Wulfric the Weapon Thane / A Story of the Danish Conquest of East Anglia

ray walls of the Roman Burgh on the further shore, and the white gulls cried round us, and the water sparkled in the fresh sea breeze from th

take ship, and go on the swan's path even as our forefathers went; let us take th

ber, was a time when I knew not all that a boy might learn, for his years, of sea and the seaman's

ed to Humber and Wash northwards, and Orwell and Thames to the south, as seemed best for what merchandise we had for sale or would buy. But, more than all, my father and I alike sailed for the love of ship and sea, caring little for the gain that cam

father had bought long ago, and at once bade him get ready for sailing as soon as might be. And that was a welcome order to Kenulf and our crew also;

And fair Eadgyth, my sister, beautiful with the clear beauty of a fair-haired Saxon lady, shared in her fears also, though I think that she believed that no storm could rage more fiercely than her father and

in the heart of my mother,

d? Surely there is risk--aye, and gre

er laughed easi

ave made with them. And they watch not our shores for ships, but t

reat one; and sailed, with a shift of wind to the southwest, into the Wash, and so put into the

a gale, so that we bided in the haven till it was over. For though it was not so heavy that we could not have

rest to every man in all England; though not yet in the right way. For we had not yet learnt that England must be truly one; and so long as he himself was unharmed, little cared an East Anglian what b

m horses. Then they had honestly left our coasts, and had gone to York, and thereafter to Nottingham. Now Northumbria w

high and swift. So we bade farewell to our friend the merchant and set sai

drop anchor in the roads and wait, with home in sight, hill and church and houses clear and sharp against the afternoon sky after rain; while past us the long surges the storm had

ish enough to try to reach us; and we looked for none. So as the stout ship wallowed and plunged at her anchors--head to wind and sea, and everything, from groaning timbers to song of wind-curved rigging and creak of swi

tide rising over the sand banks, and longed for home and warm fireside, instead of this cold, gray sky and the restless waves; though I, at lea

, learnt in years of tide and calm; for he would tell me that sea learning never ends, so that though the sailor seemed to be idle, he must nee

the deck for a little, and then

ic," he said, laughing so

ered, "for I am that also, and t

ient; but it seems to me that

answered, not thinking much of the

or somewhat new, rather--som

hing again at himself, for few men thoug

under his hand, and all of a sudden tu

ther comes somethin

reat wave, far off I saw a dark speck among white-crested rollers, that

ever on us, rose up from their places and began to look out seaward over the bows th

re comes flotsam

, clustering round the stem head, and a litt

t of wreck,

gh to wreck a ship in the open; 'tis maybe l

ale--no mor

haves not as a whale, and it c

after that the men were silent for a long while, having said all that could be

r, ever keen of

as it the rise and fall of a boat well handled. Yet whence

ho knew their trade. Thereat some of the men laughed; for it seemed a thing impossible, both by reason of the stretch of wild sea t

moreover, was but one man, whose skill in handling her wa

rously the tiny craft came through the swift seas

e wizard who has raised this sto

ay up the great rivers to Norwich, or Beccles, or other towns--knew that the Finns have powers more than mortal (though how or whence I know not) over wind and sea, often using their

cried out on

self," and he bared his gray head, crossing himself, as he looked eagerly to catch

rown waves, foam crested, which we feared not, and the

teersman. And when the boat was so near that it was likely that the eyes of the man were on us, my fat

e seemed to have, but it was very small and like nothing I had ever seen, though it was enough to drive her swiftly and to give her steering way before the wind. Until my father signed to him the man seemed to have no wish

lt I must watch. Had I not seen him, yon man would have been surely lost; for I t

and one man said, shrinking and pale, that it was the wizard's familiar spirit. But the wind caught the bird's long wings and

oud that same

ls light on us in this visible form. But my father held out his hand, whistling a falconer's call, and the great b

s a trained bird, and no evil sending

king the superstitious man if the ship san

my father to me; "see! t

I saw that its master had changed the course of his boat and was heading straight for us. Now, too, I could make out that what we had thou

