other, as they settled down at a safe distance to watch
Leif and the merchant turning over the bales of goods which the sailors
were engaged in bringing to shore. "This will be something to relate in
time to come,--a great event concerning which we understand everything."

"'Concerning which we understand everything!'" Sigurd, overhearing them,
repeated laughingly to his friend as they galloped up the lane.

Robert the Fearless laughed too, with a vibration of uneasiness in the
peal.

"Few there are who are capable of making that boast," he answered. "Even
you, comrade, are unequal to it. Here now is something that is worth a
hearing." Leaning from his saddle, he poured into Sigurd's ear a stream
of low-toned words that caused the Silver-Tongued to stop short and
stare at him incredulously, and then look back at the anchored ship and
pound his knee in a fury of exasperation.

The cloud rested on Sigurd's sunny face for the rest of the evening.
Thorhild, enchanted at the tribute to her idolized son, plied the
stranger with every attention; and Kark himself, for all his foxy eyes,
removed the gilded helm from the smooth black locks without a thought to
try whether or no they were indigenous to the scalp from which they
sprang,--but Sigurd's brow did not lighten.

As they put a final polish upon their shields and hung them for the last
time upon the wall behind their seats, Rolf said to him with a searching
glance: "It is hidden from me why you look so black, comrade. If it were
not for the drawback of old Eric at the steering-oar, certainly every
circumstance would be as favorable as could be expected."

Sigurd arose and pulled his cloak down from its peg with a vicious jerk.

"There are other witless people besides Eric the Red who thrust
themselves where they are not wanted," he retorted grimly. Then, turning
abruptly, he strode out into the darkness; and none of the household saw
him again until morning.

The sun rose upon a perfect day, warm and bright, with the wind in the
right quarter, steady and strong. And as if to make sure that not even
one thing should mar so auspicious a beginning, Leif's luck swept away
the only drawback that Rolf had been able to name.

Down in the lane, midway between the foot where it opened upon the shore
and the head where it ended at the fence, there lay a bit of a rock. A
small stone or a big pebble was all it was, but in the hands of Leif's
luck it took on the importance of