Page:Bedford-Jones--The Cross and the Hammer.djvu/72

 missionaries or Christian men had been allowed to settle in the islands. It was Olaf's firm intention to spread the Word of God wherever he went, and as the Orkneys were in his path, he decided to visit Jarl Sigurd.

This was a dangerous proceeding, for the Jarl was powerful, and might have settled the fate of the expedition there and then; but matters came out luckily for Olaf. His six ships came to anchor in Asmundar Bay, in Rognwald Island, and in the bay they found a single ship lying at anchor.

Olaf, seeing that the ship was a fine one, and very beautifully furnished, dispatched Sigurd Fairhair to bring her commander on board his own ship, hoping to get news of Norway. To his surprise, it happened that this commander was no other than Jarl Sigurd Lodvarson himself!

Olaf greeted him with a smile. "Truly, it seems that we have an abundance of Sigurds here! Yourself, my own Jarl Sigurd Fairhair, good Bishop Sigurd, of England, and possibly a score of my men, all named alike."

The Jarl, not knowing where King Olaf was bound with his fleet, was somewhat fearful for his safety, and when Olaf urged him to be baptized, he refused, saying the faith of his fathers was good enough for him. Then King Olaf arose, holding in one hand a sword, in the other a cross.

"Jarl, you hold, as Jarl of the Orkneys, part of my inheritance, for I claim all the lands as mine which the Kings of Norway have possessed. As it has come to pass, by the will of God, that you are in my power, there are two courses open to you. The one, that you accept the true faith, and allow yourself to be baptized, with all your subjects. You may expect to hold under me the Jarldom which you now possess, and what is of more importance, you may hope to reign for ever in a nobler kingdom than this.

"The other course, a very wretched one, is that you die; and after your death I will pass over the islands and bring the folk to believe in the true God. Now choose, Jarl, which course you will take."

The Jarl hesitated; then he slowly stretched out his hand and took the cross from that of Olaf. This action was greeted with glad shouts from the crews, and without delay Bishop Sigurd baptized Jarl Sigurd.

Then he swore oaths of fidelity to King Olaf, and placed in the King's hands his son, Hundi, who was also baptized, and who accompanied Olaf to Norway as a hostage.

Next day Olaf came on board the "Crane."

"Sigurd," he said, "are you willing to undertake another mission for me? You seem to scrape through somehow, no matter what happens, and as this one is of some importance I can think of no one better fitted to undertake it."

Sigurd smiled. "If I have scraped through some tight places, Olaf, I don't ascribe it to my own conduct! I have been fortunate in finding friends, and for the rest, God has protected me. Now tell me what this mission is."

STRID and Halfdan had a safe and quiet voyage home to Denmark, but when they arrived there they found that many changes had taken place during the winter. The pale, quiet, religious Queen Gunhild had died, and as she alone had restrained King Svein from his wild and warlike impulses, the King was gathering great forces for his descent on England.

Astrid took up her abode in the castle