About This Book
" ...]and boasted widely of the burning. He perchance forgot that Hakon had other sons. "But now, Helgi, we must sleep while we may; nights may come when we shall want it." For six days and six nights they sailed with a favouring wind over an empty ocean. On the seventh day land was sighted on the starboard bow. "Can that be England?" asked old Ulf, Estein's forecastle man, a hairy, hugely muscular Viking from the far northern fiords. "The coast of Scotland more likely," said Helgi. "Shall we try our luck, Estein?" "I should like to spill a little Scottish blood, and mayhap carry off a maid or two," said Thorolf Hauskoldson, a young giant from the upland dales. "It may be but a waste of time," Estein replied. "We had best make for England while this wind holds." "I like not the look of the sky," said Ulf, gazing round him with a frowning brow. The wind had been dropping off for some time, and along the eastern horizon the settled sky was giving place to heavy clouds. For a short time Estein hesitated, but as the outlook grew more threatening and the wind beat in flaws and gusts, now from one quarter, ...]."
