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Havelok The Dane written by Charles Whistler

C >> Charles Whistler >> Havelok The Dane




And the gathering word was, "Come, for the horn of the king is sounding."

Then Sigurd said, "Speak to the people, my king, and all is done."

So Havelok smiled, and lifted his voice, and spoke.

"Stand by me, friends, as steadfastly as you have fought against me, and
I shall be well content. And see, here is the queen for whom you will
fight also. There is not one of you but will play the man under her eyes."

Not many words or crafty, but men saw his face, and heard that which was
in the voice, and they needed no word of reward to come, but shouted as
we had shouted when the bride came home to Grimsby, and I thought that
with the shout the throne of Hodulf was rocking.


CHAPTER XX. THE OWNING OF THE HEIR.

Worn out we were with that long fight, and we all had some small wounds
--not much worth speaking of; and when these were seen to, we slept.
Only my brother Raven waked, and he sat through all the rest of the
short night on the high place, with his sword across his knees,
watching, for he blamed himself, overmuch as we all thought, for the
happenings of the attack.

"Trouble not, brother, for we were in the keeping of Biorn, and he could
not have dreamt that foes could follow us over seas. It was not for you
to be on guard."

These were Withelm's words, but for once Raven did not heed them.

"Would Grim, our father, have slept with a lee shore under him, leaving
a stranger to keep watch? That is not how he taught me my duty; and I
have been careless, and I know it. I should have thought of Griffin when
I saw the ship come in."

So he had his way, and the last that I saw ere my eyes closed was his
stern form guarding us; and when I woke he was yet there, motionless,
with far-off eyes that noted the little movement that I made, and
glanced at me to see that all was well.

In the grey of the morning the first of the chiefs to whom the arrow had
sped began to come in; but the jarl would not have Havelok waked, for he
was greatly troubled at the little wounds that had befallen this
long-waited guest. So the chiefs gathered very silently in the great
hall, and sat waiting while the light broadened and shone, gleam by
gleam, on their bright arms and anxious faces. It was not possible for
those who had not yet seen Havelok to be all so sure that it was indeed
he. They longed to see him, and to know him for the very son of Gunnar
for themselves.

Presently there were maybe twenty chiefs in the hall--men who had
fought beside Kirkeban, and men who had been boys with Havelok, and some
who had known his grandfather--and the jarl thought that it was time
that they had the surety that they needed, for time went on, and there
was certainty that Hodulf must hear of all this morning. One could not
expect that no man would earn reward by warning him.

So Sigurd went softly to the place where Havelok lay in the little guest
chamber that opened out of the inner room that was the jarl's own, and
he slid the boards that closed it apart gently and looked in to wake
him. But instead of doing that, he came back to the hall and beckoned
the chiefs, and they rose and followed him silently. And when they went
Raven went also, without a word, that he might be near his charge while
these many strangers spoke with him.

Now Sigurd stood at the spot where the little shifting of the sliding
board made it possible to see within the chamber, and one by one the
chiefs came and peered through the chink for a moment, and stood aside
for the next. And it was wondrous to see how each man went and looked
with doubt or wonder or just carelessly, and then turned away with a
great light of joy on his face and a new life in the whole turn and sway
of the body.

It was dark in the chamber, save for the dim spaces under the eaves that
let in the sweet air from the sea to the sleepers. But from somewhere
aloft, where the timbering of the upper walls toward the east had
shrunk, so that there was a little hole that faced the newly-risen sun,
came the long shaft of a sunbeam that pierced the darkness like a
glorious spear, and lit on the mighty shoulder of Havelok that lay bare
of covering, and on the white hand of Goldberga that was across it. And
on the one they saw the crimson bent-armed cross that was the mark of
the line whence he and his father had sprung, and on the other glowed
and flashed the blood-red stone of the ring of Eleyn the queen. And
round that circle of sunshine was light enough for the chiefs to see
those two noble faces, and they were content.

"Gunnar's son," said one old chief: "but were he only the son of Grim,
for those twain would I die."

So the warriors crept back to the hall silently as they had come; and
now they went out to their men and told them that all doubt had gone,
and along the road that led to Hodulf's town the jarl sent mounted men
to watch for his coming. And always fresh men were pouring in, and among
them went the chiefs who had seen Havelok, and told them the news.

