"
By their faces, the others appeared to agree with him; but before they could
express themselves, a swimmer rose like a dripping seal out of the water at
their feet.
"Peace and division again!" he cried breathlessly. "And it is the King's will
that you get into a boat and come to him at once."
The rush of the crowd to the water-side to question the messenger gave
Randalin her chance for freedom; and she was not slow in taking it. A moment
more, and she was in the very top of the willow-tree, clasping her hands and
wringing them in alternate thanksgiving and terror.
"Whatever it bring upon me, I will get back to my woman's clothes," she vowed
to herself over and over. "Though it become a hindrance to me, though it be
the cause of my death, I will be a woman always. Odin forgive me that I
thought I had courage enough to be a man!"
Chapter XVIII
What The Red Cloak Hid
At eve, the day is to be praised;
A woman, after she is dead.
Ha'vama'l.
In the vault overhead blue had deepened into purple, and all the silver star-
lamps been hung out, their flames trembling unceasingly in the playing winds.
By the soft light, the Jotun, who was striding across the camp, saw a graceful
boyish form leave the elrcle around the King's fire and join a group of
mounted men waiting on the river bank, some fifty yards away.
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