THEVINLAND 
 CHAMPIONS 
 
 OTTIIIE A.UIJENCRANTZ
 
 -vy
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS
 
 
 
 His eyes showed fire, while his voice was deep.
 
 THE 
 
 VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 BY 
 OTT1LIE A. LILJENCRANTZ 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY THE KINNEYS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 MCMIV
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1904, BY 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 
 
 Published. September, 1904
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 PROLOGUE ix 
 
 PART FIRST 
 THE BROOD OF THE WIND-RAVEN 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 I. CONCERNING ALREK OF THE VIKING CAMPS . . 3 
 
 II. IN WHICH THE BOYS OF THE WlND-RAVEN CON- 
 SIDER THE CHANCES OF FINDING A SKRAELLING . 12 
 
 III. RELATING HOW ONE WAS FOUND ON THE CAPE OF 
 
 THE CROSSES 21 
 
 IV. WHEREIN THE SWORD-BEARER is FURTHER RE- 
 
 MINDED THAT HE HAS BROKEN THE LAW . . 33 
 
 V. THROUGH WHICH THE STORM-GIANT BLUSTERS . 42 
 
 VI. ABOUT THE STRANGE FIND ON KEEL CAPE . . 52 
 
 VII. CONCERNING THORFINN KARLSEFNE, THE LAWMAN . 66 
 
 PART SECOND 
 
 ALREK'S CHAMPIONS 
 
 VIII. AT THE HALL OF THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS . . 83 
 IX. ABOUT THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY WHO WAS 
 
 DROWNED 94 
 
 X. THROUGH WHICH THE CHAMPIONS CHASE VINLAND 
 
 ELK 108
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 XI. TELLING HOW TRADE WITH THE SKRAELLINGS 
 
 CAME TO A MYSTERIOUS END . . . .117 
 
 XII. IN WHICH THE CHAMPIONS FEEL THEIR IMPOR- 
 TANCE 134 
 
 XIII. GIVING THE REASON WHY THE SKRAELLINGS 
 
 FLED 144 
 
 XIV. SHOWING HOW DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK THE 
 
 CHIEF .... 149 
 
 PAET THIKD 
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S PREY 
 
 XV. ABOUT THE FIRE-THAT-RUNS-ON-THE- WAVES . 163 
 XVI. PROVING THAT ALREK'S EMPTY HANDS WERE 
 
 FULL OF POWER ....'.. 176 
 
 XVII. SHOWING HOW THE CHAMPIONS BROKE A THREAD 
 
 IN THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 188 
 
 XVIII. CONCERNING A GRIM BARGAIN BETWEEN THE LAW- 
 MAN AND ALREK 202 
 
 XIX. RELATING THE ADVENTURE WITH THE MEN OF 
 
 THE FOREST 213 
 
 XX. SHOWING HOW THE HUNTSMAN BAGGED HIS 
 
 GAME 226 
 
 XXI. IN WHICH ALREK SWORD-BEARER FACES DEATH . 239 
 
 EPILOGUE 253 
 
 VI
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FACING 
 PAGE 
 
 His eyes showed fire, while his voice was deep 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
 Neither sound nor motion was on his blue lips . . 51 
 She ladled curds from her bowl into the gaping 
 
 mouth 124 
 
 With no other weapon than his bare brown hands . 182 
 
 Vll
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 IT happened first in the history of the New 
 World lands that the Northman Biorn Herjulfsson 
 saw them when he had lost his way in journeying 
 to Greenland. But he lacked the adventuresome- 
 ness to go ashore and explore them. 
 
 Then Leif the Lucky, son of Eric the Red of 
 Greenland, heard of the omission and set out to 
 remedy it. He rediscovered the lands and went 
 upon them and named them, after which he built 
 booths at a place he called Vinland and passed a 
 winter there. 
 
 Next, Leif's brother Thorwald Ericsson came 
 over the ocean ; but his luck was less for he was 
 shipwrecked on one cape and killed on another, and 
 his men returned disheartened. 
 
 He was followed by the third brother, Thor- 
 stein ; but this expedition had no success whatever 
 for they spent a whole summer in wandering in a 
 circle that landed them finally upon the west coast 
 
 ix
 
 PROLOGUE 
 
 of Greenland itself. And here Thorstein died of a 
 plague, leaving his young wife Gudrid to return to 
 the hospitality of Leif at Brattahlid. 
 
 The explorer who came next and who did the 
 most was Thorfinn Karlsefne of Iceland. While 
 he was visiting at Brattahlid he married Gudrid, 
 the widow of Thorstein, and she together with 
 others talked to him so much about the new lands 
 that he resolved upon settling them. In the spring 
 of 1 007 he set out from Greenland with three ships 
 heavily laden and came to Vinland and wakened 
 the sleeping camp to new life. 
 
 This story begins on an autumn day in the sec- 
 ond year of Karlsefne's settlement, and on board 
 the little ship called the Wind-Raven which he had 
 sent out at the beginning of summer to explore the 
 eastern coast.
 
 PART FIRST 
 
 THE BROOD OF THE WIND-RAVEN
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CONCERNING ALREK OF THE VIKING CAMPS 
 
 FOR four days the Wind-Raven had drifted 
 blindfold in a fog, and now the fifth day had 
 dawned with no prospect of release and the 
 explorers were hard put to it for amusement. On 
 the after-deck the helmsman had sought comfort 
 in his ale horn ; spread over the benches below, the 
 two-score men of the crew were killing time with 
 chess games; and the twenty-odd boys who com- 
 pleted the company had turned the forepart of the 
 ship into a swimming beach around which they 
 sported with the zest of young seals. On the 
 murky waves their yellow heads bobbed like so 
 many oranges. The forecastle swarmed with them 
 as they chased one another across it, their wet 
 bodies glimmering moth-like in the gray ness. And 
 the first two benches were covered with those whom 
 lack of breath had induced to pause and burrow 
 in the heaps of clothing scattered there. 
 
 3
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 The center of the group of loungers was a 
 brown-haired brown-eyed brown-cheeked boy re- 
 lating with a grin of appreciation a story of 
 Viking horse-play. The laughter which applauded 
 him ceased only when a lad with a sword 
 approached and set the laughers to dodging 
 thrusts. 
 
 " Your noses are as blue as Gudrid's eyes," 
 the newcomer scoffed, sprinkling them with tosses 
 of his dripping red mane. " Rouse up, Alrek of 
 Norway, and have a bout with me to set your blood 
 to moving." 
 
 The brown-eyed boy looked around without 
 enthusiasm ; and from the others rose a disparaging 
 chorus : 
 
 " There are more chances that you will set your 
 
 own blood to running " " Hallad once had the 
 
 same belief in ' " Perhaps the water has 
 
 blurred the Red-Head's memory so he thinks it was 
 he who won the dwarfs' sword last winter." 
 
 The Red-Haired became also the Red-Cheeked ; 
 he was overgrown and undisciplined and his temper 
 appeared to be hung as loosely as his limbs. " If 
 you allow him to think," he cried, " that we twenty 
 
 4
 
 ALREK OF THE VIKING CAMPS 
 
 Greenlanders are afraid to fight him because he 
 was bred in a Viking camp while we are farm- 
 reared, I will challenge him where I stand." He 
 was swelling his chest as if to devote his next 
 breath to defiance, when he was prevented by Alrek 
 of Norway himself. 
 
 " I will not fight you, but you may have your 
 way about fencing," the young Viking consented, 
 rising leisurely and laying aside his cloak of soldier 
 scarlet. Emerging from its folds, it could be seen 
 that besides his brownness he was distinguished 
 among his companions for the soldierly erectness 
 with which he bore his broad-shouldered thin- 
 flanked young body, and the compactness of the 
 muscles that played under his burnished skin with 
 the strong grace of a young tiger's. 
 
 While he dug up his dwarf -made weapon from 
 the mound of his clothing, the Red One ran up to 
 the forecastle and kicked clear of ropes and gar- 
 ments a space in the center; and the loungers 
 hitched themselves around to face the deck, and 
 joined in elbowing off the swimmers as they came 
 splashing in to see the sport. 
 
 Sport it unquestionably was at the beginning, 
 5
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 for the camp-bred boy set the tune to a tripping 
 measure that made the graceful blades seem to be 
 kissing each other. Back and forth and up and 
 down they went as in a dance, parry answering 
 thrust so evenly that the ear grew to anticipate the 
 clash and keep time to it as to music. But presently 
 this very forbearance nettled the farm-bred lad so 
 that he broke the rhythm with an unexpected 
 stroke. Passing Alrek's guard, it opened a red 
 wound upon his brown breast. He accepted it with 
 a grimace as good-humored as his fencing, but his 
 opponent was unwise enough to let fly a cry of tri- 
 umph. Alrek's expression changed. The next time 
 the Greenlander made use of that thrust, his blade 
 was met with a force that jarred his arm to the 
 shoulder. Under the hurt of it, he struck spitefully. 
 Alrek answered in kind. Slowly, the even beat gave 
 way to jerks of short sharp clatter, separated by 
 pauses during which the two worked around each 
 other with squaring mouths and kindling eyes. 
 
 With the beginning of the clatter, a short old 
 man called Grimkel One-Eye and a long young 
 man known as Hjalmar Thick-Skull, sitting at 
 chess behind the mast, had put down their pieces 
 
 6
 
 ALREK OF THE VIKING CAMPS 
 
 to listen. Now, the discord continuing, old Grimkel 
 left his place and strolled forward to the forecastle 
 steps. Spying blood spots on the Greenlander's 
 white shoulders, he made Alrek of Norway a sign of 
 warning. But the Viking boy did not even see him. 
 
 Over the spectators such stillness had fallen 
 that the scuffle and slap of the bare feet upon the 
 boards sounded with sickening distinctness. The 
 in-drawn breaths made a hiss when, more swiftly 
 than eye could follow, Alrek's blade described a 
 new curve which the other's sword could not meet. 
 To save himself from being spitted, the Green- 
 lander was forced to leap backward. Leaping, 
 his back came against the gunwale with a crash 
 which told that further retreat would be impossible. 
 From the watchers burst a cry, but no recollection 
 relaxed the terrible intentness of the young 
 Viking's eyes as a second time he drew back his arm 
 to speed that lightning stroke. The Red One's 
 rashness would have been his bane if the old man 
 had not sprung upon the deck and caught Alrek's 
 elbow. 
 
 " Do you remember that you are playing? " 
 he growled. 
 
 2 7
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 If he needed an answer he had it in the savage 
 force with which the boy tore himself free, and the 
 fierceness with which he whirled, before the meaning 
 of the words came home to him so that he lowered 
 his point. 
 
 " You guess well," he muttered. " I had 
 altogether forgotten." Half angrily he turned 
 back to the Greenlander. " Why, in the Fiend's 
 name, did you not remind me ? " 
 
 Though much blood from his scratches was on 
 the Red One's body and little was in his cheeks, he 
 still tried to swagger. " I am no coward," he pro- 
 claimed. But on the last word his voice broke so 
 hysterically that Grimkel thought it the part of 
 kindness to interfere, and did so, his kindness 
 masking as usual under gruff severity. 
 
 " You are a fool, which is worse," the old man 
 snapped, pushing him roughly down the steps, 
 while with his head he motioned those below to 
 disperse. " Go put on sense with your clothes. 
 Get dressed, all of you. If you do not do as I tell 
 you, you will feel it." When he had shaken his fist 
 at them once or twice and finally seen himself 
 obeyed, he turned back where Alrek stood drying 
 
 8
 
 ALREK OF THE VIKING CAMPS 
 
 his weapon on a cloak he had thrown around him. 
 " You ! Listen ! I have a warning I want to speak 
 to you." 
 
 " You would do better to warn the Red-Head 
 against stirring me up again," the young Viking 
 returned, still half angrily; but the One-Eyed 
 heard him as a rock hears a wave-splash. 
 
 " Before now, I have reminded you that your 
 father was an outlaw 
 
 "That you have!" Alrek assented. "Six 
 times have I heard the tale since I touched Green- 
 land, though I lived eight years in the camps with- 
 out hearing it once! In Norway, men remember 
 only that my father was the bravest of the Earl's 
 Vikings." 
 
 " In Iceland, they remember that before he 
 became a Viking he was an outlaw," the old man 
 went on inperturbably, " and so like your father 
 are you in looks that every eye is watching to find 
 his unruliness in you. Now what I would tell you 
 is that if you do not bridle this Viking fierceness, 
 you will ruin yourself with Karlsefne." 
 
 The boy uttered a sudden short laugh. " Is 
 it possible that I could get less honor with him? " 
 
 9
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 he jeered; and polished awhile in tight-lipped 
 silence. At last he straightened to meet the other's 
 gaze and his eyes showed fire, while his voice was 
 deep with resentment. " I am Karlsefne's brother's 
 son, but I get less praise from him than his thralls. 
 He notices his dogs more often than he notices me. 
 It is difficult to know what he expects of me. I 
 believe that he hated my father." 
 
 Grimkel rubbed his bristly chin upon his palm. 
 " It cannot be said that Karlsef ne has a fondness 
 for outlaws. So great is his love for the law that 
 he was called ' the Lawman ' before ever the chiefs 
 who came with him on this expedition chose him 
 to be over-chief in Vinland. Yet neither can it be 
 said that he hated his brother. While they were 
 young their love was great toward each other ; and 
 when Ingolf, your father, broke the Iceland law, 
 Karlsefne gave half his property to pay the fine. 
 And when Ingolf died, Karlsefne brought you into 
 his following " 
 
 " Where he shows every day that he holds me 
 in dishonor for being his brother's son," Alrek 
 finished. 
 
 The old man spat over the gunwale with ex- 
 10
 
 ALREK OF THE VIKING CAMPS 
 
 plosive impatience. " Simpleton ! He holds you 
 neither in honor nor dishonor yet. He but waits 
 to see which you will earn." 
 
 Slowly, understanding dawned in the boy's 
 face; turning away he stood kicking at a pile of 
 walrus-hide thongs coiled on the deck before him. 
 
 Grimkel concluded his plea earnestly ; " You 
 cannot say that this is unfair. It lies with you to 
 take whichever you want. For my part, I believe 
 that you will do him credit in every respect. It 
 is because I believe this, and because I loved your 
 father in the days when he was your height and 
 I taught him spear-throwing, that I speak." 
 
 After a while, Alrek said gravely, " I take it 
 as very friendly of you." 
 
 He said nothing further, finishing his rubbing 
 in silence and in silence descending the steps, but 
 his advice-giver needed no more than one eye to 
 see that at last he understood the difficulties of his 
 position. 
 
 11
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IN WHICH THE BOYS OF THE WIND-RAVEN CON- 
 SIDER THE CHANCES OF FINDING 
 A SKRAELLING 
 
 MEANWHILE, something was happening aft. 
 Over his horn the helmsman discovered that a thin 
 place in the fog vail was wearing into a hole, 
 through which could be seen a low coast ending far 
 ahead in a cloud-like hill. 
 
 " The Cape of the Crosses ! " he broke the news, 
 and the word was caught and tossed along like a 
 ball. 
 
 " The Cape of the Crosses ! The last point 
 we must touch at ! " the men cheered as they 
 hurried to get up sail and put about for the open- 
 ing door. 
 
 And the twenty lads, busy settling beltfuls of 
 knives over tunics of deerskin, plunged into such 
 eager anticipation of the joys of the landing that 
 it was no time at all before they were scuffling with 
 
 12
 
 FINDING A SKRAELLING 
 
 the Red One, whose smarting wounds made him 
 particularly perverse. By the time Alrek had got 
 into his tunic and buckled on the beautiful weapon 
 that gave him his nickname of " the Sword-Bear- 
 er," he was obliged to weather a storm of nutshells 
 in order to join the group. It took all the persua- 
 sion of the stout comely fellow called Erlend 
 the Amiable to bring them back to peaceful 
 discussion. 
 
 " We were talking of going ashore to-morrow 
 and considering about whether there is any good 
 chance that Skraellings may be there now," he 
 explained, when he could make himself heard. 
 
 The subject attracted Alrek. Strolling over to 
 the Amiable One's bench, he stretched himself upon 
 it and made his head comfortable on Erlend's gay 
 blue cloak. " Now it had fallen out of my mind," 
 he mused, " that it was here that the inhabitants 
 killed Thorwald Ericsson, when he went up on land 
 and found three boats with three men hiding under 
 each " 
 
 " What is your tongue wagging about ? " Ketil 
 the Glib interrupted. " It was not those men that 
 killed him; he killed all of them but one, who es- 
 
 13
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 caped in a boat. It was the host which that one 
 brought back that shot arrows into him until " 
 He was interrupted in his turn by a piece of sail- 
 cloth which the red-haired boy threw over his 
 head. 
 
 " Gabbler ! He knew that story before you had 
 chipped the shell," the Red One snubbed him. " Go 
 on, Alrek, and say whether you think it is to be ex- 
 pected that we will see any." 
 
 The Sword-Bearer shrugged his shoulders. 
 " You should have the best judgment about that, 
 Brand Erlingsson, for you were visiting your 
 brother Rolf at Brattahlid when Thorwald's men 
 brought back the tidings of his death. You know 
 whether or not it is their belief that Skraelings live 
 on the Cape." 
 
 The Red One who, it appeared, answered also 
 to the name of Brand Erlingsson replied earn- 
 estly. He said that Thorwald's men did not be- 
 lieve that the creatures lived there, but that they 
 inhabited the mainland and only visited the Cape 
 for clams or something ; that the Cape was no more 
 than a thin land-neck, that ended in a kind of 
 cross-bar composed of a beach connecting two hills ; 
 
 14
 
 FINDING A SKRAELLING 
 
 and that it could not possibly have anything of 
 interest on it ; whereas, if they could go on to Keel 
 
 But there the shell shower recommenced, amid a 
 protesting chorus ; " Do not let him get started " 
 " End his noise ! " " He is always sputtering ! " 
 And Strong Domar extinguished the last sputter 
 by a wild whoop as he tossed up his cap in celebra- 
 tion. 
 
 " However it stands, our chance for catching 
 some there on a visit is as good as Thorwald's! 
 Luck be with us ! " he shouted. Whereupon he 
 tossed up his neighbor's cap being much given to 
 good-natured jests of the fists and the jubilee 
 would have been general if it had not suddenly been 
 discovered that Alrek was slowly shaking his head 
 on its blue pillow. 
 
 "Why not?" they paused to demand. 
 
 When he had taken his full time about chewing 
 and swallowing a mouthful of nuts, he told them; 
 " Because we lack Thorwald's energy at the helm. 
 He went ashore so soon after he cast anchor that the 
 men on the Cape did not have time to get away. 
 We shall remain quiet a whole night after we come 
 
 15
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 to anchor. If it should happen that any Skraellings 
 are there, they would have plenty of light to see us 
 by, and the whole night to escape in. Little dan- 
 ger is there that the Weathercock will break the 
 Lawman's order to keep peace with the inhabit- 
 ants ; but if Karlsef ne is to be any better off about 
 news of them, he will find it needful to put a 
 shrewder man at the steering oar." 
 
 The celebration died in mid-air ; no more chance 
 was there of denying the argument than of remedy- 
 ing the fact. What comfort they could get out of 
 blaming the helmsman, they took ; then returned 
 one by one to a gloomy munching of nuts from the 
 store under the benches. In the lull, Brand of 
 Greenland found opportunity to vent the rest of his 
 dissatisfaction. 
 
 " Neither will any good come to us out of these 
 trips, while the Weathercock steers ! " he burst out, 
 shaking the hair from his bright impatient eyes. 
 " These five months, we have gone ashore only when 
 there was no chance for adventure to result from it ; 
 and so have I tired of this trough that I could 
 gnaw the edge of it as a horse gnaws his stall! 
 Sooner than I shall make another voyage under his 
 16
 
 FINDING A SKRAELLING 
 
 leadership, I will paddle back to Greenland in a 
 skin-boat ! " 
 
 The fact that they all agreed with him did not 
 prevent them from jeering through their mouth- 
 fuls. Even his loyal younger brother, Olaf the 
 Fair, showed a merry face under his yellow curls. 
 
 " You speak too small words ! Say that you 
 would build a dragon-ship and have sole power over 
 it," he mocked, then scrambled discreetly out of 
 reach as Brand turned on him. 
 
 " Well -I could! " the Red One defied the uni- 
 verse. " King Half owned a ship and headed a 
 band when he was no more than twelve winters 
 old " 
 
 Jeers cut him short. " King Half! He will 
 liken himself to Olaf Tryggvasson next ! " " You 
 great donkey, you ! " " No calf, with the milk 
 of his kinsman's dairy-farm still in him ! " cried the 
 unoccupied mouths, while the full ones grinned 
 broadly. 
 
 Only Alrek, smiling up at the sky, said whim- 
 sically ; " Give me leave to travel with you when it 
 is built, champion. I should like to be on a ship 
 that would come and go according to my will. For 
 
 17
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 one thing, I should like to go ashore to-night to 
 see Thorwald Ericsson's grave. The Huntsman 
 told me once, when I laughed at his magic, that if 
 ever I stood beside a grave in the noon of night I 
 should know what fear was. It has long been in 
 my mind to prove him a liar, but no other grave 
 than Thorwald's is in the new land. If we were on 
 your ship now " 
 
 "What is to be said against swimming?" in- 
 quired Gard the Ugly, from the bench where he sat 
 weaving fish-nets, for it was a trace of the thrall 
 blood which was in him, that, although he was 
 free, his great hands were always busy with some 
 service. 
 
 " Hallad, Biorn's foster-son, used that expe- 
 dient once, and it can not be said that he is of a 
 bold disposition even if he did go with the Hunts- 
 man this summer. I am willing to try it. We 
 can slip overboard shortly after it becomes dark, 
 and spend the time before midnight in ranging over 
 the beach, I would give a ring to get the knots 
 out of my legs ! Will you do it ? " 
 
 Pulling himself up lazily, Alrek sat a while 
 gazing ahead where a second hazy mass, seemingly 
 18
 
 FINDING A SKRAELLING 
 
 as far away as the horizon itself, was rapidly push- 
 ing out from behind the Cape. 
 
 " Why not ? " he responded at last. " Only, 
 the swimming part is not to my mind ; I find that 
 deerskin dries on me less easily than on deer. Be- 
 cause of what has been told of the shallowness of the 
 harbor, it is unlikely that we shall anchor very near 
 to land; so it is my advice that we take the small 
 boat. We can lower it with little trouble, if there 
 is no moon, while the men are aft drinking their 
 ale." 
 
 He rose as he spoke, and Gard leaped up also 
 and clapped him on the back in token that it was a 
 bargain; at which the scoffers quieted into a sem- 
 blance of interest, and Erlend regarded him with 
 amusement. 
 
 " Suppose it does not happen that you get a 
 chance to tell the Huntsman of your experience ? " 
 he suggested. " I think it altogether unlikely that 
 he will return from his trip to the south country. 
 Will the entertainment be worth the exertion ? " 
 
 Alrek gave him a poke between his well-padded 
 ribs. " A man must risk something if he wishes to 
 avoid getting fat," he answered. Whereat the 
 
 19
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Amiable One came in for his share of gibing; and 
 during it, Gard put his arm through the Sword- 
 Bearer's and drew him forward to look at the land. 
 
 The land was worth looking at, certainly, as it 
 revealed itself bit by bit through the mellow haze 
 of the sunset. Skimming toward it in the path of 
 a breeze, it was not long before the sickle-curve of 
 a harbor had drawn out from behind the Cape. 
 Then the inner of the Cape hills looked out from its 
 hiding place beyond the seaward knoll. Next, a 
 streak of white beach unfolded itself between them. 
 Finally the whole began to take on color, gray 
 giving way to grayish green and brown and red, 
 while the cold gleam along the water's edge warmed 
 into faint yellow. 
 
 So it lay motionless and soundless in the waning 
 light, the sun fading from it in a drowsy smile, as 
 the helmsman ordered the sail to be lowered and the 
 anchor to be heaved overboard, and the little ship 
 settled into her berth with a groan of satisfaction.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 RELATING HOW ONE WAS FOUND ON THE CAPE 
 OF THE CROSSES 
 
 A MEANS to while away a long evening, that 
 was how the pair looked upon the trip as they 
 rowed away from the ship's stem while the crew 
 chatted over their ale horns in the torchlight of the 
 stern. Dreamily enjoying the boat's motion and 
 the rhythm of their oars, they swung through the 
 dusk in contented silence; and only once did their 
 thoughts reach the point of speech. 
 
 " He is knowing in all kinds of weird matters, 
 your countryman the Huntsman," Alrek said, rem- 
 iniscently. " Do you remember the time that he 
 was lost in the unsettled places south of here, and, 
 after looking for him far and wide, we found him 
 lying flat upon a rock, mumbling at the sky ? He 
 said he was making stanzas to Thor, and that it 
 was an answer when a whale came ashore the next 
 
 day " 
 
 21
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " If that is the cheer which Thor has to offer, 
 may I never eat at his house ! " Gard grunted. 
 " So starved was I that I ate a piece the size of my 
 head, and excepting the time of my first storm at 
 sea it has never happened to me before to be so 
 sick ! If Thor gives the Huntsman no better help 
 where he is now, it is likely to go hard with him. 
 It is said that the south country is more full of 
 Skraellings than a goat of fleas. He was a head- 
 strong fool to go there with no more than three 
 men and one small boat." 
 
 Alrek lifted his shoulders indifferently. " If 
 he never comes back, the sea will be no salter for 
 my tears," he answered; and relapsed into silence 
 which was not broken until their nearness to 
 land obliged him to ask a question about the 
 steering. 
 
 If there was a moon, it had stayed sulking 
 somewhere behind something, leaving the world in a 
 dusk which was equally far from light and from 
 darkness. Through the gloom they had been able 
 to steal off with the boat in chuckling security ; now 
 its glimmer was still sufficient to guide them to a 
 landing-place upon the pebble-strewn sand, which 
 
 22
 
 FOUND ON THE CAPE 
 
 ran like a shelf around the base of the seaward hill. 
 Beaching their boat they clambered up the slope, 
 tripping more than once over the fist-big stones 
 which studded it, before they entered breathless and 
 laughing into the grove that crowned the crest. 
 
 " Who cares about seeing, so long as he can 
 feel earth under him ! " Gard cried. And all at 
 once he had dropped upon the leaf-covered ground 
 and was rolling over and over like a horse just 
 freed from a tight girth, while Alrek stretched his 
 cramped muscles in a somersault. 
 
 Something in the fragrance of the damp leaf- 
 mold seemed to intoxicate them. Presently, both 
 were whirling on their hands; and from that they 
 went to jumping, and from jumping to wrestling. 
 The shadows had grown a finger's length before 
 they sank down to get their breath. 
 
 As the grove was nowhere very thick and the 
 sea gale had winnowed the leaves, they had not 
 looked about them long before they made out the 
 objects which gave the Cape its name, the two 
 rude crosses of dead bleached wood rising in the cen- 
 ter of an open space by the sea. Around it, fanlike 
 pine-boughs swayed heavily, and that was all there 
 3 23
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 was of motion; and the only sound that broke its 
 stillness was the splash of waves on the sand below. 
 Between the Crosses, a low mound rounded black 
 against the gray water. Their hearts gave a little 
 throb as they distinguished it Thorwald's grave ! 
 Amid a chattering throng out in the sunlight, those 
 words had not conveyed much ; but here here they 
 took on meaning. Rising silently, the lads groped 
 their way between the pines until they stood be- 
 side it. 
 
 Into Gard's voice there came a note of awe. 
 " Thorwald said this cape looked to be a fine place 
 to live in ; I wonder how he likes it to be dead here ? 
 Strangely still must it seem to him after the bat- 
 tle-din of his life ! And strange feelings must have 
 been in his men's minds when they sailed away and 
 left him here, the only white man on this side of the 
 ocean." 
 
 " He must have found it lonesome to lie here by 
 himself for four winters," Alrek said very gently. 
 " Surely, if he hears our voices, his heart must wel- 
 come the sound. I tell you, Gard, I think I should 
 not be sorry if we found him sitting on his grave 
 when we came back at midnight. If we should tell 
 24
 
 FOUND ON THE CAPE 
 
 him that we are his comrades' sons and relate to him 
 all the news, it may well be that he " 
 
 Gard's hand fell on his arm. " Hush ! " he 
 entreated. " I do not care what any one says on 
 shipboard, but here ! Suppose he should be list- 
 ening and take you at your word ! Brand says that 
 sooner than go into a witch's den as Leif 's English- 
 man did, he would allow his arm to be hewn off, 
 and a witch's temper is more to be depended upon 
 than the temper of a dead man. I am not eager to 
 grasp his bony hand, if you are. Let us go down 
 to the beach But first, I want to find that knife I 
 dropped. Will you feel around that bush-clump 
 where I came down at the last leap, while I look 
 over the slope where I stumbled? " 
 
 " Certainly," Alrek consented ; and picked his 
 way over the uneven ground to the spot where a 
 clump of sumacs fringed the edge of the hill-crown 
 as it sloped down to the beach. Just before he 
 stooped to feel for the knife, however, he paused to 
 look around. 
 
 Seaward, on his left, shone the far-away torches 
 of the ship, a streak of brightness on the gray. Be- 
 low him stretched the beach, its farther end lost in 
 
 25
 
 the looming shadow of a tree-crowned hill he 
 blinked and leaned forward and blinked again. 
 Out of that shadow, a light had seemed to open on 
 him like an eye ! It did not come from the ship ; he 
 glanced over his shoulder to reassure himself. It 
 came from the hill across the beach, a dim unwink- 
 ing eye which up to this time some obstacle had 
 hidden. 
 
 For an instant he thought of ghost-fires, and 
 cold trickled down his spine ; then came a recollec- 
 tion that smote every nerve like a cry, the Skraell- 
 ings ! Some had been trapped and had not yet es- 
 caped, and it was going to fall to him to get sight 
 of them ! To succeed where all the rest had failed ! 
 To be the one to give Karlsefne the information he 
 wanted! What wonder that all recollection of the 
 knife even of Gard was wiped off his brain 
 like breath-mist off a shield ; that he was obliged to 
 press his nails deep into his flesh to get a grip on 
 his excitement! 
 
 " I shall wreck the chance if I go about it 
 hotly," he admonished himself. " It was Karl- 
 sefne's strong command that we do nothing to of- 
 fend them. I must steer it so that I see them with- 
 26
 
 FOUND ON THE CAPE 
 
 out their seeing me, and it is unadvisable to be too 
 slow in acting, either, or they will have made their 
 escape ! " He put his body in motion even while his 
 mind was debating, but it did not render him less 
 cautious. He did not let a finger of him stray be- 
 yond the shadow of the pines, nor did he venture 
 upon the beach until he saw his way clear before 
 him. 
 
 The only objects that offered shelter were the 
 low hummocks, crested with tufts of wiry grass, 
 that stretched in a broken chain between the 
 heights. From link to link of this he crawled, un- 
 obtrusive as a serpent; and when the links were 
 wanting and gaps of glimmering sand lay before 
 him, he ran crouching with the light swiftness of 
 a fox, holding his breath in expectation of arrows 
 hissing about his ears. None came, however, and at 
 last the shadow of the second knoll and its spread- 
 ing tree-crown fell over him like a canopy. There 
 he paused to listen. 
 
 Once, an owl wailed tremulously from a dis- 
 tant tree ; and once, it seemed to him that he heard 
 brush crackle as under a stealthy tread; then all 
 was silence and the swish of breaking waves. Lay- 
 
 27
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 ing hold of a gnarled root that reached down like a 
 writhen arm, he drew himself noiselessly up the 
 slope. Where it flattened to the crest, a clump of 
 sassafras shoots made a fragrant screen. When he 
 had listened and found the quiet still unbroken, he 
 ventured to peer between the sprouts. 
 
 So long did he remain there without moving 
 that the insects he had startled began walking over 
 him in restored confidence. The little nook was 
 empty. Except the patch of embers and a litter of 
 clam shells, there was no sign to prove that living 
 things had ever been there. As a final test, he hung 
 his helmet upon his sword and showed it cautiously 
 above the bushes, and the decoy drew no arrows 
 from the thicket beyond the fire ; the spot appeared 
 to be genuinely deserted. 
 
