SHOWING HOW THE HUNTSMAN BAGGED HIS GAME
The next day, under a storm-charged sky, the camp lay storm-charged. In
the doorways, men stood talking restlessly, with now and again an
outburst of sharp wrangling; out on the green, others refreshed their
knowledge of spear-throwing; around the tables, still others plied
sharpening stones upon ax blades which would never be used for trees.
Setting forth with their last load of outfittings for the ship, the
Champions shouted a battle-song in the face of the muttering thunder:
"And as the foeman's ships drew near
The dreadful din you well might hear;
Savage Berserks roaring mad,
And champions fierce in wolf-skins clad,
Howling like wolves; and clanking jar
Of many a mail-clad man of war,"
"Let us not try to settle in another place until we are off our feet on
account of old age," Brand spoke with energy. "Karlsefne says truly
that Norsemen are too wolf-like to endure it when they are penned like
sheep. Let us live like Fridtjof the Bold, with the ship for our hall
and the sky for our roof."
"And strike where we choose," Erlend added. "There is no good reason why
we should never make warfare against any but dwarfs. I have heard it
said that fine things are to be found in Ireland----"
"And in England--" "And in Rolf's country--" "And the East--" cried a
chorus; and each began at once to urge the merits of his particular
choice amid an eager clamor that was interrupted only by their arrival
at the path which wound down between the boulders.
There, however, the interruption was final. Glancing over the boulders,
the first boy shrieked: "What!" the second one: "Where--?" then, all
together, they roared: "The ship!" and tumbled one over the other and
out upon the beach. Save for the rollers which lay where they had left
them, not a vestige was to be seen of The-Fire-That-Runs-On-The-Waves.
Some of them cried: "The tide!" while others cried: "Skraellings!" And
one detachment went swarming up the trees of the bank to sweep the
length and breadth of the bay; and the other, drawing swords, raced
along the shore to explore the crescent curves with which it was
scalloped. But neither party brought back any news to the third group,
that seemed as yet unable to do more than stand staring at the rollers
and ejaculating. The clue came from a peevish voice on the bank above
them:
"I think you have little reason to boast of your eyesight if it has not
yet told you that I am here." Above the rocks a thin face rose, wanly
white in the glare of the lightning that was shivering across the sky.
Shrieking: "Hallad!" the band whirled up the beach like wind-driven
sand; and their chief had taken several steps to follow them before he
pulled himself up and turned around to face the intruder firmly.
"This looks to be an evil happening, if any one thinks you to be of
importance, which I do not. No fault of ours is it that you were
drowned. Why do you not stay under the water with the other dead men?"
The colorless lips showed a curl. "Dead men! Do you think that if I had
a ghost's power I would allow Thorhall to bind me, and stay up here to
be made a gazing-stock----"
"Thorhall!" Alrek repeated; and he came a step nearer, so that Brand and
Erlend and the Ugly One, pausing in their flight to look around for him,
took courage and came a little way back. "I do not know why it did not
come to my mind sooner that the Huntsman had a hand in this matter. Yet
he would scarcely be able to do it alone."
"There was little need to. After such a stirring-up as took place
yesterday, men might be expected to be ready for any fun. There were no
less than twenty of them with him, and their spirits scraped the sky.
Had it not happened that their humor was so good, it is likely they
would have killed me when they found out that I had followed them here,
instead of doing no more than tie me so that I should not give the alarm
too soon. They left at daybreak. I managed it to pull one arm free and
slide down on the ground and get some sleep, but the thongs are like
red-hot irons upon my ankles. Fetch your knife up here as quickly as you
can, and free me."
Alrek was taking another step toward him, when the expostulations of his
comrades brought him again to a standstill. "If you are not drowned,
what is the reason?" he inquired.
The claw-like hands beat the rock fretfully. "One reason is because I
never fell into the water. Whether Thorhall told you so or not, I was
not with him when he was wrecked on the Cape. Two days before that, he
had deserted me in the south country because I was overlong in getting
back to the boat after an exploring trip. It had happened twice before
that I was rather late, and he pretended to think that this time also it
was carelessness. It is the truth that I had hurt my leg and could not
get back earlier. It took me three weeks after that to make my way here.
By that time he had got home and told every one that I was dead; and he
took it so ill that I should belie him that he would have made it the
truth if I had not run away. The time you saw me climbing out of the
ice-hole which I had fallen through, was one time when I barely got
away from him. After that, however, it was less difficult; for when he
saw how you ran from me, he was willing that I should stay alive so long
as I remained dead. The reason I have the appearance of a dead man is
because I can not, more than others, get fat and color-full on fish and
raw eggs and water." He broke off impatiently: "Is it not clear to you
yet, you blocks of peat?"
The Champions looked at one another doubtfully. It sounded reasonable,
and yet----
"You have always made it a point that your foster-father, Biorn, should
help you out of difficulties. What is the reason that you did not go to
him with this one?" Brand demanded.
At least, Hallad's temper was alive; it sparkled in his hollow
eye-sockets. "As well go to Biorn's dogs because they have teeth! It
seems to me that you have been fooled enough to be able to understand
that the glance of Thorhall's sly green eyes has more power in it than
Biorn's blundering fist."
Though it is a strange thing, it is true that for the time being they
had forgotten the ship. Of one accord they started forward as it came
back to them.
