So the sun grew low, and it set; the stars and the moon shone a while and
then it clouded over. Hallblithe still rowed and rested not, though he
was weary; and the big man sat and steered, and held his peace. But when
the night was grown old and it was not far from the dawn, the alien said:
"Youngling of the Ravens, now shalt thou sleep and I will row."
Hallblithe was exceeding weary; so he gave the oars to the alien and lay
down in the stern and slept. And in his sleep he dreamed that he was
lying in the House of the Raven, and his sisters came to him and said,
"Rise up now, Hallblithe! wilt thou be a sluggard on the day of thy
wedding? Come thou with us to the House of the Rose that we may bear
away the Hostage." Then he dreamed that they departed, and he arose and
clad himself: but when he would have gone out of the hall, then was it no
longer daylight, but moonlight, and he dreamed that he had dreamed:
nevertheless he would have gone abroad, but might not find the door; so
he said he would go out by a window; but the wall was high and smooth
(quite other than in the House of the Raven, where were low windows all
along one aisle), nor was there any way to come at them. But he dreamed
that he was so abashed thereat, and had such a weakness on him, that he
wept for pity of himself: and he went to his bed to lie down; and lo!
there was no bed and no hall; nought but a heath, wild and wide, and
empty under the moon. And still he wept in his dream, and his manhood
seemed departed from him, and he heard a voice crying out, "Is this the
Land? Is this the Land?"
Therewithal he awoke, and as his eyes cleared he beheld the big man
rowing and the black sail flapping against the mast; for the wind had
fallen dead and they were faring on over a long smooth swell of the sea.
It was broad daylight, but round about them was a thick mist, which
seemed none the less as if the sun were ready to shine through it.
As Hallblithe caught the red man's eye, he smiled and nodded on him and
said: "Now has the time come for thee first to eat and then to row. But
tell me what is that upon thy cheeks?"
Hallblithe, reddening somewhat, said: "The night dew hath fallen on me."
Quoth the sea-rover, "It is no shame for thee a youngling to remember thy
betrothed in thy sleep, and to weep because thou lackest her. But now
bestir thee, for it is later than thou mayest deem."
Therewith the big man drew in the oars and came to the afterpart of the
boat, and drew meat and drink out of a locker thereby; and they ate and
drank together, and Hallblithe grew strong and somewhat less downcast;
and he went forward and gat the oars into his hands.
Then the big red man stood up and looked over his left shoulder and said:
"Soon shall we have a breeze and bright weather."
Then he looked into the midmost of the sail and fell a-whistling such a
tune as the fiddles play to dancing men and maids at Yule-tide, and his
eyes gleamed and glittered therewithal, and exceeding big he looked. Then
Hallblithe felt a little air on his cheek, and the mist grew thinner, and
the sail began to fill with wind till the sheet tightened: then, lo! the
mist rising from the face of the sea, and the sea's face rippling gaily
under a bright sun. Then the wind increased, and the wall of mist
departed and a few light clouds sped over the sky, and the sail swelled
and the boat heeled over, and the seas fell white from the prow, and they
sped fast over the face of the waters.
Then laughed the red-haired man, and said: "O croaker on the dead branch,
now is the wind such that no rowing of thine may catch up with it: so in
with the oars now, and turn about, and thou shalt see whitherward we are
going."
Then Hallblithe turned about on the thwart and looked across the sea, and
lo! before them the high cliffs and crags and mountains of a new land
which seemed to be an isle, and they were deep blue under the sun, which
now shone aloft in the mid heaven. He said nought at all, but sat
looking and wondering what land it might be; but the big man said: "O
tomb of warriors, is it not as if the blueness of the deep sea had heaved
itself up aloft, and turned from coloured air into rock and stone, so
wondrous blue it is? But that is because those crags and mountains are
so far away, and as we draw nigher to them, thou shalt see them as they
verily are, that they are coal-black; and yonder land is an isle, and is
called the Isle of Ransom. Therein shall be the market for thee where
thou mayst cheapen thy betrothed. There mayst thou take her by the hand
and lead her away thence, when thou hast dealt with the chapman of
maidens and hast pledged thee by the fowl of battle, and the edge of the
fallow blade to pay that which he will have of thee."
