ree hours were out, I returned to the tent with the two
hundred pieces of cord prepared according to orders, and found old
Guttorm sitting with a great sack before him, and a look of perplexity
on his face that almost made me laugh. He was half-inclined to laugh
too, for the sack moved about in a strange way, as if it were alive!

"`Kettle,' said he, when I came forward, `I need thy help here. I have
got some three hundred little birds in that sack, and I don't know how
to keep them in order, for they are fluttering about and killing
themselves right and left, so that I shall soon have none left alive for
my purpose. My thought is to tie one of these cords to a leg of each
bird, set the bit of stick on fire and let it go, so that when it flies
to its nest in the thatch it will set the houses in the castle on fire.
Now, what is thy advice?'

"`Call as many of the men into the tent as it will hold, and let each
catch a bird, and keep it till the cords are made fast; says I.'

"This was done at once, but we had more trouble than we expected, for
when the mouth of the sack was opened, out flew a dozen of the birds
before we could close it! The curtain of the tent was down, however,
so, after a good deal of hunting, we caught them again. When the cords
were tied to these the men were sent out of the tent, each with a little
bird in his hand, and with orders to go to his particular post and
remain there till further orders. Then another batch of men came in,
and they were supplied with birds and cords like the others; but ye have
no notion what trouble we had. I have seen a hundred viking prisoners
caught and held fast with half the difficulty and less noise! Moreover,
while some of the men squeezed the birds to death in their fear lest
they should escape, others let theirs go in their anxiety not to hurt
them, and the little things flew back to their nests with the cords and
bits of chip trailing after them. At last, however, all was ready. The
men were kept in hiding till after dark; then the little chips were set
on fire all at the same time, and the birds were let go. It was like a
shower of stars descending on the castle, for each bird made straight
for its own nest; but just as we were expecting to behold the success of
our plan, up jumped a line of men on the castle walls, and by shouting
and swinging their arms scared the birds away. We guessed at once that
the little birds which had escaped too soon with