"No," she said, and was stepping forward to the edge of the water, past the screen of low shore bushes to look, but I stayed her.
"It is the boat which we fear," I said. "There are Danes in her, and we think they are seeking the wreck."
She looked me in the face for a moment, and read what was written there.
"We might welcome the coming of honest Vikings," she said, "whether Dane or Norse. They know how to befriend a woman who needs help. These men whom you fear and who seek the wreck can only be the men of our enemy."
Then Bertric said:
"I cannot mistake the boat which I have helped to pull so many a weary time. It is Heidrek's. He has followed us, and has somewhere heard of the fate of the ship. We have sunk the little boat, lest the sight of it should bring them ashore straightway."
"Then we must hide somewhere," she said, looking round her as if to see what place might be.
"Aye, we must hide. There will be fifteen men, or more, in the boat. Malcolm and I cannot stay their landing."
Gerda caught her breath suddenly. "What of the hermits?" she said.
"We waste time," said I. "Come and let us tell them. They may have some hiding place."