boy into
the circle; a score of horns were held out for his refreshment.

To all of them Randalin yielded silently,--silently accepting the cup
which was nearest, in order to gain time by sipping its contents.
She realized that only a manner of perfect unconcern could carry her
through, yet she felt herself shaking with excitement.

Rothgar sat up on the great skin with a gesture of some cordiality.
"Hail to you, Fridtjof Frodesson!" he said. "Your escape is a thing that
gladdens me. I did not like the thought of starving you, and I hope your
father will overlook the unfriendliness of it."

The Scar-Cheek, who had been scanning her critically where she stood
before them, drinking, gave a pitying grunt. "By the crooked horn, boy,
you must have had naught but ill luck since the time of Scoerstan! No
more meat is on you than a raven could eat; and the night I was in the
Englishman's hall, you had the appearance of having been under a lash.
Your guardian spirit must have gone astray."

Though she managed to keep her eyes upon her cup, Randalin could not
hinder a wave of burning color from over-running her face. Seeing it,
Rothgar held up his handless left arm for silence.

"You act in a mannerless way, Snorri Gudbrandsson, when you remind a
high-spirited youth that he has been disgraced in his mind. Yet do not
let that prevent your joy, my Bold One. To make up for the injury I have
been to you, I will give you a revenge on the Englishman that shall wipe
out everything you have endured from him. If it is possible for me to
take him alive and bind him, your own hand shall be the one to strike
Sebert Oswaldsson his death-blow."

The girl's nervousness betrayed her into a burst of hysterical laughter,
but her wits were quick enough to turn it to good account. She said with
Fridtjof's own petulance, "Your boon is like the one Canute has in store
for me. I am likely to wait so long for both that I shall have no teeth
left to chew them with. I like it much better to take your kindness in
the shape of food, if that is a loaf yonder."

The abruptness with which silence fell over the group was startling.
Snorri bent forward and plucked her sternly back as she made a move
toward the bread. A dozen voices questioned her.

"What do you mean by that?"... "Why will it take long?"... "Are they not
short in food?"

Knowing that she could not achieve unconcern, she kept to her petulance,
jerking her cloak away from the hand that d