The Vikings of the Baltic Author:George Webbe Dasent Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VI. THE GODS CHOOSE THEIR VICTIM. No sooner had Earl Hacon landed than he summoned his four sons, Sweyn, Eric, Erlend, and Sigurd to him, and spoke... more » as follows to them:— " Sons," he said, " and you, most of all. Sweyn and Eric, as ye are grown men and brave captains both, I wish to let you know that my yes are not blind to what has happened today. In many sea-fights have I been, and in land fights too. At the Dannework, with old King Gorm against the Emperor Otho ; against Harold Grayfell and Gold-Harold, of Denmark, both of whom I fell on and slew in one day; in fleets as commander, and in single ships, single-handed against chiefs and Vikings ; but never have I been in a struggle so doubtful as this. There is no gainsaying it that the battle so far has gone against us. It is all very wellto say to the mass of men that we retire for a while to eat and rest and refit, that we may fight better at last. That only proves the strength of the Vikings, for if they had not been so strong the battle would have ended long ago, and we should have needed neither food nor rest till it was over and won. Truth to say, these Vikings are far stronger than I thought, though I did not rate them low. The worst men to withstand that ever I came across, and if we cannot make a better fight of it in the afternoon than before noon, the sun that sets to-night will see the last of me and mine in Norway." Here he paused, and looked round at his sons, seeming to ask a question by gazing into their faces. Eric answered, for Sweyn was slow of words, but Eric was glib-tongued like Hacon himself. " No one can say, father, that we have not all done our best. We have all fought bravely. I speak not of myself; but you and Sweyn, and Erlend, and all of us have fought bravely and so have our...« less