Night saw our ship off Orfordness, and there the breeze failed us,
and a thick fog, hiding the land and its lights, crept up from
seaward and wrapped us round. But before it came, on Orfordness a
fire burnt redly, though what it was, unless it might be some
fisher's beacon, we could not tell.
The fog lifted as we drifted past the wide mouth of Stour and
Orwell rivers with a little breeze, and the early daylight showed
us the smoke of a fire that burnt on the higher land that shuts in
the haven's mouth on its southern shores. But even as we saw it,
the fog closed round us again and the wind died away, so that we
lowered the sail, and the men got out the oars, and slowly, while
Kenulf swung the lead line constantly, we crept on among the sand
banks down the coast.
Presently the tide turned against us, and Kenulf thought well that
we should drop anchor and wait for its turning again. The men
gladly laid in the oars, and the anchor rattled out and held. The
ship swung to her cable, and then there seemed deep silence after
the even roll and creak of the great sweeps in their rowlocks. The
fog was very dense, and beyond our stem head I could see nothing.
Then to break the silence came to us, over no great stretch of
water as it seemed, the sound of a creaking block, the fall of a
yard on deck, and a voice raised in some sharp order. Then I
thought I heard an anchor plunge, and there was silence. Very
ghostly it seemed to hear these familiar sounds and to see naught,
and it was the more so that we might by no means judge from which
side of us, or fore or aft, the noises came, for fog will confuse
all things, and save a driving snowstorm, I dread nothing more at
sea.
Now the men began to speak in whispers, for the silence and
weirdness of the fog quieted us all. And, moreover, when the fog
lifted we had seen no ship, though there must be one close to us
now, and we wondered.
But Kenulf came to me presently with a scared face, and waiting
till the men had gone forward to find their food, he asked me if I
heard the voice that spoke.
"Aye, surely," I answered. "What of it?"
"Master," he said, "the voice was a Danish voice, as I think. And I
mind me of the fires we saw."
"What then?" said I carelessly, though indeed I could see well what
fear was in the old man's mind. Yet I would have him put the thing
into words, being ready to look the worst in the face at any time.
"The vikings, master," he answered; "surely they were in Orwell
mouth and saw us, and have given chase."
"We should have seen them also," I said.
"Not so, master, for the fog hung inland, and if a Dane lies in
such a place he has ever men watching the sea--and they will sail
two ship's lengths to our one."
"Supposing the ship is a viking, what should we do now?" I asked,
for I knew of naught to do but bide where we were.
"Go back with tide and slip past them even now," said Kenulf,
though I think he knew that this was hopeless, for if we rowed, the
sound of our oars would betray us, and if not we should be on a
shoal before long, whence any escape would be impossible.
"Hark!" I said in another moment, and we listened.
There was little noise beyond the lapping of the swift tide against
our sides. The men forward were silent, and I had thought that I
heard the distant sound of voices and oars.
It came again in the stillness; a measured beat that one could not
well mistake, as of a ship's boat leisurely pulled.
Then one of our men began to sing in an undertone, and Kenulf smote
his hands together in terror, for the sound would betray us, and he
was going forward to stop the song.
"No matter," said I, "they know we are not far off, for I think
they must have anchored when they heard us do so, as we heard them.
If they seek us they will soon find us."
"They are coming nearer," said Kenulf, and I heard the oars more
plainly yet.
Now the thought of calling my men to arms came over me, but I
remembered how Lodbrok had told me that resistance to vikings,
unless it were successful, meant surely death, but that seldom
would the unresisting be harmed, even if the ship were wantonly
burnt after plunder, and the crew set adrift in their boat.
Still the oars drew nearer, and I thought of the words that Lodbrok
had spoken--how that shipmen would be glad of his presence--and I
wished that he were indeed with me, for now I knew what he meant.
Now, too, I knew his gift of the ring to be our safety, and surely
he had given it to me for this. So I grew confident, and even
longed to see the sharp bow of the boat cleave the mist, if only
her crew knew of our friend by name at least. Yet they might be
Norse--not Danish.
But the sound of oars crossed our bows and died away again, and
then a voice hailed from the ship, as I thought, and there was
silence.
Kenulf and I breathed more freely then, and we too went forward and
ate and drank, and afterwards spoke of the chance of slipping away
when the tide turned, though I was sure that, if the ship were what
we thought, she would up anchor and drift with us.
