KING BUE'S FEAST.
Their way at first took them over a flat, white waste by the
shores of the lake. Estein fell back and let Helgi walk in front
with Thorar; behind those two marched the small band of wild,
skin-coated followers of the lawman; and after them came the
mail-clad twenty, the shields which hung from their backs clanking
now and again as they struck their harness. Last of all walked their
leader.
Now that the tension of forced marches and weary journeyings
through forest paths was off his mind, his thoughts ran
continually on the Runes. "Come hither to Jemtland," he said to
himself. He had come, and what was to follow? Something he felt
must happen, and though he was curious, he cared singularly little
what it might be. The sun hung high overhead, under foot the snow
crunched pleasantly, and the air was clear and bracing--a day to
inspire an adventurer and a skald. His thoughts began to take a
rhyming turn, and he caught himself repeating his own verses:--
"Fare thee well, sweet blue-eyed Osla!
The sea-king must not stay,
E'en for tresses rich as summer
And for smile as bright as May;
But one hope I cannot part from--
We may meet again some day!"
"And we shall, Osla!" he exclaimed half aloud.
He was aroused by hearing the voices of Helgi and Thorar come back
to him clear and cheerfully. A thought struck him. Could Thorar
have sent the message? A moment's reflection assured him that it
was out of the question, but, to convince himself, he went forward
and joined the lawman.
"Is it far to King Bue's hall?" he asked.
"The marshes are firm and frozen, and the snow lies nowhere very
deep. We should reach it by nightfall."
Helgi laughed, and said,--
"A flight of wild ducks passed overhead just now, and called to
mind their kinsmen cooked; their kinsmen cooked called to mind the
wherewithal to wash them down; and, in brief, I, for one, shall be
glad to meet King Bue."
"We have a saying that the king loves a guest who loves his
cheer," replied Thorar with a smile.
"Know you one of an old man," Estein asked, "and--but I forget
it--something of a maiden too? I saw it somewhere written in Runes."
In obedience to an indefinable instinct, he had said nothing of
the token to Helgi, and his foster-brother looked at him in
surprise. The mention of the Runes brought no look of recognition
to Thorar's face. With his grave smile he answered,--
"There are many sayings concerning maids, and some concerning old
men; also, if I mistake not, one or two about young men and
maids."
"Spare Estein those last," cried Helgi lightly. "He thinks himself
old, and never gives maids a thought at all."
Evidently Thorar knew nothing of the message, and Estein became
silent again.
They were gradually approaching a dark forest, which stretched
from the edge of the lake inland, and latish in the afternoon they
entered it by a narrow, rutty road. Darkness closed in fast as
they wound their way through the wood. The air grew colder and
colder, till their hands and faces tingled with the frost. Silence
fell upon them, and for some time nothing could be heard but the
occasional clash of steel and the continual creaking of snow and
breaking of dead branches under foot. Then a hum of voices came to
them fitfully, and at last the path opened into a wide glade.
"We are almost there," said Thorar. "Smile not, Estein, at our
rude hospitality; or, if you do, let our welcome make amends."
A young moon had just risen above the trees, and by its pale light
they saw a small village at the end of the glade. Many lights
flashed, and a babel of voices chattered and shouted as they
approached.
"All King Bue's men have not fled, it seems," Helgi said in a low
voice.
Estein made no reply, but the two foster-brothers fell back, and
placing themselves at the head of their twenty followers, entered
the little village. They found that it consisted of a few mean
houses clustered outside a high wooden stockade. Thorar led them
up to a gateway in this fence, and crying, "Welcome, Estein!"
stood aside to let the Norsemen file in.
The scene as they entered was strange and stirring. Immediately
before them lay a wide courtyard, in the centre of which stood
King Bue's hall, high and long, and studded with bright windows.
Men were ranged in a line from the gateway to the hall, bearing
great torches. The smoky flames flashed on snow-covered ground and
wild faces, and the branches of black pines outside, making the
night above seem dark as a great vault. All round them rose a
clamour of voices, and a throng of skin-coated figures crowded the
gate to catch a glimpse of the strangers.
Estein walked first, and just as he came into the court a man,
pushed apparently by the surging crowd, stumbled against him.
"Make way, there!" cried Thorar sternly, from behind; "give room
for the king's guests to pass!"
The man hastily stepped back, but not before he had found time to
whisper,--
"Beware, Estein! Drink not too deep!"
