KING HODULF’S SECRET.
My father came home heavy and anxious enough, for he did not know how
things would go under this new king, though he had promised peace to
all men who would own him. We in our place saw nothing of him or his
men for the next few weeks, but he was well spoken of by those who had
aught to do with him elsewhere. So my father went on trying to gather a
cargo for England; but it was a slow business, as the burnt and
plundered folk of the great town had naught for us, and others sold to
them. But he would never be idle, and every day when weather served we
went fishing, for he loved his old calling well, as a man will love
that which he can do best. Our two boats and their gear were always in
the best of order, and our kinsman, Arngeir, used and tended them when
we were away in the ship in summertime.
Now, one evening, as we came up from the shore after beaching the boat
on the hard below the town, and half a mile from the nearest houses,
and being, as one may suppose, not altogether in holiday trim, so that
Grim and his boys with their loads of fish and nets looked as though a
fisher’s hovel were all the home that they might own, we saw a
horseman, followed at a little distance by two more, riding towards us.
The dusk was gathering, and at first we thought that this was Jarl
Sigurd, who would ask us maybe to send fish to his hall, and so we set
our loads down and waited for him.
But it was not our lord, and I had never seen this man before. From his
arms, which were of a new pattern to me, he might be one of the host of
Hodulf, as I thought.
“Ho, fisher!” he cried, when he was yet some way from us; “leave your
lads, and come hither. I have a word for you.”
He reined up and waited, and now I was sure that he was a Norseman, for
his speech was rougher than ours. He was a tall, handsome man enough;
but I liked neither his voice nor face, nor did I care to hear Grim, my
father, summoned in such wise, not remembering that just now a stranger
could not tell that he was aught but a fisher thrall of the jarl’s.
But my father did as he was asked, setting down the nets that he was
carrying, and only taking with him the long boathook on which he had
slung them as he went forward. I suppose he remembered the old saying,
that a man should not stir a step on land without his weapons, as one
never knows when there may be need of them; and so, having no other, he
took this.
I heard the first questions that the man asked, for he spoke loudly.
“Whose man are you?”
“Sigurd’s,” answered my father shortly.
“Whose are the boats?”
“Mine, seeing that I built them.”
“Why, then, there is somewhat that you can do for me,” the horseman
said. “Is your time your own, however?”
“If the jarl needs me not.”
“Tonight, then?”
“I have naught to do after I have carried the nets home.”
“That is well,” said the stranger; and after that he dropped his voice
so that I heard no more, but he and my father talked long together.
We waited, and at last the talk ended, and my father came hack to us,
while the stranger rode away northward along the sands. Then I asked
who the man was, and what he wanted.
“He is some chief of these Norsemen, and one who asks more questions of
a thrall, as he thinks me, than he would dare ask Sigurd the jarl, or
Grim the merchant either, for that matter.”
Seeing that my father did not wish to say more at this time, we asked
nothing else, but went homeward in silence. It seemed as if he was ill
at ease, and he went more quickly than was his wont, so that presently
Raven and little Withelm lagged behind us with their burdens, for our
catch had been a good one.
Then he stopped outside the garth when we reached home, and told me not
to go in yet. And when the others came up he said to them, “Do you two
take in the things and the fish, and tell mother that Radbard and I
have to go down to the ship. There is cargo to be seen to, and it is
likely that we shall he late, so bid her not wait up for us.”
Then he told me to come, and we left the two boys at once and turned
away towards the haven. There was nothing strange in this, for cargo
often came at odd times, and we were wont to work late in stowing it. I
did wonder that we had not stayed to snatch a bit of supper, but it
crossed my mind that the Norseman had told my father of some goods that
had maybe been waiting for the whole day while we were at sea. And then
that did not seem likely, for he had taken us for thralls. So I was
puzzled, but held my peace until it should seem good to my father to
tell me what we were about.
When we reached a place where there was no house very near and no man
about, he said to me at last, “What is on hand I do not rightly know,
but yon man was Hodulf, the new king, as I suppose we must call him. He
would not tell me his name, but I saw him when he and the jarl made
terms the other day. Now he has bidden me meet him on the road a mile
from the town as soon as it is dark, and alone. He has somewhat secret
for me to do.”
“It is a risk to go alone and unarmed,” I answered; “let me go home and
get your weapons, for the errand does not seem honest.”
