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肩書を与える: The Dark Man
Author: Robert E. Howard
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Date first 地位，任命するd:  Nov 2006
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The Dark Man

by

Robert E. Howard

A TURLOGH DUBH O'BRIEN STORY

Weird Tales, December 1931

First published in Weird Tales, December 1931

"For this is the night of the 製図／抽選 of swords,
And the painted tower of the heathen hordes
Leans to our 大打撃を与えるs, 解雇する／砲火／射撃s and cords,
Leans a little and 落ちるs."
— Chesterton

A BITING WIND drifted the snow as it fell. The surf snarled along the rugged shore and さらに先に out the long leaden combers moaned ceaselessly. Through the gray 夜明け that was stealing over the coast of Connacht a fisherman （機の）カム trudging, a man rugged as the land that bore him. His feet were wrapped in rough cured leather; a 選び出す／独身 衣料品 of deerskin scantily 輪郭（を描く）d his 団体／死体. He wore no other 着せる／賦与するing. As he strode stolidly along the shore, as heedless of the bitter 冷淡な as if he were the shaggy beast he appeared at first ちらりと見ること, he 停止（させる）d. Another man ぼんやり現れるd up out of the 隠す of 落ちるing snow and drifting sea-もや. Turlogh Dubh stood before him.

This man was nearly a 長，率いる taller than the stocky fisherman, and he had the 耐えるing of a fighting man. No 選び出す／独身 ちらりと見ること would 十分である, but any man or woman whose 注目する，もくろむs fell on Turlogh Dubh would look long. Six feet and one インチ he stood, and the first impression of slimness faded on closer 査察. He was big but trimly molded; a magnificent sweep of shoulder and depth of chest. Rangy he was, but compact, 連合させるing the strength of a bull with the lithe quickness of a panther. The slightest movement he made showed that steel-罠（にかける） 調整 that makes the 最高の-闘士，戦闘機. Turlogh Dubh—黒人／ボイコット Turlogh, once of the 一族／派閥 na O'Brien. And 黒人／ボイコット he was as to hair, and dark of complexion. From under 激しい 黒人／ボイコット brows gleamed 注目する，もくろむs of a hot 火山の blue. And in his clean-shaven 直面する there was something of the somberness of dark mountains, of the ocean at midnight. Like the fisherman, he was a part of this 猛烈な／残忍な land.

On his 長，率いる he wore a plain vizorless helmet without crest or symbol. From neck to 中央の-thigh he was 保護するd by a の近くに-fitting shirt of 黒人／ボイコット chain mail. The kilt he wore below his armor and which reached to his 膝s was of plain 淡褐色 構成要素. His 脚s were wrapped with hard leather that might turn a sword 辛勝する／優位, and the shoes on his feet were worn with much traveling.

A 幅の広い belt encircled his lean waist, 持つ／拘留するing a long dirk in a leather sheath. On his left arm he carried a small 一連の会議、交渉／完成する 保護物，者 of hide-covered 支持を得ようと努めるd, hard as アイロンをかける, を締めるd and 増強するd with steel, and having a short, 激しい spike in the 中心. An ax hung from his 権利 wrist, and it was to this feature that the fisherman's 注目する，もくろむs wandered. The 武器 with its three-foot 扱う and graceful lines looked わずかな／ほっそりした and light when the fisherman mentally compared it to the 広大な／多数の／重要な axes carried by the Norsemen. Yet scarcely three years had passed, as the fisherman knew, since such axes as these had 粉々にするd the northern hosts into red 敗北・負かす and broken the pagan 力／強力にする forever.

There was individuality about the ax as about its owner. It was not like any other the fisherman had ever seen. 選び出す／独身-辛勝する／優位d it was, with a short three-辛勝する／優位d spike on the 支援する and another on the 最高の，を越す of the 長，率いる. Like the wielder, it was heavier than it looked. With its わずかに curved 軸 and the graceful artistry of the blade, it looked like the 武器 of an 専門家—swift, lethal, deadly, cobra-like. The 長，率いる was of finest Irish workmanship, which meant, at that day, the finest in the world. The 扱う, 削減（する） from the 長，率いる of a century-old oak, 特に 解雇する／砲火／射撃-常習的な and を締めるd with steel, was as unbreakable as an アイロンをかける 妨げる／法廷，弁護士業.

"Who are you?" asked the fisherman, with the bluntness of the west.

"Who are you to ask?" answered the other.

The fisherman's 注目する，もくろむs roved to the 選び出す／独身 ornament the 軍人 wore—a 激しい golden armlet on his left arm.

"Clean-shaven and の近くに-cropped in the Norman fashion," he muttered. "And dark—you'd be 黒人／ボイコット Turlogh, the 無法者 of 一族／派閥 na O'Brien. You 範囲 far; I heard of you last in the Wicklow hills preying off the O'Reillys and the Oastmen alike."

"A man must eat, outcast or not," growled the Dalcassian.

The fisherman shrugged his shoulders. A masterless man—it was a hard road. In those days of 一族／派閥s, when a man's own 肉親，親類 cast him out he became a son of Ishmael with a vengeance. All men's 手渡すs were against him. The fisherman had heard of Turlogh Dubh—a strange, bitter man, a terrible 軍人 and a crafty strategist, but one whom sudden bursts of strange madness made a 示すd man even in that land and age of madmen.

"It's a bitter day," said the fisherman, apropos of nothing.

Turlogh 星／主役にするd somberly at his 絡まるd 耐えるd and wild matted hair. "Have you a boat?"

The other nodded toward a small 避難所d cove where lay snugly 錨，総合司会者d a 削減する （手先の）技術 built with the 技術 of a hundred 世代s of men who had torn their 暮らし from the stubborn sea.

"It 不十分な looks seaworthy," said Turlogh.

"Seaworthy? You who were born and bred on the western coast should know better. I've sailed her alone to Drumcliff Bay and 支援する, and all the devils in the 勝利，勝つd ripping at her."

"You can't take fish in such a sea."

"Do ye think it's only you 長，指導者s that take sport in 危険ing your hides? By the saints, I've sailed to Ballinskellings in a 嵐／襲撃する—and 支援する too—just for the fun of the thing."

"Good enough," said Turlogh. "I'll take your boat."

"Ye'll take the devil! What 肉親，親類d of talk is this? If you want to leave Erin, go to Dublin and take the ship with your Dane friends."

A 黒人／ボイコット scowl made Turlogh's 直面する a mask of menace. "Men have died for いっそう少なく than that."

"Did you not intrigue with the Danes? And is that not why your 一族／派閥 drove you out to 餓死する in the heather?"

"The jealousy of a cousin and the spite of a woman," growled Turlogh. "Lies—all lies. But enough. Have you seen a long serpent （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing up from the south in the last few days?"

"Aye—three days ago we sighted a dragon-beaked galley before the 疾走する. But she didn't put in—約束, the 著作権侵害者s get naught from the western fishers but hard blows."

"That would be Thorfel the Fair," muttered Turlogh, swaying his ax by its wrist-ひもで縛る. "I knew it."

"There has been a ship-harrying in the south?"

"A 禁止（する）d of reavers fell by night on the 城 on Kilbaha. There was a sword-quenching—and the 著作権侵害者s took Moira, daughter of Murtagh, a 長，指導者 of the Dalcassians."

"I've heard of her," muttered the fisherman. "There'll be a wetting of swords in the south—a red sea-骨折って進むing, eh, my 黒人／ボイコット jewel?"

