, dripping with sweat, and lay there with open eyes, watching the
corpse as it vanished quite slowly in the dark of the room.

"It's the corpse," I groaned. "Come to ask for her thumbnail." Falkenberg
sat straight up in bed, wide awake all at once.

"I saw her," he said.

"Did you see her, too? Did you see her thumb? Ugh!"

"I wouldn't be in your shoes now for anything."

"Let me lie inside, against the wall," I begged.

"And what about me?"

"It won't hurt you; you can lie outside all right."

"And let her come and take me first? Not if I know it."

And at that Falkenberg lay down again and pulled the rug over his eyes.

I thought for a moment of going down to sleep with Petter; he was getting
better now, and there was no fear of infection. But I was afraid to go
down the stairs.

It was a terrible night.

Next morning I searched high and low for the nail, and found it on the
floor at last, among the shavings and sawdust. I took it out and buried it
on the way to the wood.

"It's a question if you oughtn't to carry it back where you took it from,"
said Falkenberg.

"Why, that's miles away--a whole long journey...."

"They won't ask about that if you're called to do it. Maybe she won't care
about having a thumb one place and a thumbnail in another."

But I was brave enough now; a very desperado in the daylight. I laughed at
Falkenberg for his superstition, and told him science had disposed of all
such nonsense long ago.

XXI

One evening there came visitors to the place, and as Petter was still
poorly, and the other lad was only a youngster, I had to go and take out
the horses. A lady got out of the carriage.

"Is any one at home?" she asked.

The sound of wheels had brought faces to the windows; lamps were lit in
the rooms and passages. Fruen came out, calling:

"Is that you, Elisabeth? I'm so glad you've come."

It was Froken Elisabeth from the vicarage.

"Is _he_ here?" she asked in surprise.

"Who?"

It was myself she meant. So she had recognized me....

Next day the two young ladies came out to us in the wood. At first I was
afraid lest some rumour of a certain nightly ride on borrowed horses
should have reached the vicarage, but calmed myself when nothing was said
of it.

"The water-pipes are doing nicely," said Froken Elisabeth.

I was pleased to hear it.

"Water-pipes?" said Fruen inquiringly.

"He laid on a water-supply to the house for us. Pipes in the kitchen and
upstairs as well. Just turn a tap and there it is. You ought to have it
done here."

"Really, though? Could it be done here, do you think?"

I answered: yes; it ought to be easy enough.

"Why didn't you speak to my husband about it?"

"I did speak of it. He said he would see what Fruen thought about it."

Awkward pause. So he would not speak to her even of a thing that so nearly
concerned herself. I hastened to break the silence, and said at random.

"Anyhow, it's too late to start this year; the winter would be on us
before we could get it done. But next spring...."

Fruen seemed to come back to attention from somewhere far away.

"Oh yes, I remember now, he did say something about it," she said. "We
talked it over. But it was too late this year.... Elisabeth, don't you
like watching them felling trees?"

We used a rope now and then to guide the tree in its fall. Falkenberg had
just fixed this rope high up, and the tree stood swaying.

"What's that for?"

"To make it fall the right way," I began. But Fruen did not care to listen
to me any more; she turned to Falkenberg and put the question to him
directly:

"Does it matter which way it falls?"

Falkenberg had to answer her.

"Why, no, we'll need to guide it a bit, so it doesn't break down too much
of the young growth when it falls."

"Did you notice," said Fruen to her friend, "what a voice he has? He's the
one that sings."

How I hated myself now for having talked so much, instead of reading her
wish! But at least I would show her that I understood the hint. And,
moreover, it was Froken Elisabeth and no other I was in love with; she was
not full of changing humours, and was just as pretty as the other--ay, a
thousand times prettier. I would go and take work at her father's
place.... I took care now, whenever Fruen spoke, to look first at
Falkenberg and then at her, keeping back my answer as if fearing to speak
out of my turn. I think, too, she began to feel a little sorry when she
noticed this, for once she said, with a little troubled smile: "Yes, yes,
it was you I asked."

That smile with her words.... Then came a whirl of joy at my heart; I
began swinging the ax with all the strength I had gained from long use,
and made fine deep cuts, I heard only a word now and then of what they
said.

