Erling the Bold

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

  TREATS OF ANCIENT DIPLOMACY AMONG THE NORSEMEN, AND SHOWS HOW OUR HEROTURNS THE TABLES ON A WOULD-BE ASSASSIN.

  When King Harald heard the news of the defeat of Hake and the slaughterof his men by Erling and Glumm, great was his wrath at first, and JarlRongvold had much ado to appease him and prevent him from going at onceto Horlingdal to ravage it with fire and sword. But when he had cooleda little, and heard the details of the fight from Hake himself, hisanger against the young warriors changed into admiration of theirdauntless courage.

  Harald Fairhair was a kingly man in spirit as well as in appearance, andwas above encouraging a mean or vengeful mood. He was indeed fierce andviolent in his rage, and often did things which, when read of in thecalm of a comparatively peaceful time, make one shudder; but it must notbe forgotten that the age in which he lived was a cruel and bloody one,and, in Norway, without one touch of the gentle religion of Christ tosoften its asperities. He could never have retained his power and ruleover the stern warriors of his day, had he not possessed much of theirown callous indifference to the horrors and cruelties of war.

  "Thou hadst tougher work than thou countedst on, it would seem," he saidto Hake; then, turning to Jarl Rongvold, with a laugh, "Methinks I wouldfain have this Erling the Bold and his friend Glumm the Gruff among mymen-at-arms."

  "I fear, sire, that they will not be easily induced to enter thyservice, for they are both Sea-kings, and independent spirits."

  "Such men have submitted to us before now," said the King, with apeculiar glance.

  "Most true," returned the jarl, flushing; "but all men have not the samebelief in your wisdom."

  "That may be, yet methinks I could tame this Sea-king--this Erling.Perchance costly gifts might win him, or it may be that rough blowswould suit him better. What thinkest thou, Hake? thou hast had someexperience in that way."

  "If you mean, sire, that you have a mind to receive rough blows at hishand, I will guarantee him both able and willing to gratify you. I knownot the weight of Thor's hammer, but I am bound to say that it occurredto my mind when Erling's axe came down on my steel headpiece, and set ahost of stars dancing in my brain."

  "I believe thee," said the King, smiling grimly, "and thy visage speaksfor itself."

  This was indeed the case. The berserk's countenance was very pale. Hestill suffered from the crashing blow with which he had been felled, andhis heart rankled under his defeat, for he was not aware that the blow,heavy though it was, had been delivered in mercy, or that if his enemyhad not turned aside the edge of his axe it would have cleft him to thechin. Perchance, if he _had_ known this it would not have improved thestate of his feelings; for Hake possessed no nobility of spirit.

  "It may be," continued Harald, "that thou shalt have another opportunityof measuring swords with this Sea-king. Meanwhile, Jarl Rongvold, gothou with Rolf, and bring round the Dragon and the other longships tothe fiord, for I mistrust the men of this district, and will fare to theSprings by sea."

  In accordance with these instructions the jarl brought the King's fleetround without delay. On the following morning they embarked, and setsail for the appointed place of meeting.

  Here the fleet under Haldor and Ulf had already cast anchor. The shipslay close to the rocks, near the mouth of the river into which Erlinghad thrust his cutter just before the battle with the Danes; and a finesight it was to behold these, with their painted shields and gildedmasts and figure-heads, lying in the still water, crowded with armedwarriors, while Harald's longship, the Dragon, and all his othervessels, came by twos and threes into the fiord, the oars tossing foamon the blue waters, and the gaily coloured sails swelling out before agentle breeze.

  The King laid his ship alongside of a point of rocks on the south sideof the bay. Then, when all the fleet had assembled, both partieslanded, and the Thing was summoned by sound of horn. It was held on thelevel ground where the recent battle had been fought. There were stillstrewn about many evidences of the ferocity of that fight; and when theKing looked upon the host of stout and well-armed men who had assembled,not only from Horlingdal, but from the whole of the surroundingdistrict, he felt that, however much he might wish to force obedience onhis subjects, "discretion" was at that time "the better part of valour."

  When the Thing was assembled the King stood up to speak, and there wasprobably not a man upon the ground who did not in his heart acknowledgethat the tall, stout warrior, with the thick mass of golden locks, andthe large masculine features, was, as far as physique went, a worthywearer of the crown of Norway. It may be added that physique went avery long way indeed in those days; yet it is due to the Northmen to saythat, at the same time, intellect was held in higher repute among themthan among any of the feudally governed nations of Europe. One evidenceof this was, that at the Things the best speaker, no matter what hisrank, had a better chance of swaying the people than the King himself;while, in other countries, might to a large extent was right, and no onedared to open his mouth against him who chanced to be in power.