"Her brother Dermod lies helpless from a sword-削減（する） in the foot. The lands of her 一族／派閥 are harried by the MacMurroughs in the east and the O'Connors from the north. Not many men can be spared from the 弁護 of the tribe, even to 捜し出す for Moira—the 一族／派閥 is fighting for its life. All Erin is 激しく揺するing under the Dalcassian 王位 since 広大な／多数の／重要な Brian fell. Even so, Cormac O'Brien has taken ship to 追跡（する） 負かす／撃墜する her ravishers—but he follows the 追跡する of a wild goose, for it is thought the riders were Danes from Coningbeg. 井戸／弁護士席—we outcasts have ways of knowledge—it was Thorfel the Fair who 持つ／拘留するs the 小島 of Slyne, that the Norse call Helni, in the Hebrides. There he has taken her—there I follow him. Lend me your boat."

"You are mad!" cried the fisherman はっきりと. "What are you 説. From Connacht to the Hebrides in an open boat? In this 天候? I say you are mad."

"I will essay it," answered Turlogh absently. "Will you lend me your boat?"

"No."

"I might 殺す you and take it," said Turlogh.

"You might," returned the fisherman stolidly.

"You はうing swine," snarled the 無法者 in swift passion, "a princess of Erin languishes in the 支配する of a red-bearded reaver of the north and you haggle like a Saxon."

"Man, I must live!" cried the fisherman as passionately. "Take my boat and I shall 餓死する! Where can I get another like it? It is the cream of its 肉親，親類d!"

Turlogh reached for the armlet on his left arm. "I will 支払う／賃金 you. Here is a torc that Brian Boru put on my arm with his own 手渡す before Clontarf. Take it; it would buy a hundred boats. I have 餓死するd with it on my arm, but now the need is desperate."

But the fisherman shook his 長，率いる, the strange illogic of the Gael 燃やすing in his 注目する，もくろむs. "No! My hut is no place for a torc that King Brian's 手渡すs have touched. Keep it—and take the boat, in the 指名する of the saints, if it means that much to you."

"You shall have it 支援する when I return," 約束d Turlogh, "and mayhap a golden chain that now decks the bull neck of some northern reaver."

The day was sad and leaden. The 勝利，勝つd moaned and the everlasting monotone of the sea was like the 悲しみ that is born in the heart of man. The fisherman stood on the 激しく揺するs and watched the frail （手先の）技術 glide and 新たな展開 serpent-like の中で the 激しく揺するs until the 爆破 of the open sea smote it and 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd it like a feather. The 勝利，勝つd caught sail and the わずかな／ほっそりした boat leaped and staggered, then 権利d herself and raced before the 強風, dwindling until it was but a dancing speck in the 注目する，もくろむs of the 選挙立会人. And then a flurry of snow hid it from his sight.

Turlogh realized something of the madness of his 巡礼の旅. But he was bred to hardships and 危険，危なくする. 冷淡な and ice and 運動ing sleet that would have frozen a 女性 man, only spurred him to greater 成果／努力s. He was as hard and supple as a wolf. の中で a race of men whose hardiness astounded even the toughest Norsemen, Turlogh Dubh stood out alone. At birth he had been 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd into a snow-drift to 実験（する） his 権利 to 生き残る. His childhood and boyhood had been spent on the mountains, coasts and moors of the west. Until manhood he had never worn woven cloth upon his 団体／死体; a wolf-肌 had formed the apparel of this son of a Dalcassian 長，指導者. Before his outlawry he could out-tire a horse, running all day long beside it. He had never 疲れた／うんざりしたd at swimming. Now, since the intrigues of jealous clansmen had driven him into the wastelands and the life of the wolf, his ruggedness was such as cannot be conceived by a civilized man.

The snow 中止するd, the 天候 （疑いを）晴らすd, the 勝利，勝つd held. Turlogh やむを得ず hugged the coastline, 避けるing the 暗礁s against which it seemed again and again he would be dashed. With tiller, sail and oar he worked tirelessly. Not one man out of a thousand of seafarers could have 遂行するd it, but Turlogh did. He needed no sleep; as he steered he ate from the rude 準備／条項s the fisherman had 供給するd him. By the time he sighted Malin 長，率いる the 天候 had 静めるd wonderfully. There was still a 激しい sea, but the 強風 had slackened to a sharp 微風 that sent the little boat skipping along. Days and nights 合併するd into each other; Turlogh drove eastward. Once he put into shore for fresh water and to snatch a few hours' sleep.

As he steered he thought of the fisherman's last words: "Why should you 危険 your life for a 一族／派閥 that's put a price on your 長，率いる?"

Turlogh shrugged his shoulders. 血 was 厚い than water. The mere fact that his people had booted him out to die like a 追跡（する）d wolf on the moors did not alter the fact that they were his people. Little Moira, daughter of Murtagh na Kilbaha, had nothing to do with it. He remembered her—he had played with her when he was a boy and she a babe—he remembered the 深い grayness of her 注目する，もくろむs and the burnished sheen of her 黒人／ボイコット hair, the fairness of her 肌. Even as a child she had been remarkably beautiful—why, she was only a child now, for he, Turlogh, was young and he was many years her 上級の. Now she was スピード違反 north to become the unwilling bride of a Norse reaver. Thorfel the Fair—the Handsome—Turlogh swore by gods that knew not the cross. A red もや waved across his 注目する，もくろむs so that the rolling sea swam crimson all around him. An Irish girl a 捕虜 in a skalli of a Norse 著作権侵害者—with a vicious wrench Turlogh turned his 屈服するs straight for the open sea. There was a tinge of madness in his 注目する，もくろむs.

It is a long slant from Malin 長，率いる to Helni straight out across the 泡，激怒することing 大波s, as Turlogh took it. He was 目的（とする）ing for a small island that lay, with many other small islands, between 検討する，考慮する and the Hebrides. A modern 船員 with charts and compass might have difficulty in finding it. Turlogh had neither. He sailed by instinct and through knowledge. He knew these seas as a man knows his house. He had sailed them as a raider and as an avenger, and once he had sailed them as a 捕虜 攻撃するd to the deck of a Danish dragon ship. And he followed a red 追跡する. Smoke drifting from headlands, floating pieces of 難破, charred 木材／素質s showed that Thorfel was 荒廃させるing as he went. Turlogh growled in savage satisfaction; he was の近くに behind the Viking, in spite of the long lead. For Thorfel was 燃やすing and 略奪するing the shores as he went, and Turlogh's course was like an arrow's.

He was still a long way from Helni when he sighted a small island わずかに off his course. He knew it of old as one uninhabited, but there he could get fresh water. So he steered for it. The 小島 of Swords it was called, no man knew why. And as he 近づくd the beach he saw a sight which he rightly 解釈する／通訳するd. Two boats were drawn up on the 棚上げにするing shore. One was a 天然のまま 事件／事情／状勢, something like the one Turlogh had, but かなり larger. The other was a long, low （手先の）技術—undeniably Viking. Both were 砂漠d. Turlogh listened for the 衝突／不一致 of 武器, the cry of 戦う／戦い, but silence 統治するd. Fishers, he thought, from the Scotch 小島s; they had been sighted by some 禁止（する）d of rovers on ship or on some other island, and had been 追求するd in the long rowboat. But it had been a longer chase than they had 心配するd, he was sure; else they would not have started out in an open boat. But inflamed with the 殺人 lust, the reavers would have followed their prey across a hundred miles of rough water, in an open boat, if necessary.