As the big man spoke there was a mocking in his voice and his face and in
his whole huge body, which made the sword of Hallblithe uneasy in his
scabbard; but he refrained his wrath, and said: "Big man, the longer I
look, the less I can think how we are to come up on to yonder island; for
I can see nought but a huge cliff, and great mountains rising beyond it."
"Thou shalt the more wonder," said the alien, "the nigher thou drawest
thereto; for it is not because we are far away that thou canst see no
beach or strand, or sloping of the land seaward, but because there is
nought of all these things. Yet fear not! am I not with thee? thou shalt
come ashore on the Isle of Ransom."
Then Hallblithe held his peace, and the other spake not for a while, but
gave a short laugh once or twice; and said at last in a big voice,
"Little Carrion-biter, why dost thou not ask me of my name?"
Now Hallblithe was a tall man and a fell fighter; but he said: "Because I
was thinking of other things and not of thee."
"Well," said the big man, in a voice still louder, "when I am at home men
call me the Puny Fox."
Then Hallblithe said: "Art thou a Fox? It may well be that thou shalt
beguile me as such beasts will but look to it, that if thou dost I shall
know how to avenge me."
Then rose up the big man from the helm, and straddled wide in the boat,
and cried out in a great roaring voice: "Crag-nester, I am one of seven
brethren, and the smallest and weakest of them. Art thou not afraid?"
"No," said Hallblithe, "for the six others are not here. Wilt thou fight
here in boat, O Fox?"
"Nay," said Fox, "rather we will drink a cup of wine together."
So he opened the locker again and drew out thence a great horn of some
huge neat of the outlands, which was girthed and stopped with silver, and
also a golden cup, and he filled the cup from the horn and gave it into
Hallblithe's hand and said: "Drink, O black-fledged nestling! But call a
health over the cup if thou wilt." So Hallblithe raised the cup aloft
and cried: "Health to the House of the Raven and to them that love it! an
ill day to its foemen!" Then he set his lips to the cup and drank; and
that wine seemed to him better and stronger than any he had ever tasted.
But when he had given the cup back again to Fox, that red one filled it
again, and cried over it, "The Treasure of the Sea! and the King that
dieth not!" Then he drank, and filled again for Hallblithe, and steered
with his knees meanwhile; and thus they drank three cups each, and Fox
smiled and was peaceful and said but little, but Hallblithe sat wondering
how the world was changed for him since yesterday.
But now was the sky blown all clear of clouds and the wind piped shrill
behind them, and the great waves rose and fell about them, and the sun
glittered on them in many colours. Fast flew the boat before the wind as
though it would never stop, and the day was waning, and the wind still
rising; and now the Isle of Ransom uphove huge before them, and
coal-black, and no beach and no haven was to be seen therein; and still
they ran before the wind towards that black cliff-wall, against which the
sea washed for ever, and no keel ever built by man might live for one
moment 'twixt the surf and the cliff of that grim land. The sun grew
low, and sank red under the sea, and that world of stone swallowed up
half the heavens before them, for they were now come very nigh thereto;
nor could Hallblithe see aught for it, but that they must be dashed
against the cliff and perish in a moment of time.
Still the boat flew on; but now when the twilight was come, and they had
just opened up along reach of the cliff that lay beyond a high ness,
Hallblithe thought he saw down by the edge of the sea something darker
than the face of the rock-wall, and he deemed it was a cave: they came a
little nearer and he saw it was a great cave high enough to let a round-
ship go in with all her sails set.
"Son of the Raven," quoth Fox, "hearken, for thy heart is not little.
Yonder is the gate into the Isle of Ransom, and if thou wilt, thou mayst
go through it. Yet it may be that if thou goest ashore on to the Isle
something grievous shall befall thee, a trouble more than thou canst
bear: a shame it may be. Now there are two choices for thee: either to
go up on to the Isle and face all; or to die here by my hand having done
nothing unmanly or shameful: What sayest thou?"