So the hours of flood tide passed, and then the ship began to swing
idly as the slack came. Then with the turn of tide came little
flaws of wind, and we hoisted the sail, and Kenulf hove the anchor
short. Yet we heard no more sounds from the other ship.
Then all in a minute the fog thinned, lifted, and cleared away, and
I saw the most beautiful sight my eyes had ever lighted on, and the
most terrible.
For, not half a mile from us, lay a great viking snekr {vii},
with the sunlight full on her and flashing from the towering green
and gold and crimson dragon's head that formed her stem, and from
the gay line of crimson and yellow shields that hung along her rail
from end to end of the long curve of her sides. Her mast was
lowered, and rested, with the furled blue and white striped sail,
on the stanchions and crossbars that upheld it, to leave the deck
clear for swing of sword and axe; and over the curving dragon tail
of the stern post floated a forked black and golden flag. And
wondrously light and graceful were the lines on which she was
built, so that beside her our stout cargo ship showed shapeless and
heavy, as did our log canoes beside Lodbrok's boat. As soon should
our kitchen turnspit dog fly the greyhound that I had given
Lodbrok, as such a ship as ours from this swift viking's craft.
But her beauty was not that which drew the eyes of my men. Little
they thought of wonder or pleasure in gazing on the ship herself.
All her decks were crowded with scarlet-cloaked men, and the
sunlight which made the ship so bright flashed also from helm and
spear and mail coat from stem to stern. And at that sight every
tale of viking cruelty they had heard came into their minds, and
they were overcome with terror, so that I thought that several
would have cast themselves into the sea, away from the terrible
ship, choosing rather death by water than by the sword. But I saw
some half dozen whose faces set hard with other thoughts than
these, and they turned to seek their weapons from under the fore
deck.
Then I spoke to them, for it was time; and I would have neither
fear nor defiance shown, for I knew that we should be boarded.
"Yonder ship belongs, as I think, to the people of our guest,
Lodbrok the Dane. So it seems to me that they will gladly hear news
of him from us, as he is a great man in Denmark. And surely we have
deserved well of his folk in every way, and we of East Anglia are
at peace with the Danish host. Therefore, let us wait till they
board us, and then let no man stir from his place or speak a word,
that I may talk with them in peace."
Those words were listened to eagerly, and they wrought on the minds
of my poor fellows as I wished. Moreover, to put our one chance of
safety into form thus heartened me also, for I will not say that I
feared nothing from these vikings, who might know and care naught
concerning our sea-borne guest, even were they Danes.
Yet it seemed that none saw my fears, for in a little the men asked
if they might take their weapons. And though it seemed hard to me
and them alike to bide unarmed, I knew it was safer, and so bade
them meet the Danes in all peaceful seeming.
Now we saw a boat lowered from the longship's side, and one by one
armed men entered her, and she sank deeply in the water. Ten I
counted, and at last one more, who, I supposed, was the leader.
So deep was she that, as she left the ship, I thought how that one
sack of our grain, hove into her as she came alongside, would sink
her and leave her crew to drown in our sight. But then the ship
herself would close on us, and not one of us but would pay for that
deed with his life.
So she came slowly over the glassy water of the slack tide, and my
men watched her, saying nothing.
Soon she came alongside, and at a sign from me Kenulf threw a line
which the bowman caught, and I thought that a word or two of wonder
passed among her crew. They dropped to where the curve of our deck
was lowest, and instantly the leader leapt on board and all but one
of his men followed, axe or drawn sword in hand. As I had bidden
them, not one of my men stirred save Kenulf, who made fast the line
and stood watching.
The leader was a young man, of about my own age, clad in golden
shining bronze scale armour and wearing a silver helm on which were
short, black, curving horns; and he bore a double-headed axe,
besides the sword at his side. He looked round on us--at the men
standing silent, at Kenulf, and at me as I stood on the after deck
resting on the tiller, and broke into a great laugh.
"Well," he cried, "are you all dumb, or fools, or wise men; or a
little of all three?"
But my men answered nothing, even as I had bidden them, and I
thought that my time was not yet come to speak.
"The fog has got into their throats," said a Dane; for with a great
lifting of my heart I knew their tongue, and it was Lodbrok's and
not Norse.
