I saw her face light up with a new wonder and joy, which told me that here was no idle listener. And so the old teacher went on in all kindly wisdom, never hurting us in aught he said of the old gods, but leading us to see the deeper things which our forebears had forgotten. I listened, and thought it all good; but betimes Gerda wept quietly, and would fain hear more and more. The little bell on the chapel rang for the vespers or ever we ended that long talk, and the old man must go. I raised him up, for he was very feeble, and again the touch of the gold put a word into his mind. "Jarl, and son of Odin," he said, smiling, "no need for you to wait that dim Ragnarok fight of yours for warfare against evil. That fight has begun, and in it you may take your part now, that you may share in the victory hereafter." Then I said, for I minded how useless to me seemed this life here: "What part have you therein, father--you and the brethren?" "We pray for those who have forgotten to do so for themselves," he answered. "And we are of those whose sorest fight has been against evil within." So we went into the chapel for the vespers with him, and the day was done. But in the morning there hung on the black cross on the green grass a wreath of white flowers which no brother had set there. Chapter 11: The Summons Of The Beacons. Now, for all the peace of this holy island there hung over it an ever-present fear of which I learned when we spoke to Phelim concerning the treasure which we would leave in the care of the brethren when we went hence. He said that it was well if we would do so, and that they would bury it under that new shed which we had helped to build, since no Danes would wonder at seeing newly-turned earth there. "Moreover," he said, "if we are not here when you come for it, you will know where it is." He said this quietly, and as a matter of course, and I asked him in surprise if it was likely that they would leave their island. "Not alive," he answered; "but the Danes may spy our easily-taken flocks at any time, and come ashore here." "Why, they would not harm the unresisting," I said. "Nay, but we are priests of the faith, therefore the heathen rage against us. Already they have slain almost every brotherhood along the shores of this land, and of Scotland. Our turn may come at any time." He was in no way disquieted at this terrible thought. Thereafter I knew that to him such a death was martyrdom, and most glorious. But Bertric listened with a troubled face, and presently, when we were alone again, he said that he was anxious. "I only hope that we may not have brought trouble on these good men who have sheltered us," he said. "There was a ship which must have seen us cast ashore here." "We should have had her back by this time if she meant seeking us."