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THE OUTLAW 
 
SAGAS RETOLD 
 
 A LOVER'S TALE (Kormak) 
 
 FREY AND HIS WIFE (Og- 
 mund Dint) 
 
 THORGILS (Thorglsl) 
 
 GUDRID THE FAIR (Wine- 
 land) 
 
 THE OUTLAW (Gisli) 
 
 In Preparation 
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 (Thormod) 
 
THE OUTLAW 
 
 BY 
 
 MAURICE HEWLETT 
 
 AuTHOB or '*Th« Forest Lovees," Etc. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
 1920 
 
OOPTEIGHT, 1919 
 
 By DODD, mead and COMPANY, Ino. 
 
/ ' 
 
 PREFATORY NOTE 
 
 TEXT in Origines Icelandicce, Vol. EC. Sir 
 George Dasent published a literal trans- 
 lation in 1865. In 1900 Miss Beatrice Barmby 
 made and published a dramatic version of it 
 (Constable & Co., 1900), with a preface by Pro- 
 fessor York Powell. My volume is made on 
 the lines of its predecessors. I have added 
 nothing to the substance and have left out many 
 of the accidents, including (without exception) 
 all the bad verses. 
 
 428485 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 PAOS 
 
 I The Curse on the Blade 3 
 
 II GiSLI SOURSSON 18 
 
 III The Feud 35 
 
 IV Fire 45 
 
 V Beginning Again 53 
 
 VI Partnership 63 
 
 VII Codbiter's Son 73 
 
 VIII Overheard S3 
 
 IX Forging of the Spear 95 
 
 X The Gifts 108 
 
 XI The Storm 116 
 
 XII Conviction 127 
 
 XIII Grayflanks Goes Home 140 
 
 XIV Aftertaste 1^1 
 
 XV Passion of Thordis 162 
 
 XVI Discoveries • • 173 
 
 XVII Outlawry 183 
 
 XVIII The Flitting 196 
 
 XIX The Hunt is Up 203 
 
 XX Thorkel's Bane 216 
 
 XXI The Fire in the Wood 231 
 
 XXII Grayflanks Ends It 241 
 
 XXIII Thordis Veers About 250 
 
THE OUTLAW 
 
THE OUTLAW 
 
 THE OUBSB ON THE BLADE 
 
 IN after days, when men told each other the 
 tale which I am about telling to yon, much 
 was made of the cnrse set upon a spear called 
 Grayflanks, and a good deal of nonsense, with 
 some sound sense, talked about it. In those 
 days, when there were fewer things of handling 
 than there are now, and a sword or spear, if it 
 were a good one, had a character which was 
 known and valued, it would seem that a personal 
 life might very well abide in the thing, so that 
 you could not only instruct it in its course of con- 
 duct, but could look back upon it and say : * * Well, 
 such or such a deed was to be expected of such or 
 such a thing. ^^ There is much to be said both 
 for and against that way of looking at things ; 
 but I am not prepared at the moment to argue 
 
 3 
 
4 THE OUTLAW 
 
 it out. A serious poet and friend of mine is 
 fond 'of imputing character to his domestic fur- 
 niture. He makes allowances for its draw- 
 backs, treats it with a respect which is pleasant 
 to see and very pleasant to read about in his 
 verses. The odds, I believe, are very much on 
 the side of his being right. If this tale should 
 happen under his eye, it will confirm him in the 
 respect he has for his kettle and chest of 
 drawers, as it has already confirmed me. 
 
 Grayflanks was not a spear when the curse 
 was laid, which was long ago when Hakon the 
 Good was King of Norway ; in those days it was 
 a sword, and in the secret keeping of a man 
 named Kol, who was a thrall. But Kol had 
 not always been a thrall. He was well-bom and 
 had been something of a great man in his own 
 country, before he had the misfortune to en- 
 gage in warfare with greater men than he, and 
 to lose everything he had, except his sword. 
 
 There was one other thing which he did not 
 lose — his character. With that, which was 'of a 
 strong, very honest and resolute man, he im- 
 pressed himself upon his possessor, Ise, a man 
 
THE CUESE ON THE BLADE 5 
 
 of higli degree in North Moeren; so much so 
 that he was made foster-father of his master's 
 daughter Ingibiorg, a very handsome girl. She 
 grew up to love him more than her own father, 
 and when she married, which she did as soon as 
 she was marriageable, she took Kol with her, 
 gave him his freedom, and settled him and his 
 sword in a housestead belonging to her husband 
 in Sumadale. 
 
 i Her husband was a young man called Ari, the 
 eldest of the three sons of Thorkel Goldhelm. 
 The other sons were Gisli and Thorbiorn. 
 Thorkel Goldhelm was rich and a great pro- 
 prietor. Seeing that Ingibiorg brought a fine 
 dowry with her, he dealt handsomely with the 
 young couple, set them up in a good house and 
 lands and looked to see them prosper. And so 
 they did for a year or more. 
 
 Then troubles began, not of their own seek- 
 ing. There was a stalwart ruffian settled in 
 that part of the country, a fighting man who 
 had a company of cut-throats at his beck. His 
 name was Biorn, and he was called Biorn Black, 
 because he was of that colour and sort. He 
 
6 THE OUTLAWj 
 
 was said to deal in magic, to be invulnerable 
 and I don 't know what not ; but the facts were 
 that he was very ready with his weapons, en- 
 tirely ruthless, and had a mighty appetite for 
 the good things of life and strong disinclina- 
 tion to work for them. No pretty woman was 
 safe from him. He regarded her as lawful 
 plunder. Whether she was gentle or simple, 
 married or maid, she was his for a time. He 
 took her away, kept her as long as he pleased, 
 then sent her back. This outrageous conduct, 
 while it was successful, established two things 
 — a great dread of him, which made his depre- 
 dations more easy, and a great reputation for 
 for him, which almost made them a necessity. 
 If he had continued a little longer, he might 
 have set up a droit de seigneur; but he tried it 
 once too often, and happened to meet his 
 match. 
 
 He left Ari and Ingibiorg alone for about a 
 twelvemonth; then went up to the house in 
 force, knocked at the door with a spear-butt and 
 demanded entertainment. By a lucky provi- 
 dence the house was not empty. Besides Ari 
 
THE CURSE ON THE BLADE 7 
 
 and his wife there were his two brothers, Gisli 
 and Thorbiorn, there ; there was Kol the f reed- 
 man, and certain other men, servants of the 
 house. The Baresark had six of his cut-throats 
 with him, but no more. 
 
 Ingibiorg served them with drink, and Biom 
 Black toasted her with effrontery. **To our 
 next meeting, mistress, '' he said, *^in a snug- 
 ger place than this.*' She flamed, and left the 
 hall. Ari asked what he meant by insulting 
 the lady of the house. Biorn Black explained 
 himself. ** Custom of the country, dear sir,'' 
 he said. **I claim the rights of a lord of the 
 land so long as I can wield them. Your lady 
 is no worse off than any other man's lady — 
 and I dare avouch she will be the better. As 
 for you, there can be no doubt you will do wisely 
 if you let me have my way. ' ' 
 
 Ari said, ** Explain yourself"; and Biom did 
 so. **The fact is,'' he concluded, *^I am some- 
 thing of a tyrant, but an easy one where I am 
 met with civility and reason. When you and 
 I have got exact measurement of each other, 
 I dare swear we shall be good friends enough. ' ' 
 
8 THE OUTLAW 
 
 ''It may be that we shall,'' Ari said, his 
 colour high. ''Therefore the sooner we take 
 measurements the better/' 
 
 "Oh,'' said Biorn, "that is how you take it, 
 is it? I am not to be master here without a 
 fight. Is that it? 
 
 "Certainly it is," said Ari. Biorn finished 
 his horn, and set it down with a bang. 
 
 "Then I will fight you for Ingibiorg and your 
 gear," h-e said. "We will meet on the holm, 
 and settle it." 
 
 "As soon as you please." 
 
 "I make the same conditions with you as with 
 anybody else. I have but one code in these 
 affairs. We fight to a finish. The goods of the 
 vanquished fall to the victor. Does that suit 
 you?" 
 
 "I will make it do so,'' said Ari. So they 
 parted for the time. 
 
 They met on the holm at the time appointed; 
 they fought, and Ari was killed. No blow of 
 his touched Biorn, so far as could be seen. He 
 was hardly breathed, took it all as a matter of 
 course. When it was over, and all the men 
 
THE CUESE ON THE BLADE 9 
 
 there gathered about the dead, Biorn said, wip- 
 ing his sword, **Now I have house and lands and 
 a fair woman into the bargain." But Gisli, 
 brother of the dead man, said, "Not quite so 
 fast. If you think that our blood is so soon 
 staunched, you are likely to be made a fool of. 
 You will fight me before you lay hands on any- 
 thing of my brother's. You will fight me to- 
 morrow. ' ' 
 
 **So I will,'' said Biorn, "and your brother 
 Thorbiorn the next day, and your father 
 Thorkel the next — and so on, so far as your 
 kindred goes. I will never deny a man a fair 
 fight." 
 
 Gisli went home to his brother's house and 
 saw Ingibiorg. She surprised him; for when 
 they had laid out her young husband and pro- 
 vided for his burial, she seemed quite composed 
 and mistress of herself. 
 
 The mourners departed, all but Gisli, who 
 stayed on. He and Ingibiorg sat together in a 
 window-seat and looked out over the river to the 
 hill which was settling down purple into the 
 dusk. 
 
10 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Presently Ingibiorg said, **Aiid what now for 
 mer' 
 
 **You have friends and well-wishers,'^ Gisli 
 said. ^^One of them will prove it tomorrow/' 
 
 She looked sharply up. **Is that yourself?" 
 
 **It is," he said. 
 
 **What would you do for me?" 
 
 **I have challenged that black devil to fight 
 tomorrow morning," said he. 
 
 She raised her fine brows. *'I fear for you. 
 He is too strong — without you get help." 
 
 **Help me, my dear, if you can," he said. 
 *^I need it. I know how strong he is. Poor 
 Ari never touched him." 
 
 She coloured a little, and her eyes showed 
 her feeling. **I would help you, my dear, with 
 all I have. What is more, I believe that I can." 
 
 ''How so?" he asked. 
 
 She said, ''I know the man for you. Kol, my 
 foster-father, has a sword by him, which was 
 forged in his own country. He won't say much 
 about it, but I know that he will not part with 
 it for long. He believes it can never fail." 
 
 *'He shall lend me that sword," Gisli said. 
 
THE CURSE ON THE BLADE 11 
 
 Ingibiorg sent for Kol to come up to the 
 house. Gisli greeted him and said he had been 
 told of a sword which he had. 
 
 **Yes/' Kol said, he had a sword. ** Noth- 
 ing wonderful, perhaps; but a good sword 
 enough.'' 
 
 Then Gisli said that he was to fight Biorn 
 Black the next day, and would Kol lend him 
 the sword? Kol said that he might. 
 
 **You are not very willing, friend T' 
 
 < < Why, no, ' ' Kol said. * * It will happen to me 
 as it always does when a man lends a handy 
 thing. You won't want to give it back to me 
 again. ' ' 
 
 *^0h," said Gisli, *'but I will assuredly give 
 it back." 
 
 Kol said, **Wait a bit. That sword of mine 
 will bite through any metal — steel or iron or 
 bronze. No spell can dull the edge of it, and 
 no hard usage save one. The Dwarfs forged 
 it underground, as they tell me. It served my 
 grandfather and my father, and has served me. 
 I said that no hard usage would foil it save one. 
 I don't believe it would turn against myself. 
 
12 THE OUTLAW 
 
 On the contrary, I think it would fight my quar- 
 rel though we were on opposite sides in the 
 field. Now if I lend you Grayflanks, and it 
 serves you well, you will desire to keep it. 
 That's how it will be. Know this, then, that I 
 shall take it ill — ^and so will the sword. ' ' 
 
 Gisli vowed that he would do no such thing; 
 and Kol brought him the sword — a thin ^e 
 blade, two-edged, as sharp as a razor. 
 
 The meeting took place as arranged. Both 
 sides brought to it all the hands they could 
 muster ; so there were the elements of a battle 
 held, as it were, in solution. 
 
 When Gisli and Biorn faced each other, Gisli 
 offered his enemy the first blow. Biorn took 
 it, saying that it was the first time he had been 
 offered that. *^ First blow, with me,'' he said 
 **is mostly the last blow — but as you please." 
 
 Gisli dressed his shield and awaited him. 
 The blow fell, a smashing slice aimed for the 
 top rim; but Gisli had been ready for it, and 
 lifted his shield in time to save his head. The 
 sword fell below the handle, but cut away the 
 whole of the lower part. Biorn said he was 
 
THE CUESE ON THE BLADE 13 
 
 a livelier customer than his brother. He was 
 perfectly good-tempered through it all. 
 
 Now it was Gisli's turn. He aimed, not at 
 the top of the shield, but at the tail of it. 
 Grayflanks went clean through it with ease, and 
 went further; for it went through Biorn's leg 
 below the knee, and dropped him like an ox. 
 Young Gisli sprang after him and cut off his 
 head with a second blow ; and that was the end 
 of the ruffian Biorn Black, whose men stam- 
 peded and were pursued by the triumphing 
 Surnadalemen. 
 
 It was a great home-coming for Gisli, and 
 Ingibiorg's looks betrayed her. She could not 
 conceal, or she made no attempt to conceal, her 
 pride in him, as she kissed him welcome. 
 **Why, sweetheart," he said, **the way is as 
 much yours as mine. It was from you I had 
 this good sword.'' 
 
 She clung to him. *^And glad I am, and 
 proud I am." 
 
 **The pity is that you did not give it to poor 
 Ari," he said. He could hardly, hear her an- 
 swer, **I had rather you had had it." 
 
14 THE OUTLAW 
 
 That made his heart beat. ^*Now you must 
 tell me how that may be." 
 
 She was bold. ** Because I always loved you 
 better." 
 
 He kissed her. **My dear, he sha'n't grudge 
 you me now." 
 
 So he married Ingibiorg and took over land 
 and goods; and so happy were they in each 
 other that it never entered his head to give back 
 his sword to Kol. Far from that, he always 
 had Grayflanks with him, and kept it under his 
 bedding at night. 
 
 Kol went about his business in his ordinary 
 quiet and steadfast maner; but his eye was 
 never off his sword, though he said nothing 
 about it either to Gisli or to Ingibiorg. That 
 went on for a year, perhaps — long enough, at 
 any rate, to get the right to the sword rooted in 
 Gisli 's head. When at last Kol did speak, he 
 was very much taken aback. 
 
 They met in the woods where Kol had been 
 felling timber. He was on his way home, ax in 
 hand, when he met Gisli afoot. He had Gray- 
 flanks in his hand at the time, and stood, talking 
 
THE CURSE ON THE BLADE 15 
 
 pleasantly about indifferent matters. Pres- 
 ently, however, Kol said, **That sword now — 
 he has served you well!'' 
 
 '*None ever served man better," said Gisli. 
 **It has given me everything I could have hoped 
 for in this life. It is a wonder-sword. There 
 is no fellow to it. ' ' 
 
 **Ah,'' said Kol. **Then you won't be sur- 
 prised if I ask you for it back again." 
 
 But Gisli was surprised; more than that, he 
 knew very well that he couldn't possibly part 
 with it. 
 
 ** Don't ask me that," he said. '*You shall 
 sell me the sword." 
 
 Kol shook his head. ' ' Nay, I '11 not sell him. ' ' 
 
 **But you shall name your price. Money, 
 stock, land— name your price." 
 
 Again Kol shook his head. *'I want no 
 money, land or stock more than I have of your 
 lady's gift. I am too old to try for what I 
 once was. I am a freeman, and get my own 
 living. I have very few things of my own, but 
 what I have I value. That sword is what I 
 value most of all." 
 
16 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Gisli looked abont Mm. He was much 
 troubled, and showed Ms trouble. He was as 
 sorry for Kol as be could be ; but be must keep 
 bis word. 
 
 **I can't give it you back, Kol,'' be said, **and 
 tbat is the trutb." 
 
 **I knew tbat from tbe first," Kol said* **I 
 told you tbat wben I lent bim to you. But I 
 ask you now to deal bonestly witb me as you 
 swore tbat you would." 
 
 ''I am doing you a wrong," said Gisli, **I 
 know tbat very well. Tbere will be trouble to 
 botb of us — bad trouble. But wMle I live no 
 man sball wield tbis sword but me. ' ' 
 
 Tbey looked at eacb older. Tbe older man's 
 brow was very dark ; but tbe younger man was 
 red all over bis face, and tbere was sbame in bis 
 eyes. Tbey may bave looked at eacb otber 
 for a full minute ; but batred grew in tbat time, 
 and quite suddenly tbey began figbting. Tbey 
 slipped in and out of tbe trees, Kol pusbing for- 
 ward, Gisli avoiding bim. Presently Gisli was 
 brougbt up by a tree, changed bis tactics, made 
 a rusb forward and aimed a downward cut at 
 
THE CUESE ON THE BLADE 17 
 
 KoPs head. The sword did not bite, true to his 
 master's faith in him ; but it broke in two pieces 
 and smashed in the skull. At that moment, 
 when Kol fell, Gisli fell also, dead as a stone 
 of a blow from the ax. Kol had the strength 
 to pull his broken sword towards him. **This 
 is the beginning of ill-luck," he said. They 
 found the broken pieces clutched in his hand, but 
 took them from him. Thorbiorn, the last of 
 the three brothers, took them home, and gave 
 them to his son, Gisli the second, before he 
 died. If he had heard Kol's last words he 
 would hardly have done that. 
 
II 
 
 GISLI SOURSSON 
 
 THE tale begins truly with this Gisli the 
 Second, who was a son of the last of the 
 three brothers, Thorbiorn, afterwards called 
 Thorbiorn Sour, for a reason which will be 
 found in its place. Thorbiorn succeeded his 
 father, Thorkel Goldhelm, in the lands of Stock, 
 married a wife called Thora, and settled down 
 to what looked like being a peaceful and pros- 
 perous life. And so it was until the children 
 grew up, and while the curse upon the blade 
 slept. Thorbiorn and Thora had four children, 
 of whom the eldest was a girl, Thordis. The 
 three others were boys, and as they came into 
 the world he had them called after his own 
 people, the first of them Thorkel, after his fa- 
 ther; the second Gisli, the third Ari, after 
 his two dead brothers. By the time that Ari, 
 the last child, came both he and his wife were 
 looking to be done with sowing children, and 
 
 13 
 
GISLI SOURSSON 19 
 
 were rather for sitting down to enjoy the har- 
 vest of them. Thordis was twelve years old, 
 Thorkel was ten, Gisli nine, when this last one 
 cropped up ; and Thora declared that she could 
 not thole him. So he was sent away to her 
 own people at Frithey, and fostered there. No 
 more is to be seen of him until near the end 
 of the tale. But the other three lived on at 
 Stock and grew to be a fine young woman and 
 two fine young men. 
 
 At the time this tale begins Thordis, the girl, 
 was twenty years old, tall, fair and handsome 
 in a bold and trenchant way. She could ride 
 as well as a man, and hold her own in talk 
 with anybody — or so she believed. Thorkel her 
 brother, of eighteen years, was very much like 
 her, but of a softer texture. He was very hand- 
 some and very idle; was said to be of great 
 strength; but no one knew that for certain be- 
 cause he seldom exerted himself. Women took 
 much notice of him, and he had a fine gift of 
 conversation, which made him popular with 
 young men. He always wore good clothes, and 
 had a core of vanity in him which was much 
 
20 THE OUTLAW 
 
 more tender than lie suspected. With all that, 
 he had a tender heart too ; but there again, he 
 had no notion of it. 
 
 With that fine pair the powers of Thorbiorn 
 and Thora seemed to have contented themselves, 
 for Grisli, the second son, and third child, was 
 of a different stamp. He was as tall as the 
 other two, and fully as strong; but he lacked 
 their good looks, their grace, and their affa- 
 bility. He was quiet, shy, what we call a dark 
 horse. And though he had a square brow, and 
 a pair of steady grey eyes, he was plain. Not 
 the sort of young man you would look at twice 
 in a mixed company. His hair and beard were 
 golden-brown, his skin was dark; there looked 
 to be a kind of dust upon him, a kind of haze 
 which made him indistinct, negligible. And yet 
 he was for ever at work — building, smithying, 
 quarrying, timber-felling. At this time of his 
 life — a year younger than Thorkel — he was 
 answerable for most of the business at Stock. 
 He had just built a fine storehouse beyond the 
 hall with some of the most ingenious panelling- 
 work you ever saw. Outside there was noth- 
 
GISLI SOURSSON 21 
 
 ing to be seen; the planks lapped over each 
 other and were dowelled into the timbers in the 
 ordinary way. But inside there was a false 
 casing which could be removed; and then you 
 saw that every plank of the outer wall was held 
 in place by iron bolts, which could be unscrewed 
 from the inside. Nobody knew anything of 
 it, for nobody had taken the trouble to look 
 into it. Gisli had done it all by himself, tak- 
 ing infinite delight in it for its own sake, with 
 infinite chuckles as he did it. Very handy it 
 afterwards proved to be — yet even then he 
 asked no credit for his ingenuity, and of course 
 got none. 
 
 As for his temper, it seemed perfect. They 
 all thought him the mildest of men; and his 
 father, who certainly was nothing of the sort, 
 was apt to be sarcastic about it. It was odd 
 that Thorkel, who never did anything, should 
 have been supposed to be ready for anything, 
 while Gisli, who was always doing something, 
 should have been thought capable of nothing. 
 It shows what a fine presence and ready ad- 
 dress will do for a man. 
 
22 THE OUTLAW 
 
 It must have been just about this time, with 
 Thordis in the flower of her age, when the 
 visits to Stock of a young man called Kolbiorn 
 began to give offence. There were indeed two 
 young men in particular who came to talk with 
 Thordis ; this Kolbiorn was one, and Bard was 
 another. They were both friends of ThorkePs 
 and very much of his stamp. So long as they 
 came together, and all played together, nobody 
 cared; but when presently Kolbiorn took to 
 coming alone, and then getting Thordis to be 
 alone with him — why, then, people began to 
 talk, and Thora spoke to her husband about it. 
 
 According to the customs of those days in 
 that country there was no more deadly thing 
 for a girl's name than that it should be ban- 
 died about from hallstead to hallstead, and noth- 
 ing more certain to set it flying than that a 
 young man should come to talk with her with- 
 out first seriously talking to her parents. In 
 short, it was a girl's business to marry and 
 get children, and not to have love-affairs. 
 Love, they thought, might follow marriage, but 
 in no case should precede it. As for love-mak- 
 
GISLI SOUESSON 23 
 
 ing as a mere delight and pastime that was 
 called beguiling a girl, and held for a grave 
 insult to her family. Now it seemed to Thor- 
 biom and Thora that Kolbiorn was beguiling 
 Thordis. 
 
 Thorbiorn grew angry and began to grumble. 
 He did not speak to his eldest son, because it 
 was an accepted thing in that family that it 
 was simpler to scorn Gisli for not doing Thor- 
 kePs work as well as his own than to try to get 
 Thorkel to do anything at all. Thorkel, it was 
 supposed, had full rights as well as full powers, 
 and one of his rights was, to be let alone. But 
 Gisli had no rights at all. In the present 
 trouble Thorkel (except for his rights) was 
 his father's man — a friend of Kolbiorn 's and 
 much more in his company than Gisli was. 
 But it was to Gisli he made his complaints, and 
 bitterly. 
 
 '*Here is a pleasant state of things— my 
 household becoming the common talk of the 
 dale, and my sons looking on, with not a word 
 to say! Do you wish your sister's name in the 
 dust — tumbled about like a windfall apple T' 
 
24 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Gisli looked up from his wheel where he was 
 busy with his chisels. **You mean Kolbiom, I 
 suppose? I don't think that he means any 
 harm. A word or two will put that right.'' 
 
 Thorbiorn snorted. *^Your words! A man 
 would find something sharper than words." 
 
 Gisli replied, **I daresay he would. But I 
 don't see any need to quarrel about a thing 
 like that." 
 
 **If you don't intend to stop seandal-monger- 
 ing at our expense," said Thorbiorn, *4t seems 
 that I am to be disgraced in my sons as well as 
 daughter." 
 
 **I will speak to Kolbiorn," Gisli said. 
 ** Don't upset yourself about it." 
 
 Thorbiorn fumed. **I hear you at it. You 
 beg him to be so good as leave us alone. We 
 have never done him any harm. And then — 
 *I thank you, Kolbiom, for your generosity in 
 ceasing to insult my sister. It was handsomely 
 done. My father is greatly in your debt.' 
 That will have a fine sound in my ear when I 
 kave it from a neighbour, as be sure I shall." 
 
 "Ah," says Gisli, **you don't understand, fa- 
 
GISLI SOUESSON 25 
 
 ther.'' Old Thorbiorn stamped away, while 
 Oisli span Ms wheel round. 
 
 He said nothing to his brother, nothing to 
 his sister. The first would have refused help, 
 the other would have scorned him. Things had 
 so shaped themselves that the cares of the house 
 were on his young shoulders. He did not him- 
 self feel angry with Kolbiom, who seemed to 
 him a nobody in particular. Young men liked 
 whispering to girls, and girls liked being whis- 
 pered to — or so it seemed. But so far as he 
 had noticed anything Thorkel was as often as 
 not with the pair of them; and if Thorkel saw 
 nothing amiss, neither did he. It was tire- 
 some, because there were many things he had 
 to do, important things and interesting things. 
 
 But he collected himself for his task, and the 
 very next time Kolbiom paid a visit to Stock 
 he made it his business to be about the house 
 toward the end of the day. When Kolbiom 
 finally came out of the house, there was Gisli 
 waiting for him. 
 
 '*A fine night,'' says Kolbiom— ^and it was, 
 being high summer-time. 
 
26 THE OUTLAW 
 
 '^Very fine/' said Gisli, **and I am minded 
 to go a part of your way with you.'* 
 
 They struck down the hillside to the river, 
 and upstream toward the head of the dale 
 where Kolbiorn must ford the water. 
 
 For a time they walked in silence. Gisli was 
 never one for much speaking, and Kolbiorn, who 
 didn't care about him, had nothing to say 
 to him. So when Gisli did begin to talk it 
 sounded harsh and abrupt, and as if he were 
 making much ado about nothing. 
 
 **See here, Kolbiorn," he said, *'we can't 
 have you visiting at Stock so often as you do. 
 Few words are best. We cannot have it." 
 
 *^What do you mean? I don't understand 
 that at all," said Kolbiorn, who understood 
 perfectly well. 
 
 ^*My father has grown very angry about your 
 coming, and being with my sister so much. 
 People tell him that you are beguiling her — and 
 lie is in a great taking about it." 
 
 Kolbiorn worked himself into a heat. *^I 
 think you are taking a liberty — I must say so. 
 I am lonely at home, as you know. I thought I 
 
GISLI SOUESSON 27 
 
 was among friends, but it seems that one of you 
 at least is not friendly.'' 
 
 **If you mean me, you are wrong. I am al- 
 ways friendly,'' said Gisli. ^^I will see as much 
 of you as you please, and be glad of it. So will 
 Thorkel, as you know." 
 
 ^*Why has Thorkel said nothing of this to 
 me?" cried Kolbiorn. 
 
 '*It is enough for one of us to say it," 
 Gisli said. **And I hope enough has been 
 said." 
 
 **More than enough," said Kolbiorn. '*It is 
 a hateful fix to put me in. Your father's sus- 
 picions on one side — my own feelings on the 
 other — I don't know what to do." Gisli re- 
 mained bland but immovable. 
 
 **Well, I have done what I could," he said. 
 '* Having gone so far, you may be sure that I 
 shall side with my father if this goes on. But 
 I hope it will not. I have spoken for the best, 
 hoping to put an end to the thing before it goes 
 too far. But I tell you fairly, if it goes any 
 further, it will have to go much further." 
 
 **What do you mean?" said Kolbiorn. 
 
28 THE OUTLAW 
 
 *'Jnst that,'' said Gisli. And then they 
 parted. 
 
 He said nothing to anybody when he reached 
 home, and was asked no questions ; but it is a 
 true fact that Kolbiom came much less to Stock 
 for a while. In fact, he didn't come at all un- 
 til Yule ; and then, when there was feasting at 
 the house, he did come, being asked by Thor- 
 kel. He behaved himself well, and stayed a 
 few days. After that, the temptations were 
 too many for him. He came one morning and 
 saw Thordis ; he came again and saw her again; 
 then it was an affair of every day, and old Thor- 
 biom worked himself into a frenzy. Why he 
 didn't speak to the young man himself, it is 
 difficult to see. My own notion is that he 
 wanted to ease himself upon Gisli, to use the 
 patient lad as a boar uses a post, to rub his 
 tusk upon. That is what he did — ^to gird at 
 Gisli in a way hard to bear. 
 
 They had all been in the hall that early win- 
 ter evening — old Thorbiom tossing his foot up 
 and down by the fire ; Gisli working at a little 
 forge he had, blowing up the coals or hammer- 
 
CUSLI SOUKSSON 29 
 
 ing away at Ms bolts; tlie three idlers on tlie 
 cross-bench, Thordis in the middle, Thorkel on 
 one side of her, Kolbiorn on the other, talking 
 lightly, making jokes which nobody nnderstood 
 bnt themselves, and laughing the more readily 
 because they set themselves thereby still fur- 
 ther apart from the rest. It was hard to bear 
 if you once began to think about it, and so Thor- 
 biorn found it. But Gisli was busy and thought 
 of other things. 
 
 By and by, when the old man saw nothing but 
 bright red in front of him, the three graceless 
 ones went out on some business of their own, 
 and Thorbiorn turned and lashed Gisli with his 
 tongue. 
 
 **This is the end of your girPs work, your 
 begging and praying! Are you a son of mine 
 or a daughter! By the name of you I must 
 have thought you a boy when you were bom. 
 But I remember my brother whose name you 
 bear, and am confounded. Lucky for him that 
 he never grew old, to see my sons fit themselves 
 for petticoats. And lucky for me too, I dare- 
 say/' 
 
30 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Gisli's dark face grew darker. He looked 
 reproach. **You put more upon me than you 
 need, I think. I don't know why I am to put 
 right all the wrongs in this house. A word 
 from you would have done all that was needed.'' 
 
 **In my young days," said Thorbiorn, *^we 
 did not use so many words as you do. We had 
 another way. But I'll ask no more of you, 
 since I see that your heart is not equal to 
 it." 
 
 *'I wish you could let my heart alone," said 
 Gisli, and went out of the hall. His forge ham- 
 mer was in his hand. 
 
 Just outside the door were the three partners 
 in disgrace. Kolbiorn had Thordis' hand. He 
 was taking leave of her. Thorkel with a cloak 
 over head and shoulders was waiting for him. 
 They seemed very easy and full of their own 
 affairs. That was the first time Gisli ever 
 knew what anger was. What enraged him was 
 that they, who had put themselves in the wrong, 
 were much better off than he was. There was 
 injustice in it, the thing of all things which he 
 could not put up with. 
 
GISLI SOUESSON 31 
 
 ''Are you for going homeT' said Gisli, very 
 quietly. 
 
 Kolbiom stretched himself. ''Well, I think 
 I will be trotting. Thorkel, do you come as far 
 as the ford with meT' 
 
 "Well, I will,'' said Thorkel. 
 
 "So will I,'' Gisli said. Kolbiom looked at 
 him — then at Thorkel with a lifted eyebrow. 
 Gisli felt the isolation keenly ; but he was past 
 that discomfort. Thorkel took no notice. 
 
