The Norsemen in the West

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER ELEVEN.

  SETTLING DOWN--HAKE PROVES THAT HIS ARMS, AS WELL AS HIS LEGS, AREGOOD--A WONDERFUL FISHING INCIDENT, WHICH ENDS IN A SCENE BETWEENFREYDISSA AND KRAKE.

  The little hamlet on the Vinland lake, which had been so long silent anddeserted, resounded from that time forth with the voices and activitiesof energetic labourers, for these adventurous Norsemen had much to dobefore their new home could be made comfortable.

  The forest and undergrowth around had to be cleared; the huts, of whichthere were six, had to be cleaned out, fitted up with new parchment inthe windows--for there was no glass in those days--and new thatch on theroofs, besides being generally repaired; additional huts had to be builtfor the people, pens for the sheep, and stabling for the cattle, all ofwhich implied felling and squaring timber, while the smaller articles ofhousehold furniture and fittings kept the people generally in fulloccupation. Of course a party had to be told off as hunters for thecommunity, while another party were set to attend to the nets in thelake, and a third, under the special charge of Karlsefin, went out atintervals to scour the woods, with the double purpose of procuring foodand investigating the character and resources of the new land.

  In regard to this last these settlers had every reason to be satisfied.The country appeared to be boundless in extent, and was pleasantlydiversified in form; the waters teemed with fish, the land was rich withverdure, and the forests swarmed with game, large and small.

  One day Karlsefin and Biarne, attended by Hake and several men, went outfor a ramble of exploration in the direction of the small river, orbranch of the large river, mentioned in a previous chapter. Some of theparty were armed with bows and arrows, others had spears, the leader andhis friend carried short spears or javelins. All wore their swords andiron head-pieces, and carried shields. Indeed, no party was everallowed to go beyond the neighbourhood of the settlement without beingfully armed, for although no natives had yet been seen, it was quitepossible, nay, highly probable, that when they did appear, their arrivalwould be sudden and unexpected.

  As they advanced, they heard a rustle of leaves behind a knoll, and nextinstant a large deer bounded across their path. Karlsefin hurled hisspear with sudden violence, and grazed its back. Biarne flung hisweapon and missed it. There was an exclamation of disappointment amongthe men, which, however, was turned into a cheer of satisfaction whenHake let fly an arrow and shot it through the heart. So forcibly wasthe shaft sent that it passed quite through the animal, and stood,bloodstained and quivering, in the stem of a tree beyond, while the deerleaped its own height into the air, and fell stone-dead upon the sward.

  "A brave shot--excellently done!" exclaimed Karlsefin, turning to theyoung Scot with a look of admiration; "and not the first or second timeI have seen thee do something of the same sort, from which I concludethat it is not chance, but that your hand is always quick, and your eyegenerally true. Is it not so?"

  "I never miss my mark," said Hake.

  "How now? you _never_ miss your mark? It seems to me, young man, thatthough your air is modest, your heart and words are boastful."

  "I never boast," replied Hake gravely.

  "Say you so?" cried Karlsefin energetically, glancing round among thetrees. "Come, clear yourself in this matter. See you yonder littlebird on the topmost branch of that birch-tree that overhangs the stream?It is a plain object, well defined against the sky. Touch it if youcan."

  "That little bird," said Hake, without moving, "is not _my mark_. Inever make a mark of the moon, nor yet of an object utterly beyond thecompass of my shafts."

  "Well, it _is_ considerably out of range," returned Karlsefin, laughing;"but come, I will test you. See you the round knot on the stem ofyonder pine? It is small truly, so small that I can barely see it,nevertheless it is not more than half a bow-shot off. Do you object tomake _that_ your mark?"

  The words had scarcely left his lips when an arrow stood quivering inthe knot referred to.

  With an exclamation and look of surprise Karlsefin said it must havebeen a chance, and Biarne seemed inclined to hold the same opinion; butwhile they were yet speaking, Hake planted another arrow close by theside of the first.

  "Once more, Hake," said Krake, who stood close behind the archer;"there's a saying in Ireland that there's good fortune in odd numbers:try it again."

  The Scot readily complied, and sent a third shaft into the knot, withits head touching the heads of the other two arrows.