"Struck speechless with fear more like," said another.
"Ho, men," said the leader, "which is your captain?"
One of our crew pointed to me, and I came to the break of the deck
saying:
"I am master of this ship."
And I spoke as a Dane, for my long company with Lodbrok had given
me the very turn of his speech.
At that the viking stared at me, and one of his men said:
"When did Danes take to trading on this coast?"
"You are Saxon by all seeming," said the leader, "yet you speak
like a Dane. Whence are you, and how learned you our tongue so
glibly?"
"We are from Reedham in East Anglia, which is at peace with the
Danish host," I said; "and I learnt the Danish speech from one who
is my friend, Lodbrok the Dane, whom men call Jarl Lodbrok."
Now at that word the Danes all turned to me, and hardly one but let
fall some word of wonder; and the young leader took two great steps
towards me, with his face flushing and his eyes lit up with a new
look.
Then he stopped, and his face changed, growing white and angry, and
his teeth closed tightly as he looked at me. Then he said:
"Now if you are making a tale to save your skins, worse shall it be
for you. What know you of Lodbrok?"
I held out my hand, on which the jarl's ring shone white against
the sea-browned skin.
"Here is a token he gave me before I sailed, that some friend of
his might know it and speak to me," I said.
The viking dropped his axe on the deck and seized my hand, gazing
at the ring and the runes graven thereon.
"Lives he yet?" he said, breathless.
"Aye, Halfden Lodbroksson, your father lives and is well in our
house," I answered; for now I knew that this was surely the
youngest of those three sons of whom the jarl had told me so often.
Now at that word the Danes broke into a great cheer, but Halfden
laid his hands on my shoulders and kissed me on both cheeks, while
the tears of joy ran down his face.
"Well must Lodbrok my father love you if he has told you so much
that you know me by name," he cried; "and well does he trust you
since he has given you his ring. Tell me more and ever more of
him."
Then sudden as before his mood changed, and he let me go and
climbed on the rail with his arm round a backstay, and taking off
his helm he lifted up a mighty shout to his ship:
"Found is Jarl Lodbrok, ahoy!"
And with uplifted weapons his men repeated the shout, so that it
seemed as though the loved name was heard across the still water,
for the men on board the ship cheered in answer.
Now nothing would serve Halfden but that I must go with him on
board his own ship, there to tell him all I might; and he laughed
gaily, saying that he had looked indeed for a rich booty, but had
gained that which was more worth to him.
Then I told Kenulf that we would bide at anchor till we knew what
should be done, thinking it likely that Halfden would wish us to
pilot him back to Reedham.
"We shall lose our tide," grumbled the old man, who was himself
again, now that he knew we had naught to fear.
"That is all we shall lose," I answered, "and what matters it? we
have all our time before us."
"I like not the weather," he said shortly.
But I paid no more heed to him, for Halfden spoke to me.
"Let me leave a few men here," he said; "the boat is overladen, and
the sea is rising with the breeze;" and then he added with a smile
that had much grim meaning in it. "They bide as friends with you,
and but for our safety; not to take charge of your ship."
So I bade Kenulf give the three who remained the best cheer that we
might, treating them as Lodbrok's men; for the old pilot loved the
jarl well, and I knew that for his sake he would do much.
Then in a few more minutes I stood on the deck of Halfden's ship,
and word went round quickly of my news, so that I had a good
welcome. Yet I liked not the look of the Danish men, after the
honest faces of our own crew. It seemed to me that they were hard
featured and cruel looking, though towards me were none but
friendly looks. Yet I speak of the crew only, for Halfden was like
his father in face and speech, and that is saying much for him in
both.
They spread a great awning, striped in blue and white like the
sail, over the after deck, and there they set food and wine for us,
and Halfden and I sat down together. And with us one other, an
older man, tall and bushy bearded, with a square, grave face
scarred with an old wound. Thormod was his name, and I knew
presently that he was Halfden's foster father, and the real captain
of the ship while Halfden led the fighting men.
"Food first and talk after," quoth this Thormod, and we fell to.
So when we had finished, and sat with ale horns only before us,
Halfden said:
"I have sought tidings of my father from the day when he was lost
until this. Now tell me all his story from end to end."