 They went down the hill in silence, Kolbiom 
 whistling. It was not dark, as the sky was 
 bright with stars, and the snow threw up 
 strongly. It was deep snow, too; but by the 
 river it was all beaten down. 
 
 "IVe made a path for you,'' said Kolbiom 
 with a laugh. 
 
 "Indeed you have," said Gisli, "and I wish 
 you had not. You have forgotten what we 
 talked of in the summer on this road. ' ' 
 
 "It was better forgotten," said Kolbiorn. 
 
 "But I haven't forgotten," Gisli said, "nor 
 my father either. Now there must be an end of 
 it all." 
 
32 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Thorkel said nothing. He was walking in 
 front, folded in his cloak, for the night was bit- 
 ter cold. He showed plainly that the qnarrel 
 was no business of his. 
 
 Kolbiom said, ^*I don't see how that is to 
 be." 
 
 Gisli said, **But I do. Either yon stop visit- 
 ing us, or ^" 
 
 ^^Well?" said Kolbiom. 
 
 '*0r,'' said Oisli, **we stop you." 
 
 The pair of them stopped at that, and looked 
 at each other. Thorkel, at a little distance, 
 stood watching them. 
 
 *'Who stops me?" said Kolbiom. 
 
 *^I do." Kolbiorn shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 **As you please. You may try." 
 
 Gisli then said, **Do you undertake to keep 
 away?" 
 
 *^I do not," said Kolbiom. Gisli ^s blood 
 boiled over. His hammer was in his hand. He 
 whirled it about and struck Kolbiorn on the 
 temple. He fell sideways, and lay with his head 
 over the river-bank. When they lifted him 
 he was dead. 
 
GISLI SOUKSSON 33 
 
 Thorkel was the more upset of the two of 
 them. He would not speak to his brother ; nor 
 would he go home. Gisli, in an agony of regret 
 for the days when he and Thorkel were happy 
 together — days which he felt could never come 
 again — ^would have done anything in the world 
 to appease his brother, even though he still had 
 the sense of injustice clearly before him. Mon- 
 strous it was that he should have to uphold the 
 family honour, and Thorkel need to be courted I 
 Yet he did court him — to no purpose. 
 
 ^*My father could not have Thordis beguiled. 
 You see how it was. I asked him to stop com- 
 ing — ^you heard him refuse. '^ So he stam- 
 mered excuses which ought not to have been 
 asked for. All to no purpose. Thorkel would 
 not look at him. ^*It was hateful— he was my 
 friend — ^' was all he had to say before he set 
 off at a great rate up the river away from 
 Stock. 
 
 Gisli did what was needed to the dead man ; 
 covered him in his cloak, laid the hammer be- 
 side him and went heavily home. 
 
 He found his father in the hall, who asked 
 
34 THE OUTLAW. 
 
 him, ^*Well, how have your petitions been 
 heard this time?*' 
 **They have been heard, father." 
 * * Humph ! ^ ' said Thorbiom. ' * Explain your- 
 self !'' 
 ^^Kolbiorn won't plague you any more.'' 
 The light shone in Thorbiom 's eyes. **Then 
 he's dead.'' 
 
 **He's dead," said Gisli, and turned away, 
 sick at heart. 
 
in 
 
 THE FEUD 
 
 THOEKEL did not come home that night, 
 nor the next day. That made Gisli feel 
 as if he had killed him rather than Kolbiorn. 
 Thordis pretended to be perfectly indifferent 
 abont Kolbiorn 's killing and ThorkePs ab- 
 isence ; but she could not bring herself to be civil 
 to Gisli. His father, on the other hand, was 
 cordial, and treated him with a new kind of 
 respect. 
 
 After some days Thorkel was heard of. He 
 was on Saxa Island, staying in the house of a 
 man known as Fighting Skeggi, a kinsman of 
 Kolbiorn 's. It was supposed by that that he 
 had ranged himself as his brother Gisli *s en- 
 emy; the reports went so far as to say that he 
 would have had Skeggi take the field on the 
 part of his cousin ; but old Thorbiom laughed at 
 that. He said to Gisli, ^^Your brother seems 
 
 35 
 
36 THE OUTLAW 
 
 woman-liearted, but I don^t believe be is a 
 fool. He will come back to bis place by tbe 
 fire, yon will see. Old as I am, be knows I am 
 a matcb for a dozen like bim. And as for you, 
 be bas found out wbat you can do.*' In tbe 
 meantime, Bard, wbo bad been Kolbiorn's close 
 friend in tbe old days, now came up to Stock 
 on bis own account, and after a little wbile told 
 Gisli tbat be intended to propose bimself for 
 Tbordis. '*Wbat do you tbink of tbat?" be 
 asked bun witb a ratber bleak grin. Gisli did 
 not tbink mucb of it, but said that be sbould 
 bave no voice in tbe matter. Bard made bim- 
 self very pleasant, and was often at Stock, 
 but never unless Gisli or tbe old man were pres- 
 ent. Tbordis was friendly, but no more. Sbe 
 bad forgotten ber resentment witb Gisli, if sbe 
 bad ever bad one. Nobody really knew wbat 
 Tbordis tbougbt or felt. Sbe bad a bold way 
 witb ber, and sbowed berseK indifferent to good 
 or ill fortune alike — out of bravado, it was 
 tbougbt. At any rate sbe kept ber bead very 
 bigb, squared ber sboulders, and walked tbe 
 world as if sbe did not belong to it, but ratber 
 
THE FEUD 37 
 
 as if the whole span of it was subject to her- 
 self. 
 
 Then finally, and after a long interval, Thor- 
 kel came up to Stock, with Skeggi and Skeggi's 
 men, all on horseback — some twenty of them, 
 it may be. Gisli received them at the door, 
 and brought them into the hall. Old Thor- 
 biom^s shaggy brows were knit as he stood up 
 to face them. He was dry with his handsome 
 son. * ^ So you have remembered that you were 
 bom and bred here, have you? Somebody has 
 told you that you have a father, brother and sis- 
 ter living. They have heard tell of you too; 
 but in such words as made it hard to be- 
 lieve.'' 
 
 Thorkel took the rebuke pleasantly, with an 
 easy smile. **They shall learn the truth about 
 me,'' he said. **It does not do to believe every- 
 thing you hear." 
 
 They were well entertained, and the evening 
 passed over without discord until Thorkel, af- 
 ter supper, broached the reason of the visit in 
 force. After laying stress upon the killing of 
 Kolbiorn, for which he blamed Gisli 's hot tern- 
 
38 THE OUTLAW 
 
 per, and was not gainsaid by old Throbiom, he 
 next went on to point out what he called a way 
 of ** composing the feud/^ Thorbiom snorted 
 at the word. 
 
 **Feud!'^ he said, '4t takes two to make a 
 fend. I see nobody with a good word for that 
 worthless loon who has been slain/' 
 
 •Here Skeggi grew rather red in the face, and 
 said that his kinsman was highly connected by 
 ^Hhose who cannot see such an indignity pass 
 unatoned. But I have come with a fair offer, 
 Thorbiorn, which seems to me hopeful/' Then 
 he opened his mind, which was set upon the 
 possession of Thordis. Directly Thorbiom un- 
 derstood what he was after, he flatly refused 
 him, giving no reason but that he had other 
 plans in his head. 
 
 **It won't suit us here at all," he said, **and 
 I hope you will take that for an answer. ' ' 
 
 Skeggi said it was very strange ^^ after what 
 had happened." Thorbiorn replied that 
 * * strange ' ' was exactly what it was not. Skeggi 
 said, that was not the end of it ; and Thorbiom, 
 that it was, so far as he was concerned; and 
 
THE FEUD 39 
 
 after that there was nothing for it but to go 
 away. 
 
 Thorkel went off with them, without having 
 passed a single word with Gisli. 
 
 In talking it over, Thorkel and Skeggi con- 
 cluded that Bard was at the bottom of it, and 
 Skeggi determined that he would show his met- 
 tle upon Bard's body. Bard was a strongly- 
 made man, red-haired and small in the eye. He 
 received the challenge to fight on Saxa Island, 
 and accepted it at once; but he rode off to 
 Stock directly the challengers had gone and 
 told Gisli all about it. 
 
 *'Well,'' said Gisli, **what is all that to do 
 with me?'* Bard stared at him. 
 
 *^Why,'' he said, **I hoped, naturally, that 
 you would back me up in it. He's a famous 
 fighter, is Skeggi.'' 
 
 Gisli wanted to be let alone, but did not see 
 how to refuse. He gave his promise, and went 
 on with what he was working at. 
 
 A week went by and he heard no more from 
 Bard ; and then one day he met him in the wood 
 below his house. **When do you meet Skeggi, 
 
4Q THE OUTLAW 
 
 Bardr^ lie asks. Bard looked very glum. 
 
 '*See here/' lie said. **I hope yon nnder- 
 stand why I am called upon, and why I answered 
 as I did.'' 
 
 Gisli said, **I suppose Skeggi thought you 
 stood in his way with Thordis. Was that it?" 
 
 ' ' Yes, ' ' said Bard. ' ' That was it. Well, my 
 question to you now is, Do I stand in his way 
 or not?" 
 
 **I can't answer you," said Gisli. **I don't 
 know anything about my father's wishes for 
 Thordis. You had better settle with him after- 
 wards. ' ' 
 
 *'I had rather settle it first," Bard said; and 
 then, when Gisli made no reply to that, he said 
 in another kind of voice, **It is a fact that I 
 have no wish to fight with Skeggi." 
 
 Gisli looked squarely at him. ^*Do you mean 
 that you will not?" 
 
 **Yes," said Bard. ^*I have been thinking it 
 over. I shall not go to Saxa." 
 
 Gisli did not understand him. *^You are 
 afraid of him?" Bard shrugged. **You are 
 afraid of him. I never knew that men feared 
 
THE FEUD 41 
 
 each other, and said so. You are a miserable 
 wretch who will put us all to shame. It means 
 that I must go myself. The second time that 
 I have had another man's quarrel thrust on 
 me.'' Bard walked slowly away up the hill to 
 his house. 
 
 Gisli said nothing about this affair at home, 
 lest there should be a fuss made. His father 
 had a greater love of fighting than he had him- 
 self. To him it was a nuisance, a thing to be got 
 over as soon as might be. He was not a bom 
 fighter — far from it ; but, to his mind, when you 
 had got yourself into a corner you must get 
 yourself out again; and it made no difference 
 whether the cornering of you had been done by 
 yourself or another. There you were. When 
 the day came on he told some of the hinds that 
 he should want them to ride with him to Saxa, 
 and was up, armed and away before his father 
 was out of bed. 
 
 It was a long ride and he was somewhat late 
 at the ferry. By the time he had his ten men 
 over and mounted again, Skeggi was fuming; 
 by the time they entered the little wood which 
 
42 THE OUTLAW 
 
 separated the holm-gang from the shore, Skeggi 
 was railing at cowards and cravens. Soon 
 Gisli caught sight of him, a fine figure in bright 
 mail, with his famous sword Warflame in his 
 hand. Then Skeggi saw him, and called out, 
 ** Where is your champion, Gisli T' 
 
 Gisli said, **He is here.'' 
 
 **Are you for doing Bard's work?" 
 
 *'I am for doing what comes in my way.'^ 
 
 **And taking it too?" 
 
 ^^ That's of course." 
 
 **Our friend Bard," said Skeggi, ** knows 
 what is good for him." 
 
 ** That's to be seen," said Gisli. 
 
 Gisli had a battle-ax to face Warflame, and 
 a long shield of his own devising. It had a 
 rim of steel, and steel ribs welded into a steel 
 backbone. They faced each other in the lists, 
 and Skeggi, who was very limber and excit- 
 able, leapt about, hewing at Gisli and singing 
 as he slashed at him the praises of Warflame. 
 But Warflame rang upon the shield in vain. 
 
 Gisli bided his time, but after a heavy blow 
 from Skeggi, which missed him altogether and 
 
THE FEUD 43 
 
 nearly brought his assailant on to his nose, he 
 slashed at his shield with the heavy ax, and 
 cut clean through the lower part of it, and clean 
 through Skeggi's left leg. That ended the 
 battle. Skeggi^s friends had to ransom him 
 out of the lists, and then he was carried off 
 to his house. Thorkel stayed behind and 
 seemed wishful to speak to his brother. 
 
 Gisli made it easy for him. ^^Don^t you go 
 with your friend?" he asked. 
 
 Thorkel said, **You have done very valiantly, 
 taking on Bard's quarrel.'' 
 
 **It had to be done," Gisli said. ''Our name 
 was involved in the matter on account of our 
 handsome sister. It was for her sake that I 
 quarrelled with Kolbiorn; but I don't mind 
 telling you now that I did not intend his 
 death." 
 
 Thorkel said, ''Well, that is done; and now 
 it seems to me that we must band ourselves to- 
 gether against Skeggi's kindred. I shall cer- 
 tainly go home now with you. I believe our 
 father will be glad to have me there, sooner 
 or later." 
 
44 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Gdsli laughed. * ^ Yon may be sure of it. He 
 thiiiks a great deal of you.'' 
 
 So the brothers went home together, and were 
 well received. All Surnadale thought highly of 
 Gisli for his feats — yet the odd thing was that 
 Thorkel, who had done nothing, had his share 
 in all his brother's consideration — for no better 
 reason, as it appeared, than that he had come 
 back. 
 
 Skeggi had gone near losing his life as well 
 as his leg; but he was tough, and did not lose 
 it. He was a middle-aged man, a widower, 
 with jBne sons of his own who now took the 
 quarrel upon themselves, and cried up a feud 
 against Surnadale all over their country. Einar 
 and Ame were the names of Skeggi 's sons; and 
 they it was who drove the house of Stock out 
 of Norway. 
 
TV 
 
 FIRB 
 
 THOSE two young men laid their plans well 
 and silently, for the blow came upon 
 Stock on a winter ^s night, as little expected as 
 a clap of thunder. They had gathered a band 
 of men together — they were forty strong — and 
 marching by night, had broken in first upon 
 Bard at Hella and haled him from his bed. 
 Dazed and with his teeth clattering in his head, 
 he had stood in his own hall before armed men 
 with pine-wood torches. 
 
 *^What do you want of me, neighbours? I 
 have never harmed a soul, and will you bear 
 me a grudge for that!'* 
 
 *' You shall come with us, you and your house- 
 hold,'' they said, ''or there's an end of you." 
 
 ''A man will work for his life," said Bard, 
 ''if needs will have it. But what am I to do 
 for mine?" Then he was told. 
 
 45 
 
46 THE OUTLAW 
 
 **We are going to Stock, to set light to Thor- 
 biorn^s house. You must be in it, or die here.'* 
 
 ^ * Eh, I will come with you, ' ' said Bard ; * * and 
 why should I not! They egged me on to fight 
 with your father, and when I had served their 
 turn, threw me over. They are nothing to me, 
 as little as I am to them. If that is all you 
 want, you are easily paid.'* 
 
 Increased by ten men they set their faces now 
 to Surnadale, and reached the House of Stock 
 in the small hours. A steady wind was blow- 
 ing up the dale from the sea, carrying cold mist 
 with it. It was cold and raw, but yet wet 
 enough to melt the snow. That fell with heavy 
 flop from the branches of pines, and made the 
 ways difficult; but there was still light enough 
 thrown from it for them to see what they were 
 about. 
 
 At Stock everything was quiet. They helped 
 themselves to kindling from the outbuildings, 
 reared a great pile at the front door, another 
 at the door of the storehouse, and set light to 
 each. The wind blew directly upon the greater 
 fire and drowned the house in smoke. The 
 
FIEE 47 
 
 besiegers with their weapons lined up on the 
 weather side to see that nobody came out alive. 
 In a very short time the roof caught, and the 
 flame ran over it like a nest of flat-headed 
 snakes suddenly let loose. There was some 
 shouting which could not be restrained, for the 
 sight of destruction drives men mad. 
 
 It was the shouting which awoke Grisli. He 
 sat up in bed, felt the smoke in his nose, and 
 instantly knew what it was. He plunged into 
 the hall, and saw the throbbing of the light 
 between the window-slats. He listened and 
 heard then the crackling and roaring overhead. 
 The door was near six inches thick, and would 
 hold yet awhile. He ran into the storehouse, 
 and saw another fire, but smaller. By that time 
 he was joined by Thorkel, and one or two of his 
 men. **We are trapped here,'' Thorkel said. 
 
 **I think not,'' said Gisli, **but I am going 
 to find out. Go you and waken our father; 
 fetch Thordis and whom else you can. Glum, 
 come you with me." Glum was a hind. 
 
 Thorkel sped away. Gisli took two men with 
 him, and unfastened some of the bolts of the 
 
48 THE OUTLAW 
 
 false wall of Ms storehouse. Then he was able 
 to push out some of the outside planks and put 
 his head and shoulders through. He came back 
 into the room. ** There is fire, but I can put it 
 out.'' He looked quickly round at the stores. 
 *^Q-et your buckets,'' he said. *^I have it." 
 
 They came with buckets. **I will get out- 
 side," he said. **Fill your buckets of that 
 whey there and pass them out to me." There 
 were two great barrels of sour milk standing 
 in the storehouse. With it he was able to put 
 out the fire on that side the house. Before he 
 had done it Thorbiorn, Thordis, Thorkel and 
 ten or twelve more were in the storehouse. 
 
 Gisli took the lead directly he was back in the 
 room. ^*You are all armed! Good. Now fol- 
 low me out, and keep in the thick of the smoke. 
 Follow it up into the woods. They will never 
 find us — they will never look for us to be out 
 this way. They will be before the door and 
 clear of the smother. Are you ready! Then I 
 will go." 
 
 He went through the hole in the wall, and 
 stood to help out the others. He was quite 
 
FIEE 49 
 
 cool, and bis plain, sensible, cbeerful, every- 
 day self. Tborbiorn was cboking witb rage, 
 and Tborkel was for rusbing round upon tbe 
 foe ; but Gisli would not bear of it. *'Tbey will 
 be fifty or sixty men at tbe very least. You 
 will bave your turn at tbem by and by. But, 
 we are beaten at tbe moment and must bide our- 
 selves.'' He led tbem into tbe woods, and 
 steadily mounted tbe bill. Tbere were crags 
 upon tbe top, and certain caves in tbem wbicb 
 be knew well. Tbere tbey croucbed and saw tbe 
 destruction of Stock. Wben tbe roof fell in 
 tbe flames leapt up, as it seemed, above tbeir 
 beads. 
 
 After tbat tbey saw tbe fire die down, for tbe 
 mist turned to driving rain as tbe dawn came 
 on, and tbere was even some bope of saving a 
 few tbings from tbe wreckage. 
 
 It was still Gisli wbo ordered tbe forlorn 
 camp. He set men to building a fire in tbe 
 cave, be sent otbers out to tbe tenantry for 
 food and coverings; be went bimself to spy 
 for tbe enemy, and could come back and report 
 tbem all away. It was not very long before be 
 
50 THE OUTLAW 
 
 was at work making a cover for their heads; 
 but he would not suffer the old house to be set 
 up again, and, having Thorkel on his side for 
 once, was able to persuade his father that when 
 all was done which remained to be done, Surna- 
 dale would be no place for them. 
 
 He intended to repay Skeggi in kind, for, ac- 
 cording to him, that was mere justice. But, 
 as he said, a life of running warfare was not 
 to his taste. He was himself for Iceland, and 
 if his kinsfolk would not go with him, he would 
 go without them. His father was the only one 
 who had any feeling in the matter. He was 
 well past middle age and spoke of himself, and 
 acted too, as if he were much older than he was. 
 Thorkel was very indifferent whither he went; 
 Thordis wanted to go ; and as Thordis and Gisli 
 were the strong minds of the family, the thing 
 was settled. **Good," said Gisli, when he had 
 his father's undertaking. **Now I will set 
 about ship-building with a free heart. You will 
 not see me here yet awhile." 
 
 He was as good as his word, for they had 
 no sight or report of him until the end of the 
 
FIRE 51 
 
 following summer, when he brought into the 
 frith a fine roomy vessel with two boats astern. 
 
 It should be said here what, among other 
 things, was found in the ruins of Stock, a roll 
 of undressed oxhide, and within it the two 
 pieces of a broken sword. They were brought 
 up by Gisli to his father, with the question, 
 ** Whose sword was thatT' Thorbiom took 
 them into his hands. ^^That sword should be 
 sacred to you,'' he said, **for it cost the life of 
 your kinsman, my brother, and gave me the 
 estate which has reared you. That is the sword 
 Grayflanks, the best sword in the world." 
 
 He told the story over. Gisli 's comment 
 upon it was that it was an unchancy thing to 
 have about. **It has done mischief enough, for 
 one thing, and looks as if it can never do any 
 more. Why should you keep itT' Thorbiom 
 was handling the pieces. *^Feel the edge, my 
 son," he said. *^You will never smithy a 
 sword like that in your days." Gisli admitted 
 the fineness of the temper, but said that there 
 must have been a flaw in it — ''otherwise how 
 should it break in that manner?" Thorbiom 
 
52 THE OUTLAW 
 
 said, **It was used against its owner. It would 
 sooner die itself than slay him/' 
 
 Gisli believed it. **WeU, we will give it 
 houseroom, ' ' he said, ^'though plainly there is 
 no luck in the thing.'' So Grayflanks abode at 
 Stock, and in due time went to Iceland with 
 Thorbiom and his sons. 
 
BEGINNING AGAIN 
 
 GISLI, after a long and harassing voyage, 
 brought his ship round the Horn and 
 westward to the great firths. He sailed into 
 Dyrafirth, which is both narrow and deep, and 
 cast anchor in the month of the Hawkdale 
 water. He looked up that dark dale settling 
 down into the night, and wondered what fate 
 had in store for him in this land of mountain 
 and swift water. Hawkdale itself was so nar- 
 row, its mountain masses so tall, that his eye 
 lost itself in the dark less than half-way up. 
 But he heard the thunder of the force far out 
 •of sight, and could picture the wet rocks and 
 tossing branches of its outleap to the sea. Out 
 in the open the scene was not so mournful. 
 The waters of the firth were a sheet of silver; 
 and though mountains rose beyond it, and on 
 every side which the eye could take in, they 
 
 53 
 
54 THE OUTLAW 
 
 were further off. Good land lay between them 
 and the sea; he noticed cattle out in the pas- 
 tures, on the lower slopes ; among the turf and 
 bracken, sheep were crawling, no bigger than 
 maggots. Smoke rose in a straight blue column 
 from a hidden house across the firth. He saw 
 haystacks near by. So men lived and laboured 
 and loved here, and it might be allowed him 
 to be one of them. Norway, Surnadale and 
 hateful things forced upon him by necessity, all 
 lay behind him. Fire and sword, ill-blood, 
 slaughter upon slaughter, all past and over 
 now! So at least he longed to believe. 
 
 In the morning when the sun gilded the water 
 and burnt the hills — only Hawkdale still 
 gloomed in dark — there were boats at the ship's 
 side, and others on the way, while on the shore 
 were groups of people looking at them and 
 talking about them. Portly men, cloaked and 
 booted, came up the side and greeted Thorbiorn 
 with gravity and careful words, non-committal. 
 In such affairs as these Thorbiorn still took the 
 lead, an old man of commanding presence, fiery 
 eyes half hidden under his brows, and a jutting 
 
BEGINNING AGAIN 55 
 
 white beard. By him stood Thorkel, his hand- 
 some son, in the fine raiment which he loved; 
 and Thordis, too, blue-eyed and high-coloured, 
 with her fair hair in one long and thick plait 
 more than halfway down her back. She also 
 dressed herself rarely, in scarlet cloth of the 
 finest face ; with long gold ear-rings in her ears 
 and a gold girdle round her loins. Gisli, who 
 had been working hard since the grey of the 
 dawn, was in shirt and cotton breeches, with 
 bare feet and arms. His hair was rough, his 
 beard untrimmed. Nobody noticed him; and 
 he, full of his business with the crew, had no 
 thoughts to spare for company. So while the 
 chief men of the place were below with Thor- 
 biorn and Thorkel, Gisli was unloading the ship, 
 getting out tents, taking them ashore, putting 
 them up, and setting the women to work with 
 fires and cooking-pots. The people on shore, 
 however, were friendly and disposed to help 
 him. It was while he was busy there that a 
 bright-eyed, good-looking young man of his own 
 age picked him out of all his hands for welcome. 
 He said that his name was Vestan, that he lived 
 
56 THE OUTLAW 
 
 at Hest on Aunnndarfirth, and had come over 
 about some cattle which he had bought. Gisli 
 took to him at once, and made no concealment 
 of his plans. He said that there had been great 
 trouble in Norway — burnings and slaughters 
 into which his family had been dragged against 
 its will. He hoped to settle quietly in this new 
 country; and then, **We shall be glad of your 
 help, too, if you are disposed to grant if 
 Vestan said that he would do everything he 
 could. 
 
 **And where do you think of looking for 
 land?'^ he asked. Gisli looked about him, as if 
 he were going to choose on the spot. His eye 
 fell on dark Hawkdale. 
 
 **It looks quiet up there, ^' he said. 
 
 Vestan laughed. **You will hear little but 
 the force. As for the land, it is good, what 
 there is of it. But the sun never gets there ex- 
 cept in high summer; and I don't know much 
 about the neighbours you will have. Now I 
 should like you to see my house at Hest. It 
 stands high, on a shoulder of the mountain, full 
 in the sun. We have grazing in plenty all about 
 
BEGINNING AGAIN 57 
 
 us, and a little cornland too; but the best of 
 that lies below us on the firth. Before you 
 settle on anything I hope you will pay me a 
 visit." 
 
 **I will surely come,'' said Gisli, and Vestan 
 showed his fine white teeth. 
 
 **Come soon, then, for who knows when I 
 may be off? My business is on the sea, you 
 must know, but I am at home just now to re- 
 fit, and hope to stay out the harvest." 
 
 ** Trust me," said Gisli, **and many thanks to 
 you. My father will buy what land suits him 
 best, I suppose ; but I should like to settle down 
 on my own account soon, and will see your coun- 
 try before I do." 
 
 **You are married?" Vestan asked him. 
 Gisli shook his head. 
 
 **No — ^but I have thought about it." 
 
 '*You will see my wife at Hest," said Vestan, 
 **and then you will have no doubts. And my 
 sister Aud lives with us. And two strong boys 
 of mine you will see at Hest." They parted 
 with cordial words, the best of friends; and 
 Gisli 's heart was uplifted. *'I am not much of 
 
58 THE OUTLAW, 
 
 a one for friendship/' he thought, ^^but I take 
 greatly to that seaman. It will be my fault if 
 we are not close friends in times to come.'' 
 
 When the camp was shipshape and the meal 
 under way, G-isli rowed out to the ship to fetch 
 off his people. He found that his father had 
 spoken for some land belonging to a certain 
 Thorkel Ericsson and intended to see it as soon 
 as might be. That land lay halfway up Hawk- 
 dale, on either side the river, and was called 
 SeaboU. There was a good site for a house 
 upon it, and Thorbiom determined to have it if 
 he could settle the price to his liking. That took 
 some time, as Thorbiom was obstinate and the 
 owner greedy. Gisli thought it a good oppor- 
 tunity to ride over the hills into Aunundarfirth 
 to see his friend Vestan. 
 
 He was well received there, in a good and 
 roomy house, by Vestan and his wife Gunn- 
 hilda; and there he saw Aud, the grave-eyed 
 sister of Vestan, and lost his heart to her. It 
 was not that many words passed between them ; 
 and it was not either that her f^omeUness, colour 
 
BEGINNING AGAIN 59 
 
 and shape drew Ms desire towards her. He 
 thought afterwards that she seemed the home 
 of peace, and quiet and gentle thoughts. He 
 said, That is a girl to whom I could bring my 
 troubles, being sure that she would understand 
 them without much spoken. Again he thought, 
 She is beautiful as the evening is beautiful 
 and not as the day. And yet again, Her eyes 
 are like lakes when the moon is rising and the 
 wind falling. And it seemed to him that her 
 name, Aud, became her well, and him too, the 
 child of destiny. For Aud means Fate, and 
 Fate rules men. 
 
 He spent two happy days in her company 
 and then rode back into Hawkdale to find the 
 land taken up, and his father and brother 
 vexed at his absence. They expected him to 
 build the housestead for them. 
 
 He was not to disappoint them, but set to 
 work at once and never left off till he had 
 finished it. Vestan came over more than twice 
 to help him, and they made a fine, roomy house 
 of it, and finished it down to the last bolt be- 
 fore the winter. Thorkel was away most of th^ 
 
60 THE OUTLAW 
 
 time, staying with various friends he had made. 
 He was always the popular man. 
 
 Gisli told Vestan the state of his feelings 
 towards his sister Aud, and Vestan took the 
 news very well. **Any man might be happy 
 with her/' he said, **but it could not be said 
 of you, my friend, that you would suit every 
 woman." 
 
 **No, indeed," said Gisli. *'My brother 
 Thorkel is the man for that." 
 
 **A fine dashing man he is," Vestan said, 
 '*and your sister Thordis is of his make and 
 favour. But I warrant Aud would choose for 
 you before Thorkel, if I know anything of her." 
 
 **It is likely that she will have the chance 
 of it," Gisli said. **I never saw a girl like 
 her in my days. To be sure, I have had small 
 dealings with women." 
 
 **That is by no means the case with me," 
 Vestan said. **I am well off now, but don^t de- 
 serve to be." 
 
 **I believe that for the most part we get 
 what we have deserved," said Gisli, "but I 
 
BEGINNING AGAIN 61 
 
 grant you that your fate is not always in your 
 own hands. Consider my case, now. No 
 more peaceable man lives in the world than my- 
 self, and yet for the last two or three years 
 I have been involved in strife and man-slay- 
 ings, never of my seeMng. A man beguiled my 
 sister Thordis, and refused to stop it. Twice 
 he refused. He was my brother's friend and 
 might have listened to him. But Thorkel would 
 say nothing, and the second time he refused me 
 I hit him — once. But it killed him. And so 
 it has gone on without end. I believe myself 
 that I am an unlucky man, and think so much 
 of Aud that, for her sake, I scarce dare put it 
 to her. Now what do you say to that r' 
 
 Vestan said, **I would ask her if I were in 
 your case. I think a man should follow his 
 mind. ' * 
 
 ''If I do that,'' Gisli said, ^'there's no doubt 
 whither it will lead me.'' 
 
 That winter he contrived to be two or three 
 times at Hest, though he said nothing to Aud 
 
62 THE OUTLAT^^ 
 
 of his feelings towards her. She told her 
 sister-in-law that she liked him more than a 
 little. *'If he asks for me he shall have me 
 she said. 
 
 M 
 1 
 
PAETNEESHIP 
 
 THORBIORN SOUR lived jnst a year in 
 his new house, and then died of a cold 
 in the chest. They buried him in the hillside, 
 and reared a mound over him, and that even- 
 ing the brothers and sister talked over what 
 they should do. It was a question whether they 
 should divide the inheritance or stay on as they 
 were. The latter was what Thorkel wanted. 
 He never did any work, and did not intend to 
 do any if he could help it. Gisli, he knew, 
 would work all day and be miserable if he did 
 not. That suited Thorkel exactly; so when 
 Gisli said with some hesitation that he was 
 thinking of marrying, Thorkel said at once, 
 **So am I.'* Thordis opened her blue eyes. 
 
