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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Havelok The Dane, by Charles Whistler
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Havelok The Dane
+       A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln
+
+Author: Charles Whistler
+
+Release Date: July 7, 2004 [eBook #12847]
+[Most recently updated: March 31, 2023]
+
+Language: English
+
+Produced by: Martin Robb
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAVELOK THE DANE ***
+
+
+
+
+Havelok the Dane: A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln.
+
+By Charles W. Whistler, M.R.C.S.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+ PREFACE.
+ CHAPTER I. GRIM THE FISHER AND HIS SONS.
+ CHAPTER II. KING HODULF’S SECRET.
+ CHAPTER III. HAVELOK, SON OF GUNNAR.
+ CHAPTER IV. ACROSS THE SWAN’S PATH.
+ CHAPTER V. STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+ CHAPTER VI. THE BEGINNING OF GRIMSBY TOWN.
+ CHAPTER VII. BROTHERHOOD.
+ CHAPTER VIII. BERTHUN THE COOK.
+ CHAPTER IX. CURAN THE PORTER.
+ CHAPTER X. KING ALSI OF LINDSEY.
+ CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS.
+ CHAPTER XII. IN LINCOLN MARKETPLACE.
+ CHAPTER XIII. THE WITAN’S FEASTING.
+ CHAPTER XIV. THE CRAFT OF ALSI THE KING.
+ CHAPTER XV. THE FORTUNE OF CURAN THE PORTER.
+ CHAPTER XVI. A STRANGEST WEDDING.
+ CHAPTER XVII. HOW THE BRIDE WENT HOME.
+ CHAPTER XVIII. JARL SIGURD OF DENMARK.
+ CHAPTER XIX. THE LAST OF GRIFFIN OF WALES.
+ CHAPTER XX. THE OWNING OF THE HEIR.
+ CHAPTER XXI. THE TOKEN OF SACK AND ANCHOR.
+ CHAPTER XXII. KING ALSI’S WELCOME.
+ CHAPTER XXIII. BY TETFORD STREAM.
+ CHAPTER XXIV. PEACE, AND FAREWELL.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+If any excuse is needed for recasting the ancient legend of Grim the
+fisher and his foster-son Havelok the Dane, it may be found in the
+fascination of the story itself, which made it one of the most popular
+legends in England from the time of the Norman conquest, at least, to
+that of Elizabeth. From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries it
+seems to have been almost classic; and during that period two full
+metrical versions—one in Norman-French and the other in English—were
+written, besides many other short versions and abridgments, which still
+exist. These are given exhaustively by Professor Skeat in his edition
+of the English poem for the Early English Text Society, and it is
+needless to do more than refer to them here as the sources from which
+this story is gathered.
+
+These versions differ most materially from one another in names and
+incidents, while yet preserving the main outlines of the whole history.
+It is evident that there has been a far more ancient, orally-preserved
+tradition, which has been the original of the freely-treated poems and
+concise prose statements of the legend which we have. And it seems
+possible, from among the many variations, and from under the disguise
+of the mediaeval forms in which it has been hidden, to piece together
+what this original may have been, at least with some probability.
+
+We have one clue to the age of the legend of Havelok in the statement
+by the eleventh-century Norman poet that his tale comes from a British
+source, which at least gives a very early date for the happenings
+related; while another version tells us that the king of “Lindesie” was
+a Briton. Welsh names occur, accordingly, in several places; and it is
+more than likely that the old legend preserved a record of actual
+events in the early days of the Anglo-Saxon settlement in England, when
+there were yet marriages between conquerors and conquered, and the
+origins of Angle and Jute and Saxon were not yet forgotten in the
+pedigrees of the many petty kings.
+
+One of the most curious proofs of the actual British origin of the
+legend is in the statement that the death of Havelok’s father occurred
+as the result of a British invasion of Denmark for King Arthur, by a
+force under a leader with the distinctly Norse name of Hodulf. The
+claim for conquest of the north by Arthur is very old, and is repeated
+by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and may well have originated in the
+remembrance of some successful raid on the Danish coasts by the Norse
+settlers in the Gower district of Pembrokeshire, in company with a
+contingent of their Welsh neighbours.
+
+This episode does not occur in the English version; but here an attack
+on Havelok on his return home to Denmark is made by men led by one
+Griffin, and this otherwise unexplainable survival of a Welsh name
+seems to connect the two accounts in some way that recalls the ancient
+legend at the back of both.
+
+I have therefore treated the Welsh element in the story as deserving a
+more prominent place, at least in subsidiary incidents, than it has in
+the two old metrical versions. It has been possible to follow neither
+of these exactly, as in names and details they are widely apart; but to
+one who knows both, the sequence of events will, I think, be clear
+enough.
+
+I have, for the same reason of the British origin of the legend,
+preferred the simple and apposite derivation of the name of “Curan,”
+taken by the hero during his servitude, from the Welsh _Cwran_, “a
+wonder,” to the Norman explanation of the name as meaning a “scullion,”
+which seems to be rather a guess, based on the menial position of the
+prince, than a translation.
+
+For the long existence of a Welsh servile population in the lowlands of
+Lincolnshire there is evidence enough in the story of Guthlac of
+Crowland, and the type may still be found there. There need be little
+excuse for claiming some remains of their old Christianity among them,
+and the “hermit” who reads the dream for the princess may well have
+been a half-forgotten Welsh priest. But the mediaeval poems have
+Christianized the ancient legend, until it would seem to stand in
+somewhat the same relationship to what it was as the German
+“Niebelungen Lied” does to the “Volsunga Saga.”
+
+With regard to the dreams which recur so constantly, I have in the case
+of the princess transferred the date of hers to the day previous to her
+marriage, the change only involving a difference of a day, but seeming
+to he needed, as explanatory of her sudden submission to her guardian.
+And instead of crediting Havelok with the supernatural light bodily, it
+has been transferred to the dream which seems to haunt those who have
+to do with him.
+
+As to the names of the various characters, they are in the old versions
+hardly twice alike. I have, therefore, taken those which seem to have
+been modernized from their originals, or preserved by simple
+transliteration, and have set them back in what seems to have been
+their first form. Gunther, William, and Bertram, for instance, seem to
+be modernized from Gunnar, Withelm, and perhaps Berthun; while Sykar,
+Aunger, and Gryme are but alternative English spellings of the northern
+Sigurd, Arngeir, and Grim.
+
+The device on Havelok’s banner in chapter xxi. is exactly copied from
+the ancient seal of the Corporation of Grimsby,[1] which is of the date
+of Edward the First. The existence of this is perhaps the best proof
+that the story of Grim and Havelok is more than a romance. Certainly
+the Norse “Heimskringla” record claims an older northern origin for the
+town than that of the Danish invasion of Alfred’s time; and the
+historic freedom of its ships from toll in the port of Elsinore has
+always been held to date from the days of its founder.
+
+The strange and mysterious “blue stones” of Grimsby and Louth are yet
+in evidence, and those of the former town are connected by legend with
+Grim. Certainly they have some very ancient if long-forgotten
+associations, and it is more than likely that they have been brought as
+“palladia” with the earliest northern settlers. A similar stone exists
+in the centre of the little East Anglian town of Harleston, with a
+definite legend of settlement attached to it; and there may be others.
+The Coronation Stone of Westminster and the stone in Kingston-on-Thames
+are well-known proofs of the ancient sanctity that surrounded such
+objects for original reasons that are now lost.
+
+The final battle at Tetford, with its details, are from the Norman
+poem. The later English account is rounded off with the disgrace and
+burning alive of the false guardian; but for many reasons the earlier
+seems to be the more correct account. Certainly the mounds of some
+great forgotten fight remain in the Tetford valley, and Havelok is said
+to have come to “Carleflure,” which, being near Saltfleet, and on the
+road to Tetford, may be Canton, where there is a strong camp of what is
+apparently Danish type.
+
+Those who can read with any comfort the crabbed Norman-French and Early
+English poetic versions will see at once where I have added incidents
+that may bring the story into a connected whole, as nearly as possible
+on the old Saga lines; and those readers to whom the old romance is new
+will hardly wish that I should pull the story to pieces again, to no
+purpose so far as they are concerned. And, at least, for a fairly free
+treatment of the subject, I have the authority of those previous
+authors whom I have mentioned.
+
+In the different versions, the founder of Grimsby is variously
+described as a steward of the Danish king’s castle, a merchant, a
+fisher, and in the English poem—probably because it was felt that none
+other would have undertaken the drowning of the prince—as a thrall.
+Another version gives no account of the sack episode, but says that
+Grim finds both queen and prince wandering on the shore. Grim the
+fisher is certainly a historic character in his own town, and it has
+not been hard to combine the various callings of the worthy
+foster-father of Havelok and the troubles of both mother and son. A
+third local variant tells that Havelok was found at Grimsby by the
+fisher adrift in an open boat; and I have given that boat also a place
+in the story, in a different way.
+
+The names of the kings are too far lost to be set back in their place
+in history, but Professor Skeet gives the probable date of Havelok and
+Grim as at the end of the sixth century, with a possible identification
+of the former with the “governor of Lincoln” baptized by Paulinus. I
+have, therefore, assumed this period where required. But a legend of
+this kind is a romance of all time, and needs no confinement to date
+and place. Briton and Saxon, Norman and Englishman, and maybe Norseman
+and Dane, have loved the old story, and with its tale of right and love
+triumphant it still has its own power.
+
+Stockland, _1899_
+
+Chas. W. Whistler
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+GRIM THE FISHER AND HIS SONS.
+
+
+This story is not about myself, though, because I tell of things that I
+have seen, my name must needs come into it now and then. The man whose
+deeds I would not have forgotten is my foster-brother, Havelok, of whom
+I suppose every one in England has heard. Havelok the Dane men call him
+here, and that is how he will always be known, as I think.
+
+He being so well known, it is likely that some will write down his
+doings, and, not knowing them save by hearsay, will write them wrongly
+and in different ways, whereof will come confusion, and at last none
+will be believed. Wherefore, as he will not set them down himself, it
+is best that I do so. Not that I would have anyone think that the
+penmanship is mine. Well may I handle oar, and fairly well axe and
+sword, as is fitting for a seaman, but the pen made of goose feather is
+beyond my rough grip in its littleness, though I may make shift to use
+a sail-needle, for it is stiff and straightforward in its ways, and no
+scrawling goeth therewith.
+
+Therefore my friend Wislac, the English priest, will be the penman,
+having skill thereto. I would have it known that I can well trust him
+to write even as I speak, though he has full leave to set aside all
+hard words and unseemly, such as a sailor is apt to use unawares; and
+where my Danish way of speaking goeth not altogether with the English,
+he may alter the wording as he will, so long as the sense is always the
+same. Then, also, will he read over to me what he has written, and
+therefore all may be sure that this is indeed my true story.
+
+
+Now, as it is needful that one begins at the beginning, it happens that
+the first thing to be told is how I came to be Havelok’s
+foster-brother, and that seems like beginning with myself after all.
+But all the story hangs on this, and so there is no help for it.
+
+If it is asked when this beginning might be, I would say, for an
+Englishman who knows not the names of Danish kings, that it was before
+the first days of the greatness of Ethelbert of Kent, the overlord of
+all England, the Bretwalda, and therefore, as Father Wislac counts,
+about the year of grace 580. But King Ethelbert does not come into the
+story, nor does the overlord of all Denmark; for the kings of whom I
+must speak were under-kings, though none the less kingly for all that.
+One must ever be the mightiest of many; and, as in England, there were
+at that time many kings in Denmark, some over wide lands and others
+over but small realms, with that one who was strong enough to make the
+rest pay tribute to him as overlord, and only keeping that place by the
+power of the strong hand, not for any greater worth.
+
+Our king on the west coast of Denmark, where the story of Havelok the
+Dane must needs begin, was Gunnar Kirkeban—so called because, being a
+heathen altogether, as were we all in Denmark at that time, he had been
+the bane of many churches in the western isles of Scotland, and in
+Wales and Ireland, and made a boast thereof. However, that cruelty of
+his was his own bane in the end, as will be seen. Otherwise he was a
+well-loved king and a great warrior, tall, and stronger than any man in
+Denmark, as was said. His wife, the queen, was a foreigner, but the
+fairest of women. Her name was Eleyn, and from this it was thought that
+she came from the far south. Certainly Gunnar had brought her back from
+Gardariki,[2] whither he had gone on a trading journey one year. Gunnar
+and she had two daughters and but one son, and that son was Havelok, at
+this time seven years old.
+
+Next to the king came our own lord, Jarl Sigurd, older than Gunnar, and
+his best counsellor, though in the matter of sparing harmless and
+helpless church folk his advice was never listened to. His hall was
+many miles from the king’s place, southward down the coast.
+
+Here, too, lived my father, Grim, with us in a good house which had
+been his father’s before him. Well loved by Jarl Sigurd was Grim, who
+had ever been his faithful follower, and was the best seaman in all the
+town. He was also the most skilful fisher on our coasts, being by birth
+a well-to-do freeman enough, and having boats of his own since he could
+first sail one. At one time the jarl had made him steward of his house;
+but the sea drew him ever, and he waxed restless away from it.
+Therefore, after a time, he asked the jarl’s leave to take to the sea
+again, and so prospered in the fishery that at last he bought a large
+trading buss from the Frisian coast, and took to the calling of the
+merchant.
+
+So for some years my father, stout warrior as he proved himself in many
+a fight at his lord’s side, traded peacefully—that is, so long as men
+would suffer him to do so; for it happened more than once that his ship
+was boarded by Vikings, who in the end went away, finding that they had
+made a mistake in thinking that they had found a prize in a harmless
+trader, for Grim was wont to man his ship with warriors, saying that
+what was worth trading was worth keeping. I mind me how once he came to
+England with a second cargo, won on the high seas from a Viking’s
+plunder, which the Viking brought alongside our ship, thinking to add
+our goods thereto. Things went the other way, and we left him only an
+empty ship, which maybe was more than he would have spared to us. That
+was on my second voyage, when I was fifteen.
+
+Mostly my father traded to England, for there are few of the Saxon kin
+who take ship for themselves, and the havens to which he went were
+Tetney and Saltfleet, on the Lindsey shore of Humber, where he soon had
+friends.
+
+So Grim prospered and waxed rich fast, and in the spring of the year
+wherein the story begins was getting the ship ready for the first
+cruise of the season, meaning to be afloat early; for then there was
+less trouble with the wild Norse Viking folk, for one cruise at least.
+Then happened that which set all things going otherwise than he had
+planned, and makes my story worth telling.
+
+We—that is my father Grim, Leva my mother, my two brothers and myself,
+and our two little sisters, Gunhild and Solva—sat quietly in our great
+room, busy at one little thing or another, each in his way, before the
+bright fire that burned on the hearth in the middle of the floor. There
+was no trouble at all for us to think of more than that the wind had
+held for several weeks in the southwest and northwest, and we wondered
+when it would shift to its wonted springtide easting, so that we could
+get the ship under way once more for the voyage she was prepared for.
+Pleasant talk it was, and none could have thought that it was to be the
+last of many such quiet evenings that had gone before.
+
+Yet it seemed that my father was uneasy, and we had been laughing at
+him for his silence, until he said, looking into the fire, “I will tell
+you what is on my mind, and then maybe you will laugh at me the more
+for thinking aught of the matter. Were I in any but a peaceful land, I
+should say that a great battle had been fought not so far from us, and
+to the northward.”
+
+Then my mother looked up at him, knowing that he had seen many fights,
+and was wise in the signs that men look for before them; but she asked
+nothing, and so I said, “What makes you think this, father?”
+
+He answered me with another question.
+
+“How many kites will you see overhead at any time, sons?”
+
+I wondered at this, but it was easy to answer—to Raven, at least.
+
+“Always one, and sometimes another within sight of the first,” Raven
+said.
+
+“And if there is food, what then?”
+
+“The first swoops down on it, and the next follows, and the one that
+watches the second follows that, and so on until there are many kites
+gathered.”
+
+“What if one comes late?”
+
+“He swings overhead and screams, and goes back to his place; then no
+more come.”
+
+“Ay,” he said; “you will make a sailor yet, son Raven, for you watch
+things. Now I will tell you what I saw today. There was the one kite
+sailing over my head as I was at the ship garth, and presently it
+screamed so that I looked up. Then it left its wide circles over the
+town, and flew northward, straight as an arrow. Then from the southward
+came another, following it, and after that another, and yet others, all
+going north. And far off I could see where others flew, and they too
+went north. And presently flapped over me the ravens in the wake of the
+kites, and the great sea eagles came in screaming and went the same
+way, and so for all the time that I was at the ship, and until I came
+home.”
+
+“There is a sacrifice to the Asir somewhere,” I said, “for the birds of
+Odin and Thor have always their share.”
+
+My father shook his head.
+
+“The birds cry to one another, as I think, and say when the feast is
+but enough for those that have gathered. They have cried now that there
+is room for all at some great feasting. Once have I seen the like
+before, and that was when I was with the ship guard when the jarl
+fought his great battle in the Orkneys; we knew that he had fought by
+the same token.”
+
+But my mother said that I was surely right. There was no fear of battle
+here, and indeed with Gunnar and Sigurd to guard the land we had had
+peace for many a long year on our own coasts, if other lands had had to
+fear them. My father laughed a little, saying that perhaps it was so,
+and then my mother took the two little ones and went with them into the
+sleeping room to put them to rest, while I and my two brothers went out
+to the cattle garth to see that all was well for the night.
+
+Then, when our eyes were used to the moonlight, which was not very
+bright, away to the northward we saw a red glow that was not that of
+the sunset or of the northern lights, dying down now and then, and then
+again flaring up as will a far-off fire; and even as we looked we heard
+the croak of an unseen raven flying thitherward overhead.
+
+“Call father,” I said to Withelm, who was the youngest of us three. The
+boy ran in, and presently my father came out and looked long at the
+glow in the sky.
+
+“Even as I thought,” he said. “The king’s town is burning, and I must
+go to tell the jarl. Strange that we have had no message. Surely the
+king’s men must be hard pressed if this is a foe’s work.”
+
+So he went at once, leaving us full of wonder and excited, as boys will
+be at anything that is new and has a touch of fear in it. But he had
+hardly gone beyond the outbuildings when one came running and calling
+him. The jarl had sent for him, for there was strange news from the
+king. Then he and this messenger hastened off together.
+
+In half an hour the war horns were blowing fiercely, and all the quiet
+town was awake, for my father’s forebodings were true, and the foe was
+on us. In our house my mother was preparing the food that her husband
+should carry with him, and I was putting a last polish on the arms that
+should keep him, while the tramp of men who went to the gathering rang
+down the street, one by one at first, and then in twos and threes. My
+mother neither wept nor trembled, but worked with a set face that would
+not show fear.
+
+Then came in my father, and I armed him, begging at the same time that
+I might go also, for I could use _my_ weapons well enough; but he told
+me that some must needs bide at home as a guard, and that I was as much
+wanted there as at the king’s place, wherewith I had to be content. It
+was by no means unlikely that we also might be attacked, if it was true
+that the king’s men were outnumbered, as was said.
+
+Now when my father went to say farewell to us, nowhere could be found
+my brother Withelm.
+
+“The boy has gone to watch the muster,” my father said. “I shall see
+him there presently.”
+
+Then, because he saw that my mother was troubled more than her wont, he
+added, “Have no fear for me. This will be no more than a raid of
+Norsemen, and they will plunder and be away with the tide before we get
+to the place.”
+
+So he laughed and went out, having done his best to cheer us all, and I
+went with him to where the men were gathered in their arms in the wide
+space in the midst of the houses. There I sought for little Withelm,
+but could not find him among the women and children who looked on; and
+before we had been there more than a few minutes the jarl gave the
+word, and the march was begun. There were about fifteen miles to be
+covered between our town and the king’s.
+
+I watched them out of sight, and then went home, having learned that I
+was to be called out only in case of need. And as I drew near the
+homestead I saw a light in the little ash grove that was behind the
+garth.[3] In the midst of the trees, where this light seemed to be, was
+our wooden image of Thor the Hammer Bearer, older than any of us could
+tell; and in front of this was what we used as his altar—four
+roughly-squared stones set together. These stones were blue-black in
+colour, and whence they came I do not know, unless it was true that my
+forefathers brought them here when first Odin led his folk to the
+northern lands. Always they had been the altar for my people, and my
+father held that we should have no luck away from them.
+
+So it was strange to see a light in that place, where none would
+willingly go after dark, and half was I feared to go and see what it
+might mean. But then it came into my mind that the enemy might be
+creeping on the house through the grove, and that therefore I must
+needs find out all about it. So I went softly to the nearest trees, and
+crept from one to another, ever getting closer to the light; and I will
+say that I feared more that I might see some strange thing that was
+more than mortal than that I should see the leading foeman stealing
+towards me. But presently it was plain that the light did not move as
+if men carried it, but it flickered as a little fire; and at last I saw
+that it burned on the altar stones, and that frightened me so that I
+almost fled.
+
+Maybe I should have done so, but that I heard a voice that I knew; and
+so, looking once more, I saw a figure standing before the fire, and
+knew it. It was little Withelm, and why a ten-year-old boy should be
+here I could not think. But I called him softly, and he started
+somewhat, turning and trying to look through the darkness towards me,
+though he did not seem afraid. There was a little fire of dry sticks
+burning on the stones, and the gaunt old statue seemed to look more
+terrible than ever in its red blaze. One might have thought that the
+worn face writhed itself as the light played over it.
+
+“It is I, Withelm,” I said softly, for the fear of the place was on me.
+“We have sought you everywhere, and father would have wished you
+farewell. What are you doing here?”
+
+I came forward then, for it was plain that the child feared nothing, so
+that I was put to shame. And as I came I asked once more what he was
+doing in this place.
+
+“The jarl has surely forgotten the sacrifice to the Asir before the
+warriors went to fight, and they will be angry,” he answered very
+calmly. “It is right that one should remember, and I feared for father,
+and therefore—”
+
+He pointed to the altar, and I saw that he had laid his own untasted
+supper on the fire that he had lighted, and I had naught to say. The
+thing was over-strange to me, who thought nothing of these things. It
+was true that the host always sacrificed before sailing on the Viking
+path, but tonight had been urgent haste.
+
+“Thor will not listen to any but a warrior,” I said. “Come home,
+brother, for mother waits us.”
+
+“If not Thor, who is maybe busy at the battle they talk of, then do I
+think that All Father will listen,” he said stoutly. “But this was all
+that I had to make sacrifice withal, and it may not be enough.”
+
+“The jarl will make amends when he comes back,” I said, wishing to get
+home and away from this place, and yet unwilling to chide the child.
+“Now let us go, for mother will grow anxious.”
+
+With that he put his hand in mine, and we both saluted Thor, as was
+fitting, and then went homeward. It seemed to me that the glare in the
+north was fiercer now than when I had first seen it.
+
+Now, after my mother had put Withelm to bed, I told her how I had found
+him; and thereat she wept a little, as I could see in the firelight.
+
+After a long silence she said, “Strange things and good come into the
+mind of a child, and one may learn what his fate shall be in the days
+to come. I am sure from this that Withelm will be a priest.”
+
+Now as one may buy the place of a godar, with the right to have a
+temple of the Asir for a district and the authority that goes
+therewith, if so be that one falls vacant or is to be given up by the
+holder, this did not seem unlikely, seeing how rich we were fast
+growing. And indeed my mother’s saying came to pass hereafter, though
+not at all in the way of which we both thought.
+
+There was no alarm that night. The old warriors watched round the town
+and along the northern tracks, but saw nothing, and in the morning the
+black smoke hung over the place of the burning, drifting slowly
+seaward. The wind had changed, and they said that it would doubtless
+have taken the foe away with it, as my father had hoped. So I went down
+to the ship with Raven, and worked at the few things that were still
+left to be done to her as she lay in her long shed on the slips, ready
+to take the water at any tide. She was only waiting for cargo and
+stores to be put on board her with the shift of wind that had come at
+last, and I thought that my father would see to these things as soon as
+he came back.
+
+Now in the evening we had news from the Jarl, and strange enough it
+was. My father came back two days afterwards and told us all, and so I
+may as well make a short story of it. The ways of Gunnar Kirkeban had
+been his end, for a certain Viking chief, a Norseman, had wintered in
+Wales during the past winter, and there he had heard from the Welsh of
+the wrongs that they had suffered at his hands. Also he had heard of
+the great booty of Welsh gold that Gunnar had taken thence in the last
+summer; and so, when these Welsh asked that he would bide with them and
+help fight the next Danes who came, he had offered to do more than
+that—he would lead them to Gunnar’s place if they would find men to man
+three ships that he had taken, and would be content to share the booty
+with them.
+
+The Welsh king was of the line of Arthur, and one who yet hoped to win
+back the land of his fathers from the Saxons and English; and so he
+listened to this Hodulf, thinking to gain a powerful ally in him for
+attack on the eastern coast of England after this. So, favoured by the
+wind that had kept us from the sea, Hodulf, with twenty ships in all,
+had fallen on Gunnar unawares, and had had an easy victory, besetting
+the town in such wise that only in the confusion while the wild Welsh
+were burning and plundering on every side had the messenger to the jarl
+been able to slip away.
+
+But when the jarl and our men reached the town there was naught to be
+done but to make terms with Hodulf as best he might, that the whole
+country might not be overrun. For Gunnar had been slain in his own
+hall, with his two young daughters and with the queen also, as was
+supposed. Havelok the prince was in his hands, and for his sake
+therefore Sigurd had been the more ready to come to terms.
+
+Then Hodulf sent messengers to the overlord of all Denmark, saying that
+he would hold this kingdom as for him, and backed up that promise with
+a great present from Gunnar’s treasure, so that he was listened to.
+Therefore our jarl was helpless; and there being no other king strong
+enough to aid him if he rose, in the end he had to take Hodulf for lord
+altogether, though it went sorely against the grain.
+
+I have heard it said by the Welsh folk that Hodulf held the kingdom for
+their lord; and it is likely that he humoured them by saying that he
+would do so, which was a safe promise to make, as even King Arthur
+himself could never have reached him to make him pay scatt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+KING HODULF’S SECRET.
+
+
+My father came home heavy and anxious enough, for he did not know how
+things would go under this new king, though he had promised peace to
+all men who would own him. We in our place saw nothing of him or his
+men for the next few weeks, but he was well spoken of by those who had
+aught to do with him elsewhere. So my father went on trying to gather a
+cargo for England; but it was a slow business, as the burnt and
+plundered folk of the great town had naught for us, and others sold to
+them. But he would never be idle, and every day when weather served we
+went fishing, for he loved his old calling well, as a man will love
+that which he can do best. Our two boats and their gear were always in
+the best of order, and our kinsman, Arngeir, used and tended them when
+we were away in the ship in summertime.
+
+Now, one evening, as we came up from the shore after beaching the boat
+on the hard below the town, and half a mile from the nearest houses,
+and being, as one may suppose, not altogether in holiday trim, so that
+Grim and his boys with their loads of fish and nets looked as though a
+fisher’s hovel were all the home that they might own, we saw a
+horseman, followed at a little distance by two more, riding towards us.
+The dusk was gathering, and at first we thought that this was Jarl
+Sigurd, who would ask us maybe to send fish to his hall, and so we set
+our loads down and waited for him.
+
+But it was not our lord, and I had never seen this man before. From his
+arms, which were of a new pattern to me, he might be one of the host of
+Hodulf, as I thought.
+
+“Ho, fisher!” he cried, when he was yet some way from us; “leave your
+lads, and come hither. I have a word for you.”
+
+He reined up and waited, and now I was sure that he was a Norseman, for
+his speech was rougher than ours. He was a tall, handsome man enough;
+but I liked neither his voice nor face, nor did I care to hear Grim, my
+father, summoned in such wise, not remembering that just now a stranger
+could not tell that he was aught but a fisher thrall of the jarl’s.
+
+But my father did as he was asked, setting down the nets that he was
+carrying, and only taking with him the long boathook on which he had
+slung them as he went forward. I suppose he remembered the old saying,
+that a man should not stir a step on land without his weapons, as one
+never knows when there may be need of them; and so, having no other, he
+took this.
+
+I heard the first questions that the man asked, for he spoke loudly.
+
+“Whose man are you?”
+
+“Sigurd’s,” answered my father shortly.
+
+“Whose are the boats?”
+
+“Mine, seeing that I built them.”
+
+“Why, then, there is somewhat that you can do for me,” the horseman
+said. “Is your time your own, however?”
+
+“If the jarl needs me not.”
+
+“Tonight, then?”
+
+“I have naught to do after I have carried the nets home.”
+
+“That is well,” said the stranger; and after that he dropped his voice
+so that I heard no more, but he and my father talked long together.
+
+We waited, and at last the talk ended, and my father came hack to us,
+while the stranger rode away northward along the sands. Then I asked
+who the man was, and what he wanted.
+
+“He is some chief of these Norsemen, and one who asks more questions of
+a thrall, as he thinks me, than he would dare ask Sigurd the jarl, or
+Grim the merchant either, for that matter.”
+
+Seeing that my father did not wish to say more at this time, we asked
+nothing else, but went homeward in silence. It seemed as if he was ill
+at ease, and he went more quickly than was his wont, so that presently
+Raven and little Withelm lagged behind us with their burdens, for our
+catch had been a good one.
+
+Then he stopped outside the garth when we reached home, and told me not
+to go in yet. And when the others came up he said to them, “Do you two
+take in the things and the fish, and tell mother that Radbard and I
+have to go down to the ship. There is cargo to be seen to, and it is
+likely that we shall he late, so bid her not wait up for us.”
+
+Then he told me to come, and we left the two boys at once and turned
+away towards the haven. There was nothing strange in this, for cargo
+often came at odd times, and we were wont to work late in stowing it. I
+did wonder that we had not stayed to snatch a bit of supper, but it
+crossed my mind that the Norseman had told my father of some goods that
+had maybe been waiting for the whole day while we were at sea. And then
+that did not seem likely, for he had taken us for thralls. So I was
+puzzled, but held my peace until it should seem good to my father to
+tell me what we were about.
+
+When we reached a place where there was no house very near and no man
+about, he said to me at last, “What is on hand I do not rightly know,
+but yon man was Hodulf, the new king, as I suppose we must call him. He
+would not tell me his name, but I saw him when he and the jarl made
+terms the other day. Now he has bidden me meet him on the road a mile
+from the town as soon as it is dark, and alone. He has somewhat secret
+for me to do.”
+
+“It is a risk to go alone and unarmed,” I answered; “let me go home and
+get your weapons, for the errand does not seem honest.”
+
+“That is what I think also,” said my father, “and that is why I am
+going to meet him. It is a bad sign when a king has a secret to share
+with a thrall, and I have a mind to find out what it is. There may be
+some plot against our jarl.”
+
+He was silent for a few minutes, as if thinking, and then he went on.
+
+“I cannot take arms, or he would suspect me, and would tell me nothing;
+but if there is any plotting to be done whereof I must tell the jarl,
+it will be as well that you should hear it.”
+
+Then he said that he thought it possible for me to creep very close to
+the place where he was to meet Hodulf, so that I could hear all or most
+of what went on, and that I might as well be armed in case of foul
+play, for he did not suppose that the Norseman would think twice about
+cutting down a thrall who did not please him.
+
+It was almost dark by this time, and therefore he must be going. I was
+not to go home for arms, but to borrow from Arngeir as we passed his
+house. And this I did, saying that I had an errand beyond the town and
+feared prowling men of the Norse host. Which danger being a very
+reasonable one, Arngeir offered to go with me; and I had some
+difficulty in preventing him from doing so, for he was like an elder
+brother to all of us. However, I said that I had no great distance to
+go, and feigned to be ashamed of myself for my fears; and he laughed at
+me, and let me go my way with sword and spear and seax[4] also, which
+last my father would take under his fisher’s jerkin.
+
+I caught up my father quickly, and we went along the sands northwards
+until we came to the place where we must separate. The road was but a
+quarter of a mile inland from this spot, for it ran near the shore, and
+it was not much more than that to the place where Hodulf would be
+waiting.
+
+“Creep as near as you can,” my father said; “but come to help only if I
+call. I do not think that I am likely to do so.”
+
+Then we went our ways, he making straight for the road, and I turning
+to my left a little. It was dark, for there was no moon now, but save
+that I was soundly scratched by the brambles of the fringe of brushwood
+that grew all along the low hills of the coast, there was nothing to
+prevent my going on quickly, for I knew the ground well enough, by
+reason of yearly bird nesting. When I reached the roadway the meeting
+place was yet to my left, and I could hear my father’s footsteps coming
+steadily in the distance. So I skirted the road for a little way, and
+then came to an open bit of heath and rising land, beyond which I
+thought I should find Hodulf. Up this I ran quickly, dropping into the
+heather at the top; and sure enough, in a hollow just off the road I
+could dimly make out the figure of a mounted man waiting.
+
+Then my father came along the road past me, and I crawled among the
+tall heather clumps until I was not more than twenty paces from the
+hollow, which was a little below me.
+
+Hodulf’s horse winded me, as I think, and threw up its head snorting,
+and I heard its bit rattle. But my father was close at hand, and that
+was lucky.
+
+“Ho, fisher, is that you?” he called softly.
+
+“I am here,” was the answer, and at once my father came into the hollow
+from the road.
+
+“Are any folk about?” Hodulf said.
+
+“I have met none. Now, what is all this business?” answered my father.
+
+“Business that will make a free man of you for the rest of your days,
+and rich, moreover, master thrall,” said Hodulf. “That is, if you do as
+I bid you.”
+
+“A thrall can do naught else than what he is bidden.”
+
+“Nay, but he can do that in a way that will earn great reward, now and
+then; and your reward for obedience and silence thereafter in this
+matter shall be aught that you like to ask.”
+
+“This sounds as if I were to peril my life,” my father said. “I know
+naught else that can be worth so much as that might be.”
+
+“There is no peril,” said Hodulf scornfully; “your skin shall not be so
+much as scratched—ay, and if this is well done it will know a master’s
+dog whip no more.”
+
+I heard my father chuckle with a thrall’s cunning laugh at this, and
+then he said eagerly, “Well, master, what is it?”
+
+“I will tell you. But first will you swear as on the holy ring that of
+what you shall do for me no man shall know hereafter?”
+
+“What I do at your bidding none shall know, and that I swear,” answered
+my father slowly, as if trying to repeat the king’s words.
+
+“See here, then,” said Hodulf, and I heard his armour clatter as he
+dismounted.
+
+Then the footsteps of both men shuffled together for a little while,
+and once I thought I heard a strange sound as of a muffled cry, at
+which Hodulf muttered under his breath. I could see that they took
+something large from the saddle bow, and set it on the ground, and then
+they spoke again.
+
+“Have you a heavy anchor?” asked the king.
+
+“A great one.”
+
+“Well, then, tie it to this sack and sink it tonight where tide will
+never shift it. Then you may come to me and claim what reward you
+will.”
+
+“Freedom, and gold enough to buy a new boat—two new boats!” said my
+father eagerly.
+
+Hodulf laughed at that, and got on his horse again. I saw his tall form
+lift itself against the dim sky as he did so.
+
+“What is in the sack?” asked my father.
+
+“That is not your concern,” Hodulf answered sharply. “If you know not,
+then you can tell no man, even in your sleep. Put off at once and sink
+it.”
+
+“It is in my mind,” said my father, “that I had better not look in the
+sack. Where shall I find you, lord, when the thing is in the sea? For
+as yet I have not heard your name.”
+
+I think that Hodulf had forgotten that he would have to answer this
+question, or else he thought that everyone knew him, for he did not
+reply all at once.
+
+“You may ask the king for your reward,” he said, after a little
+thought, “for this is his business. Now you know that it will be best
+for you to be secret and sure. Not much worth will your chance of
+escape from torture be if this becomes known. But you know also that
+the reward is certain.”
+
+“The king!” cried my father, with a sort of gasp of surprise.
+
+I could almost think that I saw him staring with mouth agape as would a
+silly thrall; for so well had he taken the thrall’s part that had I not
+known who was speaking all the time, I had certainly had no doubt that
+one was there.
+
+“Come to Hodulf, the king, and pray for freedom and your gold as a boon
+of his goodness, saying naught else, or making what tale you will of a
+hard master, or justice, so that you speak naught of what you have
+done, and that—and maybe more—shall be granted.”
+
+“You yourself will speak for me?”
+
+“I am the king—and think not that the darkness will prevent my knowing
+your face again,” Hodulf replied.
+
+There was a threat in the words, and with them he turned his horse and
+rode away quickly northwards. I heard the hoofs of his men’s horses
+rattle on the road as they joined him, before he had gone far.
+
+When the sounds died away altogether, and there was no fear of his
+coming back suddenly on us, my father whistled and I joined him. He
+almost started to find how near I was.
+
+“You have heard all, then?” he said.
+
+“Every word,” I answered, “and I like it not. Where is this sack he
+spoke of?”
+
+It lay at his feet. A large sack it was, and full of somewhat heavy and
+warm that seemed to move a little when I put my hand on it. Still less
+did I like the business as I felt that.
+
+“More also!” quoth my father, as if thinking of the king’s last words.
+“If that does not mean a halter for my neck, I am mistaken. What have
+we here, son, do you think?”
+
+“Somewhat that should not be here, certainly,” I answered. “There would
+not be so much talk about drowning a dog, as one might think this to
+be.”
+
+“Unless it were his wife’s,” answered my father, with a laugh.
+
+Then he stooped, and I helped him to get the sack on his shoulders. It
+was heavy, but not very—not so heavy as a young calf in a sack would
+be; and he carried it easily, taking my spear to help him.
+
+“The thrall is even going to take this to the house of Grim the
+merchant, whom the king will not know again, though he may see in the
+dark,” said he; “then we shall know how we stand.”
+
+We met no one on our way back, for the town had gone to sleep, until
+the watchman passed the time of night with us, thinking no doubt that
+we had fish or goods in the burden. And when we came home a sleepy
+thrall opened to us, for all were at rest save him. And he too went his
+way to the shed where his place was when he had stirred the fire to a
+blaze and lit a torch that we might see to eat the supper that was left
+for us.
+
+Then we were alone, and while I set Arngeir’s weapons in a corner, my
+father put down the sack, and stood looking at it. It seemed to sway a
+little, and to toss as it settled down. And now that there was light it
+was plain that the shape of what was inside it was strangely like that
+of a child, doubled up with knees to chin, as it showed through the
+sacking.
+
+“Hodulf or no Hodulf,” said my father, “I am going to see more of
+this.”
+
+With that he took a knife from the table and cut the cord that fastened
+the mouth, turning back the sack quickly.
+
+And lo! gagged and bound hand and foot in such wise that he could not
+move, in the sack was a wondrously handsome boy of about the size of
+Withelm; and for all his terrible journey across the king’s saddle, and
+in spite of our rough handling, his eyes were bright and fearless as he
+looked up at us.
+
+“Radbard,” said my father, “what if Hodulf had met with a thrall who
+had done his bidding in truth?”
+
+I would not think thereof, for surely by this time there had been no
+light in the eyes that seemed to me to be grateful to us.
+
+Now my father knelt down by the boy’s side, and began to take the
+lashings from him, telling him at the same time to be silent when the
+gag was gone.
+
+And hard work enough the poor child had to keep himself from screaming
+when his limbs were loosed, so cramped was he, for he had been bound
+almost into a ball. And even as we rubbed and chafed the cold hands and
+feet he swooned with the pain of the blood running freely once more.
+
+“This is a business for mother,” said my father, on that; “get your
+supper, and take it to bed with you, and say naught to the boys in the
+morning. This is a thing that may not be talked of.”
+
+Now I should have liked to stay, but my father meant what he said, and
+I could be of no more use; so I took my food, and went up to the loft
+where we three slept, and knew no more of what trouble that night might
+have for others.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+HAVELOK, SON OF GUNNAR.
+
+
+Now after I had gone, Grim, my father, tried to bring the child round,
+but he could not do so; and therefore, leaving him near the fire, he
+went softly to call Leva, my mother, to help him; and all the while he
+was wondering who the child might be, though indeed a fear that he knew
+only too well was growing in his heart, for there would surely he only
+one whom Hodulf could wish out of his way.
+
+As he opened the door that led to the sleeping room beyond the high
+seat, the light shone on Leva, and showed her sitting up in bed with
+wide eyes that seemed to gaze on somewhat that was terrible, and at
+first he thought her awake. But she yet slept, and so he called her
+gently, and she started and woke.
+
+“Husband, is that you?” she said. “I had a strange dream even now which
+surely portends somewhat.”
+
+Now, as all men know, our folk in the north are most careful in the
+matter of attending to dreams, specially those that come in troubled
+times, holding that often warning or good counsel comes from them. I
+cannot say that I have ever had any profit in that way myself, being no
+dreamer at all; but it is certain that others have, as may be seen
+hereafter. Wherefore my father asked Leva what this dream might be.
+
+“In my dream,” she answered, “it seemed that you came into the house
+bearing a sack, which you gave into my charge, saying that therein lay
+wealth and good fortune for us. And I would not believe this, for you
+said presently that to gain this the sack and all that was therein was
+to be thrown into the sea, which seemed foolishness. Whereon I cast it
+into a corner in anger, and thereout came pitiful cries and wailings.
+Then said I that it were ill to drown aught that had a voice as of a
+child, and so you bade me leave it. Then I seemed to sleep here; but
+presently in my dream I rose and looked on the sack again, and lo!
+round about it shone a great light, so that all the place was bright,
+and I was afraid. Then you came and opened the sack, and therein was a
+wondrous child, from whose mouth came a flame, as it were the shaft of
+a sunbeam, that stretched over all Denmark, and across the sea to
+England, whereby I knew that this child was one who should hereafter be
+king of both these lands. And on this I stared even as you woke me.”
+
+Now Grim was silent, for this was passing strange, and moreover it
+fitted with his thought of who this child might be, since Hodulf. would
+make away with him thus secretly.
+
+“What make you of the dream?” asked Leva, seeing that he pondered on
+it.
+
+“It is in my mind that your dream will come true altogether, for
+already it has begun to do so,” he answered. “Rise and come into the
+hall, and I will show you somewhat.”
+
+On that Leva made haste and dressed and came out, and there, lying as
+if in sleep before the fire, was the wondrous child of her dream, and
+the sack was under his head as he lay; and she was wont to say to those
+few who knew the story, that the kingliness of that child was plain to
+be seen, as had been the flame of which she had dreamed, so that all
+might know it, though the clothes that he wore were such as a churl
+might be ashamed of.
+
+Then she cried out a little, but not loudly, and knelt by the child to
+see him the better; and whether he had come to himself before and had
+dropped asleep for very weariness, or out of his swoon had passed into
+sleep, I cannot say, but at her touch he stirred a little.
+
+“What child is this? and how came he here?” she asked, wondering.
+
+“Already your dream has told you truly how he came,” Grim answered,
+“but who he is I do not rightly know yet. Take him up and bathe him,
+wife; and if he is the one I think him, there will be a mark whereby we
+may know him.”
+
+“How should he be marked? And why look you to find any sign thus?”
+
+But Grim had turned down the rough shirt and bared the child’s neck and
+right shoulder, whereon were bruises that made Leva well-nigh weep as
+she saw them, for it was plain that he had been evilly treated for many
+days before this. But there on the white skin was the mark of the
+king’s line—the red four-armed cross with bent ends which Gunnar and
+all his forebears had borne.
+
+Seeing that, Leva looked up wondering in her husband’s face, and he
+answered the question that he saw written in her eyes.
+
+“He is as I thought—he is Havelok, the son of Gunnar, our king. Hodulf
+gave him to me that I might drown him.”
+
+Then he told her all that had happened, and how from the first time
+that he had lifted the sack and felt what was within it he had feared
+that this was what was being done. Hodulf would have no rival growing
+up beside him, and as he dared not slay him openly, he would have it
+thought that he had been stolen away by his father’s friends, and then
+folk would maybe wait quietly in hopes that he would come again when
+time went on.
+
+Now Leva bathed Havelok in the great tub, and with the warmth and
+comfort of the hot water he waked and was well content, so that
+straightway, when he was dressed in Withelm’s holiday clothes, which
+fitted him, though he was but seven years old at this time, and Withelm
+was a well-grown boy enough for his ten winters, he asked for food, and
+they gave him what was yet on the board; and we lived well in Denmark.
+
+“There is no doubt that he hath a kingly hunger,” quoth Grim as he
+watched him.
+
+“Friend,” said Havelok, hearing this, though it was not meant for his
+ears, “it is likely, seeing that this is the third day since I have had
+food given me. And I thank you, good people, though I would have you
+know that it is the custom to serve the king’s son kneeling.”
+
+“How should we know that you are the king’s son indeed?” asked Grim.
+
+“I am Havelok, son of Gunnar,” the boy said gravely. “Yon traitor,
+Hodulf, has slain my father, and my two sisters, and driven out my
+mother, whither I cannot tell, and now he would drown me.”
+
+Then the boy could hardly keep a brave front any longer, and he added,
+“Yet I do not think that you will do to me as I heard him bid you.”
+
+Then came over Grim a great pity and sorrow that it should seem needful
+thus to sue to him, and there grew a lump in his throat, so that for a
+while he might not answer, and the boy thought him in doubt, so that in
+his eyes there was a great fear. But Leva wept outright, and threw
+herself on her knees beside him, putting her arms round him as he sat,
+speaking words of comfort.
+
+Then Grim knelt also, and said, “Thralls of yours are we, Havelok, son
+of Gunnar, and for you shall our lives be given before Hodulf shall
+harm you. Nor shall he know that you live until the day comes when you
+can go to him sword in hand and helm on head, with half the men of this
+realm at your back, and speak to him of what he did and what he
+planned, and the vengeance that shall be therefor.”
+
+So Grim took on himself to be Havelok’s foster-father, and, as he
+ended, the boy said with glowing eyes, “I would that I were grown up.
+How long shall this be before it comes to pass?”
+
+And then of a sudden he said, as a tired child will, “Friends, I am
+sorely weary. Let me sleep.”
+
+So Leva took him in her arms and laid him in their own bed; and at once
+he slept, so that she left him and came back to Grim by the fireside,
+for there was much to be said.
+
+First of all it was clear that Havelok must be hidden, and it was not
+to be supposed that Hodulf would be satisfied until he had seen the
+thrall to whom he had trusted such a secret come back for his reward.
+If he came not he would be sought; and then he would find out to whom
+he had spoken, and there would be trouble enough.
+
+But it seemed easy to hide Havelok on board the ship, and sail with him
+to England as soon as possible. A few days might well pass before a
+thrall could get to Hodulf, so that he would suspect nothing just at
+first. There were merchants in England who would care for the boy well,
+and the two boats might be sunk, so that the king should not ask whose
+they were. So when Grim came home again the fisher would be thought of
+as drowned on his errand, and Hodulf would be content.
+
+But then, after a little talk of this, it was plain that all the town
+could not be told to say that the fisher was drowned on such a night,
+and Hodulf would leave naught undone to find the truth of the matter.
+So the puzzle became greater, and the one thing that was clear was that
+Grim was in sore danger, and Havelok also.
+
+Then suddenly outside the dogs barked, and a voice which they obeyed
+quieted them. Grim sprang for his axe, which hung on the wall, and went
+to the door, whereon someone was knocking gently.
+
+“Open, uncle; it is I, Arngeir.”
+
+“What does the boy want at this time?” said Grim, taking down the great
+bar that kept the door, axe in hand, for one must be cautious in such
+times as these.
+
+Arngeir came in—a tall young man of twenty, handsome, and like Grim in
+ways, for he was his brother’s son.
+
+“Lucky am I in finding you astir,” he said. “I thought I should have
+had to wake you all. Are you just home from sea, or just going out?”
+
+“Not long home,” answered Leva; “but what has brought you?”
+
+“I have a guest for you, if I may bring one here at this hour.”
+
+“A friend of yours never comes at the wrong time,” Grim said. “Why not
+bring him in?”
+
+“If it were a friend of mine and a man he would do well enough at my
+house for the night,” said Arngeir, smiling; “but the one for whom I
+have come is a lady, and, I think, one in sore trouble.”
+
+“Who is she?” asked my mother, wondering much.
+
+“From the king’s town, certainly,” answered Arngeir, “but I do not know
+her name. Truth to tell, I forgot to ask it, for she is sorely spent;
+and so I made haste to come to you.”
+
+Then Leva would know how a lady came at this time to Arngeir’s house,
+for he was alone, save for his four men, being an orphan without other
+kin beside us, and his house was close to our shipyard and the sea.
+
+“She came not to me, but I found her,” he replied. “My horse is sick,
+and I must get up an hour ago and see to it for the second time
+tonight. Then as I came from the stable I saw someone go towards the
+shipyard, and, as I thought, into the open warehouse. It was dark, and
+I could not tell then if this was man or woman; but I knew that no one
+had business there, and there are a few things that a thief might pick
+up. So I took an axe and one of the dogs, and went to see what was on
+hand, but at first there was naught to be found of anyone. If it had
+not been for the dog, I think that I should have gone away, but he went
+into the corner where the bales of wool are set, and there he whined
+strangely, and when I looked, there was this lady on the bales, and she
+was weeping and sore afraid. So I asked her what was amiss, and it was
+not easy to get an answer at first. But at last she told me that she
+had escaped from the burning of the king’s town, and would fain be
+taken across the sea into some place of peace. So I cheered her by
+saying that you would surely help her; and then I took her to my house
+and came to you. Worn and rent are her garments, but one may see that
+they have been rich, and I deem her some great lady.”
+
+“Go and bring her here, husband,” said my mother, on hearing that.
+
+But he was already going, and at once he and Arngeir went out and down
+the street. There were many other ladies and their children who had
+taken refuge here with the townsfolk after the burning, and the coming
+of this one was but another count in the long tale of trouble that
+began on the Welsh shore with the ways of Gunnar, the church’s bane.
+
+My father was long gone, and the day was breaking when he came back. My
+mother slept in the great chair before the fire, for waiting had
+wearied her, but she woke as she heard Grim’s footstep, and unbarred
+the door to him, ready to welcome the guest that she looked for. But he
+was alone, and on his face was the mark of some new trouble, and that a
+great one.
+
+He came in and barred the door after him, and then sat down wearily and
+ate for the first time since we had had our meal at sea; and while he
+did so Leva asked him nothing, wondering what was wrong, but knowing
+that she would hear in good time. And when he had eaten well he spoke.
+
+“The lady is Eleyn the queen. She has been wandering for these many
+days from place to place, sometimes in the woods, and sometimes in
+hiding in the cottages of the poor folk, always with a fear of staying
+in one place, lest Hodulf should find her, for it is known that he is
+seeking her. Then at last one told her of my ship, and she is here to
+seek me.”
+
+Now one may know what the wonder and pity of my mother was, and she
+would fain have gone to her. But Grim had left her at Arngeir’s house,
+for folk were stirring in the town, and there were many who would know
+the queen if they saw her.
+
+“It will soon be known that Arngeir has a guest,” my mother said,
+“whereas none would have wondered had she been here.”
+
+“By this time tomorrow it will not matter if Hodulf knows,” answered
+Grim, “for she will be safe.”
+
+“Where will you hide her then and what of Havelok?”
+
+“For those two there is no safety but across the sea, and they are the
+most precious cargo that I shall ever have carried. Already Arngeir and
+the men are at work on the ship, getting the rollers under her keel,
+that she may take the water with the next tide. I shall sail with the
+tide that comes with the darkness again, saying that I shall find cargo
+elsewhere in other ports, as I have done once before.”
+
+“I had not looked to say farewell to you quite so soon,” my mother
+said; “but this is right. Now I will have all things ready, that the
+queen shall be in what comfort she may on the voyage. But it will be
+well that none shall know, even of your seamen, who the passengers are,
+else will word go to Hodulf in some way hereafter that Havelok has
+escaped.”
+
+“I have thought of that,” answered Grim. “It will be best that none,
+not even Radbard, shall know who this is whom we have in the house. A
+chance word goes far sometimes.”
+
+“The boy will tell his name.”
+
+“There are many who are named after him, and that is no matter. Do you
+speak to him, for it is plain that he has sense enough, and bid him say
+naught but that he and his mother have escaped from the town, and, if
+you will, that he escaped in the sack. I will speak to Radbard, and
+there will be no trouble. Only Arngeir must know the truth, and that
+not until we are on the high seas perhaps.”
+
+So there seemed to be no more fear, and in an hour the house was astir,
+and there was work enough for all in preparing for the voyage. As for
+me, I went down to the ship with my father, and worked there.
+
+Now, I will say that not for many a long year did I know who this
+foster-brother of mine was. It was enough for me to be told that he was
+the son of some great man or other with whom Hodulf had a private feud.
+Nor did I ever speak of that night’s work to any, for my father bade me
+not to do so. Presently I knew, of course, that the lady was Havelok’s
+mother; but that told me nothing, for I never heard her name.
+
+We worked at the ship for three hours or so, stowing the bales of wool
+and the other little cargo we had; and then my father sent me to the
+fishing-boats for a pair of oars belonging to the ship’s boat that were
+there, and, as it fell out, it was a good thing that I and not one of
+the men went. When I came to the place where they were drawn up on the
+beach, as we had left them last night, there was a stranger talking to
+some of the fisher folk, who were working at their nets not far off;
+and though another might have paid no heed to this, I, with the
+remembrance of last night fresh in my mind, wondered if he was by any
+chance there on an errand from Hodulf. I thought that, were I he, I
+should surely send someone to know, at least, if the fisher went out
+last night after I had spoken with him. So I loitered about until the
+man went away, which he did slowly, passing close to me, and looking at
+the boats carefully, as if he would remember them. Then I went and
+asked the men to whom he had been speaking what he wanted. They said
+that they wondered that he had not spoken to me, for he had been asking
+about my father and of his ship, and if he took any passenger with him
+this voyage. It would seem that he wanted to sail with us, from all he
+said.
+
+Certainly he had begun by asking whose boats these were, and wondered
+that a merchant should go fishing at all, when there was no need for
+him to do so. Also he had asked if Grim had been out last night, and
+they had of course told him that he had not, for neither boat had been
+shifted from the berth she had been given when we came in at dusk.
+
+“Ah,” he had said, “well did I wot that your merchant would do no night
+work,” and so made a jest of the matter, saying that in his country it
+were below the state of a merchant to have aught to do with a thrall’s
+work. He was certainly a Norseman, and they thought that I should find
+him with my father. Now I thought otherwise, and also I saw that all
+was known. This man was a spy of Hodulf’s, and would go straight back
+to his master. My father must hear of this at once; and I hurried back
+to the ship, and took him aside and told him. And as I did so his face
+grew grey under the tan that sea and wind had given it, and I knew not
+altogether why.
+
+“Tell Arngeir to come to me,” he said; “I am going to the jarl. Tell no
+one, but go home and say to mother that I shall be with her in an hour.
+Then come back and work here.”
+
+Then he and Arngeir went to Sigurd, and told him all from the
+beginning. And when the jarl heard, he was glad for the safety of the
+queen and of Havelok, but he said that there was no doubt that Denmark
+was no place for Grim any longer.
