Wulfric the Weapon Thane

by Charles W. Whistler

  CHAPTER XVI. HOW WULFRIC BROUGHT OSRITHA HOME.

  There was a haze far out at sea, and a fog was coming in with thetide when we came to the mouth of Ingvar's haven; and rounded thespit of land that shelters it from the southerly winds. Soon wecleared it and then saw the town and hall above it at the head ofthe haven, and what my longings were I need not write.

  Now by the wharves lay two ships, and I thought little of that, buton seeing them, Thormod, by whose side I was as he steered, seemedto wonder.

  "Ingvar has got another ship from somewhere," he said, "or hasbuilt one this winter, for he sailed home with one only."

  Then, too, the men began to say the like, for the second ship wasstrange to them also, and, as seamen will, they puzzled over heruntil we were close at hand. But I leaned on the gunwale anddreamed dreams of my own, paying no heed to their talk.

  Out of those dreams I was roused by Thormod's voice.

  "Yon ship is no Dane," he said sharply. "Clear the decks and get toarms, men. Here is somewhat amiss."

  Then was a growl of wrath from our crew, yet no delay, and in amoment every man was in his place. Down came the sail, and the mastwas lowered and hoisted on its stanchions overhead, and in fiveminutes or less the oars were out, and the men who were armingthemselves ran to take them as they were ready, while those who hadrowed should get to arms also. Not for the first time saw I thatship cleared for action, but never had I seen it done so swiftly,though we had but half our fighting crew, sixty men instead of ahundred and thirty or so.

  I armed myself swiftly as any, and Thormod bade me take Halfden'splace on the fore deck, where the men were already looking tobowstrings and bringing up sheaves of arrows and darts.

  Then when I came they shouted, and one gray-headed warrior cried:

  "Now you have a good fight on hand, axeman."

  Then I asked:

  "Who are the strangers?"

  "It is a ship of the Jomsburg vikings," he said. "They know thatour men are all in England, and have come to see what we have leftbehind--Thor's bolt light on them!"

  Now, of all savage vikings these Jomsburgers are the worst.Red-handed they are, sparing none, and it is said of them that theywill sacrifice men to the gods they worship before a great fight.Nor are they all of one race, but are the fiercest men of all theraces of the Baltic gathered into that one nest of pirates,Jomsburg.

  Now a cold thrill of fear for Osritha ran through me, and then camehot rage, and for a little I was beside myself, as it were, glaringon that ship. Then I grew cool and desperate, longing only to behand to hand with them.

  Swiftly we bore down on the ship, and now from her decks came thehoarse call of uncouth war horns, and her crew came swarming backfrom the streets with shouts and yells, crossing Ingvar's ship toreach their own, for she lay alongside, stem to stern of the Dane,and next to the open water.

  Now I could see that men fought with the last of the Jomsburgers asthey came down the street to their ship, and there were no housesburning, so that they could have been for no long time ashore. Andthat was good to know.

  We came into the channel abreast of her, and then Thormod roared tome:

  "Now I will ram her. Board her as we strike if we do not sink her!"

  Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at theoars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck warriorsgripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped like afalcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled andleft their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, whilesome tried to cast off, but too late.

  "Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew.

  Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and thesmitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed thehigher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree.

  Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our dragonstem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, splinteringthe rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk on eitherside of our bows, while above the rending of planks and rush ofwaters rose the howls of the drowning men.

  I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet mymen went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again witha great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as Ileapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before me.

  Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought atclose quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearerthan life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after ourcheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing ofweapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of thefoul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths ofour men.

  Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp overme, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us,and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and oneither side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ringof dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of thatmist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled bywhom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if oneslew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place,seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battlesounded, and the fight never slackened.

  All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must keepmy own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha andhome and happiness--surely the best things for which a man canfight next to his faith. And now men began to shout their war criesthat friend might rally to friend rather than smite him coming as aghost through the mist. Then a man next me cried between his teeth:

  "It is Ragnaroek come--and these are Odin's foes against whom wefight."

