HOPES AND FEARS-THE BURNING OF HALDORSTEDE, AND ESCAPE OF THE FAMILY

Meanwhile the family at Haldorstede had made a narrow escape, and some members of it were still in great peril.  When Hilda and Ada were sent thither, with the females of Ulfstede, under the charge of Christian the hermit, as already related, they found Dame Herfrida and her maidens busily engaged in making preparations for a great feast.

“I prithee,” said Dame Astrid, in some surprise, “who are to be thy guests to-night?”

“Who should be,” replied Herfrida, with a smile, “but the stout fellows who back my husband in the fight to-day!  Among them thine own goodman, Dame Astrid, and his house-carles; for if no one is left at Ulfstede there can be no supper there for them; and as the poor lads are likely to be well worn out, we must have something wherewith to cheer them.”

“But what if ill luck betide us?” suggested Astrid.

“Ill luck never betides us,” replied Herfrida, with an expression of bland assurance on her handsome face.  “Besides, if it does, we shall be none the worse for having done our part.”

“Some people are always forecasting evil,” muttered Ingeborg, with a sour look, as she kneaded viciously a lump of dough which was destined to form cakes.

“And some other people are always forecasting good,” retorted Ada, with a smile, “so that things are pretty well balanced after all.  Come now, Ingeborg, don’t be cross, but leave the dough, and let us go to thy room, for I want to have a little gossip with thee alone.”

Ingeborg was fond of Ada, and particularly fond of a little gossip, either public or private.  She condescended, therefore, to smile, as it were under protest, and, rubbing the dough from her fingers, accompanied her friend to her chamber, while the others broke into several groups, and chatted more or less energetically as they worked, or idled about the house.

“Is there any fear of our men losing the day?” asked Hilda of the hermit, who stood looking out of a window which commanded a view of the fiord, where the ships of the opposing fleets could be seen engaged in the battle, that had just begun.

Poor Hilda asked the question with a look of perplexity in her face; for hitherto she had been so much accustomed to success attending the expeditions of her warlike father and friends, that she had never given much thought to the idea of defeat and its consequences.

“It is not easy to answer that question,” replied the hermit; “for the success or failure of thy father’s host depends on many things with which I am not acquainted.  If the forces on both sides are about equal in numbers, the chances are in his favour; for he is a mighty man of valour, as well as his son, and also thy father.  Besides, there are many of his men who are not far behind them in strength and courage; but they may be greatly outnumbered.  If so, defeat is possible.  I would say it is probable, did I not know that the Ruler of events can, if He will, give victory to the weak and disaster to the strong.  Thy father deems his cause a righteous one ­perhaps it is so.”

“Well, then,” said Hilda, “will not God, who, you say, is just and good, give victory to the righteous cause?”

“He may be pleased to do so; but He does not always do so.  For His own good and wise ends He sometimes permits the righteous to suffer defeat, and wrongdoers to gain the victory.  This only do I know for certain, that good shall come out of all things to His people, whether these things be grievous or joyful; for it is written, `All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called, according to His purpose.’  This is my consolation when I am surrounded by darkness which I cannot understand, and which seems all against me.  That things often pass my understanding does not surprise me; for it is written, `His ways are wonderful ­past finding out.’”

“Past finding out indeed!” said Hilda thoughtfully.  “Would that I had faith like thine, Christian; for it seems to enable thee to trust and rejoice in darkness as well as in sunshine.”

“Thou mayst have it, daughter,” answered the hermit earnestly, “if thou wilt condescend to ask it in the name of Jesus; for it is written, `Faith is the gift of God;’ and again it is written, `Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you.’  One of our chief sins consists in our desire to produce, by means of our own will, that faith which God tells us we cannot attain to by striving after, but which He is willing to bestow as a free gift on those who ask.”

The conversation was interrupted here by the old house-carle Finn the One-eyed, who said in passing that he was going down to the cliffs to see and hear what was doing, and would return ere long to report progress.  For an hour after that, the people at Haldorstede continued to watch the fight with intense interest; but although they could see the motion of the ships on the fiord, and could hear the shout of war, as it came floating down on the breeze like a faint murmur, the distance was too great to permit of their distinguishing the individual combatants, or observing the progress of the fight.  That it was likely to go ill with their friends, however, was soon made known by Finn, who returned in hot haste to warn them to prepare for flight.

“Be sure,” said Dame Herfrida, “that there is no need to flee until Haldor or Erling come to tell us to get ready.”

“That may be so,” said Finn; “but if Haldor and Erling should chance to be slain, ill will it be for you if ye are not ready to fly.”

