IN WHICH GLUMM TAKES TO HUNTING ON THE MOUNTAINS FOR CONSOLATION, AND
FINDS IT UNEXPECTEDLY, WHILE ALRIC PROVES HIMSELF A HERO.
"I go to the fells to-day," said Glumm to Alric one morning, as the
latter opened the door of Glummstede and entered the hall.
"I go also," said Alric, leaning a stout spear which he carried against
the wall, and sitting down on a stool beside the fire to watch Glumm as
he equipped himself for the chase.
"Art ready, then? for the day is late," said Glumm.
"All busked," replied the boy.--"I say, Glumm, is that a new spear thou
hast got?"
"Aye; I took it from a Swedish viking the last fight I had off the
coast. We had a tough job of it, and left one or two stout men behind
to glut the birds of Odin, but we brought away much booty. This was
part of it," he added, buckling on a long hunting-knife, which was stuck
in a richly ornamented sheath, "and that silver tankard too, besides the
red mantle that my mother wears, and a few other things--but my comrades
got the most of it."
"I wish I had been there, Glumm," said Alric.
"If Hilda were here, lad, she would say it is wrong to wish to fight."
"Hilda has strange thoughts," observed the boy.
"So has Erling," remarked his companion.
"And so has Ada," said Alric, with a sly glance.
Glumm looked up quickly. "What knowest _thou_ about Ada?" said he.
The sly look vanished before Glumm had time to observe it, and an
expression of extreme innocence took its place as the lad replied--
"I know as much about her as is usual with one who has known a girl, and
been often with her, since the day he was born."
"True," muttered Glumm, stooping to fasten the thongs that laced the
untanned shoes on his feet. "Ada has strange thoughts also, as thou
sayest. Come now, take thy spear, and let us be gone."
"Where shall we go to-day?" asked Alric.
"To the wolf's glen."
"To the wolf's glen? that is far."
"Is it too far for thee, lad?"
"Nay, twice the distance were not too far for me," returned the boy
proudly; "but the day advances, and there is danger without honour in
walking on the fells after dark."
"The more need for haste," said Glumm, opening the door and going out.
Alric followed, and for some time these two walked in silence, as the
path was very steep, and so narrow for a considerable distance, that
they could not walk abreast.
Snow lay pretty thickly on the mountains, particularly in sheltered
places, but in exposed parts it had been blown off, and the hunters
could advance easily. In about ten minutes after setting out they lost
sight of Glummstede. As they advanced higher and deeper into the
mountains, the fiord and the sea, with its innumerable skerries, was
lost to view, but it was not until they had toiled upwards and onwards
for nearly two hours that they reached those dark recesses of the fells
to which the bears and wolves were wont to retreat after committing
depredations on the farms in the valleys far below.
There was something in the rugged grandeur of the scenery here, in the
whiteness of the snow, the blackness of the rocks which peeped out from
its voluminous wreaths, the lightness of the atmosphere, and, above all,
the impressive silence, which possessed an indescribable charm for the
romantic mind of Alric, and which induced even the stern matter-of-fact
Glumm to tread with slower steps, and to look around him with a feeling
almost akin to awe. No living thing was to be seen, either among the
stupendous crags which still towered above, or in the depths which they
had left below; but there were several footprints of wolves, all of
which Glumm declared, after careful examination, to be old.
"See here, lad," he said, turning up one of these footprints with the
butt of his spear; "observe the hardish ball of snow just under the
print; that shows that the track is somewhat old. If it had been quite
fresh there would have been no such ball."
"Thou must think my memory of the shortest, Glumm, for I have been told
that every time I have been out with thee."
"True, but thou art so stupid," said Glumm, laying his spear lightly
across the boy's shoulders, "that I have thought fit to impress it on
thee by repetition, having an interest in thine education, although thou
dost not deserve it."
"I deserve it, mayhap, more than ye think."
"How so, boy?"
"_Why_, because I have for a long time past taken an uncommon interest
in thy welfare."
Glumm laughed, and said he did not know that there was any occasion to
concern himself about his welfare.
"Oh yes, there is!" cried Alric, "for, when a man goes moping about the
country as if he were fey, or as if he had dreamed of seeing his own
guardian spirit, his friends cannot help being concerned about him."
"Why, what is running in the lad's head?" said Glumm, looking with a
perplexed expression at his young companion.
"Nothing runs in my head, save ordinary thoughts. If there be any
unusual running at all, it must be in thine own."
"Speak, thou little fox," said Glumm, suddenly grasping Alric by the
nape of the neck and giving him a shake.
"Nay then, if that is thy plan," said the boy, "give it a fair trial.
