A CHAPTER OF INCIDENTS AND EXPLORATION, IN WHICH A BEAR AND A WHALE PLAY
PROMINENT PARTS.
Although arrested thus suddenly and unexpectedly in their progress
toward the shore, these resolute Norsemen were not to be balked in their
intention of reaching the land that forenoon--for it was morning when
the vessel stuck fast on the shallows.
The tide was ebbing at the time, so that Karlsefin knew it would be
impossible to get the ship off again until the next flood-tide. He
therefore waited till the water was low enough, and then waded to the
land accompanied by a large band of men. We need scarcely say that they
were well-armed. In those days men never went abroad either by land or
sea without their armour, which consisted of swords, axes, spears and
bows for offence, with helmets and shields for defence. Some of the men
of wealth and position also wore defensive armour on their breasts,
thighs, and shins, but most of the fighting men were content to trust to
the partial protection afforded by tunics of thick skin.
They were not long of reaching the mouth of the river which Biarne had
pointed out, and, after proceeding up its banks for a short distance,
were convinced that this must be the very spot they were in search of.
"Now, Biarne," said Karlsefin, stopping and sitting down on a large
stone, "I have no doubt that this is Leif's river, for it is broad and
deep as he told us, therefore we will take our ship up here.
Nevertheless, before doing so, it would be a satisfaction to make
positively certain that we are in the right way, and this we may do by
sending one or two of our men up into the land, who, by following the
river, will come to the lake where Leif built his booths, and so bring
us back the news of them. Meanwhile we can explore the country here
till they return."
Biarne and Thorward thought this advice good, and both offered to lead
the party to be sent there.
"For," said Thorward, "they may meet with natives, and if the natives
here bear any resemblance to the Skraelingers, methinks they won't
receive us with much civility."
"I have thought of that," returned Karlsefin with a smile, "but I like
not your proposal. What good would it do that either you or Biarne
should lead so small a party if ye were assaulted by a hundred or more
savages, as might well be the case?"
"Why, we could at all events retreat fighting," retorted Thorward in a
slightly offended tone.
"With fifty, perhaps, in front, to keep you in play, and fifty detached
to tickle you in rear."
Thorward laughed at this, and so did Biarne. "Well, if the worst came
to the worst," said the latter, "we could at any rate sell our lives
dearly."
"And, pray, what good would that do to _us_?" demanded Karlsefin.
"Well, well, have it your own way, skipper," said Biarne; "it seems to
me, nevertheless, that if we were to advance with the whole of the men
we have brought on shore with us, we should be in the same predicament,
for twenty men could not easily save themselves from a hundred--or, as
it might be, a thousand--if surrounded in the way you speak of."
"Besides that," added Thorward, "it seems to me a mean thing to send out
only one or two of our men without a leader to cope with such possible
dangers, unless indeed they were possessed of more than mortal powers."
"Why, what has become of your memories, my friends?" exclaimed
Karlsefin. "Are there none of our men possessed of powers that are, at
all events, more than those of _ordinary_ mortals?"
"O-ho! Hake and Heika! I forgot them," cried Biarne; "the very men for
the work, to be sure!"
"No doubt of it," said Karlsefin. "If they meet with natives who are
friendly, well and good; if they meet with no natives at all,--better.
If they meet with unfriendly natives, they can show them their heels;
and I warrant you that, unless the natives here be different from most
other men, the best pair of savage legs in Vinland will fail to overtake
the Scottish brothers."
Thorward agreed that this was a good plan, but cautioned Karlsefin to
give the brothers strict injunctions to fly, and not upon any account to
fight; "for," said he, "these doughty Scots are fiery and fierce when
roused, and from what I have seen of them will, I think, be much more
disposed to use their legs in running after their foes than in running
away from them."
