“ Thor! We shall both go free! Turn back! Yonder's a cranny in the cliff--turn back!"
"No, Olvir; I could not climb!" gasped the count, and he pointed to the splintered shaft of a javelin, fast in his side.
"You 're wounded, friend!"
"Where's Roland?"
"Slain,--slain by the swart dogs! His body lies on the wall crest. Before it fall the last of the horsemen. I alone have fled."
"And I alone come from the Vascon hail. I alone live; and now-- But you, hero; you 're yet unharmed; hasten up out of the bloody pit. To the king--to the king!" ”

“ I will go gladly, lord king; only, take from me the shame of your dooming, and bless the parting liegeman with a king's gift,--the hand of his betrothed."
"By the King--"
"Hear me, dear lord, I beg you! by the sword in your hand, by this ring on my wrist, gift of Hildegarde--of Hildegarde who so loved my little princess!--I swear to you, dear lord, that I had no part--"
"Do not heed him, King of the Franks!" hissed Fastrada. "Look upon this cruel blade, my lord,--the knife which pierced the feeble greybeard! What justice for the murderer? What mercy for the traitor? ”

“ Listen, Olvir. Your wits are keen as your sword; you have eyes. You shall look into my heart and see what I have set before me as the aim of my lifework. If when you have looked, you would still be faring, I shall not urge you to stay."
"Beware, lord king," growled Rudulf. "Would you tell the riddles of your kingcraft into the ears of this heathen Dane?"
"Silence, old wolf!" commanded Karl. "Who has better proved his trustiness than the Count of Vascon Land? But your warning comes in good season. I speak with Count Olvir alone." ”

“ Beware, wicked maiden! For your naughtiness, you shall be given in marriage--"
"To a foolish prattler," interrupted Rothada, with a quick return of gaiety, and, half stooping, she clasped Olvir's head between her white hands. "What a hero is this for a king's daughter to wed,--a thrall bound by the collar of a maiden!"
"Many a king would gladly kneel where I kneel, dear heart."
"No, no, you foolish hero. Few are so blind as to see beauty where there is none. I am very happy that you love me, dearest; yet I wonder at your love when I think of the many beautiful maidens with Hildegarde. ”

“ Shall I loose an arrow at the swart hound? He is like Earl Kasim as two peas."
"Hold!" commanded Olvir, and he ascended quickly to the parapet, Floki and Liutrad at his heels. As they gained the top and leaned with him over the battlements, they saw Kasim Ibn Yusuf, branch in hand, riding up the steep ascent. Poisoner or not, there could be no doubt as to the man's boldness.
"Thor smite me!" gasped Liutrad. "Zora!--he rides Zora!"
"It is a taunt," croaked Floki. "None but a fated man would venture such a deed. Let me drive an arrow through his hide, and the mare is yours again, ring-breaker." ”

“ You, a Northman, false to your folk and your gods, have set the heel of a king upon the necks of a free people. It is fit that you should slay the leader of a broken host. Strike quickly, else Thor will smite you with his hammer."
But Olvir stepped back, and met the scornful look of the Saxon with a grave smile.
"Hear me, son of Wanekind!" he rejoined. "In the North we listen to witness on both sides before the dooming. You have yet to learn what is in my mind."
"I had rather talk with Odin! We of the forest have but one tongue with which to speak to traitors; it is of steel." ”

“ Count Olvir will tell Count Rudulf that those skaters were himself, the queen, the king's daughter, and others."
"So far the tale is true," assented Olvir.
"No less what follows," retorted Hardrat; "only, I wish it were clearer to the eye of my memory. I see the gnarled oak stems race past on either side as we sweep down the blue road of the frost-giant. Borne up by the spell of her witch-ring, the maiden at my side skims along with magic swiftness. Hardly can I, a skilled ice-runner, keep the pace. But when we glide in the depths of the winter forest, the maiden makes pretence of a sprain. ”

“ The sayings of the White Christ are hard to live. I follow such as lie within my strength. In time I may gain strength to follow more; but he who has been reared to manhood with a bared sword in his hand is slow to forget the joy of battle. At the least, I shall never fetter the wit which God has given me, nor stoop from my freedom to the yoke of your church. If you Christian priests can read the words of the White Christ, so can I. But I would not contend. You have come with the lamp of learning to lighten the gloom of our lord king's broad realm. ”

“ When they were beyond ear-shot, Karl turned to the Northman, his face aglow with inward light.
"Again, Olvir, I call you friend," he began. "It is a precious word in the heart of a king; for it is seldom he can so name any man. I bear in mind how even at the first, at Casseneuil, you uttered words that were bitter, yet wholesome. I were a witling if I failed to value at the full one who has proved himself a just ruler,--one who dares speak his heart's thought in the face of a king, recking nothing of the king's disfavor. ”

“ Olvir!--my earl--my bright one!" he cried; and as Liutrad sprang in and halted the red mare at the edge of the gathering, Floki's long arm caught her rider from the saddle. But it was Rothada who took the king's flagon out of the cupbearer's hand and ran to place it at the lips of the Northman.
The fiery wine lent new strength to the fainting messenger. He drew away from Floki and faced the king.
"Vengeance!--vengeance, lord king!" he gasped. "Slain is the Hero--my brother--and all his host! I alone come forth alive--I alone--to call for vengeance!" ”

