CHAPTER XXIII
OF THE COMING OF EARL THORFINN
Rolf shut the storehouse door, and Frodi held it until it was barred.The Scots could move neither Frodi nor the bars, and knew not what todo. All within was dark, save for light from the crack of the door;and when the Scots who stood before the crack felt Frodi's bill, theystood back. Then Rolf shot arrows out through the crack, and the Scotsstood aside, so that those within could do no more. They heard theScots say that no time should be wasted for three men.
"Now," said Frodi, "they will go away."
"Be not too hopeful," said Grani.
When smoke began to puff in, they knew that the thatch had been firedover their heads. "So," quoth Frodi, "I shall be burned in the Orkneysafter all. Seest thou, Grani, why no Icelander loves thy land?"
They sat there a while and the place grew hot; then Grani began topace up and down. "Would that I," he said at last, "had never seen theOrkneys!"
"What is this?" asked Rolf.
Grani said after a silence: "I shall never speak again to my father,whom I have not seen these many years." Next he said: "My sister mustbe almost a woman." After that said he: "Peaceful was our home."
Frodi tried to comfort him, but Grani would not listen. "Let us die inthe open," he cried, "and give an account of ourselves!"
But when they tried to leave that smothering place, they found theScots had braced the door, and it could not be moved. Then a corner ofthe roof fell down, and burned inside the storehouse.
"Now," cried Grani in despair, "would I were once more on thehome-field of Fellstead, looking abroad on old Broadfirth and thepeaceful dales!"
"A wonderful thing thou sayest!" exclaimed Rolf.
"Let wonders be," said Frodi. "But since we cannot leave this place bythe front door, why not by the rear?"
"How do that?" asked Grani.
Frodi drew aside the heavy hide which hung at the back of thestorehouse, against the rock of the hillside; there were a carvedstone doorway and a black cave.
"Now," cried Grani, "rightly is this place called the Vale of theHermit; this was his house, though I never knew of it till now. Let usbe quick!"
So they went into that cave and sat there, while the fire burned thestorehouse quite away, and its roof-beams fell across the door of thecave and hid it. Moreover the green hide did not burn through, andkept out the smoke; and a little air came in through a fissure of therock. Then the Scots who watched went their way, and Kiartan withthem. When they were gone, those three thrust the hide and the beamsaside from the cave-mouth, and leaped out over the embers. They werenear stifled, and weak from the heat.
Those Scots and Kiartan went back to Hawksness, and for what he haddone they gave him his ship unplundered. But they plundered the halland the church, and with the riches of Ar they had both sport andquarrels, until all was divided. Then they sent out vessels to ravagein the Orkneys; but the main body, and the leader, sat there atHawksness, and because it was believed Earl Thorfinn thought themstill in Scotland, and no ship had been spared to go south and tell ofthem, they had no fear of him. For it would have been a greatundertaking for any small boat to cross the Pentland Firth.
But on a day when the Earl sat in his hall, in Thurso of Caithness,his men came to him, saying: "There are messengers without, and theywould speak with thee." But the men laughed.
"Why laugh ye?" asked the Earl.
"The messengers say they are from the Orkneys, yet no ship has come,and they are the worst of scarecrows."
"But bring them in," said the Earl.
So three men were brought before the Earl. One was of middle height,and slender; he bore a bow. One was taller, and carried a sword. Thethird was as big as any man in that place, and he held in his hand agreat bill. All in rags were those men, as if their garments had beenscorched. They told the Earl that the Scots were in the Orkneys, andthe Earl's men laughed mightily.
"Sailed ye across the Firth?" asked the Earl.
"We rowed," answered they.
"In what?" asked the Earl. "And where is the boat?"
"It sunk off the shore," said those men, "and we swam the last mile."
"Why are ye so burned?"
They said they had been nigh burned to death.
Then the Earl stilled the laughter of his men, and he leaned to thatone who bore the bow; he was not much more than a lad. "Where didstthou get," asked the Earl, "that short-sword which thou wearest? For Iknow the weapon well, since once it belonged to Earl Sigurd myfather."
"That may be so," said the lad, "but it was given me out in Iceland."
"Now," said the Earl, "I know the man to whom my father gave thesword, and he went out to Iceland. Tell me what man gave it thee; ifthe name is the same, then will I believe this news of thine. But ifthe name is different, then ye three shall die for your false word."
"A light matter on which to hang lives," quoth that one. "Who knowshow many have owned this sword? But I got it from Kari, Solmund'sson."
The Earl smote his thigh. "And to Kari my father gave it! Up, men, anddight yourselves for war! This day we sail for the Orkneys."
So Earl Thorfinn sailed north, and with him went Grani, Rolf, andFrodi, those bearers of the tidings. And before ever the Scots wereready for them the Orkneyingers closed in upon Hawksness, and attackedthe Scottish fleet. Some of the Scots were away, and some were ashore;those who might fight lashed their ships in a line, as in a line theEarl's ships bore down on them. That fight lasted not long, and allthe Scottish ships were taken; the Scots who were on shore were hunteddown, and as their ships came in from the other isles, they were takenone by one.
Kiartan's ship was still on the beach, and he was found in the church.