"They want me to sing to them this evening," said Falkenberg, when they
had gone.

Evening came.

I stood out in the courtyard, talking to the Captain. Three or four days
more, and our work on the timber would be at an end.

"And where will you be going then?" asked the Captain.

"We were going to get work on the railway."

"I might find you something--to do here," said the Captain. "I want the
drive down to the high road carried a different way; it's too steep as it
is. Come and see what I mean."

He took me round to the south side of the house, and pointed this way and
that, though it was already dark.

"And by the time that's done, and one or two other little things, we shall
be well on to the spring," he said. "And then there'll be the water, as
you said. And, besides, there's Petter laid up still; we can't get along
like this. I must have another hand to help."

Suddenly we heard Falkenberg singing. There was a light in the parlour;
Falkenberg was in there, singing to an accompaniment on the piano. The
music welled out toward us--the man had a remarkable voice--and made me
quiver against my will.

The Captain started, and glanced up at the windows.

"No," he said suddenly; "I think, after all, we'd better
leave the drive till next spring as well. How soon did you say you'd be
through with the timber?"

"Three or four days."

"Good! We'll say three or four days more for that, and then finish for
this year."

A strangely sudden decision. I thought to myself. And aloud I said:

"There's no reason why we shouldn't do the road work in winter. It's
better in some ways. There's the blasting, and getting up the loads...."

"Yes, I know ... but ... well, I think I must go in now and listen to
this...."

The Captain went indoors.

It crossed my mind that he did so out of courtesy, wishing to make
himself, as it were, responsible for having Falkenberg in the parlour. But
I fancied he would rather have stayed talking with me.

Which was a coxcomb's thought, and altogether wrong.

XXII

I had got the biggest parts of my machine done, and could fix them
together and try it. There was an old stump by the barn-bridge from an
aspen that had been blown down; I fixed my apparatus to that, and found at
once that the saw would cut all right. Aha, now, what have you got to say?
Here's the problem solved! I had bought a huge saw-blade and cut teeth all
down the back; these teeth fitted into a little cogwheel set to take the
friction, and driven forward by the spring. The spring itself I had
fashioned originally from a broad staybusk Emma had given me, but, when I
came to test it; it proved too weak; so I made another from a saw-blade
only six millimetres across, after I had first filed off the teeth. This
new spring, however, was too strong; I had to manage as best I could by
winding it only half-way up, and then, when it ran down, half-way up
again.

I knew too little theory, worse luck; it was a case of feeling my way at
every step, and this made it a slow proceeding. The conical gear, for
instance, I found too heavy when I came to put it into practice, and had
to devise a different system altogether.

It was on a Sunday that I fixed my apparatus to the stump; the new white
woodwork and the shining saw-blade glittered in the sun. Soon faces
appeared at the windows, and the Captain himself came. He did not answer
my greeting, so intent was he on the machine.

"Well, how do you think it will work?"'

I set it going.

"Upon my soul, I believe it will...."

Fruen and Froken Elisabeth came out, all the maids came out, Falkenberg
came out, and I let them see it work. Aha, what did I say?

Said the Captain presently:

"Won't it take up too much time, fixing the apparatus to one tree after
another?"

"Part of the time will be made up by easier work. No need to keep stopping
for breath."

"Why not?"

"Because the lateral pressure's effected by the spring. It's just that
pressure that makes the hardest work."

"And what about the rest of the time?"

"I'm going to discard this screw-on arrangement and have a clamp instead,
that can be pressed down by the foot. A clamp with teeth to give a better
grip, and adjustable to any sized timber."

I showed him a drawing of this clamp arrangement; I had not had time to
make the thing itself.

The Captain took a turn at the saw himself, noticing carefully the amount
of force required. He said:

"It's a question whether it won't be too heavy, pulling a saw twice the
width of an ordinary woodcutting saw."

"Ay," agreed Falkenberg; "it looks that way."

All looked at Falkenberg, and then at me. It was my turn now.

"A single man can push a goods truck with full load on rails," I said.
"And here there'll be two men to work a saw with the blade running on two
rollers over oiled steel guides. It'll be easier to work than the old type
of saw--a single man could work it, if it came to a pinch."

"It sounds almost impossible."

