who has
thought it sound and walked thereon, when darkness comes is lost, since
he falls upon the rocks far below, and at high tide the water takes
him."

"Yes, yes, we understand the game, lawyer, for there yawns the open pit.
But have you aught more to say?"

"Nothing, sir, nothing, save that we only did what we were driven to do.
Moreover, no harm has come of it, since whenever the noble general came
to the edge of the opened pit, although he was blind, he halted and went
off to right or left as though someone drew him out of danger."

"Well, then, cruel and unjust judges, who could gather to mock at the
murder of a blinded man that you had trapped to his doom----"

"Sir," broke in one of them, "it was not we who tried to trap him; it
was those jailers who stand there. They told the general that he might
exercise himself by walking up and down the hall."

"Is that true, Olaf?" asked Jodd.

"Yes," I answered, "it is true that the two jailers who brought me here
did tell me this, though whether those men are present I cannot say."

"Very good," said Jodd. "Add them to the other prisoners, who by their
own showing heard them set the snare and did not warn the victim. Now,
murderers all, this is the sentence of the court upon you: That you
salute the General Olaf and confess your wickedness to him."

So they saluted me, kneeling, and kissing my feet, and one and all made
confession of their crime.

"Enough," I said, "I pardon them who are but tools. Pray to God that He
may do as much."

"You may pardon here, Olaf," said Jodd, "and your God may pardon
hereafter, but we, the Northmen, do not pardon. Blindfold those men and
bind their arms. Now," went on Jodd after a pause, "their turn has come
to show us sport. Run, friends, run, for swords are behind you. Can you
not feel them?"

The rest may be guessed. Within a few minutes the seven judges and the
two jailers had vanished from the world. No hand came to save _them_
from the cruel rocks and the waters that seethed a hundred feet below
that dreadful chamber.

This fantastic, savage vengeance was a thing dreadful to hear; what it
must have been to see I can only guess. I know that I wished I might
have fled from it and that I pleaded with Jodd for mercy on these men.
But neither he nor his companions would listen to me.

"What mercy had they on you?" he cried. "Let them drink from their own
cup."

"Let them drink from their own cup!" roared his companions