CHAPTER XXIII.

IN A PLACE APART AT NIGHT.

"Halt thou! This is the place provided for thy band."

So said to Ulric the Jarl the Roman soldier who stood in the highway before the inn.

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 Ulric said to the bringers:

"For me water only. I fear much the evil spirit that hideth in the wine of this land. I think he is mine enemy and that my gods are at war with him."

So he drank only water, but they all went in to the supper which had been ordered for them by Caius. They talked not much with any, for the people of the inn were afraid of them, and men and women and children of the neighborhood who came to gaze did so as those who look but in readiness to run away.

The place was but a hamlet in Esdraelon, and around it were vineyards with many olive trees and fig trees.

There was a spirit of unrest upon Ulric, the son of Brander, and his soul was troubled within him. He remained not in the inn after supper, but walked out alone fully armed. He conversed in Latin a brief space with the soldier on duty there, asking him questions, and the answers did not please him.

"Thou wilt feed the beasts of the circus right well," said the legionary scornfully. "They will be hungry when they are let loose upon thee and thine. Thou art no Roman. All barbarians are fit to be crucified."

Down into his face looked Ulric the Jarl. "O Roman," he said, "I am a match for seven such as thou art. I could lift thee above my head and cast thee like a stone from a sling. Well said Caius that these new legions were worthless against the strong in battle. Thou hast no part in Thor the Hammerer."

The soldier's face was dark with anger, but the jarl laughed and passed on, and neither of them knew that Knud the Bear in the door of the inn had been balancing his spear.

"If he lifteth but a hand against the jarl, I will smite him through!" muttered Knud. "The jarl is imprudent. I like it not."

"Lower thy spear," said Ben Ezra near him. "There will be no harm to thy chief. Thou art overhasty and thou wilt soon die."

"There will be blood at my dying," said Knud. "I will strike for the jarl if all the legions of Cæsar should come."

"Wait," said Ben Ezra. "Thou wilt find a better hour to use thy spear."

"So be it," replied Knud. "Thou art old and thou art wise and thou hatest Romans."

On walked the jarl, but he was thinking, and the thoughts in his mind were heated.

"Where am I now?" he said, but not aloud. "Where is the good ship _The Sword_? Where are my companions who sailed with me from the Northland? Where is Asgard? I have seen one god, but when shall I look into his face again? When shall I find the maiden who stood by Hilda? My heart is on fire when I think of her. None like her was ever seen in the Northland. O Hilda, canst thou tell me does this thy beautiful companion dwell among the gods? Then will I go to them that I may greet her, for she is mine."

Other thoughts came to be uttered, but he spoke them not, and he walked onward into the deepening gloom. Very dark it was until the moon arose, and he knew not that the Saxons at the inn were inquiring angrily concerning him.

"What are we if we lose our jarl?" said Wulf the Skater. "But for him we had been lost long since. We would have no more help of Odin if our jarl were taken away."

Ben Ezra and Abbas pacified them, and Tostig the Red said to the others:

"There are but few Romans near and they are bound under Caius. What danger to the son of Brander were a drove of these Syrian cattle, even if they were armed?"

"The son of Thorolf was slain by an arrow shot in the dark," said a viking, surlily. "The jarl doeth not well to go among arrows. I would see his face again."

Murmurs were many, and they all came out and stood before the inn examining their weapons and tightening their mail.

Ulric walked on, but not far, in the brightening moonlight.

"It is like the North country moon in winter," he said, for the air was clear and many things could be seen as in the day.

Beyond him arose a hill, such as may be in so great a plain, and on it there were ruins, grass-grown and mossy. In the old time there had been here a castle or a pleasure palace, none could tell which, and some of the stones were large, arising as pillars with stones laid across their summits.

"Not a temple," said Ulric, thoughtfully. "I hope not. I would not go too near an abiding place of the dead gods. Oft they come back again to trouble men. So saith Ben Ezra. So saith Abbas. They hate men, for men worship them no more."

He walked more slowly, thinking of the gods and of Hilda and of the strangeness that he himself was here without a ship or a strong company, and not knowing what might be before him on the morrow.

"I am jarl no more," he began to say, but at that moment he was suddenly silenced and he stood still to listen.

Not many paces beyond him was an open space on the summit of the hill and around it were fallen pillars, many and great, made of white stone. From this open there arose a voice and the light of the moon trembled among the white pillars.

"He kneeleth!" said Ulric to himself. "Ben Ezra called him the rabbi of Nazareth. If there be dead gods or evil demons here, he feareth them not, for they know him."

