tened to two long poles, and rolled round
them so as to form a couch of about a yard in width. On this the
wounded chief was laid, and two of the natives were ordered to grasp the
ends of the poles and raise him. They did so, and were conducted by the
Norsemen in single file out into the forest. Here, to their intense
surprise, Karlsefin shook hands with them all very kindly, and then,
going back with his men to the fortress, left them to return to their
kindred!

Karlsefin remarked quietly to Biarne, as he went along, that one of the
precepts of the new religion, which he had remembered well, because it
seemed to him so very wise, was, that men should always try to "overcome
evil with good."

Thus was established a warm friendship between the natives of Vinland
and the Norsemen; a friendship which might have lasted for ever--to the
great modification, no doubt, of American history--had not unfortunate
circumstances intervened to break it up. As it was, it lasted for a
considerable time.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

THE FIRST AMERICAN FUR TRADERS--STRANGE DEVICES--ANXIOUS TIMES AND
PLEASANT DISCOVERIES.

The business of the colony progressed admirably after this. A large
house was erected, with a central hall and numerous sleeping-rooms or
closets off it, where all the chief people dwelt together, and a number
of the men messed daily. Grass was found in abundance, and a large
quantity of this was cut and stacked for winter use, although there was
good reason to believe that the winter would be so mild that the cattle
might be left out to forage for themselves. Salmon were also caught in
great numbers, not only in Little River but in the main stream, and in
the lake at their very doors. What they did not consume was dried,
smoked, and stored. Besides this, a large quantity of fine timber was
felled, squared, cut into lengths, and made suitable for exportation.
Eggs were found on the islands offshore, and feathers collected, so that
early in the summer they had more than enough wherewith to load the
ship. Among other discoveries they found grain growing wild. The
Saga-writers have called it wheat, but it is open to question whether it
was not wild rice, of which large quantities grow in the uninhabited
parts of America at the present time. They also found a beautiful kind
of wood, called massurwood, of which samples were sent to Greenland and
Norway; but what this wood really was we cannot tell.

Meanwhile