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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13752-0.txt b/13752-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0abfd87 --- /dev/null +++ b/13752-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9709 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13752 *** + +WULFRIC THE WEAPON THANE + +A Story of the Danish Conquest of East Anglia + +by + +CHARLES W. WHISTLER + + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +A word may be needed with regard to the sources from which this +story of King Eadmund's armour bearer and weapon thane have been +drawn. For the actual presence of such a close attendant on the +king at his martyrdom on Nov. 20, 870 A.D. we have the authority of +St. Dunstan, who had the story from the lips of the witness +himself. + +But as to the actual progress of events before the death of the +king, the records are vague and imperfect. We are told that, after +the defeat at Thetford, the king had intended to seek safety in the +church, probably at Framlingham, where the royal household was, but +was forced to hide, and from his hiding place was dragged before +Ingvar the Danish leader, and so slain. + +The two local legends of the "king's oak" in Hoxne woods, and of +the "gold bridge", may fill in what is required to complete the +story. + +The former, identifying a certain aged oak as that to which the +king was bound, has been in a measure corroborated by the discovery +in 1848 of what may well have been a rough arrow point in its +fallen trunk; while the fact that, until the erection of the new +bridge at Hoxne in 1823, no newly-married couple would cross the +"gold bridge" on the way to church, for the reasons given in the +story, seems to show that the king's hiding place may indeed have +been beneath it as the legend states. If so, the flight from +Thetford must have been most precipitate, and closely followed. + +There are two versions of the story of Lodbrok the Dane and Beorn +the falconer. That which is given here is from Roger of Wendover. +But in both versions the treachery of one Beorn is alleged to have +been the cause of the descent of Ingvar and Hubba on East Anglia. + +These chiefs and their brother Halfden, and Guthrum, are of course +historic. Their campaign in England is hard to trace through the +many conflicting chronicles, but the broad outlines given by the +almost contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, supplemented with a few +incidents recorded in the Heimskringla of Sturleson as to the first +raid on Northumbria by Ingvar, are sufficient for the purposes of a +story that deals almost entirely with East Anglia. + +The legend of the finding of the head of the martyred king is given +in the homily for November 20 of the Anglo-Saxon Sarum Breviary, +and is therefore of early date. It may have arisen from some such +incident as is given here. + +Details of the death of Bishop Humbert are wanting. We only know +that he was martyred at about the same time as the king, or perhaps +with him, and that his name is remembered in the ancient kalendars +on the same day. For describing his end as at his own chapel, still +standing at South Elmham, the fate of many a devoted priest of +those times might be sufficient warrant. + +As to the geography of the East Anglian coast, all has changed +since King Eadmund's days, with the steady gaining of alluvial land +on sea at the mouth of the once great rivers of Yare and Waveney. +Reedham and Borough were in his time the two promontories that +guarded the estuary, and where Yarmouth now stands were sands, +growing indeed slowly, but hardly yet an island even at "low-water +springs". Above Beccles perhaps the course of the Waveney towards +Thetford has altered little in any respect beyond the draining of +the rich marshland along its banks, and the shrinking of such +tributaries as the Hoxne or Elmham streams to half-dry rivulets. + +With a few incidental exceptions, the modern spelling of place +names has been adopted in these pages. No useful purpose would be +served by a reproduction of what are now more or less uncouth if +recognizable forms of the well-known titles of town and village and +river. + +C. W. W. + + + + +CHAPTER I. HOW LODBROK THE DANE CAME TO REEDHAM. + + +Elfric, my father, and I stood on our little watch tower at +Reedham, and looked out over the wide sea mouth of Yare and +Waveney, to the old gray walls of the Roman Burgh on the further +shore, and the white gulls cried round us, and the water sparkled +in the fresh sea breeze from the north and east, and the bright +May-time sun shone warmly on us, and our hearts went out to the sea +and its freedom, so that my father said: + +"Once again is the spirit of Hengist stirring in me, and needs must +that you and I take ship, and go on the swan's path even as our +forefathers went; let us take the good ship somewhere--anywhere to +be on the sea again. What say you, son Wulfric?" + +And at that I was very glad, for I had longed for that word of his. +For never, since I could remember, was a time when I knew not all +that a boy might learn, for his years, of sea and the seaman's +craft; and the sea drew me, calling me as it were with its many +voices, even as it drew my father. + +Yet, all unlike Hengist and his men, we sailed but for peaceful +gain, and very rich grew Elfric, the thane of Reedham; for ours was +the only ship owned by English folk on all our East Anglian shores, +and she brought us wealth year by year, as we sailed to Humber and +Wash northwards, and Orwell and Thames to the south, as seemed best +for what merchandise we had for sale or would buy. But, more than +all, my father and I alike sailed for the love of ship and sea, +caring little for the gain that came, so long as the salt spray was +over us, and we might hear the hum of the wind in the canvas, or +the steady roll and click of the long oars in the ship's rowlocks, +and take our chance of long fights with wind and wave on our stormy +North Sea coasts. + +So we went down to the shipyard, under the lee of Reedham Hill, and +found old Kenulf our pilot, and with him went round our stout +Frisian ship that my father had bought long ago, and at once bade +him get ready for sailing as soon as might be. And that was a +welcome order to Kenulf and our crew also; for well do the North +Folk of East Anglia love the sea, if our Saxon kin of the other +kingdoms have forgotten for a while the ways of their forbears. + +Not so welcome was our sailing to my mother, who must sit at home +listening to the song of the breezes and the roll of breakers, with +her heart stirred to fear for us at every shift of wind and change +of tide. And fair Eadgyth, my sister, beautiful with the clear +beauty of a fair-haired Saxon lady, shared in her fears also, +though I think that she believed that no storm could rage more +fiercely than her father and brother and their crew could ride +through in safety. Once she had sailed with us in high summer time +to London, and so she held that she knew well all the ways of the +ship and sea; fearing them a little, maybe. + +Yet there was another dread in the heart of my mother, for this is +what she said: + +"What of the Danes, Elfric, my husband? Surely there is risk--aye, +and great risk--of falling into their hands." + +Thereat my father laughed easily, and answered: + +"Not to an East Anglian ship now; for they have kept the pact we +have made with them. And they watch not our shores for ships, but +the long Frisian and Frankish coasts. There need be no fear of +them." + +So my mother was reassured, and in a fortnight's time we had +gathered a mixed cargo, though no great one; and sailed, with a +shift of wind to the southwest, into the Wash, and so put into the +king's haven on its southern shore, where we would leave our goods +with a merchant whom we knew. + +On the second day after we came the wind shifted to the eastward, +and then suddenly to the northeast, and blew a gale, so that we +bided in the haven till it was over. For though it was not so heavy +that we could not have won through it in open water with little +harm, it was of no use risking ship and men on a lee shore for +naught. + +Our friend, the merchant, kept us with him gladly, and there we +heard the last news of the Danish host, with whom we had made peace +two years since; for nowadays that news had become of the first +interest to every man in all England; though not yet in the right +way. For we had not yet learnt that England must be truly one; and +so long as he himself was unharmed, little cared an East Anglian +what befell Mercian or Northumbrian, even as Wessex or Sussex cared +for naught but themselves. Wherefore, all we longed to know was +that the Danish host was not about to fall on us, being employed +elsewhere. + +We had found gain rather than hurt by their coming, for we had, as +I say, made peace with them, and, moreover, sold them horses. Then +they had honestly left our coasts, and had gone to York, and +thereafter to Nottingham. Now Northumbria was theirs, and Mercia +was at their feet. And now again we learnt that they bided in peace +at York, and we were content. + +Three days it blew, and then the gale was spent; though the sea +still ran high and swift. So we bade farewell to our friend the +merchant and set sail, and if the passage homewards was rough, it +was swifter than we had hoped. + +So it came to pass that we reached the wide inlet of our haven at +the Yare's mouth too soon for the tide to take us in over the sands +which grow and shift every year, and must needs drop anchor in the +roads and wait, with home in sight, hill and church and houses +clear and sharp against the afternoon sky after rain; while past us +the long surges the storm had raised raced in over half-hidden +sands, and broke in snow-white foam along the foot of the sand +dunes of the shore, sending the spindrift flying up and inland over +their low crests. + +Mostly the boats would have been out to meet us, and maybe to tow +us in, sparing our crew a little; but today no boat might come, for +the seas were too heavy over the bar, so that it would have been +death to any man foolish enough to try to reach us; and we looked +for none. So as the stout ship wallowed and plunged at her +anchors--head to wind and sea, and everything, from groaning +timbers to song of wind-curved rigging and creak of swinging yard, +seeming to find a voice in answer to the plunge and wash of the +waves, and swirl and patter of flying spray over the high bows--we +found what shelter we might under bulwarks and break of fore deck, +and waited. + +My father and I sat on the steersman's bench aft, not heeding the +showers of spray that reached us now and then even there, and we +watched the tide rising over the sand banks, and longed for home +and warm fireside, instead of this cold, gray sky and the restless +waves; though I, at least, was half sorry that the short voyage was +over, dreaming of the next and whither we might turn our ship's +bows again before the summer ended. + +My father looked now and then shoreward, and now seaward, judging +wind and tide, and sitting patiently with the wondrous patience of +the seaman, learnt in years of tide and calm; for he would tell me +that sea learning never ends, so that though the sailor seemed to +be idle, he must needs be studying some new turn of his craft if +only his eyes were noting how things went around him. Yet I thought +he was silent beyond his wont. + +Presently he rose up and paced the deck for a little, and then came +and sat down by me again. + +"I am restless, son Wulfric," he said, laughing softly; "and I know +not why." + +"For the sake of supper," I answered, "for I am that also, and tide +seems mighty slow therefore." + +"Nay, supper comes to the patient; but it seems to me that I have +to watch for somewhat." + +"Surely for naught but the tide," I answered, not thinking much of +the matter, but yet wondering a little. + +"Not for tide or wind, but for somewhat new, rather--somewhat of +which I have a fear. + +"But this is foolishness," he said, laughing again at himself, for +few men thought less of signs and forewarnings than he. + +Then he looked out again to windward, under his hand, and all of a +sudden turned sharply to me, pointing and saying: + +"But, as I live, hither comes something from the open sea!" + +I rose up and looked to where he showed me, and as the ship rose to +a great wave, far off I saw a dark speck among white-crested +rollers, that rose and fell, and came ever nearer, more swiftly +than wreckage should. + +Now some of the men who clustered under the shelter of the fore +deck, with their eyes ever on us, rose up from their places and +began to look out seaward over the bows through the spray to find +out what we watched, and ere long one man called to his mates: + +"Ho, comrades, here comes flotsam from the open sea!" + +Slowly the men rose up one by one and looked, clustering round the +stem head, and a little talk went round as to what this might be. + +"It is a bit of wreck," said one. + +"Hardly, for the gale has not been wild enough to wreck a ship in +the open; 'tis maybe lumber washed from a deck," answered another. + +"It is a whale--no more or less." + +"Nay," said old Kenulf; "it behaves not as a whale, and it comes +too swiftly for wreckage." + +"Would it were a dead whale. Then would be profit," said another +man again, and after that the men were silent for a long while, +having said all that could be guessed, and watched the speck that +drew nearer and nearer, bearing down on us. + +At last my father, ever keen of sight, said to me: + +"This thing is not at the mercy of wind and wave. Rather has it the +rise and fall of a boat well handled. Yet whence should one come in +this heavy sea, after three days' gale?" + +Even as he spoke, old Kenulf growled, half to himself, that to his +thinking this was a boat coming, and handled, moreover, by men who +knew their trade. Thereat some of the men laughed; for it seemed a +thing impossible, both by reason of the stretch of wild sea that so +small a craft as this--if it were indeed a boat--must have crossed, +and because the sea was surely too heavy to let one live. + +Yet in the end we saw that it was a boat, and that in her, +moreover, was but one man, whose skill in handling her was more +than ours, and greater than we could deem possible. + +Whereupon some of us were afraid, seeing how wondrously the tiny +craft came through the swift seas, and a man called out, giving +voice to our fears: + +"Surely yon man is a Finn and the wizard who has raised this storm +to drown us; now are we lost!" + +And I--who had listened eagerly to all the wild stories of the +seamen, since first I was old enough to wander curiously over the +ships from overseas that put into our haven on their way up the +great rivers to Norwich, or Beccles, or other towns--knew that the +Finns have powers more than mortal (though how or whence I know +not) over wind and sea, often using their power to the hurt of +others, and so looked to see the lines of a great squall, drawn as +it were astern of the wizard's boat, whitening as it rushed upon us +to sink us in sight of home. + +But old Kenulf cried out on the man, saying: + +"Rather is it one of the holy saints, and maybe the blessed Peter +the fisherman himself," and he bared his gray head, crossing +himself, as he looked eagerly to catch sight of the glory of light +round the seafarer; and that rebuked my fears a little. + +But squall or crown of light was there none. Only the brown waves, +foam crested, which we feared not, and the gray light of the +clouded sun that was nigh to setting. + +My father heeded naught of this, but watched the boat, only +wondering at the marvellous skill of her steersman. And when the +boat was so near that it was likely that the eyes of the man were +on us, my father raised his arm in the seaman's silent greeting, +and I thought that the boatman returned the salute. + +Now the course that the boat was holding when that signal passed +would have taken her wide of us by half a cable's length, but she +was yet so far distant that but a little change would bring her to +us. Some sort of sail she seemed to have, but it was very small and +like nothing I had ever seen, though it was enough to drive her +swiftly and to give her steering way before the wind. Until my +father signed to him the man seemed to have no wish to near our +ship, going on straight to what would be certain destruction amid +the great breakers on our largest sand bar, and that made the men +more sure that he was a wizard, and there were white faces enough +among them. + +"Now," said my father to me, "doubtless this is what was put in my +mind when I felt I must watch. Had I not seen him, yon man would +have been surely lost; for I think he cannot see the breakers from +his boat," and again he signed to the boatman. + +Then from the little craft rose a great, long-winged hawk that +cried and hovered over it for a little, as if loth to leave it; and +one man said, shrinking and pale, that it was the wizard's familiar +spirit. But the wind caught the bird's long wings and drove it from +the boat, and swiftly wheeling it must needs make for us, speeding +down the wind with widespread, still pinions. + +Then cried aloud that same terrified man: + +"It is a sending, and we are done for!" thinking that, as Finns +will, the wizard they deemed him had made his spells light on us in +this visible form. But my father held out his hand, whistling a +falconer's call, and the great bird flew to him, and perched on his +wrist, looking bravely at us with its bright eyes as though sure of +friendship. + +"See!" said my father loudly; "this is a trained bird, and no evil +sending; here are the jesses yet on its feet." + +And Kenulf and most of the men laughed, asking the superstitious +man if the ship sank deeper, or seas ran higher for its coming. + +"Hold you the bird," said my father to me; "see! the boatman makes +for us." + +I took the beautiful hawk gladly, for I had never seen its like +before, and loved nothing better when ashore than falconry, and as +I did so I saw that its master had changed the course of his boat +and was heading straight for us. Now, too, I could make out that +what we had thought a sail was but the floor boarding of the boat +reared up against a thwart, and that the man was managing her with +a long oar out astern. + +The great hawk's sharp talons were like steel on my ungloved wrist, +piercing through the woollen sleeve of my jerkin, but I heeded them +not, so taken up was I with watching this man who steered so well +and boldly in so poorly fitted a craft. And the boat was, for all +that, most beautiful, and built on such lines as no Saxon boat had. +Well we know those wondrous lines now, for they were those of the +longships of the vikings. + +Now the men forward began to growl as the boat came on to us, and +when my father, seeing that the man would seek safety with us, bade +those on the fore deck stand by with a line to heave to him as he +came, no man stirred, and they looked foolishly at one another. + +Then my father called sharply to Kenulf by name, giving the same +order, and the old man answered back: + +"Bethink you, Thane; it is ill saving a man from the sea to be foe +to you hereafter. Let him take his chance." + +Thereat my father's brow grew dark, for he hated these evil old +sayings that come from heathen days, and he cried aloud: + +"That is not the way of a Christian or a good seaman! Let me come +forward." + +And in a moment he was on the fore deck, where the men made hasty +way for him. There the long lines were coiled, ready for throwing +to the shore folk on our wharf, both fore and aft. My father caught +up one at his feet and stood ready, for now the boat was close on +us, and I could see the white set face of her steersman as he +watched for the line he knew was coming, and wherein lay his only +slender hope of safety. + +My father swung his arm and cast. Swift and true fled the coils +from his hand--but fell short by two fathoms or less, and the boat +swept past our bows, as the men held their breath, watching and +ashamed. + +But I also had caught up the coil from the after deck, fearing lest +my father should not have been in time, while the hawk fluttered +and gripped my arm in such wise that at any other time I should +have cried out with the pain of the sharp piercing of its talons. +Yet it would not leave me. + +The boat flew on, but the man had his eyes on me--not looking +vainly for the lost end of the first line among the foam as many +another man would--and I saw that he was ready. + +I threw; and the hawk screamed and clutched, as it lost its +balance, and beat my face with its great wings, and I could not see +for its fluttering; but the men shouted, and I heard my father's +voice cry "Well done!" Then I made fast the end of the line round +the main-sheet cleat, for that told me that the man had caught on. + +Then the bird was still, and I looked up. I saw the boat pass +astern as the man made fast the line round the fore thwart, with +his eyes on the wave that came. Then he sprang to the steering oar, +and in a moment the boat rounded to on the back of a great wave and +was safe before the crest of the next roller ran hissing past me, +to break harmless round her bows. + +Then the man looked up, smiling to me, lifted his hand in greeting, +and then straightway laid in the steering oar. Having found a +bailing bowl in the stern sheets, he set to work to clear out the +water that washed about in the bottom of the boat; then he replaced +the floor boards, and all things being shipshape, sat down quickly +in the stern, putting his head into his hands, and there bided +without moving, as if worn out and fain to rest for a while. + +Now it was like to be a hard matter to get the boat alongside in +that sea, and we must needs wait till the man took in hand to help, +so we watched him as he sat thus, wondering mostly at the boat, for +it was a marvel to all of us. Sharp were her bows and stern, +running up very high, and her high stem post was carved into the +likeness of a swan's neck and head, and the wings seemed to fall +away along the curve of the bows to the carved gunwale, that was as +if feathered, and at last the stern post rose and bent like a fan +of feathers to finish all. Carved, too, were rowlocks and the ends +of the thwarts, and all the feathered work was white and gold above +the black of the boat's hull. Carved, too, was the baling bowl, and +the loom of the oar was carved in curving lines from rowlock +leather to hand. And as I thought of the chances of our losing her +as we crossed the bar among the following breakers, I was grieved, +and would have asked my father to let us try to get her on deck if +we could. + +But now the man roused, and put his hands to his mouth, hailing us +to ask if we would suffer him to come on board, and my father +hailed him back to bid him do so. Then it would seem that our men +were ashamed, having once disobeyed my father whom they loved, not +to finish the work that we had begun, and so, without waiting for +the order, saw to getting the boat up to our quarter, so that it +was but a minute or two before the man leapt on our deck, and the +boat was once more astern at the length of her line. + +"Thanks, comrades," said the man; "out of Ran's {i} net have you +brought me, and ill fall me if I prove foe to you, as the old saw +bodes." + +Now as one looked at this storm-beaten wanderer there was no doubt +but that he was surely a prince among men, and I for one marvelled +at his look and bearing after what he must have gone through. +Drenched and salt crusted were his once rich clothes, tangled and +uncared for were his hair and beard, and worn and tired he showed +both in face and body, yet his eyes were bright and his speech was +strong and free as he swung to the roll of the ship with the step +of a sea king. His speech told us that he was a Dane, for though we +of the East Angles had never, even before the coming of the great +host of which I must tell presently, such great difference of +tongue between our own and that of Dane and Frisian but that we +could well understand them and speak therein, yet time and distance +have given us a new way of handling our words, as one might say, +and a new turn to the tones of our voices. Often had I heard the +Danish way of speech on board the ships from over sea in our haven, +and had caught it up, as I was wont to try to catch somewhat of +every tongue that I heard. + +So he and we looked at each other for a moment, we wondering at him +and he seeking our leader. Nor did he doubt long, taking two steps +to my father, holding out his hand, and again thanking him. + +My father grasped the offered hand frankly, and, smiling a little, +said: + +"Rather should you thank Wulfric, my son, here; for it was his line +that reached you." + +"No fault that of yours," answered the Dane; and he turned to me +with the same hearty greeting. + +"Now, friend Wulfric, I owe you my life, and therefore from this +time forward my life is for yours, if need be. Nor shall my men be +behind in that matter--that is if I ever see them again," he added, +looking quaintly at me, if gravely. + +"Surely you shall do so," I said, "if it is in our power." + +"I thank you--and it is well. I know coasts where a stranger would +be a slave from the moment his foot touched shore. Now tell me +whose ship this is that has given me shelter, and what your +father's name is, that I may thank you rightly." + +"Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, is my father," I said, "Sheriff of +the East Anglian shore of the North Folk, under Eadmund, our king. +And this is his ship, and this himself to whom you have spoken." + +"Then, Thane and Thane's son, I, whose life you have saved, am +Lodbrok, Jarl {ii} of a strip of Jutland coast. And now I have a +fear on me that I shall do dishonour to the name of Dane, for I +faint for want of food and can stand no more." + +With that he sat down on the bench where I had been, and though he +smiled at us, we could see that his words were true enough, and +that he was bearing bravely what would have overborne most men. And +now the falcon fluttered from my wrist to his. + +Then my father bade me hasten, and I brought ale and meat for the +jarl, and set them before him, and soon he was taking that which he +needed; but every now and then he gave to the bird, stroking her +ruffled feathers, and speaking softly to her. + +"Aye, my beauty," he said once, "I did but cast you down wind lest +you should be lost with me. And I would have had you take back the +news that I was lost to my own home." + +My father stood and watched the tide, and presently I joined him, +for I would not hinder the Dane from his meal by watching him. I +looked at the beautiful boat astern, tossing lightly on the wave +crests, and saw that she would surely be lost over the bar; so I +asked my father now, as I had meant before, if we might not try to +get her on board. + +For answer he turned to Lodbrok. + +"Set you much store by your boat, Jarl?" he asked him. + +"The boat is yours, Thane, or Wulfric's, by all right of salvage. +But I would not have her lost, for my sons made her for me this +last winter, carving her, as you see, with their own hands. Gladly +would I see her safe if it might be." + +"Then we will try to get her," answered my father; "for there are +one or two things that my children have made for me, and I would +not lose them for the sake of a little trouble. And, moreover, I +think your sons have made you the best boat that ever floated!" + +"Else had I not been here!" answered the Dane. "They are good +shipwrights." + +Then Kenulf and the men set to work, and it was no easy matter to +come by the boat; but it was done at last, and glad was I to see +her safely lashed on deck. Then the time had come, and we up anchor +and plunged homewards through the troubled seas of the wide harbour +mouth. It was I who steered, as I ever would of late, while the +Dane stood beside me, stroking his hawk and speaking to it now and +then. And once or twice he looked long and earnestly at the +breakers, knowing now from what he had escaped; and at last he said +to me: + +"Many a man, I know, would have rather let me go on than have run +the risk of saving one from the sea. Do you dare go against the +saying?" + +"Why not? I may not say that it came not into our minds," I +answered; "but Christian men will put such ill bodes aside." + +"Ah! I had forgotten your new faith," said Lodbrok. "Now from this +time I, for one, have naught to say against it, for I think I owe +it somewhat." + +And he was silent for a while. + +Now my father came aft, and sitting down by the Dane, asked him how +he came to risk sailing in the little boat. + +"I know not if you can believe me," answered Lodbrok, "but I will +tell you in a few words. I have been blown from off the Jutland +shore and have won through the gale safely. That is all. But it was +by my own fault, for I must needs take the boat and put out to sea +with my hawk there to find fresh sport. It seemed to me, forsooth, +that a great black-backed gull or fierce skua would give me a fine +flight or two. And so it was; but I rowed out too far, and before I +bethought myself, both wind and tide were against me. I had +forgotten how often after calm comes a shift of wind, and it had +been over still for an hour or so. Then the gale blew up suddenly. +I could have stemmed the tide, as often before; but wind and tide +both were my masters then. + +"That was three days and two nights ago. Never thought I to see +another sunset, for by midday of that first day I broke an oar, and +knew that home I could never win; so I made shift with the floor +boards, as you saw, for want of canvas. After that there is little +to tell, for it was ever wave after wave, and gray flying clouds +ever over me, and at night no rest, but watching white wave crests +coming after me through the dark." + +"Some of us thought that you were a Finn, at least," said my father +as the Dane paused. + +"Not once or twice only on this voyage have I wished myself a Finn, +or at least that I had a Finn's powers," said Lodbrok, laughing; +"but there has been no magic about this business save watchfulness, +and my sons' good handicraft." + +Then I asked the jarl how he called his sons, with a little honest +envy in my heart that I could never hope to equal their skill in +this matter of boat building, wherein I had been wont to take some +pride of myself. + +"Three sons have I in Jutland, Wulfric, my friend, and they, when +they hear my story, will hold you dear to them. Ingvar is the eldest, +Hubba, the next, and the third, Halfden, is three-and-twenty, and so +about your own age, as I take it, as he is also about your equal in +build and strength. Yet I would sooner see a ship of mine steered by +you than by him, for he is not your equal in that matter." + +Now that praise pleased me well, as it did also my father. For we +hold the Danes as first of all peoples in the knowledge of sea +craft; and we had seen that this man was a master therein. But +though at this time I thought of naught but the words of praise, +hereafter I was to remember the words that Jarl Lodbrok spoke of +the way in which these sons of his would hold me when the tale was +told them. + +At last we hailed the shore through the creeping dusk, and the +shore lines were thrown out. Then were we alongside our staithe +{iii}, and Lodbrok the Dane had come to Reedham. + +Now it may seem but a little thing that a seafarer should be driven +to a strange coast, and be tended there in friendly wise by those +who saved him from the breakers, for such is a common hap on our +island shores. Yet, from this day forward, all my life of the time +yet before me was to be moulded by what came of that cast of line +to one in peril. Aye, and there are those who hold that the fate of +our England herself was in hand that day, though it seems to me +that that is saying overmuch. Yet one cannot tell, and maybe those +who will read this story of mine will be able to judge. + +What I do know certainly is this, that all which makes my tale +worth the telling comes from this beginning. + + + +CHAPTER II. HOW LODBROK SPOKE WITH BEORN THE FALCONER. + + +So soon as we had stepped ashore there came in haste one of our +housecarles with word from my mother that Eadmund, the king, had +that day come to our house from Caistor; so at once my father bade +the man return and bring changes of clothes for himself and me and +Lodbrok to our steward's house, that we might appear in more decent +trim before our guest and master. + +So we waited for a little while, watching the men as they berthed +the ship; and as we stood there a word went round among the knot of +people watching with us, and they parted, making a little lane, as +they said, "The king comes". And then I heard the well-known voice +of Eadmund calling gaily to us: + +"Ho, friend Elfric, here have I come to see what a man fresh from a +stormy voyage looks like, if light will serve me." + +And so saying, I being nearest to him, the king turned me round +with his strong hands, and scanned my rough, wet garments and fur +cap. + +"Truly, son Wulfric," he cried, laughing, "I think these things +suit you as well as war gear, and better than court finery, in this +dim light at least. Now let me see the thane himself." + +Then my father would have him come back to the house at once, out +of the stormy weather, for the rain was coming now as the wind +fell; and we went, not waiting for the change of garments, for that +the king would not suffer. + +As we turned away from the staithe, Lodbrok took my arm, asking me +where he might find shelter. + +"Why, come with us, surely!" I answered, having no thought but that +he would have done so as our guest. + +"Thanks," he said; "I knew not if your help could go so far as that +to a man whose story might well be too strange for belief." + +Now it had seemed to me that no one could doubt such a man, and so +I told him that we had no doubt of him at all in that matter. And +he thanked me gravely again, walking, as I thought, more freely +beside me, as knowing that he was held to be a true man. + +We followed my father, who walked with the king, at a little +distance because of this small delay; and presently Lodbrok asked +me if this was the King of all England. + +"No," I answered; "though, indeed, he is the only king we know +aught of. This is Eadmund of East Anglia." + +"You know him well, as one may see by his way with you," said the +jarl. + +"Surely, for he is my father's close friend. They were comrades +together in King Offa's court until the old king laid down his +crown and gave the kingdom into Eadmund's hands; and they are the +same to each other now as ever. He is my godfather; and I was in +his court till I was eighteen. Moreover, I am one of his armour +bearers yet when need is." + +So I spoke plainly enough, for I think that I had, and ever shall +have, reason to be proud of our nearness to the king, of whom no +man had but good to say since he, almost as a boy, came to the +throne. + +"So then it seems that fate has brought me to court," said the +Dane. + +"Yes, in a way," I told him; "for the king will ever bide with us +when he would visit this side of his kingdom." + +"I think that I have seen this king before," said Lodbrok +presently; "for he is a man the like of whom one sees not twice." + +"Then," said I, "he will surely remember you, for he never forgets +one whom he has had reason to notice." + +Whereat the jarl laughed a little to himself; but I had no time to +ask why, for now we were come to the great door; and when my father +would have let the king go in first Eadmund laughed at him, and +took his arm and drew him in with him, so that there was a little +delay, and we drew close. + +Very bright and welcome looked the great oaken hall as we came in +from the dark, rainy night. A great fire burnt on its stone hearth +in the centre, and the long tables were already set above and below +it. The bright arms and shields on the walls shone below the heads +of deer and wolf and boar, and the gust of wind that came in with +us flew round the wall, making a sort of ripple of changing colour +run along the bright woven stuffs that covered them to more than a +man's height from the floor. No one in all East Anglia had so well +dight a hall as had Elfric, the rich Thane of Reedham. + +Well used was I to all this, but never seemed it more homelike to +me than when I came in fresh from the the cold, gray sea. + +And now there stood on the high place to welcome us those whose +presence made the place yet more beautiful to me--my mother, and +Eadgyth my sister, and beside them were Bishop Humbert, our own +bishop, and many thanes of the court, and some of the bishop's +clergy. Such a gathering my father, and, indeed, all of us, loved, +for all were well known to us. + +Now I went to greet these dear ones and friends, and there was +pleasant jest and laughter at us for coming thus sea clad and spray +stained into the midst of that gay company. So that for a little +time I forgot Lodbrok, who had not followed me beyond the hearth. + +Then Eadgyth said to me: + +"Who is that noble-looking man who stands so sadly and alone by the +fire?" + +I turned, blaming myself for this forgetfulness, and there was the +Dane gazing into the flames, and seeming heedless of all that was +going on. Nor do I think that I had ever seen one look so sad as +looked that homeless man, as he forgot the busy talk and movement +around him in some thoughts of his own. + +So I went to him, touching his arm gently, and he started a little. +Then his grave smile came, and he said: + +"Truly, Wulfric, I had forgotten all things but my own home, and +when I woke from my dream at your touch, half thought I that you +were Halfden--that youngest son of mine of whom I told you." + +Then so wistfully looked he at me that I could not forbear saying +to him: + +"You must hold me as in Halfden's place, for this will be your +house, if you will, until there comes a ship that will take you +home. Gladly will some of the Frisians we know take you at least to +the right side of the broad seas." + +"Aye, gladly would some have Lodbrok the Jarl with them," he +answered, smiling strangely. + +What he meant, beyond that he might pilot them well, I knew not, +nor, indeed, thought that any hidden meaning lay in his words. So +that his saying passed from my mind, until one day when I should +have cause to understand it well enough. + +I would have taken him now to present him to my mother, but she was +gone, and there came to us one of the steward's men, who stared at +the Dane as if he were some marvel, having doubtless heard his +story from one of the seamen, but covered his wonder by bowing low +and bidding him to an inner room where the thane had prepared +change of garment for him. For my father, having the same full +belief and trust in the stranger's word, would no more than I treat +him in any wise but as an honoured guest. + +Then said Lodbrok: + +"Good shall surely ever be to the house that will thus treat a +wanderer. Hardly would a castaway meet with so great kindness in my +own land. Nor do I think that we Danes have made our name so well +loved among English folk that we should look for the like among +them." + +But I answered that we of East Anglia had no cause to blame his +people, who had made peace with us and kept it faithfully. + +So the man led Lodbrok away, and I too went to seek gear more +courtly than salt-stained and tar-spotted blue cloth of Lavenham. + +There are few thanes' houses which have so many chambers as ours, +for because of the king's friendship with us, my father had added, +as it were, house to house, building fresh chambers out around the +great hall itself, till all one might see was its long roof among +the many that clustered round and against its walls, so that the +thanes who came with him, or to see him, might have no cause to +complain of ill lodging with Elfric of Reedham. So it had come to +pass that our house was often the place where the court lay, and I +know that many of the poorer thanes thanked my father for thus +using his riches, since he saved them many a time the heavy +expenses of housing king and court when their turn should have +come. Yet my father would ever put aside those thanks, saying that +he loved to see his house full, though I myself know that this +saving of others less rich was in his mind. + +One part of all these buildings we called "the king's house", for +it was set apart for him, and between that and the great hall was a +square and large chamber which Eadmund would use for his private +audiences, and sometimes for council room. And there we used to +gather from all parts of the place that we might enter the great +hall in his train at supper time, for there was a door which led to +the high table thence, so that the king need not go through the +crowd of housecarles and lesser folk who sat, below the salt, along +the walls. And in that chamber was a chimney to the fire, so that +the hearth was against the wall, which was a marvel to many, but +made the place more meet for the king. Ingild the merchant, my +other godfather, whose home was in London, had brought men thence +to make it for us, having the like in his own house after some +foreign pattern. + +There were two men only in this room when I returned ready for the +feast. Both stood before the fire, and both were brightly dressed, +and hardly, but for the drowsy hawk which sat unhooded on his hand, +should I have known Lodbrok in the rich dress my father had had +prepared for him. The other was Beorn, the king's falconer, who +went everywhere with his master. These two were speaking together +as they stood before the fire, and I thought that what Beorn said +was not pleasing to the Dane, for he turned away a little, and +answered shortly. + +When they saw me both turned, Lodbrok with a smile of welcome, and +Beorn with a loud, rough voice crying to me: + +"Ho, Wulfric, here is a strange thing! This gold ring have I +offered to your stranger here for his falcon--which has three wing +feathers missing, moreover--and he will not sell, though I trow +that a man cast ashore must needs want gold more than a bird which +he may not fly save I gain him leave from the king." + +"The bird is Wulfric's," said Lodbrok quietly. + +"Nay, Jarl," I answered, "I would not take so loving a hawk from +her master, and over all our manors you may surely fly her." + +"See you there!" cried Beorn, with a sort of delight, not heeding +my last words, "Wulfric will not have her! Now will you sell?" + +Then Lodbrok looked at me with a short glance that I could not but +understand, and said that it would surely grieve him if I would not +take the falcon. + +Pleased enough I was, though half unwilling to take what seemed as +a forced gift. Yet to quiet Beorn--whom I never liked, as he was +both overbearing and boastful, though of great skill in his art of +falconry--I thanked the Dane, and went to where a hawking glove +hung on the wall, for my arm would feel the marks of those strong +talons for many a day, already. As I put it on I said that I feared +the bird would hardly come to me, leaving her master. + +"Once I would have said that she would not," said Lodbrok; "for +until today she would bide with no man but myself and her keeper. +But today she has sat on your wrist, so that I know she will love +you well, for reasons that are beyond my guessing." + +And so he shifted the falcon lightly from his wrist to mine, and +there she sat quietly, looking from him to me as though she would +own us both. + +Then said Beorn, holding out his hand, on which he wore his +embroidered state glove of office: + +"This is foolishness. The bird will perch on any wrist that is +rightly held out to her, so she be properly called," and he +whistled shrill, trying to edge the falcon from my hand. + +In a moment she roused herself, and her great wings flew out, +striking his arm and face as he pushed them forward; and had he not +drawn back swiftly, her iron beak would surely have rent his gay +green coat. + +"Plague on the kite!" he said; "surely she is bewitched! And if her +master is, as they say, a wizard, that is likely--" + +"Enough, Master Falconer," I said, growing angry. "Lodbrok is our +guest, and this, moreover, is the court for the time. Why, the bird +is drowsy, and has been with me already. There is no wonder in the +matter, surely?" + +But Beorn scowled, and one might see that his pride of falconry was +hurt. Maybe he would have answered again, but I spoke to Lodbrok, +asking him what the falcon was, as she was like none of ours, for +this was a thing I knew Beorn would be glad to know, while his +pride would not let him ask. + +And Lodbrok answered that she was an Iceland gerfalcon from the far +northern ocean, and went on to tell us of her powers of flight, and +at what game she was best, and how she would take her quarry, and +the like. And Beorn sat down and feigned to pay no heed to us. + +Presently the Dane said that he had known gerfalcons to fly from +Iceland to Norway in a day, and at that Beorn laughed as in scorn. + +"Who shouted from Norway to Iceland to say that a lost hawk had +come over?" he said. + +The Dane laughed a little also, as at a jest; though one could tell +that Beorn rather meant insult. + +"Why," he answered, "the bird got loose from her master's ship as +he sailed out of port in Iceland, and he found her at home in +Nidaros at his journey's ending; and they knew well on what day she +came, which was the same as that on which she got free." + +Then I said, lest Beorn should scoff again: + +"Now, if this falcon got free from here, surely she will go home to +your land." + +"Aye, and so my sons will think me dead, seeing her come without +me. Wherefore keep her safely mewed until she has learnt that this +is her home, for I would not have that mischance happen." + +That I promised easily, for I prized the bird highly. And that I +might not leave him with the surly Beorn, I asked the jarl to come +and see her safely bestowed, and left the room with him. + +As we crossed the courtyard to the mews, where our good hawks were, +Lodbrok said to me: + +"I fear yon falconer is ill pleased with me." + +"I have a mind to tell the king of his rudeness to our guest," I +answered. + +"That is not worth while," said Lodbrok. "The man's pride is hurt +that he should be thus baffled for all his skill, which, from his +talk, must be great," and we both laughed, for Beorn loved his own +praises. + +Now when we got back the guests were gathering, and it was not long +before the king entered, and at once called me. + +"All here I know but one, Wulfric, and that one is your seafarer. +Let me know him also that speech may be free among us." + +So Lodbrok came, and he and the king looked long at one another +before Eadmund spoke. + +"I have heard your story, friend, and it is a strange one," he said +pleasantly. "Moreover, I know your name in some way." + +"Well known is the name of Ragnar Lodbrok, my forefather," said the +jarl. "Mayhap the king remembers the name thus!" + +"Aye," answered Eadmund, "that is a well-known and honoured name, +and I think that Ragnar's son has a share in his courage. But your +face also seems known to me, and it was not of the great Ragnar +that I thought. Have we met in years past?" + +Then Lodbrok said that he had been in London at a time when Offa +the King was there, and it was long years ago, but that the very +day might be remembered by reason of a great wedding that he had +been to see out of curiosity, knowing little of Saxon customs. And +he named the people who were married in the presence of Offa and +many nobles. + +Then Eadmund laughed a little. + +"Now it all comes into my mind," he said; "you are the leader of +those strangers who must needs come into the church in helm and +mail, with axe and shield hung on shoulders. Moreover, for that +reason, when men bade you depart and you went not, they even let +you bide. So I asked your name--and now I can answer for it that +Lodbrok Jarl you are." + +And he held out his hand for the Dane to kiss, after our custom. +But Lodbrok grasped and shook it heartily, saying: + +"Thanks, Lord King, for that remembrance, and maybe also for a +little forgetfulness." + +Nor was Eadmund displeased with the freedom, but at that last +saying he laughed outright. + +"Kings have both to remember and forget," he said, "and maybe, if +the citizens had not expected you to behave as wild vikings, you +would have gone peacefully as you came?" + +"That is the truth," said Lodbrok. + +So I suppose there had been some fray, of little moment, with the +London folk. + +Then we followed the king into the hall; and Lodbrok and I together +sat at table over against him. Soon I knew all that an hour or two +of pleasant talk would teach me of his home and sons and sports, +and the king asked now and again of Danish customs, not yet +speaking of the voyage. + +"For," said he, "it is ill recalling hardships until the feast is +over. Then may one enjoy the telling." + +Presently the gleemen sang to us; and after that the harp went +round, that those who could might sing, and all the talk in hall +was hushed to hear Eadmund himself, the men setting down ale cups +and knives to listen, for he had a wondrously sweet voice, and sang +from the ancient songs of Caedmon {iv}. Then I sang of the +sea--some song I had made and was proud of, and it pleased all. And +at length we looked at Lodbrok, wondering if he could take his +turn. + +"Fain would I try to please my host," he said, looking a little +wistfully at my father; "but a man swept far from home against his +will is no singer." + +Then Eadmund pitied him, as did we all, and rose up. + +"Feasting is over, thanes," he said. "Let us sit awhile in the +other chamber and hear Lodbrok's story." + +For he would ever leave the hall as at this time, so that the +housecarles and lesser guests might have greater freedom of talk +when we were gone. + +So we rose up, and as we did so I saw Beorn, the falconer, look +sourly at Lodbrok; and it misliked me that he should harbour any +ill will even yet against the Dane who had done him no wrong. + +Round the fire we sat; some ten of us in all, for Bishop Humbert +and his folk went to their lodgings in the town, and there Lodbrok +told the king of his voyage. + +And when he named his sons, Eadmund looked grave, and said: + +"I have heard of those two chiefs, Ingvar and Hubba. Did they not +make a raid into Northumbria two years ago? Maybe they are yet +there with the host." + +"Aye," answered Lodbrok, seeming to wonder at the grave face of our +king; "they went to Northumbria with the host that is yet there. +They fought well and bravely at the place men call Streoneshalch +{v}, gaining much booty. And it was by Ingvar's plan that the +place was taken, and that was well done. But they left the host +with their men after that, saying that there were over many leaders +already." + +Now we all knew the cruel story of the burning of that place; but +Northumbria was a far-off kingdom, and with it we had naught to do. +So, except perhaps the king, the rest of us were as little moved as +if he had spoken of the taking of some Frankish town; for if my +father thought more of it, being in the king's counsels, he passed +it over. + +"These sons of yours have a mind to be first then," he said +lightly. + +"Seeing that the blood of Ragnar Lodbrok is in their veins it could +not well be otherwise," answered the jarl somewhat grimly. + +Then he ended his tale, and the king was greatly pleased with him, +so that he bade him bide in the court for a while that he might +take back a good report of us to his own people. + +Now when the king was with us, I gladly took up my duties as his +armour bearer for the time; and therefore slept across the doorway +of his chamber when he went to rest. So my father bestowed Lodbrok +with the thanes in the great hall, and I left him there, following +the king. + +Well did I sleep that night, though, sailorwise, not so heavily but +that any noise would rouse me in a moment. And as it drew towards +morning the king stirred uneasily, and I looked up at him. Seeing +that I woke he called me softly. The gray light of dawn came +through the window, and I could see that he sat up in his bed, +though I might not make out his face. + +"I am here, Lord King. Is aught amiss?" I said, rising up with my +sword in my hand. + +"Strange dreams have I had, my son," he said, in his quiet voice, +"and they trouble me." + +"Let me know them, my master," I said, "and maybe the trouble will +pass; for often that which seems sorely troublous in a dream is +naught when one would put it into words." + +"Sit on the bed and I will tell you," he answered; and when I was +there close to him he went on: + +"It was this: I thought that I was in some place where water +gleamed beneath me, while overhead passed the tread of many feet +with music of pipe and tabor as at a bridal. And I cannot tell what +that place was. Then came to me the hand of this Lodbrok, and he, +looking very sad and downcast, led me thence into the forest land +and set me over against a great gate. And beyond that gate shone +glorious light, and I heard the sound of voices singing in such +wise that I knew it was naught but the gate of Heaven itself, and I +would fain go therein. But between me and the gate sped arrows +thick as hail, so that to reach it I must needs pass through them. +Then said Jarl Lodbrok, 'Here is the entry, and it is so hard to +win through because of me, yet not by my fault. But I think you +will not turn aside for arrows, and when you come therein I pray +you to remember me.' Then pressed I to the gate, unheeding of the +arrow storm. And lo! the gate was an oak tree, tall and strong, yet +beyond it was the light and the singing that I had reached. Then +faded the face of Lodbrok, and after me looked sadly many faces, +and one was yours, my son, and the nearest. So I woke." + +"That is a wondrous dream," I said, not knowing what to make +thereof, having no skill in reading these matters. + +"Aye, my son," answered Eadmund; "nor can I read it; though I think +I shall do so hereafter. Nevertheless it comes into my mind that +the dream warns me that my time is short. Lie down again, my son. +Let us sleep in peace while we may." + +After that the king slept peacefully as a little child till full +daylight came; but I for very sadness closed not my eyes again, for +I thought that our king was fey {vi}. + +But in the morning the dream had, as it seemed, passed from the +mind of Eadmund, for he was very cheerful, as was his wont, and +said naught of it. However, I told my father thereof, for the +remembrance was heavy to me. And he, when he heard it, bit his lip +a little, pondering, but at last laughed. + +"Trouble not yourself about it, son Wulfric," he said; "were I to +mind every dream that I have had, I think that I should take no joy +in life. Why, every year, for the last five past, I have dreamed of +sore shipwreck, and the old vessel's timbers are yet hanging +together!" + +I laughed also, and thought that maybe he was right--for my +father's judgment was ever the best in my eyes--and so set my mind +at rest, though the strangeness of the matter would not let it be +altogether forgotten. + +Now as days went on and we saw more of our guest, Lodbrok, there +was, I think, no man of our household who would willingly have seen +him take ship and leave us; for his ways and words were pleasant to +all alike, and there seemed to be no craft of which he knew not +something, so that he could speak to each man, in field or village +or boat, of the things that he knew best. And that is a gift that +may well be longed for by any man who would be loved by others. + +Greatly pleased with him was Eadmund the King, so that he would +talk long with him of the ways and laws and peoples beyond the +seas; and also of hunting and hawking, which they both loved well. +And in this last Lodbrok was the best skilled master I have ever +known; and the king would ever have him ride beside him in the +field while the court was yet with us. And that pleased not Beorn, +though he kept his ill will to himself; and maybe I alone noted it, +for I had not spoken of that meeting, of which I have told, even to +my father. + +Well, too, did my mother and Eadgyth like the courtly ways of the +jarl, who was ever ready to tell them of the life in his household, +and of the daughter, Osritha, who was its mistress since her mother +died but a few years since, and her two elder sisters had been +married to chiefs of their own land. Sometimes, too, they would ask +him of the dress of the ladies of his land; but at that he would +laugh and shake his head, saying that he only knew that they went +wondrously clad, but that he could tell naught more of the matter. + +"Weapons and war gear I may talk of by the hour," he said, "but +women's gear is beyond me. But once my daughter and I wrought +together in a matter that was partly of both, and that was when I +needed a war flag. And so I drew out the great raven I would have +embroidered on it, and they worked it in wondrous colours, and gold +and silver round the form of the great bird, so that it seems to +shift and flap its wings as the light falls on it and the breeze +stirs it, as if there were magic therein." + +Now Eadgyth was well skilled in this work, and thereat she must +needs say that she would work me a flag for our ship, if the jarl +would plan one. So it seems to me now that that evening was very +pleasant, for they planned and shaped and began a flag whereon was +drawn by the jarl a white falcon like the one he had given to me, +and that was my thought, and it pleased him, as I think. + +One day we came home early from our hunting, and Lodbrok and I sat +in the great hall, while the summer rain swelled in torrents, with +thunder and lightning sweeping over the river marshes and out to +sea, and we looked at the weapons that hung on the walls. + +"Little care I for your long spear and short sword, friend +Wulfric," he said; "it seems to me that you must needs shorten the +one and lengthen the other before you can be held well armed. And +your bow is weak, and you have no axe." + +For I had asked him what he thought of our Saxon weapons, else +would he not have spoken so plainly. Then he thought for a little +while, and said: + +"Would you learn to use the axe?" + +I answered that nothing would please me better; for of all things, +I longed to excel in weapon play of all kinds. + +"That is well," he said, "for I owe you my life, and I think that I +can teach you that which will keep yours against any foe that you +may meet; for you are of the right build for a good axeman, and not +too old to learn." + +Then we went to the smithy, and there, while the thunder raged +outside, he forged me an axe of the Danish pattern. + +"Thor's own weather!" he said, laughing; and as he spoke the blue +lightning paled the red glow of the forge to a glimmer. "This +should be a good axe, and were you not a Christian, I would bid you +hold your beginning, as its wielder, of good omen." + +Then the thunder crashed, and there was no need for me to answer. +And in the end he taught me patiently, until, one day, he said: + +"Now do you teach me to use your long spear. I can teach you no +more axe play than you know. Some day you will meet an axeman face +to face, and will find out what you know. Then, if I have taught +you ill, say naught; but if well, then say 'Jarl Lodbrok taught +me'." + +Now I hold that the test of mastery of a weapon is that one wishes +for no other, and I knew that I had learned that much. But I could +not tell how much he had taught me, for axe play was new to me, and +I had not seen it before. + +After I had learned well, as he said, the jarl tempered the axe +head, heating and cooling it many times, until it would take an +edge that would shear through iron without turning. And he also +wrought runes on it, hammering gold wire into clefts that he made. + +"What say they?" I asked. + +"Thus they read," he answered: + +"Life for life. For Wulfric, Elfric's son, Lodbrok the seafarer, +made me!" + +Thereat I wondered a little, for I knew not yet what he had taught +me. Yet when I asked why he wrote those first words, he only +laughed, saying, "That you will know some day, as I think." + +Now if I were to write all that went on until August came, I should +speak of little but how the jarl and I were never apart; for though +he was so much older than myself, I grew to be his fast friend. And +many a long day did I spend with him in his boat, learning somewhat +of his skill in handling her, both on river, and broad, and sea. +Very pleasant those days were, and they went all too soon. + +No ship came in that could help him homewards, and though the +Danish host was in Northumbria, he cared not to go there, for his +sons were gone home. And Eadmund would fain see more of him, so +that, although I would willingly have taken our ship across the +seas, for the first time, to his place, he would not suffer me to +do so; for he said that he was not so restless here with us, and +that his sons and Osritha, his daughter, had doubtless long thought +him dead. + +Now in June the king had gone to Framlingham, and in August came +back to Thetford. Then he sent for my father, begging him to bring +Lodbrok with him, that together they might hunt over the great +heaths that stretch for many a mile north and west and south of the +town. No better sport is there for hawk and hound than on Brandon +and Croxton heaths, and the wilds to which our Saxon Icklings and +Lakings have given their names, for they stretch from forest to +fen, and there is no game in all England that one may not find +there, from red deer to coney, wolf to badger, bustard to snipe, +while there are otter and beaver in the streams. + +So they would go, for the wish of a king is, as it were, a command, +even had not both my father and Lodbrok loved to be with him, +whether in hall or field. And I thought that I should surely go +also. + +However, my father had other plans for me, and they were none other +than that I should take the ship round to London with some goods we +had, and with some of the new barley, just harvested, which would +ever find ready sale in London, seeing that no land grows better +for ale brewing than ours of East Anglia. + +Now that was the first time I had been trusted to command the ship +unaided by my father's presence, though of late he would say that +he was owner, not captain, and but a passenger of mine; so, though +I was sorry not to go to Thetford, I was more proud of myself than +I would show; and maybe I would rather have taken to the sea had +there been choice. + +I was to go to my godfather, Ingild the merchant, who would, as +ever, see to business for me; and then, because the season was +late, and wind and weather might keep me long in the river, my +father bade me stay with him, if I would, and if need were lay up +the ship in Thames for the winter, coming home by the great Roman +street that runs through Colchester town to our shores; or if +Ingild would keep me, staying in London with him even till spring +came again. + +"If I must leave the ship," I said, "I shall surely come back to +hunt with the jarl and you." + +"Nevertheless," answered my father, smiling, "Ingild will have many +a brave show for you in town. Wait till you get to London, for the +court of Ethelred himself will very likely be there, and there will +be much to see. And maybe you will find some Danish ship in the +river, and will send her captain here to take the jarl home with +him; for we may not hold him as a prisoner with us." + +Then Lodbrok added that, in any case, I might find means to send +messages to his home by some ship sailing to ports that he named; +and that I promised I would do. Thereon he gave me a broad silver +ring, rune graven, to show as a token to any of his countrymen whom +I might meet, for the ring was known. + +"Do not part with it, Wulfric," he said, as I thanked him; "for it +may be of use to you some day, if not on this voyage. Jarl Lodbrok +is well known on the high seas, and he gives not rings for naught." + +Now I would not take the falcon with me, but begged the jarl to use +her; and I asked him also to train for himself a greyhound that I +had bred, and of which he thought highly. + +"Why," said he, "I shall have the best hawk and dog in all Thetford +town, and Beorn the falconer will have naught to say to me." + +Thereat we laughed, for Beorn's jealousy was a sport to us when we +thought of it, which was seldom enough. + +So these two went to Thetford, and in the last week of August I +sailed for London, with a fair breeze over the quarter, from our +haven. + + + +CHAPTER III. WHAT CAME IN A NORTH SEA FOG. + + +Night saw our ship off Orfordness, and there the breeze failed us, +and a thick fog, hiding the land and its lights, crept up from +seaward and wrapped us round. But before it came, on Orfordness a +fire burnt redly, though what it was, unless it might be some +fisher's beacon, we could not tell. + +The fog lifted as we drifted past the wide mouth of Stour and +Orwell rivers with a little breeze, and the early daylight showed +us the smoke of a fire that burnt on the higher land that shuts in +the haven's mouth on its southern shores. But even as we saw it, +the fog closed round us again and the wind died away, so that we +lowered the sail, and the men got out the oars, and slowly, while +Kenulf swung the lead line constantly, we crept on among the sand +banks down the coast. + +Presently the tide turned against us, and Kenulf thought well that +we should drop anchor and wait for its turning again. The men +gladly laid in the oars, and the anchor rattled out and held. The +ship swung to her cable, and then there seemed deep silence after +the even roll and creak of the great sweeps in their rowlocks. The +fog was very dense, and beyond our stem head I could see nothing. + +Then to break the silence came to us, over no great stretch of +water as it seemed, the sound of a creaking block, the fall of a +yard on deck, and a voice raised in some sharp order. Then I +thought I heard an anchor plunge, and there was silence. Very +ghostly it seemed to hear these familiar sounds and to see naught, +and it was the more so that we might by no means judge from which +side of us, or fore or aft, the noises came, for fog will confuse +all things, and save a driving snowstorm, I dread nothing more at +sea. + +Now the men began to speak in whispers, for the silence and +weirdness of the fog quieted us all. And, moreover, when the fog +lifted we had seen no ship, though there must be one close to us +now, and we wondered. + +But Kenulf came to me presently with a scared face, and waiting +till the men had gone forward to find their food, he asked me if I +heard the voice that spoke. + +"Aye, surely," I answered. "What of it?" + +"Master," he said, "the voice was a Danish voice, as I think. And I +mind me of the fires we saw." + +"What then?" said I carelessly, though indeed I could see well what +fear was in the old man's mind. Yet I would have him put the thing +into words, being ready to look the worst in the face at any time. + +"The vikings, master," he answered; "surely they were in Orwell +mouth and saw us, and have given chase." + +"We should have seen them also," I said. + +"Not so, master, for the fog hung inland, and if a Dane lies in +such a place he has ever men watching the sea--and they will sail +two ship's lengths to our one." + +"Supposing the ship is a viking, what should we do now?" I asked, +for I knew of naught to do but bide where we were. + +"Go back with tide and slip past them even now," said Kenulf, +though I think he knew that this was hopeless, for if we rowed, the +sound of our oars would betray us, and if not we should be on a +shoal before long, whence any escape would be impossible. + +"Hark!" I said in another moment, and we listened. + +There was little noise beyond the lapping of the swift tide against +our sides. The men forward were silent, and I had thought that I +heard the distant sound of voices and oars. + +It came again in the stillness; a measured beat that one could not +well mistake, as of a ship's boat leisurely pulled. + +Then one of our men began to sing in an undertone, and Kenulf smote +his hands together in terror, for the sound would betray us, and he +was going forward to stop the song. + +"No matter," said I, "they know we are not far off, for I think +they must have anchored when they heard us do so, as we heard them. +If they seek us they will soon find us." + +"They are coming nearer," said Kenulf, and I heard the oars more +plainly yet. + +Now the thought of calling my men to arms came over me, but I +remembered how Lodbrok had told me that resistance to vikings, +unless it were successful, meant surely death, but that seldom +would the unresisting be harmed, even if the ship were wantonly +burnt after plunder, and the crew set adrift in their boat. + +Still the oars drew nearer, and I thought of the words that Lodbrok +had spoken--how that shipmen would be glad of his presence--and I +wished that he were indeed with me, for now I knew what he meant. + +Now, too, I knew his gift of the ring to be our safety, and surely +he had given it to me for this. So I grew confident, and even +longed to see the sharp bow of the boat cleave the mist, if only +her crew knew of our friend by name at least. Yet they might be +Norse--not Danish. + +But the sound of oars crossed our bows and died away again, and +then a voice hailed from the ship, as I thought, and there was +silence. + +Kenulf and I breathed more freely then, and we too went forward and +ate and drank, and afterwards spoke of the chance of slipping away +when the tide turned, though I was sure that, if the ship were what +we thought, she would up anchor and drift with us. + +So the hours of flood tide passed, and then the ship began to swing +idly as the slack came. Then with the turn of tide came little +flaws of wind, and we hoisted the sail, and Kenulf hove the anchor +short. Yet we heard no more sounds from the other ship. + +Then all in a minute the fog thinned, lifted, and cleared away, and +I saw the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever lighted on, and the +most terrible. + +For, not half a mile from us, lay a great viking snekr {vii}, +with the sunlight full on her and flashing from the towering green +and gold and crimson dragon's head that formed her stem, and from +the gay line of crimson and yellow shields that hung along her rail +from end to end of the long curve of her sides. Her mast was +lowered, and rested, with the furled blue and white striped sail, +on the stanchions and crossbars that upheld it, to leave the deck +clear for swing of sword and axe; and over the curving dragon tail +of the stern post floated a forked black and golden flag. And +wondrously light and graceful were the lines on which she was +built, so that beside her our stout cargo ship showed shapeless and +heavy, as did our log canoes beside Lodbrok's boat. As soon should +our kitchen turnspit dog fly the greyhound that I had given +Lodbrok, as such a ship as ours from this swift viking's craft. + +But her beauty was not that which drew the eyes of my men. Little +they thought of wonder or pleasure in gazing on the ship herself. +All her decks were crowded with scarlet-cloaked men, and the +sunlight which made the ship so bright flashed also from helm and +spear and mail coat from stem to stern. And at that sight every +tale of viking cruelty they had heard came into their minds, and +they were overcome with terror, so that I thought that several +would have cast themselves into the sea, away from the terrible +ship, choosing rather death by water than by the sword. But I saw +some half dozen whose faces set hard with other thoughts than +these, and they turned to seek their weapons from under the fore +deck. + +Then I spoke to them, for it was time; and I would have neither +fear nor defiance shown, for I knew that we should be boarded. + +"Yonder ship belongs, as I think, to the people of our guest, +Lodbrok the Dane. So it seems to me that they will gladly hear news +of him from us, as he is a great man in Denmark. And surely we have +deserved well of his folk in every way, and we of East Anglia are +at peace with the Danish host. Therefore, let us wait till they +board us, and then let no man stir from his place or speak a word, +that I may talk with them in peace." + +Those words were listened to eagerly, and they wrought on the minds +of my poor fellows as I wished. Moreover, to put our one chance of +safety into form thus heartened me also, for I will not say that I +feared nothing from these vikings, who might know and care naught +concerning our sea-borne guest, even were they Danes. + +Yet it seemed that none saw my fears, for in a little the men asked +if they might take their weapons. And though it seemed hard to me +and them alike to bide unarmed, I knew it was safer, and so bade +them meet the Danes in all peaceful seeming. + +Now we saw a boat lowered from the longship's side, and one by one +armed men entered her, and she sank deeply in the water. Ten I +counted, and at last one more, who, I supposed, was the leader. + +So deep was she that, as she left the ship, I thought how that one +sack of our grain, hove into her as she came alongside, would sink +her and leave her crew to drown in our sight. But then the ship +herself would close on us, and not one of us but would pay for that +deed with his life. + +So she came slowly over the glassy water of the slack tide, and my +men watched her, saying nothing. + +Soon she came alongside, and at a sign from me Kenulf threw a line +which the bowman caught, and I thought that a word or two of wonder +passed among her crew. They dropped to where the curve of our deck +was lowest, and instantly the leader leapt on board and all but one +of his men followed, axe or drawn sword in hand. As I had bidden +them, not one of my men stirred save Kenulf, who made fast the line +and stood watching. + +The leader was a young man, of about my own age, clad in golden +shining bronze scale armour and wearing a silver helm on which were +short, black, curving horns; and he bore a double-headed axe, +besides the sword at his side. He looked round on us--at the men +standing silent, at Kenulf, and at me as I stood on the after deck +resting on the tiller, and broke into a great laugh. + +"Well," he cried, "are you all dumb, or fools, or wise men; or a +little of all three?" + +But my men answered nothing, even as I had bidden them, and I +thought that my time was not yet come to speak. + +"The fog has got into their throats," said a Dane; for with a great +lifting of my heart I knew their tongue, and it was Lodbrok's and +not Norse. + +"Struck speechless with fear more like," said another. + +"Ho, men," said the leader, "which is your captain?" + +One of our crew pointed to me, and I came to the break of the deck +saying: + +"I am master of this ship." + +And I spoke as a Dane, for my long company with Lodbrok had given +me the very turn of his speech. + +At that the viking stared at me, and one of his men said: + +"When did Danes take to trading on this coast?" + +"You are Saxon by all seeming," said the leader, "yet you speak +like a Dane. Whence are you, and how learned you our tongue so +glibly?" + +"We are from Reedham in East Anglia, which is at peace with the +Danish host," I said; "and I learnt the Danish speech from one who +is my friend, Lodbrok the Dane, whom men call Jarl Lodbrok." + +Now at that word the Danes all turned to me, and hardly one but let +fall some word of wonder; and the young leader took two great steps +towards me, with his face flushing and his eyes lit up with a new +look. + +Then he stopped, and his face changed, growing white and angry, and +his teeth closed tightly as he looked at me. Then he said: + +"Now if you are making a tale to save your skins, worse shall it be +for you. What know you of Lodbrok?" + +I held out my hand, on which the jarl's ring shone white against +the sea-browned skin. + +"Here is a token he gave me before I sailed, that some friend of +his might know it and speak to me," I said. + +The viking dropped his axe on the deck and seized my hand, gazing +at the ring and the runes graven thereon. + +"Lives he yet?" he said, breathless. + +"Aye, Halfden Lodbroksson, your father lives and is well in our +house," I answered; for now I knew that this was surely the +youngest of those three sons of whom the jarl had told me so often. + +Now at that word the Danes broke into a great cheer, but Halfden +laid his hands on my shoulders and kissed me on both cheeks, while +the tears of joy ran down his face. + +"Well must Lodbrok my father love you if he has told you so much +that you know me by name," he cried; "and well does he trust you +since he has given you his ring. Tell me more and ever more of +him." + +Then sudden as before his mood changed, and he let me go and +climbed on the rail with his arm round a backstay, and taking off +his helm he lifted up a mighty shout to his ship: + +"Found is Jarl Lodbrok, ahoy!" + +And with uplifted weapons his men repeated the shout, so that it +seemed as though the loved name was heard across the still water, +for the men on board the ship cheered in answer. + +Now nothing would serve Halfden but that I must go with him on +board his own ship, there to tell him all I might; and he laughed +gaily, saying that he had looked indeed for a rich booty, but had +gained that which was more worth to him. + +Then I told Kenulf that we would bide at anchor till we knew what +should be done, thinking it likely that Halfden would wish us to +pilot him back to Reedham. + +"We shall lose our tide," grumbled the old man, who was himself +again, now that he knew we had naught to fear. + +"That is all we shall lose," I answered, "and what matters it? we +have all our time before us." + +"I like not the weather," he said shortly. + +But I paid no more heed to him, for Halfden spoke to me. + +"Let me leave a few men here," he said; "the boat is overladen, and +the sea is rising with the breeze;" and then he added with a smile +that had much grim meaning in it. "They bide as friends with you, +and but for our safety; not to take charge of your ship." + +So I bade Kenulf give the three who remained the best cheer that we +might, treating them as Lodbrok's men; for the old pilot loved the +jarl well, and I knew that for his sake he would do much. + +Then in a few more minutes I stood on the deck of Halfden's ship, +and word went round quickly of my news, so that I had a good +welcome. Yet I liked not the look of the Danish men, after the +honest faces of our own crew. It seemed to me that they were hard +featured and cruel looking, though towards me were none but +friendly looks. Yet I speak of the crew only, for Halfden was like +his father in face and speech, and that is saying much for him in +both. + +They spread a great awning, striped in blue and white like the +sail, over the after deck, and there they set food and wine for us, +and Halfden and I sat down together. And with us one other, an +older man, tall and bushy bearded, with a square, grave face +scarred with an old wound. Thormod was his name, and I knew +presently that he was Halfden's foster father, and the real captain +of the ship while Halfden led the fighting men. + +"Food first and talk after," quoth this Thormod, and we fell to. + +So when we had finished, and sat with ale horns only before us, +Halfden said: + +"I have sought tidings of my father from the day when he was lost +until this. Now tell me all his story from end to end." + +And I did so; though when it came to the throwing of the line to +the boat I said naught of my own part in that, there being no need, +and moreover that I would not seem to praise myself. And I ended by +saying how Lodbrok was even now at court with Eadmund, our king, +and high in favour with him and all lesser men. + +Many were the questions that the Danes asked me as I spoke, and I +answered them plainly, for indeed I was glad to see the look in +Halfden's eyes as I spoke to him of his father, I having naught but +pleasant things to tell of him, which one may say of few men, +perhaps. And by and by I spoke of his having taught me the use of +the Danish axe. + +"Ho!" said Thormod; "hold your peace for a while, and we will see +what sort of pupil he had." + +Then he rose up and took his axe, and bade me take Halfden's, which +I did, not over willingly maybe, while Halfden stood by, smiling. + +"I will not harm you," said Thormod shortly, seeing that I was not +over eager. "See here!" + +His ale horn stood on the low table where we had been sitting, and +now he placed it on the gunwale, going from under the awning. The +men who sat along the decks looked up at him and were still. + +Then he heaved up the axe with both hands and whirled it, bringing +it down with such force that I looked to see both horn and gunwale +shorn through. But so skilful was he that he stayed that mighty +stroke so that the keen edge of the axe rested on the horn's rim +without marking it, and all the men who were watching cried out: + +"Skoal {viii} to Thormod the axeman!" + +"So," said he; "now stand up and guard a stroke or two; only strike +not as yet, for maybe your axe would go too far," and he smiled +grimly, as in jest. + +But I had learned that same trick from the jarl. + +Now Lodbrok had told me that when one has a stronger axeman to deal +with than one's self the first thing is to guard well. So he had +spent long hours in teaching me guard after guard, until I could +not fail in them. + +"I am ready," I said, standing out before him. + +Thormod feinted once or twice, then he let fly at me, striking with +the flat of his axe, as one does when in sport or practice. So I +guarded that stroke as the jarl had taught me; and as I did so the +men shouted: + +"Well done, Saxon!" + +"No need to go further," said Thormod, dropping his axe and +grasping his wrist with his left hand; for that parry was apt to be +hard on the arm of the man who smote and met it. "That is the +jarl's own parry, and many an hour must he have spent in teaching +you. It is in my mind that he holds that he owes you his life." + +And from that time Thormod looked at me in a new way, as I felt. + +Halfden was well pleased, and shouted: + +"Nay, Thormod; your turn to guard now; let Wulfric smite at you!" + +"No, by Thor, that will I not," he said; "he who taught to guard +has doubtless taught to strike, and I would not have my head +broken, even in play!" + +Now he sat down, and I said, mindful of Lodbrok's words: + +"It seems to me that I have been well taught by the jarl." + +"Aye, truly," said Thormod; "he has taught you more than you +think." + +Halfden would have me keep his axe, but I told him of that one +which the jarl had made for me, and straightway he sent the boat +for it, and when it came read the runes thereon. + +"Now this says that you are right, Thormod! Here has my father +written 'Life for life'--tell us how that was!" + +So I said that it was my good fortune to cast him the line that +saved his boat, and that was all. But they made as much of that as +did Lodbrok himself. And when the men came from our ship, they +brought that tale from our men also; so that they made me most +welcome, and I was almost fain to get away from them. + +But we sat and talked while the tide went by and turned, and still +we lay at anchor until the stars came out and the night wind began +to sing in the rigging of the great ship. + +Now I had thought that surely Halfden would have wished to sail +back to Reedham at once, there to seek his father; but I knew not +yet the power which draws a true viking ever onward to the west, +and when I said that we would, if he chose, sail back with him on +the next tide, he only laughed, saying: + +"Why so? My father is well and in good case. Wherefore we will end +our cruise well if we can, and so put in for him on our way home at +the season's end." + +"What would you do, then?" I asked, wondering. + +"Raid somewhere," he answered carelessly. "We will not go home +without some booty, or there will be grumbling among the wives; but +for your sake we will go south yet, for you are bound for London, +as I think." + +I said that it was so, and that I would at once go back to Reedham +when my business was done, there to prepare for his coming. + +"That is well; and we will sail to Thames mouth together. And you +shall sail in my ship to tell me more of my father, and because I +think we shall be good friends, so that I would rather have you +come and raid a town or two with me than part with you. But as you +have your ship to mind, we will meet again at Reedham, and I will +winter there with you, and we will hunt together, and so take you +home with us in the spring." + +Now this seemed good to me, and pleased me well enough, as I told +him. Where Halfden and his crew went, south of Thames mouth, was no +concern of mine--nor, indeed, of any other man in East Anglia in +those days. That was the business of Ethelred, our overlord, if he +cared to mind the doings of one ship. Most of all it was the +concern of the sheriff in whose district a landing was made. + +So messages were sent to old Kenulf, and glad was he to know that +we should not have to give up our passage to London, and maybe +still more to feel safe in this powerful company from any other +such meetings. And before the tide served us, Halfden had said that +he also would come to London, so that our ship should lead the way +up the river. + +When we weighed anchor Thormod must needs, therefore, reef and +double reef his sail, else our ship had been hull down astern +before many hours had passed, so swift was the longship. + +Now I have said that old Kenulf had misliked the look of the +weather, and now Thormod seemed uneasy. Yet the breeze came fresh +from the southeast; and though it had shifted a good deal, I, for +my part, thought little ill of that, for it held in that quarter +till we were fairly among the sands of the Thames mouth at +nightfall, and Kenulf lit lanterns by which we might follow him. No +man knew the Thames-mouth channels better than our pilot, Kenulf +the sea crafty, as we called him. + +Then it fell dead calm, quite suddenly, and we drifted, with the +sail flapping against the mast idly, for half an hour or so. Then +fell on us, without warning, such a fierce gale as I had never +before seen, blowing from north and west, with rain and bright +lightning, and it raised in five minutes a sea that broke over us +again and again as Thormod brought the ship head to wind. + +Then I lost sight of Kenulf's lights, and as I clung to the rail, +my mind was torn with longing to be back in my own ship in this +danger, though I knew that Kenulf needed me not, and that, had I +been there, it would but have been to obey him with the rest of our +crew; yet I think that any man who loves his ship will know what I +felt. + +And of the fury and darkness of that night I will say little. This +is what comes into my mind of all that happened--aye, and at night, +when the wind roars round the house, I see it all again, waking in +my dreams as I call to Kenulf. One flash of lightning showed me my +ship dismasted and helpless, drifting broadside on to a sand over +which the waves broke white and angry, and when the next flash +came--she was gone! + +Then I cried out on my folly in leaving her, and out of the +blackness beside me as I clung to the gunwale, straining my eyes +against the spray, Halfden's voice came, crying, as he gripped my +arm: + +"By Odin--it is well that I kept you here!" + +And Thormod from the helm shouted to his men to stand by the sheet, +and the helm went down, and the ship drove through the seas that +broke clean over her as he saw the danger in time to stand away +from it, heading her as free as he dared. + +Naught of this I heeded, for I could think but of the stout sailor +men with whom I had been brought up, and of whom I knew only too +surely that I should see them not again. And for them I tried to +pray, for it was all that I could do, and it seemed so little--yet +who knows what help may come therefrom? + +Now the longship fought alone with the storm. Hard was the fight, +but I, who was willing to die with my own people who had gone +before my eyes, cared nothing for whether we won through the gale +or not. But Thormod called to me, bidding me pilot them as best I +might, and so I was taken a little from my thoughts. Yet can I take +no praise to myself that, when the gale slackened, we were safe and +beyond the dangers of the shoals. + +We were far down channel when morning broke, and on either bow were +white cliffs, plain to be seen in the clear light that came after +the short fury of the gale was spent. Never had I thought that a +ship could sail so wondrously as this of Halfden's, and yet I took +no pleasure therein, because of all that I had lost. And it seemed +to me that now I knew from my own chance why it was that Lodbrok +could sing no song to us at that feasting, when we came home to +Reedham; for surely my case was even as his. + +So I thought, leaning on the gunwale and staring ever at the white +cliffs of England on our starboard; and there Halfden found me, and +came, putting his hand on my shoulder very kindly. + +"Now if you have lost friends and ship by the common chances of the +sea," he said, "surely you have found both anew. You shall turn +viking and go on this raid with us. Glad shall we be of your axe +play and seamanship." + +I turned to him and put my hand into his. + +"I will go with you, Halfden," I said, for it seemed at that time +that I had naught else left for me to do. + +And ever since I was a child, listening to the songs of the +gleemen, had I thought that some day I, too, would make a name for +myself on the seas, as my forefathers had made theirs, so that my +deeds should be sung also. Yet that longing had cooled of late, as +the flying people from Mercia had found their way now and then to +us with tales of Danish cruelties. + +"That is well said," he answered, pleased enough. "Where shall we +go?" + +Then I had yet thought enough left me to say that against our Saxon +kin I would not lift axe. And so came to me the first knowledge +that what wiser men than I thought was true--that the old seven +kingdoms were but names, and that the Saxon and Anglian men of +England were truly but one, and should strive for that oneness, +thinking no more of bygone strifes for headship. + +"Why, that is fair enough, so you have no grudge to pay off," he +said; "but I will help you to settle any, if you have them." + +"I have no grudge against any man," I answered, truly enough. + +"Then if we raid on English shores, you shall keep ship, as someone +must; and so all will be satisfied," he answered; "but we will go +first to the Frankish shores, for it is all one to me." + +So that pleased me as well as anything would at that time; +whereupon we went to Thormod, and he was very willing that I should +take part and share with them. And as to my loss, he bade me take +heart, for a seaman has ever risks such as these to run; and, as it +seemed, this ship of ours had ever been lucky. Which was true +enough, as my father had told me by the fireside many a time. + +After this we headed over to the Frankish shore, and there I had my +first fight. For we raided a town there, and the citizens stood up +to us well. I fought in silence, while my comrades yelled to Thor +and Odin as they smote, for those against whom we fought were +Christian men, and to fight against them by the side of heathen +went against me. Yet the lust of battle took hold on me, and fight +I must. But I will tell no more of that business, save that Halfden +and Thormod praised me, saying that I had done well. And after that +the crew asked that I should lead the men amidships, for their head +man had been slain, and Halfden was on the fore deck, and Thormod +aft. So my boyish dreams were like to come to pass, for I was thus +a viking indeed. Yet I had little pride therein. + +Thence we raided ever eastward and westward along that shore, and I +grew to love Halfden well, strange as were his wild ways to me. For +he was in all things most generous; nor was he cruel, but would +hold back the more savage of the men when he could--though, indeed, +that was seldom--when they were mad with fighting. + +So the weeks went on, until at last one day as we left a haven +where we had bided for a while, taking ransom from the town that we +might leave it in peace, we spied a sail far off coming from +eastward, and Thormod would have us bear up for her, to see what +she might be. But instead of flying, as a trading ship would, the +strange vessel waited for us, lowering her sail and clearing for +action, so that there was doubt if she was not Norse. Now between +Dane and Northman is little love lost, though at times they have +joined hands, loosely as one might say, or as if cat and dog should +go together to raid a rabbit warren. + +"If she be Norse," said Halfden, and his eyes shone, "we will fight +her, and that will be a fight worth telling of by the crew that is +left when we have done!" + +But she turned out to be Danish, and a boat came from her to us. +She was on the same errand as ourselves, and, moreover, belonged to +one Rorik, who was a friend of Lodbrok's, so that again I must go +through all the story of his perils. + +Now if Halfden's men had seemed rough and ill-favoured to me when +first I saw them, time and comradeship had worn off the feeling, +but it came back to me as I looked on these men, and most of all on +this Rorik; so that for a little I hated myself for being in their +company to make war on peaceful Christian folk, though, indeed, I +could well excuse myself, seeing what straits had thrown me thus +among them to follow the ways of my own forefathers, Hengist's men. + +These newcomers held long counsel with Halfden and Thormod, and the +end of it was that they agreed to sail in company, making a raid on +the English coast, and first of all on the South Saxon shores, +behind the island that men call Wight. And that was the thing that +I had feared most of all, so that as I sat silent and listened, +taking no part, as I might, in the planning, my heart seemed like +to break for the hardness of it. + +Yet I set my face, saying naught, so that presently Rorik looked +over at me and laughed, crying in a kind of idle jest: + +"Silent is our friend here, though he looks mighty grim, so that I +doubt not he will be glad to swing that big axe of his ashore." + +Now I was in ill company, and must fit my speech to theirs, +answering truly enough: + +"It seems to me that some of us here were a little downcast when we +found that you were no Northmen, for we looked for a fight." + +Whereon they all laughed, and Rorik said that maybe his men had the +same longing, but that we would make a great raid between us. And +so the matter passed, and he and his men went back to their ship, +and we headed over to the English shore together. + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE SONG OF THE BOSHAM BELL. + + +There is a wondrous joy in the heart of a man who sees his own land +again after long days at sea, but none of that joy might be mine as +the long lines of the South Downs showed blue through the haze of +the late September day. Only the promise of Lodbrok's son, that on +English shores I should not fight, helped me a little, else should +I have been fain to end it all, axe to axe with Rorik on the narrow +deck just now, or in some other way less manful, that would never +have come into my mind but for the sore grief that I was in. And +these thoughts are not good to look back upon, and, moreover, I +should have fully trusted my friend Halfden Lodbroksson. + +Hardest of all was it to me when I knew where our landing was to be +made; for if Glastonbury is the most holy place in Wessex, so +should Bosham, the place of Wilfrith the Saint, be held in +reverence by every South Saxon; because there, unmindful of his +wrongs {ix}, he was content to labour with the wild heathen +folk, teaching them, both in body and soul, the first lessons of +our holy faith. + +Well knew I the stories of those places which I saw as the ships +crept up the haven, for Humbert our bishop had told me them many a +time when as a child I sat on his knee and listened, wondering. +There was Selsea with its pile of buildings--Wilfrith's own--there +the little cliff over which the starving heathen had cast +themselves in their despair, and there, at last, the village, +clustering round the little monastery that Dicul, the Irish monk, +had founded, and where Wilfrith had first taught. And now, maybe, I +must see the roofs that had sheltered him, and heard the first +praises of his converts, burnt before my eyes, and that while I +myself was siding with the destroyers. + +Then at last I took Halfden aside and told him my trouble, putting +him in mind of the promise he had made me. + +"Aye," said he, "I knew what made you so silent, and I have but +waited for you to speak. Ill should I have thought of you had you +not done so. But I have this plan for you. You shall go ashore with +the first, and speak to the Saxons to give us ransom, if they have +aught, or if any man is foolish enough to bide in the place when we +come. Then, if you will, you shall leave us and make your way +homeward, there to give messages to my father and yours, and to +look for my coming to Reedham shortly. There will I winter with +you, and we will sail to Jutland in the spring." + +Then he looked long at me, and put his arm round my shoulder. + +"Truly I shall miss you, Wulfric, my brother, yet it is but for a +short time." + +Now I knew not how to thank him, for this plan was all that I could +wish. And he would have no delay, but gave me good Saxon arms and +helm, and a chain-mail byrnie {x} of the best, such as Saxon or +Dane alike would wear, for he had many such, gathered from the +different lands he had raided with his father and brothers. + +"Any man, seeing you in Danish arms and helm," he said, "might well +mistrust you. So you must needs take these, for you have far to +go." + +Then, too, he pressed on me a heavy leathern bag, for he said truly +enough that I should need gold withal to buy a horse. And this I +took willingly, saying that it should be as a loan till he came to +Reedham. + +"Nay," quoth he, "this is your share of booty; we surely gained +enough on yonder shores to bring you this much." + +Then I was silent, for I was ashamed of those gains, and I did not +look into the bag, but bestowed it inside my mail shirt, for I +would not offend him. Then, when I was armed and ready, he gave me +many messages for his father, and thanks to mine. A ring, too, he +gave me for a sure token of his friendship to me; and so as the +ship crept, under oars only, up Bosham haven, we talked of the +hunting we would have together, when the leaves were fallen in our +forests; and that was pleasant to look forward to. + +Now began frightened men to run to and fro on the haven's banks, +and then suddenly came the ringing of a bell from the low tower of +the church, and the Danes began to look to their arms, stringing +bows, and bringing up the pebble ballast for sling stones, in case +the landing should be resisted. + +But when we came to a little wharf, the other ship being perhaps a +mile astern of us, there was no man. Only a small fishing vessel +lay alongside, and that we cast adrift, taking its place. + +Then Halfden and I and twenty men went quickly ashore and marched +up among the trees of the village street. There was no man in +sight, but the bell was still ringing. + +A great fear for the holy men shut up in the little monastery came +over me now, and I asked Halfden to let me warn them, for I knew +that he was like his father and would not deny me in this. + +"Go and do so if you can," he said, "and so farewell till we meet +at Reedham. We shall bide here till Rorik's men join us, and you +will have time." + +So he took my hand and I went quickly thereafter, the men calling +after me "Farewell, axeman!" heartily enough, knowing of my going +to Reedham, and caring nothing for the monks, seeing that there +would be no fighting. + +Now, guided by the bell, I went on quickly, seeing no man. The +houses stood open and deserted, and all along the road were +scattered goods, showing that the people had fled in haste, so that +they had soon cast aside the heavier things they had thought to +save. + +Soon I came to the gate of the little stone-walled monastery, over +which rose the tower whence the bell yet rang; for the church +seemed to make one side of the courtyard into which the gate would +lead. A farm cart stood outside; but the gates were closed, and +when I looked, I saw that the pin of the wheel was broken, so that +the cart could go no further. And that made me fear that more than +the monks were penned inside those four walls. + +I knocked loudly on the gate, and for a while was no answer, though +I thought the ringing of the bell grew more hurried. Then I beat on +the gate with my axe, crying: + +"Open, in the name of Eadmund the King." + +And I used his name because, though a Dane might well call in +subtlety on the name of Ethelred, none but a Saxon who knew how +well loved was the under-king of East Anglia would think of naming +him. And I was right, for at his name the little square wicket in +the midst of the gate opened, and through its bars an old monk +looked out, and at once I cried to him: + +"Let me in, Father, for the Danes are at my heels." + +He muttered a prayer in a voice that trembled, and let me in, +holding the gate fast, and closing and barring it after me. + +And all the courtyard was full of terrified men, women, and +children, while among them stood the half-dozen monks of the place, +pale and silent, listening to the clang of the bell overhead. + +When they saw me some of the women shrieked and clung to children +or husbands, scared at my arms. But one of the monks, a tall man on +whose breast was a golden cross, came quickly to me, asking: "Is +the sheriff at hand with the levy?" + +I told him hastily how that the only hope for these helpless ones +was in flight to the woods, urging him until he understood me. +Gathering his monks around him, and rousing the people, he led them +to the rearward gate that opened toward the forest land, calling at +the same time to his swineherd, who was there, and bidding him take +them by the forest tracks to Chichester. + +Then he bade his monks go also; but they lingered, asking to be +allowed to stay with him, and also what should become of the holy +vessels if the heathen laid profane hands on them. + +"Obey, as your vows bid you," said the prior; "I and this warrior +will care for the holy things." + +So they went, weeping, and were lost in the woods; for there was +little cleared land round the village, and the trees came close to +the monastery walls. + +Now we two, the monk and I, stood at the open gate for a moment and +listened. We could hear nothing of the Danes as yet. + +Then we closed and barred that gate; and all this while the bell +had tolled unceasingly, calling as it were for help that came not. + +"Now do you go and call the sacristan from the bell," the prior +said, "and bid him lead you to the chancel, where I shall be." + +I went to the tower door, unhesitating, for this man seemed to have +a wondrous power of command, so that I obeyed him without question, +even as had the villagers. And even as I went there came the sound +of many rushing feet up the street, and yells from Danish throats, +while axe blows began to rain on the gate by which I had entered. + +Then the prior bade me hold the gate when he heard that, and he +spoke quietly and in no terror, turning and calling to the man in +the tower himself; while I stood opposite the gate, looking to see +it fall with every blow. Yet it was not so weakly made as that, and +moreover I remembered that it was crossed with iron bands in +squares so that the axes could not bite it fairly. + +Now the bell stopped and the Danes howled the louder. A torch flew +over the wall and fell at my feet blazing, and I hurled it back, +and the Danes laughed at one whom it struck. Then came the two +monks from the tower and ran into the church, while I watched the +trembling of the sorely-tried gate, and had it fallen I should +surely have smitten the first Dane who entered, even had Halfden +himself been foremost, for in the four walls of that holy place I +was trapped, and knew that I must fight at last. And now it seemed +to me that I was to fight for our faith and our land; and for those +sacred things, if I might do naught in dying, I would give my life +gladly. + +"Come," said the prior's voice, and he was smiling though his face +was pale, while behind him the sacristan bore an oaken chest, iron +bound, on his shoulders. + +He drew me across the courtyard, but I ever looked back at the +gate, thinking it would fall; and now they were at the other gate, +and blows rained on it. Yet the monk smiled again and went on +without faltering, though our way was towards it. + +Then we turned under an arch into a second court, and the din was +less plain as we did so. There was the well of the monastery, and +without a word the sacristan hove the heavy chest from his +shoulders into its black depths, and the splash and bubble of its +falling came up to us. + +"That is safe," said the prior; "now for ourselves." + +He hooked the oaken bucket to its rope and let it down to its full +length in the well, and at once the sacristan swung himself on it, +slid down, and was gone. Then the rope swayed to one side, and +stayed there, shaking gently in a minute or so. + +The prior drew it up, and maybe fifteen feet from the top, there +was a bundle tied--a rope ladder on which were iron hooks. These he +fastened to the edge of the oaken platform that covered the well +mouth, and let the other end fall down the well. Then he bade me go +down to the sacristan. + +That was easy to me, and I went, yet I feared for him who stood +listening to the splintering of the nearer gate, for it would soon +fall surely. I saw the sacristan's face glimmer white before me +from a hollow in the well shaft, as I set my foot on the last rung +of the ladder, and I held out my hand to him. Then in a moment I +was beside him in a little chamber built in the walling of the +well; and after me came the prior. + +He jerked the ladder from side to side till the hooks above lost +their hold and it fell, so that he drew it in. We were but a few +feet above the water, and the well rope hung down into the +blackness before us, but I was sure that no man could see the +little doorway of the chamber from above, for the trapdoor in the +well cover was small, and light there was hardly any. + +"Now all is safe," said the prior; "and we may be careless again." + +"They will burn the monastery," I said. "One torch has been thrown +already." + +He smiled a little, as I thought, for my eyes were growing used to +the dim light. + +"They may burn some things, but roof and benches are soon made +afresh. There is oaken timber in plenty in Andredsweald, and ready +hands to hew it. Our stone walls they cannot hurt." + +Those were all the words we spoke of the matter at that time, for +there came a great shouting. One of the gates had fallen at last, +and the Danes were in the place. + +"Father," said the sacristan, "surely they will find this place?" + +The prior laughed a short laugh. + +"That is a thought born of your fears, Brother," he answered; and I +who had had the same fear was rebuked also, for indeed that I +should go down the well had never come into my mind, even in our +need of shelter, so why should the Danes think of it? + +Then we were silent, listening to the feet and voices overhead. The +Danes found the belfry presently, and began to toll the bell +unskillfully while the men below jeered at those who handled the +ropes. Then the bell clashed twice strangely, and the prior laughed +outright. + +"The clumsy churls have overthrown her," he said, "now I hope that +one has had his head broken thereby." + +I marvelled that he could jest thus, though maybe, after the strain +and terror of the danger we had so far escaped, it was but natural +that his mind should so rebound as it were. + +Very soon after this the Danes came clattering into the little +court where the well was, and straightway came to its mouth, +casting stones down it, as no idle man can help doing. The +sacristan crept to the furthest corner of our little den and sat +there trembling, while I and the other monk listened with set teeth +to the words that came down to us. Nor will I say that I was not +somewhat frightened also, for it seemed to me that the voices were +unknown to me. They were Rorik's men, therefore, and not our +crew--who likely enough would but have jeered at me had they found +me hiding thus. + +"Halfden's men have drunk all the ale in the place, and that was +not much," said one man; "let us try the water, for the dust of +these old storehouses is in my throat." + +Then he began to draw up the bucket, and it splashed over us as it +went past our doorway. + +"There is naught worth taking in this place," growled another man. +"Maybe they have hove their hoards down the well!" + +Now at that the sacristan gave a stifled groan of terror, and I +clutched my axe, ready for need. + +"All right, go down and see!" answered one or two, but more in jest +than earnest. + +Then one dropped a great stone in, and waited to hear it bubble +from the bottom, that he might judge the depth. Now no bubbles +came, or so soon that they were lost in the splash, and the prior +took some of the crumbling mortar from the cell walls, and cast it +in after a few moments. And that was a brave and crafty thing to +do, for it wrought well. + +"Hear the bubble," said the Dane; "the well must be many a fathom +deep--how long it seemed before they came up!" + +So they drank their fill, saying that it was useless to go down +therefore, and anyhow there would be naught but a few silver +vessels. + +"I have seen the same before," said one; "and moreover no man has +luck with those things from a church." + +No man gainsaid him, so they kicked the bucket down the well and +went away. + +Now I breathed freely again, and was about to whisper to the prior +that his thought of making what would pass for bubbling was good; +but more Danes came. And they were men of Halfden's ship; so we +must wait and listen, and this time I thought that surely we were +to be found. For the men began to play with one another as they +drank from the bucket; pushing each other's heads therein, and the +helm of one fell off and fled past us to the bottom; and some words +passed pretty roughly. And after they had done quarrelling they +crowded over the trapdoor, as one might know by the darkening of +the shaft. Then one saw the helm, for it was of leather, iron +bound, and had fallen rim upward, so that it floated. Now one was +going to swarm down the rope to get it, but as he swung the rope to +him, the bucket swayed in the water under the helm, and he saw that +it did so. Whereon he wound both up, and they too went away. + +"That was a lucky chance!" I whispered. + +"No chance at all, my son; that was surely done by the same Hand +that sent you here to warn us," answered the prior. And I think +that he was right. + +Now came a whiff of biting smoke down the well shaft, borne by some +breath of wind that eddied into it. The Danes had fired the place! + +"Father," I whispered, pulling the prior forward, for he had gone +into the little cell to give thanks for this last deliverance. + +He looked very grave as he saw the blue haze across the doorway, +hiding the moss and a tiny fern that grew on the shaft walls over +against us. + +"This is what I feared, though I must needs make light of it," he +said. + +"It cannot harm us here," I answered. + +"All round this court on three sides the buildings are of wood; +sheds and storehouses they are and of no account, but if one falls +across the well mouth--what then?" + +"Then we are like to be stifled," said I; for even now the smoke +grew thicker, even so far down as we were. And when I looked out +and up there was naught but smoke across the well mouth, and with +that, sparks. + +"Pent up and stifled both," said the quavering voice of the +sacristan from behind us. "How may we get out of this place till +men come and raise the ruin that will cover us? And who knows we +are here but ourselves?" + +"Forgive me for bringing you to this pass," said the prior gravely, +after a little silence. + +The smoke grew even denser, and we must needs cough, while the +tears ran from my eyes, for the stinging oak smoke seemed trapped +when once it was driven down the well. + +"I have known men escape from worse than this," I said, thinking of +Lodbrok, and turning over many wild plans in my mind. + +"I had forgotten this danger of wooden walls," said the prior to +himself, as it were. "Doubtless when this well chamber was made it +was without the inclosure." + +Now it seemed to me that this could not be borne much longer, and +that soon the walls he dreaded would fall. So as one might as well +die in one way as another, I thought I would climb to the well's +mouth and see if there were any chance of safety for these two +monks. Yet I had no thought of aught but dying with them, if need +were, though as for myself I had but to walk across the courtyard +and go away. The Danes would but think I lingered yet for the sake +of plunder. + +"If we may not stand this smoke, neither can the Danes," I said. "I +am going to see." + +So I set down my axe and sword and leapt sailor-wise at the +rope--which the men had dropped again when they had taken the helm +from the bucket--catching it easily and swarming up to the +trapdoor. I only raised myself to the height of my eyes and looked +out. + +I could see nothing. The dense smoke eddied and circled round the +court, and the Danes were gone, leaving us in a ring of fire on +three sides. The wooden buildings were blazing higher every moment, +and the heat seemed to scorch my head and hands till I could +scarcely bear it. But as the wind drove aside the smoke I could see +that the way to the rear gate, the last we had barred, was clear. +So I slid down and hung opposite the chamber. The monks looked out +at me with white faces. + +"It may be done," I said. "Come quickly! it is the only chance." + +The prior gave me the rope-ladder end without a word, not needing +to be asked for it; nor did I wait to say more, for at that moment +a roof fell in with a great crash, and a red glare filled the well +as the flames shot up, and the sparks and bits of burning timber +came down the shaft and hissed into the water below me. + +I clomb up, fixed the ladder, and called down to the prior to bring +my arms with him. There was a burning beam not three feet from the +well mouth, part of the fallen roof that had slipped sideways from +it. The flames that shot up from the building were so hot that I +could barely abide them, and I shaded my face with both my hands, +crying again to the monks to come quickly. + +In a few seconds came the sacristan, white and trembling--I had to +help him out of the well mouth. The prior was close to him; he was +calm, and even smiled at me as he saw me clutch my arms eagerly. + +"To the rear gate," I said, turning and kicking the ladder into the +well, and thinking how cool the splash was compared with this +furnace of heat. "Kilt up your frocks and go swiftly, but run not," +for in that smoke, save their long garments betrayed them, a man +might be armed or unarmed for all that one could see. + +So, walking quickly, we came to the court entrance, and even as we +stood under its archway the building nearest the well fell with a +crash and rumble, covering the well mouth with a pile of blazing +timber. The smoke and flame seemed to wrap us round, while the +burning timber flew, and the Danes from the great courtyard yelled +with evil delight; but before that cloud had cleared away we three +were outside the monastery gate, and were safe. + +"Just in time," I said. + +But "Deo gratias" said the monks in a breath. + +"Now run," said I, and into the nearest spur of woodland we went, +and stayed not till we were beyond reach of the yells of the +destroyers, who, as it seemed, had not even seen us. + +When we were sure that we were not pursued, the prior took my arm +and pressed it. + +"Thanks to you, my son, our people are safe, and we have come out +of yon furnace unscathed. May you find help in time of need as near +and ready. Now when I read the story of the Three Children, I think +I shall know all that they suffered, for we have been in like +case." + +And I could make no answer, for it seemed to me that I had +forgotten that I was a Christian of late. And that was true. + +Now the prior bade the sacristan hasten to Chichester and tell all +this to the sheriff, and he left us, while we went on alone. +Presently I asked who made the chamber in the well, for the silence +weighed on me, and my thoughts were not so lightsome. + +"Doubtless by Wilfrith's men," he said, "and for the same turn it +has served us. For in his days there were many heathen round him, +and flight or hiding might be the last resort at any time." + +Then I wondered, saying that I deemed that surely it was a greater +thing to be a martyr and to die, than to save life. + +"Not always so," he answered, and then he told me of the ways of +holy men of old time. "We may by no means save life by denying our +faith, but we are bidden to flee into another place when +persecuted. We may not choose the place of our death, nor yet the +time." + +So he showed me at last what it was to be truly a martyr, fearing +not, nor yet seeking death. + +"Of a truth," he ended, "the Lord may need my death by the hand of +the heathen at some time, and when the time comes I shall know it, +and will die gladly. But while He gives me the power to save life +blamelessly, I know that He needs me on earth yet, though I am of +little worth." + +So we were silent after that, ever going on through the woods. At +last he laughed a little, and looked sidewise at me. + +"We two are alone," he said, "therefore I do not mind saying that I +have been fairly afraid--how felt you?" + +"I would I might never be so frightened again," I answered, for +truly I had made myself so at one with this brave man that I had +forgotten that there was little fear for myself, as I have said, +unless that it had been Rorik's crew who had found us, for only a +few of them knew me. + +We came now to a place where the trees thinned away on the brow of +a hill, and I could see the broad waters of the haven through their +trunks. We had reached the crest of that little cliff over which +Wilfrith's heathen had cast themselves in the great famine from +which he saved them. + +"Let us see the last of Bosham," the prior said sadly. So we crept +through the fern and long grass, and lying down looked out over +haven and village. Even if a prying Dane looked our way he would +hardly see us thus hidden, or if he did would take us but for +villagers and care not. + +Now I saw that the tide was on the turn, and that Halfden's +ship--my own ship, as I have ever thought her--had hauled out, and +her boats waited for the last of the crew at the wharf side. But +Rorik's ship was there still, and her men were busy rigging a crane +of spars as though they would lower some heavy thing on board her. +Nor could I guess what that might be. + +Then I looked at the village, which was burning here and there, and +at the monastery. They had not fired the church, and the Danes +clustered round the tower doorway, busied with something, and I +could see them well, for the smoke from the burning buildings blew +away from us. + +Now I asked the prior what heavy things worth carrying away might +be in the monastery. + +"Naught," he said; "since they have drunk all the ale that was in +the cask or two we had. + +"But," he added, "there is the great bell, it is the only weighty +thing else." + +Then I knew what was toward, and said: + +"I fear, Father, that your bell is going to be taken to become +metal for mail shirts, and axe heads, and arrowheads, and helms." + +"Holy St. Wilfrith!" cried the monk, in great grief; "would that we +could have saved it. There is no such bell in all England, and if +they take it, many a sailor will miss its call through fog and +driving mist, and many a shepherd on yonder downs will wait for its +ringing, and be the wearier for lack thereof." + +"Never have I seen bell too large for one man to handle," I said; +"this must be a wondrous bell!" + +So it was, he told me, and while we watched the busy Danes, he +began to sing to me in low tones the song of Bosham bell which his +people would sing by the fireside. + +"Hard by the haven, +Wilfrith the holy +Bade men a bell tower +Sturdily build. +Thence should a bell sound +Over the wide seas, +Homeward to hail +The hardy shipmen. +Thus was the bell wrought +By skilful workmen: +Into the fierce fire, +When it was founded, +Helm and harness +The warriors hove; +Willingly women, +The jewel wearers, +Golden and silver gauds +Gave for the melting; +And a great anchor +The seamen added. +Thus was a wealth +Of wondrous metal. +When all was molten +More grew its marvel! +Cast in a chalice, +Cuthred the priest." + +"Aye, Father," said I, "that is a wondrous bell." + +He nodded, and went on, with his eyes fixed on the monastery. + +"Thus as the bell swings +Soothly it speaketh: +Churchward it calleth +With voice of the chalice, +Speaking to shipmen +With voice that is sea born. +Homeward the husband +Hailing with voices +Fresh from the fireside, +Where flashed the gold gifts-- +Clashing the war call, +Clear with its warrior voice." + +"That was the voice of the bell that sounded as we came," I +thought; and even as I would have said it, the bell of Bosham spoke +again, and the prior stopped with an exclamation, and pointed. + +Out of the gateway came four Danes, bearing the bell between them, +and as they crossed the threshold, one stumbled, and the bell +clanged as they dropped it on the courtyard pavement. The tears ran +down the holy man's face as he saw this mishap to his beloved bell, +which was kept bright as when it was first founded, by the loving +hands of his people. + +Now the Danes put it on that farm cart I had seen, and which they +had mended, and took the bell down to the wharf, and we watched +them sling it to the crane they had rigged, and place it amidships +on deck. Then they all went hastily on board, and put out into the +haven, down which Halfden's ship was already a mile distant, and +dancing on the quick waves of wind against tide where the waters +broadened into a wide lake. + +Now when the ship was fairly under way, the prior rose up from +beside me, and lifting his hand, cursed ship and crew with so great +and bitter a curse that I trembled and looked to see the ship +founder at once, so terrible were his words. + +Yet the ship held on her course, and the words seemed vain and +wasted, though I know not so certainly that they were so. For this +is what I saw when the ship met the waves of that wider stretch of +water that Halfden had now crossed. + +She pitched sharply, and there was a bright gleam of sunlight from +the great bell's polished sides, and then another--and the ship +listed over to starboard and a wave curled in foam over her +gunwale. Then she righted again quickly, and as though relieved of +some weight, yet when a heavier, crested roller came on her she +rose to it hardly at all, and it broke on board her. And at that +she sank like a stone, and I could hear the yell that her men gave +come down the wind to me. + +Then all the water was dotted with men for a little, and the bright +red and white of her sail floated on the waves for a minute, and +then all that was left of her were the masthead and yard--and on +them a few men. The rest were gone, for they were in their mail, +and might not swim. Only a few yet clung to floating oars and the +like. + +"Little have these heathen gained from Bosham," said the prior, and +his eyes flashed with triumph. "Wilfrith the holy has punished +their ill doing." + +So, too, it seemed to me, and I thought to myself that the weight +of that awesome curse had indeed fallen on the robbers. + +Yet I know that, as I watched the ship in her trouble, in my own +mind I had been going over what was amiss, as any seaman will, +without thought of powers above. And I thought that the sharp +pitching of the vessel had cast the great bell from amidships, +where I had seen the Danes place it unsecured, against the frail +gunwale, first to one side, and then, with greater force yet, +against the other; so that it burst open gunwale and planking +below, and already she was filling when the wave came and ended +all. For these swift viking ships are built to take no heavy cargo, +and planks and timbers are but bound together by roots and withies; +so that as one stands on the deck one may feel it give and spring +to the blow of a wave, and the ship is all the swifter. But though +the outer planking is closely riveted together with good iron, that +could not withstand the crashing weight of so great a bell when it +was thus flung against it. + +However that may have been--and thus I surely think it was--Bosham +bell passed not into the power of the heathen, but destroyed them; +and it lies at the bottom of the deepest reach of the haven whence +the depth and swiftness of the tide will hardly let men bring it +again. So I suppose that, profaned by heathen hands, it may no +longer call men from across the water and woodland to the church of +God. + +Soon came the boats from Halfden's ship and picked up those who yet +clung to what they might of the wreck, and then ship and Danes +passed from Bosham haven, leaving the silent tower and burning +village to mark where they had been. + +Then the prior sighed, and turning away, said: + +"Let us go to Chichester and find shelter. Night comes soon, and +rest." + +Sadly enough we went, though not for long: for when we came into +the roadway from the forest land, the prior put his heavy thoughts +aside, and spoke cheerfully to me. + +"What is done is done; and but for you, my son, things would have +been worse. And their greed for the bell has made them spare the +church itself. Surely you must have fallen from the clouds to help +us--borne hither from the East Anglian land whose tongue bewrays +you." + +"I marvel that you trusted me," I said. + +"I trusted your face, my son, and when one is in a hard case the +first help is ever the best. Yet now I would fain know somewhat of +my good comrade." + +Now I think that to any but this monk, with his friendly smile and +way of quiet authority, I should have been ashamed to own my part +with the Danes. But a few hours of companionship in danger knit +closer than many a long day of idleness together, and he seemed to +me as a near friend. Moreover, he had trusted me without question; +so I told him all my tale and he listened patiently. + +"Now I am glad that I cursed not your friend's ship--for I forgot +her," he said, smiling. + +At that I was glad, for how he would hold my being with the heathen +I somewhat doubted, and I told him so. + +"Why, my son, I know not that you had much choice. And as for +fighting against outlanders--let me heft that axe of yours." + +He took it, and it fell into his hands in a way that told me that +he, too, had been a stark fighting man at some time. + +"Take it away, my son, take it away!" he cried, thrusting it back +on me; "I am not the man to blame you. And I know that much good +has come to us from your being with them. And from your talk about +martyrs I know that you have done no honour to their gods." + +I said truly that the question had never come into my mind. For, +save as oath or war cry, the names of Thor and Odin were not heard. +They sacrificed on going to sea, and on return; and meanwhile cared +naught, so far as I knew, for none had questioned my faith. + +He said it was well, and so talking we went on. And he said that, as +friend of his, none would question me, so that I should find all I +needed for my journey in the town. And when we came there--meeting +the sheriff's ill-armed levy on the way--we went to the house of a +great thane, and there were well and kindly received. + +Yet once and again as I slept I dreamed and woke with the cry of +Rorik's men in my ears, and before me the bell seemed to flash +again as it crashed through the ship's side. And once I woke +thinking that the smell of burning was round me, and felt, half +awake, for the stone walls of the well chamber. But at last I slept +soundly and peacefully. + + + +CHAPTER V. HOW WULFRIC, LODBROK, AND BEORN HUNTED. + + +When morning came it was great wonder and joy to me to wake and +find myself in England and free, for indeed I had begun to think of +my comradeship with the Danes as a sort of thralldom that I knew +not how to break. And now I longed to make my way back to Reedham +as soon as I might, for I had been many weeks away, though I have +said little of all that befell in that time beyond what was +needful. One thing saved me from grief that might have been, and +that was the knowledge that Ingild, the merchant, had not been told +to look for my coming, and that none at home would wonder if I were +long away, because of that plan of wintering our ship in the +Thames. And I knew that not one of my poor crew could have lived to +take news of the wreck. + +That I must take back myself; and though I could not fairly be +blamed for loss of ship and crew, the thought of having to break +the tidings to those who would mourn for their lost ones was very +hard to me. But it must be done, and there was an end. + +Now came to me, as I thought of these things, my friend the Prior +of Bosham, and he sat down beside me and asked how he could further +my plans. He himself must go to Selsea, there to see the bishop and +tell him all, not forgetting my part, as he said. + +I told him that I only needed a horse, and that then I should ride +to London, where I had friends: and he asked me if I had money +wherewith to buy one, for he had none, else would he gladly do so +for me. And that reminded me of the bag which Halfden gave me, and +I opened it. + +It was full of treasure--gold ornaments, and chains wherein were +set precious stones, and some gold coins and silver, and these were +the least value of all. But little pleasure had I in them, for I +knew too well how they came, and a thought came to me. + +"Father," I said, "this comes from ruined towns on yonder +shore--take it and build up Bosham again. Aye, take it." + +"Why, my son, here is treasure enough to build three villages like +ours," he said quietly; "for timber houses cost but labour in this +forest land, and there was naught else worth taking in the place." + +"But your people are the poorer," I said; "I pray you take it for +their need, and for a new bell, moreover." + +And so I urged him till he took the greatest gold chain, saying +that in honesty he could no more, for that would surely make Bosham +wish for more burnings if they turned out as this. + +"Keep the rest and buy a new ship," he said, "and forget not that +always and every day your name will be remembered at the time of +mass in Bosham; and that may help you in days to come." + +So he blessed me and departed, and I think that both of us were +light at heart, save for parting. And I have never seen the good +prior again, though his face and words I cannot forget. + +Soon came one to lead me to the presence of the thane and his wife, +and from them I found kindness more than I could have looked for. +We broke our fast together, and then the lady asked me if I would +accept horse and gear for my journey from her, for she had heard +from the prior that I had been shipwrecked, who had also told her +all the story of our doings at Bosham. + +Thanking her, I told her that though shipwrecked, I was yet rich, +having a store of wealth with me; for I thought that it was in the +minds of these kind people that I was in need. + +"Be not proud," she said "bide with us for a while, and then take +horse and go. We hold that you have deserved well of all of us." + +But I told her of my mother and sister at home, and how I would +fain be back with them, so she pitied me the more, saying that now +for their sakes she would hasten me. + +"Aye, lad," said the thane, "we have sons of our own at court, and +the lady would that someone would pack them home on a good +horse--so she must not be denied." + +Thus they persuaded me, and when I tried to thank them, the thane +laughed, and the lady said: + +"Thank me not but in one way, and that is by asking your mother to +help homeward some other lady's son when need is. And that is all I +would wish." + +And the end of it was that I rode away from Chichester town on a +good horse and with change of clothes in saddlebags, and those +worthy people stood at the gate to give me good speed. + +Yet that is not the end, for there are one or two who have ridden +in like sort from Reedham since that day, and have borne home the +like message; so that I know not where the ending of that kindly +deed may be. + +Past the old Chichester walls I went, and out on the long line of +the Roman street that should take me to London. And as I went I +sang, for the green beechen woods were wondrous fair to me after +the long weeks of changing sea, and it seemed to me that all was +going well, so that I put away for the time the grievous thought of +my shipwreck, the one hard thing that I must face when I came home +again. + +There is nothing to tell of that ride; for well armed, and rich, +and with a good horse, what should there be? And at last I came to +London town, and rode straightway to the great house of my +godfather, Ingild, that stood by London Bridge. Very strange it was +to me to look out over the Pool as I crossed, and not to see our +good ship in her wonted place, for this was the first time I had +come to London except in her. + +At the door of the courtyard, round which Ingild had his great +storehouses and sheds for goods, I drew rein, and two serving men +whom I knew well came out. Yet they knew me not, staring at my arms +and waiting for my commands. + +So I spoke to them by name, and they started and then laughed, +saying that they must be forgiven for not knowing me in my arms, +for surely I had changed greatly since two years ago, when I was +last with them. + +It was the same when Ingild himself came out, ample robed and +portly; for he gazed long at my helmed face, and then cried: + +"Why, here is a marvel! Wulfric, my son, you have grown from boy to +man since last we met; and you come in helm and mail shirt and on +horseback, instead of in blue homespun and fur cap, with an oar +blister on either hand. How is this?" + +Then he kissed me on both cheeks and led me in, running on thus +till a good meal was before me, with a horn of his mighty ale; and +then he let me be in peace for a little while. + +Afterwards, as we sat alone together, I told him all that had +befallen, even as I would have told my father, for in my mind +Ingild, my godfather, came next to him and our king, and I loved +him well. + +Sorely he grieved for loss of ship and goods and men, but he told +me that we were not the only seamen who had been hurt by that +sudden gale. Nor did he blame me at all, knowing that Kenulf was in +truth the commander of our ship. Rather was he glad that it had +chanced that I had left her and so was safe. + +Then when I told him of my turning viking thereafter, he laughed +grimly, with a glitter of his eye, saying that he would surely have +done the same at my age--aye, and any young man in all England +likewise, were he worth aught. + +So when I had told him all about my journey, I showed him the bag +that Halfden gave me, and well he knew the value of the treasure +therein. + +"Why, son Wulfric," he cried; "here is wealth enough to buy a new +ship withal, as times go!" + +And I would have him keep it, not being willing to take so great a +sum about with me, and that he did willingly, only asking me to let +him use it, if chance should be, on my behalf, and making me keep +the silver money for my own use going homeward. + +"Yet I will keep you awhile, for Egfrid, the Thane's son of Hoxne, +who is here at court, goes home for Yuletide, and so you can ride +with him. And I think it will be well that we should send word to +your father of how things have been faring with you, for so will +you have naught of misfortune to tell when you come home." + +I thought this wise counsel and kindly, for my people would best +tell those wives and children of their loss, and so things would be +easier for me. And Ingild sent writing to my father by the hand of +some chapman travelling to the great fair at Norwich; and with his +letter went one from me also, with messages to Lodbrok--for Eadmund +had made me learn to write. + +So after that I abode with Ingild, going to the court of Ethelred +the King with him, and seeing the great feasts which the merchant +guilds made for the king while he was in London; with many other +wondrous sights, so that the time went quickly, and the more so +that this Egfrid was ever with me. I had known him when we were +little lads together at our own king's court, but he had left to go +to that of our great overlord, Ethelred, so that I had not seen him +for long years. And one may sail up our Waveney river to Hoxne, +where his father's house is, from ours at Reedham, though it is a +long way. + +Now in the week before Yuletide we would start homewards, so with +many gifts and words of good speed, Ingild set us forth; and we +rode well armed and attended as the sons of great thanes should. So +the way was light to us in the clear December weather, and if it +were long the journey was very pleasant, for Egfrid and I grew to +be great friends, and there is nothing more joyous than to be +riding ever homeward through wood and over wild, with one whose +ways fit with one's own, in the days of youth, when cares are none +and shadows fall not yet across the path. + +When we came to Colchester town we heard that Eadmund was yet at +Thetford, and when we asked more we learnt that Lodbrok was there +also with my father. So, because Hoxne was but twenty miles or +thereby from Thetford, both Egfrid and I were glad that our way was +yet together, and we would go there first of all. + +One other thing we heard in Colchester, for we waited there for two +days, resting our horses. There was a wandering gleeman who came +into the marketplace on the hill top, and we stood and listened to +him. + +And first he sang of how Danes had come and burnt Harwich town. But +the people told him to sing less stale news than that, for Harwich +was close at hand. Now it was Halfden's ship which had done that, +and the fires we saw before the fog came had been the beacons lit +because of his landing. + +Then he made a great outcry until he had many folk to listen, and +they paid him well before he would sing. Whereon, forsooth, my ears +tingled, for he sang of the burning of Bosham. And when he came to +the stealing of the bell, his tale was, that it, being hallowed, +would by no means bear that heathen hands should touch it, so that +when it came to the deepest pool in the haven it turned red hot, +and so, burning a great hole through the Danish ship, sank to the +bottom, and the Danes were all drowned. Whereat the people +marvelled, and the gleeman fared well. + +I suppose that the flashing of the great bell that I had seen gave +rise to this tale, and that is how men tell it to this day. And I +care not to gainsay them, for it is close enough to the truth, and +few know that I had so nearly a hand in the matter. + +So we rode to Thetford, and how we were received there is no need +for me to tell, for I came back as it were from the dead, and +Egfrid after years of absence. And there with Eadmund were my +father and mother, and Eadgyth, and Lodbrok, and Egfrid's folk +also, with many more friends to greet us, and the king would have +us keep Yuletide with him. + +It had been in my mind that Halfden would have come to Reedham, and +at first I looked for him, but he had not been heard of, so that +now we knew that we should not see him before springtime came, for +he must needs be wintering somewhere westward. Yet now Lodbrok was +at ease with us, seeing the end of his stay, and being in high +favour with our king, so that he was seldom away from his side in +all the hunting that went on. + +That liked not Beorn, the falconer, and though he would be +friendly, to all seeming, with the Dane, it seemed to me that his +first jealousy had grown deeper and taken more hold of him, though +it might only be in a chance look or word that he showed it as days +went on. + +But one night my father and I rode in together from our hunting, +and there was no one with us. We had been at Thetford for a month +now, since I came home, and there was a talk that the king would go +to the court of Ethelred at Winchester shortly, taking my father +with him for his counsellor, and so we spoke of that for a while, +and how I must order things at Reedham while he was away. + +"Lodbrok, our friend, will go back with you," he said. "Now, have +you noted any envy at the favour in which he is held by Eadmund?" + +"Aye, Father," I answered, "from Beorn, the falconer." + +"So you, too, have had your eyes open," went on my father; "now I +mistrust that man, for he hates Lodbrok." + +"That is saying more than I had thought." + +"You have been away, and there is more than you know at the bottom +of the matter. The king offered Lodbrok lands if he would bide with +us and be his man, and these he refused, gently enough, saying that +he had broad lands of his own, and that he would not turn +Christian, as the king wished, for the sake of gain. He would only +leave the worship of his own gods for better reasons. Now Beorn +covets those lands, and has hoped to gain them. Nor does he yet +know that Lodbrok will not take them." + +Then I began to see that this matter was deeper than I had thought, +and told my father of the first meeting of Lodbrok and Beorn. But I +said that the falconer had seemed very friendly of late. + +"Aye, too friendly," said my father; "it is but a little while +since he held aloof from him, and now he is ever close to Lodbrok +in field and forest. You know how an arrow may seem to glance from +a tree, or how a spear thrust may go wide when the boar is at bay, +and men press round him, or an ill blow may fall when none may know +it but the striker." + +"Surely no man would be so base!" I cried. + +"Such things have been and may be again. Long have I known Beorn, +and I would not have him for enemy. His ways are not open." + +Then I said that if Beorn was ever near Lodbrok, I would be nearer, +and so we left the matter. + +There was one other thing, which was more pleasant, which we spoke +about at that time. And it was about the betrothal of my sister +Eadgyth. For it had come to pass that Egfrid, my friend, had sought +her hand, and the match pleased us all. So before the king and my +father went to Winchester there was high feasting, and those two +were pledged one to the other. Then was a new house to be built for +them at Hoxne, where the wedding itself should take place. + +"Maybe Halfden will be here by that time," said Lodbrok to me. "I +wish, friend Wulfric, that honest Egfrid had not been so forward, +or that you had another fair sister." + +Now though that saying pleased me, I could not wish for the wild +viking as husband to our gentle Eadgyth, though I loved him well as +my own friend. So I said that I thought Halfden's ship was his only +love. + +"Maybe," answered the jarl; "but one may never know, and I think it +would be well for English folk and Danish to be knit together more +closely." + +But when I asked him why this should be so, he only smiled, and +talked of friendliness between the two peoples, which seemed a +little matter to me at that time. + +Now when the time came, my father having gone, we two, Lodbrok and +I, went back to Reedham, while my mother and Eadgyth stayed yet at +Thetford for the sake of Egfrid's new house building, for he would +have it built to suit her who should rule it. + +Strange and grievous it was to me to see our shipyard empty, and +sad to have to tell the story of the good ship's loss to those +whose mourning was not yet over. Yet they were sailors' wives and +children, and to them death at sea was honourable, as is to a +warrior's wife that her husband should fall in a ring of foes with +all his wounds in front. And they blamed me not; but rather +rejoiced that I was safe returned. + +Now without thought of any foe, or near or far, Lodbrok and I +hunted and hawked over our manors, finding good sport, and in a +little while I forgot all about Beorn, for I had seen him go in the +king's train as they rode out to Winchester. + +Out of that carelessness of mine came trouble, the end of which is +hard to see, and heavily, if there is blame to me, have I paid for +it. And I think that I should have better remembered my father's +words, though I had no thought but that danger was far away for the +time. + +We hunted one day alone together, and had ridden far across our +nearer lands to find fresh ground, so that we were in the wide +forest country that stretches towards Norwich, on the south of the +Yare. Maybe we were five miles from the old castle at Caistor. +There we beat the woods for roebuck, having greyhounds and hawks +with us, but no attendants, as it happened, and for a time we found +nothing, not being far from the road that leads to the great city +from the south. + +Then we came to a thicket where the deer were likely to harbour, +and we went, one on either side of it, so that we could not see one +another, and little by little separated. Then I started a roe, and +after it went my hounds, and I with them, winding my horn to call +Lodbrok to me, for they went away from him. + +My hounds took the roe, after a long chase, and I was at work upon +it, when that white hound that I had given to Lodbrok came leaping +towards me, and taking no heed of the other hounds, or of the dead +deer, fawned upon me, marking my green coat with bloodstains from +its paws. + +I was angry, and rated the hound, and it fled away swiftly as it +came, only to return, whining and running to and fro as though to +draw me after it. Then I thought that Lodbrok had also slain a +deer, starting one from the same thicket, which was likely enough, +and that this dog, being but young, would have me come and see it. +All the while the hound kept going and coming, being very uneasy, +and I rated it again. + +Then it came across me that I had not heard Lodbrok's horn, and +that surely the dog would not so soon have left his quarry. And at +that I hasted and hung the deer on a branch, and, mounting my +horse, rode after the hound, which at once ran straight before me, +going to where I thought Lodbrok would be. + +When I came round the spur of wood that had first parted us I was +frightened, for Lodbrok's horse ran there loose, snorting as if in +terror of somewhat that I could not see, and I caught him and rode +on. + +When I could see a furlong before me, into a little hollow of the +land that is there, before me was a man, dressed like myself in +green, and he was dragging the body of another man towards a +thicket; and as I saw this my horses started from a pool of blood +in which lay a broken arrow shaft. + +At that I shouted and spurred swiftly towards those two--letting +the other horse go free--with I know not what wild thoughts in my +mind. + +And when I came near I knew that the living man was Beorn, and that +the dead was Lodbrok my friend. + +Then I took my horn and wound it loud and long, charging down upon +that traitor with drawn sword, for I had left my hunting spear with +the slain deer. He dropped his burden, and drew his sword also, +turning on me. And I saw that the blade was red. + +Then I made no more delay, but leapt from my horse and fell upon +him to avenge myself for the death of him whom I loved. Would that +I had had the axe whose use he who lay there had taught me so well, +for then the matter would have been ended at one blow. But now we +were evenly matched, and without a word we knew that this fight +must be to the death, and our swords crossed, and blow and parry +came quickly. + +Then I heard shouts, and the noise of men running behind me, and +Beorn cried: + +"Stay us not, I avenge me of my friend," whereon I ground my teeth +and pressed on him yet more fiercely, wounding him a little in the +shoulder; and he cried out for help--for the men who came were +close on us--and the well-cast noose of a rope fell over my +shoulders, and I was jerked away from him well-nigh choked. + +Two men ran past me and took Beorn, throwing up his sword with +their quarterstaves, and it seemed to me that it was done over +gently. Then they bound us both and set us on the ground face to +face. + +"Now here be fine doings!" said a man, who seemed to be the leader +of the six or seven who had ended the fight. + +"Aye, 'tis murder," said another, looking from Beorn to me and then +to Beorn again; "but which is murderer and which true man?" + +Now all these men were strangers to me, but I knew one thing about +them from their dress. They were the men of mighty Earl Ulfkytel +himself, and seemed to be foresters, and honest men enough by their +faces. + +"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric of Reedham," I said. "The slain man is +Lodbrok, the Danish jarl, and this man slew him." + +"He lies!" cried Beorn. "It was he who slew him, and I would +revenge myself on him, for this Lodbrok was my friend." + +Now I held my peace, keeping back my wrath as well as I might, for +I began to see that Beorn had some deep plot on hand, thus to +behave as if innocent. + +"Why, so he cried out as we came," said one of the men when he +heard Beorn's words. + +"Maybe both had a hand in it," the leader said, and so they talked +for a little. + +Then came two of my own serfs, who had followed me to see the +sport, I suppose, at a distance, as idle men will sometimes, when +hunting is on hand, and with them came Lodbrok's dog, the same that +had brought me. And when the dog saw Beorn he flew at him and would +have mauled him sorely, but that the earl's men beat him off with +their staves; and one took the leash that hung from my saddle bow +and tied him to a tree, where he sat growling and making as though +he would again fly at the falconer. + +"Whose dog is this?" asked the leader. + +"His," answered the serfs, pointing to Lodbrok. + +"Dogs might tell strange tales could they talk," said the earl's +man; "I misdoubt both these men. Let us take them to the earl for +judgment." + +"Where is the earl?" I asked. + +"At Caistor," answered the man shortly, and I was glad that he was +so near, for the matter would be quickly settled and I could go +free. + +"Unbind me, and I will go where you will," I said, but at that +Beorn cried out. + +"Loose him not, loose him not, I pray you!" + +"Tie their hands behind them and let us be gone," was the answer, +and they did so, loosing my feet, and setting us on my horse and +Lodbrok's. And some of the men stayed behind with my serfs to make +a litter on which to carry my friend's body, and follow us to +Caistor. So as I went I cried quickly to those two men of mine that +they should go in all haste to Reedham and tell what had befallen +me to our steward, who would know what to do. + +"Reedham is too far for a rescue to reach you in time," said the +leader of the earl's men grimly; "think not of it." + +"I meant not that, but to have witnesses to speak for me." + +"That is fair," said the man, after a little thought, "we will not +hinder their going." + +Then they led us away, and presently reached that place where I had +seen the broken arrow, and one picked it up, saying that here was +surely the place where the deed was done, and that the arrow would +maybe prove somewhat. And I think that here Beorn had shot the +jarl, for all around those other marks on the grass were the +hoofmarks of the rearing and frightened horse, and there were many +places where an archer might lie unseen in the thickets, after +following us all day maybe, as Beorn must have done, thus to find +fitting chance for his plan when we two were far apart. And surely, +had it not been for the dog, I think the fate of Lodbrok would have +been unknown for many a long day, for but for him Beorn would have +hidden his deed and ridden off before I had known aught. + +Now, as the man handled the broken arrow, walking beside me, I saw +it plainly, and knew it for one of my own, and one of four that I +had lost at Thetford, though I did not know how. + +At that I seemed to see all the plot, and my heart sank within me, +for this Beorn was most crafty, and had planned well to throw doubt +on me if things by ill chance fell out as they had, and so I rode +in silence wondering what help should come, and whence. And I +thought of Halfden, and what he should think when he heard the tale +that was likely to be told him, and even as I thought this there +was a rushing of light wings, and Lodbrok's gray falcon--which I +had cast from my wrist as I fell on Beorn--came back to me, and +perched on my saddle, for my hands were bound behind me. She had +become unhooded in some way. + +Then Beorn cried out to the men to take the falcon, for it was his, +and that he would not have her lost; and that angered me so that I +cried out on him, giving him the lie, and he turned pale as if I +were free and could smite him. Whereon the men bade us roughly to +hold our peace, and the leader whistled to the falcon and held out +his hand to take her. But she struck at him and soared away, and I +watched her go towards Reedham, and was glad she did so with a sort +of dull gladness. + +For I would have no man pass through a time of thoughts such as +mine were as they took me to Caistor--rage and grief and fear of +shame all at once, and one chasing the other through my mind till I +knew not where I was, and would start as from a troubled dream when +one spoke, and then go back to the same again as will a sick man. +But by the time we reached Caistor I had, as it seemed to me, +thought every thought that might be possible, and one thing only +was plain and clear. I would ask for judgment by Eadmund the King, +and if that might not be, then for trial by battle, which the earl +would surely grant. And yet I hoped that Beorn's plot was not so +crafty but that it would fail in some way. + +So they put me in a strong cell in the old castle, leading Beorn to +another, and there left me. The darkness came, and they brought me +food, so I ate and drank, being very hungry and weary; and that +done, my thoughts passed from me, for I slept heavily, worn out +both in body and mind. + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE JUSTICE OF EARL ULFKYTEL. + + +An armed jailor woke me with daylight, bringing me food again, and +at first I was dazed, not knowing where I was, so heavy was my +sleep. Yet I knew that I woke to somewhat ill. + +"Where am I?" I asked. + +"Under Caistor walls, surely," he said; and I remembered all. + +The man looked friendly enough, so that I spoke again to him, +asking if the great earl was here, and he said that he was. + +"What do men say?" I asked then. + +"That the matter is like to puzzle the earl himself, so that it is +hard for a plain man to unriddle. But I think that half Reedham are +here to see justice done you; even if it is naught but Earl +Ulfkytel's justice!" And he grinned. + +I knew why. For Ulfkytel was ever a just man, though severe, and +his justice was a word with us, though in a strange way enough. For +if a case was too hard for him to decide in his own mind, he would +study to find some way in which the truth might make itself known, +as it were. Nor did he hold much with trial by hot water, or heated +ploughshares, and the like; finding new ways of his own contriving, +which often brought the truth plainly to light, but which no other +man would have thought of. So that if a man, in doing or planning +some ill to another, was himself hurt, we would laugh and say: +"That is like the earl's justice". + +So though Ulfkytel was no friend of my father's, having, indeed, +some old quarrel about rights of manor or the like, I thought +nothing of that, save that he would the sooner send me to the king +for trial. + +The jailor told me that I should be tried at noonday, and went +away, and so I waited patiently as I might until then, keeping +thought quiet as best I could by looking forward and turning over +what I could say, which seemed to be nothing but the plain truth. + +At last the weary waiting ended, and they took me into the great +hall of the castle, and there on the high seat sat the earl, a +thin, broad-shouldered man, with a long gray beard and gray eyes, +that glittered bright and restless under shaggy eyebrows. Beorn, +too, was brought in at the same time, and we were set opposite to +one another, to right and left of the earl, below the high place, +closely watched by the armed guards, bound also, though not +tightly, and only as to our hands. + +And there on a trestle table before us lay the body of Jarl +Lodbrok, my friend, in whose side was my broken arrow. All the +lower end of the hall was filled with the people, and I saw my two +serfs there, and many Reedham folk. + +Then the court was set, and with the earl were many men whom I knew +by sight, honest thanes and franklins enough, and of that I was +glad. + +First of all one read, in the ears of all, that of which we two who +were there bound were accused, giving the names of those half-dozen +men who had found us fighting and had brought us for judgment. + +Then said Earl Ulfkytel: + +"Here is a matter that is not easy in itself, and I will not hide +this, that the father of this Wulfric and I are unfriendly, and +that Beorn has been a friend of mine, though no close one. +Therefore is more need that I must be very careful that justice is +not swayed by my knowledge and thoughts of the accused. So I put +that away from me; I know naught of these two men but what I hear +from witnesses." + +Some people at the end of the hall sought to praise the even +handedness of that saying loudly, but the earl frowned and shouted: + +"Silence!--shall a judge be praised for doing right?" + +"Then," said he, growing quiet again, and speaking plainly and +slowly that all might hear, "this is how the matter stands. Here +are two men found fighting over the body of a third who is known, +as men say, to have been friendly with both. No man saw the +beginning of the business. Now we will hear what was seen, but +first let this Wulfric speak for himself;" and he turned his bright +eyes on me. + +Now I told him all the truth from the time when I parted from +Lodbrok until the men came. + +Then the earl asked me: + +"Why thought you that Beorn slew the man?" + +"Because there was no other man near, and because I know that he +bore ill will towards him for the favour shown him by the king." + +"So," said Ulfkytel; "now let Beorn speak." + +Then that evil man, being very crafty, did not deny my words, but +said that he had found the body lying with my arrow in its side. +And though he knew not why I had done the deed, for the sake of his +friendship with my father and myself he would have hidden it, and +even as he did so I came, falling on him. Whereon he grew wroth, +and fought. + +"It seems to me," said the earl, "that a word from you should +rather have made Wulfric help you and thank you; not fall on you. +Now let the witnesses say their say." + +So they stood forward, telling naught but the truth, as honest men. +And they seemed to think much of Beorn's having cried out for +revenge. Also they showed the arrow, which fitted exactly to the +headed end which was in Lodbrok's side, and was the same as two +that were in my quiver with others. Now if Beorn shot that arrow he +must have made away with both bow and quiver, for he had none when +we were taken. + +Then one of the other thanes said that the dead man had another +wound, and that in the throat, and it was so, Whereon the jailer +was bidden to bring our swords, and it was found that both were +stained, for I had wounded Beorn a little, as I have said. + +"Is Wulfric wounded then?" asked Ulfkytel. + +And I was not. + +"Whence then is Beorn's sword stained?" he asked. + +Then came my two thralls, and spoke to the truth of my story, as +did one of the men who had stayed with them, for he too had seen +the deer hanging where I had left it, nearly a mile away from where +the fight was. And my men added that they had seen me riding to +that place, and had followed the call of my horn. + +"Murderers do not call thus for help," said the earl. "What more?" + +"Only that Lodbrok's dog flew at Beorn;" they said. + +Then my steward and others told the story of my saving of Lodbrok, +and there were one or two who knew how closely Beorn seemed to have +sought his friendship. There was no more then to be said. + +All the while Ulfkytel had watched my face and Beorn's, and now he +said: + +"The arrow condemns Wulfric, but any man might pick up a good arrow +that he had lost. And the sword condemns Beorn, but there are many +ways in which it might be bloodstained in that affair. Now, were +these two robbers, I would hold that they were fighting over +division of booty, but they are honourable men. Wherefore I will +have one more witness who knows not how to lie. Fetch the dog." + +So they brought Lodbrok's dog, which the serfs had with them, and +they loosed it. It ran to his body first and cried over it, pulling +his coat with its paws and licking his face, so that it was pitiful +to see it, and there were women present who wept thereat. + +Then it left him and came to me, thrusting its nose into my hand, +but I would not notice it, for justice's sake; but when it saw +Beorn, it bristled up, flying at his throat so that he fell under +it, and the guards had much ado in getting it off, and one was +bitten. + +"The dog condemns Beorn," said the earl, "but Wulfric bred it." + +After that he would have no more witness; but now should each of us +lay hand on the body and swear that he was guiltless. + +They brought a book of the Holy Gospels and put it on Lodbrok's +breast, and first I laid my hand thereon, looking into the quiet +face of the man whose life I had saved, and sware truly. + +Then must Beorn confess or swear falsely, and I looked at him and +his cheek was pale. But he, too, laid hand on the dread book in its +awful place and sware that he was innocent--and naught happened. +For I looked, as I think many looked, to see the blood start from +the wound that he had given the jarl, but it was not so. There was +no sign. Then crossed my mind the first doubt that I had had that +Beorn was guilty. Yet I knew he lied in some things, and the doubt +passed away quickly. + +Then Ulfkytel pushed away the table from before him so that it fell +over. + +"Take these men away," he said. "I have heard and seen enough. I +will think!" + +They led us away to the cells again, and I wondered how all this +would end. In an hour they brought us back, and set us in our +places again. The earl had more to say, as it seemed. + +"Will you two pay the weregild {xi} between you?" + +"No, Lord Earl," I said; "that were to confess guilt, which would +be a lie." + +Then Beorn cried: + +"I pray you, Wulfric, let us pay and have done!" + +But I turned from him in loathing. + +"Ho, Master Falconer," said Ulfkytel, "the man is an outlander! To +whom will you pay it? To Wulfric who saved his life?" + +Now at that Beorn was dumb, seeing that the earl had trapped him +very nearly, and he grew ashy pale, and the great earl scowled at +him. + +"Let me have trial by battle," I said quietly, thinking that it +would be surely granted. + +There was as good reason to suspect me as Beorn, as I saw. + +"Silence, Wulfric!" said the earl. "That is for me to say." + +"Let the king judge, I pray you, Lord Earl," I went on, for he +spoke in no angry tone, nor looked at me. + +However, that angered him, for, indeed, it was hard to say whether +king or earl was more powerful in East Anglia. Maybe Eadmund's +power came by love, and that of the earl by the strong hand. But +the earl was most loyal. + +"What!" he said in a great voice, "am I not earl? And shall the +king be troubled with common manslayers while I sit in his seat of +justice? Go to! I am judge, and will answer to the king for what I +do." + +So I was silent, waiting for what should come next. + +But he forgot me in a minute, and seemed to be thinking. + +At last he said: + +"One of these men is guilty, but I know not which." + +And so he summed up all that he had heard, and as he did so it +seemed, even to me, that proofs of guilt were evenly balanced, so +that once again I half thought that Beorn might be wronged in the +accusation, as I was. + +"So," he ended, "friend has slain friend, and friends have fought, +and there is no question of a third man in the matter." + +He looked round on the honest faces with him, and saw that they +were puzzled and had naught to say, and went on: + +"Wherefore, seeing that these men have had trial by battle already, +which was stopped, and that the slain man was a foreigner from over +seas and has no friends to speak concerning him, I have a mind to +put the judgment into the hands of the greatest Judge of all. As +Lodbrok the Dane came by sea, these men shall be judged upon the +sea by Him who is over all. And surely the innocent shall escape, +and the guilty shall be punished in such sort that he shall wish +that I had been wise enough to see his guilt plainly and to hang +him for treachery to his friend and the king's, or else to put him +into ward until some good bishop asks for pardon for ill doing." + +And with that half promise he looked sharply at us to see if any +sign would come from the murderer. + +But I had naught to say, nor did I seem to care just now what +befell me, while Beorn was doubtless fearful lest the wrath of +Eadmund the King should prevail in the end were he to be imprisoned +only. So he answered not, and the earl frowned heavily. + +Now one of the franklins there, who knew me well enough, said: + +"Wulfric, be not ashamed to confess it, if for once you shot +ill--if your arrow went by chance to Lodbrok's heart, I pray you, +say so. It may well be forgiven." + +Very grateful was I for that kind word, but I would not plead +falsely, nor, indeed, would it have told aught of the other wound +that had been made. So I shook my head, thanking the man, and +saying that it was not so. + +Now I think that the earl had planned this in order to make one of +us speak at the last, and for a moment I thought that Beorn was +about to speak, but he forbore. Then Ulfkytel sighed heavily and +turned away, speaking in a low voice to the thanes with him, and +they seemed to agree with his words. + +At length he turned to us and spoke gravely: + +"It is, as I said, too hard for me. The Lord shall judge. Even as +Lodbrok came shall you two go, at the mercy of wind and wave and of +Him who rules them. You shall be put into Lodbrok's boat this +night, and set adrift to take what may come. Only this I lay upon +you, that the innocent man shall not harm the guilty. As for +himself, he need, as I think, have no fear, for the guilty man is a +coward and nidring {xii}. Nor, as it seems to me, if all may be +believed, can the guiltless say for certain that the other did it." + +Then was a murmur of assent to this strange manner of justice of +Earl Ulfkytel's, and I, who feared not the sea, was glad; but Beorn +would have fallen on the ground, but for his guards, and almost had +he confessed, as I think. + +"Eat and drink well," said Ulfkytel, "for maybe it is long before +you see food again." + +"Where shall you set them afloat?" asked a thane. + +"Am I a fool to let men know that?" asked the earl sharply. "There +would be a rescue for a certainty. You shall know by and by in +private." + +The guards took us away, and unbinding our hands, set plenty of +good food and drink before us. And for my part I did well, for now +that I knew the worst my spirits rose, and I had some hopes of +escape, for there was every sign of fair weather for long enough. +And viking ways had taught me to go fasting for two days, if need +be, given a good meal to start upon. + +But Beorn ate little and drank much, while the guards bade him take +example from me, but he would not; and after a while sat silent in +a corner and ghastly to look upon, for no one cared to meddle with +him. + +As soon as it grew dusk they bade us eat again, for in half an hour +we should set forth to the coast. At that Beorn started up and +cried out, wringing his hands and groaning, though he said no word, +except that I should surely slay him in the boat. + +Then I spoke to him for the first time since he had claimed the +falcon, and said that from me, at least, he was safe. And I spoke +roughly, so that I think he believed me, so plain did I make it +that I thought one who was surely cowardly in word and deed was not +worth harming, and he ceased his outcry. + +At last we were set on horseback, and with two score or more +mounted spearmen round us, we rode quickly out of Caistor town. A +few men shouted and ran after us, but the guards spurred their +horses, and it was of no use for them to try and follow. And the +night was dark and foggy, though not cold for the time of year. + +I feared lest we were going to Reedham, for there my folk would +certainly rise in arms to rescue me, and that would have made +things hard for them; but we went on southward, riding very fast, +until after many long miles we came to the little hill of the other +Burgh that stands where Waveney parts in two streams, one eastward +to the sea, and the other northward to join the Yare mouth. + +The moon had risen by the time we came there, and I could see a +large fishing boat at the staithe, and, alas! alongside of her a +smaller boat that I knew so well--that in which Lodbrok had come, +and in which I had passed so many pleasant hours with him. Then the +thought crossed my mind that what he had taught me of her was like +to be my safety now; but my mind was dazed by all the strange +things that came into it, and I tried not to think. Only I wondered +if Ulfkytel had got the boat without a struggle with our people. + +The earl was there with a few more thanes and many more guards, and +they waited by the waterside. + +One man started from beside the earl as we came, and rode swiftly +towards us. It was Egfrid, my brother-in-law to be--if this did not +bring all that fair plan to naught. + +He cried out to the men to stay, and they, knowing who he was, did +so, and made no trouble about his coming to my side. There he +reined up his horse, and laid his hand on my shoulder. + +"Alas for this meeting, my brother!" he cried. "What can I do? Men +came and told me of rumour that was flying about concerning this +business, and I have ridden hard to get to Reedham, but I met the +earl, who told me all. And I have prayed him to let the king judge, +but he will not, saying that his mind is fixed on higher +judgment--and you know what he is." + +Then I said: + +"So that you hold me not guilty, my brother, I mind not so much; +for if I must die you will take my place, and my father will not be +without a son. + +"I think you guilty!" he cried; "how could that be? Shame on me +were I to dream thereof--and on any man of all who know you who +would deem you could be so." + +"Have you heard all?" + +"Aye, for the earl has told me very patiently, being kind, for all +his strange ways. At last I told him that his wish for justice +blinded his common sense. And at that, instead of being wrath, he +smiled at me as on a child, and said, 'What know you of justice?'; +so that I was as one who would beat down a stone wall with his +fists---helpless. He is not to be moved. What can I do?" and almost +did he weep for my hard case. + +"Let things go their own way, my brother," I said gently. "I do not +fear the sea, nor this man here--Beorn. Do you go to Reedham and +tend Lodbrok's hawk for me, and send word to my father, that he may +come home, and to the king, so that Lodbrok may have honourable +burial." + +He promised me those things, and then went back upon the slaying of +Lodbrok, asking how it came about. + +I told him what I thought thereof; and Beorn, who must needs listen +to all this, ground his teeth and cursed under his breath, for +there seemed to have come some desperate fury on him in place of +his cold despair of an hour since. + +And when Egfrid had heard all, he raised his hand and swore that +not one stone of Beorn's house should be unblackened by fire by +this time tomorrow night, and as he said it he turned to Beorn, +shaking and white with wrath. + +"Let that be," I answered him quickly; "no good, but much harm may +come therefrom. Wait but six months, and then maybe I shall be +back." + +Now while we had thus spoken together, Ulfkytel had dismounted and +was holding some converse with a man whose figure I could not well +make out, even had I cared to try, in the dark shadow of horses and +riders which stayed the moonlight from them. But at this time the +stranger came towards us, and I saw that it was the priest who +served the Church of St. Peter, hard by where we stood. He came to +Beorn first, and spoke to him in a low voice, earnestly; but Beorn +paid no sort of heed to him, but turned his head away, cursing yet. +So after a few more words, the priest came to me. + +"Wulfric," he said, "sad am I to see you thus. But justice is +justice, and must be done." + +"Aye, Father," I answered, "and right will prevail." + +"Maybe we shall see it do so," he answered shortly, not seeming +willing to hold much converse with me; "but it is likely that you +go to your death on the wide sea. Many a man have I shriven at the +point of death--and Ulfkytel the Earl will not hold me back from +your side--an you will." + +Thereat I was very glad, for I knew that the risks before me were +very great, and I said as much. + +Then he took the bridle of my horse and began to lead me on one +side, and the guards hindered him until Ulfkytel shouted to them to +draw aside in such wise as to prevent my riding off, though, bound +as I was, it had been of little use to try to do so. Then they let +the priest take me out of earshot, and maybe posted themselves in +some way round us, though I heeded them not. + +So then in that strange way I, bound and on horseback, confessed; +and weeping over me at last, with all his coldness forgotten, the +priest of Burgh shrived me and blessed me, bidding me keep a good +heart; for, if not in this world, then at the last would all be +made right, and I should have honour. + +After that he went once more to Beorn, but he was deaf to his +pleading, and so he went away to the church, speaking no word to +any man, and with his head bent as with the weight of knowledge +that must not be told, and maybe with sorrow that the other +prisoner, if guilty, would not seek for pardon from the Judge into +whose hand he was about to go. + +But as for me, this thing was good, and a wondrous comfort to me, +and I went back to Egfrid with a cheerful heart, ready to face +aught that might come. + +Now the earl called to the guards from the water's edge, saying +that the time was come, and we rode towards him, and I made Egfrid +promise that he would hold his hand, at least till my father came. + +Now they drew my boat to the shore, and they took Beorn from his +horse first, and often have I wondered that he did not confess, but +he said no word, and maybe his senses had left him by reason of his +terror. They haled him to the boat and unbound him, setting him in +the bows, where he sank down, seeming helpless, but staring away +from shore over the sparkling waters that he feared. + +Then came my turn, and of my own will I stepped into the boat, +looking her over to see that all was there as when Lodbrok came. +And all was there, though that was little enough. The one oar, the +baler, and a few fathoms of line on the floorboards. + +Now as I had nothing to lose by speaking, I cried to the earl +concerning the one matter that troubled me. + +"Earl Ulfkytel, I pray you forgive my poor folk if they fought for +me when you took the boat." + +"They knew not why it was taken," he answered quietly. "I sent a +messenger before I gave sentence. But I should not have blamed them +had they fought, knowing all." + +Then a rough man who tended the boat called out: + +"Ho, Lord Earl, are these murderers to go forth with gold on arm +and hand?" for we had been stripped of naught but our arms, and I +suppose the man coveted these things. + +But the earl answered: + +"Which is the murderer? I know not. When his time comes stripped he +will be of life itself. Let the men be," and then in a moment he +asked one by him; "what weapons had Lodbrok when he came?" + +"Only a dagger," answered the thane to whom he spoke. "Or so men +say." + +"That is true," I said plainly. + +"Give the men their daggers," then said the earl; and when one told +him that we should use them on each other, he answered: + +"I think they will not; do my bidding!" + +So they threw my hunting knife to me, and I girded it on. But +Beorn's dagger fell on the floor of the boat, and he paid no heed +to it, not even turning his head. + +Then the earl and three thanes went on board the fishing boat, and +Egfrid would fain have come with him. But I signed him back, and +when the fishermen put out oars and pushed from the shore, towing +us with them, he ran waist deep into the water, and clasped my hand +for the last time, weeping. + +Then the shore grew dim to my eyes, and I put my head in my hands +and would look no more. Soon I heard only the wash and creak of the +large boat's oars, and a murmured word or two from those on board +her. Then from Burgh Tower came the tolling of the bell, as for the +dying, and that was the last voice of England that I heard as we +went from shore to sea. + +But at that sound came hope back to me, for it seemed to me as the +voice of Bosham bell calling for help that should come to myself, +as I had been called in time of need by the like sound to the help +of St. Wilfrith's men. And straightway I remembered the words of +the good prior, and was comforted, for surely if St. Wilfrith's +might could sink the pirate ship it would be put forth for me upon +the waters. So I prayed for that help if it might be given, and for +the Hand of Him who is over all things, even as the prior had +bidden me understand. + +Whereupon I was in no more trouble about myself, and now I began to +hope that the still weather might even bring Halfden's ship to find +me. + +So we passed from river to broad, and from broad to sea, and went +in tow of the fishing boat until we came to that place, as nearly +as might be, where I had saved Lodbrok. I could see the sparkle of +our village lights, or thought I could. + +There they cast us off, and for a few minutes the two boats lay +side by side on the gently-heaving water, for the wind was +offshore, and little sea was running. + +Then the earl rose up, lifting his hand and saying, very solemnly: + +"Farewell, thou who art innocent. Blame not my blindness, nor think +ill of me. For I do my best, leaving you in the Hand of God, and +not of man!" + +So he spoke; then the oars swung and fell, and in a few moments his +boat was gone into the shoreward shadows and we were alone, and I +was glad. + +Now I looked at Beorn, and I thought him strangely still, and so +watched him. But I soon saw that he was in some sort of fit or +swoon, and paid no heed to aught. Yet I thought it well to take his +dagger from where it lay, lest he should fall on me in some frenzy. + +I took up the weapon, and straightway I longed to draw it and end +his life at once, while all sorts of plans for escape thereafter +came into my mind. But I could not slay a helpless man, even this +one, though I sat fingering the dagger for a long while. At last +the evilness of these thoughts was plain to me; so quickly I cast +the dagger overboard, and it was gone. + +Then I thought I would sleep while I might, for there was no sea to +fear, and the tide set with the wind away from shore from the river +mouth, as I knew well, for it was ebbing. It was weary work to +watch the land growing less and less plain under the moon. Yet I +feared Beorn's treachery, and doubted for a while, until the coil +of rope that lay at my feet caught my eye as I pondered. With that +I made no more ado, but took it and bound him lightly, so that at +least he could not rise up unheard by me. Nor did he stir or do +aught but breathe heavily and slowly as I handled him. When he +roused I knew that I could so deal with him that I might unbind +him. + +After that I slept, and slept well, rocked by the gentle rise and +fall of the waves, until daylight came again. + + + +CHAPTER VII. HOW WULFRIC CAME TO JUTLAND. + + +It was Beorn who woke me. Out of his swoon, or whatever it was that +had taken his senses, he woke with a start and shudder that brought +me from sleep at once, thinking that the boat had touched ground. +But there was no land in sight now, and all around me was the wide +circle of the sea, and over against me Beorn, my evil companion, +glowering at me with a great fear written on his face. + +Now as I woke and saw him, my hand went at once to the dagger at my +side, as my first waking thoughts felt troubled by reason of all he +had done, though it was but for a moment. Thereat he cried out, +praying me to have mercy on him, and tried to rise, going near to +capsize the boat. Indeed, I cannot believe that the man had ever +been in a boat before. + +"Lie down," I said, speaking sharply, as to a dog, "or you will +drown us both before the time!" + +He was still enough then, fearing the water more than steel, as it +seemed, or seeing that I meant him no harm. + +Then I spoke plainly to him. + +"I will harm you not. But your life is in my hands in two ways. I +can slay you by water or dagger for one thing; or for another, I +think I can take this boat to shore at some place where you are not +known, and so let you live a little longer. And in any case I have +a mind to try to save my own life; thus if you will obey me so that +I may tend the boat, yours shall be saved with it, so far as I am +concerned. But if you hinder me, die you must in one way or +another!" + +Now he saw well enough that his only hope lay in my power to take +the boat safely across the water, and so promised humbly to obey me +in all things if I would but spare him and get the boat to shore +quickly. So I unbound him and coiled the rope at my feet again, +bidding him lie down amidships and be still. + +Many a time men have asked me why I slew him not, or cast him not +overboard, thus being troubled no more with him. Most surely I +would have slain him when we fought, in the white heat of +anger--and well would it have been if Ulfkytel had doomed him to +death, as judge. But against this helpless, cringing wretch, whose +punishment was even now falling on him, how could I lift hand? It +seemed to me, moreover, that I was, as it were, watching to see +when the stroke of doom would fall on him, as the earl said it +surely must on the guilty. + +The wind freshened, and the boat began to sing through the water, +for it needed little to drive her well. My spirits rose, so that I +felt almost glad to be on the sea again, but Beorn waxed sick and +lay groaning till he was worn out and fell asleep. + +Now the breeze blew from the southwest, warm and damp, as it had +held for a long time during this winter, which was open and mild so +far. And this was driving us over the same track which Lodbrok had +taken as he came from his own place. There was no hope of making +the English shore again, and so I thought it well to do even as the +jarl, and rear up the floorboards in such wise as to use them for a +sail to hasten us wherever we might go. + +So I roused Beorn, and showed him how to bestow himself out of my +way, and made sail, as one might say. At once the boat seemed to +come to life, flying from wave to wave before the wind, and I made +haste to ship the long oar, so that I could steer her with it. + +And when I went aft, there, in the sharp hollow of the stern that I +had uncovered, lay two great loaves and a little breaker of water. +Now I could not tell, and do not know even to this day, what kindly +man hid these things for us, but I blessed him for his charity, for +now our case was better than Lodbrok's in two ways, that we had no +raging gale and sea to wrestle against, and the utmost pangs of +hunger and thirst we were not to feel. Three days and two nights +had he been on his voyage. We might be a day longer with this +breeze, but the bread, at least, we need not touch till tomorrow. +But Beorn slept heavily again, and I told him not of this store as +yet, for I thought that he would but turn from it just now. Which +was well, for he could not bear a fast as could I. + +So the long day wore through, and ever the breeze held, and the +boat flew before it. Night fell, and the dim moon rose up, and +still we went east and north swiftly. The long white wake stretched +straight astern of us, and Beorn slept deeply, worn out; and the +sea ran evenly and not very high, so that at last I dared to lash +the oar in its place and sleep in snatches, waking now and then to +the lift of a greater wave, or catching the rushing in my ears as +some heavier-crested billow rose astern of us. But the boat was +swift as the seas, and there was nothing to fear. Nor was the cold +great at any time, except towards early morning before the first +light of dawn. Moreover, the boat sailed in better trim with two +men in her. + +Gray morning came, and the seas were longer and deeper, for we were +far on the wide sea. All day long was it the same, wave after wave, +gray sky overhead, and the steady breeze ever bearing us onward. +Once it rained, and I caught the water in the bailer and drank +heartily, giving his fill to Beorn, and with it I ate some of my +loaf, and he took half of his. Then slowly came night, and at last +I waxed lonely, for all this while I had kept a hope that I might +see the sail of Halfden's ship, but there was no glint of canvas +between sky and sea, and my hope was gone as the darkness fell. + +So I sang, to cheer myself, raising my voice in the sea song that I +had made and that Lodbrok had loved. And when that was done I sang +the song of Bosham bell, with the ending that the gleeman on +Colchester Hill had made. + +Thereat Beorn raised his head and, snarling at me like an angry +dog, bade me cease singing of shipwreck. But I heeded him not, and +so I sang and he cursed, until at last he wept like an angry child, +and I held my peace. + +I did not dare sleep that night, for the wind freshened, and at +times we might see naught but sky above us and the waves ahead and +astern of the boat, though to one who knew how to handle his craft +there was no danger in them. But from time to time Beorn cried out +as the boat slid swiftly down the slope of a great wave, hovered, +and rose on the next, and I feared that he would leap up in his +terror and end all. + +"Bide still or I will bind you," I said at last to him, and he hid +his face in his arms, and was quiet again. + +Worn out when day broke was I, and again I ate and gave to Beorn, +and he would eat all his loaf, though I bade him spare it, for I +knew not how long yet we might be before we saw land. And that +seemed to change his mood, and he began to scowl at me, though he +dared say little, and so sat still in his place, glowering at me +evilly. + +Presently came a whale, spouting near us, and that terrified him, +so that he cried to me to save him from it, as though I had power +on the seas more than had other men. But it soon went away, and he +forgot his terror, beginning to blame me for not having gained the +shore yet. + +I could say nothing, for I knew not how far we had run; yet we had +come a long way, and I thought that surely we must have sailed as +swiftly as Lodbrok, for the sea had favoured us rather than given +trouble. Even now I thought the colour of the water changed a +little, and I began to think that we neared some land at last. + +As the sun set, the wind shifted more to the westward, and I +thought a change was coming. It was very dark overhead until the +waning moon rose. + +Now, soon after moonrise Beorn began to groan, in his sleep as I +thought; but presently he rose up, stiffly, from long sitting, and +I saw that his eyes were flashing, and his face working strangely +in the pale moonlight. I bade him lie down again, but he did not, +and then I saw that he was surely out of his mind through the +terror of the sea and the long nothingness of the voyage to which +he was all unused. Then he made for me with a shout, and I saw that +I must fight for my life. So I closed with him and dragged him down +to the bottom of the boat, and there we two struggled, till I +thought that the end was come. + +The boat plunged and listed, and once was nearly over, but at that +new strength came to me, and at last I forced his shoulders under +the midship thwart, and held him there so that he could by no means +rise. Then all his fury went, and he became weak, so that I reached +out with one hand for the line and bound him easily, hand and foot. +I set him back in his place, and the water washed over his face as +he lay, for we had shipped a good deal in the lurches our struggle +caused. Then he was still, and as on the first night, seemed to +sleep, breathing very heavily. + +So I left him bound, and bailed the water out. Then knew I how weak +I was. Yet I held on, steering from wave to wave as though I could +not help it. + +Once, towards morning, there came a booming in my ears, and a +faintness, for I was all but done. But the boat dashed into a wave, +and the cold spray flew over me and roused me to know the danger, +so I took my last crust and ate it, and was refreshed a little. + +But when the morning broke cold and gray over brown waves, there, +against one golden line of sunlight, rose the black steady barrier +of a low-lying coast, and round the boat the gulls were screaming +their welcome. + +Then came over me a dull fear that I should be lost in sight of +land, and a great sorrow and longing for the English shore in place +of this, for never had I seen sunrise over land before from the +open sea, and hunger and thirst gnawed at me, and I longed for rest +from this tossing of sea, and wave--and always waves. Then I looked +in Beorn's evil face, and I thought that he was dead, but that to +me seemed to matter not. + +Swiftly rose up the coast from out the sea, and I saw that it was +like our East Anglian shore, forest covered and dark, but with pine +and birch instead of oak and alder. The boat was heading straight +through a channel; past sands over which I could see the white line +of the tide on either side, and that chance seemed not strange to +me, but as part of all that was to be and must be. + +Then the last rollers were safely past, and the boat's keel grated +on sand--and I forgot my weakness, and sprang out into the shallow +water, dragging her up with the next wave and out of reach of the +surges. + +Then I saw that the tide was falling, and that I had naught more to +do, for we were safe. With that I gave way at last, and reeled and +fell on the sand, for my strength could bear no more, and I deemed +that I should surely die. + +I think that I fell into a great sleep for a while, for I came to +myself presently, refreshed, and rose up. + +The tide had ebbed a long way, and the sun was high above me, so +that I must have been an hour or two there upon the sand. I went +and looked at Beorn. + +His swoon seemed to have passed into sleep, and I unbound him, and +as I did so he murmured as if angry, though he did not wake. + +Then I thought that I would leave him there for some other to find, +and try to make my way to house or village where I might get food. +I could send men thence to seek him, but I cared not if I never set +eyes on him again, hoping, indeed, that I should not do so. + +So I turned and walked inland through the thin forest for a little +way, stumbling often, but growing stronger and less stiff as I +went, though I must needs draw my belt tight to stay the pangs of +hunger, seeing that one loaf is not overmuch for such a voyage and +such stern work as mine had been, body and mind alike unresting. + +Nor had I far to go, for not more than a mile from shore I saw a +good hut standing in a little clearing; and it was somewhat like +our own cottages, timber-framed, with wattle and clay walls, but +with thatch of heather instead of our tall reeds, and when I came +near, I saw that the timber was carved with twisted patterns round +door and window frames. + +No dog came out at me, and no one answered when I called, and so at +last I lifted the latch and went in. There was no one, but the +people could not be far off, for meat and bread and a great pitcher +of ale stood on the round log that served for table, as if the meal +was set against speedy homecoming, and the fire was banked up with +peats, only needing stirring to break into a blaze. + +Rough as it all was, it looked very pleasant to me, and after I had +called once or twice I sat down, even as I should have done in our +own land, and ate a hearty meal, and drank of the thin ale, and was +soon myself again. I had three silver pennies, besides the gold +bracelet on my arm that I wore as the king's armour bearer and +weapon thane, and was sure of welcome, so when I had done I sat by +the fire and waited till someone should come whom I might thank. + +Once I thought of carrying food to Beorn, but a great hatred and +loathing of the man and his deed came over me, and I would not see +him again. And, indeed, it was likely that he would come here also, +as I had done, when he woke; so that when at last I heard footsteps +I feared lest it should be he. + +But this comer whistled cheerfully as he came, and the tune was one +that I had often heard men sing when I was with Halfden. It was the +old "Biarkamal", the song of Biark the Viking. + +Now at that I was very glad, for of all things I had most feared +lest I should fall on the Frisian shores, for if so, I should +surely be made a slave, and maybe sold by the lord of the coast to +which I came. But Danes have no traffic in slaves, holding freedom +first of all things. And that is one good thing that the coming of +the Danish host has taught to us, for many a Saxon's riches came +from trading in lives of men. + +Then the door was pushed open, for I had left it ajar, and in came +a great dog like none we have in England. I thought him a wolf at +first, so gray and strong was he, big enough and fierce enough +surely to pull down any forest beast, and I liked not the savage +look of him. But, though he bristled and growled at first sight of +me, when he saw that I sat still as if I had some right to be +there, he came and snuffed round me, and before his master came we +were good friends enough, if still a little doubtful. But I never +knew a dog that would fly at me yet, so that I think they know well +enough who are their friends, though by some sign of face or voice +that is beyond my knowledge. + +Now came the man, who edged through the door with a great bundle of +logs for the fire, which he cast down without looking at me, only +saying: + +"Ho, Rolf! back again so early? Where is the Jarl?" + +Now I knew that he was a Dane, and so I answered in his own way: + +"Not Rolf, but a stranger who has made free with Rolf's dinner." + +Whereat the man laughed, setting hands on hips and staring at me. + +"So it is!" he said; "settle that matter with brother Rolf when he +comes in, for strangers are scarce here." + +Then he scanned my dress closely, and maybe saw that they were sea +stained, though hunting gear is made for hard wear and shows +little. + +"Let me eat first," he said, sitting down, "and then we will talk." + +But after he had taken a few mouthfuls, he asked: + +"Are there any more of you about?" + +"One more," I said, "but I left him asleep in the boat that brought +us here. We are from the sea, having been blown here." + +"Then he may bide till he wakes," the man said, going on with his +meal. + +Presently he stopped eating, and after taking a great draught of +ale, said that he wondered the dog had not torn me. + +"Whereby I know you to be an honest man. For I cannot read a man's +face as some can, and therefore trust to the dog, who is never +wrong," and he laughed and went on eating. + +Now that set me thinking of what account I might give of myself, +and I thought that I would speak the truth plainly, though there +was no reason to say more than that we were blown off the English +coast. What Beorn would say I knew not; most likely he would lie, +but if so, things must work themselves out. + +I looked at the man in whose house I was, and was pleased with him. +Red haired and blue eyed he was, with a square, honest face and +broad shoulders, and his white teeth shone beneath a red beard that +covered half his face. + +When he had eaten even more than I, he laughed loudly, saying that +brother Rolf would have to go short this time, and then came and +sat by the fire over against me, and waited for me to say my say. + +So I told him how we had come, and at that he stared at me as our +folk stared at Lodbrok, and started up, crying that he must go and +see this staunch boat that had served me so well. + +"Bide here and rest," he said, "and I will bring your comrade to +you," and with that he swung out of the house, taking the dog with +him. And at once the thought of leaving the hut and plunging into +the forest came into my mind, but I knew not why I should do so, +except that I would not see Beorn again. However, there was a third +man now, and I would see what befell him. + +Now I waited long, and had almost fallen asleep beside the warm +fire, when I heard a horn away in the woods, and roused up to +listen. Twice or thrice it sounded, and then I heard it answered +from far off. So I supposed that there was a hunt going on. + +Then I heard no more, and fell asleep in earnest; for I needed rest +badly, as one might well suppose. + +Something touched my hand and I awoke. It was the great dog, who +came and thrust his nose against me, having made up his mind to be +friendly altogether. So when his master came in I was fondling his +head, and he looked puzzled. + +"Say what men will," he said, "I know you are an honest man!" + +"Do you hold that any will doubt it?" I asked, wondering what he +meant; for he looked strangely at me. + +"Aye; the jarl has found your boat, and has sent me back to keep +you fast. Know you whose boat you have?" + +"It belonged to Jarl Lodbrok, who came ashore in it, as I have come +here--and he gave it me." + +"Hammer of Thor!" said the man. "Is the jarl alive?" + +"What know you of him?" I asked. + +"He was our jarl--ours," he answered. + +"Who is the other jarl you speak of?" I asked him, with a hope that +Halfden had come home, for now I knew that we had indeed followed +Lodbrok's track exactly. + +"How should it be other than Ingvar Lodbroksson? for we have held +that Lodbrok, his father, is dead this many a long day." + +"Let me go to the jarl," I said, rising up. "I would speak with +him," for I would, if possible, tell him the truth, before Beorn +could frame lies that might work ill to both of us, or perhaps to +me most of all. Yet I thought that I saw the shadow of judgment +falling on the murderer. + +"Bide quiet," said the man; "he will be here soon." + +And then he said, looking from me to the dog, "Now I hold you as a +true man, therefore I will tell you this--anger not the jarl when +he speaks to you." + +"Thanks, friend!" I answered heartily, "I think I shall not do +that. Is he like his father?" + +The man laughed shortly, only saying: + +"Is darkness like daylight?" + +"Then he is not like Jarl Halfden." + +Now the honest man was going to ask in great wonder how I knew of +him, when there came the quick trot of horses to the door, and a +stern voice, which had in its tones somewhat familiar to me, called +him: + +"Raud, come forth!" + +My host started up, and saying, "It is Jarl Ingvar," went to the +door, while I too rose and followed him, for I would not seem to +avoid meeting the son of Lodbrok, my friend. + +"Where is this stranger?" said the jarl's voice; "bring him forth." + +Raud turned to beckon me, but I was close to him, and came out of +the hut unbidden. + +There sat a great man, clad in light chain mail and helmed, with +his double-headed axe slung to his saddle bow, but seeming to have +come from hunting, for he carried a short, broad-pointed boar +spear, and on the wrist of his bridle hand sat a hooded hawk like +Lodbrok's. His face had in it a look both of his father and of +Halfden, but it was hard and stern; and whereas they had brown +hair, his was jet black as a raven's wing. Maybe he was ten years +older than Halfden. + +There were five or six other men, seemingly of rank, and on +horseback also, behind him, but they wore no armour, and were in +hunting gear only, and again there were footmen, leading hounds +like the great one that stood by Raud and me. And two men there +were who led between them Beorn, holding him lest he should fall, +either from weakness or terror, close to the jarl. + +So I stood before Ingvar the Jarl, and wondered how things would +go, and what Beorn had said, though I had no fear of him. And as +the jarl gazed at me I raised my hand, saying in the viking's +greeting: + +"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!" + +At that he half raised hand in answer, but checked himself, saying +shortly: + +"Who are you, and how come you by my father's boat?" + +I was about to answer, but at that word it seemed that for the +first time Beorn learnt into whose hands he had fallen, and he fell +on his knees between his two guards, crying for mercy. I think that +he was distraught with terror, for his words were thick and broken, +and he had forgotten that none but I knew of his ill deed. + +That made the jarl think that somewhat was amiss, and he bade his +men bind us both. + +"Bind them fast, and find my brother Hubba," he said, and men rode +away into the forest. But I spoke to him boldly. + +"Will you bind a man who bears these tokens, Jarl?" + +And I held out my hand to him, showing him the rings that Lodbrok +and Halfden had given me. + +"My father's ring--and Halfden's!" he said, gripping my hand, as he +looked closely at the runes upon them, so tightly that it was pain +to me. "By Odin's beard, this grows yet stranger! Who are you, and +whence, and how came you by these things?" + +"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, 'the merchant' +as men call him. I have been Jarl Lodbrok's friend, and have fought +by the side of Halfden, his son, as these tokens may tell you. As +for the rest, that is for yourself alone, Jarl. For I have no good +tidings, as I fear." + +"Who is this man, then, and why cries he thus in terror?" + +"Beorn, falconer to Eadmund, King of the East Angles," I said. + +But I would not answer at once to the other question, and Ingvar +seemed not to notice it. + +Then there was silence while the great jarl sat on his horse very +still, and looked hard at me and at Beorn; but when the men would +have bound us he signed them back, letting Beorn go free. Whereupon +his knees gave way, and he sank down against the house wall, while +I leant against it and looked at the mighty Dane, somewhat dreading +what I had to tell him, but meaning to go through all plainly. + +Now the ring of men closed round us, staring at us, but in silence, +save for the ringing of the horns that were blowing in the woods to +call Hubba from his sport. And Jarl Ingvar sat still, as if carved +in oak, and seemed to ponder, frowning heavily at us, though the +look in his eyes went past me as it were. + +Glad was I when a horseman or two rode up and reined in alongside +Ingvar. I think that the foremost rider was the most goodly warrior +to look on that I had ever seen, and one might know well that he +was Lodbrok's son. + +"Ho, brother!" he cried; "I thought you had harboured the greatest +bear in all Jutland in Raud's hut. And it is naught but two +strangers. What is the trouble with them?" + +"Look at yon man's hand," said Ingvar. + +I held out my hand, and Hubba looked at the rings, whereupon his +face lit up as Halfden's had lighted, and he said: + +"News of our father and brother! That is well; tell us, friend, all +that you know." + +"Stay," said Ingvar; "I took yon man from the boat we made for our +father; he was half dead therein, and his wrists have the marks of +cords on them; also when he heard my name he began to cry for +mercy, and I like it not." + +"This friend of our folk will tell us all," said Hubba. + +"Aye," said I, "I will tell you, Jarls. But I would speak to you +alone." + +"Tell me," said Ingvar shortly; "came my father to your shores in +yon boat alive?" + +"Aye," I answered. + +"And he died thereafter?" + +"He died, Jarl," I said; and I said it sadly. + +Then said Hubba: + +"Almost had I a hope that he yet lived, as you live. But it was a +poor hope. We have held him as dead for many a long day." + +But Ingvar looked at Beorn fixedly, and the man shrank away from +his gaze. + +"How did he die, is what I would know?" he said sternly. + +"Let the man to whom Halfden and Lodbrok gave these gifts tell us +presently. We have enough ill news for the time. Surely we knew +that the jarl was dead, and it is ours but to learn how;" said +Hubba. + +"How know you that these men slew not both?" + +"Jarl Ingvar," I said; "I will tell you all you will, but I would +do so in some less hurried way than this. For I have much to tell." + +"Take the men home, brother," said Hubba; "then we can talk." + +"Bind the men," said Ingvar again. + +"Nay, brother, not the man who wears those rings," said Hubba +quickly. + +"Maybe, and it is likely, that they are ill come by, and he will +make up some lie about them," answered Ingvar. + +"It will be easily seen if he does," answered his brother; "wait +till you know." + +Ingvar reined his horse round and rode away without another word. +Then Hubba bade the man Raud and his brother, a tall man who had +come with the Jarl Ingvar, take charge of us until word should come +from him, and then rode after Ingvar with the rest of the folk. + +"Come into the house," said Raud to me. "I fear you have ill news +enough, though only what we have expected." + +So we went inside, and I sat in my old place beside the fire. Rolf, +the brother, helped Beorn to rise, and set him on a seat in a +corner where he could rest, and then we were all silent. The great +dog came and sat by me, so that I stroked him and spoke to him, +while he beat his tail on the floor in response. + +"See you that," said one brother to the other. + +"Aye; Vig says true, mostly." + +"One may trust him," said Raud; telling of how Vig the dog had made +friends with me at first, and he nodded in friendly wise to me, so +that I would not seem to hold aloof, and spoke to him. + +"That is Jarl Hubba, surely?" + +"Aye, and the best warrior in all Denmark," said Raud. "We fear +Ingvar, and we love Halfden; but Hubba is such a hero as was Ragnar +himself." + +And once set on that matter, the two honest men were unwearied in +telling tales of the valour and skill of their master, so that I +had no room for my own thoughts, which was as well. + +Then came a man, riding swiftly, to say that the jarls had left +their hunting, and that we were to be taken to the great house. +Moreover, that Rolf and Raud were to be held answerable for our +safe keeping. When I heard that I laughed. + +"I will go willingly," I said, rising up. + +"What of this man who sits silent here?" asked Rolf. + +"Little trouble will be with him," said his brother. + +And indeed Beorn almost needed carrying forth. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. HOW WE FARED WITH INGVAR THE DANE. + + +We came to the shores of a haven at a river mouth, and there we saw +the town clustering round a large hall that rose in the midst of +the lesser houses, which were mostly low roofed and clay walled, +like that of Raud, though some were better, and built of logs set +upon stone foundations. The hall stood on higher ground than the +rest of the houses, so that from the gate of the heavy timber +stockade that went all round it one could see all the windings of +the haven channel and the sea that lay some half mile or more away +at its mouth. And all the town had a deep ditch and mound round it, +as if there was ever fear of foes from shoreward, for these came +down to the haven banks, and the only break they had was where a +wharf and the ship garth were. There were several ships housed in +their long sheds, as I could see. + +All round the great hall and the buildings that belonged to it was +a stockade of pointed logs, so that it stood in a wide courtyard on +all four sides, and the great gate of the stockade was opposite the +timber porch of the hall itself. There were other doors in the side +of the hall, but they were high up, and reached by ladders; and +there seemed to be only one more gate in the stockade, leading +landward, and both were such as might not easily be broken down, +when once they were closed and barred with the square logs that +stood beside the entrances ready. And all the windows of the hall +were very high up and narrow, and the roof was timbered, not +thatched. + +This was the strongest house that I had ever seen, and I said to +Raud as I looked at it: + +"This place is built to stand some fierce fighting. What need have +you of such strength?" + +He laughed, and answered: + +"Why, much need indeed! For when the ships are gone a-viking we are +weak in men, so needs must have strong walls to keep out all comers +from over seas. And we have an ill neighbour or two, who would fain +share in our booty. However, men know in Sweden, and Finmark, and +Norway also, that it is ill meddling with Jarl Ingvar and his +brothers." + +We passed through the stockade gate, and went straight to the +porch; all the woodwork of which was carved and gaily painted, and +so were eaves and rafter ends and tie beams. + +Two sturdy axemen stood at the doorway, and they spoke freely to +the brothers, asking questions of us and of our tale. + +Then roared the voice of Jarl Ingvar from within, bidding the men +cease prating and bring us in, and so we entered. + +A great fire burnt in the centre of the hall, and the smoke rose up +and found its way out under the eaves; and there were skins and +heads of wild beasts on the wall, amid which arms and armour hung +everywhere, bright in the firelight. Yet the hall, though it was +carved on wall, and rafter, and doorway, was not so bright as ours +at Reedham, nor so pleasant. + +Ingvar and Hubba sat on one side of the fire, where the smoke was +driven away from them, and before them was set a long bench where +we should be placed. There Hubba bade us sit down, telling the two +men to go without and wait. + +So we were left face to face with those two, and I saw that +Ingvar's face was dark with doubt, but that Hubba seemed less +troubled. Yet both looked long and sternly at us. + +"Tell us this tale of yours," said Ingvar at last; "and lie not." + +Now it seemed to me that it were well to get the worst over at once +without beating about beforehand. And now that the jarls knew that +Lodbrok was dead, the hardest was to tell them how he died, and why +I was here thus. + +"Well loved I Lodbrok the Jarl, and well do I love Halfden his +son," I said. "Have patience with me while I tell all from the +first." + +"Go on," said Ingvar, knitting his brows. + +"Safely came Jarl Lodbrok to the English shores," I went on; +"steering his boat through the storm as I think no other man might. +And my father and I, lying at anchor for tide in our coasting ship, +took him from the breakers. Some of his craft taught he me, else +had I not been here today. So he bided with us until I went to sea, +and there I met Halfden, and went on a raid with him, coming back +from the South Saxon shores to wait at our place for his coming to +take Lodbrok home. But he came not last winter, and so we waited +till this spring should bring him. For my ship was lost, and no +other came." + +"What!" said Ingvar; "he died not of stress of storm, but lived so +long! Then he has been slain!" and he half started from his seat in +rage. + +But Hubba, though his teeth were set, drew him back. + +"Hear all," he said. + +I went on without bidding, not seeming to note these things. + +"The jarl and I hunted together, and the chance of the day parted +us, and he was slain; nor can I say by whom. But this man and I, +being found with his body, were accused of the deed. And because +there was no proof, our great earl, who loves even-handed justice, +would have us cast adrift, even as was Lodbrok; that the guilty +might suffer, and the innocent escape." + +Then Ingvar rose up, white and shaking with wrath, and drew out his +sword. Whereon Beorn yelled and fell on the floor, grovelling with +uplifted hands and crying for mercy. + +But the great jarl paid no heed to him, and hove up the sword with +both hands over my head, saying in a hoarse voice: + +"Say that you lie--he is not dead--or you slew him!" + +Now I think the long struggle with the sea, or my full trust in the +earl's words, or both, had taken away my fear of death, for I spoke +without moving, though the great blade seemed about to fall, and +the fierce Dane's eyes glared on mine. + +"It were easy for me to have lied; I would that I did lie, for then +Lodbrok would be living, and I beside him, waiting for Halfden my +friend even yet." + +"Odin!" shouted Ingvar; "you speak truth. Woe is me for my father, +and woe to the land that has given him a grave thus foully." + +With that he let his sword fall, and his passion having gone, he +sat down and put his face in his hands, and wept tears of grief and +rage. And I, as I watched him, was fain to weep also, for my +thoughts were akin to his. + +Now Hubba had sat very still, watching all this, and he kept his +feelings better than did his fierce brother, though I might well +see that he was moved as deeply. But now he spurned Beorn with his +foot, bidding him get up and speak also. But Beorn only grovelled +the more, and Hubba spurned him again, turning to me. + +"I believe you speak truth," he said quietly, "and you are a brave +man. There was no need for you to tell the accusation against +yourself; and many are the lies you might have told us about the +boat that would have been enough for us. We never thought to hear +that our father had outlived the storm." + +"I speak truth, Jarl," I said, sadly enough, "and Halfden will come +to our haven, seeking us both, and will find neither--only this ill +news instead of all we had planned of pleasure." + +Then Hubba asked me plainly of Beorn, saying: + +"What of this cur?" + +"No more than I have told you, Jarl," I said. + +"How came he into the forest?" asked Hubba, for he saw that there +was more than he knew yet under Beorn's utter terror. + +"Let me tell you that story from end to end," I answered. + +And he nodded, so that I did so, from the time when I left the jarl +until Ulfkytel sentenced us, giving all the words of the witnesses +as nearly as I could. Then I said that I would leave them to judge, +for I could not. + +Now Ingvar, who had sat biting his nails and listening without a +word, broke in, questioning me of Halfden's ship for long. At last +he said: + +"This man tells truth, and I will not harm him. He shall bide here +till Halfden comes home, for he tells a plain story, and wears +those rings. And he has spoken the ill of himself and little of +this craven, who maybe knows more than he will say. I have a mind +to find out what he does know," and he looked savagely at Beorn, +who was sitting up and rocking himself to and fro, with his eyes +looking far away. + +"Do what you will with him he will lie," said Hubba. + +"I can make him speak truth," said Ingvar grimly. + +"What shall be done with this Wulfric?" asked Hubba. + +"Let him go with Raud until I have spoken with Beorn," answered +Ingvar, "then we shall be sure if he is friend or not." + +Hubba nodded, and he and I rose up and went out to the porch, where +Raud and Rolf waited with the two guards. We passed them and stood +in the courtyard. + +"I believe you, Wulfric," said Hubba, "for I know a true man when I +see him." + +"I thank you, Jarl," I answered him, taking the hand that he +offered me. + +I looked out over the sea, for the frank kindness moved me, and I +would not show it. There was a heavy bank of clouds working up, and +the wind came from the north, with a smell of snow in it. Then I +saw a great hawk flying inland, and wondered to see it come over +sea at this time of year. It flew so that it would pass over the +house, and as it came it wheeled a little and called; and then it +swept down and came straight towards me, so that I held out my hand +and it perched on my wrist. + +And lo! it was Lodbrok's gerfalcon; and pleased she was to see me +once more, fluttering her wings and glancing at me while I smoothed +and spoke to her. + +But Hubba cried out in wonder, and the men and Ingvar came out to +see what his call meant. Then they, too, were amazed, for they knew +the bird and her ways well. + +I had spoken of the falcon once or twice, telling the jarls how she +had taken to me, and I think they had doubted it a little. Now the +bird had got free in some way, and finding neither of her masters, +had fled home, even as Lodbrok said she would. + +"Now is your story proved to be true," said Hubba, smiling gravely +at me, but speaking for Ingvar's ear. + +"Aye, over true," answered his brother; "serve this man well, Raud +and Rolf, for he has been a close friend of Jarl Lodbrok." + +"Then should he be in Lodbrok's house as a guest," said Raud +stoutly, and free of speech as Danes will ever be. + +"Maybe he shall be so soon," said Ingvar. + +"I will bide with my first hosts," I said, not being willing to +speak much of this just now. + +"That is well said," was Hubba's reply, and so we went to have the +falcon--who would not leave me--hooded and confined; and then I +went with the two men back to their hut, and there they vied with +each other in kindness to me until night fell, and I gladly went to +rest; for since that night within Caistor walls I had had no sleep +that was worth considering. So my sleep was a long sleep, and +nothing broke it until I woke of myself, and found only the great +dog Vig in the hut, and breakfast ready set out for me, while +outside the ground was white with snow. + +I was glad to find that no watch was kept on me, for it seemed as +if Hubba's words were indeed true, and that the jarls believed my +story. And my dagger was left me also, hanging still on the wall at +my head where I had slept. Then I thought that the great dog was +maybe bidden to guard me, but he paid no heed when I went outside +the hut to try if it were so. + +Ere an hour had passed Raud came back, and he had news for me. + +"Now, friend Wulfric, I am to part with my guest, and not in the +way that was yesterday's. The jarls bid me say that Wulfric of +Reedham, Lodbrok's preserver, is a welcome guest in their hall, and +they would see him there at once." + +"Nevertheless," I answered, "Raud the forester was the first to +shelter me, and I do not forget." + +Whereat Raud was pleased, and together we went to the great house, +and entered, unchallenged. Hubba came forward and held out his +strong hand to me frankly, smiling a little, but gravely, and I +took it. + +"Beorn has told the truth," he said; "forgive me for doubt of you +at any time." + +"Aye, let that be forgotten," said Ingvar, coming from beyond the +great fire, and I answered that I thought it not strange that they +had doubted me. + +"Now, therefore," said Hubba, "you yourself shall question Beorn, +for there are things you want to know from him. And he will answer +you truly enough." + +"After that you shall slay him, if you will," said Ingvar, in his +stern voice, "I wonder you did not do so in the boat. Better for +him if you had." + +"I wonder not," said Hubba. "The man is fit for naught; I could not +lay hand on such a cur." + +I had no answer to make after that, for the warrior spoke my own +thoughts, and I held my peace as they took me to the further side +of the hearth, past the fire, beyond which I had not yet been able +to see. + +Then I knew how Beorn had been made to speak the truth. They had +tortured him, and there was no strength left in him at all, so that +I almost started back from the cruel marks that he bore. Yet I had +things to hear from him, now that he had no need to speak falsely, +and I went to his side. The two jarls stood and looked at him +unmoved. + +"The justice of Ulfkytel is on you, Beorn," I said slowly; "there +is no need to hide aught. Tell me how you slew Lodbrok, and why." + +Then came a voice, so hollow that I should not have known it for +the lusty falconer's of past days: + +"Aye; justice is on me, and I am glad. I will tell you, but first +say that you forgive me." + +Then I could not but tell this poor creature that for all the harm +he had done me I would surely forgive him; but that the deed of +murder was not for me to forgive. + +"Pray, therefore, that for it I may be forgiven hereafter," he +said, and that I promised him. + +Then he spoke faintly, so that Hubba bade Raud give him strong +drink, and that brought his strength back a little. + +"I took your arrows at Thetford, and I followed you to Reedham. +There I dogged you, day by day, in the woods--five days I went +through the woods as you hunted, and then you twain were far apart, +and my chance had come. Lodbrok reined up to listen, and I marked +where he would pass when he went back, hearing your horn. Then I +shot, and the arrow went true; but I drew sword, being mad, and +made more sure. That is all. Surely I thought I should escape, for +I told no man what I would do, and all men thought me far away, +with the king." + +Then he stopped, and recovered his strength before he could go on. + +"I hated Lodbrok because he had taken my place beside the king, and +because his woodcraft was greater than mine, though I was first in +that in all our land. And I feared that he would take the land the +king offered him, for I longed for it." + +Then Beorn closed his eyes, and I was turning away, for I need ask +no more; but again he spoke: + +"Blind was yon dotard Ulfkytel not to see all this; would that you +had slain me in the woods at first--or that he had hanged me at +Caistor--or that I had been drowned. But justice is done, and my +life is ended." + +Those were the last words that I heard Beorn, the falconer, speak, +for I left him, and Raud gave him to drink again. + +"Have you no more to ask?" said Ingvar gloomily, and frowning on +Beorn, as he lay helpless beyond the hearth. + +"Nothing, Jarl." + +"What was the last word he said. I heard not." + +"He said that justice was done," I answered. + +"When I have done with him, it shall be so," growled Ingvar, and +his hand clutched his sword hilt, so that I thought to see him slay +the man on the spot. + +"Has he told you all?" I asked of Hubba. + +"All, and more than you have told of yourself," he answered; "for +he told us that it was your hand saved my father, and for that we +thank you. But one thing more he said at first, and that was that +Eadmund the King set him on to slay the jarl." + +On that I cried out that the good king loved Lodbrok too well, and +in any case would suffer no such cowardly dealings. + +"So ran his after words; but that was his first story, +nevertheless." + +"Then he lied, for you have just now heard him say that his own +evil thoughts bade him do the deed." + +"Aye--maybe he lied at first; but we shall see," said Ingvar. + +Now I understood not that saying, but if a man lies once, who shall +know where the lie's doings will stop? What came from this lie I +must tell, but now it seemed to have passed for naught. + +"Now shall you slay the man in what way you will, as I have said. +There are weapons," and Ingvar pointed to the store on the walls. + +"I will not touch him," I said, "and I think that he dies." + +"Then shall you see the vengeance of Ingvar on his father's +murderer," the jarl said savagely. "Call the men together into the +courtyard, Raud, and let them bring the man there." + +"Let him die, Jarl," I said boldly; "he has suffered already." + +"I think that if you knew, Wulfric of Reedham, how near you have +been to this yourself, through his doings, you would not hold your +hand," answered Ingvar, scowling at Beorn again. + +"Maybe, Jarl," I answered, "but though you may make a liar speak +truth thus, you cannot make an honest man say more than he has to +speak." + +"One cannot well mistake an honest saying," said Ingvar. "And that +is well for you, friend." + +And so he turned and watched his courtmen, as the Danes called the +housecarles, carry Beorn out. Then he went to the walls and began +to handle axe after axe, taking down one by one, setting some on +the great table, and putting others back, as if taking delight in +choosing one fittest for some purpose. + +Even as we watched him--Hubba sitting on the table's edge, and I +standing by him--a leathern curtain that went across a door at the +upper end of the hall was pulled aside, and a lady came into the +place. Stately and tall, with wondrous black hair, was this maiden, +and I knew that this must be that Osritha of whom the jarl was wont +to speak to Eadgyth and my mother, and who wrought the raven banner +that hung above the high place where she stood now. She was like +Halfden and Hubba, though with Ingvar's hair, and if those three +were handsome men among a thousand, this sister of theirs was more +than worthy of them. She stood in the door, doubting, when she saw +me. Sad she looked, and she wore no gold on arm or neck, doubtless +because of the certainty of the great jarl's death; and when she +saw that Hubba beckoned to her, she came towards us, and Ingvar set +down the great axe whose edge he was feeling. + +"Go back to your bower, sister," he said; "we have work on hand." + +And he spoke sternly, but not harshly, to her. She shrank away a +little, as if frightened at the jarl's dark face and stern words, +but Hubba called her by name. + +"Stay, Osritha; here is that friend of our father's from over seas, +of whom you have heard." + +Then she looked pityingly at me, as I thought, saying very kindly: + +"You are welcome. Yet I fear you have suffered for your friendship +to my father." + +"I have suffered for not being near to help him, lady," I said. + +"There is a thing that you know not yet," said Hubba. "This Wulfric +was the man who took Father from the breakers." + +Then the maiden smiled at me, though her eyes were full of tears, +and she asked me: + +"How will they bury him in your land? In honour?" + +"I have a brother-in-law who will see to that," I said. "And, +moreover, Eadmund the King, and Elfric, my father, will do him all +honour." + +"I will see to that," growled Ingvar, turning sharply from where he +sought another weapon on the wall. + +Not knowing all he meant, this pleased me, for I thought that we +should sail together to Reedham for this, before very long. But +Osritha, knowing his ways, looked long at him, till he turned away +again, and would not meet her eyes. + +"Now go back to your place, my sister," he said. "It is not well +for you to bide here just now." + +"Why not? Let our friend tell me of Father also," she said +wilfully. + +"Because I am going to do justice on Lodbrok's slayer," said +Ingvar, in a great voice, swinging an axe again. + +Then the maiden turned pale, and wrung her hands, looking at +Ingvar, who would not meet her eyes; and then she went and laid her +hands on his mighty arm, crying: + +"Not that, my brother; not that!" + +"Why not?" he asked; but he did not shake off her little hands. + +"Because Father would not have men so treated, however ill they had +done." + +"Aye, brother; the girl is right," said Hubba. "Let him die; for +you gave him to Wulfric, and that is his word." + +"Well then," said Ingvar, setting back the axe at last, "I will not +carve him into the eagle I meant to make of him. But slay him I +must and will, if the life is yet in him." + +"Let Odin have him," said Hubba; and I knew that he meant that the +man should be hanged, for so, as Halfden's vikings told me, should +he be Odin's thrall, unhonoured. + +Then the maiden fled from the hall, glad to have gained even that +for the man, instead of the terrible death that the Danes keep for +traitors and cowards. + +Now Ingvar put back the axes he had kept, saying that the girl ever +stood in his way when he would punish as a man deserved. After that +he stood for a while as if in thought, and broke out at length: + +"We will see if this man can sing a death song as did Ragnar our +forefather." + +And with that he waited no more, but strode out into the courtyard, +we following. And I feared what I should see; until I looked on +Beorn, and though he was yet alive, I saw that he was past feeling +aught. + +They bore him out of the village to a place just inside the +trenched enclosure, and there were old stone walls, such as were +none elsewhere in the place, but as it might have been part of +Burgh or Brancaster walls that the Romans made on our shores, so +ancient that they were crumbling to decay. There they set him down, +and raised a great flat stone, close to the greatest wall, which +covered the mouth of a deep pit. + +"Look therein," said Ingvar to me. + +I looked, and saw that the pit was stone walled and deep, and that +out of it was no way but this hole above. The walls and floor were +damp and slimy; and when I looked closer, the dim light showed me +bones in one corner, and also that over the floor crawled reptiles, +countless. + +"An adder is a small thing to sting a man," said Ingvar in his grim +voice. "Nor will it always hurt him much. Yet if a man is so close +among many that he must needs tread on one, and it bites him, and +in fleeing that he must set foot on another, and again another, and +then more--how will that end?" + +I shuddered and turned away. + +"In such a place did Ella of Northumbria put my forebear, Ragnar +Lodbrok; and there he sang the song {xiii} we hold most +wondrous of all. There he was set because he was feared, and +Northumbria knows what I thought of that matter. But Beorn goes +here for reasons which you know. And East Anglia shall know what my +thoughts are of those reasons." + +Then two men seized Beorn and cast him into that foul pit, stripped +of all things, and the stone fell. + +But Beorn moved not nor cried out, and I think that even as +Ulfkytel had boded, stripped of life itself was he before the +bottom of the pit was reached. + +So the justice of Ulfkytel the Earl came to pass. But the lies +spoken by Beorn were not yet paid for. + + + +CHAPTER IX. JARL HALFDEN'S HOMECOMING. + + +From the time when Beorn was made to speak the truth, I was a +welcome guest in the hall that had been Lodbrok's, to Hubba at +least, and we were good friends. As for Ingvar, he was friendly +enough also, and would listen when I spoke with his more frank and +open brother of my days with Halfden and his father. But he took +little pleasure in my company, going silent and moody about the +place, for the snow that began on the day after I landed was the +first of a great storm, fiercer and colder than any we knew in +England, and beyond the courtyard of the great house men could +scarcely stir for a time. + +This storm I had but just escaped, and it seemed to me, and still +seems, that the terror and pain thereof was held back while I was +on the sea, for those nights and days had had no winter sting in +them. + +Hubba and I would wrestle and practise arms in the hall or +courtyard during that time, and he was even beyond his father, my +teacher, in the matter of weapon play; so that it is no wonder that +now, as all men know, he is held the most famous warrior of his +time. + +These sports Ingvar watched, and took part in now and then when his +mood was lighter, but it was seldom. Yet he was skilful, though not +as his brother. + +Then at night was the fire of pine logs high heaped, and we feasted +while the scalds, as they call their gleemen, sang the deeds of the +heroes of old. And some of those of whom they sang were men of the +Angles of the old country; and one was my own forefather, and for +that I gave the scald my gold bracelet, and thereafter he sang +lustily in my praise as Lodbrok's rescuer. + +Very pleasant it was in Ingvar's hall while the wind howled over +the roof, and the roar of the sea was always in our ears. And these +Danes drank less than our people, if they ate more largely. But +Ingvar would sit and take pleasure in none of the sport, being ever +silent and thoughtful. + +But to me, best of all were the times when I might see and speak +with Osritha, and soon the days seemed heavy to me if by chance I +had no word with her. And she was always glad to speak of her +father and Halfden; for she was the youngest of all Lodbrok's +children, and Halfden, her brother, was but a year older than +herself, so that she loved him best of all, and longed to see him +home again. + +So longed I, grieving for the news he must hear when he came to +Reedham, but yet thinking that he would be glad to find me at least +living and waiting for him. + +Now, as the snow grew deeper and the cold strengthened, the wolves +began to come at night into the village, and at last grew very +daring. So one night a man ran in to say that a pack was round a +cottage where a child would not cease crying, and must be driven +off, or they would surely tear the clay walls down. + +Then Hubba and I would go; but Ingvar laughed at us, saying that a +few firebrands would settle the matter by fraying the beasts away. +However, the man was urgent, and we went out with Raud and his +brother, and some twenty men, armed with spears and axes. + +The night was very dark, and the snow whirled every way, and the +end of it was that Raud and I and two more men, with the dog Vig, +lost the rest, and before we found them we had the pack on us, and +we must fight for our lives. And that fight was a hard fight, for +there must have been a score of gaunt wolves, half starved and +ravenous. + +And I think we should have fared badly, for at last I was standing +over Raud, who was down, dragged to the earth by two wolves, of +which the dog slew one and I the other, while the other two men +were back to back with me, and the wolves bayed all round us. But +Hubba and his party heard our shouts in time and came up, and so +ended the matter. + +Now Raud must have it that I had saved his life, though I thought +the good dog had a share in it, and both he and the dog were a +little hurt. However, my shoulder was badly torn by a wolf that +leapt at me while my spear was cumbered with another, and I for my +part never wished it had not been so. + +For Osritha, who was very skilful in leech craft, tended my hurt; +and I saw much of her, for the hurts were a long time before they +healed, as wolf bites are apt to be, and we grew very friendly. So +that, day by day, I began to long to see the maiden who cared for +my wound so gently, before the time came. + +Now Raud must needs make me a spear from a tough ashen sapling that +he had treasured for a long time, because that which I had used in +the wolf hunt was sprung by the weight of one of the beasts, and +while his hurts kept him away at his own house he wrought it, and +at last brought it up to the hall to give to me. + +When I looked at it--and it was a very good one, and had carved +work where the hand grips the shaft, and a carved end--I saw that +the head was one of Jarl Ingvar's best spearheads, and asked Raud +where he got it. + +"Why," he said, "a good ash shaft deserves a good head, and so I +asked the jarl for one. And when he knew for whom it was, he gave +me this, saying it was the best he had." + +Now I was pleased with this gift, both because I liked the man +Raud, who was both brave and simple minded, and because it showed +that the surly jarl had some liking for me. Yet I would that he +showed this openly, and telling Osritha of the gift, I dared say +so. + +Then she sighed and rose up, saying that she would show me another +spear on the further wall, so taking me out of hearing of her +maidens, who sat by the fire busied over their spinning and the +like. + +There she spoke to me of Jarl Ingvar. + +"Moody and silent beyond his wont has he been since we have heard +all about our father's death, and I fear that he plans some +terrible revenge for it, even as he took revenge on the +Northumbrian coasts for the long-ago slaying of Ragnar." + +Then I remembered the story of the burnt town, Streoneshalch, and +knew what Ingvar's revenge was like. But as yet I could not think +that he would avenge Beorn's deed further than I had seen already. + +"But he has no enmity with you, our friend," she went on; "though +he speaks little to you, he listens as you talk to us. But there +has grown up in his heart a hatred of all men in your land, save of +yourself alone. And once he said that he would that you were a +Dane, and his comrade as you had been Halfden's." + +Then I told Osritha of how Halfden had let me go from him rather +than have me fight against my own land. I had said nothing of this +to the jarls, for there was no reason. And this was the first time +that I had had private speech with Osritha. + +"That is Halfden's way," she said, "he is ever generous." + +"I would that he were back," I answered, and so we ceased speaking. + +Yet after this, many were the chances I found of the like talk +alone with Osritha before the weather broke, and we could once more +get into the woods, hunting, and the men began to work in the ship +garths on a great ship that was being built. + +Now we had good hunting in the forests, and on the borders of the +great mosses of Ingvar's lands. But there were many more folk in +this land than in ours, and I thought that they were ill off in +many ways. In those days of hunting, Ingvar, seeing me ride with +the carven spear that was partly his gift, and with Lodbrok's hawk +on my wrist, would speak more often with me, though now and again +some chance word of mine spoken in the way of my own folk would +seem to turn him gloomy and sullen, so that he would spur his horse +and leave me. But Hubba was ever the same, and I liked him well, +though I could not have made a friend of him as of Halfden. + +In March messengers began to come and go, and though I asked +nothing and was told nothing, I knew well that Ingvar was gathering +a mighty host to him that he might sail in the May time across the +seas for plunder--or for revenge. The hammers went all day long in +the ship garths, where the air was full of the wholesome scent of +tar; and in their houses the women spun busily, making rope and +weaving canvas that should carry the jarl's men "over the swan's +bath;" while in the hall the courtmen sat after dark and feathered +arrows and twined bowstrings, and mended mail. And now and then +some chief would ride into the town, feasting that night, and +riding away in the morning after long talk with the jarls. And +some, Bagsac and Guthrum, Sidrac and his son, and a tall man named +Osbern, came very often as the days lengthened. + +I would ask nothing of this matter, even of Osritha, having my own +thoughts thereon, and not being willing to press her on things she +might have been bidden to keep from me. She would ask me of my +mother and Eadgyth, as they would ask the jarl of her, and I told +her all I could, though that was not much, for a man hardly notes +things as a woman will. Then she would laugh at me; until one day I +said that I would she could come over to Reedham and see for +herself. + +At that I thought that I had offended her, for her face grew red, +and she left me. Nor could I find a chance of speaking to her again +for many days, which was strange to me, and grieved me sorely. + +Now the southwest wind shifted at last to the west and north, and +that shift brought home him whom I most wished to see, my comrade, +Halfden. And it chanced that I was the first to see his sail from +the higher land along the coast, south of the haven, where I was +riding with my falcon and the great dog Vig, which Raud and his +brother would have me take for my own after the wolf hunt. + +Gladly I rode hack with my news to find Ingvar in the ship garth, +and there I told him who came. + +"A ship, maybe. How know you she is Halfden's?" he said carelessly. + +"Why, how does any sailor know his own ship?" I asked in surprise. + +Then he turned at once, and smiled at me fairly for the first time. + +"I had forgotten," he said. "Come, let us look at her again." + +And I was not mistaken, though the jarl was not so sure as I for +half an hour or more. When he was certain, he said: + +"Come, let us make what welcome for Halfden that we may." + +And we went back to the hall, and at once was the great horn blown +to assemble the men; and the news went round quickly, so that +everywhere men and women alike put aside their work, and hurried +down to the wharf side. And in Ingvar's house the thralls wrought +to prepare a great feast in honour of Jarl Halfden's homecoming. + +Soon I stood with the jarls and Osritha at the landing place, and +behind us were the courtmen in their best array. And as we came to +the place where we would wait, Halfden's ship came past the bar +into the haven's mouth. + +All men's faces were bright with the thought of welcome, but heavy +were my thoughts, and with reason. For Halfden's ship came from the +sea on no course that should have borne him from Reedham, and I +feared that it was I who must tell him all. Yet he might have been +drawn from his course by some passing vessel. + +The long ship flew up the channel, and now we could see that all +her rail was hung with the red and yellow shields that they use for +show as well as to make the gunwale higher against the arrows, and +to hinder boarders in a fight. And she was gaily decked with flags, +and shone with new paint and gilding in all sea bravery. Not idle +had her crew been in the place where they had wintered, and one +might know that they had had a good voyage, which to a Dane means +plunder enough for all. But surely if Halfden had been to Reedham, +the long pennon had been half masted. + +It were long to tell how the people cheered, and how they were +answered from the ship, and how I spied Halfden on the fore deck, +and Thormod at the helm, as ever. And when Osritha saw Halfden's +gay arms and cloak and all the bright trim of the ship and men, she +said to me, speaking low and quickly: + +"They have not been to Reedham, or it would not have been thus." + +And it was true, for there would have been no sign of joy among +those who had heard the news that waited them there. + +I knew not how to bear this meeting, but I was not alone in my +trouble, for nearer me crept Osritha, saying to me alone, while the +people cheered and shouted: + +"How shall we tell Halfden?" + +The two jarls were busy at the mooring place, and I could only +answer her that I could look to her alone for help. Now at that I +knew what had sprung up in my heart for Osritha, and that not in +this only should I look for help from her and find it, but if it +might be, all my life through. For now in my trouble she looked at +me with a new look, answering: + +"I will help you, whatever betide." + +I might say no more then, nor were words needed, for I knew all +that she meant. And so my heart was lightened, for now I held that +I was repaid for all that had gone before, and save for that which +had brought me here, gladly would I take my perilous voyage over +again to find this land and the treasure it now held for me. + +At last the ship's keel grated on the sand, and the men sprang from +shore waist deep in water, to take her the mighty cables that +should haul her into her berth; and then the long gangplank was run +out, and Halfden came striding along it, looking bright and +handsome--and halfway over, he stopped where none could throng him, +and lifting his hand for silence cried for all to hear. + +"Hearken all to good news! Lodbrok our Jarl lives!" + +Then, alas! instead of the great cheer that should have broken from +the lips of all that throng, was at first a silence, and then a +groan--low and pitiful as of a mourning people who wail for the +dead and the sorrowful living--and at that sound Halfden paled, and +stayed no more, hurrying ashore and to where his brothers stood. + +"What is this?" he said, and his voice was low, and yet clear in +the silence that had fallen, for all his men behind him had stopped +as if turned to stone where they stood. + +Then from my side sprang Osritha before any could answer, meeting +him first of all, and she threw her arms round his neck, saying: + +"Dead is Lodbrok our father, and nigh to death for his sake has +been Wulfric, your friend. Yet he at least is well, and here to +speak with you and tell you all." + +Then for the great and terrible sorrow that came at the end of the +joyous homeward sailing, down on the hard sand Halfden the Jarl +threw himself, and there lay weeping as these wild Danes can weep, +for their sorrow is as terrible as their rage, and they will put no +bounds to the way of grief of which there is no need for shame. Nor +have they the hope that bids us sorrow not as they. + +And while he lay there, all men held their peace, looking in one +another's faces, and only the jarls and Osritha and myself stood +near him. + +Very suddenly he raised himself up, and was once more calm; then he +kissed the maiden, and grasped his brothers' hands, and then held +out both hands to me, holding mine and looking in my face. + +"Other was the meeting I had planned for you and me, Wulfric, my +brother-in-arms. Yet you are most welcome, for you at least are +here to tell me of the days that are past." + +"It is an ill telling," said Ingvar. + +"That must needs be, seeing what is to be told," Hubba said +quickly. + +But those wise words of Osritha's had made things easier for me, +for now Halfden knew that into the story of the jarl's death, I and +my doings must come, so Ingvar's words meant little to him. + +"You went not to Reedham?" I said, for now the men were at work +again, and all was noise and bustle round us. + +"I have come here first by Orkneys from Waterford, where we +wintered," he answered. "And I have been over sure that no mishap +might be in a long six months." + +"What of the voyage?--let us speak of this hereafter," said Hubba. + +And Halfden, wearily, as one who had lost all interest in his own +doings, told him that it had been good, and that Thormod would give +him the full tale of plunder. + +Then came a chief from the ship whose face I knew, though he was +not of our crew. It was that Rorik whose ship the Bosham bell had +sunk, and who had been saved by Halfden's boats. He knew me, after +scanning me idly for a moment, and greeted me, asking why I was not +at Reedham to make that feast of which Halfden was ever speaking, +and so passed on. + +So we went up to the great hall in silence, sorely cast down; and +that was Halfden's homecoming. + +Little joy was there on the high place at the feast that night, +though at the lower tables the men of our crew (for so I must ever +think of those whose leader I had been for a little while, with +Halfden) held high revelling with their comrades. Many were the +tales they told, and when a tale of fight and victory was done, the +scald would sing it in verse that should be kept and sung by the +winter fire till new deeds brought new songs to take its place. + +Presently Halfden rose up, after the welcome cup had gone round and +feasting was done, and the ale and mead began to flow, and he +beckoned me to come with him. Hubba would have come also, but +Ingvar held him back. + +"Let Wulfric have his say first," he growled; and I thanked him in +my mind for his thought. + +So we went to the inner chamber, where Osritha would sit with her +maidens, and Halfden said: + +"This matter is filling all my thoughts so that I am but a gloomy +comrade at the board. Tell me all, and then what is done is done. +One may not fight against the Norn maidens {xiv}." + +There I told him all my story, and he remembered how I had told +him, laughing, of Beorn's jealousy at first. And when my tale was +nearly done Osritha crept from her bower and came and sat beside +Halfden, pushing her hand into his, and resting her head on his +shoulder. + +Then I ended quickly, saying that Ingvar had done justice on Beorn. +And at that remembrance the maiden shivered, and Halfden's face +showed that he knew what the man's fate was like to have been at +the great jarl's hands. + +"So, brother," he said, when I left off speaking, "had I gone to +Reedham there would have been burnt houses in East Anglia." + +"In Reedham?" said I. + +"Wherever this Beorn had a house; and at Caistor where that old +fool Ulfkytel lives, and maybe at one or two other places on the +way thither. And I think your father and Egfrid your brother would +have helped me, or I them." + +So he doubted me not at all, any more than I should have doubted +his tale, were he in my place and I in his. + +Then I said that I myself had no grudge against Earl Ulfkytel, for +he had sent me here. + +"Why then, no more have I," answered Halfden; "for he is a wiseacre +and an honest one, and maybe meant kindly. Ingvar would have slain +both guilty and innocent, and told them to take their wrangle +elsewhere, to Hela or Asgard as the way might lead them." + +Now as he said that, I, who looked ever on the face of her whom I +loved, saw that a new fear had come into Osritha's heart, and that +she feared somewhat for me. Nor could I tell what it was. But +Halfden and I went on talking, and at last she could not forbear a +little sob, and at that Halfden asked what ailed her. + +"May I speak to you, my brother, very plainly, of one thing that I +dread?" she asked, drawing closer to him. + +"Aye, surely," he answered in surprise. + +"Remember you the words that Ingvar said to the priest of the White +Christ who came from Ansgar at Hedeby {xv}, while our father +was away in the ships?" + +"Why, they were like words. He bade him go and settle the matter +with Odin whom he would not reverence, and so slew him." + +"Aye, brother. And he said that so he would do to any man who would +not honour the gods." + +"Why do you remember that, Osritha?" + +"Because--because there will be the great sacrifice tomorrow, and +Wulfric, your friend, is not of our faith." + +Then Halfden was silent, looking across at me, and all at once I +knew that here was a danger greater than any I had yet been +through. Fire I had passed through, and water, and now it was like +to be trial by steel. And the first had tried my courage, and the +next my endurance, as I thought; but this would try both, and my +faith as well. + +"That is naught," said Halfden, lightly. "It is but the signing of +Thor's hammer, and I have seen Wulfric do that many a time, only +not quite in our way, thus;" and he signed our holy sign all +unknowing, or caring not. "And to eat of the horse that is +sacrificed--why, you and I, Wulfric, did eat horse on the Frankish +shores; and you thought it good, being nigh starved--you remember?" + +I remembered, but that was different; for that we did because the +shores were so well watched that we ran short of food, and had to +take what we could under cover of night at one time. But this of +which Osritha spoke was that which Holy Writ will by no means +suffer us to do--to eat of a sacrifice to idols knowingly, for that +would be to take part therein. Nor might I pretend that the holy +sign was as the signing of Thor's Hammer. + +"Halfden," I said, having full trust in him, "I may not do this. I +may not honour the old gods, for so should I dishonour the White +Christ whom I serve." + +"This is more than I can trouble about in my mind," said Halfden; +"but if it troubles you, I will help you somehow, brother Wulfric. +But you must needs come to the sacrifice." + +"Cannot I go hunting?" + +"Why, no; all men must be present. And to be away would but make +things worse, for there would be question." + +Then I strengthened myself, and said that I must even go through +with the matter, and so would have no more talk about it. But +Osritha kept on looking sadly at me, and I knew that she was in +fear for me. + +Now presently we began to talk of my home and how they would mourn +me as surely lost. And I said that this mourning would be likely to +hinder my sister's wedding for a while. And then, to make a little +more cheerful thought, I told Halfden what his father had said +about his wishing that he had been earlier with us. + +"Why, so do I," said my comrade, laughing a little; "for many +reasons," he added more sadly, thinking how that all things would +have been different had he sailed back at once. + +Then he must needs go back to the question of the sacrifice. + +"Now I would that you would turn good Dane and Thor's man, and bide +here with us; and then maybe--" + +But Osritha rose up quickly and said that she must begone, and so +bade us goodnight and went her way into the upper story of that end +of the great hall where her own place was. Whereat Halfden laughed +quietly, looking at me, and when she was quite gone, and the heavy +deerskins fell over the doorway, said, still smiling: + +"How is this? It is in my mind that my father's wish might easily +come to pass in another way not very unlike." + +That was plain speaking, nor would I hesitate to meet the kindly +look and smile, but said that indeed I had come to long that it +might be so. But I said that the jarl, his father, had himself +shown me that no man should leave his old faith but for better +reasons than those of gain, however longed for. For that is what he +had answered Eadmund the king when the land was offered him, and he +was asked to become a Christian. + +"Yet if such a thing might be," said Halfden, "gladly would I hail +you as brother in very truth." + +So we sat without speaking for a while, and then Halfden said that +were I to stand among the crowd of men on the morrow there would +surely be no notice taken of me. + +Yet as I lay on my wolf skins at the head of the great hall, and +prayed silently--as was my wont among these heathen--I asked for +that same help that had been given to men of old time who were in +the same sore strait as I must very likely be in tomorrow. + +Then came to me the thought: "What matters if outwardly I reverence +Thor and Odin while I inwardly deny them?" and that excuse had nigh +got the better of me. But I minded what our king had told me many a +time: how that in the first christening of our people it had ever +been held to be a denying of our faith to taste the heathen +sacrifices, or to bow the head in honour, even but outward, of the +idols, so that many had died rather than do so. And he had praised +those who thus gave up their life. + +Then, too, I remembered the words of the Prior of Bosham concerning +martyrs. And we had been led to speak of them by this very question +as to sacrifice to the Danish gods. So I made up my mind that if I +might escape notice, I would do so--and if not, then would I bear +the worst. + +So I fell asleep at last. And what it may have been I know +not--unless the wind as it eddied through the high windows clashed +some weapon against shield on the walls with a clear ringing +sound--but I woke with the voice of Bosham bell in my ears--and +Rorik and Halfden each in his place started also, and Rorik +muttered a curse before he lay down again, for he sat up, looking +wildly. + +But greatly cheered with that token was I, for I knew that help was +not far from me, and after that I had no more fear, but slept +peacefully, though I thought it was like to be my last night on +earth. + + + +CHAPTER X. WHAT BEFELL AT THE GREAT SACRIFICE. + + +Very early in the gray morning Halfden woke me, and he was fully +armed, while at the lower end of the hall the courtmen were rising +and arming themselves also, for Vikings must greet Odin as warriors +ready to do battle for him when Ragnaroek {xvi} and the last +great fight shall come. + +"Rise and arm yourself," he said; "here are the arms in which you +fought well in your first fight, and axe and sword beside. Now you +shall stand with our crew, and so none of them will heed you, for +they love you, and know your ways are not as ours. So will all be +well." + +Then I thanked him, for I surely thought it would be so; and I +armed myself, and that man who had been my own shield man when I +led the midship gang helped me. One thing only I wished, and that +was that I had the axe which Lodbrok made for me, for then, I told +the man, I should feel as a Viking again, and that pleased him. + +"However," he said, "I think I have found an axe that is as near +like your own as may be." + +And he had done so, having had that kindly thought for me. Then we +went out, for the horns were blowing outside the town in the ash +grove where the Ve, as they call the temple of Odin and Thor and +the other gods, was. And overhead, high and unseen in the air, +croaked the ravens, Odin's birds, scared from their resting places +by the tramp of men, yet knowing that their share in the feast was +to come. + +I shivered, but the sound of the war horns, and the weight and +clank of the well-known arms, stirred my blood at last, and when we +fell in for our short march, Halfden and Thormod, Rorik and myself +leading our crew, I was ready for all that might come, if need for +a brave heart should be. + +Silently we filed through the bare trunks of the ashes, the trees +of Thor, where many a twisted branch and dead trunk showed that the +lightning had been at work, until we came to the place of the Ve in +its clearing. + +There stood the sanctuary, a little hut--hardly more--built of +ash-tree logs set endwise on a stone footing, and roofed with logs +of ash, and closed with heavy doors made of iron-bolted ash timber +also. This temple stood under the mightiest ash tree of all, and +there was a clear circle of grass, tree bordered, for a hundred +yards all round it, and all that circle was lined with men, armed +and silent. + +Before the temple was a fire-reddened stone, the altar. And on it +were graven runes, and symbols so strange that neither I nor any +man could read them, so old were they, for some men said that stone +and runes alike were older than the worship of Odin himself, having +been an altar to gods that were before him. And a pile of wood was +ready on the altar. + +Beside it stood Ingvar, clad in golden shining scale armour, and +with a gilded horned helm and scarlet cloak that hung from +shoulders to heel; for as his forefathers had been before him, +beyond the time when the Danes and Angles came from their far +eastern home {xvii}, led by Odin himself, he was the "godar", +the priest of the great gods of Asgard, and his it was to offer the +sacrifice now that Lodbrok his father was dead. + +Now, as I stood there I thought how my father had told me that our +own family had been the godars of our race in the old days, so that +he and I in turn should have taken our place at such an offering as +Ingvar was about to make. And straightway I seemed to be back in +the long dead past, when on these same shores my forbears had +worshipped thus before seeking the new lands that they won beyond +the seas. And that was a strange thought, yet now I should know +from what our faith had brought us. + +In a little while all Ingvar's following had come, and there were +many chiefs whose faces I had seen of late as they came to plan the +great raid that was to be when the season came. And the men with +them were very many, far more than we could have gathered to a levy +on so short notice; and all were well armed, and stood in good +order as trained and hardened warriors. No longer could I wonder at +all I had heard of the numbers of the Danish hosts who came to our +shores, and were even now in Northumbria, unchecked. + +There was silence in all the great ring of men; and only the rustle +of the wind in the thick-standing ash trees around us--that seemed +to hem us in like a gray wall round the clearing--and the quick +croak and flap of broad wings as the ravens wheeled ever nearer +overhead, broke the stillness. + +We of the crew for whose good voyage and safe return the offering +was made stood foremost, facing the altar stone and the sanctuary +door, and I, with Halfden and Thormod before me, and men of the +crew to right and left, stood in the centre of our line, so that I +could see all that went on. + +Then, seeing that all was ready, Ingvar swung back the heavy door +of the shrine, and I saw before me a great image of Thor the +mighty, glaring with sightless eyes across the space at me. It was +carved in wood, and the god stood holding in one hand Mioelner, his +great hammer, and in the other the head of the Midgaard serpent, +whose tailed curled round his legs, as though it were vainly trying +to struggle free. + +Then Ingvar turned and lighted the altar fire, and the smoke rose +straight up and hung in the heavy morning air in a cloud over the +Ve; and that seemed to be of good omen, for the men shouted +joyfully once, and were again silent. + +From behind the sanctuary two armed men led the horse for the +sacrifice that should be feasted on thereafter; and it was a +splendid colt, black and faultless, so that to me it seemed a +grievous thing that its life should thus be spilt for naught. Yet I +was the only one there who deemed it wasted. + +Then Ingvar chanted words to which I would not listen, lest my +heart should seem to echo them, so taking part in the heathen +prayer. Over the horse he signed Thor's hammer, and slew it with +Thor's weapon, and the two men flayed and divided it skilfully, +laying certain portions before the jarl, the godar. + +He sprinkled the blood upon doorway and statue, and then again +chanting, laid those portions upon the altar fire, and the black +smoke rose up from them, while all the host watched for what omens +might follow. + +The smoke rose, wavered, and went up, and then some breath of wind +took it and drifted it gently into the open temple, winding it +round the head of Thor's image and filling all the little building. +And at that the men shouted again. + +Then Ingvar turned slowly towards the shrine, and drawing his +sword, lifted up the broad shining blade as if in salute, crying as +he turned the point north and east and south and west: + +"Skoal, ye mighty Ones!" + +And at once, as one man all the host, save myself only, lifted +their weapons in salute, crying in a voice that rolled back from +the trees like an answering war shout: + +"Skoal to the mighty Ones!" + +But as for me, I stirred not, save that as by nature, and because I +fixed my thoughts on the One Sacrifice of our own faith, I signed +myself with the sign of the cross, only knowing this, that Thor and +Odin I would not worship. + +Suddenly, even as the echo of the shout died away, and while the +weapons were yet upraised, the thick cloud of smoke rolled back and +down, wrapping round Ingvar the godar as he stood between shrine +and altar, and across the reek glared the sightless eyes of the +idol again, cold and heedless. + +Now of all omens that was the worst, for it must needs betoken that +the sacrifice was not pleasing; and at that a low groan as of fear +went round the host. Then back started Ingvar, and I saw his face +through the smoke, looking white as ashes. For a long time, as it +seemed to me, there was silence, until the smoke rose up straight +again and was lost in the treetops. Even the ravens, scared maybe +by the great shout, were gone, and all was very still. + +At last Ingvar turned slowly to us and faced our crew. + +"The sacrifice is yours," he said, "and if it is not accepted the +fault is yours also. We are clear of blame who have bided at home." + +Then Halfden answered for his men and himself: + +"I know not what blame is to us." + +But from close behind me Rorik lifted his voice: + +"No blame to the crew--but here is one, a stranger, who does no +honour to the gods, neither lifting sword or hailing them as is +right, even before Thor's image." + +Then I knew that the worst was come, and prepared to meet it. But +Halfden spoke. + +"All men's customs are not alike, and a stranger has his own ways." + +But Ingvar's face was black with rage, and not heeding Halfden, he +shouted: + +"Set the man before me." + +No man stirred, for indeed I think that most of our crew knew not +who was meant, and those near me would, as Halfden told me, say +nought. + +Then said Ingvar to Rorik: "Point the man to me." + +Then Rorik pointed to me. So I stood forth of my own accord, not +looking at him, but at Ingvar. + +"So," said the jarl, harshly, "you dare to dishonour Thor?" + +I answered boldly, feeling very strong in the matter. + +"I dishonour no man's religion, Jarl, neither yours nor my own." + +"You did no honour to the Asir," he said sternly. + +"Thor and Odin are not the gods I worship," I answered. + +"I know. You are one of those who have left the gods of your +fathers." + +Then one of our men, who had stood next to me, spoke for me, as he +thought. + +"I saw Wulfric sign Thor's hammer even now. What more does any man +want from a Saxon?" + +Thereat Ingvar scowled, knowing, as I think, what this was. + +"You claim to be truth teller," he said; "did you sign Thor's +hammer?" + +"I did not," I answered. + +Then Halfden came to my side. + +"Let Wulfric go his own way, brother. What matters it what gods he +worships so long as he is good warrior and true man, as I and my +men know him to be?" + +So he looked round on the faces of my comrades, and they answered +in many ways that this was so. And several cried: + +"Let it be, Jarl. What is one man to Thor and Odin?" + +Now I think that Ingvar would have let the matter pass thus, for +the word of the host is not lightly to be disregarded. But Rorik +would not suffer it. + +"What of the wrath of the gods, Godar?" he said. "How will you put +that aside?" + +Then was a murmur that they must be appeased, but it came not from +our crew; and Ingvar stood frowning, but not looking at me for a +space, for he was pulled two ways. As godar he must not pass by the +dishonour to the gods, yet as the son of the man whom I had saved, +how could he harm me? And Rorik, seeing this, cried: + +"I hold that this man should live no longer." + +"Why, what dishonour has he done the gods?" said Halfden. "If he +had scoffed, or said aught against them--that were a different +thing. And what does Thor there care if one man pays no heed to +him? Surely he can keep his own honour--leave it to him." + +"It is dishonour to Thor not to hail him," said Rorik. + +Now Ingvar spoke again to me: + +"Why do you no honour to the gods?" + +"My fathers honoured them, for the godarship was theirs, and would +have been my father's and mine, even as it is yours, Jarl Ingvar. +For good reason they left that honour and chose another way and a +better. And to that way I cleave. I have done despite to no man's +faith--neither to yours nor my own." + +At that Rorik lost patience, and lifting his axe, ground his teeth +and said savagely: + +"I will even make you honour Thor yonder." + +Now at that Halfden saw a chance for me, and at once stayed Rorik's +hand, saying in a loud voice: + +"Ho! this is well. Let Wulfric and Rorik fight out this +question--and then the life of him who is slain will surely appease +the gods." + +That pleased our crew well, for they had no great love for Rorik, +who had taken too much command on him, for a stranger on board. +Now, too, Ingvar's brows cleared, for he cared nothing for the life +of either of us, so that the gods were satisfied with blood. And he +said: + +"So shall it be. Take axes and make short work of it. If Wulfric +can slay Rorik, we know that he is innocent of aught to dishonour +the gods. But if he is slain--then on his head is the blame." + +Then he looked round and added: + +"Let Guthrum and Hubba see fair play." + +Now came Hubba, pleased enough, for he knew my axe play, and that +chief whom they called Guthrum, a square, dark man with a pleasant, +wise face, and took four spears, setting them up at the corners of +a twelve-pace square, between the line of our crew and the altar. + +So now it seemed to me that I must fight for our faith, for truth +against falsehood, darkness against light. And I was confident, +knowing this, that the death of one for the faith is often the +greatest victory. So I said: + +"I thank you, Jarl. I will fight willingly for my faith." + +"Fight for what you like," said Ingvar, "but make haste over it." + +Then Hubba and Guthrum placed me at one side of the square, and +Rorik at the opposite. And I faced the image of Thor, so that under +the very eyes of the idol I hated I must prove my faith. + +Then came a longing into my mind to lift my axe in Thor's face and +defy him, but I put it away, for how should an idol know of threat +or defiance? Surely that would be to own some power of his. + +When we were ready, Hubba and Guthrum, each with drawn swords, +stood on either side of the spear-marked square, and signed to +Ingvar to give the word. At once he did so. + +Then I strode forward five paces and waited, but Rorik edged round +me, trying to gain some vantage of light, and I watched him +closely. + +And all the host stood silent, holding breath, and the altar smoke +rose up over our heads, and the ravens croaked in the trees, and +over all stared the great statue of Thor, seeing naught. + +Then like a wolf Rorik sprang at me, smiting at my left shoulder +where no shield was to guard me. And that was Rorik's last stroke, +for even as I had parried Thormod's stroke in sport, the man's +wrist lit on the keen edge of my axe, so that hand and weapon flew +far beyond me with the force of his stroke. Then flashed my axe, +and Rorik fell with his helm cleft in twain. + +Then roared our crew, cheering me: + +"Skoal to the axeman! Ahoy!" + +But I looked at Ingvar, and said: + +"Short work have I made, Jarl." + +Whereat he laughed a grim laugh, only answering: + +"Aye, short enough. The gods are appeased." + +Then I went back to my place beside Halfden, and our men patted my +back, praising me, roughly and heartily, for it is not a viking's +way to blame a man for slaying a comrade in fair fight and for good +reason. + +Now Ingvar stood before the shrine, and called to the gods to be +heedful of the blood spilt to purge whatever dishonour or wrong had +been done. And he hung up the weapons of the slain man in the +shrine, and after that closed its doors and barred them; and we +marched from the Ve silently and swiftly, leaving the body of Rorik +alone for a feast to the birds of Odin before the dying altar fire. + +Now was I light hearted, thinking that the worst was past, and so +also thought Halfden, so that we went back and sought Osritha, who +waited, pale and anxious, to know how things should go with me, and +when we found her I saw that she had been weeping. + +"Why, my sister," said Halfden, "hardly would you have wept for my +danger--or weeping you would be from my sailing to return." + +But she answered not a word, and turned away, for his saying made +her tears come afresh. + +"Now am I a blunderer," said Halfden. "If there is one thing that I +fear it is a weeping maiden." + +And with that he went from the room, leaving me. + +Then I took upon me to comfort Osritha, nor was that a hard task. +And again I would have gone through this new danger I had faced, +for it had brought the one I loved to my arms. + +Not long might we be together, for now the feasting began, and I +must go to Halfden and his brothers in the great hall. And then +came remembrance to me. For now must I refuse to eat of the horse +sacrifice, and maybe there would be danger in that. Yet I thought +that no man would trouble more about me and my ways, so that I said +naught of it to Osritha. + +So I sat between Halfden and Thormod at the high place, and the +whole hall was full of men seated at the long tables that ran from +end to end, and across the wide floor. The womenfolk and thralls +went busily up and down serving, and it was a gay show enough to +look on, for all were in their best array. + +Yet it seemed to me that the men were silent beyond their wont, +surly even in their talk, for the fear of the omen of that eddying +smoke was yet on them. And presently I felt and saw that many eyes +were watching me, and those in no very friendly wise. Some of the +men who watched were strangers to me, but as they sat among our +crew, they must be the rest of the saved from Rorik's following. +Others were men from beyond the village walls, and as Rorik's men +had some reason and the others knew me not, I thought little of +their unfriendly looks. + +At last they brought round great cauldrons, in which were flesh +hooks; to every man in turn, and first of all to Ingvar himself. He +thrust the hook in, and brought up a great piece of meat, cutting +for himself therefrom, and at once every man before whom a cauldron +waited, did likewise, and it passed on. They signed Thor's hammer +over the meat and began to eat. + +Now after Ingvar had helped himself, the cauldron came to Guthrum, +and then to Halfden, and then it must come to me, and I had heaped +food before me that I might pass it by more easily, knowing that +this was the sacrificed meat of which I might not eat. But the men +stayed before me, and I made a sign to them to pass by, and honest +Thormod leaned across me to take his share quickly, and they passed +to him, wondering at me a little, but maybe thinking nothing of it. +They were but thralls, and had not been at the Ve. + +But Rorik's men had their eyes on me, and when the cauldron passed +Thormod, and I had not taken thereout, one rose up and said, +pointing to me: + +"Lo! this Saxon will not eat of the sacrifice." + +At that was a growl of wrath from the company, and Ingvar rose, +looking over the heads of my comrades, saying: + +"Have a care, thou fool; go not too far with me." + +Then Guthrum laughed and said: + +"This is foolishness to mind him; moreover, he has fought for and +won his right to please himself in the matter." + +So too said Halfden and Thormod, but against their voices were now +many raised, saying that ill luck would be with the host for long +enough, if this were suffered openly. + +Now a Dane or Norseman takes no heed of the religion of other folk +unless the matter is brought forward in this way, too plainly to be +overlooked. But then, being jealous for his own gods, whom he knows +to be losing ground, he must needs show that he is so. Nor do I +blame him, for it is but natural. + +So to these voices Ingvar the godar must needs pay heed, even if +his own patience were not gone, so that he might not suffer that +one should sit at the board of Thor and Odin, untasting and +unacknowledging. + +He called to two of his courtmen. + +"Take this man away," he said, very sternly, "and put him in ward +till tomorrow. Today is the feast, and we have had enough trouble +over the business already." + +The two men came towards me, and all men were hushed, waiting to +see if I would fight. As they came I rose from my place, and they +thought I would resist, for they shifted their sword hilts to the +front, ready to hand. But I unbuckled my sword belt, and cast the +weapon down, following them quietly, for it was of no good to fight +hopelessly for freedom in a strange land. + +Many men scowled at me as I passed, and more than one cried out on +me. But Halfden and Thormod and Hubba, and more than were angry, +seemed glad that this was all the harm that came to me just now. +And Ingvar leaned back in his great chair and did not look at me, +though his face was dark. + +They put me into a cell, oak walled and strong, and there left me, +unfettered, but with a heavily-barred door between me and freedom; +and if I could get out, all Denmark and the sea around me held me +prisoner. + +Yet I despaired not altogether, for already I had gone through much +danger, and my strength had not failed me. + +Now, how I spent the daylight hours of that imprisonment any +Christian man may know, seeing that I looked for naught but death. +And at last, when darkness fell, I heard low voices talking outside +for a little while, and I supposed that a watch was set, for the +cell door opened to the courtyard from the back of the great house. + +Now I thought I would try to sleep, for the darkness was very +great, and just as I lay down in a corner the barring of the door +was moved, and the door opened gently. + +"Do you sleep, Wulfric?" said Halfden's voice, speaking very low. + +"What is it, brother?" I asked in as low a voice, for I had not +been a viking for naught. + +I saw his form darken the gray square of the doorway, and he came +in and swung to the door after him; then his hand sought my +shoulder, and I heard a clank of arms on the floor. + +"See here, Wulfric," he said, "you are in evil case; for all +Rorik's men and the men from outside are calling for your death; +they say that Rorik had no luck against you because the Asir are +angry, and that so it will be with all the host until you have paid +penalty." + +"What say you and our crew?" + +"Why, we had good luck with you on board, and hold that Rorik had +done somewhat which set Thor against him, for he got shipwrecked, +and now is killed. So we know that your ways do not matter to Thor +or Odin or any one of the Asir, who love a good fighter. But we +know not why you are so obstinate; still that is your business, not +ours." + +"What says Ingvar?" I asked. + +"Naught; but he is godar." + +"Aye," said I. "So I must die, that is all. What said Ragnar +Lodbrok about that?" + +And I spoke to him the brave words that his forefather sang as he +died, and which he loved: + +"Whether in weapon play +Under the war cloud, +Full in the face of Death +Fearless he fronts him, +Death is the bane of +The man who is bravest, +He loveth life best who +Furthest from danger lives. +Sooth is the saying that +Strongest the Norns are. +Lo! at my life's end +I laugh--and I die." + +"Nay, my brother," said Halfden earnestly; "think of me, and of +Osritha, and seem to bow at least." + +That word spoken by my friend was the hardest I ever had to bear, +for now I was drawn by the love that had been so newly given me. +And I put my hands before my face and thought, while he went on: + +"If I were asked to give up these gods of ours, who, as it seems to +me, pay mighty little heed to us--and I knew that good exchange was +offered me--well then--I should--" + +I ended that word for him. + +"You would do even as your father, and say that unless for better +reason than gain--aye, however longed for--you would not." + +"Aye--maybe I would, after all," he answered, and was silent. + +Then he said, "Guthrum and I spoke just now, and he said that your +faith must be worth more than he knew, to set you so fixedly on +it." + +Now I would have told him that it was so, but there came a little +sound at the door, and Halfden went and opened it. Across its half +darkness came a woman's form, and Osritha spoke in her soft voice. + +"Brother, are you here yet?" + +"Aye, sister, both of us--come and persuade this foolish Wulfric." + +Then I spoke quickly, for it seemed to me that if Osritha spoke and +urged me, I should surely give way. + +"Nay, but you must not persuade me--would you have had us +Christians bid your father choose between death and gain for the +sake of winning him to our faith?" + +Then said Halfden, "That would I not." + +But in the dark Osritha came to my side and clung to me, so that I +was between those two whom I loved and must lose, for Halfden held +my right hand, and Osritha my left, and she was weeping silently +for me. + +"Listen," I said, for the speaking must be mine lest they should +prevail. "Should I die willingly for one who has given His life for +me?" + +"Aye, surely--if that might be," said Halfden. + +"Now it comes into my mind that hereafter you will know that I do +not die for naught. For He whom I worship died for me. Nor may I +refuse to spend life in His honour." + +Then they were silent, until Osritha found her voice and said: + +"We knew not that. I will not be the one to hold you from what is +right." + +At that Halfden rose up, for he had found a seat of logs and sat by +me on it, sighing a long sigh, but saying: + +"Well, this is even as I thought, and I will not blame you, my +brother. Fain would I have kept you here, and sorely will Osritha +pine when you are gone. But you shall not die, else will the +justice of Ulfkytel come to naught." + +Then I heard again the clank of arms, and Halfden bent down, as I +might feel. + +"Can you arm yourself in the dark?" he said. + +"Why, surely! It is not for the first time," I answered. + +He thrust my mail shirt against me, and laid a sword in my hand, +and set my helm on my head, all awry because of the darkness. + +"Quickly," he said. + +Then a new hope that came to me made me clasp Osritha's hand and +kiss it before I must see to arming myself; but she clung to me +yet, and I kissed her gently, then turning away sorely troubled +went to work. + +Soon I was ready for Halfden's word, and Osritha buckled on my +sword for me, for she had felt and taken it. Halfden opened the +door and went out into the night, speaking low to one whom I could +not see; and so I bade farewell to her whom I loved so dearly, not +knowing if I should ever look on her again. + +But she bade me hope ever, for nor she nor I knew what the days to +come might bring us. + +"Ready," said Halfden; "follow me as if you were a courtman till we +come to the outer gate." + +Then with Osritha's handclasp still warm on mine I went out and +followed him, and she sought the maiden who waited beside the door, +and was gone. + +When we came to the great gates, they were shut. The sounds of +feasting went on in the hall, and the red light glared from the +high windows. Forgotten was all but revelling--and the guard who +kept the gate was Raud the forester, my friend. He opened the gates +a little, and we three slipped out and stood for a moment together. +The night was very dark, and the wind howled and sang through the +stockading, and none seemed to be about the place. + +There Halfden took my hand and bade me farewell very sadly. + +"This is the best I may do for you, my brother. Go with Raud to his +house, and thence he and Rolf and Thoralf your shield man, who all +love you, will take you even to Hedeby, where there are Christian +folk who will help you to the sea and find passage to England. And +fare you well, my brother, for the days we longed for in your land +will never be--" + +"Come in the ship to England, that so there may be good times even +yet," I said. + +"Aye, to England I shall surely come--not to seek you, but at +Ingvar's bidding. Yet to East Anglia for your sake I will not +come." + +Then he grasped my hand again in farewell, and he went inside the +gates and closed them, and Raud and I went quickly to his place. + +There we found those two other good friends of mine waiting, and +they told me that all was well prepared to save them from the wrath +of Ingvar, for they had been bidden to carry messages, and other +men of the crew who lived far off would do this for them, for I +feared for their lives also when the flight was known. + +Long was the way to Hedeby, where Ansgar the Bishop had built the +first church in all Denmark. But we won there at last and in +safety. And there Ansgar's folk received me well, and I parted from +my three comrades, not without grief, so that I asked them to take +service with us in England. Almost they consented, but Rolf and +Thoralf had wives and children, and Raud would by no means leave +his brother. + +Now in a few days, a company of merchants went from Hedeby with +goods for England, and with them I went; and in no long time I came +into Ingild's house by London Bridge, and was once more at home as +the second week in May began. + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF INGVAR'S HOST. + + +Aught but joy did I look for in my homecoming, but it was all too +like that of Halfden, my friend. + +No need to say how my kind godfather met me as one come back from +the dead, nor how I sent gifts back to Ansgar's people, who sorely +needed help in those days. + +But very gently the old man told me that Elfric my father was dead, +passing suddenly but a month since, while by his side sat Ulfkytel +the Earl, blaming himself for his blindness and for his haste in +not waiting for the king's judgment, and yet bidding my father take +heart, for he had never known his ways of justice fail. And he +asked forgiveness also, for there had been a deadly feud concerning +this between him and my people, so that but for Eadmund the King +there would have been fighting. Yet when one told Ulfkytel that men +held that my father's heart broke at my loss, the great earl had +made haste to come and see him, and to say these things. So they +made peace at last. + +When I knew this it seemed to me that I had lost all, and for long +I cared for nothing, going about listless, so that Ingild feared +that I too should grow sick and die. But I was young and strong, +and this could not last, and at length I grew reconciled to things +as they were, and Ingild would speak with me of all that I had seen +in Denmark. + +Now when I told him what I feared of the coming of Ingvar's host he +grew grave, and asked many things about it. + +"Ethelred the King is at Reading," he said; "let us go and speak to +him of this matter." + +So we rode thither, and that ride through the pleasant Thames-side +country was good for me. And when we came to the great house where +the king lay, we had no trouble in finding the way to him, for +Ingild was well known, and one of the great Witan {xviii} also. + +I told Ethelred the king of England all that I had learned, and he +was troubled. Only we three were in his council chamber, and to us +he spoke freely. + +"What can I do? Much I fear that East Anglia must fight her own +battles at this time. Pressed am I on the west by Welsh and Dane, +and my Wessex men have their hands full with watching both. And it +is hard to get men of one kingdom to fight alongside those of +another, even yet. And this I know full well, that until a host +lands I can gather no levy, for our men will not wait for a foe +that may never come." + +I knew that his words were true, and could say nothing. Only I +thought that it had been better if we had held to our Mercian +overlords in Ecgberht's time than fight for this Wessex sovereign +who was far from us; for that unhealed feud with Mercia seemed to +leave us alone now. + +"Yet," said Ethelred, "these men are not such great chiefs, as it +seems. Maybe their threats will come to naught." + +But I told him of that great gathering at the sacrifice, and said +also that I thought that needs must those crowded folks seek riches +elsewhere than at home. Then he asked me many things of the corn +and cattle and richness of the land; and when I told him what I had +seen, he looked at me and Ingild. + +"Such things as crowding and poverty and hardness drove us from +that shore hither. I pray that the same be not coming on us that we +brought to the ancient people the Welsh, whose better land we took +and now hold." + +So we left him, and I could see that the matter lay heavily on his +mind. + +In a week thereafter I rode away homeward, and came first to +Framlingham, where Eadmund our own king was. Very glad was he to +see me safely home again. + +"Now am I, with good Ingild your other godfather, in Elfric's place +toward you," he said; "think of me never as a king, but as a +father, Wulfric, my son." + +And he bade me take my place as Thane of Reedham, confirming me in +all rights that had been my father's. With him, too, was the great +earl, and he begged my forgiveness for his doubt of me, though he +was proud that his strange manner of finding truth was justified. +Good friends were Ulfkytel and I after that, though he knew not +that in my mind was the thought of Osritha, to whom he had, as it +were, sent me. + +Now every day brought fear to me that Ingvar's host was on its way +overseas to fall on us. And this I told to Eadmund and the earl, +who could not but listen to me. Yet they said that the peace +between us and the Danes was sure, and that even did they come we +should be ready. When I pressed them indeed, they sent round word +to the sheriffs to be on the watch, and so were content. For our +king was ever a man of peace, hating the name of war and bloodshed, +and only happy in seeing to the welfare of his people, giving them +good laws, and keeping up the churches and religious houses so well +that there were none better to be found than ours in all England. + +This pleased me not altogether, for I knew now how well prepared +for war the Danes were, and I would fain have had our men trained +in arms as they. But my one voice prevailed not at all, and after a +while I went down to Reedham, and there bided with my mother and +Eadgyth, very lonely and sad at heart in the place where I had +looked for such happiness with my father and Lodbrok and Halfden at +first, and now of late, for a few days, with Osritha, and Halfden +in Lodbrok's place. + +For all this was past as a dream passes, and to me there seemed to +hang over the land the shadow of the terrible raven banner, which +Osritha had helped to work for Lodbrok and his host, in the days +before she dreamed that it might be borne against a land she had +cause to love. + +Ever as the days went by I would seek the shipmen who came to +Reedham on their way up the rivers, so that I might hear news from +the Danish shore, where Osritha was thinking of me, till at last I +heard from a Frisian that three kings had gathered a mighty host, +and were even now on their way to England. + +I asked the names of those three, and he told me, even as I had +feared, that they were called Ingvar and Hubba and Halfden; and so +I knew that the blow was falling, and that Ingvar had stirred up +other chiefs to join him, and so when the host gathered at some +great Thing, he and his brothers had been hailed kings over the +mighty following that should do their bidding in the old Danish +way. For a Danish king is king over men, and land that he shall +rule is not of necessity {xix}. + +Again I warned Eadmund, and again he sent his messages to Ulfkytel +the Earl and to the sheriffs, and for a few weeks the levies +watched along the shore of the Wash; and then as no ships came, +went home, grumbling, as is an East Anglian's wont, and saying that +they would not come out again for naught, either for king or earl. + +Now after that I spent many a long hour in riding northward along +the coast, watching for the sails of the fleet, and at other times +I would sit on our little watch tower gazing over the northern sea, +and fearing ever when the white wing of a gull flashed against the +skyline that they were there. And at last, as I sat dreaming and +watching, one bright day, my heart gave a great leap, for far off +to the northward were the sails of what were surely the first ships +of the fleet. + +I watched for a while, for it was ill giving a false alarm and +turning out our unwilling levies for naught, for each time they +came up it grew harder to keep them, and each time fewer came. In +an hour I knew that there were eight ships and no more, and that +they were heading south steadily, not as if intending to land in +the Wash, but as though they would pass on to other shores than +ours. And they were not Ingvar's fleet, for he alone had ten ships +in his ship garth. + +They were broad off the mouth of our haven presently, and maybe +eight miles away, when one suddenly left the rest and bore up for +shore--sailing wonderfully with the wind on her starboard bow as +only a viking's ship can sail--for a trading vessel can make no way +to windward save she has a strong tide with her. + +She came swiftly, and at last I knew my own ship again, and thought +that Halfden had come with news of peace, and maybe to take me to +sea with him, and so at last back to Osritha. And my heart beat +high with joy, for no other thought than that would come to me for +a while, and when she was but two miles off shore, I thought that I +would put out to meet and bring the ship into the haven; for he +knew not the sands, though indeed I had given him the course and +marks--well enough for a man like Thormod--when I was with him. And +there came over me a great longing to be once more on the +well-known deck with these rough comrades who had so well stood by +me. + +But suddenly she paid off from the wind, running free again to the +southward down the coast, and edging away to rejoin the other +ships. And as she did so her broad pennon was run up and dipped +thrice, as in salute; and so she passed behind the headlands of the +southern coast and was lost to my sight. + +I bided there in my place, downcast and wondering, until the +meaning of it all came to me; remembering Halfden's last words, +that he would not fall on East Anglia. Now he had shown me that his +promise was kept. He had left the fleet, and was taking his own way +with those who would follow him. + +Yet if he had eight ships, what would Ingvar's host be like? +Greater perhaps than any that had yet come to our land, and the +most cruel. For he would come, not for plunder only, but hating the +name of England, hating the name of Christian, and above all hating +the land where his father had been slain. + +I climbed down from the tower, and found my people talking of the +passing ships, and rejoicing that they had gone. Already had some +of them piled their goods in waggons ready for flight, and some +were armed. Then, as in duty bound, I sent men in haste to the earl +at Caistor to report this, telling him also that the great fleet of +which this was a part was surely by this token on its way. + +By evening word came back from him. He had sure news from Lynn that +the great fleet had gone into the Humber to join the host at York, +and that we need fear nothing. Men said that there were twenty +thousand men, and that there were many chiefs besides those that I +had named. This, he said, seemed over many to be possible, but it +did not concern us, for they were far away. + +Now, when I thought how the wind had held at any quarter rather +than north or east for long weeks, it seemed to me likely that it +was this only that had kept them from us, and that the going into +Humber was no part of Ingvar's plan, but done as of necessity. For +to bring over so mighty a host he must have swept up every vessel +of all kinds for many a score miles along the shores. And they +would be heavy laden with men, so that he must needs make the first +port possible. Yet for a time we should be left in quiet. + +Now I must say how things went at home, for my sister's wedding +with Egfrid had been put off first by the doubt of my own fate, and +then by the mourning for my father's death. Yet the joy of my +return had brought fresh plans for it, and now the new house at +Hoxne was nearly ready; so that both Egfrid and his folk were +anxious that there should be no more delay. + +I, too, when the coming of the Danes seemed a thing that might be +any day, thought it well that Eadgyth should rather be inland at +Hoxne, whence flight southward could be made in good time, than at +Reedham, where the first landing might well be looked for. But when +the fear passed for a while by reason of the news from Northumbria, +the time was fixed for the end of November, just before the Advent +season, and not earlier, because of the time of mourning. + +So the summer wore through slowly to me, for I was sad at heart, +having lost so much. And ever from beyond the Wash and from Mercia +came news of Ingvar's host. The Northumbrian king was slain, and a +Dane set in his place; and Burhred of Mercia bowed to the Danes, +and owned them for lords; and at last Ethelred of Wessex came to +himself and sent levies to meet the host, but too late, for Mercia +was lost to him. Yet Eadmund our king, and even Ulfkytel, deemed +that we were safe as ever behind our fenland barrier, fearing +naught so long as no landing was made from across the Wash. + +Yet when November came in, and at Egfrid's house all was bustle and +preparation, we heard that Bardney was burnt, and Swineshead, and +then Medehamstede {xx}. And the peril was close on us, and but +just across our border. + +"No matter," said men to one another. "It will be a hard thing for +Danes to cross the great fens to come hither. They will turn aside +into Mercia's very heart, and then the Wessex folk will rise." + +But I feared, and two days before the wedding went to Harleston, +where the king was, and urged him to have forces along the great +wall we call Woden's Dyke even yet. + +"Let us see your wedding first, Wulfric," he said. "Eadgyth would +be sorely grieved if I were not there." + +For he lay at Harleston to be near at hand, as the wedding was to +be from the house of Egfrid's father, because Reedham seemed as yet +a house of sorrow. And I was glad when the Thane asked that it +should take place at Hoxne, and it was safer also. + +Surely never moved host so swiftly as Ingvar's, for even as I went, +heavily enough, from Eadmund's presence, a man spurred into the +town saying that Earl Ulfkytel faced the Danes with a fair levy +gathered in haste, between us and Wisbech. They had crossed the +fens where no man dreamed that they might come, and were upon us as +if from the skies. + +Now Eadmund made no more delay, but all that night went forth the +summons of the war arrow, and the men mustered in force at last in +Thetford town, and I spurred back to Hoxne and found the thane, and +spoke to him. + +"Let the wedding go on," I said, "for the Danes are yet far, and +must pass the earl and us also before they come hither. Now must I +be with the king, but if I may, and Ulfkytel holds them back, I +shall be at the wedding. And if it must be, I will warn you to fly, +and so let Egfrid take his bride and my mother and his own folk +southward to Colchester or London." + +That, he thought, was well, and no word of fear or haste hindered +the wedding gathering. Only some of the great thanes who should +have been there were with the king or earl, and it seemed that the +number of guests would be small. + +I rode to Thetford, bidding Eadgyth look for me on the morrow in +good time, and saying that the king would surely come also. But +when I came to the town I knew that neither he nor I should be at +Hoxne, for the Danes had scattered the levy, and Ulfkytel the great +earl was slain, and with him many another friend of mine. And the +men said that the Danes were marching swiftly onward, ever nearing +Thetford, and burning and wasting all in their track. + +We marched out of the town to meet them, for we had a good force +behind us, and the men were confident of victory with the king +himself to lead them. And he was cheerful also, and said to me, as +I armed him: + +"I would not have you leave the wedding; howbeit, if we beat back +the Danes, which is a matter in the hands of the Lord of Hosts, +both you and I will be there in time tomorrow." + +Our mounted men met the Danes that evening--the night before +Eadgyth's wedding day--and we slept in our armour on Thetford heath +waiting for them. And in the early morning our outposts were driven +back on us, and the Danes were close on their heels. + +Now Eadmund told me that I should not stand by him today, for so +soon as the battle was over I must go to Hoxne, either with news of +victory, or to bid them fly, and he would not keep me. + +"I will not leave the place that is mine by right," I said. + +"Not so," he answered; "I would bid you stand out of the battle for +sweet Eadgyth's sake, but that I know you would not obey me." + +And he smiled at me as he went on the great white horse he always +rode, to draw up the men. + +They cheered when he spoke to them, and I thought that they would +fight well. Aye, and so they did, in their fierce untrained way. +Many a long day it was since we of East Anglia stood in battle +array, and the last time was against our own kin, save that now and +again the men of some shoreward places would rise to beat off a +Danish or Norse ship. + +Now were the foes in sight, and they ranged up in close order when +they saw we were ready. More than half their force was mounted, for +the Lindsey uplands and marshes had given them horses enough of the +best in England. And this was terrible, that over the host wheeled +erne and raven and kite, as knowing to what feast the flapping of +yon Raven banner called them. + +Foremost of all rode a mighty chief on a black horse, and I saw +that it was Ingvar himself, the king of the Danish host. Well I +knew the armour, for it was that which he had worn at the great +sacrifice, though now it shone no longer, but was dulled with the +stains of many a hard fight. Now, too, round his helm ran the gold +circlet of the king. + +"Know you yon great man?" asked Eadmund of me; for I would not +leave him, but stood before him in my place. + +"It is Ingvar the king," I answered; "he who was Jarl Ingvar." + +"Speak to him, and ask him to leave the land in peace," he said. + +Now I thought that was of little use, but I would do the king's +bidding, and asked what I should say. + +"Offer him ransom, if you will," Eadmund answered. + +So I went forward, and stood at a bowshot's length from our people, +leaning on the axe that Lodbrok had made me, and there waited till +the Danes came on. And presently Ingvar saw me, and knowing that I +was one who would speak with the leader, rode up, looking curiously +at me as he came. + +"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!" I said when he was close. + +He reined up his horse in surprise, lifting his hand. + +"Odin! It is Wulfric!" he said. "Now, skoal to you, Wulfric! But I +would that you were not here." + +"How is that, Jarl?" I asked; but I had ever heard that the jarl +was in high good humour before a fight. + +"I would not fight with you, for you have been our guest. And many +a man have I questioned since yesterday, and all men say that you +were my father's friend. It was a true story that you told me." + +"You believed it rightly, Jarl." + +"Aye--and therefore I will not fight with you." + +Then I asked him to leave the land in peace, and his face darkened. + +"I speak of yourself alone," he said, "as for land and king and +people--that is a different matter." + +"You have had your revenge," I said. + +"What?" he asked fiercely. "Is the life of Lodbrok, my father, +worth but the death of a hound like Beorn? Stand aside, Wulfric, +and let me have my revenge in full." + +Now, seeing that our talk was earnest, there rode up another Danish +chief, and it was Guthrum, the man who had seemed to take my part +at the idol feast. I was glad to see him come at this moment. + +"Here is Halfden's friend," said Ingvar to him, "and he, forsooth, +would have us go in peace." + +And the Danish king laughed harshly. + +"Why, so we will, if they make it worth our while," said Guthrum, +nodding to me. + +"What ransom will you take from us?" I asked them. + +"The keeping of Eadmund, your king," answered Ingvar; "nothing more +nor less." + +"It seems to me that you will have to fight before you take him," I +said plainly; for no man in all the Anglian ranks would have +listened to that. + +"That is too much," said Guthrum. "Tell him to own you as overlord +and pay scatt {xxi} to us, holding the kingdom from you, and +that will save fighting--and surely the whole land will be weregild +enough for Jarl Lodbrok." + +Then Ingvar thought for a moment, and said to me, still frowning: + +"Go and tell your king those terms, and bring word again." + +So I went back and told Eadmund, knowing full well what his answer +would be. And it was as I thought. + +"Go and tell this Ingvar that I will not give my land into the +hands of the heathen, or own them as lords." + +Now what I told Ingvar and Guthrum was this only, knowing that to +give the full message was to enrage Ingvar: + +"Eadmund refuses." + +"Your king is a wise man," said Guthrum, "for who knows how a fight +will go?" + +Ingvar reined round his horse to go to his own men, and he and +Guthrum left me standing there. I was turning away also, when the +hoof beats of one horse stayed, and Ingvar called me in the voice +he would use when most friendly with me. + +"Wulfric," he said, "glad was I to find you gone, for I should +surely have had to slay you before the shrine; but Thor is far off +now, and I have forgotten that, and only do I remember that good +comrade to us all you have been in hall and forest. And ere I +sailed--one whom you know--that one who stayed my hand from +Beorn--made me promise--aye, and swear by my sword--that you at +least I would not harm. And I will not. Stand aside from this +fight." + +Now, had I not known the great love and reverence in which those +three wild brothers held Osritha, I should have been amazed at +these words from Ingvar; but there is somewhat of good to be found +in every man. + +Then I answered: + +"I must fight for my land, Ingvar, but I also would fain not fight +against yourself. Where stand you in your line?" + +"On the right," he said; "Guthrum is on the left." + +"Where is Hubba?" I asked, wondering. + +"He is not far from us. He will come when I need his help." + +"Then we need not meet," I said; "I am in the centre." + +Now we both returned to our places, and again Eadmund, after I had +told him that we must fight, asked me to stand out. + +"For," said he, "you are in her father's place to Eadgyth." + +"Until after the wedding, my king," I said; "but you are in my +father's place to me always. Should I have left him?" + +So I said no more, but stood in my place before him, for I loved +him now best of all men in the world since my father was gone, and +it seemed well to me to die beside him if die he must. + +Now our king gave the word, crying, "Forward, Christian men!" and +we shouted and charged with a good will on the Danes, and the +battle began. Hard fighting it was on both sides, but our men in +their want of order jostled and hindered one another, so that I saw +more than one struck down by mischance by his own comrades. But the +Danes kept their even line, bent round into half a circle so that +we could not outflank them, and our numbers were nearly equal. + +Men have said that I did well in that fight, but so did we all, +each in his way. All I know of my own deeds is that I kept my own +life, and that once a ring of men stood before me out of reach of +my axe, not one seeming to care to be first within its swing. And +ever Eadmund's clear voice cheered on his men from behind me. + +So the battle went on from the first daylight for an hour's space, +and then the steadfastness of the Danish line began to strike +terror into our men, and the Danish horsemen charged on our flanks +and broke us up; and then all at once a panic fell on our levies, +and they wavered, and at once the horsemen were among them +everywhere, and the field was lost to us. Before I knew what had +befallen I was hurried away in a dense throng of our men, who swept +me from before the king, and I was soon in Thetford streets, where +I thought that surely we should have rallied, for there is no +stronger town or better walled in all East Anglia. + +In the marketplace sat Eadmund on his white horse, unhelmed that +the men might know him yet living, for in the flight word had gone +round that he had fallen, and now the men seemed to be taking heart +and gathering round him. + +But even as I reached him, a fresh throng of flying men came down +the street from the gate next the Danes, and after them came a +score of the terrible horsemen, driving a hundred like sheep before +them. At that sight the few who were gathering fled also, leaving +the king and myself and four other thanes alone. I was the only one +on foot. + +Then one of those thanes grasped the bridle of the king's horse and +led him away, crying: + +"Come, for our sakes; needs must fly. Let us go to Framlingham." + +So they rode, against the king's will as one might see, from the +place, and went away towards the southern gate of the town. And +seeing that the Danes were in the town I knew that all was lost, +and that here I might stay no longer if Eadgyth was to be saved. + +I ran to where I had left my horse, and mounted and fled also, +following the king, for that gate led to the road along the south +bank of the river. I knew not if he had crossed the bridge or no, +but over the river was my way, and I had my own work to be done, +and some twenty miles to be covered as quickly as might be. Glad +was I that I had chosen to fight on foot that day, for my horse was +fresh. + +Terrible it was to see the panic in the town as the poor folk knew +that the Danes were on them. They filled the road down which I must +go, thronging in wild terror to the gates, and I will not remember +the faces of that crowd, for they were too piteous. + +Glad I was to be free from them at last, and upon the road where I +could ride freely, for as they left the town they took to the woods +and riverside swamps, and save for a few horsemen flying like +myself, the road was soon clear. Then, too, these horsemen struck +away from the road one by one, and at last I rode on alone. + +Now my one thought was for those at Hoxne, and to urge them to +instant flight, and I thought that even now Humbert the Bishop +would be in the little church, waiting for the bride to come. + +Then I would hasten the more, for to reach the church from Egfrid's +father's house the river Dove must be crossed; and I would keep +them from returning to this side if I could be in time, for we +might break down the timber-built bridge and so delay the crossing +of the Danes. Yet they might be for days in Thetford before they +began to raid in the country. + +Swiftly I rode on, for my horse was a good one and fresh, and at +last, after many miles were passed, I came to a place where I could +see a long stretch of road before me. There rode the king on his +white horse, and with him those four thanes. I could not mistake +that party, and I thought I knew where they were going. The king +would warn my people himself, and so take refuge beyond Hoxne, on +the other side of the river, at South Elmham, with Bishop Humbert. + +I rode after, but I gained little on them; nor did I care much, for +the king would do all that I might. In a few minutes more I should +know if he crossed Hoxne bridge, and if he did so they were safe. + +I lost sight of the party as they came into a wood, and there my +horse stumbled. He had lost a shoe. That was little to me now, but +it kept me back; and now I heard the quick gallop of horses behind +me, and looked to see who came, for I thought that more fugitives +followed, most likely. I had heard the sound coming on the wind +more than once before as I rode on the wayside grass. + +They were Danes. Twelve of them there were, and foremost of all +rode Ingvar on his black horse. Well for the king that they had no +change of steeds, but had ridden hotfoot after him from the +battlefield. Now their horses were failing them, but they would +take me, and delay would give the king another chance; and I was +half-minded to stay and fight. Then I thought of Hoxne, and I put +spurs to my horse and rode on again. + +Now I came in sight of Hoxne bridge, and half feared that I should +see the bridal train passing over; but many men were even now +leaving the bridge, going towards the church, and I knew that they +were there. But of Eadmund and his thanes I saw nothing--only a +lame white horse, that I thought like his, grazed quietly in a +field by the roadside, so that for a moment my eyes went to it, +thinking to see king and thanes there. + +Ingvar was not a mile behind me, and I spurred on. And now I won to +the turning that leads to the thane's house whence the company had +passed, and a few villagers stood at the road corner. Them I asked +how long it was since the bride had gone, and they stared at me in +stupid wonder, making no answer. Then I bade them fly, for the +Danes were coming; and at that they laughed, looking at one another +slyly, proud of their own fancied wisdom. So I left them and rode +on. + +Even as I came to the hill down to the bridge my horse stumbled and +almost fell, and when I gathered him up, not losing my seat, I knew +he was beaten. And now I halted for good, unslinging my axe, and +waiting to fight and hinder the Danes from going further, as yet. +It was all I could do. + +Hand over hand they came up to me, and now Hoxne bells rang out in +merry peals as the bride and bridegroom left the church. The +service was over, and unless our king had warned them, they would +be coming back over the bridge in a few minutes. Yet, if he had +warned them, surely the bells had not pealed out thus. + +Now I heard the music play from across the water, and I heard the +shouts of the people--and all the while the hoofs of Ingvar's +horses thundered nearer and nearer. Then they came over the little +rise in the road and were on me with levelled spears. + +I got my horse between them and me, across the narrow roadway, and +hove up my axe and waited. But when Ingvar saw who I was, he held +up his hand, and his men threw up their spear points and halted, +thinking perhaps that I was the king. + +"Where is the king?" shouted Ingvar. + +I saw that their horses were done, and not knowing which way the +king had gone answered truly. + +"I know not. The road forks, and that is as far as I know." + +Then Ingvar swore a great oath. + +"You know not which way he went?" + +"I do not," I said. + +"Catch a thrall and ask him," he said to his men. + +And those silly folk were yet standing at the corner, maybe +thinking us belated wedding guests, and the men took one, dragging +him to their chief. But the man said that he had seen no horsemen +pass. Truly he had heard some, but all men were at the house door +waiting for the bride to come forth, and paid no heed. + +So the king had passed by before the procession set out, and I knew +not what to think. + +"What bride?" said Ingvar. + +And the music answered him, coming nearer and nearer, and now they +were crossing Hoxne bridge--a bright little array of wedding +guests, and in the midst I could see those two, Egfrid and Eadgyth, +and after came a crowd of village folk. + +"See yonder," said a Dane, pointing. "By Baldur, here is a wedding! +Gold and jewels to be had for the taking!" + +But my horse was across the road, and my axe was in the way, and I +cried to Ingvar as the men began to handle their weapons. + +"Mercy, Jarl Ingvar! This is my sister's wedding--that Eadgyth of +whom your own sister would ever ask so much." + +"Hold!" roared the chief, and his men stayed, wondering. "An you +touch so much as a hair of any in that company--the man who +touches, I will slay!" he said, and the men stared at him. + +"Yon is the bridal of Reedham folk," he said, "and the bride is she +who befriended Lodbrok. They shall not be hurt." + +For he must needs justify himself, and give reason for withholding +plunder from Danes as free as himself. + +"Aye, King, that is right," they said on hearing that, and Ingvar +turned to me. + +"For Osritha's sake, lest I should harm you in aught," he said. +"Now ask me no more. Let us meet them in peace." + +Now I knew that my folk were safe for this time at least, and my +heart was light, and so leaving my horse I walked beside the king, +as his men called him, until we met the first of the company on +this side of the bridge. + +Then was a little confusion, and they stopped, not knowing what +this war-stained troop might betoken. And I saw that no word had +come of the great defeat as yet. + +I went forward, calling to Egfrid and the thane his father, and +looking at them so that they should show no fear or give any sign +to the ladies present that all was not well. + +"This is Jarl Ingvar himself, and these are his men," I said. "And +the jarl would fain speak with Eadgyth my sister, of whom he has +often heard." + +And Egfrid, being very brave, although he must have seen well +enough what this meant, kept his face well, and answered that Jarl +Ingvar was welcome, coming in peace. + +"Aye--in peace just now," answered Ingvar, looking at him. "Now, I +will say this, that Wulfric's sister has found a brave husband." + +Now Eadgyth heard the jarl's name, and knew naught of the terror +that that name brought to all the land, and least of all that a +battle could have been fought, for we had kept it from her. Nor had +I told her of how nearly he had been to slaying me, for I would not +make Osritha's brothers terrible to her. So she thought of him only +as Lodbrok our friend's son, who had shown me hospitality in his +own hall. + +So when Egfrid took her hand and brought her forward, looking as I +thought most beautiful in her bridal array, she smiled on the great +Dane frankly, as in thanks for my sake. + +Then Ingvar unhelmed, and spoke to her in courtly wise, even as he +was wont to speak to Osritha. + +"When I go back to my own land, lady, I shall have many questions +asked me by one of whom you have doubtless heard, as to how our +friend's sister was arrayed for her wedding. And that I shall not +be able to say--but this I know, that I may tell Osritha that +Wulfric's sister was worthy of Wulfric." + +Now Eadgyth noted not the war stains on Ingvar's mail, but it was +strange and terrible to me to see him sitting there and speaking as +though the things of a stricken field were not the last, as it +were, on which he had looked. But Eadgyth's eyes were downcast, +though she was pleased. + +"Thanks, Jarl Ingvar," she said; "often have I heard of Osritha. +When you return I would have you thank her for her care of my +brother--and I would thank you also, Jarl, for your care of him." + +Now Ingvar reddened a little, but not with anger, for he saw that I +had spoken at least no ill of him to Eadgyth. + +"Nay, lady," he answered; "Halfden and Hubba and Osritha have to be +thanked--if any thanks need be to us for caring for Jarl Lodbrok's +preserver. Little share may I take of the matter." + +"Yet I will thank all in your place," she said, and then shrank +back to Egfrid's side. + +Never had I seen a more handsome couple. + +Then Ingvar laid his hand on a great golden snake that twined round +his right arm, and I thought he was going to give it as a bridal +gift to my sister, for that is ever a viking's way, to give +lavishly at times when he might have taken, if the mood seizes him. +But as he glanced at the gold he saw blood specks thereon, and I +heard him mutter: + +"No, by Freya, that were ill-omened." + +And he did but seem to put it in place, as if thinking. Then he +replaced his helm, bowing, and said: + +"Now must I stay your rejoicing no longer. Fare you well, lady, and +you, noble Egfrid; I must ride back to Thetford town on my own +affairs. Yet I leave you Wulfric. Will you remember hereafter that +you spoke with Ingvar the king, and that he was your friend?" + +"Aye, surely," answered they both at once. + +Then once more the music played, and the little train went on and +up the hill, and Ingvar and I stood together for a while looking +after them. + +"I thank you, King," I said. + +"Aye, Wulfric; and maybe you and yours are the only ones who will +say that word to me in all this land. Now take my rede, and do you +and your folk begone as soon as maybe, for even I cannot hold back +men who are not from our own place." + +Then I parted from him, going after my people, and thinking that +all was well for us, and that surely our king was safe, until I +came to where my horse still stood. There over the lane hedge +looked that lame white horse that I had seen, speaking as it were +in his own way to mine. And when I saw him thus near, it was indeed +the king's, and a great fear that he was not far off took hold of +me. + + + +CHAPTER XII. IN HOXNE WOODS. + + +Many of the village folk loitered on the bridge and in the lanes, +looking curiously at the Danes, and talking of the wedding and the +like. And some of these I saw Ingvar's men questioning, and very +soon a knot of them gathered round one man, and there was some loud +talking. + +Then I would have hastened back, but Ingvar saw me, and waved +sternly to me to depart, and slowly enough I went on my way. But I +could not forbear looking back when I reached the road to the +house. + +Only Ingvar was now on horseback, and the men seemed to be swarming +over the bridge railings, and climbing under it among the timbers. + +Then were shouts, and the village churls began to run every way, +and one or two came up the hill towards me. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Oh, master," the first man cried, "when the bridal folk went over +the bridge on the way to the church, one man looked over into the +water, and cried that he saw somewhat sparkle therein like gold, +and others looked, and some saw naught, but others said that they +saw in the water as it were the image of golden spurs. And the +Danes asked us if we saw the king; but we had not. Only one man +laughing, in his fear as I think, said that the nearest thing to a +crown that he had seen was the glint of golden spurs shining from +the water yonder. Then looked the Danes--and now--oh master!" + +The man grew white, pointed, and fled. + +Haled and pushed and buffeted by the hands of the Danes, a man was +dragged over the rail of the bridge from the network of cross +timbers among which he had hidden, and I saw that the armour was +that of Eadmund the King. + +There, in that seemingly secure place, his thanes must have made +him hide when his horse fell lame, for doubtless he would not +hinder them in their flight, but would have taken sanctuary in the +church. From some point in the road they must have seen their +pursuers before I cared to look behind me to see who followed, for +there was no mistaking the red cloaks that the Danes of the king's +courtmen always wear. + +This I thought at the time, and long afterwards learnt from one of +those thanes that I was right. And it was their doing, not his, for +the king would have gone to the church and there warned my people. +But as it chanced there were no men in sight when the king hid, for +all were gathered to the thane's house. And I asked that thane if +they sent no warning message--and he said they had done so by a +certain churl whom they met. But our folk never had it. + +Now I knew not what to do, being torn with grief and fear. I dared +not cross Ingvar again, lest I should change his mood, mild enough +now, to some wild fit of rage, for I had not bided so long in his +hall without learning that much of his ways. I stayed till I knew +for certain that they had not harmed the king, and so saw him +bound, and mounted behind one of the courtmen; and then when I saw +them begin to come towards me, I went to the thane's house and told +him all, calling him out from the feast. + +"Let us mount and rescue the king," I said. + +"Then will they kill him--better not. They will but hold him to +ransom," the thane said. + +I knew his first word was right, and now I left that and urged him +to hasten the flight of all the party, bidding him take the road +towards the south, ever away from the Danes. + +"What will you do?" he asked, for I spoke not of coming with him. + +"This," I answered. "I will pledge Ingild's word, as I know I may, +for any ransom, going after the Danes and finding Guthrum, who will +listen to me." + +He thought that well, and then I asked where Humbert the Bishop +was. He had gone back to South Elmham at once, and would be far on +his road by this time, the thane said. + +Then I went out and took a fresh horse from the stables and rode +away into the great road. And when I came there, I saw with others +the man who told me how the king's hiding place was found. + +"How long have the Danes been gone?" I asked. + +"Master," he answered, "they have gone back over the bridge, some +of them riding forward towards Hoxne." + +At that I knew that some plan of Ingvar's was that his men after +victory should cross the river at Thetford, and so perhaps strike +at Framlingham where the king's household was. But all along the +march of the Danish host had been unresting, so that men had no +time to prepare for their coming, or even to know what point they +would reach next. + +Then I sent by this man urgent messages to the thane that they +should fly coastwards, crossing the river Waveney, perhaps, so as +not to fall into the hands of the host at the first starting, for +Ingvar's horsemen would be everywhere south of this and Thetford. + +I rode fast over the bridge, for I feared for Humbert our good +bishop, and when I came near the church the bells jangled, all +unlike the wedding peals that I had heard so lately. + +They had found a few late flowers, violets and marigolds and +daisies and the like, and had strewn them before the bride as she +left the church; and they lay there yet with bright hedgerow leaves +to eke them out--but across the path, too, lay the dead body of a +poor churl, dressed in his holiday gear, slain by a spear thrust, +and the church was burning. Now the men who jangled the bells for +help came down in haste, terrified as the fire took hold of the +roof, for the church was all of wood and very old. + +When they saw me they ran, thinking me yet another of their foes; +but I rode after one and caught him, for he would by no means stay +for calling, and I asked him what had happened, and where the +bishop was. + +"Alas, master," the man said, "they have slain my brother and fired +the church, and now have ridden after the bishop. They slew my +brother because he would not say by which road he had gone; and +another told them, being in fear for his life--and our king is +taken." + +"Did they take the king by the road to South Elmham?" + +"Four rode after the bishop with the great man on the black horse +who was the leader. The rest went with the king up the track +through Hoxne woods, but slowly." + +Had I but one or two more with me surely now I should have followed +up the king and tried to rescue him. But I think it would have been +vain, for Ingvar's men would have slain him rather than lose him. +But most of all I wondered at the boldness of these few men, who, +with their leader, dared venture so far from their forces. Well did +they know, however, how complete is the rout of a Saxon levy; and I +too might have guessed it, since I had fled alone after the first +five miles, while all those who had left the town with me scattered +all ways. + +Now the church was blazing from end to end, and one or two more men +had gathered to me, seeing who I was. + +"Take up yon body," I said, "and cast it into the church. So shall +his ashes lie in holy ground at least. For you and yours must even +take to the woods for a while. The Danes will be here." + +That I think they did, for they were lifting the body as I went +away and rode along the way that the bishop had taken, meaning at +least to meet Ingvar, for I feared lest the men who had the king +should slay him if they were followed. + +Hardly a mile had I gone when Ingvar and his men came riding slowly +back. Their beaten horses could do no more, and they had left +following the bishop. Ingvar's face was black as night, and as he +came he roared at me: "You here again! Now this passes all. Did I +not bid you stand aside and hinder me not?" + +"Aye, King," I answered, coldly enough. "But I cross you not. I +have ransom to offer for the king." + +"I will have no ransom," he said, very savagely. + +"Nevertheless," I said quietly, knowing that his word was not the +only one to be spoken on that matter, "let me tell you of it, that +you may tell the other chiefs." + +"I am the king," he answered, glaring at me. + +"Then, King, hear my words, and give them to those under you." + +"Speak to this man," he said, pointing to one of the courtmen; for +they heard all I said, and he could not refuse to listen altogether +to what concerned his fellow chiefs. Then he rode past me, and the +men, save that one of whom he spoke, followed him. + +Now I was angry as he, but kept that to myself, and waited till he +was out of hearing before I looked at the man who waited. And when +I did so, the man grinned at me, saying: + +"Truly it is like old times to see you stand up thus to the +jarl--king, I mean. There is not a man in our host dare do it." + +And lo! it was my friend Raud the forester. His beard was gone, and +he had a great half-healed scar across his jaw, so that I had not +known him even had I noticed any but Ingvar. + +Then I was glad, for here was one whom I could trust, even if his +help was of little use. + +"Glad am I to see you, Raud my friend, though it must be in this +way. Why is the jarl so angry?" + +"Why, because the bishop has escaped us. We never saw so much as +his horse's tail. And if he be like the bishop we saw at Hedeby, I +am glad." + +"Surely he is," I said. "But now I have come to offer ransom for +the king, and you must tell Guthrum and the other chiefs that it +would be paid very quickly if they will take it." + +At that Raud shook his head. + +"I will tell them, but it is of little use. There has been talk of +it before, but when we came into East Anglia Ingvar claimed the +king for himself, giving up all else." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Because when he made Beorn speak, Beorn said that Eadmund the King +had set him on to slay Lodbrok. I heard the man confess it." + +"But he left that story, telling the truth about himself," I said. + +"Aye, so he did. But the tale has stuck in Ingvar's mind, and +naught will he hear but that he will have revenge on him." + +"What will he do?" I said, looking after the Danish king, who went, +never turning in his saddle, with bowed shoulders as one who +ponders somewhat. + +"How should I know?" answered Raud, carelessly. "Let us go on. +Maybe if you come with me we shall hear them speak together." + +"Raud," I said, "if harm is done to the king, I shall surely fall +on some of you--and Ingvar first of all." + +"Not on me with axe, I pray you," he answered laughing, and +twisting his head on one side. "I mind me of Rorik." + +"Let us be going," I said, for I could not jest. + +So we trotted after the party, and when we were near, Raud left me +and went to Ingvar's side, speaking to him of what I had said. Then +the jarl turned round to me, speaking quietly enough, but in a +strange voice. + +"Come with me and we will speak of this matter to Eadmund himself. +Then will the business be settled at once." + +That was all I would wish, and being willing to speak yet more with +Raud, I said I would follow. He turned again, and looked no more at +me. + +Then I asked Raud of his brother, and of Thoralf, my other +companion of flight. They were both slain, one at Gainsborough and +one at Medehamstede. Thormod was with Halfden in Wessex, where they +had made a landing to keep Ethelred, our Wessex overlord, from +sending to our help. But as to Halfden, men said that he would not +come to East Anglia, for the Lady Osritha had over persuaded him. + +Then, though I would not ask in any downright way, I found that +Osritha was well, but grieving, as they thought, for the danger of +her brothers--and of that I had my own thoughts. + +So with talk of the days that seemed so long past, we went on into +Hoxne woods, through which Raud said that he had learnt we must go +to meet the host in its onward march from Thetford. + +"Jarl Ingvar lets not the grass grow under his feet," I said. + +We came to a place where the woodland track broadened out into a +clearing, and there waited the other Danes, and with them, sitting +alone now on the horse, was Eadmund the King. + +Pale he was, and all soiled with the stains of war, and with the +moss and greenery of his strange hiding place; but his eye was +bright and fearless, and he sat upright and stately though he was +yet with his hands bound behind him. + +I rode past Ingvar and to Eadmund's side, and throwing myself from +my horse stood by him, while the Dane glared at us both without +speaking. + +"Why run thus into danger, Wulfric my son?" said the king, speaking +gently; "better have let me be the only victim." + +"That you shall not be, my king," I answered; "for if you must die, +I will be with you. But I have come to try to ransom you." + +"There are two words concerning that," said Ingvar in his cold +voice. "Maybe I will take no gold for Eadmund." + +"What shall we give you then?" I asked, looking earnestly at him. + +"You heard what I said this morning before the battle. I have no +other terms but those. And I think they are light--as from the son +of Lodbrok whom this king's servant slew." + +Now Eadmund spoke, saying to Ingvar: + +"Let me hear what are your terms for my freedom. In the slaying of +Lodbrok my friend I had no part." + +"That is easily said," Ingvar answered, frowning. "I have my own +thoughts on that--else had I not been here. But this land is in my +power, therefore I will let you go if you will hold it for me, and +own me as overlord, doing my will." + +"My answer is the same as it was this morning. It is not for me to +give over this land into the hands of heathen men to save myself." + +That was Eadmund's calm answer, and looking on Ingvar I saw the +same bode written in his face as had been when I would not honour +his gods. Then he spoke slowly, and his words fell like ice from +his lips. + +"It seems to me that this land is in the hands of us heathen +without your giving." + +"So that may be, for the time," answered Eadmund; "but your time of +power has an end." + +"Has it so?" said Ingvar, and his eyes flashed. "Where is your help +to come from? Do you look to Ethelred?--He is busy in Wessex with +more of us heathen. Where is Mercia?--It is ours. Will Kent help +you?" + +"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and +earth," answered Eadmund, lifting his eyes heavenwards so +earnestly, that in spite of himself the wild heathen king followed +their upward gaze for a moment. + +It was but for a moment, and that weakness, as he would deem it, +was the spark to light Ingvar's wrath, that as yet he had kept +under. + +"Hammer of Thor!" he shouted, "you dare throw that in my face! Now +will I show you if heathen or Christian is stronger." + +Then with his face white with rage he turned to his men: "Bind him +to yon tree, and we will speak with him again!" + +Now if it is well that I did not die with my king, it was well at +that moment for me that my axe hung at my saddle bow, and that my +horse--to which I had paid no heed in my troubles--had wandered a +little way, for I should surely have fought to prevent this +dishonour being wrought. And I sprung to reach the axe, for the +short sword I wore was of no use against so many. But Raud was +close on me, and he dropped from his saddle on my shoulders as I +passed him, so that I fell, half stunned under him, and one of the +other men ran up, and ere they had stripped and bound the king to a +tree, I was bound hand and foot, and rolled by Raud into a thicket +where I might escape Ingvar's eye. And, indeed, he paid no heed to +me, but watched the king. + +So must I lie there with my heart like to break, seeing all that +went on, and I will tell it as best I may. + +Ingvar strode to the young oak tree to which they had bound the +king and looked fixedly at him. Then he said, "Scourge this man," +and his men did so. But the king made no sign by word or motion. I +saw Ingvar's rage growing, and he cried as his men forbore, +shrinking a little from their quiet victim: + +"Ask for mercy, Christian, at the hands of Ingvar the godar, the +priest of Odin and Thor, and you shall go free." + +But the king met his gaze sadly and firmly, answering: + +"That were to own that you have power over me through your false +gods." + +"Power I have," said Ingvar; "ask for mercy." + +Thereat the king answered no word, though his lips moved, and I +alone knew what his words might be, for though his hands were bound +he moved his noble head in such wise as to make the sign of the +Cross. And I think that he spoke to himself the prayer of +forgiveness that he had learnt therefrom. + +Almost then had the Dane smitten him in the face, but to this +cowardice Ingvar the king had not yet fallen. He drew back a few +paces, and took his long dagger from his belt, and at that I +thought that he was going to slay the king, and I closed my eyes, +praying. But he spoke again. + +"Ask for peace on the same terms for your people, if you will not +for yourself." + +Then the king grew pale, but he set his lips close, still gazing at +Ingvar. Hard was this for him who loved his people so well. + +The Dane's dagger flashed, and he hurled it at Eadmund, but so +skilfully that it did but graze his head, sticking firmly into the +tree trunk. And he cried in a voice that shook with rage: + +"Answer me!" + +But the king held his peace, closing his eyes, and waiting for what +might come, most bravely. + +Then Ingvar turned to his men, and bade them unsling their bows and +see if they could make this man find his tongue. Seven of them went +to work with a good will, but Raud and the others would not, but +turned away. + +The men shot, and in many places the king was pierced, and lo! he +lifted up his voice and sang gloriously, even as if in the church +and on some high festival, the psalm that begins "De Profundis". +Nor did his voice falter, though now he might move neither hand nor +foot by reason of the piercing of the arrows. + +At that the men stayed in amazement, and one threw away his bow and +turned aside to where Raud stood, near where I lay. But Ingvar +ground his teeth with rage, and stamping on the ground, cried to +the men to shoot again. + +And again the arrows flew, and now it seemed to me that no more +arrows might find mark in the king's body without slaying him; and +before my eyes was a mist, and my mouth was dry and parched, yet I +could not turn away and look no more. But the men fitted arrows to +the bowstrings once more, while Ingvar stood still and silent with +his strong hands clasped together behind him, gazing at the king, +whose lips moved in prayer, the psalm being ended, and, as I think, +his strength ebbing fast from his many wounds. + +Now they were about to shoot once more, unbidden, keeping up their +torture if they might; but there was one more merciful than the +rest. Forward before the bowmen strode Raud, with his sword drawn, +and he cried to Ingvar: + +"Let me slay him, king, and end this for pity's sake!" + +Ingvar turned his eyes gloomily on him for a moment, and then +answered: + +"What know you of pity? Slay him if you will." + +Then when he heard that, Eadmund looked at Raud, smiling on him +with a wondrous smile and saying: + +"Thanks, good friend." + +So Raud slew him in pity, and that was now the best deed that might +be done. + +Thereat I cried out once, and my senses left me, and I knew no +more. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. HOW BISHOP HUMBERT JOINED THE KING. + + +When I began to come to myself it was late afternoon. At first into +my mind came the fancy that I sat on the side of King Eadmund's bed +in the king's chambers at Reedham, and that he told me a wondrous +dream; how that--and then all of a sudden I knew that it was no +shadowy dream, but that I had seen all come to pass, and that +through the arrow storm Eadmund had passed to rest. + +All round me the trees dripped with the damp November mist that +creeps from the river, and the smell of dead leaves was in my +nostrils, and for a while I lay still, hardly yet knowing true from +false, dream from deed. So quiet was I that a robin came and +perched close to me on a bramble, whose last leaves were the colour +of the bird's red breast, and there it sang a little, so that I +roused to life with the sound. Then swooped down a merlin with +flash of gray wings on the robin and took it, and that angered me +so that I rose on my elbow to fray it away; and with that the last +cloud left my mind and I knew where I was. Then, too, from where he +waited my waking came Vig, my great Danish dog, who had been tied +at the thane's house, and must have left the flying party to seek +me. And he bounded in gladness about me. + +Now I found that my bonds were gone, and next that my weapons were +left me, and that but for cramp and stiffness I had not any tokens +of what had befallen. And at first it seemed to me that Ingvar thus +showed his scorn of me, though soon I thought that he had forgotten +me, and that it was Raud who had freed me. + +I heeded not the dog, looking only in one place. But the body of +the king was gone, and his arms and mail were gone. The hoofmarks +of Ingvar's horses were everywhere; but at last I made out that +they had gone on through the wood. + +Presently the dog growled, looking towards the village, and I heard +voices coming nearer, and with them I heard the tread of a horse. +But soon the dog ceased, and began to wag his tail as if to welcome +friends, and when the comers entered the clearing, I saw that they +were Egfrid's men, and that it was my horse that they were leading. +My axe was yet at the saddle bow. + +"Why, master," said the foremost, "surely we looked to find you +slain. This is well--but what has befallen?" + +For I must have looked wildly and strangely on them. + +"Well would it be if I were slain," I said. "Why did you seek me?" + +"We found the horse coming homewards, and one knew that you had +gone into the wood after the king. Yet we would seek you before we +fled." + +I saw that all were armed, and I thanked them. But-- + +"What ails you, master?" said the leader of the group. + +"They have slain Eadmund the king," I answered, "and they have +taken his body away." + +Thereat they groaned, wondering and cast down, and one said: + +"They will not have carried him far. Let us search." + +We did so, and after a long time we found the king's body in a +thicket where it had been cast. But his head we could not find, +though now I bade my dog search also. He led us westward through +the wood, until we came to a rising ground, and there we could go +no further. For thence we saw the Danish horsemen by scores +pressing towards us, searching for cattle and sheep as the army +passed southward. And the farms were blazing in the track that they +had crossed everywhere. + +Then said the men: + +"We must fly. We who live must save ourselves, and must come back +and end this search when we may." + +"Let us bear back the king's body," I said, "and find some hiding +place for it at Hoxne." + +So we did, hurriedly, and hid it in a pit near the village, +covering it with boards and gravel as well as we could for haste. +Then I asked the men where they would go. + +"By boat down the river," they said, "and so join the thane and his +party wherever they might be. They have gone to Beccles, for they +hear that a ship lies there whose master will gladly take them to +London." + +That was good hearing, for so would all be safe. The men pressed me +to come with them, but I would not do so, meaning to hasten on to +the bishop's place and make him fly to Beccles and take ship also, +starting this very night. So I bid them go, and on that their +leader, a stout freeman named Leof, whom I knew well as one of +Egfrid's best men, said that he would come with me. Nor would he +hear of aught else. + +"What would Egfrid my master say if I left his brother to go +alone?" he asked me simply; and so I suffered him, and we two went +towards South Elmham together. + +Soon Leof saw a horse in a field and caught it, mounting bareback, +and after that we went on well enough. + +Darkness fell, and all the low clouds were reddened with the light +of fires behind us, and ever as we looked back would be a fresh +fire and light in the sky, for the Danes were at their work. We +pushed on steadily, but the lanes were rough, and the miles seemed +very long in the darkness; but at last we crossed the Elmham stream +and rode to the stockaded house that was the bishop's, and which +stands pleasant and well placed on a little hill beyond the low +ground, and with no woodland very near it. + +We shouted, and at last men fully armed came and let us in. And as +I looked back once before the gates closed after me, I thought that +the fires were nearer. The Danes were not staying their hands for +darkness, for so the terror they spread would be the greater. So +also was the bishop's peril therefore. + +"Where is Bishop Humbert?" I asked. + +"Master, he is in the church, nor will he leave it," said the old +steward. "He says he must pray for king and land day and night now +till this terror is overpast." + +"I will go to him--he must fly," I said. + +"Aye, pray him to do so, Wulfric; he will listen to you," said the +old man earnestly. + +"Have all things ready," I said. "See--there is little time." + +"What of the king, master?" asked he, looking at the fires with a +white face as he once more opened the gate. + +"The king has gone where he would wish to be," I answered very +gravely; and he understood me, turning away that I might not see +his weeping. + +Then Leof and I splashed back through the stream that ran between +house and church, and came quickly to the porch. The church is very +small and more ancient than I can say, for it is built of flint +bound together with such mortar as the Romans used in their +castles, hard as stone itself, and it stands in the midst of the +Roman camp that guarded the ford, so that maybe it was the first +church in all East Anglia, for we use wood; and, moreover, this +stone church is rounded at the east end, and has a barrier dividing +the body of the building into two, beyond which the as yet +unbaptized must sit, as men say. And so strong and thick are the +walls that I do not know how they can ever fall. + +Now through the narrow windows shone lights, and I heard the sound +of chanting. Leof held my horse, and I opened the door gently and +went in. + +At once there was a shrinking together of a group of men, mostly +monks, who stood at the upper end of the church where the chancel +begins. They were chanting the third psalm, for help against the +heathen, and it faltered for a moment. But they were mostly monks +of the bishop's own household, and knew me well enough, and they +ended it shortly. + +Then there was silence, for they were holding none of the set +services, but rather as it seemed doing the bishop's bidding, and +praying with him in the best way for the ceasing of this new +trouble, as in time of pestilence once I remembered that he made +litanies for us. And Humbert himself knelt before the altar during +that psalm, fully vested, but as in times of fast and penitence. + +When he rose, I came up the aisle towards him, and my mail clanged +noisily as I walked in the hush. At the chancel steps I stood, helm +in hand, and did reverence, not daring to speak first. + +"What is it?" asked the bishop, when he turned and saw me. "Speak, +Wulfric, my son. Is all well?" + +"I have heavy news, father," I answered. "Close on us are the +Danes, and you must fly. Then I will tell you all on the way." + +"I will fly no more," he answered, "here I will bide. Is the king +at my house?" + +"He is not there, father," I said; and then I urged him to fly at +once, and with me his monks joined, even going on their knees in +their grief. Yet he would not be moved. + +"Surely the king will come here," he said, "nor will I go without +him." + +"Father," I said, "the Danes have taken the king." + +"Then must I bide here, and pray and scheme for his release." + +Now I knew not how to tell him all, but at last I said: + +"Eadmund the king has escaped from the hands of the heathen." + +At that the bishop looked long at me, judging perhaps what I meant, +by my voice. But the monks rejoiced openly, at first, until they +saw what was meant also, and then they trembled. + +"Where is he?" he asked, speaking low. + +"Father," I said, "this twentieth day of November will be the day +when England shall honour a new martyr. Eadmund the King is +numbered among them." + +"How died he?" then said the bishop, folding his hands. + +But now the monks bade him fly, and reasoned with and prayed him. +But he bade them save themselves, for that there would be work for +them to do among the heathen. + +"As for me, I am an old man," he said, "and I would fain go the +same road as the king." + +Still they clung to him, and at last, speaking to each by name, and +giving each some message to take to cell or abbey where they must +go at his bidding, he commanded them; and so, unwillingly, kissing +his hand and receiving his blessing, they went one by one, till he +and I and one or two laymen besides were left in the little church. +Then he spoke to the other men, and they went also, and we were +alone. + +"That is well," said the bishop; "tell me all, and then do you +fly." + +He sat down in his great chair, leaning his head in his hand while +I told him all in that quiet place. Never once was there trembling +flash from the great jewel of his ring, that shone in the +candlelight, to show how moved he was; but when I had ended, the +tears were running down his venerable face, and he said: + +"Now is there truly one more added to the noble army of martyrs, +and he is at rest. Now do you go, my son." + +But I had other thoughts in my mind, and I rose up silently from +beside him, saying only: "Not yet, father," and I went down the +aisle and out into the darkness to Leof. + +"See yonder!" said he pointing, and there was a fresh fire not many +miles from us. "I think they scour the country for our bishop. We +have little time." + +"Tell me, Leof," I said, "have you a mind to live?" for there was +somewhat in the man's weary voice that seemed to say that he and I +thought alike. + +"None, master, after today's work, if I may find a brave man or two +to die with me." + +"Here is a brave man waiting with a like thought in the church. +Shall you and I die with him?" + +"Aye, surely," said Leof quietly. + +"Bide here then," I said, and took the horses from him. + +I mounted mine and rode to the house, where the steward and one or +two others watched from the gateway. I bade the old man call his +folk together, and I told them to fly. Many were already gone, now +others went at once. + +But a few stayed, and to them I said like words as to Leof. + +"Hither will the Danes come presently, but in no great force. We +may beat them back, and if we do, then maybe the bishop will fly. +But we shall more likely die with him." + +"Let us stand by him, come what will," they answered me in steady +voices; "better to die with him and our king." + +They took their arms and gave me a sword, and we left the horses in +the stable, for we might even yet need them. I thought that we +could maybe, as I said, beat off the first few Danes, and then +that, to save further bloodshed, the bishop would go with us. And +if not, we had done our best. + +Five men came with me to the ford. When we were at the other side +there were but four. One had gone back, and I did not blame him. +Leof sat in the little porch, and so we six went into the church +together. The bishop sat where I had left him, but he raised his +head when we came up the aisle. + +"Nay, my sons," he said, "you must fly. Maybe these men will +respect an old man like myself and lonely." + +Then I said: + +"Father, we would have you say mass for us ere the light comes +again." + +Now it wanted about an hour to midnight. + +"Is there yet time?" he said. + +Then I answered that I thought we might wait in peace for so long, +and he, knowing nothing of the nearness of the Danes, consented. So +we bided there in the aisle benches to wait till midnight was past, +and soon one or two of the men slept quietly. + +Now, when it may have been almost midnight, and the time for mass +would soon be come, the bishop, who had been so still that I +thought he slept, lifted his head and looked towards the altar. And +at the same time my dog whined a little beside me. + +Then Humbert the Bishop rose up and held out both his hands as to +one whom he would greet, and spoke softly. + +"Aye, Eadmund, I am coming. Soon shall I be with you." + +So he stood for a little while very still, and then went to his +place again. + +Then Leof, who sat next to me, said, whispering: + +"Saw you aught, master?" + +"I saw nothing, but surely the bishop had a vision." + +"I myself saw Eadmund the king stand before the bishop, and he had +a wondrous crown on his head," said Leof, speaking as though of +somewhat not terrible, but good to think on. + +"I also saw him," said the old steward from behind me. "I saw him +plainly as in life, and I thought he smiled on us." + +But I had had no such sight, and it grieved me. Moreover, two of +the other three men whispered, and I thought one of them told of +the like vision. And I think, too, that the dog saw it, as the +innocent beasts will see things beyond our ken. + +Soon the bishop judged that the time was come for mass, and he +called softly to me, bidding me serve, for I had often done so for +him in the old days when I was a boy and he was at Reedham, and I +knew well what to do. + +Then was said a most solemn mass with that one aged priest, and us +few men present. And all was very quiet round us, for no wind +stirred the trees on the old rampart. + +The bishop's voice ceased with the benediction, and the hush +deepened; but suddenly Leof and I looked in each other's faces. We +had heard a shout from no great distance, and the blood rushed +wildly through us. + +Now the bishop rose from his knees, and I took the holy vessels, as +he gave them to me, putting them into their oaken chest in its +niche. And when that was done, he said: + +"Now I will not bid you fly, my sons, for I think that somewhat has +bidden you bide with me. And I have seen the king, so that I know +the time is short. Take therefore the holy vessels and drown them +in the deep pool of the stream. I have used them for the last time, +but I would not have them profaned by the heathen in their +feasting." + +I knew that this should be done as at Bosham, but already I heard +the shouts yet nearer, and I was loth to leave the church, and so +paused. + +"I know your thoughts," said the bishop. "Yet go, as I bid you; it +is not far." + +So I took the heavy, iron-bound chest on my shoulder and went +quickly, running as well as I might to the stream below the +rampart, where it curled deep and still under crumbling banks. +There I plunged my burden, hearing it sink and bubble into the +depths. + +Then I went back, and reached the gap in the rampart that had been +the gate next the ford, and that was at the east end of the church, +so that the porch was far from me. And before I had gone halfway to +the church--over the western rampart spurred a score of horsemen, +dimly seen in the half moonlight that was now. And the leader of +them saw me, and rode straight at me, calling to me to hold, while +I drew my sword and ran to reach the door before he met me; and my +dog, which was at my heels, flew at the horse's throat. + +But I must fail, and I whirled up my sword to strike--and then a +long flash of light from a spear point smote me, and over me the +man rode, pinning me to the ground with the spear through my left +shoulder. His horse trod on me, and the man wrenched the weapon +from me as he passed on, and I had but time to call out to Leof to +warn him, when a rushing came in my ears, and a blaze of light +before my eyes, and the world passed from me. + +Then I seemed to stand in darkness, while past me, gloriously +shining, went Leof, and then the old steward and one of those two +men who had whispered together, and then Humbert the Bishop +himself. But it seemed to me that he paused and looked on me, +saying, in a voice that was like music: + +"Hereafter--not now. Twice have you offered your life today, and +yet there is work for you. Be content to wait." + +So he passed, looking kindly at me, and then the blackness came +over me again. + +When I came round at last it was high day, and the air was full of +smoke around me. One sat on a great brown horse looking at me, and +by my side cried my dog; and I groaned, whereat the man got off his +horse and came to me. And I knew that it was Hubba, and some of the +men I knew were there also. + +"Why, Wulfric, friend, how is this? I thought you were dead. Who +has dared to hurt you? What has happened here?" + +"You know well," I gasped. + +"Nay, I know not; I have but now ridden this way with our rear +guard," he answered, seeming to pity me. + +"Look in the church and see," I said, groaning. "You Danes are all +one in the matter." + +"Now I am not the man to harm you, nor would any of our folk," he +said. "Some of our courtmen found you here, and brought me." + +"Slay me and have done," I muttered; for that was all I would have +him do. + +"That will I not, Wulfric," he answered; and he called to some men +who were busy about the walls of the church. + +The smoke rose thickly from within them, for the burnt roof had +fallen in. + +"Take this warrior and bind his wound," he said. "It is Wulfric of +Reedham, our friend." + +The faintness came over me again when the men raised me, though +they tended me gently enough, and I could say naught, though I +would rather they had cast me into the burning timbers of the +church, even as I had bidden men do with that poor churl at Hoxne, +that my ashes might be with those of our bishop. + +So they bore me far, and at last left me in a farm where they +promised all should be safe if they tended me well. And Hubba rode +with them, and came to bid me farewell. But I could not speak to +him if I would, so he went away sadly. And as in a dream I heard +him speak of care for me to the widow and her two sons to whom the +farm belonged, and whom his men had taken unawares, so that they +had not time to fly. + +Presently came the best leech from Ingvar's host and tended me +carefully; and I needed it, for besides the spear wound, my right +thigh was broken, by the trampling of the horse, as was most +likely. + +Thereafter I lay for many weeks, as they told me presently, sick +and nigh to death; but being young and strong and no high liver at +any time, I came through the danger well enough, and began to mend +slowly. Yet my sickness, when I could begin to think, was more of +mind than body, and that kept me back. For long did it lie heavily +on my mind that I should have died with the king, and it was that +sorrow and blame of myself that went sorely against me. But after a +time the love of life came back to me again, and I began to see +things as they really were, untouched by a sick man's fancies. And +then the words of the good Prior of Bosham helped me, teaching me +that my life was surely spared for somewhat. + +These good folk of the farm tended me most kindly, for they knew me +by sight as a close friend of both king and bishop, and for their +sakes were glad to do all they might for me. But I pined for the +touch of that one who had tended me when I was wounded before, +Osritha, whom I had learnt to love as she did so. + +Sometimes I would think that between her and me had now risen up a +barrier stronger than the sea that was washing our shores alike, +because that of Ingvar's sister I might not think aught any longer. +And then I would set before me how that of these cruel doings nor +she nor Halfden had any part, hating them rather, and so would +comfort myself. Long are the thoughts that come to a sick man. + +Now it was not till February that I might take much heed of +anything, but then I learnt that the Danes had wintered in +Thetford, and that the land was in peace. The war had passed on to +the Wessex borders and then had slackened, as winter came earnest, +and now the north and south folk, Dane and Angle, were foes no +longer openly. But Ingvar and Hubba were at Nottingham, waiting to +fall on Wessex, leaving only strong garrisons in our towns. + +Then one of the dame's sons would go to London for me, there to +seek Ingild and tell him of my hap, for, the lad said: + +"Now that these Danes need fight no more they are decent folk +enough, and will not hinder a man who has not whereof to be +robbed." + + + +CHAPTER XIV. HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD SEARCHED TOGETHER. + + +I sat in the warm sun under the wide spread of the farmhouse eaves, +dreaming my dreams with the dog at my feet, for so soon as the May +time came in I must needs get into the open air, and grow stronger +daily. + +So it came to pass that one day up the green farm lane came a +stranger, at whom the dog barked not, as was his wont, but ran to +meet as if he were some well-loved friend. And it was Raud, his old +master, who came, lightly mail clad, and with a short hunting spear +instead of staff in his hand, and whistling his "Biarkamal" as +ever. + +Now with Raud I had no quarrel concerning the death of the king, +for well I knew that what he had done was truly in mercy, nor had +he taken any part in what went before. So I greeted him heartily +enough, for all that with the sight of him came back to me, with a +sharp pang, the memory of how I saw him last. And he rejoiced to +see me again. + +"I have half feared that I should find you gone," he said; "for, +when I heard of this from Hubba's men, I must needs come and find +you, and little hope had I that you would live." + +"I have nearly died, they say," I answered; "but I think that I owe +it to you that I was not slain in Hoxne woods yonder." + +"Why, not altogether," he answered, sitting on the settle by me, +and looking me over, from arm yet in sling to lame leg. "Some of +the men with Ingvar and me wanted to slay you before they left that +place; but Ingvar growled so fiercely that they must let you be, +that they said no more, nor even would look your way again. But he +himself looked at you, and said strange things to himself." + +"What said he?" I asked, wondering. + +"He said, paying no heed to me, 'Now, Wulfric--you will hate me +forever more, nor do I think that Lodbrok my father would be +pleased with this;' after which he spoke words so low that I caught +but one here and there, but they were somewhat of the lady Osritha, +our mistress. After that he said to me, 'Leave him horse and arms +and unbind him,' and then turned away. Yet if I had not bound you +at first, maybe they would have had to slay you." + +"That is true enough," I said; "surely I should have stood between +you and the king. But what came to Ingvar to make him speak thus to +me?" + +"Why, after the hot fit comes the cold, ever, though Ingvar the +King's cold rage is worse at times than his fury. But since that +day there has been somewhat strange about the king." + +"I wonder not," I said; nor did I. "But how goes it with him?" + +"Men say, though they dare not do so openly, that the ghost of +Eadmund will not let him rest, and that mostly does he fear him +when his rage is greatest. Many a time when the fury seemed like to +come on him, Ingvar turns white and stares suddenly beyond all +things, as though seeing somewhat beyond other men's ken, and the +sweat runs cold from his forehead. Many a man has escaped him +through this." + +"Surely Eadmund holds him back thus from more cruelty," I thought. +And aloud I said: + +"What think you of the matter?" + +"Why, that I am glad that I was bold enough to save your dying king +from more torture--else had I seen somewhat before me day and +night. Truly I see him now betimes in my sleep, but he ever smiles +on me. Moreover, this is true, that all those seven men who shot +the arrows died in that week. Two died in Elmham Church when you +were nigh slain." + +"Tell me of that," I said. + +For no man knew rightly what had befallen there, save that under +the charred ruins of the roof lay Bishop Humbert and one or two of +his men. + +But when he told me, it was as I thought. Those few men had fought +bravely until they were slain, themselves slaying three Danes. But +one of the bishop's men escaped, cutting through a throng at the +doorway and seizing a horse. Then was slain the bishop, who knelt +at the altar, not even turning round to face the Danes as they +came. + +So I hold ever that as I lay for dead I had seen those brave ones +pass me even as they were slain. But of this I said naught to Raud, +at that time at least. + +Now I asked Raud whence he had come, and he said: + +"From London." + +And at that I feared greatly, asking: + +"Has Ingvar taken the city, therefore?" + +"Not the king himself, but Guthrum went into London, taking good +ransom for peace." + +"Where is Ethelred the king of England?" I said, half to myself. + +"Ethelred?--he minds naught but Wessex for good reason. For Halfden +and Bagsac and the Sidracs are on one side of him, and Ingvar and +Hubba the other, waiting for him to make peace. But there is like +to be fighting. Alfred, the king's brother, has a brave heart and a +hard hand." + +"Then all is quiet in London?" + +"Peaceful enough; and there Guthrum the King holds court, and I +think men are well content with him." + +"Of what is Guthrum king?" I asked, for I had not heard him called +by that name before. The only other king of the host beside the +three jarls was Bagsac. + +"Why, of East Anglia. He holds it for Ingvar, while he tries to add +Wessex for his own to Mercia. Halfden will be king in Northumbria, +maybe, and Hubba over another of the kingdoms." + +So they had already parted out the land among them beforehand! Woe +for us therefore, for unless a leader was raised up among us, +surely all England must own Danish overlords! But I had heard +Alfred the Wessex Atheling well spoken of as a warrior. + +However, what was that to us of East Anglia? We had been deserted +by Wessex at our need as it seemed, and these Danes were as near +kin to us as Wessex Saxons. + +"How did you come to leave Ingvar's service?" I asked, not being +willing to dwell on this matter. + +"I think my face spoke to him too plainly of that which was in +Hoxne wood--and so he bade me stay with Guthrum. Nor was I loth, +for I would find you again." + +Then I was touched a little by the kindness of this rough warrior, +and thanked him. After that we sat silent for a while, and the good +dame brought out food and ale for Raud, and I envied his pleasure +therein, for I took little as yet. + +Now for many days past a great longing to be away from this place +had filled my mind, and now seemed to be the time. + +"Take me to London, Raud," I said. + +"Why, that is part of my errand here," he answered, smiling. "I +have a message to you from Guthrum the King." + +"What might that be?" + +"He wants to speak to you as one who is known to be friend to Dane +and Anglian alike, and being blamed by neither for friendship with +the other. So he would have you give him counsel." + +"Let me get to London," I said, "and then I will answer. I cannot +now." + +So Raud bided in the farm with me for a while, and now with new +thoughts and with his talk of Halfden and Osritha, I mended +quickly, for it was my troubled mind that had kept me back mostly, +as I cared for nothing. + +One day I felt strong again, waking up and taking delight in the +smell of the fresh morning and in the sunlight. And I ate heartily +of the brown bread and milk they gave me, and afterwards told Raud +of what I had been long thinking. + +"All things are quiet in the land now. Let us gather a few of my +people and seek the head of our king, if you fear not to go into +Hoxne woods." + +Raud thought for a while before he answered me. + +"I fear not, for the poor king thanked me, smiling at me. Let me go +with you." + +So that day the dame sent messages by her son to some who had come +back to their places, and in the evening when he came home, there +were with him two of Bishop Humbert's monks, dressed like churls, +for they dared not wear their habits. These two and some others +would gladly come with me on my search. + +Next day, therefore, they set me on a pony that was quiet, and +slowly we went towards Hoxne, coming thither in the afternoon +early, seeing no Danes anywhere, while many of our folk were back +and at work in the fields. + +Then I asked Raud if these poor people were safe now. + +"Surely, master," he said, for so he would call me, having heard +the farm people name me thus. "There is none so great difference +between you and us, and we Danes love to be at peace if we may. I +think there will be no more trouble here. And, anyway, we are too +wise to hinder a harvesting of that we may eat." + +So too thought I, and my heart was less sad after that ride, though +there was not one place left unburnt of all that we saw. + +When we came to Hoxne I told the two monks where we had bestowed +the king's body, bidding them look to see if it was not disturbed. +And they said that his bones were safely there. + +Now we must seek for the head of the king, and in that Rand could +not help us, for one had ridden away with it while he was taken up +with me and my plight. + +So we went towards that place where the dog had taken us, and +searched long, until I, being weak, must get from off the pony and +rest. I would ride back to the place where the king had been slain +and sit there awhile; but first, knowing that Vig remembered things +well, I sent him from me, bidding him search also, hoping that he +would not forget his last quest in this place. Yet what we most +feared was that the forest beasts had made our search vain. + +There were many men from the village with us now, for they had +followed the two monks, and they spread about over the wood far and +wide, searching, while I sat at the foot of the oak tree to which +the king had been bound, leaning my arms and head against the trunk +that had been stained with his blood, and thinking and praying, as +well I might in that sacred place. + +I moved my hand, and felt something sticking from the hard bark and +looked to see what it was. It was an arrowhead, such a rough iron +spike as men will use when they must make fresh arrows after +battle, in all haste, and have to use what they can first find. The +shaft was snapped close to the iron and the rawhide lashing that +held it, and I could not take it out as I would, for the young oak +was sturdy and tough; and so I left it, thinking that I would +return some day to cut it out. + +That I did in after years, but the arrowhead was hidden, for the +tree had grown fast, closing on it, as I think, and I could not +find its place. So it will be there for one to find hereafter, +maybe long hence, for such a tree has many a hundred years to last +yet, if saved from mishap of wind or lightning or axe. Then I think +will men still know what that iron is, for Eadmund the King cannot +be forgotten. + +Presently it seemed to me that the voices I heard in the wood, as +the searchers called to each other, drew closer together, crying: + +"Where are you?" + +"Here--here!" + +And then was a sort of outcry, and a silence, and I hoped that +maybe they had found what they sought. So I rose up and went slowly +and limpingly to the place where they seemed to be. + +I met them in a green glade. And foremost came the two monks, +bearing between them a cloak, wherein was surely that we looked +for, and after them came my dog and Raud, and then the rest. And +when they saw me they cried softly to me: + +"Master, we have found the head of our king." + +So they laid open the cloak before me, and I knelt and looked. And +there was indeed the head of Eadmund, seeming whole and fresh as +when I had last seen him; and his looks were very peaceful, for on +his face was still that smile with which he had greeted death at +Raud's hands. + +Then, seeing that, the rough Dane was fain to turn away and lean +arms and face against a tree trunk, weeping as weeps a child that +will not be comforted. + +After a little I asked how they had found the head. And one of the +villagers, speaking low and holding his cap in his hands as though +in the church, answered me. + +"When I came to a certain thicket, I heard a crying, as it were, +and I turned aside and looked, and at first was sorely afraid, for +yon great wolf held the head between his paws, whining over it as +in grief. Then I called to the rest, and they came, running, and +were afraid also till the good fathers came, to whom the wolf was +gentle, suffering them to take that which he guarded. And lo! he +follows us even now, as would a dog!" + +So the man spoke, not having seen such a dog as mine before, for +till more came with the host there were none like him in our land. +I told him that it was but my own dog; yet for all that, I know +that this tale of a wolf passed for the truth over all the land as +it flew from mouth to mouth, so that soon I myself heard from one +who knew me not very strange stories of that finding of ours. + +Yet would that tale hardly be stranger than was the truth, that not +one of the wild creatures, either beast or bird, had harmed our +king's sacred head. And how it should be so preserved in that place +I cannot tell, but I say what I saw. Yet his body was not so +preserved in the place where we had hidden it. + +These things are beyond me, nor can I tell all the thoughts that +came into my mind as I looked into the face of the king whom I had +loved, and who loved me. + +Now would we take our treasure, as we must needs think it, to +Hoxne, and the monks were about to lift it again. But Raud came +forward very solemnly, begging that he might be allowed to bear it, +"Because he would make what amends he might." + +And I signed to the monks to suffer him to do so, and he took it. +None else but I knew what part he had had with the other Danes in +this matter, and the monks did but think him grieving for what his +comrades had done. + +So he bore it to Hoxne village, and we passed the place where the +church had been. There, amid the blackened ruins of the walls and +roof, stood the font of stone, fire reddened and chipped, yet with +the cross graven on its eastward face plain to be seen. And to that +place Raud led us, none staying him, yet all wondering. + +When he came there he strode over the burnt timber until he came to +the font, and there, under the graven cross, he set down his burden +very gently, and stood up, looking in my face, and saying: + +"Here will I leave the worship of Odin and cleave to that faith for +which Eadmund the King died, and for which you, Wulfric, were +willing to die both in Jutland and here by Eadmund's side. Will any +forbid me?" + +Then I knew that the man was in such earnest, that none, save he +perilled his own soul, might hold him back, and I took his hand and +spoke to the elder monk, saying: + +"I will answer for this man, father, as to his will. If he knows +enough of our faith, I pray you baptize him straightway." + +There was rain water in the font, sparkling and clear, and without +any delay or doubt the good man came forward and stood thereby, +while I yet held Raud's hand as his godfather. + +"What know you of our faith, my son?" said the monk in his gentle +voice. + +Now of his own accord Raud faced to the eastward, and clasping his +hands before him, spoke the words of the Creed, slowly and +haltingly maybe, but with knowledge thereof, and all that little +company, standing hushed until he ended, answered "Amen" with one +voice. + +Then again, untaught by us he turned to the west, where the sun was +even now sinking, and lifting his right hand very solemnly he put +away from him the false gods of his forefathers, and the golden +sunlight made his face very glorious, as I thought. + +"It is well, my son," said the old monk. + +So he was baptized, and I gave him the new name of Cyneward +{xxii}, for the memory of Eadmund the King and what he did for +him in saving him from torture as best he might. And surely he was +the first fruit of the martyrdom of him whose head he had borne. + +Then when all was done he took up his burden again, softly and +reverently, saying: + +"Life I took, and life has been given me. This is not the old way +of life for life, but it is better." + +So he gave back the head to the monks, and they, wondering at him, +but greatly rejoicing, took it, and stood awhile pondering where we +might safely bestow it. + +Then came one of the villagers, telling of a stone-walled chamber +that had been a well in days long gone by, hard by the church +porch. That we found after some labour, moving much ruin from over +it, and therein we placed the bones and head of our king, covering +it again until better days should come. And I, thinking of my +riches in the hands of Ingild, promised that when it might be done +I would see to raising the church afresh, to be over the ashes of +the king. + +So our little company parted, and Cyneward, who had been Raud, and +I went back with the elder monk and the farm folk to our place, +going slowly in the warm twilight, with our hearts at rest, and +full of the wonders we had seen that day. + +Only one thing would the monk and I ask Cyneward, for we wondered +how he had learned our faith so well. And that he answered gladly. + +"Ever as Wulfric and I escaped from the vengeance of Ingvar towards +Hedeby I wondered that one should be strong enough to defy the Asir +and their godar for the sake of the new faith. So I sat in the +church of Ansgar among the other heathen and heard somewhat. And +again in London of late, where Guthrum will have no man harmed for +his religion, I have listened and learnt more. So when I needed +them, the words were ready. Now, therefore, both in life and death, +Wulfric, my master, I thank you." + +But I was silent, knowing how much greater a part in this I might +have had. For I thought that, but for the need of proving my faith +or denying it, I should have surely been as a heathen among heathen +in those days in Jutland. Yet Beorn asked me to pray for him, and +that I had done, and it had kept me mindful when I had else +forgotten. + +So began the work Humbert the Bishop foretold before he died, and +that monk of his who saved his own life at Humbert's bidding for +the work, saw it, and rejoiced. + +After this, in a week's time, Cyneward and I took horse and rode +away to London, for the dame's son came back to me, having found +Ingild, bringing me messages from him, and also from Egfrid and +many more. And all was well. At that time I could not reward as I +would those good people who had thus cared for me, but I would send +presents when I might. Yet they said they needed naught from me but +to see me again at some time, which I promised, as well for my own +love of them as for their asking. + +We went unharmed and unquestioned, for all the land was at peace. +Truly there were new-made huts where farmsteads had been, and at +the town gates were Danish axemen instead of our spearmen as of +old. Yet already in the hayfields Dane and Anglian wrought +together, and the townsmen stood on Colchester Hill beside the +Danish warriors, listening while gleeman and scald sang in rivalry +to please both. + +Little of change was there in London town, save again the +scarlet-cloaked Danish guards and watchmen. Few enough of these +there were, and indeed the host left but small parties in the towns +behind them in our land. Yet those few could hold the country in +peace, because men knew that at their back was the might of +Ingvar's awful host, which came on a land unawares, marching more +swiftly than rumour could fly before it, so that not one might know +where the next blow would fall until suddenly the war beacons of +flaming villages flared up, and it was too late to do aught but +fly. + +Yet in our land was none to fight for. No king had we to follow the +martyr. Ethelred had left us alone, and already in the hearts of +men grew up the thought that the strong hand of the Dane meant +peace. + +In the house of good old Ingild, my second father, as he would have +me hold him, was rest at last. And there I found all whom I held +dear gathered to meet me on the night when I came, for they had +fled by ship, as they had hoped, and had reached London safely. + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE MESSAGE OF HALFDEN THE KING. + + +Now when I had been in London for a fortnight, Cyneward, whom +Ingild would by no means suffer to live elsewhere than in his house +with me, went to Guthrum as was his duty, and told him that I had +come. Whereupon he sent to me, asking again that I would speak with +him. + +On that I took counsel with Ingild and Egfrid, and the thane his +father, and they thought it well that I should do so. + +"This Dane," said the thane, "is lord of East Anglia by the might +of the strong hand, and it seems to us that we might have a worse +ruler. At any rate we shall have peace, and no more trouble with +Danes while he is here. As for Ethelred, he is no more to us. Even +if he overcomes the Danes in the end, it is not likely that we will +own Wessex overlords again unless we must." + +That was the word of all with whom I spoke, and in the end, when it +was certain that the Danes meant to stay, and that help from +Ethelred was none, East Anglia owned Guthrum as king quietly and +with none to say a word against it, so securing a peace that should +last. + +But to this I could not bring myself as yet, because of what I had +seen, and that the hand of Ingvar was behind Guthrum. + +"Go to him at least," said Ingild, "and find what he needs of you. +Then will be time to say more." + +So at his advice I went, and I found Guthrum in Ethelred's great +house, where he sat in little state, doing justice in open hall +where many citizens were gathered. And I saw him do even-handed +right to both Dane and Saxon, and that pleased me, for already I +had liked the man's honest face and free bearing. + +He greeted me well, taking me aside presently with Cyneward into a +private chamber. And there he told me that he would ask me to do a +favour towards him. + +I answered that what I might I would do gladly, so that he asked me +not to break faith with my own people. + +"I would ask no man to do that," he said. "Tell me what I may not +ask you." + +"Shall I speak plainly?" I said. + +"Aye, plainly as you will." + +"Then, Guthrum, I may not own Ingvar for overlord. Nor can I allow +that you have more than right of conquest over us." + +"Plain speaking, in good sooth," he said, laughing a little, "but +what I expected from Wulfric of Reedham. However, I am ruler in +East Anglia by that right you speak of, and I have a mind to be as +fair in it as I may. Now, I think you can help me." + +This honest saying warmed my heart to him somewhat, and weary +enough of his lawman's work this warrior looked. Yet I was not sure +that he would not try to use me to make his hold on the land more +sure. + +"Tell me in what way that may be," I said, therefore. + +"Let me come and ask you of this and that when I am in a strait +owing to knowing naught of Saxon ways. Then can I say to a Dane, +'Thus says Wulfric, Lodbrok's friend,' and to an Anglian, 'So says +the Thane of Reedham.' Then I think I shall do well, for I would +fain be fair." + +"I will ever be ready to do that, Guthrum," I said; and I held out +my hand to him, for I could not help it. + +So he took it and wrung it warmly. + +"Now must I go back to Thetford very soon," he said. "Come back +that you may be near me." + +"I must live here, in London now," I said; for I would by no means +live with his court, nor did I think that he should have thought it +of me after my words. + +"Why not go back to your own place now? I can see you often at +Reedham." + +"That is an ill jest," I said; for I thought nothing so sad as +going back to see that dear home of mine but a blackened heap of +ruins, nor would I ever ask any who might have seen the place +concerning it, knowing how the Danish ships had burnt all the coast +villages. + +Guthrum looked at me as if puzzled. + +"No jest, Thane," he said; "why not go back?" + +"To ruins--what good?" I answered. + +"Now I think you mean that you will not take your land at my +hands," he said. + +"That were to own you king." + +"Then, Wulfric, my friend, if I may call you so, that the lands of +a friend are not mine to give and take I need not tell you. Nor do +we harm the lands of a friend. There is one place in East Anglia +that no Dane has harmed, or will harm--the place that sheltered +Jarl Lodbrok. And there is one man whose folk, from himself to the +least of all, are no foes of ours--and that is the Thane of +Reedham. Ah! now I see that I have gladdened you, and I think that +you will come." + +"This seems almost impossible," I said, in my wonder and gladness. + +"Nay, but word went round our host that it was to be so. There you +might have bided all unknowing that war was near you. You do but go +back of your own free will." + +Now I was fain to say that I would at once go back to my place, but +there was one thing yet that I would say to Guthrum. + +"Will you let the Christian folk be unharmed?" + +"Little will our people care," he said, "when once they have +settled down, what gods a man worships. Nor would I have any +meddled with because of their faith." + +"Now am I most willing to help you," I said; "and I will say +this--so are you likely in the end to be hailed king indeed." + +"That is well," he answered, flushing a little. "But there is one +man whom I will never ask to own me as king, and that is yourself. +But if you do so of your own will, it will be better yet." + +So we parted, each as I think pleased with the other, and I knew +that East Anglia had found a wise ruler in Guthrum the Dane. + +Straightway now I told my people the good news that Reedham was +safe. The longships came up to Norwich time after time now; and +there had been but one thought among us, and that was that our +place could not have escaped the destruction that had fallen on all +the shore and riverside villages. + +Then Ingild said: + +"These Danes have come as our forefathers came here, to take a new +and better country for themselves, but the strife between them and +us is not as the strife between alien peoples. They are our kin, +but between us and the Welsh was hatred of race. They will settle +down, and never will East Anglia pass from Danish hands, even if +Ethelred of Wessex makes headway enough to be owned as overlord of +England by them. Now therefore is there one place in all England +where peace has come, and to that place I would go to end my days. +Here in London the tide of war will ebb and flow ever. Let me go +down with you to Reedham, my son, that I may die in peace." + +So we did but wait until he had set all his affairs in order, +selling his house and merchandise and the like. Then we hired a +ship that came from the Frankish coast and waited for cargo in the +Thames, and sailed at the end of July to Reedham. With us were +Egfrid and Eadgyth and my mother and Cyneward, who would by no +means leave me, and to whom Guthrum willingly gave leave to go with +us. + +We came easily to Reedham, and very strange it was to me to see two +Danish longships lying in our roads, while our own shore boats were +alongside, the men talking idly together on deck or over gunwale in +all friendliness. Stranger yet it was to see the black ruins of +farms and church on the southern shores of the river mouth, and at +Reedham all things safe and smiling as ever. + +Then was a wondrous welcome for us on our little staithe, and all +the village crowded down to greet us. Nor were the men from the +Danish ships behindhand in that matter, for they too would welcome +Lodbrok's friends. + +So we came home, and soon the old life began again as if naught had +altered, but for the loss of loved faces round us. Yet in peace or +war that must come, and in a little while we grew content, and even +happy. + +Soon Guthrum came to Thetford, and many times rode over to me, +asking me many things. And all men spoke well of him, so that +Egfrid's father and some other thanes owned him as king, and took +their lands as at his hands, coming back to rebuild their houses. +For as yet none of the greater Danish chiefs chose lands among us, +since it seemed likely that in a little while all England would be +before them, and in any case the power of Ethelred must be broken +before there could be peace. + +Now when the first pleasure of return was over, I myself began to +be restless in my mind, seeing the quiet happiness of Egfrid in his +marriage, and thinking how far I was from Osritha, whom I loved in +such sort that well I knew that I should never wed any other. And I +would watch some Danish ship when she passed our village, going +homewards, longing to sail in her and seek the place where +Lodbrok's daughter yet lived beyond the broad seas. + +But presently, at the summer's very end, I knew from the Danes that +Ingvar had gone back to Denmark, called there by some rumour of +trouble brewing at home in his absence; and that made it yet harder +for me, if possible, for on Ingvar I would not willingly look +again, nor would I think of Osritha but as apart from him. + +So the winter wore away. The host was quiet in winter quarters in +Mercia, and the Danes in our country grew friendly with us, harming +no man. + +These men, I could see, would fain bide in peace, settling down, +being tired of war, and liking the new country, where there was +room and to spare for all. + +In early spring Guthrum went to the host on the Wessex borders, +taking command in Ingvar's place. + +For Hubba went to Northumbria, there to complete his conquests, and +Halfden was on the western borders of Wessex. And before he went +Guthrum took great care for the good ordering of our land--and that +he might leave it at all at that time was enough to show that he +feared no revolt against him. + +Now as I sat in our hall, listless and downcast, one day in July, +Cyneward came in to me. + +"Here is news, master, that I know not what to make of." + +"What is it?" I said. "Is the war to be here once more?" + +"The war is no nearer than Ashdown Heath; but it seems that the +Wessex men have found a leader." + +Then he told me of the long fighting round Reading, and how at last +Halfden had cut his way through Wessex and joined forces with +Guthrum after many victories. But that then Ethelred and Alfred the +Atheling had made a great effort, winning a mighty victory on +Ashdown Heath, slaying Bagsac the king and both the Sidracs, Harald +and Osbern the jarls, Frene, and many more with them. Nine battles +had they fought that year and last. + +"How hear you of this?" I said. + +"There has come a messenger from Guthrum with the news, and even +now the Danes march in all haste from the towns to fill up the gaps +in the ranks of the host, and he says that ships must go back to +Jutland to Ingvar for more men from overseas." + +Now this news was nothing to us East Anglians for the most part, +and to me it was but a turn of the fight between Dane and Saxon for +the overlordship of all England. That was not a matter to be +settled by one or two victories on either side, nor might one see +how it would end. Yet I was glad, for of all things I feared that +Ingvar might be our master in the end, and this seemed to say that +it was none so certain. + +More men came in after that, hastening the going to the front of +those who would, for not all the Danes among us would stir from +their new homes, saying that they had done their part, and knowing +that what they left others might take. + +And in ten days' time Cyneward came to me saying that there were +two longships coming in from the open sea. + +"Let the pilots go out to them," I said; for it was of no use +withholding this help from the Danish ships, little as we liked to +see them come. So I forgot the matter. + +Then again Cyneward ran to me in haste, and with his eyes shining. + +"Master, here is Halfden's ship. Come and see!" + +Gladly I went out then, and when I saw those two ships my heart +leapt up with joy, for it was indeed my own ship that was leading, +and I thought that Halfden would be in her. + +So soon as she was in the river she made for our wharf, and that +was not the wont of the Danes, who mostly went on past us up the +river to where the great towns were. And at once when she was +alongside I went on board, and at sight of me half her crew came +crowding round me, shouting and shaking my hand; for they were our +old crew, the same who had fought beside me and had backed me at +the Ve. There, too, was Thormod, grim as ever, but welcoming me +most gladly. But Halfden was not there. + +"What is this, Thormod?" I said, when I had him up to the house, +and the men were eating in the great hall. "Why are you not with +Halfden?" + +"Have you heard no news?" he asked. + +"Only a few days ago I heard of the business at Ashdown." + +"Well, I have come thence," he said. "Now must I sail home and +fetch more men in all haste." + +"Why came you in here?" + +"Because I came away in haste and need stores. And, moreover, I +wanted to see you." + +"That is good of you, Thormod, and glad am I to have you here, even +if it is only for a day," I answered. + +"Moreover, I have a message to you from Halfden," he went on. + +Whereupon I asked him about the battle, and long we sat while he +told me all. And Halfden's deeds had been great, but could not turn +aside defeat. So he ended. + +"Then because our ship lay in the Thames, where we had sent her +from the west when we broke through the Wessex country and joined +Guthrum, he sent me back for men. So I am here. Both sides must +needs rest awhile, as I think." + +"What of Halfden's message?" I asked. + +"Why, I know not how you will take it, but it is this. The night +before the battle he slept ill, and at last woke me, saying that he +would have me take a message if he was slain. So I said that I +hoped he was not fey. That he was not, he told me, but this was +going to be a heavy sword play, and one knew not how things would +go. Then he told me that ever as he began to sleep he saw Osritha +his sister, and she was pale and wrung her hands, saying: 'Now am I +alone, and there is none to help me, for Halfden and Wulfric are +far away, and I fear Ingvar and his moods'. Then said I, 'That is +true enough. It needs no dream to tell one of the maiden's +loneliness.' Yet he answered, 'Nevertheless, in some way I will +have Wulfric our comrade know that Osritha sits alone and will not +be comforted'. So when I must start on this voyage he bade me tell +you of this matter, and I have done so." + +Now I was full of many thoughts about this, but as yet I would say +little. So I asked: + +"What of Ingvar's moods? are they more fierce than his wont?" + +"Well, between us twain," he answered, looking at Cyneward, who sat +apart from us across the king's chamber where we were, "Ingvar is +not all himself lately, and all men fear him, so that he is no loss +to the host." + +I knew somewhat, I thought, of the reason for this, and so did +Cyneward, but passed that over. Now nothing seemed more plain to me +than that Halfden meant that I should seek Osritha. + +"What is Halfden doing?" I asked. "Will he not go back to your own +land?" + +"Why, no. For he takes Northumbria as his share of what we have +won. Hubba is there now. But we fight to gain more if we may, and +if not, to make sure of what we have. One way or another Ethelred's +power to attack us must be broken." + +"So Halfden bides in England. What meant he by his message?" + +"Why, Wulfric, if you cannot see I will not tell you." + +"What of Ingvar?" + +"Now, Wulfric," said Thormod, "if I did not know that you at least +were not afraid of him, I should say that he was best left alone. +But as neither you nor I fear him, let us go and see what may be +done." + +"Let me think thereof," said I, not yet daring to make so sure of +what I most wished. + +"Shall I tell Osritha that Wulfric thought twice of coming to see +her?" + +"That you shall not," I cried; "I do but play with my happiness. +Surely I will go, and gladly. But will she welcome me?" + +"Better come and see concerning that also," he answered, laughing a +little, so that one might know what he meant. + +"Let us go at once on this tide," I said, starting up. + +"Not so fast now, comrade," laughed Thormod. "Would you come again +half starved, as last time, into the lady's presence?" + +Then I called Cyneward, but when he rose up and came to us, Thormod +stared at him, crying: + +"You here, Raud! I thought you were with Ingvar." + +"Aye, Thormod, I am here--at least Cyneward, who was Raud, is with +Wulfric." + +"Ho! Then you have turned Christian?" + +"Aye," answered Cyneward, flushing, though not with shame, for it +was the first time he had owned his faith to one of his former +comrades. + +"Now I thought this likely to happen to some of us," said Thormod, +not showing much surprise, "if maybe it is sooner than one might +have looked for. However, that is your concern, not mine. Keep out +of Ingvar's way, though." + +"I bide here with Wulfric," he answered, having paid no heed to our +low-voiced talk. + +"Wulfric sails with me to find--Ingvar," said Thormod, and at that +Cyneward turned to me in surprise. + +"Not Ingvar," said I, "but one in his house. Will you come with +me?" + +Then he understood, and his face showed his gladness. + +"This is well," he cried; "gladly will I go with you and return +with that other." + +"That is to be seen," I answered, though I thought it surely would +be so. "Now go and see to the arms and all things needful, and send +the steward to me, for we have to victual the ship." + +So I left Thormod with the steward and sought Ingild, telling him +what I would do. Whereat he, knowing my trouble, was very glad; and +then Egfrid would fain come with me also when he heard. That, +however, I would not suffer, seeing that there was Ingvar to be +dealt with. My mother wept, and would have me not go. But here my +sister helped me. + +"Bring Osritha back if you can," she said. "Soon will our house be +built again, and we shall go, and you will be lonely." + +For Egfrid's father had owned Guthrum, and his house and theirs +were nigh rebuilt. + +In a day's time Thormod and I set sail, and once more I took the +helm as we went out over our bar. And the quiver of the tiller in +my hands and the long lift of the ship over the rollers seemed to +put fresh life in me, and my gloom passed away as if it had never +been. + +The breeze was fresh, and the ship flew, yet not fast enough for +me, though so well sailed ours that when day broke the other was +hull down astern of us, and at night we had lost her altogether. +And the breeze held and the spray flew, and I walked the deck +impatiently, while Thormod from the helm smiled at me. Bright were +the skies over me, and bright the blue water that flashed below the +ship's keel, but my thoughts would even have brightened such leaden +skies as those that last saw me cross along this ocean path. And I +thought that I could deal with Ingvar now. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA HOME. + + +There was a haze far out at sea, and a fog was coming in with the +tide when we came to the mouth of Ingvar's haven; and rounded the +spit of land that shelters it from the southerly winds. Soon we +cleared it and then saw the town and hall above it at the head of +the haven, and what my longings were I need not write. + +Now by the wharves lay two ships, and I thought little of that, but +on seeing them, Thormod, by whose side I was as he steered, seemed +to wonder. + +"Ingvar has got another ship from somewhere," he said, "or has +built one this winter, for he sailed home with one only." + +Then, too, the men began to say the like, for the second ship was +strange to them also, and, as seamen will, they puzzled over her +until we were close at hand. But I leaned on the gunwale and +dreamed dreams of my own, paying no heed to their talk. + +Out of those dreams I was roused by Thormod's voice. + +"Yon ship is no Dane," he said sharply. "Clear the decks and get to +arms, men. Here is somewhat amiss." + +Then was a growl of wrath from our crew, yet no delay, and in a +moment every man was in his place. Down came the sail, and the mast +was lowered and hoisted on its stanchions overhead, and in five +minutes or less the oars were out, and the men who were arming +themselves ran to take them as they were ready, while those who had +rowed should get to arms also. Not for the first time saw I that +ship cleared for action, but never had I seen it done so swiftly, +though we had but half our fighting crew, sixty men instead of a +hundred and thirty or so. + +I armed myself swiftly as any, and Thormod bade me take Halfden's +place on the fore deck, where the men were already looking to +bowstrings and bringing up sheaves of arrows and darts. + +Then when I came they shouted, and one gray-headed warrior cried: + +"Now you have a good fight on hand, axeman." + +Then I asked: + +"Who are the strangers?" + +"It is a ship of the Jomsburg vikings," he said. "They know that +our men are all in England, and have come to see what we have left +behind--Thor's bolt light on them!" + +Now, of all savage vikings these Jomsburgers are the worst. +Red-handed they are, sparing none, and it is said of them that they +will sacrifice men to the gods they worship before a great fight. +Nor are they all of one race, but are the fiercest men of all the +races of the Baltic gathered into that one nest of pirates, +Jomsburg. + +Now a cold thrill of fear for Osritha ran through me, and then came +hot rage, and for a little I was beside myself, as it were, glaring +on that ship. Then I grew cool and desperate, longing only to be +hand to hand with them. + +Swiftly we bore down on the ship, and now from her decks came the +hoarse call of uncouth war horns, and her crew came swarming back +from the streets with shouts and yells, crossing Ingvar's ship to +reach their own, for she lay alongside, stem to stern of the Dane, +and next to the open water. + +Now I could see that men fought with the last of the Jomsburgers as +they came down the street to their ship, and there were no houses +burning, so that they could have been for no long time ashore. And +that was good to know. + +We came into the channel abreast of her, and then Thormod roared to +me: + +"Now I will ram her. Board her as we strike if we do not sink her!" + +Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at the +oars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck warriors +gripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped like a +falcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled and +left their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, while +some tried to cast off, but too late. + +"Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew. + +Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and the +smitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed the +higher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree. + +Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our dragon +stem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, splintering +the rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk on either +side of our bows, while above the rending of planks and rush of +waters rose the howls of the drowning men. + +I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet my +men went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again with +a great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as I +leapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before me. + +Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought at +close quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearer +than life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after our +cheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing of +weapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of the +foul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths of +our men. + +Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp over +me, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us, +and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and on +either side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ring +of dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of that +mist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled by +whom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if one +slew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place, +seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battle +sounded, and the fight never slackened. + +All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must keep +my own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha and +home and happiness--surely the best things for which a man can +fight next to his faith. And now men began to shout their war cries +that friend might rally to friend rather than smite him coming as a +ghost through the mist. Then a man next me cried between his teeth: + +"It is Ragnaroek come--and these are Odin's foes against whom we +fight." + +And so smote the more fiercely till he fell beside me, crying: +"Ahoy! A Raven!--a Raven!" + +Then was I down on the slippery deck, felled by a blow from a great +stone hammer that some wild pirate flung over the heads of his +comrades before me, and Cyneward dragged me up quickly, so that I +think he saved my life that time. And I fought on, dazed, and as in +a dream I fancied that I was on the deck of my father's ship +fighting the fight that I looked for in the fog that brought my +friend Halfden. + +When my brain cleared, I knew not which way we faced. Only that +Cyneward was yet with me, and that out of the dimness came against +us Jomsburgers clad in outlandish armour, and with shouts to +strange gods as they fell on me. + +"Hai, Wainomoinen! Swantewit, ho!" + +Then I cast away my shield, for I grew weary, and taking both hands +to my axe, fought with a dull rage that I should have fallen, and +that there were so many against me. And all alone we two seemed to +fight by reason of the fog, though I heard the shouts of our crew +to right and left unceasingly. + +Then I felled a man, and one leapt back into mist and was gone, and +a giant shape rose up against me out of the thickness, towering +alone, and at this I smote fiercely. Yet it was not mail or +hardened deerskin that I smote, but solid timber, and I could not +free my axe again, so strongly had I smitten. + +It was the high stem head of the vessel. For I and my men had +cleared away the foe from amidships to bows, and still the noise of +fight went on behind us, while the fog was thick as ever. + +Then Cyneward leaned against the stem head and laughed. + +"Pity so good a stroke was wasted on timber, master," he said. + +"Pull it out for me," I answered, "my arm is tired." + +For now I began to know that my left shoulder was not yet so strong +as once. + +He tugged at the axe and freed it, not without trouble. + +"What now?" said one of the men. + +But a great shout came from aft, and then a silence that seemed +strange. We were still, to hear what we might, and I think that +others listened for us. + +"Surely we have cleared the ship?" I said. "Let us go and see." + +Then I hailed our men, asking how they fared--and half I feared to +hear the howl and rush of pirates coming back on us. But it was a +Danish voice that called back to me that the last foe was gone. + +We stumbled back now along either gunwale, over the bodies of +friend and foe that cumbered all the deck, and most thickly and in +heaps amidships, where our first rush fell. One by one from aft met +us those who were left of the men who had fought their way to the +stern. Well for us was it that the darkness had hindered the +Jomsburgers from knowing how few we were and how divided. But +shoulder to shoulder we had fought as vikings will, never giving +back, but ever taking one step forward as our man went down before +us. + +Now I called to Thormod, and his voice answered me from shoreward. + +"Here am I, Wulfric. How have you sped?" + +"Some of us are left, but no foemen," I answered. + +"Call your names," he said. And when we counted I had but sixteen +left of my thirty, so heavy had been the fighting. Yet I thought +that the Jomsburgers were two to our one as we fell on them, and of +them was not one left. + +"What now?" asked Thormod. "There are more of these men in the +town. Here have I been keeping them back from the ship." + +"Let us go up to the hall," I answered. "We could find our way in +the dark, and they cannot tell where they are in this fog." + +So I and my men climbed on to the wharf, and there were the rest of +the crew with Thormod, who had crossed the decks as we cleared a +passage, even as the fog came down, and had driven the rest of the +Jomsburgers away from the landing place before they could join +those in the ship. Well for us it was that he had done this, or we +should have been overborne by numbers, for the ship was a large +one, carrying maybe seven score men. + +"We must leave your tired men with the ship and go carefully," said +Thormod. "Likely enough we shall have another fight." + +We marched up the well-known street four abreast, and as we left +the waterside the fog was thinner, so that we could see the houses +on either side of the way well enough. And as we went we were +joined by many of Ingvar's people, old men and boys mostly, who had +been left at home when the fleet sailed. And they told us that the +Jomsburg men were round the great house itself. + +Yet we could hear no sound of them, and that seemed strange, so +that we feared somewhat, drawing together lest a rush on us were +planned. But beyond a few men slain in the street we saw nothing +till we came to the gate of the stockade. And that was beaten down, +while some Danes and Jomsburgers lay there as they had fallen when +this was done. + +Now when we saw this I know not which was the stronger, rage or +surprise, and I called one of the old men. + +"Where is the king?" I asked. + +"He is not in the town," he said; "he is away with his own +courtmen, fighting against these pirates for Jarl Swend, who is +beset by them." + +Now it was plain that this ship came from that place; either beaten +off, or knowing that Ingvar's haven lay open to attack while his +men were away thus. And a greater fear than any came over me. + +"Where is the Lady Osritha?" I said. + +"She was here in the town this morning." + +"So, Wulfric," said Thormod quickly, "she will have fled. The +steward will have seen to that. No use her biding here when the +ship came." + +So I thought, but I was torn with doubt, not knowing if time for +flight had been given, or if even now some party of Jomsburgers +might not be following hard after her. I must go into the hall and +find out, whatever the risk, for it was certain that it held the +rest of the pirates. + +"Leave men here to guard the gates," I said to Thormod. "Needs must +that we see more of this." + +Ten men stayed at the gate, lest Jomsburgers lurked in the houses +to fall on us, and we went across to the great porch. The door was +open, nor could we see much within; and there was silence. + +"Stand by," said Thormod, and picked up a helm that lay at his +feet. + +He hurled it through the door, and it clanged and leapt from the +further wall across the cold hearthstone. Then there was a stir of +feet and click of arms inside, and we knew that the hall was full +of men. + +I know not what my thoughts were--but woe to any pirate who came +within my reach. + +"Show yourselves like men!" shouted Thormod, standing back. + +Then, seeing that there was no hope that we should fall into this +trap they had laid, there came into the doorway a great, +black-haired Jomsburg Lett, clad in mail of hardened deerskin, such +as the Lapp wizards make, and helmed with a wolf's head over the +iron head piece. He carried a long-handled bronze axe, and a great +sword was by his side. + +"Yield yourselves!" said Thormod. + +The savage hove up his axe, stepping one pace nearer into the +porch. + +"What terms?" he said in broken Danish. + +"Give up your prisoners and arms, and you shall go free," answered +Thormod, for he feared lest if any captives were left alive they +would be slain if we fought. + +"Come and take them!" spoke back the Jomsburger in his harsh voice, +and with a sneering laugh. + +Now I could not bear this any longer, and on that I swung my axe +and shouted, rushing on the man. Up went his long weapon overhead, +and like a flash he smote at me--but he forgot that he was in the +porch, and as his blow fell the axe lit on the crossbeams and stuck +there. The handle splintered, and he sprang back out of reach of my +stroke. + +Then I dropped my axe and closed with him, and I was like a Berserk +in my fury, so that I lifted him and flung him clear over my +shoulder, and he fell heavily on the threshold on his head. Nor did +he move again. + +Cyneward thrust my axe into my hand, as past me Thormod and the men +charged into the doorway. The hall was full of the pirates, and now +we fought again as on the decks, hand to hand in half darkness. But +it was no long fight, for those of our men who had been at the +gate, finding they might leave it, came round and fell on the +Jomsburgers from the back of the hall, coming through the other +doors. So there was an end, and though many of us were wounded, we +lost there but three men, for there were ale casks lying about, and +the pirates fought ill. + +Now we stood among the dead and looked in one another's faces. +There were no Danes among the Jomsburgers, and they had, as it +seemed, found the place empty. Then I thought: + +"Those men who fell at the gate should be honoured, for they have +fought and died to give time for flight to the rest." + +And I called Cyneward to me, and we went through the house from end +to end. Everywhere had been the pirates, rifling and spoiling in +haste, so that the hangings were falling from the walls, and rich +stuffs torn from chests and closets strewed the floors of Osritha's +bower. But we found no one. + +Then said Cyneward: + +"They are safe--fled under cover of the fog." + +But now broke out a noise of fighting in the streets, and we went +thither in haste. Some twenty Jomsburgers had sallied from a house, +and were fighting their way to the ships, for now one could see +well enough. They were back to back and edging their way onward, +while the boys and old men tried to stay them in vain. + +When they saw us, they broke and fled, and were pursued and slain +at last, one by one. Then were no more of that crew left. + +Now Thormod and I went back to the hall, and in the courtyard stood +a black horse, foam covered, and with deeply-spurred sides. It was +Ingvar's. + +And when we came to the porch, the axe still stuck in the timbers +overhead, and the Jomsburg chief's body lay where I had cast +him--but in the doorway, thin and white as a ghost, stood Ingvar +the king, looking on these things. + +He saw me, and gave back a pace or two, staring and amazed, and his +face began to work strangely, and he stepped back into the dim +light of the hall, and leant against the great table near the door, +clutching at its edge with his hands behind him, saying in a low +voice: + +"Mercy, King--have mercy!" + +Now, so unlike was this terror-stricken man to him who stood in +Hoxne woods bidding that other ask for mercy, and gnashing his +teeth with rage, that I could hardly think him Ingvar, rather +pitying him. I would have gone to him, but Thormod held me back. + +"Let him bide--the terror is on him again--it will pass soon." + +"Aye, I saw him thus once before in Wessex," said one of our men; +and I knew that this was what Cyneward had told me of. + +Very pitiful it was to see him standing thus helpless and unmanned, +while his white lips formed again and again the word of which he +once knew hardly the meaning--"Mercy". + +Presently his look came back from far away to us, and he breathed +freely. At last he stood upright and came again to the doorway, +trying to speak in his old way. + +"Here have you come in good time, comrades. Where are the +Jomsburgers?" + +"Gone," said Thormod, curtly. "Where were you, King?" + +Now Ingvar heeded me not, but answered Thormod. + +"With Jarl Swend beating off more of this crew. Then I saw the ship +leave, and I knew where she would go. Hard after me are my +courtmen, but I was swifter than they." + +Now all this was wearisome to me, for I would fain follow Osritha +in her flight, if I could. So I left Thormod, without a word to +Ingvar, and went to the stables. There were but two horses left, +and those none of the best; but Cyneward and I mounted them, and +rode as fast as we might on the road which he said was most likely +to be taken by fugitives. + +We had but two miles to ride, for in the fog that frightened crowd +of old men, women, and children had surely circled round, and had +it lasted would never have gone far from the town. + +When they saw us the women shrieked, and what men were with them +faced round to meet an attack, thinking the pirates followed them; +but we shouted to them to hold, as we were friends, though not +before an arrow or two flew towards us. + +At my voice, Osritha, who sat on her own horse in the midst of the +company, turned round, saying quickly: + +"Who is it speaks?" + +And I took off my helm, and she saw me plainly, and cried my name +aloud, and then swayed in her saddle and slipped thence into her +old steward's arms, and one or two of the maidens went to her help. + +But the men cheered, knowing that now help, and maybe victory, had +come with us. + +"Is all well?" they said in many voices. + +"All is well," I answered; "let us take back your mistress." + +Now Osritha came to herself, and saw me standing looking on her, +for I feared that she was dead, and she stretched her hands to me, +not regarding those around her in her joy and trouble. + +"Wulfric," she cried, "take me hence into some place of peace." + +I raised her very gently, holding her in my arms for a moment, but +not daring to speak to her as yet. And I lifted her into the saddle +again, telling her that all was well, and that we might take her +back to the town in safety. Then she smiled at me in silence, and I +walked beside her as we went back. + +Then rode forward Cyneward and the steward to deal so with matters +that the women might be terrified as little as possible with sights +of war time, and we followed slowly. Naught said Osritha to me as +we went, for there were too many near, and she knew not what I +might have to tell; yet her hand sought mine, and hand in hand we +came to Ingvar's house, and to the lesser door. There I left her, +and went to seek Thormod. + +The large hall was cleared, and little trace beyond the dint of +blows on walls and table showed what fight had raged therein, but +only Thormod and Cyneward and Ingvar were there; and Ingvar slept +heavily in his great chair. + +"This is his way of late," said Thormod, looking coldly at him; +"fury, and terror, and then sleep. I fear me that Ingvar the King +goes out of his mind with that of which he raves. Nor do I wonder, +knowing now from Cyneward here what that is. Little help shall we +take back from Ingvar, for he has bestirred himself to gather no +new host since he came back." + +"Men said that trouble at home brought him from England. I suppose +he judged it likely that the Jomsburgers might give trouble," I +said. + +"The foes that sent him back were--ghosts," said Thormod bitterly. +"Come and let us see to the ship." + +So we went down to the wharf, and found the ship but little hurt by +that business. And I stayed on board her that night, for I would +not see Ingvar again just yet. + +But in the early morning he sent to beg me to speak with him, and I +came. He sat in his great chair, and I stood before him. + +"You have brought me a quiet night, Wulfric," he said. "Tell me how +you came here, for I think it was not that you would wish to see me +again." + +So Thormod had told him nothing, and I answered: + +"I came with Thormod for more men, for Ethelred the King is growing +strong against you. Have you heard no news?" + +"None," he said; "but that is not your errand, but his." + +"That will Thormod tell you, therefore," I answered. "As for me, I +came at Halfden's bidding, which Thormod told me." + +"What did Halfden bid you come here for?" + +"To take Osritha his sister into safety and peace again. Suffer me +to do so," I said, boldly enough, but yet quietly. + +Now Ingvar looked fixedly at me from under his brows, and I gave +back his look. Yet there was no silent defiance between us therein. + +"Take her," he said at length; "you have saved her from these +Jomsburgers, and you have the right. Take her where you will." + +"Do you come back with us, King?" I asked him, giving him no word +of thanks, for I owed him none. + +"Tell Guthrum from me that I shall never set foot in England again. +Tell him, if you will, that our shores here need watching against +outland foes, and that I will do it. Let him settle his kingship +with Hubba and Halfden." + +Then he paled and looked beyond me, adding in a low voice: "Eadmund +is king in East Anglia yet." + +Now I answered him not, fearing lest his terror should come on him +again. And slowly he slipped from his arm the great gold bracelet +that he had so nearly given Eadgyth. + +"Tell your people that never should a bridal train cross the Bridge +of the Golden Spurs on the way to the church while the brook flows +to the sea, lest ill should befall both bride and groom, because +thus found I Eadmund the King, whose face is ever before me by +night and day. Take this gold, I pray you, Wulfric, and lay it on +the tomb where his bones are, in token that he has conquered--and +let me fight my shame alone till I die." + +Wondering, I took the bracelet, pitying the man again, yet fearing +what he might say and do next, for I thought that maybe he would +slay himself, so hopeless looked he. + +"Fain would I have been your friend," he said, "but pride would not +let me. Yet Eadgyth your sister and Egfrid called me so, and maybe +that one deed of ruth may help me. Now go, lest I become weak +again. Lonely shall I be, for you take all that I hold dear--but +even that is well." + +So he turned from me, and I went out without a word, for he was +Ingvar. Yet sometimes I wish that I had bidden him farewell, when +the thought of his dark face comes back to me as I saw him for the +last time in his own hall, leaning away from me over his carven +chair, and very still. + +I sought Thormod, and told him that he must see the king with his +tidings, for I would not see his face again. + +"Nor shall we see Jutland again," he said, pointing to the ship, +which lay now in the same place where the pirate had been, +alongside Ingvar's. And the other ship had come in during the +night, and was at anchor in the haven. + +"Shall we sail home at once?" I asked him. + +"Aye; no use in waiting. We are wanted at Guthrum's side, and can +take no men, but a few boys back. Yet the other ship will stay +while I send messengers inland, if Ingvar will not. But I shall +return no more." + +"Then," said I, "I will speak to the Lady Osritha." + +"Go at once," he said, smiling; "bid her come with us to the better +home we have found." + +I had not seen Osritha since I left her yesterday, and now I feared +a little, not knowing how she would look on things. + +Yet I need not have feared, for when they took me to her bower she +rose up and came to me, falling on my neck and weeping, and I knew +that I had found her again not to part with her. + +When she grew calmer, I asked her if she would return with us to +Reedham, telling her how there would be no fear of war there in the +time to come. And she held her peace, so that I thought she would +not, and tried to persuade her, telling her what a welcome would be +to her from all our folk, and also from the Danish people who loved +her so well. + +So I went on, until at last she raised her head, smiling at me. + +"Surely I will follow you--let me be with you where you will." + +So it came to pass that next day we sailed, Osritha taking her four +maidens with her, for they would not leave her; having, moreover, +somewhat to draw them overseas even as I had been drawn to this +place again. And with us went close on a score of women and +children whose menfolk were settled already near to Reedham. These +were the first who came into our land, but they were not to be the +last. + +I had seen Ingvar no more, busying myself about fitting the ship +with awnings and the like for these passengers of ours; and what +Thormod did about the men he sought I know not, nor did I care to +know. + +There is a dead tree which marks the place where I had been cast +ashore in Lodbrok's boat, and which is the last point of land on +which one looks as the ship passes to the open sea from the haven. +And there we saw Ingvar the king for the last time. All alone he +stood with his hands resting on his sword, looking at our ship as +she passed. Nor did he move from that place all the time we could +see him. + +Silently Thormod gave the tiller into my hands, and went to the +flag halliards. Thrice he dipped Halfden's flag in salute, but +Ingvar made no sign, and so he faded from our sight, and after that +we spoke no more of him. But Osritha wept a little, for she had +loved him even while she dreaded him, and now she should see him no +more. + +Very quietly passed the voyage, though the light wind was against +us, and we were long on the way, for we were too short handed to +row, and must beat to windward over every mile of our course. Yet I +think of the long days and moonlit evenings on the deck of +Halfden's ship with naught but keenest pleasure, for there I +watched the life and colour come back into Osritha's face, and +strove to make the voyage light to her in every way. And I had +found my heart's desire, and was happy. + +Then at last one night we crossed the bar of our own haven, and the +boats came out to meet us, boarding us with rough voices of hearty +welcome; and from her awning crept Osritha, standing beside me as I +took the ship in, and seeing the black outline of hill and church +and hall across the quiet moonlit water. And when the red light +from wharf and open house doors danced in long lines on the ripples +towards us, and voices hailed our ship from shore, and our men +answered back in cheery wise, she drew nearer me, saying: + +"Is this home, Wulfric?" + +"Aye," I answered. "Your home and mine, Osritha--and peace." + +Now have I little more to say, for I have told what I set out to +tell--how Lodbrok the Dane came from over seas, and what befell +thereafter. For now came to us at Reedham long years of peace that +nothing troubled. And those years, since Osritha and I were wedded +at Reedham very soon after we came home, have flown very quickly. + +Yet there came to us echoes of war from far-off Wessex, as man +after man crept back to Anglia from the great host where Guthrum +and Hubba warred with Alfred the king. And tired and worn out with +countless battles, these men settled down with us in peace to till +the land they had helped to lay waste and win. Hard it was to see +the farms pass to alien owners at first, but I will not say that +England has altogether lost, for these Danes are surely becoming +English in all love of our land; and they have brought us new +strength, with the old freedom of our forefathers, which some of us +had nigh forgotten. + +Now today I know that all the land is at peace, for Alfred is +victor, and Guthrum is Athelstan the Christian king of Eastern +England; and I for one will own him unasked, for he has governed +well, and English is our overlord. + +But Hubba is dead in far-off Devon, slain as he landed as Halfden +had landed, to hem Wessex in between Guthrum and himself, and his +dream of taking the Wessex kingdom is over. And the Raven banner +that my Osritha made flaps its magic wings no more, for it hangs in +Alfred's peaceful hall, a trophy of Saxon valour. + +Thormod, my comrade, lies in his mound in wild Strathclyde, slain +fighting beside Halfden my brother, the king of Northumbria. Him I +have seen once or twice, and ever does he look for peace that he +may sail to Reedham and bide with us for a while. Well loved is +Halfden, and he is English in every thought. + +Many of our old viking crew are here with me, for they would fain +find land in our country, and I gave them the deserted coast lands +that lie to our northward, round the great broads. Good lands they +are, and in giving them I harmed none. Filby and Ormesby and +Rollesby they have called their new homesteads, giving them Danish +names. + +Now as to our own folk. My mother is gone, but first she stood for +Osritha at the font, naming her again with the name by which I +learnt to love her, for I would not have it changed. + +Gone also has good old Ingild; but before he went he and I were +able without fear of hindrance to build a little church of squared +oaken timbers at Hoxne, for the heathen worship died quickly from +among our Danes. On that church, Cyneward, who was Raud, and is our +well-loved steward, wrought lovingly with his own hands side by +side with the good monk who baptized him. And he has carved a +wondrous oaken shrine for the remains of our martyred king, whereon +lies the bracelet that Ingvar sent in token that Eadmund had +conquered him who was his slayer. + +How fared Ingvar I know not, for soon the incoming tide of Danes +slackened, and I heard no news of him; and, as he said, never did +he set foot on English shores again. + +Egfrid and Eadgyth are happy in their place at Hoxne, and on them +at least has fallen no shadow of misfortune from that which came of +their passing over the Bridge of the Golden Spurs--the Golden +Bridge as our folk call it now. + +Yet it needed no words of Ingvar's to keep the memory of that day's +work alive in the minds of our people. Never so long as the Gold +Brook flows beneath that bridge will a bridal pass churchwards over +its span, for there, but for such a crossing, Eadmund the king +might have bided safely till Ingvar the Dane had passed and gone. + +Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but this +I know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and English +will have become his mighty host, but in every English heart will +live the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and country. + + + +NOTES. + + +i Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old mythology, by whose +nets drowning men were said to be entangled. + +ii The Jarl ranked next to the king, and was often equally +powerful. Our English title "Earl" is derived from this. + +iii A small wharf. + +iv A lay brother of the monastery of Hackness, near Whitby, who +rendered the Sacred Histories into verse about A.D. 680. + +v Now Whitby. The present name was given by the Danish +settlers. + +vi As if under the shadow of coming death. + +vii The Viking ship of war, or "long ship". + +viii The usual Scandinavian and Danish greeting: "Health". + +ix After expulsion from his bishopric of York by King Egfrid. + +x Mail shirt. + +xi The fine allowed as penalty for killing an adversary in a +quarrel, or by mischance. The penalty for wilful murder was death. + +xii Nidring, niddering, or nithing, may be beet expressed by +"worthless ". It was the extreme term of reproach to a Saxon. + +xiii The "Lodbrokar-Quida", which is still in existence. By +some authorities Ragnar is said to have been the father of Ingvar +and Hubba, but the dates are most uncertain. + +xiv "The Fates" of the Northern mythology. + +xv St. Ansgar, or Ansgarius, built the first church in Denmark +at Hedeby, now Slesvig, in 840 A.D. + +xvi The "twilight of the Gods", when the Asir were to fight +against the powers of evil, and a new order should commence. + +xvii The Danes traced their origin back to a great migration +from the East, under Odin. Their priesthood was vested in the head +of the tribe after the ancient patriarchal custom. + +xviii The great representative Council from which our +Parliament sprang. + +xix Four degrees of kingship are spoken of in the Sagas, the +highest being the overlord, to whom the lesser kings paid tribute. +The "kings of the host" came third in rank, the "sea kings" last, +these being usually sons of under kings, to whom a ship or two had +been given. + +xx Now Peterborough. + +xxi Tribute. + +xxii "The King's Guardian." + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13752 *** diff --git a/13752-h/13752-h.htm b/13752-h/13752-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..52e6d58 --- /dev/null +++ b/13752-h/13752-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7860 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Wulfric the Weapon Thane, by Charles W. Whistler</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + h2.c2 {text-align: center} + h1.c1 {text-align: center} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13752 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wulfric the Weapon Thane, by Charles W. +Whistler</h1> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<h1 class="c1">Wulfric the Weapon Thane:</h1> + +<center> +<h3>A Story of the Danish Conquest of East Anglia</h3> + +<h4>by</h4> + +<h2>Charles W. Whistler.</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>Contents</h3> +<table><tr><td align="left"> +<h3><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. HOW LODBROK THE DANE CAME TO +REEDHAM.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. HOW LODBROK SPOKE WITH BEORN +THE FALCONER.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. WHAT CAME IN A NORTH SEA +FOG.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE SONG OF THE BOSHAM +BELL.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. HOW WULFRIC, LODBROK, AND BEORN +HUNTED.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE JUSTICE OF EARL +ULFKYTEL.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. HOW WULFRIC CAME TO +JUTLAND.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. HOW WE FARED WITH INGVAR +THE DANE.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. JARL HALFDEN'S +HOMECOMING.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. WHAT BEFELL AT THE GREAT +SACRIFICE.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF INGVAR'S +HOST.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. IN HOXNE WOODS.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. HOW BISHOP HUMBERT JOINED +THE KING.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD +SEARCHED TOGETHER.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. THE MESSAGE OF HALFDEN THE +KING.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA +HOME.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#NOTES">NOTES.</a></h3> +</td></tr></table></center> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></h2> +<p>A word may be needed with regard to the sources from which this +story of King Eadmund's armour bearer and weapon thane have been +drawn. For the actual presence of such a close attendant on the +king at his martyrdom on Nov. 20, 870 A.D. we have the authority of +St. Dunstan, who had the story from the lips of the witness +himself.</p> +<p>But as to the actual progress of events before the death of the +king, the records are vague and imperfect. We are told that, after +the defeat at Thetford, the king had intended to seek safety in the +church, probably at Framlingham, where the royal household was, but +was forced to hide, and from his hiding place was dragged before +Ingvar the Danish leader, and so slain.</p> +<p>The two local legends of the "king's oak" in Hoxne woods, and of +the "gold bridge", may fill in what is required to complete the +story.</p> +<p>The former, identifying a certain aged oak as that to which the +king was bound, has been in a measure corroborated by the discovery +in 1848 of what may well have been a rough arrow point in its +fallen trunk; while the fact that, until the erection of the new +bridge at Hoxne in 1823, no newly-married couple would cross the +"gold bridge" on the way to church, for the reasons given in the +story, seems to show that the king's hiding place may indeed have +been beneath it as the legend states. If so, the flight from +Thetford must have been most precipitate, and closely followed.</p> +<p>There are two versions of the story of Lodbrok the Dane and +Beorn the falconer. That which is given here is from Roger of +Wendover. But in both versions the treachery of one Beorn is +alleged to have been the cause of the descent of Ingvar and Hubba +on East Anglia.</p> +<p>These chiefs and their brother Halfden, and Guthrum, are of +course historic. Their campaign in England is hard to trace through +the many conflicting chronicles, but the broad outlines given by +the almost contemporary <i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i>, supplemented +with a few incidents recorded in the <i>Heimskringla</i> of +Sturleson as to the first raid on Northumbria by Ingvar, are +sufficient for the purposes of a story that deals almost entirely +with East Anglia.</p> +<p>The legend of the finding of the head of the martyred king is +given in the homily for November 20 of the Anglo-Saxon <i>Sarum +Breviary</i>, and is therefore of early date. It may have arisen +from some such incident as is given here.</p> +<p>Details of the death of Bishop Humbert are wanting. We only know +that he was martyred at about the same time as the king, or perhaps +with him, and that his name is remembered in the ancient kalendars +on the same day. For describing his end as at his own chapel, still +standing at South Elmham, the fate of many a devoted priest of +those times might be sufficient warrant.</p> +<p>As to the geography of the East Anglian coast, all has changed +since King Eadmund's days, with the steady gaining of alluvial land +on sea at the mouth of the once great rivers of Yare and Waveney. +Reedham and Borough were in his time the two promontories that +guarded the estuary, and where Yarmouth now stands were sands, +growing indeed slowly, but hardly yet an island even at "low-water +springs". Above Beccles perhaps the course of the Waveney towards +Thetford has altered little in any respect beyond the draining of +the rich marshland along its banks, and the shrinking of such +tributaries as the Hoxne or Elmham streams to half-dry +rivulets.</p> +<p>With a few incidental exceptions, the modern spelling of place +names has been adopted in these pages. No useful purpose would be +served by a reproduction of what are now more or less uncouth if +recognizable forms of the well-known titles of town and village and +river.</p> +<p>C. W. W.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. HOW +LODBROK THE DANE CAME TO REEDHAM.</a></h2> +<p>Elfric, my father, and I stood on our little watch tower at +Reedham, and looked out over the wide sea mouth of Yare and +Waveney, to the old gray walls of the Roman Burgh on the further +shore, and the white gulls cried round us, and the water sparkled +in the fresh sea breeze from the north and east, and the bright +May-time sun shone warmly on us, and our hearts went out to the sea +and its freedom, so that my father said:</p> +<p>"Once again is the spirit of Hengist stirring in me, and needs +must that you and I take ship, and go on the swan's path even as +our forefathers went; let us take the good ship somewhere--anywhere +to be on the sea again. What say you, son Wulfric?"</p> +<p>And at that I was very glad, for I had longed for that word of +his. For never, since I could remember, was a time when I knew not +all that a boy might learn, for his years, of sea and the seaman's +craft; and the sea drew me, calling me as it were with its many +voices, even as it drew my father.</p> +<p>Yet, all unlike Hengist and his men, we sailed but for peaceful +gain, and very rich grew Elfric, the thane of Reedham; for ours was +the only ship owned by English folk on all our East Anglian shores, +and she brought us wealth year by year, as we sailed to Humber and +Wash northwards, and Orwell and Thames to the south, as seemed best +for what merchandise we had for sale or would buy. But, more than +all, my father and I alike sailed for the love of ship and sea, +caring little for the gain that came, so long as the salt spray was +over us, and we might hear the hum of the wind in the canvas, or +the steady roll and click of the long oars in the ship's rowlocks, +and take our chance of long fights with wind and wave on our stormy +North Sea coasts.</p> +<p>So we went down to the shipyard, under the lee of Reedham Hill, +and found old Kenulf our pilot, and with him went round our stout +Frisian ship that my father had bought long ago, and at once bade +him get ready for sailing as soon as might be. And that was a +welcome order to Kenulf and our crew also; for well do the North +Folk of East Anglia love the sea, if our Saxon kin of the other +kingdoms have forgotten for a while the ways of their forbears.</p> +<p>Not so welcome was our sailing to my mother, who must sit at +home listening to the song of the breezes and the roll of breakers, +with her heart stirred to fear for us at every shift of wind and +change of tide. And fair Eadgyth, my sister, beautiful with the +clear beauty of a fair-haired Saxon lady, shared in her fears also, +though I think that she believed that no storm could rage more +fiercely than her father and brother and their crew could ride +through in safety. Once she had sailed with us in high summer time +to London, and so she held that she knew well all the ways of the +ship and sea; fearing them a little, maybe.</p> +<p>Yet there was another dread in the heart of my mother, for this +is what she said:</p> +<p>"What of the Danes, Elfric, my husband? Surely there is +risk--aye, and great risk--of falling into their hands."