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 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
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 LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 RIVERSIDE
 
 THE LIGHT HEART
 
 SAGAS RETOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 MAURICE HEWLETT 
 
 A LOVER'S TALE (Kormak) 
 FREY AND HIS WIFE (Ogmund Dint) 
 THORGILS OF TREADHOLT (Thorgisl) 
 GUDRID THE FAIR (Wineland) 
 THE OUTLAW (Gisli)
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 B Je<^ 
 MAURICE HEWLETT 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 : THE FOREST LOVERS,' " RICHARD YEA AND NAY, ETC., ETC. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ltd. 
 
 1920
 
 Printed in Great Britain by 
 
 Richard Clay & Sons, Limited, 
 
 brunswick st., stamford st., s.e. i. 
 
 and bungay, suffolk.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Of this heroic, naked story, three 
 fragments survive in Origines Islandiccz, 
 that learned repository ; but to compound 
 one plain tale of them it has been neces- 
 sary to go for the catastrophe to the 
 Saga of King Olaf. As a result of my 
 hunting and piecing I am able to give 
 an orderly account of the life of a young 
 man which, I think, justifies the title 
 I have given it. Thormod indeed had 
 a light heart, and a high heart. Acting 
 upon an unwritten law, which (if it were 
 not an instinct) must be called a moral 
 law, inasmuch as it swayed the North- 
 men's nature to the very roots, he feared 
 nothing except love, and dared every- 
 thing for love's sake. Very heroic was 
 his daring; very beautiful, to me at
 
 PREFACE 
 
 least, was the transfer of his allegiance 
 from his dead friend Thorgar to the live 
 King Olaf, made lightheartedly upon 
 a moment's impulse, but when made, 
 made for life. If I can claim anything 
 for myself as the interpreter to modern 
 readers of a bygone day, it is to have 
 brought up from the depths of an old 
 tale this example of swift and final self- 
 surrender in obedience to an intuition; 
 not merely to have handed it on, but 
 to have revealed it. 
 
 It is by such facts as those that Thor- 
 mod must be adjudged poet, for of the 
 two poems by which he obtained his 
 recognition nothing survives. I don't 
 regret the lay which earned him his 
 title of Coalbrow's Poet, because it is 
 pretty clear that he did not take Coal- 
 brow seriously. We may infer from 
 that the nature of the poem. That 
 cannot be a very sincere utterance which 
 can be improvised into an address to 
 another person. A poem of conceits, 
 
 vi
 
 PREFACE 
 
 I take it to have been, not unlike the 
 affair which called it forth. Thormod 
 was no hand with women ; the story puts 
 that beyond doubt. They were his pas- 
 time; he gave his fancy to them for a 
 while, reserving his heart for men. On 
 that account his lament for Thorgar 
 must be reckoned a real loss to Icelandic 
 literature. It would have been a great 
 thing to have had it beside David's for 
 Jonathan, Milton's for Edward King; 
 beside Adonais too, and In Memoriam. 
 It has gone, however, and it was not 
 for me to dare a substitute. In my 
 version of Kormak's Saga, where I para- 
 phrased many of the hero's poems, I 
 had in any case something to go upon. 
 Here there is nothing. 
 
 In the shaping of The Light Heart I 
 have had to contend with the formidable 
 fact that the story splits in two in the 
 middle. It has two endings — the con- 
 summation of the vengeance for Thorgar, 
 and that of the second love-affair of 
 
 vii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Thormod's life. There is no coherence 
 possible between these two parts except 
 such as may be gained from the nature 
 of the hero of both. To my mind a 
 good deal can be gained that way ; and 
 I believe that the title I have bestowed 
 upon the book, which makes Thormod 
 the subject of it rather than Thormod's 
 deeds, is justified on that ground alone, 
 if on no other. Every story which is 
 worth the name, which is not a mere 
 anecdote, or string of anecdotes, but 
 has a reasonable soul in human words 
 subsisting, embodies either a moral idea 
 or a personality. You may write round 
 either without denying yourself the 
 help of the other; but one or the 
 other will be substance, one or the other 
 accident. Thus the Iliad is written 
 about an idea, which character sub- 
 serves ; but the Odyssey is written about 
 a character, and the subject idea in it 
 is that of the enchanted voyage. So 
 it is with the Sagas of Iceland. Njala, 
 
 viii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 which, like Thormod, breaks into two 
 parts, is composed round about ideas, 
 to which Gunnar of Lithend and Njal 
 himself are subject. But Thormod has 
 character for its core, and the moral idea 
 of sworn brotherhood and its implica- 
 tions, which only lasts halfway through 
 the piece, seems to me to be tacked on 
 to the personality of the hero. The 
 reader who wishes to satisfy himself 
 that I am right about all this, should 
 compare the treatment of a blood-feud 
 here with that of the Saga of Gisli Sursson, 
 which I have paraphrased as The Outlaw. 
 I have called The Light Heart a story 
 both heroic and naked, and might say 
 a word about the second of those epithets. 
 Romantic literature has always con- 
 cerned itself with clothes, that is, atmo- 
 sphere ; but it is a foolish criticism which 
 tries to confine classicism and roman- 
 ticism within enclosing dates. The Iliad 
 has practically no atmosphere, the 
 Odyssey has a great deal. I don't know 
 
 ix
 
 PREFACE 
 
 of any Saga which can properly be called 
 romantic; yet out of the same country 
 and age comes a lay like Helgi and Sigrun, 
 which is drenched in atmospheric glamour. 
 The difference is by no means one of 
 manner alone ; it is obvious that the writer 
 of the Saga and poet of the lay are looking 
 at their matter through different eyes. 
 The Saga-man never for a moment forgot 
 that he was an historian. He was telling 
 of real people to their descendants of 
 a few generations ; he was telling of them 
 within a few miles of where the deeds 
 he related actually occurred. He was 
 telling a plain tale to men who would 
 have been scandalised by any other. 
 The things laid to his heroes would have 
 been done in the same fashion by his 
 hearers; it would have outraged their 
 sensibilities to have enhanced such deeds 
 by rhetoric, just as it would have been 
 ridiculous in him to have described 
 picturesquely what they knew as well 
 as, or better than, he did. But scene-
 
 PREFACE 
 
 painting is a modern embellishment of 
 literature, and I have been careful to 
 avoid anything more than an indication 
 of the landscape in which, for instance, 
 the desperate dealings of Thormod with 
 his fellow-creatures were enacted. 
 
 Atmosphere then, landscape-painting, 
 purple shreds and patches, are not in 
 my original, nor to be looked for here. 
 But the nakedness of the Sagas goes far 
 beyond those accessories of tale-telling, 
 to such lengths indeed that I have 
 fainted by the roadside. They omit, as I 
 have found, things which are essential 
 to a tale for modern understanding; 
 and the chief of these things is human 
 nature. The secret springs of conduct — 
 instinct, emotion, passion— are scarcely 
 hinted at. Character itself must be 
 inferred. All this is too excellent and 
 wonderful for me. As I have said once 
 before, the Sagas are of all classics " the 
 most unapproachable . " ' ' Their frugality 
 freezes the soul; they are laconic to 
 
 xi
 
 PREFACE 
 
 baldness." Finally, I have admitted 
 that " the starkness of the Sagas shocks 
 me." It can only be some such astrin- 
 gency in them which has denied them 
 popularity in such a nation as ours which 
 worships heroism, as well it may, and 
 extremely dislikes any display of it. 
 It is that astringency which I have been 
 at pains to soften by a few lines of dia- 
 logue, by an aside of my own, by a com- 
 ment here and there, or by a deliberate 
 evocation of character-outline. One has 
 to create the illusion of reality when one 
 is addressing an audience to whom the 
 people of the tale and their environment 
 alike are strange and uncouth. Neither 
 a nod nor a wink is any encouragement 
 to a blind horse; but an apple at his 
 nose, or an ashplant on his quarters may 
 do much for him. Certainly it is not 
 the fault of my readers if they are blind 
 to the merits of the Sagas, as they may 
 be extracted from Origines Islandicce. 
 Those learned tomes were not printed for 
 
 xii
 
 PREFACE 
 
 the likes of them. Very gingerly and 
 with all due respect, therefore, I have 
 applied encouragement or stimulus as 
 the case may be, and seemed to require ; 
 but I hope I have in no case done violence 
 either to the person of my reader, or the 
 dignity of my original. I have never 
 presumed to invent incident — that be 
 far from me. On the other hand, I have 
 taken leave to account for it. Nothing 
 that I could have done would have 
 added a cubit to the stature of Saint 
 Olaf, or embellished the swift and salient 
 outline of young Thormod. It has rather 
 been a case of fitting myself to see them 
 as the Saga-man showed them to his 
 kindred. If in so doing I have cleared 
 other English eyes, why, then I have 
 done something. 
 
 Broadchalke, 
 October n, 19 19. 
 
 xiu
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 I 
 
 Thormod was the name of a man 
 known afterwards as Coalbrow's Poet, 
 though nobody had known that he was 
 a poet until he met with Coalbrow, and 
 least- of all had he known it himself. But 
 from what I can find out about him his 
 poetry was in him from the beginning. 
 He had the poet's way of thinking rather 
 than of doing, that knack of working out 
 the ways of a deed so fully in the mind 
 that when the time comes to do it, it 
 seems already done, and done with : 
 wherefore you simply leave it undone. 
 Another trick he had, which betrays his 
 quality. He always viewed himself and 
 his actions, himself with his friends, or 
 
 B I
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 with his family, as if his thinking self 
 were no part of himself. He was in- 
 tensely curious about his own actions, 
 and for ever asking his great friend 
 Thorgar how the things they did together 
 struck him, so that he himself might get 
 a clearer view of them, or another view. 
 And one more thing about him, to my 
 mind very significant of his quality. He 
 would never, for his life, surprise Thor- 
 gar, come upon him unawares. Sooner 
 than do that he would not see him at 
 all ; and as he saw him nearly every day, 
 he was often at great pains to warn him 
 of the exact time of his approach. If 
 everything else failed he would stand well 
 out of sight, and shout, " Ho, Thorgar ! ' 
 until he heard the answer come back 
 which he could recognise as Thorgar's 
 voice. He found himself out in this queer 
 trick one day by accident, and thereafter 
 never rested till he had got to the bottom 
 of it. At the bottom of it lay this : 
 he was afraid that Thorgar might be 
 
 2
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 different; he was afraid that he might 
 catch Thorgar doing something, or looking 
 like something, which would prove that 
 he had never known Thorgar — that is, 
 the real Thorgar; for he felt sure that 
 the real you was only visible when you 
 were alone, or believed yourself so. Now 
 he loved Thorgar so much, and knew 
 that he did, saw himself daily, hourly, 
 loving Thorgar so utterly that he simply 
 dared not risk the chance of surprising a 
 different Thorgar. When he knew all 
 this he told Thorgar about it, of course. 
 Thorgar laughed. 
 
 " I thought you were a queer fish," he 
 said, " but not that you were so queer 
 as that." 
 
 Thormod said, " You surely see what I 
 am afraid of— and why I am afraid of it ?" 
 
 " But I do not," said Thorgar. 
 Thormod frowned. 
 
 " You see," he said, " you are my 
 
 greatest friend." 
 
 " Granted." 
 
 3
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 << 
 
 You are only my friend because I 
 love what you are." 
 
 "Well ? " 
 
 " Well — but if you were different I 
 might not love you at all." 
 
 Thorgar's eyes flashed. He had got 
 
 hold of something at last. " Yes — but 
 
 you might, on the other hand, love me 
 
 more." And he insisted upon arguing 
 
 about that, which to Thormod's mind had 
 
 nothing whatever to do with it. So 
 
 Thormod had to give up talking about it 
 
 at all, but did not cease giving notice of 
 
 his approach. So it happened that he 
 
 met, quite by accident, with the happiest 
 
 moment of his life, a moment which he 
 
 never forgot. 
 
 Thormod was perhaps a year older than 
 
 Thorgar; but Thorgar took the lead in 
 
 most of their escapades from the time 
 
 when they were boys until the age of 
 
 manhood. After that Thormod's mind 
 
 outran Thorgar's and dominated it. 
 
 They were much of a height, but Thorgar 
 
 4
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 was the stouter, and in constitution the 
 tougher of them. In looks they were 
 very different. Thorgar had a high 
 colour, straight, dense brown hair, blue 
 eyes. He was not very good-looking, 
 for his teeth showed too much; he was 
 rough and graceless; he had no pity; 
 but he was quite without fear. Thormod 
 was all black and white. He had black 
 and curly hair, black eyes, or rather 
 yellow eyes, which looked black when the 
 pupils dilated, as they always did in 
 certain lights. He was often pale in the 
 face, sometimes burnt brown by the sun, 
 but never red. He had a good straight 
 nose, a sharp chin with a dimple in it, a 
 good mouth with very red lips. When 
 he smiled few girls could resist him. He 
 stammered a little — and girls liked that 
 too. He did not find out his powers with 
 women until he was eighteen or there- 
 abouts, but when he did he* made as 
 much use of them as his countryside 
 afforded, and began to take himself 
 
 5
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 seriously as a lover. Presently he found 
 that he was taking himself seriously every 
 time he met with an attractive girl, and 
 from that time on he was less serious. 
 It struck him as comical, and therefore 
 he ceased to consider himself in love ; but 
 he did not by any means cease to enjoy 
 girls' society. 
 
 The truth was, he told himself, his 
 friendship with Thorgar was too serious 
 a matter to allow any room for a great 
 love-affair. That, in all its phases, 
 absorbed him. He took it much harder 
 than Thorgar did; but Thorgar was as 
 clear as water in summer, and always the 
 same — therefore there was no risk of any 
 of the ridiculous misunderstandings, tiffs, 
 jealousies, suspicions which are always 
 heading up love-affairs with girls — dam- 
 ming them like brooks, until the current 
 swells over the obstruction and runs 
 boiling and foaming for a time, carrying 
 everything before it. That was the glory 
 of friendship : it was a state of peace
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 and trust. But he did not realise how 
 intensely he loved Thorgar until he ran 
 the risk of losing him altogether. 
 
 That happened when he was twenty 
 years old, and Thorgar, maybe, nineteen. 
 It was high summer, and they had gone 
 off together to the cliffs at the Horn to 
 get angelica. The pipy stalks of the 
 plant make a good sweetmeat, and the 
 best ones come from the Horn where the 
 cliffs are sheer over the sea : a wild and 
 dangerous place, the extreme north-west 
 of Iceland. Below the edge of the cliff, 
 a man's height down, there was a grassy 
 shelf where the angelica grew finest. 
 Thorgar let himself down to that danger- 
 ous place, and what he cut of the stuff 
 he passed up to Thormod on the brink. 
 
 Thormod, with an armful, was away 
 for a few minutes, bearing it out of the 
 wind to the shelter where they had left 
 their cloaks and weapons. While he was 
 away the scree on which the angelica 
 grew gave way under Thorgar, who 
 
 7
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 slipped off the shelf and, had he not 
 caught hold of a plant close to the root, 
 he must have dropped to the sea, some 
 sixty fathoms below him. There he hung, 
 while Thormod, in no sort of hurry, sat 
 himself down on the cliff, clasped his 
 hands about his shins and watched the 
 wheeling birds or the seals far off on the 
 rocks, or the weather. By and by, with- 
 out stirring from his place, he called 
 out to his friend, " Ho, there — are you 
 never coming? You must have enough 
 by now." 
 
 Thorgar's voice sounded far and faint. 
 " I guess I shall have enough by the time 
 I have pulled this one up." 
 
 Thormod did not hear what he said, 
 though he heard him speak. He got up 
 slowly and went to the edge to look over. 
 Then he saw Thorgar's hand, and nothing 
 else of him. His first shock was that 
 he was seeing Thorgar unawares, and the 
 concern of that occupied him for a full 
 
 minute. Then, all at once, he saw his 
 
 8
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 instant danger, and grew grey in the 
 face. 
 
 In a moment he had dropped over the 
 edge on to the shelf, threw himself flat 
 and caught Thorgar by the wrist. As he 
 hauled him up the angelica root broke 
 away from the scree. He brought him 
 safely to bank, however, and sat down to 
 recover himself. He was still grey-faced, 
 and trembling; but Thorgar was not in 
 any respect moved by his experience. 
 Thormod could not speak for some time. 
 Then he said, " What were you thinking 
 of when I saw your hand, and nothing 
 else of you? 
 
 Thorgar said, " I don't know when you 
 did see my hand." 
 
 " I saw it a minute before I caught hold 
 of you." 
 
 " Oh — well, I expect I was wondering 
 how long it would be before the root 
 came away." 
 
 " Were you not thinking, where shall I 
 
 be afterwards? 
 
 9
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " No, indeed." 
 
 " Don't you want to know that ? ' 
 
 " No. It is nothing to me." 
 
 "It is much to me," Thormod said; 
 
 " but I never thought about it till I saw 
 
 your hand." 
 
 On the way home Thormod proposed 
 
 that they should swear that either of 
 
 them should avenge the death of the 
 
 other ; and Thorgar agreed. They swore 
 
 it with lifted hands, and afterwards shook 
 
 hands upon it. They were Christian in 
 
 Iceland at the time, but only newly so, 
 
 and not very much so. They were 
 
 Christian enough, however, to forbear 
 
 any more ceremony than they made. 
 
 There should have been a turf-girdle 
 
 lifted, under which they should have 
 
 crawled. They should have each let 
 
 blood from the arm, and mixed it with 
 
 the earth under the turf-girdle. But 
 
 those things were left out when they 
 
 swore their friendship. 
 
 It is not certain how far Thorgar was 
 
 10
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 playing at a heathen pact, how far he 
 merely lent himself to Thormod's mood, 
 as he thought it. But he was wrong 
 there. It was no mood of Thormod's at 
 all, but an outcome of his whole nature. 
 It was a dedication of his life to an idea. 
 He entered upon it with a light heart, 
 and so acted upon it when the time 
 came; and so too he paid for it. But 
 the heart was high as well as light ; and 
 whether it was high because it was light 
 or the other way about, I am not heart- 
 expert enough to say. Let the reader 
 decide for himself. 
 
 ii
 
 II 
 
 These two young men, perfectly happy 
 in themselves and in each other, were not 
 liked in their country. It was a country 
 where life was hard, where winter was 
 long and summer short, where stormy 
 weather for weeks together stopped the 
 fishing, where you might be at your wits' 
 end how to keep the stock alive until the 
 grass began to grow. But Thorgar and 
 Thormod had no heed for all this. They 
 did very little work, and (as it seemed) 
 could only be amused if their neighbours 
 did as little. 
 
 And they were high-spirited, and Thor- 
 gar at least inclined to be quarrelsome. 
 He was known to have killed his man — 
 at a horse-light it had been done, in a 
 sudden tempest of rage. He had rushed 
 
 12
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 at him, with a great stone in both his 
 hands, lifted it and brought it down on 
 the top of his head. There had been a 
 great stir, although the man was only a 
 thrall. His father had paid weregild, 
 and the thing had quieted down. Thor- 
 gar had gone south for a season, and 
 Thormod with him. They had stayed 
 with a man called Thorgils at Reek-hill ; 
 those two with a huge man of great fame, 
 Grette by name, Grette the Strong. 
 There had been fine doings all the winter 
 they were there — games, hunting, battles 
 on the ice and what-not. Thormod and 
 Thorgar together were almost a match for 
 Grette. Thorgils was fond of talking 
 about it afterwards. He was accustomed 
 to say that he had housed that winter 
 the three bravest men in all Iceland ; but 
 once, when he had said it, he was chal- 
 lenged. Did they then fear nothing? 
 Why, yes, he said, two of them did. 
 Grette, he said, was afraid of the dark, 
 and Thormod was afraid of God ; but as 
 
 13
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 for Thorgar, there was nothing here or 
 elsewhere that he was afraid of; and " I 
 never saw him show a sign of fear at any 
 sudden danger he might fall in with." 
 
 Thorgar was clear about the future. 
 He would sail the seas, visit King Olaf, 
 and if there was fighting to be done, he 
 would fight. When they got upon this 
 topic Thormod always felt a black humour 
 seize upon him. He too desired to 
 travel, but fighting made no call for his 
 ears. He was the happier of the two 
 in the friendship. He often thought 
 about it, and whenever he did he felt his 
 heart beat the faster. Thorgar took it 
 for granted, and did not think about it 
 at all. Nor did it sway his ambition, nor 
 interfere with his plans. But it coloured 
 the whole of Thormod's outlook; he 
 would not consider of a life in which it 
 did not take the chief part. So he did 
 not care to talk of the future for fear that 
 Thorgar should make too free. But 
 Thorgar made very free, and as he grew 
 
 14
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 stronger and older would always discuss 
 the future. The more he talked the 
 grimmer grew Thormod; and it did not 
 make him the less grim that he knew he 
 was dishonouring friendship by treating 
 it with the petulance of a love-affair. 
 That knowledge made him cross. He 
 said to himself, A friendship that is in 
 danger is a friendship lost already. In 
 a sort of sense, then, he was prepared for 
 what was coming. 
 
 I don't know whether Thorgar made 
 any preparations for going abroad, or 
 whether he acted on impulse. If it 
 came to him suddenly, it came on the 
 doing of Thormod, who, having conceived 
 the possibility, was impatient until he 
 knew the worst. What exactly hap- 
 pened was this. The pair of them were 
 riding one day in early summer eastwards 
 along Gilsfirth, which is the extremity of 
 Broadfirth. They rode on the shore 
 below the cliffs, and were in a hurry to 
 pass the Drifter, which is a great head- 
 
 15
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 land and impassable at high water, before 
 the tide caught them. Thorgar was in 
 high spirits, put his horse to a gallop, and 
 outdistanced his friend. Presently he 
 reined up and looked back, flushed and 
 laughing, while Thormod came up with 
 him. Then they rode on together, 
 Thormod a little put out by the bustle 
 and his beating. Thorgar said, " I beat 
 you fairly, yet the pace you made would 
 have foundered anybody else." 
 
 Thormod said nothing, but Thorgar 
 went on. " Now I should like to know 
 if there are two others the like of us, 
 young men, sworn brothers, in all Ice- 
 land. What do you say? " 
 
 Thormod said, " Why not? Iceland is 
 a large country. Look far enough into 
 it and you will find all sorts." 
 
 " Never," cried Thorgar. " Not in all 
 
 Iceland, at least. Norway, Denmark, I 
 
 don't say — but not Iceland." Then he 
 
 was quiet, looking at the rising tide, 
 
 which was already up to the horses' 
 
 "16
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 knees. They were close to the cliff by 
 now, and could see the breaking waves 
 lipping at the rocks. 
 
 " Now tell me this," he said, looking 
 saucily at Thormod, who was frowning; 
 " tell me this. If you and I were put to 
 it, which of us do you think would come 
 off the better man? " 
 
 It was an unwise question, because he 
 had just outpaced his friend. Thormod 
 grew angry. " I don't know/' he said 
 hotly, " but I will tell you what I do 
 know, that your question breaks up our 
 ride together." 
 
 Thorgar, who was ahead again, with 
 the water over his knees and up to his 
 horse's shoulder, laughed and waved his 
 hand, without looking back. Thormod 
 had reined up and was watching him. 
 Before he rounded the cliff Thorgar looked 
 back. " Come on, man," he called out. 
 " You must swim for it." 
 
 Thormod heard him. " I am not 
 
 coming," he shouted. " Farewell and 
 c 17
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 good fortune ! ' Then he turned and 
 
 rode west, and on to Bath-bow, where his 
 
 father lived. He did not know then that 
 
 he should never see Thorgar again, but 
 
 as winter succeeded winter without news, 
 
 he became reconciled to it. It was two 
 
 years certainly before he heard from some 
 
 seafarer that Thorgar had gone abroad. 
 
 By that time he Was involved in other 
 
 affairs, and his friendship of twenty years 
 
 had taken the place of a sacred memory. 
 
 He never forgot Thorgar, and had no 
 
 bitterness at all in his memories of him. 
 
 It all showed clear and beautiful and 
 
 far-off, like an island in the sea full in 
 
 the sun, when the mainland is heavy 
 
 with cloud and driving rain. There was 
 
 no fear that he would ever fail in his oath. 
 
 In fact, it was always before him, like a 
 
 career. He had no other in prospect, 
 
 and it seemed to him as good as any. 
 
