“Knowest thou not,” said the King, waxing still more angry at the rebuke conveyed in this speech, and laying his hand on his sword, “that I have power to shut thy mouth now and for ever?”
“It may be so, and it may be not so,” replied Erling, stepping back, and laying his hand on the hilt of his own weapon.
At this the King laughed sarcastically. “And if,” said he, “thou hadst the power and skill to overcome my feeble arm, hast thou the folly to think that ye could clear the Dragon of all her men?”
Erling replied: “The remembrance, King Harald, of the way in which I treated some of thy men in the woods not long ago, inclines me to believe that I could give them some trouble to slay me, and the thought of that transaction induced me, before I came hither, to make such arrangements that at all events my fall should not go unavenged.”
For a moment or two the King’s countenance lowered ferociously on the youth, and he ground his teeth together as if unable to restrain his passion; but suddenly he uttered a short laugh, and said—
“Truly thou shouldst have been styled prudent as well as bold. But go, I will take counsel with others, and perhaps thou shalt hear again of this matter.”
Our hero retired immediately, but he observed in passing that Hake was summoned to attend the King, and that another man stepped into the boat to row him to his own ship.
“Is all well?” growled the rich voice of old Guttorm as he passed the vessel of that worthy.
Erling told the rower to stop, and, glancing up, beheld the stern yet good-humoured visage of his bluff friend looking over the rows of bright shields that hung on the bulwarks.
“All is well,” replied Erling.