  But King Harald Haarfager's power lay not merely in his personalappearance and indomitable will. He was also a good speaker, and, likeall good speakers in a wrong cause, was an able sophist. But he had mento deal with who were accustomed to think and reason closely, as mustever be more or less the case with a self-governed people. There wereacute men there, men who had the laws of the land "by heart", in themost literal sense of those words,--for there were no books to consultand no precedents to cite in those days; and his hearers weighed withjealous care each word he said.

  The King began by complimenting the men of the district for theirspirit, and their resolution to defend the laws of the realm; and heenlarged a little on these laws and on the wisdom of his own father,Halfdan the Black, and the men of his time, who had made and modifiedmany of them. Then he went on to say that with time the circumstancesof nations altered, and that, with these alterations, there arose anecessity for the alteration and modification of old laws as well as forthe making of new ones. He deprecated the idea that he wished, as hadbeen said of him, to trample the laws under his feet, and rule thecountry according to his own will and pleasure. Nothing was furtherfrom his intention or his desire. His wish was to amend the laws,especially those of them that touched on the relative position of Kingand people.

  Up to this point the people heard him with respectful attention, andhundreds of those who were more addicted to fighting than to reasoning,especially among the younger men, began to think that after all, Haraldentertained exceedingly just opinions, and appeared to possess a spiritof candour and fair play which did not seem to justify the outcry thathad been raised against him. Even these, however, remembered that itwas not very long since a small king of one of the northern glens hadbeen summoned by Harold to submit to his views of government, and, onhis declining to do so, had been burnt, with all his family andfollowers, in his own house, contrary to law! They therefore knittedtheir brows and waited to hear more.

  The King then began to explain his ideas with regard to the royalauthority over the chief men of the districts, some of which are alreadyknown to the reader. At this point the assembly listened with deep,earnest attention. Some of the men sat with hands clasped on theirknees, and with stern downcast brows. Some gazed up at the clouds withthe peculiar expression of men who listen and weigh arguments. Othersleaned on their swords or shields, and, with compressed lips andsuspicious gaze, looked the King full in the face, while a few regardedhim with a sneer; but the expression on the faces of the greater partdenoted manliness of feeling and honesty of purpose.

  After Harald had stated his views, and assured them that his great aimwas to consolidate the kingdom and to prevent the evils that flowed fromthe almost unlimited independence of the petty kings, he asked theassembly to aid him in carrying out his wishes, and to set an example offidelity and obedience, which would restrain others from showing thatunseemly opposition to him which had only resulted in severe and
meritedpunishment.

  He then sat down amid a murmur of mingled applause and disapprobation.

  After a few minutes of animated converse among themselves, there arosean old man with a bald head, a flowing beard, and sightless eyes. Hewas the "lagman" or district judge, and law-expounder of Horlingdal.Deep silence ensued, and he said, in a decided though somewhat tremuloustone--

  "King Harald, I am a very old man now, and can remember the time whenyour noble sire, Halfdan the Black, ruled in Norway. I have fought byhis side, and lost my eyes in his service--in a fight in which ouropponents gave us the tooth-ache. [Norse expression signifying `theworst of it.'] I have also heard him speak those words of wisdom towhich you have referred, and have seen him bow to the laws which weremade _not_ by himself, but by him in conjunction with the Thing legallyassembled for the purpose."

  There was a loud murmur of applause at this point.

  "And now that we have heard the King's opinions," continued the old man,turning to the people, "and know that his intentions are good, althoughthe manner in which he has set about carrying them into effect isundoubtedly wrong, my counsel is that we nevertheless submit to him inthis matter, for we know that a great number of the small kings havealready submitted, and it were better to have a beneficial change--evenwhen not carried out exactly according to law--than to plunge thiscountry into prolonged and useless warfare, in which much blood will,assuredly, be spilt, and nothing of any value gained."

  The lagman sat down, but only a few of those present indicated theirapproval of his sentiments.

  Immediately Haldor the Fierce stood up, and men could see that hisspirit was stirred within him, for a dark frown lowered on a brow whichwas at most times fair and unruffled like the summer sky. There wasdeep silence in the assembly before he began to speak, and the King,despite the suppressed anger which rankled in his breast, could notchoose but look upon his commanding figure with respect, also withsurprise, for he recognised the strong resemblance between him andErling, though he knew not their relationship.

