rosy curtain, a tall sumach bush hid the trail's beginning; the
overhanging bluffs concealed it from above; the tangle of shrubs and
vines which covered the bank from the water's edge screened it from
below. Hardly more than a rabbit track, a narrow shelf against the wall
of the steep, it ran along for a dozen yards to stop where a ledge of
moss-covered rock thrust itself from the soil.

When Alwin pushed aside the leafy sprays, Helga stood awaiting him with
outstretched hands. "You have been long in coming, comrade. I dare not
hope that it is because Leif delayed you with some new friendliness?"

Her lover shook his head, as he bent to kiss her hands.

"Do not hope anything, sweetheart," he said, wearily. "That is the one
way not to be disappointed." He threw himself down on the rock at her
feet, unaware that her smooth brows had suddenly drawn themselves into a
troubled frown.

She said with grave slowness, "I do not like to hear you speak like
that. You are foremost among men in courage, yet to hear you now, one
would almost imagine you to be faint-hearted."

Alwin's mouth bent into a bitter smile, as his eyes stared away at the
river. "Courage?" he repeated, half to himself. "Yes, I have that. Once
I thought it so precious a thing that I could stake honor and life upon
it, and win on the turn of the wheel. But I know now what it is worth.
Courage, the boldness of the devil himself, who of the North but has
that? It is cheaper than the dirt of the road. If I have not been a
coward, at least I have been a fool."

All at once, Helga shook out her flying locks like so many golden war
banners, and turned to face him resolutely. "You shall not speak, nor
think like that," she said; "for I see now that it is not good sense.
Before, though my heart told me you were wrong, I did not understand
why; but now I have turned it over in my mind until I see clearly. The
failure of your first attempt to win Leif's favor is a thing by itself;
at least it does not prove that you have not yet many good chances. I
will not deny that we may have expected too many opportunities for
valiant deeds, yet are there no other ways in which to serve? Was it by
a feat of arms that you won your first honor with the chief? It was
nothing more heroic than the ability to read runes which, in five days,
got you more favor than Rolf Erlingsson's strength had gained him in
five years. Are your accomplishments so limited to your weapons that
when y