Whereat one of the men laughed.
"You may not choose your captor, man. Egil has not been ashore all day. He is with the ships yonder."
Then Thrand said, seeming very wroth:
"I will not lose a good captive and ransom for any Mercian turncoat. I will go and find the king and make complaint."
"Tell him that you are Egil at the same time," a Dane sneered. "You will not hoodwink him as you have this Saxon."
"Is not this man Egil?" I asked, looking at Thrand with a hope that he would guess whom I needed.
"He Egil!" they answered, laughing loudly. And at that Thrand turned and went away quickly, and I sat down and said:
"What will Earl Edric do with me?"
One said one thing and one another, and I did not listen much. But they all thought in the end that Edric's lust for gold would make him hold me to heavy ransom. I thought that he loved revenge even better than wealth, and this cheered me not at all.
About sunset Edric Streone came. Thrand had, I thought, made his escape, most likely, and I was glad. He had helped me all he could.