harm, as I have ofttimes found. What price do you offer for him,
hersir?"

Olaf looked up in anxious surprise, wondering if in truth the stranger
had come to buy him, so that he might carry him off to the wicked
Queen Gunnhild.

"I will give you two silver marks for him," said Sigurd, "and that
is the value of a full grown man slave."

Reas demurred, looking at Olaf as if regretting that the lad was
not more presentable.

"No," he said at last. "You will not find such a thrall as he in
every day's march. If he were but a little cleaner you would see
that he is a very pretty boy. Look at his eyes--keen as a young
snake's! Why, no woman's eyes are more beautiful! Look at his skin,
there where his kirtle is torn. Is it not fair? And he is skilled
in many feats. My own son Rekoni is not more clever than he. He can
run for half a day without being wearied. He can climb the highest
pine tree in Rathsdale--as he did last seed time to harry a
bluejay's nest; and no seamew can swim more lightly on the water."

"As to his climbing," said Sigurd, with a curious look in his blue
eyes, "I do not doubt that he will some day climb much higher than
you list. But swimming is of little avail where there is no sea.
And if he runs so well there is all the more danger of his running
away. I think you will be well paid if I give you two silver marks.
But since you set so high a value on him for his beauty and his
skill, then I give you in addition this little ring of gold for