the horses to a tree.

Immediately the group at the doorway disappeared inside the tent, making
way for the strangers to enter, and when Gerda had shaken herself out of
her father's coat, a scene of the greatest confusion greeted her eyes.

The frame of the tent was made of poles driven into the ground and drawn
together at the top. It was covered with a coarse woolen cloth which is
made by the Lapps and is very strong. A cross-pole was fastened to the
frame to support the cooking-kettle, under which wood had been placed
for a fire.

An opening had been left at the top of the tent to allow the smoke to
escape. Birger had often made such a tent of poles and canvas when he was
spending the summer with his grandmother in Dalarne.

At the right of the entrance was a pile of reindeer skins, and there,
huddled together with the three children, were four big dogs. The dogs
stood up and began to growl, but Erik's father, who was a short,
thick-set man with black eyes and a skin which was red and wrinkled from
exposure to the cold winds, silenced them with a word. He then helped
Erik spread some dry skins for the visitors on the left side of the tent.

The Lapp mother immediately busied herself with lighting the fire,
putting some water into the kettle to boil, and grinding some coffee.
As she moved about the tent, Gerda saw that a baby, strapped to a
cradle-board, hung over her back.

The baby's skin was white and soft, her cheeks rosy, her hair as yellow
as Gerda's. She opened her blue eyes wide at the sight of the strangers,