In blank amazement, the Norman stared first at the ground and then at the seer.
"Have the wits been stolen out of you? There is not even so much as a devil-fish where you are pointing."
The Icelander took off his cap, and commenced wiping the great beads from his forehead. "You begin to listen after the song is sung," he answered, peevishly. "The thing ran away as soon as you approached. It was a fox that was bloody all over."
A yell of terror distended Kark's throat.
"A fox!" he screeched. "My guardian spirit follows me in that shape; a foreknowing woman told me so. It is my death-omen! I am death-fated!" His knees gave way under him so that he sank to the ground and cowered there, wringing his hands.
The Icelander shot a look of triumph at the sceptical stranger. "They have no call to hold their chins high who hear of strange wonders for the first time," he said, severely. "It is as certain that men have guardian spirits as that they have bodies. Yours, Robert of Normandy, goes doubtless in the shape of a wolf because of your warrior nature; and I advise you now, that when you see a bloody wolf before you it will be time for you to draw on your Hel-shoes. The animal ran nearest the thrall—"
Kark's lamentations merged into a shriek of hope. "That is untrue! It lay at the Norman's feet; you told him so!"
While the seer turned to look rather resentfully at him, he climbed up this slender life-line, like a man whom sharks are pursuing.
"It was not a fox that you saw, at all; it was a wolf! So excited were you that your eyes were deceitful. It was a wolf, and it was nearest the Norman. A blind man could see what that means."
The Icelander pulled off his cap again, but this time it was to scratch his head doubtfully. "It was when the stranger approached it, that it was nearest to him," he persisted. "While this may signify that he will seek death, I am unable to say that it proves that he will overtake it. Yet I will not swear that it was not a wolf. The sun was in my eyes—"