CHANGES IN WIND AND WEATHER PRODUCE CHANGES IN TEMPER AND FEELING--LAND
DISCOVERED, AND FREYDISSA BECOMES INQUISITIVE.
There are few things that impress one more at sea than the rapidity of
the transitions which frequently take place in the aspect and the
condition of vessel, sea, and sky. At one time all may be profoundly
tranquil on board; then, perhaps, the necessity for going "about ship"
arises, and all is bustle; ropes rattle, blocks clatter and chirp, yards
creak, and seamen's feet stamp on the deck, while their voices aid their
hands in the hauling of ropes; and soon all is quiet as before. Or,
perhaps, the transition is effected by a squall, and it becomes more
thorough and lasting. One moment everything in nature is hushed under
the influence of what is appropriately enough termed a "dead calm." In
a few seconds a cloud-bank appears on the horizon and one or two
cats-paws are seen shooting over the water. A few minutes more and the
sky is clouded, the glassy sea is ruffled, the pleasant light sinks into
a dull leaden grey, the wind whistles over the ocean, and we are--as far
as feeling is concerned--transported into another, but by no means a
better, world.
Thus it was with our adventurers. The beautiful night merged into a
"dirty" morning, the calm into a breeze so stiff as to be almost a gale,
and when Olaf came out of the cabin, holding tight to the
weather-bulwarks to prevent himself from being thrown into the
lee-scuppers, his inexperienced heart sank within him at the dreary
prospect of the grey sky and the black heaving sea.
But young Olaf came of a hardy seafaring race. He kept his feelings to
himself; and staggered toward Karlsefin, who still stood at his post.
Olaf thought he had been there all night, but the truth was that he had
been relieved by Biarne, had taken a short nap, and returned to the
helm.
Karlsefin was now clad in a rough-weather suit. He wore a pair of
untanned sealskin boots and a cap of the same material, that bore a
strong resemblance in shape and colour to the sou'-westers of the
present day, and his rough heavy coat, closed up to the chin, was in
texture and form not unlike to the pilot-cloth jackets of modern
seamen--only it had tags and loops instead of buttons and button-holes.
With his legs wide apart, he stood at the tiller, round which there was
a single turn of a rope from the weather-bulwarks to steady it and
himself. The boy was clad in miniature costume of much the same cut and
kind, and proud was he to stagger about the deck with his little legs
ridiculously wide apart, in imitation of Thorward and Biarne, both of
whom were there, and had, he observed, a tendency to straddle.
"Come hither, Olaf; and learn a little seamanship," said Karlsefin, with
a good-humoured smile.
Olaf said he would be glad to do that, and made a run towards the
tiller, but a heavy plunge of the ship caused him to sheer off in quite
a different direction, and another lurch would have sent him
head-foremost against the lee-bulwarks had not Biarne, with a laugh,
caught him by the nape of the neck and set him against Karlsefin's left
leg, to which he clung with remarkable tenacity.
"Ay, hold on tight to that, boy," said the leg's owner, "and you'll be
safe. A few days will put you on your sea-legs, lad, and then you won't
want to hold on."
"Always hold your head up, Olaf, when you move about aboard ship in
rough weather," said Biarne, pausing a minute in his perambulation of
the deck to give the advice, "and look overboard, or up, or away at the
horizon--anywhere except at your feet. You can't see how the ship's
going to roll, you know, if you keep looking down at the deck."
Olaf acted on this advice at once, and then began to question Karlsefin
in regard to many nautical matters which it is not necessary to set down
here, while Biarne and Thorward leaned on the bulwarks and looked
somewhat anxiously to windward.
Already two reefs of the huge sail had been taken in, and Biarne now
suggested that it would be wise to take in another.
"Let it be done," said Karlsefin.
Thorward ordered the men to reef; and the head of the ship was brought
up to the wind so as to empty the sail while this was being done.
Before it was quite accomplished some of the women had assembled on the
poop.
"This is not pleasant weather," observed Gudrid, as she stood holding on
to her husband.
"We must not expect to have it all plain sailing in these seas," replied
Karlsefin; "but the dark days will make the bright ones seem all the
brighter."
Gudrid smiled languidly at this, but made no reply.
