to pass, pronounced him free from all guilt; only he required of Sir Hugur, that he should enter into a solemn engagement to afford his assistance on the battle-field whenever his father-in-law should demand this of him. The young hero now took a javelin, and dipped it in the blood of his beautiful victim, then gave it to the old Jarl, saying,--‘Send to me a messenger with this token; and wherever I may be, were it at the very farthest corner of the earth, I shall hasten to your assistance in Norway.’ This then was the atonement which he made for the melancholy fate of Astrid. Moreover, Hugur’s only son was there present, and was so terrified when he saw the spear dipt in his mother’s blood, that the knight could never prevail on the boy to come near him again; so that the child was left under the care of his grandfather. “Thereafter (it is said that Sir Hugur was by this time in Italy,) the old Jarl sent him the javelin, commanding that he should immediately repair to France, to the assistance of some Norman friends and connexions. On this occasion Sir Hugur had faithfully fulfilled his duty. From Normandy also his father-in-law sent him forth upon a sea-voyage; and after he had also performed the task which was there enjoined him, he met on his voyage home with a ship, manned by Icelanders, which had on board his wife’s sister, the beautiful Hildiridur, who was now preparing to return to her father’s castle in Norway. They met together in a bay not far from the land; and as he perceived not only that she bore a resemblance to his beloved Astrid, but that she was yet far more beautiful than the wife whom he had lost, he determined to keep her in his power by force or by stratagem, well knowing that his father-in-law would never consent to their union. As for Hildiridur, she knew not aught of what had come to pass during her absence from Norway, and the Icelanders were equally ignorant; so that half in terror at his superior strength, (as it would have been easy for his crew to have taken all the Icelanders captive,) and half won by his knightly grace and dignity, she gave herself up to him; and a Christian priest, who happened to be present, pronounced over them the church’s blessing. At the same time he exacted from her a vow, that as long as they lived together, she should never more practise her magic spells and incantations. It might be that he entertained a natural horror of these arts, or that he was afraid, lest, by means of them, she might discover the fate of her younger sister. The Icelanders to whom he gave presents, and who were left at liberty to go whither they pleased, related in Norway all that had occurred; but this was of little consequence, for they found that the old Jarl was now dead; and since that time no tidings have ever been heard of the stern Sir Hugur and the beautiful Hildiridur.” CHAPTER X. How Sir Otto rode down the steep rocky cliffs.