IN WHICH THE SKY AGAIN BECOMES OVERCAST--THE WAR-TOKEN IS SENT OUT--
ALRIC GETS A SURPRISE, AND A BERSERK CATCHES A TARTAR.
Erling the Bold was very fond of salmon-fishing, and it was his wont,
when the weather suited, and nothing of greater importance claimed his
attention, to sally forth with a three-pronged spear to fish in the
Horlingdal river, which swarmed with salmon in the summer season of the
year.
One evening he left Haldorstede with his fishing-spear on his shoulder,
and went up to the river, accompanied by one of the house-carles. They
both wore shirts of mail, and carried shield and sword, for these were
not times in which men could venture to go about unarmed. On reaching a
place where the stream ran shallow among rocks, our hero waded in, and
at the first dart of his spear struck a fish of about fifteen pounds
weight, which he cast, like a bar of burnished silver, on the grassy
bank.
"That will be our supper to-night," observed the carle, as he disengaged
the spear.
Erling made no reply, but in a few minutes he pulled out another fish,
and said, as he threw it down--
"That will do for a friend, should one chance to turn in to us
to-night."
After that he tried again, but struck no more, although he changed his
ground frequently; so he cast his eyes upwards as if to judge of the
time of evening, and appeared to doubt whether or not he should
persevere any longer.
"Try the foss," suggested the house-carle; "you seldom fail to get one
there."
"Well, I will try it. Do thou leave the fish under that bush, and
follow me. It needs three big fish to make a good feast for my father's
household."
"Besides," said the carle, "there is luck in an odd number, as Kettle
Flatnose is fond of telling us."
They were about to ascend the bank to the track which led to the
waterfall, about half a mile farther up the river, when their attention
was arrested by a shout; looking down the stream in the direction whence
it came, they saw a figure approaching them at full speed.
"That must be my brother Alric," said Erling, on hearing the shout
repeated.
"It looks like him," said the carle.
All doubt on the point was quickly set at rest by the lad, who ran at a
pace which soon brought him near. Waving his cap above his head he
shouted--
"News! news! good news!"
"Out with thy news, then," said Erling, as Alric stood before him,
panting violently, "though I dare say the best news thou hast to give is
that thou hast come back to us safe and well."
"Hah! let me get wind! nay, I have better news than that," exclaimed
Alric; "Harald is coming--King Harald Haarfager--with a monstrous fleet
of longships, cutters, dragons, and little boats, and a mighty host of
men, to lay waste Horlingdal with fire and sword, and burn us all alive,
perhaps eat us too, who knows!"
"Truly if this be good news," said Erling, with a laugh, "I hope I may
never hear bad news. But where got ye such news, Alric?"
"From the widow Gunhild, to be sure, who is true to us as steel, and
comes all the way from Drontheim, out of love to thee, Erling, to tell
it. But, I say, _don't_ you think this good news? I always thought you
would give your best battle-axe to have a chance of fighting Harald!"
"Aye, truly, for a chance of fighting Harald, but not for that chance
coupled with the other chance of seeing Horlingdal laid waste with fire
and sword, to say nothing of being eaten alive, which, I suppose, is
thine own addition to the news, boy. But come, if this be so, we do not
well to waste time chattering here. Fetch the two fish, carle.
To-night we must be content with what luck lies in an even number in
spite of the opinion of Kettle Flatnose.--Come, Alric, thou canst tell
me more of this as we hasten home."
"But I have more good news than that to tell," said the lad, as they
hurried towards Haldorstede. "Solve Klofe with his men have come back
with us--indeed, I may rather say that we have come back with Solve, for
our own ship has been wrecked and lost, but Kettle and I and Thorer and
all the men were saved by Solve, with nearly everything belonging to us,
and all the booty. It is not more than an hour since we sailed into the
fiord, loaded to the shield-circle with, oh! _such_ splendid things--
gold, silver, cups, tankards, gems, shawls--and--and I know not what
all, besides captives. It was just after we landed that a small boat
came round the ness from the north with the widow Gunhild in it, and she
jumped ashore, and told what she had seen and heard at Drontheim, and
that we may expect Ada's father, King Hakon, in his longship, to our
aid; perhaps he may be coming into the fiord even now while we are
talking. And--and, she said also that Rolf Ganger had left the King in
a huff, and perhaps we might look for help from him too. So methinks I
bring good news, don't I?"
