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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Wanderer's Necklace, by H. Rider Haggard
+
+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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Wanderer's Necklace
+
+Author: H. Rider Haggard
+
+Release Date: April 5, 2006 [EBook #3097]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WANDERER'S NECKLACE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by John Bickers; Dagny
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WANDERER'S NECKLACE
+
+by H. Rider Haggard
+
+
+First Published 1914.
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+In memory of Oodnadatta and many wanderings oversea I offer these
+pictures from the past, my dear Vincent, to you, a lover of the present
+if an aspirant who can look upon the future with more of hope than fear.
+Your colleague,
+
+H. Rider Haggard. To Sir Edgar Vincent, K.C.M.G.
+
+Ditchingham,
+
+November, 1913.
+
+
+
+
+NOTE BY THE EDITOR
+
+It chances that I, the Editor of these pages--for, in truth, that is
+my humble function--have recovered a considerable knowledge of a bygone
+life of mine. This life ended in times that are comparatively recent,
+namely, early in the ninth century, as is fixed by the fact that the
+Byzantine Empress, Irene, plays a part in the story.
+
+The narrative, it will be observed, is not absolutely consecutive; that
+is to say, all the details are not filled in. Indeed, it has returned to
+me in a series of scenes or pictures, and although each scene or picture
+has to do with every other, there are sometimes gaps between them. To
+take one example among several--the journey of Olaf (in those days
+my name was Olaf, or Michael after I was baptised) from the North to
+Constantinople is not recorded. The curtain drops at Aar in Jutland
+and rises again in Byzantium. Only those events which were of the most
+importance seem to have burned themselves into my subconscious memory;
+many minor details have vanished, or, at least, I cannot find them.
+This, however, does not appear to me to be a matter for regret. If every
+episode of a full and eventful life were painted in, the canvas would be
+overloaded and the eye that studied it bewildered.
+
+I do not think that I have anything more to say. My tale must speak
+for itself. So I will but add that I hold it unnecessary to set out the
+exact method by which I have been able to dig it and others from the
+quarry of my past. It is a gift which, although small at first, I have
+been able gradually to develop. Therefore, as I wish to hide my present
+identity, I will only sign myself
+
+The Editor.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WANDERER'S NECKLACE
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I
+
+AAR
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BETROTHAL OF OLAF
+
+Of my childhood in this Olaf life I can regain but little. There come to
+me, however, recollections of a house, surrounded by a moat, situated in
+a great plain near to seas or inland lakes, on which plain stood mounds
+that I connected with the dead. What the dead were I did not quite
+understand, but I gathered that they were people who, having once walked
+about and been awake, now laid themselves down in a bed of earth and
+slept. I remember looking at a big mound which was said to cover a chief
+known as "The Wanderer," whom Freydisa, the wise woman, my nurse, told
+me had lived hundreds or thousands of years before, and thinking that so
+much earth over him must make him very hot at nights.
+
+I remember also that the hall called Aar was a long house roofed with
+sods, on which grew grass and sometimes little white flowers, and that
+inside of it cows were tied up. We lived in a place beyond, that was
+separated off from the cows by balks of rough timber. I used to watch
+them being milked through a crack between two of the balks where a
+knot had fallen out, leaving a convenient eyehole about the height of a
+walking-stick from the floor.
+
+One day my elder and only brother, Ragnar, who had very red hair, came
+and pulled me away from this eyehole because he wanted to look through
+it himself at a cow that always kicked the girl who milked it. I howled,
+and Steinar, my foster-brother, who had light-coloured hair and blue
+eyes, and was much bigger and stronger than I, came to my help, because
+we always loved each other. He fought Ragnar and made his nose bleed,
+after which my mother, the Lady Thora, who was very beautiful, boxed
+his ears. Then we all cried, and my father, Thorvald, a tall man, rather
+loosely made, who had come in from hunting, for he carried the skin of
+some animal of which the blood had run down on to his leggings, scolded
+us and told my mother to keep us quiet as he was tired and wanted to
+eat.
+
+That is the only scene which returns to me of my infancy.
+
+The next of which a vision has come to me is one of a somewhat similar
+house to our own in Aar, upon an island called Lesso, where we were all
+visiting a chief of the name of Athalbrand. He was a fierce-looking
+man with a great forked beard, from which he was called Athalbrand
+Fork-beard. One of his nostrils was larger than the other, and he had a
+droop in his left eye, both of which peculiarities came to him from some
+wound or wounds that he had received in war. In those days everybody was
+at war with everybody else, and it was quite uncommon for anyone to live
+until his hair turned grey.
+
+The reason of our visit to this chief Athalbrand was that my elder
+brother, Ragnar, might be betrothed to his only surviving child, Iduna,
+all of whose brothers had been killed in some battle. I can see Iduna
+now as she was when she first appeared before us. We were sitting at
+table, and she entered through a door at the top of the hall. She
+was clothed in a blue robe, her long fair hair, whereof she had an
+abundance, was arranged in two plaits which hung almost to her knees,
+and about her neck and arms were massive gold rings that tinkled as she
+walked. She had a round face, coloured like a wild rose, and innocent
+blue eyes that took in everything, although she always seemed to look
+in front of her and see nothing. Her lips were very red and appeared to
+smile. Altogether I thought her the loveliest creature that ever I had
+looked on, and she walked like a deer and held her head proudly.
+
+Still, she did not please Ragnar, who whispered to me that she was sly
+and would bring mischief on all that had to do with her. I, who at the
+time was about twenty-one years of age, wondered if he had gone mad to
+talk thus of this beautiful creature. Then I remembered that just before
+we had left home I had caught Ragnar kissing the daughter of one of our
+thralls behind the shed in which the calves were kept. She was a brown
+girl, very well made, as her rough robe, fastened beneath her breast
+with a strap, showed plainly, and she had big dark eyes with a sleepy
+look in them. Also, I never saw anyone kiss quite so hard as she did;
+Ragnar himself was outpassed. I think that is why even the great lady,
+Iduna the Fair, did not please him. All the while he was thinking of the
+brown-eyed girl in the russet robe. Still, it is true that, brown-eyed
+girl or no, he read Iduna aright.
+
+Moreover, if Ragnar did not like Iduna, from the first Iduna hated
+Ragnar. So it came about that, although both my father, Thorvald, and
+Iduna's father, Athalbrand, stormed and threatened, these two declared
+that they would have nothing to do with each other, and the project of
+their marriage came to an end.
+
+On the night before we were to leave Lesso, whence Ragnar had already
+gone, Athalbrand saw me staring at Iduna. This, indeed, was not
+wonderful, as I could not take my eyes from her lovely face, and when
+she looked at me and smiled with those red lips of hers I became like a
+silly bird that is bewitched by a snake. At first I thought that he was
+going to be angry, but suddenly some idea seemed to strike him so that
+he called my father, Thorvald, outside the house. Afterwards I was sent
+for, and found the two of them seated on a three-cornered, flat stone,
+talking in the moonlight, for it was summer-time, when everything looks
+blue at night and the sun and the moon ride in the sky together. Near by
+stood my mother, listening.
+
+"Olaf," said my father, "would you like to marry Iduna the Fair?"
+
+"Like to marry Iduna?" I gasped. "Aye, more than to be High King of
+Denmark, for she is no woman, but a goddess."
+
+At this saying my mother laughed, and Athalbrand, who knew Iduna when
+she did not seem a goddess, called me a fool. Then they talked, while I
+stood trembling with hope and fear.
+
+"He's but a second son," said Athalbrand.
+
+"I have told you there is land enough for both of them, also the
+gold that came with his mother will be his, and that's no small sum,"
+answered Thorvald.
+
+"He's no warrior, but a skald," objected Athalbrand again; "a silly
+half-man who makes songs and plays upon the harp."
+
+"Songs are sometimes stronger than swords," replied my father, "and,
+after all, it is wisdom that rules. One brain can govern many men; also,
+harps make merry music at a feast. Moreover, Olaf is brave enough. How
+can he be otherwise coming of the stock he does?"
+
+"He is thin and weedy," objected Athalbrand, a saying that made my
+mother angry.
+
+"Nay, lord Athalbrand," she said; "he is tall and straight as a dart,
+and will yet be the handsomest man in these parts."
+
+"Every duck thinks it has hatched out a swan," grumbled Athalbrand,
+while with my eyes I implored my mother to be silent.
+
+Then he thought for awhile, pulling at his long forked beard, and said
+at last:
+
+"My heart tells me no good of such a marriage. Iduna, who is the only
+one left to me, could marry a man of more wealth and power than this
+rune-making stripling is ever likely to be. Yet just now I know none
+such whom I would wish to hold my place when I am gone. Moreover, it is
+spread far and wide throughout the land that my daughter is to be wed to
+Thorvald's son, and it matters little to which son. At least, I will not
+have it said that she has been given the go-by. Therefore, let this Olaf
+take her, if she will have him. Only," he added with a growl, "let him
+play no tricks like that red-headed cub, his brother Ragnar, if he would
+not taste of a spear through his liver. Now I go to learn Iduna's mind."
+
+So he went; as did my father and mother, leaving me alone, thinking and
+thanking the gods for the chance that had come my way--yes, and blessing
+Ragnar and that brown-eyed wench who had thrown her spell over him.
+
+Whilst I stood thus I heard a sound, and, turning, saw Iduna gliding
+towards me in the blue twilight, looking more lovely than a dream. At my
+side she stopped and said:
+
+"My father tells me you wish to speak with me," and she laughed a little
+softly and held me with her beautiful eyes.
+
+After that I know not what happened till I saw Iduna bending towards
+me like a willow in the wind, and then--oh, joy of joys!--felt her kiss
+upon my lips. Now my speech was unsealed, and I told her the tale that
+lovers have always told. How that I was ready to die for her (to which
+she answered that she had rather that I lived, since ghosts were no good
+husbands); how that I was not worthy of her (to which she answered that
+I was young, with all my time before me, and might live to be greater
+than I thought, as she believed I should); and so forth.
+
+Only one more thing comes back to me of that blissful hour. Foolishly I
+said what I had been thinking, namely, that I blessed Ragnar. At these
+words, of a sudden Iduna's face grew stern and the lovelight in her eyes
+was changed to such as gleams from swords.
+
+"I do not bless Ragnar," she answered. "I hope one day to see
+Ragnar----" and she checked herself, adding: "Come, let us enter, Olaf.
+I hear my father calling me to mix his sleeping-cup."
+
+So we went into the house hand in hand, and when they saw us coming
+thus, all gathered there burst into shouts of laughter after their rude
+fashion. Moreover, beakers were thrust into our hands, and we were made
+to drink from them and swear some oath. Thus ended our betrothal.
+
+I think it was on the next day that we sailed for home in my father's
+largest ship of war, which was named the _Swan_. I went unwillingly
+enough, who desired to drink more of the delight of Iduna's eyes. Still,
+go I must, since Athalbrand would have it so. The marriage, he said,
+should take place at Aar at the time of the Spring feast, and not
+before. Meanwhile he held it best we should be apart that we might learn
+whether we still clung to each other in absence.
+
+These were the reasons he gave, but I think that he was already somewhat
+sorry for what he had done, and reflected that between harvest and
+springtime he might find another husband for Iduna, who was more to
+his mind. For Athalbrand, as I learned afterwards, was a scheming and a
+false-hearted man. Moreover, he was of no high lineage, but one who had
+raised himself up by war and plunder, and therefore his blood did not
+compel him to honour.
+
+
+
+The next scene which comes back to me of those early days is that of the
+hunting of the white northern bear, when I saved the life of Steinar, my
+foster-brother, and nearly lost my own.
+
+It was on a day when the winter was merging into spring, but the
+coast-line near Aar was still thick with pack ice and large floes which
+had floated in from the more northern seas. A certain fisherman who
+dwelt on this shore came to the hall to tell us that he had seen a great
+white bear on one of these floes, which, he believed, had swum from it
+to the land. He was a man with a club-foot, and I can recall a vision
+of him limping across the snow towards the drawbridge of Aar, supporting
+himself by a staff on the top of which was cut the figure of some
+animal.
+
+"Young lords," he cried out, "there is a white bear on the land, such a
+bear as once I saw when I was a boy. Come out and kill the bear and win
+honour, but first give me a drink for my news."
+
+At that time I think my father, Thorvald, was away from home with most
+of the men, I do not know why; but Ragnar, Steinar and I were lingering
+about the stead with little or nothing to do, since the time of sowing
+was not yet. At the news of the club-footed man, we ran for our spears,
+and one of us went to tell the only thrall who could be spared to make
+ready the horses and come with us. Thora, my mother, would have stopped
+us--she said she had heard from her father that such bears were very
+dangerous beasts--but Ragnar only thrust her aside, while I kissed her
+and told her not to fret.
+
+Outside the hall I met Freydisa, a dark, quiet woman of middle age,
+one of the virgins of Odin, whom I loved and who loved me and, save one
+other, me only among men, for she had been my nurse.
+
+"Whither now, young Olaf?" she asked me. "Has Iduna come here that you
+run so fast?"
+
+"No," I answered, "but a white bear has."
+
+"Oh! then things are better than I thought, who feared lest it might
+be Iduna before her time. Still, you go on an ill errand, from which I
+think you will return sadly."
+
+"Why do you say that, Freydisa?" I asked. "Is it just because you love
+to croak like a raven on a rock, or for some good reason?"
+
+"I don't know, Olaf," she answered. "I say things because they come to
+me, and I must, that is all. I tell you that evil will be born of this
+bear hunt of yours, and you had better stop at home."
+
+"To be laughed at by my brethren, Freydisa? Moreover, you are foolish,
+for if evil is to be, how can I avoid it? Either your foresight is
+nothing or the evil must come."
+
+"That is so," answered Freydisa. "From your childhood up you had the
+gift of reason which is more than is granted to most of these fools
+about us. Go, Olaf, and meet your fore-ordained evil. Still, kiss me
+before you go lest we should not see each other again for a while. If
+the bear kills you, at least you will be saved from Iduna."
+
+Now while she said these words I was kissing Freydisa, whom I loved
+dearly, but when I understood them I leapt back before she could kiss me
+again.
+
+"What do you mean by your talk about Iduna?" I asked. "Iduna is my
+betrothed, and I'll suffer no ill speech of her."
+
+"I know she is, Olaf. You've got Ragnar's leavings. Although he is so
+hot-headed, Ragnar is a wise dog in some ways, who can tell what he
+should not eat. There, begone, you think me jealous of Iduna, as old
+women can be, but it's not that, my dear. Oh! you'll learn before all is
+done, if you live. Begone, begone! I'll tell you no more. Hark, Ragnar
+is shouting to you," and she pushed me away.
+
+It was a long ride to where the bear was supposed to be. At first as we
+went we talked a great deal, and made a wager as to which of the three
+of us should first drive a spear into the beast's body so deep that the
+blade was hidden, but afterwards I grew silent. Indeed, I was musing so
+much of Iduna and how the time drew near when once more I should see her
+sweet face, wondering also why Ragnar and Freydisa should think so ill
+of her who seemed a goddess rather than a woman, that I forgot all about
+the bear. So completely did I forget it that when, being by nature very
+observant, I saw the slot of such a beast as we passed a certain birch
+wood, I did not think to connect it with that which we were hunting or
+to point it out to the others who were riding ahead of me.
+
+At length we came to the sea, and there, sure enough, saw a great
+ice-floe, which now and again tilted as the surge caught its broad green
+flank. When it tilted towards us we perceived a track worn deep into the
+ice by the paws of the prisoned bear as it had marched endlessly round.
+Also we saw a big grinning skull, whereon sat a raven picking at the
+eye-holes, and some fragments of white fur.
+
+"The bear is dead!" exclaimed Ragnar. "Odin's curse be on that
+club-footed fool who gave us this cold ride for nothing."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," said Steinar doubtfully. "Don't you think that it
+is dead, Olaf?"
+
+"What is the good of asking Olaf?" broke in Ragnar, with a loud laugh.
+"What does Olaf know about bears? He has been asleep for the last
+half-hour dreaming of Athalbrand's blue-eyed daughter; or perhaps he is
+making up another poem."
+
+"Olaf sees farther when he seems asleep than some of us do when we are
+awake," answered Steinar hotly.
+
+"Oh yes," replied Ragnar. "Sleeping or waking, Olaf is perfect in your
+eyes, for you've drunk the same milk, and that ties you tighter than a
+rope. Wake up, now, brother Olaf, and tell us: Is not the bear dead?"
+
+Then I answered, "Why, of course, a bear is dead; see its skull, also
+pieces of its hide?"
+
+"There!" exclaimed Ragnar. "Our family prophet has settled the matter.
+Let us go home."
+
+"Olaf said that _a_ bear was dead," answered Steinar, hesitating.
+
+Ragnar, who had already swung himself round in his quick fashion, spoke
+back over his shoulder:
+
+"Isn't that enough for you? Do you want to hunt a skull or the raven
+sitting on it? Or is this, perchance, one of Olaf's riddles? If so, I am
+too cold to guess riddles just now."
+
+"Yet I think there is one for you to guess, brother," I said gently,
+"and it is: Where is the live bear hiding? Can't you see that there
+were two bears on that ice-head, and that one has killed and eaten the
+other?"
+
+"How do you know that?" asked Ragnar.
+
+"Because I saw the slot of the second as we passed the birch wood
+yonder. It has a split claw on the left forefoot and the others are all
+worn by the ice."
+
+"Then why in Odin's name did you not say so before?" exclaimed Ragnar
+angrily.
+
+Now I was ashamed to confess that I had been dreaming, so I answered at
+hazard:
+
+"Because I wished to look upon the sea and the floating ice. See what
+wondrous colours they take in this light!"
+
+When he heard this, Steinar burst out laughing till tears came into his
+blue eyes and his broad shoulders shook. But Ragnar, who cared nothing
+for scenery or sunsets, did not laugh. On the contrary, as was usual
+with him when vexed, he lost his temper and swore by the more evil of
+the gods. Then he turned on me and said:
+
+"Why not tell the truth at once, Olaf? You are afraid of this beast, and
+that's why you let us come on here when you knew it was in the wood. You
+hoped that before we got back there it would be too dark to hunt."
+
+At this taunt I flushed and gripped the shaft of my long hunting spear,
+for among us Northmen to be told that he was afraid of anything was a
+deadly insult to a man.
+
+"If you were not my brother----" I began, then checked myself, for I was
+by nature easy-tempered, and went on: "It is true, Ragnar, I am not so
+fond of hunting as you are. Still, I think that there will be time to
+fight this bear and kill or be killed by it, before it grows dark, and
+if not I will return alone to-morrow morning."
+
+Then I pulled my horse round and rode ahead. As I went, my ears being
+very quick, I heard the other two talking together. At least, I suppose
+that I heard them; at any rate, I know what they said, although,
+strangely enough, nothing at all comes back to me of their tale of an
+attack upon a ship or of what then I did or did not do.
+
+"It is not wise to jeer at Olaf," said Steinar, "for when he is stung
+with words he does mad things. Don't you remember what happened when
+your father called him 'niddering' last year because Olaf said it was
+not just to attack the ship of those British men who had been driven to
+our coast by weather, meaning us no harm?"
+
+"Aye," answered Ragnar. "He leapt among them all alone as soon as our
+boat touched her side, and felled the steersman. Then the British men
+shouted out that they would not kill so brave a lad, and threw him into
+the sea. It cost us that ship, since by the time we had picked him up
+she had put about and hoisted her large sail. Oh, Olaf is brave enough,
+we all know that! Still, he ought to have been born a woman or a priest
+of Freya who only offers flowers. Also, he knows my tongue and bears no
+malice."
+
+"Pray that we get him home safe," said Steinar uneasily, "for if not
+there will be trouble with your mother and every other woman in the
+land, to say nothing of Iduna the Fair."
+
+"Iduna the Fair would live through it," answered Ragnar, with a hard
+laugh. "But you are right; and, what is more, there will be trouble
+among the men also, especially with my father and in my own heart. After
+all there is but one Olaf."
+
+At this moment I held up my hand, and they stopped talking.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE SLAYING OF THE BEAR
+
+Leaping from their horses, Ragnar and Steinar came to where I stood, for
+already I had dismounted and was pointing to the ground, which just here
+had been swept clear of snow by the wind.
+
+"I see nothing," said Ragnar.
+
+"But I do, brother," I answered; "who study the ways of wild things
+while you think I am asleep. Look, that moss has been turned over; for
+it is frozen underneath and pressed up into little mounds between the
+bear's claws. Also that tiny pool has gathered in the slot of the paw;
+it is its very shape. The other footprints do not show because of the
+rock."
+
+Then I went forward a few paces behind some bushes and called out: "Here
+runs the track, sure enough, and, as I thought, the brute has a split
+claw; the snow marks it well. Bid the thrall stay with the horses and
+come you."
+
+They obeyed, and there on the white snow which lay beyond the bush we
+saw the track of the bear stamped as if in wax.
+
+"A mighty beast," said Ragnar. "Never have I seen its like."
+
+"Aye," exclaimed Steinar, "but an ill place to hunt it in," and he
+looked doubtfully at the rough gorge, covered with undergrowth, that
+some hundred yards farther on became dense birch forest. "I think it
+would be well to ride back to Aar, and return to-morrow morning with all
+whom we can gather. This is no task for three spears."
+
+By this time I, Olaf, was springing from rock to rock up the gorge,
+following the bear's track. For my brother's taunts rankled in me and I
+was determined that I should kill this beast or die and thus show Ragnar
+that I feared no bear. So I called back to them over my shoulder:
+
+"Aye, go home, it is wisest; but I go on for I have never yet seen one
+of these white ice-bears alive."
+
+"Now it is Olaf who taunts in his turn," said Ragnar with a laugh. Then
+they both sprang after me, but always I kept ahead of them.
+
+For the half of a mile or more they followed me out of the scrub into
+the birch forest, where the snow, lying on the matted boughs of the
+trees and especially of some firs that were mingled with the birch, made
+the place gloomy in that low light. Always in front of me ran the huge
+slots of the bear till at length they brought me to a little forest
+glade, where some great whirling wind had torn up many trees which had
+but a poor root-hold on a patch of almost soilless rock.
+
+These trees lay in confusion, their tops, which had not yet rotted,
+being filled with frozen snow. On the edge of them I paused, having
+lost the track. Then I went forward again, casting wide as a hound does,
+while behind came Ragnar and Steinar, walking straight past the edge of
+the glade, and purposing to meet me at its head. This, indeed, Ragnar
+did, but Steinar halted because of a crunching sound that caught
+his ear, and then stepped to the right between two fallen birches to
+discover its cause. Next moment, as he told me afterwards, he stood
+frozen, for there behind the boughs of one of the trees was the huge
+white bear, eating some animal that it had killed. The beast saw him,
+and, mad with rage at being disturbed, for it was famished after its
+long journey on the floe, reared itself up on its hind legs, roaring
+till the air shook. High it towered, its hook-like claws outstretched.
+
+Steinar tried to spring back, but caught his foot, and fell. Well for
+him was it that he did so, for otherwise the blow which the bear struck
+would have crushed him to a pulp. The brute did not seem to understand
+where he had gone--at any rate, it remained upreared and beating at
+the air. Then a doubt took it, its huge paws sank until it sat like
+a begging dog, sniffing the wind. At this moment Ragnar came back
+shouting, and hurled his spear. It stuck in the beast's chest and hung
+there. The bear began to feel for it with its paws, and, catching the
+shaft, lifted it to its mouth and champed it, thus dragging the steel
+from its hide.
+
+Then it bethought it of Steinar, and, sinking down, discovered him, and
+tore at the birch tree under which he had crept till the splinters flew
+from its trunk. Just then I reached it, having seen all. By now the bear
+had its teeth fixed in Steinar's shoulder, or, rather, in his leathern
+garment, and was dragging him from under the tree. When it saw me it
+reared itself up again, lifting Steinar and holding him to its breast
+with one paw. I went mad at the sight, and charged it, driving my spear
+deep into its throat. With its other paw it struck the weapon from my
+hand, shivering the shaft. There it stood, towering over us like a white
+pillar, and roared with pain and fury, Steinar still pressed against it,
+Ragnar and I helpless.
+
+"He's sped!" gasped Ragnar.
+
+I thought for a flash of time, and--oh! well do I remember that moment:
+the huge beast foaming at the jaws and Steinar held to its breast as a
+little girl holds a doll; the still, snow-laden trees, on the top of one
+of which sat a small bird spreading its tail in jerks; the red light
+of evening, and about us the great silences of the sky above and of the
+lonely forest beneath. It all comes back to me--I can see it now quite
+clearly; yes, even the bird flitting to another twig, and there again
+spreading its tail to some invisible mate. Then I made up my mind what
+to do.
+
+"Not yet!" I cried. "Keep it in play," and, drawing my short and heavy
+sword, I plunged through the birch boughs to get behind the bear. Ragnar
+understood. He threw his cap into the brute's face, and then, after it
+had growled at him awhile, just as it dropped its great jaws to crunch
+Steinar, he found a bough and thrust it between them.
+
+By now I was behind the bear, and, smiting at its right leg below the
+knee, severed the tendon. Down it came, still hugging Steinar. I smote
+again with all my strength, and cut into its spine above the tail,
+paralysing it. It was a great blow, as it need to be to cleave the thick
+hair and hide, and my sword broke in the backbone, so that, like Ragnar,
+now I was weaponless. The forepart of the bear rolled about in the snow,
+although its after half was still.
+
+Then once more it seemed to bethink itself of Steinar, who lay unmoving
+and senseless. Stretching out a paw, it dragged him towards its champing
+jaws. Ragnar leapt upon its back and struck at it with his knife,
+thereby only maddening it the more. I ran in and grasped Steinar, whom
+the bear was again hugging to its breast. Seeing me, it loosed Steinar,
+whom I dragged away and cast behind me, but in the effort I slipped and
+fell forward. The bear smote at me, and its mighty forearm--well for me
+that it was not its claws--struck me upon the side of the head and sent
+me crashing into a tree-top to the left. Five paces I flew before my
+body touched the boughs, and there I lay quiet.
+
+I suppose that Ragnar told me what passed after this while I was
+senseless. At least, I know that the bear began to die, for my spear had
+pierced some artery in its throat, and all the talk which followed, as
+well as though I heard it with my ears. It roared and roared, vomiting
+blood and stretching out its claws after Steinar as Ragnar dragged him
+away. Then it laid its head flat upon the snow and died. Ragnar looked
+at it and muttered:
+
+"Dead!"
+
+Then he walked to that top of the fallen tree in which I lay, and
+again muttered: "Dead! Well, Valhalla holds no braver man than Olaf the
+Skald."
+
+Next he went to Steinar and once again exclaimed, "Dead!"
+
+For so he looked, indeed, smothered in the blood of the bear and with
+his garments half torn off him. Still, as the words passed Ragnar's lips
+he sat up, rubbed his eyes and smiled as a child does when it awakes.
+
+"Are you much hurt?" asked Ragnar.
+
+"I think not," he answered doubtfully, "save that I feel sore and my
+head swims. I have had a bad dream." Then his eyes fell on the bear, and
+he added: "Oh, I remember now; it was no dream. Where is Olaf?"
+
+"Supping with Odin," answered Ragnar and pointed to me.
+
+Steinar rose to his feet, staggered to where I lay, and stared at me
+stretched there as white as the snow, with a smile upon my face and in
+my hand a spray of some evergreen bush which I had grasped as I fell.
+
+"Did he die to save me?" asked Steinar.
+
+"Aye," answered Ragnar, "and never did man walk that bridge in better
+fashion. You were right. Would that I had not mocked him."
+
+"Would that I had died and not he," said Steinar with a sob. "It is
+borne in upon my heart that it were better I had died."
+
+"Then that may well be, for the heart does not lie at such a time. Also
+it is true that he was worth both of us. There was something more in him
+than there is in us, Steinar. Come, lift him to my back, and if you are
+strong enough, go on to the horses and bid the thrall bring one of them.
+I follow."
+
+Thus ended the fight with the great white bear.
+
+
+
+Some four hours later, in the midst of a raging storm of wind and rain,
+I was brought at last to the bridge that spanned the moat of the Hall of
+Aar, laid like a corpse across the back of one of the horses. They had
+been searching for us at Aar, but in that darkness had found nothing.
+Only, at the head of the bridge was Freydisa, a torch in her hand. She
+glanced at me by the light of the torch.
+
+"As my heart foretold, so it is," she said. "Bring him in," then turned
+and ran to the house.
+
+They bore me up between the double ranks of stabled kine to where the
+great fire of turf and wood burned at the head of the hall, and laid me
+on a table.
+
+"Is he dead?" asked Thorvald, my father, who had come home that night;
+"and if so, how?"
+
+"Aye, father," answered Ragnar, "and nobly. He dragged Steinar yonder
+from under the paws of the great white bear and slew it with his sword."
+
+"A mighty deed," muttered my father. "Well, at least he comes home in
+honour."
+
+But my mother, whose favourite son I was, lifted up her voice and
+wept. Then they took the clothes from off me, and, while all watched,
+Freydisa, the skilled woman, examined my hurts. She felt my head and
+looked into my eyes, and laying her ear upon my breast, listened for the
+beating of my heart.
+
+Presently she rose, and, turning, said slowly:
+
+"Olaf is not dead, though near to death. His pulses flutter, the light
+of life still burns in his eyes, and though the blood runs from his
+ears, I think the skull is not broken."
+
+When she heard these words, Thora, my mother, whose heart was weak,
+fainted for joy, and my father, untwisting a gold ring from his arm,
+threw it to Freydisa.
+
+"First the cure," she said, thrusting it away with her foot. "Moreover,
+when I work for love I take no pay."
+
+Then they washed me, and, having dressed my hurts, laid me on a bed
+near the fire that warmth might come back to me. But Freydisa would not
+suffer them to give me anything save a little hot milk which she poured
+down my throat.
+
+
+
+For three days I lay like one dead; indeed, all save my mother held
+Freydisa wrong and thought that I was dead. But on the fourth day I
+opened my eyes and took food, and after that fell into a natural
+sleep. On the morning of the sixth day I sat up and spoke many wild and
+wandering words, so that they believed I should only live as a madman.
+
+"His mind is gone," said my mother, and wept.
+
+"Nay," answered Freydisa, "he does but return from a land where they
+speak another tongue. Thorvald, bring hither the bear-skin."
+
+It was brought and hung on a frame of poles at the end of the niche in
+which I slept, that, as was usual among northern people, opened out of
+the hall. I stared at it for a long while. Then my memory came back and
+I asked:
+
+"Did the great beast kill Steinar?"
+
+"No," answered my mother, who sat by me. "Steinar was sore hurt, but
+escaped and now is well again."
+
+"Let me see him with my own eyes," I said.
+
+So he was brought, and I looked on him. "I am glad you live, my
+brother," I said, "for know in this long sleep of mine I have dreamed
+that you were dead"; and I stretched out my wasted arms towards him, for
+I loved Steinar better than any other man.
+
+He came and kissed me on the brow, saying:
+
+"Aye, thanks to you, Olaf, I live to be your brother and your thrall
+till the end."
+
+"My brother always, not my thrall," I muttered, for I was growing tired.
+Then I went to sleep again.
+
+Three days later, when my strength began to return, I sent for Steinar
+and said:
+
+"Brother, Iduna the Fair, whom you have never seen, my betrothed, must
+wonder how it fares with me, for the tale of this hurt of mine will have
+reached Lesso. Now, as there are reasons why Ragnar cannot go, and as
+I would send no mean man, I pray you to do me a favour. It is that you
+will take a boat and sail to Lesso, carrying with you as a present from
+me to Athalbrand's daughter the skin of that white bear, which I trust
+will serve her and me as a bed-covering in winter for many a year to
+come. Tell her, thanks be to the gods and to the skill of Freydisa, my
+nurse, I live who all thought must die, and that I trust to be strong
+and well for our marriage at the Spring feast which draws on. Say also
+that through all my sickness I have dreamed of none but her, as I trust
+that sometimes she may have dreamed of me."
+
+"Aye, I'll go," answered Steinar, "fast as horses' legs and sails can
+carry me," adding with his pleasant laugh: "Long have I desired to see
+this Iduna of yours, and to learn whether she is as beautiful as you
+say; also what it is in her that Ragnar hates."
+
+"Be careful that you do not find her too beautiful," broke in Freydisa,
+who, as ever, was at my side.
+
+"How can I if she is for Olaf?" answered Steinar, smiling, as he left
+the place to make ready for his journey to Lesso.
+
+"What did you mean by those words, Freydisa?" I asked when he was gone.
+
+"Little or much," she replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Iduna is
+lovely, is she not, and Steinar is handsome, is he not, and of an age
+when man seeks woman, and what is brotherhood when man seeks woman and
+woman beguiles man?"
+
+"Peace to your riddles, Freydisa. You forget that Iduna is my betrothed
+and that Steinar was fostered with me. Why, I'd trust them for a week at
+sea alone."
+
+"Doubtless, Olaf, being young and foolish, as you are; also that is your
+nature. Now here is the broth. Drink it, and I, whom some call a wise
+woman and others a witch, say that to-morrow you may rise from this bed
+and sit in the sun, if there is any."
+
+"Freydisa," I said when I had swallowed the broth, "why do folk call you
+a witch?"
+
+"I think because I am a little less of a fool than other women, Olaf.
+Also because it has not pleased me to marry, as it is held natural that
+all women should do if they have the chance."
+
+"Why are you wiser, and why have you not married, Freydisa?"
+
+"I am wiser because I have questioned things more than most, and to
+those who question answers come at last. And I am not married because
+another woman took the only man I wanted before I met him. That was my
+bad luck. Still, it taught me a great lesson, namely, how to wait and
+meanwhile to acquire understanding."
+
+"What understanding have you acquired, Freydisa? For instance, does it
+tell you that our gods of wood and stone are true gods which rule the
+world? Or are they but wood and stone, as sometimes I have thought?"
+
+"Then think no more, Olaf, for such thoughts are dangerous. If Leif,
+your uncle, Odin's high priest, heard them, what might he not say or do?
+Remember that whether the gods live or no, certainly the priest lives,
+and on the gods, and if the gods went, where would the priest be? Also,
+as regards these gods--well, whatever they may or may not be, at least
+they are the voices that in our day speak to us from that land whence we
+came and whither we go. The world has known millions of days, and each
+day has its god--or its voice--and all the voices speak truth to those
+who can hear them. Meanwhile, you are a fool to have sent Steinar
+bearing your gift to Iduna. Or perhaps you are very wise. I cannot say
+as yet. When I learn I will tell you."
+
+Then again she shrugged her shoulders and left me wondering what she
+meant by her dark sayings. I can see her going now, a wooden bowl in her
+hand, and in it a horn spoon of which the handle was cracked longways,
+and thus in my mind ends all the scene of my sickness after the slaying
+of the white bear.
+
+
+
+The next thing that I remember is the coming of the men of Agger. This
+cannot have been very long after Steinar went to Lesso, for he had not
+yet returned. Being still weak from my great illness, I was seated
+in the sun in the shelter of the house, wrapped up in a cloak of
+deerskins--for the northern wind blew bitter. By me stood my father, who
+was in a happy mood now he knew that I should live and be strong again.
+
+"Steinar should be back by now," I said to him. "I trust that he has
+come by no ill."
+
+"Oh no," answered my father carelessly. "For seven days the wind has
+been high, and doubtless Athalbrand fears to let him sail from Lesso."
+
+"Or perhaps Steinar finds Athalbrand's hall a pleasant place to bide
+in," suggested Ragnar, who had joined us, a spear in his hand, for he
+had come in from hunting. "There are good drink and bright eyes there."
+
+I was about to answer sharply, since Ragnar stung me with his bitter
+talk of Steinar, of whom I knew him to be somewhat jealous, because he
+thought I loved my foster-brother more than I did him, my brother. Just
+then, however, three men appeared through trees that grew about the
+hall, and came towards the bridge, whereon Ragnar's great wolfhounds,
+knowing them for strangers, set up a furious baying and sprang forward
+to tear them. By the time the beasts were caught and quelled, these men,
+aged persons of presence, had crossed the bridge and were greeting us.
+
+"This is the hall of Thorvald of Aar, is it not? And a certain Steinar
+dwells here with him, does he not?" asked their spokesman.
+
+"It is, and I am Thorvald," answered my father. "Also Steinar has dwelt
+here from his birth up, but is now away from home on a visit to the
+lord Athalbrand of Lesso. Who are you, and what would you of Steinar, my
+fosterling"
+
+"When you have told us the story of Steinar we will tell you who we are
+and what we seek," answered the man, adding: "Fear not, we mean him no
+harm, but rather good if he is the man we think."
+
+"Wife," called my father, "come hither. Here are men who would know the
+story of Steinar, and say that they mean him good."
+
+So my mother came, and the men bowed to her.
+
+"The story of Steinar is short, sirs," she said. "His mother,
+Steingerdi, who was my cousin and the friend of my childhood, married
+the great chief Hakon, of Agger, two and twenty summers gone. A year
+later, just before Steinar was born, she fled to me here, asking shelter
+of my lord. Her tale was that she had quarrelled with Hakon because
+another woman had crept into her place. Finding that this tale was true,
+and that Hakon had treated her ill indeed, we gave her shelter, and here
+her son Steinar was born, in giving birth to whom she died--of a broken
+heart, as I think, for she was mad with grief and jealousy. I nursed
+him with my son Olaf yonder, and as, although he had news of his birth,
+Hakon never claimed him, with us he has dwelt as a son ever since. That
+is all the tale. Now what would you with Steinar?"
+
+"This Lady. The lord Hakon and the three sons whom that other woman you
+tell of bore him ere she died--for after Steingerdi's death he married
+her--were drowned in making harbour on the night of the great gale
+eighteen days ago."
+
+"That is the day when the bear nearly killed Steinar," I interrupted.
+
+"Well for him, then, young sir, that he escaped this bear, for now, as
+it seems to us, he is the lord of all Hakon's lands and people, being
+the only male left living of his issue. This, by the wish of the head
+men of Agger, where is Hakon's hall, we have come to tell him, if he
+still lives, since by report he is a goodly man and brave--one well
+fitted to sit in Hakon's place.
+
+"Is the heritage great?" asked my father.
+
+"Aye, very great, Lord. In all Jutland there was no richer man than
+Hakon."
+
+"By Odin!" exclaimed my father, "it seems that Steinar is in Fortune's
+favour. Well, men of Agger, enter and rest you. After you have eaten we
+will talk further of these matters."
+
+It was just then that, appearing between the trees on the road that ran
+to Fladstrand and to the sea, I saw a company mounted upon horses. In
+front was a young woman, wrapped in a coat of furs, talking eagerly to
+a man who rode by her. Behind, clad in armour, with a battle-axe girt
+about him, rode another man, big and fork-bearded, who stared about him
+gloomily, and behind him again ten or twelve thralls and seamen.
+
+One glance was enough for me. Then I sprang up, crying:
+
+"Iduna's self, and with her my brother Steinar, the lord Athalbrand and
+his folk. A happy sight indeed!" And I would have run forward to meet
+them.
+
+"Yes, yes," said my mother; "but await them here, I pray you. You are
+not yet strong, my son." And she flung her arms about me and held me.
+
+Presently they were at the bridge, and Steinar, springing from his
+horse, lifted Iduna from her saddle, a sight at which I saw my mother
+frown. Then I would no longer be restrained, but ran forward, crying
+greetings as I came, and, seizing Iduna's hand, I kissed it. Indeed, I
+would have kissed her cheek also, but she shrank back, saying:
+
+"Not before all these folk, Olaf."
+
+"As you will," I answered, though just then a chill struck me, which,
+I thought to myself, came doubtless from the cold wind. "It will be the
+sweeter afterwards," I added as gaily as I could.
+
+"Yes," she said hurriedly. "But, Olaf, how white and thin you are. I had
+hoped to find you well again, though, not knowing how it fared with you,
+I came to see with my own eyes."
+
+"That is good of you," I muttered as I turned to grasp Steinar's hand,
+adding: "I know well who it was that brought you here."
+
+"Nay, nay," she said. "I came of myself. But my father waits you, Olaf."
+
+So I went to where the lord Athalbrand Fork-beard was dismounting, and
+greeted him, lifting my cap.
+
+"What!" grumbled Athalbrand, who seemed to be in an ill temper, "are
+you Olaf? I should scarcely have known you again, lad, for you look more
+like a wisp of hay tied on a stick than a man. Now that the flesh is
+off you I see you lack bone, unlike some others," and he glanced at the
+broad-shouldered Steinar. "Greeting to you, Thorvald. We are come here
+through a sea that nearly drowned us, somewhat before the appointed
+time, because--well, because, on the whole, I thought it best to come. I
+pray Odin that you are more glad to see us than I am to see you."
+
+"If so, friend Athalbrand, why did you not stop away?" asked my father,
+firing up, then adding quickly: "Nay, no offence; you are welcome here,
+whatever your humour, and you too, my daughter that is to be, and you,
+Steinar, my fosterling, who, as it chances, are come in a good hour."
+
+"How's that, Lord?" asked Steinar absently, for he was looking at Iduna.
+
+"Thus, Steinar: These men"--and he pointed to the three
+messengers--"have but just arrived from Agger with the news that your
+father, Hakon, and your half-brothers are all drowned. They say also
+that the folk of Agger have named you Hakon's heir, as, indeed, you are
+by right of blood."
+
+"Is that so?" exclaimed Steinar, bewildered. "Well, as I never saw my
+father or my brothers, and they treated me but ill, I cannot weep for
+them."
+
+"Hakon!" broke in Athalbrand. "Why, I knew him well, for in my youth we
+were comrades in war. He was the wealthiest man in Jutland in cattle,
+lands, thralls and stored gold. Young friend, your luck is great," and
+he stared first at Steinar, then at Iduna, pulling his forked beard and
+muttering words to himself that I could not catch.
+
+"Steinar gets the fortune he deserves," I exclaimed, embracing him.
+"Not for nothing did I save you from the bear, Steinar. Come, wish my
+foster-brother joy, Iduna."
+
+"Aye, that I do with all my heart," she said. "Joy and long life to
+you, and with them rule and greatness, Steinar, Lord of Agger," and she
+curtsied to him, her blue eyes fixed upon his face.
+
+But Steinar turned away, making no answer. Only Ragnar, who stood by,
+burst into a loud laugh. Then, putting his arm through mine, he led me
+into the hall, saying:
+
+"This wind is over cold for you, Olaf. Nay, trouble not about Iduna.
+Steinar, Lord of Agger, will care for her, I think."
+
+That night there was a feast at Aar, and I sat at it with Iduna by
+my side. Beautiful she was indeed in her garment of blue, over which
+streamed her yellow hair, bright as the gold rings that tinkled on her
+rounded arms. She was kind to me also, and bade me tell her the story of
+the slaying of the bear, which I did as best I could, though afterwards
+Ragnar told it otherwise, and more fully. Only Steinar said little or
+nothing, for he seemed to be lost in dreams.
+
+I thought that this was because he felt sad at the news of the death of
+his father and brethren, since, although he had never known them, blood
+still calls to blood; and so, I believe, did most there present. At any
+rate my father and mother tried to cheer him and in the end bade the men
+of Agger draw near to tell him the tale of his heritage.
+
+They obeyed, and set out all their case, of which the sum was that
+Steinar must now be one of the wealthiest and most powerful men of the
+northern lands.
+
+"It seems that we should all take off our caps to you, young lord," said
+Athalbrand when he heard this tale of rule and riches. "Why did you not
+ask me for my fair daughter?" he added with a half-drunken laugh, for
+all the liquor he had swallowed had got a hold of his brain. Recovering
+himself, he went on: "It is my will, Thorvald, that Iduna and this snipe
+of an Olaf of yours should be wed as soon as possible. I say that they
+shall be wed as soon as possible, since otherwise I know not what may
+happen."
+
+Then his head fell forward on the table and he sank to sleep.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE WANDERER'S NECKLACE
+
+On the morrow early I lay awake, for how could I sleep when Iduna rested
+beneath the same roof with me--Iduna, who, as her father had decreed,
+was to become my wife sooner than I had hoped? I was thinking how
+beautiful she looked, and how much I loved her; also of other things
+that were not so pleasant. For instance, why did not everybody see her
+with my eyes? I could not hide from myself that Ragnar went near to
+hating her; more than once she had almost been the cause of a quarrel
+between us. Freydisa, too, my nurse, who loved me, looked on her sourly,
+and even my mother, although she tried to like her for my sake, had not
+yet learned to do so, or thus it appeared to me.
+
+When I asked her why, she replied that she feared the maid was somewhat
+selfish, also too fond of drawing the eyes of men, and of the adornment
+of her beauty. Of those who were dearest to me, indeed, only Steinar
+seemed to think Iduna as perfect as I did myself. This, so far as it
+went, was well; but, then, Steinar and I had always thought alike, which
+robbed his judgment of something of its worth.
+
+Whilst I was pondering over these things, although it was still so early
+that my father and Athalbrand were yet in bed sleeping off the fumes
+of the liquor they had drunk, I heard Steinar himself talking to the
+messengers from Agger in the hall. They asked him humbly whether he
+would be pleased to return with them that day and take possession of
+his inheritance, since they must get back forthwith to Agger with their
+tidings. He replied that if they would send some or come themselves to
+escort him on the tenth day from that on which they spoke, he would go
+to Agger with them, but that until then he could not do so.
+
+"Ten days! In ten days who knows what may happen?" said their spokesman.
+"Such a heritage as yours will not lack for claimants, Lord, especially
+as Hakon has left nephews behind him."
+
+"I know not what will or will not happen," answered Steinar, "but until
+then I cannot come. Go now, I pray you, if you must, and bear my words
+and greetings to the men of Agger, whom soon I hope to meet myself."
+
+So they went, as I thought, heavily enough. A while afterwards my father
+rose and came into the hall, where from my bed I could see Steinar
+seated on a stool by the fire brooding. He asked where the men of Agger
+were, and Steinar told him what he had done.
+
+"Are you mad, Steinar?" he asked, "that you have sent them away with
+such an answer? Why did you not consult me first?"
+
+"Because you were asleep, Foster-father, and the messengers said they
+must catch the tide. Also I could not leave Aar until I had seen Olaf
+and Iduna married."
+
+"Iduna and Olaf can marry without your help. It takes two to make a
+marriage, not three. I see well that you owe love and loyalty to Olaf,
+who is your foster-brother and saved your life, but you owe something
+to yourself also. I pray Odin that this folly may not have cost you your
+lordship. Fortune is a wench who will not bear slighting."
+
+"I know it," answered Steinar, and there was something strange in his
+voice. "Believe me, I do not slight fortune; I follow her in my own
+fashion."
+
+"Then it is a mad fashion," grumbled my father, and walked away.
+
+
+
+It comes back to me that it was some days after this that I saw the
+ghost of the Wanderer standing on his grave mound. It happened thus.
+On a certain afternoon I had been riding alone with Iduna, which was
+a great joy to me, though I would sooner have walked, for then I could
+have held her hand, and perhaps, if she had suffered it, kissed her. I
+had recited to her a poem which I had made comparing her to the goddess
+Iduna, the wife of Bragi, she who guarded the apples of immortal youth
+whereof the gods must eat or die, she whose garment was the spring,
+woven of the flowers that she put on when she escaped from winter's
+giant grasp. I think that it was a very good poem of its own sort, but
+Iduna seemed to have small taste for poetry and to know little of the
+lovely goddess and her apples, although she smiled sweetly and thanked
+me for my verses.
+
+Then she began to talk of other matters, especially of how, after we
+were wed, her father wished to make war upon another chieftain and to
+seize his land. She said that it was for this reason that he had been
+so anxious to form an alliance with my father, Thorvald, as such an
+alliance would make him sure of victory. Before that time, she told me
+that he, Athalbrand, had purposed to marry her to another lord for this
+very reason, but unhappily this lord had been killed in battle.
+
+"Nay, happily for us, Iduna," I said.
+
+"Perhaps," she answered with a sigh. "Who knows? At any rate, your House
+will be able to give us more ships and men than he who is dead could
+have done."
+
+"Yet I love peace, not war," I broke in, "I who hate the slaying of
+those who have never harmed me, and do not seek to die on the swords
+of men whom I have no desire to harm. Of what good is war when one has
+enough? I would be no widow-maker, Iduna, nor do I wish that others
+should make you a widow."
+
+Iduna looked at me with her steady blue eyes.
+
+"You talk strangely, Olaf," she said, "and were it not known to be
+otherwise, some might hold that you are a coward. Yet it was no coward
+who leapt alone on board the battle ship, or who slew the great white
+bear to save Steinar's life. I do not understand you, Olaf, you who have
+doubts as to the killing of men. How does a man grow great except upon
+the blood of others? It is that which fats him. How does the wolf live?
+How does the kite live? How does Odin fill Valhalla? By death, always by
+death."
+
+"I cannot answer you," I said; "yet I hold that somewhere there is an
+answer which I do not know, since wrong can never be the right."
+
+Then, as she did not seem to understand, I began to talk of other
+things, but from that moment I felt as though a veil swung between me
+and Iduna. Her beauty held my flesh, but some other part in me turned
+away from her. We were different.
+
+When we reached the hall we met Steinar, who was lingering near the
+door. He ran forward and helped Iduna to dismount, then said:
+
+"Olaf, I know that you must not overtire yourself as yet, but your lady
+has told me that she desires to see the sunset from Odin's Mount. Have I
+your leave to take her there?"
+
+"I do not yet need Olaf's leave to walk abroad, though some few days
+hence it may be different," broke in Iduna, with a merry laugh, before I
+could answer. "Come, lord Steinar, let us go and see this sunset whereof
+you talk so much."
+
+"Yes, go," I said, "only do not stay too long, for I think a storm comes
+up. But who is that has taught Steinar to love sunsets?"
+
+So they went, and before they had been gone an hour the storm broke as I
+had foreseen. First came wind, and with it hail, and after that thunder
+and great darkness, lit up from time to time by pulsing lightning.
+
+"Steinar and Iduna do not return. I am afraid for them," I said at last
+to Freydisa.
+
+"Then why do you not go to seek them?" she asked with a little laugh.
+
+"I think I will," I said.
+
+"If so, I will come with you, Olaf, for you still need a nurse, though,
+for my part, I hold that the lord Steinar and the lady Iduna can guard
+themselves as well as most folk. No, I am wrong. I mean that the lady
+Iduna can guard herself and the lord Steinar. Now, be not angry. Here's
+your cloak."
+
+So we started, for I was urged to this foolish journey by some impulse
+that I could not master. There were two ways of reaching Odin's Mount;
+one, the shorter, over the rocks and through the forest land. The other,
+the longer, ran across the open plain, between the many earth tombs of
+the dead who had lived thousands of years before, and past the great
+mound in which it was said that a warrior of long ago, who was named the
+Wanderer, lay buried. Because of the darkness we chose this latter road,
+and presently found ourselves beneath the great mass of the Wanderer's
+Mount. Now the darkness was intense, and the lightning grew rare, for
+the hail and rain had ceased and the storm was rolling away.
+
+"My counsel is," said Freydisa, "that we wait here until the moon rises,
+which it should do soon. When the wind has driven away the clouds it
+will show us our path, but if we go on in this darkness we shall fall
+into some pit. It is not cold to-night, and you will take no harm."
+
+"No, indeed," I answered, "for now I am as strong again as ever I was."
+
+So we stayed till the lightning, flashing for the last time, showed us
+a man and a woman standing quite close to us, although we had not heard
+them because of the wind. They were Steinar and Iduna, talking together
+eagerly, with their faces very near to each other. At the same moment
+they saw us. Steinar said nothing, for he seemed confused, but Iduna ran
+to us and said:
+
+"Thanks be to the gods who send you, Olaf. The great storm caught us at
+Odin's temple, where we were forced to shelter. Then, fearing that you
+would grow frightened, we started, and lost our way."
+
+"Is it so?" I answered. "Surely Steinar would have known this road even
+in the dark. But what matter, since I have found you?"
+
+"Aye, he knew as soon as we saw this grave mound. But Steinar was
+telling me that some ghost haunts it, and I begged him to stay awhile,
+since there is nothing I desire so much as to see a ghost, who believe
+little in such things. So he stayed, though he says he fears the dead
+more than the living. Freydisa, they tell me that you are very wise.
+Cannot you show me this ghost?"
+
+"The spirit does not ask my leave to appear, lady," answered Freydisa
+in her quiet voice. "Still, at times it does appear, for I have seen it
+twice. So let us bide here a little on the chance."
+
+Then she went forward a few steps and began to mutter to herself.
+
+Some minutes later the clouds broke and the great moon was seen riding
+low down in a clear sky, illumining the grave mound and all the plain,
+save where we stood in the shadow of the mount.
+
+"Do you see aught?" asked Freydisa presently. "If not, let us be gone,
+for when the Wanderer comes at all it is at the rising of the moon."
+
+Steinar and Iduna answered, "No," but I, who did see something, said:
+
+"Look yonder among the shadows. Mayhap it is a wolf stirring. Nay, it is
+a man. Look, Iduna."
+
+"I look and find nothing," she answered.
+
+"Look again," I said. "He reaches the top of the mount and stands there
+staring towards the south. Oh! now he turns, and the moonlight shines
+upon his face."
+
+"You dream, Olaf," said Steinar. "If you do not dream, tell us of the
+likeness of this spirit."
+
+"Its likeness," I answered, "is that of a tall and noble man, worn as
+though with years and sorrows. He wears strange rich armour that
+is dinted and soiled; on his head is a cap of mail with two long
+ear-pieces, beneath which appears his brown hair lined with grey. He
+holds a red-coloured sword which is handled with a cross of gold. He
+points the sword at you, Steinar. It is as though he were angry with
+you, or warned you."
+
+Now, when Steinar heard these words he shook and groaned, as I
+remembered afterwards. But of this I took no note at the time, for just
+then Iduna cried out:
+
+"Say, Olaf, does the man wear a necklace? I see a necklace hanging in
+the air above the mount, but naught else."
+
+"Yes, Iduna, he wears a necklace above his mail. How does it appear to
+you?"
+
+"Oh, beautiful, beautiful!" she answered. "A chain of pale gold, and
+hanging from it golden shells inlaid with blue, and between them green
+jewels that hold the moon."
+
+"That is what I see also," I said, as indeed I did. "There! All is
+gone."
+
+Freydisa returned and there was a strange smile on her dark face, for
+she had heard all our talk.
+
+"Who sleeps in that mound, Freydisa?" asked Iduna.
+
+"How can I tell, Lady, seeing that he was laid there a thousand years
+ago, or mayhap more? Yet a story, true or false, remains of him that
+I have heard. It is that he was a king of these parts, who followed a
+dream to the south. The dream was of a necklace, and of one who wore it.
+For many years he wandered, and at length returned again to this place,
+which had been his home, wearing the necklace. But when he saw its shore
+from the sea he fell down and his spirit left him. What happened to him
+in his wanderings none know, for the tale is lost. Only it is said that
+his people buried him in yonder mound still wearing his armour and the
+necklace he had won. There, as Olaf has seen, or thinks that he has seen
+but now, he stands at moonrise ere trouble comes to any of his race, and
+stares towards the south--always towards the south."
+
+"Is the necklace yet in the mound?" asked Iduna eagerly.
+
+"Without doubt, Lady. Who would dare to touch the holy thing and bring
+on him the curse of the Wanderer and his gods, and with it his own
+death? No man that ever sailed the seas, I think."
+
+"Not so, Freydisa, for I am sure I know one who would dare it for my
+sake. Olaf, if you love me, bring me that necklace as a marriage gift. I
+tell you that, having once seen it, I want it more than anything in all
+the world."
+
+"Did you hear what Freydisa said?" I asked. "That he who wrought this
+sacrilege would bring upon himself evil and death?"
+
+"Yes, I heard; but it is folly, for who need fear dead bones? As for the
+shape you saw, why, it is strengthless for good or ill, a shadow
+drawn from what has been by the magic moon, or perchance by Freydisa's
+witchery. Olaf, Olaf, get me that necklace or I will never kiss you
+more."
+
+"That means you will not marry me, Iduna?"
