Part 23 (1/2)
”Board them and make an end,” answered Skallagrim.
”Rough work; still, we will try it,” said Eric, ”for we may not lie thus for long, and I am loath to leave them.”
Then Eric called for men to follow him, and many answered, creeping as best they might to where he stood.
”Thou art mad, Eric,” said Hall the mate; ”cut loose and let us drive, else we shall both founder, and that is a poor tale to tell.”
Eric took no heed, but, watching his chance, leapt on to the bows of the Raven, and after him leapt Skallagrim. Even as he did so, a great sea came and swept past and over them, so that half the s.h.i.+p was hid for foam. Now, Hall the mate stood near to the grapnel cable, and, fearing lest they should sink, out of the cowardice of his heart, he let his axe fall upon the chain, and severed it so swiftly that no man saw him, except Skallagrim only. Forward sprang the Gudruda, freed from her burden, and rushed away before the wind, leaving Eric and Skallagrim alone upon the Raven's prow.
”Now we are in an evil plight,” said Eric, ”the cable has parted!”
”Ay,” answered Skallagrim, ”and that losel Hall hath parted it! I saw his axe fall.”
XIV
HOW ERIC DREAMED A DREAM
Now, when the men of Ospakar, who were gathered on the p.o.o.p of the Raven, saw what had come about, they shouted aloud and made ready to slay the pair. But Eric and Skallagrim clambered to the mast and got their backs against it, and swiftly made themselves fast with a rope, so that they might not fall with the rolling of the s.h.i.+p. Then the people of Ospakar came on to cut them down.
But this was no easy task, for they might scarcely stand, and they could not shoot with the bow. Moreover, Eric and Skallagrim, being bound to the mast, had the use of both hands and were minded to die hard.
Therefore Ospakar's folks got but one thing by their onslaught, and that was death, for three of their number fell beneath the long sweep of Whitefire, and one bowed before the axe of Skallagrim. Then they drew back and strove to throw spears at these two, but they flew wide because of the rolling of the vessel. One spear struck the mast near the head of Skallagrim. He drew it out, and, waiting till the s.h.i.+p steadied herself in the trough of the sea, hurled it at a knot of Ospakar's thralls, and a man got his death from it. After that they threw no more spears.
Thence once more the crew came on with swords and axes, but faint-heartedly, and the end of it was that they lost some more men dead and wounded and fell back again.
Skallagrim mocked at them with bitter words, and one of them, made mad by his scoffing, cast a heavy ballast-stone at him. It fell upon his shoulder and numbed him.
”Now I am unmeet for fight, lord,” said Skallagrim, ”for my right arm is dead and I can scarcely hold my axe.”
”That is ill, then,” said Eric, ”for we have little help, except from each other, and I, too, am well-nigh spent. Well, we have done a great deed and now it is time to rest.”
”My left arm is yet whole, lord, and I can make s.h.i.+ft for a while with it. Cut loose the cord before they bait us to death, and let us rush upon these wolves and fall fighting.”
”A good counsel,” said Eric, ”and a quick end; but stay a while: what plan have they now?”
Now the men of Ospakar, having little heart left in them for such work as this, had taken thought together.
”We have got great hurt, and little honour,” said the mate. ”There are but nineteen of us left alive, and that is scarcely enough to work the s.h.i.+p, and it seems that we shall be fewer before Eric Brighteyes and Skallagrim Lambstail lie quiet by yonder mast. They are mighty men, indeed, and it would be better, methinks, to deal with them by craft, rather than by force.”
The sailors said that this was a good word, for they were weary of the sight of Whitefire as he flamed on high and the sound of the axe of Skallagrim as it crashed through helm and byrnie; and as fear crept in valour fled out.
”This is my rede, then,” said the mate: ”that we go to them and give them peace, and lay them in bonds, swearing that we will put them ash.o.r.e when we are come back to Iceland. But when we have them fast, as they sleep at night, we will creep on them and hurl them into the sea, and afterwards we will say that we slew them fighting.”
”A shameful deed!” said a man.
”Then go thou up against them,” answered the mate. ”If we slay them not, then shall this tale be told against us throughout Iceland: that a s.h.i.+p's company were worsted by two men, and we may not live beneath that dishonour.”
The man held his peace, and the mate, laying down his arms, crept forward alone, towards the mast, just as Eric and Skallagrim were about to cut themselves loose and rush on them.