+
+“That is my thought also,” said my father; “but now am I Havelok’s
+foster-father, and for him I can make a home across the sea, where I
+will train him up for the time that shall surely come, when he shall
+return and take his father’s kingdom.”
+
+“That is well,” the jarl said, “but you have little time. What Hodulf
+will do one cannot say, but he may come here with his men behind him to
+force me to give you up, and the town will be searched for Havelok, and
+both he and the queen will be lost.”
+
+“If that is so,” my father answered, “we have time enough. Two hours
+for the spy to reach his master; one hour for Hodulf to hear him, and
+to bethink himself; an hour for gathering his men; and four hours, at
+the least, in which to get here. Eight hours, at the least, have we,
+and the tide serves in six. I had thought of waiting till dark, but
+that is of no use now. We may as well go, for there are true men here,
+who will wait to welcome him who flies when he comes again.”
+
+“This is a sore wrench for you and yours, good friend and faithful,”
+Sigurd said, “but it must be. Nevertheless I can make your loss as
+little as it may be. You shall sell all that is yours to me at your own
+price, that you may have the means to make a new home well, wherever
+you may choose.”
+
+At first my father would not have that, saying that there would be much
+trouble on his account presently.
+
+But Sigurd said that, first, the trouble was not of his making at all;
+and next, that if Hodulf plundered the place, it was as well to send
+away as much as possible beforehand; and lastly—and this was what
+touched my father most—that he must think of his charge.
+
+“Why, old friend, you are giving up all for Havelok, as would I. And am
+I to have no share in the training of him for the days to come?”
+
+Therewith he waited for no more words, but went to his great chest, and
+took thereout chain after chain of linked gold rings, and put them in a
+canvas bag, without weighing or counting them, and gave them to Grim.
+
+“Lord, here is enough to buy half the town!” my father said.
+
+“What of that? The town is Havelok’s by right, and maybe you can buy
+him a village across seas with it. But give me a full quittance for my
+purchase of your goods and cattle and house, that I may have right to
+them.”
+
+That Grim did at once, before witnesses who were called in, none
+wondering that he chose thus to secure his property while he was away,
+because Hodulf might make demands on it. They did not know that any
+money changed hands, and thought it formal only, and a wise thing to be
+done.
+
+After that Grim and Arngeir took leave of the jarl, thanking him, and
+they went to our house.
+
+There waited my mother anxiously enough, for she knew from my message
+that there was somewhat new to be told, or my father had not left the
+ship. Nor do I think that what was to be done was altogether a surprise
+to her, for she had thought much, and knew the dangers that might crop
+up. So, being very brave, she strove to make light of the trouble that
+leaving her home cost her, and set about gathering the few things that
+she could take.
+
+Now on the hearth sat Withelm, tending the fire, and he heard presently
+that we were all to go to sea; and that pleased him well, for he had
+ever longed to sail with his father. As for Havelok, he had waked once,
+and had well eaten, and now was sleeping again.
+
+Then said Withelm, “When will the sacrifice to Aegir and Ran[5] for
+luck on the swan’s path be?”
+
+“Scant time have we for that,” my father said, “for tide will not
+wait.”
+
+“Then,” said the boy, “it were well to take the stone altar with us,
+and make sacrifice on board. I have heard that Aegir is wrathful and
+strong.”
+
+Then my father said to Leva, “The boy is right in one thing, and that
+is, that if we are to make a new home beyond the sea, the blue stones
+that have belonged to our family since time untold should go with us,
+else will there be no luck in this flitting.”
+
+“What matter?”
+
+“West they came with us in the days of Odin, and west they shall go
+with us once more,” my father said.
+
+And there was an end of question on the matter, for presently Arngeir
+came up with the team of oxen and a sled, and my father hastily cried
+to Thor as in time of sudden war, and then on the sled they loaded the
+stones easily. I helped, and it is certain that they were no trouble to
+uproot or lift, though they were bedded in the ground and heavy.
+Wherefrom we all thought that the flitting was by the will of the
+Norns, and likely to turn out well.
+
+But in no way could we lift Thor himself. It was as if he were rooted,
+and maybe he was so. Therefore we left him, but sadly.
+
+One may suppose that, had any noticed that Grim was taking these sacred
+things with him, there would have been a talk; but as we sailed light,
+none thought them aught but needed ballast; and we brought other stones
+to the ship with them and afterwards.
+
+Of course folk did wonder at this sudden sailing of ours, but my father
+made no secret of his wish to get out of the way of Hodulf, who had
+taken the ships of one or two other men elsewhere, so that all thought
+he feared that his would be the next to be seized, and deemed him
+prudent in going. As for our own crew, they were told that it was
+certain that the ship would be taken unless we went on this tide, and
+so they worked well.
+
+Very early in the morning, and unseen, Arngeir had brought Eleyn, the
+queen, on board, and she was in the cabin under the raised after deck
+all the while that the bustle of making ready was going on. Only my
+father went in there at any time, unless he gave the key to one of us,
+for there he kept his valuables and the arms.
+
+Presently, when all the men were forward and busy, I got Havelok on
+board unnoticed. We had kept Withelm running to and fro from ship to
+house with little burdens all the morning, mightily busy; and then,
+when the chance came, Havelok in Withelm’s clothes, and with a bundle
+on his head, came running to me. I waited by the after cabin, and I
+opened the door quickly and let him in. Then he saw his mother; and how
+those two met, who had thought each other lost beyond finding, I will
+not try to say.
+
+I closed the door softly and left them, locking it again, and found
+Withelm close to me, and Arngeir watching to see that all went well.
+
+Soon after that there came a Norseman, dressed as a merchant, who
+talked with my father of goods, and lading, and whither he was bound,
+and the like. When he went away, he thought that he had found out that
+we were for the Texel, but I do not know that he was from Hodulf. There
+had been time for him to send a spy in haste, however, if he wished to
+watch us; but at any rate this man heard naught of our charges.
+
+Then, at the last moment, my mother and the children came on board, and
+at once we hauled out of the harbour. I mind that an old woman ran
+along the wharf when she found that all were going, and cried that Dame
+Leva had not paid for certain fowls bought of her; and my father
+laughed in lightness of heart, and threw her a silver penny, so that
+she let us go with a blessing. And after that it did not matter what
+the people thought of this going of ours, for in an hour we were far at
+sea with a fair wind on the quarter, heading south at first, that the
+Norseman might see us, but when the land was dim astern, and there was
+no more fear, bearing away south and west for the Humber in far-off
+England.
+
+Now that was the last I saw of Denmark for many a long year, and I knew
+it must be so. But, as I have told, none but my father and mother, and
+now Arngeir, knew all that we were carrying with us.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+ACROSS THE SWAN’S PATH.
+
+
+All that night, and during the morning of the next day, we sailed
+steadily with a fresh northwest breeze that bade fair to strengthen
+by-and-by. If it held, we should see the cliffs of Northumbria on our
+bow tomorrow morning, and then would run down the coast to the Humber,
+where my father meant to put in first. He thought to leave the queen
+and Havelok with merchants whom he knew in Lindsey, and with them would
+stay my mother and the little ones while he made a trading voyage
+elsewhere. There would be time enough to find out the best place in
+which to make a home when the autumn came, and after he had been to an
+English port or two that he did not know yet.
+
+When half the morning was past, the sun shone out warmly, and all came
+on deck from the after cabin, where the ladies and children were. Our
+men knew by this time that we had passengers, flying like ourselves
+from Hodulf, and therefore they were not at all surprised to see
+Havelok and his mother with their mistress. None of them had ever seen
+either of them before, as it happened, though I do not think that any
+could have recognized the queen as she was then, wan and worn with the
+terror of her long hiding. Very silent was she as she sat on deck
+gazing ever at the long white wake of the ship that seemed to stretch
+for a little way towards Denmark, only to fade away as a track over
+which one may never go back. And silent, too, was my mother; but the
+children, who had no care, were pleased with all things, and Raven and
+I were full of the ways of old seamen.
+
+So everything went quietly until after we had our midday meal. We were
+all amidships on the wide deck, except my father and Arngeir, who sat
+side by side on the steersman’s bench on the high poop. There was no
+spray coming on board, for we were running, and the ship was very
+steady. Raven and I were forward with the men, busy with the many
+little things yet to be done to the rigging and such like that had been
+left in the haste at last, and there was no thought but that this
+quiet, save for some shift of wind maybe, would last until we saw the
+English shore.
+
+Now I do not know if my father had seen aught from the after deck, but
+presently he came forward, and passed up the steps to the forecastle,
+and there sat down on the weather rail, looking out to leeward for some
+time quietly. I thought that maybe he had sighted some of the high land
+on the Scots coast, for it was clear enough to see very far, and so I
+went to see also. But there was nothing, and we talked of this and that
+for ten minutes, when he said, “Look and see if you can catch sight of
+aught on the skyline just aft of the fore stay as you sit.”
+
+I looked long, and presently caught sight of something white that
+showed for a moment as we heaved up on a wave, and then was gone.
+
+“Somewhat I saw,” I said, “but it has gone. It might have been the top
+of a sail.”
+
+Then I caught a glimpse of it again, and my father saw it also, and, as
+we watched, it hove up slowly until it was plain to be seen. The vessel
+it belonged to was sailing in such a way as to cross our course in the
+end, though she was only a few points nearer the wind than we were. It
+seemed that she was swifter than ourselves, too, from the way she kept
+her place on our bow. Now a merchant must needs look on every sail with
+more or less distrust, as there is always a chance of meeting with
+ship-plundering Vikings, though the best of them will do naught but
+take toll from a trader on the high seas. So before long all our men
+were watching the stranger, and soon it was plain that she was a
+longship, fresh from her winter quarters. We thought, therefore, that
+she was not likely to trouble about us, having no need of stores as
+yet, and we being plainly in ballast only. Nor did she alter her course
+in any way, but mile after mile she sailed with us, always edging up
+nearer as she went, until at last we could see the men on her bows and
+the helmsman at his place.
+
+I thought that one could hardly see a more handsome ship than she was,
+fresh with new paint, and with her dragon head shining golden in the
+sun. But I had seen her before, and that in no pleasant way. She was
+the ship of which I have already spoken—that which we beat off two
+years ago, taking their cargo of plunder by way of amends for being
+attacked.
+
+There was this difference, however, at that time, that then we had all
+our men on board, and the Viking was short-handed after a fighting
+raid, whereas now we had but fifteen men instead of five-and-twenty,
+because in the hurry we had not had time to summon any who lived beyond
+the town, and it was plain that the Viking had a full crew, maybe of
+sixty men.
+
+“It is in my mind,” my father said to Arngeir, “that our old foe will
+think twice before he attacks us again; but seeing whom we have to deal
+with, it is as well to be ready. We might keep him off with arrows, if
+he does not find out how few we are, should he make an attempt on us;
+but if he boards, we must submit, and make the best bargain we can.”
+
+So he passed word that the men were to lie down on deck, leaving only a
+few to be seen, that the Viking might think us as he had known us
+before; and then the arms-chests were opened, and the bows and throwing
+weapons were set to hand by us boys while the men armed themselves.
+
+Then my father spoke to them, saying, “I do not know if this Viking
+will pass us by as too hard a nut to crack, seeing that he knows of us
+already; but if he does not, it will be of no use our trying to fight
+him, as you can see. I would not waste your lives for naught. But it
+may be that a show of force will keep him off, so we will wait under
+arms until we are sure what he will do.”
+
+Then the men broke out, saying that they had beaten this man before
+with him as leader, and they were in no mind to give up without a
+fight.
+
+“Well, then,” my father answered, “it is plain that you will back me,
+and so I will call on you if there is need or chance. But we have the
+women folk to think of now, and we must not risk aught.”
+
+Now the longship held on her course steadily, never shifting her helm
+for so much as a point. In half an hour or so we must be alongside one
+another, at this rate, and that Arngeir did not altogether like the
+look of, for it would seem as if she meant to find out all about us at
+least. There was some little sea running, and it might be thought
+easier to board us on the lee side, therefore. We could not get away
+from her in any way, for even now, while she was closer hauled than we,
+she kept pace with us, and had she paid off to the same course as
+ourselves, she would have left us astern in a very short time.
+
+Presently a man swarmed up her rigging in order to look down on our
+decks, and as he went up, my father bade our men crawl over to
+windward, so that he should see all one gunwale lined with men, and so
+think that both were, and deem that we were setting a trap for them in
+order to entice them alongside by pretending to be hardly manned. At
+the same time, he sent the ladies and children into the cabin, so that
+they might not be seen.
+
+That did not please Havelok at all, for he seemed to scent a fight in
+the air, and wanted weapons, that he might stand beside the other men,
+asking for an axe for choice. It was all that I could do to quiet him
+by saying that if there was any need of him I would call him, but that
+just now we thought the Vikings would go away if they saw many warriors
+on deck. Which indeed was all that we hoped, but he thought that would
+spoil sport, and so hastened into the shelter.
+
+After that there fell a silence on us, for at any moment now we might
+be hailed by the other ship. And when we were but a bow shot apart the
+hail came. The two vessels were then broadside on to each other, we a
+little ahead, if anything. My father was steering now, fully armed, and
+Arngeir was beside him with myself. I had the big shield wherewith one
+guards the helmsman if arrows are flying.
+
+The Viking bade us strike sail, and let him come alongside, but my
+father made no answer. Still we held on, and the Viking paid off a
+little, as though he were not so sure if it were wise to fall on us, as
+we showed no fear of him.
+
+Then my father spoke to Arngeir in a stern voice that I had heard only
+when we met this same ship before.
+
+“This will not last long. If there is one chance for us, it is to run
+him down and it may be done. Our ship will stand the blow, for these
+longships are but eggshells beside her. Pass the word for the men to
+shoot the steersman when I give the word. Then they must run forward,
+lest the Vikings climb over the bows as we strike her.”
+
+Arngeir’s eyes flashed at that, and at once he went to the men, and
+there was a click and rattle as the arrows went to string, and they
+gathered themselves together in readiness to leap up when the word
+came. There seemed every chance that we should be upon the longship
+before they knew what we were about, for we had the weather gauge.
+
+Now the Viking hailed again, and again bore up for us a little, whereat
+my father smiled grimly, for it helped his plan. And this time, as
+there was no answer, his men sent an arrow or two on board, which did
+no harm.
+
+“It is plain that we are to be taken,” my father said on that, “so we
+will wait no longer. Stand by, men, and one lucky shot will do all.
+Shoot!”
+
+The helm went up as he spoke, and the men leaped to their feet, raining
+arrows round the two men who were at the helm, and down on the Viking
+we swept with a great cheer.
+
+But in a moment there were four men on her after deck, and whether the
+first helmsman was shot I cannot say; but I think not, for quickly as
+we had borne down on her she was ready, rushing away from us, instead
+of luffing helplessly, as we had expected. It would almost have seemed
+that our move had been looked for.
+
+Ten more minutes passed while we exchanged arrow flights, and then the
+longship had so gained on us that she struck sail and waited for us
+with her long oars run out and ready.
+
+“That is all we can do,” said my father, with a sort of groan. “Put up
+your weapons, men, for it is no good fighting now.”
+
+They did so, growling; and as we neared the longship, her oars took the
+water, and she flew alongside of us, and a grappling hook flung deftly
+from her bows caught our after gunwale, and at once she dropped astern,
+and swung to its chain as to a tow line. We were not so much as bidden
+to strike sail now, and the Vikings began to crowd forward in order to
+board us by the stern, as the grappling chain was hove short by their
+windlass.
+
+“Hold on,” my father cried to them “we give up. Where is your chief?”
+
+Now the men were making way for him when a strange thing happened. Out
+of the after cabin ran Havelok when he heard that word, crying that it
+was not the part of good warriors to give up while they could wield
+sword—words that surely he had learned from Gunnar, his father. And
+after him came his mother, silent, and terrified lest he should be
+harmed.
+
+Havelok ran up the steps to my father, and the queen followed. I have
+said that there was a little sea running, and this made the ships jerk
+and strain at the chain that held them together fiercely, now that it
+was so short. And even as the queen came to the top step, where there
+was no rail, for the steps were not amidships, but alongside the
+gunwale, one of these jerks came; and in a moment she was in the sea,
+and in a moment also Arngeir was after her, for he was a fine swimmer.
+
+The Vikings cried out as they saw this, but the poor queen said no
+word, nor did she ever rise again after the first time. It is likely
+that she was drawn under the longship at once.
+
+So for a little while there was no talk of terms or fighting, but all
+held their breath as they watched to see if the queen floated alongside
+anywhere; but there was only Arngeir, who swam under the lee of the
+Viking, and called to her men for guidance. They threw him a rope’s end
+as he came to the stern, and he clung to it for a little while, hoping
+to see the flash of a white hood that the queen wore, over the white
+wave crests: but at last he gave up, and the Vikings hauled him on
+board, praising him for his swimming, as he had on his mail.
+
+Then the chief turned to my father, and spoke to him across the few
+fathoms of water that were between the ships.
+
+“We meet again, Grim, as time comes round; and now I have a mind to let
+you go, though I have that old grudge against you, for I think that
+your wife is loss enough.”
+
+“Not my wife, Arnvid, but a passenger—one whom I would not have lost
+for all that you can take from me.”
+
+“Well, I am glad it is no worse. But it seems that you are in ballast.
+How comes it that you have no cargo for me, for you owe me one?”
+
+Then my father told him shortly that he had fled from Hodulf; and all
+those doings were news to the Viking, so that they talked in friendly
+wise, while the men listened, and the ships crept on together down the
+wind.
+
+But when all was told, save of the matter of Havelok, and who the lost
+lady was, the Viking laughed shortly, and said, “Pleasant gossip, Grim,
+but not business. What will you give us to go away in peace? I do not
+forget that you all but ran us down just now, and that one or two of us
+have arrows sticking in us which came from your ship. But that first
+was a good bit of seamanship, and there is not much harm from the
+last.”
+
+“Well,” said my father, “it seems to me that you owe me a ship, for it
+is certain that I once had that one, and gave her back to you.”
+
+The Viking laughed.
+
+“True enough, and therefore I give you back your ship now, and we are
+quits. But I am coming on board to see what property I can lift.”
+
+My father shrugged his shoulders, and turned away, and at once the
+Vikings hauled on the chain until their dragon head was against our
+quarter, when the chief and some twenty of his men came on board. The
+way in which they took off the hatches without staying to question
+where they should begin told a tale of many a like plundering.
+
+Then, I do not know how it was rightly, for I was aft with my father,
+there began a quarrel between the Vikings and our men; and though both
+Grim and the chief tried to stop it, five of our few were slain
+outright, and three more badly hurt before it was ended. The rest of
+our crew took refuge on the fore deck, and there bided after that. The
+whole fray was over in a few minutes, and it seemed that the Vikings
+half expected somewhat of the sort.
+
+Then they took all the linen and woollen goods, and our spare sails,
+and all the arms and armour from the men and from the chests to their
+own ship. Only they left my father and Arngeir their war gear, saying
+that it were a shame to disarm two brave men.
+
+Then the chief said, “Little cargo have you, friend Grim, and therefore
+I am the more sure that you have store of money with you. Even flight
+from Hodulf would not prevent you from taking that wherewith to trade.
+So I must have it; and it rests with you whether we tear your ship to
+splinters in hunting for your hiding place or not.”
+
+“I suppose there is no help for it, but I will say that the most of
+what I have is not mine,” said my father.
+
+“Why, what matter? When one gives gold into the hands of a seafarer,
+one has to reckon with such chances as this. You must needs hand it
+over.”
+
+So, as there was naught else to do, Grim brought out the jarl’s heavy
+bag, and gave it to the chief, who whistled to himself as he hefted it.
+
+“Grim,” he said, “for half this I would have let you go without sending
+a man on board. What is this foolishness? You must have known that.”
+
+“The gold is not mine,” my father answered; “it was my hope that you
+would have been content with the cargo.”
+
+“Well, I have met with an honest man for once,” the Viking said; and he
+called his men, and they cast off and left us.
+
+But we were in no happy plight when he had gone away to the eastward on
+his old course. Half our men were gone, for the wounded were of no use,
+and the loss of the queen weighed heavily on us. And before long it
+began to blow hard from the north, and we had to shorten sail before
+there was real need, lest it should be too much for us few presently,
+as it certainly would have been by the time that darkness fell, for the
+gale strengthened.
+
+Then, added to all this, there was trouble in the cabin under the after
+deck, for since his mother was lost, Havelok had spoken no word. I had
+brought him down to my mother from the deck, and had left him with her,
+hoping that he did not know what had happened; but now he was in a high
+fever, and sorely ill. Perhaps he would have been so in any case, after
+the long days of Hodulf’s cruelty, but he had borne them well. A child
+is apt, however, to give up, as it were, suddenly.
+
+So, burdened with trouble, we drove before the gale, and the only
+pleasant thing was to see how the good ship behaved in it, while at
+least we were on our course all the time. Therefore, one could not say
+that there was any danger; and but for these other things, none would
+have thought much of wind or sea, which were no worse than we had
+weathered many a time before. We had sea room, and no lee shore to
+fear, and the ship was stanch, and no sailor can ask for more than
+that.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+STORM AND SHIPWRECK.
+
+
+The gale held without much change through the night, and then with
+morning shifted a few points to the westward, which was nothing to
+complain of. The sea rose, and a few rain squalls came up and passed;
+but they had no weight in them, and did not keep the waves down as a
+steady fall will. And all day long it was the same, and the ship fled
+ever before it. There was no thought now of reaching any port we might
+wish, but least of all did we think of making the Lindsey shore, which
+lies open to the north and east. When the gale broke, we must find
+harbour where we could; and indeed; to my father at this time all ports
+were alike, as refuge from Hodulf. When darkness came again one of the
+wounded men died, and Havelok was yet ill in the after cabin, so that
+my mother was most anxious for him. The plunging ship was no place for
+a sick child.
+
+Now it was not possible for us to tell how far we had run since we had
+parted from the Viking, and all we knew was that we had no shore to
+fear with the wind as it was, and therefore nothing but patience was
+needed. But in the night came a sudden lull in the gale that told of a
+change at hand, and in half an hour it was blowing harder than ever
+from the northeast, and setting us down to the English coast fast, for
+we could do naught but run before such a wind. It thickened up also,
+and was very dark even until full sunrise, so that one could hardly
+tell when the sun was above the sea’s rim.
+
+I crept from the fore cabin about this time, after trying in vain to
+sleep, and found the men sheltering under the break of the deck and
+looking always to leeward. Two of them were at the steering oar with my
+father, for Arngeir was worn out, and I had left him in the cabin,
+sleeping heavily in spite of the noise of waves and straining planking.
+Maybe he would have waked in a moment had that turmoil ceased.
+
+It was of no use trying to speak to the men without shouting in their
+ears, and getting to windward to do that, moreover, and so I looked
+round to see if there was any change coming. But all was grey overhead,
+and a grey wall of rain and flying drift from the wave tops was all
+round us, blotting out all things that were half a mile from us, if
+there were anything to be blotted out. It always seems as if there must
+be somewhat beyond a thickness of any sort at sea. But there was one
+thing that I did notice, and that was that the sea was no longer grey,
+as it had been yesterday, but was browner against the cold sky, while
+the foam of the following wave crests was surely not so white as it had
+been, and at this I wondered.
+
+Then I crawled aft and went to my father and asked him what he thought
+of the wind and the chance of its dropping. He had had the lead going
+for long now.
+
+“We are right off the Humber mouth, to judge by the colour of the
+water,” he told me, “or else off the Wash, which is more to the south.
+I cannot tell which rightly, for we have run far, and maybe faster than
+I know. If only one could see—”
+
+There he stopped, and I knew enough to understand that we were in some
+peril unless a shift of wind came very soon, since the shore was under
+our lee now, if by good luck we were not carried straight into the
+great river itself. So for an hour or more I watched, and all the time
+it seemed that hope grew less, for the sea grew shorter, as if against
+tide, and ever its colour was browner with the mud of the Trent and her
+sisters.
+
+Presently, as I clung to the rail, there seemed to grow a new sound
+over and amid all those to which I had become used—as it were a low
+roaring that swelled up in the lulls, and sank and rose again. And I
+knew what it was, and held up my hand to my father, listening, and he
+heard also. It was the thunder of breakers on a sandy coast to leeward.
+
+He put his whistle to his lips and called shrilly, and the men saw him
+if they could not hear, and sprang up, clawing aft through the water
+that flooded the waist along the rail.
+
+“Breakers to leeward, men,” he cried “we must wear ship, and then shall
+clear them. We shall be standing right into Humber after that, as I
+think.”
+
+Arngeir heard the men trampling, if not the whistle, and he was with us
+directly, and heard what was to be done.
+
+“It is a chance if the yard stands it,” he said, looking aloft.
+
+“Ay, but we cannot chance going about in this sea, and we are too short
+of men to lower and hoist again. Listen!”
+
+Arngeir did so, and heard for the first time the growing anger of the
+surf on the shore, and had no more doubt. We were then running with the
+wind on the port quarter, and it was useless to haul closer to the wind
+on that tack, whereas if we could wear safely we should be leaving the
+shore at once by a little closer sailing.
+
+“Ran is spreading her nets,” said Arngeir, “but if all holds, she will
+have no luck with her fishing.”[6]
+
+Then we manned the main sheet and the guys from the great yards, but we
+were all too few for the task, which needed every man of the fifteen
+that we had sailed with. There was the back stay to be set up afresh on
+the weather quarter for the new tack also, and three men must see to
+that.
+
+We watched my father’s hand for the word, and steadily sheeted home
+until all seemed to be going well. But the next moment there was a
+crash and a cry, and we were a mastless wreck, drifting helplessly.
+Maybe some flaw of wind took us as the head of the great sail went
+over, but its power was too much for the men at guys and back stay, and
+they had the tackle torn through their hands. The mast snapped six feet
+above the deck, smashing the gunwales as it fell forward and overboard,
+but hurting none of us.
+
+Then a following sea or two broke over the stern, and I was washed from
+the poop, for I had been at the sheet, down to the deck, and there
+saved myself among the fallen rigging, half drowned. One of the men was
+washed overboard at the same time, but a bight of the rigging that was
+over the side caught him under the chin, and his mates hauled him on
+board again by the head, as it were. He was wont to make a jest of it
+afterward, saying that he was not likely to be hanged twice, but he had
+a wry neck from that day forward.
+
+No more seas came over us, for the wreck over the bows brought us head
+to wind, though we shipped a lot of water across the decks as she
+rolled in the sea. Then we rode to the drag of the fallen sail for a
+time, and it seemed quiet now that there was no noise of wind screaming
+in rigging above us. But all the while the thunder of the breakers grew
+nearer and plainer.
+
+I bided where I was, for the breath was knocked out of me for the
+moment. I saw my father lash the helm, and then he and the rest got the
+two axes that hung by the cabin door, and came forward with them. The
+mast was pounding our side in a way that would start the planking
+before long, and it must be cut adrift, and by that time I could join
+him.
+
+When that was done, and it did not take long, we cleared the anchor and
+cable and let go, for it was time. The sound of the surf was drowning
+all else. But the anchor held, and the danger was over for the while,
+and as one might think altogether; but the tide was running against the
+gale, and what might happen when it turned was another matter.
+
+Now we got the sail on deck again, and unlaced it from the yard,
+setting that in place with some sort of rigging, ready to be stepped as
+a mast if the wind shifted to any point that might help us off shore.
+
+It may be thought how we watched that one cable that held us from the
+waves and the place where they broke, for therein lay our only chance,
+and we longed for the clear light that comes after rain, that we might
+see the worst, at least, if we were to feel it. But the anchor held,
+and presently we lost the feeling of a coming terror that had been over
+us, the utmost peril being past. My father went to the after cabin now,
+and though the poor children were bruised with the heavy rolling of the
+ship as she came into the wind, they were all well save Havelok, and he
+had fallen asleep in my mother’s arms at last.
+
+With the turn of the tide, which came about three hours after midday,
+the clouds broke, and slowly the land grew out of the mists until we
+could see it plainly, though it was hardly higher than the sea that
+broke over it in whirling masses of spindrift. By-and-by we could see
+far-off hills beyond wide-stretching marshlands that looked green and
+rich across yellow sandhills that fringed the shore. And from them we
+were not a mile, and at their feet were such breakers as no ship might
+win through, though, if we might wait until they were at rest, the
+level sand was good for beaching at the neap tides. For we were well
+into Humber mouth, and to the northward of us, across the yellow water,
+was the long point of Spurn, and the ancient port of Ravenspur, with
+its Roman jetties falling into decay under the careless hand of the
+Saxon, under its shelter. There was no port on this southern side of
+the Humber, though farther south was Tetney Haven and again Saltfleet,
+to which my father had been, but neither in nor out of them might a
+vessel get in a northeast gale.
+
+I have said that this clearness came with the turn of the tide, and now
+that began to flow strongly, setting in with the wind with more than
+its wonted force, for the northwest shift of the gale had kept it from
+falling, as it always will on this coast. That, of course, I learned
+later, but it makes plain what happened next. Our anchor began to drag
+with the weight of both tide and wind, and that was the uttermost of
+our dread.
+
+Slowly it tore through its holding, and as it were step by step at
+first, and once we thought it stopped when we had paid out all the
+cable. But wind and sea were too strong, and presently again we saw the
+shore marks shifting, and we knew that there was no hope. The ship must
+touch the ground sooner or later, and then the end would come with one
+last struggle in the surf, and on shore was no man whose hand might be
+stretched to drag a spent man to the land, if he won through. It would
+have seemed less lonely had one watched us, but I did not know then
+that no pity for the wrecked need be looked for from the marshmen of
+the Lindsey shore. There was not so much as a fisher’s boat of wicker
+and skins in sight on the sandhills, where one might have looked to see
+some drawn up.
+
+Now my father went to the cabin and told my mother that things were at
+their worst, and she was very brave.
+
+“If you are to die at this time, husband,” she said, “it is good that I
+shall die with you. Better it is, as I think, than a sickness that
+comes to one and leaves the other. But after that you will go to the
+place of Odin, to Valhalla; but I whither?”
+
+Then spoke little Withelm, ever thoughtful, and now not at all afraid.
+
+“If Freya wants not a sailor’s wife who is willing to fight the waves
+with Grim, my father, it will be strange.”
+
+My mother was wont to say that this saying of the child’s did much to
+cheer her at that time, but there is little place for a woman in the
+old faiths. So she smiled at him, and that made him bold to speak of
+what he had surely been thinking since the storm began.
+
+“I suppose that Aegir is wroth because we made no sacrifice to him
+before we set sail. I think that I would cast the altar stones to him,
+that he may know that we meant to do so.”
+
+This sounds a child’s thought only, and so it was; but it set my father
+thinking, and in the end helped us out of trouble.
+
+“I have heard,” my father said, “that men in our case have thrown
+overboard the high-seat pillars, and have followed them to shore
+safely. We have none, but the stones are more sacred yet. Overboard
+they shall go, and as the boat with them goes through the surf we may
+learn somewhat.”
+
+With that he hastened on deck, and told the men what he would do; and
+they thought it a good plan, as maybe they would have deemed anything
+that seemed to call for help from the strong ones of the sea. So they
+got the boat ready to launch over the quarter, and the four stones,
+being uncovered since the Vikings took our cargo, were easily got on
+deck, and they were placed in the bottom of the boat, and steadied
+there with coils of fallen rigging, so that they could not shift. They
+were just a fair load for the boat. Then my father cried for help to
+the Asir, bidding Aegir take the altar as full sacrifice; and when we
+had done so we waited for a chance as a long wave foamed past us, and
+launched the boat fairly on its back, so that she seemed to fly from
+our hands, and was far astern in a moment.
+
+Now we looked to see her make straight for the breakers, lift on the
+first of them, and then capsize. That first line was not a quarter of a
+mile from us now.
+
+But she never reached them. She plunged away at first, heading right
+for the surf, and then went steadily westward, and up the shore line
+outside it, until she was lost to sight among the wild waves, for she
+was very low in the water.
+
+“Cheer up, men,” my father said, as he saw that; “we are not ashore
+yet, nor will be so long as the tide takes that current along shore. We
+shall stop dragging directly.”
+
+And so it was, for when the ship slowly came to the place where the
+boat had changed her course, the anchor held once more for a while
+until the gathering strength of the tide forced it to drag again. Now,
+however, it was not toward the shore that we drifted, but up the
+Humber, as the boat had gone; and as we went the sea became less heavy,
+for we were getting into the lee of the Spurn headland.
+
+Soon the clouds began to break, flying wildly overhead with patches of
+blue sky and passing sunshine in between them that gladdened us. The
+wind worked round to the eastward at the same time, and we knew that
+the end of the gale had come. But, blowing as it did right into the
+mouth of the river, the sea became more angry, and it would be worse
+yet when the tide set again outwards. Already we had shipped more water
+than was good, and we might not stand much more. It seemed best,
+therefore, to my father that we should try to run as far up the Humber
+as we might while we had the chance, for the current that held us safe
+might change as tide altered in force and depth.
+
+So we buoyed the cable, not being able to get the anchor in this sea,
+and then stepped the yard in the mast’s place, and hoisted the peak of
+the sail corner-wise as best we might; and that was enough to heel us
+almost gunwale under as the cable was slipped and the ship headed about
+up the river mouth. We shipped one or two more heavy seas as she paid
+off before the wind, but we were on the watch for them, and no harm was
+done.
+
+After that the worst was past, for every mile we flew over brought us
+into safer waters; and now we began to wonder where the boat with its
+strange cargo had gone, and we looked out for her along the shore as we
+sailed, and at last saw her, though it was a wonder that we did so.
+
+The tide had set her into a little creek that opened out suddenly, and
+there Arngeir saw her first, aground on a sandbank, with the lift of
+each wave that crept into the haven she had found sending her higher on
+it. And my father cried to us that we had best follow her; and he put
+the helm over, while we sheeted home and stood by for the shock of
+grounding.
+
+Then in a few minutes we were in a smother of foam across a little sand
+bar, and after that in quiet water, and the sorely-tried ship was safe.
+She took the ground gently enough in the little creek, not ten score
+paces from where the boat was lying, and we were but an arrow flight
+from the shore. As the tide rose the ship drifted inward toward it, so
+that we had to wait only for the ebb that we might go dry shod to the
+land.
+
+Before that time came there was rest for us all, and we needed it
+sorely. It was a wonder that none of the children had been hurt in the
+wild tossing of the ship, but children come safely through things that
+would be hard on a man. Bruised they were and very hungry, but somehow
+my mother had managed to steady them on the cabin floor, and they were
+none the worse, only Havelok slept even yet with a sleep that was too
+heavy to be broken by the worst of the tossing as he lay in my mother’s
+lap. She could not tell if this heavy sleep was good or not.
+
+Then we saw to the wounded men, and thereafter slept in the sun or in
+the fore cabin as each chose, leaving Arngeir only on watch. It was
+possible that the shore folk would be down to the strand soon, seeking
+for what the waves might have sent them, and the tide must be watched
+also.
+
+Just before its turn he woke us, for it was needful that we should get
+a line ashore to prevent the ship from going out with the ebb, and with
+one I swam ashore. There was not so much as a stump to which to make
+fast, and so one of the men followed me, and we went to the boat, set
+the altar stones carefully ashore, then fetched the spare anchor, and
+moored her with that in a place where the water seemed deep to the
+bank.
+
+It was a bad place. For when the tide fell, which it did very fast, we
+found that we had put her on a ledge. Presently therefore, and while we
+were trying to bail out the water that was in her, the ship took the
+ground aft, and we could not move her before the worst happened.
+Swiftly the tide left her, and her long keel bent and twisted, and her
+planks gaped with the strain of her own weight, all the greater for the
+water yet in her that flowed to the hanging bows. The good ship might
+sail no more. Her back was broken.
+
+That was the only time that I have ever seen my father weep. But as the
+stout timbers cracked and groaned under the strain it seemed to him as
+if the ship that he loved was calling piteously to him for help that he
+could not give, and it was too much for him. The gale that was yet
+raging overhead and the sea that was still terrible in the wide waters
+of the river had been things that had not moved him, for that the ship
+should break up in a last struggle with them was, as it were, a fitting
+end for her. But that by his fault here in the hardly-won haven she
+should meet her end was not to be borne, and he turned away from us and
+wept.
+
+Then came my mother and set her hand on his shoulder and spoke softly
+to him with wise words.
+
+“Husband, but a little while ago it would have been wonderful if there
+were one of us left alive, or one plank of the ship on another. And now
+we are all safe and unhurt, and the loss of the ship is the least of
+ills that might have been.”
+
+“Nay, wife,” he said; “you cannot understand.”
+
+“Then it is woe for the—for the one who is with us. But how had it been
+if you had seen Hodulf and his men round our house, and all the
+children slain that one might not escape, while on the roof crowed the
+red cock, and naught was left to us? We have lost less than if we had
+stayed for that, and we have gained what we sought, even safety. See,
+to the shore have come the ancient holy things of our house, and that
+not by your guidance. Surely here shall be the place for us that is
+best.”
+
+“Ay, wife; you are right in all these things, but it is not for them.”
+
+Then she laughed a little, forcing herself to do so, as it seemed.
+
+“Why, then, it is for the ship that I was ever jealous of, for she took
+you away from me. Now I think that I should be glad that she can do so
+no more. But I am not, for well I know what the trouble must be, and I
+would have you think no more of it. The good ship has saved us all, and
+so her work is done, and well done. Never, if she sailed many a long
+sea mile with you, would anything be worth telling of her besides this.
+And the burden of common things would surely be all unmeet for her
+after what she has borne hither.”
+
+“It is well said, Leva, my wife,” my father answered.
+
+From that time he was cheerful, and told us how it was certain that we
+had been brought here for good, seeing that the Norns[7] must have led
+the stones to the haven, so that this must be the place that we sought.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+THE BEGINNING OF GRIMSBY TOWN.
+
+
+Easily we went ashore when the tide fell, across the spits of sand that
+ran between the mud banks, and we climbed the low sandhill range that
+hid the land from us, and saw the place where we should bide. And it
+might have been worse; for all the level country between us and the
+hills was fat, green meadow and marsh, on which were many cattle and
+sheep feeding. Here and there were groves of great trees, hemmed in
+with the quickset fences that are as good as stockades for defence
+round the farmsteads of the English folk, and on other patches of
+rising ground were the huts of thralls or herdsmen, and across the wide
+meadows glittered and flashed streams and meres, above which the
+wildfowl that the storm had driven inland wheeled in clouds. All the
+lower hills seemed to be wooded thickly, and the alder copses that
+would shelter boar and deer and maybe wolves stretched in some places
+thence across the marsh. Pleasant and homely seemed all this after long
+looking at the restless sea.
+
+Then said my father, “Now am I no longer Grim the merchant, and that
+pride of mine is at an end. But here is a place where Grim the fisher
+may do well enough, if I am any judge of shore and sea. Here have we
+haven for the boats, and yonder swim the fish, and inland are the towns
+that need them. Nor have we seen a sign of a fisher so far as we have
+come.”
+
+Now we had been seen as soon as we stood on the sandhills; and before
+long the herdsman and thralls began to gather to us, keeping aloof
+somewhat at first, as if fearing my father’s arms. But when we spoke
+with them we could learn nothing, for they were Welsh marshmen who knew
+but little of the tongue of their English masters. Serfs they were now
+in these old fastnesses of theirs to the English folk of the
+Lindiswaras, who had won their land and called it after their own name,
+Lindsey.
+
+But before long there rode from one of the farmsteads an Englishman of
+some rank, who had been sent for, as it would seem, and he came with
+half a dozen armed housecarls behind him to see what was going on. Him
+we could understand well enough, for there is not so much difference
+between our tongue and that of the English; and when he learned our
+plight he was very kindly. His name was Witlaf Stalling, and he was the
+great man of these parts, being lord over many a mile of the marsh and
+upland, and dwelling at his own place, Stallingborough, some five miles
+to the north and inland hence.
+
+Now it had been in this man’s power to seize us and all we had as his
+own, seeing that we were cast on his shore; but he treated us as guests
+rather, bidding us shelter in one of his near farmsteads as long as we
+would, and telling my father to come and speak with him when we had
+saved what we could from the wreck. He bade the thralls help at that
+also, so that we had fallen in with a friend, and our troubles were
+less for his kindness.
+
+We saved what cargo we had left during the next few days, while we
+dwelt at the farm. Then at the height of the spring tides the ship
+broke up, for a second gale came before the sea that the last had
+raised was gone. And then I went with my father to speak with Witlaf
+the thane at Stallingborough, that we might ask his leave to make our
+home on the little haven, and there become fishers once more.
+
+That he granted readily, asking many questions about our troubles, for
+he wondered that one who had owned so good a ship seemed so content to
+become a mere fisher in a strange land, without thought of making his
+way home. But all that my father told him was that he had had to fly
+from the new king of our land, and that he had been a fisher before, so
+that there was no hardship in the change.
+
+“Friend Grim,” said Witlaf when he had heard this, “you are a brave
+man, as it seems to me, and well may you prosper here, as once before.
+I will not stand in your way. Now, if you will hold it from me on
+condition of service in any time of war, to be rendered by yourself and
+your sons and any men you may hire, I will grant you what land you will
+along the coast, so that none may question you in anything. Not that
+the land is worth aught to any but a fisher who needs a place for boats
+and nets; but if you prosper, others will come to the place, and you
+shall be master.”
+
+One could hardly have sought so much as that, and heartily did we thank
+the kindly thane, gladly taking the fore shore as he wished. But he
+said that he thought the gain was on his side, seeing what men he had
+won.
+
+“Now we must call the place by a name, for it has none,” he said,
+laughing. “Grim’s Stead, maybe?”
+
+“Call the place a town at once,” answered my father, laughing also.
+“Grimsby has a good sound to a homeless man.”
+
+So Grimsby the place has been from that day forward, and, as I suppose,
+will be now to the end of time. But for a while there was only the one
+house that we built of the timbers and planks of our ship by the side
+of the haven—a good house enough for a fisher and his family, but not
+what one would look for from the name.
+
+By the time that was built Havelok was himself again, though he had
+been near to his death. Soon he waxed strong and rosy in the sea winds,
+and out-went Withelm both in stature and strength. But it seemed that
+of all that had happened he remembered naught, either of the storm, or
+of his mother’s death, or of the time of Hodulf. My mother thought that
+the sickness had taken away his memory, and that it might come back in
+time. But from the day we came to the house on the shore he was content
+to call Grim and Leva father and mother, and ourselves were his
+brothers, even as he will hold us even now. Yet my father would never
+take him with us to the fishing, as was right, seeing who he was and
+what might lie before him. Nor did he ever ask to go, as we had asked
+since we were able to climb into the boat as she lay on the shore; and
+we who knew not who he was, and almost forgot how he came to us, ceased
+to wonder at this after a while; and it seemed right that he should be
+the home-stayer, as if there must needs be one in every household.
+
+Nevertheless he was always the foremost in all our sports, loving the
+weapon play best of all, so that it was no softness that kept him from
+the sea. I hold that the old saw that says, “What is bred in the bone
+cometh out in the flesh,” is true, and never truer than in the ways of
+Havelok.
+
+For it is not to be thought that because my father went back perforce
+to the fisher’s calling he forgot that the son of Gunnar Kirkeban
+should be brought up always in such wise that when the time came he
+should be ready to go to the slayer of his father, sword in hand, and
+knowing how to use it. Therefore both Havelok and we were trained
+always in the craft of the warrior.
+
+Witlaf the thane was right when he said that men would draw to the
+place if we prospered, and it was not so long before the name that had
+been a jest at first was so no longer. Truly we had hard times at
+first, for our one ship’s boat was all unfitted for the fishing; but
+the Humber teemed with fish, and there were stake nets to be set that
+need no boat. None seemed to care for taking the fish but ourselves,
+for the English folk had no knowledge of the riches to be won from the
+sea, and the eels of the river were the best that they ever saw. So
+they were very ready to buy, and soon the name of Grim the fisher was
+known far and wide in Lindsey, for my father made great baskets of the
+willows of the marsh, and carried his burden of fish through the land,
+alone at first, until we were able to help him, while Arngeir and we
+minded the nets.
+
+Only two of our men stayed here with us, being fishers and old comrades
+of my father. The rest he bade find their way home to Denmark to their
+wives and children, from the Northumbrian coast, or else take service
+with the king, Ethelwald, who ruled in East Anglia, beyond the Wash,
+who, being a Dane by descent from the Jutes who took part with Angles
+and Saxons in winning this new land, was glad to have Danish men for
+his housecarls. Some went to him, and were well received there, as we
+knew long afterwards.
+
+The man who had been washed overboard and hauled back at risk of his
+neck was one of these. His name was Mord, and he would have stayed with
+us; but my father thought it hard that he should not have some better
+chance than we could give him here, for it was not easy to live at
+first. Somewhat of the same kind he said to Arngeir, for he had heard
+of this king when he had been in the king’s new haven in the Wash some
+time ago. But Arngeir would by no means leave the uncle who had been as
+a father to him.
+
+Now when we marked out the land that Witlaf gave us, there was a good
+omen. My father set the four blue altar stones at each corner of the
+land as the boundaries, saying that thus they would hallow all the
+place, rather than make an altar again of them here where there was no
+grove to shelter them, or, indeed, any other spot that was not open,
+where a holy place might be. And when we measured the distances between
+them a second time they were greater than at first, which betokens the
+best of luck to him whose house is to be there. I suppose that they
+will bide in these places now while Grimsby is a town, for, as every
+one knows, it is unlucky to move a boundary stone.
+
+Soon my father found a man who had some skill in the shipwright’s
+craft, and brought him to our place from Saltfleet. Then we built as
+good a boat as one could wish, and, not long after that, another. But
+my father was careful that none of the Lindsey folk whom he had known
+should think that this fisher was the Grim whom they had once traded
+with, lest word should go to Hodulf in any way.
+
+Now we soon hired men to help us, and the fishing throve apace. We
+carried the fish even to the great city of Lincoln, where Alsi the
+Lindsey king had his court, though it was thirty miles away. For we had
+men in the villages on the road who took the great baskets on from one
+to another, and always Grim and one of us were there on the market day,
+and men said that never had the town and court seen such fish as Grim’s
+before. Soon, therefore, he was rich, for a fisher; and that was heard
+of by other fishers from far off, and they drew to Grimsby, so that the
+town spread, and Witlaf the good thane said that it was a lucky day
+which drove us to his shore, for he waxed rich with dues that they were
+willing to pay. We built boats and let them out to these men, so that
+one might truly say that all the fishery was Grim’s.
+
+Then a trading ship put in, hearing of the new haven, and that was a
+great day for us. But her coming made my father anxious, since Hodulf
+was likely to seek for news of Grim the merchant from any who had been
+to England; and hearing at last of him, he would perhaps be down on us,
+Vikingwise, with fire and sword. But after that traders came and went,
+and we heard naught of him except we asked for news; for he left us in
+peace, if he knew that his enemy lived yet. Men said that he was not
+much loved in Denmark.
+
+So the town grew, and well did we prosper, so that there is naught to
+be said of any more trouble, which is what my story seems to be made up
+of so far. Yet we had come well through all at last; and that, I
+suppose, is what makes the tale of any man worth hearing.
+
+Twelve years went all well thus, and in those years Havelok came to
+manhood, though not yet to his full strength. What that would be in a
+few more summers none could tell, for he was already almost a giant in
+build and power, so that he could lift and carry at once the four great
+fish baskets, which we bore one at a time when full of fish, easily,
+and it was he who could get a stranded boat afloat when we could hardly
+move her between us, though all three of us were strong as we grew up.
+
+Very handsome was Havelok also, and, like many very strong men, very
+quiet. And all loved him, from the children who played along the
+water’s edge to the oldest dame in the town; for he had a good word for
+all, and there was not one in the place whom he had not helped at one
+time or another. More than one there was who owed him life—either his
+own, or that of a child saved from the water.
+
+Most of all Havelok loved my father; and once, when he was about
+eighteen, he took it into his head that he was burdensome to him by
+reason of his great growth. So nothing would satisfy him but that he
+must go with us to the fishing, though it was against Grim’s will
+somewhat. But he could make no hand at it, seeing that he could pull
+any two of us round if he took an oar, and being as likely as not to
+break that moreover. Nor could he bear the quiet of the long waiting at
+the drift nets, when hour after hour of the night goes by in silence
+before the herring shoal comes in a river of blue and silver and the
+buoys sink with its weight; rather would he be at the weapon play with
+the sons of Witlaf, our friend, who loved him.
+
+But though the fishing was not for him, after a while he would not be
+idle, saying, when my father tried to persuade him to trouble not at
+all about our work, that it was no shame for a man to work, but,
+rather, that he should not do so. So one day he went to the old Welsh
+basket maker who served us, and bade him make a great basket after his
+own pattern, the like of which the old man had never so much as thought
+of.
+
+“Indeed, master,” he said, when it was done, “you will never be able to
+carry so great a load of fish as that will hold.”
+
+“Let us see,” quoth Havelok, laughing; and with that he put him gently
+into it, and lifted him into the air, and on to his mighty shoulder,
+carrying him easily, and setting him down in safety.
+
+The basket maker was cross at first, but none was able to be angry with
+Havelok long, and he too began to smile.
+
+“It is ‘curan’ that you are, master,” he said; “not even Arthur himself
+could have done that.”
+
+“Many times have I heard your folk call me that. I would learn what it
+means,” said Havelok.
+
+But the old man could hardly find the English word for the name, which
+means “a wonder,” and nothing more. Nevertheless the marsh folk were
+wont to call their friend “Hablok Curan” in their talk, for a wonder he
+was to all who knew him.
+
+So he came home with his great basket, and said, “Here sit I by the
+fire, eating more than my share, and helping to win it not at all. Now
+will I make amends, for I will go the fisher’s rounds through the
+marshlands with my basket, and I think that I shall do well.”
+
+Now my father tried to prevent him doing this, because, as I know now,
+it was not work for a king’s son. But Havelok would not be denied.
+
+“Fat and idle am I, and my muscles need hardening,” he said. “Let me
+go, father, for I was restless at home.”
+
+So from that time he went out into the marshland far and wide, and the
+people grew to know and love him well. Always he came back with his
+fish sold, and gave money and full account to my father, and mostly the
+account would end thus:
+
+“Four fish also there were more, but the burden was heavy, and so I
+even gave them to a certain old dame.”
+
+And my mother would say, “It is likely that the burden was lighter for
+her blessing.”
+
+And, truly, if the love of poor folk did help, Havelok’s burden weighed
+naught, great though it was.
+
+Yet we thought little of the blessings of the Welsh folk of the marsh
+in those days, for they blessed not in the names of the Asir, being
+sons of the British Christians of long ago, and many, as I think,
+Christians yet. Witlaf and all the English folk were Odin’s men, as we
+were, having a temple at the place called Thor’s Way, among the hills.
+But we had naught to do with the faith of the thralls, which was not
+our business. Only Withelm was curious in the matter, and was wont to
+ask them thereof at times, though at first they feared to tell him
+anything, seeing how the Saxons and English had treated the Christian
+folk at their first coming. But that was forgotten now, by the English
+at least, and times were quiet for these poor folk. There was a wise
+man, too, of their faith, who lived in the wild hills not far from the
+city, and they were wont to go to him for advice if they needed it.
+They said also that the king of Lindsey had once been a Christian, for
+he was Welsh by birth on his mother’s side, and had been so brought up.
+It is certain that his sister Orwenna, who married Ethelwald of East
+Anglia, was one, but I have seen Alsi the king at the feasts of the
+Asir at Thor’s Way when Yuletide was kept, so it is not so certain
+about him. He had many Welsh nobles about him at the court, kinsmen of
+his mother mostly, so that it did not seem strange, though there is not
+much love lost between the English and the folk whom they conquered, as
+one might suppose.
+
+Now, as I have said, none but Withelm thought twice about these things;
+but in the end the love of the marsh folk was a thing that was needed,
+and that Withelm had learned somewhat of their faith was the greatest
+help that could be, as will be seen.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+BROTHERHOOD.
+
+
+True are the words of the Havamal, the song of the wisdom of Odin,
+which say, “One may know and no other, but all men know if three know.”
+
+Therefore for all these years my father told none of us the secret of
+Havelok’s birth; and when Arngeir married my sister Solva he made him
+take oath that he would not tell what he knew to her, while she, being
+but a child at the time of the flight, had forgotten how this
+well-loved brother of hers came to us. But it happened once that Grim
+was sick, and it seemed likely that he would die, so that this secret
+weighed on him, and he did not rightly know what to do for the best,
+Havelok at the time being but seventeen, and the time that he should
+think of his own place not being yet come. At that time he told Arngeir
+all that he foresaw, and set things in order, that we three should not
+be backward when need was.
+
+He called us to him, Havelok not being present, and spoke to us.
+
+“Sons,” he said, “well have you all obeyed me all these years, and I
+think that you will listen to me now, for I must speak to you of
+Havelok, who came to us as you know. Out of his saving from his foes
+came our flight here; and I will not find fault with any of the things
+that happened, for they have turned out well, save that it seems that I
+may never see the land of my birth again, and at times I weary for it.
+For me Denmark seems to lie within the four square of the ancient
+stones; but if you will do my bidding, you and Havelok shall see her
+again, though how I cannot tell.”
+
+Then I could hardly speak for trouble, but Withelm said softly, “As we
+have been wont to do, father, so it shall be.”
+
+“Well shall my word be kept, therefore,” Grim said, smiling on us.
+“Listen, therefore. In the days to come, when time is ripe, Arngeir
+shall tell you more of Havelok your foster-brother, and there will be
+signs enough by which he shall know that it is time to speak. And then
+Havelok will need all the help that you can give him; and as your lord
+shall you serve him, with both hands, and with life itself if need be.
+And I seem to see that each of you has his place beside him—Radbard as
+his strong helper, and Raven as his watchful comrade, and Withelm as
+his counsellor. For ‘Bare is back without brother behind it,’ son
+Radbard and ‘Ere one goes out, give heed to the doorways,’ son Raven;
+and ‘Wisdom is wanted by him who fares widely’ son Withelm. So say the
+old proverbs, and they are true. No quarreller is Havelok; but if he
+must fight, that will be no playground. Careful is he; but he has met
+with no guile as yet, and he trusts all men. Slow to think, if sure,
+are so mighty frames as his becomes, even when quick wit is needed.”
+
+He was silent for a while, and I thought that he had no more to say,
+and I knew that he had spoken rightly of what each was best fitted for,
+but he went on once more.
+
+“This is my will, therefore, that to you shall Havelok be as the eldest
+brother from this time forward, that these places shall not have to
+come suddenly to you hereafter. Then will you know that I have spoken
+rightly, though maybe it seems hard to Radbard and Raven now, they
+being so much older.”
+
+Then I said truly that already Havelok was first in our hearts. And
+that was true, for he was as a king among us—a king who was served by
+all with loving readiness, and yet one who served all. Maybe that is
+just what makes a good king when all is said and done.
