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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5120.txt b/5120.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac27396 --- /dev/null +++ b/5120.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5993 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Vandrad the Viking, by J. Storer Clouston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most +other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of +the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at +www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have +to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. + +Title: Vandrad the Viking + The Feud and the Spell + +Author: J. Storer Clouston + +Illustrator: Hubert Paton + +Posting Date: October 25, 2014 [EBook #5120] +Release Date: February, 2004 +First Posted: May 4, 2002 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VANDRAD THE VIKING *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + + + + +VANDRAD THE VIKING + +or + +The Feud and the Spell + +by + +J. STORER CLOUSTON + + + +WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUBERT PATON + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +I. THE WEST SEA SAILING + +II. THE BAIRN-SLAYERS + +III. THE HOLY ISLE + +IV. THE ISLAND SPELL + +V. ANDREAS THE HERMIT + +VI. THE HALL OF LIOT + +VII. THE VERDICT OF THE SWORD + +VIII. IN THE CELL BY THE ROOST + +IX. THE MESSAGE OF THE RUNES + +X. KING BUE'S FEAST + +XI. THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST + +XII. THE MAGICIAN + +XIII. ARROW AND SHIELD + +XIV. THE MIDNIGHT GUEST + +XV. THE LAST OF THE LAWMAN + +XVI. KING ESTEIN + +XVII. THE END OF THE STORY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WEST SEA SAILING. + + +Long after King Estein had joined his fathers on the little holm +beyond Hernersfiord, and Helgi, Earl of Askland, had become but a +warlike memory, the skalds of Sogn still sang this tale of Vandrad +the Viking. It contained much wonderful magic, and some +astonishingly hard strokes, as they told it; but reading between +their lines, the magic bears a strong resemblance to many spells +cast even at this day, and as for the sword strokes, there was +need for them to be hard in Norway then. For that was the age of +the making of many kingdoms, and the North was beginning to do its +share. + +One May morning, more than a thousand years ago, so the story +runs, an old man came slowly along a woodland track that uncoiled +itself from the mountain passes and snow-crowned inlands of +Norway. Presently the trees grew thinner, and grass and wild +flowers spread on either hand, and at last, just where the path +dipped down to the water-side at Hernersfiord, the traveller +stopped. For a while he remained there in the morning sunshine, +watching the scene below, and now and then speaking out his +thoughts absently in the rapt manner of a visionary. + +Though his clothes were old and weather-stained, and bare of any +ornament, his face and bearing were such as strike the mind at +once and stay in the memory. He was tall and powerfully framed, +and bore his years and the white volume of his beard in an +altogether stately fashion; but his eyes were most indelible, pale +blue and singularly cold in repose, very bright and keen and +searching when his face was animated. + +They saw much to stir them that morning. On the slope above +Hernersfiord stood the royal hall of Hakonstad, the seat of the +kings of Sogn; and all about the house, and right down to the +water's edge, there was a great bustle and movement of men. From +the upland valley at the fiord head, warriors trooped down to the +ships that lay by the long stone pier. The morning sun glanced on +their helmets and coats of mail, and in the still air the clash of +preparation rang far up the pine-clad hillside. He could see some +bringing weapons and provisions down to the shore, and others +busily lading the ships. Women mingled in the crowd, and every +here and there a gay cloak and gilded helm marked a leader of +rank. + +"Ay, the season has come for Vikings to put to sea again," he +said. "Brave and gay are the warriors of Sogn, and lightly they +leave. When a man is young, all roads are pleasant, and all lead +home again. Many have I seen set sail these last sixty years, and +their sailing led them--where?" + +And then again, as the stir increased, and he could see the men +beginning to troop on board the long ships,-- + +"This voyage shall be as the falling of snowflakes into the sea; +but what man can escape his fate?" + +Meanwhile a party of men had just left the woods, and were coming +down the path to the fiord, ten or twelve in all, headed by an +exceedingly broad, black-bearded man, clad in a leather coat +closely covered all over with steel scales, and bearing on his +shoulder a ponderous halberd. + +The path was very narrow at that point, and he of the black beard +called out gruffly,-- + +"Make way, old man! Give room to pass." + +Roused abruptly from his reverie, the dreamer turned quietly, but +made no movement to the side. The party by this time were so close +that they had perforce to halt, with some clash of armour, and +again their captain cried,-- + +"Are you deaf? Make way!" + +Yet there was something daunting in the other's pale eye, and +though the Viking moved the halberd uneasily on his shoulder, his +own glance shifted. With the slightest intonation of contempt, the +traveller asked,-- + +"Who bids me make way?" + +The black-bearded man looked at him with an air of some +astonishment, and then answered shortly,-- + +"They call me Ketill; but what is that to you?" + +Without heeding the other's gruffness, the old man asked,-- + +"Does King Hakon sail from Hernersfiord to-day?" + +"King Hakon has not sailed for many a day. His son leads this +force." + +"Ay, I had forgotten, we are both old men now. Then Estein sails +to-day?" + +"Ay, and I sail with him. My ship awaits me, so make way, old +man," replied Ketill. + +"Whither do ye sail?" + +"To the west seas. I have no time for talking more. Do you hear?" + +"Go on then," replied the old man, stepping to one side; +"something tells me that Estein will have need of all his men +before this voyage is over." + +Without stopping for further words, the black-bearded captain and +his men pushed past and continued their way to the fiord, while +the old man slowly followed them. + +As he went down the hillside he talked again aloud to himself:-- + +"Ay, this then is the meaning of my warning dreams--danger in the +south lands, danger on the seas. Little heed will Estein Hakonson +pay to the words of an old man, yet I am fain to see the youth +again, and what the gods reveal to me I must speak." + +Down below, near the foot of the path that led from the pier up to +the hall of Hakonstad, a cluster of chiefs stood talking. In the +midst of them, Hakon, King of Sogn, one of the independent +kinglings who reigned in the then chaotic Norway, watched the +departure of his son. + +He was a venerable figure, conspicuous by his long, wintry locks +and embroidered cloak of blue, straight as a spear-shaft, but +grown too old for warfare. His hand rested on the shoulder of Earl +Sigvald of Askland, a bluff old warrior, long the king's most +faithful counsellor and companion in arms. Before them stood his +son Estein, a tall, auburn-haired, bright-eyed young man, gaily +dressed, after the fashion of the times, in red kirtle and cloak, +and armed as yet only with a gilded helmet, surmounted with a pair +of hawk's wings, and a sword girt to his side. His face, though +regular and handsome, would have been rather too grave and +reserved but for the keenness of his eyes, and a very pleasant +smile which at times lit up his features when he spoke. + +After they had talked for a while, he glanced round him, and saw +that the bustle was subsiding, and most of the men had gone +aboard. + +"All is ready now," he said. + +"Ay," replied Thorkel Sigurdson, one of his ship captains, "they +wait but for us." + +"Farewell then, Estein!" cried the earl. "Thor speed you, and send +you worthy foemen!" + +"My son, I can ill spare you," said the king. "But it becomes a +king's son to see the world, and prove his valour in distant +lands. Warfare in the Baltic seas is but a pastime for common +Vikings. England and Valland, [Footnote: France] the countries of +the black man and the flat lands of the rivers, lie before you. +There Estein Hakonson must feed the wolves." + +"And yet, Estein," he added in a lower tone, as he embraced him, +"I would that Yule were here again and you with it. I am growing +old, and my dreams last night were sorrow-laden." + +"Farewell, son of Hakon!" shouted a loud-mouthed chieftain. "I +would that I too were sailing to the southern lands. Spare not, +Estein; fire and sword in England, sword and fire in Valland!" + +The group had broken up, and Estein was about to go on board when +he heard himself hailed by name. He looked round, and saw the same +old man who had accosted Ketill coming down the pier after him. + +"Hail, Estein Hakonson!" he cried; "I have come far to see thee." + +"Hail, old man!" replied Estein courteously; "what errand brings +you here?" + +"You know me not?" said the old man, looking at him keenly. + +"Nay, I cannot call your face to mind." + +"My name is Atli, and if my features are strange to thee, much +stranger must my name be." + +He took Estein's hand, looked closely into his eyes for a minute, +and then said solemnly,-- + +"Estein Hakonson, this voyage will have an ending other than ye +deem. Troubles I see before ye--fishes feeding on warriors, and +winds that blow as they list, and not as ye." + +"That is likely enough," replied Estein. "We are not sailing on a +trading voyage, and in the west seas the winds often blow high. +But what luck shall I have?" + +"Strange luck, Estein, I see before thee. Thou shalt be warned and +heed not. More shall be left undone than shall be done. There +shall come a change in thee that I cannot fathom. Many that set +out shall not return, but thine own fate is dim to me." + +A young man of barely twenty, very gaily dressed and martial-looking, +had come up to them while they were talking. He had a +reckless, merry look on his handsome face, and bore himself as +though he was aware of his personal attractions. + +"And what is my fate, old man?" he asked, more as if he were in +jest than in earnest. "Shall I feed the fishes, or make this +strange change with Estein into a troll, [Footnote: A kind of +goblin] or werewolf, or whatsoever form he is to take?" + +"Thy fate is naught to me, Helgi Sigvaldson," replied the seer; +"yet I think thou wilt never be far from Estein." + +"That was easily answered," said Helgi with a laugh. "And I can +read my fate yet further. When I part from my foster-brother +Estein, then shall a man go to Valhalla. What say you to that?" + +Atli's face darkened. + +"Darest thou mock me?" he cried. + +"Not so," interposed Estein. "' Bare is back without brother +behind it,' and Helgi means that death only can part us. Farewell, +Atli! If your prophecy comes true, and I return alive, you may +choose what gift you please from among my spoils." + +"Little spoil there will be, Estein!" answered the old man, as the +foster-brothers turned from him down the pier. + +The last man sprang on board, the oars dipped in the still water, +and as the little fleet moved slowly down the fiord the crowd on +shore gradually dispersed. + +Out at sea, beyond the high headlands that guarded Hernersfiord, a +fresh breeze was blowing briskly from the north-east, and past the +rocky islets of the coast white caps gleamed in the sunshine. As +the ships drew clear of the fiord, and the boom of the outer sea +breaking on the skerries rose louder and nearer, sails were spread +and oars shipped. Slowly at first, and then more quickly as they +caught the deep-sea wind, the vessels cut the open water. Past the +islands they heeled to the breeze, and over a wake of foam the men +watched the mountains of Norway sink slowly into the wilderness of +waters. + +On the decked poop of an open boat, sailing over an ocean unknown +to him, towards countries of whose whereabouts he was only vaguely +informed, Estein Hakonson stood lost in stirring fancies. He was +the only surviving son of the King of Sogn. Three brothers had +fallen in battle, one had perished at sea, and another, the +eldest, had died beneath a burning roof-tree. His education had +been conducted according to the only standard known in +Scandinavia. At fourteen he had slain his first man in fair fight; +at seventeen he was a Viking captain on the Baltic; and now, at +two-and-twenty--old far beyond his years and hardened in varied +experience--he was setting forth on the Viking path that led to +the wonderful countries of the south. + +The tide of Norse energy was not yet at the full, the fury and the +terror were waxing fast, and the fever of unrest was ever +spreading through the North. Men were always coming back with +tales of monasteries filled with untold wealth, and rich provinces +to be won by the sword. Skalds sang of the deeds done in the +south, and shiploads of spoil confirmed their lays. Little wonder +then that Estein should feel his heart beat high as he stood by +the great tiller. + +That night, long after the sun was set, he still sat on deck +watching the stars. By-and-by his foster-brother Helgi came up to +him, wrapped in a long sea cloak, and humming softly to himself. + +"The night is fair, Estein. If Thor is kind, and this wind speeds +us, we shall soon reach England." + +"Ay, if the gods are with us," answered Estein. "I am trying to +read the stars. Methinks they are unfavourable." + +Helgi laughed. "What know you of the stars?" he said, "and what +does Estein Hakonson want with white magic? Will it make his life +one day longer? Will it make mine, if I too read the stars?" + +"Not one day, Helgi, not one instant of time. We are in the hands +of the gods. This serves but to while away a long night." + +"Norsemen should not read the stars," said Helgi. "These things +are for Finns and Lapps, and the poor peoples who fear us." + +"I wished to know what Odin thought of Helgi Sigvaldson," said +Estein with a smile. + +Helgi laughed lightly as he answered,-- + +"I know what Odin thinks of you, Estein--a foolish man and fey." + +Estein stepped forward a pace, and leaning over the side gazed for +a while into the darkness. Helgi too was silent, but his blue eyes +danced and his heart beat high as his thoughts flew ahead of the +ship to the clash of arms and the shout of victory. + +"There remains but me," said Estein at length. "Hakon has no other +son." + +"And you have five brothers to avenge; the sword should not rust +long in your scabbard, Estein." + +"Twice I have made the Danes pay a dear atonement for Eric. I +cannot punish Thor because he suffered Harald to drown, but if +ever in my life it be my fate to meet Thord the Tall, Snaekol +Gunnarson, or Thorfin of Skapstead, there shall be but one man +left to tell of our meeting." + +"The burners of Olaf have long gone out of Norway, have they not?" + +"I was but a child when my brother was burned like a fox in his +hole at Laxafiord. The burners knew my father too well to bide at +home and welcome him; and since then no man has told aught of +them, save that Thord the Tall at one time raided much in England, +and boasted widely of the burning. He perchance forgot that Hakon +had other sons. + +"But now, Helgi, we must sleep while we may; nights may come when +we shall want it." + +For six days and six nights they sailed with a favouring wind over +an empty ocean. On the seventh day land was sighted on the +starboard bow. + +"Can that be England?" asked old Ulf, Estein's forecastle man, a +hairy, hugely muscular Viking from the far northern fiords. + +"The coast of Scotland more likely," said Helgi. "Shall we try our +luck, Estein?" + +"I should like to spill a little Scottish blood, and mayhap carry +off a maid or two," said Thorolf Hauskoldson, a young giant from +the upland dales. + +"It may be but a waste of time," Estein replied. "We had best make +for England while this wind holds." + +"I like not the look of the sky," said Ulf, gazing round him with +a frowning brow. + +The wind had been dropping off for some time, and along the +eastern horizon the settled sky was giving place to heavy clouds. +For a short time Estein hesitated, but as the outlook grew more +threatening and the wind beat in flaws and gusts, now from one +quarter, now from another, the Vikings changed their course and +ran under oars and sails for the shelter of the land. Little +shelter it promised as they drew nearer: a dark, inhospitable line +of precipices stretched north and south as far as the eye could +reach, and even from a long distance they could see white flashes +breaking at the cliff foot. Again they changed their course; and +then, with a dull hum of approaching rain, a south-easterly storm +broke over them, and there was nothing for it but to turn and run +before the gale. + +"I read the stars too well," said Estein grimly between his teeth, +clinging to the straining tiller, and watching the rollers rising +higher. "And the first part of Atli's prophecy has come true." + +"Winds, war, and women make a Viking's luck," replied Helgi; "this +is but the first part of the rede." + +At night the gale increased, the fleet was scattered over the +North Sea, and next morning from Estein's ship only two other +black hulls could be seen running before the tempest. Another wild +day passed, and it was not till the evening that the weather +moderated. Little by little the great seas began to calm, and the +drifts of stinging rain ceased. In their wake the stars struggled +through the cloud wrack, and towards morning the wind sank +altogether. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE BAIRN-SLAYERS. + + +At earliest dawn eyes were strained to catch a glimpse of +something that might tell them where they were. None of the men on +Estein's ship had been in those seas more than two or three times +at most, and the vaguest conjectures were rife when, as the light +was slowly gaining, Ulf raised a cry of land ahead. + +"Land to the right!" cried Helgi, a moment later. + +"Land to the left!" exclaimed Estein; "and we are close on it, +methinks." + +When the morning fully broke they found themselves lying off a +wide-mouthed sound, that bent and narrowed among low, lonely-looking +islands. Only on the more distant land to the right were +heather hills of any height to be seen, and those, so far as they +could judge, were uninhabited. A heavy swell was running in from +the open sea, and a canopy of grey clouds hung over all. + +"I like not this country," said Ulf. "What think you is it?" + +"The Hjaltland islands, I should think, from what men tell of +them," Estein suggested. + +"The Orkneys more likely," said Thorolf, who had sailed in those +seas before. + +Far astern one other vessel was making towards them. + +"Which ship is that, Ulf?" asked Estein. "One of our fleet, think +you?" + +"Ay, it is Thorkel Sigurdson's," replied the shaggy forecastle +man, after a long, frowning look. + +"By the hammer of Thor, she seems in haste," said Helgi. "They +must have broached the ale over-night." + +"Perchance Thorkel feels cold," suggested Thorolf with a laugh. + +"They have taken the shields from the sides," Estein exclaimed as +the ship drew nearer. "Can there be an enemy, think you?" + +Again Ulf's hairy face gathered into a heavy frown. "No man can say +I fear a foeman," he said, "but I should like ill to fight after +two sleepless nights." + +"Bah! Thorkel is drunk as usual, and thinks we are chapmen," +[Footnote: Merchants.] said Helgi. "They are doubtless making +ready to board us." + +The ship drew so near that they could plainly see the men on +board, and conspicuous among them the tall form of Thorkel +appeared in the bow. + +"He waves to us; there is something behind this," said Estein. + +"Drunk," muttered Helgi. "I wager my gold-handled sword he is +drunk. They have ale enough on board to float the ship." + +"A sail!" Estein exclaimed, pointing to a promontory to seaward +round which the low black hull and coloured sail of a warship were +just appearing. + +"Ay, and another!" said Ulf. + +"Three-four-seven-eight!" Helgi cried. + +"There come nine, and ten!" added Estein. "How many more?" + +They watched the strange fleet in silence as one by one they +turned and bore down upon them, ten ships in all, their oars +rhythmically churning the sea, the strange monsters on the prows +creeping gradually nearer. + +"Orkney Vikings," muttered Ulf. "If I know one long ship from +another, they are Orkney Vikings." + +Meantime Thorkel's ship had drawn close alongside, and its captain +hailed Estein. + +"There is little time for talking now, son of Hakon!" he shouted. +"What think you we should do?--run into the islands, or go to Odin +where we are? These men, methinks, will show us little mercy." + +"I seek mercy from no man," answered Estein. "We will bide where +we are. We could not escape them if we would, and I would not if I +could. Have you seen aught of the other ships?" + +"We parted from Ketill yesterday, and I fear me he has gone to +feed the fishes. I have seen nothing of Asgrim and the rest. I +think with you, Estein, that the bottom here will make as soft a +resting-place for us as elsewhere. Fill the beakers and serve the +men! It is ill that a man should die thirsty." + +The stout sea-rover turned with a gleam of grim humour in his eyes +to the enjoyment of what he fully expected would be his last drink +on earth, and on both ships men buckled on their armour and +bestirred themselves for fight. + +Vikings in those days preyed on one another as freely as on men of +alien blood. They came out to fight, and better sport could +generally be had from a crew of seasoned warriors like themselves +than from the softer peoples of the south. Particularly were the +Orkney and Shetland islands the stations for the freest of free +lances, men so hostile to all semblance of law and order that the +son of a Norwegian king would seem in their eyes a most desirable +quarry. Many a load of hard-won spoil changed hands on its way +home; and the shores of Norway itself were so harried by these +island Vikings that some time later King Harald Harfagri descended +and made a clean sweep of them in the interests of what he +probably considered society. + +The two vessels floated close together, the oars were shipped, and +there, in the grey prosaic early morning light, they heaved gently +on the North Sea swell, and awaited the approach of the ten. A few +sea-birds circled and screamed above them; a faint pillar of smoke +rose from some homestead on a distant shore; elsewhere there was +no sign of life save in the ships to seaward. + +Thorkel, leaning over the side of his vessel, told a tale of +buffetings by night and day such as Estein and his crew had +undergone. That morning he said they had descried Estein's ship +just as the day broke, and almost immediately afterwards ten long +ships were spied lying at anchor in an island bay. For a time they +hoped to slip by them unseen. The fates, however, were against +them. They were observed, and the strange Vikings awoke and gave +chase like a swarm of bees incautiously aroused. + +Apparently the strangers considered themselves hardly yet prepared +for battle; for they slackened speed as they advanced, and those +on Estein's ships could see that a hasty bustle of preparation was +going on. + +"What think you--friends or foes?" asked Helgi. + +"To the Orkney Vikings all men are foes," replied Estein. + +"Ay," said Thorkel with a laugh, "particularly when they are but +two to ten." + +By this time the strangers were within hailing distance, and in +the leading ship a man in a red cloak came from the poop and stood +before the others in the bow. In a loud tone he bade his men cease +rowing, and then, clapping his hand to his mouth, asked in a voice +that had a ring of scornful command what name the captain bore. + +"Estein, the son of Hakon, King of Sogn; and who are you who ask +my name?" came the reply across the water. + +"Liot, the son of Skuli," answered the man in the red cloak. "With +me sails Osmund Hooknose, the son of Hallward. We have here ten +warships, as you see. Yield to us, Estein Hakonson, or we will +take by force what you will not give us." + +The man threw his left hand on his hip, drew himself up, and said +something to his crew, accompanying the words by gestures with a +spear. They answered with a loud shout, and then struck up a wild +and monotonous chorus, the words of which were a refrain +descriptive of the usual fate of those who ventured to stand in +Liot Skulison's way. At the same time their oars churned the +water, and their vessel was brought into line with the others. + +"It is easily seen that our friend Liot is a valiant man," said +Helgi with a short laugh. "He and his ill-looking crew make a +mighty noise. Has any man heard of Liot Skulison or Osmund +Hooknose before?" + +"Ay," answered Ulf. "They call them the bairn-slayers, because +they show no mercy even to children." + +"They will meet with other than bairns to-day," said Helgi. + +Estein and Thorkel had been employed in binding the two vessels +together with grapnels. Then Estein turned to his men and said,-- + +"We are of one mind, are we not? We fight while we may, and then +let Odin do with us what he wills." + +Without waiting for the shout of approval that followed his words, +he sprang to the bow, and raising his voice, cried,-- + +"We are ready for you, Liot and Osmund. When you get on board you +can take what you find here." + +From another ship a man shouted,-- + +"Then you will fight, little Estein? Remember that we are called +the bairn-slayers." + +Instantly Thorkel took up the challenge. Three beakers of ale had +made him in his happiest and most warlike mood, and his eyes +gleamed almost merrily as he answered,-- + +"I know you, Osmund the ugly, by that nose whereon men say you +hang the bairns you catch. Little need have you to do aught save +look at them. Here is a gift for you," and with that he hurled a +spear with so true an aim that, if Osmund had not stooped like a +flash, his share in the fight would have come to an end there and +then. As it was, the missile struck another man between the +shoulders and laid him on the deck. + +"Forward! forward!" cried Liot. "Forward, Vikings! forward, the +men of Liot and Osmund!" + +The oars struck the water, the wild chorus swelled into a terrible +and tuneless roar, and the ten ships bore down on the two. With a +crash the bows met, and metal rang on metal with the noise of a +hundred smithies; the unequal contest had begun. + +Overpowering as such odds could hardly fail to prove in the long +run, they told more slowly in a sea-fight. Till the men who manned +the bulwarks were thinned, the sides were practically equal, and +at first many of the Orkney Vikings were perforce mere spectators. + +Gradually, as the men in front were thinned, they poured in from +the other ships, fresh men always being pitted against tired, and +keen swords meeting hacked. + +Liot laid his own ship alongside Estein's, Osmund attacked +Thorkel's, and the other vessels forced their bows forward +wherever they saw an opening. The Norwegians manned their bulwarks +shield to shield, and fought with the courage of despair. Twice +Liot, backed by his boldest men, tried by a headlong rush to force +himself on board, and twice he was beaten back. A third time he +charged, and selecting a place where the defenders seemed +thinnest, struck down a couple of men with two swinging blows of +his axe, and sprang on to the deck. Three or four men had already +followed him, a cry of victory rose from the Orkney Vikings, and +for a moment the fate of the battle seemed decided, when a huge +stone hurtled through the air, and falling on Liot's shield forced +it down on his helmet and him to his knees. It was the work of +Ulf, captain of the forecastle; and roaring like a bull, the old +Viking followed his stone. Estein sprang from the poop and clove +one man to the shoulders. Another fell to Ulf's sword. The +half-stunned Liot was seized by one of his followers, and bundled +back on board his ship; and for the time the day was saved. + +"After them! after them, Ulf!" shouted Estein, and twenty bold +Norwegians followed their leader in the wake of Liot's retreating +boarding party. Their foes gave way right and left, the gangways +round the sides were cleared, and, despite the threats of Liot, +his men began to spring from forecastle and quarter-deck into the +ships behind. + +"Forward, king's men! forward, men of Estein!" roared Ulf. + +"Wait for me, Liot!" cried Estein, charging the poop with his red +shield before him. "A bairn is after thee!" + +Helgi, who had kept at his shoulder throughout, seized his arm. + +"They are giving way on Thorkel's ship. Osmund is on board. If we +return not, the ship is cleared." + +With a gesture of despair Estein turned. + +"Back, men, back! Thorkel needs all his friends, I fear," he +cried; and to Helgi he said, "The day is lost. We can but sell our +lives dearly now." + +They came back too late. Already Thorkel's men were pouring on +board Estein's ship, with Osmund of the Hooknose at their heels. +Thorkel himself lay stark across the bulwarks, his face to his +foes, and a great spear-head standing out of his back. + +It was now but a question of time. With a single ship, surrounded +on all sides, and weary with storm and battle, there could be only +one fate for Estein's diminished band. Nevertheless, they stood +their ground as stoutly and cheerfully as if the fray were just +beginning. Finding that all efforts to board were useless, the +Orkney Vikings confined themselves for some time to keeping up an +incessant fire of darts and stones. One by one the defenders +dropped at their posts, and at last, when widening gaps appeared +in the line of shields, Liot and Osmund boarded together, each +from his own side. + +"Back to the poop, Helgi!" Estein cried. "To the poop, men! we +cannot hold the gangways. One tired man cannot fight with five +fresh." + +Last of all his men, he stepped from the gangway that ran round +the low and open waist of the ship, up to the decked poop, his red +shield stuck with darts like a pincushion with pins. + +In the forecastle, old Ulf still held his own, backed by some +half-dozen stout survivors out of all those who had gone into +battle with him in the morning. + +"My hour is come at last, Thorolf," he said to the upland giant, +who seemed to be disengaging something from his coat of ring-mail. +"I shall have tales of a merry fight to tell to Odin tonight. But +before I fall I shall slay me one of those two Vikings. Wilt thou +follow me, Thorolf, to the gangways, and then to Valhalla?" + +With a violent wrench the giant drew a spearhead from his side, +and his blood spurted over Ulf, as he swayed on his feet. + +"I go before," he said, and fell on the deck with a clatter of +steel. + +"There died a brave man! Now, comrades, after him to Odin!" + +And with that the forecastle captain sprang down on the gangway, +and knocking men off into the waist in his impetuous rush, swung +his battle-axe round his head and aimed a terrific blow at Osmund +Hooknose. Quick as lightning Osmund raised his shield and thrust +at his foe with his sword. The point of the blade passed in at his +breast and out between his shoulders, and at the same instant the +battle-axe fell. The edge of the shield was cut through like +paper, and the blade coming fair on the nape of the Hooknose's +neck, the bodies of the two champions rolled together off the +gangway. + +Round the poop the last struggle raged. Spent and wounded as they +were, Estein's little band showed a bold front to their foes, and +around the red shield of their leader their lives were dearly +sold. + +Then for a few minutes came a lull in the fight, and men could +breathe for a space. + +"The next onset will be the last," said Estein grimly. + +"Their ships are sheering off!" exclaimed one. + +"'Tis we who are leaving them," said another. + +"Look ahead!" cried Helgi; "we shall cheat them yet." + +The men looked round them with astonished faces, for a strange +thing had happened. They had drifted into one of the dreaded +Orkney tideways, and all the time the fight was raging they were +being borne at increasing speed past islands, holms, and skerries. +The scene had completely changed; they were in a narrower sound, +swinging like sea-fowl, helpless on the tide. Heather hills were +close at hand, and right ahead was a great frothing and bubbling, +out of which rose the black heads of sunken rocks. + +The other vessels had been twisted off by the whirling eddies, and +were now rapidly scattering, each striving to clear the reef. Only +the four vessels bound together--Estein's, Thorkel's, Liot's, +Osmund's--swept in an unresisting cluster towards the rocks. + +Liot too saw the danger, and raised his voice in a great shout:-- + +"Let not man of mine touch an oar till Estein Hakonson lie dead on +yonder deck. We have yet time to slay them. Forward, Liot's men!" + +There was a wild and furious rush of men towards the poop. Down +went man after man of the battle-worn defenders. Liot and Estein +met sword to sword and face to face. The red shield was ripped +from top to bottom by a sweep of the bairn-slayer's blade, and at +the same moment Estein's descending sword was met by a Viking's +battle-axe, and snapped at the hilt. + +"Now, Estein, I have thee!" shouted his foe; but ere the words +were well out of his mouth, Estein had hurled himself at his +waist, dagger in hand, and brought him headlong to the deck. As +they fell, the ships struck with a mighty crash that threw friend +and foe alike on the bloody planks. Two vessels stuck fast; the +other two broke loose, and plunging over the first line of reefs, +settled down by the bows. + +There was a rush to the bulwarks, a splashing of bodies in the +water, and then the doomed and deserted ships, the attacker and +the attacked, sank in the turmoil of the tide. Estein himself had +been pitched clear of his foe into the waist, where he had fallen +head first and half-stunned. + +He felt a friendly hand dragging him to the side, and heard +Helgi's voice saying,-- + +"Art thou able to swim for it?" + +Then he had a confused recollection of being swept along by an +irresistible current, clinging the while to what he afterwards +found to be a friendly plank, and after that came oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HOLY ISLE. + + +With the first glimmer of consciousness, Estein became aware of an +aching head and a bruised body. Next he felt that he was very wet +and cold; and then he discovered that he was not alone. His head +rested on something soft, and two hands chafed his temples. + +"Helgi," he said. + +A voice that was not Helgi's replied, "Thanks be to the saints! he +is alive." + +Estein started up, and his gaze met a pair of dark blue eyes. They +and the hands belonged to a fair young girl, a maid of some +seventeen summers, on whose knees his aching head had just been +resting. + +They were sitting on a shelving rock that jutted into the tideway, +and at his feet his kindly plank bumped gently in an eddy of the +current. + +He looked at her so silently and intently that the blue eyes +drooped and a faint blush rose to the maiden's cheeks. + +"Are you wounded?" she asked. She spoke in the Norse tongue, but +with a pretty, foreign accent, and she looked so fair and so kind +that thoughts of sirens and mermaids passed through the Viking's +mind. + +"Wounded? Well, methinks I ought to be," he answered; "and yet I +feel rather bruised than pierced. If I can stand--" and as he +spoke he rose to his feet, and slipping on the seaweed, slid +quietly into the water. + +The girl screamed; and then, as he scrambled out none the worse +and only a little the wetter, an irresistible inclination to laugh +overcame her. Forgetful of his head, he laughed with her. + +"Forgive me," she said; "I could not help laughing, though, to be +sure, you seem in no laughing plight. I thought at first that you +were drowned." + +"'Tis your doing, I think, that I am not. Did you find me in the +water?" + +"Half in and half out; and it took much pulling to get you wholly +out." + +Estein impulsively drew a massive gold ring off his finger, and in +the gift-giving spirit of the times handed it to his preserver. + +"I know not your name, fair maiden," he said, "but this I know, +that you have saved my life. Will you accept this Viking's gift +from me? It is all that the sea has left me." + +"Nay, keep such gifts for those who deserve them. It would have +been an unchristian act to let you drown." + +"You use a word that is strange to me; but I would that you might +take this ring." + +"No, no!" she cried decidedly; "it will be time enough to talk of +gifts when I have earned them. Not," she added, a little proudly, +"that it is my wish to earn gifts. But you are wet and wounded; +come where I can give you shelter, poor though it be." + +"Any shelter will seem good to me. Yet, ere I go, I would fain +learn something of my comrades' fate." + +He scanned the sound narrowly, and in all its long stretch there +was not a sign of friend or foe. About a mile back the fatal reef, +bared by the ebbing tide, showed its line of black heads high out +of the water, but of ships there was no vestige to be seen. It was +long past mid-day by the sun, and he knew that he must have been +unconscious for some hours. In that time, such of the Vikings as +had escaped the rocks had evidently sailed away, leaving only the +dead in the sound. + +"They are gone," he said, turning away, "friends and foes--gone, +or drowned, as I should have been, fair maid, but for you." + +They scrambled together up the rocks, and then struck a winding +sheep-path that led them over the shoulder of a heath-clad hill. + +At first they walked in silence, the girl in front, going at a +great speed up the narrow track; and Estein watched the wind blow +her fair hair about her neck in a waving tangle, and he saw that +she was tall and slender. By-and-by, when they had crossed the +hill and reached a less broken tract of ground, he came up to her +side. + +"How did you come to be down where you found me?" he asked. + +"I was on the hill," she answered, "when I saw ships in the sound +rowing hard to escape the current, and then I saw that some had +been wrecked. Wreckage was floating by, and I espied, for my eyes +are good, a man clinging to a plank; and presently he drifted upon +a rock, and I thought that perhaps I might save a life. So I went +down to the shore--and you yourself know the rest." + +"I know, indeed, that I have to thank you for my life, such as it +is. And I know further that every girl would not have been so +kind." + +She smiled, and her smile was one of those that illuminate a face. + +"Thank rather the tide, which so kindly brought you ashore, for I +had done little if you had been in the middle of the sound. But +you have not yet told me how you came to be wrecked." + +Estein told her of the storm at sea and the fight with the +Vikings; how they had fallen man by man, and how he too would have +been numbered amongst the dead but for the tideway and the rocks. + +As she listened, her eyes betrayed her interest in the tale, and +when he had finished, she said,-- + +"I have heard of Liot and Osmund. They are the most pitiless of +all the robbers in these seas. Give thanks that you escaped them." + +He asked her name, and she told him it was Osla, daughter of a +Norse leader who had fought in the Irish seas, and had finally +settled in Ireland. There his daughter was born and passed her +early girlhood; and it was a trace of the Irish accent that Estein +had noticed in her speech. In one fatal battle her two brothers +fell, her father was forced to fly from the land, and Osla had +left her Irish home with him and come to reside in Orkney. + +"He is a holy Christian man," she said. "Once he was a famous +Viking, and his name was well known in the west seas. Now, he +would even have his name forgotten, and he is only known as +Andreas, which was the name of one of the blessed apostles; and +here we two live in a little lonely island, keeping aloof from all +men, and striving to live as did the early fathers." + +"That must be a quiet life for you," said Estein. + +"I sometimes think so myself," she answered with a smile. "And +what do men call you?" + +For an instant Estein hesitated. The thought passed through his +mind, "She must not know me as son to the King of Sogn till I have +done some deed more worthy of a prince of Yngve's line than lose a +battle with two Orkney Vikings." Then he said, "I am called +Vandrad; [Footnote: The Unlucky.] from my youth up I have been a +sea-rover, and I fear I may prove ill suited to your father's +company." + +"My father has met sea-rovers before," she said, with a smile in +her eye. + +By this time they had nearly crossed the island, and Estein saw +before them another long sound. On the far side of this lay a +large and hilly island that stretched to his left hand as far as +his eye could reach, and on the right broke down at the end of the +strait into a precipitous headland, beyond which sparkled the open +sea. In the middle of the sound a small green islet basked like a +sea monster in the evening sunshine. + +As they stood on the top of the descent that ran steeply to the +sea, he cast his eyes around for any signs of life on sea or on +shore. Below him, and much to the left, a cluster of small houses +round a larger drinking-hall marked the residence of a chieftain +of position; on the island across the water lay a few scattered +farms; and on the little islet his eye could just discern a faint +wreath of smoke. The seas were deserted, and the atmosphere seemed +charged with an air of calm loneliness. + +"That is my home," said Osla, pointing to the little green island. +"The early fathers called it the Holy Isle. Our house is an +anchorite's cell, and our lands, as you see, are of the smallest. +Are you content to come to such a place?" + +Estein smiled. "If you dwell there, I am content," he said. + +Osla tossed her head with what quite failed to be an air of +impatience. + +"Such things are easy to say now," she said. "If you say them +again after you have lived on a hermit's fare for one whole day, I +may begin to believe you." + +They descended the hill, and in a little creek on the shore came +upon a skiff. + +"This is our long ship," said Osla. "If you wish to show your +gratitude, you may assist me to launch her." + +"Now," she said, when Estein had run the boat into the water, "you +can rest while I row you across." + +"It has never been my custom to let a girl row me," he replied, +taking the oars. + +"But your wounds?" + +"If I have any I have forgotten them." + +"Well, I will let you row, for the tide is at the turn, and you +will not need to watch the currents. There is a great roost here +when the tide is running." + +Estein laughed. "I see that I am with a skilful helmsman," he +said. + +"And I, that I am with an over-confident crew," she answered. + +Only a distant corncrake broke the silence of the lonely channel, +its note sounding more faintly as they left the land behind. The +sun set slowly between the headlands to seaward, and by the time +they reached the shore of the islet the stillness was absolute, +and the northern air was growing chill. Osla led the Viking up a +slope of short sea-turf, and presently crossing the crest of the +land, they came upon a settlement so strange and primitive that it +could scarcely, he thought, have been designed by mortal men. + +Facing the land-locked end of the sound, and looking upon a little +bay, a cluster of monastic cells marked the northern limits of the +Christian church. From this outpost it had for the time receded, +and all save two of the rude stone dwellings looked deserted and +forlorn. A thin thread of smoke rose straight heavenward in the +still air, and before the entrance of the cell whence it issued +stood an old and venerable man. Despite a slight stoop, he was +still much beyond the common height of men. His brows were shaggy, +and his grey beard reached well down over his breast; a long and +voluminous cloak, much discoloured by the weather, was bound round +his waist by a rope, and in his hand he carried a great staff. + +As Estein approached, his brows bent in an expression of +displeased surprise, but he waited in silence till his daughter +spoke. + +"I have brought a shipwrecked seafarer, father," she said. "He is +wounded, I fear, and certainly he is both wet and hungry. I have +told him we would give him shelter and food, and such tending as +his wounds may require." + +"Whence came he?" asked the old man. + +"From the sound beyond the island; at least, he was in the sound +when I first saw him." + +"And I have to thank your daughter that I am not there now," +Estein added. + +"What is your name?" + +"I am known as Vandrad, the son of a noble landowner in Norway." + +The old man looked for a moment as though he would have questioned +him further on his family. Instead, he asked,-- + +"And why came you to these islands?" + +"For that, the wind and not I is answerable. Orkney was the last +place I had thought of visiting." + +"You were wrecked?" + +"Wrecked, and wellnigh drowned." + +In a more courteous tone the old man said, "While you are here you +are welcome to such cheer as we can give you. This cell is all my +dwelling, but since you have come to this island, enter and rest +you in peace." + +Stooping low in the doorway, Estein entered the abode of Andreas +the hermit. Lit only by a small window and the gleam of a +driftwood fire, the rude apartment was dusky and dim; yet there +seemed nothing there that should make the sea-king pause at the +threshold. Was it but a smoke wreath that he saw, and did the wind +rise with a sudden gust out of the stillness of the evening? It +seemed to him a face that appeared and then vanished, and a far-off +voice that whispered a warning in his ear. + +"Be not dismayed at our poverty; there is no worse foeman within," +said Osla, with a touch of raillery, as he stood for a moment +irresolute. + +Estein made no answer, but stepped quickly into the room. Had he +indeed heard a voice from beyond the grave, or was it but the +fancy of a wounded head? The impression lingered so vividly that +he stood in a reverie, and the words of his hosts fell unheeded on +his ears. He knew the face, he had heard the voice of old, but in +the kaleidoscope of memory he could see no name to fit them, no +incident wherewith they might be linked. + +He was aroused by the voice of Osla. + +"Let us give him food and drink quickly, father. He is faint, and +hears us not." + +The tumultuous stir of battle was forgotten as they brought him +supper and gently bound his wounds. A kettle sang a drowsy song +and seemed to lay a languid spell upon him, and, as in a dream, he +heard the hermit offer up an evening prayer. The petitions, +eloquent and brief in his northern tongue, rose above the +throbbing of the roost outside, and died away into a prayerful +silence; and then, in the pleasant nicker of the firelight, they +parted till the morrow. + +Estein and the hermit stepped out into the cool night. + +"They who visit the Holy Isle must rest content with hard +pillows," said Andreas. "Here in this cell you will find a blanket +and a couch of stone. May Christ be with you through the night;" +and as he spoke he turned into his own bare apartment. + +Estein looked upward at the stars shining as calmly on him here as +on the sea-king who lately paced his long ship's deck; he listened +for a moment to the roost rising higher and moaning more uneasily; +and then above both he saw a pair of dark blue eyes, and heard a +voice with just a touch of raillery in it. As he bent his head and +entered his cell, he smiled to himself at the pleasantness of the +vision. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE ISLAND SPELL. + + +The Holy Isle was bathed in morning sunshine, shadows of light +clouds chased each other over the hills across the sound, and out +beyond the headlands the blue sea glimmered restfully. + +On a bank of turf sloping to the rocks Estein sat with Osla, +drinking in the freshness of the air. She had milked their +solitary cow, baked cakes enough for the day's fare, and now, her +simple housekeeping over, she was free to entertain her guest. + +"My father, I fear, is in a black mood," she said. "His moods come +and go, I know not why or when. To-day and perhaps to-morrow, and +it may be for four days or more, he will sit in his cell or on the +grass before the door, speaking never a word, and hardly answering +when I talk to him. Pay no heed to him; he means no +inhospitality." + +"I fear he likes me not," said Estein. "He came here to escape +men, you say, and now he has to entertain a stranger and a +Viking." + +"It is not that," she said. "The black moods come when we are +alone; they come sometimes with the rising storm, sometimes when +the sun shines brightest. I cannot tell when the gloom will fall, +nor when he will be himself again. When his mind is well, he will +talk to me for hours, and instruct me in many things." + +"Has he instructed you in this religion he professes? Know you +what gods he worships?" + +Osla opened her eyes in perplexed surprise; she hardly felt +herself equal to the task of converting this pagan, and yet it +were a pity not to try. So she told him, with a woman's +enthusiastic inaccuracy, of this new creed of love, then being so +strikingly illustrated in troubled, warlike Christian Europe. + +"And what of the gods I and my ancestors have worshipped for so +long? What place have they in the Valhalla of the white Christ?" + +"There are no other gods." + +"No Odin, no Thor, no Freya of the fair seasons, no Valhalla for +the souls of the brave? Nay, Osla, leave me my gods, and I will +leave you yours. Mine is the religion of my kinsmen, of my father, +of my ancestors. And," he continued, "would you say that Christian +men are better than worshippers of Odin? Are they braver, are +their swords keener, are they more faithful to their friends?" + +"We want not keen swords. Warfare is your only thought. You live +but to pillage and to fight. Have you known what it is to lose +home and brothers all in one battle? Have you fled from a smoking +roof-tree? Have you had mercy refused you? Have you had wife or +child borne away to slavery? That is your creed--tell me, is it +not?" + +"I have thought of these things, Osla," said Estein gravely. "I +have thought of them at night when the stars shone and the wind +sighed in the trees. When I look upon my home and see the reapers +in the fields, and hear the maidens singing at their work, I would +sometimes be willing to turn hermit like your father, and sit in +the sun for ever. + +"But," he went on, and his voice rose to a clear, stirring note, +"I could not rest long so. The sea calls us Northmen, and we +cannot bide at home. Unrest seizes us like a giant and hurls us +forth. We must be men; we must seek adventure on sea or on shore; +there are foemen to be met, and we long to meet them; and if we +bear us bravely, never striking sail though the wind blow high, +and never flinching from the greatest odds, we know that the gods +will smile, and, if they will, we die happy. We are not all +bairn-slayers. I have been taught to spare where there was nothing +worthy of my steel, and no maid or mother has yet suffered wrong +at my hands. Yet must I sail the seas, Osla, and fight where I +find a foe; for I feel that the gods bid me, and a man cannot +struggle with his fate." + +While he spoke Osla's gaze was fixed on the turning tide, but her +eyes, had he seen them, were lit by the fire of his words. She +sprang to her feet as he finished, and said,-- + +"I, too, have the Norse blood in me; the sea calls me as it calls +you; and if I were a man, I fear I should make a bad hermit. +Yet"--and she held up a warning finger to stay the impetuous words on +Estein's tongue--"yet I know I should be wrong. What is this +feeling but the hunger of wolves, and what are your gods but names +for it? Wolves, too, go out to slay; and if they had speech, +doubtless they would say that Thor called them." + +"Is a Viking not different from a wolf, then, in your eyes?" + +"By too little," she answered, "if they hold the same creed." + +"A wolf, then, I am," he replied; "and I can but try to keep my +lips drawn over my fangs and bit on my hind legs, and practise +manliness as best I may." + +"A very hungry manliness," she retorted. But despite herself she +smiled, and then lightly turned the talk to other things. + +From day to day the quiet island life went on with few incidents +and pleasant monotony. With only one family was there any +intercourse, and that almost entirely on Osla's part. On the shore +of the great island to the west, which men called Hrossey, dwelt a +large farmer, named Margad, and from his household such supplies +as they needed were obtained. He was an honest, peaceable man, as +the times went, with a kindly wife, Gudrun by name, and they both +took a friendly interest in the hermit's daughter. Estein would +fain have lived in her society all day, listening to her talk and +watching the wind play with her hair, and every day he noticed, +with a sense of growing disappointment, that he saw her more +seldom. Sometimes they would have long talks, and then, abruptly +as it seemed to him, she would have to leave him, and he would +spend his time in fishing from a boat, or would cross with her to +Hrossey, and while she went to see Dame Gudrun he pursued the +roe-deer and moor-fowl. + +With bow and arrow, and by dint of long and arduous stalks, he +brought home scanty but well-earned spoil, and then, either by +himself, or more often with Osla in the stern, he would cross the +sound as the day faded, to a welcome supper and an evening spent +in the firelit cell, or to a peaceful night beside the swirl of +the tideway under a sky so pale and clear that only the brightest +stars were ever seen. + +He knew that he was in love, hopelessly in love. Why else should +he stay in the Holy Isle after his wounds were healed, and when +nothing bade him remain? Far away and faint sounded the echoes of +war and the shouts of revelry. Like memories of another life, +thoughts of his father, of Helgi, of friends and kinsmen, came to +him, pricked him for a moment, and faded into a pair of dark-blue +eyes and a tall and slender figure. He still talked to Osla of +voyages and battles, and caught her sometimes taking more interest +than she would own in some old tale of derring-do, or a story of +his own adventures. Yet the actual memories of these things grew +fainter, and he talked like an old man telling of his youth. + +"I am under a spell," he would say to himself, and stride more +quickly over the heather, and then catch himself smiling at the +thought of some word or look of Osla's. + +The hermit's black mood passed away, and was followed by an +attitude of grave distance towards his guest. He spoke little, but +always courteously, and seemed to treat him at first merely as an +addition to the live stock of the island. + +One night Estein, after the manner of the skalds, sang a poem of +his own as they sat round the fire. He called it the "King's War +Song." + +"On high the raven banner +Invites the hungry kites, +Red glares the sun at noon-tide, +Wild gleam the Northern lights; +The war-horn brays its summons, +And from each rock-bound fiord +Come the sea-kings of Norway, +To follow Norway's lord. + +"The cloven arrow speeding, +Fraught with war's alarms, +Calls the ravens to their feast, +The Udallers to arms. +See that your helms be burnished, +See that your blades be ground, +When he of Yngve's kindred +Sends the war token round!" + +"Skoal, [Footnote: The Norse drinking salutation.] Vandrad! +skoal!" cried the hermit. + +His hearers looked at him in amazement. His eyes flashed, his lips +twitched, the whole man was transformed for the moment into the +Viking of the western seas. + +"Once I was a skald myself," he said. "You have quickened what I +thought was dead." And he rose and walked out into the night. + +For a minute they were too surprised to speak. Then Osla said +softly,-- + +"Your magic is too strong, Vandrad." She threw him one glance that +lived long in his memory, and quickly followed her father. + +For more than an hour afterwards he could dimly see them pacing +the shore in silence, her arm within the hermit's. + +Next day the old man was more silent and reserved than before, but +every now and then Estein saw that his eyes followed him, and the +few words he spoke were couched in a kindlier manner. + +"Sing to him again," whispered Osla in the evening, and night +after night the young skald sang and the hermit and his daughter +listened. Sometimes when he was finished the old Viking would talk +on various themes. Brief glimpses of his earlier days, snatches of +religious converse, his travels, and the strange peoples he had +seen, he would touch upon before the evening prayer. + +And so the time passed away, till Estein had spent six weeks in +the Holy Isle. All the while he had made no open love to Osla. She +seemed merely friendly, and he was distracted between a wild +desire to break down the barriers between them and a strange and +numbing feeling of warning that held him back, he knew not why. So +strong was it at times that he fancied two spells cast upon him, +one by the island maiden, the other by some unknown spirit. + +One morning he found her wandering by the cliffs that formed the +seaward barrier of the isle. + +"Let us sit here, Osla," he said. "I have a new song to sing you." + +"I must bake my cakes," she answered. "Can you not sing it to us +to-night?" + +"It concerns only you. Sit here but for a moment; it is not long, +and you can escape from me when I have done." + +"Very well," she said, with a smile and an air of resignation. "I +will listen, but do not keep me long." + +"If it will tire you, I can wait." + +"You can try me." + +"I must leave the Holy Isle soon, Osla; I have been too long away +from my kinsfolk and my country. It is hard to part, but it must +come some day, and these verses are my parting song." + +She was silent, and seemed intently plucking sea pinks. + +"I cannot tell you why," he went on, "but to-day I feel that my +hour