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diff --git a/old/ttlll10.txt b/old/ttlll10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3d84515 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/ttlll10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9893 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Thrall of Leif the Lucky +by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg file. + +We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk, +thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the etext. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information +needed to understand what they may and may not do with the etext. +To encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end, +rather than having it all here at the beginning. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These Etexts Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get etexts, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 +Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file. + + +Title: The Thrall of Leif the Lucky + +Author: Ottilie A. Liljencrantz + +Release Date: October, 2003 [Etext #4581] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 11, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Thrall of Leif the Lucky +by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz +******This file should be named ttlll10.txt or ttlll10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, ttlll11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, ttlll10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep etexts in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book may +be found at the end of this file. Please read this important +information, as it gives you specific rights and tells you about +restrictions in how the file may be used. + + +********************************************************************* +This etext was produced by A Elizabeth Warren (aewarren2@aol.com). + + + + + +THE THRALL OF LEIF THE LUCKY + +A Story of Viking Days + + +By Ottilie A Liljencrantz + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER 1 +Where Wolves Thrive Better than Lambs + +CHAPTER II +The Maid in the Silver Helmet + +CHAPTER III +A Gallant Outlaw + +CHAPTER IV +In a Viking Lair + +CHAPTER V +The Ire of a Shield-Maiden + +CHAPTER VI +The Song of Smiting Steel + +CHAPTER VII +The King's Guardsman + +CHAPTER VIII +Leif the Cross-Bearer + +CHAPTER IX +Before the Chieftain + +CHAPTER X +The Royal Blood of Alfred + +CHAPTER XI +The Passing of the Scar + +CHAPTER XlI +Through Bars of Ice + +CHAPTER XIII +Eric the Red in His Domain + +CHAPTER XIV +For the Sake of the Cross + +CHAPTER XV +A Wolf-Pack in Leash + +CHAPTER XVI +A Courtier of the King + +CHAPTER XVII +The Wooing of Helga + +CHAPTER XVIII +The Witch's Den + +CHAPTER XIX +Tales of the Unknown West + +CHAPTER XX +Alwin's Bane + +CHAPTER XXI +The Heart of a Shield-Maiden + +CHAPTER XXIl +In the Shadow of the Sword + +CHAPTER XXIII +A Familiar Blade in a Strange Sheath + +CHAPTER XXIV +For Dear Love's Sake + +CHAPTER XXV +"Where Never Man Stood Before" + +CHAPTER XXVI +Vinland the Good + +CHAPTER XXVII +Mightier than the Sword + +CHAPTER XXVIII +"Things that are Fated" + +CHAPTER XXIX +The Battle to the Strong + +CHAPTER XXX +From Over the Sea + +CONCLUSION + + + +FOREWORD + +THE Anglo-Saxon race was in its boyhood in the days when the Vikings +lived. Youth's fresh fires burned in men's blood; the unchastened +turbulence of youth prompted their crimes, and their good deeds were +inspired by the purity and whole-heartedness and divine simplicity of +youth. For every heroic vice, the Vikings laid upon the opposite scale +an heroic virtue. If they plundered and robbed, as most men did in the +times when Might made Right, yet the heaven-sent instinct of hospitality +was as the marrow of their bones. No beggar went from their doors +without alms; no traveller asked in vain for shelter; no guest but was +welcomed with holiday cheer and sped on his way with a gift. As +cunningly false as they were to their foes, just so superbly true were +they to their friends. The man who took his enemy's last blood-drop with +relentless hate, gave his own blood with an equally unsparing hand if in +so doing he might aid the cause of some sworn brother. Above all, they +were a race of conquerors, whose knee bent only to its proved superior. +Not to the man who was king-born merely, did their allegiance go, but to +the man who showed himself their leader in courage and their master in +skill. And so it was with their choice of a religion, when at last the +death-day of Odin dawned. Not to the God who forgives, nor to the God +who suffered, did they give their faith; but they made their vows to the +God who makes men strong, the God who is the never-dying and +all-powerful Lord of those who follow Him. + + + +The Thrall of Leif the Lucky + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHERE WOLVES THRIVE BETTER THAN LAMBS + + Vices and virtues + The sons of mortals bear + In their breasts mingled; + No one is so good That no failing attends him, + Nor so bad as to be good for nothing. + Ha'vama'l (High Song of Odin). + +It was back in the tenth century, when the mighty fair-haired warriors +of Norway and Sweden and Denmark, whom the people of Southern Europe +called the Northmen, were becoming known and dreaded throughout the +world. Iceland and Greenland had been colonized by their dauntless +enterprise. Greece and Africa had not proved distant enough to escape +their ravages. The descendants of the Viking Rollo ruled in France as +Dukes of Normandy; and Saxon England, misguided by Ethelred the Unready +and harassed by Danish pirates, was slipping swiftly and surely under +Northern rule. It was the time when the priests of France added to their +litany this petition: "From the fury of the Northmen, deliver us, good +Lord." + +The old, old Norwegian city of Trondhjem, which lies on Trondhjem Fiord, +girt by the river Nid, was then King Olaf Trygvasson's new city of +Nidaros, and though hardly more than a trading station, a hamlet without +streets, it was humming with prosperity and jubilant life. The shore was +fringed with ships whose gilded dragon-heads and purple-and-yellow hulls +and azure-and-scarlet sails were reflected in the waves until it seemed +as if rainbows had been melted in them. Hillside and river-bank bloomed +with the gay tents of chieftains who had come from all over the North to +visit the powerful Norwegian king. Traders had scattered booths of +tempting wares over the plain, so that it looked like fair-time. The +broad roads between the estates that clustered around the royal +residence were thronged with clanking horsemen, with richly dressed +traders followed by covered carts of precious merchandise, with +beautiful fair-haired women riding on gilded chair-like saddles, with +monks and slaves, with white-bearded lawmen and pompous landowners. + +Along one of those roads that crossed the city from the west, a Danish +warrior came riding, one keen May morning, with a young English captive +tied to his saddle-bow. + +The Northman was a great, hulking, wild-maned, brute-faced fellow, +capped by an iron helmet and wrapped in a mantle of coarse gray, from +whose folds the handle of a battle-axe looked out suggestively; but the +boy was of the handsomest Saxon type. Though barely seventeen, he was +man-grown, and lithe and well-shaped; and he carried himself nobly, +despite his clumsy garments of white wool. His gold-brown hair had been +clipped close as a mark of slavery, and there were fetters on his limbs; +but chains could not restrain the glance of his proud gray eyes, which +flashed defiance with every look. + +Crossing the city northward, they came where a trading-booth stood on +its outskirts--an odd looking place of neatly built log walls tented +over with gay striped linen. Beyond, the plain rose in gentle hills, +which were overlooked in their turn by pine-clad snow-capped mountains. +On one side, the river hurried along in surging rapids; on the other, +one could see the broad elbow of the fiord glittering in the sun. At the +sight of the booth, the Saxon scowled darkly, while the Dane gave a +grunt of relief. Drawing rein before the door, the warrior dismounted +and pulled down his captive. + +It was a scene of barbaric splendor that the gay roof covered. The walls +displayed exquisitely wrought weapons, and rare fabrics interwoven with +gleaming gold and silver threads. Piles of rich furs were heaped in the +corners, amid a medley of gilded drinking-horns and bronze vessels and +graceful silver urns. Across the back of the booth stretched a benchful +of sullen-looking creatures war-captives to be sold as slaves, native +thralls, and two Northmen enslaved for debt. In the centre of the floor, +seated upon one of his massive steel-bound chests, gorgeous in velvet +and golden chains, the trader presided over his sales like a prince on +his throne. + +The Dane saluted him with a surly nod, and he answered with such smooth +words as the thrifty old Norse proverbs advise every man to practise. + +"Greeting, Gorm Arnorsson! Here is great industry, if already this +Spring you have gone on a Viking voyage and gotten yourself so good a +piece of property! How came you by him?" + +Gorm gave his "property" a rough push forward, and his harsh voice came +out of his bull-thick neck like a bellow. "I got him in England last +Summer. We ravaged his lather's castle, I and twenty ship-mates, and +slew all his kinsmen. He comes of good blood; I am told for certain that +he is a jarl's son. And I swear he is sound in wind and limb. How much +will you pay me for him, Karl Grimsson?" + +The owner of the booth stroked his long white beard and eyed the captive +critically. It seemed to him that he had never seen a king's son with a +haughtier air. The boy wore his letters as though they had been +bracelets from the hands of Ethelred. + +"Is it because you value him so highly that you keep him in chains?" he +asked. + +"In that I will not deceive you," said the Dane, after a moment's +hesitation. "Though he is sound in wind and limb, he is not sound in +temper. Shortly after I got him, I sold him to Gilli the Wealthy for a +herd-boy; but because it was not to his mind on the dairy-farm, he lost +half his herd and let wolves prey on the rest, and when the headman +would have flogged him for it, he slew him. He has the temper of a black +elf." + +"He does not look to be a cooing dove," the trader assented. "But how +came it that he was not slain for this? I have heard that Gilli is a +fretful man." + +The Dane snorted. "More than anything else he is greedy for property, +and his wife Bertha advised him not to lose the price he had paid. It is +my belief that she has a liking for the cub; she was an English captive +before the Wealthy One married her. He followed her advice, as was to be +expected, and saddled me with the whelp when I passed through the +district yesterday. I should have sent him to Thor myself," he added +with a suggestive swing of his axe, "but that silver is useful to me +also. I go to join my shipmates in Wisby. And I am in haste, Karl +Grimsson. Take him, and let me have what you think fair." + +It seemed as if the trader would never finish the meditative caressing +of his beard, but at last he arose and called for his scales. The Dane +took the little heap of silver rings weighed out to him, and strode out +of the tent. At the same time, he passed out of the English boy's life. +What a pity that the result of their short acquaintance could not have +disappeared with him! + +The trader surveyed his new possession, standing straight and slim +before him. "What are you called?" he demanded. "And whence come you? +And of what kin?" + +"I am called Alwin," answered the thrall; "and I come from Northumbria." +He hesitated, and the blood mounted to his face. "But I will not tell +you my father's name," he finished proudly, "that you may shame him in +shaming me." + +The trader's patience was a little chafed. Peaceful merchants were also +men of war between times in those days. + +Suddenly he unsheathed the sword that hung at his side, and laid its +point against the thrall's breast. + +"I ask you again of what kin you come. If you do not answer now, it is +unlikely that you will be alive to answer a third question." + +Perhaps young Alwin's bronzed cheeks lost a little of their color, but +his lip curled scornfully. So they stood, minute after minute, the sharp +point pricking through the cloth until the boy felt it against his skin. + +Gradually the trader's face relaxed into a grim smile. "You are a young +wolf," he said at last, sheathing his weapon; "yet go and sit with the +others. It may be that wolves thrive better than lambs in the North." + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MAID IN THE SILVER HELMET + + + In a maiden's words + No one should place faith, + Nor in what a woman says; + For on a turning wheel + Have their hearts been formed, + And guile in their breasts been laid. + Ha'vama'l + + +Day after day, week after week, Alwin sat waiting to see where the next +turn of misfortune's wheel would land him. Interesting people visited +the booth continually. Now it was a party of royal guardsmen to buy +weapons,--splendid mail-clad giants who ate at King Olaf's board, slept +a his hall, and fought to the death at his side. Again it was a +minstrel, with a harp at his back, who stopped to rest and exchange a +song for a horn of mead. Once the Queen herself, riding in a shining +gilded wagon, came in and bought some of the graceful spiral bracelets. +She said that Alwin's eyes were as bright as a young serpent's; but she +did not buy him. + +The doorway framed an ever changing picture,--budding birch trees along +the river-bank; men ploughing in the valley; shepherds tending flocks +that looked like dots of cotton wool on the green hillsides. Sometimes +bands of gay folk from the King's house rode by to the hunt, spurs +jingling, horns braying, falcons at their wrists. Sometimes brawny +followers of the visiting chiefs swaggered past in groups, and the boy +could hear their shouting and laughter as they held drinking-bouts in +the hostelry near by. Occasionally their rough voices would grow +rougher, and an arrow would fly past the door; or there would be a clash +of weapons, followed by a groan. + +One day, as Alwin sat looking out, his chin resting in his hand, his +elbow on his knee, his attention was caught by two riders winding +swiftly down a hill-path on the right. At first, one was only a blur of +gray and the other a flame of scarlet; they disappeared behind a grove +of aspens, then reappeared nearer, and he could make out a white beard +on the gray figure and a veil of golden hair above the scarlet kirtle. +What hair for a boy, even the noblest born! It was the custom of all +free men to wear their locks uncut; but this golden mantle! Yet could it +be a girl? Did a girl ever wear a helmet like a silver bowl, and a +kirtle that stopped at the knee? If it was a girl, she must be one of +those shield-maidens of whom the minstrels sang. Alwin watched the pair +curiously as they galloped down the last slope and turned into the lane +beside the river. They must pass the booth, and then... + +His brain whirled, and he stood up in his intense interest. Something +had startled the white steed that bore the scarlet kirtle; he swerved +aside and rose on his haunches with a suddenness that nearly unseated +his rider; then he took the bronze bit between his teeth and leaped +forward. Whitebeard and his bay mare were left behind. The yellow hair +streamed out like a banner; nearer, and Alwin could see that it was +indeed a girl. She wound her hands in the reins and kept her seat like a +centaur. But suddenly something gave way. Over she went, sidewise; and +by the wrist, tangled in the reins, the horse dragged her over the stony +road. + +Forgetting his manacled limbs, Alwin started forward; but it was all +over in an instant. One of the trader's servants flew at the animal's +head and stopped him, almost at the door of the booth. In another moment +a crowd gathered around the fallen girl and shut her from his view. +Alwin gazed at the shifting backs with a dreadful vision of golden hair +torn and splashed with blood. She must be dead, for she had not once +screamed. His head was still ringing with the shrieks of his mother's +waiting-women, as the Danes bore them out of the burning castle. + +Whitebeard came galloping up, puffing and panting. He was a puny little +German, with a face as small and withered as a winter apple, but a body +swaddled in fur-trimmed tunics until it seemed as fat as a polar bear's. +He rolled off his horse; the crowd parted before him. Then the English +youth experienced another shock. + +Bruised and muddy, but neither dead nor fainting, the girl stood +examining her wrist with the utmost calmness. Though her face was white +and drawn with pain, she looked up at the old man with a little twisted +smile. + +"It is nothing, Tyrker," she said quickly; "only the girth broke, and it +appears that my wrist is out of joint. We will go in here, and you shall +set it." + +Tyrker blinked at her for a moment with an expression of mingled +affection and wonder; then he drew a deep breath. "Donnerwetter, but you +are a true shield-maiden!" he said in a wavering treble. + +The trader received them with true Norse hospitality; and Alwin watched +in speechless amazement while the old man ripped up the scarlet sleeve +and wrenched the dislocated bones into position, without a murmur from +the patient. Despite her strange dress and general dishevelment, he +could see now that she was a beautiful girl, a year or two younger than +himself. Her face was as delicately pink-and-pearly as a sea-shell, and +corn-flowers among the wheat were no bluer than the eyes that looked out +from under her rippling golden tresses. + +When the wrist was set and bandaged, the trader presented them with a +silken scarf to make into a sling, and had them served with horns of +sparkling mead. This gave a turn to the affair that proved of special +interest to Alwin. There is an old Norse proverb which prescribes "Lie +for lie, laughter for laughter, gift for gift;" so, while he accepted +these favors, Tyrker began to look around for some way to repay them. + +His gaze wandered over fabrics and furs and weapons, till it finally +fell upon the slaves' bench. "Donnerwetter!" he said, setting down his +horn. "To my mind it has just come that Leif a cook-boy is desirous of, +now that Hord is drowned." + +The girl saw his purpose, and nodded quickly. "It is unlikely that you +can make a better bargain anywhere." + +She turned to examine the slaves, and her eyes immediately encountered +Alwin's. She did not blush; she looked him up and down critically, as if +he were a piece of armor, or a horse. It was he who flushed, with sudden +shame and anger, as he realized that in the eyes of this beautiful Norse +maiden he was merely an animal put up for sale. + +"Yonder is a handsome thrall," she said; "he looks as though his +strength were such that he could stand something." + +"True it is that he cannot a lame wolf be who with the pack from +Greenland is to run," Tyrker assented. "That it was, which to Hord was a +hindrance. For sport only, Egil Olafson under the water took him down +and held him there; and because to get away he was not strong enough, he +was drowned. But to me it seems that this one would bite. How dear would +this thrall be?" + +"You would have to pay for him three marks of silver," said the trader. +"He is an English thrall, very strong and well-shaped." He came over to +where Alwin sat, and stood him up and turned him round and bent his +limbs, Alwin submitting as a caged tiger submits to the lash, and with +much the same look about his mouth. + +Tyrker caught the look, and sat for a long while blinking doubtfully at +him. But he was a shrewd old fellow, and at last he drew his money-bag +from his girdle and handed it to the trader to be weighed. While this +was being done, he bade one of the servants strike off the boy's +fetters. + +The trader paused, scales in hand, to remonstrate. "It is my advice that +you keep them on until you sail. I will not conceal it from you that he +has an unruly disposition. You will be lacking both your man and your +money." + +The old man smiled quietly. "Ach, my friend," he said, "can you not +better read a face? Well is it to be able to read runes, but better yet +it is to know what the Lord has written in men's eyes." He signed to the +servant to go on, and in a moment the chains fell clattering on the +ground. + +Alwin looked at him in amazement; then suddenly he realized what a kind +old face it was, for all its shrewdness and puny ugliness. The scowl +fell from him like another chain. + +"I give you thanks," he said. + +The wrinkled, tremulous old hand touched his shoulder with a kindly +pressure. "Good is it that we understand each other. _Nun_! Come. First +shall you go and Helga's horse lead, since it may be that with her one +hand she cannot manage him. Why do you in your face so red grow?" + +Alwin grew still redder; but he could not tell the good old man that he +would rather follow a herd of unbroken steers all day, than walk one +mile before a beautiful young Amazon who looked at him as if he were a +dog. He mumbled something indistinctly, and hastened out after the +horses. + +Helga rose stiffly from the pile of furs; it was evident that every new +motion revealed a new bruise to her, but she set her white teeth and +held her chin high in the air. When she had taken leave of the trader, +she walked out without a limp and vaulted into her saddle unaided. The +sunlight, glancing from her silver helm, fell upon her floating hair and +turned it into a golden glory that hid rents and stains, and redeemed +even the kirtle, which stopped at the knee. + +As he helped the old man to mount, Alwin gazed at her with unwilling +admiration. Perhaps some day he would show her that he was not so +utterly contemptible as... + +She made him an imperious gesture; he stalked haughtily forward, he took +his place at her bridle rein, and the three set forth. + + + +CHAPTER III + +A GALLANT OUTLAW + + + Two are adversaries; + The tongue is the bane of the head; + Under every cloak + I expect a hand. + Ha'vama'l + + +For a while the road of the little party ran beside the brawling Nid, +whose shores were astir with activity and life. Here was a school of +splashing swimmers; there, a fleet of fishing-smacks; a provision-ship +loading for a cruise as consort to one of the great war vessels. They +passed King Olaf's ship-sheds, where fine new boats were building, and +one brilliantly-painted cruiser stood on the rollers all ready for the +launching. Along the opposite bank lay the camps of visiting Vikings, +with their long ships'-boats floating before them. + +The road bent to the right, and wound along between the high fences that +shut in the old farm-like manors. Ail the houses had their gable-ends +faced to the front, like soldiers at drill, and little more than their +tarred roofs showed among the trees. Most of the commons between the +estates were enlivened by groups of gaily-ornamented booths. Many of +them were traders' stalls; but in one, over the heads of the laughing +crowd, Alwin caught a glimpse of an acrobat and a clumsy dancing bear; +while in another, a minstrel sang plaintive love ballads to a throng +that listened as breathlessly as leaves for a wind. The wild sweet +harp-music floated out and went with them far across the plain. + +The road swerved still farther to the right, entering a wood of spicy +evergreens and silver-stemmed birches. In its green depths song-birds +held high carnival, and an occasional rabbit went scudding from hillock +to covert. From the south a road ran up and crossed theirs, on its way +to the fiord. + +As they reached this cross-road, a horseman passed down it at a gallop. +He only glanced toward them; and all Alwin had time to see was that he +was young and richly dressed. But Helga started up with a cry. + +"Sigurd! Tyrker, it was Sigurd!" + +Slowly drawing rein, the old man blinked at her in bewilderment. +"Sigurd? Where? What Sigurd?" + +"Our Sigurd--Leif's foster-son! Oh, ride after him! Shout!" She +stretched her white throat in calling, but the wind was against her. + +"That is now impossible that Jarl Harald's son it should be," Tyrker +said soothingly. "On a Viking voyage he is absent. Besides, out of +breath it puts me fast to ride. Some one else have you mistaken. Three +years it has been since you have seen--" + +"Then I will go myself!" She snatched the reins from Alwin, but Tyrker +caught her arm. + +"Certain it is that you would be injured. If you insist, the thrall +shall go. He looks as though he would run well." + +"But what message?" Alwin began. + +Helga tried to stamp in her stirrups. "Will you stand there and talk? +Go!" + +They were fast runners in those days, by all accounts. It is said that +there were men in Ireland and the North so swift-footed that no horse +could overtake them. In ten minutes Alwin stood at the horseman's side, +red, dripping, and furious. + +The stranger was a gallant young cavalier, with floating yellow locks +and a fine high-bred face. His velvet cloak was lined with ermine, his +silk tunic seamed with gold; he had gold embroidery on his gloves, +silver spurs to his heels, and a golden chain around his neck. Alwin +glared up at him, and hated him for his splendor, and hated him for his +long silken hair. + +The rider looked down in surprise at the panting thrall with the shaven +head. + +"What is your errand with me?" he asked. + +It was not easy to explain, but Alwin framed it curtly: "If you are +Sigurd Haraldsson, a maiden named Helga is desirous that you should turn +back." + +"I am Sigurd Haraldsson," the youth assented, "but I know no maiden in +Norway named Helga." + +It occurred to Alwin that this Helga might belong to "the pack from +Greenland," but he kept a surly silence. + +"What is the rest of her name?" + +"If there is more, I have not heard it." + +"Where does she live?" + +"The devil knows!" + +"Are you her father's thrall?" + +"It is my bad luck to be the captive of some Norse robber." + +The straight brows of the young noble slanted into a frown. Alwin met it +with a black scowl. Suddenly, while they faced each other, glowering, an +arrow sped out of the thicket a little way down the road, and whizzed +between them. A second shaft just grazed Alwin's head; a third carried +away a tress of Sigurd's fair hair. Instantly after, a man crashed out +of the underbrush and came running toward them, throwing down a bow and +drawing a sword as he ran. + +Forgetting that no weapon hung there now, Alwin's hand flew to his side. +Young Haraldsson, catching only the gesture, stayed him peremptorily. + +"Stand back,--they were aimed at me! It is my quarrel." He threw himself +from his saddle, and his blade flashed forth like a sunbeam. + +Evidently there was no need of explanations between the two. The instant +they met, that instant their swords crossed; and from the first clash, +the blades darted back and forth and up and down like governed +lightnings. Alwin threw a quieting arm around the neck of the startled +horse, and settled himself to watch. + +Before many minutes, he forgot that he had been on the point of +quarrelling with Sigurd Haraldsson. Anything more deft or graceful than +the swiftness and ease with which the young noble handled his weapon he +had never imagined. Admiration crowded out every other feeling. + +"I hope that he will win!" he muttered presently. "By St. George, I hope +that he will win!" and his soothing pats on the horse's neck became +frantic slaps in his excitement. + +The archer was not a bad fighter, and just now he was a desperate +fighter. Round and round went the two. A dozen times they shifted their +ground; a dozen times they changed their modes of attack and defence. At +last, Sigurd's weapon itself began to change from one hand to the other. +Without abating a particle of his swiftness, in the hottest of the fray +he made a feint with his left. Before the other could recover from +parrying it, the weapon leaped back to his right, darted like a hissing +snake at the opening, and pierced the archer's shoulder. + +He fell, snarling, and lay with Sigurd's point pricking his throat and +Sigurd's foot pressing his breast. + +"I think you understand now that you will not stand over my scalp," +young Haraldsson said sternly. "Now you have got what you deserved. You +managed to get me banished, and you shot three arrows at me to kill me; +and all because of what? Because in last fall's games I shot better than +you! It was in my mind that if ever I caught you I would drive a knife +through you." + +He kicked him contemptuously as he took his foot away. + +"Sneaking son of a wolf," he finished, "I despise myself that I cannot +find it in my heart to do it, now that you are at my mercy; but I have +not been wont to do such things, and you are not worth beginning on. +Crawl on your miserable way." + +While the archer staggered off, clutching his shoulder, Sigurd came back +to his horse, wiping his sword composedly. "It was obliging of you to +stay and hold High-flyer," he said, as he mounted. "If he had been +frightened away, I should have been greatly hindered, for I have many +miles before me." + +That brought them suddenly back to their first topic; but now Alwin +handled it with perfect courtesy. + +"Let me urge you again to turn back with me. It is not easy for me to +answer your questions, for this morning is the first time I have seen +the maiden; but she is awaiting you at the cross-roads with the old man +she calls Tyrker, and--" + +"Tyrker!" cried Sigurd Haraldsson. "Leif's foster-father had that name. +It is not possible that it is my little foster-sister from Greenland!" + +"I have heard them mention Greenland, and also the name of Leif," Alwin +assured him. + +Sigurd smote his knee a resounding thwack. "Strangest of wonders is the +time at which this news comes! Here have I just been asking for Leif in +the guardroom of the King's house; and because they told me he was away +on the King's business, I was minded to ride straight out of the city. +Catch hold of the strap on my saddle-girth, and we will hurry." + +He wheeled Highflyer and spurred him forward. Alwin would not make use +of the strap, but kept his place at the horse's shoulder without much +difficulty. Only the pace did not leave him breath for questions, and he +wished to ask a number. + +It was not long, however, before most of his questions were asked and +answered for him. Rounding a curve, they came face to face with the +riders, who had evidently tired of waiting at the cross-roads. Tyrker, +peering anxiously ahead, uttered an exclamation of relief at the sight +of Alwin, whom he had evidently given up as a runaway. Helga welcomed +Sigurd in a delighted cry. + +The young Northman greeted her with frank affection, and saluted Tyrker +almost as fondly. + +"This meeting gladdens me more than tongue can tell. I do not see how it +was that I did not recognize you as I passed. And yet those garments, +Helga! By St. Michael, you look well-fitted to be the Brynhild we used +to hear about!" + +Helga's fair face flushed, and Alwin smiled inwardly. He was curious to +know what the young Viking would do if the young Amazon boxed his ears, +as he thought likely. But it seemed that Helga was only ungentle toward +those whom she considered beneath her friendliness. While she motioned +Alwin with an imperious gesture to hand her the rein she had dropped, +she responded good-naturedly to Sigurd: "Nay, now, my comrade, you will +not be mean enough to scold about my short kirtle, when it was you who +taught me to do the things that make a short kirtle necessary! Have you +forgotten how you used to steal me away from my embroidery to hunt with +you?" + +"By no means," Sigurd laughed. "Nor how Thorhild scolded when we came +back! I would give a ring to know what she would say if she were here +now. It is my belief that you would get a slap, for all your warlike +array." + +Helga's spur made her horse prance and rear defiantly. "Thorhild is not +here, nor do I expect that she will ever rule over me again. She struck +me once too often, and I ran away to Leif. For two years now I have +lived almost like the shield-maidens we were wont to talk of. Oh, +Sigurd, I have been so happy!" She threw back her head and lifted her +beautiful face up to the sunlit sky and the fresh wind. "So free and so +happy!" + +Alwin thrilled with sudden sympathy. He understood then that it was not +boldness, nor mere waywardness, that made her what she was. It was the +Norse blood crying out for adventure and open air and freedom. It did +not seem strange to him, as he thought of it. It occurred to him, all at +once, as a stranger thing that all maidens did not feel so,--that there +were any who would be kept at spinning, like prisoners fettered in +trailing gowns. + +Tyrker nodded in answer to Sigurd's look of amazement. "The truth it is +which the child speaks. Over winters, stays she at the King's house with +one of the Queen's women, who is a friend of Leif; and during the +summer, voyages she makes with me. But to me it appears that of her we +have spoken enough. Tell to us how it comes that you are in Norway, +and--whoa! Steady!--Wh--o--a!" + +"And tell us also that you will ride on to the camp with us now," Helga +put in, as Tyrker was obliged to transfer his attention to his restless +horse. "Rolf Erlingsson and Egil Olafsson, whom you knew in Greenland, +are there, and all the crew of the 'Sea-Deer'." + +"The 'Sea-Deer'!" ejaculated Sigurd. "Surely Leif has got rid of his +ship, now that he is in King Olaf's guard." + +The backing and sidling and prancing of Tyrker's horse forced him to +leave this also to Helga. + +"Certainly he has not got rid of his ship. When he does not follow King +Olaf to battle with her, Tyrker takes her on trading voyages, and she +lies over-winter in the King's ship-shed. There are forty of the crew, +counting me,--there is no need for you to smile, I can take the helm and +stand a watch as well as any. Can I not, Tyrker?" + +The old man relaxed his vigilance long enough to nod assent; whereupon +his horse took instant advantage of the slackened rein to bolt off +homeward, despite all the swaying and sawing of the rider. + +That set the whole party in motion once more. + +"You will come with me to camp, Sigurd my comrade?" Helga urged. "It is +but a little way, on the bank across the river. Come, if only for a +short time." + +Sigurd gathered up his rein with a smile and a sigh together. "I will +give you a favorable answer to that. It seems that you have not heard of +the mishap that has befallen me. The lawman has banished me from the +district." + +It pleased Alwin to hear that he was likely to see more of the young +Norseman. Helga was filled with amazement. On the verge of starting, she +stopped her horse to stare at him. + +"It must be that you are jesting," she said at last. "You, who are the +most amiable person in the world,--it is not possible that you can have +broken the law!" + +Sigurd laughed ruefully. "In my district I am not spoken of as amiable, +just now. Yet there is little need to take it heavily, my foster-sister. +I have done nothing that is dishonorable,--should I dare to come before +Leif's face if I had? It will blow over in time to come." + +Helga leaned from her saddle to press his hand in a friendly grasp. "You +have come to the right place, for nowhere in the world could you be more +welcome. Only wait and see how Rolf and Egil will receive you!" + +She gave the thrall a curt shake of her head, as he stepped to her +bridle-rein; and they rode off. + +As Helga had said, the camp was not far away. Once across the river, +they turned to the left and wound along the rolling woody banks toward +the fiord. Entering a thicket of hazel-bushes on the crest of the gentle +slope, they were met by faint sounds of shouting and laughter. Emerging +into a green little valley, the camp lay before them. + +Half a dozen wooden booths tented over with gay striped linen and +adorned with streaming flags, a leaping fire, a pile of slain deer, a +string of grazing horses, and a throng of brawny men skinning the deer, +chasing the horses, scouring armor, drinking, wrestling, and +lounging,--these were Alwin's first confused impressions. + +"There it is!" cried Helga. "Saw you ever a prettier spot? There is +Tyrker under that ash tree. And there,--do you remember that black mane? +Yonder, bending over that shield? That is Egil Olafsson. Now it comes to +my mind again! To-night we go to a feast at the King's house; that is +why he is so busy. And yonder! Yonder is Rolf wrestling. He is the +strongest man in Greenland; did you know that? Even Valbrand cannot +stand against him. Whistle now as you were wont to for the hawks, and +see if they will not remember." + +They swept down the slope, the high sweet notes rising clear above the +clatter. One man glanced up in surprise, then another and another; then +suddenly every man dropped what he was doing, and leaped up with shouts +of greeting and welcome. Sigurd disappeared behind a hedge of yellow +heads and waving hands. + +Alwin felt himself clutched eagerly. "Donnerwetter, but I have waited a +long time for you!" said the old German, short-breathed and panting. +"That beast was like the insides of me to have out-shaken. Bring to me a +horn of ale; but first give me your shoulder to yonder booth." + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IN A VIKING LAIR + + Leaving in the field his arms, + Let no man go + A fool's length forward: + For it is hard to know + When, on his way, + A man may need his weapon. + Ha'vama'l + +The camp lay red in the sunset light, and the twilight hush had fallen +upon it so that one could hear the sleepy bird-calls in the woods +around, and the drowsy murmur of the river. Sigurd lay on his back under +a tree, staring up into the rustling greenery. From the booth set apart +for her, Helga came out dressed for the feast. She had replaced her +scarlet kirtle and hose by garments of azure-blue silk, and changed her +silver helmet for a golden diadem such as high-born maidens wore on +state occasions; but that was her only ornament, and her skirt was no +longer than before. Sigurd looked at her critically. + +"It does not appear to me that you are very well dressed for a feast," +said he. "Where are the bracelets and gold laces suitable to your rank? +It looks ill for Leif's generosity, if that is the finest kirtle you +own." + +"That is unfairly spoken," Helga answered quickly. "He would dress me in +gold if I wished it; it is I who will not have it so. Have you forgotten +my hatred against clothes so fine that one must be careful of them? But +this was to be expected," she added, flushing with displeasure; "since +the Jarl's son has lived in Normandy, a maiden from a Greenland farm +must needs look mean to him." + +She was turning away, but he leaped up and caught her by her shoulders +and shook her good-naturedly. "Now are you as womanish as your bondmaid. +You know that all the gold on all the women in Normandy is not so +beautiful as one lock of this hair of yours." + +At least Helga was womanish enough to smile at this. "Now I understand +why it is that men call you Sigurd Silver-Tongue," she laughed. Suddenly +she was all earnestness again. "Nay, but, Sigurd, tell me this,--I do +not care how you scold about my dress,--tell me that you do not despise +me for it, or for being unlike other maidens." + +Sigurd's grasp slipped from her shoulders down to her hands, and shook +them warmly. "Despise you, Helga my sister? Despise you for being the +bravest comrade and the truest friend a man ever had?" + +She grew rosy red with pleasure. "If that is your feeling, I am well +content." + +She took a step toward the place where her horse was tethered, and +looked back regretfully. "It seems inhospitable to leave you like this. +Will you not come with us, after all?" + +Sigurd threw himself down again with an emphatic gesture of refusal. "I +like better to be left so than to be left in a mound with my head cut +off, which is what would happen were an outlaw to visit the King +uninvited." + +"I shall not deny that that would be disagreeable," Helga assented. "But +do not let your mishap stand in the way of your joy. Leif has great +favor with King Olaf; there is no doubt in my mind that he will be able +to plead successfully for you." + +"I hope so, with all my heart," Sigurd murmured. "When all brave men are +fighting abroad or serving the King at home, it is great shame for me to +be idling here." And he sighed heavily as Helga passed out of hearing. + +As she went by the largest of the booths, which was the sleeping-house +of the steersman Valbrand and more than half the crew, Alwin came out of +the door and stood looking listlessly about. He had spent the afternoon +scouring helmets amid a babble of directions and fault-finding, accented +by blows. Helga did not see him; but he gazed after her, wondering idly +what sort of a mistress she was to the young bond-girl who was running +after her with the cloak she had forgotten,--wondering also what there +was in the girl's brown braids that reminded him of his mother's little +Saxon waiting-maid Editha. + +The sound of a deep-drawn breath made him turn, to find himself face to +face with a young mail-clad Viking, in whose shaggy black locks he +recognized the Egil Olafsson whom Helga had that morning 'pointed out. +But it was not the surprise of the meeting that made Alwin leap suddenly +backward into the shelter of the doorway; it was the look that he caught +in the other's dark face,--a look so full of hate and menace that, +instead of being strangers meeting for the first time, one would have +supposed them lifelong enemies. + +Still eying him, Egil said slowly in a voice that trembled with passion: +"So you are the English thrall,--and looking after her already! It seems +that Skroppa spoke some truth--" He broke off abruptly, and stood +glaring, his hand moving upward to his belt. + +For once Alwin was fairly dazed. "Either this fellow has gotten out of +his wits," he muttered, crossing himself, "or else he has mistaken me +for some--" + +He had not time to finish his sentence. Young Olafsson's fingers had +closed upon the haft of his knife; he drew it with a fierce cry: "But I +will make the rest of it a lie!" Throwing himself upon Alwin, he bore +him over backwards across the threshold. + +It is likely that that moment would have seen the end of Alwin, if it +had not happened that Valbrand the steersman was in the booth, arraying +himself for the feast. He was a gigantic warrior, with a face seamed +with scars and as hard as the battle-axe at his side. He caught Egil's +uplifted arm and wrested the blade from his grasp. + +"It is not likely that I will allow Leif's property to be damaged, Egil +the Black. Would you choke him? Loose him, or I will send you to the +Troll, body and bones!" + +Egil rose reluctantly. Alwin leaped up like a spring released from a +weight. + +"What has he done," demanded Valbrand, "that you should so far forget +the law as to attack another man's thrall?" + +Instead of bursting into the tirade Alwin expected, Egil flushed and +looked away. "It is enough that I am not pleased with his looks," he +said sullenly. + +Valbrand tossed him his knife with a scornful grunt. "Go and get sense! +Is he yours, that you may slay him because you dislike the tilt of his +nose? Go dress yourself. And you," he added, with a nod over his +shoulder at Alwin, "do you take yourself out of his sight somewhere. It +is unwisdom to tempt a hungry dog with meat that one would keep." + +"If I had so much as a hunting-knife," Alwin cried furiously, "I swear +by all the saints of England, I would not stir--" + +Valbrand wasted no time in argument. He seized Alwin and threw him out +of the door, with energy enough to roll him far down the slope. + +The force with which he struck inclined Alwin to stay where he was for a +while; and gradually the coolness and the quietness about him soothed +him into a more reasonable temper. Egil Olafsson was mad; there could be +no question of that. Undoubtedly it was best to follow Valbrand's advice +and keep out of his way,--at least until he could secure a weapon with +which to defend himself. He stretched himself comfortably in the soft, +dewy grass and waited until the revellers, splendid in shining mail and +gay-hued mantles, clanked out to their horses and rode away. When the +last of them shouted his farewell to Sigurd and disappeared amid the +shadows of the wood-path, Alwin arose and walked slowly back to the +deserted camp. + +Even the sunset light had left it now; a soft grayness shut it in, away +from the world. The air was full of night-noises; and high in the pines +a breeze was whispering softly. Very softly and sweetly, from somewhere +among the booths, the voice of the bond-girl arose in a plaintive +English ballad. + +Alwin recognized the melody with a throb that was half of pleasure, half +of pain. In the old days, Editha had sung that song. Poor little +gentle-hearted Editha! The last time he had seen her, she had been borne +past him, white and unconscious, in the arms of one of the marauding +Danes. He shook himself fiercely to drive off the memory. Turning the +corner of Helga's booth, he came suddenly upon the singer, a slender +white-robed figure leaning in the shadow of the doorway. Sigurd still +lounged under the trees, half dozing, half listening. + +As the thrall stepped out of the shadow into the moonlight, the singer +sprang to her feet, and the song merged into a great cry. + +"My lord Alwin!" + +It was Editha herself. Running to meet him, she dropped on her knees +before him and began to kiss his hands and cry over them. "Oh, my dear +lord," she sobbed, "you are so changed! And your hair--your beautiful +hair! Oh, it is well that Earl Edmund and your lady mother are dead,--it +would break their hearts, as it does mine!" Forgetting her own plight, +she wept bitterly over his, though he tried with every gentle word to +soothe her. + +It was a sad meeting; it could not be otherwise. The memory of their +last terrible parting, the bondage in which they found each other, the +shameful, hopeless future that stretched before them,--it was all full +of bitterness. When Editha went in at last, her poor little throat was +bursting with sobs. Alwin sank down on the trunk of a fallen tree and +buried his head in his hands, and the first groan that his troubles had +wrung from him was forced now from his brave lips. + +He had forgotten Sigurd's presence. In their preoccupation, neither of +them had noticed the young Viking watching them curiously. Now Alwin +started like a colt when a hand fell lightly on his shoulder. "It +appears to me," came in Sigurd's voice, "that a man should be merry when +he has just found a friend." + +Alwin looked up at him with eyes full of savage despair. + +"Merry! Would you be merry, had you found Helga the drudge of an English +camp?" He shook off the other's hand with a fierce motion. + +But Sigurd answering instantly, "No, I would look even blacker than you, +if that were possible," the thrall was half appeased. + +The young Viking dropped down beside him, and for a while they sat in +silence, staring away where the moonlit river showed between the trees. +At last Sigurd said dreamily: "It came to my mind, while you two were +talking, how unevenly the Fates deal things. It appears, from what the +maiden said, that you are the son of an English jarl who has often +fought the Northmen. Now I am the son of a Norwegian jarl who has not a +few times met the English in battle. It would have been no more unlikely +than what has happened had I been the captive and you the victor." + +"That is true," said Alwin slowly. He did not say more, but in some odd +way the idea comforted and softened him. Neither of the young men turned +his eyes from the river toward the other, yet in some way something +friendly crept into their silence. + +After a while Sigurd said, still without looking around, "It seems to me +that the right-minded thing for me in this matter is to do what I should +desire you to do if you were in my place; therefore I offer you my +friendship." + +Something blurred the bright river for an instant from Alwin's sight. "I +give you thanks," he said huskily. "Save Editha, I have not a friend in +the world." + +He hesitated a while; then slowly, bit by bit, he set forth the story +that he had never expected to unfold to Northern ears. "The Danes set +fire to my father's castle, and he was burned with many of my kinsmen. +The robbers came in the night, and a Danish churl opened the gates to +them,--though he had been my father's man for four seasons. It was from +him that I learned to speak the Northern tongue. They took me while I +slept, bound me, and carried me out to their boats. They carried out +also the young maidens who attended my mother,--Editha among them,--and +not a few of the youth of the household, all that they chose for +captives. They took out all the valuables that they wanted. After that, +they threw great bales of hay into the hall, and set fire to them, +and--" + +"The bloody wolves!" Sigurd burst out. "Did they not offer your mother +to go out in safety?" + +"Nay, they had the most hatred against her." The bearing of his head +grew more haughty. "My mother was a princess of the blood of Alfred." + +It happened that Sigurd had heard of that great monarch. His face +kindled with enthusiasm. + +"Alfred! He who got the victory over the Danes? Small wonder they did +not love his kin after they had known his cunning! I know a fine song +about him,--how he went alone into the Danish camp, though they were +hunting him to kill him; and while they thought him a simple--minded +minstrel, he learned all their secrets. By my troth, that is good blood +to have in one's veins! Were I English, I would rather be his kinsman +than Ethelred's." + +He stared at Alwin with glowing eyes; they were facing each other now. +Suddenly he stretched out his hand. + +"It is naught but a piece of bad luck that you are Leif's thrall. It +might just as easily have happened that I were in your place. Now I will +make a bargain with you that hereafter I will remember this, and never +hold your thraldom against you." + +Such a concession as that, few of the proud Viking race were generous +enough to make. Alwin could not but be moved by it. He took the +outstretched hand in a hard grip. + +"Will you do that?" he said; and it seemed for a time as though he could +not find words to answer. At last he spoke: "If you will do that, I +promise on my side that I will forgive your Northern blood and your +lordship over me, and love you as my own brother." + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE IRE OF A SHIELD-MAIDEN + + With insult or derision + Treat thou never + A guest or wayfarer; + They often little know, + Who sit within, + Of what race they are who come. + Ha'vama'l + +Alwin was sitting on the ground in front of the provision-shed, grinding +meal on a small stone hand-mill, when Editha came to seek him. + +"If it please you, my lord--" + +He broke into a bitter laugh. "By Saint George, that fits me well! 'If +it please you,' and 'my lord,' to a short-haired, callous-handed hound +of a slave!" + +Tears filled her eyes, but her gentle mouth was as obstinate as gentle +mouths can often be. "Have they drawn Earl Edmund's blood out of you? +Until they have done that, you will be my lord. Your lady mother in +heaven would curse me for a traitor if I denied your nobility." + +Alwin ground out a resigned sigh with his last handful of meal. "Go on +then, if you must. We spoke enough of the matter last night. Only see to +it that no one hears you. I warn you that I shall kill the first who +laughs,--and who could help laughing?" + +She was too wise to answer that. Instead, she motioned over her shoulder +toward the group of late-risen revellers who were lounging under the +trees, breaking their fast with an early meal. "Tyrker bids you come and +serve the food." + +"If it please me?" + +"My dear lord, I pray you give over all bitterness. I pray you be +prudent toward them. I have not been a shield-maiden's thrall for nearly +a year without learning something." + +"Poor little dove in a hawk's nest! Certainly I think you have learned +to weep!" + +"You need not pity me thus, Lord Alwin. It is likely that my mistress +even loves me in her own way. She has given me more ornaments than she +keeps for herself. She would slay anyone who spoke harshly to me. What +is it if now and then she herself strikes me? I have had many a blow +from your mother's nurse. I do not find that I am much worse than +before. No, no; my trouble is all for you. My dearest lord, I implore +you not to waken their anger. They have tempers so quick,--and hands +even quicker." + +Remembering his encounter with Egil the evening before, Alwin's eyes +flared up hotly. But he would make no promises, as he arose to answer +the summons. + +The little maid carried an anxious heart to her task of mending Helga's +torn kirtle. + +No one seemed to notice the young thrall when he came among them and +began to refill the empty cups. The older men, sprawling on the +sun-flecked grass and over the rude benches, were still drowsy from too +deep soundings in too many mead horns. The four young people were +talking together. They sat a little apart in the shade of some birch +trees which served as rests for their backs,--Helga enthroned on a bit +of rock, Rolf and Sigurd lounging on either side of her, the black-maned +Egil stretched at her feet. Between them a pair of lean wolf-hounds +wandered in and out, begging with glistening eyes and poking noses for +each mouthful that was eaten,--except when a motion of Helga's hand +toward a convenient riding-switch made them forget hunger for the +moment. + +"I wonder to hear that Leif was not at the feast last night," Sigurd was +saying, as he sipped his ale in the leisurely fashion which some of the +old sea-rovers in the distance condemned as French and foolish. + +Swallowing enough of the smoked meat in her mouth to make speaking +practicable, Helga answered: "He will be away two days yet; did I not +tell you? He has gone south with a band of guardsmen to convert a chief +to Christianity." + +"Then Leif himself has turned Christian?" Sigurd exclaimed in +astonishment. "The son of the pagan Eric a Christian! Now I understand +how it is that he has such favor with King Olaf, for all that he comes +of outlawed blood. In Wisby, men thought it a great wonder, and spoke of +him as 'Leif the Lucky,' because he had managed to get rid of the curse +of his race." + +Rolf the Wrestler shook his head behind his uplifted goblet. He was an +odd-looking youth, with chest and shoulders like the forepart of an ox, +and a face as mild and gently serious as a lamb's. As he put down the +curious gilded vessel, he said in the soft voice that matched his face +so well and his body so ill: "If you have a boon to ask of your +foster-father, comrade, it is my advice that you forget all such pagan +errors as that story of the curse. Egil, here, came near being spitted +on Leif's sword for merely mentioning Skroppa's name." + +Alwin recognized the name with a start. Egil scowled in answer to +Sigurd's curious glance. + +"Odin's ravens are not more fond of telling news, than you," the Black +One growled. "At meal-time I have other uses for my jaws than babbling. +Thrall, bring me more fish." + +Alwin waited long enough to possess himself of a sharp bronze knife that +lay among the dishes; then he advanced, alertly on his guard, and +shovelled more herrings upon the flat piece of hard bread that served as +a plate. Egil, however, noticed him no more than he did the flies +buzzing around his food. Whatever the cause of their enmity, it was +evidently a secret. + +The English youth was retiring in surprise, when Rolf took it into his +head to accost him. The wrestler pointed to a couple of large flat +stones that he had placed, one on top of the other, beside him. "This is +very tough bread that you have given me, thrall," he said reproachfully. + +Their likeness to bread was not great, and the jest struck Alwin as +silly. He retorted angrily: "Do you suppose that my wits were cut off +with my hair, so that I cannot tell stones from bread?" + +Not a flicker stirred the seriousness of Rolf's blue eyes. "Stones?" he +said. "I do not know what you mean. Can they be stones that I am able to +treat like this?" His fist arose in the air, doubled itself into the +likeness of a sledge-hammer, and fell in a mighty blow. The upper stone +lay in fragments. + +Whereupon Alwin realized that it had all been a flourish to impress him. +So, though unquestionably impressed, he refused to show it. A second +time he was turning his back on them, when Helga stopped him. + +"You must bring something that I want, first. In the northeast corner of +the provision shed, was it not, Sigurd?" + +Young Haraldsson was scrambling to his feet in futile grabs after one of +the hounds that was making off with his herring, but he nodded back over +his shoulder. Helga looked from one to the other of her companions with +an ecstatic smack of her lips. "Honey," she informed them. "Sigurd ran +across a jar of it last night. That pig of an Olver yonder hid it on the +highest shelf. Very likely the goldsmith's daughter gave it to him and +it was his intention to keep it all for himself. We will put a trick +upon him. Bring it quickly, thrall. Yet have a care that he does not see +it as you pass him. That is he with the bandaged head. If he looks +sharply at you, hide the jar with your arm and it is likely he will +think that you have been stealing some food for yourself, and be too +sleepy to care." + +Lord Alwin of Northumbria lost sight of the lounging figures about him, +lost sight of Sigurd chasing the circling hound, lost sight of +everything save the imperious young person before him. He stared at her +as though he could not believe his ears. She waved him away; but he did +not move. + +"Let him think that _I_ am _stealing_!" he managed to gasp at last. + +The grass around Helga's foot stirred ominously. + +"I have told you that he is too sleepy to care. If he threatens to flog +you, I promise that I will interfere. Coward, what are you afraid of?" + +She caught her breath at the blazing of his face. He said between his +clenched teeth: "I will not let him think that I would steal so much as +one dried herring,--were I starving!" + +The fire shot out of Helga's beautiful eyes. Egil and the Wrestler +sprang up with angry exclamations; but words would not suffice Helga. +Leaping to her feet, she caught up the riding-whip from the grass beside +her and lashed it across the thrall's face with all her might. A bar of +livid red was kindled like a flame along his cheek. + +"You are cracking the face of Leif's property," Rolf murmured in mild +remonstrance. + +Egil laughed, a hateful gloating laugh, and settled himself against a +tree to see the finish. As Helga's arm was flung up the second time, the +thrall leaped upon her and tore the whip from her grasp and broke it in +pieces. He would that he might have broken her as well; he thirsted +to,--when he caught sight of the laughing Egil, and everything else was +blotted out of his vision. Without a sound, but with the animal passion +for killing upon his white face, he wheeled and leaped upon the Black +One, crushing him, pinioning him against the tree, strangling him with +the grip of his hands. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SONG OF SMITING STEEL + + To his friend + A man should be a friend,-- + To him and to his friend; + But no man + Should be the friend + Of his foe's friend. + Ha'vama'l + + +In the madness of his rush, Alwin blundered. Springing upon Egil from +the left, he left his enemy's right arm free. Instantly this arm began +forcing and jamming its way downward across Egil's body. Should it find +what it sought--! + +Alwin saw what was coming. He set his teeth and struggled desperately; +but he could not prevent it. Another moment, and the Black One's fingers +had closed upon his sword-hilt; the blade hissed into the air. Only an +instant wrenching away, and a lightning leap aside, saved the thrall +from being run through. His short bronze knife was no match for a sword. +He gave himself up for lost, and stiffened himself to die bravely,--as +became Earl Edmund's son. He had yet to learn that there are crueler +things than sword-thrusts. + +As Egil advanced with a jeering laugh, Helga caught his sleeve; and Rolf +laid an iron hand upon his shoulder. + +"Think what you do!" the Wrestler admonished. "This will make the third +of Leif's thralls that you have slain; and you have no blood-money to +pay him." + +"Shame on you, Egil Olafsson!" cried Helga. "Would you stain your +honorable sword with a thing so foul as thrall-blood?" + +Rolf's grip brought Egil to a standstill. The contempt in Helga's words +was reflected in his face. He sheathed his sword with a scornful +gesture. + +"You speak truth. I do not know how it was that I thought to do a thing +so unworthy of me. I will leave Valbrand to draw the fellow's blood with +a stirrup leather." + +He turned away, and the others followed. Those of the crew who had +raised their muddled heads to see what the trouble was, laid them down +again with grunts of disappointment. Alwin was left alone, untouched. + +Yet truly his anguish would not have been greater had they cut him in +pieces. Without knowing what he did, he sprang after them, crying +hoarsely: "Cowards! Churls! What know you of my blood? Give me a weapon +and prove me. Or cast yours aside,--man to man." His voice broke with +his passion and the violence of his heart-beats. + +But the mocking laughter that burst out died in a sudden hush. A moment +before, Sigurd had concluded his pursuit of the thieving hound and +rejoined the group,--in time to gather something of what had passed. The +instant Alwin ceased, he stepped out and placed himself at the young +thrall's side. He was no longer either the courteous Sigurd +Silver-Tongue or Sigurd the merry comrade; his handsome head was thrown +up with an air of authority which reminded all present that Sigurd, the +son of the famous Jarl Harald, was the highest-born in the camp. + +He said sternly: "It seems to me that you act like fools in this matter. +Can you not see that he is no more thrall-born than you are? Or do you +think that ill luck can change a jarl's son into a dog? He shall have a +chance to prove his skill. I myself will strive against him, to any +length he chooses. And what I have thought it worth while to do, let no +one else dare scorn!" + +He unbuckled his own gold-mounted weapon and forced it into Alwin's +hands, then turned authoritatively to the Wrestler: "Rolf, if you count +yourself my friend, lend me your sword." + +It was yielded him silently; and they stepped out face to face, the +young noble and the young thrall. But before their steel had more than +clashed, Egil came between and knocked up their blades with his own. + +"It is enough," he said gruffly. "What Sigurd Haraldsson will do, I will +not disdain. I will meet you honorably, thrall. But you need not sue for +mercy." A gleam of that strange groundless hatred played over his savage +face. + +It did not daunt Alwin; it only helped to warm his blood. "This steel +shall melt sooner than I ask for quarter!" he cried defiantly, springing +at his enemy. + +_Whish-clash_! The song of smiting steel rang through the little valley. +The spectators drew back out of the way. Again the half-drunken loungers +rose upon their elbows. + +They were well matched, the two. If Alwin lacked any of the Black One's +strength, he made it up in skill and quickness. The bright steel began +to fly fast and faster, until its swish was like the venomous hiss of +serpents. The color came and went in Helga's cheek; her mouth worked +nervously. Sigurd's eyes were fixed upon the two like glowing lamps, as +to and fro they went with vengeful fury. In all the valley there was no +sound but the fierce clash and clatter of the swords. The very trees +seemed to hold their breath to listen. + +Egil uttered a panting gasp of triumph; his, blade had bitten flesh. A +widening circle of red stained the shoulder of Alwin's white tunic. The +thrall's lips set in a harder line; his blows became more furious, as if +pain and despair gave him an added strength. Heaving his sword high in +the air, he brought it down with mighty force on Egil's blade. The next +instant the Black One held a useless weapon, broken within a finger of +the hilt. + +A murmur rose from the three watchers. Helga's hand moved toward her +knife. + +Rolf shook his head gently. "Fair play," he reminded her; and she fell +back. + +Tossing away his broken blade, Egil folded his arms across his breast +and waited in scornful silence; but in a moment Alwin also was +empty-handed. + +"I do no murder," he panted. "Man to man we will finish it." + +With lowered heads and watchful eyes, like beasts crouching for a +spring, they moved slowly around the circle. Then, like angry bears, +they grappled; each grasping the other below the shoulder, and striving +by sheer strength of arm to throw his enemy. + +Only the blood that mounted to their faces, the veins that swelled out +on their bare arms, told of the strain and struggle. So evenly were they +matched, that from a little distance it looked as if they were braced +motionless. Their heels ground deep into the soft sod. Their breath +began to come in labored gasps. It could not last much longer; already +the great drops stood on Alwin's forehead. Only a spurt of fury could +save him. + +Suddenly, in changing his hold, Egil grasped the other's wounded +shoulder. The grip was torture,--a spur to a fainting horse. The blood +surged into Alwin's eyes; his muscles stiffened into iron. Egil swayed, +staggered, and fell headlong, crashing. + +Mad with pain, Alwin knelt on his heaving breast. "If I had a sword," he +gasped; "if I had a sword!" + +Shaken and stunned, Egil still laughed scornfully. "What prevents you +from getting your sword? I shall not run away. Do you think it matters +to me how soon my death-day comes?" + +Alwin was still crazy with pain. He snatched the bronze knife from his +belt and laid it against Egil's throat. Sigurd's brow darkened, but no +one spoke or moved,--least of all, Egil; his black eyes looked back +unshrinkingly. + +It was their calmness that brought Alwin to himself. As he felt their +clear gaze, it came back to him what it meant to take a human life,--to +change a living breathing body like his own into a heap of still, dead +clay. His hand wavered and fell away. The passion died out of his heart, +and he arose. + +"Sigurd Haraldsson," he said, "for what you have done for me, I give you +your friend's life." + +Sigurd's fine face cleared. + +"Only," Alwin added, "I think it right that he should explain the cause +of his enmity toward me, and--" + +Egil leaped to his feet; his proud indifference flamed into sudden fury. +"That I will never do, though you tear out my tongue-roots!" he shouted. + +Even his comrades regarded him in amazement. + +Alwin tried a sneer. "It is my belief that you fear to speak of +Skroppa." + +"Skroppa?" a chorus of. astonishment repeated. But only two scarlet +spots on Egil's cheeks showed that he heard them. He gave Alwin a long, +lowering look. "You should know by this time that I fear nothing." + +Helga made an unfortunate attempt. "I think it is no more than +honorable, Egil, to tell him why you are his enemy." + +Unconsciously she spoke of the thrall now as of an equal. He noticed it; +Egil also saw it. It seemed to enrage him beyond bearing. + +"If you speak in his favor," he thundered, seizing her wrist, "I will +sheathe my knife in you!" But even before she had freed herself, and +Rolf and Sigurd had turned upon him, he realized that he had gone too +far. Leaving them abruptly, he went and stood a little way off with his +back toward them, his head bowed, his hands clenched, struggling with +himself. + +For a long time no one spoke. Sigurd questioned with his eyes, and Rolf +answered by a shrug. Once, as Helga offered to approach the Black One, +Sigurd made a warning gesture. They waited in dead silence. While the +voices of the other men came to them faintly, and the insects chirped +about their feet, and the birds called in the trees above them. + +At last Egil came slowly back, sullen-eyed and grim-mouthed. He held a +branch in his hands and was bending and breaking it fiercely. "It is +shame enough," he began after a while, "that any man should have had it +in his power to spare me. I wonder that I do not die of the disgrace! +But it would be a still fouler shame if, after he had spared my life, I +let myself keep a wolf's mind toward him." His eyes suddenly blazed out +at Alwin, but he controlled himself and went on. "The reason for my +enmity I will not tell; wild steers should not tear it out of me. +But,--" He stopped and drew a hard breath, and set his teeth afresh; +"but I will forego that enmity. It is more than my life is worth. It is +worth a dozen lives to him,--" his voice broke with rage,--"yet because +it is honorable, I will do it. If you, Sigurd Haraldsson, and you, Rolf, +will pledge your friendship to this man, I will swear him mine." It was +well that he had reached the end, for he could not have spoken another +syllable. + +Bewilderment tied Alwin's tongue. Sigurd was the first to speak. + +"That seems to me a fair offer; and half the condition is already +fulfilled. I clasped his hand last night." + +Rolf answered with less promptness. "I say nothing against the +Englishman's courage or his skill; yet--I will not conceal it--even in +payment for a comrade's life, I do not like to give my friendship to one +of thrall-birth." + +That loosened Alwin's tongue. "In my own country," he said haughtily, +"you would be done honor by a look from me. Editha will tell you that my +father was Earl of Northumbria, and my mother a princess of the royal +blood of Alfred." + +Helga uttered an exclamation of surprise and interest; but he would not +deign to look at her. For a while longer Rolf hesitated, looking long +and strangely at Egil, and long and keenly at Sigurd. But at last he put +forth his huge paw. + +"Alwin of England," he said slowly, "though you little know how much it +means, I offer you my hand and my friendship." + +Alwin took it a little coldly. "I will not give you thanks for a forced +gift; yet I pledge you my faith in return." + +Though his face still worked with passion, Egil's hand was next +extended. "However much I hate you, I swear that I will always act as +your friend." + +In his secret heart Alwin murmured, "The Fiend take me if ever I turn my +back on your knife!" But aloud he merely repeated his former compact. + +When it was finished, Sigurd laid an affectionate hand upon his +shoulder. "We cannot bind our friend-ship closer, but it is my advice +that you do not leave Helga out of the bargain. Truer friend man never +had." + +The bar across Alwin's cheek grew fiery with his redder flush. He stood +before her, rigid and speechless. Helga too blushed deeply; but there +was nothing of a girl's shyness about her. Her beautiful eyes looked +frankly back into his. + +"I will not offer you my friendship," she said simply, "because I read +in your face that you have not forgiven the foul wrong I put upon +you,--not knowing that you were brave, high-born and accomplished. I can +understand your anger. Were I a man, and a woman should do such a thing +to me, it is likely that I should kill her on the spot. But it may be +that, in time to come, the memory will fade out of your mind, even as +the scar will fade from your face. Then, if you have seen that my +friendship is worth having, do you come and ask me for it, and I will +give it to you." + +Before Alwin had time to think of an answer that would say neither more +nor less than he meant, she had walked away with Sigurd. He looked after +her with a scowl,--because he saw Egil watching him. But it surprised +him that, search as he would, he could nowhere find that great +soul-stirring rage which he had first felt against her. + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE KING'S GUARDSMAN + + Something great + Is not always to be given. + Praise is often for a trifle bought. + Ha'vama'l + + +It was the day after this brawl, when the guardsman Leif returned to +Nidaros. Alwin was brought to the notice of his new master in a most +unexpected fashion. + +For one reason or another, the camp had been deserted early. At +day-break, Egil slung his bow across his back, provided himself with a +store of arrows and a bag of food, and set out for the mountains,--to +hunt, he told Tyrker, sullenly, as he passed. Two hours later, Valbrand +called for horses and hawks, and he and young Haraldsson, with Helga and +her Saxon waiting-maid, rode south for a day's sport in the pine woods. + +Helga was the best comrade in the camp, whether one wished to go +hawking, or wanted a hand at fencing, or only asked for a quiet game of +chess by the leaping firelight. Her ringing laugh, her frank glance, and +her beautiful glowing face made all other maidens seem dull and +lifeless. Alwin dimly felt that hating her was going to be no easy task, +and he dared not raise his eyes as she rode past him. Instead he forced +himself to stare at the reflection of his scarred face in the silver +horn he was wiping; and he blew and blew upon the sparks of his anger. + +Noticing it, Helga frowned regretfully. "I cannot blame him if he will +not speak to me," she said to Sigurd Haraldsson. "The nature of a +high-born man is such that a blow is like poison in his blood. It must +rankle and fester and break out before he can be healed. I do not think +he could have been more lordlike in his father's castle than he was +yesterday. Hereafter I shall treat him as honorably as I treat you, or +any other jarl-born man." + +"In this you show yourself as high-minded as I have always thought you," +answered Sigurd, turning toward her a face aglow with pleasure. + +By the middle of the forenoon, everyone had gone, this way or that, to +hunt, or fish, or swim, or loiter about the city. There were left only a +man with a broken leg and a man with a sprained shoulder, throwing dice +on a bench in the sun; Alwin, whistling absently as he swept out the +sleeping-house; and Rolf the Wrestler sitting cross-legged under a tree, +sharpening his sword and humming snatches of his favorite song: + + "Hew'd we with the Hanger! + Hard upon the time 't was + When in Gothlandia going + To give death to the serpent." + +Rolf had declined to go hunting, on the plea of his horse's lameness. +Now, as he sat working and humming, he was presumably thinking up some +other diversion,--and the frequent glances he sent toward the thrall +seemed to indicate that the latter was to be concerned in it. + +Finally Rolf called to Alwin: "Ho there, Englishman! Come hither and +tell me what you think of this for a weapon." + +It needed no urging to make Alwin exchange a broom for a sword. He came +and lifted the great blade, and made passes in the air, and examined the +hilt of brass-studded wood. + +"Saw I never a finer weapon," he admitted. "The hilt fits to one's hand +better than those gold things on Sigurd Haraldsson's sword. What is it +called?" For in those days a good blade bore a name as certainly as a +horse or a ship. + +Rolf answered, in his soft voice: "It is called 'The Biter.' And it has +bitten not a few,--but it is fitting that others should speak of that. +Since the handle fits your grasp so well, will you not hold it a little +longer, while I borrow Long Lodin's weapon here, and we try each other's +skill?" He made a motion to rise, then checked himself and hesitated: +"Or it may be," he added gently, "that you do not care to strive against +one as strong as I?" + +"Now, by St. Dunstan, you need not spare me thus!" Alwin cried hotly. +"Never have I turned my back on a challenge; and never will I, while the +red blood runs in my veins. Get your weapon quickly." He shook the big +blade in the air, and threw himself into a posture of defence. + +But the Wrestler made no move to imitate him. He remained sitting and +slowly shaking his head. + +"Those are fine words, and I say nothing against your sincerity; but my +appetite has changed. I will tell you what we will do instead. When your +work is done, we will betake ourselves across the river to Thorgrim +Svensson's camp and see the horse-fight he is going to have. He has a +black stallion of Keingala's breed, named Flesh-tearer, that it is not +necessary to prod with a stick. When he stands on his hind legs and +bites, you would swear he had as many feet as Odin's gray Sleipnir. Do +you not think that would be good entertainment?" + +For a moment Alwin did not know what to think. He did not believe that +Rolf was afraid of him; and if the challenge was withdrawn, surely that +ended the matter. A horse fight? He had enjoyed no such spectacle as +that since the Michaelmas Day when his father had the great bear-baiting +in the pit at his English castle. And a ramble through the sun and the +wind, a taste of liberty--! + +"It seems to me that it would be very enjoyable," he agreed. He started +eagerly to finish his work, when a thought caught him like a lariat and +whirled him back. "I am forgetting the yoke upon my neck, for the first +time in a twelvemonth! Is it allowed a dog of a slave to seek +entertainment?" + +Mild displeasure stiffened Rolf's big frame. He said gravely: "It is +plain your thoughts do not do me much honor, since you think I have so +little authority. I tell you now that you will always be free to do +whatever I ask of you. If there is anything wrong in the doing, it is I +who must answer for it, not you. That is the law, while you are bound +and I am free." + +A fresh sense of the shame of his thraldom broke over Alwin like a +burning wave. It benumbed him for a second; then he laughed with jeering +bitterness. + +"It is true that I have become a dog. I can follow any man's whistle, +and it is the man who is responsible. I ask you to forget that for a +moment I thought myself a man." In sudden frenzy, he whirled the great +sword around his head and lunged at the pine tree behind Rolf, so that +the blade was left quivering in the trunk. + +It was weather to gladden a man's heart,--a sunlit sky overhead, and a +fresh breeze blowing that set every drop of blood a-leaping with the +desire to walk, walk, walk, to the very rim of the world. The thrall +started out beside the Wrestler in sullen silence; but before they had +gone a mile, his black mood had blown into the fiord. River bank and +lanes were sweet with flowers, and every green hedge they passed was +a-flutter with nesting birds. The traders' booths were full of beautiful +things; musicians, acrobats, and jugglers with little trick dogs, were +everywhere,--one had only to stop and look. A dingy trading vessel lay +in the river, loaded with great red apples, some Norman's winter store. +One of the crew who knew Rolf threw some after him, by way of greeting; +and the two munched luxuriously as they walked along. They passed many +Viking camps, gay with streamers and striped linens, where groups of +brawny fair-haired men wrestled and tried each other's skill, or sat at +rough tables under the trees, drinking and singing. In one place they +were practising with bow and arrow; and, being quite impartial in their +choice of a target, one of the archers sent a shaft within an inch of +Rolf's head, purely for the expected pleasure of seeing him start and +dodge. Finding that neither he nor Alwin would go a step faster, they +rained shafts about their ears as long as they were within bow-shot, and +saw them out of range with a cheer. + +The road branched into one of the main thoroughfares, and they met +pretty maidens who smiled at them, melancholy minstrels who frowned at +them, and grim-mouthed warriors whose eyes were too intent on future +battles even to see them. Occasionally Rolf quietly saluted some young +guardsman; and, to the thrall's surprise, the warrior answered not only +with friendliness but even with respect. It seemed strange that one of +Rolf's mild aspect should be held in any particular esteem by such young +fire-eaters. Once they encountered a half-tipsy seaman, who made a +snatch at Rolf's apple, and succeeded in knocking it from his hand into +the dust. The Wrestler only fixed his blue eyes upon him in a long look, +but the man went down on his knees as though he had been hit. + +"I did not know it was you, Rolf Erlingsson," he hiccoughed over and +over in maudlin terror. "I beg you not to be angry." + +"It is seldom that I have seen such a coward as that," Alwin said in +disgust as they walked on. + +Rolf turned upon him his gentle smile. "It is your opinion, then, that a +man must he a coward to fear me?" + +Alwin did not answer immediately: of a sudden it occurred to him to +doubt the Wrestler's mild manner. + +While he was still hesitating, Rolf caught him lightly around the waist +and swung him over a hedge into a field where a dozen red-and-yellow +tented booths were clustered. "These are Thorgrim Svensson's tents," he +explained, following as coolly as though that were the accepted mode of +entrance. "Yonder he is,--that lean little man with the freckled face. +He is a great seafaring man. I promise you that you will see many +precious things from all over the world." + +Approaching the booths, Alwin had immediate proof of this statement, for +bench and bush and ground were littered with garments and furs and +weapons, and odds-and-ends of spoil, as if a ship had been overturned on +the spot. The lean little man whom Rolf had pointed out stood in the +midst of it all, examining and directing. He was dressed in coarse +homespun of the dingy colors of trading vessels, gray and brown and +rusty black, which contrasted oddly with the mantle of gorgeous purple +velvet he was at that moment trying on. His little freckled face was +wrinkled into a hundred shrewd puckers, and his eyes were two twinkling +pin-points of sharpness. He seemed to thrust their glance into Alwin, as +he advanced to meet his visitors; and the men who were helping him +paused and looked at the thrall with expectant grins. + +Rolf said blandly, "Greeting, Thorgrim Svensson! We have come to see +your horse-fight. This is Alwin, Edmund Jarl's son, of England. Bad luck +has made him Leif's thrall, but his accomplishments have made me his +friend." + +He spoke with the utmost mildness, merely glancing at the grinning crew; +yet they sobered as though their mirth had been turned off by a faucet, +and Thorgrim gave the thrall a civil welcome. + +"It is a great pity," he continued, addressing the Wrestler, "that you +cannot see the Flesh-Tearer, since you came for that purpose; but it has +happened that he has lamed himself, and will not be able to fight for a +week. Do not go away on that account, however. My ship has brought me +some cloaks even finer than the one you covet,"--here it seemed to Alwin +as if the little man winked at Rolf,--"and if the Englishman is as good +a swordsman as you have said--ahem!" He broke off with a cough, and +endeavored to hide his abruptness by turning away and picking a fur +mantle off a pile of costly things. + +Alwin's momentary surprise was forgotten at sight of the treasure thus +disclosed. Beneath the cloak, thrown down like a thing of little value, +lay an open book. It was written in Anglo-Saxon letters of gold and +silver; its crumpled pages were of rarest rose-tinted vellum; its +covers, sheets of polished wood gold-embossed and adorned with golden +clasps. Even Alfred's royal kinswoman had never owned so splendid a +volume. The English boy caught it up with an exclamation of delight, and +turned the pages hungrily, trying whether his mother's lessons would +come back to him. + +He was brought to himself by the touch of Rolf's hand on his shoulder. +They were all looking at him, he found,--once more with expectant grins. +Opposite him an ungainly young fellow in slave's garb--and with the air +of belonging in it--stood as though waiting, a naked sword in his hand. + +"Now I have still more regard for you when I see that you have also the +trick of reading English runes," the Wrestler said. "But I ask you to +leave them a minute and listen to me. Thorgrim here has a thrall whom he +holds to be most handy with a sword; but I have wagered my gold necklace +against his velvet cloak that you are a better man than he." + +The meaning of the group dawned on Alwin then: he drew himself up with +freezing haughtiness. "It is not likely that I will strive against a +low-born serf, Rolf Erlingsson. You dare to put an insult upon me +because luck has left your hair uncut." + +A sound like the expectant drawing-in of many breaths passed around the +circle. Alwin braced himself to withstand Rolf's fist; but the Wrestler +only drew back and looked at him reprovingly. + +"Is it an insult, Alwin of England, to take you at your word? It is not +three hours since you vowed never to turn your back on a challenge while +the red blood ran in your veins. Have witches sucked the blood out of +you, that your mind is so different when you are put to the test?" + +At least enough blood was left to crimson Alwin's cheeks at this +reminder. Those had been his very words, stung by Rolf's taunt. + +The smouldering doubt he had felt burst into flame and burned through +every fibre. What if it were all a trap, a plot?--if Rolf had brought +him there on purpose to fight, the horses being only a pretext? +Thorgrim's wink, his allusion to Alwin's swordsmanship, it had all been +arranged between them; the velvet cloak was the clew! Rolf had wished to +possess it. He had persuaded Thorgrim to stake it on his thrall's +skill,--then he had brought Alwin to win the wager for him. _Brought_ +him, like a trained stallion or a trick dog! + +He turned to fling the deceit in the Wrestler's teeth. Rolf's fair face +was as innocent as those of the pictured saints in the Saxon book. Alwin +wavered. After all, what proof had he? + +Jeering whispers and half-suppressed laughter became audible around him. +The group believed that his hesitation arose from timidity. Ignoring the +smart of yesterday's wound, he snatched the sword Rolf held out to him, +and started forward. + +His foot struck against the Saxon book which he had let fall. As he +picked it up and laid it reverently aside, it suggested something to +him. + +"Thorgrim Svensson," he said, pausing, "because I will not have it said +that I am afraid to look a sword in the face, I will fight your +serf,--on one condition: that this book, which can be of no use to you, +you will give me if I get the better of him." + +The freckled face puckered itself into a shrewd squint. "And if you +fail?" + +"If I fail," Alwin returned promptly, "Rolf Erlingsson will pay for me. +He has told me that while he is free and I am bound, he is answerable +for what I do." + +At this there was some laughter--when it was seen that the Wrestler was +not offended. "A quick wit answered that, Alwin of England," Rolf said +with a smile. "I will pay willingly, if you do not save us both, as I +expect." + +Anxious to be done with it, Alwin fell upon the thrall with a fierceness +that terrified the fellow. His blade played about him like lightning; +one could scarce follow its motions. A flesh-wound in the hip; and the +poor churl, who had little real skill and less natural spirit, began to +blunder. A thrust in the arm that would have only redoubled Alwin's +zeal, finished him completely. With a roar of pain, he threw his weapon +from him, broke through the circle of angry men, and fled, cowering, +among the booths. + +There were few words spoken as the cloak and the book were handed over. +The set of Thorgrim's mouth suggested that if he said anything, it would +be something which he realized might be better left unsaid. His men were +like hounds in leash. Rolf spoke a few smooth phrases, and hurried his +companion away. + +The sense that he had been tricked to the level of a performing bear +came upon Alwin afresh. When they stood once more in the road, he looked +at the Wrestler accusingly and searchingly. + +Rolf began to talk of the book. "Nothing have I seen which I think so +fine. I must admit that you men of England are more skilful than we of +the North in such matters. It is all well enough to scratch pictures on +a rock or carve them on a door; but what will you do when you wish to +move? Either you must leave them behind, or get a yoke of oxen. To have +them painted on kid-skin, I like much better. You are in great luck to +come into possession of such property." + +Alwin forgot his resentful suspicions in his pleasure. "Let us sit down +somewhere and examine it," said he. "Yonder, where those trees stretch +over the fence and make the grass shady,--that will be a good place." + +"Have it your own way," Rolf assented. To the shady spot they proceeded +accordingly. + +Rolf stretched himself comfortably in the long grass and made a pillow +of his arms. Alwin squatted down, his back planted against the fence, +the book open on his knees. + +The reading-matter was attractive enough, with its glittering characters +and rose-tinted pages, and every initial letter inches high and shrined +in azure-blue traceries. But the splendor of the pictures!--no barbaric +heart could resist them. What if the straight lines were crooked,--if +the draperies were wooden,--the hands and the feet ungainly? They had +been drawn with sparkles of gold and gleams of silver, in blue and +scarlet and violet, until nothing less than a stained-glass window +glowing in the sun could even suggest their radiance. Rolf warmed into +unusual heartiness. + +"By the hilt of my sword, he was an accomplished man who was able to +make such pictures! Look at that horse,--it does not keep you guessing a +moment to tell what it is. And yonder man with the red flames leaping +about him,--I wish I knew why he was bound to that post!" + +Alwin also was bitten with curiosity. "I tell you what I will do," he +offered. "You must not suppose that reading is as easy as swimming, or +handling a sword. My father did not have the accomplishment, and his +hair was gray. Neither would my mother have learned it, had it not been +that Alfred was her kinsman and she was proud of his scholarship. Nor +should I have known how, if she had not taught me. And I have forgotten +much. But this I will offer you: I will read the Saxon words to myself, +and then tell you in the Northern tongue what they mean." + +He spread the book open on a spot of clean turf, stretched himself on +his stomach, gripped one leg around the other, planted his chin on his +clenched fists, and began. + +It was slow work. He had forgotten a good deal; and every other word was +linked with distracting memories: his mother leaning from her embroidery +frame to follow the line with her bodkin; his mother, erect and stern, +bidding Brother Ambrose bear him away and flog him for his idleness; his +mother hearing his lesson with one arm around him and the other hand +holding the sweetmeat she would give him if he succeeded. He did not +notice that Rolf's eyes were gradually closing, and his bated breath +lengthening into long even sighs. He plodded on and on. + +All at once a thunder of approaching hoof-beats reached him from up the +road. Nearer and nearer they came; and around the curve swept a party of +the King's guardsmen,--yellow hair and scarlet cloaks flying in the +wind, spurs jingling, weapons clattering, armor clashing. Alwin glanced +up and saw their leader,--and his interest in pale pictured saints +dropped dead. + +"It must be King Olaf himself!" he murmured, staring. + +A head taller than the other tall men, with shoulders a palm's-width +broader, the leader sat on his mighty black horse like a second Thor. +Light flashed from his steel tunic and gilded helmet. His bronzed face +had an eagle's beak for a nose, and eyes of the blue of ice or steel, +piercing as a two-edged sword. A white cross was painted on his shield +of gold. + +As he swept past, he glanced toward the pair by the fence. Catching +sight of the sleeping Rolf, he checked his horse sharply, made a motion +bidding the others go on without him, and, wheeling, rode back, followed +only by a mounted thrall who was evidently his personal attendant. Alwin +leaped up and attempted to arouse his companion, but the guardsman saved +him the trouble. Leaning out of his saddle, he struck the Wrestler a +smart blow with the flat of his sword. + +"What now, Rolf Erlingsson!" he demanded, in tones of thunder. "Because +I go on a five days' journey, must it happen that my men lie like +drunken swine along the roadside? For this you shall feel--" + +Before his eyes were fairly open, Rolf was on his feet, tugging at his +sword. Luckily, before he thrust, he got a glimpse of his assailant. + +"Leif, the son of Eric!" he cried, dropping his weapon. "Welcome! Hail +to you!" + +The warrior's frown relaxed into a grim smile, as he yielded his hand to +his young follower's hearty grip. + +"Is it possible that you are sober after all? What in the Fiend's name +do you here, asleep by the road in company with a thrall and a purple +cloak?" + +Rolf relaxed into his customary drawl. "That is unjustly spoken, chief. +I have not been asleep. I have found a new and worthy enjoyment. I have +been listening while this Englishman read aloud from a Saxon book of +saints." + +"A Saxon book of saints!" exclaimed the guardsman. "I would see it." + +When its owner had handed it up, he looked it through hastily, yet +turning the leaves with reverence, and crossing himself whenever he +encountered a pictured cross. As he handed it back, he turned his eyes +on Alwin, blue and piercing as steel. + +"It is likely that you are a high-born captive. That you can read is an +unusual accomplishment. It is not impossible that you might be useful to +me. Who is your master? Is it of any use to try to buy you from him?" + +Rolf laughed. "Certainly you are well named 'the Lucky,' since you only +wish for what is already yours. This is the cook-boy whom Tyrker bought +to fill the place of Hord." + +"So?" said Leif, in unconscious imitation of his old German +foster-father. He sat staring down thoughtfully at the boy,--until his +attendant took jealous alarm, and put his horse through a manoeuvre to +arouse him. + +The guardsman came to himself with a start and a hasty gathering up of +his rein. "That is a good thing. We will speak further of it. Now, Olaf +Trygvasson is awaiting my report. Tell them I will be in camp to-morrow. +If I find drunken heads or dulled weapons--!" He looked his threat. + +"I will heed your orders in this as in everything," Rolf answered, in +the courtier-phrase of the day. His chief gave him a short nod, struck +spurs to his horse, and galloped after his comrades. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +LEIF THE CROSS-BEARER + + + Inquire and impart + Should every man of sense, + Who will be accounted sage. + Let one only know,-- + A second may not; + If three, all the world knows. + Ha'vama'l + + +It was early the next morning, so early that the world was only here and +there awake. The town was silent; the fields were empty; the woods +around the camp slept in darkness and silence. Only the little valley +lay fresh and smiling in the new light, winking back at the sun from a +million dewy eyes. + +Under the trees the long white-scoured tables stood ready with bowl and +trencher, and Alwin carried food to and fro with leisurely steps. From +Helga's booth her voice arose in a weird battle-chant; while from the +river bank came the voices and laughter and loud splashing of many +bathers. + +Gradually the shouts merged into a persistent roar. The roar swelled +into a thunder of excitement. Alwin paused, in the act of ladling curds +into the line of wooden bowls, and listened smiling. + +"Now they are swimming a race back to the bank. I wonder whom they will +drive out of the water today." For that was the established penalty for +being last in the race. + +The thunder of cheering reached its height; then suddenly it split into +scattered jeers and hootings. There was a crackling of dead leaves, a +rustling of bushes, and Sigurd appeared, dripping and breathless. +Panting and spent, he threw himself on the ground, his shining white +body making a cameo against the mossy green. + +"You! You beaten!" Alwin cried in surprise. + +Sigurd gave a breathless laugh. "Even I myself. Certainly it is a time +of wonders!" He looked eagerly at the spread table, and held up his +hand. "And I am starving besides! Toss me something, I beg of you." When +Alwin had thrown him a chunk of crusty bread, he consented to go on and +explain his defeat between mouthfuls. "It was because my shoulder is +still heavy in its movements. I broke it wrestling last winter. I forgot +about it when I entered the race." + +"That is a pity," said Alwin. But he spoke absently, for he was thinking +that here might be an opening for something he wished to say. He filled +several bowls in silence, Sigurd watching over his bread with twinkling +eyes. After a while Alwin went on cautiously: "This mishap is a light +one, however. I hope it is not likely that you will have to endure a +heavier disappointment when Leif arrives today." + +Back went Sigurd's yellow head in a peal of laughter. "I would have +wagered it!" he shouted. "I would have wagered my horse that you were +aiming at that! So every speech ends, no matter where it begins. I talk +with Helga of what we did as children and she answers: 'You remember +much, foster-brother; do not forget the sternness of Leif's temper.' I +enter into conversation with Rolf, and he returns, 'Yes, it is likely +that Leif has got greater favor than ever with King Olaf. I cannot be +altogether certain that he will shelter one who has broken Olaf's laws.' +Tyrker advises me,--by Saint Michael, you are all as wise as Mimir!" He +flung the crust from him with a gesture of good-humored impatience. "Do +you all think I am a fool, that I do not know what I am doing? It +appears that you forget that Leif Ericsson is my foster-father." + +Alwin deposited the last curd in the last bowl, and stood licking the +horn-spoon, and looking doubtfully at the other. "Do you mean by that +that you have a right to give him orders? I have heard that in the North +a foster-son does not treat his foster-father as his superior, but as +his servant. Yet Leif did not look to be--" + +Sigurd shouted with laughter. "He did not! I will wager my head he did +not! Certainly the foster-son who would show disrespect to Leif the +Lucky would be putting his life in a bear's paw. It makes no difference +that it is customary for many silly old men of lower birth to allow +themselves to be trampled upon by fiery young men of higher rank, like +old wolves nipped by young ones. King Olaf's heir dare not do so to Leif +Ericsson. No; what I would have you understand is that I know what I am +doing because I know Leif's temper as you know your English runes. From +the time I was five winters old to the time I was fifteen, I lived under +his roof in Greenland, and he was as my father to me. I know his +sternness, but I know also his justice and what he will dare for a +friend, though Olaf and all his host oppose him." + +He let fly a Norman oath as, splod! a handful of wet clay struck between +his bare shoulders. Turning, he saw among the bushes a mischievous hand +raised for a second throw, and scrambled laughing to his feet. + +"The trolls! First to drive me from my bath and then to throw mud on me! +Poison his bowl, if you love me, Alwin. Ah, what a throw! It is not +likely that you could hit a door. What bondmaids' aiming! Shame!" +Mocking, and dodging this way and that, he gained the welcome shelter of +the sleeping-house. + +A rush of big white bodies, a gleam of dampened yellow hair, an outburst +of boisterous merriment, and the camp was swarming with hungry +uproarious giants, who threw shoes at each other and shoved and +quarrelled around the polished shield, before which they parted their +yellow locks, stamping, singing and whistling as they pulled on their +tunics and buckled their belts. + +"Leif is coming!--the Lucky, the Loved One!" Helga sang from her booth; +and the din was redoubled with cheering. + +"By Thor, it seems to me that he is coming now!" said Valbrand, +suddenly. He had finished his toilet, and sat at the table, facing the +thicket. Every one turned to look, and beheld Leif's thrall-attendant +gallop out of the shadows toward them. No one followed, however, and a +murmur of disappointment went round. + +"It is nobody but Kark!" + +Kark rose in his stirrups and waved his hand. He was of the commonest +type of colorless blond, and coarse and ignorant of face; but his +manners had the assurance of a privileged character. + +"It is more than Kark," he shouted. "It is news that is worth a hearing. +Ho, for Greenland! Greenland in three days!" + +"Greenland?" echoed the chorus. + +"Greenland?" cried Helga, appearing in her doorway, with blanching +cheeks. + +They rushed upon the messenger, and hauled him from his horse and surged +about him. And what had seemed Babel before was but gentle murmuring +compared with what now followed. + +"Greenland! What for?"--"You are jesting." "That pagan hole!"--"In three +days? It is impossible!"--"Is the chief witch-ridden?"--" Has word come +that Eric is dead?"--" Has Leif quarrelled with King Olaf, that the King +has banished him?"--" Greenland, grave-mound for living men!"--"What +for?"--"In the Troll's name, why?"--" You are lying; it is certain that +you are."--" Speak, you raven!" + +"In a moment, in a moment,--give me breath and room, my masters," the +thrall answered boldly. "It is the truth; I myself heard the talk. But +first,--I have ridden far and fast, and my throat is parched with--" + +A dozen milk-bowls were snatched from the table and passed to him. He +emptied two with cool deliberation, and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. + +"I give you thanks. I shall not keep you waiting. It happened last night +when Leif came in to make his report to the King. Olaf was seated on the +throne in his hall, feasting. Many famous chiefs sat along the walls. +You should have heard the cheer they gave when it was known that Leif +had the victory!" + +Here Kark's roving eyes discovered Alwin among the listeners; he paused, +and treated him to a long insolent stare. Then he went on: + +"I was saying that they cheered. It is likely that the warriors up in +Valhalla heard, and thought it a battle-cry. Olaf raised his +drinking-horn and said, 'Hail to you, Leif Ericsson! Health and +greeting! Victory always follows your sword.' Then he drank to him +across the floor, and bade him come and sit beside him, that he might +have serious speech with him." + +A second cheer, loud as a battle-cry, went up to Valhalla. But mingling +with its echo there arose a chorus of resentment. + +"Yet after such honors why does he banish him?"--"Did they +quarrel?"--"Is it possible that there is treachery?"--"Tell us why he is +banished!"--"Yes, why?" --"Answer that!" + +The messenger laughed loudly. "Who said that he was banished? Rein in +your tongues. As much honor as is possible is intended him. It happened +after the feast--" + +"Then pass over the feast; come to your story!" was shouted so +impatiently that even Kark saw the wisdom of complying. + +"It shall be as you like. I shall begin with the time when every warrior +had gone to bed, except those lying drunk upon the benches. I sat on +Leif's foot-stool, with his horn. It is likely that I also had been +asleep, for what I first remember was that Leif and the King had ceased +speaking together, and sat leaning back staring at the torches, which +were burning low. It was so still that you could hear the men snore and +the branches scraping on the roof. Then the King said, while he still +looked at the torch, 'Do you purpose sailing to Greenland in the +summer?' It is likely that Leif felt some surprise, for he did not +answer straightway; but he is wont to have fine words ready in his +throat, and at last he said, 'I should wish to do so, if it is your +will.' Then the King said nothing for a long time, and they both sat +looking at the pine torch that was burning low, until it went out. Then +Olaf turned and looked into Leif's eyes and said, 'I think it may well +be so. You shall go my errand, and preach Christianity in Greenland.'" + +From Kark's audience burst another volley of exclamations. + +"It is because he is always lucky!"--"It cannot be done. Remember +Eric!"--"The Red One will slay him!"--"You forget Thorhild his mother!" +"Hail to the King!" --"It is a great honor!" + +"Silence!" Valbrand commanded. Kark went on: "Leif said that he was +willing to do whatever the King wished; yet it would not be easy. He +spoke the name of Eric, and after that they lowered their voices so that +I could not hear. Then at last Olaf leaned back in his high-seat and +Leif stood up to go. Olaf stretched forth his hand and said, 'I know no +man fitter for the work than you. You shall carry good luck with you.' +Leif answered: 'That can only be if I carry yours with me.' Then he +grasped the King's hand and they drank to each other, looking deep into +each other's eyes." + +There was a pause, to make sure the messenger had finished. Then there +broke out cheers and acclamations and exulting. + +"Hail to Leif! Hail to the Lucky One!"--"Leif and the Cross!"--"Down +with the hammer sign!"--"Down with Thor!"--"Victory for Leif, Leif and +the Cross!" + +Shields clashed and swords were waved. Kark was thrown bodily into the +air and tossed from hand to hand. A wave of mad enthusiasm swept over +the group. Only Helga stood like one stunned, her hands wound in her +long tresses, her face set and despairing. + +The Black One was the first to notice her amid the confusion. He dropped +the cloak he was waving and stared at her wonderingly for a moment; then +he burst into a boisterous laugh. + +"Look at the shield-maiden, comrades,--look at the shield-maiden! It has +come into her mind that she is going back to Thorhild!" + +For a moment Alwin wondered who Thorhild might be. Then vaguely he +remembered hearing that it was to escape a strong-minded matron of that +name that Helga had fled from Greenland. That now she must go back to be +civilized, and made like other maidens, struck him also as an excellent +joke; and he joined in the laugh. One after another caught it up with +jests and mocking. + +"Back to Thorhild the Iron-Handed!"--"No more short kirtles!"--"She has +speared her last boar!"--"After this she will embroider boar-hunts on +tapestry!"--"Embroider? Is it likely that she knows which end of the +needle to put the thread through?"--"It will be like yoking a wild +steer!"--"Taming a shield-maiden!"--"There will be dagger-holes in +Thorhild's back!"--They crowded around her, bandying the jest back and +forth, and roaring with laughter. + +Always before, Helga had taken their chaff in good part; always before, +she had joined them in making merry at her expense. But now she did not +laugh. She rose slowly and stood looking at them, her breast heaving, +her eyes like glowing coals. + +At last she said shrilly, "Oh, laugh! If you see a jest in it--laugh! +Because I am going to lose my freedom--my rides over the green +country,--never to stand in the bow and feel the deck bounding under +me,--is it such sport to you, you stupid clods? Would you think it a +jest if the Franks should carry me off, and shut me up in one of their +towers, and load me with fetters, and force me to toil day and night for +them? You would take that ill enough. How much better is it that I am to +be shut in a smothering women's-house and wound around with cloth till I +trip when I walk, and made to waste the daylight, baking to fill your +swinish stomachs, and sewing tapestries that your dull eyes may have +something to look at while you swallow your ale? Clods! I had rather the +Franks took me. At least they would not call themselves my friends while +they ill-used me. Heavy-witted churls, laugh if you want to! Laugh till +you burst!" + +She whirled away from them into her booth, and the door-curtain fell +behind her. + +All day long she sat there, neither eating nor speaking, Editha +crouching in a corner, afraid to approach her. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BEFORE THE CHIEFTAIN + + + At home let a man be cheerful, + And toward a guest liberal; + Of wise conduct he should be, + Of good memory and ready speech. + Ha'vama'l + + +In the river, on the city-side, the "Sea-Deer" lay at anchor, stripped +to her hulk, as the custom was. Her oars and her rowing-benches, her +scarlet-and-white sail, her gilded vanes and carven dragon-head, were +all carefully stored in the booths at the camp. With the eagerness of +lovers, her crew rushed down to summon her from her loneliness and once +more hang her finery about her. All day long their brushes lapped her +sides caressingly, and their hammers rang upon her decking. All day long +the ship's boat plied to and fro, bringing her equipments across the +river. All day long Alwin was hurried back and forth with messages, and +tools, and coils of rope. + +The last trip he made, Sigurd Haraldsson walked with him across the +bridge and along the city-bank of the river. The young Viking had spent +the day riding around the country with Tyrker, getting prices on a +ship-load of corn. Corn, it seemed, was worth its weight in gold in +Greenland. + +"Leif shows a keen wit in taking Eric a present of corn," Sigurd +explained, as they dodged the loaded thralls running up and down the +gangways. "He will like it better than greater valuables. His pleasure +will come near to converting him." + +Alwin shook his head doubtfully,--not at this last observation, but at +the prospect in general. "The more I think of going to Greenland," he +said, "the more excellent a place I find Norway." + +He looked appreciatively at the river beside them, and ahead at the +great shining fiord. Scattered over its sunlit waters trim clipper-built +craft rode at anchor; between them, long-oared skiffs darted back and +forth like long-legged water-bugs. Along the shore a chain of ships +stretched as far as eye could reach,--graceful war cruisers, +heavily-laden provision ships, substantial trading vessels. On the flat +beach and along the wooded banks rose great storehouses and lines of +fine new ship-sheds. Rich merchandise was piled before them; rows of +covered carts stood in waiting. Everywhere were busy throngs of traders +and seamen and slaves. His eye kindled as it passed from point to point. + +"It seems that Northmen are something more than pirates," he said, +thoughtfully. + +"It seems that your speech is something more than free," said Sigurd, in +displeasure. + +Alwin realized that it had been, and explained: "I but spoke of you as +southerners do who have not seen your country. I tell you truly that, +after England, I believe Norway to be the finest country in the world." + +Sigurd swung along with recovered good-humor. "I will not quarrel with +you over that exception. And yonder is Valbrand just come ashore,--at +the fore-gangway. Go and do your errand with him, and then we will walk +over to that pier and see what it is that the crowd is gathered about, +to make them shout so." + +The attraction proved to be a chattering brown ape that some sailor had +brought home from the East. Part of the spectators regarded it as a +strange pagan god; part believed it to be an unfortunate being deformed +by witchcraft; and the rest took it for a devil in his own proper +person,--so there was great shrieking and scattering, whichever way it +turned its ugly face. It happened that Sigurd was better informed, +having seen a similar specimen kept as a pet at the court of the Norman +Duke; so the terror of the others amused him and his companion mightily. +They stayed until the creature put an end to the show by breaking away +from its captor and taking refuge in the rigging. + +It was a fascinating place altogether,--that beach,--and difficult to +get away from. Almost every ship brought back from its voyage some beast +or bird or fish so outlandish that it was impossible to pass it by. +Twilight had fallen before the pair turned in among the hills. + +Between the trees shone the red glow of the camp-fires. Through the dusk +came the pleasant odors of frying fish and roasting pork, with now and +then a whiff of savory garlic. Alwin turned on his companion in sudden +excitement. + +"It is likely that Leif is already here!" + +Sigurd laughed. "Do you think it advisable for me to climb a tree?" + +They stepped out of the shadow into the light of the leaping flames. On +the farther side of the long fire, men were busy with dripping +bear-steaks and half-plucked fowls; while others bent over the steaming +caldron or stirred the big mead-vat. On the near side, ringed around by +stalwart forms, showing black against the fire-glow, the chief sat at +his ease. The flickering light revealed his bronzed eagle face and the +richness of his gold-embroidered cloak. At his elbow Helga the Fair +waited with his drinking-horn. Tyrker hovered behind him, touching now +his hair and now his broad shoulders with an old man's tremulous +fondness. All were listening reverently to his quick, curt narrative. + +Sigurd's laughing carelessness fell from him. He walked forward with the +gallant air that sat so well upon his handsome figure. "Health and +greeting, foster-father!" he said in his clear voice. "I have come back +to you, an outlaw seeking shelter." + +Helga spilled the ale in her consternation. The old German began a +nervous plucking at his beard. The heads that had swung around toward +Sigurd, turned back expectantly. + +More than one heart sank when it was seen that the chief neither held +out his hand nor moved from his seat. Silver-Tongued and sunny-hearted, +the Jarl's son was well-beloved. There was a long pause, in which there +was no sound but the crackling of flames and the loud sputtering of fat. + +At last Leif said sternly, "You are my foster-son, and I love your +father more than anyone else, kinsman or not; yet I cannot offer you +hand or welcome until I know wherein you have broken the law." + +Through the breathless hush, Sigurd answered with perfect composure: +"That was to be expected of Leif Ericsson. I would not have it +otherwise. All shall be without deceit on my side." + +He folded his arms across his breast, and, standing easily before his +judge, told his story. "In the games last fall it happened that I shot +against Hjalmar Oddsson until he was obliged to acknowledge himself +beaten; and for that he wished me ill luck. When the Assembly was held +in my district this spring, he came there and three times tried to make +me angry, so that I should forget that the Assembly Plain is sacred +ground. The first time, he spoke lightly of my skill; but I thought that +a jest, since it had proved too much for him. The second time, he spoke +slightingly of my courage, saying that the reason I did not go in my +father's Viking ship this spring was because I was wont to be afraid in +battle. Now it had been seen by everybody that I wished to go. I had +spent the winter in Normandy, yet I returned by the first ship, that I +might make one of my father's crew. It was not my doing that my ship got +lost in the fog and did not fetch me here until after the Jarl had +sailed. It angered me that such slander should be spoken of me. Yet, +remembering that men are peace-holy on the Assembly Plain, I did manage +to turn it aside. A third time he threw himself in my way, and began +speaking evil of a friend of mine, a man with whom I have sworn +blood-brotherhood. I forgot where we stood, and what was the law, and I +drew my sword and leaped upon him; and it is likely the daylight would +have shone through him, but that he had friends hidden who ran out and +seized me and dragged me before the law-man. Seeing me with drawn sword, +he knew without question that I had broken the law; so, without caring +what I urged, he passed sentence upon me, banishing me from my district +for three seasons. My father and my kinsmen are away on Viking voyages; +I cannot take service with King Olaf, and I will not serve under a +lesser man. It was not easy to know where to go, until I thought of you, +Leif Ericsson. It was you who taught me that 'He who is cold in defence +of a friend, will be cold so long as Hel rules.' There is no fear in my +mind that you will send me away." + +He finished as composedly as he had begun, and stood waiting. But not +for long. Leif rose from his seat, sweeping the circle with a keen +glance. "It is likely," he said grimly, "that someone has told you that +an unfavorable answer might be expected, because I feared to lose King +Olaf's favor. You have done well to trust my friendship, foster-son." He +stretched out his hand, a rare gleam of pleasure lighting his deep-set +eyes. "You have behaved well to your friend, Sigurd Haraldsson; there is +the greatest excuse for you in this affair. I bid you welcome, and I +offer you a share in everything I own. If it is your choice, you shall +go back to Brattahlid with me; and my home shall be your home for +whatever time you wish." + +Sigurd thanked him with warmth and dignity. Then a twinkle of mischief +shone at the comers of his handsome mouth; after the fashion of the +French court, he bent over the brawny outstretched hand and kissed it. + +A murmur of mingled amazement and amusement went up from the group. Leif +himself gave a short laugh as he jerked his hand away. + +"This is the first time that ever my fist was mistaken for a maiden's +lips. It is to be hoped that this is not the most useful accomplishment +you have brought from France. Now go and try your fine manners on +Helga,--if you do not fear for your ears. I wish to speak with this +thrall." + +But Helga had not now spirit enough to avenge the salute. She drooped +over the fire, staring absently into the embers; the heat toasting her +delicate face rose-red, the light touching her hair into a wonderful +golden web. She looked up at Sigurd with a faint frown; then dropped her +chin back into her hands and forgot him. + +Alwin came and placed himself before the chief's seat, where the young +Viking had stood. He was not so picturesque a figure, with his shorn +head and his white slaves'-dress; but he stood straight and supple in +his young strength, his head haughtily erect, his eyes bright and +fearless as a young falcon's. + +Leif put his questions. "What are you called?" + +"I am called Alwin, Edmund Jarl's son." + +"Jarl-born? Then it is likely that you can handle a sword?" + +"Not a few of your own men can bear witness to that." + +Rolf spoke up with his quiet smile. "The boy speaks the truth. One would +think that he had drunk nothing but dragon's blood since his birth." + +"So?" said Leif dryly. "It may be that I should be thankful my men are +not torn to pieces. But these accomplishments count for naught; none +here but have them. You must accomplish something that I think of more +importance, or I shall sell you and buy a man-thrall who has been +trained to work. It seems that you can read runes: can you also write +them?" + +In a flash of memory, Alwin saw again Brother Ambrose's cell, and his +rebellious self toiling at the desk; and he marvelled that in this +far-off place and time that toil was to be of use to him. + +"To some small degree I can," he answered. "I learned in my boyhood; but +last summer, on tee dairy farm of Gilli of Trondhjem, I practised on +sheep-skins--" + +"Gilli of Trondhjem?" Leif repeated. He sat suddenly erect, and shot a +glance at the unconscious Helga; and the old German, peering from the +shadows behind him, did the same. + +Alwin regarded them wonderingly. "Yes, Gilli the trader, whom men call +the Wealthy. It was he who first had me in my captivity." + +For a long time the chief sat tugging thoughtfully at his yellow +mustache. Tyrker bent over and whispered in his ear; and he nodded +slowly, with another glance at Helga. + +"But for this I should never have thought of him,--yet, it is certainly +one way out of the matter." + +Suddenly he made a motion with his hand, so that the circle fell back +out of hearing. He turned and fixed his piercing eyes on the thrall as +though he would probe his brain. + +"I ask you to tell me what manner of man this Gilli is?" + +It happened that Alwin asked nothing better than a chance to free his +mind. He answered instantly: "Gilli of Trondhjem is a low-minded man who +has gained great wealth, and is so greedy for property that he would +give the nails off his hands and the tongue out of his head to get it. +He is an overbearing churl." + +Leif's eyes challenged him, but he did not recant. + +"So!" said the chief abruptly; then he added: "I am told for certain +that his wife is a well-disposed woman." + +"I say nothing against that," Alwin assented. "She is from England, +where women are taught to bear themselves gently." + +His eulogy was cut short by an exclamation from the old German. +"Donnerwetter! That is true! An English captive she was. Perhaps she +their runes also understands?" + +Finding this a question addressed to him, Alwin answered that he knew +her to understand them, having heard her read from a book of Saxon +prayers. + +Tyrker rolled up his eyes devoutly. "Heaven itself it is that so has +ordered it for the shield-maiden! You see, my son? This youth here can +make runes,-she can read them; so can you speak with her without that +the father shall know." + +"Bring torches into the sleeping-house," Leif called, rising hastily. +"Valbrand, take your horse and lay saddle on it. You of England, get +bark and an arrow-point, or whatever will serve for rune writing, and +follow me." + +What took place behind the log walls, no one knew. When it was over, and +Valbrand had ridden away in the darkness, Rolf sought out the scribe and +gently gave him to understand that he was curious in the matter. But +Alwin only cast a doubtful glance across the fire at Helga, and begged +him to talk of something else. + +Late the next afternoon, Valbrand returned, his horse muddy and spent, +and was closeted for a long time with Leif and the old German. But none +heard what passed between them. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE ROYAL BLOOD OF ALFRED + + Brand burns from brand, + Until it is burnt out; + Fire is from fire quickened. + Man to man + Becomes known by speech, + But a fool by his bashful silence. + Ha'vama'l + + + +Brave with fluttering pennant and embroidered linen and sparkling +gilding, amid cheers and prayers and shouts of farewell, on the third +day the "Sea-Deer" set sail for Greenland. + +Newly clad from head to foot in a scarlet suit of King Olaf's giving, +Leif stood aft by the great steering oar. The wind blew out his long +hair in a golden banner. The sun splintered its lances upon his gilded +helm. Upon his breast shone the silver crucifix that had been Olaf's +parting gift. His hand was still warm from the clasp of his King's; no +chill at his heart warned him that those hands had met for the last +time, no thought was in him that he had looked his last upon the noble +face he loved. Gazing out over the tumbling blue waves, he thought +exultantly of the time when he should come sailing back, with task +fulfilled, to receive the thanks of his King. + +Bravely and merrily the little ship parted from the land and set forth +upon her journey. Every man sat in his place upon the rowing-benches; +every back bent stoutly to the oar. Dripping crystals and flashing in +the sun, the polished blades rose and fell, as the "Sea-Deer" bounded +forward. To those upon her decks, the mass of scarlet cloaks upon the +pier merged into a patch of flame, and then became a fiery dot. The +sunny plain of the city and the green slope of the camp dwindled and +faded; towering cliffs closed about and hid them from the rowers' view. + +Leaving the broad elbow of the fiord, they soon entered the narrow arm +that ran in from the sea, like a silver lane between giant walls. +Passing out with the tide, they reached the ocean. The salt wind smote +their faces; the snowy sail drew in a long glad breath and swelled out +with a throb of exultation, and the world of waters closed around their +little craft. + +It was a beautiful world, full of the shifting charms of color and of +motion, of the joy of sun and wind; but Alwin found it a wearily busy +world for him. Since he was not needed at the oars, they gave him the +odds and ends of drudgery about the ship. He cleared the decks, and +plied the bailing-scoop, and stood long tedious watches. He helped to +tent over the vessel's decks at night, and to stow away the huge canvas +in the morning. He ground grain for the hungry crew, and kept the great +mead-vat filled that stood before the mast for the shipmates to drink +from. He prepared the food and carried it around and cleared the +remnants away again. He was at the beck and call of forty rough voices; +he was the one shuttlecock among eighty brawny battledores. + +It was a peaceful world, stirred by no greater excitement than a glimpse +of a distant sail or the mystery of a half-seen shore; yet things could +happen in it, Alwin found. The second day out, the earl-born captive for +the first time came in direct contact with the thrall-born Kark. + +Kark was not deferential, even toward his superiors; there was barely +enough discretion in his roughness to save him from offending. Among +those of his own station, he dispensed even with discretion. And he had +looked upon Alwin with unfriendly eyes ever since Leif's first +manifestation of interest in his English property. + +It often happens that the whole of earth's dry land proves too small to +hold two uncongenial spirits peaceably. One can imagine, then, how it +fared when two such opposites were limited to some hundred-odd feet of +timber in mid-ocean. + +"Ho there, you cook-boy!" Kark's rough voice came down to the foreroom +where Alwin was working. "Get you quickly forward and wipe up the beer +Valbrand has spilled over his bench." + +For a moment, Alwin's eyes opened wide in amazement; then they drew +together into two menacing slits, and his very clothing bristled with +haughtiness. He deigned no answer whatsoever. + +A pause, and Kark followed his voice. "What now, you cub of a lazy +mastiff! I told you, quickly; the beer will get on his clothes." + +With immovable calmness, Alwin went on with his grinding. Only after the +fourth round he said coldly: "It would save time if you would do your +work yourself." + +Kark gasped with amazement. This to him, the slave-born son of Eric's +free steward, who held the whip-hand over all the thralls at Brattahlid! +His china-blue eyes snapped spitefully. + +"It does not become the bowerman of Leif Ericsson to do the dirty work +of a foreign whelp. If you have the ambition to be more than--" + +He was interrupted by the sound of approaching thunder. Valbrand +descended upon them, his new tunic drenched, the scars on his battered +old face showing livid red. + +"Is it likely that I will wait all day while two thralls quarrel over +precedence?" he roared. "The Troll take me if I do not throw one of you +to Ran before the journey is over! Go instantly--" + +"I am sharpening Leif's blade," Kark struck in; he had indeed drawn a +knife and sharpening-stone from his girdle. "It is not becoming for me +to leave the chief's work for another task." + +The argument was unassailable. To the unlucky man-of-all-work the +steersman's anger naturally reverted. + +"Then you, idle dog that you are! What is it that keeps you? Would you +have him attend on Leif and do your work as well? You may choose one of +two conditions: go instantly or have your back cut into ribbons." + +If he had not added that, it is possible that Alwin would have obeyed; +but to yield in the face of a threat, that was too low for his +stiff-necked pride to stoop. The earl-born answered haughtily, "Have +your will,--and I will have mine." + +If he had had any idea that they would not go so far, it was quickly +dashed out of him. One moment of struggle and confusion, and he found +himself stripped to the waist, his hands bound to the mast, a man +standing over him with a knotted thong of walrus hide. All Sigurd's +furious eloquence could not restrain the storm of sickening blows. + +On the other hand, if they had had the notion that their victim's +obstinacy would run from him with his blood, they also were mistaken. +The red drops came, but no sign of weakening. At last, with the +subsiding of his anger, Valbrand ordered him to be set free. + +"The same shall overtake you if you are disobedient to me again," was +all he said. + +Stripped and bloody, dizzy with pain and blind with rage, Alwin +staggered forward, caught at Sigurd to save himself from falling, and +looked unsteadily about him. When he found what he sought, his wits were +cleared as a foggy night by lightning. With a hoarse cry, he caught up a +fragment of broken oar and struck Kark over the head so that he fell +stunned upon the deck, blood reddening his colorless face. + +"In the Troll's name!" Valbrand swore, after a moment of utter +stupefaction. + +Alwin laughed between his teeth at Sigurd's despairing glance, and +waited to feel the steersman's knife between his ribs. Instead, he was +dragged aft to where the chief sat on the deck beside the steering-oar. + +Leif was deep in consultation with his shrewd old foster-father. Without +pausing in his argument, he sent an impatient glance over his shoulder; +when it fell upon the gory young madman, he turned sharply and faced the +group. + +Alwin was in the mood to suffer torture with a smile. The more +outrageous Valbrand depicted him, the better he was pleased. Leif made +no comment whatever, but sat pulling at his long mustaches and eying +them from under his bushy brows. + +When the steersman had finished, he asked, "Is Kark slain?" + +Glancing back, Valbrand saw the bowerman sitting up and feeling of his +wounds. "Except a lump on his head, I do not think he is worse than +before," he answered. + +"So," said Leif with an accent of relief. "Then it is not worth while to +say much. If he had been killed, his father would have taken it ill; and +that would have displeased Eric and hurt my mission. It would have +become necessary for me to slay this boy to satisfy them. Now it is of +little importance." + +He straightened abruptly and waved them away. + +"What more is there to do about it?" he added. "This fellow has been +punished, and Kark has got one of the many knocks his insolence +deserves. Let us end this talk,--only see to it that they do not kill +each other. I do not wish to lose any more property." He motioned them +off, and turned back to Tyrker. + +But there was more to it. Something,--Leif's curtness, or the touch of +Valbrand's hand upon his naked shoulder,--roused Alwin's madness afresh. +Shaking off the hand, fighting it off, he bearded the chief himself. + +"I will kill him if ever he utters his cur's yelp at me again. You are +blind and simple to think to keep an earl-born man under the feet of a +churl. You are a fool to keep an accomplished man at work that any +simpleton might do. I will not bear with your folly. I will slay the +hound the first chance I get." He ended breathless and trembling with +passion. + +Valbrand stood aghast. Leif's brows drew down so low that nothing but +two fiery sparks showed of his eyes. Through Alwin went the same thrill +he had felt when the trader's sword-point pricked his breast. + +Yet the lightning did not strike. Alwin glanced up, amazed. While he +stared, a subtle change crept over the chief. Slowly he ceased to be the +grim curt Viking: slowly he became the nobleman whose stateliness +minstrels celebrated in their songs, and the King spoke of with praise. +A stillness seemed to gather round them. Alwin felt his anger cooling +and sinking within him. + +After a time, Leif said with the calmness of perfect superiority: "It +may be that I have not treated you as honorably as you deserve. Yet what +am I to think of these words of yours? Is it after such fashion that a +jarl-born man with accomplishments addresses his lord in your country?" + +To the blunt old steersman, to the ox-like Olver, to the half-dozen +others who heard it, the change was incomprehensible. They stared at +their master, then at each other, and finally gave it up as a whim past +their understanding. It may be that Leif was curious to see whether it +would be incomprehensible to Alwin as well. He sat watching him +intently. + +Alwin's eyes fell before his master's. The stately quietness, the noble +forbearance, were like voices out of his past. They called up memories +of his princess-mother, of her training, of the dignity that had always +surrounded her. Suddenly he saw, as for the first time, the roughness +and coarseness of the life about him, and realized how it had roughened +and coarsened him. A dull red mounted to his face. Slowly, like one +groping for a half forgotten habit, he bent his knee before the offended +chief. Unconsciously, for the first time in his thraldom, he gave to a +Northman the title a Saxon uses to his superior. + +"Lord, you are right to think me unmannerly. I was mad with anger so +that I did not weigh my words. I will say nothing against it if you +treat me like a churl." + +To the others, this also was inexplicable. They scratched their heads, +and rubbed their ears, and gaped at one another. Leif smiled grimly as +he caught their looks. Picking a silver ring from his pouch, he tossed +it to Valbrand. + +"Take this to Kark to pay him for his broken head, and advise him to +make less noise with his mouth in the future." When they were gone he +turned to Alwin and signed him to rise. "You understand a language that +churls do not understand. I will try you further. Go dress yourself, +then bring hither the runes you were reading to Rolf Erlingsson." + +Alwin obeyed in silence, a tumult of long-quiet emotions whirling +through his brain,--relief and shame and gratification, and, underneath +it all, a new-born loyalty. + +All the rest of the day, until the sun dropped like a red ball behind +the waves, he sat at the chief's feet and read to him from the Saxon +book. He read stumblingly, haltingly; but he was not blamed for his +blunders. His listener caught at the meanings hungrily, and pieced out +their deficiencies with his keen wit and dressed their nakedness in his +vivid imagination. Now his great chest heaved with passion, and his +strong hand gripped his sword-hilt; now he crossed himself and sighed, +and again his eyes flashed like smitten steel. When at last the failing +light compelled Alwin to lay down the book, the chief sat for a long +time staring at him with keen but absent eyes. + +After a while he said, half as though he was speaking to himself: "It is +my belief that Heaven itself has sent you to me, that I may be +strengthened and inspired in my work." His face kindled with devout +rapture. "It must have been by the guidance of Heaven that you were +trained in so unusual an accomplishment. It was the hand of God that led +you hither, to be an instrument in a great work." + +Awe fell upon Alwin, and a shiver of superstition that was almost +terror. He bowed his head and crossed himself. + +But when he looked up, the thread had snapped; Leif was himself again. +He was eying the boy critically, though with a new touch of something +like respect. + +He said abruptly: "It is not altogether befitting that one who has the +accomplishments of a holy priest should go garbed like a base-bred +thrall. What is the color of the clothes that priests wear in England?" + +Alwin answered, wondering: "They wear black habits, lord. It is for that +reason that they are called Black Monks." + +Rising, Leif beckoned to Valbrand. When the steersman stood before him, +he said: "Take this boy down to my chests and clothe him from head to +foot in black garments of good quality. And hereafter let it be +understood that he is my honorable bowerman, and a person of breeding +and accomplishments." + +The old henchman looked at the new favorite as dispassionately as he +would have looked at a weapon or a dog that had taken his master's +fancy. "I would not oppose your will in this, any more than in other +things; yet I take it upon me to remind you of Kark. If you make this +cook-boy your bowerman, to keep the scales balancing you must make him +who was your bowerman into a cook-boy. It is in my mind that Kark's +father will take that as il1 as--" + +A sweep of Leif's arm swept Kark out of the path of his will. "Who is it +that is to command me how I shall choose my servants? The Fates made +Kark a cook-boy when he was born; let him go back where he belongs. I +have endured his boorishness long enough. Am I to despise a tool that +Heaven has sent me because a clod at my feet is jealous? What kind of +luck could that bring?" + +Convinced or not, Valbrand was silenced. "It shall be as you wish," he +muttered. + +Alwin fell on his knee, and, not daring to kiss the chief's hand, raised +the hem of the scarlet cloak to his lips. + +"Lord," he said earnestly; then stopped because he could not find words +in which to speak his gratitude. "Lord--" he began again, and again he +was at a loss. At last he finished bluntly, "Lord, I will serve you as +only a man can serve whose whole heart is in his work." + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PASSING OF THE SCAR + + + A ship is made for sailing, + A shield for sheltering, + A sword for striking, + A maiden for kisses. + Ha'vama'l + +"When the sun rises tomorrow it is likely that we shall see Greenland +ahead of us," growled Egil. + +With Sigurd and the Wrestler, he was lounging against the side, watching +the witch-fires run along the waves through the darkness. The new +bower-man stood next to Sigurd, but Egil could not properly be said to +be with him, for the two only spoke under the direst necessity. Around +them, under the awnings, in the light of flaring pine torches, the crew +were sprawled over the rowing-benches killing time with drinking and +riddles. + +"It seems to me that it will gladden my heart to see it," Sigurd +responded. "As I think of the matter, I recall great fun in Greenland. +There were excellent wrestling matches between the men of the East and +the West settlements. And do you remember the fine feasts Eric was wont +to make?" + +Rolf gently smacked his lips and laid his hands upon his stomach. "By +all means. And remember also the seal hunting and the deer-shooting!" + +Sigurd's eyes glistened. "Many good things may be told of Greenland. +There is no place in the world so fine to run over on skees. By Saint +Michael, I shall be glad to get there!" He struck Egil a rousing blow +upon the sullen hump of his shoulders. + +Unmoved, the Black One continued to stare out into the darkness, his +chin upon his fists. + +"Ugh! Yes. Very likely," he grunted. "Very likely it will be clear +sailing for you, but it is my belief that some of us will run into a +squall when we have left Leif and gone to our own homes, and it becomes +known to our kinsmen that we are no longer Odin-men. It is probable that +my father will stick his knife into me." + +There was a pause while they digested the truth of this; until Rolf +relieved the tension by saying quietly: "Speak for yourself, companion. +My kinsman is no such fool. He has been on too many trading voyages +among the Christians. Already he is baptized in both faiths; so that +when Thor does not help him, he is wont to pray to the god of the +Christians. Thus is he safe either way; and not a few Greenland chiefs +are of his opinion." + +Sigurd's merry laugh rang out. "Now that is having a cloak to wear on +both sides, according to the weather! If only Eric were so minded--" + +"Is Eric the ruler in Greenland?" Alwin interrupted. All this while he +had been looking from one to the other, listening attentively. + +The two sons of Greenland chiefs answered "No!" in one breath. Sigurd +raised quizzical eyebrows. + +"I admit that he is not the ruler in name, Greenland being a republic, +but in fact--?" + +They let him go on without contradiction. + +"Thus it stands, Alwin. Eric the Red was the first to settle in +Greenland, therefore he owns the most land. Besides Brattahlid, he owns +many fishing stations; and he also has stations on several islands where +men gather eggs for him and get what drift-wood there is. And not only +is he the richest man, but he is also the highest-born, for his father's +father was a jarl of Jaederan; and so--" + +It is to be feared that Alwin lost some of this. He broke in suddenly: +"Now I know where it is that I have heard the name of Eric the Red! It +has haunted me for days. In the trader's booth in Norway a minstrel sang +a ballad of 'Eric the Red and his Dwarf-Cursed Sword.' Know you of it?" + +He was answered by the involuntary glances that the others cast toward +the chief. + +Rolf said with a shrug: "It is bondmaids' gabble. There is little need +to say that a dwarf cursed Eric's sword, to explain how it comes that he +has been three times exiled for manslaughter, and driven from Norway to +Iceland and from Iceland to Greenland. He quarrelled and slew wherever +he settled, because he has a temper like that of the dragon Fafnir." + +A faint red tinged Egil's dark cheeks. "Nevertheless, Skroppa's prophecy +has come true," he muttered, "that after the blade was once sheathed in +the new soil of Greenland, it would bring no more ill-luck." + +"Skroppa!" cried Alwin. But he got no further, for Sigurd's hand was +clapped over his mouth. + +"Lower your voice when you speak that name, comrade," the Silver-Tongued +warned him. + +"Do not speak it at all," Egil interrupted brusquely. "The English girl +is coming aft. It is likely she brings some message from Helga." + +They faced about eagerly. Editha's smooth brown head was indeed to be +seen threading its way between the noisy groups. They agreed that it was +time they heard from the shield-maiden. For her to take advantage of her +womanhood, and turn the forecastle into a woman's-house, and forbid +their approach, was something unheard-of and outrageous. + +"It would be treating her as she deserves if we should refuse to go now +when she sends for us," Egil growled, though without any apparent +intention of carrying out the threat. + +To the extreme amusement of his fellows, Sigurd began to settle his +ornaments and rearrange his long locks. + +"It may be that she accepts my invitation to play chess. Leif spoke with +her for a long time this afternoon; it is likely that he roused her from +her black mood." + +"It is likely that he roused her," Alwin said slowly. + +There was something so peculiar in his voice that they all turned and +looked at him. He had suddenly grown very red and uncomfortable. + +"It seems that anyone can be foreknowing at certain times," he said, +trying to smile. "Now my mind tells me that the summons will be for me." + +"For you!" Egil's brows became two black thunder-clouds from under which +his eyes flashed lightnings at the thrall. + +Alwin yielded to helpless laughter. "There is little need for you to get +angry. Rather would I be drowned than go." + +It was Sigurd's turn to be offended. "I had thought better of you, Alwin +of England, than to suppose that you would cherish hatred against a +woman who has offered to be your friend." + +"Hatred?" For a moment Alwin did not understand him; then he added: "By +Saint George, that is so! I had altogether forgotten that it was my +intention to hate her! I swear to you, Sigurd, I have not thought of the +matter these two weeks." + +"Which causes me to suspect that you have been thinking very hard of +something else," Rolf suggested. + +But Alwin closed his lips and kept his eyes on Editha's approaching +figure. + +The little bondmaid came up to them, dropped as graceful a curtsey as +she could manage with the pitching of the vessel, and said timidly: "If +it please you, my lord Alwin, my mistress desires to speak with you at +once." + +"Hail to the prophet!" laughed Sigurd, pretending to rumple the locks +that he had so carefully smoothed. + +"Now Heaven grant that I am a false prophet in the rest of my +foretelling," Alwin murmured to himself, as he followed the girl +forward. "If I am forced to tell her the truth, I think it likely she +will scratch my eyes out." + +She did not look dangerous when he came up to her. She was sitting on a +little stool, with her hands folded quietly in her lap, and on her +beautiful face the dazed look of one who has heard startling news. But +her first question was straight to the mark. + +"Leif has told me that Gilli and Bertha of Trondhjem are my father and +mother. He says that you have seen them and know them. Tell me what they +are like." + +It was an instant plunge into very deep water. Alwin gasped. "Lady, +there are many things to be said on the subject. It may be that I am not +a good judge." + +He was glad to stop and accept the stool Editha offered, and spend a +little time settling himself upon it; but that could not last long. + +"Bertha of Trondhjem is a very beautiful woman," he began. "It is easy +to believe that she is your mother. Also she is gentle and +kind-hearted--" + +Helga's shoulders moved disdainfully. "She must be a coward. To get rid +of her child because a man ordered it! Have you heard that? Because when +I was born some lying hag pretended to read in the stars that I would +one day become a misfortune to my father, he ordered me to be thrown +out--for wolves to eat or beggars to take. And my mother had me carried +to Eric, who is Gilli's kinsman, and bound him to keep it a secret. She +is a coward." + +"It must be remembered that she had been a captive of Gilli," Alwin +reminded the shield-maiden. "Even Norse wives are sometimes--" + +"She is a coward. Tell me of Gilli. At least he is not witless. What is +he like?" + +Again the deep water. Alwin stirred in his seat and fingered at the +silver lace on his cap. He was dressed splendidly now. Left's wardrobe +had contained nothing black that was also plain, so the bowerman's long +hose were of silk, his tunic was seamed with silver, his belt studded +with steel bosses, his cloak lined with fine gray fur. + +"Lady," he stammered, "as I have said, it may be that I am not a fair +judge. Gilli did not behave well to me. Yet I have heard that he is very +kind to his wife. It is likely that he would give you costly things--" + +Helga's foot stamped upon the deck. "What do I care for that?" + +He knew how little she cared. He gave up any further attempts at +diplomacy. + +But her next words granted him a respite. "What was the message that you +wrote to my mother for Leif?" + +"I think I can remember the exact words," he answered readily, "it gave +me so much trouble to spell them. It read this way, after the greeting: +'Do you remember the child you sent to Eric? She is here in Norway with +me. She is well grown and handsome. I go back the second day after this. +It will be a great grief to her if she is obliged to go also. If her +father could see her, it is likely he would be willing to give her a +home in Norway. It would even be worth while coming all the way to +Greenland after her. It is certain that Gilli would think so, if you +could manage that he should see her.' I think that was all, lady." + +"If Gilli is what I suspect him to be, that is more than enough," Helga +said slowly. She raised her head and looked straight into his eyes. +"Answer me this,--you know and must tell,--is he a high-minded warrior +like Leif, or is he a money-loving trader?" + +"Lady," said Alwin desperately, "if you will have the truth, he is a +mean-spirited churl who thinks that the only thing in the world is to +have property." + +Helga drew a long breath, and her slender hands clenched in her lap. +"Now I have found what I have suspected. Answer this truthfully also: If +I go back to him, is it not likely that he will marry me to the first +creature who offers to make a good bargain with him?" + +"Yes," said Alwin. + +For days he had been watching her with uneasy pity, whenever in his +mind's eye he saw her in the power of the unscrupulous trader, It had +made him uncomfortable to feel that he was the tool that had brought it +about, even though he knew he was as innocent as the bark on which he +had written. + +Drop by drop the blood sank out of Helga's face. Spark by spark, the +light died out of her eyes. Like some poor trapped animal, she sat +staring dully ahead of her. + +It was more than Alwin could bear in silence. He leaned forward and +shook her arm. "Lady, do anything rather than despair. Get into a rage +with me,--though Heaven knows I never intended your misfortune! Yet it +is natural you should feel hard toward me. I--" + +She stared at him dully. "Why should I be angry with you? You could not +help what you did; and Leif thought I would wish rather to go to my own +mother than to Thorhild." + +It had never occurred to Alwin that she would be reasonable. His remorse +became the more eager. He bethought himself of some slight comfort. "At +least it cannot happen for a year, lady. And in--" + +She raised her head quickly. "Why can it not happen for a year?" + +"Because Gilli is away on a trading voyage, and will not be back until +fall, when it will be too late to start for Greenland. Nor will he come +early in spring and so lose the best of his trading season. It is sure +to be more than a year." + +Youth can construct a lifeboat out of a straw. Hope crept back to +Helga's eyes. + +"A year is a long time. Many things can happen in a year. Gilli may be +slain, --for every man a mistletoe-shaft grows somewhere. Or I may marry +someone in Greenland. Already two chiefs have asked my hand of Leif, so +it is not likely that I shall lack chances." + +"That is true; and it may also happen that the Lady Bertha will never +get my runes. She was absent on a visit when Valbrand left them at her +farm. Or even if she gets them, she may lack courage to tell the news to +Gilli. Or he may dislike the expense of a daughter. Surely, where there +are so many holes, there are many good chances that the danger will fall +through one of them." + +Helga flung up her head with a gallant air. "I will heed your advice in +this matter. I will not trouble myself another moment; and I will love +Brattahlid as a bird loves the cliff that hides it! And Thorhild? What +if her nature is such that she is cross? She is no coward. She would +defend those she loved, though she died for it. I should like to see +Eric bid her to abandon a child. There would not be a red hair left in +his beard. Better is it to be brave and true than to be gentle like your +Lady Bertha. Is it because she is my mother that you give that title to +me also?" + +Alwin hesitated and reddened. "Yes. And because I like to remember that +there is English blood in you." + +Helga paused in the midst of her excitement, and her face softened. She +looked at him, and her starry eyes were full of frank good-will. + +She said slowly, "Since there is English blood in me, it may be that you +will some time ask for the friendship I have offered you." + +At that moment, it seemed to Alwin that such simplicity and frankness +were worth more than all the gentle graces of his country-women. He put +out his hand. + +"You need not wait long for me to ask that," he said. "I would have +asked it a week ago, but I could not think it honorable to call myself +your friend when I had injured you so." + +Helga's slim fingers gave his a firm clasp, but she laughed merrily. + +"That is where you are mistaken. If you had not injured me, you would +never have forgotten that I had injured you. Now we are even, and we +start afresh. That is a good thing." + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THROUGH BARS OF ICE + + + A day should be praised at night; + A sword when it is tried; + Ice when it is crossed. + Ha'vama'l + + +A dim line of snowy islands, so far apart that it was hard to believe +they were only the ice-tipped summits of Greenland's towering coast, +stretched across the horizon. Standing at Helga's side in the bow, Alwin +gazed at them earnestly. + +"To think," he marvelled, "that we have come to the very last land on +this side of the world! Suppose we were to sail still further west? What +is it likely that we would come to? Does the ocean end in a wall of ice, +or would we fall off the earth and go tumbling heels over head through +the darkness--? By St. George, it makes one dizzy!" + +Helga's ideas were not much clearer. It was nearly five hundred years +before the time of Columbus. But she knew one thing that Alwin did not +know. + +"Greenland is not the most western land," she corrected. "There is +another still further west, though no one knows how big it is or who +lives in it." + +She turned, laughing, to where young Haraldsson sat counting the wealth +of his pouch and calculating how valuable could be the presents he could +afford to bestow on his arrival. + +"Sigurd, do you remember that western land Biorn Herjulfsson saw? and +how we were wont to plan to run away to it, when I grew tired of +embroidering and Leif kept you overlong at your exercises?" + +"I have not thought of it since those days," laughed Sigurd. He swept +the mass of gold and silver trinkets back into the velvet pouch at his +belt, and came over and joined them. "What fine times we had planning +those trips, over the fire in the evenings! By Saint Michael, I think we +actually started once; have you forgotten?--in the long-boat off +Thorwald's whaling vessel! And you wore a suit of my clothes, and fought +me because I said anyone could tell that you were a girl." + +Helga's laughter rang out like a chime of bells. "Oh, Sigurd I had +forgotten it! And we had nothing with us to eat but two cheeses! And +Valbrand had to launch a boat and come after us!" + +They abandoned themselves to their mirth, and Alwin laughed with them; +but his curiosity had been aroused on another subject. + +"I wish you would tell me something concerning this farther land," he +said, as soon as he could get them to listen. "Does it in truth exist, +or is it a tale to amuse children with?" + +They both assured him that it was quite true. + +"I myself have talked with one of the sailors who saw it," Sigurd +explained. "He was Biorn's steersman. He saw it distinctly. He said that +it looked like a fine country, with many trees." + +"If it was a real country and no witchcraft, it is strange that he +contented himself with looking at it. Why did he not land and explore?" + +"Biorn Herjulfsson is a coward," Helga said contemptuously. "Every man +who can move his tongue says so." + +Sigurd frowned at her. "You give judgment too glibly. I have heard many +say that he is a brave man. But he was not out on an exploring voyage; +he was sailing from Iceland to Greenland, to visit his father, and lost +his way. And he is a man not apt to be eager in new enterprises. +Besides, it may be that he thought the land was inhabited by dwarfs." + +"There, you have admitted that I am right!" Helga cried triumphantly. +"He was afraid of the dwarfs; and a man who is afraid of anything is a +coward." + +But Sigurd could fence with his tongue as well as with his sword. "What +then is a shield-maiden who is afraid of her kinswoman?" he parried. And +they fell to wrangling laughingly between themselves. + +Unheeding them, Alwin gazed away at the mysterious blue west. His eyes +were big with great thoughts. If he had a ship and a crew,--if he could +sail away exploring! Suppose kingdoms could be founded there! +Suppose--his imaginings became as lofty as the drifting clouds, and as +vague; so vague that he finally lost interest in them, and turned his +attention to the approaching shore. They had come near enough now to see +that the scattered islands had connected themselves into a peaked coast, +a broken line of dazzling whiteness, except where dark chasms made blots +upon its sides. + +But sighting Greenland and landing upon it were two very different +matters, he found. A little further, and they encountered the border of +drift-ice that, travelling down from the northeast in company with +numerous icebergs, closes the fiord-mouths in summer like a magic bar. + +"I shall think it great luck if this breaks up so that we can get +through it in a month," Valbrand observed phlegmatically. + +"A month?" Alwin gasped, overhearing him. + +The old sailor looked at him in contempt. "Does a month seem long to +you? When Eric came here from Iceland, he was obliged to lie four months +in the ice." + +Four months on shipboard, with nothing more cheerful to look at than +barren cliffs and a gray sea paved with grinding ice-cakes! The +consternation of Alwin's face was so great that Sigurd took pity on him +even while he laughed. + +"It will not be so bad as that. And we will steer to a point north of +the fiord and lie there in the shelter of an island." + +"Shelter!" muttered the English youth. "Twelve eiderdown beds would be +insufficient to shelter one from this wind." + +Nor was the island of any more inviting appearance when finally they +reached it. What of it was not barren boulders was covered with black +lichens, the only hint of green being an occasional patch of moss +nestling in some rocky fissure. To heighten the effect, icy gales blew +continually, accompanied by heavy mists and chilling fogs. + +Amid these inhospitable surroundings they were penned for two +weeks,--Norse weeks of but five days each, but seemingly endless to the +captives from the south. Editha retired permanently into the big +bear-skin sleeping-bag that enveloped the whole of her little person and +was the only cure for the chattering of her teeth. Alwin wrapped himself +in every garment he owned and as many of Sigurd's as could be spared, +and strove to endure the situation with the stoicism of his companions; +but now and then his disgust got the better of his philosophy. + +"How intelligent beings can find it in their hearts to return to this +country after the good God has once allowed them to leave it, passes my +understanding!" he stormed, on the tenth day of this sorry picnicking. +"At first it was in my mind to fear lest such a small ship should sink +in such a great sea; now I only dread that it will not, and that we will +be brought alive to land and forced to live there." + +Rolf regarded him with his amiable smile. "If your eyes were as blue as +your lips, and your cheeks were as red as your nose, you would be +considered a handsome man," he said encouragingly. + +And again it was Sigurd who took pity on Alwin. "Bear it well; it will +not last much longer," he said. "Already a passage is opening. And +inside the fiord, much is different from what is expected." + +Alwin smiled with polite incredulity. + +The next day's sun showed a dark channel open to them, so that before +noon they had entered upon the broad water-lane known as Eric's Fiord. +The silence between the towering walls was so absolute, so death-like, +as to be almost uncanny. Mile after mile they sailed, between bleak +cliffs ice-crowned and garbed in black lichens; mile after mile further +yet, without passing anything more cheerful than a cluster of rocky +islands or a slope covered with brownish moss. The most luxuriant of the +islands boasted only a patch of crowberry bushes or a few creeping +junipers too much abashed to lift their heads a finger's length above +the earth. + +Alwin looked about him with a sigh, and then at Sigurd with a grimace. +"Do you still say that this is pleasanter than drowning?" he inquired. + +Sigurd met the fling with obstinate composure. "Are you blind to the +greenness of yonder plain? And do you not feel the sun upon you?" + +All at once it occurred to Alwin that the icy wind of the headlands had +ceased to blow; the fog had vanished, and there was a genial warmth in +the air about him. And yonder,--certainly yonder meadow was as green as +the camp in Norway. He threw off one of his cloaks and settled himself +to watch. + +Gradually the green patches became more numerous, until the level was +covered with nothing else. In one place, he almost thought he caught a +gleam of golden buttercups. The verdure crept up the snow-clad slopes, +hundreds and thousands of feet; and here and there, beside some foaming +little cataract tumbling down from a glacier-fed stream, a rhododendron +glowed like a rosy flame. They passed the last island, covered with a +copse of willows as high as a tall man's head, and came into an open +stretch of water bordered by rolling pasture lands, filled with daisies +and mild-eyed cattle. Sigurd clutched the English boy's arm excitedly. + +"Yonder are Eric's ship-sheds! And there--over that hill, where the +smoke is rising--there is Brattahlid!" + +"There?" exclaimed Alwin. "Now it was in my mind that you had told me +that Eric's house was built on Eric's Fiord." + +"So it is,--or two miles from there, which is of little importance. Oh, +yes, it stands on the very banks of Einar's Fiord; but since that is a +route one takes only when he visits the other parts of the settlement, +and seldom when he runs out to sea--Is that a man I see upon the +landing?" + +"If they have not already seen us and come down to meet us, their eyes +are less sharp than they were wont to be three years ago," Rolf began; +when Sigurd answered his own question. + +"They are there; do you not see? Crowds of them--between the sheds. +Someone is waving a cloak. By Saint Michael, the sight of Normandy did +not gladden me like this!" + +"Let down sail! drop anchor, and make the boats ready to lower," came in +Valbrand's heavy drone. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ERIC THE RED IN HIS DOMAIN + + + Givers, hail! + A guest is come in; + Where shall he sit? + + Water to him is needful + Who for refection comes, + A towel and hospitable invitation, + A good reception; + If he can get it, + Discourse and answer. + Ha'vama'l + +Ten by ten, the ship's boat brought them to land, and into the crowd of +armed retainers, house servants, field hands, and thralls. A roar of +delight greeted the appearance of Helga; and Sigurd was nearly +overturned by welcoming hands. It seemed that the crowd stood too much +in awe of Leif to salute him with any familiarity, but they made way for +him most respectfully; and a pack of shaggy dogs fell upon him and +almost tore him to pieces in the frenzy of their joyful recognition. A +fusillade of shoulder-slapping filled the air. Not a buxom maid but +found some brawny neck to fling her arms about, receiving a hearty smack +for her pains. Nor were the men more backward; it was only by clinging +like a burr to her mistress's side that Editha escaped a dozen vigorous +caresses. Alwin, with his short hair and his contradictorily rich dress, +was stared at in outspoken curiosity. The men whispered that Leif had +become so grand that he must have a page to carry his cloak, like the +King himself. The women said that, in any event, the youth looked +handsome, and black became his fair complexion. Kark scowled as he +stepped ashore and heard their comments. + +"Where is my father, Thorhall?" he demanded, giving his hand with far +more haughtiness than the chief. + +"He has gone hunting with Thorwald Ericsson," one of the house thralls +informed him. "He will not be back until to-night." + +Whereupon Kark's colorless face became mottled with red temper-spots, +and he pushed rudely through the throng and disappeared among the +ship-sheds. + +"Is my brother Thorstein also in Greenland?" Leif asked the servant. + +But the man answered that Eric's youngest son was absent on a visit to +his mother's kin in Iceland. When the boat had brought the last man to +land, the "Sea-Deer" was left to float at rest until the time of her +unloading; and they began to move up from the shore in a boisterous +procession. + +Between rich pastures and miniature forests of willow and birch and +alder, a broad lane ran east over green hill and dale. Amid a babel of +talk and laughter, they passed along the lane, the rank and file +performing many jovial capers, slipping bold arms around trim waists and +scuffling over bundles of treasure. Over hill and dale they went for +nearly two miles; then, some four hundred feet from the rocky banks of +Einar's Fiord, the lane ended before the wide-thrown gates of a high +fence. + +If the gates had been closed, one might have guessed what was inside; so +unvarying was the plan of Norse manors. A huge quadrangular courtyard +was surrounded by substantial buildings. To the right was the great +hall, with the kitchens and storehouses. Across the inner side stood the +women's house, with the herb-garden on one hand, and the guest-chambers +on the other. To the left were the stables, the piggery, the +sheep-houses, the cow-sheds, and the smithies. + +No sooner had they passed the gates than a second avalanche of greetings +fell upon them. Gathered together in the grassy space were more armed +retainers, more white-clad thralls, more barking dogs, more house +servants in holiday attire, and, at the head of them, the far-famed Eric +the Red and his strong-minded Thorhild. + +One glance at the Red One convinced Alwin that his reputation did not +belie him. It was not alone his floating hair and his long beard that +were fiery; his whole person looked capable of instantaneous combustion. +His choleric blue eyes, now twinkling with good humor, a spark could +kindle into a blaze. A breath could fan the ruddy spots on his cheeks +into flames. + +As Alwin watched him, he said to himself, "It is not that he was three +times exiled for manslaughter which surprises me,--it is that he was not +exiled thirty times." + +Alwin looked curiously at the plump matron, with the stately head-dress +of white linen and the bunch of jingling keys at her girdle, and had a +surprise of a different kind. Certainly there were no soft curves in her +resolute mouth, and her eyes were as keen as Leif's; yet it was neither +a cruel face nor a shrewish one. It was full of truth and strength, and +there was comeliness in her broad smooth brow and in the unfaded roses +of her cheeks. Ah, and now that the keen eyes had fallen upon Leif, they +were no longer sharp; they were soft and deep with mother-love, and +radiant with pride. Her hands stirred as though they could not wait to +touch him. + +There was a pause of some decorum, while the chief embraced his parents; +then the tumult burst forth. No man could hear himself, much less his +neighbor. + +Under cover of the confusion, Alwin approached Helga. Having no +greetings of his own to occupy him, he made over his interest to others. +The shield-maiden was standing on the very spot where Leif had left her, +Editha clinging to her side. She was gazing at Thorhild and nervously +clasping and unclasping her hands. + +Alwin said in her ear: "She will make you a better mother than Bertha of +Trondhjem. It is my advice that you reconcile yourself to her at once." + +"It was in my mind," Helga said slowly, "it was in my mind that I could +love her!" + +Shaking off Editha, she took a hesitating step forward. Thorhild had +parted from Leif, and turned to welcome Sigurd. Helga took another step. +Thorhild raised her head and looked at her. When she saw the picturesque +figure, with its short kirtle and its shirt of steel, she drew herself +up stiffly, and it was evident that she tried to frown; but Helga walked +quickly up to her and put her arms about her neck and laid her head upon +her breast and clung there. + +By and by the matron slipped an arm around the girl's waist, then one +around her shoulders. Finally she bent her head and kissed her. Directly +after, she pushed her off and held her at arm's length. + +"You have grown like a leek. I wonder that such a life has not ruined +your complexion. Was cloth so costly in Norway that Leif could afford no +more for a skirt? You shall put on one of mine the instant we get +indoors. It is time you had a woman to look after you." + +But Helga was no longer repelled by her severity; she could appreciate +now what lay beneath it. She said, "Yes, kinswoman," with proper +submissiveness, and then looked over at Alwin with laughing eyes. + +Eric's voice now made itself heard above the din. "Bring them into the +house, you simpletons! Bring them indoors! Will you keep them starving +while you gabble? Bring them in, and spread the tables, and fill up the +horns. Drink to the Lucky One in the best mead in Greenland. Come in, +come in! In the Troll's name, come in, and be welcome!" + +Rolf smiled his guileless smile aside to Egil. "It is likely that he +will say other things 'in the Troll's name' when he finds out why the +Lucky One has come," he murmured. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +FOR THE SAKE OF THE CROSS + + + A wary guest + Who to refection comes + Keeps a cautious silence; + With his ears listens, + And with his eyes observes: + So explores every prudent man. + Ha'vama'l + + +In accordance with the fashion of the day, Brattahlid was a hall not +only in the sense of being a large room, but in being a building by +itself,--and a building it was of entirely unique appearance. Instead of +consisting of huge logs, as Norse houses almost invariably did, three +sides of it had been built of immense blocks of red sandstone; and for +the fourth side, a low, perpendicular, smooth rock had been used, so +that one of the inner walls was formed by a natural cliff between ten +and twelve feet high. Undoubtedly it was from this peculiarity that the +name Brattahlid had been bestowed upon it, Brattahlid signifying 'steep +side of a rock.' Its style was the extreme of simplicity, for a square +opening in the roof took the place of a chimney, and it had few windows, +and those were small and filled with a bladder-like membrane instead of +glass; yet it was not without a certain impressiveness. The hall was so +large that nearly two hundred men could find seats on the two benches +that ran through it from end to end. Its walls were of a symmetry and +massiveness to outlast the wear of centuries; and the interior had even +a certain splendor. + +To-night, decked for a feast, it was magnificent to behold. Gay-hued +tapestries covered the sides, along which rows of round shields +overlapped each other like bright painted scales. Over the benches were +laid embroidered cloths; while the floor was strewn with straw until it +sparkled as with a carpet of spun gold. Before the benches, on either +side of the long stone hearth that ran through the centre of the hall, +stood tables spread with covers of flax bleached white as foam. The +light of the crackling pine torches quivered and flashed from gilded +vessels, and silver-covered trenchers, and goblets of rarely beautiful +glass, ruby and amber and emerald green. + +"I have nowhere seen a finer hall," Alwin admitted to Sigurd, as they +pushed their way in through the crowd. "If the high-seats were +different, and the fire-place was against the wall, and there were reeds +upon the floor instead of straw, it would not be unlike what my father's +castle was." + +"If I were altogether different, would I look like a Saxon maiden also?" +Helga's voice laughed in his ear. She had come in through the women's +door, with Thorhild and a throng of high-born women. Already she was +transformed. A trailing gown of blue made her seem to have grown a head +taller. Bits of finery--a gold belt at her waist, a gold brooch on her +breast, a string of amber beads around the white neck that showed +coquettishly above the snowy kerchief--banished the last traces of the +shield-maiden, For the first time, it occurred to Alwin that she was +more than a good comrade,--she was a girl, a beautiful girl, the kind +that some day a man would love and woo and win. He gazed at her with +wonder and admiration, and something more; gazed so intently that he did +not see Egil's eyes fastened upon him. + +Helga laughed at his surprise; then she frowned. "If you say that you +like me better in these clothes, I shall be angry with you," she +whispered sharply. + +Fortunately, Alwin was not obliged to commit himself. At that moment the +headwoman or housekeeper, who was also mistress of ceremonies in the +absence of the steward, came bustling through the crowd, and divided the +men from the women, indicating to every one his place according to the +strictest interpretation of the laws of precedence. + +If there had been more time for preparation there would have been a +larger company to greet the returned guardsman. Yet the messengers +Thorhild had hastily despatched had brought back nearly a score of +chiefs and their families; and what with their additional attendants, +and Leif's band of followers, and Eric's own household, there were few +empty places along the walls. + +According to custom, Eric sat in his high-seat between two lofty carved +pillars midway the northern length of the hall. Thorhild sat in the seat +with him; the high-born men were placed upon his right; the high-born +women were upon her left. Opposite them, as became the guest of honor +and his father's eldest son, Leif was established in the other +high-seat. Tyrker, weazened and blinking, and swaddled in furs, sat on +one side of him; Jarl Harald's son was on the other, merry-eyed, +fresh-faced, and dressed like a prince. On either hand, like beads on a +necklace, the crew of the "Sea-Deer" were strung along. Kark came the +very last of the line, in the lowest seat by the door. Alwin had fresh +cause to be grateful to the fate that had changed their stations. His +place was on the foot-stool before Leif's high-seat, guarding the +chief's cup. It was an honorable place, and one from which he could see +and hear, and even speak with Sigurd when anything happened that was too +interesting to keep to himself. + +Among Leif's men there were many temptations to consult together. Not +one but was waiting in tense expectancy for the move that should +disclose the guardsman's mission. They had sternest commands from Leif +to take no step without his order. They had equally positive word from +Valbrand to defend their chief at all hazards. Between the two, they sat +breathless and strained, even while they swallowed the delicacies before +them. + +When the towels and hand-basins had gone quite around, and all the food +had been put upon the table, and the feast was well under way, three +musicians were brought in bearing fiddles and a harp. Their performance +formed a cover under which the guests could relieve their minds. + +"Do you observe that he has let his crucifix slide around under his +cloak where it is not likely to be noticed?" one whispered to another. +"It is my belief that he wishes to put off the evil hour." + +"When the horse-flesh is passed to him he will be obliged to refuse, and +that will betray him," the other answered. + +But Eric did not see when Leif shook his head at the bearer of the +forbidden meat; and that danger passed. + +Rolf murmured approvingly in Sigurd's ear: "He is wise to lie low as +long as possible. It is a great thing to get a good foothold before the +whirlwind overtakes one." + +Sigurd shook his head in his goblet. "When you wish to disarm a serpent, +it is best to provoke him into striking at once, and so draw the poison +out of his fangs." + +Under the shelter of some twanging chords, Alwin whispered up to them: +"If you could sit here and see Kark's face, you would think of a dog +that is going to bite. And he keeps watching the door. What is it that +he expects to come through it?" + +Neither could say. They also took to watching the entrance. + +Meanwhile the feasting went merrily on. The table was piled with what +were considered the daintiest of dishes,--reindeer tongues, fish, +broiled veal, horse-steaks, roast birds, shining white pork; wine by the +jugful, besides vats of beer and casks of mead; curds, and loaves of rye +bread, mounds of butter, and mountains of cheese. Toasts and compliments +flew back and forth. Alwin was kept leaping to supply his master's +goblet, so many wished the honor of drinking with him. His news of +Norway was listened to with breathless attention; his opinion was +received with deference. Often it seemed to Alwin that he had only to +speak to have his mission instantly accomplished. The English youth +noticed, however, that amid all Leif's flowing eloquence there was no +reference to the new faith. + +The feast waxed merrier and noisier. One of the fiddlers began to shout +a ballad, to the accompaniment of the harp. It happened to be the "Song +of the Dwarf-Cursed Sword." Sigurd swallowed a curd the wrong way when +the words struck his ear; even Valbrand looked sideways at his chief. +But Leif's face was immovable; and only his followers noticed that he +did not join in the applause that followed the song. Some of the crew +let out sighs of impatience. They could fight,--it was their pleasure +next after drinking,--but these waits of diplomacy were almost too much +for them. It was fortunate that some trick-dogs were brought in at this +point. Watching their antics, the spectators forgot impatience in +boisterous delight. + +While they were cheering the dog that had jumped highest over his pole, +and pounding on the table to express their approval, through chinks in +the uproar there came from outside a sound of voices, and horses +neighing. + +"It is Thorwald, home from hunting!" Sigurd said eagerly, looking toward +the door. In a moment he was proved correct, for the door had opened and +admitted the sportsman and his companion. + +Thorwald Ericsson was as unlike his brother Leif as the guardsman was +different from some of the plain farmers around him. He was long and +lean and wiry, and his thin lips were set in cruel lines. His dress was +shabby, and out of all decent order. Patches of fur had been torn out of +his cloak; he was muddy up to his knees, and there was blood on his +tunic and on his hands. He stood staring at the gay company in surprise, +blinking in the sudden light, until his gaze en-countered Leif, when he +cried out joyously and hastened forward to seize his hand. + +Alwin drew away in disgust from the touch of his ill-smelling garments. +As he did so, his eye fell upon Kark, who had laid hold of Thorwald's +companion and was talking rapidly in his ear. + +The new-comer was not an amiable-looking man. Above his gigantic body +was a lowering face that showed a capacity for slyness or viciousness, +whichever better served his turn. As Kark talked to him, his brow grew +blacker and he plucked savagely at his knife-hilt. It dawned upon Alwin +then that he must be Kark's father, the steward Thorhall of whom +Valbrand had spoken. + +"In which case it is likely that something is about to happen," he told +himself, and tried to communicate the news to Sigurd. But Thorwald stood +between them, still pressing Leif's hand. + +When the hunter had passed on down the line of the crew, Thorhall came +forward and greeted Leif with great civility. Only as he was retiring +his eye appeared to fall upon Alwin for the first time; he stopped in +pained surprise. + +"What is this I see, chief? You have got another bowerman in place of my +son, whom your father gave to you? It must be that Kark has done +something which you dislike. Tell me what it is, and I will slay him +with my own hand." + +Again Valbrand looked sideways at his master, as if to remind him that +he had warned him of this. Tyrker began to fumble at his beard with +shaking hands, and to blink across at Eric. This time they had attracted +the Red One's attention. His palm was curved around his ear that he +might not lose a word; his eyes were fastened upon Leif. + +The guardsman's face was as inscrutable as the side of his goblet. "If +Kark had deserved to be slain, he would not be living now. He is less +accomplished than this man, therefore I changed them." + +The steward bent his head in apparent submission. "Now, as always, you +are right. Rather than a boorish Odin-man, better is it to have a man of +accomplishments,--even though he be a hound of a Christian." He turned +away, as one quite innocent of the barb in his words. + +An audible murmur passed down the line of Leif's men. No one doubted +that this was Thorhall's trap to avenge the slights upon his son. Would +the chief let this also pass by? Though their faces remained set to the +front, their eyes slid around to watch him. + +Leif drew himself up haughtily and also very quietly. "It is unadvisable +for you to speak such words to me," he said. "I also am a Christian." + +Flint had struck steel. Eric leaped to his feet in a blaze. + +"Say that again!" + +Thorwald and a dozen of the guests shook their heads frantically at him, +but Leif repeated the declaration. + +Crash! Down went Eric's goblet, to shiver into a thousand pieces on the +table edge. With a furious curse he flung himself back in his chair, and +leaned there, panting and glaring. + +A hum of voices arose around the room. Men called out soothing words to +the Red One and expostulations to Leif. Others felt furtively for their +weapons. Some of the women turned pale and clung to each other. Helga +arose, her beautiful face shining like a star, and left their ranks and +came over and seated herself on Leif's foot-stool, though the voice of +Thorhild rose high and shrill in scolding. Leif's men straightened +themselves alertly, and fixed upon their master the eyes of expectant +dogs. Thorwald hurried to his brother, and laid hands on his shoulders, +and endeavored to argue with him. + +Leif put him aside, as he arose and faced his father. Through the tumult +his voice sounded quiet and strong, the quiet of perfect self-command, +the strength of a fearless heart and an iron will. + +"It is a great grief to me that you dislike what I have done; yet now I +think it best to tell you the whole truth, that you cannot feel that I +have acted underhanded in anything." + +Eric gave vent to a sound between a growl and a snarl, and flounced in +his chair. Thorhild made her son a gesture of entreaty. But Lei/, +looking back into the frowning faces, calmly continued: + +"Olaf Trygvasson converted me to Christianity two winters ago, and I +tell you truly that I was never so well helped as I have been since +then. And not only am I a Christian, but every man who calls himself +mine is also one, and will let blood-eagles be cut in his back rather +than change his faith." + +No sound came from Eric; but his mouth was half open, as though his rage +were choking him, and his face was purple and twitched with passion. He +had picked up the ugly little bronze battle-axe that leaned against his +chair, and was hefting it and fingering it and shifting it from hand to +hand. Gradually the eyes of all the company centred upon the gleaming +wedge, following it up and down and back and forth, expecting, dreading. + +"If he does not wish to go so far as to slay his own son, he has yet an +easy mark in me," Alwin murmured, his eyes following the motions like +snake-charmed birds. "If he raises it again like that, I think I shall +dodge." Out of the corners of his eyes, he could see many movements of +uneasiness among Leif's men. + +Only Leif went on quietly: "You have always known that your gods must +die, so it should not surprise you to be told now that they are dead; +and it should gladden your hearts to know that One has been found who is +both ever-living and willing to help. Therefore King Olaf has sent me to +lay before you, that if you will accept this faith as the men of +Trondhjem have done--" + +Helga sprang aside with a shriek of warning. Eric's arm had shot up and +back. With a bellow of rage, he leaped to his feet and hurled the axe at +his son's head. Simultaneously came an oath from Valbrand and a roar +from the crew; then a thundering blow, as the axe, missing the Lucky One +by ever so small a space, buried itself deep in the wall behind him. + +Instantly every man of the crew was on his feet, and there was clashing +of weapons and a tumult of angry voices. Eric's men were not behindhand, +and many of the guests drew swords to protect themselves. They were on +the verge of a bloody scene, when again Leif's voice sounded above the +uproar. He had drawn no weapon, nor swerved nor moved from his first +position. + +"Put up your swords!" he said to his men. + +Those who caught the under-note in his voice hastened to obey, even +while they protested. + +He turned again to his father, and into his manner came that strange new +gentleness that is known as courtesy, which set him above the raging Red +One as a man is above a beast. + +"It seems strange to me that the one who taught me the laws of +hospitality should be the one to break them with me. Nevertheless, now +that I have been frank with you, I will not anger you by speaking +further of my mission. And since you do not wish to lodge us, I and my +men will go back to my ship and sleep there until my errand is +accomplished. Valbrand, do you go first, that the others may follow you +in order." + +The old warrior hesitated as he wheeled. "It is you who should go first, +my chief. The heathens will murder you. We--" + +"You will do as I command," Leif interrupted him distinctly; and after +one glance at his face, they obeyed. + +Nothing like this had ever been seen before. A hush of awe fell upon +Eric's men and Eric's guests. One by one the crew filed out, with +rumbling threats and scowling faces, but wordless and empty-handed. +Alwin took advantage of his close attendance to be the last to go, but +finally even he was forced to leave. Helga marched out beside him, her +head held very high, her eyes dealing sharper stabs than her dagger, +Leif's scar-let colors flying in her cheeks. Thorhild called to her, but +she swept on, unheeding. + +At the door, Alwin paused to look back. Ne would not be denied that. +Leif still stood before his high-seat, holding Eric with his keen calm +eyes as a man holds a mad dog at bay. Never had he looked grander. Alwin +silently swore his oath of fealty anew. + +That no one should accuse him of cowardice, the guardsman waited until +the door had closed upon the last one of his men. Then, slowly, with the +utmost composure, he walked out alone between the ranks of his enemies. + +An involuntary murmur applauded him as he passed. Thorhild, torn as she +was between anger and pride, was quick to catch its meaning and to use +it. Whatever Leif's faith, she was still his mother. Taking her life in +her hand, she bent over and whispered in Eric's ear. + +The darkness of his face became midnight blackness,--then was suddenly +rent apart as with lightning. He brought his fist down upon the table +with a mighty crash. + +"Stop! When did I say anything against lodging you? Do you think to +throw shame upon my hospitality before my guests? I will have none of +your religion,--I spit upon it. You are no longer my son,--I disown you. +But you shall sleep under my roof and eat at my board so long as you +remain in Greenland, you and your following. No man shall breathe a word +against the hospitality of Eric of Brattahlid. Thorhall, light them to +sleeping rooms!" His breath, which had been growing shorter and shorter, +failed him utterly. He finished with a savage gesture, and threw himself +back in his chair. + +If Leif had consulted his pride, it is likely that that night Greenland +would have seen the last of him. But foremost in his heart, before any +consideration for himself, was the success of his mission. After a +moment's hesitation, he accepted the offer courteously, and permitted +Thorhall's obsequious attendance. + +One can imagine the amazement of his followers when he came out to them, +not only unharmed, but waited upon by the steward and a dozen +torch-bearers. + +"It is because he is the Lucky One," they whispered to each other. "His +God helps him in everything. It is a faith to live and die for." + +They followed him across the grassy courtyard to the foot of the steps +leading up to his sleeping-room, and would not leave him until he had +consented that Valbrand and Olver should go in with him for a bodyguard. + +"And this boy also," he added, signing to Alwin. + +As Alwin approached, Kark had the impudence to shoulder himself forward +also. + +"Chief, are you going to turn me out to lie with the swine in the +kitchen?" he said boldly. "Remember that every time you have slept in +this room before, I have lain across your threshold." + +Leif's glance pierced him through and through. "Is it sense for a man to +trust his slumbers to a dog that has bitten him once? Go lie in the +kennel. If it were not for provoking Eric, you would not wait long to +feel my blade." He turned and walked up the steps, with his hand on +Alwin's shoulder. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +A WOLF-PACK IN LEASH + + + He utters too many + Futile words + Who is never silent; + A garrulous tongue, + If it be not checked, + Sings often to its own harm. + Ha'vama'l + +Out in the courtyard the four juniors of Leif's train were resting in +the shade of the great hall, after a vigorous ball-game. It was four +weeks since the crew of the "Sea-Deer" had come into shore-quarters; and +though the warmth of August was in the sunshine, the chill of dying +summer was already in the shadow. Sigurd drew his cloak around him with +a shiver. + +"Br-r-r! The sweat drops are freezing on me. What a place this is!" + +Rolf, leaning against the door-post, whittling, finished his snatch of +song, + + "'Hew'd we with the Hanger! + It happed that when I young was + East in Eyrya's channel + Outpoured we blood for grim wolves,'"-- + +and looked down with his gentle smile. "If you mean that it is this +doorstep that is not to your mind, you take too much trouble. We must +leave it in a moment; do you not hear that?" He jerked his head toward +the gateway, from which direction they suddenly caught the faint notes +of hunters' horns. "It is Eric's men returning from their sport. In a +little while they will be here, and we must try our luck elsewhere." + +He straightened himself lazily, flicking the chips from his dress; but +the other three sat doggedly unmoved. + +Alwin said, testily: "I do not see why we must be kept jumping like +frightened rabbits because Leif has ordered us to avoid quarrels. What +trouble can we get into if we remain here without speaking, and give +them plenty of room to pass by us into the hall?" + +Rolf smiled amiably at the three scowling faces. "Certainly you are good +mates to Ann the Simpleton, if you cannot tell any better than that what +would happen? They would go a rod out of their way to bump into one of +us. If they have been successful, their blood will be up so that they +will wish to fight for pleasure. If they have failed, they will be +murderous with anger. It took less than that to start the brawl in which +Olver was slain,--which I dare say you have not forgotten." + +Alwin winced, and Sigurd shivered with something besides the cold. It +was not the bloody tumult of the fight that they remembered the most +clearly; it was what came after it. True to his interpretation of +hospitality, Eric had punished the murder of his guest's servant by +lopping off, with his own sword, the right hand of the murderer; +whereupon Leif had sworn to mete the same justice to any man of his who +should slay a follower of Eric. + +Slowly, as the blaring horns and trampling hoofs drew nearer, the three +rose to their feet. Only Alwin struck the ground a savage blow with the +bat he still held. + +"By Saint George! it is unbearable that we should be forced to act in +such a foolish way! Has Leif less spirit than a wood-goat? I do not see +what he means by it." + +"Nor I," echoed Sigurd. + +"Nor I," growled Egil. "I believed he had some of Eric's temper in him." + +"I do not see why, myself," Rolf admitted; "but I see something that +seems to me of greater importance, and that is how he looked when he +gave the order." + +They followed him across the grassy enclosure, though they still +grumbled. + +"Where shall we go?" + +"The stable also is full of Eric's men." + +"Before long we shall be shoved off the land altogether. We will have to +swim over to Biorn's dwarf-country." + +"I propose that we go to the landing place," exclaimed Sigurd. "It may +be that the ship which Valbrand sighted this morning is nearly here." + +"I say nothing against that," Rolf assented. + +They wheeled promptly toward a gate. But at that moment, Alwin caught +sight of a blue-gowned figure watering linen in front of the +women's-house. + +"Do you go on without me," he said, drawing back. "I will follow in a +moment." + +Sigurd threw him a keen glance. "Is it your intention to do anything +exciting, like quarrelling with Thorhall as you did last night? Let me +stay and share it." + +There was a little embarrassment in Alwin's laugh. "No such intention +have I. I wish to see the hunters ride in." + +The hunters were an imposing sight, as they swept into the court, and +broke ranks with a cheer that brought heads to every door. White-robed +thralls ran among the champing horses, unsaddling them; scarlet-cloaked +sportsmen tumbled heaps of feathered slain out of their game-bags upon +the grass; horns brayed, and hounds bayed and struggled in the leash. +But Alwin forgot to notice it, he was hurrying so eagerly to where +Helga, Gilli's daughter, walked between her strips of bleaching linen, +sprinkling them with water from a bronze pan with a little broom of +twigs. + +The outline of her face was sharper and the roses glowed more faintly in +her cheeks, but she welcomed him with her beautiful frank smile. + +"I was hoping some of you would think it worth while to come over here. +It is a great relief for me to speak to a man again. I am so tired of +women and their endless gabble of brewing and spinning. Yesterday +Freydis, Eric's daughter, drove over, and all the while she was here she +talked of nothing but--" + +"Eric's daughter?" Alwin repeated in surprise. "Not until now have I +heard that Leif had a sister. Why is she never spoken of? Where does she +live?" + +Helga shrugged impatiently. "She lives at Gardar with a witless man +named Thorvard, whom she married for his wealth. She is a despisable +creature. And the reason no one speaks of her is that if he did he would +feel Thorhild's hands in his hair. There is great hatred between them. +Yesterday they quarrelled before Freydis had been here any time at all. +And I was about to say that I was glad of it, since it brought about +Freydis' departure: all the time she was here she spoke of nothing save +her ornaments and costly things. Oh, I do not see why Odin had the wish +to create women! It would have been pleasanter if they had remained +elm-trees." + +Alwin regarded her with eyes of the warmest good-will. "It would become +a heavy misfortune to me if you were an elm-tree,--though it is likely +that I should speak with you then quite as often as I do now. Except at +meals, I seldom see you. But I never pass your window that I do not +remember that you are toiling within, and say to myself that I am sorry +for your bad luck." + +"I give you thanks," answered Helga, with her friendly smile. "Where +have the other men gone? I wished to speak with Sigurd." + +"They have gone to the landing-place, to watch for a ship that Valbrand +sighted this morning from the rocks." + +She cried out joyfully: "A ship in Einar's Fiord? Then it belongs to +some chief of the settlement, who is returning from a Viking voyage! +There will be a fine feast made to welcome him." + +Alwin followed her doubtfully up the lane between the white patches. "Is +it likely that that will do us any good? It is possible that Leif will +not be invited." + +The heat of her scorn was like to have dried the drops she was +scattering. "You are out of your senses. Do you think men who trade +among the Christians are so little-minded as Eric? Leif is known to be a +man of renown, and the friend of Olaf Trygvasson. They will be proud to +sit at table with him." + +"It may be that he will refuse to feast with heathens." + +"That is possible," Helga admitted. She emptied her pan with a little +flirt of impatience, and sighed. "How tiresome everything is! To sit at +a table where one is afraid to move lest there be a fight! I speak the +truth when I say that this is the merriest diversion I have,--standing +out here, watering linen, and watching who comes and goes. And now that +my pan is empty, I must betake myself indoors again. Yonder is Valbrand +beckoning you." + +It is probable that Alwin would not have hurried to obey the summons, +but with a nod and a smile Helga turned away, and there was nothing for +him but to go forward to meet the steersman. + +The old warrior regarded the young favorite with his usual apathy. "It +is the wish of Leif that you attend upon him directly." + +"Is he in his sleeping-room?" + +"Yes." + +It occurred to Alwin to wonder at this summons. His usual hour for +reading came after Leif had retired for the night. If the chief had +overheard the dispute with Thorhall! He lingered, meditating a question; +but a second glance at Valbrand's battered face dissuaded him. He turned +sharply on his heel, and strode across to the storehouse that had become +Leif's headquarters. + +A loft that could be reached only by a ladder-like outer stairway, and +was without fireplace or stove or means of heating, does not appear +inviting. But one has a keener sense of appreciation when he considers +that the other alternative was a bed in the great hall, where the air +was as foul as it was warm, and the room was shared with drunken men and +spilled beer and bones and scraps left from feasting. Alwin had no +inclination to hold his nose high in regard to his master's new +lodgings. England itself offered nothing more comfortable. + +When he had come up the long flight of steps and swung open the heavy +door, he had even an impulse of admiration. This, the state +guest-chamber, was not without softening details. It was large and high +and weather-proof, and boasted three windows. The box-like straw-filled +beds, that were built against the wall, were spread with snowy linen and +covers of eiderdown. The long brass-bound chests that stood on either +side the door were piled with furs until they offered the softest and +warmest of resting-places. A score of Leif's rich dresses, hanging from +a row of nails, covered the bare walls as with a gorgeous tapestry. The +table was provided with graceful bronze water-pitchers and wash-basins +of silver, and was littered over with silver scissors and gold-mounted +combs and bright-hilted knives, and a medley of costly trinkets. Near +the table stood a great carved arm-chair. + +At the sight of the man who leaned against its flaming red cushions of +eiderdown, Alwin forgot his admiration. The chief's eyebrows made a +bushy line across his nose. The young bowerman knew, without words, why +he had been sent for. He stopped where he was, a pace within the door, +angry and embarrassed. + +After a while, Leif said sternly: "You are very silent now, but it +appears to me that I heard your voice loud enough in the hall last +night." + +"It was only that I was accusing Thorhall of a trick that he tried to +put upon me. He allowed me to go up to the loft above the provision +house without telling me that the flooring had been taken up, so that +they might pour the new mead into the vat in the room below. In one more +step I should have fallen through the opening and been drowned. It is +plain he did it to avenge Kark. I should have burst if I had not told +him so." + +"I have commanded that my men shall not hold speech with the men of Eric +except on friendly matters; that they shall avoid a quarrel as they +would avoid death." + +His tone of quiet authority had begun to have its usual effect upon his +young follower; Alwin's head had bent before him. But suddenly he looked +up with a daring flash. + +"Then I have not been disobedient to you, lord; for I would not avoid +death if it seemed to me that such shirking were cowardly." + +A moment the retort brought a grim smile to Leif's lips; then suddenly +his face froze into a look of terrible anger. He half started from his +chair. + +"Do you dare tell me to my face that, because I order you to keep the +peace, I am a coward?" + +Alwin gave a great gasp. "Lord, there is no man in the world who would +dare speak such words to you. I but meant that I cannot bear such +treatment as Thorhall's in silence." + +Had another said this, the answer might have been swift and fierce; but +Leif's manner toward this follower was always different from his way +with others,--whether out of respect for his accomplishment, or a fancy +for him, or because he discerned in him some refinement that was rare in +that brutal age. The anger faded from his face and he said quietly: "Can +you not bear so small a thing as that, for so great a cause as the +spreading of your faith?" + +The boy started. + +"Without peace in which to gain their friendship so that they will hear +us willingly, our cause is lost. It is not because I am a craven that I +bear to be the guest of the man who sought my life, who turns his face +from me when I sit at his board, who allows his servants to insult me. +Sometimes I think it would be easier to bear the martyrdom of the +blessed saints!" He made a sudden fierce movement in his chair, as +though the fire in his veins had leaped out and burnt his flesh. + +Then, for the first time, Alwin understood. He bent before him, rebuked +and humbled. + +"Lord, I see that I have done wrong. I ask you to pardon it. Say what +you would have me do." + +"Put my commands ahead of your desires, as I put King Olaf's wish before +my pride, and as he sets the will of God before his will." + +"I promise I will not fail you again, lord." + +"See that you do not," Leif answered, with a touch of sternness. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +A COURTIER OF THE KING + + + A better burden + No man bears on the way + Than much good sense; + That is thought better than riches + In a strange place: + Such is the recourse of the indigent. + Ha'vama'l + +The next afternoon when Helga came out to water the linen, she found +Alwin waiting for her, on the pretext of hunting in the long grass for a +lost arrow-head. + +He greeted her gayly: "I will offer you three chances to guess my news." + +She paused, with her twig broom raised and dripping, and scanned him +eagerly. "Is it anything about the ship that came yesterday? I heard +among the women that it is the war-vessel of Eric's kinsman, Thorkel +Farserk, just come back from ravaging the Irish coast. Is his wife going +to make a feast to welcome him?" + +"I will not deny that you have proved a good guesser. And, by Dunstan! +he deserves to be received well. Never saw I such a sight as that +landing! There were more slaves than there were men in the crew. Not a +man but had a bloody bandage on his head or his body, and the arms and +legs of some were lacking. Two of the crew were not there at all, and +their sweethearts had come down to the shore to meet them; and when they +found that they had been slain, they tore their hair and tried to kill +themselves with knives." + +"That was foolish of them," said Helga, calmly. "Better was it that +their lovers should die in good repute than live in the shame of +cowardice. But tell me the news. Has it happened, as I supposed, that +there is going to be a feast, and Leif is asked to it?" + +"Messengers came this morning from Farserk's wife. But you dare not +guess the rest." + +"I dare throw this pan of water over you if you do not tell me +instantly." + +"It would not matter much if you did. I am to have new clothes,--of +black velvet with bands of ermine. But hearken now: Leif has accepted +the invitation! Even Valbrand thinks this a great wonder. At this moment +Sigurd is selecting the chief's richest dress, and Rolf is getting out +the most costly of the gifts that were brought from Norway." + +Helga set down her pan for the express purpose of clapping her hands. +"Now I am well content; for at last they will see him in all his glory, +and know what manner of man they have treated with disrespect. I have +hoped with all my heart for such a thing as this, but by no means did I +think he cared enough to do it." + +Alwin shook his head hastily. "You must not get it into your mind that +it is to improve his own honor that he does it now. I know that for +certain. It is to give his mission a good appearance." + +Helga picked up her pan with a sigh. "When he begins to preach that to +them, he will knock it all over again." + +Alwin considered it his duty to frown at this; but it must be confessed +that something very similar was in his own thoughts as he followed his +lord into Thorkel Farserk's feasting-hall that night. Whatever his +religion, the guardsman's rank and his gallant appearance and fine +manners compelled admiration and respect. It could not but seem a pity +to his admirers that soon, with one word, he would he forced to undo it +all. + +"It is harder than the martyrdom of the saints," Alwin murmured +bitterly. Then his eye fell upon the silver crucifix, shining pure and +bright on Leif's breast, and he realized the unworthiness of his +thoughts, and resigned himself with a sigh. + +But he found that even yet Leif's purposes were beyond him. Never, by so +much as a word, did the guardsman refer to the subject of the new +religion,--though again and again his skilful tongue won for him the +attention of all at the table. He spoke of battles and of feasts, and of +the grandeur of the Northmen. With the old men he discussed Norwegian +politics; with the young ones he talked of the famous champions of King +Olaf's guard. To the women who wished to know concerning the King's +house, and the Queen, he answered with the utmost patience. He described +everything, from weddings to burials, with the skill of a minstrel and +the weight of an authority, and always with the tact of a courtier. + +Gradually whispers of praise circled around the board, whispers that +fell like sweetest music on the jealous ears of Leif's followers. +Thorhild leaned back from her food and watched him with open pride,--and +though Eric kept his face still turned away, he set his ear forward so +that he should hear everything. + +Alwin was almost beside himself with nervousness. "If the crash does not +come soon, I shall go out of my wits," he whispered to Rolf. + +The Wrestler turned upon him a face of such unusual excitement that he +was amazed. "Do you not see?" he whispered. "There will not be any +crash. I have just begun to understand. It was this he meant when he +spoke to you of gaining their friend-ship that they might hear him +willingly. Do you not see?" + +Alwin's relief was so great that at first he dared not believe it. When +the truth of it dawned upon him, he was overcome with wonder and +admiration. In those days, nine men out of every ten could draw their +swords and rave and die for their principles; it was only the tenth man +that was strong enough to keep his hand off his weapon, or control his +tongue and live to serve his cause. + +"Luck obeys his will as the helm his hand. I shall never worry over him +again," he said contentedly, as with the others he waited in the +courtyard for Leif to come out of the feasting-hall. + +Sigurd laughed gayly. "Do you know what I just overheard in the crowd? +Some of Thorkel's men were praising Leif, and one of Eric's churls +thought it worth while to boast to them how he had known the Lucky One +when he was a child. Certainly the tide is beginning to turn." + +"Leif Ericsson is an ingenious man," Rolf said, with unusual decision. +"I take shame upon me that ever I doubted his wisdom." + +Egil uttered the kind of sullen grunt with which he always prefaced a +disagreeable remark. "Ugh! I do not agree with you. I think his behavior +was weak-kneed. Knowing their hatred against the word Christian, all the +more would I have dinged it into their ears; that they might not think +they had got the better of me. Now they believe he has become ashamed of +his faith and deserted it." + +The three broke in upon him in an angry chorus. Alwin said sternly: "You +speak in a thoughtless way, Egil Olafsson. You forget that he still +wears the crucifix upon his breast. How can they believe that he has +forgotten his faith or given it up, when they cannot look at him without +seeing also the sign of his God?" + +Egil turned away, silenced. + +This feast of Thorkel Farserk was the first of a long line of such +events. With the approach of autumn, ships became a common sight in the +fiords-Those chieftains who had left Greenland in summer to spear whales +in the northern ocean, or make trading voyages to eastern countries, or +cruise over the high seas on pirates' missions, now came sailing home +again with increased wealth and news-bags bursting. For every traveller, +wife or kinsman made a feast of welcome--a bountiful entertainment that +sometimes lasted three days, with tables always spread, and horns always +filled, and games and horse-races, and gifts for everyone. At each of +these celebrations, Leif appeared in all his splendor; and his tactful +tongue held for him the place of honor. His popularity grew apace. The +only thing that could keep step with it was the exultation of his +followers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE WOOING OF HELGA + + + At love should no one + Ever wonder + In another; + A beauteous countenance + Oft captivates the wise, + Which captivates not the foolish. + + A man must not + Blame another + For what is many men's weakness; + For mighty love + Changes the sons of men + From wise into fools. + Ha'vama'l + + +It happened, one day, that an accidental discovery caused Alwin to +regard these festivities in a new light. + +It was a morning in November when he was in the hall, kneeling before +master to lace his high boots. Leif stood before the fire, wrapping +himself up for a ride across the Settlement. Some unknown cause had made +the atmosphere of the breakfast-table so particularly +ungenial,--Thorhild sitting with her back to her spouse, and Eric +manifesting a growing desire to hurl goblets at the heads of all who +looked at him,--that the courtier had judged it discreet to absent +himself from the next meal. He now stood arraying himself from a pile of +furs, and talking with Tyrker, who sat near him blinking in the +fire-glow. Save a couple of house-thralls scrubbing at the lower end of +the room, no one else was present, Eric having started on his morning +round of the stables, the smithies, and the cow-houses. + +As he pulled on his fur gloves, Leif smiled satirically. "It is a good +thing that I was present last summer when King Olaf converted Kjartan +the Icelander. It was then I learned that those who cannot be dealt with +by force may often be led by the nose without their knowing it. Olaf +said to the fellow, 'The God I worship does not wish that any should be +brought to Him by force. As you are averse to the doctrines of +Christianity, you may depart in peace.' Whereupon Kjartan immediately +replied: 'In this manner I may be induced to be a Christian.' So, +because I have kept my promise to speak no more concerning Christianity, +men have become curious about it, and yesterday two chiefs came of their +own will and asked me questions concerning it." + +Tyrker poked his head out to say "So?" then snuggled back into his wraps +again, to chuckle contentedly. He was so wound up in furs that he looked +like a sharp little needle in a fuzzy haystack. + +Leif's smile gave way to a frown. "Another man came to me also, on a +different errand,--Ragner Thorkelsson,--it may be that you saw him? He +wished to make a bargain concerning Helga." + +Alwin gave a great start, so that the leather thong snapped in his hand; +but his master went on unheeding. + +"You know it is my wish that she shall marry as soon as she can make a +good match, since she is not happy while she sits at home with Thorhild, +and it is not likely that she will like her father much better. It has +been in my mind through every feast; but until now, none of the men who +have asked for her has seemed to me a good match." + +Though his hands kept mechanically at their work, Alwin's brain seemed +to have come to a standstill. It must be a dream, a foolish dream. It +was not possible that such a thing could have been planned without his +even suspecting it. He listened numbly. + +"The first man was too old. The second was not of good enough kin; and +the other two had not enough property. Ragner Thorkelsson lacks none of +these. He is young; his father's father was a lawman; and he owns +eighteen farms and many ships." + +Though he did not in the least know why, Alwin felt a hot desire to seek +out Ragner Thorkelsson and kill him. + +"So?" said Tyrker, peering forth inquiringly. "Yet never have I heard +that he any accomplishments had, or that in battle enemies he had +overcome." + +"No," Leif assented. + +He did not finish immediately, and there was a pause. From the courtyard +came a clashing and jingling of bells, as servants brought the reindeer +from the feeding-ground to harness them to the boat-like sledges that +stood waiting. + +"It may be that I have acted unwisely," Leif said at last; "but because +I did not believe it would be according to Helga's wish, I told him that +I would not bargain with him." + +Alwin buried a gulping laugh in the fur cloak he had picked up. He had +known that it would end in some such way. Of course; it had been idiotic +to expect anything else. He listened smilingly for what else Leif had to +say. + +The guardsman drew the last strap through the last buckle on his double +fur jacket, and turned toward the door. "It may be that I was unwise, +but it may also be that it will not matter much. The most desirable men +come home latest; we have not seen them all. It is likely that the next +feast will decide it." + +Long after the door had closed upon Leif, and he had entered the sledge +and been whirled through the gate in a flurry of snow and a clamor of +bells, Alwin stood there, motionless. Tyrker dozed in the comfort-able +warmth, and woke to find him still staring down into the fire. + +"What hast thou, my son?" he questioned, kindly. Alwin came to himself +with a start and a stare, and catching up his cloak, hurried out of the +room without replying. + +"I will find Helga and tell her that she must put a stop to it," he was +saying to himself as he went. "That is what I will do. I will tell her +that she must stop it." + +Pulling his cap lower as the keen wind cut his face, he hurried across +the courtyard toward the women's-house, trying to frame some excuse that +should bring Helga to the door where he could speak to her. + +Half-way across, he bumped into Rolf. + +"Hail, comrade! Have you left your eyes behind you in your hurry?" the +Wrestler greeted him, catching him by the shoulders and spinning him +round and round as he attempted to pass. "You look as sour as last +night's beer. What will you give to hear good tidings?" + +"Nothing. Let me go. I am in a hurry," Alwin fumed. + +"You have not outrun your curiosity, have you? I have just learned why +it is that Thorhild no longer speaks to Eric, and why he is in a mood to +smash things." + +"Why?" asked Alwin, impatiently; but he no longer struggled, for he knew +it was useless in Rolf's grip. + +"Because last night Thorhild told Eric that she had become a Christian. +Her bowerwoman told Helga, and when I met Helga--" + +"Met her? Where? Is she in the women's-house?" + +Rolf shook him by the shoulders he still held. "Is that all you have to +say to news of such importance? Do you not see that now that Thorhild +has been converted, Eric's men will no longer dare oppose us; lest in +time to come, when she has brought Eric round--" + +"I say, where did you meet Helga?" roared Alwin. + +Rolf released him, and stood looking at him with an inscrutable smile. +"If I were not your sworn friend, I should enjoy wringing your neck," he +said. "I met Helga at the gate yonder. She was going over to Glum +Starkadsson's to get something for Thorhild, and also because she wished +a walk over the hard snow." + +"Is it far from here? And in what direction?" + +"For what purpose do you wish to know that?" + +"I ask you in what direction it lies." + +"The Troll take you!" Rolf gave it up with a laugh. "It lies to the +north of the fiord,--beyond a bridge that crosses a river that runs +through a valley. And it is not far. Have you not yet learned that in +Greenland people do not take long strolls in the winter-time?" + +Alwin pulled a hood over his cap, strapped his cloak still tighter, drew +a pair of down-lined mittens from under his girdle and put them on over +his gloves, and, without another syllable, turned and made for the gate. + +It was glorious weather, dry and clear, and so still that very little of +the cold penetrated his fur-lined garments. Snow covered everything, +fine and firm and dazzling. The smooth white expanse suggested a wish +that he had brought the skees he was learning to use; then the sight of +the line of boulders he would have had to steer around made him rejoice +that he had not. Far ahead of him rose the glittering wall of inland +ice,--that mysterious frozen sea that covers all of Greenland except its +very border, and never advances and never recedes. What made it stop +there, he wondered? And what lay beyond it? And could those tales be +true that the old women told, of terrible magical beings living on its +silent frozen peaks? + +The sight of a dark speck moving over the white plain far ahead of him +banished every other thought. It might be that it was Helga. He crunched +on eagerly. Then he dipped into the valley and lost sight of the speck, +found it on the bridge, dipped again, and again it was lost to view. + +It was not until the fence of Glum Starkadsson's farm was plainly in +sight, that he caught another glimpse of it. But this time it was coming +toward him, from the gateway. + +Certainly that long crimson cloak and full crimson hood belonged to +Helga. In a moment, she waved her hand at him. Soon he could see her +face under the white fur border. Her scarlet lips were curving in a +smile. The snow-glare brought out the dazzling fairness of her pearly +skin, and her eyes were like two radiant blue stars. It seemed to Alwin +that he had never known before how beautiful she was. A strange shyness +came over him, that weighted his feet and left him without a word to say +when they met. + +But Helga greeted him cheerily. "Did you ever breathe finer air? I wish +Thorhild would run out of gold thread every day in the week. Are you in +a hurry?" + +"No," Alwin began hesitatingly, "I--" + +She did not wait for the end. "Then turn back with me a little way, and +I will tell you something worth hearing." + +He turned obediently and walked beside her, trying to think how to put +what he had come to say. + +"You remember hearing of Egil's father Olaf, who was so ill-tempered +that Egil dared not go home and confess that he had become a Christian? +Gunnlaug Starkadsson returned this morning from visiting his wife, and +she says that last night the old man's horse threw him so that his head +hit against a stone, and it caused his death." + +She made an impressive pause; but Alwin stalked along in silence, +grinding his heels deep into the snow. + +"Do you not see what that means?" she asked, impatiently. "Egil will now +come into his inheritance, and become one of the richest men in the +Settlement." + +The trouble was that, in the first flash, Alwin had seen it all too +plainly. He had seen that now Egil would become just such a man as Leif +was wishing to bargain with. The thought burnt him like a hot iron, and +he opened his lips to pour out his frenzy; but he could not find the +words. + +After a moment he said, sullenly: "I should be thankful if he would +leave Leif's service, so that I could sometimes speak to you without +having him watch me like a dog at a rabbit-hole." + +Helga turned toward him with frank interest. "I wonder at that also. He +does not act so when I speak to Sigurd or Rolf. But then, he has behaved +very strangely to me ever since he talked with Skroppa in Iceland, two +seasons ago." + +"He spoke to me of Skroppa the first time I saw him," Alwin said, +absently. Then a flicker of curiosity awoke in him. "I wish that you +would tell me what 'Skroppa' stands for. I do not know whether it is man +or beast or demon." + +Even out there in the open, Helga glanced about for listeners before she +answered. "Skroppa is a fore-knowing woman, who lives among the +unsettled places north of here, in a cabin down in a hollow. Though Leif +will not admit it, it was she who took the curse off Eric's sword." + +It seemed to Alwin that here at last was an opening. He said harshly: "I +wonder if she would be wise enough to tell whom Leif will marry you to +before the feasting is over?" + +Helga stood still and looked at him. "What are you talking about?" + +He stopped in front of her, with a fierce gesture, and in one angry +burst told her all he had heard. He could not understand how she could +listen so calmly, kicking the snow with the toe of her shoe. + +When he had finished, she said quietly: "Yes, I know he has that +intention in his mind. It is for that reason that every time I go to a +feast he gives me costly ornaments, and makes me wear them. I have had +great kindness from his hands. But do not let us speak of it further." + +Alwin caught her roughly by her wrists, and shook her a little as he +looked into her eyes. "You must not let him marry you to anyone. Do you +hear? You _must_ not, _I_ love you." + +Helga's look of resentment changed to one of pleased surprise, and she +shook his hands heartily. "Do you truly, comrade? I am glad, for I like +you very much indeed,--as much as I like Sigurd." + +"Then swear by your knife that you will not let him marry you to +anyone." + +She pulled her hands away, a little impatiently. "Why do you ask that +which is useless?" + +"But you have just said that you liked me." + +"I do; but what does that matter, since I cannot marry you?" + +So light had the yoke of servitude grown on Alwin's shoulders that he +had almost forgotten its existence. He opened his lips to ask, "Why?" +Then it came back to him that he was a slave, a worthless, helpless dog +of a slave. He closed his lips again and walked on without speaking, +staring ahead of him with fierce, despairing eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +THE WITCH'S DEN + + + Moderately wise + Should each one be, + But never over-wise: + His destiny let know + No man beforehand; + His mind will be freest from care. + Ha'vama'l + + +Because it was Yule Eve, the long deserted temple on the plain was +filled with light and sound. Fires blazed upon the floor; the row of +gilded idols came out of the shadow and shone in all their splendor. The +altars were reddened with the blood of slaughtered cattle; the +tapestried walls had been spattered with it. The temple priest dipped a +bunch of twigs into the brimming copper bowl, and sprinkled the +sacrificial blood over the people who sat along the walls ... They +raised the consecrated horns and drank the sacred toasts. To Odin! For +victory and power. To Njord! To Frey! For peace and a good year ... Eric +of Brattahlid laid his hands upon the atonement boar and made a solemn +vow to render justice unto all men, whatsoever their transgressions. The +others followed him in this, as in everything. + +Because this was happening in the temple, Brattahlid, the source of +light and good cheer, was dark and gloomy. In the great hall there was +no illumination save the flickering firelight. Black shadows blotted out +the corners and stretched across the ceiling. The long benches were +emptied of all save Leif's followers and Thorhild's band of women. The +men sat like a row of automatons, drinking steadily, in deep silence, +with furtive glances toward their leader. Leif leaned back in his +high-seat, neither speaking nor drinking, scowling down into the flames. + +"He is angry because Eric keeps up the heathen sacrifice," the women +whispered in each other's ears. "He has all of Eric's temper when he is +angered. It would be as much as one's life were worth to go near him +now." Shivering with nervousness, they crouched on the bench beside +their mistress's seat. + +Thorhild leaned on the arm of her chair, shading her brow with her hand +that she might gaze at Leif unseen. Sometimes her eyes dwelt on his +face, and sometimes they rested on the silver crucifix that shone on his +breast; and so great was her tenderness for the one, that she embraced +the other also in a look of yearning love. + +When the house-thralls had cleared away the tables, they crept into a +corner and stayed there, fearing even to go forward and replenish the +sinking fire, though gusts of bitter cold came through the broken window +behind them. + +Little as they guessed it, something besides cold was coming through the +hole in the window. Even while they shivered and nodded beneath it, a +pair of gray Saxon eyes were sending keen glances through it, searching +every corner. + +As the eyes turned back to the outer darkness, Alwin's voice whispered +with a long breath of relief: "I am certain they have not noticed that +we have gone out." + +From the darkness, Sigurd's voice interrupted softly: "Is Kark there?" + +"I think he is still in his comer. The light is bad, and the flames are +leaping between, but it seems to me that I can make him out." + +They emerged from the shadow into the moonlight, and it became evident +that Sigurd was shaking his head dubiously. + +"It seems to me also that I heard the door creak after us, and saw a +shadow slip past as we turned this corner. He is always on the watch; it +might easily be that our going out aroused his suspicions so that he is +hiding somewhere to track us. More than anything else in the world, is +he desirous to catch you in some disobedience." + +Alwin tramped on doggedly. To all appearances, the court was as deserted +as a graveyard at midnight. Not even the whinny of a horse broke the +stillness. They passed into the shadow of a storehouse, and Alwin dived +into, the recess under the steps and began to fumble for something +hidden there. When he drew out a pair of skees and proceeded to put them +on, Sigurd burst forth with increased vehemence. + +"Alwin, I implore you to heed my advice. My mind tells me that nothing +but evil can come of meddling with Skroppa. There will be no limit to +Leif's anger if he--" + +"I tell you he will not find out," Alwin answered over his shoulder. +"His mind is so full of Eric's ill-doings, that he will not notice my +absence before I am back again. And to-night is the only night when I am +not in danger of being spied upon by Eric's men. It is my only chance." + +"Yet Kark--" + +"Kark may go into the hands of the Trolls!" + +"It is not unlikely that you will accompany him. You are doing a great +sin. Harald Fairhair burned his son alive for meddling with witchcraft." + +Although his toes were thrust into the straps of the runner-like skees, +Alwin stamped with exasperation. "You need not tell me that again. I +know as well as you that it is a sin. But will not penance make it +right?" + +"You will dishonor Leif's holy mission." + +"I shall not cause any quarrel, nor offend anyone. What harm can I do?" + +Sigurd laid his hands on his friend's shoulders and tried to see his +face in the dark. "Give it up, comrade; I beseech you to give it up. If +you should be discovered, I tell you that though a priest might win you +a pardon from Heaven, no power on earth could make your peace with Leif +Ericsson." + +Alwin said slowly: "If he discovers what I have done, I will endure any +punishment he chooses, because I owe him some obedience while I eat his +bread and wear his clothes. But I am not his born thrall, so I will have +my own way first. Urge me no more, brother; my mind is fixed." + +Sigurd released him instantly. "I will say nothing further,--except that +it is my intention to try my luck with you." Stooping into the recess, +he drew out an-other pair of skees and began to fasten them on. + +At the prospect of companionship, Alwin felt a rush of relief,--then a +twinge of compunction. + +"Sigurd, you must not do this thing. There is no reason why you should +run this risk." + +"There would be no reason why you should call me your friend if I did +otherwise," Sigurd cut him short. "Do you think me a craven, to let you +go alone where you might be tricked or murdered? Have you a weapon?" + +"Leif will not allow me so much as a dagger, so to-night I borrowed from +his table the old brass-hilted knife that Eric gave him in his boyhood. +It is unlikely that he will miss that. I have it here." Throwing back +his cloak, he showed it thrust through his girdle. + +"Come, then," said Sigurd curtly. "And have a care for your skees. You +are not over-skilful yet." + +He caught up the long staff that acts something like a balance-pole in +skeeing, and darted away. Alwin followed, with an occasional prod of his +staff into a shadow that seemed thicker than it should be. By a +side-gate, they left the courtyard and struck out across the fields, +where the snow was packed as hard as a road-bed. Noiseless as birds, and +almost as swift, they skimmed along over the snow-clad plains and +half-frozen marshes. + +As was to have been expected, the young Viking was an expert. To see him +shoot down a hillside at lightning speed, his skees as firmly parallel +as though they were of one piece, his graceful body bending, balancing, +steering, was to see the next best thing to flying. Alwin's runners +threw him more than once, lapping one over the other as he was +zigzagging up a slope, so that he tripped and rolled until a snow-bank +stopped him. + +As he regained his feet after one of these interruptions, he made some +angry remark; but beyond this there was little said. It was a dreary +night to be on an uncanny errand, with a chill in the air that seemed to +freeze the heart. A fitful, spiteful wind drove the clouds like +frightened sheep, and strove to blow out the pale patient moon. +Sometimes it seemed almost to succeed; suddenly, when they most needed +light to guide their six-foot runners between the great boulders, the +light would go out like a torch in the water. The gusts lay in wait for +them at the corners, to leap out and lash their faces with a shriek that +chattered their teeth. The lulls between the gusts were even worse; it +seemed as though the whole world were holding its breath in dread. They +held theirs, darting uneasy glances at the glacier wall glittering far +ahead of them. + +When a long, low wail smote their ears, their hearts leaped into their +throats. They were travelling along the edge of a black ravine. Halting, +they stood with suspended breath, staring down into the darkness. + +The cry came again, yet more piercing; then suddenly it split into a +hissing sound like a kettle boiling over. Alwin broke into a nervous +laugh. "Cats!" he said. + +But Sigurd stiffened as quickly as he had relaxed. "One of Skroppa's! +She swarms with them. See! Is not that a light down there?" + +A sudden flicker there certainly was,--if it was not a ghost-fire. The +last cloud scurried from before the face of the long-suffering moon; +before the wind could bring up another fleecy flock, the pale light +crept down into the hollow and revealed the dark outline of a cabin +clinging among the rocks. + +Alwin slipped out of his skees and made sure of his knife. "That, then, +is her house. We will leave the skees here." + +"Though you never were known