+
+"That means I will only marry the man who gives me that necklace. If you
+fear the deed, perhaps there are some others by whom it might be tried."
+
+Now when I heard these words a sudden rage seized me. Was I to be
+taunted thus by the fair woman whom I loved?
+
+"Fear is an ill word to use to me," I said sternly. "Know, Iduna, that
+if it is put to me thus I fear nothing in life or death. You shall have
+the necklace if it can be found in yonder earth, chance what may to the
+searcher. Nay, no more words. Steinar will lead you home; I must talk of
+this matter with Freydisa."
+
+
+
+It was midnight, I know not on what day, since all these things come
+back to me in vivid scenes, as flashes of lightning show a landscape,
+but are separated from each other by dense darkness. Freydisa and I
+stood by the Wanderer's grave, and at our feet lay digging tools, two
+lamps, and tinder to light them. We were setting about our grim task at
+dead of night, for fear lest the priests should stay us. Also, I did not
+wish the people to know that I had done this thing.
+
+"Here is work for a month," I said doubtfully, looking up at the great
+mass of the mound.
+
+"Nay," replied Freydisa, "since I can show you the door of the grave,
+and perchance the passage still stands. Yet, will you really enter
+there?"
+
+"Why not, Freydisa? Must I bear to be taunted by the woman I am to wed?
+Surely it would be better to die and have done. Let the ghost slay me if
+he will. It comes upon me that if so I shall be spared trouble."
+
+"No bridegroom's talk," said Freydisa, "however true it may be. Yet,
+young Olaf, do you take heart, since I think that this ghost has no
+desire for your blood. I am wise in my own fashion, Olaf, and much of
+the past comes to me, if little of the future, and I believe that this
+Wanderer and you have more to do with each other than we can guess.
+It may be even that this task is appointed to you and that all these
+happenings, which are but begun, work to an end unseen. At the least,
+try your fortune, and if you die--why, I who was your nurse from your
+mother's knee, love you well enough to die with you. Together we'll
+descend to Hela's halls, there to seek out the Wanderer and learn his
+story."
+
+Then, throwing her arms about my neck, she drew me to her and kissed me
+on the brow.
+
+"I was not your mother, Olaf," she went on, "but, to be honest, I would
+have been could I have had my fancy though, strangely enough, I never
+felt thus towards Ragnar, your brother. Now, why do you make me talk
+foolishness? Come hither, and I will show you the entrance to the grave;
+it is where the sun first strikes upon it."
+
+Then she led me to the east of the mound, where, not more than eight or
+ten feet from its base, grew a patch of bushes. Among these bushes was
+a little hollow, as though at this spot the earth had sunk in. Here, at
+her bidding, I began to dig, and with her help worked for the half of an
+hour or more in silence, till at length my spade struck against a stone.
+
+"It is the door-stone," said Freydisa. "Dig round it."
+
+So I dug till I made a hole at the edge of the stone large enough for a
+man to creep through. After this we paused to rest a while and to allow
+the air within the mound to purify.
+
+"Now," she said, "if you are not afraid, we will enter."
+
+"I am afraid," I answered. Indeed, the terror which struck me then
+returns, so that even as I write I feel fear of the dead man who lay,
+and for aught I know still lies, within that grave. "Yet," I added,
+"never will I face Iduna more without the necklace, if it can be found."
+
+So we struck sparks on to the tinder, and from them lit the two lamps
+of seal oil. Then I crept into the hole, Freydisa following me, to find
+myself in a narrow passage built of rough stones and roofed with flat
+slabs of water-worn rock. This tunnel, save for a little dry soil that
+had sifted into it through the cracks between the stones, was quite
+clear. We crawled along it without difficulty till we came to the tomb
+chamber, which was in the centre of the mound, but at a higher level
+than the entrance. For the passage sloped upwards, doubtless to allow
+for drainage. The huge stones with which it was lined and roofed over,
+were not less than ten feet high and set on end side by side. One of
+these upright stones was that designed for the door. Had it been in
+place, we could not have entered the chamber without great labour and
+the help of many men; but, as it chanced, either it had never been set
+up after the burial, or this was done so hastily that it had fallen.
+
+"We are in luck's way," said Freydisa, when she noticed this. "No,
+I will go first, who know more of ghosts than you do, Olaf. If the
+Wanderer strikes, let him strike me," and she clambered over the fallen
+slab.
+
+Presently she called back, saying:
+
+"Come; all is quiet here, as it should be in such a place."
+
+I followed her, and sliding down the end of the stone--which I remember
+scratched my elbow and made it bleed--found myself in a little room
+about twelve feet square. In this place there was but one thing to be
+seen: what appeared to be the trunk of a great oak tree, some nine feet
+in length, and, standing on it, side by side, two figures of bronze
+under a foot in height.
+
+"The coffin in which the Wanderer lies and the gods he worshipped," said
+Freydisa.
+
+Then she took up first one and next the other of the bronze figures and
+we examined them in the light of the lamps, although I feared to touch
+them. They were statues of a man and a woman.
+
+The man, who wore a long and formal beard, was wrapped in what seemed
+to be a shroud, through an opening in which appeared his hands. In the
+right hand was a scourge with a handle, and in the left a crook such as
+a shepherd might use, only shorter. On his head was what I took to be a
+helmet, a tall peaked cap ending in a knob, having on either side of it
+a stiff feather of bronze, and in front, above the forehead, a snake,
+also of bronze.
+
+The woman was clad in a straight and narrow robe, cut low beneath her
+breast. Her face was mild and beautiful, and in her right hand she
+held a looped sceptre. Her hair descended in many long plaits on to her
+shoulders. For head-dress she wore two horns, supporting between them a
+burnished disc of gold like to that of the moon when it is full.
+
+"Strange gods!" I muttered.
+
+"Aye," answered Freydisa, "yet maybe true ones to those who worship
+them. But we will talk of these later; now for their servant."
+
+Then she dropped the figures into a pouch at her side, and began to
+examine the trunk of the oak tree, of which the outer sap wood had been
+turned to tinder by age, leaving the heart still hard as iron.
+
+"See," she said, pointing to a line about four inches from the top, "the
+tree has been sawn in two length-ways and the lid laid on. Come, help."
+
+Then she took an iron-shod staff which we had brought with us, and
+worked its sharp point into the crack, after which we both rested our
+weight upon the staff. The lid of the coffin lifted quite easily, for
+it was not pegged down, and slid of its own weight over the side of
+the tree. In the cavity beneath was a form covered with a purple cloak
+stained as though by salt water. Freydisa lifted the cloak, and there
+lay the Wanderer as he had been placed a thousand or more of years
+before our time, as perfect as he had been in the hour of his death, for
+the tannin from the new-felled tree in which he was buried had preserved
+him.
+
+Breathless with wonder, we bent down and examined him by the light of
+the lamps. He was a tall, spare man, to all appearance of between fifty
+and sixty years of age. His face was thin and fine; he wore a short,
+grizzled beard; his hair, so far as it could be seen beneath his helmet,
+was brown and lightly tinged with grey.
+
+"Does he call anyone to your mind?" asked Freydisa.
+
+"Yes, I think so, a little," I replied. "Who is it, now? Oh! I know, my
+mother."
+
+"That is strange, Olaf, since to me he seems much like what you might
+become should you live to his years. Yet it was through your mother's
+line that Aar came to your race many generations gone, for this much is
+known. Well, study him hard, for, look you, now that the air has got to
+him, he melts away."
+
+Melt he did, indeed, till presently there was nothing left save a skull
+patched here and there with skin and hair. Yet I never forgot that
+face; indeed, to this hour I see it quite clearly. When at length it had
+crumbled, we turned to other things, knowing that our time in the grave
+must be measured by the oil in the simple lamps we had. Freydisa lifted
+a cloth from beneath the chin, revealing a dinted breastplate of rich
+armour, different from any of our day and land, and, lying on it, such
+a necklace as we had seen upon the ghost, a beauteous thing of inlaid
+golden shells and emerald stones shaped like beetles.
+
+"Take it for your Iduna," said Freydisa, "since it is for her sake that
+we break in upon this great man's rest."
+
+I seized the precious thing and tugged at it, but the chain was stout
+and would not part. Again I tugged, and now it was the neck of the
+Wanderer that broke, for the head rolled from the body, and the gold
+chain came loose between the two.
+
+"Let us be going," said Freydisa, as I hid away the necklace. "The oil
+in the lamps burns low, and even I do not care to be left here in the
+dark with this mighty one whom we have robbed."
+
+"There's his armour," I said. "I'd have that armour; it is wonderful."
+
+"Then stop and get it by yourself," she answered, "for my lamp dies."
+
+"At least, I will take the sword," I exclaimed, and snatched at the belt
+by which it was girt about the body. The leather had rotted, and it came
+away in my hand.
+
+Holding it, I clambered over the stone after Freydisa, and followed her
+down the passage. Before we reached the end of it the lamps went out, so
+that we must finish our journey in the dark. Thankful enough were both
+of us when we found ourselves safe in the open air beneath the familiar
+stars.
+
+"Now, how comes it, Freydisa," I asked, when we had got our breath
+again, "that this Wanderer, who showed himself so threateningly upon the
+crest of his grave, lies patient as a dead sheep within it while we rob
+his bones?"
+
+"Because we were meant to take it, as I think, Olaf. Now, help me to
+fill in the mouth of that hole roughly--I will return to finish this
+to-morrow--and let us away to the hall. I am weary, and I tell you,
+Olaf, that the weight of things to come lies heavy on my soul. I think
+wisdom dwells with that Wanderer's bones. Yes, and foresight of the
+future and memories of the past."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IDUNA WEARS THE NECKLACE
+
+I lay sleeping in my bed at Aar, the sword of the Wanderer by my side
+and his necklace beneath my pillow. In my sleep there came to me a very
+strange and vivid dream. I dreamed that I was the Wanderer, no other
+man, and here I, who write this history in these modern days, will say
+that the dream was true.
+
+Once in the far past I, who afterwards was born as Olaf, and who am
+now--well, never mind my name--lived in the shape of that man who in
+Olaf's time was by tradition known as the Wanderer. Of that Wanderer
+life, however, for some reason which I cannot explain, I am able to
+recover but few memories. Other earlier lives come back to me much more
+clearly, but at present the details of this particular existence escape
+me. For the purpose of the history which I am setting down this matters
+little, since, although I know enough to be sure that the persons
+concerned in the Olaf life were for the most part the same as those
+concerned in the Wanderer life, their stories remain quite distinct.
+
+Therefore, I propose to leave that of the Wanderer, so far as I know
+it, untold, wild and romantic as it seems to have been. For he must have
+been a great man, this Wanderer, who in the early ages of the northern
+world, drawn by the magnet of some previous Egyptian incarnation, broke
+back to those southern lands with which his informing spirit was already
+so familiar, and thence won home again to the place where he was born,
+only to die. In considering this dream which Olaf dreamed, let it be
+remembered, then, that although a thousand, or maybe fifteen hundred, of
+our earthly years separated us from each other, the Wanderer, into whose
+tomb I broke at the goading of Iduna, and I, Olaf, were really the same
+being clothed in different shapes of flesh.
+
+To return to my dream. I, Olaf, or, rather, my spirit, dwelling in the
+Wanderer's body, that body which I had just seen lying in the grave,
+stood at night in a great columned building, which I knew to be
+the temple of some god. At my feet lay a basin of clear water; the
+moonlight, which was almost as bright as that of day, showed me my
+reflection in the water. It was like to that of the Wanderer as I had
+seen him lying in his oak coffin in the mound, only younger than he had
+seemed to be in the coffin. Moreover, he wore the same armour that the
+man in the coffin wore, and at his side hung the red, cross-handled
+sword. There he stood in the temple alone, and looked across a plain,
+green with crops, on which sat two mighty images as high as tall pines,
+looked to a great river on whose banks grew trees such as I had never
+beheld: tall, straight trees, surmounted by a stiff crown of leaves.
+Beyond this river lay a white, flat-roofed city, and in it were other
+great columned temples.
+
+The man in whom I, Olaf the Dane, seemed to dwell in my dream turned,
+and behind him saw a range of naked hills of brown rock, and in them the
+mouth of a desolate valley where was no green thing. Presently he became
+aware that he was no longer alone. At his side stood a woman. She was
+a very beautiful woman, unlike anyone I, Olaf, had ever seen. Her shape
+was tall and slender, her eyes were large, dark and soft as a deer's,
+her features were small and straight, save the mouth, of which the lips
+were somewhat full. The face, which was dark-hued, like her hair and
+eyes, was sad, but wore a sweet and haunting smile. It was much such a
+face as that upon the statue of the goddess which we had found in the
+Wanderer's tomb, and the dress she wore beneath her cloak was like to
+the dress of the goddess. She was speaking earnestly.
+
+"My love, my only love," she said, "you must begone this very night;
+indeed, the boat awaits you that shall take you down the river to the
+sea. All is discovered. My waiting-lady, the priestess, but now has told
+me that my father, the king, purposes to seize and throw you into prison
+to-morrow, and thereafter to put you on your trial for being beloved
+by a daughter of the royal blood, of which, as you are a foreign man,
+however noble you may be, the punishment is death. Moreover, if you are
+condemned, your doom will be my own. There is but one way in which to
+save my life, and that is by your flight, for if you fly it has been
+whispered to me that all will be forgotten."
+
+Now, in my dream, he who wore the Wanderer's shape reasoned with her,
+saying at length that it was better they both should die, to live on in
+the world of spirits, rather than part for ever. She hid her face on his
+breast and answered,
+
+"I cannot die. I would stay to look upon the sun, not for my own sake,
+but because of our child that will be born. Nor can I fly with you,
+since then your boat will be stopped. But if you go alone, the guards
+will let it pass. They have their commands."
+
+After this for a while they wept in each other's arms, for their hearts
+were broken.
+
+"Give me some token," he murmured; "let me wear something that you have
+worn until my death."
+
+She opened her cloak, and there upon her breast hung that necklace which
+had lain upon the breast of the Wanderer in his tomb, the necklace of
+gold and inlaid shells and emerald beetles, only there were two rows of
+shells and emeralds, not one. One row she unclasped and clasped it again
+round his neck, breaking the little gold threads that bound the two
+strands together.
+
+"Take this," she said, "and I will wear the half which is left of it
+even in my grave, as you also shall wear your half in life and death.
+Now something comes upon me. It is that when the severed parts of this
+necklace are once more joined together, then we two shall meet again
+upon the earth."
+
+"What chance is there that I shall return from my northern home, if ever
+I win so far, back to this southern land?"
+
+"None," she answered. "In this life we shall kiss no more. Yet there are
+other lives to come, or so I think and have learned through the wisdom
+of my people. Begone, begone, ere my heart breaks on yours; but never
+let this necklace of mine, which was that of those who were long before
+me, lie upon another woman's breast, for if so it will bring sorrow to
+the giver, and to her to whom it is given no good fortune."
+
+"How long must I wait before we meet again?" he asked.
+
+"I do not know, but I think that when all that jewel once more grows
+warm above my immoral heart, this temple which they call eternal will be
+but a time-eaten ruin. Hark, the priestess calls. Farewell, you man who
+have come out of the north to be my glory and my shame. Farewell, until
+the purpose of our lives declares itself and the seed that we have sown
+in sorrow shall blossom into an everlasting flower. Farewell. Farewell!"
+
+Then a woman appeared in the background beckoning, and all my dream
+vanished away. Yet to my mind came the thought that it was to the lady
+who gave the necklace that Death stood near, rather than to him to whom
+it was given. For surely death was written in her sad and longing eyes.
+
+
+
+So that dream ended. When I, Olaf, awoke in the morning, it was to find
+that already everyone was astir, for I had overslept myself. In the
+hall were gathered Ragnar, Steinar, Iduna and Freydisa; the elders were
+talking together elsewhere on the subject of the forthcoming marriage.
+I went to Iduna to embrace her, and she proffered me her cheek, speaking
+all the while over her shoulder to Ragnar.
+
+"Where were you last night, brother, that you came in near the dawn,
+all covered with mud?" asked Ragnar, turning his back on Iduna, without
+making any answer to her words.
+
+"Digging in the Wanderer's grave, brother, as Iduna challenged me to
+do."
+
+Now all three of them turned on me eagerly, save Freydisa, who stood by
+the fire listening, and with one voice asked if I had found anything.
+
+"Aye," I replied. "I found the Wanderer, a very noble-looking man," and
+I began to describe him.
+
+"Peace to this dead Wanderer," broke in Iduna. "Did you find the
+necklace?"
+
+"Yes, I found the necklace. Here it is!" And I laid the splendid thing
+upon the board.
+
+Then suddenly I lost my speech, since now for the first time I saw
+that, twisted round the chain of it, were three broken wires of gold.
+I remembered how in my dream I had seen the beautiful woman break such
+wires ere she gave half of the jewel to the man in whose breast I had
+seemed to dwell, and for a moment grew so frightened that I could say no
+more.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Iduna, "it is beautiful, beautiful! Oh! Olaf, I thank
+you," and she flung her arms about me and kissed me, this time in
+earnest.
+
+Then she seized the necklace and fastened it round her throat.
+
+"Stay," I said, awaking. "I think you had best not touch those gems.
+Iduna, I have dreamed that they will bring no luck to you or to any
+woman, save one."
+
+Here the dark-faced Freydisa looked up at me, then dropped her eyes
+again, and stood listening.
+
+"You have dreamed!" exclaimed Iduna. "I care little what you have
+dreamed. It is for the necklace I care, and not all the ill-luck in the
+world shall stay me from the keeping of it."
+
+Here again Freydisa looked up, but Steinar looked down.
+
+"Did you find aught else?" asked Ragnar, interrupting.
+
+"Aye, brother, this!" and from under my cloak I produced the Wanderer's
+sword.
+
+"A wondrous weapon," said Ragnar when he had examined it, "though
+somewhat heavy for its length, and of bronze, after the fashion of those
+that are buried in the grave mounds. It has seen much wear also, and,
+I should say, has loosed many a spirit. Look at the gold work of the
+handle. Truly a wondrous weapon, worth all the necklaces in the world.
+But tell us your story."
+
+So I told them, and when I came to the images that we had found standing
+on the coffin, Iduna, who was paying little heed, stopped from her
+fondling of the necklace and asked where they were.
+
+"Freydisa has them," I answered. "Show them the Wanderer's gods,
+Freydisa."
+
+"So Freydisa was with you, was she?" said Iduna.
+
+Then she glanced at the gods, laughed a little at their fashion and
+raiment, and again fell to fingering the necklace, which was more to her
+than any gods.
+
+Afterwards Freydisa asked me what was the dream of which I had spoken,
+and I told it to her, every word.
+
+"It is a strange story," said Freydisa. "What do you make of it, Olaf?"
+
+"Nothing save that it was a dream. And yet those three broken wires
+that are twisted round the chain, which I had never noted till I saw the
+necklace in Iduna's hand! They fit well with my dream."
+
+"Aye, Olaf, and the dream fits well with other things. Have you ever
+heard, Olaf, that there are those who say that men live more than once
+upon this earth?"
+
+"No," I answered, laughing. "Yet why should they not do so, as they live
+at all? If so, perhaps I am that Wanderer, in whose body I seemed to be,
+only then I am sure that the lady with the golden shells was not Iduna."
+And again I laughed.
+
+"No, Olaf, she was not Iduna, though perchance there was an Iduna, all
+the same. Tell me, did you see aught of that priestess who was with the
+lady?"
+
+"Only that she was tall and dark, one of middle age. But why waste words
+on this midnight madness? Yet that royal woman haunts me. I would that
+I could see her again, if only in a dream. Also, Freydisa, I would
+that Iduna had not taken the necklace. I fear lest it should bring
+misfortune. Where is she now? I will tell her again."
+
+"Wandering with Steinar, I think, and wearing the necklace. Oh! Olaf,
+like you I fear it will bring woe. I cannot read your dream--as yet."
+
+
+
+It was the day before that of my marriage. I see them moving about,
+the shapes of all those long-forgotten men and women, arrayed in their
+bravest garments and rude ornaments of gold and silver, for a great
+company had been bidden, many of whom came from far. I see my uncle,
+Leif, the dark-browed priest of Odin, passing between the hall and the
+temple where on the morrow he must celebrate the marriage rites in such
+a fashion as would do honour to the god. I see Iduna, Athalbrand and
+Steinar talking together apart. I see myself watching all this life
+and stir like one who is mazed, and I know that since I had entered
+the Wanderer's grave all things had seemed unreal to me. Iduna, whom
+I loved, was about to become my wife, and yet between me and Iduna
+continually was thrust a vision of the woman of my dream. At times I
+thought that the blow from the bear's paw had hurt my brain; that I must
+be going mad. I prayed to the gods that this might not be so, and when
+my prayers availed me nothing I sought the counsel of Freydisa.
+
+She listened to my story, then said briefly,
+
+"Let be. Things will go as they are fated. You are no madder than the
+rest of men. I can say no more."
+
+It was the custom of that time and land that, if possible, the wife to
+be should not pass the night before her marriage under the same roof as
+her future husband. Therefore Athalbrand, whose mood had been strange
+of late, went with Iduna to sleep in his beached ship. At my request
+Steinar went with them, in order that he might see that they were
+brought back in good time in the morning.
+
+"You will not fail me in this, Steinar?" I said, clasping his hand.
+
+He tried to answer something, but the words seemed to choke in his
+throat and he turned away, leaving them unspoken.
+
+"Why," I exclaimed, "one might think you were going to be married, not
+I."
+
+"Aye," broke in Iduna hurriedly. "The truth is that Steinar is jealous
+of me. How is it that you can make us all love you so much, Olaf?"
+
+"Would that I were more worthy of your love," I answered, smiling, "as
+in years to come I hope to show myself."
+
+Athalbrand, who was watching, tugged at his forked beard and muttered
+something that sounded like an oath. Then he rode off, kicking his horse
+savagely and not noting my outstretched hand, or so it seemed. Of this,
+however, I took little heed, for I was engaged in kissing Iduna in
+farewell.
+
+"Be not sad," she said, as she kissed me back on the lips. "Remember
+that we part for the last time." Again she kissed me and went, laughing
+happily.
+
+The morning came. All was prepared. From far and near the guests were
+gathered, waiting to do honour to the marriage feast. Even some of the
+men of Agger were there, who had come to pay homage to their new lord.
+The spring sun shone brightly, as it should upon a marriage morn, and
+without the doors the trumpeters blew blasts with their curved horns. In
+the temple the altar of Odin was decorated with flowers, and by it, also
+decorated with flowers, the offering awaited sacrifice. My mother, in
+her finest robe, the same, in truth, in which she herself had been wed,
+stood by the door of the hall, which was cleared of kine and set with
+tables, giving and returning greetings. Her arm was round me, who, as
+bridegroom, was clothed in new garments of woven wool through which ran
+a purple streak, the best that could be made in all the land. Ragnar
+came up.
+
+"They should be here," he said. "The hour is over past."
+
+"Doubtless the fair bride has been long in decking herself," answered my
+father, looking at the sun. "She will come presently."
+
+Still time went on, and the company began to murmur, while a strange,
+cold fear seemed to grip my heart. At length a man was seen riding
+towards the hall, and one cried,
+
+"At last! Here comes the herald!"
+
+Another answered: "For a messenger of love he rides slowly and sadly."
+And a silence fell on all that heard him.
+
+The man, a stranger to us, arrived and said:
+
+"I have a message for the lord Thorvald from the lord Athalbrand, which
+I was charged to deliver at this hour, neither before nor after. It is
+that he sailed for Lesso at the rising of the moon last night, there
+purposing to celebrate the marriage of his daughter, the lady Iduna,
+with Steinar, lord of Agger, and is therefore grieved that he and the
+lady Iduna cannot be present at your feast this day."
+
+Now, when I heard these words I felt as though a spear had been thrust
+through me. "Steinar! Oh! surely not with my brother Steinar," I gasped,
+and staggered against the door-post, where I stood like one who has been
+struck helpless.
+
+Ragnar sprang at the messenger, and, dragging him from his horse, would
+have killed him had not some stayed his hand. My father, Thorvald,
+remained silent, but his half-brother, the dark-browed priest of Odin,
+lifted his hands to heaven and called down the curse of Odin upon the
+troth-breakers. The company drew swords and shouted for vengeance,
+demanding to be led against the false Athalbrand. At length my father
+called for silence.
+
+"Athalbrand is a man without shame," he said. "Steinar is a viper whom
+I have nursed in my breast, a viper that has bitten the hand which saved
+him from death; aye, you men of Agger, you have a viper for your lord.
+Iduna is a light-of-love upon whom all honest women should spit, who has
+broken her oath and sold herself for Steinar's wealth and rule. I swear
+by Thor that, with your help, my friends and neighbours, I will be
+avenged upon all three of these. But for such vengeance preparations
+must be made, since Athalbrand and Steinar are strong. Moreover, they
+lie in an island, and can only be attacked by sea. Further, there is
+no haste, since the mischief is done, and by now Steinar the Snake and
+Iduna the Light-of-love will have drunk their marriage-cup. Come, eat,
+my friends, and not too sadly, seeing that if my house has suffered
+shame, it has escaped worse shame, that of welcoming a false woman as
+a bride of one of us. Doubtless, when his bitterness is past, Olaf, my
+son, will find a better wife."
+
+So they sat down and ate the marriage feast. Only the seats of the bride
+and bridegroom were empty, for I could not take part in that feast, but
+went alone to my sleeping-place and drew the curtains. My mother also
+was so overcome that she departed to her own chamber. Alone I sat upon
+my bed and listened to the sounds of that marriage feast, which more
+resembled such a one as is given at funerals. When it was finished I
+heard my father and Ragnar and the head men and chiefs of the company
+take counsel together, after which all departed to their homes.
+
+So soon as they were gone Freydisa came to me, bringing food and drink.
+
+"I am a shamed man, Freydisa," I said, "and can no longer stay in this
+land where I have been made one for children to mock at."
+
+"It is not you who are shamed," answered Freydisa hotly. "It is Steinar
+and that----," and she used a harsh word of Iduna. "Oh! I saw it coming,
+and yet I dared not warn you. I feared lest I might be wrong and put
+doubts into your heart against your foster-brother and your wife without
+cause. May Odin destroy them both!"
+
+"Speak not so roughly, Freydisa," I said. "Ragnar was right about Iduna.
+Her beauty never blinded him as it did me, and he read her truly. Well,
+she did but follow her nature; and as for Steinar, she fooled him as she
+has the power to do by any man, save Ragnar. Doubtless he will repent
+bitterly ere all is done. Also I think that necklace from the grave is
+an evil magic."
+
+"It is like you, Olaf, to find excuse even for sin that cannot be
+forgiven. Not but what I hold with you that Steinar has been led away
+against his will, for I read it in his face. Well, his life must pay the
+price of it, for surely he shall bleed on Odin's altar. Now, be a man.
+Come out and face your trouble. You are not the first that a woman has
+fooled, nor will you be the last. Forget love and dream of vengeance."
+
+"I cannot forget love, and I do not wish for vengeance, especially
+against Steinar, who is my foster-brother," I answered wearily.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE BATTLE ON THE SEA
+
+On the morrow Thorvald, my father, sent messengers to the head men of
+Agger, telling them of all that he and his House had suffered at the
+hands of Steinar, whereof those of their folk who had been present at
+the feast could bear witness. He added that if they stood by Steinar in
+his wickedness and treachery, thenceforward he and the men of the North
+would be their foes and work them mischief by land and sea.
+
+In due course these messengers returned with the tale that the head men
+of Agger had met together and deposed Steinar from his lordship over
+them, electing another man, a nephew of Steinar's father. Also they sent
+a present of gold rings in atonement for the wrong which had been done
+to the house of Thorvald by one of their blood, and prayed that Thorvald
+and the northern men would bear them no ill will for that in which they
+were blameless.
+
+Cheered by this answer, which halved the number of their foes,
+my father, Thorvald of Aar, and those Over-men of whom he was the
+High-lord, began to make their preparations to attack Athalbrand on his
+Island of Lesso. Of all these things Athalbrand learned by his spies,
+and later, when the warships were being prepared and manned, two
+messengers came from him, old men of repute, and demanded to see my
+father. This was the substance of his message, which was delivered in my
+hearing.
+
+That he, Athalbrand, was little to blame for what had happened, which
+was due to the mad passions of two young people who had blinded and
+misled him. That no marriage had taken place between Steinar and his
+daughter, Iduna, as he was prepared and able to prove, since he had
+refused to allow any such marriage. That, therefore, he was ready to
+outlaw Steinar, who only dwelt with him as an unwelcome guest, and to
+return his daughter, Iduna, to me, Olaf, and with her a fine in gold
+rings as compensation for the wrong done, of which the amount was to be
+ascertained by judges to be agreed upon.
+
+My father entertained the messengers, but would give them no answer till
+he had summoned a council of the Under-lords who stood with him in
+this business. At that council, where I was present, some said that the
+insult could only be washed out with blood. At length I was called upon
+to speak as the man most concerned. While all listened I rose and said:
+
+"These are my words. After what has chanced, not for all the wealth in
+Denmark would I take Iduna the Fair to be my wife. Let her stay with
+Steinar, whom she has chosen. Still, I do not wish to cause the blood of
+innocent men to be spent because of my private wrong. Neither do I wish
+to wreak vengeance upon Steinar, who for many years was my brother, and
+who has been led away by a woman, as may chance to any one of us and
+has chanced to many. Therefore I say that my father should accept
+Athalbrand's fine in satisfaction of the insult to our House, and let
+all this matter be forgotten. As for myself, I purpose to leave my home,
+where I have been put to shame, and to seek my fortune in other lands."
+
+Now, the most of those present thought this a wise saying and were ready
+to abide by it. Yet, unluckily enough, it was made of no account by what
+had slipped from my lips at its end. Although many held me strange and
+fey, all men loved me because I had a kind heart and gentleness, also
+because of the wrongs that I had suffered and for something which they
+saw in me, which they believed would one day make of me a great skald
+and a wise leader. When she heard me announce thus publicly that I was
+determined to leave them, Thora, my mother, whispered in the ears of
+Thorvald, my father, and Ragnar and others also said to each other that
+this might not be. It was Ragnar, the headlong, who sprang up and spoke
+the first.
+
+"Is my brother to be driven from us and his home like a thrall caught
+in theft because a traitor and a false woman have put him to shame?" he
+said. "I say that I ask Athalbrand's blood to wash away that stain,
+not his gold, and that if need be I will seek it alone and die upon his
+spears. Also I say that if Olaf, my brother, turns his back upon this
+vengeance, I name him niddering."
+
+"No man shall name me that," I said, flushing, "and least of all
+Ragnar."
+
+So, amidst shouts, for there had been long peace in the land, and all
+the fighting men sighed for battle, it was agreed that war should be
+declared on Athalbrand, those present pledging themselves and their
+dependents to follow it to the end.
+
+"Go back to the troth-breaker, Athalbrand," said my father to the
+messengers. "Tell him that we will not accept his fine of gold, who come
+to take all his wealth, and with it his land and his life. Tell him also
+that the young lord Olaf refuses his daughter, Iduna, since it has
+not been the fashion of our House to wed with drabs. Tell Steinar, the
+woman-thief, that he would do well to slay himself, or to be sure that
+he is killed in battle, since if we take him living he shall be cast
+into a pit of vipers or sacrificed to Odin, the god of honour. Begone!"
+
+"We go," answered the spokesman of the messengers; "yet before we go,
+Thorvald, we would say to you that you and your folk are mad. Some wrong
+has been done to your son, though perhaps not so much as you may think.
+For that wrong full atonement has been offered, and with it the hand of
+friendship on which you spit. Know then that the mighty lord Athalbrand
+does not fear war, since for every man you can gather he numbers two,
+all pledged to him until the death. Also he has consulted the oracle,
+and its answer is that if you fight with him, but one of your House will
+be left living."
+
+"Begone!" thundered my father, "lest presently you should stay here
+dead."
+
+So they went.
+
+
+
+That day my heart was very heavy, and I sought Freydisa to take counsel
+with her.
+
+"Trouble hovers over me like a croaking raven," I said. "I do not like
+this war for a woman who is worth nothing, although she has hurt me
+sorely. I fear the future, that it may prove even worse than the past
+has been."
+
+"Then come to learn it, Olaf, for what is known need no more be feared."
+
+"I am not so sure of that," I said. "But how can the future be learned?"
+
+"Through the voice of the god, Olaf. Am I not one of Odin's virgins,
+who know something of the mysteries? Yonder in his temple mayhap he will
+speak through me, if you dare to listen."
+
+"Aye, I dare. I should like to hear the god speak, true words or false."
+
+"Then come and hear them, Olaf."
+
+So we went up to the temple, and Freydisa, who had the right of entry,
+unlocked its door. We passed in and lit a lamp in front of the seated
+wooden image of Odin, that for unnumbered generations had rested there
+behind the altar. I stood by the altar and Freydisa crouched herself
+before the image, her forehead laid upon its feet, and muttered runes.
+After a while she grew silent, and fear took hold of me. The place was
+large, and the feeble light of the lamp scarcely reached to the arched
+roof; all about me were great formless shadows. I felt that there were
+two worlds, one of the flesh and one of the spirit, and that I stood
+between the two. Freydisa seemed to go to sleep; I could no longer hear
+her breathing. Then she sighed heavily and turned her head, and by the
+light of the lamp I noted that her face was white and ghastly.
+
+"What do you seek?" her lips asked, for I saw them moving. Yet the voice
+that issued from them was not her own voice, but that of a deep-throated
+man, who spoke with a strange accent.
+
+Next came the answer in the voice of Freydisa.
+
+"I, your virgin, seek to know the fate of him who stands by the altar,
+one whom I love."
+
+For a while there was quiet; then the first voice spoke, still through
+the lips of Freydisa. Of this I was sure, for those of the statue
+remained immovable. It was what it had always been--a thing of wood.
+
+"Olaf, the son of Thorvald," said the deep voice, "is an enemy of us the
+gods, as was his forefather whose grave he robbed. As his forefather's
+fate was, so shall his be, for in both of them dwells the same spirit.
+He shall worship that which is upon the hilt of the sword he stole from
+the dead, and in this sign shall conquer, since it prevails against us
+and makes our curse of none effect. Great sorrow shall he taste, and
+great joy. He shall throw away a sceptre for a woman's kiss, and yet
+gain a greater sceptre. Olaf, whom we curse, shall be Olaf the Blessed.
+Yet in the end shall we prevail against his flesh and that of those who
+cling to him preaching that which is upon the sword but not with the
+sword, among whom thou shalt be numbered, woman--thou, and another, who
+hast done him wrong."
+
+The voice died away, and was followed by a silence so deep that at
+length I could bear it no more.
+
+"Ask of the war," I said, "and of what shall happen."
+
+"It is too late," answered the voice of Freydisa. "I sought to know of
+you, Olaf, and you alone, and now the spirit has left me."
+
+Then came another long silence, after which Freydisa sighed thrice and
+awoke. We went out of the temple, I bearing the lamp and she resting on
+my arm. Near the door I turned and looked back, and it seemed to me that
+the image of the god glared upon me wrathfully.
+
+"What has chanced?" asked Freydisa when we stood beneath the light of
+the friendly stars. "I know nothing; my mind is a blackness."
+
+I told her word for word. When I had finished she said,
+
+"Give me the Wanderer's sword."
+
+I gave it to her, and she held it against the sky by the naked blade.
+
+"The hilt is a cross," she said; "but how can a man worship a cross and
+preach it and conquer thereby? I cannot interpret this rede, yet I do
+not doubt but that it shall all come true, and that you, Olaf, and I are
+doomed to be joined in the same fate, whatever it may be, and with us
+some other who has wronged you, Steinar perchance, or Iduna herself.
+Well, of this at least I am glad, for if I have loved the father, I
+think that I love the son still more, though otherwise." And, leaning
+forward, she kissed me solemnly upon the brow.
+
+
+
+After Freydisa and I had sought the oracle of Odin, three long ships
+of war sailed by the light of the moon from Fladstrand for Athalbrand's
+Isle of Lesso. I do not know when we sailed, but in my mind I can
+still see those ships creeping out to sea. In command of the first was
+Thorvald, my father; of the second, Ragnar, my brother; and of the third
+myself, Olaf; and on each of these ships were fifty men, all of them
+stout fighters.
+
+The parting with Thora, my mother, had been sad, for her heart foreboded
+ill of this war, and her face could not hide what her heart told her.
+Indeed, she wept bitterly, and cursed the name of Iduna the Fair, who
+had brought this trouble on her House. Freydisa was sad also. Yet,
+watching her opportunity, she glided up to me just before I embarked and
+whispered to me,
+
+"Be of good cheer, for you will return, whoever is left behind."
+
+"It will give me little comfort to return if certain others are left
+behind," I answered. "Oh, that the folk had hearkened to me and made
+peace!"
+
+"Too late to talk of that now," said Freydisa, and we parted.
+
+This was our plan: To sail for Lesso by the moonlight, and when the moon
+went down to creep silently towards the shores of the island. Then, just
+at the first break of dawn, we proposed to beach the ships on a sandy
+strand we knew, and rush to attack Athalbrand's hall, which we hoped to
+carry before men were well awake. It was a bold scheme and one full
+of dangers, yet we trusted that its very boldness would cause it
+to succeed, especially as we had put it about that, owing to the
+unreadiness of our ships, no attack would be made until the coming of
+the next moon.
+
+Doubtless all might have gone well with us but for a strange chance. As
+it happened, Athalbrand, a brave and skilful captain, who from his youth
+had seen much war by sea and land, had a design of his own which
+brought ours to nothing. It was that he and his people should sail to
+Fladstrand, burn the ships of Thorvald, my father, that he knew were
+fitting out upon the beach, which he hoped to find unguarded, or at most
+only watched by a few men, and then return to Lesso before he could
+be fallen upon. By ill luck he had chosen this very night for his
+enterprise. So it came about that just as the moon was sinking our
+watchmen caught sight of four other ships, which by the shields that
+hung over their bulwarks they knew must be vessels of war, gliding
+towards them over the quiet sea.
+
+"Athalbrand comes to meet us!" cried one, and in a minute every man
+was looking to his arms. There was no time for plans, since in that low
+light and mist the vessels were almost bow to bow before we saw each
+other. My father's ship ran in between two of Athalbrand's that were
+sailing abreast, while mine and that of Ragnar found themselves almost
+alongside of the others. On both sides the sails were let down, for none
+had any thought of flight. Some rushed to the oars and got enough of
+them out to work the ships. Others ran to the grappling irons, and the
+rest began to shoot with their bows. Before one could count two hundred
+from the time of sighting, the war cry of "_Valhalla! Valhalla! Victory
+or Valhalla!_" broke upon the silence of the night and the battle had
+begun.
+
+It was a very fierce battle, and one that the gathering darkness made
+more grim. Each ship fought without heed to the others, for as the
+fray went on they drifted apart, grappled to their foes. My father,
+Thorvald's, vessel fared the worst, since it had an enemy on either
+bulwark. He boarded one and cleared it, losing many men. Then the crew
+of the other rushed on to him as he regained his own ship. The end of it
+was that my father and all his folk were killed, but only after they had
+slain the most of their foes, for they died fighting very bravely.
+
+Between Ragnar's ship and that of Athalbrand himself the fray was more
+even. Ragnar boarded Athalbrand and was driven back. Athalbrand boarded
+Ragnar and was driven back. Then for the second time Ragnar boarded
+Athalbrand with those men who were left to him. In the narrow waist of
+Athalbrand's ship a mighty battle was fought, and here at last Ragnar
+and Athalbrand found themselves face to face.
+
+They hacked at each other with their axes, till at length Ragnar, with
+a fearful blow, drove in Athalbrand's helmet and clove his skull in two,
+so that he died. But even as he fell, a man, it may have been friend
+or foe, for the moon was sinking and the darkness grew dense, thrust a
+spear into Ragnar's back, and he was carried, dying, to his own vessel
+by those who remained to him.
+
+Then that fight ceased, for all Athalbrand's people were dead or wounded
+to the death. Meanwhile, on the right, I was fighting the ship that
+was commanded by Steinar, for it was fated that we two should be thrown
+together. Here also the struggle was desperate. Steinar and his company
+boarded at the prow, but I and my men, charging up both boards, drove
+them back again. In that charge it is true that I, Olaf, fighting madly,
+as was my wont when roused, killed three of the Lesso folk with the
+Wanderer's sword. Still I see them falling one by one. Followed by six
+of my people, I sprang on to the raised prow of Steinar's ship. Just
+then the grapnels parted, and there we were left, defending ourselves
+as best we could. My mates got their oars and once more brought our
+boat alongside. Grapple they could not, because the irons were lost.
+Therefore, in obedience to the order which I shouted to them from the
+high prow of the enemy's ship, they began to hurl their ballast stones
+into her, and thus stove out her bottom, so that in the end she filled
+and sank.
+
+Even while she was down the fray went on. Nearly all my people were
+down; indeed but two remained to me when Steinar, not knowing who I was,
+rushed up and, having lost his sword, gripped me round the middle.
+We wrestled, but Steinar, who was the stronger, forced me back to the
+bulwarks and so overboard. Into the sea we went together just as
+the ship sank, drawing us down after her. When we rose Steinar was
+senseless, but still clinging to me as I caught a rope that was thrown
+to me with my right hand, to which the Wanderer's sword was hanging by a
+leathern loop.
+
+The end of it was that I and the senseless Steinar were both drawn back
+to my own ship just as the darkness closed in.
+
+
+
+An hour later came the dawn, showing a sad sight. My father, Thorvald's,
+ship and one of Athalbrand's lay helpless, for all, or nearly all, their
+crews were dead, while the other had drifted off and was now half a mile
+away.
+
+Ragnar's ship was still grappled to its foe. My own was perhaps in the
+best case, for here over twenty men were left unhurt, and another ten
+whose wounds were light. The rest were dead or dying.
+
+I sat on a bench in the waist of the ship, and at my feet lay the man
+who had been dragged from the sea with me. I thought that this man was
+dead till the first red rays of dawn lit upon his face, whereon he sat
+up, and I saw that he was Steinar.
+
+"Thus we meet again, my brother," I said in a quiet voice. "Well,
+Steinar, look upon your work." And I pointed to the dead and dying and
+to the ships around, whence came the sound of groans.
+
+Steinar stared at me and asked in a thick voice:
+
+"Was it with you, Olaf, that I fell into the sea?"
+
+"Even so, Steinar."
+
+"I knew it not in the darkness, Olaf. If I had known, never would I have
+lifted sword against you."
+
+"What did that matter, Steinar, when you had already pierced my heart,
+though not with a sword?"
+
+At these words Steinar moaned aloud, then said:
+
+"For the second time you have saved my life."
+
+"Aye, Steinar; but who knows whether I can do so for a third time? Yet
+take comfort, for if I may I will, for thus shall I be best avenged."
+
+"A white vengeance," said Steinar. "Oh, this is not to be borne." And
+drawing a knife he wore at his girdle, he strove to kill himself.
+
+But I, who was watching, snatched it away, then gave an order.
+
+"Bind this man and keep him safe. Also bring him drink and a cloak to
+cover him."
+
+"Best kill the dog," grumbled the captain, to whom I spoke.
+
+"I kill that one who lays a finger on him," I replied.
+
+Someone whispered into the captain's ear, whereon he nodded and laughed
+savagely.
+
+"Ah!" he exclaimed, "I am a thickhead. I had forgotten Odin and his
+sacrifice. Yes, yes, we'll keep the traitor safe."
+
+So they bound Steinar to one of the benches and gave him ale and covered
+him with a blood-stained cloak taken from a dead man.
+
+I also drank of the ale and drew a cloak about me, for the air was keen.
+Then I said,
+
+"Let us go to the other ships and see what has chanced there."
+
+They got out the oars and rowed to Ragnar's vessel, where we saw men
+stirring.
+
+"How went it with you?" I asked of one who stood upon the prow.
+
+"Not so ill, Olaf," he answered. "We won, and but now, with the new
+light, have finished the game. They are all quiet yonder," he added,
+nodding at the vessel of Athalbrand, to which they were still grappled.
+
+"Where is Ragnar?" I asked.
+
+"Come on board and see," answered the man.
+
+A plank was thrust out and I ran across it, fear gripping at my heart.
+Resting against the mast sat Ragnar, dying.
+
+"Good morrow to you, Olaf," he gasped. "I am glad you live, that there
+may be one left to sit at Aar."
+
+"What do you mean, my brother?"
+
+"I mean, Olaf, that our father, Thorvald, is dead. They called it to us
+from yonder." And he pointed with his red sword to our father's ship,
+that lay side by side with one of Athalbrand's. "Athalbrand is dead,
+for I slew him, and ere the sun is well clear of the sea I also shall
+be dead. Oh, weep not, Olaf; we have won a great fight, and I travel
+to Valhalla with a glorious company of friends and foes, there to await
+you. I say that had I lived to be old, never could I have found a better
+death, who then at last might have died like a cow. Get the ships to
+Fladstrand, Olaf, and gather more men to put all Lesso to the sword.
+Give us good burial, Olaf, and build a great mound over us, that we may
+stand thereon at moonrise and mock the men of Lesso as they row past,
+till Valhalla is full and the world dies. Is Steinar dead? Tell me that
+Steinar is dead, for then I'll speak with him presently."
+
+"No, Ragnar, I have taken Steinar captive."
+
+"Captive! Why captive? Oh, I understand; that he may lie on Odin's
+altar. Friends, swear to me that Steinar shall lie on Odin's altar,
+Steinar, the bride-thief, Seiner the traitor. Swear it, for I do not
+trust this brother of mine, who has woman's milk in his breasts. By
+Thor, he might spare him if he had his way. Swear it, or I'll haunt your
+beds o' nights and bring the other heroes with me. Swift now, while my
+ears are open."
+
+Then from both ships rose the cry of
+
+"We swear! Fear not, Ragnar, we swear."
+
+"That's well," said Ragnar. "Kiss me now, Olaf. Oh! what is it that I
+see in your eyes? A new light, a strange light! Olaf, you are not one of
+us. This time is not your time, nor this place your place. You travel to
+the end by another road. Well, who knows? At that end we may meet again.
+At least I love you."
+
+Then he burst into a wild war song of blood and vengeance, and so
+singing sank down and died.
+
+
+
+Afterwards, with much labour, I and the men who were left roped
+together our vessels, and to them those that we had captured, and when
+a favouring wind arose, sailed back for Fladstrand. Here a multitude
+awaited us, for a fishing-boat had brought tidings of the great sea
+battle. Of the hundred and fifty men who had sailed in my father,
+Thorvald's, ships sixty were dead and many others wounded, some of
+them to death. Athalbrand's people had fared even worse, since those of
+Thorvald had slain their wounded, only one of his vessels having escaped
+back to Lesso, there to tell the people of that island and Iduna all
+that had happened. Now it was a land of widows and orphans, so that no
+man need go wooing there for long, and of Aar and the country round the
+same song was sung. Indeed, for generations the folk of those parts
+must have told of the battle of Lesso, when the chiefs, Thorvald and
+Athalbrand, slew each other upon the seas at night because of a quarrel
+about a woman who was known as Iduna the Fair.
+
+On the sands of Fladstrand my mother, the lady Thora, waited with the
+others, for she had moved thither before the sailing of the ships. When
+mine, the first of them, was beached, I leapt from it, and running to
+her, knelt down and kissed her hand.
+
+"I see you, my son Olaf," she said, "but where are your father and
+brother?"
+
+"Yonder, mother," I answered, pointing to the ships, and could say no
+more.
+
+"Then why do they tarry, my son?"
+
+"Alas! mother, because they sleep and will never wake again."
+
+Now Thora wailed aloud and fell down senseless. Three days later she
+died, for her heart, which was weak, could not bear this woe. Once only
+did she speak before she died, and then it was to bless me and pray that
+we might meet again, and to curse Iduna. Folk noted that of Steinar she
+said nothing, either good or ill, although she knew that he lived and
+was a prisoner.
+
+Thus it came about that I, Olaf, was left alone in the world and
+inherited the lordship of Aar and its subject lands. No one remained
+save my dark-browed uncle, Leif, the priest of Odin, Freydisa, the wise
+woman, my nurse, and Steinar, my captive foster-brother, who had been
+the cause of all this war.
+
+The dying words of Ragnar had been noised abroad. The priest of Odin had
+laid them before the oracle of the gods, and this oracle declared that
+they must be fulfilled without change.
+
+So all the folk of that land met together at my bidding--yes, even
+the women and the children. First we laid the dead in the largest
+of Athalbrand's ships, his people and Athalbrand himself being set
+undermost. Then on them we set the dead of Thorvald, Thorvald, my
+father, and his son Ragnar, my brother, bound to the mast upon their
+feet. This done, with great labour we dragged the ship on to high
+ground, and above it built a mighty mound of earth. For twenty days
+we toiled at the task, till at last it was finished and the dead were
+hidden beneath it for ever. Then we separated to our homes and mourned a
+while.
+
+But Steinar was carried to the temple of Odin at Aar, and there kept in
+the prison of the temple.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HOW OLAF FOUGHT WITH ODIN
+
+It was the eve of the Spring Feast of Odin. It comes back to me that at
+this feast it was the custom to sacrifice some beast to Odin and to lay
+flowers and other offerings upon the altars of certain other gods that
+they might be pleased to grant a fruitful season. On this day, however,
+the sacrifice was to be of no beast, but of a man--Steinar the traitor.
+
+That night I, Olaf, by the help of Freydisa, the priestess of the god,
+won entrance to the dungeon where Steinar lay awaiting his doom. This
+was not easy to do. Indeed, I remember that it was only after I had
+sworn a great oath to Leif and the other priests that I would attempt no
+rescue of the victim, nor aid him to escape from his prison, that I
+was admitted there, while armed men stood without to see that I did not
+break my word. For my love of Steinar was known, and in this matter none
+trusted me.
+
+That dungeon was a dreadful place. I see it now. In the floor of the
+temple was a trap-door, which, when lifted, revealed a flight of steps.
+At the foot of these steps was another massive door of oak, bolted
+and barred. It was opened and closed behind me, who found myself in a
+darksome den built of rough stone, to which air came only through an
+opening in the roof, so small that not even a child could pass it. In
+the far corner of this hole, bound to the wall by an iron chain fastened
+round his middle, Steinar lay upon a bed of rushes, while on a stool
+beside him stood food and water. When I entered, bearing a lamp, Steinar
+sat up blinking his eyes, for the light, feeble as it was, hurt them,
+and I saw that his face was white and drawn, and the hand he held to
+shade his eyes was wasted. I looked at him and my heart swelled with
+pity, so that I could not speak.
+
+"Why have you come here, Olaf?" asked Steinar when he knew me. "Is it to
+take my life? If so, never were you more welcome."
+
+"No, Steinar, it is to bid you farewell, since to-morrow at the feast
+you die, and I am helpless to save you. In all things else men will obey
+me, but not in this."
+
+"And would you save me if you could?"
+
+"Aye, Steinar. Why not? Surely you must suffer enough with so much blood
+and evil on your hands."
+
+"Yes, I suffer enough, Olaf. So much that I shall be glad to die. But
+if you are not come to kill me, then it is that you may scourge me with
+your tongue."
+
+"Not so, Steinar. It is as I have said, only to bid you farewell and to
+ask you a question, if it pleases you to answer me. Why did you do this
+thing which has brought about such misery and loss, which has sent my
+father, my brother, and a host of brave men to the grave, and with them
+my mother, whose breasts nursed you?"
+
+"Is she dead also, Olaf? Oh! my cup is full." He hid his eyes in his
+thin hands and sobbed, then went on: "Why did I do it? Olaf, I did not
+do it, but some spirit that entered into me and made me mad--mad for the
+lips of Iduna the Fair. Olaf, I would speak no ill of her, since her sin
+is mine, but yet it is true that when I hung back she drew me on, nor
+could I find the strength to say her nay. Do you pray the gods, Olaf,
+that no woman may ever draw you on to such shame as mine. Hearken now
+to the great reward that I have won. I was never wed to Iduna, Olaf.
+Athalbrand would not suffer it till he was sure of the matter of the
+lordship of Agger. Then, when he knew that this was gone from me, he
+would suffer it still less, and Iduna herself seemed to grow cold.
+In truth, I believe he thought of killing me and sending my head as a
+present to your father Thorvald. But this Iduna forbade, whether because
+she loved me or for other reasons, I cannot say. Olaf, you know the
+rest."
+
+"Aye, Steinar, I know the rest. Iduna is lost to me, and for that
+perhaps I should thank you, although such a thrust as this leaves the
+heart sore for life. My father, my mother, my brother--all are lost to
+me, and you, too, who were as my twin, are about to be lost. Night has
+you all, and with you a hundred other men, because of the madness that
+was bred in you by the eyes of Iduna the Fair, who also is lost to
+both of us. Steinar, I do not blame you, for I know yours was a madness
+which, for their own ends, the gods send upon men, naming it love. I
+forgive you, Steinar, if I have aught to forgive, and I tell you, so
+weary am I of this world, which I feel holds little that is good, that,
+if I might, I'd yield up my life instead of yours, and go to seek the
+others, though I doubt whether I should find them, since I think that
+our roads are different. Hark! the priests call me. Steinar, there's no
+need to bid you to be brave, for who of our Northern race is not? That's
+our one heritage: the courage of a bull. Yet it seems to me that there
+are other sorts of courage which we lack: to tread the dark ways of
+death with eyes fixed on things gentler and better than we know. Pray
+to our gods, Steinar, since they are the best we have to pray to,
+though dark and bloody in their ways; pray that we may meet again, where
+priests and swords are not and women work no ruin, where we may love as
+we once loved in childhood and there is no more sin. Fare you well, my
+brother Steinar, yet not for ever, for sure I am that here we did not
+begin and here we shall not end. Oh! Steinar, Steinar, who could have
+dreamed that this would be the last of all our happy fellowship?"
+
+When I had spoken such words as these to him, I flung my arms about him,
+and we embraced each other. Then that picture fades.
+
+
+
+It was the hour of sacrifice. The victim lay bound upon the stone in
+the presence of the statue of the god, but outside of the doors of the
+little temple, that all who were gathered there might see the offering.
+
+The ceremonies were ended. Leif, the head priest, in his robe of office,
+had prayed and drunk the cup before the god, dedicating to him the blood
+that was about to fall, and narrating in a chant the crimes for which
+it was offered up and all the tale of woe that these had brought about.
+Then, in the midst of an utter silence, he drew the sacrificial sword
+and held it to the lips of Odin that the god might breathe upon it and
+make it holy.
+
+It would seem that the god did breathe; at least, that side of the sword
+which had been bright grew dull. Leif turned it to the people, crying in
+the ancient words:
+
+"Odin takes; who dare deny?"
+
+All eyes were fixed upon him, standing in his black robe, and holding
+aloft the gleaming sword that had grown dull. Yes, even the patient eyes
+of Steinar, bound upon the stone.
+
+Then it was that some spirit stirred in my heart which drove me on to
+step between the priest and his prey. Standing in the doorway of the
+chapel, a tall, young shape against the gloom behind, I said in a steady
+voice:
+
+"I dare deny!"
+
+A gasp of wonderment went up from all who heard, and Steinar, lifting
+himself a little from the stone, stared at me, shook his head as if in
+dissent, then let it fall again, and listened.
+
+"Hearken, friends," I said. "This man, my foster-brother, has committed
+a sin against me and my House. My House is dead--I alone remain; and on
+behalf of the dead and of myself I forgive him his sin, which, indeed,
+was less his than another's. Is there any man among you who at some time
+has not been led aside by woman, or who has not again and again desired
+to be so led aside? If such a one there be, let him say that he has no
+forgiveness in his heart for Steinar, the son of Hakon. Let him come
+forward and say it."
+
+None stirred; even the women drooped their heads and were silent.