“Now it seems to me,” said Dame Astrid, who was of an anxious temperament, “that thou art too confident, Herfrida.  It would be wise at all events to get ready.”

“Does anyone know where Alric is?” asked Ingeborg.

As everyone professed ignorance on this point, his mother said that she had no doubt he was safe enough; for he was a bold little man, and quite able to take care of himself.

“If he has had his own way,” observed Ivor the Old, who came in at that moment, “he is in the fleet for he is a true chip of the old tree; but we are not like to see him again, methinks, for I have seen the fleet giving back on the right wing, and hasted hither to tell ye.”

This report had the effect of shaking Herfrida’s confidence to the extent of inducing her to give up her preparations for the feast, and assist the others in making arrangements for a hasty flight with such household valuables as could be easily carried about the person.  Some time after they had begun this work, a young man, who was a cripple, and therefore a non-combatant, hobbled into the hall, and announced the fact that Haldor’s fleet was routed everywhere, and fleeing.  He had seen it from the cliff behind the stede, and indeed it could partly be seen from the hall window.

“Now,” cried Finn the One-eyed bitterly, “all is lost, and I must carry out Erling’s last instructions.  He told me, if the fight went against us, and the King’s men gained the day, I was to lead ye down by the forest path to the cave behind Ulfstede, where there is a ship big enough to carry the whole household.  If alive, he and his friends are to meet us there.  Come, we must make haste; some of the ships are already on the beach, and if they be the King’s men we shall soon see them here.”

Everyone was now so thoroughly convinced of their desperate case that without reply each went to complete arrangements as fast as possible.

“Wilt thou go with us?” said Finn to the hermit, when all were assembled in front of the house at the edge of the forest.

“I will, since God seems to order it so,” said the hermit; “but first I go to my hut for the rolls of the Book.  As ye have to pass the bottom of the cliff on which my dwelling is perched, I will easily overtake you.”

“Let us go with him,” said Hilda to Ada.  “There is a roll in the hut which Erling and I have been trying to copy; Christian may not be able to find it, as I hid it carefully away ­and,” she continued, blushing slightly, “I should not like to lose it.”

“You had better go with us,” said Finn gravely.

“We will do what seems best to ourselves,” replied Ada; “go on, Christian, we follow.”

The hermit advised the girls to go with Finn, but as they were self-willed he was fain to conduct them up the steep and narrow path that led to his hut upon the cliff, while Finn put himself at the head of a sad band of women, children, and aged retainers, who could advance but slowly along the rugged and intricate path which he thought it necessary to take through the forest.

Not twenty minutes after they had left Haldorstede the first band of King Harald’s men came rushing up the banks of the river, enraged at having found Ulfstede deserted, and thirsting for plunder.  They ran tumultuously into the house, sword in hand, and a yell of disappointment followed when they discovered that the inmates had fled.  There is no doubt that they would have rushed out again and searched the woods, had not the feast which Herfrida had been preparing proved too attractive.  The cold salmon and huge tankards of ale proved irresistible to the tired and thirsty warriors, who forthwith put the goblets to their bearded lips and quaffed the generous fluid so deeply that in a short time many of them were reeling, and one, who seemed to be more full of mischief than his fellows, set the house on fire by way of a joke.

It was the smoke which arose after the perpetration of this wanton act that had attracted the attention of Haldor and his friends, when they were making for the shore after the battle.

Of course the hermit and the two girls heard the shouts of the marauders, and knew that it was now too late to escape along with the baud under Finn, for the only practicable path by which they could join them passed in full view of Haldorstede, and it was so hemmed in by a precipice that there was no other way of getting into the wood ­at least without the certainty of being seen.  Their retreat up the river was also cut off, for the hermit, in selecting the spot for his dwelling, had chosen a path which ascended along the rugged face of a precipice, so that, with a precipice above and another below, it was not possible to get to the bank of the river without returning on their track.  There was no alternative, therefore, but to ascend to the hut, and there wait patiently until the shades of night should favour their escape.

Finn pushed on as fast as was possible with a band in which there were so many almost helpless ones.  He carried one of the youngest children in his arms, and Ivor the Old brought up the rear with a very old woman leaning on his arm.  They were a long time in descending the valley, for the route Finn had chosen was circuitous, and the first part of it was extremely trying to the cripples, running as it did over a somewhat high spur of the mountain which extended down from the main ridge to the river.  Gradually, however, they drew near to the coast, and Finn was in the act of encouraging them with the assurance that they had now only a short way to go, when the hearts of all sank within them at the sight of a band of armed men who suddenly made their appearance in their path.

