Page:Karl Gjellerup - Minna, A novel - 1913.djvu/78

 explosion. At last we heard a rather faint muffled report; pieces of stone were thrown out, a small cloud of dust and smoke spread; the solid mass still stood, though very much undermined. The owner swore, the man with the check trousers scraped some loosened bits out with his pick-axe. In the gash of the stone wound I could see the black trace of the mine.

"We shall have to bore again," he shouted to the owner.

While we were inspecting the spot at close quarters, and the men were looking for the best place to bore, I had taken a pick-axe and chipped one of the pieces, which had come off by blasting, and which easily broke into regular flat bits under my tool. Suddenly I found myself caught and tied up with a piece of the fibre which they used as a wad, while a roar of laughter burst upon my ears, and a red-bearded face bent over my shoulder. I also laughed, of course, but in the unnatural way which is always a clear proof that one does not altogether appreciate the joke. The gay captor, it is true, did give some sort of explanation, evidently under the impression that I understood the whole thing, but he spoke in such broad Saxonian dialect that I was none the wiser.

Minna laughed heartily at seeing me in the arms of the giant, and still more, I suppose, at the funny expression on my face, which said clearly that "I was not in it," but should like to be. At last she controlled her merriment, which, against my will, had annoyed me a good deal.

"He expects you to pay a ransom for your liberty, and he has the right to do so," she said. "It is one of our traditions that if any one trespasses on a workman's preserves, the latter has the right to handcuff him just as you have been."