mind. I would go to Wareham with a guide, and
see what I could find out of the Danish plans. Maybe there were
fewer men than was thought, or they might be panic-stricken at our
coming in this wise; or, again, they might march on us, and if so,
we should have to get to sea again, to escape from double our
numbers.

Now the more I thought of this, the more I grew bent on going, for
I was sure that we must know what was going on. And at last I took
Odda aside while Harek sang among the men, and told him what I
would do.

At first he was against my running the risk; but I told him that a
Norseman might go safely where a Saxon could not among the Danes,
and at last I persuaded him. Then I called Kolgrim, and we went out
together into the moonlight and the wind, to find the fisherman we
had spoken with already and get him to act as guide. I think that
Odda did not expect to see either of us again; and when I came to
know more of Saxons, I learned that he trusted me most fully, for
many thanes would have thought it likely that I went on some
treacherous errand.

Chapter IV. Jarl Osmund's Daughter.

To my mind, no gale seems so wild as one that comes at the time of
full moon, when the clouds break up and fly in great masses of
black and silver against the deeper sky beyond, while bright light
and deepest shadow chase each other across land and sea beneath
them. Kolgrim and I stood under the lee of a shed, waiting for the
fisher to get his boat afloat, and looked out on bending trees and
whitened water, while beyond the harbour we could see the great
downs, clear cut and dark, almost as well as by day, so bright it
was.

It was low water now, which was good for us, for the winding
channels that lead up to Wareham were sheltered under their bare
banks. We could hear the thunder of the surf along the rocky coast
outside, when the wind ceased its howling for a moment; and at high
water the haven had been well nigh too stormy for a small boat. Now
we should do best to go by water, for wind was with us; though,
unless the gale dropped very quickly, we could not return in her,
for there would be a heavy sea and tide against us if we could get
away before it turned, while if we were long wind against tide
would be worse yet.

The fisherman was eager to help us against the Danes, who had made
him work for nought; and so in half an hour we were flying up the
haven on the first rise of tide, and the lights of Wareham town