pacesapart, and they must step forward to get within striking distance. Atonce Griffin seemed to grow smaller, for he crouched down as a cat thatis going to spring, and raised his shield before him, so that from whereI stood behind Ragnar I could only see his black glittering eyes andround helm above its edge. And his right arm was drawn back, so thatonly the point of his heavy leaf-bladed sword was to be seen glancingfrom the right edge steadily. And now his eyes were steady as the swordpoint, which was no brighter than they. If once he got inside the sweepof the great axe it would be bad for Ragnar.
One step forward went the earl, shield up and axe balanced, but Griffinnever moved. Then Ragnar leapt forward and struck out, but I could seethat it was a feint, and he recovered at once. Griffin's shield had goneup in a moment above his head, and in a moment it was back in its place,and over it his eyes glared as before, unwavering. And then, like awildcat, he sprang at Ragnar, making no sweeping blow with his sword,but thrusting with straight arm, so that the whole weight of his flyingbody was behind the point. Ragnar struck out, but the square shield wasoverhead to stay the blow, and full on the round Danish buckler thepoint of the short sword rang, for the earl was ready to meet it.
In a moment the Welshman was back in his crouching guard, leaving agreat ragged hole in the shield whence he had wrenched his weapon pointin a way that told of a wrist turn that had been long practised. Ragnarhad needed no leech, had his quick eye not saved him from that thrust.
Then for a breathing space the two watched each other, while we held ourbreath, motionless. And then Griffin slowly began to circle round hisfoe, still crouching.
Then, like a thunderbolt, Ragnar's axe swept down on the thane, andneither shield nor helm would have been of avail had that blow gonehome. Back leapt Griffin, and the axe shore the edge only of his shield;and then, shield aloft and point foremost, he flew on the earl beforethe axe had recovered from its swing, and I surely thought that the endhad come, for the earl's shield was lowered, and his face was unguarded.
But that was what he looked for. Up and forward flew the round shield,catching the thane's straightened arm along its whole length, and then,as sword and arm were dashed upwards, smiting him fairly in the face;and, like a stone, the Welshman was hurled from it, and fell backward ina heap on the grass three paces away. It seemed to me that he was offhis feet in his spring as the shield smote him.
There he lay, and Havelok strode forward and stood between the two, withhis face to Griffin, for Ragnar had dropped his axe to rest when his foefell.
"No blood drawn," said my brother, "but no more fighting can there be.The man's arm is out."
And so it was, for the mighty heave that turned the thrust had endedGriffin's fighting for a long day. But he did not think so.
The sweat was standing on his face in great beads from the pain, but hegot up and shifted his sword to his left hand.
"It is to the death," he cried; "I can fight as well with the left.Stand aside."
"An it had been so, you were a dead man now," said Havelok, "for theearl held his hand where he might have slain. If he had chosen, youmight have felt his axe before you touched the ground."
Thereat, without warning other than a snarl of "Your own saying,"Griffin leapt at my brother fiercely, only to meet a swing of his axethat sent his sword flying from his hand. And that was deft of Havelok,for there is nothing more hard to meet than a left-handed attack at anytime, and this seemed unlooked for.
"Well, I did say somewhat of this sort," said Havelok; "but it was luckythat I had not forgotten it."
Then he took the thane by the waist and left arm and set him downgently; and after that all the fury went from him, and he grew pale withthe pain of the arm that was hurt. But both I and the Welshmen hadshouted to Griffin to hold, all uselessly, so quick had been his onseton his new foe.
Cadwal held his peace, biting his lip, but the other Welshman began toblame Griffin loudly for this.
"Nay," said Havelok, smiling; "it was my own fault maybe. The thane wasoverhasty certainly, but one does not think with pain gnawing at one.Let that pass.
"Now, earl, I think that you may say what you have to say that will setthings right once more."
"Can none of us put the arm back first?" I said. "I will try, if noneelse has done such a thing before, for it will not be the first time."
