THE PASSING OF LARS THE OLD.
Sudden is the change from winter to summer in the Northland. The buds
of the trees get ready under the frost and open to the sunshine as
soon as a few days of warmth have told them that they may safely burst
forth. No full leaves were as yet, but the grass was greening and the
fisher boats were busy in the fiords.
In the hall of the house of Brander there were fewer to gather now, in
the lengthening evenings, around the central fire, but Oswald's harp
was always there. Hilda, from her chair, would often ask him to strike
up, but there was a lack of spirit in his minstrelsy, and even when she
spoke to him her voice was weaker and softer than of old. The wrinkles
upon her face were deepening, and they who looked long at her said to
one another that a light which did not come from the fire played now
and then across her forehead and around her mouth. At other times she
was shut up much in her own room, and it was said that she pored long
and thoughtfully over polished sheepskins and fragments of gray stone
whereon were graven runes that none else might read. Some of these,
they said, had been brought by Odin's men when they journeyed from the
East into the Northland. Who knew, therefore, but what the runes had
been written in the city of Asgard by the hands of the Asas? It was
not well to question over-closely about such things. They said naught
to her of the matters which were her own, and only once did a little
maiden yield to her own curiosity and follow the old saga woman when
at night she walked out along the path which led to the stones of the
mighty dead. Afterward she told her mother, and then all the village
knew, that Hilda did but sit down by the tomb of Brander, weeping
loudly and talking with him concerning his absent son.
"It is no wonder," said the villagers, "for she loved Ulric the
Jarl. It is good for all our men that Hilda should speak to the gods
concerning their welfare. She knoweth them better than we do, and she
is to go to them soon. She getteth ready daily."
So fared it in the Northland, but many ships were putting to sea, and
there was even jealousy here and there that Ulric and _The Sword_
should have gotten away so much in advance of all others. But the ships
of the vikings would now be so many as to bode ill for the fleets of
Rome and for the merchantmen of the Middle Sea unless Cæsar should send
force enough to prevent their coming.
"Olaf told me," said Ulric, talking to Tostig of such matters, "that
the Romans fear the coming of the Saxons. Therefore against our
villages as well as against the rebellious Druids came these triremes
at this time. Cæsar's power in Britain groweth. Around his fortified
camps are cities springing up, and he fortifieth also ancient towns.
We must come with many keels and a great host when we take this island
away from Cæsar."
"But I think we will destroy the Britons," said Tostig the Red, "for we
have seen that we may not trust them. I like a place where there is so
much good hunting."
Ulric had been scanning the shore line, for he was steering, and now he
said:
"We will anchor for the night within yonder rocky point. There is a
ledge there for which I have been seeking."
All day had the two ships been coasting slowly, and the men had
wondered much what it might be that was in the mind of their jarl, for
he was moody. He had also asked many questions of the older vikings.
The two ships came to anchor not many fathoms out from the rocky point,
but all men were forbidden venturing to the shore.
"It is not well," said Ulric to some who would have landed in the small
boats. "If ye but look closely, ye will discern the glimmer of fires
in the deep forest. Our movement this day hath been followed, and now
a small party might meet too many of their spearmen. They are good
fighters."
There was much grumbling among the younger men, for they despised this
prudence of his which ever held them in and thwarted their hot wills,
but they had no choice but to obey him concerning the boats.
More and more plainly through the night darkness might the watchers on
the decks discern the fires that were kindled in the woods. The jarl
gazed at them long, thinking many things concerning the Druids and the
other Saxon villages of the shore of Britain. He slept after a while to
the slow rocking of the ship, and when morn came Wulf the Skater stood
by him.
"O jarl," he said, "the Britons build fires along the beach. They swim
out to us. I have speared four of their swimmers. What do we next?"
Ulric arose and gave orders. Immediately a transfer began from _The
Sword_ to the trireme of all arms and provisions, and the men worked
rapidly. Only that Wulf worked not, and that an old viking came and
stood by him at the bulwark.
"I like it not," said Wulf, "but Ulric is jarl. What sayest thou, Lars
the Old, the shipmaker?"
"Thou art a seaman," said Lars. "I am of thy mind. I toiled much in the
shaping and the making of _The Sword_. My heart is heavy."
"So is mine!" exclaimed Wulf. "First of all men, after the jarl, did I
take her helm. She is Odin's keel. There is bad fortune in leaving her."
"That do I fear," said Lars, "but I leave her not. I was sore smitten
in the ribs in the fight with the Druids on the beach. I bleed well
now. I shall not sail in this trireme."
"Good is thy fate," said Wulf. "Didst thou tell the jarl thou wert
wounded?"
