the ungodly, under the faithless!"

And the sea murmurs a faint assent, and Violence, who stands on the
royal ship, nods approvingly. "That is right," he says. "To
persecute and to be persecuted, that is my law. May storm and sea
destroy the pirate fleet and take to itself the treasures of my
royal servant! So much the sooner it will be our lot to set out on
new devastating expeditions."

The burghers on the shore turn and look up at their town. Fire has
raged there; plunder has passed through it; behind broken panes
gape pillaged dwellings. They see emptied streets, desecrated
churches; bloody corpses are lying in the narrow courts, and women
crazed by fright flee through the town. Shall they stand impotent
before such things? Is there no one whom their vengeance can reach,
no one whom they in their turn can torture and destroy?

God in Heaven, see! The goldsmith's house is not plundered nor
burned. What does it mean? Was he in league with the enemy? Had he
not the key to one of the town gates in his keeping? Oh, you
daughter of Ung-Hanse, answer, what does it mean?

Far away on the royal ship Violence stands and watches his royal
servant, smiling behind his vizor. "Listen to the storm, Sire,
listen to the storm! The gold that you have ravished will soon lie
on the bottom of the sea, inaccessible to you. And look back at
Visby, my noble lord! The woman whom you deceived is being led
between the clergy and the soldiers to the town-wall. Can you hear
the crowd following her, cursing, insulting? Look, the masons come
with mortar and trowel! Look, the women come with stones! They are