“That is what I think also,” said my father, “and that is why I am
going to meet him. It is a bad sign when a king has a secret to share
with a thrall, and I have a mind to find out what it is. There may be
some plot against our jarl.”
He was silent for a few minutes, as if thinking, and then he went on.
“I cannot take arms, or he would suspect me, and would tell me nothing;
but if there is any plotting to be done whereof I must tell the jarl,
it will be as well that you should hear it.”
Then he said that he thought it possible for me to creep very close to
the place where he was to meet Hodulf, so that I could hear all or most
of what went on, and that I might as well be armed in case of foul
play, for he did not suppose that the Norseman would think twice about
cutting down a thrall who did not please him.
It was almost dark by this time, and therefore he must be going. I was
not to go home for arms, but to borrow from Arngeir as we passed his
house. And this I did, saying that I had an errand beyond the town and
feared prowling men of the Norse host. Which danger being a very
reasonable one, Arngeir offered to go with me; and I had some
difficulty in preventing him from doing so, for he was like an elder
brother to all of us. However, I said that I had no great distance to
go, and feigned to be ashamed of myself for my fears; and he laughed at
me, and let me go my way with sword and spear and seax[4] also, which
last my father would take under his fisher’s jerkin.
I caught up my father quickly, and we went along the sands northwards
until we came to the place where we must separate. The road was but a
quarter of a mile inland from this spot, for it ran near the shore, and
it was not much more than that to the place where Hodulf would be
waiting.
“Creep as near as you can,” my father said; “but come to help only if I
call. I do not think that I am likely to do so.”
Then we went our ways, he making straight for the road, and I turning
to my left a little. It was dark, for there was no moon now, but save
that I was soundly scratched by the brambles of the fringe of brushwood
that grew all along the low hills of the coast, there was nothing to
prevent my going on quickly, for I knew the ground well enough, by
reason of yearly bird nesting. When I reached the roadway the meeting
place was yet to my left, and I could hear my father’s footsteps coming
steadily in the distance. So I skirted the road for a little way, and
then came to an open bit of heath and rising land, beyond which I
thought I should find Hodulf. Up this I ran quickly, dropping into the
heather at the top; and sure enough, in a hollow just off the road I
could dimly make out the figure of a mounted man waiting.
Then my father came along the road past me, and I crawled among the
tall heather clumps until I was not more than twenty paces from the
hollow, which was a little below me.
Hodulf’s horse winded me, as I think, and threw up its head snorting,
and I heard its bit rattle. But my father was close at hand, and that
was lucky.
“Ho, fisher, is that you?” he called softly.
“I am here,” was the answer, and at once my father came into the hollow
from the road.
“Are any folk about?” Hodulf said.
“I have met none. Now, what is all this business?” answered my father.
“Business that will make a free man of you for the rest of your days,
and rich, moreover, master thrall,” said Hodulf. “That is, if you do as
I bid you.”
“A thrall can do naught else than what he is bidden.”
“Nay, but he can do that in a way that will earn great reward, now and
then; and your reward for obedience and silence thereafter in this
matter shall be aught that you like to ask.”
“This sounds as if I were to peril my life,” my father said. “I know
naught else that can be worth so much as that might be.”
“There is no peril,” said Hodulf scornfully; “your skin shall not be so
much as scratched—ay, and if this is well done it will know a master’s
dog whip no more.”
I heard my father chuckle with a thrall’s cunning laugh at this, and
then he said eagerly, “Well, master, what is it?”
“I will tell you. But first will you swear as on the holy ring that of
what you shall do for me no man shall know hereafter?”
“What I do at your bidding none shall know, and that I swear,” answered
my father slowly, as if trying to repeat the king’s words.
“See here, then,” said Hodulf, and I heard his armour clatter as he
dismounted.
Then the footsteps of both men shuffled together for a little while,
and once I thought I heard a strange sound as of a muffled cry, at
which Hodulf muttered under his breath. I could see that they took
something large from the saddle bow, and set it on the ground, and then
they spoke again.
“Have you a heavy anchor?” asked the king.
“A great one.”
“Well, then, tie it to this sack and sink it tonight where tide will
never shift it. Then you may come to me and claim what reward you
will.”
“Freedom, and gold enough to buy a new boat—two new boats!” said my
father eagerly.
Hodulf laughed at that, and got on his horse again. I saw his tall form
lift itself against the dim sky as he did so.
“What is in the sack?” asked my father.