to heed advice, I will offer you another +piece," Sigurd answered. "We must go softly; and if we find the door +unlocked, enter quickly and without knocking. Otherwise it is possible +that we will stay outside and talk to the stones." + +It was a tedious descent, yet somehow the time seemed plenty short +enough before they stood at the threshold. The stillness at the bottom +of the hollow was death-like; only the flickering light on the window +spoke of life. Silently the door yielded to Alwin's touch. + +Darkness and a dying fire were all that met their eyes. They thought the +room empty, and took a step forward. Instantly the space was alive with +the green eyes of countless cats. The air was split with yowlings and +spittings and hissing. Soft furry bodies bounced against them and bit +and clawed around their legs. From the farthest corner came the lisping +voice of a toothless old woman. + +"Who dares interrupt my sleep when the visions of things I wish to know +are passing before me? Better would it be for him to put his hand into +the mouth of the Fenriswolf." + +Alwin said slowly, "It is the English thrall." + +After a pause, the voice answered crossly, "I know no English thrall." + +"How comes it, then, that more than a year ago you told something +concerning him which made Egil Olafsson his mortal foe?" + +Out of the darkness came a sudden cackling laugh. "That is true. I told +the Black One that the maiden he loved would love an English thrall +instead. And he wished to stick his sword through me!" + +"Is that what you told him?" cried Alwin, in amazement. + +Sigurd echoed the cry. Yet as their minds ran back over Egil's strange +actions, they could not doubt that this was the key that unlocked their +mystery. + +From an invisible corner came a stir, a creak, and then the sound of +feet lighting softly on the floor. A tiny figure appeared on the edge of +the shadows beyond the dying fire. The light fell upon furry gray feet; +and Alwin's first thought was that a monstrous cat had dropped down. +Then the flames leaped higher, and showed a furry cloak and a furry +hood, and from its fuzzy depths protruding, a sharp yellow beak for a +nose, and a hairy yellow peak for a chin. Of eyes, one saw nothing at +all. + +Out of the fuzzy depths came a lisping voice. "When a thrall of Leif +Ericsson, who is also a Christian, thinks it worth while to risk his +life and his soul to consult me, I forgive it that I am wakened at +midnight. It is a compliment to my powers that I do not take ill. Say +what you wish to learn from me." + +Alwin felt Sigurd touch him reproachfully, and shame burned in his +cheeks; but he had gone too far to retreat. He said bluntly: "I wish to +know whether Helga, Gilli's daughter, is to be given to Egil. Each time +he speaks across the floor to her, I am as though I were pricked with +sharp knives. I have endured it through three feasts; but I look upon +her with such eyes of love, that I can bear it no longer." + +"I will dull those knives, even as Odin blunts the weapons of his +enemies. Helga will not be given to Egil, because he is too haughty to +ask for her since he knows that she loves you instead of him." + +It had seemed to Alwin that if he could only know this, he would be +satisfied; yet now his questions piled upon each other. + +"Then do you promise that she will be given to me? How am I to save her? +How am I to get my freedom? How long am I to wait?" + +The Sibyl sank her head upon her breast so that her nose and chin quite +disappeared, and she stood before them like some furry headless beast. +There was a long pause. Alwin nervously followed the pairs of eyes, +noiselessly appearing and disappearing, from floor to ceiling, in every +part of the room. Sigurd set his back against the door and carried on a +silent struggle with the heavy lumps, hanging by teeth and claws upon +his cloak. + +At last Skroppa raised her head and answered haltingly: "You ask too +much, according to the time and the place. To know all that clearly, I +should sit on a witches' platform and eat witches' broth, and have women +stand about me and sing weird songs. Without music, spirits do not like +to help. I can only see bits, vaguely as through a fog... I see your +body lying on the ground I see a ship where never ship was seen before I +see--I see Leif Ericsson standing upon earth where never man stood +before. It seems to me that I read great luck in his face... And I see +you standing beside him, though you do not look as you look now, for +your hair is long and black. The light is so bright that I cannot... +Yes, one thing more is open to my sight. I see that it is in this new +land that it will be settled whether your luck is to be good or bad." + +She stopped. They waited for her to go on; but soon it became evident +that the foretelling was finished. With all his prudence, Sigurd began +to laugh; and Alwin burst out in a passion of impatience: "For which, +you gabbler? For which? I can make nothing of such jargon. Tell me in +plain words whether it will be for good or ill." + +Skroppa answered just one word: "Jargon!" + +Alwin stormed on unheeding, but Sigurd's laughter stopped: something in +the tone of that one word chilled his blood and braced his muscles like +a frost. He strained his eyes to pierce the shadow and make out what she +was doing; and it seemed to him that he could no longer see her. She had +disappeared,--where? In a sudden panic he groped behind him for the +door; found it and flung it open. It was well that the moon was shining +at that moment. + +"Alwin!" he shouted. The yellow face was close to the thrall's +unconscious shoulder; one evil claw-like hand was almost at his cheek. +What she would have done, she alone knew. + +While his cry was still in the air, Sigurd pulled his companion away and +through the door. Up the steep they went like cats. Near the top, Alwin +tripped, and his knife slipped from his belt and fell against a boulder. +It lay there shining, but neither of them noticed it. Into their skees, +and over the crusted plains they went,--reindeer could not have caught +them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +TALES OF THE UNKNOWN WEST + + + Fire is needful + To him who is come in, + And whose knees are frozen; + Food and raiment + A man requires + Who o'er the fell has travelled. + Ha'vama'l + + +"I tell you I must go over the track once more. It may have slipped out of my +girdle at some of the places where I tripped." + +Alwin's words rose in frosty cloud; for he was Leif's unheated +sleeping-room, drawing on an extra pair of thick woollen stockings in +preparation for his customary outing. + +"It is foolishness. Four times already have you been over the ground +without finding it. A long brass-halted knife could not have been +overlooked if it had been there. I tell you that you lost it among the +rocks of the hollow, and that you would be wise to give it up." + +Sigurd's answer came in muffled though emphatic tones, for he was +huddled almost out of sight among the furs on the chest, as he waited +for his companion to complete his dressing. Now that genuine winter +weather was upon them, the loft was necessarily abandoned as a sleeping +apartment; but it still served as a dressing-room for such slight and +speedy alterations as were attempted. + +As he pulled on the big heelless skeeing-shoes, Alwin sighed anxiously. +"I must find it. Any day Leif may miss it and ask." + +"He is not likely to, since he has already gone a week without noticing +its absence. And if he should, you have only to say that you borrowed it +to protect yourself from wolves. That will not be much of a lie, Skroppa +being nearer wolf than human. He will feel that he was wrong to have +denied you a weapon, and he will only scold a little." + +"It is true that he is in a good temper again," Alwin admitted. +"Yesterday I heard Tyrker tell Valbrand that many more chiefs had asked +concerning Christianity; and last night, after Eric had gone to sleep in +his seat, I heard Leif say to Thorhild that if now he could only do some +great deed to prove the power of his God, it was his opinion that half +of Greenland would be ready to believe." + +Sigurd crept out of the bearskins with a shiver. "I say nothing against +that. But let us end this talk. My blood-drops are so frozen they rattle +in my body." + +He thumped down the steps as though rigid with cold, and jumped and +danced and beat his breast before he could bring himself to stand still +long enough to fasten on his skees. + +"Where shall we go, then?" Alwin asked, as they glided out of the gate +in the dim light of an Arctic winter day. "It may be that to go over +that road again might become a misfortune. Once I saw Kark looking after +us with a grin which I would have knocked off his face if I had not been +in a hurry." + +Sigurd instantly faced toward the snow-crusted hills that lay between +them and Eric's Fiord. "Then to-day it will be useful to go in another +direction, so that any suspicions he has may go to sleep again. If +Thorhall had been at home, he would have overtaken you before this. His +green eyes are well fitted for spying." + +Perhaps it was this reference to green eyes that recalled to Alwin the +scene of the foretelling. Perhaps it had never gone very far out of his +mind. + +After they had swung along a while in silent enjoyment of the swift +motion and the answering tingle in their blood, he said abruptly: "It +may be that there was some truth at her tongue-roots, after all." + +Sigurd made a sly move with his staff, so that the other suddenly +tripped and fell headlong; whereupon he said gravely: "Lo, I believe so +too, for behold, already it has come true that 'I see your body lying on +the ground.'" + +Alwin consented to laugh, as he picked himself up and untangled his +runners; but he was too much in earnest to be turned aside. + +"I do not mean in regard to that," he said, when they were once more in +motion. "I mean what she told concerning some new untrodden land." + +Sigurd became instantly attentive, as though the reference had been much +in his own mind also. + +"It has occurred to me that perhaps she was speaking of that western +land you told me of. It might he that this would be a way out of my +difficulties. If I could escape to that land with Helga, so would I at +once save her and gain my freedom." + +Sigurd's eyes brightened, then gloomed again. "Yes,--but that 'if' is +like a mile-wide rift in the ice. You can never get over it." + +"It might be that I could get around it. I tell you I shall go out of my +wits if I cannot see some trail to follow, no matter how faint it is. +Tell me what else you know of this land." + +They were starting down a slope at the speed of the wind, but Sigurd +suddenly leaped into the air with a cheer; and cheered again as he +landed, right-side up and unstaggered, at the bottom of the hill. + +"By Michael, I will do better than that! I will take you to talk with +one of Biorn's own men. One is visiting Aran Bow-Bender now, across the +fiord. I heard Brand Knutsson say so last week." + +"By my troth, Sigurd," Alwin cried eagerly, "when things come to one's +hand like that, I believe it is a sign that he should try his luck with +them! Would we have time to go there to-day?" + +"Certainly; do you not see that the light is only just fading from the +mountain tops? so it can be but a little past noon. The only difficulty +is that the ice may not be in a condition for us to cross the fiord. A +warm land-wind has been blowing for three days; and even in the North, +where the seal-hunters go, the ice often breaks up under them. But now +allow me to get my bearings. That is the smoke from Brattahlid, behind +us; and yonder I see the roofs of Eric's ship-sheds. Here,--we will go +in this direction until we come to a high point of the bank." + +Across the white plain that stretched in that direction, they skimmed +accordingly. Once they came upon a herd of Eric's reindeer, rooting +under the snow for moss; but aside from that, they saw no living thing. +Low-hanging gray clouds seemed to have shut out the world. Now and then, +from far out in the open water came the grinding and crunching of huge +ice-cakes, see-sawing past each other. Once there sounded the +reverberating thunder of two icebergs in a duel. + +"If there were any bears on that ice, they have found by this time that +there can be even worse things than men with spears," Sigurd observed, +as he listened. + +It is doubtful whether Alwin had heard the noise at all. He answered, +absently: "Yes,--and if we do not wish to come to the subject at once, +we can say that we are cold and dropped in to warm ourselves." + +"To say that we are cold will always be truthfully spoken," Sigurd +assented, his teeth chattering like beads. "I do not believe that +Stark-Otter was much chillier when he pulled off his clothes and sat in +a snow-bank." + +It turned out to be even more truthful than they imagined. They had +little more than left the shore and ventured out upon the ice, when the +gentle east wind developed into a gale, that presently wrapped them in +the blinding folds of a snow-storm. The ice became invisible a step +ahead of their feet. They had retained their staffs when they left their +skees upon the bank; but even feeling their way step by step was by no +means secure. It was not long before Alwin went through, up to his neck; +and if he had been uncomfortable before, he was in wretched plight now, +drenched to the skin with ice-water. + +"If you also get in this condition, we shall both perish," he chattered, +when he had managed to clamber out again by the fortunate accident of +his staff's falling crosswise over the hole. "I will continue to go +first; and do you hoard your strength to save us both when I get too +stiff to move." It proved a wise precaution; for in a few minutes he +broke through again, and it took all his companion's exertions to pull +him out. Before they reached the opposite shore, he had been in four +times, and was so benumbed with cold that Sigurd was obliged to drag him +up the bank and into the hut of Aran Bow-Bender. + +One low room was all there was of it, and that was smoky and dirty, the +air thick with the smells of stale cooking and musty fur garments. Dogs +were lying about, and there was a goat-pen in the corner; but a fire +roared in the centre, a ring of steaming hot drinks stood around it, and +behind them sat a circle of jovial-hearted sportsmen, who seemed to ask +no greater pleasure than to pull off a stranger's drenched garments, rub +him to a tingle, and pour him full of hot spicy liquids. + +To return that night was out of the question. Alwin was too exhausted +even to think of it,--beyond a sleepy wonder as to whether a scolding or +a flogging would be the penalty of his involuntary truancy. He even +forgot the existence of the man he had come to see, though the round, +red-faced sailor dozed in a corner directly opposite him. + +Sigurd, however, was less muddled; and he had, besides, a strong +objection to returning the next morning, to be laughed at for his +weather-foolishness. + +"If we do not want to be made fun of, it would be advisable for us to +take someone back with us to distract people's attention," he reasoned, +and laid plans accordingly. The next day, as they began buckling up +their various outer garments preparatory to departure, he suddenly +struck into the conversation with a reference to the festivities at +Brattahlid. + +In a moment the sailor-man's eyes opened, like two round windows, above +his fat cheeks. + +The Silver-Tongue spoke on concerning the products of the Brattahlid +kitchen, the fat beeves that were slaughtered each week, the gammons and +flitches that were taken from the larder, and the barrels of ale that +were tapped. + +As he settled his boots with a final stamp, and stretched out his hand +toward the door, Grettir the sailor arose in his corner. + +"Hold on, Jarl's son," he said thickly. "If it is not against your wish, +I will go with you." He made a propitiatory gesture to the group around +the fire. "You will not take it ill, shipmates, if I leave you now, with +many thanks for a good entertainment. The truth is that it has always +been in my mind to visit this renowned Eric, if ever I should be in this +part of Greenland; and now that some one is going that way to guide me, +I think it would be unadvisable to lose the chance." + +"The matter shall be as you have fixed it, Grettir," Sigurd said +politely, "if you are able to run on skees with us." + +Grettir laughed in a jovial roar, as he helped himself to a pair of +runners that rested on antlers against the wall. "You have a sly wit, +Sigurd Jarlsson. You think, because I am round, I am wont to roll like a +barrel. I will show you." + +And it proved that, for all his bulk, he was as light on his feet as +either of them. In those days, when every landlubber could handle a boat +like a seaman, every sailor knew at least something about farming, and +could ride a horse like a jockey. All the way back, he kept them going +at a pace that took their breath. + +In the excitement of welcoming so renowned a character to Brattahlid, +reprimands and curiosity were alike forgotten. By the time they had him +anchored behind an ale-horn on the bench in the hail, he held the +household's undivided attention. Good-natured with feasting, and roused +by the babel around him, he began yarn-spinning at the first hint. + +"The western shore? No man living can tell you more of the wonders of +that than I,--not Biorn Herjulfsson himself!" he declared. And forthwith +he related the whole adventure, from Biorn's rash setting out into +unknown seas, to his final arrival on the Greenland coast. + +To hear of these strange half-mythical shores from one who had seen them +with his own eyes, was more than interesting. The jarls' sons listened +breathlessly while he reeled out his tale between swallows. + +"And the fair winds ceased, and northern winds with fog blew +continually, so that for many days we did not know even in what +direction we were sailing. Then the sun came into sight, and we could +distinguish the quarters of heaven. We hoisted sail, and sailed all day +before we saw land, but when we came to it we knew no more what it was +than this horn here. Biorn said he did not think it was Greenland, but +he wished to go near it. It had no mountains but low hills, and was +forest-clad. We kept the land on our left and sailed for two days before +we came to other land. This time it was flat and covered with woods. +Biorn said that he did not think this was Greenland, for very large +glaciers were said to be there. We wished to go ashore, as we lacked +both wood and water, and the fair wind had fallen. There were some cross +words when Biorn would not, but gave orders to turn the prow seaward. +This time we sailed three days with a southwest wind, and more land came +in view, which rose high with mountains and a glacier. Biorn said this +had an inhospitable look, and he would not allow that we should land +here either. But we sailed along the shore, and saw that it was an +island. After this we had no more chances, for the fourth land we saw +was Greenland." + +A buzz of comment rose from all sides. "Is that all that you made of +such a chance as that?"--"Certainly the gods waste their favors on such +as Biorn Herjulfsson."--"Is he a coward, or what does he lack?" "He is +as dull as a wooden sword." + +Now whether or no all this coincided with the private opinion of Grettir +the Fat, has nothing to do with the matter. Biorn Herjulfsson had been +his chief. The sailor rose suddenly to his feet, with his hand on his +knife and an angry look on his red face. + +"Biorn Herjulfsson is no coward!" he shouted fiercely. "I will avenge it +in blood on the head of him who says so." + +Eric was not there to keep order; a dozen mouths opened to take up the +challenge. But before any sound could come out of them, Leif had risen +to his feet. "Are you such mannerless churls that I must remind you of +what is due to a guest?" he said, sternly. "Learn to be quicker with +your hospitality, and slower with your judgment of every act you cannot +under-stand. Grettir, I invite you to sit here by me and tell me more +concerning your chief's voyage." + +When Grettir had gone proudly up to take his seat of honor, and the +others had returned to their back-gammon and ale, Sigurd looked at Alwin +with a comical grimace. + +"Now I wonder if my cleverness in bringing this fellow here has happened +to overshoot the mark! Leif is eager to get renown; suppose he takes it +into his head to make this voyage himself?" + +Alwin sank his voice to a whisper: "The idea came to me as soon as he +called Grettir to him. But it was not your doing. Now the saying is +proved true that 'things that are fated take place.' Do you remember the +prophecy,--that when I stand on that ground I shall stand there by the +side of Leif Ericsson?" + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +ALWIN'S BANE + +Much goes worse than is expected. + Ha'vama'l + + +The light of the short day had faded, but the wind had not gone down +with the sun. Powdery snow choked the air in a blinding storm. One could +not distinguish a house, though it were within a foot of his eyes. + +"If I do not come to the gate before long," Alwin observed to the shaggy +little Norwegian pony along whose neck he was bending, "I shall believe +that the fences have been snowed under." + +He had been sent out to find another of Biorn's sailors who chanced to +be visiting in the neighborhood, to invite him to come to Brattahlid and +tell what else he might know concerning his chiefs voyage,--a subject in +which Leif had become strangely interested. Alwin had accomplished his +errand, and was returning half-frozen and with a ravenous appetite that +made him doubly impatient over their slow progress. + +"If we do not get there before long," he repeated to the pony, with a +dig into his flanks, "I shall get afraid that the drifts have covered +the houses also, and that we are already riding over the roofs without +knowing it." + +But as he said it, a tall gate-post rose on either side of him; and the +pony turned to the left and began groping his way across the courtyard +to his stable. + +The windows of the great hall glowed with light, and warmth and jovial +voices and fragrant smells burst out upon the storm with every swing of +the broad door. As soon as he had stabled his horse, Alwin hurried +toward it eagerly, and, stamping and shaking off the snow, pushed his +way in through the crowd of house-thralls, who were running to and from +the pantry with bowls and trenchers and loads of food. He hoped that +Leif was there, so that he should not have to go back across the snowy +courtyard to the sleeping-loft to make his report. Stopping just inside +the threshold, he looked about for him, blinking in the strong light and +shaking back the wet fur of his collar. + +It seemed as though every member of the house-hold except Leif were +lounging along the benches, waiting for the evening meal. Eric leaned +against one arm of his high-seat, talking jovially with Thorhall the +steward, who had returned that morning from seal-hunting. Thorhild bent +over the other arm, and gesticulated vigorously with her keys, as she +gave her housekeeper some last directions regarding the food. Further +along, Sigurd and Helga sat at draughts. Near at hand, a big fur ball, +which was the outward and visible sign of Tyrker, was rolled up close to +a chess-board. Only Leif's cushioned seat was empty. + +With petulant force, Alwin jammed his bearskin cap down upon his head +and turned to retrace his steps. Turning, his eye fell upon an object +that Eric had just taken from the steward and held up to the light to +examine. The flames caught at it eagerly, flashing and sparkling, so +that even at that distance Alwin had no difficulty in recognizing the +brass-hilted knife. Eric burst into a mighty roar of laughter. His +voice, never greatly subdued, penetrated to every corner of the room. "I +could stake my head that it is Leif's! I myself gave it to him for a +name-fastening. And you found it in Skroppa's den? Oh, this is worth a +hearing! Here is mirth! In Skroppa's den,--Leif the Christian! Ho, +Flein, Asmund, Adils, comrades,--listen to this! No jester ever invented +such a jest." + +He got on his feet and beckoned them with both arms, stamping with +laughter. Catching sight of Alwin's white face at the door,--for it was +ashen white,--he beckoned him also, with a fresh burst of malicious +laughter. + +"And you, you little priest-robed puppet, come nearer, so you shall not +lose a word. Oh, it will be great fun for you! And for you, my +Thorhild,--and the haughty-headed Helga! And gray old Tyrker too! Listen +now, Graybeard, and learn, even with one foot in the grave. Saw you +never such a game as this foster-son of yours has played with unchanging +face!" He choked with his laughter, so that his face grew purple; and +the household waited, leaning from the benches, nudging and whispering; +the servants gaping over the dishes in their hands; Alwin standing by +the door, motionless as the dead; Sigurd sitting, still as the dead, in +his place. + +Stamping and rocking himself back and forth, and banging on the arm of +his seat, the Red One got his breath at last, and bellowed it out. "Leif +the Christian in the den of Skroppa the Witch! His knife proves it; +Thorhall found it among the rocks at her very door. Saw I never such +slyness! Think of it, comrades; he is driven to ask help of Skroppa,--he +who feigns to scowl at her very name!--he who would have us believe in a +god that he does not trust in himself! Here is an unheard-of +two-facedness! Never was such a fraud since Loki. Here is merriment for +all!" + +He continued to shout it over and over, roaring with mocking laughter; +his men nudging each other, sniggering and grinning and calling gibes +across the fire. Leif's men sprang up, burning with rage and +shame,--then stood speechless, daring neither to deny nor resent it. + +Alwin made a quick step forward to where the firelight revealed him to +all in the room, and cried out hoarsely: "Here is falsehood! My hand, +and no other, took Leif Ericsson's knife to the den of Skroppa the +Witch." + +Motion and sound stopped for a moment,--as though the icy blast, that +came just then through the opening door, had frozen all the life in the +room. Then a voice called out that the thrall was lying to cover his +master; and Eric's laughter burst out anew, and the jeering redoubled. + +But Alwin's voice rose high above it. "Fools! Is it worth while for me +to give my life for a lie? Ask Sigurd Haraldsson, if you will not +believe me. He knows that I went there on Yule Eve, to ask concerning my +freedom. The knife slipped from my belt as I was climbing the rocks. +Leif knew of it no more than you. Ask Sigurd Haraldsson, if you will not +believe me." + +Sigurd rose and tried to speak, but his tongue had become like a +withered leaf in his mouth, so that he could only bow his head. + +Yet from him, that was enough. Such an uproar of delight broke from +Leif's men as drowned all the jeering that had gone before, and made the +rafters ring with exulting. Alwin knew that, whatever else he would have +to bear, at least that lie was not upon him, and he drew a deep breath +of relief. All the light did not die out of his face, even when Leif +stepped out of the shadow of the door and stood before him. + +She had not spoken falsely who had said that the fire of Eric burned in +the veins of his son. In his white-hot anger, the guardsman's face was +terrible. Death was in his stern-set mouth, and death blazed from his +eyes. Rolf, Sigurd, Helga, even Valbrand, cried out for mercy; but Alwin +read the look aright, and asked for nothing that was not there. + +While their cries were still in the air, Leif's blade leaped from its +scabbard, quivered in the light, and flashed down, biting through fur +and hair and flesh and bone. Without a sound, Alwin fell forward +heavily, and lay upon his face at his master's feet. + +That all men might know whose hand had done the deed, Leif flung the +dripping sword down beside its victim, and without speaking, strode out +of the room. + +Then a strange thing happened. Helga ran over to where the lifeless heap +lay in a widening pool of blood, and raised the wounded head in her +arms, and rained down upon the still white face such tears as no one had +ever thought to see her shed. When Thorhild came to take her away, she +cried out, so that every one could hear: + +"Do you not understand?--I loved him. I did not find it out until now. I +loved him with all my heart, and now he will never know! I--loved him." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +THE HEART OF A SHIELD-MAIDEN + + + Cattle die, + Kindred die, + We ourselves also die; + But the fair fame + Never dies + Of him who has earned it. + Ha'vama'l + + +Out of doors the stir of spring was in the air; snow melting on the +hills, grass sprouting on the plains. Editha's troubled face brightened +a little, as she turned up the lane against the sun and felt its warmth +upon her cheek. + +"It gives one the feeling that it will melt one's sorrows as it melts +the snow," she told herself. + +Then she passed through the gate into the budding courtyard, where her +eye fell upon Leif's sleeping-loft, with Kark running briskly up the +steps; and the brightness faded. + +"But there is some ice the sun cannot melt," she sighed. + +On the threshold of the great hall, Thorhild stood waiting for her. +Inside, all was confusion,--men placing tables and bringing in straw; +maids spreading the embroidered cloths and hanging the holiday +tapestries. The matron's head-dress was awry; her cheeks were like +poppies, and her keys were kept in a perpetual jingle by her bustling +motions. + +She cried out, as soon as Editha came within hearing distance: "How long +you have been, you little good-for-nothing! I have looked out four times +for you. Was Astrid away from home? Did you return by Eric's Fiord, and +learn whose ship it is that is coming in?" + +The little Saxon maid dropped her respectful curtsey. If at the same +time she dropped her eyes with a touch of embarrassment, the matron was +too preoccupied to observe it. + +"I was hindered by necessity, lady. Astrid was not away from home, but +she was uncertain whether her son would wish to sell any malt, so I was +obliged to wait until he came in from the stables." + +"Humph," sniffed Thorhild; "Egil Olafsson has become of great importance +since his father was mound-laid. This is the third time I have been kept +waiting for his leave." She turned on the girl sharply. "By no means do +I believe that to be the reason for your long absences. I believe you +plead that as an excuse." + +Editha caught at the door-post, and her face went from red to white and +back to red again. + +"Indeed, lady--" she began. + +Thorhild shook a menacing finger at her. "One never needs to tell me! +She keeps you there to gossip about my household. Though she is my +friend, she is as great a gossip as ever wagged a tongue." + +Even though the hand still threatened her ears, one would have said that +Editha looked relieved. She said, with well-feigned reluctance: "It is +true that we have sometimes spoken of Brattahlid while I waited. Astrid +looks favorably upon my needlework. Once or twice she has said that she +would like to buy me--" + +This time Thorhild snorted. "She takes too much trouble! Helga will +never sell you to anyone. You need get no such ideas into your head. Why +do you talk such foolishness, and hinder me from my work? Can you not +tell me shortly whether or not you got the malt?" + +"I did, lady. Two thralls will bring it as soon as it can be weighed." + +"I shall need it, if guests arrive. And what of the ship? Did you learn +whose it is? It takes till pyre-and-fire to get anything out of you." + +Editha's rosy face, usually as full of placid content as a kitten's, +suddenly puckered with anxiety. "Lady, as I passed, it was still a long +way down the fiord. I could only see that it was a large and fine +trading-vessel. But one of the seamen on the shore told me it was his +belief that it is the ship of Gilli of Trond-hjem." + +The house-wife's keys clashed and clattered with her motion of surprise. +"Gilli of Trondhjem! Then he has come to take Helga!" + +Editha nervously clasped and unclasped her hands. "I got afraid it might +be so." + +"Afraid, you simpleton?" The matron laughed excitedly, as she brushed +all stray hairs out of her eyes and tightened her apron for action. "It +will become a great boon to her. Since the Englishman's death, she has +been no better than a crazy Brynhild. To take her out into the world and +entertain her with new sights,--it will be the saving of her! Run +quickly and tell her the tidings; and see to it that she puts on her +most costly clothes. Tell her that if she will also put on the ornaments +Leif has given her, I will give her leave to stop embroidering for the +day." + +Editha observed to herself, as she tripped away, that undoubtedly her +mistress had already done that without waiting for permission. And it +proved very shortly that she was right. + +In the great work-room of the women's-house, among deserted looms and +spindles and embroidery frames, Helga sat in dreamy idleness. The +whirlwind of excitement that had swept her companions away at the news +of approaching guests, had passed over her without so much as ruffling a +hair. Her golden head rested heavily against the wall behind her; her +hands lay listlessly upon her lap. Her face was as white as the unmelted +snow in the valleys, and the spring sun-shine had brought no sparkle to +relieve the shadow in her eyes. + +Without looking around, she said dreamily: "It was one year ago to-day +that I came into the trader's booth in Norway and saw him sitting there +among the thralls." + +Editha stole over to her and lifted one of her hands out of her lap and +kissed it. "Lady, do not be all the time thinking of him. You will break +your heart, and to no purpose. Besides, I have news of great importance +for you. I have seen the ship that is coming up the fiord, and men say +it is the vessel of your father, Gilli of Trondhjem." + +With something of her old fire, Helga snatched her hand away and started +up. "Do you know this for certain? And do you believe that Thorhild will +give me up to him?" + +"Worse than that, lady,--she is even anxious that he shall take you, +thinking it will be to your advantage." + +For awhile Helga sat staring before her, with expressions of anger and +despair flickering over her face. Then, gradually, they died down like +flames into ashes. She sank back against the wall, and her eyes faded +dull and absent again. + +"After all, what does it matter?" she said, listlessly. "I shall not +find it any worse there than here. Nothing matters now." + +Editha made a little moan, like one in sudden pain; hut it seemed as +though she did not dare to interrupt the other's revery. She stood, +softly wringing her hands. It was Helga who finally broke the silence. +Suddenly she turned, an angry gleam replacing the dulness in her eyes. + +"Did the ship bring more tidings of the battle? Is it certain that King +Olaf Trygvasson is slain?" + +Editha answered, in some surprise: "It had not come to land when I was +there, lady. I am unable to tell you anything new. But the men who came +last week, and first told us of the battle, say that Eric Jarl is now +the King over Norway, and there is no doubt that Olaf Trygvasson is +dead." + +Helga laughed, a hateful laugh that made her pretty mouth as cruel as a +wolf's. "It gladdens me that he is dead. I am well content that Leif's +heart should be black with mourning. He killed the man I loved, and now +the King he loved is slain,--and he was not there to fight for him. It +is a just punishment upon him. I am glad that he should suffer a little +of all that he has made me suffer." + +Editha moaned again, and flung out her hands with a gesture of entreaty. +"Dearest lady, if only you would not allow yourself to suffer so! If +only you would bear it calmly, as I have begged of you! Even though you +died, it would not help. It is wasting your grief--" She stopped, for +her mistress was looking at her fixedly. + +"I do not understand you," Helga said, slowly. "Is it wasting grief to +mourn the death of Alwin of England, than whom God never made a nobler +or higher-minded man?" She rose out of her seat, and Editha shrank away +from her. "I do not understand you,--you who pretend to have loved him +since he was a child. Is it indeed your wish that I should act as though +I cared nothing for him? Did you really care nothing for him yourself? +Your face has grown no paler since his death-day; you are as fat as +ever; you have seldom shed a tear. Was all your loyalty to him a lie? By +the edge of my knife, if I thought so I would give you cause to weep! I +would drive the blood from your deceitful face forever!" + +She caught the Saxon girl by the wrist and forced her upon her knees; +her beautiful eyes were as awful as the eyes of a Valkyria in battle. +The bondmaid screamed at the sight of them, and threw up an arm to +shield herself. + +"No, no! Listen, and I will tell you the truth! Though they kill me, I +will tell yon. Put down your head,--I dare not say it aloud. Listen!" + +Mechanically, Helga bent her head and received into her ear three +whispered words. She loosed her hold upon the other's wrists and stood +staring at her, at first in anger, and then with a sort of dawning pity. + +"Poor creature! grief has gotten you out of your wits," she said. "And I +was harsh with you because I thought you did not care!" She put out a +hand to raise her, but Editha caught it in both of hers, fondling it and +clinging to it. + +"Sweetest lady, I am not out of my wits. It is the truth, the blessed +truth. Mine own eyes have proved it. Four times has Thorhild sent me on +errands to Egil's house, and each time have I seen--" + +"Yet said nothing to me! You have let me suffer!" + +"No, no, spare me your reproaches! How was it possible for me to do +otherwise? If you had known, all would have suspected; 'A woman's eyes +cannot hide it when she loves.' Sigurd Haraldsson bound me firmly. I was +told only because it was necessary that I should carry their messages. +It has torn my heart to let you grieve. Only love for him could have +kept me to it. Believe it, and forgive me. Say that you forgive me!" + +Helga flung her arms open wide. "Forgive? I forgive everyone in the +whole world--everything!" She threw herself, sobbing, upon Editha's +breast, and they clung together like sisters. + +While they were still mingling their tears and rejoicings, the old +housekeeper looked in with a message from Thorhild. + +"Sniffling, as I had expected! Have the wits left both of you? Even now +Gilli of Trondhjem is coming up the lane. It is the command of Thorhild +that you be dressed and ready to hand him his ale the moment he has +taken off his outer garments. If you have any sense left, make haste." + +When the door had closed on the wrinkled old visage, Editha sent a +doubtful glance at her mistress. But the shield-maiden leaped up with a +laugh like a joyful chime of bells. + +"Gladly will I put on the finest clothes I own, and feast the whole +night through! Nothing matters now. So long as he is alive, things must +come out right some way. Nothing matters now!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IN THE SHADOW OF THE SWORD + + + It is better to live, + Even to live miserably; + .......... + The halt can ride on horseback; + The one-handed, drive cattle; + The deaf, fight and be useful; + To be blind is better + Than to be burnt; + No one gets good from a corpse. + Ha'vama'l + + +"Egil! Egil Olafsson!" It was Helga's voice, with a note of happiness +thrilling through it like the trill in a canary's song. + +Egil turned from the field in which his men were and came slowly to +where she stood leaning over the fence that separated the field from the +lane. He guessed from her voice that they had told her the secret, and +when he came near enough to see, he knew it from her face; it was like a +rose-garden burst into bloom. His lowering brow scowled itself into a +harder knot. With the death of his father, he had thrown aside the +scarlet clothes of Leif's men, and wore the brown homespun of a farmer. +From his neck downward, everything spoke of thrift and industry and +peace. But his fierce dark face looked the harsher for the contrast. + +Helga stretched her hand across the fence. "I am going to see Alwin, for +the first time after all these months. They told me two days ago, but +this is the first chance I could find. But even before I saw him, I +thought it right to see you and thank you for your wondrous goodness. +Sigurd has told me how they carried Alwin to you in the night, and you +received him and sheltered him, and--" + +Egil silenced her with a rough gesture. "I kept my oath of friendship; +speak no further of it. Do you know where he is hidden?" + +"Sigurd told me he is in the cabin of your old foster-mother, Solveig. I +do not remember whether that is to the left or the right of the lane. +But it is a most ingenious hiding-place. No one ever goes there, and +Solveig is the most accomplished of nurses." + +"Since you do not remember where it is, I will walk with you, if it is +not against your wish." He shouted some final directions to the men in +the field, then leaped over the fence and strode along beside her. + +He appeared to have nothing to say, after they were once started, and +they went through lane and pasture and field in silence. But as soon as +she broke out with fresh praise for his kindness, he found his tongue in +all its curt vigor. + +"Enough has been said about that. I have been wishing to speak to you of +something that happened at the feast the other night. Do you know that +my kinswoman Astrid told Gilli of her wish to buy your bondwoman, and--" + +For a moment there was something wolfish about Helga's white teeth. She +struck in quickly: "Yes, I know. Gilli agreed to sell Editha to her, the +day we sail. It is exactly what I expected of him. If Astrid should +offer a little more, he would be apt to sell me. He is the +lowest-minded--Bah!" It seemed as though words failed her. She threw her +hands apart in a gesture of utter detestation. The glow was gone out of +her face. + +"What I wanted to say is, that if it is your wish, I will persuade my +mother to withdraw her offer." + +After a while Helga shook her head. "No. He would only sell her to some +one else. It would trouble me to think of her among strangers, and your +mother would treat her kindly." She paused, at the top of the stile they +were climbing over, to look down at him earnestly. "I should be thankful +if you would promise me that, Egil. You are master now, and can have +your will about everything. Promise me you will see that she is well +treated." + +"I promise you." Helga threw a grateful look after him, as he went along +before her. "Your word is like a rock, Egil. One could hold on to it +though everything else should roll away." + +The cloud was passing from her face. By the time she gained his side, +the rose-garden was once more radiant in sunlight. + +"After all, I do not feel that I have a right to let anything grieve me +much, since God has given Alwin back from the dead. I set my mind to +thinking of that, and then everything else seems small and easily +remedied. Even Gilli's coming it is possible to turn to profit. I have a +fine plan--" + +She broke off abruptly as, through a clump of white-birch trees, she +caught sight of a tiny cabin nestled in their green shelter. + +"That is Solveig's house; now I remember it! How is it possible that it +has held such a secret for four months, and still looks just as usual? +Let us hurry!" She seized his arm to pull him along. Only when he +wrenched away and came to a dead stop, did she slacken her pace to stare +at him over her shoulder. + +"Do you wish to drive me crazy?" he shouted. + +She thought him already so, and drew back. + +He waited to take a fresh grip on his self-control. When he spoke at +last, it was with labored slowness: "Every week for four months I have +come to this door and asked the Englishman how he fared; and he has not +wished for anything that I have not given it to him. The night they left +him with me, I could have put my fingers around his throat and killed +him; and no one would have known. But I held my hands behind me, and +allowed him to live. So far, I have kept my oath of friendship. Do you +wish me to go in with you and break it now?" + +Before she could gather her wits together to answer him, he was gone. + +Standing where he had left her, she stared after him, open-mouthed, +until her eye fell upon the cabin among the bushes, when she forgot +everything else in the world. She ran toward it and threw open the door. + +The low room was smoky and badly lighted. Before she could distinguish +her lover in the dimness, he was upon her, calling her name over and +over, crushing her hands in his. She cried out, and lifted her face, and +his lips met hers, warm and living. It was the same as though nothing +had happened since last she saw him. + +No, not quite the same; she saw that, the instant she drew back. Alwin +was very thin, and in the half-light his face showed white and haggard. +An ugly scar stretched half across his forehead. At the sight of it her +eyes flashed, and she reached up and touched with her lips the fiery +mark. + +"How I hate Leif for that!" Then she saw the greatest change of all in +him, the quiet grimness that had come upon him out of his nights of pain +and days of solitude. + +"That is unfairly spoken, sweetheart. I have but paid the price I agreed +to pay if luck went against me. Leif has dealt with me only according to +justice; that I will maintain, though I die under his sword at the +last." + +She drew a quick, sharp breath. In the joy of recovery, she had let +herself forget that he is only half alive who lives under the shadow of +a death sentence. She set her teeth over her lip to stop its trembling, +and stiffened herself to the iron composure of a shield-maiden. + +"It is true that you are yet in great danger. His anger has not yet +departed from him, for not once has your name passed his lips. Sit down +here and tell me what you think of your case." + +Alwin recalled the weeping and fainting of his mother's waiting-women, +in that far-off time of trouble, and pressed her hand gratefully as he +took his seat by her side upon the bench. "You are my brave comrade as +well as my best friend. I can talk with you as I would with Sigurd." + +Just for a moment she laid her cheek against his shoulder. "It gladdens +me that you are content with me as I am, instead of wishing me to be +like Bertha of Trondhjem and other women," she whispered. + +Then the memory linked with that name caused her to straighten again and +look at him doubtfully. "Has Solveig told you all the latest tidings?" + +"She has told me nothing for a week. She is up at the hall just now, +helping with the spinning; but Editha was here two days ago. Is it of +King Olaf that you are thinking? She told me of the battle; and I am +full of sorrow for Leif. She told me that his room was draped in black, +and that he stopped preparing for his exploring voyage and shut himself +up for four days and four nights, without eating or speaking." + +"He has begun his preparations again. His sorrow is not worth +considering. Or, rather, I shall grieve with him when he grieves for +you. The tidings that I mean concern Gilli of Trondhjem. Do you know +that he has come to take me away?" + +She wanted to see the despair in his face, that she might feel how much +he cared; then she hastened to reassure him. "But do not trouble +yourself over that. Even though I go with him, it will do no harm. If he +tries to marry me to anyone, I will pretend that I think the marriage +beneath me. I will work upon his greediness, and so trick him into +waiting; and in a year you will come and rescue me." + +"If I am alive!" Alwin interrupted her sharply. He sprang up and began +to pace the floor, clenching his fists and knocking them together. "If I +am alive I will come. But it is by no means unlikely that Leif will +carry out his intention. Then you will be left in Gilli's power +forever." + +She laughed as she went to him and brought him back and pushed him down +upon the bench. + +"See how love makes a coward of a man as well as of a woman! But do not +trouble yourself over that, either. Have you never heard the love-tale +of Hagberth and Signe? How, the same moment in which she saw him hanged +upon the gallows, she set fire to her house and strangled herself with +her ribbons, so that their two souls met on the threshold of Paradise +and went in together? If you die, I will die too; and that will arrange +everything." She clung to him for a moment, and he feared that she was +about to dishonor her shield by a burst of tears. + +But in an instant she looked up at him with her brave smile. "We will +end this talk about dying, however. Remember the old saying, 'If a man's +time has not come, something is sure to aid him.' There is another fate +in store for you than to lose your life in this matter, or you would +have died when Leif struck you down. I love the cap that saved you! We +will not talk about dying, but only of our hopes. I have planned how +Gilli may be made useful, so that on his vessel you can escape to +Norway." + +She put her hand over his mouth as he would have spoken. "No, listen to +me before you say anything against it. Gilli will sail next week. At +that time Leif will be absent on a visit to Biorn Herjulfsson, who has +just returned to Greenland from Norway. With Leif, Kark will go, so that +we shall not have his prying eyes to fear. What would prevent you from +stealing down to the shore, the night before we sail, and swimming out +to the ship and hiding yourself in one of the great chests in the +foreroom? The steersman will not hinder you, for I have spoken so many +fine words to him, with this deed in view, that he is ready to chop off +his head at my bidding. Thus will you get far out at sea before they +discover you. Gilli will not know that he has ever seen you before, you +are so white and changed; and when he has taken away all the property +you have on you, he will say nothing further about the matter. So will +you be brought to Norway,--and thence it is not far to your England, +though I do not know if that is of any importance. But if you say that +this plan is otherwise than ingenious, I shall be angry with you." + +Alwin vented a short laugh. "It is most ingenious, comrade. The only +trouble with it is that I have no ambition to go either to Norway or to +England." + +This time it was he who sealed her lips, as her amazement was about to +burst through them. + +"Give me a hearing and you will understand. I do not wish to go to +England because I could do nothing there to improve my credit in any +way. My kin have disappeared like withered grass, and the Danes are +all-powerful. I do not wish to go to Norway because there I could never +be more than a runaway slave; and though I strove to my uttermost, it is +unlikely that I could ever acquire either wealth or influence,--and +without both how would it ever be possible to win you? See how the North +has conquered me! First it was only my body that was bound; and I was +sure that, if ever I got my freedom, I should enter the service of some +English lord and die fighting against the Danes. And now a Norse maiden +has conquered my heart, so that I would not take my liberty if it were +offered me! No, no, sweetheart; I have thought of it, night and day, +until at last I see the truth. The only chance I have is with Leif." + +Helga wrung her hands violently. "You must be crazy if you think so! He +would strike you down the instant his eyes--" + +"It is not my intention that he shall know me until he has had cause to +soften toward me. Do you not remember Skroppa's prophecy? has not Sigurd +told you of it?--that it is in this new untrodden country that my fate +is to be decided? I will disguise myself in some way, and go on this +exploring expedition among his following. I shall have many chances to +be of service to him." + +"But suppose they should not come soon enough? Suppose your disguise +should be too shallow? His eyes are like arrows that pierce everything +they are aimed at. Suppose he should recognize you at once?" + +The new grimness again squared Alwin's mouth. "Then one of two things +will happen. Either he will pardon me, for the sake of what I have +already endured; or else he will keep to his first intention, and kill +me. In neither case will we be worse off than we were four months ago." + +Such logic admitted of no reply, and Helga gave way to it. But so much +anguish was betrayed in her face, that Alwin gave another short laugh +and asked her: + +"Who is it now that love is making a coward of?" + +She shook her head gravely. "I am no coward. It gladdens me to have you +face death in this way, and to know that you will not murmur even if +luck goes against you. But I do not wish you to throw your life away; +and you know no prudence. Let us speak of this disguise. What have you +fixed upon?" + +"I acknowledge that I have accomplished very little. Solveig has told me +of a bark whose juice is such that with it I can turn my skin brown like +that of the Southerners. And I have decided to make believe that I am a +Frankish man. I know not a little of their tongue, which will help to +disguise my speech. But how I am to cover up my short hair, or account +for my appearance in Greenland--" He shrugged his shoulders, and dropped +his chin upon his fist. + +Helga clasped her hands around her knee and stared at him thoughtfully. +"I have heard Sigurd tell of a strange wonder he saw in France,--I do +not know what you call it,--like a hood made of people's hair. A girl +who had lost her hair through sickness was wont to wear it; and Sigurd +did not even suspect that it was rootless, until one day she caught the +ends in her cloak, and pulled it off. If you could get one of those--" + +"If!" Alwin murmured. But Helga did not hear him. Suddenly, in the dim +perspective of her mind, she had caught a glimpse of a plan. As she +darted at it, it eluded her; but she chased it to and fro, seeing it +more clearly at each turn. Finally she caught it. She leaped up and +opened her mouth to shout it forth, when an impulse of Editha's caution +touched her, and instead, she threw her arms around his neck and laughed +it into his ear. + +He drew back and gazed at her with dawning appreciation. She nodded +excitedly. + +"Is it not well fitted to succeed? You can escape to Norway as I +planned, and after that you can easily reach Normandy. All that you lack +is gold, and Leif and Gilli have covered me with that." + +His face kindled as he mused on it. "It sounds possible. Sigurd's +friends would receive me well for his sake; and after I had got +everything for my disguise, I would have yet many good chances to return +to Nidaros and board the ship of Arnor Gunnarsson, who comes here each +summer on a trading voyage. Coming that way, who could suspect +me?--particularly when it is everyone's belief that I am dead." + +"No one!" Helga cried joyously. "No one! It is perfect!" + +In a sudden burst of gratitude, he caught her hands and kissed them. +"All is due to you, then. It is an unheard-of cleverness! You must be a +Valkyria! Only a great hero is worthy of a maid like you." + +Laughing with pleasure, she hid her face on his breast. And it must be +that her plan possessed some of the advantages she claimed for it, for +it came to pass that, on the same day that Gilli and his daughter set +sail for Norway, a fair-skinned thrall with a shaven head disappeared +from Greenland so completely that even Kark's keen eyes would have found +it impossible to trace him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +A FAMILIAR BLADE IN A STRANGE SHEATH + + +"Now it is related that Bjarni Herjulfsson came +from Greenland to Eirek Jarl, who received him +well. Bjarni described his voyage and the lands +that he had seen. People thought he had shown a +lack of interest as he had nothing to tell about +them, and he was somewhat blamed for it. He became +the Jarl's hirdman and went to Greenland the +following summer, Now there was much talk about +land discoveries." --FLATEYJARBO'K. + + +The week after Gilli's departure for Norway, Leif returned from his +visit to Herjulf's Cape, and made public his intention to take Biorn's +barren beginning and carry it out to a definite finish. He brought with +him three of the men of Biorn's old crew, and also the same stanch +little trading-vessel in which Herjulfsson had made his journey. The +ship-sheds upon the shore became at once the scene of endless +overhauling and repairing. Thorhild's women laid aside their +embroidering for the task of sail-making. There began a ransacking of +every hut on the commons and every fishing-station along the coast, for +the latest improved hunting-gear and fishing-tackle; and day after day +Tyrker rode among the farms, purchasing stores of grain and smoked +meats. + +As the old saga says: "Now there was much talk about land discoveries." +The Lucky One became the hero of the hour. With all its stubbornness, +Eric's pride could not but be gratified. He began to show signs of +relenting. Gradually he ceased to avert his face. One day, he even +worked himself up to making a gruff inquiry into their plans. + +"If we return with great fame, it is likely his pleasure will reconcile +him entirely," Leif's men chuckled to each other. + +The diplomatic guardsman was quick to understand the change, but as +usual, he went a step beyond their expectations. The day after his +father made this first advance, he invited him to inspect the exploring +ship and advise them concerning her equipment. While they stood upon the +shore, admiring the coat of scarlet paint that was being laid upon her +hull, he suddenly offered the Red One the leadership of the expedition. + +Eric's eyes caught fire, and his wiry old frame straightened and swelled +with eagerness. Then, though his eyes still sparkled, his chest sank +like a pierced bladder. + +"It is not possible for me to go. I am too old, and less able to bear +hardship than formerly." + +Rolf and the steersman, who had overheard the offer, exchanged glances +of relief, and allowed themselves to breathe again. But to their +consternation, Leif did not take advantage of this loop-hole. He argued +and urged, until Eric drew in another long breath of excitement, until +his aged muscles tingled and twitched with a spasm of youthful ardor, +until at last, in a burst of almost hysterical enthusiasm, he accepted +the offer. In the warmth of his pleasure, he grasped his son's hand and +publicly received him back into his affections. But at the moment, this +was cold comfort for Leif's followers. They turned from their painting +and hammering and polishing, to stare at their lord in amazed +disapproval. The instant the two chiefs had gone up from the shore, +complaints broke out like explosions. + +"That old heathen at the steering-oar! All the bad luck in the world may +be expected!"