"Well, we shall see."

Froken Elisabeth asked half in jest:

"But tell me--I don't understand these things a bit, you know--why
wouldn't it be better to saw a tree across in the old way?"

"He's trying to get rid of the lateral pressure; that's a strain on the
men working," explained the Captain. "With a saw like this you can, as he
says, make a horizontal cut with the same sort of pressure you would use
for an ordinary saw cutting down vertically. It's simply this: you press
downwards, but the pressure's transmitted sideways. By the way," he went
on, turning to me, "has it struck you there might be a danger of pressing
down the ends of the blade, and making a convex cut?"

"That's obviated in the first place by these rollers under the blade."

"True; that goes for something. And in the second place?"

"In the second place, it would be impossible to make a convex cut with
this apparatus even if you wanted to. The blade, you see, has a T-shaped
back; that makes it practically impossible to bend it."

I fancy the Captain put forward some of his objections against his own
conviction. Knowing all he did, he could have answered them himself better
than I. On the other hand, there were points he did not notice, but which
caused me some anxiety. A machine that was to be carried about in the
woods must not be made with delicate mechanism. I was afraid, for
instance, that the two steel guides might be easily injured, and either
broken away, or so bent that the wheels would jam. No; the guides would
have to be dispensed with, and the wheels set under the back of the saw.
Altogether, my machine was far from complete....

The Captain went over to Falkenberg and said:

"I want you to drive the ladies tomorrow; they're going some way, and
Petter's not well enough, it seems. Do you think you could?"

"Surely," said Falkenberg; "and welcome."

"Frokenen's going back to the vicarage," said the Captain, as he turned to
go. "You'll have to be out by six o'clock."

Falkenberg was in high spirits at this mark of confidence, and jestingly
hinted that I envied him the same. Truth to tell, I did not envy him there
in the least. I was perhaps a little hurt to find my comrade so preferred
before myself, but I would most certainly stay here by myself in the quiet
of the woods than sit on a box and drive in the cold.

Falkenberg was thoroughly pleased with himself.

"You're looking simply green with envy now," he said. "You'd better take
something for it. Try a little castor-oil, now, do."

He was busy all the forenoon getting ready for the journey, washing down
the carriage, greasing the wheels, and cleaning the harness after. I
helped him with the work.

"I don't believe you can drive a pair at all, really," I said, just to
annoy him. "But I'll give you a bit of a lesson, if you like, before you
start."

"You've got it badly," he answered. "It's a pity to see a man looking like
that, when a dose of castor-oil would put him right."

It was like that all the time--jesting and merriment from one to the
other.

That evening the Captain came out to me.

"I didn't want to send you down with the ladies," he said, "because of
your work. But now Froken Elisabeth says she wants you to drive, and not
the other man."

"Me?"

"Yes. Because she knows you."

"Why, as for that, 'twould have been safe enough as it was."

"Do you mind going at all?"

"No."

"Good! Then that's settled."

This thought came to my mind at once: "Aha, it's me the ladies fancy,
after all, because I'm an inventor and proprietor of a patent saw, and not
bad looking when I'm properly got up--not bad looking by any means."

But the Captain explained things to Falkenberg in an altogether different
way, that upset my vanity completely: Froken Elisabeth wanted me to go
down to the vicarage once more, so that her father might have another try
at getting me to take work there. She'd promised him to do so.

I thought and thought over this explanation.

"But if you get taken on at the vicarage, then it's all off with our
railway work," said Falkenberg.

"I shan't," said I.

XXIII

I started early in the morning with the two ladies in a closed carriage.
It was more than a trifle cold at first, and my woollen rug came in very
handy; I used it alternately to put over my knees and wrap round my
shoulders.

We drove the way I had walked up with Falkenberg, and I recognized place
after place as we passed. There and there he had tuned the pianos; there
we had heard the grey goose passing.... The sun came up, and it grew
warmer; the hours went by; then, coming to cross-roads, the ladies knocked
at the window and said it was dinner-time.

I could see by the sun it was too early for the ladies' dinner-time,
though well enough for me, seeing I took my dinner with Falkenberg at
noon. So I drove on.

"Can't you stop?" they cried.

