oil and pitch upon them.

The Vikings thought to starve the Parisians, and for thirteen months
they encamped round the city. At length food became very scarce,
and Count Eudes determined to go for help. He went out through one
of the gates on a dark, stormy night, and rode post-haste to the
king. He told him that something must be done to save the people
of Paris.

So the king gathered an army and marched to the city. No battle
was fought--the Vikings seemed to have been afraid to risk one.
They gave up the siege, and Paris was relieved.

Rollo and his men went to the Duchy of Burgundy, where, as now,
the finest crops were raised and the best of wines were made.


III


Perhaps after a time Rollo and his Vikings went home; but we do not
know what he did for about twenty-five years. We do know that he
abandoned his old home in Norway in 911. Then he and his people
sailed from the icy shore of Norway and again went up the Seine in
hundreds of Viking vessels.

Of course, on arriving in the land of the Franks, Rollo at once
began to plunder towns and farms.

Charles, then king of the Franks, although his people called him