Erling the Bold

Erling the Bold, by R.M.
Ballantyne

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Title: Erling the Bold
Author: R.M. Ballantyne
Release Date: June 7, 2007 [EBook #21730]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ERLING
THE BOLD ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

ERLING THE BOLD, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE.
CHAPTER ONE.
IN WHICH THE TALE BEGINS SOMEWHAT FURIOUSLY.

By the early light of a bright summer morning, long, long ago, two
small boats were seen to issue from one of the fiords or firths on the
west coast of Norway, and row towards the skerries or low rocky islets
that lay about a mile distant from the mainland.
Although the morning was young, the sun was already high in the
heavens, and brought out in glowing colours the varied characteristics
of a mountain scene of unrivalled grandeur.
The two shallops moved swiftly towards the islands, their oars
shivering the liquid mirror of the sea, and producing almost the only
sound that disturbed the universal stillness, for at that early hour Nature
herself seemed buried in deep repose. A silvery mist hung over the
water, through which the innumerable rocks and islands assumed
fantastic shapes, and the more distant among them appeared as though
they floated in air. A few seagulls rose startled from their nests, and
sailed upwards with plaintive cries, as the keels of the boats grated on
the rocks, and the men stepped out and hauled them up on the beach of
one of the islets.
A wild uncouth crew were those Norsemen of old! All were armed, for
in their days the power and the means of self-defence were absolutely
necessary to self-preservation.
Most of them wore portions of scale armour, or shirts of ring mail, and
headpieces of steel, though a few among them appeared to have
confidence in the protection afforded by the thick hide of the wolf,
which, converted into rude, yet not ungraceful, garments, covered their
broad shoulders. All, without exception, carried sword or battle-axe and
shield. They were goodly stalwart men every one, but silent and stern.
It might have been observed that the two boats, although bound for the
same islet, did not row in company. They were beached as far from
each other as the little bay into which they ran would admit of, and the
crews stood aloof in two distinct groups.
In the centre of each group stood a man who, from his aspect and
bearing, appeared to be superior to his fellows. One was in the prime of

life, dark and grave; the other in the first flush of manhood, full grown,
though beardless, fair, and ruddy. Both were taller and stouter than
their comrades.
The two men had met there to fight, and the cause of their feud was--
Love!
Both loved a fair Norse maiden in Horlingdal. The father of the maid
favoured the elder warrior; the maid herself preferred the younger.
In those days, barbarous though they undoubtedly were, law and justice
were more respected and more frequently appealed to in Norway than
in almost any other country. Liberty, crushed elsewhere under the
deadweight of feudalism, found a home in the bleak North, and a rough
but loving welcome from the piratical, sea-roving! She did not, indeed,
dwell altogether scathless among her demi-savage guardians, who, if
their perceptions of right and wrong were somewhat confused, might
have urged in excuse that their light was small. She received many
shocks and frequent insults from individuals, but liberty was sincerely
loved and fondly cherished by the body of the Norwegian people,
through all the period of those dark ages during which other nations
scarce dared to mention her name.
Nevertheless, it was sometimes deemed more convenient to settle
disputes by the summary method of an appeal to arms than to await the
issue of a tedious and uncertain lawsuit such an appeal being perfectly
competent to those who preferred it, and the belief being strong among
the fiery spirits of the age that Odin, the god of war, would assuredly
give victory to the right.
In the present instance it was not considered any infringement of the
law of liberty that the issue of the combat would be the disposal of a
fair woman's hand, with or without her heart. Then, as now, women
were often forced to marry against their will.
Having gone to that island to fight--an island being a naturally
circumscribed battlefield whose limits could not