The Iron Arrow Head or The Buckler Maiden: A Tale of the Northman Invasion

t first heard indistinctly, now smote their ears with all its formidable meaning. It was the war-cry of the Northman pirates. "Koempe!" "Koempe!" resounded from

nk listening. "It is the war-cry of the

one of the soldiers with chattering teeth.

r, although still held pinioned to the ground under the knees of

e were answered by the

by Simon Large-Ears, Robin Jaws and Savinien, the serf who had driven the two wagons loaded with hay into t

itted their intended victim. Shigne leaped to her feet, seized the sword of one of the soldiers, plunged it into the breast

me, Ga?lo! You shall not be allowed to say

to come, Ga?lo at first contented himself with parrying Shigne's blows, but

ther you shall kill me

turned their first attention to the two soldiers hidden in the remotest corner of the cr

re concealed under the hay of Savinien's wagons, turned to strate

re engaged in a deadly duel; "what a pity! To think of such a magnificent la

ngly. It is clear that in their rage both will lose some

a woman, he only felt all the more nettled at finding in her such indomitable powers of resistance. After a long exchange of parried thrusts, Ga?lo succeeded in dealing so violent a blow with his sword upon the virgin's skull that neither her hair-net of linked iro

and kneeling down beside the young woman, he raised her b

a fainting voice, "you were able to vanq

nce, and again dominated the lingering clash of arms between the Northman pirates and the small remnant of the rapidly

is as terrible to his friends as to his enemies. Ga?lo, the fray may roll this way; your sweet

insensible warrior maid in his arms, he laid her do

pain and rage. The corpses are heaped up high at the feet of Lodbrog. He mounts the heap. He mounts it as on a pedestal, and his size assumes still more gigantic proportions. The tops of the casques of the soldiers who still dare sustain the contest with him, barely reach his belt. Ga?lo, who rushed out of the basilica, thinking his aid needed in the general battle that he imagined was in progress, arrived at the moment when the surviving soldiers were surrounding the berserker, then at the climax of his fury. The spectacle presented looked like assailants trying to scale a tower. Twenty arms holding twenty swords rose at once to smite the giant. But towering above those arms and swords appeared the cuirassed bust of the colossus, and his iron mace rose and descended, splintering swords, cracking heads, crushing limbs, pulverizing arms! Ga?lo, the others of his band and the surviving Buckler Maidens precipitated themselves upon the rear of the soldiers who besieged Lodbrog. Suddenly the berserker was heard to emit a fresh roar, throw his mace into the air, stoop down and immediately rise again holding a soldier by the hair and belt. Vainly did the luckless Frank struggle to escape from the giant's clutch. He was hurled wrathfully from on h