New Found Land Read Online Free PDF Page B

which had gone astray. But they showed no real curiosity about them. They were more interested when Bos spoke of the pack of whales. It seemed that whale hunting had been the object of their expedition, but they had found none.
    Gradually the mist thinned and the sun’s faint disk appeared close to the horizon. Talk was abandoned for the oars, and the longship headed southwest to the pull of hairy arms. They sang as they rowed, in a rhythmic chant matching the beat of the blades. Only two were absent from the benches: a wiry scar-faced man at the tiller and a big man with a gold chain round his neck, who was plainly the captain. He stood on a wooden platform just behind the dragon’s neck, fixing his gaze on the waters ahead.
    The sun was below the horizon and the day fast darkening when he aroused cheers with the cry of “Land in sight!” The mist had completely cleared, and despite the dusk a low line of coast was plainlyvisible on the port bow. Their progress was fast, and it was not long before they were rounding a headland, the point of a long peninsula. Course was altered southerly; they approached another spur of land, enclosing a broad harbour.
    Brad said: “I was right.”
    â€œAbout what?” Simon asked.
    â€œThe harbour’s unmistakable. Yankees went whaling from here, too. That’s Nantucket island.”
    â€œHome,” the Viking captain said, smiling broadly. “Warm hearths, warm hearts, good food, and good cheer! Welcome, friends.”
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    The town, or more correctly village, stood directly over the harbour, looking down to the quay where the longships were moored to tall posts topped with ornamental heads that matched the ships’ figureheads. There were two or three hundred wooden huts, set higgledy-piggledy around a larger longer building. There was no road as such, but paths twisted in and out of the huts. Many generations of feet had worn them down below the original level, and each hut stood on a small knoll of earth. Whatever the reason for the Vikings’ coming here, it hadhappened a long time ago. Simon looked at the huts as they trooped past them. They had been solidly built in the first place, but many seemed in need of repair. A gaping crack in one had been plugged with hides.
    Women and children thronged out to welcome their menfolk back. They, too, were blonde, the women large-boned with braids of yellow hair that framed plump pink cheeks. They favoured the strangers with curious looks. And a buxom lady who, judging from the way she embraced him, was the captain’s wife, asked where they came from.
    He roared laughter. “From the sea—a gift from Odin. But in truth, wife, they come from beyond the great water, as our forefathers did. They are Romans! Romans will grace the winter feast this year. Is that not good news?”
    She answered his laugh with one equally hearty. The other women crowded close, staring at the Romans, even fingering them. One patted Brad’s cheek and another twined fingers in Bos’s beard. Simon came in for some prodding which he did not care for; he reflected, though, that it was better than the attentions they would have been likely to receiveat the hands of the Iroquois squaws. Then he saw something which took his mind off the Iroquois.
    She stood back from the rest. She was about fourteen but as tall as he was. Her hair was a brighter, more buttery gold than that of the others, her eyes a purer cornflower blue. And there was a charming earnestness about her gaze. Simon returned the look and thought she coloured slightly. Then she turned and went, disappearing behind one of the huts.
    Following her with his eyes, Simon noticed something: Brad was doing the same.
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    They feasted that night in the large building, which was both a general meeting place and the assembly point for their tribal council, the thing. A stone hearth at the centre