</p> +<p>Thereat my father laughed easily, and answered:</p> +<p>"Not to an East Anglian ship now; for they have kept the pact we +have made with them. And they watch not our shores for ships, but +the long Frisian and Frankish coasts. There need be no fear of +them."</p> +<p>So my mother was reassured, and in a fortnight's time we had +gathered a mixed cargo, though no great one; and sailed, with a +shift of wind to the southwest, into the Wash, and so put into the +king's haven on its southern shore, where we would leave our goods +with a merchant whom we knew.</p> +<p>On the second day after we came the wind shifted to the +eastward, and then suddenly to the northeast, and blew a gale, so +that we bided in the haven till it was over. For though it was not +so heavy that we could not have won through it in open water with +little harm, it was of no use risking ship and men on a lee shore +for naught.</p> +<p>Our friend, the merchant, kept us with him gladly, and there we +heard the last news of the Danish host, with whom we had made peace +two years since; for nowadays that news had become of the first +interest to every man in all England; though not yet in the right +way. For we had not yet learnt that England must be truly one; and +so long as he himself was unharmed, little cared an East Anglian +what befell Mercian or Northumbrian, even as Wessex or Sussex cared +for naught but themselves. Wherefore, all we longed to know was +that the Danish host was not about to fall on us, being employed +elsewhere.</p> +<p>We had found gain rather than hurt by their coming, for we had, +as I say, made peace with them, and, moreover, sold them horses. +Then they had honestly left our coasts, and had gone to York, and +thereafter to Nottingham. Now Northumbria was theirs, and Mercia +was at their feet. And now again we learnt that they bided in peace +at York, and we were content.</p> +<p>Three days it blew, and then the gale was spent; though the sea +still ran high and swift. So we bade farewell to our friend the +merchant and set sail, and if the passage homewards was rough, it +was swifter than we had hoped.</p> +<p>So it came to pass that we reached the wide inlet of our haven +at the Yare's mouth too soon for the tide to take us in over the +sands which grow and shift every year, and must needs drop anchor +in the roads and wait, with home in sight, hill and church and +houses clear and sharp against the afternoon sky after rain; while +past us the long surges the storm had raised raced in over +half-hidden sands, and broke in snow-white foam along the foot of +the sand dunes of the shore, sending the spindrift flying up and +inland over their low crests.</p> +<p>Mostly the boats would have been out to meet us, and maybe to +tow us in, sparing our crew a little; but today no boat might come, +for the seas were too heavy over the bar, so that it would have +been death to any man foolish enough to try to reach us; and we +looked for none. So as the stout ship wallowed and plunged at her +anchors--head to wind and sea, and everything, from groaning +timbers to song of wind-curved rigging and creak of swinging yard, +seeming to find a voice in answer to the plunge and wash of the +waves, and swirl and patter of flying spray over the high bows--we +found what shelter we might under bulwarks and break of fore deck, +and waited.</p> +<p>My father and I sat on the steersman's bench aft, not heeding +the showers of spray that reached us now and then even there, and +we watched the tide rising over the sand banks, and longed for home +and warm fireside, instead of this cold, gray sky and the restless +waves; though I, at least, was half sorry that the short voyage was +over, dreaming of the next and whither we might turn our ship's +bows again before the summer ended.</p> +<p>My father looked now and then shoreward, and now seaward, +judging wind and tide, and sitting patiently with the wondrous +patience of the seaman, learnt in years of tide and calm; for he +would tell me that sea learning never ends, so that though the +sailor seemed to be idle, he must needs be studying some new turn +of his craft if only his eyes were noting how things went around +him. Yet I thought he was silent beyond his wont.</p> +<p>Presently he rose up and paced the deck for a little, and then +came and sat down by me again.</p> +<p>"I am restless, son Wulfric," he said, laughing softly; "and I +know not why."</p> +<p>"For the sake of supper," I answered, "for I am that also, and +tide seems mighty slow therefore."</p> +<p>"Nay, supper comes to the patient; but it seems to me that I +have to watch for somewhat."</p> +<p>"Surely for naught but the tide," I answered, not thinking much +of the matter, but yet wondering a little.</p> +<p>"Not for tide or wind, but for somewhat new, rather--somewhat of +which I have a fear.</p> +<p>"But this is foolishness," he said, laughing again at himself, +for few men thought less of signs and forewarnings than he.</p> +<p>Then he looked out again to windward, under his hand, and all of +a sudden turned sharply to me, pointing and saying:</p> +<p>"But, as I live, hither comes something from the open sea!"</p> +<p>I rose up and looked to where he showed me, and as the ship rose +to a great wave, far off I saw a dark speck among white-crested +rollers, that rose and fell, and came ever nearer, more swiftly +than wreckage should.</p> +<p>Now some of the men who clustered under the shelter of the fore +deck, with their eyes ever on us, rose up from their places and +began to look out seaward over the bows through the spray to find +out what we watched, and ere long one man called to his mates:</p> +<p>"Ho, comrades, here comes flotsam from the open sea!"</p> +<p>Slowly the men rose up one by one and looked, clustering round +the stem head, and a little talk went round as to what this might +be.</p> +<p>"It is a bit of wreck," said one.</p> +<p>"Hardly, for the gale has not been wild enough to wreck a ship +in the open; 'tis maybe lumber washed from a deck," answered +another.</p> +<p>"It is a whale--no more or less."</p> +<p>"Nay," said old Kenulf; "it behaves not as a whale, and it comes +too swiftly for wreckage."</p> +<p>"Would it were a dead whale. Then would be profit," said another +man again, and after that the men were silent for a long while, +having said all that could be guessed, and watched the speck that +drew nearer and nearer, bearing down on us.</p> +<p>At last my father, ever keen of sight, said to me:</p> +<p>"This thing is not at the mercy of wind and wave. Rather has it +the rise and fall of a boat well handled. Yet whence should one +come in this heavy sea, after three days' gale?"</p> +<p>Even as he spoke, old Kenulf growled, half to himself, that to +his thinking this was a boat coming, and handled, moreover, by men +who knew their trade. Thereat some of the men laughed; for it +seemed a thing impossible, both by reason of the stretch of wild +sea that so small a craft as this--if it were indeed a boat--must +have crossed, and because the sea was surely too heavy to let one +live.</p> +<p>Yet in the end we saw that it was a boat, and that in her, +moreover, was but one man, whose skill in handling her was more +than ours, and greater than we could deem possible.</p> +<p>Whereupon some of us were afraid, seeing how wondrously the tiny +craft came through the swift seas, and a man called out, giving +voice to our fears:</p> +<p>"Surely yon man is a Finn and the wizard who has raised this +storm to drown us; now are we lost!"</p> +<p>And I--who had listened eagerly to all the wild stories of the +seamen, since first I was old enough to wander curiously over the +ships from overseas that put into our haven on their way up the +great rivers to Norwich, or Beccles, or other towns--knew that the +Finns have powers more than mortal (though how or whence I know +not) over wind and sea, often using their power to the hurt of +others, and so looked to see the lines of a great squall, drawn as +it were astern of the wizard's boat, whitening as it rushed upon us +to sink us in sight of home.</p> +<p>But old Kenulf cried out on the man, saying:</p> +<p>"Rather is it one of the holy saints, and maybe the blessed +Peter the fisherman himself," and he bared his gray head, crossing +himself, as he looked eagerly to catch sight of the glory of light +round the seafarer; and that rebuked my fears a little.</p> +<p>But squall or crown of light was there none. Only the brown +waves, foam crested, which we feared not, and the gray light of the +clouded sun that was nigh to setting.</p> +<p>My father heeded naught of this, but watched the boat, only +wondering at the marvellous skill of her steersman. And when the +boat was so near that it was likely that the eyes of the man were +on us, my father raised his arm in the seaman's silent greeting, +and I thought that the boatman returned the salute.</p> +<p>Now the course that the boat was holding when that signal passed +would have taken her wide of us by half a cable's length, but she +was yet so far distant that but a little change would bring her to +us. Some sort of sail she seemed to have, but it was very small and +like nothing I had ever seen, though it was enough to drive her +swiftly and to give her steering way before the wind. Until my +father signed to him the man seemed to have no wish to near our +ship, going on straight to what would be certain destruction amid +the great breakers on our largest sand bar, and that made the men +more sure that he was a wizard, and there were white faces enough +among them.</p> +<p>"Now," said my father to me, "doubtless this is what was put in +my mind when I felt I must watch. Had I not seen him, yon man would +have been surely lost; for I think he cannot see the breakers from +his boat," and again he signed to the boatman.</p> +<p>Then from the little craft rose a great, long-winged hawk that +cried and hovered over it for a little, as if loth to leave it; and +one man said, shrinking and pale, that it was the wizard's familiar +spirit. But the wind caught the bird's long wings and drove it from +the boat, and swiftly wheeling it must needs make for us, speeding +down the wind with widespread, still pinions.</p> +<p>Then cried aloud that same terrified man:</p> +<p>"It is a sending, and we are done for!" thinking that, as Finns +will, the wizard they deemed him had made his spells light on us in +this visible form. But my father held out his hand, whistling a +falconer's call, and the great bird flew to him, and perched on his +wrist, looking bravely at us with its bright eyes as though sure of +friendship.</p> +<p>"See!" said my father loudly; "this is a trained bird, and no +evil sending; here are the jesses yet on its feet."</p> +<p>And Kenulf and most of the men laughed, asking the superstitious +man if the ship sank deeper, or seas ran higher for its coming.</p> +<p>"Hold you the bird," said my father to me; "see! the boatman +makes for us."</p> +<p>I took the beautiful hawk gladly, for I had never seen its like +before, and loved nothing better when ashore than falconry, and as +I did so I saw that its master had changed the course of his boat +and was heading straight for us. Now, too, I could make out that +what we had thought a sail was but the floor boarding of the boat +reared up against a thwart, and that the man was managing her with +a long oar out astern.</p> +<p>The great hawk's sharp talons were like steel on my ungloved +wrist, piercing through the woollen sleeve of my jerkin, but I +heeded them not, so taken up was I with watching this man who +steered so well and boldly in so poorly fitted a craft. And the +boat was, for all that, most beautiful, and built on such lines as +no Saxon boat had. Well we know those wondrous lines now, for they +were those of the longships of the vikings.</p> +<p>Now the men forward began to growl as the boat came on to us, +and when my father, seeing that the man would seek safety with us, +bade those on the fore deck stand by with a line to heave to him as +he came, no man stirred, and they looked foolishly at one +another.</p> +<p>Then my father called sharply to Kenulf by name, giving the same +order, and the old man answered back:</p> +<p>"Bethink you, Thane; it is ill saving a man from the sea to be +foe to you hereafter. Let him take his chance."</p> +<p>Thereat my father's brow grew dark, for he hated these evil old +sayings that come from heathen days, and he cried aloud:</p> +<p>"That is not the way of a Christian or a good seaman! Let me +come forward."</p> +<p>And in a moment he was on the fore deck, where the men made +hasty way for him. There the long lines were coiled, ready for +throwing to the shore folk on our wharf, both fore and aft. My +father caught up one at his feet and stood ready, for now the boat +was close on us, and I could see the white set face of her +steersman as he watched for the line he knew was coming, and +wherein lay his only slender hope of safety.</p> +<p>My father swung his arm and cast. Swift and true fled the coils +from his hand--but fell short by two fathoms or less, and the boat +swept past our bows, as the men held their breath, watching and +ashamed.</p> +<p>But I also had caught up the coil from the after deck, fearing +lest my father should not have been in time, while the hawk +fluttered and gripped my arm in such wise that at any other time I +should have cried out with the pain of the sharp piercing of its +talons. Yet it would not leave me.</p> +<p>The boat flew on, but the man had his eyes on me--not looking +vainly for the lost end of the first line among the foam as many +another man would--and I saw that he was ready.</p> +<p>I threw; and the hawk screamed and clutched, as it lost its +balance, and beat my face with its great wings, and I could not see +for its fluttering; but the men shouted, and I heard my father's +voice cry "Well done!" Then I made fast the end of the line round +the main-sheet cleat, for that told me that the man had caught +on.</p> +<p>Then the bird was still, and I looked up. I saw the boat pass +astern as the man made fast the line round the fore thwart, with +his eyes on the wave that came. Then he sprang to the steering oar, +and in a moment the boat rounded to on the back of a great wave and +was safe before the crest of the next roller ran hissing past me, +to break harmless round her bows.</p> +<p>Then the man looked up, smiling to me, lifted his hand in +greeting, and then straightway laid in the steering oar. Having +found a bailing bowl in the stern sheets, he set to work to clear +out the water that washed about in the bottom of the boat; then he +replaced the floor boards, and all things being shipshape, sat down +quickly in the stern, putting his head into his hands, and there +bided without moving, as if worn out and fain to rest for a +while.</p> +<p>Now it was like to be a hard matter to get the boat alongside in +that sea, and we must needs wait till the man took in hand to help, +so we watched him as he sat thus, wondering mostly at the boat, for +it was a marvel to all of us. Sharp were her bows and stern, +running up very high, and her high stem post was carved into the +likeness of a swan's neck and head, and the wings seemed to fall +away along the curve of the bows to the carved gunwale, that was as +if feathered, and at last the stern post rose and bent like a fan +of feathers to finish all. Carved, too, were rowlocks and the ends +of the thwarts, and all the feathered work was white and gold above +the black of the boat's hull. Carved, too, was the baling bowl, and +the loom of the oar was carved in curving lines from rowlock +leather to hand. And as I thought of the chances of our losing her +as we crossed the bar among the following breakers, I was grieved, +and would have asked my father to let us try to get her on deck if +we could.</p> +<p>But now the man roused, and put his hands to his mouth, hailing +us to ask if we would suffer him to come on board, and my father +hailed him back to bid him do so. Then it would seem that our men +were ashamed, having once disobeyed my father whom they loved, not +to finish the work that we had begun, and so, without waiting for +the order, saw to getting the boat up to our quarter, so that it +was but a minute or two before the man leapt on our deck, and the +boat was once more astern at the length of her line.</p> +<p>"Thanks, comrades," said the man; "out of Ran's <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote1anc" href="#sdendnote1sym" id= +"sdendnote1anc">i</a>}</sup> net have you brought me, and ill fall +me if I prove foe to you, as the old saw bodes."</p> +<p>Now as one looked at this storm-beaten wanderer there was no +doubt but that he was surely a prince among men, and I for one +marvelled at his look and bearing after what he must have gone +through. Drenched and salt crusted were his once rich clothes, +tangled and uncared for were his hair and beard, and worn and tired +he showed both in face and body, yet his eyes were bright and his +speech was strong and free as he swung to the roll of the ship with +the step of a sea king. His speech told us that he was a Dane, for +though we of the East Angles had never, even before the coming of +the great host of which I must tell presently, such great +difference of tongue between our own and that of Dane and Frisian +but that we could well understand them and speak therein, yet time +and distance have given us a new way of handling our words, as one +might say, and a new turn to the tones of our voices. Often had I +heard the Danish way of speech on board the ships from over sea in +our haven, and had caught it up, as I was wont to try to catch +somewhat of every tongue that I heard.</p> +<p>So he and we looked at each other for a moment, we wondering at +him and he seeking our leader. Nor did he doubt long, taking two +steps to my father, holding out his hand, and again thanking +him.</p> +<p>My father grasped the offered hand frankly, and, smiling a +little, said:</p> +<p>"Rather should you thank Wulfric, my son, here; for it was his +line that reached you."</p> +<p>"No fault that of yours," answered the Dane; and he turned to me +with the same hearty greeting.</p> +<p>"Now, friend Wulfric, I owe you my life, and therefore from this +time forward my life is for yours, if need be. Nor shall my men be +behind in that matter--that is if I ever see them again," he added, +looking quaintly at me, if gravely.</p> +<p>"Surely you shall do so," I said, "if it is in our power."</p> +<p>"I thank you--and it is well. I know coasts where a stranger +would be a slave from the moment his foot touched shore. Now tell +me whose ship this is that has given me shelter, and what your +father's name is, that I may thank you rightly."</p> +<p>"Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, is my father," I said, "Sheriff +of the East Anglian shore of the North Folk, under Eadmund, our +king. And this is his ship, and this himself to whom you have +spoken."</p> +<p>"Then, Thane and Thane's son, I, whose life you have saved, am +Lodbrok, Jarl <sup>{<a name="sdendnote2anc" href="#sdendnote2sym" +id="sdendnote2anc">ii</a>}</sup> of a strip of Jutland coast. And +now I have a fear on me that I shall do dishonour to the name of +Dane, for I faint for want of food and can stand no more."</p> +<p>With that he sat down on the bench where I had been, and though +he smiled at us, we could see that his words were true enough, and +that he was bearing bravely what would have overborne most men. And +now the falcon fluttered from my wrist to his.</p> +<p>Then my father bade me hasten, and I brought ale and meat for +the jarl, and set them before him, and soon he was taking that +which he needed; but every now and then he gave to the bird, +stroking her ruffled feathers, and speaking softly to her.</p> +<p>"Aye, my beauty," he said once, "I did but cast you down wind +lest you should be lost with me. And I would have had you take back +the news that I was lost to my own home."</p> +<p>My father stood and watched the tide, and presently I joined +him, for I would not hinder the Dane from his meal by watching him. +I looked at the beautiful boat astern, tossing lightly on the wave +crests, and saw that she would surely be lost over the bar; so I +asked my father now, as I had meant before, if we might not try to +get her on board.</p> +<p>For answer he turned to Lodbrok.</p> +<p>"Set you much store by your boat, Jarl?" he asked him.</p> +<p>"The boat is yours, Thane, or Wulfric's, by all right of +salvage. But I would not have her lost, for my sons made her for me +this last winter, carving her, as you see, with their own hands. +Gladly would I see her safe if it might be."</p> +<p>"Then we will try to get her," answered my father; "for there +are one or two things that my children have made for me, and I +would not lose them for the sake of a little trouble. And, +moreover, I think your sons have made you the best boat that ever +floated!"</p> +<p>"Else had I not been here!" answered the Dane. "They are good +shipwrights."</p> +<p>Then Kenulf and the men set to work, and it was no easy matter +to come by the boat; but it was done at last, and glad was I to see +her safely lashed on deck. Then the time had come, and we up anchor +and plunged homewards through the troubled seas of the wide harbour +mouth. It was I who steered, as I ever would of late, while the +Dane stood beside me, stroking his hawk and speaking to it now and +then. And once or twice he looked long and earnestly at the +breakers, knowing now from what he had escaped; and at last he said +to me:</p> +<p>"Many a man, I know, would have rather let me go on than have +run the risk of saving one from the sea. Do you dare go against the +saying?"</p> +<p>"Why not? I may not say that it came not into our minds," I +answered; "but Christian men will put such ill bodes aside."</p> +<p>"Ah! I had forgotten your new faith," said Lodbrok. "Now from +this time I, for one, have naught to say against it, for I think I +owe it somewhat."</p> +<p>And he was silent for a while.</p> +<p>Now my father came aft, and sitting down by the Dane, asked him +how he came to risk sailing in the little boat.</p> +<p>"I know not if you can believe me," answered Lodbrok, "but I +will tell you in a few words. I have been blown from off the +Jutland shore and have won through the gale safely. That is all. +But it was by my own fault, for I must needs take the boat and put +out to sea with my hawk there to find fresh sport. It seemed to me, +forsooth, that a great black-backed gull or fierce skua would give +me a fine flight or two. And so it was; but I rowed out too far, +and before I bethought myself, both wind and tide were against me. +I had forgotten how often after calm comes a shift of wind, and it +had been over still for an hour or so. Then the gale blew up +suddenly. I could have stemmed the tide, as often before; but wind +and tide both were my masters then.</p> +<p>"That was three days and two nights ago. Never thought I to see +another sunset, for by midday of that first day I broke an oar, and +knew that home I could never win; so I made shift with the floor +boards, as you saw, for want of canvas. After that there is little +to tell, for it was ever wave after wave, and gray flying clouds +ever over me, and at night no rest, but watching white wave crests +coming after me through the dark."</p> +<p>"Some of us thought that you were a Finn, at least," said my +father as the Dane paused.</p> +<p>"Not once or twice only on this voyage have I wished myself a +Finn, or at least that I had a Finn's powers," said Lodbrok, +laughing; "but there has been no magic about this business save +watchfulness, and my sons' good handicraft."</p> +<p>Then I asked the jarl how he called his sons, with a little +honest envy in my heart that I could never hope to equal their +skill in this matter of boat building, wherein I had been wont to +take some pride of myself.</p> +<p>"Three sons have I in Jutland, Wulfric, my friend, and they, +when they hear my story, will hold you dear to them. Ingvar is the +eldest, Hubba, the next, and the third, Halfden, is +three-and-twenty, and so about your own age, as I take it, as he is +also about your equal in build and strength. Yet I would sooner see +a ship of mine steered by you than by him, for he is not your equal +in that matter."</p> +<p>Now that praise pleased me well, as it did also my father. For +we hold the Danes as first of all peoples in the knowledge of sea +craft; and we had seen that this man was a master therein. But +though at this time I thought of naught but the words of praise, +hereafter I was to remember the words that Jarl Lodbrok spoke of +the way in which these sons of his would hold me when the tale was +told them.</p> +<p>At last we hailed the shore through the creeping dusk, and the +shore lines were thrown out. Then were we alongside our staithe +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote3anc" href="#sdendnote3sym" id= +"sdendnote3anc">iii</a>}</sup>, and Lodbrok the Dane had come to +Reedham.</p> +<p>Now it may seem but a little thing that a seafarer should be +driven to a strange coast, and be tended there in friendly wise by +those who saved him from the breakers, for such is a common hap on +our island shores. Yet, from this day forward, all my life of the +time yet before me was to be moulded by what came of that cast of +line to one in peril. Aye, and there are those who hold that the +fate of our England herself was in hand that day, though it seems +to me that that is saying overmuch. Yet one cannot tell, and maybe +those who will read this story of mine will be able to judge.</p> +<p>What I do know certainly is this, that all which makes my tale +worth the telling comes from this beginning.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. HOW +LODBROK SPOKE WITH BEORN THE FALCONER.</a></h2> +<p>So soon as we had stepped ashore there came in haste one of our +housecarles with word from my mother that Eadmund, the king, had +that day come to our house from Caistor; so at once my father bade +the man return and bring changes of clothes for himself and me and +Lodbrok to our steward's house, that we might appear in more decent +trim before our guest and master.</p> +<p>So we waited for a little while, watching the men as they +berthed the ship; and as we stood there a word went round among the +knot of people watching with us, and they parted, making a little +lane, as they said, "The king comes". And then I heard the +well-known voice of Eadmund calling gaily to us:</p> +<p>"Ho, friend Elfric, here have I come to see what a man fresh +from a stormy voyage looks like, if light will serve me."</p> +<p>And so saying, I being nearest to him, the king turned me round +with his strong hands, and scanned my rough, wet garments and fur +cap.</p> +<p>"Truly, son Wulfric," he cried, laughing, "I think these things +suit you as well as war gear, and better than court finery, in this +dim light at least. Now let me see the thane himself."</p> +<p>Then my father would have him come back to the house at once, +out of the stormy weather, for the rain was coming now as the wind +fell; and we went, not waiting for the change of garments, for that +the king would not suffer.</p> +<p>As we turned away from the staithe, Lodbrok took my arm, asking +me where he might find shelter.</p> +<p>"Why, come with us, surely!" I answered, having no thought but +that he would have done so as our guest.</p> +<p>"Thanks," he said; "I knew not if your help could go so far as +that to a man whose story might well be too strange for +belief."</p> +<p>Now it had seemed to me that no one could doubt such a man, and +so I told him that we had no doubt of him at all in that matter. +And he thanked me gravely again, walking, as I thought, more freely +beside me, as knowing that he was held to be a true man.</p> +<p>We followed my father, who walked with the king, at a little +distance because of this small delay; and presently Lodbrok asked +me if this was the King of all England.</p> +<p>"No," I answered; "though, indeed, he is the only king we know +aught of. This is Eadmund of East Anglia."</p> +<p>"You know him well, as one may see by his way with you," said +the jarl.</p> +<p>"Surely, for he is my father's close friend. They were comrades +together in King Offa's court until the old king laid down his +crown and gave the kingdom into Eadmund's hands; and they are the +same to each other now as ever. He is my godfather; and I was in +his court till I was eighteen. Moreover, I am one of his armour +bearers yet when need is."</p> +<p>So I spoke plainly enough, for I think that I had, and ever +shall have, reason to be proud of our nearness to the king, of whom +no man had but good to say since he, almost as a boy, came to the +throne.</p> +<p>"So then it seems that fate has brought me to court," said the +Dane.</p> +<p>"Yes, in a way," I told him; "for the king will ever bide with +us when he would visit this side of his kingdom."</p> +<p>"I think that I have seen this king before," said Lodbrok +presently; "for he is a man the like of whom one sees not +twice."</p> +<p>"Then," said I, "he will surely remember you, for he never +forgets one whom he has had reason to notice."</p> +<p>Whereat the jarl laughed a little to himself; but I had no time +to ask why, for now we were come to the great door; and when my +father would have let the king go in first Eadmund laughed at him, +and took his arm and drew him in with him, so that there was a +little delay, and we drew close.</p> +<p>Very bright and welcome looked the great oaken hall as we came +in from the dark, rainy night. A great fire burnt on its stone +hearth in the centre, and the long tables were already set above +and below it. The bright arms and shields on the walls shone below +the heads of deer and wolf and boar, and the gust of wind that came +in with us flew round the wall, making a sort of ripple of changing +colour run along the bright woven stuffs that covered them to more +than a man's height from the floor. No one in all East Anglia had +so well dight a hall as had Elfric, the rich Thane of Reedham.</p> +<p>Well used was I to all this, but never seemed it more homelike +to me than when I came in fresh from the the cold, gray sea.</p> +<p>And now there stood on the high place to welcome us those whose +presence made the place yet more beautiful to me--my mother, and +Eadgyth my sister, and beside them were Bishop Humbert, our own +bishop, and many thanes of the court, and some of the bishop's +clergy. Such a gathering my father, and, indeed, all of us, loved, +for all were well known to us.</p> +<p>Now I went to greet these dear ones and friends, and there was +pleasant jest and laughter at us for coming thus sea clad and spray +stained into the midst of that gay company. So that for a little +time I forgot Lodbrok, who had not followed me beyond the +hearth.</p> +<p>Then Eadgyth said to me:</p> +<p>"Who is that noble-looking man who stands so sadly and alone by +the fire?"</p> +<p>I turned, blaming myself for this forgetfulness, and there was +the Dane gazing into the flames, and seeming heedless of all that +was going on. Nor do I think that I had ever seen one look so sad +as looked that homeless man, as he forgot the busy talk and +movement around him in some thoughts of his own.</p> +<p>So I went to him, touching his arm gently, and he started a +little. Then his grave smile came, and he said:</p> +<p>"Truly, Wulfric, I had forgotten all things but my own home, and +when I woke from my dream at your touch, half thought I that you +were Halfden--that youngest son of mine of whom I told you."</p> +<p>Then so wistfully looked he at me that I could not forbear +saying to him:</p> +<p>"You must hold me as in Halfden's place, for this will be your +house, if you will, until there comes a ship that will take you +home. Gladly will some of the Frisians we know take you at least to +the right side of the broad seas."</p> +<p>"Aye, gladly would some have Lodbrok the Jarl with them," he +answered, smiling strangely.</p> +<p>What he meant, beyond that he might pilot them well, I knew not, +nor, indeed, thought that any hidden meaning lay in his words. So +that his saying passed from my mind, until one day when I should +have cause to understand it well enough.</p> +<p>I would have taken him now to present him to my mother, but she +was gone, and there came to us one of the steward's men, who stared +at the Dane as if he were some marvel, having doubtless heard his +story from one of the seamen, but covered his wonder by bowing low +and bidding him to an inner room where the thane had prepared +change of garment for him. For my father, having the same full +belief and trust in the stranger's word, would no more than I treat +him in any wise but as an honoured guest.</p> +<p>Then said Lodbrok:</p> +<p>"Good shall surely ever be to the house that will thus treat a +wanderer. Hardly would a castaway meet with so great kindness in my +own land. Nor do I think that we Danes have made our name so well +loved among English folk that we should look for the like among +them."</p> +<p>But I answered that we of East Anglia had no cause to blame his +people, who had made peace with us and kept it faithfully.</p> +<p>So the man led Lodbrok away, and I too went to seek gear more +courtly than salt-stained and tar-spotted blue cloth of +Lavenham.</p> +<p>There are few thanes' houses which have so many chambers as +ours, for because of the king's friendship with us, my father had +added, as it were, house to house, building fresh chambers out +around the great hall itself, till all one might see was its long +roof among the many that clustered round and against its walls, so +that the thanes who came with him, or to see him, might have no +cause to complain of ill lodging with Elfric of Reedham. So it had +come to pass that our house was often the place where the court +lay, and I know that many of the poorer thanes thanked my father +for thus using his riches, since he saved them many a time the +heavy expenses of housing king and court when their turn should +have come. Yet my father would ever put aside those thanks, saying +that he loved to see his house full, though I myself know that this +saving of others less rich was in his mind.</p> +<p>One part of all these buildings we called "the king's house", +for it was set apart for him, and between that and the great hall +was a square and large chamber which Eadmund would use for his +private audiences, and sometimes for council room. And there we +used to gather from all parts of the place that we might enter the +great hall in his train at supper time, for there was a door which +led to the high table thence, so that the king need not go through +the crowd of housecarles and lesser folk who sat, below the salt, +along the walls. And in that chamber was a chimney to the fire, so +that the hearth was against the wall, which was a marvel to many, +but made the place more meet for the king. Ingild the merchant, my +other godfather, whose home was in London, had brought men thence +to make it for us, having the like in his own house after some +foreign pattern.</p> +<p>There were two men only in this room when I returned ready for +the feast. Both stood before the fire, and both were brightly +dressed, and hardly, but for the drowsy hawk which sat unhooded on +his hand, should I have known Lodbrok in the rich dress my father +had had prepared for him. The other was Beorn, the king's falconer, +who went everywhere with his master. These two were speaking +together as they stood before the fire, and I thought that what +Beorn said was not pleasing to the Dane, for he turned away a +little, and answered shortly.</p> +<p>When they saw me both turned, Lodbrok with a smile of welcome, +and Beorn with a loud, rough voice crying to me:</p> +<p>"Ho, Wulfric, here is a strange thing! This gold ring have I +offered to your stranger here for his falcon--which has three wing +feathers missing, moreover--and he will not sell, though I trow +that a man cast ashore must needs want gold more than a bird which +he may not fly save I gain him leave from the king."</p> +<p>"The bird is Wulfric's," said Lodbrok quietly.</p> +<p>"Nay, Jarl," I answered, "I would not take so loving a hawk from +her master, and over all our manors you may surely fly her."</p> +<p>"See you there!" cried Beorn, with a sort of delight, not +heeding my last words, "Wulfric will not have her! Now will you +sell?"</p> +<p>Then Lodbrok looked at me with a short glance that I could not +but understand, and said that it would surely grieve him if I would +not take the falcon.</p> +<p>Pleased enough I was, though half unwilling to take what seemed +as a forced gift. Yet to quiet Beorn--whom I never liked, as he was +both overbearing and boastful, though of great skill in his art of +falconry--I thanked the Dane, and went to where a hawking glove +hung on the wall, for my arm would feel the marks of those strong +talons for many a day, already. As I put it on I said that I feared +the bird would hardly come to me, leaving her master.</p> +<p>"Once I would have said that she would not," said Lodbrok; "for +until today she would bide with no man but myself and her keeper. +But today she has sat on your wrist, so that I know she will love +you well, for reasons that are beyond my guessing."</p> +<p>And so he shifted the falcon lightly from his wrist to mine, and +there she sat quietly, looking from him to me as though she would +own us both.</p> +<p>Then said Beorn, holding out his hand, on which he wore his +embroidered state glove of office:</p> +<p>"This is foolishness. The bird will perch on any wrist that is +rightly held out to her, so she be properly called," and he +whistled shrill, trying to edge the falcon from my hand.</p> +<p>In a moment she roused herself, and her great wings flew out, +striking his arm and face as he pushed them forward; and had he not +drawn back swiftly, her iron beak would surely have rent his gay +green coat.</p> +<p>"Plague on the kite!" he said; "surely she is bewitched! And if +her master is, as they say, a wizard, that is likely--"</p> +<p>"Enough, Master Falconer," I said, growing angry. "Lodbrok is +our guest, and this, moreover, is the court for the time. Why, the +bird is drowsy, and has been with me already. There is no wonder in +the matter, surely?"</p> +<p>But Beorn scowled, and one might see that his pride of falconry +was hurt. Maybe he would have answered again, but I spoke to +Lodbrok, asking him what the falcon was, as she was like none of +ours, for this was a thing I knew Beorn would be glad to know, +while his pride would not let him ask.</p> +<p>And Lodbrok answered that she was an Iceland gerfalcon from the +far northern ocean, and went on to tell us of her powers of flight, +and at what game she was best, and how she would take her quarry, +and the like. And Beorn sat down and feigned to pay no heed to +us.</p> +<p>Presently the Dane said that he had known gerfalcons to fly from +Iceland to Norway in a day, and at that Beorn laughed as in +scorn.</p> +<p>"Who shouted from Norway to Iceland to say that a lost hawk had +come over?" he said.</p> +<p>The Dane laughed a little also, as at a jest; though one could +tell that Beorn rather meant insult.</p> +<p>"Why," he answered, "the bird got loose from her master's ship +as he sailed out of port in Iceland, and he found her at home in +Nidaros at his journey's ending; and they knew well on what day she +came, which was the same as that on which she got free."</p> +<p>Then I said, lest Beorn should scoff again:</p> +<p>"Now, if this falcon got free from here, surely she will go home +to your land."</p> +<p>"Aye, and so my sons will think me dead, seeing her come without +me. Wherefore keep her safely mewed until she has learnt that this +is her home, for I would not have that mischance happen."</p> +<p>That I promised easily, for I prized the bird highly. And that I +might not leave him with the surly Beorn, I asked the jarl to come +and see her safely bestowed, and left the room with him.</p> +<p>As we crossed the courtyard to the mews, where our good hawks +were, Lodbrok said to me:</p> +<p>"I fear yon falconer is ill pleased with me."</p> +<p>"I have a mind to tell the king of his rudeness to our guest," I +answered.</p> +<p>"That is not worth while," said Lodbrok. "The man's pride is +hurt that he should be thus baffled for all his skill, which, from +his talk, must be great," and we both laughed, for Beorn loved his +own praises.</p> +<p>Now when we got back the guests were gathering, and it was not +long before the king entered, and at once called me.</p> +<p>"All here I know but one, Wulfric, and that one is your +seafarer. Let me know him also that speech may be free among +us."</p> +<p>So Lodbrok came, and he and the king looked long at one another +before Eadmund spoke.</p> +<p>"I have heard your story, friend, and it is a strange one," he +said pleasantly. "Moreover, I know your name in some way."</p> +<p>"Well known is the name of Ragnar Lodbrok, my forefather," said +the jarl. "Mayhap the king remembers the name thus!"</p> +<p>"Aye," answered Eadmund, "that is a well-known and honoured +name, and I think that Ragnar's son has a share in his courage. But +your face also seems known to me, and it was not of the great +Ragnar that I thought. Have we met in years past?"</p> +<p>Then Lodbrok said that he had been in London at a time when Offa +the King was there, and it was long years ago, but that the very +day might be remembered by reason of a great wedding that he had +been to see out of curiosity, knowing little of Saxon customs. And +he named the people who were married in the presence of Offa and +many nobles.</p> +<p>Then Eadmund laughed a little.</p> +<p>"Now it all comes into my mind," he said; "you are the leader of +those strangers who must needs come into the church in helm and +mail, with axe and shield hung on shoulders. Moreover, for that +reason, when men bade you depart and you went not, they even let +you bide. So I asked your name--and now I can answer for it that +Lodbrok Jarl you are."</p> +<p>And he held out his hand for the Dane to kiss, after our custom. +But Lodbrok grasped and shook it heartily, saying:</p> +<p>"Thanks, Lord King, for that remembrance, and maybe also for a +little forgetfulness."</p> +<p>Nor was Eadmund displeased with the freedom, but at that last +saying he laughed outright.</p> +<p>"Kings have both to remember and forget," he said, "and maybe, +if the citizens had not expected you to behave as wild vikings, you +would have gone peacefully as you came?"</p> +<p>"That is the truth," said Lodbrok.</p> +<p>So I suppose there had been some fray, of little moment, with +the London folk.</p> +<p>Then we followed the king into the hall; and Lodbrok and I +together sat at table over against him. Soon I knew all that an +hour or two of pleasant talk would teach me of his home and sons +and sports, and the king asked now and again of Danish customs, not +yet speaking of the voyage.</p> +<p>"For," said he, "it is ill recalling hardships until the feast +is over. Then may one enjoy the telling."</p> +<p>Presently the gleemen sang to us; and after that the harp went +round, that those who could might sing, and all the talk in hall +was hushed to hear Eadmund himself, the men setting down ale cups +and knives to listen, for he had a wondrously sweet voice, and sang +from the ancient songs of Caedmon <sup>{<a name="sdendnote4anc" +href="#sdendnote4sym" id="sdendnote4anc">iv</a>}</sup>. Then I sang +of the sea--some song I had made and was proud of, and it pleased +all. And at length we looked at Lodbrok, wondering if he could take +his turn.</p> +<p>"Fain would I try to please my host," he said, looking a little +wistfully at my father; "but a man swept far from home against his +will is no singer."</p> +<p>Then Eadmund pitied him, as did we all, and rose up.</p> +<p>"Feasting is over, thanes," he said. "Let us sit awhile in the +other chamber and hear Lodbrok's story."</p> +<p>For he would ever leave the hall as at this time, so that the +housecarles and lesser guests might have greater freedom of talk +when we were gone.</p> +<p>So we rose up, and as we did so I saw Beorn, the falconer, look +sourly at Lodbrok; and it misliked me that he should harbour any +ill will even yet against the Dane who had done him no wrong.</p> +<p>Round the fire we sat; some ten of us in all, for Bishop Humbert +and his folk went to their lodgings in the town, and there Lodbrok +told the king of his voyage.</p> +<p>And when he named his sons, Eadmund looked grave, and said:</p> +<p>"I have heard of those two chiefs, Ingvar and Hubba. Did they +not make a raid into Northumbria two years ago? Maybe they are yet +there with the host."</p> +<p>"Aye," answered Lodbrok, seeming to wonder at the grave face of +our king; "they went to Northumbria with the host that is yet +there. They fought well and bravely at the place men call +Streoneshalch <sup>{<a name="sdendnote5anc" href="#sdendnote5sym" +id="sdendnote5anc">v</a>}</sup>, gaining much booty. And it was by +Ingvar's plan that the place was taken, and that was well done. But +they left the host with their men after that, saying that there +were over many leaders already."</p> +<p>Now we all knew the cruel story of the burning of that place; +but Northumbria was a far-off kingdom, and with it we had naught to +do. So, except perhaps the king, the rest of us were as little +moved as if he had spoken of the taking of some Frankish town; for +if my father thought more of it, being in the king's counsels, he +passed it over.</p> +<p>"These sons of yours have a mind to be first then," he said +lightly.</p> +<p>"Seeing that the blood of Ragnar Lodbrok is in their veins it +could not well be otherwise," answered the jarl somewhat +grimly.</p> +<p>Then he ended his tale, and the king was greatly pleased with +him, so that he bade him bide in the court for a while that he +might take back a good report of us to his own people.</p> +<p>Now when the king was with us, I gladly took up my duties as his +armour bearer for the time; and therefore slept across the doorway +of his chamber when he went to rest. So my father bestowed Lodbrok +with the thanes in the great hall, and I left him there, following +the king.</p> +<p>Well did I sleep that night, though, sailorwise, not so heavily +but that any noise would rouse me in a moment. And as it drew +towards morning the king stirred uneasily, and I looked up at him. +Seeing that I woke he called me softly. The gray light of dawn came +through the window, and I could see that he sat up in his bed, +though I might not make out his face.</p> +<p>"I am here, Lord King. Is aught amiss?" I said, rising up with +my sword in my hand.</p> +<p>"Strange dreams have I had, my son," he said, in his quiet +voice, "and they trouble me."</p> +<p>"Let me know them, my master," I said, "and maybe the trouble +will pass; for often that which seems sorely troublous in a dream +is naught when one would put it into words."</p> +<p>"Sit on the bed and I will tell you," he answered; and when I +was there close to him he went on:</p> +<p>"It was this: I thought that I was in some place where water +gleamed beneath me, while overhead passed the tread of many feet +with music of pipe and tabor as at a bridal. And I cannot tell what +that place was. Then came to me the hand of this Lodbrok, and he, +looking very sad and downcast, led me thence into the forest land +and set me over against a great gate. And beyond that gate shone +glorious light, and I heard the sound of voices singing in such +wise that I knew it was naught but the gate of Heaven itself, and I +would fain go therein. But between me and the gate sped arrows +thick as hail, so that to reach it I must needs pass through them. +Then said Jarl Lodbrok, 'Here is the entry, and it is so hard to +win through because of me, yet not by my fault. But I think you +will not turn aside for arrows, and when you come therein I pray +you to remember me.' Then pressed I to the gate, unheeding of the +arrow storm. And lo! the gate was an oak tree, tall and strong, yet +beyond it was the light and the singing that I had reached. Then +faded the face of Lodbrok, and after me looked sadly many faces, +and one was yours, my son, and the nearest. So I woke."</p> +<p>"That is a wondrous dream," I said, not knowing what to make +thereof, having no skill in reading these matters.</p> +<p>"Aye, my son," answered Eadmund; "nor can I read it; though I +think I shall do so hereafter. Nevertheless it comes into my mind +that the dream warns me that my time is short. Lie down again, my +son. Let us sleep in peace while we may."</p> +<p>After that the king slept peacefully as a little child till full +daylight came; but I for very sadness closed not my eyes again, for +I thought that our king was fey <sup>{<a name="sdendnote6anc" href= +"#sdendnote6sym" id="sdendnote6anc">vi</a>}</sup>.</p> +<p>But in the morning the dream had, as it seemed, passed from the +mind of Eadmund, for he was very cheerful, as was his wont, and +said naught of it. However, I told my father thereof, for the +remembrance was heavy to me. And he, when he heard it, bit his lip +a little, pondering, but at last laughed.</p> +<p>"Trouble not yourself about it, son Wulfric," he said; "were I +to mind every dream that I have had, I think that I should take no +joy in life. Why, every year, for the last five past, I have +dreamed of sore shipwreck, and the old vessel's timbers are yet +hanging together!"</p> +<p>I laughed also, and thought that maybe he was right--for my +father's judgment was ever the best in my eyes--and so set my mind +at rest, though the strangeness of the matter would not let it be +altogether forgotten.</p> +<p>Now as days went on and we saw more of our guest, Lodbrok, there +was, I think, no man of our household who would willingly have seen +him take ship and leave us; for his ways and words were pleasant to +all alike, and there seemed to be no craft of which he knew not +something, so that he could speak to each man, in field or village +or boat, of the things that he knew best. And that is a gift that +may well be longed for by any man who would be loved by others.</p> +<p>Greatly pleased with him was Eadmund the King, so that he would +talk long with him of the ways and laws and peoples beyond the +seas; and also of hunting and hawking, which they both loved well. +And in this last Lodbrok was the best skilled master I have ever +known; and the king would ever have him ride beside him in the +field while the court was yet with us. And that pleased not Beorn, +though he kept his ill will to himself; and maybe I alone noted it, +for I had not spoken of that meeting, of which I have told, even to +my father.</p> +<p>Well, too, did my mother and Eadgyth like the courtly ways of +the jarl, who was ever ready to tell them of the life in his +household, and of the daughter, Osritha, who was its mistress since +her mother died but a few years since, and her two elder sisters +had been married to chiefs of their own land. Sometimes, too, they +would ask him of the dress of the ladies of his land; but at that +he would laugh and shake his head, saying that he only knew that +they went wondrously clad, but that he could tell naught more of +the matter.</p> +<p>"Weapons and war gear I may talk of by the hour," he said, "but +women's gear is beyond me. But once my daughter and I wrought +together in a matter that was partly of both, and that was when I +needed a war flag. And so I drew out the great raven I would have +embroidered on it, and they worked it in wondrous colours, and gold +and silver round the form of the great bird, so that it seems to +shift and flap its wings as the light falls on it and the breeze +stirs it, as if there were magic therein."</p> +<p>Now Eadgyth was well skilled in this work, and thereat she must +needs say that she would work me a flag for our ship, if the jarl +would plan one. So it seems to me now that that evening was very +pleasant, for they planned and shaped and began a flag whereon was +drawn by the jarl a white falcon like the one he had given to me, +and that was my thought, and it pleased him, as I think.</p> +<p>One day we came home early from our hunting, and Lodbrok and I +sat in the great hall, while the summer rain swelled in torrents, +with thunder and lightning sweeping over the river marshes and out +to sea, and we looked at the weapons that hung on the walls.</p> +<p>"Little care I for your long spear and short sword, friend +Wulfric," he said; "it seems to me that you must needs shorten the +one and lengthen the other before you can be held well armed. And +your bow is weak, and you have no axe."</p> +<p>For I had asked him what he thought of our Saxon weapons, else +would he not have spoken so plainly. Then he thought for a little +while, and said:</p> +<p>"Would you learn to use the axe?"</p> +<p>I answered that nothing would please me better; for of all +things, I longed to excel in weapon play of all kinds.</p> +<p>"That is well," he said, "for I owe you my life, and I think +that I can teach you that which will keep yours against any foe +that you may meet; for you are of the right build for a good +axeman, and not too old to learn."</p> +<p>Then we went to the smithy, and there, while the thunder raged +outside, he forged me an axe of the Danish pattern.</p> +<p>"Thor's own weather!" he said, laughing; and as he spoke the +blue lightning paled the red glow of the forge to a glimmer. "This +should be a good axe, and were you not a Christian, I would bid you +hold your beginning, as its wielder, of good omen."</p> +<p>Then the thunder crashed, and there was no need for me to +answer. And in the end he taught me patiently, until, one day, he +said:</p> +<p>"Now do you teach me to use your long spear. I can teach you no +more axe play than you know. Some day you will meet an axeman face +to face, and will find out what you know. Then, if I have taught +you ill, say naught; but if well, then say 'Jarl Lodbrok taught +me'."</p> +<p>Now I hold that the test of mastery of a weapon is that one +wishes for no other, and I knew that I had learned that much. But I +could not tell how much he had taught me, for axe play was new to +me, and I had not seen it before.</p> +<p>After I had learned well, as he said, the jarl tempered the axe +head, heating and cooling it many times, until it would take an +edge that would shear through iron without turning. And he also +wrought runes on it, hammering gold wire into clefts that he +made.</p> +<p>"What say they?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Thus they read," he answered:</p> +<p>"Life for life. For Wulfric, Elfric's son, Lodbrok the seafarer, +made me!"</p> +<p>Thereat I wondered a little, for I knew not yet what he had +taught me. Yet when I asked why he wrote those first words, he only +laughed, saying, "That you will know some day, as I think."</p> +<p>Now if I were to write all that went on until August came, I +should speak of little but how the jarl and I were never apart; for +though he was so much older than myself, I grew to be his fast +friend. And many a long day did I spend with him in his boat, +learning somewhat of his skill in handling her, both on river, and +broad, and sea. Very pleasant those days were, and they went all +too soon.</p> +<p>No ship came in that could help him homewards, and though the +Danish host was in Northumbria, he cared not to go there, for his +sons were gone home. And Eadmund would fain see more of him, so +that, although I would willingly have taken our ship across the +seas, for the first time, to his place, he would not suffer me to +do so; for he said that he was not so restless here with us, and +that his sons and Osritha, his daughter, had doubtless long thought +him dead.</p> +<p>Now in June the king had gone to Framlingham, and in August came +back to Thetford. Then he sent for my father, begging him to bring +Lodbrok with him, that together they might hunt over the great +heaths that stretch for many a mile north and west and south of the +town. No better sport is there for hawk and hound than on Brandon +and Croxton heaths, and the wilds to which our Saxon Icklings and +Lakings have given their names, for they stretch from forest to +fen, and there is no game in all England that one may not find +there, from red deer to coney, wolf to badger, bustard to snipe, +while there are otter and beaver in the streams.</p> +<p>So they would go, for the wish of a king is, as it were, a +command, even had not both my father and Lodbrok loved to be with +him, whether in hall or field. And I thought that I should surely +go also.</p> +<p>However, my father had other plans for me, and they were none +other than that I should take the ship round to London with some +goods we had, and with some of the new barley, just harvested, +which would ever find ready sale in London, seeing that no land +grows better for ale brewing than ours of East Anglia.</p> +<p>Now that was the first time I had been trusted to command the +ship unaided by my father's presence, though of late he would say +that he was owner, not captain, and but a passenger of mine; so, +though I was sorry not to go to Thetford, I was more proud of +myself than I would show; and maybe I would rather have taken to +the sea had there been choice.</p> +<p>I was to go to my godfather, Ingild the merchant, who would, as +ever, see to business for me; and then, because the season was +late, and wind and weather might keep me long in the river, my +father bade me stay with him, if I would, and if need were lay up +the ship in Thames for the winter, coming home by the great Roman +street that runs through Colchester town to our shores; or if +Ingild would keep me, staying in London with him even till spring +came again.</p> +<p>"If I must leave the ship," I said, "I shall surely come back to +hunt with the jarl and you."</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," answered my father, smiling, "Ingild will have +many a brave show for you in town. Wait till you get to London, for +the court of Ethelred himself will very likely be there, and there +will be much to see. And maybe you will find some Danish ship in +the river, and will send her captain here to take the jarl home +with him; for we may not hold him as a prisoner with us."</p> +<p>Then Lodbrok added that, in any case, I might find means to send +messages to his home by some ship sailing to ports that he named; +and that I promised I would do. Thereon he gave me a broad silver +ring, rune graven, to show as a token to any of his countrymen whom +I might meet, for the ring was known.</p> +<p>"Do not part with it, Wulfric," he said, as I thanked him; "for +it may be of use to you some day, if not on this voyage. Jarl +Lodbrok is well known on the high seas, and he gives not rings for +naught."</p> +<p>Now I would not take the falcon with me, but begged the jarl to +use her; and I asked him also to train for himself a greyhound that +I had bred, and of which he thought highly.</p> +<p>"Why," said he, "I shall have the best hawk and dog in all +Thetford town, and Beorn the falconer will have naught to say to +me."</p> +<p>Thereat we laughed, for Beorn's jealousy was a sport to us when +we thought of it, which was seldom enough.</p> +<p>So these two went to Thetford, and in the last week of August I +sailed for London, with a fair breeze over the quarter, from our +haven.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. +WHAT CAME IN A NORTH SEA FOG.</a></h2> +<p>Night saw our ship off Orfordness, and there the breeze failed +us, and a thick fog, hiding the land and its lights, crept up from +seaward and wrapped us round. But before it came, on Orfordness a +fire burnt redly, though what it was, unless it might be some +fisher's beacon, we could not tell.</p> +<p>The fog lifted as we drifted past the wide mouth of Stour and +Orwell rivers with a little breeze, and the early daylight showed +us the smoke of a fire that burnt on the higher land that shuts in +the haven's mouth on its southern shores. But even as we saw it, +the fog closed round us again and the wind died away, so that we +lowered the sail, and the men got out the oars, and slowly, while +Kenulf swung the lead line constantly, we crept on among the sand +banks down the coast.</p> +<p>Presently the tide turned against us, and Kenulf thought well +that we should drop anchor and wait for its turning again. The men +gladly laid in the oars, and the anchor rattled out and held. The +ship swung to her cable, and then there seemed deep silence after +the even roll and creak of the great sweeps in their rowlocks. The +fog was very dense, and beyond our stem head I could see +nothing.</p> +<p>Then to break the silence came to us, over no great stretch of +water as it seemed, the sound of a creaking block, the fall of a +yard on deck, and a voice raised in some sharp order. Then I +thought I heard an anchor plunge, and there was silence. Very +ghostly it seemed to hear these familiar sounds and to see naught, +and it was the more so that we might by no means judge from which +side of us, or fore or aft, the noises came, for fog will confuse +all things, and save a driving snowstorm, I dread nothing more at +sea.</p> +<p>Now the men began to speak in whispers, for the silence and +weirdness of the fog quieted us all. And, moreover, when the fog +lifted we had seen no ship, though there must be one close to us +now, and we wondered.</p> +<p>But Kenulf came to me presently with a scared face, and waiting +till the men had gone forward to find their food, he asked me if I +heard the voice that spoke.</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," I answered. "What of it?"</p> +<p>"Master," he said, "the voice was a Danish voice, as I think. +And I mind me of the fires we saw."</p> +<p>"What then?" said I carelessly, though indeed I could see well +what fear was in the old man's mind. Yet I would have him put the +thing into words, being ready to look the worst in the face at any +time.</p> +<p>"The vikings, master," he answered; "surely they were in Orwell +mouth and saw us, and have given chase."</p> +<p>"We should have seen them also," I said.</p> +<p>"Not so, master, for the fog hung inland, and if a Dane lies in +such a place he has ever men watching the sea--and they will sail +two ship's lengths to our one."</p> +<p>"Supposing the ship is a viking, what should we do now?" I +asked, for I knew of naught to do but bide where we were.</p> +<p>"Go back with tide and slip past them even now," said Kenulf, +though I think he knew that this was hopeless, for if we rowed, the +sound of our oars would betray us, and if not we should be on a +shoal before long, whence any escape would be impossible.</p> +<p>"Hark!" I said in another moment, and we listened.</p> +<p>There was little noise beyond the lapping of the swift tide +against our sides. The men forward were silent, and I had thought +that I heard the distant sound of voices and oars.</p> +<p>It came again in the stillness; a measured beat that one could +not well mistake, as of a ship's boat leisurely pulled.</p> +<p>Then one of our men began to sing in an undertone, and Kenulf +smote his hands together in terror, for the sound would betray us, +and he was going forward to stop the song.</p> +<p>"No matter," said I, "they know we are not far off, for I think +they must have anchored when they heard us do so, as we heard them. +If they seek us they will soon find us."</p> +<p>"They are coming nearer," said Kenulf, and I heard the oars more +plainly yet.</p> +<p>Now the thought of calling my men to arms came over me, but I +remembered how Lodbrok had told me that resistance to vikings, +unless it were successful, meant surely death, but that seldom +would the unresisting be harmed, even if the ship were wantonly +burnt after plunder, and the crew set adrift in their boat.</p> +<p>Still the oars drew nearer, and I thought of the words that +Lodbrok had spoken--how that shipmen would be glad of his +presence--and I wished that he were indeed with me, for now I knew +what he meant.</p> +<p>Now, too, I knew his gift of the ring to be our safety, and +surely he had given it to me for this. So I grew confident, and +even longed to see the sharp bow of the boat cleave the mist, if +only her crew knew of our friend by name at least. Yet they might +be Norse--not Danish.</p> +<p>But the sound of oars crossed our bows and died away again, and +then a voice hailed from the ship, as I thought, and there was +silence.</p> +<p>Kenulf and I breathed more freely then, and we too went forward +and ate and drank, and afterwards spoke of the chance of slipping +away when the tide turned, though I was sure that, if the ship were +what we thought, she would up anchor and drift with us.</p> +<p>So the hours of flood tide passed, and then the ship began to +swing idly as the slack came. Then with the turn of tide came +little flaws of wind, and we hoisted the sail, and Kenulf hove the +anchor short. Yet we heard no more sounds from the other ship.</p> +<p>Then all in a minute the fog thinned, lifted, and cleared away, +and I saw the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever lighted on, and +the most terrible.</p> +<p>For, not half a mile from us, lay a great viking snekr +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote7anc" href="#sdendnote7sym" id= +"sdendnote7anc">vii</a>}</sup>, with the sunlight full on her and +flashing from the towering green and gold and crimson dragon's head +that formed her stem, and from the gay line of crimson and yellow +shields that hung along her rail from end to end of the long curve +of her sides. Her mast was lowered, and rested, with the furled +blue and white striped sail, on the stanchions and crossbars that +upheld it, to leave the deck clear for swing of sword and axe; and +over the curving dragon tail of the stern post floated a forked +black and golden flag. And wondrously light and graceful were the +lines on which she was built, so that beside her our stout cargo +ship showed shapeless and heavy, as did our log canoes beside +Lodbrok's boat. As soon should our kitchen turnspit dog fly the +greyhound that I had given Lodbrok, as such a ship as ours from +this swift viking's craft.</p> +<p>But her beauty was not that which drew the eyes of my men. +Little they thought of wonder or pleasure in gazing on the ship +herself. All her decks were crowded with scarlet-cloaked men, and +the sunlight which made the ship so bright flashed also from helm +and spear and mail coat from stem to stern. And at that sight every +tale of viking cruelty they had heard came into their minds, and +they were overcome with terror, so that I thought that several +would have cast themselves into the sea, away from the terrible +ship, choosing rather death by water than by the sword. But I saw +some half dozen whose faces set hard with other thoughts than +these, and they turned to seek their weapons from under the fore +deck.</p> +<p>Then I spoke to them, for it was time; and I would have neither +fear nor defiance shown, for I knew that we should be boarded.</p> +<p>"Yonder ship belongs, as I think, to the people of our guest, +Lodbrok the Dane. So it seems to me that they will gladly hear news +of him from us, as he is a great man in Denmark. And surely we have +deserved well of his folk in every way, and we of East Anglia are +at peace with the Danish host. Therefore, let us wait till they +board us, and then let no man stir from his place or speak a word, +that I may talk with them in peace."</p> +<p>Those words were listened to eagerly, and they wrought on the +minds of my poor fellows as I wished. Moreover, to put our one +chance of safety into form thus heartened me also, for I will not +say that I feared nothing from these vikings, who might know and +care naught concerning our sea-borne guest, even were they +Danes.</p> +<p>Yet it seemed that none saw my fears, for in a little the men +asked if they might take their weapons. And though it seemed hard +to me and them alike to bide unarmed, I knew it was safer, and so +bade them meet the Danes in all peaceful seeming.</p> +<p>Now we saw a boat lowered from the longship's side, and one by +one armed men entered her, and she sank deeply in the water. Ten I +counted, and at last one more, who, I supposed, was the leader.</p> +<p>So deep was she that, as she left the ship, I thought how that +one sack of our grain, hove into her as she came alongside, would +sink her and leave her crew to drown in our sight. But then the +ship herself would close on us, and not one of us but would pay for +that deed with his life.</p> +<p>So she came slowly over the glassy water of the slack tide, and +my men watched her, saying nothing.</p> +<p>Soon she came alongside, and at a sign from me Kenulf threw a +line which the bowman caught, and I thought that a word or two of +wonder passed among her crew. They dropped to where the curve of +our deck was lowest, and instantly the leader leapt on board and +all but one of his men followed, axe or drawn sword in hand. As I +had bidden them, not one of my men stirred save Kenulf, who made +fast the line and stood watching.</p> +<p>The leader was a young man, of about my own age, clad in golden +shining bronze scale armour and wearing a silver helm on which were +short, black, curving horns; and he bore a double-headed axe, +besides the sword at his side. He looked round on us--at the men +standing silent, at Kenulf, and at me as I stood on the after deck +resting on the tiller, and broke into a great laugh.</p> +<p>"Well," he cried, "are you all dumb, or fools, or wise men; or a +little of all three?"</p> +<p>But my men answered nothing, even as I had bidden them, and I +thought that my time was not yet come to speak.</p> +<p>"The fog has got into their throats," said a Dane; for with a +great lifting of my heart I knew their tongue, and it was Lodbrok's +and not Norse.</p> +<p>"Struck speechless with fear more like," said another.</p> +<p>"Ho, men," said the leader, "which is your captain?"</p> +<p>One of our crew pointed to me, and I came to the break of the +deck saying:</p> +<p>"I am master of this ship."</p> +<p>And I spoke as a Dane, for my long company with Lodbrok had +given me the very turn of his speech.</p> +<p>At that the viking stared at me, and one of his men said:</p> +<p>"When did Danes take to trading on this coast?"</p> +<p>"You are Saxon by all seeming," said the leader, "yet you speak +like a Dane. Whence are you, and how learned you our tongue so +glibly?"</p> +<p>"We are from Reedham in East Anglia, which is at peace with the +Danish host," I said; "and I learnt the Danish speech from one who +is my friend, Lodbrok the Dane, whom men call Jarl Lodbrok."</p> +<p>Now at that word the Danes all turned to me, and hardly one but +let fall some word of wonder; and the young leader took two great +steps towards me, with his face flushing and his eyes lit up with a +new look.</p> +<p>Then he stopped, and his face changed, growing white and angry, +and his teeth closed tightly as he looked at me. Then he said:</p> +<p>"Now if you are making a tale to save your skins, worse shall it +be for you. What know you of Lodbrok?"</p> +<p>I held out my hand, on which the jarl's ring shone white against +the sea-browned skin.</p> +<p>"Here is a token he gave me before I sailed, that some friend of +his might know it and speak to me," I said.</p> +<p>The viking dropped his axe on the deck and seized my hand, +gazing at the ring and the runes graven thereon.</p> +<p>"Lives he yet?" he said, breathless.</p> +<p>"Aye, Halfden Lodbroksson, your father lives and is well in our +house," I answered; for now I knew that this was surely the +youngest of those three sons of whom the jarl had told me so +often.</p> +<p>Now at that word the Danes broke into a great cheer, but Halfden +laid his hands on my shoulders and kissed me on both cheeks, while +the tears of joy ran down his face.</p> +<p>"Well must Lodbrok my father love you if he has told you so much +that you know me by name," he cried; "and well does he trust you +since he has given you his ring. Tell me more and ever more of +him."</p> +<p>Then sudden as before his mood changed, and he let me go and +climbed on the rail with his arm round a backstay, and taking off +his helm he lifted up a mighty shout to his ship:</p> +<p>"Found is Jarl Lodbrok, ahoy!"</p> +<p>And with uplifted weapons his men repeated the shout, so that it +seemed as though the loved name was heard across the still water, +for the men on board the ship cheered in answer.</p> +<p>Now nothing would serve Halfden but that I must go with him on +board his own ship, there to tell him all I might; and he laughed +gaily, saying that he had looked indeed for a rich booty, but had +gained that which was more worth to him.</p> +<p>Then I told Kenulf that we would bide at anchor till we knew +what should be done, thinking it likely that Halfden would wish us +to pilot him back to Reedham.</p> +<p>"We shall lose our tide," grumbled the old man, who was himself +again, now that he knew we had naught to fear.</p> +<p>"That is all we shall lose," I answered, "and what matters it? +we have all our time before us."</p> +<p>"I like not the weather," he said shortly.</p> +<p>But I paid no more heed to him, for Halfden spoke to me.</p> +<p>"Let me leave a few men here," he said; "the boat is overladen, +and the sea is rising with the breeze;" and then he added with a +smile that had much grim meaning in it. "They bide as friends with +you, and but for our safety; not to take charge of your ship."</p> +<p>So I bade Kenulf give the three who remained the best cheer that +we might, treating them as Lodbrok's men; for the old pilot loved +the jarl well, and I knew that for his sake he would do much.</p> +<p>Then in a few more minutes I stood on the deck of Halfden's +ship, and word went round quickly of my news, so that I had a good +welcome. Yet I liked not the look of the Danish men, after the +honest faces of our own crew. It seemed to me that they were hard +featured and cruel looking, though towards me were none but +friendly looks. Yet I speak of the crew only, for Halfden was like +his father in face and speech, and that is saying much for him in +both.</p> +<p>They spread a great awning, striped in blue and white like the +sail, over the after deck, and there they set food and wine for us, +and Halfden and I sat down together. And with us one other, an +older man, tall and bushy bearded, with a square, grave face +scarred with an old wound. Thormod was his name, and I knew +presently that he was Halfden's foster father, and the real captain +of the ship while Halfden led the fighting men.</p> +<p>"Food first and talk after," quoth this Thormod, and we fell +to.</p> +<p>So when we had finished, and sat with ale horns only before us, +Halfden said:</p> +<p>"I have sought tidings of my father from the day when he was +lost until this. Now tell me all his story from end to end."</p> +<p>And I did so; though when it came to the throwing of the line to +the boat I said naught of my own part in that, there being no need, +and moreover that I would not seem to praise myself. And I ended by +saying how Lodbrok was even now at court with Eadmund, our king, +and high in favour with him and all lesser men.</p> +<p>Many were the questions that the Danes asked me as I spoke, and +I answered them plainly, for indeed I was glad to see the look in +Halfden's eyes as I spoke to him of his father, I having naught but +pleasant things to tell of him, which one may say of few men, +perhaps. And by and by I spoke of his having taught me the use of +the Danish axe.</p> +<p>"Ho!" said Thormod; "hold your peace for a while, and we will +see what sort of pupil he had."</p> +<p>Then he rose up and took his axe, and bade me take Halfden's, +which I did, not over willingly maybe, while Halfden stood by, +smiling.</p> +<p>"I will not harm you," said Thormod shortly, seeing that I was +not over eager. "See here!"</p> +<p>His ale horn stood on the low table where we had been sitting, +and now he placed it on the gunwale, going from under the awning. +The men who sat along the decks looked up at him and were +still.</p> +<p>Then he heaved up the axe with both hands and whirled it, +bringing it down with such force that I looked to see both horn and +gunwale shorn through. But so skilful was he that he stayed that +mighty stroke so that the keen edge of the axe rested on the horn's +rim without marking it, and all the men who were watching cried +out:</p> +<p>"Skoal <sup>{<a name="sdendnote8anc" href="#sdendnote8sym" id= +"sdendnote8anc">viii</a>}</sup> to Thormod the axeman!"</p> +<p>"So," said he; "now stand up and guard a stroke or two; only +strike not as yet, for maybe your axe would go too far," and he +smiled grimly, as in jest.</p> +<p>But I had learned that same trick from the jarl.</p> +<p>Now Lodbrok had told me that when one has a stronger axeman to +deal with than one's self the first thing is to guard well. So he +had spent long hours in teaching me guard after guard, until I +could not fail in them.</p> +<p>"I am ready," I said, standing out before him.</p> +<p>Thormod feinted once or twice, then he let fly at me, striking +with the flat of his axe, as one does when in sport or practice. So +I guarded that stroke as the jarl had taught me; and as I did so +the men shouted:</p> +<p>"Well done, Saxon!"</p> +<p>"No need to go further," said Thormod, dropping his axe and +grasping his wrist with his left hand; for that parry was apt to be +hard on the arm of the man who smote and met it. "That is the +jarl's own parry, and many an hour must he have spent in teaching +you. It is in my mind that he holds that he owes you his life."</p> +<p>And from that time Thormod looked at me in a new way, as I +felt.</p> +<p>Halfden was well pleased, and shouted:</p> +<p>"Nay, Thormod; your turn to guard now; let Wulfric smite at +you!"</p> +<p>"No, by Thor, that will I not," he said; "he who taught to guard +has doubtless taught to strike, and I would not have my head +broken, even in play!"</p> +<p>Now he sat down, and I said, mindful of Lodbrok's words:</p> +<p>"It seems to me that I have been well taught by the jarl."</p> +<p>"Aye, truly," said Thormod; "he has taught you more than you +think."</p> +<p>Halfden would have me keep his axe, but I told him of that one +which the jarl had made for me, and straightway he sent the boat +for it, and when it came read the runes thereon.</p> +<p>"Now this says that you are right, Thormod! Here has my father +written 'Life for life'--tell us how that was!"</p> +<p>So I said that it was my good fortune to cast him the line that +saved his boat, and that was all. But they made as much of that as +did Lodbrok himself. And when the men came from our ship, they +brought that tale from our men also; so that they made me most +welcome, and I was almost fain to get away from them.</p> +<p>But we sat and talked while the tide went by and turned, and +still we lay at anchor until the stars came out and the night wind +began to sing in the rigging of the great ship.</p> +<p>Now I had thought that surely Halfden would have wished to sail +back to Reedham at once, there to seek his father; but I knew not +yet the power which draws a true viking ever onward to the west, +and when I said that we would, if he chose, sail back with him on +the next tide, he only laughed, saying:</p> +<p>"Why so? My father is well and in good case. Wherefore we will +end our cruise well if we can, and so put in for him on our way +home at the season's end."</p> +<p>"What would you do, then?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"Raid somewhere," he answered carelessly. "We will not go home +without some booty, or there will be grumbling among the wives; but +for your sake we will go south yet, for you are bound for London, +as I think."</p> +<p>I said that it was so, and that I would at once go back to +Reedham when my business was done, there to prepare for his +coming.</p> +<p>"That is well; and we will sail to Thames mouth together. And +you shall sail in my ship to tell me more of my father, and because +I think we shall be good friends, so that I would rather have you +come and raid a town or two with me than part with you. But as you +have your ship to mind, we will meet again at Reedham, and I will +winter there with you, and we will hunt together, and so take you +home with us in the spring."</p> +<p>Now this seemed good to me, and pleased me well enough, as I +told him. Where Halfden and his crew went, south of Thames mouth, +was no concern of mine--nor, indeed, of any other man in East +Anglia in those days. That was the business of Ethelred, our +overlord, if he cared to mind the doings of one ship. Most of all +it was the concern of the sheriff in whose district a landing was +made.</p> +<p>So messages were sent to old Kenulf, and glad was he to know +that we should not have to give up our passage to London, and maybe +still more to feel safe in this powerful company from any other +such meetings. And before the tide served us, Halfden had said that +he also would come to London, so that our ship should lead the way +up the river.</p> +<p>When we weighed anchor Thormod must needs, therefore, reef and +double reef his sail, else our ship had been hull down astern +before many hours had passed, so swift was the longship.</p> +<p>Now I have said that old Kenulf had misliked the look of the +weather, and now Thormod seemed uneasy. Yet the breeze came fresh +from the southeast; and though it had shifted a good deal, I, for +my part, thought little ill of that, for it held in that quarter +till we were fairly among the sands of the Thames mouth at +nightfall, and Kenulf lit lanterns by which we might follow him. No +man knew the Thames-mouth channels better than our pilot, Kenulf +the sea crafty, as we called him.</p> +<p>Then it fell dead calm, quite suddenly, and we drifted, with the +sail flapping against the mast idly, for half an hour or so. Then +fell on us, without warning, such a fierce gale as I had never +before seen, blowing from north and west, with rain and bright +lightning, and it raised in five minutes a sea that broke over us +again and again as Thormod brought the ship head to wind.</p> +<p>Then I lost sight of Kenulf's lights, and as I clung to the +rail, my mind was torn with longing to be back in my own ship in +this danger, though I knew that Kenulf needed me not, and that, had +I been there, it would but have been to obey him with the rest of +our crew; yet I think that any man who loves his ship will know +what I felt.</p> +<p>And of the fury and darkness of that night I will say little. +This is what comes into my mind of all that happened--aye, and at +night, when the wind roars round the house, I see it all again, +waking in my dreams as I call to Kenulf. One flash of lightning +showed me my ship dismasted and helpless, drifting broadside on to +a sand over which the waves broke white and angry, and when the +next flash came--she was gone!</p> +<p>Then I cried out on my folly in leaving her, and out of the +blackness beside me as I clung to the gunwale, straining my eyes +against the spray, Halfden's voice came, crying, as he gripped my +arm:</p> +<p>"By Odin--it is well that I kept you here!"</p> +<p>And Thormod from the helm shouted to his men to stand by the +sheet, and the helm went down, and the ship drove through the seas +that broke clean over her as he saw the danger in time to stand +away from it, heading her as free as he dared.</p> +<p>Naught of this I heeded, for I could think but of the stout +sailor men with whom I had been brought up, and of whom I knew only +too surely that I should see them not again. And for them I tried +to pray, for it was all that I could do, and it seemed so +little--yet who knows what help may come therefrom?</p> +<p>Now the longship fought alone with the storm. Hard was the +fight, but I, who was willing to die with my own people who had +gone before my eyes, cared nothing for whether we won through the +gale or not. But Thormod called to me, bidding me pilot them as +best I might, and so I was taken a little from my thoughts. Yet can +I take no praise to myself that, when the gale slackened, we were +safe and beyond the dangers of the shoals.</p> +<p>We were far down channel when morning broke, and on either bow +were white cliffs, plain to be seen in the clear light that came +after the short fury of the gale was spent. Never had I thought +that a ship could sail so wondrously as this of Halfden's, and yet +I took no pleasure therein, because of all that I had lost. And it +seemed to me that now I knew from my own chance why it was that +Lodbrok could sing no song to us at that feasting, when we came +home to Reedham; for surely my case was even as his.</p> +<p>So I thought, leaning on the gunwale and staring ever at the +white cliffs of England on our starboard; and there Halfden found +me, and came, putting his hand on my shoulder very kindly.</p> +<p>"Now if you have lost friends and ship by the common chances of +the sea," he said, "surely you have found both anew. You shall turn +viking and go on this raid with us. Glad shall we be of your axe +play and seamanship."</p> +<p>I turned to him and put my hand into his.</p> +<p>"I will go with you, Halfden," I said, for it seemed at that +time that I had naught else left for me to do.</p> +<p>And ever since I was a child, listening to the songs of the +gleemen, had I thought that some day I, too, would make a name for +myself on the seas, as my forefathers had made theirs, so that my +deeds should be sung also. Yet that longing had cooled of late, as +the flying people from Mercia had found their way now and then to +us with tales of Danish cruelties.</p> +<p>"That is well said," he answered, pleased enough. "Where shall +we go?"</p> +<p>Then I had yet thought enough left me to say that against our +Saxon kin I would not lift axe. And so came to me the first +knowledge that what wiser men than I thought was true--that the old +seven kingdoms were but names, and that the Saxon and Anglian men +of England were truly but one, and should strive for that oneness, +thinking no more of bygone strifes for headship.</p> +<p>"Why, that is fair enough, so you have no grudge to pay off," he +said; "but I will help you to settle any, if you have them."</p> +<p>"I have no grudge against any man," I answered, truly +enough.</p> +<p>"Then if we raid on English shores, you shall keep ship, as +someone must; and so all will be satisfied," he answered; "but we +will go first to the Frankish shores, for it is all one to me."</p> +<p>So that pleased me as well as anything would at that time; +whereupon we went to Thormod, and he was very willing that I should +take part and share with them. And as to my loss, he bade me take +heart, for a seaman has ever risks such as these to run; and, as it +seemed, this ship of ours had ever been lucky. Which was true +enough, as my father had told me by the fireside many a time.</p> +<p>After this we headed over to the Frankish shore, and there I had +my first fight. For we raided a town there, and the citizens stood +up to us well. I fought in silence, while my comrades yelled to +Thor and Odin as they smote, for those against whom we fought were +Christian men, and to fight against them by the side of heathen +went against me. Yet the lust of battle took hold on me, and fight +I must. But I will tell no more of that business, save that Halfden +and Thormod praised me, saying that I had done well. And after that +the crew asked that I should lead the men amidships, for their head +man had been slain, and Halfden was on the fore deck, and Thormod +aft. So my boyish dreams were like to come to pass, for I was thus +a viking indeed. Yet I had little pride therein.</p> +<p>Thence we raided ever eastward and westward along that shore, +and I grew to love Halfden well, strange as were his wild ways to +me. For he was in all things most generous; nor was he cruel, but +would hold back the more savage of the men when he could--though, +indeed, that was seldom--when they were mad with fighting.</p> +<p>So the weeks went on, until at last one day as we left a haven +where we had bided for a while, taking ransom from the town that we +might leave it in peace, we spied a sail far off coming from +eastward, and Thormod would have us bear up for her, to see what +she might be. But instead of flying, as a trading ship would, the +strange vessel waited for us, lowering her sail and clearing for +action, so that there was doubt if she was not Norse. Now between +Dane and Northman is little love lost, though at times they have +joined hands, loosely as one might say, or as if cat and dog should +go together to raid a rabbit warren.</p> +<p>"If she be Norse," said Halfden, and his eyes shone, "we will +fight her, and that will be a fight worth telling of by the crew +that is left when we have done!"</p> +<p>But she turned out to be Danish, and a boat came from her to us. +She was on the same errand as ourselves, and, moreover, belonged to +one Rorik, who was a friend of Lodbrok's, so that again I must go +through all the story of his perils.</p> +<p>Now if Halfden's men had seemed rough and ill-favoured to me +when first I saw them, time and comradeship had worn off the +feeling, but it came back to me as I looked on these men, and most +of all on this Rorik; so that for a little I hated myself for being +in their company to make war on peaceful Christian folk, though, +indeed, I could well excuse myself, seeing what straits had thrown +me thus among them to follow the ways of my own forefathers, +Hengist's men.</p> +<p>These newcomers held long counsel with Halfden and Thormod, and +the end of it was that they agreed to sail in company, making a +raid on the English coast, and first of all on the South Saxon +shores, behind the island that men call Wight. And that was the +thing that I had feared most of all, so that as I sat silent and +listened, taking no part, as I might, in the planning, my heart +seemed like to break for the hardness of it.</p> +<p>Yet I set my face, saying naught, so that presently Rorik looked +over at me and laughed, crying in a kind of idle jest:</p> +<p>"Silent is our friend here, though he looks mighty grim, so that +I doubt not he will be glad to swing that big axe of his +ashore."</p> +<p>Now I was in ill company, and must fit my speech to theirs, +answering truly enough:</p> +<p>"It seems to me that some of us here were a little downcast when +we found that you were no Northmen, for we looked for a fight."</p> +<p>Whereon they all laughed, and Rorik said that maybe his men had +the same longing, but that we would make a great raid between us. +And so the matter passed, and he and his men went back to their +ship, and we headed over to the English shore together.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE +SONG OF THE BOSHAM BELL.</a></h2> +<p>There is a wondrous joy in the heart of a man who sees his own +land again after long days at sea, but none of that joy might be +mine as the long lines of the South Downs showed blue through the +haze of the late September day. Only the promise of Lodbrok's son, +that on English shores I should not fight, helped me a little, else +should I have been fain to end it all, axe to axe with Rorik on the +narrow deck just now, or in some other way less manful, that would +never have come into my mind but for the sore grief that I was in. +And these thoughts are not good to look back upon, and, moreover, I +should have fully trusted my friend Halfden Lodbroksson.</p> +<p>Hardest of all was it to me when I knew where our landing was to +be made; for if Glastonbury is the most holy place in Wessex, so +should Bosham, the place of Wilfrith the Saint, be held in +reverence by every South Saxon; because there, unmindful of his +wrongs <sup>{<a name="sdendnote9anc" href="#sdendnote9sym" id= +"sdendnote9anc">ix</a>}</sup>, he was content to labour with the +wild heathen folk, teaching them, both in body and soul, the first +lessons of our holy faith.</p> +<p>Well knew I the stories of those places which I saw as the ships +crept up the haven, for Humbert our bishop had told me them many a +time when as a child I sat on his knee and listened, wondering. +There was Selsea with its pile of buildings--Wilfrith's own--there +the little cliff over which the starving heathen had cast +themselves in their despair, and there, at last, the village, +clustering round the little monastery that Dicul, the Irish monk, +had founded, and where Wilfrith had first taught. And now, maybe, I +must see the roofs that had sheltered him, and heard the first +praises of his converts, burnt before my eyes, and that while I +myself was siding with the destroyers.</p> +<p>Then at last I took Halfden aside and told him my trouble, +putting him in mind of the promise he had made me.</p> +<p>"Aye," said he, "I knew what made you so silent, and I have but +waited for you to speak. Ill should I have thought of you had you +not done so. But I have this plan for you. You shall go ashore with +the first, and speak to the Saxons to give us ransom, if they have +aught, or if any man is foolish enough to bide in the place when we +come. Then, if you will, you shall leave us and make your way +homeward, there to give messages to my father and yours, and to +look for my coming to Reedham shortly. There will I winter with +you, and we will sail to Jutland in the spring."</p> +<p>Then he looked long at me, and put his arm round my +shoulder.</p> +<p>"Truly I shall miss you, Wulfric, my brother, yet it is but for +a short time."</p> +<p>Now I knew not how to thank him, for this plan was all that I +could wish. And he would have no delay, but gave me good Saxon arms +and helm, and a chain-mail byrnie <sup>{<a name="sdendnote10anc" +href="#sdendnote10sym" id="sdendnote10anc">x</a>}</sup> of the +best, such as Saxon or Dane alike would wear, for he had many such, +gathered from the different lands he had raided with his father and +brothers.</p> +<p>"Any man, seeing you in Danish arms and helm," he said, "might +well mistrust you. So you must needs take these, for you have far +to go."</p> +<p>Then, too, he pressed on me a heavy leathern bag, for he said +truly enough that I should need gold withal to buy a horse. And +this I took willingly, saying that it should be as a loan till he +came to Reedham.</p> +<p>"Nay," quoth he, "this is your share of booty; we surely gained +enough on yonder shores to bring you this much."</p> +<p>Then I was silent, for I was ashamed of those gains, and I did +not look into the bag, but bestowed it inside my mail shirt, for I +would not offend him. Then, when I was armed and ready, he gave me +many messages for his father, and thanks to mine. A ring, too, he +gave me for a sure token of his friendship to me; and so as the +ship crept, under oars only, up Bosham haven, we talked of the +hunting we would have together, when the leaves were fallen in our +forests; and that was pleasant to look forward to.</p> +<p>Now began frightened men to run to and fro on the haven's banks, +and then suddenly came the ringing of a bell from the low tower of +the church, and the Danes began to look to their arms, stringing +bows, and bringing up the pebble ballast for sling stones, in case +the landing should be resisted.</p> +<p>But when we came to a little wharf, the other ship being perhaps +a mile astern of us, there was no man. Only a small fishing vessel +lay alongside, and that we cast adrift, taking its place.</p> +<p>Then Halfden and I and twenty men went quickly ashore and +marched up among the trees of the village street. There was no man +in sight, but the bell was still ringing.</p> +<p>A great fear for the holy men shut up in the little monastery +came over me now, and I asked Halfden to let me warn them, for I +knew that he was like his father and would not deny me in this.</p> +<p>"Go and do so if you can," he said, "and so farewell till we +meet at Reedham. We shall bide here till Rorik's men join us, and +you will have time."</p> +<p>So he took my hand and I went quickly thereafter, the men +calling after me "Farewell, axeman!" heartily enough, knowing of my +going to Reedham, and caring nothing for the monks, seeing that +there would be no fighting.</p> +<p>Now, guided by the bell, I went on quickly, seeing no man. The +houses stood open and deserted, and all along the road were +scattered goods, showing that the people had fled in haste, so that +they had soon cast aside the heavier things they had thought to +save.</p> +<p>Soon I came to the gate of the little stone-walled monastery, +over which rose the tower whence the bell yet rang; for the church +seemed to make one side of the courtyard into which the gate would +lead. A farm cart stood outside; but the gates were closed, and +when I looked, I saw that the pin of the wheel was broken, so that +the cart could go no further. And that made me fear that more than +the monks were penned inside those four walls.</p> +<p>I knocked loudly on the gate, and for a while was no answer, +though I thought the ringing of the bell grew more hurried. Then I +beat on the gate with my axe, crying:</p> +<p>"Open, in the name of Eadmund the King."</p> +<p>And I used his name because, though a Dane might well call in +subtlety on the name of Ethelred, none but a Saxon who knew how +well loved was the under-king of East Anglia would think of naming +him. And I was right, for at his name the little square wicket in +the midst of the gate opened, and through its bars an old monk +looked out, and at once I cried to him:</p> +<p>"Let me in, Father, for the Danes are at my heels."</p> +<p>He muttered a prayer in a voice that trembled, and let me in, +holding the gate fast, and closing and barring it after me.</p> +<p>And all the courtyard was full of terrified men, women, and +children, while among them stood the half-dozen monks of the place, +pale and silent, listening to the clang of the bell overhead.</p> +<p>When they saw me some of the women shrieked and clung to +children or husbands, scared at my arms. But one of the monks, a +tall man on whose breast was a golden cross, came quickly to me, +asking: "Is the sheriff at hand with the levy?"</p> +<p>I told him hastily how that the only hope for these helpless +ones was in flight to the woods, urging him until he understood me. +Gathering his monks around him, and rousing the people, he led them +to the rearward gate that opened toward the forest land, calling at +the same time to his swineherd, who was there, and bidding him take +them by the forest tracks to Chichester.</p> +<p>Then he bade his monks go also; but they lingered, asking to be +allowed to stay with him, and also what should become of the holy +vessels if the heathen laid profane hands on them.</p> +<p>"Obey, as your vows bid you," said the prior; "I and this +warrior will care for the holy things."</p> +<p>So they went, weeping, and were lost in the woods; for there was +little cleared land round the village, and the trees came close to +the monastery walls.</p> +<p>Now we two, the monk and I, stood at the open gate for a moment +and listened. We could hear nothing of the Danes as yet.</p> +<p>Then we closed and barred that gate; and all this while the bell +had tolled unceasingly, calling as it were for help that came +not.</p> +<p>"Now do you go and call the sacristan from the bell," the prior +said, "and bid him lead you to the chancel, where I shall be."</p> +<p>I went to the tower door, unhesitating, for this man seemed to +have a wondrous power of command, so that I obeyed him without +question, even as had the villagers. And even as I went there came +the sound of many rushing feet up the street, and yells from Danish +throats, while axe blows began to rain on the gate by which I had +entered.</p> +<p>Then the prior bade me hold the gate when he heard that, and he +spoke quietly and in no terror, turning and calling to the man in +the tower himself; while I stood opposite the gate, looking to see +it fall with every blow. Yet it was not so weakly made as that, and +moreover I remembered that it was crossed with iron bands in +squares so that the axes could not bite it fairly.</p> +<p>Now the bell stopped and the Danes howled the louder. A torch +flew over the wall and fell at my feet blazing, and I hurled it +back, and the Danes laughed at one whom it struck. Then came the +two monks from the tower and ran into the church, while I watched +the trembling of the sorely-tried gate, and had it fallen I should +surely have smitten the first Dane who entered, even had Halfden +himself been foremost, for in the four walls of that holy place I +was trapped, and knew that I must fight at last. And now it seemed +to me that I was to fight for our faith and our land; and for those +sacred things, if I might do naught in dying, I would give my life +gladly.</p> +<p>"Come," said the prior's voice, and he was smiling though his +face was pale, while behind him the sacristan bore an oaken chest, +iron bound, on his shoulders.</p> +<p>He drew me across the courtyard, but I ever looked back at the +gate, thinking it would fall; and now they were at the other gate, +and blows rained on it. Yet the monk smiled again and went on +without faltering, though our way was towards it.</p> +<p>Then we turned under an arch into a second court, and the din +was less plain as we did so. There was the well of the monastery, +and without a word the sacristan hove the heavy chest from his +shoulders into its black depths, and the splash and bubble of its +falling came up to us.</p> +<p>"That is safe," said the prior; "now for ourselves."</p> +<p>He hooked the oaken bucket to its rope and let it down to its +full length in the well, and at once the sacristan swung himself on +it, slid down, and was gone. Then the rope swayed to one side, and +stayed there, shaking gently in a minute or so.</p> +<p>The prior drew it up, and maybe fifteen feet from the top, there +was a bundle tied--a rope ladder on which were iron hooks. These he +fastened to the edge of the oaken platform that covered the well +mouth, and let the other end fall down the well. Then he bade me go +down to the sacristan.</p> +<p>That was easy to me, and I went, yet I feared for him who stood +listening to the splintering of the nearer gate, for it would soon +fall surely. I saw the sacristan's face glimmer white before me +from a hollow in the well shaft, as I set my foot on the last rung +of the ladder, and I held out my hand to him. Then in a moment I +was beside him in a little chamber built in the walling of the +well; and after me came the prior.</p> +<p>He jerked the ladder from side to side till the hooks above lost +their hold and it fell, so that he drew it in. We were but a few +feet above the water, and the well rope hung down into the +blackness before us, but I was sure that no man could see the +little doorway of the chamber from above, for the trapdoor in the +well cover was small, and light there was hardly any.</p> +<p>"Now all is safe," said the prior; "and we may be careless +again."</p> +<p>"They will burn the monastery," I said. "One torch has been +thrown already."</p> +<p>He smiled a little, as I thought, for my eyes were growing used +to the dim light.</p> +<p>"They may burn some things, but roof and benches are soon made +afresh. There is oaken timber in plenty in Andredsweald, and ready +hands to hew it. Our stone walls they cannot hurt."</p> +<p>Those were all the words we spoke of the matter at that time, +for there came a great shouting. One of the gates had fallen at +last, and the Danes were in the place.</p> +<p>"Father," said the sacristan, "surely they will find this +place?"</p> +<p>The prior laughed a short laugh.</p> +<p>"That is a thought born of your fears, Brother," he answered; +and I who had had the same fear was rebuked also, for indeed that I +should go down the well had never come into my mind, even in our +need of shelter, so why should the Danes think of it?</p> +<p>Then we were silent, listening to the feet and voices overhead. +The Danes found the belfry presently, and began to toll the bell +unskillfully while the men below jeered at those who handled the +ropes. Then the bell clashed twice strangely, and the prior laughed +outright.</p> +<p>"The clumsy churls have overthrown her," he said, "now I hope +that one has had his head broken thereby."</p> +<p>I marvelled that he could jest thus, though maybe, after the +strain and terror of the danger we had so far escaped, it was but +natural that his mind should so rebound as it were.</p> +<p>Very soon after this the Danes came clattering into the little +court where the well was, and straightway came to its mouth, +casting stones down it, as no idle man can help doing. The +sacristan crept to the furthest corner of our little den and sat +there trembling, while I and the other monk listened with set teeth +to the words that came down to us. Nor will I say that I was not +somewhat frightened also, for it seemed to me that the voices were +unknown to me. They were Rorik's men, therefore, and not our +crew--who likely enough would but have jeered at me had they found +me hiding thus.</p> +<p>"Halfden's men have drunk all the ale in the place, and that was +not much," said one man; "let us try the water, for the dust of +these old storehouses is in my throat."</p> +<p>Then he began to draw up the bucket, and it splashed over us as +it went past our doorway.</p> +<p>"There is naught worth taking in this place," growled another +man. "Maybe they have hove their hoards down the well!"</p> +<p>Now at that the sacristan gave a stifled groan of terror, and I +clutched my axe, ready for need.</p> +<p>"All right, go down and see!" answered one or two, but more in +jest than earnest.</p> +<p>Then one dropped a great stone in, and waited to hear it bubble +from the bottom, that he might judge the depth. Now no bubbles +came, or so soon that they were lost in the splash, and the prior +took some of the crumbling mortar from the cell walls, and cast it +in after a few moments. And that was a brave and crafty thing to +do, for it wrought well.</p> +<p>"Hear the bubble," said the Dane; "the well must be many a +fathom deep--how long it seemed before they came up!"</p> +<p>So they drank their fill, saying that it was useless to go down +therefore, and anyhow there would be naught but a few silver +vessels.</p> +<p>"I have seen the same before," said one; "and moreover no man +has luck with those things from a church."</p> +<p>No man gainsaid him, so they kicked the bucket down the well and +went away.</p> +<p>Now I breathed freely again, and was about to whisper to the +prior that his thought of making what would pass for bubbling was +good; but more Danes came. And they were men of Halfden's ship; so +we must wait and listen, and this time I thought that surely we +were to be found. For the men began to play with one another as +they drank from the bucket; pushing each other's heads therein, and +the helm of one fell off and fled past us to the bottom; and some +words passed pretty roughly. And after they had done quarrelling +they crowded over the trapdoor, as one might know by the darkening +of the shaft. Then one saw the helm, for it was of leather, iron +bound, and had fallen rim upward, so that it floated. Now one was +going to swarm down the rope to get it, but as he swung the rope to +him, the bucket swayed in the water under the helm, and he saw that +it did so. Whereon he wound both up, and they too went away.</p> +<p>"That was a lucky chance!" I whispered.</p> +<p>"No chance at all, my son; that was surely done by the same Hand +that sent you here to warn us," answered the prior. And I think +that he was right.</p> +<p>Now came a whiff of biting smoke down the well shaft, borne by +some breath of wind that eddied into it. The Danes had fired the +place!</p> +<p>"Father," I whispered, pulling the prior forward, for he had +gone into the little cell to give thanks for this last +deliverance.</p> +<p>He looked very grave as he saw the blue haze across the doorway, +hiding the moss and a tiny fern that grew on the shaft walls over +against us.</p> +<p>"This is what I feared, though I must needs make light of it," +he said.</p> +<p>"It cannot harm us here," I answered.</p> +<p>"All round this court on three sides the buildings are of wood; +sheds and storehouses they are and of no account, but if one falls +across the well mouth--what then?"</p> +<p>"Then we are like to be stifled," said I; for even now the smoke +grew thicker, even so far down as we were. And when I looked out +and up there was naught but smoke across the well mouth, and with +that, sparks.</p> +<p>"Pent up and stifled both," said the quavering voice of the +sacristan from behind us. "How may we get out of this place till +men come and raise the ruin that will cover us? And who knows we +are here but ourselves?"</p> +<p>"Forgive me for bringing you to this pass," said the prior +gravely, after a little silence.</p> +<p>The smoke grew even denser, and we must needs cough, while the +tears ran from my eyes, for the stinging oak smoke seemed trapped +when once it was driven down the well.</p> +<p>"I have known men escape from worse than this," I said, thinking +of Lodbrok, and turning over many wild plans in my mind.</p> +<p>"I had forgotten this danger of wooden walls," said the prior to +himself, as it were. "Doubtless when this well chamber was made it +was without the inclosure."</p> +<p>Now it seemed to me that this could not be borne much longer, +and that soon the walls he dreaded would fall. So as one might as +well die in one way as another, I thought I would climb to the +well's mouth and see if there were any chance of safety for these +two monks. Yet I had no thought of aught but dying with them, if +need were, though as for myself I had but to walk across the +courtyard and go away. The Danes would but think I lingered yet for +the sake of plunder.</p> +<p>"If we may not stand this smoke, neither can the Danes," I said. +"I am going to see."</p> +<p>So I set down my axe and sword and leapt sailor-wise at the +rope--which the men had dropped again when they had taken the helm +from the bucket--catching it easily and swarming up to the +trapdoor. I only raised myself to the height of my eyes and looked +out.</p> +<p>I could see nothing. The dense smoke eddied and circled round +the court, and the Danes were gone, leaving us in a ring of fire on +three sides. The wooden buildings were blazing higher every moment, +and the heat seemed to scorch my head and hands till I could +scarcely bear it. But as the wind drove aside the smoke I could see +that the way to the rear gate, the last we had barred, was clear. +So I slid down and hung opposite the chamber. The monks looked out +at me with white faces.</p> +<p>"It may be done," I said. "Come quickly! it is the only +chance."</p> +<p>The prior gave me the rope-ladder end without a word, not +needing to be asked for it; nor did I wait to say more, for at that +moment a roof fell in with a great crash, and a red glare filled +the well as the flames shot up, and the sparks and bits of burning +timber came down the shaft and hissed into the water below me.</p> +<p>I clomb up, fixed the ladder, and called down to the prior to +bring my arms with him. There was a burning beam not three feet +from the well mouth, part of the fallen roof that had slipped +sideways from it. The flames that shot up from the building were so +hot that I could barely abide them, and I shaded my face with both +my hands, crying again to the monks to come quickly.</p> +<p>In a few seconds came the sacristan, white and trembling--I had +to help him out of the well mouth. The prior was close to him; he +was calm, and even smiled at me as he saw me clutch my arms +eagerly.</p> +<p>"To the rear gate," I said, turning and kicking the ladder into +the well, and thinking how cool the splash was compared with this +furnace of heat. "Kilt up your frocks and go swiftly, but run not," +for in that smoke, save their long garments betrayed them, a man +might be armed or unarmed for all that one could see.</p> +<p>So, walking quickly, we came to the court entrance, and even as +we stood under its archway the building nearest the well fell with +a crash and rumble, covering the well mouth with a pile of blazing +timber. The smoke and flame seemed to wrap us round, while the +burning timber flew, and the Danes from the great courtyard yelled +with evil delight; but before that cloud had cleared away we three +were outside the monastery gate, and were safe.</p> +<p>"Just in time," I said.</p> +<p>But "Deo gratias" said the monks in a breath.</p> +<p>"Now run," said I, and into the nearest spur of woodland we +went, and stayed not till we were beyond reach of the yells of the +destroyers, who, as it seemed, had not even seen us.</p> +<p>When we were sure that we were not pursued, the prior took my +arm and pressed it.</p> +<p>"Thanks to you, my son, our people are safe, and we have come +out of yon furnace unscathed. May you find help in time of need as +near and ready. Now when I read the story of the Three Children, I +think I shall know all that they suffered, for we have been in like +case."</p> +<p>And I could make no answer, for it seemed to me that I had +forgotten that I was a Christian of late. And that was true.</p> +<p>Now the prior bade the sacristan hasten to Chichester and tell +all this to the sheriff, and he left us, while we went on alone. +Presently I asked who made the chamber in the well, for the silence +weighed on me, and my thoughts were not so lightsome.</p> +<p>"Doubtless by Wilfrith's men," he said, "and for the same turn +it has served us. For in his days there were many heathen round +him, and flight or hiding might be the last resort at any +time."</p> +<p>Then I wondered, saying that I deemed that surely it was a +greater thing to be a martyr and to die, than to save life.</p> +<p>"Not always so," he answered, and then he told me of the ways of +holy men of old time. "We may by no means save life by denying our +faith, but we are bidden to flee into another place when +persecuted. We may not choose the place of our death, nor yet the +time."</p> +<p>So he showed me at last what it was to be truly a martyr, +fearing not, nor yet seeking death.</p> +<p>"Of a truth," he ended, "the Lord may need my death by the hand +of the heathen at some time, and when the time comes I shall know +it, and will die gladly. But while He gives me the power to save +life blamelessly, I know that He needs me on earth yet, though I am +of little worth."</p> +<p>So we were silent after that, ever going on through the woods. +At last he laughed a little, and looked sidewise at me.</p> +<p>"We two are alone," he said, "therefore I do not mind saying +that I have been fairly afraid--how felt you?"</p> +<p>"I would I might never be so frightened again," I answered, for +truly I had made myself so at one with this brave man that I had +forgotten that there was little fear for myself, as I have said, +unless that it had been Rorik's crew who had found us, for only a +few of them knew me.</p> +<p>We came now to a place where the trees thinned away on the brow +of a hill, and I could see the broad waters of the haven through +their trunks. We had reached the crest of that little cliff over +which Wilfrith's heathen had cast themselves in the great famine +from which he saved them.</p> +<p>"Let us see the last of Bosham," the prior said sadly. So we +crept through the fern and long grass, and lying down looked out +over haven and village. Even if a prying Dane looked our way he +would hardly see us thus hidden, or if he did would take us but for +villagers and care not.</p> +<p>Now I saw that the tide was on the turn, and that Halfden's +ship--my own ship, as I have ever thought her--had hauled out, and +her boats waited for the last of the crew at the wharf side. But +Rorik's ship was there still, and her men were busy rigging a crane +of spars as though they would lower some heavy thing on board her. +Nor could I guess what that might be.</p> +<p>Then I looked at the village, which was burning here and there, +and at the monastery. They had not fired the church, and the Danes +clustered round the tower doorway, busied with something, and I +could see them well, for the smoke from the burning buildings blew +away from us.</p> +<p>Now I asked the prior what heavy things worth carrying away +might be in the monastery.</p> +<p>"Naught," he said; "since they have drunk all the ale that was +in the cask or two we had.</p> +<p>"But," he added, "there is the great bell, it is the only +weighty thing else."</p> +<p>Then I knew what was toward, and said:</p> +<p>"I fear, Father, that your bell is going to be taken to become +metal for mail shirts, and axe heads, and arrowheads, and +helms."</p> +<p>"Holy St. Wilfrith!" cried the monk, in great grief; "would that +we could have saved it. There is no such bell in all England, and +if they take it, many a sailor will miss its call through fog and +driving mist, and many a shepherd on yonder downs will wait for its +ringing, and be the wearier for lack thereof."</p> +<p>"Never have I seen bell too large for one man to handle," I +said; "this must be a wondrous bell!"</p> +<p>So it was, he told me, and while we watched the busy Danes, he +began to sing to me in low tones the song of Bosham bell which his +people would sing by the fireside.</p> +<pre> +"Hard by the haven, +Wilfrith the holy +Bade men a bell tower +Sturdily build. +Thence should a bell sound +Over the wide seas, +Homeward to hail +The hardy shipmen. +Thus was the bell wrought +By skilful workmen: +Into the fierce fire, +When it was founded, +Helm and harness +The warriors hove; +Willingly women, +The jewel wearers, +Golden and silver gauds +Gave for the melting; +And a great anchor +The seamen added. +Thus was a wealth +Of wondrous metal. +When all was molten +More grew its marvel! +Cast in a chalice, +Cuthred the priest." +</pre> +<p>"Aye, Father," said I, "that is a wondrous bell."</p> +<p>He nodded, and went on, with his eyes fixed on the +monastery.</p> +<pre> +"Thus as the bell swings +Soothly it speaketh: +Churchward it calleth +With voice of the chalice, +Speaking to shipmen +With voice that is sea born. +Homeward the husband +Hailing with voices +Fresh from the fireside, +Where flashed the gold gifts-- +Clashing the war call, +Clear with its warrior voice." +</pre> +<p>"That was the voice of the bell that sounded as we came," I +thought; and even as I would have said it, the bell of Bosham spoke +again, and the prior stopped with an exclamation, and pointed.</p> +<p>Out of the gateway came four Danes, bearing the bell between +them, and as they crossed the threshold, one stumbled, and the bell +clanged as they dropped it on the courtyard pavement. The tears ran +down the holy man's face as he saw this mishap to his beloved bell, +which was kept bright as when it was first founded, by the loving +hands of his people.</p> +<p>Now the Danes put it on that farm cart I had seen, and which +they had mended, and took the bell down to the wharf, and we +watched them sling it to the crane they had rigged, and place it +amidships on deck. Then they all went hastily on board, and put out +into the haven, down which Halfden's ship was already a mile +distant, and dancing on the quick waves of wind against tide where +the waters broadened into a wide lake.</p> +<p>Now when the ship was fairly under way, the prior rose up from +beside me, and lifting his hand, cursed ship and crew with so great +and bitter a curse that I trembled and looked to see the ship +founder at once, so terrible were his words.</p> +<p>Yet the ship held on her course, and the words seemed vain and +wasted, though I know not so certainly that they were so. For this +is what I saw when the ship met the waves of that wider stretch of +water that Halfden had now crossed.</p> +<p>She pitched sharply, and there was a bright gleam of sunlight +from the great bell's polished sides, and then another--and the +ship listed over to starboard and a wave curled in foam over her +gunwale. Then she righted again quickly, and as though relieved of +some weight, yet when a heavier, crested roller came on her she +rose to it hardly at all, and it broke on board her. And at that +she sank like a stone, and I could hear the yell that her men gave +come down the wind to me.</p> +<p>Then all the water was dotted with men for a little, and the +bright red and white of her sail floated on the waves for a minute, +and then all that was left of her were the masthead and yard--and +on them a few men. The rest were gone, for they were in their mail, +and might not swim. Only a few yet clung to floating oars and the +like.</p> +<p>"Little have these heathen gained from Bosham," said the prior, +and his eyes flashed with triumph. "Wilfrith the holy has punished +their ill doing."</p> +<p>So, too, it seemed to me, and I thought to myself that the +weight of that awesome curse had indeed fallen on the robbers.</p> +<p>Yet I know that, as I watched the ship in her trouble, in my own +mind I had been going over what was amiss, as any seaman will, +without thought of powers above. And I thought that the sharp +pitching of the vessel had cast the great bell from amidships, +where I had seen the Danes place it unsecured, against the frail +gunwale, first to one side, and then, with greater force yet, +against the other; so that it burst open gunwale and planking +below, and already she was filling when the wave came and ended +all. For these swift viking ships are built to take no heavy cargo, +and planks and timbers are but bound together by roots and withies; +so that as one stands on the deck one may feel it give and spring +to the blow of a wave, and the ship is all the swifter. But though +the outer planking is closely riveted together with good iron, that +could not withstand the crashing weight of so great a bell when it +was thus flung against it.</p> +<p>However that may have been--and thus I surely think it +was--Bosham bell passed not into the power of the heathen, but +destroyed them; and it lies at the bottom of the deepest reach of +the haven whence the depth and swiftness of the tide will hardly +let men bring it again. So I suppose that, profaned by heathen +hands, it may no longer call men from across the water and woodland +to the church of God.</p> +<p>Soon came the boats from Halfden's ship and picked up those who +yet clung to what they might of the wreck, and then ship and Danes +passed from Bosham haven, leaving the silent tower and burning +village to mark where they had been.</p> +<p>Then the prior sighed, and turning away, said:</p> +<p>"Let us go to Chichester and find shelter. Night comes soon, and +rest."</p> +<p>Sadly enough we went, though not for long: for when we came into +the roadway from the forest land, the prior put his heavy thoughts +aside, and spoke cheerfully to me.</p> +<p>"What is done is done; and but for you, my son, things would +have been worse. And their greed for the bell has made them spare +the church itself. Surely you must have fallen from the clouds to +help us-- borne hither from the East Anglian land whose tongue +bewrays you."</p> +<p>"I marvel that you trusted me," I said.</p> +<p>"I trusted your face, my son, and when one is in a hard case the +first help is ever the best. Yet now I would fain know somewhat of +my good comrade."</p> +<p>Now I think that to any but this monk, with his friendly smile +and way of quiet authority, I should have been ashamed to own my +part with the Danes. But a few hours of companionship in danger +knit closer than many a long day of idleness together, and he +seemed to me as a near friend. Moreover, he had trusted me without +question; so I told him all my tale and he listened patiently.</p> +<p>"Now I am glad that I cursed not your friend's ship--for I +forgot her," he said, smiling.</p> +<p>At that I was glad, for how he would hold my being with the +heathen I somewhat doubted, and I told him so.</p> +<p>"Why, my son, I know not that you had much choice. And as for +fighting against outlanders--let me heft that axe of yours."</p> +<p>He took it, and it fell into his hands in a way that told me +that he, too, had been a stark fighting man at some time.</p> +<p>"Take it away, my son, take it away!" he cried, thrusting it +back on me; "I am not the man to blame you. And I know that much +good has come to us from your being with them. And from your talk +about martyrs I know that you have done no honour to their +gods."</p> +<p>I said truly that the question had never come into my mind. For, +save as oath or war cry, the names of Thor and Odin were not heard. +They sacrificed on going to sea, and on return; and meanwhile cared +naught, so far as I knew, for none had questioned my faith.</p> +<p>He said it was well, and so talking we went on. And he said +that, as friend of his, none would question me, so that I should +find all I needed for my journey in the town. And when we came +there--meeting the sheriff's ill-armed levy on the way--we went to +the house of a great thane, and there were well and kindly +received.</p> +<p>Yet once and again as I slept I dreamed and woke with the cry of +Rorik's men in my ears, and before me the bell seemed to flash +again as it crashed through the ship's side. And once I woke +thinking that the smell of burning was round me, and felt, half +awake, for the stone walls of the well chamber. But at last I slept +soundly and peacefully.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. HOW +WULFRIC, LODBROK, AND BEORN HUNTED.</a></h2> +<p>When morning came it was great wonder and joy to me to wake and +find myself in England and free, for indeed I had begun to think of +my comradeship with the Danes as a sort of thralldom that I knew +not how to break. And now I longed to make my way back to Reedham +as soon as I might, for I had been many weeks away, though I have +said little of all that befell in that time beyond what was +needful. One thing saved me from grief that might have been, and +that was the knowledge that Ingild, the merchant, had not been told +to look for my coming, and that none at home would wonder if I were +long away, because of that plan of wintering our ship in the +Thames. And I knew that not one of my poor crew could have lived to +take news of the wreck.</p> +<p>That I must take back myself; and though I could not fairly be +blamed for loss of ship and crew, the thought of having to break +the tidings to those who would mourn for their lost ones was very +hard to me. But it must be done, and there was an end.</p> +<p>Now came to me, as I thought of these things, my friend the +Prior of Bosham, and he sat down beside me and asked how he could +further my plans. He himself must go to Selsea, there to see the +bishop and tell him all, not forgetting my part, as he said.</p> +<p>I told him that I only needed a horse, and that then I should +ride to London, where I had friends: and he asked me if I had money +wherewith to buy one, for he had none, else would he gladly do so +for me. And that reminded me of the bag which Halfden gave me, and +I opened it.</p> +<p>It was full of treasure--gold ornaments, and chains wherein were +set precious stones, and some gold coins and silver, and these were +the least value of all. But little pleasure had I in them, for I +knew too well how they came, and a thought came to me.</p> +<p>"Father," I said, "this comes from ruined towns on yonder +shore--take it and build up Bosham again. Aye, take it."</p> +<p>"Why, my son, here is treasure enough to build three villages +like ours," he said quietly; "for timber houses cost but labour in +this forest land, and there was naught else worth taking in the +place."</p> +<p>"But your people are the poorer," I said; "I pray you take it +for their need, and for a new bell, moreover."</p> +<p>And so I urged him till he took the greatest gold chain, saying +that in honesty he could no more, for that would surely make Bosham +wish for more burnings if they turned out as this.</p> +<p>"Keep the rest and buy a new ship," he said, "and forget not +that always and every day your name will be remembered at the time +of mass in Bosham; and that may help you in days to come."</p> +<p>So he blessed me and departed, and I think that both of us were +light at heart, save for parting. And I have never seen the good +prior again, though his face and words I cannot forget.</p> +<p>Soon came one to lead me to the presence of the thane and his +wife, and from them I found kindness more than I could have looked +for. We broke our fast together, and then the lady asked me if I +would accept horse and gear for my journey from her, for she had +heard from the prior that I had been shipwrecked, who had also told +her all the story of our doings at Bosham.</p> +<p>Thanking her, I told her that though shipwrecked, I was yet +rich, having a store of wealth with me; for I thought that it was +in the minds of these kind people that I was in need.</p> +<p>"Be not proud," she said "bide with us for a while, and then +take horse and go. We hold that you have deserved well of all of +us."</p> +<p>But I told her of my mother and sister at home, and how I would +fain be back with them, so she pitied me the more, saying that now +for their sakes she would hasten me.</p> +<p>"Aye, lad," said the thane, "we have sons of our own at court, +and the lady would that someone would pack them home on a good +horse--so she must not be denied."</p> +<p>Thus they persuaded me, and when I tried to thank them, the +thane laughed, and the lady said:</p> +<p>"Thank me not but in one way, and that is by asking your mother +to help homeward some other lady's son when need is. And that is +all I would wish."</p> +<p>And the end of it was that I rode away from Chichester town on a +good horse and with change of clothes in saddlebags, and those +worthy people stood at the gate to give me good speed.</p> +<p>Yet that is not the end, for there are one or two who have +ridden in like sort from Reedham since that day, and have borne +home the like message; so that I know not where the ending of that +kindly deed may be.</p> +<p>Past the old Chichester walls I went, and out on the long line +of the Roman street that should take me to London. And as I went I +sang, for the green beechen woods were wondrous fair to me after +the long weeks of changing sea, and it seemed to me that all was +going well, so that I put away for the time the grievous thought of +my shipwreck, the one hard thing that I must face when I came home +again.</p> +<p>There is nothing to tell of that ride; for well armed, and rich, +and with a good horse, what should there be? And at last I came to +London town, and rode straightway to the great house of my +godfather, Ingild, that stood by London Bridge. Very strange it was +to me to look out over the Pool as I crossed, and not to see our +good ship in her wonted place, for this was the first time I had +come to London except in her.</p> +<p>At the door of the courtyard, round which Ingild had his great +storehouses and sheds for goods, I drew rein, and two serving men +whom I knew well came out. Yet they knew me not, staring at my arms +and waiting for my commands.</p> +<p>So I spoke to them by name, and they started and then laughed, +saying that they must be forgiven for not knowing me in my arms, +for surely I had changed greatly since two years ago, when I was +last with them.</p> +<p>It was the same when Ingild himself came out, ample robed and +portly; for he gazed long at my helmed face, and then cried:</p> +<p>"Why, here is a marvel! Wulfric, my son, you have grown from boy +to man since last we met; and you come in helm and mail shirt and +on horseback, instead of in blue homespun and fur cap, with an oar +blister on either hand. How is this?"</p> +<p>Then he kissed me on both cheeks and led me in, running on thus +till a good meal was before me, with a horn of his mighty ale; and +then he let me be in peace for a little while.</p> +<p>Afterwards, as we sat alone together, I told him all that had +befallen, even as I would have told my father, for in my mind +Ingild, my godfather, came next to him and our king, and I loved +him well.</p> +<p>Sorely he grieved for loss of ship and goods and men, but he +told me that we were not the only seamen who had been hurt by that +sudden gale. Nor did he blame me at all, knowing that Kenulf was in +truth the commander of our ship. Rather was he glad that it had +chanced that I had left her and so was safe.</p> +<p>Then when I told him of my turning viking thereafter, he laughed +grimly, with a glitter of his eye, saying that he would surely have +done the same at my age--aye, and any young man in all England +likewise, were he worth aught.</p> +<p>So when I had told him all about my journey, I showed him the +bag that Halfden gave me, and well he knew the value of the +treasure therein.</p> +<p>"Why, son Wulfric," he cried; "here is wealth enough to buy a +new ship withal, as times go!"</p> +<p>And I would have him keep it, not being willing to take so great +a sum about with me, and that he did willingly, only asking me to +let him use it, if chance should be, on my behalf, and making me +keep the silver money for my own use going homeward.</p> +<p>"Yet I will keep you awhile, for Egfrid, the Thane's son of +Hoxne, who is here at court, goes home for Yuletide, and so you can +ride with him. And I think it will be well that we should send word +to your father of how things have been faring with you, for so will +you have naught of misfortune to tell when you come home."</p> +<p>I thought this wise counsel and kindly, for my people would best +tell those wives and children of their loss, and so things would be +easier for me. And Ingild sent writing to my father by the hand of +some chapman travelling to the great fair at Norwich; and with his +letter went one from me also, with messages to Lodbrok--for Eadmund +had made me learn to write.</p> +<p>So after that I abode with Ingild, going to the court of +Ethelred the King with him, and seeing the great feasts which the +merchant guilds made for the king while he was in London; with many +other wondrous sights, so that the time went quickly, and the more +so that this Egfrid was ever with me. I had known him when we were +little lads together at our own king's court, but he had left to go +to that of our great overlord, Ethelred, so that I had not seen him +for long years. And one may sail up our Waveney river to Hoxne, +where his father's house is, from ours at Reedham, though it is a +long way.</p> +<p>Now in the week before Yuletide we would start homewards, so +with many gifts and words of good speed, Ingild set us forth; and +we rode well armed and attended as the sons of great thanes should. +So the way was light to us in the clear December weather, and if it +were long the journey was very pleasant, for Egfrid and I grew to +be great friends, and there is nothing more joyous than to be +riding ever homeward through wood and over wild, with one whose +ways fit with one's own, in the days of youth, when cares are none +and shadows fall not yet across the path.</p> +<p>When we came to Colchester town we heard that Eadmund was yet at +Thetford, and when we asked more we learnt that Lodbrok was there +also with my father. So, because Hoxne was but twenty miles or +thereby from Thetford, both Egfrid and I were glad that our way was +yet together, and we would go there first of all.</p> +<p>One other thing we heard in Colchester, for we waited there for +two days, resting our horses. There was a wandering gleeman who +came into the marketplace on the hill top, and we stood and +listened to him.</p> +<p>And first he sang of how Danes had come and burnt Harwich town. +But the people told him to sing less stale news than that, for +Harwich was close at hand. Now it was Halfden's ship which had done +that, and the fires we saw before the fog came had been the beacons +lit because of his landing.</p> +<p>Then he made a great outcry until he had many folk to listen, +and they paid him well before he would sing. Whereon, forsooth, my +ears tingled, for he sang of the burning of Bosham. And when he +came to the stealing of the bell, his tale was, that it, being +hallowed, would by no means bear that heathen hands should touch +it, so that when it came to the deepest pool in the haven it turned +red hot, and so, burning a great hole through the Danish ship, sank +to the bottom, and the Danes were all drowned. Whereat the people +marvelled, and the gleeman fared well.</p> +<p>I suppose that the flashing of the great bell that I had seen +gave rise to this tale, and that is how men tell it to this day. +And I care not to gainsay them, for it is close enough to the +truth, and few know that I had so nearly a hand in the matter.</p> +<p>So we rode to Thetford, and how we were received there is no +need for me to tell, for I came back as it were from the dead, and +Egfrid after years of absence. And there with Eadmund were my +father and mother, and Eadgyth, and Lodbrok, and Egfrid's folk +also, with many more friends to greet us, and the king would have +us keep Yuletide with him.</p> +<p>It had been in my mind that Halfden would have come to Reedham, +and at first I looked for him, but he had not been heard of, so +that now we knew that we should not see him before springtime came, +for he must needs be wintering somewhere westward. Yet now Lodbrok +was at ease with us, seeing the end of his stay, and being in high +favour with our king, so that he was seldom away from his side in +all the hunting that went on.</p> +<p>That liked not Beorn, the falconer, and though he would be +friendly, to all seeming, with the Dane, it seemed to me that his +first jealousy had grown deeper and taken more hold of him, though +it might only be in a chance look or word that he showed it as days +went on.</p> +<p>But one night my father and I rode in together from our hunting, +and there was no one with us. We had been at Thetford for a month +now, since I came home, and there was a talk that the king would go +to the court of Ethelred at Winchester shortly, taking my father +with him for his counsellor, and so we spoke of that for a while, +and how I must order things at Reedham while he was away.</p> +<p>"Lodbrok, our friend, will go back with you," he said. "Now, +have you noted any envy at the favour in which he is held by +Eadmund?"</p> +<p>"Aye, Father," I answered, "from Beorn, the falconer."</p> +<p>"So you, too, have had your eyes open," went on my father; "now +I mistrust that man, for he hates Lodbrok."</p> +<p>"That is saying more than I had thought."</p> +<p>"You have been away, and there is more than you know at the +bottom of the matter. The king offered Lodbrok lands if he would +bide with us and be his man, and these he refused, gently enough, +saying that he had broad lands of his own, and that he would not +turn Christian, as the king wished, for the sake of gain. He would +only leave the worship of his own gods for better reasons. Now +Beorn covets those lands, and has hoped to gain them. Nor does he +yet know that Lodbrok will not take them."</p> +<p>Then I began to see that this matter was deeper than I had +thought, and told my father of the first meeting of Lodbrok and +Beorn. But I said that the falconer had seemed very friendly of +late.</p> +<p>"Aye, too friendly," said my father; "it is but a little while +since he held aloof from him, and now he is ever close to Lodbrok +in field and forest. You know how an arrow may seem to glance from +a tree, or how a spear thrust may go wide when the boar is at bay, +and men press round him, or an ill blow may fall when none may know +it but the striker."</p> +<p>"Surely no man would be so base!" I cried.</p> +<p>"Such things have been and may be again. Long have I known +Beorn, and I would not have him for enemy. His ways are not +open."</p> +<p>Then I said that if Beorn was ever near Lodbrok, I would be +nearer, and so we left the matter.</p> +<p>There was one other thing, which was more pleasant, which we +spoke about at that time. And it was about the betrothal of my +sister Eadgyth. For it had come to pass that Egfrid, my friend, had +sought her hand, and the match pleased us all. So before the king +and my father went to Winchester there was high feasting, and those +two were pledged one to the other. Then was a new house to be built +for them at Hoxne, where the wedding itself should take place.</p> +<p>"Maybe Halfden will be here by that time," said Lodbrok to me. +"I wish, friend Wulfric, that honest Egfrid had not been so +forward, or that you had another fair sister."</p> +<p>Now though that saying pleased me, I could not wish for the wild +viking as husband to our gentle Eadgyth, though I loved him well as +my own friend. So I said that I thought Halfden's ship was his only +love.</p> +<p>"Maybe," answered the jarl; "but one may never know, and I think +it would be well for English folk and Danish to be knit together +more closely."</p> +<p>But when I asked him why this should be so, he only smiled, and +talked of friendliness between the two peoples, which seemed a +little matter to me at that time.</p> +<p>Now when the time came, my father having gone, we two, Lodbrok +and I, went back to Reedham, while my mother and Eadgyth stayed yet +at Thetford for the sake of Egfrid's new house building, for he +would have it built to suit her who should rule it.</p> +<p>Strange and grievous it was to me to see our shipyard empty, and +sad to have to tell the story of the good ship's loss to those +whose mourning was not yet over. Yet they were sailors' wives and +children, and to them death at sea was honourable, as is to a +warrior's wife that her husband should fall in a ring of foes with +all his wounds in front. And they blamed me not; but rather +rejoiced that I was safe returned.</p> +<p>Now without thought of any foe, or near or far, Lodbrok and I +hunted and hawked over our manors, finding good sport, and in a +little while I forgot all about Beorn, for I had seen him go in the +king's train as they rode out to Winchester.</p> +<p>Out of that carelessness of mine came trouble, the end of which +is hard to see, and heavily, if there is blame to me, have I paid +for it. And I think that I should have better remembered my +father's words, though I had no thought but that danger was far +away for the time.</p> +<p>We hunted one day alone together, and had ridden far across our +nearer lands to find fresh ground, so that we were in the wide +forest country that stretches towards Norwich, on the south of the +Yare. Maybe we were five miles from the old castle at Caistor. +There we beat the woods for roebuck, having greyhounds and hawks +with us, but no attendants, as it happened, and for a time we found +nothing, not being far from the road that leads to the great city +from the south.</p> +<p>Then we came to a thicket where the deer were likely to harbour, +and we went, one on either side of it, so that we could not see one +another, and little by little separated. Then I started a roe, and +after it went my hounds, and I with them, winding my horn to call +Lodbrok to me, for they went away from him.</p> +<p>My hounds took the roe, after a long chase, and I was at work +upon it, when that white hound that I had given to Lodbrok came +leaping towards me, and taking no heed of the other hounds, or of +the dead deer, fawned upon me, marking my green coat with +bloodstains from its paws.</p> +<p>I was angry, and rated the hound, and it fled away swiftly as it +came, only to return, whining and running to and fro as though to +draw me after it. Then I thought that Lodbrok had also slain a +deer, starting one from the same thicket, which was likely enough, +and that this dog, being but young, would have me come and see it. +All the while the hound kept going and coming, being very uneasy, +and I rated it again.</p> +<p>Then it came across me that I had not heard Lodbrok's horn, and +that surely the dog would not so soon have left his quarry. And at +that I hasted and hung the deer on a branch, and, mounting my +horse, rode after the hound, which at once ran straight before me, +going to where I thought Lodbrok would be.</p> +<p>When I came round the spur of wood that had first parted us I +was frightened, for Lodbrok's horse ran there loose, snorting as if +in terror of somewhat that I could not see, and I caught him and +rode on.</p> +<p>When I could see a furlong before me, into a little hollow of +the land that is there, before me was a man, dressed like myself in +green, and he was dragging the body of another man towards a +thicket; and as I saw this my horses started from a pool of blood +in which lay a broken arrow shaft.</p> +<p>At that I shouted and spurred swiftly towards those two--letting +the other horse go free--with I know not what wild thoughts in my +mind.</p> +<p>And when I came near I knew that the living man was Beorn, and +that the dead was Lodbrok my friend.</p> +<p>Then I took my horn and wound it loud and long, charging down +upon that traitor with drawn sword, for I had left my hunting spear +with the slain deer. He dropped his burden, and drew his sword +also, turning on me. And I saw that the blade was red.</p> +<p>Then I made no more delay, but leapt from my horse and fell upon +him to avenge myself for the death of him whom I loved. Would that +I had had the axe whose use he who lay there had taught me so well, +for then the matter would have been ended at one blow. But now we +were evenly matched, and without a word we knew that this fight +must be to the death, and our swords crossed, and blow and parry +came quickly.</p> +<p>Then I heard shouts, and the noise of men running behind me, and +Beorn cried:</p> +<p>"Stay us not, I avenge me of my friend," whereon I ground my +teeth and pressed on him yet more fiercely, wounding him a little +in the shoulder; and he cried out for help--for the men who came +were close on us--and the well-cast noose of a rope fell over my +shoulders, and I was jerked away from him well-nigh choked.</p> +<p>Two men ran past me and took Beorn, throwing up his sword with +their quarterstaves, and it seemed to me that it was done over +gently. Then they bound us both and set us on the ground face to +face.</p> +<p>"Now here be fine doings!" said a man, who seemed to be the +leader of the six or seven who had ended the fight.</p> +<p>"Aye, 'tis murder," said another, looking from Beorn to me and +then to Beorn again; "but which is murderer and which true +man?"</p> +<p>Now all these men were strangers to me, but I knew one thing +about them from their dress. They were the men of mighty Earl +Ulfkytel himself, and seemed to be foresters, and honest men enough +by their faces.</p> +<p>"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric of Reedham," I said. "The slain man +is Lodbrok, the Danish jarl, and this man slew him."</p> +<p>"He lies!" cried Beorn. "It was he who slew him, and I would +revenge myself on him, for this Lodbrok was my friend."</p> +<p>Now I held my peace, keeping back my wrath as well as I might, +for I began to see that Beorn had some deep plot on hand, thus to +behave as if innocent.</p> +<p>"Why, so he cried out as we came," said one of the men when he +heard Beorn's words.</p> +<p>"Maybe both had a hand in it," the leader said, and so they +talked for a little.</p> +<p>Then came two of my own serfs, who had followed me to see the +sport, I suppose, at a distance, as idle men will sometimes, when +hunting is on hand, and with them came Lodbrok's dog, the same that +had brought me. And when the dog saw Beorn he flew at him and would +have mauled him sorely, but that the earl's men beat him off with +their staves; and one took the leash that hung from my saddle bow +and tied him to a tree, where he sat growling and making as though +he would again fly at the falconer.</p> +<p>"Whose dog is this?" asked the leader.</p> +<p>"His," answered the serfs, pointing to Lodbrok.</p> +<p>"Dogs might tell strange tales could they talk," said the earl's +man; "I misdoubt both these men. Let us take them to the earl for +judgment."</p> +<p>"Where is the earl?" I asked.</p> +<p>"At Caistor," answered the man shortly, and I was glad that he +was so near, for the matter would be quickly settled and I could go +free.</p> +<p>"Unbind me, and I will go where you will," I said, but at that +Beorn cried out.</p> +<p>"Loose him not, loose him not, I pray you!"</p> +<p>"Tie their hands behind them and let us be gone," was the +answer, and they did so, loosing my feet, and setting us on my +horse and Lodbrok's. And some of the men stayed behind with my +serfs to make a litter on which to carry my friend's body, and +follow us to Caistor. So as I went I cried quickly to those two men +of mine that they should go in all haste to Reedham and tell what +had befallen me to our steward, who would know what to do.</p> +<p>"Reedham is too far for a rescue to reach you in time," said the +leader of the earl's men grimly; "think not of it."</p> +<p>"I meant not that, but to have witnesses to speak for me."</p> +<p>"That is fair," said the man, after a little thought, "we will +not hinder their going."</p> +<p>Then they led us away, and presently reached that place where I +had seen the broken arrow, and one picked it up, saying that here +was surely the place where the deed was done, and that the arrow +would maybe prove somewhat. And I think that here Beorn had shot +the jarl, for all around those other marks on the grass were the +hoofmarks of the rearing and frightened horse, and there were many +places where an archer might lie unseen in the thickets, after +following us all day maybe, as Beorn must have done, thus to find +fitting chance for his plan when we two were far apart. And surely, +had it not been for the dog, I think the fate of Lodbrok would have +been unknown for many a long day, for but for him Beorn would have +hidden his deed and ridden off before I had known aught.</p> +<p>Now, as the man handled the broken arrow, walking beside me, I +saw it plainly, and knew it for one of my own, and one of four that +I had lost at Thetford, though I did not know how.</p> +<p>At that I seemed to see all the plot, and my heart sank within +me, for this Beorn was most crafty, and had planned well to throw +doubt on me if things by ill chance fell out as they had, and so I +rode in silence wondering what help should come, and whence. And I +thought of Halfden, and what he should think when he heard the tale +that was likely to be told him, and even as I thought this there +was a rushing of light wings, and Lodbrok's gray falcon--which I +had cast from my wrist as I fell on Beorn--came back to me, and +perched on my saddle, for my hands were bound behind me. She had +become unhooded in some way.</p> +<p>Then Beorn cried out to the men to take the falcon, for it was +his, and that he would not have her lost; and that angered me so +that I cried out on him, giving him the lie, and he turned pale as +if I were free and could smite him. Whereon the men bade us roughly +to hold our peace, and the leader whistled to the falcon and held +out his hand to take her. But she struck at him and soared away, +and I watched her go towards Reedham, and was glad she did so with +a sort of dull gladness.</p> +<p>For I would have no man pass through a time of thoughts such as +mine were as they took me to Caistor--rage and grief and fear of +shame all at once, and one chasing the other through my mind till I +knew not where I was, and would start as from a troubled dream when +one spoke, and then go back to the same again as will a sick man. +But by the time we reached Caistor I had, as it seemed to me, +thought every thought that might be possible, and one thing only +was plain and clear. I would ask for judgment by Eadmund the King, +and if that might not be, then for trial by battle, which the earl +would surely grant. And yet I hoped that Beorn's plot was not so +crafty but that it would fail in some way.</p> +<p>So they put me in a strong cell in the old castle, leading Beorn +to another, and there left me. The darkness came, and they brought +me food, so I ate and drank, being very hungry and weary; and that +done, my thoughts passed from me, for I slept heavily, worn out +both in body and mind.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE +JUSTICE OF EARL ULFKYTEL.</a></h2> +<p>An armed jailor woke me with daylight, bringing me food again, +and at first I was dazed, not knowing where I was, so heavy was my +sleep. Yet I knew that I woke to somewhat ill.</p> +<p>"Where am I?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Under Caistor walls, surely," he said; and I remembered +all.</p> +<p>The man looked friendly enough, so that I spoke again to him, +asking if the great earl was here, and he said that he was.</p> +<p>"What do men say?" I asked then.</p> +<p>"That the matter is like to puzzle the earl himself, so that it +is hard for a plain man to unriddle. But I think that half Reedham +are here to see justice done you; even if it is naught but Earl +Ulfkytel's justice!" And he grinned.</p> +<p>I knew why. For Ulfkytel was ever a just man, though severe, and +his justice was a word with us, though in a strange way enough. For +if a case was too hard for him to decide in his own mind, he would +study to find some way in which the truth might make itself known, +as it were. Nor did he hold much with trial by hot water, or heated +ploughshares, and the like; finding new ways of his own contriving, +which often brought the truth plainly to light, but which no other +man would have thought of. So that if a man, in doing or planning +some ill to another, was himself hurt, we would laugh and say: +"That is like the earl's justice".</p> +<p>So though Ulfkytel was no friend of my father's, having, indeed, +some old quarrel about rights of manor or the like, I thought +nothing of that, save that he would the sooner send me to the king +for trial.</p> +<p>The jailor told me that I should be tried at noonday, and went +away, and so I waited patiently as I might until then, keeping +thought quiet as best I could by looking forward and turning over +what I could say, which seemed to be nothing but the plain +truth.</p> +<p>At last the weary waiting ended, and they took me into the great +hall of the castle, and there on the high seat sat the earl, a +thin, broad-shouldered man, with a long gray beard and gray eyes, +that glittered bright and restless under shaggy eyebrows. Beorn, +too, was brought in at the same time, and we were set opposite to +one another, to right and left of the earl, below the high place, +closely watched by the armed guards, bound also, though not +tightly, and only as to our hands.</p> +<p>And there on a trestle table before us lay the body of Jarl +Lodbrok, my friend, in whose side was my broken arrow. All the +lower end of the hall was filled with the people, and I saw my two +serfs there, and many Reedham folk.</p> +<p>Then the court was set, and with the earl were many men whom I +knew by sight, honest thanes and franklins enough, and of that I +was glad.</p> +<p>First of all one read, in the ears of all, that of which we two +who were there bound were accused, giving the names of those +half-dozen men who had found us fighting and had brought us for +judgment.</p> +<p>Then said Earl Ulfkytel:</p> +<p>"Here is a matter that is not easy in itself, and I will not +hide this, that the father of this Wulfric and I are unfriendly, +and that Beorn has been a friend of mine, though no close one. +Therefore is more need that I must be very careful that justice is +not swayed by my knowledge and thoughts of the accused. So I put +that away from me; I know naught of these two men but what I hear +from witnesses."</p> +<p>Some people at the end of the hall sought to praise the even +handedness of that saying loudly, but the earl frowned and +shouted:</p> +<p>"Silence!--shall a judge be praised for doing right?"</p> +<p>"Then," said he, growing quiet again, and speaking plainly and +slowly that all might hear, "this is how the matter stands. Here +are two men found fighting over the body of a third who is known, +as men say, to have been friendly with both. No man saw the +beginning of the business. Now we will hear what was seen, but +first let this Wulfric speak for himself;" and he turned his bright +eyes on me.</p> +<p>Now I told him all the truth from the time when I parted from +Lodbrok until the men came.</p> +<p>Then the earl asked me:</p> +<p>"Why thought you that Beorn slew the man?"</p> +<p>"Because there was no other man near, and because I know that he +bore ill will towards him for the favour shown him by the +king."</p> +<p>"So," said Ulfkytel; "now let Beorn speak."</p> +<p>Then that evil man, being very crafty, did not deny my words, +but said that he had found the body lying with my arrow in its +side. And though he knew not why I had done the deed, for the sake +of his friendship with my father and myself he would have hidden +it, and even as he did so I came, falling on him. Whereon he grew +wroth, and fought.</p> +<p>"It seems to me," said the earl, "that a word from you should +rather have made Wulfric help you and thank you; not fall on you. +Now let the witnesses say their say."</p> +<p>So they stood forward, telling naught but the truth, as honest +men. And they seemed to think much of Beorn's having cried out for +revenge. Also they showed the arrow, which fitted exactly to the +headed end which was in Lodbrok's side, and was the same as two +that were in my quiver with others. Now if Beorn shot that arrow he +must have made away with both bow and quiver, for he had none when +we were taken.</p> +<p>Then one of the other thanes said that the dead man had another +wound, and that in the throat, and it was so, Whereon the jailer +was bidden to bring our swords, and it was found that both were +stained, for I had wounded Beorn a little, as I have said.</p> +<p>"Is Wulfric wounded then?" asked Ulfkytel.</p> +<p>And I was not.</p> +<p>"Whence then is Beorn's sword stained?" he asked.</p> +<p>Then came my two thralls, and spoke to the truth of my story, as +did one of the men who had stayed with them, for he too had seen +the deer hanging where I had left it, nearly a mile away from where +the fight was. And my men added that they had seen me riding to +that place, and had followed the call of my horn.</p> +<p>"Murderers do not call thus for help," said the earl. "What +more?"</p> +<p>"Only that Lodbrok's dog flew at Beorn;" they said.</p> +<p>Then my steward and others told the story of my saving of +Lodbrok, and there were one or two who knew how closely Beorn +seemed to have sought his friendship. There was no more then to be +said.</p> +<p>All the while Ulfkytel had watched my face and Beorn's, and now +he said:</p> +<p>"The arrow condemns Wulfric, but any man might pick up a good +arrow that he had lost. And the sword condemns Beorn, but there are +many ways in which it might be bloodstained in that affair. Now, +were these two robbers, I would hold that they were fighting over +division of booty, but they are honourable men. Wherefore I will +have one more witness who knows not how to lie. Fetch the dog."</p> +<p>So they brought Lodbrok's dog, which the serfs had with them, +and they loosed it. It ran to his body first and cried over it, +pulling his coat with its paws and licking his face, so that it was +pitiful to see it, and there were women present who wept +thereat.</p> +<p>Then it left him and came to me, thrusting its nose into my +hand, but I would not notice it, for justice's sake; but when it +saw Beorn, it bristled up, flying at his throat so that he fell +under it, and the guards had much ado in getting it off, and one +was bitten.</p> +<p>"The dog condemns Beorn," said the earl, "but Wulfric bred +it."</p> +<p>After that he would have no more witness; but now should each of +us lay hand on the body and swear that he was guiltless.</p> +<p>They brought a book of the Holy Gospels and put it on Lodbrok's +breast, and first I laid my hand thereon, looking into the quiet +face of the man whose life I had saved, and sware truly.</p> +<p>Then must Beorn confess or swear falsely, and I looked at him +and his cheek was pale. But he, too, laid hand on the dread book in +its awful place and sware that he was innocent--and naught +happened. For I looked, as I think many looked, to see the blood +start from the wound that he had given the jarl, but it was not so. +There was no sign. Then crossed my mind the first doubt that I had +had that Beorn was guilty. Yet I knew he lied in some things, and +the doubt passed away quickly.</p> +<p>Then Ulfkytel pushed away the table from before him so that it +fell over.</p> +<p>"Take these men away," he said. "I have heard and seen enough. I +will think!"</p> +<p>They led us away to the cells again, and I wondered how all this +would end. In an hour they brought us back, and set us in our +places again. The earl had more to say, as it seemed.</p> +<p>"Will you two pay the weregild <sup>{<a name="sdendnote11anc" +href="#sdendnote11sym" id="sdendnote11anc">xi</a>}</sup> between +you?"</p> +<p>"No, Lord Earl," I said; "that were to confess guilt, which +would be a lie."</p> +<p>Then Beorn cried:</p> +<p>"I pray you, Wulfric, let us pay and have done!"</p> +<p>But I turned from him in loathing.</p> +<p>"Ho, Master Falconer," said Ulfkytel, "the man is an outlander! +To whom will you pay it? To Wulfric who saved his life?"</p> +<p>Now at that Beorn was dumb, seeing that the earl had trapped him +very nearly, and he grew ashy pale, and the great earl scowled at +him.</p> +<p>"Let me have trial by battle," I said quietly, thinking that it +would be surely granted.</p> +<p>There was as good reason to suspect me as Beorn, as I saw.</p> +<p>"Silence, Wulfric!" said the earl. "That is for me to say."</p> +<p>"Let the king judge, I pray you, Lord Earl," I went on, for he +spoke in no angry tone, nor looked at me.</p> +<p>However, that angered him, for, indeed, it was hard to say +whether king or earl was more powerful in East Anglia. Maybe +Eadmund's power came by love, and that of the earl by the strong +hand. But the earl was most loyal.</p> +<p>"What!" he said in a great voice, "am I not earl? And shall the +king be troubled with common manslayers while I sit in his seat of +justice? Go to! I am judge, and will answer to the king for what I +do."</p> +<p>So I was silent, waiting for what should come next.</p> +<p>But he forgot me in a minute, and seemed to be thinking.</p> +<p>At last he said:</p> +<p>"One of these men is guilty, but I know not which."</p> +<p>And so he summed up all that he had heard, and as he did so it +seemed, even to me, that proofs of guilt were evenly balanced, so +that once again I half thought that Beorn might be wronged in the +accusation, as I was.</p> +<p>"So," he ended, "friend has slain friend, and friends have +fought, and there is no question of a third man in the matter."</p> +<p>He looked round on the honest faces with him, and saw that they +were puzzled and had naught to say, and went on:</p> +<p>"Wherefore, seeing that these men have had trial by battle +already, which was stopped, and that the slain man was a foreigner +from over seas and has no friends to speak concerning him, I have a +mind to put the judgment into the hands of the greatest Judge of +all. As Lodbrok the Dane came by sea, these men shall be judged +upon the sea by Him who is over all. And surely the innocent shall +escape, and the guilty shall be punished in such sort that he shall +wish that I had been wise enough to see his guilt plainly and to +hang him for treachery to his friend and the king's, or else to put +him into ward until some good bishop asks for pardon for ill +doing."</p> +<p>And with that half promise he looked sharply at us to see if any +sign would come from the murderer.</p> +<p>But I had naught to say, nor did I seem to care just now what +befell me, while Beorn was doubtless fearful lest the wrath of +Eadmund the King should prevail in the end were he to be imprisoned +only. So he answered not, and the earl frowned heavily.</p> +<p>Now one of the franklins there, who knew me well enough, +said:</p> +<p>"Wulfric, be not ashamed to confess it, if for once you shot +ill--if your arrow went by chance to Lodbrok's heart, I pray you, +say so. It may well be forgiven."</p> +<p>Very grateful was I for that kind word, but I would not plead +falsely, nor, indeed, would it have told aught of the other wound +that had been made. So I shook my head, thanking the man, and +saying that it was not so.</p> +<p>Now I think that the earl had planned this in order to make one +of us speak at the last, and for a moment I thought that Beorn was +about to speak, but he forbore. Then Ulfkytel sighed heavily and +turned away, speaking in a low voice to the thanes with him, and +they seemed to agree with his words.</p> +<p>At length he turned to us and spoke gravely:</p> +<p>"It is, as I said, too hard for me. The Lord shall judge. Even +as Lodbrok came shall you two go, at the mercy of wind and wave and +of Him who rules them. You shall be put into Lodbrok's boat this +night, and set adrift to take what may come. Only this I lay upon +you, that the innocent man shall not harm the guilty. As for +himself, he need, as I think, have no fear, for the guilty man is a +coward and nidring <sup>{<a name="sdendnote12anc" href= +"#sdendnote12sym" id="sdendnote12anc">xii</a>}</sup>. Nor, as it +seems to me, if all may be believed, can the guiltless say for +certain that the other did it."</p> +<p>Then was a murmur of assent to this strange manner of justice of +Earl Ulfkytel's, and I, who feared not the sea, was glad; but Beorn +would have fallen on the ground, but for his guards, and almost had +he confessed, as I think.</p> +<p>"Eat and drink well," said Ulfkytel, "for maybe it is long +before you see food again."</p> +<p>"Where shall you set them afloat?" asked a thane.</p> +<p>"Am I a fool to let men know that?" asked the earl sharply. +"There would be a rescue for a certainty. You shall know by and by +in private."</p> +<p>The guards took us away, and unbinding our hands, set plenty of +good food and drink before us. And for my part I did well, for now +that I knew the worst my spirits rose, and I had some hopes of +escape, for there was every sign of fair weather for long enough. +And viking ways had taught me to go fasting for two days, if need +be, given a good meal to start upon.</p> +<p>But Beorn ate little and drank much, while the guards bade him +take example from me, but he would not; and after a while sat +silent in a corner and ghastly to look upon, for no one cared to +meddle with him.</p> +<p>As soon as it grew dusk they bade us eat again, for in half an +hour we should set forth to the coast. At that Beorn started up and +cried out, wringing his hands and groaning, though he said no word, +except that I should surely slay him in the boat.</p> +<p>Then I spoke to him for the first time since he had claimed the +falcon, and said that from me, at least, he was safe. And I spoke +roughly, so that I think he believed me, so plain did I make it +that I thought one who was surely cowardly in word and deed was not +worth harming, and he ceased his outcry.</p> +<p>At last we were set on horseback, and with two score or more +mounted spearmen round us, we rode quickly out of Caistor town. A +few men shouted and ran after us, but the guards spurred their +horses, and it was of no use for them to try and follow. And the +night was dark and foggy, though not cold for the time of year.</p> +<p>I feared lest we were going to Reedham, for there my folk would +certainly rise in arms to rescue me, and that would have made +things hard for them; but we went on southward, riding very fast, +until after many long miles we came to the little hill of the other +Burgh that stands where Waveney parts in two streams, one eastward +to the sea, and the other northward to join the Yare mouth.</p> +<p>The moon had risen by the time we came there, and I could see a +large fishing boat at the staithe, and, alas! alongside of her a +smaller boat that I knew so well--that in which Lodbrok had come, +and in which I had passed so many pleasant hours with him. Then the +thought crossed my mind that what he had taught me of her was like +to be my safety now; but my mind was dazed by all the strange +things that came into it, and I tried not to think. Only I wondered +if Ulfkytel had got the boat without a struggle with our +people.</p> +<p>The earl was there with a few more thanes and many more guards, +and they waited by the waterside.</p> +<p>One man started from beside the earl as we came, and rode +swiftly towards us. It was Egfrid, my brother-in-law to be--if this +did not bring all that fair plan to naught.</p> +<p>He cried out to the men to stay, and they, knowing who he was, +did so, and made no trouble about his coming to my side. There he +reined up his horse, and laid his hand on my shoulder.</p> +<p>"Alas for this meeting, my brother!" he cried. "What can I do? +Men came and told me of rumour that was flying about concerning +this business, and I have ridden hard to get to Reedham, but I met +the earl, who told me all. And I have prayed him to let the king +judge, but he will not, saying that his mind is fixed on higher +judgment--and you know what he is."</p> +<p>Then I said:</p> +<p>"So that you hold me not guilty, my brother, I mind not so much; +for if I must die you will take my place, and my father will not be +without a son.</p> +<p>"I think you guilty!" he cried; "how could that be? Shame on me +were I to dream thereof--and on any man of all who know you who +would deem you could be so."</p> +<p>"Have you heard all?"</p> +<p>"Aye, for the earl has told me very patiently, being kind, for +all his strange ways. At last I told him that his wish for justice +blinded his common sense. And at that, instead of being wrath, he +smiled at me as on a child, and said, 'What know you of justice?'; +so that I was as one who would beat down a stone wall with his +fists---helpless. He is not to be moved. What can I do?" and almost +did he weep for my hard case.</p> +<p>"Let things go their own way, my brother," I said gently. "I do +not fear the sea, nor this man here--Beorn. Do you go to Reedham +and tend Lodbrok's hawk for me, and send word to my father, that he +may come home, and to the king, so that Lodbrok may have honourable +burial."</p> +<p>He promised me those things, and then went back upon the slaying +of Lodbrok, asking how it came about.</p> +<p>I told him what I thought thereof; and Beorn, who must needs +listen to all this, ground his teeth and cursed under his breath, +for there seemed to have come some desperate fury on him in place +of his cold despair of an hour since.</p> +<p>And when Egfrid had heard all, he raised his hand and swore that +not one stone of Beorn's house should be unblackened by fire by +this time tomorrow night, and as he said it he turned to Beorn, +shaking and white with wrath.</p> +<p>"Let that be," I answered him quickly; "no good, but much harm +may come therefrom. Wait but six months, and then maybe I shall be +back."</p> +<p>Now while we had thus spoken together, Ulfkytel had dismounted +and was holding some converse with a man whose figure I could not +well make out, even had I cared to try, in the dark shadow of +horses and riders which stayed the moonlight from them. But at this +time the stranger came towards us, and I saw that it was the priest +who served the Church of St. Peter, hard by where we stood. He came +to Beorn first, and spoke to him in a low voice, earnestly; but +Beorn paid no sort of heed to him, but turned his head away, +cursing yet. So after a few more words, the priest came to me.</p> +<p>"Wulfric," he said, "sad am I to see you thus. But justice is +justice, and must be done."</p> +<p>"Aye, Father," I answered, "and right will prevail."</p> +<p>"Maybe we shall see it do so," he answered shortly, not seeming +willing to hold much converse with me; "but it is likely that you +go to your death on the wide sea. Many a man have I shriven at the +point of death--and Ulfkytel the Earl will not hold me back from +your side--an you will."</p> +<p>Thereat I was very glad, for I knew that the risks before me +were very great, and I said as much.</p> +<p>Then he took the bridle of my horse and began to lead me on one +side, and the guards hindered him until Ulfkytel shouted to them to +draw aside in such wise as to prevent my riding off, though, bound +as I was, it had been of little use to try to do so. Then they let +the priest take me out of earshot, and maybe posted themselves in +some way round us, though I heeded them not.</p> +<p>So then in that strange way I, bound and on horseback, +confessed; and weeping over me at last, with all his coldness +forgotten, the priest of Burgh shrived me and blessed me, bidding +me keep a good heart; for, if not in this world, then at the last +would all be made right, and I should have honour.</p> +<p>After that he went once more to Beorn, but he was deaf to his +pleading, and so he went away to the church, speaking no word to +any man, and with his head bent as with the weight of knowledge +that must not be told, and maybe with sorrow that the other +prisoner, if guilty, would not seek for pardon from the Judge into +whose hand he was about to go.</p> +<p>But as for me, this thing was good, and a wondrous comfort to +me, and I went back to Egfrid with a cheerful heart, ready to face +aught that might come.</p> +<p>Now the earl called to the guards from the water's edge, saying +that the time was come, and we rode towards him, and I made Egfrid +promise that he would hold his hand, at least till my father +came.</p> +<p>Now they drew my boat to the shore, and they took Beorn from his +horse first, and often have I wondered that he did not confess, but +he said no word, and maybe his senses had left him by reason of his +terror. They haled him to the boat and unbound him, setting him in +the bows, where he sank down, seeming helpless, but staring away +from shore over the sparkling waters that he feared.</p> +<p>Then came my turn, and of my own will I stepped into the boat, +looking her over to see that all was there as when Lodbrok came. +And all was there, though that was little enough. The one oar, the +baler, and a few fathoms of line on the floorboards.</p> +<p>Now as I had nothing to lose by speaking, I cried to the earl +concerning the one matter that troubled me.</p> +<p>"Earl Ulfkytel, I pray you forgive my poor folk if they fought +for me when you took the boat."</p> +<p>"They knew not why it was taken," he answered quietly. "I sent a +messenger before I gave sentence. But I should not have blamed them +had they fought, knowing all."</p> +<p>Then a rough man who tended the boat called out:</p> +<p>"Ho, Lord Earl, are these murderers to go forth with gold on arm +and hand?" for we had been stripped of naught but our arms, and I +suppose the man coveted these things.</p> +<p>But the earl answered:</p> +<p>"Which is the murderer? I know not. When his time comes stripped +he will be of life itself. Let the men be," and then in a moment he +asked one by him; "what weapons had Lodbrok when he came?"</p> +<p>"Only a dagger," answered the thane to whom he spoke. "Or so men +say."</p> +<p>"That is true," I said plainly.</p> +<p>"Give the men their daggers," then said the earl; and when one +told him that we should use them on each other, he answered:</p> +<p>"I think they will not; do my bidding!"</p> +<p>So they threw my hunting knife to me, and I girded it on. But +Beorn's dagger fell on the floor of the boat, and he paid no heed +to it, not even turning his head.</p> +<p>Then the earl and three thanes went on board the fishing boat, +and Egfrid would fain have come with him. But I signed him back, +and when the fishermen put out oars and pushed from the shore, +towing us with them, he ran waist deep into the water, and clasped +my hand for the last time, weeping.</p> +<p>Then the shore grew dim to my eyes, and I put my head in my +hands and would look no more. Soon I heard only the wash and creak +of the large boat's oars, and a murmured word or two from those on +board her. Then from Burgh Tower came the tolling of the bell, as +for the dying, and that was the last voice of England that I heard +as we went from shore to sea.</p> +<p>But at that sound came hope back to me, for it seemed to me as +the voice of Bosham bell calling for help that should come to +myself, as I had been called in time of need by the like sound to +the help of St. Wilfrith's men. And straightway I remembered the +words of the good prior, and was comforted, for surely if St. +Wilfrith's might could sink the pirate ship it would be put forth +for me upon the waters. So I prayed for that help if it might be +given, and for the Hand of Him who is over all things, even as the +prior had bidden me understand.</p> +<p>Whereupon I was in no more trouble about myself, and now I began +to hope that the still weather might even bring Halfden's ship to +find me.</p> +<p>So we passed from river to broad, and from broad to sea, and +went in tow of the fishing boat until we came to that place, as +nearly as might be, where I had saved Lodbrok. I could see the +sparkle of our village lights, or thought I could.</p> +<p>There they cast us off, and for a few minutes the two boats lay +side by side on the gently-heaving water, for the wind was +offshore, and little sea was running.</p> +<p>Then the earl rose up, lifting his hand and saying, very +solemnly:</p> +<p>"Farewell, thou who art innocent. Blame not my blindness, nor +think ill of me. For I do my best, leaving you in the Hand of God, +and not of man!"</p> +<p>So he spoke; then the oars swung and fell, and in a few moments +his boat was gone into the shoreward shadows and we were alone, and +I was glad.</p> +<p>Now I looked at Beorn, and I thought him strangely still, and so +watched him. But I soon saw that he was in some sort of fit or +swoon, and paid no heed to aught. Yet I thought it well to take his +dagger from where it lay, lest he should fall on me in some +frenzy.</p> +<p>I took up the weapon, and straightway I longed to draw it and +end his life at once, while all sorts of plans for escape +thereafter came into my mind. But I could not slay a helpless man, +even this one, though I sat fingering the dagger for a long while. +At last the evilness of these thoughts was plain to me; so quickly +I cast the dagger overboard, and it was gone.</p> +<p>Then I thought I would sleep while I might, for there was no sea +to fear, and the tide set with the wind away from shore from the +river mouth, as I knew well, for it was ebbing. It was weary work +to watch the land growing less and less plain under the moon. Yet I +feared Beorn's treachery, and doubted for a while, until the coil +of rope that lay at my feet caught my eye as I pondered. With that +I made no more ado, but took it and bound him lightly, so that at +least he could not rise up unheard by me. Nor did he stir or do +aught but breathe heavily and slowly as I handled him. When he +roused I knew that I could so deal with him that I might unbind +him.</p> +<p>After that I slept, and slept well, rocked by the gentle rise +and fall of the waves, until daylight came again.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. +HOW WULFRIC CAME TO JUTLAND.</a></h2> +<p>It was Beorn who woke me. Out of his swoon, or whatever it was +that had taken his senses, he woke with a start and shudder that +brought me from sleep at once, thinking that the boat had touched +ground. But there was no land in sight now, and all around me was +the wide circle of the sea, and over against me Beorn, my evil +companion, glowering at me with a great fear written on his +face.</p> +<p>Now as I woke and saw him, my hand went at once to the dagger at +my side, as my first waking thoughts felt troubled by reason of all +he had done, though it was but for a moment. Thereat he cried out, +praying me to have mercy on him, and tried to rise, going near to +capsize the boat. Indeed, I cannot believe that the man had ever +been in a boat before.</p> +<p>"Lie down," I said, speaking sharply, as to a dog, "or you will +drown us both before the time!"</p> +<p>He was still enough then, fearing the water more than steel, as +it seemed, or seeing that I meant him no harm.</p> +<p>Then I spoke plainly to him.</p> +<p>"I will harm you not. But your life is in my hands in two ways. +I can slay you by water or dagger for one thing; or for another, I +think I can take this boat to shore at some place where you are not +known, and so let you live a little longer. And in any case I have +a mind to try to save my own life; thus if you will obey me so that +I may tend the boat, yours shall be saved with it, so far as I am +concerned. But if you hinder me, die you must in one way or +another!"</p> +<p>Now he saw well enough that his only hope lay in my power to +take the boat safely across the water, and so promised humbly to +obey me in all things if I would but spare him and get the boat to +shore quickly. So I unbound him and coiled the rope at my feet +again, bidding him lie down amidships and be still.</p> +<p>Many a time men have asked me why I slew him not, or cast him +not overboard, thus being troubled no more with him. Most surely I +would have slain him when we fought, in the white heat of +anger--and well would it have been if Ulfkytel had doomed him to +death, as judge. But against this helpless, cringing wretch, whose +punishment was even now falling on him, how could I lift hand? It +seemed to me, moreover, that I was, as it were, watching to see +when the stroke of doom would fall on him, as the earl said it +surely must on the guilty.</p> +<p>The wind freshened, and the boat began to sing through the +water, for it needed little to drive her well. My spirits rose, so +that I felt almost glad to be on the sea again, but Beorn waxed +sick and lay groaning till he was worn out and fell asleep.</p> +<p>Now the breeze blew from the southwest, warm and damp, as it had +held for a long time during this winter, which was open and mild so +far. And this was driving us over the same track which Lodbrok had +taken as he came from his own place. There was no hope of making +the English shore again, and so I thought it well to do even as the +jarl, and rear up the floorboards in such wise as to use them for a +sail to hasten us wherever we might go.</p> +<p>So I roused Beorn, and showed him how to bestow himself out of +my way, and made sail, as one might say. At once the boat seemed to +come to life, flying from wave to wave before the wind, and I made +haste to ship the long oar, so that I could steer her with it.</p> +<p>And when I went aft, there, in the sharp hollow of the stern +that I had uncovered, lay two great loaves and a little breaker of +water. Now I could not tell, and do not know even to this day, what +kindly man hid these things for us, but I blessed him for his +charity, for now our case was better than Lodbrok's in two ways, +that we had no raging gale and sea to wrestle against, and the +utmost pangs of hunger and thirst we were not to feel. Three days +and two nights had he been on his voyage. We might be a day longer +with this breeze, but the bread, at least, we need not touch till +tomorrow. But Beorn slept heavily again, and I told him not of this +store as yet, for I thought that he would but turn from it just +now. Which was well, for he could not bear a fast as could I.</p> +<p>So the long day wore through, and ever the breeze held, and the +boat flew before it. Night fell, and the dim moon rose up, and +still we went east and north swiftly. The long white wake stretched +straight astern of us, and Beorn slept deeply, worn out; and the +sea ran evenly and not very high, so that at last I dared to lash +the oar in its place and sleep in snatches, waking now and then to +the lift of a greater wave, or catching the rushing in my ears as +some heavier-crested billow rose astern of us. But the boat was +swift as the seas, and there was nothing to fear. Nor was the cold +great at any time, except towards early morning before the first +light of dawn. Moreover, the boat sailed in better trim with two +men in her.</p> +<p>Gray morning came, and the seas were longer and deeper, for we +were far on the wide sea. All day long was it the same, wave after +wave, gray sky overhead, and the steady breeze ever bearing us +onward. Once it rained, and I caught the water in the bailer and +drank heartily, giving his fill to Beorn, and with it I ate some of +my loaf, and he took half of his. Then slowly came night, and at +last I waxed lonely, for all this while I had kept a hope that I +might see the sail of Halfden's ship, but there was no glint of +canvas between sky and sea, and my hope was gone as the darkness +fell.</p> +<p>So I sang, to cheer myself, raising my voice in the sea song +that I had made and that Lodbrok had loved. And when that was done +I sang the song of Bosham bell, with the ending that the gleeman on +Colchester Hill had made.</p> +<p>Thereat Beorn raised his head and, snarling at me like an angry +dog, bade me cease singing of shipwreck. But I heeded him not, and +so I sang and he cursed, until at last he wept like an angry child, +and I held my peace.</p> +<p>I did not dare sleep that night, for the wind freshened, and at +times we might see naught but sky above us and the waves ahead and +astern of the boat, though to one who knew how to handle his craft +there was no danger in them. But from time to time Beorn cried out +as the boat slid swiftly down the slope of a great wave, hovered, +and rose on the next, and I feared that he would leap up in his +terror and end all.</p> +<p>"Bide still or I will bind you," I said at last to him, and he +hid his face in his arms, and was quiet again.</p> +<p>Worn out when day broke was I, and again I ate and gave to +Beorn, and he would eat all his loaf, though I bade him spare it, +for I knew not how long yet we might be before we saw land. And +that seemed to change his mood, and he began to scowl at me, though +he dared say little, and so sat still in his place, glowering at me +evilly.</p> +<p>Presently came a whale, spouting near us, and that terrified +him, so that he cried to me to save him from it, as though I had +power on the seas more than had other men. But it soon went away, +and he forgot his terror, beginning to blame me for not having +gained the shore yet.</p> +<p>I could say nothing, for I knew not how far we had run; yet we +had come a long way, and I thought that surely we must have sailed +as swiftly as Lodbrok, for the sea had favoured us rather than +given trouble. Even now I thought the colour of the water changed a +little, and I began to think that we neared some land at last.</p> +<p>As the sun set, the wind shifted more to the westward, and I +thought a change was coming. It was very dark overhead until the +waning moon rose.</p> +<p>Now, soon after moonrise Beorn began to groan, in his sleep as I +thought; but presently he rose up, stiffly, from long sitting, and +I saw that his eyes were flashing, and his face working strangely +in the pale moonlight. I bade him lie down again, but he did not, +and then I saw that he was surely out of his mind through the +terror of the sea and the long nothingness of the voyage to which +he was all unused. Then he made for me with a shout, and I saw that +I must fight for my life. So I closed with him and dragged him down +to the bottom of the boat, and there we two struggled, till I +thought that the end was come.</p> +<p>The boat plunged and listed, and once was nearly over, but at +that new strength came to me, and at last I forced his shoulders +under the midship thwart, and held him there so that he could by no +means rise. Then all his fury went, and he became weak, so that I +reached out with one hand for the line and bound him easily, hand +and foot. I set him back in his place, and the water washed over +his face as he lay, for we had shipped a good deal in the lurches +our struggle caused. Then he was still, and as on the first night, +seemed to sleep, breathing very heavily.</p> +<p>So I left him bound, and bailed the water out. Then knew I how +weak I was. Yet I held on, steering from wave to wave as though I +could not help it.</p> +<p>Once, towards morning, there came a booming in my ears, and a +faintness, for I was all but done. But the boat dashed into a wave, +and the cold spray flew over me and roused me to know the danger, +so I took my last crust and ate it, and was refreshed a little.</p> +<p>But when the morning broke cold and gray over brown waves, +there, against one golden line of sunlight, rose the black steady +barrier of a low-lying coast, and round the boat the gulls were +screaming their welcome.</p> +<p>Then came over me a dull fear that I should be lost in sight of +land, and a great sorrow and longing for the English shore in place +of this, for never had I seen sunrise over land before from the +open sea, and hunger and thirst gnawed at me, and I longed for rest +from this tossing of sea, and wave--and always waves. Then I looked +in Beorn's evil face, and I thought that he was dead, but that to +me seemed to matter not.</p> +<p>Swiftly rose up the coast from out the sea, and I saw that it +was like our East Anglian shore, forest covered and dark, but with +pine and birch instead of oak and alder. The boat was heading +straight through a channel; past sands over which I could see the +white line of the tide on either side, and that chance seemed not +strange to me, but as part of all that was to be and must be.</p> +<p>Then the last rollers were safely past, and the boat's keel +grated on sand--and I forgot my weakness, and sprang out into the +shallow water, dragging her up with the next wave and out of reach +of the surges.</p> +<p>Then I saw that the tide was falling, and that I had naught more +to do, for we were safe. With that I gave way at last, and reeled +and fell on the sand, for my strength could bear no more, and I +deemed that I should surely die.</p> +<p>I think that I fell into a great sleep for a while, for I came +to myself presently, refreshed, and rose up.</p> +<p>The tide had ebbed a long way, and the sun was high above me, so +that I must have been an hour or two there upon the sand. I went +and looked at Beorn.</p> +<p>His swoon seemed to have passed into sleep, and I unbound him, +and as I did so he murmured as if angry, though he did not +wake.</p> +<p>Then I thought that I would leave him there for some other to +find, and try to make my way to house or village where I might get +food. I could send men thence to seek him, but I cared not if I +never set eyes on him again, hoping, indeed, that I should not do +so.</p> +<p>So I turned and walked inland through the thin forest for a +little way, stumbling often, but growing stronger and less stiff as +I went, though I must needs draw my belt tight to stay the pangs of +hunger, seeing that one loaf is not overmuch for such a voyage and +such stern work as mine had been, body and mind alike +unresting.</p> +<p>Nor had I far to go, for not more than a mile from shore I saw a +good hut standing in a little clearing; and it was somewhat like +our own cottages, timber-framed, with wattle and clay walls, but +with thatch of heather instead of our tall reeds, and when I came +near, I saw that the timber was carved with twisted patterns round +door and window frames.</p> +<p>No dog came out at me, and no one answered when I called, and so +at last I lifted the latch and went in. There was no one, but the +people could not be far off, for meat and bread and a great pitcher +of ale stood on the round log that served for table, as if the meal +was set against speedy homecoming, and the fire was banked up with +peats, only needing stirring to break into a blaze.</p> +<p>Rough as it all was, it looked very pleasant to me, and after I +had called once or twice I sat down, even as I should have done in +our own land, and ate a hearty meal, and drank of the thin ale, and +was soon myself again. I had three silver pennies, besides the gold +bracelet on my arm that I wore as the king's armour bearer and +weapon thane, and was sure of welcome, so when I had done I sat by +the fire and waited till someone should come whom I might +thank.</p> +<p>Once I thought of carrying food to Beorn, but a great hatred and +loathing of the man and his deed came over me, and I would not see +him again. And, indeed, it was likely that he would come here also, +as I had done, when he woke; so that when at last I heard footsteps +I feared lest it should be he.</p> +<p>But this comer whistled cheerfully as he came, and the tune was +one that I had often heard men sing when I was with Halfden. It was +the old "Biarkamal", the song of Biark the Viking.</p> +<p>Now at that I was very glad, for of all things I had most feared +lest I should fall on the Frisian shores, for if so, I should +surely be made a slave, and maybe sold by the lord of the coast to +which I came. But Danes have no traffic in slaves, holding freedom +first of all things. And that is one good thing that the coming of +the Danish host has taught to us, for many a Saxon's riches came +from trading in lives of men.</p> +<p>Then the door was pushed open, for I had left it ajar, and in +came a great dog like none we have in England. I thought him a wolf +at first, so gray and strong was he, big enough and fierce enough +surely to pull down any forest beast, and I liked not the savage +look of him. But, though he bristled and growled at first sight of +me, when he saw that I sat still as if I had some right to be +there, he came and snuffed round me, and before his master came we +were good friends enough, if still a little doubtful. But I never +knew a dog that would fly at me yet, so that I think they know well +enough who are their friends, though by some sign of face or voice +that is beyond my knowledge.</p> +<p>Now came the man, who edged through the door with a great bundle +of logs for the fire, which he cast down without looking at me, +only saying:</p> +<p>"Ho, Rolf! back again so early? Where is the Jarl?"</p> +<p>Now I knew that he was a Dane, and so I answered in his own +way:</p> +<p>"Not Rolf, but a stranger who has made free with Rolf's +dinner."</p> +<p>Whereat the man laughed, setting hands on hips and staring at +me.</p> +<p>"So it is!" he said; "settle that matter with brother Rolf when +he comes in, for strangers are scarce here."</p> +<p>Then he scanned my dress closely, and maybe saw that they were +sea stained, though hunting gear is made for hard wear and shows +little.</p> +<p>"Let me eat first," he said, sitting down, "and then we will +talk."</p> +<p>But after he had taken a few mouthfuls, he asked:</p> +<p>"Are there any more of you about?"</p> +<p>"One more," I said, "but I left him asleep in the boat that +brought us here. We are from the sea, having been blown here."</p> +<p>"Then he may bide till he wakes," the man said, going on with +his meal.</p> +<p>Presently he stopped eating, and after taking a great draught of +ale, said that he wondered the dog had not torn me.</p> +<p>"Whereby I know you to be an honest man. For I cannot read a +man's face as some can, and therefore trust to the dog, who is +never wrong," and he laughed and went on eating.</p> +<p>Now that set me thinking of what account I might give of myself, +and I thought that I would speak the truth plainly, though there +was no reason to say more than that we were blown off the English +coast. What Beorn would say I knew not; most likely he would lie, +but if so, things must work themselves out.</p> +<p>I looked at the man in whose house I was, and was pleased with +him. Red haired and blue eyed he was, with a square, honest face +and broad shoulders, and his white teeth shone beneath a red beard +that covered half his face.</p> +<p>When he had eaten even more than I, he laughed loudly, saying +that brother Rolf would have to go short this time, and then came +and sat by the fire over against me, and waited for me to say my +say.</p> +<p>So I told him how we had come, and at that he stared at me as +our folk stared at Lodbrok, and started up, crying that he must go +and see this staunch boat that had served me so well.</p> +<p>"Bide here and rest," he said, "and I will bring your comrade to +you," and with that he swung out of the house, taking the dog with +him. And at once the thought of leaving the hut and plunging into +the forest came into my mind, but I knew not why I should do so, +except that I would not see Beorn again. However, there was a third +man now, and I would see what befell him.</p> +<p>Now I waited long, and had almost fallen asleep beside the warm +fire, when I heard a horn away in the woods, and roused up to +listen. Twice or thrice it sounded, and then I heard it answered +from far off. So I supposed that there was a hunt going on.</p> +<p>Then I heard no more, and fell asleep in earnest; for I needed +rest badly, as one might well suppose.</p> +<p>Something touched my hand and I awoke. It was the great dog, who +came and thrust his nose against me, having made up his mind to be +friendly altogether. So when his master came in I was fondling his +head, and he looked puzzled.</p> +<p>"Say what men will," he said, "I know you are an honest +man!"</p> +<p>"Do you hold that any will doubt it?" I asked, wondering what he +meant; for he looked strangely at me.</p> +<p>"Aye; the jarl has found your boat, and has sent me back to keep +you fast. Know you whose boat you have?"</p> +<p>"It belonged to Jarl Lodbrok, who came ashore in it, as I have +come here--and he gave it me."</p> +<p>"Hammer of Thor!" said the man. "Is the jarl alive?"</p> +<p>"What know you of him?" I asked.</p> +<p>"He was our jarl--ours," he answered.</p> +<p>"Who is the other jarl you speak of?" I asked him, with a hope +that Halfden had come home, for now I knew that we had indeed +followed Lodbrok's track exactly.</p> +<p>"How should it be other than Ingvar Lodbroksson? for we have +held that Lodbrok, his father, is dead this many a long day."</p> +<p>"Let me go to the jarl," I said, rising up. "I would speak with +him," for I would, if possible, tell him the truth, before Beorn +could frame lies that might work ill to both of us, or perhaps to +me most of all. Yet I thought that I saw the shadow of judgment +falling on the murderer.</p> +<p>"Bide quiet," said the man; "he will be here soon."</p> +<p>And then he said, looking from me to the dog, "Now I hold you as +a true man, therefore I will tell you this--anger not the jarl when +he speaks to you."</p> +<p>"Thanks, friend!" I answered heartily, "I think I shall not do +that. Is he like his father?"</p> +<p>The man laughed shortly, only saying:</p> +<p>"Is darkness like daylight?"</p> +<p>"Then he is not like Jarl Halfden."</p> +<p>Now the honest man was going to ask in great wonder how I knew +of him, when there came the quick trot of horses to the door, and a +stern voice, which had in its tones somewhat familiar to me, called +him:</p> +<p>"Raud, come forth!"</p> +<p>My host started up, and saying, "It is Jarl Ingvar," went to the +door, while I too rose and followed him, for I would not seem to +avoid meeting the son of Lodbrok, my friend.</p> +<p>"Where is this stranger?" said the jarl's voice; "bring him +forth."</p> +<p>Raud turned to beckon me, but I was close to him, and came out +of the hut unbidden.</p> +<p>There sat a great man, clad in light chain mail and helmed, with +his double-headed axe slung to his saddle bow, but seeming to have +come from hunting, for he carried a short, broad-pointed boar +spear, and on the wrist of his bridle hand sat a hooded hawk like +Lodbrok's. His face had in it a look both of his father and of +Halfden, but it was hard and stern; and whereas they had brown +hair, his was jet black as a raven's wing. Maybe he was ten years +older than Halfden.</p> +<p>There were five or six other men, seemingly of rank, and on +horseback also, behind him, but they wore no armour, and were in +hunting gear only, and again there were footmen, leading hounds +like the great one that stood by Raud and me. And two men there +were who led between them Beorn, holding him lest he should fall, +either from weakness or terror, close to the jarl.</p> +<p>So I stood before Ingvar the Jarl, and wondered how things would +go, and what Beorn had said, though I had no fear of him. And as +the jarl gazed at me I raised my hand, saying in the viking's +greeting:</p> +<p>"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!"</p> +<p>At that he half raised hand in answer, but checked himself, +saying shortly:</p> +<p>"Who are you, and how come you by my father's boat?"</p> +<p>I was about to answer, but at that word it seemed that for the +first time Beorn learnt into whose hands he had fallen, and he fell +on his knees between his two guards, crying for mercy. I think that +he was distraught with terror, for his words were thick and broken, +and he had forgotten that none but I knew of his ill deed.</p> +<p>That made the jarl think that somewhat was amiss, and he bade +his men bind us both.</p> +<p>"Bind them fast, and find my brother Hubba," he said, and men +rode away into the forest. But I spoke to him boldly.</p> +<p>"Will you bind a man who bears these tokens, Jarl?"</p> +<p>And I held out my hand to him, showing him the rings that +Lodbrok and Halfden had given me.</p> +<p>"My father's ring--and Halfden's!" he said, gripping my hand, as +he looked closely at the runes upon them, so tightly that it was +pain to me. "By Odin's beard, this grows yet stranger! Who are you, +and whence, and how came you by these things?"</p> +<p>"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, 'the +merchant' as men call him. I have been Jarl Lodbrok's friend, and +have fought by the side of Halfden, his son, as these tokens may +tell you. As for the rest, that is for yourself alone, Jarl. For I +have no good tidings, as I fear."</p> +<p>"Who is this man, then, and why cries he thus in terror?"</p> +<p>"Beorn, falconer to Eadmund, King of the East Angles," I +said.</p> +<p>But I would not answer at once to the other question, and Ingvar +seemed not to notice it.</p> +<p>Then there was silence while the great jarl sat on his horse +very still, and looked hard at me and at Beorn; but when the men +would have bound us he signed them back, letting Beorn go free. +Whereupon his knees gave way, and he sank down against the house +wall, while I leant against it and looked at the mighty Dane, +somewhat dreading what I had to tell him, but meaning to go through +all plainly.</p> +<p>Now the ring of men closed round us, staring at us, but in +silence, save for the ringing of the horns that were blowing in the +woods to call Hubba from his sport. And Jarl Ingvar sat still, as +if carved in oak, and seemed to ponder, frowning heavily at us, +though the look in his eyes went past me as it were.</p> +<p>Glad was I when a horseman or two rode up and reined in +alongside Ingvar. I think that the foremost rider was the most +goodly warrior to look on that I had ever seen, and one might know +well that he was Lodbrok's son.</p> +<p>"Ho, brother!" he cried; "I thought you had harboured the +greatest bear in all Jutland in Raud's hut. And it is naught but +two strangers. What is the trouble with them?"</p> +<p>"Look at yon man's hand," said Ingvar.</p> +<p>I held out my hand, and Hubba looked at the rings, whereupon his +face lit up as Halfden's had lighted, and he said:</p> +<p>"News of our father and brother! That is well; tell us, friend, +all that you know."</p> +<p>"Stay," said Ingvar; "I took yon man from the boat we made for +our father; he was half dead therein, and his wrists have the marks +of cords on them; also when he heard my name he began to cry for +mercy, and I like it not."</p> +<p>"This friend of our folk will tell us all," said Hubba.</p> +<p>"Aye," said I, "I will tell you, Jarls. But I would speak to you +alone."</p> +<p>"Tell me," said Ingvar shortly; "came my father to your shores +in yon boat alive?"</p> +<p>"Aye," I answered.</p> +<p>"And he died thereafter?"</p> +<p>"He died, Jarl," I said; and I said it sadly.</p> +<p>Then said Hubba:</p> +<p>"Almost had I a hope that he yet lived, as you live. But it was +a poor hope. We have held him as dead for many a long day."</p> +<p>But Ingvar looked at Beorn fixedly, and the man shrank away from +his gaze.</p> +<p>"How did he die, is what I would know?" he said sternly.</p> +<p>"Let the man to whom Halfden and Lodbrok gave these gifts tell +us presently. We have enough ill news for the time. Surely we knew +that the jarl was dead, and it is ours but to learn how;" said +Hubba.</p> +<p>"How know you that these men slew not both?"</p> +<p>"Jarl Ingvar," I said; "I will tell you all you will, but I +would do so in some less hurried way than this. For I have much to +tell."</p> +<p>"Take the men home, brother," said Hubba; "then we can +talk."</p> +<p>"Bind the men," said Ingvar again.</p> +<p>"Nay, brother, not the man who wears those rings," said Hubba +quickly.</p> +<p>"Maybe, and it is likely, that they are ill come by, and he will +make up some lie about them," answered Ingvar.</p> +<p>"It will be easily seen if he does," answered his brother; "wait +till you know."</p> +<p>Ingvar reined his horse round and rode away without another +word. Then Hubba bade the man Raud and his brother, a tall man who +had come with the Jarl Ingvar, take charge of us until word should +come from him, and then rode after Ingvar with the rest of the +folk.</p> +<p>"Come into the house," said Raud to me. "I fear you have ill +news enough, though only what we have expected."</p> +<p>So we went inside, and I sat in my old place beside the fire. +Rolf, the brother, helped Beorn to rise, and set him on a seat in a +corner where he could rest, and then we were all silent. The great +dog came and sat by me, so that I stroked him and spoke to him, +while he beat his tail on the floor in response.</p> +<p>"See you that," said one brother to the other.</p> +<p>"Aye; Vig says true, mostly."</p> +<p>"One may trust him," said Raud; telling of how Vig the dog had +made friends with me at first, and he nodded in friendly wise to +me, so that I would not seem to hold aloof, and spoke to him.</p> +<p>"That is Jarl Hubba, surely?"</p> +<p>"Aye, and the best warrior in all Denmark," said Raud. "We fear +Ingvar, and we love Halfden; but Hubba is such a hero as was Ragnar +himself."</p> +<p>And once set on that matter, the two honest men were unwearied +in telling tales of the valour and skill of their master, so that I +had no room for my own thoughts, which was as well.</p> +<p>Then came a man, riding swiftly, to say that the jarls had left +their hunting, and that we were to be taken to the great house. +Moreover, that Rolf and Raud were to be held answerable for our +safe keeping. When I heard that I laughed.</p> +<p>"I will go willingly," I said, rising up.</p> +<p>"What of this man who sits silent here?" asked Rolf.</p> +<p>"Little trouble will be with him," said his brother.</p> +<p>And indeed Beorn almost needed carrying forth.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER +VIII. HOW WE FARED WITH INGVAR THE DANE.</a></h2> +<p>We came to the shores of a haven at a river mouth, and there we +saw the town clustering round a large hall that rose in the midst +of the lesser houses, which were mostly low roofed and clay walled, +like that of Raud, though some were better, and built of logs set +upon stone foundations. The hall stood on higher ground than the +rest of the houses, so that from the gate of the heavy timber +stockade that went all round it one could see all the windings of +the haven channel and the sea that lay some half mile or more away +at its mouth. And all the town had a deep ditch and mound round it, +as if there was ever fear of foes from shoreward, for these came +down to the haven banks, and the only break they had was where a +wharf and the ship garth were. There were several ships housed in +their long sheds, as I could see.</p> +<p>All round the great hall and the buildings that belonged to it +was a stockade of pointed logs, so that it stood in a wide +courtyard on all four sides, and the great gate of the stockade was +opposite the timber porch of the hall itself. There were other +doors in the side of the hall, but they were high up, and reached +by ladders; and there seemed to be only one more gate in the +stockade, leading landward, and both were such as might not easily +be broken down, when once they were closed and barred with the +square logs that stood beside the entrances ready. And all the +windows of the hall were very high up and narrow, and the roof was +timbered, not thatched.</p> +<p>This was the strongest house that I had ever seen, and I said to +Raud as I looked at it:</p> +<p>"This place is built to stand some fierce fighting. What need +have you of such strength?"</p> +<p>He laughed, and answered:</p> +<p>"Why, much need indeed! For when the ships are gone a-viking we +are weak in men, so needs must have strong walls to keep out all +comers from over seas. And we have an ill neighbour or two, who +would fain share in our booty. However, men know in Sweden, and +Finmark, and Norway also, that it is ill meddling with Jarl Ingvar +and his brothers."</p> +<p>We passed through the stockade gate, and went straight to the +porch; all the woodwork of which was carved and gaily painted, and +so were eaves and rafter ends and tie beams.</p> +<p>Two sturdy axemen stood at the doorway, and they spoke freely to +the brothers, asking questions of us and of our tale.</p> +<p>Then roared the voice of Jarl Ingvar from within, bidding the +men cease prating and bring us in, and so we entered.</p> +<p>A great fire burnt in the centre of the hall, and the smoke rose +up and found its way out under the eaves; and there were skins and +heads of wild beasts on the wall, amid which arms and armour hung +everywhere, bright in the firelight. Yet the hall, though it was +carved on wall, and rafter, and doorway, was not so bright as ours +at Reedham, nor so pleasant.</p> +<p>Ingvar and Hubba sat on one side of the fire, where the smoke +was driven away from them, and before them was set a long bench +where we should be placed. There Hubba bade us sit down, telling +the two men to go without and wait.</p> +<p>So we were left face to face with those two, and I saw that +Ingvar's face was dark with doubt, but that Hubba seemed less +troubled. Yet both looked long and sternly at us.</p> +<p>"Tell us this tale of yours," said Ingvar at last; "and lie +not."</p> +<p>Now it seemed to me that it were well to get the worst over at +once without beating about beforehand. And now that the jarls knew +that Lodbrok was dead, the hardest was to tell them how he died, +and why I was here thus.</p> +<p>"Well loved I Lodbrok the Jarl, and well do I love Halfden his +son," I said. "Have patience with me while I tell all from the +first."</p> +<p>"Go on," said Ingvar, knitting his brows.</p> +<p>"Safely came Jarl Lodbrok to the English shores," I went on; +"steering his boat through the storm as I think no other man might. +And my father and I, lying at anchor for tide in our coasting ship, +took him from the breakers. Some of his craft taught he me, else +had I not been here today. So he bided with us until I went to sea, +and there I met Halfden, and went on a raid with him, coming back +from the South Saxon shores to wait at our place for his coming to +take Lodbrok home. But he came not last winter, and so we waited +till this spring should bring him. For my ship was lost, and no +other came."</p> +<p>"What!" said Ingvar; "he died not of stress of storm, but lived +so long! Then he has been slain!" and he half started from his seat +in rage.</p> +<p>But Hubba, though his teeth were set, drew him back.</p> +<p>"Hear all," he said.</p> +<p>I went on without bidding, not seeming to note these things.</p> +<p>"The jarl and I hunted together, and the chance of the day +parted us, and he was slain; nor can I say by whom. But this man +and I, being found with his body, were accused of the deed. And +because there was no proof, our great earl, who loves even-handed +justice, would have us cast adrift, even as was Lodbrok; that the +guilty might suffer, and the innocent escape."</p> +<p>Then Ingvar rose up, white and shaking with wrath, and drew out +his sword. Whereon Beorn yelled and fell on the floor, grovelling +with uplifted hands and crying for mercy.</p> +<p>But the great jarl paid no heed to him, and hove up the sword +with both hands over my head, saying in a hoarse voice:</p> +<p>"Say that you lie--he is not dead--or you slew him!"</p> +<p>Now I think the long struggle with the sea, or my full trust in +the earl's words, or both, had taken away my fear of death, for I +spoke without moving, though the great blade seemed about to fall, +and the fierce Dane's eyes glared on mine.</p> +<p>"It were easy for me to have lied; I would that I did lie, for +then Lodbrok would be living, and I beside him, waiting for Halfden +my friend even yet."</p> +<p>"Odin!" shouted Ingvar; "you speak truth. Woe is me for my +father, and woe to the land that has given him a grave thus +foully."</p> +<p>With that he let his sword fall, and his passion having gone, he +sat down and put his face in his hands, and wept tears of grief and +rage. And I, as I watched him, was fain to weep also, for my +thoughts were akin to his.</p> +<p>Now Hubba had sat very still, watching all this, and he kept his +feelings better than did his fierce brother, though I might well +see that he was moved as deeply. But now he spurned Beorn with his +foot, bidding him get up and speak also. But Beorn only grovelled +the more, and Hubba spurned him again, turning to me.</p> +<p>"I believe you speak truth," he said quietly, "and you are a +brave man. There was no need for you to tell the accusation against +yourself; and many are the lies you might have told us about the +boat that would have been enough for us. We never thought to hear +that our father had outlived the storm."</p> +<p>"I speak truth, Jarl," I said, sadly enough, "and Halfden will +come to our haven, seeking us both, and will find neither--only +this ill news instead of all we had planned of pleasure."</p> +<p>Then Hubba asked me plainly of Beorn, saying:</p> +<p>"What of this cur?"</p> +<p>"No more than I have told you, Jarl," I said.</p> +<p>"How came he into the forest?" asked Hubba, for he saw that +there was more than he knew yet under Beorn's utter terror.</p> +<p>"Let me tell you that story from end to end," I answered.</p> +<p>And he nodded, so that I did so, from the time when I left the +jarl until Ulfkytel sentenced us, giving all the words of the +witnesses as nearly as I could. Then I said that I would leave them +to judge, for I could not.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar, who had sat biting his nails and listening without a +word, broke in, questioning me of Halfden's ship for long. At last +he said:</p> +<p>"This man tells truth, and I will not harm him. He shall bide +here till Halfden comes home, for he tells a plain story, and wears +those rings. And he has spoken the ill of himself and little of +this craven, who maybe knows more than he will say. I have a mind +to find out what he does know," and he looked savagely at Beorn, +who was sitting up and rocking himself to and fro, with his eyes +looking far away.</p> +<p>"Do what you will with him he will lie," said Hubba.</p> +<p>"I can make him speak truth," said Ingvar grimly.</p> +<p>"What shall be done with this Wulfric?" asked Hubba.</p> +<p>"Let him go with Raud until I have spoken with Beorn," answered +Ingvar, "then we shall be sure if he is friend or not."</p> +<p>Hubba nodded, and he and I rose up and went out to the porch, +where Raud and Rolf waited with the two guards. We passed them and +stood in the courtyard.</p> +<p>"I believe you, Wulfric," said Hubba, "for I know a true man +when I see him."</p> +<p>"I thank you, Jarl," I answered him, taking the hand that he +offered me.</p> +<p>I looked out over the sea, for the frank kindness moved me, and +I would not show it. There was a heavy bank of clouds working up, +and the wind came from the north, with a smell of snow in it. Then +I saw a great hawk flying inland, and wondered to see it come over +sea at this time of year. It flew so that it would pass over the +house, and as it came it wheeled a little and called; and then it +swept down and came straight towards me, so that I held out my hand +and it perched on my wrist.</p> +<p>And lo! it was Lodbrok's gerfalcon; and pleased she was to see +me once more, fluttering her wings and glancing at me while I +smoothed and spoke to her.</p> +<p>But Hubba cried out in wonder, and the men and Ingvar came out +to see what his call meant. Then they, too, were amazed, for they +knew the bird and her ways well.</p> +<p>I had spoken of the falcon once or twice, telling the jarls how +she had taken to me, and I think they had doubted it a little. Now +the bird had got free in some way, and finding neither of her +masters, had fled home, even as Lodbrok said she would.</p> +<p>"Now is your story proved to be true," said Hubba, smiling +gravely at me, but speaking for Ingvar's ear.</p> +<p>"Aye, over true," answered his brother; "serve this man well, +Raud and Rolf, for he has been a close friend of Jarl Lodbrok."</p> +<p>"Then should he be in Lodbrok's house as a guest," said Raud +stoutly, and free of speech as Danes will ever be.</p> +<p>"Maybe he shall be so soon," said Ingvar.</p> +<p>"I will bide with my first hosts," I said, not being willing to +speak much of this just now.</p> +<p>"That is well said," was Hubba's reply, and so we went to have +the falcon--who would not leave me--hooded and confined; and then I +went with the two men back to their hut, and there they vied with +each other in kindness to me until night fell, and I gladly went to +rest; for since that night within Caistor walls I had had no sleep +that was worth considering. So my sleep was a long sleep, and +nothing broke it until I woke of myself, and found only the great +dog Vig in the hut, and breakfast ready set out for me, while +outside the ground was white with snow.</p> +<p>I was glad to find that no watch was kept on me, for it seemed +as if Hubba's words were indeed true, and that the jarls believed +my story. And my dagger was left me also, hanging still on the wall +at my head where I had slept. Then I thought that the great dog was +maybe bidden to guard me, but he paid no heed when I went outside +the hut to try if it were so.</p> +<p>Ere an hour had passed Raud came back, and he had news for +me.</p> +<p>"Now, friend Wulfric, I am to part with my guest, and not in the +way that was yesterday's. The jarls bid me say that Wulfric of +Reedham, Lodbrok's preserver, is a welcome guest in their hall, and +they would see him there at once."</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," I answered, "Raud the forester was the first to +shelter me, and I do not forget."</p> +<p>Whereat Raud was pleased, and together we went to the great +house, and entered, unchallenged. Hubba came forward and held out +his strong hand to me frankly, smiling a little, but gravely, and I +took it.</p> +<p>"Beorn has told the truth," he said; "forgive me for doubt of +you at any time."</p> +<p>"Aye, let that be forgotten," said Ingvar, coming from beyond +the great fire, and I answered that I thought it not strange that +they had doubted me.</p> +<p>"Now, therefore," said Hubba, "you yourself shall question +Beorn, for there are things you want to know from him. And he will +answer you truly enough."</p> +<p>"After that you shall slay him, if you will," said Ingvar, in +his stern voice, "I wonder you did not do so in the boat. Better +for him if you had."</p> +<p>"I wonder not," said Hubba. "The man is fit for naught; I could +not lay hand on such a cur."</p> +<p>I had no answer to make after that, for the warrior spoke my own +thoughts, and I held my peace as they took me to the further side +of the hearth, past the fire, beyond which I had not yet been able +to see.</p> +<p>Then I knew how Beorn had been made to speak the truth. They had +tortured him, and there was no strength left in him at all, so that +I almost started back from the cruel marks that he bore. Yet I had +things to hear from him, now that he had no need to speak falsely, +and I went to his side. The two jarls stood and looked at him +unmoved.</p> +<p>"The justice of Ulfkytel is on you, Beorn," I said slowly; +"there is no need to hide aught. Tell me how you slew Lodbrok, and +why."</p> +<p>Then came a voice, so hollow that I should not have known it for +the lusty falconer's of past days:</p> +<p>"Aye; justice is on me, and I am glad. I will tell you, but +first say that you forgive me."</p> +<p>Then I could not but tell this poor creature that for all the +harm he had done me I would surely forgive him; but that the deed +of murder was not for me to forgive.</p> +<p>"Pray, therefore, that for it I may be forgiven hereafter," he +said, and that I promised him.</p> +<p>Then he spoke faintly, so that Hubba bade Raud give him strong +drink, and that brought his strength back a little.