has come to rove again. I would that I might live here for +ever, but I know it is not fated so." + +Then he sang his farewell song:-- + +"Canst thou spare a sigh, fair Osla? It is fated I must go. Wilt +thou think of Vandrad ever When the sea winds hoarsely blow, Or +will the memory of my love With absence fainter grow? + +"Canst thou spare a tear, sweet Osla, When I sail from this fair +land? Wilt thou dream of Vandrad sometimes When the waves boom on +the strand? Can visions of a pleasant hour The march of time +withstand? + +"Osla, when I bear me bravely, 'Midst the lightning of the sword, +And the armies meet like torrents When the mountain snows have +thawed The thought of thine approving smile Shall be my sole +reward. + +"Fare thee well, sweet blue-eyed Osla! The sea-king must not stay, +E'en for tresses rich as summer And for smile as bright as May; +But one hope I cannot part from--We may meet again some day!" + +"Then are you going?" she said, more softly than he had ever heard +her speak before. + +"Do you wish me to stay?" + +"Not if you wish to rove the seas again, and fight and plunder, as +a brave man should," she cried with a flash of raillery. "If it is +your fate to go, why should I stand in the way? Am I anything to +you?" + +She gave him no time to answer, but rose and ran lightly away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANDREAS THE HERMIT. + + +The same day Estein rowed across alone to Hrossey, and started +over the hills with his bow and arrows. He walked for some miles +through moorland ground, and paused at length on the top of a +range of hills, whence he had a wide view over the inland country. +There he sat down and mused for long. Below him he saw a valley +opening out into a sweep of low-lying land, watered by many lochs, +and bounded by heather hills. All round, in glimpses between the +highest hill-tops, and in wide, unbroken stretches over the lower +ranges, the open sea girdled the island. Gradually the stillness +of the place and the freshness of the air told upon him, and at +length he fell asleep. He began to dream, at first of confused +events and hurrying faces, and then more distinctly and vividly. +He had landed, he thought, on the Holy Isle. It was dark, but he +seemed to see plainly a figure, wrapped in a long cloak, walking +before him towards the cells. It was neither Andreas nor his +daughter, and with some wonder he quickened his steps and overtook +it just as it was about to enter the hermit's cell. Then all at +once it seemed to flash upon him that this was no mortal visitor, +and with a sudden thrill of fear he stopped. At that instant the +figure turned a shrouded face on him, and said sternly, and so +clearly that the words were ringing in his ears when he woke,-- + +"What doest THOU here, Estein Hakonson?" + +He came to himself with a start, the sweat standing on his +forehead. It was the second time he had heard the voice. Once +before it had warned him when he first entered the hermit's cell, +but now as then he could find neither name nor circumstance to fit +it. + +All at once the prophecy of Atli came into his mind--"You will be +warned, but you will heed not," and in spite of himself a feeling +of gloom settled over his mind. + +A herd of deer browsed unheeded on a distant slope, the hours +passed, and the sun sank low in the west, while he sat there +alone. + +At last he rose and retraced his steps back to the shore. The tide +was running strongly, he had a long and stiff pull to win his way +across, and the summer dusk that never reaches darkness in the +north was gathering when he landed. + +He looked round as though he expected to see a cloaked figure +start up out of the gloaming, but the island was deserted and +still. Before the cell he paused for an instant. "You will not +heed the warning," he repeated. "Yet what is fated must be," and +then he entered. + +The hermit was alone. Farmer Margad had come for Osla, for his +wife was unwell, and the credulous people thought the daughter of +the wizard, as they deemed Father Andreas, might have some healing +influence. Estein sat down and took his supper; and all the time +he was eating, Andreas paced the floor saying nothing aloud, but +muttering continually under his breath. Legends of shape-changing +and black magic came into the young Viking's mind. As he watched +the old man pass to and fro in the firelight, and the huge, +distorted shadow sweep across and across the cell, he fancied once +or twice that he could see the beginnings of some horrid +transformation. + +All of a sudden the hermit stopped and looked at him earnestly. + +"Sing to me a song of battle!" he cried; and Estein saw that a +change had indeed taken place. A fit of gloom had given way to a +period of strange excitement, and the spirit of the sea-rover was +returned. + +Estein composed his mind, and sang the song of the Battle of +Dunheath, beginning:-- + + "Many the chiefs who drank the mead + As the sun rose over the plain, + But small the band who bound their wounds + When the heath was dark again." + +As the last words died away the hermit began to talk excitedly and +volubly, and in a strain new to his guest. + +"I once sang such songs," he said. "I sailed the seas in my long +ship, and men feared my name--feared me, Andreas, the man of God. +I was a heathen then, as thou art; I worshipped the gods of the +North, and the hammer of Thor was my symbol on the ocean. I spared +none who stood in my way. These hands have dripped with the blood +of my foes, and many a widow have I left desolate." + +He paused, and a tongue of flame shot suddenly from the fire and +cast a bright light in the cell. + +"Fire!" cried the old man--"fire like that have I brought on my +foes! I have burned them like rats; I have left their homesteads +smouldering! Listen, Vandrad, and I shall tell thee of a deed that +made my name known throughout all the Northland. Now," he added, +"I am a Christian man, and my soul is safe with Christ. + +"Once I received an injury I swore I should avenge. Hakon, King of +Sogn, a proud man and a stern, banished my brother Kolskegg for +manslaughter. The deed was but an act of justice on one who had +beguiled our kinswoman; but the dead man had many friends, and the +king hearkened neither to Kolskegg's offers of atonement nor to my +petitions--to mine, who had never asked aught of mortal man +before! My brother was a dear friend of the king, foster-father +even to his eldest son Olaf, and he weakly bowed his head and left +the land. When I heard that he had gone, I pressed my sword-hilt +so tightly in my rage that the blood dripped from my nails, and I +cursed him aloud for idly suffering such insult to our house to +pass without revenge. Our race is as old and proud as the kings of +Sogn themselves, and I vowed that Hakon should rue that day. I was +a heathen then, Vandrad." + +He said these last words with a gleam in his eyes and a tightening +of his lips, as if he gloated over the memory of his bygone faith. +With the same grim reminiscent pleasure, he went on: "I and two +others sent the cloven arrow through the dales, and gathered armed +men enough to fill three ships. Ay, the sailing of Thord the Tall, +Snaekol Gunnarson, and Thorfin of Skapstead is not forgotten yet +in Norway. We went to Laxafiord, for there dwelt Olaf, son of +Hakon. You have heard the tale?" he cried suddenly, "you know of +the burning?" + +"Go on," said Estein, in a hard, dry voice; "I am listening," and +all the while his right hand sought his side. + +"It was a deed," said the hermit, "that made all Norway ring. We +landed in the night time, and saw the lights of the hall between +the pine trees. They were feasting, and they heard not our +approach. We made a ring round the house and heaped faggots +against the walls, and still they heard us not. It was a dark +night, Vandrad, very dark, till we lit a fire that was seen by men +in the outer islands. Then they heard us, they smelt the smoke, +and they ran to the doors. The first man who came out I clove to +the waist, for none in Norway had greater skill at arms than I. +Then we drove them in and closed the door. Sometimes at night I +hear them shriek even now. There was never such a burning in +Norway; we spared not one soul, not one. + +"They asked us to let the women out, but we had come there to slay +and not to spare. They shrieked, Vandrad; they cried till the roof +fell in, and then they died. My soul is safe with God, and they +are in outer darkness. There they will shriek for ever." + +He paused for a moment, and then went on in the same strain of +high excitement,-- + +"Now you know me. I am Thord the Tall, the burner of Olaf +Hakonson." + +"And where are Snaekol Gunnarson and Thorfin of Skapstead?" Estein +spoke with difficulty, and his right hand had closed on something +in his belt. + +"Both are dead. They died heathens, and their souls are as +hopelessly lost as the soul of Olaf Hakonson. I am the last of the +burners." + +The voice of Thord the Tall died away. Estein bent forward, his +hand left his side, and something in it gleamed in the firelight. + +Suddenly the hermit started. + +"Osla! I hear Osla!" he said. + +Estein thrust his dagger into its sheath, and bending in the +doorway stepped out into the night. Below the cell he saw a boat +leaving the land, and right before him, in the clear, cool +twilight, the form of Osla. + +"Have you tired of my father's company?" she asked, with a smile. + +"I would be alone," he answered, and walked quickly past her. + +Now he knew the twice-heard voice, and remembered the fleeting +face. + +"You came to warn me, Olaf, and I knew you not!" he cried. "I know +you now--too late!" + +He paced the turf with hurried steps. The sacred duty of revenge +called him with a vehemence we cannot now realize. He had sworn to +let slip no chance of taking vengeance on the burners of his +brother. Often he had sought news of them, and often renewed his +resolution; and now that he had found his foe, was he to idly +suffer him to escape? + +Yet he had been this man's guest; he had eaten of his bread, and +slept in his dwelling. And his hands were tied by a stronger +chain. "Osla, Osla," he cried, "for your sake I am faithless to my +vows, and forgetful of my duty to my kindred!" + +Then the memory of Thord the Tall, telling of the burning, rose +fresh and strong, and again his hand sought his side, and his +breath came fast, till the vision of Osla swept aside all other +thoughts. + +The time went by until the hour was hard on midnight. Gradually +his mind grew more composed. + +"I am in the hands of destiny," he said to himself. "Let fate do +with me what it will." + +All the northern sky was still red with the afterglow of sunset, +creeping slowly eastwards against the dawn; land and sea lay clear +and yet dim, for the light was ghostly as a phosphorescent +chamber; the tide was slack, and lapped softly on the rocks; and +everything in the world seemed tranquil. + +"The end has come," he said. + +All at once, on the sheen of the sound, he spied a curious black +mark, far out and vague. Gradually it seemed to steal nearer, till +Estein, looking at it keenly, forgot his thoughts in a rising +curiosity. Then it took shape, and faintly across the water came +the splash of oars and the voices of men. As they drew nearer, he +crouched below a bank and watched their approach with growing +wonder and something too of awe. + +"The gods have sent for me," he thought. + +They were being carried by the current towards the place where he +stood, and presently they made a landing on the rocks. There +followed a consultation in low tones, and then one man left the +boat and came up the bank. He stood out clearly in the transparent +dusk--a tall, mail-clad figure, walking with a confident carriage. + +Estein waited till he was opposite him, and then sprang up, dagger +in hand. + +"Who art thou?" he demanded. + +The man's hand went straight to his sword, but at the sound of +Estein's voice it fell again. + +"Estein, my foster-brother!" he cried. + +"Helgi!" + +Helgi opened his arms and embraced him tenderly, speaking with an +emotion he made no effort to control. "Estein, my brother, I +thought thou wert in truth in Valhalla. I have wept for thee, +Estein; I have mourned thee as dead. Tell me that this is thy very +self, and not some island ghost come to mock me." + +The friendly voice and grasp, coming in this his hour of trouble, +touched Estein to the heart. + +"It is I, indeed, Helgi," he said; "and never have I felt more +glad to see a face and clasp a hand. How came you here? I thought +I had parted from my friends for ever. I have been so long alone +that they had begun to seem like dream-men." + +Helgi told him briefly how he had swum ashore to another island, +and there been picked up by Ketill, the black-bearded captain of +one of Estein's scattered ships; how, giving up all hope, they had +sailed for the south, and after meeting head winds and little +luck, returned to the Orkneys, where, from a man who had been with +Margad, news of the stranger on the Holy Isle had reached their +ears. + +"They say, Estein, that your hermit has a fair daughter. Methinks +she would like to see your foster-brother; would she not?" + +"Nay, Helgi, ask me no more questions, but take me quickly away. I +am spell-bound here, and I dare not trust myself to stay one +moment longer." + +"I know these spells, Estein; they have been cast on men by other +maids before now. Better take your sorceress with you. It is +unlucky to break such spells so rudely." + +"Laugh not, Helgi," said Estein, taking his arm and hurrying him +down to the shore. "This spell has meant more to me than you can +guess." + +"By the hammer of Thor!" exclaimed Helgi, stopping suddenly, +"there surely is the witch herself." + +Estein looked round, and standing against the sky he saw the +slender form he knew so well. + +"Wait for me, Helgi," he said, "the spell is on me still," and +starting away suddenly he ran up the bank again. + +"Osla!" he cried, and stopped abruptly. + +"What means this, Vandrad?" she asked. + +Her eyes were wide open with troubled surprise, and looking into +her upturned face he thought she never was so fair before. + +"They have come for me, Osla, and I must go. Farewell! remember me +not." + +"Do you leave us in this way--without saying farewell, or telling +us you were going?" + +"I knew not myself when they would come. I told you I must leave +you and seek the sea again. It has come true sooner than I +expected." + +He took her hands. + +"Farewell!" he said again. + +She turned her face away. + +"I feared you would tire of us," she said, her voice sinking very +low. + +"Never, Osla, never! but fate has been too strong for me. They +wait for me now, and I must leave you." + +"Farewell, Vandrad!" she said, looking up, and he saw that her +eyes were filled with tears. + +"Osla!" he cried, drawing her towards him. She yielded an instant, +and then suddenly broke free and started away. + +"Farewell!" she said again, and her voice sounded like a sob. + +He did not trust himself to answer, but turned and hurried to the +boat. + +They pushed off in silence, the oars dipped in the quiet sound, +and Estein left the Holy Isle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE HALL OF LIOT. + + +All through the small hours of the morning Estein sat on the poop +in silence. Helgi, wrapped in his cloak, threw himself on the deck +beside him and fell asleep with a lightened heart, while the long +ship, slipping down the sound with the tide, turned westwards into +the swell of the Atlantic. + +Gloom had settled over Estein's mind. The pleasantest memories +were distorted by the ghost of that old blood feud; his murdered +brother called aloud for vengeance; in the wash of the waves and +the creaking of the timbers he heard the hermit recite again the +story of the burning, and through it all a voice cried, "Farewell! +farewell!" + +The sun at that season rises early. With it the breeze freshened, +and one by one the sleeping figures in the waist woke, and began +to stir about the ship. Still their leader sat silent. + +Helgi at length sat up with a start, and rubbed his eyes. He +looked at Estein, and smiled. + +"Very much in love methinks," he said to himself. + +At last Estein saw he was observed, and passing his hand across +his brow as if to sweep away his thoughts, asked wearily,-- + +"Where do we go now, Helgi?" + +"Your spell needs a violent remedy, and I have that on my mind +that may cure it. What say you to letting Liot Skulison know that +he did not slay us all? There are here two others besides +ourselves who escaped the fate of Thorkel and our comrades, and +they think they owe Liot something. Does revenge seem sweet?" + +"Then Liot is alive?" + +"Ay, Thor has spared him for us. The Orkney-man who led us to you +has an ancient feud against the bairn-slayers, and he tells me +Liot and his men are feasting at his dwelling. Shall we fall upon +them to-night?" + +"You are a good physician, Helgi. Battle and storm are the best +cures for such as I." + +"I cannot give you a storm, I fear," laughed Helgi, "but you can +have fighting enough to-night. Liot keeps two hundred men and more +about him, and we have here some seventy all told." + +"We have faced greater odds together, Helgi. Life does not seem so +fair to me now that I should shrink from odds of three to one. Let +us seek Liot wherever he is, and when we have found him, tell him +to arm as many men as he can muster. Then let our destiny weave +its web for us." + +Helgi laughed again. + +"That would be a good revenge--to let Liot slay the men of Estein, +a shipload at a time. If Odin wishes us to die, I shall try to +meet my fate stoutly, but I shall not help him in the slaying. +Nay, Estein, I can devise a better plan than yours." + +Estein smiled for the first time since he had come on board. + +"So long as it gives me a good fight with stout foes, and with you +at my side, I care not what plan you propose." + +"There speaks yourself again!" cried Helgi; "and I think that ere +long you will meddle with my schemes. I will call Ketill and the +Orkneyman, and we four will hold council here." + +Ketill, the broad-beamed captain of the ship--the same whose path +had been stopped by Atli--a man of few words and stout deeds, and +Grim, the Orkneyman, came up to the poop. There they deliberated +for long. Helgi was all for fire. + +"Let us hear how the men of Liot will sing when they are warm." + +Ketill gave a short laugh. + +"I, too, am for burning," he said. + +"We must catch them when they are drinking," said Grim. "When +Liot's feasts are over many men go to sleep in outhouses round the +hall, and we have not force enough here to surround them all at +once." + +"I will have no more burnings," said Estein. + +"When had we our last?" asked Helgi. "You speak as though we had +done naught but burn foes all our lives. We have never had a +burning before, Estein, and it is better to begin as the burners +than the burned." + +"I have lately heard tell of another. It is no work for brave +men." + +Helgi shrugged his shoulders. + +"Let us drown them then," he said. + +Ketill gave another short, gruff laugh. + +"Nay, Ketill, I am not jesting; in truth I am in little humour for +that. If seventy brave men cannot clear a hall of two hundred +drinkers, what virtue lies in stout hearts and sharp swords? We +will enter the hall, you from one end and I from the other, and I +think the men of Liot Skulison will not have to complain of too +peaceful an evening." + +"We must catch them, then, while they are feasting. Afterwards it +will be too late, with only seventy men," the wary Grim replied. + +"We can choose our hour," said Estein; "and whatever plan we fall +on, it seems we must be in time." + +Helgi laughed lightly. + +"I thought you would leave us little say, Estein, when once you +were aroused," he said. "'Tis all the same to me. Fire, sword, or +water--choose what you will, you will always find me by your side; +and if you must go to Valhalla, why, I will blithely bear you +company." + +"Fire were better," said Ketill, shaking his head. + +The day was still young when the council of war came to an end, +and as they had more than sufficient time to reach the hall of +Liot before night, the bows were turned to the open sea, that they +might better escape observation. Once they had got some miles from +land they turned southwards, and striking the sail, to make as +little mark as they could, moved slowly under oars alone. All day +the long ship rolled in a great ground-swell, the western cliffs +of Orkney now hidden by a wall of water, and now glinting in the +sunshine as they rose from trough to crest, and right ahead the +distant Scottish coast drawing gradually nearer. As the afternoon +wore on they turned landwards again, and towards evening found +themselves coasting a mountainous island lying to the south of +Hrossey. + +"What do men call this?" asked Helgi. + +"They call it Haey, the high island, and it is on a bay to the +south of it that Liot Skulison dwells," answered Grim, their pilot +for the time. + +They drew closer and closer to the land, until a towering line of +cliffs rose for more than a thousand feet right above their heads. +It was a stern and sombre coast, unbroken by any bays or inland +glimpses, and gloomy and terrible in the fading light. The great +oily swell broke into spouts of foam at the cliff-foot, and all +along the face of the precipice they could see innumerable sea-fowl +clinging to the rock. + +Gradually, as they sailed along this hostile land, a light sea-fog +began to gather. The leaders of the hazardous expedition watched +it closing in upon them with growing apprehension. + +"What say you, Grim?" said Helgi; "can you take us to Liot in this +mist?" + +Grim looked round him doubtfully. + +"Methinks I can take you there," he said, "but I fear we shall be +too late, we can move but slowly; and with only seventy men, I +doubt we shall do little when the men of Liot have left the +feast." + +Estein had been standing in silence near the tiller. At these +words he turned and cried fiercely,-- + +"Who talks of doing little? Liot or I shall fall to-night, though +the blackness of death were round us. Think you I have come to sit +here idly in a fog? Tell your men to row like valiant Vikings, +Ketill, and not like timorous women." + +The respect due to rank in Norway was little more than the proud +Norseman chose to pay, and it was with small deference to his +prince that Ketill answered,-- + +"You are fey, I think, Estein. I shall not lose my ship that you +may the sooner feed the fishes." + +"Are you, too, afraid? By the hammer of Thor! I think you are in +league with Liot. I shall make these cravens row." + +"That you will not," replied Ketill. + +In an instant both swords were half-drawn. The men within earshot +were too much surprised at this sudden change from Estein's usual +manner to his followers to do more than look in astonishment at +the dispute, and in another instant the blades would have clashed, +when Helgi rushed between them. + +"What is this?" he cried. "Are you possessed of evil spirits, that +you would quarrel on the eve of battle? Remember, Ketill, that +Estein is your prince; and Estein, my brother, what ails you? You +are under a spell indeed. Would that I had slain the witch ere you +parted. You can gain nothing by wrecking the ship, and this fog is +too dense to row a race off such a coast as this." + +Perhaps it was the allusion to the "witch" that brought Estein to +his senses, for his eyes suddenly softened. + +"I was wrong, Ketill," he said. "The wrath of the gods is upon me, +and I am not myself." + +He turned away abruptly, and gazed moodily into the fog; while +Ketill, with the look of one who is dealing with a madman, left +the poop. + +"It is ill sailing with a bewitched leader," he muttered. + +The idea that Estein was under a spell took rapid hold of the +superstitious crew. They told each other that this was no earthly +mist that had fallen on them, and listening to the break of the +sea on the cliffs, they talked low of wizards and sea-monsters, +and heard strange voices in the sound of the surge. Then they +became afraid to row at more than a snail's pace, and sometimes +almost stopped altogether. In vain Helgi went amongst them, and +urged that Grim knew these waters so well that there was little +danger, in vain he pointed to the hope of booty and revenge ahead; +even as he spoke there was a momentary break in the mist, and they +saw the towering cliff so close above them that his words were +wasted. + +"There is witchcraft here," they said; and Ketill was as obstinate +as the rest. The ship crept under the cliffs with hardly any way +on at all, and Helgi, in despair, saw the golden hour slipping by. + +"Oh, for two more good ships," he thought: "then we could wait +till daylight, and fall upon them when we pleased." + +Estein had again fallen a prey to his thoughts. In his gloomy +fatalism he thought that the wrath of the gods pursued him for the +neglect of his duty to his murdered brother, and he submitted to +the failure of this adventure as the beginning of his punishment. +The fighting fire died out, the longing for action was choked, and +in their place what was as nearly a spell as can fall on mortal +men had fallen on him. His devoted friend fumed impatiently beside +him as the fog grew denser and the hours went slowly by, and +bitterly he cursed the enchantress of the Holy Isle. + +"He talks of the gods," he said to himself. "This is no work of +theirs; it is the magic of that island witch, may the trolls take +her!" + +"The fog lifts!" cried Grim from his post at the tiller. + +The men heard the cry, and ceasing their awestruck talk, looked +eagerly at the fast-widening rifts in the white shroud. Ghost-like +wreaths detached themselves, flitted by the ship, and then +dissipated in thin air. The summer night sky with its pale stars +appeared in lakes above, and below, the fog rose from the water +like steam. Presently the great cliffs came out clear and terrible +in the midnight dusk, and the men cried that the spell was broken. + +Over Estein came the greatest change. As the fog lifted, the light +returned to his eye, and he turned eagerly to Grim. + +"Where are we now? Have we yet time to catch Liot at his feast?" + +The pilot shook his head. + +"It will take us full two hours to reach the bay where Liot +dwells, and the feast, I fear, will have ended even now, for the +hour is late." + +Helgi's face fell, and he muttered a deep imprecation as he turned +to Estein. + +"What think you?" he asked; "shall we run for some distant bay, +and return to-morrow night?" + +"I have come to meet Liot to-night," Estein replied, and turning +away he paced the deck in deep thought. + +Helgi's cheerfulness returned in an instant. He hummed an air, and +leaning against the bulwark awaited the march of events with his +usual careless philosophy. + +"The men were right," he thought; "it was a magic mist. The spell +has lifted with the fog. It wants but a brisk fight now to cure +him." + +A grim smile stole over Estein's face, and presently he stopped +beside Grim, and said,-- + +"Know you where Liot sleeps in this hall of his?" + +"Ay; I was forced to follow him for two years, and I know well his +sleeping chamber." + +"Can you lead us to it in the dark?" + +Grim looked at him doubtfully before answering. + +"I think so," he said at length. + +"But are you sure?" + +The pilot looked round him. + +"The night is light," said he, "and there will still be some fire +in the hall. But it will be a dangerous venture." + +Estein turned impatiently. + +"Methinks you have little feud with Liot," he said, and went over +to where Helgi stood. + +"Well?" asked Helgi. + +"I have a plan." + +"Have you resolved on a burning? This cursed fog has made me cold, +and a fire would like me well." + +"You have heard my rede on burnings, Helgi. My scheme is to carry +off Liot in his sleep. They will keep no watch. The very dogs will +be drunk, and I think it will not be so difficult as it seems. +Will you come with me into Liot's hall?" + +Helgi's blue eyes opened wide, and he laughed as he said,-- + +"There has never been your match for enterprise in the north, +Estein. Your plans seem all so chosen that your foes may have the +greatest chance to slay you. Are we to leave you in Liot's place?" + +"I asked if you would follow me." + +"You know the answer to that already. But why trouble with Liot's +carcass? Surely it were easier to slay him where he lies." + +"I like not a midnight murder, and Liot and I have not yet decided +who is the better man. That is a trial which I would fain make, +and then we can see what the gods would do with me." + +"To fight an enemy and capture him afterwards is common enough, +but to capture him first and then fight him seems the act of a +madman," answered Helgi. + +"Then I am a madman," replied Estein, and with that he turned away +and walked forward to consult Ketill. + +He was impelled by his creed of morbid fatalism to seek this test, +whereby his fate might be sharply decided. He longed, too, for +action, and the idea, once held, fascinated him. But to all others +on board he seemed merely the victim of some insidious magic. That +he was under a spell Helgi had no manner of doubt. + +"A fair fight," he thought, "is always manlier than a secret +slaying, but not Odin himself would fly away with the foe who had +slain two shiploads of his followers, and afterwards challenge him +to single combat. It is as if he should catch a thief who had +stolen half his goods, and then throw dice with him for the rest. +But all spells act most banefully at night, they say; doubtless in +the morning Estein will rest content with giving him a fitting +burial--if he catches him." + +And at the thought he laughed aloud. + +"May I die in bed like a woman," he said to himself, "if this be +not the strangest way of fishing for a Viking!" + +Ketill was at first for stoutly refusing the adventure; but Helgi, +whose convictions sat lightly on him compared with his attachment +to Estein, persuaded him to consent. + +"Are you afraid?" he asked, and that question left no room for the +proud Viking to hesitate. + +It was about two hours after midnight when the long ship, stealing +under the shadow of the cliffs, turned into a small bay. It lay +open to the south, guarded on either side by a precipitous +headland, and withdrawn from the tideway and the swell of the +western ocean. In the weird grey light of that June night the men +could see a valley opening out of great inland hills on to a more +level strip of moorland at the head of the bay. On a spit of sandy +beach lay three warships, and on the slope of the hill to the left +stood a small township of low buildings, clustering round the +higher drinking-hall of Liot Skulison. + +In dead silence they hugged the shore as closely as their pilot +dared. + +"We are as close inshore as we can win," he said at length in a +low voice. + +The boat was stealthily launched, and into it as many men as it +would hold were crowded. + +"Keep the rowers on their benches, we may have little time to get +away," said Ketill in a gruff whisper to his forecastle man, whom +he left in command of the ship. + +"We have little wish to be caught." + +"Push off, men, and remember he who speaks above a whisper I shall +think is tired of life." + +The oars dipped and the boat crept slowly landwards. + +"You know the landing, Grim?" + +Grim, who sat at the tiller, merely nodded; and presently the bows +grated on a strip of gravel beach. + +"The trolls take you!" muttered Ketill. "Could you not have told +us to slacken speed? The dead could hear a landing like this." + +"'Tis all right yet, Ketill," whispered Estein. "We are too far +from the hall." + +"By the hammer of Thor!" growled the black-bearded captain, whose +temper was ever of the shortest, "these men splash like cattle." + +One by one they stepped ashore, and then the party was divided. +One man was left in charge of the boat; Ketill with three others +went round to where the long ships lay; while Estein, Helgi, and +Grim, with six picked men, cautiously approached the hall. + +They crossed a strip of rising heather and struck a sharp slope of +turf. Close above them loomed a dark mass of building, and the +silence was unbroken save by the stealthy fall of their footsteps. +Grim led the way, then came Estein, then Helgi, and the others +followed in single file. + +Warily they came up to the end of the hall, and under the door +there was a brief pause. Estein gave his final instructions in a +whisper, and then quickly pushing open the door, he stepped in. +Helgi, Grim, and one man followed, while the other five waited +outside with their weapons in their hands. + +These old Norse drinking-halls were long and high rooms, with +great fires down the middle, and beside them long lines of benches +for the guests. All down the sides the sleeping chambers opened, +and over these hung the arms of the warriors. + +The hall of Liot was very dark and still. A ghostly flicker of +light struggled through the narrow windows, and on the fires the +embers slowly died. Beside the benches slumbered the forms of some +of the heaviest drinkers, and once or twice they nearly stumbled +over these. Grim came up beside Estein and led him about half-way +down the hall. There he stopped and pointed to a door. There were +no words; the others closed up and loosened their daggers in their +sheaths. Estein stepped back softly to the fire and lifted up a +log, one end of which still glowed brightly, and then he pushed +open the door. The chamber was dark as a wolf's mouth as he groped +for the bed. So cautiously he stepped that the heavy breathing of +the sleeper only broke the silence, and very carefully he went +forward and thrust the log so close to the unconscious slumberer +that he could clearly read his features. Then he placed it against +the wall, and gave one whispered order. In an instant a mantle was +twisted round Liot's mouth, his hands and feet were bound, and ere +he was thoroughly awake, he was mounted on the shoulders of his +foes, forming one of a singular procession that hurried through +the hall of Liot Skulison. + +Grim, who walked first, had almost reached the door, when from the +blackest of the shadows a man stepped suddenly across his path. +For an instant the pilot's heart stood still. Then he saw that he +had only to deal with a half-awakened drinker, and as his mouth +was framing a question, Grim's dagger flashed, and with a cry the +man fell heavily on the floor. Instantly there arose such a chorus +of barking as might have wakened the dead. + +"The dogs are sobering," said Helgi. + +"Hasten!" cried Estein. "The men will be on us." + +They hurried through the door, and bearing their captive on their +shoulders, the whole party broke into a run. + +"The dogs are after us!" cried one. + +"Turn and kill them," said Estein. + +Three men stopped, and with a few sweeping sword slashes scattered +the yelping crowd; but even as they were driving them off, they +could see that men were coming out of the hall and outhouses. + +"Where is Ketill?" cried Estein, as they reached the boat. + +The man in charge had seen nothing of him. + +"May werewolves seize him!" exclaimed Helgi. "He has had time +enough to tear the long ships plank from plank." + +"We have no time to wait for him; it is his fault if he be left," +said Grim. + +"That knowledge would doubtless comfort him," replied Estein; "but +nevertheless I shall wait." + +"Here they come!" cried Helgi. + +"And here come those who will reach us before them," said another +man. + +He was right. A swarm of men were already running down the slope, +and it was clear that they must reach the boat first. + +Estein sprang on board. + +"Push off!" he cried; "we will row along the shore to meet them." + +"Well thought of," said Helgi; "'tis lucky we have one cool head +with us." + +The pursuers at first either failed to see Ketill's party, or +mistook them for their own men, for they continued their headlong +rush straight to the water, firing arrows and darts as they ran. +Then they saw the manoeuvre, and turned with loud cries along the +shore. The boat had got a start by this time; the rowers bent +their backs and made her spring like a live thing, and the still +water rose in oily waves from the bow. But fast as they pulled, +the men on shore ran faster. + +"By all the gods, we are too late!" cried Helgi. + +"They take to the water!" said Estein. "Pull, men, pull! Oh, 'tis +a night worth living for!" + +The four swimmers stoutly struck out for dear life, to a splashing +accompaniment of darts and stones. + +"By the hammer of Thor! they will be struck as we take them on +board," exclaimed Helgi. "Friend Ketill makes a generous mark." + +"Round them!" said Estein. "Get between them and the shore." + +Grim pressed the tiller hard down, and circling round the swimmers +they were presently hauling them in on the sheltered side. Then +the crowd on shore set off for their ships. Ketill, dripping with +water, and bleeding from an arrow wound on the shoulder, watched +them with a grim smile. + +"They will find their ships ready for sea," he said. + +As he spoke a tongue of flame shot up from one of the long ships, +and Estein turned to him in surprise. + +"Then you set them on fire?" + +"Ay," replied Ketill; "we slew some guards--who thereby learned +not to sleep at their posts--and made such holes in the ships as +will take them two days to patch. Then I bethought me it were well +to have a burning, if it were only of a long ship; so we kindled +three great fires, one for each vessel, and if the men of Liot +feel cold to-night, it will not be my fault. But have you got +Liot?" + +"Here he is," said Estein, pointing to the pinioned captive. + +Ketill laughed loud and long. + +"Estein," he cried, "I ask your pardon. You may be under a spell, +but you have given us a merry night's work. We have earned a long +drink." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE VERDICT OF THE SWORD. + + +A shout of congratulation rose from the ship as the boat drew near +and the anxious watchers counted the fourteen men returned again +with their prisoner. Drink was served round in huge beakers, and +the superstitious fears vanished like the fog as they rowed in +triumph out of the bay. + +They could see behind them the flames and smoke rising ever higher +from the burning vessels, and as the ale mounted to their heads +they shouted derisive defiance across the water. + +"Where shall we go now?" asked Grim. + +"Do you know of any uninhabited holm where we could land by +daybreak?" said Estein. + +"There are many such about the Orkneys; one I know well, which +methinks we should reach soon after sunrise. There I shall take +you." + +Ketill came up at that moment with a great horn of ale, and cried, +with a joviality only shown when drink flowed freely,-- + +"Drink, Estein, drink!--drink to the soul of Liot Skulison, which +shall shortly speed to Valhalla. Shall we slay him now, or keep +that sport till we have better light to see him die?" + +"I have other work on hand than drinking. Liot and I have an +account to settle at daybreak." + +Ketill stared at him in astonishment. + +"You mean then in very truth to fight?" he cried. "Well, do as you +wish; but it is a strange spell." + +He left the poop with his horn, and Estein seated himself on a +stool, and leaning back against the bulwarks, tried to rest. + +His face was set, his mind made up, and he only waited impatiently +for the hour of his trial. Sleep came to him in uneasy snatches, +during which he seemed to pass years of wild adventure, haunted +all the time by strangely distorted Oslas. He woke at last to the +chill of a grey morning and the roll of a Viking ship. With a +little shiver he started to his feet, and began to pace the deck. + +Presently Helgi joined him, and laid his hand on his arm. + +"Estein," he said, "tempt not your fate too far. Never before have +I seen witchcraft such as this. Why should you fear the wrath of +the gods? I tell you, my brother, you are under a spell; let us +seek some magician who will cure you, and not rashly look for +death when you are wearied with sleepless nights and black magic. +If the wrath of the gods is really on you, it will fall were you +to flee from men and seek refuge in the loneliest cave on all +these coasts. I will slay Liot Skulison for you; in fair fight if +you will, though I think not he deserves such a chance. Was it a +fair fight when he fell on our two ships with his ten?" + +"I would slay him, Helgi, like a dog, were it not that something +within me bids me ask in this wise the wishes of Odin." + +"'Tis the voice of yon witch." + +"She is no witch, Helgi, only the fairest girl in all the North. +Listen, and I will tell you the story of this spell; but remember +it is to you alone I tell it, and never must another know of my +shame." + +"Have you ever known me betray your trust?" + +"Never, Helgi, my brother, or you would not hear this tale. To me +it seems the story of six years of my life, though it was scarcely +as many weeks; but I shall make it as brief as I may." + +"The hour is yet early." + +"After the battle, Helgi, I should have been drowned but for that +maid you saw. She saved my life, and that at least I owe her. She +brought me to the abode of her father, the hermit of the Holy +Isle; and there I learned to love her. For six weeks I was no +Viking. I forgot my kinsfolk and my country, forgot all but Osla." + +"Call you not that a spell?" + +"Did you not say yourself that you had known many spells like +that, cast on men by maids? It was the magic of love that +entangled me." + +"Men said the hermit was a wizard." + +"No wizard, Helgi, or he had never let me come there. He was a +moody and fitful old man. I pleased him with my songs, talked to +him of the strange religion he professes--for he is what men call +a Christian--and grew in time to think of him as a friend. +(Verily, I think there must have been magic!) All this while I +spoke no word of love to Osla, though I think she was not +indifferent to me." + +"It was easy to see that." + +"Twice on that island a voice I could not name warned me from +beyond the grave, but I heeded it not. (Can the man have been a +wizard?) One night--it was the night you landed, Helgi--I sat +alone with the hermit. Something had moved him to talk. I remember +now! it was a song I sung myself. He told me a tale of a burning. + +"Helgi, he had hardly begun ere I knew the end, and could name my +warning voice. The tale was the burning of Laxafiord, and the +voice was my brother Olaf's." + +"And the hermit?" + +"Is Thord the Tall, the last of the burners." + +"Is! Then you slew him not?" + +"My dagger was drawn, I was bending towards him, when I heard +without the steps of Osla. I fled--ask me not what I thought or +what I did. Thord the Tall and I both live, and I would know +whether the gods would have it so. Wherefore I meet Liot this +morning." + +"Then you have spared Olaf's burner for the sake of the burner's +daughter?" + +"I had eaten his bread and shared his dwelling for six weeks, and +but for that daughter I had never lived to meet him." + +"He slew your brother, Estein." + +"There is no need to remind me of that." + +"Methinks there is; he still lives." + +"And I still love his daughter." + +Estein turned away as he spoke, and gazed with folded arms over +the grey waters. + +Helgi looked at him in silence; then he went up to his side. + +"Forgive me, Estein," he said, "and let Odin judge you. I love you +too well to be aught but a friend whatever you may do." + +"Helgi! but for you I think I should fall upon my sword." + +His friend tried to force a laugh, but it came hard. + +"Nay, rather seek a sword for Liot Skulison, for I see we are +nearing the holm." + +"I had forgotten Liot," said Estein. "We will loose his bonds, and +let him choose his weapons." + +He found Liot sitting in the waist bound hand and foot. His eye +was as firm as if he had been in his own hall, and he looked up +indifferently as Estein approached. + +"Do you remember me, Liot?" asked his captor. + +"Ay, Estein. You, methinks, are one of the bairns I thought I had +slain. Well was it for you that the Orkney tides run strong. But +the luck has changed, I see; and you were a bold man, Estein +Hakonson, to change it as you did. Why did you not burn us out?" + +"Because I wanted you alone." + +"Ay, torture is a pleasant game for the torturers. How do you +intend that I shall die?" + +"By my sword, if the gods will it. In an hour, Liot, we fight to +the death. Our battle-ground is yonder holm, the weapons you may +choose yourself; and meanwhile I shall loose your bonds, and if +you wish to eat or drink you may." + +A look of blank astonishment came over the Viking captain's face. + +"This is a merry jest, Estein," he said. + +"It is no jest.--Loose his bonds, men." + +Liot gave a shout of joy. + +"Estein," he cried, "you are a brave man, but I think you are +fey." + +"That will soon be seen." + +The Viking's cool indifference gave place to the most exuberant +excitement. Like everybody else he thought that Estein was either +mad or the victim of some enchantment; but so long as he was going +to strike a good blow for life, he cared not how the chance had +come. He called for ale and meat, and with the eye of an old +soldier carefully picked his weapons; while the men around him +muttered to each other that Estein was surely fey. + +All this time they had been sailing eastwards before a light +breeze. The sun had long been up, but the whole sky was obscured +by light clouds, and there was an early morning feel in the air. +Nearly the whole length of the wide and lonely firth that divides +Orkney from the Scottish coast lay behind them, and close ahead +they saw the little island that Grim had chosen for the meeting-place. +When they had reached the holm they anchored the ship close +inshore, and two boat-loads of men were first sent to prepare the +field of battle. Then when all was ready the two combatants, +attended by Helgi and Ketill, were rowed ashore. + +Liot was gay and cheerful as a man going to a feast; while Estein +sat silent in the stern, his thoughts busy with a landing at +another island. + +"You need ale, Estein," said his opponent; "a man going to fight +should be gay." + +"It is more fitting," replied Helgi, "for the man who comes back +to be cheerful." + +"Well said," said Ketill. + +Liot only laughed, and springing ashore before the boat had +touched the rocks, cried,-- + +"I had little thought to have such a pleasant morning. We will +finish what we began before, Estein." + +"Ay, we will finish," said Estein. + +They found a wide ring marked off with stones, and in this the two +champions took their stand. Each was armed with a helmet and a +coat of ring-mail, and bore in his right hand a sword, and in his +left a long, heart-shaped shield. Round their waists another sword +was girded, though there was likely to be little time to draw +this. In height and build they were very equally matched, but men +noticed that Estein moved more lightly on his feet. + +In a loud voice Ketill proclaimed that whoever should withdraw +outside the ring of stones should ever after bear the name of +dastard. + +Then all went outside the circle, and with a shout Liot sprang at +his foe. Estein caught the sword on his shield, and in return +delivered such a storm of blows that Liot got no chance for a blow +in return. He began to give ground, Estein pressing him hotly, his +blade flashing so fast that men could not follow it. It was easily +seen that in quickness and dexterity with his weapon Liot was +inferior to his foe; but with wary eye and cool head he kept well +covered with his shield, shifting his ground all the time. Twice +he was nearly driven over the line, but each time saved himself by +a rapid side movement. + +"I fear that Estein will tire," muttered Helgi. + +"Ay; he has started too hard," replied Ketill. + +It seemed as if they were right. Estein's blows became less +frequent, and Liot in turn attacked hotly. He made as little +impression, however, as Estein, and then by mutual consent both +men stopped for a minute's breathing-space. + +"You seem tired, Estein," said Liot. + +"Guard yourself," was the reply, and the fight began again. As +before, Estein attacked hotly, Liot steadily giving ground. + +"Too hard, too hard! after two sleepless nights he cannot fight +long like this," exclaimed Helgi. + +So thought Liot, and he bided his time with patience. He was +opposed, however, by one of the best and most determined swordsmen +in Norway, and Estein as well as any one knew the risk he ran. He +rained in his blows like a hailstorm; but fast though they came, +he was sparing his strength, and there was less vigour in his +attack than there seemed. He bent all his energies on driving Liot +back on the ring, shifting his ground as fast as his foe, heading +off his attempts to move round, and all the while watching keenly +for an opening. + +"He wins, Ketill! he wins!" cried Helgi. + +"Ay," said the black-bearded captain; "there is little skill we +can teach Estein." + +As they neared the stones, Estein's onset became more furious than +ever; sword and shield had to shift up and down, right and left, +to guard his storm of blows, and all the while Liot was being +driven back the faster towards one place where larger stones than +usual had been used to make the ring. In vain he sprang suddenly +to one side; Estein was before him, and his blade nearly found its +way home. Two paces more Liot gave way, and then his heel struck a +boulder. For an instant he lost his balance, and that moment was +his last on earth. As the shield shifted, Estein's sword came full +on his neck, and it was only the bairn-slayer's body that fell +without the ring. + +"Bring the spades!" cried Ketill--"a fitting enough epitaph for +Liot Skulison." + +His conqueror was already in Helgi's arms. + +"I thought I should have had to avenge you, Estein. My heart is +light again." + +"Odin has answered me, Helgi." + +"And the spell is broken?" + +"No; that spell, I fear, will break only with my death-wound." + +Helgi laughed out of pure light-heartedness. + +"There are fair maids in the south lands," he said. + +"I go to Norway," replied Estein. "I would fain see the pine woods +again." + +That evening they saw the Orkneys faint and far away astern, and +Estein, as he watched them fade into the dusk, would have given +all Norway to hear again the roost run clamorous off the Holy +Isle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN THE CELL BY THE ROOST. + + +On the rocky shore of the Holy Isle, Osla sat alone. The spell of +summer weather had passed from the islands, and in its wake the +wind blew keenly from the north, and the grey cloud-drift hurried +low overhead. All colour had died out of land and sea; the hills +looked naked and the waters cold. + +And Vandrad, the sea-rover, had gone with the sunshine--had gone, +never so Osla said to herself, to return again. + +She rose and tried to give her thoughts a lighter turn, but the +note of the north wind smote drearily upon her ears, and she left +the sea-shore with a sigh. For seven uneventful years she had +found in the sea a friend of whom she never tired, and on the +little island duties enough to make the days pass swiftly by. Why +should the time now hang heavy on her hands? + +She walked slowly to the wind-swept cells. Her father sat within, +the blackness of night upon his soul, the Viking fire now burned +completely out. + +She tried to rouse him, but he answered only in absent +monosyllables. Again she sought the solace of the sea, but never, +it seemed to her, had it looked so cold and so unfriendly. + +"Why did he ever come at all?" she said. + +And so the days went by; summer changed to autumn, and autumn gave +place to winter. For week after week one gale followed another. +For days on end the spin-drift flew in clouds across the island, +salt and unceasing. + +The sea was never silent, the gulls flew inland and the cormorants +sat storm-bound in their caves; brief glimpses of cold and sunny +weather passed as abruptly as they came, and in the smoke of a +driftwood fire Osla plied her needle and followed the wanderings +of her thoughts. + +During all these months the hermit spoke little. So engrossed was +Osla in herself that she hardly noticed how seldom the cloud +seemed to lift from his mind. Never as before did he talk with her +at length, or instruct her from the curious scraps of knowledge +his once acute mind had picked up from sources Christian and +pagan, from the wise men of the North and the monasteries of +southern lands. He never once alluded to their guest, never even +apparently observed his departure, and in her heart his daughter +thanked him for his silence. + +The lingering winter passed at length, and one morning, in the +first freshness of spring, Osla stood without the cell. Presently +her father joined her, and she noticed, though her thoughts were +busy elsewhere, that he wore a strange expression. He looked at +her doubtfully, and then said,-- + +"Where is Vandrad? I would hear him sing." + +Then Osla started, and her heart smote her. + +"Vandrad, father?" she said gently. "He has been gone these eight +months. Did you not know?" + +The hermit seemed hardly to comprehend her words. + +"Gone!" he repeated. "Why did you not tell me?" + +"Surely you knew," she said. + +"Why went he away? I would hear him sing. He used to sing to me of +war. He sang last night. Last night," he repeated doubtfully; +"methinks it was last night. Bring him to me." + +She turned his questions as best she could, and strove to make him +think of other things. With her arm through his they paced the +turf along the shore, and all the while her heart sank lower and +lower. She was in the presence of something so mysterious that +even wise men in those days shrank from it in fear. It was the +finger of God alone, they said, that laid a blight on human minds, +and there before her was His handiwork. + +Yet, had she but known it, this blight had been the slow work of +years. Her father's mind, always dark and superstitious, and +tinged with morbid melancholy, had gradually in these long +solitary years given way more and more before sombre underminings, +till now, with old age at the gates, it had at last succumbed. +Some few bright moments there were at rare intervals, but in all +the months that followed it was but the shattered hull of Thord +the Tall, once the terror of the western seas, that lingered on +the Holy Isle. + +The care of him had at least the effect of turning Osla's thoughts +away from herself. Than sunshine and another's troubles there are +no better tonics. + +Yet it was a dreary summer for the hermit's daughter, and it grew +all the drearier and more lonesome when the long, fresh days began +to shorten, and the sea was more seldom still and the wind more +often high. All the time, the old man grew slowly worse. He sat +continually in his cell; and though Osla would not acknowledge her +fears even to herself, she knew that death could not be far away. +Yet he lingered through the winter storms, and the end came upon a +February evening. All the afternoon the hermit had lain with shut +eyes, never speaking a word or giving a sign. It fell wet and +gusty at night, and Osla, bending over the couch, could hear +nothing but the wind and the roost she knew so well. + +At length he raised his head and asked,-- + +"Are we alone, Osla?" + +"There is no one here but me, father." + +"Listen then," he said. "I have that on my mind that you must hear +before I die. My end is close at hand. I seem to have been long +asleep, and now I know that this wakefulness you see is but the +clearness of a man before he dies." + +He took her hand as he spoke, and she tried to stifle a sob. + +"Not so," she said, while the tears rose so fast that she could +only dimly see his face; "you are better, far better, to-night." + +"I am death-doomed, Osla. Thord the Tall shall die in his bed +to-night, an old and worthless wreck. Once I had little thought of +such a death; and even now, though I die a Christian man, and my +hope is in Christ Jesus, and St. Andaman the holy, I would like +well to hear the clash of swords around me. But the doom of a man +is fated from his birth." + +His daughter was silent, and the old Viking, seeming to gather +strength as he talked, went on in a strong, clear voice. + +"I have heavy sins at my door. I have burned, I have slain in +battle, I have pillaged towns and devastated corn-lands. May the +Lord have mercy on my soul! + +"He shall have mercy, Osla! I am saved, and the heathen I slew are +lost for ever. For the souls of the Christians who fell by this +hand I have done penance and given great gifts, and to-night these +things shall be remembered. To-night we part, Osla." + +She held his great hand in both of hers, and pressed it against +her lips, and in a broken voice she said,-- + +"No, not to-night, not to-night." + +"Ay, to-night," he said. "But before we part you must hear of one +deed that haunts me even now, though they were but heathens whom I +slew." + +"The burning at Laxafiord?" she whispered. + +"Who has not heard of that burning?" he cried. "The flames leapt +higher than the pine trees, the women shrieked--I hear them now!" +He paused, and she pressed his hand the tighter. + +"Father!" she said softly, "father!" But he paid no heed to her, +for his mind had begun to wander, and he talked wildly to himself. + +"Death-doomed I am. Have mercy upon my soul! ......Ay, the wind +blows, a stormy day for fishing, and the flames are leaping--I see +them leap! St. Ringan save me!......A Christian man, I tell +thee...... spare not, spare not! Smite them to the last man!" + +Then he fell silent, and she laid her free hand upon his brow, +while outside the wind eddied and sang mournfully round the cell. +At last his mind cleared again, and he spoke coherently though +very feebly. + +"I am dying, Osla; fare thee well! The box--you know the box?" + +"The steel-bound box?" she answered. + +"Ay, steel-bound, 'tis steel-bound indeed. I took it--" + +He had begun to wander again, but with a last effort he collected +his thoughts and went on,-- + +"Open it. There is a writing. Read, it will tell--promise--I can +speak no more." + +"I promise," she replied, hardly knowing what she said, her heart +was so full. + +There was another brief silence, and then loudly and clearly he +cried,-- + +"Bring up my banner! Forward, Thord's men! Forward!......They +fly!......They fly!" + +The voice died away, and Osla was left alone. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MESSAGE OF THE RUNES. + + +The story must now come back to Norway. Though Estein had returned +with neither spoil nor captives, the tale of Liot's capture and +the combat on the holm added much to his renown, and no fewer than +six skalds composed lengthy poems on the adventure. There seemed +no reason why the hero of these lays should shrink from talking of +his expedition, and avoid, so far as he could, the company of men. +Gradually strange rumours began to spread. Helgi, who alone knew +the truth, held his peace for Estein's sake, even when the ale +flowed most freely. The others who had sailed with them laid no +such restraint on their tongues, and stories of a spell and an +Orkney witch, vague and contradictory, but none the less eagerly +listened to and often repeated, went the round of the country. The +king at last began to take alarm, and one day he called Earl +Sigvald to him and talked with him alone. + +"What rede can you give, jarl?" he said; "a strange witchcraft I +fear has been at work. When a young man smiles but seldom, broods +often by himself, and shuns the flagon and the feast, there is +something more to be looked for than a loss of men and ships, or +the changefulness of youth." + +"Get him a wife," replied the earl. "He has been single too long. +There is no cure for spells like a pair of bright eyes." + +But when the king spoke to his son, he found him resolutely +opposed to marriage. Hakon loved him so dearly that he forbore to +press the matter, and again he consulted Earl Sigvald. + +"If he will not marry, let him fight," answered the earl. "For a +prince of the race of Yngve, the clash of arms cures melancholy +better than a maid." + +So with the coming of spring Estein cruised in the Baltic, and +carried the terror of his arms far into Finland and Russia. Yet he +returned as moody as before. + +At feasts his spirits sometimes rose to an extraordinary pitch. +For the time he would be carried away as he had never been before. +He would sing, jest, and quarrel; but his jests were often bitter, +and his quarrels gave rise to more talk than his gloom, for before +he had been of an even and generous temper. And when the fit +passed away he was quieter than ever. + +One day he was out hunting on the fells with Helgi. They were +oftener together than ever, and his foster-brother had far more +influence with him than any other man. + +They stood on a desolate hillside a little above the highest pine +woods, examining the tracks of a bear, when Helgi suddenly turned +to him and said,-- + +"Do you not think, Estein, you have moped and mourned long +enough?" + +"They whom the gods have cursed," replied Estein, "have little +cause for laughter. What is there left for me on this earth?" + +"To prove yourself a man; to accept the destiny you cannot alter; +and in time, Estein, to be a king. Are these things nothing?" + +Helgi seldom spoke so gravely, and Estein for a time stood silent. +Then he exclaimed,-- + +"You are right, Helgi; I have acted as a beaten child. Henceforth +I shall try to look on my fate, I cannot say merrily, but at least +with a steady eye." + +As another winter passed, he gradually seemed to come to himself. +He was sadder and more reserved than of yore, but the king saw +with joy that the gloom was lifting. One day in the season when +spring and winter overlap, and the snow melts by day and hardens +again over-night, Earl Sigvald returned to Hakonstad from his seat +by a northern fiord. King Hakon greeted him cheerfully. + +"The spell is lifting, jarl," he said; "Estein is becoming himself +again." + +"That is well, sire," replied the earl; "and my old heart lightens +at the news. But I have other tidings that need your attention. I +have brought with me Arne the Slim, your scatt-gatherer in +Jemtland. The people there have slain some of his followers, +forced him to fly for his life, and refused to pay scatt to a +Norse king. There is work ahead for some of our young blades." + +"They shall see that my arm is longer than they deem," replied the +king grimly. + +Arne told his tale in the great hall before all the assembled +chiefs, and the king's face darkened with anger as he listened. +Every now and then, as he spoke of some particular act of +treachery, or of his hardships and hurried flight, an angry murmur +rose from his audience, and a weapon here and there clashed +sternly. Estein alone seemed unmoved. He stood listlessly at the +back, apparently hardly hearing what was going on, his thoughts +returning despite himself to their melancholy groove. All at once +he heard himself addressed, and turning round saw a stranger at +his side. The man was holding out something towards him, and when +he had caught Estein's eye, he said respectfully,-- + +"I was charged to give this token to you, sire." Estein looked at +him in surprise, and taking the token from his hand, glanced at it +curiously. + +It was a stave of oak, about two feet long, and shaped with some +care. Along one side an inscription was carved in Runes, and as he +read the first words his expression changed and he spelt it keenly +through. The whole writing ran: "An old man, a maiden, and a +spell. Come hither to Jemtland." + +He turned sharply to the man and asked,-- + +"How came you by this? Who sent it to me?" + +"That last I cannot answer," replied the man. "This only I know, +that the night before the Jemtland people attacked us, a man came +to the door of the house where I lodged, and giving me this said, +'Fly, war is afoot,' and with that he left as suddenly as he came. +I aroused my master Arne, and one or two more, and thanks to the +warning, we escaped the fate of our comrades. That is all I can +tell you." + +The message made a sharp impression on Estein's mind. "An old man, +a maiden, and a spell," he repeated to himself. He racked his +brains, but he could think of no one in that remote country who +would be likely to send such a message. It seemed to him to have +an almost supernatural import, and again he said to himself, "An +old man, a maiden, and a spell." Then suddenly he took a +resolution, and turning from the messenger stepped into the crowd +who surrounded the king. + +Arne had just finished his tale. There was a moment's angry +silence, and then the king glanced round the host of weather-beaten +Vikings and high-born chiefs and cried,-- + +"Who will punish these cowardly rebels of mine?" + +A dozen voices instantly claimed the service. Loudest of them all +was that of Ketill, now married to a wealthy widow and a person of +considerable importance, and the black-bearded Viking stepped +forward as he spoke. + +"Give me this service, king," he said. "I have lived at mine ease +too long of late. Laziness begets fat." + +There was a laugh at Ketill's words, for his person had never been +noted for its spareness. + +The Viking frowned and exclaimed,-- + +"Let those laugh who have tested my steel." + +"Well I know your bravery, Ketill," began the king, "and there is +no man--" + +At that instant the ring of men round him suddenly opened and +Estein stood before his father. His face was more animated than +any had seen it for many a long day, and in a firm voice he said,-- + +"I will lead this expedition." + +Steel rang on steel as every armed warrior there clashed his +approval. By all the gods whose names he could remember Earl +Sigvald swore that the true Estein was come back, and King Hakon +exclaimed joyfully,-- + +"There speaks my son at last. Prepare yourself then, Estein. Ill +tidings have been changed to good." + +"And you, Ketill," said Estein, turning to his former companion, +"will you come with me?" + +"That will I," answered Ketill. "I want no braver leader. But the +gods curse me if we roast not a few score men this time, Estein." + +For two days there was a turmoil of preparation round Hakonstad, +and on the third Estein's two warships sailed down the fiord. He +had with him Helgi, Ketill, and a picked force; and as he stood on +deck and watched the towering precipices slip by, and the white +clouds drift over their rough rim of pines, his heart beat high. +The message of the Runes was ringing in his mind, and the spirit +of roving and adventure boiling up again. + +They sailed far up the coast, and then, leaving their ship in a +northern fiord, struck inland across the mountains. The country +they were going to lay among the lakes of North Sweden. Its people +were more barbarous than the Norwegians, and had long been in a +state of half-subjection to the Norse kings. There was not likely +to be hard fighting; for small as Estein's force was, the natives +were badly armed and little esteemed as warriors. The country, +however, was difficult, so the men marched warily, their arms +ready for instant use, and a sharp watch kept all the time. The +sun came out hot by day, but at nights it felt very cold and +frosty. With all the haste they could make they pushed on by the +least frequented routes and the most desolate places. During the +first day after they had crossed the mountains, they only saw one +farmhouse, in a forest clearing, and that, when they came up to +it, was still and deserted. On the following day they passed a +small hamlet on the banks of a river, and a little later another +farm. In neither was there a sign of an inhabitant to be seen, and +they seemed for all the world like dwellings of the dead. + +"This is passing strange," said Helgi. "Unless, perhaps, the +Jemtlanders spend the winter in holes and caves, like the bears +they resemble in all but courage." + +"The alarm has spread, I fear," answered Estein. "We must make the +more haste." + +"Ay," said Ketill; "on, on!" + +Towards evening the head of the column emerged into a small +clearing, and the foster-brothers, who were marching in the +middle, heard a cry from the van. Then Ketill's gruff voice called +out,-- + +"After him! Nay, slay him not! Have you got him? Ay, bring the +knave to Estein." + +The little army came to a halt, and a poor-looking man, clad in a +skin coat, and trembling violently as they dragged him along, was +brought before Estein. + +"Spare my life, noble captain!" he pleaded, casting himself on his +knees. "I am but a poor man, I beseech you." + +"Silence, rascal!" thundered Ketill, "or we will have your +coward's tongue out by the root." + +"Tell me, if you value your life, what means this solitude?" +Estein demanded sternly. "Nay, shake not like an old man with +palsy, but speak the truth--if by chance a Jemtlander knows what +truth is. Where are the people?" + +"Noble earl, they have heard of your coming, and fled. No man will +await you; you will see none in the country." + +"Do none mean to fight?" asked Helgi. + +"Great prince," replied the fellow, "the Jemtlanders were never a +warlike race. Even the king, I hear, is prepared to fly." + +A contemptuous murmur rose from the Norsemen. + +"Let us begin by hanging this man," said Ketill, "and then fire, +fire through the country!" + +"I shall see first whether he has spoken the truth," answered +Estein. "Bind him, and bring him on." + +The man was bound and guarded, and the march was continued. Early +the next morning two men were found together in a cottage, and +they told the same tale. + +"Little glory is there in marching against such a people," said +Estein. "Bind them, and hasten on." + +About an hour later the little army emerged from a hillside +forest, and saw below them a small merchant town. The rude wooden +houses straggled along the edge of a great frozen lake, whose +snow-powdered surface stretched for miles and miles in an unbroken +sheet of dazzling whiteness. Between the shores and the outskirts +of the woodlands lay a wide sweep of cultivated country. +Everywhere a thin coating of snow covered the ground, and the air +was sharp enough to make the breath of the men rise like a cloud +of steam as they marched in battle order down the slope. + +"There are men in the town!" cried Helgi suddenly. "I see the +glint of the sun on weapons. Thanks be to the gods, we shall have +a fight!" + +"Ay, they are coming out," said Estein. "Halt! we shall take +advantage of the slope, and await them here." + +The men halted, and grasped their weapons, and in expectant +silence their leaders watched a small troop defile out of the +town. + +"Call you that an army?" growled Ketill. "There are barely a score +of them." + +"Ay," said Helgi, with a sigh, "there will be no fighting to-day." + +About twenty men, dressed in skins and fur coats and wooden +helmets, and slenderly armed, had left the town, and now came +slowly up the hill. Their leader alone wore a burnished steel +helmet, and carried a long halberd over his shoulder. Immediately +behind him walked two boys, and at the sight of them Helgi asked,-- + +"What mean they by bringing boys against us?" + +"Hostages," suggested Estein laconically. + +When this motley company had come within a hundred yards of them, +they stopped, and their leader advanced alone. + +As he drew near to the Norsemen, Estein stepped out a pace or two +to meet him, but they stood so close that Helgi and Ketill could +hear all that passed. They saw that the stranger was a tall, +elderly man with a clever face and a dignified bearing. + +"Hail, Estein Hakonson!" he said. + +"You know my name, it seems," replied Estein, "and therein have +the advantage of me." + +"My name is Thorar," said the chief, speaking gravely and very +courteously, "lawman of this region of Jemtland"--he made a +sweeping gesture with his hand as he said this--"and a friend +hitherto to the Northmen." + +"I know you by repute as a chief of high birth, and one who has +long been faithful to my father. Yet, methinks, it was something +less than faithful to drive his scatt-gatherer from the country +and slay his followers." + +"Blame not me for that, Estein," answered Thorar. "It was done +with neither my knowledge nor consent, and none grieved at such an +outrage more than I. Now, as you see, you have the land at your +mercy; and as an ancient friend of your family and a faithful +servant of my master King Bue, I am come to intercede between King +Hakon and him. Give us peace, Estein; and as you have a grey-haired +father, spare my master the sorrow and the shame you would +bring upon him. What can he do against you? The old spirit of my +countrymen has died out," he added sadly, "and no man dare meet +your force in the field." + +"Is King Bue in the town?" Estein asked. + +"Nay, he could not travel so far; but in his name I bid you +welcome to his feast, if you will accept peace instead of war. If +you will not, then I can only mourn the devastation of my country. +It will be a bloodless victory, Estein." + +"And what compensation does the king intend to make?" + +"What you will; he is powerless." + +"Shall we then march to King Bue?" + +"Alas!" said Thorar, "in these evil days he cannot entertain you +all. Many of his people have fled to the woods already, and--to +tell the truth--he, too, would feel ill at ease if he saw so brave +a force come nigh him; for he is old, and his spirit is broken. +But a following of twenty men or so he will gladly entertain. The +others I shall have feasted here in the town at my own cost, and +with them I shall leave my two young sons"--he indicated, as he +spoke, the two lads. "They are my only children, and them I shall +willingly give you as hostages till your return, that I may save +my country from fire and sword. Though," he added, with a grave +smile, "if men speak truth, Estein Hakonson can make good his +coming or going against most." + +"Be it as you will," replied Estein; "but if--" He paused, and +looked sternly at Thorar. + +"If a king's word and mine are not sufficient, and my only sons +satisfy you not, I can but add my oath--though most men would deem +it needless." + +Thorar spoke with dignity and a touch of haughtiness, and Estein +replied simply and courteously,-- + +"I shall come." + +He turned to Helgi and said,-- + +"No fighting will there be, Helgi; but I have known you welcome +even a feast. What say you?" + +"This snow work and marching call for feasting," replied Helgi, +with a laugh. + +"Then Ketill shall stay here with the rest of our troop, and you +and I, with twenty more, will to the king. Forward, men!" + +"Spare not the ale," added Ketill. + +"A courteous and gallant man is Thorar, for a Jemtlander," said +Helgi to Ketill, as they marched down to the town. + +"Dogs and women are his people," replied Ketill. "They are fit +neither to be friends nor enemies." + +Estein liberated the prisoners they had taken on the march, and +leaving Ketill in charge of the main force and the hostages, he +and Helgi set forth about noon for the seat of King Bue. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +KING BUE'S FEAST. + + +Their way at first took them over a flat, white waste by the +shores of the lake. Estein fell back and let Helgi walk in front +with Thorar; behind those two marched the small band of wild, +skin-coated followers of the lawman; and after them came the +mail-clad twenty, the shields which hung from their backs clanking +now and again as they struck their harness. Last of all walked their +leader. + +Now that the tension of forced marches and weary journeyings +through forest paths was off his mind, his thoughts ran +continually on the Runes. "Come hither to Jemtland," he said to +himself. He had come, and what was to follow? Something he felt +must happen, and though he was curious, he cared singularly little +what it might be. The sun hung high overhead, under foot the snow +crunched pleasantly, and the air was clear and bracing--a day to +inspire an adventurer and a skald. His thoughts began to take a +rhyming turn, and he caught himself repeating his own verses:-- + + "Fare thee well, sweet blue-eyed Osla! + The sea-king must not stay, + E'en for tresses rich as summer + And for smile as bright as May; + But one hope I cannot part from-- + We may meet again some day!" + +"And we shall, Osla!" he exclaimed half aloud. + +He was aroused by hearing the voices of Helgi and Thorar come back +to him clear and cheerfully. A thought struck him. Could Thorar +have sent the message? A moment's reflection assured him that it +was out of the question, but, to convince himself, he went forward +and joined the lawman. + +"Is it far to King Bue's hall?" he asked. + +"The marshes are firm and frozen, and the snow lies nowhere very +deep. We should reach it by nightfall." + +Helgi laughed, and said,-- + +"A flight of wild ducks passed overhead just now, and called to +mind their kinsmen cooked; their kinsmen cooked called to mind the +wherewithal to wash them down; and, in brief, I, for one, shall be +glad to meet King Bue." + +"We have a saying that the king loves a guest who loves his +cheer," replied Thorar with a smile. + +"Know you one of an old man," Estein asked, "and--but I forget +it--something of a maiden too? I saw it somewhere written in Runes." + +In obedience to an indefinable instinct, he had said nothing of +the token to Helgi, and his foster-brother looked at him in +surprise. The mention of the Runes brought no look of recognition +to Thorar's face. With his grave smile he answered,-- + +"There are many sayings concerning maids, and some concerning old +men; also, if I mistake not, one or two about young men and +maids." + +"Spare Estein those last," cried Helgi lightly. "He thinks himself +old, and never gives maids a thought at all." + +Evidently Thorar knew nothing of the message, and Estein became +silent again. + +They were gradually approaching a dark forest, which stretched +from the edge of the lake inland, and latish in the afternoon they +entered it by a narrow, rutty road. Darkness closed in fast as +they wound their way through the wood. The air grew colder and +colder, till their hands and faces tingled with the frost. Silence +fell upon them, and for some time nothing could be heard but the +occasional clash of steel and the continual creaking of snow and +breaking of dead branches under foot. Then a hum of voices came to +them fitfully, and at last the path opened into a wide glade. + +"We are almost there," said Thorar. "Smile not, Estein, at our +rude hospitality; or, if you do, let our welcome make amends." + +A young moon had just risen above the trees, and by its pale light +they saw a small village at the end of the glade. Many lights +flashed, and a babel of voices chattered and shouted as they +approached. + +"All King Bue's men have not fled, it seems," Helgi said in a low +voice. + +Estein made no reply, but the two foster-brothers fell back, and +placing themselves at the head of their twenty followers, entered +the little village. They found that it consisted of a few mean +houses clustered outside a high wooden stockade. Thorar led them +up to a gateway in this fence, and crying, "Welcome, Estein!" +stood aside to let the Norsemen file in. + +The scene as they entered was strange and stirring. Immediately +before them lay a wide courtyard, in the centre of which stood +King Bue's hall, high and long, and studded with bright windows. +Men were ranged in a line from the gateway to the hall, bearing +great torches. The smoky flames flashed on snow-covered ground and +wild faces, and the branches of black pines outside, making the +night above seem dark as a great vault. All round them rose a +clamour of voices, and a throng of skin-coated figures crowded the +gate to catch a glimpse of the strangers. + +Estein walked first, and just as he came into the court a man, +pushed apparently by the surging crowd, stumbled against him. + +"Make way, there!" cried Thorar sternly, from behind; "give room +for the king's guests to pass!" + +The man hastily stepped back, but not before he had found time to +whisper,-- + +"Beware, Estein! Drink not too deep!" + +As he walked along the line of torch-bearers to the door of the +king's hall, the peril of their situation, supposing treachery +were really intended, came suddenly home to Estein's mind. It was +too late to turn back, even had his pride allowed him to think of +taking such a course. He could only resolve to warn his men, and, +so far as he could, keep them together and near him. Even as he +was still turning the matter over in his mind, he found himself at +the hall door, where an officer of the court, dressed with +barbaric splendour, ushered him into the drinking-room. A +discordant chorus of outlandish voices, raised by a hundred guests +or more, bade him welcome. He walked up to his seat by the king, +and on the spur of the moment could hit on no plan of +communicating with his men. Helgi followed him to the dais, and +with him he just found time to exchange a word. + +"Drink little, and watch!" he whispered. + +"Have you then seen him too?" Helgi replied, in the same anxious +tone. Estein looked at him in surprise, and Helgi, coming close +beside him, added rapidly,-- + +"The last torch-bearer but one was the man we captured in the +forest and freed this morning, and methinks I see another of our +prisoners even now. King Bue's hird-men [Footnote: Bodyguard.] +both, sent--" he had to turn away abruptly, and Estein finished +the sentence under his breath,-- + +"Sent to trap us." + +He took his seat, and glancing round the hall saw his twenty +followers scattered here and there among the crowd of guests. + +"Fool!" he thought, "I have walked into the trap like a child in +arms. The whole country has been prepared against our coming, the +people told to leave their houses, and the king's own hird-men set +as decoys in our path. Can this be the meaning of the Runes?" + +Yet there was no actual proof of treachery, and he could only +watch and listen. And certainly there was noise enough to be +heard. Never among the most hardened drinkers of their own country +had the foster-brothers seen such an orgie. The king, a +foolish-looking old man, evidently completely under Thorar's influence, +became very soon in a maudlin condition; man after man around them +grew rapidly more and more drunk; and all the time they themselves +were plied with ale so assiduously that their suspicions grew +stronger. So far as his followers were concerned, Estein was +helpless. He glanced round the hall now and then, and could see +them quickly succumbing to the Jemtland hospitality. Personally he +found it hard to refuse to pledge the frequent toasts shouted at +him, but at last, when the men near him had got in such a state +that their observation was dulled, he placed his drinking-horn on +his lap and thrust his dagger through the bottom. Then, by keeping +it always off the table, he was able to let the liquor run through +as fast as it was filled, and always drain an empty cup. Helgi had +adopted a different device. His head lay on his arms, and in reply +to all calls to drink he merely uttered incoherent shouts, while +every now and then Estein could see that he would shake with +laughter. + +Suspicious though he was, it came as a shock to Estein to hear his +worst fears suddenly confirmed. Tongues had been freely loosed, +and listening carefully to what was said, he heard the mutterings +of the chief next him take a coherent form. + +"Ay, little they know," he was saying to himself. "Let them drink, +let them drink. Dogs of Norsemen, they came hither to harry our +country, and here they shall stay. Ay, they shall never drink +again, and King Hakon shall look for his son in vain." + +Then the man lost his balance, and rolled off his seat under the +board. He had been placed between Estein and Helgi, and now Estein +was able to lean over to his foster-brother, and, under pretence +of trying to make him drink, whispered in his ear,-- + +"Go out by the far door, and await me outside the court on the +farthest side from the entrance." + +Helgi lay still for a minute, and then rising to his feet, +muttered something about "strong ale and fresh air," and staggered +down the hall with a well-feigned semblance of drunkenness. + +Thorar was sitting opposite, touched with drink a little, but +still alert and sober enough. He glanced sharply at Estein; but +the Viking, looking him full in the face, laughed noisily and +cried,-- + +"Helgi's head seems hardly so strong as his hand, Thorar!" + +For once the lawman was overreached, and with a laugh he drained +his horn and answered,-- + +"I had thought better of you Norsemen." + +The hardest part of the business now remained. To go out in the +same way he knew would excite suspicion; if he delayed too long, +search would be made for Helgi; and there sat Thorar facing him. +He knew that if he could once get rid of him, he had little to +fear from any of the others; and as he thought hard for a plan, +the king, who had for some time been fast asleep, suddenly solved +the difficulty. He woke with a start, saw that the drink was +coming to an end, and cried with drunken ardour,-- + +"More ale, more ale, Thorar! Estein drinks not!" + +Thorar glanced round and saw that no one but himself was capable +of going on the errand. Twice he called aloud on servants by their +names, but there came no answer. Then with a frown he rose and +walked down the hall. + +The high table at which they sat was lit by two great torches set +on stands. While Thorar was still going down the room, Estein, +with a deliberately clumsy movement, upset and extinguished the +one nearest him. Casting a look over his shoulder, he saw the +lawman leave the hall at the far end; and then he rose to his +feet, and making an affectation of relighting the extinguished +torch from the other, put the second out, and in the sudden +half-darkness that ensued, slipped under the board, and ran on his +hands and feet for the door at that end of the hall. No one about +seemed to notice his departure, but just as he carefully opened +the door he thought he saw with the corner of his eye a man slip +out at the far end. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST. + + +Coming from the warmth and light of the hall, the night outside +struck sharp and bitterly cold. A thin cloud hid the moon, but +there was quite light enough to see that the snow-covered court +was deserted. Only in the shadows of the paling and the end of the +house was it possible for a man to be concealed, and before he +stepped away from the door Estein ran his eye carefully along +both. He could see nothing, and had just stepped forward a pace, +when noiselessly as a phantom a dark form appeared round the +corner of the hall, and without pausing an instant came straight +up to him. He saw only that the man was small, and wrapped in a +cloak of fur; his sword flashed, and he was almost in the act of +striking when the figure held up a hand and stopped. + +"Who art thou?" said Estein in a low voice, coming forward a step +as he spoke, and holding his sword ready to smite on the instant. + +"Estein Hakonson," replied the other in the same tone, "waste not +your blows on friends. Remember the Runes, and follow me. There is +little time for words now." + +He turned as he spoke, and looking over his shoulder to see that +Estein followed him, started for the stockade. For an instant +Estein hesitated. + +"Are you mad?" exclaimed the man; "or do you wish to die here like +a dog?" + +"Lead on," replied Estein, and still holding his naked sword he +followed him across the court. + +The man went swiftly up to the paling, and taking an axe from +under his cloak drove it hard into the wood as high above his head +as he could reach. Then with the agility of a cat he drew himself +up by it, seized the top of the fence, and sat there astride. + +"Quick! quick!" he whispered. "Sheathe that sword, and stand not +like a fool looking at me." + +Estein, though a much heavier man, was active and lithe, and his +guide, as he watched him mount, muttered,-- + +"That is better; we have a chance yet." + +They dropped on the other side, and whispering to Estein to +follow, the man turned to the wood and was about to plunge in, +when his companion seized his arm, and said,-- + +"I trysted here with my foster brother. Till he comes I must +wait." + +The Jemtlander turned on him savagely and answered,-- + +"Think you I have to succour you of my own pleasure? Never had I +less joy in doing anything. If your brother be not here now he +will never come at all. I was not told to risk my life for him. +Come on!" + +"Go, then," said Estein; "here will I bide." + +The man stamped his foot wrathfully, and turned sharply away as +though he would leave him. Then he turned back and answered,-- + +"The gods curse you and him! See you this path opening ahead of +us? Follow that with all the speed you can make, and I, fool that +I am for my pains, shall turn back and bring him after you if he +is to be found. Stare not at me, but hasten! I shall overtake you +ere long." + +With that he started off under the shadow of the stockade, and +Estein, after a moment's deliberation, turned into the path. Never +before had he felt himself so completely the football of fortune. +Destiny seemed to kick him here and there in no gentle manner, and +to no purpose that he could fathom. As he stumbled through the +blackness of the tortuous forest path, he tried to connect one +thing with another, and find some meaning in the token that had +brought him here. Evidently the sender was so far from being in +league with his foes that he made a kind of contrary current, +eddying him one way just when fate seemed to have driven him +another. To add to his perplexities, the disappearance of Helgi +had now come to trouble his mind; he had heard no outcry or alarm, +his foster-brother had time enough to have easily reached the +rendezvous before him, and he felt as he walked like a man in a +maze. + +Suddenly there came a crash of branches at his side, a man stepped +out of the trees, and before he had time to draw a weapon, the +sharp, impatient voice of his guide exclaimed,-- + +"Is this all the way you have made? Your foster-brother has +escaped, or has by this time been captured, I care not which. I +saw him not." + +"But supposing I were more careful of his safety?" Estein +demanded, with a note of anger in his voice. + +"Push on!" replied the other. "The alarm is raised, and neither +you nor Helgi can be found, so perchance he has not yet suffered +for his folly. I came not out to hear you talk." + +He started off as he spoke, and Estein, perceiving the +hopelessness of further search, followed him with a heart little +lightened. + +"If they have not found him yet," he thought, "he has perhaps +escaped. But why did he not wait for me? If he had been alive, he +surely would have met me." + +For some time he followed his mysterious guide in melancholy +silence. There was only room for them to walk in single file, and +it took him some trouble to keep up. Sometimes it seemed to him +that they would leave the path and go straight through the +trackless depths of the wood, with a quickness and assurance that +astonished him. Then again they would apparently fall upon a path +for a time, and perhaps break into a trot while the ground was +clear. + +At last they came into a long, open glade, where a stream brawled +between snow-clad banks, and the vague form of some frightened +animal flitted silently towards the shade. The moon had come out +of the clouds, and by its light Estein tried to scan the features +of his companion. So far as a fur cap would let his face be seen, +he seemed dark, unkempt, and singularly wild of aspect, but there +was nothing in his look to catch the Viking's memory. He said not +a word, but, with a swinging stride, hastened down the glade, +Estein close at his shoulder. + +"Where do we go?" Estein asked once. + +"You shall see what you shall see. Waste not your breath," replied +the other impatiently. + +Again they turned into the wood, and went for some considerable +distance down a choked and rugged path which all at once ended in +a clearing. In the middle stood a small house of wood. The frosted +roof sparkled in the moonlight, and a thin stream of smoke rose +from a wide chimney at one end, but there was never a ray of light +from door or window to be seen. The man went straight up to the +door and knocked. + +"This then is the end of our walk," said Estein. + +"It would seem so indeed," replied the other, striking the door +again impatiently. + +This time there came sounds of a bolt being shot back. Then the +door swung open, and Estein saw on the threshold an old man +holding in his hand a lighted torch. For an instant there passed +through his mind, like a prospect shown by a flash of lightning, a +sharp memory of the hermit Andreas. Instinctively he drew back, +but the first words spoken dispelled the thought. + +"I have waited for thee, Estein." + +"Atli!" he exclaimed. + +"Ay," said the old man. "I see thou knewest not where thy way +would lead thee. But enter, Estein, if indeed after a king's feast +thou wilt deign to receive my welcome." + +He added the last words with a touch of irony that hardly tended +to propitiate his guest. + +"I have to thank you, methinks," replied Estein, as he entered, +"for bringing me to that same banquet." + +He found himself in a room that seemed to occupy most of the small +house. One half of it was covered with a wooden ceiling which +served as the floor of a loft, while for the rest of the way there +was nothing beneath the sloping rafters of the roof. A ladder +reached from the floor to the loft, and at one end, that nearest +the outer door, a fire of logs burned brightly. + +All round the walls hung the skins of many bears and wolves, with +here and there a spear or a bow. + +Atli left the other man to close the door, and followed Estein up +to the fire. + +He replied, either not noticing or disregarding the dryness of +Estein's retort,-- + +"I knew well, Estein, thou wouldst come. Something told me thou +wouldst not linger on my summons." + +"Did you then send for me to lead me into this snare?" said +Estein, his brows knitting darkly. + +"Does one eagle betray another to the kites and crows?" replied +the old man loftily. + +Estein burst out hotly,-- + +"Speak plainly, old man! Keep mysteries for Rune-carved staves and +kindred tricks. What mean this message and this plot and this +rescue? I have left my truest friend and twenty stout followers +besides in yonder hall. I myself have had to flee for my life from +a yelping pack of Jemtland dogs; and for aught I know, Ketill and +the rest of my force may be drugged with drink and burned in their +beds even while I talk with you. Give me some plain answer?" + +Atli looked at him for a minute, and then replied gravely,-- + +"I have heard, indeed, that some strange change had befallen +Estein Hakonson. There was a time when he who had just saved thy +life would have had fairer thanks than this." + +With a strong effort Estein controlled his temper and answered +more quietly,-- + +"You are right. It was another Estein whom you saw before. Bear +with me, and go on." + +He sat down on a bench as he spoke and gazed into the fire. + +"The gods indeed have dealt heavily with thee," said Atli, "and it +is at their bidding that I called thee here." + +"Spoke they with King Bue also?" said Estein, with a slight curl +of his lip, looking all the time at the fire. + +"Nay; hear me out, Estein. I knew that King Hakon would send, ere +long, an avenging force to Jemtland." + +"He was never the man to forgive an injury," he added, apparently +to himself. + +"So, as thou knowest, I sent that token to thee. Then unquiet +rumours reached mine ears; for though I live apart from men here +in this forest, little passes in the country--ay, and in Norway +too--that comes not to Atli's knowledge. I learned of the plot to +treacherously entrap thy force, and though I have long lived out +of Norway my Norse blood boiled within me." + +"Could you not have warned us sooner?" said Estein. + +"Thorar kept his plans secret so long that it was too late to do +aught save what I have done. I sent Jomar to the feast, as thou +knowest." + +Estein's guide had been sitting before the fire, consuming a +supper of cold meat, and paying little heed to the talk, but at +the last words he rose, and throwing the bones on to the flames, +said,-- + +"It was by no will of mine; I bear no love to the Norsemen." + +"Peace!" exclaimed Atli sternly. "Art thou too ungrateful for what +I have done for thee, and fearless of what I can do?" + +"Babble on with this Norseman. I am tired," replied Jomar, and +leaving the fire, he rolled himself in a bear-skin, lay down on +the floor, and in a trice was fast asleep. + +"Say now to me, Estein," continued the old man, "that thou holdest +me guiltless of all blame." + +"Of all, save the snatching of me away from the fate of Helgi," +replied Estein sadly. "Yet I remember that you yourself said that +our ends should not be far apart, so I think you have but delayed +my death a little while." + +"Nay, rather," cried Atli enthusiastically, "believe that Helgi +lives since thy life is safe! I tell thee, Estein, many fair years +lie before thee. By my mouth, even by old Atli, the gods send a +message to thee!" + +His exalted tone, the animation of his face, and the flash of his +pale eyes, impressed Estein strongly. + +"By you?" he inquired with some wonder; "what then have you to do +with me?" + +With the same ringing voice the old man went on,-- + +"Even as over the windows of this poor house there hang those +skins, so over my life hangs a curtain which may not yet be fully +lifted--perchance the fates may decree that it shall ever hide me. +A little, however, I may venture to raise it. Listen, Estein!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE MAGICIAN. + + +As he said the last words Atli stooped, and lifting two large logs +cast them on the fire. For a minute he watched them crackle and +spit sparks, bending his brows as he deliberated how he should +begin. + +Then he turned to Estein and said,-- + +"When I saw thee by the shore at Hernersfiord, now some two years +gone, didst thou think then that Atli was a stranger?" + +"I thought so indeed," replied Estein, "though some words you let +fall pointed otherwise." + +"Yet, Estein," the old man said, "when thou wert no higher than +that bench whereon thou sittest, I dandled thee in mine arms, and +those fingers that now clasp a sword hilt, and, if men say true, +clasp it right firmly, played once with my beard. Less snow had +fallen on it then, Estein. Thou canst not remember me?" + +Estein looked at him closely before replying. + +"Nay, Atli, my memory carries me not so far back." + +"So it was," Atli continued; "but chiefly was I the friend of +thine ill-fated brother Olaf." + +"Of Olaf?" exclaimed Estein, with a slight start. + +"Ay, of Olaf. Often have I fought by his side on sea and shore, +and dearly, more dearly than I ever loved man or woman since, I +loved the youth. Thou even as a child wert strangely like him in +features, and as I look upon thee now, there comes back memories +of blither days. Wonder not then that I long was fain to see +thee." + +"Then why came you not to my father's house?" said Estein. "A +friend of his son's would ever be welcome." + +"Thy father and I fell out," replied Atli, "the wherefore I must +still keep behind the shrouding-curtain, but for my present +purpose it matters little. I could not visit Hakonstad; I could +not even stay in the land of my birth. Olaf fell." + +His voice trembled a little, and he paused. Estein said nothing, +but waited for him to go on. Then in a brisker tone he continued,-- + +"For some years I sailed the west seas; but I was growing old and +my strength was wearing away with the wet work and the fighting, +so I hied me home again." + +"And my father?" asked Estein. "Knew not of my coming," Atli +replied. "Of friends and kinsmen I had few left in the land, but I +had long had other thoughts for myself than the tilling of fields +and the emptying of horns at Yule. Often at night had I sat out. +[Footnote: To "sit out" was a method of reading the future +practised by sorcerers, in which the magician spent the night +under the open sky, and summoned the dead to converse with him.] I +had read the stars, and talked with divers magicians and men +skilled in the wisdom of things unseen. I wandered for long among +the Finns, I dwelt with the Lapps, and learned the lore of those +folks. Then I came to Jemtland, where cunning men were said to +live." + +"Cunning!" exclaimed Estein furiously; "treacherous hounds call them." + +"Cunning, indeed, they are," said the old man, "but not wise. +This Jomar here is held a spaeman by the people." + +He glanced contemptuously at the sleeping figure on the floor. + +"Since I came," he went on, "I have taught him more than he could +have learned in a lifetime here and now, as thou hast seen, he +fears and obeys me as a master. With him I took up my abode, +living in a spot known only to few. Yet my thoughts turned +continually to Norway, and chiefly flew to thee, Estein. I dreamt +of thee often, and at last a voice"--his own sank almost to a +whisper as he spoke--"a voice bade me seek thee. How I fared thou +knowest." + +"I would that I had given more heed to your warning," said Estein +gloomily. + +"It all came true then?" cried Atli. "Nay, there is no need to +answer. Truth I tell, and truth must happen." + +"Have you, then, further rede to give me?" + +"Ay, I have heard of this spell and the sore change that has +befallen thee, and in my dreams and outsittings I have seen many +things--an old man habited in a strange garb, and a maid by his +side. Ha! flew the shaft true?" + +So carried away was Estein by the seer's earnestness, and so +suddenly did his last words strike home, that the thought never +occurred to him that this might only be the gossip of his +followers come in time to Atli's ears. It seemed to him an +inspired insight into his past, and he started suddenly, and then +said slowly,-- + +"The shaft indeed flew true." + +"For thy brother's sake I owe thee something," the old man went +on; "I might give weighty reason, but I may not. For thine own I +wish to heal thee, and if I cannot cure this spell there is no man +who can. + +"Wilt thou trust me with the story?" he added, a little dubiously. + +"Ask not that of me," replied Estein. "Tell me what to do, and I +promise I shall follow the rede." + +As if afraid that to ask further questions might weaken the force +of his words, Atli fell at once into his mystic manner again. + +"For long I wrestled with the visions. The faces of the wizard and +the witch" (Estein's look darkened for an instant), "I could not +see, but at last, in the still night-time, there spoke a voice to +me, and I knew it came from the gods. For three nights it spoke. +On the fourth I sat out, and called to me from far beyond the +mountains and the lakes, even from beyond the grave, thy brother +Olaf. He too spoke to me, and every time the purport of the +message was the same." + +"What said the voice?" + +"A ship must cross the seas again." + +The old man repeated the last words low and slowly, and then, for +a little, silence fell upon the pair. Vague and meagre though the +message was, it accorded exactly with Estein's long-suppressed +desires. So entirely did Atli believe in himself and the virtue of +his counsel, that the young Viking was thoroughly infected with +his faith; and then, too, it was that early and suggestive hour +when a man is quickly stirred. + +Estein was the first to speak. + +"I accept the counsel, Atli," he cried, springing to his feet. +"With the melting of the snow I shall take to the sea again, and +steer for the setting of the sun." + +The old seer laid his hand affectionately upon his shoulder. + +"There spoke the brother of Olaf," he said. "And now to sleep. In +the morning I shall send Jomar to warn Ketill, so trouble not +thyself further." + +"If I but knew Helgi's fate," Estein began. + +"Doubt not my words," said Atli. "His fate is too closely linked +with thine." + +He showed the Viking to a pallet bed in the loft, where, worn out +with fatigue and anxiety, he quickly fell asleep. + +It was nearly noon when he awoke, and the sun was streaming +through the attic window. He found Atli in the room below. + +"I have turned sluggard, it seems," he said. + +"Young heads need sleep," replied the old man. "There was no need +to rise before, or I should have roused thee. Jomar has been gone +since daybreak, and till he returns thou canst do naught." + +"Naught?" said Estein. "Have I not got my foster-brother to seek +for? Give me but a meal to carry me till nightfall and I will +away." + +At first the old man endeavoured to dissuade him, but finding he +was obdurate, he finally gave him a cap and coat of wolf-skin to +be worn over his mail lest he should be seen by any natives, a +good bow and arrows, and copious but perplexing directions +regarding the forest paths. As he sallied forth, and followed the +track by which he had come the night before, his plans were vague +enough. To make for King Bue's hall, and, taking advantage of the +woods that covered all the country, spy out what might be seen, +was the hazardous scheme he proposed. Perhaps, he thought, Helgi +might be wandering the country too, and if fate was kind they +might meet. In any case he could not rest in his state of +uncertainty, and he pushed boldly on. He smiled as he glanced at +his garb: the long wolf-skin coat reached almost to his knees, +over his legs he had drawn thick-knitted hose to keep out the +cold, his helmet was hidden by the furry cap, and the only part of +his original equipment to be seen were the sword girt round his +waist and the long shield that hung upon his back. He had been in +two minds about taking this last, but ere the day was done he had +reason to congratulate himself that it was with him. + +Before long he struck the open glade they had gone down by +moonlight, and following it to the end, he found, after a little +search, the opening of another path. This at last divided into two +divergent tracks, and he had to confess himself completely +puzzled. + +"I seem to be the plaything of fate," he exclaimed, after he had +tried in vain to recall Atli's directions; "let fate decide, life +is but made up of the castings of a die," and with that he threw +his dagger into the air, crying, "Point right, haft left!" It +landed on its point and sunk almost out of sight in the snow. +"Right let it be then," he said, and turned down the right-hand +path. + +It had been so dark and their flight so hurried that nothing +remained in his memory of the night before, to show him whither +the way was leading. He only knew that he had wandered for some +time, when a prospect of white, open country began to show in +peeps through the trees ahead. Presently he came to the edge of +the forest, and saw that the cast of his dagger had led him wide +of his mark. A long stretch of treeless country opened out before +him, getting wider and wider in the distance. Near at hand a +narrow lake began, and stretched for a mile or two down the +snow-fields, and, like the greater lake they had passed, it was frozen +and shining white. Less than a hundred yards from him, between the +forest and the water, there lay a small village. A number of men +stood about among the houses, and from their movements and the +presence of two or three sledges he judged that a party must +either have lately arrived, or be on the point of departing. As +nothing further seemed to happen, he made up his mind that they +must be arrivals; and then, seeing little to be gained by waiting +further, he was about to retrace his steps when his attention was +arrested by the appearance of two women. They came out of a house, +and one, the taller of the two, went up to a group of men standing +near, while the other, who looked like a peasant's wife, hung +behind. The look of the first figure caught Estein's eye at once, +and he felt his heart suddenly beat quickly. He could only see her +back as she talked with the men, but every gesture she made, +slight though they were, brought sharply and clearly before his +mind memories of the Holy Isle. + +"By the hammer of Thor and the horse of Odin, this country is +surely bewitched," he muttered. His fancy, he told himself, was +playing him a pleasant trick: he had seen Osla so continually in +his mind's eye, that this girl, for girl she seemed, shaped +herself after his thoughts. That it could be she he loved, there +in the flesh, was almost laughably impossible; yet as she talked, +apparently with an air of some authority, to the men beside her, +the resemblance became at moments stronger, and then again he +would say to himself, "Nay, that is not like her." As the men +gesticulated and answered her their voices came to him +indistinctly, while hers, strain his hearing as he might, he could +not catch. There seemed to be a dispute about something which the +whole party were engrossed in, when suddenly one man gave a cry +and pointed at Estein. Then he saw that in his curiosity he had +stepped outside the shelter of the wood and stood in a space +between the trees. + +At the man's cry they all looked round, and he saw the girl's +face. + +"It is she or her spirit," he exclaimed. + +Instinctively he stepped behind a tree, and at this sign of flight +there was a shout from the men. One shot an arrow, which passed +harmlessly to the side, and then they all came at him. He had only +time to see that more villagers were coming out of the houses, and +that the girl had turned away to join the other woman, when his +wits came back to him, and turning into the path he set off as +fast as he could put his feet to the ground. + +For a time the chase was hot: he could hear the men scattering so +as to cover the wood behind him, and once or twice the leaders +seemed near. Estein was fleet of foot, however, and the wood so +dense that it was hard to follow a man for far, and at last the +sound of his pursuers died away, and he felt that, for the time at +least, he was safe. But he had long left the path, and there was +nothing to guide him save glimpses of the sinking sun, the ice +that showed the north side of twigs and stems, and in more open +spaces the lie of the branches to the prevalent wind. And as he +wandered on, his mind hardly grasped the bearing and significance +of forest clues. Twenty times, at least, he dismissed the +resemblance he had seen as the work of fancy. The girl had been +too far off to read her features, her figure was not really like, +and, most weighty argument, it was out of all reason that she +should be in this land of forests, so distant from her island +home. Still each time he dismissed it the resemblance came back +fresh and strong, to be sent away again. He had lost all idea of +where he was, and the sun had already set, when more by good luck +than by good guidance, the trees grew thinner in front, and he +found himself once more in the glade of the stream. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ARROW AND SHIELD. + + +It seemed strangely still and fresh in the open glade. The blood-red +glamour of a frosty sunset was fading from the sky as the +daylight died away; all round the wood was populous with shadows; +and over its ragged edge the moon hung pale and faint. + +Estein walked down a little way, and then stopped and listened. He +could hear the stream rumbling over the stones, but not another +sound. Then the far-off howl of a wolf struck dismally on his ear. +Twice it sounded and passed away, leaving the silence more +intense, while all the time the air grew colder. All at once a +dead branch snapped sharply. Estein looked round keenly, but in +the dusk of the pine stems his eye could pick out nothing. For a +minute everything was still, and then a twig cracked again. This +time he could see plainly a man come from behind a tree and stand +in the outskirts of the wood. For a minute they stood looking at +each other. The man, so far as he could discern in the waning +light, wore the native skin coat and cap, and seemed to hold in +his hands a bow ready to shoot. + +Estein quietly drew an arrow from his quiver and laid it on his +bow. Just as he cast his eye down to fit the notch to the string, +there was a twang from the wood; an arrow whizzed, and stuck hard +in his fur cap, stopping only at the steel of his helmet. + +"This archer will deem my fur is of singular proof," he said to +himself, with the flicker of a smile, as he let a shaft fly in +return. He could see his foe move to one side, and heard his arrow +strike a branch. Instantly the man fired again, and this time +struck him on the breast, and the arrow, checked by the ring-mail +beneath, hung from his wolf-skin coat. + +He smiled to himself again, and thought, "Never, surely, has that +bowman shot at so stout a garment. Yet he shoots hard and +straight. I wish not to meet with a stronger archer, and could do +well with a worse one now." And with that he took his shield from +his back. + +His situation was indeed far from safe, and he had to come to some +instant decision. Standing in the open against the snow, he +offered a fair mark, while his opponent among the trees was hard +to see and harder to hit. To try to rush so good an archer, though +risky, would certainly have been his scheme, had he not strongly +suspected that this one man was set as a decoy to tempt him into +an ambush. His blood was up, and he vowed that run he would not at +any cost; and, in fact, flight was far from easy, for behind him +lay the stream, and in crossing he must expose himself. + +It took him but a moment to turn the alternatives over in his +mind, and then he suddenly hit upon a plan. His shield was one of +the long, heart-shaped kind, coming to a point at the lower end, +and covering him down to the knee as he stood upright. He raised +it high, and driving the point hard into the ground, dropped on +one knee behind it. As he stooped a third arrow sang close above +his head and sped into the gloaming. Leaning to one side he fired +again, and an instant later a fourth shaft rang on his shield. +Then came a brief pause in the hostilities, and, looking round the +edge of his fort, Estein could see his foe standing motionless +close under a tree. He soon tired of waiting, however, and +presently an arrow, aimed evidently at what he could see of +Estein's legs, passed within six inches of one knee and buried +itself in the snow beside him. + +"He shoots too well," muttered Estein. "If this goes on I must try +a desperate ruse. I shall have one other shot." + +He rose almost to his full height, fired his arrow, and quickly +stooped again. His enemy was evidently on the watch for such an +opening, for the two bowstrings twanged together, and while +Estein's shaft struck something with a soft thud, the other hit +the Viking hard on the headpiece. + +Throwing up his arms, he reeled and fell flat upon his back. Yet, +as he lay for all the world like a man struck dead, a smile stole +over his face, and he quietly and gently drew his sword. + +"Can my shaft have gone home?" he wondered. Apparently not, for +his foeman left the shelter of the wood, and he could see him walk +slowly across the open. He was clad in a loose and almost +grotesquely ill-fitting garment, seemingly of sheep-skin, and held +an arrow on his bow ready to shoot on a sign of movement. When he +had come within ten or fifteen yards, he suddenly dropped his bow, +drew his sword, and stepped quickly forward. At the same instant +Estein jumped to his feet, and with a shout sprang at him. The +blades were on the point of crossing, when his enemy stopped +short, dropped his point, and then burst into an uncontrollable +fit of laughter. + +"Estein, by the beard of Thor!" he gasped. + +"Helgi!" cried his quondam foe. + +They looked each other in the face for an instant, and then +simultaneously broke out into another fit of mirth. + +"By my faith, Estein, that was a plan worthy of yourself!" cried +Helgi. "But 'tis lucky I fired not at you on the ground, as I had +some thoughts of doing, knowing the trickery of these +Jemtlanders." + +"Two things I feared," replied Estein. "One that you might do +that; the other, that a troop of as villainous-looking knaves as +you now are yourself might hive out of the wood behind you. But +how did you escape last night, and how came you here?" + +"Those are the questions I would ask of you," said Helgi; "but one +story at a time, and shortly this is mine--a tale, Estein, that +for credit to its teller, yoked with truthfulness, I will freely +back against yours or ever I hear it." + +"I doubt it not," replied his friend, with a smile; "you have the +look of one who is high in favour with himself." + +"As I ought!" cried Helgi. "But hear me, and gibe not before the +end. I left that hall, accursed of the gods, and over full, I +fear, of drunken men, in the manner you witnessed. My counterfeit +of drunkenness was so exceedingly lifelike, that even when I got +outside I felt my head buzz round in the fresh air and my legs +sway more than is their wont. 