which is
still called Sverre's Cave. He acted like a spy, for he followed her to
the cave, found where she had hidden the child, and threatened to kill it
unless she would marry him. Gunhild had no love for this dangerous
stranger, but she dearly loved her little son, and with much reluctance
she consented to marry Unas to save the babe's life.

Such was the first event in the life of the later King Sverre. The
new-married pair went back to Norway, for King Sigurd had died, but when
the boy was five years old they returned to the Faroes, for Bishop
Mathias was now dead, and Roe, the brother of Unas, had been made bishop
in his stead.

The little fellow was made to believe that he was the son of Unas, and as
he grew up Bishop Roe took a great fancy to him, for he showed himself to
be very bright and intelligent. There was no boy in the island his equal,
so the good bishop had him educated for the priesthood and when he was
old enough had him ordained in the lowest priestly grade.

This was much against the wish of Gunhild, his mother, who had higher
hopes for his future, and when he proudly told her that he was now a
priest, and hoped some day to become a bishop, or even a cardinal, she
burst into tears.

"Why do you weep, mother?" he asked in surprise. "I do not know why you
should hear of my honor with sorrow."

"Oh, my son," she cried, "this is but a small honor compared to that to
which you were born. I have not told you of the great station that is
yours by right, but must now say that you are not the son of my husband
Unas, but of King Sigurd of Norway, and you have as good a claim as any
man living to the throne."

This surprising revelation destroyed Sverre's peace of mind. All his
ambition to rise in the priesthood was gone, the crown of a kingdom
seemed to float in the air before him, and his thoughts by day and his
dreams by night were fixed on that shining goal. The great hopes in his
mind kept sleep from his eyes and after days of mental unrest he felt
that life was worthless to him if his high ambition were not fulfilled.

"Since I am born heir to the crown," he said to his mother, "I have as
much right to it as any man, and I will strive at any cost to win it. I
stake my life on this cast, for without it life to me has lost all its
joy."

Magnus, the king then on the throne, was not of royal birth. He was the
son of Erling Skakke, a great and ambitious nobleman, who had killed
every descendant o