Dane

“ Dane had a private, practical sign for it, which, however, he had appropriated by theft—'the vision and the faculty divine.' That, doubtless, was a flattering phrase for his idea of his genius; the genius, at all events, was what he had been in danger of losing and had at last held by a thread that might at any moment have broken. ”

“ CHAPTER XII PLOTTERS IN COUNCIL Leaving Jean standing upon the shore, Dane settled down to work and headed the canoe for the main channel. His time of idleness was now over, and he knew that stern duty lay ahead. Although it was hard for him to go away from the girl he loved, yet the spirit of a new adventure thrilled his soul. It was a call, insistent, imperative, and never had he disobeyed the voice. To him danger was a tonic, and the great wild with all its mystery and uncertainty was his playground. His nature demanded activity, and the lure of something beyond was as breath to his being. ”

“ Breakfast over, the Colonel summoned the men of the settlement, and, guided by Dane, they went at once to the lake after the moose. Jean obtained her father's permission to accompany them, and she thoroughly enjoyed the trip. The men were like a crowd of boys just out of school, and the forest resounded with laughter and animated talk. The prospect of an abundance of game during the fall and winter elevated their spirits, and made them forget the days and weeks when food had been scarce. To them Dane was a Godsend, and they took him to their hearts and made him as one of themselves. ”

“ I never forgot the Daneman's skull; like the apparition of the viper in the sandy lane, it dwelt in the mind of the boy, affording copious food for the exercise of imagination. From that moment with the name of Dane were associated strange ideas of strength, daring, and superhuman stature; and an undefinable curiosity for all that is connected with the Danish race began to pervade me ”

“ He marries the beautiful widow of the late king, and labours to hold the balance even between Dane and native. As the years go by his new subjects come to be his best supporters, and England is England still, though a Dane sits on the throne.
A pagan born, he nevertheless becomes a zealous Christian, and many a fair monastery is reared and endowed by him. He strives to do justice to all men, and he pledges himself to rule according to the old and cherished law of the realm. One day, however, the fierce spirit within him suddenly flames up, and he slays with his own hand a soldier of his guard. ”

“ We will not follow him on his return to his northern home, to grieve over the extinction of his brilliant youth, and the deplorable end of his reign; but leave in our readers’ fancy the bright image of the gallant, light-hearted, kindly boy, who visited our English shores—a royal and beloved Dane—one hundred years ago. ”

“ From Denmark thunders Tordenskiol', Let each to Heaven commend his soul, Let each to Heaven commend his soul, And fly! 4 Path of the Dane to fame and might! Dark-rolling wave! Receive thy friend, who, scorning flight, Goes to meet danger with despite, Proudly as thou the tempest's might, Dark-rolling wave! And amid pleasures and alarms, And war and victory, be thine arms, And war and victory, be thine arms, My grave! ”

“ The busy waters were alive with a multitudinous traffic from Russia and Germany and Sweden and Denmark itself, and the fishing vessels that abound along these coasts. Here and there villas and fine country houses peeped out among the trees. The Sund is the joy of the Dane. He loves it, and the stranger who looks upon it does not forget it. One then understands why the Danish poets have sung so loudly of it. ”

“ He will at times be induced to forget that he is at a distance from his native land and from his nearest relatives; for the highly-striking agreement between the character of the English and that of their Scandinavian kinsmen causes a Dane to imagine that he is still among his own friends, in the home which he has long since left. ”

“ Dane looked at her with a smile.
'I told you I wanted your help,' he said. 'That is something I have not thought of.'
'I am glad!'She could not say another word, for sheer pleasure, and those were as quiet as three mice.
'I am but making a beginning as yet, Hazel,' Dane went on. 'The first obvious things it is easy to get hold of. This for one: every child shall go half the day to school. I will not have them on any other understanding. There are few adult scholars at present; their number will grow. ”

