"You can carry the things up for me as far as Uncle's, as you are going the same way," went on Dete, who was preparing to continue her climb up the mountain side, which rose in a steep ascent immediately behind the goatherd's hut. Peter willingly undertook to do this, and followed after her. After a climb of more than three-quarters of an hour they reached the top of the Alm mountain. Uncle's hut stood on a projection of the rock, exposed indeed to the winds, but where every ray of sun could rest upon it, and a full view could be had of the valley beneath. Behind the hut stood three old fir trees, with long, thick, unlopped branches. Beyond these rose a further wall of mountain, the lower heights still overgrown with beautiful grass and plants. Against the hut, on the side looking towards the valley, Uncle had put up a seat. Here he was sitting, his pipe in his mouth and his hands on his knees, quietly looking out, when the children, the goats, and Dete suddenly clambered into view. Heidi was at the top first. She went straight up to the old man, put out her hand, and said, "Good-evening, Grandfather." "So, so, what is the meaning of this?" he asked gruffly, as he gave the child an abrupt shake of the hand, and gazed at her from under his bushy eyebrows. Heidi stared steadily back at him in return with unflinching gaze. Meanwhile Dete had come up, with Peter after her. "I wish you good-day, Uncle," said Dete, as she walked towards him, "and I have brought you Tobias and Adelaide's child. You will hardly recognize her, as you have never seen her since she was a year old." "And what has the child to do with me up here?" asked the old man curtly. "You there," he then called out to Peter, "be off with your goats, you are none too early as it is, and take mine with you." Peter obeyed on the instant and quickly disappeared. "The child is here to remain with you," Dete made answer. "I have done my duty by her for these four years, and now it is time for you to do yours." "That's it, is it?" said the old man, as he looked at her with a flash in his eye. "And when the child begins to fret and whine after you, what am I to do with her then?" "That's your affair," retorted Dete. "If you cannot arrange to keep her, do with her as you like. You will be answerable for the result if harm happens to her, though you have hardly need to add to the burden already on your conscience." Now Dete was not quite easy in her own conscience about what she was doing, and consequently was feeling hot and irritable, and said more than she had intended. As she uttered her last words, Uncle rose from his seat. He looked at her in a way that made her draw back a step or two, then flinging out his arm, he said to her in a commanding voice: "Be off with you this instant, and get back as quickly as you can to the place whence you came, and do not let me see your face again in a hurry."