CHAPTER XIV. STEELHEAD TAKES LEAVE OF OSBERNE.
NOW by then it was high noon, and the sun very hot, and as they lay on the grass after this converse the lad looked on the water; and he was besweated, and longed for the bright pools of the stream after the manner of boys; and he said at last: I were fain to take to the water this hot noon, if it please thee. It is well thought of, lad, said Steelhead, and that the more, as I must needs see thee naked if I am to strengthen thee as I am minded to do. So they did off their raiment, both of them, and went into the biggest of the pools hard by; and if Steelhead were a noble-looking man clad, far nobler was he to look on naked, for he was both big and well shapen, so that better might not be. As for Osberne, there looked but little of him when he was unclad, as is the fashion of lads to be lank, yet for his age he was full well shapen. So Steelhead came out of the water presently, and clad himself, while Osberne yet played awhile. Then Steelhead called the lad to him, all naked as he was, and said: Stand thou before me, youngling, and I will give thee a gift which shall go well with Board-cleaver. And the lad stood still before him, and Steelhead laid his hands on the head of him first, and let them abide there awhile; then he passed his hands over the shoulders and arms of the boy, and his legs and thighs and breast, and all over his body; and therewith he said: In our days and the olden time it was the wont of fathers to bless their children in this wise, but for thee, thy father is dead, and thy nighest kinsman is little-hearted and somewhat of a churl. Thus then have I done to thee to take the place of a father to thee, I who am of the warriors of while agone. And I think it will avail thee; and it is borne in upon me that before very long thou wilt need this avail, if thou art to live and do the deeds I would have thee. Now it is done, so cover thee in thy raiment and rest awhile; and then I will depart and leave thee to the might which I have given thee, and the valiance which hath grown up in thine heart.
So they lay down on the greensward and rested; and Osberne had fetched along with him cakes and cheese, and a keg of good drink, and they took their bever there in all content. But for that time Steelhead spake no more of his folk and the old days, but about the fowl and fish and other wild things that haunted that clough, and of shooting in the bow and so forth. Then they arose and went to their horses, and Steelhead said to Osberne: How is it with the might of thy body, lad? Canst thou do better in wrestling of Board-cleaver? So the youngling stretched himself, and took the sword by the hilts and shook it and waved it about, and tossed it in the air and caught it again, and said: Seest thou, master? Meseems my might is so much eked, that I deem I could swim the stream of the Sundering Flood and overcome it. Quoth the hlllman, laughing: Yea, and we know that that would please thee well; but let it be, my son, I bid thee; for no race of folk who have dwelt in the Dale from the beginning of the world have ever won across the Sundering Flood. So now we depart for this present; but as for this way-beast I ride, thy grandsire shall lose nothing and gain much by him; for I took him but to pleasure thee, and I shall send him back to Wethermel ere many days are past. Farewell, my son!
So he kissed the youngling, and rode away south across the stream and over the other side of the clough. Osberne stood beside his horse, looking after him and the way he had taken, and then mounted and rode his way homeward, somewhat downcast at first for the missing of this new father. But after a while, what for his new gift and his freshly-gained might, and the pride and pleasure of life, he became all joyous again, as though the earth were new made for him.