Thyra

by Robert Ames Bennet

  The bandaging I completed with the utmost haste, for the long gashes torn across the girl's snowy breast and shoulders were still bleeding freely. This was the only danger, however, as none of the wounds penetrated the chest cavity. While Thord bathed them with hot water, I plied my needle, and between us we soon had all the cruel gashes stanched and closed. The whole had not taken fifteen minutes.

  As I applied the dressings and stitched together the tattered garments, Thord signalled the others to return.

  "She's coming to already," he said. "When she can talk, we all want to hear, and consider what lies before us.... Think of it, doctor Only a few short hours ago on that cursed floe - and now, at the very threshold of the Pole - and - and this! What next?"

  I did not wonder at Thord's outburst. But with me a softer emotion had overcome this excess of elation and amazement. Heedless of all else, I sat watching the bloom creep back into the rounded cheeks of my patient, fascinated by the beauty of her features and the colouring of milk and roses.

  Presently the blue eyes opened and looked about dazed wonderment. Then they met my gaze, and at once grew radiant with gratitude.

  Chapter IV. Thorlings.

  For some time the Polar maid and I gazed at each other in mute wonder. But Thord at last thought to fetch a cup of coffee. The stuff had been boiling so long that it was thick and muddy; yet when I raised the girl's head and held the cup to her lips, she drained it like an obedient child. No doubt she thought the hot, bitter draught some kind of powerful medicine, and indeed it had the effect of counteracting the lingering- stupor of the chloroform. Before I could prevent her, she sat up, the movement twisting her arm and shoulder so severely that she was unable to restrain a cry of pain.

  "You must keep still, maiden," I exclaimed, and I hastened to adjust the sling for her arm. As I drew back, a sudden sense of awe seemed to overcome her, and she bent her head reverently.

  "Lord Frey is very gracious," she murmured. "He acts the Holy Rune."

  Before I could reply, Balderston came up, limping from the twist that had aroused the old sprain, but full of cordial greetings for our guest. Forgetful alike of her pain and her awe, the girl smiled back at him. Then she chanced to glance around at Thord's giant figure, and her eyes widened.

  "Biorn's bani! - hail to the Son of Jord!" she cried, and bowing to each of us in turn, she murmured in a voice scarcely audible - "I give greeting to the skyfarers. The Asir are welcome to Updal."

  "You over-honour us," replied Balderston, smiling. "We are men, not gods."

  The girl looked about at us and up at the balloon in bewilderment. Then she thought she understood.

  "It is Skidbladnir," she said, nodding to herself - "Skidbladnir; and the Lord Frey has bound my hurt. Yet the sagas tell of like comings, and if they wish to pass as men - "

  "She bowed again to us.

  "The wanderers are very welcome," she said.

  "And who is it greets us?" asked Balderston.

  "I am Thyra Ragnersdotter."

  Thord took off his sealskin cap and stood with the sun gleaming on his fiery hair and beard.

  "Maid Thyra," he began in his deepest voice, "I am Thord, son of Vegtam, son of Bor. This fair one is called Frank Balderston, and beside you stands Jan Godfrey."

  Not a word of this introduction was untrue, but if Thord had calculated to confirm the girl's belief in our godship, he could not have done it more effectually by an outright lie. To her ears, my name no doubt sounded like Vana-god Frey, while the other names seemed but thin disguises for Thor and Balder. I perceived the awe deepening in the girl's eyes, and cried indignantly: "Shame on you, Thord, to trifle with her!"

  Thord grinned, highly amused - "Why, doctor, you don't believe she really--"

  "Where are your eye? Between the balloon and our looks, and the way you gave our names -"

  "I dropped English, and turned abruptly to the wondering girl: "It is a jest, Thyra. We are only men - men of like blood to you, descended from your early ancestors in the south land."

  The girl opened her lips to reply; but a sudden look of horror distorted her face. Clutching my shoulder, she drew herself behind me and shrieked in terror: "Surt! - fiery Surt! Oh, save me, Frey!"

  I stared about in amazement. Sergeant Black, who had loitered by the bear, stood a few paces off, puffing at a cigar and evincing his enjoyment by one of his grotesque grins. We all laughed as the situation dawned upon us, and I took the girl's hand, with a reassuring look.

  "Only consider, maiden," I reasoned; "would Surt fare in peace with the Asir? We are all merely men - he also. He is a true carl, despite his colour. His forefathers came from a land where the sun burns men black."