This having been settled, the brothers were called, and instructed to
proceed into the woods and up the bank of the river as quickly as
possible, until they should come to a lake on the margin of which they
would probably see a few small huts. On discovering these they were to
turn immediately and hasten back. They were also particularly cautioned
as to their behaviour in the event of meeting with natives, and strictly
forbidden to fight, if these should be evil disposed, but to run back at
full speed to warn their friends, so that they might be prepared for any
emergency.
"Nevertheless," said Karlsefin, in conclusion, "ye may carry weapons
with you if ye will."
"Thanks," replied Heika. "As, however, you appear to doubt our powers
of self-restraint, we will relieve your mind by going without them."
Thus instructed and warned, the brothers tightened their belts, and,
leaping nimbly into the neighbouring brake, disappeared from view.
"A pair of proper men," said Karlsefin.--"And now, comrades, we will
explore the neighbourhood together, for it is advisable to ascertain all
we can of the nature of our new country, and that as quickly as may be.
It is needful, also, to do so without scattering, lest we be set upon
unexpectedly by any lurking foe. This land is not easily surveyed like
Iceland or Greenland, being, as you see, covered with shrubs and trees,
which somewhat curtail our vision, and render caution the more
necessary."
While the Norsemen were engaged in examining the woods near the coast,
the two Scots held on their way into the interior. There was something
absolutely exhilarating, as Krake once remarked, in the mere beholding
of these brothers' movements. They had been famed for agility and
endurance even in their own country. They did not run, but trotted
lightly, and appeared to be going at a moderate pace, when in reality it
would have compelled an ordinary runner to do his best to keep up with
them. Yet they did not pant or show any other symptom of distress. On
the contrary, they conversed occasionally in quiet tones, as men do when
walking. They ran abreast as often as the nature of the ground would
allow them to do so, taking their leaps together when they came to small
obstructions, such as fallen trees or brooks of a few feet wide; but
when they came to creeks of considerable width, the one usually paused
to see the other spring over, and then followed him.
Just after having taken a leap of this kind, and while they were running
silently side by side along the margin of the river, they heard a crash
among the bushes, and next instant a fine deer sprang into an open space
in front of them. The brothers bent forward, and, flying like the wind,
or like arrows from a bow, followed for a hundred yards or so--then
stopped abruptly and burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
"Ah! Heika," exclaimed the younger, "that fellow would be more than a
match for us if we could double our speed. We have no chance with
four-legged runners."
While he was speaking they resumed the jog-trot pace, and soon
afterwards came to a rocky ridge, that seemed to traverse the country
for some distance. Here they were compelled to walk, and in some places
even to clamber, the ground being very rugged.
Here also they came to a small branch or fork of the river that appeared
to find its way to the sea through another channel. It was deep, and
although narrow in comparison with the parent stream, was much too broad
to be leaped over. The pioneers were therefore obliged to swim. Being
almost as much at home in the water as otters, they plunged in, clothes
and all, without halting, and in a few seconds had gained the other
side.
When they reached the top of the ridge they stopped and gazed in silent
admiration, for there lay stretched out before them a vast woodland
scene of most exquisite beauty. Just at their feet was the lake of
which they were in search; some parts of it bright as the blue sky which
its unruffled breast reflected; other parts dark almost to blackness
with the images of rocks and trees. Everywhere around lay a primeval
wilderness of wood and water which it is beyond the power of mortal pen
adequately to describe; and while all was suffused with the golden light
of an early summer sun, and steeped in the repose of an absolutely calm
day, the soft and plaintive cries of innumerable wild-fowl enlivened,
without disturbing, the profound tranquillity of the scene.
"Does it not remind you of our own dear land?" said Heika in a low soft
voice.
"Ay, like the lowlands on the shores of the Forth fiord," replied Hake,
in the same low tone, as if he feared to break the pleasing stillness;
"and there, surely, are the booths we were to search for--see, in the
hollow, at the head of yonder bay, with the gravelly beach and the
birch-trees hanging from the rocks as if they wished to view themselves
in the watery mirror."
"True--there are three of them visible. Let us descend and examine."
"Hist! Some one appears to have got there before us," said Hake, laying
his hand on his brother's shoulder and pointing in the direction of the
huts.