Shake away, and see what comes of it. Thou mayest shake out blood,
bones, flesh, and life too, and carry home my skin as a trophy, but be
assured that thou shalt not shake a word off my tongue!"
"Boldly spoken," said Glumm, laughing, as he released the lad; "but I
think thy tone would change if I were to take thee at thy word."
"That it would not. Thou art not the first man whom I have defied, aye,
and drawn blood from, as that red-haired Dane--"
Alric stopped suddenly. He had reached that age when the tendency to
boast begins, at least in manly boys, to be checked by increasing good
sense and good taste. Yet it is no disparagement of Alric's character
to say that he found it uncommonly difficult to refrain, when occasion
served, from making reference to his first warlike exploit, even
although frequent rebukes and increasing wisdom told him that boasting
was only fit for the lips of cowards.
"Why do ye stop?" asked Glumm, who quite understood the boy's feelings,
and admired his exercise of self-control.
"Be--because I have said enough."
"Good is it," observed the other, "when man or boy knows that he has
said enough, and has the power to stop when he knows it. But come,
Alric, thou hast not said enough to me yet on the matter that--that--"
"What matter?" asked Alric, with a sly look.
"Why, the matter of my welfare, to be sure."
"Ah, true. Well, methinks, Glumm, that I could give thee a little
medicine for thy mind, but I won't, unless ye promise to keep thy spear
off my back."
"I promise," said Glumm, whose curiosity was aroused.
"It is a sad thing when a man looks sweet and a maid looks sour, but
there is a worse thing; that is when the maid _feels_ sour. Thou lovest
Ada--"
"Hold!" cried Glumm, turning fiercely on his companion, "and let not thy
pert tongue dare to speak of such things, else will I show thee that
there are other things besides spears to lay across thy shoulders."
"Now art thou truly Glumm the Gruff," cried Alric, laughing, as he
leaped to the other side of a mass of fallen rock; "but if thy humour
changes not, I will show thee that I am not named Lightfoot for nothing.
Come, don't fume and fret there like a bear with a headache, but let me
speak, and I warrant me thou wilt be reasonably glad."
"Go on, then, thou incorrigible."
"Very well; but none of thy hard names, friend Glumm, else will I set my
big brother Erling at thee. There now, don't give way again. What a
storm-cloud thou art! Will the knowledge that Ada loves thee as truly
as thou lovest her calm thee down?"
"I see thou hast discovered my secret," said Glumm, looking at his
little friend with a somewhat confused expression, "though how the
knowledge came to thee is past my understanding. Yet as thou art so
clever a warlock I would fain know what ye mean about `Ada's love for
me.' Hadst thou said her hatred, I could have believed thee without
explanation."
"Let us go on, then," said Alric, "for there is nothing to be gained and
only time to be lost by thus talking across a stone."
The path which they followed was broad at that part, and not quite so
rugged, so that Alric could walk alongside of his stout friend as he
related to him the incident that was the means of enlightening him as to
Ada's feelings towards her lover. It was plain from the expression on
the Norseman's face that his soul was rejoiced at the discovery, and he
strode forward at such a pace that the boy was fain to call a halt.
"Thinkest thou that my legs are as long as thine?" he said, stopping and
panting.
Glumm laughed; and the laugh was loud and strong. He would have laughed
at anything just then, for the humour was upon him, and he felt it
difficult to repress a shout at the end of it!
"Come on, Alric, I will go slower. But art thou sure of all this? Hast
not mistaken the words?"
"Mistaken the words!" cried the boy; "why, I tell thee they were as
plain to my ears and my senses as what thou hast said this moment."
"Good," said Glumm; "and now the question comes up, how must I behave to
her? But thou canst not aid me herein, for in such matters thou hast
had no experience."
"Out upon thee for a stupid monster!" said the boy; "have I not just
proved that my experience is very deep? I have not, indeed, got the
length thou hast--of wandering about like a poor ghost or a half-witted
fellow, but I have seen enough of such matters to know what common sense
says."
"And, pray, what does common sense say?"
"Why, it says, Act towards the maid like a sane man, and, above all, a
true man. Don't go about the land gnashing thy teeth until everyone
laughs at thee. Don't go staring at her in grim silence as if she were
a wraith; and, more particularly, don't pretend to be fond of other
girls, for thou didst make a pitiful mess of that attempt. In short, be
Glumm without being Gruff, and don't try to be anybody else. Be kind
and straightforward to her, worship her, or, as Kettle Flatnose said the
other day, `kiss the ground she walks on,' if thou art so inclined, but
don't worry her life out. Show that thou art fond of her, and willing
to bide _her_ time. Go on viking cruise, for the proverb says that an
`absent body makes a longing spirit,' and bring her back shiploads of
kirtles and mantles and armlets, and gold and silver ornaments--that's
what common sense says, Glumm, and a great deal more besides, but I fear
much that it is all wasted on thee."