o taken up was I with watching this man who steered so well and boldly in so poorly fitted a craft. And the boat was, for all that, most beaut

g that the man would seek safety with us, bade those on the fore deck stand by with a l

enulf by name, giving the same ord

g a man from the sea to be foe to yo

he hated these evil old sayings that com

Christian or a good seam

shore folk on our wharf, both fore and aft. My father caught up one at his feet and stood ready, for now the boat was close on us, and I co

m his hand--but fell short by two fathoms or less, and the boat swe

en in time, while the hawk fluttered and gripped my arm in such wise that at any other time I sh

ing vainly for the lost end of the first line among the fo

and I could not see for its fluttering; but the men shouted, and I heard my father's voice cry "Well done!"

, with his eyes on the wave that came. Then he sprang to the steering oar, and in a moment the boat rounded to on the ba

tern sheets, he set to work to clear out the water that washed about in the bottom of the boat; then he replaced the floor boards, and all things being

ss of a swan's neck and head, and the wings seemed to fall away along the curve of the bows to the carved gunwale, that was as if feathered, and at last the stern post rose and bent like a fan of feathers to finish all. Carved, too, were rowlocks and the ends of the thwarts, and all the feathered work was white and gold above the b

would seem that our men were ashamed, having once disobeyed my father whom they loved, not to finish the work that we had begun, and so, without waiting for the order, s

s {i} net have you brought me, and ill fall me

eyes were bright and his speech was strong and free as he swung to the roll of the ship with the step of a sea king. His speech told us that he was a Dane, for though we of the East Angles had never, even before the coming of the great host of which I must tell presently, such great difference of tongue between our own and that of Dane and Frisian but that

him and he seeking our leader. Nor did he doubt long, taking two

fered hand frankly, and,

fric, my son, here; for it w

red the Dane; and he turned to

my life is for yours, if need be. Nor shall my men be behind in that matter--t

o so," I said, "if

rom the moment his foot touched shore. Now tell me whose ship this is that has

the East Anglian shore of the North Folk, under Eadmund, our kin

i} of a strip of Jutland coast. And now I have a fear on me that I shall do dis

we could see that his words were true enough, and that he was bearing bravely wha

hem before him, and soon he was taking that which he needed; but every now and th

wind lest you should be lost with me. And I would have ha

watching him. I looked at the beautiful boat astern, tossing lightly on the wave crests, and saw that she would sur

he turned

e by your boat, Ja

not have her lost, for my sons made her for me this last winter, carving her,

at my children have made for me, and I would not lose them for the sake of a little tr

!" answered the Dane. "Th

ome, and we up anchor and plunged homewards through the troubled seas of the wide harbour mouth. It was I who steered, as I ever would of late, while the Dane stood beside me, s

go on than have run the risk of saving one fro

into our minds," I answered; "but Chris

ok. "Now from this time I, for one, have naught

silent fo

own by the Dane, asked him how he cam

put out to sea with my hawk there to find fresh sport. It seemed to me, forsooth, that a great black-backed gull or fierce skua would give me a fine flight or two. And so it was; but I rowed out too far, and before I bethought myself, both wind and t

ome I could never win; so I made shift with the floor boards, as you saw, for want of canvas. After that there is little to tell, for it was ev

were a Finn, at least," said

st that I had a Finn's powers," said Lodbrok, laughing; "but there has been n

in my heart that I could never hope to equal their skill in this matte

t, Hubba, the next, and the third, Halfden, is three-and-twenty, and so about your own age, as I take it, as he is also about your eq

t; and we had seen that this man was a master therein. But though at this time I thought of naught but the words of praise, hereafter

the shore lines were thrown out. Then were we alongside o

our island shores. Yet, from this day forward, all my life of the time yet before me was to be moulded by what came of that cast of line to one in peril. Aye, and there are those who hold that th

hat all which makes my tale worth t