"It is not a human visitor, methinks," observed Heika.
"More like a bear," returned Hake.
In order to set the question at rest the brothers hastened round by the
woods to a spot immediately behind the huts. There was a hill there so
steep as to be almost a precipice. It overlooked the shores of the lake
immediately below where the huts were, and when the pioneers came to the
crest of it and peeped cautiously over, they beheld a large brown bear
not far from the hut that stood nearest to the hill, busily engaged in
devouring something.
"Now it is a pity," whispered Heika, "that we brought no arms with us.
Truly, little cause have we men to be proud of our strength, for yonder
beast could match fifty of us if we had nothing to depend on save our
fists and feet and fingers."
"Why not include the teeth in your list, brother?" asked Hake, with a
quiet laugh; "but it is a pity, as you say. What shall--"
He stopped abruptly, for a large boulder, or mass of rock, against which
he leaned, gave way under him, made a sudden lurch forward and then
stuck fast.
"Ha! a dangerous support," said Hake, starting back; "but, hist! suppose
we shove it down on the bear?"
"A good thought," replied Heika, "if we can move the mass, which seems
doubtful; but let us try. Something may be gained by trying--nothing
lost."
The boulder, which had been so balanced on the edge of the steep hill
that a gentle pressure moved it, was a mass of rock weighing several
tons, the moving of which would have been a hopeless task for twenty men
to attempt, but it stood balanced on the extreme edge of the turn of the
hill, and the little slip it had just made rendered its position still
more critical; so that, when the young men lay down with their backs
against a rock, placed their feet upon it and pushed with all their
might, it slowly yielded, toppled over, and rolled with a tremendous
surge through a copse which lay immediately below it.
The brothers leaped up and gazed in breathless eagerness to observe the
result. The bear, hearing the crash, looked up with as much surprise as
the visage of that stupid creature is capable of expressing. The thing
was so suddenly done that the bear seemed to have no time to form an
opinion or get alarmed, for it stood perfectly still, while the boulder,
bounding from the copse, went crashing down the hill, cutting a clear
path wherever it touched, attaining terrific velocity, and drawing an
immense amount of debris after it. The direction it took happened to be
not quite straight for the animal, whose snout it passed within six or
eight feet--causing him to shrink back and growl--as it rushed smoking
onward over the level bit of sward beneath, through the mass of willows
beyond, across the gravelly strand and out to the lake, into which it
plunged and disappeared amid a magnificent spout of foam. But the
avalanche of earth and stones which its mad descent had created did not
let Bruin off so easily. One after another these latter, small and
large, went pattering and dashing against him,--some on his flank, some
on his ribs, and others on his head. He growled of course, yet stood
the fire nobly for a few seconds, but when, at last, a large boulder hit
him fairly on the nose, he gave vent to a squeal which terminated in a
passionate roar as he turned about and made for the open shore, along
which for some distance he ran with the agility of a monstrous wild-cat,
and finally leaped out of sight into his forest home!
The brothers looked at each other with sparkling eyes, and next moment
the woods resounded with their merriment, as they held their sides and
leaned for support against a neighbouring cliff.
Heika was first to recover himself.
"Hold, brother," he exclaimed, "we laugh loud enough to let Bruin know
who it was that injured him, or to bring all the savages in these woods
down upon us. Peace, man, peace, and let us return to our friends."
"As soon as ye please, brother," said Hake, still laughing as he
tightened his belt, "but was it not rare fun to see Bruin stand that
stony rain so manfully until his tender point was touched? And then how
he ran! 'Twas worth coming here to see a bear leave off his rolling
gait so and run like a very wild-cat.--Now I'm ready."
Without staying to make further examination of Leif's old huts--for from
the place where they stood all the six of them could be clearly seen--
the young pioneers started on their return to the coast. They ran back
with much greater speed than they had pushed forward--fearing that their
companions might be getting impatient or alarmed about them. They did
not even converse, but with heads up, chests forward, and elbows bent,
addressed themselves to a quick steady run, which soon brought them to
the branch of the river previously mentioned. Here they stopped for a
moment before plunging in.
