The Norsemen in the West Part 31

The somewhat flippant remark, "Speak for yourself," might have been appropriately made by some of her sisterhood, but they were all too anxious about the impending danger to heed what she said.

When Leif rejoined Hengler on the walls, the shades of night had fallen on the forest. He advised his lieutenant to lie down, but Hengler begged and obtained permission to share his vigil.

There was no moon that night, and it became extremely dark--just such a night as was suited to the purpose of the natives. Leif stood motionless, like a statue, leaning on his spear. His man sat on the rampart; both gazed and listened with painful intensity.

At last Leif pointed to what appeared to be a moving object on the s.p.a.ce of cleared ground that intervened between the slight wall of the hamlet and the edge of the forest.

"Awake the men," he whispered, "and let not a sound of voice or clank of sword be heard."

Hengler made no reply, but glided silently away. One by one the men came up with the light tread of cats, and manned the walls, keeping well under cover of the parapet--each taking his appointed station beside his particular pile of stones and sheaf of arrows, which lay on the platform, while below a man with a bow was stationed at every slit.

Suddenly there arose on the night air a yell so fierce, so prolonged, and so peculiar, that it made even the stout hearts of the Nors.e.m.e.n quail for a moment--it was so unearthly, and so unlike any war-cry they had ever before heard. Again and again it was repeated, then a rus.h.i.+ng sound was heard, and hundreds of dark objects were indistinctly seen leaping over the slight wall of felled trees that surrounded the hamlet.

With furious shouts the savages surrounded the houses, burst open the doors, and rushed in; but they rushed out again almost immediately, and their yells were exchanged for exclamations of surprise as they went about searching in the dark for their concealed enemies. Of course they came to the rock-fortress almost immediately after, and another war-cry was uttered as they surrounded the place in hundreds, but as there was still no sound or appearance of their expected foe, they became suddenly silent, as if under the impression that there was something mysterious in the affair which was not in accordance with their past experiences.

They nevertheless clambered to the top of the rock, and began to feel round the bottom of the wooden palisades for a door.

At that moment, while they were cl.u.s.tering thick as bees round the base of the building, Leif gave a preconcerted signal. One of the men applied a light to the pile of bark and fir-cones, and a bright flash of flame shot upward as Leif said,--"Up, lads!" in deep stern tones.

Instantly a shower of heavy stones descended on the pates of the savages, who rolled down the steep sides of the mound with shrieks and cries and yells very different indeed from those which had characterised their a.s.sault. From all directions the savages now concentrated on the fortress. At the same time the fire suddenly shot up with such a glare that the whole scene was made nearly as light as day, and from the parapets and every loop-hole of the fortress a very hail of arrows poured forth into the midst of them, while their own shafts either quivered in the palisade or fell harmless from the s.h.i.+elds and helmets of the Nors.e.m.e.n.

Even in that hour of extreme danger, Leif's desire to spare life, with a view to future proposals of peace, was exemplified in his ordering the men to draw their bows slightly, so as to wound without killing, as much as possible, and to aim as well as they could at the legs of the foe!

One result of this was, that the wounded men were soon very numerous, and, as they fled away, filled the woods with such howls of agony that their still unhurt comrades were more alarmed than they would probably have been if the ground had been strewn with the dead.

At this point a vigorous sally from the fortress, and a deep-toned Norse cheer, settled the question for the time being. The entire army of dark-skinned warriors turned and fled into its native wilderness!

There was not, it may be well to remark here, so much danger in this sally as we moderns might suppose, for, even though the savages had not run, but had faced and surrounded their enemy, these Nors.e.m.e.n, with their ma.s.sive limbs, sweeping swords, large s.h.i.+elds, and defensive armour, could have cut their way back again to the fort through hundreds of such half-naked foes.

Of course Leif had expected them to fly, and had no intention of retiring immediately to the fort. He merely went the length of the outer wall, and then, with half of his men, kept up a vigorous shouting to expedite the flight of the foe, while the other half picked up as many arrows as they could find. Leif was glad to learn, on returning to the fort, that only two dead men had been discovered on the ground.

But the savages had not given in by any means, as became pretty clear from the noise they made in the woods soon afterwards. This continued all night, and Leif ordered the fire to be extinguished, lest they should be tempted by its light to send a flight of arrows among them, which might wound some of his people when off their guard.

When the first grey light of dawn appeared, it became evident to the beleaguered Nors.e.m.e.n what the savages had been about. Not very far from the fortress an enormous pile of dry timber had been raised, and, although it was within easy bow-shot, the savages managed, by dodging from tree to tree, to get under its shelter with fresh logs on their shoulders, and thus increased the pile continually.

"They mean to burn us out!" exclaimed Hengler anxiously.

"Rather to smoke us out," observed one of the men. "Fire can never reach us from that distance."