  And so smote the more fiercely till he fell beside me, crying:"Ahoy! A Raven!--a Raven!"

  Then was I down on the slippery deck, felled by a blow from a greatstone hammer that some wild pirate flung over the heads of hiscomrades before me, and Cyneward dragged me up quickly, so that Ithink he saved my life that time. And I fought on, dazed, and as ina dream I fancied that I was on the deck of my father's shipfighting the fight that I looked for in the fog that brought myfriend Halfden.

  When my brain cleared, I knew not which way we faced. Only thatCyneward was yet with me, and that out of the dimness came againstus Jomsburgers clad in outlandish armour, and with shouts tostrange gods as they fell on me.

  "Hai, Wainomoinen! Swantewit, ho!"

  Then I cast away my shield, for I grew weary, and taking both handsto my axe, fought with a dull rage that I should have fallen, andthat there were so many against me. And all alone we two seemed tofight by reason of the fog, though I heard the shouts of our crewto right and left unceasingly.

  Then I felled a man, and one leapt back into mist and was gone, anda giant shape rose up against me out of the thickness, toweringalone, and at this I smote fiercely. Yet it was not mail orhardened deerskin that I smote, but solid timber, and I could notfree my axe again, so strongly had I smitten.

  It was the high stem head of the vessel. For I and my men hadcleared away the foe from amidships to bows, and still the noise offight went on behind us, while the fog was thick as ever.

  Then Cyneward leaned against the stem head and laughed.

  "Pity so good a stroke was wasted on timber, master," he said.

  "Pull it out for me," I answered, "my arm is tired."

  For now I began to know that my left shoulder was not yet so strongas once.

  He tugged at the axe and freed it, not without trouble.

  "What now?" said one of the men.

  But a great shout came from aft, and then a silence that seemedstrange. We were still, to hear what we might, and I think thatothers listened for us.

  "Surely we have cleared the ship?" I said. "Let us go and see."

  Then I hailed our men, asking how they fared--and half I feared tohear the howl and rush of pirates coming back on us. But it was aDanish voice that called back to me that the
last foe was gone.

  We stumbled back now along either gunwale, over the bodies offriend and foe that cumbered all the deck, and most thickly and inheaps amidships, where our first rush fell. One by one from aft metus those who were left of the men who had fought their way to thestern. Well for us was it that the darkness had hindered theJomsburgers from knowing how few we were and how divided. Butshoulder to shoulder we had fought as vikings will, never givingback, but ever taking one step forward as our man went down beforeus.

  Now I called to Thormod, and his voice answered me from shoreward.

  "Here am I, Wulfric. How have you sped?"

  "Some of us are left, but no foemen," I answered.

  "Call your names," he said. And when we counted I had but sixteenleft of my thirty, so heavy had been the fighting. Yet I thoughtthat the Jomsburgers were two to our one as we fell on them, and ofthem was not one left.

  "What now?" asked Thormod. "There are more of these men in thetown. Here have I been keeping them back from the ship."

  "Let us go up to the hall," I answered. "We could find our way inthe dark, and they cannot tell where they are in this fog."

  So I and my men climbed on to the wharf, and there were the rest ofthe crew with Thormod, who had crossed the decks as we cleared apassage, even as the fog came down, and had driven the rest of theJomsburgers away from the landing place before they could jointhose in the ship. Well for us it was that he had done this, or weshould have been overborne by numbers, for the ship was a largeone, carrying maybe seven score men.

  "We must leave your tired men with the ship and go carefully," saidThormod. "Likely enough we shall have another fight."

  We marched up the well-known street four abreast, and as we leftthe waterside the fog was thinner, so that we could see the houseson either side of the way well enough. And as we went we werejoined by many of Ingvar's people, old men and boys mostly, who hadbeen left at home when the fleet sailed. And they told us that theJomsburg men were round the great house itself.

