372 
LETTERS FROM HIGH LATITUDES. 
almost half-way over. The weight being then imme¬ 
diately transferred to the fore-part, she slips down into 
the water on the other side,—having topped the fence 
like an Irish hunter. A second galley breaks her back 
in the attempt. After some questionable acts of 
vengeance on the Greek court, Harald and his bold 
Vseringers go fighting and plundering their way through 
the Bosphorus and Black Sea back to Novogorod, where 
the first part of the romance terminates, as it should, 
by his marriage with the object of his secret attachment, 
Elisof, the daughter of the Russian king. 
Hardrada’s story darkens towards the end, as most 
of the tales of that stirring time are apt to do. His death 
on English ground is so striking, that you must have 
patience with one other short Saga ; it will give you 
the battle of Stanford Bridge from the Norse point 
of view. 
The expedition against Harold of England commences 
ill; dreams and omens affright the fleet; one man 
dreams he sees a raven sitting on the stern of each 
vessel; another sees the fair English coast 
“ But glancing shields 
Hide the green fields ; 0 
