as we strike if we do not sink her!"

Then he called on the oarsmen, and they cheered and tugged at the
oars, the men in the waist helping them, and my fore deck warriors
gripping the bulwarks against the shock. Down we swooped like a
falcon on a wild duck, and as we came the Jomsburgers howled and
left their own ship, climbing into Ingvar's to fly the crash, while
some tried to cast off, but too late.

"Shoot!" I shouted to my men, and the arrows flew.

Through skin-clad backs and bare necks the arrows pierced, and the
smitten pirates fell back into their own ship, as they swarmed the
higher sides of Ingvar's, like leaves from a tree.

Then with a mighty crash and rending of cloven timbers our dragon
stem crushed the Jomsburg ship from gunwale to gunwale, splintering
the rail of the other ship as the wreck parted and sunk on either
side of our bows, while above the rending of planks and rush of
waters rose the howls of the drowning men.

I clung to the dragon's neck, and the shock felled me not. Yet my
men went headlong over the oarsmen as we struck, rising again with
a great shout of grim laughter, to follow me over the bows as I
leapt among the pirates who thronged on Ingvar's deck before me.

Then was the sternest fight I have ever seen, for we fought at
close quarters, they for dear life, and we for those even dearer
than life. There was no word of quarter, and at first, after our
cheer on boarding, there was little noise beyond the ringing of
weapon on helm and shield and mail, mixed with the snarls of the
foul black-bearded savages against us and the smothered oaths of
our men.

Then came a thickness in the air and a breath of chill damp over
me, and all in a moment that creeping sea fog settled down on us,
and straightway so thick it was, that save of those before and on
either side of him no man might see aught, but must fight in a ring
of dense mist that hemmed him round. And for a while out of that
mist the arrows hissed, shot by unseen hands, and darts, hurled by
whom one might not know, smote friend and foe alike, while if one
slew his man, out of the fog came another to take his place,
seeming endless foes. And as in a dream the noise of battle
sounded, and the fight never slackened.

All I knew was that Cyneward was next me, and that my axe must keep
my own life and take that of others; and I fought for Osritha and
home and happiness--surely the best things for which a man can
fight next to hi