And I did so; though when it came to the throwing of the line to
the boat I said naught of my own part in that, there being no need,
and moreover that I would not seem to praise myself. And I ended by
saying how Lodbrok was even now at court with Eadmund, our king,
and high in favour with him and all lesser men.
Many were the questions that the Danes asked me as I spoke, and I
answered them plainly, for indeed I was glad to see the look in
Halfden's eyes as I spoke to him of his father, I having naught but
pleasant things to tell of him, which one may say of few men,
perhaps. And by and by I spoke of his having taught me the use of
the Danish axe.
"Ho!" said Thormod; "hold your peace for a while, and we will see
what sort of pupil he had."
Then he rose up and took his axe, and bade me take Halfden's, which
I did, not over willingly maybe, while Halfden stood by, smiling.
"I will not harm you," said Thormod shortly, seeing that I was not
over eager. "See here!"
His ale horn stood on the low table where we had been sitting, and
now he placed it on the gunwale, going from under the awning. The
men who sat along the decks looked up at him and were still.
Then he heaved up the axe with both hands and whirled it, bringing
it down with such force that I looked to see both horn and gunwale
shorn through. But so skilful was he that he stayed that mighty
stroke so that the keen edge of the axe rested on the horn's rim
without marking it, and all the men who were watching cried out:
"Skoal {viii} to Thormod the axeman!"
"So," said he; "now stand up and guard a stroke or two; only strike
not as yet, for maybe your axe would go too far," and he smiled
grimly, as in jest.
But I had learned that same trick from the jarl.
Now Lodbrok had told me that when one has a stronger axeman to deal
with than one's self the first thing is to guard well. So he had
spent long hours in teaching me guard after guard, until I could
not fail in them.
"I am ready," I said, standing out before him.
Thormod feinted once or twice, then he let fly at me, striking with
the flat of his axe, as one does when in sport or practice. So I
guarded that stroke as the jarl had taught me; and as I did so the
men shouted:
"Well done, Saxon!"
"No need to go further," said Thormod, dropping his axe and
grasping his wrist with his left hand; for that parry was apt to be
hard on the arm of the man who smote and met it. "That is the
jarl's own parry, and many an hour must he have spent in teaching
you. It is in my mind that he holds that he owes you his life."
And from that time Thormod looked at me in a new way, as I felt.
Halfden was well pleased, and shouted:
"Nay, Thormod; your turn to guard now; let Wulfric smite at you!"
"No, by Thor, that will I not," he said; "he who taught to guard
has doubtless taught to strike, and I would not have my head
broken, even in play!"
Now he sat down, and I said, mindful of Lodbrok's words:
"It seems to me that I have been well taught by the jarl."
"Aye, truly," said Thormod; "he has taught you more than you
think."
Halfden would have me keep his axe, but I told him of that one
which the jarl had made for me, and straightway he sent the boat
for it, and when it came read the runes thereon.
"Now this says that you are right, Thormod! Here has my father
written 'Life for life'--tell us how that was!"
So I said that it was my good fortune to cast him the line that
saved his boat, and that was all. But they made as much of that as
did Lodbrok himself. And when the men came from our ship, they
brought that tale from our men also; so that they made me most
welcome, and I was almost fain to get away from them.
But we sat and talked while the tide went by and turned, and still
we lay at anchor until the stars came out and the night wind began
to sing in the rigging of the great ship.
Now I had thought that surely Halfden would have wished to sail
back to Reedham at once, there to seek his father; but I knew not
yet the power which draws a true viking ever onward to the west,
and when I said that we would, if he chose, sail back with him on
the next tide, he only laughed, saying:
"Why so? My father is well and in good case. Wherefore we will end
our cruise well if we can, and so put in for him on our way home at
the season's end."
"What would you do, then?" I asked, wondering.
"Raid somewhere," he answered carelessly. "We will not go home
without some booty, or there will be grumbling among the wives; but
for your sake we will go south yet, for you are bound for London,
as I think."
I said that it was so, and that I would at once go back to Reedham
when my business was done, there to prepare for his coming.
"That is well; and we will sail to Thames mouth together. And you
shall sail in my ship to tell me more of my father, and because I
think we shall be good friends, so that I would rather have you
come and raid a town or two with me than part with you. But as you
have your ship to mind, we will meet again at Reedham, and I will
winter there with you, and we will hunt together, and so take you
home with us in the spring."
