"They call me Erling," he said. "Have you so many men to serve you that we must needs part?"
"No," I answered, "but I am no sort of a master to serve. I will help an old comrade home, however."
"Home was burnt a year ago," he said. "Let me bide with you, thane; I must be some man's man. You will go back to the west presently, I suppose?"
"Yes, after a time. What of that? for it is not your way."
"Your way is mine, unless you drive me from you. You have given me my freedom, and I know it. Let me serve you freely."
"Well," said I, "you will be my only servant when once I leave King Carl's train, with which I have come."
"So much the better," he said. "I am likely to be as handy a servant as you can find, in most things."
"Oh," said Werbode, laughing, "take him, Wilfrid. Free service is not to be despised. Moreover, if you want any one well and soundly beaten, here is your man."
"I can keep the thane's back at a pinch, young sir," said the Dane quietly. "That mayhap is more than most will do if they are hired."
"Faith, I believe you could," said Werbode, looking the man's wiry frame up and down.