The Norsemen in the West Part 15

Early in the morning nearly the whole body of the people set off to Little River, leaving the settlement in charge of one or two men who chanced at that time to be sick. Of course Olaf was with them, armed with a huge iron hook fastened to the end of a stout pole. All the women also went, being quite as anxious as the men to witness the sport.

The island reached, Karlsefin divided his party into two bands. The smaller body, numbering about twenty-five, were stationed in the water at the lower end of the channel, at equal distances from each other, so as to extend from the tail of the island to the right bank of the stream. These carried strong poles about seven feet long, and were placed there to frighten back any fish that might attempt to rush down the river. The rest of the men went in a body to the dam, and there awaited orders.

When all was ready Karlsefin said to them--"My lads, if we would act well we must act together. Here is the plan on which you are to proceed. On getting the word from Biarne to begin, you will all set to work to dam up the water, right across from this bank to the head of the island. You see that we have already done the work in part, so that it only requires to be completed, and to have the centre gap stopped up.

That will be the difficult point, for the great rush of water will be there, and you will have to do it quickly--to heave in the logs and stones and rubbish, not forgetting the branches and the turf, which will keep all together--as if your very lives depended on your speed. A certain number of you, who shall be told off presently, will do your best at the same time to deepen the channel of the other branch of the stream. When this is done you will have a little breathing s.p.a.ce, for doubtless the water will take a little time to run off. You will take advantage of this time to get your hooks and poles and landing-nets in readiness. For the rest your own sense will guide you.--Now, Biarne, tell off the men and go to work."

Reader, you should have seen the countenance of little Olaf Ericsson when all this was being said and done! Many a time had he seen nets hauled and fish taken, and often had he dreamt of netting whales and other sea-monsters, but never before had he imagined such a thing as laying the bed of a river dry; and his exuberant fancy depicted to him scenes which it is not possible to describe. His visage glowed, and his large blue eyes glared with excitement, while his little bosom heaved and his heart beat high with expectation.

This condition of course increased tenfold when he saw the men cast off more or less of their upper garments and spring to the work with the energy of lunatics. In his own small way he carried logs and branches and mud and stones till he was as dirty and dishevelled as the best of them; and when Gudrid looked horrified at him, and said that it would be next to impossible to clean him, he burst into such a fit of laughter that he lost his balance, fell head over heels into the river, which was only knee-deep at the place, and came out more than half-washed in a moment!

"You see it won't be so difficult as you think," he cried, laughing and gasping when he emerged; "another plunge like that would make me quite clean, aunty."

"Ho! Olaf, were you after a salmon?" cried Swend, as he pa.s.sed with a large log on his shoulder.

"Not I, Swend; it was a whale I was after."

"You don't say that, boy?" cried Krake, in a tone of admiration. "Was he a big one?"

"Oh! frightful--so big that--that--I couldn't see him all."

"Couldn't see him _at all_? Ah, then, he _was_ a big one, sure. The things we can't see at all are always the most wonderful."

"Foolish boy," said Gudrid; "come, I will wring the water out of your clothes."

"'Tis hardly worth while, aunty," said Olaf, coming on sh.o.r.e; "I'll be as wet, as ever in a few minutes."

The careful Gudrid nevertheless wrung as much water out of his dripping garments as was possible without taking them off. By the time this was done the dam had been completed, and the men stood on the banks of the river wiping off and wringing out the superabundant mud and water from their clothes, besides getting ready hooks, nets, and staves. Some of the nets were several fathoms in length. Others were small bags fastened to wooden rings at the end of long poles.

Presently a shout was heard from the men at the lower end of the pool, and they were seen to use their staves smartly several times, as some of the fish, alarmed no doubt at the strange doings above, endeavoured to shoot down the river. Ere long the stony ground on which these men stood became a rippling shallow, and, soon afterwards, a neck of land connecting the lower end of the island with the sh.o.r.e. They therefore abandoned it and rejoined their comrades higher up. The fish were now imprisoned in a pool, retreat having been effectually cut off above and below, and the whole river diverted into the bed of its left branch.

As the water lowered it became obvious that the pool thus isolated was absolutely swarming with salmon, for they could be seen darting hither and thither in shoals, making for the deeper parts of the pool, and jostling one another under stones. Gradually little islets began to appear as the water continued to sink, and then the fish seemed to be seized with a panic. They shot like silver arrows from bank to bank--up the pool and down again, as if enjoying a piscatorial country dance, or, in blind flight, rushed clear out upon the pebbly islets, in half dozens at a time, where they leaped, slid, twirled, and bounded frantically, in what bore some resemblance to a piscatorial reel. Then, slipping into the water again, and recovering their fins and tails, they shot away to encounter similar misfortune elsewhere, or to thrust their noses under stones, and--entertaining the same delusive notions that are said to characterise the ostrich--imagine that they were not seen!

By degrees the islets enlarged until they joined here and there, and, finally, the state of things being inverted, the bed of the stream became a series of little ponds, which were absolutely boiling with fish--not unlike, as Krake remarked, to the boiling springs of Iceland, only that those boiled with heat instead of with living fish.

And now commenced a scene such as, unquestionably, had not been witnessed there since Vinland was created. The Nors.e.m.e.n were half mad with excitement. The women ran up and down the banks clapping their hands and shouting with delight, while Freydissa, unable to contain herself, cast appearances to the dogs, leaped among the men, and joined in the fray.

"The big pool first; this way, lads!" shouted Karlsefin, as he seized the end of a long net and dragged it towards the pool in question.

