Ulric the Jarl: A Story of the Penitent Thief

"I know what gold coins are," said Ulric, as the bag was opened before him. "Oswald the Harper taught me concerning money. Are these thine?"

"Nay," said Ben Ezra, "they are thine, for they belonged to the centurion. Of the stones I will show thee. That sardonyx is mine. It was graven in Egypt, and on it are words of the wisdom of the priests of Isis."

"Runes like Hilda's!" exclaimed Ulric, gazing earnestly upon the characters which blended with the varying tints of the beautifully polished stone. "Canst thou read them?"

"Not so," said Ben Ezra, "but this sardius, also, is mine. It is a stone of the temple of Jehovah at Jerusalem, and on it is his most holy name. Touch it not, for thou art of the heathen."

"What have I to do," asked Ulric, "with a matter belonging to your god? I have thought that I would like to see him some day. I am sailing to find the city of the gods. He will be there, perhaps, among them."

"He is a great King above all gods," said Ben Ezra, reverently, but his eyes were dwelling upon the glowing, blood-red tint of the inestimable gem which bore the holy name.

"Odin!" exclaimed Ulric. "I think your god would be on good terms with the gods of the North, for I have heard well of him. Thou mayest tell me more about him some day. But now thou mayest tie up thy gems and give me mine. I have the ship to command, and I care not overmuch for stones."

"My sardius alone is worth thy trireme," said Ben Ezra, frankly. "Keep thou thy treasure carefully and a day may come when it will be of use to thee. Divide not with thy men. Give them other matters."

Ulric laughed loudly as he responded: "Good faith is kept among us, O Jew, but my vikings are welcome to all I possess. The ship itself is theirs, if I am slain, and they will carry to my own house anything that belongs to me. We are not thieves, like the men of the southlands."

Ben Ezra looked into his face and said: "Verily thou art my friend! I have not met any like unto thee. I would thou mayest go with me to the city of my God, to Jerusalem. There is his temple and it is the wonder of the earth."

"So have I heard," said Ulric, joyously. "I think I will go and see. But whither shall I steer at this hour?"

"Toward the coast of Africa," said Ben Ezra. "Thither was I sailing. There are old harbors there for which the Romans take no care. In them are pirate peoples, foes of Rome, ancient Carthaginians, Egyptians, Libyans; but thou wilt be friends with them."

"The Sword will sail for Africa," said Ulric; "but as for pirates, we will see to that matter."

"Verily there is none like thee!" exclaimed the Jew. "Thou art like Saul, the son of Kish!"

Into a small sack of deerskin did Ulric put his jewels, looking at them one by one and admiring their great beauty.

"Never saw I such before," he said. "They are such as kings wear in the southlands. I think the gods must have many of them. These white ones are pearls, and they are lustrous. The green stones are emeralds."

"They are of great value," said Ben Ezra. "Especially that large, flat-faced one. It is engraven with the sign of the sun, and it came therefore from Persia. Thy pearls are from the East, and they are wonderful, but some of mine are as large."

"I will keep the gold in my belt pouch," said Ulric, "and thou shalt teach me to pay with it."

"Thou shalt not be cheated," said Ben Ezra.

Then he took his closed casket with him and walked to the after cabin, for in that was to be his abiding place, and he said that he would mourn there for his son.

"Southward!" shouted Ulric to the viking at the rudder of the trireme. "We have done well this day, and the night cometh."

A wind had arisen and the sails were full, but the men did not seem to be idle. They busied themselves with the tackle and with the stowing of the ship, but every now and then each one would step out on deck or lean over a bulwark to look long and earnestly across the sparkling sea.

"This water is very blue," said Tostig the Red, "and so is the sky. O Knud, thou hast put away thy bearskins."

"Aye," said Knud, "but how canst thou bear thy mail in such a heat as this? I found this jacket of silk in the after cabin. It is cool and it is fine."

"Red as blood it is," said Tostig, "but it would not keep out an arrow. Thou dost never care much for armor."

"A shield is enough," replied Knud, "and I can catch arrows on my seax. I would not be overweighted. I trust the gods will soon send us another fight. I would get hand to hand with some good fighter. There is more pleasure in killing with steel than with the prow of a ship."

The jarl gave orders concerning many things, and then he spoke to Lysias the Greek. The youth had seated himself in a hollow place between two oar benches and his face was in his hands, for he was weeping.