The wail of despair which burst from some of them at sight of these, was, however, changed into an exclamation of joy when four of the band ran hastily towards them, and were recognised to be Haldor, Erling, Ulf, and Glumm!

“Now thanks be to the gods,” said Haldor, stooping to print a kiss on his wife’s lips.  “But ­but ­where are Hilda and Ada?”

Erling and Glumm, glancing quickly round the group with looks of intense disappointment and alarm, had already put this question to Finn, who explained the cause of their absence.

“Now this is the worst luck of all,” cried Glumm, grinding his teeth together in passion, and looking at Finn with a dark scowl.

Erling did not speak for a few minutes, but his heaving chest and dilated nostrils told of the storm that raged within him.

“Art thou sure they went to the hermit’s hut?” asked Ulf in a stern voice.

“Quite sure,” replied Finn.  “I cautioned them not to go, but ­”

“Enough,” cried Erling.  “Father, wilt thou go back to the cave with the women, and a few of the men to guard them?”

“I will, my son, and then will I rejoin thee.”

“That do, an it please thee.  It matters little.  Death must come sooner or later to all. ­Come, men, we will now teach this tyrant that though he may conquer our bodies he cannot subdue our spirits.  Up! and if we fail to rescue the girls, everlasting disgrace be to him who leaves this vale alive!”

Haldor had already selected a small detachment of men, and turned back with the women and others, while Erling and his men went on as fast as they could run.  A short time sufficed to bring them to the edge of the wood near Haldorstede.  The old place was now a smoking ruin, with swarms of men around it, most of whom were busily engaged in trying to put out the fire, and save as much as possible from its fury.  The man who had kindled it had already paid dearly for his jest with his life.  His body was seen swinging to the limb of a neighbouring tree.  Harald Fairhair himself, having just arrived, was directing operations.

There were by that time one or two thousand of the King’s men on the ground, while others were arriving every moment in troops ­all bloodstained, and covered with marks of the recent conflict ­and Erling saw at once he had no chance whatever of accomplishing his aim by an open attack with only fifty men.  He therefore led his force silently by a path that he well knew to an adjacent cliff, over the edge of which they could see all that went on below, while they were themselves well concealed.  Here the three leaders held a consultation.

“What dost thou advise, Ulf?” asked Erling.

“My advice,” interposed Glumm fiercely, “is that we should make a sudden assault without delay, kill the King, and then sell our lives dearly.”

“And thus,” observed Ulf, with something like a sneer, “leave the girls without protectors, and without a chance of deliverance.  No,” he continued, turning to our hero, “my advice is to wait here as patiently as we can until we ascertain where the girls are.  Few, perhaps none, of our men are known to Harald’s men; one of them we can send down to mingle with the enemy as a spy.  Whatever we do must be done cautiously, for the sake of the girls.”

“That is good advice,” said a voice behind them, which was that of the hermit, who had crept towards them on his hands and knees.

“Why, Christian, whence comest thou?” said Ulf.

“From my own hut,” replied the hermit, raising himself, “where I have just left Hilda and Ada safe and well.  We had deemed ourselves prisoners there till night should set us free; but necessity sharpens the wit even of an old man, and I have discovered a path through the woods, which, although difficult, may be traversed without much chance of our being seen, if done carefully.  I have just passed along it in safety, and was on the point of returning to the hut when I came upon you here.”

“Lead us to them at once,” cried Glumm, starting up.

“Nay,” said the hermit, laying his hand on the youth’s arm, “restrain thine ardour.  It would be easier to bring the girls hither, than to lead a band of armed men by that path without their being discovered.  If ye will take the advice of one who was a warrior in his youth, there is some hope that, God permitting, we may all escape.  Ye know the Crow Cliff?  Well, the small boat is lying there.  It is well known that men dare not swim down the rapid, unless they are acquainted with the run of the water and the formation of the rock.  Thy men know it well, the King’s men know it not.  With a boat the maidens may descend in safety.  The men can leap into the river and escape before the enemy could come at them by the hill road.”

“Excellently planned,” exclaimed Erling in an eager tone; “but, hermit, how dost thou propose to fetch the maidens hither?”

“By going and conducting them.  There is much risk, no doubt, but their case is desperate, for their retreat is certain to be discovered.”

“Away then,” said Ulf, “minutes are precious.  We will await thee here, and, at the worst, if they should be captured, we can but die in attempting their rescue.”

Without uttering another word the hermit rose, re-entered the underwood, sank down on his hands and knees, and disappeared with a cat-like quietness that had been worthy of one of the red warriors of America.