+
+"Then, if this is so," I went on, "and you can forgive, as I do, how
+much more should a god forgive? What is a god? Is he not one greater
+than man, who must know all the weakness of man, which, for his own
+ends, he has bred into the flesh of man? How, then, can he do otherwise
+than be pitiful to what he has created? If this be so, how can the
+god refuse that which men are willing to grant, and what sacrifice can
+please him better than the foregoing of his own vengeance? Would a god
+wish to be outdone by a man? If I, Olaf, the man can forgive, who have
+been wronged, how much more can Odin the god forgive, who has suffered
+no wrong save that of the breaking of those laws which will ever be
+broken by men who are as it has pleased him to fashion them? On Odin's
+behalf, therefore, and speaking as he would speak, could he have voice
+among us, I demand that you set this victim free, leaving it to his own
+heart to punish him."
+
+Now, some whom my simple words had touched, I suppose because there was
+truth in them, although in those days and in that land none understood
+such truths, and others, because they had known and loved the
+open-handed Steinar, who would have given the cloak from his back to the
+meanest of them, cried:
+
+"Aye, let him go free. There has been enough of death through this
+Iduna."
+
+But more stood silent, lost in doubt at this new doctrine. Only Leif,
+my uncle, did not stand silent. His dark face began to work as though
+a devil possessed him, as, indeed, I think one did. His eyes rolled; he
+champed his jaws like an angry hog, and screamed:
+
+"Surely the lord Olaf is mad, for no sane man would talk thus. Man
+may forgive while it is within his power; but this traitor has been
+dedicated to Odin, and can a god forgive? Can a god spare when his
+nostrils are opened for the smell of blood? If so, of what use is it to
+be a god? How is he happier than a man if he must spare? Moreover,
+would ye bring the curse of Odin upon you all? I say to you--steal his
+sacrifice, and you yourselves shall be sacrificed, you, your wives, your
+children, aye, and even your cattle and the fruit of your fields."
+
+When they heard this, the people groaned and shouted out:
+
+"Let Steinar die! Kill him! Kill him that Odin may be fed!"
+
+"Aye," answered Leif, "Steinar shall die. See, he dies!"
+
+Then, with a leap like to that of a hungry wolf, he sprang upon the
+bound man and slew him.
+
+I see it now. The rude temple, the glaring statue of the god, the
+gathered crowd, open mouthed and eyed, the spring sunshine shining
+quietly over all, and, running past the place, a ewe calling to the lamb
+that it had lost; I see the dying Steinar turn his white face, and
+smile a farewell to me with his fading eyes; I see Leif getting to his
+horrible rites that he might learn the omen, and lastly I see the red
+sword of the Wanderer appear suddenly between me and him, and in my
+hand. I think that my purpose was to cut him down. Only a thought arose
+within me.
+
+This priest was not to blame. He did no more than he had been taught.
+Who taught him? The god he served, through whom he gained honour and
+livelihood. So the god was to blame, the god that drank the blood of
+men, as a thrall drinks ale, to satisfy his filthy appetite. Could such
+a monster be a god? Nay, he must be a devil, and why should free men
+serve devils? At least, I would not. I would cast him off, and let him
+avenge himself upon me if he could. I, Olaf, would match myself against
+this god--or devil.
+
+I strode past Leif and the altar to where the statue of Odin sat within
+the temple.
+
+"Hearken!" I said in such a voice that all lifted their eyes from the
+scene of butchery to me. "You believe in Odin, do you not?"
+
+They answered "Aye."
+
+"Then you believe that he can revenge himself upon one who rejects and
+affronts him?"
+
+"Aye," they answered again.
+
+"If this be so," I went on, "will you swear to leave the matter between
+Odin and me, Olaf, to be settled according to the law of single combat,
+and give peace to the victor, with promise from all harm save at the
+hands of his foe?"
+
+"Aye," they answered, yet scarcely understanding what they said.
+
+"Good!" I cried. "Now, God Odin, I, Olaf, a man, challenge you to single
+combat. Strike you first, you, Odin, whom I name Devil and Wolf of the
+skies, but no god. Strike you first, bloody murderer, and kill me, if
+you can, who await your stroke!"
+
+Then I folded my arms and stared at the statue's stony eyes, which
+stared back at me, while all the people gasped.
+
+For a full minute I waited thus, but all that happened was that a wren
+settled on the head of Odin and twittered there, then flew off to its
+nest in the thatch.
+
+"Now," I cried, "you have had your turn, and mine comes."
+
+I drew the Wanderer's sword, and sprang at Odin. My first stroke sunk up
+to the hilt in his hollow belly; my next cut the sceptre from his hand;
+my third--a great one--hewed the head from off him. It came rattling
+down, and out of it crawled a viper, which reared itself up and hissed.
+I set my heel upon the reptile's head and crushed it, and slowly it
+writhed itself to death.
+
+"Now, good folk," I cried, "what say you of your god Odin?"
+
+They answered nothing, for all of them were in flight. Yes, even Leif
+fled, cursing me over his shoulder as he went.
+
+Presently I was alone with the dead Steinar and the shattered god, and
+in that loneliness strange visions came to me, for I felt that I had
+done a mighty deed, one that made me happy. Round the wall of the
+temple crept a figure; it was that of Freydisa, whose face was white and
+scared.
+
+"You are a great man, Olaf," she said; "but how will it end?"
+
+"I do not know," I answered. "I have done what my heart told me, neither
+more nor less, and I bide the issue. Odin shall have his chance, for
+here I stay till dark, and then, if I live, I leave this land. Go, get
+me all the gold that is mine from the hall, and bring it here to me by
+moonrise, and with it some garments and my armour. Bring me also my best
+horse."
+
+"You leave this land?" she said. "That means that you leave me, who love
+you, to go forth as the Wanderer went--following a dream to the South.
+Well, it is best that you should go, for whatever they have promised you
+but now, it is sure that the priests will kill you, even if you escape
+the vengeance of the god." And she looked askance at the shattered
+statue which had sat in its place for so many generations that none knew
+who had set it there, or when.
+
+"I have killed the god," I answered, pointing to the crushed viper.
+
+"Not quite, Olaf, for, see, its tail still moves."
+
+Then she went, leaving me alone. I sat myself down by the murdered
+Steinar, and stared at him. Could he be really dead, I wondered, or did
+he live on elsewhere? My faith had taught me of a place called Valhalla
+where brave men went, but in that faith and its gods I believed no more.
+This Valhalla was but a child's tale, invented by a bloody-minded folk
+who loved slaughter. Wherever Steinar and the others were, it was not in
+Valhalla. Then, perhaps, they slept like the beasts do after these have
+been butchered. Perhaps death was the end of all. It might be so, and
+yet I did not believe it. There were other gods besides Odin and his
+company, for what were those which we had found in the Wanderer's tomb?
+I longed to know.
+
+Yes, I would go south, as the Wanderer went, and search for them.
+Perhaps there in the South I should learn the secret truth--and other
+things.
+
+I grew weary of these thoughts of gods who could not be found, or who,
+if found, were but devils. My mind went back to my childhood's days,
+when Steinar and I played together on the meads, before any woman had
+come to wreck our lives. I remembered how we used to play until we were
+weary, and how at nights I would tell him tales that I had learned or
+woven, until at length we sank to sleep, our arms about each other's
+necks. My heart grew full of sorrow that in the end broke from my eyes
+in tears. Yes, I wept over Steinar, my brother Steinar, and kissed his
+cold and gory lips.
+
+The evening gathered, the twilight grew, and, one by one, the stars
+sprang out in the quiet sky, till the moon appeared and gathered all
+their radiance to herself. I heard the sound of a woman's dress, and
+looked up, thinking to see Freydisa. But this woman was not Freydisa; it
+was Iduna! Yes, Iduna's self!
+
+I rose to my feet and stood still. She also stood still, on the farther
+side of the stone of sacrifice whereon that which had been Steinar was
+stretched between us. Then came a struggle of silence, in which she won
+at last.
+
+"Have you come to save him?" I asked. "If so, it is too late. Woman,
+behold your work."
+
+She shook her beautiful head and answered, almost in a whisper:
+
+"Nay, Olaf, I am come to beg a boon of you: that you will slay me, here
+and now."
+
+"Am I a butcher--or a priest?" I muttered.
+
+"Oh, slay me, slay me, Olaf!" she went on, throwing herself upon her
+knees before me, and rending open her blue robe that her young breast
+might take the sword. "Thus, perchance, I, who love life, may pay some
+of the price of sin, who, if I slew myself, would but multiply the debt,
+which in truth I dare not do."
+
+Still I shook my head, and once more she spoke:
+
+"Olaf, in this way or in that doubtless my end will find me, for, if you
+refuse this office, there are others of sterner stuff. The knife that
+smote Steinar is not blunted. Yet, before I die, who am come here but to
+die, I pray you hear the truth, that my memory may be somewhat less vile
+to you in the after years. Olaf, you think me the falsest of the false,
+yet I am not altogether so. Hark you now! At the time that Steinar
+sought me, some madness took him. So soon as we were alone together, his
+first words were: 'I am bewitched. I love you.'
+
+"Olaf, I'll not deny that his worship stirred my blood, for he was
+goodly--well, and different to you, with your dreaming eyes and thoughts
+that are too deep for me. And yet, by my breath, I swear that I meant
+no harm. When we rode together to the ship, it was my purpose to return
+upon the morrow and be made your wife. But there upon the ship my father
+compelled me. It was his fancy that I should break with you and be wed
+to Steinar, who had become so great a lord and who pleased him better
+than you did, Olaf. And, as for Steinar--why, have I not told you that
+he was mad for me?"
+
+"Steinar's tale was otherwise, Iduna. He said that you went first, and
+that he followed."
+
+"Were those his words, Olaf? For, if so, how can I give the dead the
+lie, and one who died through me? It seems unholy. Yet in this matter
+Steinar had no reason left to him and, whether you believe me or no, I
+tell the truth. Oh! hear me out, for who knows when they will come to
+take me, who have walked into this nest of foes that I may be taken?
+Pray as I would, the ship was run out, and we sailed for Lesso. There,
+in my father's hall, upon my knees, I entreated him to hold his hand.
+I told him what was true: that, of you twain, it was you I loved, not
+Steinar. I told him that if he forced this marriage, war would come of
+it that might mean all our deaths. But these things moved him nothing.
+Then I told him that such a deed of shame would mean the loss of
+Steinar's lordship, so that by it he would gain no profit. At last he
+listened, for this touched him near. You know the rest. Thorvald, your
+father, and Ragnar, who ever hated me, pressed on the war despite all
+our offerings of peace. So the ships met, and Hela had her fill."
+
+"Aye, Iduna, whatever else is false, this is true, that Hela had her
+fill."
+
+"Olaf, I have but one thing more to say. It is this: Only once did those
+dead lips touch mine, and then it was against my will. Aye, although it
+is shameful, you must learn the truth. My father held me, Olaf, while I
+took the betrothal kiss, because I must. But, as you know, there was no
+marriage."
+
+"Aye, I know that," I said, "because Steinar told me so."
+
+"And, save for that one kiss, Olaf, I am still the maid whom once you
+loved so well."
+
+Now I stared at her. Could this woman lie so blackly over dead Steinar's
+corpse? When all was said and done, was it not possible that she spoke
+the truth, and that we had been but playthings in the hands of an evil
+Fate? Save for some trifling error, which might be forgiven to one who,
+as she said, loved the worship that was her beauty's due, what if she
+were innocent, after all?
+
+Perhaps my face showed the thoughts that were passing through my mind.
+At the least, she who knew me well found skill to read them. She crept
+towards me, still on her knees; she cast her arms about me, and, resting
+her weight upon me, drew herself to her feet.
+
+"Olaf," she whispered, "I love you, I love you well, as I have always
+done, though I may have erred a little, as women wayward and still unwed
+are apt to do. Olaf, they told me yonder how you had matched yourself
+against the god, with his priests for judges, and smitten him, and I
+thought this the greatest deed that ever I have known. I used to think
+you something of a weakling, Olaf, not in your body but in your mind,
+one lost in music and in runes, who feared to put things to the touch
+of war; but you have shown me otherwise. You slew the bear; you overcame
+Steinar, who was so much stronger than you are, in the battle of the
+ships; and now you have bearded Odin, the All-father. Look, his head
+lies there, hewn off by you for the sake of one who, after all, had done
+you wrong. Olaf, such a deed as that touches a woman's heart, and he
+who does it is the man she would wish to lie upon her breast and be her
+lord. Olaf, all this evil past may yet be forgotten. We might go and
+live elsewhere for awhile, or always, for with your wisdom and my beauty
+joined together what could we not conquer? Olaf, I love you now as I
+have never loved before, cannot you love me again?"
+
+Her arms clung about me; her beautiful blue eyes, shimmering with
+moonlit tears, held my eyes, and my heart melted beneath her breath as
+winter snows melt in the winds of spring. She saw, she understood; she
+cast herself upon me, shaking her long hair over both of us, and seeking
+my lips. Almost she had found them, when, feeling something hard between
+me and her, something that hurt me, I looked down. Her cloak had slipped
+or been thrown aside, and my eye caught the glint of gold and jewels. In
+an instant I remembered--the Wanderer's necklace and the dream--and with
+those memories my heart froze again.
+
+"Nay, Iduna," I said, "I loved you well; there's no man will ever love
+you more, and you are very fair. Whether you speak true words or false,
+I do not know; it is between you and your own spirit. But this I do
+know: that betwixt us runs the river of Steinar's blood, aye, and
+the blood of Thorvald, my father, of Thora, my mother, of Ragnar, my
+brother, and of many another man who clung to us, and that is a stream
+which I cannot cross. Find you another husband, Iduna the Fair, since
+never will I call you wife."
+
+She loosed her arms from round me, and, lifting them again, unclasped
+the Wanderer's necklace from about her breast.
+
+"This it is," she said, "which has brought all these evils on me. Take
+it back again, and, when you find her, give it to that one for whom
+it is meant, that one whom you love truly, as, whatever you may have
+thought, you never have loved me."
+
+Then she sank upon the ground, and resting her golden head upon dead
+Steinar's breast, she wept.
+
+
+
+I think it was then that Freydisa returned; at least, I recall her tall
+form standing near the stone of sacrifice, gazing at us both, a strange
+smile on her face.
+
+"Have you withstood?" she said. "Then, truly, you are in the way of
+victory and have less to fear from woman than I thought. All things
+are ready as you commanded, my lord Olaf, and there remains but to
+say farewell, which you had best do quickly, for they plot your death
+yonder."
+
+"Freydisa," I answered, "I go, but perchance I shall return again.
+Meanwhile, all I have is yours, with this charge. Guard you yonder
+woman, and see her safe to her home, or wherever she would go, and to
+Steinar here give honourable burial."
+
+
+
+Then the darkness of oblivion falls, and I remember no more save
+the white face of Iduna, her brow stained with Steinar's life-blood,
+watching me as I went.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II
+
+BYZANTIUM
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IRENE, EMPRESS OF THE EARTH
+
+A gulf of blackness and the curtain lifts again upon a very different
+Olaf from the young northern lord who parted from Iduna at the place of
+sacrifice at Aar.
+
+I see myself standing upon a terrace that overlooks a stretch of quiet
+water, which I now know was the Bosphorus. Behind me are a great palace
+and the lights of a vast city; in front, upon the sea and upon the
+farther shore, are other lights. The moon shines bright above me, and,
+having naught else to do, I study my reflection in my own burnished
+shield. It shows a man of early middle life; he may be thirty or
+five-and-thirty years of age; the same Olaf, yet much changed. For now
+my frame is tall and well-knit, though still somewhat slender; my face
+is bronzed by southern suns; I wear a short beard; there is a scar
+across my cheek, got in some battle; my eyes are quiet, and have lost
+the first liveliness of youth. I know that I am the captain of the
+Northern Guard of the Empress Irene, widow of the dead emperor, Leo
+the Fourth, and joint ruler of the Eastern Empire with her young son,
+Constantine, the sixth of that name.
+
+How I came to fill this place, however, I do not know. The story of my
+journey from Jutland to Byzantium is lost to me. Doubtless it must have
+taken years, and after these more years of humble service, before I rose
+to be the captain of Irene's Northern Guard that she kept ever about her
+person, because she would not trust her Grecian soldiers.
+
+My armour was very rich, yet I noted about myself two things that were
+with me in my youth. One was the necklace of golden shells, divided from
+each other by beetles of emeralds, that I had taken from the Wanderer's
+grave at Aar, and the other the cross-hilted bronze sword with which
+this same Wanderer had been girded in his grave. I know now that because
+of this weapon, which was of a metal and shape strange to that land, I
+had the byname of Olaf Red-Sword, and I know also that none wished to
+feel the weight of this same ancient blade.
+
+When I had finished looking at myself in the shield, I leaned upon the
+parapet staring at the sea and wondering how the plains of Aar looked
+that night beneath this selfsame moon, and whether Freydisa were dead
+by now, and whom Iduna had married, and if she ever thought of me, or if
+Steinar came to haunt her sleep.
+
+So I mused, till presently I felt a light touch upon my shoulder, and
+swung round to find myself face to face with the Empress Irene herself.
+
+"Augusta!" I said, saluting, for, as Empress, that was her Roman title,
+even though she was a Greek.
+
+"You guard me well, friend Olaf," she said, with a little laugh. "Why,
+any enemy, and Christ knows I have plenty, could have cut you down
+before ever you knew that he was there."
+
+"Not so, Augusta," I answered, for I could speak their Greek tongue
+well; "since at the end of the terrace the guards stand night and day,
+men of my own blood who can be trusted. Nothing which does not fly could
+gain this place save through your own chambers, that are also guarded.
+It is not usual for any watch to be set here, still I came myself in
+case the Empress might need me."
+
+"That is kind of you, my Captain Olaf, and I think I do need you. At
+least, I cannot sleep in this heat, and I am weary of the thoughts of
+State, for many matters trouble me just now. Come, change my mind, if
+you can, for if so I'll thank you. Tell me of yourself when you were
+young. Why did you leave your northern home, where I've heard you were a
+barbarian chief, and wander hither to Byzantium?"
+
+"Because of a woman," I answered.
+
+"Ah!" she said, clapping her hands; "I knew it. Tell me of this woman
+whom you love."
+
+"The story is short, Augusta. She bewitched my foster-brother, and
+caused him to be sacrificed to the northern gods as a troth-breaker, and
+I do not love her."
+
+"You'd not admit it if you did, Olaf. Was she beautiful, well, say as I
+am?"
+
+I turned and looked at the Empress, studying her from head to foot. She
+was shorter than Iduna by some inches, also older, and therefore of a
+thicker build; but, being a fair Greek, her colour was much the same,
+save that the eyes were darker. The mouth, too, was more hard. For the
+rest, she was a royal-looking and lovely woman in the flower of her age,
+and splendidly attired in robes broidered with gold, over which she wore
+long strings of rounded pearls. Her rippling golden hair was dressed in
+the old Greek fashion, tied in a simple knot behind her head, and over
+it was thrown a light veil worked with golden stars.
+
+"Well, Captain Olaf," she said, "have you finished weighing my poor
+looks against those of this northern girl in the scales of your
+judgment? If so, which of us tips the beam?"
+
+"Iduna was more beautiful than ever you can have been, Augusta," I
+replied quietly.
+
+She stared at me till her eyes grew quite round, then puckered up
+her mouth as though to say something furious, and finally burst out
+laughing.
+
+"By every saint in Byzantium," she said, "or, rather, by their relics,
+for of live ones there are none, you are the strangest man whom I have
+known. Are you weary of life that you dare to say such a thing to me,
+the Empress Irene?"
+
+"Am I weary of life? Well, Augusta, on the whole I think I am. It seems
+to me that death and after it may interest us more. For the rest, you
+asked me a question, and, after the fashion of my people, I answered it
+as truthfully as I could."
+
+"By my head, you have said it again," she exclaimed. "Have you not
+heard, most innocent Northman, that there are truths which should not be
+mentioned and much less repeated?"
+
+"I have heard many things in Byzantium, Augusta, but I pay no attention
+to any of them--or, indeed, to little except my duty."
+
+"Now that this, this--what's the girl's name?"
+
+"Iduna the Fair," I said.
+
+"----this Iduna has thrown you over, at which I am sure I do not wonder,
+what mistresses have you in Byzantium, Olaf the Dane?"
+
+"None at all," I answered. "Women are pleasant, but one may buy sweets
+too dear, and all that ever I saw put together were not worth my brother
+Steinar, who lost his life through one of them."
+
+"Tell me, Captain Olaf, are you a secret member of this new society of
+hermits of which they talk so much, who, if they see a woman, must hold
+their faces in the sand for five minutes afterwards?"
+
+"I never heard of them, Augusta."
+
+"Are you a Christian?"
+
+"No; I am considering that religion--or rather its followers."
+
+"Are you a pagan, then?"
+
+"No. I fought a duel with the god Odin, and cut his head off with this
+sword, and that is why I left the North, where they worship Odin."
+
+"Then what are you?" she said, stamping her foot in exasperation.
+
+"I am the captain of your Imperial Majesty's private guard, a little of
+a philosopher, and a fair poet in my own language, not in Greek. Also, I
+can play the harp."
+
+"You say 'not in Greek,' for fear lest I should ask you to write verses
+to me, which, indeed, I shall never do, Olaf. A soldier, a poet, a
+philosopher, a harpist, one who has renounced women! Now, why have you
+renounced women, which is unnatural in a man who is not a monk? It must
+be because you still love this Iduna, and hope to get her some day."
+
+I shook my head and answered,
+
+"I might have done that long ago, Augusta."
+
+"Then it must be because there is some other woman whom you wish to
+gain. Why do you always wear that strange necklace?" she added sharply.
+"Did it belong to this savage girl Iduna, as, from the look of it, it
+might well have done?"
+
+"Not so, Augusta. She took it for a while, and it brought sorrow on her,
+as it will do on all women save one who may or may not live to-day."
+
+"Give it me. I have taken a fancy to it; it is unusual. Oh! fear not,
+you shall receive its value."
+
+"If you wish the necklace, Augusta, you must take the head as well; and
+my counsel to you is that you do neither, since they will bring you no
+good luck."
+
+"In truth, Captain Olaf, you anger me with your riddles. What do you
+mean about this necklace?"
+
+"I mean, Augusta, that I took it from a very ancient grave----"
+
+"That I can believe, for the jeweller who made it worked in old Egypt,"
+she interrupted.
+
+"----and thereafter I dreamed a dream," I went on, "of the woman who
+wears the other half of it. I have not seen her yet, but when I do I
+shall know her at once."
+
+"So!" she exclaimed, "did I not tell you that, east or west or north or
+south, there _is_ some other woman?"
+
+"There was once, Augusta, quite a thousand years ago or more, and there
+may be again now, or a thousand years hence. That is what I am trying
+to find out. You say the work is Egyptian. Augusta, at your convenience,
+will you be pleased to make another captain in my place? I would visit
+Egypt."
+
+"If you leave Byzantium without express permission under my own
+hand--not the Emperor's or anybody else's hand; mine, I say--and are
+caught, your eyes shall be put out as a deserter!" she said savagely.
+
+"As the Augusta pleases," I answered, saluting.
+
+"Olaf," she went on in a more gentle voice, "you are clearly mad; but,
+to tell truth, you are also a madman who pleases me, since I weary of
+the rogues and lick-spittles who call themselves sane in Byzantium. Why,
+there's not a man in all the city who would dare to speak to me as
+you have spoken to-night, and like that breeze from the sea, it is
+refreshing. Lend me that necklace, Olaf, till to-morrow morning. I want
+to examine it in the lamplight, and I swear to you that I will not take
+it from you or play you any tricks about it."
+
+"Will you promise not to wear it, Augusta?"
+
+"Of course. Is it likely that I should wish to wear it on my bare breast
+after it has been rubbing against your soiled armour?"
+
+Without another word I unhooked the necklace and handed it to her. She
+ran to a little distance, and, with one of those swift movements that
+were common to her, fastened it about her own neck. Then she returned,
+and threw the great strings of pearls, which she had removed to make
+place for it, over my head.
+
+"Now have you found the woman of that dream, Olaf?" she asked, turning
+herself about in the moonlight.
+
+I shook my head and answered:
+
+"Nay, Augusta; but I fear that _you_ have found misfortune. When
+it comes, I pray you to remember that you promised not to wear the
+necklace. Also that your soldier, Olaf, Thorvald's son, would have given
+his life rather than that you should have done so, not for the sake
+of any dream, but for your sake, Augusta, whom it is his business to
+protect."
+
+"Would, then, it were your business either to protect me a little more,
+or a little less!" she exclaimed bitterly.
+
+Having uttered this dark saying, she vanished from the terrace still
+wearing the string of golden shells.
+
+
+
+On the following morning the necklace was returned to me by Irene's
+favourite lady, who smiled as she gave it to me. She was a dark-eyed,
+witty, and able girl named Martina, who had been my friend for a long
+while.
+
+"The Augusta said that you were to examine this jewel to see that it has
+not been changed."
+
+"I never suggested that the Augusta was a thief," I replied, "therefore
+it is unnecessary."
+
+"She said also that I was to tell you, in case you should think that it
+has been befouled by her wearing of it, that she has had it carefully
+cleaned."
+
+"That is thoughtful of her, Martina, for it needed washing. Now, will
+you take the Augusta's pearls, which she left with me in error?"
+
+"I have no orders to take any pearls, Captain Olaf, although I did
+notice that two of the finest strings in the Empire are missing. Oh! you
+great northern child," she added in a whisper, "keep the pearls, they
+are a gift, and worth a prince's ransom; and take whatever else you can
+get, and keep that too."[*]
+
+     [*] I have no further vision concerning these priceless
+     pearls and do not know what became of them. Perhaps I was
+     robbed of them during my imprisonment, or perhaps I gave
+     them to Heliodore or to Martina. Where are they now, I
+     wonder?--Editor.
+
+Then, before I could answer her, she was gone.
+
+
+
+For some weeks after this I saw no more of the Augusta, who appeared
+to avoid me. One day, however, I was summoned to her presence in her
+private apartments by the waiting-lady Martina, and went, to find her
+alone, save for Martina. The first thing that I noticed was that she
+wore about her neck an exact copy of the necklace of golden shells and
+emerald beetles; further, that about her waist was a girdle and on her
+wrist a bracelet of similar design. Pretending to see nothing, I saluted
+and stood to attention.
+
+"Captain," she began, "yonder"--and she waved her hand towards the city,
+so that I could not fail to see the shell bracelet--"the uncles of my
+son, the Emperor, lie in prison. Have you heard of the matter, and, if
+so, what have you heard?"
+
+"I have heard, Augusta, that the Emperor having been defeated by
+the Bulgarians, some of the legions proposed to set his uncle,
+Nicephorus--he who has been made a priest--upon the throne. I have
+heard further that thereon the Emperor caused the Caesar Nicephorus to
+be blinded, and the tongues of the two other Caesars and of their two
+brothers, the _Nobilissimi_, to be slit."
+
+"Do you think well of such a deed, Olaf?"
+
+"Augusta," I answered, "in this city I make it my business not to think,
+for if I did I should certainly go mad."
+
+"Still, on this matter I command you to think, and to speak the truth of
+your thoughts. No harm shall come to you, whatever they may be."
+
+"Augusta, I obey you. I think that whoever did this wicked thing must be
+a devil, either returned from that hell of which everyone is so fond of
+talking here, or on the road thither."
+
+"Oh! you think that, do you? So I was right when I told Martina that
+there was only one honest opinion to be had in Constantinople and I knew
+where to get it. Well, most severe and indignant judge, suppose I tell
+you it was I who commanded that this deed should be done. Then would you
+change your judgment?"
+
+"Not so, Augusta. I should only think much worse of you than ever I did
+before. If these great persons were traitors to the State, they should
+have been executed. But to torment them, to take away the sight of
+heaven and to bring them to the level of dumb beasts, all that their
+actual blood may not be on the tormentors' hand--why, the act is vile.
+So, at least, it would be held in those northern lands which you are
+pleased to call barbarian."
+
+Now Irene sprang from her seat and clapped her hands for joy.
+
+"You hear what he says, Martina, and the Emperor shall hear it too; aye,
+and so shall my ministers, Stauracius and Aetius, who supported him in
+this matter. I alone withstood him; I prayed him for his soul's sake to
+be merciful. He answered that he would no longer be governed by a woman;
+that he knew how to safeguard his empire, and what conscience should
+allow and what refuse. So, in spite of all my tears and prayers, the
+vile deed was done, as I think for no good cause. Well, it cannot
+be undone. Yet, Olaf, I fear that it may be added to, and that these
+royal-born men may be foully murdered. Therefore, I put you in charge of
+the prison where they lie. Here is the signed order. Take with you what
+men you may think needful, and hold that place, even should the Emperor
+himself command you to open. See also that the prisoners within are
+cared for and have all they need, but do not suffer them to escape."
+
+I saluted and turned to go, when Irene called me back.
+
+At that moment, too, in obedience to some sign which she made, Martina
+left the chamber, looking at me oddly as she did so. I came and stood
+before the Empress, who, I noted, seemed somewhat troubled, for her
+breast heaved and her gaze was fixed upon the floor now. It was of
+mosaic, and represented a heathen goddess talking to a young man, who
+stood before her with his arms folded. The goddess was angry with the
+man, and held in her left hand a dagger as though she would stab him,
+although her right arm was stretched out to embrace him and her attitude
+was one of pleading.
+
+Irene lifted her head, and I saw that her fine eyes were filled with
+tears.
+
+"Olaf," she said, "I am in much trouble, and I know not where to find a
+friend."
+
+I smiled and answered:
+
+"Need an Empress seek far for friends?"
+
+"Aye, Olaf; farther than anyone who breathes. An Empress can find
+flatterers and partisans, but not a single friend. Such love her only
+for what she can give them. But, if fortune went against her, I say that
+they would fall away like leaves from a tree in a winter frost, so that
+she stood naked to every bitter blast of heaven. Yes, and then would
+come the foe and root up that tree and burn it to give them warmth and
+to celebrate their triumph. So I think, Olaf, it will be with me before
+all is done. Even my son hates me, Olaf, my only child for whose true
+welfare I strive night and day."
+
+"I have heard as much, Augusta," I said.
+
+"You have heard, like all the world. But what else of ill have you heard
+of me, Olaf? Speak out, man; I'm here to learn the truth."
+
+"I have heard that you are very ambitious, Augusta, and that you hate
+your son as much as he hates you, because he is a rival to your power.
+It is rumoured that you would be glad if he were dead and you left to
+reign alone."
+
+"Then a lie is rumoured, Olaf. Yet it is true that I am ambitious, who
+see far and would build this tottering empire up afresh. Olaf, it is a
+bitter thing to have begotten a fool."
+
+"Then why do you not marry again and beget others, who might be no
+fools, Augusta?" I asked bluntly.
+
+"Ah! why?" she answered, flashing a curious glance upon me. "In truth, I
+do not quite know why; but from no lack of suitors, since, were she but
+a hideous hag, an empress would find these. Olaf, you may have learned
+that I was not born in the purple. I was but a Greek girl of good race,
+not even noble, to whom God gave a gift of beauty; and when I was young
+I saw a man who took my fancy, also of old race, yet but a merchant of
+fruits which they grow in Greece and sell here and at Rome. I wished to
+marry him, but my mother, a far-seeing woman, said that such beauty
+as mine--though less than that of your Iduna the Fair, Olaf--was worth
+money or rank. So they sent away my merchant of fruits, who married the
+daughter of another merchant of fruits and throve very well in business.
+He came to see me some years ago, fat as a tub, his face scored all over
+with the marks of the spotted sickness, and we talked about old times.
+I gave him a concession to import dried fruits into Byzantium--that
+is what he came to see me for--and now he's dead. Well, my mother was
+right, for afterwards this poor beauty of mine took the fancy of the
+late Emperor, and, being very pious, he married me. So the Greek girl,
+by the will of God, became Augusta and the first woman in the world."
+
+"By the will of God?" I repeated.
+
+"Aye, I suppose so, or else all is raw chance. At least, I, who to-day
+might have been bargaining over dried fruits, as I should have done had
+I won my will, am--what you know. Look at this robe," and she spread her
+glittering dress before me. "Hark to the tramp of those guards before my
+door. Why, you are their captain. Go into the antechambers, and see the
+ambassadors waiting there in the hope of a word with the Ruler of
+the Earth! Look at my legions mustered on the drilling-grounds, and
+understand how great the Grecian girl has grown by virtue of the face
+which is less beauteous than that of--Iduna the Fair!"
+
+"I understand all this, Augusta," I answered. "Yet it would seem that
+you are not happy. Did you not tell me just now that you could not find
+a friend and that you had begotten a fool?"
+
+"Happy, Olaf? Why, I am wretched, so wretched that often I think the
+hell of which the priests preach is here on earth, and that I dwell in
+its hottest fires. Unless love hides it, what happiness is there in this
+life of ours, which must end in blackest death?"
+
+"Love has its miseries also, Augusta. That I know, for once I loved."
+
+"Aye, but then the love was not true, for this is the greatest curse of
+all--to love and not to be beloved. For the sake of a perfect love, if
+it could be won--why, I'd sacrifice even my ambition."
+
+"Then you must keep your ambition, Augusta, since in this world you'll
+find nothing perfect."
+
+"Olaf, I'm not so sure. Thoughts have come to me. Olaf, I told you that
+I have no friend in all this glittering Court. Will you be my friend?"
+
+"I am your honest servant, Augusta, and I think that such a one is the
+best of friends."
+
+"That's so; and yet no man can be true friend to a woman unless he
+is--more than friend. Nature has writ it so."
+
+"I do not understand," I answered.
+
+"You mean that you will not understand, and perhaps you are wise. Why
+do you stare at that pavement? There's a story written on it. The old
+goddess of my people, Aphrodite, loved a certain Adonis--so runs the
+fable--but he loved not her, and thought only of his sports. Look, she
+woos him there, and he rejects her, and in her rage she stabs him."
+
+"Not so," I answered. "Of the end of the story I know nothing, but, if
+she had meant to kill him, the dagger would be in her right hand, not in
+her left."
+
+"That's true, Olaf; and in the end it was Fate which killed him, not
+the goddess whom he had scorned. And yet, Olaf, it is not wise to scorn
+goddesses. Oh! of what do I talk? You'll befriend me, will you not?"
+
+"Aye, Augusta, to the last drop of my blood, as is my duty. Do I not
+take your pay?"
+
+"Then thus I seal our friendship and here's an earnest of the pay,"
+Irene said slowly, and, bending forward, she kissed me on the lips.
+
+At this moment the doors of the chamber were thrown open. Through them,
+preceded by heralds, that at once drew back again, entered the great
+minister Stauracius, a fat, oily-faced man with a cunning eye, who
+announced in a high, thin voice,
+
+"The ambassadors of the Persians wait upon you, Augusta, as you
+appointed at this hour."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE BLIND CAESAR
+
+Irene turned upon the eunuch as a she-lion turns upon some hunter that
+disturbs it from its prey. Noting the anger in her eyes, he fell back
+and prostrated himself. Thereupon she spoke to me as though his entry
+had interrupted her words.
+
+"Those are the orders, Captain Olaf. See that you forget none of them.
+Even if this proud eunuch, who dares to appear before me unannounced,
+bids you to do so, I shall hold you to account. To-day I leave the city
+for a while for the Baths whither I am sent. You must not accompany me
+because of the duty I have laid upon you here. When I return, be sure
+I'll summon you," and, knowing that Stauracius could not see her from
+where he lay, for a moment she let her splendid eyes meet my own. In
+them there was a message I could not mistake.
+
+"The Augusta shall be obeyed," I answered, saluting. "May the Augusta
+return in health and glory and more beautiful than----"
+
+"Iduna the Fair!" she broke in. "Captain, you are dismissed."
+
+Again I saluted, retreating from the presence backwards and staying
+to bow at each third step, as was the custom. The process was somewhat
+long, and as I reached the door I heard her say to Stauracius,
+
+"Hearken, you dog. If ever you dare to break in upon me thus again, you
+shall lose two things--your office and your head. What! May I not give
+secret orders to my trusted officer and not be spied upon by you? Now,
+cease your grovellings and lead in these Persians, as you have been
+bribed to do."
+
+Passing through the silk-clad, bejewelled Persians who waited in an
+antechamber with their slaves and gifts, I gained the great terrace of
+the palace which looked upon the sea. Here I found Martina leaning on
+the parapet.
+
+"Have you more of the Augusta's pearls about you, Olaf?" she asked
+mockingly, speaking over her shoulder.
+
+"Not I, Martina," I answered, halting beside her.
+
+"Indeed. I could have sworn otherwise, for they are perfumed, and I
+seemed to catch their odour. When did you begin to use the royal scent
+upon that yellow beard of yours, Olaf? If any of us women did so, it
+would mean blows and exile; but perchance a captain of the guard may be
+forgiven."
+
+"I use no scents, girl, as you know well. Yet it is true that these
+rooms reek of them, and they cling to armour."
+
+"Yes, and still more to hair. Well, what gift had my mistress for you
+to-day?"
+
+"A commission to guard certain prisoners, Martina."
+
+"Ah! Have you read it yet? When you do, I think you'll find that it
+names you Governor of the jail, which is a high office, carrying much
+pay and place. You are in good favour, Olaf, and I hope that when you
+come to greatness you will not forget Martina. It was I who put it into
+a certain mind to give you this commission as the only man that could be
+trusted in the Court."
+
+"I do not forget a friend, Martina," I answered.
+
+"That is your reputation, Olaf. Oh! what a road is opening to your feet.
+Yet I doubt you'll not walk it, being too honest; or, if you do, that it
+will lead you--not to glory, but a grave."
+
+"Mayhap, Martina, and to speak truth, a grave is the only quiet place in
+Constantinople. Mayhap, too, it hides the only real glory."
+
+"That's what we Christians say. It would be strange if you, who are not
+a Christian, alone should believe and keep the saying. Oh!" She went on
+with passion, "we are but shams and liars, whom God must hate. Well, I
+go to make ready for this journey to the Baths."
+
+"How long do you stay there?" I asked.
+
+"The course of waters takes a month. Less than that time does not serve
+to clear the Augusta's skin and restore her shape to the lines of youth
+which it begins to need, though doubtless you do not think so. You
+were named to come as her officer of the Person; but, Olaf, this other
+business rose up of a new governor for the jail in which the Caesars and
+_Nobilissimi_ are confined. I saw a chance for you in it, who, although
+you have served all these years, have had no real advancement, and
+mentioned your name, at which the Augusta leapt. To tell the truth,
+Olaf, I was not sure that you would wish to be captain of the guard at
+the Baths. Was I right or was I wrong?"
+
+"I think you were right, Martina. Baths are idle places where folk drift
+into trouble, and I follow duty. Martina--may I say it to you?--you
+are a good woman and a kind. I pray that those gods of yours whom you
+worship may bless you."
+
+"You pray in vain, Olaf, for that they will never do. Indeed, I think
+that they have cursed me."
+
+Then suddenly she burst into tears, and, turning, went away.
+
+I, too, went away somewhat bewildered, for much had happened to me that
+morning which I found it hard to understand. Why had the Augusta kissed
+me? I took it that this was some kind of imperial jest. It was known
+that I kept aloof from women, and she may have desired to see what I
+should do when an Augusta kissed me, and then to make a mock of me. I
+had heard that she had done as much with others.
+
+Well, let that be, since Stauracius, who always feared lest a new
+favourite should slip between him and power, had settled the matter for
+me, for which I blessed Stauracius, although at the moment, being but a
+man, I had cursed him. And now why did Martina--the little, dark Martina
+with the kind face and the watchful, beady eyes, like to those of a
+robin in our northern lands--speak as she had done, and then burst into
+tears?
+
+A doubt struck me, but I, who was never vain, pushed it aside. I did not
+understand, and of what use was it to try to interpret the meaning of
+the moods of women? My business was war, or, at the moment, the service
+that has to do with war, not women. Wars had brought me to the rank I
+held, though, strangely enough, of those wars I can recall nothing now;
+they have vanished from my vision. To wars also I looked to advance me
+in the future, who was no courtier, but a soldier, whom circumstances
+had brought to Court. Well, thanks to Martina, as she said, or to some
+caprice of the Empress, I had a new commission that was of more worth to
+me than her random kisses, and I would go to read it.
+
+Read it I did in the little private room upon the palace wall which was
+mine as captain of the Augusta's guard, though, being written in
+Greek, I found this difficult. Martina had spoken truly. I was made the
+Governor of the State prison, with all authority, including that of life
+and death should emergency arise. Moreover, this governorship gave me
+the rank of a general, with a general's pay, also such pickings as
+I chose to take. In short, from captain of the guard, suddenly I had
+become a great man in Constantinople, one with whom even Stauracius
+and others like him would have to reckon, especially as his signature
+appeared upon the commission beneath that of the Empress.
+
+Whilst I was wondering what I should do next, a trumpet blew upon the
+ramparts, and a Northman of my company entered, saluted and said that I
+was summoned. I went out, and there before me stood a dazzling band
+that bowed humbly to me, whom yesterday they would have passed without
+notice. Their captain, a smooth-faced Greek, came forward, and,
+addressing me as "General," said the imperial orders were that he was to
+escort me to the State jail.
+
+"For what purpose?" I asked, since it came to my mind that Irene might
+have changed her fancy and issued another kind of commission.
+
+"As its General and Governor, Illustrious," he replied.
+
+"Then I will lead," I answered, "do you follow behind me."
+
+Thus that vision ends.
+
+
+
+In the next I see myself dwelling in some stately apartments that formed
+the antechambers to the great prison. This prison, which was situated
+not far from the Forum of Constantine, covered a large area of ground,
+which included a garden where the prisoners were allowed to walk. It was
+surrounded by a double wall, with an outer and an inner moat, the outer
+dry, and the inner filled with water. There were double gates also, and
+by them guard-towers. Moreover, I see a little yard, with posts in it,
+where prisoners were scourged, and a small and horrible room, furnished
+with a kind of wooden bed, to which they were bound for the punishment
+of the putting out of their eyes and the slitting of their tongues.
+In front of this room was a block where those condemned to death were
+sometimes executed.
+
+There were many prisoners, not common felons, but people who had been
+taken for reasons of State or sometimes of religion. Perhaps in all they
+numbered a hundred men, and with them a few women, who had a quarter to
+themselves. Besides the jailers, three-score guards were stationed there
+night and day, and of all of these I was in command.
+
+Before I had held my office three days I found that Irene had appointed
+me to it with good reason. It happened thus. The most of the prisoners
+were allowed to receive presents of food and other things sent to them
+by their friends. All these presents were supposed to be inspected by
+the officer in charge of the prison. This rule, which had been much
+neglected, I enforced again, with the result that I made some strange
+discoveries.
+
+Thus, on the third day, there came a magnificent offering of figs for
+the Caesars and _Nobilissimi_, the brothers-in-law of Irene and the
+uncles of the young Emperor Constantine, her son. These figs were being
+carried past me formally, when something about the appearance of one of
+them excited my suspicion. I took it and offered it to the jailer who
+carried the basket. He looked frightened, shook his head, and said,
+
+"General, I touch no fruit."
+
+"Indeed," I answered. "That is strange, since I thought that I saw you
+eating of it yesterday."
+
+"Aye, General," he replied; "the truth is that I ate too much."
+
+Making no answer, I went to the window, and threw the fig to a
+long-tailed, tame monkey which was chained to a post in the yard
+without. It caught it and ate greedily.
+
+"Do not go away, friend," I said to the jailer, who was trying to depart
+while my back was turned. "I have questions that I would ask you."
+
+So I spoke to him about other matters, and all the while watched the
+monkey.
+
+Soon I saw that it was ill at ease. It began to tear at its stomach and
+to whimper like a child. Then it foamed at the mouth, was seized with
+convulsions, and within a quarter of an hour by the water-clock was
+dead.
+
+"It would seem that those figs are poisoned, friend," I said, "and
+therefore it is fortunate for you that you ate too much fruit yesterday.
+Now, man, what do you know of this matter?"
+
+"Nothing, sir," he answered, falling on his knees. "I swear to you by
+Christ, nothing. Only I doubted. The fruits were brought by a woman
+whom I thought that once I had seen in the household of the Augustus
+Constantine, and I knew----" and he paused.
+
+"Well, what did you know, man? It would be best to tell me quickly, who
+have power here."
+
+"I knew, sir, what all the world knows, that Constantine would be rid of
+his uncles, whom he fears, though they are maimed. No more, I swear it,
+no more."
+
+"Perhaps before the Augusta returns you may remember something more," I
+said. "Therefore, I will not judge your case at present. Ho! guard, come
+hither."
+
+As he heard the soldiers stirring without in answer to my summons, the
+man, who was unarmed, looked about his desperately; then he sprang at
+the fruit, and, seizing a fig, strove to thrust it into his mouth. But
+I was too quick for him, and within a few seconds the soldiers had him
+fast.
+
+"Shut this man in a safe dungeon," I said. "Treat and feed him well, but
+search him. See also that he does himself no harm and that none speak
+with him. Then forget all this business."
+
+"What charge must be entered in the book, General?" asked the officer,
+saluting.
+
+"A charge of stealing figs that belonged to the Caesar Nicephorus and his
+royal brethren," I answered, and looked through the window.
+
+He followed my glance, saw the poor monkey lying dead, and started.
+
+"All shall be done," he said, and the man was led away.
+
+When he had gone, I sent for the physician of the jail, whom I knew to
+be trustworthy, since I had appointed him myself. Without telling him
+anything, I bade him examine and preserve the figs, and also dissect the
+body of the monkey to discover why it died.
+
+He bowed and went away with the fruit. A while later he returned, and
+showed me an open fig. In the heart of it was a pinch of white powder.
+
+"What is it?" I asked.
+
+"The deadliest poison that is known, General. See, the stalk has been
+drawn out, the powder blown in through a straw, and then the stalk
+replaced."
+
+"Ah!" I said, "that is clever, but not quite clever enough. They have
+mixed the stalks. I noted that the purple fig had the stalk of a green
+fig, and that is why I tried it on the monkey."
+
+"You observe well, General."
+
+"Yes, Physician, I observe. I learned that when, as a lad, I hunted game
+in the far North. Also I learned to keep silent, since noise frightens
+game. Do you as much."
+
+"Have no fear," he answered; and went about his business with the dead
+monkey.
+
+When he had gone I thought a while. Then I rose, and went to the chapel
+of the prison, or, rather, to a place whence I could see those in the
+chapel without being seen. This chapel was situated in a gloomy crypt,
+lighted only with oil lamps that hung from the massive pillars and
+arches. The day was the Sabbath of the Christians, and when I entered
+the little secret hollow in the walls, the sacrament was being
+administered to certain of the prisoners.
+
+Truly it was a sad sight, for the ministering priest was none other than
+the Caesar Nicephorus, the eldest of the Emperor's uncles, who had been
+first ordained in order that he might be unfit to sit upon the throne,
+and afterwards blinded, as I have told. He was a tall, pale man, with an
+uncertain mouth and a little pointed chin, apparently between forty and
+fifty years of age, and his face was made dreadful by two red
+hollows where the eyes should have been. Yet, notwithstanding this
+disfigurement, and his tonsured crown, and the broidered priest's robes
+which hung upon him awkwardly, as he stumbled through the words of his
+office, to this poor victim there still seemed to cling some air of
+royal birth and bearing. Being blind, he could not see to administer
+the Element, and therefore his hand was guided by one of his imperial
+brethren, who also had been made a priest. The tongue of this priest had
+been slit, but now and again he gibbered some direction into the ear
+of Nicephorus. By the altar, watching all, sat a stern-faced monk, the
+confessor of the Caesars and of the _Nobilissimi_, who was put there to
+spy upon them.
+
+I followed the rite to its end, observing these unhappy prisoners
+seeking from the mystery of their faith the only consolation that
+remained to them. Many of them were men innocent of any crime, save that
+of adherence to some fallen cause, political or religious; victims were
+they, not sinners, to be released by death alone. I remember that, as
+the meaning of the scene came home to me, I recalled the words of Irene,
+who had said that she believed this world to be a hell, and found weight
+in them. At length, able to bear no more, I left my hiding-place and
+went into the garden behind the chapel. Here, at least, were natural
+things. Here flowers, tended by the prisoners, bloomed as they might
+have done in some less accursed spot. Here the free birds sang and
+nested in the trees, for what to them were the high surrounding walls?
+
+I sat myself down upon a seat in the shade. Presently, as I had
+expected, Nicephorus, the priest-Caesar, and his four brethren came into
+the garden. Two of them led the blind man by the hand, and the other two
+clung close to him, for all these unfortunates loved each other dearly.
+The four with the split tongues gabbled in his ears. Now and again,
+when he could catch or guess at the meaning of a word, he answered the
+speaker gently; or the others, seeing that he had not understood them
+aright, painfully tried to explain the error. Oh! it was a piteous thing
+to see and hear. My gorge rose against the young brute of an Emperor
+and his councillors who, for ambition's sake, had wrought this horrible
+crime. Little did I know then that ere long their fate would be his own,
+and that a mother's hand would deal it out to him.
+
+They caught sight of me seated beneath the tree, and chattered like
+startled starlings, till at length Nicephorus understood.
+
+"What say you, dear brothers?" he asked, "that the new governor of the
+prison is seated yonder? Well, why should we fear him? He has been here
+but a little while, yet he has shown himself very kind to us. Moreover,
+he is a man of the North, no treacherous Greek, and the men of the North
+are brave and upright. Once, when I was a free prince, I had some of
+them in my service, and I loved them well. Our nephew, the Emperor,
+offered a large sum to a Northman to blind or murder me, but he would
+not do it, and was dismissed from the service of the Empire because he
+spoke his mind and prayed his heathen gods to bring a like fate upon
+Constantine himself. Lead me to this governor; I would talk with him."
+
+So they brought Nicephorus to me, though doubtfully, and when he was
+near I rose from my seat and saluted him. Thereon they all gabbled again
+with their split tongues, till at length he understood and flushed with
+pleasure.
+
+"General Olaf," he said to me, "I thank you for your courtesy to a poor
+prisoner, forgotten by God and cruelly oppressed by man. General Olaf,
+the promise is of little worth, but, if ever it should be in my power, I
+will remember this kindness, which pleases me more than did the shouting
+of the legions in the short day of my prosperity."
+
+"Sir," I answered, "whatever happens I shall remember your words, which
+are more to me than any honours kings can bestow. Now, sir, I will ask
+your royal brethren to fall back, as I wish to speak with you."
+
+Nicephorus made a sign with his hand, and the four half-dumb men, all of
+whom resembled him strangely, especially in the weakness of their mouths
+and chins, obeyed. Bowing to me in a stately fashion, they withdrew,
+leaving us alone.
+
+"Sir," I said, "I would warn you that you have enemies whom you may not
+suspect, for my duty here wherewith I was charged by the Augusta is not
+to oppress but to protect you and your imperial brothers."
+
+Then I told him the story of the poisoned figs.
+
+When he had heard it, the tears welled from his hollow eyes and ran down
+his pale cheeks.
+
+"Constantine, my brother Leo's son, has done this," he said, "for never
+will he rest until all of us are in the grave."
+
+"He is cruel because he fears you, O Nicephorus, and it is said that
+your ambition has given him cause to fear."
+
+"Once, General, that was true," the prince replied. "Once, foolishly, I
+did aspire to rule; but it is long ago. Now they have made a priest of
+me, and I seek peace only. Can I and my brethren help it if, mutilated
+though we are, some still wish to use us against the Emperor? I tell you
+that Irene herself is at the back of them. She would set us on high that
+afterwards she may throw us down and crush us."
+
+"I am her servant, Prince, and may not listen to such talk, who know
+only that she seeks to protect you from your enemies, and for that
+reason has placed me here, it seems not in vain. If you would continue
+to live, I warn you and your brethren to fly from plots and to be
+careful of what you eat and drink."
+
+"I do not desire to live, General," he answered. "Oh! that I might die.
+Would that I might die."
+
+"Death is not difficult to find, Prince," I replied, and left him.
+
+These may seem hard words, but, be it remembered, I was no Christian
+then, but a heathen man. To see one who had been great and fallen from
+his greatness, one whom Fortune had deserted utterly, whining at Fate
+like a fretful child, and yet afraid to seek his freedom, moved me to
+contempt as well as to pity. Therefore, I spoke the words.
+
+Yet all the rest of that day they weighed upon my mind, for I knew well
+how I should have interpreted them were I in this poor Caesar's place. So
+heavily did they weigh that, during the following night, an impulse drew
+me from my bed and caused me to visit the cells in which these princes
+were imprisoned. Four of them were dark and silent, but in that of
+Nicephorus burned a light. I listened at the door, and through the
+key-place heard that the prisoner within was praying, and sobbing as he
+prayed.
+
+Then I went away; but when I reached the end of the long passage
+something drew me back again. It was as though a hand I could not see
+were guiding me. I returned to the door of the cell, and now through it
+heard choking sounds. Quickly I shot the bolts and unlocked it with my
+master-key. This was what I saw within:
+
+To a bar of the window-place was fastened such a rope as monks wear for
+a girdle; at the end of the rope was a noose, and in that noose the head
+of Nicephorus. There he hung, struggling. His hands had gripped the rope
+above his head, for though he had sought Death, at the last he tried to
+escape him. Of such stuff was Nicephorus made. Yet it was too late, or
+would have been, for as I entered the place his hands slipped from the
+thin cord, which tightened round his throat, choking him.
+
+My sword was at my side. Drawing it, with a blow I cut the rope and
+caught him in my arms. Already he was swooning, but I poured water over
+his face, and, as his neck remained unbroken, he recovered his breath
+and senses.
+
+"What play is this, Prince?" I asked.
+
+"One that you taught me, General," he answered painfully. "You said that
+death could be found. I went to seek him, but at the last I feared.
+Oh! I tell you that when I thrust away that stool, my blind eyes were
+opened, and I saw the fires of hell and the hands of devils grasping at
+my soul to plunge it into them. Blessings be on you who have saved me
+from those fires," and seizing my hand he kissed it.
+
+"Do not thank me," I said, "but thank the God you worship, for I think
+that He must have put it into my mind to visit you to-night. Now swear
+to me by that God that you will attempt such a deed no more, for if you
+will not swear then you must be fettered."
+
+Then he swore so fervently by his Christ that I was sure he would never
+break the oath. After he had sworn I told him how I could not rest
+because of the strange fears which oppressed me.
+
+"Oh!" he said, "without doubt it was God who sent His angel to you that
+I might be saved from the most dreadful of all sins. Without doubt it
+was God, Who knows you, although you do not know Him."
+
+After this he fell upon his knees, and, having untied the cut rope from
+the window bars, I left him.
+
+
+
+Now I tell this story because it has to do with my own, for it was these
+words of the Prince that first turned me to the study of the Christian
+Faith. Indeed, had they never been spoken, I believe that I should have
+lived and died a heathen man. Hitherto I had judged of that Faith by the
+works of those who practised it in Constantinople, and found it wanting.
+Now, however, I was sure that some Power from above us had guided me
+to the chamber of Nicephorus in time to save his life, me, who, had he
+died, in a sense would have been guilty of his blood. For had he not
+been driven to the deed by my bitter, mocking words? It may be said that
+this would have mattered little; that he might as well have died by
+his own hand as be taken to Athens, there to perish with his brethren,
+whether naturally or by murder I do not know. But who can judge of such
+secret things? Without doubt the sufferings of Nicephorus had a purpose,
+as have all our sufferings. He was kept alive for reasons known to his
+Maker though not to man.
+
+Here I will add that of this unhappy Caesar and his brethren I remember
+little more. Dimly I seem to recollect that during my period of office
+some attack was made upon the prison by those who would have put the
+prince to death, but that I discovered the plot through the jailer who
+had introduced the poisoned figs, and defeated it with ease, thereby
+gaining much credit with Irene and her ministers. If so, of this plot
+history says nothing. All it tells of these princes is that afterwards
+a mob haled them to the Cathedral of St. Sophia and there proclaimed
+Nicephorus emperor. But they were taken again, and at last shipped to
+Athens, where they vanished from the sight of men.
+
+God rest their tortured souls, for they were more sinned against than
+sinning.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+MOTHER AND SON
+
+The next vision of this Byzantine life of mine that rises before me is
+that of a great round building crowned with men clad in bishops' robes.
