essing a
moment to tell what it is. And yonder man with the red flames leaping
about him,--I wish I knew why he was bound to that post!"

Alwin also was bitten with curiosity. "I tell you what I will do," he
offered. "You must not suppose that reading is as easy as swimming, or
handling a sword. My father did not have the accomplishment, and his
hair was gray. Neither would my mother have learned it, had it not been
that Alfred was her kinsman and she was proud of his scholarship. Nor
should I have known how, if she had not taught me. And I have forgotten
much. But this I will offer you: I will read the Saxon words to myself,
and then tell you in the Northern tongue what they mean."

He spread the book open on a spot of clean turf, stretched himself on
his stomach, gripped one leg around the other, planted his chin on his
clenched fists, and began.

It was slow work. He had forgotten a good deal; and every other word was
linked with distracting memories: his mother leaning from her embroidery
frame to follow the line with her bodkin; his mother, erect and stern,
bidding Brother Ambrose bear him away and flog him for his idleness; his
mother hearing his lesson with one arm around him and the other hand
holding the sweetmeat she would give him if he succeeded. He did not
notice that Rolf's eyes were gradually closing, and his bated breath
lengthening into long even sighs. He plodded on and on.

All at once a thunder of approaching hoof-beats reached him from up the
road. Nearer and nearer they came; and around the curve swept a party of
the King's guardsmen,--yellow hair and scarlet cloaks flying in the
wind, spurs jingling, weapons clattering, armor clashing. Alwin glanced
up and saw their leader,--and his interest in pale pictured saints
dropped dead.

"It must be King Olaf himself!" he murmured, staring.

A head taller than the other tall men, with shoulders a palm's-width
broader, the leader sat on his mighty black horse like a second Thor.
Light flashed from his steel tunic and gilded helmet. His bronzed face
had an eagle's beak for a nose, and eyes of the blue of ice or steel,
piercing as a two-edged sword. A white cross was painted on his shield
of gold.

As he swept past, he glanced toward the pair by the fence. Catching
sight of the sleeping Rolf, he checked his horse sharply, made a motion
bidding the others go on without him, and, wheeling, rode back, followed
only by a mounted thrall who was evidently