His sister looked back doubtfully over the immense peat bog through which
the train had been travelling, and thought of the swamps and the forests
of pine and birch which lay between them and Luleå, many miles away on
the coast. Then she looked forward toward more peat bogs, swamps and
forests that lay between them and Gellivare.

"I suppose it is a wonderful place," she said slowly; "but it seems more
wonderful to me that we are here looking at it. Do you remember how it
looks on the map in our geography, and how far away it always seemed?"

"Yes," replied her brother, "I always thought there was nothing but ice
and snow beyond the Arctic Circle."

"So did I," said Gerda. "I had no idea we should see little farms, and
fields of rye, oats and barley, away up here in Lapland. Father says the
crops grow faster because the sun shines all day and almost all night,
too; and that it is only eight weeks from seed-time to harvest.

"No doubt there is plenty of ice and snow in winter; but just here there
seems to be nothing but swamps and forests."

"And swarms of mosquitoes," added Birger. "Don't forget the mosquitoes!"

In a moment more the children were back in their seats, and the train was
creeping slowly northward, on its way toward Gellivare and Mount Dundret,
where, from the fifth of June to the eleventh of July, the sun may be
seen shining all day and all night.

Birger took a tiny stone from his pocket and showed it to his sister,