  Yet we could hear no sound of them, and that seemed strange, sothat we feared somewhat, drawing together lest a rush on us wereplanned. But beyond a few men slain in the street we saw nothingtill we came to the gate of the stockade. And that was beaten down,while some Danes and Jomsburgers lay there as they had fallen whenthis was done.

  Now when we saw this I know not which was the stronger, rage orsurprise, and I called one of the old men.

  "Where is the king?" I asked.

  "He is not in the town," he said; "he is away with his owncourtmen, fighting against these pirates for Jarl Swend, who isbeset by them."

  Now it was plain that this ship came from that place; either beatenoff, or knowing that Ingvar's haven lay open to attack while hismen were away thus. And a greater fear than any came over me.

  "Where is the Lady Osritha?" I said.

  "She was here in the town this morning."

  "So, Wulfric," said Thormod quickly, "she will have fled. Thesteward will have seen to that. No use her biding here when theship came."

  So I thought, but I was torn with doubt, not knowing if time forflight had been given, or if even now some party of Jomsburgersmight not be following hard after her. I must go into the hall andfind out, whatever the risk, for it was certain that it held therest of the pirates.

  "Leave men here to guard the gates," I said to Thormod. "Needs mustthat we see more of this."

  Ten men stayed at the gate, lest Jomsburgers lurked in the housesto fall on us, and we went across to the great porch. The door wasopen, nor could we see much within; and there was silence.

  "Stand by," said Thormod, and picked up a helm that lay at hisfeet.

  He hurled it through the door, and it clanged and leapt from thefurther wall across the cold hearthstone. Then there was a stir offeet and click of arms inside, and we knew that the hall was fullof men.

  I know not what my thoughts were--but woe to any pirate who camewithin my reach.

  "Show yourselves like men!" shouted Thormod, standing back.

  Then, seeing that there was no hope that we should fall into thistrap they had laid, there came into the doorway a great,black-haired Jomsburg Lett, clad in mail of hardened deerskin, suchas the Lapp wizards make, and helmed with a wolf's head over theiron head piece. He carried a long-handled bronze axe, and a greatsword was by his side.

  "Yield yourselves!" said Thormod.

  The savage hove up his axe, stepping one pace nearer into theporch.

  "What terms?" he said in broken Danish.

  "Give up your prisoners and arms, and you shall go free," answeredThormod, for he feared lest if any captives were left alive theywould be slain if we fought.

  "Come and take them!" spoke back the Jomsburger in his harsh voice,and with a sneering laugh.

  Now I could not bear this any longer, and on that I swung my axeand shouted, rushing on the man. Up went his long weapon overhead,and like a flash he smote at me--but he forgot that he was in theporch, and as his blow fell the axe lit on the crossbeams and stuckthere. The handle splintered, and he sprang back out of reach of mystroke.

  Then I dropped my axe and closed with him, and I was like a Berserkin my fury, so that I lifted him and flung him clear over myshoulder, and he fell heavily on the threshold on his head. Nor didhe move again.

  Cyneward thrust my axe into my hand, as past me Thormod and the mencharged into the doorway. The hall was full of the pirates, and nowwe fought again as on the decks, hand to hand in half darkness. Butit was no long fight, for those of our men who had been at thegate, finding they might leave it, came round and fell on theJomsburgers from the back of the hall, coming through the otherdoors. So there was an end, and though many of us were wounded, welost there but three men, for there were ale casks lying about, andthe pirates fought ill.

  Now we stood among the dead and looked in one another's faces.There were no Danes among the Jomsburgers, and they had, as itseemed, found the place empty. Then I thought:

  "Those men who fell at the gate should be honoured, for they havefought and died to give time for flight to the rest."

  And I called Cyneward to me, and we went through the house from endto end. Everywhere had been the pirates, rifling and spoiling inhaste, so that the hangings were falling from the walls, and richstuffs torn from chests and closets strewed the floors of Osritha'sbower. But we found no one.

  Then said Cyneward:

  "They are safe--fled under cover of the fog."