 It is not too much to say that his disappoint- 
 ment brought him near to tears. " They must 
 have run away as soon as darkness fell," he mut- 
 tered. And pushing into the open, he sent the 
 shells flying before a savage kick. " What Troll's 
 luck!" 
 
 As the words left his lips, the flying shells un- 
 covered a peculiar bowl-shaped basket woven of 
 28
 
 FOUND ON THE CAPE 
 
 reeds. He stooped to it curiously ; then, even as his 
 fingers closed on the rim, he took another step for- 
 ward, staring at the bushes that hedged the further 
 side of the open space. 
 
 " It appears that some one has plunged 
 through here in a hurry," he told himself. " The 
 branches are bent as if Odin ! " 
 
 There was no need of finishing his thought. 
 His eyes had the answer before them, a shaggy fig- 
 ure crouching among the bushes, so motionless that 
 it might have passed for one of them. An instant 
 he also stood motionless, staring back at the eyes 
 that he could feel without seeing; then Viking 
 training flashed two thoughts to his brain, that 
 the creature was aiming at him from the darkness, 
 and that he must lose no time in advancing. 
 Clutching his sword-hilt, he sprang forward. 
 
 After that there was no chance for reflection. 
 For a second the blade stuck; and in the delay a 
 copper-colored arm shot out and fastened on his 
 wrist, while the other copper-colored arm bran- 
 dished a stone hatchet over his head. With his left 
 hand he caught that arm and held it off ; and they 
 swayed, panting, in the firelight that gave him his 
 
 29
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 first glimpse of the foe all sailors yarned about, 
 the bristling black hair and wide-rimmed beast- 
 bright eyes, and the skin of unearthly hue showing 
 under the animal hides of the covering. Under the 
 copper-colored skin, the muscles were like copper 
 wire. Strong as he was, Alrek could not twist 
 aside that wrist above his head. He gave up try- 
 ing, presently, and limited his efforts to freeing his 
 sword-arm. Putting all his force into the wrench, 
 he succeeded at last in loosing it and shooting forth 
 his weapon and that was all that he had to do! 
 At the bare sight of it, darting glittering from its 
 sheath like lightning from a cloud, the Skraelling 
 uttered a yell of terror, dropped the hatchet from 
 his hand and his hands from their hold, and flung 
 himself backward into the darkness. There was a 
 crackling of brush, the spat of bare feet upon sand, 
 and then silence. 
 
 Gradually the Sword-Bearer's amazement gave 
 way to amusement. " He thought it was magic, 
 here is a joke of the Fates!" he breathed. "If 
 Thorwald had but shown them steel, it is likely that 
 he could have put the whole host to flight ! Never 
 could I have wrested the hatchet from him. Now 
 30
 
 FOUND ON THE CAPE 
 
 it is likely that my kinswoman Gudrid will open her 
 eyes when I show her this ! " Bending over the em- 
 bers, he examined the weapon with deep interest; 
 the edge was knife-sharp. " It would have cleft 
 me as if it cut cheese ! " he muttered ; and was 
 laughing in somewhat unsteady congratulation 
 when the sound of feet scrambling up the slope 
 straightened him to greet Gard. 
 
 For a space the Ugly One stared about him, 
 blinking in the firelight; then the eagerness of his 
 swarthy face gave way to bitterest reproach. 
 
 " You scared them away before I had a chance 
 to see them?" he cried. " Slipped away, because 
 my back was turned, and got all the sport for your- 
 self? Never would I have believed it of you! 
 Never " 
 
 Alrek threw up his hands in honest compunc- 
 tion. " Gard, I beg of you to forgive me ! It is 
 the truth that when I saw the light, I forgot that 
 you were alive. And I feared the Skraellings would 
 get away before I could see them. I intended only 
 to creep up and look, without " He broke off 
 and stood with his mouth open, staring at the other. 
 
 Involuntarily, Gard whirled to dart a glance 
 31
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 over his shoulder; and finding nothing, cried out, 
 sharply ; " What ails you ? Have you got out of 
 your wits ? " 
 
 Alrek regained his self-control with a short 
 laugh. " I think I have," he answered. " Do you 
 know another thing besides yourself that I forgot? 
 I forgot Karlsefne's command to keep the peace."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 WHEREIN THE SWORD-BEARER IS FURTHER RE- 
 MINDED THAT HE HAS BROKEN THE LAW 
 
 THE return to the Wind-Raven was even fuller 
 of thought than the departure from it had been; 
 though once Gard broke out in lamentation: 
 
 " If you had only allowed me to have part in 
 the fun, 7 should have remembered." 
 
 Although his shoulders remained square-set 
 against the gray of the night, Alrek's silence was 
 so full of skepticism that the other blushed and 
 hastened to speak of something else: 
 
 " Why are you so bold as to tell of this ? It 
 seems to me sufficient to say only that you found 
 the hatchet on the ground." 
 
 " The Weathercock must be warned," Alrek 
 said briefly. " Do you not see that this Skraelling 
 may bring back a host, as happened to Thor- 
 wald? " 
 
 Apparently Gard saw, for he did not speak 
 33
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 again. The silence lasted unbroken until they 
 glided under the ship's prow, and a chorus of sup- 
 pressed greetings came down to them. 
 
 " Hail, explorers ! What luck ? " " It seems 
 that your stay was short " " Was Thorwald 
 lacking in hospitality?" the voices laughed, while 
 the hands reached down to pull them aboard and as- 
 sist in raising the boat. 
 
 When at last the pair stood on deck, however, 
 the tune changed. " Now there are tidings in their 
 faces ! " cried the boy who, from the quality of his 
 temper, was known as the Bull. " News ! Let us 
 have it out of them ! " Whereupon the group made 
 a fence across the way, every picket in it crying, 
 " Give up your news ! " 
 
 Gard waved them off crossly. " I have none," 
 he growled. 
 
 Alrek gazed back at them as though they really 
 were boards in a fence. " Where is the Weather- 
 cock?" he inquired of the Amiable One. "Has 
 he drunk the wits out of him yet ? " 
 
 " Such as they are, I think he has them still 
 about him," Erlend answered. " But will you not 
 
 tell us " 
 
 34
 
 THE LAW BROKEN 
 
 The Sword-Bearer shook his head as he pulled 
 away from the other's ringed hand. " The jest 
 is not good enough to bear two tellings. Come 
 after me if you want to hear it." Whereupon the 
 line instantly became a column, marching at his 
 heels as he walked aft. 
 
 On the after-deck, the helmsman who was 
 known among his followers as the Weathercock, was 
 droning a song over his ale horn. He was a fat 
 bald-headed man with a heavy doughlike face and 
 a grizzled beard that bristled like wiry beach-grass 
 from his plucking at it while he sang. His listeners 
 greeted the appearance of the lads with much cor- 
 diality; but he took the interruption very ungra- 
 ciously indeed. 
 
 " It may well be that the reason boys always 
 come at the wrong time is because there is no right 
 time for such hindrances," he snapped. " Which 
 of you wants what of me? " 
 
 The oncoming wave fell back a little, leaving 
 the Sword-Bearer stranded before the helmsman. 
 He said, saluting, " I want to tell you that when 
 you go upon the Cape to-morrow you must go in 
 war clothes. I have been ashore and seen a Skraell- 
 
 35
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 ing; and I think he has gone to call his people to 
 arms." 
 
 " What ! " cried all the men in chorus ; and 
 those on the outer edge leaned forward, palms 
 curved around their ears. Only the Weathercock 
 sat squinting in a dull man's attempt at sharpness. 
 
 " What kind of jest is this? " he sneered at last. 
 
 Alrek drew the stone hatchet from his belt. 
 " One of the proofs that it is not a jest is this." 
 
 There were more exclamations, while a dozen 
 hands snatched at it ; but old Grimkel bent forward 
 and pinned his eye upon the Sword-Bearer. 
 
 " How did you get it ? " he demanded. " You 
 did not fail to remember " 
 
 The boy's lips curved into a rueful smile as he 
 met the look. " I remember now," he said slowly, 
 " and I remembered up to the time I saw the 
 Skraelling. But when I came upon him sud- 
 denly " 
 
 " You attacked him ? " It was the helmsman 
 who screamed that, his doughlike face reddening 
 to the very nose-end. 
 
 Alrek regarded him with critical brown eyes. 
 " You prove a good guesser," he said politely. 
 36
 
 THE LAW BROKEN 
 
 From all sides went up exclamations of dismay ; 
 while from the Weathercock went up smoke and 
 flames as though Hekla itself had broken loose. 
 
 " You you you good-for-nothing-wolf 's- 
 whelp-gone-mad ! " he sputtered. " What do you 
 mean by standing there so quietly when your mad- 
 dog temper has brought discredit upon my leader- 
 ship which would otherwise have got me great 
 fame with the Lawman ? One thing after another, 
 worse and worse, will be caused by this! The 
 Skraellings may be surrounding us even as we 
 speak; and we shall be forced to share your dis- 
 obedience or else get killed or, it may be, both 
 fight and get killed, since when Karlsefne finds how 
 his orders have been regarded But the first re- 
 sult of this will be that we will not go ashore to- 
 morrow nor any other time Ale! Faste! Hjal- 
 mar! Up with the anchor and out with the 
 sail 
 
 As cries of protest arose, he beat them down 
 with his short fat arms. " You shall not set foot 
 upon land, you pack of ravening curs! Not until 
 you get to camp, and then I hope you will have 
 reason to wish Ah, to think that when we get to 
 
 37
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 camp I must tell this instead of the report I had ex- 
 pected to give ! " He struck his fists together until 
 it seemed as if he might forget the Sword-Bearer's 
 free birth and lay them on him in blows. " Why 
 did I not remember that you had outlaw blood un- 
 der your fair speaking, and keep you under my 
 heel! But you shall pay for your liberty now. 
 You shall be tied with walrus thongs and thrown 
 into the foreroom, and kept there without food or 
 drink until we reach Vinland ! Take him hence, 
 do you hear my words ? Lodin ! Grimkel ! " 
 
 He broke off to tug at his belt, which unwonted 
 exertion was rendering distressfully snug; and in 
 the interval the protests of the young Greenlanders 
 burst forth anew, expressing unreservedly what 
 they thought of him for taking away their chance 
 of going ashore. When he turned on them, his 
 thick neck rumbling volcano-like, they even gave 
 back curse for curse ; until what with their racket 
 and his bawling and the running to and fro of the 
 sailors the after-deck of the Wind-Raven pre- 
 sented a lively appearance. 
 
 The only quiet person on it was the culprit. 
 Saluting with ironical ceremony, he yielded to the 
 38
 
 THE LAW BROKEN 
 
 touch of Grimkel's hand upon his shoulder; and 
 they proceeded to the little room under the fore- 
 deck, which served on extraordinary occasions for 
 a dungeon and on ordinary ones as a storeroom for 
 bales of fur and ale-casks and kegs of salted fish. 
 
 " If I could learn to feed my stomach through 
 my nose, I should not starve however long I stayed 
 here," Alrek observed with an expressive grimace 
 as they entered. 
 
 The hand on his shoulder shook him roughly. 
 " You deserve to starve," the old man snapped. " I 
 have the heart to pound you ! After I had warned 
 you how the Lawman is holding you in the bal- 
 ance! " He jammed into its bracket the torch he 
 carried, and sent a barrel out of his way with a 
 thundering kick. 
 
 Somehow, the heat of his elder's concern moved 
 the boy to an affectation of unconcern. Holding 
 out his wrists for the rope, he replied that if Karl- 
 sefne had been watching him for two years, it was 
 time he found out something. 
 
 Grimkel jerked at the thongs with a growl for 
 every knot. " You will find out something when 
 you come before him! Have you got it into your 
 4 39
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 mind that you have prevented him from fulfilling 
 what lies nearest his heart ? Since the time when he 
 was making ready for his journey at Leif Er- 
 icsson's house in Greenland, he has counted on 
 strengthening the settlement by making friends of 
 the Skraellings; and planned to get knowledge 
 from their experience of the country, and riches by 
 trading with them. And he has condemned Thor- 
 wald's short-sightedness in attacking them, and 
 commanded how they should be received with gifts 
 and fair words Oh, it is impossible that the 
 Fates will allow a wise man to be balked by a boy's 
 folly!" 
 
 " If it is impossible why do you trouble your- 
 self over it ? " Alrek suggested ; then went on to re- 
 quest that the hatchet be carefully preserved for 
 him. 
 
 Grimkel, bending over to fasten the ankle- 
 bonds, straightened stiffly in awful silence. But be- 
 fore his exasperation could escape through his lips, 
 a waking thrill ran along the Wind-Raven's spine ; 
 a voice called him to lend a hand with the sail, and 
 he was obliged to wheel and stamp away. 
 
 With him went the torch; so that the dark- 
 40
 
 THE LAW BROKEN 
 
 ness of the foreroom became a black wall, upon 
 which a gray square like a patch showed where the 
 low doorway opened into the night. Gradually, the 
 outside hubbub died away until the only sound that 
 came in was the creaking of ropes and the sail's dull 
 boom. 
 
 Left to himself, the boy left off feigning ; and 
 turned and grappled with his trouble. Breast to 
 breast they struggled, while the gray square melted 
 shade by shade into cold light ; and when the square 
 was gilded by the morning sun, they were strug- 
 gling still. 
 
 Trying to shake off his thoughts, the Sword- 
 Bearer flung his fettered body about in a kind of 
 frenzy. " If I stay three days like this, I shall go 
 out of my wits ! " he cried to himself. " To lose 
 all my chance with him is bad enough, but to sit 
 here and think about it ! I shall become mad if 
 I cannot move about and forget it for a while ! " 
 
 41
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THROUGH WHICH THE STORM GIANT BLUSTERS 
 
 A STOOPING black shape against the sunshine, 
 Hjalmar Thick-Skull came through the doorway 
 and began to paw over bales and boxes in search 
 of extra oars. 
 
 " Your luck is great, young one," he remarked. 
 " You would not be sitting quiet if you were out- 
 side. Perhaps you think, because you see sun 
 through the door, that the whole sky is like that ; 
 but you should see the clouds ahead of us! The 
 only thing equally black is the Weathercock's face 
 since he finds that he must put into the Keel harbor 
 after all. And on top of it the wind has failed, and 
 he has commanded all hands to the oars " 
 
 Rising to his fettered feet, Alrek held out his 
 bound hands. " Here are mine ! Take your knife 
 to the knots." 
 
 The Thick-Skulled gaped over his shoulder. 
 " Why why he did not mean you." 
 
 "Have I not hands?" the Sword-Bearer de- 
 42
 
 THE STORM GIANT BLUSTERS 
 
 manded. " With a troll's strength in them this 
 morning! Certainly he meant me." 
 
 He strove to speak carelessly while his fingers 
 were twitching, but some breathlessness must have 
 betrayed him. Scratching his tow mane and star- 
 ing as he scratched, Hjalmar began slowly to grin. 
 After a little, Alrek laughed also and spoke in 
 frank appeal: 
 
 " Do me this good turn, shipmate, that I may 
 stretch myself some while. If he did not mean me, 
 yet might you easily have mistaken him. You can 
 tell him so when he makes a fuss, it is not likely 
 that he will notice me until the storm is over. You 
 know it is a saying that ' the wolf allays the strife 
 of the swine.' ' 
 
 After a while, the Thick-Skulled stooped, grin- 
 ning, and laid his knife against the thongs. " Be- 
 hold what a good thing it is to have a reputation 
 for dulness ! " he said. " But see to it that you 
 bear me out by giving good service at the oar." 
 
 The Sword-Bearer stretched his arms with a 
 sigh of relief. " Only let me get at it ! " he 
 breathed, and plunged into the air like a fish into 
 the water. 
 
 43
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 True enough ! Though sunshine lay bright on 
 the Wind-Raven's decks and blue sky was above 
 her, before her like the entrance to another world 
 sagged a canopy of slate-colored clouds. Swollen 
 with rain, they hung low over the shore-line of for- 
 est and dune and darkened all the distant water 
 save where, here and there, streaks of white gleamed 
 like monsters' bared teeth. Full of ominous warn- 
 ing was the calm that had fallen on land and sea, 
 robbing the sail so that it hung like a live thing 
 gasping for breath. 
 
 " If he did not put into the harbor he would be 
 likely to share the fate of Thorwald Ericsson, and 
 be cast ashore in the same place, and likewise with a 
 broken keel," Alrek commented after a look at the 
 sky; then laid hold of his oar and bent himself 
 almost to the bottom of the boat in the relief of 
 spending his energy. 
 
 Perhaps his appreciation of a small favor 
 touched the Fates in their woman hearts, for pres- 
 ently they extended it. When the Wind-Raven's 
 brood had brought her safely behind the wooded 
 bar that lay across the harbor mouth like a screen 
 in front of a door, the helmsman gave out word 
 
 44
 
 THE STORM GIANT BLUSTERS 
 
 that since they were plainly storm-bound for the 
 night, at least, they would not deny themselves the 
 comfort of a camp on land, but would proceed im- 
 mediately ashore. Ashore! the Sword-Bearer 
 could scarcely believe his good fortune, until Brand 
 dared to lean over and poke him in congratula- 
 tion. 
 
 " I knew the Old One would take care not to 
 have his fat jolted," he whispered; "and he can 
 not leave you behind. Your luck will last until we 
 come back again." 
 
 " Until we come back again ! " Alrek repeated 
 as though it were a toast, and threw himself reso- 
 lutely into the work of the hour. 
 
 There was field for action. They had barely 
 reached the shore and found refuge in a hollow be- 
 low a wooded knoll when the tempest burst upon 
 them, rushing through the forest with a swelling 
 roar that rose above the thunder of the breakers. 
 After that every minute of the day was a battle 
 a fight over the tent canvas which the wind threat- 
 ened to pick up and carry off like a kerchief with 
 all of them hanging to it in a fringe; a skirmish 
 for fuel through forests into which sand from the 
 
 45
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 dunes beyond was rushing like yellow swarms with 
 biting mouths; a contest over the fire, blown out 
 or struck out with lances of glittering rain; a 
 struggle to hear or be heard through the thunder- 
 ing downpour, to see the very food in their hands 
 through the suddenly fallen darkness a battle 
 between giants and pygmies! 
 
 Exhausted yet exhilarated, as after a day at 
 the sword-game, the band fell over from eating to 
 sleeping. When the lightning tore apart the dark- 
 ness and disclosed the deserted ship reeling in ter- 
 ror upon the twisting black water, they only 
 laughed and burrowed deeper, falling asleep to 
 the thunder of breakers booming along the shore 
 as to a lullaby from a mother's lips. 
 
 The ocean was still booming when they awoke, 
 late the next day, and the wind was still blustering 
 in the tree tops. The leader, with his mind reaching 
 out toward Vinland fires and Vinland fare, cursed 
 peevishly ; but the juniors of his following greeted 
 the delay with open rejoicing. 
 
 " Here is our chance to see the land ! " Brand 
 cried, shaking out his ruddy locks like fiery ban- 
 ners. " Let us take it before anything gets it 
 46
 
 THE STORM GIANT BLUSTERS 
 
 away from us. I will wager a ring that I will beat 
 any one to the top of this steep ! " 
 
 So promptly did they respond that although 
 he won his wager, the next boy was only a step be- 
 hind ; and none of the twenty was more than a pace 
 in the rear. Once on the crest, they streamed, 
 whooping, into the grove of oak and pine and 
 sassafras which they had seen from the water, 
 lying along the bay shore like a ragged rich- 
 hued mat. 
 
 Raggedness showed more plainly than rich- 
 ness, upon a nearer approach, though nothing 
 could take away the beauty of coloring where 
 pines spread their ever-living green over the windy 
 crests and the oak trees on the slopes had turned 
 yellow and russet and red without losing a leaf. 
 But it was no such forest as Vinland boasted ; com- 
 pared with Vinland trees the growth was stunted 
 and there was not enough underbrush to give it 
 even the wildness of a thicket, only tangles of 
 rose briar and berry bramble where the ridges sank 
 into hollows cupping reed-fringed ponds. Per- 
 haps the best that could be said for it was that its 
 endless undulations kept curiosity awake. Passing 
 
 47
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 over them was like breasting billows ; one gained a 
 height only to behold another deep. 
 
 After a while, it stirred Alrek to restlessness. 
 When it was suggested that they should stop at one 
 of the ponds for a duck hunt, he objected. 
 
 " Who knows what the next ridge may be hi- 
 ding? " he said obstinately. " Let us find out first 
 what lies before us." 
 
 " What but the ocean ? " Erlend asked in sur- 
 prise. " That can not be far away now ; the sand 
 wastes between the trees are getting much wider." 
 
 But Alrek was already moving on, dealing 
 blows of his hatchet at the trees on either side of 
 him. " Do as you like," he answered over his shoul- 
 der. " I shall not stop until I come to the end." 
 
 Erlend sent him a glance of surprise; but the 
 others had caught the fever of his mood so that 
 they dashed after him in a cheering charge. 
 
 Their run did not keep up long, however, for 
 the walking was momently becoming harder. In 
 the next hollow the pond had been smothered be- 
 neath a sand blanket, and the bushes were stran- 
 gling in sand. In the next there were no bushes at 
 all, only mats and tufts of wiry grass. On the 
 48
 
 THE STORM GIANT BLUSTERS 
 
 slopes the trees became fewer, the sand piled be- 
 tween them like drifted snow; in one place it had 
 buried a clump so that only their tops showed, 
 bush-like, above the creamy surface. 
 
 " There you can sec what kind of place this 
 would be to set up a landmark," Njal of Greenland 
 observed, pointing at them. " In twenty years 
 more it is likely the whole forest will be covered 
 and the man who comes then will say that we lied 
 because we told of trees being here. I doubt if we 
 would be able to find much of the keel that Thor- 
 wald set up " 
 
 " Then do not let us spend time looking for it," 
 Alrek finished. And so completely had his mood 
 taken possession of them, that they consented with- 
 out argument; plodding on doggedly over the 
 dunes that had become like yellow snow-banks, bare 
 of a single tree, rounding in absolute baldness 
 against the gray of the sky. 
 
 Gradually, feverish expectancy grew in them 
 all. It was as though the vast shifting mass were 
 a living monster, whose depredations they had seen, 
 whose lair they were now approaching. They 
 stopped in a hushed group when the last dune re- 
 
 49
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 vealed the beach sweeping down to the water. The 
 scarred and furrowed ocean was another monster, 
 still growling and showing his tusks at the wind 
 giant. 
 
 Northward, the ocean was all they saw. West- 
 ward, they saw it over a yellow waste as the dunes 
 sloped down to the Cape point. Southward, lay 
 the land over which they had come; beyond it, the 
 bay in which their ship rode at anchor. Eastward, 
 unbroken drifts, unspotted beach their silence 
 ended in a cry : 
 
 " Yonder ! Yonder is something washed 
 ashore ! " 
 
 All saw it, so plainly did it show against the 
 sand, something dark and motionless which the 
 waves had flung up there out of their way. So 
 large did it loom in the strange light that, as they 
 went plunging and floundering toward it, some de- 
 clared it to be a whale ; and others, an overturned 
 boat. 
 
 But the light on the Wonderstrand is a won- 
 drous light. When they had raced over some hun- 
 dred yards of beach, the dark object instead of 
 growing larger dwindled suddenly from whale 
 50
 
 Neither sound nor motion was on his blue lips.
 
 THE STORM GIANT BLUSTERS 
 
 size and boat size to the size of a human body. 
 Involuntarily, they slackened their pace and a whis- 
 per went around : " It is one of the Skraellings, 
 overtaken by the storm ! " 
 
 Only Alrek shook his head and pressed forward. 
 " That is no animal hide wrapping him," he said. 
 
 A dozen yards more brought him to the side of 
 the stark form ; he bent over it and remained bent 
 as though petrified with astonishment. When the 
 others had reached him and looked, their voices 
 went from them in a cry of amazement: 
 
 " The Huntsman ! " 
 
 And the Huntsman's gigantic figure it was, sea- 
 drenched and wave-battered, kelp snarled about his 
 feet, starfish tangled in his hair. As he had lain 
 upon the rock that winter day, so he lay here upon 
 the sand, flat on his back with his hands clasped 
 over his breast; though now his eyes were closed, 
 and neither sound nor motion was on his blue lips. 
 
 Doubting their senses, the explorers stared at 
 him and then up and down the shore. Never was 
 scene more yawningly empty ; between the sweep of 
 sand and the stretch of water he lay as though 
 fallen from the sky. 
 
 51
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ABOUT THE STEANGE FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 " I WOULD give much if he had not died until he 
 had told us how he came hither," Gard remarked, 
 presently. 
 
 " And what he was employing himself about in 
 the north of Vinland when he set out to explore the 
 country south of it ! " Brand cried ; while the Glib 
 One added: 
 
 " Yes, and how it went with Hallad and the 
 others he had with him ! " 
 
 Then they became aware that Erlend's hand- 
 some brown face three shades browner than his 
 hair was turned toward them in reproach. " It 
 may be that Alrek will get the belief that a Green- 
 lander's loyalty to his countrymen is somewhat 
 shallow," he suggested. 
 
 In those days, disloyalty to a comrade was held 
 a contemptible thing. Two of the three reddened ; 
 and Brand bent his tongue to apology. 
 
 52
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 " He knows that we care as much as any one. 
 Eric of Brattahlid had the Huntsman for his stew- 
 ard, because they found pleasure in talking evil 
 together about Christianity; but that was all the 
 friend I ever heard of his having. It is understood 
 that we will do him the favor to bury him, how- 
 ever." 
 
 Gard the Practical rubbed his ear. " That will 
 not be easy unless we carry him far inland," he said. 
 " If I am not much mistaken, this sand will move 
 about like snow, and I have heard that if dead 
 men come uncovered and sleep cold, they are 
 wont to get up and walk around to warm 
 themselves." 
 
 A dozen of them crossed themselves involunta- 
 rily ; and the Strong One squared his magnificent 
 shoulders. 
 
 " Quickly will I proclaim my choice to carry 
 him to the bay ! " 
 
 " That would best be left unsaid until we see 
 how heavy he is," Alrek advised. " Raise his other 
 shoulder, Domar, and let us see how One thing is 
 that he is not yet stiff. Wait! What is this on 
 his neck?" With his finger, he followed a cord 
 
 53
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 running from the grizzled beard across the motion- 
 less breast to lose itself in the shelter of the rigidly 
 clasped hands. " It is a deerskin bag." 
 
 " I know he did not have it on when he went 
 south ! " Harald Grettirsson cried, excitedly. 
 
 And a chorus added ; " Here is something of 
 importance ! " " Something of value ! " " To 
 think of it then " " Yes, to grasp it when he 
 was drowning ! " 
 
 Sitting back on his heels, Alrek gazed down at 
 the figure curiously. " He has grasped the bag too 
 close to move, but it would be possible to pry a fin- 
 ger into the top and see what is inside, if you 
 would allow it? He is your countryman." He 
 glanced inquiringly at them as they stooped around 
 him, their hands grasping their knees. 
 
 The Greenlanders looked down at him ; then 
 around at one another ; then Brand spoke under his 
 breath ; " If you dare " 
 
 "Dare?" Alrek's mouth curved disdainfully. 
 Picking out the cord-ends from between the chill 
 palms, he undid the knot that fastened the mouth 
 of the bag and inserted a thumb and forefinger. 
 " A chain," he said as they closed upon something ;
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 then, as they began to draw it out, " What a 
 chain ! " 
 
 All echoed him : " What a chain ! " 
 
 For it was of shining gold, set here and there 
 with a rough-cut gem; while its girth was that of 
 his largest finger, and it unfolded itself coil after 
 coil to the length of his arm. What a keepsake to 
 bring out of a waste peopled only by wild men! 
 Devouring it with hungry eyes, they drew closer; 
 and Rane Thin-Nose put out a hand to feel of it, 
 at the same time sending an apologetic glance tow- 
 ard the rigid face. 
 
 As he did so, the drawn eyelids rose slowly and 
 silently as curtains ; and the Huntsman's small evil 
 eyes looked back at him. Rane's hand was with- 
 drawn as though it had encountered fire; and the 
 circle fell back, screaming. Even the Sword-Bear- 
 er was startled enough to drop the chain, as the 
 eyes rolled in his direction and remained turned on 
 him in a baleful glare. 
 
 Through the blue lips came a voice, so faint 
 that it seemed to be one of the smothered voices 
 which cry through the roar of the surf; "You 
 would rob me ? " 
 
 5 65
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 At that the circle rallied indignantly, shouting, 
 " We would not! " " It was our intention " 
 " You need not reproach us for " " We 
 thought " 
 
 " Put it back." 
 
 Alrek hesitated, his face coloring with resent- 
 ment. Then he asked himself of what use it was 
 to argue with a piece of driftwood, and gave up 
 justification with a shrug. While the rest spent 
 their breath wrathfully, he complied in silence. 
 When the last knot was tied and not before the 
 eyes left him to roll around the circle. 
 
 " Swear " the voice said faintly. 
 
 Before the glare they shrank in spite of them- 
 selves, fluttering like birds around a snake; until 
 Erlend said, with quiet haughtiness: 
 
 " There is no need for us to swear that we will 
 not rob you." 
 
 The voice was so faint that they barely made 
 out the words ; " Swear to keep it secret. On 
 the edge of your blades ! " 
 
 " I suppose he has the right to ask it," Erlend 
 gave judgment after a while. " It was his secret 
 and we thrust ourselves in. It seems to me that it 
 56
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 is his right? " He looked at the Sword-Bearer with 
 questioning eyebrows. 
 
 No one ever disputed the decisions of the 
 Amiable One in matters of honor. Alrek answered 
 by unsheathing his sword, with another shrug of 
 his shoulders. 
 
 Drawing each a knife from his belt, they 
 grasped them by the blades so that the sharp edges 
 cut red grooves in their bare palms. Holding the 
 knives aloft thus, they spoke the oath together ; the 
 Huntsman's eyes telling them off, one by one. 
 When he had come to the last little Olaf the Fair 
 twisting his face to keep back tears of pain his 
 eyes stopped and settled slowly into their unwink- 
 ing stare; but that they were less dull than fish- 
 eyes, his stark figure would have differed little from 
 the myriad fish bodies strewed upon the sand. 
 
 Though they rattled their weapons blustering- 
 ly in putting them up, a kind of panic chill crept 
 over the band. The stare was so awful in its dumb 
 evilness ; and the scene was so weirdly desolate, the 
 stretch of bleak sky, the sweep of naked shore, and 
 the breakers' unending boom out of which stifled 
 voices seemed trying vainly to call. The lad who 
 
 57
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 was called the Hare alike for fleetness and for 
 timidity voiced the feeling in a quavering out- 
 burst : 
 
 " Let us leave him ! I do not believe he is alive 
 at all. I believe a troll hides in him and uses his 
 mouth to speak with. I know evil will come of this. 
 Let us leave him." He plucked nervously at Al- 
 rek's coat. " Come on ! " 
 
 Alrek was strung high enough to be irritated 
 by the clutch. "Keep off!" he ordered, jerking 
 himself free. " It is no lie about you that you are 
 cowardly, if you would desert a shipmate ! " Then 
 regaining possession of his cloak, he regained pos- 
 session of his temper, and spoke quietly ; " If we 
 get some big branches and make a litter with our 
 mantles, it will not be difficult to get him to the 
 bay. It seemed to me that you were all eager in 
 having him alive to tell you news ? " 
 
 If it had not been for that hope, it is doubtful 
 if the twenty would have toiled to bring such a bur- 
 den over the sand-hills; and it is certain that the 
 sailors had this end in view as they rubbed the 
 Huntsman's limbs and poured ale down his throat. 
 Had they been polishing a knife or oiling a lock, 
 58
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 they could scarcely have been more business-like or 
 less tender. 
 
 " As soon as he gets strength to talk he should 
 be able to tell tidings worth hearing," they said to 
 one another when at last they left him rolled in 
 skins and went about their preparations for return- 
 ing to the ship, a rift having come in the gray to- 
 ward the west. 
 
 The main difference between their attitude and 
 that of their j uniors was that they felt merely dis- 
 like for the Huntsman, while for the one-and-twen- 
 ty he had the fascination of fear. To them, his 
 eyes were twin demons keeping guard from their 
 cave doors over the treasure bag below. It is safe 
 to say that they never lost him out of their minds 
 through all the bustle of going on board and re- 
 settling themselves, as they awaited a surer sign of 
 the Storm King's reformation. 
 
