him in his ship--even so have the gods willed it.
Farewell, Valdemar! Loosen the ropes and let me go!--thou servest me
ill--hasten--hasten--I am weary of waiting--"

His head fell back,--that mysterious shadow which darkens the face of
the dying a moment before dissolution, was on him now.

Just then a strange, suffocating odor began to permeate the air--little
wreaths of pale smoke made their slow way through the boards of the
deck--and a fierce gust of wind, blowing seawards from the mountains,
swayed the _Valkyrie_ uneasily to and fro. Slowly, and with evident
reluctance, Svensen commenced the work of detaching her from the
pier--feeling instinctively all the while that his master's dying eyes
were fixed upon him. When but one slender rope remained to be cast off,
he knelt by the old man's side said whispered tremblingly that all was
done. At the same moment a small, stealthy tongue of red flame curled up
through the deck from the hold,--and Gueldmar, observing this, smiled.

"I see thou hast redeemed thine oath," he said, gratefully pressing
Svensen's hand. "'Tis the last act of thine allegiance,--may the gods
reward thy faithfulness! Peace be with thee!--we shall meet hereafter.
Already the light shines from the Rainbow Bridge,--there,--there are the
golden peaks of the hills and the stretch of the wide sea! Go,
Valdemar!--delay no longer, for my soul is impatient--it burns, it
struggles to be free! Go!--and--farewell!"

Stricken to the heart, and full Of anguish,--yet serf-like in his
submission and resignation to the inevitable,--Svensen kissed his
master's hand for the last time. Then, with a sort of fierce sobbing
groan, wrung from the very depths of his despairing grief, he turned
resolutely away, and sprang off the vessel. Standing at the extreme edge
of the pier, he let slip the last rope that bound her,--her sails filled
and bulged outward,--her cordage creaked, she shuddered on the
water--lurched a little--then paused.

In that brief moment a loud triumphant cry rang through the air. Olaf
Gueldmar leaped upright on the deck as though lifted by some invisible
hand, and confronted his terrified servants, who gazed at him in
fascinated amazement and awe. His white hair gleamed like spun
silver--his face was transfigured, and wore a strange, rapt look of pale
yet splendid majesty--the dark furs that clung about him trailed in
regal folds to his feet.

"Hark!" he cried, and his voice vibrated with deep a