is ship must have been a staunch vessel indeed.

As the hours passed the storm continued, the Daughters of AEgir and Ran
rose again and again, trying to strike our ship; when their hoods were
rent asunder, their long hair streamed on the gale.

In the afternoon the dark clouds were lower than usual and moved rapidly
over our heads. The wind howled and hissed through the rigging. Wave
after wave struck against the ship's side and deluged the deck with
water. One of them took me off my feet and pitched me to the other side
against the bulwarks, almost washing me overboard.

"You had better go into the cabin," said the captain; "this is no
weather for you." But I replied, "Yes, captain, it is; I want to see
this big storm with its mighty sea." I had hardly said these words when
another wave came aboard of us. Two men were nearly washed overboard;
fortunately they held fast to the rigging.

Soon after another big wave struck our port side, and carried away a
part of our bulwarks, swamping our decks with a huge mass of water; this
time nearly washing overboard all of us who were on deck. Looking at the
havoc the wave had wrought, I remembered the saga which tells of the
storm the celebrated Viking Fridthjof encountered at sea, and which
says:

"Then came a wave breaking so strongly that it carried away the gunwales
and part of the bow, and flung four men overboard, who were lost.

"'Now it is likely,' said Fridthjof, 'that some of our men will visit
Ran. We shall not be thought fit to go there unless we prepare ourselves
well. I think it is right that every man should carry some gold with
him!' He cut asunder the arm ring of his sweetheart Ingibjoerg, and
divided it among his men."

We had been running before the wind with all the sails we could carry
safely, so that the ship might not be overtaken and swamped. As long as
the ship can sail faster or quite as fast as the waves, it is all right;
but if the waves go faster then there is great danger that the ship will
be pooped by the sea,--that is, that the seas may come over the stern,
and sweep over the deck, carrying everything away. In such a case it
happens sometimes that all those who are on deck are swept overboard.

The sea finally became so high and so threatening that the captain
ordered that we should heave to and wait for the storm to abate. To
heave a ship to before the wind is a dangerous manoeuvre. We waited
until three big seas had passed. There is gene