Vandrad the Viking | Page 4

he still sat on deck watching the
stars. By-and-by his foster-brother Helgi came up to him, wrapped in a
long sea cloak, and humming softly to himself.
"The night is fair, Estein. If Thor is kind, and this wind speeds us, we
shall soon reach England."
"Ay, if the gods are with us," answered Estein. "I am trying to read the
stars. Methinks they are unfavourable."
Helgi laughed. "What know you of the stars?" he said, "and what does
Estein Hakonson want with white magic? Will it make his life one day
longer? Will it make mine, if I too read the stars?"

"Not one day, Helgi, not one instant of time. We are in the hands of the
gods. This serves but to while away a long night."
"Norsemen should not read the stars," said Helgi. "These things are for
Finns and Lapps, and the poor peoples who fear us."
"I wished to know what Odin thought of Helgi Sigvaldson," said Estein
with a smile.
Helgi laughed lightly as he answered,--
"I know what Odin thinks of you, Estein--a foolish man and fey."
Estein stepped forward a pace, and leaning over the side gazed for a
while into the darkness. Helgi too was silent, but his blue eyes danced
and his heart beat high as his thoughts flew ahead of the ship to the
clash of arms and the shout of victory.
"There remains but me," said Estein at length. "Hakon has no other
son."
"And you have five brothers to avenge; the sword should not rust long
in your scabbard, Estein."
"Twice I have made the Danes pay a dear atonement for Eric. I cannot
punish Thor because he suffered Harald to drown, but if ever in my life
it be my fate to meet Thord the Tall, Snaekol Gunnarson, or Thorfin of
Skapstead, there shall be but one man left to tell of our meeting."
"The burners of Olaf have long gone out of Norway, have they not?"
"I was but a child when my brother was burned like a fox in his hole at
Laxafiord. The burners knew my father too well to bide at home and
welcome him; and since then no man has told aught of them, save that
Thord the Tall at one time raided much in England, and boasted widely
of the burning. He perchance forgot that Hakon had other sons.
"But now, Helgi, we must sleep while we may; nights may come when
we shall want it."

For six days and six nights they sailed with a favouring wind over an
empty ocean. On the seventh day land was sighted on the starboard
bow.
"Can that be England?" asked old Ulf, Estein's forecastle man, a hairy,
hugely muscular Viking from the far northern fiords.
"The coast of Scotland more likely," said Helgi. "Shall we try our luck,
Estein?"
"I should like to spill a little Scottish blood, and mayhap carry off a
maid or two," said Thorolf Hauskoldson, a young giant from the upland
dales.
"It may be but a waste of time," Estein replied. "We had best make for
England while this wind holds."
"I like not the look of the sky," said Ulf, gazing round him with a
frowning brow.
The wind had been dropping off for some time, and along the eastern
horizon the settled sky was giving place to heavy clouds. For a short
time Estein hesitated, but as the outlook grew more threatening and the
wind beat in flaws and gusts, now from one quarter, now from another,
the Vikings changed their course and ran under oars and sails for the
shelter of the land. Little shelter it promised as they drew nearer: a dark,
inhospitable line of precipices stretched north and south as far as the
eye could reach, and even from a long distance they could see white
flashes breaking at the cliff foot. Again they changed their course; and
then, with a dull hum of approaching rain, a south-easterly storm broke
over them, and there was nothing for it but to turn and run before the
gale.
"I read the stars too well," said Estein grimly between his teeth,
clinging to the straining tiller, and watching the rollers rising higher.
"And the first part of Atli's prophecy has come true."
"Winds, war, and women make a Viking's luck," replied Helgi; "this is

but the first part of the rede."
At night the gale increased, the fleet was scattered over the North Sea,
and next morning from Estein's ship only two other black hulls could
be seen running before the tempest. Another wild day passed, and it
was not till the evening that the weather moderated. Little by little the
great seas began to calm, and the drifts of stinging rain ceased. In their
wake the stars