e little boat. Some of us will land and see
what we shall see; for it must not be said of us, Biarne, as it was
unfairly said of you, that we took no interest in these new regions."

The little boat was got ready. The Scottish brothers, Hake and Heika,
were appointed to row. Karlsefin, Biarne, Thorward, Gudrid, Freydissa,
and Olaf embarked and proceeded to the shore.

This land, on which the party soon stood, was not of an inviting aspect.
It was sterile, naked, and very rocky, as Biarne had described it, and
not a blade of grass was to be seen. There was a range of high
snow-capped mountains in the interior, and all the way from the coast up
to these mountains the land was covered with snow. In truth, a more
forbidding spot could not easily have been found, even in Greenland.

"It seems to me," said Freydissa, "that your new land is but a sorry
place--worse than that we have left. I wonder at your landing here. It
is plain that men see with flushed eyes when they look upon their own
discoveries. Cold comfort is all we shall get in this place. I counsel
that we return on board immediately."

"You are too hasty, sister," said Gudrid.

"Oh! of course, always too hasty," retorted Freydissa sharply.

"And somewhat too bitter," growled Thorward, with a frown.

Thorward was not an ill-natured man, but his wife's sharp temper tried
him a good deal.

"Your interrupting me before you heard all I had to say _proves_ you to
be too hasty, sister," said Gudrid, with a playful laugh. "I was about
to add that it seems we have come here rather early in the spring. Who
knows but the land may wear a prettier dress when the mantle of winter
is gone? Even Greenland looks green and bright in summer."

"Not in those places where the snow lies _all_ the summer," objected
Olaf.

"That's right, Olaf;" said Biarne; "stick up for your sweet aunt. She
often takes a stick up for you, lad, and deserves your gratitude.--But
come, let's scatter and survey the land, for, be it good or bad, we must
know what it is, and carry with us some report such as Karlsefin may
weave into his rhymes."

"This land would be more suitable for your rhymes, Biarne, than for
mine," said Karlsefin, as they started off together, "because it is most
dismal."

After that the whole party scattered. The three leaders ascended the
nearest heights in different directions, and Gudrid with Olaf went
searching among the rocks and pools to ascertain what