It was not to be seen in that direction, and we thought for the
moment that the men had already crossed to the island, whose strand
we could not see until we were well off the mouth.
A dozen more strokes of the oars and we saw it, and were ourselves
seen at the same moment. Whether the men had caught some fisher and
had heard where the wreck lay, or whether they had seen the bare
ribs of the ship from the far shore I do not know, and it is of
little account. But whatever had led them this way, they were close
on us, pulling leisurely toward the end of the island past which we
were going, as if to round it to the wreck. They were not more than
a quarter of a mile from us, and had been hidden under the near
shore.
One of the men in her stern pointed to us, and the rowers stopped
and turned to look. Then a great hail came over the water, bidding
us hold on and wait. She was full of men, pulling five oars a side,
with six or eight in the bows and stern.
We said nothing, but held on quickly. Bertric never hastened the
long stroke he was setting us, but we put more power into it
without need of bidding. Heidrek's men watched us for a short
space, and then made up their minds to chase us, no doubt seeing
that this could only be one of the wrecked ship's boats, and making
sure that we had the treasure on board.
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