nged that he
should yield the castle of Visby, which the Lubeck army had been
besieging ever since the town of Visby fell; and that in return the
pirate should be granted the whole province of Bleking with all its
strongholds, to hold as a fief of Denmark. Norby was then conveyed to
Denmark, and before the first of August these terms were carried out.
Visby passed into the hands of Lubeck, and the pirate returned to
Bleking to guard his fief.[118]

Gustavus, it need scarce be said, was vexed. The congress which was to
have been held in Lubeck to discuss his claim to Gotland had been
indefinitely postponed. In place thereof, the island had been seized by
Lubeck, and Bleking--another of the disputed territories--had been
conferred upon a bitter foe. What most irritated him was the close
proximity of Norby's fief to Sweden. He was at a loss, moreover, to
understand the king of Denmark's motives. "It may be," he suggested in a
letter of July 9, "that Fredrik's purpose was to secure Gotland, and
then deal with Norby as he pleased. However this may be, we must keep
watch on every side." The same day he wrote to another person, "We are
in no wise pleased to have Norby for a neighbor, since we have noticed
that he always seeks to do us harm." Still, Gustavus believed in making
a virtue of necessity, and a few days later wrote: "We are glad that
hostilities between Fredrik and Norby are at an end, and that the
kingdom is once more on the road to peace and quiet."[119]

This letter was written by Gustavus in his camp at Kalmar. The castle
there was still in the hands of Mehlen's brother, though it had been
under siege about two months. Early in June Gustavus, unwilling to shed
more blood, had ordered Mehlen to proceed to Kalmar and bid the castle
yield. The confidence with which the monarch even yet regarded Mehlen is
astounding, and the issue proved at once the monarch's folly. On
reaching Kalmar, Mehlen, after a conference with Eriksson, was allowed
to enter the castle to persuade his men to yield. The following day, the
portcullis was lowered and Mehlen came out upon the bridge. But while he
pretended to be crossing, a portion of the garrison dashed out of the
castle and massacred a number of the people, all unsuspecting, in the
town. The alarm was then given to the royal guard, and Mehlen's
soldiers, finding themselves outnumbered, retired across the bridge.
Five days later, Mehlen, with his wife and brother, scaled the cast