+
+Then my father bade us carry him out of the house and down to the shore
+where there was a lonely place in the sandhills, covered with the
+sweet, short grass that the sheep love; and, while Raven and I bore
+him, Withelm went and brought Havelok.
+
+“This is well, father,” he said gladly. “I had not thought you strong
+enough to come thus far.”
+
+“Maybe it is the last time that I come living out of the house,” Grim
+said; “but there is one thing yet to be done, and it must be done here.
+See, son Havelok, these are your brothers in all but blood, and they
+must be that also in the old Danish way.”
+
+“Nothing more is needed, father,” Havelok said, wondering. “I have no
+brothers but these of mine, and they could be no more so.”
+
+Thereat my father smiled, as well content, but he said that the ancient
+way must he kept.
+
+“But I am sorely weak,” he added. “Fetch hither Arngeir.”
+
+It was because of this illness that none of us were at the fishing on
+that day, and Arngeir was not long in coming. And while we waited for
+that little while my father was silent, looking ever northward to the
+land that he had given up for Havelok; and I think that foster-son of
+his knew it, for he knelt beside him and set his strong arm round him,
+saying nothing. So Arngeir came with Raven, who went for him, and my
+father told him what he needed to be done; and Arngeir said that it was
+well thought of, and went to work with his seax on the smooth turf.
+
+He cut a long strip where it seemed to be toughest, leaving the ends
+yet fast, and carefully he raised it and stretched it until it would
+make an arch some three spans high, and so propped it at either end
+with more turf that it stayed in that position.
+
+Then my father said, “This is the old custom, that they who are of
+different family should be brothers indeed. Out of one earth should
+they be made afresh, as it were, that on the face of earth they shall
+be one. Pass therefore under the arch, beginning with Havelok.”
+
+Then, while my father spoke strange and ancient runes, Havelok did as
+he was bidden, kneeling down and creeping under the uplifted turf; and
+as I came after him he gave me his hand and raised me, and so with each
+of the other two. And then, unbidden, Arngeir followed, for he too
+loved Havelok, and would fain be his brother indeed.
+
+After that my father took a sharp flint knife that he had brought with
+him, and with it cut Havelok’s arm a little, and each of us set his
+lips to that wound, and afterwards he to the like marks in our right
+arms, and so the ancient rite was complete.
+
+Yet it had not been needed, as I know, for not even I ever thought of
+him but as the dearest of brothers, though I minded how he came.
+
+Now after this my father grew stronger, maybe because this was off his
+mind; but he might never go to sea again, nor even to Lincoln town, for
+he was not strong enough. What his illness was I do not rightly know,
+hut I do not think that any one here overlooked him, though it might be
+that from across the sea Hodulf had power to work him harm. It was said
+that he had Finnish wizards about his court; but if that was so, he
+never harmed the one whom he had most to fear—even Havelok. But then I
+suppose that even a Finn could not harm one for whom great things are
+in store.
+
+So two years more passed over, and then came the time of which one
+almost fears to think—the time of the great famine. Slowly it came on
+the land; but we could see it coming, and the dread of it was fearsome,
+but for the hope that never quite leaves a man until the end. For first
+the wheat that was winter sown came not up but in scattered blades here
+and there, and then ere the spring-sown grain had lain in the land for
+three weeks it had rotted, and over the rich, ploughed lands seemed to
+rise a sour smell in the springtime air, when one longs for the
+sweetness of growing things. And then came drought in April, and all
+day long the sun shone, or if it were not shining the clouds that hid
+it were hard and grey and high and still over land and sea.
+
+Then before the marsh folk knew what they were doing, the merchants of
+Lincoln had bought the stored corn, giving prices that should have told
+men that it was precious to those who sold as to the buyers; and then
+the grass failed in the drought, and the farmers were glad to sell the
+cattle and sheep for what they could gain, rather than see them starve.
+
+Then my father bade us dry and store all the fish we might against the
+time that he saw was coming, and hard we worked at that. And even as we
+toiled, from day to day we caught less, for the fish were leaving the
+shores, and we had to go farther and farther for them, until at last a
+day came when the boats came home empty, and the women wept at the
+shore as the men drew them up silently, looking away from those whom
+they could feed no longer.
+
+That was the worst day, as I think, and it was in high summer. I mind
+that I went to Stallingborough that day with the last of the fresh fish
+of yesterday’s catch for Witlaf’s household, and it was hotter than
+ever; and in all the orchards hung not one green apple, and even the
+hardy blackberry briers had no leaves or sign of blossom, and in the
+dikes the watercress was blackened and evil to see.
+
+But I will say that in Grimsby we felt not the worst, by reason of that
+wisdom of my father, and always Witlaf and his house shared with us.
+Hard it was here, but elsewhere harder.
+
+And then came the pestilence that goes with famine always. I have heard
+that men have prayed to their gods for that, for it has seemed better
+to them to die than live.
+
+With the first breath of the pestilence died Grim my father, and about
+that I do not like to say much. He bade us remember the words he had
+spoken of Havelok our brother, and he spoke long to Arngeir in private
+of the same; and then he told us to lay him in mound in the ancient
+way, but with his face toward Denmark, whence we came. And thereafter
+he said no more, but lay still until there came up suddenly through the
+thick air a thunderstorm from the north; and in that he passed, and
+with his passing the rain came.
+
+Thereof Withelm said that surely Odin fetched him, and that at once he
+had made prayer for us. But the Welsh folk said that not Odin but the
+White Christ had taken the man who had been a father to them, and had
+staved off the worst of the famine from them.
+
+Then pined and died my mother Leva, for she passed in her sleep on the
+day before we made the mound over her husband, and so we laid them in
+it together, and that was well for both, as I think, for so they would
+have wished.
+
+So we made a great bale fire over my father’s mound, where it stood
+over the highest sandhill; and no warrior was ever more wept, for
+English and Welsh and Danes were at one in this. We set his weapons
+with him, and laid him in the boat that was the best—and a Saxon gave
+that—and in it oars and mast and sail, and so covered him therein. And
+so he waits for the end of all things that are now, and the beginning
+of those better ones that shall be.
+
+That thunderstorm was nothing to the land, for it skirted the shores
+and died away to the south, and after it came the heat again; but at
+least it brought a little hope. There were fish along the shore that
+night, too, if not many; and though they were gone again in the
+morning, there was a better store in every house, for men were mindful
+of Grim’s teaching.
+
+Now, of all men, Havelok seemed to feel the trouble of the famine the
+most, because he could not bear to see the children hungry in the
+cottages of the fishers. It seemed to him that he had more than his
+share of the stores, because so mighty a frame of his needed feeding
+mightily, as he said. And so for two days after my father died and was
+left in his last resting, Havelok went silent about the place. Here by
+the shore the pestilence hardly came, and so that trouble was not added
+to us, though the weak and old went, as had Grim and Leva, here and
+there.
+
+Then, on the third day, Havelok called Arngeir and us, and spoke what
+was in his mind.
+
+“Brothers, I may not bear this any longer, and I must go away. I can do
+no more to help than can the weakest in the town; and even my strength
+is an added trouble to those who have not enough without me. Day by day
+grows the store in the house less; and it will waste more slowly if I
+am elsewhere.”
+
+Then Arngeir said quickly, “This is foolishness, Havelok, my brother.
+Whither will you go? For worse is the famine inland; and I think that
+we may last out here. The fish will come back presently.”
+
+“I will go to Lincoln. All know that there is plenty there, for the
+townsfolk were wise in time. There is the court, and at the court a
+strong man is likely to be welcome, if only as one who shall keep the
+starving poor from the doors, as porter.”
+
+He spoke bitterly, for Alsi, the king, had no good name for kindness,
+and at that Withelm laughed sadly.
+
+“Few poor would Havelok turn away,” he said, under his breath; “rather
+were he likely to take the king’s food from the very board, and share
+it among them.”
+
+That made us laugh a little, for it was true enough; and one might seem
+to see our mighty one sweeping the table, while none dared try to stay
+him.
+
+But many times of late Havelok had gone dinnerless, that he might feed
+some weak one in the village. Maybe some of us did likewise; but, if
+so, we learned from him.
+
+“Well, then,” Havelok said, when we had had our wretched laugh, “Alsi,
+the king, can better afford to feed me than can anyone else. Therefore,
+I will go and see about it. And if not the king, then, doubtless, some
+rich merchant will give me food for work, seeing that I can lift things
+handily. But Radbard here is a great and hungry man also, and it will
+be well that he come with me; or else, being young and helpless, I may
+fall into bad hands.”
+
+So he spoke, jesting and making little of the matter. But I saw that he
+was right, and that we who were strong to take what might come should
+go away. It was likely that a day of our meals would make a week’s fare
+for Arngeir’s three little ones, and they were to be thought for.
+
+Now for a little while Arngeir tried to keep us back; but it was plain
+that he knew also that our going was well thought of, and only his care
+for Havelok stood in the way. Indeed, he said that I and Raven might
+go.
+
+“Raven knows as much about the fish as did our father,” Havelok said.
+“He will go out in the morning, and look at sky and sea, and sniff at
+the wind; and if I say it will be fine, he says that the herrings will
+be in such a place; and so they are, while maybe it rains all day to
+spite my weather wisdom. You cannot do without Raven; for it is ill to
+miss any chance of the sea just now. Nor can Withelm go, for he knows
+all in the place, and who is most in want. It will not do to be without
+house steward. So we two will go. Never have I been to Lincoln yet, and
+Radbard knows the place well.”
+
+I think that I have never said that Grim would never take Havelok to
+the city, lest he should be known by some of the Danish folk who came
+now and then to the court, some from over seas, and others from the
+court of King Ethelwald, of whom I have spoken, the Norfolk king. But
+that danger was surely over now, for Havelok would be forgotten in
+Denmark; and Ethelwald was long dead, and his wife also, leaving his
+daughter Goldberga to her uncle Alsi, as his ward. So Alsi held both
+kingdoms until the princess was of age, when she would take her own. It
+was said that she lived at Dover until that time, and so none of her
+Danes were likely to be at court if we went there and found places.
+
+So Havelok’s plan was to be carried out, and he and I were to set forth
+next morning. Arngeir was yet uneasy about it, nevertheless, as one
+could see; but I did not at that time know why it should be so doubtful
+a matter that two strong men should go forth and seek their fortune but
+thirty miles away. So we laughed at him.
+
+“Well,” he said, “every one knows Radbard; but they will want to know
+who his tall comrade may be. Old foes has Havelok, as Radbard knows,
+and therefore it may be well to find a new name for him.”
+
+“No need to go far for that,” Withelm said. “The marsh folk call him
+Curan.”
+
+“Curan, the wonder, is good,” Arngeir said, after a little thought, for
+we all knew Welsh enough by this time. “Or if you like a Danish name
+better, brother, call it ‘Kwaran,’ but silent about yourself you must
+surely be.”
+
+We used to call him that at times—for it means “the quiet” in our old
+tongue—seeing how gentle and courtly he was in all his ways. So the
+name was well fitting in either way.
+
+“Silent and thoughtful should the son of a king be,” says the Havamal,
+and so it was with Havelok, son of Gunnar.
+
+Now when I came to think, it was plain that we three stood in the mind
+of our brother in the place which my father had boded for us, and I was
+glad. Well I knew that Raven, the watchful, and Withelm, the wise and
+thoughtful, would do their parts; and I thought that whether I could do
+mine was to be seen very shortly. If I failed in help at need it should
+not be my fault. It had been long growing in my mind who Havelok must
+be, though I said nothing of what I thought, because my father had
+bidden me be silent long ago, and I thought that I knew why.
+
+We were to start early in the morning, so that we should get to the
+city betimes in the evening; and there was one thing that troubled the
+good sisters more than it did us. They would have had us go in all our
+finery, such as we were wont to wear on holidays and at feastings; but
+none of that was left. It had gone in buying corn, while there was any
+left to buy, along with every silver penny that we had. So we must go
+in the plain fisher gear, that is made for use and not for show, frayed
+and stained, and a trifle tarry, but good enough. It would not do to go
+in our war gear into a peaceful city; and so we took but the seax that
+every Englishman wears, and the short travelling spear that all
+wayfarers use. Hardly was it likely that even the most hungry outlaw of
+the wild woldland would care to fall on us; for by this time such as we
+seemed had spent their all in food for themselves and their families,
+and all the money in Lindsey seemed to have gone away to places where
+there was yet somewhat to buy.
+
+Busy were those kind sisters of ours that night in making ready the
+last meal that we should need to take from them. And all the while they
+foretold pleasant things for us at the king’s court—how that we should
+find high honour and the like. So they set us forth well and
+cheerfully.
+
+With the dawn we started, and Havelok was thoughtful beyond his wont
+after we had bidden farewell to the home folk, so that I thought that
+he grieved for leaving them at the last.
+
+“Downhearted, are you, brother?” I said, when we had gone a couple of
+miles in silence across the level. “I have been to Lincoln two or three
+times in a month sometimes in the summer, and it is no great distance
+after all. I think nothing of the journey, or of going so short a way
+from home.”
+
+“Nor do I,” he answered. “First, I was thinking of the many times my
+father, Grim, went this way, and now he can walk no more; and then I
+was thinking of that empty cottage we passed just now, where there was
+a pleasant little family enough three months ago, who are all gone. And
+then—ay, I will tell you—I had a dream last night that stays in my
+mind, so that I think that out of this journey of ours will come
+somewhat.”
+
+“Food and shelter, to wit,” said I, “which is all we want for a month
+or two. Let us hear it.”
+
+“If we get all that I had in that dream, we shall want no more all our
+lives,” he said, with a smile; “but it seems a foolish dream, now that
+I come to tell it.”
+
+“That is mostly the way with dreams. It is strange how wonderful they
+seem until daylight comes. I have heard Witlaf’s gleeman say that the
+best lays he ever made were in his sleep; but if he remembered aught of
+them, they were naught.”
+
+“It is not like that altogether with my dream,” Havelok said, “for it
+went thus. I thought that I was in Denmark—though how I knew it was
+Denmark I cannot say—and on a hill I sat, and at my feet was stretched
+out all the land, so that I could see all over it at once. Then I
+longed for it, and I stretched out my arms to gather it in, and so long
+were they that they could well fathom it, and so I drew it to myself.
+With towns and castles it was gathered in, and the keys of the
+strongholds fell rattling at my feet, while the weight of the great
+land seemed to lie on my knees. Then said one, and the voice was the
+voice of Grim, ‘This is not all the dream that I have made for you, but
+it is enough for now.’ That is the dream, therefore, and what make you
+of it?”
+
+“A most amazing hunger, brother, certainly, and promise of enough to
+satisfy it withal. I think that the sisters have talked about our
+advancement at court until you have dreamed thereof.”
+
+“Why,” he said, “that is surely at the bottom of the dream, and I am
+foolish to think more of it.”
+
+Then we went on, and grew light hearted as the miles passed. But though
+I had seemed to think little of the dream, it went strangely with my
+thoughts of what might lie before Havelok in days to come.
+
+As we went inland from the sea, the track of the pestilence was more
+dread, for we passed house after house that had none living in them,
+and some held the deserted dead. I might say many things of what we
+saw, but I do not like to think of them much. Many a battlefield have I
+seen since that day, but I do not think them so terrible as the field
+over which has gone the foe that is unseen ere he smites. One knows the
+worst of the battle when it is over and the roll is called, but who
+knows where famine and pestilence stay? And those have given life for
+king or land willingly, but these were helpless.
+
+It was good to climb the welds and look back, for in the high lands
+there was none of this. Below us the levels, with their bright waters,
+were wrapped in a strange blue haze, that had come with the famine at
+its worst, and, as men said, had brought or made the sickness. I had
+heard of it; but it was not so plain when one was in it, or else our
+shore was free, which is likely, seeing how little we suffered.
+
+After that we kept to the high land, not so much fearing the blue robe
+of the pestilence as what things of its working we might see; and so it
+was late in the afternoon that we came in sight of Lincoln town, on its
+hill, with the wide meres and river at its feet. I have seen no city
+that stands more wonderfully than this of ours, with the grey walls of
+the Roman town to crown the gathering of red and brown roofs that
+nestle on the slope and within them. And ever as we drew nearer Havelok
+became more silent, as I thought because he had never seen so great a
+town before, until we passed the gates of the stockade that keeps the
+town that lies without the old walls, and then he said, looking round
+him strangely, “Brother, you will laugh at me, no doubt, for an arrant
+dreamer, but this is the place whereto in dreams I have been many a
+time. Now we shall come to yon turn of the road among the houses, and
+beyond that we shall surely see a stone-arched gate in a great wall,
+and spearmen on guard thereat.”
+
+It was so, and the gate and guard were before us in a few more steps.
+It was the gate of the old Roman town, inside which was the palace of
+the king and one or two more great houses only. Our English kin hate a
+walled town or a stone house, and they would not live within the strong
+walls, whose wide span was, save for the king’s palace, which was built
+partly of the house of the Roman governor, and these other halls, which
+went for naught in so wide a meadow, empty and green, and crossed by
+two paved roads, with grass growing between the stones. There were
+brown marks, as of the buried stones of other foundations, on the grass
+where the old streets had been.
+
+All the straggling English town was outside the walls, and only in time
+of war would the people use them as a stronghold, as they used the
+still more ancient camps on the hills.
+
+“Many times have you heard us tell of this place, Havelok,” I said. “It
+is no wonder that you seem to know it.”
+
+“Nay,” he answered, “but this is the city of my dreams, and somewhat is
+to happen here.”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+BERTHUN THE COOK.
+
+
+For that night we went to the house of the old dame with whom my father
+and I were wont to lodge when we came to the market, and she took us in
+willingly, though she could make little cheer for us. Truly, as had
+been said, the scarcity was not so great in Lincoln, but everything was
+terribly dear, and that to some is almost as bad.
+
+“No money have I now, dame,” I said ruefully, “but I think that for old
+sake’s sake you will not turn us away.”
+
+“Not I, faith,” she answered. “I mind the first day your father came
+here, and never a penny had he, and since then there has been no want
+in this house. Luck comes with Grim and his folk, as I think. But this
+is a son whom I have not seen before, if he is indeed your brother.”
+
+“I am Grim’s son Curan,” said Havelok, “and I have not been to Lincoln
+ere this. But I have heard of you many times.”
+
+That pleased our old hostess, and then she asked after Grim. Hard it
+was to have to tell her that he was gone, and hard it was for her to
+hear, for the little house had been open to us for ten years.
+
+“What will you do now, masters?” she asked, when she had told us of
+many a kindness done to her and her husband, who was long dead now, by
+my father.
+
+I told her that we were too many at home since the fishing had failed,
+and had therefore come to find some work here, at the court if
+possible.
+
+“Doubtless two strong men will not have to go far to find somewhat,”
+she said; “but the court is full of idle folk, and maybe no place is
+empty. Now I will have you bide with me while you are at a loose end,
+for there are yet a few silver pennies in store, and I ween that they
+came out of Grim’s pouch to me. Lonely am I, and it is no good hoarding
+them when his sons are hungry.”
+
+We thanked her for that kind saying, but she made light of it, saying
+that almost did she hope that we should find no work, that we might
+bide and lighten her loneliness for a time.
+
+“But if an old woman’s advice is good for aught, you shall not go to
+the court first of all. Sour is King Alsi, and he is likely to turn you
+away offhand rather than grant the smallest boon. But there is Berthun
+the cook, as we call him—steward is his court name though—and he orders
+the household, and is good-natured, so that all like him. Every morning
+he comes into the market, and there you can ask him if there is a place
+for you, and he loves to look on a man such as Curan. But if it is
+weapons you want—and I suppose that is in the minds of tall men always,
+though it brings sorrow in the end—there is the captain of the guard
+who lives over the gate, and he might be glad to see you enough.”
+
+We said that we would see the steward, for we wanted no long
+employment. We would go back to Grimsby when the famine ended, if it
+were only by the coming of the fish again.
+
+Then she gave us of the best she had—black bread and milk to wit; and
+after that we slept soundly before the fire, as I had done many times
+before in that humble house. Black bread and milk it was again in the
+morning; but there was plenty, and goodwill to season it. Then the old
+dame sent us forth cheerfully and early, that we might not miss Berthun
+the steward, from whom she hoped great things for us.
+
+So we sat in the marketplace for an hour or more watching the gates of
+the wall for his coming; and men stared at Havelok, so that we went to
+the bridge and waited there. One could see all the market from thence.
+There were a good many of the market folk coming in presently, and most
+of them knew me, and more than one stopped and spoke.
+
+Now Havelok grew restless, and wandered here and there looking at
+things, though not going far from me; and while I was thus alone on the
+bridge, a man I knew by sight came and leaned on the rail by me, and
+told me that he had just seen the most handsome man and the goodliest
+to look on that was in the kingdom, as he thought.
+
+“Yonder he stands,” he said, “like a king who has fallen on bad times.
+I mind that I thought that Alsi, our king, would look like that, before
+I saw him, and sorely disappointed was I in him therefore. Now I wonder
+who yon man may be?”
+
+I did not say that I knew, but I looked at Havelok, and for the first
+time, perhaps because I had never seen him among strangers before, I
+knew that he was wondrous to look on. Full head and shoulders was he
+above all the folk, and the Lindseymen are no babes in stature. And at
+the same moment it came to me that it were not well that men should
+know him as the son of Grim the fisher. If my father, who was the
+wisest of men, had been so careful for all these years, I must not be
+less so; for if there were ever any fear of the spies of Hodulf, it
+would be now when his foe might be strong enough in years to think of
+giving trouble. Not that I ever thought much of the said Hodulf, seeing
+how far off he was; but my father had brought me up to dread him for
+this brother of mine. Certainly by this time Hodulf knew that Grim had
+come to England in safety, for the name of the new town must have come
+to his ears: and if Grim, then the boy he had given to him.
+
+The man who spoke to me went away soon, and Havelok strolled back to
+me.
+
+“I would that the cook, or whoever he is, would come,” he said. “I grow
+weary of this crowd that seems to have naught to do but stare at a
+stranger.”
+
+“What shall we ask, when he does come? and supposing that there is a
+place for but one of us?” I said.
+
+“Why, then, the one it fits best will take it, and the other must seek
+some other chance. That is all.”
+
+“As you will, brother,” I answered, “but I would rather that we should
+be together.”
+
+“And I also. But after all, both will be in Lincoln, and we must take
+what comes. It is but for a little while, and we shall not like to
+burden that good old dame by being too hard to please. We want somewhat
+to do until we can go home, not for a day longer, and I care not what
+it is.”
+
+“That is right,” I said; “and the sooner I see one of our folk coming
+over this bridge with a full basket of fish, the better I shall like
+it. But it may be a long day before that. Now, I have been thinking
+that it were not well that you should say that you are the son of
+Grim.”
+
+I did not quite know how he would take this, for he was proud of my
+father as I. But that very pride made it easy.
+
+“Maybe not,” he said thoughtfully, “for it seems unworthy of his sons
+that we have to ask for service from any man. But I do not think that
+he could blame us, as things are. Nevertheless, folk shall not talk.”
+
+“Men know me,” said I, “but that cannot be helped.”
+
+He laughed gaily at that.
+
+“Why, here we speak as if one man in a hundred knew you. And after all
+it may be that we shall get a place that none need be ashamed of. Look,
+here comes a mighty fine lord from the gateway.”
+
+It was Berthun the steward, for whom we were waiting, and I knew him
+well by sight. Often had he bought our fish, but I did not think that
+he would remember me by name, if he had ever heard it. He was a portly
+and well-favoured man, not old, and as he came down the street to the
+marketplace at the hill foot he laughed and talked with one and another
+of the townsfolk, whether high or low, in very pleasant wise.
+
+Presently he stopped at a stall, and priced some meat; and when he had
+bought it he looked round and called for some men to carry it for him;
+and at that the idlers made a rush for him, tripping over one another
+in haste to be first, while he laughed at them.
+
+He chose two or three, and sent them up the hill to the palace with
+their burdens, and then went to another booth and bought.
+
+“This is work at which I should make a good hand,” said Havelok,
+laughing at the scrambling men who ran forward when the steward again
+called for porters. “Well paid also the job must be, to judge of their
+eagerness.”
+
+The three men who had been chosen took their burden and went away, and
+the steward came near us, to a bakery that was close to the bridge end.
+
+“I have a mind to do porter for once,” Havelok said. “Then I can at
+least earn somewhat to take back to the dame tonight.”
+
+“If you do so,” I answered, “I will wait here for you. But you will
+have to fight for the place.”
+
+Now the steward bought all that he needed, and that was bread for the
+whole palace for the day, and again he called for porters. Whereon
+Havelok got up from the bridge rail and went towards him in no great
+hurry, so that the idlers were in a crowd before him.
+
+“Ho! friends,” cried Havelok, “let the good cook see all of us and make
+his choice. He can only take one at a time.”
+
+“One, forsooth,” said a man from the crowd; “why, there is a load for
+four men there.”
+
+“Well, then, let him pick four little ones, and give these little ones
+a chance of being seen.”
+
+Now I do not think that he would have troubled with the matter any
+more; but whether the men knew that this was the last load that the
+steward had to send home, or whether they quarrelled, I cannot say, but
+in their eagerness to raise the two great baskets they fell to
+struggling over them, and the steward tried to quiet the turmoil by a
+free use of his staff, and there was a danger that the bread should be
+scattered.
+
+“Here will be waste of what there is none too much of just now,” said
+Havelok; and with that he went to the aid of the steward, picking up
+and setting aside the men before him, and then brushing the struggling
+rivals into a ruefully wondering heap from about the baskets, so that
+he and the steward faced each other, while there fell a silence on the
+little crowd that had gathered. Even the men who had been put aside
+stayed their abuse as they saw what manner of man had come to the
+rescue of the baskets, and Havelok and the cook began to laugh.
+
+“Fe, fi, fo, fum!” said Berthun; “here is surely a Cornish giant among
+us! Now I thank you, good Blunderbore, or whatever your name is, for
+brushing off these flies.”
+
+“The folk in this place are unmannerly,” said Havelok; “hut if you want
+the bread carried up the hill I will do it for you.”
+
+Berthun looked him up and down in a puzzled sort of way once or twice
+ere he answered, “Well, as that is your own proposal, pick your helpers
+and do so; I would not have asked such a thing of you myself.”
+
+“There is not much help needed,” said Havelok. “I think this may be
+managed if I get a fair hold.”
+
+Now we were used to seeing him carry such loads as would try the
+strength of even Raven and myself, who could lift a load for three men;
+but when he took the two great baskets of bread and swung them into
+place on either arm, a smothered shout went round the crowd, and more
+than once I heard the old Welsh name that the marsh folk had given him
+spoken.
+
+“Let us be going,” said Havelok to the steward on that. “One would
+think that none of these had ever hefted a fair load in his life, to
+listen to them.”
+
+So he nodded to me across the heads of the crowd, and followed Berthun,
+and the idlers followed him for a little. The guard turned these back
+at the gate, and Havelok went through, and I could see him no more.
+
+Presently the crowd drifted back to their places, and I heard them
+talking. Havelok and his strength was likely to be a nine days’ wonder
+in Lincoln, and I was glad that I had asked him not to say whence he
+was.
+
+“He is some thane’s son who is disguised,” said one.
+
+“Maybe he is under a vow,” said another; and then one chimed in with a
+story of some prince of Arthur’s time, by name Gareth, who hid his
+state at his mother’s command.
+
+“As for me,” said the baker, “I think that he is a fisher, as he
+looks—at least, that is, as his clothes make him.”
+
+So even he had his doubts, and I will say that I understood well enough
+now why my father never brought him here before.
+
+Havelok was long in coming back, as I thought, and I seemed to be
+wasting time here, and so I bethought me of the other man to whom the
+old dame had said we might go—namely, the captain of the gate. I should
+see Havelok if I stood there.
+
+The captain was talking with some of his men as I came up, and of
+course it was of Havelok that they spoke; and seeing that I wore the
+same dress as he, they asked me if I knew who he was.
+
+“He is a fisher from the coast,” I answered. “I have heard him called
+Curan.”
+
+“Welsh then,” the captain answered, somewhat disappointed, as it
+seemed. “If he had been a Mercian, or even a Saxon, I would have had
+him here, but a fisher has had no training in arms after all.”
+
+“Some of us have,” said I.
+
+The captain looked me up and down, and then walked round me, saying
+nothing until we were face to face again.
+
+“That, I take it, is a hint that you might like to be a housecarl of
+the king’s,” he said. “Are you a Lindseyman?”
+
+“I am the son of Grim of Grimsby,” I said.
+
+“Why, then, I suppose you would not think of it, seeing that my place
+is not empty; but if you will dress in that way you must not wonder if
+I took you for a likely man for a housecarl. We know Grim well by
+repute. Come in and tell me about the famine, and this new town of
+yours that one hears of.”
+
+Now I could not see Havelok as yet, and so I went into the stone-arched
+Roman guardroom, and Eglaf the captain fetched out a pot of wine and
+some meat, and made me very welcome while we talked. And presently I
+thought that I might do worse than be a housecarl for a time, if Eglaf
+would have me. I should be armed at least, and with comrades to help if
+Havelok needed me; though all the while I thought myself foolish for
+thinking that any harm could come to him who was so strong.
+Nevertheless, what my father had laid on us all was to be heeded, and I
+was to be his helper in arms. So presently I told Eglaf that the
+housecarl’s life seemed an easy one, and that it would be pleasant to
+go armed for a while, if he would have me for a short time, seeing that
+the famine had left us naught to do.
+
+“Well, there is plenty to eat and drink,” he said, “and good lodging in
+the great hall or here, as one’s post may be, and a silver penny every
+day; but no fighting to be done, seeing that Alsi will sooner pay a foe
+to go away than let us see to the matter. Doing naught is mighty hard
+work at times.”
+
+Then he asked if I had arms, and I said that I would send for them at
+once, and that settled the matter. If I chose to come with my own arms
+I should be welcome.
+
+“I am glad to get you,” he said, “for there will be a crowd in the
+place ere long, for the Witan is to meet, and the thanes will come with
+their men, and there will be fine doings, so that we need another
+strong arm or two that we may keep the peace,”
+
+He took a long pull at the wine pot, and then went on, “Moreover, the
+princess’s Danes are sure to want to fight some of the English folk for
+sport.”
+
+“What! is she here?”
+
+“Not yet. They say that she is coming when the Witan meets, because the
+Witan wants to see her, not because Alsi does. But he dare not go
+against them, and so it must be.”
+
+Now Goldberga, the princess, was, as I have said, Alsi’s ward, and was
+at this time just eighteen, so that it would be time for her to take
+the kingdom that was hers by right. It was common talk, however, that
+Alsi by no means liked the thought of giving the wide lands of East
+Anglia up to her, and that he would not do so if he could anywise help
+it. Maybe the Witan thought so also, and would see fair play. Ethelwald
+and his wife Orwenna had been well loved both here and in Norfolk, and
+it was said that Goldberga their daughter grew wondrous fair and
+queenly.
+
+I had learned one thing though, and that was that we should have
+Ethelwald’s Danes here shortly, and that I did not like; but after all,
+what did these few men of an old household know of the past days in
+Denmark? There had been no going backwards and forwards between the two
+countries since the king died ten years ago. Nevertheless I was glad
+that I had found a friend in Eglaf, and that I was to be here.
+
+Then I got up to go, and the captain bade me come as soon as I could,
+for he could talk to me as he could not to the men, maybe. So I bade
+him farewell, and went slowly back, down the street, sitting down in
+the old place.
+
+It was not long after that before Havelok came, and I saw Berthun the
+steward come as far as the gate with him, and stand looking after him
+as he walked away; then Eglaf came out, and both looked and talked for
+a while, and therefore, as soon as I knew that Havelok saw me, I went
+away and across the bridge to a place that was quiet, and waited for
+him there.
+
+“Well, brother,” I said, “you have had a long job with the cook. What
+is the end of it all?”
+
+“I do not know,” he answered slowly. “That is to be seen yet.”
+
+I looked at him, for his voice was strange, and I saw that he seemed to
+have the same puzzled look in his eyes as he had last night when we
+came first into the city. I asked if anything was amiss.
+
+“Nothing,” he said; “but this is a place of dreams. I think that I
+shall wake presently in Grimsby.”
+
+We walked on, and past the straggling houses outside the stockade, and
+so into the fields; and little by little he told me what was troubling
+him.
+
+Berthun the steward had said nothing until the palace was reached, and
+had led him to the great servants’ hall, and there had bidden him set
+down his load and rest. Then he had asked if he would like to see the
+place, and of course Havelok had said that he would, wondering at the
+same time if this was all the pay that the porters got. So he was shown
+the king’s hall, and the arms on the wall, and the high seat, and the
+king’s own chamber, and many more things, and all the while they seemed
+nothing strange to Havelok.
+
+“This Berthun watched me as a cat watches a mouse all the while,” he
+said, “and at last he asked if I had ever seen a king’s house before. I
+told him that I had a dream palace which had all these things, but was
+not the same. And at that he smiled and asked my name. ‘Curan,’ I said,
+of course; and at that he smiled yet more, in a way that seemed to say
+that he did not believe me. ‘It is a good name for the purpose,’ he
+said, ‘but I have to ask your pardon for calling you by the old giant’s
+name just now.’ I said that as he did not know my name, and it was a
+jest that fitted, it was no matter. Then he made a little bow, and
+asked if I would take any food before I went from the place; so I told
+him that it was just what I came for, and he laughed, and I had such a
+meal as I have not seen for months. It is in my mind that I left a
+famine in that house, so hungry was I. There is no pride about this
+Berthun, for he served me himself, and I thanked him.”
+
+Then Havelok stopped and passed his hand over his face, and he laughed
+a little, uneasy laugh.
+
+“And all the while I could not get it out of my head that he ought to
+be kneeling before me.”
+
+“Well,” he went on after a little, “when I had done, this Berthun asked
+me a question, saying that he was a discreet man, and that if he could
+help me in any way he would do so. Had I a vow on me? Nothing more than
+to earn my keep until the famine was over, I said. I had left poor folk
+who would have the more for my absence, and he seemed to think that
+this was a wondrous good deed. So I told him that if he could help me
+in this I should be glad. Whereon he lowered his voice and asked if I
+must follow the way of Gareth the prince. I had not heard of this
+worthy, and so I said that what was good enough for a prince was
+doubtless good enough for me, and that pleased him wonderfully.
+
+“‘Gladly will I take you into my service,’ he said, ‘if that will
+content you.’ Which it certainly would; and so I am to be porter again
+tomorrow. Then I said that I had a comrade to whom I must speak first.
+He said that no doubt word must be sent home of my welfare, and he saw
+me as far as the gate.”
+
+“Which of you went out of the hall first?” I asked.
+
+“Now I come to think of it, I did. I went to let him pass, as the
+elder, though it was in my mind to walk out as if the place belonged to
+me; and why, I do not know, for no such thought ever came to me in
+Witlaf’s house, or even in a cottage; but he stood aside and made me go
+first.”
+
+Now I longed for Withelm and his counsel, for one thing was plain to
+me, and that was that with the once familiar things of the kingship
+before him the lost memory of his childhood was waking in Havelok, and
+I thought that the time my father boded was at hand. The steward had
+seen that a court and its ways were no new thing to him, and had seen
+too that he had been wont to take the first place somewhere; so he had
+deemed that this princely-looking youth was under a vow of service, in
+the old way. It is likely that the Welsh name would make him think that
+he was from beyond the marches to the west, and that was just as well.
+
+Then Havelok said, “Let us go back to the widow’s house and sleep. My
+head aches sorely, and it is full of things that are confused, so that
+I do not know rightly who I am or where. Maybe it will pass with rest.”
+
+We turned hack, and then I told him what I meant to do; and that
+pleased him, for we should see one another often.
+
+“We are in luck, brother, so far,” he said, “having lit on what we
+needed so soon; but I would that these dreams would pass.”
+
+“It is the poor food of many days gone by,” I said. “Berthun will cure
+that for you very shortly.”
+
+“It is likely enough,” he answered more gaily.
+
+“Little want is in that house, but honest Berthun does not know what a
+trencherman he has hired. But I would that we had somewhat to take back
+to our good old dame tonight.”
+
+But she was more than satisfied with our news; and when she saw that
+Havelok was silent, she made some curious draught of herbs for him,
+which he swallowed, protesting, and after that he slept peacefully.
+
+I went out to the marketplace and found a man whom I knew—one of those
+who carried our fish at times; and him I sent, with promise of two
+silver pennies presently, to Arngeir for my arms, telling him that all
+was well.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+CURAN THE PORTER.
+
+
+There is no need for me to say how my arms came to me from Grimsby, and
+how I went to Eglaf as I had promised. I will only say that the life
+was pleasant enough, if idle, as a housecarl, and that I saw Havelok
+every day at one time or another, which was all that I could wish.
+
+But as I had to wait a day or two while the messenger went and the arms
+came from home, I saw Havelok meet the steward on the next day: and a
+quaint meeting enough it was, for Berthun hardly knew how he should
+behave to this man, whom he had made up his mind was a wandering
+prince.
+
+There was the crowd who waited for the call for porters, as ever; hut
+the steward would have none of them, until he saw his new man towering
+over the rest, and then he half made a motion to unbonnet, which he
+checked and turned into a beckoning wave of the hand, whereon the
+idlers made their rush for him, and Havelok walked through and over
+them, more or less, as they would not make way for him. But so
+good-naturedly was this done, that even those whom he lifted from his
+path and dropped on one side laughed when they saw who had cleared a
+way for himself, and stood gaping to see what came next.
+
+“Ho—why, yes—Curan—that was the name certainly. I have been looking for
+you, as we said,” stammered the steward.
+
+“Here am I, therefore,” answered Havelok, “and where is the load?”
+
+“Truth to tell, I have bought but this at present,” said the steward,
+pointing to a small basket of green stuff on the stall at which he
+stood.
+
+“Well, I suppose there is more to come,” Havelok said, taking it up;
+“it will be a beginning.”
+
+“I will not ask you to carry more than that,” Berthun began.
+
+“Why, man, this is foolishness. If you have a porter, make him carry
+all he can, else he will not earn his keep.”
+
+“As you will,” answered the steward, shrugging his shoulders as one who
+cannot account for some folk’s whims, and going on to the next booth.
+
+Now, I suppose that the idlers looked to see Havelok walk away with
+this light load gladly, as any one of them would have done, and that
+then their turn would have come; but this was not what they expected.
+Maybe they would have liked to see the strong man sweep up all the
+palace marketing and carry it, as a show, but it might interfere with
+their own gains. So there was a murmur or two among them, and this grew
+when Havelok took the next burden in like manner.
+
+“Ho, master cook,” cried a ragged man at last, “this is not the custom,
+and it is not fair that one man should do all the work, and all for one
+wage.”
+
+Berthun took no notice of this; and so the cry was repeated, and that
+by more than one. And at last he turned round and answered.
+
+“Go to, ye knaves,” he said with a red face and angrily; “if I find a
+man who will save me the trouble of your wrangles every day, shall I
+not do as I please?”
+
+Then there was a tumult of voices, and some of them seemed sad, as if a
+last hope was gone, and that Havelok heard.
+
+“There is somewhat in this,” he said to the cook. “What pay have you
+given to each man who carries for you?”
+
+“A yesterday’s loaf each,” answered Berthun, wondering plainly that
+Havelok paid any heed to the noise.
+
+“Well, then, let us go on, and we will think of somewhat,” Havelok
+said; and then he turned to the people, who were silent at once.
+
+“I am a newcomer, and a hungry one,” he said, smiling quietly, “and I
+have a mind to earn my loaf well. Hinder me not for today, and
+hereafter I will take my chance with the rest, if need is.”
+
+Thereat the folk began to laugh also, for it was plain that none had
+any chance at all if he chose to put forth his strength; but an old man
+said loudly, “Let the good youth alone now, and he shall talk with us
+when he has done his errand and fed that great bulk of his. He has an
+honest face, and will be fair to all.”
+
+That seemed to please the crowd; and after that they said no more, but
+followed and watched the gathering up of Havelok’s mighty burden. And
+presently there was more than he could manage; and he spoke to Berthun,
+who checked himself in a half bow as he answered.
+
+Then Havelok looked over the faces before him, and beckoned to two men
+who seemed weakly and could not press forward, and to them he gave the
+lighter wares, and so left the market with his master, as one must call
+the steward.
+
+“What told I you?” said the old man, as they came back from the great
+gate. “Never saw I one with a face like that who harmed any man, either
+in word or deed.”
+
+Now when Havelok had set down his load in the kitchen, he straightened
+himself and said to Berthun, who was, as one may say, waiting his
+pleasure.
+
+“This is today’s task; but it is in my mind that I would stay up here
+and work.”
+
+“What would you do?”
+
+“There are men yonder who will miss the carrying if I am market porter
+always. But here are things I can earn my keep at, and help the other
+servants with at the same time. Water drawing there is, and carrying of
+logs for the fire, and cleaving them also, and many other things that
+will be but hardening my muscles, while they are over heavy to be
+pleasant for other folk.”
+
+“Well,” answered Berthun, “that is all I could wish, and welcome to
+some here will you be. Let it be so.”
+
+“Now, I do not think that you would make a gain by my work this
+morning?”
+
+“Truly not, if any one is wronged by my doing so,” the puzzled steward
+said.
+
+Then Havelok asked how many men would have been needed to carry up the
+goods that he had brought, and Berthun said that he was wont to send
+one at least from each stall, and more if the burden was heavy.
+
+“Then today four poor knaves must go dinnerless by reason of my
+strength, and that does not please me altogether,” said Havelok
+gravely. “Give these two their loaves; and then, I pray you, give me
+the other four, and let me go back to the market.”
+
+And then he added, with a smile, “I think that I can order matters
+there so that things will be more fair, and that you will have less
+trouble with that unmannerly scramble.”
+
+“If you can do that, you are even as your name calls you. Take them and
+welcome, Curan, and then come here and do what work you will,” Berthun
+said in haste.
+
+“Tasks you must set me, or I shall grow idle. That is the failing of
+over-big men,” Havelok said; and he took the loaves and left the palace
+with the two market men at his heels.
+
+I saw him come back, and at once the crowd of idlers made for him, but
+in a respectful way enough. I knew, however, how easily these folks
+took to throwing mud and stones in their own quarrels, and I was a
+little anxious, for to interfere with the ways of the market is a high
+offence among them.
+
+But Havelok knew naught of that, and went his way with his loaves to
+the bridge end, and there sat on the rail and looked at the men before
+him. And _lo!_ back to my mind came old days in Denmark, and how I once
+saw Gunnar the king sitting in open court to do justice, and then I
+knew for certain that I was looking on his son. And when Havelok spoke
+it was in the voice of Gunnar that I had long forgotten, but which came
+back to me clear and plain, as if it were yesterday that I had heard
+it. Never does a boy forget his first sight of the king.
+
+“Friends,” said Havelok, “if I do two men’s work I get two men’s pay,
+or else I might want to know the reason why. But I am only one man, all
+the same, and it seems right to me that none should be the loser.
+Wherefore I have a mind to share my pay fairly.”
+
+There was a sort of shout at that and Havelok set his four loaves in a
+row on the rail beside him. But then some of the rougher men went to
+make a rush at them, and he took the foremost two and shook them, so
+that others laughed and bade the rest beware.
+
+“So that is just where the trouble comes in,” said Havelok coolly; “the
+strong get the first chance, as I did this morning, by reason of there
+being none to see fair play.”
+
+“Bide in the market, master, and we will make you judge among us,”
+cried a small man from the edge of the crowd.
+
+“Fair and softly,” Havelok answered. “I am not going to bide here
+longer than I can help. Come hither, grandfer,” and he beckoned to the
+old man who had bidden them wait his return, “tell me the names of the
+men who have been longest without any work.”
+
+The old man pointed out three, and then Havelok stopped him.
+
+“One of these loaves is my own wage,” he said; “but you three shall
+have the others, and that will be the easiest day’s work you ever did.
+But think not that I am going to do the like every day, for Lincoln
+hill is no easy climb, and the loaf is well earned at the top.
+Moreover, it is not good to encourage the idle by working for them.”
+
+So the three men had their loaves, and Havelok began to eat his own
+slowly, swinging his legs on the bridge rail while the men watched him.
+
+“Master,” said the small man from behind, pushing forward a little, now
+that the crowd was looser, “make a law for the market, I pray you, that
+all may have a chance.”
+
+“Who am I to make laws?” said my brother slowly, and, as he said this,
+his hand went up to his brows as it had gone last night when the palace
+had wearied him.
+
+“The strong make laws for the weak,” the old man said to him in a low
+voice. “If the strong is honest, for the weak it is well. Things are
+hard for the weak here; and therefore say somewhat, for it may be of
+use.”
+
+“It can be none, unless the strong is at hand to see that the law is
+kept.”
+
+“Sometimes the market will see that a rule is not broken, for itself.
+There is no rule for this matter.”
+
+Again Havelok passed his hand over his eyes, and he was long in
+answering. The loaf lay at his side now. Presently he looked straight
+before him, and, as if he saw far beyond Lincoln Hill and away to the
+north, he said, “This is my will, therefore, that from this time
+forward it shall be the law that men shall have one among them who may
+fairly and without favour so order this matter that all shall come to
+Berthun the steward in turns that shall be kept, and so also with the
+carrying for any other man. There shall be a company of porters,
+therefore, which a man must join before he shall do this work, save
+that every stranger who comes shall be suffered to take a burden once,
+and then shall be told of this company, and the custom that is to be.
+And I will that this old man shall see to this matter.”
+
+And then he stopped suddenly, and seemed to start as a great shout went
+up from the men, a shout as of praise; and his eyes looked again on
+them, and that wonderingly.
+
+“They will keep this law,” said the old man. “Well have you spoken.”
+
+“I have said a lot of foolishness, maybe,” answered Havelok. “For the
+life of me I could not say it again.”
+
+“There is not one of us that could not do so,” said his adviser. “But
+bide you here, master, in the town?”
+
+“I am in service at the palace.”
+
+Then the old man turned round to the others and said, “This is good
+that we have heard, and it is nothing fresh, for all trades have their
+companies, and why should not we? Is this stranger’s word to be kept?”
+
+Maybe there were one or two of the rougher men who held their peace,
+for they had had more than their share of work, but from the rest came
+a shout of “Ay!” as it were at the Witan.
+
+“Well, then,” said Havelok suddenly, getting down from his seat and
+giving his loaf to the old man, “see you to it; and if any give trouble
+hereafter, I shall hear from the cook, and, by Odin, I will even come
+down and knock their heads together for them. So farewell.”
+
+He smiled round pleasantly, yet in that way which has a meaning at the
+back of it; and at that every cap went off and the men did him
+reverence as to a thane at least, and he nodded to them and came across
+to me.
+
+“Come out into the fields, brother, for I shall weep if I bide here
+longer.”
+
+So he said; and we went away quickly, while the men gathered round the
+old leader who was to be, and talked earnestly.
+
+“This famine plays strange tricks with me,” he said when we were away
+from every one. “Did you hear all that I said?”
+
+“I heard all, and you have spoken the best thing that could have been
+said. Eight years have I been to this market, and a porters’ guild is
+just what is needed. And it will come about now.”
+
+“It was more dreaming, and so I must be a wise man in my dream. Even as
+in the palace yesterday it came on me, and I seemed to be at the gate
+of a great hall, and it was someone else that was speaking, and yet
+myself. It is in my mind that I told these knaves what my lordly will
+was, forsooth; and the words came to me in our old Danish tongue, so
+that it was hard not to use it. But it seems to me that long ago I did
+these things, or saw them, I know not which, somewhere. Tell me, did
+the king live in our town across the sea?”
+
+“No, but in another some way off. My father took me there once or
+twice.”
+
+“Can you mind that he took me also?”
+
+I shook my head, and longed for Withelm. Surely I would send for him,
+or for Arngeir, if this went on. Arngeir for choice, for I could tell
+him what I thought; and that would only puzzle Withelm, who knew less
+than I.
+
+“We will ask Arngeir some day,” I said; “he can remember.”
+
+“I suppose he did take me,” mused Havelok; “and I suppose that I want
+more sleep or more food or somewhat. Now we will go and tell the old
+dame of my luck, for she has lost her lodger.”
+
+Then he told me of his fortune with the steward.
+
+“Half afraid of me he seems, for he will have me do just what I will.
+That will be no hard place therefore.”
+
+But I thought that if I knew anything of Havelok my brother, he would
+be likely to make it hard by doing every one’s work for him, and that
+Berthun saw this; or else that, as I had thought last night, the shrewd
+courtier saw the prince behind the fisher’s garb.
+
+So we parted presently at the gate of the palace wall, and I went back
+to the widow to wait for my arms, while he went to his master. And I
+may as well tell the end of Havelok’s lawmaking.
+
+Berthun went down to the market next day, and came back with a wonder
+to be told. And it was to Havelok that he went first to tell it, as he
+was drawing bucket after bucket of water from the deep old Roman well
+in the courtyard to fill the great tub which he considered a fair load
+to carry at once.
+
+“There is something strange happening in the market,” he said, “and I
+think that you have a hand in it. The decency of the place is
+wonderful, and you said that you thought I might have less trouble with
+the men than I was wont if you went down with the loaves. What did you?
+For I went to the baker’s stalls and bought, and looked round for the
+tail that is after me always; and I was alone, and all the market folk
+were agape to see what was to be done. I thought that I had offended
+the market by yesterday’s business, as they had called out on me, and I
+thought that I should have to come and fetch your—that is, if it
+pleased you. But first I called, as is my wont, for porters. Now all
+that rabble sat in a row along a wall, and, by Baldur, when I looked,
+they had cleaned themselves! Whereupon an old gaffer, who has carried
+things once or twice for me when there has been no crowd and he has
+been able to come forward, lifted up his voice and asked how many men I
+wanted, so please me.
+
+“‘Two,’I said, wondering, and at that two got up and came to me, and I
+sent them off. It was the same at the next booth, and the next, for he
+told off men as I wanted them; and here am I back a full half-hour
+earlier than ever before, and no mud splashes from the crowd either. It
+is said that they have made a porters’ guild; and who has put that
+sense into their heads unless your—that is, unless you have done so, I
+cannot say.”
+
+Havelok laughed.
+
+“Well, I did tell them that they should take turns, or somewhat like
+that; and I also told them that if you complained of them I would see
+to it.”
+
+“Did you say that you would pay them, may I ask—that is, of course, if
+they were orderly? For if so, I thank—”
+
+“I told them that if you complained I would knock their heads
+together,” said Havelok.
+
+And that was the beginning of the Lincoln porters’ guild; and in after
+days Havelok was wont to say that he would that all lawmaking was as
+easy as that first trial of his. Certainly from that day forward there
+was no man in all the market who would not have done aught for my
+brother, and many a dispute was he called on to settle. It is not
+always that a law, however good it may be, finds not a single one to
+set himself against it. But then Havelok was a strong man.
+
+Now there is naught to tell of either Havelok or myself for a little
+while, for we went on in our new places comfortably enough. One heard
+much of Havelok, though, for word of him and his strength and
+goodliness, and of his kindness moreover, went through the town, with
+tales of what he had done. But I never heard that any dared to ask him
+to make a show of himself by doing feats of strength. Only when he came
+down to the guardroom sometimes with me would he take part in the
+weapon play that he loved, and the housecarls, who were all tried and
+good warriors, said that he was their master in the use of every
+weapon, and it puzzled them to know where he had learned so well, for
+he yet wore his fisher’s garb. They sent his arms with mine from
+Grimsby, thinking that he also needed them; but he left them with the
+widow.
+
+Havelok used to laugh if they asked him this, and tell them that it
+came by nature, and in that saying there was more than a little truth.
+So the housecarls, when they heard how Berthun was wont to treat him,
+thought also that he was some great man in hiding, and that the steward
+knew who he was. They did not know but that my close friendship with
+him had sprung up since he came, and that was well, and Eglaf and he
+and I were soon much together. The captain wanted him to leave the cook
+and be one of his men, but we thought that he had better bide where he
+was, rather than let Alsi the king have him always about him. For now
+and then that strange feeling, as of the old days, came over him when
+he was in the great hall, and he had to go away and brood over it for a
+while until he would set himself some mighty task and forget it.
+
+But one day he came to me and said that he was sure he knew the ways of
+a king too well for it all to be a dream, adding that Berthun saw that
+also, and was curious about him.
+
+“Tell me, brother, whence came I? _Was_ I truly brought up in a court?”
+
+“I have never heard,” I answered. “All that I know for certain is that
+you fled with us from Hodulf, the new king, and that for reasons which
+my father never told me.”
+
+Then said Havelok, “There was naught worth telling, therefore. I
+suppose I was the child of some steward like Berthun; but yet—”
+
+So he went away, and I wondered long if it were not time that Arngeir
+should tell all that he knew. It was of no good for me to say that in
+voice and ways and deed he had brought back to me the Gunnar whom I had
+not seen for so many long years, for that was as likely as not to be a
+fancy of mine, or if not a fancy, he might be only a sister’s son or
+the like. But in all that he said there was no word of his mother, and
+by that I knew that his remembrance must be but a shadow, if a growing
+one.
+
+But there was no head in all the wide street that was not turned to
+look after him; and now he went his way from me with two children, whom
+he had caught up from somewhere, perched on either shoulder, and
+another in his arms, and they crowed with delight as he made believe to
+be some giant who was to eat them forthwith, and ran up the hill with
+them. No such playmate had the Lincoln children before Havelok came.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+KING ALSI OF LINDSEY.
+
+
+Three weeks after we came the Witan[8] began to gather, and that was a
+fine sight as the great nobles of Lindsey, and of the North folk of
+East Anglia, came day by day into the town with their followings,
+taking up their quarters either in the better houses of the place or
+else pitching bright-coloured tents and pavilions on the hillside
+meadows beyond the stockades. Many brought their ladies with them, and
+all day long was feasting and mirth at one place or another, as friend
+met with friend. Never had I seen such a gay sight as the marketplace
+was at midday, when the young thanes and their men met there and
+matched their followers at all sorts of sports. The English nobles are
+far more fond of gay dress and jewels than our Danish folk, though I
+must say that when the few Danes of Ethelwald’s household came it would
+seem that they had taken kindly to the fashion of their home.
+
+Our housecarls grumbled a bit for a while, for with all the newcomers
+dressed span new for the gathering, we had had nothing fresh for it
+from the king, as was the custom, and I for one was ashamed of myself,
+for under my mail was naught but the fisher’s coat, which is good
+enough for hard wear, but not for show. But one day we were fitted out
+fresh by the king’s bounty in blue and scarlet jerkins and hose, and we
+swaggered after that with the best, as one may suppose.
+
+Berthun had the ordering of that business, and he came and sat with
+Eglaf in the gatehouse and talked of it.
+
+“Pity that you do not put your man Curan into decent gear,” the captain
+said. “That old sailcloth rig does not do either him or you or the
+court credit.”
+
+“That is what I would do,” said the steward, “but he will not take
+aught but the food that he calls his hire. He is a strange man
+altogether, and I think that he is not what he seems.”