 But it did not prevent him from amusing 
 
 himself. He fell more than usually in 
 
 love, and found out that he was a poet. 
 
 18
 
 Ill 
 
 But I must deal first with Thorgar, 
 who held on his way along Gilsfirth, 
 making his road into Sowerby. It was in 
 Swinedale down there that he expected 
 to come up with some friends of his, 
 Luge and Thorgils, who, with a company, 
 were meaning to take ship in Midfirth. 
 That had been the intention also of 
 Thormod. 
 
 He rode on briskly to the head of the 
 firth, then up a narrow dale and out into 
 the open country, without seeing any- 
 thing of the men he was looking for; 
 and presently he came to a homestead 
 called Marswell, where meadows sloped 
 down to a river, and he could see a man 
 working his way up to the house with a 
 load of rushes on his back. That man's 
 
 19
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 name was Torve, but Thorgar neither 
 knew nor cared what his name was. He 
 got within hailing distance across the 
 river and shouted to him. No answer. 
 He trotted forward, still calling ; he called 
 several times, but had no answer. The 
 fact was that Torve didn't hear him. 
 The wind was pretty fresh and whistling 
 in the rushes on his back. But again 
 Thorgar neither knew nor cared. He was 
 very angry, and to go on shouting, as he 
 did, made him furious. He spurred for- 
 ward in a fume, crossed the river, over- 
 took Torve, and drove his spear clean 
 through his back. The man dropped in a 
 heap, with the rushes all over his head. 
 Thorgar rode on along the river. 
 
 That was the kind of young man he 
 was, careless of his own life and careless 
 of other men's. He thought no more 
 of Torve at all, being set on finding his 
 friends. It was well past noon when he 
 came up with them, and told them what 
 
 a chase they had led him. " Why," he 
 
 20
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 said, " I had to kill a man before I could 
 get at you." They stared at him, and 
 then it all came out. He had no praise 
 from them for the deed ; he found them, 
 on the contrary, cool with him, got in a 
 pet again and refused to stop at Horned- 
 dale, where Luge and Thorgils stayed 
 to dine. He would wait for them at 
 Borgfirth, he said, and rode on. 
 
 But his day's work was by no means 
 over with the slaying of Torve. He 
 must have been in a mad mood, since 
 this is what he did. He reached a place 
 called Sharpfell, with a good homestead, 
 and the men, just off work, standing 
 about the doors. He had to cross two 
 or three fields to reach the track which 
 led past the house, and there, in the last 
 of them, he saw two men talking by a 
 turf wall — one was sitting on the wall, 
 the other, with his crook between his 
 knees, was sitting on his heels, leaning 
 his head forward and looking at the 
 ground. Thorgar passed quite close to 
 
 21
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 him with an axe swinging loosely in his 
 hand. As he went by, without thinking 
 what he was doing, he swung up the axe 
 and let it fall on the back of the man's 
 neck. It cut like a razor, took the head 
 clean off. All the men stared at him, 
 too much astonished to cry out. Thorgar 
 rode on his way and passed out of sight : 
 nobody came after him. 
 
 But by the time Luge and the other 
 man came on the household at Sharpfell 
 had collected its wits and was ready for 
 them. Luge, in perfect innocence, asked, 
 had they seen a horseman go by, and 
 described Thorgar. " Is he a friend of 
 yours?" "He is." "Then we will 
 trouble you with a deed of his." Where- 
 upon they displayed the headless corpse 
 of the shepherd. No help, they must 
 pay weregild — and so they did, very 
 unwillingly ; and then they rode on their 
 way to Borgnrth. 
 
 There, on the hard, was Thorgar, all 
 his ill-humour blown away, who hailed 
 
 22
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 them cheerfully. " Well met," he said, 
 " but you ride slowly." 
 
 Luge and Thorgils looked at each other. 
 " Ah," said Luge, " and perhaps if you 
 were slower in your deeds you would 
 be none the worse." 
 
 " As for the speed we make," Thorgils 
 said, " that is as may be. I suppose you 
 haven't reckoned the time we may have 
 spent in repairing your mischiefs." 
 
 At first Thorgar honestly did not know 
 what all this implied. He knit his brows 
 over it and gazed darkly from under them 
 at the two arrivals. 
 
 Then his face cleared. " Ah, you came 
 by Marswell? Now I understand you." 
 
 He looked rather serious. " It must be 
 confessed I did thoughtlessly up there." 
 
 " Thoughtless enough — and heartless 
 enough," said Luge. " What grudge did 
 you owe the man ? " 
 
 " None at all — none at all." 
 
 " Then," said Luge, " I don't know 
 
 what to say to you." 
 
 23
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " I don't think you will understand 
 me," Thorgar said. "It is the truth 
 that I had nothing against him. But as 
 I was passing him close, his head was 
 stretched out in such a way that it was 
 difficult to resist a cut at it. The axe, 
 do you see, was swinging in my hand. 
 And it sliced him like a turnip. But it 
 was a thoughtless act." 
 
 " It was a manslaughter for which we 
 have been compelled to pay handsomely," 
 Thorgils told him. 
 
 u I pay, I pay," says Thorgar. 
 
 " Why, yes," Thorgils said, " you pay, 
 no doubt. But are you always so handy 
 with your steel? 
 
 " No, no," said Thorgar. 
 
 "It is to be hoped not. On board 
 ship, you must know, we stand thick 
 between decks." 
 
 " You are very right," said Thorgar. 
 " I will take care." 
 
 That evening they went on board, and 
 
 betimes they up-anchor and rowed out 
 
 of the firth. 
 
 24
 
 IV 
 
 There is but little more to be told of 
 Thorgar, the manner of whose death, 
 like the fact of it, was not known for 
 many years. The ship made a long 
 voyage before they saw land ; and when 
 they saw it, and knew it for Ireland, 
 they were in two minds whether to go 
 ashore or not. The Icelanders were not 
 loved in Ireland, and as Luge wished to 
 trade and had no desire either to kill or 
 be killed, he gave orders that they should 
 cast anchor out of bowshot from the land, 
 and hide awhile before they manned the 
 boat. They could see a dense company 
 awaiting them, and a company which was 
 constantly increasing, and a company 
 which was heavily armed. They saw 
 spears in such a number that they looked 
 
 25
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 like a wood of young trees. But no boats 
 put off, and they were too far out for a 
 shore attack. Nevertheless, Luge did 
 not like the look of things, and soon 
 made up his mind that nothing could be 
 done there. Thorgar was on fire to make 
 a landing, but the other two were afraid 
 of him, and with reason. After waiting 
 for a fair wind, they sailed directly they 
 got it, and made a good landing in Eng- 
 land, where they were well received. 
 King Cnut of Denmark was king of that 
 country, and welcomed them. From 
 thence, having letters from the King, 
 they went to Denmark, wintered there, 
 and then separated. Luge and Thorgils 
 went home, but Thorgar took ship with 
 some merchants of his new acquaintance, 
 and went to Norway. 
 
 There, on all hands, he heard such 
 things of King Olaf that he determined 
 to see him. Olaf was at Trondjem, sit- 
 ting in his hall with his chiefs about 
 
 him, when Thorgar came in. He 
 
 26
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 looked very fine, having grown a full 
 beard, having a goodly crimson cloak, 
 a winged casque in his hand, and 
 his weapons clanging about him as he 
 moved. 
 
 He walked up to the hall and greeted 
 the King. 
 
 " You speak me fairly," says Olaf, 
 " and I take it fairly. But I must know 
 who greets me. Who are you, and 
 whence are you? " 
 
 "I am from Iceland," he said, " and 
 my name Thorgar." 
 
 The King looked more sharply at him. 
 There were very few men of any note in 
 the world whom he did not know. " Are 
 you Thorgar Hawarsson? " 
 
 Thorgar said, " That is who I am." 
 
 Olaf kept his eyes upon him. " I 
 
 have heard of you, and am glad to see 
 
 you. You are a fine man, and have the 
 
 air of a man. You have done some 
 
 notable deeds, they tell me, and I hope 
 
 you will do some more. But you must 
 
 27
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 not look to come off unscathed in all 
 things — and indeed I don't see that 
 fortune for you." 
 
 Thorgar said that he had learned to 
 take things as they came. " At this 
 moment," he said, " I think well of my 
 fortune." 
 
 Olaf was drawn to him, and made up 
 his mind quickly, as he always did. 
 " If you will stay with me," he said, 
 " you will be welcome, and I desire 
 your better acquaintance. I don't 
 make many mistakes in the company 
 I keep." 
 
 Thorgar said, " I accept that offer." 
 
 There he stayed, it is said, for a year 
 or more, high in honour with King Olaf. 
 And then came the end of him. The 
 King's affairs in Greenland called for ships 
 and armed men. Thorgar was made 
 chief of a company. He went, and was 
 swallowed up in that land of fog and 
 
 storm. Report came long afterwards to 
 
 28
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Olaf in Norway that he had been slain 
 by one Thorgrim Trolle, but nothing of 
 the manner of his death. Later still, the 
 news reached his friend Thormod at 
 Bathbow. 
 
 29
 
 V 
 
 When Thormod had reconciled him- 
 self to the loss of his friend, and was 
 content to keep him as a beautiful 
 memory, he began to cast about for a 
 more active occupation — not for his body, 
 for he never wanted that, but for his 
 mind. He turned over the young men 
 of his acquaintance, and had no interest 
 in any of them. Then he realised that 
 the pursuits, desperate enough as some 
 of them were, which he had shared with 
 Thorgar had only pleased him because 
 they pleased Thorgar. He did not care 
 for horse-fighting in itself, or for football 
 upon the ice; he did not wish to drink 
 or be drunk ; he did not want to fight with 
 any one or to draw blood. He knew that 
 
 he was unlike other young men, but did 
 
 30
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 not at all know why. What he liked 
 best of all was to see a beautiful thing, 
 and sit still and look at it — and think 
 about it. Now it happened that there 
 was a beautiful thing near at hand; so 
 he got into the way of going to look at it. 
 It was a young girl called Thordis, about 
 fifteen years old, the only daughter of 
 Grima, the widow, who lived at Augre — 
 a place close by the water of Icefirth. 
 
 Grima was rather old to have a child 
 of that age, very well off, and supposed 
 to be wise. That means to say that she 
 knew things unlawful — witchcraft, spse- 
 dom and suchlike. She was always very 
 pleasant to Thormod when he came ; and 
 Thordis, her girl, was more than that. 
 
 She was a very good-looking girl, tall 
 and beautifully formed, with a delicate 
 colour and bright eyes. She knew that 
 Thormod admired her, which enhanced 
 her good looks; and as she trusted him 
 the two became more than friendly. She 
 used to kiss him when it grew dusk, but 
 
 31
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 never in the daylight; so Thormod got 
 into the habit of coming rather late and 
 staying till nightfall. He had plenty to 
 say to her, and she was a good listener. 
 They used to sit together in the summer 
 twilight and watch the smooth-flowing 
 water of the firth, while Thormod would 
 tell her his fancies about everything in 
 the world in one long stream of murmur. 
 Grima would be mostly indoors at such 
 times; but she knew pretty well what 
 was going on, and thought no harm so 
 long as nobody else did. 
 
 But the worst of it was, as always 
 happens, the neighbours, who knew much 
 less than Grima did, as a consequence 
 thought much more. After the first 
 winter of this pleasant intercourse, when 
 the open weather began, and the long 
 days, and Thormod continued his visits 
 to Augre, the people of that countryside 
 began to whisper, to nod, to wink and to 
 talk. Then presently something of all this 
 drifted past Grima's ears ; she heard it 
 
 32
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 and was offended. As their saying went, 
 Thormod was beguiling her daughter, 
 than which nothing more harmful could 
 be said of any girl. 
 
 So by and by Grima, choosing her time, 
 had a word or two with Thormod. " I 
 have had words come by me," she said, 
 " that you are beguiling my Thordis. 
 That miscontents me, because you know 
 as well as I do that a girl's person is 
 like a polished mirror. Breathe upon 
 it and she is tarnished. Young men 
 will not ask for a girl whose fame is 
 spotted." 
 
 Thormod was troubled. " There is no 
 harm between us, mother," he said. 
 " We like each other well — but not in 
 that way." 
 
 " If I had thought there was harm in 
 it you would not be listening to me now," 
 said Grima. " I like you well myself, 
 and think that you two are happy to- 
 gether. But there can only be one end 
 to such companionships. If you choose 
 d 33
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 to ask me for her I shall give her to you. 
 So it is in your choice." 
 
 Now Thormod looked rather foolish. 
 He did not find any words for some time, 
 but then he thanked Grima for her kind- 
 ness. " You treat me very friendly," 
 he said, " and I shall treasure your 
 speeches. But I told you just now that 
 we had no thought of setting up house. 
 I haven't said a word of it to Thordis — 
 I am not a marrying man myself, so far 
 as I see. If I were such, be sure I should 
 look for no better wife than Thordis. 
 But that will not be the end of our 
 friendship." 
 
 Grima looked at him, her lips pressed 
 together. " Oh, well " she said. 
 
 "Well? " said Thormod. 
 
 " I can't have her a byword." 
 
 Thormod rose to his feet, stayed irreso- 
 lute for a little, then shrugged, threw 
 up his head, wished her good day, and 
 walked out of the house. He saw 
 Thordis in the cowhouse, and waved his 
 
 34
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 hand to her. She stood there looking 
 after him; but he did not turn his 
 head. He kept away for the rest of the 
 summer. 
 
 But when the winter dark began he was 
 horribly hipped at home, and began to 
 think longingly of Augre and Thordis's 
 kisses. The bay froze hard and gave 
 him a short cut; he did not attempt to 
 resist his desires. He was rather sheep- 
 ish facing Grima again, but she was 
 pleasant enough to him, thinking that 
 perhaps he had thought it over and found 
 himself more of a marrying man than 
 he had believed. "If he can't get her 
 society any other way, he will have it 
 that way." That was what she thought. 
 There was no doubt of the welcome he 
 had from Thordis at least. She was shy, 
 but it made her kisses all the sweeter 
 when they came, to have to beg for them. 
 Very soon he came daily and went away 
 nightly. Then gossip began again. Grima 
 bore it as long as she could, and then 
 
 35
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 asked Thormod plainly to cease his visits. 
 Thormod laughed, said he would be more 
 careful, and wasn't so. And then Grima 
 grew angry. 
 
 She kept a thrall, Colbac by name, a 
 big and strong fellow. One afternoon, 
 while Thormod and Thordis were in the 
 house together, Grima went out into the 
 byre and found Colbac at work. She 
 beckoned him with her forefinger, then 
 put it to her lips. He followed her into 
 the house, and found her groping in 
 a great coffer that stood there. She 
 brought out presently some skeins of 
 what looked like waxed silk, and holding 
 them in her two hands, said, " Hold up 
 your arms that I may make you invisible." 
 He did as she bade him, and she wound 
 the skeins round and round his body 
 underneath his outer coat, from the arm- 
 pits well down to the buttocks. " Nothing 
 will bite you now," she said. Then she 
 brought a short, straight two-edged sword 
 out of her coffer. " Take this," she said ; 
 
 36
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " better not go unarmed." She looked 
 up at the sky and snuffed about. " There 
 is a thaw coming, but the bay will hold 
 to-night. Be wary; you will take no 
 harm." That was all she said. 
 
 After supper, when Thormod got up 
 to go home, Thordis went to the door 
 with him. She put her hand on his 
 shoulder, and said, " I want to ask you 
 something." 
 
 " It is yours," said Thormod. 
 
 " Don't cross the bay to-night, then. 
 Take the upper road above Augreswick, 
 and then the track over the brae to 
 Bathbow. Will you promise me? ' 
 
 " Why do you want me to do that? " 
 he asked her. 
 
 " Oh," she said, " the ice may not be 
 safe — who knows ? I don't want to think 
 of any harm coming to you." 
 
 " No harm will come to me," said 
 Thormod. ' ' The ice will bear for another 
 day and night." 
 
 Thordis took her hand away. " How 
 
 37
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 many favours do I ask of you that you 
 grudge me this one? 
 
 Thormod said immediately, " Put your 
 hand where it was, and I'll grant you 
 anything." She did ; and then she kissed 
 him, and he left her. 
 
 When he was a little of his way he 
 thought that after all he would go over 
 the ice. It was much shorter, and he 
 could keep along the edge for a good 
 distance, and then make a rush. So he 
 took his usual course. When he came 
 to the sheep-cote which stood down by 
 the water, and was in the act of passing 
 it, a man jumped out and cut at him. He 
 felt a sting upon his right upper arm, 
 felt the blood flow freely, and found that 
 he had no power in it. He dropped his 
 shield, pulled out his sword with his left 
 hand and attacked his assailant, who 
 only defended himself and hit him no 
 more. Thormod fought fiercely and hit 
 the man many times, but without effect. 
 He felt that the sword would not bite, 
 
 38
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 and presently gave over, and stood look- 
 ing at the shrouded form against him. 
 Colbac it was, who then said, " I have 
 you now, Thormod— but enough done." 
 He turned and faded into the night. 
 Thormod felt faint and sick, but managed 
 somehow to tie up his arm with the only 
 rag he had to spare, namely, his linen 
 drawers. When he reached home he could 
 hardly speak for exhaustion, and neither 
 eat nor drink. The maid who had been 
 waiting for him called up his father, and 
 between them they put him to bed. He 
 was in a fever, and light-headed. 
 
 39
 
 VI 
 
 Thormod may have been a bad sub- 
 ject, but at any rate he was very ill, and 
 never recovered the use of his right arm. 
 The power in it was gone. He became 
 expert with his left, however, and was 
 nearly the same fine swimmer he had 
 always been — but that was much later. 
 There was no swimming for him the 
 summer following Colbac's onslaught. 
 Any ideas that he may have had of swim- 
 ming over the firth to see Thordis were 
 far from him at that time — as, indeed, 
 she herself was. He neither thought of 
 her with regret nor cherished any grudge. 
 He laughed at his father when he spoke 
 of vengeance. " Vengeance for what? ' 
 he said. " Had she not a right to rid 
 her of a nuisance? That was what I 
 
 proved to her." 
 
 40
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Said his father, " You could have wed 
 your lady for a nod." 
 
 " That nod would have cost me more 
 than a slack arm," Thormod said. " I 
 shall never marry Thordis." 
 
 When his health was better he began 
 to chafe at his home-staying, and made 
 many plans. But they came to nothing, 
 and presently he fell in with a plan of his 
 father's, which was that he should go out 
 to the fishing on the Banks beyond Bole- 
 wick. "Why not? " he said, when it 
 was proposed ; and off he went. 
 
 They sailed out of Icenrth on a fair 
 wind, and it looked like a good passage; 
 but when they were off Ernedale it 
 shifted and blew in their teeth. As it 
 looked like holding, they cast anchor as 
 close inshore as they could get, landed 
 and pitched a tent. Thormod took to 
 wandering over the country, and so 
 wandered into a new distraction. 
 
 A homestead stood in a snug valley 
 which ran out of Ernedale. A woman 
 
 41
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 named Catla held it, with her daughter 
 Thorbeorg, and her son, called Glum. 
 Thorbeorg was a pretty girl, not at all 
 like Thordis, for she was little, and had 
 a high colour, and with very blue eyes 
 had hair as black as night. Her eye- 
 brows, for which she was famous, perfect 
 half-circles, deeply black, gave her the 
 nickname of Coalbrow. She was a merry- 
 hearted girl, and gave herself no airs. 
 Everybody liked her. 
 
 Into that house, where she and her 
 mother were, Thormod walked one day, 
 and stood smiling in his queer way, wait- 
 ing for a welcome. And he got it. Catla, 
 still a young woman, was glad to see him, 
 or any one in that lonely country, and 
 when she heard his name she nodded and 
 smiled at it. " We have often heard of 
 you," she said, " and will make you 
 welcome." He and Thorbeorg looked at 
 each other more than once, and liked 
 what they saw. Thormod had a good 
 
 way with women, for he treated them as 
 
 42
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 equals, which all poets do not, and took 
 pains to be at ease and set them so. He 
 soon had Thorbeorg talking to him as 
 freely as her mother ; so there he stayed 
 all day. 
 
 He walked back over the fell to his tent 
 happier than he had been for a long while. 
 Thorbeorg moved him as Thordis had 
 never done. It was not that she was 
 more beautiful — for she was not — but 
 that there was that about her which 
 charmed him more. As he went he began 
 to make up sentences about her, to string 
 them together into a kind of pattern. 
 Before he was in the tent he had made 
 a poem. He was too excited to sleep; 
 the moon was up and throwing a golden 
 pathway over the firth. He walked 
 about, declaiming his verses and thinking 
 about Coalbrow. That name attracted 
 him, too. It was a rich and strong name. 
 Certainly he had never seen anything like 
 her eyebrows — hoops of jet, black bows 
 over dark-blue ; arches of cloud over the 
 
 43
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 sea. He walked fiercely about, thinking 
 of Coalbrow and her hoops of jet. She 
 was a sweet and lovely person whom it 
 was happiness to flatter excessively. He 
 would like to say of her something never 
 said about a girl before. Arches in the 
 storm-cloud revealing the dark-blue sea 
 — or if her eyes were two lakes, were not 
 her brows like the black pines arched 
 above them ? They were like everything 
 where deep blue and black met and 
 enhanced each other. But then he 
 thought that if he were to make a great 
 poem about Coalbrow he must give time 
 to it. "I see my way — I see my way 
 — but you must give me time, you 
 beautiful creature/' He turned to where 
 the house was which held her sleeping, 
 and her hooped brows — and spoke to 
 her softly on the wind. " Now I shall 
 go in and sleep, and dream about you, 
 Coalbrow." 
 
 Not surprising that he went out to the 
 farm again, and soon was there every 
 
 44
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 day. He read his verses to Thorbeorg, 
 and some of them to her mother. They 
 thought this fine fun. Glum, the son of 
 the house, was away from home; there 
 was no other man in the house but was a 
 servant. Catla presently proposed that 
 Thormod should stay with them alto- 
 gether, and let his mates go fishing alone. 
 That was arranged, and he lived as a son 
 of the family for the better -part off a 
 month. 
 
 In the course of that he finished his 
 poem about Thorbeorg's coalbrows, and 
 not only read it to her, but declaimed it 
 to company. It was much admired, and 
 once at a feast where he delivered it, and 
 Coalbrow herself sat demure to hear it, 
 and to be marked of all, Catla her mother 
 took a fine ring off her finger, and put 
 it upon Thormod's finger before the 
 assembled guests. " I give you this for 
 your verses," she said, " which do honour 
 to my daughter and to me. And you 
 shall be known far and wide as Coal- 
 
 45
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 brow's poet, whereby my girl will be 
 remembered when men speak of you." 
 
 Thormod took the gift and the name 
 with becoming modesty. He was proud 
 of them and proud to be accepted as 
 Thorbeorg's lover. Indeed, he firmly 
 believed himself to be in love with her, 
 but we may suppose that his chief pride 
 lay in the ability he had shown to pay her a 
 magnificent and unexpected compliment. 
 
 But when his men came back from the 
 fishing it was necessary to say good-bye. 
 His parting with Thorbeorg was tender, 
 and took a long time. She had a sweet 
 nature and did not seek to hide her un- 
 happiness, or her belief in him. He held 
 her fondly and believed in himself as 
 he swore that he loved her. From her 
 he turned to her mother. " You have 
 been mother to me, who have no mother 
 at home. Do you believe in me also, as 
 Coalbrow does." 
 
 He had Thorbeorg's hand as he spoke, 
 
 and there were tears in his eyes. 
 
 46
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Come back to us," Catla said. 
 " Never pass by this house as if it held 
 strangers." 
 
 " Trust me," said Thormod, and as he 
 said it he trusted in himself. And then 
 he turned away, and Thorbeorg cried 
 with her face on her mother's shoulder. 
 
 47
 
 VII 
 
 For a good while after reaching home 
 he thought tenderly of Coalbrow, and 
 at the turning over of the name had ' 
 a vision of her glowing face, deep-blue 
 eyes and arched eyebrows. But if he 
 had known as much about love as he 
 thought he did he would have known 
 that it is a bad sign when you can recall 
 clearly the face of the beloved. The 
 greater your longing the more blurred 
 is the image, hidden up as it were in 
 the mists of desire. But Thormod knew 
 nothing about all that, and as long as 
 the image of Thorbeorg pleased him so 
 long did he feel himself in love with her. 
 