 With the sunset, the rift in the gray widened. 
 Thrym, the giant who herds the clouds, drove the 
 hulking masses northward, lagging from their own 
 weight. In the clearing west, the sun dropped 
 golden behind a jagged bar; and while the rosy 
 glory of it was still in the southern sky, the moon 
 
 59
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 looked out of the east. To a rousing cheer, the 
 Wind-Raven shook out her storm-beaten plumage 
 and skimmed away over the silvering waves. The 
 change was so grateful that Alrek was able to 
 shake off depression one time more; while the 
 loungers on the benches were noisy with satis- 
 faction. 
 
 " Never was there a better time to experience 
 the Wonderstrands ! " they jubilated afresh, as the 
 curving stretch of shining dunes pushed itself into 
 their vision. 
 
 Passing that curve was little less than an experi- 
 ence ; for the bend of the shore made it ever appear 
 as though a cape lay just ahead, yet the cape ever 
 receded as they approached, a flying point that 
 could never be caught. 
 
 " Certainly it makes the world seem a place of 
 strange wonders ! " Faste the Fat marveled, when 
 they had sat a long time watching it in silent fas- 
 cination. " It makes one curious about everything. 
 If the Huntsman would only speak now and tell us 
 what he has seen, this would be a good time to amuse 
 ourselves with a tale." 
 
 " How do you know that he has seen any- 
 60
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 thing? " sneered a harsh voice harsh for all its 
 faintness from the pile of skins upon the fore- 
 castle. 
 
 They wheeled so eagerly that the ship rocked 
 under them. " Are you ready to tell the tidings 
 you have seen?" "Will you tell us about ?" 
 " Tell about the south country, Huntsman." 
 " Did you see any Skraellings ? " " No, tell us first 
 how you came here " Yes, your adventure " 
 "Yes, yes!" " We beg of you " "Goon! Go 
 on!" 
 
 They were all speaking at once now, boys and 
 men, and their greed proved their downfall. For, 
 the clamor reaching the helmsman on the after- 
 deck, he descended with unusual agility and wad- 
 dled toward them. 
 
 " If you are going to talk to any one, you talk 
 to me, your chief," he commanded ; " and tell me 
 what you have done with the boat and the men I 
 lent you." 
 
 The Huntsman's manners gained little at sight 
 of his superior. " I do not see that 7 have done 
 anything with them," he answered sullenly, " be- 
 cause the boat went to pieces on a sand-bar and 
 
 61
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Rann drew Svipdag and Black Thord down to her. 
 It is seen that I saved you the best man of the 
 three." 
 
 " Four men were in the boat when you started 
 out on that foolish trip," the helmsman caught 
 him up. " Biorn's foster-son is worth speaking 
 about ; what have you done with him ? " 
 
 The blood settled in the Huntsman's sunken 
 cheeks as water in a hollow. " Is the boy of so 
 much importance that I must carve his rune on a 
 separate stick ? " he snarled. " What else could he 
 be than drowned? Is it likely that Valkyrias came 
 down for him ? I think you are a fool. If Freydis, 
 Eric's daughter, had not married you for your 
 wealth and sent you out here after more, you would 
 never have had manhood to set foot on a ship. 
 You my chief! You can think what you like; I 
 will not answer you another word." He flung 
 himself over on his face in one of the black sulks no 
 man had ever yet sounded; his officer's threats 
 might as well have been addressed to the mast. 
 
 At last the fat helmsman was forced to pause to 
 take in breath, standing puffing and glaring and 
 tugging at his belt. And it was this unpropitious
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 moment which his roving eyes took to remind him of 
 Alrek's existence. The Sword-Bearer felt the gaze 
 when it fell, and shut one eye in an expressive wink 
 at Brand ; nor were his forebodings without founda- 
 tion. 
 
 The helmsman let his recovered breath go from 
 him in a snort. " You ! What are you doing here? 
 Did I not order that you should be shut up for the 
 rest of the voyage ? " 
 
 Alrek unclosed his eye to gaze out of the pair 
 in respectful surprise. " I? " he inquired. " Was 
 it not your intention to free me when you ordered 
 all hands to the oars? " 
 
 Before the Weathercock found adequate words 
 he had stamped three times in uncouth capers of 
 rage; when he did find them, however, they came 
 with such force that they burst the buckle off his 
 belt. 
 
 " Go back ! " he wound up in a bellow. " Go 
 back, and do not dare come forth again until I haul 
 you before Karlsefne. If I were your chief, I 
 would hang you ! " 
 
 For once, exasperation got the better of Alrek's 
 soldier training. He looked the fat figure up and 
 
 63
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 down as he arose. " You would not need to take the 
 trouble," he retorted. " If you were my chief, I 
 would hang myself." 
 
 He heard applauding laughter from his mates 
 as he walked away, simultaneously with a roar from 
 the helmsman, and after that a confusion of sounds ; 
 but his mind was too full of bitterness to leave any 
 room for curiosity. It roused him with a start 
 when the solitude in which Fat Faste was reinstall- 
 ing him was disturbed by a second consignment of 
 captives, Brand with torn clothes and flashing 
 eyes; at his heels, little Olaf striving to quench a 
 bleeding nose as he panted with unquenched parti- 
 zanship ; back of him Gard the Ugly, made uglier 
 by a swollen lip ; and behind the three, Strong Do- 
 mar, a purple lump on his forehead and breathless 
 delight in his voice as he shouted the explanation 
 over the others' heads : 
 
 " I knocked him down, Alrek, as sure as I 
 stand here! He tried to cuff Brand for laughing 
 at you, and I laid him flat before Lodin could lay 
 hold of me, and he will have to come before Karl- 
 sef ne with a black eye ! Think of it ! " 
 
 Apparently Alrek did think of it, for he stared 
 64
 
 A FIND ON KEEL CAPE 
 
 for the space of a minute before he spoke. " You 
 struck your chief ! " he repeated at last. 
 
 The Strong One chortled with relish. " And 
 blacked his eye ! It will be shut tight, I know it 
 will, and he thinks so much about making a fine 
 appearance before the Lawman ! And maybe his 
 nose will swell also, and He broke off abruptly 
 as the meaning of Alrek's expression came home to 
 him ; and his freckled face reddened. " Now I for- 
 got that you are soldier-bred. I suppose that in 
 the Earl's camp they would not call it a jest to 
 knock down a chief? " 
 
 The Sword-Bearer leaned back on his bale of 
 fur with a long-drawn yawn. " They would not be 
 likely to call it anything," he said drily, " for it 
 could not happen there at all." 
 
 As he said nothing more in congratulation, it 
 was rather a sulky group that the torches left to 
 darkness when the last walrus-hide knot was tied. 
 
 65
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CONCERNING THORFINN KARLSEFNE, 
 THE LAWMAN 
 
 AND that night was as long as two nights ; and 
 the sunrise into which it melted lasted until noon; 
 and the day which finally grew out of that sun- 
 rise had no end whatever! Apparently, the 
 Weathercock had managed to tie walrus thongs 
 around Time's ankles also. 
 
 Glimpses of banks, caught through the door- 
 way, showed when they turned from the highroad 
 of the ocean up the river-lane which led into the 
 Vinland bay ; but the banks kept on unraveling like 
 witch's weaving that has no end. They had turned 
 their attention from watching the landscape to rob- 
 bing a fish keg, when the drone of voices on the 
 deck above broke suddenly into shouts : 
 
 " A boat ! Coming from behind that island ! " 
 "Who" "thralls, the two in white" 
 66
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 " But the man in blue? " " Karlscfnc is wont to 
 wear blue " By the Hammer, I believe it 
 
 is the Lawman himself ! " 
 
 If cheers rose from the forecastle, silence fell 
 on the foreroom. Eager as they were to reach 
 camp, to run upon this portion of it in midstream 
 was little less than startling. The face of every 
 Greenlander confirmed Domar's fervent gasp: 
 
 " Now I am thankful that Karlsefne is not my 
 chief!" 
 
 Into Alrek's quiet came a kind of constraint. 
 " Other men wear blue mantles," he suggested. 
 " Hold your tongues and listen." 
 
 Crouching on rope-coils and piles of fur, they 
 held their breath as well as their tongues while they 
 tried to separate the tumult into meanings ; the 
 scuffle of feet on the deck above was like a blur over 
 all other sounds. But finally the feet rushed down 
 the steps; there was a lull in which could be heard 
 the sound of oars backing water ; then, through the 
 quiet a new voice, deep and kindly : 
 
 " Greeting and welcome, friends ! Tell me be- 
 fore anything else if you are all here, sound and 
 whole?" 
 
 67
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 The prisoners' mouths shaped one word as they 
 gazed into one another's faces : " Karlsefne ! " 
 
 How thinly and sputteringly the Weathercock's 
 voice fell on their ears after that ! " All here, Law- 
 man ! And all sound, saving this eye of mine 
 which has met with a mishap of which I will tell you 
 later." 
 
 Very likely he rambled on with his wonted long 
 windedness, but the five eavesdropping in the fore- 
 room heard no more. The throng that had surged 
 forward receded noisily; and through the rift the 
 prisoners had a glimpse of the gunwale and a 
 sinewy blue-clad form rising beside the fat helms- 
 man like a tree beside a bush, a towering might- 
 full figure with a face of rugged beauty framed 
 in locks of iron gray. Even after the rift had 
 closed up again they crouched motionless, staring 
 at the shifting backs and straining their ears for 
 tones of that deep voice, until jangling through 
 it like clattering pottery came the helmsman's 
 lament : 
 
 " But ask not what success we have had, Law- 
 man, for I will tell you without delay that the plan 
 you had most at heart has been marred past mend- 
 
 68
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 ing ! By no fault of mine, but through the blood- 
 thirstiness of your brother's son ; who has not only 
 thrown your commands aside, but has kindled out- 
 lawry in the heart of every boy on board, who would 
 otherwise be obedient to my 
 
 Brand got on his bound feet no one knows 
 how and on them got to the door. 
 
 " That is not true, though you or others say 
 it ! " he shouted ; and when his leader stopped out 
 of sheer amazement and every one turned, gaping, 
 he followed his voice through the door. " We en- 
 dure him altogether against our will. To obey him 
 is a disgrace to all with manhood in them. Domar 
 made his eye black " 
 
 " Yes, that is true," bellowed Domar. Followed 
 by Gard and little Olaf, he in his turn worked his 
 way to the door, where a sudden lurch of the ship 
 caught them and rolled them in a struggling heap 
 almost to Karlsefne's feet; when the crew began to 
 laugh and the Weathercock began to accuse and the 
 rebels began to deny. 
 
 Looking after them Alrek's lips curled in soldier 
 scorn ; that gave way to amusement when the clamor 
 ended abruptly at a single word from the deep voice, 
 
 69
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 and he had a glimpse of Brand's fiery locks droop- 
 ing like captured flags. But after a moment, he 
 turned and stretching his bound arms across a cask, 
 hid his face upon them. 
 
 " Whatever they do, they can not serve him so 
 badly as I have done. Certainly I can find no fault 
 with his act if he hangs me up like a sheep-killing 
 dog, for little better has my service been," he mur- 
 mured ; and lay there with his face hidden until the 
 jar of Hjalmar's heavy foot brought him suddenly 
 upright. 
 
 " Karlsefne sends for you," the Thick-Skulled 
 announced in his wonted roar; then, coming close to 
 cut the thongs, he spoke in hoarse whispers; 
 " Hear great wonders ! Your luck has not quite 
 shown its heels, after all. It has happened that 
 the Lawman also has seen the Skraellings ! The day 
 after you met the one on the Cape, a host of them 
 appeared before the Vinland booths, to see, it is 
 likely, if the others had your mind toward them. 
 But Karlsefne made so plain his good intentions 
 that they went away after doing nothing worse 
 than stare. And yesterday they came again, with 
 bundles of fur which they traded with much friend- 
 
 70
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 liness. It is his belief that they also have young 
 fire-heads among them so that they understand how 
 little value is to be put upon 
 
 Stretching out his freed arms, the Sword-Bear- 
 er gripped Hjalmar's hand to the point of crush- 
 ing. " You make my heart merry in my breast ! " 
 he breathed. 
 
 " Yes, certainly ; I am in high spirits also," 
 Hjalmar assented, returning the pressure. " It is 
 an exceedingly useful thing for you. But see to it 
 that you bear yourself boldly as a hawk ; and keep 
 it all the time before his mind that no real harm has 
 been done." 
 
 Alrek began suddenly to laugh. " It may be 
 that I would better tell him that he owes me thanks 
 for sending the Skraellings to him? " 
 
 " That might have no small power," the Thick- 
 Skulled responded gravely; and Alrek laughed 
 again, as he caught at the huge shoulder to steady 
 himself in rising upon his stiff legs. 
 
 If the shoulder had been Grimkel's, the mouth 
 belonging to it would have advised differently. 
 During all the time that the helmsman was bewail- 
 ing the evils to come out of such rashness, and Karl- 
 6 71
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 sefne was courteously explaining how luck had 
 warded off such evils, the old seaman's weather eye 
 had scanned the sky of his chief's face with deepen- 
 ing gravity. Now his speculations broke out into 
 words. 
 
 " If the boy tries to make light of his disobe- 
 dience because it ended luckily, the Lawman will 
 spare him neither in words nor deeds," he mut- 
 tered to himself; and the impulse came to him to 
 try to push through the crowd pressing him mast- 
 ward and impart this prognostication to the 
 Sword-Bearer. But even as he moved to carry out 
 his kindly intention, the boy's erect red-cloaked 
 figure appeared in the doorway of the foreroom 
 and it was too late to do anything. 
 
 Though his dress of blue was merchant garb 
 and the staff in his hand was a farmer's symbol, 
 the face of Karlsefne was the face of a law-giver. 
 Above the beard of iron gray his mouth showed 
 firm-lipped as a mouth of stone, and the gaze of 
 the steel-bright eyes under the bushy brows was 
 such as none with guilt in their hearts might sus- 
 tain. Meeting it, the Sword-Bearer's eyes fell and 
 the blood was drawn to his cheeks, and he came 
 
 72
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 forward and bent his knee before the Law- 
 man. 
 
 Hard as measured steel were Karlsefne's meas- 
 ured words : " For a long time I have been watch- 
 ing to know whether you deserved favor or stark- 
 ness, and held my hand from you lest it deal un- 
 justly. I thought, long ago, that I smelled hot 
 blood which would one day break out and sweep 
 away all bounds. Now that day has come, and the 
 worst things I have thought of you are proved the 
 true things." 
 
 As he bowed his head under the rebuke, Alrek's 
 teeth cut a blood-line on his lip ; but he attempted 
 no defense. For the space of a second it seemed to 
 Grimkel that the Lawman's face showed surprise. 
 
 Yet his voice was even sterner when he spoke 
 again. " They are no less true things because good 
 fortune has enabled me to ward off the damage 
 which would otherwise have been caused by your 
 deed. If you are at all versed in camp ways, you 
 know that this happening does not make you any 
 less liable to punishment." 
 
 Rising from his knee, the young Sword-Bearer 
 faced him without fear. " My fate is for you to 
 
 73
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 decide over, kinsman, according to your pleasure," 
 he said with soldier submissiveness. 
 
 Then there was no question whatever about 
 Karlsefne's surprise. After a moment's silence, he 
 spoke slowly ; " I think it best to hear first from 
 your own mouth about this happening." 
 
 " I have no excuse why you should withhold 
 your anger from me, yet I would not have you be- 
 lieve that I wished the thing to happen," Alrek 
 answered. " When I set out for the light, my one 
 thought was to get honor with you by finding out 
 the news you wanted ; and I think I should have re- 
 membered your order if the Skraelling had been 
 where I first looked for him. But after I had 
 given him up I saw him suddenly, hiding in the 
 shadow ; and something in me cried out that he was 
 aiming and and I have not been wont to jump 
 backward when I saw a foe. Yet I ask you to be- 
 lieve that I wished least of anything to hinder your 
 plans." 
 
 A while the steel-keen eyes probed him; but he 
 did not flinch. " That is not in every respect as 
 the helmsman relates the story," Karlsefne re- 
 marked at last. 
 
 74
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 " That is very likely," Alrek replied, " for the 
 helmsman knows nothing whatever about the mat- 
 ter." Whereupon the helmsman let his stored-up 
 breath go from him in a snort. 
 
 A dozen seamen endeavored suddenly to hide 
 laughter under fits of coughing; but the Lawman 
 said gravely : " Nevertheless, I now see that there is 
 truth in the other things he told me about your be- 
 havior toward him;" then turned away and stood 
 a long time pondering, his hands gripping his sil- 
 ver-shod staff, his half-closed eyes resting on the 
 group of gaping boys. And gazing at them, he 
 seemed to forget the S word-Bearer in a new prob- 
 lem. 
 
 " Here are more rebels," he said to the helms- 
 man, with a sweep of his staff. " Little order will 
 there be in camp if they are turned loose on it in no 
 better state of mind. How is it your intention to 
 deal with them ? " 
 
 The Weathercock shifted his weight peevishly ; 
 he was tired of standing; and his mind was upset 
 within him; and he wanted besides to get back to 
 his ale horn. " Since they are free-born, it seems 
 that I can not even give them the flogging they de- 
 
 75
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 serve," he snapped, " but if they were thralls, I 
 would drown them." 
 
 " It may be then that you would be willing 
 that I should offer them to come under my rule? " 
 Karlsefne suggested; and went on to say more in 
 an undertone. 
 
 Astonishment opened the helmsman's eyes at 
 first ; then, slowly, he wrinkled into a fat smile. At 
 last he reached out and grasped Karlsefne's hand. 
 
 " If you will rid me of the twenty plagues, 
 who are turning me thin, I will feel as though you 
 had given me twenty marks of gold," he declared. 
 Whereupon the Lawman turned to the group of 
 blank faces. 
 
 " Now this is my offer to you," he said, " that 
 you part from the rest of the Greenlanders and 
 form yourselves into a band and build your own 
 booth and choose one of your own number to rule 
 over you." 
 
 The faces lighted in ecstasy, then gloomed 
 in unbelief. Brand spoke for all when he inquired 
 timidly : 
 
 " Is this a punishment ? " 
 
 " It is not a reward," Karlsefne answered ; and 
 76
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 for a moment his gaze sharpened so that the Red 
 One winced under it. " If I did not believe that it 
 is because you know no better that you act thus, 
 there would be hard things in store for you. I take 
 this way to show you why lawfulness is needful. 
 Yet is there no trick to it ; all I have promised shall 
 be fulfilled, and more. You shall have your own 
 table if you can furnish it ; your own boat if you 
 can build it ; in every way like men " 
 
 They thought his pause the end, and burst into 
 jubilant chorus; "It will not take us long to 
 know what to answer to this ! " 
 
 But he raised his hand for silence. " Answer 
 nothing until you have heard the whole. If you 
 form yourselves upon the manner of men, so must 
 you also bear men's burdens. You must furnish 
 your share of hunters and fishers and of workers in 
 the fields ; and you must do your share of guarding 
 against outside foes or lawlessness within. Even 
 as Thorvard, here, and Snorri and Biorn, answer 
 to me for the behavior of their following, so must 
 your chief answer for you " 
 
 " Yes ! Yes ! " they cried eagerly. 
 
 But he lifted his hand again; his measured 
 77
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 tones became like tolling bells. " Think well ! I 
 speak not in jest. If you accept, I take you in 
 grim earnest. You may not have men's liberty 
 without men's care, and I shall hold you like men 
 to your word though the matter cause death itself. 
 Think well!" 
 
 They did pause; his manner was impressive 
 enough to insure that. But in a moment, Brand 
 flung back his red locks daringly. 
 
 " Much should we lack in manhood if we would 
 refuse a fair offer ! Take our word ! " 
 
 Every one of the twenty echoed him wildly. 
 " Take our word ! " 
 
 " It is taken," Karlsefne said gravely ; then 
 bent his gaze on the Red One. " It appears likely 
 that you will be the chosen head, since you seem al- 
 ways to speak for your comrades ? " 
 
 Brand flushed with delight. But before he 
 could answer, Domar spoke bluntly : 
 
 " I do not see in what Brand is above the rest 
 of us Greenlanders. I raise my voice for Alrek In- 
 golfsson." 
 
 " Alrek Ingolfsson, by all means ! " Erland 
 seconded; and Brand joined him generously. 
 78
 
 THORFINN THE LAWMAN 
 
 In another moment, all were shouting, "Alrek ! 
 Alrek ! " 
 
 Plainly, this was something the Lawman had 
 not expected. "Alrek?" he repeated in surprise. 
 " Yet I do not know that it would not be a punish- 
 ment to answer for such a band ! " Turning, he 
 looked again where the Sword-Bearer stood with 
 folded arms, awaiting his sentence. 
 
 Perhaps with mouth firm-set and troubled eyes 
 he looked more than ever like his father. Old 
 Grimkel's watchful gaze saw the Lawman's hard- 
 ness break up like Greenland ice before a warm 
 land wind. Taking a slow step forward, he laid 
 his hands upon the square young shoulders and 
 looked long into the brown young face. 
 
 " Since you left in the spring," he said, " a son 
 was born to me, but I swear I do not love him more 
 than I love you when that look is on you, bringing 
 back my brother and my boyhood and the time be- 
 fore our ways parted." His voice softened to very 
 grave gentleness. " Since you did not mean offense 
 toward me, I will take none ; and you shall accept 
 this chiefship and use it to prove what nature is in 
 you. All I have of love and honor lies ready for 
 
 79
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 your gaining, it will not gladden you more than 
 me if you are strong enough to take them. Will 
 you accept the test? " 
 
 He held out his hand, and the Sword-Bcarer 
 grasped it in both of his and looked him full in the 
 face, his eyes in a golden glow. " I accept the 
 test, and I give you thanks for it from the bot- 
 tom of my heart," he said. 
 
 END OF PAET FIRST
 
 PART SECOND 
 
 ALREK'S CHAMPIONS
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 AT THE HALL, OF THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " WHETHER you think so or not, I know that 
 Gudrid would not keep milk in a fish-pail," the 
 Bull's voice rose above the racket. 
 
 There was not a little racket to surmount, for 
 it was rising time at the new band's new booth. 
 In the high-seat that had been built for him mid- 
 way the length of the hall, the red-cloaked chief 
 occupied the interval before breakfast with rune- 
 carving; but that was the only employment which 
 was being carried on in silence. Whistling boys 
 were lacing their high boots along the benches 
 right and left of the high-seat ; grumbling boys 
 were just turning out of the bunks behind those 
 benches; jeering boys were throwing bedclothes 
 at the sluggards, and disputing boys were clatter- 
 ing bowls and trenchers on the tables which stood 
 on either side the fire. One of these table-boys was 
 the short and chesty Bull, sniffing hostilely at the 
 
 83
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 milk he was pouring ; and the head of the division 
 was Brand, the long and loose- jointed. 
 
 Over a platter of cold venison, he frowned on 
 his scullions. " Gudrid has nothing to do with this 
 house," he snubbed the faultfinder; then, in per- 
 emptory aside, " Olaf , keep that door shut ! Do 
 you think it is warm outside? " 
 
 " Do you think that any one who eats your 
 cooking needs to be told that Gudrid did not do 
 it? " retorted the Bull, refusing to be snubbed. 
 
 A sigh came out of Erlend's handsome mouth 
 as he looked up from hunting a lost button among 
 the pine branches of the floor. " Ah, Gudrid ! 
 After that last meal she invited me to take in their 
 booth, eating here has been like living on sea- 
 weed ! " 
 
 Brand's frown took on an edge of scorn. 
 " Fussers ! Go and live in Gudrid's house ! It may 
 be that she would allow you to crawl into the cradle 
 with the baby. Yesterday the grumbling was be- 
 cause I put my head out of the door to look at a 
 dog-fight and the bread got a little burned. If I 
 were as womanish as the rest of you, I would braid 
 my hair and put on skirts ! " 
 
 84
 
 THE HALL OF THE CHAMPIONS 
 
 Still bending over his rune-carving, the young 
 chief spoke with a drawl : " Here is something 
 worth a hearing ! Is it in truth your opinion that 
 there is the most manfulness in you? " 
 
 Surprise took the head-cook a little aback ; then 
 defiance took him a long way forward, flourish- 
 ing his red mane. " Yes, I think so. You also 
 found fault with the bread, for all your Viking 
 training. I think I am the most hardy man 
 here." 
 
 When Alrek's knife had cut another rune upon 
 his stick, he straightened deliberately. " Yester- 
 day," he explained, " Karlsefne gave the chiefs 
 the advice to pick out each week five men who 
 should have it for their sole service to keep the 
 camp in fire-wood " 
 
 A prolonged groan interrupted him ; of all the 
 burdens of housekeeping, fuel-getting weighed the 
 most heavily. 
 
 " and he bade me send the hardiest man 
 
 in our booth. I intended Domar to go, but 
 now I see that Brand Erlingsson is the man to 
 do it." 
 
 " Hail to the chief ! " yelled Strong Domar. 
 85
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 And Brand's flame of defiance sank in ashes of 
 sulkiness; and from the others came shouts of 
 laughter. 
 
 " He will wish he was back at kitchen work ! " 
 " Tree-chopping is the least interesting " " And 
 the weather is such that wood lasts the shortest 
 time " " Still Karlsef ne is lacking pay- 
 ment " " Never will we get to cutting timber 
 for the ship ! " 
 
 The Hare made a pettish flourish with the 
 knife he was using to trim away the rags from his 
 garments. " Who wants to prepare for anything 
 so far in the future? Why will you, Olaf, open 
 that door? What I should be glad of is a chance 
 to exercise myself for the spring games. Since we 
 began this way of living, I have not had one race 
 worth talking about." 
 
 " I should be thankful if we could get a 
 chance to go north where the big game is," Erlend 
 said with a disapproving glance at the empty 
 walls. " All the booty we have to show is the 
 Skraelling hatchet, and Alrek has the habit of 
 carrying that in his belt. Many hunting journeys 
 will be required to make this booth equal to the 
 
 86
 
 THE HALL OF THE CHAMPIONS 
 
 others in outfittings. Let your eyes run over it 
 and then think of Karlsef ne's ! " 
 
 Thinking, they were silent for a little, gazing 
 around at the great room which even in the fire- 
 glow showed so baldly white with newness. Karl- 
 sefne's walls were decorated with bears' heads and 
 eagles' claws and antler-racks of shining weapons ; 
 and Karlsefne's benches were covered with rich 
 furs, and his high-seat had velvet cushions stuffed 
 with eider-down. 
 
 " Alrek, when is it your intention to take the 
 time to get furnishings ? " Erlend besought. 
 
 The chief shook his brown head steadily. " Not 
 until we get out of the debt which we got into to 
 build this booth," he answered, and closed the 
 opening discussion by putting aside his rune-stick 
 and rising. " Now it seems to me that you are 
 all looking too far into the future. I should be 
 content if I could get something to eat. Who has 
 gone after the fish? And what is the reason that 
 he is not back again ? " 
 
 As head-cook, Brand answered him, though 
 sulkily : " Gard has gone after the fish, and it is 
 high time that he was back again." 
 7 87
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " That is what I have been trying to do, 
 look for him," little Olaf the Fair spoke up 
 for the first time, in aggrieved tones. And 
 secure at last from interference, he flung the 
 door open to the nipping January wind. " No, 
 I see nothing of him but I do hear the snow 
 crunch ! " 
 
 " It is certainly time," Brand blustered. 
 
 Nevertheless he bent his lank length over the 
 fire with recovered good-humor; and greater alac- 
 rity came into the movements of those who were 
 not yet dressed, while those who were, turned 
 toward the door, gibes at each tongue's end. 
 
 The nature of their greeting changed, how- 
 ever, when Gard the Ugly had stamped into the 
 room and they saw the size of the catch swinging 
 at his side. Waking, their sleeping appetites 
 cried out in alarm : 
 
 "Only three!" "Go into the hands of the 
 Troll " " gone long enough to get thirty ! " 
 " What in the Fiend's name has come to the fish- 
 ing?" 
 
 Tossing his fish to the clamoring cooks, Gard 
 was a long time pulling off his fur-lined gloves 
 88
 
 THE HALL OF THE CHAMPIONS 
 
 before he answered : " Nothing has come to the 
 fishing." 
 
 "What has come to you then?" Brand de- 
 manded. 
 
 After a while Gard said gruffly : " I forgot to 
 take any more." 
 
 " Forgot! " echoed the chorus ; and Erlend 
 laid his plump hands on the Ugly One's shoulders 
 and shook him good-naturedly. 
 
 " Are you asleep ? " he inquired. 
 
 Gard pushed off his brown cloak and with it 
 his questioner. " Since I can feel your grasp, I am 
 not asleep. I think I have seen Hallad's ghost." 
 
 " What ! " cried the chorus ; and Domar, mis- 
 taking it for a joke, burst into his uproarious 
 laugh. He stopped abruptly when he found that 
 he was alone, and Gard spoke without further 
 interruption : 
 
 " It happened that the first set of lines I 
 stopped at had been robbed, so I was obliged to 
 go across the river, which is what makes me rather 
 late. Over there I had pulled up three fish when I 
 heard a noise on the bank and looked around. 
 Some evergreen trees hang down their branches 
 
 89
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 there, and they are white with snow; he had on a 
 white cloak that mixed him with them, at first. But 
 suddenly I saw him looking out at me, as near as 
 that bowl. His eyes were very wide open, and his 
 face was white as milk. It may be that he would 
 have spoken to me, but I did not wait to see." 
 
 " And therein you showed sense," Domar 
 breathed in sympathy. But again he was on the 
 unpopular side, for Ketil began to hoot : 
 
 " If you had waited, it is most likely you would 
 have found out that you ar.e a simpleton. Why 
 should Hallad be dressed in white like a slave? 
 He wore green when he went on his death- journey. 
 Is it likely that Ran keeps new cloaks for drowned 
 people? " 
 
 " Certainly, I think you are asleep after all ! " 
 Erlend laughed ; which was the signal for a flight 
 of chaff until Brand at his fish-fork endangered 
 the peace by scoffing: 
 
 " I think you are lying." 
 
 To have said that to some of the band would 
 
 have been to bring on a fight to the death, and 
 
 many caught breath apprehensively before they 
 
 remembered that this was one of the points about 
 
 90
 
 THE HALL OF THE CHAMPIONS 
 
 which Gard's thrall-blood gave him feelings differ- 
 ent from theirs. He answered without resentment : 
 
 " I am not apt to lie when nothing is to be 
 gained by it. I call Thor as witness that I have 
 spoken the truth ! " His oath he directed toward 
 the chief, who had returned to his high-seat and 
 from there listened intently to what passed. 
 
 But in the very act of nodding, Alrek Sword- 
 Bearer broke off to ponder; and in the midst of 
 pondering, he began to grin. " If you want to 
 know my belief," he said, " it is that you saw the 
 Weathercock's thrall, Tunni." 
 
 Instantly the chorus seconded him. " That is 
 certainly the truth of the matter ! " " Their hair 
 is of the same color " " the branches hid 
 its shortness : " and explains the slaves' 
 cloak " 
 
 " And explains why his look was fear-full," 
 Alrek added, " if, as I think, it was he who robbed 
 the lines to save himself the trouble of going far- 
 ther. He would think his hide in danger of a 
 flogging " 
 
 " Which it will get ! " roared Gard ; whereupon 
 the chorus redoubled its delighted jeering. 
 
 91
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 This one time, however, the Ugly One's patience 
 had a limit. Gradually his swarthy face turned 
 mottled red; slowly a gleam came into the dull 
 eyes above the high cheek-bones. Suddenly his 
 voice rumbled through theirs : " If any of you 
 tell this so that outsiders make derision, you will 
 feel the edge of my knife." 
 
 They knew then that they had gone as far as 
 was safe. When each one of them had spoken 
 one gibe more to show that he dared to, there was 
 a lull, of which Erlend the Amiable took advan- 
 tage to make a tactful suggestion. 
 
 " I shall think those fish are ghosts if I do not 
 get some of them between my teeth before long," 
 he observed. And lo! ghosts and threats were, of 
 a sudden, things of the past. 
 
 " Get to your places," commanded the head- 
 cook, sweeping them aside that he might place be- 
 fore his chief the first portion of the crisp and 
 rosy dish, savory with garlic and sweet with its 
 own freshness. 
 