“That is not your concern,” Hodulf answered sharply. “If you know not,
then you can tell no man, even in your sleep. Put off at once and sink
it.”
“It is in my mind,” said my father, “that I had better not look in the
sack. Where shall I find you, lord, when the thing is in the sea? For
as yet I have not heard your name.”
I think that Hodulf had forgotten that he would have to answer this
question, or else he thought that everyone knew him, for he did not
reply all at once.
“You may ask the king for your reward,” he said, after a little
thought, “for this is his business. Now you know that it will be best
for you to be secret and sure. Not much worth will your chance of
escape from torture be if this becomes known. But you know also that
the reward is certain.”
“The king!” cried my father, with a sort of gasp of surprise.
I could almost think that I saw him staring with mouth agape as would a
silly thrall; for so well had he taken the thrall’s part that had I not
known who was speaking all the time, I had certainly had no doubt that
one was there.
“Come to Hodulf, the king, and pray for freedom and your gold as a boon
of his goodness, saying naught else, or making what tale you will of a
hard master, or justice, so that you speak naught of what you have
done, and that—and maybe more—shall be granted.”
“You yourself will speak for me?”
“I am the king—and think not that the darkness will prevent my knowing
your face again,” Hodulf replied.
There was a threat in the words, and with them he turned his horse and
rode away quickly northwards. I heard the hoofs of his men’s horses
rattle on the road as they joined him, before he had gone far.
When the sounds died away altogether, and there was no fear of his
coming back suddenly on us, my father whistled and I joined him. He
almost started to find how near I was.
“You have heard all, then?” he said.
“Every word,” I answered, “and I like it not. Where is this sack he
spoke of?”
It lay at his feet. A large sack it was, and full of somewhat heavy and
warm that seemed to move a little when I put my hand on it. Still less
did I like the business as I felt that.
“More also!” quoth my father, as if thinking of the king’s last words.
“If that does not mean a halter for my neck, I am mistaken. What have
we here, son, do you think?”
“Somewhat that should not be here, certainly,” I answered. “There would
not be so much talk about drowning a dog, as one might think this to
be.”
“Unless it were his wife’s,” answered my father, with a laugh.
Then he stooped, and I helped him to get the sack on his shoulders. It
was heavy, but not very—not so heavy as a young calf in a sack would
be; and he carried it easily, taking my spear to help him.
“The thrall is even going to take this to the house of Grim the
merchant, whom the king will not know again, though he may see in the
dark,” said he; “then we shall know how we stand.”
We met no one on our way back, for the town had gone to sleep, until
the watchman passed the time of night with us, thinking no doubt that
we had fish or goods in the burden. And when we came home a sleepy
thrall opened to us, for all were at rest save him. And he too went his
way to the shed where his place was when he had stirred the fire to a
blaze and lit a torch that we might see to eat the supper that was left
for us.
Then we were alone, and while I set Arngeir’s weapons in a corner, my
father put down the sack, and stood looking at it. It seemed to sway a
little, and to toss as it settled down. And now that there was light it
was plain that the shape of what was inside it was strangely like that
of a child, doubled up with knees to chin, as it showed through the
sacking.
“Hodulf or no Hodulf,” said my father, “I am going to see more of
this.”
With that he took a knife from the table and cut the cord that fastened
the mouth, turning back the sack quickly.
And lo! gagged and bound hand and foot in such wise that he could not
move, in the sack was a wondrously handsome boy of about the size of
Withelm; and for all his terrible journey across the king’s saddle, and
in spite of our rough handling, his eyes were bright and fearless as he
looked up at us.
“Radbard,” said my father, “what if Hodulf had met with a thrall who
had done his bidding in truth?”
I would not think thereof, for surely by this time there had been no
light in the eyes that seemed to me to be grateful to us.
Now my father knelt down by the boy’s side, and began to take the
lashings from him, telling him at the same time to be silent when the
gag was gone.
And hard work enough the poor child had to keep himself from screaming
when his limbs were loosed, so cramped was he, for he had been bound
almost into a ball. And even as we rubbed and chafed the cold hands and
feet he swooned with the pain of the blood running freely once more.
“This is a business for mother,” said my father, on that; “get your
supper, and take it to bed with you, and say naught to the boys in the
morning. This is a thing that may not be talked of.”
Now I should have liked to stay, but my father meant what he said, and
I could be of no more use; so I took my food, and went up to the loft
where we three slept, and knew no more of what trouble that night might
have for others.