"Good, aye, and stirring news, my boy," cried Erling striding onward at
such a pace that the carle with the fish was left behind, and Alric was
compelled to adopt an undignified trot in order to keep up with his huge
brother. "From this I see," continued Erling in a tone of deep
seriousness, "that the long-looked-for time is at last approaching.
This battle that must surely come will decide the fate of freemen. King
Harald Haarfager must now be crushed, or Norway shall be enslaved.
Alric, my boy, thou hast been styled Lightfoot. If ever thou didst
strive to merit that title, strive this night as ye have never striven
before, for there is urgent need that every friendly blade in the land
should assemble in the dale without delay. I will send thee forth with
the split arrow as soon as I have seen and spoken with my father.--Ha!
I see him coming. Go into the house, lad, and sup well and quickly, for
no sleep shall visit thine eyelids this night."
Alric's breast swelled with gratification at being spoken to thus
earnestly and made of such importance by his brother, whom he admired
and loved with an intensity of feeling that no words can convey.
Looking up in his face with sparkling eyes, he gave him a little nod.
Erling replied with another little nod and a sedate smile, and the boy,
turning away, dashed into the house, at which they had now arrived.
"Hast heard the news, Erling?" asked Haldor, as his son drew near.
"Aye, Alric has told it me."
"What thinkest thou?"
"That the game is about to be played out."
Haldor looked full in Erling's face, and his own noble countenance
glowed with an expression of majesty which cannot be described, and
which arose from the deep conviction that one of the most momentous eras
in his life had arrived--a period in which his own fate and that of all
he held most dear would in all probability be sealed. Death or victory,
he felt assured, were now the alternatives; and when he reflected on the
great power of the King, and the stern necessity there was for the
exertion of not only the utmost bravery, but the most consummate skill,
his whole being glowed with suppressed emotion, while his bearing
betokened the presence, and bore the dignified stamp, of a settled
purpose to do his best, and meet his fate, for weal or woe, manfully.
"Come," said he, putting his arm within that of his stout son, "let us
turn into the wood awhile. I would converse with thee on this matter."
"Alric is ready to start with the token," said Erling.
"I know it, my son. Let him sup first; the women will care well for
him, for they will guess the work that lies before him. The people of
Ulfstede are with us to-night, and Glumm is here; but Glumm is not of
much use as a counsellor just now, poor fellow. It were kind to let him
be, until it is time to rouse him up to fight!"
A quiet smile played on Haldor's lips as he thus alluded to the
impossibility of getting Glumm to think of anything but love or fighting
at that time.
While the father and son strolled in the wood conversing earnestly, a
noisy animated scene was presented in the great hall of Haldorstede; for
in it were assembled, besides the ordinary household, the family from
Ulfstede, a sprinkling of the neighbours, Gunhild and her men, Guttorm
Stoutheart, and Solve Klofe, with Kettle Flatnose, Thorer the Thick, and
the chief men who had arrived from the recent viking cruise; all of whom
were talking together in the utmost excitement, while the fair Herfrida
and her daughters and maids prepared a sumptuous meal.
In those days, and at such an establishment as that of Haldor the
Fierce, it was not possible for friends to appear inopportunely. A
dozen might have "dropped in" to breakfast, dinner, or supper, without
costing Dame Herfrida an anxious thought as to whether the cold joint of
yesterday "would do", or something more must be procured, for she knew
that the larder was always well stocked. When, therefore, a miniature
army of hungry warriors made a sudden descent upon her, she was quite
prepared for them--received them with the matronly dignity and
captivating smile for which she was celebrated, and at once gave
directions to her commissariat department to produce and prepare meat
and drink suitable to the occasion.
The evening which had thus grown so unexpectedly big with present facts
and future portents had begun in a very small way--in a way somewhat
equivalent to the modern "small tea party". Ulf of Romsdal, feeling a
disposition "to make a night of it", had propounded to Dame Astrid the
idea of "going up to Haldorstede for the evening." His wife, being
amiably disposed, agreed. Hilda and Ada were equally willing, and
Glumm, who by a mere chance happened to be there at the time, could not
choose but accompany them!