</p> +<p>"I took your arrows at Thetford, and I followed you to Reedham. +There I dogged you, day by day, in the woods--five days I went +through the woods as you hunted, and then you twain were far apart, +and my chance had come. Lodbrok reined up to listen, and I marked +where he would pass when he went back, hearing your horn. Then I +shot, and the arrow went true; but I drew sword, being mad, and +made more sure. That is all. Surely I thought I should escape, for +I told no man what I would do, and all men thought me far away, +with the king."</p> +<p>Then he stopped, and recovered his strength before he could go +on.</p> +<p>"I hated Lodbrok because he had taken my place beside the king, +and because his woodcraft was greater than mine, though I was first +in that in all our land. And I feared that he would take the land +the king offered him, for I longed for it."</p> +<p>Then Beorn closed his eyes, and I was turning away, for I need +ask no more; but again he spoke:</p> +<p>"Blind was yon dotard Ulfkytel not to see all this; would that +you had slain me in the woods at first--or that he had hanged me at +Caistor--or that I had been drowned. But justice is done, and my +life is ended."</p> +<p>Those were the last words that I heard Beorn, the falconer, +speak, for I left him, and Raud gave him to drink again.</p> +<p>"Have you no more to ask?" said Ingvar gloomily, and frowning on +Beorn, as he lay helpless beyond the hearth.</p> +<p>"Nothing, Jarl."</p> +<p>"What was the last word he said. I heard not."</p> +<p>"He said that justice was done," I answered.</p> +<p>"When I have done with him, it shall be so," growled Ingvar, and +his hand clutched his sword hilt, so that I thought to see him slay +the man on the spot.</p> +<p>"Has he told you all?" I asked of Hubba.</p> +<p>"All, and more than you have told of yourself," he answered; +"for he told us that it was your hand saved my father, and for that +we thank you. But one thing more he said at first, and that was +that Eadmund the King set him on to slay the jarl."</p> +<p>On that I cried out that the good king loved Lodbrok too well, +and in any case would suffer no such cowardly dealings.</p> +<p>"So ran his after words; but that was his first story, +nevertheless."</p> +<p>"Then he lied, for you have just now heard him say that his own +evil thoughts bade him do the deed."</p> +<p>"Aye--maybe he lied at first; but we shall see," said +Ingvar.</p> +<p>Now I understood not that saying, but if a man lies once, who +shall know where the lie's doings will stop? What came from this +lie I must tell, but now it seemed to have passed for naught.</p> +<p>"Now shall you slay the man in what way you will, as I have +said. There are weapons," and Ingvar pointed to the store on the +walls.</p> +<p>"I will not touch him," I said, "and I think that he dies."</p> +<p>"Then shall you see the vengeance of Ingvar on his father's +murderer," the jarl said savagely. "Call the men together into the +courtyard, Raud, and let them bring the man there."</p> +<p>"Let him die, Jarl," I said boldly; "he has suffered +already."</p> +<p>"I think that if you knew, Wulfric of Reedham, how near you have +been to this yourself, through his doings, you would not hold your +hand," answered Ingvar, scowling at Beorn again.</p> +<p>"Maybe, Jarl," I answered, "but though you may make a liar speak +truth thus, you cannot make an honest man say more than he has to +speak."</p> +<p>"One cannot well mistake an honest saying," said Ingvar. "And +that is well for you, friend."</p> +<p>And so he turned and watched his courtmen, as the Danes called +the housecarles, carry Beorn out. Then he went to the walls and +began to handle axe after axe, taking down one by one, setting some +on the great table, and putting others back, as if taking delight +in choosing one fittest for some purpose.</p> +<p>Even as we watched him--Hubba sitting on the table's edge, and I +standing by him--a leathern curtain that went across a door at the +upper end of the hall was pulled aside, and a lady came into the +place. Stately and tall, with wondrous black hair, was this maiden, +and I knew that this must be that Osritha of whom the jarl was wont +to speak to Eadgyth and my mother, and who wrought the raven banner +that hung above the high place where she stood now. She was like +Halfden and Hubba, though with Ingvar's hair, and if those three +were handsome men among a thousand, this sister of theirs was more +than worthy of them. She stood in the door, doubting, when she saw +me. Sad she looked, and she wore no gold on arm or neck, doubtless +because of the certainty of the great jarl's death; and when she +saw that Hubba beckoned to her, she came towards us, and Ingvar set +down the great axe whose edge he was feeling.</p> +<p>"Go back to your bower, sister," he said; "we have work on +hand."</p> +<p>And he spoke sternly, but not harshly, to her. She shrank away a +little, as if frightened at the jarl's dark face and stern words, +but Hubba called her by name.</p> +<p>"Stay, Osritha; here is that friend of our father's from over +seas, of whom you have heard."</p> +<p>Then she looked pityingly at me, as I thought, saying very +kindly:</p> +<p>"You are welcome. Yet I fear you have suffered for your +friendship to my father."</p> +<p>"I have suffered for not being near to help him, lady," I +said.</p> +<p>"There is a thing that you know not yet," said Hubba. "This +Wulfric was the man who took Father from the breakers."</p> +<p>Then the maiden smiled at me, though her eyes were full of +tears, and she asked me:</p> +<p>"How will they bury him in your land? In honour?"</p> +<p>"I have a brother-in-law who will see to that," I said. "And, +moreover, Eadmund the King, and Elfric, my father, will do him all +honour."</p> +<p>"I will see to that," growled Ingvar, turning sharply from where +he sought another weapon on the wall.</p> +<p>Not knowing all he meant, this pleased me, for I thought that we +should sail together to Reedham for this, before very long. But +Osritha, knowing his ways, looked long at him, till he turned away +again, and would not meet her eyes.</p> +<p>"Now go back to your place, my sister," he said. "It is not well +for you to bide here just now."</p> +<p>"Why not? Let our friend tell me of Father also," she said +wilfully.</p> +<p>"Because I am going to do justice on Lodbrok's slayer," said +Ingvar, in a great voice, swinging an axe again.</p> +<p>Then the maiden turned pale, and wrung her hands, looking at +Ingvar, who would not meet her eyes; and then she went and laid her +hands on his mighty arm, crying:</p> +<p>"Not that, my brother; not that!"</p> +<p>"Why not?" he asked; but he did not shake off her little +hands.</p> +<p>"Because Father would not have men so treated, however ill they +had done."</p> +<p>"Aye, brother; the girl is right," said Hubba. "Let him die; for +you gave him to Wulfric, and that is his word."</p> +<p>"Well then," said Ingvar, setting back the axe at last, "I will +not carve him into the eagle I meant to make of him. But slay him I +must and will, if the life is yet in him."</p> +<p>"Let Odin have him," said Hubba; and I knew that he meant that +the man should be hanged, for so, as Halfden's vikings told me, +should he be Odin's thrall, unhonoured.</p> +<p>Then the maiden fled from the hall, glad to have gained even +that for the man, instead of the terrible death that the Danes keep +for traitors and cowards.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar put back the axes he had kept, saying that the girl +ever stood in his way when he would punish as a man deserved. After +that he stood for a while as if in thought, and broke out at +length:</p> +<p>"We will see if this man can sing a death song as did Ragnar our +forefather."</p> +<p>And with that he waited no more, but strode out into the +courtyard, we following. And I feared what I should see; until I +looked on Beorn, and though he was yet alive, I saw that he was +past feeling aught.</p> +<p>They bore him out of the village to a place just inside the +trenched enclosure, and there were old stone walls, such as were +none elsewhere in the place, but as it might have been part of +Burgh or Brancaster walls that the Romans made on our shores, so +ancient that they were crumbling to decay. There they set him down, +and raised a great flat stone, close to the greatest wall, which +covered the mouth of a deep pit.</p> +<p>"Look therein," said Ingvar to me.</p> +<p>I looked, and saw that the pit was stone walled and deep, and +that out of it was no way but this hole above. The walls and floor +were damp and slimy; and when I looked closer, the dim light showed +me bones in one corner, and also that over the floor crawled +reptiles, countless.</p> +<p>"An adder is a small thing to sting a man," said Ingvar in his +grim voice. "Nor will it always hurt him much. Yet if a man is so +close among many that he must needs tread on one, and it bites him, +and in fleeing that he must set foot on another, and again another, +and then more--how will that end?"</p> +<p>I shuddered and turned away.</p> +<p>"In such a place did Ella of Northumbria put my forebear, Ragnar +Lodbrok; and there he sang the song <sup>{<a name="sdendnote13anc" +href="#sdendnote13sym" id="sdendnote13anc">xiii</a>}</sup> we hold +most wondrous of all. There he was set because he was feared, and +Northumbria knows what I thought of that matter. But Beorn goes +here for reasons which you know. And East Anglia shall know what my +thoughts are of those reasons."</p> +<p>Then two men seized Beorn and cast him into that foul pit, +stripped of all things, and the stone fell.</p> +<p>But Beorn moved not nor cried out, and I think that even as +Ulfkytel had boded, stripped of life itself was he before the +bottom of the pit was reached.</p> +<p>So the justice of Ulfkytel the Earl came to pass. But the lies +spoken by Beorn were not yet paid for.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. +JARL HALFDEN'S HOMECOMING.</a></h2> +<p>From the time when Beorn was made to speak the truth, I was a +welcome guest in the hall that had been Lodbrok's, to Hubba at +least, and we were good friends. As for Ingvar, he was friendly +enough also, and would listen when I spoke with his more frank and +open brother of my days with Halfden and his father. But he took +little pleasure in my company, going silent and moody about the +place, for the snow that began on the day after I landed was the +first of a great storm, fiercer and colder than any we knew in +England, and beyond the courtyard of the great house men could +scarcely stir for a time.</p> +<p>This storm I had but just escaped, and it seemed to me, and +still seems, that the terror and pain thereof was held back while I +was on the sea, for those nights and days had had no winter sting +in them.</p> +<p>Hubba and I would wrestle and practise arms in the hall or +courtyard during that time, and he was even beyond his father, my +teacher, in the matter of weapon play; so that it is no wonder that +now, as all men know, he is held the most famous warrior of his +time.</p> +<p>These sports Ingvar watched, and took part in now and then when +his mood was lighter, but it was seldom. Yet he was skilful, though +not as his brother.</p> +<p>Then at night was the fire of pine logs high heaped, and we +feasted while the scalds, as they call their gleemen, sang the +deeds of the heroes of old. And some of those of whom they sang +were men of the Angles of the old country; and one was my own +forefather, and for that I gave the scald my gold bracelet, and +thereafter he sang lustily in my praise as Lodbrok's rescuer.</p> +<p>Very pleasant it was in Ingvar's hall while the wind howled over +the roof, and the roar of the sea was always in our ears. And these +Danes drank less than our people, if they ate more largely. But +Ingvar would sit and take pleasure in none of the sport, being ever +silent and thoughtful.</p> +<p>But to me, best of all were the times when I might see and speak +with Osritha, and soon the days seemed heavy to me if by chance I +had no word with her. And she was always glad to speak of her +father and Halfden; for she was the youngest of all Lodbrok's +children, and Halfden, her brother, was but a year older than +herself, so that she loved him best of all, and longed to see him +home again.</p> +<p>So longed I, grieving for the news he must hear when he came to +Reedham, but yet thinking that he would be glad to find me at least +living and waiting for him.</p> +<p>Now, as the snow grew deeper and the cold strengthened, the +wolves began to come at night into the village, and at last grew +very daring. So one night a man ran in to say that a pack was round +a cottage where a child would not cease crying, and must be driven +off, or they would surely tear the clay walls down.</p> +<p>Then Hubba and I would go; but Ingvar laughed at us, saying that +a few firebrands would settle the matter by fraying the beasts +away. However, the man was urgent, and we went out with Raud and +his brother, and some twenty men, armed with spears and axes.</p> +<p>The night was very dark, and the snow whirled every way, and the +end of it was that Raud and I and two more men, with the dog Vig, +lost the rest, and before we found them we had the pack on us, and +we must fight for our lives. And that fight was a hard fight, for +there must have been a score of gaunt wolves, half starved and +ravenous.</p> +<p>And I think we should have fared badly, for at last I was +standing over Raud, who was down, dragged to the earth by two +wolves, of which the dog slew one and I the other, while the other +two men were back to back with me, and the wolves bayed all round +us. But Hubba and his party heard our shouts in time and came up, +and so ended the matter.</p> +<p>Now Raud must have it that I had saved his life, though I +thought the good dog had a share in it, and both he and the dog +were a little hurt. However, my shoulder was badly torn by a wolf +that leapt at me while my spear was cumbered with another, and I +for my part never wished it had not been so.</p> +<p>For Osritha, who was very skilful in leech craft, tended my +hurt; and I saw much of her, for the hurts were a long time before +they healed, as wolf bites are apt to be, and we grew very +friendly. So that, day by day, I began to long to see the maiden +who cared for my wound so gently, before the time came.</p> +<p>Now Raud must needs make me a spear from a tough ashen sapling +that he had treasured for a long time, because that which I had +used in the wolf hunt was sprung by the weight of one of the +beasts, and while his hurts kept him away at his own house he +wrought it, and at last brought it up to the hall to give to +me.</p> +<p>When I looked at it--and it was a very good one, and had carved +work where the hand grips the shaft, and a carved end--I saw that +the head was one of Jarl Ingvar's best spearheads, and asked Raud +where he got it.</p> +<p>"Why," he said, "a good ash shaft deserves a good head, and so I +asked the jarl for one. And when he knew for whom it was, he gave +me this, saying it was the best he had."</p> +<p>Now I was pleased with this gift, both because I liked the man +Raud, who was both brave and simple minded, and because it showed +that the surly jarl had some liking for me. Yet I would that he +showed this openly, and telling Osritha of the gift, I dared say +so.</p> +<p>Then she sighed and rose up, saying that she would show me +another spear on the further wall, so taking me out of hearing of +her maidens, who sat by the fire busied over their spinning and the +like.</p> +<p>There she spoke to me of Jarl Ingvar.</p> +<p>"Moody and silent beyond his wont has he been since we have +heard all about our father's death, and I fear that he plans some +terrible revenge for it, even as he took revenge on the +Northumbrian coasts for the long-ago slaying of Ragnar."</p> +<p>Then I remembered the story of the burnt town, Streoneshalch, +and knew what Ingvar's revenge was like. But as yet I could not +think that he would avenge Beorn's deed further than I had seen +already.</p> +<p>"But he has no enmity with you, our friend," she went on; +"though he speaks little to you, he listens as you talk to us. But +there has grown up in his heart a hatred of all men in your land, +save of yourself alone. And once he said that he would that you +were a Dane, and his comrade as you had been Halfden's."</p> +<p>Then I told Osritha of how Halfden had let me go from him rather +than have me fight against my own land. I had said nothing of this +to the jarls, for there was no reason. And this was the first time +that I had had private speech with Osritha.</p> +<p>"That is Halfden's way," she said, "he is ever generous."</p> +<p>"I would that he were back," I answered, and so we ceased +speaking.</p> +<p>Yet after this, many were the chances I found of the like talk +alone with Osritha before the weather broke, and we could once more +get into the woods, hunting, and the men began to work in the ship +garths on a great ship that was being built.</p> +<p>Now we had good hunting in the forests, and on the borders of +the great mosses of Ingvar's lands. But there were many more folk +in this land than in ours, and I thought that they were ill off in +many ways. In those days of hunting, Ingvar, seeing me ride with +the carven spear that was partly his gift, and with Lodbrok's hawk +on my wrist, would speak more often with me, though now and again +some chance word of mine spoken in the way of my own folk would +seem to turn him gloomy and sullen, so that he would spur his horse +and leave me. But Hubba was ever the same, and I liked him well, +though I could not have made a friend of him as of Halfden.</p> +<p>In March messengers began to come and go, and though I asked +nothing and was told nothing, I knew well that Ingvar was gathering +a mighty host to him that he might sail in the May time across the +seas for plunder--or for revenge. The hammers went all day long in +the ship garths, where the air was full of the wholesome scent of +tar; and in their houses the women spun busily, making rope and +weaving canvas that should carry the jarl's men "over the swan's +bath;" while in the hall the courtmen sat after dark and feathered +arrows and twined bowstrings, and mended mail. And now and then +some chief would ride into the town, feasting that night, and +riding away in the morning after long talk with the jarls. And +some, Bagsac and Guthrum, Sidrac and his son, and a tall man named +Osbern, came very often as the days lengthened.</p> +<p>I would ask nothing of this matter, even of Osritha, having my +own thoughts thereon, and not being willing to press her on things +she might have been bidden to keep from me. She would ask me of my +mother and Eadgyth, as they would ask the jarl of her, and I told +her all I could, though that was not much, for a man hardly notes +things as a woman will. Then she would laugh at me; until one day I +said that I would she could come over to Reedham and see for +herself.</p> +<p>At that I thought that I had offended her, for her face grew +red, and she left me. Nor could I find a chance of speaking to her +again for many days, which was strange to me, and grieved me +sorely.</p> +<p>Now the southwest wind shifted at last to the west and north, +and that shift brought home him whom I most wished to see, my +comrade, Halfden. And it chanced that I was the first to see his +sail from the higher land along the coast, south of the haven, +where I was riding with my falcon and the great dog Vig, which Raud +and his brother would have me take for my own after the wolf +hunt.</p> +<p>Gladly I rode hack with my news to find Ingvar in the ship +garth, and there I told him who came.</p> +<p>"A ship, maybe. How know you she is Halfden's?" he said +carelessly.</p> +<p>"Why, how does any sailor know his own ship?" I asked in +surprise.</p> +<p>Then he turned at once, and smiled at me fairly for the first +time.</p> +<p>"I had forgotten," he said. "Come, let us look at her +again."</p> +<p>And I was not mistaken, though the jarl was not so sure as I for +half an hour or more. When he was certain, he said:</p> +<p>"Come, let us make what welcome for Halfden that we may."</p> +<p>And we went back to the hall, and at once was the great horn +blown to assemble the men; and the news went round quickly, so that +everywhere men and women alike put aside their work, and hurried +down to the wharf side. And in Ingvar's house the thralls wrought +to prepare a great feast in honour of Jarl Halfden's +homecoming.</p> +<p>Soon I stood with the jarls and Osritha at the landing place, +and behind us were the courtmen in their best array. And as we came +to the place where we would wait, Halfden's ship came past the bar +into the haven's mouth.</p> +<p>All men's faces were bright with the thought of welcome, but +heavy were my thoughts, and with reason. For Halfden's ship came +from the sea on no course that should have borne him from Reedham, +and I feared that it was I who must tell him all. Yet he might have +been drawn from his course by some passing vessel.</p> +<p>The long ship flew up the channel, and now we could see that all +her rail was hung with the red and yellow shields that they use for +show as well as to make the gunwale higher against the arrows, and +to hinder boarders in a fight. And she was gaily decked with flags, +and shone with new paint and gilding in all sea bravery. Not idle +had her crew been in the place where they had wintered, and one +might know that they had had a good voyage, which to a Dane means +plunder enough for all. But surely if Halfden had been to Reedham, +the long pennon had been half masted.</p> +<p>It were long to tell how the people cheered, and how they were +answered from the ship, and how I spied Halfden on the fore deck, +and Thormod at the helm, as ever. And when Osritha saw Halfden's +gay arms and cloak and all the bright trim of the ship and men, she +said to me, speaking low and quickly:</p> +<p>"They have not been to Reedham, or it would not have been +thus."</p> +<p>And it was true, for there would have been no sign of joy among +those who had heard the news that waited them there.</p> +<p>I knew not how to bear this meeting, but I was not alone in my +trouble, for nearer me crept Osritha, saying to me alone, while the +people cheered and shouted:</p> +<p>"How shall we tell Halfden?"</p> +<p>The two jarls were busy at the mooring place, and I could only +answer her that I could look to her alone for help. Now at that I +knew what had sprung up in my heart for Osritha, and that not in +this only should I look for help from her and find it, but if it +might be, all my life through. For now in my trouble she looked at +me with a new look, answering:</p> +<p>"I will help you, whatever betide."</p> +<p>I might say no more then, nor were words needed, for I knew all +that she meant. And so my heart was lightened, for now I held that +I was repaid for all that had gone before, and save for that which +had brought me here, gladly would I take my perilous voyage over +again to find this land and the treasure it now held for me.</p> +<p>At last the ship's keel grated on the sand, and the men sprang +from shore waist deep in water, to take her the mighty cables that +should haul her into her berth; and then the long gangplank was run +out, and Halfden came striding along it, looking bright and +handsome--and halfway over, he stopped where none could throng him, +and lifting his hand for silence cried for all to hear.</p> +<p>"Hearken all to good news! Lodbrok our Jarl lives!"</p> +<p>Then, alas! instead of the great cheer that should have broken +from the lips of all that throng, was at first a silence, and then +a groan--low and pitiful as of a mourning people who wail for the +dead and the sorrowful living--and at that sound Halfden paled, and +stayed no more, hurrying ashore and to where his brothers +stood.</p> +<p>"What is this?" he said, and his voice was low, and yet clear in +the silence that had fallen, for all his men behind him had stopped +as if turned to stone where they stood.</p> +<p>Then from my side sprang Osritha before any could answer, +meeting him first of all, and she threw her arms round his neck, +saying:</p> +<p>"Dead is Lodbrok our father, and nigh to death for his sake has +been Wulfric, your friend. Yet he at least is well, and here to +speak with you and tell you all."</p> +<p>Then for the great and terrible sorrow that came at the end of +the joyous homeward sailing, down on the hard sand Halfden the Jarl +threw himself, and there lay weeping as these wild Danes can weep, +for their sorrow is as terrible as their rage, and they will put no +bounds to the way of grief of which there is no need for shame. Nor +have they the hope that bids us sorrow not as they.</p> +<p>And while he lay there, all men held their peace, looking in one +another's faces, and only the jarls and Osritha and myself stood +near him.</p> +<p>Very suddenly he raised himself up, and was once more calm; then +he kissed the maiden, and grasped his brothers' hands, and then +held out both hands to me, holding mine and looking in my face.</p> +<p>"Other was the meeting I had planned for you and me, Wulfric, my +brother-in-arms. Yet you are most welcome, for you at least are +here to tell me of the days that are past."</p> +<p>"It is an ill telling," said Ingvar.</p> +<p>"That must needs be, seeing what is to be told," Hubba said +quickly.</p> +<p>But those wise words of Osritha's had made things easier for me, +for now Halfden knew that into the story of the jarl's death, I and +my doings must come, so Ingvar's words meant little to him.</p> +<p>"You went not to Reedham?" I said, for now the men were at work +again, and all was noise and bustle round us.</p> +<p>"I have come here first by Orkneys from Waterford, where we +wintered," he answered. "And I have been over sure that no mishap +might be in a long six months."</p> +<p>"What of the voyage?--let us speak of this hereafter," said +Hubba.</p> +<p>And Halfden, wearily, as one who had lost all interest in his +own doings, told him that it had been good, and that Thormod would +give him the full tale of plunder.</p> +<p>Then came a chief from the ship whose face I knew, though he was +not of our crew. It was that Rorik whose ship the Bosham bell had +sunk, and who had been saved by Halfden's boats. He knew me, after +scanning me idly for a moment, and greeted me, asking why I was not +at Reedham to make that feast of which Halfden was ever speaking, +and so passed on.</p> +<p>So we went up to the great hall in silence, sorely cast down; +and that was Halfden's homecoming.</p> +<p>Little joy was there on the high place at the feast that night, +though at the lower tables the men of our crew (for so I must ever +think of those whose leader I had been for a little while, with +Halfden) held high revelling with their comrades. Many were the +tales they told, and when a tale of fight and victory was done, the +scald would sing it in verse that should be kept and sung by the +winter fire till new deeds brought new songs to take its place.</p> +<p>Presently Halfden rose up, after the welcome cup had gone round +and feasting was done, and the ale and mead began to flow, and he +beckoned me to come with him. Hubba would have come also, but +Ingvar held him back.</p> +<p>"Let Wulfric have his say first," he growled; and I thanked him +in my mind for his thought.</p> +<p>So we went to the inner chamber, where Osritha would sit with +her maidens, and Halfden said:</p> +<p>"This matter is filling all my thoughts so that I am but a +gloomy comrade at the board. Tell me all, and then what is done is +done. One may not fight against the Norn maidens <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote14anc" href="#sdendnote14sym" id= +"sdendnote14anc">xiv</a>}</sup>."</p> +<p>There I told him all my story, and he remembered how I had told +him, laughing, of Beorn's jealousy at first. And when my tale was +nearly done Osritha crept from her bower and came and sat beside +Halfden, pushing her hand into his, and resting her head on his +shoulder.</p> +<p>Then I ended quickly, saying that Ingvar had done justice on +Beorn. And at that remembrance the maiden shivered, and Halfden's +face showed that he knew what the man's fate was like to have been +at the great jarl's hands.</p> +<p>"So, brother," he said, when I left off speaking, "had I gone to +Reedham there would have been burnt houses in East Anglia."</p> +<p>"In Reedham?" said I.</p> +<p>"Wherever this Beorn had a house; and at Caistor where that old +fool Ulfkytel lives, and maybe at one or two other places on the +way thither. And I think your father and Egfrid your brother would +have helped me, or I them."</p> +<p>So he doubted me not at all, any more than I should have doubted +his tale, were he in my place and I in his.</p> +<p>Then I said that I myself had no grudge against Earl Ulfkytel, +for he had sent me here.</p> +<p>"Why then, no more have I," answered Halfden; "for he is a +wiseacre and an honest one, and maybe meant kindly. Ingvar would +have slain both guilty and innocent, and told them to take their +wrangle elsewhere, to Hela or Asgard as the way might lead +them."</p> +<p>Now as he said that, I, who looked ever on the face of her whom +I loved, saw that a new fear had come into Osritha's heart, and +that she feared somewhat for me. Nor could I tell what it was. But +Halfden and I went on talking, and at last she could not forbear a +little sob, and at that Halfden asked what ailed her.</p> +<p>"May I speak to you, my brother, very plainly, of one thing that +I dread?" she asked, drawing closer to him.</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," he answered in surprise.</p> +<p>"Remember you the words that Ingvar said to the priest of the +White Christ who came from Ansgar at Hedeby <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote15anc" href="#sdendnote15sym" id= +"sdendnote15anc">xv</a>}</sup>, while our father was away in the +ships?"</p> +<p>"Why, they were like words. He bade him go and settle the matter +with Odin whom he would not reverence, and so slew him."</p> +<p>"Aye, brother. And he said that so he would do to any man who +would not honour the gods."</p> +<p>"Why do you remember that, Osritha?"</p> +<p>"Because--because there will be the great sacrifice tomorrow, +and Wulfric, your friend, is not of our faith."</p> +<p>Then Halfden was silent, looking across at me, and all at once I +knew that here was a danger greater than any I had yet been +through. Fire I had passed through, and water, and now it was like +to be trial by steel. And the first had tried my courage, and the +next my endurance, as I thought; but this would try both, and my +faith as well.</p> +<p>"That is naught," said Halfden, lightly. "It is but the signing +of Thor's hammer, and I have seen Wulfric do that many a time, only +not quite in our way, thus;" and he signed our holy sign all +unknowing, or caring not. "And to eat of the horse that is +sacrificed--why, you and I, Wulfric, did eat horse on the Frankish +shores; and you thought it good, being nigh starved--you +remember?"</p> +<p>I remembered, but that was different; for that we did because +the shores were so well watched that we ran short of food, and had +to take what we could under cover of night at one time. But this of +which Osritha spoke was that which Holy Writ will by no means +suffer us to do--to eat of a sacrifice to idols knowingly, for that +would be to take part therein. Nor might I pretend that the holy +sign was as the signing of Thor's Hammer.</p> +<p>"Halfden," I said, having full trust in him, "I may not do this. +I may not honour the old gods, for so should I dishonour the White +Christ whom I serve."</p> +<p>"This is more than I can trouble about in my mind," said +Halfden; "but if it troubles you, I will help you somehow, brother +Wulfric. But you must needs come to the sacrifice."</p> +<p>"Cannot I go hunting?"</p> +<p>"Why, no; all men must be present. And to be away would but make +things worse, for there would be question."</p> +<p>Then I strengthened myself, and said that I must even go through +with the matter, and so would have no more talk about it. But +Osritha kept on looking sadly at me, and I knew that she was in +fear for me.</p> +<p>Now presently we began to talk of my home and how they would +mourn me as surely lost. And I said that this mourning would be +likely to hinder my sister's wedding for a while. And then, to make +a little more cheerful thought, I told Halfden what his father had +said about his wishing that he had been earlier with us.</p> +<p>"Why, so do I," said my comrade, laughing a little; "for many +reasons," he added more sadly, thinking how that all things would +have been different had he sailed back at once.</p> +<p>Then he must needs go back to the question of the sacrifice.</p> +<p>"Now I would that you would turn good Dane and Thor's man, and +bide here with us; and then maybe--"</p> +<p>But Osritha rose up quickly and said that she must begone, and +so bade us goodnight and went her way into the upper story of that +end of the great hall where her own place was. Whereat Halfden +laughed quietly, looking at me, and when she was quite gone, and +the heavy deerskins fell over the doorway, said, still smiling:</p> +<p>"How is this? It is in my mind that my father's wish might +easily come to pass in another way not very unlike."</p> +<p>That was plain speaking, nor would I hesitate to meet the kindly +look and smile, but said that indeed I had come to long that it +might be so. But I said that the jarl, his father, had himself +shown me that no man should leave his old faith but for better +reasons than those of gain, however longed for. For that is what he +had answered Eadmund the king when the land was offered him, and he +was asked to become a Christian.</p> +<p>"Yet if such a thing might be," said Halfden, "gladly would I +hail you as brother in very truth."</p> +<p>So we sat without speaking for a while, and then Halfden said +that were I to stand among the crowd of men on the morrow there +would surely be no notice taken of me.</p> +<p>Yet as I lay on my wolf skins at the head of the great hall, and +prayed silently--as was my wont among these heathen--I asked for +that same help that had been given to men of old time who were in +the same sore strait as I must very likely be in tomorrow.</p> +<p>Then came to me the thought: "What matters if outwardly I +reverence Thor and Odin while I inwardly deny them?" and that +excuse had nigh got the better of me. But I minded what our king +had told me many a time: how that in the first christening of our +people it had ever been held to be a denying of our faith to taste +the heathen sacrifices, or to bow the head in honour, even but +outward, of the idols, so that many had died rather than do so. And +he had praised those who thus gave up their life.</p> +<p>Then, too, I remembered the words of the Prior of Bosham +concerning martyrs. And we had been led to speak of them by this +very question as to sacrifice to the Danish gods. So I made up my +mind that if I might escape notice, I would do so--and if not, then +would I bear the worst.</p> +<p>So I fell asleep at last. And what it may have been I know +not--unless the wind as it eddied through the high windows clashed +some weapon against shield on the walls with a clear ringing +sound--but I woke with the voice of Bosham bell in my ears--and +Rorik and Halfden each in his place started also, and Rorik +muttered a curse before he lay down again, for he sat up, looking +wildly.</p> +<p>But greatly cheered with that token was I, for I knew that help +was not far from me, and after that I had no more fear, but slept +peacefully, though I thought it was like to be my last night on +earth.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. WHAT +BEFELL AT THE GREAT SACRIFICE.</a></h2> +<p>Very early in the gray morning Halfden woke me, and he was fully +armed, while at the lower end of the hall the courtmen were rising +and arming themselves also, for Vikings must greet Odin as warriors +ready to do battle for him when Ragnaroek <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote16anc" href="#sdendnote16sym" id= +"sdendnote16anc">xvi</a>}</sup> and the last great fight shall +come.</p> +<p>"Rise and arm yourself," he said; "here are the arms in which +you fought well in your first fight, and axe and sword beside. Now +you shall stand with our crew, and so none of them will heed you, +for they love you, and know your ways are not as ours. So will all +be well."</p> +<p>Then I thanked him, for I surely thought it would be so; and I +armed myself, and that man who had been my own shield man when I +led the midship gang helped me. One thing only I wished, and that +was that I had the axe which Lodbrok made for me, for then, I told +the man, I should feel as a Viking again, and that pleased him.</p> +<p>"However," he said, "I think I have found an axe that is as near +like your own as may be."</p> +<p>And he had done so, having had that kindly thought for me. Then +we went out, for the horns were blowing outside the town in the ash +grove where the Ve, as they call the temple of Odin and Thor and +the other gods, was. And overhead, high and unseen in the air, +croaked the ravens, Odin's birds, scared from their resting places +by the tramp of men, yet knowing that their share in the feast was +to come.</p> +<p>I shivered, but the sound of the war horns, and the weight and +clank of the well-known arms, stirred my blood at last, and when we +fell in for our short march, Halfden and Thormod, Rorik and myself +leading our crew, I was ready for all that might come, if need for +a brave heart should be.</p> +<p>Silently we filed through the bare trunks of the ashes, the +trees of Thor, where many a twisted branch and dead trunk showed +that the lightning had been at work, until we came to the place of +the Ve in its clearing.</p> +<p>There stood the sanctuary, a little hut--hardly more--built of +ash-tree logs set endwise on a stone footing, and roofed with logs +of ash, and closed with heavy doors made of iron-bolted ash timber +also. This temple stood under the mightiest ash tree of all, and +there was a clear circle of grass, tree bordered, for a hundred +yards all round it, and all that circle was lined with men, armed +and silent.</p> +<p>Before the temple was a fire-reddened stone, the altar. And on +it were graven runes, and symbols so strange that neither I nor any +man could read them, so old were they, for some men said that stone +and runes alike were older than the worship of Odin himself, having +been an altar to gods that were before him. And a pile of wood was +ready on the altar.</p> +<p>Beside it stood Ingvar, clad in golden shining scale armour, and +with a gilded horned helm and scarlet cloak that hung from +shoulders to heel; for as his forefathers had been before him, +beyond the time when the Danes and Angles came from their far +eastern home <sup>{<a name="sdendnote17anc" href="#sdendnote17sym" +id="sdendnote17anc">xvii</a>}</sup>, led by Odin himself, he was +the "godar", the priest of the great gods of Asgard, and his it was +to offer the sacrifice now that Lodbrok his father was dead.</p> +<p>Now, as I stood there I thought how my father had told me that +our own family had been the godars of our race in the old days, so +that he and I in turn should have taken our place at such an +offering as Ingvar was about to make. And straightway I seemed to +be back in the long dead past, when on these same shores my +forbears had worshipped thus before seeking the new lands that they +won beyond the seas. And that was a strange thought, yet now I +should know from what our faith had brought us.</p> +<p>In a little while all Ingvar's following had come, and there +were many chiefs whose faces I had seen of late as they came to +plan the great raid that was to be when the season came. And the +men with them were very many, far more than we could have gathered +to a levy on so short notice; and all were well armed, and stood in +good order as trained and hardened warriors. No longer could I +wonder at all I had heard of the numbers of the Danish hosts who +came to our shores, and were even now in Northumbria, +unchecked.</p> +<p>There was silence in all the great ring of men; and only the +rustle of the wind in the thick-standing ash trees around us--that +seemed to hem us in like a gray wall round the clearing--and the +quick croak and flap of broad wings as the ravens wheeled ever +nearer overhead, broke the stillness.</p> +<p>We of the crew for whose good voyage and safe return the +offering was made stood foremost, facing the altar stone and the +sanctuary door, and I, with Halfden and Thormod before me, and men +of the crew to right and left, stood in the centre of our line, so +that I could see all that went on.</p> +<p>Then, seeing that all was ready, Ingvar swung back the heavy +door of the shrine, and I saw before me a great image of Thor the +mighty, glaring with sightless eyes across the space at me. It was +carved in wood, and the god stood holding in one hand Mioelner, his +great hammer, and in the other the head of the Midgaard serpent, +whose tailed curled round his legs, as though it were vainly trying +to struggle free.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar turned and lighted the altar fire, and the smoke +rose straight up and hung in the heavy morning air in a cloud over +the Ve; and that seemed to be of good omen, for the men shouted +joyfully once, and were again silent.</p> +<p>From behind the sanctuary two armed men led the horse for the +sacrifice that should be feasted on thereafter; and it was a +splendid colt, black and faultless, so that to me it seemed a +grievous thing that its life should thus be spilt for naught. Yet I +was the only one there who deemed it wasted.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar chanted words to which I would not listen, lest my +heart should seem to echo them, so taking part in the heathen +prayer. Over the horse he signed Thor's hammer, and slew it with +Thor's weapon, and the two men flayed and divided it skilfully, +laying certain portions before the jarl, the godar.</p> +<p>He sprinkled the blood upon doorway and statue, and then again +chanting, laid those portions upon the altar fire, and the black +smoke rose up from them, while all the host watched for what omens +might follow.</p> +<p>The smoke rose, wavered, and went up, and then some breath of +wind took it and drifted it gently into the open temple, winding it +round the head of Thor's image and filling all the little building. +And at that the men shouted again.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar turned slowly towards the shrine, and drawing his +sword, lifted up the broad shining blade as if in salute, crying as +he turned the point north and east and south and west:</p> +<p>"Skoal, ye mighty Ones!"</p> +<p>And at once, as one man all the host, save myself only, lifted +their weapons in salute, crying in a voice that rolled back from +the trees like an answering war shout:</p> +<p>"Skoal to the mighty Ones!"</p> +<p>But as for me, I stirred not, save that as by nature, and +because I fixed my thoughts on the One Sacrifice of our own faith, +I signed myself with the sign of the cross, only knowing this, that +Thor and Odin I would not worship.</p> +<p>Suddenly, even as the echo of the shout died away, and while the +weapons were yet upraised, the thick cloud of smoke rolled back and +down, wrapping round Ingvar the godar as he stood between shrine +and altar, and across the reek glared the sightless eyes of the +idol again, cold and heedless.</p> +<p>Now of all omens that was the worst, for it must needs betoken +that the sacrifice was not pleasing; and at that a low groan as of +fear went round the host. Then back started Ingvar, and I saw his +face through the smoke, looking white as ashes. For a long time, as +it seemed to me, there was silence, until the smoke rose up +straight again and was lost in the treetops. Even the ravens, +scared maybe by the great shout, were gone, and all was very +still.</p> +<p>At last Ingvar turned slowly to us and faced our crew.</p> +<p>"The sacrifice is yours," he said, "and if it is not accepted +the fault is yours also. We are clear of blame who have bided at +home."</p> +<p>Then Halfden answered for his men and himself:</p> +<p>"I know not what blame is to us."</p> +<p>But from close behind me Rorik lifted his voice:</p> +<p>"No blame to the crew--but here is one, a stranger, who does no +honour to the gods, neither lifting sword or hailing them as is +right, even before Thor's image."</p> +<p>Then I knew that the worst was come, and prepared to meet it. +But Halfden spoke.</p> +<p>"All men's customs are not alike, and a stranger has his own +ways."</p> +<p>But Ingvar's face was black with rage, and not heeding Halfden, +he shouted:</p> +<p>"Set the man before me."</p> +<p>No man stirred, for indeed I think that most of our crew knew +not who was meant, and those near me would, as Halfden told me, say +nought.</p> +<p>Then said Ingvar to Rorik: "Point the man to me."</p> +<p>Then Rorik pointed to me. So I stood forth of my own accord, not +looking at him, but at Ingvar.</p> +<p>"So," said the jarl, harshly, "you dare to dishonour Thor?"</p> +<p>I answered boldly, feeling very strong in the matter.</p> +<p>"I dishonour no man's religion, Jarl, neither yours nor my +own."</p> +<p>"You did no honour to the Asir," he said sternly.</p> +<p>"Thor and Odin are not the gods I worship," I answered.</p> +<p>"I know. You are one of those who have left the gods of your +fathers."</p> +<p>Then one of our men, who had stood next to me, spoke for me, as +he thought.</p> +<p>"I saw Wulfric sign Thor's hammer even now. What more does any +man want from a Saxon?"</p> +<p>Thereat Ingvar scowled, knowing, as I think, what this was.</p> +<p>"You claim to be truth teller," he said; "did you sign Thor's +hammer?"</p> +<p>"I did not," I answered.</p> +<p>Then Halfden came to my side.</p> +<p>"Let Wulfric go his own way, brother. What matters it what gods +he worships so long as he is good warrior and true man, as I and my +men know him to be?"</p> +<p>So he looked round on the faces of my comrades, and they +answered in many ways that this was so. And several cried:</p> +<p>"Let it be, Jarl. What is one man to Thor and Odin?"</p> +<p>Now I think that Ingvar would have let the matter pass thus, for +the word of the host is not lightly to be disregarded. But Rorik +would not suffer it.</p> +<p>"What of the wrath of the gods, Godar?" he said. "How will you +put that aside?"</p> +<p>Then was a murmur that they must be appeased, but it came not +from our crew; and Ingvar stood frowning, but not looking at me for +a space, for he was pulled two ways. As godar he must not pass by +the dishonour to the gods, yet as the son of the man whom I had +saved, how could he harm me? And Rorik, seeing this, cried:</p> +<p>"I hold that this man should live no longer."</p> +<p>"Why, what dishonour has he done the gods?" said Halfden. "If he +had scoffed, or said aught against them--that were a different +thing. And what does Thor there care if one man pays no heed to +him? Surely he can keep his own honour--leave it to him."</p> +<p>"It is dishonour to Thor not to hail him," said Rorik.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar spoke again to me:</p> +<p>"Why do you no honour to the gods?"</p> +<p>"My fathers honoured them, for the godarship was theirs, and +would have been my father's and mine, even as it is yours, Jarl +Ingvar. For good reason they left that honour and chose another way +and a better. And to that way I cleave. I have done despite to no +man's faith--neither to yours nor my own."</p> +<p>At that Rorik lost patience, and lifting his axe, ground his +teeth and said savagely:</p> +<p>"I will even make you honour Thor yonder."</p> +<p>Now at that Halfden saw a chance for me, and at once stayed +Rorik's hand, saying in a loud voice:</p> +<p>"Ho! this is well. Let Wulfric and Rorik fight out this +question--and then the life of him who is slain will surely appease +the gods."</p> +<p>That pleased our crew well, for they had no great love for +Rorik, who had taken too much command on him, for a stranger on +board. Now, too, Ingvar's brows cleared, for he cared nothing for +the life of either of us, so that the gods were satisfied with +blood. And he said:</p> +<p>"So shall it be. Take axes and make short work of it. If Wulfric +can slay Rorik, we know that he is innocent of aught to dishonour +the gods. But if he is slain--then on his head is the blame."</p> +<p>Then he looked round and added:</p> +<p>"Let Guthrum and Hubba see fair play."</p> +<p>Now came Hubba, pleased enough, for he knew my axe play, and +that chief whom they called Guthrum, a square, dark man with a +pleasant, wise face, and took four spears, setting them up at the +corners of a twelve-pace square, between the line of our crew and +the altar.</p> +<p>So now it seemed to me that I must fight for our faith, for +truth against falsehood, darkness against light. And I was +confident, knowing this, that the death of one for the faith is +often the greatest victory. So I said:</p> +<p>"I thank you, Jarl. I will fight willingly for my faith."</p> +<p>"Fight for what you like," said Ingvar, "but make haste over +it."</p> +<p>Then Hubba and Guthrum placed me at one side of the square, and +Rorik at the opposite. And I faced the image of Thor, so that under +the very eyes of the idol I hated I must prove my faith.</p> +<p>Then came a longing into my mind to lift my axe in Thor's face +and defy him, but I put it away, for how should an idol know of +threat or defiance? Surely that would be to own some power of +his.</p> +<p>When we were ready, Hubba and Guthrum, each with drawn swords, +stood on either side of the spear-marked square, and signed to +Ingvar to give the word. At once he did so.</p> +<p>Then I strode forward five paces and waited, but Rorik edged +round me, trying to gain some vantage of light, and I watched him +closely.</p> +<p>And all the host stood silent, holding breath, and the altar +smoke rose up over our heads, and the ravens croaked in the trees, +and over all stared the great statue of Thor, seeing naught.</p> +<p>Then like a wolf Rorik sprang at me, smiting at my left shoulder +where no shield was to guard me. And that was Rorik's last stroke, +for even as I had parried Thormod's stroke in sport, the man's +wrist lit on the keen edge of my axe, so that hand and weapon flew +far beyond me with the force of his stroke. Then flashed my axe, +and Rorik fell with his helm cleft in twain.</p> +<p>Then roared our crew, cheering me:</p> +<p>"Skoal to the axeman! Ahoy!"</p> +<p>But I looked at Ingvar, and said:</p> +<p>"Short work have I made, Jarl."</p> +<p>Whereat he laughed a grim laugh, only answering:</p> +<p>"Aye, short enough. The gods are appeased."</p> +<p>Then I went back to my place beside Halfden, and our men patted +my back, praising me, roughly and heartily, for it is not a +viking's way to blame a man for slaying a comrade in fair fight and +for good reason.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar stood before the shrine, and called to the gods to be +heedful of the blood spilt to purge whatever dishonour or wrong had +been done. And he hung up the weapons of the slain man in the +shrine, and after that closed its doors and barred them; and we +marched from the Ve silently and swiftly, leaving the body of Rorik +alone for a feast to the birds of Odin before the dying altar +fire.</p> +<p>Now was I light hearted, thinking that the worst was past, and +so also thought Halfden, so that we went back and sought Osritha, +who waited, pale and anxious, to know how things should go with me, +and when we found her I saw that she had been weeping.</p> +<p>"Why, my sister," said Halfden, "hardly would you have wept for +my danger--or weeping you would be from my sailing to return."</p> +<p>But she answered not a word, and turned away, for his saying +made her tears come afresh.</p> +<p>"Now am I a blunderer," said Halfden. "If there is one thing +that I fear it is a weeping maiden."</p> +<p>And with that he went from the room, leaving me.</p> +<p>Then I took upon me to comfort Osritha, nor was that a hard +task. And again I would have gone through this new danger I had +faced, for it had brought the one I loved to my arms.</p> +<p>Not long might we be together, for now the feasting began, and I +must go to Halfden and his brothers in the great hall. And then +came remembrance to me. For now must I refuse to eat of the horse +sacrifice, and maybe there would be danger in that. Yet I thought +that no man would trouble more about me and my ways, so that I said +naught of it to Osritha.</p> +<p>So I sat between Halfden and Thormod at the high place, and the +whole hall was full of men seated at the long tables that ran from +end to end, and across the wide floor. The womenfolk and thralls +went busily up and down serving, and it was a gay show enough to +look on, for all were in their best array.</p> +<p>Yet it seemed to me that the men were silent beyond their wont, +surly even in their talk, for the fear of the omen of that eddying +smoke was yet on them. And presently I felt and saw that many eyes +were watching me, and those in no very friendly wise. Some of the +men who watched were strangers to me, but as they sat among our +crew, they must be the rest of the saved from Rorik's following. +Others were men from beyond the village walls, and as Rorik's men +had some reason and the others knew me not, I thought little of +their unfriendly looks.</p> +<p>At last they brought round great cauldrons, in which were flesh +hooks; to every man in turn, and first of all to Ingvar himself. He +thrust the hook in, and brought up a great piece of meat, cutting +for himself therefrom, and at once every man before whom a cauldron +waited, did likewise, and it passed on. They signed Thor's hammer +over the meat and began to eat.</p> +<p>Now after Ingvar had helped himself, the cauldron came to +Guthrum, and then to Halfden, and then it must come to me, and I +had heaped food before me that I might pass it by more easily, +knowing that this was the sacrificed meat of which I might not eat. +But the men stayed before me, and I made a sign to them to pass by, +and honest Thormod leaned across me to take his share quickly, and +they passed to him, wondering at me a little, but maybe thinking +nothing of it. They were but thralls, and had not been at the +Ve.</p> +<p>But Rorik's men had their eyes on me, and when the cauldron +passed Thormod, and I had not taken thereout, one rose up and said, +pointing to me:</p> +<p>"Lo! this Saxon will not eat of the sacrifice."</p> +<p>At that was a growl of wrath from the company, and Ingvar rose, +looking over the heads of my comrades, saying:</p> +<p>"Have a care, thou fool; go not too far with me."</p> +<p>Then Guthrum laughed and said:</p> +<p>"This is foolishness to mind him; moreover, he has fought for +and won his right to please himself in the matter."</p> +<p>So too said Halfden and Thormod, but against their voices were +now many raised, saying that ill luck would be with the host for +long enough, if this were suffered openly.</p> +<p>Now a Dane or Norseman takes no heed of the religion of other +folk unless the matter is brought forward in this way, too plainly +to be overlooked. But then, being jealous for his own gods, whom he +knows to be losing ground, he must needs show that he is so. Nor do +I blame him, for it is but natural.</p> +<p>So to these voices Ingvar the godar must needs pay heed, even if +his own patience were not gone, so that he might not suffer that +one should sit at the board of Thor and Odin, untasting and +unacknowledging.</p> +<p>He called to two of his courtmen.</p> +<p>"Take this man away," he said, very sternly, "and put him in +ward till tomorrow. Today is the feast, and we have had enough +trouble over the business already."</p> +<p>The two men came towards me, and all men were hushed, waiting to +see if I would fight. As they came I rose from my place, and they +thought I would resist, for they shifted their sword hilts to the +front, ready to hand. But I unbuckled my sword belt, and cast the +weapon down, following them quietly, for it was of no good to fight +hopelessly for freedom in a strange land.</p> +<p>Many men scowled at me as I passed, and more than one cried out +on me. But Halfden and Thormod and Hubba, and more than were angry, +seemed glad that this was all the harm that came to me just now. +And Ingvar leaned back in his great chair and did not look at me, +though his face was dark.</p> +<p>They put me into a cell, oak walled and strong, and there left +me, unfettered, but with a heavily-barred door between me and +freedom; and if I could get out, all Denmark and the sea around me +held me prisoner.</p> +<p>Yet I despaired not altogether, for already I had gone through +much danger, and my strength had not failed me.</p> +<p>Now, how I spent the daylight hours of that imprisonment any +Christian man may know, seeing that I looked for naught but death. +And at last, when darkness fell, I heard low voices talking outside +for a little while, and I supposed that a watch was set, for the +cell door opened to the courtyard from the back of the great +house.</p> +<p>Now I thought I would try to sleep, for the darkness was very +great, and just as I lay down in a corner the barring of the door +was moved, and the door opened gently.</p> +<p>"Do you sleep, Wulfric?" said Halfden's voice, speaking very +low.</p> +<p>"What is it, brother?" I asked in as low a voice, for I had not +been a viking for naught.</p> +<p>I saw his form darken the gray square of the doorway, and he +came in and swung to the door after him; then his hand sought my +shoulder, and I heard a clank of arms on the floor.</p> +<p>"See here, Wulfric," he said, "you are in evil case; for all +Rorik's men and the men from outside are calling for your death; +they say that Rorik had no luck against you because the Asir are +angry, and that so it will be with all the host until you have paid +penalty."</p> +<p>"What say you and our crew?"</p> +<p>"Why, we had good luck with you on board, and hold that Rorik +had done somewhat which set Thor against him, for he got +shipwrecked, and now is killed. So we know that your ways do not +matter to Thor or Odin or any one of the Asir, who love a good +fighter. But we know not why you are so obstinate; still that is +your business, not ours."</p> +<p>"What says Ingvar?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Naught; but he is godar."</p> +<p>"Aye," said I. "So I must die, that is all. What said Ragnar +Lodbrok about that?"</p> +<p>And I spoke to him the brave words that his forefather sang as +he died, and which he loved:</p> +<pre> +"Whether in weapon play +Under the war cloud, +Full in the face of Death +Fearless he fronts him, +Death is the bane of +The man who is bravest, +He loveth life best who +Furthest from danger lives. +Sooth is the saying that +Strongest the Norns are. +Lo! at my life's end +I laugh--and I die." +</pre> +<p>"Nay, my brother," said Halfden earnestly; "think of me, and of +Osritha, and seem to bow at least."</p> +<p>That word spoken by my friend was the hardest I ever had to +bear, for now I was drawn by the love that had been so newly given +me. And I put my hands before my face and thought, while he went +on:</p> +<p>"If I were asked to give up these gods of ours, who, as it seems +to me, pay mighty little heed to us--and I knew that good exchange +was offered me--well then--I should--"</p> +<p>I ended that word for him.</p> +<p>"You would do even as your father, and say that unless for +better reason than gain--aye, however longed for--you would +not."</p> +<p>"Aye--maybe I would, after all," he answered, and was +silent.</p> +<p>Then he said, "Guthrum and I spoke just now, and he said that +your faith must be worth more than he knew, to set you so fixedly +on it."</p> +<p>Now I would have told him that it was so, but there came a +little sound at the door, and Halfden went and opened it. Across +its half darkness came a woman's form, and Osritha spoke in her +soft voice.</p> +<p>"Brother, are you here yet?"</p> +<p>"Aye, sister, both of us--come and persuade this foolish +Wulfric."</p> +<p>Then I spoke quickly, for it seemed to me that if Osritha spoke +and urged me, I should surely give way.</p> +<p>"Nay, but you must not persuade me--would you have had us +Christians bid your father choose between death and gain for the +sake of winning him to our faith?"</p> +<p>Then said Halfden, "That would I not."</p> +<p>But in the dark Osritha came to my side and clung to me, so that +I was between those two whom I loved and must lose, for Halfden +held my right hand, and Osritha my left, and she was weeping +silently for me.</p> +<p>"Listen," I said, for the speaking must be mine lest they should +prevail. "Should I die willingly for one who has given His life for +me?"</p> +<p>"Aye, surely--if that might be," said Halfden.</p> +<p>"Now it comes into my mind that hereafter you will know that I +do not die for naught. For He whom I worship died for me. Nor may I +refuse to spend life in His honour."</p> +<p>Then they were silent, until Osritha found her voice and +said:</p> +<p>"We knew not that. I will not be the one to hold you from what +is right."</p> +<p>At that Halfden rose up, for he had found a seat of logs and sat +by me on it, sighing a long sigh, but saying:</p> +<p>"Well, this is even as I thought, and I will not blame you, my +brother. Fain would I have kept you here, and sorely will Osritha +pine when you are gone. But you shall not die, else will the +justice of Ulfkytel come to naught."</p> +<p>Then I heard again the clank of arms, and Halfden bent down, as +I might feel.</p> +<p>"Can you arm yourself in the dark?" he said.</p> +<p>"Why, surely! It is not for the first time," I answered.</p> +<p>He thrust my mail shirt against me, and laid a sword in my hand, +and set my helm on my head, all awry because of the darkness.</p> +<p>"Quickly," he said.</p> +<p>Then a new hope that came to me made me clasp Osritha's hand and +kiss it before I must see to arming myself; but she clung to me +yet, and I kissed her gently, then turning away sorely troubled +went to work.</p> +<p>Soon I was ready for Halfden's word, and Osritha buckled on my +sword for me, for she had felt and taken it. Halfden opened the +door and went out into the night, speaking low to one whom I could +not see; and so I bade farewell to her whom I loved so dearly, not +knowing if I should ever look on her again.</p> +<p>But she bade me hope ever, for nor she nor I knew what the days +to come might bring us.</p> +<p>"Ready," said Halfden; "follow me as if you were a courtman till +we come to the outer gate."</p> +<p>Then with Osritha's handclasp still warm on mine I went out and +followed him, and she sought the maiden who waited beside the door, +and was gone.</p> +<p>When we came to the great gates, they were shut. The sounds of +feasting went on in the hall, and the red light glared from the +high windows. Forgotten was all but revelling--and the guard who +kept the gate was Raud the forester, my friend. He opened the gates +a little, and we three slipped out and stood for a moment together. +The night was very dark, and the wind howled and sang through the +stockading, and none seemed to be about the place.</p> +<p>There Halfden took my hand and bade me farewell very sadly.</p> +<p>"This is the best I may do for you, my brother. Go with Raud to +his house, and thence he and Rolf and Thoralf your shield man, who +all love you, will take you even to Hedeby, where there are +Christian folk who will help you to the sea and find passage to +England. And fare you well, my brother, for the days we longed for +in your land will never be--"</p> +<p>"Come in the ship to England, that so there may be good times +even yet," I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, to England I shall surely come--not to seek you, but at +Ingvar's bidding. Yet to East Anglia for your sake I will not +come."</p> +<p>Then he grasped my hand again in farewell, and he went inside +the gates and closed them, and Raud and I went quickly to his +place.</p> +<p>There we found those two other good friends of mine waiting, and +they told me that all was well prepared to save them from the wrath +of Ingvar, for they had been bidden to carry messages, and other +men of the crew who lived far off would do this for them, for I +feared for their lives also when the flight was known.</p> +<p>Long was the way to Hedeby, where Ansgar the Bishop had built +the first church in all Denmark. But we won there at last and in +safety. And there Ansgar's folk received me well, and I parted from +my three comrades, not without grief, so that I asked them to take +service with us in England. Almost they consented, but Rolf and +Thoralf had wives and children, and Raud would by no means leave +his brother.</p> +<p>Now in a few days, a company of merchants went from Hedeby with +goods for England, and with them I went; and in no long time I came +into Ingild's house by London Bridge, and was once more at home as +the second week in May began.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE +COMING OF INGVAR'S HOST.</a></h2> +<p>Aught but joy did I look for in my homecoming, but it was all +too like that of Halfden, my friend.</p> +<p>No need to say how my kind godfather met me as one come back +from the dead, nor how I sent gifts back to Ansgar's people, who +sorely needed help in those days.</p> +<p>But very gently the old man told me that Elfric my father was +dead, passing suddenly but a month since, while by his side sat +Ulfkytel the Earl, blaming himself for his blindness and for his +haste in not waiting for the king's judgment, and yet bidding my +father take heart, for he had never known his ways of justice fail. +And he asked forgiveness also, for there had been a deadly feud +concerning this between him and my people, so that but for Eadmund +the King there would have been fighting. Yet when one told Ulfkytel +that men held that my father's heart broke at my loss, the great +earl had made haste to come and see him, and to say these things. +So they made peace at last.</p> +<p>When I knew this it seemed to me that I had lost all, and for +long I cared for nothing, going about listless, so that Ingild +feared that I too should grow sick and die. But I was young and +strong, and this could not last, and at length I grew reconciled to +things as they were, and Ingild would speak with me of all that I +had seen in Denmark.</p> +<p>Now when I told him what I feared of the coming of Ingvar's host +he grew grave, and asked many things about it.</p> +<p>"Ethelred the King is at Reading," he said; "let us go and speak +to him of this matter."</p> +<p>So we rode thither, and that ride through the pleasant +Thames-side country was good for me. And when we came to the great +house where the king lay, we had no trouble in finding the way to +him, for Ingild was well known, and one of the great Witan +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote18anc" href="#sdendnote18sym" id= +"sdendnote18anc">xviii</a>}</sup> also.</p> +<p>I told Ethelred the king of England all that I had learned, and +he was troubled. Only we three were in his council chamber, and to +us he spoke freely.</p> +<p>"What can I do? Much I fear that East Anglia must fight her own +battles at this time. Pressed am I on the west by Welsh and Dane, +and my Wessex men have their hands full with watching both. And it +is hard to get men of one kingdom to fight alongside those of +another, even yet. And this I know full well, that until a host +lands I can gather no levy, for our men will not wait for a foe +that may never come."</p> +<p>I knew that his words were true, and could say nothing. Only I +thought that it had been better if we had held to our Mercian +overlords in Ecgberht's time than fight for this Wessex sovereign +who was far from us; for that unhealed feud with Mercia seemed to +leave us alone now.</p> +<p>"Yet," said Ethelred, "these men are not such great chiefs, as +it seems. Maybe their threats will come to naught."</p> +<p>But I told him of that great gathering at the sacrifice, and +said also that I thought that needs must those crowded folks seek +riches elsewhere than at home. Then he asked me many things of the +corn and cattle and richness of the land; and when I told him what +I had seen, he looked at me and Ingild.</p> +<p>"Such things as crowding and poverty and hardness drove us from +that shore hither. I pray that the same be not coming on us that we +brought to the ancient people the Welsh, whose better land we took +and now hold."</p> +<p>So we left him, and I could see that the matter lay heavily on +his mind.</p> +<p>In a week thereafter I rode away homeward, and came first to +Framlingham, where Eadmund our own king was. Very glad was he to +see me safely home again.</p> +<p>"Now am I, with good Ingild your other godfather, in Elfric's +place toward you," he said; "think of me never as a king, but as a +father, Wulfric, my son."</p> +<p>And he bade me take my place as Thane of Reedham, confirming me +in all rights that had been my father's. With him, too, was the +great earl, and he begged my forgiveness for his doubt of me, +though he was proud that his strange manner of finding truth was +justified. Good friends were Ulfkytel and I after that, though he +knew not that in my mind was the thought of Osritha, to whom he +had, as it were, sent me.</p> +<p>Now every day brought fear to me that Ingvar's host was on its +way overseas to fall on us. And this I told to Eadmund and the +earl, who could not but listen to me. Yet they said that the peace +between us and the Danes was sure, and that even did they come we +should be ready. When I pressed them indeed, they sent round word +to the sheriffs to be on the watch, and so were content. For our +king was ever a man of peace, hating the name of war and bloodshed, +and only happy in seeing to the welfare of his people, giving them +good laws, and keeping up the churches and religious houses so well +that there were none better to be found than ours in all +England.</p> +<p>This pleased me not altogether, for I knew now how well prepared +for war the Danes were, and I would fain have had our men trained +in arms as they. But my one voice prevailed not at all, and after a +while I went down to Reedham, and there bided with my mother and +Eadgyth, very lonely and sad at heart in the place where I had +looked for such happiness with my father and Lodbrok and Halfden at +first, and now of late, for a few days, with Osritha, and Halfden +in Lodbrok's place.</p> +<p>For all this was past as a dream passes, and to me there seemed +to hang over the land the shadow of the terrible raven banner, +which Osritha had helped to work for Lodbrok and his host, in the +days before she dreamed that it might be borne against a land she +had cause to love.</p> +<p>Ever as the days went by I would seek the shipmen who came to +Reedham on their way up the rivers, so that I might hear news from +the Danish shore, where Osritha was thinking of me, till at last I +heard from a Frisian that three kings had gathered a mighty host, +and were even now on their way to England.</p> +<p>I asked the names of those three, and he told me, even as I had +feared, that they were called Ingvar and Hubba and Halfden; and so +I knew that the blow was falling, and that Ingvar had stirred up +other chiefs to join him, and so when the host gathered at some +great Thing, he and his brothers had been hailed kings over the +mighty following that should do their bidding in the old Danish +way. For a Danish king is king over men, and land that he shall +rule is not of necessity <sup>{<a name="sdendnote19anc" href= +"#sdendnote19sym" id="sdendnote19anc">xix</a>}</sup>.</p> +<p>Again I warned Eadmund, and again he sent his messages to +Ulfkytel the Earl and to the sheriffs, and for a few weeks the +levies watched along the shore of the Wash; and then as no ships +came, went home, grumbling, as is an East Anglian's wont, and +saying that they would not come out again for naught, either for +king or earl.</p> +<p>Now after that I spent many a long hour in riding northward +along the coast, watching for the sails of the fleet, and at other +times I would sit on our little watch tower gazing over the +northern sea, and fearing ever when the white wing of a gull +flashed against the skyline that they were there. And at last, as I +sat dreaming and watching, one bright day, my heart gave a great +leap, for far off to the northward were the sails of what were +surely the first ships of the fleet.</p> +<p>I watched for a while, for it was ill giving a false alarm and +turning out our unwilling levies for naught, for each time they +came up it grew harder to keep them, and each time fewer came. In +an hour I knew that there were eight ships and no more, and that +they were heading south steadily, not as if intending to land in +the Wash, but as though they would pass on to other shores than +ours. And they were not Ingvar's fleet, for he alone had ten ships +in his ship garth.</p> +<p>They were broad off the mouth of our haven presently, and maybe +eight miles away, when one suddenly left the rest and bore up for +shore--sailing wonderfully with the wind on her starboard bow as +only a viking's ship can sail--for a trading vessel can make no way +to windward save she has a strong tide with her.</p> +<p>She came swiftly, and at last I knew my own ship again, and +thought that Halfden had come with news of peace, and maybe to take +me to sea with him, and so at last back to Osritha. And my heart +beat high with joy, for no other thought than that would come to me +for a while, and when she was but two miles off shore, I thought +that I would put out to meet and bring the ship into the haven; for +he knew not the sands, though indeed I had given him the course and +marks--well enough for a man like Thormod--when I was with him. And +there came over me a great longing to be once more on the +well-known deck with these rough comrades who had so well stood by +me.</p> +<p>But suddenly she paid off from the wind, running free again to +the southward down the coast, and edging away to rejoin the other +ships. And as she did so her broad pennon was run up and dipped +thrice, as in salute; and so she passed behind the headlands of the +southern coast and was lost to my sight.</p> +<p>I bided there in my place, downcast and wondering, until the +meaning of it all came to me; remembering Halfden's last words, +that he would not fall on East Anglia. Now he had shown me that his +promise was kept. He had left the fleet, and was taking his own way +with those who would follow him.</p> +<p>Yet if he had eight ships, what would Ingvar's host be like? +Greater perhaps than any that had yet come to our land, and the +most cruel. For he would come, not for plunder only, but hating the +name of England, hating the name of Christian, and above all hating +the land where his father had been slain.</p> +<p>I climbed down from the tower, and found my people talking of +the passing ships, and rejoicing that they had gone. Already had +some of them piled their goods in waggons ready for flight, and +some were armed. Then, as in duty bound, I sent men in haste to the +earl at Caistor to report this, telling him also that the great +fleet of which this was a part was surely by this token on its +way.</p> +<p>By evening word came back from him. He had sure news from Lynn +that the great fleet had gone into the Humber to join the host at +York, and that we need fear nothing. Men said that there were +twenty thousand men, and that there were many chiefs besides those +that I had named. This, he said, seemed over many to be possible, +but it did not concern us, for they were far away.</p> +<p>Now, when I thought how the wind had held at any quarter rather +than north or east for long weeks, it seemed to me likely that it +was this only that had kept them from us, and that the going into +Humber was no part of Ingvar's plan, but done as of necessity. For +to bring over so mighty a host he must have swept up every vessel +of all kinds for many a score miles along the shores. And they +would be heavy laden with men, so that he must needs make the first +port possible. Yet for a time we should be left in quiet.</p> +<p>Now I must say how things went at home, for my sister's wedding +with Egfrid had been put off first by the doubt of my own fate, and +then by the mourning for my father's death. Yet the joy of my +return had brought fresh plans for it, and now the new house at +Hoxne was nearly ready; so that both Egfrid and his folk were +anxious that there should be no more delay.</p> +<p>I, too, when the coming of the Danes seemed a thing that might +be any day, thought it well that Eadgyth should rather be inland at +Hoxne, whence flight southward could be made in good time, than at +Reedham, where the first landing might well be looked for. But when +the fear passed for a while by reason of the news from Northumbria, +the time was fixed for the end of November, just before the Advent +season, and not earlier, because of the time of mourning.</p> +<p>So the summer wore through slowly to me, for I was sad at heart, +having lost so much. And ever from beyond the Wash and from Mercia +came news of Ingvar's host. The Northumbrian king was slain, and a +Dane set in his place; and Burhred of Mercia bowed to the Danes, +and owned them for lords; and at last Ethelred of Wessex came to +himself and sent levies to meet the host, but too late, for Mercia +was lost to him. Yet Eadmund our king, and even Ulfkytel, deemed +that we were safe as ever behind our fenland barrier, fearing +naught so long as no landing was made from across the Wash.</p> +<p>Yet when November came in, and at Egfrid's house all was bustle +and preparation, we heard that Bardney was burnt, and Swineshead, +and then Medehamstede <sup>{<a name="sdendnote20anc" href= +"#sdendnote20sym" id="sdendnote20anc">xx</a>}</sup>. And the peril +was close on us, and but just across our border.</p> +<p>"No matter," said men to one another. "It will be a hard thing +for Danes to cross the great fens to come hither. They will turn +aside into Mercia's very heart, and then the Wessex folk will +rise."</p> +<p>But I feared, and two days before the wedding went to Harleston, +where the king was, and urged him to have forces along the great +wall we call Woden's Dyke even yet.</p> +<p>"Let us see your wedding first, Wulfric," he said. "Eadgyth +would be sorely grieved if I were not there."</p> +<p>For he lay at Harleston to be near at hand, as the wedding was +to be from the house of Egfrid's father, because Reedham seemed as +yet a house of sorrow. And I was glad when the Thane asked that it +should take place at Hoxne, and it was safer also.</p> +<p>Surely never moved host so swiftly as Ingvar's, for even as I +went, heavily enough, from Eadmund's presence, a man spurred into +the town saying that Earl Ulfkytel faced the Danes with a fair levy +gathered in haste, between us and Wisbech. They had crossed the +fens where no man dreamed that they might come, and were upon us as +if from the skies.</p> +<p>Now Eadmund made no more delay, but all that night went forth +the summons of the war arrow, and the men mustered in force at last +in Thetford town, and I spurred back to Hoxne and found the thane, +and spoke to him.</p> +<p>"Let the wedding go on," I said, "for the Danes are yet far, and +must pass the earl and us also before they come hither. Now must I +be with the king, but if I may, and Ulfkytel holds them back, I +shall be at the wedding. And if it must be, I will warn you to fly, +and so let Egfrid take his bride and my mother and his own folk +southward to Colchester or London."</p> +<p>That, he thought, was well, and no word of fear or haste +hindered the wedding gathering. Only some of the great thanes who +should have been there were with the king or earl, and it seemed +that the number of guests would be small.</p> +<p>I rode to Thetford, bidding Eadgyth look for me on the morrow in +good time, and saying that the king would surely come also. But +when I came to the town I knew that neither he nor I should be at +Hoxne, for the Danes had scattered the levy, and Ulfkytel the great +earl was slain, and with him many another friend of mine. And the +men said that the Danes were marching swiftly onward, ever nearing +Thetford, and burning and wasting all in their track.</p> +<p>We marched out of the town to meet them, for we had a good force +behind us, and the men were confident of victory with the king +himself to lead them. And he was cheerful also, and said to me, as +I armed him:</p> +<p>"I would not have you leave the wedding; howbeit, if we beat +back the Danes, which is a matter in the hands of the Lord of +Hosts, both you and I will be there in time tomorrow."</p> +<p>Our mounted men met the Danes that evening -- the night before +Eadgyth's wedding day--and we slept in our armour on Thetford heath +waiting for them. And in the early morning our outposts were driven +back on us, and the Danes were close on their heels.</p> +<p>Now Eadmund told me that I should not stand by him today, for so +soon as the battle was over I must go to Hoxne, either with news of +victory, or to bid them fly, and he would not keep me.</p> +<p>"I will not leave the place that is mine by right," I said.</p> +<p>"Not so," he answered; "I would bid you stand out of the battle +for sweet Eadgyth's sake, but that I know you would not obey +me."</p> +<p>And he smiled at me as he went on the great white horse he +always rode, to draw up the men.</p> +<p>They cheered when he spoke to them, and I thought that they +would fight well. Aye, and so they did, in their fierce untrained +way. Many a long day it was since we of East Anglia stood in battle +array, and the last time was against our own kin, save that now and +again the men of some shoreward places would rise to beat off a +Danish or Norse ship.</p> +<p>Now were the foes in sight, and they ranged up in close order +when they saw we were ready. More than half their force was +mounted, for the Lindsey uplands and marshes had given them horses +enough of the best in England. And this was terrible, that over the +host wheeled erne and raven and kite, as knowing to what feast the +flapping of yon Raven banner called them.</p> +<p>Foremost of all rode a mighty chief on a black horse, and I saw +that it was Ingvar himself, the king of the Danish host. Well I +knew the armour, for it was that which he had worn at the great +sacrifice, though now it shone no longer, but was dulled with the +stains of many a hard fight. Now, too, round his helm ran the gold +circlet of the king.</p> +<p>"Know you yon great man?" asked Eadmund of me; for I would not +leave him, but stood before him in my place.</p> +<p>"It is Ingvar the king," I answered; "he who was Jarl +Ingvar."</p> +<p>"Speak to him, and ask him to leave the land in peace," he +said.</p> +<p>Now I thought that was of little use, but I would do the king's +bidding, and asked what I should say.</p> +<p>"Offer him ransom, if you will," Eadmund answered.</p> +<p>So I went forward, and stood at a bowshot's length from our +people, leaning on the axe that Lodbrok had made me, and there +waited till the Danes came on. And presently Ingvar saw me, and +knowing that I was one who would speak with the leader, rode up, +looking curiously at me as he came.</p> +<p>"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!" I said when he was close.</p> +<p>He reined up his horse in surprise, lifting his hand.</p> +<p>"Odin! It is Wulfric!" he said. "Now, skoal to you, Wulfric! But +I would that you were not here."</p> +<p>"How is that, Jarl?" I asked; but I had ever heard that the jarl +was in high good humour before a fight.</p> +<p>"I would not fight with you, for you have been our guest. And +many a man have I questioned since yesterday, and all men say that +you were my father's friend. It was a true story that you told +me."</p> +<p>"You believed it rightly, Jarl."</p> +<p>"Aye--and therefore I will not fight with you."</p> +<p>Then I asked him to leave the land in peace, and his face +darkened.</p> +<p>"I speak of yourself alone," he said, "as for land and king and +people--that is a different matter."</p> +<p>"You have had your revenge," I said.</p> +<p>"What?" he asked fiercely. "Is the life of Lodbrok, my father, +worth but the death of a hound like Beorn? Stand aside, Wulfric, +and let me have my revenge in full."</p> +<p>Now, seeing that our talk was earnest, there rode up another +Danish chief, and it was Guthrum, the man who had seemed to take my +part at the idol feast. I was glad to see him come at this +moment.</p> +<p>"Here is Halfden's friend," said Ingvar to him, "and he, +forsooth, would have us go in peace."</p> +<p>And the Danish king laughed harshly.</p> +<p>"Why, so we will, if they make it worth our while," said +Guthrum, nodding to me.</p> +<p>"What ransom will you take from us?" I asked them.</p> +<p>"The keeping of Eadmund, your king," answered Ingvar; "nothing +more nor less."</p> +<p>"It seems to me that you will have to fight before you take +him," I said plainly; for no man in all the Anglian ranks would +have listened to that.</p> +<p>"That is too much," said Guthrum. "Tell him to own you as +overlord and pay scatt <sup>{<a name="sdendnote21anc" href= +"#sdendnote21sym" id="sdendnote21anc">xxi</a>}</sup> to us, holding +the kingdom from you, and that will save fighting--and surely the +whole land will be weregild enough for Jarl Lodbrok."</p> +<p>Then Ingvar thought for a moment, and said to me, still +frowning:</p> +<p>"Go and tell your king those terms, and bring word again."</p> +<p>So I went back and told Eadmund, knowing full well what his +answer would be. And it was as I thought.</p> +<p>"Go and tell this Ingvar that I will not give my land into the +hands of the heathen, or own them as lords."</p> +<p>Now what I told Ingvar and Guthrum was this only, knowing that +to give the full message was to enrage Ingvar:</p> +<p>"Eadmund refuses."</p> +<p>"Your king is a wise man," said Guthrum, "for who knows how a +fight will go?"</p> +<p>Ingvar reined round his horse to go to his own men, and he and +Guthrum left me standing there. I was turning away also, when the +hoof beats of one horse stayed, and Ingvar called me in the voice +he would use when most friendly with me.</p> +<p>"Wulfric," he said, "glad was I to find you gone, for I should +surely have had to slay you before the shrine; but Thor is far off +now, and I have forgotten that, and only do I remember that good +comrade to us all you have been in hall and forest. And ere I +sailed--one whom you know--that one who stayed my hand from +Beorn--made me promise--aye, and swear by my sword--that you at +least I would not harm. And I will not. Stand aside from this +fight."</p> +<p>Now, had I not known the great love and reverence in which those +three wild brothers held Osritha, I should have been amazed at +these words from Ingvar; but there is somewhat of good to be found +in every man.</p> +<p>Then I answered:</p> +<p>"I must fight for my land, Ingvar, but I also would fain not +fight against yourself. Where stand you in your line?"</p> +<p>"On the right," he said; "Guthrum is on the left."</p> +<p>"Where is Hubba?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"He is not far from us. He will come when I need his help."</p> +<p>"Then we need not meet," I said; "I am in the centre."</p> +<p>Now we both returned to our places, and again Eadmund, after I +had told him that we must fight, asked me to stand out.</p> +<p>"For," said he, "you are in her father's place to Eadgyth."</p> +<p>"Until after the wedding, my king," I said; "but you are in my +father's place to me always. Should I have left him?"</p> +<p>So I said no more, but stood in my place before him, for I loved +him now best of all men in the world since my father was gone, and +it seemed well to me to die beside him if die he must.</p> +<p>Now our king gave the word, crying, "Forward, Christian men!" +and we shouted and charged with a good will on the Danes, and the +battle began. Hard fighting it was on both sides, but our men in +their want of order jostled and hindered one another, so that I saw +more than one struck down by mischance by his own comrades. But the +Danes kept their even line, bent round into half a circle so that +we could not outflank them, and our numbers were nearly equal.</p> +<p>Men have said that I did well in that fight, but so did we all, +each in his way. All I know of my own deeds is that I kept my own +life, and that once a ring of men stood before me out of reach of +my axe, not one seeming to care to be first within its swing. And +ever Eadmund's clear voice cheered on his men from behind me.</p> +<p>So the battle went on from the first daylight for an hour's +space, and then the steadfastness of the Danish line began to +strike terror into our men, and the Danish horsemen charged on our +flanks and broke us up; and then all at once a panic fell on our +levies, and they wavered, and at once the horsemen were among them +everywhere, and the field was lost to us. Before I knew what had +befallen I was hurried away in a dense throng of our men, who swept +me from before the king, and I was soon in Thetford streets, where +I thought that surely we should have rallied, for there is no +stronger town or better walled in all East Anglia.</p> +<p>In the marketplace sat Eadmund on his white horse, unhelmed that +the men might know him yet living, for in the flight word had gone +round that he had fallen, and now the men seemed to be taking heart +and gathering round him.</p> +<p>But even as I reached him, a fresh throng of flying men came +down the street from the gate next the Danes, and after them came a +score of the terrible horsemen, driving a hundred like sheep before +them. At that sight the few who were gathering fled also, leaving +the king and myself and four other thanes alone. I was the only one +on foot.</p> +<p>Then one of those thanes grasped the bridle of the king's horse +and led him away, crying:</p> +<p>"Come, for our sakes; needs must fly. Let us go to +Framlingham."</p> +<p>So they rode, against the king's will as one might see, from the +place, and went away towards the southern gate of the town. And +seeing that the Danes were in the town I knew that all was lost, +and that here I might stay no longer if Eadgyth was to be +saved.</p> +<p>I ran to where I had left my horse, and mounted and fled also, +following the king, for that gate led to the road along the south +bank of the river. I knew not if he had crossed the bridge or no, +but over the river was my way, and I had my own work to be done, +and some twenty miles to be covered as quickly as might be. Glad +was I that I had chosen to fight on foot that day, for my horse was +fresh.</p> +<p>Terrible it was to see the panic in the town as the poor folk +knew that the Danes were on them. They filled the road down which I +must go, thronging in wild terror to the gates, and I will not +remember the faces of that crowd, for they were too piteous.</p> +<p>Glad I was to be free from them at last, and upon the road where +I could ride freely, for as they left the town they took to the +woods and riverside swamps, and save for a few horsemen flying like +myself, the road was soon clear. Then, too, these horsemen struck +away from the road one by one, and at last I rode on alone.</p> +<p>Now my one thought was for those at Hoxne, and to urge them to +instant flight, and I thought that even now Humbert the Bishop +would be in the little church, waiting for the bride to come.</p> +<p>Then I would hasten the more, for to reach the church from +Egfrid's father's house the river Dove must be crossed; and I would +keep them from returning to this side if I could be in time, for we +might break down the timber-built bridge and so delay the crossing +of the Danes. Yet they might be for days in Thetford before they +began to raid in the country.</p> +<p>Swiftly I rode on, for my horse was a good one and fresh, and at +last, after many miles were passed, I came to a place where I could +see a long stretch of road before me. There rode the king on his +white horse, and with him those four thanes. I could not mistake +that party, and I thought I knew where they were going. The king +would warn my people himself, and so take refuge beyond Hoxne, on +the other side of the river, at South Elmham, with Bishop +Humbert.</p> +<p>I rode after, but I gained little on them; nor did I care much, +for the king would do all that I might. In a few minutes more I +should know if he crossed Hoxne bridge, and if he did so they were +safe.</p> +<p>I lost sight of the party as they came into a wood, and there my +horse stumbled. He had lost a shoe. That was little to me now, but +it kept me back; and now I heard the quick gallop of horses behind +me, and looked to see who came, for I thought that more fugitives +followed, most likely. I had heard the sound coming on the wind +more than once before as I rode on the wayside grass.</p> +<p>They were Danes. Twelve of them there were, and foremost of all +rode Ingvar on his black horse. Well for the king that they had no +change of steeds, but had ridden hotfoot after him from the +battlefield. Now their horses were failing them, but they would +take me, and delay would give the king another chance; and I was +half-minded to stay and fight. Then I thought of Hoxne, and I put +spurs to my horse and rode on again.</p> +<p>Now I came in sight of Hoxne bridge, and half feared that I +should see the bridal train passing over; but many men were even +now leaving the bridge, going towards the church, and I knew that +they were there. But of Eadmund and his thanes I saw nothing--only +a lame white horse, that I thought like his, grazed quietly in a +field by the roadside, so that for a moment my eyes went to it, +thinking to see king and thanes there.</p> +<p>Ingvar was not a mile behind me, and I spurred on. And now I won +to the turning that leads to the thane's house whence the company +had passed, and a few villagers stood at the road corner. Them I +asked how long it was since the bride had gone, and they stared at +me in stupid wonder, making no answer. Then I bade them fly, for +the Danes were coming; and at that they laughed, looking at one +another slyly, proud of their own fancied wisdom. So I left them +and rode on.</p> +<p>Even as I came to the hill down to the bridge my horse stumbled +and almost fell, and when I gathered him up, not losing my seat, I +knew he was beaten. And now I halted for good, unslinging my axe, +and waiting to fight and hinder the Danes from going further, as +yet. It was all I could do.</p> +<p>Hand over hand they came up to me, and now Hoxne bells rang out +in merry peals as the bride and bridegroom left the church. The +service was over, and unless our king had warned them, they would +be coming back over the bridge in a few minutes. Yet, if he had +warned them, surely the bells had not pealed out thus.</p> +<p>Now I heard the music play from across the water, and I heard +the shouts of the people--and all the while the hoofs of Ingvar's +horses thundered nearer and nearer. Then they came over the little +rise in the road and were on me with levelled spears.</p> +<p>I got my horse between them and me, across the narrow roadway, +and hove up my axe and waited. But when Ingvar saw who I was, he +held up his hand, and his men threw up their spear points and +halted, thinking perhaps that I was the king.</p> +<p>"Where is the king?" shouted Ingvar.</p> +<p>I saw that their horses were done, and not knowing which way the +king had gone answered truly.</p> +<p>"I know not. The road forks, and that is as far as I know."</p> +<p>Then Ingvar swore a great oath.</p> +<p>"You know not which way he went?"</p> +<p>"I do not," I said.</p> +<p>"Catch a thrall and ask him," he said to his men.</p> +<p>And those silly folk were yet standing at the corner, maybe +thinking us belated wedding guests, and the men took one, dragging +him to their chief. But the man said that he had seen no horsemen +pass. Truly he had heard some, but all men were at the house door +waiting for the bride to come forth, and paid no heed.</p> +<p>So the king had passed by before the procession set out, and I +knew not what to think.</p> +<p>"What bride?" said Ingvar.</p> +<p>And the music answered him, coming nearer and nearer, and now +they were crossing Hoxne bridge--a bright little array of wedding +guests, and in the midst I could see those two, Egfrid and Eadgyth, +and after came a crowd of village folk.</p> +<p>"See yonder," said a Dane, pointing. "By Baldur, here is a +wedding! Gold and jewels to be had for the taking!"</p> +<p>But my horse was across the road, and my axe was in the way, and +I cried to Ingvar as the men began to handle their weapons.</p> +<p>"Mercy, Jarl Ingvar! This is my sister's wedding--that Eadgyth +of whom your own sister would ever ask so much."</p> +<p>"Hold!" roared the chief, and his men stayed, wondering. "An you +touch so much as a hair of any in that company--the man who +touches, I will slay!" he said, and the men stared at him.</p> +<p>"Yon is the bridal of Reedham folk," he said, "and the bride is +she who befriended Lodbrok. They shall not be hurt."</p> +<p>For he must needs justify himself, and give reason for +withholding plunder from Danes as free as himself.</p> +<p>"Aye, King, that is right," they said on hearing that, and +Ingvar turned to me.</p> +<p>"For Osritha's sake, lest I should harm you in aught," he said. +"Now ask me no more. Let us meet them in peace."</p> +<p>Now I knew that my folk were safe for this time at least, and my +heart was light, and so leaving my horse I walked beside the king, +as his men called him, until we met the first of the company on +this side of the bridge.</p> +<p>Then was a little confusion, and they stopped, not knowing what +this war-stained troop might betoken. And I saw that no word had +come of the great defeat as yet.</p> +<p>I went forward, calling to Egfrid and the thane his father, and +looking at them so that they should show no fear or give any sign +to the ladies present that all was not well.</p> +<p>"This is Jarl Ingvar himself, and these are his men," I said. +"And the jarl would fain speak with Eadgyth my sister, of whom he +has often heard."</p> +<p>And Egfrid, being very brave, although he must have seen well +enough what this meant, kept his face well, and answered that Jarl +Ingvar was welcome, coming in peace.</p> +<p>"Aye--in peace just now," answered Ingvar, looking at him. "Now, +I will say this, that Wulfric's sister has found a brave +husband."</p> +<p>Now Eadgyth heard the jarl's name, and knew naught of the terror +that that name brought to all the land, and least of all that a +battle could have been fought, for we had kept it from her. Nor had +I told her of how nearly he had been to slaying me, for I would not +make Osritha's brothers terrible to her. So she thought of him only +as Lodbrok our friend's son, who had shown me hospitality in his +own hall.</p> +<p>So when Egfrid took her hand and brought her forward, looking as +I thought most beautiful in her bridal array, she smiled on the +great Dane frankly, as in thanks for my sake.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar unhelmed, and spoke to her in courtly wise, even as +he was wont to speak to Osritha.</p> +<p>"When I go back to my own land, lady, I shall have many +questions asked me by one of whom you have doubtless heard, as to +how our friend's sister was arrayed for her wedding. And that I +shall not be able to say--but this I know, that I may tell Osritha +that Wulfric's sister was worthy of Wulfric."</p> +<p>Now Eadgyth noted not the war stains on Ingvar's mail, but it +was strange and terrible to me to see him sitting there and +speaking as though the things of a stricken field were not the +last, as it were, on which he had looked. But Eadgyth's eyes were +downcast, though she was pleased.</p> +<p>"Thanks, Jarl Ingvar," she said; "often have I heard of Osritha. +When you return I would have you thank her for her care of my +brother--and I would thank you also, Jarl, for your care of +him."</p> +<p>Now Ingvar reddened a little, but not with anger, for he saw +that I had spoken at least no ill of him to Eadgyth.</p> +<p>"Nay, lady," he answered; "Halfden and Hubba and Osritha have to +be thanked--if any thanks need be to us for caring for Jarl +Lodbrok's preserver. Little share may I take of the matter."</p> +<p>"Yet I will thank all in your place," she said, and then shrank +back to Egfrid's side.</p> +<p>Never had I seen a more handsome couple.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar laid his hand on a great golden snake that twined +round his right arm, and I thought he was going to give it as a +bridal gift to my sister, for that is ever a viking's way, to give +lavishly at times when he might have taken, if the mood seizes him. +But as he glanced at the gold he saw blood specks thereon, and I +heard him mutter:</p> +<p>"No, by Freya, that were ill-omened."</p> +<p>And he did but seem to put it in place, as if thinking. Then he +replaced his helm, bowing, and said:</p> +<p>"Now must I stay your rejoicing no longer. Fare you well, lady, +and you, noble Egfrid; I must ride back to Thetford town on my own +affairs. Yet I leave you Wulfric. Will you remember hereafter that +you spoke with Ingvar the king, and that he was your friend?"</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," answered they both at once.</p> +<p>Then once more the music played, and the little train went on +and up the hill, and Ingvar and I stood together for a while +looking after them.</p> +<p>"I thank you, King," I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, Wulfric; and maybe you and yours are the only ones who +will say that word to me in all this land. Now take my rede, and do +you and your folk begone as soon as maybe, for even I cannot hold +back men who are not from our own place."</p> +<p>Then I parted from him, going after my people, and thinking that +all was well for us, and that surely our king was safe, until I +came to where my horse still stood. There over the lane hedge +looked that lame white horse that I had seen, speaking as it were +in his own way to mine. And when I saw him thus near, it was indeed +the king's, and a great fear that he was not far off took hold of +me.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. +IN HOXNE WOODS.</a></h2> +<p>Many of the village folk loitered on the bridge and in the +lanes, looking curiously at the Danes, and talking of the wedding +and the like. And some of these I saw Ingvar's men questioning, and +very soon a knot of them gathered round one man, and there was some +loud talking.</p> +<p>Then I would have hastened back, but Ingvar saw me, and waved +sternly to me to depart, and slowly enough I went on my way. But I +could not forbear looking back when I reached the road to the +house.</p> +<p>Only Ingvar was now on horseback, and the men seemed to be +swarming over the bridge railings, and climbing under it among the +timbers.</p> +<p>Then were shouts, and the village churls began to run every way, +and one or two came up the hill towards me.</p> +<p>"What is it?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Oh, master," the first man cried, "when the bridal folk went +over the bridge on the way to the church, one man looked over into +the water, and cried that he saw somewhat sparkle therein like +gold, and others looked, and some saw naught, but others said that +they saw in the water as it were the image of golden spurs. And the +Danes asked us if we saw the king; but we had not. Only one man +laughing, in his fear as I think, said that the nearest thing to a +crown that he had seen was the glint of golden spurs shining from +the water yonder. Then looked the Danes--and now--oh master!"</p> +<p>The man grew white, pointed, and fled.</p> +<p>Haled and pushed and buffeted by the hands of the Danes, a man +was dragged over the rail of the bridge from the network of cross +timbers among which he had hidden, and I saw that the armour was +that of Eadmund the King.</p> +<p>There, in that seemingly secure place, his thanes must have made +him hide when his horse fell lame, for doubtless he would not +hinder them in their flight, but would have taken sanctuary in the +church. From some point in the road they must have seen their +pursuers before I cared to look behind me to see who followed, for +there was no mistaking the red cloaks that the Danes of the king's +courtmen always wear.</p> +<p>This I thought at the time, and long afterwards learnt from one +of those thanes that I was right. And it was their doing, not his, +for the king would have gone to the church and there warned my +people. But as it chanced there were no men in sight when the king +hid, for all were gathered to the thane's house. And I asked that +thane if they sent no warning message--and he said they had done so +by a certain churl whom they met. But our folk never had it.</p> +<p>Now I knew not what to do, being torn with grief and fear. I +dared not cross Ingvar again, lest I should change his mood, mild +enough now, to some wild fit of rage, for I had not bided so long +in his hall without learning that much of his ways. I stayed till I +knew for certain that they had not harmed the king, and so saw him +bound, and mounted behind one of the courtmen; and then when I saw +them begin to come towards me, I went to the thane's house and told +him all, calling him out from the feast.</p> +<p>"Let us mount and rescue the king," I said.</p> +<p>"Then will they kill him--better not. They will but hold him to +ransom," the thane said.</p> +<p>I knew his first word was right, and now I left that and urged +him to hasten the flight of all the party, bidding him take the +road towards the south, ever away from the Danes.</p> +<p>"What will you do?" he asked, for I spoke not of coming with +him.</p> +<p>"This," I answered. "I will pledge Ingild's word, as I know I +may, for any ransom, going after the Danes and finding Guthrum, who +will listen to me."</p> +<p>He thought that well, and then I asked where Humbert the Bishop +was. He had gone back to South Elmham at once, and would be far on +his road by this time, the thane said.</p> +<p>Then I went out and took a fresh horse from the stables and rode +away into the great road. And when I came there, I saw with others +the man who told me how the king's hiding place was found.</p> +<p>"How long have the Danes been gone?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Master," he answered, "they have gone back over the bridge, +some of them riding forward towards Hoxne."</p> +<p>At that I knew that some plan of Ingvar's was that his men after +victory should cross the river at Thetford, and so perhaps strike +at Framlingham where the king's household was. But all along the +march of the Danish host had been unresting, so that men had no +time to prepare for their coming, or even to know what point they +would reach next.</p> +<p>Then I sent by this man urgent messages to the thane that they +should fly coastwards, crossing the river Waveney, perhaps, so as +not to fall into the hands of the host at the first starting, for +Ingvar's horsemen would be everywhere south of this and +Thetford.</p> +<p>I rode fast over the bridge, for I feared for Humbert our good +bishop, and when I came near the church the bells jangled, all +unlike the wedding peals that I had heard so lately.</p> +<p>They had found a few late flowers, violets and marigolds and +daisies and the like, and had strewn them before the bride as she +left the church; and they lay there yet with bright hedgerow leaves +to eke them out--but across the path, too, lay the dead body of a +poor churl, dressed in his holiday gear, slain by a spear thrust, +and the church was burning. Now the men who jangled the bells for +help came down in haste, terrified as the fire took hold of the +roof, for the church was all of wood and very old.</p> +<p>When they saw me they ran, thinking me yet another of their +foes; but I rode after one and caught him, for he would by no means +stay for calling, and I asked him what had happened, and where the +bishop was.</p> +<p>"Alas, master," the man said, "they have slain my brother and +fired the church, and now have ridden after the bishop. They slew +my brother because he would not say by which road he had gone; and +another told them, being in fear for his life--and our king is +taken."</p> +<p>"Did they take the king by the road to South Elmham?"</p> +<p>"Four rode after the bishop with the great man on the black +horse who was the leader. The rest went with the king up the track +through Hoxne woods, but slowly."</p> +<p>Had I but one or two more with me surely now I should have +followed up the king and tried to rescue him. But I think it would +have been vain, for Ingvar's men would have slain him rather than +lose him. But most of all I wondered at the boldness of these few +men, who, with their leader, dared venture so far from their +forces. Well did they know, however, how complete is the rout of a +Saxon levy; and I too might have guessed it, since I had fled alone +after the first five miles, while all those who had left the town +with me scattered all ways.</p> +<p>Now the church was blazing from end to end, and one or two more +men had gathered to me, seeing who I was.</p> +<p>"Take up yon body," I said, "and cast it into the church. So +shall his ashes lie in holy ground at least. For you and yours must +even take to the woods for a while. The Danes will be here."</p> +<p>That I think they did, for they were lifting the body as I went +away and rode along the way that the bishop had taken, meaning at +least to meet Ingvar, for I feared lest the men who had the king +should slay him if they were followed.</p> +<p>Hardly a mile had I gone when Ingvar and his men came riding +slowly back. Their beaten horses could do no more, and they had +left following the bishop. Ingvar's face was black as night, and as +he came he roared at me: "You here again! Now this passes all. Did +I not bid you stand aside and hinder me not?"</p> +<p>"Aye, King," I answered, coldly enough. "But I cross you not. I +have ransom to offer for the king."</p> +<p>"I will have no ransom," he said, very savagely.</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," I said quietly, knowing that his word was not +the only one to be spoken on that matter, "let me tell you of it, +that you may tell the other chiefs."</p> +<p>"I am the king," he answered, glaring at me.</p> +<p>"Then, King, hear my words, and give them to those under +you."</p> +<p>"Speak to this man," he said, pointing to one of the courtmen; +for they heard all I said, and he could not refuse to listen +altogether to what concerned his fellow chiefs. Then he rode past +me, and the men, save that one of whom he spoke, followed him.</p> +<p>Now I was angry as he, but kept that to myself, and waited till +he was out of hearing before I looked at the man who waited. And +when I did so, the man grinned at me, saying:</p> +<p>"Truly it is like old times to see you stand up thus to the +jarl--king, I mean. There is not a man in our host dare do it."</p> +<p>And lo! it was my friend Raud the forester. His beard was gone, +and he had a great half-healed scar across his jaw, so that I had +not known him even had I noticed any but Ingvar.</p> +<p>Then I was glad, for here was one whom I could trust, even if +his help was of little use.</p> +<p>"Glad am I to see you, Raud my friend, though it must be in this +way. Why is the jarl so angry?"</p> +<p>"Why, because the bishop has escaped us. We never saw so much as +his horse's tail. And if he be like the bishop we saw at Hedeby, I +am glad."</p> +<p>"Surely he is," I said. "But now I have come to offer ransom for +the king, and you must tell Guthrum and the other chiefs that it +would be paid very quickly if they will take it."</p> +<p>At that Raud shook his head.</p> +<p>"I will tell them, but it is of little use. There has been talk +of it before, but when we came into East Anglia Ingvar claimed the +king for himself, giving up all else."</p> +<p>"Why?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Because when he made Beorn speak, Beorn said that Eadmund the +King had set him on to slay Lodbrok. I heard the man confess +it."</p> +<p>"But he left that story, telling the truth about himself," I +said.</p> +<p>"Aye, so he did. But the tale has stuck in Ingvar's mind, and +naught will he hear but that he will have revenge on him."</p> +<p>"What will he do?" I said, looking after the Danish king, who +went, never turning in his saddle, with bowed shoulders as one who +ponders somewhat.</p> +<p>"How should I know?" answered Raud, carelessly. "Let us go on. +Maybe if you come with me we shall hear them speak together."</p> +<p>"Raud," I said, "if harm is done to the king, I shall surely +fall on some of you--and Ingvar first of all."</p> +<p>"Not on me with axe, I pray you," he answered laughing, and +twisting his head on one side. "I mind me of Rorik."</p> +<p>"Let us be going," I said, for I could not jest.</p> +<p>So we trotted after the party, and when we were near, Raud left +me and went to Ingvar's side, speaking to him of what I had said. +Then the jarl turned round to me, speaking quietly enough, but in a +strange voice.</p> +<p>"Come with me and we will speak of this matter to Eadmund +himself. Then will the business be settled at once."</p> +<p>That was all I would wish, and being willing to speak yet more +with Raud, I said I would follow. He turned again, and looked no +more at me.</p> +<p>Then I asked Raud of his brother, and of Thoralf, my other +companion of flight. They were both slain, one at Gainsborough and +one at Medehamstede. Thormod was with Halfden in Wessex, where they +had made a landing to keep Ethelred, our Wessex overlord, from +sending to our help. But as to Halfden, men said that he would not +come to East Anglia, for the Lady Osritha had over persuaded +him.</p> +<p>Then, though I would not ask in any downright way, I found that +Osritha was well, but grieving, as they thought, for the danger of +her brothers--and of that I had my own thoughts.</p> +<p>So with talk of the days that seemed so long past, we went on +into Hoxne woods, through which Raud said that he had learnt we +must go to meet the host in its onward march from Thetford.</p> +<p>"Jarl Ingvar lets not the grass grow under his feet," I +said.</p> +<p>We came to a place where the woodland track broadened out into a +clearing, and there waited the other Danes, and with them, sitting +alone now on the horse, was Eadmund the King.</p> +<p>Pale he was, and all soiled with the stains of war, and with the +moss and greenery of his strange hiding place; but his eye was +bright and fearless, and he sat upright and stately though he was +yet with his hands bound behind him.</p> +<p>I rode past Ingvar and to Eadmund's side, and throwing myself +from my horse stood by him, while the Dane glared at us both +without speaking.</p> +<p>"Why run thus into danger, Wulfric my son?" said the king, +speaking gently; "better have let me be the only victim."</p> +<p>"That you shall not be, my king," I answered; "for if you must +die, I will be with you. But I have come to try to ransom you."</p> +<p>"There are two words concerning that," said Ingvar in his cold +voice. "Maybe I will take no gold for Eadmund."</p> +<p>"What shall we give you then?" I asked, looking earnestly at +him.</p> +<p>"You heard what I said this morning before the battle. I have no +other terms but those. And I think they are light--as from the son +of Lodbrok whom this king's servant slew."</p> +<p>Now Eadmund spoke, saying to Ingvar:</p> +<p>"Let me hear what are your terms for my freedom. In the slaying +of Lodbrok my friend I had no part."</p> +<p>"That is easily said," Ingvar answered, frowning. "I have my own +thoughts on that--else had I not been here. But this land is in my +power, therefore I will let you go if you will hold it for me, and +own me as overlord, doing my will."</p> +<p>"My answer is the same as it was this morning. It is not for me +to give over this land into the hands of heathen men to save +myself."</p> +<p>That was Eadmund's calm answer, and looking on Ingvar I saw the +same bode written in his face as had been when I would not honour +his gods. Then he spoke slowly, and his words fell like ice from +his lips.</p> +<p>"It seems to me that this land is in the hands of us heathen +without your giving."</p> +<p>"So that may be, for the time," answered Eadmund; "but your time +of power has an end."</p> +<p>"Has it so?" said Ingvar, and his eyes flashed. "Where is your +help to come from? Do you look to Ethelred?--He is busy in Wessex +with more of us heathen. Where is Mercia?--It is ours. Will Kent +help you?"</p> +<p>"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and +earth," answered Eadmund, lifting his eyes heavenwards so +earnestly, that in spite of himself the wild heathen king followed +their upward gaze for a moment.</p> +<p>It was but for a moment, and that weakness, as he would deem it, +was the spark to light Ingvar's wrath, that as yet he had kept +under.</p> +<p>"Hammer of Thor!" he shouted, "you dare throw that in my face! +Now will I show you if heathen or Christian is stronger."</p> +<p>Then with his face white with rage he turned to his men: "Bind +him to yon tree, and we will speak with him again!"</p> +<p>Now if it is well that I did not die with my king, it was well +at that moment for me that my axe hung at my saddle bow, and that +my horse--to which I had paid no heed in my troubles--had wandered +a little way, for I should surely have fought to prevent this +dishonour being wrought. And I sprung to reach the axe, for the +short sword I wore was of no use against so many. But Raud was +close on me, and he dropped from his saddle on my shoulders as I +passed him, so that I fell, half stunned under him, and one of the +other men ran up, and ere they had stripped and bound the king to a +tree, I was bound hand and foot, and rolled by Raud into a thicket +where I might escape Ingvar's eye. And, indeed, he paid no heed to +me, but watched the king.</p> +<p>So must I lie there with my heart like to break, seeing all that +went on, and I will tell it as best I may.</p> +<p>Ingvar strode to the young oak tree to which they had bound the +king and looked fixedly at him. Then he said, "Scourge this man," +and his men did so. But the king made no sign by word or motion. I +saw Ingvar's rage growing, and he cried as his men forbore, +shrinking a little from their quiet victim:</p> +<p>"Ask for mercy, Christian, at the hands of Ingvar the godar, the +priest of Odin and Thor, and you shall go free."</p> +<p>But the king met his gaze sadly and firmly, answering:</p> +<p>"That were to own that you have power over me through your false +gods."</p> +<p>"Power I have," said Ingvar; "ask for mercy."</p> +<p>Thereat the king answered no word, though his lips moved, and I +alone knew what his words might be, for though his hands were bound +he moved his noble head in such wise as to make the sign of the +Cross. And I think that he spoke to himself the prayer of +forgiveness that he had learnt therefrom.</p> +<p>Almost then had the Dane smitten him in the face, but to this +cowardice Ingvar the king had not yet fallen. He drew back a few +paces, and took his long dagger from his belt, and at that I +thought that he was going to slay the king, and I closed my eyes, +praying. But he spoke again.</p> +<p>"Ask for peace on the same terms for your people, if you will +not for yourself."</p> +<p>Then the king grew pale, but he set his lips close, still gazing +at Ingvar. Hard was this for him who loved his people so well.</p> +<p>The Dane's dagger flashed, and he hurled it at Eadmund, but so +skilfully that it did but graze his head, sticking firmly into the +tree trunk. And he cried in a voice that shook with rage:</p> +<p>"Answer me!"</p> +<p>But the king held his peace, closing his eyes, and waiting for +what might come, most bravely.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar turned to his men, and bade them unsling their bows +and see if they could make this man find his tongue. Seven of them +went to work with a good will, but Raud and the others would not, +but turned away.</p> +<p>The men shot, and in many places the king was pierced, and lo! +he lifted up his voice and sang gloriously, even as if in the +church and on some high festival, the psalm that begins "<i>De +Profundis</i>". Nor did his voice falter, though now he might move +neither hand nor foot by reason of the piercing of the arrows.</p> +<p>At that the men stayed in amazement, and one threw away his bow +and turned aside to where Raud stood, near where I lay. But Ingvar +ground his teeth with rage, and stamping on the ground, cried to +the men to shoot again.</p> +<p>And again the arrows flew, and now it seemed to me that no more +arrows might find mark in the king's body without slaying him; and +before my eyes was a mist, and my mouth was dry and parched, yet I +could not turn away and look no more. But the men fitted arrows to +the bowstrings once more, while Ingvar stood still and silent with +his strong hands clasped together behind him, gazing at the king, +whose lips moved in prayer, the psalm being ended, and, as I think, +his strength ebbing fast from his many wounds.</p> +<p>Now they were about to shoot once more, unbidden, keeping up +their torture if they might; but there was one more merciful than +the rest. Forward before the bowmen strode Raud, with his sword +drawn, and he cried to Ingvar:</p> +<p>"Let me slay him, king, and end this for pity's sake!"</p> +<p>Ingvar turned his eyes gloomily on him for a moment, and then +answered:</p> +<p>"What know you of pity? Slay him if you will."</p> +<p>Then when he heard that, Eadmund looked at Raud, smiling on him +with a wondrous smile and saying:</p> +<p>"Thanks, good friend."</p> +<p>So Raud slew him in pity, and that was now the best deed that +might be done.</p> +<p>Thereat I cried out once, and my senses left me, and I knew no +more.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER +XIII. HOW BISHOP HUMBERT JOINED THE KING.</a></h2> +<p>When I began to come to myself it was late afternoon. At first +into my mind came the fancy that I sat on the side of King +Eadmund's bed in the king's chambers at Reedham, and that he told +me a wondrous dream; how that--and then all of a sudden I knew that +it was no shadowy dream, but that I had seen all come to pass, and +that through the arrow storm Eadmund had passed to rest.</p> +<p>All round me the trees dripped with the damp November mist that +creeps from the river, and the smell of dead leaves was in my +nostrils, and for a while I lay still, hardly yet knowing true from +false, dream from deed. So quiet was I that a robin came and +perched close to me on a bramble, whose last leaves were the colour +of the bird's red breast, and there it sang a little, so that I +roused to life with the sound. Then swooped down a merlin with +flash of gray wings on the robin and took it, and that angered me +so that I rose on my elbow to fray it away; and with that the last +cloud left my mind and I knew where I was. Then, too, from where he +waited my waking came Vig, my great Danish dog, who had been tied +at the thane's house, and must have left the flying party to seek +me. And he bounded in gladness about me.</p> +<p>Now I found that my bonds were gone, and next that my weapons +were left me, and that but for cramp and stiffness I had not any +tokens of what had befallen. And at first it seemed to me that +Ingvar thus showed his scorn of me, though soon I thought that he +had forgotten me, and that it was Raud who had freed me.</p> +<p>I heeded not the dog, looking only in one place. But the body of +the king was gone, and his arms and mail were gone. The hoofmarks +of Ingvar's horses were everywhere; but at last I made out that +they had gone on through the wood.</p> +<p>Presently the dog growled, looking towards the village, and I +heard voices coming nearer, and with them I heard the tread of a +horse. But soon the dog ceased, and began to wag his tail as if to +welcome friends, and when the comers entered the clearing, I saw +that they were Egfrid's men, and that it was my horse that they +were leading. My axe was yet at the saddle bow.</p> +<p>"Why, master," said the foremost, "surely we looked to find you +slain. This is well--but what has befallen?"</p> +<p>For I must have looked wildly and strangely on them.</p> +<p>"Well would it be if I were slain," I said. "Why did you seek +me?"</p> +<p>"We found the horse coming homewards, and one knew that you had +gone into the wood after the king. Yet we would seek you before we +fled."</p> +<p>I saw that all were armed, and I thanked them. But--</p> +<p>"What ails you, master?" said the leader of the group.</p> +<p>"They have slain Eadmund the king," I answered, "and they have +taken his body away."</p> +<p>Thereat they groaned, wondering and cast down, and one said:</p> +<p>"They will not have carried him far. Let us search."</p> +<p>We did so, and after a long time we found the king's body in a +thicket where it had been cast. But his head we could not find, +though now I bade my dog search also. He led us westward through +the wood, until we came to a rising ground, and there we could go +no further. For thence we saw the Danish horsemen by scores +pressing towards us, searching for cattle and sheep as the army +passed southward. And the farms were blazing in the track that they +had crossed everywhere.</p> +<p>Then said the men:</p> +<p>"We must fly. We who live must save ourselves, and must come +back and end this search when we may."</p> +<p>"Let us bear back the king's body," I said, "and find some +hiding place for it at Hoxne."</p> +<p>So we did, hurriedly, and hid it in a pit near the village, +covering it with boards and gravel as well as we could for haste. +Then I asked the men where they would go.</p> +<p>"By boat down the river," they said, "and so join the thane and +his party wherever they might be. They have gone to Beccles, for +they hear that a ship lies there whose master will gladly take them +to London."</p> +<p>That was good hearing, for so would all be safe. The men pressed +me to come with them, but I would not do so, meaning to hasten on +to the bishop's place and make him fly to Beccles and take ship +also, starting this very night. So I bid them go, and on that their +leader, a stout freeman named Leof, whom I knew well as one of +Egfrid's best men, said that he would come with me. Nor would he +hear of aught else.</p> +<p>"What would Egfrid my master say if I left his brother to go +alone?" he asked me simply; and so I suffered him, and we two went +towards South Elmham together.</p> +<p>Soon Leof saw a horse in a field and caught it, mounting +bareback, and after that we went on well enough.</p> +<p>Darkness fell, and all the low clouds were reddened with the +light of fires behind us, and ever as we looked back would be a +fresh fire and light in the sky, for the Danes were at their work. +We pushed on steadily, but the lanes were rough, and the miles +seemed very long in the darkness; but at last we crossed the Elmham +stream and rode to the stockaded house that was the bishop's, and +which stands pleasant and well placed on a little hill beyond the +low ground, and with no woodland very near it.</p> +<p>We shouted, and at last men fully armed came and let us in. And +as I looked back once before the gates closed after me, I thought +that the fires were nearer. The Danes were not staying their hands +for darkness, for so the terror they spread would be the greater. +So also was the bishop's peril therefore.</p> +<p>"Where is Bishop Humbert?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Master, he is in the church, nor will he leave it," said the +old steward. "He says he must pray for king and land day and night +now till this terror is overpast."</p> +<p>"I will go to him--he must fly," I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, pray him to do so, Wulfric; he will listen to you," said +the old man earnestly.</p> +<p>"Have all things ready," I said. "See--there is little +time."</p> +<p>"What of the king, master?" asked he, looking at the fires with +a white face as he once more opened the gate.</p> +<p>"The king has gone where he would wish to be," I answered very +gravely; and he understood me, turning away that I might not see +his weeping.</p> +<p>Then Leof and I splashed back through the stream that ran +between house and church, and came quickly to the porch. The church +is very small and more ancient than I can say, for it is built of +flint bound together with such mortar as the Romans used in their +castles, hard as stone itself, and it stands in the midst of the +Roman camp that guarded the ford, so that maybe it was the first +church in all East Anglia, for we use wood; and, moreover, this +stone church is rounded at the east end, and has a barrier dividing +the body of the building into two, beyond which the as yet +unbaptized must sit, as men say. And so strong and thick are the +walls that I do not know how they can ever fall.</p> +<p>Now through the narrow windows shone lights, and I heard the +sound of chanting. Leof held my horse, and I opened the door gently +and went in.</p> +<p>At once there was a shrinking together of a group of men, mostly +monks, who stood at the upper end of the church where the chancel +begins. They were chanting the third psalm, for help against the +heathen, and it faltered for a moment. But they were mostly monks +of the bishop's own household, and knew me well enough, and they +ended it shortly.</p> +<p>Then there was silence, for they were holding none of the set +services, but rather as it seemed doing the bishop's bidding, and +praying with him in the best way for the ceasing of this new +trouble, as in time of pestilence once I remembered that he made +litanies for us. And Humbert himself knelt before the altar during +that psalm, fully vested, but as in times of fast and +penitence.</p> +<p>When he rose, I came up the aisle towards him, and my mail +clanged noisily as I walked in the hush. At the chancel steps I +stood, helm in hand, and did reverence, not daring to speak +first.</p> +<p>"What is it?" asked the bishop, when he turned and saw me. +"Speak, Wulfric, my son. Is all well?"</p> +<p>"I have heavy news, father," I answered. "Close on us are the +Danes, and you must fly. Then I will tell you all on the way."</p> +<p>"I will fly no more," he answered, "here I will bide. Is the +king at my house?"</p> +<p>"He is not there, father," I said; and then I urged him to fly +at once, and with me his monks joined, even going on their knees in +their grief. Yet he would not be moved.</p> +<p>"Surely the king will come here," he said, "nor will I go +without him."</p> +<p>"Father," I said, "the Danes have taken the king."</p> +<p>"Then must I bide here, and pray and scheme for his +release."</p> +<p>Now I knew not how to tell him all, but at last I said:</p> +<p>"Eadmund the king has escaped from the hands of the +heathen."</p> +<p>At that the bishop looked long at me, judging perhaps what I +meant, by my voice. But the monks rejoiced openly, at first, until +they saw what was meant also, and then they trembled.</p> +<p>"Where is he?" he asked, speaking low.</p> +<p>"Father," I said, "this twentieth day of November will be the +day when England shall honour a new martyr. Eadmund the King is +numbered among them."</p> +<p>"How died he?" then said the bishop, folding his hands.</p> +<p>But now the monks bade him fly, and reasoned with and prayed +him. But he bade them save themselves, for that there would be work +for them to do among the heathen.</p> +<p>"As for me, I am an old man," he said, "and I would fain go the +same road as the king."</p> +<p>Still they clung to him, and at last, speaking to each by name, +and giving each some message to take to cell or abbey where they +must go at his bidding, he commanded them; and so, unwillingly, +kissing his hand and receiving his blessing, they went one by one, +till he and I and one or two laymen besides were left in the little +church. Then he spoke to the other men, and they went also, and we +were alone.</p> +<p>"That is well," said the bishop; "tell me all, and then do you +fly."</p> +<p>He sat down in his great chair, leaning his head in his hand +while I told him all in that quiet place. Never once was there +trembling flash from the great jewel of his ring, that shone in the +candlelight, to show how moved he was; but when I had ended, the +tears were running down his venerable face, and he said:</p> +<p>"Now is there truly one more added to the noble army of martyrs, +and he is at rest. Now do you go, my son."</p> +<p>But I had other thoughts in my mind, and I rose up silently from +beside him, saying only: "Not yet, father," and I went down the +aisle and out into the darkness to Leof.</p> +<p>"See yonder!" said he pointing, and there was a fresh fire not +many miles from us. "I think they scour the country for our bishop. +We have little time."</p> +<p>"Tell me, Leof," I said, "have you a mind to live?" for there +was somewhat in the man's weary voice that seemed to say that he +and I thought alike.</p> +<p>"None, master, after today's work, if I may find a brave man or +two to die with me."</p> +<p>"Here is a brave man waiting with a like thought in the church. +Shall you and I die with him?"</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," said Leof quietly.</p> +<p>"Bide here then," I said, and took the horses from him.</p> +<p>I mounted mine and rode to the house, where the steward and one +or two others watched from the gateway. I bade the old man call his +folk together, and I told them to fly. Many were already gone, now +others went at once.</p> +<p>But a few stayed, and to them I said like words as to Leof.</p> +<p>"Hither will the Danes come presently, but in no great force. We +may beat them back, and if we do, then maybe the bishop will fly. +But we shall more likely die with him."</p> +<p>"Let us stand by him, come what will," they answered me in +steady voices; "better to die with him and our king."</p> +<p>They took their arms and gave me a sword, and we left the horses +in the stable, for we might even yet need them. I thought that we +could maybe, as I said, beat off the first few Danes, and then +that, to save further bloodshed, the bishop would go with us. And +if not, we had done our best.</p> +<p>Five men came with me to the ford. When we were at the other +side there were but four. One had gone back, and I did not blame +him. Leof sat in the little porch, and so we six went into the +church together. The bishop sat where I had left him, but he raised +his head when we came up the aisle.</p> +<p>"Nay, my sons," he said, "you must fly. Maybe these men will +respect an old man like myself and lonely."</p> +<p>Then I said:</p> +<p>"Father, we would have you say mass for us ere the light comes +again."</p> +<p>Now it wanted about an hour to midnight.</p> +<p>"Is there yet time?" he said.</p> +<p>Then I answered that I thought we might wait in peace for so +long, and he, knowing nothing of the nearness of the Danes, +consented. So we bided there in the aisle benches to wait till +midnight was past, and soon one or two of the men slept +quietly.</p> +<p>Now, when it may have been almost midnight, and the time for +mass would soon be come, the bishop, who had been so still that I +thought he slept, lifted his head and looked towards the altar. And +at the same time my dog whined a little beside me.</p> +<p>Then Humbert the Bishop rose up and held out both his hands as +to one whom he would greet, and spoke softly.</p> +<p>"Aye, Eadmund, I am coming. Soon shall I be with you."</p> +<p>So he stood for a little while very still, and then went to his +place again.</p> +<p>Then Leof, who sat next to me, said, whispering:</p> +<p>"Saw you aught, master?"</p> +<p>"I saw nothing, but surely the bishop had a vision."</p> +<p>"I myself saw Eadmund the king stand before the bishop, and he +had a wondrous crown on his head," said Leof, speaking as though of +somewhat not terrible, but good to think on.</p> +<p>"I also saw him," said the old steward from behind me. "I saw +him plainly as in life, and I thought he smiled on us."</p> +<p>But I had had no such sight, and it grieved me. Moreover, two of +the other three men whispered, and I thought one of them told of +the like vision. And I think, too, that the dog saw it, as the +innocent beasts will see things beyond our ken.</p> +<p>Soon the bishop judged that the time was come for mass, and he +called softly to me, bidding me serve, for I had often done so for +him in the old days when I was a boy and he was at Reedham, and I +knew well what to do.</p> +<p>Then was said a most solemn mass with that one aged priest, and +us few men present. And all was very quiet round us, for no wind +stirred the trees on the old rampart.</p> +<p>The bishop's voice ceased with the benediction, and the hush +deepened; but suddenly Leof and I looked in each other's faces. We +had heard a shout from no great distance, and the blood rushed +wildly through us.</p> +<p>Now the bishop rose from his knees, and I took the holy vessels, +as he gave them to me, putting them into their oaken chest in its +niche. And when that was done, he said:</p> +<p>"Now I will not bid you fly, my sons, for I think that somewhat +has bidden you bide with me. And I have seen the king, so that I +know the time is short. Take therefore the holy vessels and drown +them in the deep pool of the stream. I have used them for the last +time, but I would not have them profaned by the heathen in their +feasting."</p> +<p>I knew that this should be done as at Bosham, but already I +heard the shouts yet nearer, and I was loth to leave the church, +and so paused.</p> +<p>"I know your thoughts," said the bishop. "Yet go, as I bid you; +it is not far."</p> +<p>So I took the heavy, iron-bound chest on my shoulder and went +quickly, running as well as I might to the stream below the +rampart, where it curled deep and still under crumbling banks. +There I plunged my burden, hearing it sink and bubble into the +depths.</p> +<p>Then I went back, and reached the gap in the rampart that had +been the gate next the ford, and that was at the east end of the +church, so that the porch was far from me. And before I had gone +halfway to the church--over the western rampart spurred a score of +horsemen, dimly seen in the half moonlight that was now. And the +leader of them saw me, and rode straight at me, calling to me to +hold, while I drew my sword and ran to reach the door before he met +me; and my dog, which was at my heels, flew at the horse's +throat.</p> +<p>But I must fail, and I whirled up my sword to strike--and then a +long flash of light from a spear point smote me, and over me the +man rode, pinning me to the ground with the spear through my left +shoulder. His horse trod on me, and the man wrenched the weapon +from me as he passed on, and I had but time to call out to Leof to +warn him, when a rushing came in my ears, and a blaze of light +before my eyes, and the world passed from me.</p> +<p>Then I seemed to stand in darkness, while past me, gloriously +shining, went Leof, and then the old steward and one of those two +men who had whispered together, and then Humbert the Bishop +himself. But it seemed to me that he paused and looked on me, +saying, in a voice that was like music:</p> +<p>"Hereafter--not now. Twice have you offered your life today, and +yet there is work for you. Be content to wait."</p> +<p>So he passed, looking kindly at me, and then the blackness came +over me again.</p> +<p>When I came round at last it was high day, and the air was full +of smoke around me. One sat on a great brown horse looking at me, +and by my side cried my dog; and I groaned, whereat the man got off +his horse and came to me. And I knew that it was Hubba, and some of +the men I knew were there also.</p> +<p>"Why, Wulfric, friend, how is this? I thought you were dead. Who +has dared to hurt you? What has happened here?"</p> +<p>"You know well," I gasped.</p> +<p>"Nay, I know not; I have but now ridden this way with our rear +guard," he answered, seeming to pity me.</p> +<p>"Look in the church and see," I said, groaning. "You Danes are +all one in the matter."</p> +<p>"Now I am not the man to harm you, nor would any of our folk," +he said. "Some of our courtmen found you here, and brought me."</p> +<p>"Slay me and have done," I muttered; for that was all I would +have him do.</p> +<p>"That will I not, Wulfric," he answered; and he called to some +men who were busy about the walls of the church.</p> +<p>The smoke rose thickly from within them, for the burnt roof had +fallen in.</p> +<p>"Take this warrior and bind his wound," he said. "It is Wulfric +of Reedham, our friend."</p> +<p>The faintness came over me again when the men raised me, though +they tended me gently enough, and I could say naught, though I +would rather they had cast me into the burning timbers of the +church, even as I had bidden men do with that poor churl at Hoxne, +that my ashes might be with those of our bishop.</p> +<p>So they bore me far, and at last left me in a farm where they +promised all should be safe if they tended me well. And Hubba rode +with them, and came to bid me farewell. But I could not speak to +him if I would, so he went away sadly. And as in a dream I heard +him speak of care for me to the widow and her two sons to whom the +farm belonged, and whom his men had taken unawares, so that they +had not time to fly.</p> +<p>Presently came the best leech from Ingvar's host and tended me +carefully; and I needed it, for besides the spear wound, my right +thigh was broken, by the trampling of the horse, as was most +likely.</p> +<p>Thereafter I lay for many weeks, as they told me presently, sick +and nigh to death; but being young and strong and no high liver at +any time, I came through the danger well enough, and began to mend +slowly. Yet my sickness, when I could begin to think, was more of +mind than body, and that kept me back. For long did it lie heavily +on my mind that I should have died with the king, and it was that +sorrow and blame of myself that went sorely against me. But after a +time the love of life came back to me again, and I began to see +things as they really were, untouched by a sick man's fancies. And +then the words of the good Prior of Bosham helped me, teaching me +that my life was surely spared for somewhat.</p> +<p>These good folk of the farm tended me most kindly, for they knew +me by sight as a close friend of both king and bishop, and for +their sakes were glad to do all they might for me. But I pined for +the touch of that one who had tended me when I was wounded before, +Osritha, whom I had learnt to love as she did so.</p> +<p>Sometimes I would think that between her and me had now risen up +a barrier stronger than the sea that was washing our shores alike, +because that of Ingvar's sister I might not think aught any longer. +And then I would set before me how that of these cruel doings nor +she nor Halfden had any part, hating them rather, and so would +comfort myself. Long are the thoughts that come to a sick man.</p> +<p>Now it was not till February that I might take much heed of +anything, but then I learnt that the Danes had wintered in +Thetford, and that the land was in peace. The war had passed on to +the Wessex borders and then had slackened, as winter came earnest, +and now the north and south folk, Dane and Angle, were foes no +longer openly. But Ingvar and Hubba were at Nottingham, waiting to +fall on Wessex, leaving only strong garrisons in our towns.</p> +<p>Then one of the dame's sons would go to London for me, there to +seek Ingild and tell him of my hap, for, the lad said:</p> +<p>"Now that these Danes need fight no more they are decent folk +enough, and will not hinder a man who has not whereof to be +robbed."</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. +HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD SEARCHED TOGETHER.</a></h2> +<p>I sat in the warm sun under the wide spread of the farmhouse +eaves, dreaming my dreams with the dog at my feet, for so soon as +the May time came in I must needs get into the open air, and grow +stronger daily.</p> +<p>So it came to pass that one day up the green farm lane came a +stranger, at whom the dog barked not, as was his wont, but ran to +meet as if he were some well-loved friend. And it was Raud, his old +master, who came, lightly mail clad, and with a short hunting spear +instead of staff in his hand, and whistling his "Biarkamal" as +ever.</p> +<p>Now with Raud I had no quarrel concerning the death of the king, +for well I knew that what he had done was truly in mercy, nor had +he taken any part in what went before. So I greeted him heartily +enough, for all that with the sight of him came back to me, with a +sharp pang, the memory of how I saw him last. And he rejoiced to +see me again.</p> +<p>"I have half feared that I should find you gone," he said; "for, +when I heard of this from Hubba's men, I must needs come and find +you, and little hope had I that you would live."</p> +<p>"I have nearly died, they say," I answered; "but I think that I +owe it to you that I was not slain in Hoxne woods yonder."</p> +<p>"Why, not altogether," he answered, sitting on the settle by me, +and looking me over, from arm yet in sling to lame leg. "Some of +the men with Ingvar and me wanted to slay you before they left that +place; but Ingvar growled so fiercely that they must let you be, +that they said no more, nor even would look your way again. But he +himself looked at you, and said strange things to himself."</p> +<p>"What said he?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"He said, paying no heed to me, 'Now, Wulfric--you will hate me +forever more, nor do I think that Lodbrok my father would be +pleased with this;' after which he spoke words so low that I caught +but one here and there, but they were somewhat of the lady Osritha, +our mistress. After that he said to me, 'Leave him horse and arms +and unbind him,' and then turned away. Yet if I had not bound you +at first, maybe they would have had to slay you."</p> +<p>"That is true enough," I said; "surely I should have stood +between you and the king. But what came to Ingvar to make him speak +thus to me?"</p> +<p>"Why, after the hot fit comes the cold, ever, though Ingvar the +King's cold rage is worse at times than his fury. But since that +day there has been somewhat strange about the king."</p> +<p>"I wonder not," I said; nor did I. "But how goes it with +him?"</p> +<p>"Men say, though they dare not do so openly, that the ghost of +Eadmund will not let him rest, and that mostly does he fear him +when his rage is greatest. Many a time when the fury seemed like to +come on him, Ingvar turns white and stares suddenly beyond all +things, as though seeing somewhat beyond other men's ken, and the +sweat runs cold from his forehead. Many a man has escaped him +through this."</p> +<p>"Surely Eadmund holds him back thus from more cruelty," I +thought. And aloud I said:</p> +<p>"What think you of the matter?"</p> +<p>"Why, that I am glad that I was bold enough to save your dying +king from more torture--else had I seen somewhat before me day and +night. Truly I see him now betimes in my sleep, but he ever smiles +on me. Moreover, this is true, that all those seven men who shot +the arrows died in that week. Two died in Elmham Church when you +were nigh slain."</p> +<p>"Tell me of that," I said.</p> +<p>For no man knew rightly what had befallen there, save that under +the charred ruins of the roof lay Bishop Humbert and one or two of +his men.</p> +<p>But when he told me, it was as I thought. Those few men had +fought bravely until they were slain, themselves slaying three +Danes. But one of the bishop's men escaped, cutting through a +throng at the doorway and seizing a horse. Then was slain the +bishop, who knelt at the altar, not even turning round to face the +Danes as they came.</p> +<p>So I hold ever that as I lay for dead I had seen those brave +ones pass me even as they were slain. But of this I said naught to +Raud, at that time at least.</p> +<p>Now I asked Raud whence he had come, and he said:</p> +<p>"From London."</p> +<p>And at that I feared greatly, asking:</p> +<p>"Has Ingvar taken the city, therefore?"</p> +<p>"Not the king himself, but Guthrum went into London, taking good +ransom for peace."</p> +<p>"Where is Ethelred the king of England?" I said, half to +myself.</p> +<p>"Ethelred?--he minds naught but Wessex for good reason. For +Halfden and Bagsac and the Sidracs are on one side of him, and +Ingvar and Hubba the other, waiting for him to make peace. But +there is like to be fighting. Alfred, the king's brother, has a +brave heart and a hard hand."</p> +<p>"Then all is quiet in London?"</p> +<p>"Peaceful enough; and there Guthrum the King holds court, and I +think men are well content with him."</p> +<p>"Of what is Guthrum king?" I asked, for I had not heard him +called by that name before. The only other king of the host beside +the three jarls was Bagsac.</p> +<p>"Why, of East Anglia. He holds it for Ingvar, while he tries to +add Wessex for his own to Mercia. Halfden will be king in +Northumbria, maybe, and Hubba over another of the kingdoms."</p> +<p>So they had already parted out the land among them beforehand! +Woe for us therefore, for unless a leader was raised up among us, +surely all England must own Danish overlords! But I had heard +Alfred the Wessex Atheling well spoken of as a warrior.</p> +<p>However, what was that to us of East Anglia? We had been +deserted by Wessex at our need as it seemed, and these Danes were +as near kin to us as Wessex Saxons.</p> +<p>"How did you come to leave Ingvar's service?" I asked, not being +willing to dwell on this matter.</p> +<p>"I think my face spoke to him too plainly of that which was in +Hoxne wood--and so he bade me stay with Guthrum. Nor was I loth, +for I would find you again."</p> +<p>Then I was touched a little by the kindness of this rough +warrior, and thanked him. After that we sat silent for a while, and +the good dame brought out food and ale for Raud, and I envied his +pleasure therein, for I took little as yet.</p> +<p>Now for many days past a great longing to be away from this +place had filled my mind, and now seemed to be the time.</p> +<p>"Take me to London, Raud," I said.</p> +<p>"Why, that is part of my errand here," he answered, smiling. "I +have a message to you from Guthrum the King."</p> +<p>"What might that be?"</p> +<p>"He wants to speak to you as one who is known to be friend to +Dane and Anglian alike, and being blamed by neither for friendship +with the other. So he would have you give him counsel."</p> +<p>"Let me get to London," I said, "and then I will answer. I +cannot now."</p> +<p>So Raud bided in the farm with me for a while, and now with new +thoughts and with his talk of Halfden and Osritha, I mended +quickly, for it was my troubled mind that had kept me back mostly, +as I cared for nothing.</p> +<p>One day I felt strong again, waking up and taking delight in the +smell of the fresh morning and in the sunlight. And I ate heartily +of the brown bread and milk they gave me, and afterwards told Raud +of what I had been long thinking.</p> +<p>"All things are quiet in the land now. Let us gather a few of my +people and seek the head of our king, if you fear not to go into +Hoxne woods."</p> +<p>Raud thought for a while before he answered me.</p> +<p>"I fear not, for the poor king thanked me, smiling at me. Let me +go with you."</p> +<p>So that day the dame sent messages by her son to some who had +come back to their places, and in the evening when he came home, +there were with him two of Bishop Humbert's monks, dressed like +churls, for they dared not wear their habits. These two and some +others would gladly come with me on my search.</p> +<p>Next day, therefore, they set me on a pony that was quiet, and +slowly we went towards Hoxne, coming thither in the afternoon +early, seeing no Danes anywhere, while many of our folk were back +and at work in the fields.</p> +<p>Then I asked Raud if these poor people were safe now.</p> +<p>"Surely, master," he said, for so he would call me, having heard +the farm people name me thus. "There is none so great difference +between you and us, and we Danes love to be at peace if we may. I +think there will be no more trouble here. And, anyway, we are too +wise to hinder a harvesting of that we may eat."</p> +<p>So too thought I, and my heart was less sad after that ride, +though there was not one place left unburnt of all that we saw.</p> +<p>When we came to Hoxne I told the two monks where we had bestowed +the king's body, bidding them look to see if it was not disturbed. +And they said that his bones were safely there.</p> +<p>Now we must seek for the head of the king, and in that Rand +could not help us, for one had ridden away with it while he was +taken up with me and my plight.</p> +<p>So we went towards that place where the dog had taken us, and +searched long, until I, being weak, must get from off the pony and +rest. I would ride back to the place where the king had been slain +and sit there awhile; but first, knowing that Vig remembered things +well, I sent him from me, bidding him search also, hoping that he +would not forget his last quest in this place. Yet what we most +feared was that the forest beasts had made our search vain.</p> +<p>There were many men from the village with us now, for they had +followed the two monks, and they spread about over the wood far and +wide, searching, while I sat at the foot of the oak tree to which +the king had been bound, leaning my arms and head against the trunk +that had been stained with his blood, and thinking and praying, as +well I might in that sacred place.</p> +<p>I moved my hand, and felt something sticking from the hard bark +and looked to see what it was. It was an arrowhead, such a rough +iron spike as men will use when they must make fresh arrows after +battle, in all haste, and have to use what they can first find. The +shaft was snapped close to the iron and the rawhide lashing that +held it, and I could not take it out as I would, for the young oak +was sturdy and tough; and so I left it, thinking that I would +return some day to cut it out.</p> +<p>That I did in after years, but the arrowhead was hidden, for the +tree had grown fast, closing on it, as I think, and I could not +find its place. So it will be there for one to find hereafter, +maybe long hence, for such a tree has many a hundred years to last +yet, if saved from mishap of wind or lightning or axe. Then I think +will men still know what that iron is, for Eadmund the King cannot +be forgotten.</p> +<p>Presently it seemed to me that the voices I heard in the wood, +as the searchers called to each other, drew closer together, +crying:</p> +<p>"Where are you?"</p> +<p>"Here--here!"</p> +<p>And then was a sort of outcry, and a silence, and I hoped that +maybe they had found what they sought. So I rose up and went slowly +and limpingly to the place where they seemed to be.</p> +<p>I met them in a green glade. And foremost came the two monks, +bearing between them a cloak, wherein was surely that we looked +for, and after them came my dog and Raud, and then the rest. And +when they saw me they cried softly to me:</p> +<p>"Master, we have found the head of our king."</p> +<p>So they laid open the cloak before me, and I knelt and looked. +And there was indeed the head of Eadmund, seeming whole and fresh +as when I had last seen him; and his looks were very peaceful, for +on his face was still that smile with which he had greeted death at +Raud's hands.</p> +<p>Then, seeing that, the rough Dane was fain to turn away and lean +arms and face against a tree trunk, weeping as weeps a child that +will not be comforted.</p> +<p>After a little I asked how they had found the head. And one of +the villagers, speaking low and holding his cap in his hands as +though in the church, answered me.</p> +<p>"When I came to a certain thicket, I heard a crying, as it were, +and I turned aside and looked, and at first was sorely afraid, for +yon great wolf held the head between his paws, whining over it as +in grief. Then I called to the rest, and they came, running, and +were afraid also till the good fathers came, to whom the wolf was +gentle, suffering them to take that which he guarded. And lo! he +follows us even now, as would a dog!"</p> +<p>So the man spoke, not having seen such a dog as mine before, for +till more came with the host there were none like him in our land. +I told him that it was but my own dog; yet for all that, I know +that this tale of a wolf passed for the truth over all the land as +it flew from mouth to mouth, so that soon I myself heard from one +who knew me not very strange stories of that finding of ours.</p> +<p>Yet would that tale hardly be stranger than was the truth, that +not one of the wild creatures, either beast or bird, had harmed our +king's sacred head. And how it should be so preserved in that place +I cannot tell, but I say what I saw. Yet his body was not so +preserved in the place where we had hidden it.</p> +<p>These things are beyond me, nor can I tell all the thoughts that +came into my mind as I looked into the face of the king whom I had +loved, and who loved me.</p> +<p>Now would we take our treasure, as we must needs think it, to +Hoxne, and the monks were about to lift it again. But Raud came +forward very solemnly, begging that he might be allowed to bear it, +"Because he would make what amends he might."</p> +<p>And I signed to the monks to suffer him to do so, and he took +it. None else but I knew what part he had had with the other Danes +in this matter, and the monks did but think him grieving for what +his comrades had done.</p> +<p>So he bore it to Hoxne village, and we passed the place where +the church had been. There, amid the blackened ruins of the walls +and roof, stood the font of stone, fire reddened and chipped, yet +with the cross graven on its eastward face plain to be seen. And to +that place Raud led us, none staying him, yet all wondering.</p> +<p>When he came there he strode over the burnt timber until he came +to the font, and there, under the graven cross, he set down his +burden very gently, and stood up, looking in my face, and +saying:</p> +<p>"Here will I leave the worship of Odin and cleave to that faith +for which Eadmund the King died, and for which you, Wulfric, were +willing to die both in Jutland and here by Eadmund's side. Will any +forbid me?"</p> +<p>Then I knew that the man was in such earnest, that none, save he +perilled his own soul, might hold him back, and I took his hand and +spoke to the elder monk, saying:</p> +<p>"I will answer for this man, father, as to his will. If he knows +enough of our faith, I pray you baptize him straightway."</p> +<p>There was rain water in the font, sparkling and clear, and +without any delay or doubt the good man came forward and stood +thereby, while I yet held Raud's hand as his godfather.</p> +<p>"What know you of our faith, my son?" said the monk in his +gentle voice.</p> +<p>Now of his own accord Raud faced to the eastward, and clasping +his hands before him, spoke the words of the Creed, slowly and +haltingly maybe, but with knowledge thereof, and all that little +company, standing hushed until he ended, answered "Amen" with one +voice.</p> +<p>Then again, untaught by us he turned to the west, where the sun +was even now sinking, and lifting his right hand very solemnly he +put away from him the false gods of his forefathers, and the golden +sunlight made his face very glorious, as I thought.</p> +<p>"It is well, my son," said the old monk.</p> +<p>So he was baptized, and I gave him the new name of Cyneward +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote22anc" href="#sdendnote22sym" id= +"sdendnote22anc">xxii</a>}</sup>, for the memory of Eadmund the +King and what he did for him in saving him from torture as best he +might. And surely he was the first fruit of the martyrdom of him +whose head he had borne.</p> +<p>Then when all was done he took up his burden again, softly and +reverently, saying:</p> +<p>"Life I took, and life has been given me. This is not the old +way of life for life, but it is better."</p> +<p>So he gave back the head to the monks, and they, wondering at +him, but greatly rejoicing, took it, and stood awhile pondering +where we might safely bestow it.</p> +<p>Then came one of the villagers, telling of a stone-walled +chamber that had been a well in days long gone by, hard by the +church porch. That we found after some labour, moving much ruin +from over it, and therein we placed the bones and head of our king, +covering it again until better days should come. And I, thinking of +my riches in the hands of Ingild, promised that when it might be +done I would see to raising the church afresh, to be over the ashes +of the king.</p> +<p>So our little company parted, and Cyneward, who had been Raud, +and I went back with the elder monk and the farm folk to our place, +going slowly in the warm twilight, with our hearts at rest, and +full of the wonders we had seen that day.</p> +<p>Only one thing would the monk and I ask Cyneward, for we +wondered how he had learned our faith so well. And that he answered +gladly.</p> +<p>"Ever as Wulfric and I escaped from the vengeance of Ingvar +towards Hedeby I wondered that one should be strong enough to defy +the Asir and their godar for the sake of the new faith. So I sat in +the church of Ansgar among the other heathen and heard somewhat. +And again in London of late, where Guthrum will have no man harmed +for his religion, I have listened and learnt more. So when I needed +them, the words were ready. Now, therefore, both in life and death, +Wulfric, my master, I thank you."</p> +<p>But I was silent, knowing how much greater a part in this I +might have had. For I thought that, but for the need of proving my +faith or denying it, I should have surely been as a heathen among +heathen in those days in Jutland. Yet Beorn asked me to pray for +him, and that I had done, and it had kept me mindful when I had +else forgotten.</p> +<p>So began the work Humbert the Bishop foretold before he died, +and that monk of his who saved his own life at Humbert's bidding +for the work, saw it, and rejoiced.</p> +<p>After this, in a week's time, Cyneward and I took horse and rode +away to London, for the dame's son came back to me, having found +Ingild, bringing me messages from him, and also from Egfrid and +many more. And all was well. At that time I could not reward as I +would those good people who had thus cared for me, but I would send +presents when I might. Yet they said they needed naught from me but +to see me again at some time, which I promised, as well for my own +love of them as for their asking.</p> +<p>We went unharmed and unquestioned, for all the land was at +peace. Truly there were new-made huts where farmsteads had been, +and at the town gates were Danish axemen instead of our spearmen as +of old. Yet already in the hayfields Dane and Anglian wrought +together, and the townsmen stood on Colchester Hill beside the +Danish warriors, listening while gleeman and scald sang in rivalry +to please both.</p> +<p>Little of change was there in London town, save again the +scarlet-cloaked Danish guards and watchmen. Few enough of these +there were, and indeed the host left but small parties in the towns +behind them in our land. Yet those few could hold the country in +peace, because men knew that at their back was the might of +Ingvar's awful host, which came on a land unawares, marching more +swiftly than rumour could fly before it, so that not one might know +where the next blow would fall until suddenly the war beacons of +flaming villages flared up, and it was too late to do aught but +fly.</p> +<p>Yet in our land was none to fight for. No king had we to follow +the martyr. Ethelred had left us alone, and already in the hearts +of men grew up the thought that the strong hand of the Dane meant +peace.</p> +<p>In the house of good old Ingild, my second father, as he would +have me hold him, was rest at last. And there I found all whom I +held dear gathered to meet me on the night when I came, for they +had fled by ship, as they had hoped, and had reached London +safely.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. THE +MESSAGE OF HALFDEN THE KING.</a></h2> +<p>Now when I had been in London for a fortnight, Cyneward, whom +Ingild would by no means suffer to live elsewhere than in his house +with me, went to Guthrum as was his duty, and told him that I had +come. Whereupon he sent to me, asking again that I would speak with +him.</p> +<p>On that I took counsel with Ingild and Egfrid, and the thane his +father, and they thought it well that I should do so.</p> +<p>"This Dane," said the thane, "is lord of East Anglia by the +might of the strong hand, and it seems to us that we might have a +worse ruler. At any rate we shall have peace, and no more trouble +with Danes while he is here. As for Ethelred, he is no more to us. +Even if he overcomes the Danes in the end, it is not likely that we +will own Wessex overlords again unless we must."</p> +<p>That was the word of all with whom I spoke, and in the end, when +it was certain that the Danes meant to stay, and that help from +Ethelred was none, East Anglia owned Guthrum as king quietly and +with none to say a word against it, so securing a peace that should +last.</p> +<p>But to this I could not bring myself as yet, because of what I +had seen, and that the hand of Ingvar was behind Guthrum.</p> +<p>"Go to him at least," said Ingild, "and find what he needs of +you. Then will be time to say more."</p> +<p>So at his advice I went, and I found Guthrum in Ethelred's great +house, where he sat in little state, doing justice in open hall +where many citizens were gathered. And I saw him do even-handed +right to both Dane and Saxon, and that pleased me, for already I +had liked the man's honest face and free bearing.</p> +<p>He greeted me well, taking me aside presently with Cyneward into +a private chamber. And there he told me that he would ask me to do +a favour towards him.</p> +<p>I answered that what I might I would do gladly, so that he asked +me not to break faith with my own people.</p> +<p>"I would ask no man to do that," he said. "Tell me what I may +not ask you."</p> +<p>"Shall I speak plainly?" I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, plainly as you will."</p> +<p>"Then, Guthrum, I may not own Ingvar for overlord. Nor can I +allow that you have more than right of conquest over us."</p> +<p>"Plain speaking, in good sooth," he said, laughing a little, +"but what I expected from Wulfric of Reedham. However, I am ruler +in East Anglia by that right you speak of, and I have a mind to be +as fair in it as I may. Now, I think you can help me."</p> +<p>This honest saying warmed my heart to him somewhat, and weary +enough of his lawman's work this warrior looked. Yet I was not sure +that he would not try to use me to make his hold on the land more +sure.</p> +<p>"Tell me in what way that may be," I said, therefore.</p> +<p>"Let me come and ask you of this and that when I am in a strait +owing to knowing naught of Saxon ways. Then can I say to a Dane, +'Thus says Wulfric, Lodbrok's friend,' and to an Anglian, 'So says +the Thane of Reedham.' Then I think I shall do well, for I would +fain be fair."</p> +<p>"I will ever be ready to do that, Guthrum," I said; and I held +out my hand to him, for I could not help it.</p> +<p>So he took it and wrung it warmly.</p> +<p>"Now must I go back to Thetford very soon," he said. "Come back +that you may be near me."</p> +<p>"I must live here, in London now," I said; for I would by no +means live with his court, nor did I think that he should have +thought it of me after my words.</p> +<p>"Why not go back to your own place now? I can see you often at +Reedham."</p> +<p>"That is an ill jest," I said; for I thought nothing so sad as +going back to see that dear home of mine but a blackened heap of +ruins, nor would I ever ask any who might have seen the place +concerning it, knowing how the Danish ships had burnt all the coast +villages.</p> +<p>Guthrum looked at me as if puzzled.</p> +<p>"No jest, Thane," he said; "why not go back?"</p> +<p>"To ruins--what good?" I answered.</p> +<p>"Now I think you mean that you will not take your land at my +hands," he said.</p> +<p>"That were to own you king."</p> +<p>"Then, Wulfric, my friend, if I may call you so, that the lands +of a friend are not mine to give and take I need not tell you. Nor +do we harm the lands of a friend. There is one place in East Anglia +that no Dane has harmed, or will harm--the place that sheltered +Jarl Lodbrok. And there is one man whose folk, from himself to the +least of all, are no foes of ours--and that is the Thane of +Reedham. Ah! now I see that I have gladdened you, and I think that +you will come."</p> +<p>"This seems almost impossible," I said, in my wonder and +gladness.</p> +<p>"Nay, but word went round our host that it was to be so. There +you might have bided all unknowing that war was near you. You do +but go back of your own free will."</p> +<p>Now I was fain to say that I would at once go back to my place, +but there was one thing yet that I would say to Guthrum.</p> +<p>"Will you let the Christian folk be unharmed?"</p> +<p>"Little will our people care," he said, "when once they have +settled down, what gods a man worships. Nor would I have any +meddled with because of their faith."</p> +<p>"Now am I most willing to help you," I said; "and I will say +this--so are you likely in the end to be hailed king indeed."</p> +<p>"That is well," he answered, flushing a little. "But there is +one man whom I will never ask to own me as king, and that is +yourself. But if you do so of your own will, it will be better +yet."</p> +<p>So we parted, each as I think pleased with the other, and I knew +that East Anglia had found a wise ruler in Guthrum the Dane.</p> +<p>Straightway now I told my people the good news that Reedham was +safe. The longships came up to Norwich time after time now; and +there had been but one thought among us, and that was that our +place could not have escaped the destruction that had fallen on all +the shore and riverside villages.</p> +<p>Then Ingild said:</p> +<p>"These Danes have come as our forefathers came here, to take a +new and better country for themselves, but the strife between them +and us is not as the strife between alien peoples. They are our +kin, but between us and the Welsh was hatred of race. They will +settle down, and never will East Anglia pass from Danish hands, +even if Ethelred of Wessex makes headway enough to be owned as +overlord of England by them. Now therefore is there one place in +all England where peace has come, and to that place I would go to +end my days. Here in London the tide of war will ebb and flow ever. +Let me go down with you to Reedham, my son, that I may die in +peace."</p> +<p>So we did but wait until he had set all his affairs in order, +selling his house and merchandise and the like. Then we hired a +ship that came from the Frankish coast and waited for cargo in the +Thames, and sailed at the end of July to Reedham. With us were +Egfrid and Eadgyth and my mother and Cyneward, who would by no +means leave me, and to whom Guthrum willingly gave leave to go with +us.</p> +<p>We came easily to Reedham, and very strange it was to me to see +two Danish longships lying in our roads, while our own shore boats +were alongside, the men talking idly together on deck or over +gunwale in all friendliness. Stranger yet it was to see the black +ruins of farms and church on the southern shores of the river +mouth, and at Reedham all things safe and smiling as ever.</p> +<p>Then was a wondrous welcome for us on our little staithe, and +all the village crowded down to greet us. Nor were the men from the +Danish ships behindhand in that matter, for they too would welcome +Lodbrok's friends.</p> +<p>So we came home, and soon the old life began again as if naught +had altered, but for the loss of loved faces round us. Yet in peace +or war that must come, and in a little while we grew content, and +even happy.</p> +<p>Soon Guthrum came to Thetford, and many times rode over to me, +asking me many things. And all men spoke well of him, so that +Egfrid's father and some other thanes owned him as king, and took +their lands as at his hands, coming back to rebuild their houses. +For as yet none of the greater Danish chiefs chose lands among us, +since it seemed likely that in a little while all England would be +before them, and in any case the power of Ethelred must be broken +before there could be peace.</p> +<p>Now when the first pleasure of return was over, I myself began +to be restless in my mind, seeing the quiet happiness of Egfrid in +his marriage, and thinking how far I was from Osritha, whom I loved +in such sort that well I knew that I should never wed any other. +And I would watch some Danish ship when she passed our village, +going homewards, longing to sail in her and seek the place where +Lodbrok's daughter yet lived beyond the broad seas.</p> +<p>But presently, at the summer's very end, I knew from the Danes +that Ingvar had gone back to Denmark, called there by some rumour +of trouble brewing at home in his absence; and that made it yet +harder for me, if possible, for on Ingvar I would not willingly +look again, nor would I think of Osritha but as apart from him.</p> +<p>So the winter wore away. The host was quiet in winter quarters +in Mercia, and the Danes in our country grew friendly with us, +harming no man.</p> +<p>These men, I could see, would fain bide in peace, settling down, +being tired of war, and liking the new country, where there was +room and to spare for all.</p> +<p>In early spring Guthrum went to the host on the Wessex borders, +taking command in Ingvar's place.</p> +<p>For Hubba went to Northumbria, there to complete his conquests, +and Halfden was on the western borders of Wessex. And before he +went Guthrum took great care for the good ordering of our land--and +that he might leave it at all at that time was enough to show that +he feared no revolt against him.</p> +<p>Now as I sat in our hall, listless and downcast, one day in +July, Cyneward came in to me.</p> +<p>"Here is news, master, that I know not what to make of."</p> +<p>"What is it?" I said. "Is the war to be here once more?"</p> +<p>"The war is no nearer than Ashdown Heath; but it seems that the +Wessex men have found a leader."</p> +<p>Then he told me of the long fighting round Reading, and how at +last Halfden had cut his way through Wessex and joined forces with +Guthrum after many victories. But that then Ethelred and Alfred the +Atheling had made a great effort, winning a mighty victory on +Ashdown Heath, slaying Bagsac the king and both the Sidracs, Harald +and Osbern the jarls, Frene, and many more with them. Nine battles +had they fought that year and last.</p> +<p>"How hear you of this?" I said.</p> +<p>"There has come a messenger from Guthrum with the news, and even +now the Danes march in all haste from the towns to fill up the gaps +in the ranks of the host, and he says that ships must go back to +Jutland to Ingvar for more men from overseas."</p> +<p>Now this news was nothing to us East Anglians for the most part, +and to me it was but a turn of the fight between Dane and Saxon for +the overlordship of all England. That was not a matter to be +settled by one or two victories on either side, nor might one see +how it would end. Yet I was glad, for of all things I feared that +Ingvar might be our master in the end, and this seemed to say that +it was none so certain.</p> +<p>More men came in after that, hastening the going to the front of +those who would, for not all the Danes among us would stir from +their new homes, saying that they had done their part, and knowing +that what they left others might take.</p> +<p>And in ten days' time Cyneward came to me saying that there were +two longships coming in from the open sea.</p> +<p>"Let the pilots go out to them," I said; for it was of no use +withholding this help from the Danish ships, little as we liked to +see them come. So I forgot the matter.</p> +<p>Then again Cyneward ran to me in haste, and with his eyes +shining.</p> +<p>"Master, here is Halfden's ship. Come and see!"</p> +<p>Gladly I went out then, and when I saw those two ships my heart +leapt up with joy, for it was indeed my own ship that was leading, +and I thought that Halfden would be in her.</p> +<p>So soon as she was in the river she made for our wharf, and that +was not the wont of the Danes, who mostly went on past us up the +river to where the great towns were. And at once when she was +alongside I went on board, and at sight of me half her crew came +crowding round me, shouting and shaking my hand; for they were our +old crew, the same who had fought beside me and had backed me at +the Ve. There, too, was Thormod, grim as ever, but welcoming me +most gladly. But Halfden was not there.</p> +<p>"What is this, Thormod?" I said, when I had him up to the house, +and the men were eating in the great hall. "Why are you not with +Halfden?"</p> +<p>"Have you heard no news?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Only a few days ago I heard of the business at Ashdown."</p> +<p>"Well, I have come thence," he said. "Now must I sail home and +fetch more men in all haste."</p> +<p>"Why came you in here?"</p> +<p>"Because I came away in haste and need stores. And, moreover, I +wanted to see you."</p> +<p>"That is good of you, Thormod, and glad am I to have you here, +even if it is only for a day," I answered.</p> +<p>"Moreover, I have a message to you from Halfden," he went +on.</p> +<p>Whereupon I asked him about the battle, and long we sat while he +told me all. And Halfden's deeds had been great, but could not turn +aside defeat. So he ended.</p> +<p>"Then because our ship lay in the Thames, where we had sent her +from the west when we broke through the Wessex country and joined +Guthrum, he sent me back for men. So I am here. Both sides must +needs rest awhile, as I think."</p> +<p>"What of Halfden's message?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Why, I know not how you will take it, but it is this. The night +before the battle he slept ill, and at last woke me, saying that he +would have me take a message if he was slain. So I said that I +hoped he was not fey. That he was not, he told me, but this was +going to be a heavy sword play, and one knew not how things would +go. Then he told me that ever as he began to sleep he saw Osritha +his sister, and she was pale and wrung her hands, saying: 'Now am I +alone, and there is none to help me, for Halfden and Wulfric are +far away, and I fear Ingvar and his moods'. Then said I, 'That is +true enough. It needs no dream to tell one of the maiden's +loneliness.' Yet he answered, 'Nevertheless, in some way I will +have Wulfric our comrade know that Osritha sits alone and will not +be comforted'. So when I must start on this voyage he bade me tell +you of this matter, and I have done so."</p> +<p>Now I was full of many thoughts about this, but as yet I would +say little. So I asked:</p> +<p>"What of Ingvar's moods? are they more fierce than his +wont?"</p> +<p>"Well, between us twain," he answered, looking at Cyneward, who +sat apart from us across the king's chamber where we were, "Ingvar +is not all himself lately, and all men fear him, so that he is no +loss to the host."</p> +<p>I knew somewhat, I thought, of the reason for this, and so did +Cyneward, but passed that over. Now nothing seemed more plain to me +than that Halfden meant that I should seek Osritha.</p> +<p>"What is Halfden doing?" I asked. "Will he not go back to your +own land?"</p> +<p>"Why, no. For he takes Northumbria as his share of what we have +won. Hubba is there now. But we fight to gain more if we may, and +if not, to make sure of what we have. One way or another Ethelred's +power to attack us must be broken."</p> +<p>"So Halfden bides in England. What meant he by his message?"</p> +<p>"Why, Wulfric, if you cannot see I will not tell you."</p> +<p>"What of Ingvar?"</p> +<p>"Now, Wulfric," said Thormod, "if I did not know that you at +least were not afraid of him, I should say that he was best left +alone. But as neither you nor I fear him, let us go and see what +may be done."</p> +<p>"Let me think thereof," said I, not yet daring to make so sure +of what I most wished.</p> +<p>"Shall I tell Osritha that Wulfric thought twice of coming to +see her?"</p> +<p>"That you shall not," I cried; "I do but play with my happiness. +Surely I will go, and gladly. But will she welcome me?"</p> +<p>"Better come and see concerning that also," he answered, +laughing a little, so that one might know what he meant.</p> +<p>"Let us go at once on this tide," I said, starting up.</p> +<p>"Not so fast now, comrade," laughed Thormod. "Would you come +again half starved, as last time, into the lady's presence?"</p> +<p>Then I called Cyneward, but when he rose up and came to us, +Thormod stared at him, crying:</p> +<p>"You here, Raud! I thought you were with Ingvar."</p> +<p>"Aye, Thormod, I am here--at least Cyneward, who was Raud, is +with Wulfric."</p> +<p>"Ho! Then you have turned Christian?"</p> +<p>"Aye," answered Cyneward, flushing, though not with shame, for +it was the first time he had owned his faith to one of his former +comrades.</p> +<p>"Now I thought this likely to happen to some of us," said +Thormod, not showing much surprise, "if maybe it is sooner than one +might have looked for. However, that is your concern, not mine. +Keep out of Ingvar's way, though."</p> +<p>"I bide here with Wulfric," he answered, having paid no heed to +our low-voiced talk.</p> +<p>"Wulfric sails with me to find--Ingvar," said Thormod, and at +that Cyneward turned to me in surprise.</p> +<p>"Not Ingvar," said I, "but one in his house. Will you come with +me?"</p> +<p>Then he understood, and his face showed his gladness.</p> +<p>"This is well," he cried; "gladly will I go with you and return +with that other."</p> +<p>"That is to be seen," I answered, though I thought it surely +would be so. "Now go and see to the arms and all things needful, +and send the steward to me, for we have to victual the ship."</p> +<p>So I left Thormod with the steward and sought Ingild, telling +him what I would do. Whereat he, knowing my trouble, was very glad; +and then Egfrid would fain come with me also when he heard. That, +however, I would not suffer, seeing that there was Ingvar to be +dealt with. My mother wept, and would have me not go. But here my +sister helped me.</p> +<p>"Bring Osritha back if you can," she said. "Soon will our house +be built again, and we shall go, and you will be lonely."</p> +<p>For Egfrid's father had owned Guthrum, and his house and theirs +were nigh rebuilt.</p> +<p>In a day's time Thormod and I set sail, and once more I took the +helm as we went out over our bar. And the quiver of the tiller in +my hands and the long lift of the ship over the rollers seemed to +put fresh life in me, and my gloom passed away as if it had never +been.</p> +<p>The breeze was fresh, and the ship flew, yet not fast enough for +me, though so well sailed ours that when day broke the other was +hull down astern of us, and at night we had lost her altogether. +And the breeze held and the spray flew, and I walked the deck +impatiently, while Thormod from the helm smiled at me. Bright were +the skies over me, and bright the blue water that flashed below the +ship's keel, but my thoughts would even have brightened such leaden +skies as those that last saw me cross along this ocean path. And I +thought that I could deal with Ingvar now.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. +HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA HOME.</a></h2> +<p>There was a haze far out at sea, and a fog was coming in with +the tide when we came to the mouth of Ingvar's haven; and rounded +the spit of land that shelters it from the southerly winds. Soon we +cleared it and then saw the town and hall above it at the head of +the haven, and what my longings were I need not write.</p> +<p>Now by the wharves lay two ships, and I thought little of that, +but on seeing them, Thormod, by whose side I was as he steered, +seemed to wonder.</p> +<p>"Ingvar has got another ship from somewhere," he said, "or has +built one this winter, for he sailed home with one only."</p> +<p>Then, too, the men began to say the like, for the second ship +was strange to them also, and, as seamen will, they puzzled over +her until we were close at hand. But I leaned on the gunwale and +dreamed dreams of my own, paying no heed to their talk.</p> +<p>Out of those dreams I was roused by Thormod's voice.</p> +<p>"Yon ship is no Dane," he said sharply. "Clear the decks and get +to arms, men. Here is somewhat amiss."</p> +<p>Then was a growl of wrath from our crew, yet no delay, and in a +moment every man was in his place. Down came the sail, and the mast +was lowered and hoisted on its stanchions overhead, and in five +minutes or less the oars were out, and the men who were arming +themselves ran to take them as they were ready, while those who had +rowed should get to arms also. Not for the first time saw I that +ship cleared for action, but never had I seen it done so swiftly, +though we had but half our fighting crew, sixty men instead of a +hundred and thirty or so.</p> +<p>I armed myself swiftly as any, and Thormod bade me take +Halfden's place on the fore deck, where the men were already +looking to bowstrings and bringing up sheaves of arrows and +darts.</p> +<p>Then when I came they shouted, and one gray-headed warrior +cried:</p> +<p>"Now you have a good fight on hand, axeman."</p> +<p>Then I asked:</p> +<p>"Who are the strangers?"</p> +<p>"It is a ship of the Jomsburg vikings," he said. "They know that +our men are all in England, and have come to see what we have left +behind--Thor's bolt light on them!"</p> +<p>Now, of all savage vikings these Jomsburgers are the worst. +Red-handed they are, sparing none, and it is said of them that they +will sacrifice men to the gods they worship before a great fight. +Nor are they all of one race, but are the fiercest men of all the +races of the Baltic gathered into that one nest of pirates, +Jomsburg.</p> +<p>Now a cold thrill of fear for Osritha ran through me, and then +came hot rage, and for a little I was beside myself, as it were, +glaring on that ship. Then I grew cool and desperate, longing only +to be hand to hand with them.</p> +<p>Swiftly we bore down on the ship, and now from her decks came +the hoarse call of uncouth war horns, and her crew came swarming +back from the streets with shouts and yells, crossing Ingvar's ship +to reach their own, for she lay alongside, stem to stern of the +Dane, and next to the open water.</p> +<p>Now I could see that men fought with the last of the Jomsburgers +as they came down the street to their ship, and there were no +houses burning, so that they could have been for no long time +ashore. And that was good to know.</p> +<p>We came into the channel abreast of her, and then Thormod roared +to me:</p> +<p>"Now I will ram her. Board her as we strike if we do not sink +her!"</p> +<p>Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at +the oars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck +warriors gripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped +like a falcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled +and left their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, +while some tried to cast off, but too late.</p> +<p>"Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew.</p> +<p>Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and +the smitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed +the higher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree.</p> +<p>Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our +dragon stem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, +splintering the rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk +on either side of our bows, while above the rending of planks and +rush of waters rose the howls of the drowning men.</p> +<p>I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet +my men went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again +with a great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as +I leapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before +me.</p> +<p>Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought at +close quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearer +than life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after our +cheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing of +weapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of the +foul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths of +our men.</p> +<p>Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp over +me, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us, +and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and on +either side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ring +of dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of that +mist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled by +whom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if one +slew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place, +seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battle +sounded, and the fight never slackened.</p> +<p>All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must +keep my own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha +and home and happiness--surely the best things for which a man can +fight next to his faith. And now men began to shout their war cries +that friend might rally to friend rather than smite him coming as a +ghost through the mist. Then a man next me cried between his +teeth:</p> +<p>"It is Ragnaroek come--and these are Odin's foes against whom we +fight."</p> +<p>And so smote the more fiercely till he fell beside me, crying: +"Ahoy! A Raven!--a Raven!"</p> +<p>Then was I down on the slippery deck, felled by a blow from a +great stone hammer that some wild pirate flung over the heads of +his comrades before me, and Cyneward dragged me up quickly, so that +I think he saved my life that time. And I fought on, dazed, and as +in a dream I fancied that I was on the deck of my father's ship +fighting the fight that I looked for in the fog that brought my +friend Halfden.</p> +<p>When my brain cleared, I knew not which way we faced. Only that +Cyneward was yet with me, and that out of the dimness came against +us Jomsburgers clad in outlandish armour, and with shouts to +strange gods as they fell on me.</p> +<p>"<i>Hai, Wainomoinen! Swantewit, ho!</i>"</p> +<p>Then I cast away my shield, for I grew weary, and taking both +hands to my axe, fought with a dull rage that I should have fallen, +and that there were so many against me. And all alone we two seemed +to fight by reason of the fog, though I heard the shouts of our +crew to right and left unceasingly.</p> +<p>Then I felled a man, and one leapt back into mist and was gone, +and a giant shape rose up against me out of the thickness, towering +alone, and at this I smote fiercely. Yet it was not mail or +hardened deerskin that I smote, but solid timber, and I could not +free my axe again, so strongly had I smitten.</p> +<p>It was the high stem head of the vessel. For I and my men had +cleared away the foe from amidships to bows, and still the noise of +fight went on behind us, while the fog was thick as ever.</p> +<p>Then Cyneward leaned against the stem head and laughed.</p> +<p>"Pity so good a stroke was wasted on timber, master," he +said.</p> +<p>"Pull it out for me," I answered, "my arm is tired."</p> +<p>For now I began to know that my left shoulder was not yet so +strong as once.</p> +<p>He tugged at the axe and freed it, not without trouble.</p> +<p>"What now?" said one of the men.</p> +<p>But a great shout came from aft, and then a silence that seemed +strange. We were still, to hear what we might, and I think that +others listened for us.</p> +<p>"Surely we have cleared the ship?" I said. "Let us go and +see."</p> +<p>Then I hailed our men, asking how they fared--and half I feared +to hear the howl and rush of pirates coming back on us. But it was +a Danish voice that called back to me that the last foe was +gone.</p> +<p>We stumbled back now along either gunwale, over the bodies of +friend and foe that cumbered all the deck, and most thickly and in +heaps amidships, where our first rush fell. One by one from aft met +us those who were left of the men who had fought their way to the +stern. Well for us was it that the darkness had hindered the +Jomsburgers from knowing how few we were and how divided. But +shoulder to shoulder we had fought as vikings will, never giving +back, but ever taking one step forward as our man went down before +us.</p> +<p>Now I called to Thormod, and his voice answered me from +shoreward.</p> +<p>"Here am I, Wulfric. How have you sped?"</p> +<p>"Some of us are left, but no foemen," I answered.</p> +<p>"Call your names," he said. And when we counted I had but +sixteen left of my thirty, so heavy had been the fighting. Yet I +thought that the Jomsburgers were two to our one as we fell on +them, and of them was not one left.</p> +<p>"What now?" asked Thormod. "There are more of these men in the +town. Here have I been keeping them back from the ship."</p> +<p>"Let us go up to the hall," I answered. "We could find our way +in the dark, and they cannot tell where they are in this fog."</p> +<p>So I and my men climbed on to the wharf, and there were the rest +of the crew with Thormod, who had crossed the decks as we cleared a +passage, even as the fog came down, and had driven the rest of the +Jomsburgers away from the landing place before they could join +those in the ship. Well for us it was that he had done this, or we +should have been overborne by numbers, for the ship was a large +one, carrying maybe seven score men.</p> +<p>"We must leave your tired men with the ship and go carefully," +said Thormod. "Likely enough we shall have another fight."</p> +<p>We marched up the well-known street four abreast, and as we left +the waterside the fog was thinner, so that we could see the houses +on either side of the way well enough. And as we went we were +joined by many of Ingvar's people, old men and boys mostly, who had +been left at home when the fleet sailed. And they told us that the +Jomsburg men were round the great house itself.</p> +<p>Yet we could hear no sound of them, and that seemed strange, so +that we feared somewhat, drawing together lest a rush on us were +planned. But beyond a few men slain in the street we saw nothing +till we came to the gate of the stockade. And that was beaten down, +while some Danes and Jomsburgers lay there as they had fallen when +this was done.</p> +<p>Now when we saw this I know not which was the stronger, rage or +surprise, and I called one of the old men.</p> +<p>"Where is the king?" I asked.</p> +<p>"He is not in the town," he said; "he is away with his own +courtmen, fighting against these pirates for Jarl Swend, who is +beset by them."</p> +<p>Now it was plain that this ship came from that place; either +beaten off, or knowing that Ingvar's haven lay open to attack while +his men were away thus. And a greater fear than any came over +me.</p> +<p>"Where is the Lady Osritha?" I said.</p> +<p>"She was here in the town this morning."</p> +<p>"So, Wulfric," said Thormod quickly, "she will have fled. The +steward will have seen to that. No use her biding here when the +ship came."</p> +<p>So I thought, but I was torn with doubt, not knowing if time for +flight had been given, or if even now some party of Jomsburgers +might not be following hard after her. I must go into the hall and +find out, whatever the risk, for it was certain that it held the +rest of the pirates.</p> +<p>"Leave men here to guard the gates," I said to Thormod. "Needs +must that we see more of this."</p> +<p>Ten men stayed at the gate, lest Jomsburgers lurked in the +houses to fall on us, and we went across to the great porch. The +door was open, nor could we see much within; and there was +silence.</p> +<p>"Stand by," said Thormod, and picked up a helm that lay at his +feet.</p> +<p>He hurled it through the door, and it clanged and leapt from the +further wall across the cold hearthstone. Then there was a stir of +feet and click of arms inside, and we knew that the hall was full +of men.</p> +<p>I know not what my thoughts were--but woe to any pirate who came +within my reach.</p> +<p>"Show yourselves like men!" shouted Thormod, standing back.</p> +<p>Then, seeing that there was no hope that we should fall into +this trap they had laid, there came into the doorway a great, +black-haired Jomsburg Lett, clad in mail of hardened deerskin, such +as the Lapp wizards make, and helmed with a wolf's head over the +iron head piece. He carried a long-handled bronze axe, and a great +sword was by his side.</p> +<p>"Yield yourselves!" said Thormod.</p> +<p>The savage hove up his axe, stepping one pace nearer into the +porch.</p> +<p>"What terms?" he said in broken Danish.</p> +<p>"Give up your prisoners and arms, and you shall go free," +answered Thormod, for he feared lest if any captives were left +alive they would be slain if we fought.</p> +<p>"Come and take them!" spoke back the Jomsburger in his harsh +voice, and with a sneering laugh.</p> +<p>Now I could not bear this any longer, and on that I swung my axe +and shouted, rushing on the man. Up went his long weapon overhead, +and like a flash he smote at me--but he forgot that he was in the +porch, and as his blow fell the axe lit on the crossbeams and stuck +there. The handle splintered, and he sprang back out of reach of my +stroke.</p> +<p>Then I dropped my axe and closed with him, and I was like a +Berserk in my fury, so that I lifted him and flung him clear over +my shoulder, and he fell heavily on the threshold on his head. Nor +did he move again.</p> +<p>Cyneward thrust my axe into my hand, as past me Thormod and the +men charged into the doorway. The hall was full of the pirates, and +now we fought again as on the decks, hand to hand in half darkness. +But it was no long fight, for those of our men who had been at the +gate, finding they might leave it, came round and fell on the +Jomsburgers from the back of the hall, coming through the other +doors. So there was an end, and though many of us were wounded, we +lost there but three men, for there were ale casks lying about, and +the pirates fought ill.</p> +<p>Now we stood among the dead and looked in one another's faces. +There were no Danes among the Jomsburgers, and they had, as it +seemed, found the place empty. Then I thought:</p> +<p>"Those men who fell at the gate should be honoured, for they +have fought and died to give time for flight to the rest."</p> +<p>And I called Cyneward to me, and we went through the house from +end to end. Everywhere had been the pirates, rifling and spoiling +in haste, so that the hangings were falling from the walls, and +rich stuffs torn from chests and closets strewed the floors of +Osritha's bower. But we found no one.</p> +<p>Then said Cyneward:</p> +<p>"They are safe--fled under cover of the fog."</p> +<p>But now broke out a noise of fighting in the streets, and we +went thither in haste. Some twenty Jomsburgers had sallied from a +house, and were fighting their way to the ships, for now one could +see well enough. They were back to back and edging their way +onward, while the boys and old men tried to stay them in vain.</p> +<p>When they saw us, they broke and fled, and were pursued and +slain at last, one by one. Then were no more of that crew left.</p> +<p>Now Thormod and I went back to the hall, and in the courtyard +stood a black horse, foam covered, and with deeply-spurred sides. +It was Ingvar's.</p> +<p>And when we came to the porch, the axe still stuck in the +timbers overhead, and the Jomsburg chief's body lay where I had +cast him--but in the doorway, thin and white as a ghost, stood +Ingvar the king, looking on these things.</p> +<p>He saw me, and gave back a pace or two, staring and amazed, and +his face began to work strangely, and he stepped back into the dim +light of the hall, and leant against the great table near the door, +clutching at its edge with his hands behind him, saying in a low +voice:</p> +<p>"Mercy, King--have mercy!"</p> +<p>Now, so unlike was this terror-stricken man to him who stood in +Hoxne woods bidding that other ask for mercy, and gnashing his +teeth with rage, that I could hardly think him Ingvar, rather +pitying him. I would have gone to him, but Thormod held me +back.</p> +<p>"Let him bide--the terror is on him again--it will pass +soon."</p> +<p>"Aye, I saw him thus once before in Wessex," said one of our +men; and I knew that this was what Cyneward had told me of.</p> +<p>Very pitiful it was to see him standing thus helpless and +unmanned, while his white lips formed again and again the word of +which he once knew hardly the meaning--"Mercy".</p> +<p>Presently his look came back from far away to us, and he +breathed freely. At last he stood upright and came again to the +doorway, trying to speak in his old way.</p> +<p>"Here have you come in good time, comrades. Where are the +Jomsburgers?"</p> +<p>"Gone," said Thormod, curtly. "Where were you, King?"</p> +<p>Now Ingvar heeded me not, but answered Thormod.</p> +<p>"With Jarl Swend beating off more of this crew. Then I saw the +ship leave, and I knew where she would go. Hard after me are my +courtmen, but I was swifter than they."</p> +<p>Now all this was wearisome to me, for I would fain follow +Osritha in her flight, if I could. So I left Thormod, without a +word to Ingvar, and went to the stables. There were but two horses +left, and those none of the best; but Cyneward and I mounted them, +and rode as fast as we might on the road which he said was most +likely to be taken by fugitives.</p> +<p>We had but two miles to ride, for in the fog that frightened +crowd of old men, women, and children had surely circled round, and +had it lasted would never have gone far from the town.</p> +<p>When they saw us the women shrieked, and what men were with them +faced round to meet an attack, thinking the pirates followed them; +but we shouted to them to hold, as we were friends, though not +before an arrow or two flew towards us.</p> +<p>At my voice, Osritha, who sat on her own horse in the midst of +the company, turned round, saying quickly:</p> +<p>"Who is it speaks?"</p> +<p>And I took off my helm, and she saw me plainly, and cried my +name aloud, and then swayed in her saddle and slipped thence into +her old steward's arms, and one or two of the maidens went to her +help.</p> +<p>But the men cheered, knowing that now help, and maybe victory, +had come with us.</p> +<p>"Is all well?" they said in many voices.</p> +<p>"All is well," I answered; "let us take back your mistress."</p> +<p>Now Osritha came to herself, and saw me standing looking on her, +for I feared that she was dead, and she stretched her hands to me, +not regarding those around her in her joy and trouble.</p> +<p>"Wulfric," she cried, "take me hence into some place of +peace."</p> +<p>I raised her very gently, holding her in my arms for a moment, +but not daring to speak to her as yet. And I lifted her into the +saddle again, telling her that all was well, and that we might take +her back to the town in safety. Then she smiled at me in silence, +and I walked beside her as we went back.</p> +<p>Then rode forward Cyneward and the steward to deal so with +matters that the women might be terrified as little as possible +with sights of war time, and we followed slowly. Naught said +Osritha to me as we went, for there were too many near, and she +knew not what I might have to tell; yet her hand sought mine, and +hand in hand we came to Ingvar's house, and to the lesser door. +There I left her, and went to seek Thormod.</p> +<p>The large hall was cleared, and little trace beyond the dint of +blows on walls and table showed what fight had raged therein, but +only Thormod and Cyneward and Ingvar were there; and Ingvar slept +heavily in his great chair.</p> +<p>"This is his way of late," said Thormod, looking coldly at him; +"fury, and terror, and then sleep. I fear me that Ingvar the King +goes out of his mind with that of which he raves. Nor do I wonder, +knowing now from Cyneward here what that is. Little help shall we +take back from Ingvar, for he has bestirred himself to gather no +new host since he came back."</p> +<p>"Men said that trouble at home brought him from England. I +suppose he judged it likely that the Jomsburgers might give +trouble," I said.</p> +<p>"The foes that sent him back were--ghosts," said Thormod +bitterly. "Come and let us see to the ship."</p> +<p>So we went down to the wharf, and found the ship but little hurt +by that business. And I stayed on board her that night, for I would +not see Ingvar again just yet.</p> +<p>But in the early morning he sent to beg me to speak with him, +and I came. He sat in his great chair, and I stood before him.</p> +<p>"You have brought me a quiet night, Wulfric," he said. "Tell me +how you came here, for I think it was not that you would wish to +see me again."</p> +<p>So Thormod had told him nothing, and I answered:</p> +<p>"I came with Thormod for more men, for Ethelred the King is +growing strong against you. Have you heard no news?"</p> +<p>"None," he said; "but that is not your errand, but his."</p> +<p>"That will Thormod tell you, therefore," I answered. "As for me, +I came at Halfden's bidding, which Thormod told me."</p> +<p>"What did Halfden bid you come here for?"</p> +<p>"To take Osritha his sister into safety and peace again. Suffer +me to do so," I said, boldly enough, but yet quietly.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar looked fixedly at me from under his brows, and I gave +back his look. Yet there was no silent defiance between us +therein.</p> +<p>"Take her," he said at length; "you have saved her from these +Jomsburgers, and you have the right. Take her where you will."</p> +<p>"Do you come back with us, King?" I asked him, giving him no +word of thanks, for I owed him none.</p> +<p>"Tell Guthrum from me that I shall never set foot in England +again. Tell him, if you will, that our shores here need watching +against outland foes, and that I will do it. Let him settle his +kingship with Hubba and Halfden."</p> +<p>Then he paled and looked beyond me, adding in a low voice: +"Eadmund is king in East Anglia yet."</p> +<p>Now I answered him not, fearing lest his terror should come on +him again. And slowly he slipped from his arm the great gold +bracelet that he had so nearly given Eadgyth.</p> +<p>"Tell your people that never should a bridal train cross the +Bridge of the Golden Spurs on the way to the church while the brook +flows to the sea, lest ill should befall both bride and groom, +because thus found I Eadmund the King, whose face is ever before me +by night and day. Take this gold, I pray you, Wulfric, and lay it +on the tomb where his bones are, in token that he has +conquered--and let me fight my shame alone till I die."</p> +<p>Wondering, I took the bracelet, pitying the man again, yet +fearing what he might say and do next, for I thought that maybe he +would slay himself, so hopeless looked he.</p> +<p>"Fain would I have been your friend," he said, "but pride would +not let me. Yet Eadgyth your sister and Egfrid called me so, and +maybe that one deed of ruth may help me. Now go, lest I become weak +again. Lonely shall I be, for you take all that I hold dear--but +even that is well."</p> +<p>So he turned from me, and I went out without a word, for he was +Ingvar. Yet sometimes I wish that I had bidden him farewell, when +the thought of his dark face comes back to me as I saw him for the +last time in his own hall, leaning away from me over his carven +chair, and very still.</p> +<p>I sought Thormod, and told him that he must see the king with +his tidings, for I would not see his face again.</p> +<p>"Nor shall we see Jutland again," he said, pointing to the ship, +which lay now in the same place where the pirate had been, +alongside Ingvar's. And the other ship had come in during the +night, and was at anchor in the haven.</p> +<p>"Shall we sail home at once?" I asked him.</p> +<p>"Aye; no use in waiting. We are wanted at Guthrum's side, and +can take no men, but a few boys back. Yet the other ship will stay +while I send messengers inland, if Ingvar will not. But I shall +return no more."</p> +<p>"Then," said I, "I will speak to the Lady Osritha."</p> +<p>"Go at once," he said, smiling; "bid her come with us to the +better home we have found."</p> +<p>I had not seen Osritha since I left her yesterday, and now I +feared a little, not knowing how she would look on things.</p> +<p>Yet I need not have feared, for when they took me to her bower +she rose up and came to me, falling on my neck and weeping, and I +knew that I had found her again not to part with her.</p> +<p>When she grew calmer, I asked her if she would return with us to +Reedham, telling her how there would be no fear of war there in the +time to come. And she held her peace, so that I thought she would +not, and tried to persuade her, telling her what a welcome would be +to her from all our folk, and also from the Danish people who loved +her so well.</p> +<p>So I went on, until at last she raised her head, smiling at +me.</p> +<p>"Surely I will follow you--let me be with you where you +will."</p> +<p>So it came to pass that next day we sailed, Osritha taking her +four maidens with her, for they would not leave her; having, +moreover, somewhat to draw them overseas even as I had been drawn +to this place again. And with us went close on a score of women and +children whose menfolk were settled already near to Reedham. These +were the first who came into our land, but they were not to be the +last.</p> +<p>I had seen Ingvar no more, busying myself about fitting the ship +with awnings and the like for these passengers of ours; and what +Thormod did about the men he sought I know not, nor did I care to +know.</p> +<p>There is a dead tree which marks the place where I had been cast +ashore in Lodbrok's boat, and which is the last point of land on +which one looks as the ship passes to the open sea from the haven. +And there we saw Ingvar the king for the last time. All alone he +stood with his hands resting on his sword, looking at our ship as +she passed. Nor did he move from that place all the time we could +see him.</p> +<p>Silently Thormod gave the tiller into my hands, and went to the +flag halliards. Thrice he dipped Halfden's flag in salute, but +Ingvar made no sign, and so he faded from our sight, and after that +we spoke no more of him. But Osritha wept a little, for she had +loved him even while she dreaded him, and now she should see him no +more.</p> +<p>Very quietly passed the voyage, though the light wind was +against us, and we were long on the way, for we were too short +handed to row, and must beat to windward over every mile of our +course. Yet I think of the long days and moonlit evenings on the +deck of Halfden's ship with naught but keenest pleasure, for there +I watched the life and colour come back into Osritha's face, and +strove to make the voyage light to her in every way. And I had +found my heart's desire, and was happy.</p> +<p>Then at last one night we crossed the bar of our own haven, and +the boats came out to meet us, boarding us with rough voices of +hearty welcome; and from her awning crept Osritha, standing beside +me as I took the ship in, and seeing the black outline of hill and +church and hall across the quiet moonlit water. And when the red +light from wharf and open house doors danced in long lines on the +ripples towards us, and voices hailed our ship from shore, and our +men answered back in cheery wise, she drew nearer me, saying:</p> +<p>"Is this home, Wulfric?"</p> +<p>"Aye," I answered. "Your home and mine, Osritha--and peace."</p> +<p>Now have I little more to say, for I have told what I set out to +tell--how Lodbrok the Dane came from over seas, and what befell +thereafter. For now came to us at Reedham long years of peace that +nothing troubled. And those years, since Osritha and I were wedded +at Reedham very soon after we came home, have flown very +quickly.</p> +<p>Yet there came to us echoes of war from far-off Wessex, as man +after man crept back to Anglia from the great host where Guthrum +and Hubba warred with Alfred the king. And tired and worn out with +countless battles, these men settled down with us in peace to till +the land they had helped to lay waste and win. Hard it was to see +the farms pass to alien owners at first, but I will not say that +England has altogether lost, for these Danes are surely becoming +English in all love of our land; and they have brought us new +strength, with the old freedom of our forefathers, which some of us +had nigh forgotten.</p> +<p>Now today I know that all the land is at peace, for Alfred is +victor, and Guthrum is Athelstan the Christian king of Eastern +England; and I for one will own him unasked, for he has governed +well, and English is our overlord.</p> +<p>But Hubba is dead in far-off Devon, slain as he landed as +Halfden had landed, to hem Wessex in between Guthrum and himself, +and his dream of taking the Wessex kingdom is over. And the Raven +banner that my Osritha made flaps its magic wings no more, for it +hangs in Alfred's peaceful hall, a trophy of Saxon valour.</p> +<p>Thormod, my comrade, lies in his mound in wild Strathclyde, +slain fighting beside Halfden my brother, the king of Northumbria. +Him I have seen once or twice, and ever does he look for peace that +he may sail to Reedham and bide with us for a while. Well loved is +Halfden, and he is English in every thought.</p> +<p>Many of our old viking crew are here with me, for they would +fain find land in our country, and I gave them the deserted coast +lands that lie to our northward, round the great broads. Good lands +they are, and in giving them I harmed none. Filby and Ormesby and +Rollesby they have called their new homesteads, giving them Danish +names.</p> +<p>Now as to our own folk. My mother is gone, but first she stood +for Osritha at the font, naming her again with the name by which I +learnt to love her, for I would not have it changed.</p> +<p>Gone also has good old Ingild; but before he went he and I were +able without fear of hindrance to build a little church of squared +oaken timbers at Hoxne, for the heathen worship died quickly from +among our Danes. On that church, Cyneward, who was Raud, and is our +well-loved steward, wrought lovingly with his own hands side by +side with the good monk who baptized him. And he has carved a +wondrous oaken shrine for the remains of our martyred king, whereon +lies the bracelet that Ingvar sent in token that Eadmund had +conquered him who was his slayer.</p> +<p>How fared Ingvar I know not, for soon the incoming tide of Danes +slackened, and I heard no news of him; and, as he said, never did +he set foot on English shores again.</p> +<p>Egfrid and Eadgyth are happy in their place at Hoxne, and on +them at least has fallen no shadow of misfortune from that which +came of their passing over the Bridge of the Golden Spurs--the +Golden Bridge as our folk call it now.</p> +<p>Yet it needed no words of Ingvar's to keep the memory of that +day's work alive in the minds of our people. Never so long as the +Gold Brook flows beneath that bridge will a bridal pass churchwards +over its span, for there, but for such a crossing, Eadmund the king +might have bided safely till Ingvar the Dane had passed and +gone.</p> +<p>Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but +this I know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and +English will have become his mighty host, but in every English +heart will live the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and +country.</p> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES">NOTES.</a></h2> +<p><a name="sdendnote1sym" href="#sdendnote1anc" id= +"sdendnote1sym">i</a> Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old +mythology, by whose nets drowning men were said to be +entangled.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote2sym" href="#sdendnote2anc" id= +"sdendnote2sym">ii</a> The Jarl ranked next to the king, and was +often equally powerful. Our English title "Earl" is derived from +this.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote3sym" href="#sdendnote3anc" id= +"sdendnote3sym">iii</a> A small wharf.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote4sym" href="#sdendnote4anc" id= +"sdendnote4sym">iv</a> A lay brother of the monastery of Hackness, +near Whitby, who rendered the Sacred Histories into verse about +A.D. 680.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote5sym" href="#sdendnote5anc" id= +"sdendnote5sym">v</a> Now Whitby. The present name was given by the +Danish settlers.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote6sym" href="#sdendnote6anc" id= +"sdendnote6sym">vi</a> As if under the shadow of coming death.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote7sym" href="#sdendnote7anc" id= +"sdendnote7sym">vii</a> The Viking ship of war, or "long ship".</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote8sym" href="#sdendnote8anc" id= +"sdendnote8sym">viii</a> The usual Scandinavian and Danish +greeting: "Health".</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote9sym" href="#sdendnote9anc" id= +"sdendnote9sym">ix</a> After expulsion from his bishopric of York +by King Egfrid.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote10sym" href="#sdendnote10anc" id= +"sdendnote10sym">x</a> Mail shirt.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote11sym" href="#sdendnote11anc" id= +"sdendnote11sym">xi</a> The fine allowed as penalty for killing an +adversary in a quarrel, or by mischance. The penalty for wilful +murder was death.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote12sym" href="#sdendnote12anc" id= +"sdendnote12sym">xii</a> Nidring, niddering, or nithing, may be +beet expressed by "worthless ". It was the extreme term of reproach +to a Saxon.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote13sym" href="#sdendnote13anc" id= +"sdendnote13sym">xiii</a> The "Lodbrokar-Quida", which is still in +existence. By some authorities Ragnar is said to have been the +father of Ingvar and Hubba, but the dates are most uncertain.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote14sym" href="#sdendnote14anc" id= +"sdendnote14sym">xiv</a> "The Fates" of the Northern mythology.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote15sym" href="#sdendnote15anc" id= +"sdendnote15sym">xv</a> St. Ansgar, or Ansgarius, built the first +church in Denmark at Hedeby, now Slesvig, in 840 A.D.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote16sym" href="#sdendnote16anc" id= +"sdendnote16sym">xvi</a> The "twilight of the Gods", when the Asir +were to fight against the powers of evil, and a new order should +commence.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote17sym" href="#sdendnote17anc" id= +"sdendnote17sym">xvii</a> The Danes traced their origin back to a +great migration from the East, under Odin. Their priesthood was +vested in the head of the tribe after the ancient patriarchal +custom.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote18sym" href="#sdendnote18anc" id= +"sdendnote18sym">xviii</a> The great representative Council from +which our Parliament sprang.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote19sym" href="#sdendnote19anc" id= +"sdendnote19sym">xix</a> Four degrees of kingship are spoken of in +the Sagas, the highest being the overlord, to whom the lesser kings +paid tribute. The "kings of the host" came third in rank, the "sea +kings" last, these being usually sons of under kings, to whom a +ship or two had been given.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote20sym" href="#sdendnote20anc" id= +"sdendnote20sym">xx</a> Now Peterborough.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote21sym" href="#sdendnote21anc" id= +"sdendnote21sym">xxi</a> Tribute.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote22sym" href="#sdendnote22anc" id= +"sdendnote22sym">xxii</a> "The King's Guardian."