n, such as I have never seen, came to the high deck and cut our
bonds. He was yellow--not from sickness, but by nature. Yellow as honey,
and his eyes stood endwise in his head.'

'How do you mean?' said Una, her chin on her hand.

'Thus,' said Sir Richard. He put a finger to the corner of each eye, and
pushed it up till his eyes narrowed to slits.

'Why, you look just like a Chinaman!' cried Dan. 'Was the man a Chinaman?'

'I know not what that may be. Witta had found him half dead among ice on
the shores of Muscovy. _We_ thought he was a devil. He crawled before us
and brought food in a silver dish which these sea-wolves had robbed from
some rich abbey, and Witta with his own hands gave us wine. He spoke a
little in French, a little in South Saxon, and much in the Northman's
tongue. We asked him to set us ashore, promising to pay him better ransom
than he would get price if he sold us to the Moors--as once befell a knight
of my acquaintance sailing from Flushing.

'"Not by my father Guthrum's head," said he. "The Gods sent ye into my
ship for a luck-offering."

'At this I quaked, for I knew it was still the Dane's custom to sacrifice
captives to their gods for fair weather.

'"A plague on thy four long bones!" said Hugh. "What profit canst thou
make of poor old pilgrims that can neither work nor fight?"

'"Gods forbid I should fight against thee, poor Pilgrim with the Singing
Sword," said he. "Come with us and be poor no more. Thy teeth are far
apart, which is a sure sign thou wilt travel and grow rich."

'"What if we will not come?" said Hugh.

'"Swim to England or France," said Witta. "We are midway between the two.
Unless ye choose to drown yourselves no hair of your head will be harmed
here aboard. We think ye bring us luck, and I myself know the runes on
that Sword are good." He turned and bade them hoist sail.

'Hereafter all made way for us as we walked about the ship, and the ship
was full of wonders.'

'What was she like?' said Dan.

'Long, low, and narrow, bearing one mast with a red sail, and rowed by
fifteen oars a side,' the knight answered. 'At her bows was a deck under
which men might lie, and at her stern another shut off by a painted door
from the rowers' benches. Here Hugh and I slept, with Witta and the Yellow
Man, upon tapestries as soft as wool. I remember'--he laughed to
himself--'when first we entered there a loud voice cried, "Out swords! Out
swords! Kill, kill!" Seeing us start Wi