"'Helgi hinn frode' [Footnote: The wise.] shall you be called henceforth, and Vandrad I shall be no longer."
They were silent for a time, and then Estein exclaimed,—
"We are well quit of that country of Jemtland! Saw you ever so many trees and so few true men before?"
"Yet was it not quite bare of good things," replied his friend.
"What, mean you the woodman's wife?"
"What else?" said Helgi, and then he fell silent again.
They reached Hernersfiord towards nightfall, and as they crept up the still, narrow waters darkness gathered fast. One by one, and then in tens and hundreds and myriads, the stars came out and hung like a gay awning between the pine-crowned walls. Ahead they saw lights and a looming bank of land, and hails passed from ship to shore and back again. Presently they were gently slipping by the stone pier, where one or two men stood awaiting them.
"What news?" asked Helgi.
The men made no reply, but seemed to whisper among themselves, and Helgi repeated his question. Just then a man came hurrying to the end of the pier and shouted,—
"Is it then Estein returned?"