Part 11 (1/2)
Estein sprang on board.
”Push off!” he cried; ”we will row along the sh.o.r.e to meet them.”
”Well thought of,” said Helgi; ”'tis lucky we have one cool head with us.”
The pursuers at first either failed to see Ketill's party, or mistook them for their own men, for they continued their headlong rush straight to the water, firing arrows and darts as they ran.
Then they saw the manoeuvre, and turned with loud cries along the sh.o.r.e. The boat had got a start by this time; the rowers bent their backs and made her spring like a live thing, and the still water rose in oily waves from the bow. But fast as they pulled, the men on sh.o.r.e ran faster.
”By all the G.o.ds, we are too late!” cried Helgi.
”They take to the water!” said Estein. ”Pull, men, pull! Oh, 'tis a night worth living for!”
The four swimmers stoutly struck out for dear life, to a splas.h.i.+ng accompaniment of darts and stones.
”By the hammer of Thor! they will be struck as we take them on board,” exclaimed Helgi. ”Friend Ketill makes a generous mark.”
”Round them!” said Estein. ”Get between them and the sh.o.r.e.”
Grim pressed the tiller hard down, and circling round the swimmers they were presently hauling them in on the sheltered side. Then the crowd on sh.o.r.e set off for their s.h.i.+ps. Ketill, dripping with water, and bleeding from an arrow wound on the shoulder, watched them with a grim smile.
”They will find their s.h.i.+ps ready for sea,” he said.
As he spoke a tongue of flame shot up from one of the long s.h.i.+ps, and Estein turned to him in surprise.
”Then you set them on fire?”
”Ay,” replied Ketill; ”we slew some guards--who thereby learned not to sleep at their posts--and made such holes in the s.h.i.+ps as will take them two days to patch. Then I bethought me it were well to have a burning, if it were only of a long s.h.i.+p; so we kindled three great fires, one for each vessel, and if the men of Liot feel cold to-night, it will not be my fault. But have you got Liot?”
”Here he is,” said Estein, pointing to the pinioned captive.
Ketill laughed loud and long.
”Estein,” he cried, ”I ask your pardon. You may be under a spell, but you have given us a merry night's work. We have earned a long drink.”
CHAPTER VII.
THE VERDICT OF THE SWORD.
A shout of congratulation rose from the s.h.i.+p as the boat drew near and the anxious watchers counted the fourteen men returned again with their prisoner. Drink was served round in huge beakers, and the superst.i.tious fears vanished like the fog as they rowed in triumph out of the bay.
They could see behind them the flames and smoke rising ever higher from the burning vessels, and as the ale mounted to their heads they shouted derisive defiance across the water.
”Where shall we go now?” asked Grim.
”Do you know of any uninhabited holm where we could land by daybreak?” said Estein.
”There are many such about the Orkneys; one I know well, which methinks we should reach soon after sunrise. There I shall take you.”
Ketill came up at that moment with a great horn of ale, and cried, with a joviality only shown when drink flowed freely,--