Ulric the Jarl

by William Stoddard

  Ben Ezra led onward rapidly, but the way by which he went grew steeper. They came out at last, much heated by their heavy burdens, upon a level place, where were no trees, and here he halted.

  “Here let the fire be made,” he said to the jarl. “But if thou and Sigurd will walk with me a little distance further ye will see something.”

  Gladly did the wearied Saxons pause and make their camp, but their jarl and Sigurd followed the Jew. Not far did these go until they came out upon a bold, high promontory of rocks.

  “Look!” said Ben Ezra. “The Middle Sea.”

  There were no trees to hinder sight and the air was pure, so that they saw afar. There were many sails and there were also galleys which might be warships.

  “O jarl,” said Ben Ezra, “thou art escaped from a Roman fleet. Thou wouldst not have done so but for the ledge of rocks and the fire which destroyed thy vessel. Thou art on the front of Carmel. Now turn thee to thy left. What seest thou?”

  “A heap of stones,” said Ulric. “They have been shapely, but now they are broken down. Was it one of the altars of thy god?”

  “Not so,” said Ben Ezra, “but our fathers made that heap for a sign of remembrance. In the ancient days there was on that spot an altar to Jehovah. Upon it the prophet Elijah sacrificed oxen and the fire of our god came down and consumed both the sacrifice and the altar. Here was Jehovah’s victory over Baal, the god of the heathen, and here were all the priests and prophets of Baal slain with the sword.”

  “If thy god is here,” said Ulric, “I am willing to remain, for I think he hath befriended us. But I have no quarrel with Baal or with any other god. I think Odin and Thor to be at peace with thy Jehovah, but I like not at all the cunning gods of the Romans.”

  “Jehovah destroyeth them in the day of his appointing,” said Ben Ezra. “They cannot stand against him. He is mighty.”

  The jarl was silent, gazing out upon the sea, and Sigurd looked around him among the trees.

  “O jarl,” he said, “I like not this mountain, full of gods. The men have kindled fires. Let us eat and drink and then let us depart.”

  * * *

  CHAPTER XX. Carmel and Esdraelon.

  “HERE ARE BOATS!” EXCLAIMED the Roman officer, as he drew rein at the place upon the beach from which the Ionian rowers had fled. “Then there were more of these cowardly deserters. If all these boats had remained with the ships, how many brave men might have been rescued! We will search the mountains for these rascals. If Cæsar hath been robbed of two warships by the fire and the rocks, we will at least avenge the shades of our comrades who were left to perish.”

  An angry man was he, and with good cause so far as these men were concerned, and their crime was well deserving of punishment. He rode away with his horsemen, but there would soon be terrible hunters for blood among the crags of Carmel. There would, however, be a delay of hours before forces could set out from the war garrisons, and meanwhile the Ionians had been pushing their way into the forest.

  They were of one accord that it would not be well for them to continue long in one body, attracting attention, and each man was in dread of all his companions, fearing lest their very number should betray him to the sword. They found what seemed a sufficiently hidden camping place and they slept. At their breaking of their fast next morning, having but little to break it with, they were apparently almost cheerful, chatting lightly among themselves concerning their escape. In that country, they said, were great numbers of Greeks, who came and went unquestioned by the authorities. A few more, if scattered here and there, would go unnoted. Not long time need pass before all of them might be upon the sea again and far away, sailing from the many ports of Syria. Not many of them seemed to be warlike men, but it might be understood, in various forms of speech, that among them was no man who grieved for the destruction of Roman keels and Roman soldiers. Rather did some of them mutter that with their will whole legions had perished instead of half a cohort. They believed themselves to be altogether unobserved, but upon them were now gazing eyes of intense hatred from the leafy ambush of some dense thicket at a short distance.

  “O ye who hear me,” said one of the deserters, loudly, “know ye this! From the first ship that struck the reef and began to burn did some surely get to the land. Like us they are now in Carmel. What shall we do with them?”

  “Slay them!” sharply responded several voices. “Lest they prove our ruin. Slay them without mercy!”