Turlogh drew inshore, 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするd over the 石／投石する that served for 錨，総合司会者 and leaped upon the beach, ax ready. Then up the shore a short distance he saw a strange red 密談する／（身体を）寄せ集める of forms. A few swift strides brought him 直面する to 直面する with mystery. Fifteen red-bearded Danes lay in their own 血の塊／突き刺す in a rough circle. Not one breathed. Within this circle, mingling with the 団体／死体s of their slayers, lay other men, such as Turlogh had never seen. Short of stature they were, and very dark; their 星／主役にするing dead 注目する，もくろむs were the blackest Turlogh had ever seen. They were scantily 装甲の, and their stiff 手渡すs still gripped broken swords and daggers. Here and there lay arrows that had 粉々にするd on the corselets of Danes, and Turlogh 観察するd with surprize that many of them were tipped with flint.

"This was a grim fight," he muttered. "Aye, this was a rare sword-quenching. Who are these people? In all the 小島s I have never seen their like before. Seven—is that all? Where are their comrades who helped them 殺す these Danes?"

No 跡をつけるs led away from the 血まみれの 位置／汚点／見つけ出す. Turlogh's brow darkened.

"These were all—seven against fifteen—yet the slayers died with the 殺害された. What manner of men are these who 殺す twice their number of Vikings? They are small men—their armor is mean. Yet—"

Another thought struck him. Why did not the strangers scatter and 逃げる, hide themselves in the 支持を得ようと努めるd? He believed he knew the answer. There, at the very 中心 of the silent circle, lay a strange thing. A statue it was, of some dark 実体 and it was in the form of a man. Some five feet long—or high—it was, carved in a 外見 of life that made Turlogh start. Half over it lay the 死体 of an 古代の man, 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd almost beyond human 外見. One lean arm was locked about the 人物／姿／数字; the other was outstretched, the 手渡す gripping a flint dagger which was sheathed to the hilt in the breast of a Dane. Turlogh 公式文書，認めるd the fearful 負傷させるs that disfigured all the dark men. They had been hard to kill—they had fought until literally 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスd to pieces, and dying, they had dealt death to their slayers. So much Turlogh's 注目する，もくろむs showed him. In the dead 直面するs of the dark strangers was a terrible desperation. He 公式文書，認めるd how their dead 手渡すs were still locked in the 耐えるd of their 敵s. One lay beneath the 団体／死体 of a 抱擁する Dane, and on this Dane Turlogh could see no 負傷させる; until he looked closer and saw the dark man's teeth were sunk, beast-like, into the bull throat of the other.

He bent and dragged the 人物／姿／数字 from の中で the 団体／死体s. The 古代の's arm was locked about it, and he was 軍隊d to 涙／ほころび it away with all his strength. It was as if, even in death, the old one clung to his treasure; for Turlogh felt that it was for this image that the small dark men had died. They might have scattered and eluded their 敵s, but that would have meant giving up their image. They chose to die beside it. Turlogh shook his 長，率いる; his 憎悪 of the Norse, a 遺産 of wrongs and 乱暴／暴力を加えるs, was a 燃やすing, living thing, almost an obsession, that at times drove him to the point of insanity. There was, in his 猛烈な／残忍な heart, no room for mercy; the sight of these Danes, lying dead at his feet, filled him with savage satisfaction. Yet he sensed here, in these silent dead men, a passion stronger than his. Here was some 運動ing impulse deeper than his hate. Aye—and older. These little men seemed very 古代の to him, not old as individuals are old, but old as a race is old. Even their 死体s exuded an intangible aura of the primeval. And the image—

The Gael bent and しっかり掴むd it, to 解除する it. He 推定する／予想するd to 遭遇（する） 広大な／多数の／重要な 負わせる and was astonished. It was no heavier than if it had been made of light 支持を得ようと努めるd. He tapped it, and the sound was solid. At first he thought it was of アイロンをかける; then he decided it was of 石／投石する, but such 石／投石する as he had never seen; and he felt that no such 石／投石する was to be 設立する in the British 小島s or anywhere in the world that he knew. For like the little dead men, it looked old. It was smooth and 解放する／自由な from corrosion, as if carved yesterday, but for all that, it was a symbol of antiquity, Turlogh knew. It was the 人物／姿／数字 of a man who much 似ているd the small dark men who lay about it. But it 異なるd subtly. Turlogh felt somehow that this was the image of a man who had lived long ago, for surely the unknown sculptor had had a living model. And he had contrived to bring a touch of life into his work. There was the sweep of the shoulders, the depth of the chest, the powerfully molded 武器; the strength of the features was evident. The 会社／堅い jaw, the 正規の／正選手 nose, the high forehead, all 示すd a powerful intellect, a high courage, an inflexible will. Surely, thought Turlogh, this man was a king—or a god. Yet he wore no 栄冠を与える; his only 衣料品 was a sort of loincloth, wrought so cunningly that every wrinkle and 倍の was carved as in reality.

"This was their god," mused Turlogh, looking about him. "They fled before the Danes—but died for their god at last. Who are these people? Whence come they? Whither were they bound?"

He stood, leaning on his ax, and a strange tide rose in his soul. A sense of mighty abysses of time and space opened before him; of the strange, endless tides of mankind that drift forever; of the waves of humanity that wax and 病弱な with the waxing and 病弱なing of the sea-tides. Life was a door 開始 upon two 黒人／ボイコット, unknown worlds—and how many races of men with their hopes and 恐れるs, their loves and their hates, had passed through that door—on their 巡礼の旅 from the dark to the dark? Turlogh sighed. 深い in his soul stirred the mystic sadness of the Gael.

"You were a king once, Dark Man," he said to the silent image. "Mayhap you were a god and 統治するd over all the world. Your people passed—as 地雷 are passing. Surely you were a king of the Flint People, the race whom my Celtic ancestors destroyed. 井戸／弁護士席—we have had our day, and we, too, are passing. These Danes who 嘘（をつく） at your feet—they are the 征服者／勝利者s now. They must have their day—but they too will pass. But you shall go with me, Dark Man, king, god, or devil though you be. Aye, for it is in my mind that you will bring me luck, and luck is what I shall need when I sight Helni, Dark Man."

Turlogh bound the image securely in the 屈服するs. Again he 始める，決める out for his sea-骨折って進むing. Now the skies grew gray and the snow fell in 運動ing lances that stung and 削減（する）. The waves were gray-穀物d with ice and the 勝利，勝つd bellowed and （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域 on the open boat. But Turlogh 恐れるd not. And his boat 棒 as it had never ridden before. Through the roaring 強風 and the 運動ing snow it sped, and to the mind of the Dalcassian it seemed that the Dark Man lent him 援助（する）. Surely he had been lost a hundred times without supernatural 援助. With all his 技術 at boat-扱うing he wrought, and it seemed to him that there was an unseen 手渡す on the tiller, and at the oar; that more than human 技術 補佐官d him when he trimmed his sail.

And when all the world was a 運動ing white 隠す in which even the Gael's sense of direction was lost, it seemed to him that he was steering in 同意／服従 with a silent 発言する／表明する that spoke in the 薄暗い reaches of his consciousness. Nor was he surprized when, at last, when the snow had 中止するd and the clouds had rolled away beneath a 冷淡な silvery moon, he saw land ぼんやり現れる up ahead and 認めるd it as the 小島 of Helni. More, he knew that just around a point of land was the bay where Thorfel's dragon ship was moored when not 範囲ing the seas, and a hundred yards 支援する from the bay lay Thorfel's skalli. He grinned ひどく. All the 技術 in the world could not have brought him to this exact 位置／汚点／見つけ出す—it was pure luck—no, it was more than luck. Here was the best possible place for him to make an approach—within half a mile of his 敵's 持つ／拘留する, yet hidden from sight of any 選挙立会人s by this jutting promontory. He ちらりと見ることd at the Dark Man in the 屈服するs—brooding, inscrutable as the sphinx. A strange feeling stole over the Gael—that all this was his work; that he, Turlogh, was only a pawn in the game. What was this fetish? What grim secret did those carven 注目する，もくろむs 持つ／拘留する? Why did the dark little men fight so terribly for him?