As he walked along the line of torch-bearers to the door of the
king's hall, the peril of their situation, supposing treachery
were really intended, came suddenly home to Estein's mind. It was
too late to turn back, even had his pride allowed him to think of
taking such a course. He could only resolve to warn his men, and,
so far as he could, keep them together and near him. Even as he
was still turning the matter over in his mind, he found himself at
the hall door, where an officer of the court, dressed with
barbaric splendour, ushered him into the drinking-room. A
discordant chorus of outlandish voices, raised by a hundred guests
or more, bade him welcome. He walked up to his seat by the king,
and on the spur of the moment could hit on no plan of
communicating with his men. Helgi followed him to the dais, and
with him he just found time to exchange a word.
"Drink little, and watch!" he whispered.
"Have you then seen him too?" Helgi replied, in the same anxious
tone. Estein looked at him in surprise, and Helgi, coming close
beside him, added rapidly,--
"The last torch-bearer but one was the man we captured in the
forest and freed this morning, and methinks I see another of our
prisoners even now. King Bue's hird-men [Footnote: Bodyguard.]
both, sent--" he had to turn away abruptly, and Estein finished
the sentence under his breath,--
"Sent to trap us."
He took his seat, and glancing round the hall saw his twenty
followers scattered here and there among the crowd of guests.
"Fool!" he thought, "I have walked into the trap like a child in
arms. The whole country has been prepared against our coming, the
people told to leave their houses, and the king's own hird-men set
as decoys in our path. Can this be the meaning of the Runes?"
Yet there was no actual proof of treachery, and he could only
watch and listen. And certainly there was noise enough to be
heard. Never among the most hardened drinkers of their own country
had the foster-brothers seen such an orgie. The king, a
foolish-looking old man, evidently completely under Thorar's influence,
became very soon in a maudlin condition; man after man around them
grew rapidly more and more drunk; and all the time they themselves
were plied with ale so assiduously that their suspicions grew
stronger. So far as his followers were concerned, Estein was
helpless. He glanced round the hall now and then, and could see
them quickly succumbing to the Jemtland hospitality. Personally he
found it hard to refuse to pledge the frequent toasts shouted at
him, but at last, when the men near him had got in such a state
that their observation was dulled, he placed his drinking-horn on
his lap and thrust his dagger through the bottom. Then, by keeping
it always off the table, he was able to let the liquor run through
as fast as it was filled, and always drain an empty cup. Helgi had
adopted a different device. His head lay on his arms, and in reply
to all calls to drink he merely uttered incoherent shouts, while
every now and then Estein could see that he would shake with
laughter.
Suspicious though he was, it came as a shock to Estein to hear his
worst fears suddenly confirmed. Tongues had been freely loosed,
and listening carefully to what was said, he heard the mutterings
of the chief next him take a coherent form.
"Ay, little they know," he was saying to himself. "Let them drink,
let them drink. Dogs of Norsemen, they came hither to harry our
country, and here they shall stay. Ay, they shall never drink
again, and King Hakon shall look for his son in vain."
Then the man lost his balance, and rolled off his seat under the
board. He had been placed between Estein and Helgi, and now Estein
was able to lean over to his foster-brother, and, under pretence
of trying to make him drink, whispered in his ear,--
"Go out by the far door, and await me outside the court on the
farthest side from the entrance."
Helgi lay still for a minute, and then rising to his feet,
muttered something about "strong ale and fresh air," and staggered
down the hall with a well-feigned semblance of drunkenness.
Thorar was sitting opposite, touched with drink a little, but
still alert and sober enough. He glanced sharply at Estein; but
the Viking, looking him full in the face, laughed noisily and
cried,--
"Helgi's head seems hardly so strong as his hand, Thorar!"
For once the lawman was overreached, and with a laugh he drained
his horn and answered,--
"I had thought better of you Norsemen."
The hardest part of the business now remained. To go out in the
same way he knew would excite suspicion; if he delayed too long,
search would be made for Helgi; and there sat Thorar facing him.
He knew that if he could once get rid of him, he had little to
fear from any of the others; and as he thought hard for a plan,
the king, who had for some time been fast asleep, suddenly solved
the difficulty. He woke with a start, saw that the drink was
coming to an end, and cried with drunken ardour,--
"More ale, more ale, Thorar! Estein drinks not!"
Thorar glanced round and saw that no one but himself was capable
of going on the errand. Twice he called aloud on servants by their
names, but there came no answer. Then with a frown he rose and
walked down the hall.
The high table at which they sat was lit by two great torches set
on stands. While Thorar was still going down the room, Estein,
with a deliberately clumsy movement, upset and extinguished the
one nearest him. Casting a look over his shoulder, he saw the
lawman leave the hall at the far end; and then he rose to his
feet, and making an affectation of relighting the extinguished
torch from the other, put the second out, and in the sudden
half-darkness that ensued, slipped under the board, and ran on his
hands and feet for the door at that end of the hall. No one about
seemed to notice his departure, but just as he carefully opened
the door he thought he saw with the corner of his eye a man slip
out at the far end.