 **Why, whom do you intend to marry V she 
 asked Thorkel. 
 
 He told her. **It is Asgerd, daughter of 
 
 63 
 
64 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Thobiom Seal-knop of Talknafirth/ * There 
 was no gainsaying her quality. She was a very 
 pretty girl indeed, a rich one, and much 
 courted. Thordis turned to Gisli. 
 
 *^And who is your choice, thenT*' He told 
 her. 
 
 Thordis said, **I am none the wiser, as I have 
 never seen her. But I guess her to be a quiet 
 and steady girl, or you would never have 
 picked her out. ' ' 
 
 ^^She is all of that,'' said Gisli. 
 
 *^Then she is unlike her brother Vestan,'' 
 Thorkel said. '^I will answer for it that he 
 has sat in many a lady's bower." 
 
 Thorkel admired Vestan for his good looks 
 and readiness in talk. Then he came back to his 
 first intention. 
 
 *^I see no reason why we should not all live 
 together very simply. The house is plenty 
 large enough, and it is not to be supposed Thor- 
 dis will stay in it very long. Our wives will 
 get on well enough if we do; and I am not a 
 quarrelsome man by any means. Nor are you. ' ' 
 
 Gisli said, ** Certainly not. But if Thordis 
 
PAETNEESHIP 65 
 
 marries she must have her dower, and that 
 would be her share of the land, or the house it- 
 self.'' 
 
 **Time enough when she marries," said Thor- 
 kel. Thordis, for her part, wished to be mar- 
 ried; but she was very particular about man- 
 kind, and by no means for anybody's asking. 
 She was a slashing, high-stepping girl, very 
 proud and free in her ways. 
 
 Thorkel at any rate lost no time about his 
 affair, but went off immediately to Talknafirth 
 and had his interview with Seal-knop. He had 
 already come to an understanding with his 
 Asgerd, and was very much in love with her. 
 She was a fair girl with a beautiful skin and 
 shapely body, a girl who seemed very simple, 
 but had had much experience. She would have 
 been married long before but for that. She 
 was known in the neighbourhood for a girl of 
 many love-affairs, and while men will amuse 
 themselves with her sort they think twice be- 
 fore taking them home. Thorkel knew nothing 
 of all that, and it was nobody's business to tell 
 him. She charmed his eyes and beguiled his 
 
e6 THE OUTLAW 
 
 other senses. People said that she could do 
 what she liked with him — ^but that was because 
 they only knew her, while they guessed at him. 
 Thorkel was very idle and very easy to deal 
 with ; yet Gisli knew that there was more in him 
 than he chose to display. 
 
 After the wedding at Talknafirth, Thorkel 
 came home to Seaboll with his new wife, who 
 made herself gracious to Gisli and Thordis, and 
 seemed pleased with everything. Then it was 
 Gisli 's turn to go a-wooing, and as his habit 
 was he said very little, but thought very much, 
 about it. However, Asgerd made him say 
 something. She knew both And and her 
 brother very well, it seemed. ^'Not,'' she said, 
 **that any one would believe them brother and 
 eister; for they are each other's opposites. 
 Vestan is merry and Aud sad; he talks all day, 
 and she says nothing. He is as black as night, 
 and she is fair-skinned. To be sure, her hair 
 is brown; but she has grey eyes, and his are 
 coal-black. ' ' 
 
 *^I don't think Aud is sad,'' Gisli said. He 
 was afflicted by all this chatter. 
 
PAETNERSHIP 67 
 
 '*If she is not sad it is because you have made 
 her happy," said Asgerd. **But you will allow 
 fihe has not the good spirits of Vestan. Vestan, 
 I can tell you, has broken hearts in his time.'' 
 
 **Not yours at least,'' Thorkel said, who had 
 been lying on the hearth, listening. Asgerd 
 blushed and smiled at him. 
 
 ^^No, indeed. That is left for you to do," 
 she told him. He was pleased. 
 
 As soon as might be — which was when the 
 passes were open — ^Gisli set off for Hest. And 
 heard him out, and gave him her hand at once, 
 with hardly a word spoken, but a clear Yes. 
 Gisli praised Heaven for such a way of dealing, 
 exactly what he would have expected of her. 
 From that moment forth there was never a 
 cloud upon their perfect understanding. No 
 two people ever said less or made more out of 
 unspoken intercourse than those two, Gisli and 
 Aud. It was as if they conversed by other 
 faculties, by touch, for instance, or neighbour- 
 hood. And each knew what the other was 
 thinking by divination, and was never wrong. 
 ^*If I had travelled the world, from Garth to 
 
68 ^ THE OUTLAW 
 
 Ireland/^ Gisli said to Vestan, **if I had done 
 all you have done twice over, I had never found 
 a woman so exactly to my need as I have found 
 here. * ' Vestan said, * ' I knew what was coming 
 when I saw you first. She will never fail you 
 — that I promise.'* 
 
 When he brought Aud to Seaboll, Vestan 
 came with her, and stayed some days. Every- 
 body at Seaboll liked him, including Thordis, 
 who was hard to satisfy in the matter of men. 
 When one took pains to please her she said that 
 she hated to have a man always dragging at 
 her skirt; if he paid her little attention she said 
 that he treated her as if she were a sheep or 
 a cow. But Vestan treated men and women 
 exactly the same, and seemed to think that what 
 was interesting to one sex would interest the 
 other. He had a charming smile, and ready, 
 laughing eyes. You could see in very few 
 minutes how fond brother and sister were of 
 •one another, and also how both had opened their 
 hearts to let Gisli in. As for Gisli himself, that 
 odd, shy, retired fellow had never been so happy 
 
PAETNEESHIP 69 
 
 in Ms life. He had never been able to express 
 himself — ^and here were two who understood 
 him before he tried to speak. He had always 
 been at work, with folk about him who ac- 
 cepted the fruits of his work without interest 
 in how it was obtained. Now here was Aud, 
 to the full as busy as he, and as much con- 
 cerned as he was in what was done, doing or 
 to do — a woman to whom it was never needful 
 to explain yourself, and better still, a woman 
 who did not take it amiss that you should take 
 her love for granted. Of her passion in love 
 none could know but Gisli. To the rest of the 
 world the pair of them showed as friends and 
 partners in life rather than lovers. But Gisli 
 knew better — and of course Vestan, knowing 
 his sister, divined the rest. Of those two, 
 Vestan and Aud, the brother was at the moment 
 the popular one at Seaboll. Thordis approved 
 of him, and Thorkel admired him. 
 
 Thorkel admired Vestan for his good looks, 
 good clothes and fine heedless way of dealing 
 with the affairs of this world. That was 
 how he had always pictured himself behaving; 
 
70 THE OUTLAW 
 
 but he knew in his inmost heart that Vestan 
 was the better man. Vestan was a sailor who 
 had travelled far and wide, seen much of men, 
 and measured his strength with them. Thorkel 
 had never done anything except marry a very 
 pretty woman. He was tender on her account, 
 ■and believed that he had really lost his heart 
 to her. That interested him because, so far 
 as he knew, he had never before cared for any- 
 body but himself. * * It is refreshing to feel that 
 you have given away your heart into the keep- 
 ing of another person,'^ he thought. *'I love 
 my wife and would deny her nothing. No man 
 is worth a rush who cannot say that. But I 
 can say it with sincerity, and for the first time 
 in my life.'' He watched her way of dealing 
 with the others in the house. She was rather 
 careful with Thordis, who was apt to trample 
 without knowing that she did it. With Aud 
 she was much easier. She had a great deal 
 to say to Aud, used to whisper and laugh with 
 her while she was busy with sewing, or in the 
 kitchen at her housework. He wondered what 
 on earth she had to say which involved so much 
 
PARTNERSHIP 71 
 
 lowering of the voice, and was dappled with so 
 many bursts of laughter. Aud used to listen, 
 and look steadily at the work she was doing. 
 He heard her murmured Yes and No, or some 
 measured comment now and again; but cer- 
 tainly the talking was done by Asgerd. He 
 thought she was shy in the company of men. 
 She rarely spoke to Vestan unless he hap- 
 pened to catch her eye when he was ending some 
 tale of the sea. He used to ask her sometimes 
 when they were in bed what she thought of 
 Vestan, but she would hide her face in his 
 shoulder and cling to him; and he laughed, 
 and said, **You will make me jealous one of 
 these days.'^ Then, *^0h, no, no, no,'' she used 
 to say, and kiss him eagerly. All that made 
 Thorkel as happy as a child with a kitten. 
 
 But Vestan was away at the end of a week, 
 and the partners at Seaboll settled down to 
 the business of their estate. They had a good 
 deal of land altogether, running up Hawkdale 
 on both sides of the river for the better part 
 of a mile. They had grassland and cornland, 
 a good head of cattle, and some five hundred 
 
72 THE OUTLAW 
 
 sheep on the hills. There was work for fif- 
 teen hands, and Gisli was with them from morn- 
 ing till night. The greater part of the house- 
 hold work fell to And, for much the same rea- 
 son as the outdoor work was all Gisli 's — ^be- 
 cause she liked to be busy. Thordis took her 
 share; but Asgerd did very little except sew- 
 ing, and that her own and her husband's. 
 
vn 
 
 codbiter's son 
 
 THE next thing important to the bearing 
 of this tale was the marriage of Thordis, 
 which came about in this way. The household 
 at Seaboll, well established by marriage already, 
 and prosperous under Gisli^s management, was 
 fitted to take part in public affairs, such as they 
 were; and Thorkel for his part could not be 
 satisfied until they made some kind of a show. 
 There were two Things commonly held in their 
 country; one in Dyrafirth itself, and one at 
 Thorsness, which was south of them on Broad- 
 firth, and that one was the greatest of all held 
 in the west parts. So one Spring Gisli and 
 Thorkel, with a goodly company, went down 
 to Thorsness, and received the hospitality of the 
 great man of the place, Thorstan Codbiter. In 
 his family, and especially with his two sons, 
 Thorgrim and Bork, they struck up a friend- 
 
 73 
 
74 THE OUTLAW 
 
 ship, and before they went home it was a set- 
 tled thing that the Codbiter^s sons should come 
 np to Valsere Thing on Dyrafirth and stay at 
 Seaboll. That led to the marriage of Thordis, 
 whose good looks and bold bearing hit Codbit- 
 er's son Thorgrim between the eyes, as it were, 
 and left him no peace. Before he went he asked 
 Thorkel for her and the match was agreed upon. 
 Thordis, who felt uncomfortable at home, made 
 no objection to Thorgrim — and indeed he was 
 a fine, incisive, upstanding man, broad-shoul- 
 dered, black-bearded, red-faced and black-eyed. 
 He had been married once already and had two 
 Bons nearly come to manhood ; he was Priest of 
 Frey at Thorsness, an important and note- 
 worthy man. His brother Bork was very much 
 like him, but younger, fatter and less of a great 
 man. 
 
 The wedding was pushed through almost at 
 once; for Thorgrim was in a hurry. Next it 
 was settled that Seaboll should be given up to 
 the couple for Thordis' portion, and the 
 brothers build themselves a house upon their 
 share of the estate higher up the dale. They 
 
COBBITER'S SON 75 
 
 found a good site at Holl and set to work — ^ 
 that is, Gisli set to work — housebuilding at once. 
 When he had finished, the two estates inarched 
 with each other, the two houses were less than 
 a mile apart, and Thordis began to enjoy her- 
 self. Her stepsons did not live with her, but 
 remained with Bork at Thorsness, where in due 
 course the Codbiter, at the end of his fishing, 
 died and was buried. 
 
 When all these things were done, the rift 
 which there had always been in Gisli 's family 
 declared itself. They saw very little of Thor- 
 dis at Holl, though Thorgrim her husband was 
 very often there. In fact it was Thorgrim who 
 egged his brothers-in-law on to make much more 
 of an appearance abroad than Gisli, for his 
 part, cared about. Thorkel, a vain man, took 
 kindly to it, which made it difficult for Gisli 
 to avoid his part. Hence began attendances in 
 force at the Thing, and a great show of men 
 in steel caps, carrying spears. Taken together 
 and with Vestan and his men added to them, 
 they made some forty spears. 
 
 The fast friendship between Vestan and Gisli 
 
76 THE OUTLAW 
 
 brought the handsome sailor over to HoU when- 
 ever he was at home. He was not so welcome 
 at Seaboll, where Thordis had the ordering 
 of affairs. Thorgrim always seemed very- 
 friendly and glad to see him, and Thorkel ad- 
 mired him; but it was Gisli who really loved 
 him, and if Gisli had been away he had never 
 come into Hawkdale at all. This was put to 
 the proof one day after the whole band of them 
 had been over at the Thorness Thing and 
 dominated the assembly by their bold bearing 
 and readiness for offence. Eiding home to- 
 gether, Thorgrim, who was very much elated 
 by the way things had turned out, proposed 
 a bond of brotherhood which he said would 
 serve to keep them up to their present high 
 level. Gisli was quite willing, he said, though 
 he did not believe in such ceremonies. ^*If we 
 love each other, it follows that we trust each 
 other,'* he said. **If we trust each other, it 
 follows that we can count upon each other's 
 support. I doubt if an oath will better the 
 belief — ^but don't suppose that I will draw back 
 from it." Thorkel was all for the oath, and 
 
CODBITER'S SON 77 
 
 Vestan said he would do what the others did. 
 
 There they left it ; but when they were home 
 again it was Gisli who took the lead; and he 
 was moved to do it by a saying of Guest the 
 Wise which had been repeated to him, to the 
 effect that the Hawkdale men would not always 
 be of the same mind in everything as they were 
 now. It had always been a secret fear of Gisli 's 
 that strife might break out again as it had be- 
 fore in Norway. He had not breathed a word 
 of that fear even to Aud, still less to Vestan, 
 but it haunted him. 
 
 So when they were in sight of HoU he reined 
 up on a good stretch of turf and said, *^Now 
 let us carry out what we intended. Here is 
 good turf to lift.'' They cut a long strip of 
 turf and freed it from the ground the length 
 of it, leaving the two ends fast. This turf they 
 lifted upon a spear until a man could pass easily 
 below it, as under a yoke. All four of them 
 stood round about, and were to open a vein 
 each that his blood might mingle with the 
 ground below the turf -yoke. Gisli was the first 
 to do it. He slashed at his bare arm and let 
 
78 THE OUTLAW 
 
 the blood drip to the ground. Vestan followed 
 him; and then it was Thorgrim's turn. He had 
 a knife in his hand, his other arm bared and 
 stretched out; but suddenly he shook his rolled 
 sleeve down and covered his skin. Gisli looked 
 sharply at him. 
 
 *^No/' said Thorgrim, ^*I won^t do iV 
 
 Vestan was still smiling, but the smile was 
 stretched and bleak. 
 
 Gisli said, **What is this? You will not, 
 when it was you who proposed it?'* 
 
 Thorgrim held to it. *^It is going too far. 
 I am ready to uphold your and ThorkePs af- 
 fairs to the uttermost. It is natural. We are 
 akin, and kindreds should stick together. But 
 Vestan is no kindred of mine; and what do I 
 know of his relationships? and where may his 
 affairs land me at lastf 
 
 Gisli said, *'It is a great slight on my brother- 
 in-law and friend. This project may turn out 
 differently from your intention.'' Vestan 
 touched his shoulder. 
 
 ^*I don't think a slight was intended, at any 
 
CODBITER'S SON 79 
 
 rate, ' ' he sadd. * * Let it be enough that you and 
 I have sworn a brotherhood. '* 
 
 **We had one without the bloodshedding," 
 Gisli said, **but now it is a sanctified thing/' 
 Thorgrim had turned away. It is odd that no- 
 body had asked Thorkel what he intended to 
 do. 
 
 They came to HoU and said farewell to Thor- 
 grim, who said he should go on to Seaboll with- 
 out stay. No one pressed him to alight. Noth- 
 ing passed between Gisli and Vestan so long 
 as Thorkel was with them ; nothing was told to 
 Aud by either of them — but Gisli was very much 
 troubled in mind, slept badly, rose up early, 
 and was at work at his forge long before any 
 one else was stirring. 
 
 When Vestan came into the shed where he 
 worked, Gisli looked up. His eyes smiled, 
 though the rest of his face did not. 
 
 '^What are you at so early T^ Vestan said; 
 and Gisli, **Come and see.'' 
 
 He showed him a broad silver coin, cut neatly 
 in half. Each half was toothed, in such a way 
 
8Q .THE OUTLAW 
 
 that the two could be fitted together again, and 
 no severance visible. 
 
 **Very neat/' Vestan said, **but what will 
 you do with itT' 
 
 Gisli gave him one half the coin. **Half is 
 yours, half mine,*' he told him. **When those 
 halves are joined again it is a certainty that 
 trouble is afoot. Let us agree that we call upon 
 each other by this means, but only when life 
 and death are in the balance. Do you agree 
 to that?'' 
 
 Vestan laughed. *^0h, yes. But you are 
 serious about it, and I am not, though I am 
 willing to become so." 
 
 G-isli was most serious. '*I see in what Thor- 
 grim did yesterday a danger to our happiness 
 here," he said. ** Perhaps it is a folly of mine 
 to try to provide against fate; but it is very 
 natural. I feel that one or other of us two 
 may be in peril in time to come. It will be you, 
 I believe." 
 
 Vestan still smiled at him, but very 
 temperately. **My business takes me into 
 
CODBITER'S SON 81 
 
 danger, ' ' lie said. * * You know that I must soon 
 be at sea again.'' 
 
 ''Yes,'' said Gisli, '*! know that. If my pre- 
 monitions are right, you will be safer there than 
 in Hawkdale. Be that as it may, keep my half- 
 coin by you, and let me not see it again until 
 you wish to warn me of my life. So it shall be 
 with that which I hold now." At that moment 
 Aud stood in the doorway, and both men looked 
 at her. 
 
 ''I came to tell you that your breakfast was 
 ready," she said. ''But what are you two 
 about so early?" G<isli enquired of Vestan 
 with his eyes, "Shall we tell her I" Vestan 
 answered him in words, "When I am gone." 
 
 Aud came to where they stood by the forge 
 and put a hand upon either man's shoulder. 
 They were the two persons she loved best in 
 the world. ' ' What are you talking about 1 Am 
 I not to be told?" 
 
 "You are to be told everything," Gisli said, 
 "and you shall hear all about it— but not now. 
 Let us go in." 
 
88 THE OUTLAW 
 
 They went into the hall together. And had 
 taken Gisli's arm; but her other hand was held 
 in Vestan's. 
 
 In the hall was Asgerd, with sharp eyes. 
 Thorkel was still in bed. 
 
VIII 
 
 OVERHEARD 
 
 THE time was June, with Vestan three 
 months at sea, when Thorkel, the idle 
 man, was to be jarred to the very heart of 
 him. Out of the sweetest day of summer was 
 to blow upon him a chill blast of air to freeze 
 his blood; and out of the softest lips in the 
 world shoot, as you might say, the barb to pierce 
 him. 
 
 He had had his breakfast late and alone; 
 for Gisli had gone out with the first ray of 
 the sun, and had out all hands to the haymak- 
 ing. It was a summer ^s day, with a gay wind 
 blowing up the dale from the firth. He had 
 seen on the upland levels how the brake-fern 
 was swept white by it. The hay was all cut 
 and lying, and now was the time to make it. 
 So Grisli was abroad, and not a man but Thorkel 
 left upon the place. 
 
 83 
 
84 THE OUTLAW 
 
 And the women too had done their house- 
 work and were in the bower at their sewing. 
 Thorkel, stretching himself at ease in the sun 
 at the door, heard the murmur of their voices 
 — Asgerd's sharp and clear, with a hint of com- 
 plaining in it, as if a string in her harp was 
 a little worn; and then Aud's lower and fuller 
 but less audible, a voice of contentment, a 
 rich, soothful voice. Thorkel laughed as he 
 stretched himself. **How they chatter, the 
 women — and all about nothing!** He thought 
 it would amuse him to go round and overhear 
 them : he had nothing to do, and the seat below 
 the bower was full South. 
 
 Soft-foot, chuckling to himself, he reached 
 the bench and stretched himself at length upon 
 it. For a while the two women worked in 
 silence; then Asgerd broke that by saying, 
 **How quiet you are. I suppose you and Gisli 
 never talk when you are abed together.** 
 
 **What we do,** said Aud, ^4s between us.'* 
 
 **I warrant it is,** said Asgerd, **and with all 
 my heart.** And then she sighed. 
 
 Presently she broke out again, with com- 
 
OVERHEARD 85 
 
 plaint in her voice. **My dear, here's a thing 
 you will do better than I. ' ' 
 
 '*What is thatr' And asked her. 
 
 *^Why, to cut out a shirt for me. I have no 
 hand today — and not much any day, woe's me." 
 
 **Thorkel's shirt, I suppose?" said Aud. 
 
 * * Of course. Whose else 1 ' ' Thorkel smiled. 
 Silence for a minute, and then Aud said 
 
 quietly, **If it were for Vestan you would not 
 ask me to do it, I know." 
 
 Thorkel 's heart stopped beating; but he did 
 not move. 
 
 * * You know too much, my dear, ' ' Asgerd said ; 
 and Aud, **I wish I did not know that." 
 
 **It can't be helped," said Asgerd recklessly; 
 ** Vestan stands alone for me. Since first I 
 saw him, long before I knew Thorkel, there was 
 only one man in the world. You must have 
 known that, surely." 
 
 **Yes, I knew it," Aud said, ^*but we need not 
 talk about it." 
 
 * * Why should we not f What harm can it do ! 
 Vestan will never know — and if he should, — 
 Oh, I would trust him with all I have!" 
 
86 THE OUTLAW 
 
 **Why should we talk of what can never beT' 
 said And. 
 
 **It is good for me to talk sometimes, God 
 knows/' Asgerd replied. **If women cannot 
 tell each other their secrets, it is all wretched- 
 ness and wrong. But I have done no harm to 
 any one. How can I help my heart? Or you, 
 for that matter? Were there not meetings 
 between Thorgrim and you once upon a 
 time?'' 
 
 **Long ago," sadd Aud. **But since I was 
 given to Grisli I never looked at another man 
 twice." 
 
 **0h, yes, I know. You two are happy to- 
 gether. It is easy seen. And if I had had 
 Vestan, I dare swear " 
 
 '*Say no more of Vestan, I beg you," said 
 Aud, and Asgerd was quiet. 
 
 Thorkel sat up, staring. He looked old, with 
 pale, haggard eyes. And it was cold out there ; 
 and what to do with himself he didn't know. 
 He left the bench where he was stuck, and 
 moved off on tiptoe. A shadow passed over the 
 window-sill, and Aud saw it. 
 
OVERHEARD 87 
 
 **S'ome one was there. Some one has been 
 listening/' she said. Asgerd's blue eyes flick- 
 ered. 
 
 ' ' That was Thorkel. What shall I do now ? ' ' 
 
 Aud's eyes were quite steady. **You must 
 tell him about it tonight. Tell him all of it. 
 It is the only plan.'' But it did not convince 
 Asgerd. 
 
 **No, it will be better to make little of it. 
 I will make it a joke between us two. Then 
 if he seem still vexed I will coax him till he 
 loves me. I can do that if I will. But maybe 
 your way is wiser." 
 
 **It is wiser for me at least," said Aud. **I 
 shall tell Gisli everything, and follow his coun- 
 sel in everything. ' ' 
 
 The day passed heavily for the two girls. 
 Thorkel did not come in till dusk, and how 
 he had spent the day nobody knew, himself 
 least of any. His contentment in his idle life 
 was gone, and he honestly grieved over that. 
 He had not yet discovered that his self-esteem 
 was mortally wounded, for, vain man as he was, 
 he was also an affectionate and kindly man. 
 
88 THE OUTLAW 
 
 The longer lie stayed out, however, the more 
 difficult it became to go back. 
 
 Gisli at once saw that something was wrong 
 with his brother. He ate scarcely anything, 
 drank like a fish, and sat with his elbows on 
 the board, staring at nothing. He thought, too, 
 that Aud looked anxious. Asgerd chattered 
 and laughed all suppertime, and even rallied 
 Thorkel, who scowled at her but did not answer. 
 When supper was over Thorkel went to the 
 door and leaned there, looking out on the 
 mountain. Gisli followed him and put his hand 
 on his shoulder. 
 **What is wrong r' he asked him. 
 **Nothingatall.'' 
 
 * * Don H tell me that. Are you ill r ' 
 Thorkel was tragic. **I am worse than ill.'* 
 **Is it my fault? Have I done anything to 
 offend your' 
 
 * ' Nothing at all. How could that be T ' 
 **I don't know. I cannot convict myself of 
 anything. If I could I would amend it. I set 
 great store by your affection.'' 
 
OVEEHEARD 89 
 
 '*Why should you?'' said Thorkel. **What 
 do I do to deserve itT' 
 
 ** These things don't run in that way," said 
 Gisli. **They run in the veins. But I hope 
 you will tell me what troubles you." 
 
 Thorkel would not, or could not. ^*You will 
 know it all soon. I cannot tell you now. ' ' 
 
 Thereupon he turned back into the house and 
 went to bed without any words with anybody 
 else. Asgerd waited until he was in bed, and 
 then, after a look at Aud, went softly away to 
 him. Once alone with him, she knew best how 
 to deal with him. He heard her soft words, 
 felt her soft arms about him, and because he 
 loved her very much took her to his heart and 
 let her sleep there. He himself did not sleep 
 for a long time ; but she slept sound. He told 
 himself that so gentle a bosom could not harbour 
 his injury; but the injury done him lay else- 
 where. All his resentment burned in him still 
 — ^and the fire of it showed him always the laugh- 
 ing eyes and white teeth of Vestan. That is 
 the way such things mostly turn in the world, 
 where man will always measure himself against 
 
90 THE OUTLAW 
 
 man. Thorkel was vain, and therefore diffident. 
 He grudged Vestan his good looks and light 
 heart, and hated him for them because he felt 
 that he had had both himself if Vestan had not 
 robbed him. 
 
 As for Aud and Gisli, their eyes met, and 
 that was enough. She told him everything, and 
 blamed herself for having brought it about. 
 ** Don't be angry with me,'' she said, **and 
 think how you can help Vestan, for I know it 
 will all be laid up against him." 
 
 Gisli said shortly, ''I think it will. Thorkel 
 will take this hard. ' ' 
 
 '^What shall we do?" 
 
 *' There is nothing to do," he said. '*What 
 is to be must be. ' ' 
 
 **Do you blame me!" 
 
 '*No, not at all. Fate must have its way. 
 You and I are tools in its hand. As well might 
 I blame myself for having brought Vestan 
 hither, or for having chosen you. Now I fore- 
 see that the end of this is not to be in our hands. 
 We could deal with Thorkel, I believe. But 
 Thorkel doesn't stand alone. Now let us go to 
 
OVERHEARD 91 
 
 sleep, for I am tired and you are troubled.'' 
 
 Aud clung to Mm. *^If you have no blame 
 for me I have no need to be troubled.'' 
 
 **I shall never have blame in my heart for 
 you," said Gisli. Then they slept. 
 
 That which Gisli had foreseen, but said noth- 
 ing about, came to pass. Thorkel took his 
 griefs over to SeaboU and possessed Thorgrim 
 and Thordis of them. It then came out that 
 Thordis hated Vestan, and did not like Aud. 
 Her blue eyes glittered. 
 
 **You have to quit Holl, that is plain," she 
 said. **You had better bring Asgerd here. 
 She will be looked after here." 
 
 Thorkel thought she was right, but said, 
 * * Gisli will be troubled. ' ' 
 
 **It is Gisli," said Thordis, *^who brought the 
 trouble about. He cannot have it all ways." 
 
 ^* Gisli would rather have his brother-in-law 
 than his brother at Holl, I believe," Thorgrim 
 said. **You must do what is proper in your 
 own eyes. One thing only you may be sure of. 
 Vestan won't come here after Asgerd." All 
 three of them assumed that the pursuit had 
 
92 THE OUTLAW 
 
 been his doing. As for Thorkel himself, he 
 fully believed it. 
 
 The end of such talk — and there was a deal 
 of it, the subject endlessly brooded on by Thor- 
 kel, and ruthlesly handled by Thorgrim and 
 Thordis — the end was that at the fall of the 
 year Thorkel told Gisli that they must part. 
 Gisli had been prepared for it, but disliked it 
 so much that he pleaded with his brother. 
 **Let your discomforts be forgotten," he said. 
 **Be sure that you will get no greater love from 
 any than you do from us. I ask you to stay 
 here.'' 
 
 **No, no," said Thorkel, '*it can't be. I can- 
 not meet Vestan here, nor ask you to keep him 
 away." Gisli was astonished. 
 
 **Is it possible that you still believe Vestan 
 thinks of Asgerd? I can't suppose it. But as 
 I know much more about him than you do, I 
 can assure you that he has never had a thought 
 of her in his life. ' ' 
 
 **It may be so, it may be so," said Thorkel, 
 irritated that he could not contradict him. 
 **But I must think for Asgerd first — and, in 
 
OVEEHEAED 93 
 
 fine, they wish for me at SeaboU, so we must 
 go there.'' 
 
 It was then settled between them that the 
 land and goods should be divided in this way — 
 the land to Gisli, the goods to Thorkel. Every- 
 thing that was not Gisli 's own or Aud's own 
 property, fell therefore to leave Holl ; and there 
 was such a routing out of coffers as had not 
 happened for many a day. In turning over the 
 gear, it was Thorkel who brought to light the 
 pieces of the great sword Grayflanks, which had 
 been brought over to Iceland by Thorbiorn Sour 
 himself. Gisli knew them again, but Thorkel 
 did not; but now Thorkel handled them with 
 curiosity. 
 
 **What steel — hey? Whose was this 
 sword f So Gisli told him the tale, and Thor- 
 kel heard him out ; and then put the two pieces 
 among the goods which fell to him. 
 
 **Do you take that away with you?*' Gisli 
 asked, and Thorkel, who was busy with other 
 wares, just gave a glance at the old sword, as 
 he said, **It was our father's, you say? Yes, I 
 take that." 
 
94 THE OUTLAW 
 
 There were two children in the honse at Holl, 
 a brother and sister, children of a kinsman. 
 Geirmund was the boy, Gudrid the girl; they 
 also were to be shared. Thorkel, having first 
 choice, said he would have the boy. So Gudrid 
 fell to Gisli, and seemed glad of it. Directly 
 Thorkel had said, ^^Then I will have Geir- 
 mund,'' Gudrid, without a word said, put her 
 hand in Gisli 's. He, looking down, smiled at 
 her in the midst of his trouble. 
 
 And so he saw Thorkel go with a heavy hea: t, 
 for he loved his brother and was neither able 
 to say so nor to declare it in any other way than 
 by working for him all day and every day with- 
 out looking for thanks or payment. 
 
IX 
 
 FORGING OF THE SPEAR 
 
 BEFOEE the winter closed in upon Hawk- 
 dale it had fallen out as Gisli had fore- 
 seen, that there was a rift between the two 
 houses of Holl and Seaboll. Although in most 
 outward things the three kinsmen met each 
 other, yet it was a matter of common observa- 
 tion that Thordis never, and Thorgrim very 
 seldom, crosed the threshold at Holl. Thorkel 
 and Asgerd came sometimes, and sometimes one 
 of them without the other; but Aud, who was 
 as proud as fire, would never go to Seaboll so 
 long as Thordis kept away from Holl; and 
 Gisli, who was not proud at all, saw that she 
 had reason. 
 
