The farmers are thankful for this wind from the sea, because it keeps their windmills turning. And from the windmills they get electric power to light their houses. Greta mailed her letter and started back home. She didn't stop to visit with any of her friends in the village, because she was eager to get home and look for her kittens again. She hadn't given up the hope of finding them, though she really didn't know where to look. When more than halfway home, she suddenly remembered the loaf of bread. "Come, Chouse. We must go back to the village." Chouse had run to the side of the road, looking for rabbits again. [Illustration: A BARBER'S SIGN] From away down the road, Greta could see the sign of the bakery. Shaped like a large pretzel, it hung 'way out in front of the store. Every bakery had a sign like this, and many of the other shops had their own special signs. Each barber shop had a large metal plate hanging out in front. The plate was cut in a deep curve on one side, where it was supposed to fit around a man's neck when he had his hair cut. Of course barbers didn't use plates like this any more, but these signs were still used to mark a barber shop. [Illustration: A BAKERY SIGN] When Greta got home, Hans was just getting ready to start out in his new boat. "Want to come along, Greta?" "Sure I do. Where are you going?" "Oh, just down the river." The little river which ran in front of the house and wound around through the fields seemed like the nicest part of the farm to Hans and Greta. They fished in the river in the summer and skated on it in the winter. Hans was proud of his new boat, which was a birthday present from his father. Although he never let Greta go out in it alone, he often asked her to go with him. "Wait just a minute, Hans. I must take this bread in the house and then I'll go with you." Chouse was already in the boat when Greta came out. The minute that Hans started toward the boat, Chouse always jumped in ahead of him. He never sat still in it long. He would dash back and forth from the front to the back, and every now and then he tried to jump out, when he saw a rabbit running across the field. [Illustration: CHOUSE LIKED THE BOAT] "Are you going to let me paddle, Hans?" asked Greta. "Maybe I will, after while." Greta had to be content with this sort of a promise. She was very happy just to be out in this beautiful new boat. By the time they had gone around the first bend of the river, Greta began to think of her kittens again. "Hans, do you think that a Nisse really did take my kittens away?" "Well, of course, I don't _know_, Greta. But it looks like it." "I thought you didn't believe in the Nisser, Hans." "Why, one _has_ to believe in the Nisser. There is just no other way to explain some of the things that happen." "Do you remember the time my doll disappeared and I couldn't find her for months and months?" "Sure I do. And then all of a sudden she appeared again."