But the Wrestler made no move to imitate him. He remained sitting and
slowly shaking his head.

"Those are fine words, and I say nothing against your sincerity; but my
appetite has changed. I will tell you what we will do instead. When your
work is done, we will betake ourselves across the river to Thorgrim
Svensson's camp and see the horse-fight he is going to have. He has a
black stallion of Keingala's breed, named Flesh-tearer, that it is not
necessary to prod with a stick. When he stands on his hind legs and
bites, you would swear he had as many feet as Odin's gray Sleipnir. Do
you not think that would be good entertainment?"

For a moment Alwin did not know what to think. He did not believe that
Rolf was afraid of him; and if the challenge was withdrawn, surely that
ended the matter. A horse fight? He had enjoyed no such spectacle as
that since the Michaelmas Day when his father had the great bear-baiting
in the pit at his English castle. And a ramble through the sun and the
wind, a taste of liberty--!

"It seems to me that it would be very enjoyable," he agreed. He started
eagerly to finish his work, when a thought caught him like a lariat and
whirled him back. "I am forgetting the yoke upon my neck, for the first
time in a twelvemonth! Is it allowed a dog of a slave to seek
entertainment?"

Mild displeasure stiffened Rolf's big frame. He said gravely: "It is
plain your thoughts do not do me much honor, since you think I have so
little authority. I tell you now that you will always be free to do
whatever I ask of you. If there is anything wrong in the doing, it is I
who must answer for it, not you. That is the law, while you are bound