THE HUE-AND-CRY FOR HALWARD NECK
After a bit somebody in the inn yard said, "Let us go in to supper"; and
then another, "Where is Halward, and what is he doing?"
A man said, "He is outside talking with Gunnar Helming."
Then another: "Let us have Gunnar in to sup with us. He is the best
company."
They all agreed to that.
After a time of more waiting a man went out of the yard to see where
Halward and Gunnar were, and came back with a serious face.
"Come out with me," he said. "Here's a bad affair."
They all tumbled out together with the lamp, and there found Halward
dead in his blood. He was stiffening already.
Then, after silence, all began to talk at once. Nobody could understand
the slaying, nobody could doubt who had done it, for everybody had seen
Gunnar come into the yard, or the few who had not took it from the many
who had. Not a word of doubt was raised about it.
As Halward was a friend of the king's certainly the king must have the
news; but all hung back from the errand because all men liked Gunnar.
The end of it was that, having brought the body into the yard and
covered it with a carpet, they went in to supper and ate and drank
thoughtfully and in silence.
While they were sitting at their drink in came Sigurd Helming to see if
Gunnar was there. He asked for him and could not but notice how his
question was received. Repeating it, he had no answer at all. A third
time he asked it, and of one man by name. He was answered that Gunnar
had been there, but had spoken to nobody.
"That is not like Gunnar," Sigurd said. "What did he do when he came
in?"
"He beckoned to one of us, and went out again."
"And to which of you did he beckon?"
"It was to Halward Neck."
"And where is Halward Neck?"
Then there was a silence, and after that another man, very red in the
face and with gleaming eyes, spoke between his teeth.
"I will show you where Halward Neck is," he said. "Come with me." He led
him out into the yard, while the rest crowded at the door.
He showed him the dead man; he held the lamp close to his face.
"Who did this?" said Sigurd. Then, beginning with a low murmur, all
voices rose and the name of Gunnar was cried in his ears. Sigurd lifted
his head, and all were silent.
"I don't believe it," he said, "but somebody must tell the king of it."
They went back into the house and shut the doors. Sigurd was told what
every one knew, or thought that he knew. One man had seen Gunnar go down
to the hard in his cloak and hood; half-a-dozen had seen him come into
the yard afterwards; three or four had heard Halward greet him; some had
seen the beckoning, others had seen Halward follow him out. Then they
had gone out to look for them, and there found Halward slain.
Sigurd said, "It looks very black against Gunnar, but I cannot believe
it. Yet I know that the king must be told, and that he will be ready to
think the worst of my brother because he has been so stiff against his
religion. Now my thought at first was that I would tell him myself,
since none of you seemed ready to go with the news--but see here, my
friends, you would not have me bear witness against my own brother?"
They all agreed to that. Then he said, "I will ask one or several of you
to tell the king in the morning. It is late now, and he will not expect
you to disturb him at this hour of the night. Yet I tell you fairly that
I myself shall go to find Gunnar and warn him of what is astir against
him. If I think, when I see him, that he is the guilty man, it may be
that I shall go with you to King Olaf. If I leave him still in the mind
I am in now, then I shall not testify against him."
They all said, No, no. They said that he knew nothing of the matter, and
that his name need not be in the business at all. Sigurd said, "The king
will speak to me about it, I know. But I shall have time for what I want
to do." Then he left them sitting at their drink, and went to find
Gunnar.
Now first I will deal with the embassy to the king, and then with what
happened when Sigurd saw his brother. Olaf was in a great taking. He
grew red and thumped the table with his fist. "This is what comes of
clemency. That rascal refused my religion and I let him go. He vowed
that he would serve me and I believed him, like a fool. This is how it
is brought back to me, sevenfold into my bosom. Now do you go and
apprehend Gunnar, and hang him up on a tree. Don't let me see him, for I
am in such a rage that I should insult him in his chains. Hang him out
of hand, and let us get on with our affairs."
That was what the king said, and they left him with heavy hearts. But
Gunnar was not hanged because he was not at home when they went to fetch
him.
The very night of the slaying Sigurd had gone to him. He went directly
to him from the inn where Halward lay dead.
"Gunnar," he said, "what was the grief between you and Halward that you
must deal him a dog's death?"
Gunnar gaped at him. "Halward? Is Halward dead? Who did that?"
Sigurd said, "They say that you did it this very evening at the inn on
Markfleet."
Gunnar answered him, "That be far from me." But he had no more to say.
"Well," said Sigurd, "you say what I believe, but it looks very black
against you." Then he told him what the rumours were, how he had been
seen go down the street, then come up the street, how he had shown
himself in the yard, said nothing, but beckoned Halward out; how he had
not been seen again, and how Halward had been found stiff in his own
blood in the street.
Gunnar heard all this in silence, and remained silent so long that
Sigurd had to make him speak. "Well, what are we to answer them?" he
said.
Gunnar lifted his head and looked at him. "I can only tell you," he
said, "that I am innocent of this deed."
"Do you know nothing at all of it?" he was asked.
"Ah," said Gunnar, "that is where you touch me. Now I must tell you
fairly that I can say nothing more to you or anybody at this hour."
Then Sigurd said, "You had better be off. The king will certainly hang
you for it."
Gunnar thought. "Yes," he said, "I must go. All may be set straight some
day; but not by me." Then Sigurd left him, and Gunnar made his
preparations.
He took very little with him, for he knew that he must go far, and most
of it afoot. The king's hand stretched to the confines of Norway, and
even in Iceland his power was being felt. Gunnar thought that he must
travel East--on horseback so far as he could get, but after that, he
must cross the mountains and get down into Sweden. He took a sword and a
sack of provision, and those were all that he took. No, there was one
thing more. He could not bring himself to relinquish the fine cloak he
had had from Ogmund Dint. Besides, if it were found when men came to
look for him it might be witness against the man who had done the deed.
It was against Gunnar's religion to betray a man's secret. He rolled up
the cloak therefore and stuffed it into the saddle-bag.
Then he got out his sorrel mare and rode off in the dusk. He went East
by a dale which he judged would bring him soonest out of King Olaf's
holding; and he rode all night and till noon the next day.