The warrior shook his head, but smiled.
"No, I cannot do that. However, I suppose Thorleif will let you go by and by. If our having you here saves trouble, you may be thankful. We are not here to fight if we can help it."
"Why, then," said Elfric, "unbind us, and we will bide here quietly. You may take the word of a thane."
"I have always heard that the word of a Saxon is to be relied on," said the old warrior, and gave an order to the guard.
Whereon they freed us, and glad I was to stretch my limbs again, while my spirits rose somewhat.
The old chief talked with us for a while after that, and made no secret of whence the ships had come. It seemed that they were indeed from Wales, had touched on the south coast of Ireland, and thence had rounded the Land's End, and, growing short of food, had put in here. Also, he told us that they had been "collecting property," and were on the way home to Denmark. He thought they were the first ships of the Danes to cruise in these waters, and was proud of it.
"It is a wondrously fair land of yours here," he said, looking inland on the rolling downs and forest-hidden valleys.
"Fairer than your own?" I asked.
"Surely; else why should we care to leave our homes?"
"Ho, Thrond!" shouted some man from the wharves, "here are cattle coming in."