The Norsemen in the West

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

  ANXIOUS TIMES--A SEARCH ORGANISED AND VIGOROUSLY CARRIED OUT.

  It is not easy to conceive the state of alarm that prevailed in thesettlement of the Norsemen when it came to be known that little Snorroand Olaf were lost. The terrible fact did not of course break on themall at once.

  For some hours after the two adventurers had left home, Dame Gudrid wentbriskly about her household avocations, humming tunefully one of hernative Icelandic airs, and thinking, no doubt, of Snorro. Astrid,assisted by Bertha, went about the dairy operations, gossiping of smallmatters in a pleasant way, and, among other things, providing Snorro'sallowance of milk. Thora busied herself in the preparation of Snorro'slittle bed; and Freydissa, whose stern nature was always softened by thesight of the child, constructed, with elaborate care, a little coat forSnorro's body. Thus Snorro's interests were being tenderly cared foruntil the gradual descent of the sun induced the remark, that "Olaf mustsurely have taken a longer walk than usual that day."

  "I must go and meet them," said Gudrid, becoming for the first timeuneasy.

  "Let me go with you," said Bertha.

  "Come, child," returned Gudrid.

  In passing the spot where the little bear had been cut up and skinned,they saw Hake standing with Biarne.

  "Did you say that Olaf took the track of the woodcutters?" asked Gudrid.

  "Ay, that was their road at starting," answered Biarne. "Are they notlater than usual?"

  "A little. We go to meet them."

  "Tell Olaf that I have kept the bear's claws for him," said Biarne.

  The two women proceeded a considerable distance along the woodcutters'track, chatting, as they went, on various subjects, but, not meeting thechildren, they became alarmed and walked on in silence.

  Suddenly Gudrid stopped.

  "Bertha," said she, "let us not waste time. If the dear children havestrayed a little out of the right road, it is of the utmost importanceto send men to search and shout for them before it begins to darken.Come, we will return."

  Being more alarmed than she liked to confess, even to herself, Gudrid atonce walked rapidly homewards, and, on approaching the huts, quickenedher pace to a run.

  "Quick, Swend, Hake, Biarne!" she cried; "the children must have losttheir way--haste you to search for them before the sun goes down. Shoutas ye go. It will be ill to find them after dark, and if they have tospend the night in the woods, I fear me they will--"

  "Don't fear anything, Gudrid," said Biarne kindly. "We will make allhaste, and doubtless shall find them rambling in the thickets near athand.--Go, Hake, find Karlsefin, and tell him that I will begin thesearch at once with Swend, while he gets together a few men."

  Cheered by Biarne's hearty manner, Gudrid was a little comforted, andreturned to the house to complete her preparation of Snorro's supper,while Hake gave the alarm to Karlsefin, who, accompanied by Leif and abody of men, at once went off to scour the woods in every direction.

  Of course they searched in vain, for their attention was at firstdirected to the woods near home, in which it was naturally enoughsupposed that Olaf might have lost his way in returning. Not findingthem there, Karlsefin became thoroughly alive to the extreme urgency ofthe case, and the necessity for a thorough and extended plan of search.

  "Come hither, Hake," said he. "This may be a longer business than wethought for. Run back to the huts, call out all the men except thehome-guards. Let them come prepared for a night in the woods, each manwith a torch, and one meal in his pouch at least--"

  "Besides portions for the twenty men already out," suggested Hake.

  "Right, right, lad, and tell them to meet me at the Pine Ridge.--Away!If ever thy legs rivalled the wind, let them do so now."

  Hake sprang off at a pace which appeared satisfactory even to theanxious father.

  In half an hour Karlsefin was joined at the Pine Ridge by all theavailable strength of the colony, and there he organised and despatchedparties in all directions, appointing the localities they were totraverse, the limits of their search, and the time and place for thenext rendezvous. This last was to be on the identical ridge whence poorOlaf had taken his departure into the unknown land. Karlsefin knew wellthat it was his favourite haunt, and intended to search carefully up toit, never dreaming that the boy would go beyond it after the strictinjunctions he had received not to do so, and the promises he had made.

  "I'm not so sure as you seem to be that Olaf has not gone beyond theridge," observed Leif to Karlsefin, after the men had left them.

  "Why not?" asked the latter. "He is a most trustworthy boy."

  "I know it--who should know it so well as his own father?" returnedLeif; "but he is very young. I have known him give way to temptationonce or twice before now. He may have done it again."

  "I trust not," said Karlsefin; "but come, let us make direct for theridge, while the others continue the search; we can soon ascertainwhether he has wandered beyond it. I know his favourite tree.Doubtless his footsteps will guide us."

  Already it had begun to grow dark, so that when they reached the ridgeit was necessary to kindle the torches before anything could beascertained.

  "Here are the footsteps," cried Karlsefin, after a brief search.

  Leif, who was searching in another direction, hurried towards hisfriend, torch in hand.

