re with a doubtful heart
Jon stayed all that night. For of all that came to pass he saw but one
thing, and that was the light of Whitefire as it flashed out high above
him on the brow of the mountain when first Brighteyes smote at foe.

Eric went warily up the Baresark path, for he would keep his breath in
him, and the light shone redly on his golden helm. High he went, till at
length he came to a pass narrow and dark and hedged on either side
with sheer cliffs, such as two armed men might hold against a score.
He peered down this path, but he saw no Baresark, though it was worn by
Baresark feet. He crept along its length, moving like a sunbeam through
the darkness of the pass, for the light gathered on his helm and sword,
till suddenly the path turned and he was on the brink of a gulf that
seemed to have no bottom, and, looking across and down, he could see Jon
and the horses more than a hundred fathoms beneath. Now Eric must stop,
for this path leads but into the black gulf. Also he was perplexed to
know where Skallagrim had his lair. He crept to the brink and gazed.
Then he saw that a point of rock jutted from the sheer face of the cliff
and that the point was worn with the mark of feet.

"Where Baresark passes, there may yeoman follow," said Eric and,
sheathing Whitefire, without more ado, though he liked the task little,
he grasped the overhanging rock and stepped down on to the point below.
Now he was perched like an eagle over the dizzy gulf and his brain
swam. Backward he feared to go, and forward he might not, for there was
nothing but air. Beside him, growing from the face of the cliff, was a
birch-bush. He grasped it to steady himself. It bent beneath his clutch,
and then he saw, behind it, a hole in the rock through which a man could
creep, and down this hole ran footmarks.

"First through air like a bird; now through earth like a fox," said Eric
and entered the hole. Doubling his body till his helm almost touched his
knee he took three paces and lo! he stood on a great platform of rock,
so large that a hall might be built on it, which, curving inwards,
cannot be seen from the narrow pass. This platform, that is backed
by the sheer cliff, looks straight to the south, and from it he could
search the plain and the path that he had travelled, and there once more
he saw Jon and the horses far below him.

"A strong place, truly, and well chosen," said Eric and looked around.
On the floor of the rock and some p