Havelok the Dane - A Legend of Old Grimsby and Lincoln by Charles W. (Charles Watts) Whistler
page 242 of 333 (72%)
page 242 of 333 (72%)
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good. Teach me to vow to your God, sweet wife, and I will do so; and you
shall teach me to pray as you pray." So it came to pass that Havelok in the after days was more than ready to help the Christian teachers when they came to him; for that was how the vow that he made ran, that he would do so if he was king, and had the power. Now there is nothing to tell of our voyage, for one could not wish for a better passage, if the ship was slow. Indeed, she was so slow that a smaller vessel that left Tetney haven on the next day reached the same port that we were bound for on the night that we came to our old home. And that we learned soon after she had come. Into Sigurd's haven we sailed on the morning tide, and strange it seemed to me to see the well-known place unchanged as we neared it. My father's house was there, and Arngeir's, and the great hall of the jarl towered over all, as I remembered it. Men were building a ship in the long shed where ours had been built, and where the queen had hidden; and the fishing boats lay on the hard as on the day when Havelok had come to us. The little grove was yet behind our house, and it seemed strange when I remembered that the old stones of its altar were far beyond the seas. I wondered if Thor yet stood under his great ash tree; and then I saw one change, for that tree was gone, and in its place stood a watchtower, stone built, and broad and high, for haven beacon. On the high fore deck stood Havelok, and his arm was round Goldberga as we ran in, but they were silent. The land held overmuch of coming wonder for them to put into words, as I think. Presently the boats came off to us in the old way, and here and there I |
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