She sells not only the two kilos from this year’s ducks, but also one of the old sacks in the barn. Then she goes to see the ever-willing Adolf, who ships over not one, but two horses. He doesn’t come himself, he sends his son, Daniel, who uses the opportunity to tell the Barrøyers that their island is a sinking ship, what a sorry sight . . . He says – at the sight of the guillotined grass that sticks out on the hayracks like straw and blows off at the slightest gust of wind and has to be raked together and hung again – that they can’t re-plough all the gardens, but he can bring over a kind of harrow and also a roller with spikes that can tear up the old stuff, they will have to pick out the worst clods by hand, as well as the stones, and deposit all this shite in a pile in the hollow over there, he says, and hope that one day a tree might grow from it, ha ha.

As soon as the haymaking is finished and the posts and wires have been cleared away, they start on this job, which has never been done on Barrøy before. And Daniel sees not only what is, but also what can be, he is a cheery, reckless and forward-looking man of twenty-five who works more or less round the clock for a hefty wage, which Ingrid has promised him in secret. But when he wants to bring in three youths he knows from Havstein Ingrid says it would be better if he brought over the two young refugees from Abelsen’s in Finnvika, the man will be only too happy to be rid of them now his crops are harvested, she remembers her father’s description of Jakob Abelsen, a good man, but greedy.

Daniel sails over to the main island and on his return says they won’t come without Jadviga. Ingrid says all three of them can come. Daniel asks what they should do about the old captain, Lukas Wara. Ingrid laughs and says he has probably settled in at Jakob’s, but he is also welcome to come, if he wants.

Daniel sails over again and returns with the two young men and Jadviga, whom they carry up to the house on a stretcher made of hayrack poles and lower into the rocking chair in the kitchen, where she looks around and says it is a nice house, is there any coffee?

Indeed, Lukas Wara has settled in at the Abelsens, now he has injured a foot, a circumstance which has not made him any less grumpy.