"Heyday!" exclaimed Glumm, "what wisdom do I hear? Assuredly we must
call thee Alric hinn Frode hereafter. One would think thou must have
been born before thine own grandfather."
"Truly that is not so difficult to fancy," retorted Alric. "Even now I
feel like a great-grandfather while I listen to thee. There wants but a
smooth round face and a lisping tongue to make thine appearance suitable
to thy wisdom! But what is this that we have here?"
The boy pointed to a track of some animal in the snow a few yards to one
side of the path.
"A wolf track," said Glumm, turning aside.
"A notably huge one," remarked the boy.
"And quite fresh," said the man.
"Which is proved," rejoined Alric in a slow, solemn voice, "by the fact
that there is no ball of snow beneath the--"
"Hold thy pert tongue," said Glumm in a hoarse whisper, "the brute must
be close to us. Do thou keep in the lower end of this gorge--see,
yonder, where it is narrow. I will go round to the upper end; perchance
the wolf is there. If so, we stand a good chance of killing him, for
the sides of the chasm are like two walls all the way up. But," added
Glumm, hesitating a moment, and looking fixedly at the small but sturdy
frame of his companion, whose heightened colour and flashing eyes
betokened a roused spirit, "I doubt thy--that is--I have no fear of the
spirit, if the body were a little bigger."
"Take thine own big body off, Glumm," said Alric, "and leave me to guard
the pass."
Glumm grinned as he turned and strode away.
The spot which the hunters had reached merits particular notice. It was
one of those wild deep rents or fissures which are usually found near
the summits of almost inaccessible mountains. It was not, however, at
the top of the highest range in that neighbourhood, being merely on the
summit of a ridge which was indeed very high--perhaps five or six
thousand feet--but still far below the serried and shattered peaks which
towered in all directions round Horlingdal, shutting it out from all
communication with the rest of the world, except through the fiord and
the pass leading over to the Springs.
On the place where Alric parted from his friend the rocks of the gorge
or defile rose almost perpendicularly on both sides, and as he advanced
he found that the space between became narrower, until, at the spot
where he was to take his stand, there was an opening of scarcely six
feet in width. Beyond this the chasm widened a little, until, at its
higher end, it was nearly twenty yards broad; but, owing to the widening
nature of the defile, the one opening could not be seen from the other,
although they were little more than four hundred yards apart.
The track of the wolf led directly through the pass into the gorge. As
the lad took his stand he observed with much satisfaction that it was
that of an unusually large animal. This feeling was tempered, however,
with some anxiety lest it should have escaped at the other opening. It
was also mixed with a touch of agitation; for although Alric had seen
his friend and Erling kill wolves and bears too, he had never before
been left to face the foe by himself, and to sustain the brunt of the
charge in his own proper person. Beyond an occasional flutter of the
heart, however, there was nothing to indicate, even to himself, that he
was not as firm as the rock on which he stood.
Now, let it not be supposed that we are here portraying a hero of
romance in whom is united the enthusiasm of the boy with the calm
courage of the man. We crave attention, more particularly that of boys,
to the following observations:--
In the highly safe and civilised times in which we live, many thousands
of us never have a chance, from personal experience, of forming a just
estimate of the powers of an average man or boy, and we are too apt to
ascribe that to heroism which is simply due to knowledge. A man _knows_
that he can do a certain thing that seems extremely dangerous, therefore
he does it boldly, not because he is superlatively bold by any means,
but because he knows there is no risk--at least none to him. The
proverb that "Familiarity breeds contempt" applies as truly to danger as
to anything else; and well is it for the world that the majority of
human beings are prone to familiarise themselves with danger in spite of
those well-meaning but weak ones who have been born with a tendency to
say perpetually, "Take care," "Don't run such risk", etcetera.
"Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;" and man has
echoed the sentiment in the proverb, "Whatever is worth doing is worth
doing well". Do you climb?--then do it well--do it in such
circumstances that your spirit will get used to seeing profound depths
below you without your heart melting into hot water and your nerves
quaking. Do you leap?--then do it well--do it so that you may be able
to turn it to some good account in the day of trial; do it so that you
may know _how_ to leap off a runaway carriage, for instance, without
being killed. Learn to jump off high cliffs into deep water, so that,
should the opportunity ever offer, you may be able to plunge off the
high bulwarks of a vessel to save a sister, or mother, or child, with as
little thought about yourself as if you were jumping off a sofa.