'Friend Helgi,' I said to myself, +'you have drunk not one horn too few if you value your life at its +proper worth.' Upon that I applied a handful of snow to my face, +and thereupon, on counting my fingers, was able to get within one +of the customary number--erring, if I remember rightly, upon the +generous side, as befitted my disposition. But to get on to the +moving part of my adventures--Where do you take me now?" + +"'Tis all right," replied Estein, "I take you to supper and a +fire. They come in my story." + +"Lead on then," said Helgi. "To continue my tale: I walked with +much assurance up to the gateway, singing, I remember, the song of +Odin and the Jotun to prove the clearness of my head. There I +found a sentinel who, it seemed, had lately been sharing in the +hospitality of King Bue. Certain it is that he was more than half +drunk, and so fast asleep that he woke not even at my singing, and +I had to prod him with the hilt of my sword to arouse the +sluggard." + +"Then you woke him!" exclaimed Estein, between amusement and +surprise. + +"How else could I pass? The man leaned so heavily upon the gate, +that wake him I must, for I liked not to slay a sleeping man, even +though he stood upon his feet. He looked upon me like a startled +cow, and said, 'You are a cursed Norseman.' 'It would seem so, +indeed,' I replied, and thereupon ran him through with my blade +and opened the gate. Then a plan both humorous and ingenious came +upon my mind, for my wits were strangely sharp. I laid the man out +under the shadow of the fence, where he could not well be seen +save by such as had more clearness of vision than becomes the +guests of so hospitable a monarch as King Bue, and having stripped +him of his coat and put it round mine own shoulders, I took his +place and awaited your coming." + +"Singing all the while?" said Estein. + +"Softly and to myself," replied Helgi; "for what is becoming +enough in a guest is not always so well suited to a sentinel. +There I stood, stamping my feet and beating my arms upon my breast +to keep the cold away, till I began to think that something was +amiss." + +"Then while I was scaling the wall at one end of the court, you +were guarding the gate at the other!" exclaimed Estein. + +"So it would appear now, though I pledge you my word I had no +thought of such a thing as I watched that gate last night. In +truth, what I had done began to seem to me so plainly the best +thing to do, that I thought you would surely follow my movements +in your mind--so far as drink allowed you, and come straightway to +the gate in full confidence of finding me on duty. I see now that +your plan had its merits, though I still maintain that mine was +the better." + +"Saving only in so far as it left me at the trysting-place alone," +said Estein. + +"And me to shiver at the gate," answered Helgi, with a laugh. +"Well, after a time, which seemed long enough, though doubtless a +shorter space than I thought, the hall door opened, and men rushed +out with much needless uproar. Then, I must confess, I e'en left +my post with all the haste I could, and concealed me in the +outbuildings of a small house close without the gate. The door was +open, but it was so pitch black inside that I knew they could not +see me, though them I saw plainly enough as they stopped at the +gate." + +"Who were they?" asked Estein. + +"The black traitor Thorar, and with him some ten or twelve others, +doubtless all the sober men at the feast. It took them but a short +space to find the dead sentinel; and thereupon Thorar, who seemed +almost beside himself with anger, sent the others off in haste to +intercept our road to Ketill, while he himself ran to collect a +force from the village. Then I bethought me it was well to have +company on the road, so I even joined myself to my pursuers. +Luckily they went not by the open glade, but kept a path well +shaded and very dark, and for the best part of an hour we must +have run together through the wood. + +"At last we reached a solitary woodman's house, and there for a +brief space we paused to inquire of the good man whether he had +seen us pass that way. It was a wise inquiry, and the answer was +such as an entirely sober man might have reasonably expected. The +woodman was in the village at the feast, and his wife, good woman, +had been in bed for the last two hours, and strangely enough had +not seen us. So our brisk lads started off at the run again. But +there we parted company, for I was tired of chasing myself, and +the woman had a pleasant voice, and, so far as I could see, a +comely countenance." + +Estein laughed aloud. "My story will seem a tame narrative after +this," he exclaimed. + +"Did not I say so," said Helgi. "Well, I fell behind, and +presently was knocking up the good woman again, for I said to +myself, 'These dogs will not surely come to this house a second +time, and a night in the cold woods is not to my liking.' So to +make a long story short, I wrought so upon the tender heart of the +woodman's wife that, Norseman as I was, she gave me shelter and +bed, and promised to send me off in the morning before her husband +returned." + +"As most wives would," interposed Estein. + +Helgi laughed. "Fate had decided otherwise," he continued. "Even +as I was eating my morning meal, the goodwife waiting on me most +courteously, the door opened and the husband entered. I saw from +the man's ugly look that all his wife's wiles were lost upon him; +but the dog was a cowardly dog, and feared the game he thirsted to +fix his treacherous teeth in. He had nothing for it but to equip +me with this great sheep-skin coat and cap, and a stout bow and +sheaf of arrows; and then, after a most kindly parting with his +goodwife, I made him set me on my way to Ketill. He liked not the +job over much, yet he dared not refuse, and so we started. I +shrewdly suspected, from my memory of the way I had come +overnight, that he was leading me back to King Bue's hall, and +meant on our parting to put a horde of his rascally fellows in my +way. I cared little, however, for I had mine own ending for our +walk. When we had gone a little way I stopped and said to him,-- + +"'My friend, I am loth to lose your company, but here is the +parting of our ways. Mine I need not trouble you with, but yours +for a space will lead you little further in any direction.' And +with that I bound him firmly to a tree, and left him to think upon +his misdeeds. Since then, Estein, I have wandered through these +forests like a man in a fog, cursing roundly the land and all its +inhabitants." + +"Yet it would seem that it is they who have most reason to +complain of your dealings with them," said Estein, smiling. + +"I would I were well quit of the land," replied his friend. "My +heart felt glad when I saw in the glade a man habited after the +fashion of the natives. 'There will be one less Jemtlander to-night,' +I said, as I laid an arrow on my bow. 'By all the gods, +Estein, I shall laugh whenever I think of it! + +"But tell me your adventures." + +Estein told him shortly what had befallen him, excepting only his +seeing the girl in the village. He had made up his mind that the +resemblance must have been the work of fancy, yet as soon as they +had reached the house of Atli, he took the old man aside, and +asked him,-- + +"Shall I then sail when the snows have melted?" + +"Assuredly," replied the seer; "wouldst thou delay what the gods +and the dead enjoin?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MIDNIGHT GUEST. + + +Jomar had returned early in the day, and they found him already +wrapped up in his bear-skin fast asleep before the fire. + +"Gave he my warning to Ketill?" Estein asked Atli. + +"Assuredly," replied the old man; "I have never known him fail me, +little though he may have liked the errand." + +"And what said Ketill? Had they been attacked? What news brought +Jomar back?" + +"Let us wake the knave, and ask him," said Helgi; and suiting the +action to the word, he drove one foot sufficiently hard into the +sleeper's side to rouse him with a start. + +"What said friend Ketill?" Helgi went on, careless of the man's +ugly look; "sent he back any message?" + +Jomar answered with a dark scowl, regarding him steadily for a +minute as if to make sure who he was, and then he snapped back +shortly,-- + +"He said he had lost a dog that answered to the name of Helgi, and +would be well pleased if the beast had died of the mange in the +wood," and without another word he rolled over and closed his eyes +again. + +"'Dog!'" cried Helgi. "Hound, I will beat one dog as it deserves!" + +In another instant the Jemtlander would have suffered for his +temerity, had not Atli seized the angry Norseman's arm, +exclaiming,-- + +"Peace, Helgi Sigvaldson! Wouldst thou strike my servant in mine +own house? The man loves not Norsemen, yet has he saved thy +foster-brother's life, and likely, too, those of Ketill and all +his company." + +"Tell us, Atli," interposed Estein, "what he said on his return." + +"Little he told even me," replied Atli, "save that he had seen +Ketill for the briefest possible space, and then returned +straightway home." + +"Did he hear aught of the twenty good men who followed us to King +Bue's hall?" + +It was Jomar himself who replied, though without turning over or +looking at the speaker. + +"Would you have me save them, too, from their fate? I heard naught +of them, and wish only to hear of their deaths. Too many enemies +have I helped already." + +Helgi was about to reply hotly, but Atli checked him with a +gesture, whispering,-- + +"Will not his deeds atone for his words?" + +Low as he spoke, Jomar caught the words, and muttered loud enough +to be heard,-- + +"Would that my words might become my deeds." + +Nothing about the mysterious old man had impressed Estein more +than his extraordinary influence over this strange disciple or +servant, for he seemed to be partly both; and that one who so +loathed and hated the Norsemen could be made to serve his enemies +at a word, seemed to point to a power beyond the ken of ordinary +man. Helgi, too, was evidently struck, for he looked askance from +one to the other, and then fell silent. + +By sunrise next morning, the foster-brothers arranged to start for +Ketill under Jomar's guidance, and little time was lost in getting +to bed. They went up to the loft by the ladder, heard Atli open a +door and evidently enter some inner room, then being very drowsy +after the cold air, shortly fell asleep. + +Yet the night was not to pass without incident. Helgi knew not how +long he had been asleep, when he woke with a shiver, to find that +his blankets had slipped off him. He gathered them over him again, +and then lay for a few minutes listening to the rising wind. As it +beat up in mournful gusts and soughed through the pines, he said +to himself, "The frost has left at last, and thankful am I for +that." He was just dropping off to sleep again, when his attention +was startled into wakefulness by a knock at the outer door. It was +repeated twice, and then he heard Jomar rise with much growling, +and go softly across the floor. There followed a parley apparently +through a closed door, which ended in a bolt shooting back, and +the door opening with a whistle of wind. So far he had been in +that half-waking state when things produce a confused and almost +monstrous impression, but suddenly his wits were startled into +quickness. Among several voices that seemed to talk with Jomar, +his ear all at once caught a woman's. Even the approach of an +enemy could not have made him more alert. He listened keenly and, +with a sensible feeling of disappointment, heard the door close, +the noise cease, and Jomar's steps quietly cross the floor again. +This time, however, they went right to the other end of the room, +and an inner door opened. He thought he caught Atli's tones +answering his sullen servant, and presently he heard two men come +out and go to the outer door. Again, with a blast of cold draught, +it opened, and the talk began a second time. His curiosity was +keenly excited; he could pick out a woman's voice most +unmistakably, and at last he heard the conference come to an end. +The door closed, the party seemed to go away, and then whispering +began in the room below him. + +"The woman has come in!" he said to himself, with a start of +excitement. "Helgi, this matter needs your attention." + +His bed, the outermost of the two, consisted merely of a coarse +mattress laid so far back in the loft that the edge of the +flooring hid all view of the room below. Very softly he proceeded +to throw off the blankets and crawl quietly towards the edge, till +he had gone far enough to get a clear sight of the fire. There he +lay, and smiled to himself at the prospect below. + +The fire had been raked up to burn brightly, and Jomar, as before, +lay fast asleep beside it; but between Helgi and the blaze stood +the old seer and the hooded and cloaked form of a woman. Her face +was hidden, but her back, the watcher thought, promised well. She +was tall, and seemed young, and her movements, as she held out her +hands to the flames, or half turned to address the old man, had +grace and the marks of good birth. They talked so low that Helgi +could catch nothing they said, and even the quality of the girl's +voice only reached him in snatches. + +"A pleasant voice, methinks," he said to himself. "Atli, this +booty must be shared." + +She seemed to be telling a narrative to Atli, who, with folded +arms and deep attention that sometimes passed into suppressed +emotion, looked intently at her, and frequently broke in with some +whispered question. + +The Viking had not been watching very long when the girl's voice +rose a little as she said something earnestly, and Atli, with a +slight movement and a warning frown, glanced up at the loft and +pointed with one finger straight at where Helgi lay. Instantly he +dropped his head, and as quickly as he dared crawled back to bed +again. There was silence for a moment, but apparently they +suspected nothing, for the whispered talk went on again. + +"By valour or guile I shall see that maiden's face," he said to +himself, as he lay revolving possible schemes in his mind. + +At last the whispering stopped, and Atli's step crossed the room +and passed into the inner apartment. The door closed behind him, +and then saying to himself, "Now or never, my friend," Helgi +quietly slipped into his sheep-skin coat, and stepping softly so +as not to disturb Estein or the seer, came boldly down the ladder. + +The girl's look, as he turned at the foot and faced her, stuck in +his mind for long after. Consternation and her sense of the +ludicrous were having such an obvious struggle in every feature, +that after looking straight into her face for a moment, he fairly +burst into a silent convulsion of laughter that shook him till he +had to steady himself by a rung of the ladder. So infectious was +it, that after the briefest conflict, consternation fled the +field, a little smile appeared, and then a merrier, and in a +moment she was laughing with him. And certainly for a man commonly +most careful of his appearance, he cut a comical enough figure, +with his shoeless feet and tangled hair, and the great ill-fitting +sheep-skin coat huddled round him to hide the poverty beneath. + +"I fear my habit pleases not your eye," he said at last, striving +to control his countenance. + +"It is--" she began, and then her gravity for an instant forsook +her again. "It is highly befitting," she said, more soberly and a +little shyly. + +"In truth, a garb to win a maiden's heart; but I recked not of my +clothing, I was in such haste to see the maid," said Helgi boldly. + +She looked at him with some surprise, and just a sufficient touch +of dignity to check the dash of his advances. He saw the change, +and quickly added,-- + +"To be quite honest with you, I knew not indeed that you were +here, and feeling cold I came down to warm me. I should ask your +pardon." + +"Not so," she said; "how could you know that I was here? I have +only just arrived." + +"And I," replied Helgi, "leave early in the morning, though now I +would fain stay longer. So you will soon forget the man in the +sheepskin coat who so alarmed you." + +"But not the coat," she said demurely, her blue eyes lighting up +again. Helgi's vanity was a little stung, but he answered gaily,-- + +"I then will remember your face, and you--" + +At that instant a door opened, and turning suddenly he saw Atli +come from behind a great bearskin that concealed the entrance to +his inner chamber. The old man's face grew dark with displeased +surprise, yet he hesitated for an instant, as if uncertain what to +do. Then he came up to the girl and said,-- + +"Thy chamber is ready for thee." To Helgi he added, "I would speak +with thee, Helgi." + +The girl at once left the fire, and followed him back to the other +room. As she turned away, Helgi said,-- + +"Farewell, lady." + +"Farewell," she answered frankly, with a smile, and went out with +Atli. + +"A bold raid and a lucky one," said the Viking complacently to +himself. "A fairer face and brighter eyes I never saw before. Who +can she be? Like enough some lady come to hear the spaeman's +mystic jargon, and swallow potions or mutter spells at his +bidding. I am in two minds about turning wizard myself, if such +visitors be common. Methinks I could give her as wise a rede as +Atli. But it is strange how she came here; she is not of this +country, I'll be sworn." + +His reflections were cut short by the entrance of Atli. + +"Helgi," said the old man, still speaking very low, "thou hast +seen that which ought to have remained hidden from thee." + +"But which was well worthy of the seeing," said Helgi. + +"Speak not so lightly," replied the old man sternly, and with that +air of mystery he could make so impressive. "Thou knowest not what +things are behind the veil, or how much may hang upon a word. I +charge thee strictly that thou sayest no word of this to Estein; +there are matters that should not come to the ears of kings." + +"I shall say nothing to any one," Helgi answered more soberly. + +"That is well said," replied Atli. "Sleep now, for the dawn draws +nigh, and the way is long." + +Helgi had just got back to the loft and was throwing off his coat +again, when Estein suddenly rose on his elbow and looked at him, +and for a minute he felt like a criminal caught in the act. + +"Have I been dreaming, Helgi?" said his foster-brother, +"or--or--where have you been?" + +"To warm myself at the fire," replied Helgi readily. + +"Spoke you with any one?" + +"Ay; Atli heard me and came to see whether perchance a thief had +come in to carry away his two Norsemen." + +"Then I only dreamt," said Estein, passing his hand across his +eyes. "I thought I heard the voice of a girl; but when I woke more +fully, it was gone, indeed. It sounded like--but it was my dream;" +and lying down again, he closed his eyes. + +"Should I tell him?" thought Helgi; "nay, I promised Atli, and +after all this is mine own adventure." + +By the time the day had fairly broken, they were away under +Jomar's guidance. + +"Remember, Estein, my rede," said Atli, as they departed. + +"When the snows melt," cried Estein in reply; "and I think I shall +not have long to wait." + +It was a raw, grey, blustering morning, with no smell of frost in +the air, but rather every sign of thaw, and the old man, after +watching the two tall mail-clad figures stride off with their +dwarfish guide hastening in front, closed the door, and turned +with a grave and weary look back to the fire. + +Hardly had he come in when the inner door opened, and the girl +entered hastily. + +"Who was that other man?" she asked. "I saw but his back, and +yet--" she stopped with a little confusion, for Atli was regarding +her with a look of keen surprise. + +"Knowest thou him?" he asked. "Where hast thou seen him before?" + +"Nay," she answered, with an affectation of indifference, as if +ashamed of her curiosity, "I only wondered who he might be." + +"He is a certain trader from Norway, whom men call Estein," said +Atli, still looking at her curiously. + +"I know not the name," she said; and then adding with a slight +shiver, "How cold this country is," she turned abruptly and left +the room again. + +The old man remained lost in thought. "Strange, passing strange," +he muttered, pressing his hand to his forehead. "Can she have seen +him? Or can it be--" + +His eyes suddenly brightened, and he began to pace the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE LAST OF THE LAWMAN. + + +In silence and haste the three men pursued their way. A thaw had +set in, chill and cloudy; underfoot the snow was soft and melting, +and all through the forest they heard the drip of a thousand trees +and the creaking and swinging of boughs in the wind. As the +morning wore on and they warmed to their work, the two Norsemen +talked a little with each other, but contrary to their wont of +late, it was Estein who spoke oftenest and seemed in the better +spirits. Helgi, for him, was quiet and thoughtful, and at last +Estein exclaimed,-- + +"How run your thoughts, Helgi? on the next feast, or the last +maid, or the man you left bound to the tree? Men will think we +have changed natures if our talk goes as it has this morning." + +"I had a strange dream last night," replied Helgi. + +"Tell it to me, and I will expound it to a flagon or an eyelash, +as the theme may chance to be." + +"Nay," cried Helgi, with a sudden return to his usual buoyancy, +"now that I have my old Estein back with me, I will not turn him +again into a reader of dreams and omens. I am rejoiced to see you +in so bright a humour. Had you a pleasant dream?" + +"Action lies before me," said Estein--"the open sea and the lands +of the south again; and the very prospect is medicine." + +After a time Estein came up to their guide's side, and said,-- + +"It will take us surely longer than you said. We had to travel for +long through open country when we left the town, and we have never +reached the beginning of it yet." + +Jomar gave a quick, contemptuous laugh, and answered shortly,-- + +"Think you then that Thorar brought you by the shortest route? +Those prisoners whom you set free reached King Bue's hall many +hours before you. You are not wise, you Northmen." + +Estein looked for a moment as though he would have retorted +sharply, but biting his lip he fell back again, nor did he +exchange another word with the man. + +It was about mid-day, when, as they were coming down a wooded +slope, Helgi exclaimed,-- + +"Hark! what is that clamour?" + +Jomar too heard the shouts, for he stopped for a moment and +listened keenly, and then started off faster than before. With +every step they took the distant sounds grew louder and the shouts +of men, and even it seemed the clash of steel, could be +distinguished. + +"The attack is made," cried Helgi. "Pray the gods they scatter not +the dogs before we come up." + +Jomar heard him, and looked over his shoulder with a savage +glance. + +"Sometimes dogs bite and rend," he said. + +"Why have they waited so long?" said Estein, half to himself. "The +fools should have fallen on Ketill that very night. I thank them +for their folly." + +They had now broken into a run, and the uproar sounded so loud +that they knew they must be close upon the town. + +"Some one comes," exclaimed Helgi, and just as he spoke a man +dashed past them in the opposite direction, and throwing them only +a startled glance, disappeared among the trees behind. A minute +later two others ran by to one side, and a fourth stopped and +turned when he came upon them. All were Jemtlanders, and Jomar, +when he saw them, cursed aloud, while the Norsemen pressed the +more excitedly forward. + +Thirty yards further and they were at the edge of the wood, +stopping at a spot not far from where the expedition first came +out upon the town. The great lake and the open country lay below +them, white still, but with all the sheen and sparkle off them, +and overhung now by a grey, wet-weather sky. But they took little +note of sky or snow-fields, for their eyes were enthralled by a +more stirring spectacle. + +Over the little town rolled a dense and smoky canopy, and from +each doomed house the flames leapt and danced. All around it the +plain was alive with the signs and terrors of war they saw, black +against the snow, men flying over the open country, turning +sometimes for the woods, or sometimes sliding and running across +the frozen lake, the shouts of the pursuers came to them in a +confusion of uproar, and here and there out over the waste, and +more thickly near the town, the dead lay scattered. The battle was +at an end. Small parties of Norsemen were still driving the +vanquished Jemtlanders before them cutting them down as they fled; +but the main force seemed already to be devoting itself to the +burning and sacking of the town, and Helgi sighed as he +exclaimed,-- + +"Too late after all! the cowardly rabble could not even fight till +we had come to join in the sport." + +Like an infuriated animal Jomar turned upon him. + +"Whelp of a Norseman!" he cried, drawing his dagger and springing +forward, "never more--" + +As he spoke, Estein, who stood between them, had just time to +throw out one foot and bring the Jemtlander flat on his face, his +dagger flying from his hand. After looking for a moment in +astonishment at their fallen guide, his would-be victim burst out +laughing, and picking up the dagger, handed it back to him, +saying,-- + +"I forgot, friend Jomar, that you were so nigh me. You owed me +something, indeed, but try not to pay it like that again, for your +own sake." + +The man took the dagger sullenly and answered,-- + +"I hope never more to see either of you. Go down to the town now, +if you can reach it without losing your way again, and my curse go +with you." + +Without waiting for reply or reward, he left them abruptly, and +disappeared in the wood. "That is a man I am glad to see the last +of," said Helgi, as they started for the town. "It can only be by +black magic that Atli made him serve us." + +"It is strange indeed," replied Estein, thoughtfully. "I have +noted before that a powerful mind has a strong influence on men of +less wisdom, yet like enough there is something more besides." + +When they had come near enough to be recognized, a loud and joyful +shout went up from their men; one after another of the victors ran +out to meet them, and it was with quite a company at their back +that they entered the burning town. In the open market-place, +round which most of the houses stood, they found Ketill, his +armour dinted and smeared with blood, and his eyes gleaming with +stern excitement. At last he had got his burning, and he was +enjoying it to the full. A batch of captives had just been +pitilessly decapitated, their gory heads and trunks were strewn on +the crimson snow, and beside them lay five or six more, their legs +bound by ropes, awaiting their turn. + +Inured though he was to spectacles of blood and carnage, Estein's +mind recoiled from such a scene of butchery as this, and he +replied to Ketill's shout of astonishment and welcome,-- + +"Right glad I am to see this victory, Ketill, and gallantly you +must have fought, but when has it become our custom to slay our +prisoners?" + +"Ay," answered Helgi, "we could well have missed this part." + +"Know you not that the Jemtlanders slew the twenty who followed +you to King Bue?" answered the black-bearded captain. "They slew +them like cattle, Estein; and shall we spare the murderers now? I +knew not also whether you and Helgi had fallen into their hands, +and in case ill had happened to you, it seemed best to take +vengeance on the chance." + +"Then since I need no revenge, let the slaying cease," said +Estein, "though in truth the treacherous dogs ill deserve mercy." + +"As you list," replied Ketill; "yet there is one here who would be +better out of the world than in it." + +As he spoke he went up to one prisoner who was lying on his side, +with his face pressed down into the snow, like one sorely wounded, +and in no gentle fashion turned him over with his foot. + +"Can you not let me die?" said the man, looking up coldly and +proudly at his captors, though he was evidently at death's door. +"It will not take long now." + +"Thorar!" exclaimed Estein. + +"You have named me, Estein," replied the wounded lawman. "I had +hoped to witness thy death, now thou canst witness mine." + +"Treacherous foe and faithless friend," said Estein, sternly, +"well have you deserved this death." + +"Faithless to whom?" replied Thorar. "To my king and master Bue I +alone owed allegiance. Long have I planned how to rid us of your +proud and cruel race, and I thought the time had come. Witless and +confident ye walked into my snare, like men blindfolded; and it +was the doing of the gods, and not of you, that my plan +miscarried." + +"'Witless and confident?'" answered Estein. "Say rather trustful +of pledges that only a dastard would break." + +"The strong and foolish fight with weapons suited to their hands," +said Thorar; "the weak and wise with weapons suited to their +heads." + +"So hands, it seems, are better than heads," put in Helgi. + +"Know this at least," exclaimed Ketill, "your sons have perished +before you. I slew them in the outset of the battle." + +The dying man laughed a ghastly laugh. + +"My sons!" he cried. "Think you I would trust my sons with +Norsemen? Those boys were thralls. They died for their country as +I die," and his head fell back upon the snow. + +"Dastard!" cried Ketill, "you die indeed." + +He raised his sword as he spoke; but Estein caught his arm before +it could descend, saying,-- + +"You cannot slay the dead, Ketill." + +"Has he baulked me then?" said Ketill, bending over his fallen +foe. + +It was even so. The lawman had gone to his last account, his bolt +impotently shot, and his enemies standing triumphantly over him. + +"He at least died well," said Helgi; "when my turn comes may it be +my luck to look as proudly on my foes. But tell us, Ketill, what +befell you here since our parting." + +The burly captain frowned and scratched his head, as though +deliberating how to do a thing so foreign to his genius as the +telling of a narrative. + +"On a certain day you left us," he began. + +"Well told indeed," cried Helgi, laughing, "an excellent +beginning--no skald could do it better." + +"Nay," replied Ketill, frowning angrily, "if you want matter for a +jest, tell a tale yourself. Mine have been no boy's deeds." + +"Take no offence," replied Helgi, still laughing; "tell your deeds +of derring-do, and let Thor himself envy, I will undertake to make +you laugh at mine own adventures afterwards." + +"I will warrant your doings will make me laugh rather than envy," +said Ketill. "But, as I said, you left us, and so we were left +here without you." + +"Nay, Ketill," interposed his tormentor, very seriously, "this +story passes belief, impose not on my youth." + +"How mean you?" exclaimed the black-bearded captain, wrathfully, +his hand seeking his sword hilt. + +"Peace, Helgi," cried Estein, who saw that his good offices were +needed; "and you, Ketill, heed not his jests. He is but young and +foolish." + +"And slender," added the irrepressible Helgi, though not loud +enough for Ketill to hear, and the stout Viking resumed his story, +sulkily enough. + +"So were we left here in this town. Cold it was, with little to +do, so we even broached Thorar's ale forthwith. Presently a man +who had been in the woods came in hastily to tell me he had +disturbed two of these hounds of Jemtlanders spying on the town. +It behoved me then to be careful, and I set guards, and was not +too drunk myself that night. Upon the next morning one came in +with tidings of a man who had left a message for me, though he +would not say who sent him." + +"That would be friend Jomar," said Helgi. + +"I know not his name, but treachery, he said, was determined; and +I stopped all drink thereafter, and there was nothing at all left +then but to play with dice and sleep. A little later this Thorar +came to the town, and would have persuaded me to follow you to the +king; and when I asked for some token he showed me a ring he said +was yours. Mine own mind is not attentive to these gew-gaws, but a +man whose eyes were sharp before a Jemtland axe clove his head +this morning knew it for none of yours." + +"Did you not seize him at once?" said Estein. + +"I was for taking him on the spot, but we spoke without the town, +and he had such a company along with him that after a sharp bout +he got off, though he left three of his lads on the snow. + +"May werewolves seize me if this be not dry work! Ho' there, +bring me a horn of ale." + +As soon as he had quenched his thirst in a long draught, and wiped +his hairy lips with much relish, the narrator went on:-- + +"So at night, as you may think, we kept a strict and sober guard, +and rested in our harness. And well it was; for I had not slept an +hour, it seemed, before the cry arose that the enemy were upon us. +But when they saw we were ready for them, the vermin withdrew to +the woods to gather more force, and it was not till day had well +broken that they ventured out and offered battle. Thereupon I slew +the hostages, set fire to the town, and fell upon them +straightway, and a braver fire and a brisker fight while it lasted +I wish not to see. They were seven to one, at the least, but never +an inch of ground did we give, and never a stroke did we spare. +Methinks," he concluded with a chuckle, "they will remember their +welcome." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +KING ESTEIN. + + +It was on a breezy April morning that the mountains of Sogn came +into view again. A strong slant of south-east wind had driven the +two ships out to sea; and now, as they raced landwards before a +favouring breeze, they saw low down on the horizon one glittering +hill-top after another pierce the morning mist bank. Helgi for the +time had charge of the tiller, while Estein leant against the +weather bulwark, busy with his new resolves. + +"A ship must cross the sea again," he repeated to himself. "The +time for action is at hand, and we shall see what new freak +fortune will play with me. Yet, after all," he reflected, "though +she has pressed my head beneath the tide before, she has always +suffered me to rise and gasp ere she drowned me quite. It all +comes to this: the purposes of the gods are too deep for me to +fathom, so I must e'en hold my peace and bide the passage of +events." + +Helgi had been watching him with a half-smile on his frank face, +and at last he cried,-- + +"What counsel hold you with the seamews? Sometimes I see a smile, +and sometimes I hear a sigh; and then, again, there is a look of +the eye as if Liot Skulison were standing before you." + +"I was filling twenty long ships with enough stout lads to man +them, and sailing the western main again," replied Estein. + +"And whither were you sailing?" asked Helgi. + +"Westward first," said Estein. + +"With perchance a point or so of south--such a direction as would +bring us to the Hjaltland Isles, or, it may be, the Orkneys?" + +"Aided by a wayward wind," replied Estein with a smile. + +"Where, doubtless, it would be well to slay another sea-rover," +Helgi went on, "since they cause much trouble to peaceable +seafarers from Norway. Witches, too, and warlocks dwell in the +isles, men say, and it were well to rid the land of such." + +At this last speech Estein first frowned and flushed, and then +meeting his foster-brother's look, all outward gaiety and lurking +mirth, he laughed defiantly, and exclaimed,-- + +"It may be so, Helgi. Everything I do is ordained already, and it +matters not whither I turn the prow of my ship or what I plan. To +Orkney I go!" + +"Then run your thoughts still on this maiden?" + +"They have run, they are still running, and while I live I see not +what is to stop their course." + +"Remember, my brother, what stands between you," said Helgi, more +gravely. + +"I have not forgotten." + +"And yet you sail to Orkney?" + +"The gods have bidden me cross the seas," replied Estein, "and +they will steer my ship, whatever haven I choose." + +"Go, then," said Helgi, "and while that shrewd counsellor whom men +call Helgi Sigvaldson sails with you, at least you will not lack +sage advice." + +Estein laughed. + +"'Helgi hinn frode' [Footnote: The wise.] shall you be called +henceforth, and Vandrad I shall be no longer." + +They were silent for a time, and then Estein exclaimed,-- + +"We are well quit of that country of Jemtland! Saw you ever so +many trees and so few true men before?" + +"Yet was it not quite bare of good things," replied his friend. + +"What, mean you the woodman's wife?" + +"What else?" said Helgi, and then he fell silent again. + +They reached Hernersfiord towards nightfall, and as they crept up +the still, narrow waters darkness gathered fast. One by one, and +then in tens and hundreds and myriads, the stars came out and hung +like a gay awning between the pine-crowned walls. Ahead they saw +lights and a looming bank of land, and hails passed from ship to +shore and back again. Presently they were gently slipping by the +stone pier, where one or two men stood awaiting them. + +"What news?" asked Helgi. + +The men made no reply, but seemed to whisper among themselves, and +Helgi repeated his question. Just then a man came hurrying to the +end of the pier and shouted,-- + +"Is it then Estein returned?" + +"My father!" exclaimed Helgi. + +"What can bring the jarl here at this hour?" said Estein, +springing ashore. + +He met Earl Sigvald on the pier, and by the light of a lantern he +saw that the old man's face was grave and sad. + +"Steel your heart to hear ill tidings, King Estein," he said. + +The "King" smote upon Estein's ears like a knell, and he guessed +the earl's news before he heard it. + +"King Hakon joined his fathers three days past," said the earl. +"Welcome indeed is your return, for the law says that the dead +must not linger in the house more than five days, and it were ill +seeming to hold the funeral rites with his son away." + +Estein stood like a man struck dumb, and then muttering, "I will +join you again," he started quickly up the pier, and was shortly +lost to view in the darkness. + +"Dear was Estein to his father, and dear the old king to his son. +Deep and burning, I fear, will his sorrow be," said the earl. + +"Fain would I comfort him," replied Helgi. "But I know well +Estein's humours, and now he is best alone for a time." + +They walked slowly up to Hakonstad, the old earl leaning upon his +son's arm, and as they went Helgi told him the tale of the +Jemtland journey. In his interest the earl forgot even the present +gloom, and swore lustily or roared loudly and heartily as the +story went on. + +"May they lie in darkness for ever as dastards and traitors!" he +would cry, or "A shrewd scheme, by the hammer of Thor! An I were +fifty years younger I would have done the same myself, Helgi!" and +then again, "Trolls take me, if this be not enough to make a bear +laugh! What next, Helgi?" + +When his son had finished his relation of the visit to the old +seer, he seemed lost in thought. + +"Atli, Atli," he repeated. "Call you him Atli? I cannot remember +the name. A friend of Olaf Hakonson, said he? I knew of no such +friend. Yet it seems that he spoke indeed as one who had taken +counsel with the gods; and if his words acted, as you say, like +medicine on Estein, his name matters little. Yet it is passing +strange." + +When they reached Hakonstad, Helgi found that many chiefs had +already arrived to take part in the funeral rites and, more +particularly, in the feast with which they always ended. It was +not till almost all had gone to rest that Estein returned, and +then he went straight to his bed-chamber without exchanging more +than the barest greetings with those he found still talking low +over their ale around the fires. + +The next day was spent in preparations for the solemn ceremonies +of pyre and mound, and the great feast which should mark the +reigning of another king in Sogn. The young king himself went +about bravely, seeing to everything but speaking little. Helgi +watched him anxiously, for he feared greatly that this new sorrow +might cloud his mind afresh. In the evening he noticed him slip +from the hall by himself, and rising at once he followed him out +and came to his side as he paced slowly up the night-hushed +valley. + +"Is my company unwelcome?" he asked. + +"More welcome than my thoughts," said Estein, taking his arm. + +"Have the black thoughts returned?" + +"Do what I will, they are with me again," replied Estein. "My +father has died with Olaf unavenged, and now it is too late to +keep my sacred word to him that I would ever follow up the feud. +King Hakon already sits in Valhalla, and knows his son for a +dastard and a breaker of his oaths. While he lived I always told +myself that I would find some way even yet by which I might fulfil +my promise, but now it is too late. It is hard, Helgi, to lose at +once both a father and a father's regard." + +"King Hakon is with Odin," said Helgi, "and knows what he has +ordained. Odin has not told you to cross the seas for naught, and +doubtless King Hakon even now awaits the issue. Never did man do +much with a downcast mind; so first dismiss your thoughts, and +then for the Viking path again." + +"Helgi hinn frode," said Estein, pressing his arm, "you are indeed +a good counsellor. As soon as I can gather force enough we start." + +"And now for a horn of ale, and then to bed," responded Helgi, +cheerful as ever again. + +Ever since the first wild Northmen, pushing westwards to the sea, +had settled in the land of Sogn, its kings had been interred on a +certain barren islet hard by the mouth of Hernersfiord, and on the +morning of the fifth day after King Hakon's death they bore him +out to his last resting-place by the surge of the northern ocean. +His body, clad in full armour and decked in robes of state, was +laid upon a bier on the poop of the long ship that had last +carried him to battle. A picked crew of chiefs and highborn +vassals rowed him slowly down the fiord, while in their wake a +fleet of vessels followed. Estein, arrayed in the full panoply of +war, as though he were sailing to meet his foes, stood out alone +upon the poop like a graven figure, only the hand that held the +tiller ever moving. When they reached the little holm looking out +over the sea, they discovered the foundations of a mound already +prepared, and great heaps of earth beside them, ready to be built +upon the top. All the chiefs and greater men landed with a +sufficient number of spademen to assist them with the work, while +the others lay off in the ships and watched in silence. First, the +vessel in which the dead king lay was drawn up and laid upon the +mound; each chief who had taken an oar hung his shield in turn +upon the bulwarks; the sail, gay with coloured cloths, was +hoisted; the king's standard raised and set in the bows; and then +Estein lit a torch and held it to a heap of fagots underneath. As +the flames mounted higher and the smoke streamed out to sea the +chiefs cast gifts aboard--rings and bracelets of gold and silver, +sharp swords and inlaid axes--that the king in his far-off home +among the gods of the North might think kindly of his friends on +earth. One after another they wished his soul fair speed. Estein's +words were few and unsteady with emotion, and those who heard them +wondered at their meaning. + +"Fare thee well, my father! I will yet keep my promise to thee!" + +Loudest of all cried Earl Sigvald,-- + +"May Odin be as good a friend to thee as thou hast been to me! +Keep me a place beside thee, Hakon. All through life I have been +at thy side, in sunshine and frost, feast and battle-storm, and +soon I hope to follow thee home!" + +At last the flames died down and left but the blackened remnants +of the ship and the ashes of its royal captain. The ashes they +reverently gathered up and placed within a copper bowl, a lid they +made of twelve shield bosses, the gifts were gathered and placed +all round, and then the spademen heaped the mound above Hakon, +King of Sogn. + +With a quicker stroke and tongues unloosed the fleet returned to +Hakonstad. + +"A noble funeral, Ketill," said one chief to the black-bearded +Viking. + +"Ay," replied Ketill, "a burial worthy of King Estein, and a royal +feast we shall have to follow it." + +"Men say he means to set out on a Viking foray, and that before +many days are past," said the other. + +"They speak truth," answered Ketill. "Many a man will he give to +the wolves, and eager am I to sail with him. There never was a +bolder captain than Estein." + +For the next two days the talk was all of the voyage to the south. +Guests were coming in all the time for Estein's inheritance feast, +and many of them--warriors thirsting for adventure and +sea-roving--declared their intention of following his banner. A braver +force men said had never followed a king of Sogn to war. For three days +the feasting was to reign, and then, so soon as they were ready to +sail, the host should take the Viking path. + +The first night of the feast arrived. The hall was brightly lit +and gaily hung with tapestries and cloths, rich and many-coloured, +and men bravely dressed poured into their places all down the long +rows of benches. The young king sat in his father's high seat, the +highest-born and most honoured guests ranged beside him, and those +of humbler standing in the farther places. First, they drank to +the dead King Hakon, to his various great kinsmen in Valhalla, and +to each of the gods in turn. Then as horns emptied faster toast +after toast was called across the fires, and honoured with shouts +of "Skoal!" that reached far into the night outside. + +Estein, as was his usual custom, drank lightly, and often he would +find his thoughts wandering among the most incongruous +events--starlight nights in a far-off islet, tossings on distant +seas, and over and over again they would stray to that glimpse of +a maiden in the Jemtland forests. Helgi, in whose blue eyes there +danced a light that was never kindled by water, rallied him on his +absence of mind. + +"Drink deeper, Estein!" he cried. "Laugh, O king! Look, there sits +Ketill, the married man; methinks he looks thirsty. Ketill! drink +with me to your wife." + +"The trolls take my wife!" thundered Ketill, who, it may be +remembered, had espoused a wealthy widow. "That is only a toast +for single men!" + +When the shout of laughter that greeted this speech had subsided, +Helgi turned again to Estein, and exclaimed,-- + +"Then that is the toast for us, King Estein. I drink to your +bride!" + +"Who is she, Helgi?" cried his father jovially. "Name her. I would +that I might see another king married before I die. I saw your +mother married, Estein, and a fair maid she was. The girls must be +less fair now, or a gallant king will not stay single long." + +"I could name one fair maid," said Helgi, glancing at the king, +but in Estein's eye he saw a warning look. + +"I have sterner things to think of, jarl," said Estein. "Five days +from this I hope to be upon the sea." + +As he spoke, one of his hird-men came up to the high seat and +stopped close beside him. + +"What ho, Kari!" cried Helgi, "you are strangely sober." + +"I have a message for the king," replied the man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE END OF THE STORY. + + +"A boon! a boon!" exclaimed Helgi. "Kari seeks a boon. A wife, or +a farm, or a pair of pigskin trousers; which is it, Kari? Before +you win it you must sing us a stave. Strike up, man!" + +"No boon I seek," replied Kari. "A maiden stands without who seeks +King Estein, and will not come inside." + +"Aha!" laughed Helgi. "Blows the wind that way?" + +"What does she want?" asked Estein. + +"I know not; she would not tell." + +"Tell her to come in," said Earl Sigvald. "Do you think it is +fitting that the king should go out at every woman's pleasure?" + +"That is what I told her, but she said she would see the king +outside or go away." + +"Bid her come in or go away!" cried the earl. + +"Nay, rather ask her what her errand is about," said Estein. + +"And tell her," added Helgi as the bird-man turned away, "that +here sits the king's foster-brother, a most proper person at all +times to hear a maiden's tale, and now most persuasively charged +with ale." + +The man went down the hall again, and Earl Sigvald exclaimed +testily,-- + +"Some thrall's sweetheart doubtless, come to babble her +complaints." + +"Or perhaps the bride come to claim King Estein's hand," suggested +his son. In a minute Kari returned. + +"She will not tell her business," he said, "but begs earnestly to +see the king." + +"Bid her begone!" cried the earl. "The king is feasting with his +guests." + +"Did not her eyes sparkle and her trouble seem to leave her when +she heard the king's foster-brother was here?" asked Helgi. + +"I shall press his claims myself," said Estein, rising from his +seat. + +"Will you see her then?" asked the earl. + +"Why not?" replied Estein. "Perchance she brings tidings of +importance." + +"If you rise at every strange woman's bidding you will have many +suitors," said the earl. + +"That is the lot of a king," replied Estein, with a smile. + +The smile died quickly from his face as he walked down the hall, +and men noticed that he looked grave and preoccupied again. It was +not that his thoughts were running on this unusual summons; as he +passed through the dark vestibule he felt only a little curiosity, +and at the door he paused and looked out idly enough. + +It was a fine starlight night, and down below he could see the +glimmer of the sea, and across the fiord the black outline of the +hills, and nearer at hand he heard the sough of the night breeze +in the pines. Close outside, the tall, hooded figure of a woman +stood clearly outlined, while he himself was obscured in shadow. +At the second glance, something in the pose of his strange visitor +struck his memory sharply. She seemed at first afraid to speak, +and, with rising interest, he said courteously,-- + +"You wish to see me?" + +The girl seemed to start a little, and then she said in a low +voice,-- + +"Are you King Estein?" + +The words were almost lost in the hood that shrouded her head. +They died away to a low whisper; but ere they were gone Estein had +caught the slight flavour of a foreign accent, and for an instant +he was on the Holy Isle again. With a sharp effort he controlled +the sudden rush of emotion they called up, and even altered his +voice to a low, guarded pitch as he answered,-- + +"I am the king." The girl paused for a moment as if to collect her +thoughts, and then she said,-- + +"You had a brother, King Estein--Olaf Hakonson--" + +She stopped again, and seemed to look hesitatingly at him. + +"What of him?" said Estein. + +"He fell, alas, long since. Forgive me for calling him to mind +now, but he is in my story." + +"Well?" + +"Three men were at his death," said the girl, gaining confidence a +little. "Thord the Tall, Snaekol Gunnarson, and Thorfin of +Skapstead. Snaekol and Thorfin are dead long since--may God +forgive them! but Thord the Tall lived to repent of the burning." + +"It was an ill deed," said Estein. + +"He was a heathen man then, King Estein--but I forget, you know +not of Christians." + +"I have heard of them," said Estein, half to himself. + +"As the years drew on he became a Christian, and followed another +God and another creed, and left the world and Viking forays, and +came to a little island of the Orkneys with me, his only child. +For both my brothers fell in battle, King Estein, and now there +are none others left in the feud." + +"How do men call you?" said Estein, asking only that he might hear +her name again. + +"I am Osla, the daughter of Thord the Tall," she answered, drawing +herself up with a touch of half defiant pride. "He was the enemy +of your family, but a lender-man [Footnote: Nobleman.] of high +birth, and a good and noble man." + +"Ay?" + +"He lived in the island," she went on, "for many years, all alone +save for me." + +Estein could not keep himself from asking,-- + +"Alone all the time?" + +"All--save once indeed, when a Viking came by chance, but he left +shortly," and then she continued hastily: "My father thought often +of the burning. Many deeds he had done which he repented of there +in the solitude of the Holy Isle. Yet was he not worse than +others, only he became a Christian, and so they seemed ill deeds +to him." + +"Even this burning?" said Estein, a little dryly. + +"Think not so harshly of him!" she cried. "He was--he was my +father!" + +"I ask your pardon, Mistress Osla. Go on." + +"At length he fell sick, and in the last of the winter storms he +died." + +So far Estein had been listening most curiously, wondering much +what the upshot of it all would be, and keeping a severe restraint +on his tongue. But at Osla's last words he had nearly betrayed +himself. He was on the verge of crying out in his natural voice, +and when he did speak, it was like a man who is choking over +something. + +"Then Thord the Tall is dead?" + +"He died penitent, King Estein," said Osla. "And he left me a +writing--for he had taught me the art of reading on the island--and +with it much silver, or at least it seemed much to me. The +writing bade me seek King Hakon." + +"Knew he not then of my father's death?" + +"He was then alive," she answered; "for the writing further told +me what I knew not before, that I had an uncle still alive, or +rather whom my father thought was still alive, and first of all I +had to seek him. Else should I have come to Sogn in time to see +King Hakon." + +"What is this uncle's name?" + +"He is called Atli, now," she replied, "but--" + +"Atli, a brother of Thord the Tall!" + +"Know you him?" + +"I have seen him," he answered evasively. "Once he came here. But +how did you find him? He dwells in distant parts, so men say." + +"The writing gave me the direction of one who knew where he could +be found, and so I travelled to a far country--Jemtland it is, +many days from Sogn. Thus it was that when I came here King Hakon +had died." + +"And now you seek me?" + +"You are his son, and my errand deals with you, for the feuds +which were his are now yours," she answered. + +For a moment she paused, and seemed to Estein to look doubtfully +at him, as if half afraid to go on. Then she drew a bag from under +her cloak, held it out to him, and said simply, but not as one who +craved a boon or sought a favour,-- + +"This silver is the price of atonement for the death of Olaf--will +you take it?" + +He took the bag, weighed it in his hand, and answered slowly,-- + +"This is a small atonement for a brother's death." + +She gave a little start back, her pride stung to the quick, and he +heard her breath come fast. + +Suddenly he dropped the bag, stepped from under the shadow of the +door, and cried in his natural voice,-- + +"I must have you too, Osla!" + +She started this time indeed, and for an instant the shock of +surprise took thoughts and words away. + +"Vandrad!" she cried faintly, and then she was trembling in King +Estein's arms. + +"Nay," he said, "no longer Vandrad, but rather Estein the Lucky! +Forgive me, Osla, for deceiving you before; but then, in truth, +fate had treated me so ill that I cared not to have it known that +I was son to the King of Sogn." + +A little later he said,-- + +"So the feud is at an end, and I have found a queen." + +"A queen, Estein?" she whispered. + +"Ay, a queen, worthy of the proudest King of Sogn. And, Osla, do +you know I have seen you since we parted on the Holy Isle? Can you +call to mind a Jemtland village where you halted on your journey, +and a man whom the villagers pursued?" + +"And that--" she cried in astonishment. + +"Was Vandrad; and Atli--" + +"Is Kolskegg, foster-father of thy brother Olaf," said a voice +behind them, and looking quickly round the lovers saw the +venerable form of the seer standing within five paces of them. + +For a moment they were too surprised to speak, and the old man +went on with kindling enthusiasm,-- + +"Ay, Osla, I followed thee up from the ship, and awaited under the +shadow of Hakonstad itself the issue ordained by the gods. King +Estein, when thou wert with me I knew not who were the wizard and +the witch of the Orkneys. My dreams revealed them not. When Osla +came to me that night ye slept in the loft, I hid her coming from +thee, for I knew the race of Yngve forget not the injuries of +their kin. Nor when I knew all did I tell anything to Osla, for I +wished the fates to bring matters to an end as they willed." + +"But why did you tell me nothing of yourself?" asked Estein. + +"I have said the reason. Thy race have long and bitter memories, +and I knew full well that I could not serve thee hadst thou known. +Ay, King Estein, long have I wished to come into atonement with +thee, but my brother's rash deed--done to avenge what he thought +my injuries--brought the blood feud on me. I was banished for mine +own fault, thenceforth Thord exiled me for his." + +Then raising his voice till it rang through the night, he cried,-- + +"But now, King Estein, the ship has crossed the seas!" + +There was a minute's silence after he had finished, and then the +king took Osla by the hand and drew her towards the door, saying,-- + +"I wish them to see my queen to-night." + +"Let me come to-morrow," she whispered. + +"Go in, Osla," said her uncle, "I bid thee," and so she went in +with Estein to the hall. + +As he led her up to the high seat, dead silence fell on the +guests, and all men gazed in growing wonder. Opposite Earl Sigvald +he stopped, and throwing back her hood, cried,-- + +"You will live to see me married yet, jarl. My southern voyage +shall be changed into my wedding feast. Behold Osla, Queen of +Sogn!" + +Before his father had time to reply, Helgi sprang from his seat +with a shout, and saluting Osla on the cheek, exclaimed,-- + +"First of all King Estein's friends I wish you joy! Do you +remember the sheep-skin coat? I have not forgotten the maiden. +Skoal to Queen Osla!" + +Instantly the shout was taken up till the smoky rafters rang and +rang again; and so the feud ended, though the spell, they say, was +never broken. + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vandrad the Viking, by J. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Vandrad the Viking + The Feud and the Spell + +Author: J. Storer Clouston + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5120] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 4, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK VANDRAD THE VIKING *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + + +VANDRAD THE VIKING + +or + +The Feud and the Spell + +by + +J. STORER CLOUSTON + + + +WITH SIX ILLUSTRATIONS BY HUBERT PATON + + + + + +CONTENTS. + +I. THE WEST SEA SAILING + +II. THE BAIRN-SLAYERS + +III. THE HOLY ISLE + +IV. THE ISLAND SPELL + +V. ANDREAS THE HERMIT + +VI. THE HALL OF LIOT + +VII. THE VERDICT OF THE SWORD + +VIII. IN THE CELL BY THE ROOST + +IX. THE MESSAGE OF THE RUNES + +X. KING BUE'S FEAST + +XI. THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST + +XII. THE MAGICIAN + +XIII. ARROW AND SHIELD + +XIV. THE MIDNIGHT GUEST + +XV. THE LAST OF THE LAWMAN + +XVI. KING ESTEIN + +XVII. THE END OF THE STORY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE WEST SEA SAILING. + + +Long after King Estein had joined his fathers on the little holm +beyond Hernersfiord, and Helgi, Earl of Askland, had become but a +warlike memory, the skalds of Sogn still sang this tale of Vandrad +the Viking. It contained much wonderful magic, and some +astonishingly hard strokes, as they told it; but reading between +their lines, the magic bears a strong resemblance to many spells +cast even at this day, and as for the sword strokes, there was +need for them to be hard in Norway then. For that was the age of +the making of many kingdoms, and the North was beginning to do its +share. + +One May morning, more than a thousand years ago, so the story +runs, an old man came slowly along a woodland track that uncoiled +itself from the mountain passes and snow-crowned inlands of +Norway. Presently the trees grew thinner, and grass and wild +flowers spread on either hand, and at last, just where the path +dipped down to the water-side at Hernersfiord, the traveller +stopped. For a while he remained there in the morning sunshine, +watching the scene below, and now and then speaking out his +thoughts absently in the rapt manner of a visionary. + +Though his clothes were old and weather-stained, and bare of any +ornament, his face and bearing were such as strike the mind at +once and stay in the memory. He was tall and powerfully framed, +and bore his years and the white volume of his beard in an +altogether stately fashion; but his eyes were most indelible, pale +blue and singularly cold in repose, very bright and keen and +searching when his face was animated. + +They saw much to stir them that morning. On the slope above +Hernersfiord stood the royal hall of Hakonstad, the seat of the +kings of Sogn; and all about the house, and right down to the +water's edge, there was a great bustle and movement of men. From +the upland valley at the fiord head, warriors trooped down to the +ships that lay by the long stone pier. The morning sun glanced on +their helmets and coats of mail, and in the still air the clash of +preparation rang far up the pine-clad hillside. He could see some +bringing weapons and provisions down to the shore, and others +busily lading the ships. Women mingled in the crowd, and every +here and there a gay cloak and gilded helm marked a leader of +rank. + +"Ay, the season has come for Vikings to put to sea again," he +said. "Brave and gay are the warriors of Sogn, and lightly they +leave. When a man is young, all roads are pleasant, and all lead +home again. Many have I seen set sail these last sixty years, and +their sailing led them--where?" + +And then again, as the stir increased, and he could see the men +beginning to troop on board the long ships,-- + +"This voyage shall be as the falling of snowflakes into the sea; +but what man can escape his fate?" + +Meanwhile a party of men had just left the woods, and were coming +down the path to the fiord, ten or twelve in all, headed by an +exceedingly broad, black-bearded man, clad in a leather coat +closely covered all over with steel scales, and bearing on his +shoulder a ponderous halberd. + +The path was very narrow at that point, and he of the black beard +called out gruffly,-- + +"Make way, old man! Give room to pass." + +Roused abruptly from his reverie, the dreamer turned quietly, but +made no movement to the side. The party by this time were so close +that they had perforce to halt, with some clash of armour, and +again their captain cried,-- + +"Are you deaf? Make way!" + +Yet there was something daunting in the other's pale eye, and +though the Viking moved the halberd uneasily on his shoulder, his +own glance shifted. With the slightest intonation of contempt, the +traveller asked,-- + +"Who bids me make way?" + +The black-bearded man looked at him with an air of some +astonishment, and then answered shortly,-- + +"They call me Ketill; but what is that to you?" + +Without heeding the other's gruffness, the old man asked,-- + +"Does King Hakon sail from Hernersfiord to-day?" + +"King Hakon has not sailed for many a day. His son leads this +force." + +"Ay, I had forgotten, we are both old men now. Then Estein sails +to-day?" + +"Ay, and I sail with him. My ship awaits me, so make way, old +man," replied Ketill. + +"Whither do ye sail?" + +"To the west seas. I have no time for talking more. Do you hear?" + +"Go on then," replied the old man, stepping to one side; +"something tells me that Estein will have need of all his men +before this voyage is over." + +Without stopping for further words, the black-bearded captain and +his men pushed past and continued their way to the fiord, while +the old man slowly followed them. + +As he went down the hillside he talked again aloud to himself:-- + +"Ay, this then is the meaning of my warning dreams--danger in the +south lands, danger on the seas. Little heed will Estein Hakonson +pay to the words of an old man, yet I am fain to see the youth +again, and what the gods reveal to me I must speak." + +Down below, near the foot of the path that led from the pier up to +the hall of Hakonstad, a cluster of chiefs stood talking. In the +midst of them, Hakon, King of Sogn, one of the independent +kinglings who reigned in the then chaotic Norway, watched the +departure of his son. + +He was a venerable figure, conspicuous by his long, wintry locks +and embroidered cloak of blue, straight as a spear-shaft, but +grown too old for warfare. His hand rested on the shoulder of Earl +Sigvald of Askland, a bluff old warrior, long the king's most +faithful counsellor and companion in arms. Before them stood his +son Estein, a tall, auburn-haired, bright-eyed young man, gaily +dressed, after the fashion of the times, in red kirtle and cloak, +and armed as yet only with a gilded helmet, surmounted with a pair +of hawk's wings, and a sword girt to his side. His face, though +regular and handsome, would have been rather too grave and +reserved but for the keenness of his eyes, and a very pleasant +smile which at times lit up his features when he spoke. + +After they had talked for a while, he glanced round him, and saw +that the bustle was subsiding, and most of the men had gone +aboard. + +"All is ready now," he said. + +"Ay," replied Thorkel Sigurdson, one of his ship captains, "they +wait but for us." + +"Farewell then, Estein!" cried the earl. "Thor speed you, and send +you worthy foemen!" + +"My son, I can ill spare you," said the king. "But it becomes a +king's son to see the world, and prove his valour in distant +lands. Warfare in the Baltic seas is but a pastime for common +Vikings. England and Valland, [Footnote: France] the countries of +the black man and the flat lands of the rivers, lie before you. +There Estein Hakonson must feed the wolves." + +"And yet, Estein," he added in a lower tone, as he embraced him, +"I would that Yule were here again and you with it. I am growing +old, and my dreams last night were sorrow-laden." + +"Farewell, son of Hakon!" shouted a loud-mouthed chieftain. "I +would that I too were sailing to the southern lands. Spare not, +Estein; fire and sword in England, sword and fire in Valland!" + +The group had broken up, and Estein was about to go on board when +he heard himself hailed by name. He looked round, and saw the same +old man who had accosted Ketill coming down the pier after him. + +"Hail, Estein Hakonson!" he cried; "I have come far to see thee." + +"Hail, old man!" replied Estein courteously; "what errand brings +you here?" + +"You know me not?" said the old man, looking at him keenly. + +"Nay, I cannot call your face to mind." + +"My name is Atli, and if my features are strange to thee, much +stranger must my name be." + +He took Estein's hand, looked closely into his eyes for a minute, +and then said solemnly,-- + +"Estein Hakonson, this voyage will have an ending other than ye +deem. Troubles I see before ye--fishes feeding on warriors, and +winds that blow as they list, and not as ye." + +"That is likely enough," replied Estein. "We are not sailing on a +trading voyage, and in the west seas the winds often blow high. +But what luck shall I have?" + +"Strange luck, Estein, I see before thee. Thou shalt be warned and +heed not. More shall be left undone than shall be done. There +shall come a change in thee that I cannot fathom. Many that set +out shall not return, but thine own fate is dim to me." + +A young man of barely twenty, very gaily dressed and martial- +looking, had come up to them while they were talking. He had a +reckless, merry look on his handsome face, and bore himself as +though he was aware of his personal attractions. + +"And what is my fate, old man?" he asked, more as if he were in +jest than in earnest. "Shall I feed the fishes, or make this +strange change with Estein into a troll, [Footnote: A kind of +goblin] or werewolf, or whatsoever form he is to take?" + +"Thy fate is naught to me, Helgi Sigvaldson," replied the seer; +"yet I think thou wilt never be far from Estein." + +"That was easily answered," said Helgi with a laugh. "And I can +read my fate yet further. When I part from my foster-brother +Estein, then shall a man go to Valhalla. What say you to that?" + +Atli's face darkened. + +"Darest thou mock me?" he cried. + +"Not so," interposed Estein. "' Bare is back without brother +behind it,' and Helgi means that death only can part us. Farewell, +Atli! If your prophecy comes true, and I return alive, you may +choose what gift you please from among my spoils." + +"Little spoil there will be, Estein!" answered the old man, as the +foster-brothers turned from him down the pier. + +The last man sprang on board, the oars dipped in the still water, +and as the little fleet moved slowly down the fiord the crowd on +shore gradually dispersed. + +Out at sea, beyond the high headlands that guarded Hernersfiord, a +fresh breeze was blowing briskly from the north-east, and past the +rocky islets of the coast white caps gleamed in the sunshine. As +the ships drew clear of the fiord, and the boom of the outer sea +breaking on the skerries rose louder and nearer, sails were spread +and oars shipped. Slowly at first, and then more quickly as they +caught the deep-sea wind, the vessels cut the open water. Past the +islands they heeled to the breeze, and over a wake of foam the men +watched the mountains of Norway sink slowly into the wilderness of +waters. + +On the decked poop of an open boat, sailing over an ocean unknown +to him, towards countries of whose whereabouts he was only vaguely +informed, Estein Hakonson stood lost in stirring fancies. He was +the only surviving son of the King of Sogn. Three brothers had +fallen in battle, one had perished at sea, and another, the +eldest, had died beneath a burning roof-tree. His education had +been conducted according to the only standard known in +Scandinavia. At fourteen he had slain his first man in fair fight; +at seventeen he was a Viking captain on the Baltic; and now, at +two-and-twenty--old far beyond his years and hardened in varied +experience--he was setting forth on the Viking path that led to +the wonderful countries of the south. + +The tide of Norse energy was not yet at the full, the fury and the +terror were waxing fast, and the fever of unrest was ever +spreading through the North. Men were always coming back with +tales of monasteries filled with untold wealth, and rich provinces +to be won by the sword. Skalds sang of the deeds done in the +south, and shiploads of spoil confirmed their lays. Little wonder +then that Estein should feel his heart beat high as he stood by +the great tiller. + +That night, long after the sun was set, he still sat on deck +watching the stars. By-and-by his foster-brother Helgi came up to +him, wrapped in a long sea cloak, and humming softly to himself. + +"The night is fair, Estein. If Thor is kind, and this wind speeds +us, we shall soon reach England." + +"Ay, if the gods are with us," answered Estein. "I am trying to +read the stars. Methinks they are unfavourable." + +Helgi laughed. "What know you of the stars?" he said, "and what +does Estein Hakonson want with white magic? Will it make his life +one day longer? Will it make mine, if I too read the stars?" + +"Not one day, Helgi, not one instant of time. We are in the hands +of the gods. This serves but to while away a long night." + +"Norsemen should not read the stars," said Helgi. "These things +are for Finns and Lapps, and the poor peoples who fear us." + +"I wished to know what Odin thought of Helgi Sigvaldson," said +Estein with a smile. + +Helgi laughed lightly as he answered,-- + +"I know what Odin thinks of you, Estein--a foolish man and fey." + +Estein stepped forward a pace, and leaning over the side gazed for +a while into the darkness. Helgi too was silent, but his blue eyes +danced and his heart beat high as his thoughts flew ahead of the +ship to the clash of arms and the shout of victory. + +"There remains but me," said Estein at length. "Hakon has no other +son." + +"And you have five brothers to avenge; the sword should not rust +long in your scabbard, Estein." + +"Twice I have made the Danes pay a dear atonement for Eric. I +cannot punish Thor because he suffered Harald to drown, but if +ever in my life it be my fate to meet Thord the Tall, Snaekol +Gunnarson, or Thorfin of Skapstead, there shall be but one man +left to tell of our meeting." + +"The burners of Olaf have long gone out of Norway, have they not?" + +"I was but a child when my brother was burned like a fox in his +hole at Laxafiord. The burners knew my father too well to bide at +home and welcome him; and since then no man has told aught of +them, save that Thord the Tall at one time raided much in England, +and boasted widely of the burning. He perchance forgot that Hakon +had other sons. + +"But now, Helgi, we must sleep while we may; nights may come when +we shall want it." + +For six days and six nights they sailed with a favouring wind over +an empty ocean. On the seventh day land was sighted on the +starboard bow. + +"Can that be England?" asked old Ulf, Estein's forecastle man, a +hairy, hugely muscular Viking from the far northern fiords. + +"The coast of Scotland more likely," said Helgi. "Shall we try our +luck, Estein?" + +"I should like to spill a little Scottish blood, and mayhap carry +off a maid or two," said Thorolf Hauskoldson, a young giant from +the upland dales. + +"It may be but a waste of time," Estein replied. "We had best make +for England while this wind holds." + +"I like not the look of the sky," said Ulf, gazing round him with +a frowning brow. + +The wind had been dropping off for some time, and along the +eastern horizon the settled sky was giving place to heavy clouds. +For a short time Estein hesitated, but as the outlook grew more +threatening and the wind beat in flaws and gusts, now from one +quarter, now from another, the Vikings changed their course and +ran under oars and sails for the shelter of the land. Little +shelter it promised as they drew nearer: a dark, inhospitable line +of precipices stretched north and south as far as the eye could +reach, and even from a long distance they could see white flashes +breaking at the cliff foot. Again they changed their course; and +then, with a dull hum of approaching rain, a south-easterly storm +broke over them, and there was nothing for it but to turn and run +before the gale. + +"I read the stars too well," said Estein grimly between his teeth, +clinging to the straining tiller, and watching the rollers rising +higher. "And the first part of Atli's prophecy has come true." + +"Winds, war, and women make a Viking's luck," replied Helgi; "this +is but the first part of the rede." + +At night the gale increased, the fleet was scattered over the +North Sea, and next morning from Estein's ship only two other +black hulls could be seen running before the tempest. Another wild +day passed, and it was not till the evening that the weather +moderated. Little by little the great seas began to calm, and the +drifts of stinging rain ceased. In their wake the stars struggled +through the cloud wrack, and towards morning the wind sank +altogether. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE BAIRN-SLAYERS. + + +At earliest dawn eyes were strained to catch a glimpse of +something that might tell them where they were. None of the men on +Estein's ship had been in those seas more than two or three times +at most, and the vaguest conjectures were rife when, as the light +was slowly gaining, Ulf raised a cry of land ahead. + +"Land to the right!" cried Helgi, a moment later. + +"Land to the left!" exclaimed Estein; "and we are close on it, +methinks." + +When the morning fully broke they found themselves lying off a +wide-mouthed sound, that bent and narrowed among low, lonely- +looking islands. Only on the more distant land to the right were +heather hills of any height to be seen, and those, so far as they +could judge, were uninhabited. A heavy swell was running in from +the open sea, and a canopy of grey clouds hung over all. + +"I like not this country," said Ulf. "What think you is it?" + +"The Hjaltland islands, I should think, from what men tell of +them," Estein suggested. + +"The Orkneys more likely," said Thorolf, who had sailed in those +seas before. + +Far astern one other vessel was making towards them. + +"Which ship is that, Ulf?" asked Estein. "One of our fleet, think +you?" + +"Ay, it is Thorkel Sigurdson's," replied the shaggy forecastle +man, after a long, frowning look. + +"By the hammer of Thor, she seems in haste," said Helgi. "They +must have broached the ale over-night." + +"Perchance Thorkel feels cold," suggested Thorolf with a laugh. + +"They have taken the shields from the sides," Estein exclaimed as +the ship drew nearer. "Can there be an enemy, think you?" + +Again Ulf's hairy face gathered into a heavy frown. "No man can say +I fear a foeman," he said, "but I should like ill to fight after +two sleepless nights." + +"Bah! Thorkel is drunk as usual, and thinks we are chapmen," +[Footnote: Merchants.] said Helgi. "They are doubtless making +ready to board us." + +The ship drew so near that they could plainly see the men on +board, and conspicuous among them the tall form of Thorkel +appeared in the bow. + +"He waves to us; there is something behind this," said Estein. + +"Drunk," muttered Helgi. "I wager my gold-handled sword he is +drunk. They have ale enough on board to float the ship." + +"A sail!" Estein exclaimed, pointing to a promontory to seaward +round which the low black hull and coloured sail of a warship were +just appearing. + +"Ay, and another!" said Ulf. + +"Three-four-seven-eight!" Helgi cried. + +"There come nine, and ten!" added Estein. "How many more?" + +They watched the strange fleet in silence as one by one they +turned and bore down upon them, ten ships in all, their oars +rhythmically churning the sea, the strange monsters on the prows +creeping gradually nearer. + +"Orkney Vikings," muttered Ulf. "If I know one long ship from +another, they are Orkney Vikings." + +Meantime Thorkel's ship had drawn close alongside, and its captain +hailed Estein. + +"There is little time for talking now, son of Hakon!" he shouted. +"What think you we should do?--run into the islands, or go to Odin +where we are? These men, methinks, will show us little mercy." + +"I seek mercy from no man," answered Estein. "We will bide where +we are. We could not escape them if we would, and I would not if I +could. Have you seen aught of the other ships?" + +"We parted from Ketill yesterday, and I fear me he has gone to +feed the fishes. I have seen nothing of Asgrim and the rest. I +think with you, Estein, that the bottom here will make as soft a +resting-place for us as elsewhere. Fill the beakers and serve the +men! It is ill that a man should die thirsty." + +The stout sea-rover turned with a gleam of grim humour in his eyes +to the enjoyment of what he fully expected would be his last drink +on earth, and on both ships men buckled on their armour and +bestirred themselves for fight. + +Vikings in those days preyed on one another as freely as on men of +alien blood. They came out to fight, and better sport could +generally be had from a crew of seasoned warriors like themselves +than from the softer peoples of the south. Particularly were the +Orkney and Shetland islands the stations for the freest of free +lances, men so hostile to all semblance of law and order that the +son of a Norwegian king would seem in their eyes a most desirable +quarry. Many a load of hard-won spoil changed hands on its way +home; and the shores of Norway itself were so harried by these +island Vikings that some time later King Harald Harfagri descended +and made a clean sweep of them in the interests of what he +probably considered society. + +The two vessels floated close together, the oars were shipped, and +there, in the grey prosaic early morning light, they heaved gently +on the North Sea swell, and awaited the approach of the ten. A few +sea-birds circled and screamed above them; a faint pillar of smoke +rose from some homestead on a distant shore; elsewhere there was +no sign of life save in the ships to seaward. + +Thorkel, leaning over the side of his vessel, told a tale of +buffetings by night and day such as Estein and his crew had +undergone. That morning he said they had descried Estein's ship +just as the day broke, and almost immediately afterwards ten long +ships were spied lying at anchor in an island bay. For a time they +hoped to slip by them unseen. The fates, however, were against +them. They were observed, and the strange Vikings awoke and gave +chase like a swarm of bees incautiously aroused. + +Apparently the strangers considered themselves hardly yet prepared +for battle; for they slackened speed as they advanced, and those +on Estein's ships could see that a hasty bustle of preparation was +going on. + +"What think you--friends or foes?" asked Helgi. + +"To the Orkney Vikings all men are foes," replied Estein. + +"Ay," said Thorkel with a laugh, "particularly when they are but +two to ten." + +By this time the strangers were within hailing distance, and in +the leading ship a man in a red cloak came from the poop and stood +before the others in the bow. In a loud tone he bade his men cease +rowing, and then, clapping his hand to his mouth, asked in a voice +that had a ring of scornful command what name the captain bore. + +"Estein, the son of Hakon, King of Sogn; and who are you who ask +my name?" came the reply across the water. + +"Liot, the son of Skuli," answered the man in the red cloak. "With +me sails Osmund Hooknose, the son of Hallward. We have here ten +warships, as you see. Yield to us, Estein Hakonson, or we will +take by force what you will not give us." + +The man threw his left hand on his hip, drew himself up, and said +something to his crew, accompanying the words by gestures with a +spear. They answered with a loud shout, and then struck up a wild +and monotonous chorus, the words of which were a refrain +descriptive of the usual fate of those who ventured to stand in +Liot Skulison's way. At the same time their oars churned the +water, and their vessel was brought into line with the others. + +"It is easily seen that our friend Liot is a valiant man," said +Helgi with a short laugh. "He and his ill-looking crew make a +mighty noise. Has any man heard of Liot Skulison or Osmund +Hooknose before?" + +"Ay," answered Ulf. "They call them the bairn-slayers, because +they show no mercy even to children." + +"They will meet with other than bairns to-day," said Helgi. + +Estein and Thorkel had been employed in binding the two vessels +together with grapnels. Then Estein turned to his men and said,-- + +"We are of one mind, are we not? We fight while we may, and then +let Odin do with us what he wills." + +Without waiting for the shout of approval that followed his words, +he sprang to the bow, and raising his voice, cried,-- + +"We are ready for you, Liot and Osmund. When you get on board you +can take what you find here." + +From another ship a man shouted,-- + +"Then you will fight, little Estein? Remember that we are called +the bairn-slayers." + +Instantly Thorkel took up the challenge. Three beakers of ale had +made him in his happiest and most warlike mood, and his eyes +gleamed almost merrily as he answered,-- + +"I know you, Osmund the ugly, by that nose whereon men say you +hang the bairns you catch. Little need have you to do aught save +look at them. Here is a gift for you," and with that he hurled a +spear with so true an aim that, if Osmund had not stooped like a +flash, his share in the fight would have come to an end there and +then. As it was, the missile struck another man between the +shoulders and laid him on the deck. + +"Forward! forward!" cried Liot. "Forward, Vikings! forward, the +men of Liot and Osmund!" + +The oars struck the water, the wild chorus swelled into a terrible +and tuneless roar, and the ten ships bore down on the two. With a +crash the bows met, and metal rang on metal with the noise of a +hundred smithies; the unequal contest had begun. + +Overpowering as such odds could hardly fail to prove in the long +run, they told more slowly in a sea-fight. Till the men who manned +the bulwarks were thinned, the sides were practically equal, and +at first many of the Orkney Vikings were perforce mere spectators. + +Gradually, as the men in front were thinned, they poured in from +the other ships, fresh men always being pitted against tired, and +keen swords meeting hacked. + +Liot laid his own ship alongside Estein's, Osmund attacked +Thorkel's, and the other vessels forced their bows forward +wherever they saw an opening. The Norwegians manned their bulwarks +shield to shield, and fought with the courage of despair. Twice +Liot, backed by his boldest men, tried by a headlong rush to force +himself on board, and twice he was beaten back. A third time he +charged, and selecting a place where the defenders seemed +thinnest, struck down a couple of men with two swinging blows of +his axe, and sprang on to the deck. Three or four men had already +followed him, a cry of victory rose from the Orkney Vikings, and +for a moment the fate of the battle seemed decided, when a huge +stone hurtled through the air, and falling on Liot's shield forced +it down on his helmet and him to his knees. It was the work of +Ulf, captain of the forecastle; and roaring like a bull, the old +Viking followed his stone. Estein sprang from the poop and clove +one man to the shoulders. Another fell to Ulf's sword. The half- +stunned Liot was seized by one of his followers, and bundled back +on board his ship; and for the time the day was saved. + +"After them! after them, Ulf!" shouted Estein, and twenty bold +Norwegians followed their leader in the wake of Liot's retreating +boarding party. Their foes gave way right and left, the gangways +round the sides were cleared, and, despite the threats of Liot, +his men began to spring from forecastle and quarter-deck into the +ships behind. + +"Forward, king's men! forward, men of Estein!" roared Ulf. + +"Wait for me, Liot!" cried Estein, charging the poop with his red +shield before him." A bairn is after thee!" + +Helgi, who had kept at his shoulder throughout, seized his arm. + +"They are giving way on Thorkel's ship. Osmund is on board. If we +return not, the ship is cleared." + +With a gesture of despair Estein turned. + +"Back, men, back! Thorkel needs all his friends, I fear," he +cried; and to Helgi he said, "The day is lost. We can but sell our +lives dearly now." + +They came back too late. Already Thorkel's men were pouring on +board Estein's ship, with Osmund of the Hooknose at their heels. +Thorkel himself lay stark across the bulwarks, his face to his +foes, and a great spear-head standing out of his back. + +It was now but a question of time. With a single ship, surrounded +on all sides, and weary with storm and battle, there could be only +one fate for Estein's diminished band. Nevertheless, they stood +their ground as stoutly and cheerfully as if the fray were just +beginning. Finding that all efforts to board were useless, the +Orkney Vikings confined themselves for some time to keeping up an +incessant fire of darts and stones. One by one the defenders +dropped at their posts, and at last, when widening gaps appeared +in the line of shields, Liot and Osmund boarded together, each +from his own side. + +"Back to the poop, Helgi!" Estein cried. "To the poop, men! we +cannot hold the gangways. One tired man cannot fight with five +fresh." + +Last of all his men, he stepped from the gangway that ran round +the low and open waist of the ship, up to the decked poop, his red +shield stuck with darts like a pincushion with pins. + +In the forecastle, old Ulf still held his own, backed by some +half-dozen stout survivors out of all those who had gone into +battle with him in the morning. + +"My hour is come at last, Thorolf," he said to the upland giant, +who seemed to be disengaging something from his coat of ring-mail. +"I shall have tales of a merry fight to tell to Odin tonight. But +before I fall I shall slay me one of those two Vikings. Wilt thou +follow me, Thorolf, to the gangways, and then to Valhalla?" + +With a violent wrench the giant drew a spearhead from his side, +and his blood spurted over Ulf, as he swayed on his feet. + +"I go before," he said, and fell on the deck with a clatter of +steel. + +"There died a brave man! Now, comrades, after him to Odin!" + +And with that the forecastle captain sprang down on the gangway, +and knocking men off into the waist in his impetuous rush, swung +his battle-axe round his head and aimed a terrific blow at Osmund +Hooknose. Quick as lightning Osmund raised his shield and thrust +at his foe with his sword. The point of the blade passed in at his +breast and out between his shoulders, and at the same instant the +battle-axe fell. The edge of the shield was cut through like +paper, and the blade coming fair on the nape of the Hooknose's +neck, the bodies of the two champions rolled together off the +gangway. + +Round the poop the last struggle raged. Spent and wounded as they +were, Estein's little band showed a bold front to their foes, and +around the red shield of their leader their lives were dearly +sold. + +Then for a few minutes came a lull in the fight, and men could +breathe for a space. + +"The next onset will be the last," said Estein grimly. + +"Their ships are sheering off!" exclaimed one. + +"'Tis we who are leaving them," said another. + +"Look ahead!" cried Helgi; "we shall cheat them yet." + +The men looked round them with astonished faces, for a strange +thing had happened. They had drifted into one of the dreaded +Orkney tideways, and all the time the fight was raging they were +being borne at increasing speed past islands, holms, and skerries. +The scene had completely changed; they were in a narrower sound, +swinging like sea-fowl, helpless on the tide. Heather hills were +close at hand, and right ahead was a great frothing and bubbling, +out of which rose the black heads of sunken rocks. + +The other vessels had been twisted off by the whirling eddies, and +were now rapidly scattering, each striving to clear the reef. Only +the four vessels bound together--Estein's, Thorkel's, Liot's, +Osmund's--swept in an unresisting cluster towards the rocks. + +Liot too saw the danger, and raised his voice in a great shout:-- + +"Let not man of mine touch an oar till Estein Hakonson lie dead on +yonder deck. We have yet time to slay them. Forward, Liot's men!" + +There was a wild and furious rush of men towards the poop. Down +went man after man of the battle-worn defenders. Liot and Estein +met sword to sword and face to face. The red shield was ripped +from top to bottom by a sweep of the bairn-slayer's blade, and at +the same moment Estein's descending sword was met by a Viking's +battle-axe, and snapped at the hilt. + +"Now, Estein, I have thee!" shouted his foe; but ere the words +were well out of his mouth, Estein had hurled himself at his +waist, dagger in hand, and brought him headlong to the deck. As +they fell, the ships struck with a mighty crash that threw friend +and foe alike on the bloody planks. Two vessels stuck fast; the +other two broke loose, and plunging over the first line of reefs, +settled down by the bows. + +There was a rush to the bulwarks, a splashing of bodies in the +water, and then the doomed and deserted ships, the attacker and +the attacked, sank in the turmoil of the tide. Estein himself had +been pitched clear of his foe into the waist, where he had fallen +head first and half-stunned. + +He felt a friendly hand dragging him to the side, and heard +Helgi's voice saying,-- + +"Art thou able to swim for it?" + +Then he had a confused recollection of being swept along by an +irresistible current, clinging the while to what he afterwards +found to be a friendly plank, and after that came oblivion. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE HOLY ISLE. + + +With the first glimmer of consciousness, Estein became aware of an +aching head and a bruised body. Next he felt that he was very wet +and cold; and then he discovered that he was not alone. His head +rested on something soft, and two hands chafed his temples. + +"Helgi," he said. + +A voice that was not Helgi's replied, "Thanks be to the saints! he +is alive." + +Estein started up, and his gaze met a pair of dark blue eyes. They +and the hands belonged to a fair young girl, a maid of some +seventeen summers, on whose knees his aching head had just been +resting. + +They were sitting on a shelving rock that jutted into the tideway, +and at his feet his kindly plank bumped gently in an eddy of the +current. + +He looked at her so silently and intently that the blue eyes +drooped and a faint blush rose to the maiden's cheeks. + +"Are you wounded?" she asked. She spoke in the Norse tongue, but +with a pretty, foreign accent, and she looked so fair and so kind +that thoughts of sirens and mermaids passed through the Viking's +mind. + +"Wounded? Well, methinks I ought to be," he answered; "and yet I +feel rather bruised than pierced. If I can stand--" and as he +spoke he rose to his feet, and slipping on the seaweed, slid +quietly into the water. + +The girl screamed; and then, as he scrambled out none the worse +and only a little the wetter, an irresistible inclination to laugh +overcame her. Forgetful of his head, he laughed with her. + +"Forgive me," she said; "I could not help laughing, though, to be +sure, you seem in no laughing plight. I thought at first that you +were drowned." + +"'Tis your doing, I think, that I am not. Did you find me in the +water?" + +"Half in and half out; and it took much pulling to get you wholly +out." + +Estein impulsively drew a massive gold ring off his finger, and in +the gift-giving spirit of the times handed it to his preserver. + +"I know not your name, fair maiden," he said, "but this I know, +that you have saved my life. Will you accept this Viking's gift +from me? It is all that the sea has left me." + +"Nay, keep such gifts for those who deserve them. It would have +been an unchristian act to let you drown." + +"You use a word that is strange to me; but I would that you might +take this ring." + +"No, no!" she cried decidedly; "it will be time enough to talk of +gifts when I have earned them. Not," she added, a little proudly, +"that it is my wish to earn gifts. But you are wet and wounded; +come where I can give you shelter, poor though it be." + +"Any shelter will seem good to me. Yet, ere I go, I would fain +learn something of my comrades' fate." + +He scanned the sound narrowly, and in all its long stretch there +was not a sign of friend or foe. About a mile back the fatal reef, +bared by the ebbing tide, showed its line of black heads high out +of the water, but of ships there was no vestige to be seen. It was +long past mid-day by the sun, and he knew that he must have been +unconscious for some hours. In that time, such of the Vikings as +had escaped the rocks had evidently sailed away, leaving only the +dead in the sound. + +"They are gone," he said, turning away, "friends and foes--gone, +or drowned, as I should have been, fair maid, but for you." + +They scrambled together up the rocks, and then struck a winding +sheep-path that led them over the shoulder of a heath-clad hill. + +At first they walked in silence, the girl in front, going at a +great speed up the narrow track; and Estein watched the wind blow +her fair hair about her neck in a waving tangle, and he saw that +she was tall and slender. By-and-by, when they had crossed the +hill and reached a less broken tract of ground, he came up to her +side. + +"How did you come to be down where you found me?" he asked. + +"I was on the hill," she answered, "when I saw ships in the sound +rowing hard to escape the current, and then I saw that some had +been wrecked. Wreckage was floating by, and I espied, for my eyes +are good, a man clinging to a plank; and presently he drifted upon +a rock, and I thought that perhaps I might save a life. So I went +down to the shore--and you yourself know the rest." + +"I know, indeed, that I have to thank you for my life, such as it +is. And I know further that every girl would not have been so +kind." + +She smiled, and her smile was one of those that illuminate a face. + +"Thank rather the tide, which so kindly brought you ashore, for I +had done little if you had been in the middle of the sound. But +you have not yet told me how you came to be wrecked." + +Estein told her of the storm at sea and the fight with the +Vikings; how they had fallen man by man, and how he too would have +been numbered amongst the dead but for the tideway and the rocks. + +As she listened, her eyes betrayed her interest in the tale, and +when he had finished, she said,-- + +"I have heard of Liot and Osmund. They are the most pitiless of +all the robbers in these seas. Give thanks that you escaped them." + +He asked her name, and she told him it was Osla, daughter of a +Norse leader who had fought in the Irish seas, and had finally +settled in Ireland. There his daughter was born and passed her +early girlhood; and it was a trace of the Irish accent that Estein +had noticed in her speech. In one fatal battle her two brothers +fell, her father was forced to fly from the land, and Osla had +left her Irish home with him and come to reside in Orkney. + +"He is a holy Christian man," she said. "Once he was a famous +Viking, and his name was well known in the west seas. Now, he +would even have his name forgotten, and he is only known as +Andreas, which was the name of one of the blessed apostles; and +here we two live in a little lonely island, keeping aloof from all +men, and striving to live as did the early fathers." + +"That must be a quiet life for you," said Estein. + +"I sometimes think so myself," she answered with a smile. "And +what do men call you?" + +For an instant Estein hesitated. The thought passed through his +mind, "She must not know me as son to the King of Sogn till I have +done some deed more worthy of a prince of Yngve's line than lose a +battle with two Orkney Vikings." Then he said, "I am called +Vandrad; [Footnote: The Unlucky.] from my youth up I have been a +sea-rover, and I fear I may prove ill suited to your father's +company." + +"My father has met sea-rovers before," she said, with a smile in +her eye. + +By this time they had nearly crossed the island, and Estein saw +before them another long sound. On the far side of this lay a +large and hilly island that stretched to his left hand as far as +his eye could reach, and on the right broke down at the end of the +strait into a precipitous headland, beyond which sparkled the open +sea. In the middle of the sound a small green islet basked like a +sea monster in the evening sunshine. + +As they stood on the top of the descent that ran steeply to the +sea, he cast his eyes around for any signs of life on sea or on +shore. Below him, and much to the left, a cluster of small houses +round a larger drinking-hall marked the residence of a chieftain +of position; on the island across the water lay a few scattered +farms; and on the little islet his eye could just discern a faint +wreath of smoke. The seas were deserted, and the atmosphere seemed +charged with an air of calm loneliness. + +"That is my home," said Osla, pointing to the little green island. +"The early fathers called it the Holy Isle. Our house is an +anchorite's cell, and our lands, as you see, are of the smallest. +Are you content to come to such a place?" + +Estein smiled. "If you dwell there, I am content," he said. + +Osla tossed her head with what quite failed to be an air of +impatience. + +"Such things are easy to say now," she said. "If you say them +again after you have lived on a hermit's fare for one whole day, I +may begin to believe you." + +They descended the hill, and in a little creek on the shore came +upon a skiff. + +"This is our long ship," said Osla. "If you wish to show your +gratitude, you may assist me to launch her." + +"Now," she said, when Estein had run the boat into the water, "you +can rest while I row you across." + +"It has never been my custom to let a girl row me," he replied, +taking the oars. + +"But your wounds?" + +"If I have any I have forgotten them." + +"Well, I will let you row, for the tide is at the turn, and you +will not need to watch the currents. There is a great roost here +when the tide is running." + +Estein laughed. "I see that I am with a skilful helmsman," he +said. + +"And I, that I am with an over-confident crew," she answered. + +Only a distant corncrake broke the silence of the lonely channel, +its note sounding more faintly as they left the land behind. The +sun set slowly between the headlands to seaward, and by the time +they reached the shore of the islet the stillness was absolute, +and the northern air was growing chill. Osla led the Viking up a +slope of short sea-turf, and presently crossing the crest of the +land, they came upon a settlement so strange and primitive that it +could scarcely, he thought, have been designed by mortal men. + +Facing the land-locked end of the sound, and looking upon a little +bay, a cluster of monastic cells marked the northern limits of the +Christian church. From this outpost it had for the time receded, +and all save two of the rude stone dwellings looked deserted and +forlorn. A thin thread of smoke rose straight heavenward in the +still air, and before the entrance of the cell whence it issued +stood an old and venerable man. Despite a slight stoop, he was +still much beyond the common height of men. His brows were shaggy, +and his grey beard reached well down over his breast; a long and +voluminous cloak, much discoloured by the weather, was bound round +his waist by a rope, and in his hand he carried a great staff. + +As Estein approached, his brows bent in an expression of +displeased surprise, but he waited in silence till his daughter +spoke. + +"I have brought a shipwrecked seafarer, father," she said. "He is +wounded, I fear, and certainly he is both wet and hungry. I have +told him we would give him shelter and food, and such tending as +his wounds may require." + +"Whence came he?" asked the old man. + +"From the sound beyond the island; at least, he was in the sound +when I first saw him." + +"And I have to thank your daughter that I am not there now," +Estein added. + +"What is your name?" + +"I am known as Vandrad, the son of a noble landowner in Norway." + +The old man looked for a moment as though he would have questioned +him further on his family. Instead, he asked,-- + +"And why came you to these islands?" + +"For that, the wind and not I is answerable. Orkney was the last +place I had thought of visiting." + +"You were wrecked?" + +"Wrecked, and wellnigh drowned." + +In a more courteous tone the old man said, "While you are here you +are welcome to such cheer as we can give you. This cell is all my +dwelling, but since you have come to this island, enter and rest +you in peace." + +Stooping low in the doorway, Estein entered the abode of Andreas +the hermit. Lit only by a small window and the gleam of a +driftwood fire, the rude apartment was dusky and dim; yet there +seemed nothing there that should make the sea-king pause at the +threshold. Was it but a smoke wreath that he saw, and did the wind +rise with a sudden gust out of the stillness of the evening? It +seemed to him a face that appeared and then vanished, and a far- +off voice that whispered a warning in his ear. + +"Be not dismayed at our poverty; there is no worse foeman within," +said Osla, with a touch of raillery, as he stood for a moment +irresolute. + +Estein made no answer, but stepped quickly into the room. Had he +indeed heard a voice from beyond the grave, or was it but the +fancy of a wounded head? The impression lingered so vividly that +he stood in a reverie, and the words of his hosts fell unheeded on +his ears. He knew the face, he had heard the voice of old, but in +the kaleidoscope of memory he could see no name to fit them, no +incident wherewith they might be linked. + +He was aroused by the voice of Osla. + +"Let us give him food and drink quickly, father. He is faint, and +hears us not." + +The tumultuous stir of battle was forgotten as they brought him +supper and gently bound his wounds. A kettle sang a drowsy song +and seemed to lay a languid spell upon him, and, as in a dream, he +heard the hermit offer up an evening prayer. The petitions, +eloquent and brief in his northern tongue, rose above the +throbbing of the roost outside, and died away into a prayerful +silence; and then, in the pleasant nicker of the firelight, they +parted till the morrow. + +Estein and the hermit stepped out into the cool night. + +"They who visit the Holy Isle must rest content with hard +pillows," said Andreas. "Here in this cell you will find a blanket +and a couch of stone. May Christ be with you through the night;" +and as he spoke he turned into his own bare apartment. + +Estein looked upward at the stars shining as calmly on him here as +on the sea-king who lately paced his long ship's deck; he listened +for a moment to the roost rising higher and moaning more uneasily; +and then above both he saw a pair of dark blue eyes, and heard a +voice with just a touch of raillery in it. As he bent his head and +entered his cell, he smiled to himself at the pleasantness of the +vision. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE ISLAND SPELL. + + +The Holy Isle was bathed in morning sunshine, shadows of light +clouds chased each other over the hills across the sound, and out +beyond the headlands the blue sea glimmered restfully. + +On a bank of turf sloping to the rocks Estein sat with Osla, +drinking in the freshness of the air. She had milked their +solitary cow, baked cakes enough for the day's fare, and now, her +simple housekeeping over, she was free to entertain her guest. + +"My father, I fear, is in a black mood," she said. "His moods come +and go, I know not why or when. To-day and perhaps to-morrow, and +it may be for four days or more, he will sit in his cell or on the +grass before the door, speaking never a word, and hardly answering +when I talk to him. Pay no heed to him; he means no +inhospitality." + +"I fear he likes me not," said Estein. "He came here to escape +men, you say, and now he has to entertain a stranger and a +Viking." + +"It is not that," she said. "The black moods come when we are +alone; they come sometimes with the rising storm, sometimes when +the sun shines brightest. I cannot tell when the gloom will fall, +nor when he will be himself again. When his mind is well, he will +talk to me for hours, and instruct me in many things." + +"Has he instructed you in this religion he professes? Know you +what gods he worships?" + +Osla opened her eyes in perplexed surprise; she hardly felt +herself equal to the task of converting this pagan, and yet it +were a pity not to try. So she told him, with a woman's +enthusiastic inaccuracy, of this new creed of love, then being so +strikingly illustrated in troubled, warlike Christian Europe. + +"And what of the gods I and my ancestors have worshipped for so +long? What place have they in the Valhalla of the white Christ?" + +"There are no other gods." + +"No Odin, no Thor, no Freya of the fair seasons, no Valhalla for +the souls of the brave? Nay, Osla, leave me my gods, and I will +leave you yours. Mine is the religion of my kinsmen, of my father, +of my ancestors. And," he continued, "would you say that Christian +men are better than worshippers of Odin? Are they braver, are +their swords keener, are they more faithful to their friends?" + +"We want not keen swords. Warfare is your only thought. You live +but to pillage and to fight. Have you known what it is to lose +home and brothers all in one battle? Have you fled from a smoking +roof-tree? Have you had mercy refused you? Have you had wife or +child borne away to slavery? That is your creed--tell me, is it +not?" + +"I have thought of these things, Osla," said Estein gravely. "I +have thought of them at night when the stars shone and the wind +sighed in the trees. When I look upon my home and see the reapers +in the fields, and hear the maidens singing at their work, I would +sometimes be willing to turn hermit like your father, and sit in +the sun for ever. + +"But," he went on, and his voice rose to a clear, stirring note, +"I could not rest long so. The sea calls us Northmen, and we +cannot bide at home. Unrest seizes us like a giant and hurls us +forth. We must be men; we must seek adventure on sea or on shore; +there are foemen to be met, and we long to meet them; and if we +bear us bravely, never striking sail though the wind blow high, +and never flinching from the greatest odds, we know that the gods +will smile, and, if they will, we die happy. We are not all bairn- +slayers. I have been taught to spare where there was nothing +worthy of my steel, and no maid or mother has yet suffered wrong +at my hands. Yet must I sail the seas, Osla, and fight where I +find a foe; for I feel that the gods bid me, and a man cannot +struggle with his fate." + +While he spoke Osla's gaze was fixed on the turning tide, but her +eyes, had he seen them, were lit by the fire of his words. She +sprang to her feet as he finished, and said,-- + +"I, too, have the Norse blood in me; the sea calls me as it calls +you; and if I were a man, I fear I should make a bad hermit. Yet"- +-and she held up a warning finger to stay the impetuous words on +Estein's tongue--"yet I know I should be wrong. What is this +feeling but the hunger of wolves, and what are your gods but names +for it? Wolves, too, go out to slay; and if they had speech, +doubtless they would say that Thor called them." + +"Is a Viking not different from a wolf, then, in your eyes?" + +"By too little," she answered, "if they hold the same creed." + +"A wolf, then, I am," he replied; "and I can but try to keep my +lips drawn over my fangs and bit on my hind legs, and practise +manliness as best I may." + +"A very hungry manliness," she retorted. But despite herself she +smiled, and then lightly turned the talk to other things. + +From day to day the quiet island life went on with few incidents +and pleasant monotony. With only one family was there any +intercourse, and that almost entirely on Osla's part. On the shore +of the great island to the west, which men called Hrossey, dwelt a +large farmer, named Margad, and from his household such supplies +as they needed were obtained. He was an honest, peaceable man, as +the times went, with a kindly wife, Gudrun by name, and they both +took a friendly interest in the hermit's daughter. Estein would +fain have lived in her society all day, listening to her talk and +watching the wind play with her hair, and every day he noticed, +with a sense of growing disappointment, that he saw her more +seldom. Sometimes they would have long talks, and then, abruptly +as it seemed to him, she would have to leave him, and he would +spend his time in fishing from a boat, or would cross with her to +Hrossey, and while she went to see Dame Gudrun he pursued the roe- +deer and moor-fowl. + +With bow and arrow, and by dint of long and arduous stalks, he +brought home scanty but well-earned spoil, and then, either by +himself, or more often with Osla in the stern, he would cross the +sound as the day faded, to a welcome supper and an evening spent +in the firelit cell, or to a peaceful night beside the swirl of +the tideway under a sky so pale and clear that only the brightest +stars were ever seen. + +He knew that he was in love, hopelessly in love. Why else should +he stay in the Holy Isle after his wounds were healed, and when +nothing bade him remain? Far away and faint sounded the echoes of +war and the shouts of revelry. Like memories of another life, +thoughts of his father, of Helgi, of friends and kinsmen, came to +him, pricked him for a moment, and faded into a pair of dark-blue +eyes and a tall and slender figure. He still talked to Osla of +voyages and battles, and caught her sometimes taking more interest +than she would own in some old tale of derring-do, or a story of +his own adventures. Yet the actual memories of these things grew +fainter, and he talked like an old man telling of his youth. + +"I am under a spell," he would say to himself, and stride more +quickly over the heather, and then catch himself smiling at the +thought of some word or look of Osla's. + +The hermit's black mood passed away, and was followed by an +attitude of grave distance towards his guest. He spoke little, but +always courteously, and seemed to treat him at first merely as an +addition to the live stock of the island. + +One night Estein, after the manner of the skalds, sang a poem of +his own as they sat round the fire. He called it the "King's War +Song." + +"On high the raven banner +Invites the hungry kites, +Red glares the sun at noon-tide, +Wild gleam the Northern lights; +The war-horn brays its summons, +And from each rock-bound fiord +Come the sea-kings of Norway, +To follow Norway's lord. + +"The cloven arrow speeding, +Fraught with war's alarms, +Calls the ravens to their feast, +The Udallers to arms. +See that your helms be burnished, +See that your blades be ground, +When he of Yngve's kindred +Sends the war token round!" + +"Skoal, [Footnote: The Norse drinking salutation.] Vandrad! +skoal!" cried the hermit. + +His hearers looked at him in amazement. His eyes flashed, his lips +twitched, the whole man was transformed for the moment into the +Viking of the western seas. + +"Once I was a skald myself," he said. "You have quickened what I +thought was dead." And he rose and walked out into the night. + +For a minute they were too surprised to speak. Then Osla said +softly,-- + +"Your magic is too strong, Vandrad." She threw him one glance that +lived long in his memory, and quickly followed her father. + +For more than an hour afterwards he could dimly see them pacing +the shore in silence, her arm within the hermit's. + +Next day the old man was more silent and reserved than before, but +every now and then Estein saw that his eyes followed him, and the +few words he spoke were couched in a kindlier manner. + +"Sing to him again," whispered Osla in the evening, and night +after night the young skald sang and the hermit and his daughter +listened. Sometimes when he was finished the old Viking would talk +on various themes. Brief glimpses of his earlier days, snatches of +religious converse, his travels, and the strange peoples he had +seen, he would touch upon before the evening prayer. + +And so the time passed away, till Estein had spent six weeks in +the Holy Isle. All the while he had made no open love to Osla. She +seemed merely friendly, and he was distracted between a wild +desire to break down the barriers between them and a strange and +numbing feeling of warning that held him back, he knew not why. So +strong was it at times that he fancied two spells cast upon him, +one by the island maiden, the other by some unknown spirit. + +One morning he found her wandering by the cliffs that formed the +seaward barrier of the isle. + +"Let us sit here, Osla," he said. "I have a new song to sing you." + +"I must bake my cakes," she answered. "Can you not sing it to us +to-night?" + +"It concerns only you. Sit here but for a moment; it is not long, +and you can escape from me when I have done." + +"Very well," she said, with a smile and an air of resignation. "I +will listen, but do not keep me long." + +"If it will tire you, I can wait." + +"You can try me." + +"I must leave the Holy Isle soon, Osla; I have been too long away +from my kinsfolk and my country. It is hard to part, but it must +come some day, and these verses are my parting song." + +She was silent, and seemed intently plucking sea pinks. + +"I cannot tell you why," he went on, "but to-day I feel that my +hour has come to rove again. I would that I might live here for +ever, but I know it is not fated so." + +Then he sang his farewell song:-- + +"Canst thou spare a sigh, fair Osla? It is fated I must go. Wilt +thou think of Vandrad ever When the sea winds hoarsely blow, Or +will the memory of my love With absence fainter grow? + +"Canst thou spare a tear, sweet Osla, When I sail from this fair +land? Wilt