ur--having, moreover, by this time acquired quite a
respectable dexterity in the use of their tools--they succeeded by lunch
time in laying completely bare the entire hull of what proved most
unmistakably to be a veritable ancient Viking ship.

This intensely interesting relic was, as already stated, eighty feet
long by sixteen feet beam; with a depth of hold in midships, as they now
found, of eight feet; she must therefore have been at the time of her
launch quite a noble specimen of naval architecture. She was of course
built of wood, and was beautifully moulded fore and aft; her stem and
stern-posts were carried to a height of five feet above her rail; and
the former was finished off with a rather roughly hewn but vigorously
modelled horse's head, whilst the latter terminated in an elaborately
carved piece of scroll-work. She was fully decked, with a sort of
monkey-poop aft, about two and a half feet high and twenty feet long,
beneath which was her principal cabin. Her bulwarks and rail were very
solidly constructed; the former being pierced with rowlock holes for
sixteen oars or sweeps of a side, in addition to holes abaft, one on
each side of, and near the stern-post, for the short broad-bladed
steering paddles. Both of these paddles, together with twenty-three
oars and two square sails, shaped somewhat like lugs and still attached
to their yards, were found stowed fore and aft amidships on the vessel's
deck. They were all in an excellent state of preservation, as were also
the lower portions of the masts; indeed it was only that portion of
these spars which had been long exposed to the air which showed signs of
rot, the upper extremities being most rotten, whilst the parts close to
the deck were perfectly sound.

Having fully satisfied their curiosity with regard to the exterior of
this interesting craft, they next essayed to penetrate below by forcing
open the after hatch. On removing the cover a small and almost
perpendicular ladder was revealed, down which Mildmay rapidly made his
way. On reaching the bottom he found himself in a small vestibule or
ante-room, the floor, sides, and ceiling of which were thickly cased
with smooth glassy ice, long icicles of varying thicknesses also
depending from the beams and deck planking overhead. He could trace the
existence of a door in the middle of the bulkhead facing him; but it was
hermetically sealed with the thick coating of ice before mentioned, and
the remov