"Not often do men weep in the Northland," said Ulric, sternly. "I have heard that the Greeks are brave. Why mournest thou? Hast thou not had good vengeance upon the Romans this day? Not one of them escaped. Thou shouldst rather be rejoicing."

"Alas! Alas!" murmured the beautiful youth. "Corinth! My Sapphira! I shall never see her again!"

"She was thy love?" said Ulric, softening somewhat. "I never had a love save Hilda, the saga woman, and she was a hundred years old. I loved her well. Where is thy Sapphira?"

"She was more lovely than a dream!" said Lysias, looking up through his tears. "Her father was Licander, the astrologer, and she was like a star. He knew the heavens and the stars in their courses, and he read their signs. But he foretold to the Romans their Parthian defeat and they slew him for his bad augury. Of his kindred they left not one, and Sapphira they sold for a slave to Pontius Pilatus, the procurator of Judea. I care not to live, for I have been scourged and I have lost my love."

Even as he spoke he threw off a light robe of linen which had covered him, and Ulric saw the half-healed, festering lines of the Roman scourge all over the flesh of Lysias.

"Thou mayest well weep for that!" exclaimed Ulric, "if thou art the son of a free warrior."

"I did stab three in Spain," said Lysias, "and I had plotted to sink the quinquereme, for she had a bad leak which might be opened."

"Get thou up!" said Ulric. "I will gird thee with a sword and give thee a shield and spear. When thy scourgings are healed thou shalt have mail. Thou art strong."

"I have won foot races," said Lysias, rising, "and I can ride any wild horse. I am a bowman and I can cast the javelin far and truly."

"Be more contented, then," said Ulric. "I will give thee chances to strike Romans. There is no need for thee to mourn."

"Thou knowest not love," said Lysias; "but I thank thee, and I would have weapons."

"Come with me," said Ulric, and they went together to the after cabin.

There were doors by which this might be closed, but one of these was open and they went in. Then it could be seen that this cabin space, which was large, was divided into four apartments by strong wooden walls, each having a door and a window, and in the windows were small sheets of glass to let in light and keep out the sea. This first room where they now were had been the place prepared for some person of high rank to occupy, an officer in command of the ship or a high passenger. It was finished in carved wood, with hangings of silk and linen of many colors and of fine needlework. Here, also, were lamps that hung in cressets, and there were fixed tables and soft couches and many fair weapons and pieces of splendid armor. None of these had the jarl worn as yet save a helmet and a rare coat of linked mail richly gilded. Now he selected a good belt, with a sheath and sword, and a long sheathed dagger.

"Throw off thy robe," he said to Lysias. "Put on this tunic and the sandals. Belt thee with these."

So the youth did, and it could be seen that his shape was not only comely, but molded for great vigor. The muscles stood out upon his arms and shoulders and Ulric himself was but a head the taller.

"These will soon heal," said Ulric, examining the lash cuts. "Oil them well. I will aid thee. They are now not deep. Thou art a good swimmer. I noted thee in the water. Here are thy shield and spear."

"They are Greek, not Roman," said Lysias. "I am glad of that. I want a bow and arrows."

"A quiver and a bow are here," said Ulric. "But the arrows are long and so is the bow. See if thou canst bend and string it."

"That can I?" exclaimed Lysias, seizing the bow. "It is from Sparta, for only the Lacedemonians make them of this length. The Parthian bows are shorter, for horsemen, but only a Parthian can bend them – or such as I. We are of the ancient Corinthian archers, and there were none better on earth."

He was bending the strong wood as he talked, and Ulric saw that he did so and put on the string of twisted silk with ease. Then took he an arrow from the quiver and drew it to the head.

"Thou art the captain," he said. "Thy men call thee the jarl and say thou art of the sons of their gods. Canst thou send this arrow farther than I can?"

"I will handle thy bow," said Ulric.

He, too, unstrung and strung it and drew the arrow to the head, but he said, thoughtfully:

"Thou of the Greeks, I understand thy saying concerning skill. I am many times stronger than thou art, and yet I think thee the better bowman. I will call on thee if I would have a sure arrow sent."

Lysias lifted the spear, which was a fathom long, and light, but he looked around the room and found more of the same pattern and made a bundle of them.

"They are well made," he said, "and their points are of good steel. I once threw one like these through the heart of a man from Athens. He was an enemy of my father. I met him on the seashore and I was quicker than he in casting. He should have worn a thicker breastplate.