 There was an eager scrambling of feet, a 
 joyful clattering of brass-hilted knives, a flurry 
 of half -spoken requests; and after that all
 
 THE HALL OF THE CHAMPIONS 
 
 noise gave way to a pleasant munching sound, en- 
 forced now and then by a contented sigh or a long- 
 drawn " Ah h ! " of satisfaction. 
 
 A mumble of applause greeted the Bull when, 
 having licked the last morsel from his fingers and 
 pushed back his bowl, he looked around to say, 
 stretching : " I should like to see the man who 
 could make me go back to the old way of living ! "
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 ABOUT THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY WHO WAS 
 DROWNED 
 
 To keep such a band supplied with food was 
 an occupation in itself. 
 
 " Certainly I begin to believe there is truth 
 in the things women say about a boy's stomach 
 being like the bottomless horn which Thor 
 tried to drink dry!" Brand jested. With his 
 week of fuel-duty far behind him and a day's 
 hunting immediately before him, it was a light 
 heart that beat under his deerskin tunic as he fol- 
 lowed his chief and the Ugly One out of the booth 
 door. 
 
 On the threshold the hunters paused to call 
 back in mock admonition : " See to it this time 
 that the meat is hung where the dogs can not get 
 it " " Watch Njal, if you do not want the 
 cheese cut with the garlic knife " Put a bone 
 in the Bull's mouth! If the Skraellings should 
 94
 
 THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY 
 
 come while he is bellowing like that, they would 
 get more scared than they were at Karlsefne's 
 bull." 
 
 Then Brand shut the door upon the counter- 
 chaff, and the three began to burrow for their 
 skees in the pile beside the house. 
 
 Trees such trees as Greenland never dreamed 
 of rose snow-laden behind the booth, and before 
 it a sweep of snow-buried meadow sloped away to 
 beaches of white sand ; for the little settlement was 
 built across a neck of land that reached down 
 between a river and a great lake-like bay. But the 
 lads went neither forward nor back when at last 
 they were shod for the trip, but turned to their 
 left and moved across the camp toward the river 
 bank. 
 
 It was so early in the day that no wind had 
 yet arisen to stir the fleecy snow-blanket which 
 the night had spread, and to look up a sunbeam 
 was to look up a track of swirling star-dust. From 
 the provision shed next their booth the first camp 
 dog to leave night quarters had only just emerged, 
 yawning, and dragging his hind legs after him. 
 Passing the great log-built sleeping houses with 
 
 95
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 gray banners flying from every smoke hole, they 
 caught a rattle of dishes and a hum of jovial 
 voices which told pleasantly of the breakfast hour. 
 Farther on, they overtook the thralls carrying the 
 pails of milk to the dairy, and had for a wink 
 of time a glimpse of Gudrid herself. Looking 
 out to hurry the milkers she stood an instant in the 
 dairy door, tall and straight and deep-bosomed, 
 carrying her baby on her hip as though he were 
 a doll. For all the white matron's cap upon her 
 sunny locks, her face showed young and flower- 
 fresh as she turned to smile at them. When they 
 had lost sight of her, Brand spoke reflectively : 
 
 " Women are as helpless in hardships as a 
 rowan tree in the open ; but if they must be in the 
 world, let them be like that." 
 
 " It is a good thing to be in a country where 
 there are but seven women," Gard assented. 
 
 What Alrek would have said no one knows; 
 for they reached just then a corner of the last 
 booth, and rounding it, encountered Karlsefne re- 
 turning from an early search for a favorite hound 
 which he now carried in his arms, badly torn by 
 fighting. 
 
 96
 
 THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY 
 
 As he was coming out of the snow-mantled 
 grove, so he might have been coming out of the 
 finest trading booth in Norway, so splendid were 
 his garments of blue, so rich the silvery furs that 
 bordered them. On the iron of his hair and his 
 beard and his bushy brows, the morning light 
 was sparkling like rime frost ; and a glint of kindly 
 humor lighted his deep-set eyes as they fell upon 
 the approaching three. 
 
 " I salute the Chief of the Vinland Champions 
 and his men ! " he greeted them. " We old bones 
 need to look to ourselves when young blood is on 
 the trail so early." 
 
 Drawing up his soldierly form in salute, the 
 Sword-Bearer replied that young blood had need 
 to stir early when it had young appetites to pro- 
 vide for. 
 
 " That is true," the Lawman assented ; then 
 added politely : " Yours is certainly a hard-work- 
 ing household, chief. I hope your debt to me does 
 not lie heavy on your shoulders ? " 
 
 Involuntarily the Champions of Vinland ex- 
 changed wistful glances, and their chief paused to 
 consider his answer. 
 
 97
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " Why, the truth of the case is this," he said 
 at last. " It is only a little time that is left over 
 after we have got the food and fuel which are 
 needed to keep us going; and since we have to 
 spend that time in working out our debt to you, 
 there is left no chance whatever to employ our- 
 selves with accomplishments or skin-hunting. That 
 some have found this hard can not be denied, yet 
 it should not be thought either that our knees are 
 in any way weakening under us." 
 
 "Ah?" said Karlsefne, and stood a while 
 stroking the head of the hound that had just 
 strength enough to lick his hand. Presently he 
 spoke with much graciousness : " It is an old 
 saying that ' necessities should be taken into con- 
 sideration.' Let us therefore look upon the debt 
 as paid. In a short time to come you will find your 
 hands full with ship-building. I expect that your 
 boat will stand to Vinland's aid and strengthen us 
 greatly, when it is ready." 
 
 So unexpected was the turn that for a time it 
 took their breath away, but at last their chief re- 
 covered enough of his to answer gratefully : 
 
 " To let the matter rest so would be a great 
 98
 
 THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY 
 
 help for us, Karlsefnc. If we do not serve Vin- 
 land well, it will not be for lack of trying." 
 
 " That is well-spoken, as was to be expected 
 from you," Karlsef ne made courteous return ; 
 whereupon they shook hands all around with the 
 ceremony which becomes a dealing between chiefs. 
 
 After they had parted from the Lawman, how- 
 ever, and were skimming through the grove which 
 was the back dooryard of the little settlement, 
 dignity gave way to delight. Reaching the trail 
 that zigzagged up the bluff, they streaked down 
 it cheering, and cheering slid far along the spark- 
 ling track of the river. 
 
 Though black rifts yawned here and there in 
 the middle of the stream, the ice within a hundred 
 paces of the shores was as solid as a rock and as 
 smooth-carpeted as a floor, a shining temptation to 
 any with red blood in his veins. From sliding 
 they went to racing, cleaving the air like swallows. 
 There is no knowing when they would have stopped 
 if they had not been halted, on turning a bend in 
 the river, by the sight of smoke curling up from 
 behind in a low white bank ahead of them. 
 
 In the same breath Brand cried : " Skrael- 
 99
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 lings ! " and Gard cried, " Dwarfs ! " At which 
 Alrek repeated the last word with lifted eyebrows : 
 
 " Dwarfs? " 
 
 Somewhat shamefacedly, Gard explained him- 
 self : " I said that in j est. It came into my mind 
 how Biorn Herjulfsson's men used to think that 
 this land was inhabited by them. But the rocks 
 are not large enough here. It is more likely to 
 be Skraellings." 
 
 " It is most likely to be some of our own 
 hunters," Alrek dissented, " but it lies on our shoul- 
 ders to investigate. We will leave our skees on the 
 ice and creep close to the bank and listen ; the 
 tongue they speak, and their voices, will tell us 
 something. If they are Skraellings, remember 
 to behave well toward them, but on no account allow 
 them to get hold of your knives. Karlsefne would 
 blame the man strongly who should give them a 
 weapon." 
 
 The plan was simple enough to carry out, for 
 the shore was flat at the river's edge. With a 
 sudden freak of perverseness, Brand decided that 
 doffing his skees was unnecessary, and edged his 
 way up sidewise, the six-foot runners threatening 
 100
 
 THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY 
 
 more than once to trip his neighbor. But they 
 did not have to get very close to hear, as the place 
 was still and the voices loud. 
 
 Their first expression was disappointment, for 
 the language spoken was nothing more novel than 
 Norse, and the voice was the hoarse one of the 
 vagabond Greenlander known as Faste the Fat. 
 
 " they are contented with no better ex- 
 citement than hunting," he was saying. 
 
 " And to get only such wealth as is to be got 
 from trading with Skraellings," added the grumble 
 of Ale the Greedy. 
 
 In the faces of the eavesdroppers disappoint- 
 ment began to give place to curiosity. 
 
 " Better two followers like you than twenty 
 cinder-biters," returned a third voice, harsh and 
 sneering for all the flattery of the words. " I have 
 not brought my news forward in the hall because 
 I do not want the chiefs to take the power out of 
 my hands. I have told only men who " 
 
 Snap! Snap! Recognizing the Huntsman, 
 Brand had moved involuntarily; and his cumber- 
 some foot-gear came in contact with a bush and the 
 dry twigs broke. Before the lads could more than 
 101
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 straighten, the giant form of Thorhall appeared 
 at the top of the bank, his knife bare in his hand. 
 
 " Prying again ! " he snarled, in his small eyes 
 so evil a look that Gard's fingers began instinc- 
 tively to shape runes against charm-spells, and 
 Alrek's deliberate voice became fiercely swift as at 
 a challenge. 
 
 " A man must be doing something which he 
 expects to have pried into who makes his council- 
 hall in the wastes," he retorted. " We thought 
 the smoke must be from a Skraelling cook -fire, and 
 crept up to see." 
 
 The Huntsman tossed his knife back to its 
 case, and his anger sheathed itself in contempt. 
 " If a man in the wastes is unable to escape the 
 meddling of fools, what would he not have to en- 
 dure who remained in camp? " 
 
 To that there did not appear to be any satis- 
 factory answer; and as he remained standing with 
 folded arms, plainly awaiting their departure, 
 there did not seem to be any adequate reason for 
 staying. The only revenge they could take was 
 to move away in the most deliberate manner pos- 
 sible and mutter scathing comment to one another, 
 102
 
 THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY 
 
 feeling all the while his eyes like knife-blades in 
 their backs. 
 
 " It has something to do with that bag of his." 
 " He is trying to get another ship-load of fools to 
 accompany him south " If he thinks the 
 Weathercock will lend him another boat 
 " None but the scum will listen to him " I 
 wonder if Ale and the Fat One were ashamed to 
 show themselves ? " " Let us turn around sud- 
 denly when we get to this bend and see if they are 
 not all looking after us." 
 
 Agreeing, they reached the bend and turned, 
 but it was a day of surprises. Though each boy 
 would have taken oath that he felt that gaze on 
 him as he wheeled, neither Huntsman nor followers 
 were anywhere to be seen. And as they stood 
 staring, Gard uttered a smothered cry and flung 
 out his arm in another direction, toward the middle 
 of the stream. 
 
 Through a broken place in the ice not twenty 
 paces away, two claw-like hands were reaching up ; 
 as the trio gazed, a head followed, covered with 
 carrot-yellow hair which hung in dripping points 
 about two starting eyes set in a ghastly blue- 
 8 103
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 white face. Finally a white-cloaked body raised 
 itself over the edge of the ice and stood before 
 them. 
 
 Whether it would retreat or advance none 
 waited to see. With a yell of " Hallad ! " Gard 
 was off up the river at a deer's pace, the others at 
 his heels. When he came to another place where 
 the bank was flat, he turned his long toes up it and 
 plunged into the forest, the others still following. 
 
 Guiding six-foot runners in and out between 
 trees, however, is less easy; and before long they 
 were forced to moderate their speed. As soon as 
 they did that, Alrek's wonted coolness was able to 
 overtake him. He stopped disgustedly. 
 
 " We are simpletons to run. Hallad would do 
 us no harm." 
 
 Gard devoted the only breath he had to tri- 
 umph : " You do not claim that it is Tunni, now ! " 
 
 " It is Hallad," the Red One agreed in a gasp. 
 " If we could cut off his head and put it between 
 his feet, that would make him rest quiet." 
 
 The Ugly One shook his black mane. " You 
 forget that a wave-covered man can not be dug up 
 again. It is said to be a sign that they have been 
 104
 
 received well when drowned men come back after 
 their death; yet Hallad has scarcely the look of 
 one who has been well entertained 
 
 " He was always wanting something different 
 from what he had," Brand sniffed. 
 
 *' However that is, it is unlikely that he has 
 come back to make trouble," Alrek said. " That 
 is only done by men who were unruly before their 
 death. Hallad had less spirit than a wood-goat 
 when he was alive. I think we were fools to run." 
 
 " If you had been that kind of a fool on the 
 Cape of the Crosses, you would have made more 
 by it," Gard muttered in rare resentfulness, 
 though he was not rash enough to speak so that 
 his chief could hear him. 
 
 The Sword-Bearer on his side knew better than 
 to ask over. Instead he said : " This is the first 
 time I have been in this part of the country. I 
 wonder what kind of game they have here," and 
 moved leisurely away where a treeless space left 
 a white page crossed and recrossed with woodland 
 runes. 
 
 Preferring to discuss their last adventure before 
 they sought a new one, the other two sat down to 
 
 105
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 wait for him. But they were hardly settled before 
 his whistled call brought them again to their feet. 
 
 They found him kneeling beside a trench-like 
 trail, testing with his bared hands the condition 
 of the snow that had fallen back into it. 
 
 " If this were a five days' journey north, I 
 should declare them elk tracks," he said. " Snorri 
 of Iceland shot many a one of them up there, last 
 winter, which he thought greatly superior to any 
 we have in Norway. I would give my head for 
 another elk hunt." He remained gazing at the 
 trail in pleased retrospection, which moved the two 
 Greenlanders to say enviously that they had never 
 seen an elk. 
 
 " You will find it sport when you do," the 
 Sword-Bearer assured them. Then he came out of 
 his musing and arose, once more Alrek the Chief, 
 brief and purposeful. " They can scarcely be less 
 than deer's, however; and they were made this 
 morning. It is easier to find tracks than to find 
 what made them, as it is one thing to sight land 
 across drift-ice and another to land on it; but we 
 shall have poor luck if we can not get our meat out 
 of this." 
 
 106
 
 THE HUNTSMAN AND THE BOY 
 
 Instinctively they fell again under his leader- 
 ship, straightening as he rose and turning their 
 runners in the direction he was facing. 
 
 " Certainly the snow could not be in better 
 condition," Brand gave tacit assent, and reassured 
 himself of the safety of the quiver at his back. 
 
 " I knew that we should have luck to-day, be- 
 cause I heard a wolf howl last night," Gard added, 
 with a hitch to his belt. 
 
 Then they glided away, single file, under the 
 white arches spanning the white aisles. 
 
 107
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THROUGH WHICH THE CHAMPIONS CHASE 
 VINLAND ELK 
 
 THROUGH the forest and out like flitting 
 shadows, pausing only to make sure that the trail 
 they were following was fresher than any of those 
 which crossed it. Over a pond and across a bog 
 and zigzag up a hill, they had not grazed a 
 stone or snapped a twig; it seemed that every 
 stride must bring them in sight of the game. 
 Then, on the other side of the slope, Alrek blun- 
 dered. Descending at lightning speed, he turned 
 his head to look behind, and in so doing uncon- 
 sciously straightened his body ever so little from 
 the required bend. In a breath he was seated on 
 the snow while his skees finished the coast without 
 him, at the bottom dashing noisily against a stone. 
 Instantly, from somewhere in the white distance, 
 came like an echo the sound of crashing timber, 
 a sound which passed so quickly that if only 
 108
 
 CHASING VINLAND ELK 
 
 one had heard it he might have doubted his 
 ears. 
 
 All three had heard it, however; and the two 
 who reached the bottom still shod looked scath- 
 ingly upon the third as he came plunging down, 
 breaking through the crust to his knees wherever 
 it covered a hollow. 
 
 " I advise you to tie yourself on," one of them 
 jeered; and the other one gibed: "Would you 
 like to hold to my cloak in going down the next 
 hill?" 
 
 If he would, the Sword-Bearer did not admit 
 it; but it was something that he was reduced to 
 silence. They swung after him in high feather 
 when he was once more on his runners and off 
 across the valley. 
 
 Beyond the next rise there was a plain, fringed 
 by a thicket ; and there in the packed and trampled 
 snow and the gnawed branches and peeled bark 
 they found yet more tangible proof of what they 
 had lost. 
 
 " We should have got a herd if nobody had 
 spoiled it," Gard grunted. 
 
 Before Brand also could voice his reproach, 
 109
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Alrek darting here and there among the trees in 
 search of the new trail uttered his low whistle and 
 was off like a hare. Like hounds after hare they 
 were after him, and Vinland trees looked their first 
 upon real skee-running. 
 
 Speed, not silence, was the object now. More 
 than once their iron-shod staffs rang sharply 
 against the rocks as they thrust out the poles to 
 change their course, rudder-like. Finding coasting 
 too slow now, they took the last half of each hill 
 at a leap. And when a plain stretched its smooth 
 surface before them, or a frozen pond or a marsh, 
 their speed was the speed of a deer at his best. 
 
 And now the hunted were far from their best. 
 The holes which their sharp hoofs had at first cut 
 so cleanly through the crust were becoming hag- 
 gled. Farther on, the trail itself that had been 
 so straight began to show the wavering of the 
 panic-stricken. At last the hunters came to a place 
 where a wisp of bloody foam stained the white. 
 Only a rigid economy of breath kept back a cheer, 
 and they put the energy saved into fresh speed. 
 
 A jump over a pile of boulders, a spurt over 
 a low knoll, and there in the open space beyond 
 110
 
 CHASING VINLAND ELK 
 
 was the prey, six panting froth-flecked creatures, 
 stricken staring with terror. 
 
 " But what in the Troll's name are they ? " 
 cried Gard and Brand together, at sight of the 
 huge, shaggy, ungainly bodies with antlers like 
 shovels and enormous noses like nothing they had 
 ever seen in their lives. 
 
 At the same instant Alrek answered them with 
 the glad cry : " Vinland elk ! " 
 
 The next instant he had added a command to 
 halt, checking his own advance by a thrust of his 
 skee-staff into the snow, and following that act by 
 casting it aside and swiftly unslinging his bow: 
 " Be on your guard ! They have not deer's tem- 
 pers." 
 
 Even as he spoke, the bull in the lead flung 
 up his mighty antlered head and, while the other 
 five moved on, wheeled and faced the foe, like a 
 chief covering his people's retreat. 
 
 Alrek paid him the tribute of an admiring 
 murmur, but the withdrawal of the five set the 
 Greenlanders wild with exasperation. 
 
 " Charge him ! " " Finish him ! " " Get him 
 out of the way ! " they cried savagely, and started 
 
 111
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 forward even before their arrows were on their 
 bow-strings. 
 
 The only thing they knew clearly after that 
 was that the Vinland elk did not wait to be charged. 
 Gard, who was a length ahead, had suddenly a 
 glimpse of eyes like balls of green fire; some- 
 thing which had looked as fixed as a boulder be- 
 came, lightning-quick, a hurtling mass descending 
 on him, and he had a vision of terrible sharp- 
 edged forefeet that could mangle a man to jelly. 
 
 Dropping his weapons, he turned to run, but 
 lapped his skees and fell headlong. Falling, he 
 uttered a hoarse cry as he saw Brand's hastily 
 aimed arrow bury itself harmlessly in the animal's 
 flank. Then, as he rolled backward, he caught 
 sight of Alrek and regained hope. 
 
 Only the Sword-Bearer's brown cheeks, flaming 
 crimson, showed his excitement; the rock beside 
 him was no steadier than the arm that held his 
 bow. Drawing back the string with all his 
 strength, he sent an arrow through the shaggy 
 neck where it j oins the body ; and the great beast 
 fell forward on his knees and died without a 
 quiver.
 
 CHASING VINLAND ELK 
 
 As the animal sank, Gard arose, breathing 
 curses on his own awkwardness while he snatched 
 up his scattered weapons, his eyes fixed greedily 
 on the five disappearing over a ridge. And Brand 
 cried fiercely : " There is as much ahead, and more 
 besides ! " and leaped forward. And Alrek plucked 
 forth another arrow and drew himself up to spring 
 over the dead forester lying high before him 
 drew himself up and then paused and hesitated, 
 gazing down at the mighty shape. As nobly war- 
 rior-like as he had made his desperate charge, so 
 nobly warrior-like he lay in his death, a leader 
 who had given his life to save his people. 
 
 Slowly the young Viking stretched forth his 
 hand. " Stop ! " he ordered. 
 
 Poised in mid-air, as it were, they looked over 
 their shoulders at him, crying impatiently : " What 
 is the matter? " 
 
 This time the Chief of the Champions gave his 
 gesture authority. " Come back. To kill them 
 also would be a low-minded act. He took his 
 death-wound to save them. We have all we need. 
 Come back." 
 
 An instant they balanced there, gazing at the 
 113
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 white ridge over which the last dark form was dis- 
 appearing. Then the obedience bred in the bones 
 of Gard the Thrall-Born turned him back to his 
 master. 
 
 " You are the chief," he muttered. 
 
 At the same time Brand the Red made up his 
 mind. " Though you should spend all your 
 breath, you would not hinder me from going ! " he 
 cried, and sprang forward. 
 
 The arrow which Alrek had drawn forth was 
 still in his hand; in the grasp of his other hand 
 was his bow. Fitting the shaft on the string, 
 he spoke his warning: 
 
 " It is unlikely that you will do any hunting 
 for some time if you do not come back." 
 
 As a flame to a dry leaf, so was a threat to 
 Brand's temper. Hissing defiance, it flared up, 
 and he redoubled his speed. 
 
 Above the creak of his skees he heard at the 
 same instant two sounds, Gard's voice crying: 
 " Would you kill him? " and the twang of Alrek's 
 bow-string. Then his right arm dropped at his side 
 with an arrow through it. His chief had foretold 
 truly that he would do no more hunting for some 
 114
 
 CHASING VINLAND ELK 
 
 time. It was as much in rage as pain that he 
 caught at the shaft, cursing. 
 
 Gard's relief took the form of boisterous laugh- 
 ter; but the Sword-Bearer, as soon as he could 
 make himself heard, spoke gravely : 
 
 " If you think you paid too much for your 
 big words, you have only your own foolishness to 
 thank for making the bargain." 
 
 Coming slowly back to them, still holding his 
 arm, Brand's face was as white as it had been that 
 day on shipboard ; but there was no less of a swag- 
 ger in his bearing. " Who says I paid too much? " 
 he panted. " I shall say what I choose though 
 you shoot into me every arrow of your quiver. / 
 find no fault with the bargain ! " 
 
 Alrek's gravity yielded to one of his short sud- 
 den laughs. " Now if you are satisfied, it is certain 
 that I am," he said, and studied the Red One with 
 twinkling eyes. Amusement was still alight in 
 them when he stepped forward and held out his 
 hand, yet there was also in his manner a new 
 cordiality. " It has never happened to me before 
 to meet a sprout to equal you," he declared. " I 
 foretell that I shall certainly kill you some time, 
 
 115
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 but I promise that I will carve runes about you 
 afterward." 
 
 " How do you know that it will be you who does 
 the rune-carving ? " Brand retorted ; but at the 
 same time he yielded his palm with flattered willing- 
 ness. A little later he even yielded his wounded 
 arm that the hand which put the shaft in might 
 cut it out again. 
 
 Twilight never gathered in upon a more con- 
 tented party than these three weary hunters, 
 sprawled luxuriously on the fragrant heaps of 
 evergreen boughs around the leaping fire, fed to 
 repletion on the daintiest food they knew, pouring 
 their hearts out in discussion of the day's ad- 
 ventures. They fell asleep wrangling over the 
 placing of the antlers on the booth wall. 
 
 116
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 TELLING HOW TRADE WITH THE SKRAELLINGS CAME 
 TO A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 THE antlers were finally hung over the high- 
 seat, while the hide made a blanket for the bunk 
 below, and the effect was so imposing that every 
 Champion went fur-mad as soon as he saw them. 
 For a month afterward, it took all the chief's au- 
 thority to keep the fuel pile supplied and cooks at 
 their post. Every lad not told off and told 
 sternly off for public service or private drudgery, 
 spent his days in ranging the country in search of 
 spoil, and his nights in dreaming of hunts wherein 
 each dead tree should turn out to be the den of a 
 hibernating bear which he would slay with valorous 
 ease and bring home to deck the high-seat, even as 
 Leif the Lucky had done before him. 
 
 The way in which they did finally come into 
 possession of a bearskin, however, was really more 
 dream-like than their dream. 
 
 117
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Nothing could have been more peaceful than 
 the beginning of the happening, in the women's 
 room of Karlsefne's booth. Loafing after the noon- 
 day meal, Erlend the Amiable had stretched his 
 plump length over the cushions of a bench. At 
 one end of the fire, the long-kirtled forms of 
 Gudrid and her women moved to and fro before 
 their looms. At the other, where the firelight 
 lay brightest, the Sword-Bearer was playing 
 wolf with the baby, a game evoking so much 
 rumbling growling and squealing laughter that 
 presently it took precedence of the conversa- 
 tion. 
 
 " You are spoiling him, Kinsman Alrek," 
 Gudrid said, looking around the edge of her loom 
 with a smile which belied her reproach. 
 
 The prettiest of the bondmaids gave her braids 
 a pettish flirt. " That is so," she confirmed. " Yes- 
 terday, when it happened that I was at the door 
 trying to talk to Hauk Votsson, I was obliged to 
 turn around and growl between every two words 
 or the child would have deafened us. I do not 
 know what Hauk thought of me." 
 
 " If you wish, I will ask him," Erlend 
 118
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 offered, a piece of flippancy which cost him his 
 comfort, as to save his ears he was obliged to take 
 to instant flight around the looms. 
 
 But Alrek, sitting back on his heels, shaking 
 back his long hair, remained intent upon the cradle. 
 " It is the greatest fun," he said, " to see the cub 
 try to frown at me. His eyebrows are like the fuzz 
 on a chicken, yet he tries to make them look like his 
 namesake's, before a laugh gets the better of him. 
 Watch now ! " 
 
 Small Snorri had been there but seven months ; 
 he was still wonderfully new. The maid and Er- 
 lend left their chase, and Gudrid came from her 
 loom, and together they watched breathlessly the 
 knitting of the downy brows above the blue eyes, 
 and the slow dawning of the unwilling smile, 
 brighter and brighter, until in each soft cheek a 
 dimple broke. 
 
 " He is going to be in every respect like his 
 father ! " Gudrid cried, falling on her knees beside 
 him. And she was smothering him with kisses, 
 and the others were looking on sympathetically, 
 when the door was flung open before little Olaf the 
 Fair, rosy and breathless. 
 9 119
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " Where is Alrek ? " he panted. " I want Oh ! 
 Alrek ! What do you think I have seen ? " 
 
 " Hallad ? " shrieked the three bondmaids to- 
 gether. 
 
 " Skraellings ! Black as crowberries. Crossing 
 the open space west of here. With big packs on 
 their backs. I was up in that tree by the wheat- 
 shed, watching for Brand to slip on the slide I 
 had made to get revenge on him for cuffing me, 
 and " His voice was lost in the babel of excla- 
 mations that came from the bondmaids and from 
 the men peering around the hall door. 
 
 Gudrid rose from beside the cradle with a ges- 
 ture of authority. " Too much noise is here. Since 
 Karlsefne is away it behooves us to be especially 
 careful how we behave. Run, some one of you, to 
 the Icelanders' booth. I know that Snorri is not 
 there, but if it happen that Biorn is, ask him to 
 get a following together and stand ready to receive 
 the wild men. And since it is likely that they will 
 want to buy the same dairy wares as before, Mel- 
 korka, you may have charge but there! Teh! 
 Your heedlessness is such that you would give them 
 three times as much as they required. I shall have 
 120
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 to portion, it out myself. The child I will leave 
 with you, Roswitha No, you would forget him if 
 a man so much as looked through the door at you ! 
 Kinsman ! " She laid a white hand on Alrek's 
 brown one as he would have moved past her. " He 
 is more fond of you than of any one, and I would 
 trust you before a hundred girls, so long as you 
 keep his fingers away from that hatchet in your 
 belt. Will you not stay with him the little while 
 that I must be in the dairy ? " 
 
 Stay with a baby while the long-looked- 
 forward-to trading went on without him ! Frown- 
 ing involuntarily, the Sword-Bearer hesitated, 
 and during that pause the Fate who was spinning 
 his life-thread sat with suspended breath, so much 
 hung on his answer. 
 
 It can not be denied that it came somewhat 
 grudgingly when it did come. " Why if it will 
 be a little while, kinswoman," he stipulated, turn- 
 ing back. 
 
 Gudrid waited to hear no more; with the last 
 word she was off, sweeping the maids like chaff 
 before her. Erlend and Olaf had long since van- 
 ished; and now the men could be heard clattering 
 121
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 out of the great next room that was their head- 
 quarters. 
 
 From the green behind the booths came the 
 clamor of barking dogs and the thud of running 
 feet accompanied by excited voices, now far away, 
 now just outside the door. Gradually the scat- 
 tered chatter blended into a hum; the hum rose 
 higher and higher; then fell suddenly in a hush 
 so deep that it seemed to the Sword-Bearer he 
 could hear the pat of bare feet and the rustle of 
 boughs put aside; and his fancy conjured up a 
 picture of dark forms with bright-eyed shaggy 
 heads bent under shaggier packs, emerging single 
 file from the white depths of the forest. Directly 
 after, the sound of strange guttural voices speak- 
 ing words he had never heard told him that some 
 part of his vision was correct. 
 
 "Oh, you great hindrance ! " he sighed to the 
 tyrant in the cradle. 
 
 But as even while he complained, he obeyed the 
 command of the chubby fists by picking up the 
 soft little body as gently as a woman would have 
 done, and tossing and dandling it in his strong 
 brown hands as no woman could have done, the 
 122
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 tyrant was in no way cast down but clung to him 
 confidingly, catching his breath with squeals of 
 delight and winding up by burying both fists 
 in the brown mane with a rapture of gurgling 
 laughter. 
 
 So Gudrid found them when she came in, the 
 color of haste in her fair face; and her smile was 
 very lovely as she took her baby from his guard. 
 
 " Whether you are like your father or not, 
 Alrek my kinsman, you have a good disposition," 
 she said ; then went on swiftly : " I hurried be- 
 cause I want to remind you of something. I beg 
 of you, do not forget that Karlsefne has forbidden 
 any weapon whatever to be traded to the hatchet- 
 men, no matter what loose property they offer for 
 it. Do not forget, or let your men forget." 
 
 Alrek's glance reassured her. " I will remem- 
 ber," he said quietly. 
 
 "Then go quickly! They have only just 
 opened their packs." She gave him a little shove, 
 but she might have saved herself the trouble for 
 he was out of the door at a bound. 
 
 Coming out into the gathering was like coming 
 upon some strange new-world fair. Everywhere
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 over the white of the snow-covered earth, against 
 the gray of the snow-filled sky, the Northmen's gay 
 cloaks made rings of bright color around the dark 
 fur-clad forms of the wild men. Everywhere the 
 sounds of fair-time had vanquished the stillness 
 of the forest, the hails of eager barterers, the 
 boasts of jubilant purchasers, even the familiar 
 din of fighting dogs wherever a Norse hound and 
 one of Skraelling breed were able to find a spot 
 free from interfering boot-toes. 
 
 On the step before the dairy door, the yellow 
 heads of the three pretty bondmaids showed above 
 a hedge of bristling black locks ; the love of trad- 
 ing, so long denied, getting the better of any fear 
 they might have felt of their uncouth customers. 
 As Alrek looked, Roswitha with one hand delivered 
 a cheese ball into a copper-colored palm and with 
 the other drew in a magnificent wolf -skin ; while 
 Melkorka, her saucy Irish face twinkling with mis- 
 chief, ladled curds from her bowl into the gaping 
 mouth of an enormous Skraelling, standing before 
 her with half-shut eyes and an air of solemn 
 content. 
 
 " If only we could build cows as well as ships
 
 
 She ladled curds from her bowl into the gaping mouth.
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 out of timber ! " the Sword-Bearer wished as he 
 watched them with a grin. 
 