Now it was not long before there was a gathering of all the chiefs in
the hall of Sigurd, that they might break their fast, and then they saw
Havelok as he led in the princess to meet them. He stood on the high
place in his arms, and a shout of greeting went up; and when it was
over, Sigurd asked him to tell all that had happened to him; and he did
that in as few words as might be, for he was no great speaker, though
what he did say was always to the point, and left little to be asked.

And when he had ended, there rose up a grey-headed old chief, and said,
"Give this warrior the horn of Gunnar, that we may hear him wind it. I
would not say that unless I were sure that he was the right man to have it."

Now I stood beside Havelok, and while Sigurd went from the hall to some
treasure chamber to get this that had been asked for, I said to him,
"Mind you the day when we met Ragnar. and a call came into your dream?
Wind that call now; for, if I am not wrong, it will be welcome to those
who knew your father."

"I mind the day but not the call. I have never remembered it since," he
said, and I was sorry.

Sigurd brought the horn, and it was a wondrous one, golden and heavy. It
seemed to be a hunting horn, not very long, and little curved, but from
end to end it was wrought with strange figures of men and beasts in
rings that ran round it.

"Have you seen this before?" asked Sigurd wistfully, and looking into
Havelok's face as he gave it into his hand.

One could feel that men waited his answer, and it came slowly.

"Ay, friend, I am sure that I have, but I cannot yet say when or where.
I am sure that it is not the first time that I have had it in my hand."

And as he said this, Havelok's face flushed a little, and his brow
wrinkled as if he tried to bring back the things of that which he had
thought his dream for so long.

It would seem that in the years there had grown up a tale that this was
a magic horn, which none but the very son of Gunnar could wind, and to
the chiefs who saw Havelok now for the first time this was a test to
prove him. But all knew that the words he spoke of it were proof enough,
for a pretender would have said plainly that it had been Gunnar's, and
that he knew it. I think that Sigurd was wise in what he did next, for
he set another horn in my brother's hand, and asked him the same
question; and at this Havelok looked for a moment and shook his head.

"I have not seen that one before, nor one like it. I am sure that I have
seen this, or its fellow."

At that the faces that watched brightened, for there was no doubt in the
way that Havelok spoke; and then the old chief who had asked for the
horn said, "That--'The horn of the king is sounding'--was the
gathering word of the night that has brought us here, and long have we
waited for it. Let Havelok wind his father's horn, that we may hear it
once again."

Then Havelok set it to his lips, and at once the call that he had
remembered came back to him, and clear and sweet and full of longing its
strange notes rang under the arched roof, unfaltering until the last;
and then over him came the full remembrance of all that it had been to
him, and he turned away from the many eyes and sank on the high seat,
and set his head in his arms on the table, that men might not see that
he needs must weep; and Goldberga stepped a little before him, and set
her hand on his, for I think that she knew the loneliness that came on him.

Yet he was not alone in his sorrow, for down in the hall were men to
whom the lost call brought back the memory of a bright young king riding
to his home, and calling the son whom he loved with the call that he had
made for him alone; and they saw the fair child running from the hall,
and the mother following more slowly with smiles of welcome; and they
saw the grim courtmen, who looked on and were glad; and they minded how
they had lifted the boy to the war saddle; and their eyes grew hot with
tears also, and they had no need to be ashamed.

And as men stood motionless, with the last notes of the wild horn yet
ringing in their ears, there drifted a shadow across the days, and, lo!
beside Havelok, with his hand on his shoulder, stood the form of Gunnar
the king for a long moment, bright as any one of us who lived, in the
morning sunlight, and his face was full of joy and of hope and promise
for the time to come. And then he passed, but as he faded from us his
hand was on the hand of Goldberga that clasped her husband's, as though
he would wed them afresh there on the high place of his friend's hall.

Now there went a sigh of wonder among the chiefs, and Havelok looked up
as if he followed the going of one whom he would not lose, and I know
that he saw Gunnar after he was unseen to us.

"Surely," he said, "surely that was my father who was here?"

And Sigurd answered, "With your own call you called him, and he was here."