“ Till a feeble cheer the Dane
To our cheering sent us back;—
Their shots along the deep slowly boom:—
Then ceased—and all is wail,
As they strike the shatter'd sail;
Or, in conflagration pale,
Light the gloom.—
Out spoke the victor then,
As he hail'd them o'er the wave;
"Ye are brothers! ye are men!
And we conquer but to save:—
So peace instead of death let us bring:
But yield, proud foe, thy fleet,
With the crews, at England's feet,
And make submission meet
To our king."—
Then Denmark bless'd our chief,
That he gave her wounds repose ”

“ What most prompted this reflection was the degree in which, after a while, Dane had a consciousness of company. After that talk with the good Brother on the bench there were other good Brothers in other places—always in cloister or garden some figure that stopped if he himself stopped and with which a greeting became, in the easiest way in the world, a sign of the diffused amenity. Always, always, however, in all contacts, was the balm of a happy ignorance. ”

“ He is, as you shall see, a cur fierce, jealous, implacable, and desperately wicked. He is hopelessly enamoured of the beautiful Zemire, who treats the attentions of this northern boor with scorn. What does the Dane do? He, of course, dissembles with such craft one would imagine he had forgotten the insults heaped upon him. Alas! the traitor is only biding his time. One day he finds Azor in the castle moat, looking fondly towards his lady’s nest. “Azor, follow me,” says the Dane. He obeyed, and followed with his tail hung pensively between his legs. What does the Dane then do? ”

“ A Dane travelling in England will everywhere find an unusually cordial reception. He will in general be regarded more as a countryman than as a foreigner, merely because he is a Dane. He will discover that the English, instead of having forgotten their kinsmen beyond the sea, with whom they were formerly united, feel themselves attracted to them by the ties of blood and friendship. He will continually hear complaints of the deplorable attitude which the policy of England assumed with regard to Denmark at the commencement of the present century ”

“ He is a Dane, and the doctor tells us has borne his illness and great pain with a quiet courage that has challenged the admiration of those about him—a courage born of simple faith, let us believe, a calm resting on an eternal foundation of peace. ”

“ The next day Dane and Pete left the settlement and headed up river. They started early and travelled hard. They were well aware that a storm was not far off, so Dane wished to be well up the Washademoak before the tempest burst. He knew of the band of Indians far inland, and there he hoped to find Jean. ”

“ Whether the Dane of the sixteenth century was yet the eloquent mollusk which we are perpetually encountering in modern Danish fiction is a question which, at this distance, it is hard to decide. The type, of course, is universal, and is to be found in all countries. ”

“ He came to my help again,' Dane pursued, 'when he saw I couldn't quite meet that, could at least only say that I wanted to think, wanted to cease, wanted to do the thing itself—the thing I was trying for, miserable me, and that thing only—and therefore wanted first of all really to see it again, planted out, crowded out, frozen out as it now so long had been. "I know what you want," he after a moment quietly remarked to me. "Ah, what I want doesn't exist!" ”

“ Dane chuckled, the miners roared with laughter and the big man rose to his feet and towered menacingly over the newcomer.
"You didn't happen to mean nothin' personal by that, did ye?"
Dane smiled. "Me? Personal? My goodness, no! I never get personal with grown men. It isn't respectful." ”

“ Moving through these streets is a quiet, soberly-attired population. Bigger than most foreigners, and with great roundness of muscle and size of bone, your Dane wants the dapper air of the Frenchman, or the solemnity of the Spaniard, while he is not so bearded or so dirty as the German. ”

“ Dane-king, thou hast lost thine honour thereby.”
The Dane-king so fitting an answer returned:
“Thy brother full richly his death had earned.
“When the great with sword can oppress the mean
The law is not worth a rotten bean.” ”

“ Dane led the Colonel slowly along, until presently an opening appeared before them.
"It is the lake," Dane whispered. "We must creep now to the edge of the woods, and keep ourselves well hidden."
Dropping upon their hands and knees, they worked their way along until they came right to the border of the forest. Here they stopped, and by the dim light of the morning they could see before them a band of men lying upon the shore, wrapped in their blankets. There were fifty or more, including Indians, and they were sound asleep. ”

