The Treasure | Page 6

themselves upon us
like wild beasts and slew us."
He could utter no more. He fell down at the men's feet and was dead.
They then entered the room and found all as the curate had said.
The great oaken chest in which Herr Arne kept his money was gone,
and Herr Arne's horse had been taken from the stable and his sledge
from the shed.
Sledge tracks led from the yard across the glebe meadows down to the
sea, and twenty men hastened away to seize the murderers. But the
women set themselves to laying out the dead and carried them from the
bloody room out upon the pure snow.
Not all of Herr Arne's household could be found; there was one missing.
It was the poor little maid whom Herr Arne had taken into his house.
There was much wondering whether, perchance, she had been able to
escape, or whether the robbers had taken her with them.

But when they made careful search through the room they found her
hidden away between the great stove and the wall. She had kept herself
concealed there throughout the struggle and had taken no hurt at all, but
she was so sick with terror that she could neither speak nor answer a
question.
CHAPTER II
ON THE QUAYS

The poor maid who had escaped the butchery had been taken by
Torarin to Marstrand. He had conceived so great pity for her that he
had offered her lodging in his cramped cabin and a share of the food
which he and his mother ate.
"This is the only thing I can do for Herr Arne," thought Torarin, "in
return for all the times he has bought my fish and allowed me to sit at
his table."
"Poor and lowly as I am," thought Torarin, "it is better for the maid that
she go with me to the town than that she stay here among the country
folk. In Marstrand are many rich burgesses, and perhaps the young
maid may take service with one of them and so be well cared for."
When first the girl came to the town she sat and wept from morning to
night. She bewailed Herr Arne and his household, and lamented that
she had lost all who were dear to her. Most of all she wept for her foster
sister, and said she wished she had not hidden herself against the wall,
so that she might have shared death with her.
Torarin's mother said nothing to this so long as her son was at home.
But when he had gone on his travels again she said one morning to the
girl:
"I am not rich enough, Elsalill, to give you food and clothing that you
may sit with your hands in your lap and nurse your sorrow. Come with

me down to the quays and learn to clean fish."
So Elsalill went with her down to the quays and stood all day working
among the other fish cleaners.
But most of the women on the quays were young and merry. They
began to talk to Elsalill and asked her why she was so silent and
sorrowful.
Then Elsalill began to tell them of the terrible thing that had befallen
her no more than three nights ago. She spoke of the three robbers who
had broken into the house by the smoke-hole in the roof and murdered
all who were near and dear to her.
As Elsalill told her tale a black shadow fell across the table at which
she worked. And when she looked up three fine gentlemen stood before
her, wearing broad hats with long feathers and velvet clothes with great
puffs, embroidered in silk and gold.
One of them seemed to be of higher rank than the others; he was very
pale, his chin was shaven, and his eyes sat deep in his head. He looked
as though he had lately been ill. But in all else he seemed a gay and
bold-faced cavalier, who walked on the sunny quays to show his fine
clothes and his handsome face.
Elsalill broke off both work and story. She stood looking at him with
open mouth and staring eyes. And he smiled at her.
"We are not come hither to frighten you, mistress," said he, "but to beg
that we too may listen to your tale."
Poor Elsalill! Never in her life had she seen such a man. She felt she
could not speak in his presence; she merely held her peace and cast her
eyes upon her work.
The stranger began again: "Be not afraid of us, mistress! We are
Scotsmen who have been in the service of King John of Sweden ten
full years, but now have taken our discharge and are bound for home.

We have