midnight
The oars were inboard , and there were but few men about the decks , for a good wind that was blowing from the southwest filled the silken sails and sent the vessel onward with a rush of snowy foam along her deep sides , and there was no work to be done save by the man who stood at the tiller . To the south the sea and sky were dark , but in the northern heavens there was an arch of crimson , flickering light , from which long trembling shafts of a fainter red shot forth into the zenith , casting their ruddy reflections upon the waves . The gaunt , gilded dragon at the prow stood as though bathed in fire , and the burnished gold of Olaf 's crested helmet , the rings on his bare arms , the hilt of his sword , and the knitted chains of his coat of mail gleamed and glanced in the red light as though they were studded with gems . This red light , flashing in the midnight sky , was believed by the Norsemen to be the shining of Thor 's beard . But as Olaf Triggvison now looked upon it from his ship 's bow , he understood it to be a message of hope sent from Heaven , beckoning him onward to his native land in the north , there to avenge his father 's death , to reconquer his realm , and to reign as the first truly Christian King of Norway . And yet as his vessel sailed on , plunging through the dashing foam , with her prow rising and falling within the wide span of that great rosy arch , strange doubts came over him , the old beliefs still lingered in his mind , and he began to think that perhaps his new learning was false , that Thor might after all be supreme in the world , and that this red light in the sky was an evidence of his continued power , a visible defiance of Christ . Olaf was thinking these thoughts when , above the wailing of the wind and the swishing of the waves , he heard , or fancied he heard , someone walking behind him across the deck .