They Came On Viking Ships Read Online Free Page A

annoy the others either.
    Hekja bit her lip, then fumbled in her bundle for her barley bread and cheese. ‘Here, boy,’ she whispered.
    Snarf gulped the bread and cheese in two large bites, then looked for more. Hekja shook her head, and tried to ignore the hunger clawing at her stomach.
    The starlight lit the mountain cliffs with silver as they went to bed. Hekja listened to the talk slowly cease, and the girls’ breathing soften.
    ‘Snarf!’ she whispered.
    He had been just around the corner, sitting puzzled in the dark. He stretched out beside her, and licked her face, scratched his ear twice where a grass seed was prickling, then laid his paws on his nose.
    Hekja lay awake. It was strange to lie in a new place, the familiar sound of waves lapping on the pebbles replaced with the noises of the other girls sleeping, and the cows mooing in the night.
    How could Snarf learn to hunt, with no one to show him how, and one lame leg? He wasn’t even fully grown.
    Perhaps she could sneak him some of the milk tomorrow. If he was just a little hungry he might decide to hunt himself. But if he ate nothing he’d be too weak to hunt…
    Hekja woke as soon as the light brightened about the mountain. Snarf was awake already, sniffing around the cow meadow to find the smelliest cow pat to roll in.
    Hekja tiptoed out, then whistled softly. Snarf bounded up to her, licking her face and pulling at the sleeve of her dress. Hekja pulled it back. ‘Snarf! No! No time for tug games now! You have to go find some breakfast!’
    Snarf sat back and cocked his head at her. ‘Arf?’ he enquired.
    ‘You have to learn to hunt! Please, Snarf!’ cried Hekja desperately.
    ‘Arf.’ Snarf lost interest. He began to scratch at the grass seed again.
    Hekja sighed. It was no use. Snarf did things when he wanted to. She crossed quietly over to the spring and washed her face. Snarf splashed beside her, then decided it was too cold, and shook himself vigorously.
    ‘Errk,’ protested Hekja, as the spray went all over her.
    ‘Arf,’ said Snarf, as though to say, ‘Well, you wanted a wash, didn’t you?’
    The other girls were up now, yawning and stretching and rubbing the sleep from their eyes. The whole mountain was awake, the birds chirping louder than they ever did below, and the cows beginning to roam.
    ‘What’s he doing here?’ demanded Reena predictably, as she saw Snarf at the spring.
    ‘He has to drink too,’ said Hekja, standing up and tipping him off her lap.
    Reena sniffed. ‘Dogs belong in the village with the men,’ she said. ‘We’ve never had a dog up here before.’
    The cream had risen to the top of last night’s milk. The girls scooped it off into the butter pail and, like thenight before, passed the pail around, drinking as much as they wanted of the cold skimmed milk. Snarf watched, looking hopeful.
    Hekja gave him a bit of her barley cake, while the girls looked on and snickered. There wasn’t much barley cake left—the girls only had a bite or two to go with their milk and watercress, and the dried fish and cheese was finished too. Soon they’d have fresh cheese to eat, and buttermilk, but there would be no more barley cake till the women came up again.
    Hekja bit her lip. A big dog like Snarf needed food every day—lots of food, as he was still growing.
    Reena dusted off the last of the crumbs, and took a final drink of milk. ‘Now,’ she ordered. ‘Hekja, you churn the butter while we watch the cows.’
    Hekja said nothing. Butter making was harder work than sitting watching the cows and yelling at them when they strayed. But if she was alone at the sheiling she could give Snarf some of the cream.
    Hekja sat in the sheiling’s doorway on the three- legged stool the women had brought up, with the bucket between her knees, and swept the butter paddles back and forth in the cream, and waited for the cows to wander off, with the girls following.
    But the cows stayed where they were. They hadn’t eaten the