"I thought ... you don't generally have dinner till three...."

"But we're hungry."

I turned off aside from the road, took out the horses, and fed and watered
them. Had these strange beings set their dinner-time by mine?
"_Varsaagod_!"

But I felt I could not well sit down to eat with them, so I remained
standing by the horses.

"Well?" said Fruen.

"Thank you kindly," said I, and waited to be served. They helped me, both
of them, as if they could never give me enough. I drew the corks of the
beer bottles, and was given a liberal share here as well; it was a picnic
by the roadside--a little wayfaring adventure in my life. And Fruen I
dared look at least, for fear she should be hurt.

And they talked and jested with each other, and now and again with me, out
of their kindliness, that I might feel at ease. Said Froken Elisabeth:

"Oh, I think it's just lovely to have meals out of doors. Don't you?"

And here she said _De_, instead of _Du_, as she had said before.

"It's not so new to him, you know," said Fruen; "he has his dinner out in
the woods every day."

Eh, but that voice of hers, and her eyes, and the womanly, tender look of
the hand that held the glass towards me.... I might have said something in
turn--have told them this or that of strange things from out in the wide
world, for their amusement; I could have set those ladies right when they
chattered on, all ignorant of the way of riding camels or of harvest in
the vineyards....

I made haste to finish my meal, and moved away. I took the buckets and
went down for more water for the horses, though there was no need. I sat
down by the stream and stayed there.

After a little while Fruen called:

"You must come and stand by the horses; we are going off to see if we can
find some wild hops or something nice."

But when I came up they decided that the wild hops were over, and there
were no rowan berries left now, nor any richly coloured leaves.

"There's nothing in the woods now," said Frokenen. And she spoke to me
directly once again: "Well, there's no churchyard here for you to roam
about in."

"No."

"You must miss it, I should think." And then she went on to explain to
Fruen that I was a curious person who wandered about in graveyards by
night and held meetings with the dead. And it was there I invented my
machines and things.

By way of saying something, I asked about young Erik. He had been thrown
by a runaway horse and badly hurt....

"He's better now," said Frokenen shortly.--Are you ready to go on again,
Lovise?"

"Yes, indeed. Can we start?"

"Whenever you please," I answered.

And we drove on again.

The hours pass, the sun draws lower down the sky, and it is cooler--a
chill in the air; then later wind and wet, half rain, half snow. We passed
the annexe church, a couple of wayside stores, and farm after farm.

Then came a knocking on the window of the carriage.

"Wasn't it here you went riding one night on borrowed horses?" said
Frokenen laughingly. "Oh, we know all about it, never fear!"

And both the ladies were highly amused.

I answered on a sudden thought:

"And yet your father would have me to take service with him--or wasn't it
so?"

"Yes."

"While I think of it, Froken, how did your father know I was working for
Captain Falkenberg? You were surprised yourself to find me there."

She thought quickly, and glanced at Fruen and said:

"I wrote home and told them."

Fruen cast down her eyes.

Now it seemed to me that the young lady was inventing. But she put in
excellent answers, and tied my tongue. It sounded all so natural; she
writes an ordinary letter to her people at home, and puts in something
like this: "And who do you think is here? The man who did those
water-pipes for us; he's felling timber now for Captain Falkenberg...."

But when we reached the vicarage, the new hand was engaged already, and
there at work--had been there three weeks past. He came out to take the
horses.

After that, I thought and thought again--why had they chosen me to drive
them down? Perhaps it was meant as a little treat for me, as against
Falkenberg's being asked into the parlour to sing. But surely--didn't they
understand, these people, that I was a man who had nearly finished a new
machine, and would soon have no need of any such trifles!

I went about sharp and sullen and ill-pleased with myself, had my meal in
the kitchen, where Oline gave me her blessing for the water-pipes, and
went out to tend my horses. I took my rug and went over to the barn in the
dark....

I woke to find some one touching me.

"You mustn't lie here, you know; it's simply freezing," said Prastefruen.
"Come with me, and I'll show you...."

We talked of that a little; I was not inclined to move, and at last she
sat down herself instead. A flame she was--nay, a daughter of Nature.
Within her the music of a rapturous dance was playing yet.

