him, and saw that they
were puzzled and had naught to say, and went on:

"Wherefore, seeing that these men have had trial by battle already,
which was stopped, and that the slain man was a foreigner from over
seas and has no friends to speak concerning him, I have a mind to
put the judgment into the hands of the greatest Judge of all. As
Lodbrok the Dane came by sea, these men shall be judged upon the
sea by Him who is over all. And surely the innocent shall escape,
and the guilty shall be punished in such sort that he shall wish
that I had been wise enough to see his guilt plainly and to hang
him for treachery to his friend and the king's, or else to put him
into ward until some good bishop asks for pardon for ill doing."

And with that half promise he looked sharply at us to see if any
sign would come from the murderer.

But I had naught to say, nor did I seem to care just now what
befell me, while Beorn was doubtless fearful lest the wrath of
Eadmund the King should prevail in the end were he to be imprisoned
only. So he answered not, and the earl frowned heavily.

Now one of the franklins there, who knew me well enough, said:

"Wulfric, be not ashamed to confess it, if for once you shot
ill--if your arrow went by chance to Lodbrok's heart, I pray you,
say so. It may well be forgiven."

Very grateful was I for that kind word, but I would not plead
falsely, nor, indeed, would it have told aught of the other wound
that had been made. So I shook my head, thanking the man, and
saying that it was not so.

Now I think that the earl had planned this in order to make one of
us speak at the last, and for a moment I thought that Beorn was
about to speak, but he forbore. Then Ulfkytel sighed heavily and
turned away, speaking in a low voice to the thanes with him, and
they seemed to agree with his words.

At length he turned to us and spoke gravely:

"It is, as I said, too hard for me. The Lord shall judge. Even as
Lodbrok came shall you two go, at the mercy of wind and wave and of
Him who rules them. You shall be put into Lodbrok's boat this
night, and set adrift to take what may come. Only this I lay upon
you, that the innocent man shall not harm the guilty. As for
himself, he need, as I think, have no fear, for the guilty man is a
coward and nidring {xii}. Nor, as it seems to me, if all may be
believed, can the guiltless say for certain that the other did it."

Then was a murmur of assent to this strange manner