Orm replied that he still had a little silver to jingle, though most of it had gone by now.
“Our chief problem will be the Patzinaks,” continued Spof. “We may find ourselves forced to buy a safe-conduct from them. It is possible, though, that they will not let us through at any price. It would be good if you could tell me off which bank the treasure lies, and between which weirs.”
“It lies off the eastern bank,” said Orm, “between the second and third weir, reckoning from the south. But the hiding-place itself I shall reveal to no man until we have reached it.”
“Then it lies a good way from where we shall have to beach the ship for the portage,” said Spof. “It would be best if we could go there by night. It would have been a good thing if we could have brought someone with us who understands the language of the Patzinaks, in case we should find them unwilling to talk peaceably with us. But that cannot be helped now.”
“That difficulty we can overcome,” said Toke, “by taking Faste’s scribe with us. He can do his business at Kiev on the way back. Nobody will complain of his lateness, for nobody will know when he started. If we should speak with the Patzinaks, there is sure to be someone among them who will understand his language, even if he cannot understand theirs.”
With that, their conference ended. The next morning, before they continued with their journey, Orm spoke to the men. He told them that they were going beyond Kiev, to a place where his inheritance from his brother lay hidden.
“There may well be fighting there,” he added, “and if you prove yourselves bold men, so that I win my inheritance safely, it may be that each of you will receive a share of it, besides the good money that you have already been promised for your hire.”
The men had little complaint to make, save Sone’s sons, who were heard to mumble among themselves that two of them would surely die there and that they needed ale rather than the sweet drink which was all that this land had to offer them, if they were to fight with their full strength.
They landed several times during their passage down the river, to visit the villages of the Poljans, where wealth abounded. There Orm bought food and drink, so that they were as well furnished as when they had started. Then, late one evening, when a fog lay over the river, they rowed past Kiev, unable to discern much of the city.
Faste’s scribe grew uneasy when he found that they did not intend to put him ashore here.
“I have an important message for the great Prince,” he said, “as you all know.”
“It has been decided that you shall accompany us to the weirs,” said Orm. “You are clever at speaking with all kinds of men and may prove useful to us there. You will be put ashore here on our way back.”
At this the scribe showed great alarm; however, when he had prevailed upon Orm to swear an oath by the Holy Trinity and St. Cyril that he would neither force him to row nor sell him to the Patzinaks, he calmed himself and said that the great Prince would have to wait.
Soon the villages along the bank began to grow fewer, until at last they ceased altogether and were replaced by unending grassland, where the Patzinaks held sway. From the ship they could sometimes see herds of sheep and horses at their watering-places, tended by men on horseback wearing tall skin caps and carrying long spears. Spof said that it was a good thing that they saw such herds only on the left bank of the river and never on the right bank. The reason for this, he explained, was that there was a high tide on the river which prevented the Patzinaks from bringing their herds across to the right bank; if they attempted to do this, they would lose many animals at the fords. Henceforth, therefore, they always beached the ship on the safe bank, though they did not relax the sharp watch they kept each night.
When they had come to within three day’s rowing of the weirs, they became yet more cautious and rowed only by night. By day they kept the ship hidden among tall reeds in creeks in the right bank. On the last day they anchored within hearing distance of the weirs and, when darkness fell, rowed over to the left bank, where the dragging-tracks began.
It had been decided that twenty men should remain in the ship. They had drawn lots to determine which these should be, and Toke found himself among them. They were to row the ship out into the center of the stream and lie there at anchor during the night until they heard voices calling them from the land. Toke was reluctant to sit idle in the ship, but had to obey when the lot went against him. Orm would have liked to leave Blackhair with him, but in that matter he was unable to have his way.
Orm and Olof Summerbird now set off with the rest of their band up the long dragging-track, taking Spof with them as guide. All the men were armed with swords and bows. Spof had come this way several times before. He explained that the place to which they were going lay beyond the seventh weir, reckoning from the north. This would be three hours’ brisk marching, so that, allowing for the time it would take to find and raise the treasure, they would be hard put to get back before it began to grow light. They had with them the wagon that they had used at the great portage, to put the treasure in, and also the scribe, though he was not greatly pleased at having to accompany them. They began their march in pitch-darkness; but they knew that the moon would soon rise and, despite the added dangers that this would bring, Orm was glad that it was to be so, since otherwise he feared he might be unable to find the spot where the treasure lay.
But when the moon rose, it straightway brought them trouble, for the first object upon which its rays shone was a rider in a pointed hat and a long coat standing motionless on a hill ahead of them. At the sight of him, they at once halted and stood silent. It was still dark in the hollow where they were, but the horseman seemed, they thought, to be peering in their direction, as though their footsteps or the creak of the wagon might have come to his ears.
One of Sone’s sons touched Orm with his bow.
“It is a long carry,” he muttered, “and moonlight is deceptive to shoot in; but we think we could mark him so that he will stay where he is, if you so wish it.”
Orm hesitated for a moment; then he muttered that hostilities were not to be opened from his side.
The horseman on the hill uttered a whistle, like a pewit’s call, and another horseman appeared beside him. The first horseman stretched out his arm and said something. They both sat still for a few moments; then they suddenly wheeled their horses, rode off, and disappeared.
“Those must have been Patzinaks,” said Orm, “and now things promise less well, for it is certain that they saw us.”
“We have already reached the fifth weir,” said Olof. “It would be a pity to turn back when we have come so far.”
“There is little pleasure to be gained in fighting horsemen,” said Orm, “especially when they outnumber those who oppose them on foot.”
“Perhaps they will wait till it is light before they attack us,” said Spof, “for they like this moonlight no more than we do.”
“Let us proceed,” said Orm.
They made all the speed they could, and when they had reached and passed the seventh weir, Orm began to look about him.
“Those of you whose eyes are sharpest must help me now,” he said. “There should be a rock in the water here with three rose-bushes on it, though there will be no flowers on them at this season.”