ed
that he had finished. He turned his eyes from the hole and fastened them
on the Lord of Ivarsdale, in the confidence of invincible power.

The room was so still that when a gust came in around the ill-fitting
windows, the flare of the torch-flames sounded loud as the hiss of
serpents.

The Etheling's voice was very deep and quiet. "If we go in peace," he
repeated slowly. "And if we do not?"

The Dane shrugged his burly shoulders. "There are no terms for that. You
will find it necessary to take what comes."

Again there was silence.

Sebert put his last question: "How long does the son of Lodbrok give
me to consider how I am to order things?" The man shattered the silence
with his boisterous laughter. "It is not a lie about you English that
you never do aught that you do not sit down first and consider, till the
crews have eaten all your provisions and the timbers of your boats are
rotting. When a Dane strikes, it is like the striking of lightning. So
soon as you hear the thunder of his coming, that instant you see the
flashing of his weapon. My chief gives you no time at all. So long a
time, he has studied out, will it take me to come in to you; so much
longer to do my errand; and so much longer to get back. At the end of
that time he will blow his horn, and if your gates do not fly open in
obedience, he will take that for your answer."

Either the Lord of Ivarsdale had been doing some rapid thinking during
the long speech, or else he was too incensed to think. Now he rose with
sparks flashing from the steel of his eyes. "By Peter, he is right! I do
not need even that long," he cried. "Since the Wide-Fathomer began the
game, the Tower has been the prize of the strongest. Shall I flinch
from a challenge? Our rights are equal; our luck shall decide. For his
answer, be he reminded of his own Danish saying, that 'It is a strong
bird that can take what an eagle has in his claws,' and let him get what
comfort he can from that."

After his ringing tones, the unmoved voice of the messenger fell flat
on the ear. "It has happened as we supposed, that you would answer
unfavorably," he said as he turned. "It was seen in battle that you are
a brave man. Otherwise the chief would not have thought it necessary
to hew a path through the forest in order to take you by surprise."
Saluting with some appearance of respect, he joined his conductors at
the door and passed out of sight down the stair.

Like smoke in the wake of a