"Put it back, if you can," said Cadwal. "If there is anything to besaid, it had better be in some sort of comfort."
So I put the arm back, for when once the trick is learned there is not,as a rule, much trouble. But Griffin never thanked me. He left that tohis seconds, who did so well enough.
Then Ragnar came forward and said gravely, "I was wrong when I calledyou 'nidring,' and I take back the word and ask you to forget it. No manwho is that will face the Danish axe as you have faced it, and I willsay that the British sword is a thing to be feared."
But Griffin made no answer, and when Ragnar held out his hand he wouldnot see it.
"Maybe I have not yet made amends," Ragnar went on. "I will add,therefore, as I know that my words will go no farther, that I am surethat the thing concerning which we quarrelled yesterday was done by youat the orders of another. It was not your own doing, and no thought ofcowardice is in my mind now."
But Griffin never answered; and now he turned his back on the earl, whowas plainly grieved, and said no more to him, but turned to us and thetwo Welshmen.
"I do not think that I can say more. If there is aught that is needed,tell me. We have fought a fair fight, and I have taken back the wordsthat caused it."
Then said Cadwal, "No more is needed. I did not think that we had metwith so generous a foe. If Griffin will say naught, we say this for him.He has no cause for enmity left. And I say also that he has to thankthis thane for his life as well as the earl."
"No thane am I," said Havelok, "but only Havelok Grimsson of Grimsby.And even that name is set aside for a while, so that I must ask you toforget it. I have seen a good fight, if a short one, and one could notsmite a wounded man who forgot himself for a moment."
There was nothing more to be had from Griffin, for we waited a minute ortwo in silence to see if he would speak, and then we saluted and leftthe wood.
The last thing that I saw seemed to be a matter of high words betweenGriffin and his seconds; and, indeed, if they were telling him what theythought, it is likely that he wished he had been more courteous. It iseasy enough for a man who wants a quarrel to have done with one and thenstart another.
CHAPTER XII. IN LINCOLN MARKETPLACE.
We went quietly back to the town, and there was only one thing that Iwished, and that was that Havelok had not had to tell his name twice.Ragnar was full of thanks to us for our help, and said that he wouldthat we would come to Norfolk with him.
"We have a man who knows you also," he said, "but he has been with ourprincess for a long time now. He is called Mord, and is her chamberlain.He has often told me how he came by his wry-neck at the time of yourshipwreck."
So he said, and looked at Havelok. But this was a thing that he had notseen, as he was so sick at the time. I said that I remembered Mord well,and would seek him some time in the day.
And as I said this I was thinking that I must find out from Mord whetherhe knew and had told more than I could of who Havelok was and whence hecame to us. It seemed to me that the earl had heard some tale or other,and unless it was from him I could not think from whence.
Now the earl said, "This business has ended better than I could havehoped, and I think that Alsi will not hear of it. Griffin can wellaccount for a slipped shoulder by any sort of fall that he likes to ownto, and Alsi would be hardly pleased to hear that he had run the risk ofsetting all Norfolk against him for nothing after all."
"There is no doubt that he meant you to know that he does not considerthe quarrel done with," I said. "You have an enemy there."
"Nothing new, that," answered Ragnar, laughing. "He thinks that I standin his way with the princess. I suppose it is common tal
k that if hewedded her Alsi would still hold the East Anglian kingdom, making himealdorman, if only I were out of the way. But were I to wed the lady,then it is certain that she would take the crown at once. I do not meanto do so, for then it is likely that three people would be unhappy forthe rest of their days. But that would be less wretched for her than towed Griffin."
"This is no pleasant strait for the poor lady," said Havelok grimly. "Donone ask what she herself can wish?"
"That is the trouble," said the earl, "for she is in Alsi's hand, andthere is some old promise and oath sworn between him and Ethelwald herfather that holds him back. Else had she been wedded to Griffin before now."
Then we came to the widow's house, and Havelok left his arms there, andwe went on to the
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