, when something stopped
him midway so that he straightened and drew back with a bow. It came to
her suddenly that they were all bowing, and that the hubbub had died in
mid-air. Through the hush, a quiet voice spoke.

"You are eager in rising, my lords," it said. From the shelter, half
cave, half bower, which had been contrived amid the bushes, a warrior
of mighty frame had emerged and stood examining the scene. Though with
soldierly hardiness he had taken his rest in his war-harness, he was
unhelmed, and the light that revealed the protruding chin had no need
to pick out the jewelled diadem to mark him as Edmund Ironside. The
irregularity was very slight--not large enough to give him a
combative look or to mar the fine proportions of his face, but it did
unquestionably add to his stately bearing an expression of complacency
that was unforgettable.

He repeated his inquiry: "What is the amusement, my thanes? From the
clamor which awakened me, I had some notion of an attack."

Norman of Baddeby bent in a second reverence. "Your expectations are
to this degree fulfilled, my royal lord," he made answer. "Behold the
enemy!" Stooping, he raised the red-cloaked figure by its collar and
held it up in the firelight. As a murmur of laughter went around, he
lowered it again and spoke more gravely. "A hand needs not be large
to get a hilt under its gripe, however. The young wolf is of northern
breed,--how he penetrated to the heart of an English camp, I cannot
tell,--and there grows in his spirit a bloodthirsty disposition. He
seeks my life because in a skirmish, a few days gone by, I had the good
luck to kill his father. If it--"

He said more, but Randalin did not listen to him. All at once Sebert of
Ivarsdale reached out, and taking her by her cloak, drew her gently to
his side, interposing his sword-arm between her and the others. Though
his hand manacled her slim wrists securely, the clasp was more one
of protection than of restraint; and the warm human touch was like a
talisman against the haunting shadows. Suddenly it came over her, in
a burst of heavenly relief, that this hand had lifted the burden of
vengeance forever. Even Fridtjof could not be so unreasonable as to ask
more of her, so plainly was it Odin's will that justice should be left
for Canute. She had done her duty, and yet she was free of it free of
it! Her heart burst out singing within her, and the eyes she raised
toward her captor were adoring in their gr