"Ay," said I, "but for your bidding me to yield, there would have been no fighting at all, when I knew to whom the ships belonged."
"You have put a thought in my mind, and I am glad you did board us, seeing there is no harm done," Odda answered. "I will tell you what it is. Send me some of your men to order my people and tell them how to prepare for battle. Here am I sent to sea for the first time, with good warriors enough who are in like case, and a few seamen who can sail the ship and know nought else."
"You have some Norsemen yonder, if I mistake not," I said, looking at the fleet which we were nearing.
"Ay--wandering vikings who care nought for what I say. They were going to Rolf, and the king persuaded them to take this cruise first. If you can make them follow you, there will be another matter for which I shall be more than thankful."
Thereat Thord growled: "They will follow Ranald Vemundsson well enough; have no care about that."
Then said I:
"These are the finest ships I have ever seen. Where did they come from?"
"Alfred, our king, planned them," said Odda, with much pride; "and they were built by our own men, working under Frisian shipwrights, in Plymouth."
"How will you like to command one of these, Thord?" I asked then.
"I like the ship well enough. The crew is bad. And then, whose command is the fleet under?"