 He was brought out of his reverie by the ap- 
 pearance of a shadow on the snow at his feet. 
 Though he had not heard the faintest sound of an 
 approach, he looked up to find a wild man as dark 
 as the shadow and almost as tall standing at his 
 side. Over the Skraelling's left shoulder and arm 
 was hung a bearskin which took the Viking's 
 breath to look at ; his right arm he was stretching 
 toward Alrek's sword, a glitter of indescribable 
 craftiness in his beady eyes. It was so like the 
 stories that the Irish monks told of the wiles of the 
 Evil One that Alrek's recoil had in it even a touch 
 of superstitious fear. 
 
 " No," he said severely. " No ! " And with- 
 out further parley, he turned and hastened in the 
 direction in which Brand's red locks glowed be- 
 tween the gray of cap and cloak, like fire amid 
 ashes. 
 
 " I want to know at once that you have remem- 
 bered not to trade them any weapons," he demanded 
 with an urgent hand on the Red One's arm. 
 
 Once Brand would have shaken off that hand 
 125
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 resentfully ; now he looked around with affectionate 
 impudence. " Which are you the more anxious to 
 know, that I have remembered or that I have not 
 traded ? " he parried. 
 
 The Sword-Bearer let his hand fall with a 
 breath of relief. " Since you can make light of the 
 matter, I know that no harm has been done; if 
 you had been disobedient, you would have hurled 
 the news at me like a spear. I trust you to keep 
 on remembering it." 
 
 Brand made him a salute of mock deference. 
 " I will heed your orders in this as in everything," 
 he mouthed the formal phrase of submission. 
 
 " Now I hope you will do better than that," 
 his chief returned ; then hailed the Hare, scudding 
 past, and bade him summon every member of the 
 band to immediate council. 
 
 When at last they were all before him, and he 
 had obtained from them individually an assurance 
 that the order was still unbroken, he delivered the 
 command over again with all the weight he could 
 bring to bear. 
 
 They received the reminder as insult added to 
 injury. 
 
 126
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 " I do not think I stand in need of telling when 
 already for my poorest spear I have refused three 
 wolfskins!" the Bull cried, wagging his yellow 
 head ; while Kctil the Glib mocked openly : 
 
 " Behold the caution ! Lose no time in punish- 
 ing Erlend who has traded them a brooch with a 
 pin as long as my finger." 
 
 Even small Olaf sniffed rebelliously. " If I had 
 known that was all you were going to say, I doubt 
 if I would have come. I thought you were going 
 to offer us your red cloak to trade with." 
 
 " My red cloak ? " Alrek repeated. 
 
 Forty eyes fastened themselves wistfully on the 
 garment, while at least ten voices answered : " Of 
 course it is not to be expected " Yet you could 
 buy the most costly furnishings " They 
 would like it better than curds even " Njal 
 got the finest gray fur only for a kerchief with 
 one stripe of red." " Think if this were cut in 
 strips ! " " Another cloak would keep you equally 
 warm "Karlsefne would give you a king's 
 mantle for the asking 
 
 Shaking his head, Alrek folded the stained 
 drapery to him with both arms. " You show too 
 
 127
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 much generosity! I can tell you that you would 
 not get this though it would buy all the fur in 
 Vinland. My father gave it to me at the time of 
 my first Viking voyage; while one thread holds to 
 another, I shall wear it." Then he unfolded his 
 arms with a gesture more encouraging. " But it 
 may be that we shall not fare so ill, for I have hit 
 upon another plan. I have a suit of feasting- 
 clothes of red velvet 
 
 Not one of the twenty waited to hear more; 
 after the Hare the band was off like the tail 
 after a comet. The Sword-Bearer considered him- 
 self lucky that he reached the booth in time to 
 secure one sleeve for his own ventures. 
 
 After that the trading was like trading in a 
 dream. Even after the first recklessness had passed 
 and they had cut the velvet into strips no wider than 
 their thumbs, the same sizes of skins were given in 
 exchange. Erlend, the first to run out of purchase 
 money, was made custodian of the spoils; and the 
 rapidity with which the pile grew behind him in 
 what remained of the short afternoon was enough 
 to heat cooler blood. By the falling of twilight, 
 Alrek announced the whimsical determination to 
 128
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 try if he could not capture the bearskin itself with 
 what remained of his red sleeve and the foot of a 
 red stocking which he had found. 
 
 Because of the failing light, quenched early 
 by a gentle fall of snow, the trading had ceased 
 before he started. Here and there, where light 
 streamed out through open doors, the forest men 
 stooped in groups, packing for departure all wares 
 not previously bound around their heads or be- 
 stowed in their stomachs. From group to group 
 he went without finding the tall Skraelling, until 
 suddenly he caught a glimpse of him passing the 
 last door in the line, the door of their own booth. 
 It looked as though the great skin was still draping 
 his shoulders, so Alrek started leisurely toward 
 him and reached the wheat shed this side of the 
 Champions' booth. Then he slipped on Olaf's slide 
 and fell, striking his head against a great oak 
 root. 
 
 That was the last thing he remembered, and 
 he did not remember that for some time. The next 
 thing he was conscious of was sitting in his high- 
 seat in the booth, in silence and alone. The flick- 
 ering firelight that showed him the stretch of empty 
 
 129
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 benches revealed gradually to his bewildered eyes 
 a dark huddled shape on the white surface of the 
 table in front of him. What it was or how it got 
 there, he knew no more than what he was doing 
 there himself. He wondered dully if the Hunts- 
 man could have put a spell upon him, until like 
 a wind-breath through a fog came the recollection 
 that a sailor had once told him of having had a 
 similar experience, and that it had been caused 
 by striking his head in falling through a hatchway 
 on the ship. Moving his head, the Sword-Bearer 
 found it as sore as an unhealed wound, and that 
 part of his problem was solved. But where had he 
 been, and why was the booth empty at this time 
 of day? It was a relief to have the door open 
 upon Gard's hulking long-armed figure, powdered 
 with glistening snow. 
 
 When the Ugly One had taken three steps be- 
 yond the threshold, he saw the chief in the high-seat 
 and stopped with a loud exclamation. 
 
 Alrek grinned faintly. " Your surprise is no 
 
 greater than mine. I should be thankful if you 
 
 would tell me how I got here. No," as Gard made 
 
 a gesture of unbelief, " I declare myself in earnest. 
 
 130
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 I suppose I fell and struck my head somewhere. 
 Do you know where I have been? And why the 
 booth is empty ? " 
 
 When he had come around the fire and looked 
 curiously at the Sword-Bearer, Gard's doubts were 
 laid. " The proof of this is that the left side of 
 your face is scratched and dirty," he said. " It 
 is likely that you fell on Olaf's slide. You were 
 going in that direction, the last I saw of you. I 
 forgot you after the screech." 
 
 "What screech?" 
 
 " The yell that started the Skraellings, of 
 course." 
 
 "What Skraellings?" 
 
 " What Skraellings ! " Gard echoed ; but Al- 
 rek's memory had stirred. 
 
 " I remember ! They were here trading. I 
 came out of the women's house and saw them 
 He got upon his feet. " Are they gone? " 
 
 Gard began to laugh. " You are addled ! I 
 should have thought the racket sufficient to wake 
 Thorwald in his grave. It is certain that they are 
 gone ! At the first note of the yell they dropped 
 their packs and plunged into the woods, howling 
 
 131
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 like trolls. What frightened them this time, no 
 one knows. Erlend and Brand followed, and also 
 some of the other men of the band, but the creatures 
 
 4 
 
 seemed to melt and vanish. The men are only just 
 coming back. That is why no one is here yet to get 
 the meal." 
 
 Coming down to the fire, Alrek kicked the logs 
 about, partly to mend the burning, partly to vent 
 his irritation. " Never have I heard of a fall so 
 foolishly timed. I could give my head another 
 knock What is this? Fur? " He stretched his 
 hand toward the table. " A bearskin? What a 
 the bearskin the Skraelling offered for my sword? " 
 Memory came back like a rush of fire, lighting the 
 dark corners of his mind, flaming from his eyes as 
 he turned upon the slouching figure. " How did 
 it come here ? " 
 
 Gard began to speak with unwonted swiftness: 
 " It is true, I forgot to tell you that I bought it 
 myself. You must recollect that things were not 
 so dear at the end of the trading. I gave only a 
 piece of your tunic and and my ring with the 
 red stone. I would not have parted with that ring 
 for anything less. He liked very much to get it, 
 132
 
 A MYSTERIOUS END 
 
 and put it on his finger as soon He broke off 
 as Alrek's hands fell upon his shoulders, forcing 
 him down on his knees where the fire could light his 
 face. For the moment they were neither comrade 
 and comrade, nor chief and follower, but master 
 and thrall. 
 
 The Sword-Bearer's low voice seemed a hiss 
 between his teeth. " Swear to me that you gave 
 no weapon for it! Take oath on the cross of my 
 sword hilt ! " 
 
 Gard reached out even eagerly. " I take oath on 
 the cross, so help me Frey and Njord and Odin! " 
 
 After a while Alrek's hands relaxed their 
 grasp. It was some time before his eyes loosened 
 their hold, but at last they also released the Ugly 
 One and fell away, back to the fur. " It is good 
 that you are able to swear to it," he said grimly. 
 
 Brushing from his knee the ashes into which 
 he had been forced, the Ugly One grunted. " Do 
 you think I am a fool like Brand? Even if I did 
 not care for your orders, would I not be apt to 
 heed Karlsef ne's ? " 
 
 " It is a good thing that you do," the chief 
 said again. 
 
 133
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 IN WHICH THE CHAMPIONS FEEL THEIR 
 IMPORTANCE 
 
 SMILING, Gudrid drew out the head she had 
 thrust through the booth door at Erlend's urgent 
 invitation. " It is as splendid as can be in every 
 way. I do not wonder that you want to give a 
 feast to display it." 
 
 A little consciousness was in Erlend's laugh as 
 he shut the door and walked beside her through 
 the grove. " It is not altogether to display it," 
 he protested. " In a few weeks the spring games 
 will be held; it is the custom of every one to give 
 a feast at that season. I tell you we are going 
 to show some great feats. We exercise ourselves 
 every afternoon. They are practising now in an 
 open place which the chief found in the woods. 
 That is where I am going." 
 
 Pausing, Gudrid drew higher on her hip her 
 accustomed burden, a bundle wrapped in white 
 134
 
 FEEL THEIR IMPORTANCE 
 
 rabbit-skins from which looked forth a little rosy 
 face. "Is Alrek there?" she asked. "Then I 
 think I will try my luck in that direction, if so be 
 they will allow a woman to come near? " 
 
 " I think they will not mind your coming if 
 you go right away again," Erlend concluded after 
 some consideration. 
 
 Apparently she felt equal to the risk, for she 
 entered with him the broad trough-like path trod- 
 den through the snow of the grove. " I go only 
 for a walk," she said. " We have been too much 
 shut in the house, the child and I, since that fright- 
 ful trading day." 
 
 It seemed to the Amiable One that she shivered 
 as she spoke, so he observed politely : " It is a bad 
 thing that you were made sick by it. Melkorka 
 says that you even saw a ghost." 
 
 " Melkorka blunders much in her speaking and 
 blundered twice as much in her hearing," Gudrid 
 answered. " I said only that I got so full of fear 
 that I expected to see ghosts. Sitting alone in the 
 house with the child, it came into my head what 
 might happen if the Skraellings should turn an 
 evil side, with Karlsefne away and that good- 
 10 135
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 natured Biorn not expecting evil. And the more 
 I thought, the stranger the noises outside seemed 
 to me and the stranger shapes the shadows took, 
 until once I was so sure that one was a Skraelling 
 stealing in upon me that I bent over and covered 
 the cradle with my body, and just then came that 
 cry ! " She pressed her hand to her ear at the 
 recollection. 
 
 Erlend smiled indulgently. " Now did you 
 think it so terrible? It is likely that one of them 
 looked into the cattle-shed and saw the bull " 
 
 The glance her blue eyes sent over her shoulder 
 silenced him even before her words. " It would be 
 a strange wonder if you could tell me news about 
 it! Was I not here at the time the bull fright- 
 ened them? I heard how they screamed then, and 
 it was as different from this screech as day from 
 night. In this cry there were death-sounds and 
 no life-sounds. My foster-mother, Halldis, was 
 knowing in weird matters. I know of what I speak, 
 though all men think otherwise. And I know 
 enough to wish to forget the mishap. Let us not 
 talk of it any more. I wish to enjoy this fine 
 weather." 
 
 136
 
 FEEL THEIR IMPORTANCE 
 
 It was a day to be enjoyed. Beyond the net- 
 work of brown branches the sky was dazzling blue, 
 with here and there a fleecy cloud. Dazzling white, 
 snow lay in the curves of the boughs and filled the 
 hollows of the ground ; though on the ridges where 
 the bright sun touched, the brown earth showed 
 through. Everywhere, the wind was inoistly, 
 sweetly fresh. 
 
 " I do not wonder that it makes you kick up 
 your heels like young horses," Gudrid laughed, 
 when she came at last to the level treeless space in 
 whose middle six Champions leaped and wrestled, 
 while ten more lounged at one side, applauding or 
 hissing the wrestlers as their critical judgment 
 decided. 
 
 At sight of Erlend, the ten waved their hands 
 in careless greeting ; at sight of the kirtled figure 
 of Gudrid, they sat up in unmistakable disap- 
 proval; and a long lean wrestler with a mane of 
 red hair stamped petulantly when he was obliged 
 to retire from the field to the bordering trees where 
 his tunic and cloak awaited him. 
 
 " Though no more than seven women are in 
 Vinland, a man can not get away from them 
 
 137
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 though he go into the heart of a wood," he sput- 
 tered. 
 
 " Hush ! She will hear you," muttered Gard, 
 who stood beside him; whereupon the Red One's 
 voice rose in exasperation: 
 
 " I do not care whether she hears me or not ! 
 Will you keep to what concerns you? I have told 
 you before this that I am able to pay the price of 
 my deeds." 
 
 From under the tunic he was about to pull down 
 over his head, Gard looked at him irefully. " And 
 I have told you," he retorted, " that one can not 
 always tell what the price of his deed will be." 
 
 " I do not care what it is ! " bellowed Brand. 
 
 Harald Grettirsson turned on them with a grin. 
 " What ails you two that you have done nothing 
 but quarrel since the trading day? Cool off a 
 little," he jeered, and suddenly ran into them so 
 that they were jostled off the high ground into 
 a hollow and sank in snow up to their waists. Fore- 
 seeing vengeance, Grettirsson took promptly to 
 his heels, and the desertion of the three completed 
 the interruption begun by the appearance of 
 Gudrid's blue hood. 
 
 138
 
 FEEL THEIR IMPORTANCE 
 
 Gudrid took her departure with tactful prompt- 
 ness. " Now you need not trouble yourself to hunt 
 for fine words," she forestalled the somewhat em- 
 barrassed greeting of her young kinsman. " I am 
 well versed in the Viking laws about keeping 
 women out ; we have no other intention than to go 
 directly back, the Frowner and I." 
 
 Cordial as his relations with his kinswoman 
 were, the chief could not ask her to alter her 
 decision ; but he reached out and took the bundle 
 off her hip. " The Frowner. is not a woman," he 
 corrected. " I think he will like the noise better 
 than the rattling of his string of shark's teeth. I 
 will see to it that he comes to no harm." 
 
 The mother yielded him doubtfully. " But 
 do you know for certain that you will? " she 
 demurred. " If he should get his hand on the 
 hatchet in your belt 
 
 " Why, he would be able to do more than I 
 can," Alrek finished for her. " I have been unable 
 to find my hatchet for weeks." 
 
 Gudrid consented to smile. " I took for granted 
 it was there. Then I will certainly leave him, for 
 I should like him to be outdoors some while 
 
 139
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 longer. I will send a thrall a man-thrall to 
 fetch him." 
 
 But it came about that small Snorri Thorfinns- 
 son was returned to his mother by no such humble 
 individual. With the shortening of the light and 
 the lengthening of the shadows, Karlsefne the 
 Lawman came through the wood on his way camp- 
 ward from a day's outing. Coming out in the open 
 where a dozen Champions were fencing with a 
 mighty clash and clatter, he would have apologized 
 for the intrusion and kept on his way ; but reach- 
 ing the tree before which the red-cloaked chief 
 sprawled on a great rug, drawling comment, he 
 heard from the rabbit-skin bundle at the chief's 
 side a squeal of laughter which brought him to 
 a standstill. 
 
 " What have we here? " he asked in surprise. 
 
 Rising to greet him, Alrek looked down at the 
 bundle with a laugh. " It is likely that your son 
 is going to make a Berserker, Karlsefne," he 
 answered. " The more noise the swords make, the 
 louder he laughs." 
 
 The smile dawning on the Lawman's lips faded 
 as his glance passed from the rabbit-skin bundle 
 140
 
 FEEL THEIR IMPORTANCE 
 
 to the rug on which it lay. After a little he said 
 gravely : " This is an unusually fine bearskin 
 which you have, my young kinsman. I want to 
 ask if it is the one the Skraellings brought, on that 
 last trading day of which so much has been told? " 
 
 It was so plain that the same misgiving was 
 in his mind which had first risen to Alrek's, that 
 the Sword-Bearer breathed a prayer of thankful- 
 ness that he had lost no time in making sure of 
 Gard's good faith. He replied readily : " It is 
 the same one, Karlsefne. One of my men had such 
 luck in trading that he bought it when the price 
 was lower than it had been." 
 
 " Nevertheless, I should like much to know 
 what he paid for it," said the Lawman. 
 
 " Willingly," answered Alrek the Chief. " He 
 paid a large piece of the red cloth which we had 
 been trading with, and a ring with a red stone. 
 The Skraelling liked the ring so well that he put 
 it on as soon as he bought it." 
 
 The Lawman's gaze became less unswervingly 
 direct; presently its sharpness was softened by a 
 twinkle. " Now if all the Northmen of the new 
 lands continue to show such merchant talent, Vin- 
 
 141
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 land will soon be as great a trading place as Ice- 
 land," he laughed. 
 
 Then, as if to remove any lingering doubt of 
 his friendliness, he added that their taste in select- 
 ing a practising place was excellent; and that it 
 appeared that they were doing good work in it; 
 and that, if they would allow it, he should be glad 
 to remain a while and look on. When permission 
 had been graciously accorded, he sat down on the 
 rug between the chief and the rabbit-skin bundle 
 and showed himself the most inspiring audience 
 the band had ever performed before. 
 
 Under the stimulus of his applause, Njal the 
 Jumper achieved a mark a finger's length higher 
 than any he had made before; while Brand the 
 Wrestler felt such power swell in his great limbs 
 that for a time he seriously considered the idea of 
 challenging Karlsefne himself. Later, he was 
 glad that he had not, for when they stopped to 
 rest and came and stood around the bearskin, Karl- 
 sefne borrowed Alrek's dwarf -made sword and rose 
 up, towering and sinewy and straight as a pine, 
 and showed them some feats that he had learned 
 in the East, the real East where the sun is so hot 
 142
 
 FEEL THEIR IMPORTANCE 
 
 that all people are as brown as roasted fowls, 
 and the rich eat snow for a luxury. Baring a 
 knotted arm as lean as a spear-shaft, he did things 
 that furnished them fireside gossip for the rest of 
 the cold weather. 
 
 When at last he had set the Frowner on his 
 shoulder, and he and the Champions had parted in 
 a glow of good-fellowship, Erlend said warmly : 
 
 " Biorn Gudbrandsson is an open-handed chief, 
 and Snorri of Iceland is shrewder than most men ; 
 but the one surpassing others in high-mindedness 
 and knowing everything is Thorfinn Karlsefne. 
 I think it an honor to our feast that he has con- 
 sented to come to it." 
 
 143
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 GIVING THE REASON WHY THE SKRAELLJNGS FLED 
 
 IT happened, however, that Thorfinn Karlsefne 
 did not get back from his spring exploring trip 
 in time for the games. Inspecting all the self-sown 
 wheat-fields and natural vineyards in the vicinity, 
 he had been gone a week; and the light of the 
 momentous day had faded into twilight and the 
 dusk in its turn had melted into moonlight, silver- 
 ing the forest like a frost, before he came through 
 it with his men. 
 
 Meeting a ray of light from the last booth in 
 the line and catching from the same source a faint 
 note of revelry, he spoke smilingly to his partner, 
 Snorri of Iceland : " I recollect now that we have 
 missed great happenings. It is likely that if the 
 light were good enough we should find heads and 
 limbs strewed like pebbles over the plain." 
 
 " What witches' stuff this moonlight is ! " 
 Snorri laughed in return. " As you spoke, it al- 
 144
 
 WHY THE SKRAELLINGS FLED 
 
 most seemed to me as if I saw an arm down there." 
 He nodded his head toward the ravine along whose 
 brink they were walking; and old Grimkel, behind 
 him, followed the motion with his one eye and 
 grunted : 
 
 " I see what you mean, yonder where the 
 moon strikes. It has the look of an arm." 
 
 Still moving forward, Karlsefne also glanced 
 down into the black pool of shadow. From the dark 
 slope, something like a snag stood out so that the 
 moonlight caught it and gave it a weird resem- 
 blance to a human hand with fingers wide-spread 
 in the air. Looking down at it, he came slowly 
 to a standstill. Presently, while the chat behind 
 him ceased in surprise, he grasped a wiry bush on 
 the brink and let himself over the edge until he 
 could touch with his staff the dark mass from 
 which the snag stood out. Using the staff like a 
 pitchfork, he flung off the layers of sodden pine 
 branches heaped there and bent to look again. 
 Then he saw that the reason it looked like an arm 
 was because an arm was what it was, lean and 
 brown, outflung from a stark body lying face 
 downward in the brush. 
 
 145
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Those waiting above heard his voice rise awfully 
 from the shadow : " It is a Skraelling who has been 
 murdered ! Fetch torches ! " 
 
 Waiting for the lights to be brought, the 
 men stood looking dumbly at one another and 
 at the snag-like arm, in every mind the same 
 thought. Once Karlsefne's deep tones inter- 
 preted their silence, telling heavily through the 
 darkness : 
 
 " I do not know who has done this deed, but I 
 know that in slaying this one man he has taken 
 the lives of more men than tongue can number. 
 If ever the Skraellings come again it will be to make 
 warfare, and to save our lives we shall be forced 
 to take more of theirs ; and so it will go on through 
 ages yet unborn, until a white face which I had 
 striven to make a sign of friendliness will become 
 to the wild men a token of bloodshed." A moment 
 his voice rang out in terrible wrath : " Behold how 
 the heedlessness of one man can overthrow the 
 wisdom of a hundred ! " 
 
 Daring no answer, they awaited in silence the 
 arrival of the torches. But when at last the lights 
 had been brought and handed down, and they 
 146
 
 WHY THE SKRAELLINGS FLED 
 
 had descended after them, at least four spoke at 
 once: 
 
 " It is the Skraelling who offered the bear's 
 hide ! " 
 
 " By Odin," cried a fifth, " I saw him walking 
 in this direction shortly before the time of the 
 scream! He must have fallen over the bank and 
 lain all this while under the snow that was coming 
 down." 
 
 " What has become of the hide, however? " pon- 
 dered Hjalmar Thick-Skull, before memory re- 
 called to him whose booth the great skin was even 
 now gracing as its chiefest treasure. 
 
 " It must be that they bought it just before 
 he was slain," Grimkel struck in hastily. 
 
 But the Lawman took the torch from him 
 and held it to each brown hand in turn. " No 
 ring with a red stone is on any of the fingers," he 
 said. 
 
 Immediately after, Hjalmar, holding the other 
 torch, uttered an exclamation : " Here is what slew 
 him ! " and they all crowded forward to look, and 
 looking, stood dumfounded. 
 
 The Thick-Skulled said wonderingly : " Now I 
 147
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 have several times heard it said that men believe 
 Brand the Red gave the Skraelling a weapon for 
 the skin, but no man guessed that a weapon had 
 been given in this way." 
 
 148
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 SHOWING HOW DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK 
 THE CHIEF 
 
 IT was as though all the troubles of Vinland 
 were gathered around that dark heap in the ravine, 
 and all the pleasures were gathered around the 
 Champions' hospitable fire. Built of juniper 
 fagots whose sweetness blended with the fragrance 
 of the pine branches carpeting the floor, it filled 
 the air with the spicy aroma of Yule-tide; and 
 Yule-tide cheer was on the long tables on either 
 side the hearth, and Yule-tide mirth was on the 
 faces above the board. Every leap of the flames 
 revealed some new treasure of claw or hide or 
 antler; and at each admiring tribute from their 
 guests the Champions' hearts swelled with pride, 
 so that they were obliged to relieve the pressure by 
 echoing at the top of their lungs the song Rane 
 was singing to chords from a home-made harp. The 
 only flaw in their content was that Karlsefne was 
 149
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 not there to see their glory. When an uproar 
 among the dogs outside announced the arrival of 
 a guest, they left everything to fix eager eyes on 
 the opening door. 
 
 The form that strode in out of the moonlight 
 was Karlsefne's, followed by Snorri of Iceland, 
 but the breath they had thought to spend in cheers 
 went oat in gasps as the dancing firelight showed 
 his face. Stopping just within the threshold, he 
 stood gripping his silver-shod staff in both hands 
 before him, like a bar in the way of his wrath. 
 
 From the high-seat, the young chief saluted 
 him with troubled mien : " We bid you welcome, 
 Karlsefne, and take it as an honor that you have 
 come. I hope your journey has been according 
 to your pleasure, and that nothing has happened 
 which you dislike ? " He made a sign that Erlend, 
 in his feasting clothes of blue-and-silver, should 
 act as master of ceremonies and conduct the dis- 
 tinguished guest to the seat prepared for him. 
 
 The Lawman did not appear to heed the invita- 
 tion. " I give you thanks for your greeting," he 
 said, " but I will not conceal it from you that some- 
 thing has happened. Before this feast goes any 
 150
 
 DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK 
 
 further, I want to put some questions to your 
 men." 
 
 From some instinctive foreboding, Alrek 
 glanced hastily across at Gard. Finding the Ugly 
 One's dark face as lowering as a storm cloud, 
 while Brand's beside him was aflash with excite- 
 ment, the trouble in the young chief's eyes deep- 
 ened. Yet he answered steadily : " You are over- 
 chief in Vinland, Karlsefne, and must have your 
 way about everything. Yet will you not first take 
 the seat of honor 
 
 " I will accept no hospitality here until this 
 matter is cleared," the Lawman grimly cut him 
 short ; then turned upon the Ugly One. " I want 
 to ask Gard Eldirsson what he paid the Skraelling 
 for the skin yonder on the high-seat? " 
 
 As he had given it each time before, Gard 
 muttered his answer, without looking up : "I gave 
 him a piece of red cloth and a ring with a red stone 
 in it. He liked so well to get the ring that he 
 put it on his finger as soon as he got it." 
 
 Crack ! the staff Karlsefne was gripping broke 
 under the strain ; it seemed that his voice also must 
 break from his control. " It was not seen that he 
 11 151
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 wore it to-day," he was beginning; when Brand 
 arose, pushing back his goblet and bowl with a 
 loud clatter. 
 
 " If what you mean is that you have met that 
 Skraelling and seen a knife in his belt instead of 
 a ring on his hand," he said, " I will spare you 
 the trouble of asking further by declaring that I 
 traded it to him myself. Gard lies when he says 
 that he bought the skin. It happened that from 
 behind a tree he saw me give the weapon ; and be- 
 cause he expected that Alrek would slay me for 
 daring it, he sought to save trouble by making 
 up the ring-story before I got a good chance to 
 tell what I had done. I gave him no thanks for it, 
 as I do not lack the boldness to stand behind any 
 deed I do. I held my tongue only because I could 
 not speak without bringing him into trouble. Now 
 I will hold it no longer, and you may do what you 
 like when my chief is through with me." He 
 flashed his leader his glance of affectionate inso- 
 lence, and grinned at the look he got in return. 
 But before Alrek could answer, Karlsefne spoke: 
 
 " You would have me believe that your chief 
 does not know of this matter? " 
 152
 
 DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK 
 
 The Red One tossed his long locks with a 
 flourish which suggested that he was enjoying the 
 excitement of the moment. " No more than the 
 bench before you," he answered. " He himself had 
 started out to make an offer for the skin, but he 
 slipped on the ice and muddled his wits so that he 
 did not even hear the yell or know how he got 
 into the booth, until he found himself there with the 
 fur before him 
 
 " Was it you who brought the fur into the 
 booth? " Karlsefne interrupted him. 
 
 But Gard took the answer out of Brand's 
 mouth : " No, it was I who did that. When the 
 wild men began yelling and running, I saw Brand 
 drop the skin and run after them ; and I picked it 
 up and brought it into the booth before I followed 
 him. When I came back, Alrek was sitting there 
 and asked me where he had been." He turned 
 toward the high-seat as though he would address 
 a word of apology to him who sat there, but the 
 pause was shattered by an unpleasant laugh from 
 Snorri of Iceland. 
 
 " I call Loke as witness," he ejaculated, " that 
 though I have dealt with men in France and men 
 
 153
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 in England and all that are nearer than those, I 
 have never seen given such a running-over measure 
 of lies!" 
 
 " They are like saplings drifted ashore that 
 one picks up for their good shape and finds to be 
 worm-eaten," Karlsef ne responded ; and the vio- 
 lence of the anger he was holding back shook his 
 towering frame and vibrated through his deep 
 voice. " Yet should it be kept in mind that these 
 two lied in order to assist a comrade. Only Alrek 
 Ingolfsson lied for himself." 
 
 In his place Alrek the Chief arose, his lips 
 forming a question; but Karlsef ne stayed it with 
 uplifted hand. 
 
 " I will make it plain that I do not wish to 
 tempt you to further falsehood. I tell you openly 
 that I know you to be the man who slew the Skrael- 
 ling " 
 
 " Slew ? " repeated Alrek Sword-Bearer. 
 
 And " Slew ! " cried the chorus of Champions ; 
 then divided into scattered cries : " It was his 
 death-yell " They took it as a warning " 
 " The next time they come, it will be in war- 
 clothes." 
 
 154
 
 DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK 
 
 Hearing this last, Brand hammered the table 
 with his fist. " Now I know who killed him ! " he 
 cried joyfully. " It was Thorhall the Huntsman! 
 More than anything else he wanted to break off 
 trade with the Skraellings and stir the camp to 
 discontent 
 
 " Now your tongue goes faster than your 
 mind," the Iceland chief interrupted him. " That 
 trading day the Huntsman spent with me, setting 
 traps in the wood far north of here." 
 
 Brand shot his arrows desperately : " Then it 
 was Ale the Greedy ! Or Fat Paste ! " 
 
 But from the quarter where the Greenland 
 guests sat, rose resentful cries : " Faste was off 
 all day fishing with me " " I myself saw Ale 
 in the group before the Lawman's door ! " " You 
 take too much upon yourself ! " " Remember that 
 the spoils were found in your booth ! " 
 
 The Red One stood with empty quiver. And 
 Gard left his place and went and laid clumsy hands 
 upon the Lawman's cloak. 
 
 " I swear that it was not Alrck but I who 
 brought the skin into the booth. I take oath that 
 I am telling the truth this time," he said. 
 
 155
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " This time ! " the Lawman repeated, so that 
 the blood was rasped into Gard's swarthy face. 
 
 " Nay, it was to help Brand that I lied before," 
 he pleaded. 
 
 " And this time it is to help Alrek ! " Karlsefne 
 finished. " Learn, boy, once and for all, that you 
 can not spend your wealth and have it also in your 
 pouch. Learn now and forever that your word 
 buys nothing when the pouch of your honor is 
 empty." Casting him off as he would have spoken 
 further, he turned upon the red-cloaked figure of 
 the Sword-Bearer, standing rigidly erect before 
 the high-seat. " Too long, Alrek Ingolfsson, have 
 you hidden behind this shield; show now the bold- 
 ness which should be in your blood. That you lied 
 because you wished to keep my good opinion, I 
 can guess. That you fell not upon the Skraelling 
 treacherously nor yet in greed of his property, I 
 do you the justice to believe. It may even be that 
 he gave provocation to your mad temper by seizing 
 your weapon. I expect that you will acknowledge 
 yourself guilty and submit to me." 
 