+At least they wore mitres, and each of them had a crooked pastoral staff
+which in most cases was carried by an attendant monk.
+
+Some debate was in progress, or rather raging. Its subject seemed to be
+as to whether images should or should not be worshipped in churches.
+It was a furious thing, that debate. One party to it were called
+Iconoclasts, that was the party which did not like images, and I think
+the other party were called Orthodox, but of this I am not sure. So
+furious was it that I, the general and governor of the prison, had been
+commanded by those in authority to attend in order to prevent violence.
+The beginnings of what happened I do not remember. What I do remember
+is that the anti-Iconoclasts, the party to which the Empress Irene
+belonged, that was therefore the fashionable sect, being, as it seemed
+to me, worsted in argument, fell back on violence.
+
+There followed a great tumult, in which the spectators took part, and
+the strange sight was seen of priests and their partisans, and even of
+bishops themselves, falling upon their adversaries and beating them with
+whatever weapon was to hand; yes, even with their pastoral staves. It
+was a wonderful thing to behold, these ministers of the Christ of peace
+belabouring each other with pastoral staves!
+
+The party that advocated the worship of images was the more numerous
+and had the greater number of adherents, and therefore those who thought
+otherwise were defeated. A few of them were dragged out into the
+street and killed by the mob which waited there, and more were wounded,
+notwithstanding all that I and the guards could do to protect them.
+Among the Iconoclasts was a gentle-faced old man with a long beard, one
+of the bishops from Egypt, who was named Barnabas. He had said little in
+the debate, which lasted for several days, and when he spoke his words
+were full of charity and kindness. Still, the image faction hated him,
+and when the final tumult began some of them set upon him. Indeed,
+one brawny, dark-faced bishop--I think it was he of Antioch--rushed at
+Barnabas, and before I could thrust him back, broke a jewelled staff
+upon his head, while other priests tore his robe from neck to shoulder
+and spat in his face.
+
+At last the riot was quelled; the dead were borne away, and orders came
+to me that I was to convey Barnabas to the State prison if he still
+lived, together with some others, of whom I remember nothing. So thither
+I took Barnabas, and there, with the help of the prison physician--he to
+whom I had given the poisoned figs and the dead monkey to be examined--I
+nursed him back to life and health.
+
+His illness was long, for one of the blows which he had received
+crippled him, and during it we talked much together. He was a very
+sweet-natured man and holy, a native of Britain, whose father or
+grandfather had been a Dane, and therefore there was a tie between us.
+In his youth he was a soldier. Having been taken prisoner in some war,
+he came to Italy, where he was ordained a priest at Rome. Afterwards he
+was sent as a missionary to Egypt, where he was appointed the head of
+a monastery, and in the end elected to a bishopric. But he had never
+forgotten the Danish tongue, which his parents taught him as a child,
+and so we were able to talk together in that language.
+
+Now it would seem that since that night when the Caesar Nicephorus strove
+to hang himself, I had obtained and studied a copy of the Christian
+Scriptures--how I do not know--and therefore was able to discuss these
+matters with Barnabas the bishop. Of our arguments I remember nothing,
+save that I pointed out to him that whereas the tree seemed to me to be
+very good, its fruits were vile beyond imagination, and I instanced the
+horrible tumult when he had been wounded almost to death, not by common
+men, but by the very leaders of the Christians.
+
+He answered that these things must happen; that Christ Himself had said
+He came to bring not peace but a sword, and that only through war and
+struggle would the last truth be reached. The spirit was always good,
+he added, but the flesh was always vile. These deeds were those of the
+flesh, which passed away, but the spirit remained pure and immortal.
+
+The end of it was that under the teaching of the holy Barnabas, saint
+and martyr (for afterwards he was murdered by the followers of the false
+prophet, Mahomet), I became a Christian and a new man. Now at length I
+understood what grace it was that had given me courage to offer battle
+to the heathen god, Odin, and to smite him down. Now I saw also where
+shone the light which I had been seeking these many years. Aye, and I
+clasped that light to my bosom to be my lamp in life and death.
+
+So a day came when my beloved master, Barnabas, who would allow no
+delay in this matter, baptised me in his cell with water taken from his
+drinking vessel, charging me to make public profession before the Church
+when opportunity should arise.
+
+It was just at this time that Irene returned from the Baths, and I sent
+to her a written report of all that had happened at the prison since I
+had been appointed its governor. Also I prayed that if it were her will
+I might be relieved of my office, as it was one which did not please me.
+
+A few days later, while I sat in my chamber at the prison writing
+a paper concerning a prisoner who had died, the porter at the gate
+announced that a messenger from the Augusta wished to see me. I bade
+him show in the messenger, and presently there entered no chamberlain or
+eunuch, but a woman wrapped in a dark cloak. When the man had gone and
+the door was shut, she threw off the cloak and I saw that my visitor
+was Martina, the favourite waiting-lady of the Empress. We greeted each
+other warmly, who were always friends, and I asked her tidings.
+
+"My tidings are, Olaf, that the waters have suited the Augusta very
+well. She has lost several pounds in weight and her skin is now like
+that of a young child."
+
+"All health to the Augusta!" I said, laughing. "But you have not come
+here to tell me of the state of the royal skin. What next, Martina?"
+
+"This, Olaf. The Empress has read your report with her own eyes, which
+is a rare thing for her to do. She said she wished to see whether or
+no you could write Greek. She is much pleased with the report, and told
+Stauracius in my presence that she had done well in choosing you for
+your office while she was absent from the city, since thereby she had
+saved the lives of the Caesars and _Nobilissimi_, desiring as she does
+that these princes should be kept alive, at any rate for the present.
+She accedes also to your prayer, and will relieve you of your office
+as soon as a new governor can be chosen. You are to return to guard her
+person, but with your rank of general confirmed."
+
+"That is all good news, Martina; so good that I wonder what sting is
+hidden in all this honey."
+
+"That you will find out presently, Olaf. One I can warn you of,
+however--the sting of jealousy. Advancement such as yours draws eyes to
+you, not all of them in love."
+
+I nodded and she went on:
+
+"Meantime your star seems to shine very bright indeed. One might almost
+say that the Augusta worshipped it, at least she talks of you to me
+continually, and once or twice was in half a mind to send for you to the
+Baths. Indeed, had it not been for reasons of State connected with your
+prisoners I think she would have done so."
+
+"Ah!" I said, "now I think I begin to feel another sting in the honey."
+
+"Another sting in the honey! Nay, nay, you mean a divine perfume, an
+essence of added sweetness, a flavour of the flowers on Mount Ida. Why,
+Olaf, if I were your enemy, as I dare say I shall be some day, for often
+we learn to hate those whom we have--rather liked, your head and your
+shoulders might bid good-bye to each other for such words as those."
+
+"Perhaps, Martina; and if they did I do not know that it would greatly
+matter--now."
+
+"Not greatly matter, when you are driving at full gallop along Fortune's
+road to Fame's temple with an Empress for your charioteer! Are you
+blind or mad, Olaf, or both? And what do you mean by your 'now'? Olaf,
+something has happened to you since last we met. Have you fallen in love
+with some fair prisoner in this hateful place and been repulsed? Such a
+fool as you are might take refusal even from a captive in his own hands.
+At least you are different."
+
+"Yes, Martina, something has happened to me. I have become a Christian."
+
+"Oh! Olaf, now I see that you are not a fool, as I thought, but very
+clever. Why, only yesterday the Augusta said to me--it was after she had
+read that report of yours--that if you were but a Christian she would be
+minded to lift you high indeed. But as you remained the most obstinate
+of heathens she did not see how it could be done without causing great
+trouble."
+
+"Now I wish one could be a Christian within and remain a pagan without,"
+I answered grimly; "though alas! that may not be. Martina, do you not
+understand that it was for no such reasons as these that I kissed the
+Cross; that in so doing I sought not fortune, but to be its servant?"
+
+"By the Saints! you'll be tonsured next, and ill enough it would suit
+you," she exclaimed. "Remember, if things grow too--difficult, you can
+always be tonsured, Olaf. Only then you will have to give up the hope
+of that lady who wears the other half of the necklace somewhere. I
+don't mean Irene's sham half, but the real one. Oh! stop blushing and
+stammering, I know the story, and all about Iduna the Fair also. An
+exalted person told it me, and so did you, although you were not aware
+that you had done so, for you are not one who can keep a secret to
+himself. May all the guardian angels help that necklace-lady if ever she
+should meet another lady whom I will not name. And now why do you talk
+so much? Are you learning to preach, or what? If you really do mean to
+become a monk, Olaf, there is another thing you must give up, and that
+is war, except of the kind which you saw at the Council the other day.
+God above us! what a sight it would be to see you battering another
+bishop with a hook-shaped staff over a question of images or the Two
+Natures. I should be sorry for that bishop. But you haven't told me who
+converted you."
+
+"Barnabas of Egypt," I said.
+
+"Oh! I hoped that it had been a lady saint; the story would have been so
+much more interesting to the Court. Well, our imperial mistress does not
+like Barnabas, because he does not like images, and that may be a sting
+in _her_ honey. But perhaps she will forgive him for your sake. You'll
+have to worship images."
+
+"What do I care about images? It is the spirit that I seek, Martina, and
+all these things are nothing."
+
+"You are thorough, as usual, Olaf, and jump farther than you can see.
+Well, be advised and say naught for or against images. As they have no
+meaning for you, what can it matter if they are or are not there? Leave
+them to the blind eyes and little minds. And now I must be gone, who
+can listen to your gossip no longer. Oh! I had forgotten my message.
+The Augusta commands that you shall wait on her this evening immediately
+after she has supped. Hear and obey!"
+
+Having delivered this formal mandate, to neglect which meant
+imprisonment, or worse, she threw her cloak about her, and with a
+wondering glance at my face, opened the door and went.
+
+At the hour appointed, or, rather, somewhat before it, I attended at the
+private apartments of the palace. Evidently I was expected, for one of
+the chamberlains, on seeing me, bowed and bade me be seated, then left
+the ante-room. Presently the door opened again, and through it came
+Martina, clad in her white official robe.
+
+"You are early, Olaf," she said, "like a lover who keeps a tryst. Well,
+it is always wise to meet good fortune half way. But why do you come
+clad in full armour? It is not the custom to wait thus upon the Empress
+at this hour when you are off duty."
+
+"I thought that I was on duty, Martina."
+
+"Then, as usual, you thought wrong. Take off that armour; she says that
+the sight of it always makes her feel cold after supper. I say take it
+off; or if you cannot, I will help you."
+
+So the mail was removed, leaving me clad in my plain blue tunic and
+hose.
+
+"Would you have me come before the Empress thus?" I asked.
+
+By way of answer she clapped her hands and bade the eunuch who answered
+the signal to bring a certain robe. He went, and presently reappeared
+with a wondrous garment of silk broidered with gold, such as nobles of
+high rank wore at festivals. This robe, which fitted as though it
+had been made for me, I put on, though I liked the look of it little.
+Martina would have had me even remove my sword, but I refused, saying:
+
+"Except at the express order of the Empress, I and my sword are not
+parted."
+
+"Well, she said nothing about the sword, Olaf, so let it be. All she
+said was that I must be careful that the robe matched the colour of the
+necklace you wear. She cannot bear colours which jar upon each other,
+especially by lamp-light."
+
+"Am I a man," I asked angrily, "or a beast being decked for sacrifice?"
+
+"Fie, Olaf, have you not yet forgotten your heathen talk? Remember, I
+pray you, that you are now a Christian in a Christian land."
+
+"I thank you for reminding me of it," I replied; and that moment a
+chamberlain, entering hurriedly, commanded my presence.
+
+"Good luck to you, Olaf," said Martina as I followed him. "Be sure to
+tell me the news later--or to-morrow."
+
+Then the chamberlain led me, not into the audience hall, as I had
+expected, but to the private imperial dining chamber. Here, reclining
+upon couches in the old Roman fashion, one on either side of a narrow
+table on which stood fruits and flagons of rich-hued Greek wine, were
+the two greatest people in the world, the Augusta Irene and the Augustus
+Constantine, her son.
+
+She was wonderfully apparelled in a low-cut garment of white silk, over
+which fell a mantle of the imperial purple, and I noted that on her
+dazzling bosom hung that necklace of emerald beetles separated by golden
+shells which she had caused to be copied from my own. On her fair hair
+that grew low upon her forehead and was parted in the middle, she wore
+a diadem of gold in which were set emeralds to match the beetles of the
+necklace. The Augustus was arrayed in the festal garments of a Caesar,
+also covered with a purple cloak. He was a heavy-faced and somewhat
+stupid-looking youth, dark-haired, like his father and uncles, but
+having large, blue, and not unkindly eyes. From his flushed face I
+gathered that he had drunk well of the strong Greek wine, and from the
+sullen look about his mouth that, as was common, he had been quarrelling
+with his mother.
+
+I stood at the end of the table and saluted first the Empress and then
+the Emperor.
+
+"Who's this?" he asked, glancing at me.
+
+"General Olaf, of my guard," she answered, "Governor of the State
+Prison. You remember, you wished me to send for him to settle the point
+as to which we were arguing."
+
+"Oh! yes. Well, General Olaf, of my mother's guard, have you not been
+told that you should salute the Augustus before the Augusta?"
+
+"Sire," I answered humbly, "I have heard nothing of that matter, but in
+the land where I was bred I was taught that if a man and a woman were
+together I must always bow first to the woman and then to the man."
+
+"Well said," exclaimed the Empress, clapping her hands; but the Emperor
+answered: "Doubtless your mother taught you that, not your father. Next
+time you enter the imperial chamber be pleased to forget the lesson and
+to remember that Emperors and Empresses are not men and women."
+
+"Sire," I answered, "as you command I will remember that Emperors and
+Empresses are not men and women, but Emperors and Empresses."
+
+At these words the Augustus began to scowl, but, changing his mind,
+laughed, as did his mother. He filled a gold cup with wine and pushed it
+towards me, saying:
+
+"Drink to us, soldier, for after you have done so, our wits may be
+better matched."
+
+I took the cup and holding it, said:
+
+"I pledge your Imperial Majesties, who shine upon the world like twin
+stars in the sky. All hail to your Majesties!" and I drank, but not too
+deep.
+
+"You are clever," growled the Augustus. "Well, keep the cup; you've
+earned it. Yet drain it first, man. You have scarce wet your lips. Do
+you fear that it is poisoned, as you say yonder fruits are?" And he
+pointed to a side-table, where stood a jar of glass in which were those
+very figs that had been sent to the princes in the prison.
+
+"The cup you give is mine," interrupted Irene; "still, my servant is
+welcome to the gift. It shall be sent to your quarters, General."
+
+"A soldier has no need of such gauds, your Majesties," I began, when
+Constantine, who, while we spoke, had swallowed another draught of the
+strong wine, broke in angrily:
+
+"May I not give a cup of gold but you must claim it, I to whom the
+Empire and all its wealth belong?"
+
+Snatching up the beaker he dashed it to the floor, spilling the wine, of
+which I, who wished to keep my head cool, was glad.
+
+"Have done," he went on in his drunken rage. "Shall the Caesars huckster
+over a piece of worked gold like Jews in a market? Give me those figs,
+man; I'll settle the matter of this poison."
+
+I brought the jar of figs, and, bowing, set them down before him. That
+they were the same I knew, for the glass was labelled in my own writing
+and in that of the physician. He cut away the sealed parchment which was
+stretched over the mouth of the jar.
+
+"Now hearken you, Olaf," he said. "It is true that I ordered fruit to
+be sent to that fool-Caesar, my uncle, because the last time I saw him
+Nicephorus prayed me for it, and I was willing to do him a pleasure. But
+that I ordered the fruit to be poisoned, as my mother says, is a lie,
+and may God curse the tongue that spoke it. I will show you that it was
+a lie," and plunging his hand into the spirit of the jar, he drew out
+two of the figs. "Now," he went on, waving them about in a half-drunken
+fashion, "this General Olaf of yours says that these are the same
+figs which were sent to the Caesar, I mean the blind priest, Father
+Nicephorus. Don't you, Olaf?"
+
+"Yes, Sire," I answered, "they were placed in that bottle in my presence
+and sealed with my seal."
+
+"Well, those figs were sent by me, and this Olaf tells us they are
+poisoned. I'll show him, and you too, mother, that they are _not_
+poisoned, for I will eat one of them."
+
+Now I looked at the Augusta, but she sat silent, her arms folded on her
+white bosom, her handsome face turned as it were to stone.
+
+Constantine lifted the fig towards his loose mouth. Again I looked at
+the Augusta. Still she sat there like a statue, and it came into my mind
+that it was her purpose to allow this wine-bemused man to eat the fig.
+Then I acted.
+
+"Augustus," I said, "you must not touch that fruit," and stepping
+forward I took it from his hand.
+
+He sprang to his feet and began to revile me.
+
+"You watch-dog of the North!" he shouted. "Do you dare to say to the
+Emperor that he shall not do this or that? By all the images my mother
+worships I'll have you whipped through the Circus."
+
+"That you will never do," I answered, for my free blood boiled at the
+insult. "I tell you, Sire," I went on, leaving out certain words which I
+meant to speak, "that the fig is poisoned."
+
+"And I tell you that you lie, you heathen savage. See here! Either you
+eat that fig or I do, so that we may know who speaks the truth. If you
+won't, I will. Now obey, or, by Christ! to-morrow you shall be shorter
+by a head."
+
+"The Augustus is pleased to threaten, which is unnecessary," I remarked.
+"If I eat the fig, will the Augustus swear to leave the rest of them
+uneaten?"
+
+"Aye," he answered with a hiccough, "for then I shall know the truth,
+and for the truth I live, though," he added, "I haven't found it yet."
+
+"And if I do not eat it, will the Augustus do so?"
+
+"By the Holy Blood, yes. I'll eat a dozen of them. Am I one to be
+hectored by a woman and a barbarian? Eat, or I eat."
+
+"Good, Sire. It is better that a barbarian should die than that the
+world should lose its glorious Emperor. I eat, and when you are as I
+soon shall be, as will happen even to an emperor, may my blood lie heavy
+on your soul, the blood which I give to save your life."
+
+Then I lifted the fig to my lips.
+
+Before ever it touched them, with a motion swift as that of a panther
+springing on its prey, Irene had leapt from her couch and dashed the
+fruit from my hand. She turned upon her son.
+
+"What kind of a thing are you," she asked, "who would suffer a brave man
+to poison himself that he may save your worthless life? Oh! God, what
+have I done that I should have given birth to such a hound? Whoever
+poisoned them, these fruits are poisoned, as has been proved and can be
+proved again, yes, and shall be. I tell you that if Olaf had tasted one
+of them by now he would have been dead or dying."
+
+Constantine drank another cup of wine, which, oddly enough, seemed to
+sober him for the moment.
+
+"I find all this strange," he said heavily. "You, my mother, would
+have suffered me to eat the fig which you declare is poisoned; a matter
+whereof you may know something. But when the General Olaf offers to eat
+it in my place, with your own royal hand you dash it from his lips, as
+he dashed it from mine. And there is another thing which is still more
+strange. This Olaf, who also says the figs are poisoned, offered to
+eat one of them if I promised I would not do so, which means, if he
+is right, that he offered to give his life for mine. Yet I have done
+nothing for him except call him hard names; and as he is your servant
+he has nothing to look for from me if I should win the fight with you at
+last. Now I have heard much talk of miracles, but this is the only one I
+have ever seen. Either Olaf is a liar, or he is a great man and a saint.
+He says, I am told, that the monkey which ate one of those figs died.
+Well, I never thought of it before, but there are more monkeys in the
+palace. Indeed, one lives on the terrace near by, for I fed it this
+afternoon. We'll put the matter to the proof and learn of what stuff
+this Olaf is really made."
+
+On the table stood a silver bell, and as he spoke he struck it. A
+chamberlain entered and was ordered to bring in the monkey. He departed,
+and with incredible swiftness the beast and its keeper arrived. It was
+a large animal of the baboon tribe, famous throughout the palace for its
+tricks. Indeed, on entering, at a word from the man who led it, it bowed
+to all of us.
+
+"Give your beast these," said the Emperor, handing the keeper several of
+the figs.
+
+The baboon took the fruits and, having sniffed at them, put them
+aside. Then the keeper fed it with some sweetmeats, which it caught and
+devoured, and presently, when its fears were allayed, threw it one
+of the figs, which it swallowed, doubtless thinking it a sweetmeat.
+A minute or two later it began to show signs of distress and shortly
+afterwards died in convulsions.
+
+"Now," said Irene, "now do you believe, my son?"
+
+"Yes," he answered, "I believe that there is a saint in Constantinople.
+Sir Saint, I salute you. You have saved my life and if it should come
+my way, by your brother saints! I'll save yours, although you are my
+mother's servant."
+
+So speaking, he drank off yet another cup of wine and reeled from the
+room.
+
+The keeper, at a sign from Irene, lifted up the body of the dead ape and
+also left the chamber, weeping as he went, for he had loved this beast.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+OLAF OFFERS HIS SWORD
+
+The Emperor had gone, drunk; the ape had gone, dead; and its keeper had
+gone, weeping. Irene and I alone were left in that beautiful place with
+the wine-stained table on which stood the jar of poisoned figs and the
+bent golden cup lying on the marble floor.
+
+She sat upon the couch, looking at me with a kind of amazement in her
+eyes, and I stood before her at attention, as does a soldier on duty.
+
+"I wonder why he did not send for one of my servants to eat those
+figs--Stauracius, for instance," she mused, adding with a little laugh,
+"Well, if he had, there are some whom I could have spared better than
+that poor ape, which at times I used to feed. It was an honest creature,
+that ape; the only creature in the palace that would not rub its head
+in the dust before the Augusta. Ah! now I remember, it always hated
+Constantine, for when he was a child he used to tease it with a stick,
+getting beyond the length of its chain and striking it. But one day, as
+he passed too near, it caught him and buffeted him on the cheek and tore
+out some of his hair. He wanted to kill it then, but I forbade him. Yet
+he has never forgotten it, he who never does forget anything he hates,
+and that is why he sent for the poor beast."
+
+"The Augusta will remember that the Augustus did not know that the figs
+were poisoned."
+
+"The Augusta is sure that the Augustus knew well enough that those figs
+were poisoned, at any rate from the moment that I dashed one of them
+from your lips, Olaf. Well, I have made a bitterer enemy than before,
+that's all. They say that by Nature's rule mother and child must love
+each other, but it is a lie. I tell you it's a lie. From the time he was
+tiny I hated that boy, though not half as much as he has hated me. You
+are thinking to yourself that this is because our ambitions clash like
+meeting swords, and that from them spring these fires of hate. It is not
+so. The hate is native to our hearts, and will only end when one of us
+lies dead at the other's hand."
+
+"Terrible words, Augusta."
+
+"Yes, but true. Truth is always terrible--in Byzantium. Olaf, take those
+drugged fruits and set them in the drawer of yonder table; lock it and
+guard the key, lest they should poison other honest animals."
+
+I obeyed and returned to my station.
+
+She looked at me and said:
+
+"I grow weary of the sight of you standing there like a statue of the
+Roman Mars, with your sword half hid beneath your cloak; and, what's
+more, I hate this hall; it reeks of Constantine and his drink and lies.
+Oh! he's vile, and for my sins God has made me his mother, unless,
+indeed, he was changed at birth, as I've been told, though I could never
+prove it. Give me your hand and help me to rise. So, I thank you. Now
+follow me. We'll sit a while in my private chamber, where alone I can be
+happy, since the Emperor never comes there. Nay, talk not of duty;
+you have no guards to set or change to-night. Follow me; I have secret
+business of which I would talk with you."
+
+So she went and I followed through doors that opened mysteriously at
+our approach and shut mysteriously behind us, till I found myself in a
+little room half-lighted only, that I had never seen before. It was a
+scented and a beautiful place, in one corner of which a white statue
+gleamed, that of a Venus kissing Cupid, who folded one wing about her
+head, and through the open window-place the moonlight shone and floated
+the murmur of the sea.
+
+The double doors were shut, for aught I knew locked, and with her own
+hands Irene drew the curtains over them. Near the open window, to which
+there was no balcony, stood a couch.
+
+"Sit yonder, Olaf," she said, "for here there is no ceremony; here we
+are but man and woman."
+
+I obeyed, while she busied herself with the curtains. Then she came and
+sat herself down on the couch also, leaning against the end of it in
+such a fashion that she could watch me in the moonlight.
+
+"Olaf," she said, after she had looked at me a while, rather strangely,
+as I thought, for the colour came and went upon her face, which in that
+light seemed quite young again and wonderfully beautiful, "Olaf, you are
+a very brave man."
+
+"There are hundreds in your service braver, Empress; cowards do not take
+to soldiering."
+
+"I could tell you a different story, Olaf; but it was not of this kind
+of courage that I talked. It was of that which made you offer to eat
+the poisoned fig in place of Constantine. Why did you do so? It is true
+that, as things have happened, he'll remember it in your favour, for
+I'll say this of him, he never forgets one who has saved him from harm,
+any more than he forgets one who has harmed him. But if you had eaten
+you would have died, and then how could he have rewarded you?"
+
+"Empress, when I took my oath of office I swore to protect both the
+Augustus and the Augusta, even with my life. I was fulfilling my oath,
+that is all."
+
+"You are a strange man as well as a brave man to interpret oaths so
+strictly. If you will do as much as this for one who is nothing to you,
+and who has never paid you a gold piece, how much, I wonder, would you
+do for one whom you love."
+
+"I could offer no more than my life for such a one, Empress, could I?"
+
+"Someone told me--it may have been you, Olaf, or another--that once you
+did more, challenging a heathen god for the sake of one you loved, and
+defeating him. It was added that this was for a man, but that I do not
+believe. Doubtless it was for the sake of Iduna the Fair, of whom you
+have spoken to me, whom it seems you cannot forget although she was
+faithless to you. It is said that the best way to hold love is to
+be faithless to him who loves, and in truth I believe it," she added
+bitterly.
+
+"You are mistaken, Empress. It was to be avenged on him for the life
+of Steinar, my foster-brother, which he had taken in sacrifice, that
+I dared Odin and hewed his holy statue to pieces with this sword; of
+Steinar, whom Iduna betrayed as she betrayed me, bringing one to death
+and the other to shame."
+
+"At least, had it not been for this Iduna you would never have given
+battle to the great god of the North and thus brought his curse upon
+you. For, Olaf, those gods live; they are devils."
+
+"Whether Odin is or is not, I do not fear his curse, Empress."
+
+"Yet it will find you out before all is done, or so I think. Look you,
+pagan blood still runs in me, and, Christian though I am, I would not
+dare one of the great gods of Greece and Rome. I'd leave that to the
+priests. Do you fear nothing, Olaf?"
+
+"I think nothing at all, since I hewed off Odin's head and came away
+unscathed."
+
+"Then you are a man to my liking, Olaf."
+
+She paused, looking at me even more strangely than before, till I turned
+my eyes, indeed, and stared out at the sea, wishing that I were in it,
+or anywhere away from this lovely and imperious woman whom I was sworn
+to obey in all things.
+
+"Olaf," she said presently, "you have served me well of late. Is there
+any reward that you would ask, and if so, what? Anything that I can give
+is yours, unless," she added hastily, "the gift will take you away from
+Constantinople and from--me."
+
+"Yes, Augusta," I answered, still staring out at the sea. "In the prison
+yonder is an old bishop named Barnabas of Egypt, who was set upon by
+other bishops at the Council while you were away and wellnigh beaten
+to death. I ask that he may be freed and restored to his diocese with
+honour."
+
+"Barnabas," she replied sharply. "I know the man. He is an Iconoclast,
+and therefore my enemy. Only this morning I signed an order that he
+should be kept in confinement till he died, here or elsewhere. Still,"
+she went on, "though I would sooner give you a province, have your gift,
+for I can refuse you nothing. Barnabas shall be freed and restored to
+his see with honour. I have said."
+
+Now I began to thank her, but she stopped me, saying:
+
+"Have done! Another time you can talk to me of heretics with whom you
+have made friends, but I, who hear enough of such, would have no more of
+them to-night."
+
+So I grew silent and still stared out at the sea. Indeed, I was
+wondering in my mind whether I dared ask leave to depart, for I felt her
+eyes burning on me, and grew much afraid. Suddenly I heard a sound, a
+gentle sound of rustling silk, and in another instant I felt Irene's
+arms clasped about me and Irene's head laid upon my knee. Yes, she was
+kneeling before me, sobbing, and her proud head was resting on my knee.
+The diadem she wore had fallen from it, and her tresses, breaking loose,
+flowed to the ground, and lay there gleaming like gold in the moonlight.
+
+She looked up, and her face was that of a weeping saint.
+
+"Dost understand?" she whispered.
+
+Now despair took me, which I knew full well would soon be followed by
+madness. Then came a thought.
+
+"Yes," I said hoarsely. "I understand that you grieve over that matter
+of the Augustus and the poisoned figs, and would pray me to keep
+silence. Have no fear, my lips are sealed, but for his I cannot answer,
+though perhaps as he had drunk so much----"
+
+"Fool!" she whispered. "Is it thus that an Empress pleads with her
+captain to keep silence?" Then she drew herself up, a wonderful look
+upon her face that had grown suddenly white, a fire in her upturned
+eyes, and for the second time kissed me upon the lips.
+
+I took her in my arms and kissed her back. For an instant my mind swam.
+Then in my soul I cried for help, and strength came to me. Rising, I
+lifted her as though she were a child, and stood her on her feet. I
+said:
+
+"Hearken, Empress, before destruction falls. I do understand now, though
+a moment ago I did not, who never thought it possible that the queen of
+the world could look with favour upon one so humble."
+
+"Love takes no account of rank," she murmured, "and that kiss of yours
+upon my lips is more to me than the empire of the world."
+
+"Yet hearken," I answered. "There is another wall between us which may
+not be climbed."
+
+"Man, what is this wall? Is it named woman? Are you sworn to the memory
+of that Iduna, who is more fair than I? Or is it, perchance, her of the
+necklace?"
+
+"Neither. Iduna is dead to me; she of the necklace is but a dream.
+The wall is that of your own faith. On this night seven days ago I was
+baptised a Christian."
+
+"Well, what of it? This draws us nearer."
+
+"Study the sayings of your sacred book, Empress, and you will find that
+it thrusts us apart."
+
+Now she coloured to her hair, and a kind of madness took her.
+
+"Am I to be preached to by you?" she asked.
+
+"I preach to myself, Augusta, who need it greatly, not to you, who
+mayhap do not need it."
+
+"Hating me as you do, why should you need it? You are the worst of
+hypocrites, who would veil your hate under a priest's robe."
+
+"Have you no pity, Irene? When did I say that I hated you? Moreover, if
+I had hated you, should I----" and I ceased.
+
+"I do not know what you would or would not have done," she answered
+coldly. "I think that Constantine is right, and that you must be what is
+called a saint; and, if so, saints are best in heaven, especially when
+they know too much on earth. Give me that sword of yours."
+
+I drew the sword, saluted with it, and gave it to her.
+
+"It is a heavy weapon," she said. "Whence came it?"
+
+"From the same grave as the necklace, Augusta."
+
+"Ah! the necklace that your dream-woman wore. Well, go to seek her in
+the land of dreams," and she lifted the sword.
+
+"Your pardon, Augusta, but you are about to strike with the blunt edge,
+which may wound but will not kill."
+
+She laughed a little, very nervously, and, turning the sword round in
+her hand, said:
+
+"Truly, you are the strangest of men! Ah! I thank you, now I have it
+right. Do you understand, Olaf, I mean, Sir Saint, what sort of a story
+I must tell of you after I have struck? Do you understand that not only
+are you about to die, but that infamy will be poured upon your name and
+that your body will be dragged through the streets and thrown to the
+dogs with the city offal? Answer, I say, answer!"
+
+"I understand that you must cause these things to be done for your own
+sake, Augusta, and I do not complain. Lies matter nothing to me, who
+journey to the Land of Truth, where there are some whom I would meet
+again. Be advised by me. Strike here, where the neck joins the shoulder,
+holding the sword slantwise, for there even a woman's blow will serve to
+sever the great artery."
+
+"I cannot. Kill yourself, Olaf."
+
+"A week ago I'd have fallen on the sword; but now, by the rule of our
+faith, in such a cause I may not. My blood must be upon your hands, for
+which I grieve, knowing that no other road is open to you. Augusta, if
+it is worth anything to you, take my full forgiveness for the deed, and
+with it my thanks for all the goodness you have shown to me, but most
+for your woman's favour. In after years, perhaps, when death draws near
+to you also, if ever you remember Olaf, your faithful servant, you will
+understand much it is not fitting that I should say. Give me one moment
+to make my peace with Heaven as to certain kisses. Then strike hard and
+swiftly, and, as you strike, scream for your guards and women. Your wit
+will do the rest."
+
+She lifted the sword, while, after a moment's prayer, I bared my neck of
+the silk robe. Then she let it fall again, gasping, and said:
+
+"Tell me first, for I am curious. Are you no man? Or have you forsworn
+woman, as do the monks?"
+
+"Not I, Augusta. Had I lived, some day I might have married, who would
+have wished to leave children behind me, since in our law marriage is
+allowed. Forget not your promise as to the Bishop Barnabas, who, I fear,
+will weep over this seeming fall of mine."
+
+"So you would marry, would you?" she said, as one who speaks to herself;
+then thought awhile, and handed me back the sword.
+
+"Olaf," she went on, "you have made me feel as I never felt
+before--ashamed, utterly ashamed, and though I learn to hate you, as it
+well may hap I shall, know that I shall always honour you."
+
+Then she sank down upon the couch, and, hiding her face in her hands,
+wept bitterly.
+
+It was at this moment that I went very near to loving Irene.
+
+I think she must have felt something of what was passing in my mind, for
+suddenly she looked up and said: "Give me that jewel," and she pointed
+to the diadem on the floor, "and help me to order my hair; my hands
+shake."
+
+"Nay," I said, as I gave her the crown. "Of that wine I drink no more. I
+dare not touch you; you grow too dear."
+
+"For those words," she whispered, "go in safety, and remember that from
+Irene you have naught to fear, as I know well I have naught to fear from
+you, O Prince among men."
+
+So presently I went.
+
+
+
+On the following morning, as I sat in my office at the prison, setting
+all things in order for whoever should succeed me, Martina entered, as
+she had done before.
+
+"How came you here unannounced?" I asked, when she was seated.
+
+"By virtue of this," she answered, holding up her hand and showing on
+it a ring I knew. It was the signet of the Empress. I saluted the seal,
+saying:
+
+"And for what purpose, Martina? To order me to bonds or death?"
+
+"To bonds or death!" she exclaimed innocently. "What can our good Olaf
+have done worthy of such woes? Nay, I come to free one from bonds,
+and perhaps from death, namely, a certain heretic bishop who is named
+Barnabas. Here is the order for his release, signed by the Augusta's
+hand and sealed with her seal, under which he is at liberty to bide in
+Constantinople while he will and to return to his bishopric in Egypt
+when it pleases him. Also, if he holds that any have harmed him, he may
+make complaint, and it shall be considered without delay."
+
+I took the parchment, read it, and laid it on the table, saying:
+
+"The commands of the Empress shall be done. Is there aught else,
+Martina?"
+
+"Yes. To-morrow morning you will be relieved of your office, and another
+governor--Stauracius and Aetius are quarrelling as to his name--will
+take your place."
+
+"And I?"
+
+"You will resume your post as captain of the private guard, only with
+the rank of a full general of the army. But that I told you yesterday.
+It is now confirmed."
+
+I said nothing, but a groan I could not choke broke from my lips.
+
+"You do not seem as pleased as you might be, Olaf. Tell me, now, at what
+hour did you leave the palace last night? While waiting for my mistress
+to summon me I fell asleep in the vestibule of the ante-room, and when I
+awoke and went into that room I found there the gold-broidered silk robe
+you wore, cast upon the ground, and your armour gone."
+
+"I know not what was the hour, Martina, and speak no more to me, I pray,
+of that accursed womanish robe."
+
+"Which you treated but ill, Olaf, for it is spotted as though with
+blood."
+
+"The Augustus spilt some wine over it."
+
+"Aye, my mistress told me the story. Also that of how you would
+have eaten the poisoned fig, which you snatched from the lips of
+Constantine."
+
+"And what else did your mistress tell you, Martina?"
+
+"Not much, Olaf. She was in a very strange mood last night, and while I
+combed her hair, which, Olaf, was as tangled as though a man had handled
+it," and she looked at me till I coloured to the eyes, "and undid her
+diadem, that was set on it all awry, she spoke to me of marriage."
+
+"Of marriage!" I gasped.
+
+"Certainly--did I not speak the word with clearness?--of marriage."
+
+"With whom, Martina?"
+
+"Oh! grow not jealous before there is need, Olaf. She made no mention of
+the name of our future divine master, for whosoever can rule Irene, if
+such a one lives, will certainly rule us also. All she said was that she
+wished she could find some man to guide, guard and comfort her, who grew
+lonely amidst many troubles, and hoped for more sons than Constantine."
+
+"What sort of a man, Martina? This Emperor Charlemagne, or some other
+king?"
+
+"No. She vowed that she had seen enough of princes, who were murderers
+and liars, all of them; and that what she desired was one of good birth,
+no more, brave, honest, and not a fool. I asked her, too, what she would
+have him like to look upon."
+
+"And what did she say to that, Martina?"
+
+"Oh! she said that he must be tall, and under forty, fair-haired and
+bearded, since she loved not these shaven effeminates, who look half
+woman and half priest; one who had known war, and yet was no ruffler; a
+person of open mind, who had learnt and could learn more. Well, now that
+I think of it, by all the Saints!--yes, much such a man as _you_ are,
+Olaf."
+
+"Then she may find them in plenty," I said, with an uneasy laugh.
+
+"Do you think so? Well, she did not, neither did I. Indeed, she pointed
+out that this was her trouble. Among the great of the earth she knew no
+such man, and, if she sought lower, then would come jealousies and war."
+
+"Indeed they would. Doubtless you showed her that this was so, Martina."
+
+"Not at all, Olaf. I asked her of what use it was to be an Empress if
+she could not please her own heart in this matter of a husband, which is
+one important to a woman. I said also, as for such fears, that a secret
+marriage might be thought of, which is an honest business that could be
+declared when occasion came."
+
+"And what did she answer to that, Martina?"
+
+"She fell into high good humour, called me a faithful and a clever
+friend, gave me a handsome jewel, told me that she would have a mission
+for me on the morrow--doubtless that which I now fulfil, for I have
+heard of no other--said, notwithstanding all the trouble as to the
+Augustus and his threats, that she was sure she would sleep better than
+she had done for nights, kissed me on both cheeks, and flung herself
+upon her knees at her praying-stool, where I left her. But why are you
+looking so sad, Olaf?"
+
+"Oh! I know not, save that I find life difficult, and full of pitfalls
+which it is hard to escape."
+
+Martina rested her elbows on the table and her chin upon her little
+hand, staring me full in the face with her quick eyes that pierced like
+nails.
+
+"Olaf," she said, "your star shines bright above you. Keep your eyes
+fixed thereon and follow it, and never think about the pitfalls. It may
+lead you I know not where."
+
+"To heaven, perhaps," I suggested.
+
+"Well, you did not fear to go thither when you would have eaten the
+poisoned fig last night. To heaven, perchance, but by a royal road.
+Whatever you may think of some others, marriage is an honourable estate,
+my Christian friend, especially if a man marries well. And now good-bye;
+we shall meet again at the palace, whither you will repair to-morrow
+morning. Not before, since I am engaged in directing the furnishment of
+your new quarters in the right wing, and, though the workmen labour all
+night, they will not be finished until then. Good-bye, General Olaf.
+Your servant Martina salutes you and your star," and she curtsied before
+me until her knees almost touched the ground.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+AVE POST SECULA
+
+It comes back to me that on the following day my successor in the
+governorship of the jail, who he was I know not now, arrived, and that
+to him in due form I handed over my offices and duties. Before I did so,
+however, I made it my care to release Barnabas, I think on the previous
+evening. In his cell I read the Augusta's warrant to the old bishop.
+
+"How was it obtained, son," he asked, "for, know, that having so many
+enemies on this small matter of image worship, I expected to die in this
+place? Now it seems that I am free, and may even return to my charge in
+Egypt."
+
+"The Empress granted it to me as a favour, Father," I answered. "I told
+her that you were from the North, like myself."
+
+He studied me with his shrewd blue eyes, and said:
+
+"It seems strange to me that so great and unusual a boon should be
+granted for such a reason, seeing that better men than I am have
+suffered banishment and worse woes for less cause than I have given.
+What did you pay the Empress for this favour, son Olaf?"
+
+"Nothing, Father."
+
+"Is it so? Olaf, a dream has come to me about you, and in that dream
+I saw you walk through a great fire and emerge unscathed, save for the
+singeing of your lips and hair."
+
+"Perhaps they were singed, Father. Otherwise, I am unburned, though
+what will happen to me in the future I do not know, for my dangers seem
+great."
+
+"In my dream you triumphed over all of them, Olaf, and also met with
+some reward even in this life, though now I know not what it was. Yes,
+and triumph you shall, my son in Christ. Fear nothing, even when the
+storm-clouds sweep about your head and the lightnings blind your eyes.
+I say, fear nothing, for you have friends whom you cannot see. I ask no
+more even under the seal of confession, since there are secrets which it
+is not well to learn. Who knows, I might go mad, or torture might draw
+from me words I would not speak. Therefore, keep your own counsel, son,
+and confess to God alone."
+
+"What will you do now, Father?" I asked. "Return to Egypt?"
+
+"Nay, not yet awhile. It comes to me that I must bide here for a space,
+which under this pardon I have liberty to do, but to what end I cannot
+say. Later on I shall return, if God so wills. I go to dwell with good
+folk who are known to me, and from time to time will let you hear where
+I may be found, if you should need my help or counsel."
+
+Then I led him to the gates, and, having given him a witnessed copy of
+his warrant of release, bade him farewell for that time, making it
+known to the guards and certain priests who lingered there that any who
+molested him must answer for it to the Augusta.
+
+Thus we parted.
+
+Having handed over the keys of the prison, I walked to the palace
+unattended, being minded to take up my duties there unnoticed. But
+this was not to be. As I entered the palace gate a sentry called out
+something, and a messenger, who seemed to be in waiting, departed at
+full speed. Then the sentry, saluting, told me that his orders were that
+I must stand awhile, he knew not why. Presently I discovered, for across
+the square within the gates marched a full general's guard, whereof the
+officer also saluted, and prayed me to come with him. I went, wondering
+if I was to be given in charge, and by him, surrounded with this pompous
+guard, was led to my new quarters, which were more splendid than I
+could have dreamed. Here the guard left me, and presently other officers
+appeared, some of them old comrades of my own, asking for orders,
+of which, of course, I had none to give. Also, within an hour, I was
+summoned to a council of generals to discuss some matter of a war in
+which the Empire was engaged. By such means as these it was conveyed
+to me that I had become a great man, or, at any rate, one in the way of
+growing great.
+
+That afternoon, when, according to my old custom, I was making my round
+of the guards, I met the Augusta upon the main terrace, surrounded by a
+number of ministers and courtiers. I saluted and would have passed on,
+but she bade one of her eunuchs call me to her. So I came and stood
+before her.
+
+"We greet you, General Olaf," she said. "Where have you been all this
+long while? Oh! I remember. At the State prison, as its governor, of
+which office you are now relieved at your own request. Well, the palace
+welcomes you again, for when you are here all within know themselves
+safe."
+
+Thus she spoke, her great eyes searching my face the while, then bowed
+her head in token of dismissal. I saluted again, and began to step
+backwards, according to the rule, whereon she motioned to me to stand.
+Then she began to make a laugh of me to the painted throng about her.
+
+"Say, nobles and ladies," she said, "did any of you ever see such a man?
+We address him as best we may--and we have reason to believe that he
+understands our language--yet not one word does he vouchsafe to us
+in answer. There he stands, like a soldier cut in iron who moves by
+springs, with never an 'I thank you' or a 'Good day' on his lips.
+Doubtless he would reprove us all, who, he holds, talk too much, being,
+as we all have heard, a man of stern morality, who has no tenderness for
+human foibles. By the way, General Olaf, a rumour has reached us that
+you have forsaken doubt, and become a Christian. Is this true?"
+
+"It is true, Augusta."
+
+"Then if as a Pagan you were a man of iron, what will you be as a
+Christian, we wonder? One hard as diamond, no less. Yet we are glad
+of this tidings, as all good servants of the Church must be, since
+henceforth our friendship will be closer and we value you. General, you
+must be received publicly into the bosom of the Faith; it will be an
+encouragement to others to follow your example. Perhaps, as you have
+served us so well in many wars and as an officer of our guard, we
+ourselves will be your god-mother. The matter shall be considered by us.
+What have you to answer to it?"
+
+"Nothing," I replied, "save that when the Augusta has considered of the
+matter, I will consider of my answer."
+
+At this the courtiers tittered, and, instead of growing angry, as I
+thought she might, Irene burst out laughing.
+
+"Truly we were wrong," she said, "to provoke you to open your mouth,
+General, for when you do so, like that red sword you wear, your tongue
+is sharp, if somewhat heavy. Tell us, General, are your new quarters to
+your taste, and before you reply know that we inspected them ourselves,
+and, having a liking for such tasks, attended to their furnishment. 'Tis
+done, you will see, in the Northern style, which we think somewhat cold
+and heavy--like your sword and tongue."
+
+"If the Augusta asks me," I said, "the quarters are too fine for a
+single soldier. The two rooms where I dwelt before were sufficient."
+
+"A single soldier! Well, that is a fault which can be remedied. You
+should marry, General Olaf."
+
+"When I find any woman who wishes to marry me and whom I wish to marry,
+I will obey the Augusta's commands."
+
+"So be it, General, only remember that first we must approve the lady.
+Venture not, General, to share those new quarters of yours with any lady
+whom we do not approve."
+
+Then, followed by the Court, she turned and walked away, and I went
+about my business, wondering what was the meaning of all this guarded
+and half-bitter talk.
+
+The next event that returns to me clearly is that of my public
+acceptance as a Christian in the great Cathedral of St. Sophia, which
+must have taken place not very long after this meeting upon the terrace.
+I know that by every means in my power I had striven, though without
+avail, to escape this ceremony, pointing out that I could be publicly
+received into the body of the Church at any chapel where there was a
+priest and a congregation of a dozen humble folk. But this the Empress
+would not allow. The reason she gave was her desire that my conversion
+should be proclaimed throughout the city, that other Pagans, of whom
+there were thousands, might follow my example. Yet I think she had
+another which she did not avow. It was that I might be made known in
+public as a man of importance whom it pleased her to honour.
+
+On the morning of this rite, Martina came to acquaint me with its
+details, and told me that the Empress would be present at the cathedral
+in state, making her progress thither in her golden chariot, drawn by
+the famed milk-white steeds. I, it seemed, was to ride after the chariot
+in my general's uniform, which was splendid enough, followed by a
+company of guards, and surrounded by chanting priests. The Patriarch
+himself, no less a person, was to receive me and some other converts,
+and the cathedral would be filled with all the great ones of
+Constantinople.
+
+I asked whether Irene intended to be my god-mother, as she had
+threatened.
+
+"Not so," replied Martina. "On that point she has changed her mind."
+
+"So much the better," I said. "But why?"
+
+"There is a canon of the Church, Olaf, which forbids intermarriage
+between a god-parent and his or her god-child," she replied dryly.
+"Whether this canon has come to the Augusta's memory or not, I cannot
+say. It may be so."
+
+"Who, then, is to be my god-mother?" I asked hurriedly, leaving the
+problem of Irene's motives undiscussed.
+
+"I am, by the written Imperial decree delivered to me not an hour ago."
+
+"You, Martina, you who are younger than myself by many years?"
+
+"Yes, I. The Augusta has just explained to me that as we seem to be such
+very good friends, and to talk together so much alone, doubtless,
+she supposed, upon matters of religion, there could be no person more
+suitable than such a good Christian as myself to fill that holy office."
+
+"What do you mean, Martina?" I asked bluntly.
+
+"I mean, Olaf," she replied, turning away her head, and speaking in a
+strained voice, "that, where you are concerned, the Augusta of late has
+done me the honour to be somewhat jealous of me. Well, of a god-mother
+no one need be jealous. The Augusta is a clever woman, Olaf."
+
+"I do not quite understand," I said. "Why should the Augusta be jealous
+of you?"
+
+"There is no reason at all, Olaf, except that, as it happens, she is
+jealous of every woman who comes near to you, and she knows that we are
+intimate and that you trust me--well, more, perhaps, than you trust her.
+Oh! I assure you that of late you have not spoken to any woman under
+fifty unnoted and unreported. Many eyes watch you, Olaf."
+
+"Then they might find better employment. But tell me outright, Martina,
+what is the meaning of all this?"
+
+"Surely even a wooden-headed Northman can guess, Olaf?"
+
+She glanced round her to make sure that we were alone in the great
+apartment of my quarters and that the doors were shut, then went on,
+almost in a whisper, "My mistress is wondering whether or no she will
+marry again, and, if so, whether she will choose a certain somewhat
+over-virtuous Christian soldier as a second husband. As yet she has not
+made up her mind. Moreover, even if she had, nothing could be done at
+present or until the question of the struggle between her and her son
+for power is settled in this way or in that. Therefore, at worst, or
+at best, that soldier has yet a while of single life left to him, say a
+month or two."
+
+"Then during that month or two perhaps he would be wise to travel," I
+suggested.
+
+"Perhaps, if he were a fool who would run away from fortune, and if he
+could get leave of absence, which in his case is impossible; to attempt
+such a journey without it would mean his death. No, if he is wise, that
+soldier will bide where he is and await events, possessing his soul in
+patience, as a good Christian should do. Now, as your god-mother, I must
+instruct you in this service. Look not so troubled; it is really most
+simple. You know Stauracius, the eunuch, is to be your god-father, which
+is very fortunate for you, since, although he looks on you with doubt
+and jealousy, to blind or murder his own god-son would cause too much
+scandal even in Constantinople. As a special mark of grace, also, the
+Bishop Barnabas, of Egypt, will be allowed to assist in the ceremony,
+because it was he who snatched your soul from the burning. Moreover,
+since the Sacrament is to be administered afterwards, he has been
+commanded to attend here to receive your confession in the chapel of the
+palace, and within an hour. You know that this day being the Feast of
+St. Michael and All Angels, you will be received in the name of Michael,
+a high one well fitted to a warlike saint, though I think that I shall
+still call you Olaf. So farewell, my god-son to be, until we meet at
+the cathedral, where I shall shine in the reflected light of all your
+virtues."
+
+Then she sighed, laughed a little, and glided away.
+
+In due course a priest of the chapel came to summon me there, saying
+that the Bishop Barnabas awaited me. I went and made my confession,
+though in truth I had little to tell him that he did not already know.
+Afterwards the good old man, who by now was quite recovered from his
+hurts and imprisonment, accompanied me to my quarters, where we ate
+together. He told me that before he attended in the chapel he had been
+received by the Empress, who had spoken to him very kindly, making
+light of their difference of opinion as to images and with her own mouth
+confirmed him in his bishopric, even hinting at his possible promotion.
+
+"This, my son," he added, "I am well aware I owe to your good offices."
+
+I asked him if he would return at once to Upper Egypt, where he had his
+bishopric.
+
+"No, my son," he answered, "not yet awhile. The truth is that there
+have arrived here the chief man in my diocese, and his daughter. He is
+a descendant of the old Pharaohs of the Egyptians who lives near the
+second cataract of the Nile, almost on the borders of Ethiopia, whither
+the accursed children of Mahomet have not yet forced their way. He is
+still a great man among the Egyptians, who look upon him as their lawful
+prince. His mission here is to try to plan a new war upon the followers
+of the Prophet, who, he holds, might be assailed by the Empire at the
+mouths of the Nile, while he attacked them with his Egyptians from the
+south."
+
+Now I grew interested, who had always grieved over the loss of Egypt to
+the Empire, and asked what was this prince's name.
+
+"Magas, my son, and his daughter is named Heliodore. Ah! she is such a
+woman as I would see you wed, beautiful indeed, and good and true as she
+is beautiful, with a high spirit also, such as befits her ancient blood.
+Mayhap you will note her in the cathedral. Nay, I forgot, not there, but
+afterwards in this palace, since it is the command of the Empress, to
+whom I have been speaking of their matters, that these two should come
+to dwell here for a while. After that I hope we shall all return to
+Egypt together, though Magas, being on a secret mission, does not travel
+under his own name, but as a merchant."
+
+Suddenly he paused, and began to stare at my throat.
+
+"Is aught wrong with my armour, Father?" I asked.
+
+"No, son. I was looking at that trinket which you wear. Of course I have
+noted it before, but never closely. It is strange, very strange!"
+
+"What is strange, Father?"
+
+"Only that I have seen another like it."
+
+"I dare say you have," I answered, laughing, "for when I would not give
+this to the Augusta, it pleased her to have it copied."
+
+"No, no; I mean in Egypt, and, what is more, a story hung to the jewel."
+
+"On whom? Where? What story?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Oh! I cannot stay to tell you now. Moreover, your mind should be fixed
+upon immortal crowns, and not on earthly necklaces. I must be gone; nay,
+stay me not, I am already late. Do you get you to your knees and pray
+till your god-parents come to fetch you."
+
+Then, in spite of all I could do to keep him, he went, muttering:
+"Strange! Exceeding strange!" and leaving me quite unfit for prayer.
+
+
+
+An hour later I was riding through the streets of the mighty city, clad
+in shining armour. As the season was that of October, in which the Feast
+of St. Michael falls, we wore cloaks, although, the day being warm, they
+were little needed. Mine was of some fine white stuff, with a red
+cross broidered on the right shoulder. Stauracius, the eunuch and great
+minister, who had been ordered to act as my god-father, rode alongside
+of me on a mule, because he dared not mount a horse, sweating beneath
+his thick robe of office, and, as I heard from time to time, cursing me,
+his god-son, and all this ceremony beneath his breath. On my other hand
+was my god-mother, Martina, riding an Arab mare, which she did well
+enough, having been brought up to horsemanship on the plains of Greece.
+Her mood was varied, for now she laughed at the humour of the scene, and
+now she was sad almost to tears.
+
+The streets were lined with thousands of the pleasure-loving people of
+the city, who had come out to see the show of the Empress going in state
+to the cathedral. They were gathered even on the flat house-tops and in
+the entrances to the public buildings and open places. But the glory
+of the sight was centred, not about me, with my escort of guards
+and chanting priests, but in Irene's self. Preceded and followed
+by glittering regiments of soldiers, she drove in her famous golden
+chariot, drawn by eight milk-white steeds, each of which was led by
+a bejewelled noble. Her dress was splendid and covered with sparkling
+gems, and on her yellow hair she wore a crown. As she went the
+multitudes shouted their welcome, and she bowed to right and left in
+answer to the shouts. Now and again, however, bands of armed men, clad
+in a dress of a peculiar colour, emerged from side streets and hooted,
+crying:
+
+"Where is the Augustus? Give us the Augustus. We will not be ruled by a
+woman and her eunuchs!"
+
+These men were of the party of Constantine, and set on by him. Once,
+indeed, there was a tumult, for some of them tried to bar the road, till
+they were driven away, leaving a few dead or wounded behind them. But
+still the crowds shouted and the Empress bowed as though nothing had
+happened, and thus by a somewhat winding route, we came to St. Sophia.
+
+The Augusta entered, and presently I and those with me followed her
+into the wonderful cathedral. I see it now, not in particular, but as
+a whole, with its endless columns, its aisles and apses, and its
+glittering mosaics shining through the holy gloom, across which shot
+bars of light from the high window-places. All the great place was full
+of the noblest in the city, rank upon rank of them, come thither to see
+the Empress in her glory at the great Feast of St. Michael, which year
+by year she attended thus.
