Havelok the Dane

by Charles W. Whistler

town is burning, and I must goto tell the jarl. Strange that we have had no message. Surely the king'smen must be hard pressed if this is a foe's work."

  So he went at once, leaving us full of wonder and excited, as boys willbe at anything that is new and has a touch of fear in it. But he hadhardly gone beyond the outbuildings when one came running and callinghim. The jarl had sent for him, for there was strange news from theking. Then he and this messenger hastened off together.

  In half an hour the war horns were blowing fiercely, and all the quiettown was awake, for my father's forebodings were true, and the foe wason us. In our house my mother was preparing the food that her husbandshould carry with him, and I was putting a last polish on the arms thatshould keep him, while the tramp of men who went to the gathering rangdown the street, one by one at first, and then in twos and threes. Mymother neither wept nor trembled, but worked with a set face that wouldnot show fear.

  Then came in my father, and I armed him, begging at the same time that Imight go also, for I could use /my/ weapons well enough; but he told methat some must needs bide at home as a guard, and that I was as muchwanted there as at the king's place, wherewith I had to be content. Itwas by no means unlikely that we also might be attacked, if it was truethat the king's men were outnumbered, as was said.

  Now when my father went to say farewell to us, nowhere could be found mybrother Withelm.

  "The boy has gone to watch the muster," my father said. "I shall see himthere presently."

  Then, because he saw that my mother was troubled more than her wont, headded, "Have no fear for me. This will be no more than a raid ofNorsemen, and they will plunder and be away with the tide before we getto the place."

  So he laughed and went out, having done his best to cheer us all, and Iwent with him to where the men were gathered in their arms in the widespace in the midst of the houses. There I sought for little Withelm, butcould not find him among the women and children who looked on; andbefore we had been there more than a few minutes the jarl gave the word,and the march was begun. There were about fifteen miles to be coveredbetween our town and the king's.

  I watched them out of sight, and then went home, having learned that Iwas to be called out only in case of need. And as I drew near thehomestead I saw a light in the little ash grove that was behind thegarth.[3] In the midst of the trees, where this lightseemed to be, was our wooden image of Thor the Hammer Bearer, older thanany of us could tell; and in front of this was what we used as his altar---four roughly-squared stones set together. These stones wereblue-black in colour, and whence they came I do not know, unless it wastrue that my forefathers brought them here when first Odin led his folkto the northern lands. Always they had been the altar for my people, andmy father held that we should have no luck away from them.

  So it was strange to see a light in that place, where none wouldwillingly go after dark, and half was I feared to go and see what itmight mean. But then it came into my mind that the enemy might becreeping on the house through the grove, and that therefore I must needsfind out all about it. So I went softly to the nearest trees, and creptfrom one to another, ever getting closer to the light; and I will saythat I feared more that I might see some strange thing that was morethan mortal than that I should see the leading foeman stealing towardsme. But presently it was plain that the light did not move as if mencarried it, but it flickered as a little fire; and at last I saw that itburned on the altar stones, and that frightened me so that I almost fled.

  Maybe I should have done so, but that I heard a voice that I knew; andso, looking once more, I saw a figure standing before the fire, and knewit. It was little Withelm, and why a ten-year-old boy should be here Icould not think. But I called him softly, and he started somewhat,turning and trying to look through the darkness towards me, though hedid not seem afraid. There was a little fire of dry sticks burning onthe stones, and the gaunt old statue seemed to look more terrible thanever in its red blaze. One might have thought that the worn face writheditself as the light played over it.

  "It is I, Withelm," I said softly, for the fear of the place was on me."We have sought you everywhere, and father would have wished youfarewell. What are you doing here?"

  I came forward then, for it was plain that the child feared nothing, sothat I was put to shame. And as I came I asked once more what he wasdoing in this place.