 **I believe now,'' he said to her one day, 
 **that Thordis has never loved me, but if you 
 were to ask me why, I could not for the life 
 of me tell you.'' Aud, who was sewing, said 
 quietly, *^Then maybe I can tell you J* 
 
 95 
 
96 THE OUTLAW 
 
 ** Women can see further into the heart than 
 men,'' said Gisli. *^I wish you would tell 
 me." 
 
 '^Well, I can only tell you what you have 
 told me yourself. Did you not slay a man who 
 beguiled her?" 
 
 Gisli started. ^^Kolbiorn? Yes, I did. My 
 father gave me no peace until that was done. 
 But you are wrong. Thordis had no love for 
 Kolbiom." 
 
 *'No," said Aud, *'that is likely. But she 
 had great love for Thordis. I am sure that she 
 resented your meddling in her affairs." 
 
 Gisli believed her. He sighed. *' There is 
 no escape from an ill deed. And yet that deed 
 was not so ill neither. Kolbiom was dis- 
 honouring my sister. His slaying should have 
 been done by Thorkel, who is the elder of us 
 — ^but our father never so much as asked him 
 to do it. He never asked Thorkel to do any- 
 thing." 
 
 Aud looked at him with grave tenderness. 
 *^ You work for everybody ; you bear all people's 
 burdens, and few thank you for what you do. 
 
FORGING OF THE SPEAR 97 
 
 But every morning and every night I am thank- 
 ful for your love. ' ' 
 
 Gisli was moved by her good words. *^My 
 dear/* he said, *'no man should ask more of 
 life than the love of you and Vestan. Yet I 
 am so made that I love my own kindred for no 
 better reason than that we have the same 
 parents.'* 
 
 She loved him for the thought, yet found 
 the prudence in her heart to disapprove it. 
 **Dear friend,'* she said, *4t is to your detri- 
 ment that in loving the children of your parents 
 you don't love yourself a little more." 
 
 *.*0h, myself!" he laughed at her. ^*I have 
 never been taught to do that. All my life I 
 have been taken as a matter of course. Is any- 
 thing wrong? Gisli will mend it. What is he 
 here for but that ! And it is a fact that I don 't 
 love myself at all." She made a movement 
 towards him; he saw love in her eyes. He 
 moved over to her side, embraced and kissed 
 her. Aud returned his kiss with passion. 
 
 **Love yourself for my sake," she said 
 brokenly, **for I have no one but you. If I 
 
98 THE OUTLAW 
 
 cannot give you a child, be you my child, Gisli. * ' 
 It was true that they had no child ; and a great 
 grief that was. 
 
 That winter Gisli had a feast at Holl, as the 
 custom was, and when it came to asking people 
 to come, it turned out, as he had expected, that 
 Seaboll was to have one at the same time. That 
 was a new thing and did not help to smooth over 
 differences, except that it gave an excuse to 
 Thorkel for not coming to Gisli 's merrymaking. 
 The worst work it did was to split up the dale 
 into two parties. However, Gisli went to work 
 at it with his accustomed spirit, and there was 
 every chance of its turning out well. Aud's 
 kindred and friends alone would have made a 
 large assembly. The house was to be full to 
 overflowing — and what more could you want! 
 
 At Seaboll also there was to be a great 
 gathering. All Thorgrim's kindred were to be 
 there, and many others from Thorsness and 
 those parts where Oodbiter his father had lived 
 and fished and been a notable man. Bork, 
 
FORGING OF THE SPEAE 99 
 
 Thorgrim's brother, was one, and another Thor- 
 grim, called Bottlenose, was another. Bottle- 
 nose was supposed to be a sorcerer, but however 
 that may have been, he loved mischief, and made 
 it wherever he could. He had not been long at 
 Seaboll before he had the two pieces of Gray- 
 flanks in his hands, and the history of that sword 
 out of Thorkel. 
 
 **A thousand pities if those parts don't come 
 together again,'' he said, with his sharp little 
 eyes shining like glowworms. ** Namesake, let 
 you and I weld a new sword out of this. Some- 
 thing tells me that its story is not yet out of it. ' ' 
 
 Thorgrim said that it would not hold. ** You 
 might make a spear of it — ^but it will never be 
 a sword again." 
 
 **A spear that would spit a walrus!" said 
 Bottlenose. **I see a remarkable spear. 
 Come, let us blow up the forge and smithy it 
 out." Half in idleness and half interested, 
 Thorgrim helped him, and Thorkel, who would 
 lend himself to anything except serious work, 
 plunged into the game. They were at it all the 
 morning, made a long and broad spear-head; 
 
100 THE OUTLAW 
 
 and before the day was over it was fitted to a 
 handle of a span long. '^Grayflanks will be 
 hungry after his fast/' said Bottlenose. The 
 other two looked at him without speaking. 
 Then, as if the words came out of him unawares, 
 Thorgrim said to Thorkel, *'I hear that a ship 
 has come to Aunundarfirth. ' ' Thorkel flushed 
 and turned away. 
 
 The same tidings of a ship had come to Gisli, 
 and troubled him in his care for the winter 
 feast. **I would not for all the world have 
 Vestan here this Yule,'' he said to And; ^^but 
 he will come if I cannot stop him in time." 
 He called up two of his house-carles and sent 
 them oif to Hest. He gave into the hands of 
 one of them his half of the silver coin. * ^ Show 
 that to my brother-in-law," he said : ^* greet him 
 well from me, and tell him that by that token 
 I desire him to remain at home until I come 
 to see him. Whatever you do, you must not 
 miss him. My heart is set upon it. Fail me 
 not." 
 
 The two men set off at once, and ran most 
 
FORGING OF 'THE:S?EABi ^ ;> : 101 
 
 of the way down Hawkdale, and so to the open 
 firth. They took boat across the water, landed 
 at Brooksmouth, and made the best of their 
 way to Bessastead, where they borrowed horses 
 from the farmer and rode up Mossdale, and so 
 crossed the watershed and looked down on 
 Aunnndarfirth. Their way was now along that 
 firth; but meantime they had just missed 
 Vestan, as they learned when they reached his 
 house under Hest. He must have taken, as 
 indeed he did, the upper road. He had two 
 strangers with him, two men from Norway, his 
 wife said, and had been gone six hours. There 
 was nothing for it but to turn back and ride 
 after him by the road he had gone. 
 
 When they got back into Mossdale and were 
 at the top of the pass, there, about halfway 
 down the dale, they saw a company of men 
 riding. They pursued with the last effort of 
 their horses, and when they could go no farther, 
 but stopped deadbeat, they left them in the 
 track, and ran, shouting and hailing. Just 
 where Mossdale ends and the great heath begins, 
 which is called Gemladale Heath, Vestan and 
 
102 T^HE OUTLAW 
 
 his companions heard them and waited until 
 they came up. 
 
 He was told the message from Gisli, he saw 
 the token and knew it at once. It must be 
 serious, or Gisli would not have sent it to him 
 —a life-and-death business. But he would not 
 turn back. All the streams were flowing down 
 to Dyrafirth, and he had set his heart on see- 
 ing Gisli and Aud. Danger meant little to him 
 who lived in the midst of it ; but he put the case 
 to the two strangers in his company and ad- 
 vised them to fare back to Hest. ** Whatever 
 trouble there may be down there, 'tis none 
 of your making. You will be well off with 
 Gunnhild, and I hope to see her again before 
 many days.'' The strangers agreed with him, 
 turned their horses and went off together. 
 Then Vestan told the house-carles to go home 
 on foot by the crags. **And tell them at Holl 
 how it is with me, that I am coming round by 
 the head of the firth and shall be with them at 
 nightfall tomorrow. And that I may make 
 better speed," he said, ''do you take between 
 you these bales of mine, and let them bide till 
 
FOEGING OF THE SPEAE 103 
 
 I come.*' So he struck off across the heath to 
 where he could get the ferry, and the two hinds 
 went across the hills to Brooksmouth, and so 
 home. 
 
 Gisli did not make a fuss over the news they 
 brought him. If it must be, it must be, and 
 that was all about it. He told Aud, who said, 
 **We will make him keep the house. There is 
 no need that any of them should know he is 
 here.'' Gisli shook his head. **If he is bold 
 enough to come after my warning, he is too 
 bold to stay indoors. Besides, he has to pass 
 by Seaboll to get here.'* He was very much 
 troubled about it; but the house was full of 
 guests just now, and they must not see an 
 anxious host. 
 
 As for Vestan himself, he had warnings on 
 the road. At Lambdale it was a kinswoman of 
 his, named Luta, who kept the ferry at the firth- 
 head. As he left her, she said, ^^Take care of 
 yourself. It is not safe travelling where you 
 are going.** The whole countryside knew of 
 the severance between Holl and Seaboll. 
 Vestan laughed and rode on. Then he came to 
 
104 THE OUTLAW 
 
 the second arm of the firth, where he must ferry- 
 over to Thingere. The man in charge was one 
 Thorhall, whom he knew well. He left his 
 horse there and borrowed another. Thorhall 
 asked him where he was for. **Why, into 
 Hawkdale, to be sure,*' said Vestan, *Ho see 
 my kinsman Gisli.'' Thorhall looked thought- 
 ful ; then he said, * * If you please to wait a little 
 I will ride with you to HoU.'' 
 
 '^Nay,'' said Vestan, **what need of thatr' 
 
 Thorhall, with a meaning look, said, 
 ** Things have changed since you were there 
 last. Be careful of your steps up that road. 
 That is my advice to you. ' * 
 
 ** Never fear," said Vestan, and rode on. 
 
 By the end of the day he had entered the nar- 
 row way of Hawkdale; and it was deep dusk 
 when he saw Seaboll in front of him. The 
 cattle were just then turning into the barton 
 for the night. A woman in the entry with a 
 pitchfork in her hand; Geirmund, the lad who 
 was allotted to Thorkel when he had parted 
 from Gisli, was driving the beasts. Vestan 
 
FOEGING OF THE SPEAR 105 
 
 reined up to let them go in, and Geirmund 
 knew him. As he passed by the boy looked up 
 at him and said, ** Don't you come in here. Do 
 you go on to Holl — and take care what you do 
 when you are there.'' Vestan nodded his 
 thanks, and when the cattle were by him, rode 
 on at a footpace. The girl at the gate looked 
 closely at him, and when he had gone, turned 
 to Geirmund. 
 
 ''Who ever was that?" 
 
 ''Nay,'' said Geirmund, "how should I 
 know?" 
 
 "Why, I saw you speak to him," she cried. 
 
 "You never did," said Geirmund. "I 
 thought it was Aunund's man from Twindale." 
 
 She scoffed at him. " To carry a spear ! To 
 ride a good horse I To pass no word as he 
 went! Make up a better tale than that, my 
 lad." 
 
 She went on grumbling and wondering aloud 
 who the stranger could be; and she was still 
 talking about it when she went into the house. 
 Thorgrim and Thorkel were both in the hall, 
 
106 THE OUTLAW 
 
 sitting by the great fire. Thorgrim called out 
 to the girl, whose name was Eannveg, to tell 
 him who rode by just now. 
 
 **I thought it was Vestan of Hest myself,'* 
 she said. **He had a spear in his hand and a 
 great cloak over him — but I thought it was he.** 
 
 Geirmund stood behind her, bright-eyed. 
 **Greirmund, who was it?'* Thorgrim said, fix- 
 ing him with a look; but Geirmund did not 
 quail. 
 
 **It was dark — I could scarcely see him. 
 Myself I thought it was Aunund*s man from 
 Twindale. ' * 
 
 **Had he a spear? Did you see that?** 
 
 **I thought he carried a salmon-spear,** said 
 Geirmund. 
 
 Thorgrim looked at Thorkel, who stretched 
 out his hands to the fire. 
 
 *'One of you is a liar,** said Thorgrim, ^*but 
 I want to know who that man was. Eannveg, 
 you shall go now to Holl, and find out whether 
 a stranger has come there or no. Be off with 
 you.** 
 
 So Eannveg went up the dale to Holl, and 
 
FOEGING OF THE SPEAR 107 
 
 hung about there, not knowing what to do. 
 She was afraid to go to the door, lest they 
 should ask her what she wanted, and she not 
 know what answer to make. So she hung 
 about the yard with no clear intention, and 
 there, as fate would have it, blundered against 
 Gisli himself, who had been looking after Ves- 
 tan^s horse. 
 
 '*How nowr' said Gisli. ''Who is this in 
 my armsT' Rannveg told him. *'And what 
 do you want of us, my girl?*' 
 
 She said she was going home, and had thought 
 she might see Gudrid. Gudrid was Geir- 
 mund's sister. 
 
 *'So you shall,'' said Gisli, and went to call 
 her; but when Gudrid came Rannveg was not 
 to be seen. She had run back to Seaboll as if 
 the fiend was after her. 
 
THE GIPTS 
 
 VESTAN was welcome at Holl, though 
 Gisli shook his head over him, even as 
 he clasped his hands. ^*I did all I could to 
 keep you away — and you know I should have 
 come over to you. Why did you not keep your 
 promise? What could I send you of more 
 meaning than that token T' 
 
 **I believe I was wrong to come,'' Vestan 
 confessed; *^but I'll tell you. I had brought 
 over some foreign stuff as gifts to you and 
 Aud, and I couldn't deprive myself of that 
 pleasure. There you have it. " 
 
 Aud kissed him and put her arms round his 
 neck. ^ ' Oh, my dear, I wish you were not here. ' ' 
 
 **You are an inhospitable pair, I must say," 
 Vestan said, still laughing. **Now, as I hate 
 black work, let me hear what the pother is. 
 Who needs my life? Whom have I injured!" 
 
 Then they tell him all they know, and he is 
 
 108 
 
THE GIFTS 109 
 
 more puzzled than ever. * ' Asgerd ? That light 
 money? Never in your Hfe. I may have been 
 in her company a hundred times and never 
 known whether she was there or not.'' 
 
 **She has lost her heart to you,'' said Aud, 
 but Vestan, with scorn, *^She has none to lose." 
 But there it was — enmity between Seaboll and 
 Holl ever since the fatal talk in the bower. 
 
 Vestan said presently, **Let me go over now, 
 at once, and see Thorkel. He is a good, easy 
 fellow. We have always been friends." But 
 Gisli would not have it. 
 
 '*You should go — and I with you — ^willingly," 
 he said. **But there is Thorgrim, and I don't 
 trust him." 
 
 **And there is Thordis too — and Thordis is 
 an enemy." It was Aud said that. 
 
 **Why should Thordis be an enemy?" asks 
 Vestan. 
 
 **She is my enemy, I believe," Aud replies, 
 **and no well-wisher to you." 
 
 But Gisli, who had been brooding while Aud 
 spoke, now said, **No, but I think she is mine. 
 I remember when we lived in Norway how it 
 
110 THE OUTLAW 
 
 always was. Such friends as we had must 
 either consort with me, or with her and Thor- 
 kel. Those two were the favourites and had 
 the most friends ; and I, whatever I did, seemed 
 to be against them and their plans. That 
 good-for-naught Kolbiorn was of their friends. 
 All the evening long they would be whispering 
 and laughing together — I knew not at what, nor 
 would they ever tell me. Our father used to be 
 beside himself with rage, but because those two 
 always drew together he would not ask Thor- 
 kel to clear the dishonour Kolbiorn was doing. 
 Therefore he made me do it. Thorkel took 
 himself away from home for six weeks or more. 
 I don't think he has even been the same to me 
 since — and as for Thordis, my belief is she has 
 never forgiven me that, and never will. And 
 yet Kolbiorn was only fooling with her, and she 
 knew it, and cared not a pin about him. So 
 it is in a family often enough that one will be 
 as it were an alien from birth, and never in 
 the right whatever he do. This is my case, I 
 believe.'' 
 
 Gisli had never spoken so freely before either 
 
THE GIFTS 111 
 
 to Aud or Vestan; but now he spoke of what 
 had been present to him all his life. He spoke 
 sadly, but not bitterly; for it was not his na- 
 ture to resent anything. Aud was not con- 
 vinced. She said no more, but her locked lips 
 showed that she held to her belief. 
 
 Vestan frowned over all this, which he found 
 tiresome. He was himself a very friendly soul. 
 But he presently recollected something. 
 
 **I remember now when we came back from 
 the Thing, and it was a question of a blood-bond 
 between us. Thorgrim first of all moved it, 
 and then, when we had cut the turf and Grisli 
 and I had bled in it — well, then he would not 
 do it. I never knew why that was.'' 
 
 *'And I did not, either, *' Gisli said, **save 
 that I always believed he distrusted me and 
 wished not to make me stronger. And now 
 you see he has got Thorkel away from us here, 
 having already got Thordis; so his house is 
 stronger than mine." 
 
 ''Ah, put all this foolishness out of mind,'' 
 said Vestan. ' * Here are we all together, ready 
 to let them alone if they wish it that way. 
 
U2 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Come you in now and see what I have brought 
 you." 
 
 He turned out the bales which the house-carles 
 had brought in. There were many ells of fine 
 stuff there, a scarf of twenty ells woven in 
 stripes with gold and red and blue, some seventy 
 ells of hangings for the hall of excellent work- 
 manship, and two basons of silver-gilt which 
 had come from Micklegarth and were beauti- 
 fully hammered with knops of fruit and flowers, 
 and bulls eating of them. The scarf was for 
 And, the hangings and the gold work for Gisli 
 and Thorkel, to be divided between them. Gisli 
 said that now he must certainly go to Seaboll. 
 
 And go he did, the next day, leaving Vestan 
 under promise not to quit the house. He went 
 over alone on horseback and arrived about noon. 
 He had the bale of goods with him. 
 
 Thorkel was lying on the hearth at full length, 
 and Thorgrim was standing with his back to 
 the fire. Thordis came in presently; but not 
 Asgerd. It looked to Gisli as if his coming had 
 been perceived and arrangements made accord- 
 ingly. 
 
THE GIFTS 113 
 
 Thorkel jumped up directly he saw who it 
 was and came down to greet his brother. Thor- 
 grim nodded his head, but made no motion. As 
 for Thordis, she stood midway between door 
 and high table, her head stiff, her colour high, 
 and her blue eyes astare. 
 
 Gisli addressed himself to Thorkel only, and 
 spoke plainly, after his fashion. You could not 
 have detected, unless you had known him well, 
 the love he had for his brother or his longing 
 for the happiness which he had once had and 
 now was lost. 
 
 ^^Yestan has come back from the sea,'' he 
 said, ^ ' and is now at Holl. He greets you well, 
 and since you are no longer where he hoped to 
 find you, sends you here the gifts which he was 
 to have made you." He opened the bale, took 
 out the gilt bason, put it on the table, and 
 showed the hangings by lifting up a flap of the 
 stuff. 
 
 Thorgrim spoke from the fire. **Vestan 
 might have brought his gifts over himself,'' but 
 Gisli kept his eyes upon his brother, and Thor- 
 
114 THE OUTLAW 
 
 kel himself did not take ^p the line which was 
 intended to help him. 
 
 Thorkel, indeed, was not happy about all this. 
 He was still sore where he had been wounded; 
 but the affair had been taken out of his hands, 
 and he knew not how to regain the hold of it. 
 He could not take these things — that he did 
 know. 
 
 **They are very fine — ^I can see that. But 
 they were gifts made to you, and you deserve 
 them. I think you should keep them for your- 
 self. '' 
 
 Thorgrim looked to Thordis as he said, *'So 
 I also should think.'' But Thordis only sniffed 
 and stared at the gold bason. 
 
 Gisli took it up in his plain way. **Tour 
 meaning is that you will not have them! I am 
 sorry for that." 
 
 '*Yes,'' said Thorkel, 'Hhat is what I mean. 
 I am sorry too. But how am I to repay such 
 
 gifts r' 
 
 ''Vestan asks no payment for gifts. That 
 is not his way," Gisli said; and then, **I hoped 
 you would have taken the things as they were 
 
THE GIFTS 115 
 
 intended — but if you will not, they must go back 
 with me/' In a painful silence he refolded the 
 stuff, wrapped up the bason and bestowed them 
 in his sack. Then without a look or word more 
 he went down the hall and out of the door, which 
 he shut after him. They heard him unfasten 
 his horse's tether from the ring, mount and ride 
 out of the garth. Thorkel, who was very un- 
 happy, went to the window and looked after 
 him. Thordis went back to the bower, and 
 Thorgrim, after a time of staring and silence, 
 left the fireplace, crossed over to Thorkel where 
 he stood and put his hand on his shoulder. 
 
XI 
 
 THE STOBM 
 
 THE storm began at midnight withont 
 warning. When they went to bed at 
 Holl it had been a clear sky of starlight; but at 
 midnight Gisli woke up to hear the wind roar- 
 ing and the rain lashing at the side of the house. 
 He sat up to listen to it, and thought that he 
 had never heard such a wind before. It seemed 
 to blow with a steady violence for some time, 
 and then to increase suddenly to such a fury of 
 attack that the timbers of the roof shook, and 
 his very bed quaked under him. He was in- 
 terested, but not then frightened ; after every fit 
 of fury he said to himself, ** There can be no 
 greater blast than that.'' But the next, when 
 it came, was certainly greater; and so it went 
 on. 
 
 Aud woke up and spoke to him. **What a 
 storm! Do you think the roof will bear ItT' 
 
 116 
 
THE STORM 117 
 
 **I have been wondering/^ he said — and as 
 he spoke the wind seemed to seize upon the 
 house with a snarling and biting sound, as if 
 it had caught it with teeth and claws. Then 
 with a rending and tearing, something gave 
 overhead, and they both felt rain upon their 
 faces. Gisli jumped out of bed and began put- 
 ting on some clothes. **I must go outside and 
 see after the cattle," he said. *^0h, my love,'* 
 said Aud, ** don't go just yef 
 
 Vestan came over to the bed. **The roof has 
 gone,'' he said, **and I am being wetted. Put 
 the lamp in a safe place and we can see what we 
 are doing." But the lamp's flame was blown 
 sideways as he was speaking, and went sud- 
 denly out. 
 
 **Stay here with Aud," said Q-isli, **and pull 
 the beds out of the drip. I must go out to the 
 byres." 
 
 **I will come with you," Vestan said. But 
 Grisli spoke shortly. **You will do no such 
 thing. I will get all the men up and have more 
 than enough help." He was dressed by that 
 time, with shoes on his feet and a cloak over his 
 
118 THE OUTLAW 
 
 shirt and breeches. They heard him cross the 
 hall and go to the door which led to the hinds' 
 quarters. After a time of waiting they heard 
 them all go out. The wind had not abated, and 
 the rain was rather increased. Vestan haled 
 the beds down the hall and found a dry place 
 for them. And now they both got into bed 
 again, and as they got warm they presently 
 dozed and slept. 
 
 Aud awoke with a start, feeling rather than 
 hearing somebody moving in the room. She 
 lay with wide-open eyes waiting and listening. 
 It was still dark in the room, but she could see 
 the grey square of the window. The wind and 
 rain were still furious. 
 
 Then she heard something more. **Who is 
 there? Is that you, GisliT' she said, and sat^ 
 up. She heard a sudden rustle, as of something 
 shot forward, and at the same moment a throt- 
 tled cry, **Ah, I am stabbed!" from Vestan. 
 She turned towards his bed and got out : as she 
 did it, again she heard light steps in the room. 
 
 ** Vestan, Vestan, what is itf" She went 
 
THE STORM 119 
 
 shaking to his bed, and felt for him. Her hand 
 went into something warm and wet. She 
 shrieked. **0h, oh, oh!'' Vestan did not 
 move. 
 
 And was cold all over, and her heart stood 
 still. Then, while she waited there, the blood 
 seemed to surge back and overload her head, 
 till her brows throbbed with the tide of it. She 
 left the bed and went down the hall to the men's 
 quarters. **Is any one here? Come and help 
 me." 
 
 A voice answered her, **I am here, mistress. 
 I come." She knew the voice of Thord, who 
 was called Faintheart at Holl, though he was 
 a man of Gisli's size and strength. 
 
 **Come quickly, bring a light. There has 
 been black work in the dark," she said. 
 
 Thord blundered with the flint and steel. His 
 hands were shaking already. At last he came 
 out, white-faced, with a light. **What is it, 
 mistress? Eh, what a night, what a night I " 
 
 Aud took the lamp from him and led the 
 way. She was desperate now, and dared to 
 know everything. Vestan lay on his back, with 
 
120 THE OUTLAW 
 
 his head thrown up and sideways. A great 
 spear, with a haft of a span's length, was driven 
 right through his chest. Blood still flowed 
 from the wound, but languidly. His eyes were 
 open, but glazed and fixed. His mouth was 
 shut, the teeth clenched. 
 
 Aud looked at him now. Pity made her half 
 divine. She seemed to stand above the wrongs 
 of men. **0h, my dear, my dear, who never 
 harmed a living creature.'' Then she turned 
 to Thord, who was shuddering behind her. 
 **Pull out the spear." 
 
 But the poor wretch durst not. ^^ Mistress, 
 don't ask me. I could not touch it." It was 
 getting slowly lighter. She saw that Thord 
 had sat down by the table. He was holding his 
 head, and saying, * * Oh, what will become of us ? " 
 Aud was suddenly angry. *^Go out and find 
 the master. Bring him to me. Go at once." 
 Thord went out like a sheep, and she was left 
 alone with Vestan. 
 
 She put out the lamp, which showed him hor- 
 ribly. In the dark you might have thought he 
 was peaceably asleep. She would do nothing 
 
THE STORM 121 
 
 to him till Gisli came in. She longed for Gisli 
 to be with her. 
 
 The wind had died away, though it was still 
 raining hard when she heard Gisli knocking his 
 feet against the doorpost. She went to meet 
 him. He came in, searching her face, to read 
 the trath. He read it. **My And, is it thatr' 
 She fell into his arms and began to cry bitterly. 
 He let her cry, but did not cry himself. Now 
 that the blow had fallen he knew that he had 
 known all along it must be so. He was not 
 shocked by it, and not yet angry; he did not 
 see clearly yet what remained for him to do. 
 He drew Aud along with him and stood by the 
 body. Then, when he remembered what Ves- 
 tan had been a few hours before, and all his 
 eagerness and zest of life — what that had been, 
 he broke down. **My brother, my brother!'' 
 was all he could say, and he fell on his knees 
 by the bed, and said it again and again — **My 
 brother, my brother I" 
 
 He told her to go and fetch warm water and 
 the grave-clouts, and while she was gone he 
 drew out the great spear. He looked at it 
 
122 THE OUTLAW^ 
 
 closely, but did not know it. He marvelled at 
 the length and breadth of the blade, and at the 
 thinness and temper of the steel. Knowing 
 much about smith's work, he saw at once that 
 it was not such steel as men made in his day. 
 Then, in a flash, Grayflanks, the broken sword, 
 came into his mind ; and he examined the handle 
 of this spear. It was new — he saw it plainly. 
 That satisfied him that the murderer was from 
 Seaboll; but not whether it was Thorgrim or 
 Thorkel. When Aud came back this new in- 
 terest in the business absorbed him. He was 
 able to wash and lay Vestan out as befitted, 
 and even to take steps towards his avenging. 
 
 Aud fetched out some of the women of the 
 house, and set them getting breakfast ready. 
 When they had eaten, Gisli called Gudrid, his 
 foster-child, to him, and told her that she was to 
 go over to Seaboll and tell the news there. 
 **And I want you to find out for me what men 
 are about there. Can you do that?" 
 
 Gudrid nodded. **Yes, I can. But they will 
 know the news." 
 
 ** Never mind what they know or don't know," 
 
THE STORM 123 
 
 said Gisli, **biit go in and tell them the news. 
 Now I trust you more than any one here — so you 
 won't fail me, I know." 
 
 Gudrid said no more — but went as she was 
 bid. She was a sharp-faced little girl, swarthy- 
 skinned, black-eyed, nearly fourteen years old, 
 though she looked younger. Between her and 
 her brother Geirmund was a good understand- 
 ing kept up. Gisli knew that he could trust 
 them both. 
 
 She came back in about an hour's time with 
 her report, which she delivered soberly and 
 without falter. **When I knocked at the door 
 it was opened at once. Thorgrim Bottlenose 
 opened it. He was in steel and had a sword in 
 his hand. He looked surprised to see me there. 
 I said I had a message for my cousin Thorkel; 
 and Thorkel himself called me to come in. I 
 went in. There were six men there, all of them 
 armed. Thorgrim Frey's Priest was standing 
 up before the fire; my cousin Thorkel had an 
 ax in his hand; it stood between his knees. 
 My cousin Thordis was not there. I heard 
 somebody crying beyond the wall— not Thordis. 
 
124 THE OUTLAW 
 
 I heard Thordis scolding. They all looked at 
 due. They waited for me to speak. I told 
 Thorkel that Vestan had been killed in the 
 night. He said, *Yon bring bad news.* Thor- 
 grim Bottlenose said, *It was a night of mis- 
 chief.' I said, *Who is that crying beyond the 
 walir Thorgrim said, * Nobody is crying — and 
 yet it were no wonder if the women mourned 
 at such news as yours.' Then nobody spoke, 
 but I still heard crying, and Thordis speaking 
 in the bower. 
 
 ** Thorgrim Frey's Priest spoke to Thorkel 
 and said, ^ There must be a worthy funeral of 
 such a man. He must be laid in a great bar- 
 row. We will all go and help.' Then he said 
 to me, ^Run you back and tell Gisli that we are 
 coming. He has had a great loss. Tell him 
 what I say.' I asked where Geirmund was. 
 Thorkel said, *He is not here. We will tell him 
 this news. Now run back with your message.' 
 So then I came home. I looked for Geirmund 
 outside the house, but could not see him any- 
 where." 
 
 Aud said to Gisli, **It was Asgerd crying in 
 
THE STOEM 125 
 
 the bower.'' Gisli did not answer her, but re- 
 mained in deep thought. Then he said to Gu- 
 drid, **It was Thorgrim Bottlenose opened the 
 door? How did he look?" 
 
 **He showed his teeth," said the child; *^and 
 his great nose looked to be on fire." 
 
 **But when he saw that it was you — what 
 then?" 
 
 **Then he opened his mouth, and I saw his 
 tongue. ' ' 
 
 *^Did he not say anything?" 
 **No. He only stared at me. I said I had a 
 message for Thorkel, and Thorkel called me at 
 once. ' ' 
 **And then you told him the news?" 
 **Yes, I did; but he was afraid of me." 
 **How do you know he was afraid?" 
 '* Because when I told him his eyes flickered, 
 like candles in a draught." 
 
 **And what did Thorgrim the Priest do?" 
 **He stood with his back to the fire, and looked 
 hard at me. Then he looked at Thorkel. Then 
 Thorkel said, *That is bad news.' " 
 Aud said, **It was not Thorkel who did this 
 
126 THE OUTLAW 
 
 murder. But what Gudrid saw in him is clear 
 enough. He knows who did it." Grisli kissed 
 Gudrid and sent her away. 
 
 When she was gone he said to his wife, *^You 
 think it was Thorgrim's deedV 
 
 She said, **I know it was.'* 
 
 Gisli knew it too in his heart. He was cer- 
 tain of the spear, and certain that Thorkel had 
 not used it on Vestan. He knew his brother to 
 the roots. He would no more kill than he would 
 do anything else. He was incapable of action. 
 It was one of the Thorgrims then — but which? 
 Bottlenose had a bad name. He was well 
 known for an outrageous dealer, for a man not 
 always answerable for what he did. But Gisli 
 did not believe he had done it. There was 
 only one man who would have murdered Vestan, 
 and that was the husband of Thordis. 
 