Freydissa, who scorned to receive help from man, had vigorously laid
hold of the bulwarks and gradually worked her way aft. She appeared to
be very much out of sorts--as indeed all the women were. There was a
greenish colour about the parts of their cheeks that ought to have been
rosy, and a whitey blue or frosted appearance at the points of their
noses, which damaged the beauty of the prettiest among them. Freydissa
became positively plain--and she knew it, which did not improve her
temper. Astrid, though fair and exceedingly pretty by nature, had
become alarmingly white; and Thora, who was dark, had become painfully
yellow. Poor Bertha, too, had a washed-out appearance, though nothing
in the way of lost colour or otherwise could in the least detract from
the innocent sweetness of her countenance. She did not absolutely weep,
but, being cold, sick, and in a state of utter wretchedness, she had
fallen into a condition of chronic whimpering, which exceedingly
exasperated Freydissa. Bertha was one of those girls who are regarded
by _some_ of their own sex with a species of mild contempt, but who are
nevertheless looked upon with much tenderness by men, which perhaps
makes up to them for this to some extent. Gudrid was the least affected
among them all by that dire malady, which appears to have been as
virulent in the tenth as it is in the nineteenth century, and must have
come in with the Flood, if not before it.
"Why don't you go below," said Freydissa testily, "instead of shivering
up here?"
"I get so sick below," answered Bertha, endeavouring to brighten up,
"that I thought it better to try what fresh air would do for me."
"H'm! it doesn't appear to do much for you," retorted Freydissa.
As she spoke a little spray broke over the side of the ship and fell on
the deck near them. Karlsefin had great difficulty in preventing this,
for a short cross-sea was running, and it was only by dint of extremely
good and careful steering that he kept the poop-deck dry. In a few
minutes a little more spray flew inboard, and some of it striking Bertha
on the head ran down her shoulders. Karlsefin was much grieved at this,
but Freydissa laughed heartily.
Instead of making Bertha worse, however, the shock had the effect of
doing her a little good, and she laughed in a half-pitiful way as she
ran down below to dry herself.
"It serves you right," cried Freydissa as she passed; "I wish you had
got more of it."
Now Karlsefin was a man whose temper was not easily affected, and he
seldom or never took offence at anything done or said to himself; but
the unkindness of Freydissa's speech to poor Bertha nettled him greatly.
"Get behind me, Gudrid," he said quickly.
Gudrid obeyed, wondering at the stern order, and Karlsefin gave a push
to the tiller with his leg. Next moment a heavy sea struck the side of
the ship, burst over the bulwarks, completely overwhelmed Freydissa, and
swept the deck fore and aft--wetting every one more or less except
Gudrid, who had been almost completely sheltered behind her husband. A
sail which had been spread over the waist of the ship prevented much
damage being done to the men, and of course all the water that fell on
the forecastle and poop ran out at the scupper-holes.
This unexpected shower-bath at once cleared the poop of the women.
Fortunately Thora and Astrid had been standing to leeward of Biarne and
Thorward, and had received comparatively little of the shower, but
Freydissa went below with streaming hair and garments,--as Biarne
remarked,--like an elderly mermaid!
"You must have been asleep when that happened," said Thorward to
Karlsefin in surprise.
"He must have been sleeping, then, with his eyes open," said Biarne,
with an amused look.
Karlsefin gazed sternly towards the ship's head, and appeared to be
attending with great care to the helm, but there was a slight twinkle in
his eye as he said--"Well, it _was_ my intention to wash the decks a
little, but more spray came inboard than I counted on. 'Tis as
dangerous to play with water, sometimes, as with fire."
"There is truth in that," said Biarne, laughing; "and I fear that this
time water will be found to have kindled fire, for when Freydissa went
below she looked like the smoking mountain of Iceland--as if there was
something hot inside and about to boil up."
Karlsefin smiled, but made no reply, for the gale was increasing every
moment, and the management of the ship soon required the earnest
attention of all the seamen on board.
Fortunately it was a short-lived gale. When it had passed away and the
sea had returned to something like its former quiescent state, and the
sun had burst through and dissipated the grey clouds, our female
voyagers returned to the deck and to their wonted condition of health.
Soon after that they came in sight of land.
"Now, Biarne," said Karlsefin, after the look-out on the forecastle had
shouted "Land ho!" "come, give me your opinion of this new land that we
have made.--Do you mind the helm, Thorward, while we go to the ship's
head."
The two went forward, and on the forecastle they found Olaf; flushed
with excitement, and looking as if something had annoyed him.
"Ho, Olaf! you're not sorry to see land, are you?" said Biarne.
"Sorry! no, not I; but I'm sorry to be cheated of my due."
"How so, boy?"
"Why, _I_ discovered the land first, and that fellow there," pointing to
the man on look-out, "shouted before me."
"But why did you not shout before _him_?" asked Karlsefin, as he and
Biarne surveyed the distant land with keen interest.
"Just because he took me unawares," replied the boy indignantly. "When
I saw it I did not wish to be hasty. It might have turned out to be a
cloud, or a fog-bank, and I might have given a false alarm; so I pointed
it out to him, and asked what he thought; but instead of answering me he
gaped with his ugly mouth and shouted `Land ho!' I could have kicked
him."