  One of them was a tall, gray-haired man, with eyes that were set near together and with a pointed nose. His forehead was high and on it was an iron cap. He said:

  “If they be too many, make friends with them at the first, but let none escape. I will attend to that.”

  They listened as if he might be a man of rank and a leader among them, but hidden by the bushes were ears that understood the tongue in which he and they were speaking, and there were other ears which did not interpret.

  “It is of no use to question this Greek of ours, O Knud,” whispered one to another of two strong men in the ambush, but his own face and his manner asked a question.

  “Be thou silent, Tostig the Red,” replied Knud. “Watch him. Do as he doeth!”

  For Lysias was muttering low in Greek, “He betrayed my father in Corinth. He would surely destroy me. He is a liar and he must die.”

  To the head he drew his long arrow, and his companions hindered him not, for his face was burning with wrath, and it pleased them to see him raise his bow.

  “He is a young warrior,” they thought. “He knoweth what these have spoken.”

  Truly sped the arrow, and the tall old Corinthian traitor was smitten through the face, so that he spoke no more. Up sprang his companions, wild with fear, but another and another of them went down before they could escape among the trees, for the spears of Tostig and Knud followed the arrows of Lysias and they three followed closely, sword in hand.

  “I think,” said Knud the Bear when he and his friends returned from a brief chasing, “that too many escaped. I have counted but eleven slain. I will ask the Greek his reasons for this when we reach an interpreter.”

  “Take all coin from these who are slain,” said Lysias, but he made his words plain by action.

  “They are Greek and Roman coins,” said Knud. “We may need them. I am learning much concerning coins. Oswald, the harper, hath many, but I cared not for them. A sword is better than money.”

  “Not in a place of buying,” laughed Tostig, “and we are not now an army. We must pay.”

  “I am not a thief,” said Knud. “I will pay, but I shall surely be cheated.”

  “No doubt,” said Tostig. “So do we need to take more coins. The Greek is right.”

  Then they returned to their camp and Lysias stood before Ulric speaking. The jarl listened with care and he became very thoughtful, for Lysias told him all the words of the Ionians.

  “So, we are to have foot soldiers hunting in these forests,” he said. “I had thought of that. Thou didst well to slay them. But we who are Saxons may not disperse. Go thou and seek thine own safety. Go thou, also, Ben Ezra. Thou art among thine own people.”

  “Not so,” said Ben Ezra. “Let Lysias go, but I remain with thee for a season. Thou needest a guide. It were well for thee and thy men to cross the plains of Esdraelon and get into the mountains of Gilboa. We will go by night, for there is no safety for us in Carmel.”

  To all the Saxons Ulric interpreted the words of the Jew, and they said to him:

  “Thou art the jarl; we will follow thee. But should we not first slay this Lysias?”

  “Not so,” said Ulric. “He hath fought for us this day.”

  “Not so!” shouted also Knud the Bear. “He is a good archer. I will cut off the hand that is laid upon him.”

  “So will I,” said Tostig, and his seax was in his hand quickly.

  There the matter ended, but Ben Ezra talked with Ulric apart.

  “I send Lysias to Jerusalem,” he said. “With him
I send a jewel to the chief priest and another to the captain of the temple. We will pass over to Gilboa. Thence we will go over the Jordan, at the middle ford. Afterward we will go down to the wilderness of Judea. In that hiding place no search can find us, as I have often told thee, and it is near Jerusalem on the east.”

  “We are a score of men without Lysias,” said Ulric. “Shall we march now?”

  “Come thou first with me,” said Ben Ezra. “Not with so much treasure may we cross to Gilboa lest we lose it all on the way. I have found a cave in Carmel. Here will we leave the precious stones save a few. I swear to thee by my god that I will keep faith with thee.”

  “I swear not,” said Ulric, “for I know not of an oath with a true companion. Faith of a son of Odin cannot be broken. It is a tryst of blood between me and thee.”

  “Better than any oath,” said Ben Ezra. “Knowest thou not, O heathen jarl, that thou hast covenanted in the name of thy god, whom thou callest thy father?”

