"Can't say. It all depends. But I'll put it as low as I can on my report; it's miles away from anywhere, and difficult to get at." "But two furlongs!" said the assistant again. The Lensmand entered duly, two furlongs to the southward, and asked: "What about the hills? How much do you want that way?" "I'll need all up as far as the water. There's a big water up there," said Isak. The Lensmand noted that. "And how far north?" "Why, it's no great matter that way. 'Tis but moorland most, and little timber." The Lensmand fixed the northward boundary at one furlong. "East?" "That's no great matter either. 'Tis bare field all from here into Sweden." The Lensmand noted down again. He made a rapid calculation, and said: "It'll make a good-sized place, even at that. Anywhere near the village, of course, it'd be worth a lot of money; nobody could have bought it. I'll send in a report, and say a hundred _Daler_ would be fair. What do you think?" he asked his assistant. "It's giving it away," said the other. "A hundred _Daler_?" said Inger. "Isak, you've no call to take so big a place." "No--o," said Isak. The assistant put in hurriedly: "That's just what I say. It's miles too big for you as it is. What will you do with it?" "Cultivate it," said the Lensmand. He had been sitting there writing and working in his head, with the children crying every now and then; he did not want to have the whole thing to do again. As it was, he would not be home till late that night, perhaps not before morning. He thrust the papers into the bag; the matter was settled. "Put the horse in," he said to his companion. And turning to Isak: "As a matter of fact, they ought to give you the place for nothing, and pay you into the bargain, the way you've worked. I'll say as much when I send in the report. Then we'll see how much the State will ask for the title-deeds." Isak--it was hard to say how he felt about it. Half as if he were not ill-pleased after all to find his land valued at a big price, after the work he had done. As for the hundred _Daler_, he could manage to pay that off, no doubt, in course of time. He made no further business about it; he could go on working as he had done hitherto, clearing and cultivating, fetching loads of timber from the untended woodlands. Isak was not a man to look about anxiously for what might come; he worked. Inger thanked the Lensmand, and hoped he would put in a word for them with the State. "Yes, yes. But I've no say in the matter myself. All I have to do is to say what I have seen, and what I think. How old is the youngest there?" "Six months as near as can be." "Boy or girl?" "Boy."