“A Viking in such a galley would sail to the end of the world.  By the way, did the Skroelings in Greenland understand that language the Wind-wife spoke?”

“I was not there long enough to find out.  I once asked a man who knows their talk well, and he said it was no tongue that ever he heard.”

The Greenland folk welcomed them heartily.  Finding that the white men had not after all been forgotten by their own people, the natives drew off and gave them no more trouble.  The Northmen spent the winter in sleep, talk, song, and hunting with native guides.  Besides the old man in white fur, as the polar bear was respectfully called, Arctic foxes, walrus, whales and seal abounded.  Many of the new-comers became skilful in the making and the use of the skin-covered native boats called Kayaks.  Nils had some skill in carving wood and stone, and could write in the Runic script of Elfdal.  In the long evenings when winds from the cave of the Great Bear buffeted the low huts, he taught Thorolf and Anders what he knew, and talked with the Skroelings.  But none of them understood the runes of the Wind-wife.  Their speech was quite different.

Spring came with brief, hot sunshine, and the creeping birches budded on the pebbly shore.  Encouraged by the reports from Greenland, new colonists ventured out, and house-building went on briskly.  One day Thorolf was summoned to Knutson’s headquarters.

“Erlandsson,” began the Chevalier, “they say that you have information about Vinland[3] and the Skroelings there, from an old woman who lived among them.  What can you tell me?”

Thorolf told the story of the Wind-wife.  Knutson looked interested but doubtful.

“I have talked with the oldest colonists,” he said, “and they know nothing of any Skroelings but those hereabouts.  They say also that Vinland is hard to come at.  Boats venturing south return with tales of heavy winds, dense fogs and dangerous cliffs and skerries—­or do not return at all.  One was caught and crushed in the ice, and the crew were found on the floe half starved and gnawing bits of hide.  In the sagas of Vinland the Skroelings are spoken of as fierce and treacherous.  To hold such a land would need a strong hand.  The old woman may have forgotten—­or the stories may be those of her own people.”

Thorolf shook his head.  “Nay, my lord.  She was not a forgetful person—­and the language is neither Lapp nor Finn.”

“She was very old, you say?”

“I think so.  I do not know how old.”

“Old people sometimes confuse what they have heard with what they have seen.  But I shall remember what you have said.”

“If he had known the Wind-wife,” said Nils when told of this conversation, “he would have no doubt.”