ingers still howling as they fled,
no one followed them any farther. Indeed, most of the Norsemen were
panting vehemently, and rather glad than otherwise to be allowed to
halt.

There were, however, two young men among them--tall, strong-boned, and
thin, but with broad shoulders, and grave, earnest, though not exactly
handsome countenances--who appeared to be perfectly cool and in good
wind after their long run. Leif noticed them at once.

"Yonder youths seem to think little of this sort of thing," he said to
Karlsefin.

"You are right, Leif; it is mere child's play to them. These are the
two Scots--the famous runners--whom I was charged by King Olaf to
present to you. Why, these men, I'll engage to say, could overtake the
Skraelingers even yet, if they chose."

"Say you so?" cried Leif. "Do they speak Norse?"

"Yes; excellently well."

"Their names?"

"The one is Heika, the other Hake."

"Ho! Hake and Heika, come hither," cried Leif, beckoning to the men,
and hastening round the point, where the Skraelingers could be seen
nearly a mile off, and still running as if all the evil spirits of the
North were after them.

"See there, carls; think you that ye could overtake these rascals?"

The Scots looked at each other, nodded, smiled, and said they thought
they could.

"Do it, then. Let them see how you can use your legs, and give them a
shout as you draw near; but have a care: do them no hurt, and see that
they do no injury to you. Take no arms; your legs must suffice on this
occasion."

The Scots looked again at each other, and laughed, as if they enjoyed
the joke; then they started off like a couple of deer at a pace which no
Norseman legs had ever before equalled, or even approached.

Leif, Biarne, and the men gazed in speechless wonder, much to the
amusement of Karlsefin and Thorward, while Hake and Heika made straight
for the flying band and came up with them. They shouted wildly as they
drew near. The Skraelingers looked back, and seeing only two unarmed
men, stopped to receive them.

"As the saying goes," remarked Biarne, "a stern chase is a long one; but
to-night proves the truth of that other saying, that there is no rule
without an exception."

"What are they doing now?" cried Leif, laughing. "See--they are mad!"

Truly it seemed as if they were; for, after separating and coursing
twice completely round the astonished natives, the two Scots performed a
species of war-dance before