First
shall you go and Helga's horse lead, since it may be that with her one
hand she cannot manage him. Why do you in your face so red grow?"

Alwin grew still redder; but he could not tell the good old man that he
would rather follow a herd of unbroken steers all day, than walk one
mile before a beautiful young Amazon who looked at him as if he were a
dog. He mumbled something indistinctly, and hastened out after the
horses.

Helga rose stiffly from the pile of furs; it was evident that every new
motion revealed a new bruise to her, but she set her white teeth and
held her chin high in the air. When she had taken leave of the trader,
she walked out without a limp and vaulted into her saddle unaided. The
sunlight, glancing from her silver helm, fell upon her floating hair and
turned it into a golden glory that hid rents and stains, and redeemed
even the kirtle, which stopped at the knee.

As he helped the old man to mount, Alwin gazed at her with unwilling
admiration. Perhaps some day he would show her that he was not so
utterly contemptible as...

She made him an imperious gesture; he stalked haughtily forward, he took
his place at her bridle rein, and the three set forth.

CHAPTER III

A GALLANT OUTLAW

Two are adversaries;
The tongue is the bane of the head;
Under every cloak
I expect a hand.
Ha'vama'l

For a while the road of the little party ran beside the brawling Nid,
whose shores were astir with activity and life. Here was a school of
splashing swimmers; there, a fleet of fishing-smacks; a provision-ship
loading for a cruise as consort to one of the great war vessels. They
passed King Olaf's ship-sheds, where fine new boats were building, and
one brilliantly-painted cruiser stood on the rollers all ready for the
launching. Along the opposite bank lay the camps of visiting Vikings,
with their long ships'-boats floating before them.

The road bent to the right, and wound along between the high fences that
shut in the old farm-like manors. Ail the houses had their gable-ends
faced to the front, like soldiers at drill, and little more than their
tarred roofs showed among the trees. Most of the commons between the
estates were enlivened by groups of gaily-ornamented booths. Many of
them were traders' stalls; but in one, over the heads of the laughing
crowd, Alwin caught a glimpse of an acrobat and a clumsy dancing bear;
while in another, a minstrel sang plaintive love ba