The Norsemen in the West

  CHAPTER SIX.

  CHANGES IN WIND AND WEATHER PRODUCE CHANGES IN TEMPER AND FEELING--LANDDISCOVERED, AND FREYDISSA BECOMES INQUISITIVE.

  There are few things that impress one more at sea than the rapidity ofthe transitions which frequently take place in the aspect and thecondition of vessel, sea, and sky. At one time all may be profoundlytranquil on board; then, perhaps, the necessity for going "about ship"arises, and all is bustle; ropes rattle, blocks clatter and chirp, yardscreak, and seamen's feet stamp on the deck, while their voices aid theirhands in the hauling of ropes; and soon all is quiet as before. Or,perhaps, the transition is effected by a squall, and it becomes morethorough and lasting. One moment everything in nature is hushed underthe influence of what is appropriately enough termed a "dead calm." Ina few seconds a cloud-bank appears on the horizon and one or twocats-paws are seen shooting over the water. A few minutes more and thesky is clouded, the glassy sea is ruffled, the pleasant light sinks intoa dull leaden grey, the wind whistles over the ocean, and we are--as faras feeling is concerned--transported into another, but by no means abetter, world.

  Thus it was with our adventurers. The beautiful night merged into a"dirty" morning, the calm into a breeze so stiff as to be almost a gale,and when Olaf came out of the cabin, holding tight to theweather-bulwarks to prevent himself from being thrown into thelee-scuppers, his inexperienced heart sank within him at the drearyprospect of the grey sky and the black heaving sea.

  But young Olaf came of a hardy seafaring race. He kept his feelings tohimself; and staggered toward Karlsefin, who still stood at his post.Olaf thought he had been there all night, but the truth was that he hadbeen relieved by Biarne, had taken a short nap, and returned to thehelm.

  Karlsefin was now clad in a rough-weather suit. He wore a pair ofuntanned sealskin boots and a cap of the same material, that bore astrong resemblance in shape and colour to the sou'-westers of thepresent day, and his rough heavy coat, closed up to the chin, was intexture and form not unlike to the pilot-cloth jackets of modernseamen--only it had tags and loops instead of buttons and button-holes.With his legs wide apart, he stood at the tiller, round which there wasa single turn of a rope from the weather-bulwarks to steady it andhimself. The boy was clad in miniature costume of much the same cut andkind, and proud was he to stagger about the deck with his little legsridiculously wide apart, in imitation of Thorward and Biarne, both ofwhom were there, and had, he observed, a tendency to straddle.

  "Come hither, Olaf; and learn a little seamanship," said Karlsefin, witha good-humoured smile.

  Olaf said he would be glad to do that, and made a run towards thetiller, but a heavy plunge of the ship caused him to sheer off in quitea different direction, and another lurch would have sent himhead-foremost against the lee-bulwarks had not Biarne, with a laugh,caught him by the nape of the neck and set him against Karlsefin's leftleg, to which he clung with remarkable tenacity.

  "Ay, hold on tight to that, boy," said the leg's owner, "and you'll besafe. A few days will put you on your sea-legs, lad, and then you won'twant to hold on."

  "Always hold your head up, Olaf, when you move about aboard ship inrough weather," said Biarne, pausing a minute in his perambulation ofthe deck to give the advice, "and look overboard, or up, or away at thehorizon--anywhere except at your feet. You can't see how the ship'sgoing to roll, you know, if you keep looking down at the deck."

  Olaf acted on this advice at once, and then began to question Karlsefinin regard to many nautical matters which it is not necessary to set downhere, while Biarne and Thorward leaned on the bulwarks and lookedsomewhat anxiously to windward.

  Already two reefs of the huge sail had been taken in, and Biarne nowsuggested that it would be wise to take in another.

  "Let it be done," said Karlsefin.

  Thorward ordered the men to reef; and the head of the ship was broughtup to the wind so as to empty the sail while this was being done.

  Before it was quite accomplished some of the women had assembled on thepoop.

  "This is not pleasant weather," observed Gudrid, as she stood holding onto her husband.

  "We must not expect to have it all plain sailing in these seas," repliedKarlsefin; "but the dark days will make the bright ones seem all thebrighter."

  Gudrid smiled languidly at this, but made no reply.

