Page:The Early Kings of Norway.djvu/108

 98 EARLY KINGS OF NORWAY. laugMng, till Sigurd saddled for himself, and rode away. TTis mother Aasta appears to haye been a thoughtful, prudent woman, though always with a fierce royalism at the bottom of her memory, and a secret implacability on that head. At the age of twelve Olaf went to sea ; furnished with a little fleet, and skilful sea-counsellor, expert old Rane, by his Foster-father, and set out to push his fortune in the world. Rane was a steersman and counsellor in these incipient times; but the crew always called Olaf ' King,' though at first, as Snorro thinks, except it were in the hour of battle, he merely pulled an oar. He cruised and fought in this capacity on many seas and shores ; passed several years, perhaps till the age of nineteen or twenty, in this wild element and way of life ; fighting always in a glorious and distinguished manner. In the hour of battle, diligent enough 'to amass property,' as the Vikings termed it ; and in the long days and nights of sailing, given over, it is likely, to his own -thoughts and the unfathomable dialogue with the ever-moaning Sea ; not the worst High School a man could have, and indeed infinitely preferable to