er? By the red
stroke of the knife? Or by the red flame of burning branches?"

One of the two old men stepped forward again, saying: "By his deed he
has offended Zio the war-god and Odin the giver of victory. Zio demands
blood upon the stone of sacrifice; Odin's will is that he shall blow in
the wind. Odin is the greater god and the father of Zio: the lesser
yields to the greater; the son to the father. Odin's right is first:
the oath-breaker is consecrated to Odin, He shall be hung by willow
ropes under the chin, with his face toward the north, from the withered
yew, a wolf at his right hand and a wolf at his left--the oldest
symbols of quarrelsome, reckless lawbreakers."

"He is consecrated to Odin," the judge repeated solemnly--"if Odin
desires him. We will ask the god."

All gazed in astonishment, the fisherman with a faint thrill of hope,
at the old man, who now continued:

"It is dishonorable and shameful for the man to swing among the
branches, between the sky and the mountain top. And hitherto he has
been brave--only he could not be strong enough to bear the weeping of
his child. He will die useless to his people, if he hang high aloft on
the tree. Well then, we will ask Odin if, perchance, he will forgive
him. You all, like the accuser himself, at first wished to let the act
pass unpunished. That will not do. To the Lofty One we must offer his
right; but--perhaps--he will not take it. I advise that Fiskulf shall
venture upon a deed in which, for his people's welfare, he will fall,
inevitably fall, unless Odin himself take pity on him and bear him away
in his floating mantle."

"Speak, speak! What may I do?" cried the fisherman, with sparkling
eyes. "All! All! Gladly will I die by the spear. Only not the rope of
shame!"

"You shall be the first, in advance of all the others, to leap on the
proudest Roman galley and--you understand how to kindle flames so
well--set fire to its sails."

"Yes, yes! That he shall! Hail to the Duke!" shouted thousands of
voices.

Fiskulf sprang forward to the judge's chair, lifted both hands to him,
and cried: "I thank thee, Duke! Ay, thou knowest the will of Odin! The
proudest Roman galley--the General's vessel in Arbor, is it not? Well:
I do not yet know how I am to reach the ship on the other side of the
lake; but I will die, or accomplish it."

"I will provide for that," said the Duke. "You need not go to the ship:
Odin will bring the galley to you! Then do as I have