THE LIVING SAND.
It was the time of thaw in the Northland, but the snow and ice go fast
when the winter letteth go its hold. Already great reaches of land
were bare, but no man might travel far from his own home because of
the floods from the melting. All must wait until days should pass,
and these were growing longer, but they were full of unrest. Even
the cattle in their enclosures lowed impatiently to one another;
for the brute creatures know well the signs of the return of green
grass to their pastures. In the house of Brander there was no shadow
because of the absence of any who had gone, but these were spoken of
cheerfully. Moreover, there came boats and larger keels into the cove
from other villages up and down the coast and from out the fiords
that were opening. Far and wide had been known the building of _The
Sword_, and many would have been glad to look upon her. All these were
disappointed, but there were wise old vikings and jarls of note who
said to Hilda:
"Thy foster son hath done well. It is like his father. Other keels will
follow him speedily, but he will be first to strike."
As if she had been mistress of the house was Hilda, and she entertained
well all who came. Reverence was paid her because of her high descent
and her kinship to Odin the Strong, and because of her hundred winters,
but even more because of her learning and her knowledge of the gods.
Men asked her questions concerning them, and there were those who
believed that she had seen and known more than she would tell.
"I would not like to anger her," said one, "lest she might afterward
come to me in a bad hour, for she hath knowledge of charms and of
witchcraft and she can write runes."
There was reason in that, said all, but that she was a kindly woman and
that she kept the house of Brander liberally.
Much time she now spent among the old armor, the trophies on the wall,
and in the study of such things as had been brought from the lands
around the Middle Sea. She made Oswald open his bag and she read the
many inscriptions upon his coins, and she talked to him of Greece and
of Rome, where most of them were made. He also knew about his gold and
silver pieces, and there were some even of copper for which he had
names and values. What good was there in such things in a land like
this, where money was not needed?
"I would that Ulric had them," she said. "He might buy with them
another ship, or provisions, or arms."
"Not save of a friend," replied Oswald. "He will need nothing that his
sword can win for him. It is not the custom of the vikings to be long
in need."
The household knew by her face that her thoughts were not troubling her
concerning Ulric and his men.
"She hath had no ill token," they said. "It must be that he doeth well."
They knew not of the ice king, nor how narrowly he had missed his last
angry blow at _The Sword_. But that peril was over and the good ship
was flying along in safety, driven by strong rowers, who had also some
help from the sail. They would have had more but that the winds were
variable. Therefore the days and the nights went by before they again
saw land, and the older seamen knew by that that they had kept in the
open sea and were well advanced in their voyage.
"How fast or how far the ice king bore us I know not," said Knud the
Bear, "but if that headland were not of one of the northern isles, we
have seen a cape of North Britain."
"Not so far south as that," argued Tostig the Red, "but all these
coasts are bad to land upon. There is naught worth the taking away."
"Our errand is not to them," said Ulric. "We will not waste an arrow
upon them. I will not let the prow of _The Sword_ touch the sand until
we see the mid-coast of the British island----"
"We shall see a storm this night," interrupted an old viking. "The wind
changeth to the northwest, and Knud may wear his bearskins. It will be
cold."
When the night fell all were willing to cover well; but the rowers
might rest, for the ship carried her sail all the more safely because
it was not too large and because she was well laden. There was a spirit
upon Ulric which kept him at the helm, so that his men needed almost to
take him away by force that he might sleep.
"I would I might see Hilda and have speech with her," he said to
himself. "I have strange dreams when I close my eyes. She might tell me
what they mean. Do the gods come to one when he is asleep? I have heard
so. But they have told me nothing--save that I have dreamed of men who
wore the armor that hangeth behind the table on the dais. Strong men
they were, and dark, and I think they were good swordsmen. Before long
it may chance that we shall meet a trireme of the Romans if my dreams
have that reading. I must burn one of their ships before we pass these
seas."
