you will, though I think not he deserves such a chance. Was it a
fair fight when he fell on our two ships with his ten?"

"I would slay him, Helgi, like a dog, were it not that something
within me bids me ask in this wise the wishes of Odin."

"'Tis the voice of yon witch."

"She is no witch, Helgi, only the fairest girl in all the North.
Listen, and I will tell you the story of this spell; but remember
it is to you alone I tell it, and never must another know of my
shame."

"Have you ever known me betray your trust?"

"Never, Helgi, my brother, or you would not hear this tale. To me
it seems the story of six years of my life, though it was scarcely
as many weeks; but I shall make it as brief as I may."

"The hour is yet early."

"After the battle, Helgi, I should have been drowned but for that
maid you saw. She saved my life, and that at least I owe her. She
brought me to the abode of her father, the hermit of the Holy
Isle; and there I learned to love her. For six weeks I was no
Viking. I forgot my kinsfolk and my country, forgot all but Osla."

"Call you not that a spell?"

"Did you not say yourself that you had known many spells like