something wondersome in the stone; and if any person would have
such a thing, who would it be but the Norseman?"

Thus did I become convinced in my mind that, by the possession of
that little gold-encircled stone, I bore a charmed life.

That night I lay with my precious talisman under my pillow. I
thought of the events of the afternoon, and, remembering my fight
with Tom Kinlay, attributed my victory over him to the influence
which that talisman, then in my pocket, had already begun to work.
I tried to imagine what kind of adventures had befallen the old
viking whose bones we had disturbed, and wondered if I should ever
encounter any similar perils. My opportunities of adventure were
fewer than his could have been; but I determined to give my full
trust to the mysterious aid in which Jarl Haffling had trusted in
the ancient days. Then I heard my father unmooring the boat from
the pier to take Captain Gordon out to his ship, and as the sound
of the oars in the rowlocks died away in the night I fell asleep.



Chapter XII. A Tragedy And A Transportation.


I was up and about on the following morning when the town was yet
asleep. A cool, dewy mist hung in the air, and the rising sun
spread a rosy bloom on the eastern sky. When I arrived at Andrew
Drever's house there was no one moving within, but the door was not
locked, and quietly lifting the latch I went inside to find the cat
Baudrons, that I might take him out to the Lydia according to my