THE INVASION. CHAPTER XLII. FINDING Inguar willing to embrace his service, the Vikingr Gurmund did not suffer him to meet with farther injury. He learned from the crew that they were bent on the invasion of certain islands in the south and west, which were already not unknown to the Norwegian arms; and, from their description of one in particular, he had no doubt it was the same which had formed the sub ject of the Norwegian minstrel's praise at the festival of Odin. The fleet of the conqueror divided on its arrival in what were termed, by ancient geographers, the Hyperborean seas. Part sailed for Gaul, and part, under the command of Gurmund himself, directed its course towards the isle of Inismore, which, however, was not intended to be the object of the invasion. Proceeding southward, they anchored for a day and night on the shores of Powisy, near the mouth of the dangerous Dee. As, leaning over the prow of his vessel, he viewed in silence the shores of merry England, Inguar was seized with a strong desire of separating himself from his new companions, and seeking alone his fortune in this new and fertile. country. He felt no inclination to share either the good or evil fortune of the Norwegians, and though his latter life had given him something of the mechanical courage of a warrior, the adventures he coveted were not those of military life. The level coast lay distant only half a mile, and the fall of night afforded him, ere long, an opportunity of indulging his inclination. Letting himself quietly down into the darkened waters, while his companions slept beneath their skiolds, he had swam more than half the way when a full bright moon arose to light him through the remainder. The tide was at low water mark when he wrung his dripping garments on the beach, so that a long tract of mingled stones and mud lay between him and the strand. Passing this dreary space, on which the only objects he discerned were the bodies of some pirates gibbetted according to the law of the country at low water mark, until they were washed over by three successive tides, the Swede pursued his way along the banks of the Dee, and arrived at morning within sight of the |