+
+“So you have told me many times, and I think with you. He will be some
+crack-brained Welsh princeling who has been crossed in love, and so has
+taken some vow on him, as the King Arthur that they prate of taught
+them to do. Well, if he is such, it is an easy matter to make him
+clothe himself decently. It is only to tell him that the clothes are
+from the king, and no man who has been well brought up may refuse such
+a gift.”
+
+“But suppose that he thanks the king for the gift. Both he and the king
+will be wroth with me.”
+
+“Not Curan, when he has once got the things on; and as for >Alsi, he
+will take the thanks to himself, and chuckle to think that the mistake
+has gained him credit for a good deed that he never did.”
+
+“Hush, comrade, hush!” said Berthun quickly; “naught but good of the
+king!”
+
+“I said naught ill. But if Woden or Frey, or whoever looks after good
+deeds, scores the mistake to Alsi as well, it will be the first on the
+count of charity that—”
+
+But at this Berthun rose up in stately wise.
+
+“I may not listen to this. To think that here in the guardroom I should
+hear such—”
+
+“Sit down, comrade,” said Eglaf, laughing, and pulling the steward into
+his seat again. “Well you know that I would be cut to pieces for the
+king tomorrow if need were, and so I earn free speech of him I guard.
+If I may not say what I think of him to a man who knows as much of him
+as I, who may?”
+
+“I have no doubt that the king would clothe Curan if I asked him,” said
+Berthun stiffly, but noways loth to take his seat again.
+
+“But it is as much as your place is worth to do it. I know what you
+would say.”
+
+Berthun laughed.
+
+“I will do it myself, and if Alsi does get the credit, what matter?”
+
+Wherefore it came to pass that as I was on guard at the gate leading to
+the town next day I saw a most noble-looking man coming towards me, and
+I looked a second time, for I thought him one of the noblest of all the
+thanes who had yet come, and the second look told me that it was
+Havelok in this new array. I will say that honest Berthun had done his
+part well; and if the king was supposed to be the giver, he had nothing
+to complain of. Eglaf had told me of the way in which the dressing of
+Havelok was to be done.
+
+“Ho!” said I, “I thought you some newcomer.”
+
+“I hardly know myself,” he answered, “and I am not going to grumble at
+the change, seeing that this is holiday time. Berthun came to me last
+evening, and called me aside, and said that it was the king’s wont to
+dress his folk anew at the time of the Witan, and then wanted to know
+if my vow prevented me from wearing aught but fisher’s clothes. And
+when I said that if new clothes went as wage for service about the
+place I was glad to hear it, he was pleased, as if it had been likely
+that I would refuse a good offer. So the tailor went to work on me, and
+hence this finery. But you are as fine, and this is more than we
+counted on when we left Grimsby. I suppose it is all in honour of the
+lady of the North folk, Goldberga.”
+
+“Maybe, for I have heard that she is to come.”
+
+“To be fetched rather, if one is to believe all that one hears. They
+say that Alsi has kept her almost as a captive in Dover, having given
+her into the charge of some friend of his there, that she may be far
+from her own kingdom and people. Now the Norfolk Witan has made him
+bring her here. Berthun seems to think there will be trouble.”
+
+“Only because Alsi will not want to let the kingdom go from his hand to
+her. But that will not matter. He is bound by the old promise to her
+father.”
+
+Now we were talking to one another in broad Danish, there being none
+near to hear us. We had always used it among ourselves at Grimsby, for
+my father loved his old tongue. But at that moment there rode up to the
+gate a splendid horseman, young and handsome, and with great gold
+bracelets on his arms, one or two of which caught my eye at once, for
+they were of the old Danish patterns, and just such as Jarl Sigurd used
+to wear. But if I was quick to notice these tokens of the old land, he
+had been yet quicker, for he reined up before I stayed him, as was my
+duty if he would pass through this gate to the palace, so that I might
+know his authority.
+
+“If I am not mistaken,” he said in our own tongue, “I heard you two
+talking in the way I love best. Skoal, therefore, to the first Northman
+I have met between here and London town, for it is good to hear a
+friendly voice.”
+
+“Skoal to the jarl!” I answered, and I gave the salute of Sigurd’s
+courtmen, which came into my mind on the moment with the familiar
+greeting of long years ago. And “Skoal,” said Havelok.
+
+“Jarl! How know you that I am that?”
+
+“By the jarl’s bracelet that you wear, surely.”
+
+“So you are a real Dane—not an English-bred one like myself. That is
+good. You and I will have many a talk together. Odin, how good it is to
+meet a housecarl who speaks as man to man and does not cringe to me!
+Who are you?”
+
+“Radbard Grimsson of Grimsby, housecarl just now to this King of
+Lindsey.”
+
+“And your comrade?”
+
+I was about to tell this friendly countryman Havelok’s name without
+thought, but stopped in time. Of all the things I had been brought up
+to dread most for him, that an English Dane should find him out was the
+worst, so I said, “He is called Curan, and he is a Lindsey marshman.”
+
+“Who can talk Danish though his name is Welsh. That is strange. Well,
+you are right about me. I am Ragnar of Norwich, the earl, as the
+English for jarl goes. Now I want to see Alsi the king straightway.”
+
+“That is a matter for the captain,” I said, and I called for him.
+
+Eglaf came out and made a deep reverence when he saw the earl, knowing
+at once who he was, and as this was just what the earl had said that he
+did not like, he looked quaintly at me across Eglaf’s broad bent back,
+so that I had to grin perforce.
+
+All unknowing of which the captain heard the earl’s business, and then
+told me to see him to the palace gates, and take his horse to the
+stables when he had dismounted and was in the hands of Berthun.
+
+So I went, and Havelok turned away and went on some errand down the
+steep street.
+
+This Ragnar was one of whom I had often heard, for he was the governor
+of all the North folk for Alsi until the Lady Goldberga should take her
+place. He was her cousin, being the son of Ethelwald’s sister, who was
+of course a Dane. Danish, and from the old country, was his father
+also, being one of the men who had come over to the court of East
+Anglia when Ethelwald was made king.
+
+All the way to the door we talked of Denmark, but it was not far. There
+Berthun came out and greeted the earl in court fashion, and I thought
+that I was done with, because the grooms had run to take the great bay
+horse as they heard the trampling. But, as it happened, I was wanted.
+
+Ragnar went in, saying to me that he would find me out again presently;
+and I saw him walk across the great hall to the hearth, and stand there
+while Berthun went to the king’s presence to tell him of the new
+arrival. Then I stood for a minute to look at the horse, for the grooms
+had had no orders to take him away; and mindful of Eglaf’s word to me,
+I was going to tell them to do so, and to see it done, when Berthun
+came hurriedly and called me.
+
+“Master Housecarl,” he said rather breathlessly, “by the king’s order
+you are to come within the hall and guard the doorway.”
+
+I shouldered my spear and followed him, and as we were out of hearing
+of the grooms I said that the captain had ordered me to take the horse
+to the stables.
+
+“I will see to that,” he said. “Now you are to bide at the door while
+the king speaks with Earl Ragnar, for there will be none else present.
+Let no one pass in without the king’s leave.”
+
+We passed through the great door as he said that, and he closed it
+after him. Ragnar was yet standing near the high seat, and turned as he
+heard the sound, and smiled when he saw me. Berthun went quickly away
+through a side entrance, and the hail was empty save for us two. The
+midday meal was over an hour since, and the long tables had been
+cleared away, so that the place seemed desolate to me, as I had only
+seen it before when I sat with the other men at the cross tables for
+meals. It was not so good a hall as was Jarl Sigurd’s in Denmark, for
+it was not rich with carving and colour as was his, and the arms on the
+wall were few, and the hangings might have been brighter and better in
+a king’s place.
+
+“Our king does not seem to keep much state,” Ragnar said, looking round
+as I was looking, and we both laughed.
+
+Then the door on the high place opened, and the king came in, soberly
+dressed, and with a smile on his face which seemed to me to have been
+made on purpose for this greeting, for he mostly looked sour enough.
+Nor did it seem that his eyes had any pleasure in them.
+
+“Welcome, kinsman,” he said, seeming hearty enough, however; “I had
+looked for you before this. What news from our good town of Norwich?”
+
+He held out his hand to Ragnar, who took it frankly, and his strong
+grip twisted the king’s set smile into a grin of pain for a moment.
+
+“All was well there three weeks ago when I left there to go to London.
+Now, I have ridden on to say that the Lady Goldberga is not far hence,
+so that her coming may be prepared for.”
+
+Now, as the earl said this, the king’s smile went from his face, and
+black enough he looked for a moment. The look passed quickly, and the
+smile came back, but it seemed hard to keep it up.
+
+“Why, that is well,” he said; “so you fell in with her on the way.”
+
+“I have attended her from London,” answered the earl, looking
+steadfastly at Alsi, “and it was as well that I did so, as it
+happened.”
+
+“What has been amiss?” asked the king sharply, and trying to look
+troubled. He let the smile go now altogether.
+
+“Your henchman, Griffin the Welshman, had no guard with her that was
+fitting for our princess,” Ragnar said. “He had but twenty men, and
+these not of the best. It is in my mind also that I should have been
+told of this journey, for I am surely the right man to have guarded my
+queen who is to be.”
+
+At that Alsi’s face went ashy pale, and I did not rightly know why at
+the time, but it seemed more in anger than aught else. But he had to
+make some answer.
+
+“We sent a messenger to you,” he said hastily; “I cannot tell why he
+did not reach you.”
+
+“He must have come too late, and after I had heard of this from others;
+so I had already gone to meet the princess. I am glad that I was sent
+for, and it may pass. Well, it is lucky that I was in time, for we were
+attacked on the road, and but for my men there would have been
+trouble.”
+
+Then Alsi broke into wrath, which was real enough.
+
+“This passes all. Where and by whom were you attacked? and why should
+any fall on the party?”
+
+“Five miles on the other side of Ancaster town, where the Ermin Street
+runs among woods, we were fallen on, but who the men were I cannot say.
+Why they should fall on us seems plain enough, seeing that the ransom
+of a princess is likely to be a great sum.”
+
+“Was it a sharp fight?”
+
+“It was not,” answered Ragnar, “for it seemed to me that the men looked
+only to find your Welsh thane Griffin and his men. When they saw my
+Norfolk housecarls, they waited no longer, and we only rode down one or
+two of them. But I have somewhat against this Griffin, for he helped me
+not at all. Until this day he and his men had ridden fairly with us,
+but by the time this attack came they were half a mile behind us.”
+
+“Do you mean to say that you think Griffin in league with
+these—outlaws, as one may suppose them?” said Alsi, with wrath and more
+else written in twitching mouth and crafty eyes.
+
+“I would not have said that,” Ragnar answered, looking in some surprise
+at the king, “it had never come into my head. But I will say that as
+the Ermin Street is straight as an arrow, and he was in full sight of
+us, he might have spurred his horses to our help, whereas he never
+quickened his pace till he saw that the outlaws, or whoever they were,
+had gone. I put this as a complaint to you.”
+
+“These men seem to have scared you, at least,” sneered the king.
+
+Ragnar flushed deeply.
+
+“For the princess—yes. It is not fitting that a man who is in charge of
+so precious a lady should hold back in danger, even of the least
+seeming, as did Griffin. And I told him so.”
+
+Now I thought that Alsi would have been as angry with Griffin as was
+the earl, and that he would add that he also would speak his mind to
+him, hut instead of that he went off in another way.
+
+“It was a pity that a pleasant journey with a fair companion was thus
+broken in upon. But it was doubtless pleasant that the lady should see
+that her kinsman was not unwilling to draw sword for her. A pretty
+little jest this, got up between Griffin and yourself, and such as a
+young man may be forgiven for playing. I shall hear Goldberga complain
+of honest Griffin presently, and now I shall know how to answer her.
+Ay, I will promise him the like talking to that you gave him, and then
+we three will laugh over it all together.”
+
+And with that the king broke into a cackle of laughter, catching hold
+of the earl’s arm in his glee. And I never saw any man look so
+altogether bewildered as did Ragnar.
+
+“Little jest was there in the matter, lord king, let me tell you,” he
+said, trying to draw his arm away.
+
+“Nay, I am not angry with you, kinsman; indeed, I am not. We have been
+young and eager that bright eyes should see our valour ourselves ere
+now,” and he shook his finger at the earl gaily. “I only wonder that
+you induced that fiery Welshman to take a rating in the hearing of the
+princess quietly.”
+
+“What I had to say to him I said apart. I will not say that he did take
+it quietly.”
+
+“Meaning—that you had a good laugh over it;” and Alsi shook the earl’s
+arm as in glee. “There now, you have made a clean breast, and I am not
+one to spoil sport. Go and meet Goldberga at the gates, and bring her
+to me in state, and you shall be lodged here, if you will. Quite right
+of you to tell me this, or Griffin would have been in trouble. But I
+must not have the lady scared again, mind you.”
+
+He turned quickly away, then, with a sort of stifled laugh, as if he
+wanted to get away to enjoy a good jest, and left Ragnar staring
+speechless at him as he crossed the high place and went through the
+private door.
+
+Then the earl turned to me, “By Loki, fellow countryman, there is
+somewhat wrong here. What does he mean by feigning to think the whole
+affair a jest? It won’t be much of a jest if Griffin and I slay one
+another tomorrow, as we mean to do, because of what was not done, and
+what was said about it.”
+
+“It has seemed to me, jarl,” I said plainly, “that all this is more
+like a jest between the king and Griffin.”
+
+“Call it a jest, as that is loyal, at least. But I think that you are
+right. If Goldberga had been carried off—Come, we shall be saying too
+much in these walls.”
+
+I had only been told to wait while the king and earl spoke together,
+and so I opened the door and followed him out. The horse was yet there
+waiting for him, and it was plain that the king had not meant him to
+stay.
+
+“Bid the grooms lead the horse after us, and we will go to your
+captain. Then you shall take me to one of my friends, for you will know
+where their houses are.”
+
+But at that moment a man from the palace ran after us, bringing an
+order from the king that I was to go back to him. So Ragnar bade me
+farewell.
+
+“Come to me tonight at the gatehouse,” he said. “I will speak to the
+captain to let you off duty.”
+
+“Say nothing to him, jarl, for it is needless. I am only with him for a
+time, and am my own master. I have no turn on watch tonight, and so am
+free.”
+
+So I went back, and found the king in the hall again, and he was still
+smiling. If he had looked me straight in the face, I suppose that he
+might have seen that I was not a man to whom he was used, but he did
+not. He seemed not to wish to do so.
+
+“So, good fellow,” he said, “you have heard a pleasant jest of our
+young kinsman’s contriving, but I will that you say nothing of it. It
+is a pity to take a good guardroom story from you, however, without
+some recompense, and therefore—”
+
+With that he put a little bag into my hand, and it was heavy. I said
+nothing, but bowed in the English way, and he went on, “You understand;
+no word is to be said of what you have heard unless I bid you repeat
+it. That I may have to do, lest it is said that Griffin the thane is
+‘nidring’[9] by any of his enemies. You know all the story—how the earl
+and he planned a sham attack on the princess’s party, that Ragnar might
+show his valour, which, of course, he could not do if Griffin was
+there. Therefore the thane held back. But maybe you heard all, and
+understood it.”
+
+“I heard all, lord king, and I will say naught.”
+
+The king waved his hand in sign that I was dismissed, and I bowed and
+went. There were five rings of gold in the bag, worth about the whole
+year’s wage of a courtman, and I thought that for keeping a jest to
+myself that was good pay indeed. There must be more behind that
+business, as it had seemed to me already.
+
+Now, as I crossed the green within the old walls on my way to the gate,
+it happened that Havelok came back from the town, and as he came I
+heard him whistling softly to himself a strange wild call, as it were,
+of a hunting horn, very sweet, and one that I had never heard before.
+
+“Ho, brother!” I said, for there was no one near us. “What is that call
+you are whistling?”
+
+He started and looked up at me suddenly, and I saw that his trouble was
+on him again.
+
+“In my dream,” he said slowly, “there is a man on a great horse, and he
+wears such bracelets as Ragnar of Norwich, and he winds his horn with
+that call, and I run to him; and then I myself am on the horse, and I
+go to the stables, and after that there is nothing but the call that I
+hear. Now it has gone again.”
+
+And his hand went up in the way that made me sad to see.
+
+“It will come back by-and-by. Trouble not about it.”
+
+“I would that we were back in Grimsby,” he said, with a great sigh.
+“This is a place of shadows. Ghosts are these of days that I think can
+never have been.”
+
+“Well,” said I, wanting to take him out of himself, “this is no ghost,
+at all events. I would that one of our brothers would come from home
+that I might send it to them in Grimsby. We do not need it.”
+
+So I showed him the gold, and he wondered at it, and laughed, saying
+that the housecarls had the best place after all. And so he went on,
+and I back to the gate.
+
+Surely he minded at last the days when Gunnar his father had ridden
+home to the gate, as the Danish earl had ridden even now, and had
+called his son to him with that call. It was all coming back, as one
+thing or another brought it to his mind; and I wondered what should be
+when he knew that the dream was the truth. For what should Havelok,
+foster-son of the fisher, do against a king who for twelve long years
+had held his throne? And who in all the old land would believe that he
+was indeed the son of the lost king? Better, it seemed to me, that this
+had not happened, and that he had been yet the happy, careless,
+well-loved son of Grim, with no thought of aught higher than the good
+of the folk he knew.
+
+When I got back to the gate, we were marched down the town, that we
+might be ready to receive the princess; and as I went through the
+market, I saw one of the porters whom I knew, and I beckoned to him, so
+that he came alongside me in the ranks, and I asked him if he would go
+to Grimsby for me for a silver penny. He would do it gladly; and so I
+sent him with word to Arngeir that I needed one of them here to take a
+gift that I had for them. I would meet whoever came at the widow’s
+house, and I set a time when I would look for them. I thought it was
+well that the king’s gold should not be wasted, even for a day’s use,
+if I could help it. And I wearied to see one of the brothers, and hear
+all that was going on.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+THE COMING OF THE PRINCESS.
+
+
+There is no need for me to tell aught of the entry of the Lady
+Goldberga into the town, for anyone may know how the people cheered
+her, and how the party were met by the Norfolk thanes and many others,
+and so rode on up the hill to the palace. What the princess was like I
+hardly noticed at that time, for she was closely hooded, and her
+maidens were round her. And I had something else to think of; for
+foremost, and richly dressed, with a gold chain round his neck, rode a
+man whose strange way of carrying his head caught my eye at once, so
+that I looked more than a second time at him.
+
+And at last I knew him. It was that man of ours whose neck had been
+twisted by the way in which he had been hauled on board at the time of
+the wreck, and had afterwards gone to Ethelwald’s court. One would say
+that this Mord had prospered exceedingly, for he was plainly a man of
+some consequence in the princess’s household. He did not know me,
+though it happened that he looked right at me for a moment; but I did
+not expect him to do so after twelve years, seeing that I was but a boy
+when we parted. I thought that I would seek him presently.
+
+Then I saw Griffin, the Welsh thane, and I did not like the looks of
+him at all. He was a black-haired man, clean shaven, so that the cruel
+thinness of his lips was not hidden, and his black eyes were restless,
+and never stayed anywhere, unless he looked at Ragnar for a moment, and
+then that was a look of deadly hatred. He wore his armour well, and had
+a steady seat on his horse; but, if all that I had heard of him was
+true, his looks did not belie him. Men had much to say of him here,
+for, being some far-off kin to Alsi’s Welsh mother, he was always about
+the court, and was hated. He had gone to Dover to fetch the princess
+before we came here, but it happened that I had once or twice seen him
+at other times when I was in Lincoln, so that I knew him now.
+
+There was great feasting that night in the king’s hall, as one may
+suppose, and I sat with the housecarls at the cross tables beyond the
+fire, and I could see the Lady Goldberga at Alsi’s side. Tired she was
+with her long journey, and she did not remain long at the table; but I
+had never seen so wondrously beautiful a lady. Griffin sat next to her
+on the king’s right hand, for Ragnar was at the king’s left, in the
+seat of next honour; and I saw that the lady had no love for the Welsh
+thane. But I also thought that I saw how he would give his all for a
+kindly glance from her; and if, as Alsi had seemed to hint, Ragnar was
+a favoured lover, I did not wonder that Griffin had been ready to do
+him a bad turn. I had rather that the thane was my friend than my foe,
+for he would be no open enemy.
+
+I left the feast when the first change of guard went out, for I saw
+that the ale cup was passing faster than we Danes think fitting, being
+less given to it than the English. And when the guard was set I waited
+alone in the guardroom of the old gate, for Eglaf was yet at the hall,
+and would be there all night maybe. And presently Earl Ragnar came in
+and sat down with me.
+
+He was silent for a while, and I waited for him to speak, until he
+looked up at me with a little laugh, and said, “I told you that I had
+to fight Griffin tomorrow?”
+
+“You did, earl. Is that matter settled otherwise?”
+
+“Not at all,” he answered. “I believe now that he was acting under
+orders, but I have said things to him which he cannot pass over. I
+called him ‘nidring’ to his face, and that I still mean; for though I
+thought of cowardice at the time, he is none the less so if he has
+plotted against the princess. So naught but the sword will end the
+feud.”
+
+He pondered for some moments, and then went on, “It is a bad business;
+for if I slay Griffin, he is the king’s favourite; and if he slays me,
+the Norfolk thanes will have somewhat to say. And all is bad for the
+Lady Goldberga, who needs all the friends that she has, for in either
+case there will be trouble between the two kingdoms that Alsi holds
+just now.”
+
+“If Griffin is slain,” I said, “I think that the lady has one trouble
+out of the way.”
+
+“Ay; and the king will make out, as you heard him do even now, that I
+am looking that way myself. It is not so, for I will say to you at once
+that to me there is but one lady in all the world, and she is in
+Norfolk at this time. Now I am going to ask you something that is a
+favour.”
+
+I thought that he would give me some message for this lady, in case he
+fell; but he had more to ask than that. Nothing more or less than that
+I should be his second in the fight, because I was a fellow countryman,
+while to ask an East Anglian thane would he to make things harder yet
+for Goldberga.
+
+“I am no thane, earl,” I said plainly. “This is an honour that is over
+high for me.”
+
+“It seems that you own a town, for I asked Eglaf just now,” he
+answered; “and that is enough surely to give you thane’s rank in a
+matter like this. But that is neither here nor there; it is as Dane to
+Dane that I ask you. If I could find another of us I would ask him
+also, that you might not have to stand alone. I am asking you to break
+the law that bids the keeping of the peace at the time of the meeting
+of the Witan.”
+
+“That is no matter,” I said. “If I have to fly, it will be with you as
+victor; and if it is but a matter of a fine, I have had that from the
+king today which will surely pay it.”
+
+And I told him of the gift for silence, whereat he laughed heartily,
+and then said that the secret was more worth than he thought. This
+looked very bad, and like proof that the king was at the bottom of the
+whole business.
+
+Now I had been thinking, and it seemed better that there should be two
+witnesses of the fight on our side, and I thought that Havelok was the
+man who would make the second. So I told Ragnar that I could find
+another Dane who was at least as worthy as I, and he was well pleased.
+Then he told me where the meeting was to be, and where we should meet
+him just before daylight; and so he went back to the hall, where the
+lights were yet burning redly, and the songs were wilder than ever.
+
+And I found Havelok, and told him of the fight that was to be, and
+asked him to come with us. His arms were at the widow’s, and he could
+get them without any noticing him.
+
+There is no need to say that he was ready as I to help Ragnar, and so
+we spoke of time and place, and parted for the night.
+
+Very early came Havelok to the house, for I lodged at the widow’s when
+I was not on night duty; and we armed ourselves, and then came Ragnar.
+He greeted me first, and then looked at Havelok in amaze, as it seemed,
+and then bowed a little, and asked me to make my friend known to him.
+
+“If you are the friend of whom Radbard has told me, I think that I am
+fortunate in having come to him.”
+
+“I am his brother, lord earl,” answered Havelok, “and I am at your
+service.”
+
+Ragnar looked from one of us to the other, and then smiled.
+
+“A brother Dane and a brother in arms, truly,” he said. “Well, that is
+all that I need ask, except your name, as I am to be another brother of
+the same sort.”
+
+Then Havelok looked at me, and I nodded. I knew what he meant; but it
+was not right that the earl should not know who he was.
+
+“Men call me Curan here, lord earl, and that I must be to you
+hereafter. But I am Havelok of Grimsby, son of Grim.”
+
+In a moment I saw that the earl knew more of that name than I had
+deemed possible; and then I minded Mord, the wry-necked, who was the
+chamberlain now. But Ragnar said nothing beyond that he would remember
+the request, and that he was well seconded. And then we went out into
+the grey morning, and without recrossing the bridge, away to the level
+meadows on the south of the river, far from any roadway.
+
+“There is not an island in the stream,” said Ragnar, “or I should have
+wanted the old northern holmgang battle. I doubt if we could even get
+these Welshmen to peg out the lists.”
+
+“That we must see to,” I said. “We will have all things fair in some
+way.”
+
+Half a mile from the town we came to what they call a carr—a woody rise
+in the level marsh—and on the skirts of this two men waited us. They
+were the seconds of Griffin, Welsh or half Welsh both of them by their
+looks, and both were well armed. Their greeting was courteous enough,
+and they led us by a little track into the heart of the thickets, and
+there was a wide and level clearing, most fit for a fight, in which
+waited Griffin himself.
+
+Now I had never taken any part in a fight before, and I did not rightly
+know what I had to do to begin with. However, one of the other side
+seemed to be well up in the matter, and at once he came to me and
+Havelok and took us aside.
+
+“Here is a little trouble,” he said: “our men have said nothing of what
+weapons they will use.”
+
+“I take it,” said Havelok at once, “that they meant to use those which
+were most handy to them, therefore.”
+
+The Welshman stared, and answered rather stiffly, “This is not a matter
+of chance medley, young sir, but an ordered affair. But doubtless this
+is the first time you have been in this case, and do not know the
+rules. Let me tell you, therefore, that your earl, being the challenged
+man, has choice of weapons.
+
+“Why, then,” answered Havelok, “it seems to me that if we say as I have
+already said, it is fair on our part. For it is certain that the earl
+will want to use the axe, and your man is about half his weight, so
+that would be uneven.”
+
+“As the challenged man, the earl is entitled to any advantage in
+weapons.”
+
+“He needs none. Let us fight fairly or not at all. The earl takes the
+axe.—What say you, Radbard? Griffin takes what he likes.”
+
+“You keep to the axe after all, and yet say that it gives an
+advantage.”
+
+“Axe against axe it does, but if your man chooses to take a twenty-foot
+spear and keep out of its way, we do not object. We give him his own
+choice.”
+
+Then the other second said frankly, “This is generous, Cadwal. No more
+need be said. But this young thane has not yet asked his earl whether
+it will suit him.”
+
+“Faith, no,” said Havelok, laughing; “I was thinking what I should like
+myself, and nothing at all of the earl.”
+
+So I went across to Ragnar, who was waiting patiently at one end of the
+clearing, while Griffin was pacing with uneven steps backward and
+forward at the other, and I told him what the question was.
+
+“I thought it would be a matter of swords,” he said, “but I am Dane
+enough to like the axe best. Settle it as you will. Of course he knows
+naught of axe play, so that you are right in not pressing it on him. He
+is a light man, and active, and maybe will be glad not even to try
+sword to sword; for look at the sort of bodkin he is wearing.”
+
+The earl and we had the northern long sword, of course; but when I
+looked I saw that the Welsh had short, straight, and heavy weapons of
+about half the length of ours, and so even sword to sword seemed hard
+on the lighter man; wherein I was wrong, as I had yet to learn.
+
+I went back, therefore, and told the others.
+
+“The earl takes the axe, and the thane has his choice, as we have
+said.”
+
+“We have to thank you,” said the other second, while Cadwal only
+laughed a short laugh, and bade us choose the ground with them.
+
+There was no difficulty about that, for the light was clear and bright,
+and though the sun was up, the trees bid any bright rays that might be
+in the eyes of the fighters. However, we set them across the light, so
+that all there was might be even; and then we agreed that if one was
+forced back to the edge of the clearing he was to be held beaten, as if
+we had been on an island. It was nearly as good, for the shore of trees
+and brushwood was very plain and sharp.
+
+Now Ragnar unslung his round shield from his shoulders, and took his
+axe from me, for I had carried it for him, and his face was quiet and
+steady, as the face of one should be who has a deed to do that must be
+seen through to the end. But Griffin and his men talked quickly in
+their own tongue, and I had to tell them that we understood it well
+enough. Then they looked at each other, and were silent suddenly. I
+wondered what they, were about to say, for it seemed that my warning
+came just in time for them.
+
+Griffin took a shield from the thane they called Cadwal, and it was
+square—a shape that I had not seen before in use, though Witlaf had one
+like it on the wall at Stallingborough. He said that it had been won
+from a chief by his forefathers when the English first came into the
+land, and that it was the old Roman shape. It seemed unhandy to me, but
+I had no time to think of it for a moment, for now Cadwal had a last
+question.
+
+“Is this fight to be to the death?”
+
+“No,” I answered; “else were the rule we made about the boundary of no
+use.”
+
+Then Griffin cried in a sort of choked voice, “It shall be to the
+death.”
+
+But I said nothing, and the other second, with Cadwal, shook his head.
+
+Ragnar made no sign, but Cadwal said to Havelok, “You were foremost in
+the matter just now. What say you?”
+
+“Rules are rules, and what my comrade says is right. If the first blow
+slays, we cannot help it, but there shall be no second wound. The man
+who is first struck is defeated.”
+
+“I will not have it so,” said Griffin.
+
+“Well, then, thane, after you have wounded the earl you will have to
+reckon with me, if you must slay someone.”
+
+Griffin looked at the towering form of my brother and made no answer,
+and the other second told him that it was right. There was naught but
+an angry word or two to be atoned for. So there was an end, and Ragnar
+went on guard. Griffin made ready also, and at once it was plain that
+here was no uneven match after all.
+
+Both of them wore ring mail of the best. We had set the two six paces
+apart, and they must step forward to get within striking distance. At
+once Griffin seemed to grow smaller, for he crouched down as a cat that
+is going to spring, and raised his shield before him, so that from
+where I stood behind Ragnar I could only see his black glittering eyes
+and round helm above its edge. And his right arm was drawn back, so
+that only the point of his heavy leaf-bladed sword was to be seen
+glancing from the right edge steadily. And now his eyes were steady as
+the sword point, which was no brighter than they. If once he got inside
+the sweep of the great axe it would be bad for Ragnar.
+
+One step forward went the earl, shield up and axe balanced, but Griffin
+never moved. Then Ragnar leapt forward and struck out, but I could see
+that it was a feint, and he recovered at once. Griffin’s shield had
+gone up in a moment above his head, and in a moment it was back in its
+place, and over it his eyes glared as before, unwavering. And then,
+like a wildcat, he sprang at Ragnar, making no sweeping blow with his
+sword, but thrusting with straight arm, so that the whole weight of his
+flying body was behind the point. Ragnar struck out, but the square
+shield was overhead to stay the blow, and full on the round Danish
+buckler the point of the short sword rang, for the earl was ready to
+meet it.
+
+In a moment the Welshman was back in his crouching guard, leaving a
+great ragged hole in the shield whence he had wrenched his weapon point
+in a way that told of a wrist turn that had been long practised. Ragnar
+had needed no leech, had his quick eye not saved him from that thrust.
+
+Then for a breathing space the two watched each other, while we held
+our breath, motionless. And then Griffin slowly began to circle round
+his foe, still crouching.
+
+Then, like a thunderbolt, Ragnar’s axe swept down on the thane, and
+neither shield nor helm would have been of avail had that blow gone
+home. Back leapt Griffin, and the axe shore the edge only of his
+shield; and then, shield aloft and point foremost, he flew on the earl
+before the axe had recovered from its swing, and I surely thought that
+the end had come, for the earl’s shield was lowered, and his face was
+unguarded.
+
+But that was what he looked for. Up and forward flew the round shield,
+catching the thane’s straightened arm along its whole length, and then,
+as sword and arm were dashed upwards, smiting him fairly in the face;
+and, like a stone, the Welshman was hurled from it, and fell backward
+in a heap on the grass three paces away. It seemed to me that he was
+off his feet in his spring as the shield smote him.
+
+There he lay, and Havelok strode forward and stood between the two,
+with his face to Griffin, for Ragnar had dropped his axe to rest when
+his foe fell.
+
+“No blood drawn,” said my brother, “but no more fighting can there be.
+The man’s arm is out.”
+
+And so it was, for the mighty heave that turned the thrust had ended
+Griffin’s fighting for a long day. But he did not think so.
+
+The sweat was standing on his face in great beads from the pain, but he
+got up and shifted his sword to his left hand.
+
+“It is to the death,” he cried; “I can fight as well with the left.
+Stand aside.”
+
+“An it had been so, you were a dead man now,” said Havelok, “for the
+earl held his hand where he might have slain. If he had chosen, you
+might have felt his axe before you touched the ground.”
+
+Thereat, without warning other than a snarl of “Your own saying,”
+Griffin leapt at my brother fiercely, only to meet a swing of his axe
+that sent his sword flying from his hand. And that was deft of Havelok,
+for there is nothing more hard to meet than a left-handed attack at any
+time, and this seemed unlooked for.
+
+“Well, I did say somewhat of this sort,” said Havelok; “but it was
+lucky that I had not forgotten it.”
+
+Then he took the thane by the waist and left arm and set him down
+gently; and after that all the fury went from him, and he grew pale
+with the pain of the arm that was hurt. But both I and the Welshmen had
+shouted to Griffin to hold, all uselessly, so quick had been his onset
+on his new foe.
+
+Cadwal held his peace, biting his lip, but the other Welshman began to
+blame Griffin loudly for this.
+
+“Nay,” said Havelok, smiling; “it was my own fault maybe. The thane was
+overhasty certainly, but one does not think with pain gnawing at one.
+Let that pass.
+
+“Now, earl, I think that you may say what you have to say that will set
+things right once more.”
+
+“Can none of us put the arm back first?” I said. “I will try, if none
+else has done such a thing before, for it will not be the first time.”
+
+“Put it back, if you can,” said Cadwal. “If there is anything to be
+said, it had better be in some sort of comfort.”
+
+So I put the arm back, for when once the trick is learned there is not,
+as a rule, much trouble. But Griffin never thanked me. He left that to
+his seconds, who did so well enough.
+
+Then Ragnar came forward and said gravely, “I was wrong when I called
+you ‘nidring,’ and I take back the word and ask you to forget it. No
+man who is that will face the Danish axe as you have faced it, and I
+will say that the British sword is a thing to be feared.”
+
+But Griffin made no answer, and when Ragnar held out his hand he would
+not see it.
+
+“Maybe I have not yet made amends,” Ragnar went on. “I will add,
+therefore, as I know that my words will go no farther, that I am sure
+that the thing concerning which we quarrelled yesterday was done by you
+at the orders of another. It was not your own doing, and no thought of
+cowardice is in my mind now.”
+
+But Griffin never answered; and now he turned his back on the earl, who
+was plainly grieved, and said no more to him, but turned to us and the
+two Welshmen.
+
+“I do not think that I can say more. If there is aught that is needed,
+tell me. We have fought a fair fight, and I have taken back the words
+that caused it.”
+
+Then said Cadwal, “No more is needed. I did not think that we had met
+with so generous a foe. If Griffin will say naught, we say this for
+him. He has no cause for enmity left. And I say also that he has to
+thank this thane for his life as well as the earl.”
+
+“No thane am I,” said Havelok, “but only Havelok Grimsson of Grimsby.
+And even that name is set aside for a while, so that I must ask you to
+forget it. I have seen a good fight, if a short one, and one could not
+smite a wounded man who forgot himself for a moment.”
+
+There was nothing more to be had from Griffin, for we waited a minute
+or two in silence to see if he would speak, and then we saluted and
+left the wood.
+
+The last thing that I saw seemed to be a matter of high words between
+Griffin and his seconds; and, indeed, if they were telling him what
+they thought, it is likely that he wished he had been more courteous.
+It is easy enough for a man who wants a quarrel to have done with one
+and then start another.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+IN LINCOLN MARKETPLACE.
+
+
+We went quietly back to the town, and there was only one thing that I
+wished, and that was that Havelok had not had to tell his name twice.
+Ragnar was full of thanks to us for our help, and said that he would
+that we would come to Norfolk with him.
+
+“We have a man who knows you also,” he said, “but he has been with our
+princess for a long time now. He is called Mord, and is her
+chamberlain. He has often told me how he came by his wry-neck at the
+time of your shipwreck.”
+
+So he said, and looked at Havelok. But this was a thing that he had not
+seen, as he was so sick at the time. I said that I remembered Mord
+well, and would seek him some time in the day.
+
+And as I said this I was thinking that I must find out from Mord
+whether he knew and had told more than I could of who Havelok was and
+whence he came to us. It seemed to me that the earl had heard some tale
+or other, and unless it was from him I could not think from whence.
+
+Now the earl said, “This business has ended better than I could have
+hoped, and I think that Alsi will not hear of it. Griffin can well
+account for a slipped shoulder by any sort of fall that he likes to own
+to, and Alsi would be hardly pleased to hear that he had run the risk
+of setting all Norfolk against him for nothing after all.”
+
+“There is no doubt that he meant you to know that he does not consider
+the quarrel done with,” I said. “You have an enemy there.”
+
+“Nothing new, that,” answered Ragnar, laughing. “He thinks that I stand
+in his way with the princess. I suppose it is common talk that if he
+wedded her Alsi would still hold the East Anglian kingdom, making him
+ealdorman, if only I were out of the way. But were I to wed the lady,
+then it is certain that she would take the crown at once. I do not mean
+to do so, for then it is likely that three people would be unhappy for
+the rest of their days. But that would be less wretched for her than to
+wed Griffin.”
+
+“This is no pleasant strait for the poor lady,” said Havelok grimly.
+“Do none ask what she herself can wish?”
+
+“That is the trouble,” said the earl, “for she is in Alsi’s hand, and
+there is some old promise and oath sworn between him and Ethelwald her
+father that holds him back. Else had she been wedded to Griffin before
+now.”
+
+Then we came to the widow’s house, and Havelok left his arms there, and
+we went on to the marketplace. As we crossed the bridge we saw that
+there was something going forward, for there was a gathering in the
+wide space, and a shouting and cheering now and then, and even Berthun
+himself was there looking on and seeming to be highly entertained.
+
+“Here is a crowd that I will not face just now, in my arms,” said the
+earl; “for this hole in my shield looks bad, not having been there when
+I went out. Farewell for the time, therefore, and think of what I said
+about your coming to Norwich with me.”
+
+He turned away therefore, and Havelok looked after him for a moment.
+The shield hung at his back, plain to be seen.
+
+“It is a hole, for certain,” he said; “but there is no need to show it
+in that wise.”
+
+So he strode after him.
+
+“By your leave, earl, I will arrange your cloak across the shield, and
+then you can get it to your armourer without notice.”
+
+“That is well thought of,” answered Ragnar, as Havelok did as he had
+said. “I do not forget that I think that I owe you my life, though I
+have said nothing as yet.”
+
+“How is that?”
+
+“Griffin would have flown on me as he did on you, certainly; and it is
+in my mind that you foresaw it, which I did not. I could not have
+stayed him.”
+
+“Well I did,” answered my brother; “else had either I or you a hole in
+us like the one that is well covered now. But I feared what came to
+pass.”
+
+Ragnar held out his hand, and Havelok took it, and so they parted
+without more words; but I knew that these two were friends from that
+time forward, whatever happened.
+
+There were some sports of some sort on hand, when we came to see what
+all the noise was; and Berthun, seeing us, called Havelok to him.
+
+“I have been looking for you,” he said, with that curious tone of his
+that always seemed to be asking pardon for his boldness in speaking to
+my brother; “for here are games at which they need some one to show the
+way.”
+
+“This is a sport that I have not seen before,” answered Havelok,
+looking over the heads of the crowd. “I should make a poor hand at it.”
+
+They had been tossing a great fir pole, which was now laid on one side,
+with its top split from its falls, and they, thanes and freemen in
+turn, were putting a great stone, so heavy that a matter of a few
+inches beyond the longest cast yet made would be something to be proud
+of. Good sport enough it was to see the brawny housecarls heave it from
+the ground and swing it. But no one could lift it above his knee, so
+that one may suppose that it flew no great distance at a cast.
+
+“Nay, but the thanes are trying,” Berthun said. “It is open to all to
+do what they can. One of your porters is best man so far.”
+
+“Well, I will not try to outdo him.”
+
+“I would that you would lift the stone, Curan. That is a thing that I
+should most like to see.”
+
+“Well then, master, as you bid me, I will try. But do not expect too
+much.”
+
+The man who had the stone made his cast, which was nothing to speak of;
+and then the stone lay unclaimed for a time, while all the onlookers
+waited to see who came forward next. Then Havelok made his way through
+the crowd, and a silence as of wonder fell on the people; for some knew
+him, and had heard of his strength, and those who did not stared at him
+as at a wonder. But the silence did not last long, for the porters who
+were there set up a sort of shout of delight, and that one who had made
+the longest cast so far began to tell him how best to heft the stone
+and swing it.
+
+Then Havelok bent to raise the stone, and the noise hushed again. I saw
+his mighty limbs harden and knot under the strain, and up to his knee
+he heaved it, and to his middle, and yet higher, to his chest, while we
+all held our breaths, and then with a mighty lift it was at his
+shoulder, and he poised it, and swung as one who balances for a moment,
+and then hurled it from him. Then was a shout that Alsi might have
+heard in his hilltop palace, for full four paces beyond the strong
+porter’s cast it flew, lighting with a mighty crash, and bedding itself
+in the ground where it lit. And I saw the young thanes with wide eyes
+looking at my brother, and from beside me Berthun the cook fairly
+roared with delight.
+
+And then from across the space between the two lines of onlookers I saw
+a man in a fisher’s dress that caught my eye. It was Withelm, and we
+nodded to each other, well pleased.
+
+Now there seemed to be a strife as to who should get nearest to
+Havelok, for men crowded to pat him and to look up at him, and that
+pleased him not at all. One came and bade him take the silver pennies
+that the thanes had set out for the prize, but he shook his head and
+smiled.
+
+“I threw the thing because I was bidden, and not for any prize,” he
+said. “I would have it given to the porter who fairly won it.”
+
+Then he elbowed his way to Berthun, and said, “let us go, master; we
+have stayed here too long already.”
+
+“As it pleases you,” the steward said; and Havelok waved his hand to
+me, and they went their way.
+
+He had not seen Withelm, and I was glad, for I wanted to speak to him
+alone first.
+
+Now men began to ask who this was, and many voices answered, while the
+porter went to claim the prize from the thane who held it.
+
+Two silver pennies the thane gave him, and said, “This seems to be a
+friend of yours, and it was good to hear you try to help him without
+acrimony. Not that he needed any hints from any one, however. Who is
+he?”
+
+“Men call him Curan, that being the name he gives himself; but he came
+as a stranger to the place, and none know from whence, unless Berthun
+the cook may do so. Surely he is a friend of mine, for he shook me
+once, and that shaking made an honest man of me. He himself taught me
+what fair play is, at that same time.”
+
+So said the porter, and laughed, and the thane joined him.
+
+“Well, he has made a sort of name for himself as a wonder, certainly,
+now. I think that this cast of his will be told of every time men lift
+a stone here in Lincoln,” said the thane.
+
+They left the stone where he had set it, and any one may see it there
+to this day, and there I suppose it will be for a wonder while
+Havelok’s name is remembered.
+
+Then they began wrestling and the like, and I left the crowd and went
+to Withelm, going afterwards to the widow’s. I was not yet wanted by
+Eglaf for any housecarl duty.
+
+“I sent a man to Grimsby yesterday,” I said; “but you must have passed
+him on the way somewhere, for he could not have started soon enough to
+take you a message before you left.”
+
+“I met him on the road last night, for I myself thought it time to come
+and see how you two fared. I bided at Cabourn for the night, and your
+messenger came on with me.”
+
+Then he told me that all were well at Grimsby; for fish came now and
+then and kept the famine from the town, though there were none to send
+elsewhere; and it was well that we had left, though they all missed us
+sorely.
+
+Then we began to talk of the doings here; and at last I spoke of
+Havelok’s trouble, as one may well call it, telling him also of the
+strange dream with which it all began.
+
+“All this is strange,” he said thoughtfully; “but if Havelok our
+brother is indeed a king’s son, it is only what he is like in all his
+ways. Wise was our father Grim, and I mind how he seemed always to be
+careful of him in every way, and good reason must he have had not to
+say what he knew. We will not ask aught until the time of which Arngeir
+knows has come. Nor can we say aught to Havelok, though he is troubled,
+for we know nothing. As for the dream, that is part of it all, and it
+is a portent, as I think.”
+
+“Did I know the man who could read it, I would go to him and tell him
+it.”
+
+“There is one man who can read dreams well,” Withelm answered, flushing
+a little, “but I do not know if you would care to seek him. I stayed
+with him last night, and he is on his way even now to Lincoln, driven
+by the famine. I mean the old British priest David, who has his little
+hut and chapel in the Cabourn woods. His people have no more to give
+him.”
+
+I knew that Withelm thought much of this old man of late, and I was not
+surprised to hear him speak of him now. All knew his wisdom, and the
+marsh folk were wont to seek him when they were in any trouble or
+difficulty. But I did not care to go to him, for he seemed to belong to
+the thralls, as one might say.
+
+“Well, if he comes here, no doubt you will know where to find him if we
+need him,” I said. “Bide with us for a few days at least, for here is
+plenty, and there is much going on.”
+
+So we went into the town, and then to the palace, and found Havelok,
+and after that I had to go to the gate on guard. And what these two did
+I cannot say, but, at all events, there is nothing worth telling of.
+
+Now, however, I have to tell things that I did not see or hear myself,
+and therefore I would have it understood that I heard all from those
+who took some part or other in the matter, and so know all well.
+
+I have not said much of the meetings of the Witan, for I had naught
+more to do with them than to guard the doors of the hall where they met
+now and then; but since the princess and Ragnar came they seem to have
+somewhat to do with the story, as will be seen.
+
+On this day one of the Norfolk thanes asked in full meeting what plans
+the king had for his ward Goldberga, and her coming into her kingdom,
+saying that she, being eighteen years of age, was old enough to take
+her place.
+
+Now Alsi had thought of this beforehand, and was ready at once.
+
+“It is a matter of concern to us always,” he said, “and much have I
+thought thereof. It is full time that she took her father’s place with
+the consent of the Witan, which is needed.”
+
+He looked round us for reply to this, and at once the Norfolk thanes
+said, “We will have Goldberga for our queen, as was the will of
+Ethelwald.”
+
+“That,” said Alsi, “is as I thought. I needed only to hear it said
+openly. Now, therefore, it remains but to speak of one other thing and
+that is a weighty one. It was her father’s will and I swore to carry it
+out, that she should be wedded to the most goodly and mightiest man in
+the realm. It seems to me that on her marriage hangs all the wealth of
+her kingdom; and ill it would be if, after she took the throne, she
+took to herself one who made himself an evil adviser. I would say that
+it were better to see her married first, for it does not follow that
+you would choose to have the man whom I thought fitting to be over you,
+as he certainly would be.”
+
+Now all this was so straightforward in all seeming that none of the
+thanes could be aught but pleased. Moreover, it took away a fear that
+they had had lest Griffin was to be the man. None could say that he
+fulfilled the conditions of the will of Ethelwald. The spokesman said,
+therefore, that it was well set before them, and that it was best to
+wait, saying at the end, “For, after all, we might have to change our
+minds concerning the princess, if with her we must take a man who will
+prove a burden or tyrant to us all.”
+
+Then they asked the king to find a good husband for the princess as
+soon as might be, so that he was not against her liking.
+
+“Well,” said Alsi, “it is a hard task for a man who has no wife to help
+him; but we will trust to the good sense of my niece. Now, I had
+thought of Ragnar of Norwich; but it is in my mind that the old laws of
+near kin are somewhat against this.”
+
+I suppose that he had no intention of letting the earl marry the
+princess; but this was policy, as it might please the thanes. However,
+the matter of kinship did not please some, and that was all that he
+needed, for there was excuse then for him if he forbade that match,
+which was the last he wanted.
+
+Ragnar sat in his place and heard all this, and he wished himself back
+at Norwich.
+
+So there the matter ended, and that was the last sitting of the Witan.
+There was to be a great breaking-up feast that night before the thanes
+scattered to their homes.
+
+Now while this was going on I ended my spell of duty, and bethought me
+of Mord the chamberlain, and so went to Berthun and asked for him. He
+said that if I had any special business with Mord I might see him; and
+I said, truly enough, that my errand was special, having to do with
+friends of his; so it was not long before they took me to him. He was
+in a long room that was built on the side of the great hall, as it
+were, and I could hear the murmur of the voices of those who spoke at
+the Witan while I waited.
+
+Now Mord was not so much changed as I, and at first he did not know me
+at all.
+
+“Well, master housecarl, what may your message be, and from whom is
+it?” he said, without more than a glance at me.
+
+“Why, there are some old friends of yours who are anxious to know if
+you have forgotten the feeling of a halter round your neck,” I said in
+good Danish.
+
+Then, after one look, he knew me at once, and ran to me, and took my
+hand, and almost kissed me in his pleasure, for since I could handle an
+oar he had known me, and had taught me how to do that, moreover.
+
+Then he called for wine and food; and we sat down together and had a
+long talk of the old days, and of how we had fared after he left, and
+of all else that came uppermost. And sorely he grieved at my father’s
+death, and at the trouble that was on us. The famine had not been so
+sore in the south, and pestilence had not been at all.
+
+As for himself, he had been courtman, as we call the housecarls, at
+first, and so had risen to be chamberlain to the king, and now to the
+princess, and had been with her everywhere that Alsi had sent her since
+her father died.
+
+“It was a good day for me, and wise was Grim when he bade me go to
+Ethelwald to seek service,” he said; “yet I would that I had seen him
+once more. I have never been to this place before, else I should have
+sought him.”
+
+Now I was going to ask him about Havelok, but hardly knew how to begin.
+He saved me the trouble however, by speaking first.
+
+“Who were the lady and the boy we had on board when we came to
+England?” he said. “I never heard, and maybe it was as well that I did
+not.”
+
+“My father never told me. But why do you think that it was well not to
+know?”
+
+“Because I am sure that Grim had good reason for not telling. Before I
+had been a year at Norwich there came a ship from Denmark into the
+river, and soon men told me that her master was asking for news of one
+Grim, a merchant, who was lost. So I saw him, not saying who I was or
+that I had anything to do with Grim; and then I found that it was not
+so much of the master that he wanted news as of the boy we had with us.
+He did not ask of the lady at all, and I was sure that this was the man
+who came and spoke to Grim just as we were sailing, if you remember. So
+then it came to me that we knew nothing of the coming on board of these
+two, only learning of their presence when we were far at sea. And now,
+if Hodulf troubled himself so much about this boy, there must be
+something that he was not meant to know about his flight, for he must
+be of some note. Did I not know that the king’s son was in his hands at
+that time, I should have thought that our passenger was he. However, I
+told him of the shipwreck as of a thing that I had seen, saying that
+Grim and his family and a few men only had been saved; and I told him
+also that I had heard that he had lost some folk in an attack by
+Vikings. With that he seemed well satisfied, and I heard no more of
+him. I have wondered ever since who the boy was, and if he was yet
+alive. I mind that he was like to die when he came ashore.”
+
+Then I laughed, and said that he would hear of him soon enough, for all
+the town was talking of him; and he guessed whom I meant, for he had
+heard of the cook’s mighty man.
+
+Now I said no more but this:
+
+“My father kept this matter secret all these years, and with reason, as
+we have seen; and so, while he is here, we call this foster-brother of
+mine Curan, until the time comes when his name may he known. Maybe it
+will be best for you not to say much of your knowledge of him. What
+does Earl Ragnar know of our wreck? For he told me that you knew me.”
+
+“I told him all about it at one time or another,” Mord answered. “He
+always wanted to hear of Denmark.”
+
+So that was all that the chamberlain knew; but it was plain to me that
+the earl had put two and two together when he heard Havelok’s name, and
+had remembered that this was also the name of Gunnar’s son. Afterwards
+I found that Mord had heard from Denmark that Hodulf was said to have
+made away with Havelok, but he never remembered that at this time.
+Ragnar knew this, and did remember it.
+
+Pleasant it was to talk of old days with an old friend thus, and the
+time went quickly. Then Mord must go to his mistress and I to my place,
+and so we parted for the time. But my last doubt of who Havelok my
+brother might be was gone. I was sure that he was the son of Gunnar the
+king.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+THE WITAN’S FEASTING.
+
+
+Now I have to tell of a strange thing that happened in the night that
+was just past, the first that the Lady Goldberga had spent here in
+Lincoln for many a year, for on that happening hangs a great deal, and
+it will make clear what I myself saw presently at the breaking-up feast
+of the Witan. That puzzled me mightily at the time, as it did many at
+the feast, but I see no reason why it should not be told at once.
+
+Now I have said that Goldberga left the hall early overnight, being
+wearied with the journey, and having the remembrance of the attack on
+her party so near to Lincoln to trouble her also. Not much cause to
+love her uncle Alsi had she; though perhaps, also, not much to make her
+hate him, except that he had kept her so far away from her own people
+of late, in a sort of honourable captivity. Now it was plain to her
+that had it not been for the presence of Ragnar and his men, her guard
+would not have been able to drive off the attackers; and the strange
+way in which Griffin had held back had been too plain for her not to
+notice. Already she feared him, and it seemed that he might have
+plotted her carrying off thus. That Alsi might have had a hand in the
+matter did not come into her mind, as it did into the minds of others,
+for she knew little of him, thinking him honest if not very pleasant in
+his ways, else had not her father made him her guardian.
+
+I will say now that in the attack he did have a hand. Many a long year
+afterward it all came out in some way. He dared not give his niece to
+Griffin openly, but he wished to do so, as then he would have an
+under-king in East Anglia of his own choosing. Sorely against the grain
+with him was it that he should have to give up those fair lands to this
+girl, who would hold the throne by her own right, and not at all under
+him. So he and Griffin had plotted thus, and only Ragnar’s presence had
+spoilt the plan, though Griffin had tried to save it by holding back.
+But I must say also that up to this time none had had aught to say
+against Alsi as a ruler, though he was over close, and not at all
+hearty in his ways at home. But now, for the sake of the kingdom, he
+had begun to plot; and this plan having come to naught, he must make
+others, as will be seen. I do not think that this planning to keep
+Ethelwald’s kingdom from his daughter was anything fresh to Alsi, but
+the time for action had come now.
+
+He had made ready by keeping the fair princess far away, and there were
+none who could speak of her goodness, or, indeed, had heard much of her
+since she was a child. Therefore, as men were content enough with him,
+none would trouble much if the princess came not to the throne, given
+good reason why she should not do so. And the very best reason would be
+that which Alsi had given at the Witan—if her husband was not fit to be
+king.