XXIV

Next morning I was more content with things. I had cooled down and turned
sensible--I was resigned. If only I had seen before what was best for me,
I might have taken service here at the vicarage, and been the first of all
equals. Ay, and settle down and taken root in a quiet countryish life.

Fru Falkenberg stood out in the courtyard. Her bright figure stood like a
pillar, stood there free and erect in the open courtyard, and her head was
bare.

I greeted her Godmorgen.

"_Godmorgen_!" she answered again, and came striding towards me. Then
very quietly she asked: "I wanted to see how they put you up last night,
only I couldn't get away. That is, of course, I got away, but ... you
weren't in the barn, were you?"

The last words came to me as if in a dream, and I did not answer.

"Well, why don't you answer?"

"Yes ... in the barn? Yes."

"Were you? And was it quite all right?"

"Yes."

"Oh, well, then ... yes--yes. We shall be going back sometime to-day."

She turned and walked away, her face all in one great flush....

* * * * *

Harald came and asked me to make a kite.

"A kite?" I answered all confusedly. "Ay, I'll make you a kite, a huge
one, that'll go right up to the clouds. That I will."

We worked at it for a couple of hours, Harald and I. He was good and
quick, and so innocent in his eagerness; I, for my part, was thinking of
anything but kites. We made a tail several metres long, and busied
ourselves with paste and lashing and binding; twice Froken Elisabeth came
out to look on. She may have been every bit as sweet and bright as before,
but I cared nothing for what she was, and gave no thought, to her.

Then came the order to harness ready to start. I should have obeyed the
order at once, for we had a long drive before us, but, instead, I sent
Harald in to ask if we might wait just half an hour more. And we worked on
till the kite was finished. Next day, when the paste was dry, Harald could
send up his kite and watch it rise, and feel unknown emotion within him,
as I did now.

Ready to start.

Fruen comes out; all the family are there to see her off. The priest and
his wife both know me again, return my greeting, and say a few words--but
I heard nothing said of my taking service with them now. The priest knew
me again--yes; and his blue-eyed wife looked at me with that sidelong
glance of hers as she knew me again, for all she had known me the night
before as well.

Froken Elisabeth brings out some food for the journey, and wraps her
friend up well.

"Sure you'll be warm enough, now?" she asks for the last time.

"Quite sure, thanks; it's more than warm enough with all these. _Farvel,
Farvel_."

"See you drive as nicely as you did yesterday," says Froken, with a nod to
me as well.

And we drove off.

The day was raw and chilly, and I saw at once that Fruen was not warm
enough with her rug.

We drive on for hour after hour; the horses know they are on the way home,
and trot without asking. My bare hands stiffen about the reins. As we
neared a cottage a little way from the road, Fruen knocked on the carriage
window to say it was dinner-time. She gets out, and her face was pale with
the cold.

"We'll go up there and have dinner," she says. "Come up as soon as you're
ready, and bring the basket."

And she walked up the hill.

It must be because of the cold she chose to eat in a stranger's house, I
thought to myself; she could hardly be afraid of me.... I tied up the
horses and gave them their fodder. It looked like rain, so I put the
oilskins over them, patted them, and went up to the cottage with the
basket.

There is only an old woman at home. "Varsaagod!" she says, and "Come in."
And she goes on tending her coffee-pot. Fruen unpacks the basket, and
says, without looking at me:

"I suppose I am to help you again to-day?"

"Thank you, if you will."

We ate in silence, I sitting on a little bench by the door, with my plate
on the seat beside me, Fruen at the table, looking out of the window all
the time, and hardly eating anything at all. Now and again she exchanges a
word with the old woman, or glances at my plate to see if it is empty. The
little place is cramped enough, with but two steps from the window to
where I sit; so we are all sitting together, after all.

When the coffee is ready, I have no room for my cup on the end of the
bench, but sit holding it in my hand. Then Fruen turns full-face towards
me calmly, and says with down-cast eyes:

"There is room here."

I can hear my own heart beating and I murmur something:

"Thanks; it's quite all right. I'd rather...."

No doubt but that she is uneasy; she is afraid lest I should say
something. She sits once more looking away, but I can see she is breathing
heavily. Ah, she need have no fear; I would not trouble her with so much
as a word.

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