He turned to the Baron, but the Baron was gone. He was running away, toward home. Erik rushed after him.
"Come back!" he cried. He clutched at the Baron's coat. "Please come back! Now, you _must_ save Greta. She is in real danger."
"L-let me go!" he quavered. "I'll bring help!"
He broke away and fled toward the big house. Erik was left standing alone, and out of the silence came another scream.
Erik felt like the boy in the tale who cried, "Wolf, wolf!" for fun, and then one day was really surrounded by wolves. His harmless trick had turned into a horrible disaster.
He was too small to think of going to Greta's aid all alone. Nils! He would go for Nils.
When he reached his father's cottage, he burst into the kitchen where Nils was studying with the lamp shining on his face. He cried, "Quick, Nils! Greta is in danger." And in less time than it would seem possible, they were hurrying toward the lake.
[Illustration: "QUICK, NILS! GRETA IS IN DANGER"]
The screams had grown louder. Puffing and panting, Erik followed Nils into the rowboat. Nils picked up the oars. He pulled them with powerful arms, and the boat skimmed ahead.
Before they reached the island, however, Erik pointed and cried, "Look, Nils! There is someone in the water."
It was Greta. She was struggling to keep afloat, sinking, then rising to the top again. Nils tore off his coat. He dived into the water and soon was back in the boat again, with Greta in his arms.
"Row to shore, Erik," he said, and Erik picked up the oars.
He saw Nils wrap his coat about Greta's shoulders. He heard Nils asking Greta what had happened to her.
Greta looked at Erik as she replied, "Erik left me alone on the island. As night fell, I thought of my mother and how worried she would be. I found a leaky, old raft and tried to return on it. But it sank, and I should have sunk, too, if you had not come."
"Why did you do such a terrible thing, Erik?" Nils was glowering, and Erik saw the scolding in his eyes.
Erik answered, "I did it to prove that Baron Karl is a coward."
Whereupon Erik told them how the Baron had run away. Then he lifted up his head and began to sing, splashing the oars about in time to his singing:
"The sun upon the silver lake Is shining like a wedding cake."