Olaf's Story
There was a little silence. I looked upon him with wonder. Clearly he was in earnest. I know the of the Gael is a one and that in all their their and have and roots. And I was and touched.
Here was this soldier, who had and its open-eyed and fearless, picking, indeed, the most branch of service for his own, a modern if there was one, of most Broadway, and yet and to his in banshee, in people of the woods, and harpers! I what he would think if he see the Dweller and then, with a pang, that his might make him an easy prey.
He his and ran a hand over his eyes; to me and grinned:
"Don't think I'm cracked, Professor," he said. "I'm not. But it takes me that way now and then. It's the Irish in me. And, it or not, I'm telling you the truth."
I looked where the moon, now nearly a week past the full, was mounting.
"You can't make me see what you've seen, Lieutenant," I laughed. "But you can make me hear. I've always what of a noise a make without any or or any other sound-producing mechanism. How the sound?"
O'Keefe looked at me seriously.
"All right," he said. "I'll you." From in his came a low, that into a my skin creep. And then his hand out and my shoulder, and I like in my chair—for from us, like an echo, and then taking up the cry, a that to it a of the of centuries! It itself into one heartbroken, note and died away! O'Keefe's loosened, and he rose to his feet.
"It's all right, Professor," he said. "It's for me. It me—all this way from Ireland."
Again the was rent by the cry. But now I had it. It came from my room, and it only one thing—Huldricksson had wakened.
"Forget your banshee!" I gasped, and a jump for the cabin.
Out of the of my I noted a look of half-sheepish over O'Keefe's face, and then he was me. Da Costa an order from the wheel, the Cantonese ran up and took it from his hands and the little Portuguese toward us. My hand on the door, to it open, I stopped. What if the Dweller were within—what if we had been and it was not for its power upon that full of moon which Throckmartin had to it from the pool!
From within, the once more to rise. O'Keefe pushed me aside, open the door and low it. I saw an in his hand; saw it the from to side, the of his around it. Then he and his face, toward the berth, was with pity.
Through the window a of the moonlight. It upon Huldricksson's eyes; in them great slowly and rolled his cheeks; from his opened mouth came the woe-laden wailing. I ran to the port and the curtains. Da Costa the lights.
The Norseman's stopped as as though cut. His rolled toward us. And at one he through the I had him and us, his glaring, his yellow almost with the of the visibly through him. Da Costa me. O'Keefe, watchful, took a quick step that him in of me.
"Where do you take me?" said Huldricksson, and his voice was like the of a beast. "Where is my boat?"
I touched O'Keefe and the giant.
"Listen, Olaf Huldricksson," I said. "We take you to where the took your Helma and your Freda. We the that came from the moon. Do you me?" I spoke slowly, distinctly, to the that I around the brain. And the did pierce.
He out a hand.
"You say you follow?" he asked falteringly. "You know where to follow? Where it took my Helma and my little Freda?"
"Just that, Olaf Huldricksson," I answered. "Just that! I you my life that I know."
Da Costa forward. "He speaks true, Olaf. You go on the Suwarna than on the Br-rw-un'ilda, Olaf, yes."
The Norseman, still my hand, looked at him. "I know you, Da Costa," he muttered. "You are all right. Ja! You are a man. Where is the Brunhilda?"
"She be'ind on a big rope, Olaf," the Portuguese. "Soon you see her. But now an' tell us, if you can, why you tie to your wheel an' what it is that happen, Olaf."
"If you'll tell us how the came it will help us all when we to where it is, Huldricksson," I said.
On O'Keefe's there was an of well-nigh and amazement. He from one to the other. The his own look from me to the Irishman. A of in his eyes. He me, and O'Keefe's arm. "Staerk!" he said. "Ja—strong, and with a heart. A man—ja! He comes too—we shall need him—ja!"
"I tell," he muttered, and seated himself on the of the bunk. "It was four nights ago. My Freda"—his voice shook—"Mine Yndling! She loved the moonlight. I was at the wheel and my Freda and my Helma they were me. The moon was us and the Brunhilda was like a with the moonlight sending her, ja.
"I my Freda say: 'I see a the of the moon.' And I her mother laugh, low, like a mother when her Yndling dreams. I was happy—that night—with my Helma and my Freda, and the Brunhilda like a swan-boat, ja. I the child say, 'The comes fast!' And then I a from my Helma, a great scream—like a when her is from her. I around fast, ja! I the wheel and fast! I saw—" He his with his hands.
