back; neither could Hilda in any way help
herself. Thus they stood for a few moments swaying to and fro in the
current, and, doubtless, one or more of them would have soon been
carried down had not efficient aid been at hand.

High up on the cliff over the scene where this incident occurred,
Christian the hermit was seated on a log before his door. He sat gazing
dreamily out upon the landscape when Alric began to fish, but, seeing
the danger to which the lad exposed himself, after he had speared the
fish, and fearing that there might be need of his aid, he quickly
descended to the scene of action. He did not arrive a moment too soon,
for the whole event occurred very rapidly. Running to the rescue he
caught Ada round the waist with both hands, and drew her gently back;
she was soon out of danger, after which there was no great difficulty in
dragging the others safely to land.

At once the hermit stripped off the boy's coat, loosened the kerchief
that was round his throat, and sought, by every means in his power, to
restore him to consciousness. His efforts were successful. The boy
soon began to breathe, and in a short time stood up, swaying himself to
and fro, and blinking.

The first thing he said was:

"Where is the salmon?"

"The salmon? Oh, I forgot all about it," said Ada.

"Never mind it, dear Alric," said Hilda.

"Never mind it?" he cried, starting into sudden animation; "what! have
ye left it behind?"

Saying this he burst away from his friends, and ran up the bank of the
river until he came to where the fish was lying, still impaled on the
barbed prongs of the trident. The run so far restored him that he had
sufficient strength to shoulder the fish, although it afterwards turned
out to be a salmon of thirty-five pounds weight, and he quickly rejoined
his friends, who returned with him to Haldorstede, where, you may be
quite sure, he gave a graphic account of the adventure to willing and
admiring ears.

"So, granny," he said, at the conclusion of the narrative, to the old
crone who was still seated by the fire, "thy prophecy has come true
sooner than ye expected, and it has come doubly true, for though the
good luck in store for me was a matter of small general importance, no
one can deny that it is a great fish!"

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

TREATS OF ANCIENT DIPLOMACY AMONG THE NORSEMEN, AND SHOWS HOW OUR HERO
TURNS THE TABLES ON A WOULD-BE ASSASSIN.

When King Harald heard the news of the d