King Alfreds Viking | Page 4

jarldom from him for
yearly dues."
So he straightway called the Thing {ii} of all the Orkney folk, who
loved him well, and put the matter before them; and they set to work
and did his bidding, driving the cattle inland and scattering them, and
making the town look as poor as they might.

Then in three days' time we sailed away laughing; for none but
poor-looking traders were left, and no man would think that never had
the Orkneys been so rich as in Einar's time. And he bade them make
peace with the king when he came, and told them that so all would be
well, for Harald would lay no heavy weregild on so poor a place for his
son's slaying.
Southward we went to Caithness, and so westward along the
Sutherland coast; for we had taken no scatt there for this year, and
Einar would use this cruise to do so, seeing that we must put to sea. We
were not the first who had laid these shores under rule from the
Orkneys, for Jarl Sigurd had conquered them, meeting his death at last
in a Sutherland firth, after victory, in a strange way.
He fought with a Scottish chief named Melbrigda of the Tusks, and
slew him, and bore back his head to the ships at his saddle bow. Then
the great teeth of the chief swung against the jarl's leg and wounded it,
and of that he died, and so was laid in a great mound at the head of the
firth where his ships lay. After that, the Orkneys were a nest of evil
vikings till we came.
So it had happened that, from the time when it was made over him, Jarl
Sigurd's mound had been untended, for we ourselves had never been so
far south as this firth before. Indeed, it had been so laid waste by
Sigurd's men after his death that there was nought to go there for. But
at this time we had reason for getting into some quiet, unsought place
where we should not be likely to be heard of, for the king had
over-many ships and men for us to meet. So after a week's cruising we
put into that firth, and anchored in the shelter of its hills.
There is no man of all our following who will forget that day, because
of what happened almost as soon as the anchor held. It was very hot
that morning, and what breeze had been out in the open sea was kept
from us now by the hills, so that for some miles we had rowed the ships
up the winding reaches of the firth; and then, as we laid in the oars and
the anchorage was reached, there crept from inland a dim haze over the
sun, dimming the light, and making all things look strange among the
mountains. Then the sounds of the ships seemed to echo loudly over

the still water and when all the bustle of anchoring was over, the
stillness seemed yet greater, for the men went to their meals, and for a
while spoke little.
Einar and I sat on his after deck under the awning, and spoke in low
voices, as if afraid to raise our tones.
"There is a thunderstorm about," I said.
"Ay--listen," the jarl answered.
Then I heard among the hills, far up the firth beyond us, a strange
sound that seemed to draw nearer, like and yet unlike thunder, roaring
and jarring ever closer to us, till it was all around us and beneath us
everywhere, and our very hearts seemed to stop beating in wonder.
Then of a sudden the ship was smitten from under the keel with a heavy,
soundless blow, and the waters of the firth ebbed and flowed fiercely
about us; and then the sound passed on and down the firth swiftly and
strangely as it had come, and left us rocking on the troubled waters that
plashed and broke along the rocks of the shore, while the still, thick air
seemed full of the screams of the terrified eagles and sea birds that had
left them.
"Odin defend us!" the jarl said; "what is this?"
I shook my head, looking at him, and wondering if my face was white
and scared as his and that of every man whom I could see.
Now we waited breathless for more to come, but all was quiet again.
The birds went back to their eyries, and the troubled water was still.
Then presently our fears passed enough to let us speak with one another;
and then there were voices enough, for every man wished to hear his
own again, that courage might return.
Then a man from the Orkneys who had been with Jarl Sigurd came