The ships were under way with the tide in the gray of the early
morning, and crept along the shore to the island slowly. There were
men watching our going from the cliffs, but there had been no alarm
from the Irish in the night. I dare say they claim to have driven
Hakon of Norway from their shores even to this day, but I do not
know that it matters if they do. No one is the worse for the boast,
or the better either, for that matter.
Hakon took the ships into the little strait for easier landing than
from the open shore. His men were waiting at the water's edge for
us, but there were no hermits to be seen at first, for it was one
of their hours of service in the chapel. We had heard the faint
ringing of its little bell as we drew up to the opening of the
strait. Bright and clear it was in the early morning sunlight, and
it was peaceful as ever. Even Hakon's men had set aside their mail
here, looking as quiet as the place itself.
Gerda would go ashore with us, and so in no long time we, who had
left here so hastily, stood once more on the shore, and wondered to
find ourselves back again, and safe; for the memory of that flight
came back to us afresh with all we saw. We had forgotten it in the
wild doings of the long day which came thereafter.
Now, there is no need for me to tell of the greetings which were
for us, and for the young king. They were those of men who owed
much on either side, and yet must part again straightway. It seemed
that Hakon's men who had been landed were either Christians, or
else men who had taken the "prime signing" on them, which was the
way in which they proved that they were ready to learn the new
faith. Phelim would call them "catechumens," therefore, and that
word may be known as meaning the same thing. Presently I was to
hear more of that from him. The good hermits were ready to praise
them and their ways to the king, while, as for Asbiorn's men, they
had given no trouble at all, for they were tied up in the cell we
had used. One or two of Hakon's men, who were from Dublin, could
speak the Erse, and that had been good.
So there was gratitude and content when the hermits came and spoke
with Hakon through Dalfin, while I set the men to work getting the
treasure down to the boats. The brothers had buried it as they
promised, risking somewhat as they worked, for Asbiorn's Danes
might have wandered from the beach at any time. When that was done
they fled to the hill, until one of Hakon's men had gone altogether
unarmed and spoken with them, telling them that we and they were
safe.
Now, we had left Fergus behind us with the bishop, and he would
find his way back here shortly. Presently Phelim sought the old
superior and spoke long with him, and at last came and asked Gerda
to do the same. She went willingly enough, as she reverenced the
old teacher, taking me with her.
"My daughter," he said, "have you a mind to learn more of those
things of which we have spoken?"
"I can wish nothing better," she answered.
"Then," he said, "I have bidden Phelim go across the seas with you
to teach you and yours. Will it please you that he shall do so?"
She flushed with delight, for that was what she had most wished, as
she had told me yonder on the shore. And I suppose that because she
had so told me, she looked to me to answer.
"Aye, what says Malcolm, my countryman?" asked the old man.
"If Father Phelim will undertake the task, which will be hard," I
answered.
"He will bear hardship for that work," the superior said, setting
his hand on the shoulder of the strong man, who had knelt before
him. "We shall miss him, but we shall know that mayhap he will
bring you twain to meet with us hereafter."
Then I said, being moved by words and tone, "So may it be, father,"
and he smiled at me in much content.
After that Phelim said naught of his own feelings in the matter,
but went to the brothers one by one and took leave of them.
Afterwards I heard that yesterday the bishop had loosed him from
some vows which bound him to the island-hermit life, if it came to
pass that we would take him with us. And that was what he had
thought would befall him when he and Fergus rowed with us, with
Asbiorn in chase.
So we took leave of the old man then, for he was feeble, and time
was very short. He bade us remember that day by day in the little
chapel our names, and the name of Hakon also, would not be
forgotten; and blessed us, and went to his cell. Then one of the
brothers came and asked Gerda to see what she had left in her cell,
for none had touched it yet, and she went with him. Soon she came
out with that little silver cup, which we had found in the
penthouse when we first opened it, and asked me if she might give
it to the hermits.
"They will have no use for it," I said, smiling at the thought.
"I think they will," she said. "Ask, for I cannot."
So I asked the brother who was with us, and he looked at the cup
gravely. It was wrought with a strangely twisted and plaited
pattern.
"Why, yes," he said. "I myself can set a stem to it, and thereafter
it will be a treasure to us, for our chalice is but of white metal.
It will mind us of you every day, in ways which are more wondrous
than you can yet know. We may take it, therefore, but you must not
offer us aught else. We are vowed to poverty."
Now, I did not know of what he spoke, but Gerda did in some way,
which is beyond me. Wherefore she was more than content. It is my
thought that all her days it will be a good and pleasant thing to
mind the use that cup came to at the last, and where it is.