</p> +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13752 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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Whistler</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[*/ + h2.c2 {text-align: center} + h1.c1 {text-align: center} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:blue; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:red} + pre {font-size: 9pt;} +/*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wulfric the Weapon Thane, by Charles W. +Whistler</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere 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 <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Wulfric the Weapon Thane</p> +<p>Author: Charles W. Whistler</p> +<p>Release Date: October 14, 2004 [eBook #13752]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WULFRIC THE WEAPON THANE***</p> +<br /><br /><center><h4>E-text prepared by Martin Robb</h4></center><br /><br /> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<h1 class="c1">Wulfric the Weapon Thane:</h1> + +<center> +<h3>A Story of the Danish Conquest of East Anglia</h3> + +<h4>by</h4> + +<h2>Charles W. Whistler.</h2> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h3>Contents</h3> +<table><tr><td align="left"> +<h3><a href="#PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. HOW LODBROK THE DANE CAME TO +REEDHAM.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. HOW LODBROK SPOKE WITH BEORN +THE FALCONER.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. WHAT CAME IN A NORTH SEA +FOG.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE SONG OF THE BOSHAM +BELL.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. HOW WULFRIC, LODBROK, AND BEORN +HUNTED.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE JUSTICE OF EARL +ULFKYTEL.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. HOW WULFRIC CAME TO +JUTLAND.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII. HOW WE FARED WITH INGVAR +THE DANE.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. JARL HALFDEN'S +HOMECOMING.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. WHAT BEFELL AT THE GREAT +SACRIFICE.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF INGVAR'S +HOST.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. IN HOXNE WOODS.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII. HOW BISHOP HUMBERT JOINED +THE KING.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD +SEARCHED TOGETHER.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. THE MESSAGE OF HALFDEN THE +KING.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA +HOME.</a></h3> +<h3><a href="#NOTES">NOTES.</a></h3> +</td></tr></table></center> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE">PREFACE.</a></h2> +<p>A word may be needed with regard to the sources from which this +story of King Eadmund's armour bearer and weapon thane have been +drawn. For the actual presence of such a close attendant on the +king at his martyrdom on Nov. 20, 870 A.D. we have the authority of +St. Dunstan, who had the story from the lips of the witness +himself.</p> +<p>But as to the actual progress of events before the death of the +king, the records are vague and imperfect. We are told that, after +the defeat at Thetford, the king had intended to seek safety in the +church, probably at Framlingham, where the royal household was, but +was forced to hide, and from his hiding place was dragged before +Ingvar the Danish leader, and so slain.</p> +<p>The two local legends of the "king's oak" in Hoxne woods, and of +the "gold bridge", may fill in what is required to complete the +story.</p> +<p>The former, identifying a certain aged oak as that to which the +king was bound, has been in a measure corroborated by the discovery +in 1848 of what may well have been a rough arrow point in its +fallen trunk; while the fact that, until the erection of the new +bridge at Hoxne in 1823, no newly-married couple would cross the +"gold bridge" on the way to church, for the reasons given in the +story, seems to show that the king's hiding place may indeed have +been beneath it as the legend states. If so, the flight from +Thetford must have been most precipitate, and closely followed.</p> +<p>There are two versions of the story of Lodbrok the Dane and +Beorn the falconer. That which is given here is from Roger of +Wendover. But in both versions the treachery of one Beorn is +alleged to have been the cause of the descent of Ingvar and Hubba +on East Anglia.</p> +<p>These chiefs and their brother Halfden, and Guthrum, are of +course historic. Their campaign in England is hard to trace through +the many conflicting chronicles, but the broad outlines given by +the almost contemporary <i>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle</i>, supplemented +with a few incidents recorded in the <i>Heimskringla</i> of +Sturleson as to the first raid on Northumbria by Ingvar, are +sufficient for the purposes of a story that deals almost entirely +with East Anglia.</p> +<p>The legend of the finding of the head of the martyred king is +given in the homily for November 20 of the Anglo-Saxon <i>Sarum +Breviary</i>, and is therefore of early date. It may have arisen +from some such incident as is given here.</p> +<p>Details of the death of Bishop Humbert are wanting. We only know +that he was martyred at about the same time as the king, or perhaps +with him, and that his name is remembered in the ancient kalendars +on the same day. For describing his end as at his own chapel, still +standing at South Elmham, the fate of many a devoted priest of +those times might be sufficient warrant.</p> +<p>As to the geography of the East Anglian coast, all has changed +since King Eadmund's days, with the steady gaining of alluvial land +on sea at the mouth of the once great rivers of Yare and Waveney. +Reedham and Borough were in his time the two promontories that +guarded the estuary, and where Yarmouth now stands were sands, +growing indeed slowly, but hardly yet an island even at "low-water +springs". Above Beccles perhaps the course of the Waveney towards +Thetford has altered little in any respect beyond the draining of +the rich marshland along its banks, and the shrinking of such +tributaries as the Hoxne or Elmham streams to half-dry +rivulets.</p> +<p>With a few incidental exceptions, the modern spelling of place +names has been adopted in these pages. No useful purpose would be +served by a reproduction of what are now more or less uncouth if +recognizable forms of the well-known titles of town and village and +river.</p> +<p>C. W. W.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I. HOW +LODBROK THE DANE CAME TO REEDHAM.</a></h2> +<p>Elfric, my father, and I stood on our little watch tower at +Reedham, and looked out over the wide sea mouth of Yare and +Waveney, to the old gray walls of the Roman Burgh on the further +shore, and the white gulls cried round us, and the water sparkled +in the fresh sea breeze from the north and east, and the bright +May-time sun shone warmly on us, and our hearts went out to the sea +and its freedom, so that my father said:</p> +<p>"Once again is the spirit of Hengist stirring in me, and needs +must that you and I take ship, and go on the swan's path even as +our forefathers went; let us take the good ship somewhere--anywhere +to be on the sea again. What say you, son Wulfric?"</p> +<p>And at that I was very glad, for I had longed for that word of +his. For never, since I could remember, was a time when I knew not +all that a boy might learn, for his years, of sea and the seaman's +craft; and the sea drew me, calling me as it were with its many +voices, even as it drew my father.</p> +<p>Yet, all unlike Hengist and his men, we sailed but for peaceful +gain, and very rich grew Elfric, the thane of Reedham; for ours was +the only ship owned by English folk on all our East Anglian shores, +and she brought us wealth year by year, as we sailed to Humber and +Wash northwards, and Orwell and Thames to the south, as seemed best +for what merchandise we had for sale or would buy. But, more than +all, my father and I alike sailed for the love of ship and sea, +caring little for the gain that came, so long as the salt spray was +over us, and we might hear the hum of the wind in the canvas, or +the steady roll and click of the long oars in the ship's rowlocks, +and take our chance of long fights with wind and wave on our stormy +North Sea coasts.</p> +<p>So we went down to the shipyard, under the lee of Reedham Hill, +and found old Kenulf our pilot, and with him went round our stout +Frisian ship that my father had bought long ago, and at once bade +him get ready for sailing as soon as might be. And that was a +welcome order to Kenulf and our crew also; for well do the North +Folk of East Anglia love the sea, if our Saxon kin of the other +kingdoms have forgotten for a while the ways of their forbears.</p> +<p>Not so welcome was our sailing to my mother, who must sit at +home listening to the song of the breezes and the roll of breakers, +with her heart stirred to fear for us at every shift of wind and +change of tide. And fair Eadgyth, my sister, beautiful with the +clear beauty of a fair-haired Saxon lady, shared in her fears also, +though I think that she believed that no storm could rage more +fiercely than her father and brother and their crew could ride +through in safety. Once she had sailed with us in high summer time +to London, and so she held that she knew well all the ways of the +ship and sea; fearing them a little, maybe.</p> +<p>Yet there was another dread in the heart of my mother, for this +is what she said:</p> +<p>"What of the Danes, Elfric, my husband? Surely there is +risk--aye, and great risk--of falling into their hands."</p> +<p>Thereat my father laughed easily, and answered:</p> +<p>"Not to an East Anglian ship now; for they have kept the pact we +have made with them. And they watch not our shores for ships, but +the long Frisian and Frankish coasts. There need be no fear of +them."</p> +<p>So my mother was reassured, and in a fortnight's time we had +gathered a mixed cargo, though no great one; and sailed, with a +shift of wind to the southwest, into the Wash, and so put into the +king's haven on its southern shore, where we would leave our goods +with a merchant whom we knew.</p> +<p>On the second day after we came the wind shifted to the +eastward, and then suddenly to the northeast, and blew a gale, so +that we bided in the haven till it was over. For though it was not +so heavy that we could not have won through it in open water with +little harm, it was of no use risking ship and men on a lee shore +for naught.</p> +<p>Our friend, the merchant, kept us with him gladly, and there we +heard the last news of the Danish host, with whom we had made peace +two years since; for nowadays that news had become of the first +interest to every man in all England; though not yet in the right +way. For we had not yet learnt that England must be truly one; and +so long as he himself was unharmed, little cared an East Anglian +what befell Mercian or Northumbrian, even as Wessex or Sussex cared +for naught but themselves. Wherefore, all we longed to know was +that the Danish host was not about to fall on us, being employed +elsewhere.</p> +<p>We had found gain rather than hurt by their coming, for we had, +as I say, made peace with them, and, moreover, sold them horses. +Then they had honestly left our coasts, and had gone to York, and +thereafter to Nottingham. Now Northumbria was theirs, and Mercia +was at their feet. And now again we learnt that they bided in peace +at York, and we were content.</p> +<p>Three days it blew, and then the gale was spent; though the sea +still ran high and swift. So we bade farewell to our friend the +merchant and set sail, and if the passage homewards was rough, it +was swifter than we had hoped.</p> +<p>So it came to pass that we reached the wide inlet of our haven +at the Yare's mouth too soon for the tide to take us in over the +sands which grow and shift every year, and must needs drop anchor +in the roads and wait, with home in sight, hill and church and +houses clear and sharp against the afternoon sky after rain; while +past us the long surges the storm had raised raced in over +half-hidden sands, and broke in snow-white foam along the foot of +the sand dunes of the shore, sending the spindrift flying up and +inland over their low crests.</p> +<p>Mostly the boats would have been out to meet us, and maybe to +tow us in, sparing our crew a little; but today no boat might come, +for the seas were too heavy over the bar, so that it would have +been death to any man foolish enough to try to reach us; and we +looked for none. So as the stout ship wallowed and plunged at her +anchors--head to wind and sea, and everything, from groaning +timbers to song of wind-curved rigging and creak of swinging yard, +seeming to find a voice in answer to the plunge and wash of the +waves, and swirl and patter of flying spray over the high bows--we +found what shelter we might under bulwarks and break of fore deck, +and waited.</p> +<p>My father and I sat on the steersman's bench aft, not heeding +the showers of spray that reached us now and then even there, and +we watched the tide rising over the sand banks, and longed for home +and warm fireside, instead of this cold, gray sky and the restless +waves; though I, at least, was half sorry that the short voyage was +over, dreaming of the next and whither we might turn our ship's +bows again before the summer ended.</p> +<p>My father looked now and then shoreward, and now seaward, +judging wind and tide, and sitting patiently with the wondrous +patience of the seaman, learnt in years of tide and calm; for he +would tell me that sea learning never ends, so that though the +sailor seemed to be idle, he must needs be studying some new turn +of his craft if only his eyes were noting how things went around +him. Yet I thought he was silent beyond his wont.</p> +<p>Presently he rose up and paced the deck for a little, and then +came and sat down by me again.</p> +<p>"I am restless, son Wulfric," he said, laughing softly; "and I +know not why."</p> +<p>"For the sake of supper," I answered, "for I am that also, and +tide seems mighty slow therefore."</p> +<p>"Nay, supper comes to the patient; but it seems to me that I +have to watch for somewhat."</p> +<p>"Surely for naught but the tide," I answered, not thinking much +of the matter, but yet wondering a little.</p> +<p>"Not for tide or wind, but for somewhat new, rather--somewhat of +which I have a fear.</p> +<p>"But this is foolishness," he said, laughing again at himself, +for few men thought less of signs and forewarnings than he.</p> +<p>Then he looked out again to windward, under his hand, and all of +a sudden turned sharply to me, pointing and saying:</p> +<p>"But, as I live, hither comes something from the open sea!"</p> +<p>I rose up and looked to where he showed me, and as the ship rose +to a great wave, far off I saw a dark speck among white-crested +rollers, that rose and fell, and came ever nearer, more swiftly +than wreckage should.</p> +<p>Now some of the men who clustered under the shelter of the fore +deck, with their eyes ever on us, rose up from their places and +began to look out seaward over the bows through the spray to find +out what we watched, and ere long one man called to his mates:</p> +<p>"Ho, comrades, here comes flotsam from the open sea!"</p> +<p>Slowly the men rose up one by one and looked, clustering round +the stem head, and a little talk went round as to what this might +be.</p> +<p>"It is a bit of wreck," said one.</p> +<p>"Hardly, for the gale has not been wild enough to wreck a ship +in the open; 'tis maybe lumber washed from a deck," answered +another.</p> +<p>"It is a whale--no more or less."</p> +<p>"Nay," said old Kenulf; "it behaves not as a whale, and it comes +too swiftly for wreckage."</p> +<p>"Would it were a dead whale. Then would be profit," said another +man again, and after that the men were silent for a long while, +having said all that could be guessed, and watched the speck that +drew nearer and nearer, bearing down on us.</p> +<p>At last my father, ever keen of sight, said to me:</p> +<p>"This thing is not at the mercy of wind and wave. Rather has it +the rise and fall of a boat well handled. Yet whence should one +come in this heavy sea, after three days' gale?"</p> +<p>Even as he spoke, old Kenulf growled, half to himself, that to +his thinking this was a boat coming, and handled, moreover, by men +who knew their trade. Thereat some of the men laughed; for it +seemed a thing impossible, both by reason of the stretch of wild +sea that so small a craft as this--if it were indeed a boat--must +have crossed, and because the sea was surely too heavy to let one +live.</p> +<p>Yet in the end we saw that it was a boat, and that in her, +moreover, was but one man, whose skill in handling her was more +than ours, and greater than we could deem possible.</p> +<p>Whereupon some of us were afraid, seeing how wondrously the tiny +craft came through the swift seas, and a man called out, giving +voice to our fears:</p> +<p>"Surely yon man is a Finn and the wizard who has raised this +storm to drown us; now are we lost!"</p> +<p>And I--who had listened eagerly to all the wild stories of the +seamen, since first I was old enough to wander curiously over the +ships from overseas that put into our haven on their way up the +great rivers to Norwich, or Beccles, or other towns--knew that the +Finns have powers more than mortal (though how or whence I know +not) over wind and sea, often using their power to the hurt of +others, and so looked to see the lines of a great squall, drawn as +it were astern of the wizard's boat, whitening as it rushed upon us +to sink us in sight of home.</p> +<p>But old Kenulf cried out on the man, saying:</p> +<p>"Rather is it one of the holy saints, and maybe the blessed +Peter the fisherman himself," and he bared his gray head, crossing +himself, as he looked eagerly to catch sight of the glory of light +round the seafarer; and that rebuked my fears a little.</p> +<p>But squall or crown of light was there none. Only the brown +waves, foam crested, which we feared not, and the gray light of the +clouded sun that was nigh to setting.</p> +<p>My father heeded naught of this, but watched the boat, only +wondering at the marvellous skill of her steersman. And when the +boat was so near that it was likely that the eyes of the man were +on us, my father raised his arm in the seaman's silent greeting, +and I thought that the boatman returned the salute.</p> +<p>Now the course that the boat was holding when that signal passed +would have taken her wide of us by half a cable's length, but she +was yet so far distant that but a little change would bring her to +us. Some sort of sail she seemed to have, but it was very small and +like nothing I had ever seen, though it was enough to drive her +swiftly and to give her steering way before the wind. Until my +father signed to him the man seemed to have no wish to near our +ship, going on straight to what would be certain destruction amid +the great breakers on our largest sand bar, and that made the men +more sure that he was a wizard, and there were white faces enough +among them.</p> +<p>"Now," said my father to me, "doubtless this is what was put in +my mind when I felt I must watch. Had I not seen him, yon man would +have been surely lost; for I think he cannot see the breakers from +his boat," and again he signed to the boatman.</p> +<p>Then from the little craft rose a great, long-winged hawk that +cried and hovered over it for a little, as if loth to leave it; and +one man said, shrinking and pale, that it was the wizard's familiar +spirit. But the wind caught the bird's long wings and drove it from +the boat, and swiftly wheeling it must needs make for us, speeding +down the wind with widespread, still pinions.</p> +<p>Then cried aloud that same terrified man:</p> +<p>"It is a sending, and we are done for!" thinking that, as Finns +will, the wizard they deemed him had made his spells light on us in +this visible form. But my father held out his hand, whistling a +falconer's call, and the great bird flew to him, and perched on his +wrist, looking bravely at us with its bright eyes as though sure of +friendship.</p> +<p>"See!" said my father loudly; "this is a trained bird, and no +evil sending; here are the jesses yet on its feet."</p> +<p>And Kenulf and most of the men laughed, asking the superstitious +man if the ship sank deeper, or seas ran higher for its coming.</p> +<p>"Hold you the bird," said my father to me; "see! the boatman +makes for us."</p> +<p>I took the beautiful hawk gladly, for I had never seen its like +before, and loved nothing better when ashore than falconry, and as +I did so I saw that its master had changed the course of his boat +and was heading straight for us. Now, too, I could make out that +what we had thought a sail was but the floor boarding of the boat +reared up against a thwart, and that the man was managing her with +a long oar out astern.</p> +<p>The great hawk's sharp talons were like steel on my ungloved +wrist, piercing through the woollen sleeve of my jerkin, but I +heeded them not, so taken up was I with watching this man who +steered so well and boldly in so poorly fitted a craft. And the +boat was, for all that, most beautiful, and built on such lines as +no Saxon boat had. Well we know those wondrous lines now, for they +were those of the longships of the vikings.</p> +<p>Now the men forward began to growl as the boat came on to us, +and when my father, seeing that the man would seek safety with us, +bade those on the fore deck stand by with a line to heave to him as +he came, no man stirred, and they looked foolishly at one +another.</p> +<p>Then my father called sharply to Kenulf by name, giving the same +order, and the old man answered back:</p> +<p>"Bethink you, Thane; it is ill saving a man from the sea to be +foe to you hereafter. Let him take his chance."</p> +<p>Thereat my father's brow grew dark, for he hated these evil old +sayings that come from heathen days, and he cried aloud:</p> +<p>"That is not the way of a Christian or a good seaman! Let me +come forward."</p> +<p>And in a moment he was on the fore deck, where the men made +hasty way for him. There the long lines were coiled, ready for +throwing to the shore folk on our wharf, both fore and aft. My +father caught up one at his feet and stood ready, for now the boat +was close on us, and I could see the white set face of her +steersman as he watched for the line he knew was coming, and +wherein lay his only slender hope of safety.</p> +<p>My father swung his arm and cast. Swift and true fled the coils +from his hand--but fell short by two fathoms or less, and the boat +swept past our bows, as the men held their breath, watching and +ashamed.</p> +<p>But I also had caught up the coil from the after deck, fearing +lest my father should not have been in time, while the hawk +fluttered and gripped my arm in such wise that at any other time I +should have cried out with the pain of the sharp piercing of its +talons. Yet it would not leave me.</p> +<p>The boat flew on, but the man had his eyes on me--not looking +vainly for the lost end of the first line among the foam as many +another man would--and I saw that he was ready.</p> +<p>I threw; and the hawk screamed and clutched, as it lost its +balance, and beat my face with its great wings, and I could not see +for its fluttering; but the men shouted, and I heard my father's +voice cry "Well done!" Then I made fast the end of the line round +the main-sheet cleat, for that told me that the man had caught +on.</p> +<p>Then the bird was still, and I looked up. I saw the boat pass +astern as the man made fast the line round the fore thwart, with +his eyes on the wave that came. Then he sprang to the steering oar, +and in a moment the boat rounded to on the back of a great wave and +was safe before the crest of the next roller ran hissing past me, +to break harmless round her bows.</p> +<p>Then the man looked up, smiling to me, lifted his hand in +greeting, and then straightway laid in the steering oar. Having +found a bailing bowl in the stern sheets, he set to work to clear +out the water that washed about in the bottom of the boat; then he +replaced the floor boards, and all things being shipshape, sat down +quickly in the stern, putting his head into his hands, and there +bided without moving, as if worn out and fain to rest for a +while.</p> +<p>Now it was like to be a hard matter to get the boat alongside in +that sea, and we must needs wait till the man took in hand to help, +so we watched him as he sat thus, wondering mostly at the boat, for +it was a marvel to all of us. Sharp were her bows and stern, +running up very high, and her high stem post was carved into the +likeness of a swan's neck and head, and the wings seemed to fall +away along the curve of the bows to the carved gunwale, that was as +if feathered, and at last the stern post rose and bent like a fan +of feathers to finish all. Carved, too, were rowlocks and the ends +of the thwarts, and all the feathered work was white and gold above +the black of the boat's hull. Carved, too, was the baling bowl, and +the loom of the oar was carved in curving lines from rowlock +leather to hand. And as I thought of the chances of our losing her +as we crossed the bar among the following breakers, I was grieved, +and would have asked my father to let us try to get her on deck if +we could.</p> +<p>But now the man roused, and put his hands to his mouth, hailing +us to ask if we would suffer him to come on board, and my father +hailed him back to bid him do so. Then it would seem that our men +were ashamed, having once disobeyed my father whom they loved, not +to finish the work that we had begun, and so, without waiting for +the order, saw to getting the boat up to our quarter, so that it +was but a minute or two before the man leapt on our deck, and the +boat was once more astern at the length of her line.</p> +<p>"Thanks, comrades," said the man; "out of Ran's <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote1anc" href="#sdendnote1sym" id= +"sdendnote1anc">i</a>}</sup> net have you brought me, and ill fall +me if I prove foe to you, as the old saw bodes."</p> +<p>Now as one looked at this storm-beaten wanderer there was no +doubt but that he was surely a prince among men, and I for one +marvelled at his look and bearing after what he must have gone +through. Drenched and salt crusted were his once rich clothes, +tangled and uncared for were his hair and beard, and worn and tired +he showed both in face and body, yet his eyes were bright and his +speech was strong and free as he swung to the roll of the ship with +the step of a sea king. His speech told us that he was a Dane, for +though we of the East Angles had never, even before the coming of +the great host of which I must tell presently, such great +difference of tongue between our own and that of Dane and Frisian +but that we could well understand them and speak therein, yet time +and distance have given us a new way of handling our words, as one +might say, and a new turn to the tones of our voices. Often had I +heard the Danish way of speech on board the ships from over sea in +our haven, and had caught it up, as I was wont to try to catch +somewhat of every tongue that I heard.</p> +<p>So he and we looked at each other for a moment, we wondering at +him and he seeking our leader. Nor did he doubt long, taking two +steps to my father, holding out his hand, and again thanking +him.</p> +<p>My father grasped the offered hand frankly, and, smiling a +little, said:</p> +<p>"Rather should you thank Wulfric, my son, here; for it was his +line that reached you."</p> +<p>"No fault that of yours," answered the Dane; and he turned to me +with the same hearty greeting.</p> +<p>"Now, friend Wulfric, I owe you my life, and therefore from this +time forward my life is for yours, if need be. Nor shall my men be +behind in that matter--that is if I ever see them again," he added, +looking quaintly at me, if gravely.</p> +<p>"Surely you shall do so," I said, "if it is in our power."</p> +<p>"I thank you--and it is well. I know coasts where a stranger +would be a slave from the moment his foot touched shore. Now tell +me whose ship this is that has given me shelter, and what your +father's name is, that I may thank you rightly."</p> +<p>"Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, is my father," I said, "Sheriff +of the East Anglian shore of the North Folk, under Eadmund, our +king. And this is his ship, and this himself to whom you have +spoken."</p> +<p>"Then, Thane and Thane's son, I, whose life you have saved, am +Lodbrok, Jarl <sup>{<a name="sdendnote2anc" href="#sdendnote2sym" +id="sdendnote2anc">ii</a>}</sup> of a strip of Jutland coast. And +now I have a fear on me that I shall do dishonour to the name of +Dane, for I faint for want of food and can stand no more."</p> +<p>With that he sat down on the bench where I had been, and though +he smiled at us, we could see that his words were true enough, and +that he was bearing bravely what would have overborne most men. And +now the falcon fluttered from my wrist to his.</p> +<p>Then my father bade me hasten, and I brought ale and meat for +the jarl, and set them before him, and soon he was taking that +which he needed; but every now and then he gave to the bird, +stroking her ruffled feathers, and speaking softly to her.</p> +<p>"Aye, my beauty," he said once, "I did but cast you down wind +lest you should be lost with me. And I would have had you take back +the news that I was lost to my own home."</p> +<p>My father stood and watched the tide, and presently I joined +him, for I would not hinder the Dane from his meal by watching him. +I looked at the beautiful boat astern, tossing lightly on the wave +crests, and saw that she would surely be lost over the bar; so I +asked my father now, as I had meant before, if we might not try to +get her on board.</p> +<p>For answer he turned to Lodbrok.</p> +<p>"Set you much store by your boat, Jarl?" he asked him.</p> +<p>"The boat is yours, Thane, or Wulfric's, by all right of +salvage. But I would not have her lost, for my sons made her for me +this last winter, carving her, as you see, with their own hands. +Gladly would I see her safe if it might be."</p> +<p>"Then we will try to get her," answered my father; "for there +are one or two things that my children have made for me, and I +would not lose them for the sake of a little trouble. And, +moreover, I think your sons have made you the best boat that ever +floated!"</p> +<p>"Else had I not been here!" answered the Dane. "They are good +shipwrights."</p> +<p>Then Kenulf and the men set to work, and it was no easy matter +to come by the boat; but it was done at last, and glad was I to see +her safely lashed on deck. Then the time had come, and we up anchor +and plunged homewards through the troubled seas of the wide harbour +mouth. It was I who steered, as I ever would of late, while the +Dane stood beside me, stroking his hawk and speaking to it now and +then. And once or twice he looked long and earnestly at the +breakers, knowing now from what he had escaped; and at last he said +to me:</p> +<p>"Many a man, I know, would have rather let me go on than have +run the risk of saving one from the sea. Do you dare go against the +saying?"</p> +<p>"Why not? I may not say that it came not into our minds," I +answered; "but Christian men will put such ill bodes aside."</p> +<p>"Ah! I had forgotten your new faith," said Lodbrok. "Now from +this time I, for one, have naught to say against it, for I think I +owe it somewhat."</p> +<p>And he was silent for a while.</p> +<p>Now my father came aft, and sitting down by the Dane, asked him +how he came to risk sailing in the little boat.</p> +<p>"I know not if you can believe me," answered Lodbrok, "but I +will tell you in a few words. I have been blown from off the +Jutland shore and have won through the gale safely. That is all. +But it was by my own fault, for I must needs take the boat and put +out to sea with my hawk there to find fresh sport. It seemed to me, +forsooth, that a great black-backed gull or fierce skua would give +me a fine flight or two. And so it was; but I rowed out too far, +and before I bethought myself, both wind and tide were against me. +I had forgotten how often after calm comes a shift of wind, and it +had been over still for an hour or so. Then the gale blew up +suddenly. I could have stemmed the tide, as often before; but wind +and tide both were my masters then.</p> +<p>"That was three days and two nights ago. Never thought I to see +another sunset, for by midday of that first day I broke an oar, and +knew that home I could never win; so I made shift with the floor +boards, as you saw, for want of canvas. After that there is little +to tell, for it was ever wave after wave, and gray flying clouds +ever over me, and at night no rest, but watching white wave crests +coming after me through the dark."</p> +<p>"Some of us thought that you were a Finn, at least," said my +father as the Dane paused.</p> +<p>"Not once or twice only on this voyage have I wished myself a +Finn, or at least that I had a Finn's powers," said Lodbrok, +laughing; "but there has been no magic about this business save +watchfulness, and my sons' good handicraft."</p> +<p>Then I asked the jarl how he called his sons, with a little +honest envy in my heart that I could never hope to equal their +skill in this matter of boat building, wherein I had been wont to +take some pride of myself.</p> +<p>"Three sons have I in Jutland, Wulfric, my friend, and they, +when they hear my story, will hold you dear to them. Ingvar is the +eldest, Hubba, the next, and the third, Halfden, is +three-and-twenty, and so about your own age, as I take it, as he is +also about your equal in build and strength. Yet I would sooner see +a ship of mine steered by you than by him, for he is not your equal +in that matter."</p> +<p>Now that praise pleased me well, as it did also my father. For +we hold the Danes as first of all peoples in the knowledge of sea +craft; and we had seen that this man was a master therein. But +though at this time I thought of naught but the words of praise, +hereafter I was to remember the words that Jarl Lodbrok spoke of +the way in which these sons of his would hold me when the tale was +told them.</p> +<p>At last we hailed the shore through the creeping dusk, and the +shore lines were thrown out. Then were we alongside our staithe +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote3anc" href="#sdendnote3sym" id= +"sdendnote3anc">iii</a>}</sup>, and Lodbrok the Dane had come to +Reedham.</p> +<p>Now it may seem but a little thing that a seafarer should be +driven to a strange coast, and be tended there in friendly wise by +those who saved him from the breakers, for such is a common hap on +our island shores. Yet, from this day forward, all my life of the +time yet before me was to be moulded by what came of that cast of +line to one in peril. Aye, and there are those who hold that the +fate of our England herself was in hand that day, though it seems +to me that that is saying overmuch. Yet one cannot tell, and maybe +those who will read this story of mine will be able to judge.</p> +<p>What I do know certainly is this, that all which makes my tale +worth the telling comes from this beginning.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II. HOW +LODBROK SPOKE WITH BEORN THE FALCONER.</a></h2> +<p>So soon as we had stepped ashore there came in haste one of our +housecarles with word from my mother that Eadmund, the king, had +that day come to our house from Caistor; so at once my father bade +the man return and bring changes of clothes for himself and me and +Lodbrok to our steward's house, that we might appear in more decent +trim before our guest and master.</p> +<p>So we waited for a little while, watching the men as they +berthed the ship; and as we stood there a word went round among the +knot of people watching with us, and they parted, making a little +lane, as they said, "The king comes". And then I heard the +well-known voice of Eadmund calling gaily to us:</p> +<p>"Ho, friend Elfric, here have I come to see what a man fresh +from a stormy voyage looks like, if light will serve me."</p> +<p>And so saying, I being nearest to him, the king turned me round +with his strong hands, and scanned my rough, wet garments and fur +cap.</p> +<p>"Truly, son Wulfric," he cried, laughing, "I think these things +suit you as well as war gear, and better than court finery, in this +dim light at least. Now let me see the thane himself."</p> +<p>Then my father would have him come back to the house at once, +out of the stormy weather, for the rain was coming now as the wind +fell; and we went, not waiting for the change of garments, for that +the king would not suffer.</p> +<p>As we turned away from the staithe, Lodbrok took my arm, asking +me where he might find shelter.</p> +<p>"Why, come with us, surely!" I answered, having no thought but +that he would have done so as our guest.</p> +<p>"Thanks," he said; "I knew not if your help could go so far as +that to a man whose story might well be too strange for +belief."</p> +<p>Now it had seemed to me that no one could doubt such a man, and +so I told him that we had no doubt of him at all in that matter. +And he thanked me gravely again, walking, as I thought, more freely +beside me, as knowing that he was held to be a true man.</p> +<p>We followed my father, who walked with the king, at a little +distance because of this small delay; and presently Lodbrok asked +me if this was the King of all England.</p> +<p>"No," I answered; "though, indeed, he is the only king we know +aught of. This is Eadmund of East Anglia."</p> +<p>"You know him well, as one may see by his way with you," said +the jarl.</p> +<p>"Surely, for he is my father's close friend. They were comrades +together in King Offa's court until the old king laid down his +crown and gave the kingdom into Eadmund's hands; and they are the +same to each other now as ever. He is my godfather; and I was in +his court till I was eighteen. Moreover, I am one of his armour +bearers yet when need is."</p> +<p>So I spoke plainly enough, for I think that I had, and ever +shall have, reason to be proud of our nearness to the king, of whom +no man had but good to say since he, almost as a boy, came to the +throne.</p> +<p>"So then it seems that fate has brought me to court," said the +Dane.</p> +<p>"Yes, in a way," I told him; "for the king will ever bide with +us when he would visit this side of his kingdom."</p> +<p>"I think that I have seen this king before," said Lodbrok +presently; "for he is a man the like of whom one sees not +twice."</p> +<p>"Then," said I, "he will surely remember you, for he never +forgets one whom he has had reason to notice."</p> +<p>Whereat the jarl laughed a little to himself; but I had no time +to ask why, for now we were come to the great door; and when my +father would have let the king go in first Eadmund laughed at him, +and took his arm and drew him in with him, so that there was a +little delay, and we drew close.</p> +<p>Very bright and welcome looked the great oaken hall as we came +in from the dark, rainy night. A great fire burnt on its stone +hearth in the centre, and the long tables were already set above +and below it. The bright arms and shields on the walls shone below +the heads of deer and wolf and boar, and the gust of wind that came +in with us flew round the wall, making a sort of ripple of changing +colour run along the bright woven stuffs that covered them to more +than a man's height from the floor. No one in all East Anglia had +so well dight a hall as had Elfric, the rich Thane of Reedham.</p> +<p>Well used was I to all this, but never seemed it more homelike +to me than when I came in fresh from the the cold, gray sea.</p> +<p>And now there stood on the high place to welcome us those whose +presence made the place yet more beautiful to me--my mother, and +Eadgyth my sister, and beside them were Bishop Humbert, our own +bishop, and many thanes of the court, and some of the bishop's +clergy. Such a gathering my father, and, indeed, all of us, loved, +for all were well known to us.</p> +<p>Now I went to greet these dear ones and friends, and there was +pleasant jest and laughter at us for coming thus sea clad and spray +stained into the midst of that gay company. So that for a little +time I forgot Lodbrok, who had not followed me beyond the +hearth.</p> +<p>Then Eadgyth said to me:</p> +<p>"Who is that noble-looking man who stands so sadly and alone by +the fire?"</p> +<p>I turned, blaming myself for this forgetfulness, and there was +the Dane gazing into the flames, and seeming heedless of all that +was going on. Nor do I think that I had ever seen one look so sad +as looked that homeless man, as he forgot the busy talk and +movement around him in some thoughts of his own.</p> +<p>So I went to him, touching his arm gently, and he started a +little. Then his grave smile came, and he said:</p> +<p>"Truly, Wulfric, I had forgotten all things but my own home, and +when I woke from my dream at your touch, half thought I that you +were Halfden--that youngest son of mine of whom I told you."</p> +<p>Then so wistfully looked he at me that I could not forbear +saying to him:</p> +<p>"You must hold me as in Halfden's place, for this will be your +house, if you will, until there comes a ship that will take you +home. Gladly will some of the Frisians we know take you at least to +the right side of the broad seas."</p> +<p>"Aye, gladly would some have Lodbrok the Jarl with them," he +answered, smiling strangely.</p> +<p>What he meant, beyond that he might pilot them well, I knew not, +nor, indeed, thought that any hidden meaning lay in his words. So +that his saying passed from my mind, until one day when I should +have cause to understand it well enough.</p> +<p>I would have taken him now to present him to my mother, but she +was gone, and there came to us one of the steward's men, who stared +at the Dane as if he were some marvel, having doubtless heard his +story from one of the seamen, but covered his wonder by bowing low +and bidding him to an inner room where the thane had prepared +change of garment for him. For my father, having the same full +belief and trust in the stranger's word, would no more than I treat +him in any wise but as an honoured guest.</p> +<p>Then said Lodbrok:</p> +<p>"Good shall surely ever be to the house that will thus treat a +wanderer. Hardly would a castaway meet with so great kindness in my +own land. Nor do I think that we Danes have made our name so well +loved among English folk that we should look for the like among +them."</p> +<p>But I answered that we of East Anglia had no cause to blame his +people, who had made peace with us and kept it faithfully.</p> +<p>So the man led Lodbrok away, and I too went to seek gear more +courtly than salt-stained and tar-spotted blue cloth of +Lavenham.</p> +<p>There are few thanes' houses which have so many chambers as +ours, for because of the king's friendship with us, my father had +added, as it were, house to house, building fresh chambers out +around the great hall itself, till all one might see was its long +roof among the many that clustered round and against its walls, so +that the thanes who came with him, or to see him, might have no +cause to complain of ill lodging with Elfric of Reedham. So it had +come to pass that our house was often the place where the court +lay, and I know that many of the poorer thanes thanked my father +for thus using his riches, since he saved them many a time the +heavy expenses of housing king and court when their turn should +have come. Yet my father would ever put aside those thanks, saying +that he loved to see his house full, though I myself know that this +saving of others less rich was in his mind.</p> +<p>One part of all these buildings we called "the king's house", +for it was set apart for him, and between that and the great hall +was a square and large chamber which Eadmund would use for his +private audiences, and sometimes for council room. And there we +used to gather from all parts of the place that we might enter the +great hall in his train at supper time, for there was a door which +led to the high table thence, so that the king need not go through +the crowd of housecarles and lesser folk who sat, below the salt, +along the walls. And in that chamber was a chimney to the fire, so +that the hearth was against the wall, which was a marvel to many, +but made the place more meet for the king. Ingild the merchant, my +other godfather, whose home was in London, had brought men thence +to make it for us, having the like in his own house after some +foreign pattern.</p> +<p>There were two men only in this room when I returned ready for +the feast. Both stood before the fire, and both were brightly +dressed, and hardly, but for the drowsy hawk which sat unhooded on +his hand, should I have known Lodbrok in the rich dress my father +had had prepared for him. The other was Beorn, the king's falconer, +who went everywhere with his master. These two were speaking +together as they stood before the fire, and I thought that what +Beorn said was not pleasing to the Dane, for he turned away a +little, and answered shortly.</p> +<p>When they saw me both turned, Lodbrok with a smile of welcome, +and Beorn with a loud, rough voice crying to me:</p> +<p>"Ho, Wulfric, here is a strange thing! This gold ring have I +offered to your stranger here for his falcon--which has three wing +feathers missing, moreover--and he will not sell, though I trow +that a man cast ashore must needs want gold more than a bird which +he may not fly save I gain him leave from the king."</p> +<p>"The bird is Wulfric's," said Lodbrok quietly.</p> +<p>"Nay, Jarl," I answered, "I would not take so loving a hawk from +her master, and over all our manors you may surely fly her."</p> +<p>"See you there!" cried Beorn, with a sort of delight, not +heeding my last words, "Wulfric will not have her! Now will you +sell?"</p> +<p>Then Lodbrok looked at me with a short glance that I could not +but understand, and said that it would surely grieve him if I would +not take the falcon.</p> +<p>Pleased enough I was, though half unwilling to take what seemed +as a forced gift. Yet to quiet Beorn--whom I never liked, as he was +both overbearing and boastful, though of great skill in his art of +falconry--I thanked the Dane, and went to where a hawking glove +hung on the wall, for my arm would feel the marks of those strong +talons for many a day, already. As I put it on I said that I feared +the bird would hardly come to me, leaving her master.</p> +<p>"Once I would have said that she would not," said Lodbrok; "for +until today she would bide with no man but myself and her keeper. +But today she has sat on your wrist, so that I know she will love +you well, for reasons that are beyond my guessing."</p> +<p>And so he shifted the falcon lightly from his wrist to mine, and +there she sat quietly, looking from him to me as though she would +own us both.</p> +<p>Then said Beorn, holding out his hand, on which he wore his +embroidered state glove of office:</p> +<p>"This is foolishness. The bird will perch on any wrist that is +rightly held out to her, so she be properly called," and he +whistled shrill, trying to edge the falcon from my hand.</p> +<p>In a moment she roused herself, and her great wings flew out, +striking his arm and face as he pushed them forward; and had he not +drawn back swiftly, her iron beak would surely have rent his gay +green coat.</p> +<p>"Plague on the kite!" he said; "surely she is bewitched! And if +her master is, as they say, a wizard, that is likely--"</p> +<p>"Enough, Master Falconer," I said, growing angry. "Lodbrok is +our guest, and this, moreover, is the court for the time. Why, the +bird is drowsy, and has been with me already. There is no wonder in +the matter, surely?"</p> +<p>But Beorn scowled, and one might see that his pride of falconry +was hurt. Maybe he would have answered again, but I spoke to +Lodbrok, asking him what the falcon was, as she was like none of +ours, for this was a thing I knew Beorn would be glad to know, +while his pride would not let him ask.</p> +<p>And Lodbrok answered that she was an Iceland gerfalcon from the +far northern ocean, and went on to tell us of her powers of flight, +and at what game she was best, and how she would take her quarry, +and the like. And Beorn sat down and feigned to pay no heed to +us.</p> +<p>Presently the Dane said that he had known gerfalcons to fly from +Iceland to Norway in a day, and at that Beorn laughed as in +scorn.</p> +<p>"Who shouted from Norway to Iceland to say that a lost hawk had +come over?" he said.</p> +<p>The Dane laughed a little also, as at a jest; though one could +tell that Beorn rather meant insult.</p> +<p>"Why," he answered, "the bird got loose from her master's ship +as he sailed out of port in Iceland, and he found her at home in +Nidaros at his journey's ending; and they knew well on what day she +came, which was the same as that on which she got free."</p> +<p>Then I said, lest Beorn should scoff again:</p> +<p>"Now, if this falcon got free from here, surely she will go home +to your land."</p> +<p>"Aye, and so my sons will think me dead, seeing her come without +me. Wherefore keep her safely mewed until she has learnt that this +is her home, for I would not have that mischance happen."</p> +<p>That I promised easily, for I prized the bird highly. And that I +might not leave him with the surly Beorn, I asked the jarl to come +and see her safely bestowed, and left the room with him.</p> +<p>As we crossed the courtyard to the mews, where our good hawks +were, Lodbrok said to me:</p> +<p>"I fear yon falconer is ill pleased with me."</p> +<p>"I have a mind to tell the king of his rudeness to our guest," I +answered.</p> +<p>"That is not worth while," said Lodbrok. "The man's pride is +hurt that he should be thus baffled for all his skill, which, from +his talk, must be great," and we both laughed, for Beorn loved his +own praises.</p> +<p>Now when we got back the guests were gathering, and it was not +long before the king entered, and at once called me.</p> +<p>"All here I know but one, Wulfric, and that one is your +seafarer. Let me know him also that speech may be free among +us."</p> +<p>So Lodbrok came, and he and the king looked long at one another +before Eadmund spoke.</p> +<p>"I have heard your story, friend, and it is a strange one," he +said pleasantly. "Moreover, I know your name in some way."</p> +<p>"Well known is the name of Ragnar Lodbrok, my forefather," said +the jarl. "Mayhap the king remembers the name thus!"</p> +<p>"Aye," answered Eadmund, "that is a well-known and honoured +name, and I think that Ragnar's son has a share in his courage. But +your face also seems known to me, and it was not of the great +Ragnar that I thought. Have we met in years past?"</p> +<p>Then Lodbrok said that he had been in London at a time when Offa +the King was there, and it was long years ago, but that the very +day might be remembered by reason of a great wedding that he had +been to see out of curiosity, knowing little of Saxon customs. And +he named the people who were married in the presence of Offa and +many nobles.</p> +<p>Then Eadmund laughed a little.</p> +<p>"Now it all comes into my mind," he said; "you are the leader of +those strangers who must needs come into the church in helm and +mail, with axe and shield hung on shoulders. Moreover, for that +reason, when men bade you depart and you went not, they even let +you bide. So I asked your name--and now I can answer for it that +Lodbrok Jarl you are."</p> +<p>And he held out his hand for the Dane to kiss, after our custom. +But Lodbrok grasped and shook it heartily, saying:</p> +<p>"Thanks, Lord King, for that remembrance, and maybe also for a +little forgetfulness."</p> +<p>Nor was Eadmund displeased with the freedom, but at that last +saying he laughed outright.</p> +<p>"Kings have both to remember and forget," he said, "and maybe, +if the citizens had not expected you to behave as wild vikings, you +would have gone peacefully as you came?"</p> +<p>"That is the truth," said Lodbrok.</p> +<p>So I suppose there had been some fray, of little moment, with +the London folk.</p> +<p>Then we followed the king into the hall; and Lodbrok and I +together sat at table over against him. Soon I knew all that an +hour or two of pleasant talk would teach me of his home and sons +and sports, and the king asked now and again of Danish customs, not +yet speaking of the voyage.</p> +<p>"For," said he, "it is ill recalling hardships until the feast +is over. Then may one enjoy the telling."</p> +<p>Presently the gleemen sang to us; and after that the harp went +round, that those who could might sing, and all the talk in hall +was hushed to hear Eadmund himself, the men setting down ale cups +and knives to listen, for he had a wondrously sweet voice, and sang +from the ancient songs of Caedmon <sup>{<a name="sdendnote4anc" +href="#sdendnote4sym" id="sdendnote4anc">iv</a>}</sup>. Then I sang +of the sea--some song I had made and was proud of, and it pleased +all. And at length we looked at Lodbrok, wondering if he could take +his turn.</p> +<p>"Fain would I try to please my host," he said, looking a little +wistfully at my father; "but a man swept far from home against his +will is no singer."</p> +<p>Then Eadmund pitied him, as did we all, and rose up.</p> +<p>"Feasting is over, thanes," he said. "Let us sit awhile in the +other chamber and hear Lodbrok's story."</p> +<p>For he would ever leave the hall as at this time, so that the +housecarles and lesser guests might have greater freedom of talk +when we were gone.</p> +<p>So we rose up, and as we did so I saw Beorn, the falconer, look +sourly at Lodbrok; and it misliked me that he should harbour any +ill will even yet against the Dane who had done him no wrong.</p> +<p>Round the fire we sat; some ten of us in all, for Bishop Humbert +and his folk went to their lodgings in the town, and there Lodbrok +told the king of his voyage.</p> +<p>And when he named his sons, Eadmund looked grave, and said:</p> +<p>"I have heard of those two chiefs, Ingvar and Hubba. Did they +not make a raid into Northumbria two years ago? Maybe they are yet +there with the host."</p> +<p>"Aye," answered Lodbrok, seeming to wonder at the grave face of +our king; "they went to Northumbria with the host that is yet +there. They fought well and bravely at the place men call +Streoneshalch <sup>{<a name="sdendnote5anc" href="#sdendnote5sym" +id="sdendnote5anc">v</a>}</sup>, gaining much booty. And it was by +Ingvar's plan that the place was taken, and that was well done. But +they left the host with their men after that, saying that there +were over many leaders already."</p> +<p>Now we all knew the cruel story of the burning of that place; +but Northumbria was a far-off kingdom, and with it we had naught to +do. So, except perhaps the king, the rest of us were as little +moved as if he had spoken of the taking of some Frankish town; for +if my father thought more of it, being in the king's counsels, he +passed it over.</p> +<p>"These sons of yours have a mind to be first then," he said +lightly.</p> +<p>"Seeing that the blood of Ragnar Lodbrok is in their veins it +could not well be otherwise," answered the jarl somewhat +grimly.</p> +<p>Then he ended his tale, and the king was greatly pleased with +him, so that he bade him bide in the court for a while that he +might take back a good report of us to his own people.</p> +<p>Now when the king was with us, I gladly took up my duties as his +armour bearer for the time; and therefore slept across the doorway +of his chamber when he went to rest. So my father bestowed Lodbrok +with the thanes in the great hall, and I left him there, following +the king.</p> +<p>Well did I sleep that night, though, sailorwise, not so heavily +but that any noise would rouse me in a moment. And as it drew +towards morning the king stirred uneasily, and I looked up at him. +Seeing that I woke he called me softly. The gray light of dawn came +through the window, and I could see that he sat up in his bed, +though I might not make out his face.</p> +<p>"I am here, Lord King. Is aught amiss?" I said, rising up with +my sword in my hand.</p> +<p>"Strange dreams have I had, my son," he said, in his quiet +voice, "and they trouble me."</p> +<p>"Let me know them, my master," I said, "and maybe the trouble +will pass; for often that which seems sorely troublous in a dream +is naught when one would put it into words."</p> +<p>"Sit on the bed and I will tell you," he answered; and when I +was there close to him he went on:</p> +<p>"It was this: I thought that I was in some place where water +gleamed beneath me, while overhead passed the tread of many feet +with music of pipe and tabor as at a bridal. And I cannot tell what +that place was. Then came to me the hand of this Lodbrok, and he, +looking very sad and downcast, led me thence into the forest land +and set me over against a great gate. And beyond that gate shone +glorious light, and I heard the sound of voices singing in such +wise that I knew it was naught but the gate of Heaven itself, and I +would fain go therein. But between me and the gate sped arrows +thick as hail, so that to reach it I must needs pass through them. +Then said Jarl Lodbrok, 'Here is the entry, and it is so hard to +win through because of me, yet not by my fault. But I think you +will not turn aside for arrows, and when you come therein I pray +you to remember me.' Then pressed I to the gate, unheeding of the +arrow storm. And lo! the gate was an oak tree, tall and strong, yet +beyond it was the light and the singing that I had reached. Then +faded the face of Lodbrok, and after me looked sadly many faces, +and one was yours, my son, and the nearest. So I woke."</p> +<p>"That is a wondrous dream," I said, not knowing what to make +thereof, having no skill in reading these matters.</p> +<p>"Aye, my son," answered Eadmund; "nor can I read it; though I +think I shall do so hereafter. Nevertheless it comes into my mind +that the dream warns me that my time is short. Lie down again, my +son. Let us sleep in peace while we may."</p> +<p>After that the king slept peacefully as a little child till full +daylight came; but I for very sadness closed not my eyes again, for +I thought that our king was fey <sup>{<a name="sdendnote6anc" href= +"#sdendnote6sym" id="sdendnote6anc">vi</a>}</sup>.</p> +<p>But in the morning the dream had, as it seemed, passed from the +mind of Eadmund, for he was very cheerful, as was his wont, and +said naught of it. However, I told my father thereof, for the +remembrance was heavy to me. And he, when he heard it, bit his lip +a little, pondering, but at last laughed.</p> +<p>"Trouble not yourself about it, son Wulfric," he said; "were I +to mind every dream that I have had, I think that I should take no +joy in life. Why, every year, for the last five past, I have +dreamed of sore shipwreck, and the old vessel's timbers are yet +hanging together!"</p> +<p>I laughed also, and thought that maybe he was right--for my +father's judgment was ever the best in my eyes--and so set my mind +at rest, though the strangeness of the matter would not let it be +altogether forgotten.</p> +<p>Now as days went on and we saw more of our guest, Lodbrok, there +was, I think, no man of our household who would willingly have seen +him take ship and leave us; for his ways and words were pleasant to +all alike, and there seemed to be no craft of which he knew not +something, so that he could speak to each man, in field or village +or boat, of the things that he knew best. And that is a gift that +may well be longed for by any man who would be loved by others.</p> +<p>Greatly pleased with him was Eadmund the King, so that he would +talk long with him of the ways and laws and peoples beyond the +seas; and also of hunting and hawking, which they both loved well. +And in this last Lodbrok was the best skilled master I have ever +known; and the king would ever have him ride beside him in the +field while the court was yet with us. And that pleased not Beorn, +though he kept his ill will to himself; and maybe I alone noted it, +for I had not spoken of that meeting, of which I have told, even to +my father.</p> +<p>Well, too, did my mother and Eadgyth like the courtly ways of +the jarl, who was ever ready to tell them of the life in his +household, and of the daughter, Osritha, who was its mistress since +her mother died but a few years since, and her two elder sisters +had been married to chiefs of their own land. Sometimes, too, they +would ask him of the dress of the ladies of his land; but at that +he would laugh and shake his head, saying that he only knew that +they went wondrously clad, but that he could tell naught more of +the matter.</p> +<p>"Weapons and war gear I may talk of by the hour," he said, "but +women's gear is beyond me. But once my daughter and I wrought +together in a matter that was partly of both, and that was when I +needed a war flag. And so I drew out the great raven I would have +embroidered on it, and they worked it in wondrous colours, and gold +and silver round the form of the great bird, so that it seems to +shift and flap its wings as the light falls on it and the breeze +stirs it, as if there were magic therein."</p> +<p>Now Eadgyth was well skilled in this work, and thereat she must +needs say that she would work me a flag for our ship, if the jarl +would plan one. So it seems to me now that that evening was very +pleasant, for they planned and shaped and began a flag whereon was +drawn by the jarl a white falcon like the one he had given to me, +and that was my thought, and it pleased him, as I think.</p> +<p>One day we came home early from our hunting, and Lodbrok and I +sat in the great hall, while the summer rain swelled in torrents, +with thunder and lightning sweeping over the river marshes and out +to sea, and we looked at the weapons that hung on the walls.</p> +<p>"Little care I for your long spear and short sword, friend +Wulfric," he said; "it seems to me that you must needs shorten the +one and lengthen the other before you can be held well armed. And +your bow is weak, and you have no axe."</p> +<p>For I had asked him what he thought of our Saxon weapons, else +would he not have spoken so plainly. Then he thought for a little +while, and said:</p> +<p>"Would you learn to use the axe?"</p> +<p>I answered that nothing would please me better; for of all +things, I longed to excel in weapon play of all kinds.</p> +<p>"That is well," he said, "for I owe you my life, and I think +that I can teach you that which will keep yours against any foe +that you may meet; for you are of the right build for a good +axeman, and not too old to learn."</p> +<p>Then we went to the smithy, and there, while the thunder raged +outside, he forged me an axe of the Danish pattern.</p> +<p>"Thor's own weather!" he said, laughing; and as he spoke the +blue lightning paled the red glow of the forge to a glimmer. "This +should be a good axe, and were you not a Christian, I would bid you +hold your beginning, as its wielder, of good omen."</p> +<p>Then the thunder crashed, and there was no need for me to +answer. And in the end he taught me patiently, until, one day, he +said:</p> +<p>"Now do you teach me to use your long spear. I can teach you no +more axe play than you know. Some day you will meet an axeman face +to face, and will find out what you know. Then, if I have taught +you ill, say naught; but if well, then say 'Jarl Lodbrok taught +me'."</p> +<p>Now I hold that the test of mastery of a weapon is that one +wishes for no other, and I knew that I had learned that much. But I +could not tell how much he had taught me, for axe play was new to +me, and I had not seen it before.</p> +<p>After I had learned well, as he said, the jarl tempered the axe +head, heating and cooling it many times, until it would take an +edge that would shear through iron without turning. And he also +wrought runes on it, hammering gold wire into clefts that he +made.</p> +<p>"What say they?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Thus they read," he answered:</p> +<p>"Life for life. For Wulfric, Elfric's son, Lodbrok the seafarer, +made me!"</p> +<p>Thereat I wondered a little, for I knew not yet what he had +taught me. Yet when I asked why he wrote those first words, he only +laughed, saying, "That you will know some day, as I think."</p> +<p>Now if I were to write all that went on until August came, I +should speak of little but how the jarl and I were never apart; for +though he was so much older than myself, I grew to be his fast +friend. And many a long day did I spend with him in his boat, +learning somewhat of his skill in handling her, both on river, and +broad, and sea. Very pleasant those days were, and they went all +too soon.</p> +<p>No ship came in that could help him homewards, and though the +Danish host was in Northumbria, he cared not to go there, for his +sons were gone home. And Eadmund would fain see more of him, so +that, although I would willingly have taken our ship across the +seas, for the first time, to his place, he would not suffer me to +do so; for he said that he was not so restless here with us, and +that his sons and Osritha, his daughter, had doubtless long thought +him dead.</p> +<p>Now in June the king had gone to Framlingham, and in August came +back to Thetford. Then he sent for my father, begging him to bring +Lodbrok with him, that together they might hunt over the great +heaths that stretch for many a mile north and west and south of the +town. No better sport is there for hawk and hound than on Brandon +and Croxton heaths, and the wilds to which our Saxon Icklings and +Lakings have given their names, for they stretch from forest to +fen, and there is no game in all England that one may not find +there, from red deer to coney, wolf to badger, bustard to snipe, +while there are otter and beaver in the streams.</p> +<p>So they would go, for the wish of a king is, as it were, a +command, even had not both my father and Lodbrok loved to be with +him, whether in hall or field. And I thought that I should surely +go also.</p> +<p>However, my father had other plans for me, and they were none +other than that I should take the ship round to London with some +goods we had, and with some of the new barley, just harvested, +which would ever find ready sale in London, seeing that no land +grows better for ale brewing than ours of East Anglia.</p> +<p>Now that was the first time I had been trusted to command the +ship unaided by my father's presence, though of late he would say +that he was owner, not captain, and but a passenger of mine; so, +though I was sorry not to go to Thetford, I was more proud of +myself than I would show; and maybe I would rather have taken to +the sea had there been choice.</p> +<p>I was to go to my godfather, Ingild the merchant, who would, as +ever, see to business for me; and then, because the season was +late, and wind and weather might keep me long in the river, my +father bade me stay with him, if I would, and if need were lay up +the ship in Thames for the winter, coming home by the great Roman +street that runs through Colchester town to our shores; or if +Ingild would keep me, staying in London with him even till spring +came again.</p> +<p>"If I must leave the ship," I said, "I shall surely come back to +hunt with the jarl and you."</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," answered my father, smiling, "Ingild will have +many a brave show for you in town. Wait till you get to London, for +the court of Ethelred himself will very likely be there, and there +will be much to see. And maybe you will find some Danish ship in +the river, and will send her captain here to take the jarl home +with him; for we may not hold him as a prisoner with us."</p> +<p>Then Lodbrok added that, in any case, I might find means to send +messages to his home by some ship sailing to ports that he named; +and that I promised I would do. Thereon he gave me a broad silver +ring, rune graven, to show as a token to any of his countrymen whom +I might meet, for the ring was known.</p> +<p>"Do not part with it, Wulfric," he said, as I thanked him; "for +it may be of use to you some day, if not on this voyage. Jarl +Lodbrok is well known on the high seas, and he gives not rings for +naught."</p> +<p>Now I would not take the falcon with me, but begged the jarl to +use her; and I asked him also to train for himself a greyhound that +I had bred, and of which he thought highly.</p> +<p>"Why," said he, "I shall have the best hawk and dog in all +Thetford town, and Beorn the falconer will have naught to say to +me."</p> +<p>Thereat we laughed, for Beorn's jealousy was a sport to us when +we thought of it, which was seldom enough.</p> +<p>So these two went to Thetford, and in the last week of August I +sailed for London, with a fair breeze over the quarter, from our +haven.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III. +WHAT CAME IN A NORTH SEA FOG.</a></h2> +<p>Night saw our ship off Orfordness, and there the breeze failed +us, and a thick fog, hiding the land and its lights, crept up from +seaward and wrapped us round. But before it came, on Orfordness a +fire burnt redly, though what it was, unless it might be some +fisher's beacon, we could not tell.</p> +<p>The fog lifted as we drifted past the wide mouth of Stour and +Orwell rivers with a little breeze, and the early daylight showed +us the smoke of a fire that burnt on the higher land that shuts in +the haven's mouth on its southern shores. But even as we saw it, +the fog closed round us again and the wind died away, so that we +lowered the sail, and the men got out the oars, and slowly, while +Kenulf swung the lead line constantly, we crept on among the sand +banks down the coast.</p> +<p>Presently the tide turned against us, and Kenulf thought well +that we should drop anchor and wait for its turning again. The men +gladly laid in the oars, and the anchor rattled out and held. The +ship swung to her cable, and then there seemed deep silence after +the even roll and creak of the great sweeps in their rowlocks. The +fog was very dense, and beyond our stem head I could see +nothing.</p> +<p>Then to break the silence came to us, over no great stretch of +water as it seemed, the sound of a creaking block, the fall of a +yard on deck, and a voice raised in some sharp order. Then I +thought I heard an anchor plunge, and there was silence. Very +ghostly it seemed to hear these familiar sounds and to see naught, +and it was the more so that we might by no means judge from which +side of us, or fore or aft, the noises came, for fog will confuse +all things, and save a driving snowstorm, I dread nothing more at +sea.</p> +<p>Now the men began to speak in whispers, for the silence and +weirdness of the fog quieted us all. And, moreover, when the fog +lifted we had seen no ship, though there must be one close to us +now, and we wondered.</p> +<p>But Kenulf came to me presently with a scared face, and waiting +till the men had gone forward to find their food, he asked me if I +heard the voice that spoke.</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," I answered. "What of it?"</p> +<p>"Master," he said, "the voice was a Danish voice, as I think. +And I mind me of the fires we saw."</p> +<p>"What then?" said I carelessly, though indeed I could see well +what fear was in the old man's mind. Yet I would have him put the +thing into words, being ready to look the worst in the face at any +time.</p> +<p>"The vikings, master," he answered; "surely they were in Orwell +mouth and saw us, and have given chase."</p> +<p>"We should have seen them also," I said.</p> +<p>"Not so, master, for the fog hung inland, and if a Dane lies in +such a place he has ever men watching the sea--and they will sail +two ship's lengths to our one."</p> +<p>"Supposing the ship is a viking, what should we do now?" I +asked, for I knew of naught to do but bide where we were.</p> +<p>"Go back with tide and slip past them even now," said Kenulf, +though I think he knew that this was hopeless, for if we rowed, the +sound of our oars would betray us, and if not we should be on a +shoal before long, whence any escape would be impossible.</p> +<p>"Hark!" I said in another moment, and we listened.</p> +<p>There was little noise beyond the lapping of the swift tide +against our sides. The men forward were silent, and I had thought +that I heard the distant sound of voices and oars.</p> +<p>It came again in the stillness; a measured beat that one could +not well mistake, as of a ship's boat leisurely pulled.</p> +<p>Then one of our men began to sing in an undertone, and Kenulf +smote his hands together in terror, for the sound would betray us, +and he was going forward to stop the song.</p> +<p>"No matter," said I, "they know we are not far off, for I think +they must have anchored when they heard us do so, as we heard them. +If they seek us they will soon find us."</p> +<p>"They are coming nearer," said Kenulf, and I heard the oars more +plainly yet.</p> +<p>Now the thought of calling my men to arms came over me, but I +remembered how Lodbrok had told me that resistance to vikings, +unless it were successful, meant surely death, but that seldom +would the unresisting be harmed, even if the ship were wantonly +burnt after plunder, and the crew set adrift in their boat.</p> +<p>Still the oars drew nearer, and I thought of the words that +Lodbrok had spoken--how that shipmen would be glad of his +presence--and I wished that he were indeed with me, for now I knew +what he meant.</p> +<p>Now, too, I knew his gift of the ring to be our safety, and +surely he had given it to me for this. So I grew confident, and +even longed to see the sharp bow of the boat cleave the mist, if +only her crew knew of our friend by name at least. Yet they might +be Norse--not Danish.</p> +<p>But the sound of oars crossed our bows and died away again, and +then a voice hailed from the ship, as I thought, and there was +silence.</p> +<p>Kenulf and I breathed more freely then, and we too went forward +and ate and drank, and afterwards spoke of the chance of slipping +away when the tide turned, though I was sure that, if the ship were +what we thought, she would up anchor and drift with us.</p> +<p>So the hours of flood tide passed, and then the ship began to +swing idly as the slack came. Then with the turn of tide came +little flaws of wind, and we hoisted the sail, and Kenulf hove the +anchor short. Yet we heard no more sounds from the other ship.</p> +<p>Then all in a minute the fog thinned, lifted, and cleared away, +and I saw the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever lighted on, and +the most terrible.</p> +<p>For, not half a mile from us, lay a great viking snekr +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote7anc" href="#sdendnote7sym" id= +"sdendnote7anc">vii</a>}</sup>, with the sunlight full on her and +flashing from the towering green and gold and crimson dragon's head +that formed her stem, and from the gay line of crimson and yellow +shields that hung along her rail from end to end of the long curve +of her sides. Her mast was lowered, and rested, with the furled +blue and white striped sail, on the stanchions and crossbars that +upheld it, to leave the deck clear for swing of sword and axe; and +over the curving dragon tail of the stern post floated a forked +black and golden flag. And wondrously light and graceful were the +lines on which she was built, so that beside her our stout cargo +ship showed shapeless and heavy, as did our log canoes beside +Lodbrok's boat. As soon should our kitchen turnspit dog fly the +greyhound that I had given Lodbrok, as such a ship as ours from +this swift viking's craft.</p> +<p>But her beauty was not that which drew the eyes of my men. +Little they thought of wonder or pleasure in gazing on the ship +herself. All her decks were crowded with scarlet-cloaked men, and +the sunlight which made the ship so bright flashed also from helm +and spear and mail coat from stem to stern. And at that sight every +tale of viking cruelty they had heard came into their minds, and +they were overcome with terror, so that I thought that several +would have cast themselves into the sea, away from the terrible +ship, choosing rather death by water than by the sword. But I saw +some half dozen whose faces set hard with other thoughts than +these, and they turned to seek their weapons from under the fore +deck.</p> +<p>Then I spoke to them, for it was time; and I would have neither +fear nor defiance shown, for I knew that we should be boarded.</p> +<p>"Yonder ship belongs, as I think, to the people of our guest, +Lodbrok the Dane. So it seems to me that they will gladly hear news +of him from us, as he is a great man in Denmark. And surely we have +deserved well of his folk in every way, and we of East Anglia are +at peace with the Danish host. Therefore, let us wait till they +board us, and then let no man stir from his place or speak a word, +that I may talk with them in peace."</p> +<p>Those words were listened to eagerly, and they wrought on the +minds of my poor fellows as I wished. Moreover, to put our one +chance of safety into form thus heartened me also, for I will not +say that I feared nothing from these vikings, who might know and +care naught concerning our sea-borne guest, even were they +Danes.</p> +<p>Yet it seemed that none saw my fears, for in a little the men +asked if they might take their weapons. And though it seemed hard +to me and them alike to bide unarmed, I knew it was safer, and so +bade them meet the Danes in all peaceful seeming.</p> +<p>Now we saw a boat lowered from the longship's side, and one by +one armed men entered her, and she sank deeply in the water. Ten I +counted, and at last one more, who, I supposed, was the leader.</p> +<p>So deep was she that, as she left the ship, I thought how that +one sack of our grain, hove into her as she came alongside, would +sink her and leave her crew to drown in our sight. But then the +ship herself would close on us, and not one of us but would pay for +that deed with his life.</p> +<p>So she came slowly over the glassy water of the slack tide, and +my men watched her, saying nothing.</p> +<p>Soon she came alongside, and at a sign from me Kenulf threw a +line which the bowman caught, and I thought that a word or two of +wonder passed among her crew. They dropped to where the curve of +our deck was lowest, and instantly the leader leapt on board and +all but one of his men followed, axe or drawn sword in hand. As I +had bidden them, not one of my men stirred save Kenulf, who made +fast the line and stood watching.</p> +<p>The leader was a young man, of about my own age, clad in golden +shining bronze scale armour and wearing a silver helm on which were +short, black, curving horns; and he bore a double-headed axe, +besides the sword at his side. He looked round on us--at the men +standing silent, at Kenulf, and at me as I stood on the after deck +resting on the tiller, and broke into a great laugh.</p> +<p>"Well," he cried, "are you all dumb, or fools, or wise men; or a +little of all three?"</p> +<p>But my men answered nothing, even as I had bidden them, and I +thought that my time was not yet come to speak.</p> +<p>"The fog has got into their throats," said a Dane; for with a +great lifting of my heart I knew their tongue, and it was Lodbrok's +and not Norse.</p> +<p>"Struck speechless with fear more like," said another.</p> +<p>"Ho, men," said the leader, "which is your captain?"</p> +<p>One of our crew pointed to me, and I came to the break of the +deck saying:</p> +<p>"I am master of this ship."</p> +<p>And I spoke as a Dane, for my long company with Lodbrok had +given me the very turn of his speech.</p> +<p>At that the viking stared at me, and one of his men said:</p> +<p>"When did Danes take to trading on this coast?"</p> +<p>"You are Saxon by all seeming," said the leader, "yet you speak +like a Dane. Whence are you, and how learned you our tongue so +glibly?"</p> +<p>"We are from Reedham in East Anglia, which is at peace with the +Danish host," I said; "and I learnt the Danish speech from one who +is my friend, Lodbrok the Dane, whom men call Jarl Lodbrok."</p> +<p>Now at that word the Danes all turned to me, and hardly one but +let fall some word of wonder; and the young leader took two great +steps towards me, with his face flushing and his eyes lit up with a +new look.</p> +<p>Then he stopped, and his face changed, growing white and angry, +and his teeth closed tightly as he looked at me. Then he said:</p> +<p>"Now if you are making a tale to save your skins, worse shall it +be for you. What know you of Lodbrok?"</p> +<p>I held out my hand, on which the jarl's ring shone white against +the sea-browned skin.</p> +<p>"Here is a token he gave me before I sailed, that some friend of +his might know it and speak to me," I said.</p> +<p>The viking dropped his axe on the deck and seized my hand, +gazing at the ring and the runes graven thereon.</p> +<p>"Lives he yet?" he said, breathless.</p> +<p>"Aye, Halfden Lodbroksson, your father lives and is well in our +house," I answered; for now I knew that this was surely the +youngest of those three sons of whom the jarl had told me so +often.</p> +<p>Now at that word the Danes broke into a great cheer, but Halfden +laid his hands on my shoulders and kissed me on both cheeks, while +the tears of joy ran down his face.</p> +<p>"Well must Lodbrok my father love you if he has told you so much +that you know me by name," he cried; "and well does he trust you +since he has given you his ring. Tell me more and ever more of +him."</p> +<p>Then sudden as before his mood changed, and he let me go and +climbed on the rail with his arm round a backstay, and taking off +his helm he lifted up a mighty shout to his ship:</p> +<p>"Found is Jarl Lodbrok, ahoy!"</p> +<p>And with uplifted weapons his men repeated the shout, so that it +seemed as though the loved name was heard across the still water, +for the men on board the ship cheered in answer.</p> +<p>Now nothing would serve Halfden but that I must go with him on +board his own ship, there to tell him all I might; and he laughed +gaily, saying that he had looked indeed for a rich booty, but had +gained that which was more worth to him.</p> +<p>Then I told Kenulf that we would bide at anchor till we knew +what should be done, thinking it likely that Halfden would wish us +to pilot him back to Reedham.</p> +<p>"We shall lose our tide," grumbled the old man, who was himself +again, now that he knew we had naught to fear.</p> +<p>"That is all we shall lose," I answered, "and what matters it? +we have all our time before us."</p> +<p>"I like not the weather," he said shortly.</p> +<p>But I paid no more heed to him, for Halfden spoke to me.</p> +<p>"Let me leave a few men here," he said; "the boat is overladen, +and the sea is rising with the breeze;" and then he added with a +smile that had much grim meaning in it. "They bide as friends with +you, and but for our safety; not to take charge of your ship."</p> +<p>So I bade Kenulf give the three who remained the best cheer that +we might, treating them as Lodbrok's men; for the old pilot loved +the jarl well, and I knew that for his sake he would do much.</p> +<p>Then in a few more minutes I stood on the deck of Halfden's +ship, and word went round quickly of my news, so that I had a good +welcome. Yet I liked not the look of the Danish men, after the +honest faces of our own crew. It seemed to me that they were hard +featured and cruel looking, though towards me were none but +friendly looks. Yet I speak of the crew only, for Halfden was like +his father in face and speech, and that is saying much for him in +both.</p> +<p>They spread a great awning, striped in blue and white like the +sail, over the after deck, and there they set food and wine for us, +and Halfden and I sat down together. And with us one other, an +older man, tall and bushy bearded, with a square, grave face +scarred with an old wound. Thormod was his name, and I knew +presently that he was Halfden's foster father, and the real captain +of the ship while Halfden led the fighting men.</p> +<p>"Food first and talk after," quoth this Thormod, and we fell +to.</p> +<p>So when we had finished, and sat with ale horns only before us, +Halfden said:</p> +<p>"I have sought tidings of my father from the day when he was +lost until this. Now tell me all his story from end to end."</p> +<p>And I did so; though when it came to the throwing of the line to +the boat I said naught of my own part in that, there being no need, +and moreover that I would not seem to praise myself. And I ended by +saying how Lodbrok was even now at court with Eadmund, our king, +and high in favour with him and all lesser men.</p> +<p>Many were the questions that the Danes asked me as I spoke, and +I answered them plainly, for indeed I was glad to see the look in +Halfden's eyes as I spoke to him of his father, I having naught but +pleasant things to tell of him, which one may say of few men, +perhaps. And by and by I spoke of his having taught me the use of +the Danish axe.</p> +<p>"Ho!" said Thormod; "hold your peace for a while, and we will +see what sort of pupil he had."</p> +<p>Then he rose up and took his axe, and bade me take Halfden's, +which I did, not over willingly maybe, while Halfden stood by, +smiling.</p> +<p>"I will not harm you," said Thormod shortly, seeing that I was +not over eager. "See here!"</p> +<p>His ale horn stood on the low table where we had been sitting, +and now he placed it on the gunwale, going from under the awning. +The men who sat along the decks looked up at him and were +still.</p> +<p>Then he heaved up the axe with both hands and whirled it, +bringing it down with such force that I looked to see both horn and +gunwale shorn through. But so skilful was he that he stayed that +mighty stroke so that the keen edge of the axe rested on the horn's +rim without marking it, and all the men who were watching cried +out:</p> +<p>"Skoal <sup>{<a name="sdendnote8anc" href="#sdendnote8sym" id= +"sdendnote8anc">viii</a>}</sup> to Thormod the axeman!"</p> +<p>"So," said he; "now stand up and guard a stroke or two; only +strike not as yet, for maybe your axe would go too far," and he +smiled grimly, as in jest.</p> +<p>But I had learned that same trick from the jarl.</p> +<p>Now Lodbrok had told me that when one has a stronger axeman to +deal with than one's self the first thing is to guard well. So he +had spent long hours in teaching me guard after guard, until I +could not fail in them.</p> +<p>"I am ready," I said, standing out before him.</p> +<p>Thormod feinted once or twice, then he let fly at me, striking +with the flat of his axe, as one does when in sport or practice. So +I guarded that stroke as the jarl had taught me; and as I did so +the men shouted:</p> +<p>"Well done, Saxon!"</p> +<p>"No need to go further," said Thormod, dropping his axe and +grasping his wrist with his left hand; for that parry was apt to be +hard on the arm of the man who smote and met it. "That is the +jarl's own parry, and many an hour must he have spent in teaching +you. It is in my mind that he holds that he owes you his life."</p> +<p>And from that time Thormod looked at me in a new way, as I +felt.</p> +<p>Halfden was well pleased, and shouted:</p> +<p>"Nay, Thormod; your turn to guard now; let Wulfric smite at +you!"</p> +<p>"No, by Thor, that will I not," he said; "he who taught to guard +has doubtless taught to strike, and I would not have my head +broken, even in play!"</p> +<p>Now he sat down, and I said, mindful of Lodbrok's words:</p> +<p>"It seems to me that I have been well taught by the jarl."</p> +<p>"Aye, truly," said Thormod; "he has taught you more than you +think."</p> +<p>Halfden would have me keep his axe, but I told him of that one +which the jarl had made for me, and straightway he sent the boat +for it, and when it came read the runes thereon.</p> +<p>"Now this says that you are right, Thormod! Here has my father +written 'Life for life'--tell us how that was!"</p> +<p>So I said that it was my good fortune to cast him the line that +saved his boat, and that was all. But they made as much of that as +did Lodbrok himself. And when the men came from our ship, they +brought that tale from our men also; so that they made me most +welcome, and I was almost fain to get away from them.</p> +<p>But we sat and talked while the tide went by and turned, and +still we lay at anchor until the stars came out and the night wind +began to sing in the rigging of the great ship.</p> +<p>Now I had thought that surely Halfden would have wished to sail +back to Reedham at once, there to seek his father; but I knew not +yet the power which draws a true viking ever onward to the west, +and when I said that we would, if he chose, sail back with him on +the next tide, he only laughed, saying:</p> +<p>"Why so? My father is well and in good case. Wherefore we will +end our cruise well if we can, and so put in for him on our way +home at the season's end."</p> +<p>"What would you do, then?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"Raid somewhere," he answered carelessly. "We will not go home +without some booty, or there will be grumbling among the wives; but +for your sake we will go south yet, for you are bound for London, +as I think."</p> +<p>I said that it was so, and that I would at once go back to +Reedham when my business was done, there to prepare for his +coming.</p> +<p>"That is well; and we will sail to Thames mouth together. And +you shall sail in my ship to tell me more of my father, and because +I think we shall be good friends, so that I would rather have you +come and raid a town or two with me than part with you. But as you +have your ship to mind, we will meet again at Reedham, and I will +winter there with you, and we will hunt together, and so take you +home with us in the spring."</p> +<p>Now this seemed good to me, and pleased me well enough, as I +told him. Where Halfden and his crew went, south of Thames mouth, +was no concern of mine--nor, indeed, of any other man in East +Anglia in those days. That was the business of Ethelred, our +overlord, if he cared to mind the doings of one ship. Most of all +it was the concern of the sheriff in whose district a landing was +made.</p> +<p>So messages were sent to old Kenulf, and glad was he to know +that we should not have to give up our passage to London, and maybe +still more to feel safe in this powerful company from any other +such meetings. And before the tide served us, Halfden had said that +he also would come to London, so that our ship should lead the way +up the river.</p> +<p>When we weighed anchor Thormod must needs, therefore, reef and +double reef his sail, else our ship had been hull down astern +before many hours had passed, so swift was the longship.</p> +<p>Now I have said that old Kenulf had misliked the look of the +weather, and now Thormod seemed uneasy. Yet the breeze came fresh +from the southeast; and though it had shifted a good deal, I, for +my part, thought little ill of that, for it held in that quarter +till we were fairly among the sands of the Thames mouth at +nightfall, and Kenulf lit lanterns by which we might follow him. No +man knew the Thames-mouth channels better than our pilot, Kenulf +the sea crafty, as we called him.</p> +<p>Then it fell dead calm, quite suddenly, and we drifted, with the +sail flapping against the mast idly, for half an hour or so. Then +fell on us, without warning, such a fierce gale as I had never +before seen, blowing from north and west, with rain and bright +lightning, and it raised in five minutes a sea that broke over us +again and again as Thormod brought the ship head to wind.</p> +<p>Then I lost sight of Kenulf's lights, and as I clung to the +rail, my mind was torn with longing to be back in my own ship in +this danger, though I knew that Kenulf needed me not, and that, had +I been there, it would but have been to obey him with the rest of +our crew; yet I think that any man who loves his ship will know +what I felt.</p> +<p>And of the fury and darkness of that night I will say little. +This is what comes into my mind of all that happened--aye, and at +night, when the wind roars round the house, I see it all again, +waking in my dreams as I call to Kenulf. One flash of lightning +showed me my ship dismasted and helpless, drifting broadside on to +a sand over which the waves broke white and angry, and when the +next flash came--she was gone!</p> +<p>Then I cried out on my folly in leaving her, and out of the +blackness beside me as I clung to the gunwale, straining my eyes +against the spray, Halfden's voice came, crying, as he gripped my +arm:</p> +<p>"By Odin--it is well that I kept you here!"</p> +<p>And Thormod from the helm shouted to his men to stand by the +sheet, and the helm went down, and the ship drove through the seas +that broke clean over her as he saw the danger in time to stand +away from it, heading her as free as he dared.</p> +<p>Naught of this I heeded, for I could think but of the stout +sailor men with whom I had been brought up, and of whom I knew only +too surely that I should see them not again. And for them I tried +to pray, for it was all that I could do, and it seemed so +little--yet who knows what help may come therefrom?</p> +<p>Now the longship fought alone with the storm. Hard was the +fight, but I, who was willing to die with my own people who had +gone before my eyes, cared nothing for whether we won through the +gale or not. But Thormod called to me, bidding me pilot them as +best I might, and so I was taken a little from my thoughts. Yet can +I take no praise to myself that, when the gale slackened, we were +safe and beyond the dangers of the shoals.</p> +<p>We were far down channel when morning broke, and on either bow +were white cliffs, plain to be seen in the clear light that came +after the short fury of the gale was spent. Never had I thought +that a ship could sail so wondrously as this of Halfden's, and yet +I took no pleasure therein, because of all that I had lost. And it +seemed to me that now I knew from my own chance why it was that +Lodbrok could sing no song to us at that feasting, when we came +home to Reedham; for surely my case was even as his.</p> +<p>So I thought, leaning on the gunwale and staring ever at the +white cliffs of England on our starboard; and there Halfden found +me, and came, putting his hand on my shoulder very kindly.</p> +<p>"Now if you have lost friends and ship by the common chances of +the sea," he said, "surely you have found both anew. You shall turn +viking and go on this raid with us. Glad shall we be of your axe +play and seamanship."</p> +<p>I turned to him and put my hand into his.</p> +<p>"I will go with you, Halfden," I said, for it seemed at that +time that I had naught else left for me to do.</p> +<p>And ever since I was a child, listening to the songs of the +gleemen, had I thought that some day I, too, would make a name for +myself on the seas, as my forefathers had made theirs, so that my +deeds should be sung also. Yet that longing had cooled of late, as +the flying people from Mercia had found their way now and then to +us with tales of Danish cruelties.</p> +<p>"That is well said," he answered, pleased enough. "Where shall +we go?"</p> +<p>Then I had yet thought enough left me to say that against our +Saxon kin I would not lift axe. And so came to me the first +knowledge that what wiser men than I thought was true--that the old +seven kingdoms were but names, and that the Saxon and Anglian men +of England were truly but one, and should strive for that oneness, +thinking no more of bygone strifes for headship.</p> +<p>"Why, that is fair enough, so you have no grudge to pay off," he +said; "but I will help you to settle any, if you have them."</p> +<p>"I have no grudge against any man," I answered, truly +enough.</p> +<p>"Then if we raid on English shores, you shall keep ship, as +someone must; and so all will be satisfied," he answered; "but we +will go first to the Frankish shores, for it is all one to me."</p> +<p>So that pleased me as well as anything would at that time; +whereupon we went to Thormod, and he was very willing that I should +take part and share with them. And as to my loss, he bade me take +heart, for a seaman has ever risks such as these to run; and, as it +seemed, this ship of ours had ever been lucky. Which was true +enough, as my father had told me by the fireside many a time.</p> +<p>After this we headed over to the Frankish shore, and there I had +my first fight. For we raided a town there, and the citizens stood +up to us well. I fought in silence, while my comrades yelled to +Thor and Odin as they smote, for those against whom we fought were +Christian men, and to fight against them by the side of heathen +went against me. Yet the lust of battle took hold on me, and fight +I must. But I will tell no more of that business, save that Halfden +and Thormod praised me, saying that I had done well. And after that +the crew asked that I should lead the men amidships, for their head +man had been slain, and Halfden was on the fore deck, and Thormod +aft. So my boyish dreams were like to come to pass, for I was thus +a viking indeed. Yet I had little pride therein.</p> +<p>Thence we raided ever eastward and westward along that shore, +and I grew to love Halfden well, strange as were his wild ways to +me. For he was in all things most generous; nor was he cruel, but +would hold back the more savage of the men when he could--though, +indeed, that was seldom--when they were mad with fighting.</p> +<p>So the weeks went on, until at last one day as we left a haven +where we had bided for a while, taking ransom from the town that we +might leave it in peace, we spied a sail far off coming from +eastward, and Thormod would have us bear up for her, to see what +she might be. But instead of flying, as a trading ship would, the +strange vessel waited for us, lowering her sail and clearing for +action, so that there was doubt if she was not Norse. Now between +Dane and Northman is little love lost, though at times they have +joined hands, loosely as one might say, or as if cat and dog should +go together to raid a rabbit warren.</p> +<p>"If she be Norse," said Halfden, and his eyes shone, "we will +fight her, and that will be a fight worth telling of by the crew +that is left when we have done!"</p> +<p>But she turned out to be Danish, and a boat came from her to us. +She was on the same errand as ourselves, and, moreover, belonged to +one Rorik, who was a friend of Lodbrok's, so that again I must go +through all the story of his perils.</p> +<p>Now if Halfden's men had seemed rough and ill-favoured to me +when first I saw them, time and comradeship had worn off the +feeling, but it came back to me as I looked on these men, and most +of all on this Rorik; so that for a little I hated myself for being +in their company to make war on peaceful Christian folk, though, +indeed, I could well excuse myself, seeing what straits had thrown +me thus among them to follow the ways of my own forefathers, +Hengist's men.</p> +<p>These newcomers held long counsel with Halfden and Thormod, and +the end of it was that they agreed to sail in company, making a +raid on the English coast, and first of all on the South Saxon +shores, behind the island that men call Wight. And that was the +thing that I had feared most of all, so that as I sat silent and +listened, taking no part, as I might, in the planning, my heart +seemed like to break for the hardness of it.</p> +<p>Yet I set my face, saying naught, so that presently Rorik looked +over at me and laughed, crying in a kind of idle jest:</p> +<p>"Silent is our friend here, though he looks mighty grim, so that +I doubt not he will be glad to swing that big axe of his +ashore."</p> +<p>Now I was in ill company, and must fit my speech to theirs, +answering truly enough:</p> +<p>"It seems to me that some of us here were a little downcast when +we found that you were no Northmen, for we looked for a fight."</p> +<p>Whereon they all laughed, and Rorik said that maybe his men had +the same longing, but that we would make a great raid between us. +And so the matter passed, and he and his men went back to their +ship, and we headed over to the English shore together.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV. THE +SONG OF THE BOSHAM BELL.</a></h2> +<p>There is a wondrous joy in the heart of a man who sees his own +land again after long days at sea, but none of that joy might be +mine as the long lines of the South Downs showed blue through the +haze of the late September day. Only the promise of Lodbrok's son, +that on English shores I should not fight, helped me a little, else +should I have been fain to end it all, axe to axe with Rorik on the +narrow deck just now, or in some other way less manful, that would +never have come into my mind but for the sore grief that I was in. +And these thoughts are not good to look back upon, and, moreover, I +should have fully trusted my friend Halfden Lodbroksson.</p> +<p>Hardest of all was it to me when I knew where our landing was to +be made; for if Glastonbury is the most holy place in Wessex, so +should Bosham, the place of Wilfrith the Saint, be held in +reverence by every South Saxon; because there, unmindful of his +wrongs <sup>{<a name="sdendnote9anc" href="#sdendnote9sym" id= +"sdendnote9anc">ix</a>}</sup>, he was content to labour with the +wild heathen folk, teaching them, both in body and soul, the first +lessons of our holy faith.</p> +<p>Well knew I the stories of those places which I saw as the ships +crept up the haven, for Humbert our bishop had told me them many a +time when as a child I sat on his knee and listened, wondering. +There was Selsea with its pile of buildings--Wilfrith's own--there +the little cliff over which the starving heathen had cast +themselves in their despair, and there, at last, the village, +clustering round the little monastery that Dicul, the Irish monk, +had founded, and where Wilfrith had first taught. And now, maybe, I +must see the roofs that had sheltered him, and heard the first +praises of his converts, burnt before my eyes, and that while I +myself was siding with the destroyers.</p> +<p>Then at last I took Halfden aside and told him my trouble, +putting him in mind of the promise he had made me.</p> +<p>"Aye," said he, "I knew what made you so silent, and I have but +waited for you to speak. Ill should I have thought of you had you +not done so. But I have this plan for you. You shall go ashore with +the first, and speak to the Saxons to give us ransom, if they have +aught, or if any man is foolish enough to bide in the place when we +come. Then, if you will, you shall leave us and make your way +homeward, there to give messages to my father and yours, and to +look for my coming to Reedham shortly. There will I winter with +you, and we will sail to Jutland in the spring."</p> +<p>Then he looked long at me, and put his arm round my +shoulder.</p> +<p>"Truly I shall miss you, Wulfric, my brother, yet it is but for +a short time."</p> +<p>Now I knew not how to thank him, for this plan was all that I +could wish. And he would have no delay, but gave me good Saxon arms +and helm, and a chain-mail byrnie <sup>{<a name="sdendnote10anc" +href="#sdendnote10sym" id="sdendnote10anc">x</a>}</sup> of the +best, such as Saxon or Dane alike would wear, for he had many such, +gathered from the different lands he had raided with his father and +brothers.</p> +<p>"Any man, seeing you in Danish arms and helm," he said, "might +well mistrust you. So you must needs take these, for you have far +to go."</p> +<p>Then, too, he pressed on me a heavy leathern bag, for he said +truly enough that I should need gold withal to buy a horse. And +this I took willingly, saying that it should be as a loan till he +came to Reedham.</p> +<p>"Nay," quoth he, "this is your share of booty; we surely gained +enough on yonder shores to bring you this much."</p> +<p>Then I was silent, for I was ashamed of those gains, and I did +not look into the bag, but bestowed it inside my mail shirt, for I +would not offend him. Then, when I was armed and ready, he gave me +many messages for his father, and thanks to mine. A ring, too, he +gave me for a sure token of his friendship to me; and so as the +ship crept, under oars only, up Bosham haven, we talked of the +hunting we would have together, when the leaves were fallen in our +forests; and that was pleasant to look forward to.</p> +<p>Now began frightened men to run to and fro on the haven's banks, +and then suddenly came the ringing of a bell from the low tower of +the church, and the Danes began to look to their arms, stringing +bows, and bringing up the pebble ballast for sling stones, in case +the landing should be resisted.</p> +<p>But when we came to a little wharf, the other ship being perhaps +a mile astern of us, there was no man. Only a small fishing vessel +lay alongside, and that we cast adrift, taking its place.</p> +<p>Then Halfden and I and twenty men went quickly ashore and +marched up among the trees of the village street. There was no man +in sight, but the bell was still ringing.</p> +<p>A great fear for the holy men shut up in the little monastery +came over me now, and I asked Halfden to let me warn them, for I +knew that he was like his father and would not deny me in this.</p> +<p>"Go and do so if you can," he said, "and so farewell till we +meet at Reedham. We shall bide here till Rorik's men join us, and +you will have time."</p> +<p>So he took my hand and I went quickly thereafter, the men +calling after me "Farewell, axeman!" heartily enough, knowing of my +going to Reedham, and caring nothing for the monks, seeing that +there would be no fighting.</p> +<p>Now, guided by the bell, I went on quickly, seeing no man. The +houses stood open and deserted, and all along the road were +scattered goods, showing that the people had fled in haste, so that +they had soon cast aside the heavier things they had thought to +save.</p> +<p>Soon I came to the gate of the little stone-walled monastery, +over which rose the tower whence the bell yet rang; for the church +seemed to make one side of the courtyard into which the gate would +lead. A farm cart stood outside; but the gates were closed, and +when I looked, I saw that the pin of the wheel was broken, so that +the cart could go no further. And that made me fear that more than +the monks were penned inside those four walls.</p> +<p>I knocked loudly on the gate, and for a while was no answer, +though I thought the ringing of the bell grew more hurried. Then I +beat on the gate with my axe, crying:</p> +<p>"Open, in the name of Eadmund the King."</p> +<p>And I used his name because, though a Dane might well call in +subtlety on the name of Ethelred, none but a Saxon who knew how +well loved was the under-king of East Anglia would think of naming +him. And I was right, for at his name the little square wicket in +the midst of the gate opened, and through its bars an old monk +looked out, and at once I cried to him:</p> +<p>"Let me in, Father, for the Danes are at my heels."</p> +<p>He muttered a prayer in a voice that trembled, and let me in, +holding the gate fast, and closing and barring it after me.</p> +<p>And all the courtyard was full of terrified men, women, and +children, while among them stood the half-dozen monks of the place, +pale and silent, listening to the clang of the bell overhead.</p> +<p>When they saw me some of the women shrieked and clung to +children or husbands, scared at my arms. But one of the monks, a +tall man on whose breast was a golden cross, came quickly to me, +asking: "Is the sheriff at hand with the levy?"</p> +<p>I told him hastily how that the only hope for these helpless +ones was in flight to the woods, urging him until he understood me. +Gathering his monks around him, and rousing the people, he led them +to the rearward gate that opened toward the forest land, calling at +the same time to his swineherd, who was there, and bidding him take +them by the forest tracks to Chichester.</p> +<p>Then he bade his monks go also; but they lingered, asking to be +allowed to stay with him, and also what should become of the holy +vessels if the heathen laid profane hands on them.</p> +<p>"Obey, as your vows bid you," said the prior; "I and this +warrior will care for the holy things."</p> +<p>So they went, weeping, and were lost in the woods; for there was +little cleared land round the village, and the trees came close to +the monastery walls.</p> +<p>Now we two, the monk and I, stood at the open gate for a moment +and listened. We could hear nothing of the Danes as yet.</p> +<p>Then we closed and barred that gate; and all this while the bell +had tolled unceasingly, calling as it were for help that came +not.</p> +<p>"Now do you go and call the sacristan from the bell," the prior +said, "and bid him lead you to the chancel, where I shall be."</p> +<p>I went to the tower door, unhesitating, for this man seemed to +have a wondrous power of command, so that I obeyed him without +question, even as had the villagers. And even as I went there came +the sound of many rushing feet up the street, and yells from Danish +throats, while axe blows began to rain on the gate by which I had +entered.</p> +<p>Then the prior bade me hold the gate when he heard that, and he +spoke quietly and in no terror, turning and calling to the man in +the tower himself; while I stood opposite the gate, looking to see +it fall with every blow. Yet it was not so weakly made as that, and +moreover I remembered that it was crossed with iron bands in +squares so that the axes could not bite it fairly.</p> +<p>Now the bell stopped and the Danes howled the louder. A torch +flew over the wall and fell at my feet blazing, and I hurled it +back, and the Danes laughed at one whom it struck. Then came the +two monks from the tower and ran into the church, while I watched +the trembling of the sorely-tried gate, and had it fallen I should +surely have smitten the first Dane who entered, even had Halfden +himself been foremost, for in the four walls of that holy place I +was trapped, and knew that I must fight at last. And now it seemed +to me that I was to fight for our faith and our land; and for those +sacred things, if I might do naught in dying, I would give my life +gladly.</p> +<p>"Come," said the prior's voice, and he was smiling though his +face was pale, while behind him the sacristan bore an oaken chest, +iron bound, on his shoulders.</p> +<p>He drew me across the courtyard, but I ever looked back at the +gate, thinking it would fall; and now they were at the other gate, +and blows rained on it. Yet the monk smiled again and went on +without faltering, though our way was towards it.</p> +<p>Then we turned under an arch into a second court, and the din +was less plain as we did so. There was the well of the monastery, +and without a word the sacristan hove the heavy chest from his +shoulders into its black depths, and the splash and bubble of its +falling came up to us.</p> +<p>"That is safe," said the prior; "now for ourselves."</p> +<p>He hooked the oaken bucket to its rope and let it down to its +full length in the well, and at once the sacristan swung himself on +it, slid down, and was gone. Then the rope swayed to one side, and +stayed there, shaking gently in a minute or so.</p> +<p>The prior drew it up, and maybe fifteen feet from the top, there +was a bundle tied--a rope ladder on which were iron hooks. These he +fastened to the edge of the oaken platform that covered the well +mouth, and let the other end fall down the well. Then he bade me go +down to the sacristan.</p> +<p>That was easy to me, and I went, yet I feared for him who stood +listening to the splintering of the nearer gate, for it would soon +fall surely. I saw the sacristan's face glimmer white before me +from a hollow in the well shaft, as I set my foot on the last rung +of the ladder, and I held out my hand to him. Then in a moment I +was beside him in a little chamber built in the walling of the +well; and after me came the prior.</p> +<p>He jerked the ladder from side to side till the hooks above lost +their hold and it fell, so that he drew it in. We were but a few +feet above the water, and the well rope hung down into the +blackness before us, but I was sure that no man could see the +little doorway of the chamber from above, for the trapdoor in the +well cover was small, and light there was hardly any.</p> +<p>"Now all is safe," said the prior; "and we may be careless +again."</p> +<p>"They will burn the monastery," I said. "One torch has been +thrown already."</p> +<p>He smiled a little, as I thought, for my eyes were growing used +to the dim light.</p> +<p>"They may burn some things, but roof and benches are soon made +afresh. There is oaken timber in plenty in Andredsweald, and ready +hands to hew it. Our stone walls they cannot hurt."</p> +<p>Those were all the words we spoke of the matter at that time, +for there came a great shouting. One of the gates had fallen at +last, and the Danes were in the place.</p> +<p>"Father," said the sacristan, "surely they will find this +place?"</p> +<p>The prior laughed a short laugh.</p> +<p>"That is a thought born of your fears, Brother," he answered; +and I who had had the same fear was rebuked also, for indeed that I +should go down the well had never come into my mind, even in our +need of shelter, so why should the Danes think of it?</p> +<p>Then we were silent, listening to the feet and voices overhead. +The Danes found the belfry presently, and began to toll the bell +unskillfully while the men below jeered at those who handled the +ropes. Then the bell clashed twice strangely, and the prior laughed +outright.</p> +<p>"The clumsy churls have overthrown her," he said, "now I hope +that one has had his head broken thereby."</p> +<p>I marvelled that he could jest thus, though maybe, after the +strain and terror of the danger we had so far escaped, it was but +natural that his mind should so rebound as it were.</p> +<p>Very soon after this the Danes came clattering into the little +court where the well was, and straightway came to its mouth, +casting stones down it, as no idle man can help doing. The +sacristan crept to the furthest corner of our little den and sat +there trembling, while I and the other monk listened with set teeth +to the words that came down to us. Nor will I say that I was not +somewhat frightened also, for it seemed to me that the voices were +unknown to me. They were Rorik's men, therefore, and not our +crew--who likely enough would but have jeered at me had they found +me hiding thus.</p> +<p>"Halfden's men have drunk all the ale in the place, and that was +not much," said one man; "let us try the water, for the dust of +these old storehouses is in my throat."</p> +<p>Then he began to draw up the bucket, and it splashed over us as +it went past our doorway.</p> +<p>"There is naught worth taking in this place," growled another +man. "Maybe they have hove their hoards down the well!"</p> +<p>Now at that the sacristan gave a stifled groan of terror, and I +clutched my axe, ready for need.</p> +<p>"All right, go down and see!" answered one or two, but more in +jest than earnest.</p> +<p>Then one dropped a great stone in, and waited to hear it bubble +from the bottom, that he might judge the depth. Now no bubbles +came, or so soon that they were lost in the splash, and the prior +took some of the crumbling mortar from the cell walls, and cast it +in after a few moments. And that was a brave and crafty thing to +do, for it wrought well.</p> +<p>"Hear the bubble," said the Dane; "the well must be many a +fathom deep--how long it seemed before they came up!"</p> +<p>So they drank their fill, saying that it was useless to go down +therefore, and anyhow there would be naught but a few silver +vessels.</p> +<p>"I have seen the same before," said one; "and moreover no man +has luck with those things from a church."</p> +<p>No man gainsaid him, so they kicked the bucket down the well and +went away.</p> +<p>Now I breathed freely again, and was about to whisper to the +prior that his thought of making what would pass for bubbling was +good; but more Danes came. And they were men of Halfden's ship; so +we must wait and listen, and this time I thought that surely we +were to be found. For the men began to play with one another as +they drank from the bucket; pushing each other's heads therein, and +the helm of one fell off and fled past us to the bottom; and some +words passed pretty roughly. And after they had done quarrelling +they crowded over the trapdoor, as one might know by the darkening +of the shaft. Then one saw the helm, for it was of leather, iron +bound, and had fallen rim upward, so that it floated. Now one was +going to swarm down the rope to get it, but as he swung the rope to +him, the bucket swayed in the water under the helm, and he saw that +it did so. Whereon he wound both up, and they too went away.</p> +<p>"That was a lucky chance!" I whispered.</p> +<p>"No chance at all, my son; that was surely done by the same Hand +that sent you here to warn us," answered the prior. And I think +that he was right.</p> +<p>Now came a whiff of biting smoke down the well shaft, borne by +some breath of wind that eddied into it. The Danes had fired the +place!</p> +<p>"Father," I whispered, pulling the prior forward, for he had +gone into the little cell to give thanks for this last +deliverance.</p> +<p>He looked very grave as he saw the blue haze across the doorway, +hiding the moss and a tiny fern that grew on the shaft walls over +against us.</p> +<p>"This is what I feared, though I must needs make light of it," +he said.</p> +<p>"It cannot harm us here," I answered.</p> +<p>"All round this court on three sides the buildings are of wood; +sheds and storehouses they are and of no account, but if one falls +across the well mouth--what then?"</p> +<p>"Then we are like to be stifled," said I; for even now the smoke +grew thicker, even so far down as we were. And when I looked out +and up there was naught but smoke across the well mouth, and with +that, sparks.</p> +<p>"Pent up and stifled both," said the quavering voice of the +sacristan from behind us. "How may we get out of this place till +men come and raise the ruin that will cover us? And who knows we +are here but ourselves?"</p> +<p>"Forgive me for bringing you to this pass," said the prior +gravely, after a little silence.</p> +<p>The smoke grew even denser, and we must needs cough, while the +tears ran from my eyes, for the stinging oak smoke seemed trapped +when once it was driven down the well.</p> +<p>"I have known men escape from worse than this," I said, thinking +of Lodbrok, and turning over many wild plans in my mind.</p> +<p>"I had forgotten this danger of wooden walls," said the prior to +himself, as it were. "Doubtless when this well chamber was made it +was without the inclosure."</p> +<p>Now it seemed to me that this could not be borne much longer, +and that soon the walls he dreaded would fall. So as one might as +well die in one way as another, I thought I would climb to the +well's mouth and see if there were any chance of safety for these +two monks. Yet I had no thought of aught but dying with them, if +need were, though as for myself I had but to walk across the +courtyard and go away. The Danes would but think I lingered yet for +the sake of plunder.</p> +<p>"If we may not stand this smoke, neither can the Danes," I said. +"I am going to see."</p> +<p>So I set down my axe and sword and leapt sailor-wise at the +rope--which the men had dropped again when they had taken the helm +from the bucket--catching it easily and swarming up to the +trapdoor. I only raised myself to the height of my eyes and looked +out.</p> +<p>I could see nothing. The dense smoke eddied and circled round +the court, and the Danes were gone, leaving us in a ring of fire on +three sides. The wooden buildings were blazing higher every moment, +and the heat seemed to scorch my head and hands till I could +scarcely bear it. But as the wind drove aside the smoke I could see +that the way to the rear gate, the last we had barred, was clear. +So I slid down and hung opposite the chamber. The monks looked out +at me with white faces.</p> +<p>"It may be done," I said. "Come quickly! it is the only +chance."</p> +<p>The prior gave me the rope-ladder end without a word, not +needing to be asked for it; nor did I wait to say more, for at that +moment a roof fell in with a great crash, and a red glare filled +the well as the flames shot up, and the sparks and bits of burning +timber came down the shaft and hissed into the water below me.</p> +<p>I clomb up, fixed the ladder, and called down to the prior to +bring my arms with him. There was a burning beam not three feet +from the well mouth, part of the fallen roof that had slipped +sideways from it. The flames that shot up from the building were so +hot that I could barely abide them, and I shaded my face with both +my hands, crying again to the monks to come quickly.</p> +<p>In a few seconds came the sacristan, white and trembling--I had +to help him out of the well mouth. The prior was close to him; he +was calm, and even smiled at me as he saw me clutch my arms +eagerly.</p> +<p>"To the rear gate," I said, turning and kicking the ladder into +the well, and thinking how cool the splash was compared with this +furnace of heat. "Kilt up your frocks and go swiftly, but run not," +for in that smoke, save their long garments betrayed them, a man +might be armed or unarmed for all that one could see.</p> +<p>So, walking quickly, we came to the court entrance, and even as +we stood under its archway the building nearest the well fell with +a crash and rumble, covering the well mouth with a pile of blazing +timber. The smoke and flame seemed to wrap us round, while the +burning timber flew, and the Danes from the great courtyard yelled +with evil delight; but before that cloud had cleared away we three +were outside the monastery gate, and were safe.</p> +<p>"Just in time," I said.</p> +<p>But "Deo gratias" said the monks in a breath.</p> +<p>"Now run," said I, and into the nearest spur of woodland we +went, and stayed not till we were beyond reach of the yells of the +destroyers, who, as it seemed, had not even seen us.</p> +<p>When we were sure that we were not pursued, the prior took my +arm and pressed it.</p> +<p>"Thanks to you, my son, our people are safe, and we have come +out of yon furnace unscathed. May you find help in time of need as +near and ready. Now when I read the story of the Three Children, I +think I shall know all that they suffered, for we have been in like +case."</p> +<p>And I could make no answer, for it seemed to me that I had +forgotten that I was a Christian of late. And that was true.</p> +<p>Now the prior bade the sacristan hasten to Chichester and tell +all this to the sheriff, and he left us, while we went on alone. +Presently I asked who made the chamber in the well, for the silence +weighed on me, and my thoughts were not so lightsome.</p> +<p>"Doubtless by Wilfrith's men," he said, "and for the same turn +it has served us. For in his days there were many heathen round +him, and flight or hiding might be the last resort at any +time."</p> +<p>Then I wondered, saying that I deemed that surely it was a +greater thing to be a martyr and to die, than to save life.</p> +<p>"Not always so," he answered, and then he told me of the ways of +holy men of old time. "We may by no means save life by denying our +faith, but we are bidden to flee into another place when +persecuted. We may not choose the place of our death, nor yet the +time."</p> +<p>So he showed me at last what it was to be truly a martyr, +fearing not, nor yet seeking death.</p> +<p>"Of a truth," he ended, "the Lord may need my death by the hand +of the heathen at some time, and when the time comes I shall know +it, and will die gladly. But while He gives me the power to save +life blamelessly, I know that He needs me on earth yet, though I am +of little worth."</p> +<p>So we were silent after that, ever going on through the woods. +At last he laughed a little, and looked sidewise at me.</p> +<p>"We two are alone," he said, "therefore I do not mind saying +that I have been fairly afraid--how felt you?"</p> +<p>"I would I might never be so frightened again," I answered, for +truly I had made myself so at one with this brave man that I had +forgotten that there was little fear for myself, as I have said, +unless that it had been Rorik's crew who had found us, for only a +few of them knew me.</p> +<p>We came now to a place where the trees thinned away on the brow +of a hill, and I could see the broad waters of the haven through +their trunks. We had reached the crest of that little cliff over +which Wilfrith's heathen had cast themselves in the great famine +from which he saved them.</p> +<p>"Let us see the last of Bosham," the prior said sadly. So we +crept through the fern and long grass, and lying down looked out +over haven and village. Even if a prying Dane looked our way he +would hardly see us thus hidden, or if he did would take us but for +villagers and care not.</p> +<p>Now I saw that the tide was on the turn, and that Halfden's +ship--my own ship, as I have ever thought her--had hauled out, and +her boats waited for the last of the crew at the wharf side. But +Rorik's ship was there still, and her men were busy rigging a crane +of spars as though they would lower some heavy thing on board her. +Nor could I guess what that might be.</p> +<p>Then I looked at the village, which was burning here and there, +and at the monastery. They had not fired the church, and the Danes +clustered round the tower doorway, busied with something, and I +could see them well, for the smoke from the burning buildings blew +away from us.</p> +<p>Now I asked the prior what heavy things worth carrying away +might be in the monastery.</p> +<p>"Naught," he said; "since they have drunk all the ale that was +in the cask or two we had.</p> +<p>"But," he added, "there is the great bell, it is the only +weighty thing else."</p> +<p>Then I knew what was toward, and said:</p> +<p>"I fear, Father, that your bell is going to be taken to become +metal for mail shirts, and axe heads, and arrowheads, and +helms."</p> +<p>"Holy St. Wilfrith!" cried the monk, in great grief; "would that +we could have saved it. There is no such bell in all England, and +if they take it, many a sailor will miss its call through fog and +driving mist, and many a shepherd on yonder downs will wait for its +ringing, and be the wearier for lack thereof."</p> +<p>"Never have I seen bell too large for one man to handle," I +said; "this must be a wondrous bell!"</p> +<p>So it was, he told me, and while we watched the busy Danes, he +began to sing to me in low tones the song of Bosham bell which his +people would sing by the fireside.</p> +<pre> +"Hard by the haven, +Wilfrith the holy +Bade men a bell tower +Sturdily build. +Thence should a bell sound +Over the wide seas, +Homeward to hail +The hardy shipmen. +Thus was the bell wrought +By skilful workmen: +Into the fierce fire, +When it was founded, +Helm and harness +The warriors hove; +Willingly women, +The jewel wearers, +Golden and silver gauds +Gave for the melting; +And a great anchor +The seamen added. +Thus was a wealth +Of wondrous metal. +When all was molten +More grew its marvel! +Cast in a chalice, +Cuthred the priest." +</pre> +<p>"Aye, Father," said I, "that is a wondrous bell."</p> +<p>He nodded, and went on, with his eyes fixed on the +monastery.</p> +<pre> +"Thus as the bell swings +Soothly it speaketh: +Churchward it calleth +With voice of the chalice, +Speaking to shipmen +With voice that is sea born. +Homeward the husband +Hailing with voices +Fresh from the fireside, +Where flashed the gold gifts-- +Clashing the war call, +Clear with its warrior voice." +</pre> +<p>"That was the voice of the bell that sounded as we came," I +thought; and even as I would have said it, the bell of Bosham spoke +again, and the prior stopped with an exclamation, and pointed.</p> +<p>Out of the gateway came four Danes, bearing the bell between +them, and as they crossed the threshold, one stumbled, and the bell +clanged as they dropped it on the courtyard pavement. The tears ran +down the holy man's face as he saw this mishap to his beloved bell, +which was kept bright as when it was first founded, by the loving +hands of his people.</p> +<p>Now the Danes put it on that farm cart I had seen, and which +they had mended, and took the bell down to the wharf, and we +watched them sling it to the crane they had rigged, and place it +amidships on deck. Then they all went hastily on board, and put out +into the haven, down which Halfden's ship was already a mile +distant, and dancing on the quick waves of wind against tide where +the waters broadened into a wide lake.</p> +<p>Now when the ship was fairly under way, the prior rose up from +beside me, and lifting his hand, cursed ship and crew with so great +and bitter a curse that I trembled and looked to see the ship +founder at once, so terrible were his words.</p> +<p>Yet the ship held on her course, and the words seemed vain and +wasted, though I know not so certainly that they were so. For this +is what I saw when the ship met the waves of that wider stretch of +water that Halfden had now crossed.</p> +<p>She pitched sharply, and there was a bright gleam of sunlight +from the great bell's polished sides, and then another--and the +ship listed over to starboard and a wave curled in foam over her +gunwale. Then she righted again quickly, and as though relieved of +some weight, yet when a heavier, crested roller came on her she +rose to it hardly at all, and it broke on board her. And at that +she sank like a stone, and I could hear the yell that her men gave +come down the wind to me.</p> +<p>Then all the water was dotted with men for a little, and the +bright red and white of her sail floated on the waves for a minute, +and then all that was left of her were the masthead and yard--and +on them a few men. The rest were gone, for they were in their mail, +and might not swim. Only a few yet clung to floating oars and the +like.</p> +<p>"Little have these heathen gained from Bosham," said the prior, +and his eyes flashed with triumph. "Wilfrith the holy has punished +their ill doing."</p> +<p>So, too, it seemed to me, and I thought to myself that the +weight of that awesome curse had indeed fallen on the robbers.</p> +<p>Yet I know that, as I watched the ship in her trouble, in my own +mind I had been going over what was amiss, as any seaman will, +without thought of powers above. And I thought that the sharp +pitching of the vessel had cast the great bell from amidships, +where I had seen the Danes place it unsecured, against the frail +gunwale, first to one side, and then, with greater force yet, +against the other; so that it burst open gunwale and planking +below, and already she was filling when the wave came and ended +all. For these swift viking ships are built to take no heavy cargo, +and planks and timbers are but bound together by roots and withies; +so that as one stands on the deck one may feel it give and spring +to the blow of a wave, and the ship is all the swifter. But though +the outer planking is closely riveted together with good iron, that +could not withstand the crashing weight of so great a bell when it +was thus flung against it.</p> +<p>However that may have been--and thus I surely think it +was--Bosham bell passed not into the power of the heathen, but +destroyed them; and it lies at the bottom of the deepest reach of +the haven whence the depth and swiftness of the tide will hardly +let men bring it again. So I suppose that, profaned by heathen +hands, it may no longer call men from across the water and woodland +to the church of God.</p> +<p>Soon came the boats from Halfden's ship and picked up those who +yet clung to what they might of the wreck, and then ship and Danes +passed from Bosham haven, leaving the silent tower and burning +village to mark where they had been.</p> +<p>Then the prior sighed, and turning away, said:</p> +<p>"Let us go to Chichester and find shelter. Night comes soon, and +rest."</p> +<p>Sadly enough we went, though not for long: for when we came into +the roadway from the forest land, the prior put his heavy thoughts +aside, and spoke cheerfully to me.</p> +<p>"What is done is done; and but for you, my son, things would +have been worse. And their greed for the bell has made them spare +the church itself. Surely you must have fallen from the clouds to +help us-- borne hither from the East Anglian land whose tongue +bewrays you."</p> +<p>"I marvel that you trusted me," I said.</p> +<p>"I trusted your face, my son, and when one is in a hard case the +first help is ever the best. Yet now I would fain know somewhat of +my good comrade."</p> +<p>Now I think that to any but this monk, with his friendly smile +and way of quiet authority, I should have been ashamed to own my +part with the Danes. But a few hours of companionship in danger +knit closer than many a long day of idleness together, and he +seemed to me as a near friend. Moreover, he had trusted me without +question; so I told him all my tale and he listened patiently.</p> +<p>"Now I am glad that I cursed not your friend's ship--for I +forgot her," he said, smiling.</p> +<p>At that I was glad, for how he would hold my being with the +heathen I somewhat doubted, and I told him so.</p> +<p>"Why, my son, I know not that you had much choice. And as for +fighting against outlanders--let me heft that axe of yours."</p> +<p>He took it, and it fell into his hands in a way that told me +that he, too, had been a stark fighting man at some time.</p> +<p>"Take it away, my son, take it away!" he cried, thrusting it +back on me; "I am not the man to blame you. And I know that much +good has come to us from your being with them. And from your talk +about martyrs I know that you have done no honour to their +gods."</p> +<p>I said truly that the question had never come into my mind. For, +save as oath or war cry, the names of Thor and Odin were not heard. +They sacrificed on going to sea, and on return; and meanwhile cared +naught, so far as I knew, for none had questioned my faith.</p> +<p>He said it was well, and so talking we went on. And he said +that, as friend of his, none would question me, so that I should +find all I needed for my journey in the town. And when we came +there--meeting the sheriff's ill-armed levy on the way--we went to +the house of a great thane, and there were well and kindly +received.</p> +<p>Yet once and again as I slept I dreamed and woke with the cry of +Rorik's men in my ears, and before me the bell seemed to flash +again as it crashed through the ship's side. And once I woke +thinking that the smell of burning was round me, and felt, half +awake, for the stone walls of the well chamber. But at last I slept +soundly and peacefully.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V. HOW +WULFRIC, LODBROK, AND BEORN HUNTED.</a></h2> +<p>When morning came it was great wonder and joy to me to wake and +find myself in England and free, for indeed I had begun to think of +my comradeship with the Danes as a sort of thralldom that I knew +not how to break. And now I longed to make my way back to Reedham +as soon as I might, for I had been many weeks away, though I have +said little of all that befell in that time beyond what was +needful. One thing saved me from grief that might have been, and +that was the knowledge that Ingild, the merchant, had not been told +to look for my coming, and that none at home would wonder if I were +long away, because of that plan of wintering our ship in the +Thames. And I knew that not one of my poor crew could have lived to +take news of the wreck.</p> +<p>That I must take back myself; and though I could not fairly be +blamed for loss of ship and crew, the thought of having to break +the tidings to those who would mourn for their lost ones was very +hard to me. But it must be done, and there was an end.</p> +<p>Now came to me, as I thought of these things, my friend the +Prior of Bosham, and he sat down beside me and asked how he could +further my plans. He himself must go to Selsea, there to see the +bishop and tell him all, not forgetting my part, as he said.</p> +<p>I told him that I only needed a horse, and that then I should +ride to London, where I had friends: and he asked me if I had money +wherewith to buy one, for he had none, else would he gladly do so +for me. And that reminded me of the bag which Halfden gave me, and +I opened it.</p> +<p>It was full of treasure--gold ornaments, and chains wherein were +set precious stones, and some gold coins and silver, and these were +the least value of all. But little pleasure had I in them, for I +knew too well how they came, and a thought came to me.</p> +<p>"Father," I said, "this comes from ruined towns on yonder +shore--take it and build up Bosham again. Aye, take it."</p> +<p>"Why, my son, here is treasure enough to build three villages +like ours," he said quietly; "for timber houses cost but labour in +this forest land, and there was naught else worth taking in the +place."</p> +<p>"But your people are the poorer," I said; "I pray you take it +for their need, and for a new bell, moreover."</p> +<p>And so I urged him till he took the greatest gold chain, saying +that in honesty he could no more, for that would surely make Bosham +wish for more burnings if they turned out as this.</p> +<p>"Keep the rest and buy a new ship," he said, "and forget not +that always and every day your name will be remembered at the time +of mass in Bosham; and that may help you in days to come."</p> +<p>So he blessed me and departed, and I think that both of us were +light at heart, save for parting. And I have never seen the good +prior again, though his face and words I cannot forget.</p> +<p>Soon came one to lead me to the presence of the thane and his +wife, and from them I found kindness more than I could have looked +for. We broke our fast together, and then the lady asked me if I +would accept horse and gear for my journey from her, for she had +heard from the prior that I had been shipwrecked, who had also told +her all the story of our doings at Bosham.</p> +<p>Thanking her, I told her that though shipwrecked, I was yet +rich, having a store of wealth with me; for I thought that it was +in the minds of these kind people that I was in need.</p> +<p>"Be not proud," she said "bide with us for a while, and then +take horse and go. We hold that you have deserved well of all of +us."</p> +<p>But I told her of my mother and sister at home, and how I would +fain be back with them, so she pitied me the more, saying that now +for their sakes she would hasten me.</p> +<p>"Aye, lad," said the thane, "we have sons of our own at court, +and the lady would that someone would pack them home on a good +horse--so she must not be denied."</p> +<p>Thus they persuaded me, and when I tried to thank them, the +thane laughed, and the lady said:</p> +<p>"Thank me not but in one way, and that is by asking your mother +to help homeward some other lady's son when need is. And that is +all I would wish."</p> +<p>And the end of it was that I rode away from Chichester town on a +good horse and with change of clothes in saddlebags, and those +worthy people stood at the gate to give me good speed.</p> +<p>Yet that is not the end, for there are one or two who have +ridden in like sort from Reedham since that day, and have borne +home the like message; so that I know not where the ending of that +kindly deed may be.</p> +<p>Past the old Chichester walls I went, and out on the long line +of the Roman street that should take me to London. And as I went I +sang, for the green beechen woods were wondrous fair to me after +the long weeks of changing sea, and it seemed to me that all was +going well, so that I put away for the time the grievous thought of +my shipwreck, the one hard thing that I must face when I came home +again.</p> +<p>There is nothing to tell of that ride; for well armed, and rich, +and with a good horse, what should there be? And at last I came to +London town, and rode straightway to the great house of my +godfather, Ingild, that stood by London Bridge. Very strange it was +to me to look out over the Pool as I crossed, and not to see our +good ship in her wonted place, for this was the first time I had +come to London except in her.</p> +<p>At the door of the courtyard, round which Ingild had his great +storehouses and sheds for goods, I drew rein, and two serving men +whom I knew well came out. Yet they knew me not, staring at my arms +and waiting for my commands.</p> +<p>So I spoke to them by name, and they started and then laughed, +saying that they must be forgiven for not knowing me in my arms, +for surely I had changed greatly since two years ago, when I was +last with them.</p> +<p>It was the same when Ingild himself came out, ample robed and +portly; for he gazed long at my helmed face, and then cried:</p> +<p>"Why, here is a marvel! Wulfric, my son, you have grown from boy +to man since last we met; and you come in helm and mail shirt and +on horseback, instead of in blue homespun and fur cap, with an oar +blister on either hand. How is this?"</p> +<p>Then he kissed me on both cheeks and led me in, running on thus +till a good meal was before me, with a horn of his mighty ale; and +then he let me be in peace for a little while.</p> +<p>Afterwards, as we sat alone together, I told him all that had +befallen, even as I would have told my father, for in my mind +Ingild, my godfather, came next to him and our king, and I loved +him well.</p> +<p>Sorely he grieved for loss of ship and goods and men, but he +told me that we were not the only seamen who had been hurt by that +sudden gale. Nor did he blame me at all, knowing that Kenulf was in +truth the commander of our ship. Rather was he glad that it had +chanced that I had left her and so was safe.</p> +<p>Then when I told him of my turning viking thereafter, he laughed +grimly, with a glitter of his eye, saying that he would surely have +done the same at my age--aye, and any young man in all England +likewise, were he worth aught.</p> +<p>So when I had told him all about my journey, I showed him the +bag that Halfden gave me, and well he knew the value of the +treasure therein.</p> +<p>"Why, son Wulfric," he cried; "here is wealth enough to buy a +new ship withal, as times go!"</p> +<p>And I would have him keep it, not being willing to take so great +a sum about with me, and that he did willingly, only asking me to +let him use it, if chance should be, on my behalf, and making me +keep the silver money for my own use going homeward.</p> +<p>"Yet I will keep you awhile, for Egfrid, the Thane's son of +Hoxne, who is here at court, goes home for Yuletide, and so you can +ride with him. And I think it will be well that we should send word +to your father of how things have been faring with you, for so will +you have naught of misfortune to tell when you come home."</p> +<p>I thought this wise counsel and kindly, for my people would best +tell those wives and children of their loss, and so things would be +easier for me. And Ingild sent writing to my father by the hand of +some chapman travelling to the great fair at Norwich; and with his +letter went one from me also, with messages to Lodbrok--for Eadmund +had made me learn to write.</p> +<p>So after that I abode with Ingild, going to the court of +Ethelred the King with him, and seeing the great feasts which the +merchant guilds made for the king while he was in London; with many +other wondrous sights, so that the time went quickly, and the more +so that this Egfrid was ever with me. I had known him when we were +little lads together at our own king's court, but he had left to go +to that of our great overlord, Ethelred, so that I had not seen him +for long years. And one may sail up our Waveney river to Hoxne, +where his father's house is, from ours at Reedham, though it is a +long way.</p> +<p>Now in the week before Yuletide we would start homewards, so +with many gifts and words of good speed, Ingild set us forth; and +we rode well armed and attended as the sons of great thanes should. +So the way was light to us in the clear December weather, and if it +were long the journey was very pleasant, for Egfrid and I grew to +be great friends, and there is nothing more joyous than to be +riding ever homeward through wood and over wild, with one whose +ways fit with one's own, in the days of youth, when cares are none +and shadows fall not yet across the path.</p> +<p>When we came to Colchester town we heard that Eadmund was yet at +Thetford, and when we asked more we learnt that Lodbrok was there +also with my father. So, because Hoxne was but twenty miles or +thereby from Thetford, both Egfrid and I were glad that our way was +yet together, and we would go there first of all.</p> +<p>One other thing we heard in Colchester, for we waited there for +two days, resting our horses. There was a wandering gleeman who +came into the marketplace on the hill top, and we stood and +listened to him.</p> +<p>And first he sang of how Danes had come and burnt Harwich town. +But the people told him to sing less stale news than that, for +Harwich was close at hand. Now it was Halfden's ship which had done +that, and the fires we saw before the fog came had been the beacons +lit because of his landing.</p> +<p>Then he made a great outcry until he had many folk to listen, +and they paid him well before he would sing. Whereon, forsooth, my +ears tingled, for he sang of the burning of Bosham. And when he +came to the stealing of the bell, his tale was, that it, being +hallowed, would by no means bear that heathen hands should touch +it, so that when it came to the deepest pool in the haven it turned +red hot, and so, burning a great hole through the Danish ship, sank +to the bottom, and the Danes were all drowned. Whereat the people +marvelled, and the gleeman fared well.</p> +<p>I suppose that the flashing of the great bell that I had seen +gave rise to this tale, and that is how men tell it to this day. +And I care not to gainsay them, for it is close enough to the +truth, and few know that I had so nearly a hand in the matter.</p> +<p>So we rode to Thetford, and how we were received there is no +need for me to tell, for I came back as it were from the dead, and +Egfrid after years of absence. And there with Eadmund were my +father and mother, and Eadgyth, and Lodbrok, and Egfrid's folk +also, with many more friends to greet us, and the king would have +us keep Yuletide with him.</p> +<p>It had been in my mind that Halfden would have come to Reedham, +and at first I looked for him, but he had not been heard of, so +that now we knew that we should not see him before springtime came, +for he must needs be wintering somewhere westward. Yet now Lodbrok +was at ease with us, seeing the end of his stay, and being in high +favour with our king, so that he was seldom away from his side in +all the hunting that went on.</p> +<p>That liked not Beorn, the falconer, and though he would be +friendly, to all seeming, with the Dane, it seemed to me that his +first jealousy had grown deeper and taken more hold of him, though +it might only be in a chance look or word that he showed it as days +went on.</p> +<p>But one night my father and I rode in together from our hunting, +and there was no one with us. We had been at Thetford for a month +now, since I came home, and there was a talk that the king would go +to the court of Ethelred at Winchester shortly, taking my father +with him for his counsellor, and so we spoke of that for a while, +and how I must order things at Reedham while he was away.</p> +<p>"Lodbrok, our friend, will go back with you," he said. "Now, +have you noted any envy at the favour in which he is held by +Eadmund?"</p> +<p>"Aye, Father," I answered, "from Beorn, the falconer."</p> +<p>"So you, too, have had your eyes open," went on my father; "now +I mistrust that man, for he hates Lodbrok."</p> +<p>"That is saying more than I had thought."</p> +<p>"You have been away, and there is more than you know at the +bottom of the matter. The king offered Lodbrok lands if he would +bide with us and be his man, and these he refused, gently enough, +saying that he had broad lands of his own, and that he would not +turn Christian, as the king wished, for the sake of gain. He would +only leave the worship of his own gods for better reasons. Now +Beorn covets those lands, and has hoped to gain them. Nor does he +yet know that Lodbrok will not take them."</p> +<p>Then I began to see that this matter was deeper than I had +thought, and told my father of the first meeting of Lodbrok and +Beorn. But I said that the falconer had seemed very friendly of +late.</p> +<p>"Aye, too friendly," said my father; "it is but a little while +since he held aloof from him, and now he is ever close to Lodbrok +in field and forest. You know how an arrow may seem to glance from +a tree, or how a spear thrust may go wide when the boar is at bay, +and men press round him, or an ill blow may fall when none may know +it but the striker."</p> +<p>"Surely no man would be so base!" I cried.</p> +<p>"Such things have been and may be again. Long have I known +Beorn, and I would not have him for enemy. His ways are not +open."</p> +<p>Then I said that if Beorn was ever near Lodbrok, I would be +nearer, and so we left the matter.</p> +<p>There was one other thing, which was more pleasant, which we +spoke about at that time. And it was about the betrothal of my +sister Eadgyth. For it had come to pass that Egfrid, my friend, had +sought her hand, and the match pleased us all. So before the king +and my father went to Winchester there was high feasting, and those +two were pledged one to the other. Then was a new house to be built +for them at Hoxne, where the wedding itself should take place.</p> +<p>"Maybe Halfden will be here by that time," said Lodbrok to me. +"I wish, friend Wulfric, that honest Egfrid had not been so +forward, or that you had another fair sister."</p> +<p>Now though that saying pleased me, I could not wish for the wild +viking as husband to our gentle Eadgyth, though I loved him well as +my own friend. So I said that I thought Halfden's ship was his only +love.</p> +<p>"Maybe," answered the jarl; "but one may never know, and I think +it would be well for English folk and Danish to be knit together +more closely."</p> +<p>But when I asked him why this should be so, he only smiled, and +talked of friendliness between the two peoples, which seemed a +little matter to me at that time.</p> +<p>Now when the time came, my father having gone, we two, Lodbrok +and I, went back to Reedham, while my mother and Eadgyth stayed yet +at Thetford for the sake of Egfrid's new house building, for he +would have it built to suit her who should rule it.</p> +<p>Strange and grievous it was to me to see our shipyard empty, and +sad to have to tell the story of the good ship's loss to those +whose mourning was not yet over. Yet they were sailors' wives and +children, and to them death at sea was honourable, as is to a +warrior's wife that her husband should fall in a ring of foes with +all his wounds in front. And they blamed me not; but rather +rejoiced that I was safe returned.</p> +<p>Now without thought of any foe, or near or far, Lodbrok and I +hunted and hawked over our manors, finding good sport, and in a +little while I forgot all about Beorn, for I had seen him go in the +king's train as they rode out to Winchester.</p> +<p>Out of that carelessness of mine came trouble, the end of which +is hard to see, and heavily, if there is blame to me, have I paid +for it. And I think that I should have better remembered my +father's words, though I had no thought but that danger was far +away for the time.</p> +<p>We hunted one day alone together, and had ridden far across our +nearer lands to find fresh ground, so that we were in the wide +forest country that stretches towards Norwich, on the south of the +Yare. Maybe we were five miles from the old castle at Caistor. +There we beat the woods for roebuck, having greyhounds and hawks +with us, but no attendants, as it happened, and for a time we found +nothing, not being far from the road that leads to the great city +from the south.</p> +<p>Then we came to a thicket where the deer were likely to harbour, +and we went, one on either side of it, so that we could not see one +another, and little by little separated. Then I started a roe, and +after it went my hounds, and I with them, winding my horn to call +Lodbrok to me, for they went away from him.</p> +<p>My hounds took the roe, after a long chase, and I was at work +upon it, when that white hound that I had given to Lodbrok came +leaping towards me, and taking no heed of the other hounds, or of +the dead deer, fawned upon me, marking my green coat with +bloodstains from its paws.</p> +<p>I was angry, and rated the hound, and it fled away swiftly as it +came, only to return, whining and running to and fro as though to +draw me after it. Then I thought that Lodbrok had also slain a +deer, starting one from the same thicket, which was likely enough, +and that this dog, being but young, would have me come and see it. +All the while the hound kept going and coming, being very uneasy, +and I rated it again.</p> +<p>Then it came across me that I had not heard Lodbrok's horn, and +that surely the dog would not so soon have left his quarry. And at +that I hasted and hung the deer on a branch, and, mounting my +horse, rode after the hound, which at once ran straight before me, +going to where I thought Lodbrok would be.</p> +<p>When I came round the spur of wood that had first parted us I +was frightened, for Lodbrok's horse ran there loose, snorting as if +in terror of somewhat that I could not see, and I caught him and +rode on.</p> +<p>When I could see a furlong before me, into a little hollow of +the land that is there, before me was a man, dressed like myself in +green, and he was dragging the body of another man towards a +thicket; and as I saw this my horses started from a pool of blood +in which lay a broken arrow shaft.</p> +<p>At that I shouted and spurred swiftly towards those two--letting +the other horse go free--with I know not what wild thoughts in my +mind.</p> +<p>And when I came near I knew that the living man was Beorn, and +that the dead was Lodbrok my friend.</p> +<p>Then I took my horn and wound it loud and long, charging down +upon that traitor with drawn sword, for I had left my hunting spear +with the slain deer. He dropped his burden, and drew his sword +also, turning on me. And I saw that the blade was red.</p> +<p>Then I made no more delay, but leapt from my horse and fell upon +him to avenge myself for the death of him whom I loved. Would that +I had had the axe whose use he who lay there had taught me so well, +for then the matter would have been ended at one blow. But now we +were evenly matched, and without a word we knew that this fight +must be to the death, and our swords crossed, and blow and parry +came quickly.</p> +<p>Then I heard shouts, and the noise of men running behind me, and +Beorn cried:</p> +<p>"Stay us not, I avenge me of my friend," whereon I ground my +teeth and pressed on him yet more fiercely, wounding him a little +in the shoulder; and he cried out for help--for the men who came +were close on us--and the well-cast noose of a rope fell over my +shoulders, and I was jerked away from him well-nigh choked.</p> +<p>Two men ran past me and took Beorn, throwing up his sword with +their quarterstaves, and it seemed to me that it was done over +gently. Then they bound us both and set us on the ground face to +face.</p> +<p>"Now here be fine doings!" said a man, who seemed to be the +leader of the six or seven who had ended the fight.</p> +<p>"Aye, 'tis murder," said another, looking from Beorn to me and +then to Beorn again; "but which is murderer and which true +man?"</p> +<p>Now all these men were strangers to me, but I knew one thing +about them from their dress. They were the men of mighty Earl +Ulfkytel himself, and seemed to be foresters, and honest men enough +by their faces.</p> +<p>"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric of Reedham," I said. "The slain man +is Lodbrok, the Danish jarl, and this man slew him."</p> +<p>"He lies!" cried Beorn. "It was he who slew him, and I would +revenge myself on him, for this Lodbrok was my friend."</p> +<p>Now I held my peace, keeping back my wrath as well as I might, +for I began to see that Beorn had some deep plot on hand, thus to +behave as if innocent.</p> +<p>"Why, so he cried out as we came," said one of the men when he +heard Beorn's words.</p> +<p>"Maybe both had a hand in it," the leader said, and so they +talked for a little.</p> +<p>Then came two of my own serfs, who had followed me to see the +sport, I suppose, at a distance, as idle men will sometimes, when +hunting is on hand, and with them came Lodbrok's dog, the same that +had brought me. And when the dog saw Beorn he flew at him and would +have mauled him sorely, but that the earl's men beat him off with +their staves; and one took the leash that hung from my saddle bow +and tied him to a tree, where he sat growling and making as though +he would again fly at the falconer.</p> +<p>"Whose dog is this?" asked the leader.</p> +<p>"His," answered the serfs, pointing to Lodbrok.</p> +<p>"Dogs might tell strange tales could they talk," said the earl's +man; "I misdoubt both these men. Let us take them to the earl for +judgment."</p> +<p>"Where is the earl?" I asked.</p> +<p>"At Caistor," answered the man shortly, and I was glad that he +was so near, for the matter would be quickly settled and I could go +free.</p> +<p>"Unbind me, and I will go where you will," I said, but at that +Beorn cried out.</p> +<p>"Loose him not, loose him not, I pray you!"</p> +<p>"Tie their hands behind them and let us be gone," was the +answer, and they did so, loosing my feet, and setting us on my +horse and Lodbrok's. And some of the men stayed behind with my +serfs to make a litter on which to carry my friend's body, and +follow us to Caistor. So as I went I cried quickly to those two men +of mine that they should go in all haste to Reedham and tell what +had befallen me to our steward, who would know what to do.</p> +<p>"Reedham is too far for a rescue to reach you in time," said the +leader of the earl's men grimly; "think not of it."</p> +<p>"I meant not that, but to have witnesses to speak for me."</p> +<p>"That is fair," said the man, after a little thought, "we will +not hinder their going."</p> +<p>Then they led us away, and presently reached that place where I +had seen the broken arrow, and one picked it up, saying that here +was surely the place where the deed was done, and that the arrow +would maybe prove somewhat. And I think that here Beorn had shot +the jarl, for all around those other marks on the grass were the +hoofmarks of the rearing and frightened horse, and there were many +places where an archer might lie unseen in the thickets, after +following us all day maybe, as Beorn must have done, thus to find +fitting chance for his plan when we two were far apart. And surely, +had it not been for the dog, I think the fate of Lodbrok would have +been unknown for many a long day, for but for him Beorn would have +hidden his deed and ridden off before I had known aught.</p> +<p>Now, as the man handled the broken arrow, walking beside me, I +saw it plainly, and knew it for one of my own, and one of four that +I had lost at Thetford, though I did not know how.</p> +<p>At that I seemed to see all the plot, and my heart sank within +me, for this Beorn was most crafty, and had planned well to throw +doubt on me if things by ill chance fell out as they had, and so I +rode in silence wondering what help should come, and whence. And I +thought of Halfden, and what he should think when he heard the tale +that was likely to be told him, and even as I thought this there +was a rushing of light wings, and Lodbrok's gray falcon--which I +had cast from my wrist as I fell on Beorn--came back to me, and +perched on my saddle, for my hands were bound behind me. She had +become unhooded in some way.</p> +<p>Then Beorn cried out to the men to take the falcon, for it was +his, and that he would not have her lost; and that angered me so +that I cried out on him, giving him the lie, and he turned pale as +if I were free and could smite him. Whereon the men bade us roughly +to hold our peace, and the leader whistled to the falcon and held +out his hand to take her. But she struck at him and soared away, +and I watched her go towards Reedham, and was glad she did so with +a sort of dull gladness.</p> +<p>For I would have no man pass through a time of thoughts such as +mine were as they took me to Caistor--rage and grief and fear of +shame all at once, and one chasing the other through my mind till I +knew not where I was, and would start as from a troubled dream when +one spoke, and then go back to the same again as will a sick man. +But by the time we reached Caistor I had, as it seemed to me, +thought every thought that might be possible, and one thing only +was plain and clear. I would ask for judgment by Eadmund the King, +and if that might not be, then for trial by battle, which the earl +would surely grant. And yet I hoped that Beorn's plot was not so +crafty but that it would fail in some way.</p> +<p>So they put me in a strong cell in the old castle, leading Beorn +to another, and there left me. The darkness came, and they brought +me food, so I ate and drank, being very hungry and weary; and that +done, my thoughts passed from me, for I slept heavily, worn out +both in body and mind.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI. THE +JUSTICE OF EARL ULFKYTEL.</a></h2> +<p>An armed jailor woke me with daylight, bringing me food again, +and at first I was dazed, not knowing where I was, so heavy was my +sleep. Yet I knew that I woke to somewhat ill.</p> +<p>"Where am I?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Under Caistor walls, surely," he said; and I remembered +all.</p> +<p>The man looked friendly enough, so that I spoke again to him, +asking if the great earl was here, and he said that he was.</p> +<p>"What do men say?" I asked then.</p> +<p>"That the matter is like to puzzle the earl himself, so that it +is hard for a plain man to unriddle. But I think that half Reedham +are here to see justice done you; even if it is naught but Earl +Ulfkytel's justice!" And he grinned.</p> +<p>I knew why. For Ulfkytel was ever a just man, though severe, and +his justice was a word with us, though in a strange way enough. For +if a case was too hard for him to decide in his own mind, he would +study to find some way in which the truth might make itself known, +as it were. Nor did he hold much with trial by hot water, or heated +ploughshares, and the like; finding new ways of his own contriving, +which often brought the truth plainly to light, but which no other +man would have thought of. So that if a man, in doing or planning +some ill to another, was himself hurt, we would laugh and say: +"That is like the earl's justice".</p> +<p>So though Ulfkytel was no friend of my father's, having, indeed, +some old quarrel about rights of manor or the like, I thought +nothing of that, save that he would the sooner send me to the king +for trial.</p> +<p>The jailor told me that I should be tried at noonday, and went +away, and so I waited patiently as I might until then, keeping +thought quiet as best I could by looking forward and turning over +what I could say, which seemed to be nothing but the plain +truth.</p> +<p>At last the weary waiting ended, and they took me into the great +hall of the castle, and there on the high seat sat the earl, a +thin, broad-shouldered man, with a long gray beard and gray eyes, +that glittered bright and restless under shaggy eyebrows. Beorn, +too, was brought in at the same time, and we were set opposite to +one another, to right and left of the earl, below the high place, +closely watched by the armed guards, bound also, though not +tightly, and only as to our hands.</p> +<p>And there on a trestle table before us lay the body of Jarl +Lodbrok, my friend, in whose side was my broken arrow. All the +lower end of the hall was filled with the people, and I saw my two +serfs there, and many Reedham folk.</p> +<p>Then the court was set, and with the earl were many men whom I +knew by sight, honest thanes and franklins enough, and of that I +was glad.</p> +<p>First of all one read, in the ears of all, that of which we two +who were there bound were accused, giving the names of those +half-dozen men who had found us fighting and had brought us for +judgment.</p> +<p>Then said Earl Ulfkytel:</p> +<p>"Here is a matter that is not easy in itself, and I will not +hide this, that the father of this Wulfric and I are unfriendly, +and that Beorn has been a friend of mine, though no close one. +Therefore is more need that I must be very careful that justice is +not swayed by my knowledge and thoughts of the accused. So I put +that away from me; I know naught of these two men but what I hear +from witnesses."</p> +<p>Some people at the end of the hall sought to praise the even +handedness of that saying loudly, but the earl frowned and +shouted:</p> +<p>"Silence!--shall a judge be praised for doing right?"</p> +<p>"Then," said he, growing quiet again, and speaking plainly and +slowly that all might hear, "this is how the matter stands. Here +are two men found fighting over the body of a third who is known, +as men say, to have been friendly with both. No man saw the +beginning of the business. Now we will hear what was seen, but +first let this Wulfric speak for himself;" and he turned his bright +eyes on me.</p> +<p>Now I told him all the truth from the time when I parted from +Lodbrok until the men came.</p> +<p>Then the earl asked me:</p> +<p>"Why thought you that Beorn slew the man?"</p> +<p>"Because there was no other man near, and because I know that he +bore ill will towards him for the favour shown him by the +king."</p> +<p>"So," said Ulfkytel; "now let Beorn speak."</p> +<p>Then that evil man, being very crafty, did not deny my words, +but said that he had found the body lying with my arrow in its +side. And though he knew not why I had done the deed, for the sake +of his friendship with my father and myself he would have hidden +it, and even as he did so I came, falling on him. Whereon he grew +wroth, and fought.</p> +<p>"It seems to me," said the earl, "that a word from you should +rather have made Wulfric help you and thank you; not fall on you. +Now let the witnesses say their say."</p> +<p>So they stood forward, telling naught but the truth, as honest +men. And they seemed to think much of Beorn's having cried out for +revenge. Also they showed the arrow, which fitted exactly to the +headed end which was in Lodbrok's side, and was the same as two +that were in my quiver with others. Now if Beorn shot that arrow he +must have made away with both bow and quiver, for he had none when +we were taken.</p> +<p>Then one of the other thanes said that the dead man had another +wound, and that in the throat, and it was so, Whereon the jailer +was bidden to bring our swords, and it was found that both were +stained, for I had wounded Beorn a little, as I have said.</p> +<p>"Is Wulfric wounded then?" asked Ulfkytel.</p> +<p>And I was not.</p> +<p>"Whence then is Beorn's sword stained?" he asked.</p> +<p>Then came my two thralls, and spoke to the truth of my story, as +did one of the men who had stayed with them, for he too had seen +the deer hanging where I had left it, nearly a mile away from where +the fight was. And my men added that they had seen me riding to +that place, and had followed the call of my horn.</p> +<p>"Murderers do not call thus for help," said the earl. "What +more?"</p> +<p>"Only that Lodbrok's dog flew at Beorn;" they said.</p> +<p>Then my steward and others told the story of my saving of +Lodbrok, and there were one or two who knew how closely Beorn +seemed to have sought his friendship. There was no more then to be +said.</p> +<p>All the while Ulfkytel had watched my face and Beorn's, and now +he said:</p> +<p>"The arrow condemns Wulfric, but any man might pick up a good +arrow that he had lost. And the sword condemns Beorn, but there are +many ways in which it might be bloodstained in that affair. Now, +were these two robbers, I would hold that they were fighting over +division of booty, but they are honourable men. Wherefore I will +have one more witness who knows not how to lie. Fetch the dog."</p> +<p>So they brought Lodbrok's dog, which the serfs had with them, +and they loosed it. It ran to his body first and cried over it, +pulling his coat with its paws and licking his face, so that it was +pitiful to see it, and there were women present who wept +thereat.</p> +<p>Then it left him and came to me, thrusting its nose into my +hand, but I would not notice it, for justice's sake; but when it +saw Beorn, it bristled up, flying at his throat so that he fell +under it, and the guards had much ado in getting it off, and one +was bitten.</p> +<p>"The dog condemns Beorn," said the earl, "but Wulfric bred +it."</p> +<p>After that he would have no more witness; but now should each of +us lay hand on the body and swear that he was guiltless.</p> +<p>They brought a book of the Holy Gospels and put it on Lodbrok's +breast, and first I laid my hand thereon, looking into the quiet +face of the man whose life I had saved, and sware truly.</p> +<p>Then must Beorn confess or swear falsely, and I looked at him +and his cheek was pale. But he, too, laid hand on the dread book in +its awful place and sware that he was innocent--and naught +happened. For I looked, as I think many looked, to see the blood +start from the wound that he had given the jarl, but it was not so. +There was no sign. Then crossed my mind the first doubt that I had +had that Beorn was guilty. Yet I knew he lied in some things, and +the doubt passed away quickly.</p> +<p>Then Ulfkytel pushed away the table from before him so that it +fell over.</p> +<p>"Take these men away," he said. "I have heard and seen enough. I +will think!"</p> +<p>They led us away to the cells again, and I wondered how all this +would end. In an hour they brought us back, and set us in our +places again. The earl had more to say, as it seemed.</p> +<p>"Will you two pay the weregild <sup>{<a name="sdendnote11anc" +href="#sdendnote11sym" id="sdendnote11anc">xi</a>}</sup> between +you?"</p> +<p>"No, Lord Earl," I said; "that were to confess guilt, which +would be a lie."</p> +<p>Then Beorn cried:</p> +<p>"I pray you, Wulfric, let us pay and have done!"</p> +<p>But I turned from him in loathing.</p> +<p>"Ho, Master Falconer," said Ulfkytel, "the man is an outlander! +To whom will you pay it? To Wulfric who saved his life?"</p> +<p>Now at that Beorn was dumb, seeing that the earl had trapped him +very nearly, and he grew ashy pale, and the great earl scowled at +him.</p> +<p>"Let me have trial by battle," I said quietly, thinking that it +would be surely granted.</p> +<p>There was as good reason to suspect me as Beorn, as I saw.</p> +<p>"Silence, Wulfric!" said the earl. "That is for me to say."</p> +<p>"Let the king judge, I pray you, Lord Earl," I went on, for he +spoke in no angry tone, nor looked at me.</p> +<p>However, that angered him, for, indeed, it was hard to say +whether king or earl was more powerful in East Anglia. Maybe +Eadmund's power came by love, and that of the earl by the strong +hand. But the earl was most loyal.</p> +<p>"What!" he said in a great voice, "am I not earl? And shall the +king be troubled with common manslayers while I sit in his seat of +justice? Go to! I am judge, and will answer to the king for what I +do."</p> +<p>So I was silent, waiting for what should come next.</p> +<p>But he forgot me in a minute, and seemed to be thinking.</p> +<p>At last he said:</p> +<p>"One of these men is guilty, but I know not which."</p> +<p>And so he summed up all that he had heard, and as he did so it +seemed, even to me, that proofs of guilt were evenly balanced, so +that once again I half thought that Beorn might be wronged in the +accusation, as I was.</p> +<p>"So," he ended, "friend has slain friend, and friends have +fought, and there is no question of a third man in the matter."</p> +<p>He looked round on the honest faces with him, and saw that they +were puzzled and had naught to say, and went on:</p> +<p>"Wherefore, seeing that these men have had trial by battle +already, which was stopped, and that the slain man was a foreigner +from over seas and has no friends to speak concerning him, I have a +mind to put the judgment into the hands of the greatest Judge of +all. As Lodbrok the Dane came by sea, these men shall be judged +upon the sea by Him who is over all. And surely the innocent shall +escape, and the guilty shall be punished in such sort that he shall +wish that I had been wise enough to see his guilt plainly and to +hang him for treachery to his friend and the king's, or else to put +him into ward until some good bishop asks for pardon for ill +doing."</p> +<p>And with that half promise he looked sharply at us to see if any +sign would come from the murderer.</p> +<p>But I had naught to say, nor did I seem to care just now what +befell me, while Beorn was doubtless fearful lest the wrath of +Eadmund the King should prevail in the end were he to be imprisoned +only. So he answered not, and the earl frowned heavily.</p> +<p>Now one of the franklins there, who knew me well enough, +said:</p> +<p>"Wulfric, be not ashamed to confess it, if for once you shot +ill--if your arrow went by chance to Lodbrok's heart, I pray you, +say so. It may well be forgiven."</p> +<p>Very grateful was I for that kind word, but I would not plead +falsely, nor, indeed, would it have told aught of the other wound +that had been made. So I shook my head, thanking the man, and +saying that it was not so.</p> +<p>Now I think that the earl had planned this in order to make one +of us speak at the last, and for a moment I thought that Beorn was +about to speak, but he forbore. Then Ulfkytel sighed heavily and +turned away, speaking in a low voice to the thanes with him, and +they seemed to agree with his words.</p> +<p>At length he turned to us and spoke gravely:</p> +<p>"It is, as I said, too hard for me. The Lord shall judge. Even +as Lodbrok came shall you two go, at the mercy of wind and wave and +of Him who rules them. You shall be put into Lodbrok's boat this +night, and set adrift to take what may come. Only this I lay upon +you, that the innocent man shall not harm the guilty. As for +himself, he need, as I think, have no fear, for the guilty man is a +coward and nidring <sup>{<a name="sdendnote12anc" href= +"#sdendnote12sym" id="sdendnote12anc">xii</a>}</sup>. Nor, as it +seems to me, if all may be believed, can the guiltless say for +certain that the other did it."</p> +<p>Then was a murmur of assent to this strange manner of justice of +Earl Ulfkytel's, and I, who feared not the sea, was glad; but Beorn +would have fallen on the ground, but for his guards, and almost had +he confessed, as I think.</p> +<p>"Eat and drink well," said Ulfkytel, "for maybe it is long +before you see food again."</p> +<p>"Where shall you set them afloat?" asked a thane.</p> +<p>"Am I a fool to let men know that?" asked the earl sharply. +"There would be a rescue for a certainty. You shall know by and by +in private."</p> +<p>The guards took us away, and unbinding our hands, set plenty of +good food and drink before us. And for my part I did well, for now +that I knew the worst my spirits rose, and I had some hopes of +escape, for there was every sign of fair weather for long enough. +And viking ways had taught me to go fasting for two days, if need +be, given a good meal to start upon.</p> +<p>But Beorn ate little and drank much, while the guards bade him +take example from me, but he would not; and after a while sat +silent in a corner and ghastly to look upon, for no one cared to +meddle with him.</p> +<p>As soon as it grew dusk they bade us eat again, for in half an +hour we should set forth to the coast. At that Beorn started up and +cried out, wringing his hands and groaning, though he said no word, +except that I should surely slay him in the boat.</p> +<p>Then I spoke to him for the first time since he had claimed the +falcon, and said that from me, at least, he was safe. And I spoke +roughly, so that I think he believed me, so plain did I make it +that I thought one who was surely cowardly in word and deed was not +worth harming, and he ceased his outcry.</p> +<p>At last we were set on horseback, and with two score or more +mounted spearmen round us, we rode quickly out of Caistor town. A +few men shouted and ran after us, but the guards spurred their +horses, and it was of no use for them to try and follow. And the +night was dark and foggy, though not cold for the time of year.</p> +<p>I feared lest we were going to Reedham, for there my folk would +certainly rise in arms to rescue me, and that would have made +things hard for them; but we went on southward, riding very fast, +until after many long miles we came to the little hill of the other +Burgh that stands where Waveney parts in two streams, one eastward +to the sea, and the other northward to join the Yare mouth.</p> +<p>The moon had risen by the time we came there, and I could see a +large fishing boat at the staithe, and, alas! alongside of her a +smaller boat that I knew so well--that in which Lodbrok had come, +and in which I had passed so many pleasant hours with him. Then the +thought crossed my mind that what he had taught me of her was like +to be my safety now; but my mind was dazed by all the strange +things that came into it, and I tried not to think. Only I wondered +if Ulfkytel had got the boat without a struggle with our +people.</p> +<p>The earl was there with a few more thanes and many more guards, +and they waited by the waterside.</p> +<p>One man started from beside the earl as we came, and rode +swiftly towards us. It was Egfrid, my brother-in-law to be--if this +did not bring all that fair plan to naught.</p> +<p>He cried out to the men to stay, and they, knowing who he was, +did so, and made no trouble about his coming to my side. There he +reined up his horse, and laid his hand on my shoulder.</p> +<p>"Alas for this meeting, my brother!" he cried. "What can I do? +Men came and told me of rumour that was flying about concerning +this business, and I have ridden hard to get to Reedham, but I met +the earl, who told me all. And I have prayed him to let the king +judge, but he will not, saying that his mind is fixed on higher +judgment--and you know what he is."</p> +<p>Then I said:</p> +<p>"So that you hold me not guilty, my brother, I mind not so much; +for if I must die you will take my place, and my father will not be +without a son.</p> +<p>"I think you guilty!" he cried; "how could that be? Shame on me +were I to dream thereof--and on any man of all who know you who +would deem you could be so."</p> +<p>"Have you heard all?"</p> +<p>"Aye, for the earl has told me very patiently, being kind, for +all his strange ways. At last I told him that his wish for justice +blinded his common sense. And at that, instead of being wrath, he +smiled at me as on a child, and said, 'What know you of justice?'; +so that I was as one who would beat down a stone wall with his +fists---helpless. He is not to be moved. What can I do?" and almost +did he weep for my hard case.</p> +<p>"Let things go their own way, my brother," I said gently. "I do +not fear the sea, nor this man here--Beorn. Do you go to Reedham +and tend Lodbrok's hawk for me, and send word to my father, that he +may come home, and to the king, so that Lodbrok may have honourable +burial."</p> +<p>He promised me those things, and then went back upon the slaying +of Lodbrok, asking how it came about.</p> +<p>I told him what I thought thereof; and Beorn, who must needs +listen to all this, ground his teeth and cursed under his breath, +for there seemed to have come some desperate fury on him in place +of his cold despair of an hour since.</p> +<p>And when Egfrid had heard all, he raised his hand and swore that +not one stone of Beorn's house should be unblackened by fire by +this time tomorrow night, and as he said it he turned to Beorn, +shaking and white with wrath.</p> +<p>"Let that be," I answered him quickly; "no good, but much harm +may come therefrom. Wait but six months, and then maybe I shall be +back."</p> +<p>Now while we had thus spoken together, Ulfkytel had dismounted +and was holding some converse with a man whose figure I could not +well make out, even had I cared to try, in the dark shadow of +horses and riders which stayed the moonlight from them. But at this +time the stranger came towards us, and I saw that it was the priest +who served the Church of St. Peter, hard by where we stood. He came +to Beorn first, and spoke to him in a low voice, earnestly; but +Beorn paid no sort of heed to him, but turned his head away, +cursing yet. So after a few more words, the priest came to me.</p> +<p>"Wulfric," he said, "sad am I to see you thus. But justice is +justice, and must be done."</p> +<p>"Aye, Father," I answered, "and right will prevail."</p> +<p>"Maybe we shall see it do so," he answered shortly, not seeming +willing to hold much converse with me; "but it is likely that you +go to your death on the wide sea. Many a man have I shriven at the +point of death--and Ulfkytel the Earl will not hold me back from +your side--an you will."</p> +<p>Thereat I was very glad, for I knew that the risks before me +were very great, and I said as much.</p> +<p>Then he took the bridle of my horse and began to lead me on one +side, and the guards hindered him until Ulfkytel shouted to them to +draw aside in such wise as to prevent my riding off, though, bound +as I was, it had been of little use to try to do so. Then they let +the priest take me out of earshot, and maybe posted themselves in +some way round us, though I heeded them not.</p> +<p>So then in that strange way I, bound and on horseback, +confessed; and weeping over me at last, with all his coldness +forgotten, the priest of Burgh shrived me and blessed me, bidding +me keep a good heart; for, if not in this world, then at the last +would all be made right, and I should have honour.</p> +<p>After that he went once more to Beorn, but he was deaf to his +pleading, and so he went away to the church, speaking no word to +any man, and with his head bent as with the weight of knowledge +that must not be told, and maybe with sorrow that the other +prisoner, if guilty, would not seek for pardon from the Judge into +whose hand he was about to go.</p> +<p>But as for me, this thing was good, and a wondrous comfort to +me, and I went back to Egfrid with a cheerful heart, ready to face +aught that might come.</p> +<p>Now the earl called to the guards from the water's edge, saying +that the time was come, and we rode towards him, and I made Egfrid +promise that he would hold his hand, at least till my father +came.</p> +<p>Now they drew my boat to the shore, and they took Beorn from his +horse first, and often have I wondered that he did not confess, but +he said no word, and maybe his senses had left him by reason of his +terror. They haled him to the boat and unbound him, setting him in +the bows, where he sank down, seeming helpless, but staring away +from shore over the sparkling waters that he feared.</p> +<p>Then came my turn, and of my own will I stepped into the boat, +looking her over to see that all was there as when Lodbrok came. +And all was there, though that was little enough. The one oar, the +baler, and a few fathoms of line on the floorboards.</p> +<p>Now as I had nothing to lose by speaking, I cried to the earl +concerning the one matter that troubled me.</p> +<p>"Earl Ulfkytel, I pray you forgive my poor folk if they fought +for me when you took the boat."</p> +<p>"They knew not why it was taken," he answered quietly. "I sent a +messenger before I gave sentence. But I should not have blamed them +had they fought, knowing all."</p> +<p>Then a rough man who tended the boat called out:</p> +<p>"Ho, Lord Earl, are these murderers to go forth with gold on arm +and hand?" for we had been stripped of naught but our arms, and I +suppose the man coveted these things.</p> +<p>But the earl answered:</p> +<p>"Which is the murderer? I know not. When his time comes stripped +he will be of life itself. Let the men be," and then in a moment he +asked one by him; "what weapons had Lodbrok when he came?"</p> +<p>"Only a dagger," answered the thane to whom he spoke. "Or so men +say."</p> +<p>"That is true," I said plainly.</p> +<p>"Give the men their daggers," then said the earl; and when one +told him that we should use them on each other, he answered:</p> +<p>"I think they will not; do my bidding!"</p> +<p>So they threw my hunting knife to me, and I girded it on. But +Beorn's dagger fell on the floor of the boat, and he paid no heed +to it, not even turning his head.</p> +<p>Then the earl and three thanes went on board the fishing boat, +and Egfrid would fain have come with him. But I signed him back, +and when the fishermen put out oars and pushed from the shore, +towing us with them, he ran waist deep into the water, and clasped +my hand for the last time, weeping.</p> +<p>Then the shore grew dim to my eyes, and I put my head in my +hands and would look no more. Soon I heard only the wash and creak +of the large boat's oars, and a murmured word or two from those on +board her. Then from Burgh Tower came the tolling of the bell, as +for the dying, and that was the last voice of England that I heard +as we went from shore to sea.</p> +<p>But at that sound came hope back to me, for it seemed to me as +the voice of Bosham bell calling for help that should come to +myself, as I had been called in time of need by the like sound to +the help of St. Wilfrith's men. And straightway I remembered the +words of the good prior, and was comforted, for surely if St. +Wilfrith's might could sink the pirate ship it would be put forth +for me upon the waters. So I prayed for that help if it might be +given, and for the Hand of Him who is over all things, even as the +prior had bidden me understand.</p> +<p>Whereupon I was in no more trouble about myself, and now I began +to hope that the still weather might even bring Halfden's ship to +find me.</p> +<p>So we passed from river to broad, and from broad to sea, and +went in tow of the fishing boat until we came to that place, as +nearly as might be, where I had saved Lodbrok. I could see the +sparkle of our village lights, or thought I could.</p> +<p>There they cast us off, and for a few minutes the two boats lay +side by side on the gently-heaving water, for the wind was +offshore, and little sea was running.</p> +<p>Then the earl rose up, lifting his hand and saying, very +solemnly:</p> +<p>"Farewell, thou who art innocent. Blame not my blindness, nor +think ill of me. For I do my best, leaving you in the Hand of God, +and not of man!"</p> +<p>So he spoke; then the oars swung and fell, and in a few moments +his boat was gone into the shoreward shadows and we were alone, and +I was glad.</p> +<p>Now I looked at Beorn, and I thought him strangely still, and so +watched him. But I soon saw that he was in some sort of fit or +swoon, and paid no heed to aught. Yet I thought it well to take his +dagger from where it lay, lest he should fall on me in some +frenzy.</p> +<p>I took up the weapon, and straightway I longed to draw it and +end his life at once, while all sorts of plans for escape +thereafter came into my mind. But I could not slay a helpless man, +even this one, though I sat fingering the dagger for a long while. +At last the evilness of these thoughts was plain to me; so quickly +I cast the dagger overboard, and it was gone.</p> +<p>Then I thought I would sleep while I might, for there was no sea +to fear, and the tide set with the wind away from shore from the +river mouth, as I knew well, for it was ebbing. It was weary work +to watch the land growing less and less plain under the moon. Yet I +feared Beorn's treachery, and doubted for a while, until the coil +of rope that lay at my feet caught my eye as I pondered. With that +I made no more ado, but took it and bound him lightly, so that at +least he could not rise up unheard by me. Nor did he stir or do +aught but breathe heavily and slowly as I handled him. When he +roused I knew that I could so deal with him that I might unbind +him.</p> +<p>After that I slept, and slept well, rocked by the gentle rise +and fall of the waves, until daylight came again.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII. +HOW WULFRIC CAME TO JUTLAND.</a></h2> +<p>It was Beorn who woke me. Out of his swoon, or whatever it was +that had taken his senses, he woke with a start and shudder that +brought me from sleep at once, thinking that the boat had touched +ground. But there was no land in sight now, and all around me was +the wide circle of the sea, and over against me Beorn, my evil +companion, glowering at me with a great fear written on his +face.</p> +<p>Now as I woke and saw him, my hand went at once to the dagger at +my side, as my first waking thoughts felt troubled by reason of all +he had done, though it was but for a moment. Thereat he cried out, +praying me to have mercy on him, and tried to rise, going near to +capsize the boat. Indeed, I cannot believe that the man had ever +been in a boat before.</p> +<p>"Lie down," I said, speaking sharply, as to a dog, "or you will +drown us both before the time!"</p> +<p>He was still enough then, fearing the water more than steel, as +it seemed, or seeing that I meant him no harm.</p> +<p>Then I spoke plainly to him.</p> +<p>"I will harm you not. But your life is in my hands in two ways. +I can slay you by water or dagger for one thing; or for another, I +think I can take this boat to shore at some place where you are not +known, and so let you live a little longer. And in any case I have +a mind to try to save my own life; thus if you will obey me so that +I may tend the boat, yours shall be saved with it, so far as I am +concerned. But if you hinder me, die you must in one way or +another!"</p> +<p>Now he saw well enough that his only hope lay in my power to +take the boat safely across the water, and so promised humbly to +obey me in all things if I would but spare him and get the boat to +shore quickly. So I unbound him and coiled the rope at my feet +again, bidding him lie down amidships and be still.</p> +<p>Many a time men have asked me why I slew him not, or cast him +not overboard, thus being troubled no more with him. Most surely I +would have slain him when we fought, in the white heat of +anger--and well would it have been if Ulfkytel had doomed him to +death, as judge. But against this helpless, cringing wretch, whose +punishment was even now falling on him, how could I lift hand? It +seemed to me, moreover, that I was, as it were, watching to see +when the stroke of doom would fall on him, as the earl said it +surely must on the guilty.</p> +<p>The wind freshened, and the boat began to sing through the +water, for it needed little to drive her well. My spirits rose, so +that I felt almost glad to be on the sea again, but Beorn waxed +sick and lay groaning till he was worn out and fell asleep.</p> +<p>Now the breeze blew from the southwest, warm and damp, as it had +held for a long time during this winter, which was open and mild so +far. And this was driving us over the same track which Lodbrok had +taken as he came from his own place. There was no hope of making +the English shore again, and so I thought it well to do even as the +jarl, and rear up the floorboards in such wise as to use them for a +sail to hasten us wherever we might go.</p> +<p>So I roused Beorn, and showed him how to bestow himself out of +my way, and made sail, as one might say. At once the boat seemed to +come to life, flying from wave to wave before the wind, and I made +haste to ship the long oar, so that I could steer her with it.</p> +<p>And when I went aft, there, in the sharp hollow of the stern +that I had uncovered, lay two great loaves and a little breaker of +water. Now I could not tell, and do not know even to this day, what +kindly man hid these things for us, but I blessed him for his +charity, for now our case was better than Lodbrok's in two ways, +that we had no raging gale and sea to wrestle against, and the +utmost pangs of hunger and thirst we were not to feel. Three days +and two nights had he been on his voyage. We might be a day longer +with this breeze, but the bread, at least, we need not touch till +tomorrow. But Beorn slept heavily again, and I told him not of this +store as yet, for I thought that he would but turn from it just +now. Which was well, for he could not bear a fast as could I.</p> +<p>So the long day wore through, and ever the breeze held, and the +boat flew before it. Night fell, and the dim moon rose up, and +still we went east and north swiftly. The long white wake stretched +straight astern of us, and Beorn slept deeply, worn out; and the +sea ran evenly and not very high, so that at last I dared to lash +the oar in its place and sleep in snatches, waking now and then to +the lift of a greater wave, or catching the rushing in my ears as +some heavier-crested billow rose astern of us. But the boat was +swift as the seas, and there was nothing to fear. Nor was the cold +great at any time, except towards early morning before the first +light of dawn. Moreover, the boat sailed in better trim with two +men in her.</p> +<p>Gray morning came, and the seas were longer and deeper, for we +were far on the wide sea. All day long was it the same, wave after +wave, gray sky overhead, and the steady breeze ever bearing us +onward. Once it rained, and I caught the water in the bailer and +drank heartily, giving his fill to Beorn, and with it I ate some of +my loaf, and he took half of his. Then slowly came night, and at +last I waxed lonely, for all this while I had kept a hope that I +might see the sail of Halfden's ship, but there was no glint of +canvas between sky and sea, and my hope was gone as the darkness +fell.</p> +<p>So I sang, to cheer myself, raising my voice in the sea song +that I had made and that Lodbrok had loved. And when that was done +I sang the song of Bosham bell, with the ending that the gleeman on +Colchester Hill had made.</p> +<p>Thereat Beorn raised his head and, snarling at me like an angry +dog, bade me cease singing of shipwreck. But I heeded him not, and +so I sang and he cursed, until at last he wept like an angry child, +and I held my peace.</p> +<p>I did not dare sleep that night, for the wind freshened, and at +times we might see naught but sky above us and the waves ahead and +astern of the boat, though to one who knew how to handle his craft +there was no danger in them. But from time to time Beorn cried out +as the boat slid swiftly down the slope of a great wave, hovered, +and rose on the next, and I feared that he would leap up in his +terror and end all.</p> +<p>"Bide still or I will bind you," I said at last to him, and he +hid his face in his arms, and was quiet again.</p> +<p>Worn out when day broke was I, and again I ate and gave to +Beorn, and he would eat all his loaf, though I bade him spare it, +for I knew not how long yet we might be before we saw land. And +that seemed to change his mood, and he began to scowl at me, though +he dared say little, and so sat still in his place, glowering at me +evilly.</p> +<p>Presently came a whale, spouting near us, and that terrified +him, so that he cried to me to save him from it, as though I had +power on the seas more than had other men. But it soon went away, +and he forgot his terror, beginning to blame me for not having +gained the shore yet.</p> +<p>I could say nothing, for I knew not how far we had run; yet we +had come a long way, and I thought that surely we must have sailed +as swiftly as Lodbrok, for the sea had favoured us rather than +given trouble. Even now I thought the colour of the water changed a +little, and I began to think that we neared some land at last.</p> +<p>As the sun set, the wind shifted more to the westward, and I +thought a change was coming. It was very dark overhead until the +waning moon rose.</p> +<p>Now, soon after moonrise Beorn began to groan, in his sleep as I +thought; but presently he rose up, stiffly, from long sitting, and +I saw that his eyes were flashing, and his face working strangely +in the pale moonlight. I bade him lie down again, but he did not, +and then I saw that he was surely out of his mind through the +terror of the sea and the long nothingness of the voyage to which +he was all unused. Then he made for me with a shout, and I saw that +I must fight for my life. So I closed with him and dragged him down +to the bottom of the boat, and there we two struggled, till I +thought that the end was come.</p> +<p>The boat plunged and listed, and once was nearly over, but at +that new strength came to me, and at last I forced his shoulders +under the midship thwart, and held him there so that he could by no +means rise. Then all his fury went, and he became weak, so that I +reached out with one hand for the line and bound him easily, hand +and foot. I set him back in his place, and the water washed over +his face as he lay, for we had shipped a good deal in the lurches +our struggle caused. Then he was still, and as on the first night, +seemed to sleep, breathing very heavily.</p> +<p>So I left him bound, and bailed the water out. Then knew I how +weak I was. Yet I held on, steering from wave to wave as though I +could not help it.</p> +<p>Once, towards morning, there came a booming in my ears, and a +faintness, for I was all but done. But the boat dashed into a wave, +and the cold spray flew over me and roused me to know the danger, +so I took my last crust and ate it, and was refreshed a little.</p> +<p>But when the morning broke cold and gray over brown waves, +there, against one golden line of sunlight, rose the black steady +barrier of a low-lying coast, and round the boat the gulls were +screaming their welcome.</p> +<p>Then came over me a dull fear that I should be lost in sight of +land, and a great sorrow and longing for the English shore in place +of this, for never had I seen sunrise over land before from the +open sea, and hunger and thirst gnawed at me, and I longed for rest +from this tossing of sea, and wave--and always waves. Then I looked +in Beorn's evil face, and I thought that he was dead, but that to +me seemed to matter not.</p> +<p>Swiftly rose up the coast from out the sea, and I saw that it +was like our East Anglian shore, forest covered and dark, but with +pine and birch instead of oak and alder. The boat was heading +straight through a channel; past sands over which I could see the +white line of the tide on either side, and that chance seemed not +strange to me, but as part of all that was to be and must be.</p> +<p>Then the last rollers were safely past, and the boat's keel +grated on sand--and I forgot my weakness, and sprang out into the +shallow water, dragging her up with the next wave and out of reach +of the surges.</p> +<p>Then I saw that the tide was falling, and that I had naught more +to do, for we were safe. With that I gave way at last, and reeled +and fell on the sand, for my strength could bear no more, and I +deemed that I should surely die.</p> +<p>I think that I fell into a great sleep for a while, for I came +to myself presently, refreshed, and rose up.</p> +<p>The tide had ebbed a long way, and the sun was high above me, so +that I must have been an hour or two there upon the sand. I went +and looked at Beorn.</p> +<p>His swoon seemed to have passed into sleep, and I unbound him, +and as I did so he murmured as if angry, though he did not +wake.</p> +<p>Then I thought that I would leave him there for some other to +find, and try to make my way to house or village where I might get +food. I could send men thence to seek him, but I cared not if I +never set eyes on him again, hoping, indeed, that I should not do +so.</p> +<p>So I turned and walked inland through the thin forest for a +little way, stumbling often, but growing stronger and less stiff as +I went, though I must needs draw my belt tight to stay the pangs of +hunger, seeing that one loaf is not overmuch for such a voyage and +such stern work as mine had been, body and mind alike +unresting.</p> +<p>Nor had I far to go, for not more than a mile from shore I saw a +good hut standing in a little clearing; and it was somewhat like +our own cottages, timber-framed, with wattle and clay walls, but +with thatch of heather instead of our tall reeds, and when I came +near, I saw that the timber was carved with twisted patterns round +door and window frames.</p> +<p>No dog came out at me, and no one answered when I called, and so +at last I lifted the latch and went in. There was no one, but the +people could not be far off, for meat and bread and a great pitcher +of ale stood on the round log that served for table, as if the meal +was set against speedy homecoming, and the fire was banked up with +peats, only needing stirring to break into a blaze.</p> +<p>Rough as it all was, it looked very pleasant to me, and after I +had called once or twice I sat down, even as I should have done in +our own land, and ate a hearty meal, and drank of the thin ale, and +was soon myself again. I had three silver pennies, besides the gold +bracelet on my arm that I wore as the king's armour bearer and +weapon thane, and was sure of welcome, so when I had done I sat by +the fire and waited till someone should come whom I might +thank.</p> +<p>Once I thought of carrying food to Beorn, but a great hatred and +loathing of the man and his deed came over me, and I would not see +him again. And, indeed, it was likely that he would come here also, +as I had done, when he woke; so that when at last I heard footsteps +I feared lest it should be he.</p> +<p>But this comer whistled cheerfully as he came, and the tune was +one that I had often heard men sing when I was with Halfden. It was +the old "Biarkamal", the song of Biark the Viking.</p> +<p>Now at that I was very glad, for of all things I had most feared +lest I should fall on the Frisian shores, for if so, I should +surely be made a slave, and maybe sold by the lord of the coast to +which I came. But Danes have no traffic in slaves, holding freedom +first of all things. And that is one good thing that the coming of +the Danish host has taught to us, for many a Saxon's riches came +from trading in lives of men.</p> +<p>Then the door was pushed open, for I had left it ajar, and in +came a great dog like none we have in England. I thought him a wolf +at first, so gray and strong was he, big enough and fierce enough +surely to pull down any forest beast, and I liked not the savage +look of him. But, though he bristled and growled at first sight of +me, when he saw that I sat still as if I had some right to be +there, he came and snuffed round me, and before his master came we +were good friends enough, if still a little doubtful. But I never +knew a dog that would fly at me yet, so that I think they know well +enough who are their friends, though by some sign of face or voice +that is beyond my knowledge.</p> +<p>Now came the man, who edged through the door with a great bundle +of logs for the fire, which he cast down without looking at me, +only saying:</p> +<p>"Ho, Rolf! back again so early? Where is the Jarl?"</p> +<p>Now I knew that he was a Dane, and so I answered in his own +way:</p> +<p>"Not Rolf, but a stranger who has made free with Rolf's +dinner."</p> +<p>Whereat the man laughed, setting hands on hips and staring at +me.</p> +<p>"So it is!" he said; "settle that matter with brother Rolf when +he comes in, for strangers are scarce here."</p> +<p>Then he scanned my dress closely, and maybe saw that they were +sea stained, though hunting gear is made for hard wear and shows +little.</p> +<p>"Let me eat first," he said, sitting down, "and then we will +talk."</p> +<p>But after he had taken a few mouthfuls, he asked:</p> +<p>"Are there any more of you about?"</p> +<p>"One more," I said, "but I left him asleep in the boat that +brought us here. We are from the sea, having been blown here."</p> +<p>"Then he may bide till he wakes," the man said, going on with +his meal.</p> +<p>Presently he stopped eating, and after taking a great draught of +ale, said that he wondered the dog had not torn me.</p> +<p>"Whereby I know you to be an honest man. For I cannot read a +man's face as some can, and therefore trust to the dog, who is +never wrong," and he laughed and went on eating.</p> +<p>Now that set me thinking of what account I might give of myself, +and I thought that I would speak the truth plainly, though there +was no reason to say more than that we were blown off the English +coast. What Beorn would say I knew not; most likely he would lie, +but if so, things must work themselves out.</p> +<p>I looked at the man in whose house I was, and was pleased with +him. Red haired and blue eyed he was, with a square, honest face +and broad shoulders, and his white teeth shone beneath a red beard +that covered half his face.</p> +<p>When he had eaten even more than I, he laughed loudly, saying +that brother Rolf would have to go short this time, and then came +and sat by the fire over against me, and waited for me to say my +say.</p> +<p>So I told him how we had come, and at that he stared at me as +our folk stared at Lodbrok, and started up, crying that he must go +and see this staunch boat that had served me so well.</p> +<p>"Bide here and rest," he said, "and I will bring your comrade to +you," and with that he swung out of the house, taking the dog with +him. And at once the thought of leaving the hut and plunging into +the forest came into my mind, but I knew not why I should do so, +except that I would not see Beorn again. However, there was a third +man now, and I would see what befell him.</p> +<p>Now I waited long, and had almost fallen asleep beside the warm +fire, when I heard a horn away in the woods, and roused up to +listen. Twice or thrice it sounded, and then I heard it answered +from far off. So I supposed that there was a hunt going on.</p> +<p>Then I heard no more, and fell asleep in earnest; for I needed +rest badly, as one might well suppose.</p> +<p>Something touched my hand and I awoke. It was the great dog, who +came and thrust his nose against me, having made up his mind to be +friendly altogether. So when his master came in I was fondling his +head, and he looked puzzled.</p> +<p>"Say what men will," he said, "I know you are an honest +man!"</p> +<p>"Do you hold that any will doubt it?" I asked, wondering what he +meant; for he looked strangely at me.</p> +<p>"Aye; the jarl has found your boat, and has sent me back to keep +you fast. Know you whose boat you have?"</p> +<p>"It belonged to Jarl Lodbrok, who came ashore in it, as I have +come here--and he gave it me."</p> +<p>"Hammer of Thor!" said the man. "Is the jarl alive?"</p> +<p>"What know you of him?" I asked.</p> +<p>"He was our jarl--ours," he answered.</p> +<p>"Who is the other jarl you speak of?" I asked him, with a hope +that Halfden had come home, for now I knew that we had indeed +followed Lodbrok's track exactly.</p> +<p>"How should it be other than Ingvar Lodbroksson? for we have +held that Lodbrok, his father, is dead this many a long day."</p> +<p>"Let me go to the jarl," I said, rising up. "I would speak with +him," for I would, if possible, tell him the truth, before Beorn +could frame lies that might work ill to both of us, or perhaps to +me most of all. Yet I thought that I saw the shadow of judgment +falling on the murderer.</p> +<p>"Bide quiet," said the man; "he will be here soon."</p> +<p>And then he said, looking from me to the dog, "Now I hold you as +a true man, therefore I will tell you this--anger not the jarl when +he speaks to you."</p> +<p>"Thanks, friend!" I answered heartily, "I think I shall not do +that. Is he like his father?"</p> +<p>The man laughed shortly, only saying:</p> +<p>"Is darkness like daylight?"</p> +<p>"Then he is not like Jarl Halfden."</p> +<p>Now the honest man was going to ask in great wonder how I knew +of him, when there came the quick trot of horses to the door, and a +stern voice, which had in its tones somewhat familiar to me, called +him:</p> +<p>"Raud, come forth!"</p> +<p>My host started up, and saying, "It is Jarl Ingvar," went to the +door, while I too rose and followed him, for I would not seem to +avoid meeting the son of Lodbrok, my friend.</p> +<p>"Where is this stranger?" said the jarl's voice; "bring him +forth."</p> +<p>Raud turned to beckon me, but I was close to him, and came out +of the hut unbidden.</p> +<p>There sat a great man, clad in light chain mail and helmed, with +his double-headed axe slung to his saddle bow, but seeming to have +come from hunting, for he carried a short, broad-pointed boar +spear, and on the wrist of his bridle hand sat a hooded hawk like +Lodbrok's. His face had in it a look both of his father and of +Halfden, but it was hard and stern; and whereas they had brown +hair, his was jet black as a raven's wing. Maybe he was ten years +older than Halfden.</p> +<p>There were five or six other men, seemingly of rank, and on +horseback also, behind him, but they wore no armour, and were in +hunting gear only, and again there were footmen, leading hounds +like the great one that stood by Raud and me. And two men there +were who led between them Beorn, holding him lest he should fall, +either from weakness or terror, close to the jarl.</p> +<p>So I stood before Ingvar the Jarl, and wondered how things would +go, and what Beorn had said, though I had no fear of him. And as +the jarl gazed at me I raised my hand, saying in the viking's +greeting:</p> +<p>"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!"</p> +<p>At that he half raised hand in answer, but checked himself, +saying shortly:</p> +<p>"Who are you, and how come you by my father's boat?"</p> +<p>I was about to answer, but at that word it seemed that for the +first time Beorn learnt into whose hands he had fallen, and he fell +on his knees between his two guards, crying for mercy. I think that +he was distraught with terror, for his words were thick and broken, +and he had forgotten that none but I knew of his ill deed.</p> +<p>That made the jarl think that somewhat was amiss, and he bade +his men bind us both.</p> +<p>"Bind them fast, and find my brother Hubba," he said, and men +rode away into the forest. But I spoke to him boldly.</p> +<p>"Will you bind a man who bears these tokens, Jarl?"</p> +<p>And I held out my hand to him, showing him the rings that +Lodbrok and Halfden had given me.</p> +<p>"My father's ring--and Halfden's!" he said, gripping my hand, as +he looked closely at the runes upon them, so tightly that it was +pain to me. "By Odin's beard, this grows yet stranger! Who are you, +and whence, and how came you by these things?"</p> +<p>"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, 'the +merchant' as men call him. I have been Jarl Lodbrok's friend, and +have fought by the side of Halfden, his son, as these tokens may +tell you. As for the rest, that is for yourself alone, Jarl. For I +have no good tidings, as I fear."</p> +<p>"Who is this man, then, and why cries he thus in terror?"</p> +<p>"Beorn, falconer to Eadmund, King of the East Angles," I +said.</p> +<p>But I would not answer at once to the other question, and Ingvar +seemed not to notice it.</p> +<p>Then there was silence while the great jarl sat on his horse +very still, and looked hard at me and at Beorn; but when the men +would have bound us he signed them back, letting Beorn go free. +Whereupon his knees gave way, and he sank down against the house +wall, while I leant against it and looked at the mighty Dane, +somewhat dreading what I had to tell him, but meaning to go through +all plainly.</p> +<p>Now the ring of men closed round us, staring at us, but in +silence, save for the ringing of the horns that were blowing in the +woods to call Hubba from his sport. And Jarl Ingvar sat still, as +if carved in oak, and seemed to ponder, frowning heavily at us, +though the look in his eyes went past me as it were.</p> +<p>Glad was I when a horseman or two rode up and reined in +alongside Ingvar. I think that the foremost rider was the most +goodly warrior to look on that I had ever seen, and one might know +well that he was Lodbrok's son.</p> +<p>"Ho, brother!" he cried; "I thought you had harboured the +greatest bear in all Jutland in Raud's hut. And it is naught but +two strangers. What is the trouble with them?"</p> +<p>"Look at yon man's hand," said Ingvar.</p> +<p>I held out my hand, and Hubba looked at the rings, whereupon his +face lit up as Halfden's had lighted, and he said:</p> +<p>"News of our father and brother! That is well; tell us, friend, +all that you know."</p> +<p>"Stay," said Ingvar; "I took yon man from the boat we made for +our father; he was half dead therein, and his wrists have the marks +of cords on them; also when he heard my name he began to cry for +mercy, and I like it not."</p> +<p>"This friend of our folk will tell us all," said Hubba.</p> +<p>"Aye," said I, "I will tell you, Jarls. But I would speak to you +alone."</p> +<p>"Tell me," said Ingvar shortly; "came my father to your shores +in yon boat alive?"</p> +<p>"Aye," I answered.</p> +<p>"And he died thereafter?"</p> +<p>"He died, Jarl," I said; and I said it sadly.</p> +<p>Then said Hubba:</p> +<p>"Almost had I a hope that he yet lived, as you live. But it was +a poor hope. We have held him as dead for many a long day."</p> +<p>But Ingvar looked at Beorn fixedly, and the man shrank away from +his gaze.</p> +<p>"How did he die, is what I would know?" he said sternly.</p> +<p>"Let the man to whom Halfden and Lodbrok gave these gifts tell +us presently. We have enough ill news for the time. Surely we knew +that the jarl was dead, and it is ours but to learn how;" said +Hubba.</p> +<p>"How know you that these men slew not both?"</p> +<p>"Jarl Ingvar," I said; "I will tell you all you will, but I +would do so in some less hurried way than this. For I have much to +tell."</p> +<p>"Take the men home, brother," said Hubba; "then we can +talk."</p> +<p>"Bind the men," said Ingvar again.</p> +<p>"Nay, brother, not the man who wears those rings," said Hubba +quickly.</p> +<p>"Maybe, and it is likely, that they are ill come by, and he will +make up some lie about them," answered Ingvar.</p> +<p>"It will be easily seen if he does," answered his brother; "wait +till you know."</p> +<p>Ingvar reined his horse round and rode away without another +word. Then Hubba bade the man Raud and his brother, a tall man who +had come with the Jarl Ingvar, take charge of us until word should +come from him, and then rode after Ingvar with the rest of the +folk.</p> +<p>"Come into the house," said Raud to me. "I fear you have ill +news enough, though only what we have expected."</p> +<p>So we went inside, and I sat in my old place beside the fire. +Rolf, the brother, helped Beorn to rise, and set him on a seat in a +corner where he could rest, and then we were all silent. The great +dog came and sat by me, so that I stroked him and spoke to him, +while he beat his tail on the floor in response.</p> +<p>"See you that," said one brother to the other.</p> +<p>"Aye; Vig says true, mostly."</p> +<p>"One may trust him," said Raud; telling of how Vig the dog had +made friends with me at first, and he nodded in friendly wise to +me, so that I would not seem to hold aloof, and spoke to him.</p> +<p>"That is Jarl Hubba, surely?"</p> +<p>"Aye, and the best warrior in all Denmark," said Raud. "We fear +Ingvar, and we love Halfden; but Hubba is such a hero as was Ragnar +himself."</p> +<p>And once set on that matter, the two honest men were unwearied +in telling tales of the valour and skill of their master, so that I +had no room for my own thoughts, which was as well.</p> +<p>Then came a man, riding swiftly, to say that the jarls had left +their hunting, and that we were to be taken to the great house. +Moreover, that Rolf and Raud were to be held answerable for our +safe keeping. When I heard that I laughed.</p> +<p>"I will go willingly," I said, rising up.</p> +<p>"What of this man who sits silent here?" asked Rolf.</p> +<p>"Little trouble will be with him," said his brother.</p> +<p>And indeed Beorn almost needed carrying forth.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER +VIII. HOW WE FARED WITH INGVAR THE DANE.</a></h2> +<p>We came to the shores of a haven at a river mouth, and there we +saw the town clustering round a large hall that rose in the midst +of the lesser houses, which were mostly low roofed and clay walled, +like that of Raud, though some were better, and built of logs set +upon stone foundations. The hall stood on higher ground than the +rest of the houses, so that from the gate of the heavy timber +stockade that went all round it one could see all the windings of +the haven channel and the sea that lay some half mile or more away +at its mouth. And all the town had a deep ditch and mound round it, +as if there was ever fear of foes from shoreward, for these came +down to the haven banks, and the only break they had was where a +wharf and the ship garth were. There were several ships housed in +their long sheds, as I could see.</p> +<p>All round the great hall and the buildings that belonged to it +was a stockade of pointed logs, so that it stood in a wide +courtyard on all four sides, and the great gate of the stockade was +opposite the timber porch of the hall itself. There were other +doors in the side of the hall, but they were high up, and reached +by ladders; and there seemed to be only one more gate in the +stockade, leading landward, and both were such as might not easily +be broken down, when once they were closed and barred with the +square logs that stood beside the entrances ready. And all the +windows of the hall were very high up and narrow, and the roof was +timbered, not thatched.</p> +<p>This was the strongest house that I had ever seen, and I said to +Raud as I looked at it:</p> +<p>"This place is built to stand some fierce fighting. What need +have you of such strength?"</p> +<p>He laughed, and answered:</p> +<p>"Why, much need indeed! For when the ships are gone a-viking we +are weak in men, so needs must have strong walls to keep out all +comers from over seas. And we have an ill neighbour or two, who +would fain share in our booty. However, men know in Sweden, and +Finmark, and Norway also, that it is ill meddling with Jarl Ingvar +and his brothers."</p> +<p>We passed through the stockade gate, and went straight to the +porch; all the woodwork of which was carved and gaily painted, and +so were eaves and rafter ends and tie beams.</p> +<p>Two sturdy axemen stood at the doorway, and they spoke freely to +the brothers, asking questions of us and of our tale.</p> +<p>Then roared the voice of Jarl Ingvar from within, bidding the +men cease prating and bring us in, and so we entered.</p> +<p>A great fire burnt in the centre of the hall, and the smoke rose +up and found its way out under the eaves; and there were skins and +heads of wild beasts on the wall, amid which arms and armour hung +everywhere, bright in the firelight. Yet the hall, though it was +carved on wall, and rafter, and doorway, was not so bright as ours +at Reedham, nor so pleasant.</p> +<p>Ingvar and Hubba sat on one side of the fire, where the smoke +was driven away from them, and before them was set a long bench +where we should be placed. There Hubba bade us sit down, telling +the two men to go without and wait.</p> +<p>So we were left face to face with those two, and I saw that +Ingvar's face was dark with doubt, but that Hubba seemed less +troubled. Yet both looked long and sternly at us.</p> +<p>"Tell us this tale of yours," said Ingvar at last; "and lie +not."</p> +<p>Now it seemed to me that it were well to get the worst over at +once without beating about beforehand. And now that the jarls knew +that Lodbrok was dead, the hardest was to tell them how he died, +and why I was here thus.</p> +<p>"Well loved I Lodbrok the Jarl, and well do I love Halfden his +son," I said. "Have patience with me while I tell all from the +first."</p> +<p>"Go on," said Ingvar, knitting his brows.</p> +<p>"Safely came Jarl Lodbrok to the English shores," I went on; +"steering his boat through the storm as I think no other man might. +And my father and I, lying at anchor for tide in our coasting ship, +took him from the breakers. Some of his craft taught he me, else +had I not been here today. So he bided with us until I went to sea, +and there I met Halfden, and went on a raid with him, coming back +from the South Saxon shores to wait at our place for his coming to +take Lodbrok home. But he came not last winter, and so we waited +till this spring should bring him. For my ship was lost, and no +other came."