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Presently there were maybe twenty chiefs in the hall men who had fought beside Kirkeban, and men who had been boys with Havelok, and some who had known his grandfather and the jarl thought that it was time that they had the surety that they needed, for time went on, and there was certainty that Hodulf must hear of all this morning.
For it is not to be thought that because my father went back perforce to the fisher's calling he forgot that the son of Gunnar Kirkeban should be brought up always in such wise that when the time came he should be ready to go to the slayer of his father, sword in hand, and knowing how to use it. Therefore both Havelok and we were trained always in the craft of the warrior.
But had I known that these two had been among the Welshmen that Hodulf led to Denmark when he slew Gunnar Kirkeban, and therefore knew all the story of the loss of Havelok, and how Hodulf had sought for news of him, I should have been in fear enough that we had not yet done with them. Rightly, too, should I have feared that, as will be seen.
On the evening of the third day, they passed the battlefield of Kirkeban, where General Earle fell when the River Expedition was attacked by the Dervishes. Next day they halted at Hebbeh, where Colonel Stewart, on his way down with a number of refugees from Khartoum, was treacherously murdered. A portion of the steamer was still visible in the river.
"He was goodly enough for the sake of my oath, and the Witan will have none of him. That is all I care for." "What do I know of him? Just this that you have married the queen of the East Angles to Havelok, son of Gunnar Kirkeban of Denmark, for whom men wait over there even now. The Witan not have him?
The Arab shook his head. "No, my lord, but there may have been, though I never heard of it. I went and fought at Kirkeban; and when we were beaten, I fled at once to Berber, and remained there until the white troops had all gone down the country." "I may want to question you again tomorrow," Gregory said. "Here are two dollars. I shall give you as much more, if I want you again."
Maybe that is why the angel told you to have no fear. I mind Gunnar Kirkeban, and what he wrought on the churches and Christian folk in Wales in Gower on the Severn Sea, and on the holy Dee when I was young." For both Goldberga and this old nurse of hers were Christian, as had been Orwenna, Ethelwald's wife, her mother.
Then the white faces turned with one accord to Havelok, as he stood resting the great cornerstone on the battlement before him, and there grew a whisper that became a word and that was almost a shout from the many voices that answered. "Gunnar! Gunnar Kirkeban come again!" Then was silence, and the jarl spoke to Havelok. "Tell us your name, and whence you come."
"We know," one said, "that it is at Kirkeban that the last great destruction of the infidel is to take place, and that these madmen are coming to their fate; still, we might move down and destroy those at Dongola and along the river, and possess ourselves of their arms and stores. Why should we come thus far from Omdurman, if we are to go no farther?"
Gregory asked, eagerly. "I threw it into a corner. It was of no use to me. But when the white troops came up in the boats, and beat us at Kirkeban, I came straight home and, seeing the pocketbook, took it and hid it under a rock; for I thought that when the white troops got here, they would find it, and that they might then destroy the house, and cut down my trees.
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