he went on once more.

"This is my will, therefore, that to you shall Havelok be as the eldest
brother from this time forward, that these places shall not have to come
suddenly to you hereafter. Then will you know that I have spoken
rightly, though maybe it seems hard to Radbard and Raven now, they being
so much older."

Then I said truly that already Havelok was first in our hearts. And that
was true, for he was as a king among us--a king who was served by all
with loving readiness, and yet one who served all. Maybe that is just
what makes a good king when all is said and done.

Then my father bade us carry him out of the house and down to the shore
where there was a lonely place in the sandhills, covered with the sweet,
short grass that the sheep love; and, while Raven and I bore him,
Withelm went and brought Havelok.

"This is well, father," he said gladly. "I had not thought you strong
enough to come thus far."

"Maybe it is the last time that I come living out of the house," Grim
said; "but there is one thing yet to be done, and it must be done here.
See, son Havelok, these are your brothers in all but blood, and they
must be that also in the old Danish way."

"Nothing more is needed, father," Havelok said, wondering. "I have no
brothers but these of mine, and they could be no more so."

Thereat my father smiled, as well content, but he said that the ancient
way must he kept.

"But I am sorely weak," he added. "Fetch hither Arngeir."

It was because of this illness that none of us were at the fishing on
that day, and Arngeir was not long in coming. And while we waited for
that little while my father was silent, looking ever northward to the
land that he had given up for Havelok; and I think that foster-son of
his knew it, for he knelt beside him and set his strong arm round him,
saying nothing. So Arngeir came with Raven, who went for him, and my
father told him what he needed to be done; and Arngeir said that it was
well thought of, and went to work with his seax on the smooth turf.

He cut a long strip where it seemed to be toughest, leaving the ends yet
fast, and carefully he raised it and stretched it until it would make an
arch some three spans high, and so propped it at either end with more
turf that it stayed in that position.

Then my father said, "This is the old custom, that they who are of
different family should be brothers indeed. Out of one earth should they
be made afresh, as it were, th