He turned sharply to the man and asked,—­

“How came you by this?  Who sent it to me?”

“That last I cannot answer,” replied the man.  “This only I know, that the night before the Jemtland people attacked us, a man came to the door of the house where I lodged, and giving me this said, ‘Fly, war is afoot,’ and with that he left as suddenly as he came.  I aroused my master Arne, and one or two more, and thanks to the warning, we escaped the fate of our comrades.  That is all I can tell you.”

The message made a sharp impression on Estein’s mind.  “An old man, a maiden, and a spell,” he repeated to himself.  He racked his brains, but he could think of no one in that remote country who would be likely to send such a message.  It seemed to him to have an almost supernatural import, and again he said to himself, “An old man, a maiden, and a spell.”  Then suddenly he took a resolution, and turning from the messenger stepped into the crowd who surrounded the king.

Arne had just finished his tale.  There was a moment’s angry silence, and then the king glanced round the host of weather-beaten Vikings and high-born chiefs and cried,—­

“Who will punish these cowardly rebels of mine?”

A dozen voices instantly claimed the service.  Loudest of them all was that of Ketill, now married to a wealthy widow and a person of considerable importance, and the black-bearded Viking stepped forward as he spoke.

“Give me this service, king,” he said.  “I have lived at mine ease too long of late.  Laziness begets fat.”

There was a laugh at Ketill’s words, for his person had never been noted for its spareness.

The Viking frowned and exclaimed,—­

“Let those laugh who have tested my steel.”

“Well I know your bravery, Ketill,” began the king, “and there is no man—­”

At that instant the ring of men round him suddenly opened and Estein stood before his father.  His face was more animated than any had seen it for many a long day, and in a firm voice he said,- -

“I will lead this expedition.”

Steel rang on steel as every armed warrior there clashed his approval.  By all the gods whose names he could remember Earl Sigvald swore that the true Estein was come back, and King Hakon exclaimed joyfully,—­

“There speaks my son at last.  Prepare yourself then, Estein.  Ill tidings have been changed to good.”

“And you, Ketill,” said Estein, turning to his former companion, “will you come with me?”

“That will I,” answered Ketill.  “I want no braver leader.  But the gods curse me if we roast not a few score men this time, Estein.”

For two days there was a turmoil of preparation round Hakonstad, and on the third Estein’s two warships sailed down the fiord.  He had with him Helgi, Ketill, and a picked force; and as he stood on deck and watched the towering precipices slip by, and the white clouds drift over their rough rim of pines, his heart beat high.  The message of the Runes was ringing in his mind, and the spirit of roving and adventure boiling up again.