Now this seemed good to me, and pleased me well enough, as I told
him. Where Halfden and his crew went, south of Thames mouth, was no
concern of mine--nor, indeed, of any other man in East Anglia in
those days. That was the business of Ethelred, our overlord, if he
cared to mind the doings of one ship. Most of all it was the
concern of the sheriff in whose district a landing was made.
So messages were sent to old Kenulf, and glad was he to know that
we should not have to give up our passage to London, and maybe
still more to feel safe in this powerful company from any other
such meetings. And before the tide served us, Halfden had said that
he also would come to London, so that our ship should lead the way
up the river.
When we weighed anchor Thormod must needs, therefore, reef and
double reef his sail, else our ship had been hull down astern
before many hours had passed, so swift was the longship.
Now I have said that old Kenulf had misliked the look of the
weather, and now Thormod seemed uneasy. Yet the breeze came fresh
from the southeast; and though it had shifted a good deal, I, for
my part, thought little ill of that, for it held in that quarter
till we were fairly among the sands of the Thames mouth at
nightfall, and Kenulf lit lanterns by which we might follow him. No
man knew the Thames-mouth channels better than our pilot, Kenulf
the sea crafty, as we called him.
Then it fell dead calm, quite suddenly, and we drifted, with the
sail flapping against the mast idly, for half an hour or so. Then
fell on us, without warning, such a fierce gale as I had never
before seen, blowing from north and west, with rain and bright
lightning, and it raised in five minutes a sea that broke over us
again and again as Thormod brought the ship head to wind.
Then I lost sight of Kenulf's lights, and as I clung to the rail,
my mind was torn with longing to be back in my own ship in this
danger, though I knew that Kenulf needed me not, and that, had I
been there, it would but have been to obey him with the rest of our
crew; yet I think that any man who loves his ship will know what I
felt.
And of the fury and darkness of that night I will say little. This
is what comes into my mind of all that happened--aye, and at night,
when the wind roars round the house, I see it all again, waking in
my dreams as I call to Kenulf. One flash of lightning showed me my
ship dismasted and helpless, drifting broadside on to a sand over
which the waves broke white and angry, and when the next flash
came--she was gone!
Then I cried out on my folly in leaving her, and out of the
blackness beside me as I clung to the gunwale, straining my eyes
against the spray, Halfden's voice came, crying, as he gripped my
arm:
"By Odin--it is well that I kept you here!"
And Thormod from the helm shouted to his men to stand by the sheet,
and the helm went down, and the ship drove through the seas that
broke clean over her as he saw the danger in time to stand away
from it, heading her as free as he dared.
Naught of this I heeded, for I could think but of the stout sailor
men with whom I had been brought up, and of whom I knew only too
surely that I should see them not again. And for them I tried to
pray, for it was all that I could do, and it seemed so little--yet
who knows what help may come therefrom?
Now the longship fought alone with the storm. Hard was the fight,
but I, who was willing to die with my own people who had gone
before my eyes, cared nothing for whether we won through the gale
or not. But Thormod called to me, bidding me pilot them as best I
might, and so I was taken a little from my thoughts. Yet can I take
no praise to myself that, when the gale slackened, we were safe and
beyond the dangers of the shoals.
We were far down channel when morning broke, and on either bow were
white cliffs, plain to be seen in the clear light that came after
the short fury of the gale was spent. Never had I thought that a
ship could sail so wondrously as this of Halfden's, and yet I took
no pleasure therein, because of all that I had lost. And it seemed
to me that now I knew from my own chance why it was that Lodbrok
could sing no song to us at that feasting, when we came home to
Reedham; for surely my case was even as his.
So I thought, leaning on the gunwale and staring ever at the white
cliffs of England on our starboard; and there Halfden found me, and
came, putting his hand on my shoulder very kindly.
"Now if you have lost friends and ship by the common chances of the
sea," he said, "surely you have found both anew. You shall turn
viking and go on this raid with us. Glad shall we be of your axe
play and seamanship."
I turned to him and put my hand into his.
"I will go with you, Halfden," I said, for it seemed at that time
that I had naught else left for me to do.