thou dream of Vandrad sometimes When the waves boom on +the strand? Can visions of a pleasant hour The march of time +withstand? + +"Osla, when I bear me bravely, 'Midst the lightning of the sword, +And the armies meet like torrents When the mountain snows have +thawed The thought of thine approving smile Shall be my sole +reward. + +"Fare thee well, sweet blue-eyed Osla! The sea-king must not stay, +E'en for tresses rich as summer And for smile as bright as May; +But one hope I cannot part from--We may meet again some day!" + +"Then are you going?" she said, more softly than he had ever heard +her speak before. + +"Do you wish me to stay?" + +"Not if you wish to rove the seas again, and fight and plunder, as +a brave man should," she cried with a flash of raillery. "If it is +your fate to go, why should I stand in the way? Am I anything to +you?" + +She gave him no time to answer, but rose and ran lightly away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +ANDREAS THE HERMIT. + + +The same day Estein rowed across alone to Hrossey, and started +over the hills with his bow and arrows. He walked for some miles +through moorland ground, and paused at length on the top of a +range of hills, whence he had a wide view over the inland country. +There he sat down and mused for long. Below him he saw a valley +opening out into a sweep of low-lying land, watered by many lochs, +and bounded by heather hills. All round, in glimpses between the +highest hill-tops, and in wide, unbroken stretches over the lower +ranges, the open sea girdled the island. Gradually the stillness +of the place and the freshness of the air told upon him, and at +length he fell asleep. He began to dream, at first of confused +events and hurrying faces, and then more distinctly and vividly. +He had landed, he thought, on the Holy Isle. It was dark, but he +seemed to see plainly a figure, wrapped in a long cloak, walking +before him towards the cells. It was neither Andreas nor his +daughter, and with some wonder he quickened his steps and overtook +it just as it was about to enter the hermit's cell. Then all at +once it seemed to flash upon him that this was no mortal visitor, +and with a sudden thrill of fear he stopped. At that instant the +figure turned a shrouded face on him, and said sternly, and so +clearly that the words were ringing in his ears when he woke,-- + +"What doest THOU here, Estein Hakonson?" + +He came to himself with a start, the sweat standing on his +forehead. It was the second time he had heard the voice. Once +before it had warned him when he first entered the hermit's cell, +but now as then he could find neither name nor circumstance to fit +it. + +All at once the prophecy of Atli came into his mind--"You will be +warned, but you will heed not," and in spite of himself a feeling +of gloom settled over his mind. + +A herd of deer browsed unheeded on a distant slope, the hours +passed, and the sun sank low in the west, while he sat there +alone. + +At last he rose and retraced his steps back to the shore. The tide +was running strongly, he had a long and stiff pull to win his way +across, and the summer dusk that never reaches darkness in the +north was gathering when he landed. + +He looked round as though he expected to see a cloaked figure +start up out of the gloaming, but the island was deserted and +still. Before the cell he paused for an instant. "You will not +heed the warning," he repeated. "Yet what is fated must be," and +then he entered. + +The hermit was alone. Farmer Margad had come for Osla, for his +wife was unwell, and the credulous people thought the daughter of +the wizard, as they deemed Father Andreas, might have some healing +influence. Estein sat down and took his supper; and all the time +he was eating, Andreas paced the floor saying nothing aloud, but +muttering continually under his breath. Legends of shape-changing +and black magic came into the young Viking's mind. As he watched +the old man pass to and fro in the firelight, and the huge, +distorted shadow sweep across and across the cell, he fancied once +or twice that he could see the beginnings of some horrid +transformation. + +All of a sudden the hermit stopped and looked at him earnestly. + +"Sing to me a song of battle!" he cried; and Estein saw that a +change had indeed taken place. A fit of gloom had given way to a +period of strange excitement, and the spirit of the sea-rover was +returned. + +Estein composed his mind, and sang the song of the Battle of +Dunheath, beginning:-- + + "Many the chiefs who drank the mead + As the sun rose over the plain, + But small the band who bound their wounds + When the heath was dark again." + +As the last words died away the hermit began to talk excitedly and +volubly, and in a strain new to his guest. + +"I once sang such songs," he said. "I sailed the seas in my long +ship, and men feared my name--feared me, Andreas, the man of God. +I was a heathen then, as thou art; I worshipped the gods of the +North, and the hammer of Thor was my symbol on the ocean. I spared +none who stood in my way. These hands have dripped with the blood +of my foes, and many a widow have I left desolate." + +He paused, and a tongue of flame shot suddenly from the fire and +cast a bright light in the cell. + +"Fire!" cried the old man--"fire like that have I brought on my +foes! I have burned them like rats; I have left their homesteads +smouldering! Listen, Vandrad, and I shall tell thee of a deed that +made my name known throughout all the Northland. Now," he added, +"I am a Christian man, and my soul is safe with Christ. + +"Once I received an injury I swore I should avenge. Hakon, King of +Sogn, a proud man and a stern, banished my brother Kolskegg for +manslaughter. The deed was but an act of justice on one who had +beguiled our kinswoman; but the dead man had many friends, and the +king hearkened neither to Kolskegg's offers of atonement nor to my +petitions--to mine, who had never asked aught of mortal man +before! My brother was a dear friend of the king, foster-father +even to his eldest son Olaf, and he weakly bowed his head and left +the land. When I heard that he had gone, I pressed my sword-hilt +so tightly in my rage that the blood dripped from my nails, and I +cursed him aloud for idly suffering such insult to our house to +pass without revenge. Our race is as old and proud as the kings of +Sogn themselves, and I vowed that Hakon should rue that day. I was +a heathen then, Vandrad." + +He said these last words with a gleam in his eyes and a tightening +of his lips, as if he gloated over the memory of his bygone faith. +With the same grim reminiscent pleasure, he went on: "I and two +others sent the cloven arrow through the dales, and gathered armed +men enough to fill three ships. Ay, the sailing of Thord the Tall, +Snaekol Gunnarson, and Thorfin of Skapstead is not forgotten yet +in Norway. We went to Laxafiord, for there dwelt Olaf, son of +Hakon. You have heard the tale?" he cried suddenly, "you know of +the burning?" + +"Go on," said Estein, in a hard, dry voice; "I am listening," and +all the while his right hand sought his side. + +"It was a deed," said the hermit, "that made all Norway ring. We +landed in the night time, and saw the lights of the hall between +the pine trees. They were feasting, and they heard not our +approach. We made a ring round the house and heaped faggots +against the walls, and still they heard us not. It was a dark +night, Vandrad, very dark, till we lit a fire that was seen by men +in the outer islands. Then they heard us, they smelt the smoke, +and they ran to the doors. The first man who came out I clove to +the waist, for none in Norway had greater skill at arms than I. +Then we drove them in and closed the door. Sometimes at night I +hear them shriek even now. There was never such a burning in +Norway; we spared not one soul, not one. + +"They asked us to let the women out, but we had come there to slay +and not to spare. They shrieked, Vandrad; they cried till the roof +fell in, and then they died. My soul is safe with God, and they +are in outer darkness. There they will shriek for ever." + +He paused for a moment, and then went on in the same strain of +high excitement,-- + +"Now you know me. I am Thord the Tall, the burner of Olaf +Hakonson." + +"And where are Snaekol Gunnarson and Thorfin of Skapstead?" Estein +spoke with difficulty, and his right hand had closed on something +in his belt. + +"Both are dead. They died heathens, and their souls are as +hopelessly lost as the soul of Olaf Hakonson. I am the last of the +burners." + +The voice of Thord the Tall died away. Estein bent forward, his +hand left his side, and something in it gleamed in the firelight. + +Suddenly the hermit started. + +"Osla! I hear Osla!" he said. + +Estein thrust his dagger into its sheath, and bending in the +doorway stepped out into the night. Below the cell he saw a boat +leaving the land, and right before him, in the clear, cool +twilight, the form of Osla. + +"Have you tired of my father's company?" she asked, with a smile. + +"I would be alone," he answered, and walked quickly past her. + +Now he knew the twice-heard voice, and remembered the fleeting +face. + +"You came to warn me, Olaf, and I knew you not!" he cried. "I know +you now--too late!" + +He paced the turf with hurried steps. The sacred duty of revenge +called him with a vehemence we cannot now realize. He had sworn to +let slip no chance of taking vengeance on the burners of his +brother. Often he had sought news of them, and often renewed his +resolution; and now that he had found his foe, was he to idly +suffer him to escape? + +Yet he had been this man's guest; he had eaten of his bread, and +slept in his dwelling. And his hands were tied by a stronger +chain. "Osla, Osla," he cried, "for your sake I am faithless to my +vows, and forgetful of my duty to my kindred!" + +Then the memory of Thord the Tall, telling of the burning, rose +fresh and strong, and again his hand sought his side, and his +breath came fast, till the vision of Osla swept aside all other +thoughts. + +The time went by until the hour was hard on midnight. Gradually +his mind grew more composed. + +"I am in the hands of destiny," he said to himself. "Let fate do +with me what it will." + +All the northern sky was still red with the afterglow of sunset, +creeping slowly eastwards against the dawn; land and sea lay clear +and yet dim, for the light was ghostly as a phosphorescent +chamber; the tide was slack, and lapped softly on the rocks; and +everything in the world seemed tranquil. + +"The end has come," he said. + +All at once, on the sheen of the sound, he spied a curious black +mark, far out and vague. Gradually it seemed to steal nearer, till +Estein, looking at it keenly, forgot his thoughts in a rising +curiosity. Then it took shape, and faintly across the water came +the splash of oars and the voices of men. As they drew nearer, he +crouched below a bank and watched their approach with growing +wonder and something too of awe. + +"The gods have sent for me," he thought. + +They were being carried by the current towards the place where he +stood, and presently they made a landing on the rocks. There +followed a consultation in low tones, and then one man left the +boat and came up the bank. He stood out clearly in the transparent +dusk--a tall, mail-clad figure, walking with a confident carriage. + +Estein waited till he was opposite him, and then sprang up, dagger +in hand. + +"Who art thou?" he demanded. + +The man's hand went straight to his sword, but at the sound of +Estein's voice it fell again. + +"Estein, my foster-brother!" he cried. + +"Helgi!" + +Helgi opened his arms and embraced him tenderly, speaking with an +emotion he made no effort to control. "Estein, my brother, I +thought thou wert in truth in Valhalla. I have wept for thee, +Estein; I have mourned thee as dead. Tell me that this is thy very +self, and not some island ghost come to mock me." + +The friendly voice and grasp, coming in this his hour of trouble, +touched Estein to the heart. + +"It is I, indeed, Helgi," he said; "and never have I felt more +glad to see a face and clasp a hand. How came you here? I thought +I had parted from my friends for ever. I have been so long alone +that they had begun to seem like dream-men." + +Helgi told him briefly how he had swum ashore to another island, +and there been picked up by Ketill, the black-bearded captain of +one of Estein's scattered ships; how, giving up all hope, they had +sailed for the south, and after meeting head winds and little +luck, returned to the Orkneys, where, from a man who had been with +Margad, news of the stranger on the Holy Isle had reached their +ears. + +"They say, Estein, that your hermit has a fair daughter. Methinks +she would like to see your foster-brother; would she not?" + +"Nay, Helgi, ask me no more questions, but take me quickly away. I +am spell-bound here, and I dare not trust myself to stay one +moment longer." + +"I know these spells, Estein; they have been cast on men by other +maids before now. Better take your sorceress with you. It is +unlucky to break such spells so rudely." + +"Laugh not, Helgi," said Estein, taking his arm and hurrying him +down to the shore. "This spell has meant more to me than you can +guess." + +"By the hammer of Thor!" exclaimed Helgi, stopping suddenly, +"there surely is the witch herself." + +Estein looked round, and standing against the sky he saw the +slender form he knew so well. + +"Wait for me, Helgi," he said, "the spell is on me still," and +starting away suddenly he ran up the bank again. + +"Osla!" he cried, and stopped abruptly. + +"What means this, Vandrad?" she asked. + +Her eyes were wide open with troubled surprise, and looking into +her upturned face he thought she never was so fair before. + +"They have come for me, Osla, and I must go. Farewell! remember me +not." + +"Do you leave us in this way--without saying farewell, or telling +us you were going?" + +"I knew not myself when they would come. I told you I must leave +you and seek the sea again. It has come true sooner than I +expected." + +He took her hands. + +"Farewell!" he said again. + +She turned her face away. + +"I feared you would tire of us," she said, her voice sinking very +low. + +"Never, Osla, never! but fate has been too strong for me. They +wait for me now, and I must leave you." + +"Farewell, Vandrad!" she said, looking up, and he saw that her +eyes were filled with tears. + +"Osla!" he cried, drawing her towards him. She yielded an instant, +and then suddenly broke free and started away. + +"Farewell!" she said again, and her voice sounded like a sob. + +He did not trust himself to answer, but turned and hurried to the +boat. + +They pushed off in silence, the oars dipped in the quiet sound, +and Estein left the Holy Isle. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE HALL OF LIOT. + + +All through the small hours of the morning Estein sat on the poop +in silence. Helgi, wrapped in his cloak, threw himself on the deck +beside him and fell asleep with a lightened heart, while the long +ship, slipping down the sound with the tide, turned westwards into +the swell of the Atlantic. + +Gloom had settled over Estein's mind. The pleasantest memories +were distorted by the ghost of that old blood feud; his murdered +brother called aloud for vengeance; in the wash of the waves and +the creaking of the timbers he heard the hermit recite again the +story of the burning, and through it all a voice cried, "Farewell! +farewell!" + +The sun at that season rises early. With it the breeze freshened, +and one by one the sleeping figures in the waist woke, and began +to stir about the ship. Still their leader sat silent. + +Helgi at length sat up with a start, and rubbed his eyes. He +looked at Estein, and smiled. + +"Very much in love methinks," he said to himself. + +At last Estein saw he was observed, and passing his hand across +his brow as if to sweep away his thoughts, asked wearily,-- + +"Where do we go now, Helgi?" + +"Your spell needs a violent remedy, and I have that on my mind +that may cure it. What say you to letting Liot Skulison know that +he did not slay us all? There are here two others besides +ourselves who escaped the fate of Thorkel and our comrades, and +they think they owe Liot something. Does revenge seem sweet?" + +"Then Liot is alive?" + +"Ay, Thor has spared him for us. The Orkney-man who led us to you +has an ancient feud against the bairn-slayers, and he tells me +Liot and his men are feasting at his dwelling. Shall we fall upon +them to-night?" + +"You are a good physician, Helgi. Battle and storm are the best +cures for such as I." + +"I cannot give you a storm, I fear," laughed Helgi, "but you can +have fighting enough to-night. Liot keeps two hundred men and more +about him, and we have here some seventy all told." + +"We have faced greater odds together, Helgi. Life does not seem so +fair to me now that I should shrink from odds of three to one. Let +us seek Liot wherever he is, and when we have found him, tell him +to arm as many men as he can muster. Then let our destiny weave +its web for us." + +Helgi laughed again. + +"That would be a good revenge--to let Liot slay the men of Estein, +a shipload at a time. If Odin wishes us to die, I shall try to +meet my fate stoutly, but I shall not help him in the slaying. +Nay, Estein, I can devise a better plan than yours." + +Estein smiled for the first time since he had come on board. + +"So long as it gives me a good fight with stout foes, and with you +at my side, I care not what plan you propose." + +"There speaks yourself again!" cried Helgi; "and I think that ere +long you will meddle with my schemes. I will call Ketill and the +Orkneyman, and we four will hold council here." + +Ketill, the broad-beamed captain of the ship--the same whose path +had been stopped by Atli--a man of few words and stout deeds, and +Grim, the Orkneyman, came up to the poop. There they deliberated +for long. Helgi was all for fire. + +"Let us hear how the men of Liot will sing when they are warm." + +Ketill gave a short laugh. + +"I, too, am for burning," he said. + +"We must catch them when they are drinking," said Grim. "When +Liot's feasts are over many men go to sleep in outhouses round the +hall, and we have not force enough here to surround them all at +once." + +"I will have no more burnings," said Estein. + +"When had we our last?" asked Helgi. "You speak as though we had +done naught but burn foes all our lives. We have never had a +burning before, Estein, and it is better to begin as the burners +than the burned." + +"I have lately heard tell of another. It is no work for brave +men." + +Helgi shrugged his shoulders. + +"Let us drown them then," he said. + +Ketill gave another short, gruff laugh. + +"Nay, Ketill, I am not jesting; in truth I am in little humour for +that. If seventy brave men cannot clear a hall of two hundred +drinkers, what virtue lies in stout hearts and sharp swords? We +will enter the hall, you from one end and I from the other, and I +think the men of Liot Skulison will not have to complain of too +peaceful an evening." + +"We must catch them, then, while they are feasting. Afterwards it +will be too late, with only seventy men," the wary Grim replied. + +"We can choose our hour," said Estein; "and whatever plan we fall +on, it seems we must be in time." + +Helgi laughed lightly. + +"I thought you would leave us little say, Estein, when once you +were aroused," he said. "'Tis all the same to me. Fire, sword, or +water--choose what you will, you will always find me by your side; +and if you must go to Valhalla, why, I will blithely bear you +company." + +"Fire were better," said Ketill, shaking his head. + +The day was still young when the council of war came to an end, +and as they had more than sufficient time to reach the hall of +Liot before night, the bows were turned to the open sea, that they +might better escape observation. Once they had got some miles from +land they turned southwards, and striking the sail, to make as +little mark as they could, moved slowly under oars alone. All day +the long ship rolled in a great ground-swell, the western cliffs +of Orkney now hidden by a wall of water, and now glinting in the +sunshine as they rose from trough to crest, and right ahead the +distant Scottish coast drawing gradually nearer. As the afternoon +wore on they turned landwards again, and towards evening found +themselves coasting a mountainous island lying to the south of +Hrossey. + +"What do men call this?" asked Helgi. + +"They call it Haey, the high island, and it is on a bay to the +south of it that Liot Skulison dwells," answered Grim, their pilot +for the time. + +They drew closer and closer to the land, until a towering line of +cliffs rose for more than a thousand feet right above their heads. +It was a stern and sombre coast, unbroken by any bays or inland +glimpses, and gloomy and terrible in the fading light. The great +oily swell broke into spouts of foam at the cliff-foot, and all +along the face of the precipice they could see innumerable sea- +fowl clinging to the rock. + +Gradually, as they sailed along this hostile land, a light sea-fog +began to gather. The leaders of the hazardous expedition watched +it closing in upon them with growing apprehension. + +"What say you, Grim?" said Helgi; "can you take us to Liot in this +mist?" + +Grim looked round him doubtfully. + +"Methinks I can take you there," he said, "but I fear we shall be +too late, we can move but slowly; and with only seventy men, I +doubt we shall do little when the men of Liot have left the +feast." + +Estein had been standing in silence near the tiller. At these +words he turned and cried fiercely,-- + +"Who talks of doing little? Liot or I shall fall to-night, though +the blackness of death were round us. Think you I have come to sit +here idly in a fog? Tell your men to row like valiant Vikings, +Ketill, and not like timorous women." + +The respect due to rank in Norway was little more than the proud +Norseman chose to pay, and it was with small deference to his +prince that Ketill answered,-- + +"You are fey, I think, Estein. I shall not lose my ship that you +may the sooner feed the fishes." + +"Are you, too, afraid? By the hammer of Thor! I think you are in +league with Liot. I shall make these cravens row." + +"That you will not," replied Ketill. + +In an instant both swords were half-drawn. The men within earshot +were too much surprised at this sudden change from Estein's usual +manner to his followers to do more than look in astonishment at +the dispute, and in another instant the blades would have clashed, +when Helgi rushed between them. + +"What is this?" he cried. "Are you possessed of evil spirits, that +you would quarrel on the eve of battle? Remember, Ketill, that +Estein is your prince; and Estein, my brother, what ails you? You +are under a spell indeed. Would that I had slain the witch ere you +parted. You can gain nothing by wrecking the ship, and this fog is +too dense to row a race off such a coast as this." + +Perhaps it was the allusion to the "witch" that brought Estein to +his senses, for his eyes suddenly softened. + +"I was wrong, Ketill," he said. "The wrath of the gods is upon me, +and I am not myself." + +He turned away abruptly, and gazed moodily into the fog; while +Ketill, with the look of one who is dealing with a madman, left +the poop. + +"It is ill sailing with a bewitched leader," he muttered. + +The idea that Estein was under a spell took rapid hold of the +superstitious crew. They told each other that this was no earthly +mist that had fallen on them, and listening to the break of the +sea on the cliffs, they talked low of wizards and sea-monsters, +and heard strange voices in the sound of the surge. Then they +became afraid to row at more than a snail's pace, and sometimes +almost stopped altogether. In vain Helgi went amongst them, and +urged that Grim knew these waters so well that there was little +danger, in vain he pointed to the hope of booty and revenge ahead; +even as he spoke there was a momentary break in the mist, and they +saw the towering cliff so close above them that his words were +wasted. + +"There is witchcraft here," they said; and Ketill was as obstinate +as the rest. The ship crept under the cliffs with hardly any way +on at all, and Helgi, in despair, saw the golden hour slipping by. + +"Oh, for two more good ships," he thought: "then we could wait +till daylight, and fall upon them when we pleased." + +Estein had again fallen a prey to his thoughts. In his gloomy +fatalism he thought that the wrath of the gods pursued him for the +neglect of his duty to his murdered brother, and he submitted to +the failure of this adventure as the beginning of his punishment. +The fighting fire died out, the longing for action was choked, and +in their place what was as nearly a spell as can fall on mortal +men had fallen on him. His devoted friend fumed impatiently beside +him as the fog grew denser and the hours went slowly by, and +bitterly he cursed the enchantress of the Holy Isle. + +"He talks of the gods," he said to himself. "This is no work of +theirs; it is the magic of that island witch, may the trolls take +her!" + +"The fog lifts!" cried Grim from his post at the tiller. + +The men heard the cry, and ceasing their awestruck talk, looked +eagerly at the fast-widening rifts in the white shroud. Ghost-like +wreaths detached themselves, flitted by the ship, and then +dissipated in thin air. The summer night sky with its pale stars +appeared in lakes above, and below, the fog rose from the water +like steam. Presently the great cliffs came out clear and terrible +in the midnight dusk, and the men cried that the spell was broken. + +Over Estein came the greatest change. As the fog lifted, the light +returned to his eye, and he turned eagerly to Grim. + +"Where are we now? Have we yet time to catch Liot at his feast?" + +The pilot shook his head. + +"It will take us full two hours to reach the bay where Liot +dwells, and the feast, I fear, will have ended even now, for the +hour is late." + +Helgi's face fell, and he muttered a deep imprecation as he turned +to Estein. + +"What think you?" he asked; "shall we run for some distant bay, +and return to-morrow night?" + +"I have come to meet Liot to-night," Estein replied, and turning +away he paced the deck in deep thought. + +Helgi's cheerfulness returned in an instant. He hummed an air, and +leaning against the bulwark awaited the march of events with his +usual careless philosophy. + +"The men were right," he thought; "it was a magic mist. The spell +has lifted with the fog. It wants but a brisk fight now to cure +him." + +A grim smile stole over Estein's face, and presently he stopped +beside Grim, and said,-- + +"Know you where Liot sleeps in this hall of his?" + +"Ay; I was forced to follow him for two years, and I know well his +sleeping chamber." + +"Can you lead us to it in the dark?" + +Grim looked at him doubtfully before answering. + +"I think so," he said at length. + +"But are you sure?" + +The pilot looked round him. + +"The night is light," said he, "and there will still be some fire +in the hall. But it will be a dangerous venture." + +Estein turned impatiently. + +"Methinks you have little feud with Liot," he said, and went over +to where Helgi stood. + +"Well?" asked Helgi. + +"I have a plan." + +"Have you resolved on a burning? This cursed fog has made me cold, +and a fire would like me well." + +"You have heard my rede on burnings, Helgi. My scheme is to carry +off Liot in his sleep. They will keep no watch. The very dogs will +be drunk, and I think it will not be so difficult as it seems. +Will you come with me into Liot's hall?" + +Helgi's blue eyes opened wide, and he laughed as he said,-- + +"There has never been your match for enterprise in the north, +Estein. Your plans seem all so chosen that your foes may have the +greatest chance to slay you. Are we to leave you in Liot's place?" + +"I asked if you would follow me." + +"You know the answer to that already. But why trouble with Liot's +carcass? Surely it were easier to slay him where he lies." + +"I like not a midnight murder, and Liot and I have not yet decided +who is the better man. That is a trial which I would fain make, +and then we can see what the gods would do with me." + +"To fight an enemy and capture him afterwards is common enough, +but to capture him first and then fight him seems the act of a +madman," answered Helgi. + +"Then I am a madman," replied Estein, and with that he turned away +and walked forward to consult Ketill. + +He was impelled by his creed of morbid fatalism to seek this test, +whereby his fate might be sharply decided. He longed, too, for +action, and the idea, once held, fascinated him. But to all others +on board he seemed merely the victim of some insidious magic. That +he was under a spell Helgi had no manner of doubt. + +"A fair fight," he thought, "is always manlier than a secret +slaying, but not Odin himself would fly away with the foe who had +slain two shiploads of his followers, and afterwards challenge him +to single combat. It is as if he should catch a thief who had +stolen half his goods, and then throw dice with him for the rest. +But all spells act most banefully at night, they say; doubtless in +the morning Estein will rest content with giving him a fitting +burial--if he catches him." + +And at the thought he laughed aloud. + +"May I die in bed like a woman," he said to himself, "if this be +not the strangest way of fishing for a Viking!" + +Ketill was at first for stoutly refusing the adventure; but Helgi, +whose convictions sat lightly on him compared with his attachment +to Estein, persuaded him to consent. + +"Are you afraid?" he asked, and that question left no room for the +proud Viking to hesitate. + +It was about two hours after midnight when the long ship, stealing +under the shadow of the cliffs, turned into a small bay. It lay +open to the south, guarded on either side by a precipitous +headland, and withdrawn from the tideway and the swell of the +western ocean. In the weird grey light of that June night the men +could see a valley opening out of great inland hills on to a more +level strip of moorland at the head of the bay. On a spit of sandy +beach lay three warships, and on the slope of the hill to the left +stood a small township of low buildings, clustering round the +higher drinking-hall of Liot Skulison. + +In dead silence they hugged the shore as closely as their pilot +dared. + +"We are as close inshore as we can win," he said at length in a +low voice. + +The boat was stealthily launched, and into it as many men as it +would hold were crowded. + +"Keep the rowers on their benches, we may have little time to get +away," said Ketill in a gruff whisper to his forecastle man, whom +he left in command of the ship. + +"We have little wish to be caught." + +"Push off, men, and remember he who speaks above a whisper I shall +think is tired of life." + +The oars dipped and the boat crept slowly landwards. + +"You know the landing, Grim?" + +Grim, who sat at the tiller, merely nodded; and presently the bows +grated on a strip of gravel beach. + +"The trolls take you!" muttered Ketill. "Could you not have told +us to slacken speed? The dead could hear a landing like this." + +"'Tis all right yet, Ketill," whispered Estein. "We are too far +from the hall." + +"By the hammer of Thor!" growled the black-bearded captain, whose +temper was ever of the shortest, "these men splash like cattle." + +One by one they stepped ashore, and then the party was divided. +One man was left in charge of the boat; Ketill with three others +went round to where the long ships lay; while Estein, Helgi, and +Grim, with six picked men, cautiously approached the hall. + +They crossed a strip of rising heather and struck a sharp slope of +turf. Close above them loomed a dark mass of building, and the +silence was unbroken save by the stealthy fall of their footsteps. +Grim led the way, then came Estein, then Helgi, and the others +followed in single file. + +Warily they came up to the end of the hall, and under the door +there was a brief pause. Estein gave his final instructions in a +whisper, and then quickly pushing open the door, he stepped in. +Helgi, Grim, and one man followed, while the other five waited +outside with their weapons in their hands. + +These old Norse drinking-halls were long and high rooms, with +great fires down the middle, and beside them long lines of benches +for the guests. All down the sides the sleeping chambers opened, +and over these hung the arms of the warriors. + +The hall of Liot was very dark and still. A ghostly flicker of +light struggled through the narrow windows, and on the fires the +embers slowly died. Beside the benches slumbered the forms of some +of the heaviest drinkers, and once or twice they nearly stumbled +over these. Grim came up beside Estein and led him about half-way +down the hall. There he stopped and pointed to a door. There were +no words; the others closed up and loosened their daggers in their +sheaths. Estein stepped back softly to the fire and lifted up a +log, one end of which still glowed brightly, and then he pushed +open the door. The chamber was dark as a wolf's mouth as he groped +for the bed. So cautiously he stepped that the heavy breathing of +the sleeper only broke the silence, and very carefully he went +forward and thrust the log so close to the unconscious slumberer +that he could clearly read his features. Then he placed it against +the wall, and gave one whispered order. In an instant a mantle was +twisted round Liot's mouth, his hands and feet were bound, and ere +he was thoroughly awake, he was mounted on the shoulders of his +foes, forming one of a singular procession that hurried through +the hall of Liot Skulison. + +Grim, who walked first, had almost reached the door, when from the +blackest of the shadows a man stepped suddenly across his path. +For an instant the pilot's heart stood still. Then he saw that he +had only to deal with a half-awakened drinker, and as his mouth +was framing a question, Grim's dagger flashed, and with a cry the +man fell heavily on the floor. Instantly there arose such a chorus +of barking as might have wakened the dead. + +"The dogs are sobering," said Helgi. + +"Hasten!" cried Estein. "The men will be on us." + +They hurried through the door, and bearing their captive on their +shoulders, the whole party broke into a run. + +"The dogs are after us!" cried one. + +"Turn and kill them," said Estein. + +Three men stopped, and with a few sweeping sword slashes scattered +the yelping crowd; but even as they were driving them off, they +could see that men were coming out of the hall and outhouses. + +"Where is Ketill?" cried Estein, as they reached the boat. + +The man in charge had seen nothing of him. + +"May werewolves seize him!" exclaimed Helgi. "He has had time +enough to tear the long ships plank from plank." + +"We have no time to wait for him; it is his fault if he be left," +said Grim. + +"That knowledge would doubtless comfort him," replied Estein; "but +nevertheless I shall wait." + +"Here they come!" cried Helgi. + +"And here come those who will reach us before them," said another +man. + +He was right. A swarm of men were already running down the slope, +and it was clear that they must reach the boat first. + +Estein sprang on board. + +"Push off!" he cried; "we will row along the shore to meet them." + +"Well thought of," said Helgi; "'tis lucky we have one cool head +with us." + +The pursuers at first either failed to see Ketill's party, or +mistook them for their own men, for they continued their headlong +rush straight to the water, firing arrows and darts as they ran. +Then they saw the manoeuvre, and turned with loud cries along the +shore. The boat had got a start by this time; the rowers bent +their backs and made her spring like a live thing, and the still +water rose in oily waves from the bow. But fast as they pulled, +the men on shore ran faster. + +"By all the gods, we are too late!" cried Helgi. + +"They take to the water!" said Estein. "Pull, men, pull! Oh, 'tis +a night worth living for!" + +The four swimmers stoutly struck out for dear life, to a splashing +accompaniment of darts and stones. + +"By the hammer of Thor! they will be struck as we take them on +board," exclaimed Helgi. "Friend Ketill makes a generous mark." + +"Round them!" said Estein. "Get between them and the shore." + +Grim pressed the tiller hard down, and circling round the swimmers +they were presently hauling them in on the sheltered side. Then +the crowd on shore set off for their ships. Ketill, dripping with +water, and bleeding from an arrow wound on the shoulder, watched +them with a grim smile. + +"They will find their ships ready for sea," he said. + +As he spoke a tongue of flame shot up from one of the long ships, +and Estein turned to him in surprise. + +"Then you set them on fire?" + +"Ay," replied Ketill; "we slew some guards--who thereby learned +not to sleep at their posts--and made such holes in the ships as +will take them two days to patch. Then I bethought me it were well +to have a burning, if it were only of a long ship; so we kindled +three great fires, one for each vessel, and if the men of Liot +feel cold to-night, it will not be my fault. But have you got +Liot?" + +"Here he is," said Estein, pointing to the pinioned captive. + +Ketill laughed loud and long. + +"Estein," he cried, "I ask your pardon. You may be under a spell, +but you have given us a merry night's work. We have earned a long +drink." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE VERDICT OF THE SWORD. + + +A shout of congratulation rose from the ship as the boat drew near +and the anxious watchers counted the fourteen men returned again +with their prisoner. Drink was served round in huge beakers, and +the superstitious fears vanished like the fog as they rowed in +triumph out of the bay. + +They could see behind them the flames and smoke rising ever higher +from the burning vessels, and as the ale mounted to their heads +they shouted derisive defiance across the water. + +"Where shall we go now?" asked Grim. + +"Do you know of any uninhabited holm where we could land by +daybreak?" said Estein. + +"There are many such about the Orkneys; one I know well, which +methinks we should reach soon after sunrise. There I shall take +you." + +Ketill came up at that moment with a great horn of ale, and cried, +with a joviality only shown when drink flowed freely,-- + +"Drink, Estein, drink!--drink to the soul of Liot Skulison, which +shall shortly speed to Valhalla. Shall we slay him now, or keep +that sport till we have better light to see him die?" + +"I have other work on hand than drinking. Liot and I have an +account to settle at daybreak." + +Ketill stared at him in astonishment. + +"You mean then in very truth to fight?" he cried. "Well, do as you +wish; but it is a strange spell." + +He left the poop with his horn, and Estein seated himself on a +stool, and leaning back against the bulwarks, tried to rest. + +His face was set, his mind made up, and he only waited impatiently +for the hour of his trial. Sleep came to him in uneasy snatches, +during which he seemed to pass years of wild adventure, haunted +all the time by strangely distorted Oslas. He woke at last to the +chill of a grey morning and the roll of a Viking ship. With a +little shiver he started to his feet, and began to pace the deck. + +Presently Helgi joined him, and laid his hand on his arm. + +"Estein," he said, "tempt not your fate too far. Never before have +I seen witchcraft such as this. Why should you fear the wrath of +the gods? I tell you, my brother, you are under a spell; let us +seek some magician who will cure you, and not rashly look for +death when you are wearied with sleepless nights and black magic. +If the wrath of the gods is really on you, it will fall were you +to flee from men and seek refuge in the loneliest cave on all +these coasts. I will slay Liot Skulison for you; in fair fight if +you will, though I think not he deserves such a chance. Was it a +fair fight when he fell on our two ships with his ten?" + +"I would slay him, Helgi, like a dog, were it not that something +within me bids me ask in this wise the wishes of Odin." + +"'Tis the voice of yon witch." + +"She is no witch, Helgi, only the fairest girl in all the North. +Listen, and I will tell you the story of this spell; but remember +it is to you alone I tell it, and never must another know of my +shame." + +"Have you ever known me betray your trust?" + +"Never, Helgi, my brother, or you would not hear this tale. To me +it seems the story of six years of my life, though it was scarcely +as many weeks; but I shall make it as brief as I may." + +"The hour is yet early." + +"After the battle, Helgi, I should have been drowned but for that +maid you saw. She saved my life, and that at least I owe her. She +brought me to the abode of her father, the hermit of the Holy +Isle; and there I learned to love her. For six weeks I was no +Viking. I forgot my kinsfolk and my country, forgot all but Osla." + +"Call you not that a spell?" + +"Did you not say yourself that you had known many spells like +that, cast on men by maids? It was the magic of love that +entangled me." + +"Men said the hermit was a wizard." + +"No wizard, Helgi, or he had never let me come there. He was a +moody and fitful old man. I pleased him with my songs, talked to +him of the strange religion he professes--for he is what men call +a Christian--and grew in time to think of him as a friend. +(Verily, I think there must have been magic!) All this while I +spoke no word of love to Osla, though I think she was not +indifferent to me." + +"It was easy to see that." + +"Twice on that island a voice I could not name warned me from +beyond the grave, but I heeded it not. (Can the man have been a +wizard?) One night--it was the night you landed, Helgi--I sat +alone with the hermit. Something had moved him to talk. I remember +now! it was a song I sung myself. He told me a tale of a burning. + +"Helgi, he had hardly begun ere I knew the end, and could name my +warning voice. The tale was the burning of Laxafiord, and the +voice was my brother Olaf's." + +"And the hermit?" + +"Is Thord the Tall, the last of the burners." + +"Is! Then you slew him not?" + +"My dagger was drawn, I was bending towards him, when I heard +without the steps of Osla. I fled--ask me not what I thought or +what I did. Thord the Tall and I both live, and I would know +whether the gods would have it so. Wherefore I meet Liot this +morning." + +"Then you have spared Olaf's burner for the sake of the burner's +daughter?" + +"I had eaten his bread and shared his dwelling for six weeks, and +but for that daughter I had never lived to meet him." + +"He slew your brother, Estein." + +"There is no need to remind me of that." + +"Methinks there is; he still lives." + +"And I still love his daughter." + +Estein turned away as he spoke, and gazed with folded arms over +the grey waters. + +Helgi looked at him in silence; then he went up to his side. + +"Forgive me, Estein," he said, "and let Odin judge you. I love you +too well to be aught but a friend whatever you may do." + +"Helgi! but for you I think I should fall upon my sword." + +His friend tried to force a laugh, but it came hard. + +"Nay, rather seek a sword for Liot Skulison, for I see we are +nearing the holm." + +"I had forgotten Liot," said Estein. "We will loose his bonds, and +let him choose his weapons." + +He found Liot sitting in the waist bound hand and foot. His eye +was as firm as if he had been in his own hall, and he looked up +indifferently as Estein approached. + +"Do you remember me, Liot?" asked his captor. + +"Ay, Estein. You, methinks, are one of the bairns I thought I had +slain. Well was it for you that the Orkney tides run strong. But +the luck has changed, I see; and you were a bold man, Estein +Hakonson, to change it as you did. Why did you not burn us out?" + +"Because I wanted you alone." + +"Ay, torture is a pleasant game for the torturers. How do you +intend that I shall die?" + +"By my sword, if the gods will it. In an hour, Liot, we fight to +the death. Our battle-ground is yonder holm, the weapons you may +choose yourself; and meanwhile I shall loose your bonds, and if +you wish to eat or drink you may." + +A look of blank astonishment came over the Viking captain's face. + +"This is a merry jest, Estein," he said. + +"It is no jest.--Loose his bonds, men." + +Liot gave a shout of joy. + +"Estein," he cried, "you are a brave man, but I think you are +fey." + +"That will soon be seen." + +The Viking's cool indifference gave place to the most exuberant +excitement. Like everybody else he thought that Estein was either +mad or the victim of some enchantment; but so long as he was going +to strike a good blow for life, he cared not how the chance had +come. He called for ale and meat, and with the eye of an old +soldier carefully picked his weapons; while the men around him +muttered to each other that Estein was surely fey. + +All this time they had been sailing eastwards before a light +breeze. The sun had long been up, but the whole sky was obscured +by light clouds, and there was an early morning feel in the air. +Nearly the whole length of the wide and lonely firth that divides +Orkney from the Scottish coast lay behind them, and close ahead +they saw the little island that Grim had chosen for the meeting- +place. When they had reached the holm they anchored the ship close +inshore, and two boat-loads of men were first sent to prepare the +field of battle. Then when all was ready the two combatants, +attended by Helgi and Ketill, were rowed ashore. + +Liot was gay and cheerful as a man going to a feast; while Estein +sat silent in the stern, his thoughts busy with a landing at +another island. + +"You need ale, Estein," said his opponent; "a man going to fight +should be gay." + +"It is more fitting," replied Helgi, "for the man who comes back +to be cheerful." + +"Well said," said Ketill. + +Liot only laughed, and springing ashore before the boat had +touched the rocks, cried,-- + +"I had little thought to have such a pleasant morning. We will +finish what we began before, Estein." + +"Ay, we will finish," said Estein. + +They found a wide ring marked off with stones, and in this the two +champions took their stand. Each was armed with a helmet and a +coat of ring-mail, and bore in his right hand a sword, and in his +left a long, heart-shaped shield. Round their waists another sword +was girded, though there was likely to be little time to draw +this. In height and build they were very equally matched, but men +noticed that Estein moved more lightly on his feet. + +In a loud voice Ketill proclaimed that whoever should withdraw +outside the ring of stones should ever after bear the name of +dastard. + +Then all went outside the circle, and with a shout Liot sprang at +his foe. Estein caught the sword on his shield, and in return +delivered such a storm of blows that Liot got no chance for a blow +in return. He began to give ground, Estein pressing him hotly, his +blade flashing so fast that men could not follow it. It was easily +seen that in quickness and dexterity with his weapon Liot was +inferior to his foe; but with wary eye and cool head he kept well +covered with his shield, shifting his ground all the time. Twice +he was nearly driven over the line, but each time saved himself by +a rapid side movement. + +"I fear that Estein will tire," muttered Helgi. + +"Ay; he has started too hard," replied Ketill. + +It seemed as if they were right. Estein's blows became less +frequent, and Liot in turn attacked hotly. He made as little +impression, however, as Estein, and then by mutual consent both +men stopped for a minute's breathing-space. + +"You seem tired, Estein," said Liot. + +"Guard yourself," was the reply, and the fight began again. As +before, Estein attacked hotly, Liot steadily giving ground. + +"Too hard, too hard! after two sleepless nights he cannot fight +long like this," exclaimed Helgi. + +So thought Liot, and he bided his time with patience. He was +opposed, however, by one of the best and most determined swordsmen +in Norway, and Estein as well as any one knew the risk he ran. He +rained in his blows like a hailstorm; but fast though they came, +he was sparing his strength, and there was less vigour in his +attack than there seemed. He bent all his energies on driving Liot +back on the ring, shifting his ground as fast as his foe, heading +off his attempts to move round, and all the while watching keenly +for an opening. + +"He wins, Ketill! he wins!" cried Helgi. + +"Ay," said the black-bearded captain; "there is little skill we +can teach Estein." + +As they neared the stones, Estein's onset became more furious than +ever; sword and shield had to shift up and down, right and left, +to guard his storm of blows, and all the while Liot was being +driven back the faster towards one place where larger stones than +usual had been used to make the ring. In vain he sprang suddenly +to one side; Estein was before him, and his blade nearly found its +way home. Two paces more Liot gave way, and then his heel struck a +boulder. For an instant he lost his balance, and that moment was +his last on earth. As the shield shifted, Estein's sword came full +on his neck, and it was only the bairn-slayer's body that fell +without the ring. + +"Bring the spades!" cried Ketill--"a fitting enough epitaph for +Liot Skulison." + +His conqueror was already in Helgi's arms. + +"I thought I should have had to avenge you, Estein. My heart is +light again." + +"Odin has answered me, Helgi." + +"And the spell is broken?" + +"No; that spell, I fear, will break only with my death-wound." + +Helgi laughed out of pure light-heartedness. + +"There are fair maids in the south lands," he said. + +"I go to Norway," replied Estein. "I would fain see the pine woods +again." + +That evening they saw the Orkneys faint and far away astern, and +Estein, as he watched them fade into the dusk, would have given +all Norway to hear again the roost run clamorous off the Holy +Isle. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +IN THE CELL BY THE ROOST. + + +On the rocky shore of the Holy Isle, Osla sat alone. The spell of +summer weather had passed from the islands, and in its wake the +wind blew keenly from the north, and the grey cloud-drift hurried +low overhead. All colour had died out of land and sea; the hills +looked naked and the waters cold. + +And Vandrad, the sea-rover, had gone with the sunshine--had gone, +never so Osla said to herself, to return again. + +She rose and tried to give her thoughts a lighter turn, but the +note of the north wind smote drearily upon her ears, and she left +the sea-shore with a sigh. For seven uneventful years she had +found in the sea a friend of whom she never tired, and on the +little island duties enough to make the days pass swiftly by. Why +should the time now hang heavy on her hands? + +She walked slowly to the wind-swept cells. Her father sat within, +the blackness of night upon his soul, the Viking fire now burned +completely out. + +She tried to rouse him, but he answered only in absent +monosyllables. Again she sought the solace of the sea, but never, +it seemed to her, had it looked so cold and so unfriendly. + +"Why did he ever come at all?" she said. + +And so the days went by; summer changed to autumn, and autumn gave +place to winter. For week after week one gale followed another. +For days on end the spin-drift flew in clouds across the island, +salt and unceasing. + +The sea was never silent, the gulls flew inland and the cormorants +sat storm-bound in their caves; brief glimpses of cold and sunny +weather passed as abruptly as they came, and in the smoke of a +driftwood fire Osla plied her needle and followed the wanderings +of her thoughts. + +During all these months the hermit spoke little. So engrossed was +Osla in herself that she hardly noticed how seldom the cloud +seemed to lift from his mind. Never as before did he talk with her +at length, or instruct her from the curious scraps of knowledge +his once acute mind had picked up from sources Christian and +pagan, from the wise men of the North and the monasteries of +southern lands. He never once alluded to their guest, never even +apparently observed his departure, and in her heart his daughter +thanked him for his silence. + +The lingering winter passed at length, and one morning, in the +first freshness of spring, Osla stood without the cell. Presently +her father joined her, and she noticed, though her thoughts were +busy elsewhere, that he wore a strange expression. He looked at +her doubtfully, and then said,-- + +"Where is Vandrad? I would hear him sing." + +Then Osla started, and her heart smote her. + +"Vandrad, father?" she said gently. "He has been gone these eight +months. Did you not know?" + +The hermit seemed hardly to comprehend her words. + +"Gone!" he repeated. "Why did you not tell me?" + +"Surely you knew," she said. + +"Why went he away? I would hear him sing. He used to sing to me of +war. He sang last night. Last night," he repeated doubtfully; +"methinks it was last night. Bring him to me." + +She turned his questions as best she could, and strove to make him +think of other things. With her arm through his they paced the +turf along the shore, and all the while her heart sank lower and +lower. She was in the presence of something so mysterious that +even wise men in those days shrank from it in fear. It was the +finger of God alone, they said, that laid a blight on human minds, +and there before her was His handiwork. + +Yet, had she but known it, this blight had been the slow work of +years. Her father's mind, always dark and superstitious, and +tinged with morbid melancholy, had gradually in these long +solitary years given way more and more before sombre underminings, +till now, with old age at the gates, it had at last succumbed. +Some few bright moments there were at rare intervals, but in all +the months that followed it was but the shattered hull of Thord +the Tall, once the terror of the western seas, that lingered on +the Holy Isle. + +The care of him had at least the effect of turning Osla's thoughts +away from herself. Than sunshine and another's troubles there are +no better tonics. + +Yet it was a dreary summer for the hermit's daughter, and it grew +all the drearier and more lonesome when the long, fresh days began +to shorten, and the sea was more seldom still and the wind more +often high. All the time, the old man grew slowly worse. He sat +continually in his cell; and though Osla would not acknowledge her +fears even to herself, she knew that death could not be far away. +Yet he lingered through the winter storms, and the end came upon a +February evening. All the afternoon the hermit had lain with shut +eyes, never speaking a word or giving a sign. It fell wet and +gusty at night, and Osla, bending over the couch, could hear +nothing but the wind and the roost she knew so well. + +At length he raised his head and asked,-- + +"Are we alone, Osla?" + +"There is no one here but me, father." + +"Listen then," he said. "I have that on my mind that you must hear +before I die. My end is close at hand. I seem to have been long +asleep, and now I know that this wakefulness you see is but the +clearness of a man before he dies." + +He took her hand as he spoke, and she tried to stifle a sob. + +"Not so," she said, while the tears rose so fast that she could +only dimly see his face; "you are better, far better, to-night." + +"I am death-doomed, Osla. Thord the Tall shall die in his bed to- +night, an old and worthless wreck. Once I had little thought of +such a death; and even now, though I die a Christian man, and my +hope is in Christ Jesus, and St. Andaman the holy, I would like +well to hear the clash of swords around me. But the doom of a man +is fated from his birth." + +His daughter was silent, and the old Viking, seeming to gather +strength as he talked, went on in a strong, clear voice. + +"I have heavy sins at my door. I have burned, I have slain in +battle, I have pillaged towns and devastated corn-lands. May the +Lord have mercy on my soul! + +"He shall have mercy, Osla! I am saved, and the heathen I slew are +lost for ever. For the souls of the Christians who fell by this +hand I have done penance and given great gifts, and to-night these +things shall be remembered. To-night we part, Osla." + +She held his great hand in both of hers, and pressed it against +her lips, and in a broken voice she said,-- + +"No, not to-night, not to-night." + +"Ay, to-night," he said. "But before we part you must hear of one +deed that haunts me even now, though they were but heathens whom I +slew." + +"The burning at Laxafiord?" she whispered. + +"Who has not heard of that burning?" he cried. "The flames leapt +higher than the pine trees, the women shrieked--I hear them now!" +He paused, and she pressed his hand the tighter. + +"Father!" she said softly, "father!" But he paid no heed to her, +for his mind had begun to wander, and he talked wildly to himself. + +"Death-doomed I am. Have mercy upon my soul! ......Ay, the wind +blows, a stormy day for fishing, and the flames are leaping--I see +them leap! St. Ringan save me!......A Christian man, I tell +thee...... spare not, spare not! Smite them to the last man!" + +Then he fell silent, and she laid her free hand upon his brow, +while outside the wind eddied and sang mournfully round the cell. +At last his mind cleared again, and he spoke coherently though +very feebly. + +"I am dying, Osla; fare thee well! The box--you know the box?" + +"The steel-bound box?" she answered. + +"Ay, steel-bound, 'tis steel-bound indeed. I took it--" + +He had begun to wander again, but with a last effort he collected +his thoughts and went on,-- + +"Open it. There is a writing. Read, it will tell--promise--I can +speak no more." + +"I promise," she replied, hardly knowing what she said, her heart +was so full. + +There was another brief silence, and then loudly and clearly he +cried,-- + +"Bring up my banner! Forward, Thord's men! Forward!......They +fly!......They fly!" + +The voice died away, and Osla was left alone. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE MESSAGE OF THE RUNES. + + +The story must now come back to Norway. Though Estein had returned +with neither spoil nor captives, the tale of Liot's capture and +the combat on the holm added much to his renown, and no fewer than +six skalds composed lengthy poems on the adventure. There seemed +no reason why the hero of these lays should shrink from talking of +his expedition, and avoid, so far as he could, the company of men. +Gradually strange rumours began to spread. Helgi, who alone knew +the truth, held his peace for Estein's sake, even when the ale +flowed most freely. The others who had sailed with them laid no +such restraint on their tongues, and stories of a spell and an +Orkney witch, vague and contradictory, but none the less eagerly +listened to and often repeated, went the round of the country. The +king at last began to take alarm, and one day he called Earl +Sigvald to him and talked with him alone. + +"What rede can you give, jarl?" he said; "a strange witchcraft I +fear has been at work. When a young man smiles but seldom, broods +often by himself, and shuns the flagon and the feast, there is +something more to be looked for than a loss of men and ships, or +the changefulness of youth." + +"Get him a wife," replied the earl. "He has been single too long. +There is no cure for spells like a pair of bright eyes." + +But when the king spoke to his son, he found him resolutely +opposed to marriage. Hakon loved him so dearly that he forbore to +press the matter, and again he consulted Earl Sigvald. + +"If he will not marry, let him fight," answered the earl. "For a +prince of the race of Yngve, the clash of arms cures melancholy +better than a maid." + +So with the coming of spring Estein cruised in the Baltic, and +carried the terror of his arms far into Finland and Russia. Yet he +returned as moody as before. + +At feasts his spirits sometimes rose to an extraordinary pitch. +For the time he would be carried away as he had never been before. +He would sing, jest, and quarrel; but his jests were often bitter, +and his quarrels gave rise to more talk than his gloom, for before +he had been of an even and generous temper. And when the fit +passed away he was quieter than ever. + +One day he was out hunting on the fells with Helgi. They were +oftener together than ever, and his foster-brother had far more +influence with him than any other man. + +They stood on a desolate hillside a little above the highest pine +woods, examining the tracks of a bear, when Helgi suddenly turned +to him and said,-- + +"Do you not think, Estein, you have moped and mourned long +enough?" + +"They whom the gods have cursed," replied Estein, "have little +cause for laughter. What is there left for me on this earth?" + +"To prove yourself a man; to accept the destiny you cannot alter; +and in time, Estein, to be a king. Are these things nothing?" + +Helgi seldom spoke so gravely, and Estein for a time stood silent. +Then he exclaimed,-- + +"You are right, Helgi; I have acted as a beaten child. Henceforth +I shall try to look on my fate, I cannot say merrily, but at least +with a steady eye." + +As another winter passed, he gradually seemed to come to himself. +He was sadder and more reserved than of yore, but the king saw +with joy that the gloom was lifting. One day in the season when +spring and winter overlap, and the snow melts by day and hardens +again over-night, Earl Sigvald returned to Hakonstad from his seat +by a northern fiord. King Hakon greeted him cheerfully. + +"The spell is lifting, jarl," he said; "Estein is becoming himself +again." + +"That is well, sire," replied the earl; "and my old heart lightens +at the news. But I have other tidings that need your attention. I +have brought with me Arne the Slim, your scatt-gatherer in +Jemtland. The people there have slain some of his followers, +forced him to fly for his life, and refused to pay scatt to a +Norse king. There is work ahead for some of our young blades." + +"They shall see that my arm is longer than they deem," replied the +king grimly. + +Arne told his tale in the great hall before all the assembled +chiefs, and the king's face darkened with anger as he listened. +Every now and then, as he spoke of some particular act of +treachery, or of his hardships and hurried flight, an angry murmur +rose from his audience, and a weapon here and there clashed +sternly. Estein alone seemed unmoved. He stood listlessly at the +back, apparently hardly hearing what was going on, his thoughts +returning despite himself to their melancholy groove. All at once +he heard himself addressed, and turning round saw a stranger at +his side. The man was holding out something towards him, and when +he had caught Estein's eye, he said respectfully,-- + +"I was charged to give this token to you, sire." Estein looked at +him in surprise, and taking the token from his hand, glanced at it +curiously. + +It was a stave of oak, about two feet long, and shaped with some +care. Along one side an inscription was carved in Runes, and as he +read the first words his expression changed and he spelt it keenly +through. The whole writing ran: "An old man, a maiden, and a +spell. Come hither to Jemtland." + +He turned sharply to the man and asked,-- + +"How came you by this? Who sent it to me?" + +"That last I cannot answer," replied the man. "This only I know, +that the night before the Jemtland people attacked us, a man came +to the door of the house where I lodged, and giving me this said, +'Fly, war is afoot,' and with that he left as suddenly as he came. +I aroused my master Arne, and one or two more, and thanks to the +warning, we escaped the fate of our comrades. That is all I can +tell you." + +The message made a sharp impression on Estein's mind. "An old man, +a maiden, and a spell," he repeated to himself. He racked his +brains, but he could think of no one in that remote country who +would be likely to send such a message. It seemed to him to have +an almost supernatural import, and again he said to himself, "An +old man, a maiden, and a spell." Then suddenly he took a +resolution, and turning from the messenger stepped into the crowd +who surrounded the king. + +Arne had just finished his tale. There was a moment's angry +silence, and then the king glanced round the host of weather- +beaten Vikings and high-born chiefs and cried,-- + +"Who will punish these cowardly rebels of mine?" + +A dozen voices instantly claimed the service. Loudest of them all +was that of Ketill, now married to a wealthy widow and a person of +considerable importance, and the black-bearded Viking stepped +forward as he spoke. + +"Give me this service, king," he said. "I have lived at mine ease +too long of late. Laziness begets fat." + +There was a laugh at Ketill's words, for his person had never been +noted for its spareness. + +The Viking frowned and exclaimed,-- + +"Let those laugh who have tested my steel." + +"Well I know your bravery, Ketill," began the king, "and there is +no man--" + +At that instant the ring of men round him suddenly opened and +Estein stood before his father. His face was more animated than +any had seen it for many a long day, and in a firm voice he said,- +- + +"I will lead this expedition." + +Steel rang on steel as every armed warrior there clashed his +approval. By all the gods whose names he could remember Earl +Sigvald swore that the true Estein was come back, and King Hakon +exclaimed joyfully,-- + +"There speaks my son at last. Prepare yourself then, Estein. Ill +tidings have been changed to good." + +"And you, Ketill," said Estein, turning to his former companion, +"will you come with me?" + +"That will I," answered Ketill. "I want no braver leader. But the +gods curse me if we roast not a few score men this time, Estein." + +For two days there was a turmoil of preparation round Hakonstad, +and on the third Estein's two warships sailed down the fiord. He +had with him Helgi, Ketill, and a picked force; and as he stood on +deck and watched the towering precipices slip by, and the white +clouds drift over their rough rim of pines, his heart beat high. +The message of the Runes was ringing in his mind, and the spirit +of roving and adventure boiling up again. + +They sailed far up the coast, and then, leaving their ship in a +northern fiord, struck inland across the mountains. The country +they were going to lay among the lakes of North Sweden. Its people +were more barbarous than the Norwegians, and had long been in a +state of half-subjection to the Norse kings. There was not likely +to be hard fighting; for small as Estein's force was, the natives +were badly armed and little esteemed as warriors. The country, +however, was difficult, so the men marched warily, their arms +ready for instant use, and a sharp watch kept all the time. The +sun came out hot by day, but at nights it felt very cold and +frosty. With all the haste they could make they pushed on by the +least frequented routes and the most desolate places. During the +first day after they had crossed the mountains, they only saw one +farmhouse, in a forest clearing, and that, when they came up to +it, was still and deserted. On the following day they passed a +small hamlet on the banks of a river, and a little later another +farm. In neither was there a sign of an inhabitant to be seen, and +they seemed for all the world like dwellings of the dead. + +"This is passing strange," said Helgi. "Unless, perhaps, the +Jemtlanders spend the winter in holes and caves, like the bears +they resemble in all but courage." + +"The alarm has spread, I fear," answered Estein. "We must make the +more haste." + +"Ay," said Ketill; "on, on!" + +Towards evening the head of the column emerged into a small +clearing, and the foster-brothers, who were marching in the +middle, heard a cry from the van. Then Ketill's gruff voice called +out,-- + +"After him! Nay, slay him not! Have you got him? Ay, bring the +knave to Estein." + +The little army came to a halt, and a poor-looking man, clad in a +skin coat, and trembling violently as they dragged him along, was +brought before Estein. + +"Spare my life, noble captain!" he pleaded, casting himself on his +knees. "I am but a poor man, I beseech you." + +"Silence, rascal!" thundered Ketill, "or we will have your +coward's tongue out by the root." + +"Tell me, if you value your life, what means this solitude?" +Estein demanded sternly. "Nay, shake not like an old man with +palsy, but speak the truth--if by chance a Jemtlander knows what +truth is. Where are the people?" + +"Noble earl, they have heard of your coming, and fled. No man will +await you; you will see none in the country." + +"Do none mean to fight?" asked Helgi. + +"Great prince," replied the fellow, "the Jemtlanders were never a +warlike race. Even the king, I hear, is prepared to fly." + +A contemptuous murmur rose from the Norsemen. + +"Let us begin by hanging this man," said Ketill, "and then fire, +fire through the country!" + +"I shall see first whether he has spoken the truth," answered +Estein. "Bind him, and bring him on." + +The man was bound and guarded, and the march was continued. Early +the next morning two men were found together in a cottage, and +they told the same tale. + +"Little glory is there in marching against such a people," said +Estein. "Bind them, and hasten on." + +About an hour later the little army emerged from a hillside +forest, and saw below them a small merchant town. The rude wooden +houses straggled along the edge of a great frozen lake, whose +snow-powdered surface stretched for miles and miles in an unbroken +sheet of dazzling whiteness. Between the shores and the outskirts +of the woodlands lay a wide sweep of cultivated country. +Everywhere a thin coating of snow covered the ground, and the air +was sharp enough to make the breath of the men rise like a cloud +of steam as they marched in battle order down the slope. + +"There are men in the town!" cried Helgi suddenly. "I see the +glint of the sun on weapons. Thanks be to the gods, we shall have +a fight!" + +"Ay, they are coming out," said Estein. "Halt! we shall take +advantage of the slope, and await them here." + +The men halted, and grasped their weapons, and in expectant +silence their leaders watched a small troop defile out of the +town. + +"Call you that an army?" growled Ketill. "There are barely a score +of them." + +"Ay," said Helgi, with a sigh, "there will be no fighting to-day." + +About twenty men, dressed in skins and fur coats and wooden +helmets, and slenderly armed, had left the town, and now came +slowly up the hill. Their leader alone wore a burnished steel +helmet, and carried a long halberd over his shoulder. Immediately +behind him walked two boys, and at the sight of them Helgi asked,- +- + +"What mean they by bringing boys against us?" + +"Hostages," suggested Estein laconically. + +When this motley company had come within a hundred yards of them, +they stopped, and their leader advanced alone. + +As he drew near to the Norsemen, Estein stepped out a pace or two +to meet him, but they stood so close that Helgi and Ketill could +hear all that passed. They saw that the stranger was a tall, +elderly man with a clever face and a dignified bearing. + +"Hail, Estein Hakonson!" he said. + +"You know my name, it seems," replied Estein, "and therein have +the advantage of me." + +"My name is Thorar," said the chief, speaking gravely and very +courteously, "lawman of this region of Jemtland"--he made a +sweeping gesture with his hand as he said this--"and a friend +hitherto to the Northmen." + +"I know you by repute as a chief of high birth, and one who has +long been faithful to my father. Yet, methinks, it was something +less than faithful to drive his scatt-gatherer from the country +and slay his followers." + +"Blame not me for that, Estein," answered Thorar. "It was done +with neither my knowledge nor consent, and none grieved at such an +outrage more than I. Now, as you see, you have the land at your +mercy; and as an ancient friend of your family and a faithful +servant of my master King Bue, I am come to intercede between King +Hakon and him. Give us peace, Estein; and as you have a grey- +haired father, spare my master the sorrow and the shame you would +bring upon him. What can he do against you? The old spirit of my +countrymen has died out," he added sadly, "and no man dare meet +your force in the field." + +"Is King Bue in the town?" Estein asked. + +"Nay, he could not travel so far; but in his name I bid you +welcome to his feast, if you will accept peace instead of war. If +you will not, then I can only mourn the devastation of my country. +It will be a bloodless victory, Estein." + +"And what compensation does the king intend to make?" + +"What you will; he is powerless." + +"Shall we then march to King Bue?" + +"Alas!" said Thorar, "in these evil days he cannot entertain you +all. Many of his people have fled to the woods already, and--to +tell the truth--he, too, would feel ill at ease if he saw so brave +a force come nigh him; for he is old, and his spirit is broken. +But a following of twenty men or so he will gladly entertain. The +others I shall have feasted here in the town at my own cost, and +with them I shall leave my two young sons"--he indicated, as he +spoke, the two lads. "They are my only children, and them I shall +willingly give you as hostages till your return, that I may save +my country from fire and sword. Though," he added, with a grave +smile, "if men speak truth, Estein Hakonson can make good his +coming or going against most." + +"Be it as you will," replied Estein; "but if--" He paused, and +looked sternly at Thorar. + +"If a king's word and mine are not sufficient, and my only sons +satisfy you not, I can but add my oath--though most men would deem +it needless." + +Thorar spoke with dignity and a touch of haughtiness, and Estein +replied simply and courteously,-- + +"I shall come." + +He turned to Helgi and said,-- + +"No fighting will there be, Helgi; but I have known you welcome +even a feast. What say you?" + +"This snow work and marching call for feasting," replied Helgi, +with a laugh. + +"Then Ketill shall stay here with the rest of our troop, and you +and I, with twenty more, will to the king. Forward, men!" + +"Spare not the ale," added Ketill. + +"A courteous and gallant man is Thorar, for a Jemtlander," said +Helgi to Ketill, as they marched down to the town. + +"Dogs and women are his people," replied Ketill. "They are fit +neither to be friends nor enemies." + +Estein liberated the prisoners they had taken on the march, and +leaving Ketill in charge of the main force and the hostages, he +and Helgi set forth about noon for the seat of King Bue. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +KING BUE'S FEAST. + + +Their way at first took them over a flat, white waste by the +shores of the lake. Estein fell back and let Helgi walk in front +with Thorar; behind those two marched the small band of wild, +skin-coated followers of the lawman; and after them came the mail- +clad twenty, the shields which hung from their backs clanking now +and again as they struck their harness. Last of all walked their +leader. + +Now that the tension of forced marches and weary journeyings +through forest paths was off his mind, his thoughts ran +continually on the Runes. "Come hither to Jemtland," he said to +himself. He had come, and what was to follow? Something he felt +must happen, and though he was curious, he cared singularly little +what it might be. The sun hung high overhead, under foot the snow +crunched pleasantly, and the air was clear and bracing--a day to +inspire an adventurer and a skald. His thoughts began to take a +rhyming turn, and he caught himself repeating his own verses:-- + + "Fare thee well, sweet blue-eyed Osla! + The sea-king must not stay, + E'en for tresses rich as summer + And for smile as bright as May; + But one hope I cannot part from-- + We may meet again some day!" + +"And we shall, Osla!" he exclaimed half aloud. + +He was aroused by hearing the voices of Helgi and Thorar come back +to him clear and cheerfully. A thought struck him. Could Thorar +have sent the message? A moment's reflection assured him that it +was out of the question, but, to convince himself, he went forward +and joined the lawman. + +"Is it far to King Bue's hall?" he asked. + +"The marshes are firm and frozen, and the snow lies nowhere very +deep. We should reach it by nightfall." + +Helgi laughed, and said,-- + +"A flight of wild ducks passed overhead just now, and called to +mind their kinsmen cooked; their kinsmen cooked called to mind the +wherewithal to wash them down; and, in brief, I, for one, shall be +glad to meet King Bue." + +"We have a saying that the king loves a guest who loves his +cheer," replied Thorar with a smile. + +"Know you one of an old man," Estein asked, "and--but I forget it- +-something of a maiden too? I saw it somewhere written in Runes." + +In obedience to an indefinable instinct, he had said nothing of +the token to Helgi, and his foster-brother looked at him in +surprise. The mention of the Runes brought no look of recognition +to Thorar's face. With his grave smile he answered,-- + +"There are many sayings concerning maids, and some concerning old +men; also, if I mistake not, one or two about young men and +maids." + +"Spare Estein those last," cried Helgi lightly. "He thinks himself +old, and never gives maids a thought at all." + +Evidently Thorar knew nothing of the message, and Estein became +silent again. + +They were gradually approaching a dark forest, which stretched +from the edge of the lake inland, and latish in the afternoon they +entered it by a narrow, rutty road. Darkness closed in fast as +they wound their way through the wood. The air grew colder and +colder, till their hands and faces tingled with the frost. Silence +fell upon them, and for some time nothing could be heard but the +occasional clash of steel and the continual creaking of snow and +breaking of dead branches under foot. Then a hum of voices came to +them fitfully, and at last the path opened into a wide glade. + +"We are almost there," said Thorar. "Smile not, Estein, at our +rude hospitality; or, if you do, let our welcome make amends." + +A young moon had just risen above the trees, and by its pale light +they saw a small village at the end of the glade. Many lights +flashed, and a babel of voices chattered and shouted as they +approached. + +"All King Bue's men have not fled, it seems," Helgi said in a low +voice. + +Estein made no reply, but the two foster-brothers fell back, and +placing themselves at the head of their twenty followers, entered +the little village. They found that it consisted of a few mean +houses clustered outside a high wooden stockade. Thorar led them +up to a gateway in this fence, and crying, "Welcome, Estein!" +stood aside to let the Norsemen file in. + +The scene as they entered was strange and stirring. Immediately +before them lay a wide courtyard, in the centre of which stood +King Bue's hall, high and long, and studded with bright windows. +Men were ranged in a line from the gateway to the hall, bearing +great torches. The smoky flames flashed on snow-covered ground and +wild faces, and the branches of black pines outside, making the +night above seem dark as a great vault. All round them rose a +clamour of voices, and a throng of skin-coated figures crowded the +gate to catch a glimpse of the strangers. + +Estein walked first, and just as he came into the court a man, +pushed apparently by the surging crowd, stumbled against him. + +"Make way, there!" cried Thorar sternly, from behind; "give room +for the king's guests to pass!" + +The man hastily stepped back, but not before he had found time to +whisper,-- + +"Beware, Estein! Drink not too deep!" + +As he walked along the line of torch-bearers to the door of the +king's hall, the peril of their situation, supposing treachery +were really intended, came suddenly home to Estein's mind. It was +too late to turn back, even had his pride allowed him to think of +taking such a course. He could only resolve to warn his men, and, +so far as he could, keep them together and near him. Even as he +was still turning the matter over in his mind, he found himself at +the hall door, where an officer of the court, dressed with +barbaric splendour, ushered him into the drinking-room. A +discordant chorus of outlandish voices, raised by a hundred guests +or more, bade him welcome. He walked up to his seat by the king, +and on the spur of the moment could hit on no plan of +communicating with his men. Helgi followed him to the dais, and +with him he just found time to exchange a word. + +"Drink little, and watch!" he whispered. + +"Have you then seen him too?" Helgi replied, in the same anxious +tone. Estein looked at him in surprise, and Helgi, coming close +beside him, added rapidly,-- + +"The last torch-bearer but one was the man we captured in the +forest and freed this morning, and methinks I see another of our +prisoners even now. King Bue's hird-men [Footnote: Bodyguard.] +both, sent--" he had to turn away abruptly, and Estein finished +the sentence under his breath,-- + +"Sent to trap us." + +He took his seat, and glancing round the hall saw his twenty +followers scattered here and there among the crowd of guests. + +"Fool!" he thought, "I have walked into the trap like a child in +arms. The whole country has been prepared against our coming, the +people told to leave their houses, and the king's own hird-men set +as decoys in our path. Can this be the meaning of the Runes?" + +Yet there was no actual proof of treachery, and he could only +watch and listen. And certainly there was noise enough to be +heard. Never among the most hardened drinkers of their own country +had the foster-brothers seen such an orgie. The king, a foolish- +looking old man, evidently completely under Thorar's influence, +became very soon in a maudlin condition; man after man around them +grew rapidly more and more drunk; and all the time they themselves +were plied with ale so assiduously that their suspicions grew +stronger. So far as his followers were concerned, Estein was +helpless. He glanced round the hall now and then, and could see +them quickly succumbing to the Jemtland hospitality. Personally he +found it hard to refuse to pledge the frequent toasts shouted at +him, but at last, when the men near him had got in such a state +that their observation was dulled, he placed his drinking-horn on +his lap and thrust his dagger through the bottom. Then, by keeping +it always off the table, he was able to let the liquor run through +as fast as it was filled, and always drain an empty cup. Helgi had +adopted a different device. His head lay on his arms, and in reply +to all calls to drink he merely uttered incoherent shouts, while +every now and then Estein could see that he would shake with +laughter. + +Suspicious though he was, it came as a shock to Estein to hear his +worst fears suddenly confirmed. Tongues had been freely loosed, +and listening carefully to what was said, he heard the mutterings +of the chief next him take a coherent form. + +"Ay, little they know," he was saying to himself. "Let them drink, +let them drink. Dogs of Norsemen, they came hither to harry our +country, and here they shall stay. Ay, they shall never drink +again, and King Hakon shall look for his son in vain." + +Then the man lost his balance, and rolled off his seat under the +board. He had been placed between Estein and Helgi, and now Estein +was able to lean over to his foster-brother, and, under pretence +of trying to make him drink, whispered in his ear,-- + +"Go out by the far door, and await me outside the court on the +farthest side from the entrance." + +Helgi lay still for a minute, and then rising to his feet, +muttered something about "strong ale and fresh air," and staggered +down the hall with a well-feigned semblance of drunkenness. + +Thorar was sitting opposite, touched with drink a little, but +still alert and sober enough. He glanced sharply at Estein; but +the Viking, looking him full in the face, laughed noisily and +cried,-- + +"Helgi's head seems hardly so strong as his hand, Thorar!" + +For once the lawman was overreached, and with a laugh he drained +his horn and answered,-- + +"I had thought better of you Norsemen." + +The hardest part of the business now remained. To go out in the +same way he knew would excite suspicion; if he delayed too long, +search would be made for Helgi; and there sat Thorar facing him. +He knew that if he could once get rid of him, he had little to +fear from any of the others; and as he thought hard for a plan, +the king, who had for some time been fast asleep, suddenly solved +the difficulty. He woke with a start, saw that the drink was +coming to an end, and cried with drunken ardour,-- + +"More ale, more ale, Thorar! Estein drinks not!" + +Thorar glanced round and saw that no one but himself was capable +of going on the errand. Twice he called aloud on servants by their +names, but there came no answer. Then with a frown he rose and +walked down the hall. + +The high table at which they sat was lit by two great torches set +on stands. While Thorar was still going down the room, Estein, +with a deliberately clumsy movement, upset and extinguished the +one nearest him. Casting a look over his shoulder, he saw the +lawman leave the hall at the far end; and then he rose to his +feet, and making an affectation of relighting the extinguished +torch from the other, put the second out, and in the sudden half- +darkness that ensued, slipped under the board, and ran on his +hands and feet for the door at that end of the hall. No one about +seemed to notice his departure, but just as he carefully opened +the door he thought he saw with the corner of his eye a man slip +out at the far end. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE HOUSE IN THE FOREST. + + +Coming from the warmth and light of the hall, the night outside +struck sharp and bitterly cold. A thin cloud hid the moon, but +there was quite light enough to see that the snow-covered court +was deserted. Only in the shadows of the paling and the end of the +house was it possible for a man to be concealed, and before he +stepped away from the door Estein ran his eye carefully along +both. He could see nothing, and had just stepped forward a pace, +when noiselessly as a phantom a dark form appeared round the +corner of the hall, and without pausing an instant came straight +up to him. He saw only that the man was small, and wrapped in a +cloak of fur; his sword flashed, and he was almost in the act of +striking when the figure held up a hand and stopped. + +"Who art thou?" said Estein in a low voice, coming forward a step +as he spoke, and holding his sword ready to smite on the instant. + +"Estein Hakonson," replied the other in the same tone, "waste not +your blows on friends. Remember the Runes, and follow me. There is +little time for words now." + +He turned as he spoke, and looking over his shoulder to see that +Estein followed him, started for the stockade. For an instant +Estein hesitated. + +"Are you mad?" exclaimed the man; "or do you wish to die here like +a dog?" + +"Lead on," replied Estein, and still holding his naked sword he +followed him across the court. + +The man went swiftly up to the paling, and taking an axe from +under his cloak drove it hard into the wood as high above his head +as he could reach. Then with the agility of a cat he drew himself +up by it, seized the top of the fence, and sat there astride. + +"Quick! quick!" he whispered. "Sheathe that sword, and stand not +like a fool looking at me." + +Estein, though a much heavier man, was active and lithe, and his +guide, as he watched him mount, muttered,-- + +"That is better; we have a chance yet." + +They dropped on the other side, and whispering to Estein to +follow, the man turned to the wood and was about to plunge in, +when his companion seized his arm, and said,-- + +"I trysted here with my foster brother. Till he comes I must +wait." + +The Jemtlander turned on him savagely and answered,-- + +"Think you I have to succour you of my own pleasure? Never had I +less joy in doing anything. If your brother be not here now he +will never come at all. I was not told to risk my life for him. +Come on!" + +"Go, then," said Estein; "here will I bide." + +The man stamped his foot wrathfully, and turned sharply away as +though he would leave him. Then he turned back and answered,-- + +"The gods curse you and him! See you this path opening ahead of +us? Follow that with all the speed you can make, and I, fool that +I am for my pains, shall turn back and bring him after you if he +is to be found. Stare not at me, but hasten! I shall overtake you +ere long." + +With that he started off under the shadow of the stockade, and +Estein, after a moment's deliberation, turned into the path. Never +before had he felt himself so completely the football of fortune. +Destiny seemed to kick him here and there in no gentle manner, and +to no purpose that he could fathom. As he stumbled through the +blackness of the tortuous forest path, he tried to connect one +thing with another, and find some meaning in the token that had +brought him here. Evidently the sender was so far from being in +league with his foes that he made a kind of contrary current, +eddying him one way just when fate seemed to have driven him +another. To add to his perplexities, the disappearance of Helgi +had now come to trouble his mind; he had heard no outcry or alarm, +his foster-brother had time enough to have easily reached the +rendezvous before him, and he felt as he walked like a man in a +maze. + +Suddenly there came a crash of branches at his side, a man stepped +out of the trees, and before he had time to draw a weapon, the +sharp, impatient voice of his guide exclaimed,-- + +"Is this all the way you have made? Your foster-brother has +escaped, or has by this time been captured, I care not which. I +saw him not." + +"But supposing I were more careful of his safety?" Estein +demanded, with a note of anger in his voice. + +"Push on!" replied the other. "The alarm is raised, and neither +you nor Helgi can be found, so perchance he has not yet suffered +for his folly. I came not out to hear you talk." + +He started off as he spoke, and Estein, perceiving the +hopelessness of further search, followed him with a heart little +lightened. + +"If they have not found him yet," he thought, "he has perhaps +escaped. But why did he not wait for me? If he had been alive, he +surely would have met me." + +For some time he followed his mysterious guide in melancholy +silence. There was only room for them to walk in single file, and +it took him some trouble to keep up. Sometimes it seemed to him +that they would leave the path and go straight through the +trackless depths of the wood, with a quickness and assurance that +astonished him. Then again they would apparently fall upon a path +for a time, and perhaps break into a trot while the ground was +clear. + +At last they came into a long, open glade, where a stream brawled +between snow-clad banks, and the vague form of some frightened +animal flitted silently towards the shade. The moon had come out +of the clouds, and by its light Estein tried to scan the features +of his companion. So far as a fur cap would let his face be seen, +he seemed dark, unkempt, and singularly wild of aspect, but there +was nothing in his look to catch the Viking's memory. He said not +a word, but, with a swinging stride, hastened down the glade, +Estein close at his shoulder. + +"Where do we go?" Estein asked once. + +"You shall see what you shall see. Waste not your breath," replied +the other impatiently. + +Again they turned into the wood, and went for some considerable +distance down a choked and rugged path which all at once ended in +a clearing. In the middle stood a small house of wood. The frosted +roof sparkled in the moonlight, and a thin stream of smoke rose +from a wide chimney at one end, but there was never a ray of light +from door or window to be seen. The man went straight up to the +door and knocked. + +"This then is the end of our walk," said Estein. + +"It would seem so indeed," replied the other, striking the door +again impatiently. + +This time there came sounds of a bolt being shot back. Then the +door swung open, and Estein saw on the threshold an old man +holding in his hand a lighted torch. For an instant there passed +through his mind, like a prospect shown by a flash of lightning, a +sharp memory of the hermit Andreas. Instinctively he drew back, +but the first words spoken dispelled the thought. + +"I have waited for thee, Estein." + +"Atli!" he exclaimed. + +"Ay," said the old man. "I see thou knewest not where thy way +would lead thee. But enter, Estein, if indeed after a king's feast +thou wilt deign to receive my welcome." + +He added the last words with a touch of irony that hardly tended +to propitiate his guest. + +"I have to thank you, methinks," replied Estein, as he entered, +"for bringing me to that same banquet." + +He found himself in a room that seemed to occupy most of the small +house. One half of it was covered with a wooden ceiling which +served as the floor of a loft, while for the rest of the way there +was nothing beneath the sloping rafters of the roof. A ladder +reached from the floor to the loft, and at one end, that nearest +the outer door, a fire of logs burned brightly. + +All round the walls hung the skins of many bears and wolves, with +here and there a spear or a bow. + +Atli left the other man to close the door, and followed Estein up +to the fire. + +He replied, either not noticing or disregarding the dryness of +Estein's retort,-- + +"I knew well, Estein, thou wouldst come. Something told me thou +wouldst not linger on my summons." + +"Did you then send for me to lead me into this snare?" said +Estein, his brows knitting darkly. + +"Does one eagle betray another to the kites and crows?" replied +the old man loftily. + +Estein burst out hotly,-- + +"Speak plainly, old man! Keep mysteries for Rune-carved staves and +kindred tricks. What mean this message and this plot and this +rescue? I have left my truest friend and twenty stout followers +besides in yonder hall. I myself have had to flee for my life from +a yelping pack of Jemtland dogs; and for aught I know, Ketill and +the rest of my force may be drugged with drink and burned in their +beds even while I talk with you. Give me some plain answer?" + +Atli looked at him for a minute, and then replied gravely,-- + +"I have heard, indeed, that some strange change had befallen +Estein Hakonson. There was a time when he who had just saved thy +life would have had fairer thanks than this." + +With a strong effort Estein controlled his temper and answered +more quietly,-- + +"You are right. It was another Estein whom you saw before. Bear +with me, and go on." + +He sat down on a bench as he spoke and gazed into the fire. + +"The gods indeed have dealt heavily with thee," said Atli, "and it +is at their bidding that I called thee here." + +"Spoke they with King Bue also?" said Estein, with a slight curl +of his lip, looking all the time at the fire. + +"Nay; hear me out, Estein. I knew that King Hakon would send, ere +long, an avenging force to Jemtland." + +"He was never the man to forgive an injury," he added, apparently +to himself. + +"So, as thou knowest, I sent that token to thee. Then unquiet +rumours reached mine ears; for though I live apart from men here +in this forest, little passes in the country--ay, and in Norway +too--that comes not to Atli's knowledge. I learned of the plot to +treacherously entrap thy force, and though I have long lived out +of Norway my Norse blood boiled within me." + +"Could you not have warned us sooner?" said Estein. + +"Thorar kept his plans secret so long that it was too late to do +aught save what I have done. I sent Jomar to the feast, as thou +knowest." + +Estein's guide had been sitting before the fire, consuming a +supper of cold meat, and paying little heed to the talk, but at +the last words he rose, and throwing the bones on to the flames, +said,-- + +"It was by no will of mine; I bear no love to the Norsemen." + +"Peace!" exclaimed Atli sternly. "Art thou too ungrateful for what +I have done for thee, and fearless of what I can do?" + +"Babble on with this Norseman. I am tired," replied Jomar, and +leaving the fire, he rolled himself in a bear-skin, lay down on +the floor, and in a trice was fast asleep. + +"Say now to me, Estein," continued the old man, "that thou holdest +me guiltless of all blame." + +"Of all, save the snatching of me away from the fate of Helgi," +replied Estein sadly. "Yet I remember that you yourself said that +our ends should not be far apart, so I think you have but delayed +my death a little while." + +"Nay, rather," cried Atli enthusiastically, "believe that Helgi +lives since thy life is safe! I tell thee, Estein, many fair years +lie before thee. By my mouth, even by old Atli, the gods send a +message to thee!" + +His exalted tone, the animation of his face, and the flash of his +pale eyes, impressed Estein strongly. + +"By you?" he inquired with some wonder; "what then have you to do +with me?" + +With the same ringing voice the old man went on,-- + +"Even as over the windows of this poor house there hang those +skins, so over my life hangs a curtain which may not yet be fully +lifted--perchance the fates may decree that it shall ever hide me. +A little, however, I may venture to raise it. Listen, Estein!" + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE MAGICIAN. + + +As he said the last words Atli stooped, and lifting two large logs +cast them on the fire. For a minute he watched them crackle and +spit sparks, bending his brows as he deliberated how he should +begin. + +Then he turned to Estein and said,-- + +"When I saw thee by the shore at Hernersfiord, now some two years +gone, didst thou think then that Atli was a stranger?" + +"I thought so indeed," replied Estein, "though some words you let +fall pointed otherwise." + +"Yet, Estein," the old man said, "when thou wert no higher than +that bench whereon thou sittest, I dandled thee in mine arms, and +those fingers that now clasp a sword hilt, and, if men say true, +clasp it right firmly, played once with my beard. Less snow had +fallen on it then, Estein. Thou canst not remember me?" + +Estein looked at him closely before replying. + +"Nay, Atli, my memory carries me not so far back." + +"So it was," Atli continued; "but chiefly was I the friend of +thine ill-fated brother Olaf." + +"Of Olaf?" exclaimed Estein, with a slight start. + +"Ay, of Olaf. Often have I fought by his side on sea and shore, +and dearly, more dearly than I ever loved man or woman since, I +loved the youth. Thou even as a child wert strangely like him in +features, and as I look upon thee now, there comes back memories +of blither days. Wonder not then that I long was fain to see +thee." + +"Then why came you not to my father's house?" said Estein. "A +friend of his son's would ever be welcome." + +"Thy father and I fell out," replied Atli, "the wherefore I must +still keep behind the shrouding-curtain, but for my present +purpose it matters little. I could not visit Hakonstad; I could +not even stay in the land of my birth. Olaf fell." + +His voice trembled a little, and he paused. Estein said nothing, +but waited for him to go on. Then in a brisker tone he continued,- +- + +"For some years I sailed the west seas; but I was growing old and +my strength was wearing away with the wet work and the fighting, +so I hied me home again." + +"And my father?" asked Estein. "Knew not of my coming," Atli +replied. "Of friends and kinsmen I had few left in the land, but I +had long had other thoughts for myself than the tilling of fields +and the emptying of horns at Yule. Often at night had I sat out. +[Footnote: To "sit out" was a method of reading the future +practised by sorcerers, in which the magician spent the night +under the open sky, and summoned the dead to converse with him.] I +had read the stars, and talked with divers magicians and men +skilled in the wisdom of things unseen. I wandered for long among +the Finns, I dwelt with the Lapps, and learned the lore of those +folks. Then I came to Jemtland, where cunning men were said to +live." + +"Cunning!" exclaimed Estein furiously; "treacherous hounds call them." + +"Cunning, indeed, they are," said the old man, "but not wise. +This Jomar here is held a spaeman by the people." + +He glanced contemptuously at the sleeping figure on the floor. + +"Since I came," he went on, "I have taught him more than he could +have learned in a lifetime here and now, as thou hast seen, he +fears and obeys me as a master. With him I took up my abode, +living in a spot known only to few. Yet my thoughts turned +continually to Norway, and chiefly flew to thee, Estein. I dreamt +of thee often, and at last a voice"--his own sank almost to a +whisper as he spoke--"a voice bade me seek thee. How I fared thou +knowest." + +"I would that I had given more heed to your warning," said Estein +gloomily. + +"It all came true then?" cried Atli. "Nay, there is no need to +answer. Truth I tell, and truth must happen." + +"Have you, then, further rede to give me?" + +"Ay, I have heard of this spell and the sore change that has +befallen thee, and in my dreams and outsittings I have seen many +things--an old man habited in a strange garb, and a maid by his +side. Ha! flew the shaft true?" + +So carried away was Estein by the seer's earnestness, and so +suddenly did his last words strike home, that the thought never +occurred to him that this might only be the gossip of his +followers come in time to Atli's ears. It seemed to him an +inspired insight into his past, and he started suddenly, and then +said slowly,-- + +"The shaft indeed flew true." + +"For thy brother's sake I owe thee something," the old man went +on; "I might give weighty reason, but I may not. For thine own I +wish to heal thee, and if I cannot cure this spell there is no man +who can. + +"Wilt thou trust me with the story?" he added, a little dubiously. + +"Ask not that of me," replied Estein. "Tell me what to do, and I +promise I shall follow the rede." + +As if afraid that to ask further questions might weaken the force +of his words, Atli fell at once into his mystic manner again. + +"For long I wrestled with the visions. The faces of the wizard and +the witch" (Estein's look darkened for an instant), "I could not +see, but at last, in the still night-time, there spoke a voice to +me, and I knew it came from the gods. For three nights it spoke. +On the fourth I sat out, and called to me from far beyond the +mountains and the lakes, even from beyond the grave, thy brother +Olaf. He too spoke to me, and every time the purport of the +message was the same." + +"What said the voice?" + +"A ship must cross the seas again." + +The old man repeated the last words low and slowly, and then, for +a little, silence fell upon the pair. Vague and meagre though the +message was, it accorded exactly with Estein's long-suppressed +desires. So entirely did Atli believe in himself and the virtue of +his counsel, that the young Viking was thoroughly infected with +his faith; and then, too, it was that early and suggestive hour +when a man is quickly stirred. + +Estein was the first to speak. + +"I accept the counsel, Atli," he cried, springing to his feet. +"With the melting of the snow I shall take to the sea again, and +steer for the setting of the sun." + +The old seer laid his hand affectionately upon his shoulder. + +"There spoke the brother of Olaf," he said. "And now to sleep. In +the morning I shall send Jomar to warn Ketill, so trouble not +thyself further." + +"If I but knew Helgi's fate," Estein began. + +"Doubt not my words," said Atli. "His fate is too closely linked +with thine." + +He showed the Viking to a pallet bed in the loft, where, worn out +with fatigue and anxiety, he quickly fell asleep. + +It was nearly noon when he awoke, and the sun was streaming +through the attic window. He found Atli in the room below. + +"I have turned sluggard, it seems," he said. + +"Young heads need sleep," replied the old man. "There was no need +to rise before, or I should have roused thee. Jomar has been gone +since daybreak, and till he returns thou canst do naught." + +"Naught?" said Estein. "Have I not got my foster-brother to seek +for? Give me but a meal to carry me till nightfall and I will +away." + +At first the old man endeavoured to dissuade him, but finding he +was obdurate, he finally gave him a cap and coat of wolf-skin to +be worn over his mail lest he should be seen by any natives, a +good bow and arrows, and copious but perplexing directions +regarding the forest paths. As he sallied forth, and followed the +track by which he had come the night before, his plans were vague +enough. To make for King Bue's hall, and, taking advantage of the +woods that covered all the country, spy out what might be seen, +was the hazardous scheme he proposed. Perhaps, he thought, Helgi +might be wandering the country too, and if fate was kind they +might meet. In any case he could not rest in his state of +uncertainty, and he pushed boldly on. He smiled as he glanced at +his garb: the long wolf-skin coat reached almost to his knees, +over his legs he had drawn thick-knitted hose to keep out the +cold, his helmet was hidden by the furry cap, and the only part of +his original equipment to be seen were the sword girt round his +waist and the long shield that hung upon his back. He had been in +two minds about taking this last, but ere the day was done he had +reason to congratulate himself that it was with him. + +Before long he struck the open glade they had gone down by +moonlight, and following it to the end, he found, after a little +search, the opening of another path. This at last divided into two +divergent tracks, and he had to confess himself completely +puzzled. + +"I seem to be the plaything of fate," he exclaimed, after he had +tried in vain to recall Atli's directions; "let fate decide, life +is but made up of the castings of a die," and with that he threw +his dagger into the air, crying, "Point right, haft left!" It +landed on its point and sunk almost out of sight in the snow. +"Right let it be then," he said, and turned down the right-hand +path. + +It had been so dark and their flight so hurried that nothing +remained in his memory of the night before, to show him whither +the way was leading. He only knew that he had wandered for some +time, when a prospect of white, open country began to show in +peeps through the trees ahead. Presently he came to the edge of +the forest, and saw that the cast of his dagger had led him wide +of his mark. A long stretch of treeless country opened out before +him, getting wider and wider in the distance. Near at hand a +narrow lake began, and stretched for a mile or two down the snow- +fields, and, like the greater lake they had passed, it was frozen +and shining white. Less than a hundred yards from him, between the +forest and the water, there lay a small village. A number of men +stood about among the houses, and from their movements and the +presence of two or three sledges he judged that a party must +either have lately arrived, or be on the point of departing. As +nothing further seemed to happen, he made up his mind that they +must be arrivals; and then, seeing little to be gained by waiting +further, he was about to retrace his steps when his attention was +arrested by the appearance of two women. They came out of a house, +and one, the taller of the two, went up to a group of men standing +near, while the other, who looked like a peasant's wife, hung +behind. The look of the first figure caught Estein's eye at once, +and he felt his heart suddenly beat quickly. He could only see her +back as she talked with the men, but every gesture she made, +slight though they were, brought sharply and clearly before his +mind memories of the Holy Isle. + +"By the hammer of Thor and the horse of Odin, this country is +surely bewitched," he muttered. His fancy, he told himself, was +playing him a pleasant trick: he had seen Osla so continually in +his mind's eye, that this girl, for girl she seemed, shaped +herself after his thoughts. That it could be she he loved, there +in the flesh, was almost laughably impossible; yet as she talked, +apparently with an air of some authority, to the men beside her, +the resemblance became at moments stronger, and then again he +would say to himself, "Nay, that is not like her." As the men +gesticulated and answered her their voices came to him +indistinctly, while hers, strain his hearing as he might, he could +not catch. There seemed to be a dispute about something which the +whole party were engrossed in, when suddenly one man gave a cry +and pointed at Estein. Then he saw that in his curiosity he had +stepped outside the shelter of the wood and stood in a space +between the trees. + +At the man's cry they all looked round, and he saw the girl's +face. + +"It is she or her spirit," he exclaimed. + +Instinctively he stepped behind a tree, and at this sign of flight +there was a shout from the men. One shot an arrow, which passed +harmlessly to the side, and then they all came at him. He had only +time to see that more villagers were coming out of the houses, and +that the girl had turned away to join the other woman, when his +wits came back to him, and turning into the path he set off as +fast as he could put his feet to the ground. + +For a time the chase was hot: he could hear the men scattering so +as to cover the wood behind him, and once or twice the leaders +seemed near. Estein was fleet of foot, however, and the wood so +dense that it was hard to follow a man for far, and at last the +sound of his pursuers died away, and he felt that, for the time at +least, he was safe. But he had long left the path, and there was +nothing to guide him save glimpses of the sinking sun, the ice +that showed the north side of twigs and stems, and in more open +spaces the lie of the branches to the prevalent wind. And as he +wandered on, his mind hardly grasped the bearing and significance +of forest clues. Twenty times, at least, he dismissed the +resemblance he had seen as the work of fancy. The girl had been +too far off to read her features, her figure was not really like, +and, most weighty argument, it was out of all reason that she +should be in this land of forests, so distant from her island +home. Still each time he dismissed it the resemblance came back +fresh and strong, to be sent away again. He had lost all idea of +where he was, and the sun had already set, when more by good luck +than by good guidance, the trees grew thinner in front, and he +found himself once more in the glade of the stream. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +ARROW AND SHIELD. + + +It seemed strangely still and fresh in the open glade. The blood- +red glamour of a frosty sunset was fading from the sky as the +daylight died away; all round the wood was populous with shadows; +and over its ragged edge the moon hung pale and faint. + +Estein walked down a little way, and then stopped and listened. He +could hear the stream rumbling over the stones, but not another +sound. Then the far-off howl of a wolf struck dismally on his ear. +Twice it sounded and passed away, leaving the silence more +intense, while all the time the air grew colder. All at once a +dead branch snapped sharply. Estein looked round keenly, but in +the dusk of the pine stems his eye could pick out nothing. For a +minute everything was still, and then a twig cracked again. This +time he could see plainly a man come from behind a tree and stand +in the outskirts of the wood. For a minute they stood looking at +each other. The man, so far as he could discern in the waning +light, wore the native skin coat and cap, and seemed to hold in +his hands a bow ready to shoot. + +Estein quietly drew an arrow from his quiver and laid it on his +bow. Just as he cast his eye down to fit the notch to the string, +there was a twang from the wood; an arrow whizzed, and stuck hard +in his fur cap, stopping only at the steel of his helmet. + +"This archer will deem my fur is of singular proof," he said to +himself, with the flicker of a smile, as he let a shaft fly in +return. He could see his foe move to one side, and heard his arrow +strike a branch. Instantly the man fired again, and this time +struck him on the breast, and the arrow, checked by the ring-mail +beneath, hung from his wolf-skin coat. + +He smiled to himself again, and thought, "Never, surely, has that +bowman shot at so stout a garment. Yet he shoots hard and +straight. I wish not to meet with a stronger archer, and could do +well with a worse one now." And with that he took his shield from +his back. + +His situation was indeed far from safe, and he had to come to some +instant decision. Standing in the open against the snow, he +offered a fair mark, while his opponent among the trees was hard +to see and harder to hit. To try to rush so good an archer, though +risky, would certainly have been his scheme, had he not strongly +suspected that this one man was set as a decoy to tempt him into +an ambush. His blood was up, and he vowed that run he would not at +any cost; and, in fact, flight was far from easy, for behind him +lay the stream, and in crossing he must expose himself. + +It took him but a moment to turn the alternatives over in his +mind, and then he suddenly hit upon a plan. His shield was one of +the long, heart-shaped kind, coming to a point at the lower end, +and covering him down to the knee as he stood upright. He raised +it high, and driving the point hard into the ground, dropped on +one knee behind it. As he stooped a third arrow sang close above +his head and sped into the gloaming. Leaning to one side he fired +again, and an instant later a fourth shaft rang on his shield. +Then came a brief pause in the hostilities, and, looking round the +edge of his fort, Estein could see his foe standing motionless +close under a tree. He soon tired of waiting, however, and +presently an arrow, aimed evidently at what he could see of +Estein's legs, passed within six inches of one knee and buried +itself in the snow beside him. + +"He shoots too well," muttered Estein. "If this goes on I must try +a desperate ruse. I shall have one other shot." + +He rose almost to his full height, fired his arrow, and quickly +stooped again. His enemy was evidently on the watch for such an +opening, for the two bowstrings twanged together, and while +Estein's shaft struck something with a soft thud, the other hit +the Viking hard on the headpiece. + +Throwing up his arms, he reeled and fell flat upon his back. Yet, +as he lay for all the world like a man struck dead, a smile stole +over his face, and he quietly and gently drew his sword. + +"Can my shaft have gone home?" he wondered. Apparently not, for +his foeman left the shelter of the wood, and he could see him walk +slowly across the open. He was clad in a loose and almost +grotesquely ill-fitting garment, seemingly of sheep-skin, and held +an arrow on his bow ready to shoot on a sign of movement. When he +had come within ten or fifteen yards, he suddenly dropped his bow, +drew his sword, and stepped quickly forward. At the same instant +Estein jumped to his feet, and with a shout sprang at him. The +blades were on the point of crossing, when his enemy stopped +short, dropped his point, and then burst into an uncontrollable +fit of laughter. + +"Estein, by the beard of Thor!" he gasped. + +"Helgi!" cried his quondam foe. + +They looked each other in the face for an instant, and then +simultaneously broke out into another fit of mirth. + +"By my faith, Estein, that was a plan worthy of yourself!" cried +Helgi. "But 'tis lucky I fired not at you on the ground, as I had +some thoughts of doing, knowing the trickery of these +Jemtlanders." + +"Two things I feared," replied Estein. "One that you might do +that; the other, that a troop of as villainous-looking knaves as +you now are yourself might hive out of the wood behind you. But +how did you escape last night, and how came you here?" + +"Those are the questions I would ask of you," said Helgi; "but one +story at a time, and shortly this is mine--a tale, Estein, that +for credit to its teller, yoked with truthfulness, I will freely +back against yours or ever I hear it." + +"I doubt it not," replied his friend, with a smile; "you have the +look of one who is high in favour with himself." + +"As I ought!" cried Helgi. "But hear me, and gibe not before the +end. I left that hall, accursed of the gods, and over full, I +fear, of drunken men, in the manner you witnessed. My counterfeit +of drunkenness was so exceedingly lifelike, that even when I got +outside I felt my head buzz round in the fresh air and my legs +sway more than is their wont. 