</p> +<p>"What!" said Ingvar; "he died not of stress of storm, but lived +so long! Then he has been slain!" and he half started from his seat +in rage.</p> +<p>But Hubba, though his teeth were set, drew him back.</p> +<p>"Hear all," he said.</p> +<p>I went on without bidding, not seeming to note these things.</p> +<p>"The jarl and I hunted together, and the chance of the day +parted us, and he was slain; nor can I say by whom. But this man +and I, being found with his body, were accused of the deed. And +because there was no proof, our great earl, who loves even-handed +justice, would have us cast adrift, even as was Lodbrok; that the +guilty might suffer, and the innocent escape."</p> +<p>Then Ingvar rose up, white and shaking with wrath, and drew out +his sword. Whereon Beorn yelled and fell on the floor, grovelling +with uplifted hands and crying for mercy.</p> +<p>But the great jarl paid no heed to him, and hove up the sword +with both hands over my head, saying in a hoarse voice:</p> +<p>"Say that you lie--he is not dead--or you slew him!"</p> +<p>Now I think the long struggle with the sea, or my full trust in +the earl's words, or both, had taken away my fear of death, for I +spoke without moving, though the great blade seemed about to fall, +and the fierce Dane's eyes glared on mine.</p> +<p>"It were easy for me to have lied; I would that I did lie, for +then Lodbrok would be living, and I beside him, waiting for Halfden +my friend even yet."</p> +<p>"Odin!" shouted Ingvar; "you speak truth. Woe is me for my +father, and woe to the land that has given him a grave thus +foully."</p> +<p>With that he let his sword fall, and his passion having gone, he +sat down and put his face in his hands, and wept tears of grief and +rage. And I, as I watched him, was fain to weep also, for my +thoughts were akin to his.</p> +<p>Now Hubba had sat very still, watching all this, and he kept his +feelings better than did his fierce brother, though I might well +see that he was moved as deeply. But now he spurned Beorn with his +foot, bidding him get up and speak also. But Beorn only grovelled +the more, and Hubba spurned him again, turning to me.</p> +<p>"I believe you speak truth," he said quietly, "and you are a +brave man. There was no need for you to tell the accusation against +yourself; and many are the lies you might have told us about the +boat that would have been enough for us. We never thought to hear +that our father had outlived the storm."</p> +<p>"I speak truth, Jarl," I said, sadly enough, "and Halfden will +come to our haven, seeking us both, and will find neither--only +this ill news instead of all we had planned of pleasure."</p> +<p>Then Hubba asked me plainly of Beorn, saying:</p> +<p>"What of this cur?"</p> +<p>"No more than I have told you, Jarl," I said.</p> +<p>"How came he into the forest?" asked Hubba, for he saw that +there was more than he knew yet under Beorn's utter terror.</p> +<p>"Let me tell you that story from end to end," I answered.</p> +<p>And he nodded, so that I did so, from the time when I left the +jarl until Ulfkytel sentenced us, giving all the words of the +witnesses as nearly as I could. Then I said that I would leave them +to judge, for I could not.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar, who had sat biting his nails and listening without a +word, broke in, questioning me of Halfden's ship for long. At last +he said:</p> +<p>"This man tells truth, and I will not harm him. He shall bide +here till Halfden comes home, for he tells a plain story, and wears +those rings. And he has spoken the ill of himself and little of +this craven, who maybe knows more than he will say. I have a mind +to find out what he does know," and he looked savagely at Beorn, +who was sitting up and rocking himself to and fro, with his eyes +looking far away.</p> +<p>"Do what you will with him he will lie," said Hubba.</p> +<p>"I can make him speak truth," said Ingvar grimly.</p> +<p>"What shall be done with this Wulfric?" asked Hubba.</p> +<p>"Let him go with Raud until I have spoken with Beorn," answered +Ingvar, "then we shall be sure if he is friend or not."</p> +<p>Hubba nodded, and he and I rose up and went out to the porch, +where Raud and Rolf waited with the two guards. We passed them and +stood in the courtyard.</p> +<p>"I believe you, Wulfric," said Hubba, "for I know a true man +when I see him."</p> +<p>"I thank you, Jarl," I answered him, taking the hand that he +offered me.</p> +<p>I looked out over the sea, for the frank kindness moved me, and +I would not show it. There was a heavy bank of clouds working up, +and the wind came from the north, with a smell of snow in it. Then +I saw a great hawk flying inland, and wondered to see it come over +sea at this time of year. It flew so that it would pass over the +house, and as it came it wheeled a little and called; and then it +swept down and came straight towards me, so that I held out my hand +and it perched on my wrist.</p> +<p>And lo! it was Lodbrok's gerfalcon; and pleased she was to see +me once more, fluttering her wings and glancing at me while I +smoothed and spoke to her.</p> +<p>But Hubba cried out in wonder, and the men and Ingvar came out +to see what his call meant. Then they, too, were amazed, for they +knew the bird and her ways well.</p> +<p>I had spoken of the falcon once or twice, telling the jarls how +she had taken to me, and I think they had doubted it a little. Now +the bird had got free in some way, and finding neither of her +masters, had fled home, even as Lodbrok said she would.</p> +<p>"Now is your story proved to be true," said Hubba, smiling +gravely at me, but speaking for Ingvar's ear.</p> +<p>"Aye, over true," answered his brother; "serve this man well, +Raud and Rolf, for he has been a close friend of Jarl Lodbrok."</p> +<p>"Then should he be in Lodbrok's house as a guest," said Raud +stoutly, and free of speech as Danes will ever be.</p> +<p>"Maybe he shall be so soon," said Ingvar.</p> +<p>"I will bide with my first hosts," I said, not being willing to +speak much of this just now.</p> +<p>"That is well said," was Hubba's reply, and so we went to have +the falcon--who would not leave me--hooded and confined; and then I +went with the two men back to their hut, and there they vied with +each other in kindness to me until night fell, and I gladly went to +rest; for since that night within Caistor walls I had had no sleep +that was worth considering. So my sleep was a long sleep, and +nothing broke it until I woke of myself, and found only the great +dog Vig in the hut, and breakfast ready set out for me, while +outside the ground was white with snow.</p> +<p>I was glad to find that no watch was kept on me, for it seemed +as if Hubba's words were indeed true, and that the jarls believed +my story. And my dagger was left me also, hanging still on the wall +at my head where I had slept. Then I thought that the great dog was +maybe bidden to guard me, but he paid no heed when I went outside +the hut to try if it were so.</p> +<p>Ere an hour had passed Raud came back, and he had news for +me.</p> +<p>"Now, friend Wulfric, I am to part with my guest, and not in the +way that was yesterday's. The jarls bid me say that Wulfric of +Reedham, Lodbrok's preserver, is a welcome guest in their hall, and +they would see him there at once."</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," I answered, "Raud the forester was the first to +shelter me, and I do not forget."</p> +<p>Whereat Raud was pleased, and together we went to the great +house, and entered, unchallenged. Hubba came forward and held out +his strong hand to me frankly, smiling a little, but gravely, and I +took it.</p> +<p>"Beorn has told the truth," he said; "forgive me for doubt of +you at any time."</p> +<p>"Aye, let that be forgotten," said Ingvar, coming from beyond +the great fire, and I answered that I thought it not strange that +they had doubted me.</p> +<p>"Now, therefore," said Hubba, "you yourself shall question +Beorn, for there are things you want to know from him. And he will +answer you truly enough."</p> +<p>"After that you shall slay him, if you will," said Ingvar, in +his stern voice, "I wonder you did not do so in the boat. Better +for him if you had."</p> +<p>"I wonder not," said Hubba. "The man is fit for naught; I could +not lay hand on such a cur."</p> +<p>I had no answer to make after that, for the warrior spoke my own +thoughts, and I held my peace as they took me to the further side +of the hearth, past the fire, beyond which I had not yet been able +to see.</p> +<p>Then I knew how Beorn had been made to speak the truth. They had +tortured him, and there was no strength left in him at all, so that +I almost started back from the cruel marks that he bore. Yet I had +things to hear from him, now that he had no need to speak falsely, +and I went to his side. The two jarls stood and looked at him +unmoved.</p> +<p>"The justice of Ulfkytel is on you, Beorn," I said slowly; +"there is no need to hide aught. Tell me how you slew Lodbrok, and +why."</p> +<p>Then came a voice, so hollow that I should not have known it for +the lusty falconer's of past days:</p> +<p>"Aye; justice is on me, and I am glad. I will tell you, but +first say that you forgive me."</p> +<p>Then I could not but tell this poor creature that for all the +harm he had done me I would surely forgive him; but that the deed +of murder was not for me to forgive.</p> +<p>"Pray, therefore, that for it I may be forgiven hereafter," he +said, and that I promised him.</p> +<p>Then he spoke faintly, so that Hubba bade Raud give him strong +drink, and that brought his strength back a little.</p> +<p>"I took your arrows at Thetford, and I followed you to Reedham. +There I dogged you, day by day, in the woods--five days I went +through the woods as you hunted, and then you twain were far apart, +and my chance had come. Lodbrok reined up to listen, and I marked +where he would pass when he went back, hearing your horn. Then I +shot, and the arrow went true; but I drew sword, being mad, and +made more sure. That is all. Surely I thought I should escape, for +I told no man what I would do, and all men thought me far away, +with the king."</p> +<p>Then he stopped, and recovered his strength before he could go +on.</p> +<p>"I hated Lodbrok because he had taken my place beside the king, +and because his woodcraft was greater than mine, though I was first +in that in all our land. And I feared that he would take the land +the king offered him, for I longed for it."</p> +<p>Then Beorn closed his eyes, and I was turning away, for I need +ask no more; but again he spoke:</p> +<p>"Blind was yon dotard Ulfkytel not to see all this; would that +you had slain me in the woods at first--or that he had hanged me at +Caistor--or that I had been drowned. But justice is done, and my +life is ended."</p> +<p>Those were the last words that I heard Beorn, the falconer, +speak, for I left him, and Raud gave him to drink again.</p> +<p>"Have you no more to ask?" said Ingvar gloomily, and frowning on +Beorn, as he lay helpless beyond the hearth.</p> +<p>"Nothing, Jarl."</p> +<p>"What was the last word he said. I heard not."</p> +<p>"He said that justice was done," I answered.</p> +<p>"When I have done with him, it shall be so," growled Ingvar, and +his hand clutched his sword hilt, so that I thought to see him slay +the man on the spot.</p> +<p>"Has he told you all?" I asked of Hubba.</p> +<p>"All, and more than you have told of yourself," he answered; +"for he told us that it was your hand saved my father, and for that +we thank you. But one thing more he said at first, and that was +that Eadmund the King set him on to slay the jarl."</p> +<p>On that I cried out that the good king loved Lodbrok too well, +and in any case would suffer no such cowardly dealings.</p> +<p>"So ran his after words; but that was his first story, +nevertheless."</p> +<p>"Then he lied, for you have just now heard him say that his own +evil thoughts bade him do the deed."</p> +<p>"Aye--maybe he lied at first; but we shall see," said +Ingvar.</p> +<p>Now I understood not that saying, but if a man lies once, who +shall know where the lie's doings will stop? What came from this +lie I must tell, but now it seemed to have passed for naught.</p> +<p>"Now shall you slay the man in what way you will, as I have +said. There are weapons," and Ingvar pointed to the store on the +walls.</p> +<p>"I will not touch him," I said, "and I think that he dies."</p> +<p>"Then shall you see the vengeance of Ingvar on his father's +murderer," the jarl said savagely. "Call the men together into the +courtyard, Raud, and let them bring the man there."</p> +<p>"Let him die, Jarl," I said boldly; "he has suffered +already."</p> +<p>"I think that if you knew, Wulfric of Reedham, how near you have +been to this yourself, through his doings, you would not hold your +hand," answered Ingvar, scowling at Beorn again.</p> +<p>"Maybe, Jarl," I answered, "but though you may make a liar speak +truth thus, you cannot make an honest man say more than he has to +speak."</p> +<p>"One cannot well mistake an honest saying," said Ingvar. "And +that is well for you, friend."</p> +<p>And so he turned and watched his courtmen, as the Danes called +the housecarles, carry Beorn out. Then he went to the walls and +began to handle axe after axe, taking down one by one, setting some +on the great table, and putting others back, as if taking delight +in choosing one fittest for some purpose.</p> +<p>Even as we watched him--Hubba sitting on the table's edge, and I +standing by him--a leathern curtain that went across a door at the +upper end of the hall was pulled aside, and a lady came into the +place. Stately and tall, with wondrous black hair, was this maiden, +and I knew that this must be that Osritha of whom the jarl was wont +to speak to Eadgyth and my mother, and who wrought the raven banner +that hung above the high place where she stood now. She was like +Halfden and Hubba, though with Ingvar's hair, and if those three +were handsome men among a thousand, this sister of theirs was more +than worthy of them. She stood in the door, doubting, when she saw +me. Sad she looked, and she wore no gold on arm or neck, doubtless +because of the certainty of the great jarl's death; and when she +saw that Hubba beckoned to her, she came towards us, and Ingvar set +down the great axe whose edge he was feeling.</p> +<p>"Go back to your bower, sister," he said; "we have work on +hand."</p> +<p>And he spoke sternly, but not harshly, to her. She shrank away a +little, as if frightened at the jarl's dark face and stern words, +but Hubba called her by name.</p> +<p>"Stay, Osritha; here is that friend of our father's from over +seas, of whom you have heard."</p> +<p>Then she looked pityingly at me, as I thought, saying very +kindly:</p> +<p>"You are welcome. Yet I fear you have suffered for your +friendship to my father."</p> +<p>"I have suffered for not being near to help him, lady," I +said.</p> +<p>"There is a thing that you know not yet," said Hubba. "This +Wulfric was the man who took Father from the breakers."</p> +<p>Then the maiden smiled at me, though her eyes were full of +tears, and she asked me:</p> +<p>"How will they bury him in your land? In honour?"</p> +<p>"I have a brother-in-law who will see to that," I said. "And, +moreover, Eadmund the King, and Elfric, my father, will do him all +honour."</p> +<p>"I will see to that," growled Ingvar, turning sharply from where +he sought another weapon on the wall.</p> +<p>Not knowing all he meant, this pleased me, for I thought that we +should sail together to Reedham for this, before very long. But +Osritha, knowing his ways, looked long at him, till he turned away +again, and would not meet her eyes.</p> +<p>"Now go back to your place, my sister," he said. "It is not well +for you to bide here just now."</p> +<p>"Why not? Let our friend tell me of Father also," she said +wilfully.</p> +<p>"Because I am going to do justice on Lodbrok's slayer," said +Ingvar, in a great voice, swinging an axe again.</p> +<p>Then the maiden turned pale, and wrung her hands, looking at +Ingvar, who would not meet her eyes; and then she went and laid her +hands on his mighty arm, crying:</p> +<p>"Not that, my brother; not that!"</p> +<p>"Why not?" he asked; but he did not shake off her little +hands.</p> +<p>"Because Father would not have men so treated, however ill they +had done."</p> +<p>"Aye, brother; the girl is right," said Hubba. "Let him die; for +you gave him to Wulfric, and that is his word."</p> +<p>"Well then," said Ingvar, setting back the axe at last, "I will +not carve him into the eagle I meant to make of him. But slay him I +must and will, if the life is yet in him."</p> +<p>"Let Odin have him," said Hubba; and I knew that he meant that +the man should be hanged, for so, as Halfden's vikings told me, +should he be Odin's thrall, unhonoured.</p> +<p>Then the maiden fled from the hall, glad to have gained even +that for the man, instead of the terrible death that the Danes keep +for traitors and cowards.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar put back the axes he had kept, saying that the girl +ever stood in his way when he would punish as a man deserved. After +that he stood for a while as if in thought, and broke out at +length:</p> +<p>"We will see if this man can sing a death song as did Ragnar our +forefather."</p> +<p>And with that he waited no more, but strode out into the +courtyard, we following. And I feared what I should see; until I +looked on Beorn, and though he was yet alive, I saw that he was +past feeling aught.</p> +<p>They bore him out of the village to a place just inside the +trenched enclosure, and there were old stone walls, such as were +none elsewhere in the place, but as it might have been part of +Burgh or Brancaster walls that the Romans made on our shores, so +ancient that they were crumbling to decay. There they set him down, +and raised a great flat stone, close to the greatest wall, which +covered the mouth of a deep pit.</p> +<p>"Look therein," said Ingvar to me.</p> +<p>I looked, and saw that the pit was stone walled and deep, and +that out of it was no way but this hole above. The walls and floor +were damp and slimy; and when I looked closer, the dim light showed +me bones in one corner, and also that over the floor crawled +reptiles, countless.</p> +<p>"An adder is a small thing to sting a man," said Ingvar in his +grim voice. "Nor will it always hurt him much. Yet if a man is so +close among many that he must needs tread on one, and it bites him, +and in fleeing that he must set foot on another, and again another, +and then more--how will that end?"</p> +<p>I shuddered and turned away.</p> +<p>"In such a place did Ella of Northumbria put my forebear, Ragnar +Lodbrok; and there he sang the song <sup>{<a name="sdendnote13anc" +href="#sdendnote13sym" id="sdendnote13anc">xiii</a>}</sup> we hold +most wondrous of all. There he was set because he was feared, and +Northumbria knows what I thought of that matter. But Beorn goes +here for reasons which you know. And East Anglia shall know what my +thoughts are of those reasons."</p> +<p>Then two men seized Beorn and cast him into that foul pit, +stripped of all things, and the stone fell.</p> +<p>But Beorn moved not nor cried out, and I think that even as +Ulfkytel had boded, stripped of life itself was he before the +bottom of the pit was reached.</p> +<p>So the justice of Ulfkytel the Earl came to pass. But the lies +spoken by Beorn were not yet paid for.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX. +JARL HALFDEN'S HOMECOMING.</a></h2> +<p>From the time when Beorn was made to speak the truth, I was a +welcome guest in the hall that had been Lodbrok's, to Hubba at +least, and we were good friends. As for Ingvar, he was friendly +enough also, and would listen when I spoke with his more frank and +open brother of my days with Halfden and his father. But he took +little pleasure in my company, going silent and moody about the +place, for the snow that began on the day after I landed was the +first of a great storm, fiercer and colder than any we knew in +England, and beyond the courtyard of the great house men could +scarcely stir for a time.</p> +<p>This storm I had but just escaped, and it seemed to me, and +still seems, that the terror and pain thereof was held back while I +was on the sea, for those nights and days had had no winter sting +in them.</p> +<p>Hubba and I would wrestle and practise arms in the hall or +courtyard during that time, and he was even beyond his father, my +teacher, in the matter of weapon play; so that it is no wonder that +now, as all men know, he is held the most famous warrior of his +time.</p> +<p>These sports Ingvar watched, and took part in now and then when +his mood was lighter, but it was seldom. Yet he was skilful, though +not as his brother.</p> +<p>Then at night was the fire of pine logs high heaped, and we +feasted while the scalds, as they call their gleemen, sang the +deeds of the heroes of old. And some of those of whom they sang +were men of the Angles of the old country; and one was my own +forefather, and for that I gave the scald my gold bracelet, and +thereafter he sang lustily in my praise as Lodbrok's rescuer.</p> +<p>Very pleasant it was in Ingvar's hall while the wind howled over +the roof, and the roar of the sea was always in our ears. And these +Danes drank less than our people, if they ate more largely. But +Ingvar would sit and take pleasure in none of the sport, being ever +silent and thoughtful.</p> +<p>But to me, best of all were the times when I might see and speak +with Osritha, and soon the days seemed heavy to me if by chance I +had no word with her. And she was always glad to speak of her +father and Halfden; for she was the youngest of all Lodbrok's +children, and Halfden, her brother, was but a year older than +herself, so that she loved him best of all, and longed to see him +home again.</p> +<p>So longed I, grieving for the news he must hear when he came to +Reedham, but yet thinking that he would be glad to find me at least +living and waiting for him.</p> +<p>Now, as the snow grew deeper and the cold strengthened, the +wolves began to come at night into the village, and at last grew +very daring. So one night a man ran in to say that a pack was round +a cottage where a child would not cease crying, and must be driven +off, or they would surely tear the clay walls down.</p> +<p>Then Hubba and I would go; but Ingvar laughed at us, saying that +a few firebrands would settle the matter by fraying the beasts +away. However, the man was urgent, and we went out with Raud and +his brother, and some twenty men, armed with spears and axes.</p> +<p>The night was very dark, and the snow whirled every way, and the +end of it was that Raud and I and two more men, with the dog Vig, +lost the rest, and before we found them we had the pack on us, and +we must fight for our lives. And that fight was a hard fight, for +there must have been a score of gaunt wolves, half starved and +ravenous.</p> +<p>And I think we should have fared badly, for at last I was +standing over Raud, who was down, dragged to the earth by two +wolves, of which the dog slew one and I the other, while the other +two men were back to back with me, and the wolves bayed all round +us. But Hubba and his party heard our shouts in time and came up, +and so ended the matter.</p> +<p>Now Raud must have it that I had saved his life, though I +thought the good dog had a share in it, and both he and the dog +were a little hurt. However, my shoulder was badly torn by a wolf +that leapt at me while my spear was cumbered with another, and I +for my part never wished it had not been so.</p> +<p>For Osritha, who was very skilful in leech craft, tended my +hurt; and I saw much of her, for the hurts were a long time before +they healed, as wolf bites are apt to be, and we grew very +friendly. So that, day by day, I began to long to see the maiden +who cared for my wound so gently, before the time came.</p> +<p>Now Raud must needs make me a spear from a tough ashen sapling +that he had treasured for a long time, because that which I had +used in the wolf hunt was sprung by the weight of one of the +beasts, and while his hurts kept him away at his own house he +wrought it, and at last brought it up to the hall to give to +me.</p> +<p>When I looked at it--and it was a very good one, and had carved +work where the hand grips the shaft, and a carved end--I saw that +the head was one of Jarl Ingvar's best spearheads, and asked Raud +where he got it.</p> +<p>"Why," he said, "a good ash shaft deserves a good head, and so I +asked the jarl for one. And when he knew for whom it was, he gave +me this, saying it was the best he had."</p> +<p>Now I was pleased with this gift, both because I liked the man +Raud, who was both brave and simple minded, and because it showed +that the surly jarl had some liking for me. Yet I would that he +showed this openly, and telling Osritha of the gift, I dared say +so.</p> +<p>Then she sighed and rose up, saying that she would show me +another spear on the further wall, so taking me out of hearing of +her maidens, who sat by the fire busied over their spinning and the +like.</p> +<p>There she spoke to me of Jarl Ingvar.</p> +<p>"Moody and silent beyond his wont has he been since we have +heard all about our father's death, and I fear that he plans some +terrible revenge for it, even as he took revenge on the +Northumbrian coasts for the long-ago slaying of Ragnar."</p> +<p>Then I remembered the story of the burnt town, Streoneshalch, +and knew what Ingvar's revenge was like. But as yet I could not +think that he would avenge Beorn's deed further than I had seen +already.</p> +<p>"But he has no enmity with you, our friend," she went on; +"though he speaks little to you, he listens as you talk to us. But +there has grown up in his heart a hatred of all men in your land, +save of yourself alone. And once he said that he would that you +were a Dane, and his comrade as you had been Halfden's."</p> +<p>Then I told Osritha of how Halfden had let me go from him rather +than have me fight against my own land. I had said nothing of this +to the jarls, for there was no reason. And this was the first time +that I had had private speech with Osritha.</p> +<p>"That is Halfden's way," she said, "he is ever generous."</p> +<p>"I would that he were back," I answered, and so we ceased +speaking.</p> +<p>Yet after this, many were the chances I found of the like talk +alone with Osritha before the weather broke, and we could once more +get into the woods, hunting, and the men began to work in the ship +garths on a great ship that was being built.</p> +<p>Now we had good hunting in the forests, and on the borders of +the great mosses of Ingvar's lands. But there were many more folk +in this land than in ours, and I thought that they were ill off in +many ways. In those days of hunting, Ingvar, seeing me ride with +the carven spear that was partly his gift, and with Lodbrok's hawk +on my wrist, would speak more often with me, though now and again +some chance word of mine spoken in the way of my own folk would +seem to turn him gloomy and sullen, so that he would spur his horse +and leave me. But Hubba was ever the same, and I liked him well, +though I could not have made a friend of him as of Halfden.</p> +<p>In March messengers began to come and go, and though I asked +nothing and was told nothing, I knew well that Ingvar was gathering +a mighty host to him that he might sail in the May time across the +seas for plunder--or for revenge. The hammers went all day long in +the ship garths, where the air was full of the wholesome scent of +tar; and in their houses the women spun busily, making rope and +weaving canvas that should carry the jarl's men "over the swan's +bath;" while in the hall the courtmen sat after dark and feathered +arrows and twined bowstrings, and mended mail. And now and then +some chief would ride into the town, feasting that night, and +riding away in the morning after long talk with the jarls. And +some, Bagsac and Guthrum, Sidrac and his son, and a tall man named +Osbern, came very often as the days lengthened.</p> +<p>I would ask nothing of this matter, even of Osritha, having my +own thoughts thereon, and not being willing to press her on things +she might have been bidden to keep from me. She would ask me of my +mother and Eadgyth, as they would ask the jarl of her, and I told +her all I could, though that was not much, for a man hardly notes +things as a woman will. Then she would laugh at me; until one day I +said that I would she could come over to Reedham and see for +herself.</p> +<p>At that I thought that I had offended her, for her face grew +red, and she left me. Nor could I find a chance of speaking to her +again for many days, which was strange to me, and grieved me +sorely.</p> +<p>Now the southwest wind shifted at last to the west and north, +and that shift brought home him whom I most wished to see, my +comrade, Halfden. And it chanced that I was the first to see his +sail from the higher land along the coast, south of the haven, +where I was riding with my falcon and the great dog Vig, which Raud +and his brother would have me take for my own after the wolf +hunt.</p> +<p>Gladly I rode hack with my news to find Ingvar in the ship +garth, and there I told him who came.</p> +<p>"A ship, maybe. How know you she is Halfden's?" he said +carelessly.</p> +<p>"Why, how does any sailor know his own ship?" I asked in +surprise.</p> +<p>Then he turned at once, and smiled at me fairly for the first +time.</p> +<p>"I had forgotten," he said. "Come, let us look at her +again."</p> +<p>And I was not mistaken, though the jarl was not so sure as I for +half an hour or more. When he was certain, he said:</p> +<p>"Come, let us make what welcome for Halfden that we may."</p> +<p>And we went back to the hall, and at once was the great horn +blown to assemble the men; and the news went round quickly, so that +everywhere men and women alike put aside their work, and hurried +down to the wharf side. And in Ingvar's house the thralls wrought +to prepare a great feast in honour of Jarl Halfden's +homecoming.</p> +<p>Soon I stood with the jarls and Osritha at the landing place, +and behind us were the courtmen in their best array. And as we came +to the place where we would wait, Halfden's ship came past the bar +into the haven's mouth.</p> +<p>All men's faces were bright with the thought of welcome, but +heavy were my thoughts, and with reason. For Halfden's ship came +from the sea on no course that should have borne him from Reedham, +and I feared that it was I who must tell him all. Yet he might have +been drawn from his course by some passing vessel.</p> +<p>The long ship flew up the channel, and now we could see that all +her rail was hung with the red and yellow shields that they use for +show as well as to make the gunwale higher against the arrows, and +to hinder boarders in a fight. And she was gaily decked with flags, +and shone with new paint and gilding in all sea bravery. Not idle +had her crew been in the place where they had wintered, and one +might know that they had had a good voyage, which to a Dane means +plunder enough for all. But surely if Halfden had been to Reedham, +the long pennon had been half masted.</p> +<p>It were long to tell how the people cheered, and how they were +answered from the ship, and how I spied Halfden on the fore deck, +and Thormod at the helm, as ever. And when Osritha saw Halfden's +gay arms and cloak and all the bright trim of the ship and men, she +said to me, speaking low and quickly:</p> +<p>"They have not been to Reedham, or it would not have been +thus."</p> +<p>And it was true, for there would have been no sign of joy among +those who had heard the news that waited them there.</p> +<p>I knew not how to bear this meeting, but I was not alone in my +trouble, for nearer me crept Osritha, saying to me alone, while the +people cheered and shouted:</p> +<p>"How shall we tell Halfden?"</p> +<p>The two jarls were busy at the mooring place, and I could only +answer her that I could look to her alone for help. Now at that I +knew what had sprung up in my heart for Osritha, and that not in +this only should I look for help from her and find it, but if it +might be, all my life through. For now in my trouble she looked at +me with a new look, answering:</p> +<p>"I will help you, whatever betide."</p> +<p>I might say no more then, nor were words needed, for I knew all +that she meant. And so my heart was lightened, for now I held that +I was repaid for all that had gone before, and save for that which +had brought me here, gladly would I take my perilous voyage over +again to find this land and the treasure it now held for me.</p> +<p>At last the ship's keel grated on the sand, and the men sprang +from shore waist deep in water, to take her the mighty cables that +should haul her into her berth; and then the long gangplank was run +out, and Halfden came striding along it, looking bright and +handsome--and halfway over, he stopped where none could throng him, +and lifting his hand for silence cried for all to hear.</p> +<p>"Hearken all to good news! Lodbrok our Jarl lives!"</p> +<p>Then, alas! instead of the great cheer that should have broken +from the lips of all that throng, was at first a silence, and then +a groan--low and pitiful as of a mourning people who wail for the +dead and the sorrowful living--and at that sound Halfden paled, and +stayed no more, hurrying ashore and to where his brothers +stood.</p> +<p>"What is this?" he said, and his voice was low, and yet clear in +the silence that had fallen, for all his men behind him had stopped +as if turned to stone where they stood.</p> +<p>Then from my side sprang Osritha before any could answer, +meeting him first of all, and she threw her arms round his neck, +saying:</p> +<p>"Dead is Lodbrok our father, and nigh to death for his sake has +been Wulfric, your friend. Yet he at least is well, and here to +speak with you and tell you all."</p> +<p>Then for the great and terrible sorrow that came at the end of +the joyous homeward sailing, down on the hard sand Halfden the Jarl +threw himself, and there lay weeping as these wild Danes can weep, +for their sorrow is as terrible as their rage, and they will put no +bounds to the way of grief of which there is no need for shame. Nor +have they the hope that bids us sorrow not as they.</p> +<p>And while he lay there, all men held their peace, looking in one +another's faces, and only the jarls and Osritha and myself stood +near him.</p> +<p>Very suddenly he raised himself up, and was once more calm; then +he kissed the maiden, and grasped his brothers' hands, and then +held out both hands to me, holding mine and looking in my face.</p> +<p>"Other was the meeting I had planned for you and me, Wulfric, my +brother-in-arms. Yet you are most welcome, for you at least are +here to tell me of the days that are past."</p> +<p>"It is an ill telling," said Ingvar.</p> +<p>"That must needs be, seeing what is to be told," Hubba said +quickly.</p> +<p>But those wise words of Osritha's had made things easier for me, +for now Halfden knew that into the story of the jarl's death, I and +my doings must come, so Ingvar's words meant little to him.</p> +<p>"You went not to Reedham?" I said, for now the men were at work +again, and all was noise and bustle round us.</p> +<p>"I have come here first by Orkneys from Waterford, where we +wintered," he answered. "And I have been over sure that no mishap +might be in a long six months."</p> +<p>"What of the voyage?--let us speak of this hereafter," said +Hubba.</p> +<p>And Halfden, wearily, as one who had lost all interest in his +own doings, told him that it had been good, and that Thormod would +give him the full tale of plunder.</p> +<p>Then came a chief from the ship whose face I knew, though he was +not of our crew. It was that Rorik whose ship the Bosham bell had +sunk, and who had been saved by Halfden's boats. He knew me, after +scanning me idly for a moment, and greeted me, asking why I was not +at Reedham to make that feast of which Halfden was ever speaking, +and so passed on.</p> +<p>So we went up to the great hall in silence, sorely cast down; +and that was Halfden's homecoming.</p> +<p>Little joy was there on the high place at the feast that night, +though at the lower tables the men of our crew (for so I must ever +think of those whose leader I had been for a little while, with +Halfden) held high revelling with their comrades. Many were the +tales they told, and when a tale of fight and victory was done, the +scald would sing it in verse that should be kept and sung by the +winter fire till new deeds brought new songs to take its place.</p> +<p>Presently Halfden rose up, after the welcome cup had gone round +and feasting was done, and the ale and mead began to flow, and he +beckoned me to come with him. Hubba would have come also, but +Ingvar held him back.</p> +<p>"Let Wulfric have his say first," he growled; and I thanked him +in my mind for his thought.</p> +<p>So we went to the inner chamber, where Osritha would sit with +her maidens, and Halfden said:</p> +<p>"This matter is filling all my thoughts so that I am but a +gloomy comrade at the board. Tell me all, and then what is done is +done. One may not fight against the Norn maidens <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote14anc" href="#sdendnote14sym" id= +"sdendnote14anc">xiv</a>}</sup>."</p> +<p>There I told him all my story, and he remembered how I had told +him, laughing, of Beorn's jealousy at first. And when my tale was +nearly done Osritha crept from her bower and came and sat beside +Halfden, pushing her hand into his, and resting her head on his +shoulder.</p> +<p>Then I ended quickly, saying that Ingvar had done justice on +Beorn. And at that remembrance the maiden shivered, and Halfden's +face showed that he knew what the man's fate was like to have been +at the great jarl's hands.</p> +<p>"So, brother," he said, when I left off speaking, "had I gone to +Reedham there would have been burnt houses in East Anglia."</p> +<p>"In Reedham?" said I.</p> +<p>"Wherever this Beorn had a house; and at Caistor where that old +fool Ulfkytel lives, and maybe at one or two other places on the +way thither. And I think your father and Egfrid your brother would +have helped me, or I them."</p> +<p>So he doubted me not at all, any more than I should have doubted +his tale, were he in my place and I in his.</p> +<p>Then I said that I myself had no grudge against Earl Ulfkytel, +for he had sent me here.</p> +<p>"Why then, no more have I," answered Halfden; "for he is a +wiseacre and an honest one, and maybe meant kindly. Ingvar would +have slain both guilty and innocent, and told them to take their +wrangle elsewhere, to Hela or Asgard as the way might lead +them."</p> +<p>Now as he said that, I, who looked ever on the face of her whom +I loved, saw that a new fear had come into Osritha's heart, and +that she feared somewhat for me. Nor could I tell what it was. But +Halfden and I went on talking, and at last she could not forbear a +little sob, and at that Halfden asked what ailed her.</p> +<p>"May I speak to you, my brother, very plainly, of one thing that +I dread?" she asked, drawing closer to him.</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," he answered in surprise.</p> +<p>"Remember you the words that Ingvar said to the priest of the +White Christ who came from Ansgar at Hedeby <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote15anc" href="#sdendnote15sym" id= +"sdendnote15anc">xv</a>}</sup>, while our father was away in the +ships?"</p> +<p>"Why, they were like words. He bade him go and settle the matter +with Odin whom he would not reverence, and so slew him."</p> +<p>"Aye, brother. And he said that so he would do to any man who +would not honour the gods."</p> +<p>"Why do you remember that, Osritha?"</p> +<p>"Because--because there will be the great sacrifice tomorrow, +and Wulfric, your friend, is not of our faith."</p> +<p>Then Halfden was silent, looking across at me, and all at once I +knew that here was a danger greater than any I had yet been +through. Fire I had passed through, and water, and now it was like +to be trial by steel. And the first had tried my courage, and the +next my endurance, as I thought; but this would try both, and my +faith as well.</p> +<p>"That is naught," said Halfden, lightly. "It is but the signing +of Thor's hammer, and I have seen Wulfric do that many a time, only +not quite in our way, thus;" and he signed our holy sign all +unknowing, or caring not. "And to eat of the horse that is +sacrificed--why, you and I, Wulfric, did eat horse on the Frankish +shores; and you thought it good, being nigh starved--you +remember?"</p> +<p>I remembered, but that was different; for that we did because +the shores were so well watched that we ran short of food, and had +to take what we could under cover of night at one time. But this of +which Osritha spoke was that which Holy Writ will by no means +suffer us to do--to eat of a sacrifice to idols knowingly, for that +would be to take part therein. Nor might I pretend that the holy +sign was as the signing of Thor's Hammer.</p> +<p>"Halfden," I said, having full trust in him, "I may not do this. +I may not honour the old gods, for so should I dishonour the White +Christ whom I serve."</p> +<p>"This is more than I can trouble about in my mind," said +Halfden; "but if it troubles you, I will help you somehow, brother +Wulfric. But you must needs come to the sacrifice."</p> +<p>"Cannot I go hunting?"</p> +<p>"Why, no; all men must be present. And to be away would but make +things worse, for there would be question."</p> +<p>Then I strengthened myself, and said that I must even go through +with the matter, and so would have no more talk about it. But +Osritha kept on looking sadly at me, and I knew that she was in +fear for me.</p> +<p>Now presently we began to talk of my home and how they would +mourn me as surely lost. And I said that this mourning would be +likely to hinder my sister's wedding for a while. And then, to make +a little more cheerful thought, I told Halfden what his father had +said about his wishing that he had been earlier with us.</p> +<p>"Why, so do I," said my comrade, laughing a little; "for many +reasons," he added more sadly, thinking how that all things would +have been different had he sailed back at once.</p> +<p>Then he must needs go back to the question of the sacrifice.</p> +<p>"Now I would that you would turn good Dane and Thor's man, and +bide here with us; and then maybe--"</p> +<p>But Osritha rose up quickly and said that she must begone, and +so bade us goodnight and went her way into the upper story of that +end of the great hall where her own place was. Whereat Halfden +laughed quietly, looking at me, and when she was quite gone, and +the heavy deerskins fell over the doorway, said, still smiling:</p> +<p>"How is this? It is in my mind that my father's wish might +easily come to pass in another way not very unlike."</p> +<p>That was plain speaking, nor would I hesitate to meet the kindly +look and smile, but said that indeed I had come to long that it +might be so. But I said that the jarl, his father, had himself +shown me that no man should leave his old faith but for better +reasons than those of gain, however longed for. For that is what he +had answered Eadmund the king when the land was offered him, and he +was asked to become a Christian.</p> +<p>"Yet if such a thing might be," said Halfden, "gladly would I +hail you as brother in very truth."</p> +<p>So we sat without speaking for a while, and then Halfden said +that were I to stand among the crowd of men on the morrow there +would surely be no notice taken of me.</p> +<p>Yet as I lay on my wolf skins at the head of the great hall, and +prayed silently--as was my wont among these heathen--I asked for +that same help that had been given to men of old time who were in +the same sore strait as I must very likely be in tomorrow.</p> +<p>Then came to me the thought: "What matters if outwardly I +reverence Thor and Odin while I inwardly deny them?" and that +excuse had nigh got the better of me. But I minded what our king +had told me many a time: how that in the first christening of our +people it had ever been held to be a denying of our faith to taste +the heathen sacrifices, or to bow the head in honour, even but +outward, of the idols, so that many had died rather than do so. And +he had praised those who thus gave up their life.</p> +<p>Then, too, I remembered the words of the Prior of Bosham +concerning martyrs. And we had been led to speak of them by this +very question as to sacrifice to the Danish gods. So I made up my +mind that if I might escape notice, I would do so--and if not, then +would I bear the worst.</p> +<p>So I fell asleep at last. And what it may have been I know +not--unless the wind as it eddied through the high windows clashed +some weapon against shield on the walls with a clear ringing +sound--but I woke with the voice of Bosham bell in my ears--and +Rorik and Halfden each in his place started also, and Rorik +muttered a curse before he lay down again, for he sat up, looking +wildly.</p> +<p>But greatly cheered with that token was I, for I knew that help +was not far from me, and after that I had no more fear, but slept +peacefully, though I thought it was like to be my last night on +earth.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X. WHAT +BEFELL AT THE GREAT SACRIFICE.</a></h2> +<p>Very early in the gray morning Halfden woke me, and he was fully +armed, while at the lower end of the hall the courtmen were rising +and arming themselves also, for Vikings must greet Odin as warriors +ready to do battle for him when Ragnaroek <sup>{<a name= +"sdendnote16anc" href="#sdendnote16sym" id= +"sdendnote16anc">xvi</a>}</sup> and the last great fight shall +come.</p> +<p>"Rise and arm yourself," he said; "here are the arms in which +you fought well in your first fight, and axe and sword beside. Now +you shall stand with our crew, and so none of them will heed you, +for they love you, and know your ways are not as ours. So will all +be well."</p> +<p>Then I thanked him, for I surely thought it would be so; and I +armed myself, and that man who had been my own shield man when I +led the midship gang helped me. One thing only I wished, and that +was that I had the axe which Lodbrok made for me, for then, I told +the man, I should feel as a Viking again, and that pleased him.</p> +<p>"However," he said, "I think I have found an axe that is as near +like your own as may be."</p> +<p>And he had done so, having had that kindly thought for me. Then +we went out, for the horns were blowing outside the town in the ash +grove where the Ve, as they call the temple of Odin and Thor and +the other gods, was. And overhead, high and unseen in the air, +croaked the ravens, Odin's birds, scared from their resting places +by the tramp of men, yet knowing that their share in the feast was +to come.</p> +<p>I shivered, but the sound of the war horns, and the weight and +clank of the well-known arms, stirred my blood at last, and when we +fell in for our short march, Halfden and Thormod, Rorik and myself +leading our crew, I was ready for all that might come, if need for +a brave heart should be.</p> +<p>Silently we filed through the bare trunks of the ashes, the +trees of Thor, where many a twisted branch and dead trunk showed +that the lightning had been at work, until we came to the place of +the Ve in its clearing.</p> +<p>There stood the sanctuary, a little hut--hardly more--built of +ash-tree logs set endwise on a stone footing, and roofed with logs +of ash, and closed with heavy doors made of iron-bolted ash timber +also. This temple stood under the mightiest ash tree of all, and +there was a clear circle of grass, tree bordered, for a hundred +yards all round it, and all that circle was lined with men, armed +and silent.</p> +<p>Before the temple was a fire-reddened stone, the altar. And on +it were graven runes, and symbols so strange that neither I nor any +man could read them, so old were they, for some men said that stone +and runes alike were older than the worship of Odin himself, having +been an altar to gods that were before him. And a pile of wood was +ready on the altar.</p> +<p>Beside it stood Ingvar, clad in golden shining scale armour, and +with a gilded horned helm and scarlet cloak that hung from +shoulders to heel; for as his forefathers had been before him, +beyond the time when the Danes and Angles came from their far +eastern home <sup>{<a name="sdendnote17anc" href="#sdendnote17sym" +id="sdendnote17anc">xvii</a>}</sup>, led by Odin himself, he was +the "godar", the priest of the great gods of Asgard, and his it was +to offer the sacrifice now that Lodbrok his father was dead.</p> +<p>Now, as I stood there I thought how my father had told me that +our own family had been the godars of our race in the old days, so +that he and I in turn should have taken our place at such an +offering as Ingvar was about to make. And straightway I seemed to +be back in the long dead past, when on these same shores my +forbears had worshipped thus before seeking the new lands that they +won beyond the seas. And that was a strange thought, yet now I +should know from what our faith had brought us.</p> +<p>In a little while all Ingvar's following had come, and there +were many chiefs whose faces I had seen of late as they came to +plan the great raid that was to be when the season came. And the +men with them were very many, far more than we could have gathered +to a levy on so short notice; and all were well armed, and stood in +good order as trained and hardened warriors. No longer could I +wonder at all I had heard of the numbers of the Danish hosts who +came to our shores, and were even now in Northumbria, +unchecked.</p> +<p>There was silence in all the great ring of men; and only the +rustle of the wind in the thick-standing ash trees around us--that +seemed to hem us in like a gray wall round the clearing--and the +quick croak and flap of broad wings as the ravens wheeled ever +nearer overhead, broke the stillness.</p> +<p>We of the crew for whose good voyage and safe return the +offering was made stood foremost, facing the altar stone and the +sanctuary door, and I, with Halfden and Thormod before me, and men +of the crew to right and left, stood in the centre of our line, so +that I could see all that went on.</p> +<p>Then, seeing that all was ready, Ingvar swung back the heavy +door of the shrine, and I saw before me a great image of Thor the +mighty, glaring with sightless eyes across the space at me. It was +carved in wood, and the god stood holding in one hand Mioelner, his +great hammer, and in the other the head of the Midgaard serpent, +whose tailed curled round his legs, as though it were vainly trying +to struggle free.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar turned and lighted the altar fire, and the smoke +rose straight up and hung in the heavy morning air in a cloud over +the Ve; and that seemed to be of good omen, for the men shouted +joyfully once, and were again silent.</p> +<p>From behind the sanctuary two armed men led the horse for the +sacrifice that should be feasted on thereafter; and it was a +splendid colt, black and faultless, so that to me it seemed a +grievous thing that its life should thus be spilt for naught. Yet I +was the only one there who deemed it wasted.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar chanted words to which I would not listen, lest my +heart should seem to echo them, so taking part in the heathen +prayer. Over the horse he signed Thor's hammer, and slew it with +Thor's weapon, and the two men flayed and divided it skilfully, +laying certain portions before the jarl, the godar.</p> +<p>He sprinkled the blood upon doorway and statue, and then again +chanting, laid those portions upon the altar fire, and the black +smoke rose up from them, while all the host watched for what omens +might follow.</p> +<p>The smoke rose, wavered, and went up, and then some breath of +wind took it and drifted it gently into the open temple, winding it +round the head of Thor's image and filling all the little building. +And at that the men shouted again.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar turned slowly towards the shrine, and drawing his +sword, lifted up the broad shining blade as if in salute, crying as +he turned the point north and east and south and west:</p> +<p>"Skoal, ye mighty Ones!"</p> +<p>And at once, as one man all the host, save myself only, lifted +their weapons in salute, crying in a voice that rolled back from +the trees like an answering war shout:</p> +<p>"Skoal to the mighty Ones!"</p> +<p>But as for me, I stirred not, save that as by nature, and +because I fixed my thoughts on the One Sacrifice of our own faith, +I signed myself with the sign of the cross, only knowing this, that +Thor and Odin I would not worship.</p> +<p>Suddenly, even as the echo of the shout died away, and while the +weapons were yet upraised, the thick cloud of smoke rolled back and +down, wrapping round Ingvar the godar as he stood between shrine +and altar, and across the reek glared the sightless eyes of the +idol again, cold and heedless.</p> +<p>Now of all omens that was the worst, for it must needs betoken +that the sacrifice was not pleasing; and at that a low groan as of +fear went round the host. Then back started Ingvar, and I saw his +face through the smoke, looking white as ashes. For a long time, as +it seemed to me, there was silence, until the smoke rose up +straight again and was lost in the treetops. Even the ravens, +scared maybe by the great shout, were gone, and all was very +still.</p> +<p>At last Ingvar turned slowly to us and faced our crew.</p> +<p>"The sacrifice is yours," he said, "and if it is not accepted +the fault is yours also. We are clear of blame who have bided at +home."</p> +<p>Then Halfden answered for his men and himself:</p> +<p>"I know not what blame is to us."</p> +<p>But from close behind me Rorik lifted his voice:</p> +<p>"No blame to the crew--but here is one, a stranger, who does no +honour to the gods, neither lifting sword or hailing them as is +right, even before Thor's image."</p> +<p>Then I knew that the worst was come, and prepared to meet it. +But Halfden spoke.</p> +<p>"All men's customs are not alike, and a stranger has his own +ways."</p> +<p>But Ingvar's face was black with rage, and not heeding Halfden, +he shouted:</p> +<p>"Set the man before me."</p> +<p>No man stirred, for indeed I think that most of our crew knew +not who was meant, and those near me would, as Halfden told me, say +nought.</p> +<p>Then said Ingvar to Rorik: "Point the man to me."</p> +<p>Then Rorik pointed to me. So I stood forth of my own accord, not +looking at him, but at Ingvar.</p> +<p>"So," said the jarl, harshly, "you dare to dishonour Thor?"</p> +<p>I answered boldly, feeling very strong in the matter.</p> +<p>"I dishonour no man's religion, Jarl, neither yours nor my +own."</p> +<p>"You did no honour to the Asir," he said sternly.</p> +<p>"Thor and Odin are not the gods I worship," I answered.</p> +<p>"I know. You are one of those who have left the gods of your +fathers."</p> +<p>Then one of our men, who had stood next to me, spoke for me, as +he thought.</p> +<p>"I saw Wulfric sign Thor's hammer even now. What more does any +man want from a Saxon?"</p> +<p>Thereat Ingvar scowled, knowing, as I think, what this was.</p> +<p>"You claim to be truth teller," he said; "did you sign Thor's +hammer?"</p> +<p>"I did not," I answered.</p> +<p>Then Halfden came to my side.</p> +<p>"Let Wulfric go his own way, brother. What matters it what gods +he worships so long as he is good warrior and true man, as I and my +men know him to be?"</p> +<p>So he looked round on the faces of my comrades, and they +answered in many ways that this was so. And several cried:</p> +<p>"Let it be, Jarl. What is one man to Thor and Odin?"</p> +<p>Now I think that Ingvar would have let the matter pass thus, for +the word of the host is not lightly to be disregarded. But Rorik +would not suffer it.</p> +<p>"What of the wrath of the gods, Godar?" he said. "How will you +put that aside?"</p> +<p>Then was a murmur that they must be appeased, but it came not +from our crew; and Ingvar stood frowning, but not looking at me for +a space, for he was pulled two ways. As godar he must not pass by +the dishonour to the gods, yet as the son of the man whom I had +saved, how could he harm me? And Rorik, seeing this, cried:</p> +<p>"I hold that this man should live no longer."</p> +<p>"Why, what dishonour has he done the gods?" said Halfden. "If he +had scoffed, or said aught against them--that were a different +thing. And what does Thor there care if one man pays no heed to +him? Surely he can keep his own honour--leave it to him."</p> +<p>"It is dishonour to Thor not to hail him," said Rorik.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar spoke again to me:</p> +<p>"Why do you no honour to the gods?"</p> +<p>"My fathers honoured them, for the godarship was theirs, and +would have been my father's and mine, even as it is yours, Jarl +Ingvar. For good reason they left that honour and chose another way +and a better. And to that way I cleave. I have done despite to no +man's faith--neither to yours nor my own."</p> +<p>At that Rorik lost patience, and lifting his axe, ground his +teeth and said savagely:</p> +<p>"I will even make you honour Thor yonder."</p> +<p>Now at that Halfden saw a chance for me, and at once stayed +Rorik's hand, saying in a loud voice:</p> +<p>"Ho! this is well. Let Wulfric and Rorik fight out this +question--and then the life of him who is slain will surely appease +the gods."</p> +<p>That pleased our crew well, for they had no great love for +Rorik, who had taken too much command on him, for a stranger on +board. Now, too, Ingvar's brows cleared, for he cared nothing for +the life of either of us, so that the gods were satisfied with +blood. And he said:</p> +<p>"So shall it be. Take axes and make short work of it. If Wulfric +can slay Rorik, we know that he is innocent of aught to dishonour +the gods. But if he is slain--then on his head is the blame."</p> +<p>Then he looked round and added:</p> +<p>"Let Guthrum and Hubba see fair play."</p> +<p>Now came Hubba, pleased enough, for he knew my axe play, and +that chief whom they called Guthrum, a square, dark man with a +pleasant, wise face, and took four spears, setting them up at the +corners of a twelve-pace square, between the line of our crew and +the altar.</p> +<p>So now it seemed to me that I must fight for our faith, for +truth against falsehood, darkness against light. And I was +confident, knowing this, that the death of one for the faith is +often the greatest victory. So I said:</p> +<p>"I thank you, Jarl. I will fight willingly for my faith."</p> +<p>"Fight for what you like," said Ingvar, "but make haste over +it."</p> +<p>Then Hubba and Guthrum placed me at one side of the square, and +Rorik at the opposite. And I faced the image of Thor, so that under +the very eyes of the idol I hated I must prove my faith.</p> +<p>Then came a longing into my mind to lift my axe in Thor's face +and defy him, but I put it away, for how should an idol know of +threat or defiance? Surely that would be to own some power of +his.</p> +<p>When we were ready, Hubba and Guthrum, each with drawn swords, +stood on either side of the spear-marked square, and signed to +Ingvar to give the word. At once he did so.</p> +<p>Then I strode forward five paces and waited, but Rorik edged +round me, trying to gain some vantage of light, and I watched him +closely.</p> +<p>And all the host stood silent, holding breath, and the altar +smoke rose up over our heads, and the ravens croaked in the trees, +and over all stared the great statue of Thor, seeing naught.</p> +<p>Then like a wolf Rorik sprang at me, smiting at my left shoulder +where no shield was to guard me. And that was Rorik's last stroke, +for even as I had parried Thormod's stroke in sport, the man's +wrist lit on the keen edge of my axe, so that hand and weapon flew +far beyond me with the force of his stroke. Then flashed my axe, +and Rorik fell with his helm cleft in twain.</p> +<p>Then roared our crew, cheering me:</p> +<p>"Skoal to the axeman! Ahoy!"</p> +<p>But I looked at Ingvar, and said:</p> +<p>"Short work have I made, Jarl."</p> +<p>Whereat he laughed a grim laugh, only answering:</p> +<p>"Aye, short enough. The gods are appeased."</p> +<p>Then I went back to my place beside Halfden, and our men patted +my back, praising me, roughly and heartily, for it is not a +viking's way to blame a man for slaying a comrade in fair fight and +for good reason.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar stood before the shrine, and called to the gods to be +heedful of the blood spilt to purge whatever dishonour or wrong had +been done. And he hung up the weapons of the slain man in the +shrine, and after that closed its doors and barred them; and we +marched from the Ve silently and swiftly, leaving the body of Rorik +alone for a feast to the birds of Odin before the dying altar +fire.</p> +<p>Now was I light hearted, thinking that the worst was past, and +so also thought Halfden, so that we went back and sought Osritha, +who waited, pale and anxious, to know how things should go with me, +and when we found her I saw that she had been weeping.</p> +<p>"Why, my sister," said Halfden, "hardly would you have wept for +my danger--or weeping you would be from my sailing to return."</p> +<p>But she answered not a word, and turned away, for his saying +made her tears come afresh.</p> +<p>"Now am I a blunderer," said Halfden. "If there is one thing +that I fear it is a weeping maiden."</p> +<p>And with that he went from the room, leaving me.</p> +<p>Then I took upon me to comfort Osritha, nor was that a hard +task. And again I would have gone through this new danger I had +faced, for it had brought the one I loved to my arms.</p> +<p>Not long might we be together, for now the feasting began, and I +must go to Halfden and his brothers in the great hall. And then +came remembrance to me. For now must I refuse to eat of the horse +sacrifice, and maybe there would be danger in that. Yet I thought +that no man would trouble more about me and my ways, so that I said +naught of it to Osritha.</p> +<p>So I sat between Halfden and Thormod at the high place, and the +whole hall was full of men seated at the long tables that ran from +end to end, and across the wide floor. The womenfolk and thralls +went busily up and down serving, and it was a gay show enough to +look on, for all were in their best array.</p> +<p>Yet it seemed to me that the men were silent beyond their wont, +surly even in their talk, for the fear of the omen of that eddying +smoke was yet on them. And presently I felt and saw that many eyes +were watching me, and those in no very friendly wise. Some of the +men who watched were strangers to me, but as they sat among our +crew, they must be the rest of the saved from Rorik's following. +Others were men from beyond the village walls, and as Rorik's men +had some reason and the others knew me not, I thought little of +their unfriendly looks.</p> +<p>At last they brought round great cauldrons, in which were flesh +hooks; to every man in turn, and first of all to Ingvar himself. He +thrust the hook in, and brought up a great piece of meat, cutting +for himself therefrom, and at once every man before whom a cauldron +waited, did likewise, and it passed on. They signed Thor's hammer +over the meat and began to eat.</p> +<p>Now after Ingvar had helped himself, the cauldron came to +Guthrum, and then to Halfden, and then it must come to me, and I +had heaped food before me that I might pass it by more easily, +knowing that this was the sacrificed meat of which I might not eat. +But the men stayed before me, and I made a sign to them to pass by, +and honest Thormod leaned across me to take his share quickly, and +they passed to him, wondering at me a little, but maybe thinking +nothing of it. They were but thralls, and had not been at the +Ve.</p> +<p>But Rorik's men had their eyes on me, and when the cauldron +passed Thormod, and I had not taken thereout, one rose up and said, +pointing to me:</p> +<p>"Lo! this Saxon will not eat of the sacrifice."</p> +<p>At that was a growl of wrath from the company, and Ingvar rose, +looking over the heads of my comrades, saying:</p> +<p>"Have a care, thou fool; go not too far with me."</p> +<p>Then Guthrum laughed and said:</p> +<p>"This is foolishness to mind him; moreover, he has fought for +and won his right to please himself in the matter."</p> +<p>So too said Halfden and Thormod, but against their voices were +now many raised, saying that ill luck would be with the host for +long enough, if this were suffered openly.</p> +<p>Now a Dane or Norseman takes no heed of the religion of other +folk unless the matter is brought forward in this way, too plainly +to be overlooked. But then, being jealous for his own gods, whom he +knows to be losing ground, he must needs show that he is so. Nor do +I blame him, for it is but natural.</p> +<p>So to these voices Ingvar the godar must needs pay heed, even if +his own patience were not gone, so that he might not suffer that +one should sit at the board of Thor and Odin, untasting and +unacknowledging.</p> +<p>He called to two of his courtmen.</p> +<p>"Take this man away," he said, very sternly, "and put him in +ward till tomorrow. Today is the feast, and we have had enough +trouble over the business already."</p> +<p>The two men came towards me, and all men were hushed, waiting to +see if I would fight. As they came I rose from my place, and they +thought I would resist, for they shifted their sword hilts to the +front, ready to hand. But I unbuckled my sword belt, and cast the +weapon down, following them quietly, for it was of no good to fight +hopelessly for freedom in a strange land.</p> +<p>Many men scowled at me as I passed, and more than one cried out +on me. But Halfden and Thormod and Hubba, and more than were angry, +seemed glad that this was all the harm that came to me just now. +And Ingvar leaned back in his great chair and did not look at me, +though his face was dark.</p> +<p>They put me into a cell, oak walled and strong, and there left +me, unfettered, but with a heavily-barred door between me and +freedom; and if I could get out, all Denmark and the sea around me +held me prisoner.</p> +<p>Yet I despaired not altogether, for already I had gone through +much danger, and my strength had not failed me.</p> +<p>Now, how I spent the daylight hours of that imprisonment any +Christian man may know, seeing that I looked for naught but death. +And at last, when darkness fell, I heard low voices talking outside +for a little while, and I supposed that a watch was set, for the +cell door opened to the courtyard from the back of the great +house.</p> +<p>Now I thought I would try to sleep, for the darkness was very +great, and just as I lay down in a corner the barring of the door +was moved, and the door opened gently.</p> +<p>"Do you sleep, Wulfric?" said Halfden's voice, speaking very +low.</p> +<p>"What is it, brother?" I asked in as low a voice, for I had not +been a viking for naught.</p> +<p>I saw his form darken the gray square of the doorway, and he +came in and swung to the door after him; then his hand sought my +shoulder, and I heard a clank of arms on the floor.</p> +<p>"See here, Wulfric," he said, "you are in evil case; for all +Rorik's men and the men from outside are calling for your death; +they say that Rorik had no luck against you because the Asir are +angry, and that so it will be with all the host until you have paid +penalty."</p> +<p>"What say you and our crew?"</p> +<p>"Why, we had good luck with you on board, and hold that Rorik +had done somewhat which set Thor against him, for he got +shipwrecked, and now is killed. So we know that your ways do not +matter to Thor or Odin or any one of the Asir, who love a good +fighter. But we know not why you are so obstinate; still that is +your business, not ours."</p> +<p>"What says Ingvar?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Naught; but he is godar."</p> +<p>"Aye," said I. "So I must die, that is all. What said Ragnar +Lodbrok about that?"</p> +<p>And I spoke to him the brave words that his forefather sang as +he died, and which he loved:</p> +<pre> +"Whether in weapon play +Under the war cloud, +Full in the face of Death +Fearless he fronts him, +Death is the bane of +The man who is bravest, +He loveth life best who +Furthest from danger lives. +Sooth is the saying that +Strongest the Norns are. +Lo! at my life's end +I laugh--and I die." +</pre> +<p>"Nay, my brother," said Halfden earnestly; "think of me, and of +Osritha, and seem to bow at least."</p> +<p>That word spoken by my friend was the hardest I ever had to +bear, for now I was drawn by the love that had been so newly given +me. And I put my hands before my face and thought, while he went +on:</p> +<p>"If I were asked to give up these gods of ours, who, as it seems +to me, pay mighty little heed to us--and I knew that good exchange +was offered me--well then--I should--"</p> +<p>I ended that word for him.</p> +<p>"You would do even as your father, and say that unless for +better reason than gain--aye, however longed for--you would +not."</p> +<p>"Aye--maybe I would, after all," he answered, and was +silent.</p> +<p>Then he said, "Guthrum and I spoke just now, and he said that +your faith must be worth more than he knew, to set you so fixedly +on it."</p> +<p>Now I would have told him that it was so, but there came a +little sound at the door, and Halfden went and opened it. Across +its half darkness came a woman's form, and Osritha spoke in her +soft voice.</p> +<p>"Brother, are you here yet?"</p> +<p>"Aye, sister, both of us--come and persuade this foolish +Wulfric."</p> +<p>Then I spoke quickly, for it seemed to me that if Osritha spoke +and urged me, I should surely give way.</p> +<p>"Nay, but you must not persuade me--would you have had us +Christians bid your father choose between death and gain for the +sake of winning him to our faith?"</p> +<p>Then said Halfden, "That would I not."</p> +<p>But in the dark Osritha came to my side and clung to me, so that +I was between those two whom I loved and must lose, for Halfden +held my right hand, and Osritha my left, and she was weeping +silently for me.</p> +<p>"Listen," I said, for the speaking must be mine lest they should +prevail. "Should I die willingly for one who has given His life for +me?"</p> +<p>"Aye, surely--if that might be," said Halfden.</p> +<p>"Now it comes into my mind that hereafter you will know that I +do not die for naught. For He whom I worship died for me. Nor may I +refuse to spend life in His honour."</p> +<p>Then they were silent, until Osritha found her voice and +said:</p> +<p>"We knew not that. I will not be the one to hold you from what +is right."</p> +<p>At that Halfden rose up, for he had found a seat of logs and sat +by me on it, sighing a long sigh, but saying:</p> +<p>"Well, this is even as I thought, and I will not blame you, my +brother. Fain would I have kept you here, and sorely will Osritha +pine when you are gone. But you shall not die, else will the +justice of Ulfkytel come to naught."</p> +<p>Then I heard again the clank of arms, and Halfden bent down, as +I might feel.</p> +<p>"Can you arm yourself in the dark?" he said.</p> +<p>"Why, surely! It is not for the first time," I answered.</p> +<p>He thrust my mail shirt against me, and laid a sword in my hand, +and set my helm on my head, all awry because of the darkness.</p> +<p>"Quickly," he said.</p> +<p>Then a new hope that came to me made me clasp Osritha's hand and +kiss it before I must see to arming myself; but she clung to me +yet, and I kissed her gently, then turning away sorely troubled +went to work.</p> +<p>Soon I was ready for Halfden's word, and Osritha buckled on my +sword for me, for she had felt and taken it. Halfden opened the +door and went out into the night, speaking low to one whom I could +not see; and so I bade farewell to her whom I loved so dearly, not +knowing if I should ever look on her again.</p> +<p>But she bade me hope ever, for nor she nor I knew what the days +to come might bring us.</p> +<p>"Ready," said Halfden; "follow me as if you were a courtman till +we come to the outer gate."</p> +<p>Then with Osritha's handclasp still warm on mine I went out and +followed him, and she sought the maiden who waited beside the door, +and was gone.</p> +<p>When we came to the great gates, they were shut. The sounds of +feasting went on in the hall, and the red light glared from the +high windows. Forgotten was all but revelling--and the guard who +kept the gate was Raud the forester, my friend. He opened the gates +a little, and we three slipped out and stood for a moment together. +The night was very dark, and the wind howled and sang through the +stockading, and none seemed to be about the place.</p> +<p>There Halfden took my hand and bade me farewell very sadly.</p> +<p>"This is the best I may do for you, my brother. Go with Raud to +his house, and thence he and Rolf and Thoralf your shield man, who +all love you, will take you even to Hedeby, where there are +Christian folk who will help you to the sea and find passage to +England. And fare you well, my brother, for the days we longed for +in your land will never be--"</p> +<p>"Come in the ship to England, that so there may be good times +even yet," I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, to England I shall surely come--not to seek you, but at +Ingvar's bidding. Yet to East Anglia for your sake I will not +come."</p> +<p>Then he grasped my hand again in farewell, and he went inside +the gates and closed them, and Raud and I went quickly to his +place.</p> +<p>There we found those two other good friends of mine waiting, and +they told me that all was well prepared to save them from the wrath +of Ingvar, for they had been bidden to carry messages, and other +men of the crew who lived far off would do this for them, for I +feared for their lives also when the flight was known.</p> +<p>Long was the way to Hedeby, where Ansgar the Bishop had built +the first church in all Denmark. But we won there at last and in +safety. And there Ansgar's folk received me well, and I parted from +my three comrades, not without grief, so that I asked them to take +service with us in England. Almost they consented, but Rolf and +Thoralf had wives and children, and Raud would by no means leave +his brother.</p> +<p>Now in a few days, a company of merchants went from Hedeby with +goods for England, and with them I went; and in no long time I came +into Ingild's house by London Bridge, and was once more at home as +the second week in May began.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI. THE +COMING OF INGVAR'S HOST.</a></h2> +<p>Aught but joy did I look for in my homecoming, but it was all +too like that of Halfden, my friend.</p> +<p>No need to say how my kind godfather met me as one come back +from the dead, nor how I sent gifts back to Ansgar's people, who +sorely needed help in those days.</p> +<p>But very gently the old man told me that Elfric my father was +dead, passing suddenly but a month since, while by his side sat +Ulfkytel the Earl, blaming himself for his blindness and for his +haste in not waiting for the king's judgment, and yet bidding my +father take heart, for he had never known his ways of justice fail. +And he asked forgiveness also, for there had been a deadly feud +concerning this between him and my people, so that but for Eadmund +the King there would have been fighting. Yet when one told Ulfkytel +that men held that my father's heart broke at my loss, the great +earl had made haste to come and see him, and to say these things. +So they made peace at last.</p> +<p>When I knew this it seemed to me that I had lost all, and for +long I cared for nothing, going about listless, so that Ingild +feared that I too should grow sick and die. But I was young and +strong, and this could not last, and at length I grew reconciled to +things as they were, and Ingild would speak with me of all that I +had seen in Denmark.</p> +<p>Now when I told him what I feared of the coming of Ingvar's host +he grew grave, and asked many things about it.</p> +<p>"Ethelred the King is at Reading," he said; "let us go and speak +to him of this matter."</p> +<p>So we rode thither, and that ride through the pleasant +Thames-side country was good for me. And when we came to the great +house where the king lay, we had no trouble in finding the way to +him, for Ingild was well known, and one of the great Witan +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote18anc" href="#sdendnote18sym" id= +"sdendnote18anc">xviii</a>}</sup> also.</p> +<p>I told Ethelred the king of England all that I had learned, and +he was troubled. Only we three were in his council chamber, and to +us he spoke freely.</p> +<p>"What can I do? Much I fear that East Anglia must fight her own +battles at this time. Pressed am I on the west by Welsh and Dane, +and my Wessex men have their hands full with watching both. And it +is hard to get men of one kingdom to fight alongside those of +another, even yet. And this I know full well, that until a host +lands I can gather no levy, for our men will not wait for a foe +that may never come."</p> +<p>I knew that his words were true, and could say nothing. Only I +thought that it had been better if we had held to our Mercian +overlords in Ecgberht's time than fight for this Wessex sovereign +who was far from us; for that unhealed feud with Mercia seemed to +leave us alone now.</p> +<p>"Yet," said Ethelred, "these men are not such great chiefs, as +it seems. Maybe their threats will come to naught."</p> +<p>But I told him of that great gathering at the sacrifice, and +said also that I thought that needs must those crowded folks seek +riches elsewhere than at home. Then he asked me many things of the +corn and cattle and richness of the land; and when I told him what +I had seen, he looked at me and Ingild.</p> +<p>"Such things as crowding and poverty and hardness drove us from +that shore hither. I pray that the same be not coming on us that we +brought to the ancient people the Welsh, whose better land we took +and now hold."</p> +<p>So we left him, and I could see that the matter lay heavily on +his mind.</p> +<p>In a week thereafter I rode away homeward, and came first to +Framlingham, where Eadmund our own king was. Very glad was he to +see me safely home again.</p> +<p>"Now am I, with good Ingild your other godfather, in Elfric's +place toward you," he said; "think of me never as a king, but as a +father, Wulfric, my son."</p> +<p>And he bade me take my place as Thane of Reedham, confirming me +in all rights that had been my father's. With him, too, was the +great earl, and he begged my forgiveness for his doubt of me, +though he was proud that his strange manner of finding truth was +justified. Good friends were Ulfkytel and I after that, though he +knew not that in my mind was the thought of Osritha, to whom he +had, as it were, sent me.</p> +<p>Now every day brought fear to me that Ingvar's host was on its +way overseas to fall on us. And this I told to Eadmund and the +earl, who could not but listen to me. Yet they said that the peace +between us and the Danes was sure, and that even did they come we +should be ready. When I pressed them indeed, they sent round word +to the sheriffs to be on the watch, and so were content. For our +king was ever a man of peace, hating the name of war and bloodshed, +and only happy in seeing to the welfare of his people, giving them +good laws, and keeping up the churches and religious houses so well +that there were none better to be found than ours in all +England.</p> +<p>This pleased me not altogether, for I knew now how well prepared +for war the Danes were, and I would fain have had our men trained +in arms as they. But my one voice prevailed not at all, and after a +while I went down to Reedham, and there bided with my mother and +Eadgyth, very lonely and sad at heart in the place where I had +looked for such happiness with my father and Lodbrok and Halfden at +first, and now of late, for a few days, with Osritha, and Halfden +in Lodbrok's place.</p> +<p>For all this was past as a dream passes, and to me there seemed +to hang over the land the shadow of the terrible raven banner, +which Osritha had helped to work for Lodbrok and his host, in the +days before she dreamed that it might be borne against a land she +had cause to love.</p> +<p>Ever as the days went by I would seek the shipmen who came to +Reedham on their way up the rivers, so that I might hear news from +the Danish shore, where Osritha was thinking of me, till at last I +heard from a Frisian that three kings had gathered a mighty host, +and were even now on their way to England.</p> +<p>I asked the names of those three, and he told me, even as I had +feared, that they were called Ingvar and Hubba and Halfden; and so +I knew that the blow was falling, and that Ingvar had stirred up +other chiefs to join him, and so when the host gathered at some +great Thing, he and his brothers had been hailed kings over the +mighty following that should do their bidding in the old Danish +way. For a Danish king is king over men, and land that he shall +rule is not of necessity <sup>{<a name="sdendnote19anc" href= +"#sdendnote19sym" id="sdendnote19anc">xix</a>}</sup>.</p> +<p>Again I warned Eadmund, and again he sent his messages to +Ulfkytel the Earl and to the sheriffs, and for a few weeks the +levies watched along the shore of the Wash; and then as no ships +came, went home, grumbling, as is an East Anglian's wont, and +saying that they would not come out again for naught, either for +king or earl.</p> +<p>Now after that I spent many a long hour in riding northward +along the coast, watching for the sails of the fleet, and at other +times I would sit on our little watch tower gazing over the +northern sea, and fearing ever when the white wing of a gull +flashed against the skyline that they were there. And at last, as I +sat dreaming and watching, one bright day, my heart gave a great +leap, for far off to the northward were the sails of what were +surely the first ships of the fleet.</p> +<p>I watched for a while, for it was ill giving a false alarm and +turning out our unwilling levies for naught, for each time they +came up it grew harder to keep them, and each time fewer came. In +an hour I knew that there were eight ships and no more, and that +they were heading south steadily, not as if intending to land in +the Wash, but as though they would pass on to other shores than +ours. And they were not Ingvar's fleet, for he alone had ten ships +in his ship garth.</p> +<p>They were broad off the mouth of our haven presently, and maybe +eight miles away, when one suddenly left the rest and bore up for +shore--sailing wonderfully with the wind on her starboard bow as +only a viking's ship can sail--for a trading vessel can make no way +to windward save she has a strong tide with her.</p> +<p>She came swiftly, and at last I knew my own ship again, and +thought that Halfden had come with news of peace, and maybe to take +me to sea with him, and so at last back to Osritha. And my heart +beat high with joy, for no other thought than that would come to me +for a while, and when she was but two miles off shore, I thought +that I would put out to meet and bring the ship into the haven; for +he knew not the sands, though indeed I had given him the course and +marks--well enough for a man like Thormod--when I was with him. And +there came over me a great longing to be once more on the +well-known deck with these rough comrades who had so well stood by +me.</p> +<p>But suddenly she paid off from the wind, running free again to +the southward down the coast, and edging away to rejoin the other +ships. And as she did so her broad pennon was run up and dipped +thrice, as in salute; and so she passed behind the headlands of the +southern coast and was lost to my sight.</p> +<p>I bided there in my place, downcast and wondering, until the +meaning of it all came to me; remembering Halfden's last words, +that he would not fall on East Anglia. Now he had shown me that his +promise was kept. He had left the fleet, and was taking his own way +with those who would follow him.</p> +<p>Yet if he had eight ships, what would Ingvar's host be like? +Greater perhaps than any that had yet come to our land, and the +most cruel. For he would come, not for plunder only, but hating the +name of England, hating the name of Christian, and above all hating +the land where his father had been slain.</p> +<p>I climbed down from the tower, and found my people talking of +the passing ships, and rejoicing that they had gone. Already had +some of them piled their goods in waggons ready for flight, and +some were armed. Then, as in duty bound, I sent men in haste to the +earl at Caistor to report this, telling him also that the great +fleet of which this was a part was surely by this token on its +way.</p> +<p>By evening word came back from him. He had sure news from Lynn +that the great fleet had gone into the Humber to join the host at +York, and that we need fear nothing. Men said that there were +twenty thousand men, and that there were many chiefs besides those +that I had named. This, he said, seemed over many to be possible, +but it did not concern us, for they were far away.</p> +<p>Now, when I thought how the wind had held at any quarter rather +than north or east for long weeks, it seemed to me likely that it +was this only that had kept them from us, and that the going into +Humber was no part of Ingvar's plan, but done as of necessity. For +to bring over so mighty a host he must have swept up every vessel +of all kinds for many a score miles along the shores. And they +would be heavy laden with men, so that he must needs make the first +port possible. Yet for a time we should be left in quiet.</p> +<p>Now I must say how things went at home, for my sister's wedding +with Egfrid had been put off first by the doubt of my own fate, and +then by the mourning for my father's death. Yet the joy of my +return had brought fresh plans for it, and now the new house at +Hoxne was nearly ready; so that both Egfrid and his folk were +anxious that there should be no more delay.</p> +<p>I, too, when the coming of the Danes seemed a thing that might +be any day, thought it well that Eadgyth should rather be inland at +Hoxne, whence flight southward could be made in good time, than at +Reedham, where the first landing might well be looked for. But when +the fear passed for a while by reason of the news from Northumbria, +the time was fixed for the end of November, just before the Advent +season, and not earlier, because of the time of mourning.</p> +<p>So the summer wore through slowly to me, for I was sad at heart, +having lost so much. And ever from beyond the Wash and from Mercia +came news of Ingvar's host. The Northumbrian king was slain, and a +Dane set in his place; and Burhred of Mercia bowed to the Danes, +and owned them for lords; and at last Ethelred of Wessex came to +himself and sent levies to meet the host, but too late, for Mercia +was lost to him. Yet Eadmund our king, and even Ulfkytel, deemed +that we were safe as ever behind our fenland barrier, fearing +naught so long as no landing was made from across the Wash.</p> +<p>Yet when November came in, and at Egfrid's house all was bustle +and preparation, we heard that Bardney was burnt, and Swineshead, +and then Medehamstede <sup>{<a name="sdendnote20anc" href= +"#sdendnote20sym" id="sdendnote20anc">xx</a>}</sup>. And the peril +was close on us, and but just across our border.</p> +<p>"No matter," said men to one another. "It will be a hard thing +for Danes to cross the great fens to come hither. They will turn +aside into Mercia's very heart, and then the Wessex folk will +rise."</p> +<p>But I feared, and two days before the wedding went to Harleston, +where the king was, and urged him to have forces along the great +wall we call Woden's Dyke even yet.</p> +<p>"Let us see your wedding first, Wulfric," he said. "Eadgyth +would be sorely grieved if I were not there."</p> +<p>For he lay at Harleston to be near at hand, as the wedding was +to be from the house of Egfrid's father, because Reedham seemed as +yet a house of sorrow. And I was glad when the Thane asked that it +should take place at Hoxne, and it was safer also.</p> +<p>Surely never moved host so swiftly as Ingvar's, for even as I +went, heavily enough, from Eadmund's presence, a man spurred into +the town saying that Earl Ulfkytel faced the Danes with a fair levy +gathered in haste, between us and Wisbech. They had crossed the +fens where no man dreamed that they might come, and were upon us as +if from the skies.</p> +<p>Now Eadmund made no more delay, but all that night went forth +the summons of the war arrow, and the men mustered in force at last +in Thetford town, and I spurred back to Hoxne and found the thane, +and spoke to him.</p> +<p>"Let the wedding go on," I said, "for the Danes are yet far, and +must pass the earl and us also before they come hither. Now must I +be with the king, but if I may, and Ulfkytel holds them back, I +shall be at the wedding. And if it must be, I will warn you to fly, +and so let Egfrid take his bride and my mother and his own folk +southward to Colchester or London."</p> +<p>That, he thought, was well, and no word of fear or haste +hindered the wedding gathering. Only some of the great thanes who +should have been there were with the king or earl, and it seemed +that the number of guests would be small.</p> +<p>I rode to Thetford, bidding Eadgyth look for me on the morrow in +good time, and saying that the king would surely come also. But +when I came to the town I knew that neither he nor I should be at +Hoxne, for the Danes had scattered the levy, and Ulfkytel the great +earl was slain, and with him many another friend of mine. And the +men said that the Danes were marching swiftly onward, ever nearing +Thetford, and burning and wasting all in their track.</p> +<p>We marched out of the town to meet them, for we had a good force +behind us, and the men were confident of victory with the king +himself to lead them. And he was cheerful also, and said to me, as +I armed him:</p> +<p>"I would not have you leave the wedding; howbeit, if we beat +back the Danes, which is a matter in the hands of the Lord of +Hosts, both you and I will be there in time tomorrow."</p> +<p>Our mounted men met the Danes that evening -- the night before +Eadgyth's wedding day--and we slept in our armour on Thetford heath +waiting for them. And in the early morning our outposts were driven +back on us, and the Danes were close on their heels.</p> +<p>Now Eadmund told me that I should not stand by him today, for so +soon as the battle was over I must go to Hoxne, either with news of +victory, or to bid them fly, and he would not keep me.</p> +<p>"I will not leave the place that is mine by right," I said.</p> +<p>"Not so," he answered; "I would bid you stand out of the battle +for sweet Eadgyth's sake, but that I know you would not obey +me."</p> +<p>And he smiled at me as he went on the great white horse he +always rode, to draw up the men.</p> +<p>They cheered when he spoke to them, and I thought that they +would fight well. Aye, and so they did, in their fierce untrained +way. Many a long day it was since we of East Anglia stood in battle +array, and the last time was against our own kin, save that now and +again the men of some shoreward places would rise to beat off a +Danish or Norse ship.</p> +<p>Now were the foes in sight, and they ranged up in close order +when they saw we were ready. More than half their force was +mounted, for the Lindsey uplands and marshes had given them horses +enough of the best in England. And this was terrible, that over the +host wheeled erne and raven and kite, as knowing to what feast the +flapping of yon Raven banner called them.</p> +<p>Foremost of all rode a mighty chief on a black horse, and I saw +that it was Ingvar himself, the king of the Danish host. Well I +knew the armour, for it was that which he had worn at the great +sacrifice, though now it shone no longer, but was dulled with the +stains of many a hard fight. Now, too, round his helm ran the gold +circlet of the king.</p> +<p>"Know you yon great man?" asked Eadmund of me; for I would not +leave him, but stood before him in my place.</p> +<p>"It is Ingvar the king," I answered; "he who was Jarl +Ingvar."</p> +<p>"Speak to him, and ask him to leave the land in peace," he +said.</p> +<p>Now I thought that was of little use, but I would do the king's +bidding, and asked what I should say.</p> +<p>"Offer him ransom, if you will," Eadmund answered.</p> +<p>So I went forward, and stood at a bowshot's length from our +people, leaning on the axe that Lodbrok had made me, and there +waited till the Danes came on. And presently Ingvar saw me, and +knowing that I was one who would speak with the leader, rode up, +looking curiously at me as he came.</p> +<p>"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!" I said when he was close.</p> +<p>He reined up his horse in surprise, lifting his hand.</p> +<p>"Odin! It is Wulfric!" he said. "Now, skoal to you, Wulfric! But +I would that you were not here."</p> +<p>"How is that, Jarl?" I asked; but I had ever heard that the jarl +was in high good humour before a fight.</p> +<p>"I would not fight with you, for you have been our guest. And +many a man have I questioned since yesterday, and all men say that +you were my father's friend. It was a true story that you told +me."</p> +<p>"You believed it rightly, Jarl."</p> +<p>"Aye--and therefore I will not fight with you."</p> +<p>Then I asked him to leave the land in peace, and his face +darkened.</p> +<p>"I speak of yourself alone," he said, "as for land and king and +people--that is a different matter."</p> +<p>"You have had your revenge," I said.</p> +<p>"What?" he asked fiercely. "Is the life of Lodbrok, my father, +worth but the death of a hound like Beorn? Stand aside, Wulfric, +and let me have my revenge in full."</p> +<p>Now, seeing that our talk was earnest, there rode up another +Danish chief, and it was Guthrum, the man who had seemed to take my +part at the idol feast. I was glad to see him come at this +moment.</p> +<p>"Here is Halfden's friend," said Ingvar to him, "and he, +forsooth, would have us go in peace."</p> +<p>And the Danish king laughed harshly.</p> +<p>"Why, so we will, if they make it worth our while," said +Guthrum, nodding to me.</p> +<p>"What ransom will you take from us?" I asked them.</p> +<p>"The keeping of Eadmund, your king," answered Ingvar; "nothing +more nor less."</p> +<p>"It seems to me that you will have to fight before you take +him," I said plainly; for no man in all the Anglian ranks would +have listened to that.</p> +<p>"That is too much," said Guthrum. "Tell him to own you as +overlord and pay scatt <sup>{<a name="sdendnote21anc" href= +"#sdendnote21sym" id="sdendnote21anc">xxi</a>}</sup> to us, holding +the kingdom from you, and that will save fighting--and surely the +whole land will be weregild enough for Jarl Lodbrok."</p> +<p>Then Ingvar thought for a moment, and said to me, still +frowning:</p> +<p>"Go and tell your king those terms, and bring word again."</p> +<p>So I went back and told Eadmund, knowing full well what his +answer would be. And it was as I thought.</p> +<p>"Go and tell this Ingvar that I will not give my land into the +hands of the heathen, or own them as lords."</p> +<p>Now what I told Ingvar and Guthrum was this only, knowing that +to give the full message was to enrage Ingvar:</p> +<p>"Eadmund refuses."</p> +<p>"Your king is a wise man," said Guthrum, "for who knows how a +fight will go?"</p> +<p>Ingvar reined round his horse to go to his own men, and he and +Guthrum left me standing there. I was turning away also, when the +hoof beats of one horse stayed, and Ingvar called me in the voice +he would use when most friendly with me.</p> +<p>"Wulfric," he said, "glad was I to find you gone, for I should +surely have had to slay you before the shrine; but Thor is far off +now, and I have forgotten that, and only do I remember that good +comrade to us all you have been in hall and forest. And ere I +sailed--one whom you know--that one who stayed my hand from +Beorn--made me promise--aye, and swear by my sword--that you at +least I would not harm. And I will not. Stand aside from this +fight."</p> +<p>Now, had I not known the great love and reverence in which those +three wild brothers held Osritha, I should have been amazed at +these words from Ingvar; but there is somewhat of good to be found +in every man.</p> +<p>Then I answered:</p> +<p>"I must fight for my land, Ingvar, but I also would fain not +fight against yourself. Where stand you in your line?"</p> +<p>"On the right," he said; "Guthrum is on the left."</p> +<p>"Where is Hubba?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"He is not far from us. He will come when I need his help."</p> +<p>"Then we need not meet," I said; "I am in the centre."</p> +<p>Now we both returned to our places, and again Eadmund, after I +had told him that we must fight, asked me to stand out.</p> +<p>"For," said he, "you are in her father's place to Eadgyth."</p> +<p>"Until after the wedding, my king," I said; "but you are in my +father's place to me always. Should I have left him?"</p> +<p>So I said no more, but stood in my place before him, for I loved +him now best of all men in the world since my father was gone, and +it seemed well to me to die beside him if die he must.</p> +<p>Now our king gave the word, crying, "Forward, Christian men!" +and we shouted and charged with a good will on the Danes, and the +battle began. Hard fighting it was on both sides, but our men in +their want of order jostled and hindered one another, so that I saw +more than one struck down by mischance by his own comrades. But the +Danes kept their even line, bent round into half a circle so that +we could not outflank them, and our numbers were nearly equal.</p> +<p>Men have said that I did well in that fight, but so did we all, +each in his way. All I know of my own deeds is that I kept my own +life, and that once a ring of men stood before me out of reach of +my axe, not one seeming to care to be first within its swing. And +ever Eadmund's clear voice cheered on his men from behind me.</p> +<p>So the battle went on from the first daylight for an hour's +space, and then the steadfastness of the Danish line began to +strike terror into our men, and the Danish horsemen charged on our +flanks and broke us up; and then all at once a panic fell on our +levies, and they wavered, and at once the horsemen were among them +everywhere, and the field was lost to us. Before I knew what had +befallen I was hurried away in a dense throng of our men, who swept +me from before the king, and I was soon in Thetford streets, where +I thought that surely we should have rallied, for there is no +stronger town or better walled in all East Anglia.</p> +<p>In the marketplace sat Eadmund on his white horse, unhelmed that +the men might know him yet living, for in the flight word had gone +round that he had fallen, and now the men seemed to be taking heart +and gathering round him.</p> +<p>But even as I reached him, a fresh throng of flying men came +down the street from the gate next the Danes, and after them came a +score of the terrible horsemen, driving a hundred like sheep before +them. At that sight the few who were gathering fled also, leaving +the king and myself and four other thanes alone. I was the only one +on foot.</p> +<p>Then one of those thanes grasped the bridle of the king's horse +and led him away, crying:</p> +<p>"Come, for our sakes; needs must fly. Let us go to +Framlingham."</p> +<p>So they rode, against the king's will as one might see, from the +place, and went away towards the southern gate of the town. And +seeing that the Danes were in the town I knew that all was lost, +and that here I might stay no longer if Eadgyth was to be +saved.</p> +<p>I ran to where I had left my horse, and mounted and fled also, +following the king, for that gate led to the road along the south +bank of the river. I knew not if he had crossed the bridge or no, +but over the river was my way, and I had my own work to be done, +and some twenty miles to be covered as quickly as might be. Glad +was I that I had chosen to fight on foot that day, for my horse was +fresh.</p> +<p>Terrible it was to see the panic in the town as the poor folk +knew that the Danes were on them. They filled the road down which I +must go, thronging in wild terror to the gates, and I will not +remember the faces of that crowd, for they were too piteous.</p> +<p>Glad I was to be free from them at last, and upon the road where +I could ride freely, for as they left the town they took to the +woods and riverside swamps, and save for a few horsemen flying like +myself, the road was soon clear. Then, too, these horsemen struck +away from the road one by one, and at last I rode on alone.</p> +<p>Now my one thought was for those at Hoxne, and to urge them to +instant flight, and I thought that even now Humbert the Bishop +would be in the little church, waiting for the bride to come.</p> +<p>Then I would hasten the more, for to reach the church from +Egfrid's father's house the river Dove must be crossed; and I would +keep them from returning to this side if I could be in time, for we +might break down the timber-built bridge and so delay the crossing +of the Danes. Yet they might be for days in Thetford before they +began to raid in the country.</p> +<p>Swiftly I rode on, for my horse was a good one and fresh, and at +last, after many miles were passed, I came to a place where I could +see a long stretch of road before me. There rode the king on his +white horse, and with him those four thanes. I could not mistake +that party, and I thought I knew where they were going. The king +would warn my people himself, and so take refuge beyond Hoxne, on +the other side of the river, at South Elmham, with Bishop +Humbert.</p> +<p>I rode after, but I gained little on them; nor did I care much, +for the king would do all that I might. In a few minutes more I +should know if he crossed Hoxne bridge, and if he did so they were +safe.</p> +<p>I lost sight of the party as they came into a wood, and there my +horse stumbled. He had lost a shoe. That was little to me now, but +it kept me back; and now I heard the quick gallop of horses behind +me, and looked to see who came, for I thought that more fugitives +followed, most likely. I had heard the sound coming on the wind +more than once before as I rode on the wayside grass.</p> +<p>They were Danes. Twelve of them there were, and foremost of all +rode Ingvar on his black horse. Well for the king that they had no +change of steeds, but had ridden hotfoot after him from the +battlefield. Now their horses were failing them, but they would +take me, and delay would give the king another chance; and I was +half-minded to stay and fight. Then I thought of Hoxne, and I put +spurs to my horse and rode on again.</p> +<p>Now I came in sight of Hoxne bridge, and half feared that I +should see the bridal train passing over; but many men were even +now leaving the bridge, going towards the church, and I knew that +they were there. But of Eadmund and his thanes I saw nothing--only +a lame white horse, that I thought like his, grazed quietly in a +field by the roadside, so that for a moment my eyes went to it, +thinking to see king and thanes there.</p> +<p>Ingvar was not a mile behind me, and I spurred on. And now I won +to the turning that leads to the thane's house whence the company +had passed, and a few villagers stood at the road corner. Them I +asked how long it was since the bride had gone, and they stared at +me in stupid wonder, making no answer. Then I bade them fly, for +the Danes were coming; and at that they laughed, looking at one +another slyly, proud of their own fancied wisdom. So I left them +and rode on.</p> +<p>Even as I came to the hill down to the bridge my horse stumbled +and almost fell, and when I gathered him up, not losing my seat, I +knew he was beaten. And now I halted for good, unslinging my axe, +and waiting to fight and hinder the Danes from going further, as +yet. It was all I could do.</p> +<p>Hand over hand they came up to me, and now Hoxne bells rang out +in merry peals as the bride and bridegroom left the church. The +service was over, and unless our king had warned them, they would +be coming back over the bridge in a few minutes. Yet, if he had +warned them, surely the bells had not pealed out thus.</p> +<p>Now I heard the music play from across the water, and I heard +the shouts of the people--and all the while the hoofs of Ingvar's +horses thundered nearer and nearer. Then they came over the little +rise in the road and were on me with levelled spears.</p> +<p>I got my horse between them and me, across the narrow roadway, +and hove up my axe and waited. But when Ingvar saw who I was, he +held up his hand, and his men threw up their spear points and +halted, thinking perhaps that I was the king.</p> +<p>"Where is the king?" shouted Ingvar.</p> +<p>I saw that their horses were done, and not knowing which way the +king had gone answered truly.</p> +<p>"I know not. The road forks, and that is as far as I know."</p> +<p>Then Ingvar swore a great oath.</p> +<p>"You know not which way he went?"</p> +<p>"I do not," I said.</p> +<p>"Catch a thrall and ask him," he said to his men.</p> +<p>And those silly folk were yet standing at the corner, maybe +thinking us belated wedding guests, and the men took one, dragging +him to their chief. But the man said that he had seen no horsemen +pass. Truly he had heard some, but all men were at the house door +waiting for the bride to come forth, and paid no heed.</p> +<p>So the king had passed by before the procession set out, and I +knew not what to think.</p> +<p>"What bride?" said Ingvar.</p> +<p>And the music answered him, coming nearer and nearer, and now +they were crossing Hoxne bridge--a bright little array of wedding +guests, and in the midst I could see those two, Egfrid and Eadgyth, +and after came a crowd of village folk.</p> +<p>"See yonder," said a Dane, pointing. "By Baldur, here is a +wedding! Gold and jewels to be had for the taking!"</p> +<p>But my horse was across the road, and my axe was in the way, and +I cried to Ingvar as the men began to handle their weapons.</p> +<p>"Mercy, Jarl Ingvar! This is my sister's wedding--that Eadgyth +of whom your own sister would ever ask so much."</p> +<p>"Hold!" roared the chief, and his men stayed, wondering. "An you +touch so much as a hair of any in that company--the man who +touches, I will slay!" he said, and the men stared at him.</p> +<p>"Yon is the bridal of Reedham folk," he said, "and the bride is +she who befriended Lodbrok. They shall not be hurt."</p> +<p>For he must needs justify himself, and give reason for +withholding plunder from Danes as free as himself.</p> +<p>"Aye, King, that is right," they said on hearing that, and +Ingvar turned to me.</p> +<p>"For Osritha's sake, lest I should harm you in aught," he said. +"Now ask me no more. Let us meet them in peace."</p> +<p>Now I knew that my folk were safe for this time at least, and my +heart was light, and so leaving my horse I walked beside the king, +as his men called him, until we met the first of the company on +this side of the bridge.</p> +<p>Then was a little confusion, and they stopped, not knowing what +this war-stained troop might betoken. And I saw that no word had +come of the great defeat as yet.</p> +<p>I went forward, calling to Egfrid and the thane his father, and +looking at them so that they should show no fear or give any sign +to the ladies present that all was not well.</p> +<p>"This is Jarl Ingvar himself, and these are his men," I said. +"And the jarl would fain speak with Eadgyth my sister, of whom he +has often heard."</p> +<p>And Egfrid, being very brave, although he must have seen well +enough what this meant, kept his face well, and answered that Jarl +Ingvar was welcome, coming in peace.</p> +<p>"Aye--in peace just now," answered Ingvar, looking at him. "Now, +I will say this, that Wulfric's sister has found a brave +husband."</p> +<p>Now Eadgyth heard the jarl's name, and knew naught of the terror +that that name brought to all the land, and least of all that a +battle could have been fought, for we had kept it from her. Nor had +I told her of how nearly he had been to slaying me, for I would not +make Osritha's brothers terrible to her. So she thought of him only +as Lodbrok our friend's son, who had shown me hospitality in his +own hall.</p> +<p>So when Egfrid took her hand and brought her forward, looking as +I thought most beautiful in her bridal array, she smiled on the +great Dane frankly, as in thanks for my sake.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar unhelmed, and spoke to her in courtly wise, even as +he was wont to speak to Osritha.</p> +<p>"When I go back to my own land, lady, I shall have many +questions asked me by one of whom you have doubtless heard, as to +how our friend's sister was arrayed for her wedding. And that I +shall not be able to say--but this I know, that I may tell Osritha +that Wulfric's sister was worthy of Wulfric."</p> +<p>Now Eadgyth noted not the war stains on Ingvar's mail, but it +was strange and terrible to me to see him sitting there and +speaking as though the things of a stricken field were not the +last, as it were, on which he had looked. But Eadgyth's eyes were +downcast, though she was pleased.</p> +<p>"Thanks, Jarl Ingvar," she said; "often have I heard of Osritha. +When you return I would have you thank her for her care of my +brother--and I would thank you also, Jarl, for your care of +him."</p> +<p>Now Ingvar reddened a little, but not with anger, for he saw +that I had spoken at least no ill of him to Eadgyth.</p> +<p>"Nay, lady," he answered; "Halfden and Hubba and Osritha have to +be thanked--if any thanks need be to us for caring for Jarl +Lodbrok's preserver. Little share may I take of the matter."</p> +<p>"Yet I will thank all in your place," she said, and then shrank +back to Egfrid's side.</p> +<p>Never had I seen a more handsome couple.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar laid his hand on a great golden snake that twined +round his right arm, and I thought he was going to give it as a +bridal gift to my sister, for that is ever a viking's way, to give +lavishly at times when he might have taken, if the mood seizes him. +But as he glanced at the gold he saw blood specks thereon, and I +heard him mutter:</p> +<p>"No, by Freya, that were ill-omened."</p> +<p>And he did but seem to put it in place, as if thinking. Then he +replaced his helm, bowing, and said:</p> +<p>"Now must I stay your rejoicing no longer. Fare you well, lady, +and you, noble Egfrid; I must ride back to Thetford town on my own +affairs. Yet I leave you Wulfric. Will you remember hereafter that +you spoke with Ingvar the king, and that he was your friend?"</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," answered they both at once.</p> +<p>Then once more the music played, and the little train went on +and up the hill, and Ingvar and I stood together for a while +looking after them.</p> +<p>"I thank you, King," I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, Wulfric; and maybe you and yours are the only ones who +will say that word to me in all this land. Now take my rede, and do +you and your folk begone as soon as maybe, for even I cannot hold +back men who are not from our own place."</p> +<p>Then I parted from him, going after my people, and thinking that +all was well for us, and that surely our king was safe, until I +came to where my horse still stood. There over the lane hedge +looked that lame white horse that I had seen, speaking as it were +in his own way to mine. And when I saw him thus near, it was indeed +the king's, and a great fear that he was not far off took hold of +me.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII. +IN HOXNE WOODS.</a></h2> +<p>Many of the village folk loitered on the bridge and in the +lanes, looking curiously at the Danes, and talking of the wedding +and the like. And some of these I saw Ingvar's men questioning, and +very soon a knot of them gathered round one man, and there was some +loud talking.</p> +<p>Then I would have hastened back, but Ingvar saw me, and waved +sternly to me to depart, and slowly enough I went on my way. But I +could not forbear looking back when I reached the road to the +house.</p> +<p>Only Ingvar was now on horseback, and the men seemed to be +swarming over the bridge railings, and climbing under it among the +timbers.</p> +<p>Then were shouts, and the village churls began to run every way, +and one or two came up the hill towards me.</p> +<p>"What is it?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Oh, master," the first man cried, "when the bridal folk went +over the bridge on the way to the church, one man looked over into +the water, and cried that he saw somewhat sparkle therein like +gold, and others looked, and some saw naught, but others said that +they saw in the water as it were the image of golden spurs. And the +Danes asked us if we saw the king; but we had not. Only one man +laughing, in his fear as I think, said that the nearest thing to a +crown that he had seen was the glint of golden spurs shining from +the water yonder. Then looked the Danes--and now--oh master!"</p> +<p>The man grew white, pointed, and fled.</p> +<p>Haled and pushed and buffeted by the hands of the Danes, a man +was dragged over the rail of the bridge from the network of cross +timbers among which he had hidden, and I saw that the armour was +that of Eadmund the King.</p> +<p>There, in that seemingly secure place, his thanes must have made +him hide when his horse fell lame, for doubtless he would not +hinder them in their flight, but would have taken sanctuary in the +church. From some point in the road they must have seen their +pursuers before I cared to look behind me to see who followed, for +there was no mistaking the red cloaks that the Danes of the king's +courtmen always wear.</p> +<p>This I thought at the time, and long afterwards learnt from one +of those thanes that I was right. And it was their doing, not his, +for the king would have gone to the church and there warned my +people. But as it chanced there were no men in sight when the king +hid, for all were gathered to the thane's house. And I asked that +thane if they sent no warning message--and he said they had done so +by a certain churl whom they met. But our folk never had it.</p> +<p>Now I knew not what to do, being torn with grief and fear. I +dared not cross Ingvar again, lest I should change his mood, mild +enough now, to some wild fit of rage, for I had not bided so long +in his hall without learning that much of his ways. I stayed till I +knew for certain that they had not harmed the king, and so saw him +bound, and mounted behind one of the courtmen; and then when I saw +them begin to come towards me, I went to the thane's house and told +him all, calling him out from the feast.</p> +<p>"Let us mount and rescue the king," I said.</p> +<p>"Then will they kill him--better not. They will but hold him to +ransom," the thane said.</p> +<p>I knew his first word was right, and now I left that and urged +him to hasten the flight of all the party, bidding him take the +road towards the south, ever away from the Danes.</p> +<p>"What will you do?" he asked, for I spoke not of coming with +him.</p> +<p>"This," I answered. "I will pledge Ingild's word, as I know I +may, for any ransom, going after the Danes and finding Guthrum, who +will listen to me."</p> +<p>He thought that well, and then I asked where Humbert the Bishop +was. He had gone back to South Elmham at once, and would be far on +his road by this time, the thane said.</p> +<p>Then I went out and took a fresh horse from the stables and rode +away into the great road. And when I came there, I saw with others +the man who told me how the king's hiding place was found.</p> +<p>"How long have the Danes been gone?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Master," he answered, "they have gone back over the bridge, +some of them riding forward towards Hoxne."</p> +<p>At that I knew that some plan of Ingvar's was that his men after +victory should cross the river at Thetford, and so perhaps strike +at Framlingham where the king's household was. But all along the +march of the Danish host had been unresting, so that men had no +time to prepare for their coming, or even to know what point they +would reach next.</p> +<p>Then I sent by this man urgent messages to the thane that they +should fly coastwards, crossing the river Waveney, perhaps, so as +not to fall into the hands of the host at the first starting, for +Ingvar's horsemen would be everywhere south of this and +Thetford.</p> +<p>I rode fast over the bridge, for I feared for Humbert our good +bishop, and when I came near the church the bells jangled, all +unlike the wedding peals that I had heard so lately.</p> +<p>They had found a few late flowers, violets and marigolds and +daisies and the like, and had strewn them before the bride as she +left the church; and they lay there yet with bright hedgerow leaves +to eke them out--but across the path, too, lay the dead body of a +poor churl, dressed in his holiday gear, slain by a spear thrust, +and the church was burning. Now the men who jangled the bells for +help came down in haste, terrified as the fire took hold of the +roof, for the church was all of wood and very old.</p> +<p>When they saw me they ran, thinking me yet another of their +foes; but I rode after one and caught him, for he would by no means +stay for calling, and I asked him what had happened, and where the +bishop was.</p> +<p>"Alas, master," the man said, "they have slain my brother and +fired the church, and now have ridden after the bishop. They slew +my brother because he would not say by which road he had gone; and +another told them, being in fear for his life--and our king is +taken."</p> +<p>"Did they take the king by the road to South Elmham?"</p> +<p>"Four rode after the bishop with the great man on the black +horse who was the leader. The rest went with the king up the track +through Hoxne woods, but slowly."</p> +<p>Had I but one or two more with me surely now I should have +followed up the king and tried to rescue him. But I think it would +have been vain, for Ingvar's men would have slain him rather than +lose him. But most of all I wondered at the boldness of these few +men, who, with their leader, dared venture so far from their +forces. Well did they know, however, how complete is the rout of a +Saxon levy; and I too might have guessed it, since I had fled alone +after the first five miles, while all those who had left the town +with me scattered all ways.</p> +<p>Now the church was blazing from end to end, and one or two more +men had gathered to me, seeing who I was.</p> +<p>"Take up yon body," I said, "and cast it into the church. So +shall his ashes lie in holy ground at least. For you and yours must +even take to the woods for a while. The Danes will be here."</p> +<p>That I think they did, for they were lifting the body as I went +away and rode along the way that the bishop had taken, meaning at +least to meet Ingvar, for I feared lest the men who had the king +should slay him if they were followed.</p> +<p>Hardly a mile had I gone when Ingvar and his men came riding +slowly back. Their beaten horses could do no more, and they had +left following the bishop. Ingvar's face was black as night, and as +he came he roared at me: "You here again! Now this passes all. Did +I not bid you stand aside and hinder me not?"</p> +<p>"Aye, King," I answered, coldly enough. "But I cross you not. I +have ransom to offer for the king."</p> +<p>"I will have no ransom," he said, very savagely.</p> +<p>"Nevertheless," I said quietly, knowing that his word was not +the only one to be spoken on that matter, "let me tell you of it, +that you may tell the other chiefs."</p> +<p>"I am the king," he answered, glaring at me.</p> +<p>"Then, King, hear my words, and give them to those under +you."</p> +<p>"Speak to this man," he said, pointing to one of the courtmen; +for they heard all I said, and he could not refuse to listen +altogether to what concerned his fellow chiefs. Then he rode past +me, and the men, save that one of whom he spoke, followed him.</p> +<p>Now I was angry as he, but kept that to myself, and waited till +he was out of hearing before I looked at the man who waited. And +when I did so, the man grinned at me, saying:</p> +<p>"Truly it is like old times to see you stand up thus to the +jarl--king, I mean. There is not a man in our host dare do it."</p> +<p>And lo! it was my friend Raud the forester. His beard was gone, +and he had a great half-healed scar across his jaw, so that I had +not known him even had I noticed any but Ingvar.</p> +<p>Then I was glad, for here was one whom I could trust, even if +his help was of little use.</p> +<p>"Glad am I to see you, Raud my friend, though it must be in this +way. Why is the jarl so angry?"</p> +<p>"Why, because the bishop has escaped us. We never saw so much as +his horse's tail. And if he be like the bishop we saw at Hedeby, I +am glad."</p> +<p>"Surely he is," I said. "But now I have come to offer ransom for +the king, and you must tell Guthrum and the other chiefs that it +would be paid very quickly if they will take it."</p> +<p>At that Raud shook his head.</p> +<p>"I will tell them, but it is of little use. There has been talk +of it before, but when we came into East Anglia Ingvar claimed the +king for himself, giving up all else."</p> +<p>"Why?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Because when he made Beorn speak, Beorn said that Eadmund the +King had set him on to slay Lodbrok. I heard the man confess +it."</p> +<p>"But he left that story, telling the truth about himself," I +said.</p> +<p>"Aye, so he did. But the tale has stuck in Ingvar's mind, and +naught will he hear but that he will have revenge on him."</p> +<p>"What will he do?" I said, looking after the Danish king, who +went, never turning in his saddle, with bowed shoulders as one who +ponders somewhat.</p> +<p>"How should I know?" answered Raud, carelessly. "Let us go on. +Maybe if you come with me we shall hear them speak together."</p> +<p>"Raud," I said, "if harm is done to the king, I shall surely +fall on some of you--and Ingvar first of all."</p> +<p>"Not on me with axe, I pray you," he answered laughing, and +twisting his head on one side. "I mind me of Rorik."</p> +<p>"Let us be going," I said, for I could not jest.</p> +<p>So we trotted after the party, and when we were near, Raud left +me and went to Ingvar's side, speaking to him of what I had said. +Then the jarl turned round to me, speaking quietly enough, but in a +strange voice.</p> +<p>"Come with me and we will speak of this matter to Eadmund +himself. Then will the business be settled at once."</p> +<p>That was all I would wish, and being willing to speak yet more +with Raud, I said I would follow. He turned again, and looked no +more at me.</p> +<p>Then I asked Raud of his brother, and of Thoralf, my other +companion of flight. They were both slain, one at Gainsborough and +one at Medehamstede. Thormod was with Halfden in Wessex, where they +had made a landing to keep Ethelred, our Wessex overlord, from +sending to our help. But as to Halfden, men said that he would not +come to East Anglia, for the Lady Osritha had over persuaded +him.</p> +<p>Then, though I would not ask in any downright way, I found that +Osritha was well, but grieving, as they thought, for the danger of +her brothers--and of that I had my own thoughts.</p> +<p>So with talk of the days that seemed so long past, we went on +into Hoxne woods, through which Raud said that he had learnt we +must go to meet the host in its onward march from Thetford.</p> +<p>"Jarl Ingvar lets not the grass grow under his feet," I +said.</p> +<p>We came to a place where the woodland track broadened out into a +clearing, and there waited the other Danes, and with them, sitting +alone now on the horse, was Eadmund the King.</p> +<p>Pale he was, and all soiled with the stains of war, and with the +moss and greenery of his strange hiding place; but his eye was +bright and fearless, and he sat upright and stately though he was +yet with his hands bound behind him.</p> +<p>I rode past Ingvar and to Eadmund's side, and throwing myself +from my horse stood by him, while the Dane glared at us both +without speaking.</p> +<p>"Why run thus into danger, Wulfric my son?" said the king, +speaking gently; "better have let me be the only victim."</p> +<p>"That you shall not be, my king," I answered; "for if you must +die, I will be with you. But I have come to try to ransom you."</p> +<p>"There are two words concerning that," said Ingvar in his cold +voice. "Maybe I will take no gold for Eadmund."</p> +<p>"What shall we give you then?" I asked, looking earnestly at +him.</p> +<p>"You heard what I said this morning before the battle. I have no +other terms but those. And I think they are light--as from the son +of Lodbrok whom this king's servant slew."</p> +<p>Now Eadmund spoke, saying to Ingvar:</p> +<p>"Let me hear what are your terms for my freedom. In the slaying +of Lodbrok my friend I had no part."</p> +<p>"That is easily said," Ingvar answered, frowning. "I have my own +thoughts on that--else had I not been here. But this land is in my +power, therefore I will let you go if you will hold it for me, and +own me as overlord, doing my will."</p> +<p>"My answer is the same as it was this morning. It is not for me +to give over this land into the hands of heathen men to save +myself."</p> +<p>That was Eadmund's calm answer, and looking on Ingvar I saw the +same bode written in his face as had been when I would not honour +his gods. Then he spoke slowly, and his words fell like ice from +his lips.</p> +<p>"It seems to me that this land is in the hands of us heathen +without your giving."</p> +<p>"So that may be, for the time," answered Eadmund; "but your time +of power has an end."</p> +<p>"Has it so?" said Ingvar, and his eyes flashed. "Where is your +help to come from? Do you look to Ethelred?--He is busy in Wessex +with more of us heathen. Where is Mercia?--It is ours. Will Kent +help you?"</p> +<p>"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and +earth," answered Eadmund, lifting his eyes heavenwards so +earnestly, that in spite of himself the wild heathen king followed +their upward gaze for a moment.</p> +<p>It was but for a moment, and that weakness, as he would deem it, +was the spark to light Ingvar's wrath, that as yet he had kept +under.</p> +<p>"Hammer of Thor!" he shouted, "you dare throw that in my face! +Now will I show you if heathen or Christian is stronger."</p> +<p>Then with his face white with rage he turned to his men: "Bind +him to yon tree, and we will speak with him again!"</p> +<p>Now if it is well that I did not die with my king, it was well +at that moment for me that my axe hung at my saddle bow, and that +my horse--to which I had paid no heed in my troubles--had wandered +a little way, for I should surely have fought to prevent this +dishonour being wrought. And I sprung to reach the axe, for the +short sword I wore was of no use against so many. But Raud was +close on me, and he dropped from his saddle on my shoulders as I +passed him, so that I fell, half stunned under him, and one of the +other men ran up, and ere they had stripped and bound the king to a +tree, I was bound hand and foot, and rolled by Raud into a thicket +where I might escape Ingvar's eye. And, indeed, he paid no heed to +me, but watched the king.</p> +<p>So must I lie there with my heart like to break, seeing all that +went on, and I will tell it as best I may.</p> +<p>Ingvar strode to the young oak tree to which they had bound the +king and looked fixedly at him. Then he said, "Scourge this man," +and his men did so. But the king made no sign by word or motion. I +saw Ingvar's rage growing, and he cried as his men forbore, +shrinking a little from their quiet victim:</p> +<p>"Ask for mercy, Christian, at the hands of Ingvar the godar, the +priest of Odin and Thor, and you shall go free."</p> +<p>But the king met his gaze sadly and firmly, answering:</p> +<p>"That were to own that you have power over me through your false +gods."</p> +<p>"Power I have," said Ingvar; "ask for mercy."</p> +<p>Thereat the king answered no word, though his lips moved, and I +alone knew what his words might be, for though his hands were bound +he moved his noble head in such wise as to make the sign of the +Cross. And I think that he spoke to himself the prayer of +forgiveness that he had learnt therefrom.</p> +<p>Almost then had the Dane smitten him in the face, but to this +cowardice Ingvar the king had not yet fallen. He drew back a few +paces, and took his long dagger from his belt, and at that I +thought that he was going to slay the king, and I closed my eyes, +praying. But he spoke again.</p> +<p>"Ask for peace on the same terms for your people, if you will +not for yourself."</p> +<p>Then the king grew pale, but he set his lips close, still gazing +at Ingvar. Hard was this for him who loved his people so well.</p> +<p>The Dane's dagger flashed, and he hurled it at Eadmund, but so +skilfully that it did but graze his head, sticking firmly into the +tree trunk. And he cried in a voice that shook with rage:</p> +<p>"Answer me!"</p> +<p>But the king held his peace, closing his eyes, and waiting for +what might come, most bravely.</p> +<p>Then Ingvar turned to his men, and bade them unsling their bows +and see if they could make this man find his tongue. Seven of them +went to work with a good will, but Raud and the others would not, +but turned away.</p> +<p>The men shot, and in many places the king was pierced, and lo! +he lifted up his voice and sang gloriously, even as if in the +church and on some high festival, the psalm that begins "<i>De +Profundis</i>". Nor did his voice falter, though now he might move +neither hand nor foot by reason of the piercing of the arrows.</p> +<p>At that the men stayed in amazement, and one threw away his bow +and turned aside to where Raud stood, near where I lay. But Ingvar +ground his teeth with rage, and stamping on the ground, cried to +the men to shoot again.</p> +<p>And again the arrows flew, and now it seemed to me that no more +arrows might find mark in the king's body without slaying him; and +before my eyes was a mist, and my mouth was dry and parched, yet I +could not turn away and look no more. But the men fitted arrows to +the bowstrings once more, while Ingvar stood still and silent with +his strong hands clasped together behind him, gazing at the king, +whose lips moved in prayer, the psalm being ended, and, as I think, +his strength ebbing fast from his many wounds.</p> +<p>Now they were about to shoot once more, unbidden, keeping up +their torture if they might; but there was one more merciful than +the rest. Forward before the bowmen strode Raud, with his sword +drawn, and he cried to Ingvar:</p> +<p>"Let me slay him, king, and end this for pity's sake!"</p> +<p>Ingvar turned his eyes gloomily on him for a moment, and then +answered:</p> +<p>"What know you of pity? Slay him if you will."</p> +<p>Then when he heard that, Eadmund looked at Raud, smiling on him +with a wondrous smile and saying:</p> +<p>"Thanks, good friend."</p> +<p>So Raud slew him in pity, and that was now the best deed that +might be done.</p> +<p>Thereat I cried out once, and my senses left me, and I knew no +more.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER +XIII. HOW BISHOP HUMBERT JOINED THE KING.</a></h2> +<p>When I began to come to myself it was late afternoon. At first +into my mind came the fancy that I sat on the side of King +Eadmund's bed in the king's chambers at Reedham, and that he told +me a wondrous dream; how that--and then all of a sudden I knew that +it was no shadowy dream, but that I had seen all come to pass, and +that through the arrow storm Eadmund had passed to rest.</p> +<p>All round me the trees dripped with the damp November mist that +creeps from the river, and the smell of dead leaves was in my +nostrils, and for a while I lay still, hardly yet knowing true from +false, dream from deed. So quiet was I that a robin came and +perched close to me on a bramble, whose last leaves were the colour +of the bird's red breast, and there it sang a little, so that I +roused to life with the sound. Then swooped down a merlin with +flash of gray wings on the robin and took it, and that angered me +so that I rose on my elbow to fray it away; and with that the last +cloud left my mind and I knew where I was. Then, too, from where he +waited my waking came Vig, my great Danish dog, who had been tied +at the thane's house, and must have left the flying party to seek +me. And he bounded in gladness about me.</p> +<p>Now I found that my bonds were gone, and next that my weapons +were left me, and that but for cramp and stiffness I had not any +tokens of what had befallen. And at first it seemed to me that +Ingvar thus showed his scorn of me, though soon I thought that he +had forgotten me, and that it was Raud who had freed me.</p> +<p>I heeded not the dog, looking only in one place. But the body of +the king was gone, and his arms and mail were gone. The hoofmarks +of Ingvar's horses were everywhere; but at last I made out that +they had gone on through the wood.</p> +<p>Presently the dog growled, looking towards the village, and I +heard voices coming nearer, and with them I heard the tread of a +horse. But soon the dog ceased, and began to wag his tail as if to +welcome friends, and when the comers entered the clearing, I saw +that they were Egfrid's men, and that it was my horse that they +were leading. My axe was yet at the saddle bow.</p> +<p>"Why, master," said the foremost, "surely we looked to find you +slain. This is well--but what has befallen?"</p> +<p>For I must have looked wildly and strangely on them.</p> +<p>"Well would it be if I were slain," I said. "Why did you seek +me?"</p> +<p>"We found the horse coming homewards, and one knew that you had +gone into the wood after the king. Yet we would seek you before we +fled."</p> +<p>I saw that all were armed, and I thanked them. But--</p> +<p>"What ails you, master?" said the leader of the group.</p> +<p>"They have slain Eadmund the king," I answered, "and they have +taken his body away."</p> +<p>Thereat they groaned, wondering and cast down, and one said:</p> +<p>"They will not have carried him far. Let us search."</p> +<p>We did so, and after a long time we found the king's body in a +thicket where it had been cast. But his head we could not find, +though now I bade my dog search also. He led us westward through +the wood, until we came to a rising ground, and there we could go +no further. For thence we saw the Danish horsemen by scores +pressing towards us, searching for cattle and sheep as the army +passed southward. And the farms were blazing in the track that they +had crossed everywhere.</p> +<p>Then said the men:</p> +<p>"We must fly. We who live must save ourselves, and must come +back and end this search when we may."</p> +<p>"Let us bear back the king's body," I said, "and find some +hiding place for it at Hoxne."</p> +<p>So we did, hurriedly, and hid it in a pit near the village, +covering it with boards and gravel as well as we could for haste. +Then I asked the men where they would go.</p> +<p>"By boat down the river," they said, "and so join the thane and +his party wherever they might be. They have gone to Beccles, for +they hear that a ship lies there whose master will gladly take them +to London."</p> +<p>That was good hearing, for so would all be safe. The men pressed +me to come with them, but I would not do so, meaning to hasten on +to the bishop's place and make him fly to Beccles and take ship +also, starting this very night. So I bid them go, and on that their +leader, a stout freeman named Leof, whom I knew well as one of +Egfrid's best men, said that he would come with me. Nor would he +hear of aught else.</p> +<p>"What would Egfrid my master say if I left his brother to go +alone?" he asked me simply; and so I suffered him, and we two went +towards South Elmham together.</p> +<p>Soon Leof saw a horse in a field and caught it, mounting +bareback, and after that we went on well enough.</p> +<p>Darkness fell, and all the low clouds were reddened with the +light of fires behind us, and ever as we looked back would be a +fresh fire and light in the sky, for the Danes were at their work. +We pushed on steadily, but the lanes were rough, and the miles +seemed very long in the darkness; but at last we crossed the Elmham +stream and rode to the stockaded house that was the bishop's, and +which stands pleasant and well placed on a little hill beyond the +low ground, and with no woodland very near it.</p> +<p>We shouted, and at last men fully armed came and let us in. And +as I looked back once before the gates closed after me, I thought +that the fires were nearer. The Danes were not staying their hands +for darkness, for so the terror they spread would be the greater. +So also was the bishop's peril therefore.</p> +<p>"Where is Bishop Humbert?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Master, he is in the church, nor will he leave it," said the +old steward. "He says he must pray for king and land day and night +now till this terror is overpast."</p> +<p>"I will go to him--he must fly," I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, pray him to do so, Wulfric; he will listen to you," said +the old man earnestly.</p> +<p>"Have all things ready," I said. "See--there is little +time."</p> +<p>"What of the king, master?" asked he, looking at the fires with +a white face as he once more opened the gate.</p> +<p>"The king has gone where he would wish to be," I answered very +gravely; and he understood me, turning away that I might not see +his weeping.</p> +<p>Then Leof and I splashed back through the stream that ran +between house and church, and came quickly to the porch. The church +is very small and more ancient than I can say, for it is built of +flint bound together with such mortar as the Romans used in their +castles, hard as stone itself, and it stands in the midst of the +Roman camp that guarded the ford, so that maybe it was the first +church in all East Anglia, for we use wood; and, moreover, this +stone church is rounded at the east end, and has a barrier dividing +the body of the building into two, beyond which the as yet +unbaptized must sit, as men say. And so strong and thick are the +walls that I do not know how they can ever fall.</p> +<p>Now through the narrow windows shone lights, and I heard the +sound of chanting. Leof held my horse, and I opened the door gently +and went in.</p> +<p>At once there was a shrinking together of a group of men, mostly +monks, who stood at the upper end of the church where the chancel +begins. They were chanting the third psalm, for help against the +heathen, and it faltered for a moment. But they were mostly monks +of the bishop's own household, and knew me well enough, and they +ended it shortly.</p> +<p>Then there was silence, for they were holding none of the set +services, but rather as it seemed doing the bishop's bidding, and +praying with him in the best way for the ceasing of this new +trouble, as in time of pestilence once I remembered that he made +litanies for us. And Humbert himself knelt before the altar during +that psalm, fully vested, but as in times of fast and +penitence.</p> +<p>When he rose, I came up the aisle towards him, and my mail +clanged noisily as I walked in the hush. At the chancel steps I +stood, helm in hand, and did reverence, not daring to speak +first.</p> +<p>"What is it?" asked the bishop, when he turned and saw me. +"Speak, Wulfric, my son. Is all well?"</p> +<p>"I have heavy news, father," I answered. "Close on us are the +Danes, and you must fly. Then I will tell you all on the way."</p> +<p>"I will fly no more," he answered, "here I will bide. Is the +king at my house?"</p> +<p>"He is not there, father," I said; and then I urged him to fly +at once, and with me his monks joined, even going on their knees in +their grief. Yet he would not be moved.</p> +<p>"Surely the king will come here," he said, "nor will I go +without him."</p> +<p>"Father," I said, "the Danes have taken the king."</p> +<p>"Then must I bide here, and pray and scheme for his +release."</p> +<p>Now I knew not how to tell him all, but at last I said:</p> +<p>"Eadmund the king has escaped from the hands of the +heathen."</p> +<p>At that the bishop looked long at me, judging perhaps what I +meant, by my voice. But the monks rejoiced openly, at first, until +they saw what was meant also, and then they trembled.</p> +<p>"Where is he?" he asked, speaking low.</p> +<p>"Father," I said, "this twentieth day of November will be the +day when England shall honour a new martyr. Eadmund the King is +numbered among them."</p> +<p>"How died he?" then said the bishop, folding his hands.</p> +<p>But now the monks bade him fly, and reasoned with and prayed +him. But he bade them save themselves, for that there would be work +for them to do among the heathen.</p> +<p>"As for me, I am an old man," he said, "and I would fain go the +same road as the king."</p> +<p>Still they clung to him, and at last, speaking to each by name, +and giving each some message to take to cell or abbey where they +must go at his bidding, he commanded them; and so, unwillingly, +kissing his hand and receiving his blessing, they went one by one, +till he and I and one or two laymen besides were left in the little +church. Then he spoke to the other men, and they went also, and we +were alone.</p> +<p>"That is well," said the bishop; "tell me all, and then do you +fly."</p> +<p>He sat down in his great chair, leaning his head in his hand +while I told him all in that quiet place. Never once was there +trembling flash from the great jewel of his ring, that shone in the +candlelight, to show how moved he was; but when I had ended, the +tears were running down his venerable face, and he said:</p> +<p>"Now is there truly one more added to the noble army of martyrs, +and he is at rest. Now do you go, my son."</p> +<p>But I had other thoughts in my mind, and I rose up silently from +beside him, saying only: "Not yet, father," and I went down the +aisle and out into the darkness to Leof.</p> +<p>"See yonder!" said he pointing, and there was a fresh fire not +many miles from us. "I think they scour the country for our bishop. +We have little time."</p> +<p>"Tell me, Leof," I said, "have you a mind to live?" for there +was somewhat in the man's weary voice that seemed to say that he +and I thought alike.</p> +<p>"None, master, after today's work, if I may find a brave man or +two to die with me."</p> +<p>"Here is a brave man waiting with a like thought in the church. +Shall you and I die with him?"</p> +<p>"Aye, surely," said Leof quietly.</p> +<p>"Bide here then," I said, and took the horses from him.</p> +<p>I mounted mine and rode to the house, where the steward and one +or two others watched from the gateway. I bade the old man call his +folk together, and I told them to fly. Many were already gone, now +others went at once.</p> +<p>But a few stayed, and to them I said like words as to Leof.</p> +<p>"Hither will the Danes come presently, but in no great force. We +may beat them back, and if we do, then maybe the bishop will fly. +But we shall more likely die with him."</p> +<p>"Let us stand by him, come what will," they answered me in +steady voices; "better to die with him and our king."</p> +<p>They took their arms and gave me a sword, and we left the horses +in the stable, for we might even yet need them. I thought that we +could maybe, as I said, beat off the first few Danes, and then +that, to save further bloodshed, the bishop would go with us. And +if not, we had done our best.</p> +<p>Five men came with me to the ford. When we were at the other +side there were but four. One had gone back, and I did not blame +him. Leof sat in the little porch, and so we six went into the +church together. The bishop sat where I had left him, but he raised +his head when we came up the aisle.</p> +<p>"Nay, my sons," he said, "you must fly. Maybe these men will +respect an old man like myself and lonely."</p> +<p>Then I said:</p> +<p>"Father, we would have you say mass for us ere the light comes +again."</p> +<p>Now it wanted about an hour to midnight.</p> +<p>"Is there yet time?" he said.</p> +<p>Then I answered that I thought we might wait in peace for so +long, and he, knowing nothing of the nearness of the Danes, +consented. So we bided there in the aisle benches to wait till +midnight was past, and soon one or two of the men slept +quietly.</p> +<p>Now, when it may have been almost midnight, and the time for +mass would soon be come, the bishop, who had been so still that I +thought he slept, lifted his head and looked towards the altar. And +at the same time my dog whined a little beside me.</p> +<p>Then Humbert the Bishop rose up and held out both his hands as +to one whom he would greet, and spoke softly.</p> +<p>"Aye, Eadmund, I am coming. Soon shall I be with you."</p> +<p>So he stood for a little while very still, and then went to his +place again.</p> +<p>Then Leof, who sat next to me, said, whispering:</p> +<p>"Saw you aught, master?"</p> +<p>"I saw nothing, but surely the bishop had a vision."</p> +<p>"I myself saw Eadmund the king stand before the bishop, and he +had a wondrous crown on his head," said Leof, speaking as though of +somewhat not terrible, but good to think on.</p> +<p>"I also saw him," said the old steward from behind me. "I saw +him plainly as in life, and I thought he smiled on us."</p> +<p>But I had had no such sight, and it grieved me. Moreover, two of +the other three men whispered, and I thought one of them told of +the like vision. And I think, too, that the dog saw it, as the +innocent beasts will see things beyond our ken.</p> +<p>Soon the bishop judged that the time was come for mass, and he +called softly to me, bidding me serve, for I had often done so for +him in the old days when I was a boy and he was at Reedham, and I +knew well what to do.</p> +<p>Then was said a most solemn mass with that one aged priest, and +us few men present. And all was very quiet round us, for no wind +stirred the trees on the old rampart.</p> +<p>The bishop's voice ceased with the benediction, and the hush +deepened; but suddenly Leof and I looked in each other's faces. We +had heard a shout from no great distance, and the blood rushed +wildly through us.</p> +<p>Now the bishop rose from his knees, and I took the holy vessels, +as he gave them to me, putting them into their oaken chest in its +niche. And when that was done, he said:</p> +<p>"Now I will not bid you fly, my sons, for I think that somewhat +has bidden you bide with me. And I have seen the king, so that I +know the time is short. Take therefore the holy vessels and drown +them in the deep pool of the stream. I have used them for the last +time, but I would not have them profaned by the heathen in their +feasting."</p> +<p>I knew that this should be done as at Bosham, but already I +heard the shouts yet nearer, and I was loth to leave the church, +and so paused.</p> +<p>"I know your thoughts," said the bishop. "Yet go, as I bid you; +it is not far."</p> +<p>So I took the heavy, iron-bound chest on my shoulder and went +quickly, running as well as I might to the stream below the +rampart, where it curled deep and still under crumbling banks. +There I plunged my burden, hearing it sink and bubble into the +depths.</p> +<p>Then I went back, and reached the gap in the rampart that had +been the gate next the ford, and that was at the east end of the +church, so that the porch was far from me. And before I had gone +halfway to the church--over the western rampart spurred a score of +horsemen, dimly seen in the half moonlight that was now. And the +leader of them saw me, and rode straight at me, calling to me to +hold, while I drew my sword and ran to reach the door before he met +me; and my dog, which was at my heels, flew at the horse's +throat.</p> +<p>But I must fail, and I whirled up my sword to strike--and then a +long flash of light from a spear point smote me, and over me the +man rode, pinning me to the ground with the spear through my left +shoulder. His horse trod on me, and the man wrenched the weapon +from me as he passed on, and I had but time to call out to Leof to +warn him, when a rushing came in my ears, and a blaze of light +before my eyes, and the world passed from me.</p> +<p>Then I seemed to stand in darkness, while past me, gloriously +shining, went Leof, and then the old steward and one of those two +men who had whispered together, and then Humbert the Bishop +himself. But it seemed to me that he paused and looked on me, +saying, in a voice that was like music:</p> +<p>"Hereafter--not now. Twice have you offered your life today, and +yet there is work for you. Be content to wait."</p> +<p>So he passed, looking kindly at me, and then the blackness came +over me again.</p> +<p>When I came round at last it was high day, and the air was full +of smoke around me. One sat on a great brown horse looking at me, +and by my side cried my dog; and I groaned, whereat the man got off +his horse and came to me. And I knew that it was Hubba, and some of +the men I knew were there also.</p> +<p>"Why, Wulfric, friend, how is this? I thought you were dead. Who +has dared to hurt you? What has happened here?"</p> +<p>"You know well," I gasped.</p> +<p>"Nay, I know not; I have but now ridden this way with our rear +guard," he answered, seeming to pity me.</p> +<p>"Look in the church and see," I said, groaning. "You Danes are +all one in the matter."</p> +<p>"Now I am not the man to harm you, nor would any of our folk," +he said. "Some of our courtmen found you here, and brought me."</p> +<p>"Slay me and have done," I muttered; for that was all I would +have him do.</p> +<p>"That will I not, Wulfric," he answered; and he called to some +men who were busy about the walls of the church.</p> +<p>The smoke rose thickly from within them, for the burnt roof had +fallen in.</p> +<p>"Take this warrior and bind his wound," he said. "It is Wulfric +of Reedham, our friend."</p> +<p>The faintness came over me again when the men raised me, though +they tended me gently enough, and I could say naught, though I +would rather they had cast me into the burning timbers of the +church, even as I had bidden men do with that poor churl at Hoxne, +that my ashes might be with those of our bishop.</p> +<p>So they bore me far, and at last left me in a farm where they +promised all should be safe if they tended me well. And Hubba rode +with them, and came to bid me farewell. But I could not speak to +him if I would, so he went away sadly. And as in a dream I heard +him speak of care for me to the widow and her two sons to whom the +farm belonged, and whom his men had taken unawares, so that they +had not time to fly.</p> +<p>Presently came the best leech from Ingvar's host and tended me +carefully; and I needed it, for besides the spear wound, my right +thigh was broken, by the trampling of the horse, as was most +likely.</p> +<p>Thereafter I lay for many weeks, as they told me presently, sick +and nigh to death; but being young and strong and no high liver at +any time, I came through the danger well enough, and began to mend +slowly. Yet my sickness, when I could begin to think, was more of +mind than body, and that kept me back. For long did it lie heavily +on my mind that I should have died with the king, and it was that +sorrow and blame of myself that went sorely against me. But after a +time the love of life came back to me again, and I began to see +things as they really were, untouched by a sick man's fancies. And +then the words of the good Prior of Bosham helped me, teaching me +that my life was surely spared for somewhat.</p> +<p>These good folk of the farm tended me most kindly, for they knew +me by sight as a close friend of both king and bishop, and for +their sakes were glad to do all they might for me. But I pined for +the touch of that one who had tended me when I was wounded before, +Osritha, whom I had learnt to love as she did so.</p> +<p>Sometimes I would think that between her and me had now risen up +a barrier stronger than the sea that was washing our shores alike, +because that of Ingvar's sister I might not think aught any longer. +And then I would set before me how that of these cruel doings nor +she nor Halfden had any part, hating them rather, and so would +comfort myself. Long are the thoughts that come to a sick man.</p> +<p>Now it was not till February that I might take much heed of +anything, but then I learnt that the Danes had wintered in +Thetford, and that the land was in peace. The war had passed on to +the Wessex borders and then had slackened, as winter came earnest, +and now the north and south folk, Dane and Angle, were foes no +longer openly. But Ingvar and Hubba were at Nottingham, waiting to +fall on Wessex, leaving only strong garrisons in our towns.</p> +<p>Then one of the dame's sons would go to London for me, there to +seek Ingild and tell him of my hap, for, the lad said:</p> +<p>"Now that these Danes need fight no more they are decent folk +enough, and will not hinder a man who has not whereof to be +robbed."</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV. +HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD SEARCHED TOGETHER.</a></h2> +<p>I sat in the warm sun under the wide spread of the farmhouse +eaves, dreaming my dreams with the dog at my feet, for so soon as +the May time came in I must needs get into the open air, and grow +stronger daily.</p> +<p>So it came to pass that one day up the green farm lane came a +stranger, at whom the dog barked not, as was his wont, but ran to +meet as if he were some well-loved friend. And it was Raud, his old +master, who came, lightly mail clad, and with a short hunting spear +instead of staff in his hand, and whistling his "Biarkamal" as +ever.</p> +<p>Now with Raud I had no quarrel concerning the death of the king, +for well I knew that what he had done was truly in mercy, nor had +he taken any part in what went before. So I greeted him heartily +enough, for all that with the sight of him came back to me, with a +sharp pang, the memory of how I saw him last. And he rejoiced to +see me again.</p> +<p>"I have half feared that I should find you gone," he said; "for, +when I heard of this from Hubba's men, I must needs come and find +you, and little hope had I that you would live."</p> +<p>"I have nearly died, they say," I answered; "but I think that I +owe it to you that I was not slain in Hoxne woods yonder."</p> +<p>"Why, not altogether," he answered, sitting on the settle by me, +and looking me over, from arm yet in sling to lame leg. "Some of +the men with Ingvar and me wanted to slay you before they left that +place; but Ingvar growled so fiercely that they must let you be, +that they said no more, nor even would look your way again. But he +himself looked at you, and said strange things to himself."</p> +<p>"What said he?" I asked, wondering.</p> +<p>"He said, paying no heed to me, 'Now, Wulfric--you will hate me +forever more, nor do I think that Lodbrok my father would be +pleased with this;' after which he spoke words so low that I caught +but one here and there, but they were somewhat of the lady Osritha, +our mistress. After that he said to me, 'Leave him horse and arms +and unbind him,' and then turned away. Yet if I had not bound you +at first, maybe they would have had to slay you."</p> +<p>"That is true enough," I said; "surely I should have stood +between you and the king. But what came to Ingvar to make him speak +thus to me?"</p> +<p>"Why, after the hot fit comes the cold, ever, though Ingvar the +King's cold rage is worse at times than his fury. But since that +day there has been somewhat strange about the king."</p> +<p>"I wonder not," I said; nor did I. "But how goes it with +him?"</p> +<p>"Men say, though they dare not do so openly, that the ghost of +Eadmund will not let him rest, and that mostly does he fear him +when his rage is greatest. Many a time when the fury seemed like to +come on him, Ingvar turns white and stares suddenly beyond all +things, as though seeing somewhat beyond other men's ken, and the +sweat runs cold from his forehead. Many a man has escaped him +through this."</p> +<p>"Surely Eadmund holds him back thus from more cruelty," I +thought. And aloud I said:</p> +<p>"What think you of the matter?"</p> +<p>"Why, that I am glad that I was bold enough to save your dying +king from more torture--else had I seen somewhat before me day and +night. Truly I see him now betimes in my sleep, but he ever smiles +on me. Moreover, this is true, that all those seven men who shot +the arrows died in that week. Two died in Elmham Church when you +were nigh slain."</p> +<p>"Tell me of that," I said.</p> +<p>For no man knew rightly what had befallen there, save that under +the charred ruins of the roof lay Bishop Humbert and one or two of +his men.</p> +<p>But when he told me, it was as I thought. Those few men had +fought bravely until they were slain, themselves slaying three +Danes. But one of the bishop's men escaped, cutting through a +throng at the doorway and seizing a horse. Then was slain the +bishop, who knelt at the altar, not even turning round to face the +Danes as they came.</p> +<p>So I hold ever that as I lay for dead I had seen those brave +ones pass me even as they were slain. But of this I said naught to +Raud, at that time at least.</p> +<p>Now I asked Raud whence he had come, and he said:</p> +<p>"From London."</p> +<p>And at that I feared greatly, asking:</p> +<p>"Has Ingvar taken the city, therefore?"</p> +<p>"Not the king himself, but Guthrum went into London, taking good +ransom for peace."</p> +<p>"Where is Ethelred the king of England?" I said, half to +myself.</p> +<p>"Ethelred?--he minds naught but Wessex for good reason. For +Halfden and Bagsac and the Sidracs are on one side of him, and +Ingvar and Hubba the other, waiting for him to make peace. But +there is like to be fighting. Alfred, the king's brother, has a +brave heart and a hard hand."</p> +<p>"Then all is quiet in London?"</p> +<p>"Peaceful enough; and there Guthrum the King holds court, and I +think men are well content with him."</p> +<p>"Of what is Guthrum king?" I asked, for I had not heard him +called by that name before. The only other king of the host beside +the three jarls was Bagsac.</p> +<p>"Why, of East Anglia. He holds it for Ingvar, while he tries to +add Wessex for his own to Mercia. Halfden will be king in +Northumbria, maybe, and Hubba over another of the kingdoms."</p> +<p>So they had already parted out the land among them beforehand! +Woe for us therefore, for unless a leader was raised up among us, +surely all England must own Danish overlords! But I had heard +Alfred the Wessex Atheling well spoken of as a warrior.</p> +<p>However, what was that to us of East Anglia? We had been +deserted by Wessex at our need as it seemed, and these Danes were +as near kin to us as Wessex Saxons.</p> +<p>"How did you come to leave Ingvar's service?" I asked, not being +willing to dwell on this matter.</p> +<p>"I think my face spoke to him too plainly of that which was in +Hoxne wood--and so he bade me stay with Guthrum. Nor was I loth, +for I would find you again."</p> +<p>Then I was touched a little by the kindness of this rough +warrior, and thanked him. After that we sat silent for a while, and +the good dame brought out food and ale for Raud, and I envied his +pleasure therein, for I took little as yet.</p> +<p>Now for many days past a great longing to be away from this +place had filled my mind, and now seemed to be the time.</p> +<p>"Take me to London, Raud," I said.</p> +<p>"Why, that is part of my errand here," he answered, smiling. "I +have a message to you from Guthrum the King."</p> +<p>"What might that be?"</p> +<p>"He wants to speak to you as one who is known to be friend to +Dane and Anglian alike, and being blamed by neither for friendship +with the other. So he would have you give him counsel."</p> +<p>"Let me get to London," I said, "and then I will answer. I +cannot now."</p> +<p>So Raud bided in the farm with me for a while, and now with new +thoughts and with his talk of Halfden and Osritha, I mended +quickly, for it was my troubled mind that had kept me back mostly, +as I cared for nothing.</p> +<p>One day I felt strong again, waking up and taking delight in the +smell of the fresh morning and in the sunlight. And I ate heartily +of the brown bread and milk they gave me, and afterwards told Raud +of what I had been long thinking.</p> +<p>"All things are quiet in the land now. Let us gather a few of my +people and seek the head of our king, if you fear not to go into +Hoxne woods."</p> +<p>Raud thought for a while before he answered me.</p> +<p>"I fear not, for the poor king thanked me, smiling at me. Let me +go with you."</p> +<p>So that day the dame sent messages by her son to some who had +come back to their places, and in the evening when he came home, +there were with him two of Bishop Humbert's monks, dressed like +churls, for they dared not wear their habits. These two and some +others would gladly come with me on my search.</p> +<p>Next day, therefore, they set me on a pony that was quiet, and +slowly we went towards Hoxne, coming thither in the afternoon +early, seeing no Danes anywhere, while many of our folk were back +and at work in the fields.</p> +<p>Then I asked Raud if these poor people were safe now.</p> +<p>"Surely, master," he said, for so he would call me, having heard +the farm people name me thus. "There is none so great difference +between you and us, and we Danes love to be at peace if we may. I +think there will be no more trouble here. And, anyway, we are too +wise to hinder a harvesting of that we may eat."</p> +<p>So too thought I, and my heart was less sad after that ride, +though there was not one place left unburnt of all that we saw.</p> +<p>When we came to Hoxne I told the two monks where we had bestowed +the king's body, bidding them look to see if it was not disturbed. +And they said that his bones were safely there.</p> +<p>Now we must seek for the head of the king, and in that Rand +could not help us, for one had ridden away with it while he was +taken up with me and my plight.</p> +<p>So we went towards that place where the dog had taken us, and +searched long, until I, being weak, must get from off the pony and +rest. I would ride back to the place where the king had been slain +and sit there awhile; but first, knowing that Vig remembered things +well, I sent him from me, bidding him search also, hoping that he +would not forget his last quest in this place. Yet what we most +feared was that the forest beasts had made our search vain.</p> +<p>There were many men from the village with us now, for they had +followed the two monks, and they spread about over the wood far and +wide, searching, while I sat at the foot of the oak tree to which +the king had been bound, leaning my arms and head against the trunk +that had been stained with his blood, and thinking and praying, as +well I might in that sacred place.</p> +<p>I moved my hand, and felt something sticking from the hard bark +and looked to see what it was. It was an arrowhead, such a rough +iron spike as men will use when they must make fresh arrows after +battle, in all haste, and have to use what they can first find. The +shaft was snapped close to the iron and the rawhide lashing that +held it, and I could not take it out as I would, for the young oak +was sturdy and tough; and so I left it, thinking that I would +return some day to cut it out.</p> +<p>That I did in after years, but the arrowhead was hidden, for the +tree had grown fast, closing on it, as I think, and I could not +find its place. So it will be there for one to find hereafter, +maybe long hence, for such a tree has many a hundred years to last +yet, if saved from mishap of wind or lightning or axe. Then I think +will men still know what that iron is, for Eadmund the King cannot +be forgotten.</p> +<p>Presently it seemed to me that the voices I heard in the wood, +as the searchers called to each other, drew closer together, +crying:</p> +<p>"Where are you?"</p> +<p>"Here--here!"</p> +<p>And then was a sort of outcry, and a silence, and I hoped that +maybe they had found what they sought. So I rose up and went slowly +and limpingly to the place where they seemed to be.</p> +<p>I met them in a green glade. And foremost came the two monks, +bearing between them a cloak, wherein was surely that we looked +for, and after them came my dog and Raud, and then the rest. And +when they saw me they cried softly to me:</p> +<p>"Master, we have found the head of our king."</p> +<p>So they laid open the cloak before me, and I knelt and looked. +And there was indeed the head of Eadmund, seeming whole and fresh +as when I had last seen him; and his looks were very peaceful, for +on his face was still that smile with which he had greeted death at +Raud's hands.</p> +<p>Then, seeing that, the rough Dane was fain to turn away and lean +arms and face against a tree trunk, weeping as weeps a child that +will not be comforted.</p> +<p>After a little I asked how they had found the head. And one of +the villagers, speaking low and holding his cap in his hands as +though in the church, answered me.</p> +<p>"When I came to a certain thicket, I heard a crying, as it were, +and I turned aside and looked, and at first was sorely afraid, for +yon great wolf held the head between his paws, whining over it as +in grief. Then I called to the rest, and they came, running, and +were afraid also till the good fathers came, to whom the wolf was +gentle, suffering them to take that which he guarded. And lo! he +follows us even now, as would a dog!"</p> +<p>So the man spoke, not having seen such a dog as mine before, for +till more came with the host there were none like him in our land. +I told him that it was but my own dog; yet for all that, I know +that this tale of a wolf passed for the truth over all the land as +it flew from mouth to mouth, so that soon I myself heard from one +who knew me not very strange stories of that finding of ours.</p> +<p>Yet would that tale hardly be stranger than was the truth, that +not one of the wild creatures, either beast or bird, had harmed our +king's sacred head. And how it should be so preserved in that place +I cannot tell, but I say what I saw. Yet his body was not so +preserved in the place where we had hidden it.</p> +<p>These things are beyond me, nor can I tell all the thoughts that +came into my mind as I looked into the face of the king whom I had +loved, and who loved me.</p> +<p>Now would we take our treasure, as we must needs think it, to +Hoxne, and the monks were about to lift it again. But Raud came +forward very solemnly, begging that he might be allowed to bear it, +"Because he would make what amends he might."</p> +<p>And I signed to the monks to suffer him to do so, and he took +it. None else but I knew what part he had had with the other Danes +in this matter, and the monks did but think him grieving for what +his comrades had done.</p> +<p>So he bore it to Hoxne village, and we passed the place where +the church had been. There, amid the blackened ruins of the walls +and roof, stood the font of stone, fire reddened and chipped, yet +with the cross graven on its eastward face plain to be seen. And to +that place Raud led us, none staying him, yet all wondering.</p> +<p>When he came there he strode over the burnt timber until he came +to the font, and there, under the graven cross, he set down his +burden very gently, and stood up, looking in my face, and +saying:</p> +<p>"Here will I leave the worship of Odin and cleave to that faith +for which Eadmund the King died, and for which you, Wulfric, were +willing to die both in Jutland and here by Eadmund's side. Will any +forbid me?"</p> +<p>Then I knew that the man was in such earnest, that none, save he +perilled his own soul, might hold him back, and I took his hand and +spoke to the elder monk, saying:</p> +<p>"I will answer for this man, father, as to his will. If he knows +enough of our faith, I pray you baptize him straightway."</p> +<p>There was rain water in the font, sparkling and clear, and +without any delay or doubt the good man came forward and stood +thereby, while I yet held Raud's hand as his godfather.</p> +<p>"What know you of our faith, my son?" said the monk in his +gentle voice.</p> +<p>Now of his own accord Raud faced to the eastward, and clasping +his hands before him, spoke the words of the Creed, slowly and +haltingly maybe, but with knowledge thereof, and all that little +company, standing hushed until he ended, answered "Amen" with one +voice.</p> +<p>Then again, untaught by us he turned to the west, where the sun +was even now sinking, and lifting his right hand very solemnly he +put away from him the false gods of his forefathers, and the golden +sunlight made his face very glorious, as I thought.</p> +<p>"It is well, my son," said the old monk.</p> +<p>So he was baptized, and I gave him the new name of Cyneward +<sup>{<a name="sdendnote22anc" href="#sdendnote22sym" id= +"sdendnote22anc">xxii</a>}</sup>, for the memory of Eadmund the +King and what he did for him in saving him from torture as best he +might. And surely he was the first fruit of the martyrdom of him +whose head he had borne.</p> +<p>Then when all was done he took up his burden again, softly and +reverently, saying:</p> +<p>"Life I took, and life has been given me. This is not the old +way of life for life, but it is better."</p> +<p>So he gave back the head to the monks, and they, wondering at +him, but greatly rejoicing, took it, and stood awhile pondering +where we might safely bestow it.</p> +<p>Then came one of the villagers, telling of a stone-walled +chamber that had been a well in days long gone by, hard by the +church porch. That we found after some labour, moving much ruin +from over it, and therein we placed the bones and head of our king, +covering it again until better days should come. And I, thinking of +my riches in the hands of Ingild, promised that when it might be +done I would see to raising the church afresh, to be over the ashes +of the king.</p> +<p>So our little company parted, and Cyneward, who had been Raud, +and I went back with the elder monk and the farm folk to our place, +going slowly in the warm twilight, with our hearts at rest, and +full of the wonders we had seen that day.</p> +<p>Only one thing would the monk and I ask Cyneward, for we +wondered how he had learned our faith so well. And that he answered +gladly.</p> +<p>"Ever as Wulfric and I escaped from the vengeance of Ingvar +towards Hedeby I wondered that one should be strong enough to defy +the Asir and their godar for the sake of the new faith. So I sat in +the church of Ansgar among the other heathen and heard somewhat. +And again in London of late, where Guthrum will have no man harmed +for his religion, I have listened and learnt more. So when I needed +them, the words were ready. Now, therefore, both in life and death, +Wulfric, my master, I thank you."</p> +<p>But I was silent, knowing how much greater a part in this I +might have had. For I thought that, but for the need of proving my +faith or denying it, I should have surely been as a heathen among +heathen in those days in Jutland. Yet Beorn asked me to pray for +him, and that I had done, and it had kept me mindful when I had +else forgotten.</p> +<p>So began the work Humbert the Bishop foretold before he died, +and that monk of his who saved his own life at Humbert's bidding +for the work, saw it, and rejoiced.</p> +<p>After this, in a week's time, Cyneward and I took horse and rode +away to London, for the dame's son came back to me, having found +Ingild, bringing me messages from him, and also from Egfrid and +many more. And all was well. At that time I could not reward as I +would those good people who had thus cared for me, but I would send +presents when I might. Yet they said they needed naught from me but +to see me again at some time, which I promised, as well for my own +love of them as for their asking.</p> +<p>We went unharmed and unquestioned, for all the land was at +peace. Truly there were new-made huts where farmsteads had been, +and at the town gates were Danish axemen instead of our spearmen as +of old. Yet already in the hayfields Dane and Anglian wrought +together, and the townsmen stood on Colchester Hill beside the +Danish warriors, listening while gleeman and scald sang in rivalry +to please both.</p> +<p>Little of change was there in London town, save again the +scarlet-cloaked Danish guards and watchmen. Few enough of these +there were, and indeed the host left but small parties in the towns +behind them in our land. Yet those few could hold the country in +peace, because men knew that at their back was the might of +Ingvar's awful host, which came on a land unawares, marching more +swiftly than rumour could fly before it, so that not one might know +where the next blow would fall until suddenly the war beacons of +flaming villages flared up, and it was too late to do aught but +fly.</p> +<p>Yet in our land was none to fight for. No king had we to follow +the martyr. Ethelred had left us alone, and already in the hearts +of men grew up the thought that the strong hand of the Dane meant +peace.</p> +<p>In the house of good old Ingild, my second father, as he would +have me hold him, was rest at last. And there I found all whom I +held dear gathered to meet me on the night when I came, for they +had fled by ship, as they had hoped, and had reached London +safely.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV. THE +MESSAGE OF HALFDEN THE KING.</a></h2> +<p>Now when I had been in London for a fortnight, Cyneward, whom +Ingild would by no means suffer to live elsewhere than in his house +with me, went to Guthrum as was his duty, and told him that I had +come. Whereupon he sent to me, asking again that I would speak with +him.</p> +<p>On that I took counsel with Ingild and Egfrid, and the thane his +father, and they thought it well that I should do so.</p> +<p>"This Dane," said the thane, "is lord of East Anglia by the +might of the strong hand, and it seems to us that we might have a +worse ruler. At any rate we shall have peace, and no more trouble +with Danes while he is here. As for Ethelred, he is no more to us. +Even if he overcomes the Danes in the end, it is not likely that we +will own Wessex overlords again unless we must."</p> +<p>That was the word of all with whom I spoke, and in the end, when +it was certain that the Danes meant to stay, and that help from +Ethelred was none, East Anglia owned Guthrum as king quietly and +with none to say a word against it, so securing a peace that should +last.</p> +<p>But to this I could not bring myself as yet, because of what I +had seen, and that the hand of Ingvar was behind Guthrum.</p> +<p>"Go to him at least," said Ingild, "and find what he needs of +you. Then will be time to say more."</p> +<p>So at his advice I went, and I found Guthrum in Ethelred's great +house, where he sat in little state, doing justice in open hall +where many citizens were gathered. And I saw him do even-handed +right to both Dane and Saxon, and that pleased me, for already I +had liked the man's honest face and free bearing.</p> +<p>He greeted me well, taking me aside presently with Cyneward into +a private chamber. And there he told me that he would ask me to do +a favour towards him.</p> +<p>I answered that what I might I would do gladly, so that he asked +me not to break faith with my own people.</p> +<p>"I would ask no man to do that," he said. "Tell me what I may +not ask you."</p> +<p>"Shall I speak plainly?" I said.</p> +<p>"Aye, plainly as you will."</p> +<p>"Then, Guthrum, I may not own Ingvar for overlord. Nor can I +allow that you have more than right of conquest over us."</p> +<p>"Plain speaking, in good sooth," he said, laughing a little, +"but what I expected from Wulfric of Reedham. However, I am ruler +in East Anglia by that right you speak of, and I have a mind to be +as fair in it as I may. Now, I think you can help me."</p> +<p>This honest saying warmed my heart to him somewhat, and weary +enough of his lawman's work this warrior looked. Yet I was not sure +that he would not try to use me to make his hold on the land more +sure.</p> +<p>"Tell me in what way that may be," I said, therefore.</p> +<p>"Let me come and ask you of this and that when I am in a strait +owing to knowing naught of Saxon ways. Then can I say to a Dane, +'Thus says Wulfric, Lodbrok's friend,' and to an Anglian, 'So says +the Thane of Reedham.' Then I think I shall do well, for I would +fain be fair."</p> +<p>"I will ever be ready to do that, Guthrum," I said; and I held +out my hand to him, for I could not help it.</p> +<p>So he took it and wrung it warmly.</p> +<p>"Now must I go back to Thetford very soon," he said. "Come back +that you may be near me."</p> +<p>"I must live here, in London now," I said; for I would by no +means live with his court, nor did I think that he should have +thought it of me after my words.</p> +<p>"Why not go back to your own place now? I can see you often at +Reedham."</p> +<p>"That is an ill jest," I said; for I thought nothing so sad as +going back to see that dear home of mine but a blackened heap of +ruins, nor would I ever ask any who might have seen the place +concerning it, knowing how the Danish ships had burnt all the coast +villages.</p> +<p>Guthrum looked at me as if puzzled.</p> +<p>"No jest, Thane," he said; "why not go back?"</p> +<p>"To ruins--what good?" I answered.</p> +<p>"Now I think you mean that you will not take your land at my +hands," he said.</p> +<p>"That were to own you king."</p> +<p>"Then, Wulfric, my friend, if I may call you so, that the lands +of a friend are not mine to give and take I need not tell you. Nor +do we harm the lands of a friend. There is one place in East Anglia +that no Dane has harmed, or will harm--the place that sheltered +Jarl Lodbrok. And there is one man whose folk, from himself to the +least of all, are no foes of ours--and that is the Thane of +Reedham. Ah! now I see that I have gladdened you, and I think that +you will come."</p> +<p>"This seems almost impossible," I said, in my wonder and +gladness.</p> +<p>"Nay, but word went round our host that it was to be so. There +you might have bided all unknowing that war was near you. You do +but go back of your own free will."</p> +<p>Now I was fain to say that I would at once go back to my place, +but there was one thing yet that I would say to Guthrum.</p> +<p>"Will you let the Christian folk be unharmed?"</p> +<p>"Little will our people care," he said, "when once they have +settled down, what gods a man worships. Nor would I have any +meddled with because of their faith."</p> +<p>"Now am I most willing to help you," I said; "and I will say +this--so are you likely in the end to be hailed king indeed."</p> +<p>"That is well," he answered, flushing a little. "But there is +one man whom I will never ask to own me as king, and that is +yourself. But if you do so of your own will, it will be better +yet."</p> +<p>So we parted, each as I think pleased with the other, and I knew +that East Anglia had found a wise ruler in Guthrum the Dane.</p> +<p>Straightway now I told my people the good news that Reedham was +safe. The longships came up to Norwich time after time now; and +there had been but one thought among us, and that was that our +place could not have escaped the destruction that had fallen on all +the shore and riverside villages.</p> +<p>Then Ingild said:</p> +<p>"These Danes have come as our forefathers came here, to take a +new and better country for themselves, but the strife between them +and us is not as the strife between alien peoples. They are our +kin, but between us and the Welsh was hatred of race. They will +settle down, and never will East Anglia pass from Danish hands, +even if Ethelred of Wessex makes headway enough to be owned as +overlord of England by them. Now therefore is there one place in +all England where peace has come, and to that place I would go to +end my days. Here in London the tide of war will ebb and flow ever. +Let me go down with you to Reedham, my son, that I may die in +peace."</p> +<p>So we did but wait until he had set all his affairs in order, +selling his house and merchandise and the like. Then we hired a +ship that came from the Frankish coast and waited for cargo in the +Thames, and sailed at the end of July to Reedham. With us were +Egfrid and Eadgyth and my mother and Cyneward, who would by no +means leave me, and to whom Guthrum willingly gave leave to go with +us.</p> +<p>We came easily to Reedham, and very strange it was to me to see +two Danish longships lying in our roads, while our own shore boats +were alongside, the men talking idly together on deck or over +gunwale in all friendliness. Stranger yet it was to see the black +ruins of farms and church on the southern shores of the river +mouth, and at Reedham all things safe and smiling as ever.</p> +<p>Then was a wondrous welcome for us on our little staithe, and +all the village crowded down to greet us. Nor were the men from the +Danish ships behindhand in that matter, for they too would welcome +Lodbrok's friends.</p> +<p>So we came home, and soon the old life began again as if naught +had altered, but for the loss of loved faces round us. Yet in peace +or war that must come, and in a little while we grew content, and +even happy.</p> +<p>Soon Guthrum came to Thetford, and many times rode over to me, +asking me many things. And all men spoke well of him, so that +Egfrid's father and some other thanes owned him as king, and took +their lands as at his hands, coming back to rebuild their houses. +For as yet none of the greater Danish chiefs chose lands among us, +since it seemed likely that in a little while all England would be +before them, and in any case the power of Ethelred must be broken +before there could be peace.</p> +<p>Now when the first pleasure of return was over, I myself began +to be restless in my mind, seeing the quiet happiness of Egfrid in +his marriage, and thinking how far I was from Osritha, whom I loved +in such sort that well I knew that I should never wed any other. +And I would watch some Danish ship when she passed our village, +going homewards, longing to sail in her and seek the place where +Lodbrok's daughter yet lived beyond the broad seas.</p> +<p>But presently, at the summer's very end, I knew from the Danes +that Ingvar had gone back to Denmark, called there by some rumour +of trouble brewing at home in his absence; and that made it yet +harder for me, if possible, for on Ingvar I would not willingly +look again, nor would I think of Osritha but as apart from him.</p> +<p>So the winter wore away. The host was quiet in winter quarters +in Mercia, and the Danes in our country grew friendly with us, +harming no man.</p> +<p>These men, I could see, would fain bide in peace, settling down, +being tired of war, and liking the new country, where there was +room and to spare for all.</p> +<p>In early spring Guthrum went to the host on the Wessex borders, +taking command in Ingvar's place.</p> +<p>For Hubba went to Northumbria, there to complete his conquests, +and Halfden was on the western borders of Wessex. And before he +went Guthrum took great care for the good ordering of our land--and +that he might leave it at all at that time was enough to show that +he feared no revolt against him.</p> +<p>Now as I sat in our hall, listless and downcast, one day in +July, Cyneward came in to me.</p> +<p>"Here is news, master, that I know not what to make of."</p> +<p>"What is it?" I said. "Is the war to be here once more?"</p> +<p>"The war is no nearer than Ashdown Heath; but it seems that the +Wessex men have found a leader."</p> +<p>Then he told me of the long fighting round Reading, and how at +last Halfden had cut his way through Wessex and joined forces with +Guthrum after many victories. But that then Ethelred and Alfred the +Atheling had made a great effort, winning a mighty victory on +Ashdown Heath, slaying Bagsac the king and both the Sidracs, Harald +and Osbern the jarls, Frene, and many more with them. Nine battles +had they fought that year and last.</p> +<p>"How hear you of this?" I said.</p> +<p>"There has come a messenger from Guthrum with the news, and even +now the Danes march in all haste from the towns to fill up the gaps +in the ranks of the host, and he says that ships must go back to +Jutland to Ingvar for more men from overseas."</p> +<p>Now this news was nothing to us East Anglians for the most part, +and to me it was but a turn of the fight between Dane and Saxon for +the overlordship of all England. That was not a matter to be +settled by one or two victories on either side, nor might one see +how it would end. Yet I was glad, for of all things I feared that +Ingvar might be our master in the end, and this seemed to say that +it was none so certain.</p> +<p>More men came in after that, hastening the going to the front of +those who would, for not all the Danes among us would stir from +their new homes, saying that they had done their part, and knowing +that what they left others might take.</p> +<p>And in ten days' time Cyneward came to me saying that there were +two longships coming in from the open sea.</p> +<p>"Let the pilots go out to them," I said; for it was of no use +withholding this help from the Danish ships, little as we liked to +see them come. So I forgot the matter.</p> +<p>Then again Cyneward ran to me in haste, and with his eyes +shining.</p> +<p>"Master, here is Halfden's ship. Come and see!"</p> +<p>Gladly I went out then, and when I saw those two ships my heart +leapt up with joy, for it was indeed my own ship that was leading, +and I thought that Halfden would be in her.</p> +<p>So soon as she was in the river she made for our wharf, and that +was not the wont of the Danes, who mostly went on past us up the +river to where the great towns were. And at once when she was +alongside I went on board, and at sight of me half her crew came +crowding round me, shouting and shaking my hand; for they were our +old crew, the same who had fought beside me and had backed me at +the Ve. There, too, was Thormod, grim as ever, but welcoming me +most gladly. But Halfden was not there.</p> +<p>"What is this, Thormod?" I said, when I had him up to the house, +and the men were eating in the great hall. "Why are you not with +Halfden?"</p> +<p>"Have you heard no news?" he asked.</p> +<p>"Only a few days ago I heard of the business at Ashdown."</p> +<p>"Well, I have come thence," he said. "Now must I sail home and +fetch more men in all haste."</p> +<p>"Why came you in here?"</p> +<p>"Because I came away in haste and need stores. And, moreover, I +wanted to see you."</p> +<p>"That is good of you, Thormod, and glad am I to have you here, +even if it is only for a day," I answered.</p> +<p>"Moreover, I have a message to you from Halfden," he went +on.</p> +<p>Whereupon I asked him about the battle, and long we sat while he +told me all. And Halfden's deeds had been great, but could not turn +aside defeat. So he ended.</p> +<p>"Then because our ship lay in the Thames, where we had sent her +from the west when we broke through the Wessex country and joined +Guthrum, he sent me back for men. So I am here. Both sides must +needs rest awhile, as I think."</p> +<p>"What of Halfden's message?" I asked.</p> +<p>"Why, I know not how you will take it, but it is this. The night +before the battle he slept ill, and at last woke me, saying that he +would have me take a message if he was slain. So I said that I +hoped he was not fey. That he was not, he told me, but this was +going to be a heavy sword play, and one knew not how things would +go. Then he told me that ever as he began to sleep he saw Osritha +his sister, and she was pale and wrung her hands, saying: 'Now am I +alone, and there is none to help me, for Halfden and Wulfric are +far away, and I fear Ingvar and his moods'. Then said I, 'That is +true enough. It needs no dream to tell one of the maiden's +loneliness.' Yet he answered, 'Nevertheless, in some way I will +have Wulfric our comrade know that Osritha sits alone and will not +be comforted'. So when I must start on this voyage he bade me tell +you of this matter, and I have done so."</p> +<p>Now I was full of many thoughts about this, but as yet I would +say little. So I asked:</p> +<p>"What of Ingvar's moods? are they more fierce than his +wont?"</p> +<p>"Well, between us twain," he answered, looking at Cyneward, who +sat apart from us across the king's chamber where we were, "Ingvar +is not all himself lately, and all men fear him, so that he is no +loss to the host."</p> +<p>I knew somewhat, I thought, of the reason for this, and so did +Cyneward, but passed that over. Now nothing seemed more plain to me +than that Halfden meant that I should seek Osritha.</p> +<p>"What is Halfden doing?" I asked. "Will he not go back to your +own land?"</p> +<p>"Why, no. For he takes Northumbria as his share of what we have +won. Hubba is there now. But we fight to gain more if we may, and +if not, to make sure of what we have. One way or another Ethelred's +power to attack us must be broken."</p> +<p>"So Halfden bides in England. What meant he by his message?"</p> +<p>"Why, Wulfric, if you cannot see I will not tell you."</p> +<p>"What of Ingvar?"</p> +<p>"Now, Wulfric," said Thormod, "if I did not know that you at +least were not afraid of him, I should say that he was best left +alone. But as neither you nor I fear him, let us go and see what +may be done."</p> +<p>"Let me think thereof," said I, not yet daring to make so sure +of what I most wished.</p> +<p>"Shall I tell Osritha that Wulfric thought twice of coming to +see her?"</p> +<p>"That you shall not," I cried; "I do but play with my happiness. +Surely I will go, and gladly. But will she welcome me?"</p> +<p>"Better come and see concerning that also," he answered, +laughing a little, so that one might know what he meant.</p> +<p>"Let us go at once on this tide," I said, starting up.</p> +<p>"Not so fast now, comrade," laughed Thormod. "Would you come +again half starved, as last time, into the lady's presence?"</p> +<p>Then I called Cyneward, but when he rose up and came to us, +Thormod stared at him, crying:</p> +<p>"You here, Raud! I thought you were with Ingvar."</p> +<p>"Aye, Thormod, I am here--at least Cyneward, who was Raud, is +with Wulfric."</p> +<p>"Ho! Then you have turned Christian?"</p> +<p>"Aye," answered Cyneward, flushing, though not with shame, for +it was the first time he had owned his faith to one of his former +comrades.</p> +<p>"Now I thought this likely to happen to some of us," said +Thormod, not showing much surprise, "if maybe it is sooner than one +might have looked for. However, that is your concern, not mine. +Keep out of Ingvar's way, though."</p> +<p>"I bide here with Wulfric," he answered, having paid no heed to +our low-voiced talk.</p> +<p>"Wulfric sails with me to find--Ingvar," said Thormod, and at +that Cyneward turned to me in surprise.</p> +<p>"Not Ingvar," said I, "but one in his house. Will you come with +me?"</p> +<p>Then he understood, and his face showed his gladness.</p> +<p>"This is well," he cried; "gladly will I go with you and return +with that other."</p> +<p>"That is to be seen," I answered, though I thought it surely +would be so. "Now go and see to the arms and all things needful, +and send the steward to me, for we have to victual the ship."</p> +<p>So I left Thormod with the steward and sought Ingild, telling +him what I would do. Whereat he, knowing my trouble, was very glad; +and then Egfrid would fain come with me also when he heard. That, +however, I would not suffer, seeing that there was Ingvar to be +dealt with. My mother wept, and would have me not go. But here my +sister helped me.</p> +<p>"Bring Osritha back if you can," she said. "Soon will our house +be built again, and we shall go, and you will be lonely."</p> +<p>For Egfrid's father had owned Guthrum, and his house and theirs +were nigh rebuilt.</p> +<p>In a day's time Thormod and I set sail, and once more I took the +helm as we went out over our bar. And the quiver of the tiller in +my hands and the long lift of the ship over the rollers seemed to +put fresh life in me, and my gloom passed away as if it had never +been.</p> +<p>The breeze was fresh, and the ship flew, yet not fast enough for +me, though so well sailed ours that when day broke the other was +hull down astern of us, and at night we had lost her altogether. +And the breeze held and the spray flew, and I walked the deck +impatiently, while Thormod from the helm smiled at me. Bright were +the skies over me, and bright the blue water that flashed below the +ship's keel, but my thoughts would even have brightened such leaden +skies as those that last saw me cross along this ocean path. And I +thought that I could deal with Ingvar now.</p> +<hr /> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI. +HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA HOME.</a></h2> +<p>There was a haze far out at sea, and a fog was coming in with +the tide when we came to the mouth of Ingvar's haven; and rounded +the spit of land that shelters it from the southerly winds. Soon we +cleared it and then saw the town and hall above it at the head of +the haven, and what my longings were I need not write.</p> +<p>Now by the wharves lay two ships, and I thought little of that, +but on seeing them, Thormod, by whose side I was as he steered, +seemed to wonder.</p> +<p>"Ingvar has got another ship from somewhere," he said, "or has +built one this winter, for he sailed home with one only."</p> +<p>Then, too, the men began to say the like, for the second ship +was strange to them also, and, as seamen will, they puzzled over +her until we were close at hand. But I leaned on the gunwale and +dreamed dreams of my own, paying no heed to their talk.</p> +<p>Out of those dreams I was roused by Thormod's voice.</p> +<p>"Yon ship is no Dane," he said sharply. "Clear the decks and get +to arms, men. Here is somewhat amiss."</p> +<p>Then was a growl of wrath from our crew, yet no delay, and in a +moment every man was in his place. Down came the sail, and the mast +was lowered and hoisted on its stanchions overhead, and in five +minutes or less the oars were out, and the men who were arming +themselves ran to take them as they were ready, while those who had +rowed should get to arms also. Not for the first time saw I that +ship cleared for action, but never had I seen it done so swiftly, +though we had but half our fighting crew, sixty men instead of a +hundred and thirty or so.</p> +<p>I armed myself swiftly as any, and Thormod bade me take +Halfden's place on the fore deck, where the men were already +looking to bowstrings and bringing up sheaves of arrows and +darts.</p> +<p>Then when I came they shouted, and one gray-headed warrior +cried:</p> +<p>"Now you have a good fight on hand, axeman."</p> +<p>Then I asked:</p> +<p>"Who are the strangers?"</p> +<p>"It is a ship of the Jomsburg vikings," he said. "They know that +our men are all in England, and have come to see what we have left +behind--Thor's bolt light on them!"</p> +<p>Now, of all savage vikings these Jomsburgers are the worst. +Red-handed they are, sparing none, and it is said of them that they +will sacrifice men to the gods they worship before a great fight. +Nor are they all of one race, but are the fiercest men of all the +races of the Baltic gathered into that one nest of pirates, +Jomsburg.</p> +<p>Now a cold thrill of fear for Osritha ran through me, and then +came hot rage, and for a little I was beside myself, as it were, +glaring on that ship. Then I grew cool and desperate, longing only +to be hand to hand with them.</p> +<p>Swiftly we bore down on the ship, and now from her decks came +the hoarse call of uncouth war horns, and her crew came swarming +back from the streets with shouts and yells, crossing Ingvar's ship +to reach their own, for she lay alongside, stem to stern of the +Dane, and next to the open water.</p> +<p>Now I could see that men fought with the last of the Jomsburgers +as they came down the street to their ship, and there were no +houses burning, so that they could have been for no long time +ashore. And that was good to know.</p> +<p>We came into the channel abreast of her, and then Thormod roared +to me:</p> +<p>"Now I will ram her. Board her as we strike if we do not sink +her!"</p> +<p>Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at +the oars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck +warriors gripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped +like a falcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled +and left their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, +while some tried to cast off, but too late.</p> +<p>"Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew.</p> +<p>Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and +the smitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed +the higher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree.</p> +<p>Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our +dragon stem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, +splintering the rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk +on either side of our bows, while above the rending of planks and +rush of waters rose the howls of the drowning men.</p> +<p>I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet +my men went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again +with a great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as +I leapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before +me.</p> +<p>Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought at +close quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearer +than life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after our +cheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing of +weapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of the +foul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths of +our men.</p> +<p>Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp over +me, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us, +and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and on +either side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ring +of dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of that +mist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled by +whom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if one +slew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place, +seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battle +sounded, and the fight never slackened.</p> +<p>All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must +keep my own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha +and home and happiness--surely the best things for which a man can +fight next to his faith. And now men began to shout their war cries +that friend might rally to friend rather than smite him coming as a +ghost through the mist. Then a man next me cried between his +teeth:</p> +<p>"It is Ragnaroek come--and these are Odin's foes against whom we +fight."</p> +<p>And so smote the more fiercely till he fell beside me, crying: +"Ahoy! A Raven!--a Raven!"</p> +<p>Then was I down on the slippery deck, felled by a blow from a +great stone hammer that some wild pirate flung over the heads of +his comrades before me, and Cyneward dragged me up quickly, so that +I think he saved my life that time. And I fought on, dazed, and as +in a dream I fancied that I was on the deck of my father's ship +fighting the fight that I looked for in the fog that brought my +friend Halfden.</p> +<p>When my brain cleared, I knew not which way we faced. Only that +Cyneward was yet with me, and that out of the dimness came against +us Jomsburgers clad in outlandish armour, and with shouts to +strange gods as they fell on me.</p> +<p>"<i>Hai, Wainomoinen! Swantewit, ho!</i>"</p> +<p>Then I cast away my shield, for I grew weary, and taking both +hands to my axe, fought with a dull rage that I should have fallen, +and that there were so many against me. And all alone we two seemed +to fight by reason of the fog, though I heard the shouts of our +crew to right and left unceasingly.</p> +<p>Then I felled a man, and one leapt back into mist and was gone, +and a giant shape rose up against me out of the thickness, towering +alone, and at this I smote fiercely. Yet it was not mail or +hardened deerskin that I smote, but solid timber, and I could not +free my axe again, so strongly had I smitten.</p> +<p>It was the high stem head of the vessel. For I and my men had +cleared away the foe from amidships to bows, and still the noise of +fight went on behind us, while the fog was thick as ever.</p> +<p>Then Cyneward leaned against the stem head and laughed.</p> +<p>"Pity so good a stroke was wasted on timber, master," he +said.</p> +<p>"Pull it out for me," I answered, "my arm is tired."</p> +<p>For now I began to know that my left shoulder was not yet so +strong as once.</p> +<p>He tugged at the axe and freed it, not without trouble.</p> +<p>"What now?" said one of the men.</p> +<p>But a great shout came from aft, and then a silence that seemed +strange. We were still, to hear what we might, and I think that +others listened for us.</p> +<p>"Surely we have cleared the ship?" I said. "Let us go and +see."</p> +<p>Then I hailed our men, asking how they fared--and half I feared +to hear the howl and rush of pirates coming back on us. But it was +a Danish voice that called back to me that the last foe was +gone.</p> +<p>We stumbled back now along either gunwale, over the bodies of +friend and foe that cumbered all the deck, and most thickly and in +heaps amidships, where our first rush fell. One by one from aft met +us those who were left of the men who had fought their way to the +stern. Well for us was it that the darkness had hindered the +Jomsburgers from knowing how few we were and how divided. But +shoulder to shoulder we had fought as vikings will, never giving +back, but ever taking one step forward as our man went down before +us.</p> +<p>Now I called to Thormod, and his voice answered me from +shoreward.</p> +<p>"Here am I, Wulfric. How have you sped?"</p> +<p>"Some of us are left, but no foemen," I answered.</p> +<p>"Call your names," he said. And when we counted I had but +sixteen left of my thirty, so heavy had been the fighting. Yet I +thought that the Jomsburgers were two to our one as we fell on +them, and of them was not one left.</p> +<p>"What now?" asked Thormod. "There are more of these men in the +town. Here have I been keeping them back from the ship."</p> +<p>"Let us go up to the hall," I answered. "We could find our way +in the dark, and they cannot tell where they are in this fog."</p> +<p>So I and my men climbed on to the wharf, and there were the rest +of the crew with Thormod, who had crossed the decks as we cleared a +passage, even as the fog came down, and had driven the rest of the +Jomsburgers away from the landing place before they could join +those in the ship. Well for us it was that he had done this, or we +should have been overborne by numbers, for the ship was a large +one, carrying maybe seven score men.</p> +<p>"We must leave your tired men with the ship and go carefully," +said Thormod. "Likely enough we shall have another fight."</p> +<p>We marched up the well-known street four abreast, and as we left +the waterside the fog was thinner, so that we could see the houses +on either side of the way well enough. And as we went we were +joined by many of Ingvar's people, old men and boys mostly, who had +been left at home when the fleet sailed. And they told us that the +Jomsburg men were round the great house itself.</p> +<p>Yet we could hear no sound of them, and that seemed strange, so +that we feared somewhat, drawing together lest a rush on us were +planned. But beyond a few men slain in the street we saw nothing +till we came to the gate of the stockade. And that was beaten down, +while some Danes and Jomsburgers lay there as they had fallen when +this was done.</p> +<p>Now when we saw this I know not which was the stronger, rage or +surprise, and I called one of the old men.</p> +<p>"Where is the king?" I asked.</p> +<p>"He is not in the town," he said; "he is away with his own +courtmen, fighting against these pirates for Jarl Swend, who is +beset by them."</p> +<p>Now it was plain that this ship came from that place; either +beaten off, or knowing that Ingvar's haven lay open to attack while +his men were away thus. And a greater fear than any came over +me.</p> +<p>"Where is the Lady Osritha?" I said.</p> +<p>"She was here in the town this morning."</p> +<p>"So, Wulfric," said Thormod quickly, "she will have fled. The +steward will have seen to that. No use her biding here when the +ship came."</p> +<p>So I thought, but I was torn with doubt, not knowing if time for +flight had been given, or if even now some party of Jomsburgers +might not be following hard after her. I must go into the hall and +find out, whatever the risk, for it was certain that it held the +rest of the pirates.</p> +<p>"Leave men here to guard the gates," I said to Thormod. "Needs +must that we see more of this."</p> +<p>Ten men stayed at the gate, lest Jomsburgers lurked in the +houses to fall on us, and we went across to the great porch. The +door was open, nor could we see much within; and there was +silence.</p> +<p>"Stand by," said Thormod, and picked up a helm that lay at his +feet.</p> +<p>He hurled it through the door, and it clanged and leapt from the +further wall across the cold hearthstone. Then there was a stir of +feet and click of arms inside, and we knew that the hall was full +of men.</p> +<p>I know not what my thoughts were--but woe to any pirate who came +within my reach.</p> +<p>"Show yourselves like men!" shouted Thormod, standing back.</p> +<p>Then, seeing that there was no hope that we should fall into +this trap they had laid, there came into the doorway a great, +black-haired Jomsburg Lett, clad in mail of hardened deerskin, such +as the Lapp wizards make, and helmed with a wolf's head over the +iron head piece. He carried a long-handled bronze axe, and a great +sword was by his side.</p> +<p>"Yield yourselves!" said Thormod.</p> +<p>The savage hove up his axe, stepping one pace nearer into the +porch.</p> +<p>"What terms?" he said in broken Danish.</p> +<p>"Give up your prisoners and arms, and you shall go free," +answered Thormod, for he feared lest if any captives were left +alive they would be slain if we fought.</p> +<p>"Come and take them!" spoke back the Jomsburger in his harsh +voice, and with a sneering laugh.</p> +<p>Now I could not bear this any longer, and on that I swung my axe +and shouted, rushing on the man. Up went his long weapon overhead, +and like a flash he smote at me--but he forgot that he was in the +porch, and as his blow fell the axe lit on the crossbeams and stuck +there. The handle splintered, and he sprang back out of reach of my +stroke.</p> +<p>Then I dropped my axe and closed with him, and I was like a +Berserk in my fury, so that I lifted him and flung him clear over +my shoulder, and he fell heavily on the threshold on his head. Nor +did he move again.</p> +<p>Cyneward thrust my axe into my hand, as past me Thormod and the +men charged into the doorway. The hall was full of the pirates, and +now we fought again as on the decks, hand to hand in half darkness. +But it was no long fight, for those of our men who had been at the +gate, finding they might leave it, came round and fell on the +Jomsburgers from the back of the hall, coming through the other +doors. So there was an end, and though many of us were wounded, we +lost there but three men, for there were ale casks lying about, and +the pirates fought ill.</p> +<p>Now we stood among the dead and looked in one another's faces. +There were no Danes among the Jomsburgers, and they had, as it +seemed, found the place empty. Then I thought:</p> +<p>"Those men who fell at the gate should be honoured, for they +have fought and died to give time for flight to the rest."</p> +<p>And I called Cyneward to me, and we went through the house from +end to end. Everywhere had been the pirates, rifling and spoiling +in haste, so that the hangings were falling from the walls, and +rich stuffs torn from chests and closets strewed the floors of +Osritha's bower. But we found no one.</p> +<p>Then said Cyneward:</p> +<p>"They are safe--fled under cover of the fog."</p> +<p>But now broke out a noise of fighting in the streets, and we +went thither in haste. Some twenty Jomsburgers had sallied from a +house, and were fighting their way to the ships, for now one could +see well enough. They were back to back and edging their way +onward, while the boys and old men tried to stay them in vain.</p> +<p>When they saw us, they broke and fled, and were pursued and +slain at last, one by one. Then were no more of that crew left.</p> +<p>Now Thormod and I went back to the hall, and in the courtyard +stood a black horse, foam covered, and with deeply-spurred sides. +It was Ingvar's.</p> +<p>And when we came to the porch, the axe still stuck in the +timbers overhead, and the Jomsburg chief's body lay where I had +cast him--but in the doorway, thin and white as a ghost, stood +Ingvar the king, looking on these things.</p> +<p>He saw me, and gave back a pace or two, staring and amazed, and +his face began to work strangely, and he stepped back into the dim +light of the hall, and leant against the great table near the door, +clutching at its edge with his hands behind him, saying in a low +voice:</p> +<p>"Mercy, King--have mercy!"</p> +<p>Now, so unlike was this terror-stricken man to him who stood in +Hoxne woods bidding that other ask for mercy, and gnashing his +teeth with rage, that I could hardly think him Ingvar, rather +pitying him. I would have gone to him, but Thormod held me +back.</p> +<p>"Let him bide--the terror is on him again--it will pass +soon."</p> +<p>"Aye, I saw him thus once before in Wessex," said one of our +men; and I knew that this was what Cyneward had told me of.</p> +<p>Very pitiful it was to see him standing thus helpless and +unmanned, while his white lips formed again and again the word of +which he once knew hardly the meaning--"Mercy".</p> +<p>Presently his look came back from far away to us, and he +breathed freely. At last he stood upright and came again to the +doorway, trying to speak in his old way.</p> +<p>"Here have you come in good time, comrades. Where are the +Jomsburgers?"</p> +<p>"Gone," said Thormod, curtly. "Where were you, King?"</p> +<p>Now Ingvar heeded me not, but answered Thormod.</p> +<p>"With Jarl Swend beating off more of this crew. Then I saw the +ship leave, and I knew where she would go. Hard after me are my +courtmen, but I was swifter than they."</p> +<p>Now all this was wearisome to me, for I would fain follow +Osritha in her flight, if I could. So I left Thormod, without a +word to Ingvar, and went to the stables. There were but two horses +left, and those none of the best; but Cyneward and I mounted them, +and rode as fast as we might on the road which he said was most +likely to be taken by fugitives.</p> +<p>We had but two miles to ride, for in the fog that frightened +crowd of old men, women, and children had surely circled round, and +had it lasted would never have gone far from the town.</p> +<p>When they saw us the women shrieked, and what men were with them +faced round to meet an attack, thinking the pirates followed them; +but we shouted to them to hold, as we were friends, though not +before an arrow or two flew towards us.</p> +<p>At my voice, Osritha, who sat on her own horse in the midst of +the company, turned round, saying quickly:</p> +<p>"Who is it speaks?"</p> +<p>And I took off my helm, and she saw me plainly, and cried my +name aloud, and then swayed in her saddle and slipped thence into +her old steward's arms, and one or two of the maidens went to her +help.</p> +<p>But the men cheered, knowing that now help, and maybe victory, +had come with us.</p> +<p>"Is all well?" they said in many voices.</p> +<p>"All is well," I answered; "let us take back your mistress."</p> +<p>Now Osritha came to herself, and saw me standing looking on her, +for I feared that she was dead, and she stretched her hands to me, +not regarding those around her in her joy and trouble.</p> +<p>"Wulfric," she cried, "take me hence into some place of +peace."</p> +<p>I raised her very gently, holding her in my arms for a moment, +but not daring to speak to her as yet. And I lifted her into the +saddle again, telling her that all was well, and that we might take +her back to the town in safety. Then she smiled at me in silence, +and I walked beside her as we went back.</p> +<p>Then rode forward Cyneward and the steward to deal so with +matters that the women might be terrified as little as possible +with sights of war time, and we followed slowly. Naught said +Osritha to me as we went, for there were too many near, and she +knew not what I might have to tell; yet her hand sought mine, and +hand in hand we came to Ingvar's house, and to the lesser door. +There I left her, and went to seek Thormod.</p> +<p>The large hall was cleared, and little trace beyond the dint of +blows on walls and table showed what fight had raged therein, but +only Thormod and Cyneward and Ingvar were there; and Ingvar slept +heavily in his great chair.</p> +<p>"This is his way of late," said Thormod, looking coldly at him; +"fury, and terror, and then sleep. I fear me that Ingvar the King +goes out of his mind with that of which he raves. Nor do I wonder, +knowing now from Cyneward here what that is. Little help shall we +take back from Ingvar, for he has bestirred himself to gather no +new host since he came back."</p> +<p>"Men said that trouble at home brought him from England. I +suppose he judged it likely that the Jomsburgers might give +trouble," I said.</p> +<p>"The foes that sent him back were--ghosts," said Thormod +bitterly. "Come and let us see to the ship."</p> +<p>So we went down to the wharf, and found the ship but little hurt +by that business. And I stayed on board her that night, for I would +not see Ingvar again just yet.</p> +<p>But in the early morning he sent to beg me to speak with him, +and I came. He sat in his great chair, and I stood before him.</p> +<p>"You have brought me a quiet night, Wulfric," he said. "Tell me +how you came here, for I think it was not that you would wish to +see me again."</p> +<p>So Thormod had told him nothing, and I answered:</p> +<p>"I came with Thormod for more men, for Ethelred the King is +growing strong against you. Have you heard no news?"</p> +<p>"None," he said; "but that is not your errand, but his."</p> +<p>"That will Thormod tell you, therefore," I answered. "As for me, +I came at Halfden's bidding, which Thormod told me."</p> +<p>"What did Halfden bid you come here for?"</p> +<p>"To take Osritha his sister into safety and peace again. Suffer +me to do so," I said, boldly enough, but yet quietly.</p> +<p>Now Ingvar looked fixedly at me from under his brows, and I gave +back his look. Yet there was no silent defiance between us +therein.</p> +<p>"Take her," he said at length; "you have saved her from these +Jomsburgers, and you have the right. Take her where you will."</p> +<p>"Do you come back with us, King?" I asked him, giving him no +word of thanks, for I owed him none.</p> +<p>"Tell Guthrum from me that I shall never set foot in England +again. Tell him, if you will, that our shores here need watching +against outland foes, and that I will do it. Let him settle his +kingship with Hubba and Halfden."</p> +<p>Then he paled and looked beyond me, adding in a low voice: +"Eadmund is king in East Anglia yet."</p> +<p>Now I answered him not, fearing lest his terror should come on +him again. And slowly he slipped from his arm the great gold +bracelet that he had so nearly given Eadgyth.</p> +<p>"Tell your people that never should a bridal train cross the +Bridge of the Golden Spurs on the way to the church while the brook +flows to the sea, lest ill should befall both bride and groom, +because thus found I Eadmund the King, whose face is ever before me +by night and day. Take this gold, I pray you, Wulfric, and lay it +on the tomb where his bones are, in token that he has +conquered--and let me fight my shame alone till I die."</p> +<p>Wondering, I took the bracelet, pitying the man again, yet +fearing what he might say and do next, for I thought that maybe he +would slay himself, so hopeless looked he.</p> +<p>"Fain would I have been your friend," he said, "but pride would +not let me. Yet Eadgyth your sister and Egfrid called me so, and +maybe that one deed of ruth may help me. Now go, lest I become weak +again. Lonely shall I be, for you take all that I hold dear--but +even that is well."</p> +<p>So he turned from me, and I went out without a word, for he was +Ingvar. Yet sometimes I wish that I had bidden him farewell, when +the thought of his dark face comes back to me as I saw him for the +last time in his own hall, leaning away from me over his carven +chair, and very still.</p> +<p>I sought Thormod, and told him that he must see the king with +his tidings, for I would not see his face again.</p> +<p>"Nor shall we see Jutland again," he said, pointing to the ship, +which lay now in the same place where the pirate had been, +alongside Ingvar's. And the other ship had come in during the +night, and was at anchor in the haven.</p> +<p>"Shall we sail home at once?" I asked him.</p> +<p>"Aye; no use in waiting. We are wanted at Guthrum's side, and +can take no men, but a few boys back. Yet the other ship will stay +while I send messengers inland, if Ingvar will not. But I shall +return no more."</p> +<p>"Then," said I, "I will speak to the Lady Osritha."</p> +<p>"Go at once," he said, smiling; "bid her come with us to the +better home we have found."</p> +<p>I had not seen Osritha since I left her yesterday, and now I +feared a little, not knowing how she would look on things.</p> +<p>Yet I need not have feared, for when they took me to her bower +she rose up and came to me, falling on my neck and weeping, and I +knew that I had found her again not to part with her.</p> +<p>When she grew calmer, I asked her if she would return with us to +Reedham, telling her how there would be no fear of war there in the +time to come. And she held her peace, so that I thought she would +not, and tried to persuade her, telling her what a welcome would be +to her from all our folk, and also from the Danish people who loved +her so well.</p> +<p>So I went on, until at last she raised her head, smiling at +me.</p> +<p>"Surely I will follow you--let me be with you where you +will."</p> +<p>So it came to pass that next day we sailed, Osritha taking her +four maidens with her, for they would not leave her; having, +moreover, somewhat to draw them overseas even as I had been drawn +to this place again. And with us went close on a score of women and +children whose menfolk were settled already near to Reedham. These +were the first who came into our land, but they were not to be the +last.</p> +<p>I had seen Ingvar no more, busying myself about fitting the ship +with awnings and the like for these passengers of ours; and what +Thormod did about the men he sought I know not, nor did I care to +know.</p> +<p>There is a dead tree which marks the place where I had been cast +ashore in Lodbrok's boat, and which is the last point of land on +which one looks as the ship passes to the open sea from the haven. +And there we saw Ingvar the king for the last time. All alone he +stood with his hands resting on his sword, looking at our ship as +she passed. Nor did he move from that place all the time we could +see him.</p> +<p>Silently Thormod gave the tiller into my hands, and went to the +flag halliards. Thrice he dipped Halfden's flag in salute, but +Ingvar made no sign, and so he faded from our sight, and after that +we spoke no more of him. But Osritha wept a little, for she had +loved him even while she dreaded him, and now she should see him no +more.</p> +<p>Very quietly passed the voyage, though the light wind was +against us, and we were long on the way, for we were too short +handed to row, and must beat to windward over every mile of our +course. Yet I think of the long days and moonlit evenings on the +deck of Halfden's ship with naught but keenest pleasure, for there +I watched the life and colour come back into Osritha's face, and +strove to make the voyage light to her in every way. And I had +found my heart's desire, and was happy.