  "I agree not," said Haldor, "with what has just been said by ourrespected lagman. A change, even for the better, ought _never_ to beaccepted if not made according to law, No one can say that any changewill certainly be for the better until it is tried; and should this one,perchance, turn out for the worse, then shall we have neither advantagenor law on our side. For my part I had rather see my country plungedinto warfare--which no one, unless he is gifted with the foreknowledgeof the gods, can say will be either prolonged or useless--than see herlaws trampled under foot; for well do I know that, if the King bepermitted to make himself an outlaw, blood will be kept boilingperpetually from one end of the land to the other, and it were better,methinks, that that blood should spill than boil. My counsel is, thatthe King be advised to call a Thing in the regular way, so that thechanges he would make shall be fully considered, and either be made lawor rejected; for, if he attempts to enforce his plans on us as he hasdone on other small kings, we will assuredly resist him as long as thereis a man left in the district to wield a battle-axe."

  There was a great shout and clash of arms when this was said, and theKing's face became crimson with rage, for he saw clearly that thefeeling of the majority was against him.

  At this point Jarl Rongvold stood up and spoke in the bland tones of aman who wishes to throw oil on troubled waters.

  He said that it was his earnest entreaty to the bonders andhouse-holding men, both great and small, then and there assembled, thatthey should calmly consider the proposals of the King, and not allowthemselves to be carried away by unsound reasoning, although it mightseem very plausible, for he was certain that the King's desire was thegood of the country; and although circumstances had rendered itnecessary that some of the rebellious should be punished, no one couldsay that the King was not willing and ready to do all that he did in afair, open, and straightforward manner.

  At this Erling was unable to restrain himself. He sprang up, and, witha passionate flow of words that burst forth like a mountain torrent,exclaimed--

  "Thinkest thou, Jarl Rongvold, that our brains are so addled that wecannot distinguish between black and white? Is thy memory so short, isthy slavery to the King so complete, that thou must say evil is good andgood evil? Hast thou and has the King so soon forgotten that twostrangers came to the court with a message from one of the legalassemblies of this land,--that, trusting to the honour of the King, theycame without following, and with only such arms as were needful forpersonal defence,--and that the honour to which they trusted was notproof against the temptation to send a noted berserk and nineteen men towaylay and slay them? Is all this clean gone from your memory, Jarl andKing? or is your wit so small that ye should think we will believe insoft words about fair play when such foul deeds are so recent that thegraves are yet wet with the blood of those whom Glumm and I werecompelled to slay in self-defence?"

  At this the King started up, and his face became white and red by turns,as he said--

  "Ye shall, both of you, rue this day, Erling and Glumm!"

  Erling made no reply, but Glumm started up and was in so great a passionthat he could hardly speak; nevertheless he made shift to splutter out--

  "Threats, King Harald, are like water spilt on a shield which can onlyrust if left there; I wipe them off and fling them away!"

  He could add no more, but with a contemptuous motion of the hand hestruck his fist violently against his shirt of mail, and the bonderslaughed while they applauded him.

  Then stood up a man in the troop of the Springdal men, who was of greatstature and grim countenance, clad in a leather cloak, with an axe onhis shoulder and a great steel hat upon his head. He looked sternly,and said--

  "When rights are not respected then the crows flap their wings and caw,for they know that ere long they shall glut themselves with humanblood."

  He sat down, and immediately after Ulf of Romsdal stood up. Ulf hadfully as much fire as Erling or Glumm, but he possessed greater power ofself-restraint, and, as he spoke with deliberation, his words had allthe more weight. He said--

  "King Harald, when in the exercise of our udal rights we bonders electedthee to be our King at the Thing held in Drontheim, we stated and tracedthy descent from Odin through the Vingling dynasty, proved thy udalright to the crown, and truly thought that we had placed it on the headof one who would walk in the footsteps of his father, and respect thatauthority and power in virtue of which he held his own high position.But we now find that thou hast constituted thyself a law higher than thelaw which made thee what thou art, and thou now wouldst have us, of ourown free will, bend our necks so low that thou mayest with the more easeset thy foot on them and keep us down. We have served thee in all goodfaith up to the present time; we have readily met thy demands for men,ships, arms, and money, by calling together our assemblies and votingthese supplies; and now thou wouldst rob us of this our old right, andtax us without our consent, so that thou mayest raise men for thyself,and have it all thine own way. This must not, shall not, be. Even now,we bonders will unanimously hold by the law if it be passed in theproper assembly and receives our yea, and we will follow thee and servethee as our King as long as there is a living man amongst us. But thou,King, must use moderation towards us, and only require of us such thingsas it is lawful or possible for us to obey thee in. If, however, thouwilt take up this matter with a high hand, and wilt try thy power andstrength against us, we have resolved among ourselves to part with thee,and to take to ourselves some other chief who will respect those laws bywhich alone society can be held together. Now, King Harald, thou mustchoose one or other of these conditions before the Thing is ended."

