left them behind, and the Danes giving up the pursuit
continued on their way.

The Dragon fell into their wake and followed at a distance, hoping that
one might prove slower than the others, or that they might in the night
get separated. At nightfall, however, the Danes lit cressets of tar and
hemp, which enabled them not only to keep close together, but sent out
a wide circle of light, so that they could perceive the Dragon should
she venture to approach.

For two days and nights the Dragon followed patiently.

"The weather is about to change," Egbert said on the third morning.
"Methinks that there is a storm brewing, and if this be so the Northmen
may well get separated, and we may pick up one away from her fellows."

Darker and darker grew the sky, and the wind soon blew in furious
gusts, raising a sea so heavy that the Saxons were obliged to lay in
their oars. By nightfall it was blowing a furious gale. In the
gathering darkness and the flying scud the ships of the Danes were lost
sight of; but this was of little consequence now, for the attention of
the Saxons was directed to their own safety.

For the next three days their position was one of the greatest danger.
With only a rag of sail set they ran before the gale from the
south-west. Every wave as it overtook them threatened the destruction
of the ship; but the Dragon, light and buoyant, and ably handled, rode
safely over the waves. On the fourth morning the wind was still blowing
fiercely, although its force had in some degree moderated. As the
daylight dawned Edmund and Egbert, who had hardly left the poop since
the storm began, looked anxiously ahead.

"Surely, Edmund, I see a dark mass ahead?" Egbert exclaimed.

For a minute or two Edmund gazed silently ahead.

"It is so, Egbert," he said; "it is a rocky coast. Do you not see a
white fringe below where the waves strike against it?"

As the light became clearer the imminence of their peril grew more
distinct. A lofty iron-bound coast rose in front of them, and extended
as far as the eye could reach on either hand. The seas broke with
terrible force against its base, sending its spray far up on the cliffs.

"Could we bring her about?" Edmund asked the chief of the sailors.

"It would be useless," the man said. "She could not make her way in the
teeth of this gale."

"That I see," Edmund said; "but at present we are rushing on to
destruction. If we bring her to the wind we may run some distance alo