"Thou art of many words when time so presses, Fox," said Hallblithe. "Why
should I not choose to go up on to the Island to deliver my trothplight
maiden? For the rest, slay me if thou canst, if we come alive out of
this cauldron of waters."
Said the big red man: "Look on then, and note Fox how he steereth, as it
were through a needle's eye."
Now were they underneath the black shadow of the black cliff and amidst
the twilight the surf was tossed about like white fire. In the lower
heavens the stars were beginning to twinkle and the moon was bright and
yellow, and aloft all was peaceful, for no cloud sullied the sky. One
moment Hallblithe saw all this hanging above the turmoil of thundering
water and dripping rock and the next he was in the darkness of the cave,
the roaring wind and the waves still making thunder about him, though of
a different voice from the harsh hubbub without. Then he heard Fox say:
"Sit down now and take the oars, for presently shall we be at home at the
landing place."
So Hallblithe took the oars and rowed, and as they went up the cave the
sea fell, and the wind died out into the aimless gustiness of hollow
places; and for a little while was all as dark as dark might be. Then
Hallblithe saw that the darkness grew a little greyer, and he looked over
his shoulder and saw a star of light before the bows of the boat, and Fox
cried out: "Yea, it is like day; bright will the moon be for such as
needs must be wayfaring to-night! Cease rowing, O Son of the coal-blue
fowl, for there is way enough on her."
Then Hallblithe lay on his oars, and in a minute the bows smote the land;
then he turned about and saw a steep stair of stone, and up the sloping
shaft thereof the moonlit sky and the bright stars. Then Fox arose and
came forward and leapt out of the boat and moored her to a big stone:
then he leapt back again and said: "Bear a hand with the victuals; we
must bring them out of the boat unless thou wilt sleep supperless, as I
will not. For to-night must we be guests to ourselves, since it is far
to the dwelling of my people, and the old man is said to be a
skin-changer, a flit-by-night. And as to this cave, it is deemed to be
nowise safe to sleep therein, unless the sleeper have a double share of
luck. And thy luck, meseemeth, O Son of the Raven, is as now somewhat
less than a single share. So to-night we shall sleep under the naked
heaven."
Hallblithe yea-said this, and they took the meat and drink, such as they
needed, from out the boat, and climbed the steep stair no little way, and
so came out on to a plain place, which seemed to Hallblithe bare and
waste so far as he saw it by the moonlight; for the twilight was gone
now, and nought was left of the light of day save a glimmer in the west.
This Hallblithe deemed wonderful, that no less out on the open heath and
brow of the land than in the shut-in cave, all that tumult of the wind
had fallen, and the cloudless night was calm, and with a little air
blowing from the south and the landward.
Therewithal was Fox done with his loud-voiced braggart mood, and spoke
gently and peaceably like to a wayfarer, who hath business of his to look
to as other men. Now he pointed to certain rocks or low crags that a
little way off rose like a reef out of the treeless plain; then said he:
"Shipmate, underneath yonder rocks is our resting-place for to-night; and
I pray thee not to deem me churlish that I give thee no better harbour.
But I have a charge over thee to bring thee safe thus far on thy quest;
and thou wouldst find it hard to live among such housemates as thou
wouldst find up yonder amongst our folks to-night. But to-morrow shalt
thou come to speech with him who will deal with thee concerning the
ransom."
"It is enough," said Hallblithe, "and I thank thee for thy leading: and
as for thy rough and uncomely words which thou hast given me, I pardon
thee for them: for I am none the worse of them: forsooth, if I had been,
my sword would have had a voice in the matter."
"I am well content as it is, Son of the Raven," quoth Fox; "I have done
my bidding and all is well."
"Tell me then who it is hath bidden thee bring me hither?"
"I may not tell thee," said Fox; "thou art here, be content, as I am."
