About
him reigned the profound stillness of a wilderness in winter.
"Then the dark clouds parted, and through the opening stepped the full
round moon to shed its light upon the ground. The dean saw that he and
the horse were alone on the summit of Black's Ridge. Not one of the many
wild beasts was there. The ground had not been trampled by the herds
that had passed over it; but the dean himself sat with his Prayer-book
before him, while the horse under him stood trembling and foaming.
"By the time the dean reached home he no longer knew whether or not it
had been a dream, a vision, or reality--this that he had seen; but he
took it as a warning to him to remember the poor creatures who were at
the mercy of wild beasts. He preached so powerfully to the Delsbo
peasants that in his day all the wolves and bears were exterminated from
that section of the country, although they may have returned since his
time."
Here Bernhard ended his story. He received praise from all sides and it
seemed to be a foregone conclusion that he would get the prize. The
majority thought it almost a pity that Clement had to compete with him.
But Clement, undaunted, began:
"One day, while I was living at Skansen, just outside of Stockholm, and
longing for home--" Then he told about the tiny midget he had ransomed
so that he would not have to be confined in a cage, to be stared at by
all the people.
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