Erling the Bold

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  TELLS SOMETHING OF THE DOINGS OF SOLVE KLOFE AND OTHERS, AND TREATS OF AFEW OF THE MARVELLOUS ADVENTURES OF GUTTORM STOUTHEART.

  The scene is changed. It is night; yet how different from night in mostother inhabited parts of the earth! The midnight sun is just sinkingbeneath the horizon, close to the spot whence, in about twenty minutes,he will rise, to repeat his prolonged course of nearly four-and-twentyhours through the northern sky. But if the darkness of night is absent,its deep quietude is there. The mighty cliffs that rise like giantwalls to heaven, casting broad, heavy shadows over the sea, send forthno echoes, for the innumerable birds that dwell among them are silentlyperched like snowflakes on every crag, or nestled in every crevice,buried in repose. The sea resembles glass, and glides with but a faintsigh upon the shore. All is impressively still on mountain and fiord.Everything in nature is asleep, excepting the wakeful eye of day, thehum of distant rills, the boom of inland cataracts, and the ripple onthe shore. These sounds, however, do but render the universal silencemore profound by suggesting the presence of those stupendous forceswhich lie latent everywhere.

  A white mist floats over the sea like a curtain of gauze, investinginsignificant objects with grandeur, and clothing caverns, cliffs, andmountain gorges with unusual sublimity.

  Only one object suggestive of man is visible through the haze. It is aship--of the old, old-fashioned build--with high stem and stern, andmonstrous figurehead. Its forefoot rests upon the strip of gravel inyonder bay at the foot of the cliff, whose summit is lost in the clouds.The hull reposes on its own reflected image, and the taper mast isrepeated in a wavy but distinct line below. It is the "longship"; the"war vessel"; the "sea horse" of Solve Klofe, the son of King Hunthiofof More, whom Harald Fairhair slew.

  Solve had, as we have before said, spent the winter in taking hisrevenge by herrying the coast in his longship, and doing all in hispower to damage the King's men, as well as those who were friendly tohis cause. Among other things he had, early in spring, persuaded Haldorthe Fierce to let him have the use of one of his warships, with a few ofhis best men, to accompany him on a viking cruise. Erling had resistedhis pressing invitation to bear him company, because of importantbusiness, the nature of which he did not think it necessary to disclose.His friend Glumm the Gruff also declined from similar reasons. At allevents, he was similarly pre-engaged and taciturn. Thorer the Thick,however, and Kettle Flatnose, and young Alric--the latter by special andimportunate request--were allowed to accompany him on this expedition.

  We do not intend to give the details of this foray, although it wasunusually stirring and prolific of adventure. Suffice it to say, thatthey had several hard fights both with Swedish and Danish vikings, inall of which Alric distinguished himself for reckless daring, and wouldcertainly have been carried home dead upon his own shield had not KettleFlatnose watched over him with the solicitude of a father, and wardedoff many a blow that was aimed at his pugnacious head. We fear it mustbe added that Alric was not sufficiently impressed with his friend'sservices in this way. The truth is that he entertained the firm beliefthat nobody could kill him, and that he could kill anybody--which wasall very well as far as it went, but would not have carried himscathless through the cruise, had not the stout Irishman been at hisback.

  Immense and valuable booty was gained at this time, for one of thevessels which they captured had been cruising in southern lands, and wasreturning with a large quantity of gold and silver ornaments when SolveKlofe attacked it. A misfortune befell them, however. On their wayhome a storm drove Thorer's vessel on the rocks in a fog, and it becamea total wreck. The crew were all saved, however, and much of thelading, by Solve, who stowed the goods in his own ship, and brought homethe men. They were within a day's sail of Horlingdal, when they putashore to take a few hours' repose.

