"AND THERETO THEY PLIGHTED TROTH BOTH OF THEM."
Do you wonder how so many people (and the boys in particular) contrived
to amuse themselves on that little island for a whole long summer day?
I could write a volume about it, and still leave something to tell.
Perhaps, some day, we shall hear what each person said and did and
discovered on that occasion, but at present we must confine ourselves
to the chief incidents.
First of these was the spreading of a bountiful lunch on a soft flat
spot of turf, as green and fragrant as an English lawn, although yearly
washed by the wild salt billows of the rough Atlantic, and never
touched by spade or ploughshare. Then there was the lighting of a fire
in the skeö, and the boiling of potatoes, and the infusing of tea. And
when all these preparations where almost complete, Yaspard stood upon a
knoll and blew lustily on his "Looder-horn" a signal agreed upon, and
which brought all the scattered party together near the flag-staff.
When they were all assembled, some casting very longing looks towards
the banquet so invitingly spread on snowy linen with a border of
emerald grass, others looking with some curiosity at the young host and
master of ceremonies, Fred said, "I've got a little speech to make,
friends, if you will have patience to hear me. I have a little present
to give to the little queen of our revels, and I can't do so without
the little speech."
"Hear! hear!" from some of the listeners, and one (his sister Isobel,
be it known) said loud enough for all to hear--
"There was a little man,
And he had a little gift
For to give unto a little little maiden, oh."
Fred shook his head at her. "Don't spoil my eloquence, Bell! I won't
say much, you may be sure."
He drew a paper from his pocket, and the smile on his bright handsome
face deepened into a wonderful resemblance to the chastened gracious
light which had given so much attraction to his father's countenance.
There was much, too, of his father's dignity and ease in his air, and
tears sprang to many eyes as that striking likeness was noted.
"His father's son, dear lad!" the Yarl whispered to Mrs. Holtum, who
could only look up with quivering lips in reply.
"My friends," Fred resumed, in graver tones, "you know why we are all
here to-day. We meet to rejoice over little Signy's preservation, and
we meet _here_ to thank God who made this little holme a havn[1] for
her. It was well named Havnholme. It has given shelter to many a
storm-tossed bark. The tiny bay yonder has ever been the one safe
shelter amid the breakers and billows which surround both Lunda and
Boden. There is no other haven of refuge between your island, Mr.
Adiesen, and mine, and we unite to-day in thanking God that little
Signy was saved on Havnholme. In time past, my friends, the
cross-currents were too much for some of the human barks that were out
for life's voyage, and they swamped among the skerries instead of
finding the calm shelter of this islet. We--that is, Mr. Adiesen and
myself--are so thankful to-day, that we have agreed that the best
expression of our gratitude will be a conferring of all our rights in
Havnholme upon the little lady who is queen of our party. Little
Signy, you are to be henceforth sole owner of Havnholme! This paper is
the legal document transferring to you this island as the free gift of
your uncle and myself. But there is another and more interesting
method of assuming the rights of property; and, my friends, we purpose
that Signy Adiesen, Esquiress, of Havnholme, shall 'turn turf' after
the old Shetland manner. I have loosened one or two sods here, so that
she will be able to turn them easily.
"There is just one small thing more to say. A number of you heard me,
as captain of a crew of sea-rovers, advise Yaspard Adiesen to sail
under this royal old flag, this fair tricoloured cross, and to make the
black badge of Thor into a pall! Yaspard has agreed to my proposal.
"His little sister possessed a doll which seems to have been an
ill-omened creature all its days. Its legs and arms were always coming
off, its eyes have been renewed many times, but never kept their
position without a squint. It was often lost; it frequently fell on
people's toes, bruising them and wounding the feelings of inoffending
mortals. It was an evilly-disposed doll evidently, and received the
name of the 'Feud.' This doll died the day Signy went to ransom the
Viking. It died by the deed of Pirate, who, finding it in a place
where it ought not to have been, bore it to his hold, as any other
pirate would, and gnawed the life out of it!
"Well, my friends, our Viking has shrouded the doll Feud in his black
flag, and the turf Signy turns will cover its grave! And now my little
speech is ended."
Amid the wildest of cheers and the happiest of smiles Yaspard deposited
the doll Feud, rolled up in his Viking flag, in the hole which Fred had
dug; and when it was almost levelled up, Signy took the spade and
deftly "turned turf" as directed. A few pats with the flat side of the
spade soon put the turf in proper position; and when the grave of Miss
Feud was finished, Yaspard flung his cap in the air and shouted, "Death
to all feuds! So perish all the queen's enemies!"
"The feud is dead! Long live Queen Signy!" cried Fred, lifting the
little girl in his arms; and then Bill Mitchell terminated the
proceedings by calling out, "I vote we go to dinner now, or Thor will
have demolished the best part of it."
