On the following morning, as I supposed it to be, my jailers came andsaid to me that I must appear before the judges to hear some revision ofmy sentence. They dressed me in my soldier's gear, and even allowed meto gird my sword about me, knowing, doubtless, that, save to himself, ablind man could do no mischief with a sword. Then they led me I knownot whither by passages which turned now here, now there. At length weentered some place, for doors were closed behind us.
"This is the Hall of Judgment," said one of them, "but the judgeshave not yet come. It is a great room and bare. There is nothing in itagainst which you can hurt yourself. Therefore, if it pleases you afterbeing cramped so long in that narrow cell, you may walk to and fro,keeping your hands in front of you so that you will know when you touchthe further wall and must turn."
I thanked them and, glad enough to avail myself of this grace formy limbs were stiff with want of exercise, began to walk joyfully. Ithought that the room must be one of those numberless apartments whichopened on to the terrace, since distinctly I could hear the wash of thesea coming from far beneath, doubtless through the open window-places.
Forward I stepped boldly, but at a certain point in my march thiscurious thing happened. A hand seemed to seize my own and draw me to theleft. Wondering, I followed the guidance of the hand, which presentlyleft hold of mine. Thereon I continued my march, and as I did so,thought that I heard another sound, like to that of a suppressed murmurof human voices. Twenty steps more and I reached the end of the chamber,for my outstretched fingers touched its marble wall. I turned andmarched back, and lo! at the twentieth step that hand took mine againand led me to the right, whereon once more the murmur of voices reachedme.
Thrice this happened, and every time the murmur grew more loud. Indeed,I thought I heard one say,
"The man's not blind at all," and another, "Some spirit guides him."
As I made my fourth journey I caught the sound of a distant tumult,the shouts of war, the screams of agony, and above them all thewell-remembered cry of "_Valhalla! Valhalla! Victory or Valhalla!_"
I halted where I was and felt the blood rush into my wasted cheeks. TheNorthmen, my Northmen, were in the palace! It was at this that Martinahad hinted. Yet in so vast a place what chance was there that they wouldever find me, and how, being blind, could I find them? Well, at least myvoice was left to me, and I would lift it.
So with all my strength I cried aloud, "Olaf Red-Sword is here! To Olaf,men of the North!"
Thrice I cried. I heard folk running, not to me, but from me, doubtlessthose whose whispers had reached my ears.
I thought of trying to follow them, but the soft and gentle hand, whichwas like to that of a woman, once more clasped mine and held me where Iwas, suffering me to move no single inch. So there I stood, evenafter the hand had loosed me again, for it seemed to me that there wassomething most strange in this business.
Presently another sound arose, the sound of the Northmen pouring towardsthe hall, for feet clanged louder and louder down the marble corridors.More, they had met those who were running from the hall, for now thesefled back before them. They were in the hall, for a cry of horror,mingled with rage, broke from their lips.
"'Tis Olaf," said one, "Olaf blinded, and, by Thor, see where hestands!"
Then Jodd's voice roared out,
"Move not, Olaf; move not, or you die."
Another voice, that of Martina, broke in, "Silence, you fool, or you'llfrighten him and make him fall. Silence all, and leave him to me!"
Then quiet fell upon the place; it seemed that even the pursued grewquiet, and I heard the rustle of a woman's dress drawing towards me.Next instant a soft hand took my own, just such a hand as not long agohad seemed to guide and hold me, and Martina's voice said,
"Follow where I lead, Olaf."
So I followed eight or ten paces. Then Martina threw her arms about meand burst into wild laughter. Someone caught her away; next momenttwo hair-clad lips kissed me on the brow and the mighty voice of Joddshouted,
"Thanks be to all the gods, dwell they in the north or in the south! Wehave saved you! Know you where you stood, Olaf? On the brink of a pit,the very brink, and beneath is a fall of a hundred feet to where thewaters of the Bosphorus wash among the rocks. Oh! understand this prettyGrecian game. They, good Christian folk, would not have your blood upontheir souls, and therefore they caused you to walk to your own death.Well, they shall be dosed with the draught they brewed.