  Three hours after midnight Solve Klofe, whose breathing up to that timehad resembled that of an infant, gave vent to a prolonged bass snore,and opened his eyes. This was followed by the shutting of his mouth,and with one of those satisfactory stretchings of the body with which asound sleeper is wont in the morning to dismiss repose and recall hisenergies. Having lain still a few moments to enjoy the result, Solvesat up, and stretching forth his hand, drew aside the curtain of thetent under which he slept, and looked out. The sight that gladdened hiseyes was beautiful beyond description, for the sun was up in all hisnorthern glory, and shone on the silver sea with dazzling light, whilehe scattered away the mists of morning. But the best sight of all tothe bold viking was the splendid warship which, with painted sides andshields, and gilded masts and prow, glowed and glittered like abeautiful gem in a setting of the brightest azure blue.

  Turning his eyes inside his tent again, Solve gazed with theexpressionless aspect of a still drowsy man upon the countenance ofKettle, whose flat nose and open mouth gave vent to tones resemblingthose of a bassoon. Beside him, and nestling close to him, lay theyouthful Alric, with his curly head resting on Kettle's broad bosom; forthe lad, albeit manly enough when awake, had sufficient of the childstill about him to induce a tendency on his part, when asleep, to makeuse of any willing friend as a pillow. Thorer the Thick was also there,with his head on his arm, his body sprawling indescribably, his shieldabove him like a literal coverlet, and his right hand on his sword-hilt.

  "Ho!" exclaimed Solve, in a tone that marvellously resembled the tonesof modern men in similar circumstances.

  Kettle and Thorer, however, sprang up to a sitting posture with veryprimitive alacrity, for in those days a man's life often depended on hisbeing and keeping very wide-awake.

  Poor Alric was tumbled somewhat unceremoniously to one side, but thatfailed to awaken him, for he was not yet sufficiently trained to sleepin the midst of alarms, and felt very naturally inclined to growl andbite when shaken or told to "get up!"

  In a few minutes, however, his lethargy was overcome; the men werearoused; the tents were struck; the longship was pushed off, and, underthe influence of thirty pair of oars, it crept like a monstrous insectaway over the sea.

  Those who had not to work at the oars sat at first quietly on thethwarts, or leaned over the gunwale gazing into the deep, or up at thesky, enjoying the warm air and their own fancies. But after a timetalkative spirits began to loose their tongues, and ere long a murmur ofquiet conversation pervaded the ship.

  "I wonder what news we shall hear at the stede when we arrive?" saidThorer to Kettle, who with several others sat on the poop beside Solve.

  "I hope it won't be bad news," answered Kettle. "Harald is not the manto sleep through the summer when there is work to be done. If it wasn'tthat I expect to give him the tooth-ache before I go, surely I shouldhave been in Ireland long ago."

  "Whom didst thou serve under, Kettle, before we brought thee to Norway?"asked Alric.

  "Under the King of Dublin," replied Kettle.

  "Was he a great king?"

  "A great king? Aye, never was there a greater; and a great king he isyet, if he's alive, though I have my own fears on that point, for he wastaking badly to ale when I left."

  There was something pathetic yet humorous in the tone and expressionwith which Kettle said this which caused Alric to laugh. The Irishmanstarted, and for an instant his huge countenance blazed with a look ofwrath which was quite majestic, and overawed the boy, bold though hewas. But it passed away in a moment, and was replaced by a sorrowfullook as Kettle shook his head and said--

  "Ah! boy, your laugh reminded me of the laugh of the villain Haabrok whotook the old king's throne at the time I was carried off, bound hand andfoot. Lucky was it for him that my hands were not free then.--Well,well, this sounds like bragging," he added with a smile, "which is onlyfit for boys and cowards."

  Alric winced a little at this, for he was quite aware of his owntendency to boast, and for a moment he felt a strong inclination tostand up for "boys", and assert, that although boasting was commonenough with cowardly boys, it was not so with all b
oys; but onconsideration he thought it best to hold his tongue, on that point, atleast until he should have freed himself of the evil of boasting. Tochange the subject he said--

  "Was the old king fond of thee, Kettle?"

  "Aye, as fond of me as of his own son."