--" Nowhere lives a man more domineering than Eric the +Red." "What is to become of Leif's renown, if the glory is to go to that +old pagan?"--"Skroppa has turned a curse against the Lucky One. He has +been deprived of his mind." + +"It is in my mind that part of that is true," Rolf said thoughtfully, +leaning on the spear-shaft he was sharpening. "I believe the Saxon +Saints' Book has bewitched his reason. From that, I have heard the +Englishman read of men who gave up honor lest it might make them vain. I +believe Leif Ericsson is humbling his pride, like some beaten monk." + +He was interrupted by a chorus of disgust. "Yah! If he has become such a +woman as that !"--"A man who fears bad luck."--"A brave man bears the +result of his action, whatever it is."--" The Saints' Book is befitting +old men who have lost their teeth."--"Christianity is a religion for +women." + +Sigurd struck in for the first time. Although he had been frowning with +vexation, some touch of compunction had held him silent. "I will not +allow you to say that, nor should you wish to speak so." He hesitated, +rubbing his chin perplexedly. "I acknowledge that I experience the same +disgust that you do; yet I am not altogether certain that we are right. +I remember hearing my father say that what these saints did was more +difficult than any achievement of Thor. And I have heard King Olaf +Trygvasson read out of the Holy Book that a man who controls his own +passions is more to be admired than a man who conquers a city." + +For perhaps two or three minutes there was a lull in the grumbling. But +it was not to be expected, in that brutal age, that moral strength +should find a keen appreciation. Indeed, Sigurd's words were far from +ringing with his own conviction. Little by little, the discontent broke +out again. At last it grew so near to mutiny, that the steersman felt +called upon to exercise his authority. + +"All this is foolishly spoken, concerning something you know nothing of. +Undoubtedly Leif has an excellent reason for what he does. It may be +that he considers it of the greatest importance to secure Eric's +friendship. Or it may be that he intends to lead him into some +uninhabited place, that he may kill him and get rid of his ill-temper. +It is certain that he has some good reason. Go back to your work, and +make your minds easy that now, as always, some good will result from his +actions." + +The men still growled as they obeyed him; but however right or wrong he +was regarding Leif's motives, he was proved correct in his prophecy. Out +of that moment on shore, came the good of a complete reconciliation with +Eric. No more were there cold shoulders, and half-veiled gibes, and long +evenings of gloomy restraint. No longer were Leif's followers obliged to +sit with teeth on their tongues and hands on their swords. The warmth of +gratification that had melted the ice of Eric's displeasure seemed to +have set free torrents of generosity and good-will. His ruddy face +beamed above the board like a harvest moon; if Leif would have accepted +it, he would have presented him with the entire contents of Brattahlid. +Following their chief's example, his retainers locked arms with their +former enemies and swore them eternal brotherhood. Night after night +they drank out of the same horns, and strengthened their bonds in +lauding their chiefs. Never had the great hall seen a time of such +radiant good cheer. + +By the last week of Leif's preparations, interest and enthusiasm had +spread into every corner of inhabited Greenland. Strings of people began +to make pilgrimages to stare at the exploring vessel that had once been +within sight of the "wonder-shores" and now seemed destined actually to +touch them. Men came from ail parts of the country in the hope of +joining her crew, and were furious with disappointment when told that +her equipment was limited to thirty-five, and that that number had +already been made up from among Leif's own followers. Warriors thronged +to visit the Lucky One, until the hall benches were filled, and the +courtyard was so crowded with attendants that there was barely room for +the servants to run between the horses with the ale horns. Outside the +fence there was nearly always a mob of children and paupers and thralls +lying in wait, like a wolf-pack, to tear information out of any member +of the household who should venture beyond the gates. + +Usually it was only vague rumor and meagre report that fell to the share +of these outsiders; but the day before Leif's departure it happened that +they got a bit of excitement first-hand. + +Late that afternoon word went around that the trading-ship of Arnor +Gunnarsson was coming up Eric's Fiord. The arrival of that merchant was +one of the events of the year. Not only did it occasion great feasting +among the rich, which meant additional alms among the poor, but besides +a chance to feast one's stomach, it meant an opportunity to feast one's +eyes on beautiful garments and wonderful weapons; and in addition to all +else, it meant such a budget of news and gossip and thrilling yarns as +should supply local conversation with a year's stock of topics,--a stock +always run low and rather shopworn towards the end of the long winters. +At the first hint of the "Eastman's" approach, a crowd of idlers was +gathered out of nowhere as quickly as buzzards are drawn out of empty +space. + +As the heavy dun-colored merchantman came slowly to its berth and the +anchor fell with a rattle and a splash, the motley crowd cheered +shrilly. When the ruddy gold-bearded trader appeared at the side, ready +to clamber into the boat his men were lowering, they cheered again. And +they regarded it as an appropriate tribute to the importance of the +occasion when one of their number came running over the sand to announce +breathlessly that Leif Ericsson himself was riding down to greet the +arrivals, accompanied by no less a person than his high-born foster-son. + +"Although it is no great wonder that the Lucky One feels interest," they +told each other. "The last time that Eric the Red came to meet traders, +they returned his greeting with a sweep of their arms toward their +ships, and an invitation to take whatever of its contents best pleased +him." + +"The strange wonder to me," mumbled one old man, "is that it is always +to those who have sufficient wealth to purchase them that presents are +given. It may be that Odin knows why gifts are seldom given to the poor: +certainly I think one needs to be all-wise to understand it." + +His companions clapped their hands over his mouth, and pointed at the +approaching boat. + +"Look!"--"Look there!"--"It is a king's son!" they cried. And then it +was that their hungry teeth closed upon their morsel of excitement. + +In the bow of the boat, shining like a jewel against the dark background +of the trader's dun mantle, stood a most splendidly arrayed young +warrior. The fading sunbeams that played on his gilded helm revealed +shining armor and a golden cross embossed upon a gold-rimmed shield. +Still nearer, and it could be seen that his cloak was of crimson velvet +lined with sables, and that gold-embroideries and jewelled clasps +flashed with every motion. + +Buzzing with curiosity, they crowded down to the water's edge to meet +him. The keel bit the sand; he stepped ashore into their very midst, and +even that close scrutiny did not lessen his attractions. His +olive-tinted face was haughtily handsome; his fine black hair fell upon +his shoulders in long silken curls; he was tall and straight and supple, +and his bearing was bold and proud as an eagle's. + +"He is well fitted to be a king's son," they repeated one to another. +And those in front respectfully gave way before him, while those behind +fell over one another to get near in case he should speak,--and Leif +himself paused in his greeting of Arnor Gunnarsson to look at the +stranger curiously. + +The youth stood running his eyes over the faces of those around him, +until his gaze fell upon Sigurd Haraldsson. He uttered a loud +exclamation, and sprang forward with outstretched hand. + +Sigurd's cheeks, which had been looking rather pale, suddenly became +very red; and he leaped from his horse and started forward. Then he +wavered, stopped, and hesitated, staring. + +"_Mon_ami_!" said the stranger, in some odd heathen tongue very +different from good plain Norse. "_Mon_ami_!" He took another step +forward, and this time their palms met. + +The spectators who were watching Sigurd Haraidsson, whispered that the +young warrior must be the last man on earth that he expected to see in +Greenland, and also the man that he loved the best of all his sworn +brothers. The fair-haired jarl's son and he of the raven locks stood +grasping each other's hands and looking into each other's eyes as though +they had forgotten there was anyone else in the world. + +"He looks to be a man to be bold in the presence of chiefs, does he +not?" the trader observed to Leif Ericsson, regarding the pair +benevolently as he stood twisting his long yellow mustache. "He said to +me that the jarl's son was his friend; it is great luck that he should +find him so soon. He is somewhat haughty-minded, as is the wont of +Normans, but he is free with his gold." And the thrifty merchant patted +his money-bag absently. + +The crowd circulated the news in excited whispers. "He is a friend of +Sigurd Haraldsson."--"He is a Norman."--"That accounts for the +swarthiness of his skin."--"Is it in the Norman tongue that they are +speaking?"--" Normandy? Is that the land Rolf the Ganger laid under his +sword?"--"Hush! Sigurd is leading him to the chief."--"Now we shall +learn what his errand is." + +And the boldest of them pushed almost within whip-range of the pair. + +But there was no difficulty about hearing, for Sigurd spoke out in a +loud clear voice: "Foster-father, I wish to make known to you my friend +and comrade who has just now arrived on the Eastman's vessel. He is +called Robert Sans-Peur, because his courage is such as is seldom found. +I got great kindness from his kin when I was in Normandy." + +The Norman said nothing, but he did what the bystanders considered +rather surprising in a knee-crooking Frenchman. Neither bending his body +nor doffing his helmet, he folded his arms across his breast and looked +straight into the Lucky One's eyes. + +"As though," one fellow muttered, "as though he would read in the +chief's very face whether or not it was his intention to be friendly!" + +"Hush!" his neighbor interrupted him. "Leif is drawing off his glove. It +may be that he is going to honor him for his boldness." + +And so indeed it proved. In another moment, the chief had extended his +bare hand to the haughty Southerner. + +"I have an honorable greeting for all brave men, even though they be +friendless," he said, with lofty courtesy. "How much warmer then is the +state of my feelings toward one who is also a friend of Sigurd +Haraldsson? Be welcome, Robert Sans-Peur. The best that Brattahlid has +to offer shall not be thought too good for you." + +Whether or not he could speak it, it was evident that the Fearless One +understood the Northern tongue. His haughtiness passed from him like a +shadow. Uncovering his raven locks, he bowed low,--and would have set +his lips to the extended hand if the chief, foreseeing his danger, had +not saved himself by dexterously withdrawing it. + +Sigurd, still flushed and nervous, spoke again: "You have taken this so +well, foster-father, that it is in my mind to ask of you a boon which I +should be thankful if you would grant. As far off as Normandy, my friend +has heard tidings of this exploring-journey of yours; and he has come +all this way in the hope of being allowed to join your following. He has +the matter much at heart. If my wishes are at all powerful with you, you +will not deny him." + +A murmur of delight ran through the crowd. That this splendid personage +should have come to do homage to their hero, was the final dramatic +touch which their imaginations craved. It was with difficulty that they +repressed a cheer. + +But the guardsman looked puzzled to the point of incredulity. + +"Heard the tidings as far as Normandy?" he repeated. "A matter of so +little importance to anyone? How is that likely?" Straightening in his +saddle, he looked at the Norman for a moment with eyes that were more +keen than courteous. + +"He would be liable to disaster who should try to put a trick upon Leif +Ericsson," the thrall-born whispered. + +Robert Sans-Peur was in no wise disconcerted. Meeting the keen eyes, he +answered in plain if halting Norse: "The renowned chief has forgotten +that early this season a trading-ship went from here to Trondhjem. Not a +few of her shipmates went further than Nidaros. One of them, who was +called Gudbrand-wi'-the-Scar, travelled even so far as Rouen, where it +was my good fortune to encounter him." + +"It is true that I had forgotten that," the chief said, slowly. He +lowered his gaze to his horse's ears and sat for a while lost in +thought. Then once more he extended his hand to the Southerner. + +"It appears to me that you are a man of energy and resource," he said, +with a return of his former cordiality. "Since wind and wave have not +hindered you from your desire, it would be unheard-of churlishness for +me to refuse you. Get now into my saddle and allow your friend to +conduct you to the hall. It is necessary that I oversee the storing of +these wares, but after the night-meal we will speak further of the +matter." To forestall any further attempts at hand-kissing, he sprang +from his horse and strode over to the trader. + +With an air of grave ceremony that was swallowed open-mouthed by the +onlookers, Sigurd held his friend's stirrup; then, quickly remounting +his own steed, the pair rode off. + +This time the mob would not be restrained, but burst into a roar of +delight. + +"Here at last is a great happening that we have seen with our own eyes!" +they told each other, as they settled down at a safe distance to watch +Leif and the merchant turning over the bales of goods which the sailors +were engaged in bringing to shore. "This will be something to relate in +time to come,--a great event concerning which we understand everything." + +"'Concerning which we understand everything!'" Sigurd, overhearing them, +repeated laughingly to his friend as they galloped up the lane. + +Robert the Fearless laughed too, with a vibration of uneasiness in the +peal. + +"Few there are who are capable of making that boast," he answered. "Even +you, comrade, are unequal to it. Here now is something that is worth a +hearing." Leaning from his saddle, he poured into Sigurd's ear a stream +of low-toned words that caused the Silver-Tongued to stop short and +stare at him incredulously, and then look back at the anchored ship and +pound his knee in a fury of exasperation. + +The cloud rested on Sigurd's sunny face for the rest of the evening. +Thorhild, enchanted at the tribute to her idolized son, plied the +stranger with every attention; and Kark himself, for all his foxy eyes, +removed the gilded helm from the smooth black locks without a thought to +try whether or no they were indigenous to the scalp from which they +sprang,--but Sigurd's brow did not lighten. + +As they put a final polish upon their shields and hung them for the last +time upon the wall behind their seats, Rolf said to him with a searching +glance: "It is bidden from me why you look so black, comrade. If it were +not for the drawback of old Eric at the steering-oar, certainly every +circumstance would be as favorable as could be expected." + +Sigurd arose and pulled his cloak down from its peg with a vicious jerk. + +"There are other witless people besides Eric the Red who thrust +themselves where they are not wanted," he retorted grimly. Then, turning +abruptly, he strode out into the darkness; and none of the household saw +him again until morning. + +The sun rose upon a perfect day, warm and bright, with the wind in the +right quarter, steady and strong. And as if to make sure that not even +one thing should mar so auspicious a beginning, Leif's luck swept away +the only drawback that Rolf had been able to name. + +Down in the lane, midway between the foot where it opened upon the shore +and the head where it ended at the fence, there lay a bit of a rock. A +small stone or a big pebble was all it was, but in the hands of Leif's +luck it took on the importance of a boulder. + +When the moment of departure arrived, and the cavalcade poured out of +the courtyard gates, with a clanking of armor and a flapping of gorgeous +new mantles, warmed by the horns of parting ale that had steamed down +their throats, singing and boasting and laughing, and cheered by the +rabble that ran alongside, their way down to the shore lay directly over +the head of this insignificant pebble. Who would have thought of +avoiding it? Yet, though a score of children's feet danced over it +unharmed, and sixty pairs of horses' hoofs pranced over it unhindered, +when Eric reached it his good bay mare stumbled against it and fell, so +that her rider was thrown from his saddle and rolled in the dust. + +There were no bones broken; he was no more than shaken; he was up before +they could reach him; but his face was gray with disappointment, and his +frame had shrunk like a withered leaf. + +"It is a warning from the gods that I am on the wrong road," he said +hoarsely. "It is a sign that it cannot be my fate to be the discoverer +of any other land than the one on which we now live. My luck go with +you, my son; but I cannot." + +Before they could remonstrate, he had wheeled his horse and left them, +riding with the bent head and drooping shoulders of an old, old man. + +A stern sign from Valbrand restrained Leif's men from venting the cheers +they were bursting with; but the looks they darted at their leader, and +then at each other, said as plainly as words: "It is his never-failing +luck. Why did we ever doubt him? We would follow him into the Sea of +Worms and believe that it would end favorably." + +In this promising frame of mind they left their friendly haven and +sailed away into an unknown world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +FOR DEAR LOVE'S SAKE + + + He alone knows, + Who wanders wide + And has much experienced, + By what disposition + Each man is ruled + Who common sense possesses. + Ha'vama'l + + +The first night out was a moonless night, that shut down on the world of +waters and blotted out even the clouds and the waves that been company +for the solitary vessel. The little ship became a speck of light in a +gulf of darkness, an atom of life floating in empty space. Under the +tent roofs, by the light of flaring torches, the crew drank and sang and +amused themselves with games; but beyond that circle, there was only +blackness and emptiness and silence. + +Sigurd gazed out over the vessel's side, with a yawn and a shiver +combined. "It feels as though the air were full of ghosts, and we were +the only living beings in the whole world," he muttered. + +A tow-headed giant known as Long Lodin overheard him, and laughed +noisily, jerking his thumb over his shoulder toward the deck where +Leif's eagle face showed high above their heads. + +"_His_ luck could carry us safe through even the world of the dead," he +reassured him. + +But Rolf paused in his chess game to throw his friend a keen glance. +"The Silver-Tongue has been one not apt to speak womanish words," he +said, gravely. "Something there is on your mind which disturbs you, +comrade." + +Sigurd pulled himself together with an attempt at his usual careless +laugh. "Is it your opinion that I am the only person who is thinking of +ghosts to-night?" he parried. "Look yonder at Kark, how he fears to turn +his back on the shadows, lest the Evil One overtake him! It is my belief +that he would like it better to die than to venture into the dark of the +foreroom." + +Following his glance, they beheld the bowerman, leaning against the mast +with a face as pale as a toadstool. When a sailor threw a piece of dried +fish at him, he jumped as though he had been struck by a stone. Rolf's +gentle smile expanded into a broad grin, and he let himself be turned +thus easily from his object. + +"Now that is true; I had not observed him before. He appears as if the +goddess Ran already had hold of his feet to pull him down under the +water. Let us have a little fun with him. I will send him to the +foreroom on an errand." + +Robert of Normandy set down his drinking-horn with a sharp motion, and +Sigurd leaned forward hastily; but the Wrestler's soft voice was already +speeding his command. + +"Ho there, valiant Kark-with-the-white-cheeks! Get you into the foreroom +and bring my bag of chess-men from the brass-bound box." + +Kark heard the order without a motion except an angry scowl, and Sigurd +drew back with something like a breath of relief. But Rolf made a sudden +move as though to rise to his feet, and the effect was magical. + +"I am going as soon as is necessary," the thrall growled. "You said +nothing of being in haste." And he shuffled over to one of the torches +to light a splinter in its flame, and pushed his way forward with +dragging feet. + +Sigurd and the Norman both sprang after him. + +"I tell you, Rolf, I have something against this!" Sigurd stormed, as +the Wrestler's iron hand closed upon his cloak. "My--my--my valuables +are in the same chest. I will not have him pawing them over. Let me go, +I say!" He managed to slide out of his cloak and dodge under Rolf's arm. + +A spark of something very like anger kindled the Wrestler's usually mild +eyes; he caught the Norman around the waist, as the latter tried to pass +him, and swung him bodily into the air. For an instant it seemed +possible that he might hurl him over the ship's side into the ocean. But +he finally threw him lightly upon a pile of skin sleeping-bags, and +turned and hastened after the jarl's son. + +Guessing that some friendly squabble was in progress, the sailors made +way for him good-humoredly, and he reached the forecastle only a moment +behind Sigurd. Kark's taper was just disappearing among the shadows +beneath the deck. + +Before the pursuers could speak, the bowerman leaped back upon them with +a shriek that cut the air. + +"Ran is in there! I saw her hair hanging over a barrel. It was long and +yellow. It is Ran herself! We shall drown--" + +Sigurd Haraldsson dealt him a cuff that felled him like a log. + +"The simpleton is not able to tell a piece of yellow fox-fur from a +woman's hair," he said, contemptuously. "Since you are here, Rolf, hold +the light for me, and I will get the chess-bag myself." He spoke loudly +enough so that the men on the benches heard, laughed, and turned back to +their amusements. Then he drew Rolf further into the room, laid a hand +over his mouth, and pointed to the farthest comer, where barrels and +piled-up bales made a screen half-way across the bow. + +Hair long and yellow there was, as the simpleton had said; but it was +not the vengeful Ran who looked out from under it. Tumbled and +dishevelled, paling and flushing, short-kirtled and desperate-eyed, +Helga the Fair stood before them. + +"Behold how a prudent shield-maiden helps matters that are already in a +snarl," the jarl's son said, dryly. + +The Wrestler started back in consternation. + +Helga dropped her eyes guiltily. "I cannot blame you for being angry," +she murmured. "I have become a great hindrance to you." + +"It is an unheard-of misfortune!" gasped Rolf. "In flying from Gilli you +have broken the Norwegian law; and by causing Leif to aid you in your +flight you have made him an accomplice. A bad result is certain." + +Helga's head bent lower. Then suddenly she flung out her hands in +passionate entreaty. + +"Yet I could not help it, comrades! As I live, I could not help it! How +could I have the heart to remain in safety, without knowing whether +Alwin lived or died? How could I spend my days decking myself in fine +clothes, while my best friend fought for his life? Was it to be expected +that I could help coming?" She spoke softly, half-crouching in her +hiding-place, but her heart was in every word. + +Her judges could not stand against her. Rolf swore that she would have +been unworthy the name of shield-maiden had she acted otherwise. And +Sigurd pressed her hand with brotherly tenderness. + +"You should know that I am not blaming you in earnest, my foster-sister, +because I grumble a little when I cannot see my way out of the tangle." +He bent over Kark to make sure that he was really as unconscious as he +seemed; then he lowered his voice nervously. "What makes it a great +mishap is that your presence doubles Alwin's risk, and because one can +never be altogether sure to what lengths Eric's son will go,--even with +one whom he loves as well as he loves you. If I could find some good way +in which to break the news to him before he sees you,--" + +Helga sprang out of her niche, and stood, straight and rigid, before +them. "You shall not endanger yourself to shield me. You will feel it +enough for what you have already done. The first burst of his anger I +will bear myself, as is my right." + +Before they had even guessed her intention, she slipped past them, +leaped lightly over Kark's motionless body, and delivered herself into +the light of the torches. In another instant, a roar of amazement and +delight had gone up from the benches; and the men were dropping their +games and knocking over their goblets to crowd around her. + +"She has got out of her wits," Rolf said, wonderingly. + +"He will kill her," Sigurd answered, between his teeth. "For half as +much cause, Olaf Trygvasson struck a queen in the face." + +They followed her aft, like men walking in a dream; but between the +rings of broad shoulders they soon lost sight of her. All they could see +was the Norman's dark face, as he stepped upon a bench and silently +watched the approaching apparition. + +"The Troll take him! If he cannot keep that look out of his eyes, why +does he not shut them?" Sigurd muttered, irritably. + +Perhaps it was that look which Helga encountered, as she made the last +step that brought her face to face with the chief. At that moment, a +great change came over her. When the guardsman pushed back to the +extreme limits of his chair to regard her in a sort of incredulous +horror, she did not fall at his feet as everyone expected her to, and as +she herself had thought to do. Instead, she flung up her head with a +spirit that sent the long locks flying. Even when anger began to distort +his face,--anger headlong and terrible as Eric's,--her glance crossed +his like a sword-blade. + +"You need not look at me like that, kinsman," she said, fiercely. "It is +your own fault for giving me into the power of a mean-minded brute,--you +who brought me up to be a free Norse shield-maiden!" + +If the planks of the deck had risen against them, the men could not have +looked at each other more aghast. Her boldness seemed to paralyze even +Leif. Or was it the grain of truth in the reproach that stayed him? He +let moment after moment pass without replying. He sat plainly struggling +to hold back his fury, gripping his chair-arms until the knuckles on his +fists gleamed white. + +After peering at him curiously for awhile, as though trying to divine +his wishes, his shrewd old foster-father put aside the chess-board on +which they had been playing, and hobbled over and laid a soothing hand +on the girl's arm. + +"Speak you of Gilli?" he inquired. "Tell to us how he has ill-treated +you." + +It was only very slightly that the pause had cooled Helga's valor. + +"He has treated me like a horse that traders deck out in costly things, +and parade up and down for men to see and offer money for," she answered +hotly. + +Though they knew Gilli's conduct was entirely within the law, and there +was not a man there who might not have done the same thing, they all +grunted contemptuously. Tyrker stroked his beard, with an-other sidelong +glance at his foster-son, as he said, cautiously: + +"So? _Aber_,--how have you managed it from him to escape?" + +"Little was there to manage. As I told you, he loaded me with precious +things; after which he left me to sit at home with his weak-minded wife, +while he went on a trading voyage, as was his wont. A horse brought me +to Nidaros; gold bought me a passage with Arnor Gunnarsson, and his ship +brought me into Eric's Fiord." + +Then, for the first time, Leif spoke. His words leaped out like wolves +eager for a victim. + +"Do not stop there! Tell how you passed from his ship into mine. Tell +whom you found in Eric's Fiord who became a traitor for your gold." + +She answered him bravely: "No one, kinsman. No one received so much as a +ring from me. May the Giant take me if I lie! I swam the distance +between the ships under the cover of darkness, and--" + +His voice crashed through hers like a thunder-peal: "Who kept the watch +on board, last night?" + +Half a dozen men started in sudden consternation; but they were spared +the peril of a reply, for Sigurd Haraldsson stepped out of the throng +and stood at Helga's side. + +"I kept the watch last night, foster-father," he said, quietly. "Let +none of your men suffer in life or limb. It was I who received her on +board, while it was the others' turn to sleep; and I alone who hid her +in the foreroom." + +Those who had hoped that Leif's love for his foster-son might outweigh +his anger, gauged but poorly the force of the resentment he had been +holding back. At this offer of a victim which it was free to accept, his +anger could no more be restrained than an unchained torrent. It burst +out in a stream of denunciation that bent Sigurd's handsome head and +lashed the blood into his cheeks. Coward and traitor were the mildest of +its reproaches; contempt and eternal displeasure were the least of its +dooms. Though Helga besought with eyes and hands, the torrent thundered +on with a fury that even the ire of Eric had never surpassed. + +Only a lack of breath brought it finally to an end. The chief dashed +himself back into his chair, and leaned there, panting and darting fiery +glances from under his scowling brows,--now at Rolf and the Norman, now +at Helga, and again at the motionless figure of Sigurd Haraldsson, +silently awaiting his pleasure. When he spoke again, it was with the +suddenness of a blow. + +"Nor do I altogether believe that it was to escape from Gilli that she +took this venture upon herself. By her own story, Gilli had gone away +for the season and left her free. It is my opinion that it took +something of more importance to steal the wits out of her." + +Helga blanched. If he was going to pry into her motives, what might not +the next words bring out? Under the Norman's silken tunic, an English +heart leaped, and then stood still. There was a pause in which no one +seemed to breathe. But the next words were as unexpected as the last. + +Of a sudden, Leif started up with a gesture of impatience. "Have I +nothing to think of besides your follies? Trouble me no longer with the +sight of you. Tyrker, take the girl below and see to it that she is +cared for." While the culprits stared at him, scarcely daring to credit +their ears, he still further signified that the incident was closed, by +turning his back upon them and inviting Robert Sans-Peur to take the +German's place at the chess-board. + +In a daze of bewilderment, Sigurd let Rolf lead him away. "What can he +mean by such an ending?" he marvelled, as soon as it was safe to voice +his thoughts. "How comes it that he will stop before he has found out +her real motive? It cannot be that he will drop it thus. Did you not see +the black look he gave me as I left?" He raised his eyes to Rolf's face, +and drew back resentfully. "What are you smiling at?" he demanded. + +"At your stupidity," Rolf laughed into his ear. "Do you not see that he +believes he has found out her real motive?" As Sigurd continued to +stare, the Wrestler shook him to arouse his slumbering faculties. +"Simpleton! He thinks it was for love of you that Helga fled from +Norway!" + +"_Nom_du_diable_!" breathed Sigurd. Yet the longer he thought of it, the +more clearly he saw it. By and by, he drew a breath of relief that ended +in a laugh. "And he thinks to make me envious by putting my Norman +friend before me! Do you see? He in-tends it as a punishment. By Saint +Michael, it seems almost too amusing to be true!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +"WHERE NEVER MAN STOOD BEFORE" + + + Wit is needful + To him who travels far: + At home all is easy. + Ha'vama'l + + +Four days of threading fog-thickets and ploughing over watery wastes, +and the stanch little vessel pushed her way into sight of the first of +the unknown lands. It towered up ahead like a storm-cloud, bleak and +barren-looking as Greenland itself. From its inhospitable heights and +glaciers gleaming coldly in the sunshine, they knew it at once for the +last-seen land of Biorn's narrative. + +"It looks to me like a good omen that we are to begin where Biorn left +off," Rolf observed to one of the men engaged in lowering the ship's +boat. + +The fellow was a stalwart Icelander who had every current superstition +at his tongue's end, and was even accredited with the gift of second +sight. He hunched his shoulders sceptically, as he bent over the ropes. + +"It is my opinion that good omens have little to do with this land," he +returned. "It bears every resemblance to the Giant Country which Thor +visited." + +"I believe it is Helheim itself," quavered Kark. + +The Wrestler glanced at the thrall's blanching cheeks and laughed a long +soft laugh. Such a display was one of the few things that moved him to +mirth. Suddenly he caught up the bowerman as one picks up a kitten, and, +leaning out over the side, dropped him sprawling into the long-boat. + +"Here, then, is your chance to enter the world of the dead in good +company," he laughed. He stood guard over the gunwale until Leif and the +other ten men of the boat's crew were ready to go down; pounding the +poor wretch's fingers when he attempted to climb back, while a row of +grinning faces mocked him over the side. + +The unpromising aspect of the shore did not lessen as the explorers +approached it. If they had not made an easy landing, on a gravelly strip +between two rocky points, they would have felt that their labor had been +wasted. From the sea to the ice-tipped mountains there stretched a plain +of nothing but broad flat stones. They looked in vain for any signs of +life. Not a tree nor a shrub, nor even so much as a grass-blade, +relieved the dead emptiness. When they caught sight of a fox, whisking +from one rocky den to another, it startled them into crossing +themselves. + +"It is over such wastes as this that the dead like to call to each +other," Valbrand muttered in his heard. + +And his neighbor mumbled uneasily, "I think it likely that this is one +of the plains on which the Women who Ride at Night hold their meetings. +If it were not for the Lucky One's luck, I would prefer swallowing hot +irons to coming here." + +Then both became silent, for Leif had faced about and was awaiting their +full attention before announcing the next move. "I dislike to see brave +men disgrace their beards with bondmaids' gabble," he said sternly. "Fix +in your minds the shame that was spoken of Biorn Herjulfsson because of +his lack of enterprise. The same shall not be said of us. Rolf +Erlingsson and Ottar the Red and three others shall follow me; and we +will walk inland until the light has entirely faded from the highest +mountain peak yonder, and the next point below is yellow as a golden +fir-cone. The others of you shall follow Valbrand for the same length of +time, but walk southward along the shore, since it may be that something +of interest is hidden behind these points--" + +A howl from Kark interrupted him. "I will not go! By Thor, I will not +go! Spirits are hidden behind those points. Who knows what would jump +out at us? I will not stir away from the Lucky One. I will not! I will +not!" Gibbering with terror, he clutched Leif's cloak and clung there +like a cat. + +For a moment the chief hesitated, looking down at him with disgust +unutterable. Then he quietly loosened the golden clasp on his shoulder, +flung the mantle off with a sweep that sent the thrall staggering +backward, and marched away at the head of his men. + +Valbrand had handled rebellious slaves before. + +Shaking the fellow until he no longer had any breath to howl with, the +steersman said briefly, "It is very unlikely that we shall see any +ghosts, but it is altogether certain that your hide will feel my belt if +you do not end this fuss." + +Kark made his choice with admirable swiftness. He got what comfort he +could, poor wretch, out of a carefully selected position. As between two +shields, he crept between the mystic Icelander and the dauntless Norman +warrior. Valbrand led the way, his flint face set to withstand the Devil +and all his angels; and three strapping Swedes brought up the rear, with +drawn swords and thumping hearts. + +If only the way could have lain straight and open before them, even +though it bristled with beasts and foes! But for the whole distance it +screwed itself into a succession of crescent-shaped beaches, each one +lying between rocky spurs of the beetling crags. + +Each point they rounded disclosed nothing more alarming than lichened +boulders and pebbly shore, with here a dead fish, and there a heap of +shining snaky kelp, and yonder a flock of startled gulls,--but who could +tell what the next projection might be hiding? They walked with their +fists gripped hard around their weapons, their eyes shifting, their ears +strained, while the waves hissed around their feet and the gulls +screamed over their heads. + +Slowly the light faded from the mountain top and lay upon the next peak, +a golden cone against the blue. At last, even Valbrand's sense of duty +was satisfied. "We will turn back now," he announced, halting them. "But +first I will climb up the cliff, here where it is lowest, and try to see +a little way ahead, that we may have as much news as possible to report +to the chief." + +As he spoke, he gave a great spring upward on to a shelving ledge, and +pulled himself up to the next projection; a rattling shower of sand and +pebbles continued to mark his ascent. Robert the Fearless walked on to +look around the rock they had almost reached; but the rest remained +where they were, following their leader's movements with anxious eyes. + +They were so intent that they jumped like startled horses at an +exclamation from the Icelander. He was pointing to the strip of beach +which lay between Kark and the Norman. + +"Look there!" he cried. "Look there!" + +Their alarm was in no way diminished when they had looked and seen that +the space was empty. The cold drops came out on their bodies, and the +hair rose on their heads. + +Robert of Normandy, who had caught the cry but not the words, came +walking back, inquiring the cause of the excitement; and at that the +Icelander cried out louder than before: + +"Have a care where you go! Do you not see it? You will get blood upon +your fine cloak. It is at your feet." + +In blank amazement, the Norman stared first at the ground and then at +the seer. + +"Have the wits been stolen out of you? There is not even so much as a +devil-fish where you are pointing." + +The Icelander took off his cap, and commenced wiping the great beads +from his forehead. "You begin to listen after the song is sung," he +answered, peevishly. "The thing ran away as soon as you approached. It +was a fox that was bloody all over." + +A yell of terror distended Kark's throat. + +"A fox!" he screeched. "My guardian spirit follows me in that shape; a +foreknowing woman told me so. It is my death-omen! I am death-fated!" +His knees gave way under him so that he sank to the ground and cowered +there, wringing his hands. + +The Icelander shot a look of triumph at the sceptical stranger. "They +have no call to hold their chins high who hear of strange wonders for +the first time," he said, severely. "It is as certain that men have +guardian spirits as that they have bodies. Yours, Robert of Normandy, +goes doubtless in the shape of a wolf because of your warrior nature; +and I advise you now, that when you see a bloody wolf before you it will +be time for you to draw on your Hel-shoes. The animal ran nearest the +thrall--" + +Kark's lamentations merged into a shriek of hope. "That is untrue! It +lay at the Norman's feet; you told him so!" + +While the seer turned to look rather resentfully at him, he climbed up +this slender life-line, like a man whom sharks are pursuing. + +"It was not a fox that you saw, at all; it was a wolf! So excited were +you that your eyes were deceitful. It was a wolf, and it was nearest the +Norman. A blind man could see what that means." + +The Icelander pulled off his cap again, but this time it was to scratch +his head doubtfully. "It was when the stranger approached it, that it +was nearest to him," he persisted. "While this may signify that he will +seek death, I am unable to say that it proves that he will overtake it. +Yet I will not swear that it was not a wolf. The sun was in my eyes--" + +Robert the Fearless burst into a scornful laugh. "Oh, call it a wolf, +and let us end this talk!" he said, contemptuously. "I shall not die +until my death-day comes, though you see a pack of them. Call it a wolf, +craven serf, if that will stay your tongue." + +There was no chance for more, for at that moment Valbrand joined them. +"There is naught to be seen which is different from what we have already +experienced," he said shortly; and they began the return march. + +They reached the landing-place first; but it was not long before the +heads of their companions appeared above a rocky ridge. This party, it +was evident, had had better sport. Several men carried hats filled with +sea-birds' eggs. Another explorer had under his arm a fat little bear +cub that he had picked up somewhere. Rolf's deftness at stone-throwing +had secured him a bushy yellow fox-tail for a trophy. + +The party had gone inland far enough to discover that creeping bushes +grew on the hills, and rushes on the bogs; that it was an island, as +Biorn had stated, and that forests equal in size to those of Greenland +grew in sheltered places. But they had seen nothing to alter their +unflattering first opinion. Vikings though they were, warriors who would +have been flayed alive without flinching, relief was manifest on every +face when the leader finally gave the word to embark. + +Probably it was because he understood the danger of pushing their +fidelity too far, that the chief gave the order to return so soon. For +his own part, he did not seem to be entirely satisfied. With one foot on +the stern of the boat, and one still on the rocks, he lingered +uncertainly. + +"Yet we have not acted with this land like Biorn, who did not come +ashore," he muttered. Rolf displayed the fox-tall with a flourish. + +"We have accomplished more than Eric after he had been in Greenland an +equally short time, chief. We have taken tribute from the inhabitants." +Leif deigned to smile slightly. He stepped into his place, and from the +stern he swept a long critical look over the barren coast,--from the +fox-dens up to the high-peaked mountains, and back again to the sea. + +"We will give as well as take," he said at last. "I will give a name to +the land, and call it Helluland, for it is indeed an icy plain." + +They were welcomed on board with a hubbub of curiosity. Almost every +article of value upon the ship was offered in exchange for the cub and +the fox-tail. The uncanny accounts of the place were swallowed with +open-mouthed greediness; so greedily that it was little wonder that at +each repetition the narratives grew longer and fuller. Told by +torchlight, at a safe distance from Leif, each boulder took on the form +of a squatting dwarf; and the faint squeaking of foxes became the +shrieking of spirits. The tale of the death-omen swelled to such +proportions that Kark would have been terrified out of his wits if he +had not rested secure in the conviction that the vision had been a wolf. +The explorers who had gotten little pleasure out of their adventure at +the time of its occurrence, came to regard it as their most precious +possession. The fire of exploration waxed hot in every vein. Every man +constituted himself a special look-out to watch for any dawning speck +upon the horizon. + +With Fortune's fondness for surprising mankind, the next of the +"wonder-shores" crept upon them in the night. The sun, which had set +upon an empty ocean, rose upon a low level coast lying less than twenty +miles away. In the glowing light, bluffs of sand shone like cliffs of +molten silver; and more trees were massed upon one point than the whole +of Greenland had ever produced. Even Leif was moved to exclaim at the +sight. + +"Certainly this is a land which names itself!" he declared. "You need +not wait long for what I shall fix upon. It shall be called Markland, +after its woods." + +Sigurd's enthusiasm mounted to rashness. "I will have a share in this +landing, if I have to plead with Leif for the privilege," he vowed. And +when, for the second time, Rolf was told off for a place in the boat, +and for the second time his claims were slighted, he was as reckless as +his word. + +"Has not my credit improved at ail, after all this time, foster-father?" +he demanded, waylaying the chief on his descent from the forecastle. "I +ask you to consider the shame it will bring upon me if I am obliged to +return to Norway without having so much as set foot upon the new-found +lands." + +For awhile Leif's gaze rested upon him absently, as though the press of +other matters had entirely swept him out of mind. Presently, however, +his brows began to knit themselves above his hawk nose. + +"Tell those who ask, that you were kept on board because a strong-minded +and faithful watchman was needed there," he answered curtly, and turned +his back upon him. + +Robert the Fearless was standing at the side, gazing eagerly toward the +shore. As though suddenly reminded of his existence, the chief stopped +behind him and touched him on the shoulder. + +"The Norman is as much too modest as his friend is too bold," he said, +with a note of his occasional courtliness. "A man who has thought it +worth while to travel so far is certainly entitled to a share in every +experience. Let Robert Sans-Peur go down and take the place that is his +right." + +As the boat bounded away with the Fearless One on the last bench, +Sigurd's face was a study. Between mortification and amusement, it was +so convulsed that Rolf, who shared the Norman's seat, could not restrain +his soft laughter. + +"Whether or not the Silver-Tongued has given his luck to you, it is seen +that he has none left for himself," he laughed into his companion's ear. + +The Norman bent to his oar with a petulant force that drove it deep into +the water and far out of stroke. + +"Whether or not he has any left for himself, it is certain that he has +given none of it to me," he muttered. "Here are we at our second +landing, and no chance have I had yet to endanger my life for the chief. +Nor do I see any reason for expecting favorable prospects in this +tame-appearing land. Is it of any use to hope for wild beasts here?" + +The Wrestler regarded him over his shoulder with amused eyes. "Is it +your opinion that Leif Ericsson needs your protection against wild +beasts?" he inquired. + +Under the Norman's swarthy complexion, Alwin of England suddenly +flushed. When a wish is rooted in one's very heart, it is difficult to +get far enough away to see it in its true proportions. + +The cliffs of gleaming silver faded, on the boat's approach, into +gullied bluffs of weather-beaten sand; but the white beach that met the +water, and the green thickets that covered the heights, remained fair +and inviting. No fear of dark omens along that shining sand; no danger +of evil spirits in that sunlit wood. All was pure and bright and fresh +from the hand of God. In place of a spur, the explorers needed a +rein,--and a tight one. But for the chief's authority, they would have +spread themselves over the place like birds'-nesting boys. + +"Ye know no more moderation than swine," Leif said sternly, checking +their rush to obey the beckoning of the myriad of leafy hands. "And ye +are as witless as children, besides. Have ye not learned yet that cold +steel often lies hid under a fair tunic? We will divide into two bands, +as we did at our first landing; and I forbid that any man shall separate +himself from his party, for any reason whatsoever." + +Then he proceeded to single out those who were to follow him; and to the +great joy of Robert of Normandy, he was included in that favored number. + +Valbrand's men crashed away through bush and bramble; and the chief's +following threw themselves, like jubilant swimmers, into the sea of +undergrowth. Now, waist-high in thorny bushes, they tore their way +through by sheer force of strength. Now they stepped high over a network +of low-lying vines, ankle-bonds tougher than walrus hide. Again, +imitating the four-footed pioneer that had worn the faint approach to a +trail, they crawled on their hands and knees. Every nest they chanced +upon, and each berry bush, paid a heavy toll; but they gave the briers a +liberal return in the way of cloth and hair and flesh. + +"I think it likely that I could retrace my steps by no other means than +the hair that I have left on the thorns," Eyvind the Icelander observed +ruefully, when at last they had paused to draw breath in one of the few +open spaces. + +The Fearless One overheard him and laughed. "When I found that my locks +were liable to be pulled off my head entirely, I disposed of them in +this manner," he said. He was leaning forward from his seat on a fallen +oak to shew how his black curls were tucked snugly inside his collar, +when a shriek of pain from the thicket behind them brought every man to +his feet. + +The chief ran his eye over the little group. "It is Lodin that is +missing," he said. "Probably he lingered at those last berry bushes." +Knife in hand, he plunged into the jungle. + +While a rustling green curtain still hid the tragedy, the rescuers +learned the nature of their companion's peril; for suddenly, above the +cries for help and the crash of trampled brush, there rose the roar of +an infuriated bear. + +Alwin's heart leaped in his breast, and his nostrils widened with such a +fierce joy as won him the undying respect of the sportsmen around him. +Pushing past his comrades, he tore his way through the tangle of twining +willowy arms and gained the side of the chief. + +Leif pushed aside the last overhanging bough, and the conflict was +before them. + +Locked in the embrace of as big a bear as it had ever been their luck to +see, stood Lodin the Berry-Eater. That the beast had come upon him from +the rear was evident, for the chisel-like claws of one huge paw had torn +mantle and tunic and flesh into ribbons; but in some way the Viking must +have managed to turn and grapple with his foe, for now his distorted +face was close to the dripping jaws. Two bloody mangled spots upon +either arm showed where the brute's teeth had been; but if the bear's +paws were gripping the man's shoulders, still the man's hands were +locked about the bear's ears. That the pair had been down once, leaves +and dirt in hair and fur were witness; and now they went down again, +ploughing up the earth, screaming and panting, growling and roaring; one +of the brute's hind legs drawing up and striking down in a motion of +terrible meaning. + +It was too ghastly a thing to watch inactive. Already every man's knife +was in his hand, and three men were crouching for a spring, when the +chief swept them back with a stern gesture. + +"Attacking thus, you can reach no vital part," he reminded them. And he +shouted to the struggling man, "Feign death! you can do nothing without +your weapon. Feign death." + +It appeared to Alwin that to do this would require greater courage than +to struggle; but while the words were still in the air, the man obeyed. +His hands relaxed their hold; his head fell backward on the ground; and +he lay under the shaggy body like a dead thing. The black muzzle poked +curiously about his face, but he did not stir. + +After a suspicious sniff, the victor appeared to accept the truth of his +conquest. Exactly as though he said, "Come! Here is one good job done; +what next?" he got up with a grunt, and, rising to his hind feet, stood +growling and rolling his fiery little eyes from one to another of the +intruders in the brush. + +"If now one could only hurl a spear at his heart!" murmured the sailor +at Alwin's shoulder. But the difficulties of path-finding through an +unbroken thicket had kept the men from cumbering themselves with weapons +so unwieldy. + +Leif spoke up quickly, "There is no way but to trust to our knives. +Since I am superior to any in strength, I will grapple with him first. +If I fail, which I do not expect, I will preserve my life as Lodin is +doing; and the Fearless One here shall take his turn." + +Alwin was too wild with delight to remember any-thing else. "For that, I +thank you as for a crown!" he gasped. + +Even as he stepped out to meet the foe, Leif smiled ironically. +"Certainly you are better called the Fearless than the Courteous," he +said. "It would have been no more than polite for you to have wished me +luck." + +Anything further was drowned in the bear's roar, as he took a swift +waddling step forward and threw out his terrible paws. Even Leif's huge +frame could not withstand the shock of the meeting. His left hand caught +the beast by the throat and, with sinews of iron, held off his foaming +jaws; hut the shock of the grappling lost him his footing. They fell, +clenched, and rolled over and over on the ground; those terrible hind +feet drawing up and striking down with surer and surer aim. + +Alwin could endure it no longer. "Let me have him now!" he implored. "It +is time to leave him to me. The next stroke, he will tear you to pieces. +I claim my turn." + +It is doubtful if anyone heard him: at that moment, swaying and +staggering, the wrestlers got to their feet. In rising, Leif's hold on +the bear's throat slipped and the shaggy head shot sideways and fastened +its jaws on his naked arm, with a horrible snarling sound. But at the +same moment, the man's right arm, knife in hand, shot toward the mark it +had been seeking. Into the exposed body it drove the blade up to its +hilt, then swerved to the left and went upward. The stroke which the +chisel-shod paws had tried for in vain, the little strip of steel +achieved. A roar that echoed and re-echoed between the low hills, a +convulsive movement of the mighty limbs, and then the beast's muscles +relaxed, stiffening while they straightened; and the huge body swayed +backward, dead. + +From the chief came much the same kind of a grunt as had come from the +bear at the fall of his foe. Glancing with only a kind of contemptuous +curiosity at his wounded arm, he stepped quickly to the side of his +prostrate follower and bent over him. + +"You have got what you deserve for breaking my orders," he said, grimly. +"Yet turn over that I may attend to your wounds before you bleed to +death." + +In the activity which followed, Robert of Normandy took no part. He +leaned against a tree with his arms folded upon his breast, his eyes +upon the slain bear which half of the party were hastily converting into +steaks and hide. The men muttered to each other that the Southerner was +in a rage because he had lost his chance, but that was only a part of +the truth. His fixed eyes no longer saw the bear; his ears were deaf to +the voices around him. He saw again a shadowy room, lit by leaping +flames and shifting eyes; and once more a lisping voice hissed its +"jargon" into his ear. + +"I see Leif Ericsson standing upon earth where never man stood before; +and I see you standing by his side, though you do not look as you look +now, for your hair is long and black... I see that it is in this new +land that it will be settled whether your luck is to be good or bad..." + +He said slowly to himself, like a man talking in his sleep, "It has been +settled, and it is to be bad." + +Then the room passed from his vision. He saw in its place Rolf's +derisive smile, and heard again his mocking query: "Is it your opinion +that Leif Ericsson needs your protection against wild beasts?" + +Of a sudden he flung back his head and burst into a loud laugh that +jarred on the ear like grating steel. + +When at last Lodin's wounds were dressed so that he could be helped +along between two of his comrades, the party began a slow return. By the +time they came out on to the shining white beach again, they were a +battered-looking lot. There was not a mantle among them but what hung in +tatters, nor a scratched face that did not mingle blood with berry +juice. But at their head, the huge bear skin was borne like a captured +banner. At the sight of it, their waiting comrades burst into shouts of +admiration and envy that reached as far as the anchored ship. + +"Never was such sport heard of!"