"Bring them hither, comrades, bring them one by one, these devils whocould sit to watch a blind man walk to his doom to make their sport.Ah! whom have we here? Why, by Thor! 'tis the lawyer knave, he who waspresident of the court that tried you, and was angry because you did notsalute him. Well, lawyer, the wheel has gone round. We Northmen are inpossession of the palace and the Armenian legions are gathered at itsgates and do but wait for Constantine the Emperor to enter and take theempire and its crown. They'll be here anon, lawyer, but you understand,having a certain life to save, for word had been brought to us of yourpretty doings, that we were forced to strike before the signal, andstruck not in vain. Now we'll fill in the tedious time with a trialof our own. See here, I am president of the court, seated in this finechair, and these six to right and left are my companion judges, whileyou seven who were judges are now prisoners. You know the crime withwhich you are charged, so there's no need to set it out. Your defence,lawyer, and be swift with it."
"Oh! sir," said the man in a trembling voice, "what we did to theGeneral Olaf we were ordered to do by one who may not be named."
"You'd best find the name, lawyer, for were it that of a god we Northmenwould hear it."
"Well, then, by the Augusta herself. She wished the death of the nobleMichael, or Olaf, but having become superstitious about the matter,would not have his blood directly on her hands. Therefore she bethoughther of this plan. He was ordered to be brought into the place you see,which is known as the Hall of the Pit, that in old days was used bycertain bloody-minded emperors to rid them of their enemies. The centralpavement swings upon a hinge. At a touch it opens, and he who hasthought it sound and walked thereon, when darkness comes is lost, sincehe falls upon the rocks far below, and at high tide the water takeshim."
"Yes, yes, we understand the game, lawyer, for there yawns the open pit.But have you aught more to say?"
"Nothing, sir, nothing, save that we only did what we were driven to do.Moreover, no harm has come of it, since whenever the noble general cameto the edge of the opened pit, although he was blind, he halted and wentoff to right or left as though someone drew him out of danger."
"Well, then, cruel and unjust judges, who could gather to mock at themurder of a blinded man that you had trapped to his doom----"
"Sir," broke in one of them, "it was not we who tried to trap him; itwas those jailers who stand there. They told the general that he mightexercise himself by walking up and down the hall."
"Is that true, Olaf?" asked Jodd.
"Yes," I answered, "it is true that the two jailers who brought me heredid tell me this, though whether those men are present I cannot say."
"Very good," said Jodd. "Add them to the other prisoners, who by theirown showing heard them set the snare and did not warn the victim. Now,murderers all, this is the sentence of the court upon you: That yousalute the General Olaf and confess your wickedness to him."
So they saluted me, kneeling, and kissing my feet, and one and all madeconfession of their crime.
"Enough," I said, "I pardon them who are but tools. Pray to God that Hemay do as much."
"You may pardon here, Olaf," said Jodd, "and your God may pardonhereafter, but we, the Northmen, do not pardon. Blindfold those men andbind their arms. Now," went on Jodd after a pause, "their turn has cometo show us sport. Run, friends, run, for swords are behind you. Can younot feel them?"
The rest may be guessed. Within a few minutes the seven judges and thetwo jailers had vanished from the world. No hand came to save _them_from the cruel rocks and the water
s that seethed a hundred feet belowthat dreadful chamber.
This fantastic, savage vengeance was a thing dreadful to hear; what itmust have been to see I can only guess. I know that I wished I mighthave fled from it and that I pleaded with Jodd for mercy on these men.But neither he nor his companions would listen to me.
"What mercy had they on you?" he cried. "Let them drink from their owncup."
"Let them drink from their own cup!" roared his companions, and thenbroke into a roar of laughter as one of the false judges, feeling spacebefore him, leapt, leapt short, and with a shriek departed for ever.