efences and go out
to reconnoitre, when a man came running from the ship shouting
"Skraelingers!"

It is probable that by that term he meant savages generally, because the
men who had been seen bore very little resemblance to the hairy savages
of Greenland. They were taller, though not stouter, and clothed in
well-dressed skins of animals, with many bright colours about them. But
whatever they were, the sensation they created among the Norsemen was
considerable, for it was found, on going to the margin of the lake, that
they were now approaching in canoes by water. This at once accounted
for the delay in their appearance.

That their intentions were hostile was plain from the fact that the
canoes came on abreast of each other in regular order, while the men
shouted fiercely and brandished their weapons. There could not have
been fewer than three or four hundred of them.

Karlsefin saw at once that his only chance of saving the ship was to go
on board of it and fight on the water.

"Get on board all of you," he cried to those who stood beside him.
"Away, Biarne, Thorward, call in the outposts and have them on board
without delay. Here, Swend, Heika, Tyrker, station the men as they
arrive. Get up the war-screens round the sides of the ship; and,
harkee, give orders that the men use their weapons as little as
possible, and spare life. I shall want you on the poop, Hake. See that
no one throws down the gangway or loosens the ropes till the order is
given. I will see to the women.--Away!"

Each man ran with speed to obey, for the case was urgent.

Karlsefin found the women, with Olaf, assembled in the large house
waiting for orders.

"Come," he cried; "not a moment to be lost. Give me your hand, Gudrid."

He seized it as he spoke, and hurried down to the ship, where the men
were already trooping on board as fast as they could. The women were
soon put under cover out of the reach of missiles, and in a few minutes
more all were on board. Of course the cattle, and live stock generally,
being scattered about the hamlet, were left to their fate. Then the
ropes were cast loose, the gangway was thrown down, the ship was pushed
out into the bay, and the anchor let go.

All this had barely been accomplished when the canoes came sweeping
round the nearest point of land and made straight for the ship, with the
foam curling at their bows.

Then Karlsefin's voice rose loud and clear as he issued his final
comman