ISBN: 2940013296084

CHAPTER ONE.IN WHICH THE TALE BEGINS SOMEWHAT FURIOUSLY.By the early light of a bright summer morning, long, long ago, two smallboats were seen to issue from one of the fiords or firths o… Plus…

CHAPTER ONE.IN WHICH THE TALE BEGINS SOMEWHAT FURIOUSLY.By the early light of a bright summer morning, long, long ago, two smallboats were seen to issue from one of the fiords or firths on the westcoast of Norway, and row towards the skerries or low rocky islets thatlay about a mile distant from the mainland.Although the morning was young, the sun was already high in the heavens,and brought out in glowing colours the varied characteristics of amountain scene of unrivalled grandeur.The two shallops moved swiftly towards the islands, their oars shiveringthe liquid mirror of the sea, and producing almost the only sound thatdisturbed the universal stillness, for at that early hour Nature herselfseemed buried in deep repose. A silvery mist hung over the water,through which the innumerable rocks and islands assumed fantasticshapes, and the more distant among them appeared as though they floatedin air. A few seagulls rose startled from their nests, and sailedupwards with plaintive cries, as the keels of the boats grated on therocks, and the men stepped out and hauled them up on the beach of one ofthe islets.A wild uncouth crew were those Norsemen of old! All were armed, for intheir days the power and the means of self-defence were absolutelynecessary to self-preservation.Most of them wore portions of scale armour, or shirts of ring mail, andheadpieces of steel, though a few among them appeared to have confidencein the protection afforded by the thick hide of the wolf, which,converted into rude, yet not ungraceful, garments, covered their broadshoulders. All, without exception, carried sword or battle-axe andshield. They were goodly stalwart men every one, but silent and stern.It might have been observed that the two boats, although bound for thesame islet, did not row in company. They were beached as far from eachother as the little bay into which they ran would admit of, and thecrews stood aloof in two distinct groups.In the centre of each group stood a man who, from his aspect andbearing, appeared to be superior to his fellows. One was in the primeof life, dark and grave; the other in the first flush of manhood, fullgrown, though beardless, fair, and ruddy. Both were taller and stouterthan their comrades.The two men had met there to fight, and the cause of their feud was--Love!Both loved a fair Norse maiden in Horlingdal. The father of the maidfavoured the elder warrior; the maid herself preferred the younger.In those days, barbarous though they undoubtedly were, law and justicewere more respected and more frequently appealed to in Norway than inalmost any other country. Liberty, crushed elsewhere under thedeadweight of feudalism, found a home in the bleak North, and a roughbut loving welcome from the piratical, sea-roving! She did not, indeed,dwell altogether scathless among her demi-savage guardians, who, iftheir perceptions of right and wrong were somewhat confused, might haveurged in excuse that their light was small. She received many shocksand frequent insults from individuals, but liberty was sincerely lovedand fondly cherished by the body of the Norwegian people, through allthe period of those dark ages during which other nations scarce dared tomention her name. Digital Content>E-books>Juv Young Readers>Juv Young Readers>Juv Fiction PB, SAP Digital >16<

ISBN: 2940013296084

CHAPTER ONE.IN WHICH THE TALE BEGINS SOMEWHAT FURIOUSLY.By the early light of a bright summer morning, long, long ago, two smallboats were seen to issue from one of the fiords or firths o… Plus…

CHAPTER ONE.IN WHICH THE TALE BEGINS SOMEWHAT FURIOUSLY.By the early light of a bright summer morning, long, long ago, two smallboats were seen to issue from one of the fiords or firths on the westcoast of Norway, and row towards the skerries or low rocky islets thatlay about a mile distant from the mainland.Although the morning was young, the sun was already high in the heavens,and brought out in glowing colours the varied characteristics of amountain scene of unrivalled grandeur.The two shallops moved swiftly towards the islands, their oars shiveringthe liquid mirror of the sea, and producing almost the only sound thatdisturbed the universal stillness, for at that early hour Nature herselfseemed buried in deep repose. A silvery mist hung over the water,through which the innumerable rocks and islands assumed fantasticshapes, and the more distant among them appeared as though they floatedin air. A few seagulls rose startled from their nests, and sailedupwards with plaintive cries, as the keels of the boats grated on therocks, and the men stepped out and hauled them up on the beach of one ofthe islets.A wild uncouth crew were those Norsemen of old! All were armed, for intheir days the power and the means of self-defence were absolutelynecessary to self-preservation.Most of them wore portions of scale armour, or shirts of ring mail, andheadpieces of steel, though a few among them appeared to have confidencein the protection afforded by the thick hide of the wolf, which,converted into rude, yet not ungraceful, garments, covered their broadshoulders. All, without exception, carried sword or battle-axe andshield. They were goodly stalwart men every one, but silent and stern.It might have been observed that the two boats, although bound for thesame islet, did not row in company. They were beached as far from eachother as the little bay into which they ran would admit of, and thecrews stood aloof in two distinct groups.In the centre of each group stood a man who, from his aspect andbearing, appeared to be superior to his fellows. One was in the primeof life, dark and grave; the other in the first flush of manhood, fullgrown, though beardless, fair, and ruddy. Both were taller and stouterthan their comrades.The two men had met there to fight, and the cause of their feud was--Love!Both loved a fair Norse maiden in Horlingdal. The father of the maidfavoured the elder warrior; the maid herself preferred the younger.In those days, barbarous though they undoubtedly were, law and justicewere more respected and more frequently appealed to in Norway than inalmost any other country. Liberty, crushed elsewhere under thedeadweight of feudalism, found a home in the bleak North, and a roughbut loving welcome from the piratical, sea-roving! She did not, indeed,dwell altogether scathless among her demi-savage guardians, who, iftheir perceptions of right and wrong were somewhat confused, might haveurged in excuse that their light was small. She received many shocksand frequent insults from individuals, but liberty was sincerely lovedand fondly cherished by the body of the Norwegian people, through allthe period of those dark ages during which other nations scarce dared tomention her name. Digital Content>E-books>Young Readers>Juv Young Reader>Juv Young Reader, SAP Digital >16<

ISBN: 2940013296084

Erling The Bold Erling-the-Bold~~Robert-Michael-Ballantyne Juv Young Readers>Juv Young Readers>Juv Fiction PB NOOK Book (eBook), SAP