Part 11 (2/2)

”I have seen as much,” said Eric ”It will be well for us if he should wed her”

”Ay, and ill for him; but it is to be doubted if that is in her mind”

Now Eric kissed her soft and sweet, and went away, bidding her look for his return on the day after the ainst her fears till he was gone, but then she wept a little

Now it is to be told that Eric and his thrall Jon rode hard up Stonefell and across the mountains and over the black sand, till, two hours before sunset, they caht

It is a gri alone in the desert plain; but between it and Hecla there is good grassland

”Here is the fox's earth Now to start hi of the path by which this fortress can be climbed from the south, and horses o, till at length they come to a flat place where water runs down the black rocks, and here Eric drank of the water, ate food, and washed his face and hands This done, he bid Jon tend the horses--for hereabouts there is a little grass--and be watchful till he returned, since he rim alone And there with a doubtful heart Jon stayed all that night For of all that caht of Whitefire as it flashed out high above hihteyes smote at foe

Eric arily up the Baresark path, for he would keep his breath in hih he went, till at length he caed on either side with sheer cliffs, such as two arainst a score

He peered down this path, but he saw no Baresark, though it orn by Baresark feet He crept along its length, h the darkness of the pass, for the light gathered on his helm and sword, till suddenly the path turned and he was on the brink of a gulf that see across and down, he could see Jon and the horses more than a hundred fathoms beneath Now Eric ulf Also he was perplexed to knohere Skallagriazed

Then he saw that a point of rock jutted from the sheer face of the cliff and that the point ith the mark of feet

”Where Baresark passes, thereWhitefire, without rasped the overhanging rock and stepped down on to the point below

Noas perched like an eagle over the dizzy gulf and his brain swaht not, for there was nothing but air Beside hirasped it to steady himself It bent beneath his clutch, and then he saw, behind it, a hole in the rock through which a man could creep, and down this hole ran footh earth like a fox,” said Eric and entered the hole Doubling his body till his helm almost touched his knee he took three paces and lo! he stood on a great platforht be built on it, which, curving inwards, cannot be seen from the narrow pass This platforht to the south, and from it he could search the plain and the path that he had travelled, and there onceplace, truly, and well chosen,” said Eric and looked around

On the floor of the rock and some paces from him a turf fire still smouldered, and by it were sheep's bones, and beyond, in the face of the overhanging precipice, was the mouth of a cave

”The wolf is at home, or was but lately,” said Eric; ”now for his lair;”

and with that he walked warily to theyet a while, but surely he heard a sound of snoring?

Then he crept in, and, presently, by the red light of the burning eth upon a rug of sheepskins, and by his side an axe

”Noould be easy to ht Eric; ”but that is a deed I will not do--no, not even to a Baresark--to slay hihtly to the side of Skallagrim, and was about to prick him with the point of Whitefire, when! as he did so, another riain,” said Eric, and sprang froe, that Baresark as behind Skallagrim caht at Eric, sword aloft Eric gives before hie of the cliff

Then the Baresark shteyes catches the blow on his shi+eld, and smites at him in turn so well and truly, that the head of the Baresark flies froround, but his body, with outstretched arulf sheer into the water, a hundred fathoms down It was the flash that Whitefire made as it circled ere it smote that Jon sahile he waited in the dell upon the , for he passed down into the great fire-riven cleft and was never seen e fashi+on that shall be told This was the first hteyes slew

Now the old tale tells that Eric cried aloud: ”Little chance had this one,” and that then a wonderful thing came to pass For the head on the rock opened its eyes and answered:

”Little chance indeed against thee, Eric Brighteyes Still, I tell thee this: that where my body fell there thou shalt fall, and where it lies there thou shalt lie also”

Now Eric was afraid, for he thought it a strange thing that a severed head should speak to him

”Here it seems I have to deal with trolls,” he said; ”but at the least, though he speak, this one shall strike no