  "See, there is Olaf's footprint on that soft ground," said Karlsefin,moving slowly along, with the torch held low, "but there is no sign ofSnorro's little feet. Olaf always carried him--yet--ah! here they areon this patch of sand, look. They had halted here--probably to rest;perhaps to change Snorro's position. I've lost them again--no! herethey are, but only Olaf's. He must have lifted the child again, nodoubt."

  "Look here," cried Leif, who had again strayed a little from his friend."Are not these footsteps descending the ridge?"

  Karlsefin hastily examined them.

  "They are," he cried, "and then they go down towards the wood--ay,_into_ it. Without doubt Olaf has broken his promise; but let us makesure."

  A careful investigation convinced both parents that the children hadentered that part of the forest, and that therefore all search in anyother direction was useless. Karlsefin immediately re-ascended theridge, and, putting both hands to his mouth, gave the peculiar halloowhich had been agreed upon as the signal that some of the searchers hadeither found the children or fallen upon their tracks.

  "You'll have to give them another shout," said Leif.

  Karlsefin did so, and immediately after a faint and very distant halloocame back in reply.

  "That's Biarne," observed Karlsefin, as they stood listening intently."Hist! there is another."

  A third and fourth halloo followed quickly, showing that the signal hadbeen heard by all; and in a very short time the searchers came hurryingto the rendezvous, one after another.

  "Have you found them?" was of course the first eager question of each,followed by a falling of the countenance when the reply "No" was given.But there was a rising of hope again when it was pointed out that theymust certainly be in some part of the tract of dense woodland just infront of them. There were some there, however--and these were the mostexperienced woodsmen--who shook their heads mentally when they gazed atthe vast wilderness, which, in the deepening gloom, looked intenselyblack, and the depths of which they knew must be as dark as Erebus atthat hour. Still, no one expressed desponding feelings, but each spokecheerfully and agreed at once to the proposed arrangement of continuingthe search all night by torchlight.

  When the plan of search had been arranged, and another rendezvous fixed,the various parties went out and searched the live-long night in everycopse and dell, in every bush and brake, and on every ridge and knollthat seemed the least likely to have been selected by the lost littleones as a place of shelter. But the forest was wide. A party of tentimes their number would have found it absolutely impossible to avoidpassing many a dell and copse and height and hollow unawares. Thus itcame to pas
s that although they were once or twice pretty near the cavewhere the children were sleeping, they did not find it. Moreover, theground in places was very hard, so that, although they more than oncediscovered faint tracks, they invariably lost them again in a fewminutes. They shouted lustily, too, as they went along, but to two suchsleepers as Olaf and Snorro in their exhausted condition, their wildestshouts were but as the whisperings of a sick mosquito.

  Gradually the searchers wandered farther and farther away from the spot,until they were out of sight and hearing.

  We say sight and hearing, because, though the children were capable ofneither at that time, there was in that wood an individual who wasparticularly sharp in regard to both. This was a scout of a party ofnatives who chanced to be travelling in that neighbourhood at the time.The man--who had a reddish-brown body partially clad in a deer-skin,glittering black eyes, and very stiff wiry black hair, besidesuncommonly strong and long white teeth, in excellent order--chanced tohave taken up his quarters for the night under a tree on the top of aknoll. When, in the course of his slumbers, he became aware of the factthat a body of men were going about the woods with flaring torches andshouting like maniacs, he awoke, _not_ with a start, or any suchridiculous exclamation as "Ho!" "Ha!" or "Hist!" but with the mildoperation of opening his saucer-like eyes until they were at theirwidest. No evil resulting from this cautious course of action, heventured to raise his head an inch off the ground--which was his ratherextensive pillow--then another inch and another, until he found himselfresting on his elbow and craning his neck over a low bush. Being almostblack, and quite noiseless, he might have been mistaken for aslowly-moving shadow.

  Gradually he gained his knees, then his feet, and then, peering intospace, he observed Biarne and Krake, with several others, ascending theknoll.

  For the shadow to sink again to its knees, slope to its elbows, reclineon its face, and glide into the heart of a thick bush and disappear, didnot seem at all difficult or unnatural. At any rate that is what itdid, and there it remained observing all that passed.

  "Ho! hallo! Olaf! Snorro! hi-i-i!" shouted Biarne on reaching thesummit of the knoll.

  "Hooroo!" yelled Krake, in a tone that must have induced the shadow totake him for a half-brother.

  "Nothing here," said Biarne, holding up the torch and peering round inall directions.

  "Nothing whatever," responded Krake.

  He little knew at the time that the shadow was displaying his teeth, andloosening in its sheath a long knife or dagger made of bone, which, fromthe spot where he lay, he could have launched with unerring certaintyinto the heart of any of those who stood before him. It is well for manthat he sometimes does not know what _might_ be!

  After a brief inspection of the knoll, and another shout or two, theydescended again into the brake and pushed on. The shadow rose andfollowed until he reached a height whence he could see that thetorch-bearers had wandered far away to the westward. As the friends andrelatives for whom he acted the part of scout were encamped away to theeastward, he returned to his tree and continued his nap till daybreak,when he arose and shook himself, yawned and scratched his head.Evidently he pondered the occurrences of the night, and felt convincedthat if so many strange men went about looking for something with somuch care and anxiety, it must undoubtedly, be something that was worthlooking for. Acting on this idea he began to look.