  The loud applause which followed this speech showed that the bondersheartily sympathised with it, and indeed several of them rose and saidthat it expressed their will exactly, and they would stand or fall bywhat had been spoken.

  When silence had been restored, Jarl Rongvold, who had whispered in theKing's ear some earnest words, st
ood forth and said:

  "It is King Harald's will to give way to you in this matter for he doesnot wish to separate himself from your friendship."

  This brought the Thing to a close. Thereafter the two parties returnedto their ships, intending to feast and pass the night in them.

  The King was very affable, and invited Haldor and some of the otherswhose language had been comparatively moderate to feast with him, butthey declined the honour, and retired to their own ships.

  In the evening, while the sounds of revelry were heard everywhere, aboat approached Erling's ship. It was rowed by a single man, who, whenit touched her side, leaped on board and went aft to where Erling wasseated with Guttorm Stoutheart.

  "King Harald would speak with thee," said the man, who was no other thanHake the berserk.

  "Methinks his intentions can scarce be friendly," said Erling, with agrim smile, "when he sends so trusty a messenger."

  "It may be so," replied Hake coolly, "but that is nothing to me. Mybusiness is to deliver the message and offer to conduct thee to him."

  "And pray, what surety have I that thou wilt not upset me in the fiord?"asked Erling, laughing.

  "The surety that if I upset thee we shall be on equal terms in thewater," replied Hake gruffly.

  "Nay, that depends on which of us can swim best," returned Erling; "and,truly, if thou canst fight as well in the water as on the land, weshould have a rare struggle, Hake."

  "Am I to say to the King that thou art afraid of him?" asked theberserk, with a look of scorn.

  "Yea, truly, if it is thy desire to tell him a lie," retorted Erling."But get thee into the boat, fellow; I will follow anon."

  Hake turned on his heel and returned to the boat, while Erling tookGuttorm aside.

  "Now, art thou fey?" [death-doomed] said Guttorm. "What has made theeso tired of life that thou shouldest put thy neck under his heel thusreadily?"

  "Fear not, my friend," said Erling; "now that I have seen King Harald asecond time, I think him a better man than at first I did. Ambitionwill no doubt lead him to do many things that are contrary to hisnature; but I do not think he will violate the laws of hospitality afterwhat has passed. However, I may be wrong; so I would ask thee, Guttorm,to go aboard of your ship, which lies nearest to that of the King, and,should ye see anything like a struggle, or hear a shout do thou haste tothe rescue. I will have my men also in readiness."

  While the stout-hearted old Sea-king, in compliance with this request,got into a small boat and rowed to his own vessel, Erling gaveparticular directions to his chief house-carle to keep a sharp lookoutand be ready to act at a moment's notice. Then he went into Hake'sboat, and was rowed alongside the Dragon, where the King received himwith much condescension, and took him aft to the cabin under the highpoop. Here he offered him a horn of ale, which, however, Erlingdeclined, and then began to use his utmost powers of persuasion toinduce him to enter his service. At first he tried to influence him byflattery, and commended him for his bold and straightforward conduct atthe Thing, which, he said, showed to all men that he merited well hisdistinctive title; but, on finding that our hero was not to be won byflattery, he quickly and adroitly changed his ground, began to talk ofthe future prospects of Norway, and the necessity for improvedlegislation. In this he was so successful that he secured the interest,and to some extent the sympathy, of the young warrior, who enteredeagerly and somewhat more respectfully into the discussion.

  "But, sire," he said, at the close of one of the King's remarks, "ifthese are your sentiments, why did you not state them more fully to-dayat the Thing, and why should you not even now call a meeting of the StorThing, and have the matter properly discussed by all in the land whohave a right to speak?"