The family at Haldorstede were delighted to see their friends. Dame
Herfrida carried off Dame Astrid to her apartment to divest her of her
hat and mantle. Ingeborg bore off Ada, and the younger girls of the
household made away with Hilda, leaving Ulf to talk the politics of the
day with Haldor, while Glumm pretended to listen to them, but listened,
in reality, for Ada's returning footsteps. In a short time the fair
ones re-entered the hall, and there they had supper, or, more properly,
an interlude supper--a sort of supperlet, so to speak, composed of cold
salmon, scones, milk, and ale, which was intended, no doubt, to give
them an appetite for the true supper that should follow ere long. Over
this supperlet they were all very talkative and merry, with the
exception, poor fellow, of Glumm, who sat sometimes glancing at, and
always thinking of, Ada, and pendulating, as usual, between the
condition of being miserably happy or happily miserable.
No mortal, save Glumm himself, could have told or conceived what a life
Ada led him. She took him up by the neck, figuratively speaking, and
shook him again and again as a terrier shakes a rat, and dropped him!
But here the simile ceases, for whereas the rat usually crawls away, if
it can, and evidently does not want more, Glumm always wanted more, and
never crawled away. On the contrary, he crawled humbly back to the feet
of his tormentor, and by looks, if not words, craved to be shaken again!
It was while Glumm was drinking this cup of mingled bliss and torment,
and the others were enjoying their supperlet, that Solve Klofe and his
men, and Kettle Flatnose, Thorer the Thick, and the house-carles, burst
clamorously into the hall, with old Guttorm Stoutheart, who had met them
on the beach. Scarcely had they got over the excitement of this first
invasion when the widow Gunhild and her niece arrived to set the
household ablaze with her alarming news. The moment that Haldor heard
it he dispatched Alric in search of Erling, who, as we have seen,
immediately returned home.
Shortly afterwards he and Haldor entered the hall.
"Ho! my men," cried the latter, "to arms, to arms! Busk ye for the
fight, and briskly too, for when Harald Haarfager lifts his hand he is
not slow to strike. Where is Alric?"
"Here I am, father."
"Hast fed well, boy?"
"Aye, famously," answered Alric, wiping his mouth and tightening his
belt.
"Take the war-token, my son, and see that thou speed it well. Let it
not fail for want of a messenger. If need be, go all the round thyself,
and rest not as long as wind and limb hold out. Thy fighting days have
begun early," he added in a softer tone, as he passed his large hand
gently over the fair head of the boy, "perchance they will end early.
But, whatever betide, Alric, quit thee like a man--as thou art truly in
heart if not in limb."
Such words from one who was not at any time lavish of praise might, a
short time before, have caused the boy to hold up his head proudly, but
the last year of his life had been fraught with many lessons. He
listened with a heaving breast and beating heart indeed, but with his
head bent modestly down, while on his flushed countenance there was a
bright expression, and on his lips a glad smile which spoke volumes.
His father felt assured, as he looked at him, that he would never bring
discredit on his name.
"Ye know the course," said Haldor; "away!"
In another minute Alric was running at full speed up the glen with the
war-token in his hand. His path was rugged, his race was wild, and its
results were striking. He merely shouted as he passed the windows of
the cottages low down in the dale, knowing that the men there would be
roused by others near at hand; but farther on, where the cottages were
more scattered, he opened the door of each and showed the token,
uttering a word or two of explanation, during the brief moment he stayed
to swallow a mouthful of water or to tighten his belt.
At first his course lay along the banks of the river, every rock and
shrub of which he knew. Farther on he left the stream on the right, and
struck into the mountains just as the sun went down.
High up on the fells a little cottage stood perched on a cliff. It was
one of the "saeters" or mountain dairies where the cattle were pastured
in summer long ago--just as they are at the present day. Alric ran up
the steep face of the hill, doubled swiftly round the corner of the
enclosure, burst open the door, and, springing in, held up the token,
while he wiped the streaming perspiration from his face.
A man and his wife, with three stout sons and a comely daughter, were
seated on a low bench eating their supper of thickened milk.
"The war-token!" exclaimed the men, springing up, and, without a
moment's delay, taking down and girding on the armour which hung round
the walls.
"King Harald is on his way to the dale," said Alric; "we assemble at
Ulfstede."
"Shall I bear on the token?" asked the youngest of the men.
"Aye; but go thou with it up the Wolf's Den Valley. I myself will bear
it round by the Eagle Crag and the coast."
"That is a long way," said the man, taking his shield down from a peg in
the wall.
Alric replied not, for he had already darted away, and was again
speeding along the mountain side.
