pale and worried, herr feland came through the golden morning light back to his house, and his clothes showed that he had pressed through many thorns and prickly briers. frau feland had immediately heard his footsteps and full of anguish called:
"are you bringing the child?"
he stepped nearer, sat down by the bed, laid his head in his hands and said, almost inaudibly:
"i come alone. i can no longer hope, no longer think. in what condition shall we find the child after the long night, wholly or half dead?"
"oh, no, papa," sobbed ella, who had come in softly, "the dear lord has surely taken care of our rita, for mamma and i have prayed to him so many times in the night about it."
her father rose. "we have gone through the forest in every direction all night long; the child cannot be there. now we will go down through the ravine by the forest-brook."
her father spoke these words in a trembling voice. the supposition that the child had fallen into the wild forest-brook became more and more certain to him. herr feland had arranged for a good breakfast to be prepared for the men at martin's house, and then they were all to help further in the search. now it was plain that they would be better able to climb down into the ravines and gorges.
when herr feland entered martin's house the men were still sitting at the table and talking excitedly about what to do next. seppli was standing by his father staring with open eyes and mouth.
herr feland sat down beside martin. a silence ensued, for they all saw what great anguish and trouble were in his heart. suddenly seppli said bluntly:
"i know where she is."
"don't talk such nonsense, seppli," said his father reprovingly in his gentle way, "you were up in the hay-field when she was lost; you can't know anything about it."
herr feland asked for ropes and other necessary things, and while these were being made ready seppli said half-aloud but quite distinctly:
"but i really know where she is."
herr feland rose, seized him by the hand, and said kindly:
"little boy, look at me, and tell me truly, do you know anything about the child?"
"yes," was the short answer.
"then speak out, little boy! have you seen the child? where has she gone?" asked herr feland with increasing excitement.
"i will show you," replied seppli, and went to the door. they all rose. they all looked at one another. no one knew whether to take the suggestion seriously or as foolish.
but herr feland followed the boy without any hesitation.
"seppli, seppli," said father martin reprovingly, "i really think you are making a promise you can't keep."
but seppli kept trotting along, herr feland following, and the men coming reluctantly after.
when the little fellow aimed for the forest they stood still, and one of them said:
"it is utterly useless to follow the boy in there, for we have searched through every place and found nothing. we will not go."
martin informed herr feland that he himself did not have any confidence in the boy. but seppli kept marching along, and herr feland and martin decided to follow.
seppli walked resolutely on farther into the woods. suddenly he turned to the left toward the old fir-trees, where they soon saw something red gleaming through. seppli steered straight ahead, through the midst of briers and prickly thistles, to a light spot, where there were many large bushes together, all covered with red flowers. here he stood still and looked around a little puzzled. he had evidently expected to find rita there. then he went with determination on his way. the blossoming bushes became fewer, but larger and larger. seppli stood still by each one for a moment and looked around, then he would go on, always to the left.
"no, seppli, don't go any farther," cried his father. "we are coming to the big wall of rock."
but at the same moment there was a shining like fire through the trees. the sun glowed on a bush completely covered with the red flowers. seppli ran up to it quickly, but he was close to the wall of rock, which extended, rugged and steep, down to the deep precipice below. seppli looked around and across the flowers down over the rocks. then he turned around. herr feland stood hopeless behind him. the path came to an end, and the child was not found!
martin seized the boy by the hand and tried to draw him back from the dangerous spot, when seppli said in his dry way:
"she is lying down there below."
herr feland rushed forward and bent over the precipice—his face grew deathly pale. he stepped back and had to cling to the nearest tree, his knees were shaking so. he beckoned to martin, who was still holding seppli fast by the hand. then he stepped to the edge and looked down into the depths. here and there a few bushes hung over the precipice. in one place, horribly low down, the rock had one small projection, like a narrow shelf. here lay, nestled on the rock, a motionless little being, with her face pressed against the stone.
"god in heaven, it is true, there she lies!" said martin shuddering, "but whether living or——"
he did not finish the sentence. one look at herr feland closed his lips. he looked as if he were going to drop dead. but he recovered himself.
