Part 14 (2/2)
”I return to the land of the North with my beloved s.h.i.+gne.”
”And what do you purpose to do in that distant region?”
”War!” boldly answered the heroine wife. ”Gaelo and I are not of the number of the cowards, who, forgetful of their vow never to sleep under a roof, desert the combat of the ocean to live on land, as Rolf and his companions are doing.”
”Charles the Simple bestowed also the Duchy of Brittany upon Rolf.
Vainly did I predict to him that that region will be the grave of his best followers, if they ever try to invade it. He has persisted in his plans of conquest, and wished to give me the command of the fleet which he intends sending to the coast of Armorica in order to take possession.
I could not dissuade him.”
”And you refused to take charge of such a mission, my worthy Gaelo?”
”Yes. But how singular are the events that accompany the Frankish conquest of Gaul! One of our ancestors, Amael, the favorite of Charles Martel, served the Franks. He knew how to atone for his error when Charles proposed to him to invade Brittany, the sacred cradle of our family. A century later, my grandfather, my own father and now myself have, out of hatred for the Franks, fought against them, and now Rolf proposes to me to be the leader in his war against Armorica. Oh!
Although ridden by the priests and oppressed by seigneurs of the Breton race, Armorica still is free when compared with the other provinces of Gaul. Sooner than seek to invade Brittany I would defend its existing vestiges of freedom against the Northmans themselves.”
”And what prevents you from obeying that generous prompting and going to Brittany?”
”Old man!” put in the Beautiful s.h.i.+gne. ”Rolf's men are of my race.
Would you, for instance, fight the men of Brittany?”
”I can not but approve of your resolution,” answered Eidiol upon a moment's reflection.
”And now, before a last adieu,” said Gaelo placing a sealed roll in the old skipper's hands, ”keep these parchments. You will there find the narrative of the adventures that have led to my wedding s.h.i.+gne. You will also find there some details on the customs of the Northman pirates, and of the stratagem by the aid of which my companion and myself seized the abbey of St. Denis. If, obedient to the behest of our ancestor Joel, you or your son should some day write a chronicle intended to continue the history of our family, you may narrate my life and join to the narrative the iron arrowhead that you extracted from my wound. Our names will thus be handed down to our descendants.”
”Gaelo, your wishes shall be fulfilled,” answered the old skipper, deeply moved. ”However obscure my life has until now been, I always had it in mind to narrate the events that have happened since the Northman pirates made their first appearance under the walls of Paris. I shall now do so, bringing the narrative down to the marriage of Rolf with the daughter of Charles the Simple, and I shall supplement the story with the notes that you have furnished me.”
After a last and tender embrace, Gaelo and the Beautiful s.h.i.+gne left the house of Eidiol. Their two _holkers_--one manned by the champions of Gaelo, the other by the Buckler Maidens--awaited the couple at the port of St. Landry. With sails spread and swollen to the wind, the two light craft speedily descended the Seine and took the azure route of the swans across the billows of the northern sea.
EPILOGUE
I, Eidiol, wrote the preceding chronicle shortly after the departure of Gaelo. I used the notes he left me in the matters that relate to his previous adventures, to the life of the Northman pirates and to the Buckler Maidens.
The day after Gaelo's departure I sailed to Rouen to meet my beloved Jeanike. With joy I embraced her two children, Yvonne and Germain the forester. After the tender pleasures of our first meeting Jeanike narrated to me her conversation with Ghisele, the conversation of the latter with her father, and lastly the conversation of both with the Archbishop of Rouen at the castle of Compiegne. My daughter had overheard every word, and I have thus been enabled to reproduce with accuracy all the facts connected with the marriage of the pirate Rolf and Ghisele, the ill-starred and now expiring daughter of King Charles.
I finished this narrative to-day, the eleventh day of August, in the year 912, a happy day, because this morning I entrusted the fate of Anne the Sweet to Rustic the Gay.
Alas, only my poor wife Martha was wanting to complete the joy at our hearth.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
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