</p> +<p>Then at last one night we crossed the bar of our own haven, and +the boats came out to meet us, boarding us with rough voices of +hearty welcome; and from her awning crept Osritha, standing beside +me as I took the ship in, and seeing the black outline of hill and +church and hall across the quiet moonlit water. And when the red +light from wharf and open house doors danced in long lines on the +ripples towards us, and voices hailed our ship from shore, and our +men answered back in cheery wise, she drew nearer me, saying:</p> +<p>"Is this home, Wulfric?"</p> +<p>"Aye," I answered. "Your home and mine, Osritha--and peace."</p> +<p>Now have I little more to say, for I have told what I set out to +tell--how Lodbrok the Dane came from over seas, and what befell +thereafter. For now came to us at Reedham long years of peace that +nothing troubled. And those years, since Osritha and I were wedded +at Reedham very soon after we came home, have flown very +quickly.</p> +<p>Yet there came to us echoes of war from far-off Wessex, as man +after man crept back to Anglia from the great host where Guthrum +and Hubba warred with Alfred the king. And tired and worn out with +countless battles, these men settled down with us in peace to till +the land they had helped to lay waste and win. Hard it was to see +the farms pass to alien owners at first, but I will not say that +England has altogether lost, for these Danes are surely becoming +English in all love of our land; and they have brought us new +strength, with the old freedom of our forefathers, which some of us +had nigh forgotten.</p> +<p>Now today I know that all the land is at peace, for Alfred is +victor, and Guthrum is Athelstan the Christian king of Eastern +England; and I for one will own him unasked, for he has governed +well, and English is our overlord.</p> +<p>But Hubba is dead in far-off Devon, slain as he landed as +Halfden had landed, to hem Wessex in between Guthrum and himself, +and his dream of taking the Wessex kingdom is over. And the Raven +banner that my Osritha made flaps its magic wings no more, for it +hangs in Alfred's peaceful hall, a trophy of Saxon valour.</p> +<p>Thormod, my comrade, lies in his mound in wild Strathclyde, +slain fighting beside Halfden my brother, the king of Northumbria. +Him I have seen once or twice, and ever does he look for peace that +he may sail to Reedham and bide with us for a while. Well loved is +Halfden, and he is English in every thought.</p> +<p>Many of our old viking crew are here with me, for they would +fain find land in our country, and I gave them the deserted coast +lands that lie to our northward, round the great broads. Good lands +they are, and in giving them I harmed none. Filby and Ormesby and +Rollesby they have called their new homesteads, giving them Danish +names.</p> +<p>Now as to our own folk. My mother is gone, but first she stood +for Osritha at the font, naming her again with the name by which I +learnt to love her, for I would not have it changed.</p> +<p>Gone also has good old Ingild; but before he went he and I were +able without fear of hindrance to build a little church of squared +oaken timbers at Hoxne, for the heathen worship died quickly from +among our Danes. On that church, Cyneward, who was Raud, and is our +well-loved steward, wrought lovingly with his own hands side by +side with the good monk who baptized him. And he has carved a +wondrous oaken shrine for the remains of our martyred king, whereon +lies the bracelet that Ingvar sent in token that Eadmund had +conquered him who was his slayer.</p> +<p>How fared Ingvar I know not, for soon the incoming tide of Danes +slackened, and I heard no news of him; and, as he said, never did +he set foot on English shores again.</p> +<p>Egfrid and Eadgyth are happy in their place at Hoxne, and on +them at least has fallen no shadow of misfortune from that which +came of their passing over the Bridge of the Golden Spurs--the +Golden Bridge as our folk call it now.</p> +<p>Yet it needed no words of Ingvar's to keep the memory of that +day's work alive in the minds of our people. Never so long as the +Gold Brook flows beneath that bridge will a bridal pass churchwards +over its span, for there, but for such a crossing, Eadmund the king +might have bided safely till Ingvar the Dane had passed and +gone.</p> +<p>Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but +this I know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and +English will have become his mighty host, but in every English +heart will live the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and +country.</p> +<h2 class="c2"><a name="NOTES" id="NOTES">NOTES.</a></h2> +<p><a name="sdendnote1sym" href="#sdendnote1anc" id= +"sdendnote1sym">i</a> Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old +mythology, by whose nets drowning men were said to be +entangled.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote2sym" href="#sdendnote2anc" id= +"sdendnote2sym">ii</a> The Jarl ranked next to the king, and was +often equally powerful. Our English title "Earl" is derived from +this.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote3sym" href="#sdendnote3anc" id= +"sdendnote3sym">iii</a> A small wharf.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote4sym" href="#sdendnote4anc" id= +"sdendnote4sym">iv</a> A lay brother of the monastery of Hackness, +near Whitby, who rendered the Sacred Histories into verse about +A.D. 680.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote5sym" href="#sdendnote5anc" id= +"sdendnote5sym">v</a> Now Whitby. The present name was given by the +Danish settlers.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote6sym" href="#sdendnote6anc" id= +"sdendnote6sym">vi</a> As if under the shadow of coming death.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote7sym" href="#sdendnote7anc" id= +"sdendnote7sym">vii</a> The Viking ship of war, or "long ship".</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote8sym" href="#sdendnote8anc" id= +"sdendnote8sym">viii</a> The usual Scandinavian and Danish +greeting: "Health".</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote9sym" href="#sdendnote9anc" id= +"sdendnote9sym">ix</a> After expulsion from his bishopric of York +by King Egfrid.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote10sym" href="#sdendnote10anc" id= +"sdendnote10sym">x</a> Mail shirt.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote11sym" href="#sdendnote11anc" id= +"sdendnote11sym">xi</a> The fine allowed as penalty for killing an +adversary in a quarrel, or by mischance. The penalty for wilful +murder was death.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote12sym" href="#sdendnote12anc" id= +"sdendnote12sym">xii</a> Nidring, niddering, or nithing, may be +beet expressed by "worthless ". It was the extreme term of reproach +to a Saxon.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote13sym" href="#sdendnote13anc" id= +"sdendnote13sym">xiii</a> The "Lodbrokar-Quida", which is still in +existence. By some authorities Ragnar is said to have been the +father of Ingvar and Hubba, but the dates are most uncertain.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote14sym" href="#sdendnote14anc" id= +"sdendnote14sym">xiv</a> "The Fates" of the Northern mythology.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote15sym" href="#sdendnote15anc" id= +"sdendnote15sym">xv</a> St. Ansgar, or Ansgarius, built the first +church in Denmark at Hedeby, now Slesvig, in 840 A.D.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote16sym" href="#sdendnote16anc" id= +"sdendnote16sym">xvi</a> The "twilight of the Gods", when the Asir +were to fight against the powers of evil, and a new order should +commence.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote17sym" href="#sdendnote17anc" id= +"sdendnote17sym">xvii</a> The Danes traced their origin back to a +great migration from the East, under Odin. Their priesthood was +vested in the head of the tribe after the ancient patriarchal +custom.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote18sym" href="#sdendnote18anc" id= +"sdendnote18sym">xviii</a> The great representative Council from +which our Parliament sprang.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote19sym" href="#sdendnote19anc" id= +"sdendnote19sym">xix</a> Four degrees of kingship are spoken of in +the Sagas, the highest being the overlord, to whom the lesser kings +paid tribute. The "kings of the host" came third in rank, the "sea +kings" last, these being usually sons of under kings, to whom a +ship or two had been given.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote20sym" href="#sdendnote20anc" id= +"sdendnote20sym">xx</a> Now Peterborough.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote21sym" href="#sdendnote21anc" id= +"sdendnote21sym">xxi</a> Tribute.</p> +<p><a name="sdendnote22sym" href="#sdendnote22anc" id= +"sdendnote22sym">xxii</a> "The King's Guardian."</p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WULFRIC THE WEAPON THANE***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 13752-h.txt or 13752-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/5/13752">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/7/5/13752</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Whistler + +Release Date: October 14, 2004 [eBook #13752] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WULFRIC THE WEAPON THANE*** + + +E-text prepared by Martin Robb + + + +WULFRIC THE WEAPON THANE + +A Story of the Danish Conquest of East Anglia + +by + +CHARLES W. WHISTLER + + + + + + + +PREFACE. + + +A word may be needed with regard to the sources from which this +story of King Eadmund's armour bearer and weapon thane have been +drawn. For the actual presence of such a close attendant on the +king at his martyrdom on Nov. 20, 870 A.D. we have the authority of +St. Dunstan, who had the story from the lips of the witness +himself. + +But as to the actual progress of events before the death of the +king, the records are vague and imperfect. We are told that, after +the defeat at Thetford, the king had intended to seek safety in the +church, probably at Framlingham, where the royal household was, but +was forced to hide, and from his hiding place was dragged before +Ingvar the Danish leader, and so slain. + +The two local legends of the "king's oak" in Hoxne woods, and of +the "gold bridge", may fill in what is required to complete the +story. + +The former, identifying a certain aged oak as that to which the +king was bound, has been in a measure corroborated by the discovery +in 1848 of what may well have been a rough arrow point in its +fallen trunk; while the fact that, until the erection of the new +bridge at Hoxne in 1823, no newly-married couple would cross the +"gold bridge" on the way to church, for the reasons given in the +story, seems to show that the king's hiding place may indeed have +been beneath it as the legend states. If so, the flight from +Thetford must have been most precipitate, and closely followed. + +There are two versions of the story of Lodbrok the Dane and Beorn +the falconer. That which is given here is from Roger of Wendover. +But in both versions the treachery of one Beorn is alleged to have +been the cause of the descent of Ingvar and Hubba on East Anglia. + +These chiefs and their brother Halfden, and Guthrum, are of course +historic. Their campaign in England is hard to trace through the +many conflicting chronicles, but the broad outlines given by the +almost contemporary Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, supplemented with a few +incidents recorded in the Heimskringla of Sturleson as to the first +raid on Northumbria by Ingvar, are sufficient for the purposes of a +story that deals almost entirely with East Anglia. + +The legend of the finding of the head of the martyred king is given +in the homily for November 20 of the Anglo-Saxon Sarum Breviary, +and is therefore of early date. It may have arisen from some such +incident as is given here. + +Details of the death of Bishop Humbert are wanting. We only know +that he was martyred at about the same time as the king, or perhaps +with him, and that his name is remembered in the ancient kalendars +on the same day. For describing his end as at his own chapel, still +standing at South Elmham, the fate of many a devoted priest of +those times might be sufficient warrant. + +As to the geography of the East Anglian coast, all has changed +since King Eadmund's days, with the steady gaining of alluvial land +on sea at the mouth of the once great rivers of Yare and Waveney. +Reedham and Borough were in his time the two promontories that +guarded the estuary, and where Yarmouth now stands were sands, +growing indeed slowly, but hardly yet an island even at "low-water +springs". Above Beccles perhaps the course of the Waveney towards +Thetford has altered little in any respect beyond the draining of +the rich marshland along its banks, and the shrinking of such +tributaries as the Hoxne or Elmham streams to half-dry rivulets. + +With a few incidental exceptions, the modern spelling of place +names has been adopted in these pages. No useful purpose would be +served by a reproduction of what are now more or less uncouth if +recognizable forms of the well-known titles of town and village and +river. + +C. W. W. + + + + +CHAPTER I. HOW LODBROK THE DANE CAME TO REEDHAM. + + +Elfric, my father, and I stood on our little watch tower at +Reedham, and looked out over the wide sea mouth of Yare and +Waveney, to the old gray walls of the Roman Burgh on the further +shore, and the white gulls cried round us, and the water sparkled +in the fresh sea breeze from the north and east, and the bright +May-time sun shone warmly on us, and our hearts went out to the sea +and its freedom, so that my father said: + +"Once again is the spirit of Hengist stirring in me, and needs must +that you and I take ship, and go on the swan's path even as our +forefathers went; let us take the good ship somewhere--anywhere to +be on the sea again. What say you, son Wulfric?" + +And at that I was very glad, for I had longed for that word of his. +For never, since I could remember, was a time when I knew not all +that a boy might learn, for his years, of sea and the seaman's +craft; and the sea drew me, calling me as it were with its many +voices, even as it drew my father. + +Yet, all unlike Hengist and his men, we sailed but for peaceful +gain, and very rich grew Elfric, the thane of Reedham; for ours was +the only ship owned by English folk on all our East Anglian shores, +and she brought us wealth year by year, as we sailed to Humber and +Wash northwards, and Orwell and Thames to the south, as seemed best +for what merchandise we had for sale or would buy. But, more than +all, my father and I alike sailed for the love of ship and sea, +caring little for the gain that came, so long as the salt spray was +over us, and we might hear the hum of the wind in the canvas, or +the steady roll and click of the long oars in the ship's rowlocks, +and take our chance of long fights with wind and wave on our stormy +North Sea coasts. + +So we went down to the shipyard, under the lee of Reedham Hill, and +found old Kenulf our pilot, and with him went round our stout +Frisian ship that my father had bought long ago, and at once bade +him get ready for sailing as soon as might be. And that was a +welcome order to Kenulf and our crew also; for well do the North +Folk of East Anglia love the sea, if our Saxon kin of the other +kingdoms have forgotten for a while the ways of their forbears. + +Not so welcome was our sailing to my mother, who must sit at home +listening to the song of the breezes and the roll of breakers, with +her heart stirred to fear for us at every shift of wind and change +of tide. And fair Eadgyth, my sister, beautiful with the clear +beauty of a fair-haired Saxon lady, shared in her fears also, +though I think that she believed that no storm could rage more +fiercely than her father and brother and their crew could ride +through in safety. Once she had sailed with us in high summer time +to London, and so she held that she knew well all the ways of the +ship and sea; fearing them a little, maybe. + +Yet there was another dread in the heart of my mother, for this is +what she said: + +"What of the Danes, Elfric, my husband? Surely there is risk--aye, +and great risk--of falling into their hands." + +Thereat my father laughed easily, and answered: + +"Not to an East Anglian ship now; for they have kept the pact we +have made with them. And they watch not our shores for ships, but +the long Frisian and Frankish coasts. There need be no fear of +them." + +So my mother was reassured, and in a fortnight's time we had +gathered a mixed cargo, though no great one; and sailed, with a +shift of wind to the southwest, into the Wash, and so put into the +king's haven on its southern shore, where we would leave our goods +with a merchant whom we knew. + +On the second day after we came the wind shifted to the eastward, +and then suddenly to the northeast, and blew a gale, so that we +bided in the haven till it was over. For though it was not so heavy +that we could not have won through it in open water with little +harm, it was of no use risking ship and men on a lee shore for +naught. + +Our friend, the merchant, kept us with him gladly, and there we +heard the last news of the Danish host, with whom we had made peace +two years since; for nowadays that news had become of the first +interest to every man in all England; though not yet in the right +way. For we had not yet learnt that England must be truly one; and +so long as he himself was unharmed, little cared an East Anglian +what befell Mercian or Northumbrian, even as Wessex or Sussex cared +for naught but themselves. Wherefore, all we longed to know was +that the Danish host was not about to fall on us, being employed +elsewhere. + +We had found gain rather than hurt by their coming, for we had, as +I say, made peace with them, and, moreover, sold them horses. Then +they had honestly left our coasts, and had gone to York, and +thereafter to Nottingham. Now Northumbria was theirs, and Mercia +was at their feet. And now again we learnt that they bided in peace +at York, and we were content. + +Three days it blew, and then the gale was spent; though the sea +still ran high and swift. So we bade farewell to our friend the +merchant and set sail, and if the passage homewards was rough, it +was swifter than we had hoped. + +So it came to pass that we reached the wide inlet of our haven at +the Yare's mouth too soon for the tide to take us in over the sands +which grow and shift every year, and must needs drop anchor in the +roads and wait, with home in sight, hill and church and houses +clear and sharp against the afternoon sky after rain; while past us +the long surges the storm had raised raced in over half-hidden +sands, and broke in snow-white foam along the foot of the sand +dunes of the shore, sending the spindrift flying up and inland over +their low crests. + +Mostly the boats would have been out to meet us, and maybe to tow +us in, sparing our crew a little; but today no boat might come, for +the seas were too heavy over the bar, so that it would have been +death to any man foolish enough to try to reach us; and we looked +for none. So as the stout ship wallowed and plunged at her +anchors--head to wind and sea, and everything, from groaning +timbers to song of wind-curved rigging and creak of swinging yard, +seeming to find a voice in answer to the plunge and wash of the +waves, and swirl and patter of flying spray over the high bows--we +found what shelter we might under bulwarks and break of fore deck, +and waited. + +My father and I sat on the steersman's bench aft, not heeding the +showers of spray that reached us now and then even there, and we +watched the tide rising over the sand banks, and longed for home +and warm fireside, instead of this cold, gray sky and the restless +waves; though I, at least, was half sorry that the short voyage was +over, dreaming of the next and whither we might turn our ship's +bows again before the summer ended. + +My father looked now and then shoreward, and now seaward, judging +wind and tide, and sitting patiently with the wondrous patience of +the seaman, learnt in years of tide and calm; for he would tell me +that sea learning never ends, so that though the sailor seemed to +be idle, he must needs be studying some new turn of his craft if +only his eyes were noting how things went around him. Yet I thought +he was silent beyond his wont. + +Presently he rose up and paced the deck for a little, and then came +and sat down by me again. + +"I am restless, son Wulfric," he said, laughing softly; "and I know +not why." + +"For the sake of supper," I answered, "for I am that also, and tide +seems mighty slow therefore." + +"Nay, supper comes to the patient; but it seems to me that I have +to watch for somewhat." + +"Surely for naught but the tide," I answered, not thinking much of +the matter, but yet wondering a little. + +"Not for tide or wind, but for somewhat new, rather--somewhat of +which I have a fear. + +"But this is foolishness," he said, laughing again at himself, for +few men thought less of signs and forewarnings than he. + +Then he looked out again to windward, under his hand, and all of a +sudden turned sharply to me, pointing and saying: + +"But, as I live, hither comes something from the open sea!" + +I rose up and looked to where he showed me, and as the ship rose to +a great wave, far off I saw a dark speck among white-crested +rollers, that rose and fell, and came ever nearer, more swiftly +than wreckage should. + +Now some of the men who clustered under the shelter of the fore +deck, with their eyes ever on us, rose up from their places and +began to look out seaward over the bows through the spray to find +out what we watched, and ere long one man called to his mates: + +"Ho, comrades, here comes flotsam from the open sea!" + +Slowly the men rose up one by one and looked, clustering round the +stem head, and a little talk went round as to what this might be. + +"It is a bit of wreck," said one. + +"Hardly, for the gale has not been wild enough to wreck a ship in +the open; 'tis maybe lumber washed from a deck," answered another. + +"It is a whale--no more or less." + +"Nay," said old Kenulf; "it behaves not as a whale, and it comes +too swiftly for wreckage." + +"Would it were a dead whale. Then would be profit," said another +man again, and after that the men were silent for a long while, +having said all that could be guessed, and watched the speck that +drew nearer and nearer, bearing down on us. + +At last my father, ever keen of sight, said to me: + +"This thing is not at the mercy of wind and wave. Rather has it the +rise and fall of a boat well handled. Yet whence should one come in +this heavy sea, after three days' gale?" + +Even as he spoke, old Kenulf growled, half to himself, that to his +thinking this was a boat coming, and handled, moreover, by men who +knew their trade. Thereat some of the men laughed; for it seemed a +thing impossible, both by reason of the stretch of wild sea that so +small a craft as this--if it were indeed a boat--must have crossed, +and because the sea was surely too heavy to let one live. + +Yet in the end we saw that it was a boat, and that in her, +moreover, was but one man, whose skill in handling her was more +than ours, and greater than we could deem possible. + +Whereupon some of us were afraid, seeing how wondrously the tiny +craft came through the swift seas, and a man called out, giving +voice to our fears: + +"Surely yon man is a Finn and the wizard who has raised this storm +to drown us; now are we lost!" + +And I--who had listened eagerly to all the wild stories of the +seamen, since first I was old enough to wander curiously over the +ships from overseas that put into our haven on their way up the +great rivers to Norwich, or Beccles, or other towns--knew that the +Finns have powers more than mortal (though how or whence I know +not) over wind and sea, often using their power to the hurt of +others, and so looked to see the lines of a great squall, drawn as +it were astern of the wizard's boat, whitening as it rushed upon us +to sink us in sight of home. + +But old Kenulf cried out on the man, saying: + +"Rather is it one of the holy saints, and maybe the blessed Peter +the fisherman himself," and he bared his gray head, crossing +himself, as he looked eagerly to catch sight of the glory of light +round the seafarer; and that rebuked my fears a little. + +But squall or crown of light was there none. Only the brown waves, +foam crested, which we feared not, and the gray light of the +clouded sun that was nigh to setting. + +My father heeded naught of this, but watched the boat, only +wondering at the marvellous skill of her steersman. And when the +boat was so near that it was likely that the eyes of the man were +on us, my father raised his arm in the seaman's silent greeting, +and I thought that the boatman returned the salute. + +Now the course that the boat was holding when that signal passed +would have taken her wide of us by half a cable's length, but she +was yet so far distant that but a little change would bring her to +us. Some sort of sail she seemed to have, but it was very small and +like nothing I had ever seen, though it was enough to drive her +swiftly and to give her steering way before the wind. Until my +father signed to him the man seemed to have no wish to near our +ship, going on straight to what would be certain destruction amid +the great breakers on our largest sand bar, and that made the men +more sure that he was a wizard, and there were white faces enough +among them. + +"Now," said my father to me, "doubtless this is what was put in my +mind when I felt I must watch. Had I not seen him, yon man would +have been surely lost; for I think he cannot see the breakers from +his boat," and again he signed to the boatman. + +Then from the little craft rose a great, long-winged hawk that +cried and hovered over it for a little, as if loth to leave it; and +one man said, shrinking and pale, that it was the wizard's familiar +spirit. But the wind caught the bird's long wings and drove it from +the boat, and swiftly wheeling it must needs make for us, speeding +down the wind with widespread, still pinions. + +Then cried aloud that same terrified man: + +"It is a sending, and we are done for!" thinking that, as Finns +will, the wizard they deemed him had made his spells light on us in +this visible form. But my father held out his hand, whistling a +falconer's call, and the great bird flew to him, and perched on his +wrist, looking bravely at us with its bright eyes as though sure of +friendship. + +"See!" said my father loudly; "this is a trained bird, and no evil +sending; here are the jesses yet on its feet." + +And Kenulf and most of the men laughed, asking the superstitious +man if the ship sank deeper, or seas ran higher for its coming. + +"Hold you the bird," said my father to me; "see! the boatman makes +for us." + +I took the beautiful hawk gladly, for I had never seen its like +before, and loved nothing better when ashore than falconry, and as +I did so I saw that its master had changed the course of his boat +and was heading straight for us. Now, too, I could make out that +what we had thought a sail was but the floor boarding of the boat +reared up against a thwart, and that the man was managing her with +a long oar out astern. + +The great hawk's sharp talons were like steel on my ungloved wrist, +piercing through the woollen sleeve of my jerkin, but I heeded them +not, so taken up was I with watching this man who steered so well +and boldly in so poorly fitted a craft. And the boat was, for all +that, most beautiful, and built on such lines as no Saxon boat had. +Well we know those wondrous lines now, for they were those of the +longships of the vikings. + +Now the men forward began to growl as the boat came on to us, and +when my father, seeing that the man would seek safety with us, bade +those on the fore deck stand by with a line to heave to him as he +came, no man stirred, and they looked foolishly at one another. + +Then my father called sharply to Kenulf by name, giving the same +order, and the old man answered back: + +"Bethink you, Thane; it is ill saving a man from the sea to be foe +to you hereafter. Let him take his chance." + +Thereat my father's brow grew dark, for he hated these evil old +sayings that come from heathen days, and he cried aloud: + +"That is not the way of a Christian or a good seaman! Let me come +forward." + +And in a moment he was on the fore deck, where the men made hasty +way for him. There the long lines were coiled, ready for throwing +to the shore folk on our wharf, both fore and aft. My father caught +up one at his feet and stood ready, for now the boat was close on +us, and I could see the white set face of her steersman as he +watched for the line he knew was coming, and wherein lay his only +slender hope of safety. + +My father swung his arm and cast. Swift and true fled the coils +from his hand--but fell short by two fathoms or less, and the boat +swept past our bows, as the men held their breath, watching and +ashamed. + +But I also had caught up the coil from the after deck, fearing lest +my father should not have been in time, while the hawk fluttered +and gripped my arm in such wise that at any other time I should +have cried out with the pain of the sharp piercing of its talons. +Yet it would not leave me. + +The boat flew on, but the man had his eyes on me--not looking +vainly for the lost end of the first line among the foam as many +another man would--and I saw that he was ready. + +I threw; and the hawk screamed and clutched, as it lost its +balance, and beat my face with its great wings, and I could not see +for its fluttering; but the men shouted, and I heard my father's +voice cry "Well done!" Then I made fast the end of the line round +the main-sheet cleat, for that told me that the man had caught on. + +Then the bird was still, and I looked up. I saw the boat pass +astern as the man made fast the line round the fore thwart, with +his eyes on the wave that came. Then he sprang to the steering oar, +and in a moment the boat rounded to on the back of a great wave and +was safe before the crest of the next roller ran hissing past me, +to break harmless round her bows. + +Then the man looked up, smiling to me, lifted his hand in greeting, +and then straightway laid in the steering oar. Having found a +bailing bowl in the stern sheets, he set to work to clear out the +water that washed about in the bottom of the boat; then he replaced +the floor boards, and all things being shipshape, sat down quickly +in the stern, putting his head into his hands, and there bided +without moving, as if worn out and fain to rest for a while. + +Now it was like to be a hard matter to get the boat alongside in +that sea, and we must needs wait till the man took in hand to help, +so we watched him as he sat thus, wondering mostly at the boat, for +it was a marvel to all of us. Sharp were her bows and stern, +running up very high, and her high stem post was carved into the +likeness of a swan's neck and head, and the wings seemed to fall +away along the curve of the bows to the carved gunwale, that was as +if feathered, and at last the stern post rose and bent like a fan +of feathers to finish all. Carved, too, were rowlocks and the ends +of the thwarts, and all the feathered work was white and gold above +the black of the boat's hull. Carved, too, was the baling bowl, and +the loom of the oar was carved in curving lines from rowlock +leather to hand. And as I thought of the chances of our losing her +as we crossed the bar among the following breakers, I was grieved, +and would have asked my father to let us try to get her on deck if +we could. + +But now the man roused, and put his hands to his mouth, hailing us +to ask if we would suffer him to come on board, and my father +hailed him back to bid him do so. Then it would seem that our men +were ashamed, having once disobeyed my father whom they loved, not +to finish the work that we had begun, and so, without waiting for +the order, saw to getting the boat up to our quarter, so that it +was but a minute or two before the man leapt on our deck, and the +boat was once more astern at the length of her line. + +"Thanks, comrades," said the man; "out of Ran's {i} net have you +brought me, and ill fall me if I prove foe to you, as the old saw +bodes." + +Now as one looked at this storm-beaten wanderer there was no doubt +but that he was surely a prince among men, and I for one marvelled +at his look and bearing after what he must have gone through. +Drenched and salt crusted were his once rich clothes, tangled and +uncared for were his hair and beard, and worn and tired he showed +both in face and body, yet his eyes were bright and his speech was +strong and free as he swung to the roll of the ship with the step +of a sea king. His speech told us that he was a Dane, for though we +of the East Angles had never, even before the coming of the great +host of which I must tell presently, such great difference of +tongue between our own and that of Dane and Frisian but that we +could well understand them and speak therein, yet time and distance +have given us a new way of handling our words, as one might say, +and a new turn to the tones of our voices. Often had I heard the +Danish way of speech on board the ships from over sea in our haven, +and had caught it up, as I was wont to try to catch somewhat of +every tongue that I heard. + +So he and we looked at each other for a moment, we wondering at him +and he seeking our leader. Nor did he doubt long, taking two steps +to my father, holding out his hand, and again thanking him. + +My father grasped the offered hand frankly, and, smiling a little, +said: + +"Rather should you thank Wulfric, my son, here; for it was his line +that reached you." + +"No fault that of yours," answered the Dane; and he turned to me +with the same hearty greeting. + +"Now, friend Wulfric, I owe you my life, and therefore from this +time forward my life is for yours, if need be. Nor shall my men be +behind in that matter--that is if I ever see them again," he added, +looking quaintly at me, if gravely. + +"Surely you shall do so," I said, "if it is in our power." + +"I thank you--and it is well. I know coasts where a stranger would +be a slave from the moment his foot touched shore. Now tell me +whose ship this is that has given me shelter, and what your +father's name is, that I may thank you rightly." + +"Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, is my father," I said, "Sheriff of +the East Anglian shore of the North Folk, under Eadmund, our king. +And this is his ship, and this himself to whom you have spoken." + +"Then, Thane and Thane's son, I, whose life you have saved, am +Lodbrok, Jarl {ii} of a strip of Jutland coast. And now I have a +fear on me that I shall do dishonour to the name of Dane, for I +faint for want of food and can stand no more." + +With that he sat down on the bench where I had been, and though he +smiled at us, we could see that his words were true enough, and +that he was bearing bravely what would have overborne most men. And +now the falcon fluttered from my wrist to his. + +Then my father bade me hasten, and I brought ale and meat for the +jarl, and set them before him, and soon he was taking that which he +needed; but every now and then he gave to the bird, stroking her +ruffled feathers, and speaking softly to her. + +"Aye, my beauty," he said once, "I did but cast you down wind lest +you should be lost with me. And I would have had you take back the +news that I was lost to my own home." + +My father stood and watched the tide, and presently I joined him, +for I would not hinder the Dane from his meal by watching him. I +looked at the beautiful boat astern, tossing lightly on the wave +crests, and saw that she would surely be lost over the bar; so I +asked my father now, as I had meant before, if we might not try to +get her on board. + +For answer he turned to Lodbrok. + +"Set you much store by your boat, Jarl?" he asked him. + +"The boat is yours, Thane, or Wulfric's, by all right of salvage. +But I would not have her lost, for my sons made her for me this +last winter, carving her, as you see, with their own hands. Gladly +would I see her safe if it might be." + +"Then we will try to get her," answered my father; "for there are +one or two things that my children have made for me, and I would +not lose them for the sake of a little trouble. And, moreover, I +think your sons have made you the best boat that ever floated!" + +"Else had I not been here!" answered the Dane. "They are good +shipwrights." + +Then Kenulf and the men set to work, and it was no easy matter to +come by the boat; but it was done at last, and glad was I to see +her safely lashed on deck. Then the time had come, and we up anchor +and plunged homewards through the troubled seas of the wide harbour +mouth. It was I who steered, as I ever would of late, while the +Dane stood beside me, stroking his hawk and speaking to it now and +then. And once or twice he looked long and earnestly at the +breakers, knowing now from what he had escaped; and at last he said +to me: + +"Many a man, I know, would have rather let me go on than have run +the risk of saving one from the sea. Do you dare go against the +saying?" + +"Why not? I may not say that it came not into our minds," I +answered; "but Christian men will put such ill bodes aside." + +"Ah! I had forgotten your new faith," said Lodbrok. "Now from this +time I, for one, have naught to say against it, for I think I owe +it somewhat." + +And he was silent for a while. + +Now my father came aft, and sitting down by the Dane, asked him how +he came to risk sailing in the little boat. + +"I know not if you can believe me," answered Lodbrok, "but I will +tell you in a few words. I have been blown from off the Jutland +shore and have won through the gale safely. That is all. But it was +by my own fault, for I must needs take the boat and put out to sea +with my hawk there to find fresh sport. It seemed to me, forsooth, +that a great black-backed gull or fierce skua would give me a fine +flight or two. And so it was; but I rowed out too far, and before I +bethought myself, both wind and tide were against me. I had +forgotten how often after calm comes a shift of wind, and it had +been over still for an hour or so. Then the gale blew up suddenly. +I could have stemmed the tide, as often before; but wind and tide +both were my masters then. + +"That was three days and two nights ago. Never thought I to see +another sunset, for by midday of that first day I broke an oar, and +knew that home I could never win; so I made shift with the floor +boards, as you saw, for want of canvas. After that there is little +to tell, for it was ever wave after wave, and gray flying clouds +ever over me, and at night no rest, but watching white wave crests +coming after me through the dark." + +"Some of us thought that you were a Finn, at least," said my father +as the Dane paused. + +"Not once or twice only on this voyage have I wished myself a Finn, +or at least that I had a Finn's powers," said Lodbrok, laughing; +"but there has been no magic about this business save watchfulness, +and my sons' good handicraft." + +Then I asked the jarl how he called his sons, with a little honest +envy in my heart that I could never hope to equal their skill in +this matter of boat building, wherein I had been wont to take some +pride of myself. + +"Three sons have I in Jutland, Wulfric, my friend, and they, when +they hear my story, will hold you dear to them. Ingvar is the eldest, +Hubba, the next, and the third, Halfden, is three-and-twenty, and so +about your own age, as I take it, as he is also about your equal in +build and strength. Yet I would sooner see a ship of mine steered by +you than by him, for he is not your equal in that matter." + +Now that praise pleased me well, as it did also my father. For we +hold the Danes as first of all peoples in the knowledge of sea +craft; and we had seen that this man was a master therein. But +though at this time I thought of naught but the words of praise, +hereafter I was to remember the words that Jarl Lodbrok spoke of +the way in which these sons of his would hold me when the tale was +told them. + +At last we hailed the shore through the creeping dusk, and the +shore lines were thrown out. Then were we alongside our staithe +{iii}, and Lodbrok the Dane had come to Reedham. + +Now it may seem but a little thing that a seafarer should be driven +to a strange coast, and be tended there in friendly wise by those +who saved him from the breakers, for such is a common hap on our +island shores. Yet, from this day forward, all my life of the time +yet before me was to be moulded by what came of that cast of line +to one in peril. Aye, and there are those who hold that the fate of +our England herself was in hand that day, though it seems to me +that that is saying overmuch. Yet one cannot tell, and maybe those +who will read this story of mine will be able to judge. + +What I do know certainly is this, that all which makes my tale +worth the telling comes from this beginning. + + + +CHAPTER II. HOW LODBROK SPOKE WITH BEORN THE FALCONER. + + +So soon as we had stepped ashore there came in haste one of our +housecarles with word from my mother that Eadmund, the king, had +that day come to our house from Caistor; so at once my father bade +the man return and bring changes of clothes for himself and me and +Lodbrok to our steward's house, that we might appear in more decent +trim before our guest and master. + +So we waited for a little while, watching the men as they berthed +the ship; and as we stood there a word went round among the knot of +people watching with us, and they parted, making a little lane, as +they said, "The king comes". And then I heard the well-known voice +of Eadmund calling gaily to us: + +"Ho, friend Elfric, here have I come to see what a man fresh from a +stormy voyage looks like, if light will serve me." + +And so saying, I being nearest to him, the king turned me round +with his strong hands, and scanned my rough, wet garments and fur +cap. + +"Truly, son Wulfric," he cried, laughing, "I think these things +suit you as well as war gear, and better than court finery, in this +dim light at least. Now let me see the thane himself." + +Then my father would have him come back to the house at once, out +of the stormy weather, for the rain was coming now as the wind +fell; and we went, not waiting for the change of garments, for that +the king would not suffer. + +As we turned away from the staithe, Lodbrok took my arm, asking me +where he might find shelter. + +"Why, come with us, surely!" I answered, having no thought but that +he would have done so as our guest. + +"Thanks," he said; "I knew not if your help could go so far as that +to a man whose story might well be too strange for belief." + +Now it had seemed to me that no one could doubt such a man, and so +I told him that we had no doubt of him at all in that matter. And +he thanked me gravely again, walking, as I thought, more freely +beside me, as knowing that he was held to be a true man. + +We followed my father, who walked with the king, at a little +distance because of this small delay; and presently Lodbrok asked +me if this was the King of all England. + +"No," I answered; "though, indeed, he is the only king we know +aught of. This is Eadmund of East Anglia." + +"You know him well, as one may see by his way with you," said the +jarl. + +"Surely, for he is my father's close friend. They were comrades +together in King Offa's court until the old king laid down his +crown and gave the kingdom into Eadmund's hands; and they are the +same to each other now as ever. He is my godfather; and I was in +his court till I was eighteen. Moreover, I am one of his armour +bearers yet when need is." + +So I spoke plainly enough, for I think that I had, and ever shall +have, reason to be proud of our nearness to the king, of whom no +man had but good to say since he, almost as a boy, came to the +throne. + +"So then it seems that fate has brought me to court," said the +Dane. + +"Yes, in a way," I told him; "for the king will ever bide with us +when he would visit this side of his kingdom." + +"I think that I have seen this king before," said Lodbrok +presently; "for he is a man the like of whom one sees not twice." + +"Then," said I, "he will surely remember you, for he never forgets +one whom he has had reason to notice." + +Whereat the jarl laughed a little to himself; but I had no time to +ask why, for now we were come to the great door; and when my father +would have let the king go in first Eadmund laughed at him, and +took his arm and drew him in with him, so that there was a little +delay, and we drew close. + +Very bright and welcome looked the great oaken hall as we came in +from the dark, rainy night. A great fire burnt on its stone hearth +in the centre, and the long tables were already set above and below +it. The bright arms and shields on the walls shone below the heads +of deer and wolf and boar, and the gust of wind that came in with +us flew round the wall, making a sort of ripple of changing colour +run along the bright woven stuffs that covered them to more than a +man's height from the floor. No one in all East Anglia had so well +dight a hall as had Elfric, the rich Thane of Reedham. + +Well used was I to all this, but never seemed it more homelike to +me than when I came in fresh from the the cold, gray sea. + +And now there stood on the high place to welcome us those whose +presence made the place yet more beautiful to me--my mother, and +Eadgyth my sister, and beside them were Bishop Humbert, our own +bishop, and many thanes of the court, and some of the bishop's +clergy. Such a gathering my father, and, indeed, all of us, loved, +for all were well known to us. + +Now I went to greet these dear ones and friends, and there was +pleasant jest and laughter at us for coming thus sea clad and spray +stained into the midst of that gay company. So that for a little +time I forgot Lodbrok, who had not followed me beyond the hearth. + +Then Eadgyth said to me: + +"Who is that noble-looking man who stands so sadly and alone by the +fire?" + +I turned, blaming myself for this forgetfulness, and there was the +Dane gazing into the flames, and seeming heedless of all that was +going on. Nor do I think that I had ever seen one look so sad as +looked that homeless man, as he forgot the busy talk and movement +around him in some thoughts of his own. + +So I went to him, touching his arm gently, and he started a little. +Then his grave smile came, and he said: + +"Truly, Wulfric, I had forgotten all things but my own home, and +when I woke from my dream at your touch, half thought I that you +were Halfden--that youngest son of mine of whom I told you." + +Then so wistfully looked he at me that I could not forbear saying +to him: + +"You must hold me as in Halfden's place, for this will be your +house, if you will, until there comes a ship that will take you +home. Gladly will some of the Frisians we know take you at least to +the right side of the broad seas." + +"Aye, gladly would some have Lodbrok the Jarl with them," he +answered, smiling strangely. + +What he meant, beyond that he might pilot them well, I knew not, +nor, indeed, thought that any hidden meaning lay in his words. So +that his saying passed from my mind, until one day when I should +have cause to understand it well enough. + +I would have taken him now to present him to my mother, but she was +gone, and there came to us one of the steward's men, who stared at +the Dane as if he were some marvel, having doubtless heard his +story from one of the seamen, but covered his wonder by bowing low +and bidding him to an inner room where the thane had prepared +change of garment for him. For my father, having the same full +belief and trust in the stranger's word, would no more than I treat +him in any wise but as an honoured guest. + +Then said Lodbrok: + +"Good shall surely ever be to the house that will thus treat a +wanderer. Hardly would a castaway meet with so great kindness in my +own land. Nor do I think that we Danes have made our name so well +loved among English folk that we should look for the like among +them." + +But I answered that we of East Anglia had no cause to blame his +people, who had made peace with us and kept it faithfully. + +So the man led Lodbrok away, and I too went to seek gear more +courtly than salt-stained and tar-spotted blue cloth of Lavenham. + +There are few thanes' houses which have so many chambers as ours, +for because of the king's friendship with us, my father had added, +as it were, house to house, building fresh chambers out around the +great hall itself, till all one might see was its long roof among +the many that clustered round and against its walls, so that the +thanes who came with him, or to see him, might have no cause to +complain of ill lodging with Elfric of Reedham. So it had come to +pass that our house was often the place where the court lay, and I +know that many of the poorer thanes thanked my father for thus +using his riches, since he saved them many a time the heavy +expenses of housing king and court when their turn should have +come. Yet my father would ever put aside those thanks, saying that +he loved to see his house full, though I myself know that this +saving of others less rich was in his mind. + +One part of all these buildings we called "the king's house", for +it was set apart for him, and between that and the great hall was a +square and large chamber which Eadmund would use for his private +audiences, and sometimes for council room. And there we used to +gather from all parts of the place that we might enter the great +hall in his train at supper time, for there was a door which led to +the high table thence, so that the king need not go through the +crowd of housecarles and lesser folk who sat, below the salt, along +the walls. And in that chamber was a chimney to the fire, so that +the hearth was against the wall, which was a marvel to many, but +made the place more meet for the king. Ingild the merchant, my +other godfather, whose home was in London, had brought men thence +to make it for us, having the like in his own house after some +foreign pattern. + +There were two men only in this room when I returned ready for the +feast. Both stood before the fire, and both were brightly dressed, +and hardly, but for the drowsy hawk which sat unhooded on his hand, +should I have known Lodbrok in the rich dress my father had had +prepared for him. The other was Beorn, the king's falconer, who +went everywhere with his master. These two were speaking together +as they stood before the fire, and I thought that what Beorn said +was not pleasing to the Dane, for he turned away a little, and +answered shortly. + +When they saw me both turned, Lodbrok with a smile of welcome, and +Beorn with a loud, rough voice crying to me: + +"Ho, Wulfric, here is a strange thing! This gold ring have I +offered to your stranger here for his falcon--which has three wing +feathers missing, moreover--and he will not sell, though I trow +that a man cast ashore must needs want gold more than a bird which +he may not fly save I gain him leave from the king." + +"The bird is Wulfric's," said Lodbrok quietly. + +"Nay, Jarl," I answered, "I would not take so loving a hawk from +her master, and over all our manors you may surely fly her." + +"See you there!" cried Beorn, with a sort of delight, not heeding +my last words, "Wulfric will not have her! Now will you sell?" + +Then Lodbrok looked at me with a short glance that I could not but +understand, and said that it would surely grieve him if I would not +take the falcon. + +Pleased enough I was, though half unwilling to take what seemed as +a forced gift. Yet to quiet Beorn--whom I never liked, as he was +both overbearing and boastful, though of great skill in his art of +falconry--I thanked the Dane, and went to where a hawking glove +hung on the wall, for my arm would feel the marks of those strong +talons for many a day, already. As I put it on I said that I feared +the bird would hardly come to me, leaving her master. + +"Once I would have said that she would not," said Lodbrok; "for +until today she would bide with no man but myself and her keeper. +But today she has sat on your wrist, so that I know she will love +you well, for reasons that are beyond my guessing." + +And so he shifted the falcon lightly from his wrist to mine, and +there she sat quietly, looking from him to me as though she would +own us both. + +Then said Beorn, holding out his hand, on which he wore his +embroidered state glove of office: + +"This is foolishness. The bird will perch on any wrist that is +rightly held out to her, so she be properly called," and he +whistled shrill, trying to edge the falcon from my hand. + +In a moment she roused herself, and her great wings flew out, +striking his arm and face as he pushed them forward; and had he not +drawn back swiftly, her iron beak would surely have rent his gay +green coat. + +"Plague on the kite!" he said; "surely she is bewitched! And if her +master is, as they say, a wizard, that is likely--" + +"Enough, Master Falconer," I said, growing angry. "Lodbrok is our +guest, and this, moreover, is the court for the time. Why, the bird +is drowsy, and has been with me already. There is no wonder in the +matter, surely?" + +But Beorn scowled, and one might see that his pride of falconry was +hurt. Maybe he would have answered again, but I spoke to Lodbrok, +asking him what the falcon was, as she was like none of ours, for +this was a thing I knew Beorn would be glad to know, while his +pride would not let him ask. + +And Lodbrok answered that she was an Iceland gerfalcon from the far +northern ocean, and went on to tell us of her powers of flight, and +at what game she was best, and how she would take her quarry, and +the like. And Beorn sat down and feigned to pay no heed to us. + +Presently the Dane said that he had known gerfalcons to fly from +Iceland to Norway in a day, and at that Beorn laughed as in scorn. + +"Who shouted from Norway to Iceland to say that a lost hawk had +come over?" he said. + +The Dane laughed a little also, as at a jest; though one could tell +that Beorn rather meant insult. + +"Why," he answered, "the bird got loose from her master's ship as +he sailed out of port in Iceland, and he found her at home in +Nidaros at his journey's ending; and they knew well on what day she +came, which was the same as that on which she got free." + +Then I said, lest Beorn should scoff again: + +"Now, if this falcon got free from here, surely she will go home to +your land." + +"Aye, and so my sons will think me dead, seeing her come without +me. Wherefore keep her safely mewed until she has learnt that this +is her home, for I would not have that mischance happen." + +That I promised easily, for I prized the bird highly. And that I +might not leave him with the surly Beorn, I asked the jarl to come +and see her safely bestowed, and left the room with him. + +As we crossed the courtyard to the mews, where our good hawks were, +Lodbrok said to me: + +"I fear yon falconer is ill pleased with me." + +"I have a mind to tell the king of his rudeness to our guest," I +answered. + +"That is not worth while," said Lodbrok. "The man's pride is hurt +that he should be thus baffled for all his skill, which, from his +talk, must be great," and we both laughed, for Beorn loved his own +praises. + +Now when we got back the guests were gathering, and it was not long +before the king entered, and at once called me. + +"All here I know but one, Wulfric, and that one is your seafarer. +Let me know him also that speech may be free among us." + +So Lodbrok came, and he and the king looked long at one another +before Eadmund spoke. + +"I have heard your story, friend, and it is a strange one," he said +pleasantly. "Moreover, I know your name in some way." + +"Well known is the name of Ragnar Lodbrok, my forefather," said the +jarl. "Mayhap the king remembers the name thus!" + +"Aye," answered Eadmund, "that is a well-known and honoured name, +and I think that Ragnar's son has a share in his courage. But your +face also seems known to me, and it was not of the great Ragnar +that I thought. Have we met in years past?" + +Then Lodbrok said that he had been in London at a time when Offa +the King was there, and it was long years ago, but that the very +day might be remembered by reason of a great wedding that he had +been to see out of curiosity, knowing little of Saxon customs. And +he named the people who were married in the presence of Offa and +many nobles. + +Then Eadmund laughed a little. + +"Now it all comes into my mind," he said; "you are the leader of +those strangers who must needs come into the church in helm and +mail, with axe and shield hung on shoulders. Moreover, for that +reason, when men bade you depart and you went not, they even let +you bide. So I asked your name--and now I can answer for it that +Lodbrok Jarl you are." + +And he held out his hand for the Dane to kiss, after our custom. +But Lodbrok grasped and shook it heartily, saying: + +"Thanks, Lord King, for that remembrance, and maybe also for a +little forgetfulness." + +Nor was Eadmund displeased with the freedom, but at that last +saying he laughed outright. + +"Kings have both to remember and forget," he said, "and maybe, if +the citizens had not expected you to behave as wild vikings, you +would have gone peacefully as you came?" + +"That is the truth," said Lodbrok. + +So I suppose there had been some fray, of little moment, with the +London folk. + +Then we followed the king into the hall; and Lodbrok and I together +sat at table over against him. Soon I knew all that an hour or two +of pleasant talk would teach me of his home and sons and sports, +and the king asked now and again of Danish customs, not yet +speaking of the voyage. + +"For," said he, "it is ill recalling hardships until the feast is +over. Then may one enjoy the telling." + +Presently the gleemen sang to us; and after that the harp went +round, that those who could might sing, and all the talk in hall +was hushed to hear Eadmund himself, the men setting down ale cups +and knives to listen, for he had a wondrously sweet voice, and sang +from the ancient songs of Caedmon {iv}. Then I sang of the +sea--some song I had made and was proud of, and it pleased all. And +at length we looked at Lodbrok, wondering if he could take his +turn. + +"Fain would I try to please my host," he said, looking a little +wistfully at my father; "but a man swept far from home against his +will is no singer." + +Then Eadmund pitied him, as did we all, and rose up. + +"Feasting is over, thanes," he said. "Let us sit awhile in the +other chamber and hear Lodbrok's story." + +For he would ever leave the hall as at this time, so that the +housecarles and lesser guests might have greater freedom of talk +when we were gone. + +So we rose up, and as we did so I saw Beorn, the falconer, look +sourly at Lodbrok; and it misliked me that he should harbour any +ill will even yet against the Dane who had done him no wrong. + +Round the fire we sat; some ten of us in all, for Bishop Humbert +and his folk went to their lodgings in the town, and there Lodbrok +told the king of his voyage. + +And when he named his sons, Eadmund looked grave, and said: + +"I have heard of those two chiefs, Ingvar and Hubba. Did they not +make a raid into Northumbria two years ago? Maybe they are yet +there with the host." + +"Aye," answered Lodbrok, seeming to wonder at the grave face of our +king; "they went to Northumbria with the host that is yet there. +They fought well and bravely at the place men call Streoneshalch +{v}, gaining much booty. And it was by Ingvar's plan that the +place was taken, and that was well done. But they left the host +with their men after that, saying that there were over many leaders +already." + +Now we all knew the cruel story of the burning of that place; but +Northumbria was a far-off kingdom, and with it we had naught to do. +So, except perhaps the king, the rest of us were as little moved as +if he had spoken of the taking of some Frankish town; for if my +father thought more of it, being in the king's counsels, he passed +it over. + +"These sons of yours have a mind to be first then," he said +lightly. + +"Seeing that the blood of Ragnar Lodbrok is in their veins it could +not well be otherwise," answered the jarl somewhat grimly. + +Then he ended his tale, and the king was greatly pleased with him, +so that he bade him bide in the court for a while that he might +take back a good report of us to his own people. + +Now when the king was with us, I gladly took up my duties as his +armour bearer for the time; and therefore slept across the doorway +of his chamber when he went to rest. So my father bestowed Lodbrok +with the thanes in the great hall, and I left him there, following +the king. + +Well did I sleep that night, though, sailorwise, not so heavily but +that any noise would rouse me in a moment. And as it drew towards +morning the king stirred uneasily, and I looked up at him. Seeing +that I woke he called me softly. The gray light of dawn came +through the window, and I could see that he sat up in his bed, +though I might not make out his face. + +"I am here, Lord King. Is aught amiss?" I said, rising up with my +sword in my hand. + +"Strange dreams have I had, my son," he said, in his quiet voice, +"and they trouble me." + +"Let me know them, my master," I said, "and maybe the trouble will +pass; for often that which seems sorely troublous in a dream is +naught when one would put it into words." + +"Sit on the bed and I will tell you," he answered; and when I was +there close to him he went on: + +"It was this: I thought that I was in some place where water +gleamed beneath me, while overhead passed the tread of many feet +with music of pipe and tabor as at a bridal. And I cannot tell what +that place was. Then came to me the hand of this Lodbrok, and he, +looking very sad and downcast, led me thence into the forest land +and set me over against a great gate. And beyond that gate shone +glorious light, and I heard the sound of voices singing in such +wise that I knew it was naught but the gate of Heaven itself, and I +would fain go therein. But between me and the gate sped arrows +thick as hail, so that to reach it I must needs pass through them. +Then said Jarl Lodbrok, 'Here is the entry, and it is so hard to +win through because of me, yet not by my fault. But I think you +will not turn aside for arrows, and when you come therein I pray +you to remember me.' Then pressed I to the gate, unheeding of the +arrow storm. And lo! the gate was an oak tree, tall and strong, yet +beyond it was the light and the singing that I had reached. Then +faded the face of Lodbrok, and after me looked sadly many faces, +and one was yours, my son, and the nearest. So I woke." + +"That is a wondrous dream," I said, not knowing what to make +thereof, having no skill in reading these matters. + +"Aye, my son," answered Eadmund; "nor can I read it; though I think +I shall do so hereafter. Nevertheless it comes into my mind that +the dream warns me that my time is short. Lie down again, my son. +Let us sleep in peace while we may." + +After that the king slept peacefully as a little child till full +daylight came; but I for very sadness closed not my eyes again, for +I thought that our king was fey {vi}. + +But in the morning the dream had, as it seemed, passed from the +mind of Eadmund, for he was very cheerful, as was his wont, and +said naught of it. However, I told my father thereof, for the +remembrance was heavy to me. And he, when he heard it, bit his lip +a little, pondering, but at last laughed. + +"Trouble not yourself about it, son Wulfric," he said; "were I to +mind every dream that I have had, I think that I should take no joy +in life. Why, every year, for the last five past, I have dreamed of +sore shipwreck, and the old vessel's timbers are yet hanging +together!" + +I laughed also, and thought that maybe he was right--for my +father's judgment was ever the best in my eyes--and so set my mind +at rest, though the strangeness of the matter would not let it be +altogether forgotten. + +Now as days went on and we saw more of our guest, Lodbrok, there +was, I think, no man of our household who would willingly have seen +him take ship and leave us; for his ways and words were pleasant to +all alike, and there seemed to be no craft of which he knew not +something, so that he could speak to each man, in field or village +or boat, of the things that he knew best. And that is a gift that +may well be longed for by any man who would be loved by others. + +Greatly pleased with him was Eadmund the King, so that he would +talk long with him of the ways and laws and peoples beyond the +seas; and also of hunting and hawking, which they both loved well. +And in this last Lodbrok was the best skilled master I have ever +known; and the king would ever have him ride beside him in the +field while the court was yet with us. And that pleased not Beorn, +though he kept his ill will to himself; and maybe I alone noted it, +for I had not spoken of that meeting, of which I have told, even to +my father. + +Well, too, did my mother and Eadgyth like the courtly ways of the +jarl, who was ever ready to tell them of the life in his household, +and of the daughter, Osritha, who was its mistress since her mother +died but a few years since, and her two elder sisters had been +married to chiefs of their own land. Sometimes, too, they would ask +him of the dress of the ladies of his land; but at that he would +laugh and shake his head, saying that he only knew that they went +wondrously clad, but that he could tell naught more of the matter. + +"Weapons and war gear I may talk of by the hour," he said, "but +women's gear is beyond me. But once my daughter and I wrought +together in a matter that was partly of both, and that was when I +needed a war flag. And so I drew out the great raven I would have +embroidered on it, and they worked it in wondrous colours, and gold +and silver round the form of the great bird, so that it seems to +shift and flap its wings as the light falls on it and the breeze +stirs it, as if there were magic therein." + +Now Eadgyth was well skilled in this work, and thereat she must +needs say that she would work me a flag for our ship, if the jarl +would plan one. So it seems to me now that that evening was very +pleasant, for they planned and shaped and began a flag whereon was +drawn by the jarl a white falcon like the one he had given to me, +and that was my thought, and it pleased him, as I think. + +One day we came home early from our hunting, and Lodbrok and I sat +in the great hall, while the summer rain swelled in torrents, with +thunder and lightning sweeping over the river marshes and out to +sea, and we looked at the weapons that hung on the walls. + +"Little care I for your long spear and short sword, friend +Wulfric," he said; "it seems to me that you must needs shorten the +one and lengthen the other before you can be held well armed. And +your bow is weak, and you have no axe." + +For I had asked him what he thought of our Saxon weapons, else +would he not have spoken so plainly. Then he thought for a little +while, and said: + +"Would you learn to use the axe?" + +I answered that nothing would please me better; for of all things, +I longed to excel in weapon play of all kinds. + +"That is well," he said, "for I owe you my life, and I think that I +can teach you that which will keep yours against any foe that you +may meet; for you are of the right build for a good axeman, and not +too old to learn." + +Then we went to the smithy, and there, while the thunder raged +outside, he forged me an axe of the Danish pattern. + +"Thor's own weather!" he said, laughing; and as he spoke the blue +lightning paled the red glow of the forge to a glimmer. "This +should be a good axe, and were you not a Christian, I would bid you +hold your beginning, as its wielder, of good omen." + +Then the thunder crashed, and there was no need for me to answer. +And in the end he taught me patiently, until, one day, he said: + +"Now do you teach me to use your long spear. I can teach you no +more axe play than you know. Some day you will meet an axeman face +to face, and will find out what you know. Then, if I have taught +you ill, say naught; but if well, then say 'Jarl Lodbrok taught +me'." + +Now I hold that the test of mastery of a weapon is that one wishes +for no other, and I knew that I had learned that much. But I could +not tell how much he had taught me, for axe play was new to me, and +I had not seen it before. + +After I had learned well, as he said, the jarl tempered the axe +head, heating and cooling it many times, until it would take an +edge that would shear through iron without turning. And he also +wrought runes on it, hammering gold wire into clefts that he made. + +"What say they?" I asked. + +"Thus they read," he answered: + +"Life for life. For Wulfric, Elfric's son, Lodbrok the seafarer, +made me!" + +Thereat I wondered a little, for I knew not yet what he had taught +me. Yet when I asked why he wrote those first words, he only +laughed, saying, "That you will know some day, as I think." + +Now if I were to write all that went on until August came, I should +speak of little but how the jarl and I were never apart; for though +he was so much older than myself, I grew to be his fast friend. And +many a long day did I spend with him in his boat, learning somewhat +of his skill in handling her, both on river, and broad, and sea. +Very pleasant those days were, and they went all too soon. + +No ship came in that could help him homewards, and though the +Danish host was in Northumbria, he cared not to go there, for his +sons were gone home. And Eadmund would fain see more of him, so +that, although I would willingly have taken our ship across the +seas, for the first time, to his place, he would not suffer me to +do so; for he said that he was not so restless here with us, and +that his sons and Osritha, his daughter, had doubtless long thought +him dead. + +Now in June the king had gone to Framlingham, and in August came +back to Thetford. Then he sent for my father, begging him to bring +Lodbrok with him, that together they might hunt over the great +heaths that stretch for many a mile north and west and south of the +town. No better sport is there for hawk and hound than on Brandon +and Croxton heaths, and the wilds to which our Saxon Icklings and +Lakings have given their names, for they stretch from forest to +fen, and there is no game in all England that one may not find +there, from red deer to coney, wolf to badger, bustard to snipe, +while there are otter and beaver in the streams. + +So they would go, for the wish of a king is, as it were, a command, +even had not both my father and Lodbrok loved to be with him, +whether in hall or field. And I thought that I should surely go +also. + +However, my father had other plans for me, and they were none other +than that I should take the ship round to London with some goods we +had, and with some of the new barley, just harvested, which would +ever find ready sale in London, seeing that no land grows better +for ale brewing than ours of East Anglia. + +Now that was the first time I had been trusted to command the ship +unaided by my father's presence, though of late he would say that +he was owner, not captain, and but a passenger of mine; so, though +I was sorry not to go to Thetford, I was more proud of myself than +I would show; and maybe I would rather have taken to the sea had +there been choice. + +I was to go to my godfather, Ingild the merchant, who would, as +ever, see to business for me; and then, because the season was +late, and wind and weather might keep me long in the river, my +father bade me stay with him, if I would, and if need were lay up +the ship in Thames for the winter, coming home by the great Roman +street that runs through Colchester town to our shores; or if +Ingild would keep me, staying in London with him even till spring +came again. + +"If I must leave the ship," I said, "I shall surely come back to +hunt with the jarl and you." + +"Nevertheless," answered my father, smiling, "Ingild will have many +a brave show for you in town. Wait till you get to London, for the +court of Ethelred himself will very likely be there, and there will +be much to see. And maybe you will find some Danish ship in the +river, and will send her captain here to take the jarl home with +him; for we may not hold him as a prisoner with us." + +Then Lodbrok added that, in any case, I might find means to send +messages to his home by some ship sailing to ports that he named; +and that I promised I would do. Thereon he gave me a broad silver +ring, rune graven, to show as a token to any of his countrymen whom +I might meet, for the ring was known. + +"Do not part with it, Wulfric," he said, as I thanked him; "for it +may be of use to you some day, if not on this voyage. Jarl Lodbrok +is well known on the high seas, and he gives not rings for naught." + +Now I would not take the falcon with me, but begged the jarl to use +her; and I asked him also to train for himself a greyhound that I +had bred, and of which he thought highly. + +"Why," said he, "I shall have the best hawk and dog in all Thetford +town, and Beorn the falconer will have naught to say to me." + +Thereat we laughed, for Beorn's jealousy was a sport to us when we +thought of it, which was seldom enough. + +So these two went to Thetford, and in the last week of August I +sailed for London, with a fair breeze over the quarter, from our +haven. + + + +CHAPTER III. WHAT CAME IN A NORTH SEA FOG. + + +Night saw our ship off Orfordness, and there the breeze failed us, +and a thick fog, hiding the land and its lights, crept up from +seaward and wrapped us round. But before it came, on Orfordness a +fire burnt redly, though what it was, unless it might be some +fisher's beacon, we could not tell. + +The fog lifted as we drifted past the wide mouth of Stour and +Orwell rivers with a little breeze, and the early daylight showed +us the smoke of a fire that burnt on the higher land that shuts in +the haven's mouth on its southern shores. But even as we saw it, +the fog closed round us again and the wind died away, so that we +lowered the sail, and the men got out the oars, and slowly, while +Kenulf swung the lead line constantly, we crept on among the sand +banks down the coast. + +Presently the tide turned against us, and Kenulf thought well that +we should drop anchor and wait for its turning again. The men +gladly laid in the oars, and the anchor rattled out and held. The +ship swung to her cable, and then there seemed deep silence after +the even roll and creak of the great sweeps in their rowlocks. The +fog was very dense, and beyond our stem head I could see nothing. + +Then to break the silence came to us, over no great stretch of +water as it seemed, the sound of a creaking block, the fall of a +yard on deck, and a voice raised in some sharp order. Then I +thought I heard an anchor plunge, and there was silence. Very +ghostly it seemed to hear these familiar sounds and to see naught, +and it was the more so that we might by no means judge from which +side of us, or fore or aft, the noises came, for fog will confuse +all things, and save a driving snowstorm, I dread nothing more at +sea. + +Now the men began to speak in whispers, for the silence and +weirdness of the fog quieted us all. And, moreover, when the fog +lifted we had seen no ship, though there must be one close to us +now, and we wondered. + +But Kenulf came to me presently with a scared face, and waiting +till the men had gone forward to find their food, he asked me if I +heard the voice that spoke. + +"Aye, surely," I answered. "What of it?" + +"Master," he said, "the voice was a Danish voice, as I think. And I +mind me of the fires we saw." + +"What then?" said I carelessly, though indeed I could see well what +fear was in the old man's mind. Yet I would have him put the thing +into words, being ready to look the worst in the face at any time. + +"The vikings, master," he answered; "surely they were in Orwell +mouth and saw us, and have given chase." + +"We should have seen them also," I said. + +"Not so, master, for the fog hung inland, and if a Dane lies in +such a place he has ever men watching the sea--and they will sail +two ship's lengths to our one." + +"Supposing the ship is a viking, what should we do now?" I asked, +for I knew of naught to do but bide where we were. + +"Go back with tide and slip past them even now," said Kenulf, +though I think he knew that this was hopeless, for if we rowed, the +sound of our oars would betray us, and if not we should be on a +shoal before long, whence any escape would be impossible. + +"Hark!" I said in another moment, and we listened. + +There was little noise beyond the lapping of the swift tide against +our sides. The men forward were silent, and I had thought that I +heard the distant sound of voices and oars. + +It came again in the stillness; a measured beat that one could not +well mistake, as of a ship's boat leisurely pulled. + +Then one of our men began to sing in an undertone, and Kenulf smote +his hands together in terror, for the sound would betray us, and he +was going forward to stop the song. + +"No matter," said I, "they know we are not far off, for I think +they must have anchored when they heard us do so, as we heard them. +If they seek us they will soon find us." + +"They are coming nearer," said Kenulf, and I heard the oars more +plainly yet. + +Now the thought of calling my men to arms came over me, but I +remembered how Lodbrok had told me that resistance to vikings, +unless it were successful, meant surely death, but that seldom +would the unresisting be harmed, even if the ship were wantonly +burnt after plunder, and the crew set adrift in their boat. + +Still the oars drew nearer, and I thought of the words that Lodbrok +had spoken--how that shipmen would be glad of his presence--and I +wished that he were indeed with me, for now I knew what he meant. + +Now, too, I knew his gift of the ring to be our safety, and surely +he had given it to me for this. So I grew confident, and even +longed to see the sharp bow of the boat cleave the mist, if only +her crew knew of our friend by name at least. Yet they might be +Norse--not Danish. + +But the sound of oars crossed our bows and died away again, and +then a voice hailed from the ship, as I thought, and there was +silence. + +Kenulf and I breathed more freely then, and we too went forward and +ate and drank, and afterwards spoke of the chance of slipping away +when the tide turned, though I was sure that, if the ship were what +we thought, she would up anchor and drift with us. + +So the hours of flood tide passed, and then the ship began to swing +idly as the slack came. Then with the turn of tide came little +flaws of wind, and we hoisted the sail, and Kenulf hove the anchor +short. Yet we heard no more sounds from the other ship. + +Then all in a minute the fog thinned, lifted, and cleared away, and +I saw the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever lighted on, and the +most terrible. + +For, not half a mile from us, lay a great viking snekr {vii}, +with the sunlight full on her and flashing from the towering green +and gold and crimson dragon's head that formed her stem, and from +the gay line of crimson and yellow shields that hung along her rail +from end to end of the long curve of her sides. Her mast was +lowered, and rested, with the furled blue and white striped sail, +on the stanchions and crossbars that upheld it, to leave the deck +clear for swing of sword and axe; and over the curving dragon tail +of the stern post floated a forked black and golden flag. And +wondrously light and graceful were the lines on which she was +built, so that beside her our stout cargo ship showed shapeless and +heavy, as did our log canoes beside Lodbrok's boat. As soon should +our kitchen turnspit dog fly the greyhound that I had given +Lodbrok, as such a ship as ours from this swift viking's craft. + +But her beauty was not that which drew the eyes of my men. Little +they thought of wonder or pleasure in gazing on the ship herself. +All her decks were crowded with scarlet-cloaked men, and the +sunlight which made the ship so bright flashed also from helm and +spear and mail coat from stem to stern. And at that sight every +tale of viking cruelty they had heard came into their minds, and +they were overcome with terror, so that I thought that several +would have cast themselves into the sea, away from the terrible +ship, choosing rather death by water than by the sword. But I saw +some half dozen whose faces set hard with other thoughts than +these, and they turned to seek their weapons from under the fore +deck. + +Then I spoke to them, for it was time; and I would have neither +fear nor defiance shown, for I knew that we should be boarded. + +"Yonder ship belongs, as I think, to the people of our guest, +Lodbrok the Dane. So it seems to me that they will gladly hear news +of him from us, as he is a great man in Denmark. And surely we have +deserved well of his folk in every way, and we of East Anglia are +at peace with the Danish host. Therefore, let us wait till they +board us, and then let no man stir from his place or speak a word, +that I may talk with them in peace." + +Those words were listened to eagerly, and they wrought on the minds +of my poor fellows as I wished. Moreover, to put our one chance of +safety into form thus heartened me also, for I will not say that I +feared nothing from these vikings, who might know and care naught +concerning our sea-borne guest, even were they Danes. + +Yet it seemed that none saw my fears, for in a little the men asked +if they might take their weapons. And though it seemed hard to me +and them alike to bide unarmed, I knew it was safer, and so bade +them meet the Danes in all peaceful seeming. + +Now we saw a boat lowered from the longship's side, and one by one +armed men entered her, and she sank deeply in the water. Ten I +counted, and at last one more, who, I supposed, was the leader. + +So deep was she that, as she left the ship, I thought how that one +sack of our grain, hove into her as she came alongside, would sink +her and leave her crew to drown in our sight. But then the ship +herself would close on us, and not one of us but would pay for that +deed with his life. + +So she came slowly over the glassy water of the slack tide, and my +men watched her, saying nothing. + +Soon she came alongside, and at a sign from me Kenulf threw a line +which the bowman caught, and I thought that a word or two of wonder +passed among her crew. They dropped to where the curve of our deck +was lowest, and instantly the leader leapt on board and all but one +of his men followed, axe or drawn sword in hand. As I had bidden +them, not one of my men stirred save Kenulf, who made fast the line +and stood watching. + +The leader was a young man, of about my own age, clad in golden +shining bronze scale armour and wearing a silver helm on which were +short, black, curving horns; and he bore a double-headed axe, +besides the sword at his side. He looked round on us--at the men +standing silent, at Kenulf, and at me as I stood on the after deck +resting on the tiller, and broke into a great laugh. + +"Well," he cried, "are you all dumb, or fools, or wise men; or a +little of all three?" + +But my men answered nothing, even as I had bidden them, and I +thought that my time was not yet come to speak. + +"The fog has got into their throats," said a Dane; for with a great +lifting of my heart I knew their tongue, and it was Lodbrok's and +not Norse. + +"Struck speechless with fear more like," said another. + +"Ho, men," said the leader, "which is your captain?" + +One of our crew pointed to me, and I came to the break of the deck +saying: + +"I am master of this ship." + +And I spoke as a Dane, for my long company with Lodbrok had given +me the very turn of his speech. + +At that the viking stared at me, and one of his men said: + +"When did Danes take to trading on this coast?" + +"You are Saxon by all seeming," said the leader, "yet you speak +like a Dane. Whence are you, and how learned you our tongue so +glibly?" + +"We are from Reedham in East Anglia, which is at peace with the +Danish host," I said; "and I learnt the Danish speech from one who +is my friend, Lodbrok the Dane, whom men call Jarl Lodbrok." + +Now at that word the Danes all turned to me, and hardly one but let +fall some word of wonder; and the young leader took two great steps +towards me, with his face flushing and his eyes lit up with a new +look. + +Then he stopped, and his face changed, growing white and angry, and +his teeth closed tightly as he looked at me. Then he said: + +"Now if you are making a tale to save your skins, worse shall it be +for you. What know you of Lodbrok?" + +I held out my hand, on which the jarl's ring shone white against +the sea-browned skin. + +"Here is a token he gave me before I sailed, that some friend of +his might know it and speak to me," I said. + +The viking dropped his axe on the deck and seized my hand, gazing +at the ring and the runes graven thereon. + +"Lives he yet?" he said, breathless. + +"Aye, Halfden Lodbroksson, your father lives and is well in our +house," I answered; for now I knew that this was surely the +youngest of those three sons of whom the jarl had told me so often. + +Now at that word the Danes broke into a great cheer, but Halfden +laid his hands on my shoulders and kissed me on both cheeks, while +the tears of joy ran down his face. + +"Well must Lodbrok my father love you if he has told you so much +that you know me by name," he cried; "and well does he trust you +since he has given you his ring. Tell me more and ever more of +him." + +Then sudden as before his mood changed, and he let me go and +climbed on the rail with his arm round a backstay, and taking off +his helm he lifted up a mighty shout to his ship: + +"Found is Jarl Lodbrok, ahoy!" + +And with uplifted weapons his men repeated the shout, so that it +seemed as though the loved name was heard across the still water, +for the men on board the ship cheered in answer. + +Now nothing would serve Halfden but that I must go with him on +board his own ship, there to tell him all I might; and he laughed +gaily, saying that he had looked indeed for a rich booty, but had +gained that which was more worth to him. + +Then I told Kenulf that we would bide at anchor till we knew what +should be done, thinking it likely that Halfden would wish us to +pilot him back to Reedham. + +"We shall lose our tide," grumbled the old man, who was himself +again, now that he knew we had naught to fear. + +"That is all we shall lose," I answered, "and what matters it? we +have all our time before us." + +"I like not the weather," he said shortly. + +But I paid no more heed to him, for Halfden spoke to me. + +"Let me leave a few men here," he said; "the boat is overladen, and +the sea is rising with the breeze;" and then he added with a smile +that had much grim meaning in it. "They bide as friends with you, +and but for our safety; not to take charge of your ship." + +So I bade Kenulf give the three who remained the best cheer that we +might, treating them as Lodbrok's men; for the old pilot loved the +jarl well, and I knew that for his sake he would do much. + +Then in a few more minutes I stood on the deck of Halfden's ship, +and word went round quickly of my news, so that I had a good +welcome. Yet I liked not the look of the Danish men, after the +honest faces of our own crew. It seemed to me that they were hard +featured and cruel looking, though towards me were none but +friendly looks. Yet I speak of the crew only, for Halfden was like +his father in face and speech, and that is saying much for him in +both. + +They spread a great awning, striped in blue and white like the +sail, over the after deck, and there they set food and wine for us, +and Halfden and I sat down together. And with us one other, an +older man, tall and bushy bearded, with a square, grave face +scarred with an old wound. Thormod was his name, and I knew +presently that he was Halfden's foster father, and the real captain +of the ship while Halfden led the fighting men. + +"Food first and talk after," quoth this Thormod, and we fell to. + +So when we had finished, and sat with ale horns only before us, +Halfden said: + +"I have sought tidings of my father from the day when he was lost +until this. Now tell me all his story from end to end." + +And I did so; though when it came to the throwing of the line to +the boat I said naught of my own part in that, there being no need, +and moreover that I would not seem to praise myself. And I ended by +saying how Lodbrok was even now at court with Eadmund, our king, +and high in favour with him and all lesser men. + +Many were the questions that the Danes asked me as I spoke, and I +answered them plainly, for indeed I was glad to see the look in +Halfden's eyes as I spoke to him of his father, I having naught but +pleasant things to tell of him, which one may say of few men, +perhaps. And by and by I spoke of his having taught me the use of +the Danish axe. + +"Ho!" said Thormod; "hold your peace for a while, and we will see +what sort of pupil he had." + +Then he rose up and took his axe, and bade me take Halfden's, which +I did, not over willingly maybe, while Halfden stood by, smiling. + +"I will not harm you," said Thormod shortly, seeing that I was not +over eager. "See here!" + +His ale horn stood on the low table where we had been sitting, and +now he placed it on the gunwale, going from under the awning. The +men who sat along the decks looked up at him and were still. + +Then he heaved up the axe with both hands and whirled it, bringing +it down with such force that I looked to see both horn and gunwale +shorn through. But so skilful was he that he stayed that mighty +stroke so that the keen edge of the axe rested on the horn's rim +without marking it, and all the men who were watching cried out: + +"Skoal {viii} to Thormod the axeman!" + +"So," said he; "now stand up and guard a stroke or two; only strike +not as yet, for maybe your axe would go too far," and he smiled +grimly, as in jest. + +But I had learned that same trick from the jarl. + +Now Lodbrok had told me that when one has a stronger axeman to deal +with than one's self the first thing is to guard well. So he had +spent long hours in teaching me guard after guard, until I could +not fail in them. + +"I am ready," I said, standing out before him. + +Thormod feinted once or twice, then he let fly at me, striking with +the flat of his axe, as one does when in sport or practice. So I +guarded that stroke as the jarl had taught me; and as I did so the +men shouted: + +"Well done, Saxon!" + +"No need to go further," said Thormod, dropping his axe and +grasping his wrist with his left hand; for that parry was apt to be +hard on the arm of the man who smote and met it. "That is the +jarl's own parry, and many an hour must he have spent in teaching +you. It is in my mind that he holds that he owes you his life." + +And from that time Thormod looked at me in a new way, as I felt. + +Halfden was well pleased, and shouted: + +"Nay, Thormod; your turn to guard now; let Wulfric smite at you!" + +"No, by Thor, that will I not," he said; "he who taught to guard +has doubtless taught to strike, and I would not have my head +broken, even in play!" + +Now he sat down, and I said, mindful of Lodbrok's words: + +"It seems to me that I have been well taught by the jarl." + +"Aye, truly," said Thormod; "he has taught you more than you +think." + +Halfden would have me keep his axe, but I told him of that one +which the jarl had made for me, and straightway he sent the boat +for it, and when it came read the runes thereon. + +"Now this says that you are right, Thormod! Here has my father +written 'Life for life'--tell us how that was!" + +So I said that it was my good fortune to cast him the line that +saved his boat, and that was all. But they made as much of that as +did Lodbrok himself. And when the men came from our ship, they +brought that tale from our men also; so that they made me most +welcome, and I was almost fain to get away from them. + +But we sat and talked while the tide went by and turned, and still +we lay at anchor until the stars came out and the night wind began +to sing in the rigging of the great ship. + +Now I had thought that surely Halfden would have wished to sail +back to Reedham at once, there to seek his father; but I knew not +yet the power which draws a true viking ever onward to the west, +and when I said that we would, if he chose, sail back with him on +the next tide, he only laughed, saying: + +"Why so? My father is well and in good case. Wherefore we will end +our cruise well if we can, and so put in for him on our way home at +the season's end." + +"What would you do, then?" I asked, wondering. + +"Raid somewhere," he answered carelessly. "We will not go home +without some booty, or there will be grumbling among the wives; but +for your sake we will go south yet, for you are bound for London, +as I think." + +I said that it was so, and that I would at once go back to Reedham +when my business was done, there to prepare for his coming. + +"That is well; and we will sail to Thames mouth together. And you +shall sail in my ship to tell me more of my father, and because I +think we shall be good friends, so that I would rather have you +come and raid a town or two with me than part with you. But as you +have your ship to mind, we will meet again at Reedham, and I will +winter there with you, and we will hunt together, and so take you +home with us in the spring." + +Now this seemed good to me, and pleased me well enough, as I told +him. Where Halfden and his crew went, south of Thames mouth, was no +concern of mine--nor, indeed, of any other man in East Anglia in +those days. That was the business of Ethelred, our overlord, if he +cared to mind the doings of one ship. Most of all it was the +concern of the sheriff in whose district a landing was made. + +So messages were sent to old Kenulf, and glad was he to know that +we should not have to give up our passage to London, and maybe +still more to feel safe in this powerful company from any other +such meetings. And before the tide served us, Halfden had said that +he also would come to London, so that our ship should lead the way +up the river. + +When we weighed anchor Thormod must needs, therefore, reef and +double reef his sail, else our ship had been hull down astern +before many hours had passed, so swift was the longship. + +Now I have said that old Kenulf had misliked the look of the +weather, and now Thormod seemed uneasy. Yet the breeze came fresh +from the southeast; and though it had shifted a good deal, I, for +my part, thought little ill of that, for it held in that quarter +till we were fairly among the sands of the Thames mouth at +nightfall, and Kenulf lit lanterns by which we might follow him. No +man knew the Thames-mouth channels better than our pilot, Kenulf +the sea crafty, as we called him. + +Then it fell dead calm, quite suddenly, and we drifted, with the +sail flapping against the mast idly, for half an hour or so. Then +fell on us, without warning, such a fierce gale as I had never +before seen, blowing from north and west, with rain and bright +lightning, and it raised in five minutes a sea that broke over us +again and again as Thormod brought the ship head to wind. + +Then I lost sight of Kenulf's lights, and as I clung to the rail, +my mind was torn with longing to be back in my own ship in this +danger, though I knew that Kenulf needed me not, and that, had I +been there, it would but have been to obey him with the rest of our +crew; yet I think that any man who loves his ship will know what I +felt. + +And of the fury and darkness of that night I will say little. This +is what comes into my mind of all that happened--aye, and at night, +when the wind roars round the house, I see it all again, waking in +my dreams as I call to Kenulf. One flash of lightning showed me my +ship dismasted and helpless, drifting broadside on to a sand over +which the waves broke white and angry, and when the next flash +came--she was gone! + +Then I cried out on my folly in leaving her, and out of the +blackness beside me as I clung to the gunwale, straining my eyes +against the spray, Halfden's voice came, crying, as he gripped my +arm: + +"By Odin--it is well that I kept you here!" + +And Thormod from the helm shouted to his men to stand by the sheet, +and the helm went down, and the ship drove through the seas that +broke clean over her as he saw the danger in time to stand away +from it, heading her as free as he dared. + +Naught of this I heeded, for I could think but of the stout sailor +men with whom I had been brought up, and of whom I knew only too +surely that I should see them not again. And for them I tried to +pray, for it was all that I could do, and it seemed so little--yet +who knows what help may come therefrom? + +Now the longship fought alone with the storm. Hard was the fight, +but I, who was willing to die with my own people who had gone +before my eyes, cared nothing for whether we won through the gale +or not. But Thormod called to me, bidding me pilot them as best I +might, and so I was taken a little from my thoughts. Yet can I take +no praise to myself that, when the gale slackened, we were safe and +beyond the dangers of the shoals. + +We were far down channel when morning broke, and on either bow were +white cliffs, plain to be seen in the clear light that came after +the short fury of the gale was spent. Never had I thought that a +ship could sail so wondrously as this of Halfden's, and yet I took +no pleasure therein, because of all that I had lost. And it seemed +to me that now I knew from my own chance why it was that Lodbrok +could sing no song to us at that feasting, when we came home to +Reedham; for surely my case was even as his. + +So I thought, leaning on the gunwale and staring ever at the white +cliffs of England on our starboard; and there Halfden found me, and +came, putting his hand on my shoulder very kindly. + +"Now if you have lost friends and ship by the common chances of the +sea," he said, "surely you have found both anew. You shall turn +viking and go on this raid with us. Glad shall we be of your axe +play and seamanship." + +I turned to him and put my hand into his. + +"I will go with you, Halfden," I said, for it seemed at that time +that I had naught else left for me to do. + +And ever since I was a child, listening to the songs of the +gleemen, had I thought that some day I, too, would make a name for +myself on the seas, as my forefathers had made theirs, so that my +deeds should be sung also. Yet that longing had cooled of late, as +the flying people from Mercia had found their way now and then to +us with tales of Danish cruelties. + +"That is well said," he answered, pleased enough. "Where shall we +go?" + +Then I had yet thought enough left me to say that against our Saxon +kin I would not lift axe. And so came to me the first knowledge +that what wiser men than I thought was true--that the old seven +kingdoms were but names, and that the Saxon and Anglian men of +England were truly but one, and should strive for that oneness, +thinking no more of bygone strifes for headship. + +"Why, that is fair enough, so you have no grudge to pay off," he +said; "but I will help you to settle any, if you have them." + +"I have no grudge against any man," I answered, truly enough. + +"Then if we raid on English shores, you shall keep ship, as someone +must; and so all will be satisfied," he answered; "but we will go +first to the Frankish shores, for it is all one to me." + +So that pleased me as well as anything would at that time; +whereupon we went to Thormod, and he was very willing that I should +take part and share with them. And as to my loss, he bade me take +heart, for a seaman has ever risks such as these to run; and, as it +seemed, this ship of ours had ever been lucky. Which was true +enough, as my father had told me by the fireside many a time. + +After this we headed over to the Frankish shore, and there I had my +first fight. For we raided a town there, and the citizens stood up +to us well. I fought in silence, while my comrades yelled to Thor +and Odin as they smote, for those against whom we fought were +Christian men, and to fight against them by the side of heathen +went against me. Yet the lust of battle took hold on me, and fight +I must. But I will tell no more of that business, save that Halfden +and Thormod praised me, saying that I had done well. And after that +the crew asked that I should lead the men amidships, for their head +man had been slain, and Halfden was on the fore deck, and Thormod +aft. So my boyish dreams were like to come to pass, for I was thus +a viking indeed. Yet I had little pride therein. + +Thence we raided ever eastward and westward along that shore, and I +grew to love Halfden well, strange as were his wild ways to me. For +he was in all things most generous; nor was he cruel, but would +hold back the more savage of the men when he could--though, indeed, +that was seldom--when they were mad with fighting. + +So the weeks went on, until at last one day as we left a haven +where we had bided for a while, taking ransom from the town that we +might leave it in peace, we spied a sail far off coming from +eastward, and Thormod would have us bear up for her, to see what +she might be. But instead of flying, as a trading ship would, the +strange vessel waited for us, lowering her sail and clearing for +action, so that there was doubt if she was not Norse. Now between +Dane and Northman is little love lost, though at times they have +joined hands, loosely as one might say, or as if cat and dog should +go together to raid a rabbit warren. + +"If she be Norse," said Halfden, and his eyes shone, "we will fight +her, and that will be a fight worth telling of by the crew that is +left when we have done!" + +But she turned out to be Danish, and a boat came from her to us. +She was on the same errand as ourselves, and, moreover, belonged to +one Rorik, who was a friend of Lodbrok's, so that again I must go +through all the story of his perils. + +Now if Halfden's men had seemed rough and ill-favoured to me when +first I saw them, time and comradeship had worn off the feeling, +but it came back to me as I looked on these men, and most of all on +this Rorik; so that for a little I hated myself for being in their +company to make war on peaceful Christian folk, though, indeed, I +could well excuse myself, seeing what straits had thrown me thus +among them to follow the ways of my own forefathers, Hengist's men. + +These newcomers held long counsel with Halfden and Thormod, and the +end of it was that they agreed to sail in company, making a raid on +the English coast, and first of all on the South Saxon shores, +behind the island that men call Wight. And that was the thing that +I had feared most of all, so that as I sat silent and listened, +taking no part, as I might, in the planning, my heart seemed like +to break for the hardness of it. + +Yet I set my face, saying naught, so that presently Rorik looked +over at me and laughed, crying in a kind of idle jest: + +"Silent is our friend here, though he looks mighty grim, so that I +doubt not he will be glad to swing that big axe of his ashore." + +Now I was in ill company, and must fit my speech to theirs, +answering truly enough: + +"It seems to me that some of us here were a little downcast when we +found that you were no Northmen, for we looked for a fight." + +Whereon they all laughed, and Rorik said that maybe his men had the +same longing, but that we would make a great raid between us. And +so the matter passed, and he and his men went back to their ship, +and we headed over to the English shore together. + + + +CHAPTER IV. THE SONG OF THE BOSHAM BELL. + + +There is a wondrous joy in the heart of a man who sees his own land +again after long days at sea, but none of that joy might be mine as +the long lines of the South Downs showed blue through the haze of +the late September day. Only the promise of Lodbrok's son, that on +English shores I should not fight, helped me a little, else should +I have been fain to end it all, axe to axe with Rorik on the narrow +deck just now, or in some other way less manful, that would never +have come into my mind but for the sore grief that I was in. And +these thoughts are not good to look back upon, and, moreover, I +should have fully trusted my friend Halfden Lodbroksson. + +Hardest of all was it to me when I knew where our landing was to be +made; for if Glastonbury is the most holy place in Wessex, so +should Bosham, the place of Wilfrith the Saint, be held in +reverence by every South Saxon; because there, unmindful of his +wrongs {ix}, he was content to labour with the wild heathen +folk, teaching them, both in body and soul, the first lessons of +our holy faith. + +Well knew I the stories of those places which I saw as the ships +crept up the haven, for Humbert our bishop had told me them many a +time when as a child I sat on his knee and listened, wondering. +There was Selsea with its pile of buildings--Wilfrith's own--there +the little cliff over which the starving heathen had cast +themselves in their despair, and there, at last, the village, +clustering round the little monastery that Dicul, the Irish monk, +had founded, and where Wilfrith had first taught. And now, maybe, I +must see the roofs that had sheltered him, and heard the first +praises of his converts, burnt before my eyes, and that while I +myself was siding with the destroyers. + +Then at last I took Halfden aside and told him my trouble, putting +him in mind of the promise he had made me. + +"Aye," said he, "I knew what made you so silent, and I have but +waited for you to speak. Ill should I have thought of you had you +not done so. But I have this plan for you. You shall go ashore with +the first, and speak to the Saxons to give us ransom, if they have +aught, or if any man is foolish enough to bide in the place when we +come. Then, if you will, you shall leave us and make your way +homeward, there to give messages to my father and yours, and to +look for my coming to Reedham shortly. There will I winter with +you, and we will sail to Jutland in the spring." + +Then he looked long at me, and put his arm round my shoulder. + +"Truly I shall miss you, Wulfric, my brother, yet it is but for a +short time." + +Now I knew not how to thank him, for this plan was all that I could +wish. And he would have no delay, but gave me good Saxon arms and +helm, and a chain-mail byrnie {x} of the best, such as Saxon or +Dane alike would wear, for he had many such, gathered from the +different lands he had raided with his father and brothers. + +"Any man, seeing you in Danish arms and helm," he said, "might well +mistrust you. So you must needs take these, for you have far to +go." + +Then, too, he pressed on me a heavy leathern bag, for he said truly +enough that I should need gold withal to buy a horse. And this I +took willingly, saying that it should be as a loan till he came to +Reedham. + +"Nay," quoth he, "this is your share of booty; we surely gained +enough on yonder shores to bring you this much." + +Then I was silent, for I was ashamed of those gains, and I did not +look into the bag, but bestowed it inside my mail shirt, for I +would not offend him. Then, when I was armed and ready, he gave me +many messages for his father, and thanks to mine. A ring, too, he +gave me for a sure token of his friendship to me; and so as the +ship crept, under oars only, up Bosham haven, we talked of the +hunting we would have together, when the leaves were fallen in our +forests; and that was pleasant to look forward to. + +Now began frightened men to run to and fro on the haven's banks, +and then suddenly came the ringing of a bell from the low tower of +the church, and the Danes began to look to their arms, stringing +bows, and bringing up the pebble ballast for sling stones, in case +the landing should be resisted. + +But when we came to a little wharf, the other ship being perhaps a +mile astern of us, there was no man. Only a small fishing vessel +lay alongside, and that we cast adrift, taking its place. + +Then Halfden and I and twenty men went quickly ashore and marched +up among the trees of the village street. There was no man in +sight, but the bell was still ringing. + +A great fear for the holy men shut up in the little monastery came +over me now, and I asked Halfden to let me warn them, for I knew +that he was like his father and would not deny me in this. + +"Go and do so if you can," he said, "and so farewell till we meet +at Reedham. We shall bide here till Rorik's men join us, and you +will have time." + +So he took my hand and I went quickly thereafter, the men calling +after me "Farewell, axeman!" heartily enough, knowing of my going +to Reedham, and caring nothing for the monks, seeing that there +would be no fighting. + +Now, guided by the bell, I went on quickly, seeing no man. The +houses stood open and deserted, and all along the road were +scattered goods, showing that the people had fled in haste, so that +they had soon cast aside the heavier things they had thought to +save. + +Soon I came to the gate of the little stone-walled monastery, over +which rose the tower whence the bell yet rang; for the church +seemed to make one side of the courtyard into which the gate would +lead. A farm cart stood outside; but the gates were closed, and +when I looked, I saw that the pin of the wheel was broken, so that +the cart could go no further. And that made me fear that more than +the monks were penned inside those four walls. + +I knocked loudly on the gate, and for a while was no answer, though +I thought the ringing of the bell grew more hurried. Then I beat on +the gate with my axe, crying: + +"Open, in the name of Eadmund the King." + +And I used his name because, though a Dane might well call in +subtlety on the name of Ethelred, none but a Saxon who knew how +well loved was the under-king of East Anglia would think of naming +him. And I was right, for at his name the little square wicket in +the midst of the gate opened, and through its bars an old monk +looked out, and at once I cried to him: + +"Let me in, Father, for the Danes are at my heels." + +He muttered a prayer in a voice that trembled, and let me in, +holding the gate fast, and closing and barring it after me. + +And all the courtyard was full of terrified men, women, and +children, while among them stood the half-dozen monks of the place, +pale and silent, listening to the clang of the bell overhead. + +When they saw me some of the women shrieked and clung to children +or husbands, scared at my arms. But one of the monks, a tall man on +whose breast was a golden cross, came quickly to me, asking: "Is +the sheriff at hand with the levy?" + +I told him hastily how that the only hope for these helpless ones +was in flight to the woods, urging him until he understood me. +Gathering his monks around him, and rousing the people, he led them +to the rearward gate that opened toward the forest land, calling at +the same time to his swineherd, who was there, and bidding him take +them by the forest tracks to Chichester. + +Then he bade his monks go also; but they lingered, asking to be +allowed to stay with him, and also what should become of the holy +vessels if the heathen laid profane hands on them. + +"Obey, as your vows bid you," said the prior; "I and this warrior +will care for the holy things." + +So they went, weeping, and were lost in the woods; for there was +little cleared land round the village, and the trees came close to +the monastery walls. + +Now we two, the monk and I, stood at the open gate for a moment and +listened. We could hear nothing of the Danes as yet. + +Then we closed and barred that gate; and all this while the bell +had tolled unceasingly, calling as it were for help that came not. + +"Now do you go and call the sacristan from the bell," the prior +said, "and bid him lead you to the chancel, where I shall be." + +I went to the tower door, unhesitating, for this man seemed to have +a wondrous power of command, so that I obeyed him without question, +even as had the villagers. And even as I went there came the sound +of many rushing feet up the street, and yells from Danish throats, +while axe blows began to rain on the gate by which I had entered. + +Then the prior bade me hold the gate when he heard that, and he +spoke quietly and in no terror, turning and calling to the man in +the tower himself; while I stood opposite the gate, looking to see +it fall with every blow. Yet it was not so weakly made as that, and +moreover I remembered that it was crossed with iron bands in +squares so that the axes could not bite it fairly. + +Now the bell stopped and the Danes howled the louder. A torch flew +over the wall and fell at my feet blazing, and I hurled it back, +and the Danes laughed at one whom it struck. Then came the two +monks from the tower and ran into the church, while I watched the +trembling of the sorely-tried gate, and had it fallen I should +surely have smitten the first Dane who entered, even had Halfden +himself been foremost, for in the four walls of that holy place I +was trapped, and knew that I must fight at last. And now it seemed +to me that I was to fight for our faith and our land; and for those +sacred things, if I might do naught in dying, I would give my life +gladly. + +"Come," said the prior's voice, and he was smiling though his face +was pale, while behind him the sacristan bore an oaken chest, iron +bound, on his shoulders. + +He drew me across the courtyard, but I ever looked back at the +gate, thinking it would fall; and now they were at the other gate, +and blows rained on it. Yet the monk smiled again and went on +without faltering, though our way was towards it. + +Then we turned under an arch into a second court, and the din was +less plain as we did so. There was the well of the monastery, and +without a word the sacristan hove the heavy chest from his +shoulders into its black depths, and the splash and bubble of its +falling came up to us. + +"That is safe," said the prior; "now for ourselves." + +He hooked the oaken bucket to its rope and let it down to its full +length in the well, and at once the sacristan swung himself on it, +slid down, and was gone. Then the rope swayed to one side, and +stayed there, shaking gently in a minute or so. + +The prior drew it up, and maybe fifteen feet from the top, there +was a bundle tied--a rope ladder on which were iron hooks. These he +fastened to the edge of the oaken platform that covered the well +mouth, and let the other end fall down the well. Then he bade me go +down to the sacristan. + +That was easy to me, and I went, yet I feared for him who stood +listening to the splintering of the nearer gate, for it would soon +fall surely. I saw the sacristan's face glimmer white before me +from a hollow in the well shaft, as I set my foot on the last rung +of the ladder, and I held out my hand to him. Then in a moment I +was beside him in a little chamber built in the walling of the +well; and after me came the prior. + +He jerked the ladder from side to side till the hooks above lost +their hold and it fell, so that he drew it in. We were but a few +feet above the water, and the well rope hung down into the +blackness before us, but I was sure that no man could see the +little doorway of the chamber from above, for the trapdoor in the +well cover was small, and light there was hardly any. + +"Now all is safe," said the prior; "and we may be careless again." + +"They will burn the monastery," I said. "One torch has been thrown +already." + +He smiled a little, as I thought, for my eyes were growing used to +the dim light. + +"They may burn some things, but roof and benches are soon made +afresh. There is oaken timber in plenty in Andredsweald, and ready +hands to hew it. Our stone walls they cannot hurt." + +Those were all the words we spoke of the matter at that time, for +there came a great shouting. One of the gates had fallen at last, +and the Danes were in the place. + +"Father," said the sacristan, "surely they will find this place?" + +The prior laughed a short laugh. + +"That is a thought born of your fears, Brother," he answered; and I +who had had the same fear was rebuked also, for indeed that I +should go down the well had never come into my mind, even in our +need of shelter, so why should the Danes think of it? + +Then we were silent, listening to the feet and voices overhead. The +Danes found the belfry presently, and began to toll the bell +unskillfully while the men below jeered at those who handled the +ropes. Then the bell clashed twice strangely, and the prior laughed +outright. + +"The clumsy churls have overthrown her," he said, "now I hope that +one has had his head broken thereby." + +I marvelled that he could jest thus, though maybe, after the strain +and terror of the danger we had so far escaped, it was but natural +that his mind should so rebound as it were. + +Very soon after this the Danes came clattering into the little +court where the well was, and straightway came to its mouth, +casting stones down it, as no idle man can help doing. The +sacristan crept to the furthest corner of our little den and sat +there trembling, while I and the other monk listened with set teeth +to the words that came down to us. Nor will I say that I was not +somewhat frightened also, for it seemed to me that the voices were +unknown to me. They were Rorik's men, therefore, and not our +crew--who likely enough would but have jeered at me had they found +me hiding thus. + +"Halfden's men have drunk all the ale in the place, and that was +not much," said one man; "let us try the water, for the dust of +these old storehouses is in my throat." + +Then he began to draw up the bucket, and it splashed over us as it +went past our doorway. + +"There is naught worth taking in this place," growled another man. +"Maybe they have hove their hoards down the well!" + +Now at that the sacristan gave a stifled groan of terror, and I +clutched my axe, ready for need. + +"All right, go down and see!" answered one or two, but more in jest +than earnest. + +Then one dropped a great stone in, and waited to hear it bubble +from the bottom, that he might judge the depth. Now no bubbles +came, or so soon that they were lost in the splash, and the prior +took some of the crumbling mortar from the cell walls, and cast it +in after a few moments. And that was a brave and crafty thing to +do, for it wrought well. + +"Hear the bubble," said the Dane; "the well must be many a fathom +deep--how long it seemed before they came up!" + +So they drank their fill, saying that it was useless to go down +therefore, and anyhow there would be naught but a few silver +vessels. + +"I have seen the same before," said one; "and moreover no man has +luck with those things from a church." + +No man gainsaid him, so they kicked the bucket down the well and +went away. + +Now I breathed freely again, and was about to whisper to the prior +that his thought of making what would pass for bubbling was good; +but more Danes came. And they were men of Halfden's ship; so we +must wait and listen, and this time I thought that surely we were +to be found. For the men began to play with one another as they +drank from the bucket; pushing each other's heads therein, and the +helm of one fell off and fled past us to the bottom; and some words +passed pretty roughly. And after they had done quarrelling they +crowded over the trapdoor, as one might know by the darkening of +the shaft. Then one saw the helm, for it was of leather, iron +bound, and had fallen rim upward, so that it floated. Now one was +going to swarm down the rope to get it, but as he swung the rope to +him, the bucket swayed in the water under the helm, and he saw that +it did so. Whereon he wound both up, and they too went away. + +"That was a lucky chance!" I whispered. + +"No chance at all, my son; that was surely done by the same Hand +that sent you here to warn us," answered the prior. And I think +that he was right. + +Now came a whiff of biting smoke down the well shaft, borne by some +breath of wind that eddied into it. The Danes had fired the place! + +"Father," I whispered, pulling the prior forward, for he had gone +into the little cell to give thanks for this last deliverance. + +He looked very grave as he saw the blue haze across the doorway, +hiding the moss and a tiny fern that grew on the shaft walls over +against us. + +"This is what I feared, though I must needs make light of it," he +said. + +"It cannot harm us here," I answered. + +"All round this court on three sides the buildings are of wood; +sheds and storehouses they are and of no account, but if one falls +across the well mouth--what then?" + +"Then we are like to be stifled," said I; for even now the smoke +grew thicker, even so far down as we were. And when I looked out +and up there was naught but smoke across the well mouth, and with +that, sparks. + +"Pent up and stifled both," said the quavering voice of the +sacristan from behind us. "How may we get out of this place till +men come and raise the ruin that will cover us? And who knows we +are here but ourselves?" + +"Forgive me for bringing you to this pass," said the prior gravely, +after a little silence. + +The smoke grew even denser, and we must needs cough, while the +tears ran from my eyes, for the stinging oak smoke seemed trapped +when once it was driven down the well. + +"I have known men escape from worse than this," I said, thinking of +Lodbrok, and turning over many wild plans in my mind. + +"I had forgotten this danger of wooden walls," said the prior to +himself, as it were. "Doubtless when this well chamber was made it +was without the inclosure." + +Now it seemed to me that this could not be borne much longer, and +that soon the walls he dreaded would fall. So as one might as well +die in one way as another, I thought I would climb to the well's +mouth and see if there were any chance of safety for these two +monks. Yet I had no thought of aught but dying with them, if need +were, though as for myself I had but to walk across the courtyard +and go away. The Danes would but think I lingered yet for the sake +of plunder. + +"If we may not stand this smoke, neither can the Danes," I said. "I +am going to see." + +So I set down my axe and sword and leapt sailor-wise at the +rope--which the men had dropped again when they had taken the helm +from the bucket--catching it easily and swarming up to the +trapdoor. I only raised myself to the height of my eyes and looked +out. + +I could see nothing. The dense smoke eddied and circled round the +court, and the Danes were gone, leaving us in a ring of fire on +three sides. The wooden buildings were blazing higher every moment, +and the heat seemed to scorch my head and hands till I could +scarcely bear it. But as the wind drove aside the smoke I could see +that the way to the rear gate, the last we had barred, was clear. +So I slid down and hung opposite the chamber. The monks looked out +at me with white faces. + +"It may be done," I said. "Come quickly! it is the only chance." + +The prior gave me the rope-ladder end without a word, not needing +to be asked for it; nor did I wait to say more, for at that moment +a roof fell in with a great crash, and a red glare filled the well +as the flames shot up, and the sparks and bits of burning timber +came down the shaft and hissed into the water below me. + +I clomb up, fixed the ladder, and called down to the prior to bring +my arms with him. There was a burning beam not three feet from the +well mouth, part of the fallen roof that had slipped sideways from +it. The flames that shot up from the building were so hot that I +could barely abide them, and I shaded my face with both my hands, +crying again to the monks to come quickly. + +In a few seconds came the sacristan, white and trembling--I had to +help him out of the well mouth. The prior was close to him; he was +calm, and even smiled at me as he saw me clutch my arms eagerly. + +"To the rear gate," I said, turning and kicking the ladder into the +well, and thinking how cool the splash was compared with this +furnace of heat. "Kilt up your frocks and go swiftly, but run not," +for in that smoke, save their long garments betrayed them, a man +might be armed or unarmed for all that one could see. + +So, walking quickly, we came to the court entrance, and even as we +stood under its archway the building nearest the well fell with a +crash and rumble, covering the well mouth with a pile of blazing +timber. The smoke and flame seemed to wrap us round, while the +burning timber flew, and the Danes from the great courtyard yelled +with evil delight; but before that cloud had cleared away we three +were outside the monastery gate, and were safe. + +"Just in time," I said. + +But "Deo gratias" said the monks in a breath. + +"Now run," said I, and into the nearest spur of woodland we went, +and stayed not till we were beyond reach of the yells of the +destroyers, who, as it seemed, had not even seen us. + +When we were sure that we were not pursued, the prior took my arm +and pressed it. + +"Thanks to you, my son, our people are safe, and we have come out +of yon furnace unscathed. May you find help in time of need as near +and ready. Now when I read the story of the Three Children, I think +I shall know all that they suffered, for we have been in like +case." + +And I could make no answer, for it seemed to me that I had +forgotten that I was a Christian of late. And that was true. + +Now the prior bade the sacristan hasten to Chichester and tell all +this to the sheriff, and he left us, while we went on alone. +Presently I asked who made the chamber in the well, for the silence +weighed on me, and my thoughts were not so lightsome. + +"Doubtless by Wilfrith's men," he said, "and for the same turn it +has served us. For in his days there were many heathen round him, +and flight or hiding might be the last resort at any time." + +Then I wondered, saying that I deemed that surely it was a greater +thing to be a martyr and to die, than to save life. + +"Not always so," he answered, and then he told me of the ways of +holy men of old time. "We may by no means save life by denying our +faith, but we are bidden to flee into another place when +persecuted. We may not choose the place of our death, nor yet the +time." + +So he showed me at last what it was to be truly a martyr, fearing +not, nor yet seeking death. + +"Of a truth," he ended, "the Lord may need my death by the hand of +the heathen at some time, and when the time comes I shall know it, +and will die gladly. But while He gives me the power to save life +blamelessly, I know that He needs me on earth yet, though I am of +little worth." + +So we were silent after that, ever going on through the woods. At +last he laughed a little, and looked sidewise at me. + +"We two are alone," he said, "therefore I do not mind saying that I +have been fairly afraid--how felt you?" + +"I would I might never be so frightened again," I answered, for +truly I had made myself so at one with this brave man that I had +forgotten that there was little fear for myself, as I have said, +unless that it had been Rorik's crew who had found us, for only a +few of them knew me. + +We came now to a place where the trees thinned away on the brow of +a hill, and I could see the broad waters of the haven through their +trunks. We had reached the crest of that little cliff over which +Wilfrith's heathen had cast themselves in the great famine from +which he saved them. + +"Let us see the last of Bosham," the prior said sadly. So we crept +through the fern and long grass, and lying down looked out over +haven and village. Even if a prying Dane looked our way he would +hardly see us thus hidden, or if he did would take us but for +villagers and care not. + +Now I saw that the tide was on the turn, and that Halfden's +ship--my own ship, as I have ever thought her--had hauled out, and +her boats waited for the last of the crew at the wharf side. But +Rorik's ship was there still, and her men were busy rigging a crane +of spars as though they would lower some heavy thing on board her. +Nor could I guess what that might be. + +Then I looked at the village, which was burning here and there, and +at the monastery. They had not fired the church, and the Danes +clustered round the tower doorway, busied with something, and I +could see them well, for the smoke from the burning buildings blew +away from us. + +Now I asked the prior what heavy things worth carrying away might +be in the monastery. + +"Naught," he said; "since they have drunk all the ale that was in +the cask or two we had. + +"But," he added, "there is the great bell, it is the only weighty +thing else." + +Then I knew what was toward, and said: + +"I fear, Father, that your bell is going to be taken to become +metal for mail shirts, and axe heads, and arrowheads, and helms." + +"Holy St. Wilfrith!" cried the monk, in great grief; "would that we +could have saved it. There is no such bell in all England, and if +they take it, many a sailor will miss its call through fog and +driving mist, and many a shepherd on yonder downs will wait for its +ringing, and be the wearier for lack thereof." + +"Never have I seen bell too large for one man to handle," I said; +"this must be a wondrous bell!" + +So it was, he told me, and while we watched the busy Danes, he +began to sing to me in low tones the song of Bosham bell which his +people would sing by the fireside. + +"Hard by the haven, +Wilfrith the holy +Bade men a bell tower +Sturdily build. +Thence should a bell sound +Over the wide seas, +Homeward to hail +The hardy shipmen. +Thus was the bell wrought +By skilful workmen: +Into the fierce fire, +When it was founded, +Helm and harness +The warriors hove; +Willingly women, +The jewel wearers, +Golden and silver gauds +Gave for the melting; +And a great anchor +The seamen added. +Thus was a wealth +Of wondrous metal. +When all was molten +More grew its marvel! +Cast in a chalice, +Cuthred the priest." + +"Aye, Father," said I, "that is a wondrous bell." + +He nodded, and went on, with his eyes fixed on the monastery. + +"Thus as the bell swings +Soothly it speaketh: +Churchward it calleth +With voice of the chalice, +Speaking to shipmen +With voice that is sea born. +Homeward the husband +Hailing with voices +Fresh from the fireside, +Where flashed the gold gifts-- +Clashing the war call, +Clear with its warrior voice." + +"That was the voice of the bell that sounded as we came," I +thought; and even as I would have said it, the bell of Bosham spoke +again, and the prior stopped with an exclamation, and pointed. + +Out of the gateway came four Danes, bearing the bell between them, +and as they crossed the threshold, one stumbled, and the bell +clanged as they dropped it on the courtyard pavement. The tears ran +down the holy man's face as he saw this mishap to his beloved bell, +which was kept bright as when it was first founded, by the loving +hands of his people. + +Now the Danes put it on that farm cart I had seen, and which they +had mended, and took the bell down to the wharf, and we watched +them sling it to the crane they had rigged, and place it amidships +on deck. Then they all went hastily on board, and put out into the +haven, down which Halfden's ship was already a mile distant, and +dancing on the quick waves of wind against tide where the waters +broadened into a wide lake. + +Now when the ship was fairly under way, the prior rose up from +beside me, and lifting his hand, cursed ship and crew with so great +and bitter a curse that I trembled and looked to see the ship +founder at once, so terrible were his words. + +Yet the ship held on her course, and the words seemed vain and +wasted, though I know not so certainly that they were so. For this +is what I saw when the ship met the waves of that wider stretch of +water that Halfden had now crossed. + +She pitched sharply, and there was a bright gleam of sunlight from +the great bell's polished sides, and then another--and the ship +listed over to starboard and a wave curled in foam over her +gunwale. Then she righted again quickly, and as though relieved of +some weight, yet when a heavier, crested roller came on her she +rose to it hardly at all, and it broke on board her. And at that +she sank like a stone, and I could hear the yell that her men gave +come down the wind to me. + +Then all the water was dotted with men for a little, and the bright +red and white of her sail floated on the waves for a minute, and +then all that was left of her were the masthead and yard--and on +them a few men. The rest were gone, for they were in their mail, +and might not swim. Only a few yet clung to floating oars and the +like. + +"Little have these heathen gained from Bosham," said the prior, and +his eyes flashed with triumph. "Wilfrith the holy has punished +their ill doing." + +So, too, it seemed to me, and I thought to myself that the weight +of that awesome curse had indeed fallen on the robbers. + +Yet I know that, as I watched the ship in her trouble, in my own +mind I had been going over what was amiss, as any seaman will, +without thought of powers above. And I thought that the sharp +pitching of the vessel had cast the great bell from amidships, +where I had seen the Danes place it unsecured, against the frail +gunwale, first to one side, and then, with greater force yet, +against the other; so that it burst open gunwale and planking +below, and already she was filling when the wave came and ended +all. For these swift viking ships are built to take no heavy cargo, +and planks and timbers are but bound together by roots and withies; +so that as one stands on the deck one may feel it give and spring +to the blow of a wave, and the ship is all the swifter. But though +the outer planking is closely riveted together with good iron, that +could not withstand the crashing weight of so great a bell when it +was thus flung against it. + +However that may have been--and thus I surely think it was--Bosham +bell passed not into the power of the heathen, but destroyed them; +and it lies at the bottom of the deepest reach of the haven whence +the depth and swiftness of the tide will hardly let men bring it +again. So I suppose that, profaned by heathen hands, it may no +longer call men from across the water and woodland to the church of +God. + +Soon came the boats from Halfden's ship and picked up those who yet +clung to what they might of the wreck, and then ship and Danes +passed from Bosham haven, leaving the silent tower and burning +village to mark where they had been. + +Then the prior sighed, and turning away, said: + +"Let us go to Chichester and find shelter. Night comes soon, and +rest." + +Sadly enough we went, though not for long: for when we came into +the roadway from the forest land, the prior put his heavy thoughts +aside, and spoke cheerfully to me. + +"What is done is done; and but for you, my son, things would have +been worse. And their greed for the bell has made them spare the +church itself. Surely you must have fallen from the clouds to help +us--borne hither from the East Anglian land whose tongue bewrays +you." + +"I marvel that you trusted me," I said. + +"I trusted your face, my son, and when one is in a hard case the +first help is ever the best. Yet now I would fain know somewhat of +my good comrade." + +Now I think that to any but this monk, with his friendly smile and +way of quiet authority, I should have been ashamed to own my part +with the Danes. But a few hours of companionship in danger knit +closer than many a long day of idleness together, and he seemed to +me as a near friend. Moreover, he had trusted me without question; +so I told him all my tale and he listened patiently. + +"Now I am glad that I cursed not your friend's ship--for I forgot +her," he said, smiling. + +At that I was glad, for how he would hold my being with the heathen +I somewhat doubted, and I told him so. + +"Why, my son, I know not that you had much choice. And as for +fighting against outlanders--let me heft that axe of yours." + +He took it, and it fell into his hands in a way that told me that +he, too, had been a stark fighting man at some time. + +"Take it away, my son, take it away!" he cried, thrusting it back +on me; "I am not the man to blame you. And I know that much good +has come to us from your being with them. And from your talk about +martyrs I know that you have done no honour to their gods." + +I said truly that the question had never come into my mind. For, +save as oath or war cry, the names of Thor and Odin were not heard. +They sacrificed on going to sea, and on return; and meanwhile cared +naught, so far as I knew, for none had questioned my faith. + +He said it was well, and so talking we went on. And he said that, as +friend of his, none would question me, so that I should find all I +needed for my journey in the town. And when we came there--meeting +the sheriff's ill-armed levy on the way--we went to the house of a +great thane, and there were well and kindly received. + +Yet once and again as I slept I dreamed and woke with the cry of +Rorik's men in my ears, and before me the bell seemed to flash +again as it crashed through the ship's side. And once I woke +thinking that the smell of burning was round me, and felt, half +awake, for the stone walls of the well chamber. But at last I slept +soundly and peacefully. + + + +CHAPTER V. HOW WULFRIC, LODBROK, AND BEORN HUNTED. + + +When morning came it was great wonder and joy to me to wake and +find myself in England and free, for indeed I had begun to think of +my comradeship with the Danes as a sort of thralldom that I knew +not how to break. And now I longed to make my way back to Reedham +as soon as I might, for I had been many weeks away, though I have +said little of all that befell in that time beyond what was +needful. One thing saved me from grief that might have been, and +that was the knowledge that Ingild, the merchant, had not been told +to look for my coming, and that none at home would wonder if I were +long away, because of that plan of wintering our ship in the +Thames. And I knew that not one of my poor crew could have lived to +take news of the wreck. + +That I must take back myself; and though I could not fairly be +blamed for loss of ship and crew, the thought of having to break +the tidings to those who would mourn for their lost ones was very +hard to me. But it must be done, and there was an end. + +Now came to me, as I thought of these things, my friend the Prior +of Bosham, and he sat down beside me and asked how he could further +my plans. He himself must go to Selsea, there to see the bishop and +tell him all, not forgetting my part, as he said. + +I told him that I only needed a horse, and that then I should ride +to London, where I had friends: and he asked me if I had money +wherewith to buy one, for he had none, else would he gladly do so +for me. And that reminded me of the bag which Halfden gave me, and +I opened it. + +It was full of treasure--gold ornaments, and chains wherein were +set precious stones, and some gold coins and silver, and these were +the least value of all. But little pleasure had I in them, for I +knew too well how they came, and a thought came to me. + +"Father," I said, "this comes from ruined towns on yonder +shore--take it and build up Bosham again. Aye, take it." + +"Why, my son, here is treasure enough to build three villages like +ours," he said quietly; "for timber houses cost but labour in this +forest land, and there was naught else worth taking in the place." + +"But your people are the poorer," I said; "I pray you take it for +their need, and for a new bell, moreover." + +And so I urged him till he took the greatest gold chain, saying +that in honesty he could no more, for that would surely make Bosham +wish for more burnings if they turned out as this. + +"Keep the rest and buy a new ship," he said, "and forget not that +always and every day your name will be remembered at the time of +mass in Bosham; and that may help you in days to come." + +So he blessed me and departed, and I think that both of us were +light at heart, save for parting. And I have never seen the good +prior again, though his face and words I cannot forget. + +Soon came one to lead me to the presence of the thane and his wife, +and from them I found kindness more than I could have looked for. +We broke our fast together, and then the lady asked me if I would +accept horse and gear for my journey from her, for she had heard +from the prior that I had been shipwrecked, who had also told her +all the story of our doings at Bosham. + +Thanking her, I told her that though shipwrecked, I was yet rich, +having a store of wealth with me; for I thought that it was in the +minds of these kind people that I was in need. + +"Be not proud," she said "bide with us for a while, and then take +horse and go. We hold that you have deserved well of all of us." + +But I told her of my mother and sister at home, and how I would +fain be back with them, so she pitied me the more, saying that now +for their sakes she would hasten me. + +"Aye, lad," said the thane, "we have sons of our own at court, and +the lady would that someone would pack them home on a good +horse--so she must not be denied." + +Thus they persuaded me, and when I tried to thank them, the thane +laughed, and the lady said: + +"Thank me not but in one way, and that is by asking your mother to +help homeward some other lady's son when need is. And that is all I +would wish." + +And the end of it was that I rode away from Chichester town on a +good horse and with change of clothes in saddlebags, and those +worthy people stood at the gate to give me good speed. + +Yet that is not the end, for there are one or two who have ridden +in like sort from Reedham since that day, and have borne home the +like message; so that I know not where the ending of that kindly +deed may be. + +Past the old Chichester walls I went, and out on the long line of +the Roman street that should take me to London. And as I went I +sang, for the green beechen woods were wondrous fair to me after +the long weeks of changing sea, and it seemed to me that all was +going well, so that I put away for the time the grievous thought of +my shipwreck, the one hard thing that I must face when I came home +again. + +There is nothing to tell of that ride; for well armed, and rich, +and with a good horse, what should there be? And at last I came to +London town, and rode straightway to the great house of my +godfather, Ingild, that stood by London Bridge. Very strange it was +to me to look out over the Pool as I crossed, and not to see our +good ship in her wonted place, for this was the first time I had +come to London except in her. + +At the door of the courtyard, round which Ingild had his great +storehouses and sheds for goods, I drew rein, and two serving men +whom I knew well came out. Yet they knew me not, staring at my arms +and waiting for my commands. + +So I spoke to them by name, and they started and then laughed, +saying that they must be forgiven for not knowing me in my arms, +for surely I had changed greatly since two years ago, when I was +last with them. + +It was the same when Ingild himself came out, ample robed and +portly; for he gazed long at my helmed face, and then cried: + +"Why, here is a marvel! Wulfric, my son, you have grown from boy to +man since last we met; and you come in helm and mail shirt and on +horseback, instead of in blue homespun and fur cap, with an oar +blister on either hand. How is this?" + +Then he kissed me on both cheeks and led me in, running on thus +till a good meal was before me, with a horn of his mighty ale; and +then he let me be in peace for a little while. + +Afterwards, as we sat alone together, I told him all that had +befallen, even as I would have told my father, for in my mind +Ingild, my godfather, came next to him and our king, and I loved +him well. + +Sorely he grieved for loss of ship and goods and men, but he told +me that we were not the only seamen who had been hurt by that +sudden gale. Nor did he blame me at all, knowing that Kenulf was in +truth the commander of our ship. Rather was he glad that it had +chanced that I had left her and so was safe. + +Then when I told him of my turning viking thereafter, he laughed +grimly, with a glitter of his eye, saying that he would surely have +done the same at my age--aye, and any young man in all England +likewise, were he worth aught. + +So when I had told him all about my journey, I showed him the bag +that Halfden gave me, and well he knew the value of the treasure +therein. + +"Why, son Wulfric," he cried; "here is wealth enough to buy a new +ship withal, as times go!" + +And I would have him keep it, not being willing to take so great a +sum about with me, and that he did willingly, only asking me to let +him use it, if chance should be, on my behalf, and making me keep +the silver money for my own use going homeward. + +"Yet I will keep you awhile, for Egfrid, the Thane's son of Hoxne, +who is here at court, goes home for Yuletide, and so you can ride +with him. And I think it will be well that we should send word to +your father of how things have been faring with you, for so will +you have naught of misfortune to tell when you come home." + +I thought this wise counsel and kindly, for my people would best +tell those wives and children of their loss, and so things would be +easier for me. And Ingild sent writing to my father by the hand of +some chapman travelling to the great fair at Norwich; and with his +letter went one from me also, with messages to Lodbrok--for Eadmund +had made me learn to write. + +So after that I abode with Ingild, going to the court of Ethelred +the King with him, and seeing the great feasts which the merchant +guilds made for the king while he was in London; with many other +wondrous sights, so that the time went quickly, and the more so +that this Egfrid was ever with me. I had known him when we were +little lads together at our own king's court, but he had left to go +to that of our great overlord, Ethelred, so that I had not seen him +for long years. And one may sail up our Waveney river to Hoxne, +where his father's house is, from ours at Reedham, though it is a +long way. + +Now in the week before Yuletide we would start homewards, so with +many gifts and words of good speed, Ingild set us forth; and we +rode well armed and attended as the sons of great thanes should. So +the way was light to us in the clear December weather, and if it +were long the journey was very pleasant, for Egfrid and I grew to +be great friends, and there is nothing more joyous than to be +riding ever homeward through wood and over wild, with one whose +ways fit with one's own, in the days of youth, when cares are none +and shadows fall not yet across the path. + +When we came to Colchester town we heard that Eadmund was yet at +Thetford, and when we asked more we learnt that Lodbrok was there +also with my father. So, because Hoxne was but twenty miles or +thereby from Thetford, both Egfrid and I were glad that our way was +yet together, and we would go there first of all. + +One other thing we heard in Colchester, for we waited there for two +days, resting our horses. There was a wandering gleeman who came +into the marketplace on the hill top, and we stood and listened to +him. + +And first he sang of how Danes had come and burnt Harwich town. But +the people told him to sing less stale news than that, for Harwich +was close at hand. Now it was Halfden's ship which had done that, +and the fires we saw before the fog came had been the beacons lit +because of his landing. + +Then he made a great outcry until he had many folk to listen, and +they paid him well before he would sing. Whereon, forsooth, my ears +tingled, for he sang of the burning of Bosham. And when he came to +the stealing of the bell, his tale was, that it, being hallowed, +would by no means bear that heathen hands should touch it, so that +when it came to the deepest pool in the haven it turned red hot, +and so, burning a great hole through the Danish ship, sank to the +bottom, and the Danes were all drowned. Whereat the people +marvelled, and the gleeman fared well. + +I suppose that the flashing of the great bell that I had seen gave +rise to this tale, and that is how men tell it to this day. And I +care not to gainsay them, for it is close enough to the truth, and +few know that I had so nearly a hand in the matter. + +So we rode to Thetford, and how we were received there is no need +for me to tell, for I came back as it were from the dead, and +Egfrid after years of absence. And there with Eadmund were my +father and mother, and Eadgyth, and Lodbrok, and Egfrid's folk +also, with many more friends to greet us, and the king would have +us keep Yuletide with him. + +It had been in my mind that Halfden would have come to Reedham, and +at first I looked for him, but he had not been heard of, so that +now we knew that we should not see him before springtime came, for +he must needs be wintering somewhere westward. Yet now Lodbrok was +at ease with us, seeing the end of his stay, and being in high +favour with our king, so that he was seldom away from his side in +all the hunting that went on. + +That liked not Beorn, the falconer, and though he would be +friendly, to all seeming, with the Dane, it seemed to me that his +first jealousy had grown deeper and taken more hold of him, though +it might only be in a chance look or word that he showed it as days +went on. + +But one night my father and I rode in together from our hunting, +and there was no one with us. We had been at Thetford for a month +now, since I came home, and there was a talk that the king would go +to the court of Ethelred at Winchester shortly, taking my father +with him for his counsellor, and so we spoke of that for a while, +and how I must order things at Reedham while he was away. + +"Lodbrok, our friend, will go back with you," he said. "Now, have +you noted any envy at the favour in which he is held by Eadmund?" + +"Aye, Father," I answered, "from Beorn, the falconer." + +"So you, too, have had your eyes open," went on my father; "now I +mistrust that man, for he hates Lodbrok." + +"That is saying more than I had thought." + +"You have been away, and there is more than you know at the bottom +of the matter. The king offered Lodbrok lands if he would bide with +us and be his man, and these he refused, gently enough, saying that +he had broad lands of his own, and that he would not turn +Christian, as the king wished, for the sake of gain. He would only +leave the worship of his own gods for better reasons. Now Beorn +covets those lands, and has hoped to gain them. Nor does he yet +know that Lodbrok will not take them." + +Then I began to see that this matter was deeper than I had thought, +and told my father of the first meeting of Lodbrok and Beorn. But I +said that the falconer had seemed very friendly of late. + +"Aye, too friendly," said my father; "it is but a little while +since he held aloof from him, and now he is ever close to Lodbrok +in field and forest. You know how an arrow may seem to glance from +a tree, or how a spear thrust may go wide when the boar is at bay, +and men press round him, or an ill blow may fall when none may know +it but the striker." + +"Surely no man would be so base!" I cried. + +"Such things have been and may be again. Long have I known Beorn, +and I would not have him for enemy. His ways are not open." + +Then I said that if Beorn was ever near Lodbrok, I would be nearer, +and so we left the matter. + +There was one other thing, which was more pleasant, which we spoke +about at that time. And it was about the betrothal of my sister +Eadgyth. For it had come to pass that Egfrid, my friend, had sought +her hand, and the match pleased us all. So before the king and my +father went to Winchester there was high feasting, and those two +were pledged one to the other. Then was a new house to be built for +them at Hoxne, where the wedding itself should take place. + +"Maybe Halfden will be here by that time," said Lodbrok to me. "I +wish, friend Wulfric, that honest Egfrid had not been so forward, +or that you had another fair sister." + +Now though that saying pleased me, I could not wish for the wild +viking as husband to our gentle Eadgyth, though I loved him well as +my own friend. So I said that I thought Halfden's ship was his only +love. + +"Maybe," answered the jarl; "but one may never know, and I think it +would be well for English folk and Danish to be knit together more +closely." + +But when I asked him why this should be so, he only smiled, and +talked of friendliness between the two peoples, which seemed a +little matter to me at that time. + +Now when the time came, my father having gone, we two, Lodbrok and +I, went back to Reedham, while my mother and Eadgyth stayed yet at +Thetford for the sake of Egfrid's new house building, for he would +have it built to suit her who should rule it. + +Strange and grievous it was to me to see our shipyard empty, and +sad to have to tell the story of the good ship's loss to those +whose mourning was not yet over. Yet they were sailors' wives and +children, and to them death at sea was honourable, as is to a +warrior's wife that her husband should fall in a ring of foes with +all his wounds in front. And they blamed me not; but rather +rejoiced that I was safe returned. + +Now without thought of any foe, or near or far, Lodbrok and I +hunted and hawked over our manors, finding good sport, and in a +little while I forgot all about Beorn, for I had seen him go in the +king's train as they rode out to Winchester. + +Out of that carelessness of mine came trouble, the end of which is +hard to see, and heavily, if there is blame to me, have I paid for +it. And I think that I should have better remembered my father's +words, though I had no thought but that danger was far away for the +time. + +We hunted one day alone together, and had ridden far across our +nearer lands to find fresh ground, so that we were in the wide +forest country that stretches towards Norwich, on the south of the +Yare. Maybe we were five miles from the old castle at Caistor. +There we beat the woods for roebuck, having greyhounds and hawks +with us, but no attendants, as it happened, and for a time we found +nothing, not being far from the road that leads to the great city +from the south. + +Then we came to a thicket where the deer were likely to harbour, +and we went, one on either side of it, so that we could not see one +another, and little by little separated. Then I started a roe, and +after it went my hounds, and I with them, winding my horn to call +Lodbrok to me, for they went away from him. + +My hounds took the roe, after a long chase, and I was at work upon +it, when that white hound that I had given to Lodbrok came leaping +towards me, and taking no heed of the other hounds, or of the dead +deer, fawned upon me, marking my green coat with bloodstains from +its paws. + +I was angry, and rated the hound, and it fled away swiftly as it +came, only to return, whining and running to and fro as though to +draw me after it. Then I thought that Lodbrok had also slain a +deer, starting one from the same thicket, which was likely enough, +and that this dog, being but young, would have me come and see it. +All the while the hound kept going and coming, being very uneasy, +and I rated it again. + +Then it came across me that I had not heard Lodbrok's horn, and +that surely the dog would not so soon have left his quarry. And at +that I hasted and hung the deer on a branch, and, mounting my +horse, rode after the hound, which at once ran straight before me, +going to where I thought Lodbrok would be. + +When I came round the spur of wood that had first parted us I was +frightened, for Lodbrok's horse ran there loose, snorting as if in +terror of somewhat that I could not see, and I caught him and rode +on. + +When I could see a furlong before me, into a little hollow of the +land that is there, before me was a man, dressed like myself in +green, and he was dragging the body of another man towards a +thicket; and as I saw this my horses started from a pool of blood +in which lay a broken arrow shaft. + +At that I shouted and spurred swiftly towards those two--letting +the other horse go free--with I know not what wild thoughts in my +mind. + +And when I came near I knew that the living man was Beorn, and that +the dead was Lodbrok my friend. + +Then I took my horn and wound it loud and long, charging down upon +that traitor with drawn sword, for I had left my hunting spear with +the slain deer. He dropped his burden, and drew his sword also, +turning on me. And I saw that the blade was red. + +Then I made no more delay, but leapt from my horse and fell upon +him to avenge myself for the death of him whom I loved. Would that +I had had the axe whose use he who lay there had taught me so well, +for then the matter would have been ended at one blow. But now we +were evenly matched, and without a word we knew that this fight +must be to the death, and our swords crossed, and blow and parry +came quickly. + +Then I heard shouts, and the noise of men running behind me, and +Beorn cried: + +"Stay us not, I avenge me of my friend," whereon I ground my teeth +and pressed on him yet more fiercely, wounding him a little in the +shoulder; and he cried out for help--for the men who came were +close on us--and the well-cast noose of a rope fell over my +shoulders, and I was jerked away from him well-nigh choked. + +Two men ran past me and took Beorn, throwing up his sword with +their quarterstaves, and it seemed to me that it was done over +gently. Then they bound us both and set us on the ground face to +face. + +"Now here be fine doings!" said a man, who seemed to be the leader +of the six or seven who had ended the fight. + +"Aye, 'tis murder," said another, looking from Beorn to me and then +to Beorn again; "but which is murderer and which true man?" + +Now all these men were strangers to me, but I knew one thing about +them from their dress. They were the men of mighty Earl Ulfkytel +himself, and seemed to be foresters, and honest men enough by their +faces. + +"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric of Reedham," I said. "The slain man is +Lodbrok, the Danish jarl, and this man slew him." + +"He lies!" cried Beorn. "It was he who slew him, and I would +revenge myself on him, for this Lodbrok was my friend." + +Now I held my peace, keeping back my wrath as well as I might, for +I began to see that Beorn had some deep plot on hand, thus to +behave as if innocent. + +"Why, so he cried out as we came," said one of the men when he +heard Beorn's words. + +"Maybe both had a hand in it," the leader said, and so they talked +for a little. + +Then came two of my own serfs, who had followed me to see the +sport, I suppose, at a distance, as idle men will sometimes, when +hunting is on hand, and with them came Lodbrok's dog, the same that +had brought me. And when the dog saw Beorn he flew at him and would +have mauled him sorely, but that the earl's men beat him off with +their staves; and one took the leash that hung from my saddle bow +and tied him to a tree, where he sat growling and making as though +he would again fly at the falconer. + +"Whose dog is this?" asked the leader. + +"His," answered the serfs, pointing to Lodbrok. + +"Dogs might tell strange tales could they talk," said the earl's +man; "I misdoubt both these men. Let us take them to the earl for +judgment." + +"Where is the earl?" I asked. + +"At Caistor," answered the man shortly, and I was glad that he was +so near, for the matter would be quickly settled and I could go +free. + +"Unbind me, and I will go where you will," I said, but at that +Beorn cried out. + +"Loose him not, loose him not, I pray you!" + +"Tie their hands behind them and let us be gone," was the answer, +and they did so, loosing my feet, and setting us on my horse and +Lodbrok's. And some of the men stayed behind with my serfs to make +a litter on which to carry my friend's body, and follow us to +Caistor. So as I went I cried quickly to those two men of mine that +they should go in all haste to Reedham and tell what had befallen +me to our steward, who would know what to do. + +"Reedham is too far for a rescue to reach you in time," said the +leader of the earl's men grimly; "think not of it." + +"I meant not that, but to have witnesses to speak for me." + +"That is fair," said the man, after a little thought, "we will not +hinder their going." + +Then they led us away, and presently reached that place where I had +seen the broken arrow, and one picked it up, saying that here was +surely the place where the deed was done, and that the arrow would +maybe prove somewhat. And I think that here Beorn had shot the +jarl, for all around those other marks on the grass were the +hoofmarks of the rearing and frightened horse, and there were many +places where an archer might lie unseen in the thickets, after +following us all day maybe, as Beorn must have done, thus to find +fitting chance for his plan when we two were far apart. And surely, +had it not been for the dog, I think the fate of Lodbrok would have +been unknown for many a long day, for but for him Beorn would have +hidden his deed and ridden off before I had known aught. + +Now, as the man handled the broken arrow, walking beside me, I saw +it plainly, and knew it for one of my own, and one of four that I +had lost at Thetford, though I did not know how. + +At that I seemed to see all the plot, and my heart sank within me, +for this Beorn was most crafty, and had planned well to throw doubt +on me if things by ill chance fell out as they had, and so I rode +in silence wondering what help should come, and whence. And I +thought of Halfden, and what he should think when he heard the tale +that was likely to be told him, and even as I thought this there +was a rushing of light wings, and Lodbrok's gray falcon--which I +had cast from my wrist as I fell on Beorn--came back to me, and +perched on my saddle, for my hands were bound behind me. She had +become unhooded in some way. + +Then Beorn cried out to the men to take the falcon, for it was his, +and that he would not have her lost; and that angered me so that I +cried out on him, giving him the lie, and he turned pale as if I +were free and could smite him. Whereon the men bade us roughly to +hold our peace, and the leader whistled to the falcon and held out +his hand to take her. But she struck at him and soared away, and I +watched her go towards Reedham, and was glad she did so with a sort +of dull gladness. + +For I would have no man pass through a time of thoughts such as +mine were as they took me to Caistor--rage and grief and fear of +shame all at once, and one chasing the other through my mind till I +knew not where I was, and would start as from a troubled dream when +one spoke, and then go back to the same again as will a sick man. +But by the time we reached Caistor I had, as it seemed to me, +thought every thought that might be possible, and one thing only +was plain and clear. I would ask for judgment by Eadmund the King, +and if that might not be, then for trial by battle, which the earl +would surely grant. And yet I hoped that Beorn's plot was not so +crafty but that it would fail in some way. + +So they put me in a strong cell in the old castle, leading Beorn to +another, and there left me. The darkness came, and they brought me +food, so I ate and drank, being very hungry and weary; and that +done, my thoughts passed from me, for I slept heavily, worn out +both in body and mind. + + + +CHAPTER VI. THE JUSTICE OF EARL ULFKYTEL. + + +An armed jailor woke me with daylight, bringing me food again, and +at first I was dazed, not knowing where I was, so heavy was my +sleep. Yet I knew that I woke to somewhat ill. + +"Where am I?" I asked. + +"Under Caistor walls, surely," he said; and I remembered all. + +The man looked friendly enough, so that I spoke again to him, +asking if the great earl was here, and he said that he was. + +"What do men say?" I asked then. + +"That the matter is like to puzzle the earl himself, so that it is +hard for a plain man to unriddle. But I think that half Reedham are +here to see justice done you; even if it is naught but Earl +Ulfkytel's justice!" And he grinned. + +I knew why. For Ulfkytel was ever a just man, though severe, and +his justice was a word with us, though in a strange way enough. For +if a case was too hard for him to decide in his own mind, he would +study to find some way in which the truth might make itself known, +as it were. Nor did he hold much with trial by hot water, or heated +ploughshares, and the like; finding new ways of his own contriving, +which often brought the truth plainly to light, but which no other +man would have thought of. So that if a man, in doing or planning +some ill to another, was himself hurt, we would laugh and say: +"That is like the earl's justice". + +So though Ulfkytel was no friend of my father's, having, indeed, +some old quarrel about rights of manor or the like, I thought +nothing of that, save that he would the sooner send me to the king +for trial. + +The jailor told me that I should be tried at noonday, and went +away, and so I waited patiently as I might until then, keeping +thought quiet as best I could by looking forward and turning over +what I could say, which seemed to be nothing but the plain truth. + +At last the weary waiting ended, and they took me into the great +hall of the castle, and there on the high seat sat the earl, a +thin, broad-shouldered man, with a long gray beard and gray eyes, +that glittered bright and restless under shaggy eyebrows. Beorn, +too, was brought in at the same time, and we were set opposite to +one another, to right and left of the earl, below the high place, +closely watched by the armed guards, bound also, though not +tightly, and only as to our hands. + +And there on a trestle table before us lay the body of Jarl +Lodbrok, my friend, in whose side was my broken arrow. All the +lower end of the hall was filled with the people, and I saw my two +serfs there, and many Reedham folk. + +Then the court was set, and with the earl were many men whom I knew +by sight, honest thanes and franklins enough, and of that I was +glad. + +First of all one read, in the ears of all, that of which we two who +were there bound were accused, giving the names of those half-dozen +men who had found us fighting and had brought us for judgment. + +Then said Earl Ulfkytel: + +"Here is a matter that is not easy in itself, and I will not hide +this, that the father of this Wulfric and I are unfriendly, and +that Beorn has been a friend of mine, though no close one. +Therefore is more need that I must be very careful that justice is +not swayed by my knowledge and thoughts of the accused. So I put +that away from me; I know naught of these two men but what I hear +from witnesses." + +Some people at the end of the hall sought to praise the even +handedness of that saying loudly, but the earl frowned and shouted: + +"Silence!--shall a judge be praised for doing right?" + +"Then," said he, growing quiet again, and speaking plainly and +slowly that all might hear, "this is how the matter stands. Here +are two men found fighting over the body of a third who is known, +as men say, to have been friendly with both. No man saw the +beginning of the business. Now we will hear what was seen, but +first let this Wulfric speak for himself;" and he turned his bright +eyes on me. + +Now I told him all the truth from the time when I parted from +Lodbrok until the men came. + +Then the earl asked me: + +"Why thought you that Beorn slew the man?" + +"Because there was no other man near, and because I know that he +bore ill will towards him for the favour shown him by the king." + +"So," said Ulfkytel; "now let Beorn speak." + +Then that evil man, being very crafty, did not deny my words, but +said that he had found the body lying with my arrow in its side. +And though he knew not why I had done the deed, for the sake of his +friendship with my father and myself he would have hidden it, and +even as he did so I came, falling on him. Whereon he grew wroth, +and fought. + +"It seems to me," said the earl, "that a word from you should +rather have made Wulfric help you and thank you; not fall on you. +Now let the witnesses say their say." + +So they stood forward, telling naught but the truth, as honest men. +And they seemed to think much of Beorn's having cried out for +revenge. Also they showed the arrow, which fitted exactly to the +headed end which was in Lodbrok's side, and was the same as two +that were in my quiver with others. Now if Beorn shot that arrow he +must have made away with both bow and quiver, for he had none when +we were taken. + +Then one of the other thanes said that the dead man had another +wound, and that in the throat, and it was so, Whereon the jailer +was bidden to bring our swords, and it was found that both were +stained, for I had wounded Beorn a little, as I have said. + +"Is Wulfric wounded then?" asked Ulfkytel. + +And I was not. + +"Whence then is Beorn's sword stained?" he asked. + +Then came my two thralls, and spoke to the truth of my story, as +did one of the men who had stayed with them, for he too had seen +the deer hanging where I had left it, nearly a mile away from where +the fight was. And my men added that they had seen me riding to +that place, and had followed the call of my horn. + +"Murderers do not call thus for help," said the earl. "What more?" + +"Only that Lodbrok's dog flew at Beorn;" they said. + +Then my steward and others told the story of my saving of Lodbrok, +and there were one or two who knew how closely Beorn seemed to have +sought his friendship. There was no more then to be said. + +All the while Ulfkytel had watched my face and Beorn's, and now he +said: + +"The arrow condemns Wulfric, but any man might pick up a good arrow +that he had lost. And the sword condemns Beorn, but there are many +ways in which it might be bloodstained in that affair. Now, were +these two robbers, I would hold that they were fighting over +division of booty, but they are honourable men. Wherefore I will +have one more witness who knows not how to lie. Fetch the dog." + +So they brought Lodbrok's dog, which the serfs had with them, and +they loosed it. It ran to his body first and cried over it, pulling +his coat with its paws and licking his face, so that it was pitiful +to see it, and there were women present who wept thereat. + +Then it left him and came to me, thrusting its nose into my hand, +but I would not notice it, for justice's sake; but when it saw +Beorn, it bristled up, flying at his throat so that he fell under +it, and the guards had much ado in getting it off, and one was +bitten. + +"The dog condemns Beorn," said the earl, "but Wulfric bred it." + +After that he would have no more witness; but now should each of us +lay hand on the body and swear that he was guiltless. + +They brought a book of the Holy Gospels and put it on Lodbrok's +breast, and first I laid my hand thereon, looking into the quiet +face of the man whose life I had saved, and sware truly. + +Then must Beorn confess or swear falsely, and I looked at him and +his cheek was pale. But he, too, laid hand on the dread book in its +awful place and sware that he was innocent--and naught happened. +For I looked, as I think many looked, to see the blood start from +the wound that he had given the jarl, but it was not so. There was +no sign. Then crossed my mind the first doubt that I had had that +Beorn was guilty. Yet I knew he lied in some things, and the doubt +passed away quickly. + +Then Ulfkytel pushed away the table from before him so that it fell +over. + +"Take these men away," he said. "I have heard and seen enough. I +will think!" + +They led us away to the cells again, and I wondered how all this +would end. In an hour they brought us back, and set us in our +places again. The earl had more to say, as it seemed. + +"Will you two pay the weregild {xi} between you?" + +"No, Lord Earl," I said; "that were to confess guilt, which would +be a lie." + +Then Beorn cried: + +"I pray you, Wulfric, let us pay and have done!" + +But I turned from him in loathing. + +"Ho, Master Falconer," said Ulfkytel, "the man is an outlander! To +whom will you pay it? To Wulfric who saved his life?" + +Now at that Beorn was dumb, seeing that the earl had trapped him +very nearly, and he grew ashy pale, and the great earl scowled at +him. + +"Let me have trial by battle," I said quietly, thinking that it +would be surely granted. + +There was as good reason to suspect me as Beorn, as I saw. + +"Silence, Wulfric!" said the earl. "That is for me to say." + +"Let the king judge, I pray you, Lord Earl," I went on, for he +spoke in no angry tone, nor looked at me. + +However, that angered him, for, indeed, it was hard to say whether +king or earl was more powerful in East Anglia. Maybe Eadmund's +power came by love, and that of the earl by the strong hand. But +the earl was most loyal. + +"What!" he said in a great voice, "am I not earl? And shall the +king be troubled with common manslayers while I sit in his seat of +justice? Go to! I am judge, and will answer to the king for what I +do." + +So I was silent, waiting for what should come next. + +But he forgot me in a minute, and seemed to be thinking. + +At last he said: + +"One of these men is guilty, but I know not which." + +And so he summed up all that he had heard, and as he did so it +seemed, even to me, that proofs of guilt were evenly balanced, so +that once again I half thought that Beorn might be wronged in the +accusation, as I was. + +"So," he ended, "friend has slain friend, and friends have fought, +and there is no question of a third man in the matter." + +He looked round on the honest faces with him, and saw that they +were puzzled and had naught to say, and went on: + +"Wherefore, seeing that these men have had trial by battle already, +which was stopped, and that the slain man was a foreigner from over +seas and has no friends to speak concerning him, I have a mind to +put the judgment into the hands of the greatest Judge of all. As +Lodbrok the Dane came by sea, these men shall be judged upon the +sea by Him who is over all. And surely the innocent shall escape, +and the guilty shall be punished in such sort that he shall wish +that I had been wise enough to see his guilt plainly and to hang +him for treachery to his friend and the king's, or else to put him +into ward until some good bishop asks for pardon for ill doing." + +And with that half promise he looked sharply at us to see if any +sign would come from the murderer. + +But I had naught to say, nor did I seem to care just now what +befell me, while Beorn was doubtless fearful lest the wrath of +Eadmund the King should prevail in the end were he to be imprisoned +only. So he answered not, and the earl frowned heavily. + +Now one of the franklins there, who knew me well enough, said: + +"Wulfric, be not ashamed to confess it, if for once you shot +ill--if your arrow went by chance to Lodbrok's heart, I pray you, +say so. It may well be forgiven." + +Very grateful was I for that kind word, but I would not plead +falsely, nor, indeed, would it have told aught of the other wound +that had been made. So I shook my head, thanking the man, and +saying that it was not so. + +Now I think that the earl had planned this in order to make one of +us speak at the last, and for a moment I thought that Beorn was +about to speak, but he forbore. Then Ulfkytel sighed heavily and +turned away, speaking in a low voice to the thanes with him, and +they seemed to agree with his words. + +At length he turned to us and spoke gravely: + +"It is, as I said, too hard for me. The Lord shall judge. Even as +Lodbrok came shall you two go, at the mercy of wind and wave and of +Him who rules them. You shall be put into Lodbrok's boat this +night, and set adrift to take what may come. Only this I lay upon +you, that the innocent man shall not harm the guilty. As for +himself, he need, as I think, have no fear, for the guilty man is a +coward and nidring {xii}. Nor, as it seems to me, if all may be +believed, can the guiltless say for certain that the other did it." + +Then was a murmur of assent to this strange manner of justice of +Earl Ulfkytel's, and I, who feared not the sea, was glad; but Beorn +would have fallen on the ground, but for his guards, and almost had +he confessed, as I think. + +"Eat and drink well," said Ulfkytel, "for maybe it is long before +you see food again." + +"Where shall you set them afloat?" asked a thane. + +"Am I a fool to let men know that?" asked the earl sharply. "There +would be a rescue for a certainty. You shall know by and by in +private." + +The guards took us away, and unbinding our hands, set plenty of +good food and drink before us. And for my part I did well, for now +that I knew the worst my spirits rose, and I had some hopes of +escape, for there was every sign of fair weather for long enough. +And viking ways had taught me to go fasting for two days, if need +be, given a good meal to start upon. + +But Beorn ate little and drank much, while the guards bade him take +example from me, but he would not; and after a while sat silent in +a corner and ghastly to look upon, for no one cared to meddle with +him. + +As soon as it grew dusk they bade us eat again, for in half an hour +we should set forth to the coast. At that Beorn started up and +cried out, wringing his hands and groaning, though he said no word, +except that I should surely slay him in the boat. + +Then I spoke to him for the first time since he had claimed the +falcon, and said that from me, at least, he was safe. And I spoke +roughly, so that I think he believed me, so plain did I make it +that I thought one who was surely cowardly in word and deed was not +worth harming, and he ceased his outcry. + +At last we were set on horseback, and with two score or more +mounted spearmen round us, we rode quickly out of Caistor town. A +few men shouted and ran after us, but the guards spurred their +horses, and it was of no use for them to try and follow. And the +night was dark and foggy, though not cold for the time of year. + +I feared lest we were going to Reedham, for there my folk would +certainly rise in arms to rescue me, and that would have made +things hard for them; but we went on southward, riding very fast, +until after many long miles we came to the little hill of the other +Burgh that stands where Waveney parts in two streams, one eastward +to the sea, and the other northward to join the Yare mouth. + +The moon had risen by the time we came there, and I could see a +large fishing boat at the staithe, and, alas! alongside of her a +smaller boat that I knew so well--that in which Lodbrok had come, +and in which I had passed so many pleasant hours with him. Then the +thought crossed my mind that what he had taught me of her was like +to be my safety now; but my mind was dazed by all the strange +things that came into it, and I tried not to think. Only I wondered +if Ulfkytel had got the boat without a struggle with our people. + +The earl was there with a few more thanes and many more guards, and +they waited by the waterside. + +One man started from beside the earl as we came, and rode swiftly +towards us. It was Egfrid, my brother-in-law to be--if this did not +bring all that fair plan to naught. + +He cried out to the men to stay, and they, knowing who he was, did +so, and made no trouble about his coming to my side. There he +reined up his horse, and laid his hand on my shoulder. + +"Alas for this meeting, my brother!" he cried. "What can I do? Men +came and told me of rumour that was flying about concerning this +business, and I have ridden hard to get to Reedham, but I met the +earl, who told me all. And I have prayed him to let the king judge, +but he will not, saying that his mind is fixed on higher +judgment--and you know what he is." + +Then I said: + +"So that you hold me not guilty, my brother, I mind not so much; +for if I must die you will take my place, and my father will not be +without a son. + +"I think you guilty!" he cried; "how could that be? Shame on me +were I to dream thereof--and on any man of all who know you who +would deem you could be so." + +"Have you heard all?" + +"Aye, for the earl has told me very patiently, being kind, for all +his strange ways. At last I told him that his wish for justice +blinded his common sense. And at that, instead of being wrath, he +smiled at me as on a child, and said, 'What know you of justice?'; +so that I was as one who would beat down a stone wall with his +fists---helpless. He is not to be moved. What can I do?" and almost +did he weep for my hard case. + +"Let things go their own way, my brother," I said gently. "I do not +fear the sea, nor this man here--Beorn. Do you go to Reedham and +tend Lodbrok's hawk for me, and send word to my father, that he may +come home, and to the king, so that Lodbrok may have honourable +burial." + +He promised me those things, and then went back upon the slaying of +Lodbrok, asking how it came about. + +I told him what I thought thereof; and Beorn, who must needs listen +to all this, ground his teeth and cursed under his breath, for +there seemed to have come some desperate fury on him in place of +his cold despair of an hour since. + +And when Egfrid had heard all, he raised his hand and swore that +not one stone of Beorn's house should be unblackened by fire by +this time tomorrow night, and as he said it he turned to Beorn, +shaking and white with wrath. + +"Let that be," I answered him quickly; "no good, but much harm may +come therefrom. Wait but six months, and then maybe I shall be +back." + +Now while we had thus spoken together, Ulfkytel had dismounted and +was holding some converse with a man whose figure I could not well +make out, even had I cared to try, in the dark shadow of horses and +riders which stayed the moonlight from them. But at this time the +stranger came towards us, and I saw that it was the priest who +served the Church of St. Peter, hard by where we stood. He came to +Beorn first, and spoke to him in a low voice, earnestly; but Beorn +paid no sort of heed to him, but turned his head away, cursing yet. +So after a few more words, the priest came to me. + +"Wulfric," he said, "sad am I to see you thus. But justice is +justice, and must be done." + +"Aye, Father," I answered, "and right will prevail." + +"Maybe we shall see it do so," he answered shortly, not seeming +willing to hold much converse with me; "but it is likely that you +go to your death on the wide sea. Many a man have I shriven at the +point of death--and Ulfkytel the Earl will not hold me back from +your side--an you will." + +Thereat I was very glad, for I knew that the risks before me were +very great, and I said as much. + +Then he took the bridle of my horse and began to lead me on one +side, and the guards hindered him until Ulfkytel shouted to them to +draw aside in such wise as to prevent my riding off, though, bound +as I was, it had been of little use to try to do so. Then they let +the priest take me out of earshot, and maybe posted themselves in +some way round us, though I heeded them not. + +So then in that strange way I, bound and on horseback, confessed; +and weeping over me at last, with all his coldness forgotten, the +priest of Burgh shrived me and blessed me, bidding me keep a good +heart; for, if not in this world, then at the last would all be +made right, and I should have honour. + +After that he went once more to Beorn, but he was deaf to his +pleading, and so he went away to the church, speaking no word to +any man, and with his head bent as with the weight of knowledge +that must not be told, and maybe with sorrow that the other +prisoner, if guilty, would not seek for pardon from the Judge into +whose hand he was about to go. + +But as for me, this thing was good, and a wondrous comfort to me, +and I went back to Egfrid with a cheerful heart, ready to face +aught that might come. + +Now the earl called to the guards from the water's edge, saying +that the time was come, and we rode towards him, and I made Egfrid +promise that he would hold his hand, at least till my father came. + +Now they drew my boat to the shore, and they took Beorn from his +horse first, and often have I wondered that he did not confess, but +he said no word, and maybe his senses had left him by reason of his +terror. They haled him to the boat and unbound him, setting him in +the bows, where he sank down, seeming helpless, but staring away +from shore over the sparkling waters that he feared. + +Then came my turn, and of my own will I stepped into the boat, +looking her over to see that all was there as when Lodbrok came. +And all was there, though that was little enough. The one oar, the +baler, and a few fathoms of line on the floorboards. + +Now as I had nothing to lose by speaking, I cried to the earl +concerning the one matter that troubled me. + +"Earl Ulfkytel, I pray you forgive my poor folk if they fought for +me when you took the boat." + +"They knew not why it was taken," he answered quietly. "I sent a +messenger before I gave sentence. But I should not have blamed them +had they fought, knowing all." + +Then a rough man who tended the boat called out: + +"Ho, Lord Earl, are these murderers to go forth with gold on arm +and hand?" for we had been stripped of naught but our arms, and I +suppose the man coveted these things. + +But the earl answered: + +"Which is the murderer? I know not. When his time comes stripped he +will be of life itself. Let the men be," and then in a moment he +asked one by him; "what weapons had Lodbrok when he came?" + +"Only a dagger," answered the thane to whom he spoke. "Or so men +say." + +"That is true," I said plainly. + +"Give the men their daggers," then said the earl; and when one told +him that we should use them on each other, he answered: + +"I think they will not; do my bidding!" + +So they threw my hunting knife to me, and I girded it on. But +Beorn's dagger fell on the floor of the boat, and he paid no heed +to it, not even turning his head. + +Then the earl and three thanes went on board the fishing boat, and +Egfrid would fain have come with him. But I signed him back, and +when the fishermen put out oars and pushed from the shore, towing +us with them, he ran waist deep into the water, and clasped my hand +for the last time, weeping. + +Then the shore grew dim to my eyes, and I put my head in my hands +and would look no more. Soon I heard only the wash and creak of the +large boat's oars, and a murmured word or two from those on board +her. Then from Burgh Tower came the tolling of the bell, as for the +dying, and that was the last voice of England that I heard as we +went from shore to sea. + +But at that sound came hope back to me, for it seemed to me as the +voice of Bosham bell calling for help that should come to myself, +as I had been called in time of need by the like sound to the help +of St. Wilfrith's men. And straightway I remembered the words of +the good prior, and was comforted, for surely if St. Wilfrith's +might could sink the pirate ship it would be put forth for me upon +the waters. So I prayed for that help if it might be given, and for +the Hand of Him who is over all things, even as the prior had +bidden me understand. + +Whereupon I was in no more trouble about myself, and now I began to +hope that the still weather might even bring Halfden's ship to find +me. + +So we passed from river to broad, and from broad to sea, and went +in tow of the fishing boat until we came to that place, as nearly +as might be, where I had saved Lodbrok. I could see the sparkle of +our village lights, or thought I could. + +There they cast us off, and for a few minutes the two boats lay +side by side on the gently-heaving water, for the wind was +offshore, and little sea was running. + +Then the earl rose up, lifting his hand and saying, very solemnly: + +"Farewell, thou who art innocent. Blame not my blindness, nor think +ill of me. For I do my best, leaving you in the Hand of God, and +not of man!" + +So he spoke; then the oars swung and fell, and in a few moments his +boat was gone into the shoreward shadows and we were alone, and I +was glad. + +Now I looked at Beorn, and I thought him strangely still, and so +watched him. But I soon saw that he was in some sort of fit or +swoon, and paid no heed to aught. Yet I thought it well to take his +dagger from where it lay, lest he should fall on me in some frenzy. + +I took up the weapon, and straightway I longed to draw it and end +his life at once, while all sorts of plans for escape thereafter +came into my mind. But I could not slay a helpless man, even this +one, though I sat fingering the dagger for a long while. At last +the evilness of these thoughts was plain to me; so quickly I cast +the dagger overboard, and it was gone. + +Then I thought I would sleep while I might, for there was no sea to +fear, and the tide set with the wind away from shore from the river +mouth, as I knew well, for it was ebbing. It was weary work to +watch the land growing less and less plain under the moon. Yet I +feared Beorn's treachery, and doubted for a while, until the coil +of rope that lay at my feet caught my eye as I pondered. With that +I made no more ado, but took it and bound him lightly, so that at +least he could not rise up unheard by me. Nor did he stir or do +aught but breathe heavily and slowly as I handled him. When he +roused I knew that I could so deal with him that I might unbind +him. + +After that I slept, and slept well, rocked by the gentle rise and +fall of the waves, until daylight came again. + + + +CHAPTER VII. HOW WULFRIC CAME TO JUTLAND. + + +It was Beorn who woke me. Out of his swoon, or whatever it was that +had taken his senses, he woke with a start and shudder that brought +me from sleep at once, thinking that the boat had touched ground. +But there was no land in sight now, and all around me was the wide +circle of the sea, and over against me Beorn, my evil companion, +glowering at me with a great fear written on his face. + +Now as I woke and saw him, my hand went at once to the dagger at my +side, as my first waking thoughts felt troubled by reason of all he +had done, though it was but for a moment. Thereat he cried out, +praying me to have mercy on him, and tried to rise, going near to +capsize the boat. Indeed, I cannot believe that the man had ever +been in a boat before. + +"Lie down," I said, speaking sharply, as to a dog, "or you will +drown us both before the time!" + +He was still enough then, fearing the water more than steel, as it +seemed, or seeing that I meant him no harm. + +Then I spoke plainly to him. + +"I will harm you not. But your life is in my hands in two ways. I +can slay you by water or dagger for one thing; or for another, I +think I can take this boat to shore at some place where you are not +known, and so let you live a little longer. And in any case I have +a mind to try to save my own life; thus if you will obey me so that +I may tend the boat, yours shall be saved with it, so far as I am +concerned. But if you hinder me, die you must in one way or +another!" + +Now he saw well enough that his only hope lay in my power to take +the boat safely across the water, and so promised humbly to obey me +in all things if I would but spare him and get the boat to shore +quickly. So I unbound him and coiled the rope at my feet again, +bidding him lie down amidships and be still. + +Many a time men have asked me why I slew him not, or cast him not +overboard, thus being troubled no more with him. Most surely I +would have slain him when we fought, in the white heat of +anger--and well would it have been if Ulfkytel had doomed him to +death, as judge. But against this helpless, cringing wretch, whose +punishment was even now falling on him, how could I lift hand? It +seemed to me, moreover, that I was, as it were, watching to see +when the stroke of doom would fall on him, as the earl said it +surely must on the guilty. + +The wind freshened, and the boat began to sing through the water, +for it needed little to drive her well. My spirits rose, so that I +felt almost glad to be on the sea again, but Beorn waxed sick and +lay groaning till he was worn out and fell asleep. + +Now the breeze blew from the southwest, warm and damp, as it had +held for a long time during this winter, which was open and mild so +far. And this was driving us over the same track which Lodbrok had +taken as he came from his own place. There was no hope of making +the English shore again, and so I thought it well to do even as the +jarl, and rear up the floorboards in such wise as to use them for a +sail to hasten us wherever we might go. + +So I roused Beorn, and showed him how to bestow himself out of my +way, and made sail, as one might say. At once the boat seemed to +come to life, flying from wave to wave before the wind, and I made +haste to ship the long oar, so that I could steer her with it. + +And when I went aft, there, in the sharp hollow of the stern that I +had uncovered, lay two great loaves and a little breaker of water. +Now I could not tell, and do not know even to this day, what kindly +man hid these things for us, but I blessed him for his charity, for +now our case was better than Lodbrok's in two ways, that we had no +raging gale and sea to wrestle against, and the utmost pangs of +hunger and thirst we were not to feel. Three days and two nights +had he been on his voyage. We might be a day longer with this +breeze, but the bread, at least, we need not touch till tomorrow. +But Beorn slept heavily again, and I told him not of this store as +yet, for I thought that he would but turn from it just now. Which +was well, for he could not bear a fast as could I. + +So the long day wore through, and ever the breeze held, and the +boat flew before it. Night fell, and the dim moon rose up, and +still we went east and north swiftly. The long white wake stretched +straight astern of us, and Beorn slept deeply, worn out; and the +sea ran evenly and not very high, so that at last I dared to lash +the oar in its place and sleep in snatches, waking now and then to +the lift of a greater wave, or catching the rushing in my ears as +some heavier-crested billow rose astern of us. But the boat was +swift as the seas, and there was nothing to fear. Nor was the cold +great at any time, except towards early morning before the first +light of dawn. Moreover, the boat sailed in better trim with two +men in her. + +Gray morning came, and the seas were longer and deeper, for we were +far on the wide sea. All day long was it the same, wave after wave, +gray sky overhead, and the steady breeze ever bearing us onward. +Once it rained, and I caught the water in the bailer and drank +heartily, giving his fill to Beorn, and with it I ate some of my +loaf, and he took half of his. Then slowly came night, and at last +I waxed lonely, for all this while I had kept a hope that I might +see the sail of Halfden's ship, but there was no glint of canvas +between sky and sea, and my hope was gone as the darkness fell. + +So I sang, to cheer myself, raising my voice in the sea song that I +had made and that Lodbrok had loved. And when that was done I sang +the song of Bosham bell, with the ending that the gleeman on +Colchester Hill had made. + +Thereat Beorn raised his head and, snarling at me like an angry +dog, bade me cease singing of shipwreck. But I heeded him not, and +so I sang and he cursed, until at last he wept like an angry child, +and I held my peace. + +I did not dare sleep that night, for the wind freshened, and at +times we might see naught but sky above us and the waves ahead and +astern of the boat, though to one who knew how to handle his craft +there was no danger in them. But from time to time Beorn cried out +as the boat slid swiftly down the slope of a great wave, hovered, +and rose on the next, and I feared that he would leap up in his +terror and end all. + +"Bide still or I will bind you," I said at last to him, and he hid +his face in his arms, and was quiet again. + +Worn out when day broke was I, and again I ate and gave to Beorn, +and he would eat all his loaf, though I bade him spare it, for I +knew not how long yet we might be before we saw land. And that +seemed to change his mood, and he began to scowl at me, though he +dared say little, and so sat still in his place, glowering at me +evilly. + +Presently came a whale, spouting near us, and that terrified him, +so that he cried to me to save him from it, as though I had power +on the seas more than had other men. But it soon went away, and he +forgot his terror, beginning to blame me for not having gained the +shore yet. + +I could say nothing, for I knew not how far we had run; yet we had +come a long way, and I thought that surely we must have sailed as +swiftly as Lodbrok, for the sea had favoured us rather than given +trouble. Even now I thought the colour of the water changed a +little, and I began to think that we neared some land at last. + +As the sun set, the wind shifted more to the westward, and I +thought a change was coming. It was very dark overhead until the +waning moon rose. + +Now, soon after moonrise Beorn began to groan, in his sleep as I +thought; but presently he rose up, stiffly, from long sitting, and +I saw that his eyes were flashing, and his face working strangely +in the pale moonlight. I bade him lie down again, but he did not, +and then I saw that he was surely out of his mind through the +terror of the sea and the long nothingness of the voyage to which +he was all unused. Then he made for me with a shout, and I saw that +I must fight for my life. So I closed with him and dragged him down +to the bottom of the boat, and there we two struggled, till I +thought that the end was come. + +The boat plunged and listed, and once was nearly over, but at that +new strength came to me, and at last I forced his shoulders under +the midship thwart, and held him there so that he could by no means +rise. Then all his fury went, and he became weak, so that I reached +out with one hand for the line and bound him easily, hand and foot. +I set him back in his place, and the water washed over his face as +he lay, for we had shipped a good deal in the lurches our struggle +caused. Then he was still, and as on the first night, seemed to +sleep, breathing very heavily. + +So I left him bound, and bailed the water out. Then knew I how weak +I was. Yet I held on, steering from wave to wave as though I could +not help it. + +Once, towards morning, there came a booming in my ears, and a +faintness, for I was all but done. But the boat dashed into a wave, +and the cold spray flew over me and roused me to know the danger, +so I took my last crust and ate it, and was refreshed a little. + +But when the morning broke cold and gray over brown waves, there, +against one golden line of sunlight, rose the black steady barrier +of a low-lying coast, and round the boat the gulls were screaming +their welcome. + +Then came over me a dull fear that I should be lost in sight of +land, and a great sorrow and longing for the English shore in place +of this, for never had I seen sunrise over land before from the +open sea, and hunger and thirst gnawed at me, and I longed for rest +from this tossing of sea, and wave--and always waves. Then I looked +in Beorn's evil face, and I thought that he was dead, but that to +me seemed to matter not. + +Swiftly rose up the coast from out the sea, and I saw that it was +like our East Anglian shore, forest covered and dark, but with pine +and birch instead of oak and alder. The boat was heading straight +through a channel; past sands over which I could see the white line +of the tide on either side, and that chance seemed not strange to +me, but as part of all that was to be and must be. + +Then the last rollers were safely past, and the boat's keel grated +on sand--and I forgot my weakness, and sprang out into the shallow +water, dragging her up with the next wave and out of reach of the +surges. + +Then I saw that the tide was falling, and that I had naught more to +do, for we were safe. With that I gave way at last, and reeled and +fell on the sand, for my strength could bear no more, and I deemed +that I should surely die. + +I think that I fell into a great sleep for a while, for I came to +myself presently, refreshed, and rose up. + +The tide had ebbed a long way, and the sun was high above me, so +that I must have been an hour or two there upon the sand. I went +and looked at Beorn. + +His swoon seemed to have passed into sleep, and I unbound him, and +as I did so he murmured as if angry, though he did not wake. + +Then I thought that I would leave him there for some other to find, +and try to make my way to house or village where I might get food. +I could send men thence to seek him, but I cared not if I never set +eyes on him again, hoping, indeed, that I should not do so. + +So I turned and walked inland through the thin forest for a little +way, stumbling often, but growing stronger and less stiff as I +went, though I must needs draw my belt tight to stay the pangs of +hunger, seeing that one loaf is not overmuch for such a voyage and +such stern work as mine had been, body and mind alike unresting. + +Nor had I far to go, for not more than a mile from shore I saw a +good hut standing in a little clearing; and it was somewhat like +our own cottages, timber-framed, with wattle and clay walls, but +with thatch of heather instead of our tall reeds, and when I came +near, I saw that the timber was carved with twisted patterns round +door and window frames. + +No dog came out at me, and no one answered when I called, and so at +last I lifted the latch and went in. There was no one, but the +people could not be far off, for meat and bread and a great pitcher +of ale stood on the round log that served for table, as if the meal +was set against speedy homecoming, and the fire was banked up with +peats, only needing stirring to break into a blaze. + +Rough as it all was, it looked very pleasant to me, and after I had +called once or twice I sat down, even as I should have done in our +own land, and ate a hearty meal, and drank of the thin ale, and was +soon myself again. I had three silver pennies, besides the gold +bracelet on my arm that I wore as the king's armour bearer and +weapon thane, and was sure of welcome, so when I had done I sat by +the fire and waited till someone should come whom I might thank. + +Once I thought of carrying food to Beorn, but a great hatred and +loathing of the man and his deed came over me, and I would not see +him again. And, indeed, it was likely that he would come here also, +as I had done, when he woke; so that when at last I heard footsteps +I feared lest it should be he. + +But this comer whistled cheerfully as he came, and the tune was one +that I had often heard men sing when I was with Halfden. It was the +old "Biarkamal", the song of Biark the Viking. + +Now at that I was very glad, for of all things I had most feared +lest I should fall on the Frisian shores, for if so, I should +surely be made a slave, and maybe sold by the lord of the coast to +which I came. But Danes have no traffic in slaves, holding freedom +first of all things. And that is one good thing that the coming of +the Danish host has taught to us, for many a Saxon's riches came +from trading in lives of men. + +Then the door was pushed open, for I had left it ajar, and in came +a great dog like none we have in England. I thought him a wolf at +first, so gray and strong was he, big enough and fierce enough +surely to pull down any forest beast, and I liked not the savage +look of him. But, though he bristled and growled at first sight of +me, when he saw that I sat still as if I had some right to be +there, he came and snuffed round me, and before his master came we +were good friends enough, if still a little doubtful. But I never +knew a dog that would fly at me yet, so that I think they know well +enough who are their friends, though by some sign of face or voice +that is beyond my knowledge. + +Now came the man, who edged through the door with a great bundle of +logs for the fire, which he cast down without looking at me, only +saying: + +"Ho, Rolf! back again so early? Where is the Jarl?" + +Now I knew that he was a Dane, and so I answered in his own way: + +"Not Rolf, but a stranger who has made free with Rolf's dinner." + +Whereat the man laughed, setting hands on hips and staring at me. + +"So it is!" he said; "settle that matter with brother Rolf when he +comes in, for strangers are scarce here." + +Then he scanned my dress closely, and maybe saw that they were sea +stained, though hunting gear is made for hard wear and shows +little. + +"Let me eat first," he said, sitting down, "and then we will talk." + +But after he had taken a few mouthfuls, he asked: + +"Are there any more of you about?" + +"One more," I said, "but I left him asleep in the boat that brought +us here. We are from the sea, having been blown here." + +"Then he may bide till he wakes," the man said, going on with his +meal. + +Presently he stopped eating, and after taking a great draught of +ale, said that he wondered the dog had not torn me. + +"Whereby I know you to be an honest man. For I cannot read a man's +face as some can, and therefore trust to the dog, who is never +wrong," and he laughed and went on eating. + +Now that set me thinking of what account I might give of myself, +and I thought that I would speak the truth plainly, though there +was no reason to say more than that we were blown off the English +coast. What Beorn would say I knew not; most likely he would lie, +but if so, things must work themselves out. + +I looked at the man in whose house I was, and was pleased with him. +Red haired and blue eyed he was, with a square, honest face and +broad shoulders, and his white teeth shone beneath a red beard that +covered half his face. + +When he had eaten even more than I, he laughed loudly, saying that +brother Rolf would have to go short this time, and then came and +sat by the fire over against me, and waited for me to say my say. + +So I told him how we had come, and at that he stared at me as our +folk stared at Lodbrok, and started up, crying that he must go and +see this staunch boat that had served me so well. + +"Bide here and rest," he said, "and I will bring your comrade to +you," and with that he swung out of the house, taking the dog with +him. And at once the thought of leaving the hut and plunging into +the forest came into my mind, but I knew not why I should do so, +except that I would not see Beorn again. However, there was a third +man now, and I would see what befell him. + +Now I waited long, and had almost fallen asleep beside the warm +fire, when I heard a horn away in the woods, and roused up to +listen. Twice or thrice it sounded, and then I heard it answered +from far off. So I supposed that there was a hunt going on. + +Then I heard no more, and fell asleep in earnest; for I needed rest +badly, as one might well suppose. + +Something touched my hand and I awoke. It was the great dog, who +came and thrust his nose against me, having made up his mind to be +friendly altogether. So when his master came in I was fondling his +head, and he looked puzzled. + +"Say what men will," he said, "I know you are an honest man!" + +"Do you hold that any will doubt it?" I asked, wondering what he +meant; for he looked strangely at me. + +"Aye; the jarl has found your boat, and has sent me back to keep +you fast. Know you whose boat you have?" + +"It belonged to Jarl Lodbrok, who came ashore in it, as I have come +here--and he gave it me." + +"Hammer of Thor!" said the man. "Is the jarl alive?" + +"What know you of him?" I asked. + +"He was our jarl--ours," he answered. + +"Who is the other jarl you speak of?" I asked him, with a hope that +Halfden had come home, for now I knew that we had indeed followed +Lodbrok's track exactly. + +"How should it be other than Ingvar Lodbroksson? for we have held +that Lodbrok, his father, is dead this many a long day." + +"Let me go to the jarl," I said, rising up. "I would speak with +him," for I would, if possible, tell him the truth, before Beorn +could frame lies that might work ill to both of us, or perhaps to +me most of all. Yet I thought that I saw the shadow of judgment +falling on the murderer. + +"Bide quiet," said the man; "he will be here soon." + +And then he said, looking from me to the dog, "Now I hold you as a +true man, therefore I will tell you this--anger not the jarl when +he speaks to you." + +"Thanks, friend!" I answered heartily, "I think I shall not do +that. Is he like his father?" + +The man laughed shortly, only saying: + +"Is darkness like daylight?" + +"Then he is not like Jarl Halfden." + +Now the honest man was going to ask in great wonder how I knew of +him, when there came the quick trot of horses to the door, and a +stern voice, which had in its tones somewhat familiar to me, called +him: + +"Raud, come forth!" + +My host started up, and saying, "It is Jarl Ingvar," went to the +door, while I too rose and followed him, for I would not seem to +avoid meeting the son of Lodbrok, my friend. + +"Where is this stranger?" said the jarl's voice; "bring him forth." + +Raud turned to beckon me, but I was close to him, and came out of +the hut unbidden. + +There sat a great man, clad in light chain mail and helmed, with +his double-headed axe slung to his saddle bow, but seeming to have +come from hunting, for he carried a short, broad-pointed boar +spear, and on the wrist of his bridle hand sat a hooded hawk like +Lodbrok's. His face had in it a look both of his father and of +Halfden, but it was hard and stern; and whereas they had brown +hair, his was jet black as a raven's wing. Maybe he was ten years +older than Halfden. + +There were five or six other men, seemingly of rank, and on +horseback also, behind him, but they wore no armour, and were in +hunting gear only, and again there were footmen, leading hounds +like the great one that stood by Raud and me. And two men there +were who led between them Beorn, holding him lest he should fall, +either from weakness or terror, close to the jarl. + +So I stood before Ingvar the Jarl, and wondered how things would +go, and what Beorn had said, though I had no fear of him. And as +the jarl gazed at me I raised my hand, saying in the viking's +greeting: + +"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!" + +At that he half raised hand in answer, but checked himself, saying +shortly: + +"Who are you, and how come you by my father's boat?" + +I was about to answer, but at that word it seemed that for the +first time Beorn learnt into whose hands he had fallen, and he fell +on his knees between his two guards, crying for mercy. I think that +he was distraught with terror, for his words were thick and broken, +and he had forgotten that none but I knew of his ill deed. + +That made the jarl think that somewhat was amiss, and he bade his +men bind us both. + +"Bind them fast, and find my brother Hubba," he said, and men rode +away into the forest. But I spoke to him boldly. + +"Will you bind a man who bears these tokens, Jarl?" + +And I held out my hand to him, showing him the rings that Lodbrok +and Halfden had given me. + +"My father's ring--and Halfden's!" he said, gripping my hand, as he +looked closely at the runes upon them, so tightly that it was pain +to me. "By Odin's beard, this grows yet stranger! Who are you, and +whence, and how came you by these things?" + +"I am Wulfric, son of Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, 'the merchant' +as men call him. I have been Jarl Lodbrok's friend, and have fought +by the side of Halfden, his son, as these tokens may tell you. As +for the rest, that is for yourself alone, Jarl. For I have no good +tidings, as I fear." + +"Who is this man, then, and why cries he thus in terror?" + +"Beorn, falconer to Eadmund, King of the East Angles," I said. + +But I would not answer at once to the other question, and Ingvar +seemed not to notice it. + +Then there was silence while the great jarl sat on his horse very +still, and looked hard at me and at Beorn; but when the men would +have bound us he signed them back, letting Beorn go free. Whereupon +his knees gave way, and he sank down against the house wall, while +I leant against it and looked at the mighty Dane, somewhat dreading +what I had to tell him, but meaning to go through all plainly. + +Now the ring of men closed round us, staring at us, but in silence, +save for the ringing of the horns that were blowing in the woods to +call Hubba from his sport. And Jarl Ingvar sat still, as if carved +in oak, and seemed to ponder, frowning heavily at us, though the +look in his eyes went past me as it were. + +Glad was I when a horseman or two rode up and reined in alongside +Ingvar. I think that the foremost rider was the most goodly warrior +to look on that I had ever seen, and one might know well that he +was Lodbrok's son. + +"Ho, brother!" he cried; "I thought you had harboured the greatest +bear in all Jutland in Raud's hut. And it is naught but two +strangers. What is the trouble with them?" + +"Look at yon man's hand," said Ingvar. + +I held out my hand, and Hubba looked at the rings, whereupon his +face lit up as Halfden's had lighted, and he said: + +"News of our father and brother! That is well; tell us, friend, all +that you know." + +"Stay," said Ingvar; "I took yon man from the boat we made for our +father; he was half dead therein, and his wrists have the marks of +cords on them; also when he heard my name he began to cry for +mercy, and I like it not." + +"This friend of our folk will tell us all," said Hubba. + +"Aye," said I, "I will tell you, Jarls. But I would speak to you +alone." + +"Tell me," said Ingvar shortly; "came my father to your shores in +yon boat alive?" + +"Aye," I answered. + +"And he died thereafter?" + +"He died, Jarl," I said; and I said it sadly. + +Then said Hubba: + +"Almost had I a hope that he yet lived, as you live. But it was a +poor hope. We have held him as dead for many a long day." + +But Ingvar looked at Beorn fixedly, and the man shrank away from +his gaze. + +"How did he die, is what I would know?" he said sternly. + +"Let the man to whom Halfden and Lodbrok gave these gifts tell us +presently. We have enough ill news for the time. Surely we knew +that the jarl was dead, and it is ours but to learn how;" said +Hubba. + +"How know you that these men slew not both?" + +"Jarl Ingvar," I said; "I will tell you all you will, but I would +do so in some less hurried way than this. For I have much to tell." + +"Take the men home, brother," said Hubba; "then we can talk." + +"Bind the men," said Ingvar again. + +"Nay, brother, not the man who wears those rings," said Hubba +quickly. + +"Maybe, and it is likely, that they are ill come by, and he will +make up some lie about them," answered Ingvar. + +"It will be easily seen if he does," answered his brother; "wait +till you know." + +Ingvar reined his horse round and rode away without another word. +Then Hubba bade the man Raud and his brother, a tall man who had +come with the Jarl Ingvar, take charge of us until word should come +from him, and then rode after Ingvar with the rest of the folk. + +"Come into the house," said Raud to me. "I fear you have ill news +enough, though only what we have expected." + +So we went inside, and I sat in my old place beside the fire. Rolf, +the brother, helped Beorn to rise, and set him on a seat in a +corner where he could rest, and then we were all silent. The great +dog came and sat by me, so that I stroked him and spoke to him, +while he beat his tail on the floor in response. + +"See you that," said one brother to the other. + +"Aye; Vig says true, mostly." + +"One may trust him," said Raud; telling of how Vig the dog had made +friends with me at first, and he nodded in friendly wise to me, so +that I would not seem to hold aloof, and spoke to him. + +"That is Jarl Hubba, surely?" + +"Aye, and the best warrior in all Denmark," said Raud. "We fear +Ingvar, and we love Halfden; but Hubba is such a hero as was Ragnar +himself." + +And once set on that matter, the two honest men were unwearied in +telling tales of the valour and skill of their master, so that I +had no room for my own thoughts, which was as well. + +Then came a man, riding swiftly, to say that the jarls had left +their hunting, and that we were to be taken to the great house. +Moreover, that Rolf and Raud were to be held answerable for our +safe keeping. When I heard that I laughed. + +"I will go willingly," I said, rising up. + +"What of this man who sits silent here?" asked Rolf. + +"Little trouble will be with him," said his brother. + +And indeed Beorn almost needed carrying forth. + + + +CHAPTER VIII. HOW WE FARED WITH INGVAR THE DANE. + + +We came to the shores of a haven at a river mouth, and there we saw +the town clustering round a large hall that rose in the midst of +the lesser houses, which were mostly low roofed and clay walled, +like that of Raud, though some were better, and built of logs set +upon stone foundations. The hall stood on higher ground than the +rest of the houses, so that from the gate of the heavy timber +stockade that went all round it one could see all the windings of +the haven channel and the sea that lay some half mile or more away +at its mouth. And all the town had a deep ditch and mound round it, +as if there was ever fear of foes from shoreward, for these came +down to the haven banks, and the only break they had was where a +wharf and the ship garth were. There were several ships housed in +their long sheds, as I could see. + +All round the great hall and the buildings that belonged to it was +a stockade of pointed logs, so that it stood in a wide courtyard on +all four sides, and the great gate of the stockade was opposite the +timber porch of the hall itself. There were other doors in the side +of the hall, but they were high up, and reached by ladders; and +there seemed to be only one more gate in the stockade, leading +landward, and both were such as might not easily be broken down, +when once they were closed and barred with the square logs that +stood beside the entrances ready. And all the windows of the hall +were very high up and narrow, and the roof was timbered, not +thatched. + +This was the strongest house that I had ever seen, and I said to +Raud as I looked at it: + +"This place is built to stand some fierce fighting. What need have +you of such strength?" + +He laughed, and answered: + +"Why, much need indeed! For when the ships are gone a-viking we are +weak in men, so needs must have strong walls to keep out all comers +from over seas. And we have an ill neighbour or two, who would fain +share in our booty. However, men know in Sweden, and Finmark, and +Norway also, that it is ill meddling with Jarl Ingvar and his +brothers." + +We passed through the stockade gate, and went straight to the +porch; all the woodwork of which was carved and gaily painted, and +so were eaves and rafter ends and tie beams. + +Two sturdy axemen stood at the doorway, and they spoke freely to +the brothers, asking questions of us and of our tale. + +Then roared the voice of Jarl Ingvar from within, bidding the men +cease prating and bring us in, and so we entered. + +A great fire burnt in the centre of the hall, and the smoke rose up +and found its way out under the eaves; and there were skins and +heads of wild beasts on the wall, amid which arms and armour hung +everywhere, bright in the firelight. Yet the hall, though it was +carved on wall, and rafter, and doorway, was not so bright as ours +at Reedham, nor so pleasant. + +Ingvar and Hubba sat on one side of the fire, where the smoke was +driven away from them, and before them was set a long bench where +we should be placed. There Hubba bade us sit down, telling the two +men to go without and wait. + +So we were left face to face with those two, and I saw that +Ingvar's face was dark with doubt, but that Hubba seemed less +troubled. Yet both looked long and sternly at us. + +"Tell us this tale of yours," said Ingvar at last; "and lie not." + +Now it seemed to me that it were well to get the worst over at once +without beating about beforehand. And now that the jarls knew that +Lodbrok was dead, the hardest was to tell them how he died, and