n to the waist, where now the rowers were bending to their oars, and
crying out fiercely as they tugged at the quivering ash; and he clomb on
to the forecastle and went forward right to the dragon-head, and gazed
long upon the land, while the dashing of the oar-blades made the
semblance of a gale about the ship's black sides. Then he came back
again to the Sea-eagle, who said to him: "Son, what hast thou seen?"

"Right ahead lieth the land, and it is still a good way off. High rise
the mountains there, but by seeming there is no snow on them; and though
they be blue they are not blue like the mountains of the Isle of Ransom.
Also it seemed to me as if fair slopes of woodland and meadow come down
to the edge of the sea. But it is yet far away."

"Yea," said the elder, "is it so? Then will I not wear myself with
making words for thee. I will rest rather, and gather might. Come again
when an hour hath worn, and tell me what thou seest; and may happen then
thou shalt have my tale!" And he laid him down therewith and seemed to
be asleep at once. And Hallblithe might not amend it; so he waited
patiently till the hour had worn, and then went forward again, and looked
long and carefully, and came back and said to the Sea-eagle, "The hour is
worn."

The old chieftain turned himself about and said "What hast thou seen?"

Said Hallblithe: "The mountains are pale and high, and below them are
hills dark with wood, and betwixt them and the sea is a fair space of
meadowland, and methought it was wide."

Said the old man: "Sawest thou a rocky skerry rising high out of the sea
anigh the shore?"

"Nay," said Hallblithe, "if there be, it is all blended with the meadows
and the hills."

Said the Sea-eagle: "Abide the wearing of another hour, and come and tell
me again, and then I may have a gainful word for thee." And he fell
asleep again. But Hallblithe abided, and when the hour was worn, he went
forward and stood on the forecastle. And this was the third shift of the
rowers, and the stoutest men in the ship now held the oars in their
hands, and the ship shook through all her length and breadth as they
drave her over the waters.

So Hallblithe came aft to the old man and found him asleep; so he took
him by the shoulder, and shook him and said: "Awake, faring-fellow, for
the land is a-nigh."

So the old man sat up and said: "What hast thou seen?"

Said Hallblithe: "I have seen the peaks and cliffs of the far-off
moun