XII 
 
 CONVICTION 
 
 THEY laid Vestan, full-armed, in a long 
 boat, and oxen drew him to the hillside 
 between Holl and Seaboll where the howe was 
 to be heaped over him. All this was done be- 
 fore men came from Seaboll to help at the bury- 
 ing; but when they had the boat at the chosen 
 place, and were piling the howe behind it, Gisli 
 saw them riding over the heath. He saw Thor- 
 grim and Thorkel riding together in front, and 
 behind them an armed company with spears. 
 Some of his men saw them too ; but Gisli said, 
 *^Get on; get on. There is no call upon us to 
 await them.'' He himself took no notice of 
 them. 
 
 The men from Seaboll stayed at some two 
 spear-casts distance. Thorgrim and Thorkel 
 dismounted and came toward the burial. Still 
 Gisli took no heed of them, so they stood rather 
 uncertainly a little way off, watching. 
 
 127 
 
128 THE OUTLAW 
 
 By and by tlie heaped soil enclosed tHe long- 
 boat on three sides, and Gisli was looking his 
 last upon Vestan, and tears dimmed his eyes 
 and made him start. He turned, and for a mo- 
 ment his eyes met those of the great blaok- 
 bearded man beside him. It was only for a 
 moment, for Gisli turned his at once to the 
 dead; but Thorgrim's had not turned away. 
 
 Thorgrim spoke. ^^I am come, brother-in- 
 law, to do an office to the dead.'' 
 
 *'What more will you do?" said Gisli— but 
 Thorgrim did not change either his tone or his 
 purpose. 
 
 '*The hell-shoes must be put on him that he 
 may walk in safety and honour to Valhall. 
 Now I will bind them on him as is fitting." 
 
 Gisli could not refuse him. Thorgrim was 
 the priest of Frey and within his rights. More- 
 over, Thorkel was now come up and had put his 
 hand on Gisli 's shoulder. 
 
 '*Do it, then," Gisli said, and Thorgrim, who 
 had the shoes in his hand, tied them on the dead 
 man's feet with leather thongs. Then he stood 
 
CONVICTION 129 
 
 up and said, **If these shoes loosen on his road, 
 then say I know nothing of hell-shoes. '^ 
 
 The earth was heaped over Vestan, and the 
 company broke up. Thorgrim went back to 
 his -own men, mounted his horse and walked 
 away over the heath towards Seaboll. But 
 Thorkel stayed behind, sitting with Gisli on the 
 side of the hill. 
 
 Gisli was glad to have him there, for he was 
 a man who hungered for affection and who had 
 always loved his own people more strongly 
 than he had been loved. So when Thorkel 
 talked gently to him, he answered him gently. 
 
 Thorkel was very gentle. *^This is a terrible 
 thing for your house, '^ he said. *VWill you not 
 tell me how And doesT^ 
 
 *^Aud never says very much," said Gisli, 
 **but she feels it the deeplier for that. She 
 has not wept since the first moment when she 
 told me of what had been done. Before long 
 I must go over to Hest with her to see Gunnhild 
 and her sons. If she weeps with them it will 
 be well for her.'' 
 
130 THE OUTLAW 
 
 **Yes, yes/' said Thorkel. ^'Crjdng is good 
 for women. ' ' 
 
 It was in Gisli's mind to ask whether Asgerd 
 was still crying, and Thordis still scolding her 
 —but he prevented himself by biting his lip. 
 
 ^'And you, Gisli,'' Thorkel went on, ''how is 
 it with yourself f 
 
 Then Gisli let himself go. ''Do you ask me 
 that? I will tell you. I think day and night 
 upon my slain brother. At night I dream of 
 him. I see a snake come out of a certain house. 
 I see him writhing along the track. He worms 
 in beneath the door, and bites Vestan's neck. 
 Or a wolf comes out, with bright eyes, and his 
 tongue lolling out at the side, over his teeth. 
 And patiently he pads the road, and with mad 
 looks he bites Vestan's neck in the same place. 
 Then I wake in a sweat of fear, and wonder 
 what these things mean. Who should bite 
 Vest an but a snake or a wolf? Who but they? 
 Did you do it, brother?'' 
 
 Thorkel shuddered. "I did not. I did 
 not.'' 
 
 Gisli said, "You did not. I know you did not. 
 
CONVICTION 131 
 
 Yet I tell you that this deed was begun when 
 you separated yourself from me.'' 
 
 *'No, no/' said Thorkel. **Say no more 
 about it." 
 
 ^*I will say no more," said Gisli, '^for I know 
 no more certainly than that. But I will ask 
 you one thing more. What have you done with 
 the broken sword Grayflanks, which was an in- 
 heritance of woe to us from Kol the freedman?" 
 
 Thorkel showed the whites of his eyes, but 
 turned away his head quickly. There was si- 
 lence between the brothers for a while. 
 
 Thorkel was the first to recover himself. **I 
 grieve for Aud," he said. *^Tell me, does she 
 weep for him!" 
 
 **I have told you," said Gisli. ^^She has 
 wept, and she will weep again. But her tears 
 shall be staunched when the day for staunch- 
 ing comes. But that is not yet." He rose to 
 his feet. **Let us go — there is nothing more 
 to say." 
 
 ''There is this," said Thorkel, ''that I should 
 wish our love to endure." 
 
 "If you wish for that," said Gisli, "why then 
 
132 THE OUTLAT\^ 
 
 did you break up our household?" He did not 
 wait for an answer, but continued, * * As for me, 
 the love I had for you I have still. I am not 
 given to change." 
 
 Thorkel then said, *^You have a great heart, 
 and can afford to be generous. I cannot speak 
 as I would — this is not the time. But if you 
 are willing to be friends with me, then I beg of 
 you to let these troubles bide for a while. Men 
 will be talking, and a feud is easier made than 
 mended. Let us come together in what friend- 
 ship we can — I bind you to nothing — how can 
 
 *^What would you have, then?" Gisli asked. 
 
 **Why," said Thorkel, *^I would have sport 
 together the rest of the winter — and, if it may 
 be, feasts also." Gisli frowned. 
 
 *^You will do well not to come to my house 
 just now. You would not be welcome to Aud 
 — ^nor would any from SeaboU unless it were 
 Asgerd." 
 
 Thorkel said nothing about Asgerd, but again 
 urged that there should be sports. Gisli said 
 that if there were sports he would come — and 
 
CONVICTION 133 
 
 then they parted. He had a great deal of busi- 
 ness on hand before he could think of ice-games. 
 There was his roof to repair; there was a jour- 
 ney with Aud to Hest which must be made. 
 Vestan had left three sons, the eldest no more 
 than fourteen ; but he had a large kindred and 
 there would be no trouble about the estate. 
 
 But presently Thorkel, meeting him, urged 
 the matter of sports upon him. Let them have 
 games on the ice, he said, and a great gather- 
 ing, which would stay malicious tongues, and 
 do much towards peace. He was very earnest 
 about it, and Gisli consented. *^I will come, 
 since you wish it,'' he said, ^^but Aud will not 
 come, nor will I ask her — nor shall you. And I 
 will come upon these terms only, to which I 
 ask your attention — namely, that if it should 
 hereafter come to pass that you are struck as 
 I have been and feel it as cruelly, that you do 
 for my sake what I now do for yours. ' ' Thor- 
 kel flinched at that, and looked scared; but he 
 gave his word — **Be sure of me, brother, in 
 any such case as that.'' Then Gisli prepared 
 himself to match with SeaboU on the ice. 
 
134 THE OUTLAW 
 
 The game, which was the ball-game, was to 
 be played out in a tarn in the hills, on good and 
 hard ice. And said that she would not go, and 
 Gudrid stayed with Aud; Gisli took some of 
 the men with him, but not many. He found a 
 great gathering from SeaboU up there: thirty 
 or more men on the ice, with Thorgrim con- 
 spicuous in a red cloak; and on the hillside in 
 the sun many women come to see the game. He 
 saw Thordis at once, with the sun gleaming 
 in her hair, and beside her was Asgerd. He 
 did not go over to greet her, but made directly 
 for the men banded on the ice, and was received 
 with acclamations. Thorgrim came to him 
 with his hand out. ^'We are glad to see you 
 here. We all know that you are a champion 
 who may cause some of us to smart for it — but 
 it is more honour to have a fall from you than 
 give one to a meaner man." 
 
 Gisli made no reply save, **I am ready for 
 you.'' 
 
 Since he had brought so few with him it was 
 thought unfair to match Holl against Seaboll; 
 and after much loud talk it was settled that 
 
CONVICTION 135 
 
 Gisli and Thorgrim should choose the sides. 
 Directly that was agreed all men drew apart 
 and left those two in the midst of a ring. Gisli 
 then saw his foster-child Geirmund slip through 
 the press of men and range himself on his own 
 Slide. That pleased him, and although Geir- 
 mund was of little account in such a great game 
 as this, yet he chose him one of the first. Thor- 
 kel was chosen by Thorgrim and excused him- 
 self to Gisli. *^You see how it is. He thinks 
 he needs all the strength he can have against 
 such a player as you. But I hope you will win 
 the bout, and don't care who knows it.'' 
 
 **A game is only a game," said Gisli. **It 
 is nothing to me to win or lose." 
 
 **Put out your strength and you will win it," 
 Thorkel said. *'I tell you Thorgrim means to 
 best you if he can." 
 
 **We will see about it," said Gisli. The 
 sides lined up ; the ball lay in the midst. Gisli 
 and Thorgrim were to battle over it. In this 
 game you started the ball with your bat, and 
 when once set going you could forward it as 
 you would or could with the bat, with the foot, 
 
13e THE OUTLAW 
 
 by throwing or by miming with it in your arm. 
 So far it was like our hockey and football ; but 
 it had this great difference, that a man could 
 hold another to prevent his getting at the ball; 
 or he could throw him if he would. It was a 
 fierce game, in times when bodily hurt counted 
 for little beside hot blood. 
 
 Thorgrim was very strong, but he was heavy 
 and slow; Gisli was light and lithe as well as 
 strong. His body was in constant work, he was 
 temperate and cool-headed. The only thing in 
 which he could be called slow was in his pas- 
 sion. He was not easy to rouse. 
 
 The temper of the two men came out clearly 
 in the opening battle. Thorgrim wasted him- 
 self on the effort to break down Gisli 's attack. 
 He put all he had into his own. Gisli, not at 
 all serious, amused himself by playing with 
 him. After a time of thrust and parry, in which 
 Thorgrim could not once get near the ball, Gisli 
 worked it between his legs, slipped round be- 
 hind him and drove it far into the enemy ranks. 
 Thorgrim turned to go after him, and with his 
 shoulder would have charged him over. Gisli 
 
CONVICTION 137 
 
 saw him coining, and at the right moment darted 
 forward. Thorgrim fell heavily, and was slow 
 to rise. Gisli went back at once to help him 
 up — but Thorgrim would not have any help. 
 However the game swayed after this it was no- 
 ticeable that his greatest efforts were directed 
 against Gisli. 
 
 The first half of the game was declared for 
 Gisli 's party by three goals, and he began the 
 second part by a clear advantage. Gisli drove 
 the ball through and followed up his hit-off by 
 a charge in whrch he was well backed by his side. 
 After that in the fortunes of the day a man of 
 Thorgrim 's side got the ball and threw it to his 
 chief. Thorgrim ran with it, and ran well, but 
 Gisli bore down upon him like the wind, caught 
 and threw him. The ball left his arms and 
 flitted away over the ice ; Gisli would have run 
 for it, but Thorgrim caught him round the body 
 and held him. They wrestled together; and 
 now the heat latent in Gisli caught fire from his 
 adversary, and they wrestled in grim earnest. 
 For a time they swayed or rocked in conflict; 
 but Gisli 's hold went lower and lower until he 
 
138 THE OUTLAW 
 
 felt the leverage he wanted. All of a sudden 
 then he constricted his arms and, lifting Thor- 
 grim over his shoulder, pitched him head-first 
 into the ice. For a while he lay there as if he 
 were stunned, and many of the players gathered 
 about him. Gisli also stood and watched. 
 Then Thorgrim rose to his knees, white with 
 rage, and red with blood from a wound in his 
 forehead. His hands were cut too, and both 
 bleeding. He shook the blood out of his eyes 
 and peered at Gisli. Rage vibrated in his tones. 
 *^You can play games, and throw with the best,'' 
 he said ; * ^ I '11 not deny it. But I see down there 
 the prize I strove for, and it was well worth 
 a fall." 
 
 Gisli saw the direction of his blood-smeared 
 eyes, and turned to look at the barrow of Ves- 
 tan dark upon the hillside in the growing dusk. 
 **I see what you see, Thorgrim," he said. **It 
 will be long before I see anything else." With 
 that his spirit caught hold of his body and drove 
 it to savagery. He stooped to the ball, picked 
 it up and flung it at Thorgrim. It hit him full 
 in the face. Down he went again on his back. 
 
CONVICTION 139 
 
 Then Gisli turned to Thorkel. ** Brother, shall 
 we finish the game ? ' ' 
 
 ''My head/' said Thorkel, ''you have finished 
 it indeed." 
 
 "Not yet,'' said Gisli. 
 
XIII 
 
 GRAYFLANKS GOES HOME 
 
 FOE the full circle of another year Gisli 
 hid his conviction in his heart and did 
 nothing. And, watchful, left him alone. The 
 melting of snow, the spring sowing, lambing, 
 hay-time, corn-harvest went round again. 
 Thorgrim, who had ridden the hill-ways armed 
 and attended, now became more careless how 
 he went. Thorkel in soft raiment still sunned 
 himself in front of Seaboll, or walked the water- 
 side at Thingere and gossiped with them who 
 worked there. Thordis at the end of that sum- 
 mer knew herself with child. Asgerd, who had 
 grown thin and was pinched in the face, never- 
 theless had forgotten her sorrow. She had 
 no child, and consoled herself by saying that she 
 was no worse off than Aud. If driven into a 
 corner by Thordis, she would grow snappish, 
 and say that the Sours were a barren stock. 
 
 140 
 
GEAYFLANKS GOES HOME 141 
 
 **See Aud with no child, see me. There is a 
 curse upon your house, I do believe/' Thor- 
 dis cared nothing for that now that the child 
 within her had quickened. She laughed richly 
 and hugged herself. So the sun went round 
 again, and after harvest the nights begain to 
 encroach upon the light; the heavy mists 
 drooped over the mountain-tops and stayed 
 there all day ; by and by the wind began to moan 
 in the valley and drive the leaves out ; it turned 
 cold o' nights; one morning you saw the hills 
 clear of fog, and the first powder of snow upon 
 them. All was made ready at HoU, and Gisli 
 said that they must think about the winter feast 
 — for in those days the first and the last of win- 
 ter were celebrated with sacrifice and feast in 
 honour of Frey. 
 
 However, any feasting which might be done at 
 HoU was likely to be outdone at Seaboll, where 
 Thorgrim, who was Frey's priest, would be 
 sure to make a gathering of men from afar. 
 His chief estate lay at Thorsness, many valleys 
 south of Hawkdale, where his brother Bork Fat 
 saw to the management and had his two sons 
 
142 THE OUTLAW 
 
 in fostership. Thereabouts also Eyjolf, Ms 
 kinsman, lived and was a great man. These two 
 with their clansmen would come, and Thorgrim 
 Bottlenose, the Wizard and man of mischief, 
 and many more. There had been for the year 
 long no intercourse to speak about between HoU 
 and Seaboll. Gisli had never been into Thor- 
 grim 's house, but he had met Thorkel on the 
 waterside now and then, and had behaved to 
 him as he had always done. Asgerd and Aud 
 had met also at the house of Thorkel of Al- 
 vidra, at a wedding, and Asgerd had cried as 
 she had been kissed by Aud. She had asked 
 Aud to kiss her, who otherwise would not. 
 Then Geirmund, who was a fine lad of sixteen, 
 dark and shapely, had come up at whiles to 
 see his sister Gudrid — but that was all the com- 
 merce. Just before the winter began Gisli met 
 Thorkel, and heard that there was to be a feast 
 at Seaboll, with sixty guests there. *'The 
 house will be full, and every man of us drunk 
 for three days or four,'^ he said, and Gisli be- 
 lieved it. 
 
 Shortly after that Geirmund came to Holl and 
 
GEAYFLANKS GOES HOME 143 
 
 asked for Gisli. He generally went round the 
 house to the women's side and looked about for 
 Gudrid, who took him into the bower; but this 
 time he asked for Gisli, who overheard him and 
 called him in. 
 
 He came up the hall slowly and stood there 
 watching Gisli at work upon a pair of snow- 
 shoes. After a while, seeing he said nothing of 
 his errand, Gisli asked him about it. * ^ Tell me 
 what calls you here,'' he said. 
 
 Geirmund coloured up finely and did not know 
 how to begin. ** Speak out, man," says Gisli; 
 ^*no one will hurt you here." 
 
 **Nay, it's not so at all," the boy said; ^^but 
 the errand mislikes me." 
 
 Gisli left off his work and sat on the table. 
 '*Now you must tell it." 
 
 So Geirmund had to tell his story. He said 
 that they were all busy at Seaboll making the 
 house ready for the guests who were to come 
 at nightfall. The floors were bestrewn with 
 rush, and they were hanging the hall. Thordis 
 had said how well those rich hangings which 
 Vestan had offered would look; and Thorgrim 
 
144 THE OUTLAW 
 
 thought of it, and then asked Thorkel to send 
 and borrow them. Thorkel said he would not. 
 **It would only be for a day or two/' Thor- 
 grim said, but he would not hear of it. 
 
 Then Thorgrim said, **Well, I will send for 
 them — we can but try,'' and **he called me up," 
 said Geirmund, *^and told me to go over here 
 and fetch them. I said, ^I have other things 
 to do — and I don't care to ask Gisli such a 
 thing'; and that made Thorgrim angry. He 
 cuffed me across the chops, and said, * Go then 
 with that to the good.' I said, *If I must, I 
 must, but that shall come back again if I have 
 my way.' So much I said to him, and then I 
 went." 
 
 Gisli looked over at Aud, who was at the win- 
 dow. **What do you say? Will you let the 
 things go?" 
 
 She did not turn her head. **I would give 
 them nothing but their deserts," she said. *^It 
 is no use asking me about it. ' ' Then he asked 
 Geirmund, *^Does Thorkel wish for them, think 
 you?" 
 
GEAYFLANKS GOES HOME 145 
 
 Geirmund said, '*He was ashamed to ask you, 
 and so was Thordis. But they both want them, 
 I know. ' ' 
 
 ''That is enough,'' Gisli said. ''The things 
 shall go.'' He folded them up then and there, 
 wrapped them in a cloth, and put the bale over 
 Geirmund 's shoulder, saying, "I will walk with 
 you a part of the way." 
 
 He walked with him to the very gate of the 
 Seaboll garth, and stopping there, he said, 
 "Now, Geirmund, I have done you a good turn, 
 and may do you a many more. But now you 
 shall do me a good turn, for they say that one 
 hand washes another. What I ask of you is 
 to push back the bolts of the doors tonight. By 
 that means the cuff on the head you had may 
 come home." 
 
 Geirmund 's eyes blinked as he looked over 
 the country. Then he looked Gisli straight in 
 the face and asked him, "Will that bring harm 
 toThorkeir' 
 
 "It will not," said Gisli. 
 
 "It shall be done," he said. 
 
146 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Snow began to fall at dusk, just as the guests 
 came in. It fell in soft, thick, idle flakes, with 
 no kind to carry it, but without ceasing. At 
 midnight, when the household went to bed, Gisli 
 looked out of doors, and saw a uniform surface 
 of white— nearly a. feet deep in the garth; and 
 still the' flakes were floating down. He went 
 back into the house, took Grayflanks the spear 
 out of the chest where it had lain since he threw 
 it there all shaggy with Vestan's blood. Look- 
 ing at the blade, he saw that blood still there, 
 black and hard, like dry glue. He put his blue 
 cloak on, hid the spear in it, drew the hood over 
 his head, and called to And in a quiet, plain 
 voice. She came out to him, and stared. 
 
 **Are you going out — nowT* 
 
 **Yes,'' he said. *'I must look to Thorkel 
 Eich's horse. I forgot his fodder, and heard 
 him stamping just now. Do you come with me 
 and lock the gate after me. Then watch until I 
 come back, and let me in again. I shan't be 
 gone long.'' 
 
 She looked earnestly at him, holding a lamp 
 in her hand; she looked for some time, but he 
 
GKAYFLANKS GOES HOME 147 
 
 did not seem to notice. **Are you ready T' he 
 asked her. She went out without answering, 
 and came back with a cloak over her head. 
 * * Quite ready now. ' ' 
 
 She let him out by the women's door, and once 
 more he said, **Lock after me, and keep a good 
 watch. I shan^t be long gone.'* Then he went 
 down the snow-slope towards the river, and she 
 knew that he was not for foddering horses. 
 She was a grave, silent woman who seldom be- 
 trayed either joy or sorrow. She locked the 
 door, blew out the lamp, and sat down, folded 
 in her cloak. 
 
 Gisli could see his way clearly, but had to 
 tread carefully, because the snow had hidden the 
 rocks which strewed the river-bank. He walked 
 down-river until he came to Seaboll, then turned 
 up, and got over the wall of the barton and into 
 the byre where the cows were. As he had built 
 the house himself and knew every turn and an- 
 gle of it, he could go straight to his mark. He 
 found the small door which led from the byre 
 into the storehouse — unbolted. From the store- 
 
148 THE OUTLAW 
 
 house he passed into the kitchen, from thence 
 into the hall. At the entry he stood still, listen- 
 ing. 
 
 Two small lamps threw a local light and 
 showed dim forms stretched in sleep ; he heard 
 heavy breathing on all sides ; but no one stirred. 
 For a time he stood where he was in deep atten- 
 tion; then, having studied the way he wished 
 to go, he put his hand upon the nearest lamp 
 and extinguished it. There was now scarcely 
 any light at all, and he was about to move ; but 
 just then a sleeper turned, and he waited. He 
 saw an arm stretch upward, a hand feel its way 
 up the lamp, and then, as the flame was pinched 
 out, total darkness. He moved forward with 
 great care, but not very slowly, found a curtain 
 and passed under it, found a bed in the wall and 
 stood beside it. The occupants of it — for there 
 were two — were fast asleep. He put out his 
 hand and touched the nearest. He felt a warm 
 and soft breast, and withdrew his hand at once. 
 He had done a senseless thing; his hand was 
 icy. He put it into his shirt against his own 
 
GEAYFLANKS GOES HOME 149 
 
 skin, and waited. Thordis stirred and said, 
 * * What do you want ? Do you want me f ^ ^ But 
 Thorgrim still breathed heavily. **I thought 
 you touched me,'^ Thordis said, but no more. 
 Thorgrim had not woken; he was probably 
 heavy with drink. 
 
 When his hand was warm Gisli leaned over 
 the bed and touched Thorgrim on the shoulder. 
 Thorgrim awoke and turned towards his wife. 
 Then Gisli with the same hand pulled back the 
 bed-clothes. With the other he drove the spear 
 through Thorgrim ^s chest and pinned him to the 
 bed. Thorgrim groaned horribly — ^*0h, you 
 hurt, you hurt!'' he said, and struggled and 
 groaned again. Thordis shrieked — **He is 
 killed! Wake up!'' But Gisli was in the 
 store-room before any one knew what was said. 
 They were all drunk, as he had expected. 
 
 Gisli reached home by the way he had come. 
 It was still snowing steadily, and there would be 
 no footprints. Aud opened for him, and to- 
 gether they went to their bed. He kicked off 
 
150 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Ms frozen shoes, took off his cloak, and she saw 
 he was in his shirt and linen drawers. One 
 look between them told her all she wanted to 
 know. 
 
XIV 
 
 AFTBETASTE 
 
 THEEE was wild confusion in the dark at 
 Seaboll, but Geirmund had been able to 
 bolt the doors before the light came. It had 
 been he who extinguished one of them when 
 Gisli was in the hall. Awakened out of drunken 
 stupor, trampled or trampling in the crowded 
 hall, men did foolish and even horrible things, 
 while Thordis held on to the spear and shrieked 
 or laughed insanely. 
 
 But as soon as there was a light to see by, and 
 Thorkel had seen the dead man, he knew the 
 spear. He had his wits about him, while per- 
 haps no other man there had, unless you reckon 
 Geirmund as a man. Quick as thought he had 
 wrenched it out of the body, and then, when 
 Thordis was lying across her dead husband, he 
 had secreted the thing, being afraid lest Bot- 
 tlenose should see and know it, and make fur- 
 ther mischief. 
 
 151 
 
152 THE OUTLAW 
 
 The belief got about that the murderer was 
 in the house, and men looked scared at each 
 other. The thought sobered them quicker than 
 anything else could have done. The possibility 
 of being suspected made every man guarded in 
 what he said or did. 
 
 Bork, a brother of the dead, took the lead in 
 everything. He was a fat, red-headed man with 
 small blue eyes in a broad and freckled face. 
 Known to be rich, it was plain that he intended 
 to be the richer for the loss of the head of his 
 family. In the judgment of more than one in 
 the house he had already looked appetently at 
 Thordis. Bottlenose thought so. **Our neigh- 
 bour will console the widow and himself at a 
 stroke, you will see,'' It might be so, but Thor- 
 grim had left his mark behind him. 
 
 It was Bottlenose who was the first to say 
 that the news must go up to Holl. Eyolf, who 
 was near of kin to the dead — a lean and grey 
 man with a wintry smile — said that he would 
 go with him. **And we must go well-accom- 
 panied, moreover, less they should think up 
 there that all the power of our house is thrown 
 
AFTERTASTE 153 
 
 down with our kinsman/^ They went up the 
 valley a company of thirty spears, and Thord 
 Faintheart saw them coming and pelted home 
 scared to death. GisK and And were still in 
 bed when he came in out of breath and told 
 them what was afoot. *VMaster, a force of 
 armed men in the valley! And they report 
 bad news.'* 
 
 Gisli heard him calmly. **Let me rest for 
 once in my life,'' he said. He heard hoofs 
 thudding in the snow even as he turned to sleep 
 again. And could not pretend to sleep; but 
 she followed her husband's example as best she 
 could, and lay still, with very wide-open eyes. 
 
 Thorkel and Eyolf came into the hall and 
 Thorkel himself came through to the end in the 
 wall. The first thing he saw was a pair of 
 shoes, snow-encrusted, lying beside the bed. 
 He turned red in the face, and pushed them out 
 of sight underneath. By that time Gisli pre- 
 tended to awaken, to turn and recognize Thor- 
 kel. 
 
 '^Brother, good morning. What news brings 
 you here?" 
 
154 THE OUTLAW 
 
 ''The worst/* said Thorkel. ''Our kinsman 
 Thorgrim has been slain in his bed.'' 
 
 Gisli sat up and looked at him. 
 
 "He has not been long following Vestan," he 
 said. 
 
 And sat up in bed. Her hair was about her 
 face and shoulders. Her eyes were tragic. 
 Thorkel thought he saw fear in them, and an 
 asking for pity. 
 
 "He is a heavy loss to us, which will be felt 
 all over the country. We may be sure that his 
 death will be avenged.'' Then he waited for 
 Gisli to say something, but as he said nothing 
 at all, he went on. ' ' His kinsman Eyolf is here 
 with us. Would you wish to see him?" 
 
 "Why should I wish to see him?" said Gisli. 
 "I will get up and make myself ready, and 
 then I mil go down to Seaboll. It is only right 
 that Thorgrim should have honourable burial. 
 I will do my part of that, just as he came hither 
 to see me honour my own dead. If you wait 
 for me now I will go up with you." 
 
 "I will wait," said Thorkel, and went back 
 to the hall where Eyolf was smiling away 
 
AFTERTASTE 155 
 
 bleakly to himself. As lie smiled Ms pale eyes 
 were for ever on the search. Guests at HoU 
 came blinking from their beds and gathered 
 about the two armed visitors. It is hard to 
 say how ill news is known: it is felt in the air 
 rather than learned by word of mouth. To one 
 sensitive of bloodshed, the heavy silence, the 
 constraint, the breathless air of the chill morn- 
 ing in the hall were eloquent tongues. Pres- 
 ently the grave Aud came out of her chamber, 
 and served the visitors with horns of warm 
 drink. By now the peat fire was alight. 
 
 Thorkel went to the hearth and warmed him- 
 self. Cold and excitement had set his teeth 
 chattering. He wished to speak to Aud, but 
 was afraid to show himself to her as he was. 
 Eyolf, however, had something to say. He 
 looked at Aud over the rim of his horn, after 
 he had blown a half-circle into the froth. Even 
 when his mouth was hidden in a horn you could 
 see that he still smiled by the furrows in his 
 cheeks. 
 
 ** Mistress,'' he said, *^ that's a true saying 
 that ill work breeds." 
 
156 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Aud did not avoid his eyes. ^*It is as true," 
 she said, ^*as that good work breeds.'' 
 
 '*And how do yon look npon last night's 
 work?" There was knowledge to be seen in 
 the man's eyes and chilly grin, but she did not 
 seem to recognize it. **It may be that the dead 
 man knows most about that," she said; **and 
 the dead man's wife may know something." 
 
 Then Eyolf took a long pull at his horn. 
 **Ah," he said, when he had sucked his mous- 
 taches clean, **ah, and what Thordis does not 
 know she will find out. Be sure of it." 
 
 Aud said, **So would I do in her place; and 
 when I had found out I should keep it to my- 
 self." 
 
 Gisli came up to them cloaked and shod with 
 high boots. He looked from one to the other, 
 then missed his brother and searched for him. 
 He saw him facing the fire, his hands held out, 
 and went down the hall to him. **I am ready, 
 brother." 
 
 Thorkel showed the whites of his eyes. He 
 was too much affected to speak at first; and 
 when he did speak his voice was hoarse. **Are 
 
AFTERTASTE 157 
 
 you indeed coming with us? Are you for put- 
 ting your head into the wolf's den!'* 
 
 **I shall see my sister," Gisli said, but Thor- 
 kel burst out in an eager whisper. 
 
 ^'You have none. You will see a woman be- 
 side herself.'' 
 
 *^ If I do," said Gisli, '^I shall see what I did 
 not see when Aud's brother Vestan lay here 
 stabbed to death." Thorkel looked wildly into 
 the fire ; his forehead was drawn up in wrinkles ; 
 his eyes seemed staring out of their sockets. 
 
 *^ Different natures — what is that to the pur- 
 pose? But the spear has come back — -and she 
 knows it." 
 
 **Does she know who brought the spear 
 here?" Gisli asked him. **If she knows that, 
 she knows all. Come, be a man, and let us be 
 off." 
 
 They went out, a silent three from a silent 
 company, and took the way of SeaboU. There 
 was a track in the snow of many feet, but all 
 setting toward Holl. The snow had fallen af- 
 ter Gisli 's homefare, and covered his tracks of 
 going and returning. 
 
158 THE OUTLAW 
 
 When they came into the hall at SeaboU they 
 found Thorgrim laid on a trestle bier, armed 
 and in his red cloak. Asgerd crouched at his 
 feet, Thordis stood at his head. She was very 
 pale, with a burning patch on each cheek. She 
 turned to Gisli the face of a foe. The hall 
 was full of men, and all were armed. 
 
 Gisli went up to the bier and looked unmoved 
 upon the dead man's face. *^A great chieftain 
 lies there," he said, ^*and it is ill to see. I am 
 come, sister," he said, and turned to the fierce 
 woman, *^to say to you that I grieve for you, 
 as I daresay you grieved for me in my affliction. 
 What your man did for my dead I will do for 
 yours. You will raise a barrow over him in his 
 ship, and I will help you with all I have. So 
 he did to Vestan, so I will do to him." 
 
 Thordis said, **Do you dare come here to 
 say so ? " 
 
 Gisli said, **I have never been afraid to do 
 right." 
 
