The old man broke down with a hiccoughing sob, which sent an ice-cold shudder through the bones and marrow of Leif and all the rest.
"What did you do then with the dead man?" asked one at length, with his teeth chattering.
"I cut his head off and laid it by his feet," Leif answered curtly, and gave a sigh of relief. Since there was no more to tell, Leif remained lying silent. His men continued sitting silent and motionless round him.
Leif found himself wondering that his meeting with the monk had suddenly become so distant and unreal. Was it not something which he had dreamt? How was it, really? Had he not been fighting with a dead man? His body was so strangely stiff. And if not, why should he have this smell in his nostrils? Leif no longer knew himself what to believe. The drowsiness of sleep slurred the clearness of his thought and confused the real with the unreal.
The old man had gradually become silent. For a while he sat motionless, with his head wrapped in a corner of his cloak. Then he let the corner fall and continued to sit and look at Leif. When at last he spoke, his voice had resumed its deep, quiet tone. "In memory of your wonderful experience and great adventure, you shall hereafter be called 'Hjor-Leif,'" he said solemnly to Leif.
Leif smiled with half-closed eyes; then they closed quite. He slept peacefully and calmly as though he had never been engaged in fighting a dead man.
His men remained sitting quite silent around him. They did not talk together. They had conceived a great fear in their souls which the moon's unearthly light considerably increased. They were simply afraid to lie down and close their eyes and fall asleep. They could not understand how Leif could lie there and sleep so comfortably after such an adventure. Their admiration for him had never been greater than now. They would like to know whether he would be afraid to encounter the gods themselves. They had never seen fear in his eyes. It was certainly right that he should have the sword affixed to his name and be called Hjor-Leif.
Leif awoke of his own accord at sunrise. Then he saw his men still in a circle round him. He broke into a loud fit of laughter when he saw their stupid eyes and faces weary with watching.
"Beer! Beer!" he shouted, and sprang up. "Plenty of beer for all the men! Drink now, boys!"
He cheered them up. The most slack of them he whirled round and capsized and thumped till there was a roar of merriment around him.