Not loudly but with exceeding melody of voice the tongue of the kneeling man spoke on, and Ulric said:

"He singeth not to the dead of this place. It is not a saga of heroes. He asketh many things, that they may be given him. I am glad of the old Hebrew tongue that I understand him somewhat, but much that he speaketh I do not understand."

So he listened more, and the voice went on and the moonlight fell gloriously upon the face of him who was kneeling.

"I have been gone long from the inn," said Ulric in his thoughts. "I must return, but I have learned a thing. He is not alone here, as I am. The gods are with him, and he talketh with them as one god may talk to another, as friend to friend, right kindly. He is not at war with them, and one of them is his father. I would it were Odin, for I like this god and I like his asking for these things that he needeth. I, too, need many things, but Odin is far away and I know him not very well. The face of a god is very beautiful in the moonlight. He is a tall, strong man, a good fighter. But the gods have a strength of their own, greater than that of men. They can uproot trees and overturn rocks and drive the ice out of the fiords. This god could do a great many mighty things. I will have a talk with him some day, and I will ask him concerning Asgard."

Ulric gazed earnestly at the face of Jesus of Nazareth, but the closed eyes did not open and the wonderful voice continued its many petitions.

"I would I might see some of the other gods," thought the jarl, "but to remain here is not well. He hath come to this place to be alone with his father and his friends, and no brave warrior would be an intruder upon the affairs of others. I will go."

He turned and walked away, but his thoughts were dark and heavy within him.

"This man is of the sons of Odin," he said. "So am I. Therefore he and I are of kin, and I would know more of him. I would ask him concerning Hilda and my father. If he may thus talk with the gods, my right is the same. But he is more than I, for the evil spirits obey him. He is no magician, to be friendly with them, but he was not unkind to the demon whom he sent away. If I were a god, I think I would deal well with demons and make them fight for me."

So he communed with himself, walking, until he was loudly greeted at the door of the inn.

"O jarl," shouted Knud, "thou art safe! I did not know where to search for thee. It is wrong for thee to leave us in this manner."

"O Knud," said Ulric, "I am not a child. The night is quiet. Let us all sleep, for the march on the morrow may be long, under a hot sun."

The others reproved him sharply, but they now were glad to rest, and the night waned.

There was no sound of trumpet at the sun's rising, but a quaternion of legionaries came and the guard was changed. The officer also brought orders from Caius that the gladiators should move on toward Galilee. Also a chariot came to carry for them their burdens and their heavier arms and armor, of which there was too much in weight for those who would march rapidly.

"This is not a country for bearskins," said Knud. "Even Wulf the Skater is willing to take off his mail and his helmet. He never would do that thing until this day."

"There is no fighting to be done among these vineyards," said Wulf, "and I think this red wine maketh one's blood hot. I am thinking that I would gladly see a tiger."

"There will be nothing in this land greater to contend with than was the white bear slain by Jarl Ulric," said Tostig the Red. "The children of the ice king were strong ones. I would rejoice in ice and snow at this hour."

"It will be long before thou art frozen, O red one," laughed another of the Saxons. "I am melting, like the ice king."

"Thou wilt make less noise when thou fallest," said Tostig. "But cause me not to remember too much the sea and the good ship _The Sword_. Such thoughts bring me to hate the land, and I listen for the washing of the waves and for the cries of seabirds. It is not good, for the sea is far away."

Silence came then and the Saxons walked on along the highway, seeing all things as they went, but thinking of the blue waters and of the plowing keels and of the North. Ulric strode on in advance, and with him were Abbas and Ben Ezra, telling him many things that he might not be ignorant in his dealings with that which was before him.

"Caius believeth," Ben Ezra told him, "that thou and thy Saxons were engaged for him by his bondsman and purveyor Hyles, who was slain at Samaria for cheating him. We will have all care concerning that matter, but Julius feareth Caius of Thessalonica because of his near friendship with this Pontius the Spearman, who is master of Judea and Samaria under Cæsar. Win thou the good will of Caius, for he is a man of rank and gaineth power. Only trust not any Roman, for they care not for the life of a barbarian more than of a dog."

Ulric answered little, but he thought, and spoke it not.

"These twain are Jews, but one is as a free Northman, a warrior, and the other is as a slave in spirit, fearing the Romans even more than he hateth them. I like not Abbas. He would sell me and mine as if we were cattle. Ben Ezra proveth a true friend and I will abide by his sayings. Here cometh a party!"

Looking along the highway at that moment, he saw chariots and horsemen, but no flag nor any armor.

"Who are these?" he asked of Ben Ezra.

"Let them come nearer," said the Jew. "It is likely they are travelers of importance. Halt thy men at the roadside and we will see."

At the word the Saxons halted, leaving the road free, and they were all willing to stand and watch this company that came.