Night had begun to close in, for the season had not yet advanced to the
period of endless daylight. Far away in an offshoot vale, a bright
ruddy light gleamed through the surrounding darkness. Alric's eye was
fixed on it. His untiring foot sped towards it. The roar of a mighty
cataract grew louder on his ear every moment. He had to slacken his
pace a little, and pick his steps as he went on, for the path was rugged
and dangerous.
"I wonder if Old Hans of the Foss is at home?" was the thought that
passed through his mind as he approached the door.
Old Hans himself answered the thought by opening the door at that
moment. He was a short, thick-set, and very powerful man, of apparently
sixty years of age, but his eye was as bright and his step as light as
that of many a man of twenty.
"The war-token," he said, almost gaily, stepping back into the cottage
as Alric leaped in. "What is doing, son of Haldor?"
"King Harald will be upon us sooner than we wish. Ulfstede is the
meeting-place. Can thy son speed on the token in the next valley?"
The old warrior shook his head sadly, and pointed to a low bed, where a
young man lay with the wasted features and bright eyes that told of a
deadly disease in its advanced stage.
An exclamation of regret and sympathy escaped from Alric. "I cannot
go," he said; "my course lies to the left, by the Stor foss. Hast no
one to send?"
"I will go, father," said a smart girl of fifteen, who had been seated
behind her mother, near the couch of the sick man.
"Thou, bairn?"
"Yes, why not? It is only a league to Hawksdal, where young Eric will
gladly relieve me."
"True," said the old warrior, with a smile, as he began to don his
armour. "Go; I need not tell thee to make haste!"
Alric waited to hear no more, but darted away as the little maid tripped
off in another direction.
Thus hour by hour the night passed by and Alric ran steadily on his
course, rousing up all the fighting men in his passage through the
district. As he advanced, messengers with war-tokens were multiplied,
and, ere the morning's sun had glinted on the mountain peaks or lighted
up the white fields of the Justedal glacier, the whole country was in
arms, and men were crowding to the rendezvous.
Daylight had just commenced to illumine the eastern sky, when Alric,
having completed his round, found himself once more on the cliffs above
the sea. But he was still six or eight miles from Ulfstede, and the
path to it along the top of the cliffs was an extremely rugged one.
Earnestly then did the poor boy wish that he had remembered to put a
piece of bread in his wallet before leaving home, but in his haste he
had forgotten to do so, and now he found himself weary, foot-sore, and
faint from exertion, excitement, and hunger, far from any human
habitation. As there was no remedy for this, he made up his mind to
take a short rest on the grass, and then set off for home as fast as
possible.
With this end in view he selected a soft spot, on a cliff overlooking
the sea, and lay down with a sigh of satisfaction. Almost instantly he
fell into a deep slumber, in which he lay, perfectly motionless, for
some hours. How long that slumber would have lasted it is impossible to
say, for it was prematurely and unpleasantly interrupted.
In his cat-like creepings about the coast, Hauskuld the berserk, having
obtained all the information that he thought would be of use to his
royal master, landed for the last time to reconnoitre the position of
Ulfstede, and see as much as he could of the doings of the people before
turning his prow again to the north. The spot where he ran his boat
ashore was at the foot of a steep cliff, up which he and a comrade
ascended with some difficulty.
At the top, to his surprise, he found a lad lying on the grass sound
asleep. After contemplating him for a few minutes, and whispering a few
words to his comrade, who indulged in a broad grin, Hauskuld drew his
sword and pricked Alric on the shoulder with it. An electric shock
could not have been more effective. The poor boy sprang up with a loud
cry, and for a few seconds gazed at the berserks in bewilderment. Then
it flashed upon his awakening faculties that he was standing before
enemies, so he suddenly turned round and fled, but Hauskuld sprang after
him, and, before he had got three yards away, had caught him by the nape
of the neck with a grip that made him gasp.
"Ho, ho! my young fox, so ye thought to leave the hounds in the lurch?
Come, cease thy kicking, else will I give thee an inch of steel to quiet
thee. Tell me thy name, and what thou art about here, and I will
consider whether to make use of thee or hurl thee over the cliffs."
By this time Alric had fully recovered his senses and his
self-possession. He stood boldly up before the berserk and replied--
"My name is Alric--son of Haldor the Fierce, out of whose way I advise
thee to keep carefully, if thou art not tired of life. I have just been
round with the war-token rousing the country."
"A most proper occupation for an eaglet such as thou," said Hauskuld;
"that is to say, if the cause be a good one."
"The cause is one of the best," said Alric.
"Prithee, what may it be?"
"Self-defence against a tyrant."