  "The dwerger are more ugly," said the girl, panting and still half alarmed; "yet they are brown. He is so black, I thought it must be Surt; and - and he breathes fire - the smoke-!"

  "A small wonder - only smoke," said I. "We will show you the mystery soon. "But now, tell us, - is it often you hunt grey biorn alone?"

  "The others follow the trail of bera and the cubs. I crossed the blood snow to cut them off; but biorn rushed upon me. Few can fight grey biorn singly. I fled to seek my brother. From the crest I saw Skidbladnir and ran towards it for aid. I was hard pressed. But for the thunderstones you cast so far, and the huge rock hurled by this great one, I should have been fey."

  "No wonder!" commented Balderston. "What did he measure, sergeant?"

  "Muns'ous big, sah - muns'ous big! Ten feet, shuly!"

  "Not ten of your own feet!" protested Thord.

  "No, sah; no, sah; I doan say dat, sah. Only seben ob dem."

  "Yes; I didn't think he was quite a whale," said Thord. "But hustle out your knives. We want that skin."

  "No we don't," said I. "The thing will weigh two or three hundred, and with our fair passenger, we'll have enough aboard. Leave the bear alone, and help consider what's to be done next."

  "No time for that either," interrupted Balderston. "Look there!"

  All followed his gesture up the slope to the right. Five hundred yards or so away, a man had leaped up suddenly above the sky-line. For a moment he paused on the bare crest of the ridge, to gaze back down the opposite slope; then, with a defiant shake of his lance, he turned and bounded towards us.

  "It is my brother, Rolf Kaki!" cried Thyra, and she sent a clear "Haoi!" ringing up the mountain side. The man flung up his hand in response, and came on faster than ever.

  "Hello! That looks like flight," exclaimed Balderston.

  "I'll get another stone ready," said Thord grimly.

  "Yet the man is big enough to do it himself. He can't be a span shorter than I. Bah! with a woman it's different; but a fellow who would run from a bear -"

  "'Bear!" I cried. "See him zigzag. He wouldn't do that for a bear."

  "Must be savages, then," said Thord.

  "No; see! There's another like him, on the crest - two! - and they're shooting with bows. He's had a scrap with his comrades."

  Balderston was right, at least in part. I even fancied I could see the arrows flash around the fugitive as he leaped sideways in his flight. Suddenly three more men came leaping up on the ridge crest. One of them paused to shoot, but the other two rushed on in chase. Then, all in a body, came a dozen more pursuers, headed by a gigantic woman in huntress dress. At a shout from her, the whole party charged on down the slope.

  "Thorlings!" cried Thyra. She stood with flashing eyes, and her nostrils quivered with excitement as she snatched eagerly at her empty belt. Lance and axe lay by the dead bear. As she remembered, she threw up her hand in despair - "Unarmed! unarmed! - and the odds so great!"

  "Courage! Here he comes, safe!" I shouted.

  "Ay; and the arrows with him," added Thord. "Good Lord! how they shoot! We'll soon be in range."

  "Boots and saddles!" shouted Balderston. Black made a dash to bring in his cook outfit; the rest of us seized our rifles.

  "We must stop that rush," said Thord coolly.


  Balderston's answer was a shot that dropped the foremost pursuer. Thord and I knocked over our men a moment later, and a second ball from the army rifle winged a fourth. That was enough for the Thorlings. Down they went behind a pile of rocks, just out of arrow range, while the hunted man staggered up to the car, all but spent, a great arrow fast in his shoulder and the blood spurting from a sword-cut on his broad chest.

  He was of huge build, half a head shorter than Thord, but still almost a giant. As he halted a dozen paces off, and leaned gasping on his lance shaft, he appeared, for all his sorry plight, a magnificent type of manhood. Hard pressed as he was, badly wounded, and as yet ignorant of our intentions, he stood like a lion at bay, not a trace of fear in his bold, questioning gaze.

  Thyra was the first to speak.

  "Friends!" she cried warningly, as her brother caught sight of the sergeant's scarred black face, and gripped his lance.

  "Friends?" he repeated hoarsely.

  "Ay!" replied Thord, striding forward with outstretched hand. "Come aboard Skidbladnir."

  "Come yourself, Thord," cried Balderston. "The gang up there are stretching their bows. See the arrow beside you."