  But now broke out a noise of fighting in the streets, and we wentthither in haste. Some twenty Jomsburgers had sallied from a house,and were fighting their way to the ships, for now one could seewell enough. They were back to back and edging their way onward,while the boys and old men tried to stay them in vain.

  When they saw us, they broke and fled, and were pursued and slainat last, one by one. Then were no more of that crew left.

  Now Thormod and I went back to the hall, and in the courtyard stooda black horse, foam covered, and with deeply-spurred sides. It wasIngvar's.

  And when we came to the porch, the axe still stuck in the timbersoverhead, and the Jomsburg chief's body lay where I had casthim--but in the doorway, thin and white as a ghost, stood Ingvarthe king, looking on these things.

  He saw me, and gave back a pace or two, staring and amazed, and hisface began to work strangely, and he stepped back into the dimlight of the hall, and leant against the great table near the door,clutching at its edge with his hands behind him, saying in a lowvoice:

  "Mercy, King--have mercy!"

  Now, so unlike was this terror-stricken man to him who stood inHoxne woods bidding that other ask for mercy, and gnashing histeeth with rage, that I could hardly think him Ingvar, ratherpitying him. I would have gone to him, but Thormod held me back.

  "Let him bide--the terror is on him again--it will pass soon."

  "Aye, I saw him thus once before in Wessex," said one of our men;and I knew that this was what Cyneward had told me of.

 
; Very pitiful it was to see him standing thus helpless and unmanned,while his white lips formed again and again the word of which heonce knew hardly the meaning--"Mercy".

  Presently his look came back from far away to us, and he breathedfreely. At last he stood upright and came again to the doorway,trying to speak in his old way.

  "Here have you come in good time, comrades. Where are theJomsburgers?"

  "Gone," said Thormod, curtly. "Where were you, King?"

  Now Ingvar heeded me not, but answered Thormod.

  "With Jarl Swend beating off more of this crew. Then I saw the shipleave, and I knew where she would go. Hard after me are mycourtmen, but I was swifter than they."

  Now all this was wearisome to me, for I would fain follow Osrithain her flight, if I could. So I left Thormod, without a word toIngvar, and went to the stables. There were but two horses left,and those none of the best; but Cyneward and I mounted them, androde as fast as we might on the road which he said was most likelyto be taken by fugitives.

  We had but two miles to ride, for in the fog that frightened crowdof old men, women, and children had surely circled round, and hadit lasted would never have gone far from the town.

  When they saw us the women shrieked, and what men were with themfaced round to meet an attack, thinking the pirates followed them;but we shouted to them to hold, as we were friends, though notbefore an arrow or two flew towards us.

  At my voice, Osritha, who sat on her own horse in the midst of thecompany, turned round, saying quickly:

  "Who is it speaks?"

  And I took off my helm, and she saw me plainly, and cried my namealoud, and then swayed in her saddle and slipped thence into herold steward's arms, and one or two of the maidens went to her help.

  But the men cheered, knowing that now help, and maybe victory, hadcome with us.

  "Is all well?" they said in many voices.

  "All is well," I answered; "let us take back your mistress."

  Now Osritha came to herself, and saw me standing looking on her,for I feared that she was dead, and she stretched her hands to me,not regarding those around her in her joy and trouble.

  "Wulfric," she cried, "take me hence into some place of peace."

  I raised her very gently, holding her in my arms for a moment, butnot daring to speak to her as yet. And I lifted her into the saddleagain, telling her that all was well, and that we might take herback to the town in safety. Then she smiled at me in silence, and Iwalked beside her as we went back.

  Then rode forward Cyneward and the steward to deal so with mattersthat the women might be terrified as little as possible with sightsof war time, and we followed slowly. Naught said Osritha to me aswe went, for there were too many near, and she knew not what Imight have to tell; yet her hand sought mine, and hand in hand wecame to Ingvar's house, and to the lesser door. There I left her,and went to seek Thormod.

  The large hall was cleared, and little trace beyond the dint ofblows on walls and table showed what fight had raged therein, butonly Thormod and Cyneward and Ingvar were there; and Ingvar sleptheavily in his great chair.

