"Twice I have made the Danes pay a dear atonement for Eric. I
cannot punish Thor because he suffered Harald to drown, but if
ever in my life it be my fate to meet Thord the Tall, Snaekol
Gunnarson, or Thorfin of Skapstead, there shall be but one man
left to tell of our meeting."

"The burners of Olaf have long gone out of Norway, have they not?"

"I was but a child when my brother was burned like a fox in his
hole at Laxafiord. The burners knew my father too well to bide at
home and welcome him; and since then no man has told aught of
them, save that Thord the Tall at one time raided much in England,
and boasted widely of the burning. He perchance forgot that Hakon
had other sons.

"But now, Helgi, we must sleep while we may; nights may come when
we shall want it."

For six days and six nights they sailed with a favouring wind over
an empty ocean. On the seventh day land was sighted on the
starboard bow.

"Can that be England?" asked old Ulf, Estein's forecastle man, a
hairy, hugely muscular Viking from the far northern fiords.

"The coast of Scotland more likely," said Helgi. "Shall we try our
luck, Estein?"

"I should like to spill a little Scottish blood, and mayhap carry
off a maid or two," said Thorolf Hauskoldson, a young giant from