Havelok, he had waked once,and had well eaten, and now was sleeping again.
Then said Withelm, "When will the sacrifice to Aegir and Ran [5]for luck on the swan's path be?"
"Scant time have we for that," my father said, "for tide will not wait."
"Then," said the boy, "it were well to take the stone altar with us, andmake sacrifice on board. I have heard that Aegir is wrathful and strong."
Then my father said to Leva, "The boy is right in one thing, and thatis, that if we are to make a new home beyond the sea, the blue stonesthat have belonged to our family since time untold should go with us,else will there be no luck in this flitting."
"What matter?"
"West they came with us in the days of Odin, and west they shall go withus once more," my father said.
And there was an end of question on the matter, for presently Arngeircame up with the team of oxen and a sled, and my father hastily cried toThor as in time of sudden war, and then on the sled they loaded thestones easily. I helped, and it is certain that they were no trouble touproot or lift, though they were bedded in the ground and heavy.Wherefrom we all thought that the flitting was by the will of the Norns,and likely to turn out well.
But in no way could we lift Thor himself. It was as if he were rooted,and maybe he was so. Therefore we left him, but sadly.
One may suppose that, had any noticed that Grim was taking these sacredthings with him, there would have been a talk; but as we sailed light,none thought them aught but needed ballast; and we brought other stonesto the ship with them and afterwards.
Of course folk did wonder at this sudden sailing of ours, but my fathermade no secret of his wish to get out of the way of Hodulf, who hadtaken the ships of one or two other men elsewhere, so that all thoughthe feared that his would be the next to be seized, and deemed himprudent in going. As for our own crew, they were told that it wascertain that the ship would be taken unless we went on this tide, and sothey worked well.
Very early in the morning, and unseen, Arngeir had brought Eleyn, thequeen, on board, and she was in the cabin under the raised after deckall the while that the bustle of making ready was going on. Only myfather went in there at any time, unless he gave the key to one of us,for there he kept his valuables and the arms.
Presently, when all the men were forward and busy, I got Havelok onboard unnoticed. We had kept Withelm running to and fro from ship tohouse with little burdens all the morning, mightily busy; and then, whenthe chance came, Havelok in Withelm's clothes, and with a bundle on hishead, came running to me. I waited by the after cabin, and I opened thedoor quickly and let him in. Then he saw his mother; and how those twomet, who had thought each other lost beyond finding, I will not try to say.
I closed the door softly and left them, locking it again, and foundWithelm close to me, and Arngeir watching to see that all went well.
Soon after that there came a Norseman, dressed as a merchant, who talkedwith my father of goods, and lading, and whither he was bound, and thelike. When he went away, he thought that he had found out that we werefor the Texel, but I do not know that he was from Hodulf. There had beentime for him to send a spy in haste, however, if he wished to watch us;but at any rate this man heard naught of our charges.
Then, at the last moment, my mother and the children came on board, andat once we hauled out of the harbour. I mind that an old woman ran alongthe wharf when she found that all were going, and cried that Dame Levahad not paid for certain fowls bought of her; and my father laughed inlightness of heart, and threw her a silver penny, so that she let us gowith a blessing. And after that it did not matter what the peoplethought of this going of ours, for in an hour we were far at sea with afair wind on the quarter, heading south at first, that the Norsemanmight see us, but when the land was dim astern, and there was no morefear, bearing away south and west for the Humber in far-off England.
Now that was the last I saw of Denmark for many a long year, and I knewit must be so. But, as I have told, none but my father and mother, andnow Arngeir, knew all that we were carrying with us.
CHAPTER IV. ACROSS THE SWAN'S PATH.
All that night, and during the morning of the next day, we sailedsteadily with a fresh northwest breeze that bade fair to strengthenby-and-by. If it held, we should see the cliffs of Northumbria on ourbow tomorrow morning, and then would run down the coast to the Humber,where my father meant to put in first. He thought to leave the queen andHavelok with merchants whom he knew in Lindsey, and with them would staymy mother and the little ones while he made a trading voyage elsewhere.There would be time enough to find out the best place in which to make ahome when the autumn came, and after he had been to an English port ortwo that he did not know yet.