  Now, it must be well-known to most people that savages are rather smartfellows at making observations on things in general and drawingconclusions therefrom. The shouts led him to believe that lost humanbeings were being sought for. Daylight enabled him to see little feetwhich darkness had concealed from the Norsemen, whence he concluded thatchildren were being sought for. Following out his clue, with thatsingular power of following a trail for which savages are noted, he cameto the cave, and peered through the bushes with his great eyes, pouncedupon the sleepers, and had his pug nose converted into a Roman--all asrelated in the last chapter.

  Sometime after sunrise the various searching parties assembled at theplace of rendezvous--fagged, dispirited, and hungry.

  "Come," said Karlsefin, who would not permit his feelings to influencehis conduct, "we must not allow ourselves to despond at little more thanthe beginning of our search. We will breakfast here, lads, and thenreturn to the ridge where we first saw their footsteps. Daylight willenable us to track them more easily. Thank God the weather is warm, andI daresay if they kept well under cover of the trees, the dear childrenmay have got no harm from exposure. They have not been fasting _very_long, so--let us to work."

  Leif and Biarne both fell in with Karlsefin's humour, and cheered thespirits of the men by their tone and example, so that when the hurriedmeal was finished they felt much refreshed, and ready to begin the workof another day.

  It was past noon before they returned to the ridge and began the renewedsearch. Daylight now enabled them to trace the little footsteps withmore certainty, and towards the afternoon they came to the cave wherethe children had slept.

  "Here have they spent the night," said Leif, with breathless interest,as he and Karlsefin examined every corner of the place.

  "But they are gone," returned the other, "and it behoves us to waste notime. Go, Biarne, let the men spread out--stay!--Is not this the footof a man who wears a shoe somewhat different from ours?"

  "'Tis a savage," said Biarne, in a tone of great anxiety.

  Karlsefin made no reply, and the party being now concentrated, theyfollowed eagerly on, finding the prints of the feet quite plain in manyplaces.

  "Unquestionably they have been captured by a savage," said Leif.

  "Ay, and he must have taken Snorro on his shoulder, and made poor Olafwalk alongside," observed Biarne.

  Following the trail with the perseverance and certainty of blood-hounds,they at last came to the deserted encampment on the banks of therivulet. That it had been forsaken only a short time before wasapparent from the circumstance of the embers of the fires still smoking.They examined the place closely and found the little foot-marks of thechildren, which were quite distinguishable from those of the nativechildren by the difference in the form of the shoes. Soon they came tomarks on the bank of the stream which indicated unmistakeably thatcanoes had been launched there. And now, for the first time, thecountenances of Leif and Karlsefin fell.

  "You think there is no hope?" asked the latter.

  "I won't say that," replied Leif; "but we know not what course they havetaken, and we cannot follow them on foot."

  "True," observed Karlsefin, in bitter despondency.

  "The case is not so bad," observed Heika, stepping forward at thispoint. "You know we have a number of canoes captured from the savages;some of us have become somewhat expert in the management of these. Leta few of us go back and fetch them hither on our shoulders, withprovisions for a long journey, and we shall soon be in a position togive chase. They cannot have gone far yet, and we shall be sure toovertake them, for what we lack in experience shall be more than made upby the strength of our arms and wills."

  "Thou art a good counsellor, Heika," said Karlsefin, with a sad smile;"I will follow that advice. Go thou and Hake back to the huts as fastas may be, and order the home-guard to make all needful preparation.Some of us will follow in thy steps more leisurely, and others willremain here to rest until you return with the canoes."

  Thus directed the brothers turned their powers of speed to good account,so that, when some of their comrades returned foot-sore and jaded forwant of rest, they not only found that everything was ready for a start,but that a good meal had been prepared for them.

  While these remained in the settlement to rest and protect it, thehome-guards were ordered to get ready for immediate service. Beforenight had closed in, the brothers, with torches in their hands, headed aparty of fresh men carrying three canoes and provisions on theirshoulders. They reached the encampment again in the early morning, andby daybreak all was ready for a start. Karlsefin, Thorward, and H
eikaacted as steersmen; Krake, Tyrker, and Hake filled the important postsof bowmen. Besides these there were six men in each canoe, so that theentire party numbered twenty-four strong men, fully armed with bow andarrow, sword and shield, and provisioned for a lengthened voyage.

  "Farewell, friends," said Karlsefin to those who stood on the banks ofthe little stream. "It may be that we shall never return from thisenterprise. You may rest assured that we will either rescue thechildren or perish in the attempt. Leif and Biarne have agreed toremain in charge of the settlement. They are good men and true, andwell able to guide and advise you. Tell Gudrid that my last thoughtsshall be of her--if I do not return. But I do not anticipate failure,for the God of the Christians is with us.--Farewell."

  "Farewell," responded the Norsemen on the bank, waving their hands asthe canoes shot out into the stream.

  In a few minutes they reached the great river, and, turning upstream,were soon lost to view in the depths of the wide wilderness.