"Are they near?" asked one.
"Hush! silence!" says another.
"Who are they that you say are coming?" inquired a third.
"Little fellows, that are rowing towards our shore in a pigmy boat," says the first.
When Maildun heard this, he hastily addressed the crew—
"Put back at once, but do not turn the curragh: reverse the sweep of your oars, and let her move stern forward, so that those giants may not perceive that we are flying!"
The crew at once obey, and the boat begins to move away from the shore, stern forward, as he had commanded.
The first smith again spoke. "Are they near enough to the shore?" said he to the man who was watching.
"They seem to be at rest," answered the other; "for I cannot perceive that they are coming closer, and they have not turned their little boat to go back."