place, for this is far
away from the harbours or market-towns, whose strangers enjoy peace;
and we are now left high and dry, like sticklebacks, and near enough,
I think, I come to the laws of the Irish in saying that they will lay
claim to the goods we have on board as their lawful prize, for as
flotsam they put down ships even when sea has ebbed out shorter from
the stern (than here)." Olaf said no harm would happen, "But I have
seen that to-day there is a gathering of men up inland; so the Irish
think, no doubt, the arrival of this ship a great thing. During the
ebb-tide to-day I noticed that there was a dip, and that out of the
dip the sea fell without emptying it out; and if our ship has not been
damaged, we can put out our boat and tow the ship into it." There was
a bottom of loam where they had been riding at anchor, so that not a
plank of the ship was damaged. [Sidenote: The Irish] So Olaf and his
men tow their boat to the dip, cast anchor there. Now, as day drew on,
crowds drifted down to the shore. At last two men rowed a boat out to
the ship. They asked what men they were who had charge of that ship,
and Olaf answered, speaking in Irish, to their inquiries. When the
Irish knew they were Norwegians they pleaded their law, and bade them
give up their goods; and if they did so, they would do them no harm
till the king had sat in judgment on their case. Olaf said the law
only held good when merchants had no interpreter with them. "But I can
say with truth these are peaceful men, and we will not give ourselves
up untried." The Irish then raised a great war-cry, and waded out into
the sea, and wished to drag the ship, with them on board, to the
shore, the water being no deeper than reaching up to their armpits, or
to the belts of the tallest. But the pool was so deep where the ship
was floating that they could not touch the bottom. Olaf bade the crew
fetch out their weapons, and range in line of battle from stem to
stern on the ship; and so thick they stood, that shield overlapped
shield all round the ship, and a spear-point stood out at the lower
end of every shield. Olaf walked fore to the prow, and was thus
arrayed: he had a coat of mail, and a gold-reddened helmet on his
head; girt with a sword with gold-inlaid hilt, and in his hand a
barbed spear chased and well engraved. A red shield he had before him,
on which was drawn a lion in gold. When the Irish saw this array fear
shot through their hearts, and they th