Turlogh ran his boat inshore, into a small creek. A few yards up this he 錨，総合司会者d and stepped out onshore. A last ちらりと見ること at the brooding Dark Man in the 屈服するs, and he turned and went hurriedly up the slope of the promontory, keeping to cover as much as possible. At the 最高の，を越す of the slope he gazed 負かす／撃墜する on the other 味方する. いっそう少なく than half a mile away Thorfel's dragon ship lay at 錨，総合司会者. And there lay Thorfel's skalli, also the long low building of rough-hewn スピードを出す／記録につける emitting the gleams that betokened the roaring 解雇する／砲火／射撃s within. Shouts of wassail （機の）カム 明確に to the listener through the sharp still 空気／公表する. He ground his teeth. Wassail! Aye, they were celebrating the 廃虚 and 破壊 they had committed—the homes left in smoking embers—the 殺害された men—the ravished girls. They were lords of the world, these Vikings—all the southland lay helpless beneath their swords. The southland folk lived only to furnish them sport—and slaves—Turlogh shuddered violently and shook as if in a 冷気／寒がらせる. The 血-sickness was on him like a physical 苦痛, but he fought 支援する the もやs of passion that clouded his brain. He was here, not to fight but to steal away the girl they had stolen.

He took careful 公式文書，認める of the ground, like a general going over the 計画（する） of his （選挙などの）運動をする. He 公式文書，認めるd where the trees grew 厚い の近くに behind the skalli; that the smaller houses, the storehouses and servants' huts were between the main building and the bay. A 抱擁する 解雇する／砲火／射撃 was 炎ing 負かす／撃墜する by the shore and a few carles were roaring and drinking about it, but the 猛烈な／残忍な 冷淡な had driven most of them into the drinking-hall of the main building.

Turlogh crept 負かす／撃墜する the thickly wooded slope, entering the forest which swept about in a wide curve away from the shore. He kept to the fringe of its 影をつくる／尾行するs, approaching the skalli in a rather indirect 大勝する, but afraid to strike out boldly in the open lest he be seen by the 選挙立会人s that Thorfel surely had out. Gods, if he only had the 軍人s of Clare at his 支援する as he had of old! Then there would be no skulking like a wolf の中で the trees! His 手渡す locked like アイロンをかける on his ax-軸 as he visualized the scene—the 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金, the shouting, the 血-letting, the play of the Dalcassian axes—he sighed. He was a 孤独な outcast; never again would he lead the swordsmen of his 一族／派閥 to 戦う／戦い.

He dropped suddenly in the snow behind a low shrub and lay still. Men were approaching from the same direction in which he had come—men who 不平（をいう）d loudly and walked ひどく. They （機の）カム into sight—two of them, 抱擁する Norse 軍人s, their silver-規模d armor flashing in the moonlight. They were carrying something between them with difficulty and to Turlogh's amazement he saw it was the Dark Man. His びっくり仰天 at the 現実化 that they had 設立する his boat was 湾d in a greater astonishment. These men were 巨大（な）s; their 武器 bulged with アイロンをかける muscles. Yet they were staggering under what seemed a stupendous 負わせる. In their 手渡すs the Dark Man seemed to 重さを計る hundreds of 続けざまに猛撃するs; yet Turlogh had 解除するd it as lightly as a feather! He almost swore in his amazement. Surely these men were drunk. One of them spoke, and Turlogh's short neck hairs bristled at the sound of the guttural accents, as a dog will bristle at the sight of a 敵.

"Let it 負かす／撃墜する; Thor's death, the thing 重さを計るs a トン. Let's 残り／休憩（する）."

The other grunted a reply, and they began to 緩和する the image to the earth. Then one of them lost his 持つ／拘留する on it; his 手渡す slipped and the Dark Man 衝突，墜落d ひどく into the snow. The first （衆議院の）議長 howled.

"You clumsy fool, you dropped it on my foot! 悪口を言う／悪態 you, my ankle's broken!"

"It 新たな展開d out of my 手渡す!" cried the other. "The thing's alive, I tell you!"

"Then I'll 殺す it," snarled the lame Viking, and 製図／抽選 his sword, he struck savagely at the prostrate 人物／姿／数字. 解雇する／砲火／射撃 flashed as the blade shivered into a hundred pieces, and the other Norseman howled as a 飛行機で行くing sliver of steel gashed his cheek.

"The devil's in it!" shouted the other, throwing his hilt away. "I've not even scratched it! Here, take 持つ／拘留する—let's get it into the ale-hall and let Thorfel を取り引きする it."

"Let it 嘘（をつく）," growled the second man, wiping the 血 from his 直面する. "I'm bleeding like a butchered hog. Let's go 支援する and tell Thorfel that there's no ship stealing on the island. That's what he sent us to the point to see."

"What of the boat where we 設立する this?" snapped the other. "Some Scotch fisher driven out of his course by the 嵐／襲撃する and hiding like a ネズミ in the 支持を得ようと努めるd now, I guess. Here, 耐える a 手渡す; idol or devil, we'll carry this to Thorfel."

Grunting with the 成果／努力, they 解除するd the image once more and went on slowly, one groaning and 悪口を言う／悪態ing as he limped along, the other shaking his 長，率いる from time to time as the 血 got into his 注目する，もくろむs.

Turlogh rose stealthily and watched them. A touch of chilliness traveled up and 負かす／撃墜する his spine. Either of these men was as strong as he, yet it was 税金ing their 力／強力にするs to the 最大の to carry what he had 扱うd easily. He shook his 長，率いる and took up his way again.

At last he reached a point in the 支持を得ようと努めるd nearest the skalli. Now was the 決定的な 実験（する）. Somehow he must reach that building and hide himself, unperceived. Clouds were 集会. He waited until one obscured the moon and in the gloom that followed, ran 速く and silently across the snow, crouching. A 影をつくる／尾行する out of the 影をつくる／尾行するs he seemed. The shouts and songs from within the long building were deafening. Now he was の近くに to its 味方する, flattening himself against the rough-hewn スピードを出す／記録につけるs. Vigilance was most certainly relaxed now—yet what 敵 should Thorfel 推定する／予想する, when he was friends with all northern reavers, and 非，不，無 else could be 推定する／予想するd to fare 前へ／外へ on a night such as this had been?

A 影をつくる／尾行する の中で the 影をつくる／尾行するs, Turlogh stole about the house. He 公式文書，認めるd a 味方する door and slid 慎重に to it. Then he drew 支援する の近くに against the 塀で囲む. Someone within was fumbling at the latch. Then a door was flung open and a big 軍人 lurched out, slamming the door to behind him. Then he saw Turlogh. His bearded lips parted, but in that instant the Gael's 手渡すs 発射 to his throat and locked there like a wolf-罠（にかける）. The 脅すd yell died in a gasp. One 手渡す flew to Turlogh's wrist, the other drew a dagger and stabbed 上向き. But already the man was senseless; the dagger 動揺させるd feebly against the 無法者's corselet and dropped into the snow. The Norseman sagged in his slayer's しっかり掴む, his throat literally 鎮圧するd by that アイロンをかける 支配する. Turlogh flung him contemptuously into the snow and spat on his dead 直面する before he turned again to the door.

