"
I followed her, and she went to the gunwale, close to the
penthouse, where she was screened from Dalfin, and leant on it.
"You are of my own folk," she said, "and of the old faith, and
therefore I can tell you what is troubling me. These other two good
friends are of the new faith I have heard of, for I saw them sign
their holy sign ere they ate, and you signed Thor's hammer over the
meat."
"They are Christians," I said; "but I have nothing ill to say of
that faith, for I have known many of them in Scotland. I am Odin's
man."
"I have heard nothing but ill," she said. "I was frightened when I
knew that they were not Odin's men. Will they keep faith with me?"
"To the last," I answered. "Have no fear of that. It is one thing
which the Christian folk are taught to do before all else."
"I think that I could not mistrust these two in any case," she
said; "but all this is not what I would speak of, though it came
uppermost. What I am troubling about is this which lies here," and
she set her hand for a moment on the penthouse. "What shall be
done? For now we cannot fire the ship."
"If we make the Shetland Islands," I answered, "there are Norsemen
who will see that all is done rightly. There they will lay the king
in mound as becomes a chief of our land.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93