roofed house, and I have here a house with a
roof also, which I will show thee presently. For now since the Flaming
Sword hath come, there is no need for haste; nay, we cannot depart till
they have gone up-country. So I will show thee presently what we shall
do to-night."

So there they sat and watched those men bring their ship to the shore and
moor her hard by Hallblithe's boat. They cried out when they saw her,
and when they were aland they gathered about her to note her build, and
the fashion of the spear whereto she was tied. Then in a while the more
part of them, some fourscore in number, departed up the valley toward the
great house and left none but a half dozen ship-warders behind.

"Seest thou, friend of the Ravens," said the Fox, "hadst thou been there,
they might have done with thee what they would. Did I not well to bring
thee into my unroofed house?"

"Yea, verily," said Hallblithe; "but will not some of the ship-wards, or
some of the others returning, come up hither and find us? I shall yet
lay my bones in this evil island."

The Puny Fox laughed, and said: "It is not so bad as thy sour looks would
have it; anyhow it is good enough for a grave, and at this present I may
call it a casket of precious things."

"What meanest thou?" said Hallblithe eagerly.

"Nay, nay," said the other, "nought but what thou knowest. Art thou not
therein, and I myself? without reckoning the old carle in the hole
yonder. But I promise thee thou shalt not die here this time, unless
thou wilt. And as to folk coming up hither, I tell thee again they durst
not; because they fear my great-grandsire over much. Not that they are
far wrong therein; for now he is dead, the worst of him seemeth to come
out of him, and he is not easily dealt with, save by one who hath some
share of his wisdom. Thou thyself couldst see by my kinsman, the Sea-
eagle, how much of ill blood and churlish malice there may be in our
kindred when they wax old, and loneliness and dreariness taketh hold of
them. For I must tell thee that I have oft heard my father say that his
father the Sea-eagle was in his youth and his prime blithe and buxom, a
great lover of women, and a very friendly fellow. But ever, as I say, as
the men of our kind wax in years, they worsen; and thereby mayst thou
deem how bad the old man in yonder must be, since he hath lain so long in
the grave. But now we will go to that house of mine on the other side of
the mead, ove