And he spake no more till they had come to the reef aforesaid, which was
some two furlongs from the place where they had come from out of the
cave. There then they set forth their supper on the stones, and ate what
they would, and drank of that good strong wine while the horn bare out.
And now was Fox of few words, and when Hallblithe asked him concerning
that land, he had little to say. And at last when Hallblithe asked him
of that so perilous house and those who manned it, he said to him:
"Son of the Raven, it avails not asking of these matters; for if I tell
thee aught concerning them I shall tell thee lies. Once again let it be
enough for thee that thou hast passed over the sea safely on thy quest;
and a more perilous sea it is forsooth than thou deemest. But now let us
have an end of vain words, and make our bed amidst these stones as best
we may; for we should be stirring betimes in the morning." Hallblithe
said little in answer, and they arrayed their sleeping places cunningly,
as the hare doth her form, and like men well used to lying abroad.
Hallblithe was very weary and he soon fell asleep; and as he lay there,
he dreamed a dream, or maybe saw a vision; whether he were asleep when he
saw it, or between sleeping and waking, I know not. But this was his
dream or his vision; that the Hostage was standing over him, and she as
he had seen her but yesterday, bright-haired and ruddy-cheeked and white-
skinned, kind of hand and soft of voice, and she said to him:
"Hallblithe, look on me and hearken, for I have a message for thee." And
he looked and longed for her, and his soul was ravished by the sweetness
of his longing, and he would have leapt up and cast his arms about her,
but sleep and the dream bound him, and he might not. Then the image
smiled on him and said: "Nay, my love, lie still, for thou mayst not
touch me: here is but the image of the body which thou desirest. Hearken
then. I am in evil plight, in the hands of strong-thieves of the sea,
nor know I what they will do with me, and I have no will to be shamed; to
be sold for a price from one hand to another, yet to be bedded without a
price, and to lie beside some foe-man of our folk, and he to cast his
arms about me, will I, will I not: this is a hard case. Therefore to-
morrow morning at daybreak while men sleep, I think to steal forth to the
gunwale of the black ship and give myself to the gods, that they and not
these runagates may be masters of my life and my soul, and may do with me
as they will: for indeed they know that I may not bear the strange
kinless house, and the love and caressing of the alien house-master, and
the mocking and stripes of the alien house-mistress. Therefore let the
Hoary One of the sea take me and look to my matters, and carry me to life
or death, which-so he will. Thin now grows the night, but lie still a
little yet, while I speak another word.
"Maybe we shall meet alive again, and maybe not: and if not, though we
have never yet lain in one bed together, yet I would have thee remember
me: yet not so that my image shall come between thee and thy
speech-friend and bed-fellow of the kindred, that shall lie where I was
to have lain. Yet again, if I live and thou livest, I have been told and
have heard that by one way or other I am like to come to the Glittering
Plain, and the Land of Living Men. O my beloved, if by any way thou
mightest come thither also, and we might meet there, and we two alive,
how good it were! Seek that land then, beloved! seek it, whether or no
we once more behold the House of the Rose, or tread the floor of the
Raven dwelling. And now must even this image of me sunder from thee.
Farewell!"
Therewith was the dream done and the vision departed; and Hallblithe sat
up full of anguish and longing; and he looked about him over the dreary
land, and it was somewhat light and the sky was grown grey and cloudy,
and he deemed that the dawn was come. So he leapt to his feet and
stooped down over Fox, and took him by the shoulder, and shook him and
said: "Faring-fellow, awake! the dawn is come, and we have much to do."
Fox sat up and growled like a dog, and rubbed his eyes and looked about
him and said: "Thou hast waked me for nought: it is the false dawn of the
moon that shineth now behind the clouds and casteth no shadow; it is but
an hour after midnight. Go to sleep again, and let me be, else will I
not be a guide to thee when the day comes." And he lay down and was
asleep at once. Then Hallblithe went and lay down again full of sorrow:
Yet so weary was he that he presently fell asleep, and dreamed no more.