+
+It is possible that Goldberga knew that her marriage would be talked of
+at this Witan: but I do not think that she troubled herself much about
+it, not by any means intending to be married against her will. I have
+heard that so ran the will of Ethelwald, that she was to have choice to
+some extent. However that may be, with so many thoughts to trouble her
+she went to rest, and her sleep was not easy until the morning was
+near, and then came quiet.
+
+But presently, in the grey of the dawn, she woke, and called her old
+nurse, who was in the chamber with her; and when she came she told her
+that she had had a strange vision or dream, so real that she did not
+know which it was. And what it portended she could not say, for it was
+wonderful altogether, and surely was good.
+
+“I thought that a voice wakened me, calling me to look on somewhat; and
+so I rose as I was bidden, and saw before me the most mighty and
+comeliest man that could be thought of. Kinglike he was, though he had
+no crown and was meanly clad, without brooch or bracelet that a king
+should wear. But the wonder was that from his mouth came a bright shaft
+of flame, as it were of a sunbeam, that lighted all the place, and on
+his shoulder shone a cross of burning light as of red-hot gold, and I
+knew that it was the mark of a mighty king.
+
+“Then I heard the voice again, and I turned, and saw that it was an
+angel who spoke to me, and his face was bright and kind.
+
+“‘Fear not, Goldberga,’ he said, ‘for this is your husband that shall
+be. King’s son and heir is he, as that token of the fiery cross shows.
+More, also, it will betoken—that he shall reign in England and in
+Denmark, a great king and mighty. And this you shall see, and with him
+shall you reign as queen and well-loved lady.’
+
+“So the voice ceased, and the angel was gone, and when I looked up
+there was naught but the growing dawn across yon window, and the voice
+of the thrush that sings outside.”
+
+Now the old nurse pondered over the dream for a while without speaking,
+for she could not see what it might mean at first.
+
+But at last she said, “It is a good dream surely, because of the angel
+that spoke; but there seems only one way in which it can come to pass.
+A prince must come for you from Denmark, for there he would reign by
+his own right, and here he would do so by yours. Yet I have heard that
+the Danish kings are most terrible heathen, worse than the Saxon kin,
+of whom we know the worst now. Maybe that is why the angel told you to
+have no fear. I mind Gunnar Kirkeban, and what he wrought on the
+churches and Christian folk in Wales—in Gower on the Severn Sea, and on
+the holy Dee—when I was young.”
+
+For both Goldberga and this old nurse of hers were Christian, as had
+been Orwenna, Ethelwald’s wife, her mother. It had been a great day for
+them when the King of Kent had brought over his fair wife, Bertha, from
+France, for she, too, was Christian, and had restored the ancient
+church in the very castle where Goldberga was kept.
+
+Now the princess went to sleep again, and woke refreshed; but all day
+long the memory of the dream and of him whom she saw in it bided with
+her, until it was time for her to go to the great hall for the feast of
+the Witan.
+
+Now it happened that on this night I must be one of the two housecarls
+who should stand, torch in hand, behind the king. It was a place that
+none of the men cared for much, since they saw their comrades feasting
+at the end of the room, while they must bide hungry till the end, and
+mind that no sparks from the flaring pine fell on the guests, moreover.
+Eglaf would have excused me this had I wished; but I would take my turn
+with the rest, and maybe did not mind losing the best of the feast so
+much as the others. There were some three hundred guests at that feast,
+and it was a wondrous fair sight to me as I stood on the high place and
+saw them gather. The long table behind which I was ran right across the
+dais, rich with gold and silver and glass work: and below this, all
+down the hall, ran long tables again, set lengthwise, that none might
+have their backs to the king. And at the end of the hall, crosswise,
+were the tables for the housecarls, and the men of the house, and of
+the thanes who were guests. And as the housecarls came in they hung
+their shields and weapons on the walls in order, so that they flashed
+bright from above the hangings that Berthun and his men had set up
+afresh and more gaily than I had seen yet in this place.
+
+There was a fire on the great hearth in the midst of the hall; but as
+it was high summer, only a little one, and over it were no cauldrons,
+as there would have been in the winter. Berthun was doing his cookery
+elsewhere. But between the tables were spaces where his thralls and the
+women could pass as they bore round the food and drink. And backwards
+and forwards among them went Berthun until the very last, anxious and
+important, seeing that all was right, and showing one guest after
+another to their places. No light matter was that either, for to set a
+thane in too low a place for his rank was likely to be a cause of
+strife and complaint. Also he must know if there were old feuds still
+remembered, lest he should set deadly enemies side by side. I did not
+envy him, by any means.
+
+When it seemed that there were few more guests to come, and only half a
+dozen seats were vacant on the high place, Berthun passed into the room
+beyond the hall, and at once a hush fell on the noisy folk, who had
+been talking to one another as though they had never met before. The
+gleemen tuned their harps, and I and my comrade lit our torches from
+those already burning on the wall, and stood ready, for the king was
+coming.
+
+Out of the door backed Berthun with many bows, and loud sang the
+gleemen, while all in the hall stood up at once; and then came Alsi,
+leading the princess, first; and then Ragnar, with the wife of some
+great noble; and after him that noble and another lady; but Griffin was
+not there. Bright looked Goldberga in her blue dress, with wondrous
+jewels on arm and neck, and maybe the brighter for the absence of the
+Welsh thane, as I thought.
+
+So they sat as last night, save that the noble who had come next to
+Ragnar was in Griffin’s place; and therefore I stood behind the king
+and the princess, with the light of my torch falling between the two.
+
+Now they were set, and at once Berthun bore a great beaker of wine to
+the king, and all down the hall ran his men with the pitchers of wine
+and mead and ale, and with them the women of the household and the
+wives of the courtmen, filling every drinking horn for the welcome cup.
+
+Then the gleemen hushed their song, and Alsi stood up with the
+gold-rimmed horn of the king in his hand, and high he raised it, and
+cried, “Waeshael!”
+
+And all the guests rose up, cup in hand, with a wonderful flashing of
+the glorious English jewels, and cried with one voice, “Drinc hael,
+Cyning!”
+
+Then all sat them down, and at once came Berthun’s men with the laden
+spits and the cauldrons, and first they served the high table, kneeling
+on the dais steps while each noble helped himself and the lady next him
+with what he would. And then down the hall the feast began, and for a
+time befell a silence—the silence of hungry folk who have before them a
+good reason for not saying much for a little while.
+
+I looked for Havelok among Berthun’s men, but he was not there. Nor was
+he at the lower cross tables with the other people of the palace. But
+Withelm was there, for Eglaf had seen him with me not an hour ago, and
+had bidden him come, as a stranger from far off. There were a few other
+strangers there also, as one might suppose, for the king’s hall must be
+open at these times.
+
+Now I looked on all this, and it pleased me; and then I began to hear
+the talk of those at the high table, and that was pleasant also. First
+I heard that Griffin had fallen off his horse, and had put his arm out.
+Whereon one said that he only needed one hand to feed with, and
+marvelled that so small a hurt kept him away from so pleasant a place
+as was his.
+
+“It seems that he fell on his face,” answered a thane who had seen him.
+“He is not as handsome as he was last night. That is what keeps him
+away. Some passerby put his arm in straightway.”
+
+At that I almost laughed, but kept a face wooden as that of our old
+statue of Thor, for Eglaf had warned me that I was but a torch, as it
+were, unless by any chance I was spoken to. But Ragnar glanced my way
+with a half smile. Presently they began to talk of the stone putting,
+and of the mighty man who had come with Berthun, and I saw several
+looking idly down the hall to see if they could spy him. One of the
+thanes on the high seat, at the end, was he who had held the prizes at
+these sports.
+
+Now it seemed that Alsi had not heard of this before; and when he had
+been told all about it, he said that he did not know that he had any
+man who was strong enough to make such a cast as they spoke of, though
+Eglaf had picked up a big man somewhere lately, whom he had noticed at
+the hall end once or twice.
+
+Then he ran his eyes over the tables, for now the women folk had sat
+down among the men, and one could see everywhere. But he did not see
+the man he meant, and so turned sharply on us two housecarls behind
+him.
+
+“Here he is,” he said, laughing and looking at me. “Were you the mighty
+stone putter they make such a talk of?”
+
+“I am not, lord,” I said, somewhat out of countenance, because every
+one looked at me together. It had never seemed to me that I was so big
+before; perhaps because I was used to Havelok, and to Raven, who was
+nigh as tall as myself, and maybe a bit broader.
+
+“Why, then, who was he?” said the king. “We must ask Berthun, unless
+anyone can see him in the hall.”
+
+Then the thane of the prizes said, “He is not here, lord; for little
+trouble would there be in seeing him, if he were, seeing that he is a
+full head and shoulders over even this housecarl of yours.”
+
+Now the princess had turned to look at me, and she saw that I was
+abashed, and so she smiled at me pleasantly, as much as to say that she
+was a little sorry for me, and turned away. Then thought I that if ever
+the princess needed one to fight for her, even to death, I would do so
+for the sake of that smile and the thought for a rough housecarl that
+was behind it.
+
+Now came Berthun with more wine, before the matter of the stone was
+forgotten in other talk, and the king said, “It seems that you have
+found a new man, steward, for all are talking of him. I mean the man
+who is said to have thrown a big stone certain miles, or somewhat like
+it, from all accounts. Where is he?”
+
+“He is my new porter,” answered Berthun, with much pride; “but he is
+not in the hail, for he does not like to hear much of himself, being
+quiet in his ways, although so strong.”
+
+“Here is a marvel,” laughed Alsi, “and by-and-by we must see him. I
+wonder that Eglaf let you have him.”
+
+Now Eglaf sat at the head of the nearest of the lower tables, and all
+in hearing of the king were of course listening by this time. So he
+said, “The man had his choice, and chose the heavier place, if you will
+believe me, lord. It is terrible to see how Berthun loads him at times;
+so that I may get him yet.”
+
+Then all laughed at the steward, whose face grew red; but he had to
+laugh also, because the jest pleased the king. He went away quickly;
+and one told Eglaf that he had better eat no more, else would he run
+risk of somewhat deadly at the cook’s hands. But those two were old
+friends, as has been seen, and they were ever seeking jests at each
+other’s expense.
+
+Now the talk drifted away to other things, and I hoped that Havelok had
+been forgotten, for no more than I would he like being stared at. The
+feast went on, and twice I had to take new torches, but Berthun saw
+that I had wine, if I could not eat as yet. Then had men finished
+eating, and the tables were cleared, and the singing began, very
+pleasant to hearken. Not only the gleemen sang, but the harp went
+round, and all who could did so. Well do the Lindsey folk sing, after
+their own manner, three men at a time, in a gladsome way, with
+well-matched voices, and that for just long enough to be pleasant.
+
+So the harp went its way down the hall, and the great folk fell to talk
+again; and at last one said, so that Alsi heard him, “Why, we have not
+seen the strong man yet. Strange that he is not feasting with the
+rest.”
+
+Whereat the king beckoned Berthun.
+
+“Bring your new wonder here,” he said. “Say that I have heard of his
+deed, and would look on him.”
+
+Berthun bowed and went his way; and I wondered how my brother would
+bear this, for the hall and its ordering was wont, as I have said, to
+bring back his troubled thoughts of things half remembered.
+
+Presently he came in at the door at the lower end of the hall, and at
+first none noticed him, for there was singing going on, and through
+that door came and went many with things for the feast from the
+kitchens. Then some one turned to see who towered over them thus, and
+when he saw Havelok he went on looking, so that others looked also.
+Then one of the three singers looked, and his voice stayed, for he was
+a stranger, and had heard nothing of this newcomer, and then Havelok
+followed Berthun up the hall in a kind of hush that fell, and he was
+smiling a little, as if it amused him. He had on the things that the
+steward had given him, and they were good enough—as good as, if more
+sober than, my housecarl finery. But I suppose that not one in all the
+gathering looked at what he wore; for as he passed up the long tables,
+it seemed that there was no man worth looking at but he, and even
+Ragnar seemed to be but a common man when one turned to him with eyes
+that had seen Havelok.
+
+Now Alsi the king sat staring at him, still as a carven image, with his
+hand halfway to his mouth, as he raised his horn from the table; and
+Ragnar looked wide-eyed, for he knew him again, and I saw a little
+smile curl the corners of his lips and pass; and then Havelok was at
+the step of the high place, and there he gave the salute of the
+courtmen of a Danish king, heeding Berthun, who tried to make him do
+reverence, not at all.
+
+Now a spark from my torch drew my eyes from him, lest it should fall on
+the princess’s robe; and when it went out, I saw that the fair hand
+that rested on the arm of the great chair was shaking like a leaf. When
+I looked, her face was white and troubled, and she half rose from her
+seat and then sank back in it gently, and the thane who sat next her
+spoke anxiously to her in a low voice, and the lady by his side rose up
+and came to her.
+
+Then Alsi turned, and he too spoke, asking if aught was amiss.
+
+“The princess faints with the heat of the hall,” said the thane’s wife.
+“She yet feels the long journey. May she not go hence?”
+
+Then Goldberga said bravely, “It is naught, and it will pass.”
+
+But they made her rise and leave the hall; and the guests stood up as
+she went with her ladies round her, and many were the murmurs of pity
+that I heard.
+
+“As though she had seen a ghost, so white is she,” one whispered.
+
+But none knew how much the lady was to be pitied. She had seen the man
+of her vision; and, lo! for all that she knew, he was a thrall who
+toiled in the palace kitchens.
+
+And after her, as she withdrew, looked Havelok with eyes in which there
+was more than pity. I could see him well, but I did not know how he had
+seen the fair princess tremble and grow white as she gazed on him. I
+know that, as he saw her for this first time, it was with the wish that
+he were in Ragnar’s place. But I thought that if Havelok were king,
+here was the queen for him.
+
+Now Alsi bade the feast go on, and be spoke a few words only to
+Havelok, letting him go at once, and I was glad. This sudden faintness
+of the princess had put all out somewhat, and none cared to take up a
+jest where it had stayed. Nevertheless, I saw the king’s eyes follow my
+brother down the hall, and in them was a new and strange look that was
+not pleasant at all.
+
+Then it seemed that one was staring at me, and as will happen, I must
+look in a certain place; and there was Cadwal, the Welsh thane, halfway
+down one of the long tables, glaring first at me, and then at Havelok,
+as he went. It came into my mind that he would be wroth with Ragnar for
+bringing a kitchen knave as his second, as it were, in derision of
+Griffin. I thought that I would find a chance presently to tell him why
+my fellow second chose to be serving thus, and so make things right
+with him, for this seemed to be due to Ragnar, if not to all concerned.
+
+Not long after Goldberga had gone, the king withdrew also, and then the
+hall grew noisy enough, and I could leave my place. But by that time
+Cadwal had left also; and next day, when I sought him, both he and
+Griffin were no longer in Lincoln, none knowing whither they had gone.
+So I troubled no more about them.
+
+But had I known that these two had been among the Welshmen that Hodulf
+led to Denmark when he slew Gunnar Kirkeban, and therefore knew all the
+story of the loss of Havelok, and how Hodulf had sought for news of
+him, I should have been in fear enough that we had not yet done with
+them. Rightly, too, should I have feared that, as will be seen.
+
+Now while I looked about the hall for Cadwal, Mord the chamberlain saw
+me, and made me sit down by him while I ate. Hungry enough was I by
+that time, as may be supposed, for one cannot make a meal off the sight
+of a feast; and as I ate, the noise of the hall grew apace as the cups
+went round. Then some of the older thanes left, and soon Mord and I had
+that table to ourselves. It was plain that he was full of something
+that he would say to me, and when I was ready to listen he bent near me
+and said, “So that was the boy who fled with us.”
+
+“Ay. He has grown since you saw him last.”
+
+“That is not all,” answered Mord. “Well I knew Gunnar, our king, and
+tonight I thought he had come back to us from Valhalla, goodlier yet
+and mightier than ever, as one who has feasted with the Asir might well
+be. For if this boy of ours is not Gunnar’s son, then he is Gunnar
+himself.”
+
+Now that was no new thought to me, as I have shown, and I was ready for
+it, seeing that even I had seen the likeness to the king as I
+remembered him.
+
+“Keep that thought to yourself for a while, Mord,” I said. “It is in my
+mind that you are right, but the time has not yet come for me to know.”
+
+“That is wisdom, too,” he answered; “for if once he gathers a
+following, there is a bad time in store for Hodulf. And it will be
+better that we fall on him unawares, before he knows that Havelok, son
+of Gunnar, lives.”
+
+“We fall on him?”
+
+“Ay, you and I, mail on chest and weapon in hand, with Havelok to lead
+us. What? think you that I would hold back when Gunnar’s son is
+calling?”
+
+“Steady, friend,” I said, laughing; “men will be looking at us.”
+
+So he was silent again; and now I thought that the time of which my
+father spoke had surely come, for it was plain that Havelok was a man
+whom men would gladly follow as he went to win back his kingdom. And I
+went and fetched Withelm from where he sat, and so we three talked long
+and pleasantly, until it was time for us to go forth from the hall. And
+we thought that it was good for Arngeir to come here, for the secret
+was coming to light of itself, as it were, and we would have him speak
+with Mord.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+THE CRAFT OF ALSI THE KING.
+
+
+Now Alsi the king went from the feast with a new and cruel thought in
+his mind under the smiling face that he wore, and long he sat in his
+own chamber, chin on hand and eyes far off, thinking; and at last he
+called Berthun.
+
+“What is the name of this big knave of yours?” he asked, when the
+steward stood before him.
+
+“He calls himself Curan, lord.”
+
+“Calls himself. Well, it is likely that he knows his own name best. Is
+he Welsh, therefore?”
+
+“So I think, lord.”
+
+“You might have been certain by this time, surely. I like Welshmen
+about the place, and I was giving you credit for finding me a good one.
+Whence comes he?”
+
+Now it was on Berthun’s tongue to say that he thought that Curan came
+from the marshland, yet clinging to his own thoughts of what he was. He
+did not at all believe that he came from that refuge of thralls. But he
+must seem certain unless he was to be laughed at again.
+
+So he said, “He comes from the marsh-country.”
+
+“Does he speak Welsh?”
+
+“I have heard him do so to the market people, if he happened to meet a
+Briton there.”
+
+“Why, then, of course he is Welsh: and here have I found out in two
+minutes what you have taken I do not know how long to think about. Go
+to, Berthun; you grow slow of mind with good living.”
+
+The king chuckled, and Berthun bowed humbly; but now the steward was
+determined to say no more than he was obliged in answer to more
+questions. Also he began to hope that Alsi would ask nothing about the
+clothes this man of his wore, else he would be well laughed at for
+spending his money on a stranger.
+
+But Alsi seemed pleased with himself, or else with what he had heard,
+and went on.
+
+“Has this Curan friends in the town?”
+
+“None, lord, so far as I know.”
+
+“Let me tell you that you may know a man’s friends by the company he
+keeps. With whom does he talk?”
+
+“None come to seek him, lord, except one of the housecarls—the big man
+to whom you spoke tonight. Seldom does he go into the town, and then
+only the porters seem to know him, for he was among them, as a
+stranger, when I met him first.”
+
+“A big man will always make an acquaintance with another,” Alsi said,
+“and the porters are the lowest in the place. One may be sure that he
+has left his friends in some starving village in the marsh, and has
+none here. That will do, Berthun. Take care of him, for I may have use
+for him. But next time you hire a man, use your wits to learn somewhat
+of him, if it is too much trouble to ask.”
+
+So Berthun was dismissed, and went out in a bad temper with himself.
+Yet he knew that he would have been laughed at for a fool if he had
+said that he thought Curan more than he seemed.
+
+Now Alsi was alone, and he fell to thought again. By-and-by it was
+plain to be understood what his thoughts had been, and they were bad.
+And after he had slept on them they were no better, seeing what came of
+them. But I think that he was pleased to find that Havelok was, as he
+thought, a Welsh marshman, and well-nigh friendless, for so he would be
+the more ready to do what he was bidden; though, indeed, there seemed
+little doubt that the plan Alsi made for himself would find no
+stumbling block in Curan, if it might meet with a check elsewhere.
+That, however, was to be seen.
+
+Well pleased was Alsi the king with somewhat, men said in the morning.
+
+But there was one who rose heavy and sorely troubled, and that was the
+Lady Goldberga, for all the fancies that had been brought to her by the
+vision had come to nothing, or worse than nothing, as she looked on
+Havelok and saw in the cook’s knave the very form of him of whom she
+had dreamed, and whom she could not forget. Glad had she been to go to
+her own chamber and away from the kindly ladies who could not know her
+real trouble; but not even to her old nurse did she tell what that was.
+Her one thought now was to seek someone who was skilful in the reading
+of dreams, and so find some new hope from it all. But no one could tell
+her of such a one here, unless it were to be a priest of Woden, and
+that she would not hear of.
+
+Then, early in the morning, Alsi sent for her, saying that he would
+speak with her alone for a while. So she went to him, where he sat in
+the chamber beyond the high place; and he greeted her kindly, asking
+after her rest, and saying that he hoped that the sudden faintness had
+hurt her not. Then he led her to a seat, and bade her rest while he
+talked of state affairs.
+
+“For it must be known to you, my niece, that the Witan thinks it time
+that you should take your father’s kingdom.”
+
+Now Goldberga knew that, and had long made up her mind that when the
+time came she would not shrink from the burden of the crown.
+
+It may well have been that Alsi thought that she would wish to wait for
+a time yet, for he did not seem altogether pleased when she answered,
+“If the Witan thinks right, I am ready.”
+
+“But,” he said, “there is one thing to come before that. The Witan must
+know who your husband shall be. And that is reasonable, for he will
+have a share in ruling the kingdom.”
+
+Then said Goldberga, “They need have no fear in that matter, for I will
+wed none but a king or the heir of a king.”
+
+“Well,” said Alsi, dryly enough, “they are not so plentiful as are
+blackberries, and there may be two words to that.”
+
+“I am not anxious to be wedded,” answered the princess, “and I can
+wait. It is, as you say, a matter that is much to the country.”
+
+Then Alsi tried another plan, seeing that Goldberga was not at all put
+out by this. So he forced a cunning smile that was meant to be
+pleasant, and said, “I had thought that your mind ran somewhat on
+Ragnar.”
+
+He looked to see the lady change colour, but she did not.
+
+“Ragnar is my cousin,” she said, “or a good brother to me, if you will.
+Moreover, until the other day when he met me in London by some good
+fortune, I had hardly seen him since my father died.”
+
+“What think you of Griffin?”
+
+“Nothing at all, for nidring he is,” answered Goldberga with curling
+lip.
+
+Now that angered Alsi, for he had so much to do with that business; and
+if Griffin was to be called thus by his fault, he was likely to lose a
+friend.
+
+“I would have you remember,” he said, “that in all this choosing it
+remains for me to give consent or withhold it.”
+
+“I shall only ask your consent to my wedding such a man as I have told
+you of, uncle—a king or a king’s son.”
+
+“So,” said Alsi, “you would choose first, and ask me afterwards,
+forsooth! That is not the way that things are to be between us. It is
+for me to choose, and that according to the oath which I took when your
+father made me guardian of you and his realm.”
+
+“Yet,” said Goldberga very gently, “I think that my father would not
+have meant that I should be the only one not to be asked.”
+
+“I can only go by what I swore, and that I will carry out. I promised
+to see you married to the most goodly and mightiest man in the land.”
+
+“That can be none but a king, as I think.”
+
+Now Alsi grew impatient, for he meant to settle one matter before he
+went much farther.
+
+“I will say at once that I can have no king over the East Anglian
+kingdom. It is not to be thought of that after all these years I should
+have to take second place there. You will hold the kingdom from me, and
+I shall be overlord there. I will send you some atheling who can keep
+the land in order for you, but there shall be no king to bring that
+land under the power of his own kingdom.”
+
+That was plain speaking, and it roused Goldberga.
+
+“Never have you been overlord of my kingdom,” she said. “Well have you
+ruled it for me while I could not rule it myself, and for that I thank
+you heartily. But it is not right that I should seem to hold it from
+you.”
+
+“That is to be seen,” sneered Alsi, “for it lies with me to say what
+marriage you make, and on that depends whether the Witan, in its
+wisdom, sees fit to hail you as queen. Not until you are married will
+you take the kingdom at all.”
+
+“Then,” said the princess, growing pale, “I will speak to the Witan
+myself, and learn their will.”
+
+“The Witan has broken up,” answered Alsi, “and the good thanes are
+miles on their way homewards by this time. You are too late.”
+
+“I will call them up again.”
+
+“Certainly—that is, if I let my men run hither and thither to fetch
+them. But after all, in this matter I am master. Whom you wed lies with
+me.”
+
+Goldberga saw that she was in the hands of the king, and maybe as much
+a prisoner as at Dover. So her spirits fled, and she asked what the
+king willed.
+
+Alsi knew now that nothing but his utmost plan would be of any avail to
+save that kingdom for himself, and so he broke out into wrath, working
+up his fury that he might not go back.
+
+“My will is that you obey me in this carrying out of the oath I took on
+the holy ring, [10] and on the Gospels also to please your mother. You
+shall marry the man whom I choose, so that he be according to the words
+of that oath.”
+
+“So that he be king or son of a king, I will obey you,” answered
+Goldberga.
+
+“Then you defy me. For that I have told you that I will not have. Now
+shall we see who is master. You mind yon kitchen knave of last night?
+There can be none in all England mightier or more goodly than he is to
+look on, and him shall you wed. So will my oath be well kept. Then if
+your precious Witan will have him, well and good, for his master shall
+I be.”
+
+Thereat the princess said that it were better that she should die; but
+now Alsi had set out all his plan to her, and he did not mean to flinch
+from carrying it out. There was no doubt that the Norfolk people would
+hold that she had disgraced herself by the marriage, and so would
+refuse to have her as queen. And that was all he needed.
+
+But Goldberga had no more to say, for she was past speaking, and the
+king was fain to call her ladies. And when they came he went away
+quickly, and gave orders for the safe keeping of the princess, lest she
+should try to fly, or to get any message to Ragnar or other of the
+Norfolk thanes.
+
+Now he must go through with this marriage, for he had shown himself too
+plainly, and never would the princess trust him again. I have heard
+that he sent for Griffin at this time; but, as I found, he was gone;
+and if the king thought that perhaps the princess would wed him now to
+escape from the kitchen knave, he had no chance to bring him forward. I
+suppose he could have made out that Griffin, or for that matter any one
+else he chose, was such a one as his oath to Ethelwald demanded.
+
+Sore wept Goldberga when she was back in her own place, and at first it
+was hard for her to believe that Alsi could mean what he had
+threatened. But then she could not forget her dream, and in that she
+had most certainly seen the very form of him who stood before her at
+the high place last night; and that perhaps troubled her more than
+aught, for it seemed to say that him she must wed. But no king’s son
+could he be, so that there must be yet such another mighty man to be
+found.
+
+And then in her heart she knew that there could not be two such men,
+both alike in all points to him of the vision. And she knew also,
+though maybe she would not own it, that if this Curan had been but a
+thane of little estate, she could have had naught to say against the
+matter.
+
+And so at last she found that in her trouble and doubt and wish for
+peace she was thinking, “Would that he were not the kitchen knave!”
+
+Now, it chanced that the old nurse had gone out into the town, and was
+away all this while, so that she knew nothing of this new trouble; and
+presently she was coming back with her arms full of what she had
+bought, and there met her Havelok and Withelm, who had been to the
+widow’s, and were on their way to find me at the gate.
+
+“Mother,” said Havelok, “let me help you up with these things.”
+
+That frightened the old lady, for she had been looking at him, and had
+made up her mind that he was some mighty noble, as did most strangers.
+
+“Nay, lord,” she said; “that is not fitting for you.”
+
+“Less fitting is it that a strong man should see you thus burdened and
+not help. No lord am I, but only the cook’s man. So I am going to the
+palace.”
+
+But this she would not believe at first, and still refused. However,
+Lincoln Hill is very steep, and she was not sorry when Havelok laughed
+and took the things from her so soon as she had to halt for breath.
+
+“Curan will carry you up also, if you will, mother,” said Withelm.
+
+The nurse tossed her head at him and made no answer, being on her
+dignity at once. Moreover, she had heard of Curan by this time, though
+she had not seen him before. So she said no more, and went on proudly
+enough, with her mighty attendant after her; but all the while it was
+in her mind that there was some jest, or maybe wager, between the two.
+
+Now Withelm stopped at the gate; but I was not there, for I had been
+sent to the palace, where guards were to be at each door. The word was
+that some plot had been found out against the princess, and that
+therefore we had to be careful. One easily believed that with all the
+talk about the attack made on her party that was flying about. So he
+came on to the palace kitchens, for Berthun knew him well, having so
+often bought fish from him in the market; and there he sat down to talk
+with the steward, for there was nothing much going on at the time, and
+I was on guard.
+
+Now, the old nurse went to her mistress; and Goldberga sat in the
+shadow, and was weeping no longer, seeing that it would not help at
+all.
+
+“There is a wonder down yonder,” said the old lady, not seeing that
+there had been any trouble yet—“such a man as I never saw in all my
+days; and he even carried my goods up all the hill for me, old and ugly
+as I am. That is not what every young man would do nowadays. Maybe it
+was different when I was young, or else my being young made the
+difference. The youth with him called him Curan, which is the name of
+the strong porter they prate of, but doubtless that was a jest. This is
+the most kingly man that could be; and I ween that those two made a
+wager that he dared not carry a bundle up to the palace, whereby I was
+the gainer, for breath grows short up that pitch. And when I thanked
+him he bowed in that wise that can only come of being rightly taught
+when one is young. Now, I am going to ask Berthun who he is, for he
+spoke to him when he saw him, and that humbly, as it seemed.”
+
+So talked the nurse, and to all Goldberga answered never a word, for
+all the trouble came back again, and with it the thought that she
+hated, that if only—
+
+Then, as the nurse was leaving her, she called her back.
+
+“Nurse,” she said, “I am in sore trouble about the dream. It bides with
+me, and will not cease to puzzle me until I weary for some one to read
+it plainly. I would that Queen Bertha’s good chaplain were here, for I
+might have been helped by him.”
+
+Then the nurse came back, quick to hear the sad tone in the voice of
+her whom she had tended and loved since she was a child.
+
+“Why, my pretty, have you been weeping?” she said. “There was naught in
+a dream like that to fray you thus.”
+
+“Nay, but it has come to me that this place is altogether heathen; and
+it may have come from the hand of Freya, the false fiend that they
+worship as a goddess, so that I may be ready to wed a heathen. Is there
+no Christian in all this place?”
+
+“There are Welsh folk yet left in the marsh,” said the nurse,
+pondering; “and where there is a Briton there is a Christian, and
+there, also, will be a hidden priest. But it would be as much as his
+life is worth to come here, even could we find one.”
+
+Then Goldberga said, “Alsi is not altogether heathen. If I asked he
+would surely grant this.”
+
+For she thought that she knew how to gain consent.
+
+“If one can be found, and that is not likely. Well, then, I will ask
+Berthun, who is good-natured enough, and most likely will not trouble
+about a Christian coming here; and if so, we need not even ask Alsi.”
+
+So she went, not thinking for a moment that there was a priest of the
+faith to be heard of. Mostly she wanted to hear more of Havelok, but
+she would honestly do her other errand.
+
+But on her way across the courtyard she met Mord, and he was a great
+friend of hers.
+
+“Whither now, nurse? They will not let you go out of the palace. They
+say that there is trouble on hand with those folk that fell on us, and
+we have to bide in shelter for a day or two.”
+
+“Well, I have been down the town this hour, and all is quiet enough.
+This Alsi is an over-timid man. But I was seeking Berthun with a
+strange message from the princess, and one that is not over safe here.”
+
+“Let me give it then.”
+
+“Well, it is nothing more or less than to ask if he can find a
+Christian priest. Our mistress has had a strange dream, and it is true
+that it sorely troubles her. So she wants one to whom she may tell it,
+that it may be read aright. But though I must ask, I do not hope to
+find one.”
+
+“Why,” said Mord, “there is not one Christian in all Lindsey.”
+
+“I would not say that. When I was first here with Orwenna the queen,
+before she married Ethelwald, there were some in the marsh; for one day
+I heard my own tongue spoken there, hunting with my mistress; and so
+she stayed and talked with these poor folk, though the Welsh they spoke
+was bad enough. But they were Christians, as they told her in fear and
+trembling. They have not so much need to fear now.”
+
+“Then I can help you,” said Mord gladly. “Say nothing to the cook, for
+I have found old friends who come from far in the marsh, and they will
+tell me at once if they have heard of any priest. Why, when I think,
+they know Welsh, and one has called himself by a Welsh name, and you
+have seen him—Curan the porter.”
+
+“Ay; then do you ask these friends, and tell them that the sooner they
+can bring a priest the better shall they be rewarded. I would give much
+to have Goldberga’s mind set at rest.”
+
+So Mord said that he would go at once; and glad he was to see Withelm
+sitting with Berthun,
+
+“Well,” said the steward, “I have known Withelm of Grimsby for the last
+ten years or so, and I do not suppose that it matters if you speak with
+him.”
+
+“Why should it matter if I speak with any one I choose?” asked Mord,
+somewhat angrily.
+
+“That you must ask the king; for his orders are that the people of the
+princess have no dealings with outsiders for two days.”
+
+“Mighty careful of us is Alsi all of a sudden,” said Mord. “I suppose
+he thinks that someone will stick a seax into some of us in all
+friendly wise while we are talking.”
+
+But Berthun only laughed, and went to where the nurse was beckoning to
+him. He told her his own thoughts of Havelok, being glad to have a
+ready hearer.
+
+At once Withelm was able to tell Mord that the old priest who was his
+friend was in Lincoln at this time by good chance, and that he would
+surely come to the princess at need. But when they came to talk of when
+and how, it did not seem all so easy; and Mord went to the nurse to
+tell her all.
+
+Then they had to speak to Berthun about it, and he was kindly and
+willing to help; but he said that none might come to speak with the
+princess without leave from the king. No doubt he would grant it
+easily, if asked by Goldberga herself.
+
+“I will go and tell her,” said the old lady. “Keep your man here till I
+return.”
+
+Now she brought this good news to the princess, and one need not say
+how she rejoiced. And now a thought had come to her, and she was eager
+to send a message to Alsi.
+
+“Surely,” she thought, “he does but threaten me with the kitchen knave,
+that he may make me change my will. And, therefore, if I say that I am
+ready to obey him, he will be pleased; and then time is gained at the
+least, and it is not possible that he will choose so badly for me after
+all.”
+
+So when the nurse asked her what she would do about getting the priest
+to her presence, she said, “Go and tell my uncle first that I am
+willing to obey him in the matter of which we spoke this morning.”
+
+“So that was what has troubled you after all, and not the dream? I
+thought it should not have made all these tear marks,” said the nurse
+quickly. “Now, why did you not tell me? I dare give Alsi a talking to
+if he needs it.”
+
+“Nay, nurse, but it was the dream. My uncle and I did but disagree on
+somewhat, and maybe I was wrong. By-and-by I will tell you.”
+
+“Tell me now, and then I shall know better how to ask for what you
+need.”
+
+But Goldberga could not bring herself to say what Alsi had threatened,
+and now felt sure that she would hear no more of that. So she told the
+nurse that she had vowed only to marry a king, and that Alsi had been
+angry, saying that kings were not so easily found. Also, that he was
+the man who had to find her a husband.
+
+“That is the best sense that this king ever spoke,” said the nurse.
+“Many a long year might you wait if you had your way thus. You are wise
+in sending that message. Well, after that I will ask him to let you see
+the priest, saying, if he is cross-grained, that a talk with him will
+make your mind even better fitted to obey. Many things like that I can
+say. We shall have him here presently.”
+
+Now, all that seemed very good to both of them, and the nurse went her
+way. And when she came to Alsi, she gave the message plainly.
+
+“That will save a great deal of trouble,” said the king. “Tell her that
+I am glad to hear it. She says this of her own accord, and not at your
+advice?”
+
+“She told me before I had heard a word of what the trouble was between
+you. It was no word of mine.”
+
+“I am glad of it. But I will say that I am somewhat surprised.”
+
+And that was true, for this message seemed to Alsi to be nothing more
+or less than that Goldberga would marry his man. When he thought for a
+moment, however, he saw that it could not be thus; and also, it was
+plain to him what the poor girl had in her mind. And now he chuckled to
+think what a weapon he had against her. Nor would he be slow to use it.
+
+Then the nurse said that he need have no surprise, for Goldberga was
+ever gentle and willing to be led, though sometimes the pride of her
+race came uppermost for a time. And then she asked if a certain priest
+of the faith might come and speak with her.
+
+Now, Alsi knew that only one could be meant—namely, the hermit who
+bided at Cabourn. He had heard of him often, and would not suffer him
+to be hurt, for his sister Orwenna had protected him. The heathen
+English minded him not at all by this time, for he was the best leech
+in the land, and so useful to them. So Alsi said pleasantly that he was
+quite willing that the priest should come, deeming that he was at
+Cabourn, and that it would be a day or two before he would be brought.
+
+So he called the housecarl from outside the door, and when he came he
+said, “Pass the word that when one who calls himself David comes and
+asks for the princess, he is to be admitted to her.”
+
+So that was made easy, and the nurse thanked him and withdrew; and when
+he was alone, Alsi grinned evilly and rubbed his hands.
+
+“Now is East Anglia mine in truth,” he said; and with that he bade the
+housecarl fetch Curan, the cook’s porter, to him. And then he sent one
+to Ragnar with such a message that he rode out that night and away to
+Norwich.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+THE FORTUNE OF CURAN THE PORTER.
+
+
+While the nurse told Withelm to fetch the priest when Alsi was in the
+hall that evening, the housecarl came for Havelok; and much wondering,
+he followed the man to the king, and presently stood before him and
+saluted.
+
+“Where did you get that salute?” said Alsi sharply, seeing at once that
+it was not English; and, indeed, it was that of Gunnar’s courtmen.
+
+“I cannot tell,” answered my brother. “It seems to be there when
+needed.”
+
+“Well, it is not that used here. Get the housecarls to teach you better
+manners.”
+
+Then Havelok bowed a little, in token that he would do so; and when
+Alsi spoke to him next it was in Welsh.
+
+“You are a marshman, as I hear?”
+
+Now Havelok had learned fairly well from the poor folk who loved him,
+but carelessly, so that when he answered Alsi frowned at his way of
+speaking.
+
+“I am from the marsh,” he said simply.
+
+“We had better get back to English!” the king said; “you people forget
+your own tongue. Now, are you married?”
+
+Thereat Havelok laughed lightly.
+
+“That I am not,” he answered.
+
+“Well, then, if I find you a fair wife, you would be willing,
+doubtless?”
+
+“That I should not,” answered Havelok bluntly, and wondering what this
+crafty-looking king was driving at. “What could I do with a wife? For I
+have neither house nor goods, nor where to take her, nor withal to keep
+her; else had I not been the cook’s knave.”
+
+“It would seem that you carry all your fortune on your back,
+therefore,” said Alsi, looking at Havelok’s gay attire with somewhat of
+a sneer.
+
+“That may well be, King Alsi, for even these clothes are not my own.
+Berthun gave them me, and I think that they come from yourself.”
+
+Alsi grinned, for Eglaf’s saying of him was not so far wrong; but he
+had more serious business on hand than to talk of these things with a
+churl.
+
+“Now, if I bid you, it is your part to obey. I have a wife for you, and
+her you shall wed.”
+
+“There are two words to that, King Alsi. Neither will I wed against my
+will, nor will I wed one who is unwilling.”
+
+“As to that first,” said the king, for he began to be angered with
+Havelok’s boldness, “if a man will not do my bidding, I have dungeons
+where he can have time to think things over, and men who can keep him
+there, be he never so mighty; and if a man will not see with my eyes
+when I bid him, blinded shall he be.”
+
+This he said somewhat hurriedly, for a dark flush came on the face of
+the man before him, and he thought that he must try some other plan
+than force with him.
+
+“And as for that other point, I did not so much as hint that the bride
+was likely to be unwilling. I will say that she is willing, rather.”
+
+Now that troubled Havelok, for it seemed that all was arranged already,
+and the thought of the dungeon was not pleasant. There was no doubt
+that if the king chose he could cast him into one until he was
+forgotten; and the light and the breath of the wind from the sea were
+very dear to Havelok. So he thought that he would at least gain time by
+seeming to listen to the proposal; for, after all, it might come to
+nothing, and maybe it was but a jest, though a strange one.
+
+“Well, lord king,” he said, “if the bride knows enough of me to be
+willing, it is but fair that I should have the like chance of choice.”
+
+Now Alsi thought that it was impossible that this churl, as he deemed
+him, would not be overjoyed to hear of the match he had made for him,
+and he must needs know it soon. Yet there was that about Havelok that
+puzzled him, for his ways were not those of a churl, and he spoke as a
+freeman should speak.
+
+So much the more likely that the people would believe him when he said
+that Goldberga wedded him of her own wish, he thought. It was as well
+that he was not altogether a common-seeming man.
+
+“You have seen the damsel already,” he said therefore. “Now I will not
+say that this match is altogether of my choosing; but I have an oath to
+keep, and it seems that I can only keep it by making you her husband.
+But, as I say, she is willing, and, I will add, well dowered.”
+
+Now it grew plain to my brother that there was something strange in all
+this, so he said, “An oath is a thing that must not be hindered in the
+fulfilling, if a man can further it. But what has a king’s oath to do
+with me?”
+
+“I have sworn to find her the goodliest and mightiest man alive; and,
+though I must needs say it to your face, there is none like yourself.
+No flattery this to bend you to my will, but sober truth—at least, as I
+see it.”
+
+At that Havelok grew impatient.
+
+“Well, if that be so, who is the bride?” he asked, not caring to give
+the king his title, or forgetting to do so, for on him was coming the
+feeling that he was this man’s equal here in the palace. And at last,
+not seeming to notice this, Alsi answered plainly.
+
+“The Princess Goldberga.”
+
+Then Havelok stared at him in blank wonder for some moments; and Alsi
+grew red under his gaze, and his eyes were shifty, and would not meet
+the honest look that was on him.
+
+Then at last said Havelok slowly, and watching the king intently all
+the while, “What this means I cannot tell. If you speak truth, it is
+wonderful; and if not, it is unkingly.”
+
+“On my word as a king, truth it is,” said Alsi hastily, for there was
+that in Havelok’s face that he did not like.
+
+One might think that the king was growing afraid of his own kitchen
+knave.
+
+“If that is so, there is no more to be said,” answered Havelok. “Yet
+you will forgive me if I say that I must have this from the lips of the
+princess herself as well. It may be that her mind will change.”
+
+“That is but fair,” answered Alsi; “and you are a wise man. The mind of
+a damsel is unsteady, whether she be princess or milkmaid; but have no
+fear.”
+
+“No man fear I; but I do fear to hurt any lady, and I would not do
+that.”
+
+Then Alsi thought that all was well, and he spoke smooth words to my
+brother, so that Havelok doubted him more than ever. Therefore it came
+into his mind that all he could do for the best was to seem to agree,
+and wait for what the princess herself said. And if Alsi was working
+some subtlety, then he would wring his neck for him, if need be; and
+after that—well, the housecarls would cut him in pieces, and he would
+slay some of them, and so go to Valhalla, and dreams would be at an
+end. And he would have died to some purpose here, for he knew that
+Goldberga would come to her kingdom, ay, and maybe Alsi’s as well, for
+she was his sister’s daughter, and his next of kin, and well loved by
+those who had been allowed to know aught of her.
+
+But I would not have any think that the promise of so wondrous a bride
+was not pleasing to him. It was more, for he had seen her grow white
+and troubled as she looked on him, and he had seen her bear well
+whatever pain had caused that; and he had known that in the one sight
+he had of Goldberga somewhat had taught him what it was to have one
+face unforgotten in his mind.
+
+So he said to Alsi, “All this fortune that you hold out to me is most
+unlooked for, seeing what I am in your hall; and I have not thanked you
+yet, King Alsi. That, however, is hard to do, as you may understand.”
+
+“I understand well enough,” answered the king, in high good humour
+again, now that all seemed to be going well. “And after all, it is the
+lady whom you must thank.”
+
+“But when shall I see her to do so?”
+
+“Tomorrow, surely; ay, tomorrow early shall you speak with her,”
+answered the king quickly. “Now go, and hold your peace. Let me warn
+you that there are those about the court who would go any lengths to
+remove you from the face of the earth if they knew of this. Tell no man
+of the honour that has come to you as yet. Be the porter for a short
+time longer, and then you will be the man whom all envy. It is likely
+that I must make you a thane, by right of the choice of the princess.”
+
+“I know well when to speak and when to keep silence, lord king,” said
+my brother, and with that he bowed and left the hall.
+
+Then Alsi put his lips to a silver whistle that he carried, and blew a
+call that brought Eglaf hurriedly to him from the outer door.
+
+“The guards may go,” said the king; “but see that the porter Curan
+leaves not the palace until I myself send him forth tomorrow.”
+
+The captain saluted and went his way. He had had six men within call of
+the king all the time that he spoke with Havelok, and one may make what
+one likes of that. At least the threat of the dungeon was no idle one.
+
+Now went Havelok from the hall very heavy and troubled, for beyond the
+fair talk of the king lurked surely some plan that was not fair at all.
+It was not to be thought that he could not prevent, if he chose, a
+foolish marriage of the princess, even did she desire it ever so much.
+And my brother could not believe that she had set her heart on one whom
+she had but seen once, and then in the midst of faintness. That,
+however, might be known easily when he was face to face with her. It
+was a thing that could not be made a matter of pretence.
+
+Now when he came back to the great kitchen, which was nigh as big as
+the hall, Withelm was yet there, for the priest was at the widow’s, and
+there was no haste to bring him; and by that time I had come in also,
+and was sitting with him at the far end, where none had need to come.
+It was Berthun’s own end, as one might say, and he was lord in his own
+place. Only a few thralls were about, and the cook himself had gone
+into the town.
+
+“Here is our brother,” I said, “and there is somewhat wrong.”
+
+He came moodily up to us, and sat him down, saying nothing, and he
+leaned his head on his hands for a while.
+
+“What is amiss, brother?” said Withelm.
+
+“Wait,” he answered. “I will think before I speak.”
+
+I could see that this was not the old puzzlement, but something new and
+heavy, so we held our peace. Long was he before he moved or spoke, and
+when he did so it was wearily.
+
+“Well knew I that somewhat was to happen to me in this town, even as I
+told you, brother, when we first passed its gates. And now it seems to
+be coming to pass. For this is what is on me, as it seems to me—either
+that I must see the light of day no more, or must live to be a scorn
+and sorrow to one for whom it were meet that a man should die.”
+
+“Surely the black dream is on you, my brother! Neither of these things
+can be for you!” I cried.
+
+“Would that it were the dream, for that is not all of sorrow, and that
+also is of things so long past that they are forgotten. I can bear
+that, for your voice always drives it away. But now the hand of Alsi
+the king is on me for some ill of his own—”
+
+“Stay,” said Withelm. “Let us go out and speak, if that name is to be
+heard. It were safer.”
+
+“Less safe, brother,” answered Havelok. “At once we should be kept
+apart. Listen, and I will tell you all, and then say your say.”
+
+Then he told us, word for word, all that had just passed between him
+and the king. And as we listened, it grew on us that here was no wrong
+to the princess, but rather the beginning of honour. I could see the
+downfall that was in store for Alsi, and I thought also that I saw hope
+for the winning back of the Danish kingdom, with an East Anglian host
+to back us. And this also saw Withelm, and his eyes sparkled. But
+Havelok knew not yet all that had grown so plain to us.
+
+He ended, and we said nothing for a moment.
+
+“Well?” he said, not looking up, but with eyes that sought the floor,
+as if ashamed.
+
+“By Odin,” said I, speaking the thought that was uppermost, “here will
+be a downfall for Alsi!”
+
+“Ay, you are right, brother. I will not wed her.”
+
+But that was by no means what I meant, as may be known; and now Withelm
+held up a warning hand to me, and I knew that his advice was always
+best.
+
+“If the maiden is unwilling, wed her not,” he said. “If she is willing,
+even as the king said, that is another matter. We have no reason to
+doubt his word as yet.”
+
+“You saw not his face as he spoke. And then, how should the princess
+think of me?”
+
+“Who knows? Even Odin owned that the minds of maids were hard to
+fathom. But one may find a reason or two. Maybe that oath has somewhat
+to do with it. A good daughter will go far to carry out her father’s
+will, and, in the plain sense thereof, she will certainly do it thus.
+Then it is likely that she knows that you are no churl, but the son of
+Grim, though we have fallen on hard times for a while. I have heard say
+that it is the custom here that a man who has crossed the seas in his
+own ship so many times is a thane by right of that hardihood. Thane’s
+son, therefore, might we call you. Then there is the jealousy of every
+other thane, if she chooses an East Anglian. Then she needs one who
+shall be mighty to lead her forces. Even the greatest thane will be
+content to follow a man who is a warrior of warriors. Ragnar can have
+told her what you are in that way. Faith, brother, there are reasons
+enough.”
+
+Havelok laughed a short laugh at all this, and he grew brighter. There
+was sense in Withelm’s words, if they would not bear looking deeply
+into.
+
+Then I said, adding to these words, “Moreover, Alsi could stop the
+whole foolishness of his niece if he did not think it a fitting match
+in some way.”
+
+“So he could,” answered Havelok. “But yet—I tell you that there was
+naught but evil in his face. Why did he try to force me?”
+
+Then he went back to the thing that weighed mostly on his noble
+heart—the thought that he was unworthy altogether.
+
+“I fear that the princess does but think of me because she must. It is
+in my mind that Alsi may have threatened her also until she has
+consented. How shall I know this?”
+
+“Most easily, as she speaks with you,” answered Withelm. “Tomorrow will
+tell you that. And then, if you find things thus, what shall prevent
+your flying?”
+
+“Brother Radbard and the other housecarls,” said Havelok grimly.
+
+“Not if you ask the princess to help you out of her own way by
+pretending to be most willing. If Alsi thinks you a gladsome couple,
+there is no difficulty. You walk out of the palace as a master there.
+Then you fly to Ragnar. That is all.”
+
+Now that was such an easy way out of the whole coil that we planned it
+out. And yet it seemed to me that it was a pity that Havelok knew not
+more of what seemed to us so sure now. So, seeing that things were
+fairly straightened by this last thought, I got up and said that I must
+be going, making a sign to Withelm to come also; and, with a few more
+words, we went out. I saw Havelok set himself to a mighty task of water
+drawing as I looked back.
+
+“Now,” said I, “here is a strange affair with a vengeance. Neither head
+nor tail can I make of it. But if all we think is right, this is the
+marriage for the son of Gunnar.”
+
+“Son of Gunnar, or son of Grim,” said Withelm, “princess or not, happy
+is the maiden who gains Havelok for a husband. Maybe her woman’s wit
+has told her so. She will have many suitors whom she knows to be
+seeking her throne only, and to him she gives it as a gift unsought.”
+
+“That is all beyond me,” I said; “but he would fill a throne well. But
+his own modesty in the matter of his worthiness is likely to stand in
+the way. Why should we not tell him all that we know? Then he will feel
+that he is doing no wrong.”
+
+“Because we are not sure, and because it is not for us to choose the
+time. I have sent for Arngeir this morning, as we said would be well
+last night. If the princess is unwilling, there are many things that
+may be said; and if not, there must be many days before the wedding;
+and, ere the day, Havelok may feel that he is her equal in birth at
+least, if we are not wrong. But since I have waited here, Mord has told
+me the dream that has troubled the princess, that I may tell the
+priest, so that he can think it over. She has dreamed that she is to
+wed a man who shall be king both in Denmark and England, and she saw
+the man, moreover. Strangely like Havelok’s dream is that. Now what
+else made her turn faint but that this vision was like Havelok? And
+does not that make it possible that she wishes to wed him? Therefore I
+am going to tell the priest the story of Havelok, so far as I know it.”
+
+“Well thought of. Tell him this also, for now I may surely tell you
+what you have not yet heard thereof.”
+
+So I told him how Grim and I had taken Havelok from Hodulf, and then he
+was the more certain that we had saved the son of our king.
+
+Now we thought that we had got to the bottom of the whole matter of the
+wedding. Of course the dream had all to do with the fainting, but
+nothing to do with the supposed wish. But we did not know that.
+
+“Speak not of Gunnar by name, however,” I said; “he was a terror to
+Christian folk. The priest is likely to hinder the marriage with all
+his might else.”
+
+Withelm flushed as he had when he first spoke of the priest to me.
+
+“I think not, brother; for he knows Havelok well, and loves him.”
+
+“So,” said I shortly, “he hopes to make him a Christian, doubtless.”
+
+“I think that he will do so, if he has a Christian wife to help.”
+
+“That would not suit Havelok,” I said, laughing.
+
+“Nay, but such a mind as his it seems to suit well already, though he
+has not heard much.”
+
+“Why, then,” said I, wondering, “if it suits our best and bravest, it
+must be a wondrous faith. It seems strange, however; but I know naught
+of it. What is good for him and you, my brother, is sure to be best.”
+
+“I feared that you would be angry.”
+
+“Nay, but with you and Havelok? How should that be? Why, if you two
+said that we must turn Christian, I should hold it right; so would
+Raven. I suppose that I go to the Ve[11] because you do.”
+
+Now I troubled no more about the matter, being nothing but a sea dog
+who could use a weapon. And now I said that I was going to Eglaf to say
+that I might have to leave him at any time for home, in case we had to
+fly with Havelok. So Withelm went his way to the old priest with a
+light heart, and I to the captain.
+
+“Well,” said Eglaf, “this is about what I expected when your brother
+came. Good it has been to have you here; and I think that I shall see
+you as a housecarl for good yet. When do you go?”
+
+“The first time that I do not turn up on guard I am gone, not till
+then.”
+
+“Come and drink a farewell cup first.”
+
+“I shall be in a great hurry if I do not do that,” I answered,
+laughing.
+
+But it was my thought that maybe when once my back was turned on the
+town, I should not have time to think of going near King Alsi’s guard.
+
+Then I went to find Ragnar the earl, for we thought it well that he
+should know what was on hand. But when I came to the house of the thane
+with whom he was quartered, they told me that he had gone hastily with
+all his men, for word had come of some rising in his land that must be
+seen to at once. That was bad; and as one must find a reason for
+everything, I thought that the going of Griffin had much to do with the
+outbreak. There I was wrong, as I found later. But then, too, I knew
+that the craft of Alsi was at work in this message. He had his own
+reasons for wishing the earl out of the way.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+A STRANGEST WEDDING.
+
+
+Long spoke Withelm and the priest David together, until it was time for
+them to seek the palace; and when they came there, they spoke to Mord
+also. Then David thought it was well to say naught to Havelok until
+more was learned from Goldberga herself, for he would soon see how
+things stood with her. Then he would see Withelm again, and they would
+plan together for the best. So Withelm waited for the return of the
+priest, whom Mord took to his mistress. Alsi and his men were supping
+in the hall, but Goldberga was waiting in her own chamber.
