Not one spear but twenty sped in answer to that command, and the youth came nearer alone, for there were none to follow him.
"He was a rower," said Ben Ezra. "He is a slave of the centurion. He is from Corinth. It is perilous to spare him, lest he might tell of this thy doing."
"What harm?" asked Ulric. "Can the Romans do more than destroy? I will myself tell them that this is the third of their warships that I have taken from them."
"Thou sailest in one," replied Ben Ezra, glancing around him. "Thou and thine are men of valor. But the like of this hath never before been seen. A Saxon crew in a Roman trireme fighting the ships of Cæsar! Mayest thou have a fleet and smite them in the Tiber itself! Now sail thou on, for there is another quinquereme and she may not be far away. Avoid her, lest thou fall into a snare of presumption."
"Not I," laughed Ulric. "We have done enough this day. Come thou and talk with me, and then I will have speech with the Greek."
The young Corinthian was now aft among the men, and Sigurd was talking freely with him. There were others of the older vikings who had learned words of the Grecian tongue, and they, too, were both speaking and hearing.
Into a cabin under the fore deck went Ulric and Ben Ezra, and there they were alone, for none was permitted to follow them.