Erling the Bold

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

  HOPES AND FEARS--THE BURNING OF HALDORSTEDE, AND ESCAPE OF THE FAMILY.

  Meanwhile the family at Haldorstede had made a narrow escape, and somemembers of it were still in great peril. When Hilda and Ada were sentthither, with the females of Ulfstede, under the charge of Christian thehermit, as already related, they found Dame Herfrida and her maidensbusily engaged in making preparations for a great feast.

  "I prithee," said Dame Astrid, in some surprise, "who are to be thyguests to-night?"

  "Who should be," replied Herfrida, with a smile, "but the stout fellowswho back my husband in the fight to-day! Among them thine own goodman,Dame Astrid, and his house-carles; for if no one is left at Ulfstedethere can be no supper there for them; and as the poor lads are likelyto be well worn out, we must have something wherewith to cheer them."

  "But what if ill luck betide us?" suggested Astrid.

  "Ill luck never betides us," replied Herfrida, with an expression ofbland assurance on her handsome face. "Besides, if it does, we shall benone the worse for having done our part."

  "_Some_ people are always forecasting evil," muttered Ingeborg, with asour look, as she kneaded viciously a lump of dough which was destinedto form cakes.

  "And some other people are always forecasting good," retorted Ada, witha smile, "so that things are pretty well balanced after all. Come now,Ingeborg, don't be cross, but leave the dough, and let us go to thyroom, for I want to have a little gossip with thee alone."

  Ingeborg was fond of Ada, and particularly fond of a little gossip,either public or private. She condescended, therefore, to smile, as itwere under protest, and, rubbing the dough from her fingers, accompaniedher friend to her chamber, while the others broke into several groups,and chatted more or less energetically as they worked, or idled aboutthe house.

  "Is there any fear of our men losing the day?" asked Hilda of thehermit, who stood looking out of a window which commanded a view of thefiord, where the ships of the opposing fleets could be seen engaged inthe battle, that had just begun.

  Poor Hilda asked the question with a look of perplexity in her face; forhitherto she had been so much accustomed to success attending theexpeditions of her warlike father and friends, that she had never givenmuch thought to the idea of defeat and its consequences.

  "It is not easy to answer that question," replied the hermit; "for thesuccess or failure of thy father's host depends on many things withwhich I am not acquainted. If the forces on both sides are about equalin numbers, the chances are in his favour; for he is a mighty man ofvalour, as well as his son, and also thy father. Besides, there aremany of his men who are not far behind them in strength and courage; butthey may be greatly outnumbered. If so, defeat is possible. I wouldsay it is probable, did I not know that the Ruler of events can, if Hewill, give victory to the weak and disaster to the strong. Thy fatherdeems his cause a righteous one--perhaps it is so."

  "Well, then," said Hilda, "will not God, who, you say, is just and good,give victory to the righteous cause?"

  "He may be pleased to do so; but He does not always do so. For His owngood and wise ends He sometimes permits the righteous to suffer defeat,and wrongdoers to gain the victory. This only do I know for certain,that good shall come out of all things to His people, whether thesethings be grievous or joyful; for it is written, `All things worktogether for good to them that love God, to them that are the called,according to His purpose.' This is my consolation when I am surroundedby darkness which I cannot understand, and which seems all against me.That things often pass my understanding does not surprise me; for it iswritten, `His ways are wonderful--past finding out.'"

  "Past finding out indeed!" said Hilda thoughtfully. "Would that I hadfaith like thine, Christian; for it seems to enable thee to trust andrejoice in darkness as well as in sunshine."

  "Thou mayst have it, daughter," answered the hermit earnestly, "if thouwilt condescend to ask it in the name of Jesus; for it is written,`Faith is the gift of God;' and again it is written, `Whatsoever yeshall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you.' One of our chiefsins consists in our desire to produce, by means of our own will, thatfaith which God tells us we cannot attain to by striving after, butwhich He is willing to bestow as a free gift on those who ask."

  The conversation was interrupted here by the old house-carle Finn theOne-eyed, who said in passing that he was going down to the cliffs tosee and hear what was doing, and would return ere long to reportprogress. For an hour after that, the people at Haldorstede continuedto watch the fight with intense interest; but although they could seethe motion of the ships on the fiord, and could hear the shout of war,as it came floating down on the breeze like a faint murmur, the distancewas too great to permit of their distinguishing the individualcombatants, or observing the progress of the fight. That it was likelyto go ill with their friends, however, was soon made known by Finn, whoreturned in hot haste to warn them to prepare for flight.

  "Be sure," said Dame Herfrida, "that there is no need to flee untilHaldor or Erling come to tell us to get ready."

