thick, golden-brown stuff from head to foot.

"Come here, little one," he said to Rico. "How nicely you did sing! I
heard you here, inside the coach; and my business is also with sheep,
for, you know, I am a sheep-dealer; and I want to give you something,
because you can sing about them so prettily."

With these words he put a big piece of silver in Rico's hand, for the
cap had been emptied by this time, and the contents transferred to the
boy's pocket.

After this the man got into the coach, and the driver lifted Rico up to
his high seat as if the boy had been a mere feather, and off they went.

As soon as the speed of the start had a little abated, the students
called for more music, and Rico played every thing that he could
remember ever having heard his father play; and at the end he played,--

"I sing to thee with heart and voice."

But this tune must have put the students to sleep, for every thing
became quite still; and at last the riddle was silent. The evening
breeze stirred gently, and the stars climbed silently up into the sky
one after the other, until they were shining brightly in every
direction.

Rico looked about, and thought of Stineli, of the grandmother, of what
they were now doing; and it occurred to him that this was the very time
at which the prayer-bell usually rang, and when they were saying "Our
Father." He did the same, to be with them in that, at least: folded his