"martin," he said faintly, "no time is to be lost. if the child moves she will be over the precipice. who will climb down? who will get her?"
the other men now came along: hopeless, they had followed their little guide through curiosity. they too now looked, one after another, down the wall of rock.
"listen, you men," said herr feland in a trembling voice, "there is not a moment to lose. who will do it? who will help? who dares to go?"
the men looked at one another, but all remained silent. one of them stepped to the edge, looked down, then turned around, shrugged his shoulders, and went away.
"if we were only sure that she is still alive," said another. "but a man risks his life and perhaps only to bring back a dead child."
"who knows that she is not alive?" cried herr feland, almost beside himself, "and if she stirs she is lost beyond recovery! oh, is it not possible?"
"she would have gone down below long before this if she was still alive. no one could lie as still as that," said another. "and, sir, if one should roll down there, the best reward would be of no use."
shrugging their shoulders, one after another stepped back. herr feland looked around him in despair. there was no prospect of help.
"i will do it myself," he exclaimed, beside himself; "only tell me how?"
martin now stepped up to him.
"no, sir," he said quietly, "that will not do. then both would be lost, that is sure. but i will do it, with god's help. i, too, have such little ones, and i know how hard it must be for herr feland."
even before he spoke he had fastened the big rope around the trunk of the old fir-tree, for he had decided to bring up the child to her father, whether she was dead or alive. then he took off his cap, prayed softly, seized firm hold of the rope, and slid down the rock.
he reached the little shelf in the rock. with one hand he held to the rope with all his strength, with his bare feet he tried to cling fast to the rock, in order to be able to seize the child with his other hand and lift her up. gently, quietly, he drew near, for if the child was alive and should be startled by him—just a quick movement—even at the last moment she would be lost.
she lay motionless there. martin bent over the child and laid his broad, strong hand on her. at the same moment she was about to turn around quickly and would have fallen down beyond recovery, but martin's hand lay firmly on her. she could turn her head. a pair of big, wondering eyes looked up at the man.
"god be praised and thanked!" said martin, taking a deep breath. "say the same, little one, if you can still speak!"
"yes, i can still speak! god be praised and thanked!" said the child, in a quite clear voice.
martin looked in greatest amazement at the child, who was wholly unharmed.
"you must be strangely dear to our lord, for he has worked a miracle for you. you must never forget it all your life long, little one," he said thoughtfully. then he lifted the child with his strong right hand up to himself.
"there, now you must put both your arms around my neck, very tight, as if i were your dear papa, for you see, i cannot hold you. i have enough to do, with both my hands, to climb up."
"yes, yes, i will hold fast," said rita assuringly and clasping martin so firmly that he could hardly breathe. but how glad he was!
he now began to climb up the rock. it was no easy task. the blood ran down from his hands and feet. occasionally he had to rest for a moment. above stood herr feland and the men holding their breath and watching the man sway above the precipice. would his endurance hold out? would he come up? or would he lose his strength? would he slip and fall with the child into the dark abyss?
nearer and nearer they came—now only the last frightful steep piece of rock—there——
"god be thanked!" cried martin, breathless, when he took the last step over the edge. he took the child from his neck and laid her in her trembling father's arms.
herr feland had to sit down. he held his child and looked at her, speechless, as if he could not realize his good fortune.
"oh, papa, i am so glad," said rita, throwing both arms around his neck affectionately. "i knew you would surely come to get me in the morning."
martin stepped aside, with folded hands; he was gazing at the father and his child, and for joy the tears fell down over his sun-burned cheeks. seppli had pressed close to him and clung to him fast, for he had realized that his father had been in great danger.
then herr feland, with his child in his arms, stepped up to martin. he held out his hand to the rescuer.
"you know very well, martin, that i am now doing what i should have done before anything else," he said in a trembling voice. "i thank you, as only one can thank another, to whom a life has been given back. i shall never forget that you risked your life to save my child."
the two men shook hands, and martin said sincerely:
"it is a great reward to me that i was able to bring back your little girl to you unharmed."
"i will see you again to-day. now we must go to the mother," said herr feland, and, holding his little girl fast in his arms, he started on the way back. martin, holding seppli by the hand, and the others followed.
as they were going along in this way through the woods, martin said to his little boy:
"now tell me, seppli, how you knew that the little girl had come just here?"
