Legends of the Mill. 155 the fish doesn't go into the river, for if he opens his mouth to get a mouthful of clear water, he gets his gills choked with saw-dust and shavings. Drat that saw-dust, although I shouldn't forget it is the mill that feeds me and mine, but I get so wild when I think of the big fellows I have landed here in days gone by." The boy had in the meantime arrived with the basket, but he seemed to be ill at ease amid the noise and commotion which pre vailed in the mill. He stepped cautiously over the boards, and in his face was depicted fear and anxiety at the rush of the water between the wheels underneath the floor where he was standing. " This is an awful place to be in/' he said. "IwishIwassafe at home again." " Don't you belong to these parts ? " I asked. u Where do you come from ? " asked the old man. " Oh, I come from the Old Town," answered the lad, who all the time kept himself as close to me as possible. " I have been over to the clerk at Brække with a letter for the bailiff ; and I am so afraid to go alone in the dark." " You ought to be ashamed of yourself, such a big lad as you are," said the old man, but added in a comforting tone, " the moon will be up shortly, and perhaps you may go in company with this stranger here." I promised the lad my company as far as the Beier bridge, which seemed to reassure him somcwhat. In the meantime the saw was stopped and two of the men began filing and sharpening the blades, which produced such a piercing sound that it went through bone and marrow. It is very often heard at night through the rush of the waters as far as the town below. It seemed to have a very unpleasant effect upon the nerves of the frightened lad. " Ugh! Idared not stay here a nightfor alltheworld!" he said, and stared around him, as if he expected to see a mill-goblin rise through the floor, or a brownie in every corner. " Well, I have been here many a night," said the old man, "and little reward have I had for it." " My mother has told me that thcre is witchcraft and all sorts of evil spirits in these mills," remarked the lad, somewhat alarmed.
