r shore, towing the bows of the fast-sinking buss
with us till they grounded in the mud, and even as her stern swung
with the tide across the channel she lurched and sank.

"We should have bided in her and fought," growled Thord. "Now in
five minutes we shall see the bottom ripped out of our own ship by
our own deed."

But a foot of the bows and the mast of the buss stood out of the
water, and I thought the Danes would see these marks.

Even as we gained the shore our dragon stem swept round the bend
that had hidden us, and came on swiftly. Then the Danes saw us, and
those on the fore deck shouted, and the oars plashed wildly, and
many on the side next to us stopped altogether; and at the same
time the steersman saw the stem of the wreck, and, as I think, lost
his head between fear of it and the sudden appearance of the foe
whom he thought he had escaped. The larboard oars were going yet,
and the starboard had almost stopped. He paid no heed to it, and
the ship swung over. Then the tide caught her bows, and in a moment
she ran hard and fast on our bank, and the men in her fell right
and left with the shock.

I had seen what was coming, and so had Thord, and we ran our best
to meet her as she struck. The tide was a good one, and she came
well on the hard bank, and there was no need to tell my men what to
do. Before the Danes knew what had happened we were climbing over
the bows on board, and the Danes aft were leaping into the river to
get away from us.

Some few tried to fight; but there must have been two hundred men
packed along the gangways, and they could do nothing. They threw
themselves into the water like the rats that had left the old buss
even now, and we slew many, and the good ship was our own again.
Some of the Danes got ashore on the far bank, some were met by our
Saxons on this side, and but few got back to Bridgwater, for the
river had most of them.

Another ship was coming at this time, but those in her heard the
shouting and the cries; and it would seem that their hearts failed
them, for they went back before we could see more than the tall
mast above the banks from our decks.

Then we thought we might rest, for we were wearied out; but Thord
would not suffer us to do so till he had got the ship carefully
below the wreck, so that she was free. Had we waited for the next
tide we could not have done it, as it turned out; for the rise of
flood shortened quickly to the neap tides, and a bank of mu