  "Enough, enough, your arms are as good as your legs," said Karlsefin."Ye are a valuable thrall, Hake, and Leif Ericsson has reason to begrateful to King Olaf of Norway for his gift.--Here, two of you, slingthat deer on a pole and bear it to Gudrid. Tell her how deftly it wasbrought down, and relate what you have seen just now. And hark 'ee," headded, with a peculiar smile, "there is no occasion to say anythingabout what occurred before the successful shot. It always adds to thevalue of a good story that it be briefly as well as pithily told, anddisencumbered from unnecessary details. A wise tongue is that whichknows when to wag and when to lie still.--Come, Biarne, we will proceedin our examination of this stream."

  Leaving behind them the two men who were to return to the huts with thedeer, they proceeded down the banks of Little River, until they came tothe pool where Hake and his brother had seen the salmon leap. On theway down, however, the leader had been convinced of the fact that manysalmon were there, having seen several rise, and observed others passingover some of the pebbly shallows.

  "It was here, was it not," asked Biarne, "that you and your brother sawthe salmon leaping on the occasion of your first visit?"

  "It was," replied Hake.

  "At what part of the pool?"

  "Just below the tail of the island, where the water is deep, and rollswith numberless oily ripples."

  "Ha! a likely spot," said Karlsefin.

  At that moment a salmon leaped out of the pool, as if to assure him thatHake's statement was true, and immediately afterwards another fish roseand flourished its fan-like tail, as if to make assurance doubly sure.

  For some time they went about examining that part of the river, which,the reader will remember, has been described as being divided for somedistance by a long island into two streams, which again united afterspreading out into a broad rippling shallow. Here Biarne was verysilent and very close in his inspection of the bed of the river,particularly at the top and lower end of the island.

  "It appears to me as if some plan were rolling in your head, Biarne,"said Karlsefin; "what may it be?"

  "Truly a plan is forming in my brain. Simple enough too, only thedetails require consideration."

  "Well, we must now return home, so we can discuss it on the way."

  "You know of our custom in Iceland," said Biarne, as they retraced theirsteps, "in regard to a river which is similar to this in the matter ofhaving two channels--they shut off the water from one channel and catchthe fish when the bed is dry."

  "Know it? Ay, I know it well; why, man, how comes it that this did notoccur to me before? We will have it tried, and that without delay.What is worth doing at all is worth doing at once, unless it can beclearly shown that there shall be distinct gain by delay. As thiscannot be shown on the present occasion we will begin to-morrow."

  Accordingly, in pursuance of this resolve, Karlsefin went down to theisland on Little River with a large party of men, and set to work.Biarne undertook to superintend what may be termed the engineeringoperations, and Thorward, who was a handy fellow, directed themechanical details.

  First of all, Biarne fixed on the spot at the top of the island where adam was to be thrown across the right branch of the stream--that beingthe channel which was to be run dry--and planned the direction in whichit was to be placed and the form it was to take. Then strong stakeswere driven into the bed of the river all across the head of thatbranch. While this was being done Thorward marked off some tallstraight trees in the forest, and set men to cut them down, whileKarlsefin directed, and with his own
hands aided, a party appointed tocollect large piles of earth, sand, stones, mud, and branches, on theriver's bank.

  Although the men were numerous and active, the work was so extensivethat it was sunset before all the stakes were driven, the first of theheavy logs laid down in the bed of the stream, and the rest of thematerial collected in readiness on the banks. Having completed thesepreparations they returned to the huts and made arrangements for a grandeffort on the following day.

  Early in the morning nearly the whole body of the people set off toLittle River, leaving the settlement in charge of one or two men whochanced at that time to be sick. Of course Olaf was with them, armedwith a huge iron hook fastened to the end of a stout pole. All thewomen also went, being quite as anxious as the men to witness the sport.

  The island reached, Karlsefin divided his party into two bands. Thesmaller body, numbering about twenty-five, were stationed in the waterat the lower end of the channel, at equal distances from each other, soas to extend from the tail of the island to the right bank of thestream. These carried strong poles about seven feet long, and wereplaced there to frighten back any fish that might attempt to rush downthe river. The rest of the men went in a body to the dam, and thereawaited orders.

  When all was ready Karlsefin said to them--"My lads, if we would actwell we must act together. Here is the plan on which you are toproceed. On getting the word from Biarne to begin, you will all set towork to dam up the water, right across from this bank to the head of theisland. You see that we have already done the work in part, so that itonly requires to be completed, and to have the centre gap stopped up.That will be the difficult point, for the great rush of water will bethere, and you will have to do it quickly--to heave in the logs andstones and rubbish, not forgetting the branches and the turf, which willkeep all together--as if your very lives depended on your speed. Acertain number of you, who shall be told off presently, will do yourbest at the same time to deepen the channel of the other branch of thestream. When this is done you will have a little breathing space, fordoubtless the water will take a little time to run off. You will takeadvantage of this time to get your hooks and poles and landing-nets inreadiness. For the rest your own sense will guide you.--Now, Biarne,tell off the men and go to work."

