The North Star/Chapter 12
XII
THE CRUISE OF THE “ALRUNA”
Full sailed upon the stormy North Sea and borne by the strong March wind, the “Alruna” and the “Aastrid” rode towards the shores of Norway. At the prow of the “Alruna” sat Olaf and Thore Klakka. Not far away was a group of monks,—Bishop Sigurd, whom Olaf had persuaded to come with him, and four Irish priests. Bishop Sigurd was a Norseman who had been sent years before to England to become a Christian priest. The German missionaries then laboring in Norway, found the lad a promising convert, and to Dunstan, the abbot of Glastonbury, he was sent. Bishop Sigurd was a learned prelate, and had been one of King Edgar’s advisers when the monarch recalled Dunstan. When his step-mother’s hate, through her hired assassin’s knife, found King Edward the Martyr, at Corfu Castle, and the weak King Ethelred reigned, Bishop Sigurd was glad to leave England. Then, too, he yearned to bring the faith of Christ to his own land. So when the “Alruna” rested for a few days on the English coast, messengers of King Olaf brought Bishop Sigurd to join the priests already embarked.
Olaf’s heart beat high as he glanced around the ship. No hint of Thore’s treachery disturbed him and his hopes were too lofty to be shattered by any suggestions of Thorgills. For the scald had the artist’s keen perception of men, and he liked not the overweening confidence which Thore had inspired in Olaf.
Finding the king seemingly deaf to his suspicions, the scald had confided in Bishop Sigurd.
“Thou dost think, Thorgills,” the bishop said, “that we are in a perilous venture, and that Thore means not fairly to King Olaf, and tells him not truth when he promises him the allegiance of all Norway?”
“Look thou, my lord Bishop. Thore has stood ever close to Jarl Haakon. Is it to be thought that this overlord will seek out our Olaf to give him his own place? And mark thee, Jarl Haakon is not of the royal line.”
“It is a truth, Thorgills. Our Olaf’s father, Trygge Olafsson, was the grandson of Harold Fairhaired, whom all the Norsemen love. He is, too, of the race of Haakon the Good, who strove to bring the faith of Christ to our Norraway. But Jarl Haakon is but the son of Sigurd of Hlade, a jarl that was never an overlord. I know not what it means. Sometimes our good fortune is wrought by our very enemies. Now Thorgills, I have a strong confidence in the future of Olaf. He is so valiant, so true to the Christ, and his people love him so greatly.”
“It may be thou art right, my lord.” Thorgills was looking gloomily at Olaf who was talking eagerly to Thore Klakka. “I love my king, as I have never loved man nor woman.”
The scald was speaking almost to himself. “If yon Thore means him evil, and if he bring him aught of harm, I will tear out the strings of my harp and take up the sword. I will sing no more sagas until I play the notes in the blood of Thore Klakka.”
“Softly! softly! my son,” the gentle bishop answered. “There is One over all of us, over thee, and over Thore, and watching over our Olaf.” He touched the crucifix upon his breast. “If our Olaf’s hour has come, not the treachery of Thore, if such he means, can put it off. God will find a way. I have seen many things among the Saxons, my son. Many lessons of the vanity of all human greatness, have I learned. I have learned too that every Christian must meet his season of persecution, even as the Master met His. When I was a boy, sitting at the feet of my beloved teacher, Dunstan, the holy Abbot of Glastonbury, I saw him driven from his place at the side of the wayward young King Edwy, whom he would fain guide in the path of royal virtue, by the power of the wicked woman Ethelvine, who ruled the king’s life. And when that Abbot Dunstan chided Edwy, he suffered for his zeal almost with his life, as did John the Baptist. And when God was weary of their crimes, he raised up the Mercians to revolt and Ethelvine was removed from the earth. Then after long combats with his brother, Edwy ruled over a reunited England. In the peace was Dunstan remembered in his banishment, and I left him the honored Archbishop of Canterbury. All in God’s own time, my son. The wicked have their little hour, and no man’s power against his brother is greater than God permits. Our Olaf may find even all that Thore has promised, though the promise was not given in full faith.”