Then the four of us went up the beach to the shelter of the low,
grassy sand hills above it, and there Dalfin turned and faced us
with a courtly bow, saying gravely:
"Welcome to Ireland, Queen Gerda, and you two good comrades. There
would have been a better welcome had we come in less hurry, but no
more hearty one. The luck of the O'Neills has stood us in good
stead."
"If it had not been for the skill of these two friends, it seems to
me that even the luck of the torque had been little," said Gerda
quietly. "You must not forget that."
"It is part of the said luck that they have been here," answered
Dalfin, with his eyes twinkling as he bowed to us. "All praise to
their seamanship."
Then he sat down suddenly as if his knees had given way, and looked
up as if bewildered.
"Is this silly island also afloat?" he asked, "for it feels more
like a ship than any other dry land I was ever on.
"It will do so for a time," I said. "Wait till you lose the swing
of the decks and find your shore legs again."
"Look yonder," Bertric said. "There is the other ship."
We had forgotten her for a time in our own perils. She had followed
our course, though for what reason we could not tell. Now she had
borne up and was heading away westward, some four miles from shore,
and sailing well and swiftly, being a great longship.
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