  “Odin!” exclaimed Ulric. “So it is. He would be angry with me forever if I failed thee in this matter. It is well to beware of provoking the gods. See to it that thou anger not thine own.”

  They walked away together, none following. Not far to go was it before the Jew stood still and looked around him.

  “It is well if we are unseen,” he said, “for I have great doubts in my mind.”

  “I see here a great cleft in the face of this crag,” said Ulric. “Like this are many entrances of caves in the Northland. I found some among the faces of the fiords. In them are great bones of men and beasts and store of old-time weapons that are made of stone.”

  “Thou wilt find bones here,” said the Jew, “but I think not many weapons. The cave is dark, and we will have torches.”

  Exceedingly skillful was he in the kindling of a flame among dry mosses, and Ulric found withered branches of pine full of resin. A torch for each was lighted, and they went in at the cleft, going cautiously.

  “In such places as these dwelt the ancient prophets of Jehovah,” said Ben Ezra, “but now the caves of the land of Israel are the strongholds of all robbers. I have heard that there are robbers dwelling in Carmel. Turn, now. Let us be sure that no enemy followed us.”

  The turning was quickly made, for they at that moment heard a sound behind them. Then followed an angry cry and a javelin sped over the head of the stooping Jew to glance from the shield of Ulric. He spoke not, but he threw his spear and drew his seax, for in the cleft passage were armed men. True was the spear-cast and the javelin thrower fell, but over his body sprang Ben Ezra. It was then but a brief struggle between him in his perfect mail and a robber whose garb was but a tunic.

  “These were but fools,” said the Jew as his scimiter fell upon a fourth of these half-armed men. “I think they are robbers and that they are Samaritans. Accursed are they! I will look to know if there are more of them outside.”

  He was gone but a moment, and when he returned he exclaimed, hastily:

  “Not any, O jarl! We will leave these bodies here for a token. Now we may enter the cave.”

  “Touch them not,” said Ulric. “Thou art wise. I think that any comrade of theirs who may come to see will believe this to be the work of the officers of the law.”

  “In that were better security for aught that we may will to hide,” said Ben Ezra. “Seest thou now, O jarl? This cave is deep. We will go in further.”

  “There are bones to build heaps with,” replied the jarl. “Here hath been a massacre, but these are dry and the slaying was long ago.”

  Gloomy and terrible was that deep cave in Carmel, with its dark shadows and its whitening skeletons. Among its corners the Jew was searching, holding forward his torch.

  “A soft spot in the floor here,” he said. “We will dig with our knives. We may come to it again by sure marks, for behind it is the solid rock and at its right a fathom and a half is yonder broken altar.”

  “Knowest thou,” asked Ulric, “to what god belongeth this altar? Was it thine?”

  “Nay,” said the Jew, “he hath no altars in the caves, but only in the temple at Jerusalem. In the old time was Carmel a stronghold of the Philistines. There have been many gods among these mountains. They were all destroyed by Jehovah.”

  “I would, then, that he might have a care for these treasures of ours,” said Ulric, digging rapidly with his broad dagger. “Go deeper into the earth. Make it wider. Now it is enough. O Jew, if thou and I are slain, no other hand will ever take out that which we will shortly put in.”

  The casket and some other matters brought by them were now placed in the cavity which the jarl had dug, and the covering was done with care and a removing of surface traces. Then Ulric turned to look upon the altar.

  “There are deeply cut runes upon it,” he said. “Canst thou read them?”

  “Nay, but I know that they are Chaldee,” said the Jew. “This altar is exceedingly old. Who shall say what men and what gods have been dwellers in this cave!”

  “We may now do no more,” said the jarl. “We will return to the men. It is a good prudence, every way, that we leave a mark of blood at the entrance.”

  “Even so!” exclaimed Ben Ezra. “They were robbers, but also are the Samaritans the enemies of my people. Now am I sure that Jehovah is with thee, and I remember that which is written of such as thou art, that he maketh the heathen his sword.”

  Ulric was thinking of another matter.

