Chapter 10

We found Grace Drever preparing the peat fire for frying the fish. The good old woman did not hear us enter, but Andrew was a punctual man, and it was with no show of surprise that his mother at length recognized his presence.

Grace Drever was an active woman, somewhat bent with age, but with no signs of decaying faculties, save in the case of her extreme deafness. Her hair was still black, and her eyesight was quick. Her memory for local events was as good as an almanac to the people of Stromness, and there was something strangely uncanny about her nature that was itself almost an excuse to those who hinted that she had dealings with the underworld. She was one of the older style of inhabitants, who retained the primitive habits and customs of the island, whose spoken language had in it a mixture of the Norse, which distinguished it from the simpler Scotch dialect familiarly used by us of the younger generation, and yet more from the purer English into which we were drilled at school.

Andrew Drever generally spoke good English in the presence of strangers, though he lapsed into the broad native speech in friendly talk with the fisher folk.

"I hae brought Captain Gordon wi' me to hae a taste o' the trout," he said to his mother as we entered the room, where she bent over the fire.

"Gordon! Gordon! I dinna ken ony Gordon. What's the name o' his ship?"

"He belongs to the Lydia, the barque that cam' in this forenoon."

"Aw, yes, I ken his ship, but I dinna ken the captain. Yes, yes, he'll get a taste o' the troot, I warrant him that."

Then turning to Mr. Gordon, she continued: "Ye were never in Stromness afore, captain? No? Ye maun speak loud--it's terrible dull o' hearing I am."

The captain looked at Grace as she applied a strange, shell-like horn to her right ear, and went closer to him.

"The Lydia has a great many mice on board," said the captain.

"Ay, you'll be takin' it out to America for the black folk, no doubt. It's terrible hot in America, they say. But where got you the ice? Not from Leith?"

"He didna say ice," interposed Andrew. "The captain says his ship's full o' mice."

"Ah, mice! What for does he not get a cat?"

"It's your own cat he was wanting to get," said Andrew.

"My cat! my Baudrons! Troth, I dinna think I could part with Baudrons. I'm terrible fond of Baudrons. Was there not a cat in Stromness forbye mine?"

Grace said this as she selected some of the largest trout and took them away to clean.

As I sat on a chair near the door, weary after my long tramp with the heavy burden of silver and the dead hawk, and somewhat bruised by my fight, Mr. Drever and the captain engaged in a long conversation relating to the Orkneys. But during an interval of their talk I ventured to draw the schoolmaster's attention to the dead bird that I had brought for him.

"We caught this bird over on the moor the day, sir," I said, "and I brought it, thinking ye'd like to put it in one o' your glass cases."

"Man, Halcro, but that's a bonny specimen! A harrier, a hen harrier, I declare! 'Deed but it will be a right fine addition to our collection. And what way did ye kill it, d'ye say? Not wi' a gun, surely?"

"No; it was flying after a peewit, and the dog caught it. Willie Hercus thrawed its neck."

"Well, well, that's most amazing. How I wish I'd been with you. I'd rather hae caught a harrier than a hundred sea trout."

"Did ye get some good fishing at the Bush, sir?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Oh, ay, very good, very good; thanks to those hooks o' yours, Halcro. I left a dozen trout wi' Jack Paterson's wife, and a dozen wi' Mary Firth, and these I brought home. That's no sae bad, is it?"

Then, when he had satisfied his admiration of the dead hawk, he took us into the schoolroom, to show the captain his cases of stuffed birds and animals. Already he had determined that he would mount the hawk in the attitude of swooping down upon a lapwing.

It turned out that Captain Gordon was interested in birds, and knew a good deal about their habits. I remember he told us of a swallow which had once flown on board his ship when they were over a thousand miles from any land, and of how the bird, exhausted by its long flight, allowed him to hold it in his hand and feed it with small insects taken from the decayed timbers of the ship.

When we were seated at the table over our meal of fried trout, I had to relate my experiences of the afternoon, which I did from beginning to end, omitting only the circumstance of my fight with Kinlay. I did not wish to say anything against a schoolmate, and an account of the fight would have involved unpleasant explanations. The two men listened with attention to my account of the sealing; but they were incredulous when I told them about finding the hidden silver. When the table was cleared, however, and I spread out the contents of the seal's skin, Grace and they gathered round in astonishment and eagerly examined the curiosities by the light of the hanging lamp and the flaming peats.

Captain Gordon weighed the bars of silver in an imaginary balance in his hand, and gave his opinion as to their weight. The neck rings and brooches also engaged his attention; but Andrew Drever found greater interest in the ancient coins, which he carefully examined, endeavouring to decipher the rough inscriptions upon them. Most of the coins were foreign, but there were two which he recognized as English--a Peter's penny of the tenth century, and an older coin, which he told me was nearly a thousand years old, bearing the name Aethelstan Rex. I cannot describe his delight in looking over these little pieces of silver, or his satisfaction when I offered to let him take charge of them until we determined what should be done with the collection.