When half the morning was past, the sun shone out warmly, and all cameon deck from the after cabin, where the ladies and children were. Ourmen knew by this time that we had passengers, flying like ourselves fromHodulf, and therefore they were not at all surprised to see Havelok andhis mother with their mistress. None of them had ever seen either ofthem before, as it happened, though I do not think that any could haverecognized the queen as she was then, wan and worn with the terror ofher long hiding. Very silent was she as she sat on deck gazing ever atthe long white wake of the ship that seemed to stretch for a little waytowards Denmark, only to fade away as a track over which one may nevergo back. And silent, too, was my mother; but the children, who had nocare, were pleased with all things, and Raven and I were full of theways of old seamen.
So everything went quietly until after we had our midday meal. We wereall amidships on the wide deck, except my father and Arngeir, who satside by side on the steersman's bench on the high poop. There was nospray coming on board, for we were running, and the ship was verysteady. Raven and I were forward with the men, busy with the many littlethings yet to be done to the rigging and such like that had been left inthe haste at last, and there was no thought but that this quiet, savefor some shift of wind maybe, would last until we saw the English shore.
Now I do not know if my father had seen aught from the after deck, butpresently he came forward, and passed up the steps to the forecastle,and there sat down on the weather rail, looking out to leeward for sometime quietly. I thought that maybe he had sighted some of the high landon the Scots coast, for it was clear enough to see very far, and so Iwent to see also. But there was nothing, and we talked of this and thatfor ten minutes, when he said, "Look and see if you can catch sight ofaught on the skyline just aft of the fore stay as you sit."
I looked long, and presently caught sight of something white that showedfor a moment as we heaved up on a wave, and then was gone.
"Somewhat I saw," I said, "but it has gone. It might have been the topof a sail."
Then I caught a glimpse of it again, and my father saw it also, and, aswe watched, it hove up slowly until it was plain to be seen. The vesselit belonged to was sailing in such a way as to cross our course in theend, though she was only a few points nearer the wind than we were. Itseemed that she was swifter than ourselves, too, from the way she kepther place on our bow. Now a merchant must needs look on every sail withmore or less distrust, as there is always a chance of meeting withship-plundering Vikings, though the best of them will do naught but taketoll from a trader on the high seas. So before long all our men werewatching the stranger, and soon it was plain that she was a longship,fresh from her winter quarters. We thought, therefore, that she was notlikely to trouble about us, having no need of stores as yet, and webeing plainly in ballast only. Nor did she alter her course in any way,but mile after mile she sailed with us, always edging up nearer as shewent, until at last we could see the men on her bows and the helmsman athis place.
I thought that one could hardly see a more handsome ship than she was,fresh with new paint, and with her dragon head shining golden in thesun. But I had seen her before, and that in no pleasant way. She was theship of which I have already spoken--that which we beat off two yearsago, taking their cargo of plunder by way of amend
s for being attacked.
There was this difference, however, at that time, that then we had allour men on board, and the Viking was short-handed after a fighting raid,whereas now we had but fifteen men instead of five-and-twenty, becausein the hurry we had not had time to summon any who lived beyond thetown, and it was plain that the Viking had a full crew, maybe of sixty men.
"It is in my mind," my father said to Arngeir, "that our old foe willthink twice before he attacks us again; but seeing whom we have to dealwith, it is as well to be ready. We might keep him off with arrows, ifhe does not find out how few we are, should he make an attempt on us;but if he boards, we must submit, and make the best bargain we can."
So he passed word that the men were to lie down on deck, leaving only afew to be seen, that the Viking might think us as he had known usbefore; and then the arms-chests were opened, and the bows and throwingweapons were set to hand by