but the worst was past. Up the long slope through the yeasty foam
we went, knee deep, and then ankle deep, ever more swiftly with
every pace, and the next wave broke far behind us, and its swirl of
swift water round my waist only helped me. Through it we climbed to
the dry stretches of the beach, and were safe.

I heard Gerda speak breathless words of thanks as I set her down,
and then I looked round for Bertric. He was two waves behind us, as
one may say, and I was just in time to see a breaker catch him up,
smite his broad shoulders, and send him down on his face with
whirling arms into its hollow, where the foam hid him as it curled
over. He, too, had an oar for support, but it had failed him, and
as he fell I caught the flash of somewhat red slung like a sack
across his back.

Gerda cried out as she saw him disappear, but Dalfin and I laughed
as one will laugh at the like mishap when one is bathing. That was
for the moment only, however, for he did not rise as soon as he
might, and then I knew what had kept him so far behind us, and what
was in the red cloak I had seen. He had stayed to bring the gold
and jewels in their casket, and now their weight was holding him
down. So I went in and reached him through a wave, and set him on
his feet again, gasping, and trying to laugh, and we went back to
shore safely enough. I grumbled at the risk he had run, but he said
that his burden was not so heavy as mine had been.

For a few minutes we sat on the beach and found our breath again,
Gerda trying to tell us what she felt concerning what we had done,
and then giving up, because, I suppose, she could not find the
right words; which was a relief, for she made too much of it all.
Then the four of us went up the beach to the shelter of the low,
grassy sand hills above it, and there Dalfin turned and faced us
with a courtly bow, saying gravely:

"Welcome to Ireland, Queen Gerda, and you two good comrades. There
would have been a better welcome had we come in less hurry, but no
more hearty one. The luck of the O'Neills has stood us in good
stead."

"If it had not been for the skill of these two friends, it seems to
me that even the luck of the torque had been little," said Gerda
quietly. "You must not forget that."

"It is part of the said luck that they have been here," answered
Dalfin, with his eyes twinkling as he bowed to us. "All praise to
their seamanship."

Then he sat down suddenly as if his knees had given wa