He worked at the snow until he was through and was able to finish writing it to a conclusion. Not so the story of the _Hull-hammer_ that had begun it. ## The Beginning The two ships were moving slowly down the narrow canal in a cloud of mist as the first faint light of the rising sun tinted the mists with color. As the mist cleared, the ships became visible. One, the _Hull-hammer,_ belonged to the Norsemen of Dublin; the other, the _Red Dragon,_ was of English build, much newer than the _Hull-hammer_ , and had a dragon painted on its stern. The Norseman was in command of the ship and was giving the orders. The _Red Dragon_ had an army of soldiers—thirty fighting men—while the _Hull-hammer_ had only two men—a helmsman and a fighting man. The _Hull-hammer_ 's name was Orm, and Orm had been fighting for his life for nearly five years. His arms were red with scar tissue, and he bore many scars. Orm's hair was long and thick. It was a great tawny mass on the top of his head, with a small bald spot, while the sides fell nearly to his shoulders. His face was as handsome as his mother's. He had a strong face, a round face, and his eyes, large and blue, reflected his fierce character. He had many scars of battle on his face and arms. But he was tall, strong, and handsome. Orm thought the man he called Biorn was one of the worst men he had ever seen. He was short and mean-looking, and he spoke with a thick Norse accent that was difficult to understand because of his thick Norwegian tongue. Orm did not know that Biorn had come to a bad end. He only knew he had been in the Norse hall at the other end of the country in another city, and was a bad man who would sooner kill Orm than help him. Biorn was not on the _Red Dragon_ but on the _Hull-hammer,_ where he had stolen the ship and put on its helm. Orm knew he had best be careful around this one. The _Red Dragon_ was commanded by a Dane named Bjorn, who was an old friend of Orm. Bjorn knew that Orm was an honorable man and spoke fair words to him. But Bjorn's mind was so weak he could not even lift a sword against a dog. His father had been a king who had died before Bjorn was born, and so Bjorn had been a king's son and lived in the king's hall. He was a big man but he could not defend himself because his mother could not control his temper. He was easily tricked, and because he was such a bad man, he was constantly in trouble. The two ships were moving slowly and silently down the canal. They would turn into the canal's opening and continue slowly through the river into the great port of Dublin, which had been built at the end of the marsh, but when Orm heard what Bjorn said to his helmsman, he thought this was a bad time to be going into Dublin. He believed the man was mad and had no chance against the great army of the Irish, nor had he any way of escaping. He watched closely as Bjorn, in a boasting tone, asked the helmsman how his ship had gone during the recent battle with the Irish, and Bjorn looked at the helmsman expectantly. Orm was not happy about the Irish that morning. He said to himself that if there had been such a thing as a curse, it would be coming down on him now. But it was just his luck, he thought, that he had to come into Dublin when the Irish were there to keep the city, and he did not think they would leave it. He would find out shortly. "Tell me," Bjorn said to the helmsman, "how did your ship fare last night?" Orm listened carefully to the helmsman's reply and then turned away. "It is good to know that the ship was not destroyed, and that you were the only loss." Biorn was on his own ship and he was saying what they had heard that had scared him. "The sea monster sent against us has been a hard enemy." "Tell me about it," Bjorn said. "I know you saw it, or it would not be referred to." "The beast is nearly a hundred feet in length. It has two eyes and long hornlike teeth. Its body is covered with scales, and its mouth is filled with horrible teeth. It comes up from the water and dives again without using its feet. Our men fled to our ship, but they will not be able to stay there long. One, with a bow of iron, attacked it but it quickly carried him to the bottom of the sea, where he died. It killed all our men except one, and he was badly wounded." "If it had lived long enough," Biorn said, "we could have had the beast for dinner. But it would not give us much time to feast." "It did not even seem to feel the battle," Bjorn said. "I believe the warriors of Ireland killed it. It did not harm a single one of them." "Yes," Biorn said. "They killed it after they defeated us, so it would not be much of a defense against the next invader." "If it will not be much of a defense, it will do," Bjorn said. "I think our only problem will be the Irish. They fought as a pack, and it would be a shame to have to fight with them again. We should be able to get away from them." "They attacked us when the ships were unprepared," Orm said. "The best way to keep the Irish from fighting is to build a bigger fortress." Orm stood looking in the direction of the shoreline, trying to make up his mind about entering Dublin that day, and then he felt the ship beginning to turn. It would have been a foolish thing to do—if there had been any other way out of it—but he was anxious about what the others would do, and he wanted to see if any more Irish had come up the canal. If they had, he would leave immediately. The Irish ships came into view as the _Red Dragon_ slowly sailed out of the river and into the harbor. Orm saw twenty Irish ships sailing into the harbor. He turned to Bjorn and said, "Let us sail north out of the harbor." Bjorn did not know what to do. "Do not leave Dublin now," Bjorn said, "because the Irish have captured the Irish ships. It would be a waste to take them with us." "If the Irish have been attacking their own city," Biorn said, "and attacking us, then we will have nothing to fear from them." "If we leave now," Bjorn said, "we can escape." "To where? They are in Dublin!" "Our ship will have no chance against them." Orm listened as Biorn told Bjorn that they should hold the Irish ship and fight, but Bjorn wouldn't have it. "No! To fight them in the harbor is like letting them dig their graves. Come here, Orm, and fight for me." Biorn went to stand with the helmsman and shouted to the others on the ship to fight, but the ship began turning. Bjorn shouted that they would all have to leave the ship, or it would be lost, but they paid no attention to him. "We shall fight the Irish in our own ships," Biorn said. "With our own power, we can hold them off and win the port. And we shall get a great deal of booty when we win the ships. We can take them north, to the sea of York, and sail east and not have to sail into another harbor." "You have lost your sense, Biorn," Bjorn said. "I can hear the wind singing in the rigging." Biorn listened carefully as Bjorn described what he saw, but he did not know if he was afraid because he was beginning to see what had happened to his friend and did not think they would escape. Bjorn's voice was not so loud as he got excited, and Biorn stopped listening to what he said. Bjorn had stopped talking because his ship had turned and was now heading northward, and they were seeing a number of the Irish ships. The wind was bringing the Irish closer. "We have to leave the ships!" Bjorn shouted. "Our only chance is to get into the water, or they will catch us in our own harbor." Biorn did not think Biorn could go any faster, so Bjorn went forward to his cabin and got a sword for himself and for Orm, who was leaning against the railing on the side of the ship. Orm was watching what was happening, wondering why Biorn was turning to the north instead of heading to the south. "Do you want to kill me?" Biorn shouted at Orm. "I will take you