The latch had not fastened within. The door sagged a trifle. Turlogh peered in and saw an empty room, piled with ale バーレル／樽s. He entered noiselessly, shutting the door but not latching it. He thought of hiding his 犠牲者's 団体／死体, but he did not know how he could do it. He must 信用 to luck that no one saw it in the 深い snow where it lay. He crossed the room and 設立する it led into another 平行の with the outer 塀で囲む. This was also a storeroom, and was empty. From this a doorway, without a door but furnished with a curtain of 肌s, let into the main hall, as Turlogh could tell from the sounds on the other 味方する. He peered out 慎重に.

He was looking into the drinking-hall—the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall which served as a 祝宴, 会議, and living-hall of the master of the skalli. This hall, with its smoke-blackened rafters, 広大な／多数の／重要な roaring fireplaces, and ひどく laden boards, was a scene of terrific revelry tonight. 抱擁する 軍人s with golden 耐えるd and savage 注目する，もくろむs sat or lounged on the rude （法廷の）裁判s, strode about the hall or sprawled 十分な length on the 床に打ち倒す. They drank mightily from 泡，激怒することing horns and leathern jacks, and gorged themselves on 広大な／多数の／重要な pieces of rye bread and 抱擁する chunks of meat they 削減（する） with their daggers from whole roasted 共同のs. It was a scene of strange incongruity, for in contrast with these 野蛮な men and their rough songs and shouts, the 塀で囲むs were hung with rare spoils that betokened civilized workmanship. 罰金 tapestries that Norman women had worked; richly chased 武器s that princes of フラン and Spain had （権力などを）行使するd; armor and silken 衣料品s from Byzantium and the Orient—for the dragon ships 範囲d far. With these were placed the spoils of the 追跡（する）, to show the Viking's mastery of beasts 同様に as men.

The modern man can scarcely conceive of Turlogh O'Brien's feeling toward these men. To him they were devils—ogres who dwelt in the north only to descend on the 平和的な people of the south. All the world was their prey to 選ぶ and choose, to take and spare as it pleased their 野蛮な whims. His brain throbbed and 燃やすd as he gazed. As only a Gael can hate, he hated them—their magnificent arrogance, their pride and their 力／強力にする, their contempt for all other races, their 厳しい, forbidding 注目する，もくろむs—above all else he hated the 注目する，もくろむs that looked 軽蔑（する） and menace on the world. The Gaels were cruel but they had strange moments of 感情 and 親切. There was no 感情 in the Norse make-up.

The sight of this revelry was like a 非難する in 黒人／ボイコット Turlogh's 直面する, and only one thing was needed to make his madness 完全にする. This was furnished. At the 長，率いる of the board sat Thorfel the Fair, young, handsome, arrogant, 紅潮／摘発するd with ワイン and pride. He was handsome, was young Thorfel. In build he much 似ているd Turlogh himself, except that he was larger in every way, but there the resemblance 中止するd. As Turlogh was exceptionally dark の中で a dark people, Thorfel was exceptionally blond の中で a people essentially fair. His hair and mustache were like 罰金-spun gold and his light gray 注目する，もくろむs flashed scintillant lights. By his 味方する—Turlogh's nails bit into his palms, Moira of the O'Briens seemed 大いに out of place の中で these 抱擁する blond men and strapping yellow-haired women. She was small, almost frail, and her hair was 黒人／ボイコット with glossy bronze 色合いs. But her 肌 was fair as theirs, with a delicate rose 色合い their most beautiful women could not 誇る. Her 十分な lips were white now with 恐れる and she shrank from the clamor and uproar. Turlogh saw her tremble as Thorfel insolently put his arm about her. The hall waved redly before Turlogh's 注目する，もくろむs and he fought doggedly for 支配（する）／統制する.

"Thorfel's brother, Osric, to his 権利," he muttered to himself; "on the other 味方する Tostig, the Dane, who can cleave an ox in half with that 広大な／多数の／重要な sword of his—they say. And there is Halfgar, and Sweyn, and Oswick, and Athelstane, the Saxon—the one man of a pack of sea-wolves. And 指名する of the devil—what is this? A priest?"

A priest it was, sitting white and still in the 大勝する, silently counting his beads, while his 注目する，もくろむs wandered pitying toward the slender Irish girl at the 長，率いる of the board. Then Turlogh saw something else. On a smaller （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する to one 味方する, a （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する of mahogany whose rich scrollwork showed that it was 略奪する from the southland, stood the Dark Man. The two 手足を不自由にする／（物事を）損なうd Norsemen had brought it to the hall, after all. The sight of it brought a strange shock to Turlogh and 冷静な／正味のd his seething brain. Only five feet tall? It seemed much larger now, somehow. It ぼんやり現れるd above the revelry, as a god that broods on 深い dark 事柄s beyond the ken of the human insects who howl at his feet. As always when looking at the Dark Man, Turlogh felt as if a door had suddenly opened on outer space and the 勝利，勝つd that blows の中で the 星／主役にするs. Waiting—waiting—for whom? Perhaps the carven 注目する，もくろむs of the Dark Man looked through the skalli 塀で囲むs, across the 雪の降る，雪の多い waste, and over the promontory. Perhaps those sightless 注目する，もくろむs saw the five boats that even now slid silently with muffled oars, through the 静める dark waters. But of this Turlogh Dubh knew nothing; nothing of the boats or their silent rowers; small, dark men with inscrutable 注目する，もくろむs.

Thorfel's 発言する／表明する 削減（する） through the din: "売春婦, friends!" They fell silent and turned as the young sea-king rose to his feet. "Tonight," he 雷鳴d, "I am taking a bride!"

A 雷鳴 of 賞賛 shook the noisy rafters. Turlogh 悪口を言う／悪態d with sick fury.

Thorfel caught up the girl with rough gentleness and 始める，決める her on the board.

"Is she not a fit bride for a Viking?" he shouted. "True, she's a bit shy, but that's only natural."

"All Irish are cowards!" shouted Oswick.

"As 証明するd by Clontarf and the scar on your jaw!" rumbled Athelstane, which gentle thrust made Oswick wince and brought a roar of rough mirth from the throng.

"'Ware her temper, Thorfel," called a bold-注目する，もくろむd young Juno who sat with the 軍人s. "Irish girls have claws like cats."

Thorfel laughed with the 信用／信任 of a man used to mastery. "I'll teach her her lessons with a stout birch switch. But enough. It grows late. Priest, marry us."

"Daughter," said the priest unsteadily, rising, "these pagan men have brought me here by 暴力／激しさ to 成し遂げる Christian nuptials in an ungodly house. Do you marry this man willingly?"

"No! No! Oh God, No!" Moira 叫び声をあげるd with a wild despair that brought the sweat to Turlogh's forehead. "Oh most 宗教上の master, save me from this 運命／宿命! They tore me from my home—struck 負かす／撃墜する my brother that would have saved me! This man bore me off as if I were a chattel—a soulless beast!"

"Be silent!" 雷鳴d Thorfel, slapping her across the mouth, lightly but with enough 軍隊 to bring a trickle of 血 from her delicate lips. "By Thor, you grow 独立した・無所属. I am 決定するd to have a wife, and all the squeals of a puling little wench will not stop me. Why, you graceless hussy, am I not wedding you in the Christian manner, 簡単に because of your foolish superstitions? Take care that I do not dispense with the nuptials, and take you as slave, not wife!"

"Daughter," quavered the priest, afraid, not for himself, but for her, "bethink you! This man 申し込む／申し出s you more than many a man would 申し込む／申し出. It is at least an honorable married 明言する／公表する."

"Aye," rumbled Athelstane, "marry him like a good wench and make the best of it. There's more than one southland woman on the cross （法廷の）裁判s of the north."