Observe, we do not advocate recklessness. To leap off a cliff so high
that you will be sure to be killed is not leaping "well"; but neither is
it well to content yourself with a jump of three or four feet as your
utmost attainment, because that is far short of many a leap which may
have to be taken in this world to save even your own life, not to
mention the lives of others. But enough of this disquisition, which,
the reader will observe, has been entered upon chiefly in order to prove
that we do not ascribe heroic courage to Alric when we say that, having
been familiar with danger from his birth, he prepared to face a wolf of
unknown size and ferocity with considerable coolness, if not
indifference to danger.
Glumm meanwhile reached the other end of the ravine, and there, to his
intense disappointment, found the track of the wolf leading away towards
the open mountains beyond. Just where it left the ravine, however, the
animal had run about so much that the track was crossed and recrossed in
confusion. Glumm therefore had difficulty at first in following it up,
but when he did so, great was his joy to find that it doubled back and
re-entered the defile. Pressing quickly forward, he came to a broken
part, near the centre, where, among a heap of grey, weather-worn rocks
he perceived two sharp-pointed objects, like a pair of erect ears! To
make certain, he hurled a stone towards the place. The objects
instantly disappeared!
Immediately afterwards, a long grey back and a bushy tail were visible
as the wolf glided among the rocks, making for the side of the
precipice, with the intention, doubtless, of rushing past this bold
intruder.
Glumm observed the movement, and promptly went in the same direction.
The wolf noticed this, and paused abruptly--remaining still, as if
uncertain what to do. The hunter at once put to flight his uncertainty
by gliding swiftly towards him. Seeing this, the wolf abandoned the
attempt at concealment and bounded into the centre of the ravine, where,
with his bristles erect, his back slightly arched, and all his
glittering teeth and blood-red gums exposed, he stood for a moment or
two the very picture of intensified fury. The hunter advanced with his
spear levelled, steadily, but not hastily, because there was sufficient
space on either hand to render the meeting of the animal in its rush a
matter of extreme difficulty, while at every step he took, the
precipices on either side drew closer together. The brute had evidently
a strong objection to turn back, and preferred to run the risk of
passing its foe, for it suddenly sprang to one side and ran up the cliff
as far as possible, like a cat, while it made for the upper end of the
ravine.
The Norseman, whose powerful frame was by this time strung to intensity
of action, leaped to the same side with the agility of a panther, and
got in before it. The wolf did not stop, but with a ferocious growl it
swerved aside, and bounded to the other side of the ravine. Again the
hunter leaped across, and stood in its way. He bent forward to resist
the animal's weight and impetus, but the baffled wolf was cowed by his
resolute front. It turned tail, and fled, followed by Glumm with a wild
halloo!
When the first growl was heard by Alric, it strung him up to the right
pitch instantly, and the next one caused the blood to rush to his face,
for he heard the halloo which Glumm uttered as he followed in pursuit.
The distance was short. Another moment and the boy saw the infuriated
animal springing towards him, with Glumm rushing madly after it. Alric
was already in the centre of the pass with the spear levelled, and his
body bent in anticipation of the shock. The wolf saw him, but did not
check its pace--with a furious Norseman bounding behind there was no
room for hesitation. It lowered its head, increased its speed, and ran
at the opening like a thunderbolt. When within three yards of the boy
it swerved, and, leaping up, pawed the cliff on the left while in the
air. Alric had foreseen this--his only doubt had been as to which side
the brute would incline to. He sprang at the same moment, and met it
full in the face as it came down. The point of his spear entered the
wolf's chest, and penetrated deep into its body. A terrific yell
followed. The spear handle broke in the middle, and the boy fell on his
face, while the wolf went right over him, yelling and biting the spear,
as, carried on by its impetus, it rolled head over heels for several
yards among the rocks.
Alric jumped up unhurt, and, for want of a better weapon, seized a mass
of stone, which he raised above his head, and hurled at the wolf,
hitting it fairly on the skull. At the same moment Glumm ran up,
intending to transfix the brute with his spear.
"Hold thy hand, Glumm," gasped the boy.
Glumm checked himself.
"In truth it needs no more," he said, bringing the butt of his weapon to
the ground, and leaning on it, while he looked on at the last struggles
of the dying wolf. "Fairly done, lad," he added, with a nod of
approval, "this will make a man of thee."
The boy did not speak, but stood with his chest still heaving, his
breath coming fast, and the expression of triumph on his countenance
showing that for him a new era had opened up--that the days of boasting
had ended, and those of manly action had fairly and auspiciously begun.