When the interest in my treasures had somewhat abated, Mr. Drever and the captain exchanged conjectures concerning the probable origin of what we had discovered at Skaill Bay. They could come to no issue by all their arguments, until I chanced to mention once more the incident of the rat and its curious hiding place in the skull.

"A skull! a human skull!" exclaimed the dominie. "Why, that explains it all. I can see it now. I can see it clearly!"

"See what clearly?" inquired the captain.

"This," said Andrew with a tone of conviction, "that what the lads have discovered is nothing less than the grave of Kierfiold Haffling, the great viking of Orkney."

Then turning to the captain he continued: "You see, Captain Gordon, it was the custom of the old sea kings to bury their dead heroes in caves on the seashore, or to place the body in a boat and send it drifting to sea on its long voyage. In either case it was usual to dress the hero in full battle array, with helmet, sword, and shield, to enable him to fight his way to Valhalla. These relics here of Ericson's, and those that the other lads have gotten, are just such things as would be buried in a viking's grave. The human skull in their midst puts the matter beyond a doubt."

"Curious, very curious!" murmured Captain Gordon. "But, sir, how do you identify this supposed grave with that of the particular warrior you have mentioned?"

"Kierfiold Haffling? Oh, well, you see, captain, I may be making a mistake; but, as it happens, I have seen a runic inscription over at Stenness which expressly states that the Jarl Haffling was buried with his earthly treasures to the northwest of the Maes Howe. Now, the Bay of Skaill, where the lads made the discovery, is exactly northwest of Stenness. The one thing that surprises me is that the treasure was not found long since, for the inscription has clearly indicated its position, and has further stated that 'happy is he who discovers this great wealth.' It seems to me, however, that no person ever thought of searching within the tide line."

"But, after all," said the captain, "the wealth does not seem so enormous. Why, I would hesitate to offer a ten-pound note for the whole lot."

"No, it is not indeed enormous, in a worldly sense, I admit. But you must consider the importance of the discovery from what I may call an archaeological point of view. You see the relics have a historical value, Mr. Gordon."

The schoolmaster then turned to me and said:

"I think, Halcro, it's a pity that you lads didn't keep these things all together, and bring them here as ye found them. What for did ye divide them, as though they were so many blackberries? Ye couldn't do anything with them--ye can't sell the things."

"It was Tom Kinlay said he thought we should share them, sir. I didn't think we were doing wrong."

"Tom Kinlay kens nothing about such matters, Halcro. Just you get the three other lads to bring each his share to me. I will look after it and see that ye dinna lose anything. You see, although ye found the treasure, you lads, it doesn't rightly belong to you. No doubt ye'll be rewarded in some way for your find; but I must tell you that the law will not let you keep it to yoursels. A person finding treasure of this sort can have only a third part of its value. Is that not so, Mr. Gordon?"

"Yes," said the captain, "I fancy you're right, Mr. Drever. Of course you refer to the law of treasure trove?"

"Exactly," agreed the master. Then turning to me, he continued:

"You see, Halcro, the Crown will claim a share of it, and the laird gets another part. So ye'd better let the other lads ken about this. Let them understand that they are breaking the law if they keep their discovery a secret."

"Yes, sir, I'll tell Rosson and Hercus before school time in the morning."

"And Kinlay?" said Mr. Drever, looking questioningly in my face.

"Maybe you'd better speak to him yoursel, sir," I returned, almost afraid to say that my companionship with Tom was at an end.

"Hello! what's in the wind in that quarter? A quarrel, eh? I have noticed that scratch on your cheek. Has that anything to do with Kinlay?"

I put my hand to my cheek and found that there was blood there. I had received a scratch that I was before unconscious of.

"Well, sir," I said, "Kinlay and I did have a bit of a fight over at Bigging. There was a dispute over the sharing of the treasure."

And then I thought of the small black stone that Tom had given me as an equivalent of the bar of silver he had appropriated for himself. It was not amongst the articles I had shown to the schoolmaster and the captain. I thought that I had perhaps left it lying on the gravestone; but searching my pockets, I at last found it in one of them, where I had carelessly thrust it when the fight began. I placed it on the table before Captain Gordon, who examined it curiously.

"What d'you make of this, sir?" asked he, turning to the dominie. "The stone, if it is a stone at all, looks worthless; and yet I see this ring round it is the only piece of metal that is neither silver nor bronze, but gold."

"Gold!" I exclaimed, bending over to look at it.

"Yes, gold undoubtedly," said the captain.

Grace Drever, who had said little during the examination of the store of silver coins and ingots beyond asking questions as to the manner of our finding it, and giving utterance to such ejaculations as "Losh me!" and "Saw ever onybody the likes o' that?" now took the black stone in her hand, and having pondered over it for a while, said, holding up her finger to me:

"Laddie, take care of this peerie {ii} thing. It will be of more worth to thee than all the other gear together."

I did not quite understand. The gold ring, I thought, could not surely be worth more than that heap of silver. And yet Grace was so serious in what she said that I could scarcely doubt her word.

I was about to ask her for an explanation when we were interrupted by the lifting of the latch of the door, and a rush of cold air made the lamp light flicker.