What can I do? The question tore through Turlogh's brain. There was but one thing to do—wait—until the 儀式 was over and Thorfel had retired with his bride. Then steal her away as best he could. After that—but he dared not look ahead. He had done and would do his best. What he did, he of necessity did alone; a masterless man had no friends, even の中で masterless men. There was no way to reach Moira to tell her of his presence. She must go through with the wedding without even the わずかな／ほっそりした hope of deliverance that knowledge of his presence might have lent. Instinctively, his 注目する，もくろむs flashed to the Dark Man standing somber and aloof from the 大勝する. At his feet the old quarreled with the new—the pagan with the Christian—and Turlogh even in that moment felt that the old and new were alike young to the Dark Man.

Did the carven ears of the Dark Man hear strange prows grating on the beach, the 一打／打撃 of a stealthy knife in the night, the gurgle that 示すs the 厳しいd throat? Those in the skalli heard only their own noise and those who revelled by the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 outside sang on, unaware of the silent coils of death の近くにing about them.

"Enough!" shouted Thorfel. "Count your beads and mutter your mummery, priest! Come here, wench, and marry!" He jerked the girl off the board and plumped her 負かす／撃墜する on her feet before him. She tore loose from him with 炎上ing 注目する，もくろむs. All the hot Gaelic 血 was roused in her.

"You yellow-haired swine!" she cried. "Do you think that a princess of Clare, with Brian Boru's 血 in her veins, would sit at the cross （法廷の）裁判 of a barbarian and 耐える the 牽引する-長，率いるd cubs of a northern どろぼう? No—I'll never marry you!"

"Then I'll take you as a slave!" he roared, snatching at her wrist.

"Nor that way either, swine!" she exclaimed, her 恐れる forgotten in 猛烈な／残忍な 勝利. With the 速度(を上げる） of light she snatched a dagger from his girdle, and before he could 掴む her she drove the keen blade under her heart. The priest cried out as though he had received the 負傷させる, and springing 今後, caught her in his 武器 as she fell.

"The 悪口を言う／悪態 of Almighty God on you, Thorfel!" he cried, with a 発言する／表明する that rang like a clarion, as he bore her to a couch nearby.

Thorfel stood nonplussed. Silence 統治するd for an instant, and in that instant Turlogh O'Brien went mad.

"Lamh Laidir Abu!" the war cry of the O'Briens ripped through the stillness like the 叫び声をあげる of a 負傷させるd panther, and as men whirled toward the shriek, the frenzied Gael （機の）カム through the doorway like the 爆破 of a 勝利，勝つd from Hell. He was in the 支配する of the Celtic 黒人／ボイコット fury beside which the berserk 激怒（する） of the Viking pales. 注目する，もくろむs glaring and a tinge of froth on his writhing lips, he 衝突，墜落d の中で the men who sprawled, off guard, in his path. Those terrible 注目する，もくろむs were 直す／買収する，八百長をするd on Thorfel at the other end of the hall, but as Turlogh 急ぐd he smote to 権利 and left. His 告発（する），告訴（する）／料金 was the 急ぐ of a whirlwind that left a litter of dead and dying men in his wake.

（法廷の）裁判s 衝突，墜落d to the 床に打ち倒す, men yelled, ale flooded from upset 樽s. Swift as was the Celt's attack, two men 封鎖するd his way with drawn swords before he could reach Thorfel—Halfgar and Oswick. The scarred-直面するd Viking went 負かす／撃墜する with a cleft skull before he could 解除する his 武器, and Turlogh, catching Halfgar's blade on his 保護物，者, struck again like 雷 and the clean ax sheared through hauberk, ribs and spine.

The hall was in a terrific uproar. Men were 掴むing 武器s and 圧力（をかける）ing 今後 from all 味方するs, and in the 中央 the 孤独な Gael 激怒（する）d silently and terribly. Like a 負傷させるd tiger was Turlogh Dubh in his madness. His eerie movement was a blur of 速度(を上げる）, an 爆発 of dynamic 軍隊. 不十分な had Halfgar fallen when the Gael leaped across his crumpling form at Thorfel, who had drawn his sword and stood as if bewildered. But a 急ぐ of carles swept between them. Swords rose and fell and the Dalcassian ax flashed の中で them like the play of summer 雷. On either 手渡す and from before and behind a 軍人 drove at him. From one 味方する Osric 急ぐd, swinging a two-手渡すd sword; from the other a house-carle drove in with a spear. Turlogh stooped beneath the swing of the sword and struck a 二塁打 blow, forehand and 支援する. Thorfel's brother dropped, hewed through the 膝, and the carle died on his feet as the 支援する-攻撃する return drove the ax's 支援する-spike through his skull. Turlogh straightened, dashing his 保護物，者 into the 直面する of the swordsman who 急ぐd him from the 前線. The spike in the 中心 of the 保護物，者 made a 恐ろしい 廃虚 of his features; then even as the Gael wheeled cat-like to guard his 後部, he felt the 影をつくる／尾行する of Death ぼんやり現れる over him. From the corner of his 注目する，もくろむ he saw the Dane Tostig swinging his 広大な／多数の／重要な two-手渡すd sword, and jammed against the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する, off balance, he knew that even his superhuman quickness could not save him. Then the whistling sword struck the Dark Man on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and with a 衝突／不一致 like 雷鳴, shivered to a thousand blue 誘発するs. Tostig staggered, dazedly, still 持つ／拘留するing the useless hilt, and Turlogh thrust as with a sword; the upper spike of his ax struck the Dane over the 注目する，もくろむ and 衝突，墜落d through to the brain.

And even at that instant, the 空気／公表する was filled with a strange singing and men howled. A 抱擁する carle, ax still 解除するd, pitched 今後 clumsily against the Gael, who 分裂（する） his skull before he saw that a flint-pointed arrow transfixed his throat. The hall seemed 十分な of ちらりと見ることing beams of light that hummed like bees and carried quick death in their humming. Turlogh 危険d his life for a ちらりと見ること toward the 広大な／多数の／重要な doorway at the other end of the hall. Through it was 注ぐing a strange horde. Small, dark men they were, with beady 黒人／ボイコット 注目する，もくろむs and immobile 直面するs. They were scantily 装甲の, but they bore swords, spears, and 屈服するs. Now at の近くに 範囲 they drove their long 黒人／ボイコット arrows point-blank and the carles went 負かす／撃墜する in windrows.

Now a red wave of 戦闘 swept the skalli hall, a 嵐／襲撃する of 争い that 粉々にするd （米）棚上げする／（英）提議するs, 粉砕するd the （法廷の）裁判s, tore the hangings and トロフィーs from the 塀で囲むs, and stained the 床に打ち倒すs with a red lake. There had been いっそう少なく of the 黒人／ボイコット strangers than Vikings, but in the surprize of the attack, the first flight of arrows had evened the 半端物s, and now at 手渡す-支配するs the strange 軍人s showed themselves in no way inferior to their 抱擁する 敵s. Dazed with surprize and the ale they had drunk, with no time to arm themselves fully, the Norsemen yet fought 支援する with all the 無謀な ferocity of their race. But the 原始の fury of the 攻撃者s matched their own valor, and at the 長，率いる of the hall, where a white-直面するd priest 保護物，者d a dying girl, 黒人／ボイコット Turlogh tore and ripped with a frenzy that made valor and fury alike futile.

And over all towered the Dark Man. To Turlogh's 転換ing ちらりと見ることs, caught between the flash of sword and ax, it seemed that the image had grown— 拡大するd—高くする，増すd; that it ぼんやり現れるd 巨大（な）-like over the 戦う／戦い; that its 長，率いる rose into smoke-filled rafters of the 広大な／多数の／重要な hall—that it brooded like a dark cloud of death over these insects who 削減（する） each other's throats at its feet. Turlogh sensed in the 雷 sword-play and the 虐殺（する） that this was the proper element for the Dark Man. 暴力／激しさ and fury were exuded by him. The raw scent of fresh-流出／こぼすd 血 was good to his nostrils and these yellow-haired 死体s that 動揺させるd at his feet were as sacrifices to him.