But now the last lurking doubt was gone, and there was no more delay,
for the chiefs crowded with shouts of joy to the high place, and they
knelt to Havelok and hailed him as king then and there; and so they led
him to the great door of the hall, and the mightiest of them raised him
high on a wide shield before all the freemen who waited on the green
that is round the jarl's house, and they cried, "Skoal to Havelok the king!"

And there was in answer the most stirring shout that a man may hear--
the shout of a host that hail the one for whom they are content to die.

That was the first day of the reign of Havelok the king; and now there
were two kings in the land, and one was loved as few have been loved,
and the other was hated. And one was weak in men, as yet, while the
other was strong.

Now Sigurd bade all those who were present gather in solemn Thing, that
they might make Havelok king indeed; and that was a gathering of all the
best in our quarter of the land, so that all would uphold what they had
done. And when they were gathered in the great hall in due order, the
doors were set wide open, and outside the freemen who followed the
chiefs sat in silence to see what they might and hear.

Then swore Havelok to keep the ancient laws and customs, and to do
even-handed justice to all men, and to be bound by all else that a good
king should hold by. Sometimes these oaths are not kept as well as they
might be, but I was certain that here was one who would keep them.

Thereafter Sigurd brought forth a crown that he had had made hastily by
his craftsmen from two gold arm rings, and they set it on Havelok's
head, and hailed him as king indeed; and one by one the chiefs came and
swore all fealty to him, beginning with Sigurd, and ending with a boy of
some seventeen winters, who looked at the king he bent before as though
he was Thor himself.

Then they would have had Havelok forth to the people at once; but he
bade them hearken for a moment, and said, taking Goldberga by the hand,
"Were it not for this my wife, I do not think that I had been here
today, and without her I am nothing. Now I am king by your word, and I
think that I might bid you take her as queen. But I had rather that she
was made queen by your word also, that whither I live or fall in the
strife that is to come, you may fight for her."

At that there was a murmur of praise, and all agreed that she should be
crowned at once. So Havelok set the crown on her head while the chiefs
in one voice swore to uphold her through good and ill, as though she
were Havelok himself.

Then said Havelok, "Now have you taken her for queen for her own sake,
and I will tell you a thing that has not been heard here as yet. On this
throne sits the queen of two lands, and there shall come a day when you
and I shall set your lady on that other throne which is hers by right.
King's daughter she is, for Ethelwald of the East Angles was her father,
and out of her right has she been kept by Alsi of Lindsey, her evil
kinsman."

At that men were glad, for great is the magic of kingly descent. And
thereupon that old warrior who had bidden Havelok sound the horn said,
"We have heard of Ethelwald the good king, and of this Alsi moreover,
and we know men who have seen both, and also Orwenna, the mother of our
own queen here. I followed your father across the seas in the old days,
and I seem to hear his voice again as you speak to us. And I saw him--
ay, I saw him yonder even now, and I am content. When the time comes
that for the sake of Goldberga you will gather a host and cross the
'swan's path,' I will not hold back, if you will have me."

There was spoken the mind of all that company, and they were not
backward to say so. For in the heart of the Dane is ever the love of the
sea, and of the clash of arms on a far-off strand that comes after
battle with wind and wave.

Very bravely did Goldberga thank the chiefs for their love to her
husband and herself in a few words that were all that were needed to
bind the hearers to her, so well and truly were they chosen. And she
said that if the Anglian land was to be won it was for Havelok and not
for herself altogether, and she added, "Here we have spoken as if
already Hodulf was overthrown, and it is good that we are in such brave
heart. Yet this has been foretold to me, and I am sure that there will
be no mishap."

Then Sigurd said, "What gift do we give our queen, now that she has come
among us?"

But Goldberga replied, "If it is the custom that one shall be given, I
will mind you of the promise hereafter, when Anglia is won, and you and
I are Havelok's upholders on that throne. There is one thing that I will
ask then, that a wrong may be righted."

"Nay, but we will give you some gift now, and then you shall ask what
you will also."

"You have given me more than I dared hope," she said, "even the brave
hearts and hands that have hailed us here. I can ask no more. Only
promise to give me one boon when I need it, and I am happy."

Then they said, "What you will, and when you will, Goldberga, the queen.
There is naught that you will ask amiss."

Now they showed Havelok to the warriors as crowned king, and I need not
tell how he was greeted. And after that we all went back into the hall
to speak of the way in which we were to meet Hodulf.

