A Sea Queen's Sailing

re was not yet enough to do much harm. The floating bights of canvas hove us round broadsid

le, and got it overboard, so that the ship recovered herself somewhat. The yard lay half on deck, and I climbed out on it, and cleared it from t

northeast--and seemed likely to bide there. Overhead the scud was flying with more wind than we could feel, and we had cause to be anxious. The sea would get up, and unless we could se

he sails of the boat were too small to be of any use. Nor was there a spar which we c

of the mast, without unbending the sail from it. Then we set it up as best we might with the running rigging, and so had a mightily unhandy three-cornered sail of doubled canvas.

any account, though the upper planking of the ship was strained, and the wash of the sea found its way

ld or no, and the sooner we put about the better, crippled as we were. We must go as the gale drove us, and make what landfall we might, thou

anvas full and boomed out as best we could with two oars lashed together, we fled into the

gale was not enough to have been in any way perilous for a well-found ship. We had to bale every four hours or so, and at that time we learned that Gerda knew how to steer. Very brave and bright was she through i

tumbling seas, showed the dim, green tops of mountains, half lost in the drifting rain. We thought they mig

land before us, such an we expected, but a long range of coast, which stretched from east to west, as far as we could see, in a chain of hills. All I could

and that waited our coming, with what welcome we could not say. Presently a gleam lit on a small steady patch of white far astern of us, which did not toss with the nearer waves, and did not shift along the skyline. It was the first sail we had seen since we had lost sight of Heidrek, and it, too, ch

p in that sight, as we looked in vain for some gap in the long wall which stretched across our course. Only in one place, right ahead, the breakers seemed nearer, and as if there might be shelving shore on which they ran, rather than shattering cliffs on which they beat. And presently we knew that between us and the shore

hat island we were safe," said Bertric t

t try it,"

oreover, the water gained quickly as the strained upper planking was hove down with the new list of the ship. I went to the open space a

the eastern end of the island, and it was

to the beach, and we may not fare so badly. Well, there is one good point about these gifts which Gerd

said; "but I took it that it was on the

out of the wind," he said.

ich by the look of the beach as we lifted on the waves

wned, it were better," he said grimly.

in the hold after we had tried to weather the island. Now and again Dalfin rose up and slipped into the bilge and baled

the end of the voyage in an hour or so, and that we w

rm," he said; "but

swered; but saying no more, as I would

he said. "We will not lea

poke as if he had a

ut it is not to be thought of that a prince

hat? Your

ou tell me that you two seamen did not know

l, and I had to believe him. He said that we were some way to the westward of a

I asked, as we took the mail from the

ered gaily. "Now, where you suppose you are going to find a have

the luck of the O'Neills round his neck, and therefore did not believe that we should be so. But he knew nothing of the island, nor wh

ft him and bade him help Bertric to arm while I took the helm. The shore was not two miles from us at that time, and Bertr

ead, Malcolm?" she

f risk. We may be able to beach the ship safe

if

r is that she will not be far from shore.

e heard you laugh at the prince bec

might stand him in as good stead as had Heidrek's steersman's bench, in case it was wanted. Whereon he laughed, and said that the luck of the O'

ch lay between us and it. Bertric looked long as we neared the

oreover. There will be water enough for our light draught. Get Gerda forw

m, and he nodd

ed here under this high stern. I shall take no harm. Nay, I am ship

at the last. However, he was right, and I went forward wi

was, as I have said, not what one would trouble about much in the open sea, in a well-found ship. But naught save dire necessity would make a seaman try to beach his ship h

ed. But that was too late now, and I do not think that I should have troubled concerning it in any wise, on a foreign coast. The thought came and went from me, but I set Gerda's cloak round her loosely, so that if need was it would fall from

e foam covered the decks as the broken gunwale aft lurched amid it. So we passed four great surges safely, and we were not an arrow flight from land. The water was deep enough for us so far. Then we rose on the back of the fifth roller, and it set us far before we overtook its crest and passed it. T

e would have reached it, and but two ranks of breakers were to be passed. I bade my two companions hold on for their lives, and set my arm rou

eath us as the sea sucked them back. A great sea rolled in, hissing and roaring round the high stern, and breaking clear over it and Bertric as he stood at the helm, and it lifted us once more as if we were but a tangle o

knee deep round him as far as the foot of the mast, but it did not reach us here in the bows, though the spray flew over us, and our ears were full of the thunder

casket of gold from the place i

the load at his feet. "The tide has not reached its height yet, and she will be roug

nearly dry around the bows. We might have three feet of water to struggle through at first for a few paces, but that was nothing. Even Gerda could be no w

the gunwale, and I took her in my arms, holding her as high as I could, and turning at once shoreward. I tried to hurry, but I could not go fast, for the water sucked me back, while Dalfin waded close behind me. Then I heard Bertric shout, and I knew what was coming. The knee-deep water gathered again as t

he held and used as a staff, fought against it until it was spent. The rounded pebbles slipped and rolled under my feet as they were torn back to the sea, but the worst was past. Up the long slope through the yeasty foam we went, kne

ust 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

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

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 we

ould have been a better welcome had we come in less hurry, but no mo

it seems to me that even the luck of the torque had been

here," answered Dalfin, with his eyes twinkling a

if his knees had given way, a

asked, "for it feels more like a ship

Wait till you lose the swing of the d

tric said. "There

she had borne up and was heading away westward, some four miles from shore, and sailing well and swiftly, being a great long

d, which rose to the hill across by the strait between us and the mainland, and both hill and moor were alike green and fresh--or seemed so to us after the long days at sea. It was not a bad island, and Dalfin said that there should be fishers here, though he was in no way certain. All round us the sea birds flitted, sco

e beach to the ship, and there gathered a great pile of driftwood and lit a fire, starting it with dry grass and the tinder which Bertric kept, seamanlike, with his flint and steel in his leathern pouch, secure from even the sea. Then we

on board over the bows, and took what food

island for the mainland. And we can save all the goods we stowed amidships befor

ay than this, and her time had come. I do not think that it had been fitting for her to

ss of a vessel under his command, though there was no blame to

I say that it was a dismal feast by any means, for we had won through the many perils we had foreseen, and wer