 By and by he mostly forgot Thor- 
 beorg, and as it was then the winter, 
 
 with the firth icebound, it was natural 
 
 48
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 that he should remember a short cut 
 to Augre, and who, and what, lay at the 
 end of it. To take the way was also 
 natural; and he did take it, with only 
 one thought for Colbac's ambush by the 
 sheepfold, and with not more than three 
 thoughts of Thorbeorg in Ernedale. 
 However, he was to have more thoughts 
 of her before he was out of Augre. 
 
 Grima received him well, though not 
 without a backward hint or two. " So 
 you come to see us again ! And bringing 
 peace, I hope, with you." 
 
 " Oh, peace ! " says Thormod. " I 
 am not one to store things in the mind." 
 
 " We are not all masters of the mind," 
 said Grima; "but there should be no 
 feud between us." She gave him to 
 drink, and sat talking with him of in- 
 different things; then presently Thordis 
 came in, with a heightened colour, and 
 a certain stiffness. Thormod thought 
 her much more beautiful than Thorbeorg, 
 
 as she certainly was, though not so charm- 
 e 49
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 ing. When Grima left them together he 
 did his best to restore the old footing, 
 but found that Grima had been right 
 in saying that we are not all masters of 
 the mind. 
 
 Thordis was not to be drawn so easily. 
 She had very little to say, and did not 
 appear interested in what Thormod had 
 to tell her. That nettled him. 
 
 " You are changed a good deal," he 
 said. " Now if I bear no grudge for 
 what happened on my last visit, I cannot 
 think that you need." 
 
 Thordis' eyes flashed. 
 
 " Perhaps you forget that it was not 
 my fault that anything happened to 
 you. Forgetting seems to come easy." 
 
 " What do you mean by that ? ' ' said 
 Thormod. 
 
 " I mean that you forgot my prayer 
 to you to take the long road that night," 
 said she. 
 
 " I acknowledge that I disobeyed you," 
 he told her, " but not because I forgot 
 
 5o
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 what you said. I found the ice would 
 carry me, so I took that road. It would 
 have been well for me if I had kept 
 faith." 
 
 " To keep faith is always well," said 
 Thordis drily; " but that does not come 
 easily to you, I understand." 
 
 At first he was puzzled. " What is 
 this? " 
 
 " I hear of you as a poet," said Thordis. 
 " I hear of you as a lover." 
 
 " Do you say I am a poet ? " 
 
 " No, indeed." 
 
 " Do you say I am a lover? ' 
 
 " Nay, that is what you say of your- 
 self." 
 
 " When have I said so? Where have 
 I said so? " 
 
 " In the poem which you made to 
 Thorbeorg Coalbrow in Ernedale," said 
 Thordis. 
 
 There, then, he had it, and he did on 
 the spot what I suppose every man would 
 have done — that is, lied. 
 
 5i
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 He said very quietly, and without 
 moving from his place by the board, 
 " That is quite untrue, as you put it. 
 It is true that I made a poem in Erne- 
 dale, and that Thorbeorg heard it, for 
 I spoke it to her. But the poem was 
 about yourself, though she may not have 
 known that. If a man is to write a 
 poem about a lady he will write the more 
 strongly about her when he is face to 
 face with another whose beauty and con- 
 versation make to shine by contrast 
 those of the woman of his love. Now I 
 can recite you the poem which I made, 
 if you choose to hear it. And I will 
 write it down for you, if you care to 
 have it." Then he looked straight at 
 Thordis and saw the cloud of doubt lift 
 a little from her fine eyes. 
 
 She avoided his bold gaze, and looked 
 down at her hands in her lap. Presently 
 she said that she should like to hear the 
 poem. 
 
 Thormod began to speak the Coalbrow 
 
 52
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 poem, and as he went on, so struck was 
 he with desire of Thordis, that he was 
 fired with words, and made a new thing 
 of it. He did not falter once, or betray 
 himself. He felt as he went on that 
 he was improving the poem, and attri- 
 buted that entirely to the greater beauty 
 of Thordis. She listened closely, was 
 plainly moved by his fervour — the signs 
 could not be mistaken; and at the end 
 she looked up with a divine light in her 
 eyes, and without a word gave him her 
 hand. Thormod sprang towards her, 
 and they kissed. He felt happy and 
 triumphant ; for he had made what was 
 really a new poem out of one which he 
 now thought meanly of. 
 
 But on his way home his mood changed, 
 and he felt very badly of what he had 
 done. " I am a dog/' he said to him- 
 self, " to trick two good and lovely girls. 
 It is what a thrall would do/' When 
 he was at home and abed, he could not 
 sleep, because whenever he was drowsing 
 
 53
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 off, by some fate Thorbeorg or Thordis 
 seemed to stand vividly before his eyes, 
 and he grew hot all over. However, 
 in the morning he felt better about it, 
 and by dusk had but one care in the 
 world, which was to see and be kissed 
 by Thordis. Happy with her for a few 
 hours, his remorse attacked him at 
 night. Thorbeorg was always by his 
 bedside, but not the glowing little beauty 
 of his experience. A new Thorbeorg 
 this was, pale and reproachful, whose 
 black brows stared fiercely from a white 
 face. He fought the vision desperately, 
 and got some sleep towards morning. 
 That went on nightly, until he became 
 ill with want of proper rest, and gradually 
 the conviction was forced upon him that 
 he must confess to Thordis what he had 
 done. Finally he knew that nothing 
 else would satisfy his conscience or give 
 him sleep. 
 
 He did it, and it was the hardest thing 
 he had ever had to do. He took with 
 
 54
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 him the poem he had first made about 
 Coalbrow, and gave it to Thordis. More 
 than that, he forced himself to read it to 
 her. He was so beaten down by shame 
 that the girl could not be angry, nor 
 even scorn him. On the contrary, she 
 pitied him, and to his great surprise 
 said presently that she too had some- 
 thing to confess. 
 
 " It cannot be worth setting by my own 
 confession," said the unhappy Thormod. 
 
 Thordis said, "It is bad, because it 
 will make you unhappy, but it was not 
 a wilful fault of mine. I should have 
 told you of it before, but " 
 
 " Let me know it," said Thormod. " I 
 forgive it you beforehand." 
 
 She said, " I hope you will remember 
 what you have said. It is that word 
 was brought to us a while ago that your 
 friend Thorgar has been slain." 
 
 A chill seized Thormod's heart. He 
 stared at Thordis. 
 
 " It was a seafarer from Augreswick 
 
 55
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 who was here before you came back to 
 us. He had been in Greenland. The 
 news was all about there that there had 
 been an affray." 
 
 " Who was his slayer ? Did you hear 
 that ? " 
 
 " His name is Thorgrim Troll," she 
 said. "He is a high chief out there; 
 one of the great men." 
 
 Thormod sat quiet for a time. Then 
 he asked her, " Why did you not tell me 
 when I came here first? " 
 
 She did not answer quickly. " Do you 
 ask me that? " 
 
 " Yes, I must know that." 
 
 " It was because I was happy to see 
 you again, when I thought that you were 
 as you used to be, and afraid that you 
 would forget me when you knew it." 
 
 Thormod did not consider what it cost 
 her to say so much. She did not exist 
 for him at the time. 
 
 " I am well punished," he said, " by 
 
 you and Thorbeorg, and I deserve it." 
 
 56
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Thordis was crying. " Oh, don't take 
 it like that. I am more than sorry for 
 you." 
 
 " No, no," he said. " You have been 
 kind. I did not mean that you were 
 revenging yourself. Don't think that." 
 Then he rose to go. 
 
 "Farewell, Thordis," he said. "I 
 have work on hand now. Maybe we 
 shan't meet for a long time." 
 
 " I know it," she said, and let him go 
 without another word. He went straight 
 home. 
 
 57
 
 VIII 
 
 It might be thought that Thormod's 
 first act would have been to make a 
 poem upon the life and death of his 
 friend ; but that was his second act. He 
 went immediately from Grima's house to 
 Augreswick, and was not long in tracing 
 out the sailor who had told the news to 
 Thordis. The sailor now repeated all 
 that he knew, and added more. The 
 quarrel had begun with a vaunting match 
 in Earl Eric's hall at Ericsfirth. High 
 words had passed, and Thorgar was said 
 to have insulted Thorgrim Troll. The 
 sailor thought he had been insulting. 
 " If the upshot had been an affray," he 
 said, " then and there, no one could 
 have said anything, though maybe the 
 end would have been the same." 
 
 58 

 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 ' How do you know that ? ' Thormod 
 asked. 
 
 " Master," the sailor replied, " Thorgar 
 and his Icelanders were few. Thorgrim 
 Troll had a great company of his own. 
 Moreover of the Earl's household and 
 guests three parts, I suppose, would have 
 upheld a chieftain of their land. And 
 Thorgar was in the wrong, being far gone 
 in drink. To call a man a dog — and a 
 great man, too — is one thing; to say 
 that he has maggots on his liver is in 
 
 >> 
 
 excess 
 
 " Did Thorgar tell him that ? " 
 
 " Those are two of the things he 
 told him. He told him a number of 
 things." 
 
 " And what then ? " 
 
 " Thorgrim Troll challenged to wager 
 of battle; and it was agreed. But on 
 the day set for that trial Thorgrim Troll 
 with his friends lay hid by the way 
 Thorgar was to come; leapt out at him 
 and his following, and began the affray. 
 
 59
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Thorgar killed two of Thorgrim's men, 
 and jumped into the firth, to swim. 
 Then Thorgrim Troll bade launch a boat, 
 which was done, and himself in the bows. 
 Therefrom he slew Thorgar with a har- 
 poon in the middle of his back, be- 
 tween the shoulders. His body was not 
 recovered, but floated out with the tide. 
 But Thorgrim did not win much gloty 
 for the deed." 
 
 Thormod was not able to see for the 
 mist in his eyes. Nor could he speak for 
 a while. " It was the deed of a dog," 
 he then said. 
 
 " What became of Thorgar's friends ? " 
 he asked, and the man said that while all 
 of those who accompanied him on the day 
 of his death were killed with him, those 
 who had stayed behind escaped. " I 
 was of his ship's company," he said, 
 " and found a hiding-place until Thor- 
 grim Troll had gone home to his own 
 country. Then after a time I found a 
 
 ship going!to Iceland ; and in due course 
 
 60
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 I will find another going to Norway, 
 which is where I come from." 
 
 " Maybe," said Thormod, " you will 
 find my ship; for I shall be going east 
 before long." 
 
 Then he went home, and made his 
 poem. 
 
 It has been lost now, so I cannot give 
 it here. It was the greatest thing of the 
 kind he ever did, was famous itself, and 
 made Thormod famous in his day. It 
 was not so much a lament as a celebra- 
 tion of the life and deeds of a man who 
 had never known fear. Most of it came 
 unsought into his mind so soon as the 
 thought to make it had come; but for 
 some of it he had to make inquiry. 
 Thorgar's deeds in England, what he did 
 in the service of King Olaf — these things 
 he had to learn. He may have learned 
 among them of his purposeless killing of 
 two men on the day before he left Ice- 
 land ; but if he heard it is unlikely that 
 
 he put it into his poem. Thormod him- 
 
 61
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 self was not by nature a fighting man, 
 and nothing that he ever did would give 
 colour to a charge of heedless slaughter 
 against, him. Nor, when he closed his 
 poem with lament for the delights of 
 intercourse gone for good, and for the 
 untimely death of a young man so beauti- 
 ful and swift as his friend, did he give 
 a hint of that vengeance which he in- 
 tended to take. His poem was declaimed 
 throughout the north and north-west of 
 Iceland, and Thormod was held to be as 
 famous a poet as Cormac of Broadfirth, 
 who indeed made only love-poems. And 
 he was to find out before very long that 
 it flew oversea, and reached the Eastern 
 kingdoms before he did; for he allowed 
 half of the following summer to slip away 
 before all his preparations were made. 
 
 And when he set sail, having a ship 
 and ship's company to his mind, it was 
 to Denmark that he went, instead of 
 Norway, for it was thither that the voyage 
 
 was purposed by the undertakers. For 
 
 62
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 himself, he had all along intended for 
 Norway, because he had found out that 
 Thorgar had been of King Olaf's house- 
 hold. But ships were not plenty in the 
 north-west, and he was on fire to be off 
 — so he went to Denmark. 
 
 Cnut the Great, as they called him, 
 and with reason, was King of Denmark, 
 a king who made himself obeyed. Thor- 
 mod's ship had not been long in the haven 
 before a messenger came down from the 
 King : greetings, a handsome cloak, and 
 a call to visit him, which was a command. 
 Thormod set off at once, and was brought 
 into the King's presence. A strong, 
 square-headed man he proved to be, with 
 bent and shaggy brows over a pair of sharp 
 eyes. Thormod, not lightly abashed, 
 walked up between two lines of warriors 
 and greeted the King very honourably. 
 In answer the King held out his hand. 
 
 " You are welcome to Denmark," he 
 said, " as are all good men. But what 
 is it brings you here? " 
 
 63
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 «< 
 
 Sir, it is your own word." 
 
 " That I can understand. But before 
 you had word from me you were in my 
 haven." 
 
 " Sir," said Thormod, " after a while a 
 man knows his own country very well, 
 and may desire to know others." 
 
 The King nodded. " I see that you 
 keep your own counsel — and you may 
 be right. Now I hear of you as a man 
 in all ways fitted to be in a court — and in 
 some ways rarely fitted. You are a poet, 
 I hear." 
 
 Thormod said, " I have the name at 
 home, but here you have famous poets 
 at your call. Now I am not proven poet 
 enough to mate with the like of them; 
 and to be plain, the verses that I make 
 come to me unbidden, as they will, not 
 as I will." 
 
 Again the King nodded. "That is as 
 
 it should be. I am content if you are 
 
 content." 
 
 Thormod was not content, however. 
 
 64
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 ' Sir," he said, " you are contented now 
 because you know me little; but it is 
 needful that you should understand that 
 I am a hot-tempered man, and not always 
 sure of myself. Sometimes blow follows 
 mood faster than I should wish." 
 
 " It is the way of your kind," said the 
 King. " We understand all that here." 
 He now looked as if it was a settled thing. 
 
 But Thormod wanted to get away, and 
 so he might have done, if King Cnut had 
 not divined him and become intent on 
 having him. 
 
 ' Sir," he said, after a time of choosing 
 his words, " I hope you will not take it 
 amiss if I say yet something more." 
 
 " Not a bit," said the King. 
 
 " It is that Thorarin the poet was here 
 with you, and yet not altogether happily. 
 For they say that his life was at one time 
 hanging by a hair. Yet Thorarin was 
 a much better poet than I am.," 
 
 The King was not angry, as he might 
 
 well have been; but he was not used to 
 f 65
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 find men difficult. " You set a high 
 price on yourself," he said, " and no doubt 
 you do wisely. But I intend to pay it." 
 
 " God will reward you, sir, for your 
 nobility, and He will pardon me, as you 
 do, my working for myself. I would not 
 have you take me into your service un- 
 wittingly, nor would I take service until 
 I knew my footing." 
 
 " Well," said the King, " I like you 
 none the worse for your haggling, and 
 am willing to pay for what I want. Now 
 Thorarin had of me a mark of gold for 
 his wages, and you shall have the same. 
 That will show you whether I wish for 
 you or not." 
 
 " Sir," said Thormod, " I take your 
 offer, if with it you will give me your 
 friendship and comfort, which I shall 
 sorely need." 
 
 " If you don't have them," said the 
 
 King, " it will be your own doing. So 
 
 let that be a settled thing between us." 
 
 There, then, Thormod settled himself, 
 
 66
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 and all went well for a while. He had 
 free quarters and the run of his teeth; 
 the King was friendly, and the courtiers 
 in consequence more than friendly. He 
 was so much in favour that not a word 
 could be said against him — and not a 
 word was. But in fact he never felt 
 that he grew into the place, and was 
 always looking about for a way of escape. 
 He got it in the winter, when Harek 
 came to court. 
 
 67
 
 IX 
 
 Harek was a wicking, that is a pirate, 
 but the King liked him none the less 
 for that; for of the plunder he took he 
 was careful to let his high friend share 
 liberally. He came to court during 
 Thormod's first winter, and proved to 
 be a genial companion, though no beauty 
 to look at. Thormod made a poem 
 about him, in which his unchancy appear- 
 ance was not spared ; but Harek thought 
 it a good poem, and himself fair game. 
 He watched Thormod unbeknown, and 
 took to him. When the time came for 
 the opening of his errand there came 
 with it Thormod's chance. 
 
 Harek, it seemed, had lost his best 
 man, the man who commanded the fore- 
 castle of his ship, and had all the talking 
 
 68
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 and much of the adventure to conduct. 
 He had been, as he had need, very free 
 with his tongue, and once, at close 
 quarters, had been a thought too free 
 for those with whom he was dealing. 
 One of them had knocked him off the 
 bows with a sweep, and there was the 
 end of him. 
 
 " A pity," said Thormod, " that he 
 made so free." 
 
 " Ah, but you must make free, stand- 
 ing up there," Harek told him; "free 
 with your tongue and handy with your 
 weapon. Now," he said, blinking heavily 
 at Thormod, " I make no doubt as to 
 your freedom in both kinds." 
 
 "Ah," said Thormod, "with the 
 tongue I am a match for most men " 
 
 " I'll warrant you," said Harek. 
 
 " And with the arm I can do some- 
 thing for myself, or I could. But I 
 had trouble with a man at home who 
 carved into the sinews of my right arm, 
 
 and shall never be good again there. 
 
 69
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 You are speaking to a left-handed 
 man." 
 
 " Whose left hand will do the work 
 of other men's rights, I'll engage. 
 Hey?" 
 
 " Oh, much can be done with the left," 
 said Thormod. " And it is as well, for 
 much remains to do." 
 
 " Enough said," Harek concluded, and 
 determined on him as the ornament 
 and stay of his forecastle. 
 
 He had to talk King Cnut round to his 
 
 way of thinking, and managed it. But 
 
 when the thing was put square before 
 
 Thormod, that queer-angled young man 
 
 boggled at it. He said that it was very 
 
 well, that he would do it to oblige the 
 
 King, but that he knew nothing of 
 
 Harek except that he was a robber. 
 
 Nevertheless, to oblige the King, he 
 
 would do it — on terms. " But I make 
 
 the condition, sir, that it be left to my 
 
 choice to bring up the ship where I will, 
 
 whether in haven or outside." 
 
 70
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 The King frowned. " What is your 
 meaning? 
 
 " My meaning is as I have said, sir," 
 said Thormod, and would not say any 
 more. 
 
 There was much trouble over it, and 
 he very nearly lost the offer ; but Harek 
 wanted him, and so gave way. 
 
 And then there was trouble about 
 getting his dues out of Cnut. The 
 monarch was not a good paymaster, 
 and while it was true that Thormod's 
 predecessor had been granted a certain 
 wages, it is not true that he received it. 
 But there was a pertinacity about Thor- 
 mod which the other had not possessed. 
 It cost him two impromptu poems, for 
 each of which he received a gold armlet. 
 Having weighed them, he judged them 
 equal to a mark of gold, and told the 
 King that he was contented. The King 
 took it all in good part. " If you find 
 Harek as easy to deal with as you have 
 found me," he said, " you will be thinking 
 
 7i
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 yourself somebody. ' ' Thormod modestly 
 smiled. He thought himself that already. 
 
 He made no use of his discretion in the 
 berthing of the ship until the end of the 
 summer. The voyage was prosperous, 
 with much fighting, and fair weather, 
 too. Thormod came up to all Harek's 
 expectations. He was ready in speech, 
 and remarkably handy with his weapons. 
 It was found to be true of him, as of 
 Thorgar, that he feared nothing, except 
 perhaps God. What fears he had there 
 were not called upon, for God had very 
 little to do with Harek's voyages. As 
 far as he was concerned, all was well 
 while nothing better offered; but he had 
 sharp eyes, and the moment a chance 
 came to him he jumped for it — and that 
 is what he literally did. 
 
 One evening, which wanted some three 
 or four hours of dusk, Harek's ship was 
 rowed into a fair haven in the main 
 
 island of a group of them. Thormod, 
 
 72
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 standing up in the bows, directed the 
 helmsman, chose his mooring and at the 
 right moment held out his hand as a 
 signal to bring her to. He let go the 
 bow anchor, and turned to watch them 
 drop the other astern, when he saw men 
 looking out to sea, and pointing others' 
 eyes the same way. He looked out then 
 himself, and saw a fleet approaching in 
 line : ships of war, for he could see the 
 shields along the gunwales, and the 
 gleam of spears close together. They 
 came on swiftly and headed directly for 
 the place where he had berthed his own 
 ship, but for some time he took no notice 
 of that, being lost in admiration of the 
 fine sight. High-prowed, painted ves- 
 sels, driving the foam before them, 
 churning the sea to yeast with their 
 great oars ; ten or twelve of them in line 
 ahead, with distances kept to a yard : it 
 was a sight to make the heart leap; and 
 Thormod's leapt high. On the leading 
 vessel the forecastle man was making 
 
 73
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 signals with his arms y more than that, 
 he was shouting at the top of his voice, 
 though nobody could hear what he said. 
 Thormod, watching him, then saw that 
 that ship in particular had a golden 
 dragon at the prow; and at that his 
 heart stood still, for he knew that there 
 must be a great man on board, who 
 could hardly be any one than King Olaf 
 himself. He forgot everything now in 
 the excitement of searching in the crowd 
 astern for the figure of the hero — and 
 meantime the ship drew near. 
 
 On his own ship there was bustle and 
 confusion. Harek was crimson in the 
 face : " Up anchor, up anchor, you cow- 
 face ! " he shouted to Thormod. Then 
 Thormod saw that they were in danger 
 of being run down. The King's ship was 
 driving straight into them, and now you 
 could hear what the man in the forecastle 
 was calling. " Out of the King's haven ! 
 Out with you ! " he was saying, and on all 
 sides were ships' crews busy at the anchors. 
 
 74
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Aboard Harek's ship two men were 
 busy enough, but Thormod would not 
 have the bow-anchor touched. " No, 
 no," he said, " the berthing is my busi- 
 ness. That was agreed upon." 
 
 Harek raved at him. " Do you want 
 to have us cut in two ? Are you mad ? " 
 and so on. But Thormod would not stir. 
 
 The Dragon-ship came on, and all of 
 Harek's people thought it was their last 
 hour— but not so. At the last moment 
 she sheered off, and ran alongside, and as 
 the bows came level the man on the 
 King's forecastle, cut at Thormod with 
 an axe, and only just missed him. 
 
 Thormod, with a longsword, replied, 
 and to some purpose, for he caught him 
 on the back of the neck and felled him 
 into the water. Immediately after that 
 he jumped on to the King's ship, his 
 shield on his right arm, his naked sword 
 in his left, and ran clean up the deck 
 towards the poop. 
 
 The thing was so sudden and done so 
 
 75
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 vehemently that he got more than half- 
 way before he was stopped. Men simply 
 made a road for him, some no doubt 
 supposing him mad. But as he neared 
 the poop of the vessel he was surrounded, 
 and then it was all over with him. He 
 was disarmed, tied up and guarded, 
 while word was passed astern to King 
 Olaf that the fool had been taken. 
 
 "Good," said the King; "and now 
 let some one serve him as he served my 
 man." 
 
 Fin Ernesson, a fine tall man, heard 
 the saying and went forward to look over 
 the prisoner. He was a chief, and nobody 
 cared to gainsay him . Thormod was quite 
 cool, and met Fin's looks with a steady 
 and good-humoured one of his own. 
 
 " Now, what possessed you, I wonder, 
 to do the like of that? " Fin asked him. 
 
 Thormod, with his engaging stutter, 
 replied : " Curiosity." 
 
 " Were you anxious to see death, 
 
 then? " 
 
 76
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " No," said Thormod. " I was curious 
 to see the King, and so I hope to do 
 before he has me killed." 
 
 " And why did you wish to see the 
 King? " 
 
 " Because he is the greatest man alive, 
 and the man of all men I have most 
 desired to see. If I could get into his 
 power, I thought that was the first 
 thing; and I thought of nothing else. 
 So I jumped for it." 
 
