Part 6 (1/2)

Noas the day of the Yule-feast, and there was no sun till one hour before noon But Eric, having kissed his mother and bidden her farewell, called a thrall, Jon by na full of his best apparel, bade hihteyes would come down Golden Falls an hour after o to the foot of the Golden Falls, to await hiht his ood rope, and a staff tipped with iron, and, so soon as the light served,Coldback till he came to the lip of Golden Falls Here he stayed a while till at length he sawup the snow fro them, tomen who by their stature should be Gudruda and Swanhild, and, near to thereat man whom he did not know Then he showed hiulf and turned his horse up streae of the sky, but the frost bit like a sword Still, heremained on him except his sheepskin shoes, shi+rt and hose, and take the water Now here the river runs htily, and hewater before he can reach Sheep-saddle, and woe to him if his foot slip on the boulders, for certainly he ainst the stony bottoht on it, took the streaainst hith he was rather more than half-way across and the water swept above his shoulders Noas lifted fro the staff float, he swahty strokes that he felt little of that icy cold Down he ept--now the lip of the fall was but three fathoreen water boiled beneath him A fathorasp it, all is well; if not, he dies

Three great strokes and he held it His feet were swept out over the brink of the fall, but he clung on grith of his arms drew himself on to the rock and rested a while Presently he stood up, for the cold began to nip him, and the people below became aware that he had swum the river above the fall and raised a shout, for the deed was great Now Eric in to clamber down Sheep-saddle, and this was no easy task, for the rock is almost sheer, and slippery with ice, and on either side the waters rushed and thundered, throwing their blinding spray about him as they leapt to the depths beneath He looked down, studying the rock; then, feeling that he grew afraid,a point with both hands, swung hith and more Now for many minutes he climbed down Sheep-saddle, and the task was hard, for he was bewildered with the boo of the waters that bent out on either side of him like the arc of a bow, and the rock was very steep and slippery Still, he cah twice he was near to falling, and the watchers below reatly at his hardihood

”He will be dashed to pieces where the watersbeneath; and, if so it be that he coht of water will drive him down and drown hirieves me much; for it was my jest that drove him to this perilous adventure, and we cannot spare such a hteyes”

Noanhild turned white as death; but Gudruda said: ”If great heart and strength and skill may avail at all, then Eric shall come safely down the waters”

”Thou fool!” whispered Swanhild in her ear, ”how can these help him? No troll could live in yonder cauldron Dead is Eric, and thou art the bait that lured him to his death!”

”Spare thy words,” she answered; ”as the Norns have ordered so it shall be”

Now Eric stood at the foot of Sheep-saddle, and within an ar their yelloaves and seething furiously as they leapt to the h the spray Three fatho split the waters, and thence, if he can come thither, he may leap sheer into the pool belo he unwound the rope that was about his middle, and made one end fast to a knob of rock--and this was difficult, for his hands were stiff with cold--and the other end he passed through his leathern girdle Then Eric looked again, and his heart sank within hi flood and not be shattered?

But as he looked, lo! a rainbo upon the face of the water, and one end of it lit upon hilory from the Gods, fell full upon Gudruda as she stood a little way apart, watching at the foot of Golden Falls

”Seest thou that,” said Asmund to Groa, as at his side, ”the Gods build their Bifrost bridge between these two Who now shall keep them asunder?”

”Read the portent thus,” she answered: ”they shall be united, but not here Yon is a Spirit bridge, and, see: the waters of Death foam and fall between theood to him, and all fear left his heart Round about him the waters thundered, but a:

”Be of good cheer, Eric Brighteyes; for thou shalt live to do uerdon thou shalt win Gudruda”

So he paused no longer, but, shortening up the rope, pulled on it with all his strength, and then leapt out upon the arch of waters They struck hiain he fell against theirdle burst

Eric felt it go and clung wildly to the rope and lo! with the inward swing, he fell on Wolf's Fang, where never a ain Eric lay a little while on the rock till his breath came back to him, and he listened to the roar of the waters

Then, rising on his hands and knees, he crept to its point, for he could scarcely stand because of the tre of the stone beneath the shock of the fall; and when the people belo that he was not dead, they raised a great shout, and the sound of their voices cah the noise of the waters

Noelve fathoms beneath him was the surface of the pool; but he could not see it because of the wreaths of spray Nevertheless, he rew cold So of a sudden Eric stood up to his full height, and, with a loud cry and afar into the air, beyond the reach of the falling flood, and rushed headlong towards the gulf beneath Now all reat is the place and so high the leap that through thewhite stone hurled down the face of the arching waters

He was gone, and the watchers rushed down to the foot of the pool, for there, if he rose at all, he must pass to the shalloanhild could look no round The face of Gudruda was set like a stone with doubt and anguish Ospakar saw and read the rant that this youngling rise not again! for the htly swept aside”

Eric struck the pool Down he sank, and down and down--for the water falling from so far ain--and he with it Now he touched the bottoan to rise, and, as he rose, was carried along by the strea before he could breathe, and it seeled up, striking great strokes with his legs

”Farewell to Eric,” said Asmund, ”he will rise no more now”

But just as he spoke Gudruda pointed to soolden, beneath the surface of the current, and lo! the bright hair of Eric rose fro his head like a seal, and, though but feebly, struck out for the shallows that are at the foot of the pool Now he found footing, but ept over by the fierce current, and cut his forehead, and he carried that scar till his death Again he rose, and with a rush gained the bank unaided and fell upon the snow

Now people gathered about hireat a deed And presently Eric opened his eyes and looked up, and found the eyes of Gudruda fixed on his, and there was that in thelad he had dared the path of Golden Falls

V