  "Yes; hustle aboard, and out with ballast. We don't want the balloon full of holes again. Keep the enemy close, Frank."

  "Just what I had in mind," replied Balderston, and he drove a bullet through the forehead of an incautious Thorling. But the other bowmen lay back out of sight and sent volleys of arrows curving high through the air.

  "Dey's comin' close, sah!" warned Black, as a long shaft, thick as his finger, glanced down the out-leaning side of the balloon, and buried its head viciously in the car rim.

  "Out with the stones!" I yelled, tugging at a huge block. "Look sharp, Thord."

  "Coming, doctor."

  The two big men released their handgrip, and Thord almost carried the stranger to the platform. In the excitement of the moment we did not think to put the girl down within the car, where she would have been out of the way as well as more comfortable. As it was, between our numbers and the ballast stones, the little space on the platform was all but jammed. But Thord and I quickly tumbled three stones overboard, and a moment later Black, up above the bearing-ring, cut loose half a thousand pounds of stores.

  "Look out! They're going to rush us. The big woman is up and calling them to follow," warned Balderston.

  "Rush ahead," growled Thord, as he heaved up the fourth stone. The car was already shifting in its bed. I slashed through the taut anchor rope at the instant that the last block went overboard. Up we soared, a grand and marvellous sight to the astonished Thorlings, and an equal wonder to our rescued guests.

  The weight of the guide-rope checked our ascent at no great height, but the raise was sufficient to expose the refuge of the Thorlings. Seeing this, they stood up boldly beside their Amazon leader, and held their bows in readiness as we drifted towards the ridge crest. The breeze bore us somewhat to the left of them, yet not out of arrow-shot of the level on which they stood. Balderston and Thord at once prepared to open fire; but Black, at a sign from me, saved our powder by cutting loose more ballast.

  As the sergeant swung down into our midst, we caught sight of a new spectator on the ridge, - a huge Thorling, tall as Rolf Kaki and fully as broad as Thord himself. Through the glasses, I could plainly see the man's evil face, contorted with the ferocity of a wild beast. One of his eyes seemed half-closed by a scar. The other, which was very prominent, rolled uneasily about with a terrible leer. His undershot jaw and brutal expression reminded me of the savage on the peak, but his clothing was of silky furs and a broad band of gold bound his shaggy red hair.

  We had no need to ask the name of this ogre. The moment Rolf caught sight of him, he uttered a furious cry - "King Hoding! - Hoding Grimeye! I left him for dead! - Curse the sword which failed me!"

  "I'll end the fellow," said Thord, his hard eyes keen for murder. But I struck up his rifle.

  "Stop!" I cried. "It will be time to shed more blood when we know the quarrel. There is no need now. We're safe."

  "No, by heaven! The others are running for the guide-rope."

  "They can't catch it."

  "Ef dey do--" muttered Black, patting his rifle.

  "If they do, they'll find it hot," added his lieutenant. "Och, me Thorling frins, jes' thread on th' tail o' me coat, now."

  We laughed at the invitation, all except Thord. He took deliberate aim at the Thorling who was running with the big woman several yards in advance of the others. With a splendid burst of speed, the unlucky man reached the end of the line and sprang to grasp it as it drew up a ledge. Out roared Thord's express. The Thorling spun around and fell flat.

  "Ake-Thor!" shouted Rolf Kaki in wild joy. "That was Eyvind Deerfoot. He it was slew Haldor."

  "But the others?" cried Thyra anxiously.

  "Arrow-pierced, all three. We were hot on the trail, when the forestmen surprised us. There were five at first, Hoding in the lead; and when the three fell to their arrows, they attacked. Haldor pierced two of them with his javelins, and then fought the second pair, while I met Hoding. It was a hard fight. Hoding cut me, as you see, but I felled him, and Haldor slew the others. Then half a score more came running, led by the woman, who is Bera herself, - Bera of the Orm, the king's half sister. So we fled. But Haldor fell to Eyvind's spear, and Hoding, it seems, was only stunned."

  Thyra's eyes overflowed at the recital, but there was no vengefulness with her sorrow. She laid her hand on her brother's arm and said: "Remember, Rolf, the Holy Rune - hold no blood thoughts. The Thorlings have paid doubly, and more. Rather let us thank those who have saved us. But for them, grey biorn would have devoured me," - and the girl gave a vivid account of her rescue.

  Rolf looked at Thord as at a demi-god, and then he turned to me. But I cut short his thanks.

