III

Little Nikas had washed the blacking from his face and had put on
his best clothes; he wanted to go to the market with a bundle of
washing, which the butcher from Aaker was to take home to his mother,
and Pelle walked behind him, carrying the bundle. Little Nikas
saluted many friendly maidservants in the houses of the neighborhood,
and Pelle found it more amusing to walk beside him than to follow;
two people who are together ought to walk abreast. But every time he
walked beside the journeyman the latter pushed him into the gutter,
and finally Pelle fell over a curbstone; then he gave it up.

Up the street the crazy watchmaker was standing on the edge of his
high steps, swinging a weight; it was attached to the end of a long
cord, and he followed the swinging of the pendulum with his fingers,
as though he were timing the beats. This was very interesting, and
Pelle feared it would escape the journeyman.

"The watchmaker's making an experiment," he said cheerfully.

"Stop your jaw!" said the journeyman sharply. Then it occurred
to Pelle that he was not allowed to speak, so he closed his mouth
tight.

He felt the bundle, in order to picture to himself what the contents
were like. His eyes swept all the windows and the side streets,
and every moment he carried his free hand to his mouth, as though
he were yawning, and introduced a crumb of black bread, which he