 '*If I were a man those would be your last 
 words," said Thordis, and looked meaningly 
 and directly to her armed guests. 
 
AFTERTASTE 159 
 
 But she looked in vain ; none of them stirred. 
 
 **If you were a man, Thordis,'' Gisli said, 
 **you would not talk like that. There is no 
 man here would touch me unarmed/' 
 
 Thorkel said at once, *^No, no. Thordis is 
 talking wildly. Nevertheless, brother, you had 
 best leave us just now. When the burying is 
 to be you shall be forewarned. We are obliged 
 to you for your proffer of service. A great 
 man lies there, the priest of Frey, and a man 
 not likely to be deserted by his friends. Never- 
 theless we shall be glad to see you when the 
 time comes.'' 
 
 Gisli nodded his head, and turned away. 
 Nobody moved to follow him, and Thordis took 
 the hint. 
 
 He went home to his guests, but avoided them 
 and called Aud to him. She followed him into 
 their chamber. He took her hand and made her 
 sit on the bed beside him. ** Heavy trouble is 
 about us," he said. '*I did what was right; 
 there was no way out of it — but Thordis means 
 my death." 
 
 Aud's grey eyes were heavy with care. **Be- 
 
160 THE OUTLAW 
 
 tween us we may avoid it/' she said. ** No- 
 body knows that you did it. ' ' 
 
 ^*She knows," said Gisli, * though not cer- 
 tainly. She will ask me straight, and I shall 
 not deny it." 
 
 *'How should you?" Aud said, **or why 
 should you? He killed my brother, and your 
 blood-kinsman. What else should he have?" 
 
 iGrisli said, *^I am sick of such deeds. Have 
 we men no better things to do? Is not the 
 whole earth ours? Have we nothing to do in 
 it?" 
 
 Aud said, *'If it pleases you, we will go away 
 from here. We will take Gudrid with us and 
 begone." 
 
 *' There is no escape from fate, my love," said 
 Gisli. '*I won't go away if I can help it, but 
 will do what should have been done before — sue 
 Thorgrim's folk at the Thing for Vestan's slay- 
 ing, and set off the one death against the other." 
 
 ''You must do that at once," said Aud, but 
 he told her. No. 
 
 *'I have said that I will be at the burial, and 
 
AFTERTASTE 161 
 
 so I will. They will think I fear them, and I 
 won't have that.'' 
 
 Aud stared at the fire. **You must do as 
 yon think right. You have always done that, 
 and I shall never stand in your way." 
 
 He kissed her for a true woman. 
 
XV 
 
 PASSION OF THORDIS 
 
 BOKK, the brother of Thorgrim, was called 
 the Fat, and with justice ; but a man may- 
 be fat and yet have a high mind. The Cod- 
 biter's sons had always held themselves of good 
 account, for they had been great people in 
 Thorsness, with the Priesthood in the family, 
 and a large clan owning them for chieftains. 
 He had made up his mind before the burial to 
 two things, but wanted one much more than the 
 other. One was to avenge his brother's death. 
 He knew that he must do it. The whole clan 
 would look to him for it, since until Thor- 
 grim's son Stein was come to manhood, the 
 chieftainship and the Priesthood were both 
 vested in him. He knew he must do it, but at 
 the same time he knew it would be a trouble- 
 some and a long business. He talked to Eyolf 
 about it. **If this man here, Thorkel, were any- 
 thing more than a pet calf it would be easy," 
 
 162 
 
PASSION OF THORDIS 163 
 
 he said. ** Suppose lie had the spirit of his 
 sister the widow — it would be done at the 
 burial. ' ' 
 
 **It would have been done this morning," said 
 Eyolf, **when he was there in the midst of us." 
 
 '*Yes, yes, I know that," said Bork; **but 
 that would have had a bad appearance — for we 
 weren^t sure that he was the man." 
 
 *'Are we sure now?" 
 
 '*Not yet; but we shall be when we are at 
 the howe-side. Thordis will ask him. He is 
 not the man to deny it." 
 
 *'Well," said Eyolf, ''and say that he owns 
 to it — will you slay him then and there I ' * 
 
 ''No," said Bork, "that is not my plan. My 
 plan is to wait until the Thorsness Thing and 
 get him made outlaw." 
 
 ' ' Will that suit the widow ? ' ' 
 
 "I hope," said Bork, "that she won't be a 
 widow by that time." 
 
 That was his second determination. He was 
 in love with Thordis, and had been so for many 
 a day. He saw his way to a handsome wife 
 and a fat inheritance, or at least the handling 
 
164 THE OUTLAW 
 
 of it, for he knew that Thordis was with child 
 by his dead brother. Certainly, he wasn't sure 
 that she would have him ; but he hoped to work 
 upon her feelings by promising requital for the 
 slaughter, and judged she would go far to be 
 sure of that. 
 
 **Now, Eyolf,'' he said, *^I count upon you 
 to help me in this affair. If Gisli is the man I 
 believe him to be we must go slowly to work, 
 or he will outwit us. I know he passes for a 
 slow-minded man; but let me tell you that no 
 man is so handy at all manner of work as Gisli 
 is without also being a man of shrewd mind. 
 Now the first thing he will do will be to de- 
 nounce the slayer of Vestan, you will see. We 
 must so manage it that we have him outlawed 
 before he can come at that.'' 
 
 *^You can do that," Eyolf said. ''At Thors- 
 ness you have the Thing in your hollow hand. 
 I advise you to get Bottlenose to work. Let 
 his magic forbid houseroom to the man, and we 
 are bound to run him down if he take to the 
 woods. He too will leave a handsome widow 
 behind him. I like those dark, proud, quiet 
 
PASSION OF THOEDIS 165 
 
 women myself. They bank their fires and last 
 the longer.'^ 
 
 **Ha,'* said Bork. **6ive me a roaring 
 blaze.'' 
 
 They took Bottlenose apart and talked to him 
 a long time. He made a fuss, said that the 
 dooms they wanted of him would be dangerous 
 and costly. He must have so much and so 
 much, or he would not touch it — and so on. 
 Bork bled freely to get his way, and Bottlenose 
 went to work. He gathered all the herbs and 
 roots needful, built up a great fire, put on his 
 cauldron, made an altar and a high seat and 
 moved round it, muttering spells and devilries. 
 He made a great stench on the fellside, but said 
 it was all accomplished. **No man," he said, 
 **will house the slayer more than once, and very 
 few so much as once." 
 
 They said, **Will he be slain on land or in 
 the water r' He said, '*0n land." 
 
 They asked, **Will there be any man beside 
 him when he fall?" He said, ^^ There will 
 not." 
 
 They asked, ^^Will he make a great defence?" 
 
166 THE OUTLAW 
 
 He said, *^He will — and it will be a long one — 
 and many will be sorry that the thing was ever 
 set on foot/^ 
 
 They asked, **Who will be sorry T* He said, 
 **Why, I shall be sorry — and that first of all/' 
 
 The burial was next day, and Gisli went to 
 it with all the guests in his house, who made 
 a good appearance, though nothing near so 
 numerous as the company that came from Sea- 
 boll. None of the women came. Thorgrim 
 was laid in his boat on the side of the hill, and 
 the ground heaped round him as the manner 
 was. Hell-shoes were on his feet, not of Gisli 's 
 tying ; but Gisli remembered how the dead man 
 bad bound them on Vestan's feet, and grew 
 excited as he thought of it. What he did was 
 very unlike him — and yet he did it. When the 
 earth was breast-high round the ship he went 
 down to the river below and picked out a great 
 rock from the bed. With that on his shoulder 
 he climbed the hill, climbed the mounded earth 
 and stood atop of it, looking down upon the 
 dead. All men stayed in their shovelling to 
 
PASSION OF THORDIS 167 
 
 stare at him. **Now hold off your work, all of 
 you/' he said, ** while I make fast that ship 
 with a mooring-stone.'^ So said, he lifted the 
 rock from his shoulder and swung it up over 
 his head. Down it fell with a crash into the 
 hold of the ship, and men felt the earth shake 
 under them. **Tell me that I know nothing of 
 mooring a ship, if any weather stir that stone,'' 
 he said. Then he turned away and came down 
 the heaped earth, and left the place, none car- 
 ing to stop him. 
 
 Bork looked at Eyolf, who was looking at 
 him. He pursed his lips together, and nodded 
 his head. Eyolf nodded his head too, grinning 
 playfully. Thorkel, who was scared, and 
 looked it, went after Gisli and overtook him. 
 
 *^ Brother, be careful what you are about," 
 he said. ^*You are going where I may not be 
 able to help you." 
 
 ** Small help have you ever given me, 
 brother," Gisli said. 
 
 **I did you a service the other day," said 
 Thorkel, **when I came to Holl with the news, 
 and found you in bed." 
 
168 THE OUTLAW 
 
 *^ What was that?" 
 
 *^At the foot of the bed was a pair of shoes 
 srow-cnisted, with the ice half -melted on them. 
 I kicked them under the bed before Eyolf came 
 in. And one other service I did you." 
 
 '^Name it." 
 
 **It was I who took the spear out of Thor- 
 grim's chest, and knew it again, and hid it 
 away. Good for you, maybe, that Thordis did 
 not see that." 
 
 *'I thank you," said Gisli. ''Yet it was true 
 the spear went home to who forged it." 
 
 ''Brother," said Thorkel, "upon my head 
 that was not I." 
 
 "Nay," said Gisli, "I don't think it. Did 
 I not say that it went home?" 
 
 "I can't answer you that — I can't answer 
 you. But I beg you to be careful. Our sister 
 Thordis is with child. Women, you know, are 
 not easily dealt with at such times." 
 
 "I have no dealings with women," Gisli said 
 shortly. ' ' With men I shall know how to deal. ' ' 
 
 "Yet in this matter," said Thorkel, "there 
 will be one woman to reckon with." 
 
PASSION OF THOKDIS 169 
 
 ''Then/' said Gisli, ** there will be two." 
 
 '*It snowed that night, and next day a great 
 mairel was reported at Seaboll, and heard of 
 at Holl, too. It was said that Thorgrim's howe 
 was untouched by the snow. Frey, they de- 
 clared, had sheltered his priest. 
 
 Gisli said he should go out there to see this 
 wonderful thing, and Aud went along with him. 
 
 It was true — as had been reported — that the 
 great mound of raw earth stood up dark out of 
 the white field. It was wet and smoking, but 
 no snow upon it anywhere. Aud's hold tight- 
 ened upon Gisli ^s arm, and her lips muttered, 
 ''What have we done?" but not audibly. 
 
 Gisli did not hear, or did not answer her; 
 his attention was occupied elsewhere. He had 
 seen a woman kneeling beside the mound, and 
 knew her for Thordis. He had seen what she 
 was at, and had swerved immediately from the 
 straight road and put the mound between Aud 
 and what he had seen. 
 
 But Aud could not be concealed, and Thor- 
 dis would not. She came round the barrow, 
 her face crimson and sweaty, her eyes haggard 
 
170 THE OUTLAW 
 
 and wild. They saw that her arms were 
 grimed to the elbows with soil, and her hands 
 bleeding. And clung to Gisli at the apparition ; 
 he stiffened but did not attempt any more to 
 avoid his sister. 
 
 Thordis was beside herself. She had for- 
 gotten her grudge, her more than suspicion; 
 she could think only of the smoking mound. 
 
 **You see — he lives, he lives. His heat 
 breaks through. Help me now to have him out 
 before he die. To work, to work!'* 
 
 The woman raved, and ran back to her work ; 
 fell on her knees and scrabbled at the earth like 
 a dog. Aud was moved with pity and went 
 directly to her. *^Come away, Thordis. It is 
 not so — you are mistaken. It cannot be. 
 Come with me — I will take you home.^' She 
 put a hand on her shoulder. 
 
 A sudden change shook Thordis, who stopped 
 her mad work and looked dreadfully at Aud. 
 **You!^' she said. ^'You, who are at the root 
 of all my troubles I You with your snug love, 
 who got and gave without asking! Go away 
 quickly, you, lest I do you harm.*^ She stared 
 
PASSION OF THOEDIS 171 
 
 about, as if collecting herself, then looked at the 
 hole she had made in the mound and began at it 
 afresh. Now Gisli felt that he must do some- 
 thing. This sight outraged him, and perhaps 
 he knew not what he said. 
 
 *^ Sister, give over, for Thorgrim is dead.'' 
 
 She took no notice, but went on with fury, 
 panting and crying, at her horrid task. 
 
 ^^Give over, I say. The man is dead. The 
 same spear which slew my blood-brother has 
 slain him. I know where it went, for I drove it 
 in.'' 
 
 Then Thordis stayed her work and looked at 
 her brother. **It was your icy hand I felt on 
 my breast?" 
 
 Gisli bowed his head. Thordis gave over, 
 and stood up. **I haven't worked for nothing. 
 I know what I wanted to know." 
 
 Aud pulled Gisli by the sleeve. **Come 
 away," she said, *'you have done yourself harm 
 enough." Thordis put her hands on her hips 
 and glared at Aud. 
 
 **No," she said, **he has not done himself 
 harm enough. He has left some for me to do." 
 
172 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Then she looked at Gisli, and he thought he 
 had never seen hatred in any eyes before. 
 *'From the beginning you have measured your- 
 self with me; from the beginning been my 
 enemy. Look to the end now — for there can 
 only be one end. You thought you had but one 
 enemy left when you slew Thorgrim like a 
 traitor in the night. You were wrong. You 
 had two.*' 
 
 She touched herself, and they both knew what 
 she meant. Aud shrank from her as from a 
 demon, and Gisli took her away and left Thor- 
 dis standing there. 
 
XVI 
 
 DISCOVERIES 
 
 THOEDIS went home to SeaboU in a flame 
 of discovery; she found Bork sitting by 
 the great tire. **Up with you, Bork/' she said; 
 '*I have it from the man's own mouth that he 
 slew your brother/' 
 
 Bork looked long at her without speaking, 
 then beckoned her nearer, and made her sit be- 
 side him. ** Softly fares the best,'' he said. 
 *^We have many things to settle before we come 
 to that." 
 
 **Why, what would you have?" she said. 
 
 Then Bork said, *^ There will be your brother 
 Thorkel to speak with. And we must think 
 how far this feud will be carried on — and by 
 whom. Thorkel, as I understand him, will 
 never work in the open against his brother 
 Gisli. And supposing that he did so — do you 
 think he would sit here overshadowed by such 
 
 173 
 
174 THE OUTLAW 
 
 a feud as Gisli's wife's folk would have against 
 him? He is not a man of that sort, but a man 
 of peace and good-fellowship, who loves to 
 stand well with his neighbours. And next I 
 come to myself. Well, I will be frank with 
 you. I belong to another country, where I 
 stand well enough. Until Thorgrim's sons are 
 of age I hold the tutorship of their lands and 
 gear; but all that is far away from here, and 
 when once I am there it is as if Gisli and 
 Hawkdale never existed. Moreover it can't be 
 denied that Gisli was provoked into what he did 
 — moreover, once more, that he is your blood 
 brother. Therefore, you see, there is much to 
 be thought of.'* 
 
 She hardly heard him to the end, but he 
 took her by the wrist and held her to her seat. 
 
 ** Gently, my dear, hear me out. Let me ask 
 what is to become of you if I carry this feud 
 to the end you desire, and set the whole country 
 alight thereby. You carry a child of Thor- 
 grim's; you have a fair portion here. Who 
 will defend you in it? Thorkel? Will he 
 satisfy youf 
 
DISCOVERIES 175 
 
 She fidgeted in her seat. **You know what 
 I think of Thorkel. I have not asked his help, 
 but yonrs/^ He looked closely at her. 
 
 * * And if I grant it you freely and fully — what 
 then!'* 
 
 Now she was thoughtfully looking into the 
 fire. 
 
 **What do you ask, then, in return f 
 
 *^I ask yourself, Thordis, and without you I 
 can do nothing.'' She frowned into the fire, 
 tossing her foot. Bork put his arm round her 
 and drew her to himself. 
 
 ** Marry me, Thordis, and your quarrel is 
 mine to the end.'* 
 
 She looked at him, curiously and more than 
 half irritated at the triviality of men. **Why, 
 what worth am I to you! Or what worth are 
 you to me, if such desires move you?" 
 
 Bork laughed and pulled her close. *^I think 
 a fair woman alive is worth many a man dead 
 and huried. I am in love with you now, and 
 have been this long time. Let us make a match 
 of it and you shan't repent it." 
 
 **Have me if you must," said Thordis, ^^but 
 
176 THE OUTLAW 
 
 don't fail me, or it will be you who repent it.'' 
 Thorkel was told when he came in, and Eyolf 
 too. Once his desire was moved, it was not 
 long before he was satisfied; and then, keep- 
 ing his word, he proposed to his brother-in-law 
 the burning of Holl. Thorkel was strongly 
 against it — indeed, for once, he took a line of 
 wisdom and said he would have nothing to do 
 with it. He said that at Thorsness Bork and 
 his family would have it all their own way, and 
 that nothing could prevent the outlawry of 
 Gisli. Once made an outlaw, his slayer would 
 go scatheless ; the feud would die with his death, 
 and the country be at peace. Bork, as a fact, 
 was only too ready to agree with him, and pro- 
 posed that Seaboll should be sold, and that all 
 their household should move out to Thorsness, 
 where the outlawry should be pursued on the 
 instant. That was long debated, for Thordis, 
 who was for the burning, held out against any 
 milder measures ; but she was overborne by the 
 others and forced to be content. 
 
 Thorkel came to see Gisli very early in the 
 morning. He seemed scared out of his wits to 
 
DISCOVERIES 177 
 
 be there, would not sit down, or allow the door 
 to be shut. 
 
 ^*I should not be here,'' he said. ''These 
 things are no concern of mine. I am a fool 
 to put my hand so close to the fire — but I must 
 warn you to look to yourself.'' 
 
 Gisli was strangely impassive. ''If I do look 
 to myself, it will be for the first time in my life. 
 But what am I to look for?" 
 
 Thorkel narrowed his eyes. "Thordis has 
 told the kinsmen what you told her. The 
 slaughter is declared then. What will you 
 do?" 
 
 Gisli said, "If I look to you first, as my 
 brother, it would not be strange." That put 
 Thorkel into a stew. 
 
 "You cannot look to me. I had no part in 
 it — I will not be dipped. I promise nothing 
 but warning — and that is more than convenient. 
 I advise you to be out of this country — and with 
 speed. No man can receive you here. Bottle- 
 nose has seen to it." 
 
 "Has he indeed?" said Gisli; "and what has 
 he done to that end?" Thorkel told him of the 
 
178 THE OUTLAW 
 
 enchantments and of the spells laid. Gisli 
 laughed, though And did not. 
 
 *'Bork marries Thordis," Thorkel said, *^and 
 we shall flit from here to Thorsness. They will 
 sue out your outlawry, and you will be any 
 man's mark. I tell you this at risk of my life 
 — but I am your brother after all, and can't 
 forget if 
 
 Gisli said, ''This is a great thing you do for 
 me, brother, to let me know that I am to die.'* 
 Thorkel grew hot, and the hotter in that he felt 
 the justice of the rebuke. 
 
 ''You forget what you have done to me — to 
 kill my brother-in-law and partner — a defence- 
 less man — in his sleep, too " 
 
 "And did he forget nothing? Did he not 
 slay my blood-brother and brother-in-law! 
 And for what reason! For none at all." 
 
 Thorkel cast about him. "He loved my wife 
 — ^he was her lover " 
 
 "And if he had been, that may have been 
 reason good for you, but was it reason for Thor- 
 grim to slay him?" said Gisli. Thorkel had 
 nothing to say. 
 
DISCOVERIES 179 
 
 '^And if Thorgrim slew him without quarrel, 
 should not Thorgrim pay the debt ? ' ' Again he 
 had nothing to say. 
 
 **But the charge is a lie/' Grisli said, *'and 
 you must know it well. Asgerd was brainsick 
 when she said she loved him, but never so brain- 
 sick as to say that he had ever looked at her 
 or thought about her. That part of the lie 
 was not hers. Was it yours?'' 
 
 **No, no," said Thorkel. ^*I never thought 
 it." 
 
 Gisli's eyes burned. **Get out of this, you 
 who do your slaughters at second hand, and let 
 me not see you again. You make me despair 
 of long legs and broad shoulders which carry 
 such a pin-point of heart between them." 
 Rage gave him a force he was not aware of. 
 He took Thorkel by the shoulders, turned him 
 about and pushed him to the door. At the 
 door he gave him a sounding kick behind which 
 sent him hurtling into the snow. There he 
 left him and came back to Aud. ^*I feel the 
 better for that," he said; but she was gravely 
 
180 THE OUTLAW 
 
 troubled and took no pleasure in ThorkePs dis- 
 comfiture. 
 
 Aud said, ' ' The end is at hand. They will be 
 too many for you, for they are bitter and you 
 have no anger against them. The war goes to 
 him whose rage sustains him. Now do you 
 heed me. Sell Holl as soon as may be, and let 
 us go up to Hest. My brother's sons are too 
 young to help us; but I have brothers-in-law, 
 three of them, all good men as you know. I 
 will send them to Thorsness to plead their 
 brother's slaughter against the outlawry. We 
 must lose no time, for I see now that Thordis 
 will lose none." 
 
 Gisli heard her, but seemed to take no notice 
 of what she said. ''The strokes follow each 
 other like steps in the snow. What can I do 
 against Fate?" Then Aud said in a low, hurt 
 voice, ''Am I nothing!" and he looked up sur- 
 prised, and saw her flush to cheeks and trem- 
 bling mouth. 
 
 "My love, you are all I have left. Why do 
 you ask such things?" 
 
DISCOVERIES 181 
 
 '^Because,'' said she, **we have yet a little 
 time, and it will be something to remember for 
 who is left/' She spoke now in a very low 
 voice, and would not look at him. But he looked 
 at her, and saw her more beautiful than she 
 had ever been before. Love then, within the 
 shadow of death, glowed in this temperate, 
 strange man — but he had caught light from his 
 wife. His eyes burned, he had nothing to say; 
 but he rose up and stood over her. His hand 
 touched her shoulder, and he CDuld feel her 
 tremble at his touch. So they stayed for a 
 while with beating hearts ; and then Aud arose 
 and gave herself into his arms. He led her 
 away. 
 
 At night he said, **Now I have wedded thee 
 a second time, and it behooves us to make the 
 best of what days remain to us. I arise in the 
 morning to provide for thee, my love, and for 
 thy sake I will live.'' 
 
 Aud clung to him. '*If I have put heart into 
 you," she said, *^to have regard to yourself, 
 I have done something." 
 
182 THE OUTLAW 
 
 '^The heart yon have put in me, my heart, 
 is yonr own. * ' And langhed. 
 
 **0 foolish one, and do you think that I gave 
 you my heart tonight ? ' ' 
 
 He said, *^I have reason to think if 
 
xvn 
 
 OUTLAWRY 
 
 NOTHING was done in a hurry because, 
 as Gisli had guessed, Bork was busy 
 about other things. He married Thordis and 
 assumed control of her share of Seaboll; then 
 Thordis lay in and was delivered of a boy, after- 
 wards famous by the name of Snorro. Had it 
 not been for that last great affair of hers, she 
 would have goaded Bork into violence against 
 Holl, or at least have driven him hard. But 
 Bork was a slow-moving man, and at bottom a 
 peaceable-minded man. He knew it was his 
 business to slay Gisli, but did not at all wish 
 to be slain himself. He was determined on the 
 outlawry, and had charged Eyolf to see to it 
 that nothing was done at Thorsness which might 
 impede it. Eyolf, grey, lean-faced, withered- 
 looking, was rather redoubtable down there, 
 and a great hand at lawsuits. His stretched 
 
 183 
 
184 THE OUTLAW 
 
 smile, which never failed him, depressed his 
 opponents. The result of it was that when 
 Vestan's brothers, Helgi, Sigurd and Vestgeir, 
 came to the Thing and craved redress for their 
 brother's murder, Eyolf was ready for them 
 with a great host, and fairly overawed the as- 
 sembly. He had little trouble in getting the 
 case held over until the next Session, showing 
 that Bork and Thordis must both be present and 
 both heard in mitigation of judgment. The 
 brothers could do nothing against him, so rode 
 home, and reported themselves at Holl. 
 
 The better part of the year passed over, and 
 Holl was sold. When the crops should be in 
 Gisli was prepared to flit, but he lingered on 
 as long as he could, happy in his recreated and 
 quickened love, asking nothing better of life 
 than to be with Aud. He saw nobody from 
 Seaboll and knew nothing of what was doing 
 there. It had been better for him if he had 
 kept his eyes upon his enemies, but that was 
 not his way. In his heart he knew very well 
 that they would get him in the end; his only 
 concern was to put that end as far from him 
 
OUTLAWRY 185 
 
 as possible. Loving And as lie did, while every 
 time lie clasped her might be the last, he was 
 thankful in his heart that it had been given 
 him. He told her nothing of it ; but she knew 
 it perfectly well, and was content to live so, 
 seeing no other way was possible. So they 
 kept the edge of life keen and sharp. 
 
 The news fell suddenly. Thorkel stood once 
 more on the threshold of Holl. Aud was in the 
 hall, heard his footsteps, saw his shadow at the 
 door, and went out to him. He looked older. 
 *^Well?'' she said. 
 
 **Not well,'' said he. **I have no reason to 
 expect a welcome here, yet I am come to warn 
 my brother, and at the risk of my good name 
 too.'' 
 
 **Gisli is abroad," Aud said. **You will find 
 him in the uplands." 
 
 **I cannot go there after him," Thorkel said. 
 **I wish he were here." 
 
 **You may trust me with your news," Aud 
 told him, **or if it must be, I will send for him. 
 Gudrid shall run up and fetch him home." 
 
 But Thorkel was in a stew. *^I cannot wait 
 
186 THE OUTLAW 
 
 — they wait for me. They think me in another 
 place altogether. Tell Gisli this, then, Aud, 
 that my brother-in-law Bork is now on the road 
 for Thorsness, where he will move your man's 
 outlawry, and surely obtain it. I, too, shall be 
 there, but let him not count upon me.'* 
 
 Aud flamed in scorn. **How have you ever 
 taught him to count upon you? Or did it seem 
 to you that he counted on you the last time you 
 were hereT' 
 
 Thorkel frowned. **It did not. He received 
 me with great indignity. It is almost more than 
 I can bear to set foot here again. Yet he is my 
 brother, and I will do this much for him, that 
 he shall not be taken unawares. I warn him 
 now that mischief is afoot — and more than that, 
 I warn him that Bork goes down in force. Let 
 not Gisli show himself. Let him avoid the 
 country. It is death to him.'' 
 
 Aud had now command over herself. *^I will 
 tell him," she said. **What else do you wish 
 me to tell him of yourself?" 
 
 Thorkel spread out his hands. '*0h, nothing 
 
OUTLAWEY 187 
 
 more. It is the uttermost. I consider I serve 
 him well. ' ' 
 
 **I will tell Gisli that," And said. Thorkel 
 then hesitated, as if he wished to say more, as 
 if, with some nrging, he might say more; but 
 And bit her lip lest she shonld do any nrging 
 of him, and with a great sigh Thorkel tnrned 
 away, and as soon as he was clear of the garth, 
 monnted and rode fast. 
 
 She told Gisli everything when he came in, 
 and he received the news calmly. **The first 
 move will be that Bork sets down his suit for 
 trial, '^ he said. **Then a summons will be 
 granted him against me, which he must deliver. 
 He will do it in force, so we may expect to see 
 Thorkel here again. What we must do now is 
 this, to send out your brothers-in-law once more 
 to Thorsness. As for you and me, my love, 
 we can be happy yet for awhile. ' ' 
 
 He had wisely judged the course of events, 
 but not wisely delayed his preparation. It was 
 near the end of the summer when Thorkel came 
 
188 THE OUTLAW 
 
 again to Holl, and asked for Gisli, and saw Mm. 
 Thorkel was out of breath, and apparently in 
 as much of a fume as before. Gisli 's quiet ways 
 exasperated him. 
 
 ^^How can you ask me whether I am in a 
 hurry? If you care nothing for yourself, can't 
 you have a thought for other men? I tell you 
 that I have given them the slip at the cost of a 
 lie which may be found out at any moment. As 
 it is, my horse is standing before a man's door 
 on the heath, and I am come here on a borrowed 
 beast, and all for your sake." 
 
 *^How does your change of horses help me?" 
 says Gisli, with an easy smile. 
 
 **Are you a fool?" cries his brother. **We 
 are come up sixty strong to Sandwater mouth. 
 Bork is there, Eyolf is there. Fighting Stein 
 and Thorodd, sons of the Codbiter's daughter 
 — and a following which could scour out the 
 dale. And you talk of changing horses. How 
 do you suppose I could get away— by telling 
 Bork that I was coming to warn you? Oh, you 
 fool, and he will be here before I can catch 
 him up." 
 
OUTLAWRY 189 
 
 Thorkel was now fairly hopping about with 
 impatience. ^^This is the last thing — the very 
 last I do for you. You imperil my life as well 
 as your own — and I am a man with responsi- 
 bilities. I cannot have it. Now I must be off. 
 Take my warning — avoid Bork. He is too 
 strong for you.^' 
 
 **And for you, too, brother, I see,'* said Gisli. 
 But Thorkel was pounding up the valley to the 
 heath. 
 
 Oisli and Aud looked at each other. * * Sweet- 
 heart, I'll get into the woods,'' he said. *^Do 
 you stay here till I come for you. Trust me, 
 I'll be back again. Now come and help me load 
 a sleigh." Aud made no fuss at all, but went 
 to help. 
 
 He loaded two sleighs with what he thought 
 he should want, and took Thord Faintheart with 
 him to drive one of them. As they were about 
 to start he suddenly stopped his team, and got 
 down. 
 
 *' Thord," he said to his thrall, *^I am over- 
 well-known by this cloak of mine, but they will 
 never hurt you, if you wear it. Change cloaks 
 
190 THE OUTLAW 
 
 with me, man, and if they should summon you 
 to Thorsness instead of me, it will do you no 
 harm, and may do me some good. Mind you, 
 never a word from you, whatever men may say 
 to you. Now then.'' 
 
 Thord did as he was bid, nothing doubted; 
 Gisli kissed Aud, and led his team out of the 
 garth. The way led down the river for a league 
 to a bridge of logs. That must be crossed, and 
 the track followed up on to the fells to the great 
 woods which crowned the first ridge. Once in 
 there, he could work back nearer home; but 
 needs must he first go down stream, because of 
 the bridge. 
 
 He made good speed, and was safely over 
 the bridge before dark. Thord the thrall was 
 not so lucky. True that he was over the bridge, 
 but by the time he was crossing Gisli was up the 
 fell and almost within the trees. So it was 
 that Bork and his party riding up the dale saw, 
 so they believed, Gisli in his sea-blue cloak 
 climbing the fell. The two young men, Stein 
 and Thorodd, rode out to pursue him — which 
 when the thrall perceived, he slipped out of the 
 
OUTLAWEY 191 
 
 sledge and set off running to the trees. The 
 pursuers overhauled him rapidly, and called 
 upon him by name — ^ ^ Vain to fly, Gisli ; we know 
 you. Stand, and it will be the better for you" 
 — and so on; but Thord the thrall ran on with 
 all his might. The young men spurred after 
 him, and when they were within range, one of 
 them, Thorodd, I think, stood up in his stir- 
 rups and aiming his spear, threw it with skill. 
 It went clean through the thrall, who tumbled 
 forward on his face and never moved again. 
 Bork from the bridge hallooed, *'Fine throw!'* 
 and the young men pressed on gaily after the 
 other man, the thrall as they supposed, whom 
 they had seen disappearing into the trees. But 
 they could find nothing of him for all they 
 searched up and down, so back they went to their 
 first capture. 
 