"Hah!" laughed Ulric. "I am a spearman, but I prefer the North spear and the pilum."

"I like them," said Lysias, "but I know one man that can outthrow thee. He is a Roman knight named Pontius, and they call him the spearman. He is the procurator I told thee of. I would I might live until I can kill him. He liveth now in Jerusalem."

"Thither go I!" exclaimed Ulric. "I have promised Ben Ezra that I will take him to his own, and I must go to that city and see the temple. I have it in mind that I may see his god. They say he is a good god and a great fighter like Thor."

"I have heard much of him," said Lysias, "but he is more like Jupiter. If thou wilt land at the island Paphos, I will show thee his statue and thou canst see what he is like. We shall hear his voice thunder if I read this weather rightly."

"Then he is Thor!" said Ulric, turning to the door. "Come! I know not the weather signs of this sea."

Out they went and Lysias glanced around the sky. His face was brighter now and he stepped firmly like a warrior.

"O jarl," he shouted, "I am a seaman also. Take down thy sails quickly! Put out a bank of oars. Bid thy steersman keep the head of thy keel southward, for from thence cometh a tempest. The sky will darken rapidly."

"The Greek is right!" shouted Sigurd. "I had forgotten the sign of such a storm, but I call it to mind. It is a strong one."

Down came the sails, out went the oars, and the thick haze on the water southerly, which had been sunlit and fair to look upon, shot up toward the middle heaven, blackening as it went.

"O jarl," said Wulf the Skater, "thank the gods! We are to see a kind of storm that we do not have in our own seas."

"Fine storms come to us in midsummer," said Ulric, "and they roar well in the fiords. Will the anger of Thor be louder here? The Greek saith that his Jupiter can thunder, and the Jew told me that his Jehovah is also a thunderer. Are they of kin? They who speak the same tongue are of one house."

The Greek was now standing by the anvil and hammer on the fore deck.

"The sign of this ship was Minerva," he muttered, "but the Saxons have given it to Vulcan. If yonder cloud is indeed of the wind from the African desert we may yet wish that Neptune were our steersman. But what care I for the gods? They were never yet of any use to me. My father made many sacrifices, but the Romans slew him."

There now were sails in sight, but these were fast furling. Most of them were small, but one, at the greater distance, had seemed much wider than the rest.

"I have been watching her," said Sigurd to Ulric, speaking of this craft. "I am not young, but my eyes are the eyes of a falcon. Now that her sail is down her oars are out and she steereth toward us. The storm will give her oarsmen enough to do."

"But we must watch her," said Ulric. "Even a merchantman might seek our company, but she may be a warship."

"So may some of these lesser keels be of the pirates of these coasts," said Sigurd. "They are many, and we do well if we smite them, for often they are good captures."

"Here cometh the wind!" shouted Knud the Bear, exultingly. "The foam flyeth!"

First came a sheeted flash of the blinding lightning, and after that closely followed a deep-throated reverberant peal of thunder.

"The voice of Jah!" muttered Ben Ezra. "He hath spoken from his high place."

"Jupiter the Thunderer!" exclaimed Lysias, still standing by the hammer of Thor as if for protection. "I fear him only at such hours as this; but he is a god of the Romans and I am a Greek. Evil are all gods or I should not have lost my Sapphira. Evil are they and wicked, and they hate men, for they destroy us. There is no man but must die, and if the gods were good, we might live. But these Saxons are brave seamen!"

Little cared they for storms, these sons of the sea kings. They shouted and they sang as if they were in a battle, while the waves grew mad and boiled frothing around the high wooden walls of The Sword. Her head was kept toward the wind and she rode the billows like a vast waterfowl, for the Roman shipbuilders were well skilled.

Less easy must have been the course of a keel that strove to cross the surges with her side to the wind, and it now could be seen that the large stranger was laboring and that now and then waves broke over her.

"She bringeth small peril to us," said the jarl. "We will row with but one bank of oars. Let their rowers weary themselves with three. The trumpeter on her fore deck soundeth a signal."

"Of what good," laughed Wulf the Skater, "is the blowing of a horn in such a gale as this?"

"He sendeth us a signal to heave to and wait for them," said Sigurd. "What sayest thou concerning this fellow, O Jew?"

