We brought the cauldron aft, and some
of the oatcake; and as we ate, first grew and darkened a long blue
line which crossed the sea to the eastward, and then came stray
airs which lifted the loose folds of the sail uselessly.
Bertric and I went forward and got out two of the ship's long oars,
and pulled her head round to the southward. The water dimpled
alongside of us and the sail filled as the breeze came. We laid in
the oars and went aft to the helm; and so in a few minutes the ship
had gathered way, and was heeling a little to the wind, and the
foam gathered round her bows and slid along her side aft as she
headed southward with the wind on her beam.
"Now, Lady Gerda," said Bertric, "we are under way once more, and
the question is, Whither? How far are we from the Norway coast?"
"I cannot tell," she answered. "It was a little before noon,
however, when the ship was set afloat, as I have told you."
"We overhauled her at sunset," he said thoughtfully. "At that time
she was not doing more than four knots. Maybe we are fifty miles
from shore, for she may have done better than that, though I doubt
it, seeing how wildly she sailed. Now we can hardly beat back
there, for we are too few to work the sail."
"It is as well," she answered sadly.
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