"Not so," replied Lars. "None know but a few of our old vikings. I
thought not much of it at first, for I have oft been wounded. But now
they will soon burn _The Sword_. I command thee that thou lay me upon
the fore deck, where was once the hammer of Thor. That is my death
place."
"That will I do," said Wulf. "So will say the jarl."
"So do I now say!" came to them in his own voice, for he also was
leaning over the rail and he had heard. "O Lars, I knew not of thy
hurt, thinking only of Olaf, the son of Hakon. Him have we buried in
the sea this day, and thou shalt have thy will. _The Sword_ is nearly
emptied. We burn her on yonder rocks at the point as the tide falleth.
We will lay thee upon her fore deck with thy arms and armor."
"Do thou thy duty by me," said Lars, "that it may be well with thee.
But leave not _The Sword_ until every timber shall be burned, lest some
part of her shall fall into an enemy's hand."
"She is ready!" exclaimed Ulric. "We will lift the anchors and move
both ships. There will be many to see the burning."
Trumpetings and harpings and angry shouts were answering from a throng
of Britons gathering along the shore. Not any of them could guess as
yet what would be the next move of the Saxons, but great was their
wrath that they were able to do no harm.
"They would we might find reason for landing," said Ulric to Wulf, "but
I care not to strike them at this place. We would gain nothing."
"O jarl," said Wulf, "Lars, the shipmaker, lieth down. The valkyrias
are with him."
"He dieth not a cow's death," said Ulric, "but as a true warrior of the
North. It is as he would will, but he still is breathing."
"Yea, but heavily," said Wulf. "I would I were as he is, that I might
not leave _The Sword_."
"O Wulf," said the jarl, "thou hast many a feast of swords before thee.
Cheer thee up."
"Jarl Ulric," said Wulf, "do I not know thee? Thou too lovest thy first
keel. But I think thou doest wisely. The men have demanded this, and
they may not be gainsaid. But I would there had been men enough for
both ships, and then I would not have left mine own."
On moved the two keels toward the ledge of rocks, and the tide was
falling. They would be bare before long.
"Row, now!" shouted the jarl. "Send _The Sword_ far up upon the ledge.
She must be lifted by the rocks till she is out of the water. There
come the Britons toward the point. Be ready to strike them! The Druids
have gathered an army!"
No sail was raised upon either of the ships, but the rowers of the
trireme paused while those of _The Sword_ pulled strongly. She was
light now, having no stowage or ballast, and quickly her prow was
thrust high up the ledge between two masses of dark gray stone. Then
the trireme was grappled at her stern and many Saxons sprang out upon
the ledge. There were several fathoms of water between this and the
shore.
"Fast falleth the tide," said Ulric. "Lift ye now Lars the Old, the
shipmaker, and bear him to the fore deck of _The Sword_. Lay by him his
arms and his armor, breaking the sword and the spear and cleaving the
shield and mail that no other may ever bear them."
The vikings carried the old warrior quickly, and he uttered no sound.
They laid him upon the fore deck and did as Ulric commanded, but the
hilt of the broken sword, having yet half the length of its bright
blade, they put into his right hand. In the middle of the ship much
wood was placed, heaping it, and in this heap a blazing torch was
thrust. Then all the vikings left _The Sword_, and the greater part of
her was already out of water.
"They come in swarms!" exclaimed Tostig the Red, gazing at the Britons
who rushed along the shore toward the point. "Hael! the fire burneth
well! They must not prevent it!"
Up leaped the long-armed flames, catching the fagots of pine splinters.
"Burn thou, O _Sword_!" shouted the jarl. "I give thee to Odin in the
fire! Thou art mine own, O good ship from the Northland. I would I
might have sailed in thee to the Middle Sea and to the city of the
gods!"
"O jarl," said Wulf the Skater, "even so would I have sailed. I think
we shall never see that city. The gods are far away, and I know not if
they have any city. I am dark this day, and over me is a cloud."
The jarl spoke not again, but he looked earnestly at _The Sword_ and at
that which was threatening along the shore. Still as a stone lay Lars
the Old, and some men thought him dead. There were Druids now at the
point, and with them were harpers and trumpeters, and the white-robed
ones were chanting to their gods.
The chanting ceased and a Druid raised his sacred wand, shouting
fiercely. At that word hundreds of armed Britons began to rush into the
sea.
"They are too many," said Knud the Bear. "They do but drown each other.
These Druids are not good captains. Therefore are they beaten by the
Romans in spite of their gods and their sacrifices."
The fire ran everywhere along the bulwarks of _The Sword_ and began to
climb over the decks. It climbed the high mast and the wind blew it out
like a banner.
"Odin!" shouted Ulric. "The Britons are on the rocks! Smite now!"