why +I was here thus. + +"Well loved I Lodbrok the Jarl, and well do I love Halfden his +son," I said. "Have patience with me while I tell all from the +first." + +"Go on," said Ingvar, knitting his brows. + +"Safely came Jarl Lodbrok to the English shores," I went on; +"steering his boat through the storm as I think no other man might. +And my father and I, lying at anchor for tide in our coasting ship, +took him from the breakers. Some of his craft taught he me, else +had I not been here today. So he bided with us until I went to sea, +and there I met Halfden, and went on a raid with him, coming back +from the South Saxon shores to wait at our place for his coming to +take Lodbrok home. But he came not last winter, and so we waited +till this spring should bring him. For my ship was lost, and no +other came." + +"What!" said Ingvar; "he died not of stress of storm, but lived so +long! Then he has been slain!" and he half started from his seat in +rage. + +But Hubba, though his teeth were set, drew him back. + +"Hear all," he said. + +I went on without bidding, not seeming to note these things. + +"The jarl and I hunted together, and the chance of the day parted +us, and he was slain; nor can I say by whom. But this man and I, +being found with his body, were accused of the deed. And because +there was no proof, our great earl, who loves even-handed justice, +would have us cast adrift, even as was Lodbrok; that the guilty +might suffer, and the innocent escape." + +Then Ingvar rose up, white and shaking with wrath, and drew out his +sword. Whereon Beorn yelled and fell on the floor, grovelling with +uplifted hands and crying for mercy. + +But the great jarl paid no heed to him, and hove up the sword with +both hands over my head, saying in a hoarse voice: + +"Say that you lie--he is not dead--or you slew him!" + +Now I think the long struggle with the sea, or my full trust in the +earl's words, or both, had taken away my fear of death, for I spoke +without moving, though the great blade seemed about to fall, and +the fierce Dane's eyes glared on mine. + +"It were easy for me to have lied; I would that I did lie, for then +Lodbrok would be living, and I beside him, waiting for Halfden my +friend even yet." + +"Odin!" shouted Ingvar; "you speak truth. Woe is me for my father, +and woe to the land that has given him a grave thus foully." + +With that he let his sword fall, and his passion having gone, he +sat down and put his face in his hands, and wept tears of grief and +rage. And I, as I watched him, was fain to weep also, for my +thoughts were akin to his. + +Now Hubba had sat very still, watching all this, and he kept his +feelings better than did his fierce brother, though I might well +see that he was moved as deeply. But now he spurned Beorn with his +foot, bidding him get up and speak also. But Beorn only grovelled +the more, and Hubba spurned him again, turning to me. + +"I believe you speak truth," he said quietly, "and you are a brave +man. There was no need for you to tell the accusation against +yourself; and many are the lies you might have told us about the +boat that would have been enough for us. We never thought to hear +that our father had outlived the storm." + +"I speak truth, Jarl," I said, sadly enough, "and Halfden will come +to our haven, seeking us both, and will find neither--only this ill +news instead of all we had planned of pleasure." + +Then Hubba asked me plainly of Beorn, saying: + +"What of this cur?" + +"No more than I have told you, Jarl," I said. + +"How came he into the forest?" asked Hubba, for he saw that there +was more than he knew yet under Beorn's utter terror. + +"Let me tell you that story from end to end," I answered. + +And he nodded, so that I did so, from the time when I left the jarl +until Ulfkytel sentenced us, giving all the words of the witnesses +as nearly as I could. Then I said that I would leave them to judge, +for I could not. + +Now Ingvar, who had sat biting his nails and listening without a +word, broke in, questioning me of Halfden's ship for long. At last +he said: + +"This man tells truth, and I will not harm him. He shall bide here +till Halfden comes home, for he tells a plain story, and wears +those rings. And he has spoken the ill of himself and little of +this craven, who maybe knows more than he will say. I have a mind +to find out what he does know," and he looked savagely at Beorn, +who was sitting up and rocking himself to and fro, with his eyes +looking far away. + +"Do what you will with him he will lie," said Hubba. + +"I can make him speak truth," said Ingvar grimly. + +"What shall be done with this Wulfric?" asked Hubba. + +"Let him go with Raud until I have spoken with Beorn," answered +Ingvar, "then we shall be sure if he is friend or not." + +Hubba nodded, and he and I rose up and went out to the porch, where +Raud and Rolf waited with the two guards. We passed them and stood +in the courtyard. + +"I believe you, Wulfric," said Hubba, "for I know a true man when I +see him." + +"I thank you, Jarl," I answered him, taking the hand that he +offered me. + +I looked out over the sea, for the frank kindness moved me, and I +would not show it. There was a heavy bank of clouds working up, and +the wind came from the north, with a smell of snow in it. Then I +saw a great hawk flying inland, and wondered to see it come over +sea at this time of year. It flew so that it would pass over the +house, and as it came it wheeled a little and called; and then it +swept down and came straight towards me, so that I held out my hand +and it perched on my wrist. + +And lo! it was Lodbrok's gerfalcon; and pleased she was to see me +once more, fluttering her wings and glancing at me while I smoothed +and spoke to her. + +But Hubba cried out in wonder, and the men and Ingvar came out to +see what his call meant. Then they, too, were amazed, for they knew +the bird and her ways well. + +I had spoken of the falcon once or twice, telling the jarls how she +had taken to me, and I think they had doubted it a little. Now the +bird had got free in some way, and finding neither of her masters, +had fled home, even as Lodbrok said she would. + +"Now is your story proved to be true," said Hubba, smiling gravely +at me, but speaking for Ingvar's ear. + +"Aye, over true," answered his brother; "serve this man well, Raud +and Rolf, for he has been a close friend of Jarl Lodbrok." + +"Then should he be in Lodbrok's house as a guest," said Raud +stoutly, and free of speech as Danes will ever be. + +"Maybe he shall be so soon," said Ingvar. + +"I will bide with my first hosts," I said, not being willing to +speak much of this just now. + +"That is well said," was Hubba's reply, and so we went to have the +falcon--who would not leave me--hooded and confined; and then I +went with the two men back to their hut, and there they vied with +each other in kindness to me until night fell, and I gladly went to +rest; for since that night within Caistor walls I had had no sleep +that was worth considering. So my sleep was a long sleep, and +nothing broke it until I woke of myself, and found only the great +dog Vig in the hut, and breakfast ready set out for me, while +outside the ground was white with snow. + +I was glad to find that no watch was kept on me, for it seemed as +if Hubba's words were indeed true, and that the jarls believed my +story. And my dagger was left me also, hanging still on the wall at +my head where I had slept. Then I thought that the great dog was +maybe bidden to guard me, but he paid no heed when I went outside +the hut to try if it were so. + +Ere an hour had passed Raud came back, and he had news for me. + +"Now, friend Wulfric, I am to part with my guest, and not in the +way that was yesterday's. The jarls bid me say that Wulfric of +Reedham, Lodbrok's preserver, is a welcome guest in their hall, and +they would see him there at once." + +"Nevertheless," I answered, "Raud the forester was the first to +shelter me, and I do not forget." + +Whereat Raud was pleased, and together we went to the great house, +and entered, unchallenged. Hubba came forward and held out his +strong hand to me frankly, smiling a little, but gravely, and I +took it. + +"Beorn has told the truth," he said; "forgive me for doubt of you +at any time." + +"Aye, let that be forgotten," said Ingvar, coming from beyond the +great fire, and I answered that I thought it not strange that they +had doubted me. + +"Now, therefore," said Hubba, "you yourself shall question Beorn, +for there are things you want to know from him. And he will answer +you truly enough." + +"After that you shall slay him, if you will," said Ingvar, in his +stern voice, "I wonder you did not do so in the boat. Better for +him if you had." + +"I wonder not," said Hubba. "The man is fit for naught; I could not +lay hand on such a cur." + +I had no answer to make after that, for the warrior spoke my own +thoughts, and I held my peace as they took me to the further side +of the hearth, past the fire, beyond which I had not yet been able +to see. + +Then I knew how Beorn had been made to speak the truth. They had +tortured him, and there was no strength left in him at all, so that +I almost started back from the cruel marks that he bore. Yet I had +things to hear from him, now that he had no need to speak falsely, +and I went to his side. The two jarls stood and looked at him +unmoved. + +"The justice of Ulfkytel is on you, Beorn," I said slowly; "there +is no need to hide aught. Tell me how you slew Lodbrok, and why." + +Then came a voice, so hollow that I should not have known it for +the lusty falconer's of past days: + +"Aye; justice is on me, and I am glad. I will tell you, but first +say that you forgive me." + +Then I could not but tell this poor creature that for all the harm +he had done me I would surely forgive him; but that the deed of +murder was not for me to forgive. + +"Pray, therefore, that for it I may be forgiven hereafter," he +said, and that I promised him. + +Then he spoke faintly, so that Hubba bade Raud give him strong +drink, and that brought his strength back a little. + +"I took your arrows at Thetford, and I followed you to Reedham. +There I dogged you, day by day, in the woods--five days I went +through the woods as you hunted, and then you twain were far apart, +and my chance had come. Lodbrok reined up to listen, and I marked +where he would pass when he went back, hearing your horn. Then I +shot, and the arrow went true; but I drew sword, being mad, and +made more sure. That is all. Surely I thought I should escape, for +I told no man what I would do, and all men thought me far away, +with the king." + +Then he stopped, and recovered his strength before he could go on. + +"I hated Lodbrok because he had taken my place beside the king, and +because his woodcraft was greater than mine, though I was first in +that in all our land. And I feared that he would take the land the +king offered him, for I longed for it." + +Then Beorn closed his eyes, and I was turning away, for I need ask +no more; but again he spoke: + +"Blind was yon dotard Ulfkytel not to see all this; would that you +had slain me in the woods at first--or that he had hanged me at +Caistor--or that I had been drowned. But justice is done, and my +life is ended." + +Those were the last words that I heard Beorn, the falconer, speak, +for I left him, and Raud gave him to drink again. + +"Have you no more to ask?" said Ingvar gloomily, and frowning on +Beorn, as he lay helpless beyond the hearth. + +"Nothing, Jarl." + +"What was the last word he said. I heard not." + +"He said that justice was done," I answered. + +"When I have done with him, it shall be so," growled Ingvar, and +his hand clutched his sword hilt, so that I thought to see him slay +the man on the spot. + +"Has he told you all?" I asked of Hubba. + +"All, and more than you have told of yourself," he answered; "for +he told us that it was your hand saved my father, and for that we +thank you. But one thing more he said at first, and that was that +Eadmund the King set him on to slay the jarl." + +On that I cried out that the good king loved Lodbrok too well, and +in any case would suffer no such cowardly dealings. + +"So ran his after words; but that was his first story, +nevertheless." + +"Then he lied, for you have just now heard him say that his own +evil thoughts bade him do the deed." + +"Aye--maybe he lied at first; but we shall see," said Ingvar. + +Now I understood not that saying, but if a man lies once, who shall +know where the lie's doings will stop? What came from this lie I +must tell, but now it seemed to have passed for naught. + +"Now shall you slay the man in what way you will, as I have said. +There are weapons," and Ingvar pointed to the store on the walls. + +"I will not touch him," I said, "and I think that he dies." + +"Then shall you see the vengeance of Ingvar on his father's +murderer," the jarl said savagely. "Call the men together into the +courtyard, Raud, and let them bring the man there." + +"Let him die, Jarl," I said boldly; "he has suffered already." + +"I think that if you knew, Wulfric of Reedham, how near you have +been to this yourself, through his doings, you would not hold your +hand," answered Ingvar, scowling at Beorn again. + +"Maybe, Jarl," I answered, "but though you may make a liar speak +truth thus, you cannot make an honest man say more than he has to +speak." + +"One cannot well mistake an honest saying," said Ingvar. "And that +is well for you, friend." + +And so he turned and watched his courtmen, as the Danes called the +housecarles, carry Beorn out. Then he went to the walls and began +to handle axe after axe, taking down one by one, setting some on +the great table, and putting others back, as if taking delight in +choosing one fittest for some purpose. + +Even as we watched him--Hubba sitting on the table's edge, and I +standing by him--a leathern curtain that went across a door at the +upper end of the hall was pulled aside, and a lady came into the +place. Stately and tall, with wondrous black hair, was this maiden, +and I knew that this must be that Osritha of whom the jarl was wont +to speak to Eadgyth and my mother, and who wrought the raven banner +that hung above the high place where she stood now. She was like +Halfden and Hubba, though with Ingvar's hair, and if those three +were handsome men among a thousand, this sister of theirs was more +than worthy of them. She stood in the door, doubting, when she saw +me. Sad she looked, and she wore no gold on arm or neck, doubtless +because of the certainty of the great jarl's death; and when she +saw that Hubba beckoned to her, she came towards us, and Ingvar set +down the great axe whose edge he was feeling. + +"Go back to your bower, sister," he said; "we have work on hand." + +And he spoke sternly, but not harshly, to her. She shrank away a +little, as if frightened at the jarl's dark face and stern words, +but Hubba called her by name. + +"Stay, Osritha; here is that friend of our father's from over seas, +of whom you have heard." + +Then she looked pityingly at me, as I thought, saying very kindly: + +"You are welcome. Yet I fear you have suffered for your friendship +to my father." + +"I have suffered for not being near to help him, lady," I said. + +"There is a thing that you know not yet," said Hubba. "This Wulfric +was the man who took Father from the breakers." + +Then the maiden smiled at me, though her eyes were full of tears, +and she asked me: + +"How will they bury him in your land? In honour?" + +"I have a brother-in-law who will see to that," I said. "And, +moreover, Eadmund the King, and Elfric, my father, will do him all +honour." + +"I will see to that," growled Ingvar, turning sharply from where he +sought another weapon on the wall. + +Not knowing all he meant, this pleased me, for I thought that we +should sail together to Reedham for this, before very long. But +Osritha, knowing his ways, looked long at him, till he turned away +again, and would not meet her eyes. + +"Now go back to your place, my sister," he said. "It is not well +for you to bide here just now." + +"Why not? Let our friend tell me of Father also," she said +wilfully. + +"Because I am going to do justice on Lodbrok's slayer," said +Ingvar, in a great voice, swinging an axe again. + +Then the maiden turned pale, and wrung her hands, looking at +Ingvar, who would not meet her eyes; and then she went and laid her +hands on his mighty arm, crying: + +"Not that, my brother; not that!" + +"Why not?" he asked; but he did not shake off her little hands. + +"Because Father would not have men so treated, however ill they had +done." + +"Aye, brother; the girl is right," said Hubba. "Let him die; for +you gave him to Wulfric, and that is his word." + +"Well then," said Ingvar, setting back the axe at last, "I will not +carve him into the eagle I meant to make of him. But slay him I +must and will, if the life is yet in him." + +"Let Odin have him," said Hubba; and I knew that he meant that the +man should be hanged, for so, as Halfden's vikings told me, should +he be Odin's thrall, unhonoured. + +Then the maiden fled from the hall, glad to have gained even that +for the man, instead of the terrible death that the Danes keep for +traitors and cowards. + +Now Ingvar put back the axes he had kept, saying that the girl ever +stood in his way when he would punish as a man deserved. After that +he stood for a while as if in thought, and broke out at length: + +"We will see if this man can sing a death song as did Ragnar our +forefather." + +And with that he waited no more, but strode out into the courtyard, +we following. And I feared what I should see; until I looked on +Beorn, and though he was yet alive, I saw that he was past feeling +aught. + +They bore him out of the village to a place just inside the +trenched enclosure, and there were old stone walls, such as were +none elsewhere in the place, but as it might have been part of +Burgh or Brancaster walls that the Romans made on our shores, so +ancient that they were crumbling to decay. There they set him down, +and raised a great flat stone, close to the greatest wall, which +covered the mouth of a deep pit. + +"Look therein," said Ingvar to me. + +I looked, and saw that the pit was stone walled and deep, and that +out of it was no way but this hole above. The walls and floor were +damp and slimy; and when I looked closer, the dim light showed me +bones in one corner, and also that over the floor crawled reptiles, +countless. + +"An adder is a small thing to sting a man," said Ingvar in his grim +voice. "Nor will it always hurt him much. Yet if a man is so close +among many that he must needs tread on one, and it bites him, and +in fleeing that he must set foot on another, and again another, and +then more--how will that end?" + +I shuddered and turned away. + +"In such a place did Ella of Northumbria put my forebear, Ragnar +Lodbrok; and there he sang the song {xiii} we hold most +wondrous of all. There he was set because he was feared, and +Northumbria knows what I thought of that matter. But Beorn goes +here for reasons which you know. And East Anglia shall know what my +thoughts are of those reasons." + +Then two men seized Beorn and cast him into that foul pit, stripped +of all things, and the stone fell. + +But Beorn moved not nor cried out, and I think that even as +Ulfkytel had boded, stripped of life itself was he before the +bottom of the pit was reached. + +So the justice of Ulfkytel the Earl came to pass. But the lies +spoken by Beorn were not yet paid for. + + + +CHAPTER IX. JARL HALFDEN'S HOMECOMING. + + +From the time when Beorn was made to speak the truth, I was a +welcome guest in the hall that had been Lodbrok's, to Hubba at +least, and we were good friends. As for Ingvar, he was friendly +enough also, and would listen when I spoke with his more frank and +open brother of my days with Halfden and his father. But he took +little pleasure in my company, going silent and moody about the +place, for the snow that began on the day after I landed was the +first of a great storm, fiercer and colder than any we knew in +England, and beyond the courtyard of the great house men could +scarcely stir for a time. + +This storm I had but just escaped, and it seemed to me, and still +seems, that the terror and pain thereof was held back while I was +on the sea, for those nights and days had had no winter sting in +them. + +Hubba and I would wrestle and practise arms in the hall or +courtyard during that time, and he was even beyond his father, my +teacher, in the matter of weapon play; so that it is no wonder that +now, as all men know, he is held the most famous warrior of his +time. + +These sports Ingvar watched, and took part in now and then when his +mood was lighter, but it was seldom. Yet he was skilful, though not +as his brother. + +Then at night was the fire of pine logs high heaped, and we feasted +while the scalds, as they call their gleemen, sang the deeds of the +heroes of old. And some of those of whom they sang were men of the +Angles of the old country; and one was my own forefather, and for +that I gave the scald my gold bracelet, and thereafter he sang +lustily in my praise as Lodbrok's rescuer. + +Very pleasant it was in Ingvar's hall while the wind howled over +the roof, and the roar of the sea was always in our ears. And these +Danes drank less than our people, if they ate more largely. But +Ingvar would sit and take pleasure in none of the sport, being ever +silent and thoughtful. + +But to me, best of all were the times when I might see and speak +with Osritha, and soon the days seemed heavy to me if by chance I +had no word with her. And she was always glad to speak of her +father and Halfden; for she was the youngest of all Lodbrok's +children, and Halfden, her brother, was but a year older than +herself, so that she loved him best of all, and longed to see him +home again. + +So longed I, grieving for the news he must hear when he came to +Reedham, but yet thinking that he would be glad to find me at least +living and waiting for him. + +Now, as the snow grew deeper and the cold strengthened, the wolves +began to come at night into the village, and at last grew very +daring. So one night a man ran in to say that a pack was round a +cottage where a child would not cease crying, and must be driven +off, or they would surely tear the clay walls down. + +Then Hubba and I would go; but Ingvar laughed at us, saying that a +few firebrands would settle the matter by fraying the beasts away. +However, the man was urgent, and we went out with Raud and his +brother, and some twenty men, armed with spears and axes. + +The night was very dark, and the snow whirled every way, and the +end of it was that Raud and I and two more men, with the dog Vig, +lost the rest, and before we found them we had the pack on us, and +we must fight for our lives. And that fight was a hard fight, for +there must have been a score of gaunt wolves, half starved and +ravenous. + +And I think we should have fared badly, for at last I was standing +over Raud, who was down, dragged to the earth by two wolves, of +which the dog slew one and I the other, while the other two men +were back to back with me, and the wolves bayed all round us. But +Hubba and his party heard our shouts in time and came up, and so +ended the matter. + +Now Raud must have it that I had saved his life, though I thought +the good dog had a share in it, and both he and the dog were a +little hurt. However, my shoulder was badly torn by a wolf that +leapt at me while my spear was cumbered with another, and I for my +part never wished it had not been so. + +For Osritha, who was very skilful in leech craft, tended my hurt; +and I saw much of her, for the hurts were a long time before they +healed, as wolf bites are apt to be, and we grew very friendly. So +that, day by day, I began to long to see the maiden who cared for +my wound so gently, before the time came. + +Now Raud must needs make me a spear from a tough ashen sapling that +he had treasured for a long time, because that which I had used in +the wolf hunt was sprung by the weight of one of the beasts, and +while his hurts kept him away at his own house he wrought it, and +at last brought it up to the hall to give to me. + +When I looked at it--and it was a very good one, and had carved +work where the hand grips the shaft, and a carved end--I saw that +the head was one of Jarl Ingvar's best spearheads, and asked Raud +where he got it. + +"Why," he said, "a good ash shaft deserves a good head, and so I +asked the jarl for one. And when he knew for whom it was, he gave +me this, saying it was the best he had." + +Now I was pleased with this gift, both because I liked the man +Raud, who was both brave and simple minded, and because it showed +that the surly jarl had some liking for me. Yet I would that he +showed this openly, and telling Osritha of the gift, I dared say +so. + +Then she sighed and rose up, saying that she would show me another +spear on the further wall, so taking me out of hearing of her +maidens, who sat by the fire busied over their spinning and the +like. + +There she spoke to me of Jarl Ingvar. + +"Moody and silent beyond his wont has he been since we have heard +all about our father's death, and I fear that he plans some +terrible revenge for it, even as he took revenge on the +Northumbrian coasts for the long-ago slaying of Ragnar." + +Then I remembered the story of the burnt town, Streoneshalch, and +knew what Ingvar's revenge was like. But as yet I could not think +that he would avenge Beorn's deed further than I had seen already. + +"But he has no enmity with you, our friend," she went on; "though +he speaks little to you, he listens as you talk to us. But there +has grown up in his heart a hatred of all men in your land, save of +yourself alone. And once he said that he would that you were a +Dane, and his comrade as you had been Halfden's." + +Then I told Osritha of how Halfden had let me go from him rather +than have me fight against my own land. I had said nothing of this +to the jarls, for there was no reason. And this was the first time +that I had had private speech with Osritha. + +"That is Halfden's way," she said, "he is ever generous." + +"I would that he were back," I answered, and so we ceased speaking. + +Yet after this, many were the chances I found of the like talk +alone with Osritha before the weather broke, and we could once more +get into the woods, hunting, and the men began to work in the ship +garths on a great ship that was being built. + +Now we had good hunting in the forests, and on the borders of the +great mosses of Ingvar's lands. But there were many more folk in +this land than in ours, and I thought that they were ill off in +many ways. In those days of hunting, Ingvar, seeing me ride with +the carven spear that was partly his gift, and with Lodbrok's hawk +on my wrist, would speak more often with me, though now and again +some chance word of mine spoken in the way of my own folk would +seem to turn him gloomy and sullen, so that he would spur his horse +and leave me. But Hubba was ever the same, and I liked him well, +though I could not have made a friend of him as of Halfden. + +In March messengers began to come and go, and though I asked +nothing and was told nothing, I knew well that Ingvar was gathering +a mighty host to him that he might sail in the May time across the +seas for plunder--or for revenge. The hammers went all day long in +the ship garths, where the air was full of the wholesome scent of +tar; and in their houses the women spun busily, making rope and +weaving canvas that should carry the jarl's men "over the swan's +bath;" while in the hall the courtmen sat after dark and feathered +arrows and twined bowstrings, and mended mail. And now and then +some chief would ride into the town, feasting that night, and +riding away in the morning after long talk with the jarls. And +some, Bagsac and Guthrum, Sidrac and his son, and a tall man named +Osbern, came very often as the days lengthened. + +I would ask nothing of this matter, even of Osritha, having my own +thoughts thereon, and not being willing to press her on things she +might have been bidden to keep from me. She would ask me of my +mother and Eadgyth, as they would ask the jarl of her, and I told +her all I could, though that was not much, for a man hardly notes +things as a woman will. Then she would laugh at me; until one day I +said that I would she could come over to Reedham and see for +herself. + +At that I thought that I had offended her, for her face grew red, +and she left me. Nor could I find a chance of speaking to her again +for many days, which was strange to me, and grieved me sorely. + +Now the southwest wind shifted at last to the west and north, and +that shift brought home him whom I most wished to see, my comrade, +Halfden. And it chanced that I was the first to see his sail from +the higher land along the coast, south of the haven, where I was +riding with my falcon and the great dog Vig, which Raud and his +brother would have me take for my own after the wolf hunt. + +Gladly I rode hack with my news to find Ingvar in the ship garth, +and there I told him who came. + +"A ship, maybe. How know you she is Halfden's?" he said carelessly. + +"Why, how does any sailor know his own ship?" I asked in surprise. + +Then he turned at once, and smiled at me fairly for the first time. + +"I had forgotten," he said. "Come, let us look at her again." + +And I was not mistaken, though the jarl was not so sure as I for +half an hour or more. When he was certain, he said: + +"Come, let us make what welcome for Halfden that we may." + +And we went back to the hall, and at once was the great horn blown +to assemble the men; and the news went round quickly, so that +everywhere men and women alike put aside their work, and hurried +down to the wharf side. And in Ingvar's house the thralls wrought +to prepare a great feast in honour of Jarl Halfden's homecoming. + +Soon I stood with the jarls and Osritha at the landing place, and +behind us were the courtmen in their best array. And as we came to +the place where we would wait, Halfden's ship came past the bar +into the haven's mouth. + +All men's faces were bright with the thought of welcome, but heavy +were my thoughts, and with reason. For Halfden's ship came from the +sea on no course that should have borne him from Reedham, and I +feared that it was I who must tell him all. Yet he might have been +drawn from his course by some passing vessel. + +The long ship flew up the channel, and now we could see that all +her rail was hung with the red and yellow shields that they use for +show as well as to make the gunwale higher against the arrows, and +to hinder boarders in a fight. And she was gaily decked with flags, +and shone with new paint and gilding in all sea bravery. Not idle +had her crew been in the place where they had wintered, and one +might know that they had had a good voyage, which to a Dane means +plunder enough for all. But surely if Halfden had been to Reedham, +the long pennon had been half masted. + +It were long to tell how the people cheered, and how they were +answered from the ship, and how I spied Halfden on the fore deck, +and Thormod at the helm, as ever. And when Osritha saw Halfden's +gay arms and cloak and all the bright trim of the ship and men, she +said to me, speaking low and quickly: + +"They have not been to Reedham, or it would not have been thus." + +And it was true, for there would have been no sign of joy among +those who had heard the news that waited them there. + +I knew not how to bear this meeting, but I was not alone in my +trouble, for nearer me crept Osritha, saying to me alone, while the +people cheered and shouted: + +"How shall we tell Halfden?" + +The two jarls were busy at the mooring place, and I could only +answer her that I could look to her alone for help. Now at that I +knew what had sprung up in my heart for Osritha, and that not in +this only should I look for help from her and find it, but if it +might be, all my life through. For now in my trouble she looked at +me with a new look, answering: + +"I will help you, whatever betide." + +I might say no more then, nor were words needed, for I knew all +that she meant. And so my heart was lightened, for now I held that +I was repaid for all that had gone before, and save for that which +had brought me here, gladly would I take my perilous voyage over +again to find this land and the treasure it now held for me. + +At last the ship's keel grated on the sand, and the men sprang from +shore waist deep in water, to take her the mighty cables that +should haul her into her berth; and then the long gangplank was run +out, and Halfden came striding along it, looking bright and +handsome--and halfway over, he stopped where none could throng him, +and lifting his hand for silence cried for all to hear. + +"Hearken all to good news! Lodbrok our Jarl lives!" + +Then, alas! instead of the great cheer that should have broken from +the lips of all that throng, was at first a silence, and then a +groan--low and pitiful as of a mourning people who wail for the +dead and the sorrowful living--and at that sound Halfden paled, and +stayed no more, hurrying ashore and to where his brothers stood. + +"What is this?" he said, and his voice was low, and yet clear in +the silence that had fallen, for all his men behind him had stopped +as if turned to stone where they stood. + +Then from my side sprang Osritha before any could answer, meeting +him first of all, and she threw her arms round his neck, saying: + +"Dead is Lodbrok our father, and nigh to death for his sake has +been Wulfric, your friend. Yet he at least is well, and here to +speak with you and tell you all." + +Then for the great and terrible sorrow that came at the end of the +joyous homeward sailing, down on the hard sand Halfden the Jarl +threw himself, and there lay weeping as these wild Danes can weep, +for their sorrow is as terrible as their rage, and they will put no +bounds to the way of grief of which there is no need for shame. Nor +have they the hope that bids us sorrow not as they. + +And while he lay there, all men held their peace, looking in one +another's faces, and only the jarls and Osritha and myself stood +near him. + +Very suddenly he raised himself up, and was once more calm; then he +kissed the maiden, and grasped his brothers' hands, and then held +out both hands to me, holding mine and looking in my face. + +"Other was the meeting I had planned for you and me, Wulfric, my +brother-in-arms. Yet you are most welcome, for you at least are +here to tell me of the days that are past." + +"It is an ill telling," said Ingvar. + +"That must needs be, seeing what is to be told," Hubba said +quickly. + +But those wise words of Osritha's had made things easier for me, +for now Halfden knew that into the story of the jarl's death, I and +my doings must come, so Ingvar's words meant little to him. + +"You went not to Reedham?" I said, for now the men were at work +again, and all was noise and bustle round us. + +"I have come here first by Orkneys from Waterford, where we +wintered," he answered. "And I have been over sure that no mishap +might be in a long six months." + +"What of the voyage?--let us speak of this hereafter," said Hubba. + +And Halfden, wearily, as one who had lost all interest in his own +doings, told him that it had been good, and that Thormod would give +him the full tale of plunder. + +Then came a chief from the ship whose face I knew, though he was +not of our crew. It was that Rorik whose ship the Bosham bell had +sunk, and who had been saved by Halfden's boats. He knew me, after +scanning me idly for a moment, and greeted me, asking why I was not +at Reedham to make that feast of which Halfden was ever speaking, +and so passed on. + +So we went up to the great hall in silence, sorely cast down; and +that was Halfden's homecoming. + +Little joy was there on the high place at the feast that night, +though at the lower tables the men of our crew (for so I must ever +think of those whose leader I had been for a little while, with +Halfden) held high revelling with their comrades. Many were the +tales they told, and when a tale of fight and victory was done, the +scald would sing it in verse that should be kept and sung by the +winter fire till new deeds brought new songs to take its place. + +Presently Halfden rose up, after the welcome cup had gone round and +feasting was done, and the ale and mead began to flow, and he +beckoned me to come with him. Hubba would have come also, but +Ingvar held him back. + +"Let Wulfric have his say first," he growled; and I thanked him in +my mind for his thought. + +So we went to the inner chamber, where Osritha would sit with her +maidens, and Halfden said: + +"This matter is filling all my thoughts so that I am but a gloomy +comrade at the board. Tell me all, and then what is done is done. +One may not fight against the Norn maidens {xiv}." + +There I told him all my story, and he remembered how I had told +him, laughing, of Beorn's jealousy at first. And when my tale was +nearly done Osritha crept from her bower and came and sat beside +Halfden, pushing her hand into his, and resting her head on his +shoulder. + +Then I ended quickly, saying that Ingvar had done justice on Beorn. +And at that remembrance the maiden shivered, and Halfden's face +showed that he knew what the man's fate was like to have been at +the great jarl's hands. + +"So, brother," he said, when I left off speaking, "had I gone to +Reedham there would have been burnt houses in East Anglia." + +"In Reedham?" said I. + +"Wherever this Beorn had a house; and at Caistor where that old +fool Ulfkytel lives, and maybe at one or two other places on the +way thither. And I think your father and Egfrid your brother would +have helped me, or I them." + +So he doubted me not at all, any more than I should have doubted +his tale, were he in my place and I in his. + +Then I said that I myself had no grudge against Earl Ulfkytel, for +he had sent me here. + +"Why then, no more have I," answered Halfden; "for he is a wiseacre +and an honest one, and maybe meant kindly. Ingvar would have slain +both guilty and innocent, and told them to take their wrangle +elsewhere, to Hela or Asgard as the way might lead them." + +Now as he said that, I, who looked ever on the face of her whom I +loved, saw that a new fear had come into Osritha's heart, and that +she feared somewhat for me. Nor could I tell what it was. But +Halfden and I went on talking, and at last she could not forbear a +little sob, and at that Halfden asked what ailed her. + +"May I speak to you, my brother, very plainly, of one thing that I +dread?" she asked, drawing closer to him. + +"Aye, surely," he answered in surprise. + +"Remember you the words that Ingvar said to the priest of the White +Christ who came from Ansgar at Hedeby {xv}, while our father +was away in the ships?" + +"Why, they were like words. He bade him go and settle the matter +with Odin whom he would not reverence, and so slew him." + +"Aye, brother. And he said that so he would do to any man who would +not honour the gods." + +"Why do you remember that, Osritha?" + +"Because--because there will be the great sacrifice tomorrow, and +Wulfric, your friend, is not of our faith." + +Then Halfden was silent, looking across at me, and all at once I +knew that here was a danger greater than any I had yet been +through. Fire I had passed through, and water, and now it was like +to be trial by steel. And the first had tried my courage, and the +next my endurance, as I thought; but this would try both, and my +faith as well. + +"That is naught," said Halfden, lightly. "It is but the signing of +Thor's hammer, and I have seen Wulfric do that many a time, only +not quite in our way, thus;" and he signed our holy sign all +unknowing, or caring not. "And to eat of the horse that is +sacrificed--why, you and I, Wulfric, did eat horse on the Frankish +shores; and you thought it good, being nigh starved--you remember?" + +I remembered, but that was different; for that we did because the +shores were so well watched that we ran short of food, and had to +take what we could under cover of night at one time. But this of +which Osritha spoke was that which Holy Writ will by no means +suffer us to do--to eat of a sacrifice to idols knowingly, for that +would be to take part therein. Nor might I pretend that the holy +sign was as the signing of Thor's Hammer. + +"Halfden," I said, having full trust in him, "I may not do this. I +may not honour the old gods, for so should I dishonour the White +Christ whom I serve." + +"This is more than I can trouble about in my mind," said Halfden; +"but if it troubles you, I will help you somehow, brother Wulfric. +But you must needs come to the sacrifice." + +"Cannot I go hunting?" + +"Why, no; all men must be present. And to be away would but make +things worse, for there would be question." + +Then I strengthened myself, and said that I must even go through +with the matter, and so would have no more talk about it. But +Osritha kept on looking sadly at me, and I knew that she was in +fear for me. + +Now presently we began to talk of my home and how they would mourn +me as surely lost. And I said that this mourning would be likely to +hinder my sister's wedding for a while. And then, to make a little +more cheerful thought, I told Halfden what his father had said +about his wishing that he had been earlier with us. + +"Why, so do I," said my comrade, laughing a little; "for many +reasons," he added more sadly, thinking how that all things would +have been different had he sailed back at once. + +Then he must needs go back to the question of the sacrifice. + +"Now I would that you would turn good Dane and Thor's man, and bide +here with us; and then maybe--" + +But Osritha rose up quickly and said that she must begone, and so +bade us goodnight and went her way into the upper story of that end +of the great hall where her own place was. Whereat Halfden laughed +quietly, looking at me, and when she was quite gone, and the heavy +deerskins fell over the doorway, said, still smiling: + +"How is this? It is in my mind that my father's wish might easily +come to pass in another way not very unlike." + +That was plain speaking, nor would I hesitate to meet the kindly +look and smile, but said that indeed I had come to long that it +might be so. But I said that the jarl, his father, had himself +shown me that no man should leave his old faith but for better +reasons than those of gain, however longed for. For that is what he +had answered Eadmund the king when the land was offered him, and he +was asked to become a Christian. + +"Yet if such a thing might be," said Halfden, "gladly would I hail +you as brother in very truth." + +So we sat without speaking for a while, and then Halfden said that +were I to stand among the crowd of men on the morrow there would +surely be no notice taken of me. + +Yet as I lay on my wolf skins at the head of the great hall, and +prayed silently--as was my wont among these heathen--I asked for +that same help that had been given to men of old time who were in +the same sore strait as I must very likely be in tomorrow. + +Then came to me the thought: "What matters if outwardly I reverence +Thor and Odin while I inwardly deny them?" and that excuse had nigh +got the better of me. But I minded what our king had told me many a +time: how that in the first christening of our people it had ever +been held to be a denying of our faith to taste the heathen +sacrifices, or to bow the head in honour, even but outward, of the +idols, so that many had died rather than do so. And he had praised +those who thus gave up their life. + +Then, too, I remembered the words of the Prior of Bosham concerning +martyrs. And we had been led to speak of them by this very question +as to sacrifice to the Danish gods. So I made up my mind that if I +might escape notice, I would do so--and if not, then would I bear +the worst. + +So I fell asleep at last. And what it may have been I know +not--unless the wind as it eddied through the high windows clashed +some weapon against shield on the walls with a clear ringing +sound--but I woke with the voice of Bosham bell in my ears--and +Rorik and Halfden each in his place started also, and Rorik +muttered a curse before he lay down again, for he sat up, looking +wildly. + +But greatly cheered with that token was I, for I knew that help was +not far from me, and after that I had no more fear, but slept +peacefully, though I thought it was like to be my last night on +earth. + + + +CHAPTER X. WHAT BEFELL AT THE GREAT SACRIFICE. + + +Very early in the gray morning Halfden woke me, and he was fully +armed, while at the lower end of the hall the courtmen were rising +and arming themselves also, for Vikings must greet Odin as warriors +ready to do battle for him when Ragnaroek {xvi} and the last +great fight shall come. + +"Rise and arm yourself," he said; "here are the arms in which you +fought well in your first fight, and axe and sword beside. Now you +shall stand with our crew, and so none of them will heed you, for +they love you, and know your ways are not as ours. So will all be +well." + +Then I thanked him, for I surely thought it would be so; and I +armed myself, and that man who had been my own shield man when I +led the midship gang helped me. One thing only I wished, and that +was that I had the axe which Lodbrok made for me, for then, I told +the man, I should feel as a Viking again, and that pleased him. + +"However," he said, "I think I have found an axe that is as near +like your own as may be." + +And he had done so, having had that kindly thought for me. Then we +went out, for the horns were blowing outside the town in the ash +grove where the Ve, as they call the temple of Odin and Thor and +the other gods, was. And overhead, high and unseen in the air, +croaked the ravens, Odin's birds, scared from their resting places +by the tramp of men, yet knowing that their share in the feast was +to come. + +I shivered, but the sound of the war horns, and the weight and +clank of the well-known arms, stirred my blood at last, and when we +fell in for our short march, Halfden and Thormod, Rorik and myself +leading our crew, I was ready for all that might come, if need for +a brave heart should be. + +Silently we filed through the bare trunks of the ashes, the trees +of Thor, where many a twisted branch and dead trunk showed that the +lightning had been at work, until we came to the place of the Ve in +its clearing. + +There stood the sanctuary, a little hut--hardly more--built of +ash-tree logs set endwise on a stone footing, and roofed with logs +of ash, and closed with heavy doors made of iron-bolted ash timber +also. This temple stood under the mightiest ash tree of all, and +there was a clear circle of grass, tree bordered, for a hundred +yards all round it, and all that circle was lined with men, armed +and silent. + +Before the temple was a fire-reddened stone, the altar. And on it +were graven runes, and symbols so strange that neither I nor any +man could read them, so old were they, for some men said that stone +and runes alike were older than the worship of Odin himself, having +been an altar to gods that were before him. And a pile of wood was +ready on the altar. + +Beside it stood Ingvar, clad in golden shining scale armour, and +with a gilded horned helm and scarlet cloak that hung from +shoulders to heel; for as his forefathers had been before him, +beyond the time when the Danes and Angles came from their far +eastern home {xvii}, led by Odin himself, he was the "godar", +the priest of the great gods of Asgard, and his it was to offer the +sacrifice now that Lodbrok his father was dead. + +Now, as I stood there I thought how my father had told me that our +own family had been the godars of our race in the old days, so that +he and I in turn should have taken our place at such an offering as +Ingvar was about to make. And straightway I seemed to be back in +the long dead past, when on these same shores my forbears had +worshipped thus before seeking the new lands that they won beyond +the seas. And that was a strange thought, yet now I should know +from what our faith had brought us. + +In a little while all Ingvar's following had come, and there were +many chiefs whose faces I had seen of late as they came to plan the +great raid that was to be when the season came. And the men with +them were very many, far more than we could have gathered to a levy +on so short notice; and all were well armed, and stood in good +order as trained and hardened warriors. No longer could I wonder at +all I had heard of the numbers of the Danish hosts who came to our +shores, and were even now in Northumbria, unchecked. + +There was silence in all the great ring of men; and only the rustle +of the wind in the thick-standing ash trees around us--that seemed +to hem us in like a gray wall round the clearing--and the quick +croak and flap of broad wings as the ravens wheeled ever nearer +overhead, broke the stillness. + +We of the crew for whose good voyage and safe return the offering +was made stood foremost, facing the altar stone and the sanctuary +door, and I, with Halfden and Thormod before me, and men of the +crew to right and left, stood in the centre of our line, so that I +could see all that went on. + +Then, seeing that all was ready, Ingvar swung back the heavy door +of the shrine, and I saw before me a great image of Thor the +mighty, glaring with sightless eyes across the space at me. It was +carved in wood, and the god stood holding in one hand Mioelner, his +great hammer, and in the other the head of the Midgaard serpent, +whose tailed curled round his legs, as though it were vainly trying +to struggle free. + +Then Ingvar turned and lighted the altar fire, and the smoke rose +straight up and hung in the heavy morning air in a cloud over the +Ve; and that seemed to be of good omen, for the men shouted +joyfully once, and were again silent. + +From behind the sanctuary two armed men led the horse for the +sacrifice that should be feasted on thereafter; and it was a +splendid colt, black and faultless, so that to me it seemed a +grievous thing that its life should thus be spilt for naught. Yet I +was the only one there who deemed it wasted. + +Then Ingvar chanted words to which I would not listen, lest my +heart should seem to echo them, so taking part in the heathen +prayer. Over the horse he signed Thor's hammer, and slew it with +Thor's weapon, and the two men flayed and divided it skilfully, +laying certain portions before the jarl, the godar. + +He sprinkled the blood upon doorway and statue, and then again +chanting, laid those portions upon the altar fire, and the black +smoke rose up from them, while all the host watched for what omens +might follow. + +The smoke rose, wavered, and went up, and then some breath of wind +took it and drifted it gently into the open temple, winding it +round the head of Thor's image and filling all the little building. +And at that the men shouted again. + +Then Ingvar turned slowly towards the shrine, and drawing his +sword, lifted up the broad shining blade as if in salute, crying as +he turned the point north and east and south and west: + +"Skoal, ye mighty Ones!" + +And at once, as one man all the host, save myself only, lifted +their weapons in salute, crying in a voice that rolled back from +the trees like an answering war shout: + +"Skoal to the mighty Ones!" + +But as for me, I stirred not, save that as by nature, and because I +fixed my thoughts on the One Sacrifice of our own faith, I signed +myself with the sign of the cross, only knowing this, that Thor and +Odin I would not worship. + +Suddenly, even as the echo of the shout died away, and while the +weapons were yet upraised, the thick cloud of smoke rolled back and +down, wrapping round Ingvar the godar as he stood between shrine +and altar, and across the reek glared the sightless eyes of the +idol again, cold and heedless. + +Now of all omens that was the worst, for it must needs betoken that +the sacrifice was not pleasing; and at that a low groan as of fear +went round the host. Then back started Ingvar, and I saw his face +through the smoke, looking white as ashes. For a long time, as it +seemed to me, there was silence, until the smoke rose up straight +again and was lost in the treetops. Even the ravens, scared maybe +by the great shout, were gone, and all was very still. + +At last Ingvar turned slowly to us and faced our crew. + +"The sacrifice is yours," he said, "and if it is not accepted the +fault is yours also. We are clear of blame who have bided at home." + +Then Halfden answered for his men and himself: + +"I know not what blame is to us." + +But from close behind me Rorik lifted his voice: + +"No blame to the crew--but here is one, a stranger, who does no +honour to the gods, neither lifting sword or hailing them as is +right, even before Thor's image." + +Then I knew that the worst was come, and prepared to meet it. But +Halfden spoke. + +"All men's customs are not alike, and a stranger has his own ways." + +But Ingvar's face was black with rage, and not heeding Halfden, he +shouted: + +"Set the man before me." + +No man stirred, for indeed I think that most of our crew knew not +who was meant, and those near me would, as Halfden told me, say +nought. + +Then said Ingvar to Rorik: "Point the man to me." + +Then Rorik pointed to me. So I stood forth of my own accord, not +looking at him, but at Ingvar. + +"So," said the jarl, harshly, "you dare to dishonour Thor?" + +I answered boldly, feeling very strong in the matter. + +"I dishonour no man's religion, Jarl, neither yours nor my own." + +"You did no honour to the Asir," he said sternly. + +"Thor and Odin are not the gods I worship," I answered. + +"I know. You are one of those who have left the gods of your +fathers." + +Then one of our men, who had stood next to me, spoke for me, as he +thought. + +"I saw Wulfric sign Thor's hammer even now. What more does any man +want from a Saxon?" + +Thereat Ingvar scowled, knowing, as I think, what this was. + +"You claim to be truth teller," he said; "did you sign Thor's +hammer?" + +"I did not," I answered. + +Then Halfden came to my side. + +"Let Wulfric go his own way, brother. What matters it what gods he +worships so long as he is good warrior and true man, as I and my +men know him to be?" + +So he looked round on the faces of my comrades, and they answered +in many ways that this was so. And several cried: + +"Let it be, Jarl. What is one man to Thor and Odin?" + +Now I think that Ingvar would have let the matter pass thus, for +the word of the host is not lightly to be disregarded. But Rorik +would not suffer it. + +"What of the wrath of the gods, Godar?" he said. "How will you put +that aside?" + +Then was a murmur that they must be appeased, but it came not from +our crew; and Ingvar stood frowning, but not looking at me for a +space, for he was pulled two ways. As godar he must not pass by the +dishonour to the gods, yet as the son of the man whom I had saved, +how could he harm me? And Rorik, seeing this, cried: + +"I hold that this man should live no longer." + +"Why, what dishonour has he done the gods?" said Halfden. "If he +had scoffed, or said aught against them--that were a different +thing. And what does Thor there care if one man pays no heed to +him? Surely he can keep his own honour--leave it to him." + +"It is dishonour to Thor not to hail him," said Rorik. + +Now Ingvar spoke again to me: + +"Why do you no honour to the gods?" + +"My fathers honoured them, for the godarship was theirs, and would +have been my father's and mine, even as it is yours, Jarl Ingvar. +For good reason they left that honour and chose another way and a +better. And to that way I cleave. I have done despite to no man's +faith--neither to yours nor my own." + +At that Rorik lost patience, and lifting his axe, ground his teeth +and said savagely: + +"I will even make you honour Thor yonder." + +Now at that Halfden saw a chance for me, and at once stayed Rorik's +hand, saying in a loud voice: + +"Ho! this is well. Let Wulfric and Rorik fight out this +question--and then the life of him who is slain will surely appease +the gods." + +That pleased our crew well, for they had no great love for Rorik, +who had taken too much command on him, for a stranger on board. +Now, too, Ingvar's brows cleared, for he cared nothing for the life +of either of us, so that the gods were satisfied with blood. And he +said: + +"So shall it be. Take axes and make short work of it. If Wulfric +can slay Rorik, we know that he is innocent of aught to dishonour +the gods. But if he is slain--then on his head is the blame." + +Then he looked round and added: + +"Let Guthrum and Hubba see fair play." + +Now came Hubba, pleased enough, for he knew my axe play, and that +chief whom they called Guthrum, a square, dark man with a pleasant, +wise face, and took four spears, setting them up at the corners of +a twelve-pace square, between the line of our crew and the altar. + +So now it seemed to me that I must fight for our faith, for truth +against falsehood, darkness against light. And I was confident, +knowing this, that the death of one for the faith is often the +greatest victory. So I said: + +"I thank you, Jarl. I will fight willingly for my faith." + +"Fight for what you like," said Ingvar, "but make haste over it." + +Then Hubba and Guthrum placed me at one side of the square, and +Rorik at the opposite. And I faced the image of Thor, so that under +the very eyes of the idol I hated I must prove my faith. + +Then came a longing into my mind to lift my axe in Thor's face and +defy him, but I put it away, for how should an idol know of threat +or defiance? Surely that would be to own some power of his. + +When we were ready, Hubba and Guthrum, each with drawn swords, +stood on either side of the spear-marked square, and signed to +Ingvar to give the word. At once he did so. + +Then I strode forward five paces and waited, but Rorik edged round +me, trying to gain some vantage of light, and I watched him +closely. + +And all the host stood silent, holding breath, and the altar smoke +rose up over our heads, and the ravens croaked in the trees, and +over all stared the great statue of Thor, seeing naught. + +Then like a wolf Rorik sprang at me, smiting at my left shoulder +where no shield was to guard me. And that was Rorik's last stroke, +for even as I had parried Thormod's stroke in sport, the man's +wrist lit on the keen edge of my axe, so that hand and weapon flew +far beyond me with the force of his stroke. Then flashed my axe, +and Rorik fell with his helm cleft in twain. + +Then roared our crew, cheering me: + +"Skoal to the axeman! Ahoy!" + +But I looked at Ingvar, and said: + +"Short work have I made, Jarl." + +Whereat he laughed a grim laugh, only answering: + +"Aye, short enough. The gods are appeased." + +Then I went back to my place beside Halfden, and our men patted my +back, praising me, roughly and heartily, for it is not a viking's +way to blame a man for slaying a comrade in fair fight and for good +reason. + +Now Ingvar stood before the shrine, and called to the gods to be +heedful of the blood spilt to purge whatever dishonour or wrong had +been done. And he hung up the weapons of the slain man in the +shrine, and after that closed its doors and barred them; and we +marched from the Ve silently and swiftly, leaving the body of Rorik +alone for a feast to the birds of Odin before the dying altar fire. + +Now was I light hearted, thinking that the worst was past, and so +also thought Halfden, so that we went back and sought Osritha, who +waited, pale and anxious, to know how things should go with me, and +when we found her I saw that she had been weeping. + +"Why, my sister," said Halfden, "hardly would you have wept for my +danger--or weeping you would be from my sailing to return." + +But she answered not a word, and turned away, for his saying made +her tears come afresh. + +"Now am I a blunderer," said Halfden. "If there is one thing that I +fear it is a weeping maiden." + +And with that he went from the room, leaving me. + +Then I took upon me to comfort Osritha, nor was that a hard task. +And again I would have gone through this new danger I had faced, +for it had brought the one I loved to my arms. + +Not long might we be together, for now the feasting began, and I +must go to Halfden and his brothers in the great hall. And then +came remembrance to me. For now must I refuse to eat of the horse +sacrifice, and maybe there would be danger in that. Yet I thought +that no man would trouble more about me and my ways, so that I said +naught of it to Osritha. + +So I sat between Halfden and Thormod at the high place, and the +whole hall was full of men seated at the long tables that ran from +end to end, and across the wide floor. The womenfolk and thralls +went busily up and down serving, and it was a gay show enough to +look on, for all were in their best array. + +Yet it seemed to me that the men were silent beyond their wont, +surly even in their talk, for the fear of the omen of that eddying +smoke was yet on them. And presently I felt and saw that many eyes +were watching me, and those in no very friendly wise. Some of the +men who watched were strangers to me, but as they sat among our +crew, they must be the rest of the saved from Rorik's following. +Others were men from beyond the village walls, and as Rorik's men +had some reason and the others knew me not, I thought little of +their unfriendly looks. + +At last they brought round great cauldrons, in which were flesh +hooks; to every man in turn, and first of all to Ingvar himself. He +thrust the hook in, and brought up a great piece of meat, cutting +for himself therefrom, and at once every man before whom a cauldron +waited, did likewise, and it passed on. They signed Thor's hammer +over the meat and began to eat. + +Now after Ingvar had helped himself, the cauldron came to Guthrum, +and then to Halfden, and then it must come to me, and I had heaped +food before me that I might pass it by more easily, knowing that +this was the sacrificed meat of which I might not eat. But the men +stayed before me, and I made a sign to them to pass by, and honest +Thormod leaned across me to take his share quickly, and they passed +to him, wondering at me a little, but maybe thinking nothing of it. +They were but thralls, and had not been at the Ve. + +But Rorik's men had their eyes on me, and when the cauldron passed +Thormod, and I had not taken thereout, one rose up and said, +pointing to me: + +"Lo! this Saxon will not eat of the sacrifice." + +At that was a growl of wrath from the company, and Ingvar rose, +looking over the heads of my comrades, saying: + +"Have a care, thou fool; go not too far with me." + +Then Guthrum laughed and said: + +"This is foolishness to mind him; moreover, he has fought for and +won his right to please himself in the matter." + +So too said Halfden and Thormod, but against their voices were now +many raised, saying that ill luck would be with the host for long +enough, if this were suffered openly. + +Now a Dane or Norseman takes no heed of the religion of other folk +unless the matter is brought forward in this way, too plainly to be +overlooked. But then, being jealous for his own gods, whom he knows +to be losing ground, he must needs show that he is so. Nor do I +blame him, for it is but natural. + +So to these voices Ingvar the godar must needs pay heed, even if +his own patience were not gone, so that he might not suffer that +one should sit at the board of Thor and Odin, untasting and +unacknowledging. + +He called to two of his courtmen. + +"Take this man away," he said, very sternly, "and put him in ward +till tomorrow. Today is the feast, and we have had enough trouble +over the business already." + +The two men came towards me, and all men were hushed, waiting to +see if I would fight. As they came I rose from my place, and they +thought I would resist, for they shifted their sword hilts to the +front, ready to hand. But I unbuckled my sword belt, and cast the +weapon down, following them quietly, for it was of no good to fight +hopelessly for freedom in a strange land. + +Many men scowled at me as I passed, and more than one cried out on +me. But Halfden and Thormod and Hubba, and more than were angry, +seemed glad that this was all the harm that came to me just now. +And Ingvar leaned back in his great chair and did not look at me, +though his face was dark. + +They put me into a cell, oak walled and strong, and there left me, +unfettered, but with a heavily-barred door between me and freedom; +and if I could get out, all Denmark and the sea around me held me +prisoner. + +Yet I despaired not altogether, for already I had gone through much +danger, and my strength had not failed me. + +Now, how I spent the daylight hours of that imprisonment any +Christian man may know, seeing that I looked for naught but death. +And at last, when darkness fell, I heard low voices talking outside +for a little while, and I supposed that a watch was set, for the +cell door opened to the courtyard from the back of the great house. + +Now I thought I would try to sleep, for the darkness was very +great, and just as I lay down in a corner the barring of the door +was moved, and the door opened gently. + +"Do you sleep, Wulfric?" said Halfden's voice, speaking very low. + +"What is it, brother?" I asked in as low a voice, for I had not +been a viking for naught. + +I saw his form darken the gray square of the doorway, and he came +in and swung to the door after him; then his hand sought my +shoulder, and I heard a clank of arms on the floor. + +"See here, Wulfric," he said, "you are in evil case; for all +Rorik's men and the men from outside are calling for your death; +they say that Rorik had no luck against you because the Asir are +angry, and that so it will be with all the host until you have paid +penalty." + +"What say you and our crew?" + +"Why, we had good luck with you on board, and hold that Rorik had +done somewhat which set Thor against him, for he got shipwrecked, +and now is killed. So we know that your ways do not matter to Thor +or Odin or any one of the Asir, who love a good fighter. But we +know not why you are so obstinate; still that is your business, not +ours." + +"What says Ingvar?" I asked. + +"Naught; but he is godar." + +"Aye," said I. "So I must die, that is all. What said Ragnar +Lodbrok about that?" + +And I spoke to him the brave words that his forefather sang as he +died, and which he loved: + +"Whether in weapon play +Under the war cloud, +Full in the face of Death +Fearless he fronts him, +Death is the bane of +The man who is bravest, +He loveth life best who +Furthest from danger lives. +Sooth is the saying that +Strongest the Norns are. +Lo! at my life's end +I laugh--and I die." + +"Nay, my brother," said Halfden earnestly; "think of me, and of +Osritha, and seem to bow at least." + +That word spoken by my friend was the hardest I ever had to bear, +for now I was drawn by the love that had been so newly given me. +And I put my hands before my face and thought, while he went on: + +"If I were asked to give up these gods of ours, who, as it seems to +me, pay mighty little heed to us--and I knew that good exchange was +offered me--well then--I should--" + +I ended that word for him. + +"You would do even as your father, and say that unless for better +reason than gain--aye, however longed for--you would not." + +"Aye--maybe I would, after all," he answered, and was silent. + +Then he said, "Guthrum and I spoke just now, and he said that your +faith must be worth more than he knew, to set you so fixedly on +it." + +Now I would have told him that it was so, but there came a little +sound at the door, and Halfden went and opened it. Across its half +darkness came a woman's form, and Osritha spoke in her soft voice. + +"Brother, are you here yet?" + +"Aye, sister, both of us--come and persuade this foolish Wulfric." + +Then I spoke quickly, for it seemed to me that if Osritha spoke and +urged me, I should surely give way. + +"Nay, but you must not persuade me--would you have had us +Christians bid your father choose between death and gain for the +sake of winning him to our faith?" + +Then said Halfden, "That would I not." + +But in the dark Osritha came to my side and clung to me, so that I +was between those two whom I loved and must lose, for Halfden held +my right hand, and Osritha my left, and she was weeping silently +for me. + +"Listen," I said, for the speaking must be mine lest they should +prevail. "Should I die willingly for one who has given His life for +me?" + +"Aye, surely--if that might be," said Halfden. + +"Now it comes into my mind that hereafter you will know that I do +not die for naught. For He whom I worship died for me. Nor may I +refuse to spend life in His honour." + +Then they were silent, until Osritha found her voice and said: + +"We knew not that. I will not be the one to hold you from what is +right." + +At that Halfden rose up, for he had found a seat of logs and sat by +me on it, sighing a long sigh, but saying: + +"Well, this is even as I thought, and I will not blame you, my +brother. Fain would I have kept you here, and sorely will Osritha +pine when you are gone. But you shall not die, else will the +justice of Ulfkytel come to naught." + +Then I heard again the clank of arms, and Halfden bent down, as I +might feel. + +"Can you arm yourself in the dark?" he said. + +"Why, surely! It is not for the first time," I answered. + +He thrust my mail shirt against me, and laid a sword in my hand, +and set my helm on my head, all awry because of the darkness. + +"Quickly," he said. + +Then a new hope that came to me made me clasp Osritha's hand and +kiss it before I must see to arming myself; but she clung to me +yet, and I kissed her gently, then turning away sorely troubled +went to work. + +Soon I was ready for Halfden's word, and Osritha buckled on my +sword for me, for she had felt and taken it. Halfden opened the +door and went out into the night, speaking low to one whom I could +not see; and so I bade farewell to her whom I loved so dearly, not +knowing if I should ever look on her again. + +But she bade me hope ever, for nor she nor I knew what the days to +come might bring us. + +"Ready," said Halfden; "follow me as if you were a courtman till we +come to the outer gate." + +Then with Osritha's handclasp still warm on mine I went out and +followed him, and she sought the maiden who waited beside the door, +and was gone. + +When we came to the great gates, they were shut. The sounds of +feasting went on in the hall, and the red light glared from the +high windows. Forgotten was all but revelling--and the guard who +kept the gate was Raud the forester, my friend. He opened the gates +a little, and we three slipped out and stood for a moment together. +The night was very dark, and the wind howled and sang through the +stockading, and none seemed to be about the place. + +There Halfden took my hand and bade me farewell very sadly. + +"This is the best I may do for you, my brother. Go with Raud to his +house, and thence he and Rolf and Thoralf your shield man, who all +love you, will take you even to Hedeby, where there are Christian +folk who will help you to the sea and find passage to England. And +fare you well, my brother, for the days we longed for in your land +will never be--" + +"Come in the ship to England, that so there may be good times even +yet," I said. + +"Aye, to England I shall surely come--not to seek you, but at +Ingvar's bidding. Yet to East Anglia for your sake I will not +come." + +Then he grasped my hand again in farewell, and he went inside the +gates and closed them, and Raud and I went quickly to his place. + +There we found those two other good friends of mine waiting, and +they told me that all was well prepared to save them from the wrath +of Ingvar, for they had been bidden to carry messages, and other +men of the crew who lived far off would do this for them, for I +feared for their lives also when the flight was known. + +Long was the way to Hedeby, where Ansgar the Bishop had built the +first church in all Denmark. But we won there at last and in +safety. And there Ansgar's folk received me well, and I parted from +my three comrades, not without grief, so that I asked them to take +service with us in England. Almost they consented, but Rolf and +Thoralf had wives and children, and Raud would by no means leave +his brother. + +Now in a few days, a company of merchants went from Hedeby with +goods for England, and with them I went; and in no long time I came +into Ingild's house by London Bridge, and was once more at home as +the second week in May began. + + + +CHAPTER XI. THE COMING OF INGVAR'S HOST. + + +Aught but joy did I look for in my homecoming, but it was all too +like that of Halfden, my friend. + +No need to say how my kind godfather met me as one come back from +the dead, nor how I sent gifts back to Ansgar's people, who sorely +needed help in those days. + +But very gently the old man told me that Elfric my father was dead, +passing suddenly but a month since, while by his side sat Ulfkytel +the Earl, blaming himself for his blindness and for his haste in +not waiting for the king's judgment, and yet bidding my father take +heart, for he had never known his ways of justice fail. And he +asked forgiveness also, for there had been a deadly feud concerning +this between him and my people, so that but for Eadmund the King +there would have been fighting. Yet when one told Ulfkytel that men +held that my father's heart broke at my loss, the great earl had +made haste to come and see him, and to say these things. So they +made peace at last. + +When I knew this it seemed to me that I had lost all, and for long +I cared for nothing, going about listless, so that Ingild feared +that I too should grow sick and die. But I was young and strong, +and this could not last, and at length I grew reconciled to things +as they were, and Ingild would speak with me of all that I had seen +in Denmark. + +Now when I told him what I feared of the coming of Ingvar's host he +grew grave, and asked many things about it. + +"Ethelred the King is at Reading," he said; "let us go and speak to +him of this matter." + +So we rode thither, and that ride through the pleasant Thames-side +country was good for me. And when we came to the great house where +the king lay, we had no trouble in finding the way to him, for +Ingild was well known, and one of the great Witan {xviii} also. + +I told Ethelred the king of England all that I had learned, and he +was troubled. Only we three were in his council chamber, and to us +he spoke freely. + +"What can I do? Much I fear that East Anglia must fight her own +battles at this time. Pressed am I on the west by Welsh and Dane, +and my Wessex men have their hands full with watching both. And it +is hard to get men of one kingdom to fight alongside those of +another, even yet. And this I know full well, that until a host +lands I can gather no levy, for our men will not wait for a foe +that may never come." + +I knew that his words were true, and could say nothing. Only I +thought that it had been better if we had held to our Mercian +overlords in Ecgberht's time than fight for this Wessex sovereign +who was far from us; for that unhealed feud with Mercia seemed to +leave us alone now. + +"Yet," said Ethelred, "these men are not such great chiefs, as it +seems. Maybe their threats will come to naught." + +But I told him of that great gathering at the sacrifice, and said +also that I thought that needs must those crowded folks seek riches +elsewhere than at home. Then he asked me many things of the corn +and cattle and richness of the land; and when I told him what I had +seen, he looked at me and Ingild. + +"Such things as crowding and poverty and hardness drove us from +that shore hither. I pray that the same be not coming on us that we +brought to the ancient people the Welsh, whose better land we took +and now hold." + +So we left him, and I could see that the matter lay heavily on his +mind. + +In a week thereafter I rode away homeward, and came first to +Framlingham, where Eadmund our own king was. Very glad was he to +see me safely home again. + +"Now am I, with good Ingild your other godfather, in Elfric's place +toward you," he said; "think of me never as a king, but as a +father, Wulfric, my son." + +And he bade me take my place as Thane of Reedham, confirming me in +all rights that had been my father's. With him, too, was the great +earl, and he begged my forgiveness for his doubt of me, though he +was proud that his strange manner of finding truth was justified. +Good friends were Ulfkytel and I after that, though he knew not +that in my mind was the thought of Osritha, to whom he had, as it +were, sent me. + +Now every day brought fear to me that Ingvar's host was on its way +overseas to fall on us. And this I told to Eadmund and the earl, +who could not but listen to me. Yet they said that the peace +between us and the Danes was sure, and that even did they come we +should be ready. When I pressed them indeed, they sent round word +to the sheriffs to be on the watch, and so were content. For our +king was ever a man of peace, hating the name of war and bloodshed, +and only happy in seeing to the welfare of his people, giving them +good laws, and keeping up the churches and religious houses so well +that there were none better to be found than ours in all England. + +This pleased me not altogether, for I knew now how well prepared +for war the Danes were, and I would fain have had our men trained +in arms as they. But my one voice prevailed not at all, and after a +while I went down to Reedham, and there bided with my mother and +Eadgyth, very lonely and sad at heart in the place where I had +looked for such happiness with my father and Lodbrok and Halfden at +first, and now of late, for a few days, with Osritha, and Halfden +in Lodbrok's place. + +For all this was past as a dream passes, and to me there seemed to +hang over the land the shadow of the terrible raven banner, which +Osritha had helped to work for Lodbrok and his host, in the days +before she dreamed that it might be borne against a land she had +cause to love. + +Ever as the days went by I would seek the shipmen who came to +Reedham on their way up the rivers, so that I might hear news from +the Danish shore, where Osritha was thinking of me, till at last I +heard from a Frisian that three kings had gathered a mighty host, +and were even now on their way to England. + +I asked the names of those three, and he told me, even as I had +feared, that they were called Ingvar and Hubba and Halfden; and so +I knew that the blow was falling, and that Ingvar had stirred up +other chiefs to join him, and so when the host gathered at some +great Thing, he and his brothers had been hailed kings over the +mighty following that should do their bidding in the old Danish +way. For a Danish king is king over men, and land that he shall +rule is not of necessity {xix}. + +Again I warned Eadmund, and again he sent his messages to Ulfkytel +the Earl and to the sheriffs, and for a few weeks the levies +watched along the shore of the Wash; and then as no ships came, +went home, grumbling, as is an East Anglian's wont, and saying that +they would not come out again for naught, either for king or earl. + +Now after that I spent many a long hour in riding northward along +the coast, watching for the sails of the fleet, and at other times +I would sit on our little watch tower gazing over the northern sea, +and fearing ever when the white wing of a gull flashed against the +skyline that they were there. And at last, as I sat dreaming and +watching, one bright day, my heart gave a great leap, for far off +to the northward were the sails of what were surely the first ships +of the fleet. + +I watched for a while, for it was ill giving a false alarm and +turning out our unwilling levies for naught, for each time they +came up it grew harder to keep them, and each time fewer came. In +an hour I knew that there were eight ships and no more, and that +they were heading south steadily, not as if intending to land in +the Wash, but as though they would pass on to other shores than +ours. And they were not Ingvar's fleet, for he alone had ten ships +in his ship garth. + +They were broad off the mouth of our haven presently, and maybe +eight miles away, when one suddenly left the rest and bore up for +shore--sailing wonderfully with the wind on her starboard bow as +only a viking's ship can sail--for a trading vessel can make no way +to windward save she has a strong tide with her. + +She came swiftly, and at last I knew my own ship again, and thought +that Halfden had come with news of peace, and maybe to take me to +sea with him, and so at last back to Osritha. And my heart beat +high with joy, for no other thought than that would come to me for +a while, and when she was but two miles off shore, I thought that I +would put out to meet and bring the ship into the haven; for he +knew not the sands, though indeed I had given him the course and +marks--well enough for a man like Thormod--when I was with him. And +there came over me a great longing to be once more on the +well-known deck with these rough comrades who had so well stood by +me. + +But suddenly she paid off from the wind, running free again to the +southward down the coast, and edging away to rejoin the other +ships. And as she did so her broad pennon was run up and dipped +thrice, as in salute; and so she passed behind the headlands of the +southern coast and was lost to my sight. + +I bided there in my place, downcast and wondering, until the +meaning of it all came to me; remembering Halfden's last words, +that he would not fall on East Anglia. Now he had shown me that his +promise was kept. He had left the fleet, and was taking his own way +with those who would follow him. + +Yet if he had eight ships, what would Ingvar's host be like? +Greater perhaps than any that had yet come to our land, and the +most cruel. For he would come, not for plunder only, but hating the +name of England, hating the name of Christian, and above all hating +the land where his father had been slain. + +I climbed down from the tower, and found my people talking of the +passing ships, and rejoicing that they had gone. Already had some +of them piled their goods in waggons ready for flight, and some +were armed. Then, as in duty bound, I sent men in haste to the earl +at Caistor to report this, telling him also that the great fleet of +which this was a part was surely by this token on its way. + +By evening word came back from him. He had sure news from Lynn that +the great fleet had gone into the Humber to join the host at York, +and that we need fear nothing. Men said that there were twenty +thousand men, and that there were many chiefs besides those that I +had named. This, he said, seemed over many to be possible, but it +did not concern us, for they were far away. + +Now, when I thought how the wind had held at any quarter rather +than north or east for long weeks, it seemed to me likely that it +was this only that had kept them from us, and that the going into +Humber was no part of Ingvar's plan, but done as of necessity. For +to bring over so mighty a host he must have swept up every vessel +of all kinds for many a score miles along the shores. And they +would be heavy laden with men, so that he must needs make the first +port possible. Yet for a time we should be left in quiet. + +Now I must say how things went at home, for my sister's wedding +with Egfrid had been put off first by the doubt of my own fate, and +then by the mourning for my father's death. Yet the joy of my +return had brought fresh plans for it, and now the new house at +Hoxne was nearly ready; so that both Egfrid and his folk were +anxious that there should be no more delay. + +I, too, when the coming of the Danes seemed a thing that might be +any day, thought it well that Eadgyth should rather be inland at +Hoxne, whence flight southward could be made in good time, than at +Reedham, where the first landing might well be looked for. But when +the fear passed for a while by reason of the news from Northumbria, +the time was fixed for the end of November, just before the Advent +season, and not earlier, because of the time of mourning. + +So the summer wore through slowly to me, for I was sad at heart, +having lost so much. And ever from beyond the Wash and from Mercia +came news of Ingvar's host. The Northumbrian king was slain, and a +Dane set in his place; and Burhred of Mercia bowed to the Danes, +and owned them for lords; and at last Ethelred of Wessex came to +himself and sent levies to meet the host, but too late, for Mercia +was lost to him. Yet Eadmund our king, and even Ulfkytel, deemed +that we were safe as ever behind our fenland barrier, fearing +naught so long as no landing was made from across the Wash. + +Yet when November came in, and at Egfrid's house all was bustle and +preparation, we heard that Bardney was burnt, and Swineshead, and +then Medehamstede {xx}. And the peril was close on us, and but +just across our border. + +"No matter," said men to one another. "It will be a hard thing for +Danes to cross the great fens to come hither. They will turn aside +into Mercia's very heart, and then the Wessex folk will rise." + +But I feared, and two days before the wedding went to Harleston, +where the king was, and urged him to have forces along the great +wall we call Woden's Dyke even yet. + +"Let us see your wedding first, Wulfric," he said. "Eadgyth would +be sorely grieved if I were not there." + +For he lay at Harleston to be near at hand, as the wedding was to +be from the house of Egfrid's father, because Reedham seemed as yet +a house of sorrow. And I was glad when the Thane asked that it +should take place at Hoxne, and it was safer also. + +Surely never moved host so swiftly as Ingvar's, for even as I went, +heavily enough, from Eadmund's presence, a man spurred into the +town saying that Earl Ulfkytel faced the Danes with a fair levy +gathered in haste, between us and Wisbech. They had crossed the +fens where no man dreamed that they might come, and were upon us as +if from the skies. + +Now Eadmund made no more delay, but all that night went forth the +summons of the war arrow, and the men mustered in force at last in +Thetford town, and I spurred back to Hoxne and found the thane, and +spoke to him. + +"Let the wedding go on," I said, "for the Danes are yet far, and +must pass the earl and us also before they come hither. Now must I +be with the king, but if I may, and Ulfkytel holds them back, I +shall be at the wedding. And if it must be, I will warn you to fly, +and so let Egfrid take his bride and my mother and his own folk +southward to Colchester or London." + +That, he thought, was well, and no word of fear or haste hindered +the wedding gathering. Only some of the great thanes who should +have been there were with the king or earl, and it seemed that the +number of guests would be small. + +I rode to Thetford, bidding Eadgyth look for me on the morrow in +good time, and saying that the king would surely come also. But +when I came to the town I knew that neither he nor I should be at +Hoxne, for the Danes had scattered the levy, and Ulfkytel the great +earl was slain, and with him many another friend of mine. And the +men said that the Danes were marching swiftly onward, ever nearing +Thetford, and burning and wasting all in their track. + +We marched out of the town to meet them, for we had a good force +behind us, and the men were confident of victory with the king +himself to lead them. And he was cheerful also, and said to me, as +I armed him: + +"I would not have you leave the wedding; howbeit, if we beat back +the Danes, which is a matter in the hands of the Lord of Hosts, +both you and I will be there in time tomorrow." + +Our mounted men met the Danes that evening--the night before +Eadgyth's wedding day--and we slept in our armour on Thetford heath +waiting for them. And in the early morning our outposts were driven +back on us, and the Danes were close on their heels. + +Now Eadmund told me that I should not stand by him today, for so +soon as the battle was over I must go to Hoxne, either with news of +victory, or to bid them fly, and he would not keep me. + +"I will not leave the place that is mine by right," I said. + +"Not so," he answered; "I would bid you stand out of the battle for +sweet Eadgyth's sake, but that I know you would not obey me." + +And he smiled at me as he went on the great white horse he always +rode, to draw up the men. + +They cheered when he spoke to them, and I thought that they would +fight well. Aye, and so they did, in their fierce untrained way. +Many a long day it was since we of East Anglia stood in battle +array, and the last time was against our own kin, save that now and +again the men of some shoreward places would rise to beat off a +Danish or Norse ship. + +Now were the foes in sight, and they ranged up in close order when +they saw we were ready. More than half their force was mounted, for +the Lindsey uplands and marshes had given them horses enough of the +best in England. And this was terrible, that over the host wheeled +erne and raven and kite, as knowing to what feast the flapping of +yon Raven banner called them. + +Foremost of all rode a mighty chief on a black horse, and I saw +that it was Ingvar himself, the king of the Danish host. Well I +knew the armour, for it was that which he had worn at the great +sacrifice, though now it shone no longer, but was dulled with the +stains of many a hard fight. Now, too, round his helm ran the gold +circlet of the king. + +"Know you yon great man?" asked Eadmund of me; for I would not +leave him, but stood before him in my place. + +"It is Ingvar the king," I answered; "he who was Jarl Ingvar." + +"Speak to him, and ask him to leave the land in peace," he said. + +Now I thought that was of little use, but I would do the king's +bidding, and asked what I should say. + +"Offer him ransom, if you will," Eadmund answered. + +So I went forward, and stood at a bowshot's length from our people, +leaning on the axe that Lodbrok had made me, and there waited till +the Danes came on. And presently Ingvar saw me, and knowing that I +was one who would speak with the leader, rode up, looking curiously +at me as he came. + +"Skoal to Jarl Ingvar!" I said when he was close. + +He reined up his horse in surprise, lifting his hand. + +"Odin! It is Wulfric!" he said. "Now, skoal to you, Wulfric! But I +would that you were not here." + +"How is that, Jarl?" I asked; but I had ever heard that the jarl +was in high good humour before a fight. + +"I would not fight with you, for you have been our guest. And many +a man have I questioned since yesterday, and all men say that you +were my father's friend. It was a true story that you told me." + +"You believed it rightly, Jarl." + +"Aye--and therefore I will not fight with you." + +Then I asked him to leave the land in peace, and his face darkened. + +"I speak of yourself alone," he said, "as for land and king and +people--that is a different matter." + +"You have had your revenge," I said. + +"What?" he asked fiercely. "Is the life of Lodbrok, my father, +worth but the death of a hound like Beorn? Stand aside, Wulfric, +and let me have my revenge in full." + +Now, seeing that our talk was earnest, there rode up another Danish +chief, and it was Guthrum, the man who had seemed to take my part +at the idol feast. I was glad to see him come at this moment. + +"Here is Halfden's friend," said Ingvar to him, "and he, forsooth, +would have us go in peace." + +And the Danish king laughed harshly. + +"Why, so we will, if they make it worth our while," said Guthrum, +nodding to me. + +"What ransom will you take from us?" I asked them. + +"The keeping of Eadmund, your king," answered Ingvar; "nothing more +nor less." + +"It seems to me that you will have to fight before you take him," I +said plainly; for no man in all the Anglian ranks would have +listened to that. + +"That is too much," said Guthrum. "Tell him to own you as overlord +and pay scatt {xxi} to us, holding the kingdom from you, and +that will save fighting--and surely the whole land will be weregild +enough for Jarl Lodbrok." + +Then Ingvar thought for a moment, and said to me, still frowning: + +"Go and tell your king those terms, and bring word again." + +So I went back and told Eadmund, knowing full well what his answer +would be. And it was as I thought. + +"Go and tell this Ingvar that I will not give my land into the +hands of the heathen, or own them as lords." + +Now what I told Ingvar and Guthrum was this only, knowing that to +give the full message was to enrage Ingvar: + +"Eadmund refuses." + +"Your king is a wise man," said Guthrum, "for who knows how a fight +will go?" + +Ingvar reined round his horse to go to his own men, and he and +Guthrum left me standing there. I was turning away also, when the +hoof beats of one horse stayed, and Ingvar called me in the voice +he would use when most friendly with me. + +"Wulfric," he said, "glad was I to find you gone, for I should +surely have had to slay you before the shrine; but Thor is far off +now, and I have forgotten that, and only do I remember that good +comrade to us all you have been in hall and forest. And ere I +sailed--one whom you know--that one who stayed my hand from +Beorn--made me promise--aye, and swear by my sword--that you at +least I would not harm. And I will not. Stand aside from this +fight." + +Now, had I not known the great love and reverence in which those +three wild brothers held Osritha, I should have been amazed at +these words from Ingvar; but there is somewhat of good to be found +in every man. + +Then I answered: + +"I must fight for my land, Ingvar, but I also would fain not fight +against yourself. Where stand you in your line?" + +"On the right," he said; "Guthrum is on the left." + +"Where is Hubba?" I asked, wondering. + +"He is not far from us. He will come when I need his help." + +"Then we need not meet," I said; "I am in the centre." + +Now we both returned to our places, and again Eadmund, after I had +told him that we must fight, asked me to stand out. + +"For," said he, "you are in her father's place to Eadgyth." + +"Until after the wedding, my king," I said; "but you are in my +father's place to me always. Should I have left him?" + +So I said no more, but stood in my place before him, for I loved +him now best of all men in the world since my father was gone, and +it seemed well to me to die beside him if die he must. + +Now our king gave the word, crying, "Forward, Christian men!" and +we shouted and charged with a good will on the Danes, and the +battle began. Hard fighting it was on both sides, but our men in +their want of order jostled and hindered one another, so that I saw +more than one struck down by mischance by his own comrades. But the +Danes kept their even line, bent round into half a circle so that +we could not outflank them, and our numbers were nearly equal. + +Men have said that I did well in that fight, but so did we all, +each in his way. All I know of my own deeds is that I kept my own +life, and that once a ring of men stood before me out of reach of +my axe, not one seeming to care to be first within its swing. And +ever Eadmund's clear voice cheered on his men from behind me. + +So the battle went on from the first daylight for an hour's space, +and then the steadfastness of the Danish line began to strike +terror into our men, and the Danish horsemen charged on our flanks +and broke us up; and then all at once a panic fell on our levies, +and they wavered, and at once the horsemen were among them +everywhere, and the field was lost to us. Before I knew what had +befallen I was hurried away in a dense throng of our men, who swept +me from before the king, and I was soon in Thetford streets, where +I thought that surely we should have rallied, for there is no +stronger town or better walled in all East Anglia. + +In the marketplace sat Eadmund on his white horse, unhelmed that +the men might know him yet living, for in the flight word had gone +round that he had fallen, and now the men seemed to be taking heart +and gathering round him. + +But even as I reached him, a fresh throng of flying men came down +the street from the gate next the Danes, and after them came a +score of the terrible horsemen, driving a hundred like sheep before +them. At that sight the few who were gathering fled also, leaving +the king and myself and four other thanes alone. I was the only one +on foot. + +Then one of those thanes grasped the bridle of the king's horse and +led him away, crying: + +"Come, for our sakes; needs must fly. Let us go to Framlingham." + +So they rode, against the king's will as one might see, from the +place, and went away towards the southern gate of the town. And +seeing that the Danes were in the town I knew that all was lost, +and that here I might stay no longer if Eadgyth was to be saved. + +I ran to where I had left my horse, and mounted and fled also, +following the king, for that gate led to the road along the south +bank of the river. I knew not if he had crossed the bridge or no, +but over the river was my way, and I had my own work to be done, +and some twenty miles to be covered as quickly as might be. Glad +was I that I had chosen to fight on foot that day, for my horse was +fresh. + +Terrible it was to see the panic in the town as the poor folk knew +that the Danes were on them. They filled the road down which I must +go, thronging in wild terror to the gates, and I will not remember +the faces of that crowd, for they were too piteous. + +Glad I was to be free from them at last, and upon the road where I +could ride freely, for as they left the town they took to the woods +and riverside swamps, and save for a few horsemen flying like +myself, the road was soon clear. Then, too, these horsemen struck +away from the road one by one, and at last I rode on alone. + +Now my one thought was for those at Hoxne, and to urge them to +instant flight, and I thought that even now Humbert the Bishop +would be in the little church, waiting for the bride to come. + +Then I would hasten the more, for to reach the church from Egfrid's +father's house the river Dove must be crossed; and I would keep +them from returning to this side if I could be in time, for we +might break down the timber-built bridge and so delay the crossing +of the Danes. Yet they might be for days in Thetford before they +began to raid in the country. + +Swiftly I rode on, for my horse was a good one and fresh, and at +last, after many miles were passed, I came to a place where I could +see a long stretch of road before me. There rode the king on his +white horse, and with him those four thanes. I could not mistake +that party, and I thought I knew where they were going. The king +would warn my people himself, and so take refuge beyond Hoxne, on +the other side of the river, at South Elmham, with Bishop Humbert. + +I rode after, but I gained little on them; nor did I care much, for +the king would do all that I might. In a few minutes more I should +know if he crossed Hoxne bridge, and if he did so they were safe. + +I lost sight of the party as they came into a wood, and there my +horse stumbled. He had lost a shoe. That was little to me now, but +it kept me back; and now I heard the quick gallop of horses behind +me, and looked to see who came, for I thought that more fugitives +followed, most likely. I had heard the sound coming on the wind +more than once before as I rode on the wayside grass. + +They were Danes. Twelve of them there were, and foremost of all +rode Ingvar on his black horse. Well for the king that they had no +change of steeds, but had ridden hotfoot after him from the +battlefield. Now their horses were failing them, but they would +take me, and delay would give the king another chance; and I was +half-minded to stay and fight. Then I thought of Hoxne, and I put +spurs to my horse and rode on again. + +Now I came in sight of Hoxne bridge, and half feared that I should +see the bridal train passing over; but many men were even now +leaving the bridge, going towards the church, and I knew that they +were there. But of Eadmund and his thanes I saw nothing--only a +lame white horse, that I thought like his, grazed quietly in a +field by the roadside, so that for a moment my eyes went to it, +thinking to see king and thanes there. + +Ingvar was not a mile behind me, and I spurred on. And now I won to +the turning that leads to the thane's house whence the company had +passed, and a few villagers stood at the road corner. Them I asked +how long it was since the bride had gone, and they stared at me in +stupid wonder, making no answer. Then I bade them fly, for the +Danes were coming; and at that they laughed, looking at one another +slyly, proud of their own fancied wisdom. So I left them and rode +on. + +Even as I came to the hill down to the bridge my horse stumbled and +almost fell, and when I gathered him up, not losing my seat, I knew +he was beaten. And now I halted for good, unslinging my axe, and +waiting to fight and hinder the Danes from going further, as yet. +It was all I could do. + +Hand over hand they came up to me, and now Hoxne bells rang out in +merry peals as the bride and bridegroom left the church. The +service was over, and unless our king had warned them, they would +be coming back over the bridge in a few minutes. Yet, if he had +warned them, surely the bells had not pealed out thus. + +Now I heard the music play from across the water, and I heard the +shouts of the people--and all the while the hoofs of Ingvar's +horses thundered nearer and nearer. Then they came over the little +rise in the road and were on me with levelled spears. + +I got my horse between them and me, across the narrow roadway, and +hove up my axe and waited. But when Ingvar saw who I was, he held +up his hand, and his men threw up their spear points and halted, +thinking perhaps that I was the king. + +"Where is the king?" shouted Ingvar. + +I saw that their horses were done, and not knowing which way the +king had gone answered truly. + +"I know not. The road forks, and that is as far as I know." + +Then Ingvar swore a great oath. + +"You know not which way he went?" + +"I do not," I said. + +"Catch a thrall and ask him," he said to his men. + +And those silly folk were yet standing at the corner, maybe +thinking us belated wedding guests, and the men took one, dragging +him to their chief. But the man said that he had seen no horsemen +pass. Truly he had heard some, but all men were at the house door +waiting for the bride to come forth, and paid no heed. + +So the king had passed by before the procession set out, and I knew +not what to think. + +"What bride?" said Ingvar. + +And the music answered him, coming nearer and nearer, and now they +were crossing Hoxne bridge--a bright little array of wedding +guests, and in the midst I could see those two, Egfrid and Eadgyth, +and after came a crowd of village folk. + +"See yonder," said a Dane, pointing. "By Baldur, here is a wedding! +Gold and jewels to be had for the taking!" + +But my horse was across the road, and my axe was in the way, and I +cried to Ingvar as the men began to handle their weapons. + +"Mercy, Jarl Ingvar! This is my sister's wedding--that Eadgyth of +whom your own sister would ever ask so much." + +"Hold!" roared the chief, and his men stayed, wondering. "An you +touch so much as a hair of any in that company--the man who +touches, I will slay!" he said, and the men stared at him. + +"Yon is the bridal of Reedham folk," he said, "and the bride is she +who befriended Lodbrok. They shall not be hurt." + +For he must needs justify himself, and give reason for withholding +plunder from Danes as free as himself. + +"Aye, King, that is right," they said on hearing that, and Ingvar +turned to me. + +"For Osritha's sake, lest I should harm you in aught," he said. +"Now ask me no more. Let us meet them in peace." + +Now I knew that my folk were safe for this time at least, and my +heart was light, and so leaving my horse I walked beside the king, +as his men called him, until we met the first of the company on +this side of the bridge. + +Then was a little confusion, and they stopped, not knowing what +this war-stained troop might betoken. And I saw that no word had +come of the great defeat as yet. + +I went forward, calling to Egfrid and the thane his father, and +looking at them so that they should show no fear or give any sign +to the ladies present that all was not well. + +"This is Jarl Ingvar himself, and these are his men," I said. "And +the jarl would fain speak with Eadgyth my sister, of whom he has +often heard." + +And Egfrid, being very brave, although he must have seen well +enough what this meant, kept his face well, and answered that Jarl +Ingvar was welcome, coming in peace. + +"Aye--in peace just now," answered Ingvar, looking at him. "Now, I +will say this, that Wulfric's sister has found a brave husband." + +Now Eadgyth heard the jarl's name, and knew naught of the terror +that that name brought to all the land, and least of all that a +battle could have been fought, for we had kept it from her. Nor had +I told her of how nearly he had been to slaying me, for I would not +make Osritha's brothers terrible to her. So she thought of him only +as Lodbrok our friend's son, who had shown me hospitality in his +own hall. + +So when Egfrid took her hand and brought her forward, looking as I +thought most beautiful in her bridal array, she smiled on the great +Dane frankly, as in thanks for my sake. + +Then Ingvar unhelmed, and spoke to her in courtly wise, even as he +was wont to speak to Osritha. + +"When I go back to my own land, lady, I shall have many questions +asked me by one of whom you have doubtless heard, as to how our +friend's sister was arrayed for her wedding. And that I shall not +be able to say--but this I know, that I may tell Osritha that +Wulfric's sister was worthy of Wulfric." + +Now Eadgyth noted not the war stains on Ingvar's mail, but it was +strange and terrible to me to see him sitting there and speaking as +though the things of a stricken field were not the last, as it +were, on which he had looked. But Eadgyth's eyes were downcast, +though she was pleased. + +"Thanks, Jarl Ingvar," she said; "often have I heard of Osritha. +When you return I would have you thank her for her care of my +brother--and I would thank you also, Jarl, for your care of him." + +Now Ingvar reddened a little, but not with anger, for he saw that I +had spoken at least no ill of him to Eadgyth. + +"Nay, lady," he answered; "Halfden and Hubba and Osritha have to be +thanked--if any thanks need be to us for caring for Jarl Lodbrok's +preserver. Little share may I take of the matter." + +"Yet I will thank all in your place," she said, and then shrank +back to Egfrid's side. + +Never had I seen a more handsome couple. + +Then Ingvar laid his hand on a great golden snake that twined round +his right arm, and I thought he was going to give it as a bridal +gift to my sister, for that is ever a viking's way, to give +lavishly at times when he might have taken, if the mood seizes him. +But as he glanced at the gold he saw blood specks thereon, and I +heard him mutter: + +"No, by Freya, that were ill-omened." + +And he did but seem to put it in place, as if thinking. Then he +replaced his helm, bowing, and said: + +"Now must I stay your rejoicing no longer. Fare you well, lady, and +you, noble Egfrid; I must ride back to Thetford town on my own +affairs. Yet I leave you Wulfric. Will you remember hereafter that +you spoke with Ingvar the king, and that he was your friend?" + +"Aye, surely," answered they both at once. + +Then once more the music played, and the little train went on and +up the hill, and Ingvar and I stood together for a while looking +after them. + +"I thank you, King," I said. + +"Aye, Wulfric; and maybe you and yours are the only ones who will +say that word to me in all this land. Now take my rede, and do you +and your folk begone as soon as maybe, for even I cannot hold back +men who are not from our own place." + +Then I parted from him, going after my people, and thinking that +all was well for us, and that surely our king was safe, until I +came to where my horse still stood. There over the lane hedge +looked that lame white horse that I had seen, speaking as it were +in his own way to mine. And when I saw him thus near, it was indeed +the king's, and a great fear that he was not far off took hold of +me. + + + +CHAPTER XII. IN HOXNE WOODS. + + +Many of the village folk loitered on the bridge and in the lanes, +looking curiously at the Danes, and talking of the wedding and the +like. And some of these I saw Ingvar's men questioning, and very +soon a knot of them gathered round one man, and there was some loud +talking. + +Then I would have hastened back, but Ingvar saw me, and waved +sternly to me to depart, and slowly enough I went on my way. But I +could not forbear looking back when I reached the road to the +house. + +Only Ingvar was now on horseback, and the men seemed to be swarming +over the bridge railings, and climbing under it among the timbers. + +Then were shouts, and the village churls began to run every way, +and one or two came up the hill towards me. + +"What is it?" I asked. + +"Oh, master," the first man cried, "when the bridal folk went over +the bridge on the way to the church, one man looked over into the +water, and cried that he saw somewhat sparkle therein like gold, +and others looked, and some saw naught, but others said that they +saw in the water as it were the image of golden spurs. And the +Danes asked us if we saw the king; but we had not. Only one man +laughing, in his fear as I think, said that the nearest thing to a +crown that he had seen was the glint of golden spurs shining from +the water yonder. Then looked the Danes--and now--oh master!" + +The man grew white, pointed, and fled. + +Haled and pushed and buffeted by the hands of the Danes, a man was +dragged over the rail of the bridge from the network of cross +timbers among which he had hidden, and I saw that the armour was +that of Eadmund the King. + +There, in that seemingly secure place, his thanes must have made +him hide when his horse fell lame, for doubtless he would not +hinder them in their flight, but would have taken sanctuary in the +church. From some point in the road they must have seen their +pursuers before I cared to look behind me to see who followed, for +there was no mistaking the red cloaks that the Danes of the king's +courtmen always wear. + +This I thought at the time, and long afterwards learnt from one of +those thanes that I was right. And it was their doing, not his, for +the king would have gone to the church and there warned my people. +But as it chanced there were no men in sight when the king hid, for +all were gathered to the thane's house. And I asked that thane if +they sent no warning message--and he said they had done so by a +certain churl whom they met. But our folk never had it. + +Now I knew not what to do, being torn with grief and fear. I dared +not cross Ingvar again, lest I should change his mood, mild enough +now, to some wild fit of rage, for I had not bided so long in his +hall without learning that much of his ways. I stayed till I knew +for certain that they had not harmed the king, and so saw him +bound, and mounted behind one of the courtmen; and then when I saw +them begin to come towards me, I went to the thane's house and told +him all, calling him out from the feast. + +"Let us mount and rescue the king," I said. + +"Then will they kill him--better not. They will but hold him to +ransom," the thane said. + +I knew his first word was right, and now I left that and urged him +to hasten the flight of all the party, bidding him take the road +towards the south, ever away from the Danes. + +"What will you do?" he asked, for I spoke not of coming with him. + +"This," I answered. "I will pledge Ingild's word, as I know I may, +for any ransom, going after the Danes and finding Guthrum, who will +listen to me." + +He thought that well, and then I asked where Humbert the Bishop +was. He had gone back to South Elmham at once, and would be far on +his road by this time, the thane said. + +Then I went out and took a fresh horse from the stables and rode +away into the great road. And when I came there, I saw with others +the man who told me how the king's hiding place was found. + +"How long have the Danes been gone?" I asked. + +"Master," he answered, "they have gone back over the bridge, some +of them riding forward towards Hoxne." + +At that I knew that some plan of Ingvar's was that his men after +victory should cross the river at Thetford, and so perhaps strike +at Framlingham where the king's household was. But all along the +march of the Danish host had been unresting, so that men had no +time to prepare for their coming, or even to know what point they +would reach next. + +Then I sent by this man urgent messages to the thane that they +should fly coastwards, crossing the river Waveney, perhaps, so as +not to fall into the hands of the host at the first starting, for +Ingvar's horsemen would be everywhere south of this and Thetford. + +I rode fast over the bridge, for I feared for Humbert our good +bishop, and when I came near the church the bells jangled, all +unlike the wedding peals that I had heard so lately. + +They had found a few late flowers, violets and marigolds and +daisies and the like, and had strewn them before the bride as she +left the church; and they lay there yet with bright hedgerow leaves +to eke them out--but across the path, too, lay the dead body of a +poor churl, dressed in his holiday gear, slain by a spear thrust, +and the church was burning. Now the men who jangled the bells for +help came down in haste, terrified as the fire took hold of the +roof, for the church was all of wood and very old. + +When they saw me they ran, thinking me yet another of their foes; +but I rode after one and caught him, for he would by no means stay +for calling, and I asked him what had happened, and where the +bishop was. + +"Alas, master," the man said, "they have slain my brother and fired +the church, and now have ridden after the bishop. They slew my +brother because he would not say by which road he had gone; and +another told them, being in fear for his life--and our king is +taken." + +"Did they take the king by the road to South Elmham?" + +"Four rode after the bishop with the great man on the black horse +who was the leader. The rest went with the king up the track +through Hoxne woods, but slowly." + +Had I but one or two more with me surely now I should have followed +up the king and tried to rescue him. But I think it would have been +vain, for Ingvar's men would have slain him rather than lose him. +But most of all I wondered at the boldness of these few men, who, +with their leader, dared venture so far from their forces. Well did +they know, however, how complete is the rout of a Saxon levy; and I +too might have guessed it, since I had fled alone after the first +five miles, while all those who had left the town with me scattered +all ways. + +Now the church was blazing from end to end, and one or two more men +had gathered to me, seeing who I was. + +"Take up yon body," I said, "and cast it into the church. So shall +his ashes lie in holy ground at least. For you and yours must even +take to the woods for a while. The Danes will be here." + +That I think they did, for they were lifting the body as I went +away and rode along the way that the bishop had taken, meaning at +least to meet Ingvar, for I feared lest the men who had the king +should slay him if they were followed. + +Hardly a mile had I gone when Ingvar and his men came riding slowly +back. Their beaten horses could do no more, and they had left +following the bishop. Ingvar's face was black as night, and as he +came he roared at me: "You here again! Now this passes all. Did I +not bid you stand aside and hinder me not?" + +"Aye, King," I answered, coldly enough. "But I cross you not. I +have ransom to offer for the king." + +"I will have no ransom," he said, very savagely. + +"Nevertheless," I said quietly, knowing that his word was not the +only one to be spoken on that matter, "let me tell you of it, that +you may tell the other chiefs." + +"I am the king," he answered, glaring at me. + +"Then, King, hear my words, and give them to those under you." + +"Speak to this man," he said, pointing to one of the courtmen; for +they heard all I said, and he could not refuse to listen altogether +to what concerned his fellow chiefs. Then he rode past me, and the +men, save that one of whom he spoke, followed him. + +Now I was angry as he, but kept that to myself, and waited till he +was out of hearing before I looked at the man who waited. And when +I did so, the man grinned at me, saying: + +"Truly it is like old times to see you stand up thus to the +jarl--king, I mean. There is not a man in our host dare do it." + +And lo! it was my friend Raud the forester. His beard was gone, and +he had a great half-healed scar across his jaw, so that I had not +known him even had I noticed any but Ingvar. + +Then I was glad, for here was one whom I could trust, even if his +help was of little use. + +"Glad am I to see you, Raud my friend, though it must be in this +way. Why is the jarl so angry?" + +"Why, because the bishop has escaped us. We never saw so much as +his horse's tail. And if he be like the bishop we saw at Hedeby, I +am glad." + +"Surely he is," I said. "But now I have come to offer ransom for +the king, and you must tell Guthrum and the other chiefs that it +would be paid very quickly if they will take it." + +At that Raud shook his head. + +"I will tell them, but it is of little use. There has been talk of +it before, but when we came into East Anglia Ingvar claimed the +king for himself, giving up all else." + +"Why?" I asked. + +"Because when he made Beorn speak, Beorn said that Eadmund the King +had set him on to slay Lodbrok. I heard the man confess it." + +"But he left that story, telling the truth about himself," I said. + +"Aye, so he did. But the tale has stuck in Ingvar's mind, and +naught will he hear but that he will have revenge on him." + +"What will he do?" I said, looking after the Danish king, who went, +never turning in his saddle, with bowed shoulders as one who +ponders somewhat. + +"How should I know?" answered Raud, carelessly. "Let us go on. +Maybe if you come with me we shall hear them speak together." + +"Raud," I said, "if harm is done to the king, I shall surely fall +on some of you--and Ingvar first of all." + +"Not on me with axe, I pray you," he answered laughing, and +twisting his head on one side. "I mind me of Rorik." + +"Let us be going," I said, for I could not jest. + +So we trotted after the party, and when we were near, Raud left me +and went to Ingvar's side, speaking to him of what I had said. Then +the jarl turned round to me, speaking quietly enough, but in a +strange voice. + +"Come with me and we will speak of this matter to Eadmund himself. +Then will the business be settled at once." + +That was all I would wish, and being willing to speak yet more with +Raud, I said I would follow. He turned again, and looked no more at +me. + +Then I asked Raud of his brother, and of Thoralf, my other +companion of flight. They were both slain, one at Gainsborough and +one at Medehamstede. Thormod was with Halfden in Wessex, where they +had made a landing to keep Ethelred, our Wessex overlord, from +sending to our help. But as to Halfden, men said that he would not +come to East Anglia, for the Lady Osritha had over persuaded him. + +Then, though I would not ask in any downright way, I found that +Osritha was well, but grieving, as they thought, for the danger of +her brothers--and of that I had my own thoughts. + +So with talk of the days that seemed so long past, we went on into +Hoxne woods, through which Raud said that he had learnt we must go +to meet the host in its onward march from Thetford. + +"Jarl Ingvar lets not the grass grow under his feet," I said. + +We came to a place where the woodland track broadened out into a +clearing, and there waited the other Danes, and with them, sitting +alone now on the horse, was Eadmund the King. + +Pale he was, and all soiled with the stains of war, and with the +moss and greenery of his strange hiding place; but his eye was +bright and fearless, and he sat upright and stately though he was +yet with his hands bound behind him. + +I rode past Ingvar and to Eadmund's side, and throwing myself from +my horse stood by him, while the Dane glared at us both without +speaking. + +"Why run thus into danger, Wulfric my son?" said the king, speaking +gently; "better have let me be the only victim." + +"That you shall not be, my king," I answered; "for if you must die, +I will be with you. But I have come to try to ransom you." + +"There are two words concerning that," said Ingvar in his cold +voice. "Maybe I will take no gold for Eadmund." + +"What shall we give you then?" I asked, looking earnestly at him. + +"You heard what I said this morning before the battle. I have no +other terms but those. And I think they are light--as from the son +of Lodbrok whom this king's servant slew." + +Now Eadmund spoke, saying to Ingvar: + +"Let me hear what are your terms for my freedom. In the slaying of +Lodbrok my friend I had no part." + +"That is easily said," Ingvar answered, frowning. "I have my own +thoughts on that--else had I not been here. But this land is in my +power, therefore I will let you go if you will hold it for me, and +own me as overlord, doing my will." + +"My answer is the same as it was this morning. It is not for me to +give over this land into the hands of heathen men to save myself." + +That was Eadmund's calm answer, and looking on Ingvar I saw the +same bode written in his face as had been when I would not honour +his gods. Then he spoke slowly, and his words fell like ice from +his lips. + +"It seems to me that this land is in the hands of us heathen +without your giving." + +"So that may be, for the time," answered Eadmund; "but your time of +power has an end." + +"Has it so?" said Ingvar, and his eyes flashed. "Where is your help +to come from? Do you look to Ethelred?--He is busy in Wessex with +more of us heathen. Where is Mercia?--It is ours. Will Kent help +you?" + +"Our help is in the name of the Lord, who hath made heaven and +earth," answered Eadmund, lifting his eyes heavenwards so +earnestly, that in spite of himself the wild heathen king followed +their upward gaze for a moment. + +It was but for a moment, and that weakness, as he would deem it, +was the spark to light Ingvar's wrath, that as yet he had kept +under. + +"Hammer of Thor!" he shouted, "you dare throw that in my face! Now +will I show you if heathen or Christian is stronger." + +Then with his face white with rage he turned to his men: "Bind him +to yon tree, and we will speak with him again!" + +Now if it is well that I did not die with my king, it was well at +that moment for me that my axe hung at my saddle bow, and that my +horse--to which I had paid no heed in my troubles--had wandered a +little way, for I should surely have fought to prevent this +dishonour being wrought. And I sprung to reach the axe, for the +short sword I wore was of no use against so many. But Raud was +close on me, and he dropped from his saddle on my shoulders as I +passed him, so that I fell, half stunned under him, and one of the +other men ran up, and ere they had stripped and bound the king to a +tree, I was bound hand and foot, and rolled by Raud into a thicket +where I might escape Ingvar's eye. And, indeed, he paid no heed to +me, but watched the king. + +So must I lie there with my heart like to break, seeing all that +went on, and I will tell it as best I may. + +Ingvar strode to the young oak tree to which they had bound the +king and looked fixedly at him. Then he said, "Scourge this man," +and his men did so. But the king made no sign by word or motion. I +saw Ingvar's rage growing, and he cried as his men forbore, +shrinking a little from their quiet victim: + +"Ask for mercy, Christian, at the hands of Ingvar the godar, the +priest of Odin and Thor, and you shall go free." + +But the king met his gaze sadly and firmly, answering: + +"That were to own that you have power over me through your false +gods." + +"Power I have," said Ingvar; "ask for mercy." + +Thereat the king answered no word, though his lips moved, and I +alone knew what his words might be, for though his hands were bound +he moved his noble head in such wise as to make the sign of the +Cross. And I think that he spoke to himself the prayer of +forgiveness that he had learnt therefrom. + +Almost then had the Dane smitten him in the face, but to this +cowardice Ingvar the king had not yet fallen. He drew back a few +paces, and took his long dagger from his belt, and at that I +thought that he was going to slay the king, and I closed my eyes, +praying. But he spoke again. + +"Ask for peace on the same terms for your people, if you will not +for yourself." + +Then the king grew pale, but he set his lips close, still gazing at +Ingvar. Hard was this for him who loved his people so well. + +The Dane's dagger flashed, and he hurled it at Eadmund, but so +skilfully that it did but graze his head, sticking firmly into the +tree trunk. And he cried in a voice that shook with rage: + +"Answer me!" + +But the king held his peace, closing his eyes, and waiting for what +might come, most bravely. + +Then Ingvar turned to his men, and bade them unsling their bows and +see if they could make this man find his tongue. Seven of them went +to work with a good will, but Raud and the others would not, but +turned away. + +The men shot, and in many places the king was pierced, and lo! he +lifted up his voice and sang gloriously, even as if in the church +and on some high festival, the psalm that begins "De Profundis". +Nor did his voice falter, though now he might move neither hand nor +foot by reason of the piercing of the arrows. + +At that the men stayed in amazement, and one threw away his bow and +turned aside to where Raud stood, near where I lay. But Ingvar +ground his teeth with rage, and stamping on the ground, cried to +the men to shoot again. + +And again the arrows flew, and now it seemed to me that no more +arrows might find mark in the king's body without slaying him; and +before my eyes was a mist, and my mouth was dry and parched, yet I +could not turn away and look no more. But the men fitted arrows to +the bowstrings once more, while Ingvar stood still and silent with +his strong hands clasped together behind him, gazing at the king, +whose lips moved in prayer, the psalm being ended, and, as I think, +his strength ebbing fast from his many wounds. + +Now they were about to shoot once more, unbidden, keeping up their +torture if they might; but there was one more merciful than the +rest. Forward before the bowmen strode Raud, with his sword drawn, +and he cried to Ingvar: + +"Let me slay him, king, and end this for pity's sake!" + +Ingvar turned his eyes gloomily on him for a moment, and then +answered: + +"What know you of pity? Slay him if you will." + +Then when he heard that, Eadmund looked at Raud, smiling on him +with a wondrous smile and saying: + +"Thanks, good friend." + +So Raud slew him in pity, and that was now the best deed that might +be done. + +Thereat I cried out once, and my senses left me, and I knew no +more. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. HOW BISHOP HUMBERT JOINED THE KING. + + +When I began to come to myself it was late afternoon. At first into +my mind came the fancy that I sat on the side of King Eadmund's bed +in the king's chambers at Reedham, and that he told me a wondrous +dream; how that--and then all of a sudden I knew that it was no +shadowy dream, but that I had seen all come to pass, and that +through the arrow storm Eadmund had passed to rest. + +All round me the trees dripped with the damp November mist that +creeps from the river, and the smell of dead leaves was in my +nostrils, and for a while I lay still, hardly yet knowing true from +false, dream from deed. So quiet was I that a robin came and +perched close to me on a bramble, whose last leaves were the colour +of the bird's red breast, and there it sang a little, so that I +roused to life with the sound. Then swooped down a merlin with +flash of gray wings on the robin and took it, and that angered me +so that I rose on my elbow to fray it away; and with that the last +cloud left my mind and I knew where I was. Then, too, from where he +waited my waking came Vig, my great Danish dog, who had been tied +at the thane's house, and must have left the flying party to seek +me. And he bounded in gladness about me. + +Now I found that my bonds were gone, and next that my weapons were +left me, and that but for cramp and stiffness I had not any tokens +of what had befallen. And at first it seemed to me that Ingvar thus +showed his scorn of me, though soon I thought that he had forgotten +me, and that it was Raud who had freed me. + +I heeded not the dog, looking only in one place. But the body of +the king was gone, and his arms and mail were gone. The hoofmarks +of Ingvar's horses were everywhere; but at last I made out that +they had gone on through the wood. + +Presently the dog growled, looking towards the village, and I heard +voices coming nearer, and with them I heard the tread of a horse. +But soon the dog ceased, and began to wag his tail as if to welcome +friends, and when the comers entered the clearing, I saw that they +were Egfrid's men, and that it was my horse that they were leading. +My axe was yet at the saddle bow. + +"Why, master," said the foremost, "surely we looked to find you +slain. This is well--but what has befallen?" + +For I must have looked wildly and strangely on them. + +"Well would it be if I were slain," I said. "Why did you seek me?" + +"We found the horse coming homewards, and one knew that you had +gone into the wood after the king. Yet we would seek you before we +fled." + +I saw that all were armed, and I thanked them. But-- + +"What ails you, master?" said the leader of the group. + +"They have slain Eadmund the king," I answered, "and they have +taken his body away." + +Thereat they groaned, wondering and cast down, and one said: + +"They will not have carried him far. Let us search." + +We did so, and after a long time we found the king's body in a +thicket where it had been cast. But his head we could not find, +though now I bade my dog search also. He led us westward through +the wood, until we came to a rising ground, and there we could go +no further. For thence we saw the Danish horsemen by scores +pressing towards us, searching for cattle and sheep as the army +passed southward. And the farms were blazing in the track that they +had crossed everywhere. + +Then said the men: + +"We must fly. We who live must save ourselves, and must come back +and end this search when we may." + +"Let us bear back the king's body," I said, "and find some hiding +place for it at Hoxne." + +So we did, hurriedly, and hid it in a pit near the village, +covering it with boards and gravel as well as we could for haste. +Then I asked the men where they would go. + +"By boat down the river," they said, "and so join the thane and his +party wherever they might be. They have gone to Beccles, for they +hear that a ship lies there whose master will gladly take them to +London." + +That was good hearing, for so would all be safe. The men pressed me +to come with them, but I would not do so, meaning to hasten on to +the bishop's place and make him fly to Beccles and take ship also, +starting this very night. So I bid them go, and on that their +leader, a stout freeman named Leof, whom I knew well as one of +Egfrid's best men, said that he would come with me. Nor would he +hear of aught else. + +"What would Egfrid my master say if I left his brother to go +alone?" he asked me simply; and so I suffered him, and we two went +towards South Elmham together. + +Soon Leof saw a horse in a field and caught it, mounting bareback, +and after that we went on well enough. + +Darkness fell, and all the low clouds were reddened with the light +of fires behind us, and ever as we looked back would be a fresh +fire and light in the sky, for the Danes were at their work. We +pushed on steadily, but the lanes were rough, and the miles seemed +very long in the darkness; but at last we crossed the Elmham stream +and rode to the stockaded house that was the bishop's, and which +stands pleasant and well placed on a little hill beyond the low +ground, and with no woodland very near it. + +We shouted, and at last men fully armed came and let us in. And as +I looked back once before the gates closed after me, I thought that +the fires were nearer. The Danes were not staying their hands for +darkness, for so the terror they spread would be the greater. So +also was the bishop's peril therefore. + +"Where is Bishop Humbert?" I asked. + +"Master, he is in the church, nor will he leave it," said the old +steward. "He says he must pray for king and land day and night now +till this terror is overpast." + +"I will go to him--he must fly," I said. + +"Aye, pray him to do so, Wulfric; he will listen to you," said the +old man earnestly. + +"Have all things ready," I said. "See--there is little time." + +"What of the king, master?" asked he, looking at the fires with a +white face as he once more opened the gate. + +"The king has gone where he would wish to be," I answered very +gravely; and he understood me, turning away that I might not see +his weeping. + +Then Leof and I splashed back through the stream that ran between +house and church, and came quickly to the porch. The church is very +small and more ancient than I can say, for it is built of flint +bound together with such mortar as the Romans used in their +castles, hard as stone itself, and it stands in the midst of the +Roman camp that guarded the ford, so that maybe it was the first +church in all East Anglia, for we use wood; and, moreover, this +stone church is rounded at the east end, and has a barrier dividing +the body of the building into two, beyond which the as yet +unbaptized must sit, as men say. And so strong and thick are the +walls that I do not know how they can ever fall. + +Now through the narrow windows shone lights, and I heard the sound +of chanting. Leof held my horse, and I opened the door gently and +went in. + +At once there was a shrinking together of a group of men, mostly +monks, who stood at the upper end of the church where the chancel +begins. They were chanting the third psalm, for help against the +heathen, and it faltered for a moment. But they were mostly monks +of the bishop's own household, and knew me well enough, and they +ended it shortly. + +Then there was silence, for they were holding none of the set +services, but rather as it seemed doing the bishop's bidding, and +praying with him in the best way for the ceasing of this new +trouble, as in time of pestilence once I remembered that he made +litanies for us. And Humbert himself knelt before the altar during +that psalm, fully vested, but as in times of fast and penitence. + +When he rose, I came up the aisle towards him, and my mail clanged +noisily as I walked in the hush. At the chancel steps I stood, helm +in hand, and did reverence, not daring to speak first. + +"What is it?" asked the bishop, when he turned and saw me. "Speak, +Wulfric, my son. Is all well?" + +"I have heavy news, father," I answered. "Close on us are the +Danes, and you must fly. Then I will tell you all on the way." + +"I will fly no more," he answered, "here I will bide. Is the king +at my house?" + +"He is not there, father," I said; and then I urged him to fly at +once, and with me his monks joined, even going on their knees in +their grief. Yet he would not be moved. + +"Surely the king will come here," he said, "nor will I go without +him." + +"Father," I said, "the Danes have taken the king." + +"Then must I bide here, and pray and scheme for his release." + +Now I knew not how to tell him all, but at last I said: + +"Eadmund the king has escaped from the hands of the heathen." + +At that the bishop looked long at me, judging perhaps what I meant, +by my voice. But the monks rejoiced openly, at first, until they +saw what was meant also, and then they trembled. + +"Where is he?" he asked, speaking low. + +"Father," I said, "this twentieth day of November will be the day +when England shall honour a new martyr. Eadmund the King is +numbered among them." + +"How died he?" then said the bishop, folding his hands. + +But now the monks bade him fly, and reasoned with and prayed him. +But he bade them save themselves, for that there would be work for +them to do among the heathen. + +"As for me, I am an old man," he said, "and I would fain go the +same road as the king." + +Still they clung to him, and at last, speaking to each by name, and +giving each some message to take to cell or abbey where they must +go at his bidding, he commanded them; and so, unwillingly, kissing +his hand and receiving his blessing, they went one by one, till he +and I and one or two laymen besides were left in the little church. +Then he spoke to the other men, and they went also, and we were +alone. + +"That is well," said the bishop; "tell me all, and then do you +fly." + +He sat down in his great chair, leaning his head in his hand while +I told him all in that quiet place. Never once was there trembling +flash from the great jewel of his ring, that shone in the +candlelight, to show how moved he was; but when I had ended, the +tears were running down his venerable face, and he said: + +"Now is there truly one more added to the noble army of martyrs, +and he is at rest. Now do you go, my son." + +But I had other thoughts in my mind, and I rose up silently from +beside him, saying only: "Not yet, father," and I went down the +aisle and out into the darkness to Leof. + +"See yonder!" said he pointing, and there was a fresh fire not many +miles from us. "I think they scour the country for our bishop. We +have little time." + +"Tell me, Leof," I said, "have you a mind to live?" for there was +somewhat in the man's weary voice that seemed to say that he and I +thought alike. + +"None, master, after today's work, if I may find a brave man or two +to die with me." + +"Here is a brave man waiting with a like thought in the church. +Shall you and I die with him?" + +"Aye, surely," said Leof quietly. + +"Bide here then," I said, and took the horses from him. + +I mounted mine and rode to the house, where the steward and one or +two others watched from the gateway. I bade the old man call his +folk together, and I told them to fly. Many were already gone, now +others went at once. + +But a few stayed, and to them I said like words as to Leof. + +"Hither will the Danes come presently, but in no great force. We +may beat them back, and if we do, then maybe the bishop will fly. +But we shall more likely die with him." + +"Let us stand by him, come what will," they answered me in steady +voices; "better to die with him and our king." + +They took their arms and gave me a sword, and we left the horses in +the stable, for we might even yet need them. I thought that we +could maybe, as I said, beat off the first few Danes, and then +that, to save further bloodshed, the bishop would go with us. And +if not, we had done our best. + +Five men came with me to the ford. When we were at the other side +there were but four. One had gone back, and I did not blame him. +Leof sat in the little porch, and so we six went into the church +together. The bishop sat where I had left him, but he raised his +head when we came up the aisle. + +"Nay, my sons," he said, "you must fly. Maybe these men will +respect an old man like myself and lonely." + +Then I said: + +"Father, we would have you say mass for us ere the light comes +again." + +Now it wanted about an hour to midnight. + +"Is there yet time?" he said. + +Then I answered that I thought we might wait in peace for so long, +and he, knowing nothing of the nearness of the Danes, consented. So +we bided there in the aisle benches to wait till midnight was past, +and soon one or two of the men slept quietly. + +Now, when it may have been almost midnight, and the time for mass +would soon be come, the bishop, who had been so still that I +thought he slept, lifted his head and looked towards the altar. And +at the same time my dog whined a little beside me. + +Then Humbert the Bishop rose up and held out both his hands as to +one whom he would greet, and spoke softly. + +"Aye, Eadmund, I am coming. Soon shall I be with you." + +So he stood for a little while very still, and then went to his +place again. + +Then Leof, who sat next to me, said, whispering: + +"Saw you aught, master?" + +"I saw nothing, but surely the bishop had a vision." + +"I myself saw Eadmund the king stand before the bishop, and he had +a wondrous crown on his head," said Leof, speaking as though of +somewhat not terrible, but good to think on. + +"I also saw him," said the old steward from behind me. "I saw him +plainly as in life, and I thought he smiled on us." + +But I had had no such sight, and it grieved me. Moreover, two of +the other three men whispered, and I thought one of them told of +the like vision. And I think, too, that the dog saw it, as the +innocent beasts will see things beyond our ken. + +Soon the bishop judged that the time was come for mass, and he +called softly to me, bidding me serve, for I had often done so for +him in the old days when I was a boy and he was at Reedham, and I +knew well what to do. + +Then was said a most solemn mass with that one aged priest, and us +few men present. And all was very quiet round us, for no wind +stirred the trees on the old rampart. + +The bishop's voice ceased with the benediction, and the hush +deepened; but suddenly Leof and I looked in each other's faces. We +had heard a shout from no great distance, and the blood rushed +wildly through us. + +Now the bishop rose from his knees, and I took the holy vessels, as +he gave them to me, putting them into their oaken chest in its +niche. And when that was done, he said: + +"Now I will not bid you fly, my sons, for I think that somewhat has +bidden you bide with me. And I have seen the king, so that I know +the time is short. Take therefore the holy vessels and drown them +in the deep pool of the stream. I have used them for the last time, +but I would not have them profaned by the heathen in their +feasting." + +I knew that this should be done as at Bosham, but already I heard +the shouts yet nearer, and I was loth to leave the church, and so +paused. + +"I know your thoughts," said the bishop. "Yet go, as I bid you; it +is not far." + +So I took the heavy, iron-bound chest on my shoulder and went +quickly, running as well as I might to the stream below the +rampart, where it curled deep and still under crumbling banks. +There I plunged my burden, hearing it sink and bubble into the +depths. + +Then I went back, and reached the gap in the rampart that had been +the gate next the ford, and that was at the east end of the church, +so that the porch was far from me. And before I had gone halfway to +the church--over the western rampart spurred a score of horsemen, +dimly seen in the half moonlight that was now. And the leader of +them saw me, and rode straight at me, calling to me to hold, while +I drew my sword and ran to reach the door before he met me; and my +dog, which was at my heels, flew at the horse's throat. + +But I must fail, and I whirled up my sword to strike--and then a +long flash of light from a spear point smote me, and over me the +man rode, pinning me to the ground with the spear through my left +shoulder. His horse trod on me, and the man wrenched the weapon +from me as he passed on, and I had but time to call out to Leof to +warn him, when a rushing came in my ears, and a blaze of light +before my eyes, and the world passed from me. + +Then I seemed to stand in darkness, while past me, gloriously +shining, went Leof, and then the old steward and one of those two +men who had whispered together, and then Humbert the Bishop +himself. But it seemed to me that he paused and looked on me, +saying, in a voice that was like music: + +"Hereafter--not now. Twice have you offered your life today, and +yet there is work for you. Be content to wait." + +So he passed, looking kindly at me, and then the blackness came +over me again. + +When I came round at last it was high day, and the air was full of +smoke around me. One sat on a great brown horse looking at me, and +by my side cried my dog; and I groaned, whereat the man got off his +horse and came to me. And I knew that it was Hubba, and some of the +men I knew were there also. + +"Why, Wulfric, friend, how is this? I thought you were dead. Who +has dared to hurt you? What has happened here?" + +"You know well," I gasped. + +"Nay, I know not; I have but now ridden this way with our rear +guard," he answered, seeming to pity me. + +"Look in the church and see," I said, groaning. "You Danes are all +one in the matter." + +"Now I am not the man to harm you, nor would any of our folk," he +said. "Some of our courtmen found you here, and brought me." + +"Slay me and have done," I muttered; for that was all I would have +him do. + +"That will I not, Wulfric," he answered; and he called to some men +who were busy about the walls of the church. + +The smoke rose thickly from within them, for the burnt roof had +fallen in. + +"Take this warrior and bind his wound," he said. "It is Wulfric of +Reedham, our friend." + +The faintness came over me again when the men raised me, though +they tended me gently enough, and I could say naught, though I +would rather they had cast me into the burning timbers of the +church, even as I had bidden men do with that poor churl at Hoxne, +that my ashes might be with those of our bishop. + +So they bore me far, and at last left me in a farm where they +promised all should be safe if they tended me well. And Hubba rode +with them, and came to bid me farewell. But I could not speak to +him if I would, so he went away sadly. And as in a dream I heard +him speak of care for me to the widow and her two sons to whom the +farm belonged, and whom his men had taken unawares, so that they +had not time to fly. + +Presently came the best leech from Ingvar's host and tended me +carefully; and I needed it, for besides the spear wound, my right +thigh was broken, by the trampling of the horse, as was most +likely. + +Thereafter I lay for many weeks, as they told me presently, sick +and nigh to death; but being young and strong and no high liver at +any time, I came through the danger well enough, and began to mend +slowly. Yet my sickness, when I could begin to think, was more of +mind than body, and that kept me back. For long did it lie heavily +on my mind that I should have died with the king, and it was that +sorrow and blame of myself that went sorely against me. But after a +time the love of life came back to me again, and I began to see +things as they really were, untouched by a sick man's fancies. And +then the words of the good Prior of Bosham helped me, teaching me +that my life was surely spared for somewhat. + +These good folk of the farm tended me most kindly, for they knew me +by sight as a close friend of both king and bishop, and for their +sakes were glad to do all they might for me. But I pined for the +touch of that one who had tended me when I was wounded before, +Osritha, whom I had learnt to love as she did so. + +Sometimes I would think that between her and me had now risen up a +barrier stronger than the sea that was washing our shores alike, +because that of Ingvar's sister I might not think aught any longer. +And then I would set before me how that of these cruel doings nor +she nor Halfden had any part, hating them rather, and so would +comfort myself. Long are the thoughts that come to a sick man. + +Now it was not till February that I might take much heed of +anything, but then I learnt that the Danes had wintered in +Thetford, and that the land was in peace. The war had passed on to +the Wessex borders and then had slackened, as winter came earnest, +and now the north and south folk, Dane and Angle, were foes no +longer openly. But Ingvar and Hubba were at Nottingham, waiting to +fall on Wessex, leaving only strong garrisons in our towns. + +Then one of the dame's sons would go to London for me, there to +seek Ingild and tell him of my hap, for, the lad said: + +"Now that these Danes need fight no more they are decent folk +enough, and will not hinder a man who has not whereof to be +robbed." + + + +CHAPTER XIV. HOW WULFRIC AND RAUD SEARCHED TOGETHER. + + +I sat in the warm sun under the wide spread of the farmhouse eaves, +dreaming my dreams with the dog at my feet, for so soon as the May +time came in I must needs get into the open air, and grow stronger +daily. + +So it came to pass that one day up the green farm lane came a +stranger, at whom the dog barked not, as was his wont, but ran to +meet as if he were some well-loved friend. And it was Raud, his old +master, who came, lightly mail clad, and with a short hunting spear +instead of staff in his hand, and whistling his "Biarkamal" as +ever. + +Now with Raud I had no quarrel concerning the death of the king, +for well I knew that what he had done was truly in mercy, nor had +he taken any part in what went before. So I greeted him heartily +enough, for all that with the sight of him came back to me, with a +sharp pang, the memory of how I saw him last. And he rejoiced to +see me again. + +"I have half feared that I should find you gone," he said; "for, +when I heard of this from Hubba's men, I must needs come and find +you, and little hope had I that you would live." + +"I have nearly died, they say," I answered; "but I think that I owe +it to you that I was not slain in Hoxne woods yonder." + +"Why, not altogether," he answered, sitting on the settle by me, +and looking me over, from arm yet in sling to lame leg. "Some of +the men with Ingvar and me wanted to slay you before they left that +place; but Ingvar growled so fiercely that they must let you be, +that they said no more, nor even would look your way again. But he +himself looked at you, and said strange things to himself." + +"What said he?" I asked, wondering. + +"He said, paying no heed to me, 'Now, Wulfric--you will hate me +forever more, nor do I think that Lodbrok my father would be +pleased with this;' after which he spoke words so low that I caught +but one here and there, but they were somewhat of the lady Osritha, +our mistress. After that he said to me, 'Leave him horse and arms +and unbind him,' and then turned away. Yet if I had not bound you +at first, maybe they would have had to slay you." + +"That is true enough," I said; "surely I should have stood between +you and the king. But what came to Ingvar to make him speak thus to +me?" + +"Why, after the hot fit comes the cold, ever, though Ingvar the +King's cold rage is worse at times than his fury. But since that +day there has been somewhat strange about the king." + +"I wonder not," I said; nor did I. "But how goes it with him?" + +"Men say, though they dare not do so openly, that the ghost of +Eadmund will not let him rest, and that mostly does he fear him +when his rage is greatest. Many a time when the fury seemed like to +come on him, Ingvar turns white and stares suddenly beyond all +things, as though seeing somewhat beyond other men's ken, and the +sweat runs cold from his forehead. Many a man has escaped him +through this." + +"Surely Eadmund holds him back thus from more cruelty," I thought. +And aloud I said: + +"What think you of the matter?" + +"Why, that I am glad that I was bold enough to save your dying king +from more torture--else had I seen somewhat before me day and +night. Truly I see him now betimes in my sleep, but he ever smiles +on me. Moreover, this is true, that all those seven men who shot +the arrows died in that week. Two died in Elmham Church when you +were nigh slain." + +"Tell me of that," I said. + +For no man knew rightly what had befallen there, save that under +the charred ruins of the roof lay Bishop Humbert and one or two of +his men. + +But when he told me, it was as I thought. Those few men had fought +bravely until they were slain, themselves slaying three Danes. But +one of the bishop's men escaped, cutting through a throng at the +doorway and seizing a horse. Then was slain the bishop, who knelt +at the altar, not even turning round to face the Danes as they +came. + +So I hold ever that as I lay for dead I had seen those brave ones +pass me even as they were slain. But of this I said naught to Raud, +at that time at least. + +Now I asked Raud whence he had come, and he said: + +"From London." + +And at that I feared greatly, asking: + +"Has Ingvar taken the city, therefore?" + +"Not the king himself, but Guthrum went into London, taking good +ransom for peace." + +"Where is Ethelred the king of England?" I said, half to myself. + +"Ethelred?--he minds naught but Wessex for good reason. For Halfden +and Bagsac and the Sidracs are on one side of him, and Ingvar and +Hubba the other, waiting for him to make peace. But there is like +to be fighting. Alfred, the king's brother, has a brave heart and a +hard hand." + +"Then all is quiet in London?" + +"Peaceful enough; and there Guthrum the King holds court, and I +think men are well content with him." + +"Of what is Guthrum king?" I asked, for I had not heard him called +by that name before. The only other king of the host beside the +three jarls was Bagsac. + +"Why, of East Anglia. He holds it for Ingvar, while he tries to add +Wessex for his own to Mercia. Halfden will be king in Northumbria, +maybe, and Hubba over another of the kingdoms." + +So they had already parted out the land among them beforehand! Woe +for us therefore, for unless a leader was raised up among us, +surely all England must own Danish overlords! But I had heard +Alfred the Wessex Atheling well spoken of as a warrior. + +However, what was that to us of East Anglia? We had been deserted +by Wessex at our need as it seemed, and these Danes were as near +kin to us as Wessex Saxons. + +"How did you come to leave Ingvar's service?" I asked, not being +willing to dwell on this matter. + +"I think my face spoke to him too plainly of that which was in +Hoxne wood--and so he bade me stay with Guthrum. Nor was I loth, +for I would find you again." + +Then I was touched a little by the kindness of this rough warrior, +and thanked him. After that we sat silent for a while, and the good +dame brought out food and ale for Raud, and I envied his pleasure +therein, for I took little as yet. + +Now for many days past a great longing to be away from this place +had filled my mind, and now seemed to be the time. + +"Take me to London, Raud," I said. + +"Why, that is part of my errand here," he answered, smiling. "I +have a message to you from Guthrum the King." + +"What might that be?" + +"He wants to speak to you as one who is known to be friend to Dane +and Anglian alike, and being blamed by neither for friendship with +the other. So he would have you give him counsel." + +"Let me get to London," I said, "and then I will answer. I cannot +now." + +So Raud bided in the farm with me for a while, and now with new +thoughts and with his talk of Halfden and Osritha, I mended +quickly, for it was my troubled mind that had kept me back mostly, +as I cared for nothing. + +One day I felt strong again, waking up and taking delight in the +smell of the fresh morning and in the sunlight. And I ate heartily +of the brown bread and milk they gave me, and afterwards told Raud +of what I had been long thinking. + +"All things are quiet in the land now. Let us gather a few of my +people and seek the head of our king, if you fear not to go into +Hoxne woods." + +Raud thought for a while before he answered me. + +"I fear not, for the poor king thanked me, smiling at me. Let me go +with you." + +So that day the dame sent messages by her son to some who had come +back to their places, and in the evening when he came home, there +were with him two of Bishop Humbert's monks, dressed like churls, +for they dared not wear their habits. These two and some others +would gladly come with me on my search. + +Next day, therefore, they set me on a pony that was quiet, and +slowly we went towards Hoxne, coming thither in the afternoon +early, seeing no Danes anywhere, while many of our folk were back +and at work in the fields. + +Then I asked Raud if these poor people were safe now. + +"Surely, master," he said, for so he would call me, having heard +the farm people name me thus. "There is none so great difference +between you and us, and we Danes love to be at peace if we may. I +think there will be no more trouble here. And, anyway, we are too +wise to hinder a harvesting of that we may eat." + +So too thought I, and my heart was less sad after that ride, though +there was not one place left unburnt of all that we saw. + +When we came to Hoxne I told the two monks where we had bestowed +the king's body, bidding them look to see if it was not disturbed. +And they said that his bones were safely there. + +Now we must seek for the head of the king, and in that Rand could +not help us, for one had ridden away with it while he was taken up +with me and my plight. + +So we went towards that place where the dog had taken us, and +searched long, until I, being weak, must get from off the pony and +rest. I would ride back to the place where the king had been slain +and sit there awhile; but first, knowing that Vig remembered things +well, I sent him from me, bidding him search also, hoping that he +would not forget his last quest in this place. Yet what we most +feared was that the forest beasts had made our search vain. + +There were many men from the village with us now, for they had +followed the two monks, and they spread about over the wood far and +wide, searching, while I sat at the foot of the oak tree to which +the king had been bound, leaning my arms and head against the trunk +that had been stained with his blood, and thinking and praying, as +well I might in that sacred place. + +I moved my hand, and felt something sticking from the hard bark and +looked to see what it was. It was an arrowhead, such a rough iron +spike as men will use when they must make fresh arrows after +battle, in all haste, and have to use what they can first find. The +shaft was snapped close to the iron and the rawhide lashing that +held it, and I could not take it out as I would, for the young oak +was sturdy and tough; and so I left it, thinking that I would +return some day to cut it out. + +That I did in after years, but the arrowhead was hidden, for the +tree had grown fast, closing on it, as I think, and I could not +find its place. So it will be there for one to find hereafter, +maybe long hence, for such a tree has many a hundred years to last +yet, if saved from mishap of wind or lightning or axe. Then I think +will men still know what that iron is, for Eadmund the King cannot +be forgotten. + +Presently it seemed to me that the voices I heard in the wood, as +the searchers called to each other, drew closer together, crying: + +"Where are you?" + +"Here--here!" + +And then was a sort of outcry, and a silence, and I hoped that +maybe they had found what they sought. So I rose up and went slowly +and limpingly to the place where they seemed to be. + +I met them in a green glade. And foremost came the two monks, +bearing between them a cloak, wherein was surely that we looked +for, and after them came my dog and Raud, and then the rest. And +when they saw me they cried softly to me: + +"Master, we have found the head of our king." + +So they laid open the cloak before me, and I knelt and looked. And +there was indeed the head of Eadmund, seeming whole and fresh as +when I had last seen him; and his looks were very peaceful, for on +his face was still that smile with which he had greeted death at +Raud's hands. + +Then, seeing that, the rough Dane was fain to turn away and lean +arms and face against a tree trunk, weeping as weeps a child that +will not be comforted. + +After a little I asked how they had found the head. And one of the +villagers, speaking low and holding his cap in his hands as though +in the church, answered me. + +"When I came to a certain thicket, I heard a crying, as it were, +and I turned aside and looked, and at first was sorely afraid, for +yon great wolf held the head between his paws, whining over it as +in grief. Then I called to the rest, and they came, running, and +were afraid also till the good fathers came, to whom the wolf was +gentle, suffering them to take that which he guarded. And lo! he +follows us even now, as would a dog!" + +So the man spoke, not having seen such a dog as mine before, for +till more came with the host there were none like him in our land. +I told him that it was but my own dog; yet for all that, I know +that this tale of a wolf passed for the truth over all the land as +it flew from mouth to mouth, so that soon I myself heard from one +who knew me not very strange stories of that finding of ours. + +Yet would that tale hardly be stranger than was the truth, that not +one of the wild creatures, either beast or bird, had harmed our +king's sacred head. And how it should be so preserved in that place +I cannot tell, but I say what I saw. Yet his body was not so +preserved in the place where we had hidden it. + +These things are beyond me, nor can I tell all the thoughts that +came into my mind as I looked into the face of the king whom I had +loved, and who loved me. + +Now would we take our treasure, as we must needs think it, to +Hoxne, and the monks were about to lift it again. But Raud came +forward very solemnly, begging that he might be allowed to bear it, +"Because he would make what amends he might." + +And I signed to the monks to suffer him to do so, and he took it. +None else but I knew what part he had had with the other Danes in +this matter, and the monks did but think him grieving for what his +comrades had done. + +So he bore it to Hoxne village, and we passed the place where the +church had been. There, amid the blackened ruins of the walls and +roof, stood the font of stone, fire reddened and chipped, yet with +the cross graven on its eastward face plain to be seen. And to that +place Raud led us, none staying him, yet all wondering. + +When he came there he strode over the burnt timber until he came to +the font, and there, under the graven cross, he set down his burden +very gently, and stood up, looking in my face, and saying: + +"Here will I leave the worship of Odin and cleave to that faith for +which Eadmund the King died, and for which you, Wulfric, were +willing to die both in Jutland and here by Eadmund's side. Will any +forbid me?" + +Then I knew that the man was in such earnest, that none, save he +perilled his own soul, might hold him back, and I took his hand and +spoke to the elder monk, saying: + +"I will answer for this man, father, as to his will. If he knows +enough of our faith, I pray you baptize him straightway." + +There was rain water in the font, sparkling and clear, and without +any delay or doubt the good man came forward and stood thereby, +while I yet held Raud's hand as his godfather. + +"What know you of our faith, my son?" said the monk in his gentle +voice. + +Now of his own accord Raud faced to the eastward, and clasping his +hands before him, spoke the words of the Creed, slowly and +haltingly maybe, but with knowledge thereof, and all that little +company, standing hushed until he ended, answered "Amen" with one +voice. + +Then again, untaught by us he turned to the west, where the sun was +even now sinking, and lifting his right hand very solemnly he put +away from him the false gods of his forefathers, and the golden +sunlight made his face very glorious, as I thought. + +"It is well, my son," said the old monk. + +So he was baptized, and I gave him the new name of Cyneward +{xxii}, for the memory of Eadmund the King and what he did for +him in saving him from torture as best he might. And surely he was +the first fruit of the martyrdom of him whose head he had borne. + +Then when all was done he took up his burden again, softly and +reverently, saying: + +"Life I took, and life has been given me. This is not the old way +of life for life, but it is better." + +So he gave back the head to the monks, and they, wondering at him, +but greatly rejoicing, took it, and stood awhile pondering where we +might safely bestow it. + +Then came one of the villagers, telling of a stone-walled chamber +that had been a well in days long gone by, hard by the church +porch. That we found after some labour, moving much ruin from over +it, and therein we placed the bones and head of our king, covering +it again until better days should come. And I, thinking of my +riches in the hands of Ingild, promised that when it might be done +I would see to raising the church afresh, to be over the ashes of +the king. + +So our little company parted, and Cyneward, who had been Raud, and +I went back with the elder monk and the farm folk to our place, +going slowly in the warm twilight, with our hearts at rest, and +full of the wonders we had seen that day. + +Only one thing would the monk and I ask Cyneward, for we wondered +how he had learned our faith so well. And that he answered gladly. + +"Ever as Wulfric and I escaped from the vengeance of Ingvar towards +Hedeby I wondered that one should be strong enough to defy the Asir +and their godar for the sake of the new faith. So I sat in the +church of Ansgar among the other heathen and heard somewhat. And +again in London of late, where Guthrum will have no man harmed for +his religion, I have listened and learnt more. So when I needed +them, the words were ready. Now, therefore, both in life and death, +Wulfric, my master, I thank you." + +But I was silent, knowing how much greater a part in this I might +have had. For I thought that, but for the need of proving my faith +or denying it, I should have surely been as a heathen among heathen +in those days in Jutland. Yet Beorn asked me to pray for him, and +that I had done, and it had kept me mindful when I had else +forgotten. + +So began the work Humbert the Bishop foretold before he died, and +that monk of his who saved his own life at Humbert's bidding for +the work, saw it, and rejoiced. + +After this, in a week's time, Cyneward and I took horse and rode +away to London, for the dame's son came back to me, having found +Ingild, bringing me messages from him, and also from Egfrid and +many more. And all was well. At that time I could not reward as I +would those good people who had thus cared for me, but I would send +presents when I might. Yet they said they needed naught from me but +to see me again at some time, which I promised, as well for my own +love of them as for their asking. + +We went unharmed and unquestioned, for all the land was at peace. +Truly there were new-made huts where farmsteads had been, and at +the town gates were Danish axemen instead of our spearmen as of +old. Yet already in the hayfields Dane and Anglian wrought +together, and the townsmen stood on Colchester Hill beside the +Danish warriors, listening while gleeman and scald sang in rivalry +to please both. + +Little of change was there in London town, save again the +scarlet-cloaked Danish guards and watchmen. Few enough of these +there were, and indeed the host left but small parties in the towns +behind them in our land. Yet those few could hold the country in +peace, because men knew that at their back was the might of +Ingvar's awful host, which came on a land unawares, marching more +swiftly than rumour could fly before it, so that not one might know +where the next blow would fall until suddenly the war beacons of +flaming villages flared up, and it was too late to do aught but +fly. + +Yet in our land was none to fight for. No king had we to follow the +martyr. Ethelred had left us alone, and already in the hearts of +men grew up the thought that the strong hand of the Dane meant +peace. + +In the house of good old Ingild, my second father, as he would have +me hold him, was rest at last. And there I found all whom I held +dear gathered to meet me on the night when I came, for they had +fled by ship, as they had hoped, and had reached London safely. + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE MESSAGE OF HALFDEN THE KING. + + +Now when I had been in London for a fortnight, Cyneward, whom +Ingild would by no means suffer to live elsewhere than in his house +with me, went to Guthrum as was his duty, and told him that I had +come. Whereupon he sent to me, asking again that I would speak with +him. + +On that I took counsel with Ingild and Egfrid, and the thane his +father, and they thought it well that I should do so. + +"This Dane," said the thane, "is lord of East Anglia by the might +of the strong hand, and it seems to us that we might have a worse +ruler. At any rate we shall have peace, and no more trouble with +Danes while he is here. As for Ethelred, he is no more to us. Even +if he overcomes the Danes in the end, it is not likely that we will +own Wessex overlords again unless we must." + +That was the word of all with whom I spoke, and in the end, when it +was certain that the Danes meant to stay, and that help from +Ethelred was none, East Anglia owned Guthrum as king quietly and +with none to say a word against it, so securing a peace that should +last. + +But to this I could not bring myself as yet, because of what I had +seen, and that the hand of Ingvar was behind Guthrum. + +"Go to him at least," said Ingild, "and find what he needs of you. +Then will be time to say more." + +So at his advice I went, and I found Guthrum in Ethelred's great +house, where he sat in little state, doing justice in open hall +where many citizens were gathered. And I saw him do even-handed +right to both Dane and Saxon, and that pleased me, for already I +had liked the man's honest face and free bearing. + +He greeted me well, taking me aside presently with Cyneward into a +private chamber. And there he told me that he would ask me to do a +favour towards him. + +I answered that what I might I would do gladly, so that he asked me +not to break faith with my own people. + +"I would ask no man to do that," he said. "Tell me what I may not +ask you." + +"Shall I speak plainly?" I said. + +"Aye, plainly as you will." + +"Then, Guthrum, I may not own Ingvar for overlord. Nor can I allow +that you have more than right of conquest over us." + +"Plain speaking, in good sooth," he said, laughing a little, "but +what I expected from Wulfric of Reedham. However, I am ruler in +East Anglia by that right you speak of, and I have a mind to be as +fair in it as I may. Now, I think you can help me." + +This honest saying warmed my heart to him somewhat, and weary +enough of his lawman's work this warrior looked. Yet I was not sure +that he would not try to use me to make his hold on the land more +sure. + +"Tell me in what way that may be," I said, therefore. + +"Let me come and ask you of this and that when I am in a strait +owing to knowing naught of Saxon ways. Then can I say to a Dane, +'Thus says Wulfric, Lodbrok's friend,' and to an Anglian, 'So says +the Thane of Reedham.' Then I think I shall do well, for I would +fain be fair." + +"I will ever be ready to do that, Guthrum," I said; and I held out +my hand to him, for I could not help it. + +So he took it and wrung it warmly. + +"Now must I go back to Thetford very soon," he said. "Come back +that you may be near me." + +"I must live here, in London now," I said; for I would by no means +live with his court, nor did I think that he should have thought it +of me after my words. + +"Why not go back to your own place now? I can see you often at +Reedham." + +"That is an ill jest," I said; for I thought nothing so sad as +going back to see that dear home of mine but a blackened heap of +ruins, nor would I ever ask any who might have seen the place +concerning it, knowing how the Danish ships had burnt all the coast +villages. + +Guthrum looked at me as if puzzled. + +"No jest, Thane," he said; "why not go back?" + +"To ruins--what good?" I answered. + +"Now I think you mean that you will not take your land at my +hands," he said. + +"That were to own you king." + +"Then, Wulfric, my friend, if I may call you so, that the lands of +a friend are not mine to give and take I need not tell you. Nor do +we harm the lands of a friend. There is one place in East Anglia +that no Dane has harmed, or will harm--the place that sheltered +Jarl Lodbrok. And there is one man whose folk, from himself to the +least of all, are no foes of ours--and that is the Thane of +Reedham. Ah! now I see that I have gladdened you, and I think that +you will come." + +"This seems almost impossible," I said, in my wonder and gladness. + +"Nay, but word went round our host that it was to be so. There you +might have bided all unknowing that war was near you. You do but go +back of your own free will." + +Now I was fain to say that I would at once go back to my place, but +there was one thing yet that I would say to Guthrum. + +"Will you let the Christian folk be unharmed?" + +"Little will our people care," he said, "when once they have +settled down, what gods a man worships. Nor would I have any +meddled with because of their faith." + +"Now am I most willing to help you," I said; "and I will say +this--so are you likely in the end to be hailed king indeed." + +"That is well," he answered, flushing a little. "But there is one +man whom I will never ask to own me as king, and that is yourself. +But if you do so of your own will, it will be better yet." + +So we parted, each as I think pleased with the other, and I knew +that East Anglia had found a wise ruler in Guthrum the Dane. + +Straightway now I told my people the good news that Reedham was +safe. The longships came up to Norwich time after time now; and +there had been but one thought among us, and that was that our +place could not have escaped the destruction that had fallen on all +the shore and riverside villages. + +Then Ingild said: + +"These Danes have come as our forefathers came here, to take a new +and better country for themselves, but the strife between them and +us is not as the strife between alien peoples. They are our kin, +but between us and the Welsh was hatred of race. They will settle +down, and never will East Anglia pass from Danish hands, even if +Ethelred of Wessex makes headway enough to be owned as overlord of +England by them. Now therefore is there one place in all England +where peace has come, and to that place I would go to end my days. +Here in London the tide of war will ebb and flow ever. Let me go +down with you to Reedham, my son, that I may die in peace." + +So we did but wait until he had set all his affairs in order, +selling his house and merchandise and the like. Then we hired a +ship that came from the Frankish coast and waited for cargo in the +Thames, and sailed at the end of July to Reedham. With us were +Egfrid and Eadgyth and my mother and Cyneward, who would by no +means leave me, and to whom Guthrum willingly gave leave to go with +us. + +We came easily to Reedham, and very strange it was to me to see two +Danish longships lying in our roads, while our own shore boats were +alongside, the men talking idly together on deck or over gunwale in +all friendliness. Stranger yet it was to see the black ruins of +farms and church on the southern shores of the river mouth, and at +Reedham all things safe and smiling as ever. + +Then was a wondrous welcome for us on our little staithe, and all +the village crowded down to greet us. Nor were the men from the +Danish ships behindhand in that matter, for they too would welcome +Lodbrok's friends. + +So we came home, and soon the old life began again as if naught had +altered, but for the loss of loved faces round us. Yet in peace or +war that must come, and in a little while we grew content, and even +happy. + +Soon Guthrum came to Thetford, and many times rode over to me, +asking me many things. And all men spoke well of him, so that +Egfrid's father and some other thanes owned him as king, and took +their lands as at his hands, coming back to rebuild their houses. +For as yet none of the greater Danish chiefs chose lands among us, +since it seemed likely that in a little while all England would be +before them, and in any case the power of Ethelred must be broken +before there could be peace. + +Now when the first pleasure of return was over, I myself began to +be restless in my mind, seeing the quiet happiness of Egfrid in his +marriage, and thinking how far I was from Osritha, whom I loved in +such sort that well I knew that I should never wed any other. And I +would watch some Danish ship when she passed our village, going +homewards, longing to sail in her and seek the place where +Lodbrok's daughter yet lived beyond the broad seas. + +But presently, at the summer's very end, I knew from the Danes that +Ingvar had gone back to Denmark, called there by some rumour of +trouble brewing at home in his absence; and that made it yet harder +for me, if possible, for on Ingvar I would not willingly look +again, nor would I think of Osritha but as apart from him. + +So the winter wore away. The host was quiet in winter quarters in +Mercia, and the Danes in our country grew friendly with us, harming +no man. + +These men, I could see, would fain bide in peace, settling down, +being tired of war, and liking the new country, where there was +room and to spare for all. + +In early spring Guthrum went to the host on the Wessex borders, +taking command in Ingvar's place. + +For Hubba went to Northumbria, there to complete his conquests, and +Halfden was on the western borders of Wessex. And before he went +Guthrum took great care for the good ordering of our land--and that +he might leave it at all at that time was enough to show that he +feared no revolt against him. + +Now as I sat in our hall, listless and downcast, one day in July, +Cyneward came in to me. + +"Here is news, master, that I know not what to make of." + +"What is it?" I said. "Is the war to be here once more?" + +"The war is no nearer than Ashdown Heath; but it seems that the +Wessex men have found a leader." + +Then he told me of the long fighting round Reading, and how at last +Halfden had cut his way through Wessex and joined forces with +Guthrum after many victories. But that then Ethelred and Alfred the +Atheling had made a great effort, winning a mighty victory on +Ashdown Heath, slaying Bagsac the king and both the Sidracs, Harald +and Osbern the jarls, Frene, and many more with them. Nine battles +had they fought that year and last. + +"How hear you of this?" I said. + +"There has come a messenger from Guthrum with the news, and even +now the Danes march in all haste from the towns to fill up the gaps +in the ranks of the host, and he says that ships must go back to +Jutland to Ingvar for more men from overseas." + +Now this news was nothing to us East Anglians for the most part, +and to me it was but a turn of the fight between Dane and Saxon for +the overlordship of all England. That was not a matter to be +settled by one or two victories on either side, nor might one see +how it would end. Yet I was glad, for of all things I feared that +Ingvar might be our master in the end, and this seemed to say that +it was none so certain. + +More men came in after that, hastening the going to the front of +those who would, for not all the Danes among us would stir from +their new homes, saying that they had done their part, and knowing +that what they left others might take. + +And in ten days' time Cyneward came to me saying that there were +two longships coming in from the open sea. + +"Let the pilots go out to them," I said; for it was of no use +withholding this help from the Danish ships, little as we liked to +see them come. So I forgot the matter. + +Then again Cyneward ran to me in haste, and with his eyes shining. + +"Master, here is Halfden's ship. Come and see!" + +Gladly I went out then, and when I saw those two ships my heart +leapt up with joy, for it was indeed my own ship that was leading, +and I thought that Halfden would be in her. + +So soon as she was in the river she made for our wharf, and that +was not the wont of the Danes, who mostly went on past us up the +river to where the great towns were. And at once when she was +alongside I went on board, and at sight of me half her crew came +crowding round me, shouting and shaking my hand; for they were our +old crew, the same who had fought beside me and had backed me at +the Ve. There, too, was Thormod, grim as ever, but welcoming me +most gladly. But Halfden was not there. + +"What is this, Thormod?" I said, when I had him up to the house, +and the men were eating in the great hall. "Why are you not with +Halfden?" + +"Have you heard no news?" he asked. + +"Only a few days ago I heard of the business at Ashdown." + +"Well, I have come thence," he said. "Now must I sail home and +fetch more men in all haste." + +"Why came you in here?" + +"Because I came away in haste and need stores. And, moreover, I +wanted to see you." + +"That is good of you, Thormod, and glad am I to have you here, even +if it is only for a day," I answered. + +"Moreover, I have a message to you from Halfden," he went on. + +Whereupon I asked him about the battle, and long we sat while he +told me all. And Halfden's deeds had been great, but could not turn +aside defeat. So he ended. + +"Then because our ship lay in the Thames, where we had sent her +from the west when we broke through the Wessex country and joined +Guthrum, he sent me back for men. So I am here. Both sides must +needs rest awhile, as I think." + +"What of Halfden's message?" I asked. + +"Why, I know not how you will take it, but it is this. The night +before the battle he slept ill, and at last woke me, saying that he +would have me take a message if he was slain. So I said that I +hoped he was not fey. That he was not, he told me, but this was +going to be a heavy sword play, and one knew not how things would +go. Then he told me that ever as he began to sleep he saw Osritha +his sister, and she was pale and wrung her hands, saying: 'Now am I +alone, and there is none to help me, for Halfden and Wulfric are +far away, and I fear Ingvar and his moods'. Then said I, 'That is +true enough. It needs no dream to tell one of the maiden's +loneliness.' Yet he answered, 'Nevertheless, in some way I will +have Wulfric our comrade know that Osritha sits alone and will not +be comforted'. So when I must start on this voyage he bade me tell +you of this matter, and I have done so." + +Now I was full of many thoughts about this, but as yet I would say +little. So I asked: + +"What of Ingvar's moods? are they more fierce than his wont?" + +"Well, between us twain," he answered, looking at Cyneward, who sat +apart from us across the king's chamber where we were, "Ingvar is +not all himself lately, and all men fear him, so that he is no loss +to the host." + +I knew somewhat, I thought, of the reason for this, and so did +Cyneward, but passed that over. Now nothing seemed more plain to me +than that Halfden meant that I should seek Osritha. + +"What is Halfden doing?" I asked. "Will he not go back to your own +land?" + +"Why, no. For he takes Northumbria as his share of what we have +won. Hubba is there now. But we fight to gain more if we may, and +if not, to make sure of what we have. One way or another Ethelred's +power to attack us must be broken." + +"So Halfden bides in England. What meant he by his message?" + +"Why, Wulfric, if you cannot see I will not tell you." + +"What of Ingvar?" + +"Now, Wulfric," said Thormod, "if I did not know that you at least +were not afraid of him, I should say that he was best left alone. +But as neither you nor I fear him, let us go and see what may be +done." + +"Let me think thereof," said I, not yet daring to make so sure of +what I most wished. + +"Shall I tell Osritha that Wulfric thought twice of coming to see +her?" + +"That you shall not," I cried; "I do but play with my happiness. +Surely I will go, and gladly. But will she welcome me?" + +"Better come and see concerning that also," he answered, laughing a +little, so that one might know what he meant. + +"Let us go at once on this tide," I said, starting up. + +"Not so fast now, comrade," laughed Thormod. "Would you come again +half starved, as last time, into the lady's presence?" + +Then I called Cyneward, but when he rose up and came to us, Thormod +stared at him, crying: + +"You here, Raud! I thought you were with Ingvar." + +"Aye, Thormod, I am here--at least Cyneward, who was Raud, is with +Wulfric." + +"Ho! Then you have turned Christian?" + +"Aye," answered Cyneward, flushing, though not with shame, for it +was the first time he had owned his faith to one of his former +comrades. + +"Now I thought this likely to happen to some of us," said Thormod, +not showing much surprise, "if maybe it is sooner than one might +have looked for. However, that is your concern, not mine. Keep out +of Ingvar's way, though." + +"I bide here with Wulfric," he answered, having paid no heed to our +low-voiced talk. + +"Wulfric sails with me to find--Ingvar," said Thormod, and at that +Cyneward turned to me in surprise. + +"Not Ingvar," said I, "but one in his house. Will you come with +me?" + +Then he understood, and his face showed his gladness. + +"This is well," he cried; "gladly will I go with you and return +with that other." + +"That is to be seen," I answered, though I thought it surely would +be so. "Now go and see to the arms and all things needful, and send +the steward to me, for we have to victual the ship." + +So I left Thormod with the steward and sought Ingild, telling him +what I would do. Whereat he, knowing my trouble, was very glad; and +then Egfrid would fain come with me also when he heard. That, +however, I would not suffer, seeing that there was Ingvar to be +dealt with. My mother wept, and would have me not go. But here my +sister helped me. + +"Bring Osritha back if you can," she said. "Soon will our house be +built again, and we shall go, and you will be lonely." + +For Egfrid's father had owned Guthrum, and his house and theirs +were nigh rebuilt. + +In a day's time Thormod and I set sail, and once more I took the +helm as we went out over our bar. And the quiver of the tiller in +my hands and the long lift of the ship over the rollers seemed to +put fresh life in me, and my gloom passed away as if it had never +been. + +The breeze was fresh, and the ship flew, yet not fast enough for +me, though so well sailed ours that when day broke the other was +hull down astern of us, and at night we had lost her altogether. +And the breeze held and the spray flew, and I walked the deck +impatiently, while Thormod from the helm smiled at me. Bright were +the skies over me, and bright the blue water that flashed below the +ship's keel, but my thoughts would even have brightened such leaden +skies as those that last saw me cross along this ocean path. And I +thought that I could deal with Ingvar now. + + + +CHAPTER XVI. HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA HOME. + + +There was a haze far out at sea, and a fog was coming in with the +tide when we came to the mouth of Ingvar's haven; and rounded the +spit of land that shelters it from the southerly winds. Soon we +cleared it and then saw the town and hall above it at the head of +the haven, and what my longings were I need not write. + +Now by the wharves lay two ships, and I thought little of that, but +on seeing them, Thormod, by whose side I was as he steered, seemed +to wonder. + +"Ingvar has got another ship from somewhere," he said, "or has +built one this winter, for he sailed home with one only." + +Then, too, the men began to say the like, for the second ship was +strange to them also, and, as seamen will, they puzzled over her +until we were close at hand. But I leaned on the gunwale and +dreamed dreams of my own, paying no heed to their talk. + +Out of those dreams I was roused by Thormod's voice. + +"Yon ship is no Dane," he said sharply. "Clear the decks and get to +arms, men. Here is somewhat amiss." + +Then was a growl of wrath from our crew, yet no delay, and in a +moment every man was in his place. Down came the sail, and the mast +was lowered and hoisted on its stanchions overhead, and in five +minutes or less the oars were out, and the men who were arming +themselves ran to take them as they were ready, while those who had +rowed should get to arms also. Not for the first time saw I that +ship cleared for action, but never had I seen it done so swiftly, +though we had but half our fighting crew, sixty men instead of a +hundred and thirty or so. + +I armed myself swiftly as any, and Thormod bade me take Halfden's +place on the fore deck, where the men were already looking to +bowstrings and bringing up sheaves of arrows and darts. + +Then when I came they shouted, and one gray-headed warrior cried: + +"Now you have a good fight on hand, axeman." + +Then I asked: + +"Who are the strangers?" + +"It is a ship of the Jomsburg vikings," he said. "They know that +our men are all in England, and have come to see what we have left +behind--Thor's bolt light on them!" + +Now, of all savage vikings these Jomsburgers are the worst. +Red-handed they are, sparing none, and it is said of them that they +will sacrifice men to the gods they worship before a great fight. +Nor are they all of one race, but are the fiercest men of all the +races of the Baltic gathered into that one nest of pirates, +Jomsburg. + +Now a cold thrill of fear for Osritha ran through me, and then came +hot rage, and for a little I was beside myself, as it were, glaring +on that ship. Then I grew cool and desperate, longing only to be +hand to hand with them. + +Swiftly we bore down on the ship, and now from her decks came the +hoarse call of uncouth war horns, and her crew came swarming back +from the streets with shouts and yells, crossing Ingvar's ship to +reach their own, for she lay alongside, stem to stern of the Dane, +and next to the open water. + +Now I could see that men fought with the last of the Jomsburgers as +they came down the street to their ship, and there were no houses +burning, so that they could have been for no long time ashore. And +that was good to know. + +We came into the channel abreast of her, and then Thormod roared to +me: + +"Now I will ram her. Board her as we strike if we do not sink her!" + +Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at the +oars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck warriors +gripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped like a +falcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled and +left their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, while +some tried to cast off, but too late. + +"Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew. + +Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and the +smitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed the +higher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree. + +Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our dragon +stem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, splintering +the rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk on either +side of our bows, while above the rending of planks and rush of +waters rose the howls of the drowning men. + +I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet my +men went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again with +a great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as I +leapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before me. + +Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought at +close quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearer +than life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after our +cheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing of +weapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of the +foul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths of +our men. + +Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp over +me, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us, +and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and on +either side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ring +of dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of that +mist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled by +whom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if one +slew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place, +seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battle +sounded, and the fight never slackened. + +All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must keep +my own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha and +home and happiness--surely the best things for which a man can +fight next to his faith. And now men began to shout their war cries +that friend might rally to friend rather than smite him coming as a +ghost through the mist. Then a man next me cried between his teeth: + +"It is Ragnaroek come--and these are Odin's foes against whom we +fight." + +And so smote the more fiercely till he fell beside me, crying: +"Ahoy! A Raven!--a Raven!" + +Then was I down on the slippery deck, felled by a blow from a great +stone hammer that some wild pirate flung over the heads of his +comrades before me, and Cyneward dragged me up quickly, so that I +think he saved my life that time. And I fought on, dazed, and as in +a dream I fancied that I was on the deck of my father's ship +fighting the fight that I looked for in the fog that brought my +friend Halfden. + +When my brain cleared, I knew not which way we faced. Only that +Cyneward was yet with me, and that out of the dimness came against +us Jomsburgers clad in outlandish armour, and with shouts to +strange gods as they fell on me. + +"Hai, Wainomoinen! Swantewit, ho!" + +Then I cast away my shield, for I grew weary, and taking both hands +to my axe, fought with a dull rage that I should have fallen, and +that there were so many against me. And all alone we two seemed to +fight by reason of the fog, though I heard the shouts of our crew +to right and left unceasingly. + +Then I felled a man, and one leapt back into mist and was gone, and +a giant shape rose up against me out of the thickness, towering +alone, and at this I smote fiercely. Yet it was not mail or +hardened deerskin that I smote, but solid timber, and I could not +free my axe again, so strongly had I smitten. + +It was the high stem head of the vessel. For I and my men had +cleared away the foe from amidships to bows, and still the noise of +fight went on behind us, while the fog was thick as ever. + +Then Cyneward leaned against the stem head and laughed. + +"Pity so good a stroke was wasted on timber, master," he said. + +"Pull it out for me," I answered, "my arm is tired." + +For now I began to know that my left shoulder was not yet so strong +as once. + +He tugged at the axe and freed it, not without trouble. + +"What now?" said one of the men. + +But a great shout came from aft, and then a silence that seemed +strange. We were still, to hear what we might, and I think that +others listened for us. + +"Surely we have cleared the ship?" I said. "Let us go and see." + +Then I hailed our men, asking how they fared--and half I feared to +hear the howl and rush of pirates coming back on us. But it was a +Danish voice that called back to me that the last foe was gone. + +We stumbled back now along either gunwale, over the bodies of +friend and foe that cumbered all the deck, and most thickly and in +heaps amidships, where our first rush fell. One by one from aft met +us those who were left of the men who had fought their way to the +stern. Well for us was it that the darkness had hindered the +Jomsburgers from knowing how few we were and how divided. But +shoulder to shoulder we had fought as vikings will, never giving +back, but ever taking one step forward as our man went down before +us. + +Now I called to Thormod, and his voice answered me from shoreward. + +"Here am I, Wulfric. How have you sped?" + +"Some of us are left, but no foemen," I answered. + +"Call your names," he said. And when we counted I had but sixteen +left of my thirty, so heavy had been the fighting. Yet I thought +that the Jomsburgers were two to our one as we fell on them, and of +them was not one left. + +"What now?" asked Thormod. "There are more of these men in the +town. Here have I been keeping them back from the ship." + +"Let us go up to the hall," I answered. "We could find our way in +the dark, and they cannot tell where they are in this fog." + +So I and my men climbed on to the wharf, and there were the rest of +the crew with Thormod, who had crossed the decks as we cleared a +passage, even as the fog came down, and had driven the rest of the +Jomsburgers away from the landing place before they could join +those in the ship. Well for us it was that he had done this, or we +should have been overborne by numbers, for the ship was a large +one, carrying maybe seven score men. + +"We must leave your tired men with the ship and go carefully," said +Thormod. "Likely enough we shall have another fight." + +We marched up the well-known street four abreast, and as we left +the waterside the fog was thinner, so that we could see the houses +on either side of the way well enough. And as we went we were +joined by many of Ingvar's people, old men and boys mostly, who had +been left at home when the fleet sailed. And they told us that the +Jomsburg men were round the great house itself. + +Yet we could hear no sound of them, and that seemed strange, so +that we feared somewhat, drawing together lest a rush on us were +planned. But beyond a few men slain in the street we saw nothing +till we came to the gate of the stockade. And that was beaten down, +while some Danes and Jomsburgers lay there as they had fallen when +this was done. + +Now when we saw this I know not which was the stronger, rage or +surprise, and I called one of the old men. + +"Where is the king?" I asked. + +"He is not in the town," he said; "he is away with his own +courtmen, fighting against these pirates for Jarl Swend, who is +beset by them." + +Now it was plain that this ship came from that place; either beaten +off, or knowing that Ingvar's haven lay open to attack while his +men were away thus. And a greater fear than any came over me. + +"Where is the Lady Osritha?" I said. + +"She was here in the town this morning." + +"So, Wulfric," said Thormod quickly, "she will have fled. The +steward will have seen to that. No use her biding here when the +ship came." + +So I thought, but I was torn with doubt, not knowing if time for +flight had been given, or if even now some party of Jomsburgers +might not be following hard after her. I must go into the hall and +find out, whatever the risk, for it was certain that it held the +rest of the pirates. + +"Leave men here to guard the gates," I said to Thormod. "Needs must +that we see more of this." + +Ten men stayed at the gate, lest Jomsburgers lurked in the houses +to fall on us, and we went across to the great porch. The door was +open, nor could we see much within; and there was silence. + +"Stand by," said Thormod, and picked up a helm that lay at his +feet. + +He hurled it through the door, and it clanged and leapt from the +further wall across the cold hearthstone. Then there was a stir of +feet and click of arms inside, and we knew that the hall was full +of men. + +I know not what my thoughts were--but woe to any pirate who came +within my reach. + +"Show yourselves like men!" shouted Thormod, standing back. + +Then, seeing that there was no hope that we should fall into this +trap they had laid, there came into the doorway a great, +black-haired Jomsburg Lett, clad in mail of hardened deerskin, such +as the Lapp wizards make, and helmed with a wolf's head over the +iron head piece. He carried a long-handled bronze axe, and a great +sword was by his side. + +"Yield yourselves!" said Thormod. + +The savage hove up his axe, stepping one pace nearer into the +porch. + +"What terms?" he said in broken Danish. + +"Give up your prisoners and arms, and you shall go free," answered +Thormod, for he feared lest if any captives were left alive they +would be slain if we fought. + +"Come and take them!" spoke back the Jomsburger in his harsh voice, +and with a sneering laugh. + +Now I could not bear this any longer, and on that I swung my axe +and shouted, rushing on the man. Up went his long weapon overhead, +and like a flash he smote at me--but he forgot that he was in the +porch, and as his blow fell the axe lit on the crossbeams and stuck +there. The handle splintered, and he sprang back out of reach of my +stroke. + +Then I dropped my axe and closed with him, and I was like a Berserk +in my fury, so that I lifted him and flung him clear over my +shoulder, and he fell heavily on the threshold on his head. Nor did +he move again. + +Cyneward thrust my axe into my hand, as past me Thormod and the men +charged into the doorway. The hall was full of the pirates, and now +we fought again as on the decks, hand to hand in half darkness. But +it was no long fight, for those of our men who had been at the +gate, finding they might leave it, came round and fell on the +Jomsburgers from the back of the hall, coming through the other +doors. So there was an end, and though many of us were wounded, we +lost there but three men, for there were ale casks lying about, and +the pirates fought ill. + +Now we stood among the dead and looked in one another's faces. +There were no Danes among the Jomsburgers, and they had, as it +seemed, found the place empty. Then I thought: + +"Those men who fell at the gate should be honoured, for they have +fought and died to give time for flight to the rest." + +And I called Cyneward to me, and we went through the house from end +to end. Everywhere had been the pirates, rifling and spoiling in +haste, so that the hangings were falling from the walls, and rich +stuffs torn from chests and closets strewed the floors of Osritha's +bower. But we found no one. + +Then said Cyneward: + +"They are safe--fled under cover of the fog." + +But now broke out a noise of fighting in the streets, and we went +thither in haste. Some twenty Jomsburgers had sallied from a house, +and were fighting their way to the ships, for now one could see +well enough. They were back to back and edging their way onward, +while the boys and old men tried to stay them in vain. + +When they saw us, they broke and fled, and were pursued and slain +at last, one by one. Then were no more of that crew left. + +Now Thormod and I went back to the hall, and in the courtyard stood +a black horse, foam covered, and with deeply-spurred sides. It was +Ingvar's. + +And when we came to the porch, the axe still stuck in the timbers +overhead, and the Jomsburg chief's body lay where I had cast +him--but in the doorway, thin and white as a ghost, stood Ingvar +the king, looking on these things. + +He saw me, and gave back a pace or two, staring and amazed, and his +face began to work strangely, and he stepped back into the dim +light of the hall, and leant against the great table near the door, +clutching at its edge with his hands behind him, saying in a low +voice: + +"Mercy, King--have mercy!" + +Now, so unlike was this terror-stricken man to him who stood in +Hoxne woods bidding that other ask for mercy, and gnashing his +teeth with rage, that I could hardly think him Ingvar, rather +pitying him. I would have gone to him, but Thormod held me back. + +"Let him bide--the terror is on him again--it will pass soon." + +"Aye, I saw him thus once before in Wessex," said one of our men; +and I knew that this was what Cyneward had told me of. + +Very pitiful it was to see him standing thus helpless and unmanned, +while his white lips formed again and again the word of which he +once knew hardly the meaning--"Mercy". + +Presently his look came back from far away to us, and he breathed +freely. At last he stood upright and came again to the doorway, +trying to speak in his old way. + +"Here have you come in good time, comrades. Where are the +Jomsburgers?" + +"Gone," said Thormod, curtly. "Where were you, King?" + +Now Ingvar heeded me not, but answered Thormod. + +"With Jarl Swend beating off more of this crew. Then I saw the ship +leave, and I knew where she would go. Hard after me are my +courtmen, but I was swifter than they." + +Now all this was wearisome to me, for I would fain follow Osritha +in her flight, if I could. So I left Thormod, without a word to +Ingvar, and went to the stables. There were but two horses left, +and those none of the best; but Cyneward and I mounted them, and +rode as fast as we might on the road which he said was most likely +to be taken by fugitives. + +We had but two miles to ride, for in the fog that frightened crowd +of old men, women, and children had surely circled round, and had +it lasted would never have gone far from the town. + +When they saw us the women shrieked, and what men were with them +faced round to meet an attack, thinking the pirates followed them; +but we shouted to them to hold, as we were friends, though not +before an arrow or two flew towards us. + +At my voice, Osritha, who sat on her own horse in the midst of the +company, turned round, saying quickly: + +"Who is it speaks?" + +And I took off my helm, and she saw me plainly, and cried my name +aloud, and then swayed in her saddle and slipped thence into her +old steward's arms, and one or two of the maidens went to her help. + +But the men cheered, knowing that now help, and maybe victory, had +come with us. + +"Is all well?" they said in many voices. + +"All is well," I answered; "let us take back your mistress." + +Now Osritha came to herself, and saw me standing looking on her, +for I feared that she was dead, and she stretched her hands to me, +not regarding those around her in her joy and trouble. + +"Wulfric," she cried, "take me hence into some place of peace." + +I raised her very gently, holding her in my arms for a moment, but +not daring to speak to her as yet. And I lifted her into the saddle +again, telling her that all was well, and that we might take her +back to the town in safety. Then she smiled at me in silence, and I +walked beside her as we went back. + +Then rode forward Cyneward and the steward to deal so with matters +that the women might be terrified as little as possible with sights +of war time, and we followed slowly. Naught said Osritha to me as +we went, for there were too many near, and she knew not what I +might have to tell; yet her hand sought mine, and hand in hand we +came to Ingvar's house, and to the lesser door. There I left her, +and went to seek Thormod. + +The large hall was cleared, and little trace beyond the dint of +blows on walls and table showed what fight had raged therein, but +only Thormod and Cyneward and Ingvar were there; and Ingvar slept +heavily in his great chair. + +"This is his way of late," said Thormod, looking coldly at him; +"fury, and terror, and then sleep. I fear me that Ingvar the King +goes out of his mind with that of which he raves. Nor do I wonder, +knowing now from Cyneward here what that is. Little help shall we +take back from Ingvar, for he has bestirred himself to gather no +new host since he came back." + +"Men said that trouble at home brought him from England. I suppose +he judged it likely that the Jomsburgers might give trouble," I +said. + +"The foes that sent him back were--ghosts," said Thormod bitterly. +"Come and let us see to the ship." + +So we went down to the wharf, and found the ship but little hurt by +that business. And I stayed on board her that night, for I would +not see Ingvar again just yet. + +But in the early morning he sent to beg me to speak with him, and I +came. He sat in his great chair, and I stood before him. + +"You have brought me a quiet night, Wulfric," he said. "Tell me how +you came here, for I think it was not that you would wish to see me +again." + +So Thormod had told him nothing, and I answered: + +"I came with Thormod for more men, for Ethelred the King is growing +strong against you. Have you heard no news?" + +"None," he said; "but that is not your errand, but his." + +"That will Thormod tell you, therefore," I answered. "As for me, I +came at Halfden's bidding, which Thormod told me." + +"What did Halfden bid you come here for?" + +"To take Osritha his sister into safety and peace again. Suffer me +to do so," I said, boldly enough, but yet quietly. + +Now Ingvar looked fixedly at me from under his brows, and I gave +back his look. Yet there was no silent defiance between us therein. + +"Take her," he said at length; "you have saved her from these +Jomsburgers, and you have the right. Take her where you will." + +"Do you come back with us, King?" I asked him, giving him no word +of thanks, for I owed him none. + +"Tell Guthrum from me that I shall never set foot in England again. +Tell him, if you will, that our shores here need watching against +outland foes, and that I will do it. Let him settle his kingship +with Hubba and Halfden." + +Then he paled and looked beyond me, adding in a low voice: "Eadmund +is king in East Anglia yet." + +Now I answered him not, fearing lest his terror should come on him +again. And slowly he slipped from his arm the great gold bracelet +that he had so nearly given Eadgyth. + +"Tell your people that never should a bridal train cross the Bridge +of the Golden Spurs on the way to the church while the brook flows +to the sea, lest ill should befall both bride and groom, because +thus found I Eadmund the King, whose face is ever before me by +night and day. Take this gold, I pray you, Wulfric, and lay it on +the tomb where his bones are, in token that he has conquered--and +let me fight my shame alone till I die." + +Wondering, I took the bracelet, pitying the man again, yet fearing +what he might say and do next, for I thought that maybe he would +slay himself, so hopeless looked he. + +"Fain would I have been your friend," he said, "but pride would not +let me. Yet Eadgyth your sister and Egfrid called me so, and maybe +that one deed of ruth may help me. Now go, lest I become weak +again. Lonely shall I be, for you take all that I hold dear--but +even that is well." + +So he turned from me, and I went out without a word, for he was +Ingvar. Yet sometimes I wish that I had bidden him farewell, when +the thought of his dark face comes back to me as I saw him for the +last time in his own hall, leaning away from me over his carven +chair, and very still. + +I sought Thormod, and told him that he must see the king with his +tidings, for I would not see his face again. + +"Nor shall we see Jutland again," he said, pointing to the ship, +which lay now in the same place where the pirate had been, +alongside Ingvar's. And the other ship had come in during the +night, and was at anchor in the haven. + +"Shall we sail home at once?" I asked him. + +"Aye; no use in waiting. We are wanted at Guthrum's side, and can +take no men, but a few boys back. Yet the other ship will stay +while I send messengers inland, if Ingvar will not. But I shall +return no more." + +"Then," said I, "I will speak to the Lady Osritha." + +"Go at once," he said, smiling; "bid her come with us to the better +home we have found." + +I had not seen Osritha since I left her yesterday, and now I feared +a little, not knowing how she would look on things. + +Yet I need not have feared, for when they took me to her bower she +rose up and came to me, falling on my neck and weeping, and I knew +that I had found her again not to part with her. + +When she grew calmer, I asked her if she would return with us to +Reedham, telling her how there would be no fear of war there in the +time to come. And she held her peace, so that I thought she would +not, and tried to persuade her, telling her what a welcome would be +to her from all our folk, and also from the Danish people who loved +her so well. + +So I went on, until at last she raised her head, smiling at me. + +"Surely I will follow you--let me be with you where you will." + +So it came to pass that next day we sailed, Osritha taking her four +maidens with her, for they would not leave her; having, moreover, +somewhat to draw them overseas even as I had been drawn to this +place again. And with us went close on a score of women and +children whose menfolk were settled already near to Reedham. These +were the first who came into our land, but they were not to be the +last. + +I had seen Ingvar no more, busying myself about fitting the ship +with awnings and the like for these passengers of ours; and what +Thormod did about the men he sought I know not, nor did I care to +know. + +There is a dead tree which marks the place where I had been cast +ashore in Lodbrok's boat, and which is the last point of land on +which one looks as the ship passes to the open sea from the haven. +And there we saw Ingvar the king for the last time. All alone he +stood with his hands resting on his sword, looking at our ship as +she passed. Nor did he move from that place all the time we could +see him. + +Silently Thormod gave the tiller into my hands, and went to the +flag halliards. Thrice he dipped Halfden's flag in salute, but +Ingvar made no sign, and so he faded from our sight, and after that +we spoke no more of him. But Osritha wept a little, for she had +loved him even while she dreaded him, and now she should see him no +more. + +Very quietly passed the voyage, though the light wind was against +us, and we were long on the way, for we were too short handed to +row, and must beat to windward over every mile of our course. Yet I +think of the long days and moonlit evenings on the deck of +Halfden's ship with naught but keenest pleasure, for there I +watched the life and colour come back into Osritha's face, and +strove to make the voyage light to her in every way. And I had +found my heart's desire, and was happy. + +Then at last one night we crossed the bar of our own haven, and the +boats came out to meet us, boarding us with rough voices of hearty +welcome; and from her awning crept Osritha, standing beside me as I +took the ship in, and seeing the black outline of hill and church +and hall across the quiet moonlit water. And when the red light +from wharf and open house doors danced in long lines on the ripples +towards us, and voices hailed our ship from shore, and our men +answered back in cheery wise, she drew nearer me, saying: + +"Is this home, Wulfric?" + +"Aye," I answered. "Your home and mine, Osritha--and peace." + +Now have I little more to say, for I have told what I set out to +tell--how Lodbrok the Dane came from over seas, and what befell +thereafter. For now came to us at Reedham long years of peace that +nothing troubled. And those years, since Osritha and I were wedded +at Reedham very soon after we came home, have flown very quickly. + +Yet there came to us echoes of war from far-off Wessex, as man +after man crept back to Anglia from the great host where Guthrum +and Hubba warred with Alfred the king. And tired and worn out with +countless battles, these men settled down with us in peace to till +the land they had helped to lay waste and win. Hard it was to see +the farms pass to alien owners at first, but I will not say that +England has altogether lost, for these Danes are surely becoming +English in all love of our land; and they have brought us new +strength, with the old freedom of our forefathers, which some of us +had nigh forgotten. + +Now today I know that all the land is at peace, for Alfred is +victor, and Guthrum is Athelstan the Christian king of Eastern +England; and I for one will own him unasked, for he has governed +well, and English is our overlord. + +But Hubba is dead in far-off Devon, slain as he landed as Halfden +had landed, to hem Wessex in between Guthrum and himself, and his +dream of taking the Wessex kingdom is over. And the Raven banner +that my Osritha made flaps its magic wings no more, for it hangs in +Alfred's peaceful hall, a trophy of Saxon valour. + +Thormod, my comrade, lies in his mound in wild Strathclyde, slain +fighting beside Halfden my brother, the king of Northumbria. Him I +have seen once or twice, and ever does he look for peace that he +may sail to Reedham and bide with us for a while. Well loved is +Halfden, and he is English in every thought. + +Many of our old viking crew are here with me, for they would fain +find land in our country, and I gave them the deserted coast lands +that lie to our northward, round the great broads. Good lands they +are, and in giving them I harmed none. Filby and Ormesby and +Rollesby they have called their new homesteads, giving them Danish +names. + +Now as to our own folk. My mother is gone, but first she stood for +Osritha at the font, naming her again with the name by which I +learnt to love her, for I would not have it changed. + +Gone also has good old Ingild; but before he went he and I were +able without fear of hindrance to build a little church of squared +oaken timbers at Hoxne, for the heathen worship died quickly from +among our Danes. On that church, Cyneward, who was Raud, and is our +well-loved steward, wrought lovingly with his own hands side by +side with the good monk who baptized him. And he has carved a +wondrous oaken shrine for the remains of our martyred king, whereon +lies the bracelet that Ingvar sent in token that Eadmund had +conquered him who was his slayer. + +How fared Ingvar I know not, for soon the incoming tide of Danes +slackened, and I heard no news of him; and, as he said, never did +he set foot on English shores again. + +Egfrid and Eadgyth are happy in their place at Hoxne, and on them +at least has fallen no shadow of misfortune from that which came of +their passing over the Bridge of the Golden Spurs--the Golden +Bridge as our folk call it now. + +Yet it needed no words of Ingvar's to keep the memory of that day's +work alive in the minds of our people. Never so long as the Gold +Brook flows beneath that bridge will a bridal pass churchwards over +its span, for there, but for such a crossing, Eadmund the king +might have bided safely till Ingvar the Dane had passed and gone. + +Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but this +I know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and English +will have become his mighty host, but in every English heart will +live the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and country. + + + +NOTES. + + +i Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old mythology, by whose +nets drowning men were said to be entangled. + +ii The Jarl ranked next to the king, and was often equally +powerful. Our English title "Earl" is derived from this. + +iii A small wharf. + +iv A lay brother of the monastery of Hackness, near Whitby, who +rendered the Sacred Histories into verse about A.D. 680. + +v Now Whitby. The present name was given by the Danish +settlers. + +vi As if under the shadow of coming death. + +vii The Viking ship of war, or "long ship". + +viii The usual Scandinavian and Danish greeting: "Health". + +ix After expulsion from his bishopric of York by King Egfrid. + +x Mail shirt. + +xi The fine allowed as penalty for killing an adversary in a +quarrel, or by mischance. The penalty for wilful murder was death. + +xii Nidring, niddering, or nithing, may be beet expressed by +"worthless ". It was the extreme term of reproach to a Saxon. + +xiii The "Lodbrokar-Quida", which is still in existence. By +some authorities Ragnar is said to have been the father of Ingvar +and Hubba, but the dates are most uncertain. + +xiv "The Fates" of the Northern mythology. + +xv St. Ansgar, or Ansgarius, built the first church in Denmark +at Hedeby, now Slesvig, in 840 A.D. + +xvi The "twilight of the Gods", when the Asir were to fight +against the powers of evil, and a new order should commence. + +xvii The Danes traced their origin back to a great migration +from the East, under Odin. Their priesthood was vested in the head +of the tribe after the ancient patriarchal custom. + +xviii The great representative Council from which our +Parliament sprang. + +xix Four degrees of kingship are spoken of in the Sagas, the +highest being the overlord, to whom the lesser kings paid tribute. +The "kings of the host" came third in rank, the "sea kings" last, +these being usually sons of under kings, to whom a ship or two had +been given. + +xx Now Peterborough. + +xxi Tribute. + +xxii "The King's Guardian." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WULFRIC THE WEAPON THANE*** + + +******* This file should be named 13752.txt or 13752.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/7/5/13752 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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