 " Yes, you jumped for it," said Fin. 
 " I saw you. But first you cut down a 
 man of ours." 
 
 "Yes, I did," said Thormod, "but 
 that was because he tried to cut me 
 down." 
 
 Fin rubbed his chin under his beard, 
 and thought about it. " Hold your 
 hands a little," he said to the men round 
 about him. " I will see the King upon 
 this." 
 
 He made his way back, and found the 
 Bishop— Bishop Siffrid it was— as he 
 
 77
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 went. " Come with me and help me 
 save a fine man's life," he said. So the 
 two of them went to the King. 
 
 Fin Ernesson worked hard for Thor- 
 mod, and the Bishop allowed he was a 
 gallant man. " That is as may be," the 
 King said, " but I have to learn whether 
 he is only a fool." 
 
 " You will learn it, sir, in two words, 
 if you will have him brought before 
 you." 
 
 " Bring him, then," said the King. So 
 Thormod was led before him. 
 
 He was not even now abashed or put 
 out of countenance before that great 
 man. King Olaf looked sternly at him, 
 very square in the jaw, very chilly in 
 the bright blue eyes. Thormod in turn 
 looked him full in the face. He was 
 much too interested to think of what 
 was going to happen to him. The King 
 did not speak for some time. Then he 
 said, " Are you a fool, or are you a 
 rogue? " 
 
 7 8
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 "Neither," said Thormod, "but a 
 poet/' 
 
 " You kill my look-out man, on my 
 own ship, in my own haven; then you 
 run baresark among my warriors. What 
 am I to think of that? Is that your 
 poetry? " 
 
 "No, sir," said Thormod, " but this is 
 my poetry which comes to me as I look 
 at you. I say that I should think I had 
 all Heaven in my two hands if I stood to 
 you as your man. And again I say that 
 life and death are one to me if I find life 
 and death beside you and Fin." 
 
 " Lord," said Fin, " that was well 
 spoken, and by a man of mark." But 
 King Olaf did not heed Fin, considering 
 rather the man before him. 
 
 " I see you are a wild fellow enough," 
 he said. " Life means little to you in 
 comparison with your desire. Yet I see 
 also that you will likely be faithful if I 
 keep you. How do you call yourself, 
 and whence are you come? " 
 
 79
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " I am Thormod Bearnesson and from 
 Iceland," the poet answered ; " and more 
 than that, I am sworn-brother to Thorgar 
 Hawarsson, who was a man of yours." 
 
 King Olaf nodded, but grimly. " So 
 he was ; and I told him when he came to 
 me that he would not be lucky. Nor 
 was he. But you, from the look of you, 
 may fare better than he did." 
 
 " If I cause not one man at least to 
 fare worse than my brother," said Thor- 
 mod, " I shall deem myself the unluckiest 
 man living." 
 
 " How many men's deaths lie at your 
 door? " the King asked, not noticing his 
 declared purpose. 
 
 Thormod rapidly reckoned. " I have 
 slain six men, lord," he said; " and that 
 man in the bows of your ship was the 
 sixth." 
 
 " And how old are you? ' 
 
 " I am not yet thirty years old," said 
 
 Thormod. 
 
 " If you live another thirty years," 
 
 80
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 the King said, " you will have done 
 slaughter enough." 
 
 " There is but one man, so far as I 
 can tell, whom I must call to account," 
 Thormod told him, " and that is Thor- 
 grim Troll, who basely slew my brother 
 Thorgar. It was to that end I left Ice- 
 land, and to that end I jumped into your 
 ship. I should have come to you before 
 had I not been carried to Denmark, for 
 I knew very well that you would never 
 let your man's death go unavenged. 
 Now I am here and in your hands I am 
 sure you will not." 
 
 The King turned to the Bishop and 
 
 Fin, and heard them both plead for 
 
 Thormod. He did that more for the 
 
 form's sake than for any other reason. 
 
 His mind was made up already. Then 
 
 he said to the guards who held him, " Cut 
 
 him free; " and to Thormod, " You pay 
 
 ransom for my man's life with your own, 
 
 which I consider belongs to me. You 
 
 have been open with me, and I approve 
 g 81
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 of it. Now serve me well, both with 
 head and hand." 
 
 Thormod broke out into a verse, and 
 King Olaf heard him through. " I think 
 we shall suit each other," he said. 
 Then Thormod walked forward with Fin 
 Ernesson, and was made much of. 
 
 82
 
 X 
 
 A ship came in from Greenland that 
 autumn, and the master of it was a man 
 called Scuf. Scuf was a Greenlander by 
 birth and the long settlement of his 
 family; a middle-aged, reputable man 
 well known in Norway and highly es- 
 teemed by King Olaf. When Thormod 
 heard who and whence he was, he said, 
 " Here's my chance come suddenly," 
 and went to see Scuf. 
 
 They took to each other, though Scuf 
 was a man of five-and-f orty ; but, as he 
 explained, brave men were rare in any 
 country that he had ever seen, and ought 
 to stick together. " And it will be well 
 for you," he said, " to have me at your 
 back if you are going adventuring in 
 Greenland against Thorgrim Troll. As 
 well might you work against Eric Red, 
 
 83
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 or nearly so. What Eric Red is to 
 Ericsfirth, so is Thorgrim Troll to 
 Einarsfirth. What ! a man of wealth 
 and lands, with a following from here 
 to Easter. And a stout, gusty man, a 
 great eater, an abounding drinker; a 
 man of blood, a man of iron. And if 
 he is stirred in his pride, nothing will 
 serve him but your life." 
 
 " He shall serve himself of mine if he 
 can," Thormod said, " but I hope to be 
 beforehand with him." 
 
 " You sail with me," said Scuf, " and 
 you put yourself in my hands. I know 
 the country and I know the man. I 
 bear him no grudge myself, for he has 
 never done me any harm that I know 
 of. But a friend is a friend, and he 
 is no friend of mine. I need say no 
 more." 
 
 " Not a word," said Thormod, "for I 
 
 understand you very well, and hope to 
 
 deserve your opinion." 
 
 After that Thormod waited, and served 
 
 84
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 King Olaf with his best, until the winter 
 should be over. 
 
 When Scuf was ready for sea, Thor- 
 mod made his suit to his master. 
 
 " Greenland? " said Olaf. " And what 
 will you do in Greenland? Trouble, I 
 doubt. You will be for rinding Thorgrim 
 Troll, I suppose." 
 
 " There are things to settle with him, 
 certainly," said Thormod. 
 
 " You will find him a hard dealer, and 
 a close one," said the King. 
 
 ; They tell me that I am a good sing- 
 ling dog, sir." 
 
 " You will have need to be. Well, you 
 shall go, and I wish you good speed. 
 And if I have my will with you, you will 
 come back to me when you have finished 
 with Thorgrim Troll." 
 
 " That I shall do, lord. I have told 
 you what my wish is — to live and die 
 with you." 
 
 Olaf gave him a ring for his finger and 
 a sword for his side, and so they parted. 
 
 85
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Walking down to the ship together, 
 Scuf and Thormod went aboard. Pre- 
 sently they saw a stranger mount the 
 gangway and come towards them : a 
 huge man, with shoulders like a bull's 
 and the chest of a horse. His hood was 
 over his brows, so that little was to be 
 seen of his face but a long black beard. 
 He was heavily armed, and shook the 
 gangway with his sturdy tread. 
 
 "Who is this monster?' Thormod 
 asked. Scuf did not answer, but went 
 to meet the stranger. 
 
 " I bid you hail," said Scuf. 
 
 The heavy man put back his hood. 
 " And I greet you fairly," he said. 
 
 " If you have business with me," Scuf 
 said, " I must know your name." 
 
 " Soon told," the man said. " My 
 name is Gest." 
 
 " And whence are your people, Gest ? " 
 
 He tossed his head sideways. " Spread 
 
 abroad eastwards; spread abroad west." 
 
 And he jerked his head the other way. 
 
 86
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Who knows where they are, or are 
 not." 
 
 " And how can I serve you now ? ' 
 
 " I ask you for my passage to Green- 
 land." 
 
 Scuf considered. " I don't know how 
 that may be. I know less of you than 
 you seem to know of me. And I have 
 a ship's crew to think of." 
 
 "What have they to do with it? " 
 said Gest. " If you are master of the 
 ship I take it to be your affair. But if 
 your men think that they will have to 
 work for me, do you tell them that I 
 shall do my share of the work, and a 
 little over. And I see you have a pas- 
 senger already, and can hardly refuse a 
 second." 
 
 Scuf looked at Thormod, who nodded 
 and smiled. "Shall I?" the look en- 
 quired. 
 
 " Why not? " the nod replied. 
 
 " Well," said he to Gest, " it shall be 
 
 so." Gest saluted him and went back 
 
 87
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 into the town to fetch his gear. It was 
 nearly as big as himself, and two men 
 did not suffice to bring it aboard. He 
 saw it stowed, and immediately turned 
 himself to be of use. He worked well, 
 but was very grim and silent. Thormod 
 thought him an oddity and worked hard, 
 after his manner, in studying him. At 
 noon they put out to sea. 
 
 The voyage was a bad one ; heavy 
 weather, dangerous seas, much snow, 
 and little rest. All worked hard, but 
 Gest did more than any one, and Thor- 
 mod less. It was long before those two 
 understood each other, if indeed they 
 ever did. Gest thought nothing of poets, 
 and Thormod was jealous of the man's 
 strength and skill. Once at least they 
 nearly came to blood-letting. That was 
 when the two of them were at work 
 baling ship. Thormod was below in the 
 hold, rilling the buckets; Gest at the 
 gunwale, emptying them. Thormod as 
 
 he grew tired did not hand them high 
 
 88
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 enough to please Gest, who had to stoop 
 
 down to reach them. " Send them up 
 
 smartlier, you half-man," Gest growled. 
 
 But Thormod took no notice, or at least 
 
 made no response. Gest bore it for a 
 
 little while longer, then presently let a 
 
 bucket fall, and drenched Thormod 
 
 to the skin. That set him on fire; he 
 
 jumped up and caught Gest by the 
 
 beard. There was a sharp tussle, and 
 
 then the pair of them parted and sought 
 
 for their weapons. Scuf stopped them, 
 
 luckily, before the fight began. He made 
 
 them promise to keep terms with each 
 
 other while the voyage lasted; and so 
 
 they did. Thormod was not one to 
 
 keep a grudge in his mind. 
 
 They were a long time at sea, and 
 
 once came near shipwreck, when a wave 
 
 broke over them, snapped the yard, and 
 
 carried the sail overboard. Gest was 
 
 invaluable then; without him they had 
 
 lost the sail. Then it was a matter of 
 
 splicing the yard, since they had no 
 
 89
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 other. Scuf set Gest and Thormod at 
 it, and each scoffed at the other. Gest 
 said, " Nay, let the poet shape the thing 
 for you. He'll sing them together while 
 you and I take our rest." 
 
 " Never," said Thormod. " Give the 
 two pieces to Gest, and bid him sit upon 
 them. You'll never part them again." 
 
 " Let me see you both at it," Scuf 
 said, " and then we shall know whether 
 brain or brawn makes the better work- 
 man." To it thev went with their axes, 
 and Thormod was done by far the first. 
 Gest chipped away, working his tongue 
 in his cheek like a boy at a writing-lesson. 
 Then they fitted the two ends together, 
 and even Gest owned that they had made 
 a good job of it. The splicing was left to 
 him by common consent, and when that 
 was done they were able to sail again. 
 
 It was late in the year when they ran 
 
 into Ericsfirth and came to anchor in 
 
 view of the town. There, when the 
 
 cargo had been taken ashore, Gest took 
 
 90
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 leave of Scuf and Thormod. To the 
 poet he said at parting, " It is likely we 
 shall meet again." 
 
 " How will that be? ' Thormod asked 
 him. 
 
 Gest, with his expressionless eyes, 
 looked over the dreary snow-covered 
 hills. " Common good fortune or com- 
 mon ill fortune may bring us together. 
 If it does, let your wit be mated to my 
 sinew, and maybe we shall find each 
 other of use. Let me tell you this, that 
 I knew your friend Thorgar Hawarsson 
 once upon a time." 
 
 Thormod pricked up his ears. " Did 
 you so? Then it was here that you 
 knew him? " 
 
 " No," said Gest, " it was not. It was 
 in Norway." Then they parted — but 
 they met again. 
 
 9i
 
 XI 
 
 Greenland, great, gaunt, empty 
 country, half under ice and snow the 
 year through, and all smothered in fog- 
 fleeces for a six-month winter, was but 
 newly colonised when Thormod reached 
 it. Two firths run up into it, one from 
 the south and one from the west. ' Upon 
 the shores of them huddled the Nor- 
 wegians who had settled the country and 
 made their living as best they could. 
 Eric Red was the great man of Erics- 
 firth, which he had himself found, then 
 settled, then named, and now governed. 
 The other settlement was called Einars- 
 firth, and there Thorgrim Troll and his 
 clansmen did as they pleased. The two 
 colonies had no interdependence, and the 
 authority which King Olaf claimed was 
 
 more shadow than substance. 
 
 92
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Scuf knew Ericsfirth, and was on the 
 best of terms with Eric and his feu- 
 datories. The first man who came to 
 meet him when the ship was moored 
 was one Thorkel Leifsson, who- lived at 
 Brent-lithe, and looked across the firth 
 to Stockness, which was where Scuf 
 himself lived. It was to Thorkel that 
 Scuf recommended Thormod, whom he 
 named as court-poet to the King and a 
 fine young man in all ways. Thorkel at 
 once offered him hospitality, and Thor- 
 mod took it gladly. He and Scuf parted 
 unwillingly, but were to meet again at 
 Christmas, when Thorkel meant to have 
 a Yule-feast. 
 
 Brent-lithe was a great house, with a 
 fine hall, and a guest-room close by. 
 That room was divided up by curtains 
 for the sleeping-quarters of Thorkel and 
 his friends. In the hall all the servants 
 — and there were many — used to sleep. 
 There were maids as well as men about 
 the place, and one of the girls was sent 
 
 93
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 in to Thormod to wait upon him, pull his 
 clothes off, and make his bed ready. 
 
 Thormod noticed her at once, for he 
 had a sharp eye for a girl. She was not 
 at all handsome but rather pale and 
 mean-looking; nevertheless she had a 
 good figure, and a power of attracting 
 men which he felt at once, though he did 
 not understand it. He asked her name, 
 and she told him, Sigrid. Did she come 
 from Iceland? She said, No, but her 
 father and mother had lived there. 
 
 " And are you married, Sigrid ? ' 
 
 She gave a half-laugh. " No, nor 
 likely to be." 
 
 " I should think nothing more likely," 
 Thormod said, " judging by what I feel 
 about you." 
 
 Then she said, " You had better not 
 feel much about me." 
 
 "Why not? " 
 
 " Because Lodin will have something 
 to say about it." 
 
 " And Lodin — who is he? " 
 
 94
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 "He is steward here. That tall man, 
 red-bearded, who met you when you 
 came in." 
 
 " I know the man now," said Thor- 
 mod. " And is Lodin your sweetheart ?" 
 
 " I don't know that," she said. 
 
 "Shall I ask him? " 
 
 " Better say nothing to him." 
 
 " But if he say something to me about 
 you — what then? " 
 
 " Then you will know what I can't tell 
 you. 
 
 " Well, Sigrid, I am glad that you 
 have been told to wait upon me. It will 
 send me to bed in good time." 
 
 "Why? " she asked. 
 
 " Because you draw me." 
 
 She looked at him, laughed, then 
 looked away. Thormod kissed her, and 
 she kissed him back, but wouldn't stay 
 any longer. 
 
 It was not difficult to find out who 
 and what Sigrid was, or in what relation 
 she stood to the red-bearded and red- 
 
 95
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 eyed Lodin ; but Thormod did not on 
 any of those counts cease his commerce. 
 He had been wiser if he had — but then 
 he would not have been Thormod. As 
 he was, and as she was, it ended in 
 trouble. Lodin spoke to her, and she 
 tossed her head. Then he watched her, 
 and, as it seemed to him, she was betray- 
 ing him. One night after supper, when 
 Thormod went off to his sleeping- 
 quarters, and Sigrid made to follow 
 him, Lodin with a curse sprang after her, 
 caught her round the waist and held her. 
 She struggled, saying, " Let me alone, 
 let me alone," but could not get away. 
 Thormod came back from the doorway, 
 took her hands and tried to pull her free. 
 There was an unseemly tussle and much 
 heat : then Thorkel cut in and stopped 
 it all. " Let her alone," he bade his 
 man. " She will come to no harm in 
 there. Is there not a light burning, 
 and am not I there ? If you can't trust 
 
 her there you can trust her nowhere, and 
 
 96
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 are better without her." Lodin let her 
 go, and she followed the two into the 
 guest-house. Lodin would have beaten 
 her if he dared, but was afraid that she 
 would tell of him. 
 
 Then came the Yule-feast at Brent- 
 lithe, with a great gathering to drink 
 Thorkel's ale. Scuf and Bearne, his 
 partner, came over from Stockness, Gest 
 came from Wick, and many others. Here, 
 for the first time, Thormod learned what 
 lay before him in the vengeance he had 
 so long meditated. He found it was 
 likely to be a heavy matter. 
 
 Thorgrim Troll was the chief man in 
 
 the settlement at Einarsfirth. He had a 
 
 great retinue of his own, to say nothing 
 
 of his family. Four nephews he had, all 
 
 fighting-men. Bodwar was the eldest, 
 
 himself older than Thormod ; then came 
 
 Falgar, Thorkel and Thord. But that 
 
 was not all. In the house was Thor- 
 
 grim's sister Thordis and Hamund her 
 
 husband, with those four sons of theirs; 
 h 97
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 near by was another sister settled — at 
 
 Longness. She was Thorunn, and she 
 
 had a son named Leot, reputed one of 
 
 the strongest men on the firth. Between 
 
 them the clan overrode the countryside, 
 
 and those who did not stand in with 
 
 them had a hard life of it. One man 
 
 there was who, Gest said, was not friendly 
 
 with them, a steady, peaceable man 
 
 called Sigurd. He lived with his mother 
 
 at Cliff, and might be useful. " Your 
 
 time — if you have a time — " Gest said, 
 
 " is not now, but in the spring, when they 
 
 hold the Moot, which you in Iceland call 
 
 the Thing." 
 
 Thormod wished to know more of the 
 
 killing of his friend. He found out that 
 
 it had been as he had been told, except 
 
 that the slaughter had been done on the 
 
 water. " Thorgar and his friends were 
 
 in a boat — nine of them altogether. 
 
 Thorgrim Troll and his five nephews 
 
 were waiting in a creek, in a longship, 
 
 and rowed out and across the boat's 
 
 98
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 bows. Then all nine were slain in the 
 boat or in the water. Not one escaped. 
 Thorgar was killed as he swam, with a 
 harpoon in his back." 
 
 " How do you know that none es- 
 caped? ' Thormod wished to know. 
 
 Gest said, "In a curious way. I will 
 tell you, if you wish to know." 
 
 " I do wish." 
 
 Gest said, " Two brothers, named Calf 
 and Steinolf, lived in Garpsdale, and live 
 there still. From them I have the tale. 
 Now, in Olafsdale, not far away, there 
 was a widow woman called Thordis, and 
 a good woman she was and. is, and a 
 well-to-do woman. She had a son Eyolf, 
 and a kinsman Thorgeir, whom she 
 brought up from the breast. They 
 called him Thorgeir Measureless, be- 
 cause he was exorbitant in all that he 
 took, and set no bounds to his needs. 
 Now these two were friends, such as I 
 daresay were you and Thorgar Hawars- 
 son; but they were boisterous company 
 
 99
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 for each other, full of tricks and all 
 manner of rough play, and at it all day- 
 long. There was no place for them in 
 the house or out of it; and no getting 
 any work done when they were within a 
 hundred yards of it. Well, one day it 
 happened that they were wrestling in the 
 hall, where an old wife sat at her needle- 
 work; and if they dragged it off her 
 knees once they dragged it fifty times. 
 So at last she grew angry, and muttered 
 to herself; and then she had a vision. 
 She said, ' You may do your worst to me 
 and my needlework, but I can see worse 
 than that in it. Now I tell you that you 
 two foster-brothers will break friendship 
 and as ill as may be you will do it.' 
 
 " They listened to her, deep-breathing, 
 with their arms about each other's necks. 
 They laughed at her and looked at each 
 other. ' We hope your needlework is 
 better than your spaedom, mother.' 
 
 " She said, ' Ah, you may laugh, but 
 that will be the end of your play.' 
 
 100
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Now those two went out to Norway 
 in the summer, and there bought a ship, 
 and put to sea. When they were minded 
 to come home they had an ill voyage, 
 and made Borgfirth late in the harvest. 
 Then it was that they disagreed about 
 a landing. Eyolf was for running before 
 the wind into Streamfirth, but Thorgeir 
 was minded to keep the ship on her 
 course, to round the Jokul, and get in at 
 Dogworthness. There seemed no way 
 of settling it but by a vote, and those who 
 wished to land at once carried it, because 
 most were sick of the sea. But there 
 was bad blood over it between the 
 foster-brothers, who came as near as 
 might be to crossing swords — only they 
 were parted for the time. Directly they 
 landed in Streamfirth Thorgeir took to 
 horse and rode west into Garpsdale. 
 There he stayed with Calf and Steinolf. 
 Eyolf stayed aboard-ship till she was 
 laid up, and then went home to his 
 mother in Olafsdale. That winter's end 
 
 IOI
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 the old spae-wife died. She died on the 
 Monday after Palm Sunday, and had to 
 be taken a-shipboard to go down to 
 Holar, which was the nearest church. 
 
 " Now Eyolf and his men took her 
 into church and set her down. Then 
 the weather grew thick, and it came on 
 heavy snow, and then a frost that held 
 up the ship in the sound, and spread 
 thick ice far out into the firth. It was 
 needful that Eyolf and his folk should 
 stay where they were till Easter was 
 past — and so they did. 
 
 " On Thursday after Easter Eyolf 
 borrowed a horse and set off to ride 
 home. He rode alone by his own wish. 
 He rode east of Reekness, then east 
 again about Bearfirth and Crooksfirth. 
 
 " Now he was not far from Garpsdale 
 on his journey, though he was not yet 
 in sight of it, when Calf and Steinolf, 
 who were out of doors under the lee of 
 a wall, saw men walking along the plain 
 in a row. They carried weapons, and 
 
 102
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 there were nine of them. They walked 
 
 in file over the snow, and past the house, 
 
 a few fields below it. When they were 
 
 within fair view it was seen that they 
 
 were bare-headed, sightless, and covered 
 
 with blood. Looking closely at them, 
 
 Calf and Steinolf seemed to know them. 
 
 They were Thorgar Hawarsson, who 
 
 walked in front, and eight men following 
 
 him. They went along the plain past 
 
 the house, came to the river that runs 
 
 eastward from the house, and there 
 
 seemed to fade into nothing at all. Calf 
 
 and Steinolf were beaten down by this 
 
 sight, and neither to each other, nor to 
 
 any one could they speak of it. They 
 
 went indoors and sat down, and so 
 
 remained without speech. 
 
 " One of their hands was in the byre 
 
 when those things took place. He also 
 
 saw a man — but only one man — and he 
 
 was riding a fine horse. He was armed, 
 
 helm, spear and shield, and rode past 
 
 the house the very way which the ghosts 
 
 103
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 had taken. The cowman knew him. It 
 was Eyolf on his way home. He went 
 indoors with his news. Thorgeir Measure- 
 less was in the hall, and the two brothers 
 also. ' Eyolf of Olafsdale is riding by 
 the house/ says the man, and Thorgeir 
 pricked up his ears. He said nothing 
 to anybody, but picked a spear from the 
 rack, and went out just as he was. Out- 
 doors he saw Eyolf, and ran after him, 
 but Eyolf did not heed him, and kept on 
 his way till he reached the river. There 
 he was delayed by the ice-flood and had 
 to seek out a fording-place. Thorgeir 
 called out, ' Hold, man, hold. Wait for 
 me if you dare.' Eyolf heard that, 
 looked round, saw who it was. In a 
 moment he came down from his horse, 
 and ran to meet his foster-brother. They 
 met full front, each with his spear. In 
 the same encounter each ran the other 
 through with the spear, and they fell 
 together and so lay. So the spse-wife's 
 
 prediction was fulfilled. 
 
