Considerably refreshed, the days travelling ahead of him presented no problems. He should reach the village about noon. He would be thankful to discharge his duty and be gone. He began to think of the men on the ship, Othar and Eiric, and he longed for their hearty, weather beaten faces. But he was sad when he thought of how he would have to tell them about Baldur.
The village was just as he remembered it. As he passed the first house he could not resist looking in the window and found it exactly the same as he had last seen it. The man’s breakfast was still on the table. Nothing had been touched. No one had been there.
He shuddered slightly and passed on. The emptiness of the houses oppressed him, and when he passed the last house there was a lump in his throat. It seemed such a short t