"I think her one of the cruisers sent out by the proconsul of Spain," replied Ben Ezra. "They are all weaker vessels than this, but they are swift. They protect merchantmen from the African pirates to rob all for the proconsul."

The air grew darker, denser, and the salt spray flew into all faces, but the jarl stood upon the after deck and blew upon his war horn a blast louder than that of the Roman trumpet.

"Thy horn be exalted!" shouted Ben Ezra. "It is as the horn of a king! May Jehovah of Hosts be with thee, thou mighty man of valor! Sound again! Let these heathen know that we fear them not."

"But for the storm we might strike them," growled Sigurd. "It is ill to let such a prey go by us."

Now was there also a change in the appearance of Ben Ezra. He stood by the jarl as erect as a pine tree. From the stores of The Sword he had provided himself with arms and armor of the best, by permission of Ulric. The visor of his brazen helmet was open and it might be seen that his dark face glowed like youth as he gazed angrily at the enemy.

"He is a warrior!" exclaimed Tostig the Red. "I like him well. I think he might strike a good blow with that long crooked sword which he hath found. I saw it, but I preferred a straight blade. The shield lifteth lightly in his hand and his mail coat fitteth him. He hath put brazen guarders upon his arms and legs. A small man should avoid such as he in the press of battle."

So said others of the vikings, but they were watching more closely the Roman keel.

The trumpeter sounded several times and as often did they send back defiances from their war horns.

"O jarl," said Lysias, "this is the storm which cometh from the African desert. It is not like any other. Not only is there much thunder and terrible lightning and strong wind, but I have felt sharp sand upon my face. It will blow long and hard, and the waves will not go down, but there will be no more rain. The sky is clearing."

"Thou knowest the storms of thine own sea," said Knud the Bear; "but are we far from land?"

"No man knoweth that," said Lysias; "but here cometh the Roman, like a fool. I would thy jarl might strike him. O jarl, may I use the bow?"

"When thou canst," said Ulric, "but the distance is yet too great."

Like fierce and angry music rang out the laugh of the Greek, but his arrow was on the string and he raised the bow.

The Sword sank heavily into the trough of a sea wave and the Roman keel was lifted high upon a surge, just as a long, vivid sheet of lightning seemed to bring her nearer by its brightness. Her steersman was a giant, unarmored, straining hard at her tiller and bracing himself. At him was Ulric looking when suddenly he threw up his hands, letting the tiller go, and the feathered shaft of the young Greek's long arrow quivered against his naked bosom.

"Odin! Well shot!" shouted Ulric, but the bowstring twanged again and another Roman fell upon the deck beside the dead steersman.

Left to itself and to the will of the wind and the waves, around swung the keel of the Romans, while a great surge poured over her bulwarks and her rowers were hurled from their seats. Wild was their shouting and another surge poured in.

"Strike her not!" said Sigurd. "Be thou prudent with thine own keel, lest thou shouldst be in some manner disabled. Let the Greek send his arrows, but steer upon thy course."

Ulric so ordered, but shaft after shaft did Lysias send, not all of them hitting, but not all failing of a mark. Other war horns than that of Ulric were sounding and other bows were also quickly plying.

"I think," said Tostig the Red, "that we have no better bowman than this Greek. He will be a good help in a sea fight. I like well to see his long arrows go so straight to their places. Then the mark goeth down and it is time to laugh."

The Roman rowers were toiling hard to recover control of their vessel, but the Saxons knew little of the astonishment and dismay that reigned on board of her. Her crew had not thought of an open enemy at the first. They had deemed The Sword a friend until the sounding of the jarl's war horn. Even then they had expected no resistance, at least no attack, until their steersman fell and a man of rank near him was pierced by an arrow.

Better than a sailing vessel can a rowed keel turn her head to the waves, however, and before long the Romans were once more striving to overtake the Saxons.

CHAPTER XVI.

The Dead God in Africa

Clouds without rain swept fast across the sky and the waves followed The Sword as if they willed to overwhelm her. Well was it that her stern was so high and that she was strongly builded. It had seemed, also, that no sea harm had befallen her pursuer, but now the darkness deepened and the watchers on The Sword could no longer discern the Roman.

"O jarl," said Sigurd, "it is a time for prudence. This flying sand telleth of some shore, I think, at no great distance."

"It might be carried far by such a wind," said Ulric. "But Ben Ezra told me of great cities in Africa which have been buried by the sand blown from the inner deserts."

