k to connect it with that which we were hunting or
to point it out to the others who were riding ahead of me.

At length we came to the sea, and there, sure enough, saw a great
ice-floe, which now and again tilted as the surge caught its broad green
flank. When it tilted towards us we perceived a track worn deep into the
ice by the paws of the prisoned bear as it had marched endlessly round.
Also we saw a big grinning skull, whereon sat a raven picking at the
eye-holes, and some fragments of white fur.

"The bear is dead!" exclaimed Ragnar. "Odin's curse be on that
club-footed fool who gave us this cold ride for nothing."

"Yes, I suppose so," said Steinar doubtfully. "Don't you think that it
is dead, Olaf?"

"What is the good of asking Olaf?" broke in Ragnar, with a loud laugh.
"What does Olaf know about bears? He has been asleep for the last
half-hour dreaming of Athalbrand's blue-eyed daughter; or perhaps he is
making up another poem."

"Olaf sees farther when he seems asleep than some of us do when we are
awake," answered Steinar hotly.

"Oh yes," replied Ragnar. "Sleeping or waking, Olaf is perfect in your
eyes, for you've drunk the same milk, and that ties you tighter than a
rope. Wake up, now, brother Olaf, and tell us: Is not the bear dead?"

Then I answered, "Why, of course, a bear is dead; see its skull, also
pieces of its hide?"

"There!" exclaimed Ragnar. "Our family prophet has settled the matter.
Let us go home."

"Olaf said that _a_ bear was dead," answered Steinar, hesitating.

Ragnar, who had already swung himself round in his quick fashion, spoke
back over his shoulder:

"Isn't that enough for you? Do you want to hunt a skull or the raven
sitting on it? Or is this, perchance, one of Olaf's riddles? If so, I am
too cold to guess riddles just now."

"Yet I think there is one for you to guess, brother," I said gently,
"and it is: Where is the live bear hiding? Can't you see that there
were two bears on that ice-head, and that one has killed and eaten the
other?"

"How do you know that?" asked Ragnar.

"Because I saw the slot of the second as we passed the birch wood
yonder. It has a split claw on the left forefoot and the others are all
worn by the ice."

"Then why in Odin's name did you not say so before?" exclaimed Ragnar
angrily.

Now I was ashamed to confess that I had been dreaming, so I answered at
hazard:

"Because I wished to look upon the sea and the floating ice. See what