Twenty willing hands a.s.sisted. The net encircled the pool and was thrust in; men with poles forced one side of it down to the bottom, and the two ends were hauled upon might and main. At the same moment, other men went with hand nets to smaller pools, and, scooping up the fish, sent them writhing and struggling through the air towards the bank, where Gudrid, Thora, Astrid, Gunhild, Sigrid, and even timid Bertha, sought in vain to restrain their struggles and prevent them from wriggling back into the almost dry bed of the stream.

"Haul away with heart, men!" shouted Biarne, who was at one end of the large net.

Already the stout ropes were strained to the uttermost--at last the net came out bursting with salmon; more hands were hailed; it was run over the pebbles, up the bank, and onwards to a flat open spot, where, with a shout, it was emptied on the greensward.

Talk of silver bars! The simile is wretched. No simile is of any avail here. The brightest and freshest silver bars ever cast might shine as much as these salmon did, but they could not glitter so, for they could not wriggle and spring and tumble. They could not show that delicate pink which enhanced the silvery sheen so wondrously. They could not exhibit that vigorous life which told of firm flakes--suggestive of glorious meals for many a day to come. Pooh! even their intrinsic value could not suggest anything in this case,--for all the silver bars that ever were coined on earth could not have purchased the appet.i.tes which made the mouths of these Nors.e.m.e.n to water, as they gazed in admiration on that vast hecatomb of splendid salmon! They absolutely danced round the fish--it might almost be said they danced _with_ them--in triumphant glee!

"Come, come," cried Karlsefin loudly; "to work! to work! Ye may dance after that is done. Here, sweep this pool also."

With a cheer the men ran down the bank, and little Olaf followed, having already used his hook with such effect that he had pulled six large fish out of various holes and added them to the general pile.

"Take care, Olaf, that you don't fall in and get drowned," cried Biarne as he ran past.

"Hurrah!" shouted Olaf, with a flourish of his weapon, which made the narrowest possible miss of _cleeking_ Tyrker by the nose.

"Have a care!" roared the Turk.

"You've much need to say that," replied Olaf, with a laugh, for Tyrker at that moment set his heel upon a salmon, fell, and rolled heavily down the bank. But Tyrker was tough. He rose with a growl and a grin and ran on to join his comrades.

A second pool was netted, and with the like result. As the net was being dragged forth, Olaf saw that several fish had escaped. He struck in his hook at random, for the pools, being by that time a thick compound of mud and water, could not be seen into.

"Oh! I've got him!" he shouted, struggling with the handle of his hook, which jerked so violently that the st.u.r.dy little fellow was almost thrown to the ground.

"Hold on!" cried Thorward, running to his aid.

"Why, Olaf, what's this? Have a care. Not too fast. There. Hallo!-- an eel."

And so it was--an enormous eel, that went twirling round the pole in wondrous fashion until it freed itself, and, after twisting round the limbs of Olaf and Thorward, who in vain sought to hold it fast, made off over the wet stones as if they were its native element, and slid into another large pool, where it disappeared.

"Never mind, Olaf," cried Thorward, with a laugh, "you'll catch hold of it again. Hook away at it, lad. Don't give."

A tremendous shriek arose from the women on the bank at this juncture.

"Oh! look! look at Freydissa!" cried Gunhild, pointing wildly to the river bed.

And there Freydissa stood--up to the arm-pits in mud and salmon!

Whether she had fallen in or been pushed in no one could tell, but unquestionably she _was_ in, having gone in, too, head-foremost, so that, although she had struggled right-end up she reappeared coated with mud to an extent that might have suggested a sculptor's clay model--had sculptors been known to the Nors.e.m.e.n of those days.

There was an irresistible roar of laughter at first, and then loud expressions of condolence and sympathy, while a dozen strong, but wet and dirty, hands were stretched forth to the rescue.

"Here, lay hold of my hand, poor thing," cried Krake; "there, now, don't cry; it would only be wasting tears, with so much water on your face already."

If anything could have made Freydissa cry it would have been that remark, for it implied that she was inclined to weep, while nothing was further from her thoughts at that time.

She did, however, grasp Krake's hand, but instead of aiding herself by it to get out of the hole, she gave it such a vigorous and hearty pull that Krake went souse into the mud beside her. Before he could recover himself Freydissa had put her knee on his body, and, using him as a foot-rest, thrust him deeper down as she stepped out.

The delight with which this was hailed is beyond description, and many a year pa.s.sed after that before men grew tired of twitting Krake about the pleasant mud-bath that had been given him by Freydissa on the occasion of the celebrated take of salmon at Little River in Vinland.

CHAPTER TWELVE.

SAGE CONVERSE BETWEEN HAKE AND BERTHA--BIARNE IS OUTWITTED--A MONSTER IS SLAIN, AND SAVAGES APPEAR ON THE SCENE.

Not long after this an event occurred which produced great excitement in the new settlement; namely, the appearance of natives in the woods. It occurred under the following circ.u.mstances.

One morning Karlsefin gave orders for one of the exploring parties to be got ready to go out immediately. Karlsefin's plan from the beginning had been to cla.s.s his men in two divisions. One half stayed at home to work, the other half searched the land,--always taking care, however, not to travel so far but that they could return home in the evening.

They were careful also not to wander far from each other. Sometimes Karlsefin went with the exploring party, at other times stayed at home to superintend the work there, while Biarne or Thorward filled his place. On the occasion in question Biarne was in charge.