XI
“WHAT OLAF ART THOU?”
The “Alruna” and the “Aastrid” were still gliding over the North Sea, when one morning a ship was sighted. It was just entering the Skager Rack, on the North of Denmark. Olaf stood up and looked anxiously.
“What is it, Thore?” he asked. Thore shook his head. Olaf approached the helmsman. “What is yon ship?”
The man took his hand from the helm a moment and shading his eyes, eagerly scanned the waters. “It is a ship of the Danes. They have been over to plunder the English and the Irish coasts. Full booty they have, and some slaves.”
“Then I will bid the rowers move quickly and I will give them fight. I want not their booty, but if slaves they have captured, I will ransom them. I would enter my kingdom with the prayers and the blessings of the ransomed. Moreover, they may be Christians and I like not that the heathen Danes should make thralls of Christians. I vowed before the whole Saxon court, when the holy oil of confirmation was given me by Dunstan of Canterbury, that I would never again molest my Christian brothers of
