answered, "is that of a tall and noble man, worn as
though with years and sorrows. He wears strange rich armour that
is dinted and soiled; on his head is a cap of mail with two long
ear-pieces, beneath which appears his brown hair lined with grey. He
holds a red-coloured sword which is handled with a cross of gold. He
points the sword at you, Steinar. It is as though he were angry with
you, or warned you."

Now, when Steinar heard these words he shook and groaned, as I
remembered afterwards. But of this I took no note at the time, for just
then Iduna cried out:

"Say, Olaf, does the man wear a necklace? I see a necklace hanging in
the air above the mount, but naught else."

"Yes, Iduna, he wears a necklace above his mail. How does it appear to
you?"

"Oh, beautiful, beautiful!" she answered. "A chain of pale gold, and
hanging from it golden shells inlaid with blue, and between them green
jewels that hold the moon."

"That is what I see also," I said, as indeed I did. "There! All is
gone."

Freydisa returned and there was a strange smile on her dark face, for
she had heard all our talk.

"Who sleeps in that mound, Freydisa?" asked Iduna.

"How can I tell, Lady, seeing that he was laid there a thousand years
ago, or mayhap more? Yet a story, true or false, remains of him that
I have heard. It is that he was a king of these parts, who followed a
dream to the south. The dream was of a necklace, and of one who wore it.
For many years he wandered, and at length returned again to this place,
which had been his home, wearing the necklace. But when he saw its shore
from the sea he fell down and his spirit left him. What happened to him
in his wanderings none know, for the tale is lost. Only it is said that
his people buried him in yonder mound still wearing his armour and the
necklace he had won. There, as Olaf has seen, or thinks that he has seen
but now, he stands at moonrise ere trouble comes to any of his race, and
stares towards the south--always towards the south."

"Is the necklace yet in the mound?" asked Iduna eagerly.

"Without doubt, Lady. Who would dare to touch the holy thing and bring
on him the curse of the Wanderer and his gods, and with it his own
death? No man that ever sailed the seas, I think."

"Not so, Freydisa, for I am sure I know one who would dare it for my
sake. Olaf, if you love me, bring me that necklace as a marriage gift. I
tell you that, having once seen it, I want it more than anyt