human lumber on the floor, I went out and down to the
water's edge, where "shore-going" clothes, as we sailors call them,
were slipped off, and I plunged into the sea for a swim.

It was a welcome dip, for I needed the plunge physically and
intellectually, but it came to an abrupt conclusion. The Thither folk
apparently had never heard of this form of enjoyment; to them water
stood for drinking or drowning, nothing else, and since one could not
drink the sea, to be in it meant, even for a ghost, to drown.
Consequently, when the word went round the just rousing villages that
"He-on-foot-from-afar" was adrift in the waves, rescue parties were
hurriedly organised, a boat launched, and, in spite of all my kicking
and shouting (which they took to be evidence of my semi-moribund
condition), I was speedily hauled out by hairy and powerful hands,
pungent herbs burnt under my nose, and my heels held high in the air in
order that the water might run out of me. It was only with the greatest
difficulty those rough but honest fellows were eventually got to
believe me saved.

The breakfast I made of grilled deer flesh and a fish not unlike
salmon, however, convinced them of my recovery, and afterward we parted
very good friends; for there was something in the nature of those
rugged barbarians just coming into the dawn of civilisation that won my
liking far more than the effete gentleness of others across the water.

When the time of parting came they showed no curiosity as to my errand,
but just gave me some food in a fish-skin bag, thrust a heavy
stone-headed axe into my hand, "in case I had to talk to a thief on the
road," and pointed out on the southern horizon a forked mountain, under
which, they said, was the harbour and high-road to King Ar-hap's
capital. Then they hugged me to their hairy chests in turn, and let me
go with a traveller's blessing.

There I was again, all alone, none but my thoughts for companions, and
nothing but youth to excuse the folly in thus venturing on a reckless
quest!

However, who can gainsay that same youth? The very spice of danger made
my steps light and the way pleasant. For a mile or two the track was
plain enough, through an undulating country gradually becoming more and
more wooded with vegetation, changing rapidly from Alpine to
sub-tropical. The air also grew warmer, and when the dividing ridge was
crossed and a thick forest entered, the snows and dreadful region of
Deadmen's Ice alr