win favor as--"

But he could not finish. Crackling steps in the grove behind them made
Helga spring away from him like a startled bird. He had only time to
whisper after her, "To-night,--watch me across the fire!" before she had
vanished among the shadows, like one of them.

After a moment the young man went his way around the corner of the cabin
and came in through the open doorway, where his companions sat at
supper.

The hall, which was also the larger of the sleeping-houses, was not an
unworthy off-shoot of the splendors of Brattahlid. Here, as there, the
rough walls were lined with gleaming weapons and shields that shone like
suns in the ruddy glow of the fire. And in lieu of tapestries, there was
a noble medley of bears' claws, fish nets, glistening birds' wings,
drying hides, branching antlers, and squirrels' tails. The bunk-like
beds, built against the walls, displayed a fortune in the skin covers
that were spread over them; fox skins covered the benches, and wolf
skins lay under foot. The chief's seat no longer boasted carven pillars
or embroidered pillows, but it missed none of these when the great bear
skin had been flung over the cushions of fragrant pine-needles. And if
the table-service was not so fine as the gilded vessels on Eric's board,
yet the fish and flesh and fowl that piled the trenchers, and the purple
juice that brimmed the horns, had never been equalled in Greenland.

"Only to get such wine, the journey would be worth while," Rolf murmured
to the shield-maiden, beside whom he sat, when at last the business of
eating was over and the pleasure of drinking had begun. As he spoke he
tilted his head back, with closed eyes and a beatific smile, and let the
contents of his horn run slowly down his throat.

Even a woman might have had the sense to leave him undisturbed at such a
moment; yet Helga bent forward and jogged his arm without compunction.

"Are you going to be forever swallowing?" she whispered, sharply. "Look
across the fire and tell me what Alwin is doing with his hands. He has
turned aside so that I cannot see."

It was with a distinct bang that the Wrestler set down his empty cup,
and in a distinct snarl that his answer came over his shoulder. "Not a
few men have been slain for such rudeness as that. Why should I care
what the Norman is doing? Is it a time to be riding horseback or
catching fish? Since there is no babbling woman at his elbow, it is
likely that he is drinking."