  "This is his way of late," said Thormod, looking coldly at him;"fury, and terror, and then sleep. I fear me that Ingvar the Kinggoes out of his mind with that of which he raves. Nor do I wonder,knowing now from Cyneward here what that is. Little help shall wetake back from Ingvar, for he has bestirred himself to gather nonew host since he came back."

  "Men said that trouble at home brought him from England. I supposehe judged it likely that the Jomsburgers might give trouble," Isaid.

  "The foes that sent him back were--ghosts," said Thormod bitterly."Come and let us see to the ship."

  So we went down to the wharf, and found the ship but little hurt bythat business. And I stayed on board her that night, for I wouldnot see Ingvar again just yet.

  But in the early morning he sent to beg me to speak with him, and Icame. He sat in his great chair, and I stood before him.

  "You have brought me a quiet night, Wulfric," he said. "Tell me howyou came here, for I think it was not that you would wish to see meagain."

  So Thormod had told him nothing, and I answered:

  "I came with Thormod for more men, for Ethelred the King is growingstrong against you. Have you heard no news?"

  "None," he said; "but that is not your errand, but his."

  "That will Thormod tell you, therefore," I answered. "As for me, Icame at Halfden's bidding, which Thormod told me."

  "What did Halfden bid you come here for?"

  "To take Osritha his sister into safety and peace again. Suffer meto do so," I said, boldly enough, but yet quietly.

  Now Ingvar looked fixedly at me from under his brows, and I gaveback his look. Yet there was no silent defiance between us therein.

  "Take her," he said at length; "you have saved her from theseJomsburgers, and you have the right. Take her where you will."

  "Do you come back with us, King?" I asked him, giving him no wordof thanks, for I owed him none.

  "Tell Guthrum from me that I shall never set foot in England again.Tell him, if you will, that our shores here need watching againstoutland foes, and that I will do it. Let him settle his kingshipwith Hubba and Halfden."

  Then he paled and looked beyond me, adding in a low voice: "Eadmundis king in East Anglia yet."

  Now I answered him not, fearing lest his terror should come on himagain. And slowly he slipped from his arm the great gold braceletthat he had so nearly given Eadgyth.

  "Tell your people that never should a bridal train cross the Bridgeof the Golden Spurs on the way to the church while the brook flowsto the sea, lest ill should befall both bride and groom, becausethus found I Eadmund the King, whose face is ever before me bynight and day. Take this gold, I pray you, Wulfric, and lay it onthe tomb where his bones are, in token that he has conquered--andlet me fight my shame alone till I die."

  Wondering, I took the bracelet, pitying the man again, yet fearingwhat he might say and do next, for I thought that maybe he wouldslay himself, so hopeless looked he.

  "Fain would I have been your friend," he said, "but pride would notlet me. Yet Eadgyth your sister and Egfrid called me so, and maybethat one deed of ruth may help me. Now go, lest I become weakagain. Lonely shall I be, for you take all that I hold dear--buteven that is well."

  So he turned from me, and I went out without a word, for he wasIngvar. Yet sometimes I wish that I had bidden him farewell, whenthe thought of his dark face comes back to me as I saw him for thelast time in his own hall, leaning away from me over his carvenchair, and very still.

  I sought Thormod, and told him that he must see the king with histidings, for I would not see his face again.

  "Nor shall we see Jutland again," he said, pointing to the ship,which lay now in the same place where the pirate had been,alongside Ingvar's. And the other ship had come in during thenight, and was at anchor in the haven.

  "Shall we sail home at once?" I asked him.

  "Aye; no use in waiting. We are wanted at Guthrum's side, and cantake no men, but a few boys back. Yet the other ship will staywhile I send messengers inland, if Ingvar will not. But I shallreturn no more."

  "Then," said I, "I will speak to the Lady Osritha."

  "Go at once," he said, smiling; "bid her come with us to the betterhome we have found."

