sword edge whispered to him; but these could not wake him.
Peacefully he seemed to sleep as I stood by his side, and I thought
that I should take back no word of his to the jarl, his brother,
whom both he and I loved.

They had brought the great carven chair on which he was wont to sit
on his ship's quarterdeck, and thereon had set the jarl, as though
he yet lived, and did but sleep as he sat from weariness after
fight, with helm and mail upon him. Shield and axe rested on either
side of him, ready to hand, against the chair; and behind him,
along the wall, were his spears, ashen shafted and rune graven.

His blue, fur-trimmed cloak was round him, and before him was a
little table, heavy and carved, whereon were vessels for food,
empty now save for dust that showed that they had been full. And
across his knees was his sword, golden hilted, with a great yellow
cairngorm in the pommel, and with gold-wrought patterns from end to
end of the scabbard--such a sword as I had never seen before. His
right hand held the hilt, and his left rested on the shield's rim
beside him; and so Sigurd slept with his head bowed on his breast,
waiting for Ragnaroek and the last great fight of all.

The light seemed to grow stronger as I looked, or my eyes grew used
to it, and then I saw that the narrow chamber was full of things,
though I minded them afterwards, for now I was as in a dream,
noting only the jarl himself. Costly stuffs were on the floor, and
mail and helms and more weapons. Gold work there was also, and in
one corner lay the dried-up body of a great wolf hound, coiled as
in sleep where it had been chained. Another had been tied by the
passage doorway, where I had stepped on it; and below a spar that