 104
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " When Calf and Steinolf found them 
 they were not yet dead. 
 
 " Now that was after Easter, and 
 certifies me when Thorgar Hawarsson 
 met his death." 
 
 Thormod said, " You are right. But 
 you know otherwise that they were 
 killed in the water." 
 
 " Yes, that is common report in Green- 
 land," said Gest. 
 
 Thormod said, " And you, Gest, are 
 you minded to stand in with me ? ' 
 
 Gest shook his head. " It has been 
 revealed to me that the vengeance is to 
 be yours, and that you will succeed in it, 
 though hardly. But if I can help you I 
 will — so far as it is lawful." 
 
 " And who revealed these things to 
 
 you?" 
 
 " It was King Olaf," said Gest, " who 
 came to my bedside as I was lying awake, 
 and told it all to me." 
 
 " He might have told me something," 
 said Thormod; " but these things do not 
 
 105
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 come to me. As it is, I take it from 
 you." 
 
 These things set in order in his mind, 
 Thormod gave himself to the feasting, 
 and enjoyed himself. He was happy, 
 and his friends were happy in him. But 
 when it was all over and the guests were 
 going away, there came upon him the 
 trouble due on Sigrid's account. 
 
 There was much bustle while the boats 
 were getting ready, and all the gear 
 taken down and stowed aboard. Scuf 
 was down at the quay, Thorkel was with 
 him ; Lodin and the servants were run- 
 ning to and fro; the house was emptied 
 except for the maids, and for Thormod 
 and Bearne, who were taking their ease 
 in the hall. Thormod lay on his back 
 along a bench, supporting his head in 
 his clasped hands. Bearne sat by the 
 table. They talked idly. Presently 
 Lodin came in from the quay, four 
 
 men with him. Thormod took no no- 
 
 106
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 tice, but Bearne looked round to see 
 
 who it was. He did not see that Lodin's 
 
 red eyes were fixed and angry; but he 
 
 said, " What is it you want? ' 
 
 ''What is it I want?" said Lodin. 
 
 " Why, lumber for Scufs boat — and 
 
 here is some that we can do without 
 
 at Brent-lithe." So saying, he caught 
 
 Thormod by the feet, pulled him to 
 
 the floor, and, " Here," he called to the 
 
 men in the door, " pull out this evil 
 
 carcase, and let Scuf take it over the 
 
 firth." Thormod was laughing at him, 
 
 but he and one of the men began to haul 
 
 him along the floor. Then Bearne said, 
 
 " Enough of this outrage," and jumped 
 
 up and caught Lodin round the middle. 
 
 He swung him round two or three times, 
 
 and then let go. Lodin went swinging 
 
 along the hall and fell in a heap. Bearne 
 
 cursed the men roundly for what they 
 
 were doing, and sent them out of doors ; 
 
 but Thormod took it all coolly. 
 
 Presently they all left the hall and 
 
 107
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 went down to the boat at the quayside. 
 Scuf was aboard, and Thorkel on the 
 quay was talking to him. Bearne was 
 ready, waiting till their conversation was 
 over. Lodin and his men stood together 
 a little way off, sharing the presents 
 which they had been given. Nobody 
 was thinking of Thormod as he came 
 slowly from the hall and down the path- 
 way to the water; but as he passed the 
 group of servants, suddenly he swung his 
 sword backhanded over his shoulder and 
 brought it down on Lodin's neck. He 
 felled him like an ox, and the wound 
 was so terrible that he was dead before 
 he touched ground. Then there was a 
 great to-do. Thorkel's rage blazed all 
 over his face. He called out to his men 
 to kill Thormod; but Scuf had him by 
 the arm and held him. Bearne ran up 
 to Thormod and told him to get into the 
 ship. So he did; Bearne jumped down 
 after him, and they threw off the gang- 
 way. Scuf was left behind to soothe 
 
 108
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Thorkel, and settle the case; but it took 
 a deal of talking. As for Sigrid, who 
 had been much the cause of it, she saw 
 it all from the house, and would have 
 gone after Thormod if she could. 
 
 The rest of the winter Thormod spent 
 at Stockness, with Bearne and Scuf, 
 making his preparations. He had to 
 choose a servant, first, and of all the 
 household he picked out the most un- 
 likely, a great, clumsy, ugly dunce of a 
 man, whose tongue was too big for his 
 mouth. His name was Egil, but they 
 called him Fool-Egil, and with every 
 reason. " Why do you choose such a 
 blockhead as that? " they wondered. 
 
 " Because I want a man who will do 
 what I tell him. Anybody else of yours 
 would say, ' That is fool's work you ask 
 for,' and would be right. If I want 
 fool's work done I must have a fool to 
 do it." 
 
 Another thing to be done was to get 
 
 a weapon made after his own mind. 
 
 109
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Bearne, who was a good smith, made 
 him that. It was an axe, with a short- 
 ish handle; but not a common axe. 
 Where should be a hammer was a spike ; 
 where should be the broad blade there 
 was a knife-blade, double-edged. It was 
 strong, and very tough, and the edges of 
 it as sharp as razors. When these things 
 were done Thormod thought himself 
 ready for the Moot at Einarsfirth. 
 
 no
 
 XII 
 
 The Moot was to be held at Garth, 
 which is midway of the firth ; and when 
 the weather was open and the ice broken 
 up, Scuf said that it was time to be off. 
 He did not take a large company with 
 him, because he said that however many 
 he took they would be outnumbered 
 there, " should it come to fighting." 
 For himself, he said, he was not a fighting 
 man, and he proved it by being careful 
 not to inquire what business led Thor- 
 mod into the other country. Bearne 
 knew more about it than he did, for 
 Bearne had not made a weapon for 
 nothing. 
 
 So then they ran down Ericsfirth into 
 the open sea, and with a fair wind from 
 the south-west sailed up Einarsfirth with- 
 out difficulty, and saw presently the 
 
 in
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 church at Garth, and the booths for the 
 Moot-men laid out in a broad green 
 meadow. " Those booths/' Scuf said, 
 " are for Thorgrim and the men of his 
 allegiance. We shall hold on round that 
 spit, and find our quarters behind the 
 knoll." 
 
 There was a good deal of shipping to 
 be seen, and much activity ashore. Men 
 were busy airing and cleaning the booths, 
 and others were carrying merchandise 
 ashore for the stalls in the fair which 
 was held between the two settlements. 
 Thorgrim Troll's ship had not come in 
 yet, but was expected daily. Meantime 
 there was plenty to be done, and plenty 
 to see. Thormod was very much amused 
 and spent his time either watching other 
 men work, or considering the lay of the 
 land. He had no plans ready, but that 
 was no concern to him. He felt that 
 he was being blown forward to his 
 destiny as by a strong wind, such a wind 
 as had driven them up the firth, and was 
 
 112
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 now driving Thorgrim Troll to the same 
 place. One thing about the shores of 
 Einarsfirth he noted, and that was that 
 the further side was cut up into narrow 
 creeks, and that there were no good 
 landing-places there. The land shelved 
 very much; there were ledges of rock, 
 some of them not covered by the tide. 
 " If I have to run for it," he thought, 
 " it will be over there that I must travel. 
 It will trouble them to bring a longboat 
 in after me." He saw another thing 
 presently : the banks and islands of rock 
 stretched away down the firth as far as 
 the eye could carry. " A man could slip 
 down to the mouth of the firth without 
 treading either shore." He took the 
 trouble to make sure of that before he 
 left the thing alone. 
 
 A day or two later he was told, " Thor- 
 grim Troll is coming in." Bearne told 
 him, and Thormod's face lighted up. 
 
 " That will be worth seeing." He 
 
 went down to the shore with his friend, 
 i 113
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 A fine ship was coming down the firth 
 with the tide, ten oars to a side were 
 pulling her. Others came behind her, 
 three or perhaps four, but none presumed 
 to come abreast. 
 
 " He comes like a king," Thormod 
 said. 
 
 " And that is what he thinks himself," 
 Bearne told him. " Why, the firth is 
 named after his father, and he claims 
 the lordship of every green patch on this 
 side, and of many on the other. Soon 
 or late he will measure himself with Eric, 
 and then we shall see something." 
 
 " I hope you won't see that," said 
 Thormod, but Bearne thought it as well 
 to take no notice of him. 
 
 The ship was close at hand, and was a 
 
 brave sight. From bows to stern there 
 
 were shields along the bulwarks, and 
 
 from amidships to the poop the spears 
 
 rose as dense as a woodland. About the 
 
 poop were great men standing in bright 
 
 helmets. Bearne pointed out Thorgrim 
 
 114
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 himself, seated, with a great white bear- 
 skin about his shoulders. 
 
 Thormod said, " He's a big man/' 
 
 " Ah," said Bearne, " you may say so 
 — but wait until you have seen his 
 nephews." 
 
 " Yes, I must see his nephews too," 
 Thormod said, and studied the standing 
 chiefs about the chair. 
 
 They brought the ship ashore; the 
 men leapt out and hauled her up the 
 rollers. Then a gangway was made fast, 
 and the spearsmen came down. After 
 them the chiefs : there was not a man 
 among them, Thormod thought, under 
 six feet in height, and he felt that he 
 would not care to measure his chest 
 against any one. Four young men came 
 down close together, a family likeness 
 showed them to be kinsmen. The sons 
 of Hamund, Bearne said they were, 
 Bodwar, Falgar, Thorkel and Thord. 
 They had sanguine faces, dark hair and 
 beards, and light-coloured proud eyes. 
 
 115
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Then came one walking alone, older than 
 
 any of the four, and taller, but also 
 
 fatter. He had a fat face, and a big 
 
 mouth which showed red through his 
 
 beard. " Who is that store-pig? " asked 
 
 Thormod. He was told, Leot of Long- 
 
 ness. Last came Thorgrim Troll himself 
 
 and was much saluted from the shore, 
 
 though he took little notice of it. He 
 
 looked about to see who greeted him 
 
 and who did not. A man of fifty or 
 
 more, Thormod thought. He had a dark 
 
 flushed face, purple on the cheeks, a 
 
 broad gray beard, small pig's eyes, which 
 
 showed a good deal of the white, and a 
 
 nose out of the straight. " Somebody 
 
 punched that for him in his youth,' ' 
 
 said Thormod, " and he has been touchy 
 
 about it ever since." The great man 
 
 passed so close that Thormod felt the 
 
 bearskin brush against his leg, and 
 
 could hear the short vehement breathing 
 
 of his gross body. He himself grew 
 
 hot all over at the moment, and the 
 
 116
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 hairs on his back bristled and stood 
 up. 
 
 When they had all gone up to their 
 booths the men went back into the ship 
 and began to clear her of the arms and 
 fishing-gear. All these things they threw 
 ashore as they came. Thormod picked 
 up a harpoon from one of the heaps, and 
 began to muse over it as his way was. 
 Presently one of the ship-men made a 
 snatch at it. " Much use to you, that 
 weapon, I engage," he said. Thormod, 
 still holding the thing, looked at it. 
 
 " You think I know nothing of har- 
 pooning," he said. " But there are more 
 uses than one for a harpoon." 
 
 The man gaped. " It would puzzle 
 you to find any use for it." 
 
 Then Thormod touched his axe which 
 
 was at his side. " I might find a handier 
 
 weapon — but a harpoon would serve me 
 
 at a pinch." He dropped it then, and 
 
 turned back to walk up the shore. He 
 
 saw them raising Thorgrim's standard 
 
 117
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 outside his booth, and stood to watch 
 them. How long would it stay there? 
 He saw that this booth stood apart from 
 the others, at the end of a street of 
 them, and noted the place. 
 
 118
 
 XIII 
 
 Thormod spied for his opportunity, 
 
 but had to be patient, for he could not 
 
 find it for some time. It is true that 
 
 Thorgrim Troll was to be seen every day ; 
 
 but so were his people, and he was never 
 
 without a following. It was to be seen 
 
 how entirely he ruled the Assembly 
 
 whenever it was held. It was his men 
 
 only who were suffered to be there in 
 
 arms ; he himself sat as president of every 
 
 meeting, and no verdict could be given 
 
 unless he approved of it. In the booths 
 
 he used less ceremony, and seemed 
 
 indeed to do his best to be popular. He 
 
 used to sit out the evenings on a stool 
 
 outside his own booth, and there, when 
 
 he had a goodly circle about him, he 
 
 would tell tales, make jokes, and talk 
 
 about himself and his family till a late 
 
 119
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 hour. Thormod found that he was best 
 away from these parties, for the man 
 made him so angry that he feared he 
 might lose control of himself, and, with 
 that, his life into the bargain. His 
 plan, therefore, was to send his man Egil 
 to listen, and come back with a report of 
 what might be going on. 
 
 That went on for some time, and as it 
 fell out Thormod was mostly left alone 
 in the booth every evening. Egil had 
 nothing out of the common to tell him, 
 and with the sharp ears he had he could 
 mostly tell by the laughter or clamour of 
 the crowd how things were over the hill. 
 
 One night he lay asleep, alone in the 
 hut. It was chilly, and he had covered 
 himself with his fur cloak. It was fur 
 on both sides — black and white. Egil 
 came in presently and woke him. 
 
 " Master, you should be in the booths 
 yonder. There is rare sport." 
 
 Thormod listened, but could hear 
 
 nothing. " What are they doing then ? " 
 
 120
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 "It is at Thorgrim's booth — half the 
 Moot folk is there." 
 
 " Yes, yes — but what are they doing ? ' 
 
 " Thorgrim Troll is telling them a tale." 
 
 " What is it about ? " 
 
 " Ah, that's more than I can tell you, 
 being a fool at such things. All I can 
 say is that the people sit as quiet as 
 mice round his stool, taking in every 
 word he has to tell them." 
 
 Thormod sat up on his bed. " Oh, 
 you must have heard something which 
 will help me. Is nobody named in the 
 tale?" 
 
 " Oh, yes," said Egil, " there was a 
 name I heard. I heard the name of 
 Thorgar, a fine champion ; and then 
 Thorgrim named himself — and great 
 doings that he did with this Thorgar." 
 Oh, that is his tale ? " said Thormod. 
 
 Has he finished it yet? " 
 No, no. You should go and hear 
 him finish it." 
 
 " I think I will," Thormod said, getting 
 
 121 
 
 << 
 tt 
 
 a
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 on to the floor. He put his cloak over 
 his head and shoulders, with the black 
 side out, took his axe, and went out. 
 Egil went with him, and they walked 
 together round the hill and into the 
 town of booths beyond it. The streets 
 were all empty, but they could see the 
 crowd about Thorgrim's booth. Thormod 
 turned off sharply and went behind the 
 row of huts and round that of Thorgrim 
 Troll. He stood under the eaves, but 
 out of sight of the listeners, and pulled 
 back Egil, who, in pure ignorance, was 
 for peering round the corner. 
 
 The evening, which had been sunny, 
 suddenly clouded over. Thormod looked 
 up at the sky. Then he looked at Egil. 
 Then at the sky again. " Master, what 
 ails you? " Egil said. 
 
 Thormod replied, "Egil, there will 
 be a storm — much thunder. Now the 
 thunder-blast foretells dire events. 
 Heaven is angry, the sky cracks and 
 the wrath peals through the crack. 
 
 122
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 When that comes, beware what you do. 
 Take to your heels, man, and away. 
 Slip along, get home to bed, and lie there 
 for safety." Do you heed me ? ' 
 
 Egil's eyeballs showed white rims. 
 " Yes, master." At that moment the 
 rain began, and the wind which precedes 
 the thunder came on swift and cold. 
 Egil's teeth began to chatter, but Thor- 
 mod caught his arm. " Not yet, not 
 yet." The men before Thorgrim's booth 
 were all afoot now, and a stampede for 
 home began. Thormod looked round at 
 them. Men were crowding into Thor- 
 grim's booth, the others were scuttling 
 home, plashing through the wet. But 
 the great man sat still on his stool, 
 sheltered under the eaves. Thormod 
 turned to Egil. " Stay you where you 
 are till you hear the crash. Then run 
 for home." So said, he slipped round 
 to the front of the booth and walked 
 lightly up to Thorgrim Troll. The hood 
 of his cloak shadowed his face. 
 
 123
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Thorgrim took no notice of him, but 
 Thormod stood beside him and waited. 
 
 " Did you finish your tale ? " 
 
 "Ay," said Thorgrim, "all that 
 mattered of it." 
 
 " What tale did you tell them ? " 
 
 Thorgrim chuckled. " I cannot tell 
 it to you again." Then he looked at 
 him. " And who might you be ? " 
 
 " Wigfus, they call me." 
 
 " And whose son are you, Wigfus? " 
 
 " The son of Tortriggr." 
 
 " I don't like your name," said 
 Thorgrim, " or your father's name." He 
 made as if he would rise at his leisure. 
 Thormod swung up his knife-bladed axe 
 and brought it down with a crash at the 
 back of his neck. Thorgrim's body fell 
 in a heap, his head pitched into the street. 
 
 Thormod put his axe into his belt under 
 
 his cloak and went to pick up the head. 
 
 " Ho ! Ho ! come out ! " he called. 
 
 " Somebody has slain your chief ! " Men 
 
 came streaming out of the booth and 
 
 124
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 saw Thormod holding the head. They 
 were dazed; all spoke at once, came 
 crowding round, gaping, wondering. 
 " How ? " " Who did it ? " " Where's 
 the man? " 
 
 Thormod quietly said, " I saw him 
 coming, but didn't know what he was 
 after. In a moment it was done, and 
 he was off. He went that way. Let 
 some one hold the head, and I will show 
 you where he went." 
 
 - They were so astounded that he was 
 obeyed. A tall man took the head from 
 him, others went straying about; but 
 most of them talked about it. Presently 
 there was an outcry from a distance and 
 Thormod heard, "After him! Head 
 him off ! " and many men running. He 
 guessed that they were after Egil, as 
 they were. He himself went down to 
 the shore, and, behind a rock, took off 
 his fur cloak, turned it inside out, and 
 showed all white. 
 They caught Egil and examined him. 
 
 125
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 But he was in such a fright that, as the 
 tale says, the fear ran off him as heat off 
 iron. " That's not a man at all," they 
 said. " It would need a man to kill 
 Thorgrim." 
 
 Men met Thormod also down by the 
 shore, and he gave his name as Tortriggr 
 (Untrusty or Ill-trusty). He said that 
 he was looking for Thorgrim's slayer, 
 and was let alone. 
 
 126
 
 XIV 
 
 Scuf and Bearne were not long in 
 hearing of the hue-and-cry after Thor- 
 grim's slayer, and not long joining it 
 either, for they valued their skins as 
 much as anybody. But after a while, 
 when the excitement had died down, 
 they went home, and there found Egil 
 twittering in a corner. " What ails thee, 
 man ? Has somebody been after thy 
 life also? " 
 
 " A frightful storm," said Egil, " the 
 worst in all my days. I heard the crash, 
 and by the gods I ran — and men after 
 me. They hailed me slayer of a man, 
 but let me alone when they saw who I 
 was." 
 
 " It was seeing what you were, not 
 
 who," said Scuf. " Where is your 
 
 master? " 
 
 127
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Dead of the thunder-clap, you may 
 be sure." 
 
 " What is all this of thunder, you 
 fool ? There has . been no thunder to- 
 day." 
 
 " When I tell you that I heard it, as 
 the master told me ! Did I not run? " 
 
 They had it out of him by and by, 
 and then began to understand the state 
 of Thormod's business. They agreed 
 that they had best go down the firth 
 in a boat and waft him across the water. 
 And that was what they did presently, 
 and took some provision with them. 
 
 Some way down, beyond the Ness, they 
 saw Thormod in his white cloak sitting 
 on the rocks. They ran the boat in- 
 shore, and called out to him to get in, 
 and to be quick about it. Thormod rose 
 and stretched himself at ease, then 
 hopped from rock to rock till he came to 
 them. Then he jumped down into the 
 boat. 
 
 "Well? " said Bearne. 
 
 128
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 "Well? " 
 
 " Is it well, man, or not? " 
 
 "It is very well with me at least," 
 said Thormod. 
 
 Scuf said, " You are the man, I sup- 
 pose? " 
 
 "lam the man they want up there, if 
 you mean that." 
 
 " That is what I mean. Well, well, 
 that is something to have done — so 
 great a man ! The second man in Green- 
 land—well, well ! " 
 
 "He is not so great as he was," said 
 Thormod, " by a head." 
 
 " Did you smite it off him ? " Scuf 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes, I did," said Thormod, " and 
 picked it up for him afterwards." 
 
 " You had better have left it lying. 
 That was near your last hour when 
 they found you with the head on your 
 knees." 
 
 That was Scuf : Bearne chimed in, 
 
 " And another choice moment was when 
 k 129
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 they found you at the Ness. If they 
 had guessed at it then ! " 
 
 " I am not a hard riddle to guess," 
 said Thormod; " a stammering, black- 
 avised, curly-polled fellow as I am." 
 
 " How they came to miss you beats 
 me," said Scuf. 
 
 " It may prove an unlucky miss for 
 some of Thorgrim's kinsfolk," Thormod 
 said. 
 
 " Hoho ! You are never going to have 
 at the rest of them ! " 
 
 " But I am," said Thormod. " For 
 what else did I come to Greenland? " 
 
 Both his friends did their hardest to 
 dissuade him. He was a notable man, 
 they said; he was too notable. How 
 did he think he would get away from 
 Greenland? It was not so easy. Thor- 
 grim's nephews would hunt the firth 
 from end to end after him ; he would be 
 made an outlaw at to-morrow's Moot — 
 and so on. But Thormod was very calm 
 
 about it all. " One can die but once," 
 
 130
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 he told them, " and nobody knows who 
 the next dead man is to be, until he is 
 dead." 
 
 By this time they were over the firth 
 and inside the chain of islands which are 
 found on that side. They left the boat 
 and climbed the cliffs to a cave which 
 Scuf knew of. It was a roomy and dry 
 cave, midway the face of the cliff, and 
 reached by a grass ledge. You could 
 climb down to the water, or up to the 
 mainland, but not easily. The safest 
 way was that by which they had come. 
 " Now," they told Thormod, " do you 
 stay here, and be careful how you show 
 yourself. When the Moot is over we will 
 come for you. You will be an outlaw 
 by that time and anybody's capture — 
 but we will not forsake you." 
 
 ' Good," said Thormod. " Now let 
 me eat and drink something — especially 
 drink something." 
 
 They left him, and rowed back to the 
 booths without adventure ; but next day 
 
 131
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 they were sent for to appear at the Moot, 
 where Thorgrim's nephews moved the 
 outlawry of Thormod. The other two, 
 luckily for themselves, were able to prove 
 where they had been at the time of the 
 slaughter. As for their acquaintance 
 with Thormod, Bearne said that he had 
 never set eyes on him until he came to 
 Ericsnrth in the ship from Norway, and 
 Scuf that he was a stranger to him whom 
 he had met on the quay before he sailed. 
 Then Thormod was pronounced outlaw, 
 and shortly afterwards the Moot broke 
 up. Scuf and Bearne did not at once 
 go home; but making out that they 
 were going to buy cattle, went to stay 
 with the widow Sigrid at Cliff. They 
 knew that Sigurd, her son, was no friend 
 to Thorgrim Troll and his kin. But they 
 saw Thormod before they went there, 
 took him more provender, and bid him 
 keep close. Thormod grinned and said 
 that he would look after himself. 
 
 132
 
 XV 
 
 It was certainly very dull in the cave, 
 and Thormod had never been able to 
 bear dullness with fortitude. For a day 
 or two of fine weather he contented him- 
 self with the grass ledge, upon which it 
 was easy to lie at length, and possible to 
 sit. Then, as he lay on his back looking 
 up the cliff's face, he thought it would be 
 interesting and perhaps useful to attempt 
 the climb. No sooner thought than at- 
 tempted. He succeeded before long in 
 finding a straight way up. Next he tried 
 for a passage down to the shore, and in 
 that too he was lucky. After that he 
 could not be contented to sit about. He 
 took short walks in the country and 
 amused himself very well without meet- 
 ing anybody. And then, one fine even- 
 ing, he saw a man coming along the top 
 
 i33
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 of the cliff — a limping old scarecrow of a 
 man in a long cloak which showed the 
 light through in more than one place. 
 There was not much to be afraid of 
 there, at any rate ; so Thormod went to 
 meet him. 
 
