So I put the arm back, for when once the trick is
learned there is not, as a rule, much trouble.
But Griffin never thanked me. He left that to
his seconds, who did so well enough.
Then Ragnar came forward and said gravely, “I
was wrong when I called you ‘nidring,’
and I take back the word and ask you to forget it.
No man who is that will face the Danish axe as you
have faced it, and I will say that the British sword
is a thing to be feared.”
But Griffin made no answer, and when Ragnar held out
his hand he would not see it.
“Maybe I have not yet made amends,” Ragnar
went on. “I will add, therefore, as I know
that my words will go no farther, that I am sure that
the thing concerning which we quarrelled yesterday
was done by you at the orders of another. It
was not your own doing, and no thought of cowardice
is in my mind now.”
But Griffin never answered; and now he turned his
back on the earl, who was plainly grieved, and said
no more to him, but turned to us and the two Welshmen.
“I do not think that I can say more. If
there is aught that is needed, tell me. We have
fought a fair fight, and I have taken back the words
that caused it.”
Then said Cadwal, “No more is needed. I
did not think that we had met with so generous a foe.
If Griffin will say naught, we say this for him.
He has no cause for enmity left. And I say also
that he has to thank this thane for his life as well
as the earl.”
“No thane am I,” said Havelok, “but
only Havelok Grimsson of Grimsby. And even that
name is set aside for a while, so that I must ask you
to forget it. I have seen a good fight, if a
short one, and one could not smite a wounded man who
forgot himself for a moment.”
There was nothing more to be had from Griffin, for
we waited a minute or two in silence to see if he
would speak, and then we saluted and left the wood.
The last thing that I saw seemed to be a matter of
high words between Griffin and his seconds; and, indeed,
if they were telling him what they thought, it is
likely that he wished he had been more courteous.
It is easy enough for a man who wants a quarrel to
have done with one and then start another.
We went quietly back to the town, and there was only
one thing that I wished, and that was that Havelok
had not had to tell his name twice. Ragnar was
full of thanks to us for our help, and said that he
would that we would come to Norfolk with him.
“We have a man who knows you also,” he
said, “but he has been with our princess for
a long time now. He is called Mord, and is her
chamberlain. He has often told me how he came
by his wry-neck at the time of your shipwreck.”
So he said, and looked at Havelok. But this was
a thing that he had not seen, as he was so sick at
the time. I said that I remembered Mord well,
and would seek him some time in the day.