  "It is my craft to heal. I will now bind your wounds also," said I, and I opened the surgical case. At once the Polar Northman turned about, and stood without a flinch or groan while I drew the arrow from his shoulder. The tip of the six-inch head had pierced through until it showed in front, but there was no barb, and neither the lung nor any artery had been injured.

  I had the arrow wound dressed in short order, but the ugly sword gash was a different proposition. To close it required thirty or forty stitches, yet the man bore the painful operation with wonderful fortitude, almost with indifference. While I still sewed away at the quivering flesh, Balderston picked up the heavy Thorling arrow and wiped the blood from its head.

  "Hello!" he exclaimed. "This isn't steel. It's platinum, or I'm a fool! - and the lance head, too."

  Thord and Black, who were still watching the Thorlings, now gathered on the crest near their king, at once wheeled about to examine the weapons; but I was so absorbed in my work that at the time the discovery made no impression on my mind.

  Chapter V. Niflheim.

  After I had finished with the needle, it did not take me long to apply my dressings. Not until then did I become conscious of a pair of deep blue eyes that followed my every movement with flattering constancy. Their look put me in a glow, as I realised the advantage I had gained over Balderston by winning the girl's gratitude. To tell the truth, I was already head over heels in love with our fair Polar Valkyrie, and it seemed impossible to me that Balderston should be indifferent. Therefore I was filled with jealousy of the best of friends, and thought enviously of his handsome features. I forgot my dark eyes and black Van Dyke, which, among a blond people, gave a novel attraction to my homely phiz.

  "All right, friend Rolf," said I, as I pinned the last bandage. Then, anxious to take all possible advantage of my opportunity, I turned at once to his sister. But before I could speak, our attention was drawn by a shout from Black - "Golly! - red snow!"

  I stared down over the bearing-ring, side by side with Thyra. Black's surprise was easily explained. The balloon had crossed a hollow beyond the crest where the Thorlings yet stood gazing after the cloud ship, and
now, skimming close above a second ridge, she floated out over a vast glacier field, the nearer side of which was belted with a broad streak of crimson.

  "The blood snow," explained Thyra.

  "Yes; Protococcus nivalis]'

  I replied absently, my gaze following the line of the glacier. It descended into a narrowing valley that seemed to extend downwards to an astonishing depth. For the first time an inkling of the truth entered my mind. I raised my eyes quickly. Thyra stood puzzling over my scientific remark, but the big Northman caught the question in my gaze.

  "The Ice-Street," he said, nodding downwards. "It leads up from the Thorling Mark."

  "Thorling Mark - a forest?"

  "Ay; that of the Ormvol - on the mid-land."

  "Betwixt Updal and Niflheim," added Thyra; and I found myself more perplexed than before.

  "Niflheim?" I exclaimed, in a voice that attracted the attention of Thord and Balderston.

  "Niflheim - Dwergerheim," repeated the girl, puzzled in turn by my surprise. "Surely you know of Hel's under-world - of Hela Pool, where Nidhug lies."

  "Oh, she's talking mythology," explained Balderston, laughing.

  "Not so," protested Thord. "I really believe- "

  "A heavy lurch of the platform flung us in a heap against the bearing-ring - almost overboard. All uttered a cry of alarm, for close in the balloon's wake a great cliff of black rock seemed to shoot up into the air. So swiftly were we falling, I thought the balloon had burst. Yet that did not explain the violent lurch. Then, in a flash, I understood. The trailing portion of the guide-rope had dropped into some deep chasm, and its weight was dragging us clown. A glance at the basalt cliff showed that the speed of our descent was already lessening. But my sigh of relief was answered by a groan from Black. He was glaring down over the side, his face blanched to ashen grey and his eyes almost starting from their sockets.

  "Good God, man! what is it?" cried Balderston.

  "Lawd - O Lawd!" gasped the negro, his teeth chattering. "De bottomless pit! - O Lawd!"

  Seized by a contagion of terror, we peered fearfully down over the side of the car. No wonder the negro was terror-stricken. The balloon hung suspended over the gloomy depths of a vast gulf - a chasm yawning in the earth's crust like the empty bed of an ocean. Overcome with vertigo, we clutched the suspension-ropes, and stared with dizzy eyes at the black wall of the pit, running down, down, down in grand sheer precipices, thousands upon thousands of feet, until lost to view in the gloom of the great deep.