icsson standing upon earth where never man stood before;
and I see you standing by his side, though you do not look as you look
now, for your hair is long and black... I see that it is in this new
land that it will be settled whether your luck is to be good or bad..."

He said slowly to himself, like a man talking in his sleep, "It has been
settled, and it is to be bad."

Then the room passed from his vision. He saw in its place Rolf's
derisive smile, and heard again his mocking query: "Is it your opinion
that Leif Ericsson needs your protection against wild beasts?"

Of a sudden he flung back his head and burst into a loud laugh that
jarred on the ear like grating steel.

When at last Lodin's wounds were dressed so that he could be helped
along between two of his comrades, the party began a slow return. By the
time they came out on to the shining white beach again, they were a
battered-looking lot. There was not a mantle among them but what hung in
tatters, nor a scratched face that did not mingle blood with berry
juice. But at their head, the huge bear skin was borne like a captured
banner. At the sight of it, their waiting comrades burst into shouts of
admiration and envy that reached as far as the anchored ship.

"Never was such sport heard of!"--"A better land is nowhere to be
found!" they clamored. "In one month we could secure enough skins to
make us wealthy for the rest of our lives!"

And then some muttered asides were added: "It is a great pity to leave
such a place."--"It is folly to give up certain wealth for vague
possibilities." And though the dissatisfaction rose no louder than a
murmur, it spread on every hand like fire in brush.

Now there was one man among the explorers who had been a member of Biorn
Herjulfsson's crew, and was brimful of conceit and the ambition to be a
leader among his fellows. When the command to embark swelled the murmurs
almost to an outspoken grumbling, he thought he saw a chance to push
into prominence, and swaggered boldly forward.

"If it is not your intention to come back and profit by this discovery,
chief, I must tell you that we will not willingly return to the ship.
Certainly not until we have secured at least one bear apiece. We are
free men, Leif Ericsson, and it is not to our minds to be led altogether
by the--"

Whether or not he had meant to say "nose," no one ever knew. At that
moment the chief wheeled and looked at him, with a glance so different
from Bio