  Reader, you should have seen the countenance of little Olaf Ericssonwhen all this was being said and done! Many a time had he seen netshauled and fish taken, and often had he dreamt of netting whales andother sea-monsters, but never before had he imagined such a thing aslaying the bed of a river dry; and his exuberant fancy depicted to himscenes which it is not possible to describe. His visage glowed, and hislarge blue eyes glared with excitement, while his little bosom heavedand his heart beat high with expectation.

  This condition of course increased tenfold when he saw the men cast offmore or less of their upper garments and spring to the work with theenergy of lunatics. In his own small way he carried logs and branchesand mud and stones till he was as dirty and dishevelled as the best ofthem; and when Gudrid looked horrified at him, and said that it would benext to impossible to clean him, he burst into such a fit of laughterthat he lost his balance, fell head over heels into the river, which wasonly knee-deep at the place, and came out more than half-washed in amoment!

  "You see it won't be so difficult as you think," he cried, laughing andgasping when he emerged; "another plunge like that would make me quiteclean, aunty."

  "Ho! Olaf, were you after a salmon?" cried Swend, as he passed with alarge log on his shoulder.

  "Not I, Swend; it was a whale I was after."

  "You don't say that, boy?" cried Krake, in a tone of admiration. "Washe a big one?"

  "Oh! frightful--so big that--that--I couldn't see him all."

  "Couldn't see him _at all_? Ah, then, he _was_ a big one, sure. Thethings we can't see at all are always the most wonderful."

  "Foolish boy," said Gudrid; "come, I will wring the water out of yourclothes."

  "'Tis hardly worth while, aunty," said Olaf, coming on shore; "I'll beas wet, as ever in a few minutes."

  The careful Gudrid nevertheless wrung as much water out of his drippinggarments as was possible without taking them off. By the time this wasdone the dam had been completed, and the men stood on the banks of theriver wiping off and wringing out the superabundant mud and water fromtheir clothes, besides getting ready hooks, nets, and staves. Some ofthe nets were several fathoms in length. Others were small bagsfastened to wooden rings at the end of long poles.

  Presently a shout was heard from the men at the lower end of the pool,and they were seen to use their staves smartly several times, as some ofthe fish, alarmed no doubt at the strange doings above, endeavoured toshoot down the river. Ere long the stony ground on which these menstood became a rippling shallow, and, soon afterwards, a neck of landconnecting the lower end of the island with the shore. They thereforeabandoned it and rejoined their comrades higher up. The fish were nowimprisoned in a pool, retreat having been effectually cut off above andbelow, and the whole river diverted into the bed of its left branch.

  As the water lowered it became obvious that the pool thus isolated wasabsolutely swarming with salmon, for they could be seen darting hitherand thither in shoals, making for the deeper parts of the pool, andjostling one another under stones. Gradually little islets began toappear as the water continued to sink, and then the fish seemed to beseized with a panic. They shot like silver arrows from bank to bank--upthe pool and down again, as if enjoying a piscatorial country dance, or,in blind flight, rushed clear out upon the pebbly islets, in half dozensat a time, where they leaped, slid, twirled, and bounded frantically, inwhat bore some resemblance to a piscatorial reel. Then, slipping intothe water again, and recovering their fins and tails, they shot away toencounter similar misfortune elsewhere, or to thrust their noses understones, and--entertaining the same delusive notions that are said tocharacterise the ostrich--imagine that they were not seen!

  By degrees the islets enlarged until they joined here and there, and,finally, the state of things being inverted, the bed of the streambecame a series of little ponds, which were absolutely boiling withfish--not unlike, as Krake remarked, to the boiling springs of Iceland,only that those boiled with heat instead of with living fish.

  And now commenced a scene such as, unquestionably, had not beenwitnessed there since Vinland was created. The Norsemen were half madwith excitement. The women ran up and down the banks clapping theirhands and shouting with delight, while Freydissa, unable to containherself, cast appearances to the dogs, leaped among the men, and joinedin the fray.

  "The big pool first; this way, lads!" shouted Karlsefin, as he seizedthe end of a long net and dragged it towards the pool in question.

