hall cease
to haunt me."

[*] "Health! health!"

Again he filled, drank, sat down, and for a while was merry. But
presently the black thoughts came back into his mind. He rose, looked
through the shutter-hole to the hillside. He could see nothing on it
except the shadows of the clouds.

"Trolls walk the winds to-night," he said. "I feel them pulling at my
beard. One more cup to frighten them."

He drank another draught of ale and grew merry. Then ale called for ale,
and Skallagrim drained cup on cup, singing as he drained, till at last
heavy sleep overcame him, and he sank drunken on the ground there by the
barrel, while the brown ale trickled round him.

Now Eric Brighteyes and Gudruda the Fair slept side by side, locked in
each other's arms. Presently Gudruda was wide awake.

"Rouse thee, Eric," she said, "I have dreamed an evil dream."

He awoke and kissed her.

"What, then, was thy dream, sweet?" he said. "This is no hour for bad
dreams."

"No hour for bad dreams, truly, husband; yet dreams do not weigh the
hour of their coming. I dreamed this: that I lay dead beside thee and
thou knewest it not, while Swanhild looked at thee and mocked."

"An evil dream, truly," said Eric; "but see, thou art not dead. Thou
hast thought too much on Swanhild of late."

Now they slept once more, till presently Eric was wide awake.

"Rouse thee, Gudruda," he said, "I too have dreamed a dream, and it is
full of evil."

"What, then, was thy dream, husband?" she asked.

"I dreamed that Atli the Earl, whom I slew, stood by the bed. His face
was white, and white as snow was his beard, and blood from his great
wound ran down his byrnie. 'Eric Brighteyes,' he said, 'I am he whom
thou didst slay, and I come to tell thee this: that before the moon is
young again thou shalt lie stiff, with Hell-shoes on thy feet. Thou art
Eric the Unlucky! Take thy joy and say thy say to her who lies at thy
side, for wet and cold is the bed that waits thee and soon shall thy
white lips be dumb.' Then he was gone, and lo! in his place stood
Asmund, thy father, and he also spoke to me, saying, 'Thou who dost lie
in my bed and at my daughter's side, know this: the words of Atli are
true; but I add these to them: ye shall die, yet is death but the gate
of life and love and rest,' and he was gone."

Now Gudruda shivered with fear, and crept closer to Eric's side.

"We are surely fey, for the Norns speak with the voices of Atli and
of Asmund,"