"You know how much of the story is true--" "--what he did intend--"
"Give us your opinion whither he has gone----"
"I--will--not--tell--you--one--thing--until--you--come--up--here--
and--release--me," Hallad's thin lips bit off his decision.
Alrek set forth his counter-condition. "If you will allow me to prick
your skin with my sword so that I see blood come out of your flesh, I
will believe that you are not a ghost."
One of the skeleton-like arms was stretched over the rock before he had
finished. Drawing his sword, he went forward and scratched a cross upon
it; the lines were instantly blurred with blood. Without more ado, he
climbed up the bank and around the boulder and cut the bands, and the
ghost returned his hand-clasp with most unghostlike pressure,--after
which he sank down upon the bank to rub his chafed ankles.
"It was like his spitefulness to tie them so tight," he whimpered. "And
besides this, I am starved. If there are any tidings you want to know,
you would better be quick about asking, before I take myself where I can
get some curds and bread."
From their answer it appeared that they had several things to ask. "Tell
us where he is going with our ship--" "Tell us how much truth there was
in the dwarf-story--" "No, about his purpose in sharing his secret----"
While one of Hallad's hands continued rubbing his ankles, the other one
scratched his head. "Now if he has gabbled about dwarfs, it does not
appear to me that he did share his secret. Certainly I did not see any
dwarfs, nor hear of any. One day when Thord and I had staid with the
boat and he and Swipdag had gone far inland, he came back with a gold
chain; and they both said that they had seen Asbrandsson, the
Broadwicker's Champion whom Snorri Godi outlawed from Iceland many years
ago. Where a story passes through many mouths it is likely to become
somewhat chewed, and it may be that they were lying then also; but they
told how Asbrandsson related about a settlement which white men from
Ireland had made further south. He dwelt among them, he said; but it
seemed that they lived too quietly and sang too many priest-songs to
please him well, and therefore he would like to come to Vinland if so be
that Karlsefne the Lawman would admit a fellow of his bad fame. As a
present to get him good-will, he sent the Lawman a chain by Thorhall;
but that Thorhall put it to other uses is easily guessed. It is less
easy to know whither he intends taking the ship. It may be that he has
gone south; and it may be, as I said before, that the story of White
Man's Land is also a lie."
They loosed mouthfuls of angry denunciations. "But why take so much
trouble to make up a story--" "What aid was it expected that we should
give?" "Why did he not give the message to the Lawman?"
"Now are you so witless that I do not wonder he found pleasure in
fooling you," Hallad snapped as he got painfully upon his feet. "How
would he have got booty if he had told Karlsefne, who would have
forbidden fighting between the settlements? It is likely that he made up
the dwarf-story because he thought it unadvisable to trust you with the
truth. And the reason he stood in need of you was because it was
necessary that he should have some one to fight under him, and until
yesterday the men would not listen to him. It is not certain, however,
that he would not have taken the ship alone anyway, after Alrek got back
to the chieftainship. It appears that the Sword-Bearer's power is
greater than the Huntsman liked."
Alrek straightened from the boulder against which he was leaning, and
put out his hand as Hallad turned and planted a foot higher up the path.
"There is one question more--about the man who killed the first
Skraelling. Do you know who that is?"
Pausing with one foot up and one foot down, Hallad looked at them
strangely. "Do you not all know?" he asked at last.
They cried in one triumphant breath: "It _was_ the Huntsman!"
"The Huntsman?" Hallad repeated, and amazement was too plain in his
voice to be mistaken. After a minute, he grasped a down-hanging root and
pulled himself up to the next step, and would have departed without
another word if Alrek had not reached up and clasped him around the
ankle.
"What do you mean by that?" the Sword-Bearer asked him. "If it was not
Thorhall, who was it? I shall not let you go until you tell me." He
gripped the raw ankle harder than he knew; Hallad gave a great gasp of
mingled pain and anger.
"I have not as yet said too much, but I think I need not spare you since
you challenge me! It was you yourself; my own eyes saw you. It happened
that I was hiding behind a wood-pile in the hope that I could slip into
one of the booths and get a weapon for myself. I saw you fall, and I saw
the Skraelling lean over you and make a grab at your sword; whereupon
you leaped up and buried the hatchet in his head, and he toppled over
into the hollow--Now there is no need of your looking at me in that
manner! I would not have spoken if you had not dared me. I will say
nothing about it anywhere else. I----"
But it is not likely that Alrek heard; he stood as though turned to
stone, gazing at the speaker out of horror-widened eyes. "You saw ... me
... do it?" he breathed.
Looking down upon him, Hallad's face was red and regretful. Although it
was plain that no great boldness was in his spirit, it was also clear
that his mind was not ill-intentioned. "A great mishap was this that you
should ask me," he stammered. "I suppose it was the knock on your head
that caused you to forget. But I thought that--Of what use was it to dig
it up again! I had the intention to say nothing to any one. It seems
most likely to me that the Huntsman put a spell upon you; his eyes are
more than equal to it. You need not be so sensitive as to blame. So long
as Karlsefne has pardoned you and given you your honors back, your fate
does not depend on this----"
Through his speech, the voices of Gard and Brand and Erlend broke
shrilly: "You flung back his pardon!" "You bought your honors--" "You
pledged your life on your guiltlessness!"
Out of stiff lips, Alrek confirmed it: "I pledged my life."
Hallad turned, wailing, and ran up the bank and into the forest; and the
four comrades were left to face it together.