The treasure was all on board Hakon's ship, and we must go with the
tide. The Danes were unbound and sent to help Thoralf on the ship
which had been theirs, with the offer of freedom if they worked
well; and I will add that they gave no trouble, and took service
with Hakon as free men afterward, having learnt the good of
honesty. The hermits saw us to the shore, and so we left them, and
the ships hoisted sail to a fair breeze, and were away for Norway
and what lay before Hakon when he came thither. And if the
blessings and prayers of the hermits availed aught, he would do
well.
Now, we had to gather men for this warfare that might be to come.
There were Norsemen in the Scottish islands everywhere who would
join him, for thither had fled many who were not friendly with
Eric, and the Orkney and Shetland Islands held more still. So we
sailed up the narrow seas among the isles, finding here one man,
and here a dozen, until the ships were fully manned, and that with
such a force as any leader might go far with, for the men served,
not for pay alone, but also for hope in Hakon, and to regain their
old homes in the old land. Moreover, two chiefs joined him with
their ships and crews in Hebrides, and there we heard news of Eric,
and how that men hated him, and would rise for Hakon everywhere
when once they knew that he was in the land.
So that was a long voyage and pleasant to me, nor did I seem to
care how long it lasted. Maybe the reason for that is not far to
seek, for I could not tell what more I might see of Gerda when it
ended. For I knew only too well that I had naught to offer her,
being but a landless man, with nothing but my sword for heritage.
And as the days passed, it seemed to me that in some way Gerda kept
herself afar from me, being more ready to speak with Hakon and
Bertric than myself, though again at times she was as ever with
myself in all ways.
Now I did not altogether wonder at this, and made the best thereof,
being minded to pass from her ken with Hakon when the time came. I
supposed that we should all go together with the young king to that
place which he should choose for his first landing, and thereafter
she would bide in his court until Eric had fled the land and the
power of Arnkel had ended with his fall. Then she would go to her
own place and be once more as a queen, while I would fare with
Hakon, and see what honour I might win.
Still, it was pleasant to sit on the deck in the soft, summer
weather, and talk with Thoralf's wife and daughter, Ortrud, and
watch Gerda as she forgot the hard things she had passed through,
and grew cheerful and happy once more. These two ladies were most
kind to her, and grew to be great friends in those long days at
sea.
One day, after we had left the Shetland Islands, and it wore toward
the end of the voyage, and we began to talk of where we might best
land and call on men to rise for Hakon, the elder lady, Thoralf's
wife, had been talking to me, and I think my mind had wandered a
little as I watched Gerda, who was on the after deck with Bertric
and Dalfin. The men were all clustered forward, and no one was near
for the moment.
"You two well bore the care of Gerda," she said in a low voice.
"See, she might never have passed through aught of peril or
hardship. Yet she will never forget those days of trial."
"She was very brave through them," I said. "The care was naught but
pleasure."
"Yet most heavy to you," she said. "I know you will make the least
of it all, but she knows well what she owes to you. Now, I would
have you think of what I say. It pleases you to call yourself her
courtman--well, that may be no bad way of putting your readiness to
serve her. But I would not have you forget that you are Malcolm the
Jarl."
I laughed, for the title never had meant much, even when my father
held it. Now it was altogether barren to me.
"So I am," I said; "but of no more use to Hakon for all that. If I
had a jarl's following now--"
"You are not needed by Hakon so much as by another, Malcolm," she
said. "To him you are one among many, and that is all."
"He has my first fealty," I answered. "He was the first who has
ever claimed it, and he has it, for good or ill."
"There was one who claimed your fealty before ever he saw you," she
said slowly, and smiling at me meaningly. "Will you forget that?"
I could not pretend not to understand what she meant, and I
answered her with the thought which troubled me.
"Lady, I cannot forget it. But now it does not seem possible that
she should care to remember. There is no reason why she should."
"Every reason, Malcolm," she said, as if angry with me. "Do you
think that all the care you had for her before Hakon came is to go
for naught?"
"Bertric and Dalfin are to be remembered in that matter also."
"Of course. But Asa Thor, who was only Malcolm the Jarl after all,
being a fellow countryman, has had the first place."
"You seem to have heard all the story," I said, smiling.
"From the beginning," she answered, "else had I not spoken to you
thus. Now, I will not sit by and see Gerda, whom I love, made
wretched because you are somewhat too thoughtful for her, if I may
put it so. And I will tell you one thing which she fears more than
aught."
There she stayed her words and looked at me somewhat doubtfully. I
suppose that what she saw in my face told her that she might go on,
for she did so.
"Presently Hakon must needs find a protector for her, if her own
lands are to be won back for her. She fears who that may be."