Four chariots there were, but the one which came first was gilded and carven and was drawn by four white horses. Over it was a silken canopy, and in it sat three veiled women. Of these two were on a front seat, behind the charioteers. He who drove was black and exceedingly uncomely, and beside him sat a large brown man bearing a spear and girded with a sword. These were turbaned and their apparel was good, but not upon them did the eyes of Ulric linger. On the back seat of the chariot, half reclining, was the third woman, and he said to himself:

"This is the princess and the others are her servants. I would see a princess of this country."

Forward he strode three paces, and Knud said to Wulf the Skater:

"How splendid is the youth of our jarl, with his golden hair and his face like that of Odin! There is none other like him!"

"Beautiful is he!" exclaimed Wulf. "But his face is full of pride this day, and I think he is in anger. Speak not to him."

"The woman lifteth her veil," said Tostig, "and she leaneth forward. Odin! She is wonderful! Her headdress is of jewels. Mark the jarl!"

Dark yet fair, with the red of the new rose in her cheeks and with eyes like the lone stars in a winter night, was the young woman who so suddenly leaned forth to look at Ulric. Into his eyes, also, came flashing a great light and a smile of joy was on his face.

"O companion of Hilda!" he shouted in Hebrew. "How camest thou hither from thy place among the gods? I am Ulric the Jarl, and I saw thee when I was on the sea."

Silent was this beautiful princess for a moment, but she grew pale and then red and she seemed to tremble greatly.

"O maiden," said Ben Ezra, "whoever thou art, drive on. He will not harm thee. He is a prince of the Saxons and thou mayest not have conversation with him. He is not for such as thou art, O daughter of Israel."

"Hold thou thy peace!" came from the maiden, as one of high rank may speak. "Warrior of the Saxons, come thou nearer. Thou didst not see me, for I was never on any ship. What is thy meaning?"

Almost at the side of the chariot was the jarl, gazing into her face, but his voice was as the murmur of a harp in the wind when he replied to her.

"O beautiful one!" he said. "Princess of the light and of the morning! More beautiful than are the flowers and the stars! Thy face was where the gods live and I saw thee in my dreams. I will give thee this token from Ulric, of the sons of the gods."

His hand had passed under the mail of his bosom and the bag of gems was there. Now he drew out his hand and he raised before the eyes of the Jewish maiden the perfect gem of which Ben Ezra had said that it was priceless.

"He must not give her that," whispered Abbas.

"Hinder him not!" said Ben Ezra. "Little thou knowest such as he. Wert thou to interfere now, thy head were at the roadside before thou couldst breathe twice. Leave it upon thy shoulders, madman!"

Abbas shrank back, clutching his fingers and scowling, but the Jewish maiden's hand was already grasping the jewel and her lips were smiling with a surpassing sweetness.

"I am Miriam," she said, "and I dwell in Jerusalem. I shall see thee no more. But I give thee a ring for my token. Never have I looked upon such a face as thine."

From her hand she took a ring, and in it was a large, pure pearl, very brilliant, and the gold of the ring was yellow and heavy.

"O Miriam," said Ulric, in the deep tones of the harp of Oswald, "I will wear thy ring, but not in battle. I come soon to Jerusalem, and I will meet thee there, or I will meet thee in Asgard, among the gods, and I will take thee to the house of my father, Odin. Thou art fit to be a princess in Asgard."

His face was like the sun, but hers grew white again, and she drew her veil over it, for Ben Ezra said to Ulric:

"Let none hear thee, O jarl. I know not this matter. Thy words may bring upon her a peril. Harm her not, but be prudent. Thou art a wise captain. Let her drive on. Forward, charioteer! On thy life linger not!"

"Thou art right!" shouted back the brown man, nodding his head at Ben Ezra. "She is my mistress, but she is willful. On!"

The black charioteer slackened the reins of his prancing horses and they sprang forward, but a great cry burst from the lips of Miriam, and the word of Hebrew that was in the sound of it was:

"Farewell, my beloved! I have seen thee!"

"Farewell, O princess!" but in the voice of Ulric, the son of Brander, was a faintness of strong pain, and he turned upon his heel, bowing his head.

"Speak not to the jarl!" said Tostig, grasping the arm of Abbas. "What hast thou to do with an affair of a warrior and a woman? Wert thou to meddle with me in such a case, I would cleave thee to the jaws."

But the chariots all moved swiftly away, and so did the horsemen who were with them, but none of these were soldiers, and in the other chariots were but servants and much baggage.

"The jarl hath marched on," said Tostig the Red. "Follow and trouble him not; for that maiden was wonderfully beautiful and she gave him a ring of remembrance."