you have recognized her as your best
friend. Oh, if you had been with her, no one would have dared to seize
her. O brother, strong brother, you hero and shield of the whole
province, bring her back! Alas, if the little one, with her dainty
hands, should be forced to heat the bath-water for the hated foe and
wash his feet, as I often saw their maid-servants do in Arbor! Why
don't we rush down on the wings of the storm and hew her out of the
high-walled camp citadel?"

He swung his little wolf spear: the fire blazed up brightly as he stood
in the light of the flames, a handsome boyish figure, in his light-blue
linen robe bordered with white swan's down.

"Yes, my Sippilo," said the older brother with ill-repressed sorrow,
"you loved her too."

The boy looked up startled, but Adalo continued:

"Yes, yes. Perhaps she is dead--to us, to our people. Perhaps we shall
never see her again, never hear her sweet, elfish, mocking laugh."

"Oh, the smoke! How it stings!" cried the lad, wiping the tears from
his eyes.

"Perhaps she went with the Italians willingly," said Adalo, torturing
himself savagely--"with the clever Ausonius!"

"Is he here again?" cried Sippilo. "I'll run him through like a fat
carp that is sunning itself in shallow water. Oh, I used to wish he
might fall under the curse of Odin and the sun. Whenever I went to get
frogs for fishing or to play ball, she had always rowed over to him or
would not leave the long rolls of runes over which she racked her
brains. He had given them to her. If only I could catch him!"

"If we only had her back again! My heart is consumed with anxiety."

"Guard yourself from consuming anxiety, my son," said the old woman in
a warning tone. "It will paralyze your thoughts and arm; and you will
need both to liberate the naughty child. I am no prophetess, but I have
had strange dreams since I grew blind--which often come to pass: I saw
you to-night wounded, severely wounded. Guard your life. If she should
be rescued, and no longer find you--"

"Then her vengeful wish would be fulfilled. She hates me. She shouted
it loudly enough."

Sippilo laughed. "You? Hate you? She loves you better than a
sister. How I always had to tell her about you, everything you were
doing,--your prizes of honor in the contests; the gifts of neighboring
princes; your last verses; whom they praised! When I met her on the
lake quite lately, she asked if Jettaburga and her father did not often
visit the