"because she wanted to go to the red flowers," replied seppli.
"but how did you know then that she could be right there by the rock?"
"because she was not by the first bush, so she must have gone farther, because the flowers keep getting more and more beautiful, and the most beautiful bush of all is the last near the rock. but i didn't know that she had fallen off," explained seppli.
herr feland now reached his house. he went in and opened the door of the sleeping-room. ella was still sitting by the bed and holding her mother's hand fast. quite exhausted, she was leaning her head on the pillow and her eyes were closed. herr feland stepped up to her mother and placed rita in the middle of her bed.
"good-morning, mamma! did you sleep well?" said rita quite gayly, as she did every morning when she came to kiss her mother. her mother opened her eyes and stared at her child. then she suddenly seized her in her arms, pressed her with all her might to her breast, and tears of unspeakable joy streamed from her eyes. she couldn't speak a word, could only thank the dear lord again and again in her heart.
ella held her little sister's hand fast and kept saying over and over:
"are you back again, rita? where were you all night long alone?"
little by little her father told how and where he had found rita and how martin risked his life to save the child. the mother shuddered at the description. she pressed the child again close to her when she realized the danger she had been in the whole night long.
"oh, weren't you frightened almost to death?" asked ella, who from sympathy was still struggling with her tears.
"oh no, i was not frightened," asserted rita gayly. "i will tell you now how it happened. at first i was going in to ask papa if i might go with seppli for the red flowers, but he was away. so i thought he would surely allow me, because i had wanted so much to go the day before, and then did not dare, so i went for seppli, but he was away too. then i thought i would find the red flowers alone, for seppli had told me the way to go there."
"martin bent over the child and laid his broad, strong hand on her."
"martin bent over the child and laid his broad, strong hand on her."
"then i went up into the woods and hunted a long, long time without finding them. but suddenly i saw something red shining behind the trees and i ran toward it. at first there were only a few flowers and not very bright red ones, but seppli had said you had to go farther and farther into the woods. so i went still farther, and there were more and more flowers, and at last i came to a big, big bush with so many beautiful red flowers. they shone so wonderfully and i wanted them all, every one, and then suddenly i fell down and rested on a stone, but it was a small stone and so i pushed back against the rock and thought i would just lie still and papa would soon come and get me. but then i was tired—and it was already getting rather dark—and i thought, i must really go to sleep, and in the morning papa would come and get me. then i thought i must say my prayer, so that the dear lord would send his little angels to take care of me while i slept, and i prayed:
"oh, gentle jesus, hear me!
on bright wings hover near me,
and keep me from all harm!
thru danger, pain and sorrow
i'll sleep until the morrow,
protected by thine arm.
"then i slept very well, until a man came, and i knew right away that papa had sent him."
her mother trembled as she followed the story. her father could not conceal his delight at it.
"now my little grasshopper doesn't go another step alone," he said in as severe a tone as in his delight he could find it in his heart to use.
the mother had not yet heard who had finally taken the searching party to the right spot, and she wanted to know all about it. then the father thought of seppli and that he was really the first one to trace rita.
"we must especially reward the brave boy," he said, and rita, who grasped this idea with enthusiasm immediately scrambled down from the bed, in order to carry out the plan at once.
but what should the reward for seppli be? what could she take to him right away?
"he shall for once have his greatest wish," said her father. "we will see what will most delight his heart."
"can i go to him right away?" asked rita eagerly.
her papa wished to go with her, to speak with father martin at once, and also to recompense the other men. rita jumped all around the room for joy. she was full of great gratitude to seppli.
"but, papa, supposing he should wish for a menagerie, with the biggest animals there are?" she asked.
"then he shall have it," was the decided answer.
"but, papa," she asked again, "if he should wish for a turkish costume and a curved saber besides, such as cousin karl has?"
"he shall have that too!" was the answer.
"but, papa," she went on, "if he should want a whole big fortress and twelve boxes full of soldiers, as karl has?"
"he shall have them!" replied her father again.
then rita rushed out to seppli, who was standing in front of the door.
"come, seppli," she cried, "now you can have the very best wish you can think of!"
seppli looked at rita with wrinkled brow. it seemed as if her words had awakened something that lay heavy on his heart. finally he said, quite cast down:
"it's no use."