Then she rose up and left me with some new matter for thought, not
altogether unpleasant. And thereafter, for the few days that were
left of the voyage, I did my best to be the same in all
companionship to our charge as I had been in the days on the
island.
Hakon made up his mind to sail north to Thrandheim {2}, where
men loved his father, and where the strength of Norway lay. With
the Thrandheimers behind him there would be every hope of winning
in the end, if there must needs be some fighting here and there
before the land was quiet. So he steered for the islands which lie
outside the great fjord whereon the town lies, and there found a
berth for the ships, while he sent men to find out how the minds of
the folk were turned toward Eric. Thoralf went, and two others who
were known in the district.
When they had gone, he sent for me to speak with him privately, in
the little house on the island where he was lodged with some friend
of his father's. He sat alone when I came in, and he smiled when he
saw me. I would have it remembered that Hakon was far older than
his years, and that we forgot what his age was, for, indeed, he was
wiser than most men even then.
"Malcolm," he said, "I want you to do somewhat for me. You will
have to leave me, and maybe it is not an easy matter which I have
in hand for you. Yet it is likely that you are the only man whom I
can set to do it."
"If that is so, King Hakon, needs must I undertake it," I answered,
lightly enough.
"It is a matter which was forced on you once; but now you shall
have your choice whether you will undertake it with your free will
or not."
He spoke gravely, but his eyes had the light of a jest in them, and
I had to smile.
"This sounds a terrible matter, King Hakon," said I. "Let me know
the worst of it."
"Someone has to take Gerda back to her own place and turn out
Arnkel for me. Thereafter, he will have to hold the land for me
quietly, and make ready for a rising for me if need is. I think
there will be little trouble, but I do not know what men of his own
this Arnkel may have. Will you do it?"
"Seeing that the care of a lady is in the matter, I will not, for
shame's sake, say that I will do it with a light heart," I
answered. "But you could have asked me nothing more after my own
mind. But what of the lady?"
"If you do not know that by this time," he said gaily, "I am
mistaken. Maybe you had better ask her."
"Am I to take her with me?"
"Yes," he said, gravely enough. "There may be fighting here, and
she is best out of the way. Her folk will hail her, and she will be
safe with them, Arnkel notwithstanding. Thoralf will send his wife
and daughter with her that they, too, may be safe."
Then he laughed at me again, and said that if all his followers
were so ready to leave him, he would be a lonely man shortly, and
so on. Yet I knew that for him to have one loyal haven in the south
lands would be no little gain, so that I was serving him as well as
Gerda.
"That is well," he said at last. "And I wonder how long I may be
able to jest thus. Now, I will give you the ship we took from
Heidrek, and Bertric will be shipmaster, for this is his affair
also. You shall have crew enough, at least, to make sure that
Gerda's men will join you without fear. And you shall sail
tomorrow, before ever Arnkel hears that I am in the land. Take him,
if you can, and deal with him as you will. Maybe a rope at the end
of the yardarm is what he deserves. But, anywise, do not let him
get to Eric if you can help it."
Then I had to fetch Bertric, and thereafter we arranged all that
was needful as to ship and crew. We were to have thirty men, and
that would be as many as we should want, seeing that Gerda's folk
would join us so soon as they knew that she had returned. Also we
must find a pilot, for Gerda's place lay some four days' sail down
the coast, at the head of the fjord which men call Hvinfjord, or
Flekkefjord, which lies among the mountains south of Stavanger, in
a land of lakes and forests and bright streams, of which she had
told me much.
Presently Hakon spoke to me of another matter wherein I might help
him. It was his hope that he might win Norway to the Christian
faith, and, indeed, I think that he cared little for the crown if
it might not give him power to that end. He knew that in the long
days of the homeward cruise both Gerda and I had been talking much
with Father Phelim and the two English clergy, so that we could not
be aught but friendly toward the faith, if not more.
"Stubborn are our Norse folk," he said, "and the work will be hard.
Maybe I shall do little, but someone else may take up the task
which I mean to begin. It must needs be begun at some time. In that
quiet place of Gerda's it is likely that men may listen peacefully,
and so will be a centre whence one may hope much."
Then I said, "So may it be, King Hakon; for this will be what Gerda
wishes most of all things."
"What of yourself then?" he asked.
Bertric answered for me, and I was glad.
"Malcolm thinks likewise, for so he has told me. But he will do
nothing in haste. This is a matter which is weighty, and in no wise
to be lightly gone into. But have no fear for him, Hakon."
Thereat Hakon smiled as if well pleased, and said no more. Bertric
did but speak the truth concerning me. But most of all, it seemed
to me that the new things I had learned were so wondrous that I
thought myself unfitted for them. I think that, if I tell the
truth, I must needs say that I was afraid thereof, in ways which I
cannot set into words.
