The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 129: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

IN FROZEN FETTERS. In the corner was a huge silver flagon which had rolled from the table. There was a plate as. tarnished as the flagon, but which, when Feltnar came to lift it, he found to be of solid gold. There were rich and moldy hangings upon the walls and covering a broad seat at one side. Yet the. temperature had been such in the cabin that little harm had come to the furnishings. The core had been so intense that it was ry! ) Feltnar dared not touch the dead man, but he went behind him and saw a chest on the floor. When he tried the lid of the coffer he found it locked; but the metal work about the box was rusted. He seized the ax. Indeed, it had needed a giant’s strength to wield the heavy weapon. Feltnar inserted the edge of the cor- roded blade under the hasp and in a moment the did of the coffer was raised. He cried aloud at what he saw. There were heavy pieces of wrought gold, which he knew by instinct must have once been the service of some old Catholic church. Doubtless it was part of the spoil Guthmund of the Mighty Arm had brought back from his raids on the Irish coast. He set these valuable vessels upon the deck of the cabin. Beneath was a laver of what was possibly in its day very costly eloth. But it was rotten to the touch now. Underneath it the coffer was almost half full of coins and bars of gold and silver, all tarnished. Feltnar examined a handful of the pieces of money. Some were Roman, others were the rudely minted tokens of the half-savage Britons. He was well-nigh hysterical at these several discoveries. He sprang up from the deck and rushed out of the apart- ment, pulling the door to behind him. But the old hinges cracked like glass, and the door fell inward with a crash. It was of heavy wood, and the table was overturned. Feltnar looked back. The dead man tottered in his seat, and it looked again as though he moved of his own volition and was shaking his head at him. At that the American screamed aloud, and, running across the deck, - 125 leaped to the ice. Then, without look- ing back, he plunged down the ravine and was quickly upon the level of the ice-field. He ran at top speed toward the dis- tant hummocks near which he knew Eirik to be at work cutting up the dead walrus. ‘He had forgotten his quarrel with him now. He only desired to share the wonderful discovery he had made. And he was determined, too, not to return alone to the horror of that cabin and the frozen Viking. He hurried, and saw that Eirik was working away, apparently undisturbed by his long absence. Feltnar went close to the youth and laid a hand upon his shoulder. “ Eirik,” he said as calmly. as possi- ble, “ something has happened—lI have discovered something which makes it necessary for us to “put aside the il- feeling which we have for each other; this for the time being, at least. I have something to show vou.” The Icelander glanced up with low- ering brow. He looked so much like that dead man he had left back in the iceberg that Feltnar trembled again. “What do you want of me, Mr. Felt- nar?” | “You must come with me. I have found something important on the other side of yonder iceberg.” Eirik rose with the dripping knife in his hand and looked at him curiously. “TI don’t understand.” “Come and you will.” “ But the dogs “Leave them to eat their dinner. [ tell you I have found something that will make you forget that walrus.” “The walrus is worth much to us,” the Icelander said doubtfully. “ There ig much oil in the carcass—and food for the dogs.” “That may be. Believe what I say. It 1s something so wonderful that I must show it to you—I must! ” irik picked up a spear after a mo- ment and followed him. They crossed the field in silence, and when they came in sight of the ravine in which the Viking ship was buried, Feltnar fell back to his companion’s side, and, lay- ing a hand on his arm, pointed with the (COL DOO YY \ S) COL