Thus died Orn. His death did not especially surprise Ingolf or any one else. Age and debility had during the last years handled him roughly. In spite of all, he had been a chieftain to the end.
XI
It was very still in the house after Orn's death. His harsh, irascible voice was suddenly lost in a great silence. And this silence was doubly impressive just after the concluded festivities. Ingolf at once set his people to brew drink, slaughter animals, and prepare for the funeral feast. Orn should begin his last journey with all suitable honour. But this time the work was done without the noise which usually attended preparations of that kind. In Ingolf's soul there remained a special sense of bereavement. He had always shown his father reverence; now he realized that he had also been very fond of him. Ingolf selected with care a spot down by the fjord where a funeral barrow would look well in the landscape. He caused a little natural hollow to be filled with potter's clay; then had one of his smaller dragon-ships rolled on logs thither and fixed on the bed of clay with its bow turned towards the south. Orn's journey should be towards the south and the sun. When the ship was settled in its place and shored up, Ingolf traced a wide circle round it. Orn perhaps was the last of the race who should rest in the soil of his fatherland, therefore his funeral barrow should be a notable landmark.
Ingolf collected a large number of workmen from his own and Leif's estate, and set them to work at erecting the barrow. It was to be done quickly. For nothing is quite sure for a dead man till he rests in earth under the sign of the Hammer.
Ingolf sent messengers round to invite all those in the district and many distant friends and relatives to the funeral feast at a few days' notice. He and Leif superintended the work at the barrow, and it went forward rapidly.
The voracious earth was not to be allowed to devour Orn's ship, therefore stones were fixed everywhere between the earth and the woodwork. Outside it were piled gravel, earth, and turf.
Amidships, round the mast, which was hoisted as though for sailing and so that the roof of the barrow might form an arch over it, was the burial chamber, as broad as the ship and two fathoms in length, timbered with thick oak-beams. It was to resist the pressure both of the stones and the earth: there should Orn lie, warm and comfortable, ready for his journey. All was arranged with a view to a journey by land and by water.