Part 36 (1/2)

”Sure it isn't pains you're troubled with?” asked Krake, in a voice of pity.

”I do believe it must be that they refer to some one whom we have wounded during the fight,” suggested Leif, ”and that they think we have him concealed in the hamlet.”

”It seems to me,” said Thorward, ”that if they were troubled about a wounded or missing comrade, they would have asked for him sooner.”

”That is true,” replied Leif. ”I wish we knew what it is they would communicate, for they appear to be very anxious about it.”

As he spoke, a tall savage, with an unusually grave countenance, stalked from among his fellows, thrust Powlet and the young man whom Krake had styled Bluenose aside, and seated himself on the ground in imitation of the free-and-easy manner of the Nors.e.m.e.n. Suddenly his face lighted up.

He clapped both hands to his chest and breathed hard, then raised his hands aloft, looked enthusiastically up at the sky, rolled his eyes in a fearful manner, opened his mouth wide, and gave utterance to a series of indescribable howls. Checking himself in the midst of one of these, he suddenly resumed his grave aspect, looked straight at Krake, and said ”Ho!”

That he thought he had hit the mark, and conveyed the meaning of himself and his friends precisely, was made evident by the other savages, who nodded their heads emphatically, and exclaimed ”Ho!” with earnestness.

”H'm! 'tis easy to say `Ho!'” replied Krake, more perplexed than ever, ”and if `Ho' would be a satisfactory answer, I'd give ye as much as ye liked of that; but I can't make head or tail of what it is ye would be at.”

”Stay,” exclaimed Hake, stepping quickly forward, ”I think I know what they want.”

Saying this, he looked earnestly at the grave savage, and ran over one or two notes of a song.

No words in any language could convey such a powerful meaning as did the beam of intelligence and delight which overspread the faces of these sons of the wilderness. The ”ho! ho! hos!” and noddings were repeated with such energy, that Krake advised them to ”stop that, lest their heads should come off altogether!”

”I thought so,” said Hake, turning away from them; ”they want you to give them a song, Krake.”

”They shall have that, and welcome,” cried the jovial Norseman, striking up the ”Danish Kings” at once, with all the fire of his nature.

The natives sat in rapt solemnity, and when the Nors.e.m.e.n joined laughingly in the chorus, they allowed a faint smile to play for a moment on their faces, and murmured their satisfaction to each other when the song was done. But it was evident that they wanted something more, for they did not seem quite satisfied until one of their number rose, and going up to Hake touched his lips with his finger.

”Ha! I thought so!” exclaimed Krake in contempt. ”It's bad taste ye have to want a song from _him_ after hearing _me_! But what else could we expect from ye?”

Hake willingly complied with their wish, and it then became evident that the savages had gained their point at last, for they listened with half-closed eyes, and more than half-opened mouths, while he was singing, and heaved a deep sigh when he had finished.

Thus pleasantly was the feast concluded, and thus they sealed their friends.h.i.+p.

But there was something still more satisfactory in store for the Nors.e.m.e.n, for it was soon afterwards discovered that the savages possessed a large quant.i.ty of beautiful furs, with which, of course, they were willing to part for the merest trifle, in the shape of a shred of brilliant cloth or an ornamental bauble.

This was not only fortunate, as affording an opportunity for the Nors.e.m.e.n to procure full and valuable cargoes for both their s.h.i.+ps, but as creating a busy and interesting occupation, which would prevent the natives from growing weary of inaction, and, perhaps, falling into those forms of mischief which proverbially lie ready to idle hands.

”It seems to me, friends,” said Leif one evening, shortly after the feast just described, while he was seated in the chief hall, polis.h.i.+ng his iron headpiece, and occasionally watching the active hands of Gudrid and Thora as they busied themselves about domestic affairs, while Bertha sat beside him dandling Snorro on her knee,--”It seems to me that we have got together such a rich cargo that the sooner we send our s.h.i.+ps to Greenland the better. They can then return with fresh supplies of such things as are needed in good time. For myself, I will go with the s.h.i.+ps, and overlook the loading of them in Greenland.”

”Oh! may I go with you?” exclaimed Bertha, looking up suddenly with much eagerness.

Hake, who was seated at the lower end of the hall, busily engaged in making a bow, paused abruptly in his work, but did not raise his head.

”I have no objection, if Freydissa has none,” answered Leif.

”Freydissa will be only too glad to get rid of her,” replied that amiable woman, who was engaged in the manufacture of a leathern tunic for Snorro; ”she is tired of milk-and-water.”

”And yet milk-and-water is more likely to agree with you than anything resembling beer,” said Biarne, with a laugh.

”I should be sorry to leave Vinland,” returned Bertha, ”but I am very _very_ anxious to see my dear father again. Besides--I can return hither.”