ORNULF (setting EGIL down). There, Gunnar, hast thou thy pretty
boy again.
EGIL. Father! Old Ornulf would not do me ill, as thou saidst when
I went away.
ORNULF (to HIORDIS). Now have I atoned for thy father; now surely
there may be peace between us.
HIORDIS (with repressed emotion). Mayhap!
GUNNAR (as if waking up). Is it a ghastly dream that maddens me!
Thou—thou bringest Egil home!
ORNULF. As thou seest; but in truth he has been near his death.
GUNNAR. That I know.
ORNULF. And hast no more joy in his return?
GUNNAR. Had he come sooner, I had been glad indeed. But tell me
all that has befallen!
ORNULF. That is soon done. Kare the Peasant was plotting evil
against you; with other caitiffs he fared southward after Egil.