to the making of hay and the drying of
fish," he said. "Winter is coming on, and we must not be caught with
nothing to eat."

So he stayed and worked and sent two of his thralls to look for the holy
posts. They came back every week or two and always had to say that they
had not found them. Midwinter was coming on.

[Illustration: "_Then he saw that Leif's ship was being driven afar
off_"]

"Ah!" said Ingolf's wife one day, "do you remember the gay feast that we
had at Yule-time? All our friends were there. The house rang with song
and laughter. Our tables bent with good things to eat. Walls were hung
with gay draperies. The floor was clean with sweet-smelling
pine-branches. Now look at this mean house; its dirt floor, its bare
stone walls, its littleness, its darkness! Look at our long faces. No
one here could make a song if he tried. Oh! I am sick for dear old
Norway."

"It is Thor's fault," Ingolf cried. "He will not let me find his posts."

He strode out of the house and stood scowling at the gray sea.

"Ah, foster-brother!" he said. "It was never so gloomy when you were by
my side. Where are you now? Shall I never hear your merry laugh again?
That spot in my palm burns, and my heart aches to see you. That arch of
sod keeps rising before my eyes. Our vows keep ringing in my ears."

At last the long, gloomy winter passed and spring came.

"Cheer up, good wife," Ingolf said. "Better days are coming now."

But that same day the thralls came back from looking for the posts.

"We have bad news," they said. "As we walked along the shore looking for
the pillars we saw a man lying on the shore. We went up to him. He was
dead. It was Leif. Two well-built houses stood near. We went to them. We
knew from the carving on the door-posts that they were Leif's. We went
in. The rooms were empty. Along the shore and in the wood back of the
house we found all of his men, dead. There was no living thing about."

Ingolf said no word, but his face was white, and his mouth was set. He
went into the house and got his spears and his shield and said to his
men:

"Follow me."

They put provisions into the boat and pushed off and sailed until they
saw Leif's houses on the shore of the harbor. There they saw Leif and
the men who were his friends, dead. Their swords and spears were gone.
Ingolf walked through the houses calling on Helga and on the thralls,
but no one answered. The storehouse was empty. The rich hangings were
gone