and softly," said Thord bluntly. "I can do the two things you
ask me; but will your men follow Ranald?"

"Faith," said Odda, "if I say they are to do so, they must."

So in the end I left Thord and my seamen with Odda; but I would not
take his place, only saying that I would lead the Norsemen, and
that he could follow our plans. I would put more good men into each
of his five ships, and they should do what they could. At least
they could teach the Saxons how to board a ship, and how to man
their own sides against boarders from a foe.

Those Norsemen said they would gladly follow the son of King Vemund
and foster son of Einar the jarl; and so we led the strange fleet,
and held on eastward with a light breeze all that day, making
little way when the tide turned, and held back by the slower
vessels. Men in plenty there were, but ill fitted for aught but
hand fighting; though I had more Norsemen sent into the larger
ships, such as those that had been taken from the Danes and the
better trading vessels. One might soon see the difference in the
trim and order on board as the vikings got to work and the Saxons
overcame their sickness.

Now we might meet the Danes at any time, and I could not tell how
matters would go. One thing was certain, however, and that was that
they looked for no gathering of ships by Alfred. We should
certainly take them by surprise, and I hoped, therefore, that they
would be in no trim for fighting.

There was a very swift cutter belonging to the Norsemen, and as
night fell I sent her on to keep watch along the shore for the
first coming of the Danes, while we shortened sail; for the mouth
of Poole Harbour was not far distant, and if we passed that we
should be seen, and perhaps it would be guessed that we were not a
friendly fleet. Towards evening, too, the wind shifted, and blew
more off the shore, and that might bring them out from their haven.
Kolgrim, who was weather wise, said that a shift of wind to the
southward was coming presently.

When morning came, the high cliffs of Swanage were on our bow, the
wind was yet steady from off shore, and beyond the headland lay
Poole Harbour, at whose head is Wareham, where the Danes were. It
is a great sea inlet with a narrow mouth, and one must have water
enough on a rising tide to enter it. Now the ebb was running, and
if the Danes came this morning, it would be soon.

They came, as it seemed, for the cutter was flying back to us under
sail and