  "That may be so," said Finn; "but if Haldor and Erling should chance tobe slain, ill will it be for you if ye are not ready to fly."

  "Now it seems to me," said Dame Astrid, who was of an anxioustemperament, "that thou art too confident, Herfrida. It would be wiseat all events to get ready."

  "Does anyone know where Alric is?" asked Ingeborg.

  As everyone professed ignorance on this point, his mother said that shehad no doubt he was safe enough; for he was a bold little man, and quiteable to take care of himself.

  "If he has had his own way," observed Ivor the Old, who came in at thatmoment, "he is in the fleet for he is a true chip of the old tree; butwe are not like to see him again, methinks, for I have seen the fleetgiving back on the right wing, and hasted hither to tell ye."

  This report had the effect of shaking Herfrida's confidence to theextent of inducing her to give up her preparations for the feast, andassist the others in making arrangements for a hasty flight with suchhousehold valuables as could be easily carried about the person. Sometime after they had begun this work, a young man, who was a cripple, andtherefore a non-combatant, hobbled into the hall, and announced the factthat Haldor's fleet was routed everywhere, and fleeing. He had seen itfrom the cliff behind the stede, and indeed it could partly be seen fromthe hall window.

  "Now," cried Finn the One-eyed bitterly, "all is lost, and I must carryout Erling's last instructions. He told me, if the fight went againstus, and the King's men gained the day, I was to lead ye down by theforest path to the cave behind Ulfstede, where there is a ship bigenough to carry the whole household. If alive, he and his friends areto meet us there. Come, we must make haste; some of the ships arealready on the beach, and if they be the King's men we shall soon seethem here."

  Everyone was now so thoroughly convinced of their desperate case thatwithout reply each went to complete arrangements as fast as possible.

  "Wilt thou go with us?" said Finn to the hermit, when all were assembledin front of the house at the edge of the forest.

  "I will, since God seems to order it so," said the hermit; "but first Igo to my hut for the rolls of the Book. As ye have to pass the bottomof the cliff on which my dwelling is perched, I will easily overtakeyou."

  "Let us go with him," said Hilda to Ada. "There is a roll in the hutwhich Erling and I have been trying to copy; Christian may not be ableto find it, as I hid it carefully away--and," she continued, blushingslightly, "I should not like to lose it."

  "You had better go with _us_," said Finn gravely.

  "We will do what seems best to ourselves," replied Ada; "go on,Christian, we follow."

  The hermit advised the girls to go with Finn, but as they wereself-willed he was fain to conduct them up the steep and narrow paththat led to his hut upon the cliff, while Finn put himself at the headof a sad band of women, children, and aged retainers, who could advancebut slowly
along the rugged and intricate path which he thought itnecessary to take through the forest.

  Not twenty minutes after they had left Haldorstede the first band ofKing Harald's men came rushing up the banks of the river, enraged athaving found Ulfstede deserted, and thirsting for plunder. They rantumultuously into the house, sword in hand, and a yell of disappointmentfollowed when they discovered that the inmates had fled. There is nodoubt that they would have rushed out again and searched the woods, hadnot the feast which Herfrida had been preparing proved too attractive.The cold salmon and huge tankards of ale proved irresistible to thetired and thirsty warriors, who forthwith put the goblets to theirbearded lips and quaffed the generous fluid so deeply that in a shorttime many of them were reeling, and one, who seemed to be more full ofmischief than his fellows, set the house on fire by way of a joke.

  It was the smoke which arose after the perpetration of this wanton actthat had attracted the attention of Haldor and his friends, when theywere making for the shore after the battle.

  Of course the hermit and the two girls heard the shouts of themarauders, and knew that it was now too late to escape along with thebaud under Finn, for the only practicable path by which they could jointhem passed in full view of Haldorstede, and it was so hemmed in by aprecipice that there was no other way of getting into the wood--at leastwithout the certainty of being seen. Their retreat up the river wasalso cut off, for the hermit, in selecting the spot for his dwelling,had chosen a path which ascended along the rugged face of a precipice,so that, with a precipice above and another below, it was not possibleto get to the bank of the river without returning on their track. Therewas no alternative, therefore, but to ascend to the hut, and there waitpatiently until the shades of night should favour their escape.

  Finn pushed on as fast as was possible with a band in which there wereso many almost helpless ones. He carried one of the youngest childrenin his arms, and Ivor the Old brought up the rear with a very old womanleaning on his arm. They were a long time in descending the valley, forthe route Finn had chosen was circuitous, and the first part of it wasextremely trying to the cripples, running as it did over a somewhat highspur of the mountain which extended down from the main ridge to theriver. Gradually, however, they drew near to the coast, and Finn was inthe act of encouraging them with the assurance that they had now only ashort way to go, when the hearts of all sank within them at the sight ofa band of armed men who suddenly made their appearance in their path.