  "Hadst thou had any experience of kingcraft, Erling, thou hadst notasked the question. If I were now to do as thou dost suggest, thenumerous small kings who have already been put down by force would bandagainst me, and bring such a following of opponents to the Thing thatfair discussion would be out of the question."

  Erling thought in his own mind, "One false step always necessitatesanother; you should have called a meeting of the Thing before puttingdown anyone;" however, he did not give utterance to the thought, butsaid--

  "I think you are mistaken, sire; there may be many who, out of revenge,might oppose you, but certain am I that those who would vote for thatwhich is for the wellbeing of the land would form a vast majority.Besides, it is the only course left open to you."

  At this the King flushed with a feeling of anger, and, drawing himselfup, touched the hilt of his sword without uttering a word.

  "When I said the only course," remarked Erling, "I meant the only lawfulcourse. Sorry should I be to see you, King Harald, draw the sword in abad cause; but if you do, be assured that thousands of good blades willgleam in opposition."

  At this the King's eyes flashed, and, turning suddenly upon Erling, heshook back the masses of his yellow hair with lion-like ferocity,exclaiming--

  "Dost thou dare to speak thus to me in mine own ship, Erling?"

  "It is because I am in your ship that I dare. Were I in my own, thelaws of hospitality had shut my mouth."

  "Knowest thou not," said the King, waxing still more angry at the rebukeconveyed in this speech, and laying his hand on his sword, "that I havepower to shut thy mouth now and for ever?"

  "It may be so, and it may be not so," replied Erling, stepping back, andlaying his hand on the hilt of his own weapon.

  At this the King laughed sarcastically. "And if," said he, "thou hadstthe power and skill to overcome my feeble arm, hast thou the folly tothink that ye could clear the Dragon of all her men?"

  Erling replied: "The remembrance, King Harald, of the way in which Itreated some of thy men in the woods not long ago, inclines me tobelieve that I could give them some trouble to slay me, and the thoughtof that transaction induced me, before I came hither, to make sucharrangements that at all events my fall should not go unavenged."

  For a moment or two the King's countenance lowered ferociously on theyouth, and he ground his teeth together as if unable to restrain hispassion; but suddenly he uttered a short laugh, and said--

  "Truly thou shouldst have been styled prudent as well as bold. But go,I will take counsel with others, and perhaps thou shalt hear again ofthis matter."

  Our hero retired immediately, but he observed in passing that Hake wassummoned to attend the King, and that another man stepped into the boatto row him to his own ship.

  "Is all well?" growled the rich voice of old Guttorm as he passed thevessel of that worthy.

  Erling told the rower to stop, and, glancing up, beheld the stern yetgood-humoured visage of his bluff friend looking over the rows of brightshields that hung on the bulwarks.

  "All is well," replied Erling.

  "It is well for the King that it is so," rejoined Guttorm, "for my handwas itching to give him a taste of our northern metal. Assuredly, if amouse had but squeaked on board the Dragon, I had deemed it sufficientground on which to have founded an immediate onslaught. But get thee tobed, Erling, and let me advise thee to sleep with thy windward eyeopen."

  "Trust me," said Erling, with a laugh, as he pushed off; "I will notsleep with both eyes shut to-night!"

  Getting on board his own ship, Erling said to his foot-boy--

  "I will not sleep in my bed to-night, for I suspect there may betreachery abroad. Thou shalt keep watch, therefore, in case anythingmay happen in the night; and if thou shalt see me strive with anyone, donot alarm the men. Meanwhile go thou and fetch me a billet of wood, andlet it be a large one."

  The boy quickly brought from the hold one of the largest billets of woodhe could find, and gave it to his master, who laid it in his own bed,which was under a small tent spread over the aft part of the vessel,close to the poop. Having covered it up carefully, he sent the boyforward, and went himself to lie down elsewhere.

  At midnight a boat was rowed stealthily alongside. It was guided by oneman
, and moved so silently that the lightest sleeper on board could nothave been awakened by it. The man stepped on board; lifted up the clothof the tent over the bulwarks; looked cautiously all round him, and thenwent up and struck in Erling's bed with a great axe, so that it stuckfast in the billet of wood. Next instant the man felt his neck in agrip like that of an iron vice, and his face was thrust upon the groundand held there, while a heavy knee pressed into the small of his back,so that he was utterly unable to rise.

  Erling's foot-boy saw the whole of this, and heard what followed, forthe curtain of the tent was raised; but he moved neither hand nor foot,though he held a spear ready for instant action if required.