 He was as dirty as he looked, and, as 
 Thormod judged, older than he looked. 
 His cloak, which barely held together, 
 was verminous, and he had a bag over 
 his shoulder in which he carried, no 
 doubt, whatever he could pick up. He 
 stood blinking his blear eyes and waited 
 for Thormod to speak to him. He was 
 too old to be frightened of anybody. 
 
 " A good evening to you," Thormod 
 said. " You travel light, I see." 
 
 " Ay," said the old man, " with all 
 my wealth on my back." 
 
 " And other things besides not so 
 profitable," Thormod told him. Then 
 he asked him, " And who may you 
 be?" 
 
 Odde, sir, Odde is my name — but 
 i34 
 
 <<
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 mostly they call me Lousy Odde, and 
 very rightly so. I am a beggar by trade, 
 and by inclination also, for I never did 
 like work, and long ago determined that 
 I would have little to do with it. Now 
 I go up the firth and down the firth, and 
 what I find is mine, and what I can get 
 out of the folk is mine too." 
 
 " And do you do well at your trade? " 
 
 " Better than you might think to look 
 at me. I am an idle old dog, and that's 
 the truth. They know that. But they 
 know also that I am not a fool, and not 
 much of a liar, and on that knowledge 
 proceed the alms they bestow. Now, sir, 
 you are a stranger to me, yet I thought 
 I knew this country well. And what 
 may your name be? 
 
 " Oh, I am called Torrad." 
 1 And what trade do you follow ? ' 
 
 " None at all. I am a vagabond, very 
 much of your stamp. But I am ready 
 to do some trading with you if you will." 
 
 Odde looked doubtful. " My sack is 
 
 i35
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 light," he said. " I have little worth 
 your buying." 
 
 Thormod said, " Will you sell me the 
 coat on your back? 
 
 " Now you are making game of me," 
 said old Odde. 
 
 " Not in the least," said Thormod. 
 " I will make an exchange with you. 
 You shall have mine for it, and do me 
 an errand into the bargain. Get over 
 the firth and go to Cliff, where friends of 
 mine, Scuf and Bearne, are living. Tell 
 them that you met one Torrad walking 
 out here and changed coats with him. 
 No more than that, and I shall be satis- 
 fied. Now, will you do that for me, and 
 earn my cloak? 
 
 Odde looked at the speaker, looked at 
 
 the weather, looked at the water. He 
 
 thought it would be difficult to get a 
 
 passage — but he wanted Thormod's cloak. 
 
 Well, he said, he believed it might be 
 
 done. Finally, he promised, and the 
 
 exchange was made. Thormod saw him 
 
 136
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 on the road before he went back to his 
 cave. 
 
 The next day, his axe in his belt, the 
 lousy cloak over him, he walked briskly 
 up the firth till he came opposite the 
 settlement on the other side. Then he 
 turned away from the water and went 
 up into the country for a spell, and 
 when he saw what he wanted — which 
 was a flock of sheep — he made straight 
 for it over broken ground with rocks and 
 bogs interspersed. Presently in some salt 
 marshes beyond him he saw a man with 
 the sheep whom he guessed to be — as 
 indeed he was — a shepherd of Hamund 
 of Longness and of Thordis his wife, the 
 sister of Thorgrim Troll. He turned at 
 once towards the man; but now he 
 walked with a limp, and pulled the hood 
 down over his face. 
 
 It was getting dusk, and Thormod 
 held the hood close about his mouth to 
 cover his lack of beard. He asked the 
 
 i37
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 shepherd if the young masters were at 
 home or not. The shepherd said that 
 Bodwar was away, but that the others 
 were out fishing and should be home 
 before dark. " Right," said Thormod, 
 and limped away. He went down to 
 the water, found the boat-house, and sat 
 down there out of sight. 
 
 He heard the oars knocking in the 
 rowlocks from a long way off, but had 
 to wait till they were close inshore 
 before he made out the three sons of 
 Thordis. But he was able to satisfy 
 himself of them before they came in. 
 Falgar sat aft, Thord was amidships, 
 and Thorkel was kneeling in the bows 
 ready to make fast when they ran her 
 up the shore. Just as they were about 
 to touch the gravel Thormod came limp- 
 ing out of the shadow and stood waiting 
 for the boat. Thorkel saw him, thought 
 it was old Odde, and thought no more of 
 him. 
 
 But Thormod had his axe behind his 
 
 138
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 back, and when the boat ran in and 
 Thorkel was stooping forward with the 
 chain in his hand, he gave him a blow 
 on the top of the head which killed him 
 instantly. Then Thormod pulled off the 
 lousy cloak and ran fleetly along the 
 shore; the two young men leapt into 
 the water, splashed ashore, and after 
 him. He ran well, but they ran faster, 
 for they were hard upon his heels on 
 the cliff, and when he came to his cave, 
 and jumped for the grass ledge, almost 
 in the same moment Thord leapt after 
 him — but in leaping came down on all- 
 fours. That was Thormod's opportunity. 
 He drove the axe with all his force into 
 the middle of his back. 
 
 He drove too hard. Thord fell prone, 
 but the axe was immovable, and while 
 he was tussling with it Falgar jumped 
 down to the ledge and hewed at him 
 with a sword. Thormod felt that he 
 was badly hurt between the shoulders, 
 and turned to face his new enemy. He 
 
 139
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 let go of his axe, and springing forward 
 caught Falgar under the armpits and 
 held him fast. Falgar dropped his sword 
 over the cliff, which was Thormod's luck ; 
 but he was the stronger man, and an 
 unwounded man, and it would have gone 
 hard with the poet if, as chance would 
 have it, they had not both gone over 
 the ledge and tumbled into the firth, 
 struggling together. Another lucky thing. 
 If the tide had not been high at the time 
 Thormod at least had been a dead man. 
 The water revived him for the moment, 
 and he swam level with Falgar, and 
 waited his chance. They snatched at 
 each other more than once ; but Thormod 
 could swim like an otter and ducked 
 more often than he was ducked. Diving 
 once, he caught Falgar by the breeches, 
 felt something give way, and guessed 
 that he had broken the strap which held 
 them. He dived again, caught hold 
 again and pulled with all his might. 
 Falgar' s breeches slipped away as he 
 
 140
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 struggled in Thormod's hold. They came 
 down below his knees, held his legs 
 together, and he was done for. Thormod, 
 with what little strength he had left, 
 swam to a ledge of rock and pulled 
 himself up. Then he fainted, and did 
 not see the drowning of Falgar, which 
 after various sousings and bobbings-up 
 was the end of him. But as for Thormod, 
 there he lay all night. 
 
 141
 
 XVI 
 
 The lousy old man had been as good 
 
 as his word. He presented himself before 
 
 Scuf and Bearne before nightfall, at about 
 
 the time when Thormod was sitting in 
 
 the shadow of the boat-house. He would 
 
 have been sharper with his errand if he 
 
 had been able to get a passage over the 
 
 firth — but it was quite as well for 
 
 Thormod, as things turned out, that he 
 
 had been delayed for twenty-four hours. 
 
 Directly Scuf heard the message, he 
 
 recognised the blue mantle the man was 
 
 wearing, and knew that he had spoken 
 
 the truth. He turned indoors and told 
 
 Bearne about it. Bearne said, " That is 
 
 an old shift. Ogmund Dint played it on 
 
 Gunnar Helming not many years ago, 
 
 and a fine man lost his life through it. 
 
 Now we had best go out and look for 
 
 142
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 our friend. Late as it is, I am minded 
 to go at once." 
 
 Scuf thought it wiser to wait till the 
 hour before sunrise. " If, as I think, he 
 has done some notable deed, there will 
 be some search-work going on to-night in 
 which you and I had better not be seen." 
 
 Bearne was unwilling to wait, but Scuf 
 stuck to it. " What sort of fight can 
 we make against the sons of Hamund ? ' 
 
 That was unanswerable — so they went 
 to bed and rose before dawn. 
 
 The firth was quiet enough when they 
 put off. They rowed down the further 
 shore, with muffled oars, and kept a 
 sharp look-out over the water as well as 
 the land. After half an hour's rowing 
 Bearne suddenly stopped. 
 
 " Something lies out on the seaweed 
 yonder. It may be a man, and it may 
 be a seal." 
 
 Scuf looked round. " It's a man," he 
 said. " Pull away." They knew it was 
 Thormod before they landed. 
 
 i43
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 He was alive, and looked at them 
 with one eye, smiling, but not moving 
 his head. 
 
 " How is it with you, man? ' 
 
 " I can't move," said Thormod. He 
 was shivering and deadly pale. 
 
 " You have been struck? " 
 
 " Yes, truly I have; but I have been 
 striking too. I gave more than I got." 
 
 " Whom did you engage? " 
 
 " The nephews — Falgar, Thord and 
 Thorkel." 
 
 " And which of them did you slay? ' 
 
 " I slew all three." 
 
 "What, in one night? " 
 
 " In one night." 
 
 Scuf chuckled. 
 
 " That was a bad miss they made 
 when you slipped away from the Moot, 
 I'm thinking. Three champions in one 
 night. Well, well." 
 
 "Good for a poet? ' says Thormod, 
 
 shivering away. 
 
 " We must get him out of this," said 
 
 144
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Bearne. " Thormod, can you walk if 
 we hold you? 
 
 " I can't move, I tell you. I am stiff 
 from top to toe." 
 
 " Fetch the sail," said Scuf. " We'll 
 carry him." 
 
 Yes, and bring me a dram with it," 
 Thormod called after him. 
 
 Bearne came back with his cordial. 
 Thormod's teeth were clenched, and had 
 to be forced open with a knife-blade. 
 But he drank the fiery stuff until his 
 eyes watered. Then they turned him 
 over on to the sail and carried him into 
 the boat. The movement started his 
 wound again, which must be bandaged. 
 Thormod bore everything with cheerful- 
 ness, and went on with his stammered 
 jokes all the time. 
 
 1 Now," said Bearne, " we must look 
 lively, for we have a long way to go." 
 
 ' Where are we going ? ' Thormod 
 wanted to know. 
 
 ' We are going out of this firth alto- 
 
 L i45
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 gether, and as far up the other as we 
 can get," Scuf said. "If we are off 
 soon the tides will serve us to rights." 
 
 " Don't forget to bring me my axe," 
 said Thormod. " You will find it up there 
 on the ledge, sticking in a man's back." 
 
 Bearne climbed the cliff to the ledge, 
 and discovered the dead Thord with the 
 axe lodged in his spine. He came back 
 with Thormod's clothes in a bundle, and 
 the axe as well. " I made you a handy 
 weapon here," he said. 
 
 " Yes, you did," said Thormod, " but 
 the pattern was mine." 
 
 He was easier now. The drink had 
 warmed him, and the flow of blood eased 
 his stiffness. Presently he was able to 
 eat something, and as he munched he 
 talked to the two men rowing. He 
 related the whole affair to them. The 
 drowning of Falgar filled them with 
 admiration. " You are a swimmer, it is 
 very plain. Whatever end you make I 
 
 don't suppose it will be in the water." 
 
 146
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " N-n-no," said Thormod, " I shall 
 d-d-ie in b-b-attle." 
 
 " And where will your battle be? ' 
 
 " Oh, not here. In Norway — with 
 King Olaf." 
 
 " You know something, then ? ' 
 
 " Yes," he said, " I know a few 
 things." 
 
 " You are a wonder of the world," 
 Scuf said; and Thormod replied, "All 
 p-p-oets are." 
 
 " Why so ? " Scuf asked ; and was told, 
 ' Because they think of only one thing 
 at a time." 
 
 The tides served them well, as Scuf 
 
 had hoped they would. The last of the 
 
 ebb took them out of Einarsfirth, and 
 
 the flood took them up Ericsnrth to the 
 
 head of it. There they stayed. Bearne 
 
 sat in the boat with Thormod, while 
 
 Scuf made his way up the mountain to 
 
 a little house close under the glacier 
 
 where a queer old couple lived — no one 
 
 knew how. Gamle was the man — a 
 
 147
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 strange man, dark and twinkling, un- 
 certain in his temper, but known to be 
 a great hunter; Grima was his wife, 
 very wise, very cunning, an old heathen, 
 and something of an old witch. They 
 had never been Christianised, they saw 
 nobody, and did not want to see any- 
 body. When Scuf went into the house 
 he saw them sitting side by side over 
 the fire, blinking at him like two owls 
 vexed by the light. 
 
 But Scuf knew them well, and they 
 him. They made him welcome after 
 their fashion, gave him a horn of the 
 right stuff, and a place by the fire. 
 Presently, when he had drunk somewhat, 
 he opened what he wanted of them — 
 hospitality and healing for a man of King 
 Olaf's, who had been badly wounded. 
 They said nothing to that, but went on 
 blinking at the fire. 
 
 Presently the woman, Grima, said, 
 "Who wounded him? " And then the 
 
 whole story had to come out, and Scuf 
 
 148
 
 THE LIGHT H EART 
 
 reckoned he had better make a clean 
 breast of it. They blinked more than 
 ever after that, and Grima said, " Your 
 man is not everybody's man." 
 
 " No, he is not," Scuf said, " but I 
 know nobody who can serve him except 
 yourself. And if any action is brought 
 against you for what you do, you may 
 reckon upon me to make good all that 
 you suffer. As for the charges you are 
 at for Thormod, there is plenty to meet 
 that with. Now, I wish you would do 
 us this kindness." 
 
 The two of them looked into the fire 
 for a long time. Presently Gamle said, 
 " Well ! " and Grima said, " Ay, ay "— 
 and that was all that they did say; but 
 Scuf, who knew them, understood it, 
 and went down to the shore. 
 
 Presently they brought Thormod in 
 between them, and laid him on a bed. 
 Grima, who treated him as if he had 
 been a child, turned him over, and 
 
 peered into the wound. She muttered 
 
 149
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 fast to herself, grumbling and scolding 
 at the bad appearance of it, the dirt 
 that had got in and the like. When 
 once she got to work, however, she 
 showed her quality ; for she cleansed 
 and bound up the gash, and made 
 Thormod easier than he had been since 
 he got it. Scuf could see very well 
 that he and his hosts were going to get 
 on together, and soon afterwards went 
 off to Stockness. 
 
 150
 
 XVII 
 
 The cold had settled in Thormod's 
 wound, and he was ill for many months — 
 they say twelve. So slowly did he get 
 on, that in the spring following the deed 
 which had earned it him he could walk 
 no further than from one room to another, 
 that is, between bower and hall. He used 
 to make this excursion many times in 
 the course of the day, but was always 
 exhausted by it. 
 
 Meantime, and for long, it was sup- 
 posed down in the firths that he had been 
 drowned with Falgar, for that young 
 man's body had been washed ashore, and 
 showed no wounds upon it. Thord had 
 also been found, and the earth-slide 
 which the other two had made when they 
 fell off the ledge. Thordis, the young 
 men's mother, never believed it, but 
 
 151
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 everybody else did, including Bodwar, 
 the only son left to her. But in the fol- 
 lowing spring something came to Thordis, 
 a dream or a vision, which changed the 
 whole position. 
 
 She slept late one morning, and whined 
 and talked in her sleep. Bodwar would 
 not have her disturbed, for like every one 
 else of his generation he held strongly 
 by dreams. No doubt but she had the 
 second sight, for presently she awoke with 
 a start and sat up, looking wild, in her 
 bed. " What have you been dreaming of, 
 mother ? " Bodwar asked her, and " What 
 have you seen ? 
 
 " Ah," she said, " I have been over 
 the fells on my broomstick this night, 
 and now I know a thing or two which I 
 did not know when I went to bed." 
 
 "What things are they? " 
 
 " I know," she said, " that Thormod, 
 who slew your brothers, is alive — and I 
 know where to have him, too." 
 
 "Where, then? " 
 
 152
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " He is with old Gamle and his witch- 
 wife under the glacier at Ericsfirth Head." 
 
 Bodwar was much impressed. " Are 
 you sure of that? " 
 
 " How should I not be sure ? Didn't I 
 see him limping there? Now, get your 
 boat down, my son, and choose your 
 rowers, and we will go after him." 
 
 " He is a dead man if so be that we find 
 him up there," Bodwar said. 
 
 He made ready, and manned a boat, 
 taking fifteen men besides himself, well- 
 armed. They rowed down the firth and 
 out to sea, ran up Ericsfirth, and stayed 
 at Brent-lithe, where Thorkel lived, who 
 had been the first man to harbour Thor- 
 mod when he came out to Greenland. As 
 it was now late, they stayed there for 
 the night, meaning to be off the first 
 thing in the morning. But this could 
 not be managed, for Thordis thought it 
 was very necessary to get Thorkel's 
 countenance, and when he had agreed to 
 go with them it did not suit him to take 
 
 i53
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 less men with him than she and Bodwar 
 had. In fact, he took more. Gamle was 
 a tenant of his, and entitled to fair play, 
 especially from men out of the other firth. 
 
 Now it was Grima's turn for visions, 
 and we are told that they did not fail 
 her. She saw Thordis' boat rowing up 
 the firth, knew how many men were in it, 
 and what their errand was. She took 
 the direction of affairs at once, and Thor- 
 mod was amused to see how completely 
 Gamle was at her orders. He was to stay 
 at home, but not show himself. And he 
 was to put a kettle on the fire in the 
 bower and boil seal in it. Gamle went 
 off obediently to do as he was told. 
 
 "And what am I to do, mother? " 
 Thormod wanted to know. 
 
 She drew forward the great chair which 
 was in the corner by the hearth. It was 
 a huge, old-fashioned chair, deep enough 
 to hold two people. It had a canopy; 
 and on the pillar at the back was carved 
 
 i54
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 a huge image of Thor who spread out 
 his arms and made the canopy. " Sit 
 you there," said Grima, " in the midst of 
 the reek, and never move out of it whoso- 
 ever comes in or goes out. If you are 
 to die you will die, and it makes no matter 
 to you whether you die in a chair or 
 against the wall. So sit you still as a 
 mouse until I bid you out. Now I shall 
 go and spin my yarn on the threshold, 
 and let them do their worst." By this 
 time the bower was thick with seal-reek 
 — impossible to see your hand in front 
 of your face. Thormod was so amused 
 that he roared with laughter, and made 
 Grima angry. As for Gamle, the thicker 
 the smoke grew the more seal he put into 
 the kettle. 
 
 Grima saw the two boats before long, 
 and called out to Thormod to stop fooling. 
 She saw them land their folk, saw the 
 parley that ensued, then watched Thorkel 
 come alone up the path to the house. 
 She went on with her spinning. 
 
 i55
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 i. 
 
 Well, mother, and how's it with you 
 this day? " 
 
 " Eh, none too bad. Gamle's busy at 
 home with his seal-kettle, and I am here 
 to be out of the reek. And what brings 
 you up so far from home? 
 
 Then he told her what he had come 
 about. " Thordis of Longness has it 
 in her mind that you are harbouring an 
 outlaw — Thormod the poet from Norway. 
 Now I told her I thought that not likely — 
 for that would be a heavy charge for you." 
 
 " Too much for me, master," said 
 Grima. " What would I be doing with 
 a murderous outlaw, and me lonely in 
 my house most days of the week ? ' 
 
 " So I told her," said Thorkel. " But 
 nothing would suit her but she must 
 come and ransack. And that is our 
 business with you." 
 
 " Ransack, with all my heart, if you 
 ransack alone. But I will not be over-run 
 with a score of armed men, and I don't 
 want Thordis of Einarsfirth turning my 
 
 156
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 things over, either. You I know, and 
 am always glad to see you — but of 
 Einarsfirth people, the more I know the 
 less I like them." 
 
 " But, you see, mother, it is Thordis 
 who is hunting, and not me. I have 
 obtained it from her that I shall be pres- 
 ent, in order to insure you against malice. 
 I hope then that you will be reasonable 
 
 — otherwise " and he indicated the 
 
 men-at-arms on the shore with a sweep 
 
 of his hand — " otherwise " 
 
 Old Grima tossed up her head. ' Oh, 
 I know, I know — Well, so you are with 
 
 her " 
 
 " I shall be," said Thorkel, and went 
 down to the shore, whence he returned 
 with Thordis, a quick-eyed, black-browed 
 woman. 
 
 They ransacked the byre, the store- 
 room and the turf-shelter; they went 
 through the hall and opened the door 
 into the bower. The seal-reek came out 
 like a sea-fog. Thordis did her best, 
 
 i57
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 but could not face that. " Somebody 
 must be in there making that foul reek," 
 she said. " Thorkel, do you go and see 
 who it is." Thorkel went in a little way, 
 and was soon swallowed up in the reek. 
 He came back presently and said Gamle 
 was there, boiling seal-blubber. 
 
 '•' Did you tell him to stop it? " 
 
 " I did so — but he shook his head at 
 me, and put on more blubber. He is 
 hard of hearing, is Gamle." 
 
 " Well," Thordis said, " we must go on 
 the roof, and open the vents. We can 
 overlook the place very well from there." 
 
 With a ladder they did so. The smoke 
 lifted somewhat and Thordis could see 
 into the bower. She saw Gamle by the 
 fire, stirring his kettle ; and she saw Thor 
 above the chair, with his arms apart. 
 Nothing else was to be seen ; so then they 
 went down the ladder, and renewed their 
 search outside. 
 
 Then they came round the house to 
 
 Grima, who was spinning yarn and mut- 
 
 158
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 tering to herself. She took no notice at 
 all of Thordis, but Thordis was accus- 
 tomed to be noticed. " We came up 
 here to find heathens, it seems. I see 
 you have Thor over your chair, dame." 
 
 " Ah, there he is, the old scamp, sure 
 enough," said Grima. " And let me tell 
 you there is some use in Blackbeard to 
 people like me who cannot get down to 
 hear the priest of God in the church. 
 For I look Thor in the face, and say, 
 ' You are a wooden god, Thor, and if I 
 chose for it I could light the fire with you. 
 But the God in church was not made with 
 hands; and when men slew Him, He 
 rose the third day. Now you — if I put 
 you in the fire — it is white ash you would 
 be in the morning.' " 
 
 Thordis pressed her lips together. " It 
 sounds very well — but if we were to push 
 you hard, maybe we should learn more 
 about you and your practices. I have it 
 in my mind that you could tell us some- 
 thing of Thormod if my son and I, and 
 
 i59
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 the men we have with us, were to make 
 you speak." 
 
 " More goes into the mind than sense," 
 said Grima, " and maybe it is the better 
 for you that Thormod is not in my house, 
 if all I hear of him and your sons is true. 
 But you are sore about that, so I'll say 
 no more." 
 
 There was no more to be said or done 
 by the ransackers, who presently went 
 off to their boats, and set out for home. 
 Then Thormod came out of the reek and 
 sat in the sun beside Grima. She scolded 
 him, and he laughed at her ; but they had 
 grown very fond of each other. By the 
 end of the summer he was well of his 
 wound, and anxious to go down the firth 
 to Stockness. But Grima would not 
 suffer that, and sent Gamle down instead. 
 
 1 60
 
 XVIII 
 
 Scuf and Bearne came up to fetch 
 Thormod away. He paid his farewells, 
 giving handsome presents to the good 
 old couple. They were as sorry to lose 
 him as if he had been their son; but 
 Thormod himself was anxious to be doing 
 something. They all three went to Stock- 
 ness, where a shelter in the storehouse 
 had been fitted up for him. He was 
 there that winter — his third in Greenland 
 — and in the course of it Scuf sold the 
 Stockness estate, and made his plans 
 for fitting out a ship. They would all 
 leave the country and settle in Norway. 
 That was the plan, which was only de- 
 layed by Thormod's next venture. 
 
 As soon as the sea was open again he 
 told his hosts that he had affairs of his 
 
 own which he must settle before he left 
 
 m 161
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 the country, and if they guessed what 
 those were he left them guessing, for he 
 would tell him nothing definite. He put 
 some stores into a boat, took Egil to row, 
 and set off. Thormod steered, and took 
 a course down Ericsfirth, and out to sea ; 
 then up into Einarsfirth once more. 
 
