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As the thrall stepped out of the shadow into the moonlight, the singer sprang to her feet, and the song merged into a great cry. "My lord Alwin!" It was Editha herself. Running to meet him, she dropped on her knees before him and began to kiss his hands and cry over them. "Oh, my dear lord," she sobbed, "you are so changed! And your hair your beautiful hair!
Without a sound, but with the animal passion for killing upon his white face, he wheeled and leaped upon the Black One, crushing him, pinioning him against the tree, strangling him with the grip of his hands. To his friend A man should be a friend, To him and to his friend; But no man Should be the friend Of his foe's friend. Ha'vama'l In the madness of his rush, Alwin blundered.
Then suddenly she flung out her hands in passionate entreaty. "Yet I could not help it, comrades! As I live, I could not help it! How could I have the heart to remain in safety, without knowing whether Alwin lived or died? How could I spend my days decking myself in fine clothes, while my best friend fought for his life? Was it to be expected that I could help coming?"
Rolf spoke a few smooth phrases, and hurried his companion away. The sense that he had been tricked to the level of a performing bear came upon Alwin afresh. When they stood once more in the road, he looked at the Wrestler accusingly and searchingly. Rolf began to talk of the book. "Nothing have I seen which I think so fine.
Alwin sank down on the trunk of a fallen tree and buried his head in his hands, and the first groan that his troubles had wrung from him was forced now from his brave lips. He had forgotten Sigurd's presence. In their preoccupation, neither of them had noticed the young Viking watching them curiously. Now Alwin started like a colt when a hand fell lightly on his shoulder.
She had agreed to marry the enemy of her kingdom, King Canute: she gave no aid to her sons, Edward the Confessor and Alfred, when in exile; and she was also behaving in a very unsuitable manner with Alwin, Bishop of Winchester: she seems to have been versatile in crime, and it is no wonder that she was invited to withdraw from her high estate.
But it seemed that Helga was only ungentle toward those whom she considered beneath her friendliness. While she motioned Alwin with an imperious gesture to hand her the rein she had dropped, she responded good-naturedly to Sigurd: "Nay, now, my comrade, you will not be mean enough to scold about my short kirtle, when it was you who taught me to do the things that make a short kirtle necessary!
It was nearly five hundred years before the time of Columbus. But she knew one thing that Alwin did not know. "Greenland is not the most western land," she corrected. "There is another still further west, though no one knows how big it is or who lives in it."
With the sunset, came the sound of distant voices. Helga started up with a finger on her lips. "It is the exploring party, returning! It is possible that one of them might blunder in here. Do you think we can climb the bluff before they turn the bend and see us?" The voices were becoming very distinct now. Alwin shook his head. "I think it better to remain where we are.
The song of smiting steel rang through the little valley. The spectators drew back out of the way. Again the half-drunken loungers rose upon their elbows. They were well matched, the two. If Alwin lacked any of the Black One's strength, he made it up in skill and quickness. The bright steel began to fly fast and faster, until its swish was like the venomous hiss of serpents.
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