Havelok would have a message sent to him, bidding him give up the land
in peace.

"It may be that thus we shall save the sadness of fighting our own
people, though, indeed, they love the playground of Hodulf. He is an
outlander, and perhaps he may think well to make terms with us."

Some said that it was of no use, but then Havelok answered that even so
it was good to send a challenge to him.

"For the sake of peace we will do this, though I would rather meet him
in open fight, for I have my father to avenge."

Now I rose up and said, "Let me go and speak with him, taking Withelm as
my counsellor. For I know all the story, and that will make him sure
that he has the right man to fight against. I will speak with him in
open hall, and more than he shall learn how he thought to slay Havelok."

All thought that this was good, and I was to go at once. It was but a
few hours' ride, as has been said, to his town, and the matter was as
well done with.

So they gave me a guard of twenty of the jarl's courtmen, and in half an
hour I was riding northward on my errand. And to say the truth I did not
know if it was certain that I should come back, for Hodulf was hardly to
be trusted.

I did wait to break my fast, and that was all, for I had no mind to
spend the night on the road back from the talk that I should have had;
but though I wasted so little time, the people were already beginning to
prepare for rejoicing in their own way with games of all sorts and with
feasting in the open. I saw, as we rode down the street, the piles of
firewood that were to roast oxen whole, and near them were the butts
that held ale for all comers. There were men who set up the marks for
the archers, and others who staked out the rings for the wrestling and
sword play. And as we left the town we met two men who led a great brown
bear by a ring in his nose, for the baiting. I was sorry for the poor
beast, but the men called him "Hodulf," already, and I thought that a
good sign in its way.

Another good sign, and that one which could not be mistaken, was to see
the warriors coming in by twos and threes as the news reached them. They
were dotted along the roads from all quarters, and across the heaths we
saw the flash of the arms of more.

And ever as they met us they hailed us with, "What cheer, comrades? Is
the news true? Is Havelok come to his own?" and the like, and they would
hurry on, rejoicing in the answer that they had.

But I will say that presently, when we passed a stretch of wild moor
where we saw no man, the same was going on towards the town of Hodulf;
for if the news came to a village, some would be for the king that was,
and other and older men for the king that might be. Yet all asked that
question; and more than once, when they heard the reply, there would be
a halt and a talk, and then the men would turn and cast in their lot
with the son of Gunnar, hastening to him with more eager steps than had
taken them to Hodulf.


CHAPTER XXI. THE TOKEN OF SACK AND ANCHOR.

It seemed only the other day that I had passed over the well-known ways,
and I showed Withelm the hollow where Grim had met with the king and
taken his precious burden from him. Then we passed along the wild shore,
and the linnets were singing and the whinchats were calling as ever, and
the old mounds of the heroes of the bygone were awesome to me now as
long ago, when I looked at them standing lonesome along the shore with
only the wash of the waves to disturb them. And so we came to the town
at high noon, and already there was the bustle of a gathering host in
the place, for the news had fled before us.

They had built a new and greater hall in place of that which had been
burned; and there sat Hodulf with his chiefs, wondering and planning,
and maybe waiting for more certain news of what had happened. Not long
would they wait for that now.

We rode to the door, and one came to meet us with words of welcome,
thinking that we were men who came to the levy that was gathering; but
his words stayed when I asked to be taken to the presence of Hodulf, as
I came with a message from Havelok Gunnarsson the king.

The man, chamberlain or steward, or whatever he was, stared at me, and
said in a low voice, "It is true then?"

"True as I am Radbard Grimsson, who helped Havelok to fly from hence."

"Unwelcome will you be, for Hodulf is in no good mood," the man said. "I
hardly think it safe for you to trust yourself with him."

"Then," said I, "open the door of the hall, and I will go in with my
men, and see what he says."

"Well, that will be bad for me, but I have a mind to see Havelok."

So I told Withelm to come at my side, and bade half the courtmen follow
us closely, and when they were inside to see that the door was not
barred after us on any pretence. The rest would bide with the horses
outside.

Then we loosed the peace strings of our weapons, and in we went, quietly
and in order; and the chiefs turned to look at us, thinking us more of
themselves. Hodulf sat on his place on the dais, and there were
thirty-one others with him, sitting on the benches that were set along
the walls. Withelm counted them.