  “The burdens of the men will still be heavy,” he said, “but not now will they carry any weight of provisions. We will obtain pack beasts when we may. And now we have need for haste lest evil come upon us.”

  They went out of the cave together and returned to the camp, but Sigurd met them.

  “O jarl,” he exclaimed. “Lysias hath disappeared and the men are angry. We had thought he would for a while go with us.”

  “We will guard our own heads, O Sigurd, the son of Thorolf,” replied Ulric. “We are better without the Greek. He hath gone on an errand. We will but eat and then we will depart, for the Romans come quickly. The Jew hath a guiding for us.”

  Nevertheless, the Saxons all were angry, and they ate in silence. Their jarl was too soft with strangers, they said to each other. He avoided too much the shedding of dangerous blood.

  He himself was stern and moody, for he was thinking of his lost ship and of the Northland and of Hilda.

  “If she knoweth where I am,” he thought, “surely she would give me a token. I doubt if she can follow me unto this place. How could she find me in Carmel?”

  He stood erect soon, and there was a strong impulse upon him, for he lifted his war horn and blew three blasts, toward the sea, and toward the forest, and toward the great crag that standeth on the promontory of the mountain. The sea replied not, nor did the forest, but from the great wall of rock there came back an answer such as will come in the winter time from out the deep throats of the fiords when the gods are conversing. Once and again it spoke, and Knud the Bear exclaimed:

  “Odin is here, or Thor, for that is a war horn of the North answering thine, O son of Brander. It is a good omen. I like to feel that the old gods are with us.”

  “We will follow thee!” added Wulf the Skater. “Go where thou wilt. I will not again forget that thou art of Odin.”

  So Ulric took up his spear and shield and Ben Ezra led the way; but the forest was dense before them and it was a long walk eastward before they came out into an open place.

  From every lip burst a sudden shout as the Saxons halted to gaze upon that which was before them.

  “The valley of the gods!” said Ulric.

  “The valley of the slain!” responded Ben Ezra. “The plain of Esdraelon. The valley which is before Jezreel. The valley of Decision. O jarl of the Saxons, it is the place of the meeting of the hosts of kings. Since the world was made here hath been the place of battles. Thereon have fallen more dead than on any other piece of ground. The chariots and the horsemen have there gone down togeth
er.”

  “Here, then, have Thor and Odin contended with the other gods,” responded Ulric. “Thy god hath been here——”

  “And all the gods of Africa and all the gods of the East!” shouted the Jew, enthusiastically. “Here the hosts of Joshua contended with the hosts of Canaan. Here have Judah, and Israel, and Egypt, and Babylon, and Nineveh, and Persia, and Greece, and Assyria drawn the sword. In the last days here in Armageddon will perish Gog and Magog, going down before the spear of Jehovah.”

  “Glad am I to have seen the place,” said Ulric, and every viking shouted for joy that he had looked upon the greatest battlefield of the broad world.

  Well was it worth coming so far to see, and gladly would they have gone into one of those great combats of the kings; but now they were led on rapidly, for the day was passing. Not long did it take them to walk down to the level plain, but all the while their eyes were busy.

  Cities they saw and villages, and many scattered abodes of men. The fields were long since reaped, but here had grown much wheat. There were many vineyards, with groves of olive trees and other fruit trees. Rivers not large but shining. Small hills whereon were towers, as if for watchmen and for garrisons. Names were given to some villages by Ben Ezra, but the greatest town of all was dimly seen, far away across the plain, and he said it was the ancient city of Jezreel. Beyond all, toward the east, arose mountains in long ridges, and they knew from him that these were the Gilboa to which he was leading them.

  “O Jew,” said Ulric, “where halt we this night?”

  “Not on all the plain,” said Ben Ezra. “Even now we near the great highway from the south and in it walks a multitude, but I see no armed men. I think that many eyes are already aware of our coming.”

  That might well be, for the sunlight flashed upon their armor and their helmets and their spear points, but Tostig answered:

  “O jarl, what care we for armed men? I think the Jew is right. We must hasten, even if we have to slay a few Romans.”