And ever since I was a child, listening to the songs of the
gleemen, had I thought that some day I, too, would make a name for
myself on the seas, as my forefathers had made theirs, so that my
deeds should be sung also. Yet that longing had cooled of late, as
the flying people from Mercia had found their way now and then to
us with tales of Danish cruelties.
"That is well said," he answered, pleased enough. "Where shall we
go?"
Then I had yet thought enough left me to say that against our Saxon
kin I would not lift axe. And so came to me the first knowledge
that what wiser men than I thought was true--that the old seven
kingdoms were but names, and that the Saxon and Anglian men of
England were truly but one, and should strive for that oneness,
thinking no more of bygone strifes for headship.
"Why, that is fair enough, so you have no grudge to pay off," he
said; "but I will help you to settle any, if you have them."
"I have no grudge against any man," I answered, truly enough.
"Then if we raid on English shores, you shall keep ship, as someone
must; and so all will be satisfied," he answered; "but we will go
first to the Frankish shores, for it is all one to me."
So that pleased me as well as anything would at that time;
whereupon we went to Thormod, and he was very willing that I should
take part and share with them. And as to my loss, he bade me take
heart, for a seaman has ever risks such as these to run; and, as it
seemed, this ship of ours had ever been lucky. Which was true
enough, as my father had told me by the fireside many a time.
After this we headed over to the Frankish shore, and there I had my
first fight. For we raided a town there, and the citizens stood up
to us well. I fought in silence, while my comrades yelled to Thor
and Odin as they smote, for those against whom we fought were
Christian men, and to fight against them by the side of heathen
went against me. Yet the lust of battle took hold on me, and fight
I must. But I will tell no more of that business, save that Halfden
and Thormod praised me, saying that I had done well. And after that
the crew asked that I should lead the men amidships, for their head
man had been slain, and Halfden was on the fore deck, and Thormod
aft. So my boyish dreams were like to come to pass, for I was thus
a viking indeed. Yet I had little pride therein.
Thence we raided ever eastward and westward along that shore, and I
grew to love Halfden well, strange as were his wild ways to me. For
he was in all things most generous; nor was he cruel, but would
hold back the more savage of the men when he could--though, indeed,
that was seldom--when they were mad with fighting.
So the weeks went on, until at last one day as we left a haven
where we had bided for a while, taking ransom from the town that we
might leave it in peace, we spied a sail far off coming from
eastward, and Thormod would have us bear up for her, to see what
she might be. But instead of flying, as a trading ship would, the
strange vessel waited for us, lowering her sail and clearing for
action, so that there was doubt if she was not Norse. Now between
Dane and Northman is little love lost, though at times they have
joined hands, loosely as one might say, or as if cat and dog should
go together to raid a rabbit warren.
"If she be Norse," said Halfden, and his eyes shone, "we will fight
her, and that will be a fight worth telling of by the crew that is
left when we have done!"
But she turned out to be Danish, and a boat came from her to us.
She was on the same errand as ourselves, and, moreover, belonged to
one Rorik, who was a friend of Lodbrok's, so that again I must go
through all the story of his perils.
Now if Halfden's men had seemed rough and ill-favoured to me when
first I saw them, time and comradeship had worn off the feeling,
but it came back to me as I looked on these men, and most of all on
this Rorik; so that for a little I hated myself for being in their
company to make war on peaceful Christian folk, though, indeed, I
could well excuse myself, seeing what straits had thrown me thus
among them to follow the ways of my own forefathers, Hengist's men.
These newcomers held long counsel with Halfden and Thormod, and the
end of it was that they agreed to sail in company, making a raid on
the English coast, and first of all on the South Saxon shores,
behind the island that men call Wight. And that was the thing that
I had feared most of all, so that as I sat silent and listened,
taking no part, as I might, in the planning, my heart seemed like
to break for the hardness of it.
Yet I set my face, saying naught, so that presently Rorik looked
over at me and laughed, crying in a kind of idle jest:
"Silent is our friend here, though he looks mighty grim, so that I
doubt not he will be glad to swing that big axe of his ashore."
Now I was in ill company, and must fit my speech to theirs,
answering truly enough:
"It seems to me that some of us here were a little downcast when we
found that you were no Northmen, for we looked for a fight."
Whereon they all laughed, and Rorik said that maybe his men had the
same longing, but that we would make a great raid between us. And
so the matter passed, and he and his men went back to their ship,
and we headed over to the English shore together.