--"A better land is nowhere to be +found!" they clamored. "In one month we could secure enough skins to +make us wealthy for the rest of our lives!" + +And then some muttered asides were added: "It is a great pity to leave +such a place."--"It is folly to give up certain wealth for vague +possibilities." And though the dissatisfaction rose no louder than a +murmur, it spread on every hand like fire in brush. + +Now there was one man among the explorers who had been a member of Biorn +Herjulfsson's crew, and was brimful of conceit and the ambition to be a +leader among his fellows. When the command to embark swelled the murmurs +almost to an outspoken grumbling, he thought he saw a chance to push +into prominence, and swaggered boldly forward. + +"If it is not your intention to come back and profit by this discovery, +chief, I must tell you that we will not willingly return to the ship. +Certainly not until we have secured at least one bear apiece. We are +free men, Leif Ericsson, and it is not to our minds to be led altogether +by the--" + +Whether or not he had meant to say "nose," no one ever knew. At that +moment the chief wheeled and looked at him, with a glance so different +from Biorn Herjulfsson's mild gaze that the word stuck in the fellow's +throat, and instinctively he leaped backward. + +Leif turned from him disdainfully, and addressed the men of his old +crew. "Ye are free men," he said; "but I am the chief to whom, of your +own free wills, you have sworn allegiance on the edge of your swords. Do +you think it improves your honor that a stranger should dare to insult +your chosen leader in your presence?" + +"No!" bellowed Valbrand, in a voice of thunder. + +And Lodin shook his wounded arm at the mutineer. "If my hand could close +over a sword, I would split you open with it," he cried. + +The other men's slumbering pride awoke. Loyalty seldom took more than +cat-naps in those days, in spite of all the hard work that was put upon +her. + +"Duck him!"--"Souse him!"--"Dip him in the ocean!" they shouted. And so +energetically that the ringleader, cursing the fickleness of rebels, +found it all at once advisable to whip out his sword and fall into a +posture of defence. + +But again Leif's hand was stretched forth. + +"Let him be," he said. "He is a stranger among us, and your own words +are responsible for his mistake. Let him be, and show your loyalty to +your leader by carrying out his orders with no more unseemly delay." + +They obeyed him silently, if reluctantly; and it was not long before +those who had remained on ship-board were thrown into a second fever of +envious excitement. + +They were not pleasant, however, the days that followed. In the flesh of +those who had missed the sport, the bear-fight was as a rankling thorn. +The watches, during which a northeast gale kept them scudding through +empty seas with little to do and much time to gossip, were golden hours +for the growth of the serpent of discontent. Though the creature did not +dare to strike again, its hiss could be heard in the distance, and the +gleam of its fangs showed in dark corners. If Leif had had Biorn's bad +fortune, to begin at the wrong end of his journey, so that a barren +Helluland was the climax that now lay before him, the hidden snake might +have swelled, like Thora Borga Hiort's serpent-pet, into a devastating +dragon. + +Was it not Leif's luck that the land which was revealed to them, on the +third morning, should be as much fairer than their vaunted Markland as +that spot was pleasanter than Greenland's wastes?--a land where, as the +old books tell, vines grew wild upon the hills, and wheat upon the +plains; where the rivers teemed with fish, and the thickets rustled with +game, and the islands were covered with innumerable wild fowl; where +even the dew upon the grass was honey-sweet! + +As they gazed upon the blooming banks and woods and low hills, warm and +green with sunlight, cries of admiration burst from every throat. + +Valbrand made bold to warn his chief, "Though I do not dispute your will +in this, any more than in anything else, I will say that difficulties +are to be expected if men are to be parted from such a land without at +least tasting of its good things." + +Even for those who had been longest with him, the Lucky One was full of +surprises. + +"It has never been my intention to continue sailing after we had +accomplished the three landings," he answered quietly. "Ungrateful to +God would we be, were we to fail in showing honor to the good things He +has led us to. I expect to stay over winter in this place." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +VINLAND THE GOOD + +"... They sailed toward this land, and came to an +island lying north of it, and went ashore in fine +weather and looked round. They found dew on the +grass, and touched it with their hands, and put it +to their mouths, and it seemed to them that they +had never tasted anything so sweet as this dew. +Then they went on hoard and sailed into the +channel, which was between the island and the cape +which ran north from the mainland. They passed the +cape, sailing in a westerly direction. There the +water was very shallow, and their ship went +aground, and at ebb-tide the sea was far out from +the ship. But they were so anxious to get ashore +that they could not wait till the high-water +reached their ship, and ran out on the beach where +a river flowed from a lake. When the high-water +set their ship afloat they took their boat and +rowed to the ship and towed it up the river into +the lake. There they cast anchor, and took their +leather-bags ashore, and there built +booths."--FLATEYJARBO'K. + + +It was October, and it was the new camp, and it was Helga the Fair +tripping across the green background with a skirtful of red and yellow +thorn-berries and a wreath of fiery autumn leaves upon her sunny head. + +Where a tongue of land ran out between a lake-like bay and a river that +hurried down to throw herself into its arms, there lay the new +settlement. Facing seaward, the five newly-built huts stood on the edge +of a grove that crowned the river bluffs. Behind them stretched some +hundred yards of wooded highland, ending in a steep descent to the +river, which served as a sort of back stairway to the stronghold. Before +them, green plains and sandy flats sloped away to the white shore of the +bay that rocked their anchored ship upon its bosom. Over their lowly +roofs, stately oaks and elms and maples murmured ceaseless +lullabies,--like women long-childless, granted after a weary waiting the +listening ears to be soothed by their crooning. + +"I have a feeling that this land has always been watching for us; and +that now that we are come, it is glad," Helga said, happily, as she +paused where the jarl's son leaned in a doorway, watching Kark's +cook-fires leap and wave their arms of blue smoke. "Is it not a +wonderful thought, Sigurd, that it was in God's mind so long ago that we +should some day want to come here?" + +"It is a fair land," Sigurd agreed, absently. And then for the first +time Helga noticed the frown on his face, and some of the brightness +faded from her own. + +"Alas, comrade, you are brooding over the disfavor I have brought upon +you!" she said, laying an affectionate hand upon his arm. "I act in a +thoughtless way when I forget it." + +Sigurd made a good-natured attempt to arouse himself. "Do not let that +trouble you, _ma_mie_," he said, lightly. "When ill luck has it in her +mind to reach a man, she will come in through a window if the door be +closed. It is a matter of little importance." + +He patted the hand on his arm and his smile became even mischievous. +"Still, I will not say anything against it if you wish to pay some +forfeit," he added. "See,--yonder Leif sits, playing with the bear cub +while he waits for his breakfast. Now, as he turns his eyes upon us, do +you reach up and give me such an affectionate kiss as shall convince him +forever that it was for love of me that you fled from Norway." + +A vigorous box on the ear was his answer; yet even before her cheeks +cooled, Helga relented and turned back. + +"Even your French foolishness I will overlook, for the sake of the +misfortune I have been to you. Take now a handful of these berries, and +make the excuse that you wish to give them to the bear. While you do so, +speak to Leif strongly and tell him your wish. That he is playing with +the cub is a sign that he is in a good humor." + +Sigurd's eyes wandered wistfully beyond the cook-fires and the +storehouses to the last hut in the line, before which a dozen men were +buckling on cloaks and arming themselves, in a bustle of joyful +anticipation. He thrust out his palm with sudden resolve. + +"By Saint Michael, I will! I had sworn that I would never entreat his +leave again, but this time there is no one near enough to witness my +shame if he refuses me. There--that is sufficient! It is needful that I +make haste: yonder come Eyvind and Odd with the fish; Kark will not be +long in cooking it." + +Carefully careless, he strolled past the open shed in which the +new-found wheat was being stored, past the sleeping-house and a group of +fellows mending nets, and came to the great maple-tree under which a +rough bench had been placed. There, like a Giant Thrym and his +greyhounds, Leif sat stroking his mustache thoughtfully, while with his +free hand he tousled the head of the camp pet. + +Scenting dainties, the bear deserted his friend and shambled forward to +meet the newcomer. The chief raised his eyes and regarded his foster-son +over his hand, seemingly with less sternness than usual. Yet he did not +look to be so blinded by good-nature that he would be unable to see +through manoeuvring. Sigurd decided to strike straight from the +shoulder. + +The cub, finding that the treat was not to be had in one delicious gulp, +rose upon his haunches and threw open his jaws invitingly. While he +tossed the berries, one by one, between the white teeth, Sigurd spoke +his mind. + +"It is two weeks now, foster-father, since the winter booths were +finished and you began the practice of sending out exploring parties. In +all those days you have but once permitted me to share the sport. I ask +you to tell me how long I shall have to endure this?" + +It appeared that the hand which stroked the chief's mustache also hid a +dry smile. + +"You grasp your weapon by the wrong end, foster-son," he retorted. "You +forget that each time I have chosen an exploring party to go out, I have +also chosen a party to remain at home and guard the goods. How is it +possible that I could spare from their number a man who has shown +himself so superior in good sense and firm-mindedness--" + +Sigurd's foot came down in an unmistakable stamp; and the remaining +berries were crushed in his clenching fist. + +"Enough jests have been strung on that thread! I have submitted to you +patiently because it appeared to me that your anger was not without +cause, yet it is no more than just for you to remember that I was +helpless in the matter. Since the girl was already so far, it would have +been dastardly for me to have refused her aid. It is not as though I had +enticed her from Norway--" + +A confusing recollection brought him suddenly to a halt, the blood +tingling in his cheeks. He knew that the eyes above the brown hand had +become piercing, but there were many reasons why he did not care to meet +them. After a moment's hesitation, he frankly abandoned that tack and +tried a new one. Dropping on one knee to wipe his berry-stained hand in +the grass, he looked up with his gay smile. "There is yet another reason +why you should allow me my way, foster-father. Upon the one occasion +when I did accompany the party, the discovery was made of those fields +of self-sown wheat which you prize so highly. Since then I have remained +at home, and nothing of value has come to light. Who knows what you +might not find this time, if you would but take my luck along with you?" + +Leif pushed the cub aside and rose to his feet, the strengthening savor +of broiled salmon announcing the imminent approach of the morning meal. + +"Although I cannot say that I consider that an argument which would win +you a case before a law-man," he observed, "yet I will not be so stark +as to punish you further. Take your chance with the rovers if you will; +though it is not likely that you will have time both to eat your food +and to make yourself ready." + +Sigurd was already gone on a bound. + +"It will not take me long to choose between the two," he called back +joyously, over his shoulder. + +While the rest feasted noisily at the long table before the provision +sheds, the Silver-Tongued hurried between sleeping house and store-room, +rummaging out his heaviest boots, his stoutest tunic, his oldest mantle. +At the last moment, the edge on his knife was found to be +unsatisfactory, and he went and sat down by one of the cook-fires and +fell to work with a sharpening stone. + +On the other side of the fire Kark sat cross-legged upon the ground, +skinning rabbits from a heap that had just been brought in by the +trappers. He looked up with an impudent grin. + +"It is a good thing if your fortunes have mended at last, Sigurd +Jarlsson. It did not appear that the Norman brought you much luck in +return for your support." He glanced toward that part of the table where +the black locks of Robert the Fearless shone, sleek as a blackbird's +wing, in the morning sun. "The Southerner has an overbearing face," he +added. "It reminds me of someone I hate, though I cannot think who." + +Sigurd's fiery impulse to cuff him was cooled by a sudden frost. He said +as carelessly as possible: "You are a churlish fool; but it is likely +you have seen Robert Sans-Peur in Nidaros. He was there shortly before +we came away." + +The thrall assented with a nod, but his interest seemed to have taken +another turn, for after a while he said absently: "You will call me fool +again when I tell you who the Norman made me think of at first. No other +than that pig-headed English thrall that Leif killed last winter,--if it +were not that one is black and the other was white, and one is living +and the other dead." + +He commenced to grin over his work, a veritable image of malice, quite +unconscious that Sigurd's eyes were blazing down upon his head. By and +by he broke into a discordant roar. + +"Too great fun is it to keep silent over! What can it matter, now that +Hot-Head is dead? Ah, that was a fine revenge!" He squinted boldly up +into Sigurd's face, though he did not raise his voice to be heard +beyond. "Did you know that it was not Thorhall the steward who found the +knife that betrayed the English-man? Did you dream of that, Jarl's son? +Did you know that it was I who followed you out of the hall that night, +and listened to you from the shadows, and followed your trail the next +sunrise, until I came upon the knife at Skroppa's very door? You never +suspected that, Jarl's son. I was too cunning to let you put your teeth +into me. Thorhall you could do no harm--" + +"Wretched spy! Do you boast of your deed?" the young Viking interrupted +hotly. "What is to hinder my biting now?" He had leaped the flames, and +his hand was on the other's throat before he finished speaking. + +But the thrall fought him off with unusual boldness. + +"It is unadvisable for you to injure Leif's property, Sigurd +Haraldsson," he panted. "My life is of value to him now. You are not yet +out of disgrace. It would be unadvisable for you to offend him again." + +However contemptible its present mouthpiece, that was the truth. Sigurd +paused, even while his fingers twitched with passion. While he +hesitated, a shout of summons from Valbrand decided the matter. +Loosening his hold, the young warrior vented his rage in one savage kick +and hastened to join his comrades. + +Twelve brawny Vikings with twelve short swords at their sides and twelve +long knives in their belts, they stood forth, headed by Valbrand of the +Flint-Face and--by Tyrker! The little German had left off the longest of +his fur tunics; a very long knife indeed garnished his waist, and he +used a spear for a staff. Yet none of these preparations made him appear +very formidable. Sigurd stared at him in amazement. + +"Tyrker! My eyes cannot believe that you have the intention to undertake +such a march! Before a hundred steps, it will become such an exertion to +you that you will lie down upon a rock in a swoon." + +The old man blinked at him with his little twinkling eyes. + +"So?" he said, chuckling. "Then will we a bargain together make; for me +shall you be legs, while I be brains for you. Then shall we neither be +left behind for wild beasts to eat, nor yet shall our wits like +beer-foam off-blown be, if so it happens that a beautiful maiden crosses +our path." + +Sigurd swore an unholy French oath, as the laughter arose. Would those +jests never grow stale on their tongues? he wondered. He sent a +half-resentful glance to where Robert Sans-Peur stood, calm and lofty, +watching the departure. Whatever else threatened Alwin of England, he +had none of this nonsense to endure. Over his shoulder, as he marched +away, the Silver-Tongued made a sly face at his friend. + +The Norman caught the grimace, but no answering smile curved the bitter +line of his lips. Smiles had been strangers to his gaunt dark face for +many weeks now. + +The sailors said of him, "Since the Southerner lost his chance at the +bear, he has had the appearance of a man who has lost his hope of +Heaven." + +When the noise of the departing explorers sank into the distance, Robert +Sans-Peur strolled away from the busy groups and stretched himself in +the shade of a certain old elm-tree. The chief stripped off his mantle +and upper tunic, and betook himself to the woods with an axe over his +shoulder. The hammers of the carpenters made merry music as they built +the bunks in the new sleeping-house. Out in the sunshine, fishers and +trappers came and went; harvesters staggered in under golden sheaves; +and a group of bathers shouted and splashed in the lake. But the Norman +neither saw nor heard anything of the pleasant stir. Through the long +golden hours he lay without sound or motion, staring absently at the +green turf and the dying leaves that floated down to him with every +breeze. + +A meal at midday was not a Brattahlid custom; but when the noon-hour +came, there was a lull in the activity while Kark carried around bread +and meat and ale. Combining prudence with a saving of labor, the thrall +made no attempt to approach the brooding stranger; nor did the latter +give any sign of noticing the slight. But the chief's keen eyes saw it, +as they saw everything. + +From his seat under the maple-tree, he called out with the voice of +authority: "Hardy bear-fighters are not made by abstaining from food; +nor are wits sharpened by sulking. I invite the Norman to sit with me, +while he drinks his ale and tells me what lies heavy on his mind." + +It was with more embarrassment than gratification that Robert Sans-Peur +responded to this invitation. + +"It may well be that my head is drowsy because I have had too much ale," +he made excuse, as he took his seat. + +Over the chunk of bread he was raising to his mouth, the chief regarded +his guest critically. + +"There is an old saying," he observed, "that when it happens to a man +that his head is sleepy in the day-time, it is because his mind is not +in his body but wanders out in the world in another shape. In what land, +and in what form, do the Norman's thoughts travel?" + +After a moment, Robert the Fearless rose to his feet and bowed low. +"They have returned to rest contentedly in an unnamed land," he +answered; "and they wear the shape of thanks to Leif Ericsson for his +many favors. I drink to the Lucky One's health, and to his undying fame! +Skoal!" + +As he set down his horn after the toast, the Norman's glance happened to +encounter a glance from the shield-maiden, who was passing. Taking +another horn from the thrall, he bowed again, with proverbial French +gallantry; then quaffed off the second measure of ale to the honor of +Helga the Fair. + +Leif turned in time to catch a rather unusual expression on the maiden's +face, though her courtesy was a model of formality. He held out his hand +peremptorily. + +"Come hither, kinswoman, and tell me how matters go with you," he +commanded. "It is to be hoped that Tyrker has not lost you out of his +mind, as I have done during these last weeks. How are you entertaining +yourself this morning, while he is absent?" + +Helga sped a guilty thought to a certain green nook on the river bluff; +and winged heavenward a prayer of thanks that she had put off until +afternoon her daily pilgrimage to the beloved shrine. + +She answered readily, "I have entertained myself very poorly so far, +kinsman, for I have been doing such woman's-work as Thorhild commends. I +have been in your sleeping-house, sewing upon the skin curtains that are +to make the fourth wall of my chamber." + +Leif glanced at the Norman with a dry smile. "Chamber!" he commented. +"Learn from this, Robert of Normandy, how a Norse maiden regards a +stall! Yet, whatever hostile thing attacks us, a Norman lady in her +bower would be no safer. Tyrker's sleeping-place, and mine and +Valbrand's, lie between the house-door and the chamber of Helga, Gilli's +daughter." He freed the girl's hand, though he still held her with his +eyes. "Whither do you betake yourself now?" he demanded. "Long rambles +are unsafe in an unknown country." + +In her perfect composure, Helga even laughed; a silvery peal that sent a +thrill of pleasure through the brooding old trees. + +"By my knife, kinsman, you take your responsibility heavily, now that +you have remembered it at all!" she retorted. "I do not go far; only a +little way up the river, where grow the rushes of which I wish to make +baskets." + +The chief released her then; and soon she disappeared among the trees. + +One by one, the men finished their meal and drifted back to their +various employments. The hammers began again their merry tattoo; and the +wrangling voices of dice-throwers replaced the shouts of the bathers. +Except for these, however, the place was still. The sun shone hotly, and +the trees appeared to nap in the drowsy air. + +Perhaps because he preferred asking questions to answering them, Robert +Sans-Peur began an earnest conversation, concerning the harvest, the +traps, and the fishing. But as the hour grew, the gaps between his +inquiries stretched wider. As the tree-heads ceased even their nodding +and hung motionless, the chief's answers became briefer and slower. At +last the moment arrived when no response at all was forthcoming. +Glancing up, the Norman found his host tilted back against the maple +trunk in placid slumber. + +The young man let something like a sigh of relief escape him. Still, +watching the sleeping face warily, he tried the effect of another +question. Oblivion. He rose to his feet with a daring flourish of yawns +and stretching, and awaited the result of that test. The deep breathing +never faltered. + +Then Alwin the Lover hesitated no longer. Quietly and directly, as one +who treads a familiar path, he walked around the corner of the last hut +and disappeared among the trees. + +Many feet had worn a distinct trail through the woods to the edge of the +bluff, and down the steep to the water; but only two pair of feet had +ever turned aside, midway the descent, and found the path to Eden. Like +a rosy curtain, a tall sumach bush hid the trail's beginning; the +overhanging bluffs concealed it from above; the tangle of shrubs and +vines which covered the bank from the water's edge screened it from +below. Hardly more than a rabbit track, a narrow shelf against the wall +of the steep, it ran along for a dozen yards to stop where a ledge of +moss-covered rock thrust itself from the soil. + +When Alwin pushed aside the leafy sprays, Helga stood awaiting him with +outstretched hands. "You have been long in coming, comrade. I dare not +hope that it is because Leif delayed you with some new friendliness?" + +Her lover shook his head, as he bent to kiss her hands. + +"Do not hope anything, sweetheart," he said, wearily. "That is the one +way not to be disappointed." He threw himself down on the rock at her +feet, unaware that her smooth brows had suddenly drawn themselves into a +troubled frown. + +She said with grave slowness, "I do not like to hear you speak like +that. You are foremost among men in courage, yet to hear you now, one +would almost imagine you to be faint-hearted." + +Alwin's mouth bent into a bitter smile, as his eyes stared away at the +river. "Courage?" he repeated, half to himself. "Yes, I have that. Once +I thought it so precious a thing that I could stake honor and life upon +it, and win on the turn of the wheel. But I know now what it is worth. +Courage, the boldness of the devil himself, who of the North but has +that? It is cheaper than the dirt of the road. If I have not been a +coward, at least I have been a fool." + +All at once, Helga shook out her flying locks like so many golden war +banners, and turned to face him resolutely. "You shall not speak, nor +think like that," she said; "for I see now that it is not good sense. +Before, though my heart told me you were wrong, I did not understand +why; but now I have turned it over in my mind until I see clearly. The +failure of your first attempt to win Leif's favor is a thing by itself; +at least it does not prove that you have not yet many good chances. I +will not deny that we may have expected too many opportunities for +valiant deeds, yet are there no other ways in which to serve? Was it by +a feat of arms that you won your first honor with the chief? It was +nothing more heroic than the ability to read runes which, in five days, +got you more favor than Rolf Erlingsson's strength had gained him in +five years. Are your accomplishments so limited to your weapons that +when you cannot use your sword you must lie idle? Many little services +will count as much as one big one, when the time of reckoning comes. +Shake the sleep-thorn out of your ear, my comrade, and be your brave +strong-minded self again. Without courage, never would Robert Sans-Peur +have come to Greenland, nor Helga, Gilli's daughter, have followed him +to Norway. Despise it not, but mate it with your good sense, and the two +shall yet draw us to victory." + +It was a long time before Alwin answered. The river splashed and +murmured below; birds rustled in the bushes around them, or dived into +the green depths with a soft whir of wings. A rabbit paused to look at +them, and two squirrels quarrelled over a nut, within reach of their +hands,--so still were they. But when at last Alwin raised his eyes to +hers, their gaze reassured her. + +"The sleep-thorn is out, sweetheart," he said, slowly. "Now is the whole +of my folly clear to me for the first time. Never again shall you have +cause to shame my manhood with such words." + +"Shame! Shame you, who are the best and bravest in the world!" she +cried, passionately, and threw herself on her knees by his side, +entreating. + +But he silenced her lips with kisses, and put her gently back upon the +rock. + +"Do not let us speak further of it, dear one. I have thought so much and +done so little. After this you shall see how I will bear myself... But +let us forget it now, and rest awhile. Let us forget everything in the +world except that we are together. Lay your hand in mine and turn your +face where I can look into it; and so shall we be sure of this +happiness, whatever lies beyond." + +A vague fear laid its icy finger, for an instant, on Helga's brave +heart; but she shook it off fiercely. Locking her hand fast in her +comrade's, she let all the love of her soul well up and shine from her +beautiful eyes. So they sat, hand in hand, while the hours slipped by +and the shadows lengthened about them, and the light on the river grew +red. + +With the sunset, came the sound of distant voices. Helga started up with +a finger on her lips. + +"It is the exploring party, returning! It is possible that one of them +might blunder in here. Do you think we can climb the bluff before they +turn the bend and see us?" + +The voices were becoming very distinct now. Alwin shook his head. + +"I think it better to remain where we are. Sigurd knows that we are +likely to be here. He will turn them aside, if need be. See; yonder is +his blue cloak now, at the--" + +He broke off and slowly rose to his feet, a look upon his face that made +Helga whirl instinctively and glance over her shoulder. She did not turn +back again, but sat as though frozen in the act; for behind the sumach +bush Leif stood, watching them. + +How long he had been there they had no idea, but his eyes were full upon +them; and they realized that at last he knew truly for whom it was that +Helga, Gilli's daughter, had fled from home. His lips were drawn into a +straight line, and his brows into a black frown. + +The voices came nearer and nearer,--until Sigurd's blue cloak fluttered +at the very foot of the trail. When he saw the chief's scarlet mantle +mingling with the scarlet of the sumach leaves, the jarl's son gave a +great leap forward. It was no longer than the drawing of a breath, +however, before he recovered himself. + +His clear voice rose like a bugle call, "_Diable_! foster-father! I have +just made a very different discovery from the one I promised +you,--Tyrker has been left behind." + +The chief was down the bank in three long leaps, shooting a volley of +fierce questions. Each member of the party instantly raised his voice to +defend himself and blame his neighbor. The remainder of the camp, +brought to the spot by the noise, rent the air with upbraiding and +alarms. When the shield-maiden suddenly sprang from nowhere and stood in +their midst, the men did not even notice her; nor did the appearance of +the Norman attract more attention. As an accident, it was incredibly +fortunate; as a diversion, it was a master-stroke. + +Yet it did not take the chief long to quell the up-roar, when at last he +had made up his mind what course to pursue. Seizing a shield from a man +at his side, he hammered upon it with his sword until every other sound +was drowned in the clangor. + +"Silence!" he shouted. "Silence, fools! Would you save him by deafening +each other? We must reach him before wild beasts do: he would be as a +child in their clutches. Ten of you who are fresh-footed, get weapons +and follow me. The least crazy of you who accompanied him, shall guide +us back." + +Only as he was turning away and ran bodily into him, did he appear to +remember the Norman's existence. His eyes gave out an ominous flash. + +"You also follow," he commanded. + +As the little column moved over the hills in the fading light, Helga +looked after them, half dazed. + +"What is the meaning of that?" she murmured to the jarl's son at her +side. "It is certain that Leif recognized him; yet he chooses him to +accompany them. I do not understand it." + +Nothing could have been sturdier than Sigurd's manner; she did not think +to look at his face. + +"That may easily be," he returned. "Since it angered the chief to find +you two together, it would be no more than natural that he should wish +to make sure of your separation." + +Helga did not appear to hear him. She stood transfixed with the horror +of a sudden conviction. + +"It is to kill him!" she gasped. "That is why he has taken him away, +that he may kill him quietly and without interference. I will go after +them... By running, I can catch up--let me go, Sigurd!" + +The fact that his foreboding was quite as black as hers did not prevent +Sigurd from tightening his grasp, almost to roughness. + +He said sternly, "Be still. You have done harm enough by such crazy +actions. If by any chance he is not discovered, you would be certain to +betray him. You can do nothing but harm in any case." + +As he felt her yield to his grasp, he added, less harshly, "More likely +than not, nothing of any importance will happen; if Tyrker is found +unharmed, Leif's joy will be too great to allow him to injure anyone, +whatever his offence." + +She interrupted him with a low cry of anguish. "But if Tyrker is not +found, Sigurd! If Tyrker is not found, Leif will vent his rage upon the +nearest excuse. A Norseman in grief is like a bear with a wound: it +matters not whom he bites." + +Burying her face in her hands, she sank upon the ground and rocked +herself back and forth. Out from the bower of long hair that streamed +over her, came pitiful moans. + +"He will slay him and leave him out there in the darkness... I shall not +be by to raise his head and weep over him, as I did before .... Oh, thou +God, if there is help in Thee--! I shall not be with him... Leif will +slay him and leave him out in the darkness, alone..." + +Sigurd's face grew white as he watched her, and he clenched his hands so +that the nails sank deep in the flesh. + +"There is nothing to do but to wait," he said, briefly. "If Tyrker is +found, all will be well." He paced to and fro before her, his ear set +toward the river. + +Over in front of the cook-house, Kark's fires began to twinkle out like +altars of good cheer. Like votaries hurrying to worship at them, the +hungry men went and threw themselves on the grass in a circle; with dice +and stories and jests they whiled away the time pleasantly enough. + +For the pair in the shadow, the moments dragged on lead-shod feet. Time +after time, Sigurd thought he heard the sounds he longed to hear, and +started toward the river,--only to come slowly back, tricked. An owl +began to call in the tree above them; and ever after, Helga connected +that sound with death and despair, and shuddered at it. + +When at last the distant hum of voices crept upon them, they would not +believe it; but sat with eyes glued to the ground, though their ears +were strained. But when one of the approaching voices broke into a +rollicking drinking-song, which was caught up by the group around the +fire and tossed joyously back and forth, there could no longer be any +doubt of the matter. + +Sigurd leaped up and pulled his companion to her feet, with a cheer. +"They would not sing like that if they bore heavy tidings," he assured +her. "Do not spoil matters now by a lack of caution. Stay here while I +run forward to meet them." + +Then, for the first time since the failing of the blow, Helga recalled +with a flush of shame that she was a dauntless shield-maiden; and she +took hold of her composure with both hands. + +Singing and shouting, the rescuers came out of the woods at last and +into the circle of firelight. On the shoulders of the two leaders sat +Tyrker, his little eyes dancing with excitement, his thin voice +squeaking comically in his attempts to pipe a German drinking-song, as +he beat time with some little dark object which he was flourishing. The +chief walked behind him with a face that was not only clear but almost +radiant. Still further back came Robert Sans-Peur, quite un-harmed and +vigorous. In the name of wonder, what had happened to them? + +"It is the strangest thing that ever occurred."--"It is a miracle of +God!"--"Growing as thick as crow-berries." --" Such juice will make the +finest wine in the world!"--"Biorn Herjulfsson will dash out his brains +with envy."--" Was ever such luck as the Lucky One's?" were the +disjointed phrases that passed between them. + +Waving the dark object over his head, Tyrker struggled down from his +perch. "Wunderschoen! As in the Fatherland growing! And I went not much +further than you,--only a step, and there--like snakes in the trees +gecoiled! So solid the bunches, that them your fingers you cannot +between pry. The beautiful grapes! Foster-son, for this day's work I ask +you to name this country Vine-land. Such a miracle requires that. Ach, +it makes of me a child again!" + +He tossed the fruit into their eager hands and began all at once to wipe +his eyes industriously upon the skirt of his robe. Swiftly the bunch +passed from hand to hand. Each time a juicy ball found its way down a +thirsty throat a great murmur of wonder and delight arose. + +"There is more where this came from? Plenty, you say?" they inquired, +anxiously. And on being assured that hillside after hillside was covered +with bending wreaths of purple clusters, their rapture knew no bounds. + +Ale was all well enough; but wine--! Not only would they live like kings +through the winter, but in the spring they would take back such a +treasure as would make their home-people stare even more than at the +timber and the wheat. + +"You need have no fear concerning Leif's temper," Sigurd whispered in +Helga's ear. "This discovery makes his mission as sure of success as +though it were already accomplished. No man's nose rises at timber, but +two such miracles as wheat and grapes, planted without hands and growing +without care,--these can be nothing less than tokens of divine favor! +The Lucky One would spare his deadliest foe tonight." + +"That sounds possible," Helga admitted, studying the chief's face +anxiously. As she looked, Leif's gaze suddenly met hers, and she had the +discomfort of seeing a recollection of their last encounter waken in his +eyes. Yet they did not darken to the blackness that had lowered from +them at the cliff. They took on more of an expression of quiet sarcasm. +Turning where the Norman stood, a silent witness of the scene, the chief +beckoned to him. + +"A while ago, Robert Sans-Peur, I had it in my mind to run a sword +through you," he said, dryly. "But I have since bethought myself that +you are a guest on my hands; and also that it is right to take your +French breeding into account. Yet, though it may easily be a Norman +habit to look upon every fair woman with eyes of love, it is equally +contrary to Norse custom to permit it. Give yourself no further trouble +concerning my kinswoman, Robert of Normandy. Attach yourself to my +person and reserve your eloquence for my ear,--and my ear only." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD + + + Middling wise + Should every man be, + Never too wise; + Happiest live + Those men + Who know many things well. + Ha'vama'l + + +They must have missed a great deal of enjoyment, to whom a new world +meant only a new source of gold and slaves. To these men from the frozen +north, the new world was an earthly paradise. A long clear day under a +warm sun was alone a gift to be thankful for. To plunge unstinted hands +into the hoarded wealth of ages, to be the first to hunt in a +game-stocked forest and the first to cast hook in a fish-teeming +river,--to have the first skimming of nature's cream-pans, as it +were,--was a delight so keen that, saving war and love, they could +imagine nothing to equal it. Like children upon honey, they fell upon +the gift that had tumbled latest out of nature's horn of plenty, and +swept through the vineyard in a devastating army. Snuffing the sweet +scent of the sun-heated grapes, they ate and sang and jested as they +gathered, in the most innocent carousal of their lives. Shouting and +singing, they brought in their burdens at night,--litters of purple +slain that bent even their stout backs. The roofs were covered with the +drying fruit, which was to be doctored into raisins, and cask after cask +of sour tangy wine was rolled into the provision shed beside the +garnered grain. + +"The King of Norway does not live better than this," they congratulated +each other. "We have found the way into the provision house of the +world." + +Their delight knew no bounds when they found that the arrival of winter +would not interfere with sport. Winter at Brattahlid meant icebergs and +blizzards, weeks of unbroken twilight and days of idling within doors. +Winter in this new land,--why, it was not winter at all! + +"It is nothing worse than a second autumn," Helga said, wonderingly. +"They have patched on a second autumn to reach till spring." + +The woods continued to be full of game, and the grass on the plains +remained almost unwithered. There was only enough frost in the air to +make breathing it a tonic, a tingling delight. Not even a crust formed +over the placid bay; and the waters of the river went leaping and +dancing through the sunshine in airy defiance of the ice-king's fetters. + +On the last day of December, autumn employments were still in full +swing. The last rays that the setting sun sent to the bay through the +leafless branches, fell upon a group of fishermen returning with a load +of shining fish hanging from their spears. From the grove came the +ringing music of axes, the rending shriek of a doomed tree, the +crackling, crashing thunder of its fall. Down at the foot of the bluff a +boat was thrusting its snout into the soft bank, that an exploring party +might land after a three days' journey along the winding highway of the +river. + +In the bow stood the chief, and behind him were Sigurd Haraldsson and +Rolf; and behind them, Robert the Norman. + +With a great racket of joyous hallooing for the benefit of their +camp-mates, the crew leaped ashore. While some stayed to load themselves +with the skins and game stowed under the seats, the rest began to climb +the trail, laughing and talking noisily. + +Sigurd leaped along between Rolf and the Norman, a hand on the shoulder +of each, shaking them when their sentiments were unsatisfactory. + +"How long am I to wait for you to have a free half-day?" he demanded of +his friend from Normandy. "It was over a week before we left that I +found those bear tracks, and still am I putting off the sport that you +may have a share in it. Is it Leif's intention to keep you dangling at +his heels forever, like a tassel on an apron? Certainly he cannot think +that there is danger of your talking love to Helga while you are +fighting bears." + +"Though once I would have said that wooing a shield-maiden was a very +similar sport," Rolf added, pleasantly. + +Whereupon Sigurd shook them both, with an energy that sent all three +sprawling on their faces, to the huge amusement of those who came after. + +They scrambled to their feet in front of a tall sumach bush that grew +half-way up the slope. Alwin's eyes fell upon a narrow ledge-like path +that showed plainly between the bare branches, and he nodded toward it +with a smile. + +"Missing bear-fights is certainly undesirable," he said. "But it was not +long ago--and on this same bank--that I anticipated a worse fate than +that." + +"Nevertheless, I have never seen so much service exacted from a king's +page," Sigurd growled, as he bent to brush the dirt from his knees. + +But Rolf shook his head with quiet decision. + +"One need never tell me that it is only to keep you from saying fine +things to Helga that the chief demands your constant presence. It is +because he has come to take comfort in your superior intelligence, and +to value your attendance above ours. There, he is calling you now! I +foretell that you will not fight bears to-morrow either." He gave the +broad back a hearty slap that was at the same time a friendly shove +forward. + +The chief's voice had even taken on an impatient accent by the time the +young squire reached his side. + +"I should like much to know what is the cause of your deafness! Are you +dead or moonstruck that I must shout twenty times before you answer? If +your wits go sleep-walking, then may we as well give up, for I have +depended upon them as upon crutches. I want you to keep it in mind for +me that it is after the river's second bend to the right, but its fourth +bend to the left, that the trees stand which I wish to mark. And the +spring--the spring is--" + +"And the spring is beyond the third turning to the right," the young man +finished readily. "The chief need give himself no uneasiness. It is +written on my brain as on parchment." + +Leif turned from him with something like an angry sigh. + +"It needs to be more than written," he said. "It needs to be carved as +with knives." + +On the crest of the bluff he paused suddenly to shake his fists in a +passion of impotence. + +"A man who has no more than a trained body is of less account than a +beast!" he cried. "My brain is near bursting with the details which I +have sought to remember concerning these discoveries, and yet what +assurance have I that I have got even half of them correct? That I have +not remembered what was of least importance, and confused this place +with that, and garbled it all so that the next man who comes after me +shall call me a liar and laugh at my pretensions? And even though I +relate every fact as truly as the Holy Book itself, what will there be +left of it by the time it has passed through a hundred sottish brains in +Greenland yonder? I tell you, this stained rag of a cloak I wear is +nearer to what it was first, than that tale will be after swinish mouths +have chewed upon it a day. It is the curse of the old gods upon the +heathen. And I fling my curse back at them, for the chains they have +hung upon my free hands and the beast-dumbness with which they have +gagged my man's mouth." + +In an abandonment of fury, he shook both fists high over his head at the +scattered star faces that were peering out of the pale sky. + +Not till he had turned and stamped away over the snapping twigs, did his +men come out of their trance of bewilderment. + +As they resumed their climbing, Eyvind the Ice-lander observed sagely, +"Never saw I any one whose speech reminded me so strongly of the hot +springs we have at home. All of a sudden, without warning or cause, the +words shoot up into the air, boiling hot; and it would be as much as +one's life is worth to try to stop them. It is incomprehensible." + +Passing amused comments, they gained the crest and vanished over it, +without noticing that the Norman still stood where the chief had left +him, with every appearance of being equally bereft of his senses. + +With parted lips, and hands nervously opening and shutting by his side, +he stood staring away into the dusk before him, until the voices of +those who were coming after with the spoils fell on his ear and aroused +him. Then he raised to the stars a face that was fairly convulsed with +excitement, and took the rest of the climb in three wild leaps. + +"It is open to my sight at last!" he muttered over and over, as he +hurried through the darkness toward the lighted booths. "Heaven be +thanked, it is open to my sight at last!" + +As he reached the end of the largest hut and was turning the corner in +eager haste, an arm reached quickly out of the shadow and touched his +cloak. Instinctively his hand went to his knife; but it fell away the +next instant in a very different gesture, as Helga's voice whispered in +his ear: + +"Alwin,--it is I! I have waited for you since the first noise of the +landing. I have a--hush, you must not do that! I have need of my lips to +speak with No, no! Listen; I wish to warn you--" + +"And I must tell you what has just occurred." Alwin's excitement bore +down her caution. "I have guessed the riddle of what my service is to +be,--or, to tell it truthfully, luck has guessed it for me, owl that I +am! Here has it--" + +But Helga's hand fell softly over his mouth. "Dumb as well as blind +shall you be, till I have finished! Already I have stayed out long +enough to excite suspicion. Listen to my warning; Kark suspects that +your complexion is shallow. Yesterday I overheard him put the question +to Tyrker, whether or not it were possible that a paint could color a +man's skin dark so that it would not wear off." + +"Devil take the--" + +"Hush, that is not all! I have never thought it worth while to tell you, +in the few words we have had together; but now I know that the creature +has suspected us ever since the day when Leif came upon us on the bluff. +The day after that, Kark dared to say to me, 'Is a shield-maiden as +fickle as other women, for all her steel shirt? In Greenland, Helga, +Gilli's daughter, loved an Englishman.' I beat him soundly for it, yet I +could not uproot the thought from his mind; and now--" + +"And now I tell you that it is of no consequence what he thinks," Alwin +interrupted her, eagerly. "I have to-night found out a means by which I +am as certain to win favor as--" + +But he could not finish. Crackling steps in the grove behind them made +Helga spring away from him like a startled bird. He had only time to +whisper after her, "To-night,--watch me across the fire!" before she had +vanished among the shadows, like one of them. + +After a moment the young man went his way around the corner of the cabin +and came in through the open doorway, where his companions sat at +supper. + +The hall, which was also the larger of the sleeping-houses, was not an +unworthy off-shoot of the splendors of Brattahlid. Here, as there, the +rough walls were lined with gleaming weapons and shields that shone like +suns in the ruddy glow of the fire. And in lieu of tapestries, there was +a noble medley of bears' claws, fish nets, glistening birds' wings, +drying hides, branching antlers, and squirrels' tails. The bunk-like +beds, built against the walls, displayed a fortune in the skin covers +that were spread over them; fox skins covered the benches, and wolf +skins lay under foot. The chief's seat no longer boasted carven pillars +or embroidered pillows, but it missed none of these when the great bear +skin had been flung over the cushions of fragrant pine-needles. And if +the table-service was not so fine as the gilded vessels on Eric's board, +yet the fish and flesh and fowl that piled the trenchers, and the purple +juice that brimmed the horns, had never been equalled in Greenland. + +"Only to get such wine, the journey would be worth while," Rolf murmured +to the shield-maiden, beside whom he sat, when at last the business of +eating was over and the pleasure of drinking had begun. As he spoke he +tilted his head back, with closed eyes and a beatific smile, and let the +contents of his horn run slowly down his throat. + +Even a woman might have had the sense to leave him undisturbed at such a +moment; yet Helga bent forward and jogged his arm without compunction. + +"Are you going to be forever swallowing?" she whispered, sharply. "Look +across the fire and tell me what Alwin is doing with his hands. He has +turned aside so that I cannot see." + +It was with a distinct bang that the Wrestler set down his empty cup, +and in a distinct snarl that his answer came over his shoulder. "Not a +few men have been slain for such rudeness as that. Why should I care +what the Norman is doing? Is it a time to be riding horseback or +catching fish? Since there is no babbling woman at his elbow, it is +likely that he is drinking." + +But Helga's hand did not loosen its hold upon his arm. + +"Hush!" she entreated him. "Something really is going to happen; he +warned me of it. Something of great importance. You will act with no +more than good will if you look and tell me what you see." + +Excitement is infectious; even through his sulks Rolf caught it, and +leaning forward, he peered curiously over the flames. The Norman sat in +his usual place at the chief's left hand. It was evident that his +thoughts were far away, for his drinking-horn stood forgotten at his +elbow and he was humming absently as he worked. His fingers were busy +with a long splinter and a tuft of fox-hairs, that he was pulling +carefully from the rug on which he sat. + +Rolf's eyes widened into positive alarm as he watched. "He has the +appearance of a crazy man!" he reported. "Or it may be that he is making +a charm and that is the weird song which he is mumbling. See,--he has +finally drawn Leif's attention upon him!" + +"He is not acting without a purpose," Helga persisted. "He told me to +watch him. Look! What is he doing now?" + +Still humming, and with the leisurely air of one who works to please +himself alone, the Norman completed his task and held the result up +critically to the light. It was nothing more nor less than a clumsy +little fox-hair brush. Leaning back on the bear skin the chief continued +to gaze at it curiously. But the pair across the fire suddenly turned to +each other with a gasp of comprehension. + +The Norman, still humming carelessly, drew his horn nearer with one +hand, and with the other pushed a bowl out of his way. Then dipping his +brush in the purple wine, he began to paint strange-looking runes on the +fair new boards before him. + +"It has come to my mind to try whether I can remember the words of that +French song which we heard together in Rouen," he said lightly to Sigurd +Haraldsson who sat by him. "Was it not thus that the first line ran?" + +Almost with the weight of a blow, Leif's hand fell upon his shoulder. + +"Runes!" he cried, in a voice that brought every man to his feet, even +those who had fallen asleep over their drinking. "Runes? Is it possible +that you have the accomplishment of writing them?" + +His hold upon the shoulder tightened, of a sudden, to such a pressure +that the young man was fain to drop his brush with a gasp of agony, and +catch at the crushing hand. "You have had this power all these months +that you have known of my great need? How comes it that you have never +put forth a hand to help me?" he thundered. + +Across the fire, Helga, Gilli's daughter, held herself down upon the +bench with both hands. But though his lips were twisted with pain, the +rune-writer met Leif's gaze unflinchingly. + +"Help you, chief?" he repeated, wonderingly. "How was I to know that +Norman writing would be of assistance to you? When did you ever tell me +of your need?" + +Though his gaze continued to hold the Norman for awhile, Leif's grip on +his shoulder slowly relaxed. Then, gradually, his eyes also loosened +their hold. Finally he burst into a loud laugh and slapped him on the +back. + +"By the edge of my sword, your wit is as nimble as a rabbit!" he swore. +"I cannot blame you for this. At least you lost little time in coming to +my support as soon as I had told my need. By the Mass, Robert Sans-Peur, +you could not have brought your accomplishment to a better market! I +tell you frankly that it is of more value to me than any warrior's skill +in the world, and I am not too stingy to pay what it is worth." + +Unclasping the gold chain from his neck, he threw it over the Norman's +head. + +"Take this to begin with, Robert of Normandy," he said, with grave +courtesy. "And I promise you that, if your help proves to be as great as +I expect, there will be little that you can ask that I shall not be glad +to give." + +Decked in the shining gold of his triumph, the masquerading thrall stood +with bent head, a look that was almost shame-stricken stealing over his +face. But it is probable that the chief feared that he meditated another +attempt at hand kissing, for that brusque commander began to speak +quickly and curtly of purely unsentimental matters. + +"I have none of the kid-skin of which your Southern books are made. Yet +will not a roll of fresh white vadmal offer a fair substitute? And +certainly there is enough wine--" + +There certainly was enough, and more; yet at this suggestion an +indignant murmur could not be suppressed. + +"Though I never dispute your wisdom in anything, that appears to me to +be little better than desecration," Valbrand declared, frankly. + +With an effort the Norman roused himself. "It will not be necessary," he +said, absently. "I know how to make a liquid out of barks that will have +a dark color and suffer no damage from water." + +He did not notice the expression that flared up in Kark's eyes; nor did +he hear Helga's gasp, nor feel Sigurd's foot. His gaze fell again to the +floor in moody abstraction. + +The chief answered briefly to the murmurs: "It is unadvisable to oppose +my whim for writing in wine; who knows but I might exchange it for a +fancy to write in blood? Bring hither the vadmal, thrall, and we will +lose no more precious moments." + +Was ever monkish work begun in more unchurch-like surroundings? Alwin +wondered, a festal board for a desk and a wine-cup for an ink-horn! The +brawling crew along the benches drank and sang and rattled dice in their +nightly carousal; and, in a corner, Lodin wrestled with the well-grown +bear-cub before a circle of cheering spectators. The firelight flickered +over the trophy-laden walls, picking out now a severed paw and now a +grinning skull, until the whole place seemed a ghastly shrine of +savagery. + +The warrior-scribe wrote with painful slowness; and more than once, in +trying to catch some of Helga's chatter across the fire, he wrote such +twisted sentences that it was impossible to unravel them when he came to +retranslate. Yet he did write. Ploddingly, haltingly, clumsily, he still +caught the fleeting thoughts as they sped, and fastened them down, in +purple and white, to last so long as one thread should lie beside +another. No longer need anyone torture his brain to remember whether the +tallest maple-trees stood beyond the river's second bend to the left or +its fourth to the right, or between the third turning to the right and +the fifth to the left. The little fox-hair brush sprang upon the fact +and pinioned it, a prisoner for the remainder of time. + +The chief's pleasure was almost too great to be controlled. He went at +the work as a starving man goes at food, and he hung over it as a +drunkard hangs over his dram. Tyrker rose with considerable bustle to +take his departure for the other house; and Vaibrand stamped about +noisily as he renewed the torches on the walls; but the monotonous +steadiness of the dictation never faltered. One by one, the men about +Leif dropped off, snoring; and he heeded it no more than he did the +soughing of the wind through the grove. By and by, even the fresh +torches began to snore, in angry sputters; and the fire, which had long +since begun to wink drowsily, shut its last red eye and lay in total +oblivion. + +Leif sat up reluctantly, and stretched his arms over his head with a +regretful sigh. "My mind comes out of it as stubbornly as Sigmund's +sword came out of the tree trunk. We will return to it the first thing +in the morning. You have done me a service which I shall never forget +while my mind lives in me." + +Leaning back against the bear skin to stretch his arms again and yawn, +he added thoughtfully, "Your accomplishments have remedied my misfortune +that last winter I was obliged to kill a youth who was of great value to +me." + +The scribe sat thrusting his legs out before him and working the fingers +of his cramped hand, in a stupor of weariness. He awoke suddenly and, +through the flickering light of the one remaining torch, shot a stealthy +glance at the chief's face. + +After a while he said carelessly, "Obliged, chief? How came that? Could +not his value outweigh his crime?" + +Smothering a yawn, Leif rose to his feet and stood looking down at his +follower, while he buckled his cloak around him. "Yes," he said, slowly; +"yes, his value might have outweighed his crime,--but not his deceit. It +was not only because he broke my strictest orders that I slew him; it +was because, while pretending to submit to me, he was in truth scheming +to get the better of me. And because he and his hot-headed friend, +Sigurd Haraldsson, had the ambition to penetrate the state of my +feelings and handle me as you handle your writing-brush there. Is it to +be expected that a man would take it well to be fooled by a pair of +boys?" + +The Norman sat for a long time staring at a huge furry skin that hung on +the wall in front of him. It shook sometimes in the draught; and when +the light flickered over it, it looked like some quivering shapeless +animal, crouching to spring upon him out of the shadow. After a while, +he laughed harshly. + +"If he was simple enough to expect that he could play with you and then +survive the discovery of his trick, he deserved to die, for nothing more +than his folly," he said, bitterly. + +He straightened himself suddenly and drew a long breath as though to +speak further. But at that moment the chief turned and left the booth. + +While the Southerner stood looking after him, a sound like a smothered +laugh came from the corner where Kark slept. Alwin wheeled toward it; +but before he could take a step, Rolf's arm stretched out from his bunk +by the high seat and caught his friend's belt in a vise. + +"It is unnecessary to soil your hands with snake's blood, just now," he +said, gently. "Besides serpent's fangs, the thrall has also serpent's +cunning in his ugly head. He knows that Leif will not, for any reason +tongue can name, injure the man who is writing down his history. Wait +until the records are finished; then it will be time to act." + +He pulled his comrade clown on the bunk beside him, and held him there +until the sleep of utter weariness had taken him into its safe-keeping. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +"THINGS THAT ARE FATED" + + + The fir withers + That stands on a fenced field; + Neither bark nor foliage shelters it; + Thus is a man + Whom no one loves; + Why should he live long? + Ha'vama'l + + +In a chain of lengthening golden days and softening silver nights, the +spring came. + +The instinct which brings animals out of their dens to roam in the +sunlight, awoke in the Norsemen's breasts and made them restless in the +midst of plenty. The instinct which sets birds to nest-building amid the +young green, turned the rovers' hearts toward their ice-bound home. + +With glad applause, they hailed Leif's proclamation from under the +budding maple-tree: + +"Four weeks from to-day, if the season continues to be a forward one, it +is likely that the pack-ice around the mouth of Eric's Fiord will be +sufficiently broken to let us through. Four weeks from to-day, God +willing, we will set sail for Greenland." + +The camp entered upon a period of bustling activity. Carpenters fell to +work on the re-furnishing of the ship, until all the quiet bay echoed +with their pounding. With infinite labor, the great logs were floated +down the river and hauled on board. Porters toiled to and from the shore +with loads of grain-sacks and wine-kegs. The packers in the store-houses +buzzed over the wealth of fruit like so many bees. Even Kark the +Indolent caught the infection, and clashed his pots and kettles with +joyful energy. + +"A little time more, and the death-wolf shall claim his due," he sang +over his work. "Only a little time more, and the death-wolf shall claim +his due!" + +On the morning of the last day in Vinland, Robert the Norman wrote the +last word in the grotesque exploring record and laid down the brush +forever. + +"That ends the matter, chief," he said slowly. + +They sat in the larger of the sleeping-houses, as they had sat on that +December night when the work was begun. But now a flood of yellow +sunlight fell through the open door, and a flowering pink bush flattened +its sweet face against the window. + +Leif regarded him with dull, absent eyes. "Yes, it is ended," he said, +reluctantly; and was silent for so long that the young man looked up in +surprise. + +An odd expression of something like regret was on the chief's face. As +he met his companion's glance, he laughed a short harsh laugh that had +in it less of mirth than of scorn. + +"It is ended," he repeated. "And though I know no better than yourself +why it is that I am such a fool, yet I find myself full of sorrow +because it is finished. I feel that I have lost out of my life something +that was dear to me." He relapsed into another frowning silence; when he +came out of it, it was only to motion toward the door. "No sense is in +this," he said, savagely; "yet the mood has me, hand and foot. I am in +no temper to talk of anything. To-night we will speak of your reward. Go +now and spend the rest of the day as best pleases you." + +He did not look up as his follower obeyed: he sat brooding over the +great white roll as though it were the dead body of some one whom he had +loved. + +Out in the blithe spring sunshine, the men stood around in little +groups, making hilarious plans for the day's sport. The preparations for +the departure being completed, a day of untrammelled freedom lay before +them; and what pastime is so dull that it is not given a zest and a +relish by the thought that it is engaged in for the last time? In +uproarious good spirits, they whetted their knives for a last hunt, and +called friendly challenges across to each other. Inviting them to a +wrestling bout, Rolf's voice rose loudest of all; but though much +laughter and some gibing came in response, there were no acceptances. + +When the Norman came out of the booth, the Wrestler ceased his +proclamations and strolled to meet his friend with a welcoming smile. +"Now I think Leif has behaved well," he said, heartily, "to remember +that the last day in such a place as Vinland the Good is far too +precious to be wasted on monkish tasks. Sigurd will get angry with +himself that he did not wait longer for your coming." + +A shade of disappointment fell over the Norman's face. + +"Where has Sigurd gone?" he asked. "He swam out to an island in the bay +where he has a favorite fishing-place he cannot bear to leave without +another visit." + +"And Helga? Where is she?" + +The Wrestler looked at him in surprise. "She has gone into the woods +somewhere, with Tyrker; but surely you would not be so mad as to accost +her, even were she before you." + +Alwin answered with an odd smile. "A man who is about to die will do +many things that would be madness in a man who has life before him," he +said. His eyes gazed into his friend's eyes with sombre meaning. "I +finished the records this morning." + +"You finished the records this morning?" Rolf repeated incredulously. + +A note of impatience sharpened the other's voice. "I fail to understand +what there is in that which surprises you. Certainly you must have heard +Leif say, last night, that a hundred words more would end the work. And +it was your own judgment that Kark would wait no longer than its +completion--" + +Rolf struck the tree they leaned against, with sudden vehemence. "The +snake!" he cried. "That, then, is why he showed his fangs at me this +morning in such a jeering smile. Yet, how could I believe that a man of +your wit would allow such a thing to come to pass? With a mouthful of +words you could have persuaded Leif that there was a host of things +which he had forgotten. You could have prolonged the task--" + +Alwin shook his head with stern though quiet decision. + +"No, I have had enough of lying," he said. "Not for my life, nor for +Helga's love, will I carry this deceit further. Such a smothering fog +has it become around me, that I can neither see nor breathe through its +choking folds... But let us leave off this talk. Since it is likely that +my limbs will have a long rest after to-night, let us spend to-day +roving about in search of what sport we can find. If I may not pass my +last day with the man and woman that I hold dearest, still you are next +in my love; you will accompany me, will you not?" + +"Wherever you choose," Rolf assented. + +They set forth as silently as on that spring morning, two years before, +when they had set out from the Norwegian camp to witness Thorgrim +Svensson's horse-fight. Now, as then, the air was golden with spring +sunshine, and the whole world seemed a-throb with the pure joy of +living. There was gladness in the chirp of the birds, and content in the +drone of the insects; and all the squirrels in the place seemed to be +gadding on joyful errands, for one could not turn a corner that a group +of them did not scatter from before his feet. So common a thing as a +dewdrop caught in a cobweb became more beautiful than jewel-spangled +lace. The rustling of the quail in the brush, even the glimpse of a +coiled snake basking on a sunny spot of earth, was fraught with interest +because it spoke of life, glad and fearless and free. + +They visited the nook on the bluff, screened once more in fragrant, +rustling greenness; then descended to the river and walked along its +bank, mile after mile. Here and there, they turned aside and threaded +their way through the thicket to take a last look at the scene of some +fondly recollected hunt, or to inspect some of the traps which they +remembered to be there. But when in one snare they found a wretched +little rabbit, still alive but frantic with terror, Alwin laid a +detaining hand on Rolf's knife. + +"Let him go," he said, shortly. "You have no need of him, and his life +is all he has. Let him keep it,--for my sake." + +He did not stay to watch the white dot of a tall go bobbing away over +the ferns. He hurried on rather shamefaced; and when Rolf overtook him, +they walked another mile without speaking. + +Along in the middle of the forenoon they reached a point on the river +where the banks no longer rose in bluffs but lay in grassy slopes, +fringed with drooping trees. The sun was hot overhead, and their clothes +were heavy upon their backs. Rolf suggested that they stop long enough +for a swim. + +"That will do as well as anything," Alwin assented. But when the +delicious coolness of the water had closed about him, and he felt its +velvet softness on his dusty skin, he decided that it was the best thing +they could have done. The lounge upon the grassy bank, while they dried +themselves in the sun, was dreamily pleasant. Even after he had gathered +sufficient energy to get into his clothes again, Alwin lingered lazily, +waiting for his companion to make the first move toward departure. + +"This is a restful spot," he said, gazing up at the sky through the +network of interlacing branches. "It gives one the feeling that it is so +far away that no human foot has ever trod it before, and that none will +ever come again when we have left." + +From the ant-hill which he was idly spearing with grass-blades, Rolf +looked up to smile. "Then your feelings are not to be trusted, comrade," +he said; "for there are few spots on the river which our men have more +frequented. Even that lazy hound of a thrall comes here almost daily to +look at the quail-traps in yonder thicket, that being the one food which +he likes well enough to make an exertion for. Would that he would visit +them to-day!" + +Alwin did not seem to hear him. His eyes were still intent on the +swaying tree-tops. "It is a fair land to be alive in," he said, +dreamily; "yet, I cannot help wondering how it will be to be dead here. +Does it not seem to you that if my spirit comes out of its grave at +night and finds none but wolves and bears to call to, it will experience +a loneliness far worse than the pangs of death? Think of it! In this +whole land, not one human spirit! To wander through the grove and the +camp, and find only emptiness and silence forever!" + +His body stiffened suddenly, and he flung his arms high above his head +and clenched his hands in agony. + +"God!" he cried. "What have I done to make me deserving of such a doom? +Why could I not have died when Leif cut me down? Why could I not have +been buried where human feet would pass over me, and human voices fall +on my ear at night?" He flung himself over on his face and lay there +motionless. + +Rolf laid a hand on his comrade's shoulder, and for once his voice was +honestly kind. "It is hard to know what to say to you, Alwin, my friend. +You who have borne trials so manfully have a right to a better fate. +There is only one thing which I can offer you: choose what man you +will--so long as he be no one with whom I have sworn friendship--and I +promise you that before we sail to-morrow, I will pick a quarrel with +him and slay him; so that, if worst comes, your spirit shall have at +least one ghost for company. I--" + +He did not finish his sentence. Suddenly his touch upon Alwin's arm +became an iron grip, that dragged the Saxon to his feet. + +"Look!" the Wrestler gasped, as he pulled him behind the great oak in +whose shelter they had been lying. "Look! Are those ghosts, or devils?" + +Half-dazed, Alwin could do no more than stare along the pointing finger. +On the opposite bank, some hundred yards below their point of +observation, stood two long-haired, skin-clad men. Another pair had +already plunged into the river and were nearly half-way across. And as +the white men gazed, four more beings crashed out of the underbrush and +joined their companions. + +"Praise the Saint who hung leaves upon the trees as thick as curtains!" +Rolf breathed in his comrade's ear. "Up with you, for your life! And +make no rustling about it either." + +With the agility of cats they went up the great bole, and the kind +leaves closed behind them. + +"Is it your opinion that they are ghosts, or devils?" Alwin asked, when +each had stretched himself along a branching limb and begun a curious +peering through chinks in the enveloping foliage. "It has always been in +my mind that ghosts were white and devils black, while these creatures +appear to be of the color of bronze." + +"We shall see more of them before the game is over," Rolf returned. "The +first ones are even now coming to land." + +As he spoke, the two shaggy swimmers clambered out of the water, like +dripping spaniels, on the very spot that the white men's bodies had +pressed less than an hour before. + +"I am glad that we are not now lying there without our clothes," Alwin +murmured. + +And Rolf ejaculated under his breath, "Now it is certain that I would +rather be the only human being in the land than be in company with such +as these, granting them to be human. For by Thor's hammer, they have +more the appearance of dwarfs than of men!" + +They were not imposing, certainly, from all that could be seen of them +through the leaves. Two of their lean arms would not have made one of +the Wrestler's magnificent white limbs, and the tallest among them could +not have reached above Alwin's shoulders. Skins were their only +coverings; and the coarseness of their bristling black locks could have +been equalled only in the mane of a wild horse. Though two of the eight +were furnished with bows and arrows, the rest carried only rudely-shaped +stone hatchets, stuck in their belts. When they began talking together, +it was in a succession of grunts and growls and guttural sounds that +bore more resemblance to animal noises than to human speech. + +Rolf sniffed with contempt. "Pah! Vermin! I think we could put the whole +swarm to flight only by drawing our knives." + +But at that moment one of the number below raised his face so that Alwin +caught a glimpse of the fierce beast-mouth and the small tricky eyes in +the great sockets. The Saxon lifted his eyebrows dubiously. + +"I am far from certain how that attempt would end," he answered. "Though +it is likely that it will have to be tried, if their intention is to +settle here for the day, as it appears to be." + +The men of the stone hatchets had indeed settled themselves with every +look of remaining. Though one of the bowmen continued to pace the bank +like a sentinel, his fellows sprawled themselves upon the turf in +comfortable attitudes, carrying on their uncouth conversation with deep +earnestness. + +"We shall certainly have to stay here all day if we do not do +something," Rolf bent from his branch to whisper to his companion. Alwin +did not answer, for at that moment the harsh voices below ceased +abruptly, and there ensued a hush of listening silence. + +Up in the tree, Saxon gray eyes and Norse blue ones asked each other an +anxious question; then answered it with decided head-shakes. It was +impossible that their whispers could have carried so far, or have +penetrated the growl of those voices. It must have been some noise from +beyond. They strained their ears, anxiously intent. + +There was no trouble in hearing it this time; it rose shrill and +piercing on the drowsy noon air, a man's whistle, rapidly approaching +from the direction of the Norse camp. + +While Alwin listened with dilated eyes, Rolf's lips shaped just one +word: "Kark!" + +Almost without breathing they lay peering out between the leaves. At the +first sound, the men below had leaped to their feet and grasped their +weapons. Now, after a muttered word together, they drew apart +noiselessly as shadows and vanished among the bushes, without so much as +the snapping of a twig. Smiling innocently in the sunlight, the little +nook lay as peaceful and empty as before. + +Nearer and nearer came the whistler; until the crunching of his feet +could be heard upon the dead leaves. Rolf pushed the hair out of his +eyes, and settled himself to watch with a sigh of almost child-like +pleasure. + +"Here is sport! Here is a chess game where the pieces are not of ivory. +I would not have missed this for a gold chain!" he told his companion. +"Imagine Kark's face when they spring out upon him! So intent is his +mind upon your death, that he could walk into a pit with open eyes. You +can never be sufficiently thankful, Alwin of England, that the Fate +which destroys your enemy, gives you also the privilege of sitting by +and watching the fun." + +Uncertainty was on Alwin's face, as he gazed down through the branches +and saw the thrall's white tunic suddenly appear among the green bushes. + +He said slowly, "I do not dispute that it looks like the hand of +fate--and it is true that he is my enemy--that it is his life or mine--" + +A wild yell of alarm cut him short. One by one the lean brown men were +gliding out of the bushes and forming in a silent circle around the +thrall. They offered him no harm; they did not even touch him; yet the +apparition of their shrivelled bodies in their animal-hides, with their +beast-faces looking out from under their bristling black locks, was +enough to try stouter nerves than Kark's. Shriek after shriek of maddest +terror rent the air. + +Rolf smiled gently as he heard it. "About this time our friend below is +beginning to distinguish between death-wolves and death-foxes," he +observed. + +Glancing at his comrade for a response to his amusement, his expression +changed. "What is it your intention to do?" he demanded sharply. + +Alwin had drawn himself into a sitting posture; and with one hand was +tugging at the handle of his knife. He flushed shamefacedly at the +question, nor did he look up as he answered it. + +"I am going down to help the beast," he said. "I cannot remedy it if I +am a fool. I do not deny that Kark is a cur; yet he is white, as we are; +and alone. I cannot watch his murder." + +He brought his knife out with a jerk; and putting it between his teeth, +prepared to turn and descend. + +Before he could make the move, Rolf had swung down from the limb above +and landed beside him. Under his weight the boughs creaked so loudly +that, but for the cover of Kark's cries, the pair must surely have been +discovered. + +The Wrestler spoke without drawling or gentleness: "Either you are a +child or a silly fool. Do you understand that it is your enemy that they +are ridding you of? What is it to you if he is chopped to pieces? You +shall not stir one finger to aid him." + +Forgetful of the dagger between his teeth, Alwin opened his mouth +angrily. The weapon slipped from his lips and fell, a shining streak +along the tree-trunk, and buried itself noiselessly in the soft sod +between the roots. The next instant, a scarf from Rolf's neck was wound +around the Saxon's jaws; one of the Wrestler's iron arms reached about +him and gathered him up against the broad chest; one of the Wrestler's +great hands closed around his wrists like fetters of iron; and a +muscular leg bent itself backward over his legs like a hoop of steel. As +well fight against steel or iron! + +Again Rolf's voice became fairly caressing in its gentleness. "Willingly +will I endure your struggles if it pleases you to employ your strength +that way, comrade; yet I tell you that it would be wiser for you to +spare yourself. I shall not let you go, whatever you do; whereas if you +lie quietly, I will permit you to move where you can see what is going +on. It looks as though it would become interesting." + +It did indeed. At that moment, wearying perhaps of the howls, the brown +men began to make experiments with a view toward changing the tune. +Closing in upon the thrall, they commenced to feel of his clothing and +his shaven head, and to pinch him tentatively between their lean +fingers. + +A redoubling of his outcries caused a spasm of frantic writhing in +Alwin's fettered body, but Rolf's manner was as serene as before. + +"See now what you are missing by your head-strongness," he reproved his +captive. "It is seldom that men have the opportunity to sit, as we sit, +and learn from the experience of another what would have been their fate +had their fortune been equally bad. Such great luck is it that I get +almost afraid for your ingratitude. It will be a great mercy if some god +does not punish you for your thanklessness... By Thor! In his terror the +fool has attacked them... Ah!" + +From below came a sudden snarl, a sudden savage yell, the noise of +struggling bodies, and then a shriek of another kind from Kark, no +longer a cry of mere apprehension, but a sharp piercing scream of bodily +agony. + +"Let me go!" Alwin panted through his muffled jaws. "It is a nithing +deed for us--to permit the death of one of our number--so. Let me go, +Rolf--he is a human being. Let me go!" + +A man of wood could not have been more relentless than Rolf; a man of +stone could hardly have been less moved. + +He argued the matter amiably: "It is true that by some mistake or other +Kark wears a man's shape," he admitted; "yet it is easily seen that in +every other respect he is a dog. Indeed I think there are few dogs that +have less of courage and loyalty. Take the matter sensibly, comrade. If +you cannot rejoice in the death of your enemy, at least consider what +interest it is thus to study the habits of dwarfs. The cur who was +useless during his life, will be honored by serving a good purpose in +his death. Leif will think it of great importance to learn how these +creatures are disposed toward white men. They have the most unusual +methods of amusing themselves. Now they are doing things to his ears--" +Renewed shrieks for help and mercy drowned the remainder of his words, +and called forth fresh exertions from Alwin. + +But when at last the Fearless One ceased, and lay spent and panting +against the brawny chest, he became aware that the cries were growing +fainter. + +"Though they have in no way hurried the matter, I believe that he is +almost dead now," Rolf comforted his captive. + +Even as he spoke, the last faint cry ended in a gurgling choke,--and +there was silence. + +Instantly the scarf was slipped from Alwin's mouth, and the living +fetters unclasped themselves from his limbs. + +"Thanks to me--" Rolf was beginning. + +The brief interval of silence was shattered by a cry from the sentinel +on the river bank, followed either by an echo or an answering whoop from +the opposite shore. Rolf stretched himself along the branch, just in +time to see the men below scatter in wildest confusion and plunge +headlong into the thicket. + +"In the Troll's name!" he ejaculated. "When dwarfs run like that, giants +must be coming!" + +Alwin had clambered to his feet, and stood with his head thrust up +through the leafy roof. + +"It is more out of the same nest!" he gasped. "They are coming from the +other bank, swarms of them ....There! Some of them have landed..." + +Rolf laughed his peculiar soft laugh of quiet enjoyment. "By Thor, was +there ever such a game!" he exclaimed. "I can see them now; they are +after the first lot like wolves after sheep--No, Kark was the sheep! +These are the hunters after the wolves. Hear them howl!" + +"The last ones have climbed out of the water," Alwin bent to report. "Do +they also follow?" + +"As dogs follow deer. Saw I never such sport! When we can no longer hear +them, it will be time for us to run a race of our own." + +Alwin made no answer, and they waited in silence. Gradually distance +drew soft folds over the sharp cries and muffled them, as women throw +their cloaks over the sharp swords of brawlers in the hall. Once again +the drone and the chirping became audible about them, and the smile of +the sunshine became visible in the air. It occurred to Alwin that the +peacefulness of nature was like the gentleness of the Wrestler; and +there floated through his head the saying of a wrinkled old nurse of his +childhood, "The English can die without flinching; the French can die +with laughs on their lips; but only the Northmen can smile as they +kill." When the last smothered shout was unmistakably dead, Rolf swung +himself down from the bough; hung there for an instant, stretching +himself comfortably and shaking the cramps out of his limbs, then let +himself down to the ground; and Alwin followed. + +The soft sod lay trampled and gashed by the grinding heels; and the +lengthening shadows pointed dark fingers at the middle of the nook, +where a shapeless thing of white and red was lying. + +Rolf bent over it curiously. + +"It must be that these people love killing for its own sake, to go to so +much trouble over it," he commented. "Evidently it is not the excitement +of fighting which they enjoy, but the pleasure of torturing. I will not +be sure but what they are trolls after all." + +"It was a devils' deed," Alwin said hoarsely. He looked down at the +ghastly heap with a shudder of loathing. "And we are not without guilt +who have permitted it. It is of no consequence what sort of a man he +was; he was a human being and of our kind,--and they were fiends. You +need not tell me that we could not help it," he added in fierce +forestalling. "Had he been Sigurd, we would have helped it or we would +both have lain like that." + +Rolf shrugged his shoulders resignedly as they turned away. "Have it as +you choose," he assented. "At least you cannot deny that you were +helpless; let that console you. May the gallows take my body if you are +not the most thankless man ever I met! Here are you rid of your enemy, +and at the moment when he was most a hindrance to you, and not only do +you reap the reward of the deed, but you bear no dangerous +responsibility--" + +He was checked by a glimpse of the face Alwin turned toward him. Pride +and loathing, passion and sternness, were all mingled in its expression. + +The Saxon said slowly, "Heaven's mercy on the soul that reaps the reward +of this deed! Easier would it be to suffer these tortures a hundredfold +increased. Profit by such a deed, Rolf Erlingsson! Do you think that I +would live a life that sprang from such a death? To cleanse my hand from +the stain of such a murder, though the blood had but spattered on it, I +would hew it off at the wrist." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +THE BATTLE TO THE STRONG + + + He is happy + Who gets for himself + Praise and good-will. + Ha'vama'l + + +It was a picture of sylvan revelry that the sunset light reddened, as it +bade farewell to the Norse camp on the river bluff. On the green before +the huts, two of the fair-haired were striving against other in a +rousing tug-of-war. Now the hide was stretched motionless between them; +now it was drawn a foot to the right, amid a volley of jeers; and now it +was jerked back a foot to the left, with an answering chorus of cheers. +The chief sat under the spreading maple-tree, watching the sport +critically, with an occasional gesture of applause. Over the head of the +bear-cub she was fondling, Helga watched it also, with unseeing eyes. +Those who had come in from hunting and fishing sprawled at their ease on +the turf, and shouted jovial comments over their wine-cups. + +They welcomed Rolf and the Norman with a shout, when the pair appeared +on the edge of the grove. + +"Hail, comrades!"--"It was in our minds to give you up for lost!" "Your +coming we will take as an omen that Kark will also return some +time."--"Yes, return and cook us some food."--"We are becoming hollow as +bubbles." + +Rolf accepted their greetings with an easy flourish. + +"You will become also as thin as bubbles if you wait for Kark to cook +your food," he answered, lightly. "I bring the chief the bad tidings +that he has lost his thrall." Pushing his companion gently aside, he +walked over to where the Lucky One sat. "It will sound like an old +woman's tale to you, chief," he warned him; "yet this is nothing but the +truth." + +While the skin-pullers abandoned their contest and dropped cross-legged +upon the hide to listen, and the outlying circle picked up its drinking +horns and crept closer, he related the whole experience, simply and +quite truthfully, from beginning to end. + +From all sides, exclamations of amazement and horror broke out when he +had finished. Only the chief sat regarding him in silence, a skeptical +pucker lifting the corner of his mouth. + +Leif said finally, "Truth came from your mouth when you foretold that +this would appear to me as strange as the tales old women tell. Until +within the last month we have passed through that district almost daily; +and never yet have we found aught betokening the presence of human +beings. That they should thus appear to you--" + +"They came like the monsters in a dream, and vanished like them," Rolf +declared. + +"Saving in the fact that dream monsters do not leave mangled bodies +behind them," Leif reminded him; and his eyes narrowed with an +unpleasant shrewdness. "Rolf Erlingsson," he advised, "confess that they +are the dreams you liken them to. That Kark was no favorite with you or +your friend"--he nodded toward the Norman--"was seen by everybody. +Confess that it was by the sword of one of you that the thrall met his +death." + +For once the Wrestler's face lost its gentleness. His huge frame +stiffened haughtily, as he drew himself up. + +"Leif Ericsson," he returned, fiercely, "when--for love of good or fear +of ill--have you ever known me to lie?" + +The chief looked at him incredulously. + +"You will swear to the truth of the tale?" + +"I will swear to its truth by my knife, by my soul, by the crucifix you +wear on your breast." + +After a moment, Leif arose and extended his hand. "In that case, I would +believe a statement that was twice as unlikely," he said, with honorable +frankness. And a sound of applause went around as their hands clasped. + +From the spot where the Norman had halted when his companion pushed +forward, there came the rustle of a slight disturbance. Sigurd had +caught his friend by his cloak and was pleading with him in a passionate +undertone, growing more and more desperate at each resolute shake of the +black head. The instant Leif resumed his seat, the Fearless One wrenched +himself free and strode forward. Rolf strove to bar his way, but Robert +Sans-Peur evaded him also, and took up his stand before the bench under +the maple-tree. + +"The Fates appear to be balancing their scales to-night, chief," he +said, grimly. "For the dead man whom you believed to be alive, you see +here a living man whom you thought to be dead. For the thrall that you +have lost, I present to you another." + +Winding his hand in his long black locks, he tore them from his head and +revealed the crisp waves of his own fair hair. + +From either hand there arose a buzz of amazement and incredulity mingled +with grunts of approval and blunt compliments and half-muttered pleas +for leniency. Only two persons neither exclaimed nor moved. Helga stood +in the rigid tearless silence she had promised, her eyes pouring into +her lover's eyes all the courage and loyalty and love of her brave soul. +And the chief sat gazing at the rebel brought back to life, without so +much as a wink of surprise, without any expression whatever upon his +inscrutable face. + +After a moment Alwin went on steadily, "I hid myself under this disguise +because I believed that luck might grant me the chance to render you +some service which should outweigh my offence. Because I was a +short-sighted fool, I did not see that the better the Norman succeeded, +the worse became the Saxon's deceit. My mind changed when your own lips +told me what would be the fate of the man who should deceive you." + +The chief's face was as impassive as stone, but he nodded slightly. + +"A man of my age does not take it well to be fooled by boys," he said. +"It is a poor compliment to his intelligence, when they have the opinion +that they can mould him between their fingers. Though he had rendered me +the greatest service in the world, the man who should deceive me should +die." + +Silence fell like a shroud upon the scattered groups. With a queer +little smile upon her drawn lips, Helga softly unsheathed her dagger and +ran her fingers along its edge. Alwln, earl's son, drew a long breath, +and the muscles of his white face twitched a little; then he pulled +himself together resolutely. With one hand he plucked the knife from his +belt and cast it into the chief's lap; with the other, he tore his tunic +open from neck to belt. + +"I have asked no mercy," he said, proudly. + +Leif made no motion to pick up the weapon. Instead, a glint of something +like dry humor touched his keen eyes. + +"No," he said, quietly. "You have asked nothing of what you should have +asked. You have even failed to ask whether or not you have deceived me." + +With her dagger half drawn, Helga paused to stare at him. + +"You--knew--?" she gasped. + +Leif smiled a dry fine smile. "I have known since the day on which +Tyrker was lost," he said. "And I had suspected the truth since the +night of the day upon which we sailed from Greenland." + +He made a gesture toward the shield-maiden that was half mocking and +half stern. "You showed little honor to my judgment, kinswoman, when you +took it for granted I should not know that love alone could cause a +woman to behave as you have done. Or did you think I had not heard to +whom your heart had been given? That my ears only had been dead to the +love tale which every servant-maid in Brattahlid rolled like honey on +her tongue? Or did you imagine that I knew you so little as to think you +capable of loving one man in the winter and another in the spring? Even +had the Norman borne no resemblance to the Englishman, still would I--" + +"But..." Helga stammered, "but--I thought that you thought--Rolf said +that Sigurd--" + +For perhaps the first time in his life, Rolf's cheeks burned with +mortification as a derisive snap of the chief's fingers fell upon his +ear. + +"Sigurd! Your playmate! With whom you have quarrelled and made up since +there were teeth in your head! By Peter, if it were not that the joke +appears to lie wholly on my side, I could find it in my heart to punish +the four of you without mercy, for no other crime than your opinion of +my intelligence!" + +Alwin took a hesitating step forward. He had been standing where his +first defiance had left him, a light of comprehension dawning in his +face; and also a spark of resentment kindling in his eyes. + +Now he said slowly, "It is not your anger which appears strange to us, +chief. It is the slowness of your justice. That knowing all this time of +our deceit, you have yet remained quiet. That you have allowed us to +live in dreams, and led us on to behave ourselves like fools! We have +been no better than mice under the cat's paw." He glanced at Helga's +thin cheeks and the pain-lines around her mouth, and the full force of +his indignation rang out in his voice. "To us it meant life or death, +heaven or hell,--was it worthy of a man like you to find amusement in +our suffering?" + +Though it was as faint as the rustling of leaves, unmistakable applause +swept around. Rolf dared to clap his hands softly. + +The chief replied by a direct question, as he leaned back against the +maple and eyed his young rebel piercingly. "Befooling and bejuggling +were the drinks you prepared for me; was it not just that you should +learn from experience how sour a taste they leave in the mouth?" + +Though moment after moment dragged by, Alwin did not answer that. His +eyes fell to the ground, and he stood with bent head and clenched hands. + +The chief went on. "You who could so easily fathom the workings of my +mind, should have no need to ask my motives. It may be that I found +entertainment in playing you like a fish on a line. Or it may be that I +was not altogether sure of my ground, and waited to be certain before I +stepped. Or perhaps I was curious to see what you would do next, and +felt able to gratify my curiosity since I knew that, through all your +antics, I held you securely in the hollow of my hand. Or perhaps--" Leif +hesitated for an instant, and there crept into his voice a note so +unusual that all stared at him,--"or perhaps, in becoming sure of my +ground, I became uncertain of the honor of the man whom I wished to +place highest in my friendship, and so deemed it wisest to remain under +cover until he should reveal all the hidden parts of his nature. It may +have been for any or all of these reasons. You, who have come nearer to +me than any man alive, should have no difficulty in selecting the true +one." + +Was it possible that reproach rang in those last words? It sounded so +strangely like it, that Tyrker involuntarily curved his hand around his +ear to amend some flaw in his hearing. + +Alwin's face underwent a great change. Suddenly he flung his arms apart +in a gesture of utter surrender. + +"I will strive against you no longer!" he cried, passionately. "You are +as much superior to me as the King to his link-boy. Do as you like with +me. I submit to you in everything." He fell upon his knee and hid his +face in his hands. + +Then the tone of Leif's voice became so frankly friendly that Helga's +beautiful head was raised as a drooping flower's by the soft spring +rain. + +"Already you have heard your sentence. The fair words I spoke to Robert +the Norman I spoke also to Alwin of England. When I promised wealth and +friendship and honor to Robert Sans-Peur, I promised them also to you. +Take the freedom and dignity which befit a man of your accomplishments +and--with one exception --ask of me anything else you choose." + +With one exception! Helga sprang forward and caught Leif's hand +imploringly in hers. And Alwin, still upon his knee, reached out and +grasped the chief's mantle. + +"Lord," he cried, "you have been better to me, a hundredfold better, +than I deserve! Yet, would you be kinder still... Lord, grant me this +one boon, and take back all else that you have promised." + +The chief's brawny hand touched Helga's face caressingly. + +"Do you still believe that I would rub salt on your wounds, if it were +in my power to relieve you?" he reproached them. "But one man in the +world has the right to say where Helga shall be given in marriage; he is +her father, Gilli of Trondhjem. Already I have done him a wrong in +permitting, by my carelessness, that one of thrall-estate should steal +his daughter's love. In honor, I can do no less than guard the maiden +safely until the time when he can dispose of her as pleases him. I do +not say that I will not use with him what influence I possess; yet I +advise you against expecting anything favorable from the result. I think +you both know his mercy." + + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +FROM OVER The SEA + + + At night is joyful + He who is sure of travelling entertainment; + A ship's yards are short; + Variable is an autumn night; + Many are the weather's changes + In five days, + But more in a month. + Ha'vama'l + + +It developed, however, that the lovers' chances for happiness did not +hang upon so frail a thread as the mercy of Gilli of Trondhjem. While +the exploring vessel was still at sea, with the icy headlands of +Greenland only just beginning to stand out clearly before her bow, +unexpected tidings reached those on board. + +Watching the chief, who stood by the steering oar, erect as the mast, +his eyes piercing the distance ahead, Sigurd put an idle question. + +"Can you tell anything yet concerning the drift-ice, foster-father? And +why do you steer the ship so close to the wind?" + +Without turning his head, Leif answered shortly, "I am attending to my +steering, foster-son." + +But as the jarl's son was turning away, with a shrug of his shoulders +for the rebuff, the chief added in the quick, curt tone that with him +betrayed unwonted interest, "And I am looking at something else. Where +are your eyes that you cannot see anything remarkable? Is that a rock or +a ship which I see straight ahead?" + +Sigurd's aimless curiosity promptly found an object; yet after all the +craning of his neck and squinting under his hand, he was obliged to +confess that he saw nothing more remarkable than a rock. + +Leif gave a short harsh laugh. + +"See what it is to have young eyes," he said. "Not only can I see that +it is a rock, but I can make out that there are men moving around upon +it." + +"Men!" cried Sigurd. + +Excitement spread like fire from stern to bow, until even Helga of the +Broken Heart arose from her cushions on the fore-deck and stood +listlessly watching the approach. + +Eyvind the Icelander muttered that any creatures in human shape that +dwelt on those rocks, must be either another race of dwarfs, or such +fiends as inhabit the ice wastes with which Greenland is cursed; but an +old Greenland sailor silenced him contemptuously. + +"Landlubber! Has it never been given you to hear of shipwrecks? When +Eric the Red came to Greenland with thirty-five ships following his +lead, no less than four of them went to pieces on that rock. It is the +influence of Leif's luck which has caused a shipwreck so that the chief +can get still more honor in rescuing the distressed ones." + +The Icelander grunted. "Then is Leif's luck very much like the sword +that becomes one man's bane in becoming another man's pride," he +retorted. + +While he threw all his strength against the great oar, the chief +signalled to Valbrand with his head. + +"Drop anchor and get the boat ready to lower," he commanded. "I want to +keep close to the wind so that we may get to them. We must give them +help if they need it. If they are not peaceful, they are in our power, +but we are not in theirs." + +As the boat bounded away on its errand of mercy, every man and boy +remaining crowded forward to watch its course. In some way it happened +that Alwin of England was pushed even so far forward as the very bow of +the boat, and the side of the shield-maiden. + +The sun rose in her glooming face when she turned and saw him beside +her. + +"I have hoped all day that you would come," she whispered; "so I could +tell you an expedient I have bethought myself of. Dear one, from the way +you have sat all the day with your chin on your hand and your eyes on +the sea, I have known that you needed comfort even more than I; and my +heart has ached over you till once the tears came into my eyes." + +Her lover gazed at her hungrily. "Gladly would I give every gift that +Leif has lavished on me, if I might take you in my arms and kiss away +the smart of those drops." + +A fierce gleam narrowed Helga's starry eyes. "Before we part," she said +between her teeth, "you shall kiss my eyes once for every tear they have +shed; and you shall kiss my mouth three times for farewell,--though +every man in Greenland should wish to prevent it." + +Suddenly she hid her face against his shoulder with a little cry of +despair. + +"But you must never come near me after I am married!" she breathed. "The +moment after my eyes had fallen upon your face, I should turn upon my +husband and kill him." + +"If it had not happened that I had already slain him," Alwin murmured. +Then he said, more steadily, "This is useless talk, sweetheart. Tell me +the thought which comforted you. At least it will be a joy to me to +cherish in my heart what you have treasured in your brain." + +Helga looked out over the tumbling water with eyes grown wide and +thoughtful. + +"I will not be so hopeful as to call it a comfort yet," she said, "too +vague is its shape for that. It is a faint plan which I have built on my +knowledge of Gilli's nature. As well as I, you know that he cares for +nothing but what is gainful for him. Now if I could manage to make +myself so ugly that no chief would care to make offers for me... is it +not likely that my father would cease to value me and be even glad to +get rid of me, to you? I would disfigure myself in no such way that the +ugliness would be lasting," she reassured him, hastily. "But if I should +weep my eyes red and my cheeks pale, and cut off my hair... It would all +come right in time; you would not mind the waiting?" + +Alwin looked at her with a touch of wonder. + +"And you would go ugly for me?" he asked. "Hide your beauty and become a +jest where you have always been a queen, for no other reason than to +sink so low that I might reach up and pluck you? Would you think it +worth while to do that for me?" + +But his meaning was lost on Helga's simplicity. She gathered only that +he thought the scheme possible, and hope bloomed like roses in her +cheeks. + +"Oh, comrade, do you indeed think favorably of the plan?" she whispered, +eagerly. "I had not the heart to hope much from it; everything has +failed us so. If you think it in the least likely to succeed, I will cut +off my hair this instant." + +In spite of his misery, Alwin laughed a little. + +"Do you then imagine that the gold of your hair and the red of your +cheeks is all that makes you fair?" he asked. "No, dear one, I think it +would be easier to make Gilli generous than you ugly. No man who had +eyes to look into your eyes, and ears to hear your voice, could be +otherwise than eager to lay down his life to possess you. Trust to no +such rootless trees, comrade. And do not raise your face toward me like +that either; for, in honor, I may not kiss you, and and you are not ugly +yet, sweetheart." + +Shouts from those around them recalled the lovers to themselves. The +returning boat was almost upon them; and from among her burly crew the +wan faces of several strangers looked up, while a swooning woman was +seen to lie in the bow. Her face, though pinched and pallid, was also +fair and lovable, and Helga momentarily forgot disappointment in pity. + +"Bring her here and lay her upon my cushions," she said to the men who +carried the woman on board. Wrapping the limp form in her own cloak, the +shield-maiden pulled off such of the sodden garments as she could, +poured wine down the stranger's throat, and strove energetically to +chafe some returning warmth into the benumbed limbs. + +While the boat hastened back to bring off the rest of the unfortunates, +those of the first load whom wine and hope had sufficiently revived, +explained the disaster. + +The wrecked ship belonged to Thorir of Trondhjem; and that merchant and +his wife Gudrid and fourteen sailors made up her company. On the voyage +from Nidaros to Greenland with a cargo of timber, their vessel had gone +to pieces on a submerged reef, and they had been just able to reach that +most inhospitable of rocks and cling there like flies, frozen, +wind-battered, and drenched. The waves, in a moment of repentance, had +thrown a little of their timber back to them, and this had been their +only shelter; and their only food some coarse lichens and a few +sea-birds' eggs. + +It was little wonder that when Leif had brought the last load on board, +and drowned their past woes in present comforts, the starved creatures +were almost ready to embrace his knees with thankfulness. + +"It seems to me that we should be called 'the Lucky,' and you 'the +Good,'" Thorir said, as the two chiefs stood on the forecastle, watching +the anchor and the sail both rising with joyful alacrity. "Without your +aid, we could not have lived a day longer." + +And Gudrid, opening her eyes to see Helga's fair face bending over her +to put a wine cup to her lips, murmured faintly, "A Valkyria could not +look more beautiful to me than you do. Tell me what you are called, that +I may know what name to love you by." + +"I am called Helga, Gilli's daughter," the shield-maiden answered, with +just an edge of bitterness on the last words. + +Gudrid's gentle eyes opened wide with wonder and alarm. + +"Not Helga the Fair of Trondhjem," she gasped, "who fled from Gilli to +his kinsfolk in Greenland? Alas, my unfortunate child!" + +In the eagerness in which she clasped her hands, the wine-cup fell +clanging from Helga's hold. "Is he dead?" she cried, imploringly. "Only +tell me that, and I will serve you all the rest of my life! Is Gilli +dead?" + +But Gudrid had sunk back in another faint. She lay with her eyes closed, +moaning and murmuring to herself. + +Leif, biting sharply at his thick mustache, as he was wont to do when +excited, turned sharply on Thorir. + +"What is the reason of this?" he demanded. "What are these tidings +concerning my kinswoman, which your wife hesitates to speak? Is Gilli of +Trondhjem dead?" + +Thorir answered with great haste and politeness, "No, no; naught so bad +as that. Naught but what I expect can be easily remedied. But it appears +that when Gilli attempted to follow his daughter to Greenland, last +fall, he suffered a shipwreck and the loss of much valuable property, +barely escaping with his life. From this he drew the rash conclusion +that his daughter had become a misfortune to him, as some foreknowing +woman had once said she would. And he declared that since the maiden +preferred her poorer kinsfolk in Greenland, she might stay with them; +and--" + +The words burst rapturously from Helga's lips: "And he disowned me?" + +Thorir stared at her in astonishment. "Yes," he said, pityingly. + +It was just as well that he had not attempted a longer answer, for he +never would have finished it. Madness seemed suddenly to fall upon the +ship. In the face of her disinheritance, the shield-maiden was radiant. +Down in the waist of the ship, two youths who had caught the words threw +up their hats with cheers. Leif Ericsson himself laughed loudly, and +snapped his fingers in derision. + +"A mighty revenge!" he said. "My kinswoman could have received no +greater kindness at the churl's hands. Could she have accomplished it by +a dagger-thrust, I doubt not that she would have let his base blood run +from her veins long ere this." + +He turned to where Helga stood watching him, her heart in her eyes, and +pulled her toward him and kissed her. + +"You chose between honor and riches, kinswoman," he said, "but while +there is a ring in my pouch you shall never lack property; you have +behaved like a true Norse maiden, and I am free now to say that I honor +you for it. Go the way your heart desires, without further hindrance." + +Helga stayed to press his hand to her cheek; then, before them all, +without a thought of shame, she went the way that ended in her lover's +arms. + +They stood side by side in the gilded prow, and he kissed her eyes twice +for every tear they had shed; and he kissed her mouth thrice three +times, and not a man in the whole world rose up to prevent him. Side by +side, they stood in the flying bow, a divinely modelled figure-head, +gilded by the light of love. + + + + +CONCLUSION + +As the sun's last beams were fading from the mountain tops, the +exploring vessel dropped anchor before Eric's ship-sheds and the eager +groups that had gathered on the shore at the first signal. Not only +idlers made up the throng, but the Red One himself was there, and +Thorwald and every soul from Brattahlid; and with them half the +high-born men of Greenland, who had lived for the last month as Eric's +guests, that they might be on hand for this occasion. They shoved and +jostled each other like schoolboys, as they crowded down to meet the +first boat-load. + +The ten sailors who stepped ashore were a prosperous looking band. Their +arms were full of queer pets; their pouches were stuffed with samples of +wood and samples of wheat, and with nuts and with raisins. All were +sleek and fat with a year's good living, and all jubilant with happiness +and a sense of their own importance. Even while their arms were clasping +their sweethearts' necks, they began to hint at their brave adventures +and to boast of the grain and the timber and the wine. The home-keepers +heard just enough to set their curiosity leaping and dancing with +eagerness for more. And each succeeding boat-load of burly heroes worked +their enthusiasm to a higher pitch. + +Then, gradually, the song ran into a minor key, as Thorir's pitiful crew +landed upon the sand. Haggard and worn and almost too weak to walk, they +clung to the brawny arms of their rescuers; and the horrors of their +privations were written in pitiless letters on Gudrid's fair white face. +The rejoicing and laughter sank into wondering questions and pitiful +murmuring. + +While Thorir told the Red One briefly of their sufferings, the throng +listened as to their favorite ballad, and shuddered and suffered with +him. Then, in words that still rang with joy and gratitude, Thorir told +of their rescue by Leif Ericsson. + +Strongly speeding arrows need only aim to make them reach their target. +Flights of wildest enthusiasm had been going up on every side. Now +Thorir gave these a mark and an aim. Curiosity and triumph, pity and +rejoicing, all merged into one great impulse and rose in a passion of +hero-worship. Toward the boat that was bringing the Lucky One to land, +they turned, face and heart, and laid their homage at his feet. Never +had Greenland glaciers heard such a tumult of acclaim as when the throng +cheered and stamped and clashed their weapons. + +It was a supreme moment. Leif's bronzed face was white, as he stood +waiting for the noise to subside that be might answer them. Yet never +had his bearing been statelier than when at last he stepped forward and +faced them. + +"I give you many thanks for your favor, friends," he said, courteously. +"It is more than I could have expected, and I give you many thanks for +it. But I think it right to remind you that I am not one of those men +who trust in their own strength alone. What I have done I have been able +to do by the help of my God whom you reject. To Him I give the thanks +and the glory." + +In that humility which is higher than pride, he raised the silver +crucifix from his breast and bent his head before it. Out of the hush +that followed, a man's voice rang strongly,--the voice of one of +Greenland's foremost chiefs. + +"Hail to the God. of Leif Ericsson! The God that helped him must be +all-powerful. Henceforth I will believe that He and no one else is the +only God. Hail to the Cross!" + +Before he had finished, another voice had taken up the cry--and +another--and another; until there were not ten men who were not shouting +it over and over, in a delirium of excitement. Eric turned his face away +and made over his breast the hammer sign of Thor, but there was only +pride in his look when he turned back. + +Leif stood motionless amid the tumult; looking upward with that strange +absent look, as though his eyes would pierce the clouds that veiled +Valhalla's walls and search for one beloved face among the warriors upon +the benches. + +Under his breath he said to his English squire, "I pray God that Olaf +Trygvasson hears this now, and knows that I have been as faithful to him +in his death as I was in his life." + +He did not feel it when Alwin bent and touched the scarlet cloak-hem +with his lips, nor did he hear the fervent murmur, "So faithful will I +be to you hereafter." + + + +THE END + + + + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Thrall of Leif the Lucky +by Ottilie A. 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