  "Was he like my father?" pursued the boy.

  "No; there are not many men like thy father, lad; but he was a stout andbrave old man, and a great warrior in his day. Now I think of it, hewas very like Guttorm Stoutheart."

  "Then he was a handsome man," said Solve Klofe with emphasis.

  "He was," continued Kettle, "but not quite so desperate. Old Guttorm isthe most reckless man I ever did see. Did I ever tell ye of theadventure I had with him when we went on viking cruise south toValland?"

  "No," said Solve; "let us hear about it; but stay till I change theoarsmen."

  He went forward and gave the order to relieve the men who had rowed fromthe land, and when the fresh men were on the benches he returned andbade Kettle go on.

  "'Tis a fine country," said the Irishman, glancing round him with aglowing eye, and speaking in a low tone, as if to himself--"one to beproud of."

  And in truth there was ground for his remark, for the mists had by thattime entirely cleared away, leaving unveiled a sea so calm and brightthat the innumerable islets off the coast appeared as if floating inair.

  "That is true," said Thorer. "I sometimes wonder, Kettle, at thylonging to return to Ireland. I am in the same case with thyself--wastaken from my home in Jemteland, laboured as a thrall, wrought out myfreedom, and remained in Haldor's service, but have never wished toreturn home."

  "Didst thou leave a wife and children behind thee?" asked Kettle.

  "Nay; I was carried away while very young."

  "Is thy father alive, or thy mother?"

  "No, they are both dead."

  "Then I wonder not that ye have no desire to return home. My father andmother are both alive--at least I have good reason to believe so--mywife and children are waiting for me. Canst wonder, man, that I long tobehold once more the green hills of Ireland?"

  "Nay, if that be so, I wonder not," replied Thorer.

  "Come, Kettle, thou forgettest that we wait for the story about oldGuttorm Stoutheart," said Solve Klofe, arranging the corner of a sail soas to protect his back from the sun.

  "'Tis an old story now in Horlingdal," said Kettle; "but as thou hastnot been in this quarter for a long time, no doubt it is new to thee.Thorer there knows it well; but I find that it bears telling more thanonce. Well, it was, as I have said, two years past that Guttorm wentsouth to Valland on viking cruise. He called at Horlingdal in passing,and got some of the dalesmen. Among others, I was allowed to go. Heand I got on very well together, and we were fortunate in getting muchbooty. One day we came to a part of the coast where we saw a strongcastle of stone on the top of a hill a short way inland. We also sawplenty of cattle on a plain near the sea, so Guttorm ordered hislongship to be steered for the shore, and we began to drive some of thecattle down to the beach, intending to slaughter them there, as ourprovisions were getting low. On seeing this, a party of men came outfrom the castle and bade us begone. We told them to be easy in theirminds, for we only wanted a little food. We even went so far as to askit of them civilly, but the men were such surly fellows that theyrefused to listen to reason, and attacked us at once. Of course wedrove them back into their castle, but in doing so we lost one or two ofour best men. This angered old Guttorm, who is not a quarrelsome man,as ye know. He would have gone away peaceably enough if he had been letalone to help himself to a few beasts; but his blood was set up by thattime, so he ordered all the men on shore, and we pitched our tents andbesieged the castle. Being made of stone, there was no chance ofsetting it on fire, and as the walls were uncommonly high, it was notpossible to take it by assault. Well, we sat down before it, and fortwo days tried everything we could think of to take it, but failed, forthere were plenty of men in it, and they defended the walls stoutly.Besides this, to say the truth, we had already lost a number of good menon the cruise and could ill afford to lose more.

  "On the third day some of our chief men advised Guttorm to give it up,but that made him so furious that no one dared speak to him about it foranother two days. At the end of that time his nephew plucked up heart,and going to him, said--

  "`Uncle, do you see the little birds that fly back and forward over thecastle walls so freely, and build their nests in the thatch of thehousetops?'

