se things," he said again. "They are hers, and not mine.
There will be a time when she will have need of them. In the place
where I shall be is no need of treasure, as I deemed before I knew.
Nor of sword, or mail, or gear of war at all. And the ways of the
peace of that place are the best."

Then I was alone on the deck, and the tall figure with the long
white beard and hair was no longer before me. The chamber was
closed, even as we had left it, and there was neither sign nor
sound to tell me how that had been wrought. And with that a terror
came on me, and I went backward toward where my comrades lay,
crying to them by name, and my knees failed me, and I fell on the
deck, unknowing if they heard.

Bertric leapt up and saw me falling, and ran to me.

"Poor lad!" he said, "poor lad! Here is he worn out by fighting and
watching, and I would let him watch yet more--I, who am used to the
long hours at sea, and have grown hard in ill usage."

With that he called to Dalfin, who was sitting up sleepily, being
as worn out as myself, and they two hapt me in the sail, and made
me drink of the wine--which I would not have done at all, if I had
rightly known what I was about, considering whence it came--and
presently I came to myself and thanked them, feeling foolish. But
more than that I did not do, for the warmth took hold of me, and I
fell asleep with the words on my lips. Nor did Dalfin need a second
bidding before he lay down again alongside me and slept. And so
Bertric went on watch silently, and I heeded nothing more, till the
sun and the heave of the ship on a long swell that was setting from
the north woke me.

In the sunlight those visions which I had seen seemed as if they
had been but wrought of weariness and weakness, and of the long
thoughts which I had been thinking. I would heed them as little as
I might, therefore, lest they took hold of me again. But I had not
forgotten the words which had been spoken to me, for they were
good, and in no wise fanciful.

I said nothing of what had happened before I cried out and fell.
There was no need, for both Bertric and Dalfin made little of the
matter, saying that it was no wonder, and that maybe I had been
more hurt when I was struck down than I felt at the time--which is
likely enough. However, I had no more trouble in that way. Food and
sleep and the rest on that quiet deck were all that I needed.

"There is wind coming directly, and enough of of it, if not too