  Freydissa, who scorned to receive help from man, had vigorously laidhold of the bulwarks and gradually worked her way aft. She appeared tobe very much out of sorts--as indeed all the women were. There was agreenish colour about the parts of their cheeks that ought to have beenrosy, and a whitey blue or frosted appearance at the points of theirnoses, which damaged the beauty of the prettiest among them. Freydissabecame positively plain--and she knew it, which did not improve hertemper. Astrid, though fair and exceedingly pretty by nature, hadbecome alarmingly white; and Thora, who was dark, had become painfullyyellow. Poor Bertha, too, had a washed-out appearance, though nothingin the way of lost colour or otherwise could in the least detract fromthe innocent sweetness of her countenance. She did not absolutely weep,but, being cold, sick, and in a state of utter wretchedness, she hadfallen into a condition of chronic whimpering, which exceedinglyexasperated Freydissa. Bertha was one of those girls who are regardedby _some_ of their own sex with a species of mild contempt, but who arenevertheless looked upon with much tenderness by men, which perhapsmakes up to them for this to some extent. Gudrid was the least affectedamong them all by that dire malady, which appears to have been asvirulent in the tenth as it is in the nineteenth century, and must havecome in with the Flood, if not before it.

  "Why don't you go below," said Freydissa testily, "instead of shiveringup here?"

  "I get so sick below," answered Bertha, endeavouring to brighten up,"that I thought it better to try what fresh air would do for me."

  "H'm! it doesn't appear to do much for you," retorted Freydissa.

  As she spoke a little spray broke over the side of the ship and fell onthe deck near them. Karlsefin had great difficulty in preventing this,for a short cross-sea was running, and it was only by dint of extremelygood and careful steering that he kept the poop-deck dry. In a fewminutes a little more spray flew inboard, and some of it striking Berthaon the head ran down her shoulders. Karlsefin was much grieved at this,but Freydissa laughed heartily.

  Instead of making Bertha worse, however, the shock had the effect ofdoing her a little good, and she laughed in a half-pitiful way as sheran down below to dry herself.

  "It serves you right," cried Freydissa as she passed; "I wish you hadgot more of it."

  Now Karlsefin was a man whose temper was not easily affected, and heseldom or never took offence at anything done or said to himself; butthe unkindness of Freydissa's speech to poor Bertha nettled him greatly.

  "Get behind me, Gudrid," he said quickly.

  Gudrid obeyed, wondering at the stern order, and Karlsefin gave a pushto the tiller with his leg. Next moment a heavy sea struck the side ofthe ship, burst over the bulwarks, completely overwhelmed Freydissa, andswept the deck fore and aft--wetting every one more or less exceptGudrid, who had been almost completely sheltered behind her husband. Asail which had been spread over the waist of the ship prevented muchdamage being done to the men, and of course all the water that fell onthe forecastle and poop ran out at the scupper-holes.

  This unexpected shower-bath at once cleared the poop of the women.Fortunately Thora and Astrid had been standing to leeward of Biarne andThorward, and had received comparatively little of the shower, butFreydissa went below with streaming hair and garments,--as Biarneremarked,--like an elderly mermaid!

  "You must have been asleep when that happened," said Thorward toKarlsefin in surprise.

  "He must have been sleeping, then, with his eyes open," said Biarne,with an amused look.

  Karlsefin gazed sternly towards the ship's head, and appeared to beattending with great care to the helm, but there was a slight twinkle inhis eye as he said--"Well, i
t _was_ my intention to wash the decks alittle, but more spray came inboard than I counted on. 'Tis asdangerous to play with water, sometimes, as with fire."

  "There is truth in that," said Biarne, laughing; "and I fear that thistime water will be found to have kindled fire, for when Freydissa wentbelow she looked like the smoking mountain of Iceland--as if there wassomething hot inside and about to boil up."

  Karlsefin smiled, but made no reply, for the gale was increasing everymoment, and the management of the ship soon required the earnestattention of all the seamen on board.

  Fortunately it was a short-lived gale. When it had passed away and thesea had returned to something like its former quiescent state, and thesun had burst through and dissipated the grey clouds, our femalevoyagers returned to the deck and to their wonted condition of health.

  Soon after that they came in sight of land.

  "Now, Biarne," said Karlsefin, after the look-out on the forecastle hadshouted "Land ho!" "come, give me your opinion of this new land that wehave made.--Do you mind the helm, Thorward, while we go to the ship'shead."

  The two went forward, and on the forecastle they found Olaf; flushedwith excitement, and looking as if something had annoyed him.

  "Ho, Olaf! you're not sorry to see land, are you?" said Biarne.

  "Sorry! no, not I; but I'm sorry to be cheated of my due."

  "How so, boy?"

  "Why, _I_ discovered the land first, and that fellow there," pointing tothe man on look-out, "shouted before me."

  "But why did you not shout before _him_?" asked Karlsefin, as he andBiarne surveyed the distant land with keen interest.

  "Just because he took me unawares," replied the boy indignantly. "WhenI saw it I did not wish to be hasty. It might have turned out to be acloud, or a fog-bank, and I might have given a false alarm; so I pointedit out to him, and asked what he thought; but instead of answering me hegaped with his ugly mouth and shouted `Land ho!' I could have kickedhim."

