WITH CARL OF THE HILL 39 



that he must go and see him. He would have taken 

 Sunlight with him but the cariole was gone, so there 

 was nothing for it but to mount the other horse and 

 journey off alone. He consoled Sunlight for her dis- 

 appointment, saying he should try and be back by the 

 middle of the day, and he left her in the care of her 

 eldest brother, then a lad of about fifteen". The two 

 youngest boys, both much younger than Sunlight, the 

 mother had taken with her. 



For a long time the children played about the 

 clearing. They stormed and defended Sunlight's 

 castle and amused themselves in many ways. At 

 last it was proposed that they should play at hunting 

 elk. So the eldest boy went off with a start as the 

 elk, and giving him a few minutes' law, the others 

 presently followed. Sunlight, who was as active as a 

 young roe, had no difficulty in keeping up. But, 

 catching sight of some butterfly or flower, for a few 

 moments she was left behind. When she followed on, 

 she took in her eagerness a wrong turning and soon 

 found that she had lost the boys. This mattered 

 little to her, she knew that part of the forest by heart, 

 and was soon back at the point where the footprints 

 of her brothers showed she had gone wrong. Here, 

 she thought, she would wait till they returned. So 



