e point above the bay with a tremendous cheer, and were followed
by a continuous stream of the canoes of their savage friends whom they
had outstripped in the mad race.

Karlsefin did not wait to ascertain how affairs stood. Enough for him
that the village seemed to be in flames. Observing, as he passed, that
his comrades and the women were safe on board the _Snake_, he ran the
canoes high and dry on the beach and leaped ashore. Drawing quickly up
into a compact line, the Norsemen rushed with wild shout upon the foe.
The natives did not await the onset. Surprise alone had kept them
waiting there as long as they did. With one consent, and a hideous
yell, they turned and fled like autumn leaves before the wind.

Returning to the friendly savages, who had looked on at all this in some
surprise and with no little concern, Karlsefin looked very sternly at
them, pointed to the woods into which his enemies had vanished, shook
his fist, and otherwise attempted by signs to indicate his displeasure,
and to advise the instant interference of the friendly savages in the
way of bringing about peaceful relations.

The natives were intelligent enough and prompt in action. A party of
them at once started off to the woods, while Karlsefin went on board the
_Snake_, where he found Leif and his friends right glad to meet him, and
the women, in a state of the wildest delight, almost devouring Olaf and
Snorro, who had been sent direct to the vessel when the men landed to
attack the savages.

"'Tis good for the eyes to see thy sweet face, Gudrid," he said, giving
his wife a hearty kiss, "and I am quite sure that Snorro agrees with me
in that."

"He does, he does," cried Gudrid, hugging the child, who clung round her
neck with a tenacity that he had never before exhibited, having learned,
no doubt, that "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

"Oh! I am so happy, and so thankful. My sweet bairn! Where did you
find him? How did you rescue him? I felt _sure_ you would do it. How
did he look when he saw you? and--"

"Hold, Gudrid," cried Karlsefin, laughing, "joy has upset thy judgment.
I can answer but one question at a time."

Gudrid made no reply; indeed she did not seem to expect an answer to her
queries, for she had turned again to Snorro and Olaf, whom she
overwhelmed with embraces, endearing epithets, and questions, in all
which she was ably assisted by Bertha, Astrid, and Thora. Even
Freydissa became soft for once; k