 They were well up Einarsfirth when 
 Thormod grew fidgety and began to rock 
 the boat. " Easy, master, or you will 
 capsize us," Egil called out. " Why, 
 what's the matter with you ? " 
 
 " I have a fit," Thormod said, and 
 
 went on with his rocking. Egil gave 
 
 over rowing, which was not possible 
 
 under such conditions, shipped his oars 
 
 and made them fast under the thwarts. 
 
 Thormod went on with his fit until he 
 
 had filled the boat with water. She 
 
 settled down, and the two men were 
 
 swimming. Thormod, who had his axe 
 
 with him, dived immediately, and swam 
 
 under water until he was well away. 
 
 Then he came up, to dive again immedi- 
 
 162
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 ately ; and so he went on until he reached 
 
 the shore. As for Egil, who was a good 
 
 swimmer too, he managed to get the boat 
 
 over on to the keel, and to row her with 
 
 the rudder until he was in water where 
 
 he could stand. After that he was not 
 
 long baling her out, nor in floating her 
 
 again with himself aboard. He got out 
 
 his oars and set-to rowing home as fast 
 
 as he could lay to the work. Arrived at 
 
 Stockness, he had his tale ready. Thor- 
 
 mod had drowned himself, and there, so 
 
 far as Egil was concerned, was the end of 
 
 him. He couldn't tell them whereabouts 
 
 they had been when the fit began, nor 
 
 had he seen Thormod after the boat rilled. 
 
 He was quite sure his master was drowned. 
 
 Scuf was not at all sure. 
 
 But Thormod had had his plans cut 
 
 out. It suited him that Egil should row 
 
 him so far, but not that he should come 
 
 any further. So he took the shortest 
 
 way with him that occurred to him, and 
 
 with great success. When he came 
 
 163
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 ashore he took his clothes off, wrung them 
 out, dried them in the sun. Then, 
 dressed, he set off walking, and went on 
 all day till he came to Cliff, where Sigrid 
 lived with her son Sigurd. These were 
 a couple whom he had known on his 
 last visit as unfriends of the Thorgrim 
 clan. 
 
 It was dark when he came to Cliff and 
 knocked at the door. A heavy young 
 man came out, opened the door, said 
 nothing except good evening, and went 
 back into the house. Thormod followed 
 him in, and sat down by the fire. Sigrid 
 was there, watching him, and said to 
 Sigurd, " And who is this young man ? ' 
 Thormod said, " Slowman is my name." 
 " That's a name for many a man. 
 Will Slowman stay here the night? ' 
 He will if he is asked," said Thormod. 
 
 << 
 
 They played out this play solemnly 
 
 through the evening meal; but in the 
 
 morning Sigrid came to Slowman's bed- 
 
 164
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 side, and said, " Now, Thormod, what 
 is it you purpose in these parts ? ' 
 
 He laughed, saying, " My name is 
 Slowman." 
 
 " Not here," Sigrid said. " I knew 
 you again the moment you came in last 
 night." 
 
 " Then let Slowman go his way," 
 Thormod said. " Now I will tell you 
 that I am minded to go up to Longness 
 where Thorunn the sister of Thorgrim 
 Troll lives ; and there I will meet if I can 
 with Leot her son. They tell me that he 
 is something of a champion, but I wish to 
 teach him to keep a still tongue in his 
 head. He has been talking about me — or 
 so I hear." 
 
 Sigrid nodded her head. " If that is 
 what you intend, I will send my son 
 Sigurd with you. Leot and his mother 
 have held our faces to the ground this 
 many a year." 
 
 " There's a remedy for that," said 
 Thormod, " but it does not always 
 
 165
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 answer. Now if we fail it makes no 
 matter to me. But if you fail you will 
 lose your holding in this firth.' ' 
 
 " Oh," said Sigrid, " we would risk 
 more than that for a fair chance at 
 Leot." 
 
 Presently the two young men set off 
 together, and by keeping to a river-bed, 
 and then skirting a hill, contrived to come 
 at Longness without being seen by any- 
 body. They reached the house about 
 dinner-time, and saw it all lying quietly 
 in the sun. Thormod, without hesita- 
 tion, went to the front door and knocked 
 upon it. Sigurd stood by him. 
 
 A woman came to the door and asked 
 what they wanted. Sigurd said, " The 
 master. Is he at home? " 
 
 " Yes, surely. He is in the hall." 
 
 " Ask him to come out and speak with 
 us." 
 
 She went back to Leot, who was eating 
 
 his dinner. " Who is it ? " 
 
 " Sigurd of Cliff is there, and a man 
 
 166
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 with him. They ask you to go out and 
 speak with them." 
 
 "Who is the other? " 
 
 " I never saw him before." 
 
 " What does he look like? " 
 
 " A young man with light eyes. His 
 hair is black and curly. A smiling 
 man." 
 
 "Oh, he smiles, does he? That will 
 be Thormod. Good. I come." He got 
 up, took a spear from the wall and went 
 to the door. He opened it suddenly 
 and drove the spear at Thormod, who was 
 nearest to him. 
 
 Thormod slashed at it with his axe, 
 
 and turned it downwards ; but it caught 
 
 him in the calf of the leg, and tore a bad 
 
 wound. But as Leot stooped to follow 
 
 his spear-thrust Sigurd smote him in the 
 
 shoulder with a sword, and shore the 
 
 flesh away from the bone. Leot turned 
 
 and made for the hall; Sigurd slashed 
 
 at him as he went and sliced him from the 
 
 thigh down to the calf. He fell, but he 
 
 167
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 was indoors, and the woman ran before 
 him and slammed-to the door. 
 
 " That will keep him quiet for a time," 
 said Thormod. " You and I had best 
 be trotting." He made a bad business 
 of his trotting, though, for his left leg 
 was stiff already. He had to stop within 
 a few hundred yards and bind it up. 
 
 When they were down by the water 
 Thormod told Sigurd to get away home 
 as fast as he could and tell his mother 
 what had been done. " I advise you to 
 go over to Scuf for a while. Now get on 
 with you, and leave me to shift for my- 
 self. I shall hang about the boathouse 
 out there on the chance of getting a 
 passage out of the firth." 
 
 He limped off cheerfully, and reached 
 the boathouse. It was empty, but there 
 were signs that a boat had been taken out 
 lately. No doubt it would be home by 
 dark. He sought out a berth for himself 
 in dry sea-weed, made himself comfort- 
 able and slept out the rest of the day. 
 
 168
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 In the dusk he was awakened by the 
 sound of rowing, and sat up to listen 
 to it. 
 
 It all fell out as he expected. Men 
 brought in a boat, and came ashore. 
 He heard them talking about the weather 
 and debating if the boat should be pulled 
 up or not. They decided to risk it, 
 and went their way home, carrying their 
 fish and gear. 
 
 Thormod waited till it was dark, and 
 then pulled up the stone which held the 
 boat. He was soon out in the firth — a 
 fine still moonlight night; but that did 
 not trouble him. 
 
 If he had known that Thordis, the 
 spaewoman, was having visions, he might 
 have hurried, but I doubt it. She had a 
 vision, nodding over the fire, and woke 
 as usual with a start. " Where art thou, 
 Bodwar, my son? 
 
 " Here, mother. What do you want 
 
 of me? " 
 
 "There's fish to be taken to-night," 
 
 169
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 she says, " if you are the man to take 
 him." 
 
 " I am a man for any game," said 
 Bodwar. " But where are your fish, and 
 what kind of fish are they ? " 
 
 " Thormod the outlaw is abroad on 
 
 the firth, and he is alone. Come thou 
 
 with me, and we shall catch him." 
 
 Bodwar was all agog in a moment, 
 
 roused up some of the men, took his 
 
 weapons, and had the party down by 
 
 the boats in a very short time. They set 
 
 off rowing and rowed fast. Thormod 
 
 heard them from a long way off, and 
 
 looked about to see what he had best do. 
 
 There were shelves of rock scattered about 
 
 the firth, but a long way from each other. 
 
 These were his best chance, he thought, 
 
 though bad was best. He had the boat 
 
 bottom upwards in no time, and swam 
 
 for the nearest shelf. It was fairly long, 
 
 and covered with sea-weed. Whether 
 
 the high tides covered it he had no notion. 
 
 " I must be drowned or speared, it seems, 
 
 170
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 and may be both. But who knows his 
 doom? ' He dug himself into a cleft 
 in the rocks, covered himself in sea-weed, 
 and waited. 
 
 They were long in coming, for they first 
 found the boat, and debated about that. 
 Was Thormod drowned, then? Thordis 
 thought, certainly not ; and it was by her 
 directions that they landed on the rock- 
 island, and went over it carefully with 
 spears. Twice at least Thormod felt them, 
 and put up a prayer to King Olaf . They 
 passed right over him three times in all— 
 and finally he heard Thordis calling to 
 him. " Thormod, Thormod, come out and 
 fight my son. If you have more spunk 
 than a goat, if you have a bolder heart 
 than a mare, come out and fight." It was 
 on the tip of his tongue to answer her — 
 but some wiser spirit, perhaps King Olaf 's, 
 restrained him. Then, at last, he heard 
 them go grumbling away; finally, he 
 heard the oars. He found out afterwards 
 
 that they had taken his boat with them. 
 
 171
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 He pulled himself out of the sea-weed 
 and got into the sea. Swimming was 
 very difficult now, for his left leg was 
 stiff all the way up. He swam from 
 island to island, and by resting on every 
 one managed to make some way ; but by 
 the time the grey began to show up in the 
 east he knew he was done. He crawled his 
 last on to a shelf of rock, and there he lay. 
 
 Then it was, as they tell the tale, that 
 at Wick, a homestead near at hand, the 
 good man of the house, whose name was 
 Grim, dreamed a dream. 
 
 He dreamed that a man in a white 
 
 cloak stood by his bed. He saw him 
 
 there plainly. He was a fair man, 
 
 bearded, broad-shouldered, blue-eyed, not 
 
 over-tall. He was leaning on a spear, 
 
 and seemed to be waiting until Grim 
 
 should wake up. When Grim sat up in 
 
 bed, the man asked him, " Grim, do you 
 
 sleep or wake? " 
 
 I am awake, as I believe," said Grim. 
 
 And who are you? " 
 
 172 

 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 << 
 
 I am King Olaf, son of Harold, and 
 I have a commandment to give you, 
 which is this. You shall go out on to 
 the firth and look for my poet Thormod, 
 who is lying spent and wounded on a 
 ledge of rock. He has not had fortunate 
 travel, and will die if he is not picked up. 
 And if you are not willing to go yourself, 
 you have a man here who will gladly do 
 my errand. He is a guest of yours, and 
 calls himself Gest, but that is not his 
 name. His name is Steinar, and he is an 
 Icelander; and he is out here to avenge 
 the death of Thorgar Hawarsson. That 
 he cannot do, but he can succour the 
 avenger — and so he will if you ask him." 
 Hereupon it seemed to Grim that the 
 figure faded into the dark, but that 
 he himself remained, broad-awake and 
 sitting up. 
 
 He got out of bed, put on his clothes, 
 took his sword, and went to wake 
 Gest. 
 
 "What is it, host? " 
 
 i73
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Up with you. I have a word or two 
 to say." 
 
 Gest took his sword and went out with 
 him into the hall. 
 
 " Now," said Grim, "if it is for 
 the first or last time, tell me your 
 name." 
 
 " You know my name." 
 
 " I know the name which you gave 
 me, but not whether it is truly your 
 name." 
 
 "Why should it not be? " 
 
 " Because I believe it is Steinar." 
 
 "Who told you that? " 
 
 " It was King Olaf." 
 
 " And when did you see King Olaf? ' 
 
 " A moment since." He told him 
 what he had seen. 
 
 Gest said, " If he is right about me, he 
 is right about Thormod. I know Thor- 
 mod well, and that he has been before- 
 hand with me in Thorgar's business. 
 Now we must go and look for him." 
 
 They took boat and searched the 
 
 174
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 islands, and presently found Thormod. 
 " How is it with you, fellow-traveller? " 
 said Gest. 
 
 " Poorly just now," said Thormod, 
 " but I left a man up at Longness poorer 
 than me." 
 
 "Who was that? " 
 
 " A heavy man called Leot." 
 
 " That makes five of them ? " 
 
 " Yes, five." 
 
 " Thorgar may rest himself, I 
 think." 
 
 " He must make the best job he can 
 of it," said Thormod. " It would take 
 me two years to get him the sixth, and 
 Greenland would not hold me for so 
 long." 
 
 " You will be safe with me," Grim said, 
 " till your leg is whole — and then we will 
 flit you aboard Scuf's ship." Then they 
 helped him into the boat, took him home 
 to Wick, and kept him quiet until the 
 next Moot was over. At that Moot 
 Sigurd was outlawed for his share in 
 
 i75
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Leot's killing, but he took that very little 
 to heart because he was leaving Greenland 
 with Scuf. 
 
 As soon as the Moot was over Scuf 
 sailed for Norway. 
 
 176
 
 XIX 
 
 When Thormod looked in the face of 
 King Olaf again, he did not see much 
 friendship in it, and was dashed, because 
 he himself felt that there was nobody in 
 the world like his king. By and by 
 he found out why that was, that a man 
 had come to the court before him and 
 given out that he had avenged Thorgar's 
 death. On the strength of that tale he 
 had been rewarded and taken into friend- 
 ship; and when Thormod presented 
 himself it was as one who had failed in 
 an undertaking, who might be a good 
 poet, but was not a man of any other 
 account. .Thormod received a nod, and 
 was hurt. He was a careless and light- 
 hearted soul, but capable of great wor- 
 ship, and even love. All the affection 
 
 N I77
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 he had for Thorgar was now centred in 
 the King, and to be so received was to be 
 cut to the heart. 
 
 One day, at dinner, the King sent 
 down the drink-horn to Thormod, and 
 called for a verse from him in return. 
 Thormod, white and furious, started up 
 and spoke what came to him on the 
 spur of the moment. It stung. It was 
 to the effect that the dream-kine who 
 stood by Grim's bed and interceded for 
 his life was a better friend to him than 
 this king who commanded verses. Every- 
 body stared, and Olaf stared longest. 
 
 " Who was your dream-king, and what 
 did he do? " 
 
 " He came to the bedside of Grim of 
 Wick and bade him seek me where I lay 
 wounded and spent on the reef." 
 
 " I asked you, who was he? ' 
 
 " He called himself Olaf Haroldsson." 
 
 The King looked queerly at him. 
 
 " Tell me what you did in Greenland, 
 
 Thormod." 
 
 178
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 << 
 
 I am glad that you wish to know it." 
 Then he recited his deeds, and the deaths 
 of Thorgrim Troll and his nephews Falgar, 
 Thorkel, Thord and Leot. 
 
 " But Glum tells us that he slew 
 Thorgrim Troll " 
 
 " Then Glum is a liar. I, the left- 
 handed man, slew him, as I tell you." 
 
 " Well," said King Olaf, " no one can 
 say that you have not had good luck, 
 and more than the fisherman's luck. 
 The fisherman reckons — a fish for himself, 
 a fish for the boat, a fish for his hook, and 
 a fish for his line. But you are a fish to 
 the good." 
 
 " Yes, I am. But I left one fish in the 
 water, and regret it." 
 
 " I see that Glum has been valiant 
 with his mouth," said Olaf, " but you 
 have deeds behind your words. Come 
 up here and sit by me." So they made 
 friends again, and Thormod began to 
 share Olaf's counsels, which were not 
 
 of good augury just then. In fact, it 
 
 179
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 appeared that after reigning fifteen years 
 over Norway, fighting, and in the main 
 successfully fighting, against the might 
 of King Cnut of England and Denmark, 
 he must now, as he put it, set out on his 
 travels again. Earl Hakon, a steady 
 enemy of his, was now in force in the 
 country, and to his banner the greater 
 part of the chiefs were going over — for 
 one reason or another, but chiefly for 
 this, that King Olaf had rendered Norway 
 a country where men could live in peace 
 and under the protection of his law. 
 Now the chiefs had been accustomed to 
 live, on the contrary, in war. Wickings 
 at sea, they had also chosen to be wick- 
 ings on land. As for the law, they had 
 no use for that at all. If plunder were 
 to be punishable under King Olaf's 
 law — and it was punishable and impar- 
 tially punished — a chief was in no better 
 case than a pickpocket, and for all they 
 could see there was no virtue in chiefhood 
 
 at all. Earl Hakon had no such prejudice 
 
 180
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 concerning justice, and his strength was 
 increasing from day to day. 
 
 These things King Olaf confided to 
 Thormod by degrees, and by increasing 
 degrees as his affection for the young 
 man grew. He had no reason to repent 
 his confidence, for Thormod had always 
 had a turn for devotion, and now that 
 his dues to his murdered friend Thorgar 
 were paid he had leisure of heart to 
 admire and to love this great king. 
 " Sir," he said, " it seems to me that you 
 have not Christianised Norway by dip- 
 ping all the Norwegians in water, and 
 that you will have to dip many more of 
 them in blood before you can hope to 
 save their souls. Now whether you are 
 as strong as your cause deserves, I 
 cannot say, but of this I am sure, that 
 by going into exile for a time you will 
 grow stronger rather than weaker. To 
 begin with, those who follow you thither 
 will be men on whom you can rely; 
 
 second, a very short time of ill-govern- 
 
 181
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 ment under Earl Hakon and the chiefs 
 will convince the people that yours has 
 been good government and theirs is no 
 government at all. When you come 
 back, you will find the Norwegians ready 
 for you. That is what I think." 
 
 The King had his chin in his hand, 
 and was looking at his poet. " And do 
 you follow me if I go into exile? ' he 
 asked. 
 
 " I do," said Thormod. 
 
 11 And what is your reason ? ' 
 
 " You are my King," said Thormod, 
 " and I will share life and death with 
 you. When I leapt into your ship in 
 the harbour I put my life into your 
 hands, and you gave it back to me. The 
 reason I had then is the reason I have 
 now." 
 
 " I was not your King then, my 
 friend." 
 
 " You were not. But I saw you 
 
 throned there upon the ship of war, and 
 
 a voice spoke to me and said, There, 
 
 182
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Thormod, is your King. And so it has 
 turned out. Now I know that my life 
 is bound with yours, and if you are 
 willing it shall cease with yours also." 
 
 "Ah," said King Olaf, "who knows 
 when his life will cease? " 
 
 " I do," said Thormod. " I know 
 that my life will cease when yours 
 ceases." 
 
 The King gave him his hand. " A 
 few more of your sort, and I shall come 
 back to Norway." 
 
 " You will find plenty of my sort in 
 Iceland," said Thormod. 
 
 183
 
 XX 
 
 King Olaf, however, did not go 
 West, but rather to the East, where he 
 was certain of a welcome. His queen, 
 Astrid, his daughter, Ulfhild, his son, 
 Magnus, went with him ; and he mustered 
 in all some two hundred adherents, of 
 whom there are known to this tale Finn 
 Ernesson and Thormod the poet. There 
 had been others, and in particular Biorn 
 the marshal, a famous man on whom he 
 counted. But Biorn asked leave to go 
 home to his lands, saying that he was 
 too old for adventure, and King Olaf had 
 not known how to refuse him. If he 
 were compelled to go it would have been 
 against his will ; if he stayed behind he 
 might remain true to the King's cause. 
 So Biorn was let off, and others fell off; 
 
 but two hundred persons remained to 
 
 184
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 Olaf of all his kingdom of Norway, and 
 with these he threaded the Swedish 
 forests and took ship for Russia. He was 
 well received by the King, Jarisleif, and 
 offered a barony on which to maintain 
 himself and his family. He took that 
 thankfully, and there we lose sight of 
 him for about three years. 
 
 During those years everything in Nor- 
 way turned to favour Earl Hakon, who 
 had the support of King Cnut of Eng- 
 land, and of his money. The money, 
 among other effects it had, seduced Biorn 
 the marshal from his loyalty. He was 
 tempted to swear fealty to the Earl, 
 and he fell. But towards the end of 
 Olaf's sojourn in Russia Earl Hakon, on 
 a voyage home from England to Norway, 
 was lost in a storm off the north of 
 Caithness, he and his whole ship's com- 
 pany ; and when news of this was brought 
 to Biorn — that the Earl was drowned, 
 and Norway without a lord — he felt that 
 he had been a fool. " Who is so fit to 
 
 185
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 be lord of Norway as the great King 
 I have forsworn? Are we to see here a 
 creature of King Cnut's; and is that 
 mighty man to be lord of half the earth ? 
 That will not suit either Norway or 
 me. I will seek out King Olaf, as the 
 Prodigal Son sought out his father, and 
 what he said that I will say." 
 
 He arrayed himself then and there, 
 and with a trusty retinue set out on his 
 journey to the East. He travelled night 
 and day, by land as well as by sea, and 
 did not stay anywhere, or sleep in a bed, 
 until he had come up with King Olaf. 
 The King, who knew nothing of his de- 
 fection, was glad of him and welcomed 
 him as a friend. Having heard all his 
 news from home, he was full of thought, 
 by no means decided what to do. The 
 Russian King had offered him a province, 
 the province of Kasan, to rule over; his 
 people, however, were homesick; as for 
 himself, he was tempted to renounce all 
 
 worldly affairs, to go pilgrim to Jeru- 
 
 186
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 salem, and there settle himself a hermit. 
 Now came this news of Norway, and he 
 must make up his mind. " Biorn," he 
 said, " between now and then God will 
 decide my road for me, and not I. But 
 tell me first of those who called them- 
 selves m}' friends, how many call them- 
 selves so now." 
 
 Biorn said, " It has gone differently 
 with different men. But many are 
 against you." 
 
 " If you cannot tell me more about 
 them you cannot tell me anything that 
 I don't know," said Olaf. "Tell meat 
 least of yourself." 
 
 Then Biorn felt that his time had 
 
 come. He rose up ; he said, " Sir, I 
 
 am here to answer for myself." Then 
 
 he grew very red in the face, and suddenly 
 
 fell upon his knees, bowed his head, and 
 
 took King Olaf by the foot. " Sir, Sir, 
 
 I am in your hands and in God's. I am 
 
 unworthy to live, for I have taken money 
 
 from the King of England and sworn 
 
 187
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 fealty to him — but now I renounce that 
 service, and am yours altogether." 
 
 King Olaf nodded his head, looking 
 down at the prostrate chief. " Stand 
 up, Biorn, stand up, and be my friend," 
 he said. " Make excuses to God for 
 your false oaths, and may He be a- 
 merciful to you as I will be. I see very 
 well that all's to do in Norway if you 
 can be false." 
 
 Biorn kissed the King's foot before he 
 got up from his knees. He was now 
 sincerely repentant, and meant to do 
 well ; but King Olaf was not encouraged 
 by his report of himself, and not at all 
 certain what he would do. He took full 
 time to consider of it, consulting nobody 
 until he had made up his own mind. 
 
 It was a dream he had in the small 
 hours of a morning which decided him. 
 He had slept badly, and that only in the 
 morning hours, and so lightly that when 
 he was awake (as he supposed) it seemed 
 
 to him that he had not slept at all. A 
 
 188
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 small and level grey light was^over the 
 hall where he lay. He could see all the 
 things in the great room quietly in their 
 places; and then presently, as his eyes 
 ranged from one thing to another, from 
 tljat to this, they fell upon a tall, grave 
 and noble figure sitting by his bedside. 
 This man was elderly, for his beard was 
 grey, and his bushy eyebrows were grey 
 too. His head was cowled, and over 
 the cowl was a circlet of gold. Between 
 his knees stood a long-sword, on the 
 pommel of which were both his hands. 
 As he looked it came into his mind that 
 here was no other than the spirit of 
 King Olaf Tryggvasson whom all Norway 
 revered; but he said nothing — not be- 
 cause he was frightened, but out of 
 respect to the great dead king. 
 
 Presently the dead spoke to him as 
 follows : " You are sick of thinking what 
 you shall do hereafter ; but it is wonder- 
 ful to me that it should seem open to 
 
 you to renounce the realm which God 
 
 189
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 has given you, and of taking as a gift 
 from a foreigner a kingdom where you 
 would be a vassal. Go you back rather 
 to the country which is your own, and 
 rule it with your own strength and 
 virtue. If you give it up to those who 
 are your subjects you make yourself 
 lower than they. It is glorious to de- 
 feat your enemies, it is glorious to die 
 in war; but it is inglorious to fear the 
 trial of your right. Doubt not, hide 
 nothing, dare everything. God will de- 
 clare Himself, and let His be the arbitra- 
 ment, as right is." Then the spirit rose 
 and went down the hall. King Olaf 
 watched him go, but heard not a sound. 
 When he came to the door of the hall, 
 like mist he was lost in it. 
 
