The Swedes had come back again and would flood the
place with money; he would be a fool to sell out now. Aronsen was
forced to go back each time with a flat refusal, more and more
disgusted at his own lack of foresight in ever having given up the
place.
Oh, but Aronsen might have saved himself a deal of self-reproach, and
likewise Eleseus with his plans and intentions, that he might have
kept in moderation. And more than all, the village would have done
well to be less confident, instead of going about smiling and rubbing
its hands like angels sure of being blessed--no call for them to do so
if they had but known. For now came disappointment, and no little one
at that. Who would ever have thought it; work at the mine commenced
again, true enough--but at the other end of the fjeld, eight miles
away, on the southern boundary of Geissler's holding, far off in
another district altogether, a district with which they were in no
way concerned. And from there the work was to make its way gradually
northward to the original mine, Isak's mine, to be a blessing to folk
in the wilds and in the village.
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