ext day he and Geirald started
off to seek adventures. To their disappointment their own land was so
well governed that nothing out of the common was very likely to
happen, but directly they crossed the border into another kingdom all
seemed lawlessness and confusion.

They had not gone very far, when, riding across a mountain, they
caught a glimpse of several armed men hiding amongst some trees in
their path, and remembered suddenly some talk they had heard of a band
of twelve robbers who lay in wait for rich travellers. The robbers
were more like savage beasts than men, and lived somewhere at the top
of the mountain in caves and holes in the ground. They were all called
'Hankur,' and were distinguished one from another by the name of a
colour--blue, grey, red, and so on, except their chief, who was known
as Hankur the Tall. All this and more rushed into the minds of the two
young men as they saw the flash of their swords in the moonlight.

'It is impossible to fight them--they are twelve to two,' whispered
Geirald, stopping his horse in the path. 'We had much better ride back
and take the lower road. It would be stupid to throw away our lives
like this.'

'Oh, we can't turn back,' answered Rosald, 'we should be ashamed to
look anyone in the face again! And, besides, it is a grand opportunity
to show what we are made of. Let us tie up our horses here, and climb
up the rocks so that we can roll stones down on them.'

'Well, we might try that, and then we shall always have our horses,'
said Geirald. So they went up the rocks silently and carefully.

The robbers were lying all ready, expecting every moment to see their
victims coming round the corner a few yards away, when a shower of
huge stones fell on their heads, killing half the band. The others
sprang up the rock, but as they reached the top the sword of Rosald
swung round, and one man after another rolled down into the valley. At
last the chief managed to spring up, and, grasping Rosald by the
waist, flung away his sword, and the two fought desperately, their
bodies swaying always nearer the edge. It seemed as if Rosald, being
the smaller of the two, _must_ fall over, when, with his left hand, he
drew the robber's sword out of its sheath and plunged it into his
heart. Then he took from the dead man a beautiful ring set with a
large stone, and put it on his own finger.

The fame of this wonderful deed soon spread through the country, and
people would often st