"Nay, Olaf; that is not well said," observed Karlsefin, very gravely;
"if you _could_ have kicked him you _would_ have kicked him. Why did
you not do it?"
"Because he is too big for me," answered the boy promptly.
"So, then, thy courage is only sufficient to make thee kick those who
are small enough," returned Karlsefin, with a frown. "Perhaps if you
were as big as he you would be afraid to kick him."
"That would not I," retorted Olaf.
"It is easy for you to say that, boy, when you know that he _would_ not
strike you now, and that there is small chance of your meeting again
after you have grown up to prove the truth of what you say. It is mere
boasting, Olaf; and, mark me, you will never be a brave man if you begin
by being a boastful boy. A truly brave and modest man--for modesty and
bravery are wont to consort together--never says he will strike until he
sees it to be right to do so. Sometimes he does not even go the length
of speaking at all, but, in any case, having made up his mind to strike,
he strikes at once, without more ado, let the consequences be what they
will. But in my opinion it is best not to strike at all. Do you know,
Olaf; my boy, some of the bravest men I ever knew have never struck a
blow since they came to manhood, excepting, of course, when compelled to
do so in battle; and _then_ they struck such blows as made shields and
helmets fly, and strewed the plain with their foes."
"Did these men never boast when they were boys?" asked Olaf; with a
troubled air.
Karlsefin relaxed into a smile as he said, "Only when they were very
little boys, and very foolish; but they soon came to see how
contemptible it is to threaten and not perform; so they gave up
threatening, and when performance came to be necessary they found that
threats were needless. Now, Olaf, I want you to be a bold, brave man,
and I must lull you through the foolish boasting period as quickly as
possible, therefore I tell you these things. Think on them, my boy."
Olaf was evidently much relieved by the concluding remarks. While
Karlsefin was speaking he had felt ashamed of himself; because he was
filled with admiration of the magnificent skipper, and wanted to stand
well in his opinion. It was therefore no small comfort to find that his
boasting had been set down to his foolishness, and that there was good
reason to hope he might ultimately grow out of it.
But Olaf had much more of the true metal in him than he himself was
aware of. Without saying a word about it, he resolved not to wait for
the result of this slow process of growth, but to jump, vault, or fly
out of the boastful period of life, by hook or by crook, and that
without delay. And he succeeded! Not all at once, of course. He had
many a slip; but he persevered, and finally got out of it much sooner
than would have been the case if he had not taken any trouble to think
about the matter, or to _try_.
Meanwhile, however, he looked somewhat crestfallen. This being observed
by the look-out, that worthy was prompted to say--"I'm sure, Olaf; you
are welcome to kick me if that will comfort you, but there is no
occasion to do so, because I claim not the honour of first _seeing_ the
land--and if I had known the state of your mind I would willingly have
let you give the hail."
"You may have been first to discover it at this time, Olaf;" said
Biarne, turning round after he had made up his mind about it, "and no
doubt you were, since the look-out admits it; nevertheless this is the
land that I discovered twenty years ago. But we shall make it out more
certainly in an hour or two if this breeze holds."
The breeze did hold, and soon they were close under the land.
"Now am I quite certain of it," said Biarne, as he stood on the poop,
surrounded by all his friends, who gazed eagerly at the shore, to which
they had approached so close that the rocks and bushes were distinctly
visible; "that is the very same land which I saw before."
"What, Vinland?" asked Freydissa.
"Nay, not Vinland. Are you so eager to get at the grapes that ye think
the first land we meet is Vinland?"
"A truce to your jesting, Biarne; what land is it?"
"It is the land I saw _last_ when leaving this coast in search of
Greenland, so that it seems not unnatural to find it _first_ on coming
back to it. Leif; on his voyage, went on shore here. He named it
Helloland, which, methinks, was a fitting name, for it is, as you see, a
naked land of rocks."
"Now, then," said Karlsefin, "lower the sail, heave out the anchor, and
let two men cast loose the little boat. Some of us will land and see
what we shall see; for it must not be said of us, Biarne, as it was
unfairly said of you, that we took no interest in these new regions."
The little boat was got ready. The Scottish brothers, Hake and Heika,
were appointed to row. Karlsefin, Biarne, Thorward, Gudrid, Freydissa,
and Olaf embarked and proceeded to the shore.
This land, on which the party soon stood, was not of an inviting aspect.
It was sterile, naked, and very rocky, as Biarne had described it, and
not a blade of grass was to be seen. There was a range of high
snow-capped mountains in the interior, and all the way from the coast up
to these mountains the land was covered with snow. In truth, a more
forbidding spot could not easily have been found, even in Greenland.