Heavier blew the gale and higher rose the waves, and _The Sword_ sped
on as if she were a waterfowl, but all on board were willing to be as
well covered as was Knud the Bear. The night was dark and the next
morning they saw no land. The storm drove them onward steadily all day,
and now and then they saw ice floating, but no sail of any ship. Again
the night came, and the moon was out and the wind lulled, but the waves
were still rough.
"We will not row," said Ulric, when they inquired of him. "There are
coasts now not far away. When the dawn cometh we will seek some bay or
harbor. I have heard that there are villages of North folk hereaway,
and they would be friendly."
So said they all save Tostig the Red, who laughed somewhat grimly and
replied:
"I think there are villages upon many coasts whereof the folk are
willing to be friendly to a crew like this. The seax hath many
acquaintances who are willing to see him stay quietly in the belt."
"So hath the ax," growled old Biorn the Berserker. It was rare for him
to speak, but he was leaning upon the long handle of his weapon, and
when he lay down on the deck the ax slept beside him.
It was after the middle watch that night, and Ulric was at the helm.
He was steering a straight course southward and the ship was slipping
quietly over the waves. He was awake, truly, but somehow he seemed to
himself to be dreaming almost, and his eyes were downcast. "The runes
upon the sand," he muttered. "I can see them now, before the wave
washed them away. When and where am I to see them again, and to know
that my voyage is ended? Who shall read runes, and how shall I be sure
that I am not mistaken? For Hilda will not be there----"
Even as he spoke there came to his ears a sound, and he looked suddenly
up, gripping hard the tiller.
"Faint and far away," he exclaimed, "but it was a trumpet! There are
three in the hall at the house and Oswald taught me their soundings.
Up, all! Rowers to the oars! I will send an answer!"
Long and powerful was the horn blast that went out across the moonlit
sea. Clearer and louder than before was the trumpet voice which
instantly responded from the right--and that was toward the British
shore. The men shouted not, for they were listening, and those who
knew were telling the younger vikings that the jarl had heard from the
Romans. It was good news to hear, after long waiting, and the rowers
put out the long oars eagerly.
"The dawn draweth near," shouted Ulric, after blowing his horn again.
"We will steer toward yonder trumpet. There will be much music with the
sun's rising. We will see if the gods of Rome are better than the gods
of the North in the seas of Britain."
Loud voices answered him bidding him lead on; for the blood of the
vikings was rising hotly, and Biorn the Berserker sharpened the edge of
his great ax while he beat the deck with his feet and out through his
thickly bearded lips there poured, low, but swelling, a song of the
skalds at the gate of battle.
Red grew the edges of the eastern sky as _The Sword_ pressed her iron
beak to the crests of the waves and sprang forward. Joyously rang
out the war horn of warrior after warrior, for on board were vikings
of high descent who would not have chosen for their jarl any of less
degree than a son of Odin. They were men entitled to go forward into
the feast of swords shoulder to shoulder with kings and with chiefs of
renown. Said one of them to Ulric:
"Jarl Ulric, many spears from the stowage. The Romans cast well and
their spears are heavy. I mind not their light javelins nor their
arrows. Close not with any trireme at the first."
"I will be prudent," replied Ulric; "but bring out the spears. There
are arrow sheaves enough and stones for slinging."
"Let them not ram _The Sword_," continued the old fighter. "Her ribs
are strong, but so is the beak of a war galley of Rome. Strike her not
save amidships."
Well was it for older men to counsel so young a leader, but Ulric had
been taught from his infancy not only by Brander the Brave and Oswald,
but by all the sea kings and berserkers to whom he had listened while
they talked of war around the mid-fire in the old hall. Naught had they
said or sung but he had made its teachings his own against an hour like
this.
"A trireme!" shouted Knud the Bear as the daylight brightened. "She is
of the largest. Helmets and standards and the shields of a cohort of a
legion. They are more in number than we are."
"Twice more," said the old counselor, "and her bulk is nearly thrice
that of _The Sword_. Beware, O jarl!"
