"Grim," he said, "for half this I would have let you go without sending
a man on board. What is this foolishness? You must have known that."
"The gold is not mine," my father answered; "it was my hope that you
would have been content with the cargo."
"Well, I have met with an honest man for once," the Viking said; and he
called his men, and they cast off and left us.
But we were in no happy plight when he had gone away to the eastward on
his old course. Half our men were gone, for the wounded were of no use,
and the loss of the queen weighed heavily on us. And before long it
began to blow hard from the north, and we had to shorten sail before
there was real need, lest it should be too much for us few presently, as
it certainly would have been by the time that darkness fell, for the
gale strengthened.
Then, added to all this, there was trouble in the cabin under the after
deck, for since his mother was lost, Havelok had spoken no word. I had
brought him down to my mother from the deck, and had left him with her,
hoping that he did not know what had happened; but now he was in a high
fever, and sorely ill. Perhaps he would have been so in any case, after
the long days of Hodulf's cruelty, but he had borne them well. A child
is apt, however, to give up, as it were, suddenly.
So, burdened with trouble, we drove before the gale, and the only
pleasant thing was to see how the good ship behaved in it, while at
least we were on our course all the time.
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