+
+At the altar waited the Patriarch in his splendid robes, attended by
+many bishops and priests, among them Barnabas of Egypt. The service
+began, I and some other converts standing together near to the altar
+rail. The details of it do not return to me. Sweet voices sang, censers
+gave forth their incense, banners waved, and images of the saints,
+standing everywhere, smiled upon us fixedly. Some of us were baptised,
+and some who had already been baptised were received publicly into the
+fellowship of the Church, I among them. My god-father, Stauracius, a
+deacon prompting him, and my god-mother, Martina, spoke certain words on
+my behalf, and I also spoke certain words which I had learned.
+
+The splendid Patriarch, a sour-faced man with a slight squint, gave me
+his especial blessing. The Bishop Barnabas, upon whom, as I noted, the
+Patriarch was always careful to turn his back, offered up a prayer. My
+god-father and god-mother embraced me, Stauracius smacking the air at a
+distance, for which I was grateful, and Martina touching me gently with
+her lips upon the brow. The Empress smiled upon me and, as I passed her,
+patted me on the shoulder. Then the Sacrament was celebrated, whereof
+the Empress partook first; next we converts, with our god-parents, and
+afterwards a number of the congregation.
+
+It was over at last. The Augusta and her attendants marched down the
+cathedral towards the great western doors, priests followed, and, among
+them, we converts, whom the people applauded openly.
+
+Looking to right and left of me, for I was weary of keeping my gaze
+fixed upon the floor, presently I caught sight of a face whilst as yet
+it was far away. It seemed to draw me, I knew not why. The face was that
+of a woman. She stood by an old and stately-looking man with a white
+beard, the last of a line of worshippers next to the aisle along which
+the procession passed, and I saw that she was young and fair.
+
+Down the long, resounding aisle the procession marched slowly. Now I was
+nearer to the face, and perceived that it was lovely as some rich-hued
+flower. The large eyes were dark and soft as a deer's. The complexion,
+too, was somewhat dark, as though the sun had kissed it. The lips were
+red and curving, and about them played a little smile that was full of
+mystery as the eyes were full of thought and tenderness. The figure was
+delicate and rounded, but not so very tall. All these things and others
+I noted, yet it was not by them that I was drawn and held, but rather
+because I _knew this lady_.
+
+She was the woman of whom, years ago, I had dreamed on the night on
+which I broke into the Wanderer's tomb at Aar!
+
+Never for one moment did I doubt me of this truth. I was sure. I was
+sure. It did not even need, while she turned to whisper something to her
+companion, that the cloak she wore should open a little, revealing on
+her breast a necklace of emerald beetles separated by inlaid shells of
+pale and ancient gold.
+
+She was watching the procession with interest, yet somewhat idly, when
+she caught sight of me, whom, from where she stood, she could scarcely
+have seen before. Of a sudden her face grew doubtful and troubled, like
+to that of one who has just received some hurt. She saw the ornament
+about my neck. She turned pale and had she not gripped the arm of the
+man beside her, would, I think, have fallen. Then her eyes caught mine,
+and Fate had us in its net.
+
+She leaned forward, gazing, gazing, all her soul in those dark eyes,
+and I, too, gazed and gazed. The great cathedral vanished with its
+glittering crowds, the sound of chanting and of feet that marched died
+from my ears. In place of these I saw a mighty columned temple and two
+stone figures, taller than pines, seated on a plain, and through the
+moonlit silence heard a sweet voice murmuring:
+
+"Farewell. For this life, farewell!"
+
+Now we were near to each other, now I was passing her, I who might not
+stay. My hand brushed hers, and oh! it was as though I had drunk a cup
+of wine. A spirit entered into me and, bending, I whispered in her ear,
+speaking in the Latin tongue, since Greek, which all knew, I did not
+dare to use, "_Ave post secula!_" Greeting after the ages!
+
+I saw her bosom heave; yes, and heard her whisper back:
+
+"_Ave!_"
+
+So she knew me also.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+HELIODORE
+
+That night there was feasting at the palace, and I, Olaf, now known as
+Michael, as a convert was one of the chief guests, so that for me there
+was no escape. I sat very silent, so silent that the Augusta frowned,
+though she was too far off to speak to me. The banquet came to an end at
+last and before midnight I was free to go, still without word from the
+Empress, who withdrew herself, as I thought in an ill-humour.
+
+I sought my bed, but in it knew little of sleep. I had found her for
+whom during all the long years I had been searching, though I did not
+understand that I was searching. After the ages I had found her and she
+had found me. Her eyes said it, and, unless I dreamed, her sweet voice
+said it also.
+
+Who was she? Doubtless that Heliodore, daughter of Magas, the prince of
+whom the Bishop Barnabas had spoken to me. Oh! now I understood what
+he meant when he spoke of another necklace like to that I wore, and yet
+would explain nothing. It lay upon the breast of Heliodore, Heliodore
+who was such a one as he wished that I might wed. Well, certainly I
+wished it too; but, alas! how could I wed, who was in Irene's power,
+a toy for her to play with or to break? And how would it fare with any
+woman whom it was known that I wished to wed? I must be secret until she
+was gone from Constantinople, and in this way or in that I could
+follow her. I, who had ever been open-minded, must learn to keep my own
+counsel.
+
+Now, too, I remembered how Barnabas had said the Augusta commanded that
+this Prince Magas and his daughter should come to the palace as her
+guests. Well, the place was vast, a town in itself, and likely enough
+I should not see them there. Yet I longed to see one of them as never
+I had longed for anything before. I was sure, also, that no fears could
+keep us apart, even though I knew the road before me to be full of
+dangers and of trials, knew that I went with my life in my hand, the
+life of which I had been quite careless, but that now had become so dear
+to me. For did not the world hold another to whom it belonged?
+
+The night passed away. I rose and went about my morning duties. Scarcely
+were these finished when a messenger summoned me to the presence of the
+Augusta. I followed him with a sinking heart, certain that those woes
+which I had foreseen were about to begin. Also, now there was no woman
+in the whole world whom I less wished to see than Irene, Empress of the
+Earth.
+
+I was led to the small audience chamber, whereof I have already spoken,
+that on the floor of which was the mosaic of the goddess Venus making
+pretence to kill her lover. There I found the Augusta seated in a chair
+of State, the minister Stauracius, my god-father, who glowered at me
+as I entered, some secretaries, and Martina, my god-mother, who was the
+lady in attendance.
+
+I saluted the Empress, who bowed graciously and said:
+
+"General Olaf--nay, I forgot, General Michael, your god-father
+Stauracius has something to say which I trust will please you as much as
+it does him and me. Speak, Stauracius."
+
+"Beloved god-son," began Stauracius, in a voice of sullen rage, "it has
+pleased the Augusta to appoint you----"
+
+"On the prayer and advice of me, Stauracius," interrupted the Empress.
+
+"----On the prayer and advice of me, Stauracius," repeated the eunuch
+like a talking bird, "to be one of her chamberlains and Master of the
+Palace, at a salary of" (I forget the sum, but it was a great one) "with
+all the power and perquisites to that office pertaining, in reward of
+the services which you have rendered to her and the Empire. Thank the
+Empress for her gracious favour."
+
+"Nay," interrupted Irene again, "thank your beloved god-father
+Stauracius, who has given me no peace until I offered you this
+preferment which has suddenly become vacant, Stauracius alone knows
+why, for I do not. Oh! you were wise, Olaf--I mean Michael--to choose
+Stauracius for a god-father, though I warn him," she added archly, "that
+in his natural love he must not push you forward too fast lest others
+should begin to show that jealousy which is a stranger to his noble
+nature. Come hither, Michael, and kiss my hand upon your appointment."
+
+So I advanced and, kneeling, kissed the Augusta's hand, according to
+custom on such occasions, noting, as doubtless Stauracius did also, that
+she pressed it hard enough against my lips. Then I rose and said:
+
+"I thank the Augusta----"
+
+"And my god-father Stauracius," she interrupted.
+
+"----And my god-father Stauracius," I echoed, "for her and his goodness
+towards me. Yet with humility I venture to say that I am a soldier who
+knows nothing whatsoever of the duties of a chamberlain and of a Master
+of the Palace, and, therefore, I beg that someone else more competent
+may be chosen to fill these high offices."
+
+On hearing these words Stauracius stared at me with his round and
+owl-like eyes. Never before had he known an officer in Constantinople
+who wished to decline power and more pay. Scarcely, indeed, could he
+believe his ears. But the Augusta only laughed.
+
+"Baptism has not changed you, Olaf," she said, "who ever were simple,
+as I believe your duties will be. At any rate, your god-father and
+god-mother will instruct you in them--especially your god-mother. So no
+more of such foolish talk. Stauracius, you may be gone to attend to the
+affairs of which we have been speaking, as I see you burn to do, and
+take those secretaries with you, for the scratching of their pens sets
+my teeth on edge. Bide here a moment, General, for as Master of the
+Palace it will be your duty to receive certain guests to-day of whom I
+wish to speak with you. Bide you also, Martina, that you may remember my
+words in case this unpractised officer should forget them."
+
+Stauracius and his secretaries bowed themselves out, leaving the three
+of us alone.
+
+"Now, Olaf, or Michael--which do you wish to be called?"
+
+"It is more easy for a man to alter his nature than his name," I
+answered.
+
+"Have you altered your nature? If so, your manners remain much what they
+were. Well, then, be Olaf in private and Michael in public, for often an
+alias is convenient enough. Hark! I would read you a lesson. As the wise
+King Solomon said, 'Everything has its place and time.' It is good to
+repent you of your sins and to think about your soul, but I pray you do
+so no more at my feasts, especially when they are given in your honour.
+Last night you sat at the board like a mummy at an Egyptian banquet. Had
+your skull stood on it, filled with wine, it could scarce have looked
+grimmer than did your face. Be more cheerful, I pray you, or I will have
+you tonsured and promoted to be a bishop, like that old heretic Barnabas
+of whom you are so fond. Ah! you smile at last, and I am glad to see it.
+Now hearken again. This afternoon there comes to the palace a certain
+old Egyptian named Magas, whom I place in your especial charge, and with
+him his wife--at least, I think she is his wife."
+
+"Nay, Mistress, his daughter," interrupted Martina.
+
+"Oh! his daughter," said the Augusta suspiciously. "I did not know she
+was his daughter. What is she like, Martina?"
+
+"I have not seen her, Empress, but someone said that she is a
+black-looking woman, such as the Nile breeds."
+
+"Is it so? Then I charge you, Olaf, keep her far from me, for I love not
+these ugly black women, whose woolly hair always smells of grease. Yes,
+I give you leave to court her, if you will, since thereby you may learn
+some secrets," and she laughed merrily.
+
+I bowed, saying that I would obey the Augusta's orders to the best of my
+power, and she went on:
+
+"Olaf, I would discover the truth concerning this Magas and his schemes,
+which as a soldier you are well fitted to find out. It seems he has a
+plan for the recovery of Egypt out of the hands of the followers of that
+accursed false prophet whose soul dwells with Satan. Now, I would win
+back Egypt, if I may, and thereby add glory to my name and the Empire.
+Hear all that he proposes, study it well, and make report to me.
+Afterwards I will see him alone, who for the present will send him a
+letter by the hand of Martina here bidding him open all his heart to
+you. For a week or more I shall have no time to spend upon this Magas,
+who must give myself to business upon which hangs my power and perchance
+my life."
+
+These words she spoke heavily, then fell into a fit of brooding. Rousing
+herself, she went on:
+
+"Did you note yesterday, Olaf, if you had any mind left for the things
+of earth, that as I drove in state through the streets many met me with
+sullen silence, while others cursed me openly and shouted, 'Where is the
+Augustus?' 'Give us Constantine. We will have no woman's rule.'"
+
+"I saw and heard something of these things, Augusta; also that certain
+of the soldiers on guard in the city had a mutinous air."
+
+"Aye, but what you did not see and hear was that a plot had been laid
+to murder me in the cathedral. I got wind of it in time and if you
+were still governor of yonder prison you'd know where the murderers are
+to-day. Yet they're but tools; it is their captains whom I want. Well,
+torture may make them speak; Stauracius has gone to see to it. Oh! the
+strife is fierce and doubtful. I walk blindfold along a precipice. Above
+are Fortune's heights, and beneath black ruin. Perhaps you'd be wise
+to get you to Constantine, Olaf, and become his man, as many are doing,
+since he'd be glad of you. No need to shake your head, for that's not
+your way; you are no hound to bite the hand that feeds you, like these
+street-bred dogs. Would that I could keep you nearer to me, where hour
+by hour you might help me with your counsel and your quiet strength.
+But it may not be--as yet. I raise you as high as I dare, but it must be
+done step by step, for even now some grow jealous. Take heed to what you
+eat, Olaf. See that your guards are Northmen, and beneath your doublet
+wear mail, especially at night. Moreover, unless I send for you, do not
+come near me too often, and, when we meet, be my humble servant, like
+others; aye, learn to crawl and kiss the ground. Above all, keep secret
+as the grave.
+
+"Now," she went on after a pause, during which I stood silent, "what is
+there more? Oh! with your new offices, you'll retain that of captain
+of my guard, for I would be well watched during these next few weeks.
+Follow up the matter of the Egyptian; you may find advancement in it.
+Perchance one day you will be the general I send against the Moslems--if
+I can spare you. On all this matter be secret also, for once rumour
+buzzes over it that peach rots. The Egyptian and his swarthy girl come
+to the palace to-day, when he will receive my letter. Meet him and see
+them well housed, though not too near me; Martina will help you. Now be
+gone and leave me to my battles."
+
+So I went, and she watched me to the door with eyes that were full of
+tenderness.
+
+
+
+Again there is a blank in my memory, or my vision. I suppose that
+Magas and his daughter Heliodore arrived at the palace on the day of my
+interview with Irene, of which I have told. I suppose that I welcomed
+them and conducted them to the guest house that had been made ready for
+them in the gardens. Doubtless, I listened eagerly to the first words
+which Heliodore spoke to me, save that one in the cathedral, the word
+of greeting. Doubtless, I asked her many things, and she gave me many
+answers. But of all this nothing remains.
+
+What comes back to me is a picture of the Egyptian prince, Magas, and
+myself seated at some meal in a chamber overlooking the moonlit palace
+garden. We were alone, and this noble, white-bearded man, hook-nosed
+and hawk-eyed, was telling me of the troubles of his countrymen, the
+Christian Copts of Egypt.
+
+"Look on me, sir," he said. "As I could prove to you, were it worth
+while, and as many could bear witness, for the records have been kept,
+I am a descendant in the true line from the ancient Pharaohs of my
+country. Moreover, my daughter, through her Grecian mother, is sprung
+from the Ptolemies. Our race is Christian, and has been for these three
+hundred years, although it was among the last to be converted. Yet,
+noble as we are, we suffer every wrong at the hands of the Moslems. Our
+goods and lands are doubly taxed, and, if we should go into the towns of
+Lower Egypt, we must wear garments on which the Cross is broidered as
+a badge of shame. Yet, where I live--near to the first cataract of
+the Nile, and not so very far from the city of old Thebes--the
+Prophet-worshippers have no real power. I am still the true ruler of
+that district, as the Bishop Barnabas will tell you, and at any moment,
+were my standard to be lifted, I could call three thousand Coptic spears
+to fight for Christ and Egypt. Moreover, if money were forthcoming, the
+hosts of Nubia could be raised, and together we might sweep down on the
+Moslems like the Nile in flood, and drive them back to Alexandria."
+
+Then he went on to set out his plans, which in sum were that a Roman
+fleet and army should appear at the mouths of the Nile to besiege and
+capture Alexandria, and, with his help, massacre or drive out every
+Moslem in Egypt. The scheme, which he set forth with much detail, seemed
+feasible enough, and when I had mastered its particulars I promised to
+report it to the Empress, and afterwards to speak with him further.
+
+I left the chamber, and presently stood in the garden. Although it was
+autumn time, the night in this mild climate was very warm and pleasant,
+and the moonlight threw black shadows of the trees across the paths.
+Under one of these trees, an ancient, green-leaved oak, the largest of
+a little grove, I saw a woman sitting. Perchance I knew who she was,
+perchance I had come thither to meet her, I cannot say. At least, this
+was not our first meeting by many, for as I came she rose, lifting her
+flower-like face towards my own, and next moment was in my arms.
+
+When we had kissed our full, we began to talk, seated hand in hand
+beneath the oak.
+
+"What have you been doing this day, beloved?" she asked.
+
+"Much what I do every day, Heliodore. I have attended to my duties,
+which are threefold, as Chamberlain, as Master of the Palace, and as
+Captain of the Guard. Also, for a little while, I saw the Augusta, to
+whom I had to report various matters. The interview was brief, since a
+rumour had reached her that the Armenian regiments refuse to take the
+oath of fidelity to her alone, as she has commanded should be done, and
+demand that the name of the Emperor, her son, should be coupled with
+hers, as before. This report disturbed her much, so that she had little
+time for other business."
+
+"Did you speak of my father's matter, Olaf?"
+
+"Aye, shortly. She listened, and asked whether I were sure that I had
+got the truth from him. She added that I had best test it by what I
+could win from you by any arts that a man may use. For, Heliodore,
+because of something that my god-mother, Martina, said to her, it is
+fixed in her mind that you are black-skinned and very ugly. Therefore,
+the Augusta, who does not like any man about her to care for other
+women, thinks I may make love to you with safety. So I prayed for leave
+from my duties on the guard this evening that I might sup with your
+father in the guest-house, and see what I could learn from one or both
+of you."
+
+"Love makes you clever, Olaf. But hearken. I do not believe that the
+Empress thinks me black and ugly any longer. As it chanced while I
+walked in the inner garden this afternoon, where you said I might go
+when I wished to be quite alone, dreaming of our love and you, I looked
+up and saw an imperial woman of middle age, who was gorgeous as
+a peacock, watching me from a little distance. I went on my way,
+pretending to see no one, and heard the lady say:
+
+"'Has all this trouble driven me mad, Martina, or did I behold a woman
+beautiful as one of the nymphs of my people's fables wandering yonder
+among those bushes?'
+
+"I repeat her very words, Olaf, not because they are true--for,
+remember, she saw me at a distance and against a background of rocks and
+autumn flowers--but because they were her words, which I think you ought
+to hear, with those that followed them."
+
+"Irene has said many false things in her life," I said, smiling, "but by
+all the Saints these were not among them."
+
+Then we embraced again, and after that was finished Heliodore, her head
+resting on my shoulder, continued her story:
+
+"'What was she like, Mistress?' asked the lady Martina, for by this
+time I had passed behind some little trees. 'I have seen no one who is
+beautiful in this garden except yourself.'
+
+"'She was clad in a clinging white robe, Martina, that left her arms
+and bosom bare'--being alone, Olaf, I wore my Egyptian dress beneath my
+cloak, which I had laid down because of the heat of the sun. 'She was
+not so very tall, yet rounded and most graceful. Her eyes seemed large
+and dark, Martina, like her hair; her face was tinted like a rich-hued
+rose. Oh! were I a man she seemed such a one as I should love, who, like
+all my people, have ever worshipped beauty. Yet, what did I say, that
+she put me in mind of a nymph of Greece. Nay, that was not so. It was of
+a goddess of Old Egypt that she put me in mind, for on her face was the
+dreaming smile which I have seen on that of a statue of mother Isis whom
+the Egyptians worshipped. Moreover, she wore just such a headdress as I
+have noted upon those statues.'
+
+"Now the lady Martina answered: 'Surely, you must have dreamed,
+Mistress. The only Egyptian woman in the palace is the daughter of the
+old Coptic noble, Magas, who is in Olaf's charge, and though I am told
+that she is not so ugly as I heard at first, Olaf has never said to me
+that she was like a goddess. What you saw was doubtless some image of
+Fortune conjured up by your mind. This I take to be the best of omens,
+who in these doubtful days grow superstitious.'
+
+"'Would Olaf tell one woman that another was like a goddess, Martina,
+even though she to whom he spoke was his god-mother and a dozen years
+younger than himself? Come,' she added, 'and let us see if we can find
+this Egyptian.'
+
+"Then," Heliodore went on, "not knowing what to do, I stood still there
+against the rockwork and the flowers till presently, round the bushes,
+appeared the splendid lady and Martina."
+
+Now when I, Olaf, heard all this, I groaned and said:
+
+"Oh! Heliodore, it was the Augusta herself."
+
+"Yes, it was the Augusta, as I learned presently. Well, they came, and I
+curtsied to them.
+
+"'Are you the daughter of Magas, the Egyptian?' asked the lady, eyeing
+me from head to foot.
+
+"'Yes, Madam,' I answered. 'I am Heliodore, the daughter of Magas.
+I pray that I have done no wrong in walking in this garden, but the
+General Olaf, the Master of the Palace, gave me leave to come here.'
+
+"'And did the General Olaf, whom we know as Michael, give you that
+necklace which you wear, also, O Daughter of Magas? Nay, you must needs
+answer me, for I am the Augusta.'
+
+"Now I curtsied again, and said:
+
+"'Not so, O Augusta; the necklace is from Old Egypt, and was found upon
+the body of a royal lady in a tomb. I have worn it for many years.'
+
+"'Indeed, and that which the General Michael wears came also from a
+tomb.'
+
+"'Yes, he told me so, Augusta,' I said.
+
+"'It would seem that the two must once have been one, Daughter of
+Magas?'
+
+"'It may be so, Augusta; I do not know.'
+
+"Now the Empress looked about her, and the lady Martina, dropping
+behind, began to fan herself.
+
+"'Are you married, girl?' she asked.
+
+"'No,' I answered.
+
+"'Are you affianced?'
+
+"Now I hesitated a little, then answered 'No' again.
+
+"'You seem to be somewhat doubtful on the point. Farewell for this
+while. When you walk abroad in our garden, which is open to you, be
+pleased to array yourself in the dress of our country, and not in that
+of a courtesan of Egypt.'"
+
+"What did you answer to that saying?" I asked.
+
+"That which was not wise, I fear, Olaf, for my temper stirred me.
+I answered: 'Madam, I thank you for your permission to walk in your
+garden. If ever I should do so again as your guest, be sure that I will
+not wear garments which, before Byzantium was a village, were sacred to
+the gods of my country and those of my ancestors the Queens of Egypt.'"
+
+"And then?" I asked.
+
+"The Empress answered: 'Well spoken! Such would have been my own words
+had I been in your place. Moreover, they are true, and the robe becomes
+you well. Yet presume not too far, girl, seeing that Byzantium is no
+longer a village, and Egypt has some fanatic Moslem for a Pharaoh, who
+thinks little of your ancient blood.'
+
+"So I bowed and went, and as I walked away heard the Empress rating the
+lady Martina about I know not what, save that your name came into the
+matter, and my own. Why does this Empress talk so much about you, Olaf,
+seeing that she has many officers who are higher in her service, and why
+was she so moved about this matter of the necklace of golden shells?"
+
+"Heliodore," I answered, "I must tell now what I have hidden from you.
+The Augusta has been pleased--why, I cannot say, but chiefly, I suppose,
+because of late years it has been my fancy to keep myself apart from
+women, which is rare in this land--to show me certain favour. I gather,
+even, that, whether she means it or means it not, she has thought of me
+as a husband."
+
+"Oh!" interrupted Heliodore, starting away from me, "now I understand
+everything. And, pray, have you thought as a wife of her, who has been a
+widow these ten years and has a son of twenty?"
+
+"God above us alone knows what I have or have not thought, but it is
+certain that at present I think of her only as one who has been most
+kind to me, but who is more to be feared than my worst foe, if I have
+any."
+
+"Hush!" she said, raising her finger. "I fancied I heard someone stir
+behind us."
+
+"Fear nothing," I answered. "We are alone here, for I set guards of my
+own company around the place, with command to admit no one, and my order
+runs against all save the Empress in person."
+
+"Then we are safe, Olaf, since this damp would disarrange her hair,
+which, I noted, is curled with irons, not by Nature, like my own. Oh!
+Olaf, Olaf, how wonderful is the fate that has brought us together. I
+say that when I saw you yonder in the cathedral for the first time since
+I was born, I knew you again, as you knew me. That is why, when you
+whispered to me, 'Greeting after the ages,' I gave you back your
+welcome. I know nothing of the past. If we lived and loved before, that
+tale is lost to me. But there's your dream and there's the necklace.
+When I was a child, Olaf, it was taken from the embalmed body of some
+royal woman, who, by tradition, was of my own race, yes, and by records
+of which my father can tell you, for he is among the last who can still
+read the writing of the old Egyptians. Moreover, she was very like me,
+Olaf, for I remember her well as she lay in her coffin, preserved by
+arts which the Egyptians had. She was young, not much older than I am
+to-day, and her story tells that she died in giving birth to a son, who
+grew up a strong and vigorous man, and although he was but half royal,
+founded a new dynasty in Egypt and became my forefather. This necklace
+lay upon her breast, and beneath it a writing on papyrus, which said
+that when the half of it which was lost should be joined again to that
+half, then those who had worn them would meet once more as mortals.
+Now the two halves of the necklace have met, and _we_ have met as God
+decreed, and it is one and we are one for ever and for ever, let every
+Empress of the earth do what they will to part us."
+
+"Aye," I answered, embracing her again, "we are one for ever and for
+ever, though perchance for a while we may be separated from time to
+time."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+VICTORY OR VALHALLA!
+
+A minute later I heard a rustle as of branches being moved by people
+thrusting their way through them. A choked voice commanded,
+
+"Take him living or dead."
+
+Armed men appeared about us, four of them, and one cried "Yield!"
+
+I sprang up and drew the Wanderer's sword.
+
+"Who orders the General Michael to yield in his own command?" I asked.
+
+"I do," answered the man. "Yield or die!"
+
+Now, thinking that these were robbers or murderers hired by some enemy,
+I sprang at him, nor was that battle long, for at my first stroke he
+fell dead. Then the other three set on me. But I wore mail beneath my
+doublet, as Irene had bade me do, and their swords glanced. Moreover,
+the old northern rage entered into me, and these easterners were no
+match for my skill and strength. First one and then another of them
+went down, whereon the third fled away, taking with him a grizzly wound
+behind, for I struck him as he fled.
+
+"Now it seems there is an end of that," I gasped to Heliodore, who was
+crouched upon the seat. "Come, let me take you to your father and summon
+my guards, ere we meet more of these murderers."
+
+As I spoke a cloaked and hooded woman glided from the shelter of the
+trees behind and stood before us. She threw back the hood from her head
+and the moonlight fell upon her face. It was that of the Empress, but
+oh! so changed by jealous rage that I should scarce have known her. The
+large eyes seemed to flash fire, the cheeks were white, save where they
+had been touched with paint, the lips trembled. Twice she tried to speak
+and failed, but at the third effort words came.
+
+"Nay, all is but begun," she said in a voice that was full of hate.
+"Know that I have heard your every word. So, traitor, you would tell my
+secrets to this Egyptian slut and then murder my own servants," and she
+pointed to the dead and wounded men. "Well, you shall pay for it, both
+of you, that I swear."
+
+"Is it murder, Augusta," I asked, saluting, "when four assail one man,
+and, thinking them assassins, he fights for his life and wins the fray?"
+
+"What are four such curs against you? I should have brought a dozen. Yet
+it was at me you struck. Whate'er they did I ordered them to do."
+
+"Had I known it, Augusta, I would never have drawn sword, who am your
+officer and obedient to the end."
+
+"Nay, you'd stab me with your tongue, not with your sword," she answered
+with something like a sob. "You say you are my obedient officer. Well,
+now we will see. Smite me that bold-faced baggage dead, or smite _me_
+dead, I care not which, then fall upon your sword."
+
+"The first I cannot do, Augusta, for it would be murder against one who
+has done no wrong, and I will not stain my soul with murder."
+
+"Done no wrong! Has she not mocked me, my years, my widowhood, yes, and
+even my hair, in the pride of her--her youth, me, the Empress of the
+World?"
+
+Now Heliodore spoke for the first time.
+
+"And has not the Empress of the World called a poor maid of blood as
+noble as her own by shameful names?" she asked.
+
+"For the second," I went on before Irene could answer, "I cannot do that
+either, for it would be foul treason as well as murder to lift my sword
+against your anointed Majesty. But as for the third, as is my duty, that
+I will do--or rather suffer your servants to do--if it pleases you to
+repeat the order later when you are calm."
+
+"What!" cried Heliodore, "would you go and leave me here? Then, Olaf,
+by the gods my forefathers worshipped for ten thousand years, and by
+the gods I worship, I'll find a means to follow you within an hour. Oh!
+Empress of the World, there is another world you do not rule, and there
+we'll call you to account."
+
+Now Irene stared at Heliodore, and Heliodore stared back at her, and the
+sight was very strange.
+
+"At least you have spirit, girl. But think not that shall save you, for
+there's no room for both of us on earth."
+
+"If I go it may prove wide enough, Augusta," I broke in.
+
+"Nay, you shall not go, Olaf, at least not yet. My orders are that
+you do _not_ fall upon your sword. As for this Egyptian witch, well,
+presently my people will be here; then we will see."
+
+Now I drew Heliodore to the trunk of the great tree which stood near by
+and set myself in front of her.
+
+"What are you about to do?" asked the Empress.
+
+"I am about to fight your eastern curs until I fall, for no northern man
+will lift a sword against me, even on your orders, Augusta. When I am
+down, this lady must play her own part as God shall guide her."
+
+"Have no fear, Olaf," Heliodore said gently, "I wear a dagger."
+
+Scarcely had she spoken when there was a sound of many feet. The man
+whom I had wounded had run shouting towards the palace, rousing the
+soldiers, both those on watch and those in their quarters. Now these
+began to arrive and to gather in the glade before the clump of trees,
+for some guards who had heard the clash of arms guided them to the
+place. They were of all races and sundry regiments, Greeks, Byzantines,
+Bulgars, Armenians, so-called Romans, and with them a number of Britons
+and northern men.
+
+Seeing the Empress and, near by, myself standing with drawn sword
+against the tree sheltering the lady Heliodore, also on the ground those
+whom I had cut down, they halted. One of their officers asked what they
+must do.
+
+"Kill me that man who has slain my servants, or stay--take him living,"
+screamed the Augusta.
+
+Now among those who had gathered was a certain lieutenant of my own, a
+blue-eyed, flaxen-haired Norwegian giant of the name of Jodd. This man
+loved me like a brother, I believe because once it had been my fortune
+to save his life. Also often I had proved his friend when he was in
+trouble, for in those days Jodd got drunk at times, and when he was
+drunk lost money which he could not pay.
+
+Now, when he saw my case, I noted that this Jodd, who, if sober, was no
+fool at all, although he seemed so slow and stupid, whispered something
+to a comrade who was with him, whereon the man turned and fled away like
+an arrow. From the direction in which he went I guessed at once that he
+was running to the barracks close at hand, where were stationed quite
+three hundred Northmen, all of whom were under my command.
+
+The soldiers prepared to obey the Augusta's orders, as they were bound
+to do. They drew their swords and a number of them advanced towards me
+slowly. Then it was that Jodd, with a few Northmen, moved between them
+and me, and, saluting the Empress, said in his bad Greek,
+
+"Your pardon, Augusta, but why are we asked to kill our own general?"
+
+"Obey my orders, fellow," she answered.
+
+"Your pardon, Augusta," said the stolid Jodd, "but before we kill our
+own general, whom you commanded us to obey in all things, we would know
+why we must kill him. It is a custom of our country that no man shall
+be killed until he has been heard. General Olaf," and drawing his short
+sword for the first time, he saluted me in form, "be pleased to explain
+to us why you are to be killed or taken prisoner."
+
+Now a tumult arose, and a eunuch in the background shouted to the
+soldiers to obey the Empress's orders, whereon again some of them began
+to advance.
+
+"If no answer is given to my question," went on Jodd in his slow,
+bull-like voice, "I fear that others must be killed besides the General
+Olaf. Ho! Northmen. To me, Northmen! Ho! Britons, to me, Britons! Ho!
+Saxons, to me, Saxons! Ho! all who are not accursed Greeks. To me all
+who are not accursed Greeks!"
+
+Now at each cry of Jodd's men leapt forward from the gathering crowd,
+and, to the number of fifty or more in all, marshalled themselves behind
+him, those of each nation standing shoulder to shoulder in little groups
+before me.
+
+"Is my question to be answered?" asked Jodd. "Because, if not, although
+we be but one against ten, I think that ere the General Olaf is cut down
+or taken there will be good fighting this night."
+
+Then I spoke, saying,
+
+"Captain Jodd, and comrades, I will answer your question, and if I
+speak wrongly let the Augusta correct me. This is the trouble. The lady
+Heliodore here is my affianced wife. We were speaking together in this
+garden as the affianced do. The Empress, who, unseen by us, was hidden
+behind those trees, overheard our talk, which, for reasons best known
+to herself, for in it there was naught of treason or any matter of
+the State, made her so angry that she set her servants on to kill me.
+Thinking them murderers or robbers, I defended myself, and there they
+lie, save one, who fled away wounded. Then the Empress appeared and
+ordered me to kill the lady Heliodore. Comrades, look on her whom the
+Empress ordered me to kill, and say whether, were she your affianced,
+you would kill her even to please the Empress," and, stepping to one
+side, I showed them Heliodore in all her loveliness standing against the
+tree, the drawn dagger in her hand.
+
+Now from those that Jodd had summoned there went up a roar of "_No_,"
+while even the rest were silent. Irene sprang forward and cried,
+
+"Are my orders to be canvassed and debated? Obey! Cut this man down or
+take him living, I care not which, and with him all who cling to him, or
+to-morrow you hang, every one of you."
+
+Now the soldiers who had gathered also began to form up under their
+officers, for they saw that before them was war and death. By this time
+they were many, and as the alarm spread minute by minute more arrived.
+
+"Yield or we attack," said he who had taken command of them.
+
+"I do not think that we yield," answered Jodd; and just then there came
+a sound of men running in ordered companies from the direction of the
+Northmen's barracks were Jodd's messenger had told his tale.
+
+"I am _sure_ that we do not yield," continued Jodd, and suddenly raised
+the wild northern war-cry, "_Valhalla, Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_"
+
+Instantly from three hundred throats, above the sound of the running
+feet that drew ever nearer, came the answering shout of "_Valhalla,
+Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_" Then out of the gloom up dashed the
+Northmen.
+
+Now other shouts arose of "Olaf! Olaf! Olaf! Where is our General Olaf?
+Where is Red-Sword?"
+
+"Here, comrades!" roared Jodd, and up they came those fierce, bearded
+men, glad with the lust of battle, and ranged themselves by companies
+before us. Again the great voice of Jodd was heard, calling,
+
+"Empress, do you give us Olaf and his girl and swear by your Christ that
+no harm shall come to them? Or must we take them for ourselves?"
+
+"Never!" she cried back. "The only thing I give to you is death. On to
+these rebels, soldiers!"
+
+Now, seeing what must come, I strove to speak, but Jodd shouted again,
+
+"Be silent, Olaf. For this hour you are not our general; you are a
+prisoner whom it pleases us to rescue. Ring him round, Northmen, ring
+him round. Bring the Empress, too; she will serve as hostage."
+
+Now some of them drew behind us. Then they began to advance, taking us
+along with them, and I, who was skilled in war, saw their purpose. They
+were drawing out into the open glade, where they could see to fight, and
+where their flanks would be protected by a stream of water on the one
+hand and a dense belt of trees on the other.
+
+In her rage the Empress threw herself upon the ground, but two great
+fellows lifted her up by the arms and thrust her along with us. Marching
+thus, we reached the point that they had chosen, for the Greeks were in
+confusion and not ready to attack. There we halted, just on the crest of
+a little rise of ground.
+
+"Augusta," I said, "in the name of God, I pray you to give way. These
+Northmen hate your Byzantines, and will take this chance to pay off
+their scores. Moreover, they love me, and will die to a man ere they see
+me harmed, and then how shall I protect you in the fray?"
+
+She only glared at me and made no answer.
+
+The attack began. By this time fifteen hundred or so of the Imperial
+troops had collected, and against them stood, perhaps, four hundred
+men in all, so that the odds were great. Still, they had no horsemen or
+archers, and our position was very good, also we were Northmen and they
+were Grecian scum.
+
+On came the Byzantines, screaming "Irene! Irene!" in a formation of
+companies ranged one behind the other, for their object was to break in
+our centre by their weight. Jodd saw, and gave some orders; very good
+orders, I thought them. Then he sheathed his short-sword, seized the
+great battle-axe which was his favourite weapon, and placed himself in
+front of our triple line that waited in dead silence.
+
+Up the slope surged the charge, and on the crest of it the battle met.
+At first the weight of the Greeks pressed us back, but, oh! they went
+down before the Northmen's steel like corn before the sickle, and soon
+that rush was stayed. Breast to breast they hewed and thrust, and so
+fearful was the fray that Irene, forgetting her rage, clung to me to
+protect her.
+
+The fight hung doubtful. As in a dream, I watched the giant Jodd cut
+down a gorgeous captain, the axe shearing through his golden armour as
+though it were but silk. I watched a comrade of my own fall beneath a
+spear-thrust. I gazed at the face of Heliodore, who stared wide-eyed
+at the red scene, and at the white-lipped Irene, who was clinging to my
+arm. Now we were being pressed back again, we who at this point had at
+most two hundred men, some of whom were down, to bear the onslaught
+of twice that number, and, do what I would, my fingers strayed to my
+sword-hilt.
+
+Our triple line bent in like a bow and began to break. The scales of
+war hung on the turn, when, from the dense belt of trees upon our left,
+suddenly rose the cry of "_Valhalla! Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_"
+for which I, who had overheard Jodd's orders, was waiting. These were
+his orders--that half of the Northmen should creep down behind the belt
+of trees in their dense shadow, and thus outflank the foe.
+
+Forth they sprang by companies of fifty, the moonlight gleaming on their
+mail, and there, three hundred yards away, a new battle was begun. Now
+the Greeks in front of us, fearing for their rear, wavered a moment and
+fell back, perhaps, ten paces. I saw the opportunity and could bear no
+more, who before all things was a soldier.
+
+Shouting to some of our wounded to watch the women, I drew my sword and
+leapt forward.
+
+"I come, Northmen!" I cried, and was greeted with a roar of:
+
+"Olaf Red-Sword! Follow Olaf Red-Sword!" for so the soldiers named me.
+
+"Steady, Northmen! Shoulder to shoulder, Northmen!" I cried back. "Now
+at them! Charge! _Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_"
+
+Down the slope they went before our rush. In thirty paces they were but
+a huddled mob, on which our swords played like lightnings. We rolled
+them back on to their supports, and those supports, outflanked, began
+to flee. We swept through and through them. We slew them by hundreds, we
+trod them beneath our victorious feet, and--oh! in that battle a strange
+thing happened to me. I thought I saw my dead brother Ragnar fighting
+at my side; aye, and I thought I heard him cry to me, in that lost,
+remembered voice:
+
+"The old blood runs in you yet, you Christian man! Oh! you fight well,
+you Christian man. We of Valhalla give you greetings, Olaf Red-Sword.
+_Valhalla! Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_"
+
+It was done. Some were fled, but more were dead, for, once at grips, the
+Northman showed no mercy to the Greek. Back we came, those who were left
+of us, for many, perhaps a hundred, were not, and formed a ring round
+the women and the wounded.
+
+"Well done, Olaf," said Heliodore; but Irene only looked at me with a
+kind of wonder in her eyes.
+
+Now the leaders of the Northmen began to talk among themselves, but
+although from time to time they glanced at me, they did not ask me to
+join in their talk. Presently Jodd came forward and said in his slow
+voice:
+
+"Olaf Red-Sword, we love you, who have always loved us, your comrades,
+as we have shown you to-night. You have led us well, Olaf, and,
+considering our small numbers, we have just won a victory of which we
+are proud. But our necks are in the noose, as yours is, and we think
+that in this case our best course is to be bold. Therefore, we name you
+Caesar. Having defeated the Greeks, we propose now to take the palace and
+to talk with the regiments without, many of whom are disloyal and shout
+for Constantine, whom after all they hate only a little less than they
+do Irene yonder. We know not what will be the end of the matter and do
+not greatly care, who set our fortunes upon a throw of the dice, but
+we think there is a good chance of victory. Do you accept, and will you
+throw in your sword with ours?"
+
+"How can I," I answered, "when there stands the Empress, whose bread I
+have eaten and to whom I have sworn fealty?"
+
+"An Empress, it seems, who desires to slay you over some matter that
+has to do with a woman. Olaf, the daggers of her assassins have cut this
+thread of fealty. Moreover, as it chances she is in our power, and as we
+cannot make our crime against her blacker than it is, we propose to rid
+you and ourselves of this Empress, who is our enemy, and who for her
+great wickedness well deserves to die. Such is our offer, to take or to
+leave, as time is short. Should you refuse it, we abandon you to your
+fate, and go to make our terms with Constantine, who also hates this
+Empress and even now is plotting her downfall."
+
+As he spoke I saw certain men draw near to Irene for a purpose which I
+could guess, and stepped between her and them.
+
+"The Augusta is my mistress," I said, "and although I attacked some of
+her troops but now, and she has wronged me much, still I defend her to
+the last."
+
+"Little use in that, Olaf, seeing that you are but one and we are many,"
+answered Jodd. "Come, will you be Caesar, or will you not?"
+
+Now Irene crept up behind me and whispered in my ear.
+
+"Accept," she said. "It pleases me well. Be Caesar as my husband. So you
+will save my life and my throne, of which I vow to you an equal share.
+With the help of your Northmen and the legions I command and who cling
+to me, we can defeat Constantine and rule the world together. This
+petty fray is nothing. What matters it if some lives have been lost in
+a palace tumult? The world lies in your grasp; take it, Olaf, and, with
+it, _me_."
+
+I heard and understood. Now had come the great moment of my life.
+Something told me that on the one hand were majesty and empire; on the
+other much pain and sorrow yet with these a certain holy joy and peace.
+It was the latter that I chose, as doubtless Fate or God had decreed
+that I should do.
+
+"I thank you, Augusta," I said, "but, while I can protect her, I will
+not seize a throne over the body of one who has been kind to me, nor
+will I buy it at the price you offer. There stands my predestined wife,
+and I can marry no other woman."
+
+Now Irene turned to Heliodore, and said in a swift, low voice:
+
+"Do you understand this matter, lady? Let us have done with jealousies
+and be plain, for the lives of all of us hang upon threads that, for
+some, must break within a day or two, and with them those of a thousand,
+thousand others. Aye, the destiny of the world is at stake. You say you
+love this man, whom I will tell you I love also. Well, if _you_ win him,
+and he lives, which he scarce can hope to do, he gets your kisses in
+whatever corner of the earth will shelter him and you. If _I_ win him,
+the empire of the earth is his. Moreover, girl," she added with meaning,
+"empresses are not always jealous; sometimes even they can look the
+other way. There would be high place for you within our Court, and, who
+knows? Your turn might come at length. Also your father's plans would be
+forwarded to the last pound of gold in our treasury and the last soldier
+in our service. Within five years, mayhap, he might rule Egypt as our
+Governor. What say you?"
+
+Heliodore looked at the Empress with that strange, slow smile of hers.
+Then she looked at me, and answered:
+
+"I say what Olaf says. There are two empires in the case. One, which
+you can give, Augusta, is of the world; the other, which I can give him
+here, is only a woman's heart, yet, as I think, of another eternal world
+that you do not know. I say what Olaf says. Let Olaf speak, Augusta."
+
+"Empress," I said slowly, "again I thank you, but it may not be. My fate
+lies here," and I laid my hand upon the heart of Heliodore.
+
+"You are mistaken, Olaf," answered the Empress, in a cold and quiet
+voice, but seemingly without anger; "your fate lies there," and she
+pointed to the ground, then added, "Believe me, I am sorry, for you are
+a man of whom any woman might be proud--yes, even an empress. I have
+always thought it, and I thought it again just now when I saw you lead
+that charge against those curs in armour," and she pointed towards the
+bodies of the Greeks. "So, it is finished, as perchance I am. If I must
+die, let it be on your sword, Olaf."
+
+"Your answer, Olaf Red-Sword!" called Jodd. "You have talked enough."
+
+"Your answer! Yes, your answer!" the Northmen echoed.
+
+"The Empress has offered to share her crown with me, Jodd, but, friends,
+it cannot be, because of this lady to whom I am affianced."
+
+"Marry them both," shouted a rude voice, but Jodd replied:
+
+"Then that is soon settled. Out of our path, Olaf, and look the other
+way. When you turn your head again there will be no Empress to trouble
+you, except one of your own choosing."
+
+On hearing these words, and seeing the swords draw near, Irene clutched
+hold of me, for always she feared death above everything.
+
+"You will not see me butchered?" she gasped.
+
+"Not while I live," I answered. "Hearken, friends. I am the general
+of the Augusta's guard, and if she dies, for honour's sake I must die
+first. Strike, then, if you will, but through my body."
+
+"Tear her away!" called a voice.
+
+"Comrades," I went on, "be not so mad. To-night we have done that which
+has earned us death, but while the Empress lives you have a hostage in
+your hands with whom you can buy pardon. As a lump of clay what worth is
+she to you? Hark! The regiments from the city!"
+
+As I spoke, from the direction of the palace came a sound of many voices
+and of the tread of five thousand feet.
+
+"True enough," said Jodd, with composure. "They are on us, and now it is
+too late to storm the palace. Olaf, like many another man, you have lost
+your chance of glory for a woman, or, who knows, perhaps you've won it.
+Well, comrades, as I take it you are not minded to fly and be hunted
+down like rats, only one thing remains--to die in a fashion they will
+remember in Byzantium. Olaf, you'd best mind the women; I will take
+command. Ring round, comrades, ring round! 'Tis a good place for it. Set
+the wounded in the middle. Keep that Empress living for the present, but
+when all is done, kill her. We'll be her escort to the gates of hell,
+for there she's bound if ever woman was."
+
+Then, without murmur or complaint, almost in silence, indeed, they
+formed Odin's Ring, that triple circle of the Northmen doomed to die;
+the terrible circle that on many a battlefield has been hidden at last
+beneath the heap of fallen foes.
+
+The regiments moved up; there were three of them of full strength. Irene
+stared about her, seeking some loophole of escape, and finding none.
+Heliodore and I talked together in low tones, making our tryst beyond
+the grave. The regiments halted within fifty paces of us. They liked not
+the look of Odin's Ring, and the ground over which they had marched
+and the fugitives with whom they had spoken told them that many of them
+looked their last upon the moon.
+
+Some mounted generals rode towards us and asked who was in command of
+the Northmen. When they learned that it was Jodd, they invited him to a
+parley. The end of it was that Jodd and two others stepped twenty paces
+from our ranks, and met a councillor--it was Stauracius--and two of
+the generals in the open, where no treachery could well be practised,
+especially as Stauracius was not a man of war. Here they talked together
+for a long while. Then Jodd and his companions returned, and Jodd said,
+so that all might hear him:
+
+"Hearken. These are the terms offered: That we return to our barracks in
+peace, bearing our weapons. That nothing be laid to our charge under
+any law, military or civil, by the State or private persons, for
+this night's slaying and tumult, and that in guarantee thereof twelve
+hostages of high rank, upon whose names we have agreed, be given into
+our keeping. That we retain our separate stations in the service of the
+Empire, or have leave to quit that service within three months, with the
+gratuity of a quarter's pay, and go where we will unmolested. But
+that, in return for these boons, we surrender the person of the Empress
+unharmed, and with her that of the General Olaf, to whom a fair trial
+is promised before a military court. That with her own voice the Augusta
+shall confirm all these undertakings before she leaves our ranks. Such
+is the offer, comrades."
+
+"And if we refuse it, what?" asked a voice.
+
+"This: That we shall be ringed round, and either starved out or shot
+down by archers. Or, if we try to escape, that we shall be overwhelmed
+by numbers, and any of us who chance to be taken living shall be hanged,
+sound and wounded together."
+
+Now the leaders of the Northmen consulted. Irene watched them for
+awhile, then turned to me and asked,
+
+"What will they do, Olaf?"
+
+"I cannot say, Augusta," I answered, "but I think that they will offer
+to surrender you and not myself, since they may doubt them of that fair
+trial which is promised to me."
+
+"Which means," she said, "that, whether I live or die, all these brave
+men will be sacrificed to you, Olaf, who, after all, must perish
+with them, as will this Egyptian. Are you prepared to accept that
+blood-offering, Olaf? If so, you must have changed from the man I
+loved."
+
+"No, Augusta," I answered, "I am not prepared. Rather would I trust
+myself into your power, Augusta."
+
+The conference of the officers had come to an end. Their leader advanced
+and said,
+
+"We accept the terms, except as to the matter of Olaf Red-Sword. The
+Empress may go free, but Olaf Red-Sword, our general whom we love, we
+will not surrender. First will we die."
+
+"Good!" said Jodd. "I looked for such words from you."
+
+Then he marched out, with his companions, and again met Stauracius and
+the two generals of the Greeks. After they had talked a little while he
+returned and said,
+
+"Those two officers, being men, would have agreed, but Stauracius,
+the eunuch, who seems in command, will not agree. He says that Olaf
+Red-Sword must be surrendered with the Empress. We answered that in this
+case soon there would be no Empress to surrender except one ready for
+burial. He replied that was as God might decree; either both must be
+surrendered or both be held."
+
+"Do you know why the dog said that?" whispered Irene to me. "It was
+because those Northmen have let slip the offer I made to you but now,
+and he is jealous of you, and fears you may take his power. Well, if I
+live, one day he shall pay for this who cares so little for my life."
+
+So she spoke, but I made no answer. Instead, I turned to Heliodore,
+saying,
+
+"You see how matters stand, beloved. Either I must surrender myself,
+or all these brave men must perish, and we with them. For myself, I am
+ready to die, but I am not willing that you and they should die. Also,
+if I yield, I can do no worse than die, whereas perchance after all
+things will take another turn. Now what say you?"
+
+"I say, follow your heart, Olaf," she replied steadily. "Honour comes
+first of all. The rest is with God. Wherever you go there I soon shall
+be."
+
+"I thank you," I answered; "your mind is mine."
+
+Then I stepped forward and said,
+
+"Comrades, it is my turn to throw in this great game. I have heard and
+considered all, and I think it best that I should be surrendered, with
+the Augusta, to the Greeks."
+
+"We will not surrender you," they shouted.
+
+"Comrades, I am still your general, and my order is that you surrender
+me. Also, I have other orders to give to you. That you guard this lady
+Heliodore to the last, and that, while one of you remains alive, she
+shall be to you as though she were that man's daughter, or mother, or
+sister, to help and protect as best he may in every circumstance, seen
+or unforeseen. Further, that with her you guard her father, the noble
+Egyptian Magas. Will you promise this to me?"
+
+"Aye!" they roared in answer.
+
+"You hear them, Heliodore," I said. "Know that henceforth you are one
+of a large family, and, however great your enemies, that you will never
+lack a friend. Comrades," I went on, "this is my second order, and
+perchance the last that I shall ever give to you. Unless you hear that I
+am evilly treated in the palace yonder, stay quiet. But if that tidings
+should reach you, then all oaths are broken. Do what you can and will."
+
+"Aye!" they roared again.
+
+
+
+Afterwards what happened? It comes back to me but dimly. I think they
+swore the Empress on the Blood of Christ that I should go unharmed.
+I think I embraced Heliodore before them all, and gave her into their
+keeping. I think I whispered into the ear of Jodd to seek out the Bishop
+Barnabas, and pray him to get her and her father away to Egypt without
+delay--yes, even by force, if it were needful. Then I think I left their
+lines, and that, as I went, leading the Augusta by the hand, they gave
+to me the general's salute. That I turned and saluted them in answer
+ere I yielded myself into the power of my god-father, Stauracius, who
+greeted me with a false and sickly smile.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE TRIAL OF OLAF
+
+I know not what time went by before I was put upon my trial, but that
+trial I can still see as clearly as though it were happening before my
+eyes. It took place in a long, low room of the vast palace buildings
+that was lighted only by window-places set high up in the wall. These
+walls were frescoed, and at the end of the room above the seat of the
+judges was a rude picture in bright colours of the condemnation of
+Christ by Pilate. Pilate, I remember, was represented with a black face,
+to signify his wickedness I suppose, and in the air above him hung a
+red-eyed imp shaped like a bat who gripped his robe with one claw and
+whispered into his ear.
+
+There were seven judges, he who presided being a law-officer, and the
+other six captains of different grades, chosen mostly from among the
+survivors of those troops whom the Northmen had defeated on the night
+of the battle in the palace gardens. As this was a military trial, I
+was allowed no advocate to defend me, nor indeed did I ask for any. The
+Court, however, was open and crowded with spectators, among whom I saw
+most of the great officers of the palace, Stauracius with them; also
+some ladies, one of whom was Martina, my god-mother. The back of the
+long room was packed with soldiers and others, not all of whom were my
+enemies.
+
+Into this place I was brought, guarded by four negroes, great fellows
+armed with swords whom I knew to be chosen out of the number of the
+executioners of the palace and the city. Indeed, one of them had served
+under me when I was governor of the State prison, and been dismissed by
+me because of some cruelty which he had practised.
+
+Noting all these things and the pity in Martina's eyes, I knew that
+I was already doomed, but as I had expected nothing else this did not
+trouble me over much.
+
+I stood before the judges, and they stared at me.
+
+"Why do you not salute us, fellow?" asked one of them, a mincing Greek
+captain whom I had seen running like a hare upon the night of the fray.
+
+"Because, Captain, I am of senior rank to any whom I see before me, and
+as yet uncondemned. Therefore, if salutes are in the question, it is you
+who should salute me."
+
+At this speech they stared at me still harder than before, but among the
+soldiers at the end of the hall there arose something like a murmur of
+applause.
+
+"Waste no time in listening to his insolence," said the president of the
+Court. "Clerk, set out the case."
+
+Then a black-robed man who sat beneath the judges rose and read the
+charge to me from a parchment. It was brief and to the effect that I,
+Michael, formerly known as Olaf or Olaf Red-Sword, a Northman in the
+service of the Empress Irene, a general in her armies, a chamberlain and
+Master of the Palace, had conspired against the Empress, had killed her
+servants, had detained her person, threatening to murder her; had made
+war upon her troops and slain some hundreds of them by the help of other
+Northmen, and wounded many more.
+
+I was asked what I pleaded to this charge, and replied,
+
+"I am not guilty."
+
+Then witnesses were called. The first of these was the fourth man whom
+Irene had set upon me, who alone escaped with a wound behind. This
+fellow, having been carried into court, for he could not walk, leaned
+over a bar, for he could not sit down, and told his story. When he had
+finished I was allowed to examine him.
+
+"Why did the Empress order you and your companions to attack me?" I
+asked.
+
+"I think because she saw you kiss the Egyptian lady, General," at which
+answer many laughed.
+
+"You tried to kill me, did you not?"
+
+"Yes, General, for the Empress ordered us so to do."
+
+"Then what happened?"
+
+"You killed or cut down three of us one after the other, General, being
+too skilful and strong for us. As I turned to fly, me you wounded here,"
+and, dragging himself round with difficulty, he showed how my sword had
+fallen on a part where no soldier should receive a wound. At this sight
+those in the Court laughed again.
+
+"Did I provoke you in any way before you attacked me?"
+
+"No, indeed, General. It was the Empress you provoked by kissing the
+beautiful Egyptian lady. At least, I think so, since every time you
+kissed each other she seemed to become more mad, and at last ordered us
+to kill both of you."
+
+Now the laughter grew very loud, for even the Court officers could no
+longer restrain themselves, and the ladies hid their faces in their
+hands and tittered.
+
+"Away with that fool!" shouted the president of the Court, and the poor
+fellow was hustled out. What became of him afterwards I do not know,
+though I can guess.
+
+Now appeared witness after witness who told of the fray which I have
+described already, though for the most part they tried to put another
+colour on the matter. Of many of these men I asked no questions. Indeed,
+growing weary of their tales, I said at length to the judges,
+
+"Sirs, what need is there for all this evidence, seeing that among you
+I perceive three gallant officers whom I saw running before the Northmen
+that night, when with some four hundred swords we routed about two
+thousand of you? You yourselves, therefore, are the best witnesses of
+what befell. Moreover, I acknowledge that, being moved by the sight of
+war, in the end I led the charge against you, before which charge some
+died and many fled, you among them."
