or no gold," said Hugh, fingering his sword, "it is a joyous
venture. Have at these Devils of thine, Witta!"

"'Venture!" said Witta sourly. "I am only a poor sea-thief. I do not
set my life adrift on a plank for joy, or the venture. Once I beach
ship again at Stavanger, and feel the wife's arms round my neck, I'll
seek no more ventures. A ship is heavier care than a wife or cattle."

'He leaped down among the rowers, chiding them for their little
strength and their great stomachs. Yet Witta was a wolf in fight, and
a very fox in cunning.

'We were driven South by a storm, and for three days and three nights
he took the stern-oar, and threddled the longship through the sea.
When it rose beyond measure he brake a pot of whale's oil upon the
water, which wonderfully smoothed it, and in that anointed patch he
turned her head to the wind and threw out oars at the end of a rope, to
make, he said, an anchor at which we lay rolling sorely, but dry. This
craft his father Guthrum had shown him. He knew, too, all the
Leech-Book of Bald, who was a wise doctor, and he knew the Ship-Book of
Hlaf the Woman, who robbed Egypt. He knew all the care of a ship.

'After the storm we saw a mountain whose top was covered with snow and
pierced the clouds. The grasses under this mountain, boiled and eaten,
are a good cure for soreness of the gums and swelled ankles. We lay
there eight days, till men in skins threw stones at us. When the heat
increased Witta spread a cloth on bent sticks above the rowers, for the
wind failed between the Island of the Mountain and the shore of Africa,
which is east of it. That shore is sandy, and we rowed along it within
three bowshots. Here we saw whales, and fish in the shape of shields,
but longer than our ship. Some slept, some opened their mouths at us,
and some danced on the hot waters. The water was hot to the hand, and
the sky was hidden by hot, grey mists, out of which blew a fine dust
that whitened our hair and beards of a morning. Here, too, were fish
that flew in the air like birds. They would fall on the laps of the
rowers, and when we went ashore we would roast and eat them.'

The knight paused to see if the children doubted him, but they only
nodded and said, 'Go on.'

'The yellow land lay on our left, the grey sea on our right. Knight
though I was, I pulled my oar amongst the rowers. I caught seaweed and
dried it, and stuffed it between the pots of beads lest they should