passing on."
And again the voice comes as I lean against the ship with my arms
outspread.
"I am Thor, of the hammer; hail to you, man, passing on."
The sounds of the mirth of the gods die down. Then a voice speaks
deeply, with no ringing in it as was in the voice of Thor, and I do not
understand. The snow comes driving into my eyes, and the ship seems to
lean toward me, and then away again, then all is still.
The snow comes into my eyes again, and I hear faint music as of churches
and sweet voices singing, and it seems to me when I can see again that
there are dim ships before me; ships whose names only I have learnt from
scanty books no more; and all those gods come dancing toward me; then
the music breaks, and there is great cracking of the ice, and I fall
down. There is no voice of Christian God, for I have sacked his
churches. The snow is in my eyes, and I am mad. I lean my head against
the ship. There is no warmth, and I am afraid, alone.
THE END.
PRINTED BY W. H. WHITE AND CO. LTD.
EDINBURGH RIVERSIDE PRESS.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
The spelling of four names has been simplified in order for the file to
be encoded in ASCII. The names are:
Foen--original has a macron over 'o'
Ole--original has a macron over 'e'
Snore--original has a macron over 'e'
Uffe--original has a macron over 'e'
End of Project Gutenberg's The Sentimental Vikings, by Richard Voorhees Risley