ts a
skulker in the thicket.

He said in his measured voice, "In that matter my opinion stands with
Canute. When bloodshed is unnecessary, it becomes a drawback. Craft
is greatly to be preferred. One does not cross deep snow by stamping
through it on iron-shod feet; one slides over it on skees."

Over the brown fists, the fierce bright eyes bent themselves upon him
in his turn. The biting young voice said, "It is likely that Thorkel
the Tall speaks from experience. It stands in my memory how well craft
served him when he had deserted my father for Ethelred and then became
tired of the Englishman. To procure himself peace, he was forced to
creep back to my feet like a dog that has been kicked. Was there gold
enough in his bribe to regild his fame?"

The gnarled old face of Thorkel the Tall grew livid; growling in his
grizzled beard, his hand moved instinctively toward his sword. But
Rothgar caught his arm with a boisterous laugh.

"Slowly, old wolf!" he admonished. "Never snarl at the snapping of the
cub you have raised."

The King had not moved at the threatening gesture, and he did not move
now, but he echoed the laugh bitterly. "In that, you say more truth than
you know, foster-brother. He is a wolf, and I am a wolf's cub, and you
are no better. We are all a pack of ravening beasts, we Northmen,
that have no higher ambition than to claw and use our teeth. Talk of
high-mindedness to such--bah!" He flung his arms apart in loathing;
then, in a motion as boyishly weary as it was boyishly petulant, crossed
them on the table before him and pillowed his head upon them.

His companions did not seem to be unused to such outbursts. Rothgar
appeared to find it more amusing than anything else, for his mouth
expanded slowly in a grin. A snort of impatience distended the nostrils
of Thorkel the Tall. "At such times as these," he said, "are brought
to my mind the words of Ulf Jarl, that a man does not really stand well
upon his legs until he has lived twenty-five winters."

Up came the young King's yellow head. There was no question now
about his temper. A spot of fiery red marked each cheek-bone, and his
colorless eyes were points of blazing light.

"Better is it to stand unsteadily upon two legs than to go naturally
upon four," he retorted. "If I also am a beast, at least there is a
man's mind in me that tells me to loathe myself for being so. Even as
I loathe you--both of you--and all your howling pack! Make me no answer