 Their glances clashed like blades as Alrek 
 turned his high-borne head. 
 156
 
 DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK 
 
 " You can decide over my life, but I will never 
 acknowledge that," he said. " May the gallows 
 take my body if I knew aught of the happening 
 until your own lips told of it. I say, moreover, 
 that it is unjustly done to accuse me of it only 
 because others have juggled with the truth and 
 because it looks as though mine were the hand 
 which had brought the spoils hither." 
 
 That, at least, did not lack boldness. Flinging 
 the broken staff from him, Karlsefne made a stride 
 forward; the veins of his forehead swelled out 
 white against purple. " This case has not yet 
 been fully tried," he said. " I have not told that 
 those are my only reasons. Another proof is this, 
 which my own hand took from the Skraelling's 
 head into which it had bitten so deeply that not 
 even his fall down the bank had dislodged it." 
 From his belt, where his cloak had hidden it, he 
 drew forth the stone hatchet, discolored with dark 
 stains. 
 
 To Alrek of Norway it was like a trick of 
 magic; his jaw fell and he recoiled against the 
 high-seat. " My hatchet ! " he breathed. 
 
 Then the sheeted lightning of Karlsefne's eyes 
 157
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 was loosed upon him. " Tempt me with no more 
 defiance lest I forget that I am a Lawman and 
 strike you dead where you stand ! Recollect that 
 I also am of Viking stock, and tempt me not ! Come 
 down from the seat in which you were never worthy 
 to sit; put off the cloak whose soldierliness you 
 have disgraced; unbuckle the sword you can not 
 be trusted to wear." 
 
 It was as though the Viking blood in Ingolf's 
 son were a tiger that had been wakened by a blow. 
 Straightening with a terrible inarticulate cry, he 
 leaped to the floor and over the fire, his sword 
 gleaming in his hand before they knew he had 
 drawn it. 
 
 But the Lawman's might-full figure neither 
 gave back nor moved ; the blaze* of his eyes neither 
 weakened nor swerved. Tiger-like, the boy's eyes 
 wavered and fell aside; he halted, uncertain. 
 
 Karlsefne's voice was as the voice of thunder: 
 " I am over-chief in Vinland." 
 
 The flesh defied, but the soldier-drilled spirit 
 heard. Slowly, Alrek put up hands that shook 
 from passion and unfastened the clasp on his 
 158
 
 DISGRACE CAME UPON ALREK 
 
 shoulder. With a soft sound the drapery fell and 
 lay like a blood-pool around his feet. Slowly and 
 yet more slowly, he changed his hold upon his 
 weapon and extended it as it had never gone before 
 hilt forward. 
 
 Receiving it, the Lawman finished the sentence 
 amid deathlike stillness : " Hereafter, wear no 
 color of soldiers, nor carry any more weapons than 
 the beasts whose uncontrol you show. You, 
 Champions of Vinland, get you another chief." 
 Signing to Snorri to open the door he left the 
 booth, the Icelander following. 
 
 Spellbound, the revelers remained without sound 
 or motion, until Brand flung himself at the feet 
 of IngolPs son, thrusting into the brown hand one 
 of his own knives. 
 
 " You foretold that you should kill me some 
 time," he whispered, and bared his breast for the 
 blow. 
 
 Those who saw the eyes the Viking bent upon 
 him, believed that he would do it ; it was seen that 
 his fingers closed upon the haft. Then suddenly 
 they thrust it from him with such force that its 
 owner was thrown backward. 
 
 159
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " Keep away," he said hoarsely. " Keep 
 away ! " With hands flung out to keep them off, 
 he walked past them; and the door opened upon 
 him and the night swallowed him up. 
 
 160
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 ABOUT THE-FIRE-THAT-RUXS-ON-THE-WAVES 
 
 WHERE an arm of the big Vinland bay met a 
 narrow river so far inland that it was hard to tell 
 when bay ended and river began, the band of Vin- 
 land Champions was at work. Before the invasion 
 of their young voices, the stillness of the primeval 
 forest had taken flight ; and the age-old trees had 
 fallen victim to the greed of their young hands 
 even as the old-world cities were falling before 
 the might of the young North. On the river bank, 
 sweating in the June sun, some of them were 
 toiling to bring a great log down to the stream 
 which was to float it on to the building place. 
 Along the edge of the clearing, others were busy 
 lopping from the fallen monarchs their green 
 crowns. And the song of axes, ringing from the 
 depths of the cool shade, told of conquests still in 
 progress. This last task, however, was so nearly 
 completed that in the intervals of their work the 
 
 163
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 choppers talked of the untrimmed logs as though 
 they were already in the form of a ship. 
 
 " What we stand in need of is red paint for 
 that hull" "If Gudrid will only make the 
 sail " so long as we get gilding for the 
 dragon's head, I do not care " The dragon's 
 head will be a weapon in itself ! " "I expect the 
 wild men will run at sight of it ! " " There will not 
 be many to equal this ship when it is done." 
 
 Lowering his ax to moisten his palms, Brand 
 cast his bright impatient eyes around severely. 
 " If ever it is done," he supplemented. " At this 
 rate, it is the summer which will be finished first. 
 If we had worked as we should have done, it would 
 be completed now." 
 
 " Then why did you not work as you should 
 have done? " laughed Ketil the Glib." 
 
 And Erlend, pausing to take a gauzy fanged 
 fly off his neck, observed : " Certainly I think you 
 ought to be the last one to make a fuss. Every 
 time I have told you off to work on it, you have 
 preferred to go hunting, or even help Karlsefne's 
 men with the fence." 
 
 " What difference what I prefer ? " the Red 
 164
 
 ABOUT "THE-FIRE" 
 
 One retorted. " You are the chief ; it is your duty 
 to see that work is done as it is necessary." 
 
 The difficulty of answering that, left Erlend 
 rubbing his plump neck in silence ; and in the pause 
 Brand returned to work, swinging the ax over his 
 shoulder with a forcefulness which brought it near 
 to smashing the head of a man who had just 
 appeared in the underbrush behind him. 
 
 " It is my advice that you see what you are 
 doing," the man spoke in a harsh voice which they 
 recognized. 
 
 It was but faintly that Brand was apologetic 
 as he glanced around. " Why do you creep up like 
 a cat if you are not willing to risk something? " 
 he inquired, and aimed another stroke. 
 
 But for once Thorhall the Huntsman did not 
 dismiss them in contempt. Breast-high in saplings 
 he lingered, regarding them with curiosity; when 
 he had swallowed the irritation attendant upon 
 dodging, he spoke politely : " My excuse is that 
 if the leaves had not muffled my steps, I should 
 have missed hearing tidings of great interest. I 
 ask of you to tell me what all this is about a 
 ship?" 
 
 165
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " How does that concern you? " muttered Gard 
 the Ugly. 
 
 Erlend, however, lowered his ax readily. That 
 there should be any one willing to listen to the ship- 
 plan who had not already heard it as many times 
 as he would endure, seemed too good for belief. 
 Feigning that his ax edge needed attention, he 
 drew out a sharpening-stone ; and while he plied 
 it, he talked happily. 
 
 The ship, he said, was to be so long and so 
 wide, with a fore-deck to shelter the provisions, but 
 nothing so womanish as a cabin. The mast was to 
 be that pine-tree yonder, and the sail was to be 
 woven by Gudrid, Karlsefne's wife that is, they 
 were going to ask her to do it for them and he 
 thought the colors would be red and yellow, and 
 the name would probably be The-Fire-That-Runs- 
 On-The- Waves. It sounded very well as he told 
 it ; gradually Brand's blade also became silent, and 
 Ketil and Harald and half a dozen others crept 
 nearer to listen with kindling eyes that now and 
 again shot triumphant glances at the Huntsman. 
 
 It was something of a triumph to make him 
 who was usually so sneering listen so respectfully. 
 166
 
 ABOUT "THE-FIRE" 
 
 When the recital was finished, he was even flat- 
 tering. 
 
 " Certainly you are foremost among youths in 
 energy ! Where is it your intention to voyage 
 when The Fire is built?" 
 
 Gard, who alone had kept on working, gave 
 his tree a resounding blow. " How does that con- 
 cern you? " he demanded a second time. " You will 
 not be invited to take the steering oar." 
 
 Now any one can see that it is bad manners to 
 insult a man who is complimenting you. Eight 
 glances fixed the Ugly One angrily, while Erlend 
 spoke in mild reproof: 
 
 " What is the need of talking in that way ? " 
 he asked him ; then, to the Huntsman : " If the 
 ship is done before the summer is, we are going 
 against the Skraellings. It comes like a piece of 
 luck that there is enmity between us; otherwise 
 I do not know whom we could fight." 
 
 " Since it is unadvisable to do what we want 
 and fight Karlsefne," Brand added vindictively; 
 and there was a murmur of acquiescence. 
 
 The Huntsman's eyes, trained to detect prey in 
 the very darkness, went from one to another of the 
 12 167
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 young faces. " Now that is a strange way to 
 speak of the Lawman," he remarked. 
 
 The answers rose in his face like a covey of 
 birds : " How else would you expect us to speak ? " 
 " after the way he behaved toward Alrek Ingolfs- 
 son " I think he deserves worse words " 
 " To my backbone I hate him ! " 
 
 Parting the sapling screen, the Huntsman came 
 out and seated himself on a prostrate tree, as 
 though he found the field worthy of his attention. 
 " Yet it is a foolish way after all," he began, " for 
 only see how Alrek's bane has been Erlend's good 
 fortune " 
 
 The Amiable One's handsome brown face 
 flushed. " We have given no thanks on that score, 
 nor shall give any," he answered hastily. " I have 
 seen Alrek only once since the day that bad luck 
 overtook him, and then I dared not speak to him; 
 but the first chance I get, I shall offer the chief- 
 ship back." 
 
 The murmur which greeted that was almost a 
 cheer ; only Thorall made a sound of dissent. 
 
 " Now do you act after the manner of boys 
 rather than of men," he said. " Pity Alrek Ingolfs- 
 168
 
 ABOUT "THE-FIRE 
 
 son you may if you will, but in so doing you 
 should not undervalue the leader you have got in 
 his " 
 
 " Now what trap are you baiting ? " grumbled 
 Gard, at the same instant that Erlend interrupted. 
 
 " I beg of you to leave that and give us instead 
 your advice how the Skraellings may be found. 
 You, more than any other, know the secrets of the 
 south country." 
 
 Some of the band drew breath rather quickly 
 as their chief said that, and looked to see the 
 Huntsman rise in offense; but again he surprised 
 them. Re-crossing his legs and settling his broad 
 back against a stump, he did nothing worse than to 
 sit gazing away at the sunshine of the open. His 
 voice was still amiable when at last he spoke : 
 
 " It would be useless to deny that many won- 
 ders may be told of the south country. I will begin 
 by telling you that it contains bigger game than 
 Skraellings and " his hand strayed to the deer- 
 skin cord looping his neck and ending in the breast 
 of his stained green tunic " and more valuable 
 things than furs." He paused to cough, and no 
 one moved for fear of breaking the spell. He 
 
 169
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 recovered himself with a covert smile. " It may be 
 that I will even do better than telling you. What 
 should you say if I would show you the paths that 
 lead to the treasure ? I have some thought of going 
 south myself this summer 
 
 Gard answered with an unexpectedness that 
 made them jump: "I should say that we were 
 rabbit-brained if we allowed you to lead us any- 
 where ! Because Erlend is caught with your chaff, 
 it is not proved that you can trap us all. I would 
 not follow you a pace. To your face I tell you 
 that I believe it was your hand that slew the 
 Skraelling, though your body was further off than 
 could be seen by a raven hovering in the sky ! " 
 He broke off and began making rune-signs with 
 his fingers, as the small eyes turned toward him. 
 
 But it was not the Huntsman's anger which 
 he had to reckon with, but the resentment of those 
 who feared to lose a tidbit from their watering 
 mouths. 
 
 " Hold your tongue ! " " You know that is an 
 
 old woman's story " For what purpose should 
 
 you interfere ? " " You are not all of us ! " the 
 
 mouths growled, while the elbows belonging to 
 
 170
 
 ABOUT "THE-FIRE" 
 
 them made themselves felt admonishingly in his 
 ribs. 
 
 Erlend spoke with unprecedented severity. 
 " You have no right to show enmity toward a man 
 who is behaving well toward you. You may take 
 your choice either to go off by yourself or else sit 
 down and keep quiet like the rest of us." 
 
 Nine times out of ten, Gard would have sub- 
 sided in sulky submission ; but this was the tenth 
 time. Moving toward the bush whereon his cap 
 and bow and quiver hung as on a rack, he sent the 
 Huntsman a glance of such hatred as springs from 
 fear. 
 
 " I choose the best company," he said ; and 
 gathering up his things, he slung his ax over his 
 shoulder and slouched away. Those at work in the 
 clearing refrained from addressing him when they 
 saw the expression of his swarthy face; and those 
 toiling on the river bank agreed with polite alacrity 
 when he deigned to growl in passing that the day 
 was unbearably hot. 
 
 It was, moreover, easier to assent to that remark 
 than to deny it. Far and near, blue water and 
 green land were ablaze with sun. When the Ugly 
 
 171
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 One had forded the river and plowed through 
 the treeless meadows where Karlsefne's cattle stood 
 knee-deep in the reed-fringed pools, his linen clothes 
 were wet on his body ; and he gave up a vague plan 
 to spend his unexpected holiday in fishing. 
 
 " There will be fewer chances of the juice dry- 
 ing in my skull if I go to that wood place where 
 the red berries grow," he decided, and struck 
 across the grove toward the camp to leave his 
 burden in the booth. 
 
 The camp was not so easily entered as of old, 
 for now there rose around the twelve huts a fence 
 of mighty logs with sharpened tops ; and at each of 
 the three gates there stood a man on guard. Yet 
 neither was the watch strict enough to justify the 
 precautions of Strong Domar who chanced to hold 
 this post. With his joyous bellow, he promptly 
 barred the passage with his spear until the new- 
 comer had answered a catechism that began by 
 asking his age and ended by demanding a list of 
 the things he had eaten for breakfast. The Ugly 
 One's patience had run as dry as the Strong One's 
 power of invention, by the time he was permitted 
 to make his exasperated entrance. Repulsing a 
 172
 
 ABOUT "THE-FIRE" 
 
 pack of affectionate hounds, he stamped across the 
 clover-sprinkled grass and would have stamped 
 into the booth if he had not glimpsed through the 
 open door a figure that had come to seem, almost 
 as much as Hallad's, to belong to another world, 
 the gaunt form of Alrek the Exile, rummaging in 
 the chest which had been his treasure-box in the 
 days of his prosperity and still remained rever- 
 ently untouched. Evidently he had known that at 
 this hour the booth would be empty, for there was 
 no watchfulness in his ears; he neither heard nor 
 saw when his comrade stopped on the threshold 
 and stood gazing at him. 
 
 It seemed to Gard that he had never seen so 
 great a change in any one. From the unkempt 
 brown hair to the black cloak that hung about his 
 heels in rusty rags, he was as different from what 
 he had been as November from June. His face 
 showed the change most of all, for no glow of red 
 was left in the brown, and his eyes were like cinders 
 out of which the fire had died. From Gard's throat 
 there burst suddenly a dry sob; and before the 
 Swordless could move, his one-time follower was 
 kneeling before him, clutching at his tattered 
 cloak.
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " Alrek ! Come back and let me make it up to 
 you. I can not sleep at night with thinking what 
 I brought upon you. I beg you to come back ! " 
 
 When he had stood a while looking down at 
 him, Alrek spoke with suppressed scorn : " Are you 
 still trying to spend your money and keep it too? 
 You do not want to bear the burden of your deed, 
 yet you knew when you slew him that some one 
 must suffer for it 
 
 " I slay him ? I did not ! I did not ! I only 
 told that lie " 
 
 " So that I repeated it and became also a liar. 
 I would not believe you though you swore with 
 your hand on the Boar's head. You tried to take 
 back the weapon which Brand gave, and the Skrael- 
 ling resisted and you struck with my hatchet 
 which you had found where it dropped when I fell. 
 I tell you I would not believe you though you took 
 oath on the Cross. Let go my cloak and get away 
 from me. If you had more than a dog's wit you 
 would know better than to talk of making it up to 
 me; you would know that I am disgraced forever. 
 Let go my cloak before I kick you away as I 
 would a dog." Freeing himself, he was gone. 
 174
 
 ABOUT "THE-FIRE" 
 
 Gard reached the door only in time to see him pass 
 out of the gate, Domar eagerly saluting ; then the 
 forest took him again into its silent keeping. 
 
 Thrusting his hands through his belt, the Ugly 
 One leaned against the casing and spoke heavily 
 to the hound that had left a noonday nap to come 
 and fawn upon him. " It is likely that we have 
 low minds as he says, Fafnir. . . . Yet, for all 
 he says, we are faithful. . . . We do not lay 
 it up against a friend if it happen that he ill-use 
 us. . . ." Seeing the bristles begin suddenly 
 to rise along the hound's spine, he looked up to 
 find Thorhall the Huntsman swinging past over 
 the grass. He finished with a sound very like the 
 one coming from the dog's great throat : " And 
 both of us can tell a foe when we see him ! " 
 
 175
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 PKOVING THAT ALREK*S EMPTY HANDS WERE FULL 
 OF POWER 
 
 " A SAIL is not a small thing to ask for," 
 Gudrid observed, then raised a finger hastily as 
 Erlend would have pleaded his cause. " You will 
 put me in the most disobliging temper if you wake 
 the child ! As far off as the table I heard him 
 crying, and came and found that it had happened 
 as I suspected, that Roswitha had slipped out and 
 left him. And he would not be quieted unless I 
 got a cord and looped it around his feet and let 
 him hold the ends and play at driving horses while 
 he went to sleep ! " She laid a hand on the Amiable 
 One's silken sleeve, and another on the arm of 
 Brand Erlingsson, and drew them gently off the 
 dangerous ground out into the great back door- 
 yard where the four households of Vinland sat in 
 that contented idleness which follows the evening 
 meal. 
 
 176
 
 HANDS OF POWER 
 
 Roundabout the grassy space the stockade 
 rose in grim foreboding; but the three gates 
 opened wide upon shadowy grove and silvered 
 meadow, and their three guards left their posts at 
 will to bandy jests with their comrades at the long 
 tables under the trees. Over the juice of the Vin- 
 land grape the men were lounging contentedly, 
 while the cook-fires sank into red embers, and the 
 moon sailed up from the tree-tops and floated free 
 in the blue above them. 
 
 " It is certainly a night to bewitch one into 
 promising anything ! You choose your time well," 
 Gudrid said with a little shake of the sleeves she 
 was holding. 
 
 Brand moved his arm away abruptly; there 
 was a limit to the liberties which even one who 
 was asking a favor could endure. Erlend, how- 
 ever, was always affable. 
 
 " That will be seen if you grant our request," 
 he answered. " It could not take you long, Gud- 
 rid, if you are such a weaver as you consider your- 
 self. And I promise you that you should not 
 lose by it, for we would bring you back a fine 
 present from our journey. The ship is well begun 
 
 177
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 now. We delayed about the sail as late as possible 
 in the hope that Alrek would come back and do 
 the asking for us. We know that his favor is no 
 less with you because trouble has come on his 
 hands." 
 
 Gudrid's face lost some of its wonted sweet 
 serenity. " Alas, my kinsman ! " she sighed. " I 
 wish my favor could do something useful for him. 
 I can tell you that even the child is full of longing 
 for him. Time and again, when he hears a step 
 that is like Alrek's, he turns his eyes toward the 
 door and cries when it is not his kinsman who 
 comes in." 
 
 The three walked a little way in silence ; Erlend 
 frowning perplexedly at the ground, Brand kick- 
 ing the heads off the clovers in the sullen discom- 
 fort which this subject always aroused in him. 
 Presently Gudrid came slowly to a standstill. 
 
 " I am going yonder to speak with Jorund, 
 Siggeir's wife," she said. " I do not say that I 
 will not do your weaving for you, but I must see 
 first how it goes with my dairy work. In the 
 meanwhile, I wish you luck with your under- 
 taking." 
 
 178
 
 " That is no worse than a promise," Erlend 
 returned blandly, " for if you do in truth wish us 
 luck, you will help us all you can." And they 
 departed from her in high feather to tell their 
 comrades of the boon granted. 
 
 Standing where they had left her, Gudrid 
 pondered a while whether she really would cross 
 the grass to the spot where Jorund and the two 
 other Greenland women gossiped beside a door- 
 step, or whether she would go into the booth where 
 Karlsefne sat with his chiefs over a chart. There 
 was a matter of cheeses that she particularly wished 
 to discuss with Jorund, and yet it would be inter- 
 esting to hear whether the Lawman had seen any 
 trace of Skraellings in his trip that day. Con- 
 sidering, she put a hand up to finger her amber 
 necklace, as was her habit, and made the discovery 
 that it was not there. She took her hand away 
 with a gesture of impatience. 
 
 " Now will Karlsefne laugh at me, for he has 
 always said that this would happen if I allowed 
 Snorri to play with it ! I remember that it was by 
 the river, where I sat with him this afternoon. I 
 gave it to him to bite, and then it happened that 
 179
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 he dropped it to reach out for the boat which 
 Biorn was rowing past; and Biorn called to me, 
 and I forgot to pick it up again. Teh ! What a 
 stupid business! It is in my mind to slip out and 
 get it before any one notices that it is gone. The 
 exact spot is known to me." 
 
 Going over to the western gate, she looked out 
 toward the shining river. Less than a dozen trees 
 dotted the space between her and the little knoll 
 on the bank where she had rested, and the moon 
 made it almost as bright as day. She gathered up 
 her trailing kirtle with prompt decision. 
 
 " Any Skraelling small enough to hide in those 
 shadows, is not big enough to be afraid of," she 
 said, and passed out quickly with her firm light 
 step. 
 
 That anything besides Skraellings might lurk 
 in the shadows, she seemed to forget. Reaching 
 the bank, she sent one look of admiration out over 
 the radiant river, then bent her gaze to the foot of 
 the tree among whose roots her fingers were swiftly 
 feeling. To look up into the branches she had 
 no thought whatever. 
 
 Yet not ten paces from her, Death lay along a 
 180
 
 HANDS OF POWER 
 
 bough, Death in a tawny body with eyes like fire 
 and a tail like a serpent, noiselessly lashing the air 
 as the graceful form crouched for a spring. 
 
 The first warning she had was when a voice 
 she knew spoke sharply from the shadows before 
 her : " Lie down on your face ! " The catastrophe 
 came only a breath after the warning. As she 
 threw herself forward, something leaped over her 
 and met something else in mid-air. There was the 
 jar of heavy bodies striking the earth, a crackle 
 of breaking twigs, and the silver stillness was pro- 
 faned by a horrible sound of snarling and long- 
 drawn gasps. 
 
 Clutching at the tree-trunk, she tried to pull 
 herself to her feet; but the two struggled on the 
 very skirt of her robe and held her pinioned. Only 
 over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of the 
 giant cat, where it lay on its back, clutching in 
 its claws the boy who knelt on its lashing body 
 with no other weapon against the gaping jaws 
 than his bare brown hands. It seemed to her that 
 she shrieked, and it is certain that she swooned ; for 
 the next thing she knew, she lay on her face in the 
 grass with Alrek bending toward her. 
 
 181
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " It is over," he said briefly, and dragged a 
 heavy weight from her skirt. 
 
 Pulling herself to her feet, she leaned dizzily 
 against a tree, staring down at the strange monster 
 that had the shape of a cat and the size of a hound. 
 
 " You choked him? " she whispered. 
 
 The Swordless One nodded. " There was no 
 other way. Last week I saw him leap down upon 
 a deer and suck the blood from its throat. I 
 thought then that my hands on his throat would 
 be my only chance if ever we had dealings together. 
 Yet I did not think that he would come so near the 
 wall." 
 
 " It is God's miracle that you also chanced to 
 be near it," she breathed. 
 
 " It is not all chance," he answered. " I have 
 been here more than one night since they began 
 to set the tables under the trees. Torchlight at- 
 tracts other things besides sharks. It is like watch- 
 ing the red lights of the North, to watch the cook- 
 fires shine on the branches; and when the men 
 sing over their wine, the sound reaches out here 
 so that it is almost the same as though I were 
 among " He came slowly to self -consciousness, 
 182
 
 With no other weapon than his bare brown hands.
 
 HANDS OF POWER 
 
 and turned away and gave his attention to sopping 
 with his ragged cloak the blood trickling from his 
 torn limbs. 
 
 The sight of wounds brought Gudrid instantly 
 to her capable self. " Teh " she said ; and tearing 
 her apron into strips, she put his hands aside and 
 fell to work with skilful swiftness. For a little, 
 nothing was said between them. 
 
 Yet it was not of the bleeding flesh that either 
 was thinking in the silence. More than once, Alrek 
 insisted that the work was done and tried to pull 
 away from her and escape; and as her fingers 
 flew, her mind went even faster, seeking some 
 means by which to bind up the bleeding spirit as 
 well. Suddenly, with her eyes on the empty brown 
 hands that were yet so full of power, the way was 
 opened to her. 
 
 Looking up from where she knelt beside him, 
 she spoke courageously : " Kinsman, there is little 
 need that I should tell you what you know by your- 
 selfthat although Karlsefne would grant you a 
 pardon in payment for this help, he would not give 
 you his faith, which is what you want." 
 
 Though he had not flinched from the touch of 
 13 183
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 her hand on his wounds, the boy winced under her 
 words. " I want neither his faith nor his pardon ! " 
 he said between his teeth. " I beg you to let 
 me go." 
 
 " Not until you have heard me," she answered. 
 " I have said this to show you that I am not speak- 
 ing soft lies, but the truth. Now I am going to 
 tell you more truth; the right-minded thing for 
 you to do is to come back to the band and live as 
 one of the men, until some twist of the thread 
 brings your rank back to you." 
 
 She worked a while after that without looking 
 up, for she could feel his glance beating down upon 
 her. After a time he said huskily : 
 
 " It is of no use ... I am dishon- 
 ored. . . ." 
 
 At that she raised her eyes with a hint of scorn. 
 " It is true then that you did slay the Skraelling? " 
 
 He looked at her sorrowfully. " I had thought 
 that you would believe in me, kinswoman." 
 
 " Why, so I did," she answered, " until I heard 
 
 you say that you were dishonored. For if you 
 
 did not touch the deed, how could it stain you ? " 
 
 Rising up, she laid her palms upon his breast and 
 
 184
 
 HANDS OF POWER 
 
 made him give her eye for eye. " Did it make 
 your hands helpless because no sword was in them 
 to-night?" she challenged him. "I think I have 
 never seen weapons more powerful; nor was your 
 eye less quick to see my peril, nor your heart less 
 brave to help me, nay, you were twice brave that 
 you came with empty hands ! Will you belie the 
 courage and honor which you know you have, 
 because you lack the red cloth and the bit of steel 
 that are the runes which stand for them? If you 
 will, you are not the Alrek Ingolfsson that I had 
 wished my child would be like." 
 
 Looking into his eyes she saw a fire, long 
 quenched, kindle and burn ; and her palms on his 
 breast felt the deep breath he drew ; nor did he have 
 any words of disproof. Discreet as she was bold, 
 she asked for no words of assent. Leaving him, 
 she went and tried to lift the forepart of the limp 
 body. 
 
 " Get this upon your back," she said. " The 
 Champions will become glad at this." 
 
 Silently he obeyed, drawing the dangling paws 
 over his shoulder so that the long body hung down 
 his back like a tawny cloak. Slowly he followed 
 
 185
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 after as she turned and led the way toward the 
 gate, until they were within two spear-lengths of 
 it and a hubbub of voices and laughter came out 
 to them like a puff of wind. Then gradually his 
 pace slackened, and she looked around to find that 
 his face was flooded with painful color. 
 
 She had the impulse to reach out and catch 
 hold of him; but it was the impulse which came 
 to her lips that she acted on, speaking as quietly 
 as she would have spoken to her child had he 
 ventured too near the edge of a cliff : " I do not 
 know whether it is to your mind to enter the camp 
 with me, but it is the truth that I shall hear enough 
 of my foolishness without having you lead me home 
 as well as save me. If I slip through this gate, as 
 I came, will you use the east one, which is also 
 nearer your own booth ? " 
 
 Then she knew that she had guessed aright, 
 for once more he moved forward, and under his 
 breath he answered : " Yes." 
 
 By the time she had gained the center of the 
 green, she knew also that he had kept his word. 
 Suddenly a joyous uproar went up from the table- 
 ful of Vinland Champions, and some were rolled 
 186
 
 HANDS OF POWER 
 
 off the benches in the haste of others to get on their 
 feet ; and crossing the moonlit space beyond them, 
 she saw a soldierly young figure with a mass of 
 yellow fur swinging from his shoulder saw him 
 and then lost him in the throng that closed, cheer- 
 ing, about him. 
 
 Her firm sweet month relaxed happily. " That 
 is the first step toward a good outcome," she said. 
 " If the Fates have any justice in their breasts, 
 they will attend to the rest." And from afar she 
 beamed brightly on the group, even as the moon 
 above was beaming upon her. 
 
 187
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SHOWING HOW THE CHAMPIONS BROKE A THREAD 
 IN THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 OVER the boulders between which the narrow 
 trail wound down to the building place on the 
 beach, Thorhall's green eyes stared in surprise. 
 After a three days' scouting trip, he had taken 
 a roundabout way campward in order to get a 
 glimpse of the vessel in whose progress he was 
 interested, but it appeared that here was more 
 change than he had anticipated. 
 
 Grown to all its graceful outlines the ship still 
 waited on its rollers, high enough up on the shelv- 
 ing beach to rest immune from the whims of the 
 tide. Around it and in it and under it the band 
 worked as usual, whistling and wrangling amiably. 
 But a pace to the right, where a rock humped 
 through the gravel offered chance for a forge, there 
 was a feature new to the scene, a brown-haired 
 young smith hammering vigorously at a bar of 
 188
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 glowing iron. If he did not whistle as he ham- 
 mered, yet he worked as steadily as though he had 
 always stood there; and above the hum could be 
 heard Brand's voice, speaking with eager deference : 
 
 " Alrek, is it your opinion that a bolt is needed 
 here, or will it be sufficient to tie this plank ? " 
 
 While Ingolf's son made brief answer between 
 the strokes of his hammer, the Huntsman descended 
 the rest of the trail in scowling cogitation. When 
 the noise of question and answer had subsided, he 
 came out suddenly upon the beach. 
 
 " Hail to the chief! " he said. 
 
 If the salute was designed to ask a question 
 as well as offer greeting, it served its purpose. 
 The brown-haired smith did not even turn his 
 head ; it was still Erlend the Amiable who answered 
 to the title, straightening quickly to give back nod 
 for nod. 
 
 " Thorhall ! Now I am glad you are back to 
 release us from our promise to let no one know the 
 secret of the south country. Tell Alrek without 
 delay about the treasure-land you have found." 
 
 There was delay, however, in the manner in 
 which the Huntsman moved forward, paused to 
 189
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 look at whatever addition in the boat interested 
 him, paused to unwind a fetter of seaweed bubbles 
 from his ankle, and finally seated himself on a 
 boulder and studied the smith intently. 
 
 " Have you come back for good? " he inquired. 
 
 Before Alrek could speak, Gard working 
 behind him answered by a jeer: " Some may have 
 cause to think that he has come back for ill." 
 
 In the interests of peace Erlend raised his 
 voice : " I beg of you, Gard, to turn fox for a 
 while and go down the beach and dig enough 
 clams to fill your cloak-skirt; so that we shall be 
 fed, when noontime comes, without going back to 
 the camp." 
 
 It seemed to the Huntsman that there was some- 
 thing suspicious in the docility with which Gard 
 obeyed, somewhat as though he felt that he was 
 leaving a sentinel behind him. The small eyes 
 continued their study of the smith, as an angler 
 might study a fish while he was considering what 
 spear to employ. After a silence, which no one 
 ventured to break, he spoke bluntly: 
 
 " The country south and west of here is in- 
 habited by dwarfs. By that I do not mean merely 
 190
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 people who are small-shaped, but the Northern 
 race that is skilled in metal-work. You remember 
 that Tyrfing was forged by such? Now I think 
 you have yourself a sword I ask you not to 
 blame me ! I did not mean to press that wound. 
 But at least it serves to make plain to you whom 
 I mean. In this land, they live in caverns of the 
 gold-bearing mountains of which the south and 
 west country is full. I think I have described to 
 you their homes ? " 
 
 The band answered even rapturously : " Never 
 shall I forget it ! " " No king's palace could 
 " I wish Alrek had heard " " Tell over about 
 that one with the golden roof- "Yes, good 
 Thorhall!" "Yes!" "Yes!" 
 