“ The royal Dane might be a man of men, but the surging waves were not obedient unto his voice. King though he was, the tide was responseless as deaf adder to any charming of his, charmed he never so wisely, enjoined he never so straitly. What manner of man, then, but the Son of man? What manner of king but the King of kings?
The Dane might have enforced the lesson on his parasites by such a strain as that of a defeated monarch in Shakspeare:—
“Farewell king! ”

“ Canute the Dane was king of all the regions of the northwest of Europe. His kingdom embraced Denmark, England, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, and Cumberland. Such is the second wonderful period of Denmark’s history.
THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK.
Royal people, as well as “self-made men,” often undergo remarkable changes of fortune. No one, however high or low, is free from the accidents of this world. All men have surprises, either good or bad, in store for them. ”

“ And so this strangely constituted man went forth and spoke to the assembled multitude, who stood passively gazing at the distant conflagration.
"Now, Englishmen, a few words to you all. We shall have, I hope, to fight these Danes; and for the honour of our country must even quit ourselves like men. Why should not the Englishman be a match for the Dane? ay, more than a match for the cutthroat heathen? Here we stand on a rock with our defence secure; and here we will live or die in defence of our women and children. ”

“ It was the noontide heat, and two Danish warriors reclined under the shadow of an ancient beech, hard by the entrenched camp of the Danes, a few days after the arrival of Alfgar therein. Their spears lay idly on the grass, as if there were no foe to dread, and the land were their own ”

“ So that it is manifest, that the said William Bastard descended lineallie from Rollo the Pagan Dane, and was the sixte Duke of Normandie. The Danes were mightie stoute and tall men, proud and very lecherous, for the most parte red complexioned and red heared. They fought most of all with greate Halbards and great Pollaxes, and eache Lord Dane had his Man to carrie his Axe or Weapon after him, who also carried the like Weapon for himselfe, [2] the Brutaines called boye lleys yn Danes. ”

“ Zell Dane, the wife of Martin Dane, who held
Tollington Manor farm, was ten years wed.
Dane was an honest man by groom and horse,
Paid pew-rent and his losing wagers, thought
The British Empire lived at Westminster,
Stood by the State and rights of property,
Drank well, and knew the barmaids of a county.
He married Zell, and neither could have said
Why it was done. Ten years had gone since then,
And he was now a half forgotten habit,
She, some queer porcelain stuff beyond his knowing.
..... ”

“ Dane replied. "I told you that Pete would suddenly turn up with important news, and I was right. The rebels are stirring up trouble."
"But you must see daddy before you go," Jean said. "He will be greatly disappointed if you don't." ”

“ The name of Dane has in fact [Pg xv] for centuries been one of those convenient words which so often take the place of ideas and save the trouble and inconvenience of reasoning. Yet this theory of a Danish origin for nearly all native arts, though adopted without investigation, and fostered in defiance of evidence, has long ceased to be a mere popular error. It pervades both the Scottish and English Archæologiæ, and the great majority of works on every department of British antiquities, and has till recently proved a perpetual stumblingblock to the Irish antiquary. ”

“ The law shall have the course it ought.
p. 24“And since thou so long on this matter doth prate,
Thou shalt suffer the very same fate.”
To warriors nine the Dane-king cries:
“Bind ye Sir Plog before my eyes.”
“If a truly brave man, Dane-king, thou be,
Do thou thyself bind and fetter me.” ”

“ Dane had little literature, but, as he was in the literary line himself, he did not care for this so much; men who write books are not commonly eager to read books which are worse than their own. At a nine-cent window of a neighboring tinman’s he was able to buy himself the few little necessities which he wanted for housekeeping. ”

“ A visitor—oh, not the supervisor-rigger again! Dane went to answer with dragging feet. For the crew of the Queen at the moment numbered exactly four, with himself for general errand boy. Captain Jellico was in his quarters two levels above, Medic Tau was presumably overhauling his supplies, and Sindbad, ship's cat, asleep in some empty cabin.
Dane jerked his tunic into place, very much on his guard as he came to the head of the ramp. But it was not the supervisor-rigger. Dane, thoroughly used to unusual-appearing strangers, both human and alien, was impressed by this visitor. ”