f his terrible roars, and rushed upon Erling like a
thunderbolt.

Our hero was too well accustomed to the ways of his class to be caught
off his guard. Although Hake rained blows upon him so fast that it was
almost impossible for the spectators to follow the motions of his
flashing sword, Erling received them all on his shield, or parried them
with his short sword--which, as being more manageable in a _melee_, he
had selected for his present enterprise. The instant, however, that the
berserk's furious onset began to slacken, Erling fetched him such a
tremendous cut on the sword that the weapon was broken close off at the
hilt. Disdaining to slay an unarmed foe, he leaped upon the berserk,
and struck him a blow with the hilt of his sword, which drove the casque
down upon his head and stretched him flat upon the sward.

Without waiting an instant Erling flung down his shield and walked to
the place where Hilda stood, took her by the hand, and whispered,
"Courage! come with me and thou shalt be saved." At the same moment
Glumm stepped to Ada's side, and took her right hand in his left. No
sword was drawn, for Glumm had not drawn his, and no one present had the
faintest idea of what the young men intended to attempt. Indeed, they
were all so amazed at the sudden termination of the fight, that the men
of the inner part of the ring actually stood aside to let them pass,
before the King had time to shout:--

"Seize them!"

In other circumstances, at Harald's word a thousand swords would have
been drawn, and the doom of Erling and his friends at once been sealed;
but the natural ferocity of the tyrant's followers had been spellbound,
and for the time paralysed by the calm bearing of old Christian and the
prowess of his champion, whose opportune appearance had all the effect
of a supernatural interposition, as it might well be deemed: and it will
be readily believed that our hero and Glumm did not fail to use the
advantage thus offered. Leading those whom they had come to rescue, and
closely followed by the hermit, they passed completely through the
circle of men. But at the repetition, in a voice of thunder, of the
royal mandate, some hundreds of the King's men surrounded them, and,
notwithstanding their wondrous strength and skill, they were being
gradually overpowered by numbers, when suddenly a tremendous shout was
heard, and next moment Ulf with his fifty men in battle array rushed out
of the forest.

King Har