. And when we chased the
bears in Lord Snore's forest. Through all our cruises; that old ship off
Norway that we chased and frightened so? See the moonlight!" he said,
suddenly, and stopped laughing. Then, with a wave of his long arm, he
leaned back and called out again. "Jolly war-dog! Ah!--another tankard;
Skaal! Skaal! to our old times! Skaal! Ah! Old war-dog! It is not good
for men to put their hearts on women. They find them empty; there is no
water in an unfilled pitcher--better the old sea-shells, like us, that
are always filled. Do you know," and he started up and shook his
beer-tankard in the moonlight, a tall figure, "that, since I was a young
man, I have loved that woman! She was a little ---- Be silent! A ghost
comes!" He grasped my arm.

There, gliding in all in white through the door at the side of the hall
came Hildur like a spirit in the moonlight. She spoke from where she
stood, and our delusion of a spirit was scattered. For she spoke cross,
empty words, as she stood by the disorderly hearth complaining of
neglect.

I stood by my lord's bench, and I saw the old excitement come into his
eyes. She went on complaining; beautiful in the moonlight. My lord
raised his tankard and took a long drink, then with the same old cynical
laugh, he stood there; and she stopped. Then my hands gripped the back
of the bench, for my lord, still laughing, threw the empty tankard at
her with all his force. I saw her lie white in the moonlight. So that is
ended.

The next day we buried her, who had died from a fall from the
hall-terrace to the rocks beneath. And in the after-mid-day, we sailed
in our ship, past the green woods. We sailed north to young Lord Erik's
town, and found him married, and happy with kisses and things. So we
sailed away again laughing at this easy consolement, and my lord was
very gay at the pleasure of the sea.

Soon the men were brown, and the sun shone above level waters, and we
sailed lazily past dense woods.

Thus one day, as we landed to cook our meat under the trees, one of the
men thought he saw a glance of armour away off in the forest. But
thinking it was only the sunlight on one of the beech-trunks, we cooked
and sat down to our meat.

They came running out of the forest, trying to break past us to get to
the ship. There was clank of swords on armour, and the smoke from the
fire wavered from its straight column; then, they drew back. Their chief
came from the beach-reaches now, and