 Bork was there by now, and all the company. 
 They had turned the dead man over and found 
 out their mistake. Bork was vexed. ^^He has 
 been too many for us so far. I always knew 
 he was a clever one. Well, we are a large pack. 
 We will just quarter the wood until we find 
 
192 THE OUTLAW 
 
 him. What better proof do you want of his 
 guilt than this is? Gome, follow me/' They 
 rode off ; but Thorkel was not with them. He 
 had stayed by the bridge. 
 
 The wood was a great wood and not easy 
 quartering in the dusk. They found the sleigh, 
 but didn't touch it. *'No, no,'' Bork had com- 
 manded ; * ^ we are after a man, not a booty. ' ' So 
 they spread themselves as near as might be 
 to the breadth of the wood and beat towards the 
 head of the valley; Bork had the beat nearest 
 the river, and pushed on until it was dark. 
 Then he had to return if he did not wish to 
 spend the night there. It was not until the 
 party was met again at the bridge that he found 
 himself a man short. An East-country man 
 called Gort was not there. They whooped and 
 hallooed for him, but he never came, and with 
 good reason. He had heard a beat through the 
 thickets, and being a sharp-eyed fellow, had 
 seen something moving in a dense brake— he 
 knew not what. At a venture he had cast his 
 spear, and had actually hit Gisli in the calf 
 of his leg. He heard no sound, however, and 
 
OUTLAWRY 193 
 
 went to recover his spear, supposing he had 
 shot at a fox or some snch beast of covert. 
 As he came on, the spear flew out at him and 
 went through his neck. That was the end of 
 Gort. 
 
 But they did not stay long on the bridge for 
 their follower. There was much to do. They 
 all rode up the valley to HoU, and there Bork 
 and his two nephews dismounted and knocked 
 at the door. And opened it, a torch in her hand. 
 Her eyes were bright and her colour high, but 
 she had no fear. Gudrid the child was with her. 
 No men showed up. 
 
 **What is your willT' she asked of Bork. 
 
 *'A word with you, mistress,'^ he said. 
 
 All three of the men were strangers to her, 
 all being from Thorsness. After a moment's 
 hesitation she stood aside with her torch and 
 let them pass into the hall. Hospitality was 
 the custom, and she would not break it. The 
 fire was burning clear; there were no signs of 
 the master's flight. Gudrid fetched drink, and 
 And herself offered it. Everything was done 
 
194 THE OUTLAW 
 
 honourably. Bork drank to her, set down his 
 horn, wrung out his red beard, and blinked 
 many times as he sought for words. His eye- 
 lashes were straw-colour and glittered in the 
 torchlight. 
 
 *^ Mistress,'' he said, **I am Bork of Thors- 
 ness, and now of Seaboll in right of my wife 
 Thordis. Having told you so much, you will 
 understand why I am here. I have to do with 
 the master of this house, and not with you. But 
 if he is not here, as I believe he is not, it would 
 be within my rights to stay here until he re- 
 turn. Short of that, I am willing, if you are, 
 to deal with you on his behalf. Tell me how 
 you will have it.'' 
 
 **Gisli is not here," said Aud, **and I wish 
 you to treat with me." 
 
 **I will do so, then," said Bork. **I have a 
 summons for him to appear at the Thorsness 
 Thing next coming, to answer to a claim of out- 
 lawry against him. If you will pass your word 
 that the summons be delivered to him I will 
 leave it with you. Eemember that I have no 
 quarrel with yourself." 
 
OUTLAWEY 195 
 
 **I remember what I remember,'' said Aud, 
 '*as the sister of Vestan of Hesf 
 
 Bork spread out his hands. *^That was no 
 quarrel of mine. But answer me now." 
 
 ^*I will give your message to Gisli when he 
 returns/' Aud said. ^* There will be no trouble 
 about that." 
 
 Bork was not pleased, but was committed 
 to fair dealing. ^*Be it so. Now the suit of 
 outlawry is fairly afoot. We thank you, mis- 
 tress, for your hospitality, and withdraw as I 
 promised you. You will not have to complain 
 of anything done by men of mine." Then he 
 was for departing, but Aud, whose colour was 
 now like flame, had one more word to say. 
 
 ** Hospitality was your due ; but I marvel that 
 my brother-in-law Thorkel did not claim it also. 
 I think he would have made a good figure, stand- 
 ing here with you." Bork grew as red as his 
 own beard. 
 
 *^ Thorkel! You are welcome to Thorkel. 
 Do you think that he has set the suit moving?" 
 
 **I do not," said Aud; *^but I know that he 
 sits mounted beyond the garth. ' ' 
 
xvin 
 
 THE FLITTING 
 
 GISLI, sitting on a rock above Holl, had 
 seen the torchlights flare down below him 
 some thousand feet, and guessed at what was 
 going on. Still and cold was the night under 
 the clear stars, so still that he had heard men's 
 voices — Bork's raised in command, others dis- 
 senting or urging agreement ; presently a mur- 
 mur of confused sound certified him of horses 
 in movement. They went down the dale and 
 faded out. By that he concluded that the busi- 
 ness was done and the enemy off to the frith 
 and their ships down there. He could not be 
 sure until daylight, because they might set a 
 watch at the bridge; therefore he must spend 
 the night in the wood. That didn't disturb hi^: 
 at all, but he must find his sleigh. He had 
 bound up his wounded leg, wUch was now stiff 
 and throbbing : walking was a painful business ; 
 but, as he said, he had all night to do it in. 
 
 196 
 
THE FLITTING 197 
 
 He came upon it just where lie had left it; 
 his two ponies cropping the herbage directed 
 him by their snorting and shaking of harness. 
 Wrapt up in his furs, he took an uneasy sleep, 
 greatly disturbed by the smarting and beating 
 of his wound. 
 
 In the morning he drove slowly back towards 
 the bridge. The coast was clear. He found 
 the second sleigh where he had expected it to 
 be ; but before he reached that he came upon the 
 body of Thord his thrall stiff on his back and 
 staring up at the sky. He took back his own 
 cloak, and gave the poor wretch burial, raising 
 a cairn over him as seemed to him fitting. 
 When the rites were done he took his way home, 
 and half-way thither saw Grudrid perched on a 
 boulder to spy for him. She waved her hand, 
 then slipped down and ran home. Soon after 
 that he saw Aud awaiting him. He had her 
 in his arms within a few minutes. 
 
 *^ Sweetheart, we will be off, if may be, this 
 very day,'' he said, when he had heard all she 
 had to tell him. ''I will take you and the maid, 
 and all our gear down to the strand. A neigh- 
 
198 THE OUTLAW 
 
 bonr will lodge you while I go over to Hest and 
 bid our brothers to Thorsness to plead for us. 
 They will not prevail, but we must try it. Then 
 we take boat and out to sea.*' 
 
 * ' "Whither shall you goV she asked him. He 
 laughed at her. 
 
 '*Much you care where we go so long as we 
 are together.'' 
 
 *'That is true/' said she, ''but how can we 
 be together with you an outlaw?" 
 
 ''Leave that to me," he said. "I think we 
 shall have some years together yet." She 
 sighed. 
 
 "Yes, and then?" 
 
 "And then!" said Gisli. "What answer can 
 any man living give to such a question? And 
 then — we shall see." 
 
 They were not, in fact, clear of Holl for seven 
 nights, for he chose to take stock and forage 
 with him, and to get all that down to the strand 
 took time. He had to collect his money also 
 from the purchaser of Holl, and to charter a 
 sleigh to his liking. Thorkel Kich of Alvidra 
 furnished him with a good ship. 
 
THE FLITTING 199 
 
 Alone he crossed the frith and rode up to 
 Hest, nigh upon the fells, where Gunnhild, 
 Vestan's widow, and her two boys were still 
 living, within hail of them being the three 
 brothers-in-law, sons of Biartmar. Vestan's 
 two boys were fourteen and twelve years old; 
 Berg was the elder, a handsome lad, black and 
 high-coloured like his father ; and Helgi was the 
 other, meaner-looking than his brother, but with 
 more wit. Those two were by and listening to 
 the talk between Gisli and his brothers-in-law, 
 and when all their business was done and Gisli 
 sitting by the fire with a horn of mead, they 
 drew near to him and asked to see his weapons. 
 
 **I have but one with me,'' Gisli said, and 
 showed them a broad-bladed spear of thin grey 
 steel upon a haft made of ashwood. 
 
 Helgi, the younger boy, felt the edge. 
 ** That's a keen blade," he said, **and I war- 
 rant a fine temper.'' 
 
 **It has a queer temper," said Gisli, **and has 
 done mischief enough to my house and to 
 yours. ' ' 
 
 **Was it with that my father was killed?" 
 
200 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Gisli nodded. 
 
 **And with that you slew Thorgrim?^ 
 
 Gisli nodded. 
 
 **And what next?" 
 
 '^It may turn upon my house next,'' said 
 Gisli, *^ unless I make away with the thing. I 
 rather think Grayflanks has done murder 
 enough. ' ' 
 
 Berg, the elder boy, now had Grayflanks in 
 his hand. *'A sword became a spear!'' Then 
 he asked Gisli, ^^Will you let me have it instead 
 of throwing it into the frith?" 
 
 **What do you want with it?" 
 
 **0h, I don't know. I am turned fourteen 
 years." 
 
 Gisli looked him in the eyes. *'I know you 
 are, my lad, and for that reason I will keep 
 Grayflanks myself, rather than give it to you. 
 This blade, you must know, turns against its 
 owner. That has been the way of it ever since 
 my father did a wrong to get it. It has done 
 mischief enough to us all as it is. I keep it 
 and its mischief now to myself." 
 
 Late as it was, he went down to Aud that 
 
THE FLITTING 201 
 
 night, saying that he knew not how many more 
 nights he might have to spend with her, and 
 next day with all his gear aboard he sailed out 
 of Dyrafrith, turned Husaness, and sailed up 
 into Arnaf rith, which is a noble arm of the sea, 
 but no so broad that you cannot see a faint blue 
 line of the land on either side of you. Holding 
 up the frith for a day and a night, he brought 
 his ship into the narrows and still bore up in a 
 smooth and small water where the rocks come 
 down sheer into the sea, and it is hard to find 
 a landing-place, and still harder to understand 
 how a man may get a livelihood out of such a 
 country. He was now in Greirthiof sf rith, which 
 was where he intended to found a homestead 
 for Aud. 
 
 He ran ashore in a little cove of hard white 
 sand, got his skiff ashore, and with a hind or 
 two to help him, who came, as it seemed, out of 
 the rocks, like rabbits, he wound the ship up 
 high and dry, loaded his sleighs and climbed 
 slowly up the braeside. All day they climbed, 
 and just before dusk reached a level stretch of 
 grassland on the edge of a little tarn. A few 
 
202 THE OUTLAW 
 
 trees grew here, and there looked to be space 
 for a homestead. There indeed, by the end of 
 the winter, working with fury, helped by a few 
 men from the shore, and by And and the girl 
 too, he did succed in raising a fair timber house 
 — ^not large, but large enough. Before it was 
 done he had news that he was outlawed — not 
 from his brothers-in-law, who were ashamed 
 of the small part they had been able to play, but 
 from Thorkel Rich of Alvidra, to whom they 
 had confessed their discomfiture. ^ * Now then, ' ^ 
 he said, **the end of me is in sight.'' 
 
 **No, no,'' Alvidra said, *^not while I can give 
 thee shelter, man." 
 
 ' ' That will not be for long, ' ' Gisli said. * ' But 
 I have many a shift and turn to take yet, and 
 will lead fat Bork a pretty dance up and down 
 before he pins me to a comer." 
 
 Alvidra admired. **You shirk nothing. 
 You are a brave man. Yet I suppose life is a 
 sweet thing." 
 
 ^^It is a sweet thing to me," said Gisli, ** be- 
 cause love makes it so. If it were not for Aud, 
 I should not be bothered with life." 
 
XIX 
 
 THE HUNT IS UP 
 
 THE man from whom I had this tale in the 
 beginning says that Gisli lived three 
 years at Geirthiofsfrith with And in the house 
 which he had built her, and then another three 
 years wandering from great house to great 
 house, trying, but in vain, to procure help of the 
 great men who lived in them countenance at 
 the Assembly which might condone the out- 
 lawry, but he says that the witchcraft of Bot- 
 tlenose always prevailed ; no chief would house 
 him for long, and none take up his case at 
 Thorsness Thing. After these six years were 
 over, he goes on to say, Gisli gave up all at- 
 tempts to win friends and spent his time either 
 with Aud at the house, or in hiding-places which 
 he had made in the rocks which hem in the frith 
 on all sides but one. He had a cave on the north 
 side of the frith, and a lurking-place among the 
 
 203 
 
204 THE OUTLAW 
 
 crags on the south side ; and that was the holt 
 he chiefly favoured. 
 
 All this may be true ; anyhow I must accept 
 it, for I cannot contradict it. But now he says 
 that after those six years, three of steady so- 
 journ and three of wandering about, Bork the 
 Fat, down at Thorsness, hears of him up there 
 in the frith, and goes up to Otterdale to see 
 his friend and kinsman, Eyolf the Gray, There 
 I think him wrong. I think it more likely that 
 Eyolf the Gray told Bork of Gisli's where- 
 abouts ; and for this reason, that Otterdale runs 
 down into Arnarfrith, whereof Geirthiofsfrith 
 is an arm. At the Thing or elsewhere Eyolf 
 would meet Bork, and having the news in his 
 head would ask him whether that old outlawry 
 held or not. 
 
 *^Hold! I should think it held. When did 
 you ever know me to drop a scent T' 
 
 **Why, never before. Yet here is your man 
 within a bird's flight of my house, and you not 
 so much as come up the dale to learn about it.'' 
 
 **But I am learning about it now," says Bork. 
 **How did you find him?" 
 
THE HUNT IS UP 205 
 
 '*I did not find him then. But the Needle 
 did/' 
 
 The Needle was a thrall named Helgi, a thin, 
 silent and swift man with eyes like augers and 
 feet shod with wind. No doubt the Needle 
 pointed him out to Eyolf, and Eyolf to Bork. 
 
 However all that may be, Bork and Eyolf 
 came together, and Eyolf was persuaded to take 
 up the hunting of Gisli. Three hundred pounds 
 of silver was the price offered and accepted, 
 and the bullion was actually deposited at Ot- 
 terdale before Eyolf would do anything. That 
 settled, Bork the Fat went home and told Thor- 
 dis, his fierce and handsome wife, what had 
 been done. Thordis was nursing a third child. 
 Fair and rich did she look in the act; but re- 
 sentment still smouldered in her eyes, a grudge 
 against the world at large, not wholly her foot- 
 stool. To see so flaming a face, such angry eyes 
 above a breast of snow was unaccountable. 
 *'You have done after your kind,'* she said. 
 *'Now we shall see if Eyolf will do for hire what 
 you cannot do for love of your kindred. But 
 not as you deal did your brother Thorgrim. 
 
206 THE OUTLAW 
 
 No — ^he was a man. You and my brother Thor- 
 kel are a pair.'' Bork was annoyed. 
 
 ** Lucky for the world that there is not your 
 pair in it, I think. It is not every woman would 
 seek her brother's life." She bit her lip and 
 at the same time turned him her back. The 
 child at her breast fretted and strove. Thordis 
 satisfied him, and watched him as he sucked. 
 Bork shrugged his shoulders, and turned pres- 
 ently to his affairs. He had his consolations, 
 I believe; but Thordis was not a good house- 
 mate. 
 
 Eyolf lost no time in setting the Needle to 
 work. This man spent his days on the crags, 
 where he would sit motionless and watchful, 
 as a cat sits in long grass. Gisli was not long in 
 finding him at it. He shifted his quarters to 
 another creek, and then deliberately showed 
 himself at the old place. The Needle saw him, 
 and soon disappeared. Then Gisli knew that 
 he was being hunted. 
 
 Sure enough a boat was rowed up the frith 
 next day. Six men were standing up in the 
 stern, and one sat to steer. The helmsman was 
 
THE HUNT IS UP 207 
 
 Eyolf. They moored just below the cave, and 
 came cautiously climbing the rocks. Gisli, 
 watching them, saw them peering into the hole, 
 finally enter it. He waited till they came out ; 
 saw them descend, hold a conversation with 
 Eyolf, who still sat in his boat; then they 
 shipped the mooring-stone and rowed slowly 
 down the frith. He was now spied upon again, 
 so far as he knew, for a month or more — but 
 his mind was never easy after that first experi- 
 ence. 
 
 The next move in the game was unexpected 
 by Gisli. The Needle must have seen him un- 
 awares, for a boat came into Geirthiofsfrith 
 with eight men aboard, and six of them climbed 
 the fell and surrounded the house up there. 
 Gudrid saw them coming, and told Aud. She 
 said, **Let them come." 
 
 Eyolf himself with his light-blue eyes and 
 stretched smile came into the hall. Two others 
 were with him, all three armed. Aud, who 
 looked very young because she was so slim and 
 quick-moving, did not greet them, but stood 
 up to face them, one hand upon the table. 
 
208 THE OUTLAW 
 
 Eyolf, always smiling, waited for her to speak. 
 But slie had nothing to say. 
 
 Then he said, ** Mistress, yon know my er- 
 rand?*' 
 
 **I do not,'* said And. *^It is not easy to say 
 why three armed men should come against two 
 women. * * 
 
 **Nay, dame, nay," he said, rubbing his chin, 
 still smiling; *^we are come to see the good 
 man. ' * And looked him full in the face. 
 
 ^ * The only murder you will do here will be of 
 women. Gisli is not here.'* 
 
 The men looked at each other. One of them, 
 who was red in the face, told her that they did 
 not wish to hurt her. Eyolf, searching all cor- 
 ners of the room with his eyes, but avoiding 
 hers, added, *'No, no, we hope it will not come 
 to that.'* Then he said with a little chuckling 
 noise, **We are prepared to treat with you 
 handsomely. You will find us liberal in deal- 
 ing.** 
 
 **What do you mean by thatT* she asked 
 him. 
 
THE HUNT IS UP 209 
 
 He laughed again. **You know as well as I 
 do what I mean.*' 
 
 ''Nay/* she said, ''but it were better you 
 should explain yourself.** 
 
 Then he took a bag out of his breast, a heavy 
 bag, and emptied it on to the table—sliding, 
 shining, broad pieces of silver, which slipped 
 over one another like fish on a quay. And then 
 he looked at Aud: "Yours, ma*am, for a word.** 
 
 Aud, whose breath could be heard whistling 
 in her nostrils, came near and laid a hand on the 
 table. With a sweep of the hand she sent the 
 stuff flying across the hall. "You are an- 
 swered,** she said. 
 
 Eyolf was very angry, and though he still 
 smiled, the smile was terrible, a flat line across 
 the middle of his face like the grin of a skull. 
 He went close to Aud. "I can do you harm for 
 that insult,** he said. "I have known a wo- 
 man *s hand cut off for the like.** But Aud did 
 not flinch. 
 
 "I do not doubt but you have known it, and 
 no man better. Who should know it better 
 
210 THE OUTLAW 
 
 than jouV^ His men were collecting the coins 
 and shovelling them back into the bag. By this 
 time Eyolf was at the door. ** Follow me/' he 
 bade them, and turned once more to And, 
 *^ There can be but one end to this, as you know 
 very well. Next time I come to see you I ad- 
 vise you to behave yourself.'* She took no 
 notice of him at all, having her back turned. 
 But the girl Gudrid was looking at him all the 
 time with wide eyes, as if he were some kind of 
 a monster. 
 
 There was no more spying after Gisli for 
 several months ; nevertheless he thought it bet- 
 ter to be out of the country for the winter. At 
 that season his caves would be uninhabitable, 
 since he dare not light a fire ; and if he stayed at 
 home he might be pinched in the night and killed 
 like a rat in a drain. Aud wanted him to go 
 too; so he kissed her, promising to be back in 
 the spring. 
 
 *^I will trust you,'' she said. *^You have 
 never broken your word to me." Then she 
 clung to him with passion. ^*0h, how many 
 more winters can you promise me this and I be- 
 
THE HUNT IS UP 211 
 
 lieve itr' He felt sure that there could not 
 be many more, but would not tell her so. 
 
 '* Don't look too far forward, sweetheart. 
 Who knows his end? Trust me this once — and 
 next fall we will see.*' So she let him go. 
 
 He went South, over the watershed and down 
 to Bardastrand, where Thorkel his brother was 
 now living, within sound of the sea-waves. He 
 knocked at the door late at night, but Thorkel 
 got out of bed and opened to him. 
 
 **Who is it comes so lateT' 
 
 *^One,'' said Gisli, ^Vho dares not come 
 early. ' ' 
 
 **Isityou, Gisli r' 
 
 '^You know the worst of me,'' Gisli said. 
 
 Thorkel let him in, and stirred up the peat 
 fire. He was sleepy and dull: could not, or 
 did not, rouse himself. 
 
 Gisli stretched his hands to the fire. 
 
 '*Here am I," he said, ^^your brother, driven 
 from home by friends of yours for a business 
 which began by your folly. What do you mean 
 to do with me!" 
 
 Thorkel said feebly, ^^What can I do!" 
 
212 THE OUTLAW 
 
 **Ask yourself," said Gisli, ^^what I should 
 do, if you were in my place, and I in yours. ' * 
 
 Thorkel immediately betrayed his full knowl- 
 edge of what Gisli would have done. ^*No, no, 
 I cannot indeed. I told you that before. It is 
 asking too much. Money, wool, horses, fod- 
 der, what you will. But I cannot keep you here. 
 Indeed I cannot do it. I have a large estate — 
 I am committed in many ways. Asgerd is far 
 from well. Gisli," he said earnestly, **at peril 
 of my life — twice — I have warned you. That I 
 have done. Thordis, our sister, has expected 
 very differently of me. But no — I would not 
 budge — not one inch." 
 
 '^ Brave man," said Gisli to the fire, **a stout 
 heart." Thorkel, looking round, saw Asgerd 
 at the door of her bed-chamber. Her hair was 
 all about her. She had a blanket over her. 
 
 **What do you want?" he asked. She came 
 up to the fire. 
 
 **You must give Gisli shelter to-night. You 
 must do it." Gisli looked up. 
 
 **Poor girl," he said. 
 
 **A11 this trouble — I made it," said Asgerd. 
 
THE HUNT IS UP 213 
 
 ^^Now if you do not shelter him but drive him 
 out into the dark, I shall go with him. ' ' 
 **Poor girl/' said Gisli, *^and a brave girl.'' 
 Thorkel hated it, but he had to give way. 
 Gisli slept there one night, but went on next 
 day. He accepted some bales of wool which 
 he said would buy him a lodging for the winter. 
 Asgerd wished him to stop, telling that she 
 could force Thorkel into allowing it, but he 
 would not have that. He never blamed her, 
 never had blamed her for her share in the 
 trouble. Indeed, he had never seen her to speak 
 with since she left Holl. After the slaughter 
 of Vestan, Thordis had kept her close. He 
 told her now that he would not have Thorkel 
 driven into a corner on his account. **I have 
 done him harm enough," he said, ^* though never 
 willingly. I wish him no ill — still less would I 
 see you injured." He blessed her before he 
 went. 
 
 But to Thorkel he had something else to say. 
 **You best know how you have behaved in our 
 joint adventures. You best know how you can 
 justify yourself now. It is likely that my days 
 
214 THE OUTLAW 
 
 are counted, but something tells me that yours 
 will be shorter than mine. I think we shall not 
 meet again, Thorkel!'' His brother looked at 
 him as if he didn't understand what he was talk- 
 ing about; but Gisli had a spaegift in these 
 days. Dreams at night certified him. He 
 used to be led by a veiled woman through 
 a great hall where a number of fires were 
 burning. The first time she had taken him 
 through there had been seven of them; the 
 next time six; the next five. The last time he 
 had been there only three fires were alight. 
 
 Thorkel, as I say, stood staring stupidly at 
 his brother, and that made Gisli angry. 
 
 '^Yes, you are planted firm on the earth, you 
 think; you are a great man of lands and gear; 
 you are a befriended man ; chieftains make you 
 welcome when you go down to the booths. I 
 am like the hare that has no home, anybody's 
 quarry. Let it be so. I tell you that you will 
 be slain before me, though I have but three 
 years left to live. Think of that, and make your 
 peace while you may." Now Thorkel was an- 
 gry. 
 
THE HUNT IS UP 215 
 
 **Your spaedoms are nothing to me. You 
 seem to threaten me. Nevertheless go in 
 peace." 
 
 Gisli struck up over the mountain and har- 
 boured with a good soul at Vadil, a widow 
 woman named Thorgerd. 
 
XX 
 
 thoekel's bane 
 
 GISLI had seen truly. The end of Thor- 
 kel was this. There was a Thing to be 
 held at Thorskafirth, which is at the very end 
 of Broadfirth, and so in the middle of North 
 Iceland. All the great men of the North and 
 West would go there, as of course, and among 
 them, without a doubt, Thorkel from Combe, 
 and Bork from Thorsness. Gest the Wise, who 
 lived at Hagi on Bardastrand, was going too, 
 and was down on the shore overseeing his ship, 
 with all his people at work and about him. 
 Two lads, hatless, shoeless, limping, bleeding 
 in the feet, come down to the shore, and stand 
 at a little distance, looking at the men busy. 
 
 Strangers were not such a common sight, and 
 yet — for you never knew — none too welcome a 
 sight. Every one down there saw the lads, 
 but no one hailed them. Gest himself, who 
 
 216 
 
THORKEL'S BANE 217 
 
 saw everything, was one of the first to know 
 that they were there. After a quarter of an 
 hour or so he said quietly to a man near him, 
 *^Go and see who they are, and come back to 
 me with your news.'* 
 
 The man was not long gone. He came back 
 to Gest. ''They say that they are strangers 
 going to Thorkskafirth Thing. They ask to 
 speak with you.'' Gest nodded and took no no- 
 tice, but went on with his overseeing of the work 
 on the ship. When everything was going as he 
 wished, he gave a few directions and said he 
 would be back presently. Then he turned his 
 pony's head and walked him up to where the two 
 lads were standing. One of them was a head 
 taller than the other, very handsome, dark- 
 haired, red-brown skin, grey eyes, very white 
 teeth. The other boy was dark also, but pale 
 and freckled, not strong-looking. One of his 
 feet was bound up in a rag, and the other bleed- 
 ing. 
 
 ''Now, my lads," Gest said, "what is it you 
 want with me?" 
 
 The elder said, "We ask of you a passage up 
 
218 THE OUTLAW 
 
 the frith to the Thing. We are come a long way 
 to get it.'' 
 
 '* There's every sign of it," Gest said. 
 **Over the fells, I warrant, and over a snow- 
 field into the bargain." 
 
 ^^Yes, sir." 
 
 ''And all the way afoot?" 
 
 *'No, sir. We had a passage in a cattleboat 
 as far as Otterdale." 
 
 Gest's eyes flashed. ''You went ashore at 
 Otterdale? Did you see anything of Eyolf of 
 that place, or his people?" 
 
 "No. We saw no one there, and no one saw 
 us." 
 
 "Are you hungry?" 
 
 The boy looked at his brother. "He is hun- 
 gry. I don't care for myself." 
 
 "You shall be fed," Gest said. "Now, what 
 made you come here, to me?" 
 
 "If I tell you my name you will know," said 
 the lad. Gest held up his hand. 
 
 "Enough said. I will take you part of the 
 way at least. And you shall be sheltered down 
 here, and fed, and washed, on condition that 
 
THOEKEL'S BANE 219 
 
 you say nothing of yourselves to any one here. 
 I am sure you understand me. If you do not, 
 I am sorry, for then you must get somebody else 
 to take you up the frith. This is my condi- 
 tion. Do you accept it T ' 
 
 *'We accept it,*' the boy said, *^and thank 
 you kindly.*' 
 
 Gest said no more to them, but with a jerk 
 of his head beckoned them to follow him. He 
 took them to the house of one of his people, 
 gave them over to the goodwife, and left them 
 with her. That was all he saw of them until he 
 took them aboard, but of course he knew very 
 well that they were Berg and Helgi, the sons 
 of Vestan. He was one of the wisest of men> 
 was Gest, and of the same kindred as those boys 
 and Aud, Gisli 's wife. 
 
 When the ship was ready, Gest, having the 
 runagates aboard, sailed up the frith. He did 
 not steer a straight coarse, but held up by the 
 •shore, and stayed at Hallsteinsness, which is 
 about six hours' sailing from Thorskafrith. 
 Here he put the boys ashore. 
 
 *^You will be there before me," he said. 
 
220 THE OUTLAW 
 
 **Your road is over the shoulder, through that 
 great wood. You won't be alone on it. Keep 
 my condition faithfully, and if you see me here- 
 after at the Thing you will not know who I 
 am.'' They would have thanked him but he 
 waved them away. 
 
 The lads went up the hill and into the great 
 wood, which is called Teigwood in those parts. 
 Over the shoulder it was all downhill to Thors- 
 kafrith, and once out of the wood you could see 
 it all mapped out below you, the water lapping 
 on white sand, the shining rocks, Thorskafrith 
 town itself, with the river sprawling down from 
 the dales, this side the town, in a mead over- 
 looking the sea, the booths where the men of the 
 Thing abode. The harbour was crowded with 
 shipping, for many of the chiefs had come in. 
 
 The two boys went through the booths until 
 they came upon the last and meanest of them, 
 where a fat man in a leather apron stood. His 
 thumbs were in his apron, and one of his eyes 
 met theirs. The other could not, but looked 
 sideways at the weather. Other men were in 
 the hut, lying about, or mending their clothes. 
 
THORKEL^S BANE 221 
 
 Berg asked this man for a lodging, and the 
 man hummed a little tune. 
 
 **Well,*' he said, **we are a mixed company, 
 but we might find a corner. Who might you 
 two be by chance ?^^ 
 
 Berg told him that they were beggars, liv- 
 ing as they could. 
 
 *'And yet,'^ said their host, **you have a 
 mother and father, I suppose, like all the rest 
 of the world? ^' 
 
 Berg pitched him a long tale about a feud, 
 a house burning, and an escape by night. 
 Whether Halbiorn, which was the host's name, 
 believed it or not, is not to be known. He ac- 
 cepted the boys into his company of wastrels 
 — ten or twelve of them; and presently, as he 
 was going out to the ness to see the ships come 
 in, they went with him. All three sat down in 
 the bents. 
 
 It was a fine sight to see the ships come surg- 
 ing in on the rising tide. Six or eight sweeps 
 a side were used, for there was no wind. Al- 
 most the first one they saw was Gest's; but 
 Berg asked whose it was. 
 
222 THE OUTLAW 
 
 **6est's the Wise," they were told, ''of Hagi 
 on Bardastrand.'' 
 
 Close behind Gest's there came another ship, 
 very bravely painted, with a man at the stem 
 folded in a cloak, and brightly helmed. 
 
 ''Whose ship comes nowT* Berg asked. 
 
 "That is Thorkel Soursson from the Combe.'' 
 
 "He looks a fine man," Berg said, and Hal- 
 biorn agreed with a chuckle. 
 
 "Ah, and he is fine. And yet not so fine as 
 he believes himself to be." 
 
