of himself; because he was
filled with admiration of the magnificent skipper, and wanted to stand
well in his opinion. It was therefore no small comfort to find that his
boasting had been set down to his foolishness, and that there was good
reason to hope he might ultimately grow out of it.

But Olaf had much more of the true metal in him than he himself was
aware of. Without saying a word about it, he resolved not to wait for
the result of this slow process of growth, but to jump, vault, or fly
out of the boastful period of life, by hook or by crook, and that
without delay. And he succeeded! Not all at once, of course. He had
many a slip; but he persevered, and finally got out of it much sooner
than would have been the case if he had not taken any trouble to think
about the matter, or to _try_.

Meanwhile, however, he looked somewhat crestfallen. This being observed
by the look-out, that worthy was prompted to say--"I'm sure, Olaf; you
are welcome to kick me if that will comfort you, but there is no
occasion to do so, because I claim not the honour of first _seeing_ the
land--and if I had known the state of your mind I would willingly have
let you give the hail."

"You may have been first to discover it at this time, Olaf;" said
Biarne, turning round after he had made up his mind about it, "and no
doubt you were, since the look-out admits it; nevertheless this is the
land that I discovered twenty years ago. But we shall make it out more
certainly in an hour or two if this breeze holds."

The breeze did hold, and soon they were close under the land.

"Now am I quite certain of it," said Biarne, as he stood on the poop,
surrounded by all his friends, who gazed eagerly at the shore, to which
they had approached so close that the rocks and bushes were distinctly
visible; "that is the very same land which I saw before."

"What, Vinland?" asked Freydissa.

"Nay, not Vinland. Are you so eager to get at the grapes that ye think
the first land we meet is Vinland?"

"A truce to your jesting, Biarne; what land is it?"

"It is the land I saw _last_ when leaving this coast in search of
Greenland, so that it seems not unnatural to find it _first_ on coming
back to it. Leif; on his voyage, went on shore here. He named it
Helloland, which, methinks, was a fitting name, for it is, as you see, a
naked land of rocks."

"Now, then," said Karlsefin, "lower the sail, heave out the anchor, and
let two men cast loose th