southwards towards Alun lake. There the dogs got a new scent, and off they went in full cry in the direction of Linderudsœter again — it appeared as if they must chase the hare round there. At last they came back again, and I shot that hare also, and then I had three in all. That'll do for to-day, my dear Lars, thought I, and so I went home and hung the hares up in Simonsen's cellar. But that little black thing bled for three days after, and filled the cellar nearly half full of blood."
"You spoke just now about a goblin hare, who was seen here in Holleia; but are there not also some legends about all the riches, gold and silver, which are to be found in the mountains here? It wouldn't be a bad thing to have some of it, Peter?" said the captain, who was trying to get a story out of him again.
"Oh, what would the captain want with that?" said Peter, and shook his head. "You have enough, I should say, sir, and perhaps more than enough. It might be something for a poor fellow; but believe me, it isn't so easy to get hold of, I can tell you."
"It seems very strange to me however that you haven't tried to get some of it," continued the captain.
"Ah, but how should that have happened?" asked Peter. "To lie about and dig in the hills, as old Joe Hajigen did all over Holleia, is not a thing I should care for."
"But there are other ways to find such riches," said the captain mysteriously. "What do you say to making friends with the fairies in the mountains? You have, by my faith, not been such an ill-looking lad in your youth, Peter! You could have made your fortune, sure enough."
"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed Peter in a subdued tone, apparently pleased with the captain's allusion to his good looks. "I have never believed in such beings, for I have never seen a troll or a huldre."
"But there lived once a fairy over in Holleia," said the captain.
"Oh, that's an old fairy tale. I have heard people talk about it, to be sure, but I don't believe anything of it," answered Peter.
"Yes, but you must know something about it for all that, since you have been knocking about on the moors here so long. You
G