Leif, who was very grave, shook his head and said:--

"If they make the pile very big it may reach us well enough. They have plenty of hands and no lack of wood. See, they are piling it to windward. G.o.d grant that the breeze may not increase, else shall we have to forsake the fortress. Nevertheless our good s.h.i.+p is at hand,"

he added, in a more cheerful tone, "and they will find us tough to deal with when we get upon the water.--Come, lads, we will at all events hara.s.s if we cannot stop them."

So saying, Leif ordered the men to keep up a constant discharge of arrows whenever they obtained a glimpse of the savages, and he himself headed a sally and drove them back to the woods. But as soon as he and his men had returned to the fortress, out came the savages again like a swarm of bees, and continued their work vigorously.

Thus the morning pa.s.sed away, and the pile of the intended bonfire, despite the arrows and the frequent sallies of the Nors.e.m.e.n, continued slowly but steadily to grow.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

HAKE MAKES A BOLD VENTURE, BUT DOES NOT WIN--THE NORs.e.m.e.n FIND THAT THERE IS MANY A SLIP 'TWIXT THE CUP AND THE LIP.

When Karlsefin and his men had surmounted the rapid, as before described, they found their future advance unimpeded, and, in the natural course of things--or of the river--arrived, not long after the children, at the lake-like expansion on the sh.o.r.es of which the native village stood.

This village, it must be understood, was not a permanent one. The natives were nomads. Their tents were merely poles cut as required from the neighbouring woods, tied together at the top, spread out in a circle at the base, and covered with leather, which coverings were the only parts of their habitations the natives deigned to carry about with them.

They were here to-day and away to-morrow, stopping a longer or shorter time in each encampment according to fancy, or to the measure of their success in procuring food. The particular tribe of natives which had captured the Nors.e.m.e.n's children had only just come to the locality; they therefore knew nothing of the arrival of the white strangers in their land, except what they had recently learned from their scouts, as we have seen.

Karlsefin's canoe led the way; hence, on turning sharp round a point of rock that jutted out into the stream, Krake was the first who caught sight of the smoke that rose above the tree-tops.

"Hist! hold on," he exclaimed in a hoa.r.s.e whisper, looking over his shoulder as he backed-water suddenly. Karlsefin and the men instantly did the same, and sent the canoe back under the shelter of the point.

The other canoes of course followed suit.

"The Skraelingers!" whispered Krake. "I saw the smoke of their fires."

"Did you see tents?" asked the leader.

"No; there was scarce time to see anything before we got back here."

"What do you advise?" asked Karlsefin, looking at Thorward.

"Go ash.o.r.e and attack them at once," he replied.

"Ay, that's it, there's nothing like fighting it out at once!" muttered Krake in an undertone.

"My advice," said Karlsefin, "is, that we cross the river and get on yonder height, which from its position must needs overlook the camp of the savages, and there reconnoitre and form our plans."

"Well, I daresay your advice is best after all," rejoined Thorward, with a smile. "You were always a cautious and peaceful man; though I'm bound in fairness to admit that you can fight pa.s.sing well when it comes to that."

"Thanks for your good opinion," said Karlsefin, laughing quietly. "So now, lads, turn about and follow me closely. Keep silence, and dip your paddles as lightly as may be."

Saying this, he returned a considerable way down the river; keeping very close in to the banks, which were overhung with bushes, until he reached a point where it seemed likely that the party could cross without being observed. There was a slight rapid at the place, so that they had only to enter it at an angle with the bank and were swept across in a few moments, almost without requiring to use their paddles.

Landing at the edge of a dense thicket, they hauled the canoes out of the water, secreted them carefully, and then, taking their arms, made a detour through the forest in the direction of the cliff before referred to by Karlsefin. In less than half an hour they reached it, and found, as had been antic.i.p.ated, that it commanded a view of the native encampment, which to their dismay they now discovered was an immense one, filled with many hundreds of men, besides women and children.

Here, p.r.o.ne on their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and scarce venturing to raise their heads above the gra.s.s, the two leaders held a consultation, while their men kept well in the background.

"This is an unfortunate business," said Karlsefin.

"Truly it is," replied Thorward; "but the question is, can this be the set of rascals who carried off the children? It seems to me that, being a small band, as we know, they did not belong to the same set."

"That may be so, Thorward;--but I incline to the belief that the small party was but an offshoot from the large one, and that our dear little ones are even now with the people before us."

As if to put the matter beyond doubt, Olaf, with Snorro on his back, issued at that moment from the woods on the opposite side of the river, and went out upon the identical spit of sand where, on the previous evening, he had held such bitter communings with his own spirit. The Norseman leaders recognised the children at once, being almost within hail of them, and it was with difficulty they restrained the impulse to spring to their feet and shout.

"Thanks be to G.o.d for the sight of them at all events," said Karlsefin fervently; "see, the dear boy has brought my darling there to amuse him.--Ah! little dost thou know, Olaf, the hold that thy kindness has given thee of his father's heart!"

"'Twould be well if he had a hold of the father's hand just at this time," drily observed Thorward, who was not gifted with much of a sentimental temperament.