but I will be bound he'll give us a good supper before we set out
on our sea voyage."

But his words were not able to quiet the dog, who raised his
muzzle and howled more dismally than ever.

At this Torarin himself was not far from yielding to an uncanny
feeling. It had now grown almost dark, but still Torarin could see
Solberga church and the wide plain around it, which was sheltered
by broad wooded heights to landward and by bare, rounded rocks
toward the sea. As he drove on in solitude over the vast white
plain, he felt he was a wretched little worm, while from the dark
forests and the mountain wastes came troops of great monsters and
trolls of every kind venturing into the open country on the fall
of darkness. And in the whole great plain there was none other for
them to fall upon than poor Torarin.

But at the same time he tried again to quiet the dog.

"Bless me, what is your quarrel with Herr Arne? He is the richest
man in the country. He is of noble birth, and had he not been a
priest there would have been a great lord of him."

But this could not avail to bring the dog to silence. Then Torarin
lost patience, so that he took Grim by the scruff of the neck and
threw him off the sledge.

The dog did not follow him as he drove on, but stood still upon
the road and howled without ceasing until Torarin drove under a
dark archway into the yard of the parsonage, which was surrounded