 After that he would not doubt; and 
 
 that very day he called an assembly and 
 
 declared his purpose. But be these 
 
 things as they may, they belong to the 
 
 * saga of King Olaf the Holy, which exists 
 
 and is very worthy to be read; whereas 
 
 190
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 we are only concerned with the rest of 
 the fortunes of Thormod the poet, whose 
 light heart had led him to bind them 
 up with those of his king. Let it be 
 enough, therefore, to say that King Olaf 
 returned the way he had come, and 
 quartered himself for a winter with his 
 brother-in-law the King of Sweden. At 
 that court he collected about him some 
 six hundred loyal Norwegians, and added 
 to them four hundred men furnished, not 
 very willingly, by his brother-in-law. 
 Then came in one Dag Ringsson, a high- 
 descended chief long exiled from Norway, 
 whom now, by promises of the restitution 
 of his estates, King Olaf won over to 
 his side — him and twelve hundred men 
 behind him. Now then, having well over 
 two thousand men to his banner, King 
 Olaf set out to conquer Norway or to 
 fall. 
 
 On his way through the forest country 
 towards the great ridge which divides 
 Sweden from Norway many more men 
 
 191
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 joined him — forest-dwellers for the most 
 part, with some great rogues among 
 them. Two mighty robbers, Gauk-Thorer 
 and his brother Afarfaste, came with 
 thirty men behind them, and asked the 
 King's leave to go with him. Fine men 
 they were, and well-armed. The King 
 said that he would take them if they 
 were Christians, but if not, not. Gauk- 
 Thorer said that he was neither a 
 Christian nor a heathen. " I believe in 
 myself," he said, " and in my strength. 
 They have never failed me yet, and I 
 shall trust in them until they do." 
 
 Said King Olaf, " I find it a pity that 
 such a fine murdering man as yourself 
 should not believe in Christ." 
 
 But Gauk-Thorer replied that maybe 
 
 if he did so believe he would not be 
 
 such a good murderer. And then he 
 
 said, " Show me, King, a Christian in 
 
 your company who has my inches or 
 
 shoulders." 
 
 Come," said King Olaf, " into the 
 192 
 
 n
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 water with you, and after me. You 
 shall have great honour and advance- 
 ment." 
 
 Afarfaste refused, and was for turning 
 away, but his brother kept him from 
 going. " Hold still, you fool, and let 
 the King go forward. We will follow 
 in the rear and get our share in the 
 battle; and after that it is not likely he 
 will plague us with his religion/' And 
 that was what they did. 
 
 The army climbed the ridge and 
 looked West over all Norway to the sea. 
 King Olaf stood for a long time regarding 
 it, and Thormod stood beside him, gazing 
 with all his eyes. Both were silent, but 
 Thormod's eyes were filled with tears, 
 though he was very happy. King Olaf 
 presently noticed him. " Why do you 
 cry? " he asked. 
 
 Thormod said, "It is because it is all 
 
 so beautiful, and that the things we do 
 
 are shameful and pitiful at once. And 
 o 193
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 also I think that a man's life might be 
 as beautiful as that far prospect, if he 
 did but know how to accomplish it. I 
 am crying because it is beautiful and 
 I can never have it." 
 
 " Why, silly one, are we not here with 
 a great army to get it? " 
 
 " Beauty of that sort is not to be won 
 with an army," said Thormod. 
 
 " Maybe the Kingdom of Heaven will 
 look as fair as that," said the King; and 
 Thormod — 
 
 " Maybe it will. But of that I know 
 nothing, and of this much." 
 
 The army, to call it so, which was more 
 
 like a horde than an army, descended 
 
 the Fjeld in loose order, but assembled 
 
 at Suul, which was a farmstead in 
 
 Vaerdale held by a bondsman called 
 
 Thorgeir Flek, well affected to the King's 
 
 party. Olaf stayed with Thorgeir all 
 
 night, and in the morning early gave 
 
 the signal for the march. Two of Thor- 
 
 194
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 geir's sons, much against their father's 
 will, accompanied the King. They 
 marched to Staff, and had Staff Moor 
 before them ; there King Olaf heard that 
 his enemies were on the march against 
 him, and that he must adopt battle- 
 order so as to be ready for them. The 
 first thing he did was to muster all 
 ranks, and the first thing that came of 
 that was that he found nine hundred 
 heathens under arms. He was clear that 
 he would not have them on those terms. 
 " Our force is small indeed without the 
 help of God," he said, " and that I 
 cannot expect if I mix up heathenry 
 with my men. Now let those men be 
 christened, or let them go home. Of 
 two things one." The heathen held an 
 assembly and talked the matter up and 
 down. Four hundred would go into the 
 water, five hundred would not. Those 
 stiff-necked King Olaf sent away. Then 
 he came once more upon the two brother- 
 murderers, Gauk-Thorer and Afarfaste. 
 
 i95
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Now are you two Christian men, or 
 are you not? " 
 
 " We are not." 
 
 " Then you cannot come with me. I 
 give you strict command," he said. " Go 
 into the water, or go away." 
 
 They said they would talk of it, and 
 that was allowed them. 
 
 " Now," said Afarfaste, " I have come 
 so far in the prospect of a battle, and I 
 don't intend to turn back; but I don't 
 care two straws on which side I fight; 
 and maybe the other side will not be so 
 stiff about this religious affair as the 
 King is. I am for sounding them first 
 of all before anything else is done. What 
 is your opinion? " 
 
 " My opinion," Gauk-Thorer said, " is 
 
 that I shall fight on the King's side; 
 
 for a king he is, and if he win the day 
 
 he will reward kingly. And as for 
 
 religion, if I must believe in a God, it 
 
 may be Christ as well as any other, for 
 
 the odds are that all gods are but names 
 
 196
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 of one God. If it will please King Olaf 
 to have us Christians, why, let us go 
 into the river. There's nothing in that — 
 and then for the battle." 
 
 Agreed. The thing was done there 
 and then by the King's priest, and 
 immediately after they were confirmed 
 by a bishop. 
 
 " Now," said Olaf, " two such fine 
 men as you shall have all honour from 
 me. I appoint you my bodyguard." 
 
 Then he ordered his forces, taking the 
 centre himself, giving Dag Ringsson the 
 right wing, and the Swedes the left. 
 The Cross was to be painted on all 
 shields and helms in white. The battle- 
 cry was " Christ ! the Cross ! the 
 King ! " 
 
 He held a council of war wherein it 
 
 was debated whether the army should 
 
 waste the country or not. Finn Ernesson 
 
 was strongly for it, and Thormod, who 
 
 was present, broke into vehement 
 
 song : 
 
 197
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " Fire house and hut, 
 
 Burn steading and stall ; 
 See the doors are shut 
 
 Till the roof-trees fall ! 
 Then trust the sword 
 
 And let it alone 
 To prove the King's word 
 
 And win him his own." 
 
 He sang that resonantly, and the chiefs 
 made a hero of him — but King Olaf 
 would not have it. " With fire and 
 sword have I swept Norway aforetime — 
 but that was reward of idolatry and sin 
 against God. This time they have sinned 
 against me — and what is this offence 
 compared with that? No, I can have 
 mercy, but God, Who is just and per- 
 fectly good, can have none. And there 
 is another thing to be said. If I give 
 you leave to plunder ; and, loaded up to 
 the neck with your spoils, you are beaten 
 in the battle, what will befall you ? You 
 will be like men in shipwreck who stuff 
 their pockets with silver and gold, and 
 
 find that cork would have suited them 
 
 198
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 better. But suppose you win. Then it 
 
 will be as well to think of plunder, and 
 
 useful to have well-filled stockyards 
 
 wherein to make your profit. Take what 
 
 cattle you want for your day's ration; 
 
 take and kill spies of the enemy — but 
 
 spare all else, for they are my people 
 
 and not yours." And then he turned to 
 
 where Thormod and the rest of his poets 
 
 were standing. There were there besides 
 
 Thormod, Gissur and Thorfinn Mudr. 
 
 Sigvat, who was the most renowned poet 
 
 at the King's court, was not there then. 
 
 " You poets," said the King, " have 
 
 other weapons than your axes and swords, 
 
 though I know that some of you can 
 
 give an account of yourselves with them 
 
 too. Now you shall be within my own 
 
 shield-wall, that you may be free to 
 
 call upon my men as they need your 
 
 voices." 
 
 Thormod said to Gissur, " Don't stand 
 
 too close to me, brother Leave room 
 
 for Sigvat, in case he comes up in a 
 
 199
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 hurry, and the King find that he cannot 
 do without him." 
 
 King Olaf heard that. " No need to 
 make light of Sigvat because he is not 
 here. He has served me well in his 
 time, and now maybe he is serving me 
 better. He is in Rome, I believe, and 
 at his prayers. God knows we need 
 them." 
 
 " Sir," said Thormod, " may God hear 
 his prayers, and may that serve your 
 need. But if all of us were just now 
 saying our prayers, it would be roomy 
 about your banner, I am thinking." 
 
 " Peace to your tongue, young man," 
 said King Olaf. " You are never without 
 an answer." 
 
 200
 
 XXI 
 
 The army marched down to Stickie- 
 st ead and encamped there for the night. 
 It was known that the enemy was close 
 at hand. " To-morrow will settle affairs 
 between us," the King said. 
 
 He ate his supper in a tent which had 
 been put up for him, and was himself 
 much as usual, confident, plain-spoken 
 and cheerful. But he noticed that Thor- 
 mod was very glum, and kept him back 
 when the rest of the company retired, 
 in order to comfort him. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, poet? 
 Why are you without a word among us ? ' 
 
 Thormod muttered something in- 
 audible, and then declared himself in a 
 rush. "It is because I don't know how 
 it will be to-morrow — whether you will 
 
 keep troth with me or not." 
 
 201
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " What do you wish me to do for 
 
 you?" 
 
 " To keep your promise, that we have 
 the same quarters to-morrow night as 
 to-night." 
 
 The King smiled at him. " My lad, 
 it may be that I shall not have the 
 ordering of our quarters to-morrow night 
 — but so far as I am able I promise you 
 that we shall share whatever lodging may 
 be assigned to me." 
 
 Their eyes met, and the young man's 
 face was lit all over by a smile. " Why, 
 then, I shall do well," he said. " Now 
 I am ready for the Spear-Moot with you, 
 and no fumbling about it. Trust me to 
 be at hand whether the other poets are 
 here or not." 
 
 King Olaf nodded his head and smiled 
 upon him. " I know that you have been 
 faithful to me in life, and so will I be 
 to you. But it may be that I shall lose 
 my life in this battle." 
 
 " Then it is certain that I shall lose 
 
 202
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 mine too," said Thormod. " I have cast 
 my mind back over the deeds of my life, 
 and I don't know a better thing that 
 ever I did than when I leapt into your 
 ship. I have served Thorgar, who was 
 my sworn-brother, and have killed more 
 men for his account than I have for 
 yours. But wait a little till to-morrow's 
 bill be cast. Then my score for you may 
 be higher than it was for Thorgar." 
 
 " How old are you? " says the King. 
 " And how many men have you killed 
 in right? " 
 
 " I am thirty-five, and I think that I 
 have been the death of ten men at least 
 — and there may be more." 
 
 " You are not very old yet," says 
 King Olaf, " and much purgatory will 
 not be asked of you, I daresay. Yet 
 there must be allowed a twelve hours 
 for each of your dead men, and after 
 that I engage you will have ease." 
 
 " It will be little ease to me if I am 
 
 not with you," said Thormod. 
 
 203
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 " I shall be there," said King Olaf. 
 
 He lay down on his bed, and Thormod, 
 with no leave asked, covered himself 
 with his cloak and lay on the floor. 
 He was soon asleep ; but the King could 
 not sleep at all until near dawn, and 
 even so he awoke with the early light. 
 
 He lay for a time thinking of life past 
 and to come, in a state of strange calm, 
 seeing that he had a clear vision of what 
 the day was to bring him. He saw 
 Thormod on the floor of the tent, deeply 
 asleep, and had a kind thought for him. 
 " There are not many like him about 
 me now," he thought. "He is very 
 little of a Christian, but very much of 
 a man." Then he called to him gently, 
 " Thormod, Thormod." 
 
 Thormod opened his eyes in a moment, 
 then sat up. " Did you call me? " 
 
 " Yes. It is yet very early, but we 
 had better be stirring. Do you awaken 
 the host with a song." 
 
 Thormod rose to his feet and went to 
 
 204
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 the door of the tent. He looked out. 
 The sun was burning the mountain-tops. 
 "It is not very early," he said, and as 
 he said so he was thinking what he 
 would sing. Then he began the old Lay 
 of Bearse, who had been a mighty hero 
 of former times. So loud he sang that 
 the whole army heard him and knew 
 what he was singing. 
 
 " The day is breaking, 
 The house-cock shaking 
 His rustling wings ; 
 The priest-bell rings 
 To cry the morn ; 
 The sounding horn 
 Calls up the thralls to work and to weep ; 
 Now, sons of Adil, cast off sleep ! 
 
 Wake up, wake up, 
 No wassail cup 
 Nor maiden's cheer 
 Awaits you here ; 
 Wake, Rolf of the bow, 
 Wake, Hare, to your blow ; 
 Up in your might, the day is breaking, 
 'Tis Hildr's game that waits your waking ! " x 
 
 1 The translation is Samuel Laing's (Sea-Kings 
 of Norway, II, 314). 
 
 205
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 It was fine to see on all sides armed 
 men rise up in the heath and shake their 
 spears in the air. Many of them came 
 about the singer in the tent-door and 
 thanked him for the song. " The house- 
 carles' whet," they called it. King Olaf 
 was much pleased. He held out to 
 Thormod a gold arm-ring. " Here's for 
 the song — a brave one." 
 
 Thormod thanked him. " Sigvat prays 
 for you, and I sing. Each of us does 
 what he is fitted for. But now I will 
 do better than he, it may be, for I shall 
 fight for you. To you, Sir, I say, re- 
 member your promise that we go to the 
 same quarters this evening." 
 
 "So we shall, if we both leave 
 Sticklestead alive." 
 
 " We will leave it, alive or dead," 
 said Thormod. 
 
 Now they arrayed the battle, and stood 
 
 facing each other for a space of time. 
 
 It was a clear and fine day, promising 
 
 206
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 great heat. King Olaf, looking to right 
 and left of him, could not see Dag 
 Ringsson and his men, though the Swedes 
 were there on the left wing. In front 
 of him was a host twice the size of his 
 own, but, as he judged, undisciplined and 
 likely to be ill-led. He let it be known 
 to the Swedes that he should advance 
 his banner at once, and look to them to 
 support him should he be checked. 
 Then, looking about him, he lifted up 
 his sword by the point, and cried aloud> 
 " Advance, men of the Cross ! " The 
 whole of his bodyguard swept down the 
 slope, and met and were swallowed up 
 in the ranks of the bondsmen. 
 
 At the first onset the bondsmen were 
 thrown back and there was great con- 
 fusion ; but their numbers were such that 
 the wings overlapped and enfolded the 
 King's small force. The Swedes, who 
 were languid fighters at all times, were 
 slow in support, and there was serious 
 
 danger that the King's army might be 
 
 207
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 destroyed in detail. Dag Ringsson on 
 his right was just in time to prevent 
 this; but on his left King Olaf's flank 
 was turned. The fighting was now hand- 
 to-hand, such as Northmen love, and 
 there was neither time nor place in which 
 to see who lived or who fell. As a fact, 
 the two great robbers, Gauk-Thorer and 
 Afarfaste, fell in the first charge, while 
 the King himself and all of his household 
 behind the shield-wall were untouched. 
 But now that the enemy had closed 
 about them on all sides, the King's itch 
 for fighting irked him, and he said to 
 Thormod, " Stay you within the wall, 
 but I am going through them if I 
 can." 
 
 " I^shall go with you," Thormod said, 
 and followed him. He was unarmed 
 about the body, and had no weapon 
 with him but his notable axe of his own 
 contrivance. But he was far beyond 
 noticing such things, and beside the King 
 
 and Finn Ernesson mowed a swathe 
 
 208
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 through the host, as if he was cutting 
 meadow-grass. Great men fell on both 
 sides. Thorgeir of Quitstead, a leader 
 of the bondsmen, was one; Thord, the 
 King's banner-bearer, was another. By 
 this time the sun was veiled, and a heavy 
 darkness began and grew denser and 
 denser; and so it remained for the rest 
 of the day. 
 
 Now, as he hewed his way, King Olaf 
 with his bodyguard came to a knoll in 
 the ground where stood the chief of his 
 enemies, Kalf Arnesson and Thorer the 
 Dog. Of all men in the world King 
 Olaf hated Thorer, and he hewed at 
 him as if he hated him. But the sword 
 turned aside; it was as if he did but 
 beat the dust out of him. Time and 
 again he slashed at him — but without 
 profit. So then he turned to see who 
 was beside him, and saw it was old 
 Biorn the marshal. " Kill me that dog," 
 he said, and the marshal hewed at him 
 with his axe. The axe did not wound 
 p 209
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 him, but the blow knocked him down. 
 At that moment the King had slain Olaf 
 Arnesson, and as he fell Thorer the Dog 
 drove his spear clean through Biorn, and 
 cried out, " That is how we kill the 
 bear." Just then Thorstein Knarsmead 
 struck the King with an axe upon the 
 left thigh — a grim wound. Finn killed 
 him outright — but the King could hardly 
 stand, and had to draw off for a while, 
 using his sword for a walking-stick. 
 Thorer the Dog sprang after him and 
 drove his spear into his back. Then 
 came on Kalf Arnesson and hit him in 
 the neck with an axe. Those were his 
 death-wounds. He fell on his face, and 
 the battle rolled over him. But as soon 
 as he found opportunity Thorer the Dog 
 came back to where the King had fallen, 
 and laid the body out fairly and straight, 
 and covered it with a cloak. He wiped 
 the blood away from his face and closed 
 his eyes. Very noble he looked, still 
 ruddy-cheeked, and at peace, as if he 
 
 210
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 was asleep. Thorer said afterwards that 
 the King's blood ran up between his 
 fingers to a wound of his own upon the 
 forearm — which wound healed of itself 
 without need of any bandaging. 
 
 The battle had by this time rolled off 
 to the King's right, where Dag Ringsson 
 was pressing the enemy hard. Thormod, 
 who had been wounded in the shoulder, 
 did not know that the King was dead, 
 and followed the lead of Finn Ernesson 
 to support Dag. By the time he came 
 up with the fighting it was so dark that 
 no more could be done. Each side was 
 drawing off and making ready to spend 
 the night on the hillside. Then came a 
 man by Thormod, who knew him, and 
 told him the news. Thormod stared at 
 him stupidly. "He is dead? " 
 
 " Yes, yes, he is dead, with three great 
 wounds on him." 
 
 Thormod sat down. " Then he has 
 used me ill — for I am alive." 
 
 " You won't be alive very long if you 
 
 211
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 stay here," the man said. Arrows were 
 shrilling overhead. Thormod waved him 
 off, and sat on. 
 
 " King Olaf," he said, " wherever you 
 may be, do you mean to forsake me now ? 
 Did you not promise me that you would 
 not cast me off? Have you forgotten 
 me? " 
 
 An arrow struck him in the dark. 
 He heard it come, he felt it pierce his 
 side. Then he felt nothing more than a 
 little throbbing in his side. " That was 
 a good draw of somebody's. Now I 
 know that it shall all be as I wished for 
 it." He stood up and felt the arrow. 
 The head was buried. He broke off the 
 shaft close to the skin. 
 
 He heard a wounded man calling 
 through the dark. " Is there any here 
 will crack a joke with me? Many a 
 man can die laughing, and so I would. 
 But who can laugh by himself? ' 
 
 Another answered him from near at 
 hand. " 111 have you fared, because you 
 
 212
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 have done ill this day," this man said. 
 " Is that nothing to you ? " 
 
 " Who are you to scold me ? " said 
 the first. 
 
 " You may call me Heming. And who 
 may yourself be? " 
 
 " My name is Hearrand, and I had a 
 son of your name, whom I loved." 
 
 " And I have a father called Hearrand, 
 and have no love for him at all, since 
 he has done ill by the King." 
 
 " Is that my son Heming? Nay, but 
 I have done amiss, and now I know it. 
 But come over to me, my son, and let 
 me see where thou art hurt." 
 
 "I'll not come," said Heming; " I'll 
 not mix my blood with the blood of 
 traitors. But come you here to die. 
 Maybe the blood of the King's men will 
 recommend you where you are going." 
 
 " Tell me what thy hurt is, my son," 
 says Hearrand. 
 
 " I cannot. I only know that I am 
 
 on my knees because the dead are too 
 
 213
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 thick to let me down; but my guts, I 
 believe, are in the heather. And how's 
 yourself, father? " 
 
 " I have a spear through me," said 
 Hearrand, " and can't get it out." 
 
 Thormod lifted him and dragged him 
 to where his son was. He left them 
 together, and wandered off. 
 
 He now felt lightheaded and empty, 
 
 as though there was nothing at all in 
 
 his body. But he had no pain, and was 
 
 perfectly quiet and easy in his mind. 
 
 Men carrying wounded went past him, 
 
 and he followed their lead, which brought 
 
 him to some farm buildings in the byres 
 
 of which they were laying their burdens. 
 
 He went to the door of a barn and 
 
 leaned against the door-post, feeling very 
 
 sick. Idly in his mind he wondered why 
 
 he bled so little; then thought that the 
 
 head of the arrow might stop the outflow. 
 
 Likely he was bleeding internally. " I 
 
 must be as full as a black-pudding," he 
 
 thought. 
 
 214
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 A man stood by him and began to 
 talk to him. " You were in the battle, 
 I suppose? " 
 
 " Yes, I was there." 
 " On which side were you ? ' 
 " On that which had the better." 
 " Nay, then, that won't carry, that 
 word." He was looking at the gold 
 arm-ring which Thormod wore. " That 
 is a King's gift. It is easy to see you 
 were a King's man. Give me that ring. 
 I'll hide it for you, and then you will be 
 safe with the rest. Are you wounded? " 
 " Oh, a scratch," said Thormod. " You 
 can have the ring if you want it. It 
 makes little odds to me now." 
 
 The man held out his hand, and 
 Thormod with a quick slash of his axe 
 took it off at the wrist. 
 
 Hey, you have cut off my hand ! " 
 It is so that you should steal no 
 more with it," said Thormod, and turned 
 away his eyes from him. 
 
 Then came out a young woman with 
 
 215 
 
 (i
 
 << 
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 a kettle and saw him. She stopped. 
 
 You look very sick." 
 
 I am sick enough," said Thormod. 
 
 " Are you a King's man? " 
 
 " I was. But they have killed him." 
 
 " Will you have your wOund dressed ? " 
 
 " It is a small wound for a dressing — 
 
 but as you will." 
 
 She went away and came back to him 
 
 with some hot milk, which he refused, 
 
 saying it was not worth while. Then 
 
 she felt for the iron, and tried to move 
 
 it, but could not. Thormod watched 
 
 her languidly. " Get your knife," he 
 
 said, " get your knife and cut down to 
 
 the iron. Then I can get a good hold 
 
 with the pincers." 
 
 With a sharp knife she made a cut 
 
 across the wound, and touched the iron 
 
 with it. Thormod, still leaning to his 
 
 door-post, took the ring off his arm and 
 
 gave it to her. " King Olaf gave me 
 
 that this morning for a song," he said. 
 
 Then he took the pincers from her, and 
 
 216
 
 THE LIGHT HEART 
 
 himself fixed them about the iron of 
 the arrow. " Now for it," he said, and 
 wrenched it out. Black and curdled 
 blood gushed after it; then red blood 
 flowed freely. 
 
 Thormod was looking at the barb, held 
 by the pincers' claws. " The King has 
 fed us well," he said. " There's a co-coat 
 of fat about the root of my heart." As 
 she looked at him she saw his eyes fix 
 and glaze. His head dropped forward, 
 and then he fell. Thormod was dead. 
 
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