“Very likely,” he answered.  “It could hardly have been any other disease.”

If only the mother and father had known what the children learned that evening, they might have protected themselves.  If they had burned the clothing of the vagabond woman; if they had scoured and aired the cabin and had not used the old bedding, all whom the children mourned might have been living yet.  The lecturer said he could not say positively, but he believed that none of their dear ones would have been sick had they understood how to guard against the infection.

Osa and Mats waited awhile before putting the next question, for that was the most important of all.  It was not true then that the gipsy woman had sent the sickness because they had befriended the one with whom she was angry.  It was not something special that had stricken only them.  The lecturer assured them that no person had the power to bring sickness upon another in that way.

Thereupon the children thanked him and went to their room.  They talked until late that night.

The next day they gave notice that they could not tend geese another year, but must go elsewhere.  Where were they going?  Why, to try to find their father.  They must tell him that their mother and the other children had died of a common ailment and not something special brought upon them by an angry person.  They were very glad that they had found out about this.  Now it was their duty to tell their father of it, for probably he was still trying to solve the mystery.

Osa and Mats set out for their old home on the heath.  When they arrived they were shocked to find the little cabin in flames.  They went to the parsonage and there they learned that a railroad workman had seen their father at Malmberget, far up in Lapland.  He had been working in a mine and possibly was still there.  When the clergyman heard that the children wanted to go in search of their father he brought forth a map and showed them how far it was to Malmberget and tried to dissuade them from making the journey, but the children insisted that they must find their father.  He had left home believing something that was not true.  They must find him and tell him that it was all a mistake.

They did not want to spend their little savings buying railway tickets, therefore they decided to go all the way on foot, which they never regretted, as it proved to be a remarkably beautiful journey.

Before they were out of Smaland, they stopped at a farm house to buy food.  The housewife was a kind, motherly soul who took an interest in the children.  She asked them who they were and where they came from, and they told her their story.  “Dear, dear!  Dear, dear!” she interpolated time and again when they were speaking.  Later she petted the children and stuffed them with all kinds of goodies, for which she would not accept a penny.  When they rose to thank her and go, the woman asked them to stop at her brother’s farm in the next township.  Of course the children were delighted.