"I see her well," responded Ulric. "She is heavy in the water. I think
she is overburdened."
"They are swift also," said Tostig the Red, "but that keel cannot turn
as nimbly as can our own. Let us go nearer!"
"Within a spear's cast!" shouted Ulric, fiercely. "We will not pass her
without a blow. Wulf, take thou the helm. I will go to the fore deck."
There he stood in the morning light, as the two keels neared each
other. The Roman trumpets sounded at intervals, and they were answered
by the war horns of the vikings.
"She is a splendid war vessel," said Ulric to those who were with him.
"Never yet have we builded her like. Her bulwarks are higher than ours
and her sail is many times broader. It is made of woven stuff. Her prow
is a ram. We must not let her strike us."
"Neither will we strike her," said Biorn the Berserker, "unless we can
hit her amidships. She is a danger. O jarl, beware! I do not think we
may take that trireme, but we can get away from her."
So did not think the trierarch and the centurion on board the trireme.
He who was captain of the vessel was of one accord with the officer in
charge of the legionaries whom she was conveying. If Ulric could have
heard them converse as _The Sword_ came toward them, he would have
learned somewhat of the estimation in which such as he were held by the
wolves of Rome.
"A Saxon pirate, O Lentulus," said the trierarch to the man in armor
at his side. "It is early in the season for them to be seen in these
waters. They are the scourges of the sea."
"And of the shore, friend Comus," replied the centurion. "We will make
short work of this one. It is of good size, and it swarmeth with men as
with bees."
"Hast thou ever met them in fight?" asked Comus, "or is this thy first
sight of them?"
"This is my first service in these waters," replied Lentulus, "but I
have heard much of them. I would we had some legions of them to send
against the Parthians, or into Africa. Laurentius had a cohort of them
with him in Spain. They make the best of gladiators; Cæsar hath used
them in the arena. But it is hard to take them. Let us see if we cannot
send him a present of these pirates for the summer games. He is ever in
need of good swordsmen."
"Little thou knowest of them," laughed Comus. "We may capture a few
wounded men. The rest will die fighting."
Even while he spoke Tostig the Red was remarking to his friends at the
stern of _The Sword_, just forward of the deck: "A fine stone for my
sling is this. I will strike that high-crested one. There is often much
treasure on a trireme, if Thor will let us take her. But the men we
want not, nor the keel."
"Burn her," they said, "and throw the soldiers overboard; but the
Romans die where they stand. We shall take no prisoners but the rowers.
The jarl will slay them." So without thought of mercy on either side
did the two keels draw nearer.
They were not yet within a spear's cast when they who were with
Tostig stood away from him to give him slinging room. "He is the best
slinger," they said, "on all the North coast. Let us see what he can
do. He is not a boaster."
As the vessel climbed a wave Tostig poised himself, swinging slowly
the leathern thong which upheld the square apron in which his pebble
rested. Two pounds only in weight it may have been, but it was smooth
and round from much chafing on the shore of the fiord with other
pebbles as the sea waves had tossed them to and fro in many storms.
Over the crest of the wave went _The Sword_, and as she did so the
sling began to whirl swiftly in the hand of Tostig. Hand went to hand
to give it double force, and then, as the downward plunge of the keel
went with him, he gave his might to it and threw.
None saw the stone, so swiftly did it pass, but the trierarch said to
the centurion:
"O Lentulus, thou art said to be as good a spearman as Pontius of Asia.
Have thy pilum ready and try thy fortune."
"It is too far," said Lentulus, poising his pilum. "I was in battle
once with that same Pontius. Hercules! I am slain!"
Loud clanged his brazen helmet and prone he fell upon the deck. He did
not move again. The stone hurled by Tostig had left him but life enough
for that one outcry as it smote him.
"May all the gods forbid!" exclaimed Comus. "What ill fortune is this?
He is dead! Toward the pirate! Strike her through and through!"
