es flashed and his hand lifted his heavy staff, "here is the
Thunder-oak; and here the cross of Christ shall break the hammer of the
false god Thor."

Withered leaves still clung to the branches of the oak: torn and faded
banners of the departed summer. The bright crimson of autumn had
long since disappeared, bleached away by the storms and the cold.
But to-night these tattered remnants of glory were red again: ancient
bloodstains against the dark-blue sky. For an immense fire had been
kindled in front of the tree. Tongues of ruddy flame, fountains of
ruby sparks, ascended through the spreading limbs and flung a fierce
illumination upward and around. The pale, pure moonlight that bathed
the surrounding forests was quenched and eclipsed here. Not a beam of it
sifted through the branches of the oak. It stood like a pillar of cloud
between the still light of heaven and the crackling, flashing fire of
earth.

But the fire itself was invisible to Winfried and his companions. A
great throng of people were gathered around it in a half-circle, their
backs to the open glade, their faces toward the oak. Seen against that
glowing background, it was but the silhouette of a crowd, vague, black,
formless, mysterious.

The travellers paused for a moment at the edge of the thicket, and took
counsel together.

"It is the assembly of the tribe," said one of the foresters, "the great
night of the council. I heard of it three days ago, as we passed through
one of the villages. All who swear by the old gods have been summoned.
They will sacrifice a steed to the god of war, and drink blood, and eat
horse-flesh to make them strong. It will be at the peril of our lives
if we approach them. At least we must hide the cross, if we would escape
death."

"Hide me no cross," cried Winfried, lifting his staff, "for I have come
to show it, and to make these blind folk see its power. There is more to
be done here to-night than the slaying of a steed, and a greater evil to
be stayed than the shameful eating of meat sacrificed to idols. I have
seen it in a dream. Here the cross must stand and be our rede."

At his command the sledge was left in the border of the wood, with two
of the men to guard it, and the rest of the company moved forward across
the open ground. They approached unnoticed, for all the multitude were
looking intently toward the fire at the foot of the oak.

Then Winfried's voice rang out, "Hail, ye sons of the forest! A stranger