many thanks for a good entertainment. The truth is that it has always
been in my mind to visit this renowned Eric, if ever I should be in this
part of Greenland; and now that some one is going that way to guide me,
I think it would be unadvisable to lose the chance."

"The matter shall be as you have fixed it, Grettir," Sigurd said
politely, "if you are able to run on skees with us."

Grettir laughed in a jovial roar, as he helped himself to a pair of
runners that rested on antlers against the wall. "You have a sly wit,
Sigurd Jarlsson. You think, because I am round, I am wont to roll like a
barrel. I will show you."

And it proved that, for all his bulk, he was as light on his feet as
either of them. In those days, when every landlubber could handle a boat
like a seaman, every sailor knew at least something about farming, and
could ride a horse like a jockey. All the way back, he kept them going
at a pace that took their breath.

In the excitement of welcoming so renowned a character to Brattahlid,
reprimands and curiosity were alike forgotten. By the time they had him
anchored behind an ale-horn on the bench in the hail, he held the
household's undivided attention. Good-natured with feasting, and roused
by the babel around him, he began yarn-spinning at the first hint.

"The western shore? No man living can tell you more of the wonders of
that than I,--not Biorn Herjulfsson himself!" he declared. And forthwith
he related the whole adventure, from Biorn's rash setting out into
unknown seas, to his final arrival on the Greenland coast.