ughing in a low
tone; "but there will be no war to-night. Leave your bows behind you,
lads," he added, addressing the men; "you won't want them; shield and
sword will be enough. For the matter of that, we might do without both.
Now, lads, follow my leading, and do as I bid you; advance with as
little noise as may be."

So saying, Leif led the way out of the little hamlet towards the
extremity of the ridge or spur of the mountains that sheltered
Ericsfiord from the north-west.

Towards that same extremity another band of men were hastening on the
other side of the ridge. It was a band of our hairy friends whom the
Norsemen called Skraelingers.

Truly there was something grand in the look and bearing of the tall man
with the flat face, as he led his band to attack the warlike Norsemen,
and there was something almost sublime in the savage, resolute aspect of
the men who followed him--each being armed with a large walrus spear,
and each being, moreover, an adept in the use of it.

Flatface (in default of a better, let that name stick to him) had
ascertained beyond a doubt that the entire available force of Norsemen
in Ericsfiord had, in consequence of fishing and other expeditions, been
reduced to barely thirty fighting men. He himself could muster a band
of at least one hundred and fifty good men and true--not to mention
hairy, a hundred and fifty seals having unwillingly contributed their
coats to cover these bloodthirsty Skraelingers. The Norsemen, Flatface
knew, were strong men and bold, besides being large, but he resolved to
take them by surprise, and surely (he argued with himself) a hundred and
fifty brave men with spears will be more than a match for thirty sleepy
men unarmed and in bed!

Flatface had screwed himself up with such considerations; made a few
more inflammatory speeches to his men, by way of screwing them up also,
and then, a little before midnight, set forth on his expedition.

Now it chanced that there was a man among the Norsemen who was a great
hunter and trapper. His name was Tyrker--the same Tyrker mentioned by
Leif as being the man who had found grapes in Vinland. Leif said he was
a German, but he said so on no better authority than the fact that he
had originally come to Norway from the south of Europe. It is much more
probable that he was a Turk, for, whereas the Germans are known to be a
well-sized handsome race of fair men, this Tyrker was an ugly little
dark wiry fellow, with