Fast flew the arrows and the spears, and almost useless were the
wicker shields of the Britons. Many of them had none, and their blue
bodies were plain marks for shaft and stone. They fell in heaps upon
the ledge, but a score of them broke through the flames to the very
fore deck of _The Sword_, and here too the fire was blazing hotly.
Here before them lay Lars the Old, stretched out as on his funeral
pyre. These were of the best armored of the Britons, and one could
understand that they had thought to take _The Sword_ and push her off,
that by her means they might reach the trireme.
No good captain would so have planned, for such a thing might not be
done; but these men were brave, for they stood well and some of them
hurled their darts vigorously at the vikings, while others strove
vainly to shove _The Sword_ from the rocks into the sea.
This thing that came not any man had expected. Just as the strong fire
in the cabin began to burst up redly through the fore deck, and a
fiercer flame mounted the after deck, and all the bulwarks were ablaze,
up to his feet sprang Lars the Old, his gray hair streaming in the
wind. One blow he struck with his broken sword, burying it in the body
of a British chief, and then he began to ply his long-handled ax with
the strength of one who is dying. Upon him turned the spears and the
swords of the Britons and he was stricken quickly. He did not shout,
but he cleft one more while falling.
"The hero dieth!" said the jarl, hurling his spear, and it flew well,
but there were not many now upon the fore deck.
More were swimming from the shore to the ledge, but the fire was
completing its work, and the plan of the Druids was broken altogether.
When once more the wind put aside the black curtain of the smoke it was
seen that the entire prow had fallen in and that to the very helm the
flames were fighting joyously.
"We will stay by until she is burned to her keel," said Ulric; "but now
pull out a little further."
So did they, and the Britons came no more to the ledge, for the prize
they had hoped for was a heap of ashes upon the rocks.
"A good ship was she," muttered Knud the Bear. "She fought well against
the ice floes and the storms. May all the gods go with us in this
trireme. I would I knew her by some name."
"O Knud," loudly responded Ulric, "I will answer thee. This keel that
was Roman hath become Saxon, and her name is now _The Sword_. Else
we had not burned the other. The trireme shall be to us as if we had
builded her on the shore of the Northland. She will sail with the
hammer of Thor and the flag of Odin and not with a Roman god."
"I am better satisfied," exclaimed Wulf the Skater. "But many good
rowers must take the oars of this trireme in battle. She is heavy."
"I think," said Tostig the Red, "that we are stronger than are the
hired rowers or the slave rowers of the Romans. Her beak will break the
ribs of another keel and she will do well in storms."
The jarl's eyes were still upon the burning timbers which remained upon
the ledge.
"I will take a boat," he said, "and men with me. We must gather all
fragments for utter destruction."
Upon that duty he went, and it was made complete before the small boat
returned to the trireme. All the while many Britons watched them from
the shore, but came not against them.
"Too many of them have been slain," said the vikings. "They like not
our heavy spears."
Before climbing into the trireme the jarl made them row to her beak,
that he might examine well its form and its power for striking a blow,
and that he might also look more closely at the figurehead.
"It is much waterworn," he said. "She is the wise woman among the gods
of the Romans. She will care not much that the hammer of Thor is on the
fore deck."
The small boat was hoisted to its place and the vikings began to speak
more freely of the trireme by her new name of _The Sword_.
"Up with the sails," commanded Ulric. "The wind is fair. We will go
southward this night, and we will seek the Saxon village that was
described to me by Olaf, the son of Hakon. But we will not go too fast
or too far, lest we may pass it in the dark."
"There may be our kinsmen there that need our aid," said Knud the Bear.
"Seax in hand it would be a pleasure to meet Romans."
Now did they begin to discover how much more room there was to walk in
from place to place around the ship, but the younger men praised their
own prudence for this more than that of Ulric the Jarl. Moreover, to
please all, he caused to be brought forth many weapons and much armor.
These the men handled curiously, trying on the helmets and the mail and
testing the weight of the shields. Garments, also, were given as the
men would, and they laughed merrily at each other for the strangeness
of their changed appearance.
Well out from the land steered the jarl, not knowing the coast, and
there was careful watching for breakers which might tell of shoals or
rocks. He was learning, also, the sailing of this keel and her manner
of answering the rudder.
"She is swift," he thought, "and she rideth well the waves. We build
not yet such vessels in the Northland, though we have plenty of good
timber. She will carry us safely into the Middle Sea, but there is
room in her for more men. She requireth too many for her oars. I will
sail rather than row, lest I breed too much discontent."
Far behind him now went out the last burning of the timbers of the good
keel he had builded in the Northland, but upon the mast of this which
carried him floated still the White Horse flag of the Saxons which had
been given to _The Sword_ by Hilda of the hundred years.