Part 5 (1/2)

”The Land! the Land!” said the Long-h.o.a.ry; ”there are no longer tears in this old body, else should I be weeping for joy.”

Said Hallblithe: ”Art thou going to meet some one who shall make thee glad before thou diest, old man?”

”Some one?” said the elder; ”what one? Are they not all gone? burned, and drowned, and slain and died abed? Some one, young man? Yea, forsooth some one indeed! Yea, the great warrior of the Wasters of the Sh.o.r.e; the Sea-eagle who bore the sword and the torch and the terror of the Ravagers over the coal-blue sea. It is myself, MYSELF that I shall find on the Land of the Glittering Plain, O young lover!”

Hallblithe looked on him wondering as he raised his wasted arms towards the bows of the s.h.i.+p pitching down the slope of the sunlit sea, or climbing up it. Then again the old man fell back on his bed and muttered: ”What fool's work is this! that thou wilt draw me on to talk loud, and waste my body with lack of patience. I will talk with thee no more, lest my heart swell and break, and quench the little spark of life within me.”

Then Hallblithe arose to his feet, and stood looking at him, wondering so much at his words, that for a while he forgat the land which they were nearing, though he had caught glimpses of it, as the bows of the round- s.h.i.+p fell downward into the hollow of the sea. The wind was but light, as hath been said, and the waves little under it, but there was still a smooth swell of the sea which came of breezes now dead, and the s.h.i.+p wallowed thereon and sailed but slowly.

In a while the old man opened his eyes again, and said in a low peevish voice: ”Why standest thou staring at me? why hast thou not gone forward to look upon the land? True it is that ye Ravens are short of wits.”

Said Hallblithe: ”Be not wrath, chieftain; I was wondering at thy words, which are exceeding marvellous; tell me more of this land of the Glittering Plain.”

Said the Grandfather: ”Why should I tell it thee? ask of the mariners.

They all know more than thou dost.”

”Thou knowest,” said Hallblithe, ”that these men speak not to me, and take no more heed of me than if I were an image which they were carrying to sell to the next mighty man they may hap on. Or tell me, thou old man,” said he fiercely, ”is it perchance a thrall-market whereto they are bringing me? Have they sold her there, and will they sell me also in the same place, but into other hands.”

”Tus.h.!.+” said the Grandfather somewhat feebly, ”this last word of thine is folly; there is no buying or selling in the land whereto we are bound. As to thine other word, that these men have no fellows.h.i.+p with thee, it is true: thou art my fellow and the fellow of none else aboard. Therefore if I feel might in me, maybe I will tell thee somewhat.”

Then he raised his head a little and said: ”The sun grows hot, the wind faileth us, and slow and slow are we sailing.”

Even as he spoke there was a stir amids.h.i.+ps, and Hallblithe looked and beheld the mariners handling the sweeps, and settling themselves on the rowing-benches. Said the elder: ”There is noise amids.h.i.+ps, what are they doing?”

The old man raised himself a little again, and cried out in his shrill voice: ”Good lads! brave lads! Thus would we do in the old time when we drew anear some sh.o.r.e, and the beacons were sending up smoke by day, and flame benights; and the sh.o.r.e-abiders did on their helms and trembled.

Thrust her through, lads! Thrust her along!” Then he fell back again, and said in a weak voice: ”Make no more delay, guest, but go forward and look upon the land, and come back and tell me thereof, and then the tale may flow from me. Haste, haste!” So Hallblithe went down from the p.o.o.p, and in to the waist, where now the rowers were bending to their oars, and crying out fiercely as they tugged at the quivering ash; and he clomb on to the forecastle and went forward right to the dragon-head, and gazed long upon the land, while the das.h.i.+ng of the oar-blades made the semblance of a gale about the s.h.i.+p's black sides. Then he came back again to the Sea-eagle, who said to him: ”Son, what hast thou seen?”

”Right ahead lieth the land, and it is still a good way off. High rise the mountains there, but by seeming there is no snow on them; and though they be blue they are not blue like the mountains of the Isle of Ransom.

Also it seemed to me as if fair slopes of woodland and meadow come down to the edge of the sea. But it is yet far away.”

”Yea,” said the elder, ”is it so? Then will I not wear myself with making words for thee. I will rest rather, and gather might. Come again when an hour hath worn, and tell me what thou seest; and may happen then thou shalt have my tale!” And he laid him down therewith and seemed to be asleep at once. And Hallblithe might not amend it; so he waited patiently till the hour had worn, and then went forward again, and looked long and carefully, and came back and said to the Sea-eagle, ”The hour is worn.”

The old chieftain turned himself about and said ”What hast thou seen?”

Said Hallblithe: ”The mountains are pale and high, and below them are hills dark with wood, and betwixt them and the sea is a fair s.p.a.ce of meadowland, and methought it was wide.”

Said the old man: ”Sawest thou a rocky skerry rising high out of the sea anigh the sh.o.r.e?”

”Nay,” said Hallblithe, ”if there be, it is all blended with the meadows and the hills.”

Said the Sea-eagle: ”Abide the wearing of another hour, and come and tell me again, and then I may have a gainful word for thee.” And he fell asleep again. But Hallblithe abided, and when the hour was worn, he went forward and stood on the forecastle. And this was the third s.h.i.+ft of the rowers, and the stoutest men in the s.h.i.+p now held the oars in their hands, and the s.h.i.+p shook through all her length and breadth as they drave her over the waters.

So Hallblithe came aft to the old man and found him asleep; so he took him by the shoulder, and shook him and said: ”Awake, faring-fellow, for the land is a-nigh.”

So the old man sat up and said: ”What hast thou seen?”

Said Hallblithe: ”I have seen the peaks and cliffs of the far-off mountains; and below them are hills green with gra.s.s and dark with woods, and thence stretch soft green meadows down to the sea-strand, which is fair and smooth, and yellow.”