their arrival, failing to keep the agreement.

The words English fleet badly describe the vessels which were to carry
the English contingent to their destination. They were ships belonging
to the maritime nations of Italy--the Venetians, Genoese, Pisans, etc.;
for England at that time had but few of her own, and these scarcely
fitted for the stormy navigation of the Bay of Biscay.

King Richard, impatient as ever of delay, at last lost his temper, and
embarked on board a ship with a few of his chosen knights, and set sail
by himself for Sicily, the point at which the two armies of the
expedition were to reunite. A few days after his departure the
long-looked-for fleet arrived, and a portion of the English host
embarked at once, and set sail for Sicily, where they were to be
landed, and the ships were to return to fetch the remaining contingent.

A sea voyage of this kind in those days was a serious matter. Long
voyages were rare, and troops were carried very much upon the principle
of herrings; that is, were packed as close as they could be, without any
reference to their comfort. As the voyages seldom lasted more than
twenty-four hours, this did not much matter, but during long voyages the
discomforts, or as may be said sufferings, of the troops were
considerable. So tightly packed were the galleys in which the English
set sail from Marseilles that there was no walking about. Every man
slept where he sat, and considered himself lucky indeed if he could
obtain room sufficient to stretch himself at full length. Most slept
sitting against bulwarks or other supports. In the cabins, where the
knights, their pages and squires were placed, the crowding was of course
less excessive, but even here the amount of space, which a subaltern
traveling to India for the first time nowadays would grumble at, was
considered amply sufficient for half a dozen knights of distinction. It
was a week after sailing, when Cnut touched Cuthbert's arm as he came on
deck one morning, and said:

"Look, look, Cuthbert! that mountain standing up in the water has caught
fire on the top. Did you ever see such a thing?"

The soldiers crowded to the side of the vessel in intense astonishment
and no little awe. From the top of a lofty and rugged hill, rising
almost straight from the sea, flames were roaring up, smoke hung over
the island, and stones were thrown into the air and rattled down the
side of the hill, or fell into the sea with a splash.