+
+Now these captains glowered at me and the president said,
+
+"The prisoner is right. What need is there of more evidence?"
+
+"I think much, sir," I answered, "since but one side of the story has
+been heard. Now I will call witnesses, of whom the first should be the
+Augusta, if she is willing to appear and tell you what happened within
+the circle of the Northmen on that night."
+
+"Call the Augusta!" gasped the president. "Perchance, prisoner Michael,
+you will wish next to call God Himself on your behalf?"
+
+"That, sir," I answered, "I have already done and do. Moreover," I added
+slowly, "of this I am sure, that in a time to come, although it be not
+to-morrow or the next day, you and everyone who has to do with this case
+will find that I have not called Him in vain."
+
+At these words for a few moments a solemn silence fell upon the Court.
+It was as though they had gone home to the heart of everyone who was
+present there. Also I saw the curtains that draped a gallery high up
+in the wall shake a little. It came into my mind that Irene herself was
+hidden behind those curtains, as afterwards I learned was the case, and
+that she had made some movement which caused them to tremble.
+
+"Well," said the president, after this pause, "as God does not appear to
+be your witness, and as you have no other, seeing that you cannot give
+evidence yourself under the law, we will now proceed to judgment."
+
+"Who says that the General Olaf, Olaf Red-Sword, has no witness?"
+exclaimed a deep voice at the end of the hall. "I am here to be his
+witness."
+
+"Who speaks?" asked the president. "Let him come forward."
+
+There was a disturbance at the end of the hall, and through the crowd
+that he seemed to throw before him to right and left appeared the mighty
+form of Jodd. He was clad in full armour and bore his famous battle-axe
+in his hand.
+
+"One whom some of you know well enough, as others of your company who
+will never know anything again have done in the past. One named Jodd,
+the Northman, second in command of the guard to the General Olaf," he
+answered, and marched to the spot where witnesses were accustomed to
+stand.
+
+"Take away that barbarian's axe," exclaimed an officer who sat among the
+judges.
+
+"Aye," said Jodd, "come hither, mannikin, and take it away if you can.
+I promise you that along with it something else shall be taken away, to
+wit your fool's head. Who are you that would dare to disarm an officer
+of the Imperial Guard?"
+
+After this there was no more talk of removing Jodd's axe, and he
+proceeded to give his evidence, which, as it only detailed what has been
+written already, need not be repeated. What effect it produced upon the
+judges, I cannot say, but that it moved those present in the Court was
+clear enough.
+
+"Have you done?" asked the president at length when the story was
+finished.
+
+"Not altogether," said Jodd. "Olaf Red-Sword was promised an open trial,
+and that he has, since otherwise I and some friends of mine could not be
+in this Court to tell the truth, where perhaps the truth has seldom been
+heard before. Also he was promised a fair trial, and that he has not,
+seeing that the most of his judges are men with whom he fought the other
+day and who only escaped his sword by flight. To-morrow I propose to ask
+the people of Byzantium whether it is right that a man should be tried
+by his conquered enemies. Now I perceive that you will find a verdict of
+'guilty' against Olaf Red-Sword, and perhaps condemn him to death. Well,
+find what verdict you will and pass what sentence you will, but do not
+dare to attempt to execute that sentence."
+
+"Dare! Dare!" shouted the president. "Who are you, man, who would
+dictate to a Court appointed by the Empress what it shall or shall
+not do? Be careful lest we pass sentence on you as well as on your
+fellow-traitor. Remember where you stand, and that if I lift my finger
+you will be taken and bound."
+
+"Aye, lawyer, I remember this and other things. For instance, that I
+have the safe-conduct of the Empress under an oath sworn on the Cross of
+the Christ she worships. For instance, also, that I have three hundred
+comrades waiting my safe return."
+
+"Three hundred!" snarled the president. "The Empress has three thousand
+within these walls who will soon make an end of your three hundred."
+
+"I have been told, lawyer," answered Jodd, "that once there lived
+another monarch, one called Xerxes, who thought that he would make an
+end of a certain three hundred Greeks, when Greeks were different from
+what you are to-day, at a place called Thermopylae. He made an end of
+them, but they cost him more than he cared to pay, and now it is those
+Greeks who live for ever and Xerxes who is dead. But that's not all;
+since that fray the other night we Northmen have found friends. Have you
+heard of the Armenian legions, President, those who favour Constantine?
+Well, kill Olaf Red-Sword, or kill me, Jodd, and you have to deal first
+with the Northmen and next with the Armenian legions. Now here I am
+waiting to be taken by any who can pass this axe."
+
+At these words a great silence fell upon the Court. Jodd glared about
+him, and, seeing that none ventured to draw near, stepped from the
+witness-place, advanced to where I was, gave me the full salute of
+ceremony, then marched away to the back of the Court, the crowd opening
+a path for him.
+
+When he had gone the judges began to consult together, and, as I
+expected, very soon agreed upon their verdict. The president said, or
+rather gabbled,
+
+"Prisoner, we find you guilty. Have you any reason to offer why sentence
+of death should not be passed upon you?"
+
+"Sir," I answered, "I am not here to plead for my life, which already I
+have risked a score of times in the service of your people. Yet I would
+say this. On the night of the outbreak I was set on, four to one, for no
+crime, as you have heard, and did but protect myself. Afterwards, when I
+was about to be slain, the Northmen, my comrades, protected me unasked;
+then I did my best to save the life of the Empress, and, in fact,
+succeeded. My only offence is that when the great charge took place and
+your regiments were defeated, remembering only that I was a soldier, I
+led that charge. If this is a crime worthy of death, I am ready to
+die. Yet I hold that both God and man will give more honour to me the
+criminal than to you the judges, and to those who before ever you sat
+in this Court instructed you, whom I know to be but tools, as to the
+verdict that you should give."
+
+The applause which my words called forth from those gathered at the end
+of the Court died away. In the midst of a great silence the president,
+who, like his companions, I could see well, was growing somewhat
+fearful, read the sentence in a low voice from a parchment. After
+setting out the order by which the Court was constituted and other
+matters, it ran:
+
+"We condemn you, Michael, otherwise called Olaf or Olaf Red-Sword, to
+death. This sentence will be executed with or without torture at such
+time and in such manner as it may please the Augusta to decree."
+
+Now the voice of Jodd was heard crying through the gathering gloom, for
+night was near:
+
+"What sort of judgment is this that the judges bring already written
+down into the Court? Hearken you, lawyer, and you street-curs, his
+companions, who call yourselves soldiers. If Olaf Red-Sword dies, those
+hostages whom we hold die also. If he is tortured, those hostages will
+be tortured also. Moreover, ere long we will sack this fine place, and
+what has befallen Olaf shall befall you also, you false judges, neither
+less nor more. Remember it, all you who shall have charge of Olaf in his
+bonds, and, if she be within hearing, let the Augusta Irene remember it
+also, lest another time there should be no Olaf to save her life."
+
+Now I could see that the judges were terrified. Hastily, with white
+faces, they consulted together as to whether they should order Jodd to
+be seized. Presently I heard the president say to his companions:
+
+"Nay, best let him go. If he is touched, our hostages will die.
+Moreover, doubtless Constantine and the Armenians are at the back of
+him, or he would not dare to speak thus. Would that we were clear of
+this business which has been thrust upon us."
+
+Then he called aloud, "Let the prisoner be removed."
+
+Down the long Court I was marched, only now guards, who had been called
+in, went in front of and behind me, and with them the four executioners
+by whom I was surrounded.
+
+"Farewell, god-mother," I whispered to Martina as I passed.
+
+"Nay, not farewell," she whispered back, looking up at me with eyes that
+were full of tears, though what she meant I did not know.
+
+At the end of the Court, where those who dared to sympathise with me
+openly were gathered, rough voices called blessings on me and rough
+hands patted me on the shoulder. To one of these men whose voice I
+recognised in the gloom I turned to speak a word. Thereon the black
+executioner who was between us, he whom I had dismissed from the jail
+for cruelty, struck me on the mouth with the back of his hand. Next
+instant I heard a sound that reminded me of the growl the white bear
+gave when it gripped Steinar. Two arms shot out and caught that black
+savage by the head. There was a noise as of something breaking, and down
+went the man--a corpse.
+
+Then they hurried me away, for now it was not only the judges who were
+afraid.
+
+
+
+It comes to me that for some days, three or four, I sat in my cell at
+the palace, for here I was kept because, as I learned afterwards, it was
+feared that if I were removed to that State prison of which I had been
+governor, some attempt would be made to rescue me.
+
+This cell was one of several situated beneath that broad terrace which
+looked out on to the sea, where Irene had first questioned me as to the
+shell necklace and, against my prayer, had set it upon her own breast.
+It had a little barred window, out of which I could watch the sea, and
+through this window came the sound of sentries tramping overhead and of
+the voice of the officer who, at stated hours, arrived to turn out the
+guard, as for some years it had been my duty to do.
+
+I wondered who that officer might be, and wondered also how many of
+such men since Byzantium became the capital of the Empire had filled
+his office and mine, and what had become of them all. As I knew, if
+that terrace had been able to speak, it could have told many bloody
+histories, whereof doubtless mine would be another. Doubtless, too,
+there were more to follow until the end came, whatever that might be.
+
+In that strait place I reflected on many things. All my youth came back
+to me. I marvelled what had happened at Aar since I left it such long
+years ago. Once or twice rumours had reached me from men in my company,
+who were Danish-born, that Iduna was a great lady there and still
+unmarried. But of Freydisa I had heard nothing. Probably she was dead,
+and, if so, I felt sure that her fierce and faithful spirit must be near
+me now, as that of Ragnar had seemed to be in the Battle of the Garden.
+
+How strange it was that after all my vision had been fulfilled and it
+had been my lot to meet her of whom I had dreamed, wearing that necklace
+of which I had found one-half upon the Wanderer in his grave-mound. Were
+I and the Wanderer the same spirit, I asked of myself, and she of the
+dream and Heliodore the same woman?
+
+Who could tell? At least this was sure, from the moment that first we
+saw one another we knew we belonged each to each for the present and
+the future. Therefore, as it was with these we had to do, the past might
+sleep and all its secrets.
+
+Now we had met but to be parted again by death, which seemed hard
+indeed. Yet since we _had_ met, for my part Fate had my forgiveness for
+I knew that we should meet again. I looked back on what I had done and
+left undone, and could not blame myself overmuch. True, it would have
+been wiser if I had stayed by Irene and Heliodore, and not led that
+charge against the Greeks. Only then, as a soldier, I should never have
+forgiven myself, for how could I stand still while my comrades fought
+for me? No, no, I was glad I had led the charge and led it well, though
+my life must pay its price. Nor was this so. I must die, not because
+I had lifted sword against Irene's troops, but for the sin of loving
+Heliodore.
+
+After all, what was life as we knew it? A passing breath! Well, as the
+body breathes many million times between the cradle and the grave, so I
+believed the soul must breathe out its countless lives, each ending in a
+form of death. And beyond these, what? I did not know, yet my new-found
+faith gave me much comfort.
+
+In such meditations and in sleep I passed my hours, waiting always until
+the door of my cell should open and through it appear, not the jailer
+with my food, which I noted was plentiful and delicate, but the
+executioners or mayhap the tormentors.
+
+At length it did open, somewhat late at night, just as I was about to
+lay myself down to rest, and through it came a veiled woman. I bowed and
+motioned to my visitor to be seated on the stool that was in the cell,
+then waited in silence. Presently she threw off her veil, and in the
+light of the lamp showed that I stood before the Empress Irene.
+
+"Olaf," she said hoarsely, "I am come here to save you from yourself, if
+it may be so. I was hidden in yonder Court, and heard all that passed at
+your trial."
+
+"I guessed as much, Augusta," I said, "but what of it?"
+
+"For one thing, this: The coward and fool, who now is dead--of his
+wounds--who gave evidence as to the killing of the three other cowards
+by you, has caused my name to become a mock throughout Constantinople.
+Aye, the vilest make songs upon me in the streets, such songs as I
+cannot repeat."
+
+"I am grieved, Augusta," I said.
+
+"It is I who should grieve, not you, who are told of as a man who grew
+weary of the love of an Empress, and cast her off as though she were
+a tavern wench. That is the first matter. The second is that under the
+finding of the Court of Justice----"
+
+"Oh! Augusta," I interrupted, "why stain your lips with those words 'of
+justice'!"
+
+"----Under the finding of the Court," she went on, "your fate is left
+in my hands. I may kill you or torment your body. Or I may spare you and
+raise your head higher than any other in the Empire, aye, and adorn it
+with a crown."
+
+"Doubtless you may do any of these things, Augusta, but which of them do
+you wish to do?"
+
+"Olaf, notwithstanding all that has gone, I would still do the last. I
+speak to you no more of love or tenderness, nor do I pretend that this
+is for your sake alone. It is for mine also. My name is smirched, and
+only marriage can cover up the stain upon it. Moreover, I am beset by
+troubles and by dangers. Those accursed Northmen, who love you so well
+and who fight, not like men but like devils, are in league with the
+Armenian legions and with Constantine. My generals and my troops fall
+away from me. If it were assailed, I am not sure that I could hold this
+palace, strong though it be. There's but one man who can make me safe
+again, and that man is yourself. The Northmen will do your bidding, and
+with you in command of them I fear no attack. You have the honesty, the
+wit and the soldier's skill and courage. You must command, or none. Only
+this time it must not be as Irene's lover, for that is what they name
+you, but as her husband. A priest is waiting within call, and one of
+high degree. Within an hour, Olaf, you may be my consort, and within a
+year the Emperor of the World. Oh!" she went on with passion, "cannot
+you forgive what seem to be my sins when you remember that they were
+wrought for love of you?"
+
+"Augusta," I said, "I have small ambition; I am not minded to be an
+emperor. But hearken. Put aside this thought of marriage with one so far
+beneath you, and let me marry her whom I have chosen, and who has chosen
+me. Then once more I'll take command of the Northmen and defend you and
+your cause to the last drop of my blood."
+
+Her face hardened.
+
+"It may not be," she said, "not only for those reasons I have told you,
+but for another which I grieve to have to tell. Heliodore, daughter of
+Magas the Egyptian, is dead.'
+
+"Dead!" I gasped. "Dead!"
+
+"Aye, Olaf, dead. You did not see, and she, being a brave woman, hid it
+from you, but one of those spears that were flung in the fight struck
+her in the side. For a while the wound went well. But two days ago it
+mortified; last night she died and this morning I myself saw her buried
+with honour."
+
+"How did you see her buried, you who are not welcome among the
+Northmen?" I asked.
+
+"By my order, as her blood was high, she was laid in the palace
+graveyard, Olaf."
+
+"Did she leave me no word or token, Augusta? She swore to me that if she
+died she would send to me the other half of that necklace which I wear."
+
+"I have heard of none," said Irene, "but you will know, Olaf, that I
+have other business to attend to just now than such death-bed gossip.
+These things do not come to my ears."
+
+I looked at Irene and Irene looked at me.
+
+"Augusta," I said, "I do not believe your story. No spear wounded
+Heliodore while I was near her, and when I was not near her your Greeks
+were too far away for any spears to be thrown. Indeed, unless you
+stabbed her secretly, she was not wounded, and I am sure that, however
+much you have hated her, this you would not have dared to do for your
+own life's sake. Augusta, for your own purposes you are trying to
+deceive me. I will not marry you. Do your worst. You have lied to me
+about the woman whom I love, and though I forgive you all the rest, this
+I do not forgive. You know well that Heliodore still lives beneath the
+sun."
+
+"If so," answered the Empress, "you have looked your last upon the sun
+and--her. Never again shall you behold the beauty of Heliodore. Have you
+aught to say? There is still time."
+
+"Nothing, Augusta, at present, except this. Of late I have learned to
+believe in a God. I summon you to meet me before that God. There we will
+argue out our case and abide His judgment. If there is no God there will
+be no judgment, and I salute you, Empress, who triumph. If, as I believe
+and as you say you believe, there is a God, think whom _you_ will be
+called upon to salute when that God has heard the truth. Meanwhile I
+repeat that Heliodore the Egyptian still lives beneath the sun."
+
+Irene rose from the stool on which she sat and thought a moment. I gazed
+through the bars of the window-place in my cell out at the night above.
+A young moon was floating in the sky, and near to it hung a star. A
+little passing cloud with a dented edge drifted over the star and the
+lower horn of the moon. It went by, and they shone out again upon
+the background of the blue heavens. Also an owl flitted across the
+window-place of my cell. It had a mouse in its beak, and the shadow of
+it and of the writhing mouse for a moment lay upon Irene's breast, for
+I turned my head and saw them. It came into my mind that here was an
+allegory. Irene was the night-hawk, and I was the writhing mouse that
+fed its appetite. Doubtless it was decreed that the owl must be and the
+mouse must be, but beyond them both, hidden in those blue heavens, stood
+that Justice which we call God.
+
+These were the last things that I saw in this life of mine, and
+therefore I remember them well, or rather, almost the last. The very
+last of which I took note was Irene's face. It had grown like to that of
+a devil. The great eyes in it stared out between the puffed and purple
+eyelids. The painted cheeks had sunk in and were pallid beneath and
+round the paint. The teeth showed in two white lines, the chin worked.
+She was no longer a beautiful woman, she was a fiend.
+
+Irene knocked thrice upon the door. Bolts were thrown back, and men
+entered.
+
+"Blind him!" she said.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE HALL OF THE PIT
+
+The days and the nights went by, but which was day and which was night
+I knew not, save for the visits of the jailers with my meals--I who was
+blind, I who should never see the light again. At first I suffered much,
+but by degrees the pain died away. Also a physician came to tend my
+hurts, a skilful man. Soon I discovered, however, that he had another
+object. He pitied my state, so much, indeed, he said, that he offered to
+supply me with a drug that, if I were willing to take it, would make
+an end of me painlessly. Now I understood at once that Irene desired my
+death, and, fearing to cause it, set the means of self-murder within my
+reach.
+
+I thanked the man and begged him to give me the drug, which he did,
+whereon I hid it away in my garments. When it was seen that I still
+lived although I had asked for the medicine, I think that Irene believed
+this was because it had failed to work, or that such a means of death
+did not please me. So she found another. One evening when a jailer
+brought my supper he pressed something heavy into my hand, which I felt
+to be a sword.
+
+"What weapon is this?" I asked, "and why do you give it to me?"
+
+"It is your own sword," answered the man, "which I was commanded to
+return to you. I know no more."
+
+Then he went away, leaving the sword with me.
+
+I drew the familiar blade from its sheath, the red blade that the
+Wanderer had worn, and touching its keen edge with my fingers, wept from
+my blinded eyes to think that never again could I hold it aloft in war
+or see the light flash from it as I smote. Yes, I wept in my weakness,
+till I remembered that I had no longer any wish to be the death of men.
+So I sheathed the good sword and hid it beneath my mattress lest some
+jailer should steal it, which, as I could not see him, he might do
+easily. Also I desired to put away temptation.
+
+I think that this hour after the bringing of the sword, which stirred up
+so many memories, was the most fearful of all my hours, so fearful that,
+had it been prolonged, death would have come to me of its own accord.
+I had sunk to misery's lowest deep, who did not know that even then its
+tide was turning, who could not dream of all the blessed years that lay
+before me, the years of love and of such peaceful joy as even the blind
+may win.
+
+That night Martina came--Martina, who was Hope's harbinger. I heard
+the door of my prison open and close softly, and sat still, wondering
+whether the murderers had entered at last, wondering, too, whether I
+should snatch the sword and strike blindly till I fell. Next I heard
+another sound, that of a woman weeping; yes, and felt my hand lifted
+and pressed to a woman's lips, which kissed it again and yet again.
+A thought struck me, and I began to draw it back. A soft voice spoke
+between its sobs.
+
+"Have no fear, Olaf. I am Martina. Oh, now I understand why yonder
+tigress sent me on that distant mission."
+
+"How did you come here, Martina?" I asked.
+
+"I still have the signet, Olaf, which Irene, who begins to mistrust
+me, forgets. Only this morning I learned the truth on my return to the
+palace; yet I have not been idle. Within an hour Jodd and the Northmen
+knew it also. Within three they had blinded every hostage whom they
+held, aye, and caught two of the brutes who did the deed on you, and
+crucified them upon their barrack walls."
+
+"Oh! Martina," I broke in, "I did not desire that others who are
+innocent should share my woes."
+
+"Nor did I, Olaf; but these Northmen are ill to play with. Moreover,
+in a sense it was needful. You do not know what I have learned--that
+to-morrow Irene proposed to slit your tongue also because you can tell
+too much, and afterwards to cut off your right hand lest you, who are
+learned, should write down what you know. I told the Northmen--never
+mind how. They sent a herald, a Greek whom they had captured, and,
+covering him with arrows, made him call out that if your tongue was slit
+they would know of it and slit the tongues of all the hostages also, and
+that if your hand was cut off they could cut off their hands, and take
+another vengeance which for the present they keep secret."
+
+"At least they are faithful," I said. "But, oh! tell me, Martina, what
+of Heliodore?"
+
+"This," she whispered into my ear. "Heliodore and her father sailed an
+hour after sunset and are now safe upon the sea, bound for Egypt."
+
+"Then I was right! When Irene told me she was dead she lied."
+
+"Aye, if she said that she lied, though thrice she has striven to murder
+her, I have no time to tell you how, but was always baffled by those who
+watched. Yet she might have succeeded at last, so, although Heliodore
+fought against it, it was best that she should go. Those who are parted
+may meet again; but how can we meet one who is dead until we too are
+dead?"
+
+"How did she go?"
+
+"Smuggled from the city disguised as a boy attending on a priest, and
+that priest her father shorn of his beard and tonsured. The Bishop
+Barnabas passed them out in his following."
+
+"Then blessings on the Bishop Barnabas," I said.
+
+"Aye, blessings on him, since without his help it could never have been
+done. The secret agents at the port stared hard at those two, although
+the good bishop vouched for them and gave their names and offices.
+Still, when they saw some rough-looking fellows dressed like sailors
+approach, playing with the handles of their knives, the agents thought
+well to ask no more questions. Moreover, now that the ship has sailed,
+for their own sakes they'll swear that no such priest and boy went
+aboard of her. So your Heliodore is away unharmed, as is her father,
+though his mission has come to naught. Still, his life is left in him,
+for which he may be thankful, who on such a business should have brought
+no woman. If he had come alone, Olaf, your eyes would have been left to
+you, and set by now upon the orb of empire that your hand had grasped."
+
+"Yet I am glad that he did not come alone, Martina."
+
+"Truly you have a high and faithful heart, and that woman should be
+honoured whom you love. What is the secret? There must be more in it
+than the mere desire for a woman's beauty, though I know that at times
+this can make men mad. In such a business the soul must play its part."
+
+"I think so, Martina. Indeed, I believe so, since otherwise we suffer
+much in vain. Now tell me, how and when do I die?"
+
+"I hope you will not die at all, Olaf. Certain plans are laid which
+even here I dare not whisper. To-morrow I hear they will lead you again
+before the judges, who, by Irene's clemency, will change your sentence
+to one of banishment, with secret orders to kill you on the voyage. But
+you will never make that voyage. Other schemes are afoot; you'll learn
+of them afterwards."
+
+"Yet, Martina, if you know these plots the Augusta knows them also,
+since you and she are one."
+
+"When those dagger points were thrust into your eyes, Olaf, they cut the
+thread that bound us, and now Irene and I are more far apart than
+hell and heaven. I tell you that for your sake I hate her and work her
+downfall. Am I not your god-mother, Olaf?"
+
+Then again she kissed my hand and presently was gone.
+
+
+
+On the following morning, as I supposed it to be, my jailers came and
+said to me that I must appear before the judges to hear some revision of
+my sentence. They dressed me in my soldier's gear, and even allowed me
+to gird my sword about me, knowing, doubtless, that, save to himself, a
+blind man could do no mischief with a sword. Then they led me I know
+not whither by passages which turned now here, now there. At length we
+entered some place, for doors were closed behind us.
+
+"This is the Hall of Judgment," said one of them, "but the judges
+have not yet come. It is a great room and bare. There is nothing in it
+against which you can hurt yourself. Therefore, if it pleases you after
+being cramped so long in that narrow cell, you may walk to and fro,
+keeping your hands in front of you so that you will know when you touch
+the further wall and must turn."
+
+I thanked them and, glad enough to avail myself of this grace for
+my limbs were stiff with want of exercise, began to walk joyfully. I
+thought that the room must be one of those numberless apartments which
+opened on to the terrace, since distinctly I could hear the wash of the
+sea coming from far beneath, doubtless through the open window-places.
+
+Forward I stepped boldly, but at a certain point in my march this
+curious thing happened. A hand seemed to seize my own and draw me to the
+left. Wondering, I followed the guidance of the hand, which presently
+left hold of mine. Thereon I continued my march, and as I did so,
+thought that I heard another sound, like to that of a suppressed murmur
+of human voices. Twenty steps more and I reached the end of the chamber,
+for my outstretched fingers touched its marble wall. I turned and
+marched back, and lo! at the twentieth step that hand took mine again
+and led me to the right, whereon once more the murmur of voices reached
+me.
+
+Thrice this happened, and every time the murmur grew more loud. Indeed,
+I thought I heard one say,
+
+"The man's not blind at all," and another, "Some spirit guides him."
+
+As I made my fourth journey I caught the sound of a distant tumult,
+the shouts of war, the screams of agony, and above them all the
+well-remembered cry of "_Valhalla! Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_"
+
+I halted where I was and felt the blood rush into my wasted cheeks. The
+Northmen, my Northmen, were in the palace! It was at this that Martina
+had hinted. Yet in so vast a place what chance was there that they would
+ever find me, and how, being blind, could I find them? Well, at least my
+voice was left to me, and I would lift it.
+
+So with all my strength I cried aloud, "Olaf Red-Sword is here! To Olaf,
+men of the North!"
+
+Thrice I cried. I heard folk running, not to me, but from me, doubtless
+those whose whispers had reached my ears.
+
+I thought of trying to follow them, but the soft and gentle hand, which
+was like to that of a woman, once more clasped mine and held me where I
+was, suffering me to move no single inch. So there I stood, even
+after the hand had loosed me again, for it seemed to me that there was
+something most strange in this business.
+
+Presently another sound arose, the sound of the Northmen pouring towards
+the hall, for feet clanged louder and louder down the marble corridors.
+More, they had met those who were running from the hall, for now these
+fled back before them. They were in the hall, for a cry of horror,
+mingled with rage, broke from their lips.
+
+"'Tis Olaf," said one, "Olaf blinded, and, by Thor, see where he
+stands!"
+
+Then Jodd's voice roared out,
+
+"Move not, Olaf; move not, or you die."
+
+Another voice, that of Martina, broke in, "Silence, you fool, or you'll
+frighten him and make him fall. Silence all, and leave him to me!"
+
+Then quiet fell upon the place; it seemed that even the pursued grew
+quiet, and I heard the rustle of a woman's dress drawing towards me.
+Next instant a soft hand took my own, just such a hand as not long ago
+had seemed to guide and hold me, and Martina's voice said,
+
+"Follow where I lead, Olaf."
+
+So I followed eight or ten paces. Then Martina threw her arms about me
+and burst into wild laughter. Someone caught her away; next moment
+two hair-clad lips kissed me on the brow and the mighty voice of Jodd
+shouted,
+
+"Thanks be to all the gods, dwell they in the north or in the south! We
+have saved you! Know you where you stood, Olaf? On the brink of a pit,
+the very brink, and beneath is a fall of a hundred feet to where the
+waters of the Bosphorus wash among the rocks. Oh! understand this pretty
+Grecian game. They, good Christian folk, would not have your blood upon
+their souls, and therefore they caused you to walk to your own death.
+Well, they shall be dosed with the draught they brewed.
+
+"Bring them hither, comrades, bring them one by one, these devils who
+could sit to watch a blind man walk to his doom to make their sport.
+Ah! whom have we here? Why, by Thor! 'tis the lawyer knave, he who was
+president of the court that tried you, and was angry because you did not
+salute him. Well, lawyer, the wheel has gone round. We Northmen are in
+possession of the palace and the Armenian legions are gathered at its
+gates and do but wait for Constantine the Emperor to enter and take the
+empire and its crown. They'll be here anon, lawyer, but you understand,
+having a certain life to save, for word had been brought to us of your
+pretty doings, that we were forced to strike before the signal, and
+struck not in vain. Now we'll fill in the tedious time with a trial
+of our own. See here, I am president of the court, seated in this fine
+chair, and these six to right and left are my companion judges, while
+you seven who were judges are now prisoners. You know the crime with
+which you are charged, so there's no need to set it out. Your defence,
+lawyer, and be swift with it."
+
+"Oh! sir," said the man in a trembling voice, "what we did to the
+General Olaf we were ordered to do by one who may not be named."
+
+"You'd best find the name, lawyer, for were it that of a god we Northmen
+would hear it."
+
+"Well, then, by the Augusta herself. She wished the death of the noble
+Michael, or Olaf, but having become superstitious about the matter,
+would not have his blood directly on her hands. Therefore she bethought
+her of this plan. He was ordered to be brought into the place you see,
+which is known as the Hall of the Pit, that in old days was used by
+certain bloody-minded emperors to rid them of their enemies. The central
+pavement swings upon a hinge. At a touch it opens, and he who has
+thought it sound and walked thereon, when darkness comes is lost, since
+he falls upon the rocks far below, and at high tide the water takes
+him."
+
+"Yes, yes, we understand the game, lawyer, for there yawns the open pit.
+But have you aught more to say?"
+
+"Nothing, sir, nothing, save that we only did what we were driven to do.
+Moreover, no harm has come of it, since whenever the noble general came
+to the edge of the opened pit, although he was blind, he halted and went
+off to right or left as though someone drew him out of danger."
+
+"Well, then, cruel and unjust judges, who could gather to mock at the
+murder of a blinded man that you had trapped to his doom----"
+
+"Sir," broke in one of them, "it was not we who tried to trap him; it
+was those jailers who stand there. They told the general that he might
+exercise himself by walking up and down the hall."
+
+"Is that true, Olaf?" asked Jodd.
+
+"Yes," I answered, "it is true that the two jailers who brought me here
+did tell me this, though whether those men are present I cannot say."
+
+"Very good," said Jodd. "Add them to the other prisoners, who by their
+own showing heard them set the snare and did not warn the victim. Now,
+murderers all, this is the sentence of the court upon you: That you
+salute the General Olaf and confess your wickedness to him."
+
+So they saluted me, kneeling, and kissing my feet, and one and all made
+confession of their crime.
+
+"Enough," I said, "I pardon them who are but tools. Pray to God that He
+may do as much."
+
+"You may pardon here, Olaf," said Jodd, "and your God may pardon
+hereafter, but we, the Northmen, do not pardon. Blindfold those men and
+bind their arms. Now," went on Jodd after a pause, "their turn has come
+to show us sport. Run, friends, run, for swords are behind you. Can you
+not feel them?"
+
+The rest may be guessed. Within a few minutes the seven judges and the
+two jailers had vanished from the world. No hand came to save _them_
+from the cruel rocks and the waters that seethed a hundred feet below
+that dreadful chamber.
+
+This fantastic, savage vengeance was a thing dreadful to hear; what it
+must have been to see I can only guess. I know that I wished I might
+have fled from it and that I pleaded with Jodd for mercy on these men.
+But neither he nor his companions would listen to me.
+
+"What mercy had they on you?" he cried. "Let them drink from their own
+cup."
+
+"Let them drink from their own cup!" roared his companions, and then
+broke into a roar of laughter as one of the false judges, feeling space
+before him, leapt, leapt short, and with a shriek departed for ever.
+
+
+
+It was over. I heard someone enter the hall and whisper in Jodd's ear;
+heard his answer also.
+
+"Let her be brought hither," he said. "For the rest, bid the captains
+hold Stauracius and the others fast. If there is any sign of stir
+against us, cut their throats, advising them that this will be done
+should they allow trouble to arise. Do not fire the palace unless I give
+the word, for it would be a pity to burn so fine a building. It is those
+who dwell in it who should be burned; but doubtless Constantine will see
+to that. Collect the richest of the booty, that which is most portable,
+and let it be carried to our quarters in the baggage carts. See that
+these things are done quickly, before the Armenians get their hands into
+the bag. I'll be with you soon; but if the Emperor Constantine should
+arrive first, tell him that all has gone well, better than he hoped,
+indeed, and pray him to come hither, where we may take counsel."
+
+The messenger went. Jodd and some of the Northmen began to consult
+together, and Martina led me aside.
+
+"Tell me what has chanced, Martina," I asked, "for I am bewildered."
+
+"A revolution, that is all, Olaf. Jodd and the Northmen are the point of
+the spear, its handle is Constantine, and the hands that hold it are the
+Armenians. It has been very well done. Some of the guards who remained
+were bribed, others frightened away. Only a few fought, and of them
+the Northmen made short work. Irene and her ministers were fooled. They
+thought the blow would not fall for a week or more, if at all, since the
+Empress believed that she had appeased Constantine by her promises. I'll
+tell you more later."
+
+"How did you find me, Martina, and in time?"
+
+"Oh! Olaf, it is a terrible story. Almost I swoon again to think of it.
+It was thus: Irene discovered that I had visited you in your cell;
+she grew suspicious of me. This morning I was seized and ordered to
+surrender the signet; but first I had heard that they planned your death
+to-day, not a sentence of banishment and murder afar off, as I told you.
+My last act before I was taken was to dispatch a trusted messenger to
+Jodd and the Northmen, telling them that if they would save you alive
+they must strike at once, and not to-night, as had been arranged. Within
+thirty seconds after he had left my side the eunuchs had me and took me
+to my chamber, where they barred me in. A while later the Augusta came
+raging like a lioness. She accused me of treachery, and when I denied
+it struck me in the face. Look, here are the marks of the jewels on her
+hands. Oh, alas! what said I? You cannot see. She had learned that the
+lady Heliodore had escaped her, and that I had some hand in her escape.
+She vowed that I, your god-mother, was your lover, and as this is a
+crime against the Church, promised me that after other sufferings I
+should be burned alive in the Hippodrome before all the people. Lastly
+she said this, 'Know that your Olaf of whom you are so fond dies within
+an hour and thus: He will be taken to the Hall of the Pit and there
+given leave to walk till the judges come. Being blind, you may guess
+where he will walk. Before this door is unlocked again I tell you he'll
+be but a heap of splintered bones. Aye, you may start and weep; but save
+your tears for yourself,' and she called me a foul name. 'I have got you
+fast at length, you night-prowling cat, and God Himself cannot give you
+strength to stretch out your hand and guide this accursed Olaf from the
+edge of the Pit of Death.'
+
+"'God alone knows what He can do, Augusta,' I answered, for the words
+seemed to be put into my lips.
+
+"Then she cursed and struck me again, and so left me barred in my
+chamber.
+
+"When she had gone I flung myself upon my knees and prayed to God to
+save you, Olaf, since I was helpless; prayed as I had never prayed
+before. Praying thus, I think that I fell into a swoon, for my agony
+was more than I could bear, and in the swoon I dreamed. I dreamed that I
+stood in this place, where till now I have never been before. I saw the
+judges, the jailers, and a few others watching from that gallery. I saw
+you walk along the hall towards the great open pit. Then I seemed to
+glide to you and take your hand and guide you round the pit. And, Olaf,
+this happened thrice. Afterwards came a tumult while you were on the
+very edge of the pit and I held you, not suffering you to stir. Then in
+rushed the Northmen and I with them. Yes, standing there with you upon
+the edge of the pit, I saw myself and the Northmen rush into the hall."
+
+"Martina," I whispered, "a hand that seemed to be a woman's did guide me
+thrice round the edge of the pit, and did hold me almost until you and
+the Northmen rushed in."
+
+"Oh! God is great!" she gasped. "God is very great, and to Him I give
+thanks. But hearken to the end of the tale. I awoke from my swoon and
+heard noise without, and above it the Northmen's cry of victory. They
+had scaled the palace walls or broken in the gates--as yet I know not
+which--they were on the terrace driving the Greek guards before them. I
+ran to the window-place and there below me saw Jodd. I screamed till he
+heard me.
+
+"'Save me if you would save Olaf,' I cried. 'I am prisoned here.'
+
+"They brought one of their scaling ladders and drew me through the
+window. I told them all I knew. They caught a palace eunuch and beat him
+till he promised to lead us to this hall. He led, but in the labyrinth
+of passages fell down senseless, for they had struck him too hard. We
+knew not which way to turn, till suddenly we heard your voice and ran
+towards it.
+
+"That is all the story, Olaf."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+OLAF GIVES JUDGMENT
+
+As Martina finished speaking I heard the sound of tramping guards and of
+a woman's dress upon the pavement. Then a voice, that of Irene,
+spoke, and though her words were quiet I caught in them the tremble of
+smothered rage.
+
+"Be pleased to tell me, Captain Jodd," she said, "what is happening in
+my palace, and why I, the Empress, am haled from my apartment hither by
+soldiers under your command?"
+
+"Lady," answered Jodd, "you are mistaken. Yesterday you were an empress,
+to-day you are--well, whatever your son, the Emperor, chooses to name
+you. As to what has been and is happening in this palace, I scarcely
+know where to begin the tale. First of all your general and chamberlain
+Olaf--in case you should not recognise him, I mean that blind man who
+stands yonder--was being tricked to death by certain servants of yours
+who called themselves judges, and who stated that they were acting by
+your orders."
+
+"Confront me with them," said Irene, "that I may prove to you that they
+lie."
+
+"Certainly. Ho! you, bring the lady Irene here. Now hold her over that
+hole. Nay, struggle not, lady, lest you should slip from their hands.
+Look down steadily, and you will see by the light that flows in from the
+cave beneath, certain heaps lying on the rocks round which the rising
+waters seethe. There are your judges whom you say you wish to meet. If
+you desire to ask them any questions, we can satisfy your will. Nay,
+why should you turn pale at the mere sight of the place that you thought
+good enough to be the bed of a faithful soldier of your own, one high in
+your service, whom it has pleased you to blind? Why did it please you to
+blind him, Lady?"
+
+"Who are you that dare to ask me questions?" she replied, gathering up
+her courage.
+
+"I'll tell you, Lady. Now that the General Olaf yonder is blinded I am
+the officer in command of the Northmen, who, until you tried to murder
+the said General Olaf a while ago, were your faithful guard. I am also,
+as it chances, the officer in command of this palace, which we took this
+morning by assault and by arrangement with most of your Greek soldiers,
+having learned from your confidential lady, Martina, of the vile deed
+you were about to work on the General Olaf."
+
+"So it was you who betrayed me, Martina," gasped Irene; "and I had you
+in my power. Oh! I had you in my power!"
+
+"I did not betray you, Augusta. I saved my god-son yonder from torture
+and butchery, as by my oath I was bound to do," answered Martina.
+
+"Have done with this talk of betrayals," went on Jodd, "for who can
+betray a devil? Now, Lady, with your State quarrels we have nothing to
+do. You can settle them presently with your son, that is, if you still
+live. But with this matter of Olaf we have much to do, and we will
+settle that at once. The first part of the business we all know, so let
+us get to the next. By whose order were you blinded, General Olaf?"
+
+"By that of the Augusta," I answered.
+
+"For what reason, General Olaf?"
+
+"For one that I will not state," I answered.
+
+"Good. You were blinded by the Augusta for a reason you will not state,
+but which is well known to all of us. Now, we have a law in the North
+which says that an eye should be given for an eye and a life for a life.
+Would it not then be right, comrades, that this woman should be blinded
+also?"
+
+"What!" screamed Irene, "blinded! I blinded! I, the Empress!"
+
+"Tell me, Lady, are the eyes of one who was an Empress different from
+other eyes? Why should you complain of that darkness into which you were
+so ready to plunge one better than yourself. Still, Olaf shall judge.
+Is it your will, General, that we blind this woman who put out your eyes
+and afterwards tried to murder you?"
+
+Now, I felt that all in that place were watching me and hanging on the
+words that I should speak, so intently that they never heard others
+entering it, as I did. For a while I paused, for why should not Irene
+suffer a little of that agony of suspense which she had inflicted upon
+me and others?
+
+Then I said, "See what I have lost, friends, through no grave fault of
+my own. I was in the way of greatness. I was a soldier whom you trusted
+and liked well, one of unstained honour and of unstained name. Also I
+loved a woman, by whom I was beloved and whom I hoped to make my wife.
+And now what am I? My trade is gone, for how can a maimed man lead in
+war, or even do the meanest service of the camp? The rest of my days,
+should any be granted to me, must be spent in darkness blacker than that
+of midnight. I must live on charity. When the little store I have is
+spent, for I have taken no bribe and heaped up no riches, how can I
+earn a living? The woman whom I love has been carried away, after this
+Empress tried thrice to murder her. Whether I shall ever find her again
+in this world I know not, for she has gone to a far country that is full
+of enemies to Christian men. Nor do I know whether she would be willing
+to take one who is blind and beggared for a husband, though I think this
+may be so."
+
+"Shame on her if she does not," muttered Martina as I paused.
+
+"Well, friends, that is my case," I went on; "let the Augusta deny it if
+she can."
+
+"Speak, Lady. Do you deny it?" said Jodd.
+
+"I do not deny that this man was blinded by my order in payment of
+crimes for which he might well have suffered death," answered Irene.
+"But I do deny that I commanded him to be trapped in yonder pit. If
+those dead men said so, then they lied."
+
+"And if the lady Martina says so, what then?" asked Jodd.
+
+"Then she lies also," answered the Empress sullenly.
+
+"Be it so," replied Jodd. "Yet it is strange that, acting on this lie
+of the lady Martina's, we found the General Olaf upon the very edge of
+yonder hole; yes, with not the breadth of a barleycorn between him and
+death. Now, General, both parties have been heard and you shall pass
+sentence. If you say that yonder woman is to be blinded, this moment
+she looks her last upon the light. If you say that she is to die, this
+moment she bids farewell to life."
+
+Again I thought a while. It came into my mind that Irene, who had fallen
+from power, might rise once more and bring fresh evil upon Heliodore.
+Now she was in my hand, but if I opened that hand and let her free----!
+
+Someone moved towards me, and I heard Irene's voice whispering in my
+ear.
+
+"Olaf," she said, "if I sinned against you it was because I loved you.
+Would you be avenged upon one who has burned her soul with so much
+evil because she loved too well? Oh! if so, you are no longer Olaf. For
+Christ's sake have pity on me, since I am not fit to meet Him. Give me
+time to repent. Nay! hear me out! Let not those men drag me away as they
+threaten to do. I am fallen now, but who knows, I may grow great again;
+indeed, I think I shall. Then, Olaf, may my soul shrivel everlastingly
+in hell if I try to harm you or the Egyptian more--Jesus be my witness
+that I ask no lesser doom upon my head. Keep the men back, Martina, for
+what I swear to him and the Egyptian I swear to you as well. Moreover,
+Olaf, I have great wealth. You spoke of poverty; it shall be far from
+you. Martina knows where my gold is hid, and she still holds my keys.
+Let her take it. I say leave me alone, but one word more. If ever it is
+in my power I'll forget everything and advance you all to great honour.
+Your brain is not blinded, Olaf; you can still rule. I swear, I swear,
+I swear upon the Holy Blood! Ah! now drag me away if you will. I have
+spoken."
+
+"Then perchance, Lady, you will allow Olaf to speak, since we, who have
+much to do, must finish this business quickly, before the Emperor comes
+with the Armenians," said Jodd.
+
+"Captain Jodd and his comrades," I said, "the Empress Irene has been
+pleased to make certain solemn vows to me which perchance some of you
+may have overheard. At least, God heard them, and whether she keeps
+them or no is a matter between her and the God in Whom we both believe.
+Therefore I set these vows aside; they draw me neither one way nor the
+other. Now, you have made me judge in my own matter and have promised
+to abide by my judgment, which you will do. Hear it, then, and let it be
+remembered. For long I have been the Augusta's officer, and of late her
+general and chamberlain. As such I have bound myself by great oaths to
+protect her from harm in all cases, and those oaths heretofore I have
+kept, when I might have broken them and not been blamed by men. Whatever
+has chanced, it seems that she is still Empress and I am still her
+officer, seeing that my sword has been returned to me, although it is
+true she sent it that I might use it on myself. It pleased the Empress
+to put out my eyes. Under our soldier's law the monarch who rules the
+Empire has a right to put out the eyes of an officer who has lifted
+sword against her forces, or even to kill him. Whether this is done
+justly or unjustly again is a matter between that monarch and God above,
+to Whom answer must be made at last. Therefore it would seem that I
+have no right to pronounce any sentence against the Augusta Irene, and
+whatever may have been my private wrongs, I pronounce none. Yet, as I
+am still your general until another is named, I order you to free the
+Augusta Irene and to work no vengeance on her person for aught that may
+have befallen me at her hands, were her deeds just or unjust."
+
+When I had finished speaking, in the silence that followed I heard Irene
+utter something that was half a sob and half a gasp of wonderment. Then
+above the murmuring of the Northmen, to whom this rede was strange, rose
+the great voice of Jodd.
+
+"General Olaf," he said, "while you were talking it came into my mind
+that one of those knife points which pierced your eyes had pricked the
+brain behind them. But when you had finished talking it came into my
+mind that you are a great man who, putting aside your private rights and
+wrongs and the glory of revenge which lay to your hand, have taught
+us soldiers a lesson in duty which I, at least, never shall forget.
+General, if, as I trust, we are together in the future as in the past, I
+shall ask you to instruct me in this Christian faith of yours, which can
+make a man not only forgive but hide his forgiveness under the mask of
+duty, for that, as we know well, is what you have done. General, your
+order shall be obeyed. Be she Empress or nothing, this lady's person is
+safe from us. More, we will protect her to the best of our power, as you
+did in the Battle of the Garden. Yet I tell her to her face that had
+it not been for those orders, had you, for example, said that you left
+judgment to us, she who has spoilt such a man should have died a death
+of shame."
+
+I heard a sound as of a woman throwing herself upon her knees before me.
+I heard Irene's voice whisper through her tears,
+
+"Olaf, Olaf, for the second time in my life you make me feel ashamed.
+Oh! if only you could have loved me! Then I should have grown good like
+you."
+
+There was a stir of feet and another voice spoke, a voice that should
+have been clear and youthful, but sounded as though it were thick with
+wine. It did not need Martina's whisper to tell me that it was that of
+Constantine.
+
+"Greeting, friends," he said, and at once there came a rattle of
+saluting swords and an answering cry of
+
+"Greeting, Augustus!"
+
+"You struck before the time," went on the thick, boyish voice. "Yet
+as things seem to have gone rather well for us, I cannot blame
+you, especially as I see that you hold fast her who has usurped my
+birthright."
+
+Now I heard Irene turn with a swift and furious movement.
+
+"Your birthright, boy," she cried. "What birthright have you save that
+which my body gave?"
+
+"I thought that my father had more to do with this matter of imperial
+right than the Grecian girl whom it pleased him to marry for her fair
+face," answered Constantine insolently, adding: "Learn your station,
+mother. Learn that you are but the lamp which once held the holy oil,
+and that lamps can be shattered."
+
+"Aye," she answered, "and oil can be spilt for the dogs to lap, if their
+gorge does not rise at such rancid stuff. The holy oil forsooth! Nay,
+the sour dregs of wine jars, the outscourings of the stews, the filth
+of the stables, of such is the holy oil that burns in Constantine, the
+drunkard and the liar."
+
+It would seem that before this torrent of coarse invective Constantine
+quailed, who at heart always feared his mother, and I think never more
+so than when he appeared to triumph over her. Or perhaps he scorned to
+answer it. At least, addressing Jodd, he said,
+
+"Captain, I and my officers, standing yonder unseen, have heard
+something of what passed in this place. By what warrant do you and your
+company take upon yourselves to pass judgment upon this mother of mine?
+That is the Emperor's right."
+
+"By the warrant of capture, Augustus," answered Jodd. "We Northmen took
+the palace and opened the gates to you and your Armenians. Also we took
+her who ruled in the palace, with whom we had a private score to settle
+that has to do with our general who stands yonder, blinded. Well, it is
+settled in his own fashion, and now we do not yield up this woman, our
+prisoner, save on your royal promise that no harm shall come to her in
+body. As for the rest, it is your business. Make a cook-maid of her
+if you will, only then I think her tongue would clear the kitchen. But
+swear to keep her sound in life and limb till hell calls her, since
+otherwise we must add her to our company, which will make no man
+merrier."
+
+"No," answered Constantine, "in a week she would corrupt you every one
+and breed a war. Well," he added with a boisterous laugh, "I'm master
+now at last, and I'll swear by any saint that you may name, or all of
+them, no harm shall come to this Empress whose rule is done, and who,
+being without friends, need not be feared. Still, lest she should
+spawn more mischief or murder, she must be kept close till we and our
+councillors decide where she shall dwell in future. Ho! guards, take my
+royal father's widow to the dower-palace, and there watch her well. If
+she escapes, you shall die beneath the rods. Away with the snake before
+it begins to hiss again."
+
+"I'll hiss no more," said Irene, as the soldiers formed up round her,
+"yet, perchance, Constantine, you may live to find that the snake still
+has strength to strike and poison in its fangs, you and others. Do you
+come with me, Martina?"
+
+"Nay, Lady, since here stands one whom God and you together have given
+me to guard. For his sake I would keep my life in me," and she touched
+me on the shoulder.
+
+"That whelp who is called my son spoke truly when he said that the
+fallen have no friends," exclaimed Irene. "Well, you should thank me,
+Martina, who made Olaf blind, since, being without eyes, he cannot see
+how ugly is your face. In his darkness he may perchance mistake you
+for the beauteous Egyptian, Heliodore, as I know you who love him madly
+would have him do."
+
+With this vile taunt she went.
+
+"I think I'm crazed," said the Emperor, as the doors swung to behind
+her. "I should have struck that snake while the stick is in my hand. I
+tell you I fear her fangs. Why, if she could, she'd make me as that
+poor man is, blind, or even butcher me. Well, she's my mother, and I've
+sworn, so there's an end. Now, you Olaf, you are that same captain,
+are you not, who dashed the poisoned fig from my lips that this tender
+mother of mine would have let me eat when I was in liquor; yes, and
+would have swallowed it yourself to save me from my folly?"
+
+"I am that man, Augustus."
+
+"Aye, you are that man, and one of whom all the city has been talking.
+They say, so poor is your taste, that you turned your back upon the
+favours of an Empress because of some young girl you dared to love. They
+say also that she paid you back with a dagger in the eyes, she who was
+ready to set you in my place."
+
+"Rumour has many tongues, Augustus," I answered. "At least I fell from
+the Empress's favour, and she rewarded me as she held that I deserved."
+
+"So it seems. Christ! what a dreadful pit is that. Is this another of
+her gifts? Nay, answer not; I heard the tale. Well, Olaf, you saved my
+life and your Northmen have set me on the throne, since without them we
+could scarcely have won the palace. Now, what payment would you have?"
+
+"Leave to go hence, Augustus," I answered.
+
+"A small boon that you might have taken without asking, if you can find
+a dog to lead you, like other blind wretches. And you, Captain Jodd, and
+your men, what do you ask?"
+
+"Such donation as it may please the Augustus to bestow, and after that
+permission to follow wherever our General Olaf goes, since he is our
+care. Here we have made so many enemies that we cannot sleep at night."
+
+"The Empress of the World falls from her throne," mused Constantine,
+"and not even a waiting-maid attends her to her prison. But a blinded
+captain finds a regiment to escort him hence in love and honour, as
+though he were a new-crowned king. Truly Fortune is a jester. If ever
+Fate should rob me of my eyes, I wonder, when I had nothing more to give
+them, if three hundred faithful swords would follow me to ruin and to
+exile?"
+
+Thus he thought aloud. Afterwards he, Jodd and some others, Martina
+among them, went aside, leaving me seated on a bench. Presently they
+returned, and Constantine said,
+
+"General Olaf, I and your companions have taken counsel. Listen. But
+to-day messengers have come from Lesbos, whom we met outside the gates.
+It seems that the governor there is dead, and that the accursed Moslems
+threaten to storm the isle as soon as summer comes and add it to their
+empire. Our Christian subjects there pray that a new governor may be
+appointed, one who knows war, and that with him may be sent troops
+sufficient to repel the prophet-worshippers, who, not having many ships,
+cannot attack in great force. Now, Captain Jodd thinks this task will
+be to the liking of the Northmen, and though you are blind, I think that
+you would serve me well as governor of Lesbos. Is it your pleasure to
+accept this office?"
+
+"Aye, with thankfulness, Augustus," I answered. "Only, after the Moslems
+are beaten back, if it pleases God that it should so befall, I ask leave
+of absence for a while, since there is one for whom I must search."
+
+"I grant it, who name Captain Jodd your deputy. Stay, there's one more
+thing. In Lesbos my mother has large vineyards and estates. As part
+payment of her debt these shall be conveyed to you. Nay, no thanks; it
+is I who owe them. Whatever his faults, Constantine is not ungrateful.
+Moreover, enough time has been spent upon this matter. What say you,
+Officer? That the Armenians are marshalled and that you have Stauracius
+safe? Good! I come to lead them. Then to the Hippodrome to be
+proclaimed."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III
+
+EGYPT
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+TIDINGS FROM EGYPT
+
+That curtain of oblivion without rent or seam sinks again upon the
+visions of this past of mine. It falls, as it were, on the last of the
+scenes in the dreadful chamber of the pit, to rise once more far from
+Byzantium.
+
+I am blind and can see nothing, for the power which enables me to
+disinter what lies buried beneath the weight and wreck of so many ages
+tells me no more than those things that once my senses knew. What I did
+not hear then I do not hear now; what I did not see then I do not see
+now. Thus it comes about that of Lesbos itself, of the shape of its
+mountains or the colour of its seas I can tell nothing more than I
+was told, because my sight never dwelt on them in any life that I can
+remember.
+
+
+
+It was evening. The heat of the sun had passed and the night breeze blew
+through the wide, cool chamber in which I sat with Martina, whom the
+soldiers, in their rude fashion, called "Olaf's Brown Dog." For brown
+was her colouring, and she led me from place to place as dogs are
+trained to lead blind men. Yet against her the roughest of them never
+said an evil word; not from fear, but because they knew that none could
+be said.
+
+Martina was talking, she who always loved to talk, if not of one thing,
+then of another.
+
+"God-son," she said, "although you are a great grumbler, I tell you that
+in my judgment you were born under a lucky star, or saint, call it which
+you will. For instance, when you were walking up and down that Hall of
+the Pit in the palace at Constantinople, which I always dream of now if
+I sup too late----"
+
+"And your spirit, or double, or whatever you call it, was kindly leading
+me round the edge of the death-trap," I interrupted.
+
+"----and my spirit, or double, making itself useful for once, was doing
+what you say, well, who would have thought that before so very long you
+would be the governor, much beloved, of the rich and prosperous island
+of Lesbos; still the commander, much beloved, of troops, many of them
+your own countrymen, and, although you are blind, the Imperial general
+who has dealt the Moslems one of the worst defeats they have suffered
+for a long while."
+
+"Jodd and the others did that," I answered. "I only sat here and made
+the plans."
+
+"Jodd!" she exclaimed with contempt. "Jodd has no more head for plans
+than a doorpost! Although it is true," she added with a softening of the
+voice, "that he is a good man to lean on at a pinch, and a very terrible
+fighter; also one who can keep such brain as God gave him cool in the
+hour of terror, as Irene knows well enough. Yet it was you, Olaf, not
+even I, but you, who remembered that the Northmen are seafolk born, and
+turned all those trading vessels into war-galleys and hid them in the
+little bays with a few of your people in command of each. It was you who
+suffered the Moslem fleet to sail unmolested into the Mitylene harbours,
+pretending and giving notice that the only defence would be by land.
+Then, after they were at anchor and beginning to disembark, it was you
+who fell on them at the dawn and sank and slew till none remained save
+those of their army who were taken prisoners or spared for ransom. Yes,
+and you commanded our ships in person; and at night who is a better
+captain than a blind man? Oh! you did well, very well; and you are rich
+with Irene's lands, and sit here in comfort and in honour, with the best
+of health save for your blindness, and I repeat that you were born under
+a lucky star--or saint."
