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This was done, and the men were set free. Eighteen of the Danish vikings were killed, and twelve got their lives upon that occasion. While the fight at the Springs which we have just described was going on, Christian the hermit sat in the hall at Ulfstede conversing with Hilda and Dame Astrid, and some of the other women.
Instead of returning to Ulfstede, Erling directed his steps homeward at a brisk pace, and in a short space of time reached the door of his forge. Here he met one of his father's thralls. "Ho! fellow," said he, "is thy mistress at home?" "Yes, master, she is in the hall getting supper ready against your father's return."
Ada silently placed her hand in his it trembled as she did so and Glumm led her down the hill. The girls were escorted by their lovers only as far as Ulfstede. With all the other women of the place, and the old people, they were put under the care of the hermit, who conveyed them safely to Haldorstede, there to await the issue of the day.
Alric would perhaps have replied that his heart was the reverse of light at that moment, but his tongue refused to fulfil its office, so he sighed deeply, and tried to lick his parched lips instead. "Thou art on thy way to Ulfstede or Haldorstede, I suppose?" said the man. Alric nodded by way of reply. "To which?" demanded the Dane sternly. "T-to to Ulf " "Ha!" interrupted the man. "I see.
"As to Ulf and the men returning from the Springs," said Finn, "there is small chance of that before morning. With regard to holding out, I know of nothing that will cause fire to burn slow once it is well kindled. An hour hence and Ulfstede will be in ashes, as that sound surely tells." He referred to a crashing blow which occurred just then at the north door.
It is necessary now that we should turn backwards a little in our story, to that point where Erling left the hall at Ulfstede to listen to the sad tale of Swart.
"Ill luck to the tyrant!" said Kettle Flatnose, as they turned and left the cave. Again we return to the mound near Ulfstede, the top of which was now bathed in the rays of the morning sun for the day had only begun, the events narrated at the end of the last chapter having occurred within a period of less than three hours.
The water rushed in white-crested billows through its rock-impeded bed, and terminated in a splendid foss, or fall, forty or fifty feet high, which plunged into a seething caldron, whence it issued in a troubled stream to the plain that opened out below. It here found rest in the level fields of Ulfstede, that lay at the head of the fiord.
"The war-token!" exclaimed the men, springing up, and, without a moment's delay, taking down and girding on the armour which hung round the walls. "King Harald is on his way to the dale," said Alric; "we assemble at Ulfstede." "Shall I bear on the token?" asked the youngest of the men. "Aye; but go thou with it up the Wolf's Den Valley. I myself will bear it round by the Eagle Crag and the coast."
During one of the tosses with which he threw back his hair, Erling chanced to raise his eyes, which instantly fell upon Hilda. A glad smile beamed on his flushed face, and he let the hammer fall with a ringing clatter on the anvil, exclaiming: "Ha! good morrow to thee, Hilda! Thou comest with stealthy tread, like the midnight marauder. What news? Does all go well at Ulfstede?
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