Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-09-28

| among his hereditaments nothing was more
priced by him than the silver altar-ring
used in the religious ceremonies OF his clan
since it was said to have belonged origi- |
nally to his divine ancestor.
Draco lived at the time when the Morse /
men were sailing by thousands from their
own land in order to gain by the
sword new and fairer homes in Brit
share in the territorial spoil, and ac-
cordingly, equipping his dragon-keels, and
gathering ms warcarls around him, he
sailed Off over the seas.
On arriving within sight of the NOrthum-
brian coast he had recourse to the gods for
|, fixing the precise point of his disembarka-
ton; he let fly two ravens consecrated to
Odin. and following in their wake landed
where they had alighted.
He quickly put to the rout those North
| umbrians who attempted to oppose him. and
proceeded to confirm his victory by building
a fortress on the site of the existing Raven
| hall. Sallying forth from this place he
would plumber the neighboring monasteries.
| or, putting out to sea, attack the merchant
vessels that passed his Shores thus becom-
ing possessed, in course Of time, of vast
quantity OF treasure in the shape of gold
and silver, church-plate, coinage, jewels and
the like.
In his old age he met with the end
| deemed worthy Of a warrior, being slain in
battle whilst contending against q neigh
| boring chieftain. At his burial Morse
scald composed that wild barbaric requiem
which 1dr1s had heard Lorelie playing on
| the organ-a requiem that had accompanied
the funeral of every Ravengar since
! though doubtless with considerable varia-
1 tons from the original strain
Draco left one son only, Magnus by name
he was but a child at the time of his faith
| err death, and the widowed mother, Hilda,
| rearing that an attempt might be made to
deprive MIN Of his patrimonial treasure Sc
| cretly buried it, purposng to give it to her
son when he should be of age to defend his
| rights.
For time all went we'll The warriors
| WHO nau followed the standard Of Draco
| rallied around his son, and looked forward
! 10 the day when he should emulate or sur
! pass the deeds Of his father. But event
| ually murmurings arose The how was too
| much under his mothers influence. thew
thought; the hand that should have been
| Wieiulns the spear was more often found
holoing the pen. She was accused of teach
| ing him dark and curious arts
1t was long time. however, before the
| vikings ventured to express their displeas-
| ure openly, for they feared Hilda She was
an Alruna. that is, an all-runic, or all-wise
| woman VINO had power to cast pernicio,Is
| speiis upon those who offended her.
| AZ last' one day, provoked to the ex-
IRENE Dy some act of imprudence on her
part they came to Magnus and telling him
that they We're going to Danish his mother
lney gave him the choice of being their
| cnie1tain or OF accompanying her into exile
| Magnus elected to stand with his fathers
|
| ana solemn doom-ring he pronounced ,,non
| ment f"A o"hish-
Cut to the heart by this unfilial act Hilda
| vowed that she would never reveal to him
| the hldlng place of the treasure: ana 60 .
| Deing Danished, she returned to her native
| ring. S-1'ei Ai'dr
| With the lapse of time however che ha-
| gan 10 recent toward her absent son She
| S 1s -. TO see him again. but was now too
I Uu " uhuertake the fatigues attending the
| voyage. She resolved to break her oath
| oI siience and to tell him where the treas
| ure lay concealed. To secure herself from
sre urea on the part of her messenger.
| mho mignt nave appropriated the wealth
| himself II tntrusted with the secret 30 t. g..
| ,liholng place, she had recourse to the fol-
lowing exped1ent. She engraved upon the
| o. IT.. ing a sentence indicative of the ex-
| act site OF the treasure, making nae of
| Iuhic letters. arranged in such a way that
| lioHe OUT Magnus could understand them.
| III ofyptic writing had been one Of the
many arts she had taught him This aono
she dispatched the ring by the hand nf .
| herald. ~ TIC Aaho OF
but Magnus was now dead His son and
| successor was Uric, who because bis !. ~,
borc a small pennon decorated VIII ,'. ne
| nsure OF raven, was called Rayenpar mr.
| tary. iie hereul-
| Hilda's messenger entered tho h,,,
hour when Uric sat feasting with his war.
| rIoTs. IN accordance with the Morse rites
OF hospitality the herald was given seat
at the board. No question was askad Of
| nlm and he resolved to defer his messee 90
| I'LL the meal should be over. This delay
| proved fatal to him, for, during the course
~ ~ 'ns Ieast. ne accidentally drew forth
the altar ring. In a moment the ancient
greybeards-old companions of Dracn-
recognized the sacred relic of Odin, and
sterniy commanded the stranger to explain
| chleftain's ring; 1t had formed a mart NJ tho
| missing treasure; he must, therefore know
where the remainder was
WIN stammering tongue the herald
| S'aseo tnat ne was messenger from the
Lady H1lda; and pointing to the inscription
upon the ring. said that it indicated the
hiding place of the treasure
| Uric. unskilled in the art of letters ma So
ed the ring on to the sagamen and scaIds.
who shook their heads over it. Magnus.
the only enc capable Of reading the riddle,
was no more. The herald himself was I'M
able to decipher the message that his mis-
tress had caused to be engraved To the
assembled Vikings his words seemed an idle
tale; his ignorance was imputed to knavery;
swords cleaned In the air; the oaken raft
ers rang with excited cries.
AT one end of the hall on a dais there
STOOD, as was usual In those days, rude
| images Of the gods. To this spot the hera Id
was dragged and told that unless he re-
vealed the hiding place of the treasure he
should be sacrificed there and then to Odin
and Thor.
Vain was his plea of ignorance. vain bis
al Eeal Ior mercy; he was slain by the dag
ger of Uric. himself the priest as well as
the chief OF the clan: the altar ring was
dipped In the blood OF the victim, and the
red drops We're sprnkled on all present
with his dying breath the herald called
upon heaven to be his avenger. invoking a
curse upon the head of him who should dis
cover the treasure. and praying that the
finder might meet with a death as violent
as his own.
Afterward. when Uric came to clean the
ring he found he could not remove the
stain of blood. and the sagamen who ex-
amined 1t declared that the mark would
never be efraced till one of the raven race
should die as an atonement for the death
of the herald, whose sacred character had
been fmpiously set at nought
Uric retained the ring as the symbol of
his authority; at his death 1t passed to his
son. and SO from generation to generation
1t continued In the Ravengar family as a
generated heirloom. In the days Of Charles
II the first Earl Of Ormsby, Lancelot Raw
engar, adopted the ring as an armorial de-
vice, taking as his supporters two ravens.
in allusion to the birds that were said to
have directed the course OF Draco's galley.
Such was the story Of the runic ring, a
story to which Idris listened with the deep
est interest. 1t was clear to him that his