"Suppose that we run down its bank," suggested Hake, "and see whether
there be not a shallow crossing."
"Surely ye have not grown afraid of water, Hake?"
"No, not I, but I should like to see whither this branch trends, and
what it is like; besides, the divergence will not cost us much time, as
we can cross at any point we have a mind to, and come at the main river
again through the woods."
"Well, I will not balk you--come on."
They accordingly descended the smaller streams and found it to be broken
by various little cascades and rapids, with here and there a longish
reach of pebbly ground where the stream widened into a shallow rippling
river with one or two small islands in it. At one of these places they
crossed where it was only knee-deep in the centre, and finally stopped
at the end of a reach, where a sudden narrowing of the banks produced a
brawling rapid. Below this there was a deep pool caused by a great
eddy.
"Now, we go no further," said Heika. "Here we shall cross through the
woods to the main branch."
"'Tis a pretty stream," observed Hake when they were about to leave it.
As he spoke a large salmon leaped high out of the pool below, flashed
for one moment in the sunshine like a bar of living silver, and fell
back into the water with a sounding splash. Hake caught his breath and
opened wide his eyes!
"Truly that is a good sight to the eyes of a Scotsman," said Heika,
gazing with interest at the place where the fish had disappeared; "it
reminds me of my native land."
"Ay, and me of my dinner," observed Hake, smacking his lips.
"Out upon thee, man!" cried Heika, "how can ye couple our native land
with such a matter-o'-fact thought as dinner?"
"Why, it would be hard to uncouple the thought of dinner from our native
land," returned Hake, with a laugh, as they entered the forest; "for
every man--not to mention woman--within its circling coast-line is a
diner, and so by hook or crook must daily have his dinner.--But say,
brother, is it not matter of satisfaction, as well as matter of fact,
that the waters of this Vinland shall provide us with abundance of food
not less surely than the land? If things go on as they have begun I
shall be well content to stay here."
"Ye do not deserve the name of Scot, Hake," said the other gravely. "My
heart is in Scotland; it is not here."
"True, I know it," replied Hake, with a touch of feeling; "in a double
sense, too, for your betrothed is there. Nevertheless, as _I_ did not
leave my heart behind me; surely there is no sin in taking some pleasure
in this new land. But heed not my idle talk, brother. You and I shall
yet live to see the bonny hills of--. Ha! here we are on the big stream
once more, sooner than I had expected, and, if I mistake not, within
hail of our comrades."
Hake was right. The moment they emerged from the woods upon the open
bank of the large river they saw a party of men in the distance
approaching them, and, an instant later, a loud halloo assured them that
these were their friends.
When the pioneers had related all that they had seen and done, the whole
party returned to the shore and hailed the ship, for, the tide having
risen, they could not now reach it by wading. A boat was immediately
sent for them, and great was the interest manifested by all on board to
learn the news of Vinland. They had time to give an account of all that
had been done and seen, because it still wanted an hour of flood-tide,
and the ship still lay immoveable.
While they were thus engaged, Gudrid happened to cast her eyes over the
stern of the ship, and thought she saw an object moving in the water.
"What is that I see?" she said, pointing towards it.
"The great sea-serpent!" exclaimed Biarne, shading his eyes with his
hand.
"Or his ghost," remarked Krake.
From which observations, coupled together, it would appear that the
famous monster referred to was known by repute to the Norsemen of the
eleventh century, though he was to some extent regarded as a myth!
Be this as it may, the object which now attracted the attention and
raised the eyebrows of all on board the "_Snake_" evidently possessed
life, for it was very active--wildly so--besides being large. It darted
hither and thither, apparently without aim, sending the water in curling
foam before it. Suddenly it made straight for the ship, then it turned
at a tangent and made for the island; anon it wheeled round, and rushed,
like a mad creature, to the shore.