  "`I do, nephew,' says Guttorm. `What then?'

  "`My advice is,' says the nephew, `that you should order the men to makeeach a pair of wings like those the birds have, and then we shall allfly over the walls, for it seems to me that there is no other way ofgetting into the castle.'

  "`Thou art a droll knave,' replies Guttorm, for he was ever fond of ajoke; `but thou art wise also, therefore I advise thee to make a patternpair of wings for the men; and when they are ready--'

  "Here Guttorm stopped short, and fell to thinking; and he thought solong that his nephew asked him at last if he had any further commandsfor him.

  "`Yes, boy, I have. There is more in this matter of the wings than thoudreamest of. Go quickly and order the men to make snares, and catch asmany of these little birds as they can before sunset. Let them becareful not to hurt the birds, and send Kettle Flatnose and myhouse-carle hither without delay.'

  "When I came to the old man I found him walking to and fro briskly, withan expression of eagerness in his eye.

  "`Kettle,' he said smartly, `go and prepare two hundred pieces of cord,each about one foot long, and to the end of each piece tie a small chipof wood as long as the first joint of thy thumb, and about the size of agoose quill. Smear these pieces of wood over with pitch, and have thewhole in my tent within three hours.'

  "As I walked away to obey this order, wondering what it could all beabout, I heard him tell his chief house-carle to have all the men armedand ready for action a little after sunset, as quietly as possible.

  "Before the three hours were out, I returned to the tent with the twohundred pieces of cord prepared according to orders, and found oldGuttorm sitting with a great sack before him, and a look of perplexityon his face that almost made me laugh. He was half-inclined to laughtoo, for the sack moved about in a strange way, as if it were alive!

  "`Kettle,' said he, when I came forward, `I need thy help here. I havegot some three hundred little birds in that sack, and I don't know howto keep them in order, for they are fluttering about and killingthemselves right and left, so that I shall soon have none left alive formy purpose. My thought is to tie one of these cords to a leg of eachbird, set the bit of stick on fire and let it go, so that when it fliesto its nest in the thatch it will set the houses in the castle on fire.Now, what is thy advice?'

  "`Call as many of the men into the tent as it will hold, and let eachcatch a bird, and keep it till the cords are made fast; says I.'

  "This was done at once, but we had more trouble than we expected, forwhen the mouth of the sack was opened, out flew a dozen of the birdsbefore we could close it! The curtain of the tent was down, however,so, after a good deal of hunting, we caught them again. When the cordswere tied to these the men were sent out of the tent, each with a littlebird in his hand, and with orders to go to his particular post andremain there till further orders. Then another batch of men came in,and they were supplied with birds and cords like the others; but ye haveno notion what trouble we had. I have seen a hundred viking prisonerscaught and held fast with half the difficulty and less noise! Moreover,while some of the men squeezed the birds to death in their fear lestthey should escape, others let theirs go in their anxiety not to hurtthem, and the little things flew back to their nests with the cords andbits of chip trailing after them. At last, however, all was ready. Themen were kept in hiding till after dark; then the little chips were seton fire all at the same time, and the birds were let go. It was like ashower of stars descending on the
castle, for each bird made straightfor its own nest; but just as we were expecting to behold the success ofour plan, up jumped a line of men on the castle walls, and by shoutingand swinging their arms scared the birds away. We guessed at once thatthe little birds which had escaped too soon with the strings tied totheir legs had been noticed, and the trick suspected, for the men in thecastle were well prepared. A few of the birds flew over their heads,and managed to reach the roofs, which caught fire at once; but whereverthis happened, a dozen men ran at the place and beat the fire out. Thething was wisely contrived, but it was cleverly met and repelled, so wehad only our trouble and the disappointment for our pains.

  "After this," continued Kettle, "old Guttorm became like a wolf. Hesnarled at everyone who came near him for some time, but his passionnever lasted long. He soon fell upon another plan.