"yes, really, it is, too," replied rita, "because you found me you can ask for anything you would like, and you will have it. papa said so. now think right away about it and then tell what it is."
gradually seppli seemed to understand the matter. he looked at rita once more to prove whether she was really in earnest or not, then he took a deep breath and said:
"a whip with a yellow lash."
"no, seppli, that is nothing at all," replied rita quite vexed. "you mustn't wish for anything like that. think once more what is the most beautiful thing of all and wish for that."
seppli thought obediently, took another deep breath, and said:
"a whip with a yellow lash."
herr feland then came with the men out of the house. the men went away with many expressions of gratitude, but martin remained standing in the doorway.
"i have not yet given you any reward, martin," said herr feland. "to you above all the rest i must prove my gratitude in a way to give you a real joy. tell me, have you some special desire?"
martin turned his cap around for a while in his hands, then said hesitatingly:
"i have had a great desire for a long time, but i dare not tell you what it is; no, no, it should not have come into my mind."
"speak it out fully," said herr feland encouragingly, "perhaps i can help you."
"i have always thought," continued martin, hesitatingly, "if i could only get on as well as my neighbor over there, i would venture to think of buying a cow. i have quite a good deal of hay and then could take care of my family without any anxiety."
"that is good, martin," said herr feland, "we shall see each other again." then he took rita by the hand and started with her on the way back.
"and what did your friend seppli wish for?" he asked.
"oh, he is stupid," exclaimed rita. "he only wants a whip with a yellow lash! that is nothing at all."
"surely that is something," asserted her papa. "you see, every child has his own pleasures: to seppli such a whip would give exactly as much pleasure as the most beautiful doll-house would to you."
at this explanation rita seemed contented and could hardly wait for the wishes to come true.
on the following day herr feland had to make a journey down into the valley. rita knew very well why, and hopped with delight all the morning long. her papa did not go, without impressing it upon his little "grasshopper" that she must not take a step alone away from the house, and fr?ulein hohlweg received strict instructions. but she had endured such anguish that terrible night that the warnings were unnecessary. on the contrary she had determined from now on not to take her eyes off from rita, no matter how hard it might be.
two days later, when martin had just sat down with his family at the table to their meal of steaming potatoes, they heard a loud mooing in front of the house—then again, and then a third time!
"kaspar's cow must have run away," said martin, getting up to go and catch her. seppli had to go too! he ran hurriedly after his father, martheli, friedli and bertheli followed, and behind them their mother, in order to fetch them all back again.
outside father martin was standing in motionless astonishment, and all the others beside him opened their eyes wide. the mother, who had just come along, clapped her hands and couldn't speak a word from amazement. fastened near the house stood a glossy brown cow, so big and splendid, such as was only seen occasionally among the rich peasants. to one of her horns was fastened a big whip, which had a strong, white, leather mesh with a thick, silk lash which shimmered in the sun like gold!
a paper was bound around the whip-handle and on this was written in large letters: "for seppli."
martin took down the whip and gave it to the boy.
"it is yours," he said.
seppli held the whip in his hand. the most beautiful and the most wonderful thing he could think of was his very own! and, besides, there was the cow, which could be driven up on the mountain, with the whip to crack, like georgie's and chappi's!
seppli, with beaming eyes, seized his whip, hugged it and held it fast, as if to say:
"no power on earth can take it from me!"
martin and his wife couldn't look enough at the splendid animal. that it was to belong to them appeared to them like a miracle.
finally martin said:
"she moos because she wants to give her milk. seppli, bring the pail; to-day we will enjoy ourselves."
two large pails were filled with foaming, fresh milk and placed with the potatoes on the table; then all accompanied the brown cow in a triumphant procession to the shed.
over in front of the neighboring cottage herr feland was standing with his children. they wanted to see how the brown cow was received, and rita had, above all, to know what impression the whip would make, which she herself had marked with the big letters: "for seppli."
when frau feland had recovered from the great excitement the whole family went up to the wall of rock in order to give praise and thanks from their full hearts once more to the dear lord, on the very spot where he had so evidently spread his protecting hand over their child.
