t down to his arm-chest; delivered out new
swords; and it was observed as he did it, blood ran trickling from his
wrist; but none knew where the wound was. Eric boarded a third time.
Olaf, left with hardly more than one man, sprang overboard (one sees
that red coat of his still glancing in the evening sun), and sank in
the deep waters to his long rest.

Rumor ran among his people that he still was not dead; grounding on
some movement by the ships of that traitorous Sigwald, they fancied
Olaf had dived beneath the keels of his enemies, and got away with
Sigwald, as Sigwald himself evidently did. "Much was hoped, supposed,
spoken," says one old mourning Skald; "but the truth was, Olaf
Tryggveson was never seen in Norseland more." Strangely he remains
still a shining figure to us; the wildly beautifullest man, in body
and in soul, that one has ever heard of in the North.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR

By G. W. PROTHERO

(1027-1087)

[Illustration: William the Conqueror.]

William I., King of England, surnamed the Conqueror, was born in 1027
or 1028. He was the son of Robert, Duke of Normandy and Herleva,
daughter of Fulbert, a tanner of Falaise. When he was about seven
years old his father, intending to go on pilgrimage and having no
legitimate sons, proposed him as his heir. The great men of the duchy
did homage to the child, and a year later (1035) his father's death
left him to make good his claim. Anarchy was the natural result of a
minority. William's life was on more than one occasion in danger, and
several of his guardians perished in his service. At the earliest
possible age he received knighthood from the hands of Henry I. of
France, and speedily began to show signs of his capacity for
government.

In 1042 he insisted that the "truce of God" should be proclaimed and
observed in Normandy. When he was about twenty years old his authority
was threatened by a general conspiracy, which spread through the
western half of his duchy. An attempt was made to seize him at
Valognes, and he only escaped by riding hard all night to his own
castle at Falaise. Bessin and Cotentin, the most Norman parts of
Normandy, rose in rebellion. William sought and obtained aid from King
Henry, and completely defeated the rebels at Val-es-Dunes near Caen
(1047). The battle was but a combat of horse, but it decided the fate
of the war and left William master of his duchy. The debt which he
owed to Henry was repaid next year. War bro