  Twenty willing hands assisted. The net encircled the pool and wasthrust in; men with poles forced one side of it down to the bottom, andthe two ends were hauled upon might and main. At the same moment, othermen went with hand nets to smaller pools, and, scooping up the fish,sent them writhing and struggling through the air towards the bank,where Gudrid, Thora, Astrid, Gunhild, Sigrid, and even timid Bertha,sought in vain to restrain their struggles and prevent them fromwriggling back into the almost dry bed of the stream.

  "Haul away with heart, men!" shouted Biarne, who was at one end of thelarge net.

  Already the stout ropes were strained to the uttermost--at last the netcame out bursting with salmon; more hands were hailed; it was run overthe pebbles, up the bank, and onwards to a flat open spot, where, with ashout, it was emptied on the greensward.

  Talk of silver bars! The simile is wretched. No simile is of any availhere. The brightest and freshest silver bars ever cast might shine asmuch as these salmon did, but they could not glitter so, for they couldnot wriggle and spring and tumble. They could not show that delicatepink which enhanced the silvery sheen so wondrously. They could notexhibit that vigorous life which told of firm flakes--suggestive ofglorious meals for many a day to come. Pooh! even their
intrinsic valuecould not suggest anything in this case,--for all the silver bars thatever were coined on earth could not have purchased the appetites whichmade the mouths of these Norsemen to water, as they gazed in admirationon that vast hecatomb of splendid salmon! They absolutely danced roundthe fish--it might almost be said they danced _with_ them--in triumphantglee!

  "Come, come," cried Karlsefin loudly; "to work! to work! Ye may danceafter that is done. Here, sweep this pool also."

  With a cheer the men ran down the bank, and little Olaf followed, havingalready used his hook with such effect that he had pulled six large fishout of various holes and added them to the general pile.

  "Take care, Olaf, that you don't fall in and get drowned," cried Biarneas he ran past.

  "Hurrah!" shouted Olaf, with a flourish of his weapon, which made thenarrowest possible miss of _cleeking_ Tyrker by the nose.

  "Have a care!" roared the Turk.

  "You've much need to say that," replied Olaf, with a laugh, for Tyrkerat that moment set his heel upon a salmon, fell, and rolled heavily downthe bank. But Tyrker was tough. He rose with a growl and a grin andran on to join his comrades.

  A second pool was netted, and with the like result. As the net wasbeing dragged forth, Olaf saw that several fish had escaped. He struckin his hook at random, for the pools, being by that time a thickcompound of mud and water, could not be seen into.

  "Oh! I've got him!" he shouted, struggling with the handle of his hook,which jerked so violently that the sturdy little fellow was almostthrown to the ground.

  "Hold on!" cried Thorward, running to his aid.

  "Why, Olaf, what's this? Have a care. Not too fast. There. Hallo!--an eel."

  And so it was--an enormous eel, that went twirling round the pole inwondrous fashion until it freed itself, and, after twisting round thelimbs of Olaf and Thorward, who in vain sought to hold it fast, made offover the wet stones as if they were its native element, and slid intoanother large pool, where it disappeared.

  "Never mind, Olaf," cried Thorward, with a laugh, "you'll catch hold ofit again. Hook away at it, lad. Don't give."

  A tremendous shriek arose from the women on the bank at this juncture.

  "Oh! look! look at Freydissa!" cried Gunhild, pointing wildly to theriver bed.

  And there Freydissa stood--up to the arm-pits in mud and salmon!

  Whether she had fallen in or been pushed in no one could tell, butunquestionably she _was_ in, having gone in, too, head-foremost, sothat, although she had struggled right-end up she reappeared coated withmud to an extent that might have suggested a sculptor's clay model--hadsculptors been known to the Norsemen of those days.

  There was an irresistible roar of laughter at first, and then loudexpressions of condolence and sympathy, while a dozen strong, but wetand dirty, hands were stretched forth to the rescue.

  "Here, lay hold of my hand, poor thing," cried Krake; "there, now, don'tcry; it would only be wasting tears, with so much water on your facealready."

  If anything could have made Freydissa cry it would have been thatremark, for it implied that she was inclined to weep, while nothing wasfurther from her thoughts at that time.

  She did, however, grasp Krake's hand, but instead of aiding herself byit to get out of the hole, she gave it such a vigorous and hearty pullthat Krake went souse into the mud beside her. Before he could recoverhimself Freydissa had put her knee on his body, and, using him as afoot-rest, thrust him deeper down as she stepped out.

  The delight with which this was hailed is beyond description, and many ayear passed after that before men grew tired of twitting Krake about thepleasant mud-bath that had been given him by Freydissa on the occasionof the celebrated take of salmon at Little River in Vinland.