offered in exchange for the cub and
the fox-tail. The uncanny accounts of the place were swallowed with
open-mouthed greediness; so greedily that it was little wonder that at
each repetition the narratives grew longer and fuller. Told by
torchlight, at a safe distance from Leif, each boulder took on the form
of a squatting dwarf; and the faint squeaking of foxes became the
shrieking of spirits. The tale of the death-omen swelled to such
proportions that Kark would have been terrified out of his wits if he
had not rested secure in the conviction that the vision had been a wolf.
The explorers who had gotten little pleasure out of their adventure at
the time of its occurrence, came to regard it as their most precious
possession. The fire of exploration waxed hot in every vein. Every man
constituted himself a special look-out to watch for any dawning speck
upon the horizon.

With Fortune's fondness for surprising mankind, the next of the
"wonder-shores" crept upon them in the night. The sun, which had set
upon an empty ocean, rose upon a low level coast lying less than twenty
miles away. In the glowing light, bluffs of sand shone like cliffs of
molten silver; and more trees were massed upon one point than the whole
of Greenland had ever produced. Even Leif was moved to exclaim at the
sight.

"Certainly this is a land which names itself!" he declared. "You need
not wait long for what I shall fix upon. It shall be called Markland,
after its woods."

Sigurd's enthusiasm mounted to rashness. "I will have a share in this
landing, if I have to plead with Leif for the privilege," he vowed. And
when, for the second time, Rolf was told off for a place in the boat,
and for the second time his claims were slighted, he was as reckless as
his word.

"Has not my credit improved at ail, after all this time, foster-father?"
he demanded, waylaying the chief on his descent from the forecastle. "I
ask you to consider the shame it will bring upon me if I am obliged to
return to Norway without having so much as set foot upon the new-found
lands."

For awhile Leif's gaze rested upon him absently, as though the press of
other matters had entirely swept him out of mind. Presently, however,
his brows began to knit themselves above his hawk nose.

"Tell those who ask, that you were kept on board because a strong-minded
and faithful watchman was needed there," he answered curtly, and turned
his back upon him.

Robert the Fearless was stand