"Be thou thyself like one of them," said Hilda, and she gazed at him lovingly, throwing back her hood.
Very bright were her eyes for a moment and then they grew sad and dim, as if a mist from the fiord had floated into them. Ulric looked upon her withered face as if also it were beautiful to him, and he said:
"Thou art a loving woman and true, and I will keep thy bidding on the sea and on the land."
"I shall see thee not again," she said, "and I willed to look upon thy face this once."
"It may be that thou wilt be here when I return," he responded, but she shook her head.
"Son of Odin, not so," she said, in a low, soft voice, like that of the young who love and are parting. "Me thou wilt not see, and I know not if in any manner I am again to see thee. They of that land into which I quickly go do sometimes see the people of this land, when the gods permit. If so, I will come to thee some evening when there is a silence around thee, and I will touch thee on the forehead, thus," and she leaned forward and kissed him, placing her hands upon his shoulders.
"I will welcome thee!" he said, with a great thrill, and she stood erect, continuing her last words.
"I have this much more to tell," she said. "Thou wilt sail far and contend with many. As thou knowest well, thou wilt meet no foemen like the men of Rome, on land or sea. Thou wilt not tarry long in any place, for thou art a viking, and thou hast no home in the south. Thou wilt go on from place to place until thou shalt come to this harbor, or city." She pointed at the runes drawn upon the sand at her feet, and he replied:
"I cannot read them, O Hilda! They are in another tongue. They are unlike any that I ever saw."
"Neither can I read them," said Hilda. "But note them with care, for when thou seest them upon the ground of any land thy voyage is ended."