To be sure, Thor, taking advantage of such an excellent opportunity,
when no eye was upon him (for Pirate had slunk to his master's feet
when the doll was produced, thinking that his misdemeanour was about to
be declared and punished, and had no attention to bestow on a
marauder), had hopped on to the table-cloth, and was rapidly
investigating the "spread" with an eye to future confiscation.
Fortunately, Bill was more interested in the food than in the feud, and
gave notice of Thor's depredation in time to prevent any serious
calamity to the dinner.
Everybody hastened to the level ground, and were soon seated and busy
over the good things which Mrs. Garson had provided with her usual
consideration of individual tastes and necessities. When the more
serious part of the meal was concluded, and tea and fruit was
circulating, there was a great cry for Garth's ballad of the Boden boy
who long years before had come to a tragic end in Lunda. So the young
scald modestly, but with capital effect, recited his story of
HEL-YA WATER.[2]
"Where the sod is seldom trodden,
Where the haunted hillocks lie,
Where the lonely Hel-ya Water
Looks up darkly to the sky;
Where the daala mists forgather,[3]
Where the plovers make complaint,
Where the stray or timid vaigher[4]
Calls upon his patron saint;
Where the waves of Hel-ya Water
Fret around a rugged isle,
Where the bones of Yarl Magnus
Lie below a lichened pile,
There the raven found a refuge,
There he reared his savage brood;
And the young lambs from the scattald
Were the nestlings' dainty food.
Year by year the Viking's raven
Made that mystic spot his rest;
Year by year within the eyot
Brooded he as on a nest;
And no man would ever venture
To invade the lone domain
Where in solitary scheming
The grim bird of doom did reign.
It was Yule-time, and the Isles' folk
Sained[5] the children by their fires;
Lit the yatlin,[6] filled the daffock,[7]
As of ealdon did their sires.
There was wassail in each dwelling,
And the song and dance went round;
And the laugh, the jest, the music,
Rose above the tempest's sound.
Ho! the winds are raging wildly,
Ho! the thunders are awake--
Tis the night when trows[8] have licence
Over saitor,[9] hill, and brake.
Power is theirs on land and water,
While the Yule-star leads the night;
For where trows may trice their circlet
There they claim exclusive right.
Yelling round the Hel-ya Water,
Sobbing by its eyot drear,
Screaming with the tempest-furies,
Over hillock, over mere;
On the wings of silent snow-flakes,
On the bulwands[10] from the rill,
By the haunted Hel-ya Water
Flit those heralds of all ill.
There the dismal bird of boding
Is exulting with the storm.
Who will dare to-night, and conquer
The old raven's sable form?
Who will venture to the vatn,[11]
Where the phantoms of unrest
Set their weird and magic signet
On each knoll and wavelet's crest?
See, young Yaspard's eye is blazing,
With the fires so fleet and free:
Come of Magnus, yarl and sea-king,
Son of Norland scald is he:
Well he knows the gruesome story
Of that evil-omened bird,
And of trows and vengeful demons
He hath dreamed and he hath heard.
But his heart is hot and steadfast,
And his hands are strong to try;
He will dare with fiends to combat--
He will dare, and he will die.
Forth against the howling tempest,
Forth against each evil power,
Wild and reckless, went young Yaspard
In a dark unguarded hour.
Cold the surf of Hel-ya Water
Breaks around the Norseman's grave,
And the boy is lifted rudely
By each charmed and chafing wars.
Now he struggles boldly onward,
Now he nears the haunted isle,
Where in grim and boding silence
Waits the bird of woe and wile.
Fain is Yaspard to encounter
That fierce harbinger of gloom--
Fain to dare the spells of magic,
Fain to foil the wrath of doom.
Hark! the solitary raven
Croaks a note of death and pain,
And a human call defiant
Answers from the flood again.
* * * *
Morning breaks: a snow-drift cover
All the drear deserted earth;
In young Yaspard's home is weeping,
Quenched the fire upon his hearth.
But he broke the spells of evil,
And he found a hero's grave.
When you pass the Hel-ya Water
Cast a pebble to its wave." [12]
[1] Haven.
[2] Holy lake.
[3] Lowland mists meet each other.
[4] Wanderer.
[5] Guarded by Christian rites from evil spirits, who are supposed to
have great licence at Yule.
[6] Candles used on festive occasions.
[7] Water bucket which was always required to be full of _clean_ water
at Yule.
[8] Trolls.
[9] Plains or pasture-land.
[10] Bullrushes which trows are supposed to use as aerial horses.
[11] Fresh-water lake.
[12] When passing any haunted water people cast therein a stone to
appease the troubled spirits.