The Portuguese had close to me, and I him like a dog.
"I saw a white fire over the rail," Olaf Huldricksson. "It and round, and it like—like in a mist. There was a noise in my ears. It like bells—little bells, ja! Like the music you make when you your goblets. It me and dizzy—the noise.
"My Helma was—indeholde—what you say—in the middle of the white fire. She her to me and she it on the child, and my Helma's into my heart. Because it was full of fear, and it was full of happiness—of glaede. I tell you that the in my Helma's me ice here"—he his with hand—"but the in it on me like fire. And I not move—I not move.
"I said in here"—he touched his head—"I said, 'It is Loki come out of Helvede. But he cannot take my Helma, for Christ and Loki has no power to my Helma or my Freda! Christ lives! Christ lives!' I said. But the did not let my Helma go. It her to the rail; over it. I saw her upon the child and a little she away and to it. And my Freda jumped into her arms. And the fire them and they were gone! A little I saw them on the moon the Brunhilda—and they were gone!
"The took them! Loki was loosed, and he had power. I the Brunhilda, and I where my Helma and mine Yndling had gone. My boys up and asked me to turn again. But I would not. They a and left me. I on the path. I my hands to the wheel that sleep might not them. I on and on and on—
"Where was the God I prayed when my wife and child were taken?" Olaf Huldricksson—and it was as though I Throckmartin that same question. "I have left Him as He left me, ja! I pray now to Thor and to Odin, who can Loki." He back, again his eyes.
"Olaf," I said, "what you have called the has taken ones dear to me. I, too, was it when we you. You shall go with me to its home, and there we will try to take from it your wife and your child and my friends as well. But now that you may be for what is us, you must sleep again."
Olaf Huldricksson looked upon me and in his was that something which must see in the of Him the old Egyptians called the Searcher of Hearts in the Judgment Hall of Osiris.
"You speak truth!" he said at last slowly. "I will do what you say!"
He out an arm at my bidding. I gave him a second injection. He and soon he was sleeping. I toward Da Costa. His was and sweating, and he was pitiably. O'Keefe stirred.
"You did that well, Dr. Goodwin," he said. "So well that I almost you myself."
"What did you think of his story, Mr. O'Keefe?" I asked.
His answer was almost and colloquial.
"Nuts!" he said. I was a little shocked, I admit. "I think he's crazy, Dr. Goodwin," he himself, quickly. "What else I think?"
I to the little Portuguese without answering.
"There's no need for any tonight, Captain," I said. "Take my word for it. You need some yourself. Shall I give you a sleeping draft?"
"I do wish you would, Dr. Goodwin, sair," he answered gratefully. "Tomorrow, when I bettair—I would have a talk with you."
I nodded. He did know something then! I mixed him an of strength. He took it and to his own cabin.
I locked the door him and then, the sleeping Norseman, I told O'Keefe my from end to end. He asked questions as I spoke. But after I had he cross-examined me upon my of the phases upon each appearance, these with Throckmartin's of the same in the Chamber of the Moon Pool.
"And now what do you think of it all?" I asked.
He sat for a while, looking at Huldricksson.
"Not what you to think, Dr. Goodwin," he answered at last, gravely. "Let me sleep over it. One thing of is certain—you and your friend Throckmartin and this man here saw—something. But—" he was again and then with a that I irritating—"but I've noticed that when a scientist it—er—takes very hard!
"Here's a I can tell you now though," he on while I to speak—"I pray in my that we'll meet neither the Dolphin anything with on going up. Because, Dr. Goodwin, I'd love to take a at your Dweller.
"And another thing," said O'Keefe. "After this—cut out the trimmings, Doc, and call me plain Larry, for I think you're or I don't, you're there with the nerve, Professor, and I'm for you.
"Good night!" said Larry and took himself out to the he had upon having for him, the captain's to use his own cabin.
And it was with mixed as to his that I him go. Superstitious. I, was my scientific to and alone! Superstitious—and this from a man who in and and Irish and no in and all their tribe!
Half laughing, irritated, and happy in the part promise of Larry O'Keefe's on my venture, I a of pillows, myself out on two chairs and took up my Olaf Huldricksson.
