They Came On Viking Ships Read Online Free Page B

grass by the sheiling yet, and their legs were tired from yesterday. Time enough to roam when they’d eaten the greenery here.
    Hekja glanced down at Snarf, sleeping at her feet, with one eye half open to check on the cows. ‘Please go and hunt, Snarf. Please,’ she whispered.
    Snarf glanced up at her. He seemed quite content towait for breakfast, whenever Hekja would get round to getting it. After all, she had always provided for him before. He put his head back on his paws and shut his eyes.
    Hekja bit her lip. If she had been a boy she’d have learnt to hunt with the men. She’d be able to teach Snarf to hunt too. Maybe I should take him back to the chief, she thought hopelessly. Maybe Bran will take him…The day stretched out. Hekja drank some of the skimmed milk with the other girls as the sun rose in the sky, and packed the first of the summer’s butter into the butter crock, with its tight-fitting lid to keep out dust and flies—and Snarf’s nose.
    Snarf looked hopefully from girl to girl as they drank. When the bucket was empty he whined, and looked questioningly at Hekja. But she just shook her head. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
    ‘Arf? Arf!’ barked Snarf, then added, ‘Woof woof!’ as though to remind her he was there. Then he gave up, and went to get a drink from the spring.
    Tomorrow, thought Hekja desperately, as she gulped the milk, I’ll take him to Bran tomorrow.
    The girls milked the cows again as the sun dropped into the sea. There was more milk this time, as they had kept the calves from suckling. Again Hekja drank from the bucket, and tried not to look at Snarf’s accusing eyes.
    Hekja put the bucket down and looked around.
    ‘Where’s Snarf?!’ she cried.
    Reena shrugged. ‘Who cares? Go rinse the bucket out,’ she ordered. ‘It’s time for bed.’
    Hekja stared around the meadow. Raina laughed. ‘At last! The dog stink has gone!’
    Hekja said nothing. Where was Snarf? She didn’t dare call him, in case he had decided to try to hunt for himself. But what if he thought she didn’t love him any more?
    What if he was headed down the mountain to Ma, and the food she’d always given him? Or worse—what if he went to the chief’s hut instead? The chief would welcome him, now he was a fine, big animal. He’d become the chief’s dog again, not hers.
    Hekja rinsed the bucket. The sun had vanished, though the summer twilight would linger for a long time yet. She placed the bucket with the rest of the milking equipment, wrapped herself in her cowhide, and lay down on her bracken bed, feeling the familiar scratchiness beneath her.
    Where was Snarf? Where?
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    6 A very low-alcohol beer, more like ginger beer than the beers we drink today.
    7 a summer hut

Chapter 6
A HUNTER AT LAST
    Hekja tried to sleep. Over in the corner of the sheiling Reena gave a gentle snore, and Janna the faint hiccupping sound that she made when sleeping too. Outside the calves wandered over to suckle their mothers, then moved away again, when they realised they’d been milked dry, and began to chomp at the grass in the dying light.
    Where was Snarf, thought Hekja desperately. Maybe he’d had an accident! Fallen down a cliff like Pa…or maybe a wolf had caught him…
    Finally the night grew truly dark. Hekja watched the stars pop through the blackness one by one. The moon rose above the ridge like a small yellow cheese.
    Hekja sat up. She had to find Snarf! She had to!
    Hekja crept from the hut, then called softly into the darkness, ‘Snarf! Riki Snarfari!’
    No answer. She walked a little further and called again, ‘Snarf! Snarf!’
    Suddenly, something bounded out of the darkness. ‘Arf,’ said Snarf softly, bulling her with his furry head. Then he leapt into the darkness again, turning his head as though to say, ‘Are you coming?’
    Hekja followed him. The moonlight cast shadows on the grass as Snarf began to run. Hekja tied her skirts about her waist and ran too. It was hard at first avoiding