+
+Now the princess thought that, after her message to the king, she would
+hear no more of the kitchen knave, and so was happier. But all the
+while she pondered over her dream the thought of Havelok must needs
+come into it, and that was troublesome. Nevertheless, it was not to be
+helped, seeing that there was no doubt at all that he and the man of
+the vision were like to each other as ever were twins. Wherefore if the
+thought of one must be pleasant so at last must be that of the other.
+And then came the nurse with tales of what Berthun thought of this man
+of his—how that he was surely a wandering prince, with a vow of service
+on him, like Gareth of the Round Table in the days of Arthur.
+
+So presently it seemed to the princess that the churl was gone, as it
+were, and in his place was a wandering atheling, at least, who was not
+a terror at all. Then at length the slow time wore away until Mord came
+with David the priest.
+
+No priestly garb had the old man on, for that had made his danger
+certain; but though he was clad in a thrall’s rough dress, he was not
+to be mistaken for aught but a most reverend man.
+
+“Peace be with you, my daughter,” he said; “it is good to look on the
+child of Orwenna, the queen whom we loved.”
+
+Then the chamberlain left those two alone, and at once Goldberga told
+the priest why she had asked him to run the risk of coming to her, for
+there is no doubt that he was in peril, though not from Alsi himself.
+
+At first she asked him many things about her mother, and learned much
+of her goodness to the poor folk, and of their love to her; and
+presently, when she grew more sure of the kindness and seeming wisdom
+of the priest, she told him all her dream, adding no thoughts of her
+own, as she mistrusted them.
+
+Then said David, “There seems naught but good in this, and it is not
+hard to unravel. I think that all shall come to pass even as it was
+told you.”
+
+“I feared the heathen ways of the place, and thought that it might be
+some snare of the old gods,” said Goldberga.
+
+But David told her that they could have no power on her, and asked her
+if the king knew of the vision, that being one thing of which he was
+not sure; and when he found that he did not, the whole affair seemed
+more strange than before.
+
+But now the princess asked him, “Plain were the words that I heard, hut
+what meant the light as of a sunbeam that came from the mouth of the
+man of the vision?”
+
+“That surely means that in word and in heart and in all else the man
+shall be kingly altogether, so that there shall be no mistaking the
+same; and it may also mean that you shall know the man at once when you
+see him.”
+
+At that Goldberga grew pale and red by turns, so that David, quick to
+read the thoughts of those who came to him for help, asked if she had
+seen anyone who she thought must be meant, not at all knowing that she
+must needs say that this was Curan.
+
+Not at all willingly did she tell him this; but she did so, adding at
+last that Alsi had threatened to wed her to this man.
+
+Now it was plain to David that all was pulling the same way, for surely
+Alsi wrought, unknowing, for the fulfilling of the dream; and all
+seemed to prove that Havelok was the son of the Danish king, and that
+he would win back his kingdom. Then he found out that the princess had
+no knowledge that the king had spoken to Havelok, but it did not seem
+to be needful that he should tell her that he had done so. That would
+be told by Alsi himself if he meant, as seemed certain, to carry out
+his threat. So he thought awhile, and at last he saw what he might do
+without saying anything to bend the choice of the princess in any way.
+
+“It will soon be plain in what way the dream shall be fulfilled,” he
+said; “and this is certain, that you shall be wedded to none but the
+right man, else had it not been sent. Have no fear, therefore, even as
+it was bidden you.”
+
+Then the princess said that the only thing which troubled her was the
+fear lest Alsi should yet force her to wed this one who was so like him
+she had seen in her dream.
+
+“That,” said the priest, “is doubtless the most strange part of the
+whole matter, yet I think that even thus there need be no fear. I will
+tell you now that I know this one who is called Curan well, and I, and
+all who know him, love him. Truly he is not a Christian, but he is no
+hater of the faith, and that is much in these days. Nor is he a churl,
+but rather one of the most noble of men. It is certain that, whatever
+Alsi might wish, he would not wed you against your will. He has but to
+know your thoughts in order to help you in any way. But I must also
+tell you this, that he is a Dane, who fled from his land when he was a
+child; and it is thought that he is the son of the Danish king, who was
+slain at the time when Mord, your servant, fled also. He came to
+England in the same ship as did Mord, who can tell you more of him. It
+is certain that there is a secret about his birth, and the one who
+knows that secret is not far off. If need is, we can learn it, for
+there was a set time for its telling, and maybe this is it. Now, if it
+is true that he is the son of the Danish king, it does seem as if your
+dream might be bidding you to have no fear of what seems doubtful in
+the matter, though I cannot tell, and do not like to say so for
+certain. His name is not Curan, but Havelok.”
+
+Then Goldberga said, “I have heard of that flight and of the wreck from
+Mord often. He was wont to tell me of the child, and of the lady who
+was drowned, and he said that he thought him the king’s son.”
+
+After that she was greatly cheered, for the worst of the trouble seemed
+to be over and gone. It was in her mind now that Alsi knew who Havelok
+was, and that he tried her, for she was not one to think ill of any.
+
+So she let the priest go, with many thanks, saying, “Now I know that
+whatever happens is the will of Heaven, and must be for the best. I am
+ready for whatever shall befall.”
+
+Now I do not know what had seemed good to Alsi, for he had changed his
+mind concerning David’s visit to Goldberga, and had suddenly given
+orders that if he came he was to be put in ward at once. So Mord met
+the old man as he left the chamber, and told him that he must fly; and
+after that Withelm took him away in the dusk, for none hindered his
+going, and went to the widow’s with him, hearing all that had been
+said; and that which they thought was even as Goldberga had said, that
+all must needs be for the best. In a day or two all would he plain, for
+Arngeir would have come. So Withelm sent forth the old man to his own
+place with a good store of food, going with him for some miles, and
+promising him help for coming days until the dearth was ended.
+
+Now into the palace none might come after the feast was set; and all
+this time I was on guard, for there were double posts round the place,
+by reason of Alsi’s fear of the attackers of the princess, as was said.
+So it happened that neither of us saw Havelok until next morning; and
+now I have to tell how we saw him, and what happened with the first
+sunlight, when men were thinking of breaking their fast.
+
+We of the housecarls took that first meal of the day in the great
+hall—so many of us, that is, who were not on duty; and when we had nigh
+finished, Alsi would come in and seat himself on the high place, where
+Eglaf and half a dozen other thanes sat also at times when there was no
+special state to be kept.
+
+I was early this morning, having just taken my spell of watching at the
+gate, and being, therefore, free for the rest of the day, and I was
+hungry with the sweet air of the July weather and the freshness that
+comes with sunrise. So I was not altogether pleased to see that there
+was seemingly some new affair of state on hand, while the breakfast was
+not yet set out by reason of preparations that were going on where the
+king’s chair was wont to stand. There was Berthun, looking puzzled and
+by no means pleased, and his men were busy setting out benches on the
+high place, of a sort that were not those that were wont to be there,
+in three sides of a square, the open side facing the hall. One bench
+made each side, and all three were carved from back rail to clawed feet
+wondrously. Old they seemed also. Then, too, instead of the sweet
+sedges that strewed the high place, men had spread a cloth of bright
+hues underfoot there, and the sedges had been swept among the rushes of
+the lower places. All this was so strange that I went forward, and when
+I had a chance I asked the steward what was on hand.
+
+“If you know not, master housecarl, no more do I. ‘Justice to be done,’
+says the king, and so I suppose that you have some notable prisoner in
+ward—maybe the leader of those villains who scared our fair princess.”
+
+“But we had taken no man, and I will say that we had wondered that we
+had not been sent out to hunt those people, instead of biding to see if
+they came to trouble us here.”
+
+“Why, then,” said Berthun, “some thane must be bringing a captive
+shortly. But why Alsi orders these benches, it passes me to make out.
+They are those that have been used for the weddings of his kin since
+the days of Hengist. Last time was when Orwenna, his sister, wedded
+Ethelwald of Norfolk. Maybe he thinks that they need airing.”
+
+He laughed and went on directing his men; but knowing what I knew, I
+wondered what it all might mean, for there was one wedding that I could
+not help thinking of.
+
+Presently the hall began to fill as men came in, and every one had
+somewhat to say, and all marvelled at this that was going on. Then
+Berthun came and beckoned to me, for I must fetch Eglaf the captain at
+once, as the king had need of him, in haste. Then Eglaf hurried to the
+hall; and after a word or two with Alsi, the horns were blown outside
+the hall door to call every man of the guard to the place. And when
+they came, we were all set round the wall as if guarding all that were
+in it. But there were none but the folk of the palace to guard, and
+they were wondering as were we; and when that was done, and the click
+and rattle of arms as we moved to our places was ended, there was a
+silence on all—the silence of men who wait for somewhat to happen.
+
+Now Berthun went to the door on the high place, as he was wont when all
+was ready for the king’s presence, and the hush deepened, none knowing
+what they expected to see.
+
+Forth came Berthun backward, as was the custom, and he turned aside to
+let the king pass him. His face was red and angry, as I thought, but
+amazed also. I was standing next to Eglaf, and he was at the foot of
+the dais, at the end of his line of men, so that I could see all
+plainly.
+
+Then came Alsi, leading the princess, and after Goldberga came her
+nurse. No other ladies were with her; and now I noticed that there was
+not one thane on the high place, which was strange, and the first time
+that such a thing had been since I came here. I looked down the hall,
+and none were present. Now I looked at Alsi; and on his pale face was a
+smile that might have been as of one who will be glad, though he does
+not feel so. But the eyes of the princess were bright with tears, and
+hardly did she look from the floor. Hers was a face to make one sad to
+see at that time, wondrously beautiful as it was.
+
+Alsi led her by the hand, and set her on the bench that was to his
+left, and signed to the nurse to sit beside her, which the old lady
+did, bridling and looking with scorn at the king as she took her place.
+There she sought the hand of the princess, and held it tightly, as in
+comforting wise. Very rich garments had the nurse, but Goldberga was
+dressed in some plain robe of white that shone when the light caught
+it. Mostly I do not see these things, but now I wished that she always
+wore that same.
+
+As for Alsi, he had on his finest gear, even as at the great feast of
+the Witan—crimson cloak, fur-lined, and dark-green hose, gold-gartered
+across, and white and gold tunic. He had a little crown on also, and
+that was the only thing kingly about him, to my mind.
+
+Now he cast one look at Goldberga, which made her shrink into herself,
+as it were, and turned with a smile to us all.
+
+“Friends,” he said, “this is short notice for a wedding, but all men
+know that ‘Happy is the wooing that is not long a-doing,’ so no more
+need be said of that. All men know also that when good Ethelwald died
+he made me swear to him that I would wed his daughter to the mightiest
+and goodliest and fairest man that was in the land. I have ever been
+mindful of that oath, and now it seems that the time for keeping it has
+come. Whether the man whom my niece will wed is all that the oath
+requires, you shall judge; and if he is such a one, I must not stand in
+the way. I do not myself know that I have ever seen one who is so fully
+set forth in words as is this bridegroom in those of the oath.”
+
+Now I heard one whisper near me, “Whom has Goldberga chosen?”
+
+And that was what Alsi would have liked to hear, for his speech seemed
+to say that thus it was, and maybe that he did not altogether like the
+choice.
+
+But now Alsi said to Berthun, “Bring in the bridegroom.”
+
+“Whom shall I bring, lord?” the steward asked in blank wonder, and Alsi
+whispered his answer.
+
+At that Berthun’s hands flew up, and his mouth opened, and he did not
+stir.
+
+“Go, fool,” said Alsi, and I thought that he would have stamped his
+foot.
+
+Now I knew who was meant in a moment, and even as the steward took his
+first step from off the dais to go down the hail to his own entrance, I
+said to Eglaf, “Here is an end to my service with you. My time is up.”
+
+“Why, what is amiss?”
+
+“The bridegroom is my brother—that is all; and I must be free to serve
+him as I may.”
+
+“Well, if that is so, you are in luck. But I do not think that either
+of Grim’s sons can be the man. Big enough are you, certainly, but
+goodly? Nay, but that red head of yours spoils you.”
+
+I daresay that he would have said more about Raven and Withelm, for a
+talk was going round; but a hush came suddenly, and then a strange
+murmur of stifled wonder, for Havelok came into the hall after Berthun,
+and all eyes were turned to him.
+
+Now I saw my brother smile as he came, seeing someone whom he liked
+first of all; and then he looked up the hall, and at once his face
+became ashy pale, for he saw what was to be done. Yet he went on
+firmly, looking neither to right nor left, until he came to the high
+place. There he caught my eye, and I made a little sign to him to show
+that I knew his trouble.
+
+They came to the step, and Berthun stood aside to let Havelok pass, and
+then Alsi held out his hand to raise my brother to the high place. But
+Havelok seemed not to see that, stepping up by himself as the king bade
+him come. Then the women who were in the hall spoke to one another in a
+murmur that seemed of praise; but whiter and more white grew the
+princess, so that I feared that she would faint. But she did not; and
+presently there seemed to come into her eyes some brave resolve, and
+she was herself again, looking from Alsi to Havelok, and again at Alsi.
+
+Now, too, the king looked at him up and down, as one who measures his
+man before a fight. And when he met Havelok’s eyes he grew red, and
+turned away to the folk below him.
+
+“So, friends,” he cried, “what say you? Am I true to the words of my
+oath in allowing this marriage?”
+
+There was not one there who did not know Havelok, whom they called
+Curan; and though all thought these doings strange, there was a hum of
+assent, for the oath said naught of the station in life of the
+bridegroom. Good King Ethelwald had been too trustful.
+
+“That is well,” said Alsi, with a grave face. “All here will bear
+witness that this was not done without counsel taken. Now, let the
+bridegroom sit in his place here to my right.”
+
+He waved his hand, and Havelok sat down on the bench that faced
+Goldberga; and now he looked long at her with a look that seemed to be
+questioning. Alsi was going to his seat in the cross bench, where the
+parents of the couple are wont to sit at a wedding while the vows are
+made, but he seemed to bethink himself. It is my belief that he said
+what he did in order to shame both Havelok and Goldberga.
+
+“Why, it is not seemly that the bridegroom should sit alone without one
+to be by him. Where are your friends, Curan?”
+
+At that Alsi met with more than he bargained for. At once Berthun came
+forward, and forth came I, and without a word we sat one on each side
+of him. There were others who would have come also, for I saw even
+Eglaf take a step towards the high place, had we not done so.
+
+Alsi’s face became black at that, for here was not the friendless churl
+he was scoffing at. But he tried to smile, as if pleased.
+
+“Why, this is well,” he said. “Good it is to see a master helping his
+man, and a soldier ready to back a comrade of a sort. Now we have
+witnesses. Let us go on with the wedding.”
+
+Now the golden loving cup that was used at the feasts had been filled
+and set at a little side table that stood there, and it was to be the
+bride cup that should be drunk between the twain when all was settled.
+So Alsi took this cup and held it, while he sat in the place of the
+father of the bride. Now, I knew nothing of what should he done, but
+Berthun did so, and well he took my brother’s part, having undertaken
+for him thus.
+
+“It is the custom,” said Alsi, “that the bridegroom should state what
+he sets forth of the dowry to the bride.”
+
+Whereat Berthun, without hesitation, spoke hastily to Havelok, and told
+him to let him answer, meaning, as I have not the least doubt, to
+promise all that he had saved in long years of service. But Havelok
+smiled a little, and set his hand to his neck, and I remembered one
+thing that he had—a ring which had always hung on a cord under his
+jerkin since he came to Grimsby, and which my father had bidden him
+keep ever.
+
+“This give I,” he said, setting it on the floor at his feet, “and with
+it all that I am, and all that I shall hereafter be, and all that shall
+be mine at any time.”
+
+Alsi looked at the ring as it flashed before him, and his face changed.
+No such jewel had he in all his treasures, for it was of dwarf work in
+gold, set with a deep crimson stone that was like the setting sun for
+brightness. I do not know whence these stones came, unless it were from
+the East. Eleyn the queen, his mother, was thence, and I know now that
+the ring was hers. But I think that when Alsi saw this he half repented
+of the match, though he had gone too far now to draw back. So he bowed,
+and said that it was well, as he would have said had there been nothing
+forthcoming.
+
+Then Berthun, in his turn, asked for the bridegroom that the dowry of
+the bride should be stated for all to hear.
+
+“The wealth left my niece by her father,” said Alsi. “The matter of the
+kingdom is for the Witan of the East Anglians to settle.”
+
+Then came from out the king’s chamber two men bearing bags of gold, and
+that was set before the princess. It was a noble dowry, and honest was
+the king in this matter at least.
+
+Now were the vows to be said and the bride cup to be drunk, and that
+was the hardest part of all to Havelok.
+
+Slowly he rose as the king held it out to him, and he took it from his
+hand and stood before Goldberga; and she, too, rose and faced him, and
+for a moment they stood thus, surely the most handsome couple that had
+ever been.
+
+Then Havelok said, looking in the clear eyes of the princess, “This
+have I sworn, that I will wed no unwilling bride. It is but for you to
+say one word, and the cup falls, and all is ended.”
+
+Alsi started at that, and I thought he was going to speak, but he held
+his peace. Still as a rock was Havelok while he waited for the answer,
+and the folk in the hall were as still as he. They began to see that
+all was not right as the king would have it thought.
+
+Once the princess looked at Alsi, and that with pride in her face, and
+then she looked long and steadfastly at Havelok, and one by one his
+fingers loosened themselves on the golden stem of the cup, that she
+might know him ready for her word.
+
+Then she put forth her hand and closed it round his strong fingers,
+that he must hold it fast by her doing, and that was all that was
+needed. It was more than words could have told. And she smiled as she
+did it.
+
+And at that a light came on Havelok’s face, and he smiled gravely back
+at her, and he said in a low voice that shook a little, “May the gods
+so treat me as I treat you, my princess. Can it be that you will trust
+me thus?”
+
+She answered in no words, but I saw her hand tighten over his, and her
+eyes never left his face.
+
+Then Havelok raised his other hand, and took that of Goldberga, which
+was on the cup, and faced to the people.
+
+“Thus do I pledge her who shall be henceforward my wife through good
+and ill; and may Odin, Freya, and Niord be witnesses of my oath of
+faith to her in all that the word may mean.”
+
+So he drank, and I stole a glance at the king. Never saw I a man so
+amazed, for to him the Danish names of the Asir had come as some sort
+of a shock, seeing that he had deemed this man, with the name of Curan,
+a Briton. And he looked at Berthun with a look that seemed to say more
+than was likely to be pleasant by-and-by. But the steward paid no heed
+to him.
+
+Now Havelok had made his vow, and he gave the cup to the princess; and
+she, too, turned a little toward the people, but still she looked on
+Havelok.
+
+“Faith shall answer to faith,” she said in a clear voice. “Here do I
+take this man for my husband, in the sight of God, and with you all as
+witnesses, and I pray that the blessing of Him may be on us both.”
+
+So she drank also, and Havelok stopped and raised the wondrous ring
+from where it had been unheeded on the floor, and took the band of
+Goldberga, and set it on her finger, and kissed the hand ere he let it
+go.
+
+But Goldberga lifted her face toward him, and he bent and kissed her
+forehead, and so they were wedded.
+
+I have heard men scoff at the thought of love at first sight, but never
+can any one of us do so who saw this wedding.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+HOW THE BRIDE WENT HOME.
+
+
+Now the folk cheered, and loudest of all honest Eglaf and his warriors.
+I wondered what should come next, for neither feast nor bride ale was
+prepared, and Berthun was looking puzzled. Then I saw that the only
+face in all the wide hall which was not bright was that of Alsi, and
+his brow was black as a thunder cloud, while his fingers were white
+with the force with which he clutched and twisted the end of his
+jewelled belt. Plainly he was in a royal rage that none had scoffed at
+this wedding, but that all had taken it as a matter that was right
+altogether.
+
+But he had one more evil thing in his mind that must be seen through;
+and he came forward, smoothing his face, as best he might, to the fixed
+smile that I had seen when he spoke with Ragnar, and learned that his
+first plot had miscarried.
+
+“Now, friends,” he said, “all this has been so hasty that we have
+prepared no feast. Even now, it seems that the horses stand at the door
+to take bride and bridegroom hence, and doubtless there waits somewhere
+the feast that has been bespoken without my knowledge. Well, strange
+are the ways of lovers, and we will pardon them. I have therefore only
+to bid them farewell.”
+
+With that he turned to Havelok, and held out his hand, as in all good
+fellowship, but Havelok would not see it.
+
+“Fare as it shall be meted to you by the Asir, King Alsi,” he said,
+“for at least Loki loves craft.”
+
+Then he turned to me, and asked hurriedly where we should go if we must
+leave thus.
+
+“To Grimsby,” I said. “That is home.”
+
+Alsi spoke to the princess now, and maybe it was as well that he did
+not offer so much as his hand. Wise was he in his way.
+
+“Farewell, niece,” he said; “all this shall come shortly before the
+Witan of Ethelwald’s folk.”
+
+“Farewell, uncle,” she answered calmly. “That is a matter which I will
+see to myself. You have carried out your oath to the letter, so far,
+and now it remains that you should leave the government of the realm to
+me.”
+
+With that she put her hand on Havelok’s arm.
+
+“Come, husband; we have heard that the horses wait. Let us be gone.”
+
+And then in a quick whisper she added, as if nigh overdone, “Take me
+hence quickly, for I may not bear more.”
+
+They wasted no more words; and through a lane of folk, who blessed
+them, those two went to the great door down the long hall, and I
+followed, and Berthun and the nurse came after me. One flung the door
+open; and on the steps, all unaware of what had happened, lounged Mord,
+waiting, and up and down on the green the grooms led the horses of the
+princess—six in all. On two were packed her goods, and the third had a
+pack saddle that waited for the bags that held her dowry. The other
+three were for herself and Mord and the nurse. There was not one for
+Havelok.
+
+“This is hasty, my princess,” Mord said. “Whither are we bound?”
+
+“For Grimsby, Mord,” I answered quickly. “Are there no more horses to
+be had?”
+
+“Never a one, unless we steal from the king,” he answered.
+
+The people were crowding out now that they might see the start, and I
+saw Berthun speak to a man among them who was a stranger to me. And
+from him he turned directly with a glad face.
+
+“Go down to such a hostelry,” he said to me, “and there ask for what
+horses you will. Maybe I shall have to follow you for my part in this
+matter—that is, if I am not put in the dungeon.”
+
+“Faith,” I answered, “better had you come with us than run that risk.
+Alsi is in a bad mood.”
+
+He shook his head; and then the people behind him made way, for the
+king was coming.
+
+“Almost had you forgotten this,” he said; “and I think you will want
+it.”
+
+The men with the money were there, and he waved his hand to them.
+Havelok lifted the princess to her horse without heeding him, and the
+men set the bags on the pack horses.
+
+“See the bridegroom down the street, you who were his witnesses,” the
+king went on, with a curling lip; “and if you are a wise man, master
+Berthun, you will not come back again.”
+
+Berthun bowed and went into the hail, past the king, and across to his
+own door, without a word. After him the thronging people closed up, and
+though I thought that a housecarl would have been sent to see what he
+was about, this would have made an open talk, and Alsi forbore.
+
+“Let Havelok take your horse, Mord,” I whispered to him; “I will tell
+you why directly.”
+
+He nodded, and I told Havelok to mount. Then I helped up the nurse, who
+wept and muttered to herself; and so we started, Alsi standing on the
+steps with words of feigned goodspeed as we did so.
+
+But the housecarls and the people shouted with wishes that were real,
+no doubt thinking that we were bound for the far-off kingdom of the
+prince who had won Goldberga by service as a kitchen knave in her
+uncle’s hall for very love of her.
+
+Directly we were outside the gate that leads down the hill, I saw
+Withelm, who was there waiting for me, and he knew at once what had
+happened.
+
+He came to my side, and asked only, “Already?”
+
+“Already,” I answered; “but it is well. Go to the widow’s straightway,
+and bring Havelok’s arms to him at the hostelry at the end of the
+marketplace, where we have to find more horses.”
+
+He went at once, and silently we came down the street and to the
+courtyard of the inn. Some few folk stared at us; but the princess was
+hardly known here, and she had cast her long, white mantle hoodwise
+over her head and face, so that one could not tell who she was. So
+early in the day there were few people in the marketplace either.
+
+Berthun was in the courtyard of the inn, and I was glad to see him, for
+I did not know what would happen to him. It was likely that Alsi would
+seek for someone on whom to visit his anger at the way things had gone.
+But the steward had been warned, and was not one to run any risk.
+
+“I did but go back for a few things that I did not care to leave,” he
+said; and he showed me that he had brought his own horse from the
+stables, and on it were large saddlebags. No poor man was Berthun after
+years of service in the palace, where gifts from thane and lady are
+always ready for the man who has had the care of them. Across the
+saddle bow also were his mail shirt and arms, and his shield hung with
+his helm from the peak.
+
+“You see that I must needs cast in my lot with yours, or rather
+Curan’s,” he said, laughing; “but it is in my mind that in the end I
+shall not be sorry to have done so. I think that I am tired of the
+fireside, and want adventure for a while.”
+
+“Well,” I answered, “you are likely to have them, and that shortly, if
+I am not mistaken; but we shall see. Now about these horses, for we had
+better get out of Lincoln as soon as we may.”
+
+The man he had spoken with was a merchant, who came yearly, and was a
+friend of his. He had more horses than he meant to keep, as he had here
+each year; for every one knows that a horse can always be sold in
+Lincoln, and they were good ones. Then my gold came in well, and I
+bought three, one for each of us brothers. I daresay that I paid dearly
+for them, but there was no time for haggling in the way that a horse
+dealer loves. Out of the way of Alsi we must get, before he bethought
+him of more crafty devices. And I thought, moreover, that we should be
+riding towards East Anglia shortly, and it was not everywhere that a
+steed fit to carry Havelok on a long journey was to be had.
+
+I had bidden him leave all this to me as we came down the hill, and
+glad he was to do so. Now he had dismounted, and stood by the side of
+the princess, speaking earnestly to her. It was plain that what he said
+was pleasant to her also. But we left them apart, as one might suppose.
+
+Now came a warrior into the courtyard, and he bore more arms. It was
+Withelm, who had borrowed the gear of the widow’s dead husband, that he
+might be ready for whatever might happen: and it was good to see
+Havelok’s eyes grow bright as he spied the well-known weapons that his
+brother had in his arms. He said one word to Goldberga, and then came
+to us.
+
+“Let me get into war gear at once,” he said, laughing in a way that
+lightened my heart. “I shall not feel that I have shaken off service to
+Alsi until I have done so.”
+
+And then he saw Berthun here for the first time.
+
+“Nay, but here is my master,” he added. “And I will say that I owe him
+much for his kindness.”
+
+“Now the kindness shall be on your part, if any was on mine. Take me
+into your service, I pray you, henceforward.”
+
+“Good friend of mine,” said Havelok, “naught have I to offer you. And
+how should one serve me?”
+
+“With heart and hand and head, neither more nor less,” answered
+Berthun. “I have seen you serve, and now will see you command. Let me
+bide with you, my master, at least, giving you such service as I may.”
+
+“Such help as you may, rather. For now we all serve the princess,”
+Havelok said.
+
+And with that Berthun was well content for the time.
+
+“Well, then,” said I, “see to Havelok’s arms, while we get the horses
+ready, for I want Withelm here.”
+
+So Havelok and his new man went into the house with his arms, and then
+I saw Goldberga beckoning to us. It was the first time that I had
+spoken to her, and I think that I was frightened, if that is what they
+call the feeling that makes one wish to be elsewhere. But there was
+nothing to fear in the sweet face that she turned to us.
+
+“Brothers,” she said, “Havelok tells me that it was one of you who
+brought David the priest to me. I do not rightly know yet which is
+Withelm.”
+
+With that she smiled and blushed a little, and I stood, helm in hand,
+stupidly enough. But my brother was more ready.
+
+“I am Withelm, my princess—” he began.
+
+“Nay; but ‘sister’ it shall be between me and my husband’s brothers.
+Now, brother Withelm, there is one thing that is next my heart, and in
+it I know you will help me.”
+
+There she wavered for a moment, and then went on bravely.
+
+“Christian am I, and I do not think that we are rightly wedded until
+the priest has done his part. And to that Havelok agrees most
+willingly, saying that I must ask you thereof, for he does not know
+where the old man is now.”
+
+“Wedded in the little chapel that is in the thick of Cabourn woods
+shall you be, for David has gone there already. We can ride and find
+him before many hours are over, sweet lady of ours.”
+
+She thanked him in few words, and with much content.
+
+Then came forth from the house Havelok, in the arms that suited him so
+well—golden, shining mail shirt of hard bronze scales, and steel,
+horned helm, plain and strong, and girt with sword and seax, and with
+axe and shield slung over shoulder, as noble a warrior surely as was in
+all England, ay, or in the Northlands that gave him birth either; and
+what wonder that the eyes of the princess glowed with a new pride as
+she looked at her mighty husband?
+
+But Mord almost shouted when he saw him come thus, and to me he said,
+
+“It is Gunnar—Gunnar, I tell you—come back from Asgard to help my
+princess.”
+
+“Wait till we get to Grimsby, and Arngeir will make all clear,” I said.
+“Get into your arms, and we will start. All is ready now.”
+
+We did not wait for Mord, but mounted and rode out, and the princess
+looked round at us as she rode first beside Havelok, and said, “Never
+have I ridden so well attended, as I think.”
+
+And from beside me, with broad face from under his helm, Berthun
+answered for us all, “Never with men so ready to die for you, at least,
+my mistress.”
+
+And that was true.
+
+Half a mile out of the town we rode at a quick trot, and then thundered
+Mord after us, and his hurry surely meant something. I reined up and
+waited for him.
+
+“What is the hurry, Mord?” said I.
+
+“Maybe it is nothing, and maybe it is much,” he answered; “but Griffin
+of Chester has gone up to the palace, for I saw him. He has his arm in
+a sling, and his face looks as if it had been trodden on. Now Alsi will
+tell him all this, and if we are not followed I am mistaken. He would
+think nothing of wiping out our party to take the princess, and Alsi
+will not mind if he does. How shall we give him the slip?”
+
+Withelm rode with his chin over his shoulder, and I beckoned him and
+told him this. Not long was his quick wit in seeing a way out of what
+might be a danger.
+
+“Let us ride on quickly down the Ermin Street, and he will think us
+making for the south and Norwich. Then we will turn off to Cabourn, and
+he will lose us. After that he may hear that some of us belong to
+Grimsby, and will go there; but he will be too late to hurt us. Hard
+men are our fishers, and they would fight for Havelok and the sons of
+Grim.”
+
+So we did that, riding down the old Roman way to a wide, waste forest
+land where none should see us turn off, and then across the forest
+paths to Cabourn; and there we found the hermit, and there Havelok and
+Goldberga were wedded again with all the rites of Holy Church, and the
+bride was well content.
+
+Now while that was our way, I will say what we escaped by this plan of
+my brother’s, though we did not hear all for a long time. Presently we
+did hear what had happened at Grimsby towards this business, as will be
+seen.
+
+To Lincoln comes Griffin, with Cadwal his thane, just as we had left
+the town thus by another road, and straightway he betakes himself to
+the palace. There he finds Alsi in an evil mood, and in the hall the
+people are talking fast, and there is no Berthun to receive him.
+
+So, as he sits at the high table and breaks his fast beside the king,
+he asks what all the wonderment may be. And Alsi tells him, speaking in
+Welsh.
+
+“East Anglia is mine,” he says, “for I have rid myself of the girl.”
+
+Griffin sets his hand on his dagger.
+
+“Hast killed her?” he says sharply.
+
+“No; married her.”
+
+“To whom, then?”
+
+“To a man whom the Witan will not have as a king at any price.”
+
+“There you broke faith with me,” says Griffin, snarling. “I would have
+taken her, and chanced that.”
+
+“My oath was in the way of that. You missed the chance on the road the
+other day, which would have made things easy for us both. There was no
+other for you.”
+
+Now Griffin curses Ragnar, and the Welsh tongue is good for that
+business.
+
+“Who is the man, then?” he says, when he has done.
+
+“The biggest and best-looking countryman of yours that I have ever set
+eyes on,” answers Alsi, looking askance at Griffin’s angry face. “There
+is a sort of consolation for you.”
+
+“His name,” fairly shouts Griffin.
+
+“Curan, the kitchen knave,” says Alsi, chuckling.
+
+“O fool, and doubly fool!” cries Griffin; “now have you outdone
+yourself. Was it not plain to you that the man could be no thrall? Even
+Ragnar looks mean beside him, and I hate Ragnar, so that I know well
+how goodly he is.”
+
+Now Alsi grows uneasy, knowing that this had become plainer and plainer
+to him as the wedding went on.
+
+“Why, what do you know of this knave of mine?” he asks. “He was goodly
+enough for the sake of my oath, and the Witan will have none of him.
+That is all I care for.”
+
+“What do I know of him? Just this—that you have married the queen of
+the East Angles to Havelok, son of Gunnar Kirkeban of Denmark, for whom
+men wait over there even now. The Witan not have him? I tell you that
+every man in the land will follow him and Goldberga if they so much as
+lift their finger. Done are the days of your kingship, and that by your
+own deed.”
+
+Alsi grows white at this and trembles, for he minds the wondrous ring
+and the names of the Asir, but he asks for more certainty.
+
+Then Griffin tells him that he was with Hodulf, and knew all the secret
+of the making away with the boy, and how that came to naught. Then he
+says that Hodulf had heard from certain Vikings that they had fallen on
+Grim’s ship, and that in the grappling of the vessel the boy and a lady
+had been drowned. It is quite likely that they, or some of them,
+thought so in truth, seeing how that happened. After that Hodulf had
+made inquiry, and was told that there were none but the children of
+Grim with him, and so was content. So my father’s wisdom was justified.
+
+“Now I learned his name the other day; and I have a ship waiting to
+take me at once to Hodulf, that I may warn him. I have ridden back from
+Grimsby even now to say that, given a chance, say on some lonely ride,
+that might well have been contrived, I would take Goldberga with me
+beyond the sea. I thought more of that than of Hodulf, to say the
+truth.”
+
+Now Alsi breaks down altogether, and prays Griffin to help him out of
+this.
+
+“Follow the party and take her. They are few and unarmed, and it will
+be easy, for men think that there is a plot to carry her off, and this
+will not surprise any. Go to the sheriff and tell him that it has
+happened, and he will hang the men on sight when you have taken them.
+Then get to sea with the girl, and to Hodulf, and both he and I will
+reward you.”
+
+“Thanks,” says Griffin, with a sneer; “I have my own men. Yours might
+have orders that I am the one to be hanged. It would be worth your
+while now to make a friend of your kitchen knave. You are not to be
+trusted.”
+
+So these two wrangle for a while bitterly, for Alsi is not overlord of
+Griffin in any way. And the end is that the thane rides towards Grimsby
+first of all, with twenty men at his heels, knowing more than we
+thought. But he hears naught of us, and presently meets Arngeir on his
+way thence to see us. Him he knows, for already he has had dealings
+with him in the hiring of the ship. So he learns from him that
+certainly no such party as he seeks is on the road, and therefore rides
+off to the Ermin Street to stay us from going south.
+
+But now we had time for a long start; and so he follows the Roman road
+when he reaches it all that day and part of next, and we hear no more
+of him at that time. There are many parties travelling on that way, and
+he follows one after another.
+
+Now Arngeir knew at once that somewhat had happened when he heard from
+Griffin that the most notable man of those whom he sought was named
+Curan, and therefore he turned back at once and waited for us. And when
+we came in sight of the long roof of the house that Grim, our father,
+had built, standing among the clustering cottages of our fishers, with
+the masts of a trading ship or two showing above it in the haven, he
+was there on the road to greet us, having watched anxiously for our
+coming from the beacon tower that we had made.
+
+Maybe we were two miles out of Grimsby at this time, for one can see
+far along the level marsh tracks from our tower; and Withelm and Mord
+and I rode on to him as soon as we saw him, that we might tell him all
+that had happened, and we rode slowly and talked for half a mile or so.
+
+Then Withelm waited and brought Havelok to us, staying himself with the
+princess, that he might tell her the wondrous story of her husband; for
+we thought that it would be easier for him than for our brother maybe.
+Havelok was not one to speak freely of himself.
+
+And when Goldberga had heard all, she was silent for a long way, and
+then wept a little, but at last told Withelm that all this had been
+foretold to her in her dream.
+
+“Yet I am glad,” she said, “that I did not know this for certain, else
+had my Havelok thought that I did but wed him for his birth. Tell him,
+brother, that it was not so; say that I knew him as the husband Heaven
+sent for me when first I saw him.”
+
+Now Havelok listened to Arngeir as he told him the well-kept secret,
+and now and again asked a question.
+
+And when all was told he said, “Now have the dreams passed, and the
+light is come. I mind all plainly from the first.”
+
+And he told all that had happened after Hodulf caught him, from the
+murder of his sisters to the time when I helped my father to take him
+from the sack. Only he never remembered the death of his mother or the
+storm, or how we came to Grimsby. Maybe it is rather a wonder that
+after all those hard things gone through he should recall anything, for
+he was nearly dying when we came ashore, as I have told.
+
+“But I am Grim’s son,” he said, “for all this, and never shall I forget
+it. By right of life saved, and by right of upbringing, am I his, and
+by right of brotherhood to his sons. Gunnar, who was my father, would
+have me say this, if I am like him, as Mord tells me I am.”
+
+Then he looked at us in brotherly wise, as if we would maybe not allow
+that claim now; but there needed naught to be said between us when he
+met our eyes. He was Grim’s son indeed to us, and we his younger
+brothers for all the days that were to come.
+
+“One thing there is that makes me glad,” he said, “and that is because
+I may now be held worthy of this sweet bride of mine so strangely
+given, as indeed I fear that I am not. Men will say that she has done
+no wrong in wedding me; and for all that Alsi may say, it will be
+believed that she knew well whom she was wedding. There will be no
+blame to her.”
+
+That seemed to be all his thought of the matter now, and it was like
+him. Then he went back to his princess, and we spurred on to Grimsby,
+and set all to work, that the greeting might be all that we could make
+it.
+
+And so, when those two rode into our garth, and the gates were closed
+after them, we reined our horses round them, and drew our swords, and
+cried the ancient greeting with one mighty shout:
+
+“Skoal to Havelok Gunnarsson—Skoal to Goldberga, Havelok’s wife! Skoal!
+Yours we are, and for you we will die! Skoal!”
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+JARL SIGURD OF DENMARK.
+
+
+Now one would like to tell of quiet days at Grimsby; but they were not
+to be. Three days after Havelok’s homecoming we were on the “swan’s
+path,” and heading for Denmark, with the soft south wind of high summer
+speeding us on the way. And I will tell how that came about, for else
+it may seem strange that Havelok did not see to the rights of his wife
+first of all.
+
+That was his first thought, in truth, and we brothers planned many ways
+of getting to work for her, for it was certain that Alsi would be on
+his guard. And on the next day came a man from Lincoln to seek Berthun,
+with news. That good friend had done what none of us had been able to
+manage, for he had told the merchant, his friend, to bide in the hall
+and hear what went on, and then to let him know all else that seemed
+needful that we should hear. Now he had learned all from the words of
+Griffin and Alsi, who took no care in their speech, thinking that none
+in the hall knew the Welsh tongue that they used.
+
+It being the business of a merchant to know that of every place where
+he trades, and he travelling widely, there was no difficulty to him,
+and mightily he enjoyed the sport. Then he sent off straightway to us;
+and now it was plain that we were in danger—not at once, maybe, but ere
+long. Griffin would hear sooner or later that his quarry was in Grimsby
+after all. So we went to our good old friend, Witlaf of
+Stallingborough, and told him all.
+
+“Why,” he said, “I will have no Welsh outsiders harrying my friends.
+Light up your beacon if he comes, and shut your gates in his face, and
+I and the housecarls will take him in the rear, and he will not wait
+here long. I have not had a fight for these twenty years or so, and it
+does me good to think of one.”
+
+So we thought that there was little fear of the Welshman.
+
+When I came back from this errand, however, I chose to pass the mound
+where my father slept, and on it, hand in hand, sat Havelok and
+Goldberga—for it was a quiet place, and none came near it often. It was
+good to see them thus in that place, and happy they seemed together.
+
+Goldberga called me when I came near, and I sat down beside them as she
+bade me.
+
+“Here we have been talking of what we shall do now, for it seems that
+to both of us are many things to hand,” she said. “Good it would be if
+we could set them aside; but we were born to them, and we cannot let
+them be. And, most of all, here in this place we may not forget the
+duty that Grim would remind us of. Havelok must go to Denmark and win
+back his kingdom from Hodulf first of all.”
+
+“We have thought that East Anglia was to be won first from Alsi,” I
+said.
+
+“So says Havelok; but I do not think so. For, indeed, I am but the
+wife, and the things of the husband come first of all. Now, this is
+what I would say. Sail to Denmark before Hodulf knows what is coming,
+and there will be less trouble.”
+
+“I am slow at seeing things,” said Havelok; “but the same might be said
+of your kingdom.”
+
+“Alsi is ready, and Hodulf is not,” she answered, laughing; “any one
+can see that.
+
+“Is it not so, brother?”
+
+So it was; and I thought that she was right.
+
+“Let us ask the brothers,” I said, “for here are many things to be
+thought of; and, first of all, where to get men.”
+
+That was the greatest trouble to our minds, but none at all to hers.
+
+“Get them in Denmark,” she said, when we were all together in the great
+room of the house that evening. “Let us go as merchant folk, and find
+Sigurd, or his son if he is dead. If I am not much mistaken, all the
+land will rise for the son of Gunnar so soon as it is known that he has
+come again.”
+
+“Sigurd is yet alive,” Arngeir said; “and more than that, he is
+waiting. For he promised Grim that he would be ready, and I heard the
+promise. I think that this plan is good, and can well be managed. Here
+is the ship that Griffin was to have taken today, and he is not here.
+Gold enough I have, for Grim hoarded against this time.”
+
+Then he showed us the store that, through long years, my father had
+brought together to take the place of that of Sigurd’s which had been
+lost; and it was no small one. And so we planned at once; and in the
+end we three brothers were to go with Havelok and Goldberga, leaving
+Mord to get to Ragnar and tell him that Goldberga was following the
+fortunes of her husband, and would return to see to her own if all went
+well. Berthun would go with him, and Arngeir would bide at home, for we
+needed one to whom messages might come; and while none would know us
+now in Denmark, either Arngeir or Mord might be seen, and men would
+tell Hodulf that the men of Grim had come home, and so perhaps spoil
+all. Word might go to Denmark from Griffin even yet.
+
+We had little thought of any sorry ending to our plans, for the dreams
+that had come so true so far cheered us. And so, with the evening tide
+of the next day, we sailed in the same ship that had been hired for
+Griffin.
+
+But first Havelok spent a long hour on my father’s mound alone,
+thinking of all that he owed to him who rested there. And to him came
+Goldberga softly, presently, lest he should be lonely in that place.
+And there she spoke to him of her own faith, saying that already he
+owed much to it. For he was making his vows to the Asir for success.
+
+“Shall you pray yet again to the Asir, my husband?” she asked.
+
+“Why should I? I have vowed my vows, and there is an end. If they heed
+them, all is well; and if not, the Norns hinder.”
+
+“There is One whom the Norns hinder not at all,” she said gently, and
+so told him how that her prayers would go up every day.
+
+Fain was she that he also prayed in that wise to her God, that naught
+might be apart in their minds.
+
+Then he said, “I have heard this from David and Withelm also, and it is
+good. Teach me to vow to your God, sweet wife, and I will do so; and
+you shall teach me to pray as you pray.”
+
+So it came to pass that Havelok in the after days was more than ready
+to help the Christian teachers when they came to him; for that was how
+the vow that he made ran, that he would do so if he was king, and had
+the power.
+
+Now there is nothing to tell of our voyage, for one could not wish for
+a better passage, if the ship was slow. Indeed, she was so slow that a
+smaller vessel that left Tetney haven on the next day reached the same
+port that we were bound for on the night that we came to our old home.
+And that we learned soon after she had come.
+
+Into Sigurd’s haven we sailed on the morning tide, and strange it
+seemed to me to see the well-known place unchanged as we neared it. My
+father’s house was there, and Arngeir’s, and the great hall of the jarl
+towered over all, as I remembered it. Men were building a ship in the
+long shed where ours had been built, and where the queen had hidden;
+and the fishing boats lay on the hard as on the day when Havelok had
+come to us. The little grove was yet behind our house, and it seemed
+strange when I remembered that the old stones of its altar were far
+beyond the seas. I wondered if Thor yet stood under his great ash tree;
+and then I saw one change, for that tree was gone, and in its place
+stood a watchtower, stone built, and broad and high, for haven beacon.
+
+On the high fore deck stood Havelok, and his arm was round Goldberga as
+we ran in, but they were silent. The land held overmuch of coming
+wonder for them to put into words, as I think.
+
+Presently the boats came off to us in the old way, and here and there I
+seemed to know the faces of the men, but I was not sure. It was but the
+remembrance of the old Danish cast of face, maybe. I could put no names
+to any of them. And as we were warped alongside the wharf, there rode
+down to see who we were Sigurd the jarl himself, seeming unchanged,
+although twelve years had gone over him. He was younger than my father,
+I think, and was at that age when a man changes too slowly for a boy to
+notice aught but that the one he left as a man he thought old is so
+yet. He was just the noble-looking warrior that I had always wondered
+at and admired.
+
+We had arranged in this way: Havelok was to be the merchant, and we his
+partners in the venture, trading with the goods in the ship as our own.
+That the owner, who was also ship master, had agreed to willingly
+enough, as we promised to make good any loss that might be from our
+want of skill in bargaining. One may say that we bought the cargo,
+which was not a great one, on our own risk, therefore, hiring the
+vessel to wait our needs, in case we found it better to fly or to land
+elsewhere presently. Then Havelok was to ask the jarl’s leave to trade
+in the land, and so find a chance to speak with him in private. After
+that the goods might be an excuse for going far and wide through the
+villages to let men know who had come, without rousing Hodulf’s fears.
+
+And as we thought of all this on the voyage, Goldberga remembered that
+it was likely that Sigurd would know again the ring that had been the
+queen’s, and she said that it had better be shown him at once, that he
+might begin to suspect who his guest was. For we knew that he was true
+to the son of Gunnar, if none else might still be so.
+
+This seemed good to us all; and, indeed, everything seemed to be well
+planned, though we knew that there are always some happenings that have
+been overlooked. We thought we had provided against these by keeping
+the ship as our own to wait for us, however, and it will be seen how it
+all worked out in the end.
+
+Now Havelok went ashore as soon as the ship was moored; and the moment
+that he touched land he made a sign on his breast, and I think that it
+was not that of the hammer of Thor, for Goldberga watched him with
+bright eyes, and she seemed content as she did so. He went at once to
+where the jarl sat on his horse waiting him, and greetings passed. I
+was so used to seeing men stare at my brother that I thought little of
+the long look that Sigurd gave him; but presently it seemed that he was
+mightily taken with this newcomer, for he came on board the ship, that
+he might speak more with him and us.
+
+“Presently,” he said, “you must come and dine with me at my hall; for
+the lady whom I saw as you came in will be weary, and a meal on shore
+after a long voyage is ever pleasant. Now what is your errand here?”
+
+“Trading, jarl,” answered Havelok.
+
+“I thought you somewhat over warlike-looking for a merchant,” said
+Sigurd; “what is your merchandise?”
+
+“Lincoln cloth, and bar iron, and such like; and with it all one thing
+that is worth showing to you, jarl, for I will sell it to none but
+yourself.”
+
+Now we went aft slowly, and presently Havelok and the jarl were alone
+by the steering oar, by design on our part.
+
+“This seems to be somewhat special,” said Sigurd. “What is it?”
+
+Havelok took the ring from his pouch, and set it in the jarl’s hand
+without a word; and long Sigurd looked at it. I saw the red on his
+cheek deepen as he did so, but he said never a word for a long time.
+And next he looked at Havelok, and the eyes of these two met.
+
+“This is beyond price,” said the jarl slowly. “Not my whole town would
+buy this. It is such as a queen might wear and be proud of.”
+
+“Should I show it to Hodulf the king, therefore?” asked Havelok, with
+his eyes on those of the jarl.
+
+“Let no man see it until I know if I can buy it,” answered Sigurd.
+“Trust it to my keeping, if you will, for I would have it valued
+maybe.”
+
+“It is my wife’s, and you must ask her that.”
+
+Then Havelok called Goldberga from her cabin under the after deck, and
+the jarl greeted her in most courtly wise.
+
+“I will trust it with you, Jarl Sigurd,” she said, when he asked her if
+he might keep the ring for a time. “Yet it is a great trust, as you
+know, and it will be well to show the ring to none but men who are
+true.”
+
+“It is to true men that I would show it,” he answered, with that look
+that had passed between him and Havelok already; and I was sure that he
+knew now pretty certainly who we were. Yet he could not say more at
+this time, for the many men who waited for Havelok must be told
+somewhat of his coming first.
+
+Now men were gathering on the wharf to see the newcomers, and so the
+jarl spoke openly for all to hear.
+
+“Come up to my hall, all of you, and take a meal ashore with me; for
+good is the first food on dry land after days at sea and the fare of
+the ship.”
+
+So he went across the gangway, and to his horse, and rode away quickly,
+calling back to us, “Hasten, for we wait for you. And I will find you
+lodgings in the town for the time that you bide with us.”
+
+Now at first that seemed somewhat hazardous, for we had meant to stay
+in the ship, lest we should have to fly for any reason suddenly. But it
+seemed that we had no choice but to do as he bade us, and we could not
+doubt him in any way. We should go armed, of course, as in a strange
+place; and, after all, unless Hodulf heard of us, and wanted to see us,
+he was not to be feared as yet. So I fell to wondering where our
+lodgings would he, and if the old families still dwelt in the houses
+that I had known, and then who had ours. Many such thoughts will crowd
+into the mind of one who sees his old land again after many years, and
+finds naught changed, to the eye at least.
+
+Men have told me that, as we came into the hall presently, they thought
+us the most goodly company that had ever crossed its threshold; and
+that is likely, for at our head were Havelok and Goldberga. Raven was a
+mighty warrior to look on as he came next, grave and silent, with
+far-seeing grey eyes that were full of watching, as it were, from his
+long seafaring, and yet had the seaman’s ready smile in them. And
+Withelm was the pattern of a well-made youth who has his strength yet
+to gather, and already knows how to make the best use of that he has.
+There were none but thought that he was the most handsome of the three
+sons of Grim. And last came I, and I am big enough, at least, to stand
+at Havelok’s back; and for the rest, one remembers what Eglaf said of
+me. But I do not think that any noticed us with those twain to look at,
+unless they scanned our arms, which were more after the English sort
+than the Danish, so far as mail and helms are concerned, and therefore
+might seem strange.
+
+The old hall was not changed at all; and handsome it seemed after
+Alsi’s, though it was not so large. There were more and better weapons
+on the walls, and carved work was everywhere, so that in the swirl and
+heat-flicker of the torches the beams, and door posts, and bench ends,
+and the pillars of the high seat seemed alive with knotted dragons that
+began, and ended, and writhed everywhere, wondrous to look on. Our
+English have not the long winter nights, and cruel frosts, and deep
+snow that make time for such work as this for the men of the household.
+
+There fell a silence as we came in, and then Sigurd greeted us; and we
+were set on the high seat, and feasted royally. On right and left of
+our host sat Havelok and Goldberga, and the jarl’s wife next to
+Havelok, and Biorn the Brown, the sheriff, next to our princess. This
+was a newcomer here since my days, but well we liked him.
+
+There is nothing to tell of what happened at this feast, for Sigurd
+asked no questions of us but the most common ones of sea, and wind, and
+voyage, and never a word that would have been hard for Havelok to
+answer in this company, where men of Hodulf’s might well be present.
+Withelm noticed this, and said that no doubt it was done purposely, and
+he thought much of it.
+
+When we had ended with song and tale, and it was near time for rest,
+Sigurd bade Biorn, the sheriff, take us to his house for the night,
+telling him that he must answer for our safety, and specially that of
+the fair lady who had come from so far. And then he gave us a good
+guard of his housecarls to take us down the street, as if he feared
+some danger.
+
+“Why, jarl,” said Biorn, “our guests will have a bad night if they
+think that in our quiet place they need twenty men to see them to bed
+thus!”
+
+“Nay, but the town is strange to the lady,” answered Sigurd; “and who
+knows what she may fear in a foreign land!”
+
+So Biorn laughed, and was content; and we bade farewell to the jarl,
+and went out. And then I found that it was to my father’s house we were
+to go, for it had been given to Biorn.
+
+Now, I was next to Goldberga as we came to the door, and there was a
+step into the house which we always had to warn strangers of when it
+was dark; and so, in the old way, without thinking for a moment, I said
+to her, “One step into the house, sister.”
+
+“Ho, Master Radbard, if that is you, you have sharp eyes in the dark,”
+said Biorn at once; “I was just about to say that myself.”
+
+“I have some feeling in my toes,” I answered; and that turned the
+matter, for they laughed.
+
+And then, when we were inside, and the courtmen had gone clattering
+down the street homewards, Biorn took the great door bar from its old
+place and ran it into the sockets in the doorposts, as I had done so
+many times; and the runes that my father had cut on it when he made the
+house were still plain to be seen on it, with the notches I had made
+with the first knife that I ever had. More I will not say, but
+everywhere that my eyes fell were things that I knew, even to fishing
+gear, for it seemed that Biorn was somewhat of a fisher, like Grim
+himself.
+
+Then they put me and my brothers into our old loft, and Havelok and
+Goldberga had the room that had been my father’s. As for Biorn, he
+would be in the great room, before the fire. There was only this one
+door to the house, and therefore he would guard that. His thralls were
+in the sheds, as ours used to be, so that we and he were alone in the
+house.
+
+Now, as soon as we three had gone into our old place of rest, Raven
+went at once, as in the old days, to the little square window that was
+in the high-pitched gable, and looked out over the town and sea. We
+used to laugh at him for this, for he was never happy until he had
+seen, as we said, if all was yet there.
+
+“There are yet lights in the jarl’s hall,” he said, “and there are one
+or two moving about down in the haven. I think that there is a vessel
+coming in.”
+
+“Come and lie down, brother,” I said. “We are not in Grimsby, and you
+cannot go and take toll from her if there is.”
+
+He laughed, and came to his bed; but we talked of old days and of many
+things more for a long while before we slept. And most of all, we
+thought that Sigurd the jarl knew Havelok by the token of the ring and
+by that likeness to Gunnar which Mord had seen, and that our errand was
+almost told.
+
+So we slept without thought of any danger; but the first hour of the
+night in that house was not so quiet to Goldberga, for presently she
+woke Havelok, and she was trembling.