  I had not seen Osritha since I left her yesterday, and now I feareda little, not knowing how she would look on things.

  Yet I need not have feared, for when they took me to her bower sherose up and came to me, falling on my neck and weeping, and I knewthat I had found her again not to part with her.

  When she grew calmer, I asked her if she would return with us toReedham, telling her how there would be no fear of war there in thetime to come. And she held her peace, so that I thought she wouldnot, and tried to persuade her, telling her what a welcome would beto her from all our folk, and also from the Danish people who lovedher so well.

  So I went on, until at last she raised he
r head, smiling at me.

  "Surely I will follow you--let me be with you where you will."

  So it came to pass that next day we sailed, Osritha taking her fourmaidens with her, for they would not leave her; having, moreover,somewhat to draw them overseas even as I had been drawn to thisplace again. And with us went close on a score of women andchildren whose menfolk were settled already near to Reedham. Thesewere the first who came into our land, but they were not to be thelast.

  I had seen Ingvar no more, busying myself about fitting the shipwith awnings and the like for these passengers of ours; and whatThormod did about the men he sought I know not, nor did I care toknow.

  There is a dead tree which marks the place where I had been castashore in Lodbrok's boat, and which is the last point of land onwhich one looks as the ship passes to the open sea from the haven.And there we saw Ingvar the king for the last time. All alone hestood with his hands resting on his sword, looking at our ship asshe passed. Nor did he move from that place all the time we couldsee him.

  Silently Thormod gave the tiller into my hands, and went to theflag halliards. Thrice he dipped Halfden's flag in salute, butIngvar made no sign, and so he faded from our sight, and after thatwe spoke no more of him. But Osritha wept a little, for she hadloved him even while she dreaded him, and now she should see him nomore.

  Very quietly passed the voyage, though the light wind was againstus, and we were long on the way, for we were too short handed torow, and must beat to windward over every mile of our course. Yet Ithink of the long days and moonlit evenings on the deck ofHalfden's ship with naught but keenest pleasure, for there Iwatched the life and colour come back into Osritha's face, andstrove to make the voyage light to her in every way. And I hadfound my heart's desire, and was happy.

  Then at last one night we crossed the bar of our own haven, and theboats came out to meet us, boarding us with rough voices of heartywelcome; and from her awning crept Osritha, standing beside me as Itook the ship in, and seeing the black outline of hill and churchand hall across the quiet moonlit water. And when the red lightfrom wharf and open house doors danced in long lines on the ripplestowards us, and voices hailed our ship from shore, and our menanswered back in cheery wise, she drew nearer me, saying:

  "Is this home, Wulfric?"

  "Aye," I answered. "Your home and mine, Osritha--and peace."

  Now have I little more to say, for I have told what I set out totell--how Lodbrok the Dane came from over seas, and what befellthereafter. For now came to us at Reedham long years of peace thatnothing troubled. And those years, since Osritha and I were weddedat Reedham very soon after we came home, have flown very quickly.

  Yet there came to us echoes of war from far-off Wessex, as manafter man crept back to Anglia from the great host where Guthrumand Hubba warred with Alfred the king. And tired and worn out withcountless battles, these men settled down with us in peace to tillthe land they had helped to lay waste and win. Hard it was to seethe farms pass to alien owners at first, but I will not say thatEngland has altogether lost, for these Danes are surely becomingEnglish in all love of our land; and they have brought us newstrength, with the old freedom of our forefathers, which some of ushad nigh forgotten.

  Now today I know that all the land is at peace, for Alfred isvictor, and Guthrum is Athelstan the Christian king of EasternEngland; and I for one will own him unasked, for he has governedwell, and English is our overlord.

  But Hubba is dead in far-off Devon, slain as he landed as Halfdenhad landed, to hem Wessex in between Guthrum and himself, and hisdream of taking the Wessex kingdom is over. And the Raven bannerthat my Osritha made flaps its magic wings no more, for it hangs inAlfred's peaceful hall, a trophy of Saxon valour.

