as soon as you can, for there is but an hour
to wait for tide. I will ask no pay for his passage, for he is but
another bale of goods, as it were, swaddled up in that wise, and I
told you that I would take all you liked to bring for what we
agreed on."

Evan thanked him, and Thorgils laughed, turning away to go up the
town, and saying that he would be back anon. I groaned again as he
passed me, and he looked straight in my eyes, which were all that
he could see of me.

"Better on board than in that litter, poor fellow," he said kindly;
"it is a smooth sea, and we shall see Tenby in no long time if this
breeze holds."

He passed on with a nod and smile, and I could almost have wept in
my rage and despair. I could not have thought of anything more
cruel than this, and there was a sour grin on Evan's face, as if he
knew what was passing in my mind.

Now they lifted me once more and carried me to the ship, setting me
down amidships while they got the bales of goods on board. She was
a stout trading vessel, built for burden more than speed, but she
seemed light in the water, as though she had little cargo for this
voyage. She had raised decks fore and aft, and there were low doors
in the bulkheads below them that seemed to lead to some sort of
cabins. Under the forward of these decks the outlaws began to stow
their bales, the man who had called Thorgils ashore directing them.

I lay just at the gangway, and a little on one side so as not to
block it, and I watched all that went on, helplessly. There was no
one near me, or I think that I should have made some desperate
effort to call a Norseman to my help. Maybe Evan thought me safer
here than nearer the place where all were busy, as yet, but
presently I heard voices on the wharf as if some newcomers were
drawing near, and Evan heard them also, and left his cargo to
hasten to my side. I saw that he looked anxious, and a little hope
of some fresh chance of escape stirred in me, though, as they had
carried me on board feet foremost, I could not see who came.

When they were close at hand their voices told me that one at least
was a lady, and that she and her companions were Welsh. I supposed
that this was the princess of whom I had heard Thorgils speak just
now. I should know in a moment, for the first footsteps were on the
long gangplank and pattering across it, while Evan began to smile
and bow profoundly.

Then there came past my litter, stepping daintily across t