im tribute, Hakon was joined at the
isle of Skye by the forces of Magnus, king of the island of Man. The
combined fleet now amounted to a hundred and sixty dragon ships, with
over twenty thousand fighting men.

Now, on the ship of King Magnus of Man there was a mighty warrior, whom
men called Rudri, and he was the most terrible pirate that ever roved
upon the western seas, and all men feared him. There was not a vic or
sound that he had not sailed into, nor an island upon which he had not
drawn his sword.

He was the one man in all that host who could best instruct the Norse
king concerning the invasion. So, taking many ships with him, Rudri went
among the island earls and compelled them one and all to remember their
duty, and to follow under the banner of their Norse master. Many of
those who had taken oaths of loyalty before King Alexander's ambassadors
demurred. But the power of the King of Scots was remote, the vengeance
of piratical warfare was near at hand, and the islanders submitted,
agreeing to pay fine of so many hundred head of cattle as punishment for
their former desertion of Norway. And so, like an avalanche that gathers
added weight as it descends, the invading forces drew rearer and nearer
to their goal.

CHAPTER XXII. THE TWO SPIES.

On a certain morning in September, Aasta the Fair sat crouched at the
door of the little cot wherein she dwelt. She was grinding oats in a
small stone hand mill. Old Elspeth sat within doors spinning.

Presently Aasta raised her eyes and looked over towards the little isle
of Inch Marnock, where on the green knolls some sheep were grazing. In
the narrow channel that separates Inch Marnock from Bute she saw a tiny
coracle with a man on board. The little boat drew to the beach of St.
Ninian's Bay, where the man stepped out and began to run. Staggering in
his gait, he fell; then rose again and again fell. Aasta, leaving her
work, ran down towards the man, and when she got near him she saw that
his clothes were torn, and his limbs bleeding from many wounds. He was
lying on his back, groaning. She looked into his white face and saw that
it was the face of the man whom Earl Kenric had left in Gigha as his
steward and governor.

"What means all this, William MacAlpin?" asked Aasta, kneeling by his
side; "and wherefore come you back to Bute thus covered with bleeding
wounds?"

The man pointed westward, and with his dying breath said:

"Run you to Castle Rothesay, I