"No, no," said Sebastian, wishing to soothe her, "we will hope
not; she is sure to be alive still."
Then Heidi fell back on her own thoughts again. Now and then she
looked inside the basket, for the thing she looked forward to
most was laying all the rolls out on grandmother's table. After
a long silence she spoke again, "If only we could know for
certain that grandmother is alive!"
"Yes, yes," said Sebastian, half asleep; "she is sure to be
alive, there is no reason why she should be dead."
After a while sleep fell on Heidi too, and after her disturbed
night and early rising she slept so soundly that she did not
wake till Sebastian shook her by the arm and called to her, "Wake
up, wake up! we shall have to get out directly; we are just in
Basle!"
There was a further railway journey of many hours the next day.
Heidi again sat with her basket on her knee, for she would not
have given it up to Sebastian on any consideration; to-day she
never even opened her mouth, for her excitement, which increased
with every mile of the journey, kept her speechless. All of a
sudden, before Heidi expected it, a voice called out,
"Mayenfeld." She and Sebastian both jumped up, the latter also
taken by surprise. In another minute they were both standing on
the platform with Heidi's trunk, and the train was steaming away
down the valley. Sebastian looked after it regretfully, for he
preferred the easier mode of travelling to a wearisome climb on
foot, especially as there was danger no doubt as well as fatigue
in a country like this, where, according to Sebastian's idea,
everything and everybody were half savage. He therefore looked
cautiously to either side to see who was a likely person to ask
the safest way to Dorfli.
Just outside the station he saw a shabby-looking little cart and
horse which a broad-shouldered man was loading with heavy sacks
that had been brought by the train, so he went up to him and
asked which was the safest way to get to Dorfli.
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