They sailed down the river, past fishermen’s shacks and beavers’ huts and dams, rejoicing that the going was now light. The river ran black and shining between broad-leaved trees, rich with foliage, and the men thought that the fish from this river tasted more wholesome than those they had caught in the Dvina. Only a few men were needed at the oars; the rest sat in peace and contentment, telling one another stories and wondering whether the whole voyage might not be completed without any fighting.
The river broadened more and more, and at last they came out into the Dnieper. Orm and Toke agreed that even the biggest rivers in Andalusia could not be compared with this; and Olof Summerbird said that, of all the rivers in the world, only the Danube was greater. But Spof thought that the Volga was the biggest of them all, and had many stories to tell of the voyages he had made on its waters.
They met four ships laboring upstream, heavy-laden, and spoke with them. They were manned by merchants from Birka, who were on their way home from Krim. They were very tired, and said that trade had been good but the homeward journey bad. They had been engaged in fighting at the weirs and had lost many men; for the Patzinaks had come west, waging war against all men, and were trying to stop all traffic on the river. It would be unwise, they said, for anyone to travel beyond Kiev before the Patzinaks had left the river and returned again to their eastern grazing-grounds.
This news gave Orm much to think about, and when they had parted from the merchants he sat for a long time pondering deeply.
1. Balagard; that is, the southern coast of Finland.
2. Loki was the spirit of evil and mischief in Norse mythology; it was he who contrived the death of Balder.
3. The Caspian Sea.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CONCERNING WHAT HAPPENED AT THE WEIRS
THAT evening they went ashore for the night close to a village, where they found both sheep and mead for sale. After they had eaten, Orm sat in counsel with Toke and Olof over the news they had just heard, to decide what course they would be best advised to take now that they were approaching their goal. They went out to the empty ship, to be able to speak without fear of disturbance or of being overheard; and there they sat together in the evening stillness, while dragonflies played over the surface of the water, and the river chuckled slowly around the ship.
Orm thought that he had many difficult problems to decide.
“Such is our present situation,” he said, “that we must plan wisely if we are to bring this voyage to a successful conclusion. Nobody knows anything about the treasure except you two and myself, and the two boys, who know how to keep their mouths shut; no one else. All that the men have been told is that we are going to Kiev to collect an inheritance, and I have not revealed our true purpose even to Spof. But we shall soon have to tell them that we are going beyond to the weirs, and that my inheritance lies hidden there. If we tell them this, though, it is certain that the whole of Kiev will also know of it a short while after we have come to the town; for men who drink in a good harbor cannot keep such a secret longer than the time it takes to drink three cups of ale, even if they know they will lose their heads for it. And if the purpose of our journey comes to the ears of the great Prince and his men, it will be a sad piece of ill luck for us, for then there will be many who will wish to share our silver and gold with us, if not to kill us and keep the lot for themselves. In addition to all this, we now have these Patzinaks to think about, who will be lurking in wait for us at the weirs.”
Olof and Toke agreed that there was much here for a man to scratch his head about. Toke asked how far it might be from Kiev to the weirs, and whether they would be able to find food on the river once they had passed beyond the city.
“From Kiev to the weirs is, I think, nine days’ hard rowing,” said Olof, “though Spof will be able to tell you more accurately than I. The time I voyaged there we bought food from the herdsmen on the banks, and also took much from a rich village of the Severians. But things may be different now that it is no longer peaceful on the river.”
“It would be foolish of us to come to Kiev without first telling the men that we intend to proceed,” said Toke. “For there is much that will tempt them in the city, and it may be that many of them will refuse to go farther, pleading that we misled them.”
“A worse danger,” said Olof, “is that the great Prince himself will immediately conscript many if not all of us into his service. I have served the great Prince Vladimir and know how things are in Kiev. He has always given good pay, and if he now has trouble on his hands, he will be offering more than before. It is so with him that he can never have enough Northmen in his bodyguard; for he holds us to be the boldest and most loyal of men, as indeed we are, and loves us dearly, having done so ever since the Swedes helped him to his throne when he was a young man. He himself is of Swedish blood. He knows many ways to tempt Northmen to remain in Kiev, even if his gold should fail to seduce them.”
Orm nodded and sat pondering, staring down into the water.
“There is much to be said against our visiting the great Prince Vladimir,” he said, “though his fame is so great and his wisdom so renowned that it would be a pity to pass through his town without seeing him. It is said that, now that he is old, men worship him as holy, though it has taken him a long time to attain to that condition. He must be nearly as great a king as King Harald was. But that which is most important must come first. We have come on a particular errand, to collect the gold; then, when we have found it, we shall have another errand—namely, to carry it quickly and safely home again. I think we are all agreed that it would be wisest to proceed directly to the weirs.”
“That is so,” said Toke. “None the less, I think we would do well to take Spof’s counsel on the matter. He knows the route better than we do and, perchance, knows these Patzinaks better also.”
The others nodded, and Orm summoned Spof to him from the bank. When he had climbed aboard, Orm told him about the gold.
“I said nothing of this to you when I engaged you,” he concluded, “because I was not yet sure of you. But now I know you to be a good man, and honest.”
“This is to be a longer journey than I had bargained for,” said Spof, “and more dangerous. The price I asked for my services you found dear, but I must tell you that if I had known we were going to the weirs, it would have been dearer still.”
“You need have no worry on that score,” said Orm. “For this voyage to the weirs you may name your own price. And I promise you, and Toke Gray-Gullsson and Olof Styrsson will be your witnesses, that you shall have your share of the treasure, too, if we find it and bring it safely home. And it shall be a full helmsman’s share.”
“Then I am content to go with you,” said Spof. “We Gothlanders are happiest when we know that our services will be well rewarded.”
When he had reflected on the matter, Spof said that he, too, thought that they would do best to proceed directly to the weirs.
“There will be no difficulty about procuring food,” he said. “It is cheap and easy to find farther down the river; I have known men get five fat pigs for a single broadax, with a sack of oats thrown in. We have rich villages ahead of us now, both on this side of Kiev and beyond, and shall be able to get enough food to last us to the weirs and back again. But it would be best if you could pay for it, as you have done hitherto, if your silver will stretch to it, for it is unwise to take things by force on an outward voyage when one intends to return by the same route.”