 It did not appear that Thorhall heard them; 
 as a hawk might watch a coop for the appearance 
 of the chickens, he was watching Alrek's mouth for 
 the first word of doubt. 
 
 None came. Slowly, the smith's blows became 
 further between. Presently he rested his hammer 
 on the rock and his elbow on the hammer handle. 
 " That is of the greatest interest," he said thought- 
 fully. " And it comes to my mind to wonder if it 
 191
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 could have been your dwarfs that Rolf Erlingsson 
 saw when he was here with Leif the Lucky ? He 
 said those creatures were low as junipers, while 
 Skraellings are most of them of good height Yet 
 he said also that they were poor and mean-looking ! 
 Your dwarfs must be as rich as Hnoss herself." He 
 ended uncertainly. 
 
 But the Huntsman leaned back and smote his 
 great knee with rare enthusiasm. " Now your 
 comrades are right in valuing your wit above 
 others ! " he said. " Never had the thought come 
 to me before, yet it is twice as likely as not. So 
 cunning are they, that it would be altogether ac- 
 cording to their custom to disguise themselves like 
 Skraellings when they had the wish to spy upon 
 strangers. It cannot be said that they have a 
 fondness for strangers. You know that it was a 
 dwarf who caused my wreck at Keel Cape ? " 
 
 " No, that is a story you have not told us," the 
 band cried eagerly. 
 
 He looked at them indulgently. " Now it is not 
 
 much of a tale. The beginning of it is that I pried 
 
 too deep into an old long-beard's secrets, so that 
 
 I had to run for my life. I should be feasting on 
 
 192
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 boar-flesh in Valhalla now, if I had not left the 
 boat with its stem toward the water and the oars in 
 the row-locks ; for we were no more than out of 
 sight of land when the dwarf-man reached the 
 shore." He paused to glance around the group. 
 *' I suppose you remember how King Skiold blew 
 upon a passing ship so that the boom fell over 
 and killed Eystein where he stood by the steering 
 oar? " he inquired. 
 
 While they nodded impatiently, Alrek spoke in 
 confirmation : " I believe that to be true, because 
 once I met a Finnish sailor who could change the 
 wind by turning his cap." 
 
 " You have seen so much of the world," the 
 Huntsman said admiringly, " that it would become 
 a great misfortune if you should lose this chance 
 of seeing more wonders. To go on relating, the 
 dwarf used the same trick, though a little differ- 
 ently. Instead of blowing, he raised a gale only by 
 flapping his cloak ; and the water rose behind us in 
 a sea-wall. I had often wondered what it would 
 be like to be at the spot where a storm begins, and 
 that time I found out. The water rose behind us 
 with a roar, and swept us along past the entrance to 
 193
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 the Vinland bay until we struck the Keel bar, and 
 the boat went to pieces and the other three went 
 down and Thor saved me. Hallad felt very un- 
 willing to drown. You remember I had on only one 
 boot when you found me? I can remember feeling 
 something pull at the other so that I thought a 
 shark had me and gave it a strong kick off. 
 Now I know that it was Hallad clutching at 
 it. I suppose it was because he got bitter that 
 I did not help him, that he comes back to haunt 
 me." 
 
 " That would be in every respect like Hallad," 
 Brand said scornfully. " He was always wont to 
 expect some one to look out for him. Thorhall, will 
 you not let us see that chain again, that Alrek 
 may get it clear before his mind what great things 
 are in store for us ? " 
 
 It appeared from his manner that there was 
 nothing Thorhall would not do to oblige them. 
 " Willingly," he answered, and straightway undid 
 the bag around his neck. Dropping their tools, 
 they came and stood around him in so cosy a circle 
 that the Ugly One, far down the beach, took one 
 fist out of the oozy gravel it was raking to shake 
 194
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 it at them, and never knew that the other hand 
 had turned up a clam until a jet of water struck 
 him in the face. 
 
 If the necklace had sparkled in the gray light 
 of the Wonderstrands, it may be imagined what 
 it did here in the sun. Some of the gems encrusting 
 it were blue as the bay before them, and some were 
 like pearls in which a fire had been kindled, and 
 some were like nothing less than stars. The Hunts- 
 man let Alrek reach out and take it for himself, 
 and the young Viking drew a quick breath of 
 pleasure as he felt its weight. 
 
 " Now I have seen booty taken from kings' 
 palaces, but never anything to match this," he 
 said. " It was without doubt the luck of our lives 
 that we found you that day on the Wonderstrands. 
 I remember overhearing you say to Faste that the 
 reason you would not bring your news forward in 
 the hall was because you did not want the chiefs 
 to take the power out of your hands. I suppose 
 the reason you share the secret with us is because 
 we can give the help of a ship ? " 
 
 Erlend looked up in surprise, the necessity of 
 a reason for the Huntsman's cordiality not having 
 195
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 before occurred to him. The Huntsman looked out 
 from under roughened brows, though he kept his 
 words smooth. 
 
 " Now you do less than justice to your com- 
 rades' valor and accomplishments," he began. But 
 he stopped as he saw one of Alrek's eyes close in 
 good-humored derision. 
 
 "When is it your intention to sail?" the 
 Swordless brought him back to the point. 
 
 The Huntsman reached out and took back his 
 chain. " That you must ask your chief," he an- 
 swered; and spite was so evident in his use of the 
 title, that the Amiable One hastened to answer 
 before he could be asked: 
 
 " I think it will take about five days more to 
 finish the outfittings, and then two to stock it with 
 food. If a fair wind blows on it, we can surely 
 sail on the tenth day." 
 
 Slowly Alrek lowered the hammer he had raised 
 to return to his work. " It must be that you are 
 forgetting the Skraellings," he said. " Because 
 the hunters have seen nothing of them, proves 
 little; Leif Ericsson's men saw nothing of the 
 dwarfs until they were upon them. It is a sure 
 196
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 sign, when a slain man is found lying on his face, 
 that he will be revenged. Any day it may happen 
 that they come ; and if we should be away hunting 
 gold while our camp-mates fought for their lives, 
 we should get little fame though we brought 
 
 back " 
 
 The Huntsman rose to his gigantic height. 
 " Are you the chief? " he snarled. 
 
 That was the third time he had pressed the 
 wound ; the flame in Alrek's cheeks sent sparks to 
 his eyes as he wheeled. 
 
 "No, I am not the chief," he answered 
 squarely, " but I have the right of every free man 
 to make my voice heard in deciding matters, and 
 I can tell you that it is going to be heard though 
 you weave all the spells you know." 
 
 Perhaps the Huntsman did try to weave a spell, 
 for he turned at once toward those who had so far 
 obeyed his every move like snake-channed birds. 
 " What of you? " he hissed. " Will you put off 
 this chance for treasure, to fight for the Lawman 
 who disbelieved your oaths and showed disrespect 
 to your high-seat? " 
 
 And the chorus answered him loudly : " No ! ' 
 197
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 And Brand made himself conspicuous by his 
 fierceness. " Let the Skraellings cut blood-eagles in 
 Karlsef ne ! " 
 
 It is likely that he wished directly after that 
 he had kept still, for instead of praise, it brought 
 him a look of scathing contempt from the Sword- 
 less. 
 
 " Now you talk like fools," the young Viking 
 said, " to think to revenge private wrongs in war- 
 time. He would be a fine soldier who because he 
 had a grudge against his chief would desert in time 
 of battle and leave his comrades to fight alone. No 
 knife could scrape off this shame." 
 
 They quailed so under that, that the Hunts- 
 man's green eyes became like the eyes of a Vinland 
 elk at bay. Turning where Erlend stood silent, he 
 struck again: 
 
 " You then, if you have any power who call 
 yourself the chief ! " 
 
 Erlend laughed uneasily; his handsome face 
 had turned painfully red. " It seems that I was 
 mistaken in thinking that that name belonged to 
 me," he answered. 
 
 198
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 Crimsoning, Alrck fell from his hill of scorn 
 to the valley of abashment. " Erlend, I meant 
 no no disrespect toward you," he stammered. 
 " I did not mean to step out of my place He 
 was obliged to stop, for Erlend's hand closed over 
 his mouth. 
 
 "What are you talking about?" the Amiable 
 One said sternly. " That is in no way what I 
 mean. What you did was to step into the place 
 that belongs to you." He exerted some of his 
 strength to keep his palm where he had put it. 
 " Listen to me ! I am unfit to have the rule over 
 anything. Never did it come into my head that 
 leaving would be disloyal. I should have done a 
 nithing thing which the saga-men would never have 
 forgotten. I know of no better happening than 
 that you should come into your own in time to save 
 me." He stretched out his other hand toward the 
 assembled Champions. " You shouted before when 
 I said that I should offer the chiefship back. I 
 shall think your tongues of little value if you keep 
 them between your teeth now ! " 
 
 The eagerness with which Brand offered the 
 14 199
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 first cheer seemed designed to make up for his 
 blunder of the moment before. He was seconded 
 by a deep roar from Gard, who had just come up 
 with his burden on his back. After that, there 
 was no separating the shouts that came; and they 
 banged their tools against the ship in lieu of 
 swords and shields. 
 
 When the racket had subsided, Erlend turned 
 back to the Swordless with a smile that had yet 
 a touch of haughtiness. " I shall take it as an 
 insult to my pride if you ask me to keep what so 
 plainly belongs to you," he said. 
 
 After a while Alrek looked up from the trenches 
 his foot was digging in the sand. " I will accept it 
 gladly, if Karlsefne will allow me to," he answered ; 
 and there was more cheering and all hands were 
 stretched out to him. 
 
 All but two, that is ; shifting uneasily from one 
 foot to the other, Brand and Gard the Ugly stood 
 aside nor dared make any advances. 
 
 The Swordless himself hesitated when finally 
 he came to them, and his face caught some of their 
 embarrassed color ; but at last he put out his hand. 
 200
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S NET 
 
 They gripped it eagerly, and there was more 
 cheering. 
 
 Under cover of it the Huntsman turned and 
 stalked away ; and what had been angry suspicion 
 as he descended the trail, was angry certainty as 
 he stamped up it. 
 
 201
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 CONCERNING A GRIM BARGAIN BETWEEN THE 
 LAWMAN AND ALREK 
 
 " AND I will seek out Gudrid, whose counsel is 
 good in everything," Alrek said as he and Erlend 
 rose from the morning meal at the table under 
 the trees, " if so be you give me leave to be late 
 to the work." 
 
 " If so be you need leave from me, you have 
 it for anything you do," Erlend answered. 
 
 Then the Amiable One and all the Champions 
 not bound to kitchen-posts took their leisurely way 
 through the cool green forest to the waiting ship; 
 and Alrek the Swordless turned in the opposite 
 direction and strolled past the empty tables and 
 groups of trencher-laden thralls toward Karlsef ne's 
 booth. 
 
 Before the door-step small Snorri tumbled 
 about in the clover, shouting lustily for his mother 
 to come and play with him ; which seemed to Alrek 
 202
 
 A GRIM BARGAIN 
 
 so good a reason for expecting her prompt arrival 
 that he troubled himself to go no further. Stretch- 
 ing his lithe length on the grass, he changed the 
 cries into laughter by butting the crier over on his 
 back each time he opened his mouth ; and the 
 maneuver was crowned with immediate success. 
 After a very little time, Gudrid appeared in the 
 door, a piece of sewing in her hand, inquiry in her 
 blue eyes. 
 
 " Oh ! That is why he stopped screaming ! " 
 she said with an accent of relief. " So long as he 
 is crying, I know that he is safe. Now you arc a 
 lazy-goer, kinsman, to be lying on the grass when 
 every one else is at work." 
 
 Shaking the clovers from his hair, Alrek sat 
 up, he would have stood up if it were not that 
 the Frowner had crept across his feet. " I wait 
 only to ask your advice, kinswoman, about a way 
 to speak alone with Karlsefne. For two days I 
 have looked in vain for a chance. I want to get 
 his justice." 
 
 Coming out of the doorway, Gudrid seated 
 herself on the step, and sat absently stabbing holes 
 in her work with her bronze needle. " Justice is a 
 203
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 heavy weapon to challenge unless you are sure that 
 you stand very firm on your legs, kinsman," she 
 said at last. 
 
 He answered : " I stand very firm," and the 
 sternness of his voice was in singular contrast to the 
 gentleness of his hand as he stretched it out to 
 steady the Frowner in his upward progress. 
 
 Watching them, Gudrid's pucker of anxiety 
 smoothed into a fond smile. " Now certainly I 
 know that you are guiltless," she said. " I have 
 only to see your behavior toward the child to be 
 sure of that." She did not continue her assurances 
 for Alrek's mouth had curved into amiable deri- 
 sion. 
 
 " Why, that proves nothing," he said. 
 
 Gudrid's foot stirred the clovers. " I will give 
 you the satisfaction of knowing that Karlsefne has 
 made me the same answer. Sometimes it seems to 
 me that a man's wit is like a bat, which disdains 
 the good daylight to go about in, but must show 
 its skill by finding its way in the dark ! I can even 
 guess that this very boldness of yours, which causes 
 me to believe in you, will seem to the Lawman to 
 be but another trick of your outlaw blood. Re- 
 204
 
 A GRIM BARGAIN 
 
 member how they say in Greenland that a seal who 
 tries to swim against too strong a current has often 
 to turn back and be caught by the hunters. Kins- 
 man, kinsman " she put out her hand and pressed 
 his shoulder " be very sure of your strength ! " 
 
 " Yes," he said, and bent his head to touch his 
 lips to her fingers. 
 
 More than the words, the rare caress told her 
 tjaat his mood was no light one ; and she warned no 
 more. Rising, she spoke quietly : " I will do the 
 only thing I can to give you help. Karlsefne is 
 making the round of the meadows where the men 
 are haying. I did not send his noon-meal with 
 him because I did not think it fitting that he 
 should eat old bread, and the new is not yet out of 
 the oven but I had the intention to send it out 
 to him by a thrall. Now if you choose you may 
 carry it, and so get him apart for your purpose." 
 
 " That will serve well, and I give you thanks," 
 Alrek answered. 
 
 Nodding, she went swiftly in to hurry the 
 baking; and Alrek arose and setting the Frowner 
 upon his shoulder paced to and fro in the sun- 
 shine that had settled over the camp like a golden 
 205
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 spell, subduing the bustle of morning activity to a 
 drowsy drone. 
 
 Lulled by the hum and the slow motion, Snorri's 
 yellow head began to nod, swaying and bobbing 
 until it rested heavily upon the brown locks of his 
 bearer. Gudrid received a bundle of sweet warm 
 limpness in return for the basket and skin of ale 
 which she finally brought out. 
 
 " It is not unlike gathering up a jellyfish,!' 
 she laughed as she took him. 
 
 But Alrek's smile was faint in response. He 
 had been thinking as he paced, and the gravity of 
 what he was about to do was full upon him. 
 
 " I give you thanks," he said a second time, 
 gently, and left her. 
 
 Outside, in the great free world beyond the 
 wall, it seemed to him that everything was coaxing 
 for a smile. The reach of woodland into which 
 the grove deepened was alluring with the song of 
 hidden brooks and spicy with the breath of pines 
 and hospitable with berry thickets, black and red 
 and blue as the river to which the wood finally 
 gave way. The elms of the bank flaunted wreath- 
 ing grape-vines; the rushes at the edge sported 
 206
 
 dragon-flics like living jewels, flashing in the 
 sunlight, the river itself was one broad smile. Dull 
 anger took possession of him when he found his 
 spirits too heavy to rise in response. 
 
 " It may be that I should become a coward if 
 this went on," he murmured. " I was not any too 
 quick about making up my mind." 
 
 And when, a little further on, he came to a 
 finger of the stream and saw on one of the mossy 
 stepping-stones a water-snake struggling with a 
 frog which was only half swallowed, he made no 
 move to release the victim. 
 
 " Better to die whole than to live crippled," he 
 told himself grimly, and kept on his way. 
 
 It seemed a very short way now before he came 
 to the broad sunny valley whose fragrant basin 
 was strewed with ripening hay, which men were 
 tossing amid jests and laughter as became a crop 
 planted without toil and raised without care. Spy- 
 ing him, they shouted greetings of good-humored 
 banter; and he raised his hand mechanically, as his 
 eyes roved to and fro seeking the blue-clad figure 
 of the Lawman. It formed no part of the groups 
 scattered over the valley, nor was it anywhere alone 
 207
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 in the open Ah, yonder it was in the shade of 
 the spreading willow that rose solitary in the middle 
 of the meadow ! A smile twisted Alrek's lips as he 
 moved forward. 
 
 " I wonder," he mused, " if it is a bad omen 
 that I find him ready under a tree." 
 
 At least his luck was good enough so that he 
 found the Lawman alone, sitting where two rocks 
 made a seat beneath the willow; nor did he turn 
 away when he saw who it was coming toward him 
 through the sunshine. Over the fist upon which 
 his bearded chin was resting, he watched the 
 approach immovably. 
 
 When Alrek had come up and saluted him, he 
 answered : " I shall know better how to receive you 
 when I hear your purpose in taking this service on 
 yourself." 
 
 " Gudrid allowed me to do this that I might 
 speak alone with you," Alrek made brief explana- 
 tion. 
 
 It seemed that Karlsefne's challenging gaze 
 relaxed a little. " There is the greatest reason why 
 Gudrid should wish to aid you," he said, " and
 
 scarcely am I out of your debt. I should he glad 
 to hear that your errand hither is to ask a pardon 
 from my gratefulness." 
 
 Sliding the ale-skin to the ground, the boy 
 straightened proudly ; but before he could answer, 
 Karlsefne spoke on, unclenching his hand to pass 
 it before his eyes : 
 
 " As you came toward me, you looked even as 
 your father looked when he came to the Assembly 
 Plain to hear the judges condemn him for his 
 crimes ; and now as then I hate the deeds and love 
 the doer so that the two feelings arc like two fires 
 raging within me." Taking away his hand he 
 showed the stern beauty of his face aglow with 
 feeling, as some lofty rock under the touch of a 
 red Northern light. " I beg of you to throw 
 yourself upon my mercy. Defiance has gathered 
 like drift-ice in your breast, shutting out all that 
 would come through to bring you good. Break 
 from it before it shuts you in forever. I beg of 
 you to yield and give me the joy of trusting you 
 
 again." 
 
 Ending, his deep voice held a note of yearning 
 209
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 love that made the boy's heart swell strangely in 
 his breast. He had to speak hardly and shortly 
 in order to be able to speak at all. 
 
 " Hard is it to know how to answer, for you 
 offer me what I do not need. I came here to get 
 your justice. If I broke your order, I deserve an 
 evil death; if I did not, it is my right to live un- 
 shamed. If you know that it is I who slew the 
 Skraelling, I ask you to have me placed against 
 this tree and shot." 
 
 As a Northern light fades from a rock and 
 leaves no warmth behind, so the glow faded from 
 the Lawman's face. " Do you like it so well to 
 die ? " he asked. 
 
 " Sooner would I die than live as I have lived 
 since your doom," Alrek answered. 
 
 Silence settled heavily upon them. When a 
 great fly boomed out of the sunlit space and hung 
 for a wink of time at the boy's ear, the sound 
 seemed thunder-loud. But at last the Lawman 
 spoke, his voice as hard as clanging iron : 
 
 " Not many men would go so far as to deal 
 with me by force and overbearing, but you play 
 the game as well as is to be expected of your 
 210
 
 father's son. Though I am sure of your guilt, 
 you are right in believing that I am not sure enough 
 to take your life when you lay it in my hand. And 
 since it is proved that I am not sure, I may not 
 punish you at all. It is well played. There are 
 two choices before you, the one is to let matters 
 stand as they are now, so that your life is safe and 
 the future is yours to redeem your credit in ; the 
 other is to get back your honors as you demand, 
 with the condition that if ever this case comes again 
 before my high-seat and so much as a feather's 
 weight more of evidence is given against you, I 
 shall declare your life to be forfeit." 
 
 The long safe way is seldom the way of youth ; 
 one must have traveled far and fallen often to 
 make that choice. The young Viking answered 
 without hesitation : " I will take my honors and 
 the risk." 
 
 Rising, the Lawman made him a chief's salute. 
 " So be it," he said. " To-night in the hall, even 
 as I took them from you, I will give them back 
 before all eyes. In this and whatever follows, it 
 shall be as you have chosen." He lifted his hand 
 as the boy would have thanked him. 
 211
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 In obedience to the gesture, the Chief of the 
 Champions halted and bowed before him in silence ; 
 but his brown head was carried high when he 
 walked away, and his eyes were two radiant suns 
 of hope. 
 
 212
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 RELATING THE ADVENTURE WITH THE MEN OF THE 
 FOREST 
 
 LIKE dew on a fresh berry a silver gauze of 
 mist lay over the fresh day, and the birds' answers 
 to the sun were still far-between and sleepy, as 
 Hjalmar Thick-Skull came out of the bay ward 
 gate and sauntered down the meadow-slope to the 
 beach. Of late he had given over fishing in the 
 river for fishing in the bay, where a flat island 
 lay like a lily-pad on the water. With his tackle 
 on his shoulder and a song on his lips, he came 
 down where his boat was waiting and sent a care- 
 less glance around the horizon. Then the song 
 was changed to a cry, and he went back up the 
 slope in long bounds, deafening the man at the 
 gate as he burst in upon him. 
 
 " Skraellings ! Around the long point they are 
 coming in shoals ! " 
 
 Staring, the guards stammered the words after 
 213
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 him; but an Icelander who was passing caught 
 them up with a roar and started on a run for Karl- 
 sefne's booth. The hounds lying under the trees 
 leaped up and raced beside him, barking; out of 
 every door that he passed uncombed heads were 
 thrust, shouting questions. In the draft of a 
 breath, the news had spread like fire. 
 
 Reaching the Chief of the Champions where he 
 stood in his doorway, he sheathed the sword that 
 he was polishing with so much pride and took a 
 step toward the gate ; then, bethinking himself of a 
 quicker way to verify the report, he turned and 
 made for a great pine-tree standing on a little 
 knoll. With a run and a leap he went up the 
 trunk, and clambered from one great bough to the 
 next as though they were steps, until his head came 
 out through the last layer of needles. 
 
 The Thick-Skulled had spoken truly. The 
 bright plain of the bay was specked with dark 
 skin-boats; eastward around the longest of the 
 capes, they were like a dark tide rolling in upon 
 the land. Something seemed to tighten in the 
 Sword-Bearer's throat; and he was about to turn 
 and let himself down swiftly to the bough below,
 
 THE MEN OF THE FOREST 
 
 when his eye was caught by a movement up the 
 river bank, the passing of something dark athwart 
 the green of a bush. Drawing his head down under 
 the green roof, he hung by his arms, gazing in- 
 tently. There was no open anywhere for the 
 Thing to cross, and just that dark streak flitting 
 through the bush-tops told nothing and yonder 
 was a white streak behind it ! And beyond that a 
 dark one! His hands tightened on the branch so 
 that it crackled. Unless motes were dancing before 
 his eyes, the bush was alive with the fleeting wisps, 
 shapeless, soundless, but bearing down upon the 
 camp. His heart seemed to turn over in his 
 body, and he dropped like an ape from limb to 
 
 limb. 
 
 Descending into the camp was like falling from 
 the peacefulness of a masthead into the roar of the 
 ocean. Wrangling and stamping about, the men 
 were struggling into their shirts of ring-mail. 
 Hammering on their shields to get attention, the 
 chiefs were shouting orders. Bearing messages and 
 distributing weapons, thralls rushed back and 
 forth, followed by the yelping of dogs and the 
 screaming of bondwomen from the doorways. It 
 15 215
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 took main force on the part of the Champions' 
 leader to get them aside and make them under- 
 stand that it was not the enemy before them 
 against whom they were to turn their blades. 
 
 " The number of those in the boats is so many 
 times greater than we, that no men can be spared 
 from the front," he concluded swiftly. " To find 
 out what these Things are, and defend the gates 
 against them, will be our share. And it is likely 
 that much depends upon our getting into position 
 without loss of time. Olaf and the Hare, I appoint 
 to be my messengers ; and I want to give Olaf a 
 message now, while the Hare goes after my ring- 
 shirt." Drawing the Fair One aside, he spoke 
 forcefully in his ear until he yielded reluctant 
 obedience and darted away in the direction of the 
 pastures. 
 
 It may be admitted that reluctance was in most 
 faces when a little later they turned their backs 
 upon the uproar of the camp and stole out into the 
 loneliness of the grove. Over their shield-rims, 
 their eyes rolled apprehensively as their chief 
 spread them into a broad crescent covering both 
 gates, and led them warily forward. When the 
 216
 
 THE MEN OF THE FOREST 
 
 first high ground gained failed to reveal anything, 
 they jumped at the idea that he had been mistaken 
 in his spying, that the sun had dazzled his eyes, 
 that what he had seen was but a line of low-flying 
 swallows. They were urging it eagerly at the 
 very instant that he was justified. 
 
 All at once it was as though every twig in the 
 undergrowth ahead had turned into a bow, and 
 the bow had shot an arrow at them. The rattle 
 on their iron helmets was like the pelting of hail. 
 If their bodies had not been armored, they would 
 have gone down as grain before a scythe. 
 
 Alrek's voice rang out strongly : " Skraellings ! 
 Under cover ! Make ready for their charge ! " 
 
 In a flash they had leaped backward, behind 
 trees, bushes, boulders, anything. The sunbeams 
 broke into jagged lightnings as the bright swords 
 sprang from the scabbards. 
 
 But no flesh appeared from the thicket beyond. 
 The grove remained empty and silent as a grave. 
 It shattered the stillness startlingly when Njal 
 
 screamed : 
 
 "If they are Skraellings, why do they not 
 come out and show themselves?" Then, without 
 217
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 pausing for reply, he added another shout : " Those 
 in the boats have landed ! " 
 
 From the camp behind them swelled a din of 
 Skraelling yells answered by Norse battle-cries, 
 enforced at regular intervals by the hoarse barking 
 of the leaders. 
 
 Njal cried shrilly: " That is the way in which 
 Skraellings fight! These are trolls! Let us get 
 loose from their net and turn back." 
 
 Only Alrek's uplifted spear stayed the rush. 
 " I think you will find my weapon sharp if you do," 
 he warned. " Whether they be men or trolls, we 
 must take heart as we can and hold them from the 
 gates. I urge you all to grip your swords and 
 manfully hold your ground. They can not do 
 you harm while you are under cover." 
 
 But it was not their bodies that they were 
 afraid with, but their minds which had raised up 
 specters. The sunlit space seemed all at once a 
 cloak for shapes of horror. Dreading with every 
 breath that the cloak would be drawn aside, their 
 eyes shrank from what it might reveal as their 
 flesh would not have shrunk from knives. They 
 spoke as with one voice: 
 
 218
 
 THE MEN OF THE FOREST 
 
 " This is jugglery and trickery only ! We will 
 go back where men fight against men ! " 
 
 " You will not," spoke Alrek the Chief between 
 his teeth. But even as he said it, he saw the hope- 
 lessness of expecting to hold them quiet, and made 
 his last move. Throwing aside his spear he leaped 
 out in front of them, brandishing his sword. " If 
 you must move move forward ! " he cried. ' You 
 are nithings unless you follow my fate ! ' 
 
 Even then it is not certain that they would 
 have obeyed if Brand had not redeemed much by 
 promptly advancing to his chief's side. 
 
 " 7 follow ! " he shouted ; and Erlend and Gard 
 were only a step behind him. 
 
 At that, the rest turned like sheep and came 
 after, dodging from cover to cover, clambering, 
 stumbling, ducking, jumping, lashing their cour- 
 age with a fury of yelling. 
 
 Before the cold stillness had chilled them again, 
 they saw the foe. Rising from behind boulders, 
 slipping around trees, gliding through bushes, 
 came creatures with gaudy-colored bodies naked as 
 earthworms, and bristling black heads feathered 
 like monstrous birds ; so like and yet so hideously 
 219
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 unlike the Skraellings, that Gard cried " Forest 
 devils ! " and the band turned with one impulse for 
 flight. But behind them, across the ground they 
 believed they had cleared, in the space between 
 them and the gates, stretched another line. Out 
 of their frenzy of fear, sprang a frenzy of hate; 
 and they leaped upon the creatures with drawn 
 swords and the others met them, brandishing stone 
 hatchets. 
 
 For a time it was a wild game of dodging, with 
 death as a penalty for awkwardness. Whether 
 they were men or demons, the hatchet-bearers 
 showed a dread of steel which kept them hovering 
 beyond arm's reach whenever they were not darting 
 at an opening. But at last the hungry swords 
 tasted the flesh they craved, and their wielders' 
 shouts of triumph stirred the rest to exulting 
 excitement. 
 
 " We will wipe them out like flies ! " Alrek 
 cried. 
 
 Even as the words left his lips, he made a 
 
 startling discovery. Laying low the figure in front 
 
 of him, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure 
 
 that there was no one behind him ; and turned back 
 
 220
 
 THE MEN OF THE FOREST 
 
 to find a man standing on the very spot that he 
 had cleared. Striking him down, he whirled to sec 
 another hideous shape in the place that a breath 
 before he had made empty. 
 
 At the same instant, Brand cried wildly : " It 
 seems to me that they must rise from the dead 
 since no matter how many one kills, there is always 
 the same number confronting him." 
 
 Into Alrek's throat came the sense of choking 
 which had seized him in the tree-top when he be- 
 held that dark tide rolling in upon the land. Some- 
 thing seemed to mock in his ear : " It will be like 
 killing the flies of the air one by one ! " Then 
 blotting out this came the wonder that Brand's 
 voice should seem so far away; and he risked a 
 glance around the grove, and his heart stood still. 
 In their mad charge, the Champions had broken 
 their line; until now no two fought shoulder to 
 shoulder but each stood alone, his back against a 
 tree or a rock, a circle of hatchet-men around him. 
 Even while their chief looked, three Champions 
 were tempted into making dashes which carried 
 them still wider apart. It would not be long before 
 they would be lost to one another's sight, and the
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 swarms would close in around them He opened his 
 mouth to send forth a frantic recall. 
 
 But the fiend-cunning of the black eyes watch- 
 ing him seemed to read his purpose on his lips. Sud- 
 denly the shapes around him raised an unearthly 
 howl, which those on all sides caught up and kept 
 up until the din was like a wall through which no 
 sound could come or go. 
 
 Alrek's hands continued to fight from instinct, 
 but his brain became numb. The horror long hov- 
 ering over him settled lead-like upon him. 
 
 " They are trolls ! " he told himself ; and his 
 strength began to ooze out of him in icy droops. 
 
 He did not turn his head when above the din 
 rose a roar even more appalling than the yells. 
 When the creatures around him dropped their 
 weapons to fly frantically this way and that, he 
 remained standing where they had left him, pluck- 
 ing at an arrow which had pierced his arm below 
 his mail. Gazing wonderingly, he saw a huge 
 milk-white bull with mouth afoam and eyes like 
 red flame come snorting out of the thicket, pausing 
 now to paw up the earth before him, now to throw 
 back his horned head with a terrific bellow. 
 222
 
 THE MEN OF THE FOREST 
 
 Then, in a flash, his wits came back to him. 
 Memory reminded him that his own lips had bidden 
 Olaf drive the animal from the pasture for their re- 
 enforcement ; and sense told him that even as he 
 had hoped it might happen the hatchet-bearers 
 had taken the apparition to be the white man's 
 god, come to his people's aid. Leaning back 
 against the tree, he began to shake with laughter 
 which was half weeping. 
 