+
+“Husband,” she said, “it is in my mind that we are in danger in this
+place; for I cannot sleep by reason of a dream that will come to me so
+soon as my eyes are closed.”
+
+“You are overtired with the voyage,” Havelok told her gently; and then
+he asked her what the dream was.
+
+“It seems that I see you attacked by a boar and many foxes, and hard
+pressed, and then that a bear and good hounds help you. Yet we have to
+flee to a great tree, and there is safety. Then come two lions, and
+they obey you.”
+
+“I think that is a dream that comes of waves, and the foam that has
+followed us, and the shrill wind in the rigging, and the humming of the
+sail, sweet wife; and the tree is the tall mast maybe, and the lions
+are the surges that you saw along this shore, where is no danger.”
+
+So she was content; and then all in the house slept.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+THE LAST OF GRIFFIN OF WALES.
+
+
+Maybe it was about an hour before midnight when the first waking came
+to any of us, and then it was Biorn himself who was roused by footsteps
+that stayed at the doorway itself, after coming across the garth, and
+then a voice that was strange to him which bade him open. At once he
+caught up his axe and went to the door, and asked quietly who was
+there.
+
+“Open at once,” said the man who was without; “we must speak with you.”
+
+“Go hence, I pray you, and wait for morning,” said the sheriff. “Here
+are guests of the jarl’s, and they must not be disturbed.”
+
+“Open, or we will open for ourselves,” was the answer. “We have no time
+to stay here talking.”
+
+“That is no honest speech,” quoth Biorn. “Go hence, or give me your
+errand from without.”
+
+“Open, fool, or we will have the door down.”
+
+“There is an axe waiting for you if you do that. I rede you go hence in
+peace, or it may be worse for you in the end.”
+
+I suppose it was in the mind of the sheriff that here were some friends
+of his who had been overlong at the ale bench in the hall that evening;
+but on this there was a little talk outside, and then the crash of a
+great stone that was hurled against the door; and at that he started
+back and got his mail shirt on him, for the door was strong enough to
+stand many such blows yet. It seemed that there was more than a drunken
+frolic on hand. Then came another stone against the door, and it shook;
+and at the same moment Havelok came from his chamber to see what was
+amiss, for the noise had waked him. He had thrown on the feasting gear
+that he had been wearing; but he had neither mail nor helm, though he
+had his axe in his hand.
+
+“What is the noise?” he said anxiously, seeing that Biorn was arming.
+
+The sheriff told him quickly, and again the door was battered.
+
+“It is a pity that a good door should be spoilt,” said Havelok, “for
+down it is bound to come thus. Stand you there with the axe, and I will
+even save them the trouble of breaking in.”
+
+“Nay,” said Biorn; “we know not how many are there, and it were better
+that you should arm first. There is time.”
+
+“Why, they think that you are alone in the house, no doubt, and will
+run when they find out their mistake. They are common thieves from the
+forest, or outlaws. Stand you by to cut down the first man that dares
+to enter, if there happen to be one bold enough.”
+
+He set his axe down, and went to the bar, and began to slide it back
+into the deep socket that would let it free, and the men outside stayed
+their blows as they heard it scraping. It was a very heavy bar of oak,
+some seven feet long, and over a palm square.
+
+“Now!” cried Havelok, and caught the bar from its place.
+
+He did not take the trouble to set it down and get his axe; but as the
+door opened a little he stood back balancing the great beam in his
+hands, as a boy would handle a quarterstaff, ready for the rush of the
+thieves that he expected, and so he was in the way of Biorn more or
+less.
+
+Now there was silence outside, and one saw that the door was free, and
+set his foot to it, and flung it open, for it went inwards. And then
+Havelok knew that there was a stern fight before him, for the moonlight
+showed the grim form of Griffin, the Welsh thane, fully armed and
+ready.
+
+“Stand back, friend,” cried Biorn hastily, fearing for the unarmed man,
+and caring nothing that beyond the foremost was a group of some half
+dozen more warriors.
+
+But he spoke too late, for as Griffin stepped back a pace on seeing his
+enemy himself in the doorway, Havelok had gone a pace forward, and now
+was outside, where he had a clear swing of his unhandy weapon.
+
+Now Griffin gathered himself together, and spoke some few words to his
+men in his own tongue; but my brother paid no heed to them, for he knew
+what the way of the Briton was likely to be. And he was not wrong, for
+without warning Griffin flew on him, sword point foremost, and left
+handed, for he might not use the right for many a long day yet.
+
+Biorn shouted; but Havelok was ready, and the heavy bar caught and
+shivered the light sword, and then swung and hurled the thane back
+among his men with a rib broken. Havelok followed that up, falling on
+the men even as their leader was among their feet. Two he felled with
+downright strokes, and another shrank away in time to save himself from
+the like fate. Then a fourth got in under his guard, and wounded
+Havelok slightly in the left arm; and unless Biorn had been out and
+beside him by that time it would have gone hard with him, for both
+those who were left were on him, and another was hanging back for a
+chance to come.
+
+There was shouting enough now, for the Briton does not fight in silence
+as do the northern men, and we had waked. First of all Raven ran down
+to the great room, half dazed with sleep, and blaming himself for all
+this trouble, for he had seen that a ship was coming in, and he might
+have thought it possible that it had brought Griffin and his men, whose
+tongue had told him at once what had happened.
+
+Now he called to us to arm quickly, and sought for a weapon for
+himself; and in that familiar place he went to the old corner where the
+oars were wont to be set. There was one, for I have said that this
+Biorn was a fisher, and the place that was handy for us had been so for
+him. That was a homely weapon to Raven, and out into the moonlight he
+came with it, and swept a Welshman away from Havelok’s side as he came.
+But now more men were coming—townsfolk who had been roused by the
+noise—and they knew nothing of the attackers, and so thought them
+friends of ours, who joined us in falling on their sheriff; and there
+was a wild confusion when Withelm and I came down armed.
+
+But what we saw first was a dim, white figure in the doorway of the
+other room; and there stood Goldberga, wide eyed and trembling.
+
+“My dream, my dream!” she said.
+
+But of that we knew nothing; and we could but tell her to be of good
+courage, for we would win through yet, and so went out to the fight.
+
+By this time Griffin was up again, and as I came from the door he was
+once more ready to fall on Havelok from behind. So I thought it best to
+stay him, and I shouted his name, and he turned and made for me. But
+there was no skill in his coming, or he did not think me worth it, for
+the axe had the better, and there was an end of Griffin.
+
+Withelm saw at once that Havelok had no weapon but the bar, and he ran
+to him and held out his own axe.
+
+“Thanks, brother. Mine is inside the door. Get it for me,” said he; but
+now he was laughing, and doing not much harm to anyone, and as I got
+behind his back I saw why this was.
+
+There was only one of Griffin’s men left, and all the rest of the crowd
+of half-armed men were townsfolk. Havelok and Raven were keeping these
+back with sweeps of their long weapons, and behind them against the
+wall was the sheriff, swearing and shouting vainly to bid his people
+hold off and listen to him. And the noise was so great that they did
+but think that he was calling them to rescue him from these who had
+taken him prisoner. It seemed that the Welshman was keeping this up
+also; but neither he nor any of the men cared to risk any nearness to
+the sweep of bar and long oar in such hands. There were many broken
+heads in that crowd; but it was growing greater every minute, and those
+who were coming were well armed, having taken their time over it. They
+say that there were sixty men there at one time.
+
+Now ran Withelm with the axe, and at that Havelok parted with the door
+bar, and ended the last Welshman at the same time, for he hurled it at
+him endwise, like a spear, and it took him full in the chest, and he
+went down to rise no more. And at that the townsmen ran in, and we were
+busy for a space, until once more they were in a howling circle round
+us. But they had wounded Havelok again; and Biorn was at his wit’s end,
+for he had had to take part in the fight this time. The men were mad
+with battle, and forgot who he was, as it seemed. And now some raised a
+cry for bows.
+
+That was the worst thing that we had to fear, and Raven called to us,
+“Into the house, brothers, and keep them out of it till the jarl comes.
+He will hear, or be sent for.”
+
+So we went back and got into the doorway, and we could not bar it at
+first. But Withelm hewed off the blade of Raven’s oar, and I went out
+and cleared the folk away for a space, and leapt back; and Havelok and
+I got the door shut quickly against them as they came back on it, and
+we barred it with the oar loom. That was but pine, however, and it
+would not last long.
+
+Outside, the people were quiet for a little, wondering, no doubt, how
+to rescue Biorn. He wanted to go out to them, but it did not seem safe
+just yet. If they grew more reasonable it might be so.
+
+Then, as we rested thus, Goldberga came quickly, for she saw that her
+husband was wounded, and she began to bind his hurts with a scarf she
+had. She was very pale, but she was not weeping, and her hands did not
+shake as she went to work.
+
+“This is my dream,” she said. “Was that the voice of Griffin that I
+heard? It does not seem possible; but there is none other who speaks in
+the old tongue of Britain here, surely.”
+
+“There is no more fear of him,” said Havelok, looking tenderly at her.
+“Your dream has come true so far, if he was in it. How did it end?”
+
+“We fled to a tree,” she said, smiling faintly.
+
+Havelok smiled also, for this seemed dream stuff only to all of us—all
+of us but Withelm, that is, for at once he said, “This door will be
+down with a few blows. What of that tower of yours, Biorn? Might we not
+get there and wait till the jarl comes?”
+
+At that Biorn almost shouted.
+
+“That is a good thought, and we can get there easily. Well it will be,
+also, for the men are wild now, and there have been too many slain and
+hurt for them to listen to reason.”
+
+“Bide you here,” said Withelm, “for it is we whom they seek. Then you
+can talk to them.”
+
+But he would not do that, seeing that we had been put in his charge by
+the jarl.
+
+“I go with you,” he said. “Now, if we climb out of the window that is
+in the back of the house we can get to the tower before they know we
+are gone.”
+
+We went into that chamber where Havelok had once been when he was taken
+from the sack, and even as I unbarred the heavy shutter and took it
+down, the door began to shake with a fresh attack on it. The trees of
+the grove were two hundred yards from the house, maybe, and among them
+loomed high and black the watchtower I had seen from the sea. A wide
+path had been cut to it, and the moonlight shone straight down this to
+the door of the building.
+
+Now Biorn went out first, and then he helped out Goldberga, and after
+her we made Havelok go; and we called to these three to get to the
+tower as Withelm came next, for every moment I looked to see our
+enemies—if they are to be called so when I hardly suppose they knew
+what they were fighting about—come round to fall on the back of the
+house.
+
+Because of Goldberga they went; and Biorn opened the tower door, and
+she passed into the blackness of its entry, but the two men stayed
+outside for us. And we three were all out of the house when the first
+of the crowd bethought themselves, and made for the back, and saw us.
+
+At once they raised a shout and a rush, and we did not think it worth
+while to wait for them, as they would get between us and the tower,
+which was open for us. So we ran, and they were, some twenty of them,
+hard at our heels as we reached the door, and half fell inside, for the
+winding stairway was close to the entry. I think that Biorn and Havelok
+had made their plans as they saw what was coming, for Havelok followed
+us and stood in the doorway, while Biorn was just outside with his axe
+ready.
+
+“Hold hard, friends!” he called, as the men came up and halted before
+him; “what is all this?”
+
+“Stand aside and let us get at them,” said the foremost, panting.
+
+“Nay,” said Biorn; “what harm have they done?”
+
+“Slain a dozen men and lamed twice as many more,” answered several
+voices; “have them forth straightway.”
+
+“They were attacked, and defended themselves,” said the sheriff, “and
+it is no fault of theirs that they had to do their best. Get you home,
+and I will answer to the jarl for them. They are the jarl’s guests.”
+
+Then was a howl that was strange, and with it voices which seemed to
+let some light on the matter.
+
+“They have slain the jarl’s guests.”
+
+And then came forward a big black-bearded man whom I had seen in the
+crowd already, and he squared up to Biorn.
+
+“Lies are no good, master sheriff, for we know that the outlanders who
+spoke the strange tongue must be the guests who came.”
+
+“I am no liar,” answered Biorn. “Is there not one man here who saw the
+ship and her folk this afternoon?”
+
+Now this man seemed not to want that question answered, for he shouted
+to the crowd not to waste time in wrangling, but to have out the
+murderers; and he took a step towards Biorn, bidding him side no more
+with the men, but let the folk deal with them.
+
+“You overdo your business as sheriff!” he said.
+
+It was Biorn who wasted no more time, for he saw that here was deeper
+trouble than a common riot. He lifted his axe.
+
+“Come nearer at your peril,” he said.
+
+Then the black-bearded man sprang at him, and axe met sword for a parry
+or two, flashing white in the moonlight. Then one weapon flashed red
+suddenly, and it was Biorn’s, and back into the tower he sprang as his
+foe fell, and Havelok flung the door to, and I barred it.
+
+“Up,” said Biorn; and in the dark we stumbled from stair to stair,
+while the crowd howled and beat on the door below us. It was good to
+get out into the moonlight on the roof, where we could rest. I was glad
+that the tower was there instead of Thor, and also that it was strong.
+It was no great height, but wide, and the men below looked comfortably
+far off at all events.
+
+“Here is a fine affair,” quoth Biorn, sitting himself down with his
+back against the high stone wall round the tower top. “It will take me
+all my time to set this right.”
+
+“You have stood by us well, friend,” Havelok said, “and it is a pity
+that you have had to share our trouble so far as this. Who was the man
+who fell on you?”
+
+“That is the trouble,” answered Biorn, “for there will be more noise
+over him than all the rest. He was Hodulf’s steward, the man who
+gathers the scatt, and therefore is not liked. And all men know that
+there was no love lost between him and me.”
+
+“Hodulf’s man,” said I; “how long has he been here, and is he a
+Norseman?”
+
+For I knew him. He was the man who had spoken to me at the boat side
+when we had to fly—one, therefore, who knew all of the secret of
+Havelok.
+
+“Ay, one of the Norsemen who came here with the king at the first, and
+is almost the last left of that crew. I suppose that you have heard the
+story.”
+
+We had, in a way that the honest sheriff did not guess, and I only
+nodded. But I thought that we had got rid of an enemy in him, and that
+Griffin had fallen in with him on landing, and known him, and taken him
+into his counsel about us. He would have gone down to see the vessel
+and collect the king’s dues from her and from us at the same time. He
+had not come into the town till late, as we heard afterwards.
+
+There was no time for asking more now, however, for the shouts of the
+men round the door ceased, and someone gave orders, as if there was a
+plan to be carried out. So I went and looked over on the side where the
+door was to see what was on hand.
+
+It was about what one would have expected. They had got the trunk of a
+tree, and were going to batter the door in. But now we were all armed,
+for Raven had brought Havelok’s gear with him when he fetched his own.
+He had thought also for Goldberga, and she was sitting in the corner of
+the tower walls wrapped in a great cloak that she had used at sea, with
+her eyes on her husband, unfearing, and as it seemed waiting for the
+end that her dream foretold.
+
+I called the rest, and we looked down on the men. They saw us, and an
+arrow or two flew at us, badly aimed in the moonlight.
+
+“Waste of good arrows,” said Havelok; “but we must keep them from the
+door somehow.”
+
+“Would that the jarl would come,” growled Biorn, “for I do not see how
+we are to do that.”
+
+“If they do break in,” said I, “any one can hold a stairway like this
+against a crowd.”
+
+“I do not want to hurt more of these,” answered Havelok, looking round
+him. And then his eyes lit up, and he laughed. “Why, we can keep them
+back easily enough, after all.”
+
+He went to the tower corner, and shouted to the men below. Four or five
+had the heavy log that they were to use as a ram, and they were just
+about to charge the door with it, and no timber planking can stand that
+sort of thing.
+
+“Ho, men,” he cried; “set that down, or some of you may get hurt.”
+
+They set up a roar of laughter at him as they heard, and then Havelok
+laid hold of the great square block of stone that was on the very
+corner of the wall, and tore it from its setting.
+
+“Odin!” said Biorn, as he saw that, “where do they breed such men as
+this?”
+
+“Here,” answered Withelm, looking at the sheriff.
+
+Now Havelok hove up the stone over his head, and a sort of gasp went up
+from the crowd below. One saw what was coming, and ran to drag back the
+men with the beam, and stopped short before he reached them in terror,
+crying to them to beware. But their heads were down, and they were
+starting into a run.
+
+“Halt!” cried Havelok, but they did not stay. “Stand clear!” he shouted
+in the sailor’s way.
+
+And then he swung the stone and let it go, while those who watched fled
+back as if it was cast at them. Down is crashed on the attackers,
+felling the man whom it struck, and dashing the timber from the grasp
+of the others, so that one fell with it across his leg and lay howling,
+while the rest gathered themselves up and got away from under the tower
+as soon as they might.
+
+Now no man dared to come forward, and that angered Havelok.
+
+“Are you going to let these two bide there?” he said. “Pick the poor
+knaves from under the stone and timber, and see to them.”
+
+But they hung back yet, and he called them “nidring.”
+
+Thereat two or three made a step forward, and one said, “Lord, let us
+do as you bid us, and harm us not.”
+
+“You are safe,” he answered, and Biorn laughed and said that this was
+the most wholesome word that he had heard tonight.
+
+“Lord, forsooth! Mighty little of that was there five minutes ago.”
+
+But it was not the terrible stone throwing only that wrung this from
+them, as I think. They had seen Havelok in his arms, with the light of
+battle on his face in the broad moonlight, and knew him for a king
+among men.
+
+They took the hurt men from under the tower, and then crowded together,
+watching us. And some man must needs loose an arrow at us, and it rang
+on my mail, and that let loose the crowd again. Soon we had to shelter
+under the battlement, but they were not able to lodge any arrows among
+us, for that is a bit of skill that needs daylight. Then they dared to
+get to the timber once more, and we saw them coming.
+
+Havelok took his helm, and set it on his sword point, and raised it
+slowly above the wall, and that drew all the arrows in a moment. Then
+he leapt up, and tore the stone from the other corner; and again, but
+this time without warning, it fell on the men below, and that wrought
+more harm than before. But it stayed them for a time, though not so
+long, for now their blood was up, and the berserk spirit was waking in
+them. Already the third stone was poised in the mighty hands, and would
+have fallen, when there was a cry of, “The jarl! the jarl!” and along
+the path into the clearing galloped Sigurd himself, with his courtmen
+running behind him, and he called on the men to stay.
+
+They dropped the beam at the command, and were silent. And Sigurd
+looked up at the tower, and saw who was there, and stayed with his face
+raised, motionless for a space. I minded how Mord had stared and cried
+out when first he saw Havelok, the son of Gunnar, in his war gear.
+
+“Biorn! where is Biorn?” cried Sigurd, looking back on the crowd as if
+he thought he would be there.
+
+“Here am I, jarl,” came the answer, and the sheriff looked out from
+beside Havelok.
+
+“What is all this?”
+
+“On my word, jarl, I cannot tell. Here have I been beset in my own
+house, and but for your guests some of us would have come off badly.
+There were outlanders who fell on us, and, as I think, stirred up the
+folk to carry on the business, telling them that we had slain
+ourselves, as one might say, for it was the cry that we had slain the
+jarl’s guests.”
+
+“O fools, to take up the word of a chance stranger against that of your
+own sheriff!” Sigurd cried, facing the people.
+
+“Nay, but the steward said so likewise,” cried some.
+
+“Hodulf’s steward?” said the jarl suddenly; “where is he?”
+
+“Yonder. Biorn slew him.”
+
+“He was leading this crowd,” said Biorn from above, “tried to force his
+way into the tower past me, and would not be warned.”
+
+“What of the outlanders?”
+
+“All slain. Seven Welshmen they were.”
+
+Then I said plainly, remembering that the jarl would have known him,
+“Their leader was Griffin, who came with Hodulf at the first. What
+brought him here, think you, Sigurd the jarl?”
+
+But Sigurd looked round on the people, and scanned them for a long
+time, and at last he said, in a hush that fell when he began to speak,
+“Men who mind the old days, look at the man whom you have sought to
+kill, and say if there is that about him which will tell you why
+Hodulf’s men have set you on him thus.”
+
+Then the white faces turned with one accord to Havelok, as he stood
+resting the great cornerstone on the battlement before him, and there
+grew a whisper that became a word and that was almost a shout from the
+many voices that answered.
+
+“Gunnar! Gunnar Kirkeban come again!”
+
+Then was silence, and the jarl spoke to Havelok.
+
+“Tell us your name, and whence you come.”
+
+“Havelok Grimsson of Grimsby men call me,” he said.
+
+And then men knew who he was indeed, for little by little the secret
+had been pieced together, if not told from the king’s place, in the
+years that had passed. And at that there rose and grew a murmur and a
+cry.
+
+“Havelok, son of Gunnar! Havelok the king!”
+
+Then said Sigurd in a great voice, “Who is for Hodulf of us all? Let no
+man go hence who is for him.”
+
+And I saw two or three men cut down then and there, and after that
+there was a roar of voices that called for Havelok to lead them.
+
+“Come down, lord,” said Sigurd, unhelming and looking up.
+
+So we went from the tower, and round Havelok the men crowded, kissing
+his hand and asking pardon for what they had wrought in error; and
+Sigurd dismounted and knelt before him, holding forth his sword hilt in
+token of homage, that his king might touch it.
+
+“Only Havelok son of Gunnar dares call himself son of Grim also, and in
+that word all the tale is told. But I have known you from the first by
+the token of the ring and by this likeness. Yet I waited for you to
+speak, and for the time that should be best; and now that has come of
+itself, and I am glad.”
+
+So said Sigurd, as we went from the tower to the hall, with the
+townsmen at our heels in a wondering crowd. There were many among them
+who would show the wounds that Havelok had given them with pride
+hereafter, as tokens that they had known him well.
+
+Then we stayed on the steps of the hall door, and the jarl called out
+man by man, and the war arrow was put in their hands with the names of
+those men who waited for the coming of Havelok, that all through the
+night the message that should bring him a mighty host on the morrow
+should go far and wide.
+
+And the gathering word was, “Come, for the horn of the king is
+sounding.”
+
+Then Sigurd said, “Speak to the people, my king, and all is done.”
+
+So Havelok smiled, and lifted his voice, and spoke.
+
+“Stand by me, friends, as steadfastly as you have fought against me,
+and I shall be well content. And see, here is the queen for whom you
+will fight also. There is not one of you but will play the man under
+her eyes.”
+
+Not many words or crafty, but men saw his face, and heard that which
+was in the voice, and they needed no word of reward to come, but
+shouted as we had shouted when the bride came home to Grimsby, and I
+thought that with the shout the throne of Hodulf was rocking.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+THE OWNING OF THE HEIR.
+
+
+Worn out we were with that long fight, and we all had some small
+wounds—not much worth speaking of; and when these were seen to, we
+slept. Only my brother Raven waked, and he sat through all the rest of
+the short night on the high place, with his sword across his knees,
+watching, for he blamed himself, overmuch as we all thought, for the
+happenings of the attack.
+
+“Trouble not, brother, for we were in the keeping of Biorn, and he
+could not have dreamt that foes could follow us over seas. It was not
+for you to be on guard.”
+
+These were Withelm’s words, but for once Raven did not heed them.
+
+“Would Grim, our father, have slept with a lee shore under him, leaving
+a stranger to keep watch? That is not how he taught me my duty; and I
+have been careless, and I know it. I should have thought of Griffin
+when I saw the ship come in.”
+
+So he had his way, and the last that I saw ere my eyes closed was his
+stern form guarding us; and when I woke he was yet there, motionless,
+with far-off eyes that noted the little movement that I made, and
+glanced at me to see that all was well.
+
+In the grey of the morning the first of the chiefs to whom the arrow
+had sped began to come in; but the jarl would not have Havelok waked,
+for he was greatly troubled at the little wounds that had befallen this
+long-waited guest. So the chiefs gathered very silently in the great
+hall, and sat waiting while the light broadened and shone, gleam by
+gleam, on their bright arms and anxious faces. It was not possible for
+those who had not yet seen Havelok to be all so sure that it was indeed
+he. They longed to see him, and to know him for the very son of Gunnar
+for themselves.
+
+Presently there were maybe twenty chiefs in the hall—men who had fought
+beside Kirkeban, and men who had been boys with Havelok, and some who
+had known his grandfather—and the jarl thought that it was time that
+they had the surety that they needed, for time went on, and there was
+certainty that Hodulf must hear of all this morning. One could not
+expect that no man would earn reward by warning him.
+
+So Sigurd went softly to the place where Havelok lay in the little
+guest chamber that opened out of the inner room that was the jarl’s
+own, and he slid the boards that closed it apart gently and looked in
+to wake him. But instead of doing that, he came back to the hall and
+beckoned the chiefs, and they rose and followed him silently. And when
+they went Raven went also, without a word, that he might be near his
+charge while these many strangers spoke with him.
+
+Now Sigurd stood at the spot where the little shifting of the sliding
+board made it possible to see within the chamber, and one by one the
+chiefs came and peered through the chink for a moment, and stood aside
+for the next. And it was wondrous to see how each man went and looked
+with doubt or wonder or just carelessly, and then turned away with a
+great light of joy on his face and a new life in the whole turn and
+sway of the body.
+
+It was dark in the chamber, save for the dim spaces under the eaves
+that let in the sweet air from the sea to the sleepers. But from
+somewhere aloft, where the timbering of the upper walls toward the east
+had shrunk, so that there was a little hole that faced the newly-risen
+sun, came the long shaft of a sunbeam that pierced the darkness like a
+glorious spear, and lit on the mighty shoulder of Havelok that lay bare
+of covering, and on the white hand of Goldberga that was across it. And
+on the one they saw the crimson bent-armed cross that was the mark of
+the line whence he and his father had sprung, and on the other glowed
+and flashed the blood-red stone of the ring of Eleyn the queen. And
+round that circle of sunshine was light enough for the chiefs to see
+those two noble faces, and they were content.
+
+“Gunnar’s son,” said one old chief: “but were he only the son of Grim,
+for those twain would I die.”
+
+So the warriors crept back to the hall silently as they had come; and
+now they went out to their men and told them that all doubt had gone,
+and along the road that led to Hodulf’s town the jarl sent mounted men
+to watch for his coming. And always fresh men were pouring in, and
+among them went the chiefs who had seen Havelok, and told them the
+news.
+
+Now it was not long before there was a gathering of all the chiefs in
+the hall of Sigurd, that they might break their fast, and then they saw
+Havelok as he led in the princess to meet them. He stood on the high
+place in his arms, and a shout of greeting went up; and when it was
+over, Sigurd asked him to tell all that had happened to him; and he did
+that in as few words as might be, for he was no great speaker, though
+what he did say was always to the point, and left little to be asked.
+
+And when he had ended, there rose up a grey-headed old chief, and said,
+“Give this warrior the horn of Gunnar, that we may hear him wind it. I
+would not say that unless I were sure that he was the right man to have
+it.”
+
+Now I stood beside Havelok, and while Sigurd went from the hall to some
+treasure chamber to get this that had been asked for, I said to him,
+“Mind you the day when we met Ragnar. and a call came into your dream?
+Wind that call now; for, if I am not wrong, it will be welcome to those
+who knew your father.”
+
+“I mind the day but not the call. I have never remembered it since,” he
+said, and I was sorry.
+
+Sigurd brought the horn, and it was a wondrous one, golden and heavy.
+It seemed to be a hunting horn, not very long, and little curved, but
+from end to end it was wrought with strange figures of men and beasts
+in rings that ran round it.
+
+“Have you seen this before?” asked Sigurd wistfully, and looking into
+Havelok’s face as he gave it into his hand.
+
+One could feel that men waited his answer, and it came slowly.
+
+“Ay, friend, I am sure that I have, but I cannot yet say when or where.
+I am sure that it is not the first time that I have had it in my hand.”
+
+And as he said this, Havelok’s face flushed a little, and his brow
+wrinkled as if he tried to bring back the things of that which he had
+thought his dream for so long.
+
+It would seem that in the years there had grown up a tale that this was
+a magic horn, which none but the very son of Gunnar could wind, and to
+the chiefs who saw Havelok now for the first time this was a test to
+prove him. But all knew that the words he spoke of it were proof
+enough, for a pretender would have said plainly that it had been
+Gunnar’s, and that he knew it. I think that Sigurd was wise in what he
+did next, for he set another horn in my brother’s hand, and asked him
+the same question; and at this Havelok looked for a moment and shook
+his head.
+
+“I have not seen that one before, nor one like it. I am sure that I
+have seen this, or its fellow.”
+
+At that the faces that watched brightened, for there was no doubt in
+the way that Havelok spoke; and then the old chief who had asked for
+the horn said, “That—‘The horn of the king is sounding’—was the
+gathering word of the night that has brought us here, and long have we
+waited for it. Let Havelok wind his father’s horn, that we may hear it
+once again.”
+
+Then Havelok set it to his lips, and at once the call that he had
+remembered came back to him, and clear and sweet and full of longing
+its strange notes rang under the arched roof, unfaltering until the
+last; and then over him came the full remembrance of all that it had
+been to him, and he turned away from the many eyes and sank on the high
+seat, and set his head in his arms on the table, that men might not see
+that he needs must weep; and Goldberga stepped a little before him, and
+set her hand on his, for I think that she knew the loneliness that came
+on him.
+
+Yet he was not alone in his sorrow, for down in the hall were men to
+whom the lost call brought back the memory of a bright young king
+riding to his home, and calling the son whom he loved with the call
+that he had made for him alone; and they saw the fair child running
+from the hall, and the mother following more slowly with smiles of
+welcome; and they saw the grim courtmen, who looked on and were glad;
+and they minded how they had lifted the boy to the war saddle; and
+their eyes grew hot with tears also, and they had no need to be
+ashamed.
+
+And as men stood motionless, with the last notes of the wild horn yet
+ringing in their ears, there drifted a shadow across the days, and, lo!
+beside Havelok, with his hand on his shoulder, stood the form of Gunnar
+the king for a long moment, bright as any one of us who lived, in the
+morning sunlight, and his face was full of joy and of hope and promise
+for the time to come. And then he passed, but as he faded from us his
+hand was on the hand of Goldberga that clasped her husband’s, as though
+he would wed them afresh there on the high place of his friend’s hall.
+
+Now there went a sigh of wonder among the chiefs, and Havelok looked up
+as if he followed the going of one whom he would not lose, and I know
+that he saw Gunnar after he was unseen to us.
+
+“Surely,” he said, “surely that was my father who was here?”
+
+And Sigurd answered, “With your own call you called him, and he was
+here.”
+
+But now the last lurking doubt was gone, and there was no more delay,
+for the chiefs crowded with shouts of joy to the high place, and they
+knelt to Havelok and hailed him as king then and there; and so they led
+him to the great door of the hall, and the mightiest of them raised him
+high on a wide shield before all the freemen who waited on the green
+that is round the jarl’s house, and they cried, “Skoal to Havelok the
+king!”
+
+And there was in answer the most stirring shout that a man may hear—the
+shout of a host that hail the one for whom they are content to die.
+
+That was the first day of the reign of Havelok the king; and now there
+were two kings in the land, and one was loved as few have been loved,
+and the other was hated. And one was weak in men, as yet, while the
+other was strong.
+
+Now Sigurd bade all those who were present gather in solemn Thing, that
+they might make Havelok king indeed; and that was a gathering of all
+the best in our quarter of the land, so that all would uphold what they
+had done. And when they were gathered in the great hall in due order,
+the doors were set wide open, and outside the freemen who followed the
+chiefs sat in silence to see what they might and hear.
+
+Then swore Havelok to keep the ancient laws and customs, and to do
+even-handed justice to all men, and to be bound by all else that a good
+king should hold by. Sometimes these oaths are not kept as well as they
+might be, but I was certain that here was one who would keep them.
+
+Thereafter Sigurd brought forth a crown that he had had made hastily by
+his craftsmen from two gold arm rings, and they set it on Havelok’s
+head, and hailed him as king indeed; and one by one the chiefs came and
+swore all fealty to him, beginning with Sigurd, and ending with a boy
+of some seventeen winters, who looked at the king he bent before as
+though he was Thor himself.
+
+Then they would have had Havelok forth to the people at once; but he
+bade them hearken for a moment, and said, taking Goldberga by the hand,
+“Were it not for this my wife, I do not think that I had been here
+today, and without her I am nothing. Now I am king by your word, and I
+think that I might bid you take her as queen. But I had rather that she
+was made queen by your word also, that whither I live or fall in the
+strife that is to come, you may fight for her.”
+
+At that there was a murmur of praise, and all agreed that she should be
+crowned at once. So Havelok set the crown on her head while the chiefs
+in one voice swore to uphold her through good and ill, as though she
+were Havelok himself.
+
+Then said Havelok, “Now have you taken her for queen for her own sake,
+and I will tell you a thing that has not been heard here as yet. On
+this throne sits the queen of two lands, and there shall come a day
+when you and I shall set your lady on that other throne which is hers
+by right. King’s daughter she is, for Ethelwald of the East Angles was
+her father, and out of her right has she been kept by Alsi of Lindsey,
+her evil kinsman.”
+
+At that men were glad, for great is the magic of kingly descent. And
+thereupon that old warrior who had bidden Havelok sound the horn said,
+“We have heard of Ethelwald the good king, and of this Alsi moreover,
+and we know men who have seen both, and also Orwenna, the mother of our
+own queen here. I followed your father across the seas in the old days,
+and I seem to hear his voice again as you speak to us. And I saw
+him—ay, I saw him yonder even now, and I am content. When the time
+comes that for the sake of Goldberga you will gather a host and cross
+the ‘swan’s path,’ I will not hold back, if you will have me.”
+
+There was spoken the mind of all that company, and they were not
+backward to say so. For in the heart of the Dane is ever the love of
+the sea, and of the clash of arms on a far-off strand that comes after
+battle with wind and wave.
+
+Very bravely did Goldberga thank the chiefs for their love to her
+husband and herself in a few words that were all that were needed to
+bind the hearers to her, so well and truly were they chosen. And she
+said that if the Anglian land was to be won it was for Havelok and not
+for herself altogether, and she added, “Here we have spoken as if
+already Hodulf was overthrown, and it is good that we are in such brave
+heart. Yet this has been foretold to me, and I am sure that there will
+be no mishap.”
+
+Then Sigurd said, “What gift do we give our queen, now that she has
+come among us?”
+
+But Goldberga replied, “If it is the custom that one shall be given, I
+will mind you of the promise hereafter, when Anglia is won, and you and
+I are Havelok’s upholders on that throne. There is one thing that I
+will ask then, that a wrong may be righted.”
+
+“Nay, but we will give you some gift now, and then you shall ask what
+you will also.”
+
+“You have given me more than I dared hope,” she said, “even the brave
+hearts and hands that have hailed us here. I can ask no more. Only
+promise to give me one boon when I need it, and I am happy.”
+
+Then they said, “What you will, and when you will, Goldberga, the
+queen. There is naught that you will ask amiss.”
+
+Now they showed Havelok to the warriors as crowned king, and I need not
+tell how he was greeted. And after that we all went back into the hall
+to speak of the way in which we were to meet Hodulf.
+
+Havelok would have a message sent to him, bidding him give up the land
+in peace.
+
+“It may be that thus we shall save the sadness of fighting our own
+people, though, indeed, they love the playground of Hodulf. He is an
+outlander, and perhaps he may think well to make terms with us.”
+
+Some said that it was of no use, but then Havelok answered that even so
+it was good to send a challenge to him.
+
+“For the sake of peace we will do this, though I would rather meet him
+in open fight, for I have my father to avenge.”
+
+Now I rose up and said, “Let me go and speak with him, taking Withelm
+as my counsellor. For I know all the story, and that will make him sure
+that he has the right man to fight against. I will speak with him in
+open hall, and more than he shall learn how he thought to slay
+Havelok.”
+
+All thought that this was good, and I was to go at once. It was but a
+few hours’ ride, as has been said, to his town, and the matter was as
+well done with.
+
+So they gave me a guard of twenty of the jarl’s courtmen, and in half
+an hour I was riding northward on my errand. And to say the truth I did
+not know if it was certain that I should come back, for Hodulf was
+hardly to be trusted.
+
+I did wait to break my fast, and that was all, for I had no mind to
+spend the night on the road back from the talk that I should have had;
+but though I wasted so little time, the people were already beginning
+to prepare for rejoicing in their own way with games of all sorts and
+with feasting in the open. I saw, as we rode down the street, the piles
+of firewood that were to roast oxen whole, and near them were the butts
+that held ale for all comers. There were men who set up the marks for
+the archers, and others who staked out the rings for the wrestling and
+sword play. And as we left the town we met two men who led a great
+brown bear by a ring in his nose, for the baiting. I was sorry for the
+poor beast, but the men called him “Hodulf,” already, and I thought
+that a good sign in its way.
+
+Another good sign, and that one which could not be mistaken, was to see
+the warriors coming in by twos and threes as the news reached them.
+They were dotted along the roads from all quarters, and across the
+heaths we saw the flash of the arms of more.
+
+And ever as they met us they hailed us with, “What cheer, comrades? Is
+the news true? Is Havelok come to his own?” and the like, and they
+would hurry on, rejoicing in the answer that they had.
+
+But I will say that presently, when we passed a stretch of wild moor
+where we saw no man, the same was going on towards the town of Hodulf;
+for if the news came to a village, some would be for the king that was,
+and other and older men for the king that might be. Yet all asked that
+question; and more than once, when they heard the reply, there would be
+a halt and a talk, and then the men would turn and cast in their lot
+with the son of Gunnar, hastening to him with more eager steps than had
+taken them to Hodulf.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+THE TOKEN OF SACK AND ANCHOR.
+
+
+It seemed only the other day that I had passed over the well-known
+ways, and I showed Withelm the hollow where Grim had met with the king
+and taken his precious burden from him. Then we passed along the wild
+shore, and the linnets were singing and the whinchats were calling as
+ever, and the old mounds of the heroes of the bygone were awesome to me
+now as long ago, when I looked at them standing lonesome along the
+shore with only the wash of the waves to disturb them. And so we came
+to the town at high noon, and already there was the bustle of a
+gathering host in the place, for the news had fled before us.
+
+They had built a new and greater hall in place of that which had been
+burned; and there sat Hodulf with his chiefs, wondering and planning,
+and maybe waiting for more certain news of what had happened. Not long
+would they wait for that now.
+
+We rode to the door, and one came to meet us with words of welcome,
+thinking that we were men who came to the levy that was gathering; but
+his words stayed when I asked to be taken to the presence of Hodulf, as
+I came with a message from Havelok Gunnarsson the king.
+
+The man, chamberlain or steward, or whatever he was, stared at me, and
+said in a low voice, “It is true then?”
+
+“True as I am Radbard Grimsson, who helped Havelok to fly from hence.”
+
+“Unwelcome will you be, for Hodulf is in no good mood,” the man said.
+“I hardly think it safe for you to trust yourself with him.”
+
+“Then,” said I, “open the door of the hall, and I will go in with my
+men, and see what he says.”
+
+“Well, that will be bad for me, but I have a mind to see Havelok.”
+
+So I told Withelm to come at my side, and bade half the courtmen follow
+us closely, and when they were inside to see that the door was not
+barred after us on any pretence. The rest would bide with the horses
+outside.
+
+Then we loosed the peace strings of our weapons, and in we went,
+quietly and in order; and the chiefs turned to look at us, thinking us
+more of themselves. Hodulf sat on his place on the dais, and there were
+thirty-one others with him, sitting on the benches that were set along
+the walls. Withelm counted them.
+
+Then the door was closed, and the man with whom I had spoken set his
+back against it, but it was not barred; and I went forward to the steps
+of the high place, and stood before Hodulf.
+
+“Well, what now?” he said, seeing that I was a stranger.
+
+“First of all, I ask for safe conduct from this hall as a messenger
+from king to king.”
+
+“That you have, of course,” he answered. “What is your message?”
+
+It did not seem that he thought of Havelok at all, but rather that I
+came from some king to whom he had sent. There were two living not so
+far off. I thought that there was no good in beating about the bush,
+for such an errand as mine had better he told boldly. So I spoke out
+for all to hear.
+
+“This is the word of Havelok, son of Gunnar the king, to Hodulf of
+Norway, who sits in his place. Home he has come to take his own, and
+now he would tell you that the time has come that he is able to rule
+the kingdom for himself.”
+
+“And what if he has?” said Hodulf, without the least change of face, as
+if he had been expecting this, and nothing more or less.
+
+But if he was quiet, the chiefs had heard my words in a very different
+way. Some had leaped up, and others bent forward, to hear the answer to
+my words the better. I heard one or two laugh; but there were some on
+whose faces seemed to be written doubt and anxiety. I think that some
+would have spoken, for Hodulf held up his hand for silence, and looked
+to me for answer.
+
+“It will be well for you to give up the throne to him, making such
+terms as you may,” I said.
+
+“That is a fair offer,” said Hodulf, quite unmoved, to all seeming, but
+looking at me in a way that told me how his anger was held back by main
+force, as it were; “but how am I to know that this one who sends so
+bold a message is the real Havelok? I am not a fool that I should give
+up my throne to the first who asks it. Doubtless you bring some token
+that you come from the very son of Gunnar.”
+
+“It is right that you should ask one, and also that you should have one
+that there can be no mistaking,” I said. “This is it. By the token of
+the sack and the anchor I bid you know that Havelok sends me to you.”
+
+At that the face of Hodulf became ashy grey beneath the tan of wind and
+sea, and I saw that his hand clutched the hilt of his sword so that the
+knuckles of his fingers grew white. He had never thought to hear of
+that deed again, and he knew that he had to deal with the one whom he
+had thought dead. Some of the young chiefs in the hall laughed at that
+token, but he flashed a glance at them which stayed the laugh on their
+lips.
+
+“I know not what you mean,” he said, altogether staggered.
+
+“It is right,” I said, “that if the token is not plain I should make it
+so. It is but fair also to the chiefs who are here.”
+
+Then he stayed me. True it is that old sin makes new shame.
+
+“I will take it as enough,” he said hastily. “I mind some old saying of
+the kind. Ay, that is it—a hidden king and a voyage across the sea. It
+is enough.”
+
+“Not enough,” said a chief in the hall close to the high seat. “Let
+this warrior say what he means plainly.”
+
+There were many who agreed to this, and I did not wait for Hodulf any
+longer. I told them who I was, and then showed them why that token was
+to be held enough for any man; and as I spoke, there were black looks
+toward the high seat among the older men. As for Hodulf, he sat with a
+forced smile, and seemed to listen indulgently, as to a well-made tale.
+
+And after that the matter was out of my hands, for the same chief who
+had asked for the tale came and stood by my side, and he faced Hodulf
+and spoke.
+
+“For twelve years have I served you as king, and now I know that I have
+wasted the faith I gave you. What became of the sisters of Havelok?
+Answer me that, Hodulf, or I will go and ask their brother concerning
+whom you have lied to me.”
+
+“Go and ask him,” answered Hodulf, biting his lips; “go and hear more
+lies. Who can know the son of Gunnar when he sees him?”
+
+“That is answered out of your own mouth,” said the chief. “Is Sigurd a
+fool that he should hail the first man who asks him to do so?”
+
+And from beside me Withelm answered also, “Maybe it is a pity that
+Griffin of Wales was slain last night in trying to kill Havelok. He
+knew him, and I have heard that he came here to warn Hodulf that his
+time was come.”
+
+Hodulf’s face grew whiter when he heard that; but it was what he
+needed, as some sort of excuse to let loose his passion.
+
+White and shaking with wrath and fear, he rose up and he cried,
+“Murdered is Griffin! Ho, warriors, let not these go forth!”
+
+Whereon the old chief lifted his voice also, “Ho, Gunnar’s men! Ho, men
+who love the old line! To Grim’s son, ahoy!”
+
+And he drew his sword, snapping the thongs that had bound it to the
+sheath, so manfully tugged he at them in his wrath, and there was a
+rush of men to us, and another to Hodulf.
+
+Now I think that we might have slain him there, and after that have
+been slain ourselves, for the odds were against us, even though I had
+the courtmen; but that was Havelok’s deed to do, for the sake of father
+and sisters to be avenged, and so we only cut our way out of the hall
+to the door, which my men threw open at once. There were two of
+Hodulf’s men hurt only, for the most of them had run to the high place,
+and few were between us and our going. So we took five chiefs and their
+followers back with us, and that was worth the errand.
+
+We thought that it would not be long now before Hodulf was on us; but
+the days passed, and there was no news of him, and all the while we
+grew stronger. I do not know if the same could be said of him, and it
+is doubtful if time made much difference to his forces. Those who
+followed him were the men who owed all to him, either as men raised to
+some sort of power when he first came, or else strangers whom he had
+brought in with him. Some of the younger chiefs of the old families
+held by him also, for they had known no other, and then there were old
+feuds with Gunnar that held back some from us; but these few took part
+with neither side.
+
+So before a week was out we had a matter of six thousand men in and
+about the town; and it seemed that, with so good a force, it was as
+well to march on Hodulf as to wait for him. And that was good hearing
+for us all, for there was not a man who did not long to be up and
+doing, though to smite a blow for Havelok should be the last deed that
+he might do.
+
+They made me captain of the courtmen who were Havelok’s own, maybe
+because I had served with Alsi, and Withelm was captain of Goldberga’s
+own guard. High honour was that for the sons of Grim, for there was not
+one in either of these companies but was of high birth; but then we
+were Havelok’s brothers, and all seemed well content to serve under us.
+I wanted Raven to be in my place, but he said that he was no warrior on
+shore.
+
+“Just now I am Havelok’s watchdog, to be at his heels always.
+Presently, if he likes to give me a ship when we sail to England, that
+will suit me.”
+
+So Havelok made him his standard bearer; and as that would keep him at
+the king’s side in the thickest fight, he was well pleased. Goldberga
+wrought the standard that he bore, with the help of Sigurd’s wife, and
+on it was the figure of Grim, sword and shield in hand, but with his
+helm at his feet, as showing that he had laid it by; and on either side
+of him stood Havelok and his wife, each with a crown above their heads,
+as though they waited for the coming time when they should be set there
+firmly by the bearing forward of this banner. Havelok bore his axe,
+holding out the ring to Goldberga with the other hand, while she had
+her sceptre in the left, and stretched the right hand to her husband.
+There were runes that told the names of these three, for that is
+needful in such work, as it passes the skill of woman to make a good
+likeness, nor do I think it would be lucky to do so if it could be
+compassed. Wondrous was the banner with gold and bright colours, and it
+was hung from a gilded spear, ashen hafted, and long, that it might be
+seen afar in battle.
+
+Now on the day when Havelok set his men in order for the march on
+Hodulf word came that he was coming at last. It is likely that he knew
+we were on the point of marching, and would choose his own ground on
+which to wait for us. So we went to certain battle, as it seemed, and
+none were sorry for that. So in the bright sunshine of a cloudless
+morning Havelok and Goldberga rode down the line of the men, who would
+fight to the death for them, and those two were good to look on. Day
+and night Sigurd’s weapon smiths had wrought to make a mail shirt that
+should be worthy of a king, and I thought that they had wrought well.
+They had set a crown round the helm that they made for him, and Sigurd
+had given him a sword that had been his father’s at one time, golden
+hilted, and with runes on its blue blade. But Havelok would not part
+with the axe that Grim had given him, plain as it was, and that was his
+chosen weapon.
+
+But for once I think that men looked more at her who rode at Havelok’s
+side than at him, goodly and kingly as he was in the war gear. For
+Goldberga had on a silver coat of chain mail, and a little gold circlet
+was round the silver helm that she wore, while at her saddle bow was an
+axe, on which were runes written in gold, and a sword light enough for
+her hand was in a gem-studded baldric from her shoulder. There was a
+chief who had given her these, and it was said that they had first of
+all belonged to one who had fought as a shield maiden at the great
+battle of Dunheidi, by the side of Hervoer, the sister of the mighty
+hero Angantyr. His forefather had won them at that time, and now they
+were worn by one who was surely like the Valkyries, for no fairer or
+more wondrous to look on in war gear could they be than our English
+queen.
+
+She would have gone even into the battle with Havelok, but that neither
+he nor we would suffer. She was to bide here in the town until we came
+back in triumph or defeat; and as men looked on her, they grew strong,
+that no tears might be for those bright eyes.
+
+Now I left them before the march began, for I and the courtmen were to
+go forward and see where the foe was posted, and so bring word again.
+And we went some five miles before we saw the first sign of them. Then
+on a rise in the wild heath waited a few horsemen, who watched us for a
+little while, and then rode away from us and beyond it. We followed
+them, and when we came to where they had been, we saw that they had
+fallen back on a company of about the same strength as ours, save that
+there were more horsemen. I was the only mounted man of my little
+force, and that rather to save my strength than because I liked riding.
+I should certainly fight on foot, as would Havelok himself, in the old
+way. It is not good to trust to the four feet of a horse when one means
+business.
+
+We bided where we were, waiting to see what these men did, and soon
+beyond them grew the long cloud of dust starred with shifting sparks
+that told us that the host of Hodulf was on foot and advancing. It
+seemed to me that here we had a good place to meet it, for the land
+went down in a long slope that was in our favour, and therefore I set a
+man on my horse, and sent him back with all speed to Havelok to bid him
+hasten. Our host was not so far behind me, and I could see both from
+this hill. We had full time to take position here before Hodulf’s army
+was in reach.
+
+Now it seemed that the foemen would see what they could also, and they
+began to move toward us. It was plain that we should have a small fight
+on our own account directly, for I did not mean to let them take our
+place. We moved, therefore, toward them, and at that the half-dozen
+horsemen made for us at a trot. Then I saw that their leader was Hodulf
+himself.
+
+We were in a track that led across the hill, and here on the slope it
+was worn deep with ages of traffic between the two towns, and on either
+side the heather grew thick and high, so that the horsemen could not
+get round us. So Hodulf rode forward to where we barred the way, and
+told me to stand aside.
+
+“What next?” I asked. “I may as well bid you go back, for I came here
+to stop you.”
+
+“Come over to me, and leave this half-crowned kinglet of yours. It
+shall be worth your while.”
+
+“Hard up for men must you be, Hodulf,” said one of my courtmen,
+laughing.
+
+At that he made a sign to his followers, for they came on us at the
+gallop, with levelled spears. We closed up, and hewed the spear points
+off, and then dealt with the horses and men who foundered among us, and
+they struggled back, leaving three men and four horses in the roadway.
+It was bravely done, too, for there were only eight of them, and they
+did us no harm beyond a bruise or two. I wished that we had taken or
+slain Hodulf, however, for that might have made things easier in the
+end.
+
+Hodulf got back to his courtmen, and now they came on. At that moment
+over the hill behind us rode Havelok and Raven, and saw at once what
+was on hand. They had ridden on, but the host was hard after them.
+
+“Send a man to bid the host halt,” Havelok said to me, “for we can end
+the matter here. Now shall I be hand to hand with Hodulf, even as I
+would wish.”
+
+I sent a man back as he bade me, and he stayed the host half a mile
+beyond the hill, where they were not seen. Hodulf’s army was yet two
+miles away across the heath, and none had gone back to hasten it.
+
+Now Havelok went forward, holding up his hand in token of parley, and
+his enemy rode from his men to meet him.
+
+“There is much between us, Hodulf,” Havelok said, “and we have been
+together along this road before. Yet for the sake of the men who follow
+us it may be that we can make peace.”
+
+“That is for me to say,” answered Hodulf, “for you have invaded my
+land, and are the peace breaker.”
+
+“I might mind you of a blood feud between us two,” said Havelok, “but
+that is not the business of the host. For the sake of the land I will
+say this. Give up the throne that you have held for me, and you shall
+go hence with what treasure you have gathered, taking your Norsemen
+with you. There will be no shame in doing that, for I am able now to
+hold the land for myself.”
+
+Hodulf laughed a short laugh.
+
+“Fine talk that for the son of Grim the thrall, who drowned Havelok for
+me! ‘Nidring’ should I be if I gave up to you.”
+
+“If things must go in that way, we will settle the matter here and now.
+Will you that we fight hand to hand while our men look on, or shall we
+go back to them and charge? I like the first plan best myself, as I
+would avenge my father and sisters, and also that insult of the way in
+which we passed this road together twelve years ago.”
+
+So said Havelok, and his words fell like ice from his lips, and he was
+very still as he spoke, though the red flush crept into his cheek and
+his brows lowered.
+
+And Hodulf did not answer at once. He looked at the towering young
+warrior before him, and maybe into his mind there crept the thought of
+the children whom he had slain, whom this one would avenge. Well he
+knew that the true Havelok was speaking with him, though he would not
+own it, and branded my father with the name of thrall for the sake of
+insult to his foster son.
+
+At last he said, “We will go back to the men, for you have advantage in
+that bulk of yours.”
+
+“As you will,” answered Havelok. “Twelve years ago that was on your
+side.”
+
+He reined round at once, and touched his horse with the spur without
+another glance at his enemy. And then we shouted, and Raven spurred
+forward with a great oath, for Hodulf plucked his sword from the
+scabbard, and with a new treachery in his heart, rode after our brother
+and was almost on him. The shout was just in time, for Havelok turned
+in his saddle as the blow was falling.
+
+Quick as light, he took it on the shaft of the spear he carried, and
+turned it, wheeling his horse short round at the same time. Lindsey
+training was there in that horsemanship of his. Hodulf’s horse shot
+past as the blow failed, and then Raven seemed to be the next man to be
+dealt with.
+
+But Havelok called to him to stand aside, for this was his own fight;
+and at that Hodulf had his horse in hand again, and was ready to meet
+his foe fairly.
+
+And now Havelok had cast aside the spear, and taken the axe from the
+saddle bow; and these two met, unshielded, for neither had time to
+unsling the round buckler from his shoulder.
+
+It was no long fight, for now Hodulf’s men were coming up, and there
+need be no more thought of aught but ending one who was ready to smite
+a foul blow before us all shamelessly. Havelok spurred his horse, and
+the two met and closed for one moment. Then down went the Norseman with
+cleft helm, and the old wrongs were avenged, and there was but one king
+in the land.
+
+Then Hodulf’s men were on Havelok, but not before Raven was at his
+back, and over Hodulf there was a struggle in which Havelok was in
+peril for a short time before we closed round him. Well fought the
+courtmen of the fallen king, and well fought my men, and we bore them
+back, fighting every foot of ground, until there were only five of them
+left, and these five yielded in all honour, being outnumbered. Yet ours
+was a smaller band by half ere there was an end.
+
+It had not lasted long, and still the host of Hodulf was so far off
+that they knew not so much as that there was any fighting. Then we went
+to the hilltop, and set the banner there, and our line came on and
+halted along the crest.
+
+One hardly need say what wonder and rejoicing there was when it was
+known how Hodulf had met his end, and Sigurd and other chiefs went to
+where we had fought, and looked on him. And one took the helm, which
+had round it the stolen crown, and gave it to Havelok.
+
+“Set it on the standard,” he said, “for we may need that it shall be
+shown presently. As for Hodulf, bear him aside out of the path of the
+host, that we may lay him in mound when all is ended.”