  The wail of despair which burst from some of them at sight of these,was, however, changed into an exclamation of joy when four of the bandran hastily towards them, and were recognised to be Haldor, Erling, Ulf,and Glumm!

  "Now thanks be to the gods," said Haldor, stooping to print a kiss onhis wife's lips. "But--but--where are Hilda and Ada?"

  Erling and Glumm, glancing quickly round the group with looks of intensedisappointment and alarm, had already put this question to Finn, whoexplained the cause of their absence.

  "Now this is the worst luck of all," cried Glumm, grinding his teethtogether in passion, and looking at Finn with a dark scowl.

  Erling did not speak for a few minutes, but his heaving chest anddilated nostrils told of the storm that raged within him.

  "Art thou sure they went to the hermit's hut?" asked Ulf in a sternvoice.

  "Quite sure," replied Finn. "I cautioned them not to go, but--"

  "Enough," cried Erling. "Father, wilt thou go back to the cave with thewomen, and a few of the men to guard them?"

  "I will, my son, and then will I rejoin thee."

  "That do, an it please thee. It matters little. Death must come sooneror later to all.--Come, men, we will now teach this tyrant that thoughhe may conquer our bodies he cannot subdue our spirits. Up! and if wefail to rescue the girls, everlasting disgrace be to him who leaves thisvale alive!"

  Haldor had already selected a small detachment of men, and turned backwith the women and others, while Erling and his men went on as fast asthey could run. A short time sufficed to bring them to the edge of thewood near Haldorstede. The old place was now a smoking ruin, withswarms of men around it, most of whom were busily engaged in trying toput out the fire, and save as much as possible from its fury. The manwho had kindled it had already paid dearly for his jest with his life.His body was seen swinging to the limb of a neighbouring tree. HaraldFairhair himself, having just arrived, was directing operations.

  There were by that time one or two thousand of the King's men on theground, while others were arriving every moment in troops--allbloodstained, and covered with marks of the recent conflict--and Erlingsaw at once he had no chance whatever of accomplishing his aim by anopen attack with only fifty men. He therefore led his force silently bya path that he well knew to an adjacent cliff, over the edge of whichthey could see all that went on below, while they were themselves wellconcealed. Here the three leaders held a consultation.

  "What dost thou advise, Ulf?" asked Erling.

  "_My_ advice," interposed Glumm fiercely, "is that we should make asudden assault without delay, kill the King, and then sell our livesdearly."

  "And thus," observed Ulf, with something like a sneer, "leave the girlswithout protectors, and without a chance of deliverance. No," hecontinued, turning to our hero, "my advice is to wait here as patientlyas we can until we ascertain where the girls are. Few, perhaps none, ofour men are known to Harald's men; one of them we can send down tomingle with the enemy as a spy. Whatever we do must be done cautiously,for the sake of the girls."

  "That is good advice," said a voice behind them, which was that of thehermit, who had crept towards them on his hands and knees.

  "Why, Christian, whence comest thou?" said Ulf.

  "From my own hut," replied the hermit, raising himself, "where I havejust left Hilda and Ada safe and well. We had deemed ourselvesprisoners there till night should set us free; but necessity sharpensthe wit even of an old man, and I have discovered a path through thewoods, which, although difficult, may be traversed without much chanceof our being seen, if done carefully. I have just passed along it insafety, and was on the point of returning to the hut when I came uponyou here."

  "Lead us to them at once," cried Glumm, starting up.

  "Nay," said the hermit, laying his hand on the youth's arm, "restrainthine ardour. It would be easier to bring the girls hither, than tolead a band of armed men by that path without their being discovered.If ye will take the advice of one who was a warrior in his youth, thereis some hope that, God permitting, we may all escape. Ye know the CrowCliff? Well, the small boat is lying there. It is well known that mendare not swim down the rapid, unless they are acquainted with the run ofthe water and the formation of the rock. Thy men know it well, theKing's men know it not. With a boat the maidens may descend in safety.The men can leap into the river and escape before the enemy could comeat them by the hill road."

  "Excellently planned," exclaimed Erling in an eager tone; "but, hermit,how dost thou propose to fetch the maidens hither?"

  "By going and conducting them. There is much risk, no doubt, but theircase is desperate, for their retreat is certain to be discovered."

  "Away then," said Ulf, "minutes are precious. We will await thee here,and, at the worst, if they should be captured, we can but die inattempting their rescue."

  Without uttering another word the hermit rose, re-entered the underwood,sank down on his hands and knees, and disappeared with a cat-likequietness that had been worthy of one of the red warriors of America.