+
+"Not altogether so, Martina," I answered with a sigh.
+
+"Ah!" she replied, "man can never be content. As usual, you are thinking
+of that Egyptian, I mean of the lady Heliodore, of whom, of course,
+it is quite right that you should think. Well, it is true that we have
+heard nothing of her. Still, that does not mean that we may not hear.
+Perhaps Jodd has learned something from those prisoners. Hark! he
+comes."
+
+As she spoke I heard the guards salute without and Jodd's heavy step at
+the door of the chamber.
+
+"Greeting, General," he said presently. "I bring you good news. The
+messengers to the Sultan Harun have returned with the ransom. Also this
+Caliph sends a writing signed by himself and his ministers, in which he
+swears by God and His Prophet that in consideration of our giving up our
+prisoners, among whom, it seems, are some great men, neither he nor his
+successors will attempt any new attack upon Lesbos for thirty years.
+The interpreter will read it to you to-morrow, and you can send your
+answering letters with the prisoners."
+
+"Seeing that these heathen are so many and we are so few, we could
+scarcely look for better terms," I said, "as I hope they will think at
+Constantinople. At least the prisoners shall sail when all is in order.
+Now for another matter. Have you inquired as to the Bishop Barnabas and
+the Egyptian Prince Magas and his daughter?"
+
+"Aye, General, this very day. I found that among the prisoners were
+three of the commoner sort who have served in Egypt and left that land
+not three months ago. Of these men two have never heard of the bishop or
+the others. The third, however, who was wounded in the fight, had some
+tidings."
+
+"What tidings, Jodd?"
+
+"None that are good, General. The bishop, he says, was killed by Moslems
+a while ago, or so he had been told."
+
+"God rest him. But the others, Jodd, what of the others?"
+
+"This. It seems that the Copt, as he called him, Magas, returned from a
+long journey, as we know he did, and raised an insurrection somewhere in
+the south of Egypt, far up the Nile. An expedition was sent against him,
+under one Musa, the Governor of Egypt, and there was much fighting,
+in which this prisoner took part. The end of it was that the Copts
+who fought with Magas were conquered with slaughter, Magas himself was
+slain, for he would not fly, and his daughter, the lady Heliodore, was
+taken prisoner with some other Coptic women."
+
+"And then?" I gasped.
+
+"Then, General, she was brought before the Emir Musa, who, noting her
+beauty, proposed to make her his slave. At her prayer, however, being,
+as the prisoner said, a merciful man, he gave her a week to mourn her
+father before she entered his harem. Still, the worst," he went on
+hurriedly, "did not happen. Before that week was done, as the Moslem
+force was marching down the Nile, she stabbed the eunuch who was in
+charge of her and escaped."
+
+"I thank God," I said. "But, Jodd, how is the man sure that she was
+Heliodore?"
+
+"Thus: All knew her to be the daughter of Magas, one whom the Egyptians
+held in honour. Moreover, among the Moslem soldiers she was named 'the
+Lady of the Shells,' because of a certain necklace she wore, which you
+will remember."
+
+"What more?" I asked.
+
+"Only that the Emir Musa was very angry at her loss and because of it
+caused certain soldiers to be beaten on the feet. Moreover, he halted
+his army and offered a reward for her. For two days they hunted, even
+searching some tombs where it was thought she might have hidden, but
+there found nothing but the dead. Then the Emir returned down the Nile,
+and that is the end of the story."
+
+"Send this prisoner to me at once, Jodd, with an interpreter. I would
+question him myself."
+
+"I fear he is not fit to come, General."
+
+"Then I will go to him. Lead me, Martina."
+
+"If so, you must go far, General, for he died an hour ago, and his
+companions are making him ready for burial."
+
+"Jodd," I said angrily, "those men have been in our hands for weeks.
+How comes it that you did not discover these things before? You had my
+orders."
+
+"Because, General, until they knew that they were to go free none
+of these prisoners would tell us anything. However closely they were
+questioned, they said that it was against their oath, and that first
+they would die. A long while ago I asked this very man of Egypt, and he
+vowed that he had never been there."
+
+"Be comforted, Olaf," broke in Martina, "for what more could he have
+told you?"
+
+"Nothing, perchance," I answered; "yet I should have gained many days of
+time. Know that I go to Egypt to search for Heliodore."
+
+"Be comforted again," said Martina. "This you could not have done until
+the peace was signed; it would have been against your oath and duty."
+
+"That is so," I answered heavily.
+
+
+
+"Olaf," said Martina to me that night after Jodd had left us, "you say
+that you will go to Egypt. How will you go? Will the blind Christian
+general of the Empire, who has just dealt so great a defeat to the
+mighty Caliph of the East, be welcome in Egypt? Above all, will he be
+welcomed by the Emir Musa, who rules there, when it is known that he
+comes to seek a woman who has escaped from that Emir's harem? Why,
+within an hour he'd offer you the choice between death and the Koran.
+Olaf, this thing is madness."
+
+"It may be, Martina. Still, I go to seek Heliodore."
+
+"If Heliodore still lives you will not help her by dying, and if she is
+dead time will be little to her and she can wait for you a while."
+
+"Yet I go, Martina."
+
+"You, being blind, go to Egypt to seek one whom those who rule there
+have searched for in vain. So be it. But how will you go? It cannot be
+as an open enemy, since then you would need a fleet and ten thousand
+swords to back you, which you have not. To take a few brave men, unless
+they were Moslems, which is impossible, would be but to give them to
+death. How do you go, Olaf?"
+
+"I do not know, Martina. Your brain is more nimble than mine; think,
+think, and tell me."
+
+I heard Martina rise and walk up and down the room for a long time. At
+length she returned and sat herself by me again.
+
+"Olaf," she said, "you always had a taste for music. You have told me
+that as a boy in your northern home you used to play upon the harp and
+sing songs to it of your own making, and now, since you have been blind,
+you have practised at this art till you are its master. Also, my voice
+is good; indeed, it is my only gift. It was my voice that first brought
+me to Irene's notice, when I was but the daughter of a poor Greek
+gentleman who had been her father's friend and therefore was given a
+small place about the Court. Of late we have sung many songs together,
+have we not, certain of them in that northern tongue, of which you have
+taught me something?"
+
+"Yes, Martina; but what of it?"
+
+"You are dull, Olaf. I have heard that these Easterns love music,
+especially if it be of a sort they do not know. Why, therefore, should
+not a blind man and his daughter--no, his orphaned niece--earn an honest
+living as travelling musicians in Egypt? These Prophet worshippers, I
+am told, think it a great sin to harm one who is maimed--a poor northern
+trader in amber who has been robbed by Christian thieves. Rendered
+sightless also that he might not be able to swear to them before the
+judges, and now, with his sister's child, winning his bread as best he
+may. Like you, Olaf, I have skill in languages, and even know enough of
+Arabic to beg in it, for my mother, who was a Syrian, taught it to me as
+a child, and since we have been here I have practised. What say you?"
+
+"I say that we might travel as safely thus as in any other way. Yet,
+Martina, how can I ask you to tie such a burden on your back?"
+
+"Oh! no need to ask, Olaf, since Fate bound it there when it made me
+your--god-mother. Where you go I needs must go also, until you are
+married," she added with a laugh. "Afterwards, perhaps, you will need me
+no more. Well, there's a plan, for what it is worth, and now we'll sleep
+on it, hoping to find a better. Pray to St. Michael to-night, Olaf."
+
+As it chanced, St. Michael gave me no light, so the end of it was that I
+determined to play this part of a blind harper. In those days there
+was a trade between Lesbos and Egypt in cedar wood, wool, wine for the
+Copts, for the Moslems drank none, and other goods. Peace having been
+declared between the island and the Caliph, a small vessel was laden
+with such merchandise at my cost, and a Greek of Lesbos, Menas by name,
+put in command of it as the owner, with a crew of sailors whom I could
+trust to the death.
+
+To these men, who were Christians, I told my business, swearing them
+to secrecy by the most holy of all oaths. But, alas! as I shall
+show, although I could trust these sailors when they were masters of
+themselves, I could not trust them, or, rather, one of them, when
+wine was his master. In our northern land we had a saying that "Ale
+is another man," and now its truth was to be proved to me, not for the
+first time.
+
+When all was ready I made known my plans to Jodd alone, in whose hands
+I left a writing to say what must be done if I returned no more. To the
+other officers and the soldiers I said only that I proposed to make
+a journey in this trading ship disguised as a merchant, both for my
+health's sake and to discover for myself the state of the surrounding
+countries, and especially of the Christians in Egypt.
+
+When he had heard all, Jodd, although he was a hopeful-minded man, grew
+sad over this journey, which I could see he thought would be my last.
+
+"I expected no less," he said; "and yet, General, I trusted that your
+saint might keep your feet on some safer path. Doubtless this lady
+Heliodore is dead, or fled, or wed; at least, you will never find her."
+
+"Still, I must search for her, Jodd."
+
+"You are a blind man. How can you search?"
+
+Then an idea came to him, and he added,
+
+"Listen, General. I and the rest of us swore to protect the lady
+Heliodore and to be as her father or her brothers. Do you bide here. I
+will go to search for her, either with a vessel full of armed men, or
+alone, disguised."
+
+Now I laughed outright and asked,
+
+"What disguise is there that would hide the giant Jodd, whose fame the
+Moslem spies have spread throughout the East? Why, on the darkest night
+your voice would betray you to all within a hundred paces. And what use
+would one shipload of armed men be against the forces of the Emir of
+Egypt? No, no, Jodd, whatever the danger I must go and I alone. If I
+am killed, or do not return within eight months, I have named you to
+be Governor of Lesbos, as already you have been named my deputy by
+Constantine, which appointment will probably be confirmed."
+
+"I do not want to be Governor of Lesbos," said Jodd. "Moreover, Olaf,"
+he added slowly, "a blind beggar must have his dog to lead him, his
+brown dog. You cannot go alone, Olaf. Those dangers of which you speak
+must be shared by another."
+
+"That is so, and it troubles me much. Indeed, it is in my mind to seek
+some other guide, for I think this one would be safest here in your
+charge. You must reason with her, Jodd. One can ask too much, even of a
+god-mother."
+
+"Of a god-mother! Why not say of a grandmother? By Thor! Olaf, you are
+blind indeed. Still, I'll try. Hush! here she comes to say that our
+supper is ready."
+
+At our meal several others were present, besides the serving folk, and
+the talk was general. After it was done I had an interview with some
+officers. These left, and I sat myself down upon a cushioned couch, and,
+being tired, there fell asleep, till I was awakened, or, rather, half
+awakened by voices talking in the garden without. They were those of
+Jodd and Martina, and Martina was saying,
+
+"Cease your words. I and no one else will go on this Egyptian quest with
+Olaf. If we die, as I dare say we shall, what does it matter? At least
+he shall not die alone."
+
+"And if the quest should fail, Martina? I mean if he should not find the
+lady Heliodore and you should happen both to return safe, what then?"
+
+"Why, then--nothing, except that as it has been, so it will be. I shall
+continue to play my part, as is my duty and my wish. Do you not remember
+that I am Olaf's god-mother?"
+
+"Yes, I remember. Still, I have heard somewhere that the Christian
+Church never ties a knot which it cannot unloose--for a proper fee, and
+for my part I do not know why a man should not marry one of different
+blood because she has been named his god-mother before a stone vessel
+by a man in a broidered robe. You say I do not understand such matters.
+Perhaps, so let them be. But, Martina, let us suppose that this strange
+search were to succeed, and Olaf has a way of succeeding where others
+would fail. For instance, who else could have escaped alive out of the
+hand of Irene and become governor of Lesbos, and, being blind, yet have
+planned a great victory? Well, supposing that by the help of gods or
+men--or women--he should find this beautiful Heliodore, unwed and still
+willing, and that they should marry. What then, Martina?"
+
+"Then, Captain Jodd," she answered slowly, "if you are yet of the same
+mind we may talk again. Only remember that I ask no promises and make
+none."
+
+"So you go to Egypt with Olaf?"
+
+"Aye, certainly, unless I should die first, and perhaps even then. You
+do not understand? Oh! of course you do not understand, nor can I stop
+to explain to you. Captain Jodd, I am going to Egypt with a certain
+blind beggar, whose name I forget at the moment, but who is my uncle,
+where no doubt I shall see many strange things. If ever I come back I
+will tell you about them, and, meanwhile, good night."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE STATUES BY THE NILE
+
+The first thing that I remember of this journey to Egypt is that I was
+sitting in the warm morning sunshine on the deck of our little trading
+vessel, that went by the name of the heathen goddess, Diana. We were
+in the port of Alexandria. Martina, who now went by the name of Hilda,
+stood by my side describing to me the great city that lay before us.
+
+She told me of the famous Pharos still rising from its rock, although in
+it the warning light no longer burned, for since the Moslems took Egypt
+they had let it die, as some said because they feared lest it should
+guide a Christian fleet to attack them. She described also the splendid
+palaces that the Greeks had built, many of them now empty or burned
+out, the Christian churches, the mosques, the broad streets and the
+grass-grown quays.
+
+As we were thus engaged, she talking and I listening and asking
+questions, she said,
+
+"The boat is coming with the Saracen officers of the port, who must
+inspect and pass the ship before she is allowed to discharge her cargo.
+Now, Olaf, remember that henceforth you are called Hodur." (I had taken
+this name after that of the blind god of the northern peoples.) "Play
+your part well, and, above all, be humble. If you are reviled, or even
+struck, show no anger, and be sure to keep that red sword of yours close
+hidden beneath your robe. If you do these things we shall be safe, for I
+tell you that we are well disguised."
+
+The boat came alongside and I heard men climbing the ship's ladder. Then
+someone kicked me. It was our captain, Menas, who also had his part to
+play.
+
+"Out of the road, you blind beggar," he said. "The noble officers of the
+Caliph board our ship, and you block their path."
+
+"Touch not one whom God has afflicted," said a grave voice, speaking
+in bad Greek. "It is easy for us to walk round the man. But who is he,
+captain, and why does he come to Egypt? By their looks he and the woman
+with him might well have seen happier days."
+
+"I know not, lord," answered the captain, "who, after they paid their
+passage money, took no more note of them. Still they play and sing well,
+and served to keep the sailors in good humour when we were becalmed."
+
+"Sir," I broke in, "I am a Northman named Hodur, and this woman is my
+niece. I was a trader in amber, but thieves robbed me and my companions
+of all we had as we journeyed to Byzantium. Me, who was the leader of
+our band, they held to ransom, blinding me lest I should be able to
+swear to them again, but the others they killed. This is the only child
+of my sister, who married a Greek, and now we get our living by our
+skill in music."
+
+"Truly you Christians love each other well," said the officer. "Accept
+the Koran and you will not be treated thus. But why do you come to
+Egypt?"
+
+"Sir, we heard that it is a rich land where the people love music, and
+have come hoping to earn some money here that we may put by to live on.
+Send us not away, sir; we have a little offering to make. Niece Hilda,
+where is the gold piece I gave you? Offer it to this lord."
+
+"Nay, nay," said the officer. "Shall I take bread out of the mouth of
+the poor? Clerk," he added in Arabic to a man who was with him, "make
+out a writing giving leave to these two to land and to ply their
+business anywhere in Egypt without question or hindrance, and bring it
+to me to seal. Farewell, musicians. I fear you will find money scarce in
+Egypt, for the land has been stricken with a famine. Yet go and prosper
+in the name of God, and may He turn your hearts to the true faith."
+
+Thus it came about that through the good mind of this Moslem, whose
+name, as I learned when we met again, was Yusuf, our feet were lifted
+over many stumbling-blocks. Thus it seems that by virtue of his office
+he had power to prevent the entry into the land of such folk as we
+seemed to be, which power, if they were Christians, was almost always
+put in force. Yet because he had seen the captain appear to illtreat me,
+or because, being a soldier himself, he guessed that I was of the same
+trade, whatever tale it might please me to tell, this rule was not
+enforced. Moreover, the writing which he gave me enabled me to go where
+we wished in Egypt without let or hindrance. Whenever we were stopped
+or threatened, which happened to us several times, it was enough if we
+presented it to the nearest person in authority who could read, after
+which we were allowed to pass upon our way unhindered.
+
+Before we left the ship I had a last conversation with the captain,
+Menas, telling him that he was to lie in the harbour, always pretending
+that he waited for some cargo not yet forthcoming, such as unharvested
+corn, or whatever was convenient, until we appeared again. If after a
+certain while we did not appear, then he was to make a trading journey
+to neighbouring ports and return to Alexandria. These artifices he must
+continue to practise until orders to the contrary reached him under my
+own hand, or until he had sure evidence that we were dead. All this the
+man promised that he would do.
+
+"Yes," said Martina, who was with me, "you promise, Captain, and we
+believe you, but the question is, can you answer for the others? For
+instance, for the sailor Cosmas there, who, I see, is already drunken
+and talking loudly about many things."
+
+"Henceforth, lady, Cosmas shall drink water only. When not in his cups
+he is an honest fellow, and I do answer for him."
+
+Yet, alas! as the end showed, Cosmas was not to be answered for by
+anyone.
+
+
+
+We went ashore and took up our abode in a certain house, where we were
+safe. Whether the Christian owners of that house did or did not know who
+we were, I am not certain. At any rate, through them we were introduced
+at night into the palace of Politian, the Melchite Patriarch of
+Alexandria. He was a stern-faced, black-bearded man of honest heart but
+narrow views, of whom the Bishop Barnabas had often spoken to me as his
+closest friend. To this Politian I told all under the seal of our Faith,
+asking his aid in my quest. When I had finished my tale he thought a
+while. Then he said,
+
+"You are a bold man, General Olaf; so bold that I think God must be
+leading you to His own ends. Now, you have heard aright. Barnabas, my
+beloved brother and your father in Christ, has been taken hence. He was
+murdered by some fanatic Moslems soon after his return from Byzantium.
+Also it is true that the Prince Magas was killed in war by the Emir
+Musa, and that the lady Heliodore escaped out of his clutches. What
+became of her afterwards no man knows, but for my part I believe that
+she is dead."
+
+"And I believe that she is alive," I answered, "and therefore I go to
+seek her."
+
+"Seek and ye shall find," mused the Patriarch; "at least, I hope so,
+though my advice to you is to bide here and send others to seek."
+
+"That I will not do," I answered again.
+
+"Then go, and God be with you. I'll warn certain of the faithful of your
+coming, so that you may not lack a friend at need. When you return, if
+you should ever return, come to me, for I have more influence with these
+Moslems than most, and may be able to serve you. I can say no more,
+and it is not safe that you should tarry here too long. Stay, I forget.
+There are two things you should know. The first is that the Emir Musa,
+he who seized the lady Heliodore, is about to be deposed. I have the
+news from the Caliph Harun himself, for with him I am on friendly terms
+because of a service I did him through my skill in medicine. The second
+is that Irene has beguiled Constantine, or bewitched him, I know not
+which. At least, by his own proclamation once more she rules the Empire
+jointly with himself, and that I think will be his death warrant, and
+perhaps yours also."
+
+"Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," I said. "Now if I live I
+shall learn whether any oaths are sacred to Irene, as will Constantine."
+
+Then we parted.
+
+
+
+Leaving Alexandria, we wandered first to the town of Misra, which stood
+near to the mighty pyramids, beneath whose shadow we slept one night in
+an empty tomb. Thence by slow marches we made our way up the banks of
+the Nile, earning our daily bread by the exercise of our art. Once
+or twice we were stopped as spies, but always released again when I
+produced the writing that the officer Yusuf had given me upon the ship.
+For the rest, none molested us in a land where wandering beggars were
+so common. Of money it is true we earned little, but as we had gold
+in plenty sewn into our garments this did not matter. Food was all we
+needed, and that, as I have said, was never lacking.
+
+So we went on our strange journey, day by day learning more of the
+tongues spoken in Egypt, and especially of Arabic, which the Moslems
+used. Whither did we journey? We know not for certain. What I sought to
+find were those two huge statues of which I had dreamed at Aar on the
+night of the robbing of the Wanderer's tomb. We heard that there were
+such figures of stone, which were said to sing at daybreak, and that
+they sat upon a plain on the western bank of the Nile, near to the ruins
+of the great city of Thebes, now but a village, called by the Arabs
+El-Uksor, or "the Palaces." So far as we could discover, it was in the
+neighbourhood of this city that Heliodore had escaped from Musa, and
+there, if anywhere, I hoped to gain tidings of her fate. Also something
+within my heart drew me to those images of forgotten gods or men.
+
+At length, two months or more after we left Alexandria, from the deck of
+the boat in which we had hired a passage for the last hundred miles of
+our journey, Martina saw to the east the ruins of Thebes. To the west
+she saw other ruins, and seated in front of them _two mighty figures of
+stone_.
+
+"This is the place," she said, and my heart leapt at her words. "Now let
+us land and follow our fortune."
+
+So when the boat was tied up at sunset, to the west bank of the river,
+as it happened, we bade farewell to the owner and went ashore.
+
+"Whither now?" asked Martina.
+
+"To the figures of stone," I answered.
+
+So she led me through fields in which the corn was growing, to the edge
+of the desert, meeting no man all the way. Then for a mile or more we
+tramped through sand, till at length, late at night, Martina halted.
+
+"We stand beneath the statues," she said, "and they are awesome to look
+on; mighty, seated kings, higher than a tall tree."
+
+"What lies behind them?" I asked.
+
+"The ruins of a great temple."
+
+"Lead me to that temple."
+
+So we passed through a gateway into a court, and there we halted.
+
+"Now tell me what you see," I said.
+
+"We stand in what has been a hall of many columns," she answered, "but
+the most of them are broken. At our feet is a pool in which there is
+a little water. Before us lies the plain on which the statues sit,
+stretching some miles to the Nile, that is fringed with palms. Across
+the broad Nile are the ruins of old Thebes. Behind us are more ruins and
+a line of rugged hills of stone, and in them, a little to the north,
+the mouth of a valley. The scene is very beautiful beneath the moon, but
+very sad and desolate."
+
+"It is the place that I saw in my dream many years ago at Aar," I said.
+
+"It may be," she answered, "but if so it must have changed, since, save
+for a jackal creeping among the columns and a dog that barks in some
+distant village, I neither see nor hear a living thing. What now, Olaf?"
+
+"Now we will eat and sleep," I said. "Perhaps light will come to us in
+our sleep."
+
+So we ate of the food we had brought with us, and afterwards lay down to
+rest in a little chamber, painted round with gods, that Martina found in
+the ruins of the temple.
+
+During that night no dreams came to me, nor did anything happen to
+disturb us, even in this old temple, of which the very paving-stones
+were worn through by the feet of the dead.
+
+Before the dawn Martina led me back to the colossal statues, and we
+waited there, hoping that we should hear them sing, as tradition said
+they did when the sun rose. Yet the sun came up as it had done from the
+beginning of the world, and struck upon those giant effigies as it had
+done for some two thousand years, or so I was told, and they remained
+quite silent. I do not think that ever I grieved more over my blindness
+than on this day, when I must depend upon Martina to tell me of the
+glory of that sunrise over the Egyptian desert and those mighty ruins
+reared by the hands of forgotten men.
+
+Well, the sun rose, and, since the statues would not speak, I took my
+harp and played upon it, and Martina sang a wild Eastern song to my
+playing. It seemed that our music was heard. At any rate, a few folk
+going out to labour came to see by whom it was caused, and finding only
+two wandering musicians, presently went away again. Still, one remained,
+a woman, Coptic by her dress, with whom I heard Martina talk. She
+asked who we were and why we had come to such a place, whereon Martina
+repeated to her the story which we had told a hundred times. The woman
+answered that we should earn little money in those parts, as the famine
+had been sore there owing to the low Nile of the previous season. Until
+the crops were ripe again, which in the case of most of them would not
+be for some weeks, even food, she added, must be scarce, though few were
+left to eat it, since the Moslems had killed out most of those who dwelt
+in that district of Upper Egypt.
+
+Martina replied that she knew this was so, and therefore we had proposed
+either to travel on to Nubia or to return north. Still, as I, her blind
+uncle, was not well, we had landed from a boat hoping that we might find
+some place where we could rest for a week or two until I grew stronger.
+
+"Yet," she continued meaningly, "being poor Christian folk we know not
+where to look for such a place, since Cross worshippers are not welcome
+among those who follow the Prophet."
+
+Now, when the woman heard that we were Christians her voice changed. "I
+also am a Christian," she said; "but give me the sign."
+
+So we made the sign of the Cross on our breasts, which a Moslem will die
+rather than do.
+
+"My husband and I," went on the woman, "live yonder at the village of
+Kurna, which is situated near to the mouth of the valley that is called
+Biban-el-Meluk, or Gate of the Kings, for there the monarchs of old
+days, who were the forefathers or rulers of us Copts, lie buried. It is
+but a very small village, for the Moslems have killed most of us in a
+war that was raised a while ago between them and our hereditary prince,
+Magas. Yet my husband and I have a good house there, and, being poor,
+shall be glad to give you food and shelter if you can pay us something."
+
+The end of it was that after some chaffering, for we dared not show that
+we had much money, a bargain was struck between us and this good woman,
+who was named Palka. Having paid her a week's charges in advance, she
+led us to the village of Kurna, which was nearly an hour's walk away,
+and here made us known to her husband, a middle-aged man named Marcus,
+who took little note of anything save his farming.
+
+This he carried on upon a patch of fertile ground that was irrigated by
+a spring which flowed from the mountains; also he had other lands near
+to the Nile, where he grew corn and fodder for his beasts. In his house,
+that once had been part of some great stone building of the ancients,
+and still remained far larger than he could use, for this pair had no
+children, we were given two good rooms. Here we dwelt in comfort, since,
+notwithstanding the scarcity of the times, Marcus was richer than he
+seemed and lived well. As for the village of Kurna, its people all told
+did not amount to more than thirty souls, Christians every one of them,
+who were visited from time to time by a Coptic priest from some distant
+monastery in the mountains.
+
+By degrees we grew friendly with Palka, a pleasant, bustling woman of
+good birth, who loved to hear of the outside world. Moreover, she was
+very shrewd, and soon began to suspect that we were more than mere
+wandering players.
+
+Pretending to be weak and ill, I did not go out much, but followed her
+about the house while she was working, talking to her on many matters.
+
+Thus I led up the subject of Prince Magas and his rebellion, and learned
+that he had been killed at a place about fifty miles south from Kurna.
+Then I asked if it were true that his daughter had been killed with him.
+
+"What do you know of the lady Heliodore?" she asked sharply.
+
+"Only that my niece, who for a while was a servant in the palace at
+Byzantium before she was driven away with others after the Empress fell,
+saw her there. Indeed, it was her business to wait upon her and her
+father the Prince. Therefore, she is interested in her fate."
+
+"It seems that you are more interested than your niece, who has never
+spoken a word to me concerning her," answered Palka. "Well, since you
+are a man, I should not have thought this strange, had you not been
+blind, for they say she was the most beautiful woman in Egypt. As for
+her fate, you must ask God, since none know it. When the army of Musa
+was encamped yonder by the Nile my husband, Marcus, who had taken
+two donkey-loads of forage for sale to the camp and was returning by
+moonlight, saw her run past him, a red knife in her hand, her face set
+towards the Gateway of the Kings. After that he saw her no more, nor did
+anyone else, although they hunted long enough, even in the tombs, which
+the Moslems, like our people, fear to visit. Doubtless she fell or threw
+herself into some hole in the rocks; or perhaps the wild beasts ate her.
+Better so than that a child of the old Pharaohs should become the woman
+of an infidel."
+
+"Yes," I answered, "better so. But why do folk fear to visit those tombs
+of which you speak, Palka?"
+
+"Why? Because they are haunted, that is all, and even the bravest dread
+the sight of a ghost. How could they be otherwise than haunted, seeing
+that yonder valley is sown with the mighty dead like a field with corn?"
+
+"Yet the dead sleep quietly enough, Palka."
+
+"Aye, the common dead, Hodur; but not these kings and queens and
+princes, who, being gods of a kind, cannot die. It is said that they
+hold their revels yonder at night with songs and wild laughter, and that
+those who look upon them come to an evil end within a year. Whether this
+be so I cannot say, since for many years none have dared to visit that
+place at night. Yet that they eat I know well enough."
+
+"How do you know, Palka?"
+
+"For a good reason. With the others in this village I supply the
+offerings of their food. The story runs that once the great building, of
+which this house is a part, was a college of heathen priests whose
+duty it was to make offerings to the dead in the royal tombs. When the
+Christians came, those priests were driven away, but we of Kurna who
+live in their house still make the offerings. If we did not, misfortune
+would overtake us, as indeed has always happened if they were forgotten
+or neglected. It is the rent that we pay to the ghosts of the kings.
+Twice a week we pay it, setting food and milk and water upon a certain
+stone near to the mouth of the valley."
+
+"Then what happens, Palka?"
+
+"Nothing, except that the offering is taken."
+
+"By beggar folk, or perchance by wild creatures!"
+
+"Would beggar folk dare to enter that place of death?" she answered with
+contempt. "Or would wild beasts take the food and pile the dishes neatly
+together and replace the flat stones on the mouths of the jars of milk
+and water, as a housewife might? Oh! do not laugh. Of late this has
+always been done, as I who often fetch the vessels know well."
+
+"Have you ever seen these ghosts, Palka?"
+
+"Yes, once I saw one of them. It was about two months ago that I passed
+the mouth of the valley after moonrise, for I had been kept out late
+searching for a kid which was lost. Thinking that it might be in the
+valley, I peered up it. As I was looking, from round a great rock glided
+a ghost. She stood still, with the moonlight shining on her, and gazed
+towards the Nile. I, too, stood still in the shadow, thirty or forty
+paces away. Then she threw up her arms as though in despair, turned and
+vanished."
+
+"She!" I said, then checked myself and asked indifferently: "Well, what
+was the fashion of this ghost?"
+
+"So far as I could see that of a young and beautiful woman, wearing
+such clothes as we find upon the ancient dead, only wrapped more loosely
+about her."
+
+"Had she aught upon her head, Palka?"
+
+"Yes, a band of gold or a crown set upon her hair, and about her neck
+what seemed to be a necklace of green and gold, for the moonlight
+flashed upon it. It was much such a necklace as you wear beneath your
+robe, Hodur."
+
+"And pray how do you know what I wear, Palka?" I asked.
+
+"By means of what you lack, poor man, the eyes in my head. One night
+when you were asleep I had need to pass through your chamber to reach
+another beyond. You had thrown off your outer garment because of the
+heat, and I saw the necklace. Also I saw a great red sword lying by your
+side and noted on your bare breast sundry scars, such as hunters and
+soldiers come by. All of these things, Hodur, I thought strange, seeing
+that I know you to be nothing but a poor blind beggar who gains his
+bread by his skill upon the harp."
+
+"There are beggars who were not always beggars, Palka," I said slowly.
+
+"Quite so, Hodur, and there are great men and rich who sometimes appear
+to be beggars, and--many other things. Still, have no fear that we shall
+steal your necklace or talk about the red sword or the gold with which
+your niece Hilda weights her garments. Poor girl, she has all the ways
+of a fine lady, one who has known Courts, as I think you said was the
+case. It must be sad for her to have fallen so low. Still, have no fear,
+Hodur," and she took my hand and pressed it in a certain secret fashion
+which was practised among the persecuted Christians in the East when
+they would reveal themselves to each other. Then she went away laughing.
+
+As for me, I sought Martina, who had been sleeping through the heat, and
+told her everything.
+
+"Well," she said when I had finished, "you should give thanks to God,
+Olaf, since without doubt this ghost is the lady Heliodore. So should
+Jodd," I heard her add beneath her breath, for in my blindness my ears
+had grown very quick.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE VALLEY OF THE DEAD KINGS
+
+Martina and I had made a plan. Palka, after much coaxing, took us with
+her one evening when she went to place the accustomed offerings in the
+Valley of the Dead. Indeed, at first she refused outright to allow us
+to accompany her, because, she said, only those who were born in
+the village of Kurna had made such offerings since the days when the
+Pharaohs ruled, and that if strangers shared in this duty it might bring
+misfortune. We answered, however, that if so the misfortune would fall
+on us, the intruders. Also we pointed out that the jars of water and
+milk were heavy, and, as it happened, there was no one from the hamlet
+to help to carry them this night. Having weighed these facts, Palka
+changed her mind.
+
+"Well," she said, "it is true that I grow fat, and after labouring all
+day at this and that have no desire to bear burdens like an ass. So come
+if you will, and if you die or evil spirits carry you away, do not
+add yourselves to the number of the ghosts, of whom there are too many
+hereabouts, and blame me afterwards."
+
+"On the contrary," I said, "we will make you our heirs," and I laid a
+bag containing some pieces of money upon the table.
+
+Palka, who was a saving woman, took the money, for I heard it rattle in
+her hand, hung the jars about my shoulders, and gave Martina the meat
+and corn in a basket. The flat cakes, however, she carried herself on a
+wooden trencher, because, as she said, she feared lest we should break
+them and anger the ghosts, who liked their food to be well served. So
+we started, and presently entered the mouth of that awful valley which,
+Martina told me, looked as though it had been riven through the mountain
+by lightning strokes and then blasted with a curse.
+
+Up this dry and desolate place, which, she said, was bordered on either
+side by walls of grey and jagged rock, we walked in silence. Only I
+noted that the dog which had followed us from the house clung close to
+our heels and now and again whimpered uneasily.
+
+"The beast sees what we cannot see," whispered Palka in explanation.
+
+At last we halted, and I set down the jars at her bidding upon a flat
+rock which she called the Table of Offerings.
+
+"See!" she exclaimed to Martina, "those that were placed here three
+days ago are all emptied and neatly piled together by the ghosts. I told
+Hodur that they did this, but he would not believe me. Now let us pack
+them up in the baskets and begone, for the sun sets and the moon rises
+within the half of an hour. I would not be here in the dark for ten
+pieces of pure gold."
+
+"Then go swiftly, Palka," I said, "for we bide here this night."
+
+"Are you mad?" she asked.
+
+"Not at all," I answered. "A wise man once told me that if one who is
+blind can but come face to face with a spirit, he sees it and thereby
+regains his sight. If you would know the truth, that is why I have
+wandered so far from my own country to find some land where ghosts may
+be met."
+
+"Now I am sure that you are mad," exclaimed Palka. "Come, Hilda, and
+leave this fool to make trial of his cure for blindness."
+
+"Nay," answered Martina, "I must stay with my uncle, although I am very
+much afraid. If I did not, he would beat me afterwards."
+
+"Beat you! Hodur beat a woman! Oh! you are both mad. Or perhaps you are
+ghosts also. I have thought it once or twice, who at least am sure that
+you are other than you seem. Holy Jesus! this place grows dark, and
+I tell you it is full of dead kings. May the Saints guard you; at
+the least, you'll keep high company at your death. Farewell; whate'er
+befalls, blame me not who warned you," and she departed at a run, the
+empty vessels rattling on her back and the dog yapping behind her.
+
+When she had gone the silence grew deep.
+
+"Now, Martina," I whispered, "find some place where we may hide whence
+you can see this Table of Offerings."
+
+She led me to where a fallen rock lay within a few paces, and behind it
+we sat ourselves down in such a position that Martina could watch the
+Table of Offerings by the light of the moon.
+
+Here we waited for a long while; it may have been two hours, or three,
+or four. At least I knew that, although I could see nothing, the
+solemnity of that place sank into my soul. I felt as though the dead
+were moving about me in the silence. I think it was the same with
+Martina, for although the night was very hot in that stifling, airless
+valley, she shivered at my side. At last I felt her start and heard her
+whisper:
+
+"I see a figure. It creeps from the shadow of the cliff towards the
+Table of Offerings."
+
+"What is it like?" I asked.
+
+"It is a woman's figure draped in white cloths; she looks about her; she
+takes up the offerings and places them in a basket she carries. It is
+a woman--no ghost--for she drinks from one of the jars. Oh! now the
+moonlight shines upon her face; it is _that of Heliodore!_"
+
+I heard and could restrain myself no longer. Leaping up, I ran towards
+where I knew the Table of Offerings to be. I tried to speak, but my
+voice choked in my throat. The woman saw or heard me coming through the
+shadows. At least, uttering a low cry, she fled away, for I caught the
+sound of her feet on the rocks and sand. Then I tripped over a stone and
+fell down.
+
+In a moment Martina was at my side.
+
+"Truly you are foolish, Olaf," she said. "Did you think that the lady
+Heliodore would know you at night, changed as you are and in this garb,
+that you must rush at her like an angry bull? Now she has gone, and
+perchance we shall never find her more. Why did you not speak to her?"
+
+"Because my voice choked within me. Oh! blame me not, Martina. If you
+knew what it is to love as I do and after so many fears and sorrows----"
+
+"I trust that I should know also how to control my love," broke in
+Martina sharply. "Come, waste no more time in talk. Let us search."
+
+Then she took me by the hand and led me to where she had last seen
+Heliodore.
+
+"She has vanished away," she said, "here is nothing but rock."
+
+"It cannot be," I answered. "Oh! that I had my eyes again, if for an
+hour, I who was the best tracker in Jutland. See if no stone has been
+stirred, Martina. The sand will be damper where it has lain."
+
+She left me, and presently returned.
+
+"I have found something," she said. "When Heliodore fled she still held
+her basket, which from the look of it was last used by the Pharaohs. At
+least, one of the cakes has fallen from or through it. Come."
+
+She led me to the cliff, and up it to perhaps twice the height of a man,
+then round a projecting rock.
+
+"Here is a hole," she said, "such as jackals might make. Perchance it
+leads into one of the old tombs whereof the mouth is sealed. It was
+on the edge of the hole that I found the cake, therefore doubtless
+Heliodore went down it. Now, what shall we do?"
+
+"Follow, I think. Where is it?"
+
+"Nay, I go first. Give me your hand, Olaf, and lie upon your breast."
+
+I did so, and presently felt the weight of Martina swinging on my arm.
+
+"Leave go," she said faintly, like one who is afraid.
+
+I obeyed, though with doubt, and heard her feet strike upon some floor.
+
+"Thanks be the saints, all is well," she said. "For aught I knew this
+hole might have been as deep as that in the Chamber of the Pit. Let
+yourself down it, feet first, and drop. 'Tis but shallow."
+
+I did so, and found myself beside Martina.
+
+"Now, in the darkness you are the better guide," she whispered. "Lead
+on, I'll follow, holding to your robe."
+
+So I crept forward warily and safely, as the blind can do, till
+presently she exclaimed,
+
+"Halt, here is light again. I think that the roof of the tomb, for by
+the paintings on the walls such it must be, has fallen in. It seems
+to be a kind of central chamber, out of which run great galleries that
+slope downwards and are full of bats. Ah! one of them is caught in
+my hair. Olaf, I will go no farther. I fear bats more than ghosts, or
+anything in the world."
+
+Now, I considered a while till a thought struck me. On my back was my
+beggar's harp. I unslung it and swept its chords, and wild and sad they
+sounded in that solemn place. Then I began to sing an old song that
+twice or thrice I had sung with Heliodore in Byzantium. This song told
+of a lover seeking his mistress. It was for two voices, since in the
+song the mistress answered verse for verse. Here are those of the lines
+that I remember, or, rather, the spirit of them rendered into English. I
+sang the first verse and waited.
+
+     "Dear maid of mine,
+     /   I bid my strings
+     Beat on thy shrine
+     /   With music's wings.
+     Palace or cell
+     /   A shrine I see,
+     If there thou dwell
+     /   And answer me."
+
+There was no answer, so I sang the second verse and once more waited.
+
+     "On thy love's fire
+     /   My passion breathes,
+     Wind of Desire
+     /   Thy incense wreathes.
+     Greeting! To thee,
+     /   Or soon or late,
+     I, bond or free,
+     /   Am dedicate."
+
+And from somewhere far away in the recesses of that great cave came the
+answering strophe.
+
+     "O Love sublime
+     /   And undismayed,
+     No touch of Time
+     /   Upon thee laid.
+     That that is thine;
+     /   Ended the quest!
+     I seek _my_ shrine
+     /   Upon _thy_ breast."
+
+Then I laid down the harp.
+
+At last a voice, the voice of Heliodore speaking whence I knew not,
+asked,
+
+"Do the dead sing, or is it a living man? And if so, how is that man
+named?"
+
+"A living man," I replied, "and he is named Olaf, son of Thorvald,
+or otherwise Michael. That name was given him in the cathedral at
+Byzantium, where first his eyes fell on a certain Heliodore, daughter of
+Magas the Egyptian, whom now he seeks."
+
+I heard the sound of footsteps creeping towards me and Heliodore's voice
+say,
+
+"Let me see your face, you who name yourself Olaf, for know that in
+these haunted tombs ghosts and visions and mocking voices play strange
+tricks. Why do you hide your face, you who call yourself Olaf?"
+
+"Because the eyes are gone from it, Heliodore. Irene robbed it of the
+eyes from jealousy of you, swearing that never more should they behold
+your beauty. Perchance you would not wish to come too near to an eyeless
+man wrapped in a beggar's robe."
+
+She looked--I felt her look. She sobbed--I heard her sob, and then her
+arms were about me and her lips were pressed upon my own.
+
+So at length came joy such as I cannot tell; the joy of lost love found
+again.
+
+
+
+A while went by, how long I know not, and at last I said,
+
+"Where is Martina? It is time we left this place."
+
+"Martina!" she exclaimed. "Do you mean Irene's lady, and is she here? If
+so, how comes she to be travelling with you, Olaf?"
+
+"As the best friend man ever had, Heliodore; as one who clung to him
+in his ruin and saved him from a cruel death; as one who has risked her
+life to help him in his desperate search, and without whom that search
+had failed."
+
+"Then may God reward her, Olaf, for I did not know there were such women
+in the world. Lady Martina! Where are you, lady Martina?"
+
+Thrice she cried the words, and at the third time an answer came from
+the shadows at a distance.
+
+"I am here," said Martina's voice with a little yawn. "I was weary and
+have slept while you two greeted each other. Well met at last, lady
+Heliodore. See, I have brought you back your Olaf, blind it is true, but
+otherwise lacking nothing of health and strength and station."
+
+Then Heliodore ran to her and kissed first her hand and next her lips.
+In after days she told me that for those of one who had been sleeping
+the eyes of Martina seemed to be strangely wet and red. But if this were
+so her voice trembled not at all.
+
+"Truly you two should give thanks to God," she said, "Who has brought
+you together again in so wondrous a fashion, as I do on your behalf from
+the bottom of my heart. Yet you are still hemmed round by dangers many
+and great. What now, Olaf? Will you become a ghost also and dwell here
+in the tomb with Heliodore; and if so, what tale shall I tell to Palka
+and the rest?"
+
+"Not so," I answered. "I think it will be best that we should return to
+Kurna. Heliodore must play her part as the spirit of a queen till we can
+hire some boat and escape with her down the Nile."
+
+"Never," she cried, "I cannot, I cannot. Having come together we must
+separate no more. Oh! Olaf, you do not know what a life has been mine
+during all these dreadful months. When I escaped from Musa by stabbing
+the eunuch who was in charge of me, for which hideous deed may I be
+forgiven," and I felt her shudder at my side, "I fled I knew not whither
+till I found myself in this valley, where I hid till the night was gone.
+Then at daybreak I peeped out from the mouth of the valley and saw the
+Moslems searching for me, but as yet a long way off. Also now I knew
+this valley. It was that to which my father had brought me as a child
+when he came to search for the burying-place of his ancestor, the
+Pharaoh, which records he had read told him was here. I remembered
+everything: where the tomb should be, how we had entered it through a
+hole, how we had found the mummy of a royal lady, whose face was covered
+with a gilded mask, and on her breast the necklace which I wear.
+
+"I ran along the valley, searching the left side of it with my eyes,
+till I saw a flat stone which I knew again. It was called the Table of
+Offerings. I was sure that the hole by which we had entered the tomb
+was quite near to this stone and a little above it, in the face of the
+cliff. I climbed; I found what seemed to be the hole, though of this I
+could not be certain. I crept down it till it came to an end, and
+then, in my terror, hung by my hands and dropped into the darkness,
+not knowing whither I fell, or caring over much if I were killed. As it
+chanced it was but a little way, and, finding myself unhurt, I crawled
+along the cavern till I reached this place where there is light, for
+here the roof of the cave has fallen in. While I crouched amid the rocks
+I heard the voices of the soldiers above me, heard their officer also
+bidding them bring ropes and torches. To the left of where you stand
+there is a sloping passage that runs down to the great central chamber
+where sleeps some mighty king, and out of this passage open other
+chambers. Into the first of these the light of the morning sun struggles
+feebly. I entered it, seeking somewhere to hide myself, and saw a
+painted coffin lying on the floor near to the marble sarcophagus from
+which it had been dragged. It was that in which we had found the body
+of my ancestress; but since then thieves had been in this place. We
+had left the coffin in the sarcophagus and the mummy in the coffin, and
+replaced their lids. Now the mummy lay on the floor, half unwrapped and
+broken in two beneath the breast. Moreover, the face, which I remembered
+as being so like my own, was gone to dust, so that there remained of
+it nothing but a skull, to which hung tresses of long black hair, as,
+indeed, you may see for yourself.
+
+"By the side of the body was the gilded mask, with black and staring
+eyes, and the painted breast-piece of stiff linen, neither of which the
+thieves had found worth stealing.
+
+"I looked and a thought came to me. Lifting the mummy, I thrust it
+into the sarcophagus, all of it save the gilded mask and the painted
+breast-piece of stiff linen. Then I laid myself down in the coffin, of
+which the lid, still lying crosswise, hid me to the waist, and drew the
+gilded mask and painted breast-piece over my head and bosom. Scarcely
+was it done when the soldiers entered. By now the reflected sunlight
+had faded from the place, leaving it in deep shadow; but some of the men
+held burning torches made from splinters of old coffins, that were full
+of pitch.
+
+"'Feet have passed here; I saw the marks of them in the dust,' said the
+officer. 'She may have hidden in this place. Search! Search! It will go
+hard with us if we return to Musa to tell him that he has lost his toy.'
+
+"They looked into the sarcophagus and saw the broken mummy. Indeed, one
+of them lifted it, unwillingly enough, and let it fall again, saying
+grimly,
+
+"'Musa would scarce care for this companion, though in her day she may
+have been fair enough.'
+
+"Then they came to the coffin.
+
+"'Here's another,' exclaimed the soldier, 'and one with a gold face.
+Allah! how its eyes stare.'
+
+"'Pull it out,' said the officer.
+
+"'Let that be your task,' answered the man. 'I'll defile myself with no
+more corpses.'
+
+"The officer came and looked. 'What a haunted hole is this, full of the
+ghosts of idol worshippers, or so I think,' he said. 'Those eyes stare
+curses at us. Well, the Christian maid is not here. On, before the
+torches fail.'
+
+"Then they went, leaving me; the painted linen creaked upon my breast as
+I breathed again.
+
+"'Till nightfall I lay in that coffin, fearing lest they should return;
+and I tell you, Olaf, that strange dreams came to me there, for I think
+I swooned or slept in that narrow bed. Yes, dreams of the past, which
+you shall hear one day, if we live, for they seem to have to do with you
+and me. Aye, I thought that the dead woman in the sarcophagus at my side
+awoke and told them to me. At length I rose and crept back to this
+place where we stand, for here I could see the friendly light, and being
+outworn, laid me down and slept.
+
+"At the first break of day I crawled from the tomb, followed that same
+road by which I had entered, though I found it hard to climb up through
+the entrance hole.
+
+"No living thing was to be seen in the valley, except a great night bird
+flitting to its haunt. I was parched with thirst, and knowing that in
+this dry place I soon must perish, I glided from rock to rock towards
+the mouth of the valley, thinking to find some other grave or cranny
+where I might lie hid till night came again and I could descend to the
+plain and drink. But, Olaf, before I had gone many steps I discovered
+fresh food, milk and water laid upon a rock, and though I feared lest
+they might be poisoned, ate and drank of them. When I knew that they
+were wholesome I thought that some friend must have set them there to
+satisfy my wants, though I knew not who the friend could be. Afterwards
+I learned that this food was an offering to the ghosts of the dead.
+Among our forefathers in forgotten generations it was, I know, the
+custom to make such offerings, since in their blindness they believed
+that the spirts of their beloved needed sustenance as their bodies once
+had done. Doubtless the memory of the rite still survives; at least,
+to this day the offerings are made. Indeed, when it was found that they
+were not made in vain, more and more of them were brought, so that I
+have lacked nothing.
+
+"Here then I have dwelt for many moons among the dust of men departed,
+only now and again wandering out at night. Once or twice folk have seen
+me when I ventured to the plains, and I have been tempted to speak to
+them and ask their help. But always they fled away, believing me to
+be the ghost of some bygone queen. Indeed, to speak truth, Olaf, this
+companionship with spirits, for spirits do dwell in these tombs--I have
+seen them, I tell you I have seen them--has so worked upon my soul that
+at times I feel as though I were already of their company. Moreover, I
+knew that I could not live long. The loneliness was sucking up my life
+as the dry sand sucks water. Had you not come, Olaf, within some few
+days or weeks I should have died."
+
+Now I spoke for the first time, saying,
+
+"And did you wish to die, Heliodore?"
+
+"No. Before the war between Musa and my father, Magas, news came to us
+from Byzantium that Irene had killed you. All believed it save I, who
+did not believe."
+
+"Why not, Heliodore?"
+
+"Because I could not feel that you were dead. Therefore I fought for my
+life, who otherwise, after we were conquered and ruined and my father
+was slain fighting nobly, should have stabbed, not that eunuch, but
+myself. Then later, in this tomb, I came to know that you were not dead.
+The other lost ones I could feel about me from time to time, but you
+never, you who would have been the first to seek me when my soul was
+open to such whisperings. So I lived on when all else would have died,
+because hope burned in me like a lamp unquenchable. And at last you
+came! Oh! at last you came!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE CALIPH HARUN
+
+Here there is an absolute blank in my story. One of those walls of
+oblivion of which I have spoken seems to be built across its path. It is
+as though a stream had plunged suddenly from some bright valley into the
+bosom of a mountain side and there vanished from the ken of man. What
+happened in the tomb after Heliodore had ended her tale; whether we
+departed thence together or left her there a while; how we escaped
+from Kurna, and by what good fortune or artifice we came safely to
+Alexandria, I know not. As to all these matters my vision fails me
+utterly. So far as I am concerned, they are buried beneath the dust
+of time. I know as little of them as I know of where and how I slept
+between my life as Olaf and this present life of mine; that is, nothing
+at all. Yet in this way or in that the stream did win through the
+mountain, since beyond all grows clear again.
+
+Once more I stood upon the deck of the _Diana_ in the harbour of
+Alexandria. With me were Martina and Heliodore. Heliodore's face was
+stained and she was dressed as a boy, such a harlequin lad as singers
+and mountebanks often take in their company. The ship was ready to start
+and the wind served. Yet we could not sail because of the lack of some
+permission. A Moslem galley patrolled the harbour and threatened to sink
+us if we dared to weigh without this paper. The mate had gone ashore
+with a bribe. We waited and waited. At length the captain, Menas, who
+stood by me, whispered into my ear,
+
+"Be calm; he comes; all is well."
+
+Then I heard the mate shout: "I have the writing under seal," and Menas
+gave the order to cast off the ropes that held the ship to the quay.
+One of the sailors came up and reported to Menas that their companion,
+Cosmas, was missing. It seemed that he had slipped ashore without leave
+and had not returned.
+
+"There let him bide," said Menas, with an oath. "Doubtless the hog lies
+drunk in some den. When he awakes he may tell what tale he pleases and
+find his own way back to Lesbos. Cast off, cast off! I say."
+
+At this moment that same Cosmas appeared. I could not see him, but I
+could hear him plainly enough. Evidently he had become involved in some
+brawl, for an angry woman and others were demanding money of him and he
+was shouting back drunken threats. A man struck him and the woman got
+him by the beard. Then his reason left him altogether.
+
+"Am I, a Christian, to be treated thus by you heathen dogs?" he
+screamed. "Oh, you think I am dirt beneath your feet. I have friends,
+I tell you I have friends. You know not whom I serve. I say that I am
+a soldier of Olaf the Northman, Olaf the Blind, Olaf Red-Sword, he who
+made you prophet-worshippers sing so small at Mitylene, as he will do
+again ere long."
+
+"Indeed, friend," said a quiet voice. It was that of the Moslem captain,
+Yusuf, he who befriended us when we arrived at Alexandria, who had been
+watching all this scene. "Then you serve a great general, as some of
+us have cause to know. Tell me, where is he now, for I hear that he has
+left Lesbos?"
+
+"Where is he? Why, aboard yonder ship, of course. Oh! he has fooled you
+finely. Another time you'll search beggar's rags more closely."
+
+"Cast off! Cast off!" roared Menas.
+
+"Nay," said the officer, "cast not off. Soldiers, drive away those
+men. I must have words with the captain of this ship. Come, bring that
+drunken fellow with you."
+
+"Now all is finished," I said.
+
+"Yes," answered Heliodore, "all is finished. After we have endured so
+much it is hard. Well, at least death remains to us."
+
+"Hold your hand," exclaimed Martina. "God still lives and can save us
+yet."
+
+Black bitterness took hold of me. In some few days I had hoped to reach
+Lesbos, and there be wed to Heliodore. And now! And now!
+
+"Cut the ropes, Menas," I cried, "and out with the oars. We'll risk the
+galley. You, Martina, set me at the mouth of the gangway and tell me
+when to strike. Though I be blind I may yet hold them back till we clear
+the quay."
+
+She obeyed, and I drew the red sword from beneath my rags. Then, amidst
+the confusion which followed, I heard the grave voice of Yusuf speaking
+to me.
+
+"Sir," he said, "for your own sake I pray you put up that sword, which
+we think is one whereof tales have been told. To fight is useless, for
+I have bowmen who can shoot you down and spears that can outreach you.
+General Olaf, a brave man should know when to surrender, especially if
+he be blind."
+
+"Aye, sir," I answered, "and a brave man should know when to die."
+
+"Why should you die, General?" went on the voice. "I do not know that
+for a Christian to visit Egypt disguised as a beggar will be held a
+crime worthy of death, unless indeed you came hither to spy out the
+land."
+
+"Can the blind spy?" asked Martina indignantly.
+
+"Who can say, Lady? But certainly it seems that _your_ eyes are bright
+and quick enough. Also there is another matter. A while ago, when this
+ship came to Alexandria, I signed a paper giving leave to a certain
+eyeless musician and his niece to ply their trade in Egypt. Then there
+were two of you; now I behold a third. Who is that comely lad with a
+stained face that stands beside you?"
+
+Heliodore began some story, saying that she was the orphan son of I
+forget whom, and while she told it certain of the Moslems slipped past
+me.
+
+"Truly you should do well in the singing trade," interrupted the officer
+with a laugh, "seeing that for a boy your voice is wondrous sweet. Are
+you quite sure that you remember your sex aright? Well, it can easily be
+proved. Bare that lad's bosom, soldiers. Nay, 'tis needless; snatch off
+that head-dress."
+
+A man obeyed, and Heliodore's beautiful black hair, which I would not
+suffer her to cut, fell tumbling to her knees.
+
+"Let me be," she said. "I admit that I am a woman."
+
+"That is generous of you, Lady," the officer answered in the midst
+of the laughter which followed. "Now will you add to your goodness by
+telling me your name? You refuse? Then shall I help you? In the late
+Coptic war it was my happy fortune twice to see a certain noble maiden,
+the daughter of Magas the Prince, whom the Emir Musa afterwards took for
+himself, but who fled from him. Tell me, Lady, have you a twin sister?"
+
+"Cease your mockings, sir," said Heliodore despairingly. "I am she you
+seek."
+
+"'Tis Musa seeks you, not I, Lady."
+
+"Then, sir, he seeks in vain, for know that ere he finds I die. Oh! sir,
+I know you have a noble heart; be pitiful and let us go. I'll tell you
+all the truth. Olaf Red-Sword yonder and I have long been affianced.