+
+One cried that he did not deserve honour of any kind, and there were
+some who agreed to that openly. I will not say that I was not one of
+them, for I had seen the foul play, and heard the insult to Grim, my
+father.
+
+But Havelok answered gravely, “He has been a king, and I have not heard
+that he was altogether a bad one. All else was between him and me, and
+that is paid for by his death. Think only of the twelve years in which
+you have owned him as lord, and then you will know that it is right
+that he should be given the last honours. You had no feud as had I.”
+
+Then they did as he bade them, and that gladly, for the words were
+king-like, and of good omen for the days to come. I saw Sigurd and the
+older chiefs glance at each other, and it was plain that they were well
+pleased.
+
+Now the host came on, and it was greater than ours; but when there was
+no sign of its leader the march wavered, and at last halted altogether.
+Whereon some chiefs rode to speak to us, and Havelok met them with his
+leaders. He had to speak first, for they could not well ask where
+Hodulf was. The helm was a token that told them much.
+
+“I met your king even now,” he said, “and I offered him peace and
+honourable return to Norway with his property if he would give up the
+throne that is mine by right. Maybe I was wrong in thinking that he
+might do so, but he refused. There were certain matters between us two,
+besides that of the crown, which needed settling; and therefore, after
+that, I challenged him to fight on these points, that being needful
+before they were done with. So we fought, and our feud was ended.
+Hodulf is dead, and his courtmen would not live after him while there
+was a chance of avenging his fall. That was before the host came up.
+Now I offer peace and friendship to all, and I can blame none who have
+held to the king who has fallen. It was not to be expected that all
+would own me at once. Only those Norsemen who came with Hodulf or have
+come hither since must leave the land, and they shall go in honour,
+taking their goods with them. Their time is up; that is all.”
+
+It was a long speech for Havelok, but in it was all that could be said.
+Long and closely did the chiefs look at him as he spoke, for none of
+them had seen him before. His words were not idly to be set aside
+either, and they spoke together in a low voice when he had ended.
+
+“This is a matter for the whole host to settle,” one said at last. “We
+will speak to them, and give you an answer shortly.”
+
+“Take one of Hodulf’s courtmen with you, that he may tell all of the
+fight,” Havelok said: “he need not come back.”
+
+I gave the man his arms again, for he might as well have them if he
+stayed.
+
+“Thanks, lord,” he said. “Here is one who will tell the truth for
+Havelok.”
+
+Then our host sat down, and we watched the foemen as the news came to
+them. We could not hear, of course, for they were a quarter of a mile
+away, but if any tumult rose we should be warned in time. They were
+very still, however. There was a long talk, and then one chief came
+back to us.
+
+“I am going to ask a strange thing,” he said, “but the men wish to see
+Havelok face to face.”
+
+Now Sigurd said that this was too great a risk, and even Withelm agreed
+with him.
+
+But Havelok answered, “The men are my own men, but they are not sure
+that I am the right king. It is plain that I am like my father, and
+therefore it is safe for me to go.”
+
+“That,” said the chief, “is what we told them, and what they wish to
+see.”
+
+“Then,” said Havelok, “I will come. Bid your men sit down, and bid the
+horsemen dismount, and I will ride to them with five others. Then can
+be no fear on either side.”
+
+“That will do well,” said Sigurd; and the chief went back, and at once
+the host sat down.
+
+Then Havelok rode to them, and with him went we three and Sigurd and
+Biorn.
+
+There was a murmur of wonder as he came, and it grew louder as he
+unhelmed and stayed before them.
+
+And then one shouted, “Skoal to Havelok Gunnarsson!” and at once the
+shout was taken up along the line. And that shout grew until the chiefs
+joined in it, for it was the voice of the host, which cannot be
+gainsaid; and without more delay, one by one the leaders pressed
+forward and knelt on one knee to their king, and did homage to him.
+Only the Norsemen held back; and presently, when we were talking to the
+Danish chiefs in all friendly wise, they drew apart with their men, and
+formed up into a close-ranked body that looked dangerous.
+
+“Surely they do not mean to fight!” said Withelm.
+
+Then one of them shouted that he must speak to the king, and that
+seemed as if they owned him at least, so Havelok went to them.
+
+“You have heard my terms,” he said, “and I think that they are all that
+you could ask. What is amiss?”
+
+“Your terms are good enough,” the speaker said, “and we know that our
+time is come. But we must have surety that the people will not fall on
+us, for we are flying, as it were. And we want the body of our king. We
+would not have him buried any wise, as if he was a thrall.”
+
+“He shall be given to you, and as for the rest none shall harm you.
+Moreover, for that saying about your king I will add this: that if
+there are any of you who hold lands to which there is no Danish heir,
+he shall take service with me if he will, and so keep them.”
+
+So there was no man in all the host who was not content; and that was
+the second king-making of Havelok, as it were, for now there was no man
+against him. The hosts were disbanded then and there, and we went that
+day to Hodulf’s town, and took possession of all that had been in his
+hands. Then was rejoicing over all the land, for a king of the old line
+was on the throne once more, and his way was full of promise.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+KING ALSI’S WELCOME.
+
+
+Now there was one thing that was in the minds of all of us, and that
+was the winning of Goldberga’s kingdom for her; but that was a matter
+which was not to be thought of yet for a long while. Two years were we
+in Denmark, and well loved was Havelok by all, whether one speaks of
+the other kings who owned him as Gunnar’s heir at once, or the people
+over whom he and Goldberga reigned. But we sent messages to Arngeir and
+to Ragnar to say that all was well, and we heard from them in time how
+Alsi feared what was to come, and had rather make friends with the
+Anglians than offend them. So he had not given out anything that was
+against the princess, but had told all how she had wedded the heir of
+Denmark, and that she had given up her land to himself, and followed
+her husband across the sea. It was not hard for him to feign gladness
+in her well-doing; and Berthun counselled Ragnar to let things be thus,
+and yet prepare for her return.
+
+In my own heart was the wish to go back to England always, for there
+was my home; and I found that it was the same with my brothers, for
+there is that in the English land which makes all who touch it love it.
+And there was the mound that held my father, and there were the folk
+among whom we had been brought up in the town that we had made; and I
+longed to see once more the green marshes and the grey wolds of
+Lindsey, and the brown waves of the wide Humber rolling shorewards,
+line after line. I tired of the heaths and forests and peat mosses of
+this land of my birth. And if that was so to me, it was a yet deeper
+longing in the hearts of the brothers who hardly remembered this place;
+and after a while we spoke of it more often.
+
+I do not know if we said much to others, but at last the younger chiefs
+began to wonder when the promised time when they should cross the
+“swan’s path” for Goldberga should come. Maybe they tired of the long
+peace, as a Dane will. But when that talk began, Withelm knew that
+things were ripe, and he told Havelok. That was in the third spring of
+Havelok’s kingship, when it grew near to the time when men fit out
+their ships.
+
+“This is what I have looked for,” he said; “and now we will delay no
+longer, for here am I king indeed, and there is none who will rise
+against me. Wonderful it is that men have hailed me thus. And now I
+will tell you, brother, that I long for England. If I might take my
+friends with me, I do not think that I should care if I never came here
+again. It is not my home; and here my Goldberga is not altogether
+happy, well as the folk love her.”
+
+Thereafter he called a great Thing[12] of all the freemen in the land,
+and set the matter plainly before them, asking if they minded the words
+he spoke when they crowned the queen, and if they were still ready to
+follow him to the winning of her crown beyond the sea.
+
+There was no doubt what the answer would be; and it was said at once
+that the sooner the ships were got ready the better.
+
+“Then,” said Havelok, “who shall mind this land while I am away? It may
+be long ere I come back.”
+
+Now there was a cry that I should be king while Havelok was away,
+forsooth! and a poor hand I should have made at the business. But I
+said that it was foolishness, and that, moreover, I would go with
+Havelok. And when they said that this was modesty on my part, I
+answered that I had seen several kings, and that there was but one who
+was worth thinking of, and that was my brother; therefore, I would go
+on serving him where I could see him.
+
+“This is what Grim, my father, said to me long ago,” I said—“I was to
+mind the old saying, ‘Bare is back without brother behind it;’ and,
+therefore, I must see Havelok safe through this.”
+
+“Why, brother,” says Havelok, laughing, “if that saying must be
+remembered—and I at least know it is true—it would make for leaving you
+behind me here to see all fair when my back was turned.”
+
+Then he saw that I was grieved, for I thought for the moment that he
+would bid me to stay, and so I should have to do so; but he took my
+part.
+
+“I cannot be without my brothers,” he said. “If I had any word in the
+matter—which mainly concerns the folk to be ruled, as it seems to me
+(for I do not know of any man who would not uphold me)—I should say
+that Sigurd the jarl was the right man, for all know that he is a good
+ruler, nor will it be any new thing to submit to him.”
+
+That pleased all, and the end of it was that Sigurd was chosen to hold
+the land for Havelok.
+
+Then Sigurd sat on the steps of the high place at Havelok’s feet, and
+the king said, “I have no need to tell any man here who this is, and
+why I think him worthy of the highest honour, for all know him and his
+worth as well as I. Mainly by him was the thought of my return kept in
+the minds of men, so that when the time came all were ready to hail me,
+as you have done. Therefore, as by him I am king, so I make him king
+also for me. He shall rule all the land while I am away, and to him
+shall all men account as to me. And because it is right that his
+kingship should be certain, I give him all his jarldom as a kingdom
+from henceforth, only subject to me and my heirs as overlord. King
+therefore he is, and none can say that you are ruled by naught but a
+jarl.”
+
+Then Havelok girt on the new king’s sword, and set his own crowned helm
+on his head for a moment; and all the Thing hailed him gladly, for he
+was the right man without doubt.
+
+Then Sigurd did homage for his new honour; and after that he rose up,
+and grew red and uneasy, as if there was somewhat that he wished to
+say, and was half afraid to do so.
+
+Thereat some friend in the hall said, “You take your kingship worse
+than did Radbard himself, as it seems. What is amiss?”
+
+“Why, I wanted to go on the Viking path with Havelok, and now it seems
+that I cannot.”
+
+Then one shouted, “I never heard of a land going wrong while its king
+was away risking his life to get property for his men. There is no man
+here who is going to rise against either you or Havelok. And it is only
+to send a message to our great overlord to say what we are about, and
+he will see that the land is in peace. Nor do I think that any king
+would harry Havelok’s land, for he is well loved by all his peers.”
+
+Wherefore it seemed that Sigurd must go also, and we had to set Biorn
+as head man while Sigurd was away; but that would only be for a month
+or two. So all things were ordered well, and in a month we set sail
+with twenty ships, and in them a matter of fifteen hundred men.
+
+At first we thought that we would make for Grimsby; but then it seemed
+best to land elsewhere, and more to the south, for we would have
+messages sent at once to Ragnar to call East Anglia to Havelok’s
+banner, and Alsi would have less chance of cutting us off from him. So
+we sailed to Saltfleet haven, which lies some twenty-five miles
+southward from Grimsby. Raven piloted us in safely, and there were none
+to hinder our landing. The town was empty, indeed, when the ships came
+into the haven, for all had fled in haste, except a few thralls, for
+fear of the Vikings.
+
+Yet when we sent these thralls to say that Goldberga had come for her
+own, the people came back and made us welcome, for her story was in
+every mouth; and after that we fared well in Saltfleet, and men began
+to gather to us.
+
+We sent to Arngeir and to Ragnar at once, and next day the Grimsby folk
+were with us, but long before any word could come to Norwich, Alsi had
+set about gathering a host against us.
+
+But we had not come to fight him for Lindsey, and our errand was to bid
+him give up her own rights to Goldberga. One must be ready with the
+strong hand if one expects to find justice from such a man; and Havelok
+had thought it possible that if we came here first we should bring him
+to reason at once, whereas if we went to Norfolk there would be
+fighting with all the host of the Lindsey kingdom before long; while if
+he did fight here we might save Goldberga’s land from that trouble, and
+maybe have fewer to deal with.
+
+So a message was to be sent to Alsi at once, bidding him know that
+Goldberga had come to ask for her rights, and that he might give them
+to her in all honour. Arngeir was to take this, for it did not seem
+right that a Dane should do so, and he was one who would be listened
+to. I was to go with him, with my courtmen as guard; and we rode to
+Lincoln on the fourth day after our coming to Saltfleet. Good it was to
+ride over the old land again, and I thought that it had never looked
+more fair with the ripening harvest, for when last I had seen it there
+was none. The track of the famine was yet on all the villages, for
+fewer folk were in them than in the days before the pestilence and the
+dearth, but these had enough and to spare.
+
+And when these poor folk heard from us that Curan and his princess had
+come again for what was hers, they took rusty weapons and flint-tipped
+arrows and stone hammers from the hiding places in the thatch of their
+hovels, and went across the marshlands to where the little hill of
+Saltfleet stands above its haven, that they might help the one whom
+they had loved as a fisher lad to become a mighty king.
+
+So we came to Lincoln, and already there was a gathering of thanes and
+their men in the town, and they knew on what errand we had come well
+enough. But they were courteous, and we were given quarters in the town
+at once, that we might see Alsi with the first light in the morning.
+
+I will not say that we had a quiet night there, for we did not trust
+Alsi; but we had no need to fear. In the morning Eglaf came to bid us
+to the palace to speak with the king.
+
+“This is about what I expected, when I heard of the mistake that our
+king had made,” he said, “and so far you are in luck. It is not
+everyone who is a fisher one day and captain of the courtmen next, as
+one might say. I like the look of your men, and I am going to take some
+of the credit of that to myself, for a man has to learn before he can
+command.”
+
+“I will not deny your share in the matter,” I answered, laughing, “for
+had it not been for my time with you I had been at sea altogether. Now,
+shall we have to fight you?”
+
+He shrugged his broad shoulders.
+
+“Who knows what is in the mind of our king? I do not, and you know
+enough of him by this time to be certain that one cannot guess. He may
+be all smiles and rejoicing that his dear niece has come back safely,
+or just the other way. He has been very careful how he has dealt with
+the Norfolk thanes of late, and what that means I do not know.”
+
+Then he asked what had become of Griffin, and I told him. I do not
+think that he was surprised, for some word of the matter had reached
+here by the news that chapmen bring from all parts.
+
+Now there was no more time for talk, for we came to the hall; and we
+went in, Arngeir leading, and the rest of us following two by two. The
+hall was pretty full of thanes and their men, and it was just as I had
+last seen it. Alsi sat alone on his high seat, and there was no man
+with him on the dais. I thought that he looked thinner and anxious.
+
+Arngeir went up the hall at once, and stood before the king, and
+greeted him in the English way, which seemed strange to me after the
+two years of Danish customs; and then Alsi bade him tell his errand.
+
+“I have come from Goldberga of East Anglia, and from Havelok the Dane,
+her husband, to say that she has returned to her land, and would ask
+that you would give her the throne that you have held for her since the
+day that her father made you her guardian. It has been said that she
+might ask you to give account of your management of the realm to her;
+but that she does not wish to do, being sure that all will be rightly
+done in the matter, and she only asks to be set in the place that was
+her father’s.”
+
+So said Arngeir, plainly, and I could see that the thanes thought the
+words good.
+
+And Alsi answered, “Has this matter been put before the Witan of the
+East Angles?”
+
+I suppose that he thought to hear Arngeir say that there had been no
+time for so doing at present, but my brother was readier than I should
+have been.
+
+“Doubtless it has,” he said, “for that was your own promise to
+Goldberga on her marriage.”
+
+At that Alsi flushed, and his brows wrinkled. He had said nothing to
+the Witan at all, but had waited in hopes that he should hear no more
+of his niece, telling the tale that we had heard.
+
+“I have had no answer from them,” he said at last, for Arngeir was
+looking at him in a way that he could not meet. “It was her saying that
+she would do this for herself.”
+
+“Then they do not refuse,” said Arngeir quietly, “nor did I think that
+they would do so. It only remains therefore, that you, King Alsi,
+should do your part. Then can the queen speak to the Witan, even as she
+said, concerning her husband.”
+
+Now it must have been clear to the king that nothing short of a plain
+answer would be taken, and he sat and thought for a while. One could
+see that he was planning what to say, as if things had not gone as he
+expected. Maybe he hoped to put off the matter by talk of asking the
+Witan, and so to gain time, for we had certainly taken him unawares.
+
+At last he said, “How am I to know that you are here with full power to
+speak for Goldberga? For this is a weighty matter.”
+
+Arngeir held out his hand, and on it was the ring of Orwenna the queen,
+which Alsi had last seen here on the high place.
+
+“There is the token, King Alsi, and it is one which you know well,” he
+answered.
+
+“Ay, I know it,” answered the king with a grin that was not pleasant.
+
+And then he said, “I will speak with my thanes, and give you word to
+carry back in an hour’s time, now that I know you to be a true
+messenger.”
+
+“There should be no reason for waiting so long as that, nor do I think
+that the matter of the throne of East Anglia is a question for Lindsey
+thanes,” answered Arngeir at once. “All this is between you and the
+princess.”
+
+Thereat one of the thanes rose up and said, “If a kingdom has been
+handed over to our king, it is not to be taken again without our having
+a good deal to say about it. I do not know, moreover, if we can have a
+foreigner over any part of our land.”
+
+“Goldberga never gave up her right to the kingdom,” Arngeir answered,
+“as anyone who was here at the wedding would tell you. And as for
+Havelok, her husband, being a foreigner, it seems to me that a Jute who
+has been brought up here in Lindsey since he was seven winters old is
+less a foreigner than a Briton is to us.”
+
+None made any answer to that, and I could see that the king was growing
+angry at being met thus at every turn. But he began to smile in that
+way of his that I had learned to mistrust.
+
+“That is not altogether courteous to either Goldberga or myself,” he
+said, as if he would think the words a jest, seeing that he was half
+Welsh. “Give me time, I pray you, to think of this, as I have asked,
+and you shall go back with your answer.”
+
+There was no help for it, and we had to leave the hall in order that
+Alsi might say what he had to say to his thanes. And I said to Arngeir
+that it seemed that we should have to fight the matter out.
+
+“Alsi risks losing both kingdoms if he does that,” he answered, “for we
+shall take what we choose if we are the victors. The visions that have
+been thus right so far say that we shall be so.”
+
+“I shall be glad if we do come out on the right side,” I said; “but I
+have not so much faith in these dream tellings as some. Nor do I think
+that it seems altogether fair to fight on a certainty.”
+
+“When it is a matter of punishing one who does not keep faith, I do not
+think that it matters much,” he answered, laughing. “I should like
+certainty that he would not get the best of the honest side in that
+case.”
+
+We were outside on the wide green within the square of the Roman walls
+at this time, and now from within the hall came the sound of shouts and
+cheering which we heard plainly enough. But whether it meant that the
+thanes cheered Alsi because he would fight, rather than that they
+applauded his justice to his niece, was not to be known as yet. As for
+me, I thought that it was hardly likely to be the latter.
+
+Then came three thanes from the hail with the message, and it was this,
+“Alsi bids Havelok go back to his own land and bide content therewith.”
+
+“What word is there for Goldberga, then?” asked Arngeir.
+
+“None. She has thrown in her lot with the Dane, and it is he with whom
+we will not deal.”
+
+Then said I, “How was it that she had to throw in her lot with Havelok?
+He was Alsi’s own choice for her.”
+
+“That is not what we have heard,” the spokesman answered. “Now it is
+best that you go hence, for you have the answer.”
+
+“This means fighting for Goldberga’s rights,” said Arngeir, “and I will
+tell you that Havelok will not be backward in the matter.”
+
+“In that case we shall meet again on the battlefield ere long,”
+answered the thane. “I will not say that Havelok is in the wrong, and
+things might have been better settled. Farewell till then. The Norns
+will show who is right.”
+
+So we went, and I thought, as did Arngeir, that there was some little
+feeling among his men that Alsi was wrong.
+
+Now Alsi set to work to gather forces in earnest, and he went to work
+in a way that was all his own: for, saying nothing about Goldberga, he
+sent to all his thanes with word that the Vikings had come in force and
+invaded the land, led by the son of Gunnar Kirkeban, whose ways were
+worse than those of his father, for he spared none, whereas Kirkeban
+harried but the Welsh Christian folk. He prayed them therefore to
+hasten, that this scourge might be driven back to the sea whence he
+came. And that brought men to him fast, for no Englishman can bear that
+an invader shall set foot on his shore, be he who he may. Few knew who
+the wife of Havelok was at that time, but I do not know that it would
+have made so much difference if they had. None thought that into
+England had come the fair princess who was so well loved.
+
+Sorely troubled was Goldberga when she heard this answer, but it was
+all that the rest of us looked for. And the next question was how best
+to meet the false king.
+
+In the end we did a thing that may seem to some to have been rash
+altogether, but it was our wish to compel Alsi to fight before his
+force was great enough to crush us. It might be long before Ragnar
+could raise a host and join us, for there was always a chance that he
+might have trouble in getting the Norfolk thanes to come to his
+standard for a march on Lindsey. If we had gone to Norfolk at once
+there would have been no fear of that kind, but the fighting might have
+been more bitter and longer drawn out.
+
+We sent the fleet southward into the Wash, that it might wait for us at
+the port of the Fossdyke, on what men call the Frieston shore; and then
+we left Saltfleet and marched across country to the wolds, and
+southward and westward along them, that we might draw Alsi from
+Lincoln. And all the way men joined us for the sake of Curan, whom they
+knew, and of Goldberga, of whom they had heard, so that in numbers at
+least our host was a great one. Ragged it might be, as one may say,
+with the wild marshmen, who had no sort of training and no chiefs to
+keep them in hand; but I knew that no host Alsi could get together had
+any such trained force in it as we had in the fifteen hundred Vikings,
+for they had seen many fights, and the ways of the sea teach men to
+hold together and to obey orders at once and without hesitating.
+
+So we went until we came to Tetford, above Horncastle town; and there
+is a great camp on a hilltop, made by the British, no doubt, in the
+days when they fought with Rome. There we stayed, for Alsi was upon us.
+We saw the fires of his camp in the village and on the hillsides across
+the valley, but a mile or two from us that night; and it seemed that
+his host was greater than ours, as we thought it would be, but not so
+much so as to cause dread of the battle that was to come.
+
+Now there were two men who came to us that night, and we thought that
+they had brought some message from Alsi at first. But all that they
+wanted was to join Havelok, and we were glad of them. They were those
+two seconds of Griffin’s, Cadwal and the other, whose name was Idrys,
+and with them was David the priest, who had fled to us.
+
+“We know that Havelok is one who is worth fighting for,” they said,
+“for we have proved it already. We are not Alsi’s men, and our fathers
+fought for his mother’s Welsh kin against the English long ago. Let us
+fight for the rights of Goldberga, at least.”
+
+Havelok welcomed them in all friendliness, though he asked them if they
+had no grudge against him for the slaying of Griffin.
+
+“As to that,” they said, “after the duel we think that he deserved all
+that has befallen him. We were ashamed to be his seconds.”
+
+Now these two took in hand to lead the marshmen, and set to work with
+them at once, for they were ready to follow them as known thanes of the
+British. And that was something gained.
+
+We slept on our arms that night, and all night long David woke and
+prayed for our success, and I think that his prayers were not lost.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+BY TETFORD STREAM.
+
+
+In the early morning Alsi set his men in order in the valley, and
+seemed to wait for us to come down to him, for it was of no use to try
+to take the strong camp which sheltered us. And so, after council held,
+we did not keep him waiting, but left the hill and marched on him. We
+had the camp to fall back on if things went the wrong way, and beyond
+that the road to the sea and the ships was open, with a chance of
+meeting Ragnar on the way, moreover.
+
+Very long and deep seemed the line as we neared it, and it was formed
+on the banks of a stream that runs down the valley, so that we must
+cross the water to attack. But the stream was shallow now with the
+August heat, and it was not much sunk between its banks.
+
+When he saw that, Sigurd, who was a man of many fights, said that we
+had better send the marshmen round to fall on the wings of the foe,
+while we went straight for the centre of the line in the wedge
+formation that the Viking loves. For so we should have no trouble in
+crossing the stream, and should cut the force against us in two.
+
+So the two Welsh thanes led their wild levies out on either side of us
+Danes, who were in the centre, and then we formed the wedge. Havelok
+himself would have gone first of all at its point: but that we would
+not suffer, for if he fell the battle was lost at its beginning.
+
+“Nay,” he said, “for we fight for Goldberga.”
+
+“And what would she say were we to set you foremost of us all?” asked
+Withelm. “Little love were there to either of you in that. You are the
+heart of the host, and one shields that although it gives strength to
+all the hands which obey it.”
+
+So Withelm and Arngeir and I went foremost, and behind us came the
+courtmen, and in the midst of their shield wall was Havelok, with Raven
+and the banner at his side. After them, rank on rank and with
+close-locked shields, was such a force as had not been seen in Lindsey
+for many a long day. Alsi’s men grew very silent as they saw us come
+on, until we reached, through a storm of arrows that could not stay us,
+the bank of the stream, and then they raised a war song that roared and
+thundered among the hills as though the tide was coming up the valley
+in one great wave. But we saved our breath until the first of us were
+on the banks of the stream, and then I shouted, and with a great shout
+of “Ahoy!” in answer, we charged through the stream and up the far
+bank, where Alsi’s spearmen waited for us.
+
+They crowded together as they saw how narrow our front was, and there
+was a hedge of steel before us three brothers; but the spear is not the
+weapon to use if one would check the onrush of the Northman’s wedge,
+and shield and axe between them dashed and hewed a way to the men who
+got to their swords too late, and then we were in the midst of Alsi’s
+line, with the gap that we had made widening behind us with each step
+that we took forward.
+
+Now it was sheer hewing at the mass who crowded on us; and I mind how
+we seemed to fight in silence, although the battle cries were
+unceasing, and waxed ever louder; for it was as when one walks by the
+shore and thinks not at all of the noise of breakers that never ends.
+Now and then there was one shout that was new, and it seemed to be the
+only voice. Most of all, the noise grew on the wings where the savage
+Welsh fell on their masters and ancient foes in wild tumult.
+
+We tried to cut our way to Alsi, for we could see him as he sat on his
+horse—the only mounted man in all the hosts; but we could not reach
+him. And presently the time came when we who were foremost must let
+fresh men take our places. Sigurd stepped to my side, and Withelm fell
+back, and another took the place of Arngeir, and then my turn came, and
+we went slowly from the front to where the hollow centre of the wedge
+gave us rest. Only a few arrows fell there now and then; but the time
+for using bows was past, seeing that we were hand to hand with all the
+Lindsey host. And then I saw that Sigurd had done what we had failed
+in, for he had reached the shield wall that was round the king himself.
+And for a moment I was savage that the chance came to him so soon after
+I had left the fighting line; but then I minded that Eglaf, my friend,
+would be there, and I was glad that I need not cross swords with him
+after all. I had thought of that happening before the fight began, but
+in the turmoil of hottest struggle I had forgotten it.
+
+Now Sigurd was before the thick mass of the housecarls, and hand to
+hand with them; and then he was among them, and he leapt at the bridle
+of Alsi’s horse and grasped it. I saw the king’s sword flash down on
+his helm, and he reeled under the stroke, but without letting go of the
+rein. Then the housecarls made a rush, and bore back our men, and the
+horse reared suddenly. There was a wild shout, and the war saddle was
+empty; and again our men surged forward, so that I could not see what
+had happened.
+
+But now our Welshmen had been beaten back from the wings—not easily,
+but for want of training—and they were forced back across the brook,
+and there held our bank well, giving way no step further. The water
+kept them in an even front, against their will, as it were; and Alsi’s
+men charged them in vain, knee deep in the stream that ran red. But
+that let loose the men who had been held back from us; and now we were
+overborne by numbers, and we began to go back. That was the worst part
+of the whole fight, and the hardest hour of all the battle, as may be
+supposed, for the wedge grew closer, as it was forced together by sheer
+weight. None ever broke into it.
+
+Presently our rear was on the water’s edge, and it seemed likely that
+in crossing there might be a breaking of the line; and when he saw
+that, Havelok called to me, and he went to the front with the courtmen
+round him. It was good to hear the cheers of our men as they saw the
+dancing banner above the fight, and beneath it, in the bright sun, the
+gold-circled helm of their king. The Lindseymen drew back a foot’s pace
+as they saw the giant who came on them, and I heard some call that this
+was Curan of Grimsby, as if in wonder. Then we had to fight hard, and
+Sigurd fell back past me, with a wound on his shoulder where Alsi’s
+sword had glanced from the helm. No life had been left to Sigurd had a
+better hand wielded the weapon; but he was not badly hurt. I could not
+see Alsi anywhere, nor Eglaf.
+
+Steadily the numbers drove us back, though before Havelok was always a
+space into which men hardly dared to come. The wedge was pushed away
+from us, and we had to fall back with it, until we crossed the stream;
+and there Sigurd swung the massed men into line, and then came the
+first pause in the fight. The two hosts stood, with the narrow water
+between them, and glared on each other, silent now. And then the bowmen
+began to get to work from either side, until the arrows were all gone.
+
+Now Havelok called to the foe, and they were silent while he spoke to
+them.
+
+“Is Alsi yet alive?” he said; “for if not, I have no war with his men.
+If he is, let me speak with him.”
+
+None answered for a while, and the men looked at each other as if they
+knew not if the man they were fighting for lived or not.
+
+Then one came forward and said, “Alsi lives, and we have not done with
+you yet. Get you back to your home beyond the sea!”
+
+And then they charged us again; but the water was a better front for us
+than it had been for them, and across it they could not win. We drove
+them back once and twice; and again came a time when both sides were
+wearied and must needs rest.
+
+So it went on until night fell. We never stirred from that water’s
+edge, and the stream was choked with valiant English and hardy Danes;
+and yet the attacks came with the shout of “Out! out!” and the answer
+from us of “Havelok, ahoy!”
+
+At last one who seemed a great chief came and cried a truce, for night
+was falling; and he said that if Havelok would claim no advantage
+therefrom, the men of Lindsey would get back from the field, and leave
+it free for us to take our fallen.
+
+“But I must have your word that with the end of that task you go back
+to the place you now hold, that we may begin afresh, if it seems good
+to us, in the morning.”
+
+Then said Havelok, “That is well spoken, and I cannot but agree. Who
+are you, however, for I must know that this is said with authority?”
+
+“I am the Earl of Chester,” he answered. “Alsi has set the leading of
+the host in my hands, for he is hurt somewhat.”
+
+“I did not think that Mercians would have troubled to fight to uphold
+Alsi of Lindsey in his ways with his niece,” Havelok said.
+
+“What is that?” said the earl. “Hither came I for love of fighting,
+maybe, in the first place; and next to drive out certain Vikings. I
+know naught of the business of which you speak.”
+
+“Then,” said I, “go and ask Eglaf, the captain of the housecarls, for
+he knows all about it. We are no raiding Danes, but those who fight for
+Goldberga of East Anglia.”
+
+At that a hum of voices went down the English line, and this earl bit
+his lip in doubt.
+
+“Well,” he said, “that is Alsi’s affair, and I will speak to him. We
+have had a good fight, and I will not say that either of us has the
+best of it. Shall it be as I have said?”
+
+“Ay,” answered Havelok; and the earl drew off his men for half a mile,
+and in the gathering dusk we crossed the brook, and went on our errand
+across the field. It was not hard to find our men, for they lay in a
+great wedge as we had fought. There had been no straggling from that
+array, and no break had been made in its lines. Alsi had lost more than
+we, for his men had beaten against that steel wall in vain, and the
+arms of the Northman are better than those of any other nation.
+
+We took the wounded back to the camp, and there Goldberga and the wives
+of our English thanes tended them; and as we gathered up the slain the
+Lindsey men were among us at the same work, and we spoke to them as if
+naught was amiss between us, nor any fight to begin again in the
+morning. And then we learned how few knew what we had come for. It was
+with them as with the Earl of Chester. They had no knowledge of
+Goldberga’s homecoming, and least of all thought that at the back of
+the trouble were the wiles of Alsi. It was two years ago that Goldberga
+had gone, and her wedding had seemed to end her story. Now the men
+heard and wondered; and it is said that very many left Alsi that night
+and went home, angry with him for his falsehood.
+
+Now when all was done we sought rest, and weary we were. I will say for
+myself that I did not feel like fighting next morning at all, for I was
+tired out, and the one or two wounds that I had were getting sorely
+stiff. Raven was much in the same case, and grumbled, sailor-wise, at
+the weight of the banner and aught else that came uppermost in his
+mind. Yet I knew that he would be the first to go forward again when
+the time came.
+
+The host slept on their arms along the bank of the stream through the
+hot night, and the banner was pitched in their midst. Soon the moon
+rose, and only the footsteps of the sentries along our front went up
+and down, while across the water was the same silence; for both hosts
+were wearied out, and each had learned that the other were true men,
+and there was no mistrust on either side. When the light came once more
+we should fight to prove who were the best men at arms, and with no
+hatred between us.
+
+Presently the mists crept up from the stream and wreathed the sleepers
+on either bank with white, swaying clouds, and I mind that the last
+thought I had before I closed my eyes was that my armour would be
+rusted by the clinging damp—as if it were not war-stained from helm to
+deerskin shoe already with stains that needed more cleansing than any
+rust.
+
+Then I waked suddenly, for someone went past me, and I sat up to see
+who it might be. The moon was very bright and high now, but the figure
+that I saw wading in the white mist was shadowy, and I could not tell
+who it was. And then another and yet another figure came from the rear
+of our line, and passed among the sleeping ranks, and joined the first
+noiselessly; and after a little while many came, hurrying, and they
+formed up on the bank of the stream into the mighty wedge. And I feared
+greatly, for not one of the sleepers stirred as the warriors went among
+us, and I had looked on the faces of those who passed me, and I knew
+that they were the dead whom I had seen the men gather even now and lay
+in their last rank beyond our line.
+
+Then I saw that on the far bank was gathered another host, and that was
+of Alsi’s men, and among them I knew the forms of some who had fallen
+in the first onset when I led the charge.
+
+I tried to put forth my hand to wake Withelm, but I could not stir, and
+when I would have spoken, I could frame no word, so that alone in all
+the host I saw the slain men fight their battle over again, step by
+step. The wedge of the Northmen won to the far shore as we had won—as
+they had won in life but a few hours ago—and into the line of foemen
+they cut their way, and on the far side of the stream they stayed and
+fought, as it had been in the battle. Yet though one could see that the
+men shouted and cried, there was no sound at all, and among the wildest
+turmoil walked the sentries of Alsi’s host unconcerned and unknowing.
+And to me they seemed to be the ghosts, and the phantom strife that
+which was real.
+
+Then I was ware of a stranger thing yet than all I had seen so far, for
+on the field were more than those whom I knew. There stood watching on
+either side of the battle two other ghostly hosts, taking no part in
+the struggle, but watching it as we had watched from our place when we
+fell back into the rear to rest, pointing and seeming to cheer strokes
+that were good and deeds that were valiant. And I knew that these were
+men who had fought and died on this same field in older days, for on
+one side were the white-clad Britons, and on the other the stern,
+dark-faced Romans, steel and bronze from head to foot.
+
+So the battle went onward to where we had won and had been pressed
+back; and then, little by little, the hosts faded away, and with them
+went the watchers, and surely across the field went the quick gallop of
+no earthly steeds, the passing to Odin of the choosers of the slain,
+the Valkyries.
+
+Then came across the brook to me one through the mist, and the sentries
+paid no heed to him, and he came to my side and spoke to me. It was
+Cadwal, the Welsh thane, and his breast was gashed so that I thought
+that he could not have lived.
+
+“Ay, I am dead,” he said, “as men count death, and yet I would have
+part in victory over Alsi, for the sake of Havelok and of Goldberga.
+Stay up my body on the morrow, that I may seem to fight at least, that
+I may bide in the ranks once more in the day of victory. Little victory
+have the British seen since Hengist came. Say that you will do this.”
+
+Then he looked wistfully at me, and I gave him some token of assent;
+and at that came back all the shadows of our men, and seemed to pray
+the same. And then was a stir of feet near me, and a shadow across the
+trampled grass, and instead of the dead the voice of Havelok spoke
+softly to me, and with him was Goldberga, clad in her mail. And I
+thought that they and I were slain also, and I cried to this one who
+seemed to be one of Odin’s maidens that I too would fain be stayed up
+with Cadwal and the rest, that I might have part in victory.
+
+Then Goldberga stooped to me, and laid her soft hand on my forehead,
+and took off my helm, so that the air came to me, and thereat I woke
+altogether.
+
+“Brother,” she said, “you are restless and sorely wounded, as it seems.
+It is not good that you should lie in this mist.”
+
+At her voice the others woke, and for a while she talked with us in a
+low tone, cheering us. And presently she asked of that strange request
+that I had made to her.
+
+I told her, for it was a message that should not be kept back, thus
+given; and when he heard it, Withelm sighed a little, and said, “Would
+that we had all those who have fallen. Yet if it is as they have asked
+our brother, our host will seem as strong as before we joined battle in
+the morning. Leave this to me, brother, for it may be done.”
+
+Then he rose up and went softly to where Idrys, the friend of Cadwal,
+lay, and spoke long with him. It was true that Cadwal was slain, though
+I had not yet heard of it until he told me himself thus.
+
+Then I slept heavily, while the others talked for a while. It is a hard
+place at a wedge tip when Englishmen are against one; and I am not much
+use in a council. Presently they would wake me if my word was wanted.
+
+But it was not needed, for the sunlight woke me. There was a growing
+stir in our lines and across the water also, and I looked round. The
+mists were yet dense, for there was not enough breeze to stir the heavy
+folds of the banner, and Raven slept still with his arm round its
+staff. Havelok was not here now, and I thought that he had gone to the
+camp with Goldberga, and would be back shortly.
+
+Then I saw that our rear rank was already formed up, as I thought, and
+that is not quite the order of things, as a rule, and it seemed far off
+from the stream. I thought that they should have asked me about this,
+for there were some of my courtmen in that line.
+
+And then I saw that in the line was no movement, and no flash of arms,
+as when one man speaks to another, turning a little. And before that
+line stood the form of a chief who leant on his broad spear, motionless
+and seeming watchful. I knew him at once, and it was Cadwal, and those
+he commanded were the dead. That was even to me an awesome sight, for
+in the mists they seemed ready and waiting for the word that would
+never come to their ears, resting on the spears that they could use no
+more. It had been done by the marshmen in the dark hours of the
+morning, and from across the stream I saw Alsi’s men staring at the new
+force that they thought had come to help us. There were men enough
+moving along our bank with food to us to prevent them seeing that this
+line stirred not at all.
+
+There was a scald who came with us from Denmark, and now with the full
+rising of the sun he took his harp and went along the stream bank
+singing the song of Dunheidi fight and so sweet was his voice, and so
+strong, that even Alsi’s men gathered to hearken to him. His name was
+Heidrek, and he has set all that he saw with Havelok into a saga; but
+we, here, mostly remember the brave waking that he gave us that
+morning. It was wonderful how the bright song cheered us. One saw that
+the stiffened limbs shook themselves into litheness once more, and the
+listless faces brightened, and into the hearts that were heavy came new
+hope, and that was the song’s work.
+
+Now men began to jest with their foes across the stream, and those who
+had Danish loaves threw them across in exchange for English, that they
+might have somewhat to talk of. Ours were rye, and theirs of barley;
+but it was not a fair change after ours had been so long a voyage.
+
+It was not long before our war horns sounded for the mustering, and men
+ran to their arms. The Lindsey host drew back from the talk with our
+men at the same time, and, without waiting for word from their leaders,
+began to get in line along the stream, where they had been when we
+halted last night. But we had no thought of falling on them until we
+had had some parley with the king or the Earl of Chester. And now it
+was plain that with the grim rearguard behind us we outnumbered the men
+of Alsi who were left.
+
+Now came from the village in rear of the foe a little company, in the
+midst of which was one horseman, and that was the king himself. His arm
+was slung to his breast, and he sat his horse weakly, so that it was
+true enough that he had been hurt. With him were the earl and Eglaf,
+and the housecarls, and I sent one to fetch Havelok quickly, that there
+might be no delay in the words that were to be said.
+
+Alsi rode to the water’s edge and looked out over our host, and his
+white face became whiter, and his thin lips twitched as he saw that our
+line was no weaker than it had seemed when first he saw it. He spoke to
+the earl, and he too counted the odds before him, and he smiled a
+little to himself. He had not much to say to Alsi.
+
+Then broke out a thunderous cheer from all our men, for with Havelok
+and Sigurd at her horse’s rein, and with Withelm’s courtmen of her own
+guard behind her, came Goldberga the queen to speak with the man who
+had broken his trust. She had on her mail, as on the day when we ended
+Hodulf; and she rode to the centre of our line, and there stayed, with
+a flush on her cheek that the wild shouts of our men had called there.
+
+Then I heard the name of “Goldberga, Goldberga!” run down the English
+line, and I saw Alsi shrink back into himself, as it were; and then
+some Lincoln men close to him began to grow restless, and all at once
+they lifted their helms and cheered also, and that cheer was taken up
+by all the host, as it seemed, until the ring of hills seemed alive
+with voices. And with that Alsi half turned his horse to fly.
+
+Yet his men did not mean to leave him. It was but the hailing of the
+lady whom they knew, and her coming thus was more than the simple
+warriors had wit or mind to fathom. But now Goldberga held up her hand,
+and the cries ceased, and silence came. Then she lifted her voice,
+clear as a silver bell, and said, “It seems strange to me that English
+folk should be fighting against me and my husband’s men who have
+brought me home. I would know the meaning of this, King Alsi, for it
+would seem that your oath to my father is badly kept. Maybe I have
+thought that the people would not have me in his place; but their voice
+does not ring in those shouts, for which I thank them with all my
+heart, as if they hated me. Now, therefore, I myself ask that my
+guardian will give up to me that which is my own.”
+
+We held our peace, but a hum of talk went all through the English
+ranks. The Earl of Chester sat down on the bank, and set his sword
+across his knees, and began to tie the peace strings round the hilt, in
+token that he was going to fight no more. Now and then he looked at
+Goldberga, and smiled at her earnest face. But Alsi made no sign of
+answer.
+
+Then the queen spoke again to him.
+
+“There must be some reason why you have thus set a host in arms against
+me,” she said, “and what that may be I would know.”
+
+Then, as Alsi answered not at all, the earl spoke frankly.
+
+“We were told that we had to drive out the Vikings, and I must say that
+they do not go easily. But it was not told us that they came here to
+right a wrong, else had I not fought.”
+
+Many called out in the same words, and then sat down as the earl had
+done.
+
+And at last Alsi spoke for himself.
+
+“We do not fight against you, my niece, but against the Danes. We
+cannot have them in the country.”
+
+“They do not mean to bide here, but they will not go before my throne
+is given to me. Never came a foreign host into a land in more friendly
+wise than this of mine.”
+
+At that Alsi’s face seemed to clear, and his forced smile came to him.
+He looked round on the thanes who were nearest him, and coughed, and
+then answered, “Here has been some mistake, my niece, and it has cost
+many good lives. If it is even as you say, get you to your land of
+Anglia, and there shall be peace. I myself will send word to Ragnar
+that he shall hail you as queen.”
+
+Then up spoke a new voice, and it was one that I knew well.
+
+“No need to do that, lord king,” said Berthun the cook. “Here have I
+come posthaste, and riding day and night, to say that Ragnar is but a
+day’s march from here, that he and all Norfolk may see that their queen
+comes to her own.”
+
+Then Alsi’s face grew ashy pale, and without another word he swung his
+horse round and went his way. I saw him reel in the saddle before he
+had gone far, and Eglaf set his arm round him and stayed him up. After
+him Goldberga looked wistfully, for she was forgiving, and had fain
+that he had spoken one word of sorrow. But none else heeded him, for
+now the thanes, led by the earl himself, came thronging across the
+water, that they might ask forgiveness for even seeming to withstand
+Goldberga. And on both sides the men set down their arms, and began to
+pile mighty fires, that the peace made should not want its handfasting
+feast.
+
+For the fair princess had won her own, and there was naught but
+gladness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+PEACE, AND FAREWELL.
+
+
+Now there was feasting enough, and somewhere they found at a thane’s
+house a great tent, and they set that up, so that Havelok and Goldberga
+might have their own court round them, as it were. Gladly did Berthun
+rid himself of war gear and take to his old trade again. I suppose that
+the little Tetford valley had never heard the like sounds of rejoicing
+before.
+
+Near midnight a man came to me and said that a message had come to me
+from the other side, and I rose from the board and went out, to find
+Eglaf waiting for me in the moonlight. He was armed, and his face was
+wan and tired.
+
+“Come apart, friend,” he said; “I have a message from the king.”
+
+“To me?”
+
+“No, to Havelok. But you must hear it first, and then tell him as you
+will.”
+
+We walked away from the tent and across the hillside for some way, and
+then he said without more words, “This is the message that Alsi sends
+to Havelok, whose name was Curan. ‘Forgive the things that are past,
+for many there are that need forgiving. I have no heir, and it is for
+myself that I have schemed amiss. In Lincoln town lies a great
+treasure, of which Eglaf and I alone know. Give it, I pray you, to your
+Danes, that they may harm the land not at all, and so shall I ward off
+some of the evil that might come through me even yet. I think that,
+after me, you shall be king.’”
+
+“That is wise of Alsi; but is there no word for Goldberga?”
+
+“Ay, but not by my mouth. I fetched David the priest two hours ago, and
+he bears those messages.”
+
+“Is there yet more to say?” I asked, for it seemed to me that there
+was.
+
+“There is,” he answered. “Alsi is dead.”
+
+So there was an end of all his schemings, and I will say no more of
+them. It was Eglaf’s thought that it was not so much his hurts that had
+killed the king, but a broken heart because of this failure. For the
+second time now I knew that it is true that “old sin makes new shame.”
+
+Now how we told Havelok this, and how Goldberga was somewhat comforted
+by the words that David the priest brought her from her uncle, there is
+no need to say. But when the news was known in all the host of Lindsey,
+there was a great gathering of all in the wide meadow, and we sat in
+the camp and wondered what end should be to the talk. Ragnar had come;
+but his host was now no great one, for we had sent word to him of the
+peace, and there was a great welcome for him and his men.
+
+The Lindsey thanes did not talk long, and presently some half dozen of
+the best of them came to us, and said that with one accord the
+gathering would ask that Havelok and Goldberga should reign over them.
+
+“We will answer for all in the land,” they said. “If there are other
+thanes who should have had a word in the matter, they are not here
+because, knowing more than we, they would not fight for Alsi in this
+quarrel. If there is any other man to be thought of, he cannot go
+against the word of the host.”
+
+“I have my kingdom in Denmark,” said Havelok, “and my wife has hers in
+Anglia. How should we take this? See, here is Ragnar of Norwich; he is
+worthy to be king, if any. Here, too, is the Earl of Chester, who led
+you. It will be well to set these two names before the host.”
+
+“The host will have none but Havelok and Goldberga,” they said.
+
+So the long-ago visions came to pass, and in a few days more we were
+feasting in the old hall at Lincoln. But before we left the valley of
+the battle we laid in mound in all honour those who had fallen. Seven
+great mounds we made, at which men wonder and will wonder while they
+stand at Tetford. For well fought the Danes of Goldberga, and well
+fought the Lindseymen on that day. Yet I think that those who would
+fain have lived to see the victory had their share in it, as they stood
+in their grim and silent ranks behind us.
+
+Then was a new crowning of those two, and messages to the overlord of
+Lindsey, sent by the thanes, to say that all was settled on the old
+lines of peaceful tribute to be paid; and then, when word and presents
+came back from him, Goldberga rose up on the high place where she had
+been so strangely wedded, and looked down at the joyous faces of her
+nobles at the long tables.
+
+“When I was crowned in Denmark,” she said, “there was a promise made
+me, that when this day came to me in Norfolk I might ask one boon of
+all who upheld me. I do not know if I may ask it here and now, for the
+promise was made by my husband’s people. Yet it is a matter that is
+dear to my heart that I shall seek from you all, if I may.”
+
+Then all the hall rang with voices that bade her ask what she would;
+and she bowed and flushed red, and hesitated a little. Then she took
+heart and spoke.
+
+“It is but this,” she said. “Let the poor Christian folk bide in peace;
+and if teachers come from the south or from the north presently who
+will speak of that faith, bear with them, I pray you, for they work no
+harm indeed.”
+
+Almost was she weeping as she said this, and her white hands were
+clasped tightly before her. But she looked bravely at the thanes, and
+waited for the answer, though I think that she feared what it would be.
+
+But an old thane rose up in his place, smiling, and he answered, “If
+you had commanded us this, my queen, it would have been done. The
+Christian folk, if there are any, shall have no hurt. I think that we
+had forgotten the old days of trouble with them. Yet I hear that in
+Kent the new faith, as it seems to us, is being taught, and that the
+king looks on it with favour. It may be that here it will come also.
+For your sake I will listen if a teacher comes to me.”
+
+The thanes thought little of this boon, and they all answered that it
+was freely granted. But they said that it was no boon to give, and bade
+her ask somewhat that was better.
+
+“Why then,” she said, “if I must ask more, think no more of me as queen
+save as that I am the wife of the king. Havelok is your ruler in good
+sooth.”
+
+That pleased them all well, and they laughed and wished that all had
+wives who had no mind to rule.
+
+“Here is word that is going home to my wife,” said one to his
+neighbour. “If the queen sets the fashion of obedience, it behoves all
+good wives to follow her leading.”
+
+“Maybe I would let some other than yourself tell the lady that,”
+answered the other thane with a great laugh, for he knew that household
+and its ruler.
+
+So Goldberga had her will, and then began the long years of peace and
+happiness to the kingdoms of which all men know. Wherefore I think that
+my story is done. What I have told is halting maybe, and rough, but it
+is true. And Goldberga, my sister, says that it is good. Which is all
+the praise that I need.
+
+
+So far went Radbard, my friend, and then he would tell no more. So it
+is left to me, Wislac the priest, who have written for him, to finish.
+He says that everyone knows the rest, and so they do just now. But in
+the years to come, when this story is read, men will want to know more.
+So it is fit that I should end the story, telling things that I myself
+know to be true also.
+
+Sigurd’s host went back in the autumn, rich with the treasure of Alsi
+the king; and from that time forward no Danish host ever sought our
+shores. Wars enough have been in England here, but they have not harmed
+us. No host has been suffered to cross the borders of Lindsey or East
+Anglia, save in peace, and in the wars of Penda of Mercia Havelok has
+taken no part. Yet he has had to fight to hold his own more than once,
+but always with victory, for always the prayers of the few Christians
+have been with him.
+
+They set Earl Ragnar to hold the southern kingdom for Havelok and his
+wife; and presently, when he was left a widower, he wedded the youngest
+daughter of Grim, Havelok’s foster father. Eglaf was captain of the
+Lincoln courtmen or housecarls, whichever the right name may be among
+those who speak of them. One name is Danish and the other English, but
+they mean the same. As for my good friend Radbard, he was high sheriff
+before long, and that he is yet. He wedded Ragnar’s sister the year
+that Havelok was crowned in Norwich, which was the next year after the
+crowning at Lincoln.
+
+Raven went back to the sea, and he will now be in Denmark or else on
+the Viking path with Sigurd, for that is what he best loves. Arngeir
+bides at Grimsby, high in honour with all, and the port and town grow
+greater and more prosperous year by year. Wise was Grim when he chose
+to stay in the place where he had chanced to come, if it were not more
+than chance that brought him. I suppose that for all time the ships
+that are from Grimsby will be free from all dues in the ports that are
+Havelok’s in the Danish land. Witlaf, the good old thane, bides in his
+place yet, and he rejoices ever that he had a hand in bringing Havelok
+up. Nor does our king forget that.
+
+Indeed, I think that he forgets naught but ill done toward him. Never
+is a man who has done one little thing for him overlooked, if he is met
+by our king after many years, and that is a royal gift indeed.
+
+I would that all married folk were as are this royal couple of ours.
+Never are they happy apart, and never has a word gone awry between
+them. If one speaks of Havelok, one must needs think of Goldberga; and
+if one says a word of the queen, one means the king also. Happy in
+their people and in their wondrous fair children are they, and that is
+all that can be wished for them.
+
+There was one thing wanting for long years, that I and Withelm ever
+longed for for Havelok—a thing for which Goldberga prayed ever. I came
+to them from Queen Bertha in Kent, when good old David died; and at
+that time Havelok was not a Christian, but surely the most Christian
+heathen that ever was. I knew that he must come into the faith at some
+time; and I, at least, could not find it in my heart to blame him
+altogether for holding to the Asir whom his fathers worshipped. It was
+in sheer honesty and singleness of heart that he did so, and I had
+never skill enough to show him the right. But Withelm, who has long
+been a priest of the faith, and shall surely be our bishop ere long,
+had more to do with his conversion than any other.
+
+Yet it did not come until the days when Paulinus came from York and
+preached with the fire of the missionary to us all. And then we saw the
+mighty warrior go down to the water in the white robe of the
+catechumen, and come therefrom with his face shining with a new and
+wondrous light.
+
+Then he founded a monastery at Grimsby, that there the men of the
+marsh, who had been kind to him in the old days, might find teachers in
+all that was good; and there it will surely be after many a long year,
+until there is need for its work no more, if such a time ever comes.
+
+So the land grows Christian fast, and good will be its folk if they
+follow the way of king and queen and their brothers.
+
+Now have I finished also, and this is farewell. Look you, husbands and
+wives, that you may be said to be like Havelok and Goldberga; and see,
+brothers, that you mind the words that Grim spoke to his sons, and
+which they heeded so well—
+
+“Bare is back without brother behind it.” And that is a true word,
+though it was a heathen who spoke it.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+ [1] I have to thank the Mayor of Grimsby for most kindly furnishing me
+ with an impression of this ancient seal.
+
+ [2] Now Nishni-Novgorod, from time immemorial the great meetingplace
+ of north and south, east and west.
+
+ [3] The _garth_ was the fenced and stockaded enclosure round a
+ northern homestead.
+
+ [4] The _seax_ was the heavy, curved dagger carried by men of all
+ ranks.
+
+ [5] The northern sea god and goddess.
+
+ [6] Men drowned at sea were thought to go to the halls of Pan and
+ Aegir. Ran is represented as fishing for heroes in time of storm.
+
+ [7] The Norns were the Fates of the northern mythology.
+
+ [8] The “Witanagemot,” the representative assembly for the kingdom,
+ whence our Parliament sprang.
+
+ [9] The greatest term of reproach for a coward.
+
+ [10] The gold ring kept in the Temple of the Asir, on which all oaths
+ must be sworn.
+
+ [11] The sanctuary of the Asir. Thorsway and Withern in Lincolnshire
+ both preserve the name in the last and first syllable respectively,
+ both meaning “Thor’s sanctuary.”
+
+ [12] The northern equivalent of the Saxon “Folkmote,” or general
+ assembly of the people.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HAVELOK THE DANE ***
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