The 嵐／襲撃する of 戦う／戦い 激しく揺するd the mighty hall. The skalli became a shambles where men slipped in pools of 血, and slipping, died. 長，率いるs spun grinning from 低迷ing shoulders. Barbed spears tore the heart, still （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域ing, from the gory breast. Brains splashed and clotted the madly 運動ing axes. Daggers 肺d 上向き, ripping bellies and 流出／こぼすing entrails upon the 床に打ち倒す. The 衝突／不一致 and clangor of steel rose deafeningly. No ４半期/4分の1 was asked or given. A 負傷させるd Norseman had dragged 負かす／撃墜する one of the dark men, and doggedly strangled him 関わりなく the dagger his 犠牲者 急落（する），激減（する）d again and again into his 団体／死体.

One of the dark men 掴むd a child who ran howling from an inner room, and dashed its brains out against the 塀で囲む. Another gripped a Norse woman by her golden hair and 投げつけるing her to her 膝s, 削減（する） her throat, while she spat in his 直面する. One listening for cries of 恐れる or 嘆願s of mercy would have heard 非，不，無; men, women or children, they died 削除するing and clawing, their last gasp a sob of fury, or a snarl of quenchless 憎悪.

And about the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する where stood the Dark Man, immovable as a mountain, washed the red waves of 虐殺（する）. Norsemen and tribesmen died at his feet. How many red infernos of 虐殺（する） and madness have your strange carved 注目する，もくろむs gazed upon, Dark Man?

Shoulder to shoulder Sweyn and Thorfel fought. The Saxon Athelstane, his golden 耐えるd a-bristle with the 戦う／戦い-joy, had placed his 支援する against the 塀で囲む and a man fell at each sweep of his two-手渡すd ax. Now Turlogh （機の）カム in like a wave, 避けるing, with a lithe 新たな展開 of his upper 団体／死体, the first ponderous 一打／打撃. Now the 優越 of the light Irish ax was 証明するd, for before the Saxon could 転換 his 激しい 武器, the Dalcassian ax lit out like a striking cobra and Athelstane reeled as the 辛勝する／優位 bit through the corselet into the ribs beneath. Another 一打／打撃 and he crumpled, 血 噴出するing from his 寺.

Now 非，不，無 閉めだした Turlogh's way to Thorfel except Sweyn, and even as the Gael leaped like a panther toward the 削除するing pair, one was ahead of him. The 長，指導者 of the Dark Men glided like a 影をつくる／尾行する under the 削除する of Sweyn's sword, and his own short blade thrust 上向き under the mail. Thorfel 直面するd Turlogh alone. Thorfel was no coward; he even laughed with pure 戦う／戦い-joy as he thrust, but there was no mirth in 黒人／ボイコット Turlogh's 直面する, only a frantic 激怒（する） that writhed his lips and made his 注目する，もくろむs coals of blue 解雇する／砲火／射撃.

In the first 渦巻く of steel Thorfel's sword broke. The young sea-king leaped like a tiger at his 敵, thrusting with the shards of the blade. Turlogh laughed ひどく as the jagged 残余 gashed his cheek, and at the same instant he 削減（する） Thorfel's left foot from under him. The Norseman fell with a 激しい 衝突，墜落, then struggled to his 膝s, clawing for his dagger. His 注目する，もくろむs were clouded.

"Make an end, 悪口を言う／悪態 you!" he snarled.

Turlogh laughed. "Where is your 力／強力にする and your glory now?" he taunted. "You who would have for unwilling wife an Irish princess—you—"

Suddenly his hate strangled him, and with a howl like a maddened panther he swung his ax in a whistling arc that cleft the Norseman from shoulder to breastbone. Another 一打／打撃 厳しいd the 長，率いる, and with the grisly トロフィー in his 手渡す he approached the couch where lay Moira O'Brien. The priest had 解除するd her 長，率いる and held a goblet of ワイン to her pale lips. Her cloudy gray 注目する，もくろむs 残り／休憩（する）d with slight 承認 of Turlogh—but it seemed at last she knew him and she tried to smile.

"Moira, 血 of my heart," said the 無法者 ひどく, "you die in a strange land. But the birds in the Culland hills will weep for you, and the heather will sigh in vain for the tread of your little feet. But you shall not be forgotten; axes shall drip for you and for you shall galleys 衝突，墜落 and 塀で囲むd cities go up in 炎上s. And that your ghost go not unassuaged into the realms of Tir-na-n-Oge, behold this 記念品 of vengeance!"

And he held 前へ／外へ the dripping 長，率いる of Thorfel.

"In God's 指名する, my son," said the priest, his 発言する／表明する husky with horror, "have done—have done. Will you do your 恐ろしい 行為s in the very presence of—see, she is dead. May God in His infinite 司法（官） have mercy on her soul, for though she took her own life, yet she died as she lived, in innocence and 潔白."

Turlogh dropped his ax-長，率いる to the 床に打ち倒す and his 長，率いる was 屈服するd. All the 解雇する／砲火／射撃 of his madness had left him and there remained only a dark sadness, a 深い sense of futility and weariness. Over all the hall there was no sound. No groans of the 負傷させるd were raised, for the knives of the little dark men had been at work, and save their own, there were no 負傷させるd. Turlogh sensed that the 生存者s had gathered about the statue on the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する and now stood looking at him with inscrutable 注目する，もくろむs. The priest mumbled over the 団体／死体 of the girl, telling his beads. 炎上s ate at the さらに先に 塀で囲む of the building, but 非，不，無 注意するd it. Then from の中で the dead on the 床に打ち倒す a 抱擁する form heaved up unsteadily. Athelstane the Saxon, overlooked by the 殺し屋s, leaned against the 塀で囲む and 星／主役にするd about dazedly. 血 flowed from a 負傷させる in his ribs and another in his scalp where Turlogh's ax had struck glancingly.

The Gael walked over to him. "I have no 憎悪 for you, Saxon," said he, ひどく, "but 血 calls for 血 and you must die."

Athelstane looked at him without an answer. His large gray 注目する，もくろむs were serious, but without 恐れる. He too was a barbarian—more pagan than Christian; he too realized the 権利s of the 血-反目，不和. But as Turlogh raised his ax, the priest sprang between, his thin 手渡すs outstretched, his 注目する，もくろむs haggard.

"Have done! In God's 指名する I 命令（する） you! Almighty 力／強力にするs, has not enough 血 been shed this fearful night? In the 指名する of the Most High, I （人命などを）奪う，主張する this man."

Turlogh dropped his ax. "He is yours; not for your 誓い or your 悪口を言う／悪態, not for your creed but for that you too are a man and did your best for Moira."

A touch on his arm made Turlogh turn. The 長，指導者 of the strangers stood regarding him with inscrutable 注目する，もくろむs.

"Who are you?" asked the Gael idly. He did not care; he felt only weariness.

"I am Brogar, 長，指導者 of the Picts, Friend of the Dark Man."

"Why do you call me that?" asked Turlogh.

"He 棒 in the 屈服するs of your boat and guided you to Helni through 勝利，勝つd and snow. He saved your life when he broke the 広大な／多数の／重要な sword of the Dane."

Turlogh ちらりと見ることd at the brooding Dark One. It seemed there must be human or superhuman 知能 behind those strange 石／投石する 注目する，もくろむs. Was it chance alone that 原因（となる）d Tostig's sword to strike the image as he swung it in a death blow?