  "Nay, Olaf; that is not well said," observed Karlsefin, very gravely;"if you _could_ have kicked him you _would_ have kicked him. Why didyou not do it?"

  "Because he is too big for me," answered the boy promptly.

  "So, then, thy courage is only sufficient to make thee kick those whoare small enough," returned Karlsefin, with a frown. "Perhaps if youwere as big as he you would be afraid to kick him."

  "That would not I," retorted Olaf.

  "It is easy for you to say that, boy, when you know that he _would_ notstrike you now, and that there is small chance of your meeting againafter you have grown up to prove the truth of what you say. It is mereboasting, Olaf; and, mark me, you will never be a brave man if you beginby being a boastful boy. A truly brave and modest man--for modesty andbravery are wont to consort together--never says he will strike until hesees it to be right to do so. Sometimes he does not even go the lengthof speaking at all, but, in any case, having made up his mind to strike,he strikes at once, without more ado, let the consequences be what theywill. But in my opinion it is best not to strike at all. Do you know,Olaf; my boy, some of the bravest men I ever knew have never struck ablow since they came to manhood, excepting, of course, when compelled todo so in battle; and _then_ they struck such blows as made shields andhelmets fly, and strewed the plain with their foes."

  "Did these men never boast when they were boys?" asked Olaf; with atroubled air.

  Karlsefin relaxed into a smile as he said, "Only when they were verylittle boys, and very foolish; but they soon came to see howcontemptible it is to threaten and not perform; so they gave upthreatening, and when performance came to be necessary they found thatthreats were needless. Now, Olaf, I want you to be a bold, brave man,and I must lull you through the foolish boasting period as quickly aspossible, therefore I tell you these things. Think on them, my boy."

  Olaf was evidently much relieved by the concluding remarks. WhileKarlsefin was speaking he had felt ashamed of himself; because he wasfilled with admiration of the magnificent skipper, and wanted to standwell in his opinion. It was therefore no small comfort to find that hisboasting had been set down to his foolishness, and that there was goodreason to hope he might ultimately grow out of it.

  But Olaf had much more of the true metal in him than he himself wasaware of. Without saying a word about it, he resolved not to wait forthe result of this slow process of growth, but to jump, vault, or flyout of the boastful period of life, by hook or by crook, and thatwithout delay. And he succeeded! Not all at once, of course. He hadmany a slip; but he persevered, and finally got out of it much soonerthan would have been the case if he had not taken any trouble to thinkabout the matter, or to _try_.

  Meanwhile, however, he looked somewhat crestfallen. This being observedby the look-out, that worthy was prompted to say--"I'm sure, Olaf; youare welcome to kick me if that will comfort you, but there is nooccasion to do so, because I claim not the honour of first _seeing_ theland--and if I had known the state of your mind I would willingly havelet you give the hail."

  "You may have been first to discover it at this time, Olaf;" saidBiarne, turning round after he had made up his mind about it, "and nodoubt you were, since the look-out admits it; nevertheless this is theland that I discovered twenty years ago. But we shall make it out morecertainly in an hour or two if this breeze holds."

  The breeze did hold, and soon they were close under the land.

  "Now am I quite certain of it," said Biarne, as he stood on the poop,surrounded by all his friends, who gazed eagerly at the shore, to whichthey had approached so close that the rocks and bushes were distinctlyvisible; "that is the very same land which I saw before."

  "What, Vinland?" asked Freydissa.

  "Nay, not Vinland. Are you so eager to get at the grapes that ye thinkthe first land we meet is Vinland?"

  "A truce to your jesting, Biarne; what land is it?"

  "It is the land I saw _last_ when leaving this coast in search ofGreenland, so that it seems not unnatural to find it _first_ on comingback to it. Leif; on his voyage, went on shore here. He named itHelloland, which, methinks, was a fitting name, for it is, as you see, anaked land of rocks."

  "Now, then," said Karlsefin, "lower the sail, heave out the anchor, andlet two men cast loose the little boat. Some of us will land and seewhat we shall see; for it must not be said of us, Biarne, as it wasunfairly said of you, that we took no interest in these new regions."

  The little boat was got ready. The Scottish brothers, Hake and Heika,were appointed to row. Karlsefin, Biarne, Thorward, Gudrid, Freydissa,and Olaf embarked and proceeded to the shore.

  This land, on which the party soon stood, was not of an inviting aspect.It was sterile, naked, and very rocky, as Biarne had described it, andnot a blade of grass was to be seen. There was a range of highsnow-capped mountains in the interior, and all the way from the coast upto these mountains the land was covered with snow. In truth, a moreforbidding spot could not easily have been found, even in Greenland.

