Ulric the Jarl: A Story of the Penitent Thief

It was still the winter time in the Northland, but in Judea the spring had returned. In the lowlands there was already much heat and a swift growth of all fruits of the earth, b...

Clouds without rain swept fast across the sky and the waves followed _The Sword_ as if they willed to overwhelm her. Well was it that her stern was so high and that she was stro...

Wide but not high was the space which was inclosed under the fore deck of the trireme _The Sword_. Beneath its floor was much room for stowage. The other decks, also, had under...

The day of the moon, the second day of the week, dawned brightly over the village of the vikings. The faces of the cliffs along the shores of the Northland boomed back continuou...

Long and thoughtfully and with many questionings did Ben Ezra listen to the jarl in an inner chamber of his house. "Thou hast done well," he said, at last, "but trust thou not t...

The broken portal of the old tower in Esdraelon was as the entrance to a dark cavern, and from it came out a wide-winged owl while Ben Ezra was kindling his flame. Away into the...

"Tell thou to those who are within," was responded, "that the Romans and the chief priests have taken the prophet of Galilee by force. He is now at the palace of the procurator...

It was the time of thaw in the Northland, but the snow and ice go fast when the winter letteth go its hold. Already great reaches of land were bare, but no man might travel far...

Lysias, the Greek, stood in a copse of thick bushes near the forest border and looked out upon the plain, but not toward Gilboa. He had been digging in the earth, as Ulric and B...

"O jarl," said Sigurd, the son of Thorolf, "many days have passed since we entered this sea. Thou hast pleased thy crew by landings at harbors. They have also smitten quiet peop...

In the deep forest stood Olaf, the son of Hakon, and before him stood a tall, venerable man clad in a robe of white which came down to his feet, whereon were sandals. On his hea...

The road from Samaria to Jerusalem hath many windings and there are hills to weary the wayfarer. Climbing one of these slowly was the chariot of Caius of Thessalonica. He was ly...

"Wonderful indeed is the grandeur of this city," he had said, as his jaded beast toiled up the road from the bridge over the Kidron. "I would willingly have paused longer upon t...

Out of the African harbor sailed _The Sword_ with a good wind, and there was no present need for rowing. No longer were the Saxons willing to linger in that place and live upon...

Days come and go and no man may hinder them. The vikings went to and fro about _The Sword_ and she seemed lonesome to them, for they were few and she was a great vessel. From ti...

"O Jew, thou hast brought to Tiberias the gladiators of Caius of Thessalonica! Woe to thee and to thy accursed race! But I have orders concerning thee and these. They will give...

"O most noble Pontius," said Lysias, "I have done as thou didst order. All these were the words of Ben Ezra, nor have I failed to tell thee every saying of Abbas and of him who...

"Here are boats!" exclaimed the Roman officer, as he drew rein at the place upon the beach from which the Ionian rowers had fled. "Then there were more of these cowardly deserte...

Softly and easily may a wounded man be borne along upon cushions over smooth water under a silken canopy. There was no further fatigue for the jarl, the victor, that day, and be...

In the house of Ben Ezra, at the head of the flight of stone steps in the secret passage, Ulric the Jarl stood looking down into a great darkness. But now Ben Ezra came to him,...

With all honor did the captain of the Damascus gate of Jerusalem receive Caius of Thessalonica, the friend of Pontius the Spearman. The chariot halted before the gate and in it...

It was near the setting of the sun and the Saxons were weary with the heat. They were thirsty, likewise, and they were glad of a light red wine which was brought to them, but Ul...

Sudden is the change from winter to summer in the Northland. The buds of the trees get ready under the frost and open to the sunshine as soon as a few days of warmth have told t...

Splendid was the appearance of the Saxons on the morning of the great day of the games at Tiberias, when they marched around the arena with the jarl at their head, for their arm...

The Saxons and their jarl in the palace by the Sea of Galilee were now more impatiently awaiting the orders of Caius of Thessalonica. It was at the close of a day that he came t...

"For mine!" said Tostig. "Now am I even with thee concerning the white bear, for this one fought as did the son of the ice king. He nearly overcame me after he had slain Nef, th...

The city of Jezreel was for Caius of Thessalonica and his train but a resting place for a night. After leaving behind its towers and the valley of battles, at the side of which...

The Northland under the autumn sun was as the South, with green fields and forests and with glowing blooms upon shrubbery and in the hollows of the hills. The fiords were shadow...

"O jarl!" exclaimed Knud the Bear, in a morning watch, "we have wasted days in this coasting. The weather hath been rough and the men are weary, for we are tightly packed in thi...

"O jarl," exclaimed Ben Ezra as they stood together in the house, "would that thou also wert a son of Abraham! But thou hast done a deed for which thou wilt be held to answer. O...

"More than once, O jarl," responded Sigurd. "I have seen the Greek islands; I went up the Adriatic Sea with Alfkel the Sea King. We had five keels, and we took great spoil, but...

In the Northland were the roots from which grew the great nations which now rule the earth. The tribes were many, but the principal representative and the absorbent of their tho...

Through one day more the western gale blew furiously and _The Sword_ was driven before it, for none on board cared for any better steering. Many vessels were seen from time to t...

The morning of the day of Tiw dawned mistily across the cold North Sea. Everywhere, as the sun looked in through the floating curtains of fog, he could see steel-blue waves wres...

The ice king had lost only one of his fierce white flock. It had been the largest of them all, however; and in the latter part of Tiw's day there had been a feast of his flesh....

Sailing on in the darkness, over an unknown sea, the trireme, which was now the viking ship _The Sword_, moved toward the dawn. None on board of her knew the low-lying coast whi...

Questions which are asked by the heart of a man may go far. It is as if they were winged and flew on to a chosen place of alighting, as do the messenger doves carrying letters h...

"Not in Samaria this night," had Lysias said to himself when he rode away upon the swift ass whose ownership might be questioned, "but there are many places by the way wherein a...

When the sun arose upon the fifth day of the week, the day of Thor, the glittering pinnacles of the ice king still towered high above the floes, and these covered the sea as far...

Wulf the Skater brought true tidings to the house of Ulric, the son of Brander the Brave, on the day of Saturn. Winter was ending. The word passed on from house to house until a...