"What is this thing?" asked the Gael.

"It is the only God we have left," answered the other somberly. "It is the image of our greatest king, Bran Mak Morn, he who gathered the broken lines of the Pictish tribes into a 選び出す／独身 mighty nation, he who drove 前へ／外へ the Norseman and Briton and 粉々にするd the legions of Rome, centuries ago. A wizard made this statue while the 広大な／多数の／重要な Morni yet lived and 統治するd, and when he died in the last 広大な／多数の／重要な 戦う／戦い, his spirit entered into it. It is our god.

"Ages ago we 支配するd. Before the Dane, before the Gael, before the Briton, before the Roman, we 統治するd in the western 小島s. Our 石／投石する circles rose to the sun. We worked in flint and hides and were happy. Then （機の）カム the Celts and drove us into the wilderness. They held the southland. But we throve in the north and were strong. Rome broke the Britons and （機の）カム against us. But there rose の中で us Bran Mak Morn, of the 血 of Brule the Spear-slayer, the friend of King Kull of Valusia who 統治するd thousands of years ago before Atlantis sank. Bran became king of all Caledon. He broke the アイロンをかける 階級s of Rome and sent the legions cowering south behind their 塀で囲む.

"Bran Mak Morn fell in 戦う／戦い; the nation fell apart. Civil wars 激しく揺するd it. The Gaels （機の）カム and 後部d the kingdom of Dalriadia above the 廃虚s of the Cruithni. When the Scot Kenneth McAlpine broke the kingdom of Galloway, the last 残余 of the Pictish empire faded like snow on the mountains. Like wolves we live now の中で the scattered islands, の中で the crags of the highlands and the 薄暗い hills of Galloway. We are a fading people. We pass. But the Dark Man remains—the Dark One, the 広大な／多数の／重要な king, Bran Mak Morn, whose ghost dwells forever in the 石／投石する likeness of his living self."

As in a dream Turlogh saw an 古代の Pict who looked much like the one in whose dead 武器 he had 設立する the Dark Man, 解除する the image from the （米）棚上げする／（英）提議する. The old man's 武器 were thin as withered 支店s and his 肌 clung to his skull like a mummy's, but he 扱うd with 緩和する the image that two strong Vikings had had trouble in carrying.

As if reading his thoughts, Brogar spoke softly: "Only a friend may with safety touch the Dark One. We knew you to be a friend, for he 棒 in your boat and did you no 害（を与える）."

"How know you this?"

"The Old One," pointing to the white-bearded 古代の, "Gonar, high priest of the Dark One—the ghost of Bran comes to him in dreams. It was Grok, the lesser priest and his people who stole the image and took to sea in a long boat. In dreams Gonar followed; aye, as he slept he sent his spirit with the ghost of the Morni, and he saw the 追跡 by the Danes, the 戦う／戦い and 虐殺（する） on the 小島 of Swords. He saw you come and find the Dark One, and he saw that the ghost of the 広大な／多数の／重要な king was pleased with you. Woe to the 敵s of Mak Morn! But good luck shall fare the friends of him."

Turlogh （機の）カム to himself as from a trance. The heat of the 燃やすing hall was in his 直面する and the flickering 炎上s lit and 影をつくる／尾行するd the carven 直面する of the Dark Man as his worshippers bore him from the building, lending it a strange life. Was it, in truth, that the spirit of a long-dead king lived in that 冷淡な 石／投石する? Bran Mak Morn loved his people with a savage love; he hated their 敵s with a terrible hate. Was it possible to breathe into inanimate blind 石／投石する a pulsating love and hate that should outlast the centuries?

Turlogh 解除するd the still, slight form of the dead girl and bore her out of the 炎上ing hall. Five long open boats lay at 錨，総合司会者, and scattered about the embers of the 解雇する／砲火／射撃s the carles had lit, lay the reddened 死体s of the revelers who had died silently.

"How stole ye upon these undiscovered?" asked Turlogh. "And whence （機の）カム you in those open boats?"

"The stealth of the panther is theirs who live by stealth," answered the Pict. "And these were drunken. We followed the path of the Dark One and we （機の）カム hither from the 小島 of Altar, 近づく the Scottish 本土／大陸, from whence Grok stole the Dark Man."

Turlogh knew no island of that 指名する but he did realize the courage of these men in daring the seas in boats such as these. He thought of his own boat and requested Brogar to send some of his men for it. The Pict did so. While he waited for them to bring it around the point, he watched the priest 包帯ing the 負傷させるs of the 生存者s. Silent, immobile, they spoke no word either of （民事の）告訴 or thanks.

The fisherman's boat （機の）カム scudding around the point just as the first hint of sunrise reddened the waters. The Picts were getting into their boats, 解除するing in the dead and 負傷させるd. Turlogh stepped into his boat and gently 緩和するd his pitiful 重荷（を負わせる） 負かす／撃墜する.

"She shall sleep in her own land," he said somberly. "She shall not 嘘（をつく） in this 冷淡な foreign 小島. Brogar, whither go you?"

"We take the Dark One 支援する to his 小島 and his altar," said the Pict. "Through the mouth of his people he thanks you. The tie of 血 is between us, Gael, and mayhap we shall come to you again in your need, as Bran Mak Morn, 広大な／多数の／重要な king of Pictdom, shall come again to his people some day in the days to come."

"And you, good Jerome? You will come with me?"

The priest shook his 長，率いる and pointed to Athelstane. The 負傷させるd Saxon reposed on a rude couch made of 肌s piled on the snow.

"I stay here to …に出席する this man. He is sorely 負傷させるd."

Turlogh looked about. The 塀で囲むs of the skalli had 衝突，墜落d into a 集まり of glowing embers. Brogar's men had 始める，決める 解雇する／砲火／射撃 to the storehouses and the long galley, and the smoke and 炎上 vied luridly with the growing morning light.

"You will 凍結する or 餓死する. Come with me."

"I will find sustenance for us both. 説得する me not, my son."

"He is a pagan and a reaver."

"No 事柄. He is a human—a living creature. I will not leave him to die."

"So be it."

Turlogh 用意が出来ている to cast off. The boats of the Picts were already 一連の会議、交渉／完成するing the point. The rhythmic clacks of their oar-locks （機の）カム 明確に to him. They looked not 支援する, bending stolidly to their work.

He ちらりと見ることd at the stiff 死体s about the beach, at the charred embers of the skalli and the glowing 木材／素質s of the galley. In the glare the priest seemed unearthly in his thinness and whiteness, like a saint from some old illuminated manuscript. In his worn pallid 直面する was a more than human sadness, a greater than human weariness.

"Look!" he cried suddenly, pointing seaward. "The ocean is of 血! See how it swims red in the rising sun! Oh my people, my people, the 血 you have spilt in 怒り／怒る turns the very seas to scarlet! How can you 勝利，勝つ through?"

"I （機の）カム in the snow and sleet," said Turlogh, not understanding at first. "I go as I （機の）カム."

The priest shook his 長，率いる. "It is more than a mortal sea. Your 手渡すs are red with 血 and you follow a red sea-path, yet the fault is not wholly with you. Almighty God, when will the 統治する of 血 中止する?"

Turlogh shook his 長，率いる. "Not so long as the race lasts."

The morning 勝利，勝つd caught and filled his sail. Into the west he raced like a 影をつくる／尾行する 逃げるing the 夜明け. And so passed Turlogh Dubh O'Brien from the sight of the priest Jerome, who stood watching, shading his 疲れた／うんざりした brow with his thin 手渡す, until the boat was a tiny speck far out on the 投げ上げる／ボディチェックするing wastes of the blue ocean.

THE END

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