had said:

"There is little room to spare and little food and drink. I have planned
for half a year. But perhaps we must be sailing longer than that. Our
food may run short. We must not have extra mouths to feed. There are
thirty oars in our boat. I will take only one man for every oar, and
Leif and I will steer."

So they started off. Leif stood in the prow leaning forward and looking
far ahead, and he sang:

"What does the swimming dragon smell?
A stormy sea, an empty land,
Hunger, darkness, giants, fire.
Leif and his sword do laugh at that."

They sailed for days and saw no land. Sometimes they passed ships and
always made sure to sail close enough to hail them.

"Where are you going?" Ingolf would call.

"To Norway," would come back the answer.

"For trade or fight?" Leif would shout.

Then would ring out a great laugh from that boat and this answer:

"A shut mouth is a good friend."

So the two ships sailed on, and the men were glad to have heard a
greeting and to have called one.

But at last there were the Shetlands.

"We will go in here and rest," Ingolf said.

When they rowed to shore a certain Shetland man stood there. He watched
them land and looked them all over. Then he walked up to Ingolf and
said:

"You look like brave men. Welcome to Shetland. You shall come to my
house and rest your legs from ship-going and fill your stomachs. I
hunger for news of Norway."

So they went to his house and stayed there for three days. And good it
seemed to be near a fire and in a quiet bed and before a steaming
platter. When they went to the shore to start off again, the Shetland
man had his thralls carry a keg of ale and a great kettle of cooked meat
and put them into the ship.

"Think of me when you eat this," he said.

Then the Norsemen put to sea again and sailed for a long time.

One day a terrible storm came up; the sky was black; the wind howled
through the ship. Great waves leaped in the sea.

"Down with the sail and out with the oars!" Ingolf shouted.

So the men furled the sail and took down the mast and laid it along the
bottom of the boat. As they worked, one man was washed overboard and
drowned. The men sat down to row, but the tumbling waves tossed the boat
about and poured over her and broke three of the oars. But still the men
held on. They were wet to the skin and were cold, and their arms and
legs ached with the hard work, and they were hungry from the long
wai