"It is certainly a real robber-band that I've fallen in with," thought
he.
Just then he heard the wild geese's call above him. "Where are you? Here
am I. Where are you? Here am I."
He understood that Akka and the others had gone out to search for him;
but before he could answer them the big crow who appeared to be the
leader of the band hissed in his ear: "Think of your eyes!" And there
was nothing else for him to do but to keep still.
The wild geese may not have known that he was so near them, but had just
happened, incidentally, to travel over this forest. He heard their call
a couple of times more, then it died away. "Well, now you'll have to get
along by yourself, Nils Holgersson," he said to himself. "Now you must
prove whether you have learned anything during these weeks in the open."
A moment later the crows gave the signal to break up; and since it was
still their intention, apparently, to carry him along in such a way that
one held on to his shirt-band, and one to a stocking, the boy said: "Is
there not one among you so strong that he can carry me on his back? You
have already travelled so badly with me that I feel as if I were in
pieces. Only let me ride! I'll not jump from the crow's back, that I
promise you."
"Oh! you needn't think that we care how you have it," said the leader.
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