Even as he spoke a legionary at his side went down before a second
stone from the sling of Tostig, and the shouts of the vikings mingled
with the clangor of their war horns.
Deft was the steering of Wulf and the swift rush of the trireme was
avoided, _The Sword_ passing her stern so near that every spearman
might make a cast. But the legionaries, pilum in hand, had faced the
further bulwark, thinking their foe came that way, and not so many of
them were at good stations. Their bowmen also had been deceived, and
their greater number was of no account. Nevertheless, many Roman spears
flew well, being mostly of the lighter javelins used by them in the
beginning of a fight. Easily were these caught upon the broad shields
of the vikings, as if it were in a mere game at home, and no harm was
done by them or by the arrows. Closer were they when they did their
own throwing, and a hundred heavy spears went hurtling in among the
legionaries.
"Follow!" shouted Comus. "Have ready the grapplings! Strike and then
board her!"
A good officer was he, and the rowers as well as the legionaries obeyed
him angrily, for they deemed the Northmen insolent in assailing such
superior force.
"Away!" shouted Ulric. "Hael to thee, O Tostig. Get thee to the stern
and pitch thy pebbles among her rowers."
Tostig was toiling hard, and so were other good slingers, of whom the
trireme seemed to not have any, but _The Sword_ swept on out of range
while her enemy was turning.
"O jarl," said Biorn, "she is not clumsy, but her steersman went down.
Let us gain what distance we may. That was a good blow, but we may not
strike the next so easily."
The older vikings looked watchfully, as did Biorn, and again they
said: "Our jarl is young, but this was well done."
"Westward!" shouted Ulric to Wulf. "We must lead them toward the land.
I would I knew this coast."
"That do I," said Biorn, "if we are where I think. There are high
cliffs, but there is also much marsh land; and off the coast there are
great shallows, worse for a ship than any rocks might be. Watch for
them."
"They are our friends," said Ulric, "but they are not friendly to a
deep vessel like yonder trireme."
"Aye," said Biorn, "it is our old way of battling such as she is, but
there is an evil among these shallows. Hast thou not heard of the sand
that is alive? There is much of it hereaway."
"My father warned me of it," replied Ulric. "If horse or man setteth
foot upon it, it will seize him and suck him down. But it could not
swallow a ship."
"Were she a mountain!" exclaimed Biorn. "The living sand would be worse
than a Roman trireme for _The Sword_ to escape from. Yonder is a land
line at the sky's edge, and I think I see breakers."
The rowers were rowing well and _The Sword_ had gained a long advantage
before the Roman oarsmen had recovered from their confusion. Now,
however, Ulric upon the foredeck was measuring distances, wave after
wave, and he spoke out plainly to his men.
"Swift is _The Sword_," he said. "I had thought that no keel on earth
could be swifter, but we are laden heavily; so is the trireme, that she
turneth not nimbly, but in a straight course she is swifter than are
we. She hath many rowers and she is sharp in the prow. She gaineth upon
us little by little."
"Woe to her," responded the vikings. "She moveth too fast for her good."
"The land riseth fast," said Biorn. "The breakers are not far away.
Under them are sand shoals."
"The Roman is but a hundred fathoms behind us," replied Ulric. "Wulf
the Skater, steer thou through the breakers. Let us see if she will
dare to follow."
Comus, the trierarch, was overeager, or he would have remembered that
which he seemed to have forgotten. They who were with him were stung
by the death of Lentulus and by the ravages of the Saxon spears and
stones. None counseled him to prudence, and he dashed on in the foaming
wake of _The Sword_.
"Breakers, but no rocks," muttered Wulf, as he grasped his tiller
strongly. "Now, if we fill not, we shall dash through. Pull! For the
Northland pull!"
Hard strained the rowers. High sprang the curling breakers on either
hand. Loud rang the shouts and the war horns. But _The Sword_ rose
buoyantly over the crown of a great billow and passed on into smoother
water.
