eaded foes.

Knowing that their intention must be to enter his hut and make him
prisoner, Loki hastily threw the half-made net upon the fire, and
rushing forth he flung himself into the waterfall, where he quickly
changed himself into a salmon and lurked unseen among the stones in
the torrent's bed.

Meantime, the two Asas had entered the hut.

"Ho! ho!" said Odin, as he noted the silence of the place, "our bird
has flown."

"What fresh mischief doth he plan?" muttered Thor, looking closely
about him.

"Let us look further afield," urged Odin; but Thor kicked over the
logs on the hearth and picked out the half-burned net.

Now Odin well knew the net of Ran, and the half-burnt strands
suggested to him the truth. So he set to work and, with Thor's
assistance, quickly mended the net, and they proceeded to drag the
mountain stream with it.

At their first attempt sly Loki hid between two stones at the bottom
of the river, laughing in scorn as the net passed over his head.

Then the Asas weighted the net with stones and tried again; but Loki
gave a great leap over the net, and dashed up stream.

A third time they made the attempt, and now Loki, grown reckless,
leaped out of the water. But this time Thor caught him by his tail,
and held it fast in spite of its slipperiness.

Then the gods forced him to resume his usual shape, and they carried
him off to an underground cavern, far below the earth, and there they
bound him fast to a rock with iron fetters.

Most things in heaven and earth rejoiced at the downfall of wicked Red
Loki, but above all rejoiced Skadi the giantess. Her home was in the
cold mountain stream which Loki had invaded, and he had done her many
an ill turn in bygone days.

This Skadi now took a poisonous serpent and fastened it above his
head, so that the venom of the reptile falling, drop by drop, upon his
face, would cause the most terrible pain. But Sigyn, Loki's loyal
wife, the only person in heaven or earth who cared what became of him,
took a cup and held it up to catch the burning drops as they fell, and
she only left his side when the cup was full and she had to empty it.

In these brief periods, the fettered god howled with rage and pain, in
tones which echoed through the dismal caverns of earth like mighty
peals of thunder, and his writhing shook the earth to its foundations,
bringing the Northmen from their dwellings in terror of what they
thought to be violent earthquakes.

But