Herr Ekman laughed. "Do you think they should go into a den, like the
bears, and sleep through the winter?" he asked.

"But think of the summer, when it is light all day and all night, too,"
said Sigrid. "Then they have fun enough to make up for the winter."

"I never could understand about our long nights in winter and our long
days in summer," spoke Hilma Berling.

"It is because we live so near the North Pole," Oscar told her. "Now that
Commander Peary of the United States of America has really discovered
the North Pole, perhaps the geographies will make it easier to understand
how the sun juggles with the poles and circles.

"I am sorry that it has been discovered," he added. "I always meant to do
it myself, when I got old enough to discover anything."

"If I could stand on the top of Mount Dundret and see the sun shining at
midnight, I am sure I could understand about it without any geography,"
Gerda declared.

"If you should go north with Herr Lighthouse-Inspector Ekman this summer,
you might meet the little girl who receives this box," said Sigrid.

"I should know her the minute I saw her," Gerda said decidedly.

"How would you know her?" questioned Birger. "You don't even know her
name or where she lives. Father is going to give the box to the
lighthouse-master at Luleå, and he will decide where to send it."