e common?' They replied that they saw nothing unusual.
'I do not know,' says Leif, 'whether it is a ship or a skerry that I
see.' Now they saw it, and said that it must be a skerry. But he was so
much more sharp-sighted than they, that he was able to discern men upon
the skerry. 'I think it best to tack,' says Leif, 'so that we may draw
near to them and be able to render them assistance, if they stand in
need of it. And if they should not be peaceably disposed, we shall have
better command of the situation than they.'

[Illustration: Leif Ericson off the Coast of Vineland.]

"They approached the skerry, and lowering their sail, cast anchor and
launched a second small boat, which they had brought with them.
Tyrker inquired who was the leader of the party. He replied that his
name was Thare, and that he was a Norwegian. 'But what is thy name?'
Leif gave his name. 'Art thou a son of Eric the Red, of Brattahlid?'
says he. Leif replied that he was. 'It is now my wish,' Leif continued,
'to take you all into my ship, and likewise as much of your possessions
as the ship will hold.'

"This offer was accepted, and [with their ship] thus laden, they held
their course toward Ericsfirth, and sailed until they arrived at
Brattahlid. Having discharged his cargo, Leif invited Thare, with his
wife, Gudrid, and three others to make their home with him, and procured
quarters for the other members of the crew, both for his own and Thare's
men. Leif rescued fifteen men from the skerry. He was from that time
forth called Leif the Lucky."

The time of Leif's voyage to Wineland has been fixed at 1000 A.D. For we
learn that it took place while Olaf Tryggveson (995-1000 A.D.) was king
in Norway; and scarcely less than four or five years could have elapsed
since Leif's first meeting with the king in Drontheim, shortly after the
death of his predecessor, Earl Hakon.

The remainder of the Saga of Eric the Red is occupied with an account of
the successive Wineland voyages of Thorwald Ericson, the brother of
Leif, Thorfinn Karlsefne, and of Leif's sister, Freydis, who was as
quarrelsome, proud, and pugnacious as her father. The Indians (called by
the Norsemen Skrellings), who had failed to disturb Leif, made
demonstrations of hostility against Thorfinn Karlsefne, and after the
loss of several of his men, compelled him to abandon the attempt at a
permanent settlement.

The tradition of these Wineland voyages continued, however, to be
transmitte