Then the door was closed, and the man with whom I had spoken set his
back against it, but it was not barred; and I went forward to the steps
of the high place, and stood before Hodulf.

"Well, what now?" he said, seeing that I was a stranger.

"First of all, I ask for safe conduct from this hall as a messenger from
king to king."

"That you have, of course," he answered. "What is your message?"

It did not seem that he thought of Havelok at all, but rather that I
came from some king to whom he had sent. There were two living not so
far off. I thought that there was no good in beating about the bush, for
such an errand as mine had better he told boldly. So I spoke out for all
to hear.

"This is the word of Havelok, son of Gunnar the king, to Hodulf of
Norway, who sits in his place. Home he has come to take his own, and now
he would tell you that the time has come that he is able to rule the
kingdom for himself."

"And what if he has?" said Hodulf, without the least change of face, as
if he had been expecting this, and nothing more or less.

But if he was quiet, the chiefs had heard my words in a very different
way. Some had leaped up, and others bent forward, to hear the answer to
my words the better. I heard one or two laugh; but there were some on
whose faces seemed to be written doubt and anxiety. I think that some
would have spoken, for Hodulf held up his hand for silence, and looked
to me for answer.

"It will be well for you to give up the throne to him, making such terms
as you may," I said.

"That is a fair offer," said Hodulf, quite unmoved, to all seeming, but
looking at me in a way that told me how his anger was held back by main
force, as it were; "but how am I to know that this one who sends so bold
a message is the real Havelok? I am not a fool that I should give up my
throne to the first who asks it. Doubtless you bring some token that you
come from the very son of Gunnar."

"It is right that you should ask one, and also that you should have one
that there can be no mistaking," I said. "This is it. By the token of
the sack and the anchor I bid you know that Havelok sends me to you."

At that the face of Hodulf became ashy grey beneath the tan of wind and
sea, and I saw that his hand clutched the hilt of his sword so that the
knuckles of his fingers grew white. He had never thought to hear of that
deed again, and he knew that he had to deal with the one whom he had
thought dead. Some of the young chiefs in the hall laughed at that
token, but he flashed a glance at them which stayed the laugh on their lips.

"I know not what you mean," he said, altogether staggered.

"It is right," I said, "that if the token is not plain I should make it
so. It is but fair also to the chiefs who are here."

Then he stayed me. True it is that old sin makes new shame.

"I will take it as enough," he said hastily. "I mind some old saying of
the kind. Ay, that is it--a hidden king and a voyage across the sea.
It is enough."

"Not enough," said a chief in the hall close to the high seat. "Let this
warrior say what he means plainly."

There were many who agreed to this, and I did not wait for Hodulf any
longer. I told them who I was, and then showed them why that token was
to be held enough for any man; and as I spoke, there were black looks
toward the high seat among the older men. As for Hodulf, he sat with a
forced smile, and seemed to listen indulgently, as to a well-made tale.

And after that the matter was out of my hands, for the same chief who
had asked for the tale came and stood by my side, and he faced Hodulf
and spoke.

"For twelve years have I served you as king, and now I know that I have
wasted the faith I gave you. What became of the sisters of Havelok?
Answer me that, Hodulf, or I will go and ask their brother concerning
whom you have lied to me."

"Go and ask him," answered Hodulf, biting his lips; "go and hear more
lies. Who can know the son of Gunnar when he sees him?"

"That is answered out of your own mouth," said the chief. "Is Sigurd a
fool that he should hail the first man who asks him to do so?"

And from beside me Withelm answered also, "Maybe it is a pity that
Griffin of Wales was slain last night in trying to kill Havelok. He knew
him, and I have heard that he came here to warn Hodulf that his time was
come."

Hodulf's face grew whiter when he heard that; but it was what he needed,
as some sort of excuse to let loose his passion.

White and shaking with wrath and fear, he rose up and he cried,
"Murdered is Griffin! Ho, warriors, let not these go forth!"

Whereon the old chief lifted his voice also, "Ho, Gunnar's men! Ho, men
who love the old line! To Grim's son, ahoy!"

And he drew his sword, snapping the thongs that had bound it to the
sheath, so manfully tugged he at them in his wrath, and there was a rush
of men to us, and another to Hodulf.