"Odin!" roared Biorn the Berserker. "The trireme is but fifty paces--"
"Struck!" shouted Ulric. "On, lest we ourselves may be stranded!"
"Deep water here, Jarl Ulric," calmly responded an old seaman near him.
"We have passed the sand bar. It may be the tide is falling. The gods
of the sea are against that Roman keel."
"Or they are not with her to-day," said Ulric. "She is held fast. Cease
rowing and put the sail up again. We will see if there is aught else
that we may do. I like not to let her escape me."
Up went the sail, and for an hour _The Sword_ did but cruise back and
forth, only now and then venturing near enough for the hurling of a
stone or the sending of an arrow. It was then too far for any harm to
the Romans, but they could hear the taunting music of the horns.
"Low tide," said Biorn at last, "and she lieth upon bare sand. We are
well away. We can do no more."
"Watch!" said Ulric. "They are troubled."
"She lieth too deeply. What is this?" So asked the Roman seamen of
their captain as they leaned over their bulwarks and studied that bed
of sand. He answered not, but one, a legionary in full armor, stepped
down from the ship to examine more closely--and an unwise man was
he. In places the sandy level seemed firm enough, and a horse may
gallop along a sandy beach after the tide is out and leave but a fair
hoofprint. That way armies have marched and chariots have driven. There
were other patches, however, whereon the sand seemed to glisten and to
change in the sunlight, and here there was potent witchcraft working.
At these had the sailors been gazing, but the soldier did not reach one
of them.
"Back!" shouted Comus. "It is the living sand! We are all dead men!
Back!"
The legionary strove to wheel at the word of command, but his feet
obeyed him not. Even the vikings were near enough to see that the sand
was over his ankles.
"The under gods have seized him," muttered Ulric. "It is from them that
the sand liveth. They are angry with him.
"_Vale! Vale! Vale!_" shouted the legionary. "O Comus, I go down! They
who dwell below have decreed this. See thou to the ship and follow not
the Saxons."
"Follow them?" exclaimed Comus. "_Vale_, O comrade! But the trireme
lieth a handbreadth deeper. She is sinking! O all the gods! Have we
come to this ending? Who shall deliver us?"
"None, O Comus," said a man of dark countenance who leaned over the
bulwark at his side. "We have offended the gods and they have left us
to our fate."
Lower sank the wooden walls of the great vessel, while her helpless
crew and the soldiery stared despairingly at the pitiless sand and at
the White Horse flag of the vikings dancing lightly over the sea so
near them.
"Form!" commanded Comus, and the legionaries fell into ranks all over
the vessel. "Put ye the body of Lentulus upon the deck," he said, "and
bring me the eagle of the legion. O Lentulus, true comrade, brave
friend, we salute thee, for all we who were of thy company go down to
meet thee. Behold, we perish!"
Silent sat the rowers at their oars. The standards fluttered in the
wind. The trierarch took the eagle and went and stood by the body of
Lentulus.
"They are brave men, yonder," said Biorn the Berserker. "They will to
die in line. So do the Romans conquer all others except the men of the
North."
"They have one trireme the less," replied Tostig the Red. "But they
have many more. This is not like burning one. I see no honor to us in
this."
"Honor to the gods," said Ulric. "She was too strong for us and Odin
destroyed her."
"It is well to have him on our side," said Tostig; but Knud the Bear
laughed loudly, as was his wont, and said: "Odin is not a sea god. What
hath he to do with sand and water? Some other god is hidden under the
living sand. We shall leave him behind us when we go away----"
"Her bulwarks go under!" shouted one of the vikings. "Hark to the
trumpets! They go down!"
The trumpet blast ceased and there was a great silence, for the like of
this had never before been seen.
"Oars!" commanded Ulric. "We will search the coast. Such a warship
as was this came not hitherward without an errand. She may have had
companions."
The old vikings all agreed with him, and an eager lookout was set, but
behind them as they sailed away they saw nothing but a bare bed of
sand, over which the tide was returning.