  Thormod, my comrade, lies in his mound in wild Strathclyde, slainfighting beside Halfden my brother, the king of Northumbria. Him Ihave seen once or twice, and ever does he look for peace that hemay sail to Reedham and bide with us for a while. Well loved isHalfden, and he is English in every thought.

  Many of our old viking crew are here with me, for they would fainfind land in our country, and I gave them the deserted coast landsthat lie to our northward, round the great broads. Good lands theyare, and in giving them I harmed none. Filby and Ormesby andRollesby they have called their new homesteads, giving them Danishnames.

  Now as to our own folk. My mother is gone, but first she stood forOsritha at the font, naming her again with the name by which Ilearnt to love her, for I would not have it changed.

  Gone also has good old Ingild; but before he went he and I wereable without fear of hindrance to build a little church of squaredoaken timbers at Hoxne, for the heathen worship died quickly fromamong our Danes. On that church, Cyneward, who was Raud, and is ourwell-loved steward, wrought lovingly with his own hands side byside with the good monk who baptized him. And he has carved awondrous oaken shrine for the remains of our martyred king, whereonlies the bracelet that Ingvar sent in token that Eadmund hadconquered him who was his slayer.

  How fared Ingvar I know not, for soon the incoming tide of Danesslackened, and I heard no news of him; and, as he said, never didhe set foot on English shores again.

  Egfrid and Eadgyth are happy in their place at Hoxne, and on themat least has fallen no shadow of misfortune from that which came oftheir passing over the Bridge of the Golden Spurs--the GoldenBridge as our folk call it now.

  Yet it needed no words of Ingvar's to keep the memory of that day'swork alive in the minds of our people. Never so long as the GoldBrook flows beneath that bridge will a bridal pass churchwards overits span, for there, but for such a crossing, Eadmund the kingmight have bided safely till Ingvar the Dane had passed and gone.

  Little use is there in grieving over what might have been, but thisI know, that in days to come forgotten will be Ingvar, and Englishwill have become his mighty host, but in every English heart willlive the name of Eadmund, who died for faith and country.

  NOTES.

  i Ran: the sea goddess or witch of the old mythology, by whosenets drowning men were said to be entangled.

  ii The Jarl ranked next to the king, and was often equallypowerful. Our English title "Earl" is derived from this.

  iii A small wharf.

  iv A lay brother of the monastery of Hackness, near Whitby, whorendered the Sacred Histories into verse about A.D. 680.

  v Now Whitby. The present name was given by the Danishsettlers.

  vi As if under the shadow of coming death.

  vii The Viking ship of war, or "long ship".

  viii The usual Scandinavian and Danish greeting: "Health".

  ix After expulsion from his bishopric of York by King Egfrid.

  x Mail shirt.

  xi The fine allowed as penalty for killing an adversary in aquarrel, or by mischance. The penalty for wilful murder was death.

  xii Nidring, niddering, or nithing, may be beet expressed by"worthless ". It was the extreme term of reproach to a Saxon.

  xiii The "Lodbrokar-Quida", which is still in existence. Bysome authorities Ragnar is said to have been the father of Ingvarand Hubba, but the dates are most uncertain.

  xiv "The Fates" of the Northern mythology.

  xv St. Ansgar, or Ansgarius, built the first church in Denmarkat Hedeby, now Slesvig, in 840 A.D.

  xvi The "twilight of the Gods", when the Asir were to fightagainst the powers of evil, and a new order should commence.

  xvii The Danes traced their origin back to a great migrationfrom the East, under Odin. Their priesthood was vested in the headof the tribe after the ancient patriarchal custom.

  xviii The great representative Council from which ourParliament sprang.

  xix Four degrees of kingship are spoken of in the Sagas, thehighest being the overlord, to whom the lesser kings paid tribute.The "kings of the host" came third in rank, the "sea kings" last,these being usually sons of under kings, to whom a ship or two hadbeen given.

  xx Now Peterborough.

  xxi Tribute.

  xxii "Th
e King's Guardian."