  "It seems to me," said Freydissa, "that your new land is but a sorryplace--worse than that we have left. I wonder at your landing here. Itis plain that men see with flushed eyes when they look upon their owndiscoveries. Cold comfort is all we shall get in this place. I counselthat we return on board immediately."

  "You are too hasty, sister," said Gudrid.

  "Oh! of course, always too hasty," retorted Freydissa sharply.

  "And somewhat too bitter," growled Thorward, with a frown.

  Thorward was not an ill-natured man, but his wife's sharp temper triedhim a good deal.

  "Your interrupting me before you heard all I had to say _proves_ you tobe too hasty, sister," said Gudrid, with a playful laugh. "I was aboutto add that it seems we have come here rather early in the spring. Whoknows but the land may wear a prettier dress when the mantle of winteris gone? Even Greenland looks green and bright in summer."

  "Not in those places where the snow lies _all_ the summer," objectedOlaf.

  "T
hat's right, Olaf;" said Biarne; "stick up for your sweet aunt. Sheoften takes a stick up for you, lad, and deserves your gratitude.--Butcome, let's scatter and survey the land, for, be it good or bad, we mustknow what it is, and carry with us some report such as Karlsefin mayweave into his rhymes."

  "This land would be more suitable for your rhymes, Biarne, than formine," said Karlsefin, as they started off together, "because it is mostdismal."

  After that the whole party scattered. The three leaders ascended thenearest heights in different directions, and Gudrid with Olaf wentsearching among the rocks and pools to ascertain what sort of creatureswere to be found there, while Freydissa sat down and sulked upon a rock.She soon grew tired of sulking, however, and, looking about her,observed the brothers, who had been left in charge of the boat, standingas if engaged in earnest conversation.

  She had not before this paid much attention to these brothers, and wassomewhat struck with their appearance, for, as we have said before, theywere good specimens of men. Hake, the younger of the two, hadclose-curling auburn hair, and bright blue eyes. His features were notexactly handsome, but the expression of his countenance was so winningthat people were irresistibly attracted by it. The elder brother,Heika, was very like him, but not so attractive in his appearance. Bothwere fully six feet high, and though thin, as has been said, their limbswere beautifully moulded, and they possessed much greater strength thanmost people gave them credit for. In aspect, thought, and conversation,they were naturally grave, and very earnest; nevertheless, they could beeasily roused to mirth.

  Going up to them, Freydissa said--"Ye seem to have earnest talktogether."

  "We have," answered Heika. "Our talk is about home."

  "I am told that your home is in the Scottish land," said Freydissa.

  "It is," answered Hake, with a kindling eye.

  "How come you to be so far from home?" asked Freydissa.

  "We were taken prisoners two years ago by vikings from Norway, whenvisiting our father in a village near the Forth fiord."

  "How did that happen? Come, tell me the story; but, first, who is yourfather?"

  "He is an earl of Scotland," said Heika.

  "Ha! and I suppose ye think a Scottish earl is better than a Norseking?"

  Heika smiled as he replied, "I have never thought of making a comparisonbetween them."

  "Well--how were you taken?"

  "We were, as I have said, on a visit to our father, who dwelt sometimesin a small village on the shores of the Forth, for the sake of bathingin the sea--for he is sickly. One night, while we slept, a Norselong-ship came to land. Those who should have been watching slumbered.The Norsemen surrounded my father's house without awaking anyone, and,entering by a window which had not been securely fastened, overpoweredHake and me before we knew where we were. We struggled hard, but whatcould two unarmed men do among fifty? The noise we made, however,roused the village and prevented the vikings from discovering ourfather's room, which was on the upper floor. They had to fight theirway back to the ship, and lost many men on the road, but they succeededin carrying us two on board, bound with cords. They took us over thesea to Norway. There we became slaves to King Olaf Tryggvisson, bywhom, as you know, we were sent to Leif Ericsson."

  "No doubt ye think," said Freydissa, "that if you had not been caughtsleeping ye would have given the Norsemen some trouble to secure you."

  They both laughed at this.

  "We have had some thoughts of that kind," said Hake brightly, "but trulywe did give them some trouble even as it was."

  "I knew it," cried the dame rather sharply; "the conceit of you men goesbeyond all bounds! Ye always boast of what valiant deeds you _would_have done _if_ something or other had been in your favour."

  "We made no boast," replied Heika gravely.

  "If you did not speak it, ye thought it, I doubt not.--But, tell me, isyour land as good a land as Norway?"

  "We love it better," replied Heika.

  "But _is_ it better?" asked Freydissa.

  "We would rather dwell in it than in Norway," said Hake.

  "We hope not. But we would prefer to be in our own land," replied theelder brother, sadly, "for there is no place like home."

  At this point Karlsefin and the rest of the party came back to the shoreand put an end to the conversation. Returning on board they drew up theanchor, hoisted sail, and again put out to sea.