e_ in his herculean arms. But, on being lifted from his couch,
the old man, filled with strange, almost delirious force, declared
himself able to stand,--and, though suffering deadly anguish at every
step, did in truth manage to reach and enter the sledge, strongly
supported by Valdemar. There, however, he fainted--and his faithful
servant, covering his insensible form with, furs, thought he was dead.
But there was now no time for hesitation,--dead or living, Olaf
Gueldmar's will was law to his vassal,--an oath had been made and must be
kept. To propel the sledge down to the Fjord was an easy matter--how the
rest of his duty was accomplished he never knew.

He was conscious of staggering blindly onward, weighted with a heavy,
helpless burden,--he felt the slippery pier beneath his feet--the
driving snow and the icy wind on his face,--but he was as one in a
dream, realizing nothing plainly, till with a wild start, he seemed to
awake--and lo! he stood on the glassy deck of the _Valkyrie_ with the
body of his "King" stretched senseless before him! Had he brought him
there? He could not remember what he had done during the past few mad
minutes,--the earth and sky whirled dizzily around him,--he could grasp
nothing tangible in thought or memory. But there, most certainly, Olaf
Gueldmar lay,--his pallid face upturned, his hair and beard as white as
the snow that clung to the masts of his vessel--his hand clenched on the
fur garment that enwrapped him as with a robe of royalty.

Dropping on his knees beside him, Valdemar felt his heart--it still
throbbed fitfully and feebly. Watching the intense calm of the grand,
rugged face, this stern, weather-worn sailor--this man of superstitious
and heathen imaginations--gave way to womanish tears--tears that were
the outcome of sincere and passionate grief. His love was of an
exceptional type,--something like that of a faithful dog that refuses to
leave the grave of its master,--he could contemplate death for himself
with absolute indifference,--but not for the _bonde_, whose sturdy
strength and splendid physique had seemed to defy all danger.

As he knelt and wept unrestrainedly, a soft change, a delicate
transparency, swept over the dark bosom of the sky. Pale pink streaks
glittered on the dusky horizon--darts of light began to climb upward
into the clouds, and to plunge downward into the water,--the radiance
spread, and gradually formed into a broad band of deep crimson, which
burn