of them."

"Ay," said Helgi, with a sigh, "there will be no fighting to-day."

About twenty men, dressed in skins and fur coats and wooden
helmets, and slenderly armed, had left the town, and now came
slowly up the hill. Their leader alone wore a burnished steel
helmet, and carried a long halberd over his shoulder. Immediately
behind him walked two boys, and at the sight of them Helgi asked,-
-

"What mean they by bringing boys against us?"

"Hostages," suggested Estein laconically.

When this motley company had come within a hundred yards of them,
they stopped, and their leader advanced alone.

As he drew near to the Norsemen, Estein stepped out a pace or two
to meet him, but they stood so close that Helgi and Ketill could
hear all that passed. They saw that the stranger was a tall,
elderly man with a clever face and a dignified bearing.

"Hail, Estein Hakonson!" he said.

"You know my name, it seems," replied Estein, "and therein have
the advantage of me."

"My name is Thorar," said the chief, speaking gravely and very
courteously, "lawman of this region of Jemtland"--he made a