"It seems to me," said Freydissa, "that your new land is but a sorry
place--worse than that we have left. I wonder at your landing here. It
is plain that men see with flushed eyes when they look upon their own
discoveries. Cold comfort is all we shall get in this place. I counsel
that we return on board immediately."
"You are too hasty, sister," said Gudrid.
"Oh! of course, always too hasty," retorted Freydissa sharply.
"And somewhat too bitter," growled Thorward, with a frown.
Thorward was not an ill-natured man, but his wife's sharp temper tried
him a good deal.
"Your interrupting me before you heard all I had to say _proves_ you to
be too hasty, sister," said Gudrid, with a playful laugh. "I was about
to add that it seems we have come here rather early in the spring. Who
knows but the land may wear a prettier dress when the mantle of winter
is gone? Even Greenland looks green and bright in summer."
"Not in those places where the snow lies _all_ the summer," objected
Olaf.
"That's right, Olaf;" said Biarne; "stick up for your sweet aunt. She
often takes a stick up for you, lad, and deserves your gratitude.--But
come, let's scatter and survey the land, for, be it good or bad, we must
know what it is, and carry with us some report such as Karlsefin may
weave into his rhymes."
"This land would be more suitable for your rhymes, Biarne, than for
mine," said Karlsefin, as they started off together, "because it is most
dismal."
After that the whole party scattered. The three leaders ascended the
nearest heights in different directions, and Gudrid with Olaf went
searching among the rocks and pools to ascertain what sort of creatures
were to be found there, while Freydissa sat down and sulked upon a rock.
She soon grew tired of sulking, however, and, looking about her,
observed the brothers, who had been left in charge of the boat, standing
as if engaged in earnest conversation.
She had not before this paid much attention to these brothers, and was
somewhat struck with their appearance, for, as we have said before, they
were good specimens of men. Hake, the younger of the two, had
close-curling auburn hair, and bright blue eyes. His features were not
exactly handsome, but the expression of his countenance was so winning
that people were irresistibly attracted by it. The elder brother,
Heika, was very like him, but not so attractive in his appearance. Both
were fully six feet high, and though thin, as has been said, their limbs
were beautifully moulded, and they possessed much greater strength than
most people gave them credit for. In aspect, thought, and conversation,
they were naturally grave, and very earnest; nevertheless, they could be
easily roused to mirth.
Going up to them, Freydissa said--"Ye seem to have earnest talk
together."
"We have," answered Heika. "Our talk is about home."
"I am told that your home is in the Scottish land," said Freydissa.
"It is," answered Hake, with a kindling eye.
"How come you to be so far from home?" asked Freydissa.
"We were taken prisoners two years ago by vikings from Norway, when
visiting our father in a village near the Forth fiord."
"How did that happen? Come, tell me the story; but, first, who is your
father?"
"He is an earl of Scotland," said Heika.
"Ha! and I suppose ye think a Scottish earl is better than a Norse
king?"
Heika smiled as he replied, "I have never thought of making a comparison
between them."
"Well--how were you taken?"
"We were, as I have said, on a visit to our father, who dwelt sometimes
in a small village on the shores of the Forth, for the sake of bathing
in the sea--for he is sickly. One night, while we slept, a Norse
long-ship came to land. Those who should have been watching slumbered.
The Norsemen surrounded my father's house without awaking anyone, and,
entering by a window which had not been securely fastened, overpowered
Hake and me before we knew where we were. We struggled hard, but what
could two unarmed men do among fifty? The noise we made, however,
roused the village and prevented the vikings from discovering our
father's room, which was on the upper floor. They had to fight their
way back to the ship, and lost many men on the road, but they succeeded
in carrying us two on board, bound with cords. They took us over the
sea to Norway. There we became slaves to King Olaf Tryggvisson, by
whom, as you know, we were sent to Leif Ericsson."
"No doubt ye think," said Freydissa, "that if you had not been caught
sleeping ye would have given the Norsemen some trouble to secure you."
They both laughed at this.
"We have had some thoughts of that kind," said Hake brightly, "but truly
we did give them some trouble even as it was."
"I knew it," cried the dame rather sharply; "the conceit of you men goes
beyond all bounds! Ye always boast of what valiant deeds you _would_
have done _if_ something or other had been in your favour."
"We made no boast," replied Heika gravely.
"If you did not speak it, ye thought it, I doubt not.--But, tell me, is
your land as good a land as Norway?"
"We love it better," replied Heika.
"But _is_ it better?" asked Freydissa.
"We would rather dwell in it than in Norway," said Hake.
"We hope not. But we would prefer to be in our own land," replied the
elder brother, sadly, "for there is no place like home."
At this point Karlsefin and the rest of the party came back to the shore
and put an end to the conversation. Returning on board they drew up the
anchor, hoisted sail, and again put out to sea.