  "It ill becomes thee, Hake," said Erling, "to seek my life a secondtime, after making such poor work of it the first. What! wilt thou notlie quiet?"

  While he was speaking the berserk struggled with the fury of a madman tofree himself, but Erling's grip (perhaps his own wisdom also!) preventedhim from shouting, and Erling's knee prevented the struggles from makingmuch noise. Finding, however, that he would not be quiet, our herotightened the pressure of his left hand until the tongue and eyes of theberserk began to protrude, and his face to get black, while with hisright hand he drew his knife, and ran the point of it about a quarter ofan inch into the fleshy part of Hake's back. The effect wasinstantaneous! Hake could face danger and death bravely, and could hurldefiance at his foe with the best, when on his legs; but when he feltthe point of the cold steel, and knew that the smallest impulse wouldcause it to find a warm bed in his heart, his fury vanished. Brave andbold though he was, and a berserk to boot, he sank quietly down, and layperfectly still!

  Erling at once relaxed the pressure of his fingers, and allowed Hake tobreathe, but he let the point of the knife remain, that it might refreshhis memory, while he read him a lesson:--

  "Now, Hake, let me tell thee that thou richly deservest to lose thylife, for twice hast thou sought to take mine in an unfair way, and oncehave I spared thine. However, thou art but a tool after all, so I willspare it again--and I do it the more readily that I wish thee to conveya message to thy master, King Harald, who, I doubt not, has sent thee onthis foul errand."

  Erling here signalled to his foot-boy, whom he directed to bind Hake'sarms securely behind his back. This having been done, Erling sufferedhim to rise and stand before him.

  "See now," he said, taking a silver ring from his finger, "knowest thouthis ring, Hake? Ah, I see by thy look that thou dost. Well, I willreturn it to thee and claim mine own."

  He turned the berserk round, took off the gold ring which he had placedon his finger on the day of the fight and put the silver one in itsplace.

  "By these tokens," said he, "thou mayest know who it was that cared forthee in the wood after the fight, and restored thy consciousness,instead of cutting off thy head, as he might easily have done. I knownot why I did it, Hake, save that the fancy seized me, for thou art anundeserving dog. But now we will take thee back to thy master, and asour message can be conveyed without the use of speech, we will bind upthy mouth."

  So saying, Erling gagged the berserk (who looked dreadfully sulky) witha strip of sailcloth. Then he made him sit down, and tied his legstogether with a piece of rope, after which he lifted him in his arms tothe side of the ship and laid him down.

  "Go fetch me a stout carle," he said to the foot-boy, who went forwardand immediately returned with a strapping man-at-arms.

  The man looked surprised, but asked no questions, as Erling directed himin a low tone to assist in lifting the prisoner into the boat as quietlyas possible. Then they placed the lump of wood with the axe sticking init beside him. This accomplished, they rowed silently to the side ofthe Dragon, where a sentinel demanded what they wanted.

  "We bring a prisoner to King Harald," answered Erling. "We have himhere tied hand and foot."

  "Who is he?" asked the sentinel; for there was not so much light as isusual at midnight of that time of the year, owing to a mist on the sea.

  "Thou shalt see when he is aboard."

  "Hoist him up, then," said the man, Erling and his carle raised Hakeover the bulwarks, and let him drop heavily on the deck. Then Erlingseized the lump of wood and hurled it on board with considerable force,so that, hitting the sentinel on the head, it bounded onwards to theafter part of the ship, and struck against the tent under which Haraldlay. The King sprang out, sword in hand, but Erling had pushed off, andwas already enveloped in the mist. As they rowed away they heard agreat clamour on board the Dragon, but it was quickly hushed by a sternvoice, which Erling knew to be that of the King.

  No pursuit was attempted. Erling got back to his own ship, and, settinga watch, lay down to rest.

  In the morning no notice was taken of what had occurred during thenight. The King evidently pretended that he knew nothing about thematter. He again met with the chief men of the district, and made themmany promises and many complimentary speeches, but in his heart heresolved that the day should come when every one of them should eitherbow before his will or lose his life. The bonders, on the other hand,listened with due respect to all the King said, but it need scarcely beadded that their lips did not express all their thoughts; for while thesanguine and more trustful among them felt some degree of hope andconfidence, there were others who could not think of the future exceptwith the most gloomy forebodings.

  In this mood the two parties separated. The King sailed with hiswarships out among the skerries, intending to proceed north toDrontheim, while Haldor the Fierce, with his friends and men, went backto Horlingdal.