Part 5 (2/2)

”Ulf, of Sigurd's Vik, has seen too much war to be afraid to offer peace to any man. Choose thou!”

The stranger laughed a laugh of relief, but said,

”Peace it shall be, since that is a new thing to both of us. I am Thorfin the Viking.”

Ulf's face darkened.

”Had I known thy name before, the choice would not have been left to thee. It is peace for this time; but Thorfin the Viking will do well to sail south instead of north, for when we meet next Thorfin's s.h.i.+p quickly will need another captain,”--which was a very long and unamiable speech for Ulf the Silent to make. And he allowed his s.h.i.+p to drift until the sail of the other had dropped below the horizon, still speeding southward like a scared white rabbit, that is happy in a close shave from the snap of a wolf. Then Ulf swung his yard to the wind again, saying only,

”Truly, Edith, one sea-thief owes thee thanks to-night,” and went his way.

Knut the Great sat on his throne-seat in his raftered hall. Here and there little groups of his chief men chatted and exchanged news, but Knut heard them not. The dark carving of his seat showed richly through the furs that draped it, and white gleams of walrus ivory lighted the darkness, but Knut saw them not. An official was giving an account of what had occurred of late in the village under his command, but for once Knut listened with only half an ear as he sat there with his chin in his hand, for from the sh.o.r.e below there came the soft wash of the ever restless sea which the King so dearly loved. The swash brought swiftly to mind the days of his youth when his life was all before him, and his kingdom was the length of his deck. Those were happy days, indeed, when the right ruling of a great land was not among his duties! For power has its own troubles, and the King would not be remembered so long had his reign not been a good as well as a great one.

The hum of voices came up from the sh.o.r.e, and all the well-known sounds of the harbour-life, the splash of a rope falling in the water, the thud of an oar flung down, the grating of a keel drawn up on the s.h.i.+ngly beach. And suddenly he was conscious that it had ceased, all save the more distinctly sounding water. Surprised, he glanced quickly through the open door, and saw that all the sh.o.r.e-folk had stopped their work to gaze at a longs.h.i.+p flying swiftly onward; a stranger, evidently, for a man was on the mast watching out for hidden rocks and pointing out the channel to the steersman. The long row of s.h.i.+elds hung outboard on each side told that it was something more than a peaceful trader, and Knut watched with interest, motioning for silence.

With a rush the craft shot half her length on sh.o.r.e and her crew poured out in a well-trained throng, which without delay swung into column and headed for the hall. Knut the Great eyed them with admiration. Never had he seen a st.u.r.dier set of men; and something in the lithe young leader at their head, all glittering with s.h.i.+ning mail, reminded him of his own lost youth, of which but the moment before he had been dreaming. A young woman walked by the captain's side, fair-haired, fair-faced, with a gleam of gold in her collar and bracelets of gold on her round arm. Then at a sign, the men halted, and the pair came on alone.

With his curiosity aroused, and in the free manner of the times, the King left his seat and came to the entrance to meet them. The light was better out of doors.

Neither bow nor salute did the young man make until he was at the very portal; then he saw before him a slight, gray man, rather plain of dress, who looked rather than asked his business.

”Is this the hall of Knut the Great?”

”Yea.”

”I have come to have speech with him.”

”And thou?” The keen eyes supplied the rest of the question.

”Ulf the Silent, of Sigurd's Vik,” was the brief reply.

The questioner started slightly as though the name was not unknown to him, and glanced quickly at the men beyond, but they had not stirred.

Then after a moment, he said,

”Come!” and wheeling, led the way back to the audience hall. Ulf saw his guide stride forward to an empty throne-seat into which he sank, and with his chin in his hand said, quietly,

”I am Knut the King.”

For a breathing-s.p.a.ce Ulf halted, startled. This the King! Then he recovered his wits again.

”Sigurd's Vik is well governed; but men say England and Denmark are better ruled. This have I come to see, and with me Sigurd's daughter, now my wife.” The King smiled, not ill-pleased at what he heard.

”Ulf, of Sigurd's Vik, is not unknown to me by hearsay, and right glad am I to meet him, and to talk of the ways of ruling men. Yet if what I hear be true, he need not cross vik-mouth to find just ruling.”

And he had seats brought for them, and food and drink, as was the custom, sending, too, for his sister to receive Edith Fairhair as her guest. But Ulf, for once, appeared ill at ease to her who knew his ways so well.

Then the King began to talk of government in words so wise, so thoughtful, that he forgot his own thoughts and listened heartily, planning to make good use of what he learned, in after days. The other men in the hall had gathered to meet the stranger, and they, too, said their word now and then, for those were the days when every man who had a good word to say in council was in no way backward about saying it. But some were not so courteous to the stranger as they might have been, and said one, when Ulf modestly raised a doubt in a case which he did not fully understand,

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