  "There was a small river which ran at the foot of the mound on which thecastle stood, and there were mudbanks on the side next to it, One nightwe were all ordered to go to the mudbanks as quiet as mice, with shovelsand picks in our hands, and dig a tunnel under the castle. We did so,and the first night advanced a long way, but we had to stop a good whilebefore day to let the dirt wash away and the water get clear again, sothat they might not suspect what we were about. The next night we gotunder the castle wall, and on the fifth night had got well under thegreat hall, for we could hear the men singing and shouting as they satat meat above us. We had then to work very carefully for fear of makinga noise, and when we thought it ready for the assault we took our swordsand shields with us, and Guttorm led the way. His chief house-carle wasappointed to drive through the floor, while Guttorm and I stood ready toegg him on and back him up.

  "We heard the men above singing and feasting as usual, when suddenlythere was a great silence, for one of the big stones over our heads wasloosened, and they had evidently felt or seen it. Now was the timecome; so, while the house-carle shovelled off the earth, some of us gotour fingers in about the edge of the stone, and pulled with all ourforce. Suddenly down it came and a man along with it. We knocked himon the head at once, and gave a loud huzza as the house-carle sprang upthrough the hole, caught a shower of blows on his shield, and began tolay about him fiercely. Guttorm was very mad at the carle for going upbefore him, but the carle was light and the old man was heavy, so hecould not help it. I was about to follow, when a man cut at my headwith a great axe as I looked up through the hole. I caught the blow onmy shield, and thrust my sword up into his leg, which made him giveback; but just at that moment the earth gave way under our feet, and agreat mass of stones and rubbish fell down on us, driving us all backinto the passage through which we had come, except the house-carle, whohad been caught by the enemy and dragged up into the hall. As soon aswe could get on our feet we tried to make for the hole again, but it wasso filled with earth and stones that we could not get forward a step.Knowing, therefore, that it was useless to stay longer there, we ranback to the entrance of the tunnel, but here we found a body of men whohad been sent out of the castle to cut off our retreat. We made shortwork of these. Disappointment and anger had made every man of us equalto two, so we hewed our way right through them, and got back to the campwith the loss of only two men besides the house-carle.

  "Next morning when it was daylight, the enemy brought the poor prisonerto the top of the castle wall, where they lopped off his head, and,having cut his body into four pieces, they cast them down to us withshouts of contempt.

  "After this Guttorm Stoutheart appeared to lose all his fire and spirit.He sent for his chief men, and said that he was going to die, and thatit was his wish to be left to do so undisturbed. Then he went into histent, and no one was allowed after that to go near him except hisnephew.

  "A week later we were told that Guttorm was dying, and that he wanted tobe buried inside the castle; for we had discovered that the people werewhat they called Christians, and that they had consecrated ground there.

  "When this was made known to the priests in the castle they were muchpleased, and agreed to bury our chief in their ground, if we would bringhis body to a spot near the front gateway, and there leave it and retireto a safe distance from the walls. There was some objection to this atfirst, hit it was finally agreed to--only a request was made that two ofthe next of kin to Guttorm might be allowed to accompany the body to theburial-place, as it would be considered a lasting disgrace to the familyif it were buried by strange hands when friends were near. This requestwas granted on the understanding that the two relations were to go intothe castle unarmed.

  "On the day of the funeral I was summoned to Guttorm's tent to help toput him into his coffin, which had been made for him after the patternof the coffins used in that part of the country. When I entered I foundthe nephew standing by the side of the coffin, and the old Sea-kinghimself sitting on the foot of it.

  "`Thou art not quite dead yet?' says I, looking hard in his face.

  "`Not yet,' says he, `and I don't expect to be for some time.'

  "`Are we to put you into the coffin?' I asked.

  "`Yes,' says he, `and see that my good axe lies ready to my hand. Putthy sword on my left side, nephew, that thou mayst catch it readily.They bury me in consecrated ground to-day, Kettle; and thou, being oneof my nearest of kin, must attend me to the grave! Thou must go unarmedtoo, but that matters little, for thy sword can be placed on the top ofmy coffin, along with thy shield, to do duty as the weapons of the dead.When to use them I leave to thy well-known discretion. Dostunderstand?'

