summer at the Sea-gull Light.

"Isn't this the best fun we ever had,--to be travelling alone, without
any one to take care of us?" asked Birger, as the train whizzed along
past fields and forests, lakes and rivers.

"It feels just as if we were tourists," replied Gerda, straightening her
hat and nestling close to Karen.

Karen dimpled and smiled. "I don't see your wonder-eyes, such as tourists
always have," she said.

"That is because we have been to Rättvik so many times that we know every
house and tree and rail-fence along the way," answered Birger. "We have
stopped at Gefle and seen the docks with their great piles of lumber and
barrels of tar; and we have been to Upsala, the ancient capital of
Sweden, and seen the famous University which was founded fifteen years
before Columbus discovered America."

"Last summer Father took us to Falun to visit the wonderful copper
mines," added Gerda; "but I never want to go there again," and she
shivered as she thought of the dark underground halls and chambers.

"We saw a fire there, which was lighted hundreds of years ago and has
never once been allowed to go out," said Birger. "The miners light their
lamps and torches at the flame."

"Look, there are the chimneys of Falun now," cried Gerda, pointing out of
the car window; and a half-hour later the children found themselves at
the neat little Rättvik station.