 It seemed to little Olaf the Fair that there was 
 something peculiar about the bearing of all the 
 Champions, when a while later he met them back 
 near the gates. Their greetings came in voices of 
 unsteady shrillness, and their eyes were strangely 
 bright. He said, pouting: 
 
 " I do not know whether you mean that the 
 fight went against you or that you got the victory, 
 but I warn you that I shall dislike it if you upbraid 
 me for fetching the bull there so soon. I have got 
 scolded enough by the men in camp. It appears 
 that they spent the first part of the battle in run- 
 ning away from arrows, and they had only just 
 got to work with their swords when I came through 
 with the Bellower and sent the Skraellings flying 
 223
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 to their boats. I thought the Icelanders would 
 have thrashed me. I shall not take it well if you 
 also find fault " 
 
 Their shaking high-pitched laughter drowned 
 his voice. 
 
 " We will try to excuse you," Alrek said in a 
 drawl that was still rather unsteady ; whereat there 
 was another outburst; and they swept clamoring 
 shrilly through the gate. 
 
 Inside the wall it looked at the first glance like 
 a trading day, with shining-shirted groups scat- 
 tered everywhere across the green, each man flour- 
 ishing some kind of weapon while he talked at the 
 top of his great lungs. But at a second glance 
 the resemblance was less, for no fair-time mood was 
 in the mien of Karlsefne and his chiefs where they 
 stood under the council-tree, wiping the paste of 
 sweat and blood from their faces; and here and 
 there men were writhing on the earth while the 
 sharp knives of comrades cut arrow-heads out of 
 their flesh. And suddenly the likeness ceased alto- 
 gether, as four men came through the bayward 
 gate, each pair carrying between them the body of 
 a dead Icelander. Silence touched each group the 
 224
 
 THE MEN OF THE FOREST 
 
 four passed ; and through the hush, Karlsefnc's 
 voice clanged out like a bell, vibrating with wrath : 
 
 " I wonder at it that you have control enough 
 left to hold your teeth over your tongues when 
 the dead are borne past! Up to this time you 
 have run mad like wolves that have tasted blood. 
 I suppose the strange thing is not that you have 
 broken the peace-bands at last but that I was able 
 to hold your beast-cravings so long in check. It 
 is all I can find to lessen the gall of my defeat." 
 
 So long as he stood before them, fixing them 
 with his eyes like swords, they remained silent ; but 
 the booth door had no more than closed behind him 
 than the excitement leaked out again. In a little 
 while it was running as high as ever, as the men 
 boasted of the great feats they had been on the 
 verge of achieving, and vowed exulting vows about 
 what they would do at the next meeting. It was 
 plain indeed that the peace-bands which had held 
 their swords in their scabbards were snapped for- 
 ever. 
 
 225
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 SHOWING HOW THE HUNTSMAN BAGGED HIS GAME 
 
 THE next day, under a storm-charged sky, the 
 camp lay storm-charged. In the doorways, men 
 stood talking restlessly, with now and again an 
 outburst of sharp wrangling; out on the green, 
 others refreshed their knowledge of spear-throw- 
 ing; around the tables, still others plied sharpen- 
 ing stones upon ax blades which would never be 
 used for trees. Setting forth with their last load 
 of outfittings for the ship, the Champions shouted 
 a battle-song in the face of the muttering thunder : 
 
 " And as the foeman's ships drew near 
 The dreadful din you well might hear ; 
 Savage Berserks roaring mad, 
 And champions fierce in wolf-skins clad, 
 Howling like wolves ; and clanking jar 
 Of many a mail-clad man of war." 
 
 " Let us not try to settle in another place until 
 we are off our feet on account of old age," Brand 
 226
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S GAME 
 
 spoke with energy. " Karlsefne says truly that 
 Norsemen are too wolf-like to endure it when they 
 are penned like sheep. Let us live like Fridtjof the 
 Bold, with the ship for our hall and the sky for 
 our roof." 
 
 " And strike where we choose," Erlend added. 
 " There is no good reason why we should never 
 make warfare against any but dwarfs. I have 
 heard it said that fine things are to be found in 
 Ireland " 
 
 " And in England " " And in Rolf's coun- 
 try " " And the East " cried a chorus ; and 
 each began at once to urge the merits of his par- 
 ticular choice amid an eager clamor that was inter- 
 rupted only by their arrival at the path which 
 wound down between the boulders. 
 
 There, however, the interruption was final. 
 Glancing over the boulders, the first boy shrieked : 
 "What!" the second one: "Where?" then, all 
 together, they roared: "The ship!" and tumbled 
 one over the other and out upon the beach. Save 
 for the rollers which lay where they had left them, 
 not a vestige was to be seen of The-Fire-That- 
 Runs-On-The- Waves.
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Some of them cried : " The tide ! " while others 
 cried: " Skraellings ! " And one detachment went 
 swarming up the trees of the bank to sweep the 
 length and breadth of the bay; and the other, 
 drawing swords, raced along the shore to explore 
 the crescent curves with which it was scalloped. 
 But neither party brought back any news to the 
 third group, that seemed as yet unable to do more 
 than stand staring at the rollers and ejaculating. 
 The clue came from a peevish voice on the bank 
 above them : 
 
 " I think you have little reason to boast of your 
 eyesight if it has not yet told you that I am here." 
 Above the rocks a thin face rose, wanly white in 
 the glare of the lightning that was shivering across 
 the sky. 
 
 Shrieking : " Hallad ! " the band whirled up the 
 beach like wind-driven sand; and their chief had 
 taken several steps to follow them before he pulled 
 himself up and turned around to face the intruder 
 firmly. 
 
 " This looks to be an evil happening, if any one 
 thinks you to be of importance, which I do not. 
 No fault of ours is it that you were drowned. Why 
 228
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S GAME 
 
 do you not stay under the water with the other 
 dead men ? " 
 
 The colorless lips showed a curl. " Dead 
 men ! Do you think that if I had a ghost's power 
 I would allow Thorhall to bind me, and stay up 
 here to be made a gazing-stock 
 
 " Thorhall ! " Alrek repeated ; and he came a 
 step nearer, so that Brand and Erlend and the 
 Ugly One, pausing in their flight to look around 
 for him, took courage and came a little way back. 
 " I do not know why it did not come to my mind 
 sooner that the Huntsman had a hand in this 
 matter. Yet he would scarcely be able to do it 
 
 alone." 
 
 " There was little need to. After such a stir- 
 ring-up as took place yesterday, men might be 
 expected to be ready for any fun. There were no 
 less than twenty of them with him, and their spirits 
 scraped the sky. Had it not happened that their 
 humor was so good, it is likely they would have 
 killed me when they found out that I had followed 
 them here, instead of doing no more than tie me so 
 that I should not give the alarm too soon. They 
 left at daybreak. I managed it to pull one arm free 
 229
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 and slide down on the ground and get some sleep, 
 but the thongs are like red-hot irons upon my 
 ankles. Fetch your knife up here as quickly as 
 you can, and free me." 
 
 Alrek was taking another step toward him, 
 when the expostulations of his comrades brought 
 him again to a standstill. " If you are not 
 drowned, what is the reason? " he inquired. 
 
 The claw-like hands beat the rock fretfully. 
 " One reason is because I never fell into the water. 
 Whether Thorhall told you so or not, I was not 
 with him when he was wrecked on the Cape. Two 
 days before that, he had deserted me in the south 
 country because I was overlong in getting back to 
 the boat after an exploring trip. It had happened 
 twice before that I was rather late, and he pre- 
 tended to think that this time also it was careless- 
 ness. It is the truth that I had hurt my leg and 
 could not get back earlier. It took me three weeks 
 after that to make my way here. By that time he 
 had got home and told every one that I was dead; 
 and he took it so ill that I should belie him that he 
 would have made it the truth if I had not run away. 
 The time you saw me climbing out of the ice-hole 
 230
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S GAME 
 
 which I had fallen through, was one time when I 
 barely got away from him. After that, however, it 
 was less difficult ; for when he saw how you ran from 
 me, he was willing that I should stay alive so long 
 as I remained dead. The reason I have the appear- 
 ance of a dead man is because I can not, more than 
 others, get fat and color-full on fish and raw eggs 
 and water." He broke off impatiently : " Is it not 
 clear to you yet, you blocks of peat ? " 
 
 The Champions looked at one another doubt- 
 fully. It sounded reasonable, and yet 
 
 " You have always made it a point that your 
 foster-father, Biorn, should help you out of diffi- 
 culties. What is the reason that you did not go to 
 him with this one? " Brand demanded. 
 
 At least, Hallad's temper was alive ; it sparkled 
 in his hollow eye-sockets. " As well go to Biorn's 
 dogs because they have teeth ! It seems to me that 
 you have been fooled enough to be able to under- 
 stand that the glance of Thorhall's sly green 
 eyes has more power in it than Biorn's blundering 
 
 fist." 
 
 Though it is a strange thing, it is true that 
 for the time being they had forgotten the ship. Of 
 16 231
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 one accord they started forward as it came back 
 to them. 
 
 " You know how much of the story is true " 
 " what he did intend ' " Give us your opin- 
 ion whither he has gone ' 
 
 " I will not tell you one thing 
 until you come up here and re- 
 lease me," Hallad's thin lips bit off his decision. 
 
 Alrek set forth his counter-condition. " If you 
 will allow me to prick your skin with my sword 
 so that I see blood come out of your flesh, I will 
 believe that you are not a ghost." 
 
 One of the skeleton-like arms was stretched 
 over the rock before he had finished. Drawing 
 his sword, he went forward and scratched a cross 
 upon it ; the lines were instantly blurred with blood. 
 Without more ado, he climbed up the bank and 
 around the boulder and cut the bands, and the ghost 
 returned his hand-clasp with most unghostlike 
 pressure, after which he sank down upon the 
 bank to rub his chafed ankles. 
 
 " It was like his spitefulness to tie them so 
 tight," he whimpered. " And besides this, I am 
 starved. If there are any tidings you want to 
 232
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S GAME 
 
 know, you would better be quick about asking, 
 before I take myself where I can get some curds 
 and bread." 
 
 From their answer it appeared that they had 
 several things to ask. " Tell us where he is going 
 with our ship " " Tell us how much truth there 
 was in the dwarf-story " No, about his pur- 
 pose in sharing his secret- 
 While one of Hallad's hands continued rubbing 
 his ankles, the other one scratched his head. " Now 
 if he has gabbled about dwarfs, it docs not appear 
 to me that he did share his secret. Certainly I did 
 not see any dwarfs, nor hear of any. One day when 
 Thord and I had staid with the boat and he and 
 Swipdag had gone far inland, he came back with 
 a gold chain ; and they both said that they had seen 
 Asbrandsson, the Broadwicker's Champion whom 
 Snorri Godi outlawed from Iceland many, years 
 ago. Where a story passes through many mouths 
 it is likely to become somewhat chewed, and it may 
 be that they were lying then also; but they told 
 how Asbrandsson related about a settlement which 
 white men from Ireland had made further south. 
 He dwelt among them, he said; but it seemed that 
 233
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 they lived too quietly and sang too many priest- 
 songs to please him well, and therefore he would 
 like to come to Vinland if so be that Karlsefne the 
 Lawman would admit a fellow of his bad fame. 
 As a present to get him good-will, he sent the 
 Lawman a chain by Thorhall; but that Thorhall 
 put it to other uses is easily guessed. It is less 
 easy to know whither he intends taking the ship. 
 It may be that he has gone south; and it may be, 
 as I said before, that the story of White Man's 
 Land is also a lie." 
 
 They loosed mouthfuls of angry denunciations. 
 " But why take so much trouble to make up a 
 story " " What aid was it expected that we 
 should give? " " Why did he not give the message 
 to the Lawman ? " 
 
 " Now are you so witless that I do not wonder 
 he found pleasure in fooling you," Hallad snapped 
 as he got painfully upon his feet. " How would 
 he have got booty if he had told Karlsefne, who 
 would have forbidden fighting between the settle- 
 ments? It is likely that he made up the dwarf- 
 story because he thought it unadvisable to trust 
 you with the truth. And the reason he stood in 
 234
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S GAME 
 
 need of you was because it was necessary that he 
 should have some one to fight under him, and until 
 yesterday the men would not listen to him. It is 
 not certain, however, that he would not have taken 
 the ship alone anyway, after Alrek got back to 
 the chieftainship. It appears that the Sword- 
 Bearer's power is greater than the Huntsman 
 liked." 
 
 Alrek straightened from the boulder against 
 which he was leaning, and put out his hand as 
 Hallad turned and planted a foot higher up the 
 path. 
 
 " There is one question more about the man 
 who killed the first Skraelling. Do you know who 
 that is?" 
 
 Pausing with one foot up and one foot down, 
 Hallad looked at them strangely. " Do you not 
 all know ? " he asked at last. 
 
 They cried in one triumphant breath : " It was 
 the Huntsman ! " 
 
 "The Huntsman?" Hallad repeated, and 
 amazement was too plain in his voice to be mis- 
 taken. After a minute, he grasped a down-hang- 
 ing root and pulled himself up to the next step, 
 235
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 and would have departed without another word if 
 Alrek had not reached up and clasped him around 
 the ankle. 
 
 "What do you mean by that?" the Sword- 
 Bearer asked him. " If it was not Thorhall, who 
 was it? I shall not let you go until you tell me." 
 He gripped the raw ankle harder than he knew ; 
 Hallad gave a great gasp of mingled pain and 
 anger. 
 
 " I have not as yet said too much, but I think 
 I need not spare you since you challenge me! It 
 was you yourself; my own eyes saw you. It hap- 
 pened that I was hiding behind a wood-pile in the 
 hope that I could slip into one of the booths and 
 get a weapon for myself. I saw you fall, and I saw 
 the Skraelling lean over you and make a grab at 
 your sword; whereupon you leaped up and buried 
 the hatchet in his head, and he toppled over into the 
 hollow Now there is no need of your looking at 
 me in that manner! I would not have spoken if 
 you had not dared me. I will say nothing about it 
 anywhere else. I " 
 
 But it is not likely that Alrek heard ; he stood 
 236
 
 THE HUNTSMAN'S GAME 
 
 as though turned to stone, gazing at the speaker 
 out of horror-widened eyes. " You saw . . . me 
 . . . do it ? " he breathed. 
 
 Looking down upon him, Hallad's face was red 
 and regretful. Although it was plain that no 
 great boldness was in his spirit, it was also clear 
 that his mind was not ill-intentioned. " A great 
 mishap was this that you should ask me," he stam- 
 mered. " I suppose it was the knock on your head 
 that caused you to forget. But I thought that 
 Of what use was it to dig it up again ! I had the 
 intention to say nothing to any one. It seems 
 most likely to me that the Huntsman put a spell 
 upon you ; his eyes are more than equal to it. You 
 need not be so sensitive as to blame. So long as 
 Karlsefne has pardoned you and given you your 
 honors back, your fate does not depend on 
 
 this " 
 
 Through his speech, the voices of Gard and 
 Brand and Erlend broke shrilly: "You flung 
 back his pardon!" "You bought your hon- 
 ors " You pledged your life on your guilt- 
 lessness ! " 
 
 237
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Out of stiff lips, Alrek confirmed it : "I 
 pledged my life." 
 
 Hallad turned, wailing, and ran up the bank 
 and into the forest; and the four comrades were 
 left to face it together. 
 
 238
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 IN WHICH ALREK SWORD-BEARER FACES DEATH 
 
 BRAND lay on the ground, shaking with great 
 sobs ; and Gard squatted, half sitting, half kneeling, 
 his huge hand crushing to powder the shells he 
 had picked up without knowing what he did. It 
 spoke much for the lessons the two had learned that 
 neither offered plans of rebellion or suggested 
 escaping through the loophole of a trick. Dully, 
 the Ugly One spoke to Alrek Sword-Bearer, where 
 he stood as though turned to stone. 
 
 " Alrek, say that the lie did not make it any 
 worse for you. Let me have that to remember." 
 
 Alrek answered without turning his eyes from 
 the sullen water, wrinkled now with rain-drops: 
 " It did not make it any worse for me. ... I did 
 you wrong in believing you guilty." 
 
 "Why was this so? If only we could have 
 got away on the ship, it is not likely that you 
 239
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 would ever have found it out," Brand sobbed pas- 
 sionately. 
 
 " I wish that I might have had one voyage on 
 The Fire," Alrek said slowly. " More than any- 
 thing else I like to stand on a ship when the wind 
 is blowing under her wings, and feel how I am 
 being carried forward into happenings of interest. 
 I thought I had many such voyages before me, and 
 that I should accomplish some things which the 
 saga-men would think worth talking about. And I 
 believed that I should die in a manner to leave 
 honor behind me. Never did I guess in the deepest 
 hiding-place of my mind that I should be put to 
 death for causing the defeat of my chief " His 
 voice broke in uncontrollable revolt. " I can not 
 believe that I was such a madman ! It must be as 
 he says, that the Huntsman laid a spell upon 
 me. I can not believe that I would so lose my 
 sense ! " 
 
 " It is often said in Greenland that the Hunts- 
 man's eyes are capable of turning curses on whom- 
 soever he will," Gard said heavily. 
 
 " It was seen by every one that he felt hatred 
 against you," Brand added in his unsteady voice. 
 240
 
 ALREK FACES DEATH 
 
 " Ever since he saw that you had better sense than 
 others, he has wished you evil." 
 
 Lifting his head out of his hands, Erlcnd spoke 
 bravely : " It does not seem likely to me that 
 Heaven would deal with you so unfairly. It is 
 foolish to hurry ahead of one's luck. I have hope 
 of getting rid of this trouble because of Karlscfne's 
 love for you. Of his own accord he offered you 
 mercy 
 
 " And I chose justice," the Sword-Bearer re- 
 minded him grimly. " Do you not see? I may not 
 even ask for a pardon. It is a jest of the Fates, 
 a nithing jest! " It may be that his voice would 
 have broken again if a great roar of thunder had 
 not cut him short; the rapping of his fists was 
 sharp upon the boulder at which he was staring 
 down. 
 
 But, gradually, the control which seldom 
 slipped far out of his grasp was gathered again 
 into his hands. When once more it was quiet save 
 for the rustle of the rain on the leaves, he spoke 
 steadily : " I recollect how my father used to say 
 that a soldier had a low mind who could not trust 
 the chief he had chosen enough to follow him
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 through some moves which he could not under- 
 stand. Now it is certain that I can not see why 
 Heaven has the wish to turn this against me, but 
 I am not going to be so poor-spirited as to make a 
 fuss about it. Let us go back now. Waiting will 
 not help if death is fated to me." 
 
 It showed again the discipline they had gone 
 through that although Brand's throat was rent 
 anew with sobs and Gard's face became as white 
 as was possible to its swarthiness, neither had any 
 resistance to offer. Rising heavily, they followed 
 their chief up the bank and along the wood-paths 
 which always before they had traveled plan-laden 
 and light-footed with hope. 
 
 Because of the rain, the tables under the trees 
 were deserted ; what sound of voices there was came 
 from Karlsefne's booth. In wordless understand- 
 ing the comrades walked toward it; only as they 
 passed the empty booth of the Champions, Alrek 
 spoke : 
 
 " It is likely that the band is loitering some- 
 where in the woods to talk about the fate of the 
 ship. I am glad it happened so, unless they come 
 back just as I am being fetched out. I give it
 
 ALREK FACES DEATH 
 
 into your hands, Erlend, to sec that they do not 
 behave foolishly." 
 
 Out of his tear-stained face, Erlend's honest 
 blue eyes met his chief's fairly. " I will see that 
 you have your way," he promised. 
 
 Alrek, walking in the middle, stretched out his 
 arms and put one around Erlend's neck and one 
 across the shoulders of Brand; and so they came, 
 across the rain-beaten green in silence. At the 
 threshold, they paused to grasp one another's 
 hands strongly and long; then the Sword-Bearer 
 pushed wide the half-open door and they went in. 
 
 In the dignity of his high-seat Karlsefne sat, 
 holding council with his chiefs. Snorri of Iceland 
 occupied the seat of honor opposite him; and on 
 his left was Gudrid, and on his right the burly and 
 big-hearted Biorn Gudbrandsson, his hand still 
 patting the shoulder of his foster-son who sat on 
 the footstool before him, munching bread as though 
 he would never leave off. That the excitement of 
 Hallad's return had subsided, however, was evident 
 since it was of something altogether different that 
 the Lawman was speaking as the Champions 
 
 entered. 
 
 243
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " You need not get afraid that I undervalue 
 your power of fighting," he was saying to the 
 triple rank of sullen faces that lined the walls. 
 " That one Northman is more than equal to one 
 Skraelling provided he can get within arm's 
 reach of him I do not deny. It would be a 
 strange thing if Northmen could not fight, after 
 the practise they have had ! What I want to get 
 into your heads is that you will never face them 
 one to one, nor one to five, nor yet one to ten ; but 
 that they will always come in herds and shoals and 
 swarms, as when the Lord sends a plague of 
 creatures on a country. For I think it is as a 
 plague they have come upon us. Here the All- 
 Father had spread a Heaven-like land, and stored 
 it with food and property for all. Here He 
 brought us in peace to take as free gifts whatso- 
 ever we would. It might have been a never-emptied 
 treasure-house for all our race, a peace-land for 
 Northmen of all time. The trouble that has come 
 into it is of our own bringing, brought in our blood 
 as vermin are brought in ships. The hand of the 
 Lord is against us; it is my advice that we bow 
 before His wrath. Natures such as ours have no 
 244
 
 ALREK FACES DEATH 
 
 right to softer things than Greenland cold and 
 Iceland rock. It is my ruling that when the spring 
 comes we shall go back over the ocean." 
 
 Like a mighty bell tolling for a death, his 
 voice echoed through the hall. For a time they 
 seemed awed against their will ; and here and there 
 a man made the cross-sign. But presently the 
 heavy voice of Hjalmar Thick-Skull was heard 
 saying to his neighbor: 
 
 " A Viking voyage, comrade, that is what it 
 means ! A Viking voyage from Norway before the 
 grass comes up again ! " 
 
 Quickly those around him caught up the words : 
 " Viking voyages, that is true ! " " Hail to the 
 Lawman ! " " Ho for Norway ! " " For England 
 and the Danes ! " " Ho for warrior-life again ! " 
 " Hail ! " " Hail ! " " Hail ! " Their swelling 
 cheers vied with the thunder pealing overhead. 
 
 To Alrek Ingolfsson, waiting with blood- 
 marked lips held between his teeth, further delay 
 was unbearable. Suddenly he made a step forward 
 where Karlsefne's gaze would fall upon him from 
 the high-seat. As he had expected, the Lawman 
 spoke with frozen courtesy : 
 245
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 " The Chief of the Champions has a right to 
 his place in the council. I give him greeting and 
 ask him to come forward and take the place that 
 belongs to him." 
 
 The Chief of the Champions went forward, 
 but he did not take his place upon the bench. 
 Standing before the footstool of the high-seat he 
 spoke briefly : 
 
 " I thank you for your greeting, but I came to 
 claim no right, but to render the pledge I made. It 
 has happened that Hallad saw me kill the Skrael- 
 ling, in that time which I lost out of my mind." He 
 could not bring himself to meet Karlsefne's eyes 
 when he had finished, but turned away and laid a 
 hand on Gard's shoulder and hid his face on his 
 arm. 
 
 Above the hubbub that rose, two voices made 
 themselves heard, Gudrid's crying distressfully : " I 
 do not believe it ! " and Hallad's wailing : " Why 
 do you betray yourself ? " Then the Lawman spoke 
 in a tone that silenced them both: 
 
 " Let Hallad tell what he has seen." 
 
 It is but justice to Hallad to say that he would 
 have refused if he had dared ; and not daring, he 
 246
 
 ALREK FACES DEATH 
 
 mingled his recital with pleas for mercy. But the 
 terrible evidence had to come out at last. 
 
 When the tale was finished and the teller had 
 sunk down in tears upon Biorn's footstool, Alrek 
 lifted a face that seemed pale because such black 
 misery was in his brown eyes. 
 
 " I ask you only to believe that when I said I 
 was innocent, I did not know that I was guilty." 
 
 After a while the Lawman bent his head. " I 
 believe that," he granted. But he granted no more ; 
 and his closed mouth was like a line graven on 
 stone. 
 
 It was as though the wind had brought a breath 
 from a glacier through the warm summer day. 
 No man's heart but felt the chill; and gradually 
 the whispers, even the motions, ceased and the room 
 was as still as a Greenland winter. 
 
 Slowly the Lawman rose and stood before his 
 high-seat, an awe-full figure as the light fell coldly 
 on the chiseled beauty of his face and the iron of 
 his hair and his beard. 
 
 " I believe that you did not know your guilt," 
 he said, " but I believe also that you acted out 
 your true nature when you did the slaying. What 
 17 247
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Hallad says about the Huntsman's spell-power is 
 child's talk. No spell was on your father when 
 he committed such crimes, and none was on you 
 when you attacked the Skraelling on the Cape of 
 the Crosses. I think now what I have thought 
 always, that you struck this blow in the Berserk 
 madness which is like poison in your blood; even 
 as you struck on the Cape, even as you would 
 strike again though the welfare of a thousand men 
 should hang on your peacefulness. The cause of a 
 hundred you have already defeated because I par- 
 doned you once ; I dare not risk sparing you again. 
 You offered me your life. I take it. There is a 
 gallows ready where a pine-tree stands by the 
 Skraelling's mound. It is my command that Lodin 
 and Asgrim and the men beside them, put you into 
 fetters and take you forth and hang you there." 
 
 Gudrid fell back in a half-swoon, and through 
 the hall swelled a murmur like the rush of a rising 
 wave. But the Lawman stretched forth his hand, 
 the flash of his eyes like the gleam of ice in the 
 moonlight; and the wave fell, sputtering and 
 hissing, until it had smoothed out into silence. 
 
 Alrek Ingolfsson spoke only once, when they 
 248
 
 ALREK FACES DEATH 
 
 had finished pinioning his arms. " Like a sheep- 
 killing dog ! " he said under his breath ; and his 
 head sank beneath its weight of shame, and he did 
 not raise it again but went away without looking 
 into any one's face. 
 
 With the opening of the door came in the noise 
 of rushing wind ; then the door closed upon it, and 
 throughout the length and breadth of the hall 
 there was no sound save for the half-sobbing 
 breaths of Gudrid struggling back from her swoon, 
 and no motion until all at once the Lawman sank 
 into his high-seat and covered his face with his 
 mantle. 
 
 It is a strange thing that at the moment Karl- 
 sefne's eyes were covered, the veil fell from Gud- 
 rid's. Lighting on Hallad, her glance rested there 
 dully for a while ; then all at once it sharpened to 
 more than ordinary keenness. Rising from her 
 seat, she leveled one slender arm at the cowering 
 
 figure. 
 
 "I think you did the slaying yourself!" she 
 
 breathed. 
 
 At Hallad's recoil and Biorn's bewildered query, 
 the Lawman looked up questioningly ; and Gudrid 
 249
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 put her other hand upon his shoulder and shook 
 him in her passion of eagerness. 
 
 " Will you allow your kinsman to die because 
 of your slowness? Promise life to this coward and 
 he will confess guilt. I see it in his face." 
 
 But the Lawman had no need to speak, for this 
 sudden focusing of all eyes upon Hallad lay 
 bare his secret like a bolt from the skies, and 
 struck him down at Gudrid's feet. 
 
 " It was the Huntsman who made me ! " he 
 screamed, and groveled shrieking it over and over. 
 Gradually, his foster-father gathered from the 
 broken words that the Huntsman had made it the 
 one condition of his remaining alive and coming 
 back to camp after his own departure, that he 
 should break up the peace by a man-slaying; and 
 he had used the stone hatchet, which he had stolen 
 from Alrek's unconscious body, because that 
 chanced to be his only weapon when a moment 
 later he came unexpectedly upon the Skraelling. 
 
 But only Biorn, his foster-father, stayed to 
 
 hear more. At the first cry, Karlsef ne had crossed 
 
 the booth in three strides and vanished through the 
 
 door, and Gudrid had followed him, and the three 
 
 250
 
 ALREK FACES DEATH 
 
 Champions. And now the maids and the throng 
 of men turned from Hallad and streamed out into 
 the clearing air and across the green toward the 
 Champions' booth, beyond which a knot of people 
 stood under a pine-tree from whose outreaching 
 bough dangled a grape-vine noose. 
 
 The loop was empty, for Alrek Sword-Bcarer 
 stood below, freed of his bonds, his head bent over 
 Gudrid's hands ; and Karlsef ne was speaking with 
 a quiver in his deep voice : 
 
 " I will make this up to you a hundredfold. 
 My smiths shall build you another ship and a finer 
 one, and you shall furnish it from my stores and 
 have the rule over it and take it where you choose. 
 My own son shall have no larger share in my 
 property and my honor and my love." 
 
 Alrek lifted his brown eyes, glowing golden 
 like the sunshine filtering through the rain-washed 
 air; through lips not yet steady, he answered: 
 " The debt will be more than paid." 
 
 Suddenly Karlsefne laid a hand upon his 
 
 shoulder and spoke so that all around could hear: 
 
 " I will call no voyage unlucky which has brought 
 
 me to know a man with so high a mind and so 
 
 251
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 brave a heart. I look on this as a proof that good 
 intentions will get the victory over evil in the most 
 unexpected way ; and I will take it as an omen that 
 the good which I have tried to get out of this land 
 for my countrymen will come to them yet in some 
 way which I can not now see. We will go back 
 neither bitterly nor despairingly, but giving 
 thanks for the good we have received and cherish- 
 ing hope for the future. Now, it is my offer and 
 will that every one in hearing shall come to-night 
 to the best feast I can make, in honor of the Chief 
 of the Vinland Champions and his men." 
 
 It is a good thing that he intended to stop 
 there for not another word could be heard, such 
 jubilating and weapon-clatter went up; and the 
 Champions took their chief upon their shoulders 
 and bore him back in triumph, followed by a cheer- 
 ing train. 
 
 THE END 
 
 252
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 THESE are the rest of the sayings about this 
 expedition. 
 
 All the ships came safely to Greenland except 
 the vessel of Biorn Gudbrandsson, which was driven 
 out into the ocean that stretches between Green- 
 land and Iceland and there came into a worm-filled 
 sea. By the time Biorn had discovered their 
 danger, the ship was worm-eaten beneath them ; 
 and it was seen that the only way was to go down 
 into their long-boat which was coated with seal tar. 
 Since the boat was too small to hold more than half 
 of them, they cast lots for the places ; and it fell 
 to Biorn and half of the men to go down in safety, 
 while the other half remained with the sinking 
 vessel. No one thought of making any fuss about 
 this save the boy who had come with Biorn from 
 Iceland. When he saw the others go down into 
 the boat, he began to whimper : 
 
 " Do you intend, Biorn, to leave me here? " 
 253
 
 THE VINLAND CHAMPIONS 
 
 Biorn glanced up at him absently. " So it 
 seems," he answered. 
 
 The boy began to sob. " You did not promise 
 my father that you would part from me like this, 
 when I left Iceland with you," he said. " You 
 promised that we should always share the same 
 fate." 
 
 Biorn made the men a sign that they were not 
 yet to cast the boat loose. Big-hearted kindliness 
 was in his voice as always. 
 
 " So be it," he answered. " It shall not remain 
 this way, since you are so eager for life. Do you 
 come down here and I will go up on the ship." 
 
 It may be imagined that the young Icelander 
 lost little time obeying. When he had come down, 
 the chief went back upon the vessel; and the two 
 parties separated. In time, the men of the long- 
 boat came to Dublin in Ireland, where they told 
 this story ; but it is believed by most people that 
 Biorn and those with him went down in the sea of 
 worms, for they were never heard of again. 
 
 It is but little more than this which is known 
 about the fate of the Huntsman and his followers. 
 One time, traders came back to Greenland with the 
 254
 
 EPILOGUE 
 
 talc that Thorhall had been shipwrecked in Ireland, 
 and that his men had been made thralls of and 
 grievously misused, and that he had met his death 
 there. No one ever got other tidings than these. 
 
 Better luck went with Thorfinn Karlsefne and 
 Gudrid and those in their following, for the sum- 
 mer after they had landed in Greenland they went 
 home to Iceland, and lived there in great splendor 
 and happiness ; and many famous men and high- 
 minded women have descended from them. 
 
 Best luck of all, the foretelling of Karlsefne 
 has come true; and despite delays and hindrances, 
 his countrymen have found a peace-land and a 
 never-emptied treasure-house not only in Vinland 
 the Good but in the whole of the new-world coun- 
 try which those who are alive to-day call America 
 the Free. 
 
 (i) 
 
 255
 
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 A 000 046 232 5