Bertric and I went out to look for men when all was said that
needed saying, and the first person we found was Dalfin. The prince
was learning to be a very Norseman, and was in favour with all.
"Ho, Dalfin," I said, "are you minded to sail for another cruise
with the queen and us two?"
"Why," he asked, "what of Hakon and his warfare?"
We told him what we were to be about, and his face fell. I think he
deemed at first that he was in some way bound in honour to go with
us and see Gerda righted. But it was plain that he would rather
follow Hakon and meet with the adventure which must needs be before
him ere he came to the throne of his fathers.
So we played with him for a while, until he said that he would sail
with us if we needed him so sorely, and then let him go. There was
no honour to be won with us, and here he might end by standing high
in the court, and we had no need of him. Then we went and chose men
who were ready for a chance of speedy adventure, rather than the
waiting which matters of policy required here for the moment.
Presently Bertric would bring the ship back to Hakon with them, if
all went well. So we had no trouble in raising a very willing crew.
Moreover, the men who knew her were glad to serve Gerda.
So word went about quickly of what we wanted, and we might have had
twice the number we asked for. Presently Asbiorn heard it, and came
up from the ships and sought us.
"So you are going to try conclusions with my friend Arnkel?" he
said. "Let me come with you. You need a pilot."
Now, we liked Asbiorn well enough, for all the way in which we had
met him, and the company whence he came to us. He was quiet and
fearless, keeping himself to himself, but pleasant in his ways,
troubling more over the thought of the ill repute of his father
than need have been, perhaps, for none blamed him for that. We had
already thought of him as likely to be useful to us; but he, again,
might do well with the king, for he had place and name to win, as
had Dalfin. We were glad that he would help us therefore, and
hailed his coming accordingly, to his content.
This island where we lay was hilly, and forest clad. The ships were
at anchor in the little sound between it and a smaller island,
hidden and safe, and the ladies were lodged in a house among the
woods on the south side of the hill, near the lodging of Hakon. The
woods were pleasant at this time, with the first touch of autumn on
the leaves of the birches, and the ripe berries of the Norseland
were everywhere.
So it happened that presently, as I went to Hakon's lodging with
some question which I had for him, I must take the nearest way from
the ships by the woodland paths, having to cross the island from
east to south, and leaving Bertric and Asbiorn on board. I had it
in my mind to find Thoralf's good wife presently, and talk to her,
for it seemed to me that this cruise might have much in store for
me. Hakon had told her of our sailing with the morning's tide.
But I heard someone singing in the wood, and knew the voice well.
It was Gerda who was wandering, and gathering the red raspberries,
and I had half a mind to turn aside and keep beyond her sight. That
thought came too late, however, for the path turned, and I came on
her suddenly, and she looked up from the ripe berries she had found
alongside the path and saw me.
A flush went across her fair face, and then she greeted me
brightly. I did not know what she had been told of tomorrow as yet,
and could not tell from her face whether she knew or not. So I
thought it best to ask.
"Have you heard aught from the king as to your going back to the
old home yet, Gerda?"
"Yes," she said, standing still and looking somewhat pitifully at
me. "And he says that it shall be at once. But I fear how he may
send me back."
"He will give you ship and men, and so see that there is no chance
of any great trouble with Arnkel."
"Aye--but--but, Malcolm, he says that he needs must find someone
who will help me hold the land. Who will that be, for he can spare
so few?"
"I think that he will let you make your own choice," I answered.
"If I might--" she said, and there stopped, seeming troubled.
Then I said, "And if you might, who would be the choice?"
She looked at me and paled, and then looked away at the berries
again. She stooped to pick one, and her face was away from me.
"I think it is cruel to ask that," she said in a low voice. "I have
no one here whom I know--save you, and Bertric."
I moved a pace nearer to her, but still she did not look up. The
crimson berries she bent over were no excuse for the colour of her
face at that moment, and I feared I had angered her.
"Gerda," I said, "have you forgotten how that in the holy island I
was wont to say that I should not rest until your were back in your
home?"
"I thought that you had forgotten," she said in a low voice. "I had
not."
"I seemed to forget it, because I deemed it best that I should do
so. I am but a landless warrior, with naught to offer. And you--"
Then she turned quickly on me, and there was a smile on her face
and a new light in her eyes.
"And I," she said. "And I am naught but the girl who was found by
Asa Thor in the burning ship.
"O Malcolm, let it be so still, and take me to the end of the
voyage and bide there always. For I fear naught as long as you are
with me."
She held out her hands to me, and then she was in the shelter of my
arms, and no more was needed to be said. We were both content, and
more than content.