It was good to be free from the lashings that had galled us so
sorely, if we were still captives indeed, and had no mind to pass
from the cramped cabin, if one may call the forepeak so much, to
the deck where the foemen sat and made merry with the stores they
had taken from us. The wind was steady and light, and they had
naught to do but rest and eat their supper. Asbiorn steered, and
was alone on the after deck. The two other ships were not to be
seen, and I suppose that they outsailed ours, for she had never
been of the swiftest, though staunch and seaworthy in any weather.
We were heading due north as if we would make the Faroe Islands,
leaving the Orkneys to the starboard.
I wondered if Heidrek had his lair in that far-off spot, whence we
should have not the slightest chance of escape in the days to come;
but I could say nothing to my comrades. Men of the crew sat just
outside the low doorway, with their backs against the bulkhead, as
if set there to overhear what we might say.
I looked among them for those two men of ours who had been ready to
join Heidrek as their one chance of life, but I could not see them.
Perhaps this was no wonder, as it is likely that they were drafted
to the other ships in order to keep them apart from us.
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