"What further counsel hath he?" asked Sigurd.

"Answer him, thou," said the jarl to Ben Ezra.

"O warrior of the Saxons," said the Jew, "thou sayest that thou hast sailed these seas aforetime. Thou mayest know that the presence of one Roman trireme portendeth the speedy gathering of a fleet. It were well to destroy this one if she cometh near us again. But we have now escaped her pursuing. Let her watchers not see this ship again. I would advise that we now go eastward by the stars, for we may note them at times through the rifts in the clouds."

"I will so order," said the jarl. "I were not wise to risk harming my own keel by a battle among these high waves. It is a peril to a ship to be dashed against even one heavy timber where the aim cannot be made certain. Moreover, we have been long at sea and it were well to seek a harbor."

Ben Ezra said no more, now that his counsel was approved. The head of The Sword was turned eastward and all the oars were plying. Neither was the wind now so much against her, but the waves were still tumultuous. Fast waned the night, growing darker as it passed, and the jarl himself remained at the helm.

"I go onward into an unknown sea," he thought. "Who may tell what may be before me? Dawn cometh. There is gray light. O watcher!"

Answered him then not a Saxon, but the deep voice of Ben Ezra from the foremast.

"O jarl! A fire! Hold! We near a land!"

"Cease rowing, all!" shouted Ulric. "O Jew, look again. What seest thou?"

"Only a dim fire, far in the southward. It is a guide for us, but we may seek it cautiously. The wind goeth down."

"It is so," said Knud the Bear. "It was a hot wind, and this air is cooler. I thought we were sailing into a furnace."

"The desert is like a furnace, I have heard," said Sigurd. "Men burn up in it and all horses die; but lions live there. How can any beast live in a land of fire?"

"I know not," said Ulric, "but yonder is a brighter streak of dawn. We shall soon know if the Romans are near us. We may slay them if the water becometh smooth enough for a good fight."

"It would be a grief to all men," said Tostig the Red, "if we lost an opportunity. But if this be land, I want some beef."

"Good!" exclaimed an old viking. "We had many cattle on the Gaulish coast, but in Spain we got little but sheep. Hereaway may be found cattle. We may throw a net, and we may find fishes."

The jarl said nothing, for he watched the sea and the sky and he steered the ship.

"Nearer!" shouted Ben Ezra from the mast. "And the daylight cometh. I watch for the Romans. May the curse of Jehovah be upon them and theirs forever!"

Lysias was on the fore deck, and as he heard Ben Ezra he muttered angry words in his own tongue. Then he whispered softly to himself, or to a shadow, and his fair face grew white and his teeth ground together as if he were in agony. So do they suffer who have lost a love and know that it is forever gone, for Lysias had said:

"Worse far than if they had slain her! I would that she were dead and I with her. But I may live to slay Romans. Why did this Saxon jarl spare any of them? But he is captain, and they say he is a wise one."

In the small wooden fort for slingers and archers, high up the stout mast, sat Ben Ezra, and a viking sat with him.

"O Saxon," said the Jew, "would thy jarl spare them if they came with the day?"

"The son of Brander is jarl, not I," replied the viking, surlily. "Speak thou not carelessly of the leader of men. Thou art no seaman. He will strike when he is ready. Let that content thee."

For deep and strong was the hold of Ulric upon his older men, by reason of his skill as a seaman and as a captain and because of his good fortune; for they saw plainly that Odin and Thor were with him and that the gods of the Middle Sea could do nothing against him. Even the ice gods had been his friends and the god of the Druids had also helped him, sending him away from Britain unharmed. It was a great thing to have such a jarl, of Odin's line. They all knew, moreover, that Hilda, the saga woman, must by this time have gone down to the gods and that she willed exceedingly well to the crew of The Sword and to her young hero.

"He is truly a leader of men," growled the Jew through his thick beard, "but I would once more smite these Philistines of Rome."

"In that I am with thee," said the viking, heartily. "Thou art a good sword. I would see thee in battle. It is pleasant to look upon a warrior that slayeth zealously. But our feast of blood will come to us. Wait."

Up sprang the sun above the blue waves of the Middle Sea, and all the Saxons shouted joyfully. It was true that there were no enemies in sight, nor present hope of any good fighting, but here was a land that they had never seen before. All seamen know the joy there is in finding a country that is unknown.