+Blind though he is, he sought me through great dangers, aye, and found
+me. Would you part us at the last? In the name of the God we both
+worship, and of your mother, I pray you let us go."
+
+"By the Prophet, that I would do, Lady, only then I fear me that I
+should let my head go from its shoulders also. There are too many in
+this secret for it to bide there long if I did as you desire. Nay,
+you must to the Emir, all three of you--not Musa, but to his rival,
+Obaidallah, who loves him little, and by the decree of the Caliph once
+again rules Egypt. Be sure that in a matter between you and Musa you
+will meet with justice from Obaidallah. Come now, fearing nothing, to
+where we may find you all garments more befitting to your station than
+those mummer's robes."
+
+So a guard was formed round us, and we went. As my feet touched the quay
+I heard a sound of angry voices, followed by groans and a splash in the
+water.
+
+"What is that?" I asked of Yusuf.
+
+"I think, General, that your servants from the _Diana_ have settled some
+account that they had with the drunken dog who was so good as to bark
+out your name to me. But, with your leave, I will not look to make
+sure."
+
+"God pardon him! As yet I cannot," I muttered, and marched on.
+
+
+
+We stood, whether on that day or another I do not know, in some hall of
+judgment. Martina whispered to me that a small, dark man was seated in
+the chair of state, and about him priests and others. This was the Emir
+Obaidallah. Musa, that had been Emir, who, she said, was fat and sullen,
+was there also, and whenever his glance fell upon Heliodore I felt her
+shiver at my side. So was the Patriarch Politian who pleaded our cause.
+The case was long, so long that, being courteous as ever, they gave us
+cushions to sit on, also, in an interval, food and sherbet.
+
+Musa claimed Heliodore as his slave. An officer who prosecuted claimed
+that Allah having given me, their enemy and a well-known general who
+had done them much damage, into their hands, I should be put to death.
+Politian answered on behalf of all of us, saying that we had harmed no
+man. He added that as there was a truce between the Christians and the
+Moslems, I could not be made to suffer the penalties of war in a time of
+peace, who had come to Egypt but to seek a maid to whom I was affianced.
+Moreover, that even if it were so, the murder of prisoners was not one
+of those penalties.
+
+The Emir listened to all but said little. At length, however, he asked
+whether we were willing to become Moslems, since if so he thought that
+we might go free. We answered that we were not willing.
+
+"Then it would seem," he said, "that the lady Heliodore, having been
+taken in war, must be treated as a prisoner of war, the only question
+being to whom she belongs."
+
+Now Musa interrupted angrily, shouting out that as to this there was no
+doubt, since she belonged to him, who had captured her during his tenure
+of office.
+
+The Emir thought a while, and we waited trembling. At last he gave
+judgment, saying:
+
+"The General Olaf the Blind, who in Byzantium was known as Olaf
+Red-Sword or as Michael, and who while in the service of the Empress
+Irene often made war against the followers of the Prophet, but who
+afterwards lost his eyes at the hands of this same evil woman, is a man
+of whom all the world has heard. Particularly have we Moslems heard of
+him, seeing that as governor of Lesbos in recent days he inflicted a
+great defeat upon our navy, slaying many thousands and taking others
+prisoner. But as it chances God, Who bides His time to work justice, set
+a bait for him in the shape of a fair woman. On this bait he has been
+hooked, notwithstanding all his skill and cunning, and delivered into
+our hands, having come into Egypt disguised as a beggar in order to seek
+out that woman. Still, as he is so famous a man, and as at present there
+is a truce between us and the Empire of the East, which truce raises
+certain doubtful points of high policy, I decree that his case be
+remitted to the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, my master, and that he be
+conveyed to Baghdad there to await judgment. With him will go the woman
+whom he alleges to be his niece, but who, as we are informed, was one of
+the waiting-ladies of the Empress Irene. Against her there is nothing to
+be said save that she may be a Byzantine spy.
+
+"Now I come to the matter of the lady Heliodore, who is reported to be
+the wife or the lover or the affianced of this General Olaf, a question
+of which God alone knows the truth. This lady Heliodore is a person of
+high descent and ancient race. She is the only child of the late Prince
+Magas, who claimed to have the blood of the old Pharaohs in his veins,
+and who within this year was defeated and slain by my predecessor
+in office, the Emir Musa. The said Emir, having captured the lady
+Heliodore, purposed to place her in his harem, as he had a right to
+do, seeing that she refused the blessings of the Faith. As it chanced,
+however, she escaped from him, as it is told by stabbing the eunuch in
+charge of her. At least it is certain that this eunuch was found dead,
+though by whom he was killed is _not_ certain. Now that she has been
+taken again, the lord Musa claims the woman as his spoil and demands
+that I should hand her over to him. Yet it seems to me that if she is
+the spoil of anyone, she belongs to the Emir governing Egypt at the date
+of her recapture. It was only by virtue of his office as Emir, and not
+by gift, purchase, or marriage contract, that the lord Musa came into
+possession of her, which possession was voided by her flight before she
+was added to his household and he acquired any natural rights over her
+in accordance with our law. Now for my part, I, as Emir, make no claim
+to this woman, holding it a hateful thing before God to force one into
+my household who has no wish to dwell there, especially when I know
+her to be married or affianced to another man. Still, as here also
+are involved high questions of law, I command that the lady Heliodore,
+daughter of the late Prince Magas, shall also be conveyed with all
+courtesy and honour to the Caliph Harun at Baghdad, there to abide his
+judgment of her case. The matter is finished. Let the officers concerned
+carry out my decree and answer for the safety of these prisoners with
+their lives."
+
+"The matter is not finished," shouted the ex-Emir Musa. "You,
+Obaidallah, have uttered this false judgment because your heart is black
+towards me whom you have displaced."
+
+"Then appeal against it," said Obaidallah, "but know that if you attempt
+to lay hands upon this lady, my orders are that you be cut down as an
+enemy to the law. Patriarch of the Christians, you sail for Baghdad to
+visit the Caliph at his request in a ship that he has sent for you. Into
+your hands I give these prisoners under guard, knowing that you will
+deal well with them, who are of your false faith. To you also who have
+the Caliph's ear, Allah knows why, I will entrust letters making true
+report of all this matter. Let proper provision be made for the comfort
+of the General Olaf and of those with him. Musa, may your greetings at
+the Court of Baghdad be such as you deserve; meanwhile cease to trouble
+me."
+
+At the door of that hall I was separated from Heliodore and Martina
+and led to some house or prison, where I was given a large room with
+servants to wait upon me. Here I slept that night, and on the morrow
+asked when we sailed for Beirut on our way to Baghdad. The chief of the
+servants answered that he did not know. During that day I was visited
+by Yusuf, the officer who had captured us on board the _Diana_. He also
+told me that he did not know when we sailed, but certainly it would not
+be for some days. Further, he said that I need have no fear for the lady
+Heliodore and Martina, as they were well treated in some other place.
+Then he led me into a great garden, where he said I was at liberty to
+walk whenever I pleased.
+
+Thus began perhaps the most dreadful time of waiting and suspense in all
+this life of mine, seeing that it was the longest. Every few days the
+officer Yusuf would visit me and talk of many matters, for we became
+friends. Only of Heliodore and Martina he could or would tell me
+nothing, nor of when we were to set out on our journey to Baghdad.
+I asked to be allowed to speak with the Patriarch Politian, but he
+answered that this was impossible, as he had been called away from
+Alexandria for a little while. Nor could I have audience with the Emir
+Obaidallah, for he too had been called away.
+
+Now my heart was filled with terrors, for I feared lest in this way
+or in that Heliodore had fallen into the hands of the accursed Musa. I
+prayed Yusuf to tell me the truth of the matter, whereon he swore by the
+Prophet that she was safe, but would say no more. Nor did this comfort
+me much, since for aught I knew he might mean she was safe in death.
+I was aware, further, that the Moslems held it no crime to deceive an
+infidel. Week was added to week, and still I languished in this rich
+prison. The best of garments and food were brought to me; I was even
+given wine. Kind hands tended me and led me from place to place. I
+lacked nothing except freedom and the truth. Doubt and fear preyed upon
+my heart till at length I fell ill and scarcely cared to walk in the
+garden. One day when Yusuf visited me I told him that he would not need
+to come many more times, since I felt that I was going to die.
+
+"Do not die," he answered, "since then perchance you will find you have
+done so in vain," and he left me.
+
+On the following evening he returned and told me that he had brought
+a physician to see me, a certain Mahommed, who was standing before me.
+Although I had no hope from any physician, I prayed this Mahommed to be
+seated, whereon Yusuf left us, closing the door behind him.
+
+"Be pleased to set out your case, General Olaf," said Mahommed in a
+grave, quiet voice, "for know that I am sent by the Caliph himself to
+minister to you."
+
+"How can that be, seeing that he is in Baghdad?" I answered. Still, I
+told him my ailments.
+
+When I had finished he said:
+
+"I perceive that you suffer more from your mind than from your body. Be
+so good, now, as to repeat to me the tale of your life, of which I have
+already heard something. Tell me especially of those parts of it which
+have to do with the lady Heliodore, daughter of Magas, of your blinding
+by Irene for her sake, and of your discovery of her in Egypt, where you
+sought her disguised as a beggar."
+
+"Why should I tell you all my story, sir?"
+
+"That I may know how to heal you of your sickness. Also, General Olaf, I
+will be frank with you. I am more than a mere physician; I have certain
+powers under the Caliph's seal, and it will be wise on your part to open
+all your heart to me."
+
+Now I reflected that there could be little harm in repeating to this
+strange doctor what so many already knew. So I told him everything, and
+the tale was long.
+
+"Wondrous! Most wondrous!" said the grave-voiced physician when I had
+finished. "Yet to me the strangest part of your history is that played
+therein by the lady Martina. Had she been your lover, now, one might
+have understood--perhaps," and he paused.
+
+"Sir Physician," I answered, "the lady Martina has been and is no more
+than my friend."
+
+"Ah! Now I see new virtues in your religion, since we Moslems do not
+find such friends among those women who are neither our mothers nor our
+sisters. Evidently the Christian faith must have power to change the
+nature of women, which I thought to be impossible. Well, General Olaf, I
+will consider of your case, and I may tell you that I have good hopes of
+finding a medicine by which it can be cured, all save your sight, which
+in this world God Himself cannot give back to you. Now I have a favour
+to ask. I see that in this room of yours there is a curtain hiding the
+bed of the servant who sleeps with you. I desire to see another patient
+here, and that this patient should not see you. Of your goodness will
+you sit upon the bed behind that curtain, and will you swear to me on
+your honour as a soldier that whatever you may hear you will in no way
+reveal yourself?"
+
+"Surely, that is if it is nothing which will bring disgrace upon my head
+or name."
+
+"It will be nothing to bring disgrace on your head or name, General
+Olaf, though perhaps it may bring some sorrow to your heart. As yet I
+cannot say."
+
+"My heart is too full of sorrow to hold more," I answered.
+
+Then he led me down to the guard's bed, on which I sat myself down,
+being strangely interested in this play. He drew the curtain in front of
+me, and I heard him return to the centre of the room and clap his hands.
+Someone entered, saying,
+
+"High Lord, your will?"
+
+"Silence!" he exclaimed, and began to whisper orders, while I wondered
+what kind of a physician this might be who was addressed as "High Lord."
+
+The servant went, and, after a while of waiting that seemed long, once
+more the door was opened, and I heard the sweep of a woman's dress upon
+the carpet.
+
+"Be seated, Lady," said the grave voice of the physician, "for I have
+words to say to you."
+
+"Sir, I obey," answered another voice, at the sound of which my heart
+stood still. It was that of Heliodore.
+
+"Lady," went on the physician, "as my robe will tell you, I am a doctor
+of medicine. Also, as it chances, I am something more, namely, an envoy
+appointed by the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, having full powers to deal
+with your case. Here are my credentials if you care to read them," and I
+heard a crackling as of parchment being unfolded.
+
+"Sir," answered Heliodore, "I will read the letters later. For the
+present I accept your word. Only I would ask one question, if it pleases
+you to answer. Why have not I and the General Olaf been conveyed to
+the presence of the Caliph himself, as was commanded by the Emir
+Obaidallah?"
+
+"Lady, because it was not convenient to the Caliph to receive you,
+since as it chances at present he is moving from place to place upon the
+business of the State. Therefore, as you will find in the writing, he
+has appointed me to deal with your matter. Now, Lady, the Caliph and I
+his servant know all your story from lips which even you would trust.
+You are betrothed to a certain enemy of his, a Northman named Olaf
+Red-Sword or Michael, who was blinded by the Empress Irene for some
+offence against her, but was afterwards appointed by her son Constantine
+to be governor of the Isle of Lesbos. This Olaf, by the will of God,
+inflicted a heavy defeat upon the forces of the Caliph which he had sent
+to take Lesbos. Then, by the goodness of God, he wandered to Egypt in
+search of you, with the result that both of you were taken prisoner.
+Lady, it will be clear to you that, having this wild hawk Olaf in his
+hands, the Caliph would scarcely let him go again to prey upon the
+Moslems, though whether he will kill him or make of him a slave as yet I
+do not know. Nay, hear me out before you speak. The Caliph has been told
+of your wondrous beauty, and as I see even less than the truth. Also he
+has heard of the high spirit which you showed in the Coptic rising, when
+your father, the Prince Magas, was slain, and of how you escaped out
+of the hand of the Emir Musa the Fat, and were not afraid to dwell for
+months alone in the tombs of the ancient dead. Now the Caliph, being
+moved in his heart by your sad plight and all that he has heard
+concerning you, commands me to make you an offer.
+
+"The offer is that you should come to his Court, and there be instructed
+for a while by his learned men in the truths of religion. Then, if it
+pleases you to adopt Islam, he will take you as one of his wives, and
+if it does not please you, will add you to his harem, since it is not
+lawful for him to marry a woman who remains a Christian. In either case
+he will make on you a settlement of property to the value of that which
+belonged to your father, the Prince Magas. Reflect well before you
+answer. Your choice lies between the memory of a blind man, whom I think
+you will never see again, and the high place of one of the wives of the
+greatest sovereign of the earth."
+
+"Sir, before I answer I would put a question to you. Why do you say 'the
+memory of a blind man'?"
+
+"Because, Lady, a rumour has reached me which I desired to hold back
+from you, but which now you force me to repeat. It is that this General
+Olaf has in truth already passed the gate of death."
+
+"Then, sir," she answered, with a little sob, "it behoves me to follow
+him through that gate."
+
+"That will happen when it pleases God. Meanwhile, what is your answer?"
+
+"Sir, my answer is that I, a poor Christian prisoner, a victim of war
+and fate, thank the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid for the honours and the
+benefits he would shower on me, and with humility decline them."
+
+"So be it, Lady. The Caliph is not a man who would wish to force your
+inclination. Still, this being so, I am charged to say he bids you
+remember that you were taken prisoner in war by the Emir Musa. He holds
+that, subject to his own prior right, which he waives, you are the
+property of the Emir Musa under a just interpretation of the law. Yet
+he would be merciful as God is merciful, and therefore he gives you the
+choice of three things. The first of these is that you adopt Islam with
+a faithful heart and go free."
+
+"That I refuse, as I have refused it before," said Heliodore.
+
+"The second is," he continued, "that you enter the harem of the Emir
+Musa."
+
+"That I refuse also."
+
+"And the third and last is that, having thrust aside his mercy, you
+suffer the common fate of a captured Christian who persists in error,
+and die."
+
+"That I accept," said Heliodore.
+
+"You accept death. In the splendour of your youth and beauty, you accept
+death," he said, with a note of wonder in his voice. "Truly, you are
+great-hearted, and the Caliph will grieve when he learns his loss, as
+I do now. Yet I have my orders, for which my head must answer. Lady, if
+you die, it must be here and now. Do you still choose death?"
+
+"Yes," she said in a low voice.
+
+"Behold this cup," he went on, "and this draught which I pour into it,"
+and I heard the sound of liquid flowing. "Presently I shall ask you to
+drink of it, and then, after a little while, say the half of an hour,
+you will fall asleep, to wake in whatever world God has appointed to
+the idol worshippers of the Cross. You will suffer no pain and no fear;
+indeed, maybe the draught will bring you joy."
+
+"Then give it me," said Heliodore faintly. "I will drink at once and
+have done."
+
+Then it was that I came out from behind my curtain and groped my way
+towards them.
+
+"Sir Physician, or Sir Envoy of the Caliph Harun," I said; but for the
+moment went no further, since, with a low cry, Heliodore cast herself
+upon my breast and stopped my lips with hers.
+
+"Hush till I have spoken," I whispered, placing my arm about her; then
+continued. "I swore to you just now that I would not reveal myself
+unless I heard aught which would bring disgrace on my head or name. To
+stand still behind yonder curtain while my betrothed is poisoned at your
+hands would bring disgrace upon my head and name so black that not
+all the seas of all the world could wash it away. Say, Physician, does
+yonder cup hold enough of death for both of us?"
+
+"Yes, General Olaf, and if you choose to share it I think the Caliph
+will be glad, since he loves not the killing of brave men. Only it must
+be now and without more words. You can talk for a little afterwards
+before the sleep takes you."
+
+"So be it," I said. "Since I must die, as I heard you decree but now, it
+is no crime to die thus, or at least I'll risk it who have one to guard
+upon that road. Drink, beloved, a little less than half since I am the
+stronger. Then give me the cup."
+
+"Husband, I pledge you," she said, and drank, thrusting the cup into my
+hand.
+
+I, too, lifted it to my lips. Lo! it was empty.
+
+"Oh! most cruel of thieves," I cried, "you have stolen all."
+
+"Aye," she answered. "Shall I see you swallow poison before my eyes? I
+die, but perchance God may save you yet."
+
+"Not so, Heliodore," I cried again, and, turning, began to grope my way
+to the window-place, which I knew was far from the ground, since I had
+no weapon that would serve my turn.
+
+In an instant, as I thrust the lattice open, I felt two strong arms cast
+about me and heard the physician exclaim,
+
+"Come, Lady, help me with this madman, lest he do himself a mischief."
+
+She seized me also, and we struggled together all three of us. The doors
+burst open, and I was dragged back into the centre of the room.
+
+"Olaf Red-Sword, the blind General of the Christians," said the
+physician in a new voice, one that was full of majesty and command,
+"I who speak to you am no doctor of medicine and no envoy. I am
+Harun-al-Rashid, Caliph of the Faithful. Is it not so, my servants?"
+
+"It is so, Caliph," pealed the answer from many throats.
+
+"Hearken, then, to the decree of Harun-al-Rashid. Learn both of you that
+all which has passed between us was but a play that I have played to
+test the love and faithfulness of you twain. Lady Heliodore, be at ease.
+You have drunk nothing save water distilled with roses, and no sleep
+shall fall on you save that which Nature brings to happiness. Lady, I
+tell you that, having seen what I have seen and heard what I have heard,
+rather would I stand in the place of that blind man to-night than be
+Sovereign of the East. Truly, I knew not that love such as yours was to
+be met with in the world. I say that when I saw you drain the cup in a
+last poor struggle to drive back the death that threatened this Olaf my
+own heart went out in love for you. Yet have no fear, since my love is
+of a kind that would not rob you of your love, but rather would bring it
+to a rich and glorious blossom in the sunshine of my favour. Wondrous is
+the tale of the wooing of you twain and happy shall be its end. General
+Olaf, you conquered me in war and dealt with those of my servants who
+fell into your hands according to the nobleness of your heart. Shall
+I, then, be outdone in generosity by one whom a while ago I should have
+named a Christian dog? Not so! Let the high priest of the Christians,
+Politian, be brought hither. He stands without, and with him the lady
+named Martina, who was the Empress Irene's waiting-woman."
+
+The messengers went and there followed a silence. There are times when
+the heart is too full for words; at least, Heliodore and I found nothing
+to say to each other. We only clasped each other's hand and waited.
+
+At length the door opened, and I heard the eager, bustling step of
+Politian, also another gliding step, which I knew for that of Martina.
+She came to me, she kissed me on the brow, and whispered into my ear,
+
+"So all is well at last, as I knew it would be; and now, Olaf--and now,
+Olaf, you are about to be married. Yes, at once, and--I wish you joy."
+
+Her words were simple enough, yet they kindled in my heart a light by
+which it saw many things.
+
+"Martina," I said, "if I have lived to reach this hour, under God it is
+through you. Martina, they say that each of us has a guardian angel in
+heaven, and if that be so, mine has come to earth. Yet in heaven alone
+shall I learn to thank her as I ought."
+
+Then suddenly Martina was sobbing on my breast; after which I remember
+only that Heliodore helped me to wipe away her tears, while in the
+background I heard the Caliph say to himself in his deep voice,
+
+"Wondrous! Wondrous! By Allah! these Christians are a strange folk. How
+far wiser is our law, for then he could have married both of them, and
+all three would have been happy. Truly he who decreed that it should be
+so knew the heart of man and woman and was a prophet sent by God. Nay,
+answer me not, friend Politian, since on matters of religion we have
+agreed that we will never argue. Do your office according to your unholy
+rites, and I and my servants will watch, praying that the Evil One may
+be absent from the service. Oh! silence, silence! Have I not said that
+we will not argue on subjects of religion? To your business, man."
+
+So Politian drew us together to the other end of the chamber, and there
+wed us as best he might, with Martina for witness and the solemn Moslems
+for congregation.
+
+When it was over, Harun commanded my wife to lead me before him.
+
+"Here is a marriage gift for you, General Olaf," he said; "one, I think,
+that you will value more than any other," and he handed me something
+sharp and heavy.
+
+I felt it, hilt and blade, and knew it for the Wanderer's sword, yes,
+my own red sword from which I took my name, that the Commander of the
+Faithful now restored to me, and with it my place and freedom. I took
+it, and, saying no word, with that same sword gave to him the triple
+salute due to a sovereign.
+
+Instantly I heard Harun's scimitar, the scimitar that was famous
+throughout the East, rattle as it left its scabbard, as did the
+scimitars of all those who attended on him, and knew that there was
+being returned to me the salute which a sovereign gives to a general in
+high command. Then the Caliph spoke again.
+
+"A wedding gift to you, Lady Heliodore, child of an ancient and mighty
+race, and new-made wife of a gallant man. For the second time to-night
+take this cup of gold, but let that which lies within it adorn your
+breast in memory of Harun. Queens of old have worn those jewels, but
+never have they hung above a nobler heart."
+
+Heliodore took the cup, and in her trembling hand I heard the priceless
+gems that filled it clink against its sides. Once more the Caliph spoke.
+
+"A gift for you also, Lady Martina. Take this ring from my hand and
+place it on your own. It seems a small thing, does it not? Yet something
+lies within its circle. In this city I saw to-day a very beauteous house
+built by one of your Grecian folk, and behind it lands that a swift
+horse could scarcely circle twice within an hour, most fruitful lands
+fed by the waters. That house and those lands are yours, together with
+rule over all who dwell upon them. There you may live content with
+whomever you may please, even if he be a Christian, free of tax or
+tribute, provided only that neither you nor he shall plot against my
+power. Now, to all three of you farewell, perchance for ever, unless
+some of us should meet again in war. General Olaf, your ship lies in
+the harbour; use it when you will. I pray that you will think kindly of
+Harun-al-Rashid, as he does of you, Olaf Red-Sword. Come, let us leave
+these two. Lady Martina, I pray you to be my guest this night."
+
+So they all went, leaving Heliodore and myself alone in the great room,
+yes, alone at last and safe.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IRENE'S PRAYER
+
+Years had gone by, I know not how many, but only that much had happened
+in them. For a while Irene and young Constantine were joint rulers
+of the Empire. Then they quarrelled again, and Constantine, afraid of
+treachery, fled with his friends in a ship after an attempt had been
+made to seize his person. He purposed to join his legions in Asia, or so
+it was said, and make war upon his mother. But those friends of his upon
+the ship were traitors, who, fearing Irene's vengeance or perhaps his
+own, since she threatened to tell him all the truth concerning them,
+seized Constantine and delivered him up to Irene. She, the mother who
+bore him, caused him to be taken to the purple Porphyry Chamber in the
+palace, that chamber in which, as the first-born of an emperor, he saw
+the light, and there robbed him of light for ever.
+
+Yes, Stauracius and his butchers blinded Constantine as I had been
+blinded. Only it was told that they drove their knives deeper so that he
+died. But others say that he lived on, a prisoner, unknown, unheeded, as
+those uncles of his whom _he_ had blinded and who once were in my charge
+had lived, till in Greece the assassin's daggers found their hearts. If
+so, oh! what a fate was his.
+
+Afterwards for five years Irene reigned alone in glory, while
+Stauracius, my god-father, and his brother eunuch, Aetius, strove
+against each other to be first Minister of the Crown. Aetius won, and,
+not content with all he had, plotted that his relative Nicetas, who held
+the place of Captain of the Guard, which once I filled, should be named
+successor to the throne. Then at last the nobles rebelled, and, electing
+one of their number, Nicephorus, as emperor, seized Irene in her private
+house of Eleutherius, where she lay sick, and crowned Nicephorus in St.
+Sophia. Next day he visited Irene, when, fearing the worst and broken
+by illness, she bought a promise of safety by revealing to him all her
+hoarded treasure.
+
+Thus fell Irene, the mighty Empress of the Eastern Empire!
+
+Now during all these years Heliodore and I were left in peace at Lesbos.
+I was not deposed from my governorship of that isle, which prospered
+greatly under my rule. Even Irene's estates, which Constantine had given
+me, were not taken away. At the appointed times I remitted the
+tribute due, yes, and added to the sum, and received back the official
+acknowledgment signed by the Empress, and with it the official thanks.
+But with these never came either letter or message. Yet it is evident
+she knew that I was married, for to Heliodore did come a message, and
+with it a gift. The gift was that necklace and those other ornaments
+which Irene had caused to be made in an exact likeness of the string
+of golden shells separated by emerald beetles, one half of which I had
+taken from the grave of the Wanderer at Aar and the other half of which
+was worn by Heliodore.
+
+So much of the gift. The message was that she who owned the necklace
+might wish to have the rest of the set. To it were added the words that
+a certain general had been wrong when he prophesied that the wearing
+of this necklace by any woman save one would bring ill fortune to the
+wearer, since from the day it hung about Irene's neck even that which
+seemed to be bad fortune had turned to good. Thus she had escaped "the
+most evil thing in the world, namely, another husband," and had become
+the first woman in the world.
+
+These words, which were written on a piece of sheepskin, sealed up, and
+addressed to the Lady Heliodore, but unsigned, I thought of the most
+evil omen, since boastfulness always seems to be hateful to the Power
+that decrees our fates. So, indeed, they proved to be.
+
+
+
+On a certain day in early summer--it was the anniversary of my marriage
+in Egypt--Heliodore and I had dined with but two guests. Those guests
+were Jodd, the great Northman, my lieutenant, and his wife, Martina, for
+within a year of our return to Lesbos Jodd and Martina had married. It
+comes back to me that there was trouble about the business, but that
+when Jodd gave out that either she must marry him or that he would sail
+back to his northern land, bidding good-bye to us all for ever, Martina
+gave way. I think that Heliodore managed the matter in some fashion of
+her own after the birth of our first-born son; how, I held it best never
+to inquire. At least, it was managed, and the marriage turned out well
+enough in the end, although at first Martina was moody at times and
+somewhat sharp of tongue with Jodd. Then they had a baby which died, and
+this dead child drew them closer together than it might have done had it
+lived. At any rate, from that time forward Martina grew more gentle with
+Jodd, and when other children were born they seemed happy together.
+
+Well, we four had dined, and it comes to me that our talk turned upon
+the Caliph Harun and his wonderful goodness to us, whom as Christians he
+was bound to despise and hate. Heliodore told me then for the first time
+how she was glad he had made it clear so soon that what she drank from
+the gold cup which now stood upon our table was no more than rose water.
+
+So strong is the working of the mind that already she had begun to feel
+as though poison were numbing her heart and clouding her brain, and
+was sure that soon she would have fallen into the sleep which Harun had
+warned her would end in death.
+
+"Had he been a true physician, he would have known that this might be
+so, and that such grim jests are very dangerous," I said. Then I added,
+for I did not wish to dwell longer upon a scene the memory of which was
+dreadful to me, although it had ended well,
+
+"Tell us, Martina, is it true that those rich possessions of yours in
+Alexandria which the Caliph gave you are sold?"
+
+"Yes, Olaf," she answered, "to a company of Greek merchants, and not
+so ill. The contract was signed but yesterday. It was my wish that we
+should leave Lesbos and go to live in this place, as we might have done
+with safety under Harun's signed _firman_, but Jodd here refused."
+
+"Aye," said Jodd in his big voice. "Am I one to dwell among Moslems
+and make money out of trade and gardens in however fine a house? Why, I
+should have been fighting with these prophet-worshippers within a month,
+and had my throat cut. Moreover, how could I bear to be separated from
+my general, and whatever she may think, how could Martina bear to lose
+sight of her god-son? Why, Olaf, I tell you that, although you are
+married and she is married, she still thinks twice as much of you as she
+does of me. Oh! blind man's dog once, blind man's dog always! Look
+not so angry, Martina. Why, I wonder, does the truth always make women
+angry?" and he burst into one of his great laughs.
+
+At this moment Heliodore rose from the table and walked to the open
+window-place to speak to our children and Martina's, a merry company who
+were playing together in the garden. Here she stood a while studying the
+beautiful view of the bay beneath; then of a sudden called out,
+
+"A ship! A ship sailing into the harbour, and it flies the Imperial
+standard."
+
+"Then pray God she brings no bad news," I said, who feared that Imperial
+standard and felt that we had all been somewhat too happy of late.
+Moreover, I knew that no royal ship was looked for from Byzantium at
+this time, and dreaded lest this one should bear letters from the new
+Emperor dismissing me from my office, or even worse tidings.
+
+"What bad news should she bring?" growled Jodd. "Oh! I know what is in
+your mind, General, but if this upstart Nicephorus is wise, he'll leave
+you alone, since Lesbos does not want another governor, and will tell
+him so if there be need. Yes, it will take more than one ship of war,
+aye, and more than three, to set up another governor in Lesbos. Nay,
+rebuke me not, General, for I at least have sworn no oath of homage to
+this Nicephorus, nor have the other Northmen or the men of Lesbos."
+
+"You are like a watchdog, Jodd, barking at you know not what, just
+because it is strange. Go now, I pray you, to the quay, and bring back
+to us news of this ship."
+
+So he went, and for the next two hours or more I sat in my private room
+dictating letters to Heliodore on matters connected with the duties of
+my office. The work came to an end at last, and I was preparing to take
+my evening ride on a led mule when Martina entered the room.
+
+"Do you ride with us to-night, Martina?" I asked, recognising her step.
+
+"No, Olaf," she said quickly, "nor I think can you. Here are letters for
+you from Byzantium. Jodd has brought them from the ship."
+
+"Where is Jodd?" I said.
+
+"Without, in the company of the captain of the ship, some guards, and a
+prisoner."
+
+"What prisoner?"
+
+"Perchance the letters will tell you," she replied evasively. "Have I
+your command to open and read? They are marked 'Most Secret.'"
+
+I nodded, since Martina often acted as my secretary in high matters,
+being from her training skilled in such things. So she broke the seals
+and read to myself and to Heliodore, who also was present in the room,
+as follows:
+
+"'To the Excellent Michael, a General of our armies and Governor of the
+Isle of Lesbos, Greetings from Nicephorus, by the will of God Emperor.
+
+"'Know, O Michael, that we, the Emperor, reposing especial faith in
+you our trusted servant, with these letters deliver into your keeping a
+certain prisoner of State. This prisoner is none other than Irene, who
+aforetime was Empress.
+
+"'Because of her many wickednesses in the sight of God and man we by
+the decree of the People, of the Army, of the Senate and of the high
+Officers of State amidst general rejoicing deposed the said Irene,
+widow of the Emperor Leo and mother of the late Emperor Constantine, and
+placed ourselves upon the throne. The said Irene, at her own request,
+we consigned to the place called the Island of Princes, setting her
+in charge of certain holy monks. Whilst there, abusing our mercy and
+confidence, she set on foot plots to murder our Person and repossess
+herself of the throne.
+
+"'Now our Councillors with one voice urged that she should be put to
+death in punishment of her crimes, but we, being mindful of the teaching
+of our Lord and Saviour and of His saying that we should turn the other
+cheek to those who smite us, out of our gentle pity have taken another
+counsel.
+
+"'Learn now, most excellent Michael the Blind, who once were known as
+Olaf Red-Sword, that we hand over to your keeping the person of Irene,
+aforetime Empress, charging you to deal with her as she dealt with you
+and as she dealt also with the late Emperor Constantine, the son of her
+body, for thus shall her evil plottings be brought to naught.'"
+
+"By God's Name, he means that I must blind her!" I exclaimed.
+
+Making no answer, Martina went on with the letter----
+
+"'Should the said Irene survive her just punishment, we command you
+to make sufficient provision for her daily wants, but no more, and to
+charge the same against the sum due Us from the revenues of Lesbos.
+Should she die at once, or at any future time, give to her decent
+private burial, and report to Us the circumstances of her death duly
+attested.
+
+"'Keep these Presents secret and do not act upon them until the ship
+which brings them and the prisoner to you has sailed for Byzantium,
+which it is ordered to do as soon as it has been revictualled. On your
+head be it to carry out these our commands, for which you shall answer
+with your life and those of your wife and children. This signed and
+sealed at our Court of Byzantium on the twelfth day of the sixth month
+of the first year of our reign, and countersigned by the high officers
+whose names appear beneath.'"
+
+
+
+Such was this awful letter that, having read, Martina thrust into my
+hand as though she would be rid of it. Then followed a silence, which at
+length Martina broke.
+
+"Your commands, Excellency," she said in a dry voice. "I understand that
+the--the--prisoner is in the ante-room in charge of the Captain Jodd."
+
+"Then let her remain in the charge of the Captain Jodd," I exclaimed
+angrily, "and in your charge, Martina, who are accustomed to attending
+upon her, and know that you are both answerable for her safety with your
+lives. Send the captain of the ship to me and prepare a discharge for
+him. I will not see this woman till he has sailed, since until then I am
+commanded to keep all secret. Send also the head officer of the guard."
+
+
+
+Three days went by. The Imperial ship had sailed, taking with her my
+formal acknowledgment of the Emperor's letter, and the time had come
+when once more I must meet Irene face to face.
+
+I sat in the audience chamber of my Great House, and there was present
+with me only Jodd, my lieutenant in office. Being blind, I dared not
+receive a desperate woman alone, fearing lest she might stab me or do
+herself some mischief. At the door of the chamber Jodd took her from the
+guards, whom he bade remain within call, and conducted her to where I
+sat. He told me afterwards that she was dressed as a nun, a white hood
+half hiding her still beautiful face and a silver crucifix hanging upon
+her breast.
+
+As I heard her come I rose and bowed to her, and my first words to her
+were to pray her to be seated.
+
+"Nay," she answered in that rich, well-remembered voice of hers, "a
+prisoner stands before the judge. I greet you, General Olaf, I pray your
+pardon--Michael--after long years of separation. You have changed but
+little, and I rejoice to see that your health is good and that the rank
+and prosperity which I gave have not been taken from you."
+
+"I greet you, Madam," (almost had I said Augusta), I answered, then
+continued hurriedly: "Lady Irene, I have received certain commands
+concerning you from the Emperor Nicephorus which it is best that you
+should hear, so that you shall hold me quit of blame in aught that it
+may be my duty to inflict upon you. Read them, Captain Jodd. Nay, I
+forgot, you cannot. Give the copy of the letter to the Lady Irene; the
+original she can see afterwards if she wills."
+
+So the paper was given to her by Jodd, and she read it aloud, weighing
+each word carefully.
+
+"Oh, what a dog is this!" she said when it was finished. "Know, Olaf,
+that of my free will I surrendered the throne to him, yes, and all my
+private treasure, he swearing upon the Gospels that I should live in
+peace and honour till my life's end. And now he sends me to you to be
+blinded and then done to death, for that is what he means. Oh! may God
+avenge me upon him! May he become a byword and a scorn, and may his own
+end be even worse than that which he has prepared for me. May shame
+wrap his memory as in a garment, may his bones be dishonoured and his
+burying-place forgotten. Aye, and so it shall be."[*]
+
+     [*] The skull of this Nicephorus is said to have been used
+     as a drinking cup by his victorious enemy, the King Krum.--
+     Editor.
+
+She paused in her fearful curse, then said in a new voice, that voice in
+which she was wont to plead,
+
+"You will not blind me, Olaf. You'll not take from me my last blessing,
+the light of day. Think what it means----"
+
+"The General Olaf should know well enough," interrupted Jodd, but I
+waved him to be silent, and answered,
+
+"Tell me, Madam, how can I do otherwise? It seems to me that my life and
+that of my wife and children hang upon this deed. Moreover, why should
+I do otherwise now that by God's justice the wheel has come round at
+last?" I added, pointing to the hollows beneath my brows where the eyes
+once had been.
+
+"Oh! Olaf," she said, "if I harmed you, you know well it was because I
+loved you."
+
+"Then God send that no woman ever loves me in such a fashion," broke in
+Jodd.
+
+"Olaf," she continued, taking no note of him, "once you went very near
+to loving me also, on that night when you would have eaten the poisoned
+figs to save my son, the Emperor. At least, you kissed me. If you
+forget, I cannot. Olaf, can you blind a woman whom you have kissed?"
+
+"Kissing takes two, and I know that you blinded him," muttered Jodd,
+"for I crucified the brutes you commanded to do the deed to which they
+confessed."
+
+"Olaf, I admit that I treated you ill; I admit that I would have killed
+you; but, believe me, it was jealousy and naught but jealousy which
+drove me on. Almost as soon would I have killed myself; indeed, I
+thought of it."
+
+"And there the matter ended," said Jodd. "It was Olaf who walked the
+Hall of the Pit, not you. We found him on the brink of the hole."
+
+"Olaf, after I regained my power----"
+
+"By blinding your own son," said Jodd, "for which you will have an
+account to settle one day."
+
+"----I dealt well with you. Knowing that you had married my rival, for
+I kept myself informed of all you did, still I lifted no hand against
+you----"
+
+"What good was a maimed man to you when you were courting the Emperor
+Charlemagne?" asked Jodd.
+
+Now at last she turned on him, saying,
+
+"Well is it for you, Barbarian, that if only for a while Fate has reft
+power from my hands. Oh! this is the bitterest drop in all my cup,
+that I who for a score of years ruled the world must live to suffer the
+insults of such as you."
+
+"Then why not die and have done?" asked the imperturbable Jodd. "Or, if
+you lack the courage, why not submit to the decree of the Emperor, as
+so many have submitted to your decree, instead of troubling the general
+here with prayers for mercy? It would serve as well."
+
+"Jodd," I said, "I command you to be silent. This lady is in trouble;
+attack those in power, if you will, not those who have fallen."
+
+"There speaks the man I loved," said Irene. "What perverse fate kept us
+apart, Olaf? Had you taken what I offered, by now you and I would have
+ruled the world."
+
+"Perhaps, Madam; yet it is right I should say that I do not regret my
+choice, although because of it I can no longer--look upon the world."
+
+"I know, I know! She of that accursed necklace, which I see you still
+wear, came between us and spoiled everything. Now I'm ruined for lack of
+you and you are nobody for lack of me, a soldier who will run his petty
+course and depart into the universal darkness, leaving never a name
+behind him. In the ages to be what man will take count of one of a score
+of governors of the little Isle of Lesbos, who might yet have held the
+earth in the hollow of his hand and shone a second Caesar in its annals?
+Oh! what marplot of a devil rules our destinies? He who fashioned those
+golden shells upon your breast, or so I think. Well, well, it is so and
+cannot be altered. The Augusta of the Empire of the East must plead
+with the man who rejected her, for sight, or rather for her life. You
+understand, do you not, Olaf, that letter is a command to you to murder
+me?"
+
+"Just such a command as you gave to those who blinded your son
+Constantine," muttered Jodd beneath his breath.
+
+"That is what is meant. You are to murder me, and, Olaf, I'm not fit
+to die. Great place brings great temptations, and I admit that I have
+greatly sinned; I need time upon the earth to make my peace with Heaven,
+and if you slay my body now, you will slay my soul as well. Oh! be
+pitiful! Be pitiful! Olaf, you cannot kill the woman who has lain upon
+your breast, it is against nature. If you did such a thing you'd never
+sleep again; you would shudder yourself over the edge of the world!
+Being what you are, no pomp or power would ever pay you for the deed. Be
+true to your own high heart and spare me. See, I who for so long was
+the ruler of many kingdoms, kneel to you and pray you to spare me," and,
+casting herself down upon her knees, she laid her head upon my feet and
+wept.
+
+All that scene comes back to me with a strange and terrible vividness,
+although I had no sight to aid me in its details, save the sight of my
+soul. I remember that the wonder and horror of it pierced me through and
+through; the stab of the dagger in my eyes was not more sharp. There was
+I, Olaf, a mere gentleman of the North, seated in my chair of office,
+and there before me, her mighty head bowed upon my feet, knelt the
+Empress of the Earth pleading for her life. In truth all history could
+show few stranger scenes. What was I to do? If I yielded to her piteous
+prayers, it was probable that my own life and those of my wife and
+children would pay the price. Yet how could I clap my hands in their
+Eastern fashion and summon the executioners to pierce those streaming
+eyes of hers? "Rise, Augusta," I said, for in this extremity of her
+shame I gave her back her title, "and tell me, you who are accustomed to
+such matters, how I can spare you who deal with the lives of others as
+well as with my own?"
+
+"I thank you for that name," she said as she struggled to her feet.
+"I've heard it shouted by tens of thousands in the circus and from the
+throats of armies, but never yet has it been half so sweet to me as now
+from lips that have no need to utter it. In times bygone I'd have paid
+you for this service with a province, but now Irene is so poor that,
+like some humble beggar-woman, she can but give her thanks. Still,
+repeat it no more, for next time it will sound bitter. What did you ask?
+How you could save me, was it not? Well, the thing seems simple. In all
+that letter from Nicephorus there is no direct command that you should
+blind me. The fellow says that you are to treat me as I treated you,
+and as I treated Constantine, the Emperor--because I must. Well, I
+imprisoned both of you. Imprison me and you fulfil the mandate. He says
+that if I die you are to report it, which shows that he does not mean
+that I _must_ die. Oh! the road of escape is easy, should you desire
+to travel it. If you do not so desire, then, Olaf, I pray you as a last
+favour not to hand me over to common men. I see that by your side still
+hangs that red sword of yours wherewith once I threatened you when you
+refused me at Byzantium. Draw it, Olaf, and this time I'll guide its
+edge across my throat. So you will please Nicephorus and win the rewards
+that Irene can no longer give. Baptised in her blood, what earthly glory
+is there to which you might not yet attain, you who had dared to lay
+hands upon the anointed flesh that even her worst foes have feared to
+touch lest God's sudden curse should strike them dead?"
+
+So she went on pouring out words with the strange eloquence that she
+could command at times, till I grew bewildered. She who had lived in
+light and luxury, who had loved the vision of all bright and glorious
+things, was pleading for her sight to the man whom she had robbed of
+sight that he might never more behold the young beauty of her rival. She
+who had imagination to know the greatness of her sins was pleading to
+be spared the death she dared not face. She was pleading to me, who for
+years had been her faithful soldier, the captain of her own guard, sworn
+to protect her from the slightest ill, me upon whom, for a while, it had
+pleased her to lavish the wild passion of her imperial heart, who once
+had almost loved--who, indeed, had kissed her on the lips.
+
+My orders were definite. I was commanded to blind this woman and to kill
+her in the blinding, which, in truth, I who had power of life and
+death, I who ruled over this island like a king by virtue of the royal
+commission, could do without question asked. If I _failed_ to fulfil
+those orders, I must be prepared to pay the price, as if I did fulfil
+them I might expect a high reward, probably the governorship of some
+great province of the Empire. This was no common prisoner. She was the
+ex-Empress, a mighty woman to whom tens of thousands or perhaps millions
+still looked for help and leadership. It was necessary to those who
+had seized her place and power that she should be rendered incapable of
+rule. It was desirable to them that she should die. Yet so delicately
+were the scales poised between them and the adherents of Irene, among
+whom were numbered all the great princes of the Church, that they
+themselves did not dare to inflict mutilation or death upon her. They
+feared lest it should be followed by a storm of wrath that would shake
+Nicephorus from his throne and involve them in his ruin.
+
+So they sent her to me, the governor of a distant dependency, the man
+whom they knew she had wickedly wronged, being certain that her tongue,
+which it was said could turn the hearts of all men, would never soften
+mine. Then afterwards they would declare that the warrant was a forgery,
+that I had but wreaked a private vengeance upon an ancient foe, and, to
+still the scandal, degrade me from my governorship--into some place of
+greater power and profit.
+
+Oh! while Irene pleaded before me and, heedless of the presence of Jodd,
+even cast her arms about me and laid her head upon my breast, all these
+things passed through my mind. In its scales I weighed the matter out,
+and the beam rose against me, for I knew well that if I spared Irene I
+condemned myself and those who were more to me than myself, my wife, my
+children, and all the Northmen who clung to me, and who would not see me
+die without blow struck. I understood it all, and, understanding, of a
+sudden made up my mind--to spare Irene. Come what might, I would be no
+butcher; I would follow my heart whithersoever it might lead me.
+
+"Cease, Madam," I said. "I have decided. Jodd, bid the messenger summon
+hither Heliodore and Martina, my wife and yours."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Irene, "if these women are to be called in counsel on
+my case all is finished, seeing that both of them love you and are my
+enemies. Moreover, I have some pride left. To you I could plead, but not
+to them, though they blind me with their bodkins after they have stabbed
+me with their tongues. Excellency, a last boon! Call in your guard and
+kill me."
+
+"Madam, I said that I had decided, and all the women in the world will
+not change my mind in this way or in that. Jodd, do my bidding."
+
+Jodd struck a bell, once only, which was the signal for the messenger.
+He came and received his orders. Then followed a pause, since Heliodore
+and Martina were in a place close by and must be sent for. During this
+time Irene began to talk to me of sundry general matters. She compared
+the view that might be seen from this house in Lesbos to that from the
+terrace of her palace on the Bosphorus, and described its differences to
+me. She asked me as to the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, whom she understood
+I had seen, inquiring as to the estimate I had formed of his character.
+Lastly, with a laugh, she dwelt upon the strange vicissitudes of life.
+
+"Look at me," she said. "I began my days as the daughter of a Greek
+gentleman, with no dower save my wit and beauty. Then I rose to be a
+ruler of the world, and knew all that it has to give of pomp and power.
+Nations trembled at my nod; at my smile men grew great; at my frown they
+faded into nothingness. Save you, Olaf, none ever really conquered me,
+until I fell in the appointed hour. And now! Of this splendour there is
+left but a nun's robe; of this countless wealth but one silver crucifix;
+of this power--naught."
+
+So she spoke on, still not knowing to what decision I had come; whether
+she were to be blinded or to live or die. To myself I thought it was a
+proof of her greatness that she could thus turn her mind to such things
+while Fate hovered over her, its hand upon a sword. But it may be that
+she thought thus to impress me and to enmesh me in memories which would
+tie my hands, or even from the character of my answers to draw some
+augury of her doom.
+
+The women came at length. Heliodore entered first, and to her Irene
+bowed.
+
+"Greeting, Lady of Egypt," she said. "Ah! had you taken my counsel in
+the past, that title might have been yours in very truth, and there you
+and your husband could have founded a new line of kings independent of
+the Empire which totters to its fall."
+
+"I remember no such counsel, Madam," said Heliodore. "It seems to me
+that the course I took was right and one pleasing to God, since it has
+given me my husband for myself, although, it is true, wickedly robbed of
+his eyes."
+
+"For yourself! Can you say so while Martina is always at his side?" she
+asked in a musing voice. "Well, it may be, for in this world strange
+things happen."
+
+She paused, and I heard both Heliodore and Jodd move as though in anger,
+for her bitter shaft had gone home. Then she went on softly,
+
+"Lady, may I tell you that, in my judgment, your beauty is even greater
+than it was, though it is true it has grown from bud to flower. Few bear
+their years and a mother's burdens so lightly in these hot lands."
+
+Heliodore did not answer, for at that moment Martina entered. Seeing
+Irene for the first time, she forgot everything that had passed and
+curtseyed to her in the old fashion, murmuring the familiar words,
+
+"Thy servant greets thee, Augusta."
+
+"Nay, use not that title, Martina, to one who has done with the world
+and its vanities. Call me 'Mother' if you will, for that is the only
+name of honour by which those of my religious order may be known. In
+truth, as your mother in God, I welcome you and bless you, from my heart
+forgiving you those ills which you have worked against me, being, as
+I know well, driven by a love that is greater than any woman bears to
+woman. But that eating fire of passion scorned is the heritage of both
+of us, and of it we will talk afterwards. I must not waste the time of
+the General Olaf, whom destiny, in return for many griefs, has appointed
+to be my jailer. Oh! Olaf," she added with a little laugh, "some
+foresight of the future must have taught me to train you for the post.
+Let us then be silent, ladies, and listen to the judgment which this
+jailer of mine is about to pass upon me. Do you know it is no less than
+whether these eyes of mine, which you were wont to praise, Martina,
+which in his lighter moments even this stern Olaf was wont to praise,
+should be torn from beneath my brow, and if so, whether it should be
+done in such a fashion that I die of the deed? That and no less is the
+matter which his lips must settle. Now speak, Excellency."
+
+"Madam," I said slowly, "to the best of my wit I have considered the
+letter sent to me under the seal and sign of the Emperor Nicephorus.
+Although it might be so interpreted by some, I cannot find in that
+letter any direct command that I should cause you to be blinded, but
+only one that I should keep you under strict guard, giving you such
+things as are necessary to your sustenance. This then I shall do, and by
+the first ship make report of my action to the Emperor at Byzantium."
+
+Now, when she heard these words, at length the proud spirit of Irene
+broke.
+
+"God reward you, for I cannot, Olaf," she cried. "God reward you, saint
+among men, who can pay back cruel injuries with the gentlest mercy."
+
+So saying, she burst into tears and fell senseless to the ground.
+
+Martina ran to aid her, but Heliodore turned to me and said in her
+tender voice,
+
+"This is worthy of you, Olaf, and I would not have you do otherwise.
+Yet, husband, I fear that this pity of yours has signed the
+death-warrant of us all."
+
+
+
+So it proved to be, though, as it chanced, that warrant was never
+executed. I made my report to Byzantium, and in course of time the
+answer came in a letter from the Emperor. This letter coldly approved
+of my act in set and formal phrases. It added that the truth had been
+conveyed publicly to those slanderers of the Emperor who announced that
+he had caused Irene to be first blinded and then put to death in Lesbos,
+whereby their evil tongues had been silenced.
+
+Then came this pregnant sentence:
+
+"We command you, with your wife and children and your lieutenant, the
+Captain Jodd, with his wife and children, to lay down your offices and
+report yourselves with all speed to Us at our Court of Byzantium, that
+we may confer with you on certain matters. If it is not convenient to
+you, or you can find no fitting ship in which to sail at once, know that
+within a month of your receipt of this letter our fleet will call at
+Lesbos and bring you and the others herein mentioned to our Presence."
+
+"That is a death sentence," said Martina, when she had finished reading
+out this passage. "I have seen several such sent in my day, when I was
+Irene's confidential lady. It is the common form. We shall never reach
+Byzantium, Olaf, or, if we do, we shall never leave it more."
+
+I nodded, for I knew that this was so. Then, at some whispered word from
+Martina, Heliodore spoke.
+
+"Husband," she said, "foreseeing this issue, Martina, Jodd, and most of
+the Northmen and I have made a plan which we now submit to you, praying
+that for our sakes, if not for yours, you will not thrust it aside.
+We have bought two good ships, armed them and furnished them with all
+things needful. Moreover, during the past two months we have sold much
+of our property, turning it into gold. This is our plan--that we pretend
+to obey the order of the Emperor, but instead of heading for Byzantium,
+sail away north to the land in which you were born, where, having rank
+and possessions, you may still become a mighty chief. If we go at once
+we shall miss the Imperial fleet, and I think that none will follow us."
+
+Now I bowed my head for a while and thought. Then I lifted it and said,
+
+"So let it be. No other road is open."
+
+For my own sake I would not have stirred an inch. I would have gone to
+the Court of the Emperor at Byzantium and there argued out the thing in
+a gambler's spirit, prepared to win or prepared to lose. There at least
+I should have had all the image-worshippers who adored Irene, that is,
+the full half of the Empire, upon my side, and if I perished, I should
+perish as a saint. But a wife and children are the most terrible gifts
+of God, if the most blessed, for they turn our hearts to water. So, for
+the first time in my life, I grew afraid, and, for their sakes, fled.
+
+As might be expected, having Martina's brains, Heliodore's love, and the
+Northmen's loyalty at the back of it, our plan went well. A letter was
+sent to the Emperor saying that we would await the arrival of the fleet
+to obey his commands, having some private matters to arrange before we
+left Lesbos. Then, on a certain evening, we embarked on two great ships,
+about four hundred souls in all.
+
+Before we went I bade farewell to Irene. She was seated outside the
+house that had been given to her, employed in spinning, for it was her
+fancy to earn the bread she ate by the labour of her hands. Round
+her were playing Jodd's children and my own, whom, in order to escape
+suspicion, we had sent thither till the time came for us to embark,
+since the people of Lesbos only knew of our scheme by rumour.
+
+"Whither do you go, Olaf?" she asked.
+
+"Back to the North, whence I came, Madam," I answered, "to save the
+lives of these," and I waved my hand towards the children. "If I bide
+here all must die. We have been sent for to Byzantium, as I think _you_
+were wont to send for officers who had ceased to please you."
+
+"I understand, Olaf; moreover, I know it is I who have brought this
+trouble upon you because you spared me, whom it was meant that you
+should kill. Also I know, through friends of mine, that henceforth, for
+reasons of policy, my little end of life is safe, and perhaps with it my
+sight. All this I owe to you, though now at times I regret that I asked
+the boon. From the lot of an Empress to that of a spinning-wife is a
+great change, and one which I find it heard to bear. Still, I have my
+peace to make with God, and towards that peace I strive. Yet will you
+not take me with you, Olaf? I should like to found a nunnery in that
+cold North of yours."
+
+"No, Augusta. I have done my best by you, and now you must guard
+yourself. We part for ever. I go hence to finish where I began. My
+birthplace calls me."
+
+"For ever is a long word, Olaf. Are you sure that we part for ever?
+Perchance we shall meet again in death or in other lives. Such, at
+least, was the belief of some of the wisest of my people before we
+became Christian, and mayhap the Christians do not know everything,
+since the world had learnt much before they came. I hope that it may
+be so, Olaf, for I owe you a great debt and would repay it to you full
+measure, pressed down and running over. Farewell. Take with you the
+blessing of a sinful and a broken heart," and, rising, she kissed me on
+the brow.
+
+
+
+Here ends the story of this life of mine as Olaf Red-Sword, since of
+it I can recover no more. The darkness drops. Of what befell me and
+the others after my parting with Irene I know nothing or very little.
+Doubtless we sailed away north, and, I think, came safely to Aar, since
+I have faint visions of Iduna the Fair grown old, but still unwed, for
+the stain of Steinar's blood, as it were, still marked her brow in all
+men's eyes; and even of Freydisa, white-haired and noble-looking. How
+did we meet and how did we separate at last, I wonder? And what were the
+fates of Heliodore and of our children; of Martina and of Jodd? Also,
+was the prophecy of Odin, spoken through the lips of Freydisa in the
+temple at Aar, that he and his fellow gods, or demons, would prevail
+against my flesh and that of those who clung to me, fulfilled at last in
+the fires of martyrdom for the Faith, as his promise of my happiness was
+fulfilled?
+
+I cannot tell. I cannot tell. Darkness entombs us all and history is
+dumb.
+
+
+
+At Aar there are many graves! Standing among them, not so long ago, much
+of this history came back to me.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Wanderer's Necklace, by H. Rider Haggard
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