  "The jarl has surely forgotten the sacrifice to the Asir before thewarriors went to fight, and they will be angry," he answered verycalmly. "It is right that one should remember, and I feared for father,and therefore---"

  He pointed to the altar, and I saw that he had laid his own untastedsupper on the fire that he had lighted, and I had naught to say. Thething was over-strange to me, who thought nothing of these things. Itwas true that the host always sacrificed before sailing on the Vikingpath, but tonight had been urgent haste.

  "Thor will not listen to any but a warrior," I said. "Come home,brother, for mother waits us."

  "If not Thor, who is maybe busy at the battle they talk of, then do Ithink that All Father will listen," he said stoutly. "But this was allthat I had to make sacrifice withal, and it may not be enough."

  "The jarl will make amends when he comes back," I said, wishing to gethome and away from this place, and yet unwilling to chide the child."Now let us go, for mother will grow anxious."

  With that he put his hand in mine, and we both saluted Thor, as wasfitting, and then went homeward. It seemed to me that the glare in thenorth was fiercer now than when I had first seen it.

  Now, after my mother had put Withelm to bed, I told her how I had foundhim; and thereat she wept a little, as I could see in the firelight.

  After a long silence she said, "Strange things and good come into themind of a child, and one may learn what his fate shall be in the days tocome. I am sure from this that Withelm will be a priest."

  Now as one may buy the place of a godar, with the right to have a templeof the Asir for a district and the authority that goes therewith, if sobe that one falls vacant or is to be given up by the holder, this didnot seem unlikely, seeing how rich we were fast growing. And indeed mymother's saying came to pass hereafter, though not at all in the way ofwhich we both thought.

  There was no alarm that night. The old warriors watched round the townand along the northern tracks, but saw nothing, and in the morning theblack smoke hung over the place of the burning, drifting slowly seaward.The wind had changed, and they said that it would doubtless have takenthe foe away with it, as my father had hoped. So I went down to the shipwith Raven, and worked at the few things that were still left to be doneto her as she lay in her long shed on the slips, ready to take the waterat any tide. She was only waiting for cargo and stores to be put onboard her with the shift of wind that had come at last, and I thoughtthat my father would see to these things as soon as he came back.

  Now in the evening we had news from the Jarl, and strange enough it was.My father came back two days afterwards and told us all, and so I may aswell make a short story of it. The ways of Gunnar Kirkeban had been hisend, for a certain Viking chief, a Norseman, had wintered in Walesduring the past winter, and there he had heard from the Welsh of thewrongs that they had suffered at his hands. Also he had heard of thegreat booty of Welsh gold that Gunnar had taken thence in the lastsummer; and so, when these Welsh asked that he would bide with them andhelp fight the next Danes who came, he had offered to do more than that---he would lead them to Gunnar's place if they would find men to manthree ships that he had taken, and would be content to share the bootywith them.

  The Welsh king was of the line of Arthur, and one who yet hoped to winback the land of his fathers from the Saxons and English; and so helistened to this Hodulf, thinking to gain a powerful ally in him forattack on the eastern coast of England after this. So, favoured by thewind that had kept us from the sea, Hodulf, with twenty ships in all,had fallen on Gunnar unawares, and had had an easy victory, besettingthe town in such wise that only in the confusion while the wild Wel
shwere burning and plundering on every side had the messenger to the jarlbeen able to slip away.

  But when the jarl and our men reached the town there was naught to bedone but to make terms with Hodulf as best he might, that the wholecountry might not be overrun. For Gunnar had been slain in his own hall,with his two young daughters and with the queen also, as was supposed.Havelok the prince was in his hands, and for his sake therefore Sigurdhad been the more ready to come to terms.

  Then Hodulf sent messengers to the overlord of all Denmark, saying thathe would hold this kingdom as for him, and backed up that promise with agreat present from Gunnar's treasure, so that he was listened to.Therefore our jarl was helpless; and there being no other king strongenough to aid him if he rose, in the end he had to take Hodulf for lordaltogether, though it went sorely against the grain.

  I have heard it said by the