Part 45 (2/2)
”Ay,” said Eric, ”and this is the upshot of it, that in the spring we sail for England and bid farewell to Iceland and our ill luck”
”Would, then, that it were spring,” said Skallagrihteyes' oords ”Why not sail now and make an end?”
”Gudruda has no shi+p and it is late to take the sea Also I think that she would let a tiainst me for the death of Bjorn”
”I would rather risk these things than stay the winter through in Iceland,” said Skallagri, and yon wolf's den is cold-lying in the dark ht beyond the darkness,” said Eric, and they rode away
Everything ith theht they came to the slopes of Mosfell They were half asleep on their horses, being weary with riht from swords hidden behind some stones
”Awake, lord!” he cried, ”here are foes ahead”
Gizur's folk behind the stones heard his voice and came out from their ambush There were six of them, and they for the mountain, for a ru him, they had hidden hastily behind the stones
”Nohat counsel shall we take?” said Eric, drawing Whitefire
”We have often stood against men more than six, and sometimes we have left rim ”It is my counsel that we ride at them!”
”So be it,” said Eric, and he spurred his weary horse with his heels
Nohen the six saw Eric and Skallagrie on them boldly, they wavered, and the end of it was that they broke and fled to either side before a bloas struck For it had coreat was the terror of the narim Lambstail, that no six ht
So the path being clear they rode on up the slope But when they had gone a little way, Skallagrim turned his horse, and ht well, ye carles of Gizur, Ospakar's son! Ye are heroes, surely! Say now, ainst you?”
At these words the riht one on his shi+eld and it fell to the earth, but another passed over his head and struck Eric on the left shoulder, near the neck, rasped it with his right hand, drew it forth, and turning, hurled it so hard, that the ot his death from the blow, for his shi+eld did not serve to stay it Then the rest fled
Skallagrim bound up Eric's wound as well as he could, and they went on to the cave But when Eric's folk, watching above, saw the fight they ran down and met him Now the hurt was bad and Eric bled much; still, within ten days it healed up for the time
But a little while after Eric's wound was skinned over, the snows set in on Mosfell, and the days grew short and the nights long Once Gizur's men to the number of fifty came half way up thethe place was, they feared, and went back, and after that returned no h they alatched the fell
It was very dark and lonesoood heart, but as the days went by he grew troubled For since he ounded this had come upon him, that he feared the dark, and the death of Atli at his hand and Atli's words weighed more and more upon his mind They had no candles on the fell, yet, rather than stay in the blackness of the cave, Eric would wrap sheepskins about hiulf dohich the head of the Baresark had foretold his fall, and look out at the wide plains and fells and ice- in the silver shi+ne of the Northern lights or in the white beams of the stars
It chanced that Eric had bidden the men who stayed with him to build a stone hut upon the flat space of rock before the cave, and to roof it with turves He had done this that work ht have a place to store such goods as they had gathered
Now there was one stone lying near that no two riht, Eric watched these two rolling the stone along to where it must stand, and it was sloork Presently they stayed to rest Then Eric ca his hands beneath the stone, lifted, and while men wondered, he rolled the mass alone, to where it should be set as the corner stone of the hut
”Ye are all children,” he said, and laughed ainst thine, lord,” answered Skallagrim; ”but look: the blood runs from thy neck--the spear-wound has broken out afresh”
”So it is, surely,” said Eric Then he washed the wound and bound it up, thinking little of theto his custoulf and looked at the winter lights as they played over Hecla's snows
He was sad and heavy at heart, for he thought of Gudruda and wonderedAtli's words, he had little faith in his good luck Now as Eric sat and thought, the bandage on his neck slipped, so that the hurt bled, and the frost got hold of the wound and froze it, and froze his long hair to it also, in such fashi+on that when he went to the cave where all men slept, he could not loose his hair from the sore, but lay doith it frozen to him On the morrow the hair was caked so fast about his neck that it could only be freed by shearing it But this Eric would not suffer None, he said, should shear his hair, except Gudruda Thus he had sworn, and when he broke the oath misfortune had come of it He would break that vow no more, if it cost hireat a hold of Eric's mind that in some ways he was scarcely himself