'Friend Helgi,' I said to myself, +'you have drunk not one horn too few if you value your life at its +proper worth.' Upon that I applied a handful of snow to my face, +and thereupon, on counting my fingers, was able to get within one +of the customary number--erring, if I remember rightly, upon the +generous side, as befitted my disposition. But to get on to the +moving part of my adventures--Where do you take me now?" + +"'Tis all right," replied Estein, "I take you to supper and a +fire. They come in my story." + +"Lead on then," said Helgi. "To continue my tale: I walked with +much assurance up to the gateway, singing, I remember, the song of +Odin and the Jotun to prove the clearness of my head. There I +found a sentinel who, it seemed, had lately been sharing in the +hospitality of King Bue. Certain it is that he was more than half +drunk, and so fast asleep that he woke not even at my singing, and +I had to prod him with the hilt of my sword to arouse the +sluggard." + +"Then you woke him!" exclaimed Estein, between amusement and +surprise. + +"How else could I pass? The man leaned so heavily upon the gate, +that wake him I must, for I liked not to slay a sleeping man, even +though he stood upon his feet. He looked upon me like a startled +cow, and said, 'You are a cursed Norseman.' 'It would seem so, +indeed,' I replied, and thereupon ran him through with my blade +and opened the gate. Then a plan both humorous and ingenious came +upon my mind, for my wits were strangely sharp. I laid the man out +under the shadow of the fence, where he could not well be seen +save by such as had more clearness of vision than becomes the +guests of so hospitable a monarch as King Bue, and having stripped +him of his coat and put it round mine own shoulders, I took his +place and awaited your coming." + +"Singing all the while?" said Estein. + +"Softly and to myself," replied Helgi; "for what is becoming +enough in a guest is not always so well suited to a sentinel. +There I stood, stamping my feet and beating my arms upon my breast +to keep the cold away, till I began to think that something was +amiss." + +"Then while I was scaling the wall at one end of the court, you +were guarding the gate at the other!" exclaimed Estein. + +"So it would appear now, though I pledge you my word I had no +thought of such a thing as I watched that gate last night. In +truth, what I had done began to seem to me so plainly the best +thing to do, that I thought you would surely follow my movements +in your mind--so far as drink allowed you, and come straightway to +the gate in full confidence of finding me on duty. I see now that +your plan had its merits, though I still maintain that mine was +the better." + +"Saving only in so far as it left me at the trysting-place alone," +said Estein. + +"And me to shiver at the gate," answered Helgi, with a laugh. +"Well, after a time, which seemed long enough, though doubtless a +shorter space than I thought, the hall door opened, and men rushed +out with much needless uproar. Then, I must confess, I e'en left +my post with all the haste I could, and concealed me in the +outbuildings of a small house close without the gate. The door was +open, but it was so pitch black inside that I knew they could not +see me, though them I saw plainly enough as they stopped at the +gate." + +"Who were they?" asked Estein. + +"The black traitor Thorar, and with him some ten or twelve others, +doubtless all the sober men at the feast. It took them but a short +space to find the dead sentinel; and thereupon Thorar, who seemed +almost beside himself with anger, sent the others off in haste to +intercept our road to Ketill, while he himself ran to collect a +force from the village. Then I bethought me it was well to have +company on the road, so I even joined myself to my pursuers. +Luckily they went not by the open glade, but kept a path well +shaded and very dark, and for the best part of an hour we must +have run together through the wood. + +"At last we reached a solitary woodman's house, and there for a +brief space we paused to inquire of the good man whether he had +seen us pass that way. It was a wise inquiry, and the answer was +such as an entirely sober man might have reasonably expected. The +woodman was in the village at the feast, and his wife, good woman, +had been in bed for the last two hours, and strangely enough had +not seen us. So our brisk lads started off at the run again. But +there we parted company, for I was tired of chasing myself, and +the woman had a pleasant voice, and, so far as I could see, a +comely countenance." + +Estein laughed aloud. "My story will seem a tame narrative after +this," he exclaimed. + +"Did not I say so," said Helgi. "Well, I fell behind, and +presently was knocking up the good woman again, for I said to +myself, 'These dogs will not surely come to this house a second +time, and a night in the cold woods is not to my liking.' So to +make a long story short, I wrought so upon the tender heart of the +woodman's wife that, Norseman as I was, she gave me shelter and +bed, and promised to send me off in the morning before her husband +returned." + +"As most wives would," interposed Estein. + +Helgi laughed. "Fate had decided otherwise," he continued. "Even +as I was eating my morning meal, the goodwife waiting on me most +courteously, the door opened and the husband entered. I saw from +the man's ugly look that all his wife's wiles were lost upon him; +but the dog was a cowardly dog, and feared the game he thirsted to +fix his treacherous teeth in. He had nothing for it but to equip +me with this great sheep-skin coat and cap, and a stout bow and +sheaf of arrows; and then, after a most kindly parting with his +goodwife, I made him set me on my way to Ketill. He liked not the +job over much, yet he dared not refuse, and so we started. I +shrewdly suspected, from my memory of the way I had come +overnight, that he was leading me back to King Bue's hall, and +meant on our parting to put a horde of his rascally fellows in my +way. I cared little, however, for I had mine own ending for our +walk. When we had gone a little way I stopped and said to him,-- + +"'My friend, I am loth to lose your company, but here is the +parting of our ways. Mine I need not trouble you with, but yours +for a space will lead you little further in any direction.' And +with that I bound him firmly to a tree, and left him to think upon +his misdeeds. Since then, Estein, I have wandered through these +forests like a man in a fog, cursing roundly the land and all its +inhabitants." + +"Yet it would seem that it is they who have most reason to +complain of your dealings with them," said Estein, smiling. + +"I would I were well quit of the land," replied his friend. "My +heart felt glad when I saw in the glade a man habited after the +fashion of the natives. 'There will be one less Jemtlander to- +night,' I said, as I laid an arrow on my bow. 'By all the gods, +Estein, I shall laugh whenever I think of it! + +"But tell me your adventures." + +Estein told him shortly what had befallen him, excepting only his +seeing the girl in the village. He had made up his mind that the +resemblance must have been the work of fancy, yet as soon as they +had reached the house of Atli, he took the old man aside, and +asked him,-- + +"Shall I then sail when the snows have melted?" + +"Assuredly," replied the seer; "wouldst thou delay what the gods +and the dead enjoin?" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MIDNIGHT GUEST. + + +Jomar had returned early in the day, and they found him already +wrapped up in his bear-skin fast asleep before the fire. + +"Gave he my warning to Ketill?" Estein asked Atli. + +"Assuredly," replied the old man; "I have never known him fail me, +little though he may have liked the errand." + +"And what said Ketill? Had they been attacked? What news brought +Jomar back?" + +"Let us wake the knave, and ask him," said Helgi; and suiting the +action to the word, he drove one foot sufficiently hard into the +sleeper's side to rouse him with a start. + +"What said friend Ketill?" Helgi went on, careless of the man's +ugly look; "sent he back any message?" + +Jomar answered with a dark scowl, regarding him steadily for a +minute as if to make sure who he was, and then he snapped back +shortly,-- + +"He said he had lost a dog that answered to the name of Helgi, and +would be well pleased if the beast had died of the mange in the +wood," and without another word he rolled over and closed his eyes +again. + +"'Dog!'" cried Helgi. "Hound, I will beat one dog as it deserves!" + +In another instant the Jemtlander would have suffered for his +temerity, had not Atli seized the angry Norseman's arm, +exclaiming,-- + +"Peace, Helgi Sigvaldson! Wouldst thou strike my servant in mine +own house? The man loves not Norsemen, yet has he saved thy +foster-brother's life, and likely, too, those of Ketill and all +his company." + +"Tell us, Atli," interposed Estein, "what he said on his return." + +"Little he told even me," replied Atli, "save that he had seen +Ketill for the briefest possible space, and then returned +straightway home." + +"Did he hear aught of the twenty good men who followed us to King +Bue's hall?" + +It was Jomar himself who replied, though without turning over or +looking at the speaker. + +"Would you have me save them, too, from their fate? I heard naught +of them, and wish only to hear of their deaths. Too many enemies +have I helped already." + +Helgi was about to reply hotly, but Atli checked him with a +gesture, whispering,-- + +"Will not his deeds atone for his words?" + +Low as he spoke, Jomar caught the words, and muttered loud enough +to be heard,-- + +"Would that my words might become my deeds." + +Nothing about the mysterious old man had impressed Estein more +than his extraordinary influence over this strange disciple or +servant, for he seemed to be partly both; and that one who so +loathed and hated the Norsemen could be made to serve his enemies +at a word, seemed to point to a power beyond the ken of ordinary +man. Helgi, too, was evidently struck, for he looked askance from +one to the other, and then fell silent. + +By sunrise next morning, the foster-brothers arranged to start for +Ketill under Jomar's guidance, and little time was lost in getting +to bed. They went up to the loft by the ladder, heard Atli open a +door and evidently enter some inner room, then being very drowsy +after the cold air, shortly fell asleep. + +Yet the night was not to pass without incident. Helgi knew not how +long he had been asleep, when he woke with a shiver, to find that +his blankets had slipped off him. He gathered them over him again, +and then lay for a few minutes listening to the rising wind. As it +beat up in mournful gusts and soughed through the pines, he said +to himself, "The frost has left at last, and thankful am I for +that." He was just dropping off to sleep again, when his attention +was startled into wakefulness by a knock at the outer door. It was +repeated twice, and then he heard Jomar rise with much growling, +and go softly across the floor. There followed a parley apparently +through a closed door, which ended in a bolt shooting back, and +the door opening with a whistle of wind. So far he had been in +that half-waking state when things produce a confused and almost +monstrous impression, but suddenly his wits were startled into +quickness. Among several voices that seemed to talk with Jomar, +his ear all at once caught a woman's. Even the approach of an +enemy could not have made him more alert. He listened keenly and, +with a sensible feeling of disappointment, heard the door close, +the noise cease, and Jomar's steps quietly cross the floor again. +This time, however, they went right to the other end of the room, +and an inner door opened. He thought he caught Atli's tones +answering his sullen servant, and presently he heard two men come +out and go to the outer door. Again, with a blast of cold draught, +it opened, and the talk began a second time. His curiosity was +keenly excited; he could pick out a woman's voice most +unmistakably, and at last he heard the conference come to an end. +The door closed, the party seemed to go away, and then whispering +began in the room below him. + +"The woman has come in!" he said to himself, with a start of +excitement. "Helgi, this matter needs your attention." + +His bed, the outermost of the two, consisted merely of a coarse +mattress laid so far back in the loft that the edge of the +flooring hid all view of the room below. Very softly he proceeded +to throw off the blankets and crawl quietly towards the edge, till +he had gone far enough to get a clear sight of the fire. There he +lay, and smiled to himself at the prospect below. + +The fire had been raked up to burn brightly, and Jomar, as before, +lay fast asleep beside it; but between Helgi and the blaze stood +the old seer and the hooded and cloaked form of a woman. Her face +was hidden, but her back, the watcher thought, promised well. She +was tall, and seemed young, and her movements, as she held out her +hands to the flames, or half turned to address the old man, had +grace and the marks of good birth. They talked so low that Helgi +could catch nothing they said, and even the quality of the girl's +voice only reached him in snatches. + +"A pleasant voice, methinks," he said to himself. "Atli, this +booty must be shared." + +She seemed to be telling a narrative to Atli, who, with folded +arms and deep attention that sometimes passed into suppressed +emotion, looked intently at her, and frequently broke in with some +whispered question. + +The Viking had not been watching very long when the girl's voice +rose a little as she said something earnestly, and Atli, with a +slight movement and a warning frown, glanced up at the loft and +pointed with one finger straight at where Helgi lay. Instantly he +dropped his head, and as quickly as he dared crawled back to bed +again. There was silence for a moment, but apparently they +suspected nothing, for the whispered talk went on again. + +"By valour or guile I shall see that maiden's face," he said to +himself, as he lay revolving possible schemes in his mind. + +At last the whispering stopped, and Atli's step crossed the room +and passed into the inner apartment. The door closed behind him, +and then saying to himself, "Now or never, my friend," Helgi +quietly slipped into his sheep-skin coat, and stepping softly so +as not to disturb Estein or the seer, came boldly down the ladder. + +The girl's look, as he turned at the foot and faced her, stuck in +his mind for long after. Consternation and her sense of the +ludicrous were having such an obvious struggle in every feature, +that after looking straight into her face for a moment, he fairly +burst into a silent convulsion of laughter that shook him till he +had to steady himself by a rung of the ladder. So infectious was +it, that after the briefest conflict, consternation fled the +field, a little smile appeared, and then a merrier, and in a +moment she was laughing with him. And certainly for a man commonly +most careful of his appearance, he cut a comical enough figure, +with his shoeless feet and tangled hair, and the great ill-fitting +sheep-skin coat huddled round him to hide the poverty beneath. + +"I fear my habit pleases not your eye," he said at last, striving +to control his countenance. + +"It is--" she began, and then her gravity for an instant forsook +her again. "It is highly befitting," she said, more soberly and a +little shyly. + +"In truth, a garb to win a maiden's heart; but I recked not of my +clothing, I was in such haste to see the maid," said Helgi boldly. + +She looked at him with some surprise, and just a sufficient touch +of dignity to check the dash of his advances. He saw the change, +and quickly added,-- + +"To be quite honest with you, I knew not indeed that you were +here, and feeling cold I came down to warm me. I should ask your +pardon." + +"Not so," she said; "how could you know that I was here? I have +only just arrived." + +"And I," replied Helgi, "leave early in the morning, though now I +would fain stay longer. So you will soon forget the man in the +sheepskin coat who so alarmed you." + +"But not the coat," she said demurely, her blue eyes lighting up +again. Helgi's vanity was a little stung, but he answered gaily,-- + +"I then will remember your face, and you--" + +At that instant a door opened, and turning suddenly he saw Atli +come from behind a great bearskin that concealed the entrance to +his inner chamber. The old man's face grew dark with displeased +surprise, yet he hesitated for an instant, as if uncertain what to +do. Then he came up to the girl and said,-- + +"Thy chamber is ready for thee." To Helgi he added, "I would speak +with thee, Helgi." + +The girl at once left the fire, and followed him back to the other +room. As she turned away, Helgi said,-- + +"Farewell, lady." + +"Farewell," she answered frankly, with a smile, and went out with +Atli. + +"A bold raid and a lucky one," said the Viking complacently to +himself. "A fairer face and brighter eyes I never saw before. Who +can she be? Like enough some lady come to hear the spaeman's +mystic jargon, and swallow potions or mutter spells at his +bidding. I am in two minds about turning wizard myself, if such +visitors be common. Methinks I could give her as wise a rede as +Atli. But it is strange how she came here; she is not of this +country, I'll be sworn." + +His reflections were cut short by the entrance of Atli. + +"Helgi," said the old man, still speaking very low, "thou hast +seen that which ought to have remained hidden from thee." + +"But which was well worthy of the seeing," said Helgi. + +"Speak not so lightly," replied the old man sternly, and with that +air of mystery he could make so impressive. "Thou knowest not what +things are behind the veil, or how much may hang upon a word. I +charge thee strictly that thou sayest no word of this to Estein; +there are matters that should not come to the ears of kings." + +"I shall say nothing to any one," Helgi answered more soberly. + +"That is well said," replied Atli. "Sleep now, for the dawn draws +nigh, and the way is long." + +Helgi had just got back to the loft and was throwing off his coat +again, when Estein suddenly rose on his elbow and looked at him, +and for a minute he felt like a criminal caught in the act. + +"Have I been dreaming, Helgi?" said his foster-brother, "or--or-- +where have you been?" + +"To warm myself at the fire," replied Helgi readily. + +"Spoke you with any one?" + +"Ay; Atli heard me and came to see whether perchance a thief had +come in to carry away his two Norsemen." + +"Then I only dreamt," said Estein, passing his hand across his +eyes. "I thought I heard the voice of a girl; but when I woke more +fully, it was gone, indeed. It sounded like--but it was my dream;" +and lying down again, he closed his eyes. + +"Should I tell him?" thought Helgi; "nay, I promised Atli, and +after all this is mine own adventure." + +By the time the day had fairly broken, they were away under +Jomar's guidance. + +"Remember, Estein, my rede," said Atli, as they departed. + +"When the snows melt," cried Estein in reply; "and I think I shall +not have long to wait." + +It was a raw, grey, blustering morning, with no smell of frost in +the air, but rather every sign of thaw, and the old man, after +watching the two tall mail-clad figures stride off with their +dwarfish guide hastening in front, closed the door, and turned +with a grave and weary look back to the fire. + +Hardly had he come in when the inner door opened, and the girl +entered hastily. + +"Who was that other man?" she asked. "I saw but his back, and yet- +-" she stopped with a little confusion, for Atli was regarding her +with a look of keen surprise. + +"Knowest thou him?" he asked. "Where hast thou seen him before?" + +"Nay," she answered, with an affectation of indifference, as if +ashamed of her curiosity, "I only wondered who he might be." + +"He is a certain trader from Norway, whom men call Estein," said +Atli, still looking at her curiously. + +"I know not the name," she said; and then adding with a slight +shiver, "How cold this country is," she turned abruptly and left +the room again. + +The old man remained lost in thought. "Strange, passing strange," +he muttered, pressing his hand to his forehead. "Can she have seen +him? Or can it be--" + +His eyes suddenly brightened, and he began to pace the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE LAST OF THE LAWMAN. + + +In silence and haste the three men pursued their way. A thaw had +set in, chill and cloudy; underfoot the snow was soft and melting, +and all through the forest they heard the drip of a thousand trees +and the creaking and swinging of boughs in the wind. As the +morning wore on and they warmed to their work, the two Norsemen +talked a little with each other, but contrary to their wont of +late, it was Estein who spoke oftenest and seemed in the better +spirits. Helgi, for him, was quiet and thoughtful, and at last +Estein exclaimed,-- + +"How run your thoughts, Helgi? on the next feast, or the last +maid, or the man you left bound to the tree? Men will think we +have changed natures if our talk goes as it has this morning." + +"I had a strange dream last night," replied Helgi. + +"Tell it to me, and I will expound it to a flagon or an eyelash, +as the theme may chance to be." + +"Nay," cried Helgi, with a sudden return to his usual buoyancy, +"now that I have my old Estein back with me, I will not turn him +again into a reader of dreams and omens. I am rejoiced to see you +in so bright a humour. Had you a pleasant dream?" + +"Action lies before me," said Estein--"the open sea and the lands +of the south again; and the very prospect is medicine." + +After a time Estein came up to their guide's side, and said,-- + +"It will take us surely longer than you said. We had to travel for +long through open country when we left the town, and we have never +reached the beginning of it yet." + +Jomar gave a quick, contemptuous laugh, and answered shortly,-- + +"Think you then that Thorar brought you by the shortest route? +Those prisoners whom you set free reached King Bue's hall many +hours before you. You are not wise, you Northmen." + +Estein looked for a moment as though he would have retorted +sharply, but biting his lip he fell back again, nor did he +exchange another word with the man. + +It was about mid-day, when, as they were coming down a wooded +slope, Helgi exclaimed,-- + +"Hark! what is that clamour?" + +Jomar too heard the shouts, for he stopped for a moment and +listened keenly, and then started off faster than before. With +every step they took the distant sounds grew louder and the shouts +of men, and even it seemed the clash of steel, could be +distinguished. + +"The attack is made," cried Helgi. "Pray the gods they scatter not +the dogs before we come up." + +Jomar heard him, and looked over his shoulder with a savage +glance. + +"Sometimes dogs bite and rend," he said. + +"Why have they waited so long?" said Estein, half to himself. "The +fools should have fallen on Ketill that very night. I thank them +for their folly." + +They had now broken into a run, and the uproar sounded so loud +that they knew they must be close upon the town. + +"Some one comes," exclaimed Helgi, and just as he spoke a man +dashed past them in the opposite direction, and throwing them only +a startled glance, disappeared among the trees behind. A minute +later two others ran by to one side, and a fourth stopped and +turned when he came upon them. All were Jemtlanders, and Jomar, +when he saw them, cursed aloud, while the Norsemen pressed the +more excitedly forward. + +Thirty yards further and they were at the edge of the wood, +stopping at a spot not far from where the expedition first came +out upon the town. The great lake and the open country lay below +them, white still, but with all the sheen and sparkle off them, +and overhung now by a grey, wet-weather sky. But they took little +note of sky or snow-fields, for their eyes were enthralled by a +more stirring spectacle. + +Over the little town rolled a dense and smoky canopy, and from +each doomed house the flames leapt and danced. All around it the +plain was alive with the signs and terrors of war they saw, black +against the snow, men flying over the open country, turning +sometimes for the woods, or sometimes sliding and running across +the frozen lake, the shouts of the pursuers came to them in a +confusion of uproar, and here and there out over the waste, and +more thickly near the town, the dead lay scattered. The battle was +at an end. Small parties of Norsemen were still driving the +vanquished Jemtlanders before them cutting them down as they fled; +but the main force seemed already to be devoting itself to the +burning and sacking of the town, and Helgi sighed as he +exclaimed,-- + +"Too late after all! the cowardly rabble could not even fight till +we had come to join in the sport." + +Like an infuriated animal Jomar turned upon him. + +"Whelp of a Norseman!" he cried, drawing his dagger and springing +forward, "never more--" + +As he spoke, Estein, who stood between them, had just time to +throw out one foot and bring the Jemtlander flat on his face, his +dagger flying from his hand. After looking for a moment in +astonishment at their fallen guide, his would-be victim burst out +laughing, and picking up the dagger, handed it back to him, +saying,-- + +"I forgot, friend Jomar, that you were so nigh me. You owed me +something, indeed, but try not to pay it like that again, for your +own sake." + +The man took the dagger sullenly and answered,-- + +"I hope never more to see either of you. Go down to the town now, +if you can reach it without losing your way again, and my curse go +with you." + +Without waiting for reply or reward, he left them abruptly, and +disappeared in the wood. "That is a man I am glad to see the last +of," said Helgi, as they started for the town. "It can only be by +black magic that Atli made him serve us." + +"It is strange indeed," replied Estein, thoughtfully. "I have +noted before that a powerful mind has a strong influence on men of +less wisdom, yet like enough there is something more besides." + +When they had come near enough to be recognized, a loud and joyful +shout went up from their men; one after another of the victors ran +out to meet them, and it was with quite a company at their back +that they entered the burning town. In the open market-place, +round which most of the houses stood, they found Ketill, his +armour dinted and smeared with blood, and his eyes gleaming with +stern excitement. At last he had got his burning, and he was +enjoying it to the full. A batch of captives had just been +pitilessly decapitated, their gory heads and trunks were strewn on +the crimson snow, and beside them lay five or six more, their legs +bound by ropes, awaiting their turn. + +Inured though he was to spectacles of blood and carnage, Estein's +mind recoiled from such a scene of butchery as this, and he +replied to Ketill's shout of astonishment and welcome,-- + +"Right glad I am to see this victory, Ketill, and gallantly you +must have fought, but when has it become our custom to slay our +prisoners?" + +"Ay," answered Helgi, "we could well have missed this part." + +"Know you not that the Jemtlanders slew the twenty who followed +you to King Bue?" answered the black-bearded captain. "They slew +them like cattle, Estein; and shall we spare the murderers now? I +knew not also whether you and Helgi had fallen into their hands, +and in case ill had happened to you, it seemed best to take +vengeance on the chance." + +"Then since I need no revenge, let the slaying cease," said +Estein, "though in truth the treacherous dogs ill deserve mercy." + +"As you list," replied Ketill; "yet there is one here who would be +better out of the world than in it." + +As he spoke he went up to one prisoner who was lying on his side, +with his face pressed down into the snow, like one sorely wounded, +and in no gentle fashion turned him over with his foot. + +"Can you not let me die?" said the man, looking up coldly and +proudly at his captors, though he was evidently at death's door. +"It will not take long now." + +"Thorar!" exclaimed Estein. + +"You have named me, Estein," replied the wounded lawman. "I had +hoped to witness thy death, now thou canst witness mine." + +"Treacherous foe and faithless friend," said Estein, sternly, +"well have you deserved this death." + +"Faithless to whom?" replied Thorar. "To my king and master Bue I +alone owed allegiance. Long have I planned how to rid us of your +proud and cruel race, and I thought the time had come. Witless and +confident ye walked into my snare, like men blindfolded; and it +was the doing of the gods, and not of you, that my plan +miscarried." + +"'Witless and confident?'" answered Estein. "Say rather trustful +of pledges that only a dastard would break." + +"The strong and foolish fight with weapons suited to their hands," +said Thorar; "the weak and wise with weapons suited to their +heads." + +"So hands, it seems, are better than heads," put in Helgi. + +"Know this at least," exclaimed Ketill, "your sons have perished +before you. I slew them in the outset of the battle." + +The dying man laughed a ghastly laugh. + +"My sons!" he cried. "Think you I would trust my sons with +Norsemen? Those boys were thralls. They died for their country as +I die," and his head fell back upon the snow. + +"Dastard!" cried Ketill, "you die indeed." + +He raised his sword as he spoke; but Estein caught his arm before +it could descend, saying,-- + +"You cannot slay the dead, Ketill." + +"Has he baulked me then?" said Ketill, bending over his fallen +foe. + +It was even so. The lawman had gone to his last account, his bolt +impotently shot, and his enemies standing triumphantly over him. + +"He at least died well," said Helgi; "when my turn comes may it be +my luck to look as proudly on my foes. But tell us, Ketill, what +befell you here since our parting." + +The burly captain frowned and scratched his head, as though +deliberating how to do a thing so foreign to his genius as the +telling of a narrative. + +"On a certain day you left us," he began. + +"Well told indeed," cried Helgi, laughing, "an excellent +beginning--no skald could do it better." + +"Nay," replied Ketill, frowning angrily, "if you want matter for a +jest, tell a tale yourself. Mine have been no boy's deeds." + +"Take no offence," replied Helgi, still laughing; "tell your deeds +of derring-do, and let Thor himself envy, I will undertake to make +you laugh at mine own adventures afterwards." + +"I will warrant your doings will make me laugh rather than envy," +said Ketill. "But, as I said, you left us, and so we were left +here without you." + +"Nay, Ketill," interposed his tormentor, very seriously, "this +story passes belief, impose not on my youth." + +"How mean you?" exclaimed the black-bearded captain, wrathfully, +his hand seeking his sword hilt. + +"Peace, Helgi," cried Estein, who saw that his good offices were +needed; "and you, Ketill, heed not his jests. He is but young and +foolish." + +"And slender," added the irrepressible Helgi, though not loud +enough for Ketill to hear, and the stout Viking resumed his story, +sulkily enough. + +"So were we left here in this town. Cold it was, with little to +do, so we even broached Thorar's ale forthwith. Presently a man +who had been in the woods came in hastily to tell me he had +disturbed two of these hounds of Jemtlanders spying on the town. +It behoved me then to be careful, and I set guards, and was not +too drunk myself that night. Upon the next morning one came in +with tidings of a man who had left a message for me, though he +would not say who sent him." + +"That would be friend Jomar," said Helgi. + +"I know not his name, but treachery, he said, was determined; and +I stopped all drink thereafter, and there was nothing at all left +then but to play with dice and sleep. A little later this Thorar +came to the town, and would have persuaded me to follow you to the +king; and when I asked for some token he showed me a ring he said +was yours. Mine own mind is not attentive to these gew-gaws, but a +man whose eyes were sharp before a Jemtland axe clove his head +this morning knew it for none of yours." + +"Did you not seize him at once?" said Estein. + +"I was for taking him on the spot, but we spoke without the town, +and he had such a company along with him that after a sharp bout +he got off, though he left three of his lads on the snow. + +"May werewolves seize me if this be not dry work! Ho' there, +bring me a horn of ale." + +As soon as he had quenched his thirst in a long draught, and wiped +his hairy lips with much relish, the narrator went on:-- + +"So at night, as you may think, we kept a strict and sober guard, +and rested in our harness. And well it was; for I had not slept an +hour, it seemed, before the cry arose that the enemy were upon us. +But when they saw we were ready for them, the vermin withdrew to +the woods to gather more force, and it was not till day had well +broken that they ventured out and offered battle. Thereupon I slew +the hostages, set fire to the town, and fell upon them +straightway, and a braver fire and a brisker fight while it lasted +I wish not to see. They were seven to one, at the least, but never +an inch of ground did we give, and never a stroke did we spare. +Methinks," he concluded with a chuckle, "they will remember their +welcome." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +KING ESTEIN. + + +It was on a breezy April morning that the mountains of Sogn came +into view again. A strong slant of south-east wind had driven the +two ships out to sea; and now, as they raced landwards before a +favouring breeze, they saw low down on the horizon one glittering +hill-top after another pierce the morning mist bank. Helgi for the +time had charge of the tiller, while Estein leant against the +weather bulwark, busy with his new resolves. + +"A ship must cross the sea again," he repeated to himself. "The +time for action is at hand, and we shall see what new freak +fortune will play with me. Yet, after all," he reflected, "though +she has pressed my head beneath the tide before, she has always +suffered me to rise and gasp ere she drowned me quite. It all +comes to this: the purposes of the gods are too deep for me to +fathom, so I must e'en hold my peace and bide the passage of +events." + +Helgi had been watching him with a half-smile on his frank face, +and at last he cried,-- + +"What counsel hold you with the seamews? Sometimes I see a smile, +and sometimes I hear a sigh; and then, again, there is a look of +the eye as if Liot Skulison were standing before you." + +"I was filling twenty long ships with enough stout lads to man +them, and sailing the western main again," replied Estein. + +"And whither were you sailing?" asked Helgi. + +"Westward first," said Estein. + +"With perchance a point or so of south--such a direction as would +bring us to the Hjaltland Isles, or, it may be, the Orkneys?" + +"Aided by a wayward wind," replied Estein with a smile. + +"Where, doubtless, it would be well to slay another sea-rover," +Helgi went on, "since they cause much trouble to peaceable +seafarers from Norway. Witches, too, and warlocks dwell in the +isles, men say, and it were well to rid the land of such." + +At this last speech Estein first frowned and flushed, and then +meeting his foster-brother's look, all outward gaiety and lurking +mirth, he laughed defiantly, and exclaimed,-- + +"It may be so, Helgi. Everything I do is ordained already, and it +matters not whither I turn the prow of my ship or what I plan. To +Orkney I go!" + +"Then run your thoughts still on this maiden?" + +"They have run, they are still running, and while I live I see not +what is to stop their course." + +"Remember, my brother, what stands between you," said Helgi, more +gravely. + +"I have not forgotten." + +"And yet you sail to Orkney?" + +"The gods have bidden me cross the seas," replied Estein, "and +they will steer my ship, whatever haven I choose." + +"Go, then," said Helgi, "and while that shrewd counsellor whom men +call Helgi Sigvaldson sails with you, at least you will not lack +sage advice." + +Estein laughed. + +"'Helgi hinn frode' [Footnote: The wise.] shall you be called +henceforth, and Vandrad I shall be no longer." + +They were silent for a time, and then Estein exclaimed,-- + +"We are well quit of that country of Jemtland! Saw you ever so +many trees and so few true men before?" + +"Yet was it not quite bare of good things," replied his friend. + +"What, mean you the woodman's wife?" + +"What else?" said Helgi, and then he fell silent again. + +They reached Hernersfiord towards nightfall, and as they crept up +the still, narrow waters darkness gathered fast. One by one, and +then in tens and hundreds and myriads, the stars came out and hung +like a gay awning between the pine-crowned walls. Ahead they saw +lights and a looming bank of land, and hails passed from ship to +shore and back again. Presently they were gently slipping by the +stone pier, where one or two men stood awaiting them. + +"What news?" asked Helgi. + +The men made no reply, but seemed to whisper among themselves, and +Helgi repeated his question. Just then a man came hurrying to the +end of the pier and shouted,-- + +"Is it then Estein returned?" + +"My father!" exclaimed Helgi. + +"What can bring the jarl here at this hour?" said Estein, +springing ashore. + +He met Earl Sigvald on the pier, and by the light of a lantern he +saw that the old man's face was grave and sad. + +"Steel your heart to hear ill tidings, King Estein," he said. + +The "King" smote upon Estein's ears like a knell, and he guessed +the earl's news before he heard it. + +"King Hakon joined his fathers three days past," said the earl. +"Welcome indeed is your return, for the law says that the dead +must not linger in the house more than five days, and it were ill +seeming to hold the funeral rites with his son away." + +Estein stood like a man struck dumb, and then muttering, "I will +join you again," he started quickly up the pier, and was shortly +lost to view in the darkness. + +"Dear was Estein to his father, and dear the old king to his son. +Deep and burning, I fear, will his sorrow be," said the earl. + +"Fain would I comfort him," replied Helgi. "But I know well +Estein's humours, and now he is best alone for a time." + +They walked slowly up to Hakonstad, the old earl leaning upon his +son's arm, and as they went Helgi told him the tale of the +Jemtland journey. In his interest the earl forgot even the present +gloom, and swore lustily or roared loudly and heartily as the +story went on. + +"May they lie in darkness for ever as dastards and traitors!" he +would cry, or "A shrewd scheme, by the hammer of Thor! An I were +fifty years younger I would have done the same myself, Helgi!" and +then again, "Trolls take me, if this be not enough to make a bear +laugh! What next, Helgi?" + +When his son had finished his relation of the visit to the old +seer, he seemed lost in thought. + +"Atli, Atli," he repeated. "Call you him Atli? I cannot remember +the name. A friend of Olaf Hakonson, said he? I knew of no such +friend. Yet it seems that he spoke indeed as one who had taken +counsel with the gods; and if his words acted, as you say, like +medicine on Estein, his name matters little. Yet it is passing +strange." + +When they reached Hakonstad, Helgi found that many chiefs had +already arrived to take part in the funeral rites and, more +particularly, in the feast with which they always ended. It was +not till almost all had gone to rest that Estein returned, and +then he went straight to his bed-chamber without exchanging more +than the barest greetings with those he found still talking low +over their ale around the fires. + +The next day was spent in preparations for the solemn ceremonies +of pyre and mound, and the great feast which should mark the +reigning of another king in Sogn. The young king himself went +about bravely, seeing to everything but speaking little. Helgi +watched him anxiously, for he feared greatly that this new sorrow +might cloud his mind afresh. In the evening he noticed him slip +from the hall by himself, and rising at once he followed him out +and came to his side as he paced slowly up the night-hushed +valley. + +"Is my company unwelcome?" he asked. + +"More welcome than my thoughts," said Estein, taking his arm. + +"Have the black thoughts returned?" + +"Do what I will, they are with me again," replied Estein. "My +father has died with Olaf unavenged, and now it is too late to +keep my sacred word to him that I would ever follow up the feud. +King Hakon already sits in Valhalla, and knows his son for a +dastard and a breaker of his oaths. While he lived I always told +myself that I would find some way even yet by which I might fulfil +my promise, but now it is too late. It is hard, Helgi, to lose at +once both a father and a father's regard." + +"King Hakon is with Odin," said Helgi, "and knows what he has +ordained. Odin has not told you to cross the seas for naught, and +doubtless King Hakon even now awaits the issue. Never did man do +much with a downcast mind; so first dismiss your thoughts, and +then for the Viking path again." + +"Helgi hinn frode," said Estein, pressing his arm, "you are indeed +a good counsellor. As soon as I can gather force enough we start." + +"And now for a horn of ale, and then to bed," responded Helgi, +cheerful as ever again. + +Ever since the first wild Northmen, pushing westwards to the sea, +had settled in the land of Sogn, its kings had been interred on a +certain barren islet hard by the mouth of Hernersfiord, and on the +morning of the fifth day after King Hakon's death they bore him +out to his last resting-place by the surge of the northern ocean. +His body, clad in full armour and decked in robes of state, was +laid upon a bier on the poop of the long ship that had last +carried him to battle. A picked crew of chiefs and highborn +vassals rowed him slowly down the fiord, while in their wake a +fleet of vessels followed. Estein, arrayed in the full panoply of +war, as though he were sailing to meet his foes, stood out alone +upon the poop like a graven figure, only the hand that held the +tiller ever moving. When they reached the little holm looking out +over the sea, they discovered the foundations of a mound already +prepared, and great heaps of earth beside them, ready to be built +upon the top. All the chiefs and greater men landed with a +sufficient number of spademen to assist them with the work, while +the others lay off in the ships and watched in silence. First, the +vessel in which the dead king lay was drawn up and laid upon the +mound; each chief who had taken an oar hung his shield in turn +upon the bulwarks; the sail, gay with coloured cloths, was +hoisted; the king's standard raised and set in the bows; and then +Estein lit a torch and held it to a heap of fagots underneath. As +the flames mounted higher and the smoke streamed out to sea the +chiefs cast gifts aboard--rings and bracelets of gold and silver, +sharp swords and inlaid axes--that the king in his far-off home +among the gods of the North might think kindly of his friends on +earth. One after another they wished his soul fair speed. Estein's +words were few and unsteady with emotion, and those who heard them +wondered at their meaning. + +"Fare thee well, my father! I will yet keep my promise to thee!" + +Loudest of all cried Earl Sigvald,-- + +"May Odin be as good a friend to thee as thou hast been to me! +Keep me a place beside thee, Hakon. All through life I have been +at thy side, in sunshine and frost, feast and battle-storm, and +soon I hope to follow thee home!" + +At last the flames died down and left but the blackened remnants +of the ship and the ashes of its royal captain. The ashes they +reverently gathered up and placed within a copper bowl, a lid they +made of twelve shield bosses, the gifts were gathered and placed +all round, and then the spademen heaped the mound above Hakon, +King of Sogn. + +With a quicker stroke and tongues unloosed the fleet returned to +Hakonstad. + +"A noble funeral, Ketill," said one chief to the black-bearded +Viking. + +"Ay," replied Ketill, "a burial worthy of King Estein, and a royal +feast we shall have to follow it." + +"Men say he means to set out on a Viking foray, and that before +many days are past," said the other. + +"They speak truth," answered Ketill. "Many a man will he give to +the wolves, and eager am I to sail with him. There never was a +bolder captain than Estein." + +For the next two days the talk was all of the voyage to the south. +Guests were coming in all the time for Estein's inheritance feast, +and many of them--warriors thirsting for adventure and sea-roving- +-declared their intention of following his banner. A braver force +men said had never followed a king of Sogn to war. For three days +the feasting was to reign, and then, so soon as they were ready to +sail, the host should take the Viking path. + +The first night of the feast arrived. The hall was brightly lit +and gaily hung with tapestries and cloths, rich and many-coloured, +and men bravely dressed poured into their places all down the long +rows of benches. The young king sat in his father's high seat, the +highest-born and most honoured guests ranged beside him, and those +of humbler standing in the farther places. First, they drank to +the dead King Hakon, to his various great kinsmen in Valhalla, and +to each of the gods in turn. Then as horns emptied faster toast +after toast was called across the fires, and honoured with shouts +of "Skoal!" that reached far into the night outside. + +Estein, as was his usual custom, drank lightly, and often he would +find his thoughts wandering among the most incongruous events-- +starlight nights in a far-off islet, tossings on distant seas, and +over and over again they would stray to that glimpse of a maiden +in the Jemtland forests. Helgi, in whose blue eyes there danced a +light that was never kindled by water, rallied him on his absence +of mind. + +"Drink deeper, Estein!" he cried. "Laugh, O king! Look, there sits +Ketill, the married man; methinks he looks thirsty. Ketill! drink +with me to your wife." + +"The trolls take my wife!" thundered Ketill, who, it may be +remembered, had espoused a wealthy widow. "That is only a toast +for single men!" + +When the shout of laughter that greeted this speech had subsided, +Helgi turned again to Estein, and exclaimed,-- + +"Then that is the toast for us, King Estein. I drink to your +bride!" + +"Who is she, Helgi?" cried his father jovially. "Name her. I would +that I might see another king married before I die. I saw your +mother married, Estein, and a fair maid she was. The girls must be +less fair now, or a gallant king will not stay single long." + +"I could name one fair maid," said Helgi, glancing at the king, +but in Estein's eye he saw a warning look. + +"I have sterner things to think of, jarl," said Estein. "Five days +from this I hope to be upon the sea." + +As he spoke, one of his hird-men came up to the high seat and +stopped close beside him. + +"What ho, Kari!" cried Helgi, "you are strangely sober." + +"I have a message for the king," replied the man. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE END OF THE STORY. + + +"A boon! a boon!" exclaimed Helgi. "Kari seeks a boon. A wife, or +a farm, or a pair of pigskin trousers; which is it, Kari? Before +you win it you must sing us a stave. Strike up, man!" + +"No boon I seek," replied Kari. "A maiden stands without who seeks +King Estein, and will not come inside." + +"Aha!" laughed Helgi. "Blows the wind that way?" + +"What does she want?" asked Estein. + +"I know not; she would not tell." + +"Tell her to come in," said Earl Sigvald. "Do you think it is +fitting that the king should go out at every woman's pleasure?" + +"That is what I told her, but she said she would see the king +outside or go away." + +"Bid her come in or go away!" cried the earl. + +"Nay, rather ask her what her errand is about," said Estein. + +"And tell her," added Helgi as the bird-man turned away, "that +here sits the king's foster-brother, a most proper person at all +times to hear a maiden's tale, and now most persuasively charged +with ale." + +The man went down the hall again, and Earl Sigvald exclaimed +testily,-- + +"Some thrall's sweetheart doubtless, come to babble her +complaints." + +"Or perhaps the bride come to claim King Estein's hand," suggested +his son. In a minute Kari returned. + +"She will not tell her business," he said, "but begs earnestly to +see the king." + +"Bid her begone!" cried the earl. "The king is feasting with his +guests." + +"Did not her eyes sparkle and her trouble seem to leave her when +she heard the king's foster-brother was here?" asked Helgi. + +"I shall press his claims myself," said Estein, rising from his +seat. + +"Will you see her then?" asked the earl. + +"Why not?" replied Estein. "Perchance she brings tidings of +importance." + +"If you rise at every strange woman's bidding you will have many +suitors," said the earl. + +"That is the lot of a king," replied Estein, with a smile. + +The smile died quickly from his face as he walked down the hall, +and men noticed that he looked grave and preoccupied again. It was +not that his thoughts were running on this unusual summons; as he +passed through the dark vestibule he felt only a little curiosity, +and at the door he paused and looked out idly enough. + +It was a fine starlight night, and down below he could see the +glimmer of the sea, and across the fiord the black outline of the +hills, and nearer at hand he heard the sough of the night breeze +in the pines. Close outside, the tall, hooded figure of a woman +stood clearly outlined, while he himself was obscured in shadow. +At the second glance, something in the pose of his strange visitor +struck his memory sharply. She seemed at first afraid to speak, +and, with rising interest, he said courteously,-- + +"You wish to see me?" + +The girl seemed to start a little, and then she said in a low +voice,-- + +"Are you King Estein?" + +The words were almost lost in the hood that shrouded her head. +They died away to a low whisper; but ere they were gone Estein had +caught the slight flavour of a foreign accent, and for an instant +he was on the Holy Isle again. With a sharp effort he controlled +the sudden rush of emotion they called up, and even altered his +voice to a low, guarded pitch as he answered,-- + +"I am the king." The girl paused for a moment as if to collect her +thoughts, and then she said,-- + +"You had a brother, King Estein--Olaf Hakonson--" + +She stopped again, and seemed to look hesitatingly at him. + +"What of him?" said Estein. + +"He fell, alas, long since. Forgive me for calling him to mind +now, but he is in my story." + +"Well?" + +"Three men were at his death," said the girl, gaining confidence a +little. "Thord the Tall, Snaekol Gunnarson, and Thorfin of +Skapstead. Snaekol and Thorfin are dead long since--may God +forgive them! but Thord the Tall lived to repent of the burning." + +"It was an ill deed," said Estein. + +"He was a heathen man then, King Estein--but I forget, you know +not of Christians." + +"I have heard of them," said Estein, half to himself. + +"As the years drew on he became a Christian, and followed another +God and another creed, and left the world and Viking forays, and +came to a little island of the Orkneys with me, his only child. +For both my brothers fell in battle, King Estein, and now there +are none others left in the feud." + +"How do men call you?" said Estein, asking only that he might hear +her name again. + +"I am Osla, the daughter of Thord the Tall," she answered, drawing +herself up with a touch of half defiant pride. "He was the enemy +of your family, but a lender-man [Footnote: Nobleman.] of high +birth, and a good and noble man." + +"Ay?" + +"He lived in the island," she went on, "for many years, all alone +save for me." + +Estein could not keep himself from asking,-- + +"Alone all the time?" + +"All--save once indeed, when a Viking came by chance, but he left +shortly," and then she continued hastily: "My father thought often +of the burning. Many deeds he had done which he repented of there +in the solitude of the Holy Isle. Yet was he not worse than +others, only he became a Christian, and so they seemed ill deeds +to him." + +"Even this burning?" said Estein, a little dryly. + +"Think not so harshly of him!" she cried. "He was--he was my +father!" + +"I ask your pardon, Mistress Osla. Go on." + +"At length he fell sick, and in the last of the winter storms he +died." + +So far Estein had been listening most curiously, wondering much +what the upshot of it all would be, and keeping a severe restraint +on his tongue. But at Osla's last words he had nearly betrayed +himself. He was on the verge of crying out in his natural voice, +and when he did speak, it was like a man who is choking over +something. + +"Then Thord the Tall is dead?" + +"He died penitent, King Estein," said Osla. "And he left me a +writing--for he had taught me the art of reading on the island-- +and with it much silver, or at least it seemed much to me. The +writing bade me seek King Hakon." + +"Knew he not then of my father's death?" + +"He was then alive," she answered; "for the writing further told +me what I knew not before, that I had an uncle still alive, or +rather whom my father thought was still alive, and first of all I +had to seek him. Else should I have come to Sogn in time to see +King Hakon." + +"What is this uncle's name?" + +"He is called Atli, now," she replied, "but--" + +"Atli, a brother of Thord the Tall!" + +"Know you him?" + +"I have seen him," he answered evasively. "Once he came here. But +how did you find him? He dwells in distant parts, so men say." + +"The writing gave me the direction of one who knew where he could +be found, and so I travelled to a far country--Jemtland it is, +many days from Sogn. Thus it was that when I came here King Hakon +had died." + +"And now you seek me?" + +"You are his son, and my errand deals with you, for the feuds +which were his are now yours," she answered. + +For a moment she paused, and seemed to Estein to look doubtfully +at him, as if half afraid to go on. Then she drew a bag from under +her cloak, held it out to him, and said simply, but not as one who +craved a boon or sought a favour,-- + +"This silver is the price of atonement for the death of Olaf--will +you take it?" + +He took the bag, weighed it in his hand, and answered slowly,-- + +"This is a small atonement for a brother's death." + +She gave a little start back, her pride stung to the quick, and he +heard her breath come fast. + +Suddenly he dropped the bag, stepped from under the shadow of the +door, and cried in his natural voice,-- + +"I must have you too, Osla!" + +She started this time indeed, and for an instant the shock of +surprise took thoughts and words away. + +"Vandrad!" she cried faintly, and then she was trembling in King +Estein's arms. + +"Nay," he said, "no longer Vandrad, but rather Estein the Lucky! +Forgive me, Osla, for deceiving you before; but then, in truth, +fate had treated me so ill that I cared not to have it known that +I was son to the King of Sogn." + +A little later he said,-- + +"So the feud is at an end, and I have found a queen." + +"A queen, Estein?" she whispered. + +"Ay, a queen, worthy of the proudest King of Sogn. And, Osla, do +you know I have seen you since we parted on the Holy Isle? Can you +call to mind a Jemtland village where you halted on your journey, +and a man whom the villagers pursued?" + +"And that--" she cried in astonishment. + +"Was Vandrad; and Atli--" + +"Is Kolskegg, foster-father of thy brother Olaf," said a voice +behind them, and looking quickly round the lovers saw the +venerable form of the seer standing within five paces of them. + +For a moment they were too surprised to speak, and the old man +went on with kindling enthusiasm,-- + +"Ay, Osla, I followed thee up from the ship, and awaited under the +shadow of Hakonstad itself the issue ordained by the gods. King +Estein, when thou wert with me I knew not who were the wizard and +the witch of the Orkneys. My dreams revealed them not. When Osla +came to me that night ye slept in the loft, I hid her coming from +thee, for I knew the race of Yngve forget not the injuries of +their kin. Nor when I knew all did I tell anything to Osla, for I +wished the fates to bring matters to an end as they willed." + +"But why did you tell me nothing of yourself?" asked Estein. + +"I have said the reason. Thy race have long and bitter memories, +and I knew full well that I could not serve thee hadst thou known. +Ay, King Estein, long have I wished to come into atonement with +thee, but my brother's rash deed--done to avenge what he thought +my injuries--brought the blood feud on me. I was banished for mine +own fault, thenceforth Thord exiled me for his." + +Then raising his voice till it rang through the night, he cried,-- + +"But now, King Estein, the ship has crossed the seas!" + +There was a minute's silence after he had finished, and then the +king took Osla by the hand and drew her towards the door, saying,- +- + +"I wish them to see my queen to-night." + +"Let me come to-morrow," she whispered. + +"Go in, Osla," said her uncle, "I bid thee," and so she went in +with Estein to the hall. + +As he led her up to the high seat, dead silence fell on the +guests, and all men gazed in growing wonder. Opposite Earl Sigvald +he stopped, and throwing back her hood, cried,-- + +"You will live to see me married yet, jarl. My southern voyage +shall be changed into my wedding feast. Behold Osla, Queen of +Sogn!" + +Before his father had time to reply, Helgi sprang from his seat +with a shout, and saluting Osla on the cheek, exclaimed,-- + +"First of all King Estein's friends I wish you joy! Do you +remember the sheep-skin coat? I have not forgotten the maiden. +Skoal to Queen Osla!" + +Instantly the shout was taken up till the smoky rafters rang and +rang again; and so the feud ended, though the spell, they say, was +never broken. + +THE END. + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Vandrad the Viking, by J. 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