“ Then Lupus glided away, and Count Amalwin thrust forward a slim, hazel-eyed young warrior, whose firm-set jaw alone saved his delicate face from girlish softness.
"Here, hero," called out the Saxon; "you have wrestled with Rudulf; here now is one, half a monk, who will strive to match you in book-craft,--Worad, Count of Metz."
"Not I, hero!" protested the young man. "Already Liutrad has worsted me. If the man be so learned, how dare I meet the master? Rather, measure your lore with Abbot Fulrad."
"You would set me against all the learning of Frank Land," said Olvir, smiling. ”

“ Tell me, little vala, would you say no if the king, your father, gave you leave to sail down Rhine Stream with your sea-wolves?"
"If my father bade me go, dear hero--"
"Only one way could you go, child,--as bride of their count," broke in Fastrada, sharply.
"And so it shall be," rejoined Olvir.
Fastrada did not raise her eyes, but her jewelled buskin tapped softly on the dais.
"Foolish children!" she murmured. "You will spoil all when the future is brightest with promise. Would it not seem ungracious, Olvir, to so soon beg another favor? You have yet to fulfil the terms of your betrothal." ”

“ Have I not also heard you say that Lord Otkar was the craftiest as well as the strongest of warriors?"
"He was a foe worthy a king," answered Karl. "Would that the hero were now beside my throne, with his grey wit and mighty axe! Yet I should not complain. Here is one whom he has reared in all his lore and wisdom."
"The lore, but not the wisdom, lord king," replied Olvir. "He could give me the one; the other no man may impart." ”

“ In a twinkling the Swabian had whirled young Karl past the writhing, snarling brute, and all were echoing the boy's shrill cry of triumph. Though the wolf-pack yelled at their very heels, every hungry fang was now behind them.
"God be praised!" gasped Hildegarde. "The worst is past."
"We go free!" echoed Gerold, panting yet joyful; "we go free, out of their very jaws! Let the cheated fiends follow in their place!"
But Olvir was silent, and his glance shifted uneasily from the horde of yelling pursuers to the maiden at his side. ”

“ The grandson of Karl the Hammer was gathering his might to strike the pagans such another blow as had shattered their host on the plains of Touraine.
The royal pavilion stood in the heart of the camp, close to the river's bank. Above its peak floated the gold-bright folds of the three-forked standard, and the scores of messengers that came and went told that Karl the King was busied with the affairs of his vast realm. Those who passed in saw first a striking assemblage of the king's liegemen,--long-robed priests, counts in full war-gear, and court officials, ornate with silks and jewels. ”

“ The Magian edged a little nearer the thickset Thuringian.
"The word will soon come," he echoed in a trembling voice.
"And we crouch here like witless oafs," rejoined Fastrada. "Come; there's nothing to betray us but our own faces. Let us go out and make merry with the others."
"Well spoken, daughter of Rudulf! This time our great plot has failed; yet our enemy will soon have cause enough for grief. We will go out and rejoice at the tidings which shall soon blacken his merrymaking. Come. The good wine has put heart into me," answered Hardrat, and he stooped to grasp Kosru by the arm. ”

“ Many could tell you what little love I bear the Christian priests, and I am not one to rejoice at the growing serfdom among the Franks; yet I see that both Frank priest and Frank king would bring to your land more than they would take away,--your boasted freedom is the freedom of the wolf-pack, without order or true bond. This bitter day has proved that all the forces of your forest tribes cannot hope to check the power of the Frank. Why, then, drag on with a hopeless war?--why bring upon your land fire and steel and famine?"
"I would rather choose death than thraldom," rejoined Wittikind. ”

“ As it was, the blow beat a great dint in the gilded steel and sent the sea-king reeling backward, stunned and blinded. A dozen vikings sprang between to shield him, but Roland's sword dropped at their feet. Faint from loss of blood, and utterly spent by that last great blow, the count swayed forward. Darkness shut out from him the ring of shouting heathen. He fell swooning upon the heap of corpses.
"A champion! a champion! The Frank has won his freedom!" cried the vikings, and they pressed about to raise the fallen warrior. ”

“ Olvir smiled at her as he would have smiled at Rothada, and, without turning, he answered the king steadily: "I come of high blood, lord king; also, I am a free Northman,--I bow to no man. But the greatest of all may well bow to holiness. We have a saying in the North, 'A good woman is near the gods.'"
"That is a wise saw, however heathenish. But give heed to our queen; she has something to say to you."
"I would give thanks for the safe bringing of this little maiden," remarked Hildegarde. "Only a warrior of noblest heart could have done such a deed." ”

“ Though the blast struck quartering in the faces of the skaters, the brunt of its force was broken by the king's body; so that the others, dragged on by his bull-strength and Olvir's wiry vigor, held to a pace which lost none of the distance they had gained on the wolf-pack before the storm burst.
"Thor!" shouted Liutrad, hoarse but joyful. "We cheat both werwolves and storm-fiends! We shall soon be sitting by the glowing hearth!"
"God grant it!" replied Karl. "Yet you crow too soon, lad. There's a turn ahead will bring us into the teeth of the wind. Even now we should be swerving." ”