g of sea-fowl. So they lay-to outside the horns of the bay and
awaited the dawning. And when morning was come they made way again, and
searched the sea, and sailed to the out-skerries, and searched them with
care; then they sailed into the main and fared hither and thither and up
and down: and this they did for eight days, and in all that time they saw
no ship nor sail, save three barks of the Fish-biters nigh to the Skerry
which is called Mew-stone.

So they fared home to the Raven Bay, and laid their keel on the Rollers,
and so went their ways sadly, home to the House of the Raven: and they
deemed that for this time they could do no more in seeking their valiant
kinsman and his fair damsel. And they were very sorry; for these two
were well-beloved of all men. But since they might not amend it, they
abode in peace, awaiting what the change of days might bring them.

CHAPTER IV: NOW HALLBLITHE TAKETH THE SEA

Now must it be told of Hallblithe that he rode fiercely down to the sea-
shore, and from the top of the beach he gazed about him, and there below
him was the Ship-stead and Rollers of his kindred, whereon lay the three
long-ships, the Seamew, and the Osprey and the Erne. Heavy and huge they
seemed to him as they lay there, black-sided, icy-cold with the washing
of the March waves, their golden dragon-heads looking seaward wistfully.
But first had he looked out into the offing, and it was only when he had
let his eyes come back from where the sea and sky met, and they had
beheld nothing but the waste of waters, that he beheld the Ship-stead
closely; and therewith he saw where a little to the west of it lay a
skiff, which the low wave of the tide lifted and let fall from time to
time. It had a mast, and a black sail hoisted thereon and flapping with
slackened sheet. A man sat in the boat clad in black raiment, and the
sun smote a gleam from the helm on his head. Then Hallblithe leapt off
his horse, and strode down the sands shouldering his spear; and when he
came near to the man in the boat he poised his spear and shook it and
cried out: "Man, art thou friend or foe?"

Said the man: "Thou art a fair young man: but there is grief in thy voice
along with wrath. Cast not till thou hast heard me, and mayst deem
whether I may do aught to heal thy grief."

"What mayst thou do?" said Hallblithe; "art thou not a robber of the sea,
a harrier of the folks that dwell in peace?"

The man laughed: "Yea," sai