carles of the thralls or freedmen ready to bear
the commands that came from her mouth; for she and Sorli were the
captains of the stay-at-homes.

Now came Thiodolf and Arinbiorn and other leaders into the ring of men
before her, and she greeted them kindly and said:

"Hail, Sons of Tyr! now that I behold you again it seemeth to me as if
all were already won: the time of waiting hath been weary, and we have
borne the burden of fear every day from morn till even, and in the waking
hour we presently remembered it. But now ye are come, even if this Thing-
stead were lighted by the flames of the Wolfing Roof instead of by these
moonbeams; even if we had to begin again and seek new dwellings, and
another water and other meadows, yet great should grow the kindreds of
the Men who have dwelt in the Mark, and nought should overshadow them:
and though the beasts and the Romans were dwelling in their old places,
yet should these kindreds make new clearings in the Wild-wood; and they
with their deeds should cause other waters to be famous, that as yet have
known no deeds of man; and they should compel the Earth to bear increase
round about their dwelling-places for the welfare of the kindreds. O
Sons of Tyr, friendly are your faces, and undismayed, and the Terror of
the Nations has not made you afraid any more than would the onrush of the
bisons that feed adown the grass hills. Happy is the eve, O children of
the Goths, yet shall to-morrow morn be happier."

Many heard what she spake, and a murmur of joy ran through the ranks of
men: for they deemed her words to forecast victory.

And now amidst her speaking, the moon, which had arisen on Mid-mark, when
the host first entered into the wood, had overtopped the tall trees that
stood like a green wall round about the Thing-stead, and shone down on
that assembly, and flashed coldly back from the arms of the warriors. And
the Hall-Sun cast off her dark blue cloak and stood up in her
golden-broidered raiment, which flashed back the grey light like as it
had been an icicle hanging from the roof of some hall in the midnight of
Yule, when the feast is high within, and without the world is silent with
the night of the ten-weeks' frost.

Then she spake again: "O War-duke, thy mouth is silent; speak to this
warrior of the Bearings that he bid the host what to do; for wise are ye
both, and dear are the minutes of this night and should not be wasted;
since they bring about the salvation o