Ulric the Jarl: A Story of the Penitent Thief

by William O. Stoddard

"I shall gladly see them again," he said; and even the next day did this talk go on, for a gale blew and The Sword went before it with but one small sail lifted.

Sigurd's men were now as if they had been with Ulric from the first, and by them a matter had been told which was now more fully given by the tall viking.

"Svein concealed it from me," he said, "but an old Dane warned me in private. The Roman officer of that garrison was but waiting for the arrival of more legionaries, for Svein's men might not be depended on in such an undertaking. It would have included thee and thine. All who did not belong to Svein or who were minded to leave him were to have been given up as war prisoners to the Romans."

"That they might lose their heads!" exclaimed Ulric. "I am glad he is slain! It was a dark purpose."

"Thou hast not read it rightly, nevertheless," said Sigurd. "Hast thou not heard of the great games and shows of Cæsar and of his chief officers?"

"Many a thing have I heard," replied Ulric, "but not from any man who had ever witnessed the things he told of. Hast thou seen?"

"No, Jarl Ulric," said Sigurd, "but I have listened to brave men who have looked in upon such things. As to one affair, we learned little by little that the proconsul of Britain desired good swordsmen to contend with his trained slaves and with his wild beasts. It was also for his profit to send Saxons as presents to Cæsar to be slain in the great shows of Rome. For this purpose all we were to be entrapped and caged as soon as their hunting party should become strong enough to take us alive. We were to be set upon unawares. Therefore did we sleep by watches, fully armed, for the thing was to be done in the night. So was the idea of Svein, the treacherous, concerning all thy crew."

"He will entrap no more Saxons henceforth," said the jarl. "As for me, I would gladly fight a lion or a tiger. It would be great sport. I will try if I may meet these wonderful beasts before I return to the Northland.

"Thou wilt meet thy lion with full armor," responded Sigurd, "but it is not so in these games of the Romans. There is no fair fighting. They arm thee as they see fit. Often thou art not matched with one man or with one beast, but with odds, that they may see thee overcome or torn. This is their delight concerning prisoners and malefactors which cost them little. They spare their dens of animals and their purchased gladiators that they may more cheaply see much blood. But there is worse than this among them, for they use the scourge upon us, and a man would rather die ten times than be made to feel the stroke of a whip, as if he were a slave."

"If I were indeed lashed," growled Ulric, "it were well for that man, even were he Cæsar, not to come near me in after time if there were a blade within my reach. There might come a sure cast of a spear, and I throw far."