  "`Your speech is not difficult for the understanding to take in,' saysI.

  "`Ha! especially the understanding of an Irishman,' says he, with asmile. `Well, help me to get into this box, and see that thou dost notrun it carelessly against gate-posts; for it is not made to be roughlyhandled!'

  "With that old Guttorm lay back in the coffin, and we packed in thenephew's sword and shield with him, and his own axe and shield at hisright side. Then we fastened down the lid, and two men were called toassist us in carrying it to the appointed place.

  "As we walked slowly forward I saw that our men were drawn up in a lineat some distance from the castle wall, with their heads hanging down, asif they were in deep grief,--and so they were, for only a _few_ wereaware of what was going to be done; yet all were armed, and ready forinstant action. The appointed spot being reached, we put the coffin onthe ground, and ordered the two men, who were armed, to retire.

  "`But don't go far away, lads,' says I; `for we have work for ye to do.'

  "They went back only fifty ells or so, and then turned to look on.

  "At the same time the gate of the castle opened, and twelve priests cameout dressed in long black robes, and carrying a cross before them. Oneof them, who understood the Norse language, said, as they came forward--

  "`What meaneth the sword and shield?'

  "I told him that it was our custom to bury a warrior's arms along withhim. He seemed inclined to object to this at first, but thinking betterof it, he ordered four of his men to take up the coffin, which they did,shoulder high, and marched back to the castle, closely followed by thetwo chief mourners.

  "No sooner had we entered the gateway, which was crowded with warriors,than I stumbled against the coffin, and drove it heavily against one ofthe posts, and, pretending to stretch out my hands to support it, Iseized my sword and shield. At the same moment the lid of the coffinflew into the air, the sides burst out, and old Guttorm dropped to theground, embracing two of the priests so fervently in his descent thatthey fell on the top of him. I had only time to observe that the nephewcaught up his sword and shield as they fell among the wreck, when ashower of blows from all directions called for the most rapid action ofeye and limb. Before Guttorm could regain his feet and utter hiswar-cry, I had lopped off two heads, and the nephew's sword was whirlinground him like lightning flashes, but of course I could not see what hedid. The defenders fought bravely, and in the first rush we were almostborne back; but in another moment the two
men who had helped us to carrythe coffin were alongside of us; and now, having a front of five stoutmen, we began to feel confident of success. This was turned intocertainty when we heard, a minute later, a great rushing sound behindus, and knew that our men were coming on. Old Guttorm swung hisbattle-axe as if it had been a toy, and, uttering a tremendous roar, cuthis way right into the middle of the castle. We all closed in behindhim; the foe wavered--they gave way--at last they turned and fled; forremembering, no doubt, how they had treated the poor house-carle, theyknew they had no right to expect mercy. In a quarter of an hour theplace was cleared, and the castle was ours."

  "And what didst thou do with it?" asked Alric, in much excitement.

  "Do with it? Of course we feasted in it till we were tired; then we putas much of its valuables into our ships as they could carry, after whichwe set the place on fire and returned to Norway."

  "'Twas well done, and a lucky venture," observed Solve Klofe.

  Alric appeared to meditate for a few minutes, and then said with asmile--

  "If Christian the hermit were here he would say it was ill done, and anunlucky venture for the men of the castle."

  "The hermit is a fool," said Solve.

  "That he is not," cried the boy, reddening. "A braver and better mannever drew bow. But he has queer thoughts in his head."

  "That may be so. It matters naught to me," retorted Solve, rising andgoing forward to the high prow of the ship, whence he looked out uponthe island-studded sea.--"Come, lads, change hands again, and pull witha will. Methinks a breeze will fill our sails after we pass yonderpoint, and if so, we shall sleep to-night in Horlingdal."