"Helgi!"

Helgi opened his arms and embraced him tenderly, speaking with an
emotion he made no effort to control. "Estein, my brother, I
thought thou wert in truth in Valhalla. I have wept for thee,
Estein; I have mourned thee as dead. Tell me that this is thy very
self, and not some island ghost come to mock me."

The friendly voice and grasp, coming in this his hour of trouble,
touched Estein to the heart.

"It is I, indeed, Helgi," he said; "and never have I felt more
glad to see a face and clasp a hand. How came you here? I thought
I had parted from my friends for ever. I have been so long alone
that they had begun to seem like dream-men."

Helgi told him briefly how he had swum ashore to another island,
and there been picked up by Ketill, the black-bearded captain of
one of Estein's scattered ships; how, giving up all hope, they had
sailed for the south, and after meeting head winds and little
luck, returned to the Orkneys, where, from a man who had been with
Margad, news of the stranger on the Holy Isle had reached their
ears.

"They say, Estein, that your hermit has a fair daughter. Methinks
she would like to see your foster-brother; would she not?"

"Nay, Helgi, ask me no more questions, but take me quickly away. I
am spell-bound here, and I dare not trust myself to stay one
moment longer."