 Then they went to see the chieftains come 
 ashore; and after that there were plenty other 
 sights, so long as the daylight lasted. Late in 
 the evening, among the booths, word went ronnd 
 that Bork from Thorsness had just come in. 
 
 The morning broke fair; all the world was 
 early astir. Men like Bork Fat, who had come 
 in late overnight, were busy with their booths. 
 The place was crowded with those who worked 
 and those who looked on. Beggars were plenty. 
 Halbiom alone had sheltered fifteen of them 
 in his hut. 
 
 Berg and Helgi made their way down the line 
 
THOEKEL'S BANE 223 
 
 of booths, in no way distinguishable from other 
 vagabonds, except to eyes like Gest's. Those 
 far-seeing eyes were upon them as they passed 
 by his booth. 
 
 At the end of the street, in a place by itself 
 overlooking the sea, was a large booth, and be- 
 fore it, on a stool in the sun, sat a large man of 
 fine presence, and well dressed. His cloak was 
 round him, for the air was still fresh. On his 
 knees lay a sheathed sword. The two boys 
 stood within hail, looking at him. Helgi, the 
 young one, said to his brother, *^Who may that 
 great chief bef 
 
 *'Nay, how should I know?" 
 
 **I never saw a greater man than that,'' said 
 Helgi. 
 
 Thorkel heard him and laughed. 
 
 * * You speak well of me, ' ^ he said. * * My name 
 is Thorkel Soursson.'' The two boys came 
 closer. They looked at the sword on his knees. 
 
 Berg said, **I warrant that a noble sword." 
 
 *^It's not a bad sword," said Thorkel. 
 
 ' ' May I look at it f " he was asked. 
 
 Thorkel laughed again. *^You have a way 
 
224 THE OUTLAW 
 
 with you, it seems to me. But why not? Yes, 
 you may look at if 
 
 Berg took the sword in both hands, and 
 stepped back a pace or two. He turned it about 
 once or twice. Then with a jerk he had snapped 
 the peace-strings and had it naked in his hand. 
 
 *^Hey,'' said Thorkel, **I gave no leave for 
 that.'' 
 
 **I asked none,'' said Berg, and hewed at his 
 neck. Thorkel flushed crimson and fell for- 
 ward in a drench of blood. Berg dropped the 
 sword, turned and ran, Helgi after him. Men 
 looked up and saw Thorkel down. Some one 
 raised the cry, **A man is hit!" and many ran 
 to him. Berg and Helgi raced on. Passing 
 Bork's booth they saw that red-bearded chief 
 in the way. He asked, *^Who is it? What 
 are they all about down there?" Berg said 
 nothing, but dodged him and ran on. Helgi 
 said as he passed, *^They are asking whether 
 Vestan left daughters or sons behind him." 
 Then on he went. 
 
 All the beggars were on the move too, but 
 some of them were caught and detained, and 
 
THOKKEL^S BANE 225 
 
 Halbiorn, their host, among them. Bork took 
 up the affair, as his duty was. Who were those 
 boys who had passed him! Halbiorn told all 
 he knew, which was nothing. Meantime the 
 boys themselves were not to be found. Bork 
 went out to Gest's booth and saw Gest himself. 
 
 * * Thorkel is slain, ' ' says Bork. 
 
 Gest said, **A sad business for you.*' 
 
 *'Very bad. A near relation. My wife's 
 favourite brother. She will take it hard.'' 
 
 Gest said, '*I think it likely. Whom do you 
 suspect of the thing?" 
 
 Bork told him about the two lads. One of 
 them had said something about Vestan's sons 
 or daughters — Bork had hardly caught the 
 words, but knew that Vestan was mentioned. 
 *^You know of the feud with Gisli," he said. 
 **Now, put the thing together. I shall hardly 
 be wrong if I bring a suit of outlawry against 
 the sons of Vestan. What do you think?" 
 
 ''If you did that," said Gest slowly, ''I don't 
 think it would need a clever man to throw your 
 suit out. Suppose you brought it against me, 
 for instance, what should I do ? I should name 
 
226 THE OUTLAW 
 
 another man as the slayer, and bring witnesses. 
 Yon, having no witnesses, would be out. Who 
 saw the boys do the deed? Suppose that they 
 told you the truth, and that men were talking 
 about Vestan and his sons or daughters? 
 Would it not be a likely thing to talk about over 
 the body of Thorkel? I think you will fail. 
 You have not the boys here, you say. Nobody 
 knows who they are, or where they are. What 
 are you to do?'' 
 
 *' According to you, nothing," says Bork, very 
 red in the face. He knew quite well that Gest 
 was kinsman of Vestan — but that didn't help 
 him, for he didn't know, and was never told, 
 that Gest had brought the pair up to Thorska- 
 frith. If he had known that it might have 
 turned out differently. 
 
 They buried Thorkel in his boat, and heaped 
 a barrow over him. The Thing was held, and 
 men went their ways. Bork knew himself dis- 
 honoured, and felt it none the less for what 
 Thordis had to say. The result of it all was to 
 revive the feud against Gisli, as might have 
 been expected. 
 
THOEKEL'S BANE 227 
 
 As for the boys, they were ten days on the 
 fells before they reached Geirthiof sfrith. Gisli 
 was at home when they came, and asleep. He 
 never slept in the house for fear of being taken 
 or burned. He had made himself an earth 
 house underground, and could get a warning 
 from Aud at once if need were. 
 
 It was Aud who opened the door to them and 
 heard their account of themselves. She made 
 no comment, but gave them food and blankets. 
 '*I dare not take you in,*' she said. ^* Gisli is 
 at home, and will take it very hardly. He loved 
 his brother through all. You must sleep as you 
 can in the wood, and when you are rested I will 
 get you a boat to take you home. That is all 
 I can do.** They took it all as a matter of 
 course, and were away in two days* time. 
 
 But directly they had left the house Aud went 
 down to Gisli in his cave, and sat on his bed. 
 He was awake when she came in, and looked at 
 her without speaking. She looked gently and 
 gravely at him in her turn, as if she were think- 
 ing how she should frame what she had to 
 say. 
 
228 THE OUTLAW 
 
 It was Gisli who broke the silence. ^^Well, 
 Audr' he said. *^What now?'' 
 
 '*I am wondering," she said. 
 
 * * I see it. What is your wonder ? ' ' 
 
 **What you will say to me when I tell you 
 something. ' ' 
 
 He clasped his hands behind his head. **I 
 think I know your * something.' " 
 
 **0h, no, you cannot." 
 
 *'But I do. You will tell me that Thorkel is 
 slain." 
 
 She nodded her head. **Yes, and Vestan's 
 boys have slain him. There is no end to our 
 trouble. ' ' 
 
 Gisli said, ** There will soon be an end to it. 
 They have done no service to you and me. The 
 feud against me might have slept but for this." 
 He frowned and looked down his length lying 
 in the bed. 
 
 Aud touched his hand. *^ Gisli," she said. 
 He looked at her immediately, with eyes full 
 of patience. 
 
 *' Well, my love?" 
 
THOEKEL^S BANE 229 
 
 ^*I have brought you nothing but sorrow. ^I 
 have not given you a child — and you may even 
 thank me for that. And now it may be my kin- 
 dred that will bring about your death. What 
 have you to say to me nowf 
 
 He bade her kneel by him; he took her face 
 between his hands and kissed her mouth. He 
 said, **No man has had greater love than I, and 
 no woman deserved more thanks from a man 
 than you. You blame yourself wrongly. Ves- 
 tan was my friend before you were my beloved, 
 and Thordis hated me before we set foot in 
 Iceland.'' 
 
 '^But Thordis hates me more than you," said 
 Aud. Gisli kissed her again. 
 
 **Do you know why? Because you had the 
 love of a man, and gave him the love of a wo- 
 man, and because she had neither, to give or 
 to get. She grudged you your heart as well as 
 your joy, and neither riches nor her children 
 were worth anything to her compared with that. 
 I tell you, let all be as it must be. You and I 
 have had our share of the good things of this 
 
230 THE OUTLAW 
 
 world. Now come to bed, and comfort me while 
 you may — for the end is near.'* 
 
 In his dream only one fire showed in the 
 great hall. 
 
XXI 
 
 t 
 
 THB FIKB IN THE WOOD 
 
 THE chase after Gisli lasted another year, 
 with no good result to any one. But now 
 G^isli himself, warned by his dream, wandered 
 no more. He kept about Aud's house, and 
 awaited the end. The chase indeed had been 
 too hot, the escapes he had had too fine. There 
 had been a time when he would have found sport 
 in such things — but that time was past. He had 
 played the part of an idiot boy on Broadfrith 
 and been so close to Bork that he could have 
 knocked him over the head with an oar ; he had 
 been hidden in a woman's bed and Bork in the 
 house. But now he was tired, and ready to give 
 it up. And he thought that Aud was tired and 
 might be easier in her mind when she had got 
 the worst over. She might marry again per- 
 haps — but he thought that she would not. He 
 was so near the end now that the thought of 
 
 231 
 
232 THE OUTLAW 
 
 that did not make him hot all over or send the 
 blood surging to his head. So now it was that 
 he spent his days in the woods which closed 
 in the head of the frith, and his nights in the 
 cave which he had dug for himself by And's 
 house. 
 
 At Otterdale in the late autumn a man called 
 Howard was staying with Eyolf, having come 
 home from Norway. He was cousin to Gest the 
 Wise, but of no kindred to Gisli. Indeed he 
 knew nothing at all about Gisli and heard of 
 him now from Eyolf as a dangerous and cun- 
 ning outlaw whom it was everybody's business 
 to put out of the way. When Eyolf was about 
 sending Helgi the Needle out once more this 
 Howard said that he would go too. He did not 
 say that, on the whole, his sympathies lay with 
 the hunted rather than the hunter, though that 
 was the state of his case. They gave out that 
 they were come after fuel for the winter to any- 
 body whom they saw at the frith-head ; but there 
 were very few people living there. 
 
 Three days were spent in the woods with no 
 
THE FIRE IN THE WOOD 233 
 
 result. The weather was fine and still, but the 
 nights were cold. On the third afternoon, just 
 after sundown, the Needle pointed out smoke 
 rising on the hillside, south of the frith, they 
 themselves being on the north. Howard saw it 
 plainly enough, a column of blue smoke which 
 seemed to rise out of some crags jutting up 
 among the trees. The hour was late, after sun- 
 down, and it would soon be dark. 
 
 ''Yes, there's some one there,'' Howard said. 
 ''What are you going to do? We can't get 
 out there to-night." 
 
 "There's only one thing for it," the Needle 
 told him. "We must build a cairn here, and 
 take a sight from it. It must be a great cairn 
 too, or we shall never find it." 
 
 They set to work piling the cairn and went 
 on until it was pitchy dark. Howard then said 
 that he had had enough of it, and meant to 
 sleep for a spell. Helgi went on with his cairn 
 for a time ; but presently he too tired, and lay 
 down in his cloak. When he was down Howard 
 sat up and thought. 
 
 All his thoughts ran, "This is bad work for 
 
234 THE OUTLAW 
 
 me." And then lie began to say to himself, 
 **I must give the man a chance.'' He was 
 serious about it too, for he stood up and stone 
 by stone demolished the cairn, bringing it down 
 so low that nothing could have been seen of it 
 from the water. That done, he had, if pos- 
 sible, to prevent the Needle from making it up 
 again — no hard matter, he thought. 
 
 He picked up a great boulder in both hands, 
 and lumped it down with a crash close to Helgi's 
 head. Up sprang the Needle in a terror. 
 
 **What was that? Oh, my head, what was 
 that?'' 
 
 ** That's only one," says Howard, **but it 
 was near enough. There's a man in the wood 
 near about who has been at that sport all the 
 time." 
 
 **That is Gisli," says the Needle, **and I am 
 off. He is a mighty man, I can tell you. A 
 stone like that is nothing to him. And what 
 does he care for your life or mine? Not a pin- 
 head. Come, we will be running." 
 
 Even as he spoke he was scurrying down the 
 wood. Howard, chuckling, went down more 
 
THE FIEE IN THE WOOD 235 
 
 leisurely, and found Mm on the shore in a fume 
 to be off. **I wish you would hurry yourself,'' 
 he said. **You little know what that man is.'' 
 
 **I thought you were hunting him," says 
 Howard. *'It seems to me that he is hunting 
 you, rather." 
 
 **Come, come, we must be out of this," says 
 the Needle, hopping about. 
 
 They reported to Eyolf, who said, **Now then 
 we have him. ' ' With daylight he was out with 
 a boatload of armed men, and was rowed up to 
 the head of the frith. Never a sign of a cairn 
 to be seen. 
 
 ** How's this? And where 's your cairn?" 
 The Needle was gaping up the side of the moun- 
 tain. **It was there, for I built it." 
 
 **Yes, and somebody has unbuilt it for you. 
 I am being made a fool of between you." 
 
 They didn't know what to do next. Eyolf, 
 very unwilling to go back, said he would try 
 Aud once more. 
 
 They went up the hill to the house in a body. 
 Aud let them in, having no sign of fear. 6u- 
 drid stood by her. Howard looked long at her 
 
236 THE OUTLAW 
 
 and thought her a beautiful woman. Her sim- 
 plicity and gravity became her well. 
 
 Eyolf said he had come to talk plainly, and 
 wished to sit down. **You were unreasonable 
 to me the last time I came/' he said. *'I might 
 have been angry, and resented it — for I have 
 the law on my side, as you know. But here I 
 am, you see, without malice. Now I ask you 
 to tell me where Gisli is, and so save your 
 troubles and mine. There's no reason at all 
 why you and I should not be friends. Haven't 
 I showed that by coming here again after your 
 treatment of me last year?" 
 
 Aud said that she was prepared to hear him. 
 '^That's right," says Eyolf; ^Hhat is what I 
 want of you. Now I need not tell a handsome 
 woman that there are good fish in the sea, or 
 good men in Iceland; and I need not ask what 
 kind of a place this is for a woman to be penned 
 in. Are you inclined to better it! Are you 
 inclined to be at peace'? Hey, mistress?" 
 
 He was grinning in a very watery and 
 friendly manner. Howard watched Aud 
 sharply. She was looking to the ground; her 
 
THE FIEE IN THE WOOD 237 
 
 colour was high, as he saw her bosom rise and 
 fall quickly. Short of breath, was she? Per- 
 haps she was bitten. 
 
 Yes, she said, she did wish to be at peace. 
 
 *^I thought so,^' said Eyolf. *^WelI, I will 
 be very plain with you now. My friend Bork, 
 who is the pursuer in this case, has put into my 
 hands three hundred pounds of silver if I will 
 do his business for him. That same silver I 
 will put in your lap, neither more nor less, if 
 you will tell me what I want to know. Mind 
 you, it is to save time and misery. There is 
 only one end to an outlawry. That you know. 
 Why, Gisli himself, I dare swear, would be glad 
 to have it ended. Hey, mistress f' 
 
 Aud said she thought it likely. Then she 
 said, had he brought the silver with him? 
 
 '*Why no,'^ he said, *^not all of it. But I 
 have an earnest of it here, and will give you 
 a bond for the remainder.'' That said, he 
 brought out a great purse and began slipping 
 coin after coin on to the table. Presently there 
 was a great pile of it. Midway the counting, 
 Howard noticed that the girl Gudrid was cry- 
 
238 THE OUTLAW 
 
 ing. Before it was over she had gone out of the 
 hall. 
 
 There sat Eyolf smiling at his money. And, 
 who never raised her eyes, said, *^Do yon hand 
 me that over to nse as I will?'' 
 
 *'To be sure I do — on my terms.'' 
 
 She turned to a cupboard behind her and 
 brought out a bag. She counted the money as 
 she dropped it in. She tied up the bag with 
 twine. She lifted it with both hands and 
 seemed to swing it, as if weighing it. Eyolf 
 smiled and fingered his beard. And swung the 
 sack a few times, and suddenly brought it with 
 a crash into Eyolf 's face. It caught him on 
 the side of the nose and knocked him down. 
 The blood was all over him. 
 
 ''You dog," she said, ''who thought me as 
 vile as you. Have you not learned where to go 
 marketing yet? Now go home and say that a 
 woman has broken your nose. Go home, and 
 grin in your wife's face. You will get nothing 
 better out of me." 
 
 Eyolf, in a fury of pain and rage, sat up. He 
 
THE FIRE IN THE WOOD 239 
 
 had to hold his nose, but he managed to speak. 
 '*Men,'^ he said, ^^make an end of her.'* 
 
 *^If I know them they will do nothing of the 
 sort. The business is bad enough without that. 
 So far as I see, you have brought it on your- 
 self.'* Eyolf had no more to say. His men 
 helped him out. Howard stayed behind. 
 
 **If all men had wives like you there would 
 be no Eyolf s in it," he said. She looked at 
 him gratefully. 
 
 **I would say that if all women had men like 
 mine there would be no need for outlawries. 
 All that he has ever done has been to serve 
 other folk.*' 
 
 *^I wish I could serve you better," says 
 Howard. 
 
 *'You cannot. You have saved my life, and 
 Gisli will thank you for that. Will you take 
 this ring from me ! He gave it me. He would 
 wish you to have it." 
 
 '*! will take it thankfully," he said, **in 
 memory of a brave woman." 
 
 Howard sent for his gear from Otterdale and 
 
240 THE OUTLAW 
 
 took ship to Bardastrand. He did not feel that 
 he could see Eyolf again. 
 
 The Needle said that it was plain Gisli was 
 close at hand. '*The girl slipped away to tell 
 him that And was selling his life. He had best 
 bum him out.'' 
 
XXII 
 
 GBAYFLANKS ENDS IT 
 
 GISLI had laughed when Gudrid came and 
 told him with tears that And had lost 
 her mind and was taking Eyolf s money. 
 
 *^What are you telling me? She would as 
 soon take his kisses.'' Thinking it over, he 
 saw what the Needle had seen. *^They will 
 know me at hand, and will try to burn me out. 
 This is the end of if 
 
 His dreams began again. He was led into 
 the great hall. It was dark and cold, and in the 
 dark he could see white ash heaped upon the 
 hearths, but no fire anywhere. Then he saw 
 himself lying on wet grass, and a woman whose 
 face was hidden knelt beside him and bound up 
 his head in a bloody clout. On the trees all 
 about there were hawks sitting. Their beaks 
 were red and wet, and a smear of clotted blood 
 was upon their breasts. Some of his dreams he 
 
 241 
 
242 THE OUTLAW 
 
 told to Aud, but most of them he kept to him- 
 self. 
 
 He was out and about in the woods all day, 
 but dared not go very far afield lest Eyolf's 
 men should come and burn the house. Then, 
 on the morning of the first frost, when the 
 leaves were falling all about like great snow- 
 flakes, he saw a ship rowing up the frith. He 
 looked at it for some time, then turned, and 
 went home. 
 
 Aud saw that he was pale; but he spoke 
 quietly as if the matter was some everyday 
 business. ^^We h-ad better be going over to the 
 South crags, ' ' he said. * * You a^nd Gudrid should 
 come with me." 
 
 Aud was true to herself. ** Shall we go at 
 onceV 
 
 **Yes," he said, '*the sooner the better.*' 
 
 She saw him kneeling at a coffer, saw him 
 take out a short-handled spear, and knew it at 
 once. He came back to her, with his hat and 
 cloak on, the spear in his hand. 
 
 **Are you ready?" he asked her. She called 
 Gudrid. He gave each of them a club to carry. 
 
GRAYFLANKS ENDS IT 243 
 
 ' * The trees are wet with rime, ' ' he said. * ' You 
 can keep them out of the way with those. ' * 
 
 Then they left the house, he leading the way 
 in and out of the thickets. No one said any- 
 thing, but Gisli kept looking behind him to see 
 if they were followed. So they made their way 
 round the head of the frith, and reached the 
 hiding-place by noon. They made a meal, and 
 Gisli said that he would try to sleep if they 
 would keep a look-out. 
 
 He lay down with his head on Aud's knee. 
 Gudrid crouched at the entry of the cave and 
 watched the woods. It was a still, sunny noon, 
 very beautiful and peaceful. 
 
 After a time of silence, Gisli lying very still 
 with his eyes closed, Aud immovable as a wo- 
 man of stone, Gudrid saw something moving 
 in the bushes to the right. Without turning her 
 eyes away, she said, **Men are coming this 
 way.*' Gisli opened his eyes and sat up. He 
 went out of the cave and looked over the woods. 
 **They have traced us in the rime. Come after 
 me on to the rocks.** They climbed the rocks 
 and reached a level place a few yards breadth. 
 
244 THE OUTLAW 
 
 backed by a tall cliff of grey stone. ** There is 
 room for all of us here/' he said. 
 
 Below them, presently, they saw the men. 
 Eyolf was leading, an ax in his hand. Helgi 
 the Needle came behind him, then a tall man 
 with a black beard and very red face; then 
 others unknown to them — twelve in all. Eyolf, 
 looking np, saw his quarry, and pointed it out. 
 They had a short conversation and then began 
 to climb the rocks. They stopped when they 
 reached the platform in front of the cave. 
 Then Eyolf looked up again, and they could see 
 the black scar on one side of his nose. **He 
 carries your mark on him," said Gisli. Aud 
 did not answer. 
 
 It was Eyolf who spoke first. "You had best 
 stay where you are. There can only be one end 
 to this. You are known for a brave man. Let 
 us settle accounts here." 
 
 ' * I shan 't move, ' ' Gisli said. * ^ Come up here 
 when you are ready. And come up yourself, 
 for it is your quarrel, and not your friends'." 
 
 Eyolf grinned fearfully. ** Leave that to 
 
GRAYFLANKS ENDS IT 245 
 
 ''If I do that/' GisH said, '^I leave it to the 
 others. You are a man who hires.'' 
 
 Eyolf talked with the other men, and chiefly 
 with Helgi. Then all of them were seen to be 
 egging on the Needle, who looked keenly up 
 the rocks, and seemed doubtful. He and 
 Eyolf talked together again; and then Helgi 
 made a dash at the rocks, an ax in his hand. 
 At the same time Eyolf went behind his com- 
 pany and disappeared. 
 
 Gisli had put Grayflanks up against the cliff, 
 and had his sword drawn. Helgi came up with 
 a rush, and reached the platform where the 
 three were. There as he stood swaying, his 
 ax in the air, Gisli drave a fearful blow and 
 shore him through at the waist. He went top- 
 pling back, the halves of him two ways ; but by 
 that time Eyolf was up the rocks on the other 
 side, and was seen by Aud. Before he could 
 get a fair footing she had swung her club aloft, 
 and brought it down upon his right arm at the 
 elbow. He cried out, '^She has broken my 
 arm!" and fell, but saved himself by catching 
 at a root with his left hand. He slid down the 
 
246 THE OUTLAW 
 
 steep to where Hs friends were, and there he 
 sat down and clasped his smashed elbow. 
 
 Gisli knew that no man ever had a wife like 
 liis — at the same time she had done him harm 
 while she meant his good. He would have set- 
 tled Eyolf if she had left it to him. 
 
 All this went through his head in a flash, 
 for they gave him no time to waste on thinking. 
 Twelve of them came up the rocks together. 
 Two were sent down with boulders; two he 
 killed with the sword; another cast a spear at 
 him, but he cut it in half with the sword. The 
 rest shambled down; and then he made a mis- 
 take. He had snatched up Grayflanks, and now 
 hurled it at his retreating enemies. It went 
 clean through a man's back between the shoul- 
 ders and dropped him stone-dead. Eyolf 
 called out sharply, '* Bring me that spear,'' and 
 soon held in his hands what Gisli knew was his 
 bane. 
 
 Four men had been killed by now, and two 
 knocked out of fight. No one came up the rocks 
 for a time, but a shower of spears was begun 
 which threatened the lives of Aud and Gudrid. 
 
GRAYFLANKS ENDS IT 247 
 
 Gisli had to shift his quarters, and did so in 
 an instant. He took a standing leap from 
 where he was on to another rock, and thence still 
 higher to a flat place above him. There he 
 called to the foe to come out ; but it was not so 
 good a place for him. It had no back wall and 
 could be reached from two sides. 
 
 That was how they got him at last. A party 
 of them held him in front, a second came up 
 behind. He was now deeply engaged and soon 
 wounded beyond hope. Two more men were 
 killed, then the great black-bearded man thrust 
 him in the groin with Grayflanks, and he lost 
 blood and bowels. All that he cut away from 
 him. He gave a low cry, *' Farewell, my Aud, 
 farewell!'' and horribly hurt, dying as he was, 
 threw himself into the press before him. Down 
 the rocks they all fell together, striking the 
 shelf where the two women were, and rolling on 
 to the flat ground. There they lay; and Gisli 
 lay atop. He was still breathing, when Aud 
 came down and knelt by him. 
 
 Her grief was respected. The men withdrew 
 apart with their dead. Eight men in all had 
 
248 .THE OUTLAW 
 
 been killed. There was no one there that was 
 not hurt. 
 
 Eyolf himself presently came near and spoke 
 to And. 
 
 *^Aud/' he said, ^*I bear you no grudge for 
 my broken arm, neither should you bear one 
 against me for your brave dead man. It could 
 not be otherwise. If you will trust me now 
 you shall not regret it.'^ He held out his hand, 
 his left hand; but she turned him a stone-cold 
 face. 
 
 ** You have covered yourself with infamy, you 
 and your hired murderers. Go your ways and 
 leave me here. I ask only that I may never 
 see you again.'' 
 
 **As you will,*' he said, and turned away. 
 Presently she saw him go down the rock path 
 to the shore, with some of his party carrying 
 the dead and badly hurt. 
 
 The black-bearded man tried her now. *^If 
 you will, I will help you bury him," he said. 
 *^That will be but just, as it was I that killed 
 him." 
 
 ^^Help us down to the shore with him," Aud 
 
GRAYFLANKS ENDS IT 249 
 
 said. He and another man, having covered 
 Gisli with his cloak, carried him down the rocks. 
 On the shore they laid him, and gave him his 
 sword to keep. Then they made a great monnd 
 over him of boulders and turf. And there Gisli 
 lay at peace. 
 
 *'No fight that I ever heard tell of was so 
 great as his,'' Blackbeard said. **One against 
 fourteen, and six killed outright. I wish I had 
 not been concerned. There is no honour for us 
 in the affair. Well, he will be quiet where he 
 is." 
 
 Aud said nothing, and presently she and Gu- 
 drid were left alone. She laid her hand upon 
 the cairn, and stood there. Her lips moved, 
 but no sound came. Gudrid was crying freely; 
 but Aud showed no tears. 
 
xxm 
 
 THOKDIS VEEKS ABOUT 
 
 WHEN he had rested himself and had 
 his arm reset, Eyolf took to his ship, 
 and sailed out to Thorsness to see Bork Fat. 
 Bork waited for him on the shore and made him 
 welcome. 
 
 *'I see that it has cost you something; but 
 I hope you bring me good news,*^ he said. 
 
 *^Bad is best,'* said Eyolf. ** Nothing in my 
 life has cost me more both in honour, goods and 
 limb. However, the man is dead and buried.'* 
 
 *^Now we must see how Thordis takes it,*' 
 Bork said rather anxiously. 
 
 **How then? Was it not she who was so hot 
 against himT* 
 
 *^Yes, it was. She never loved Gisli, and 
 loved his wife even less. But — with wo- 
 men ! ' * 
 
 250 
 
THOEDIS VEERS ABOUT 251 
 
 ''Women indeed/' says Eyolf. ''I can tell 
 you something about women.'' 
 
 ''I think I know enough," Bork said. 
 
 Thordis stood up when they entered the 
 house, but did not come down to receive the 
 guest. It was necessary for Bork to go to her. 
 
 ' ' Why is he here ? ' ' she asked. 
 
 ''To tell you that he has accomplished your 
 desire." 
 
 "To tell me that his hands are red with my 
 brother's blood, do you mean?" 
 
 "To tell you that your love for my brother 
 Thorgrim may rest satisfied. For Thorgrim's 
 sake you must be good to Eyolf." 
 
 "Let it be enough for Eyolf that I serve him 
 with meat," said Thordis. She was very red, 
 and her blue eyes were hot with tears. She 
 stood there blinking her eyes, crisping and un- 
 crisping her hands. Her large breasts heaved. 
 She was in great distress. Bork, who had ex- 
 pected something of the kind, yet felt a fool. 
 
 "Come, my girl, tears will not bring him 
 back," She gave him a furious look, dashed 
 
252 THE OUTLAW 
 
 her hand over her eyes and broke away. They 
 heard her wailing in the Bower. 
 
 Eyolf shook his head. **What a woman! 
 And she so hot against Gisli!'' 
 
 * ^ She is hot against everybody in turn, ' ' said 
 Bork. *^I shall have a night of it.*' 
 
 At supper-time Thordis came in among her 
 women to serve the table. She herself brought 
 in the roast, and under the dish carried a sheaf 
 of spoons. Setting down the meat she caught 
 sight of a broad flanged spear between Eyolf *s 
 knees. She gasped, and as she stooped for the 
 spoons snatched at the weapon and freed it 
 from the table. Before any one could stop 
 her she had lunged with it at Eyolf. He half 
 turned, and saved his life thereby ; but the thin 
 keen blade ripped his thigh open. The benches 
 were pushed back, all the men were on their 
 feet, and she disarmed. 
 
 She did not attempt to battle any more. A 
 man had either wrist, and she was powerless. 
 
 Bork said, '^This is an outrage on my kins- 
 man and guest. I do not defend it, I put my- 
 
THOEDIS VEERS ABOHT 253 
 
 self at Eyolf's mercy. Let him name the 
 award and I will abide by it. ' ' 
 
 **But I will not abide by it," Thordis said, 
 straining forward against her captors. She 
 was blind with heat and rage, and knew not 
 what she said. 
 
 Eyolf said, **I have had nothing but injury 
 and shame out of this feud. I wish I had never 
 been born. But Bork deals fairly by me, and 
 I will say nothing of outrage. But for the 
 wounding in a friend's house I ask the full 
 worth of a man, and expect it.'' 
 
 **You have it," said Bork. **Now let all be 
 forgotten. ' ' 
 
 **]Srot yet," said Thordis. **I call all men to 
 witness." At that call her hands were set free. 
 She took a step nearer. 
 
 **I call all men here to witness that I separate 
 myself from this man Bork. I will have no 
 more dealings with him in house or garth, in 
 board or bed. That I owe to my dead brother, 
 and so I pay it." 
 
 Bork stretched out his hands. **"What is 
 
254 THE OUTLAW 
 
 there to say? Your children, woman — what of 
 them?'' 
 
 **My son Snorro is mine, and goes with me. 
 Yonrs you can keep. They are all you will ever 
 have from me.'' 
 
 She left the hall, and kept her word. 
 
 That is the tale of Gisli the Outlaw, except 
 what relates to his wife And. She with Gudrid 
 her foster child, and Geirmund, Gudrid 's 
 brother, joined the family at Hest, where 
 Vestan's widow and her sons still lived. Gest 
 the Wise, who was their kinsman, found them in 
 a ship and crew which took them to Norway. 
 Gudrid and Geirmund settled there, each mar- 
 ried and did well. Aud and Gunnhild, the two 
 widows, went presently to Denmark, and re- 
 ceived baptism. They say that Aud afterwards 
 went the pilgrimage to Eome, and never came 
 back. The fame of Gisli lived after him in the 
 deeds of Grayflanks the broad-headed spear. 
 In 1221 Gunnlaug had it and killed Biorn Thor- 
 waldsson. In 1238 Sturla Sigvatsson wielded 
 it. But it was worn very thin then, and often 
 he had to tread it out straight with his foot. 
 
 THE END 
 
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