aught that might come.

Now the earl called to the guards from the water's edge, saying
that the time was come, and we rode towards him, and I made Egfrid
promise that he would hold his hand, at least till my father came.

Now they drew my boat to the shore, and they took Beorn from his
horse first, and often have I wondered that he did not confess, but
he said no word, and maybe his senses had left him by reason of his
terror. They haled him to the boat and unbound him, setting him in
the bows, where he sank down, seeming helpless, but staring away
from shore over the sparkling waters that he feared.

Then came my turn, and of my own will I stepped into the boat,
looking her over to see that all was there as when Lodbrok came.
And all was there, though that was little enough. The one oar, the
baler, and a few fathoms of line on the floorboards.

Now as I had nothing to lose by speaking, I cried to the earl
concerning the one matter that troubled me.

"Earl Ulfkytel, I pray you forgive my poor folk if they fought for
me when you took the boat."

"They knew not why it was taken," he answered quietly. "I sent a
messenger before I gave sentence. But I should not have blamed them
had they fought, knowing all."

Then a rough man who tended the boat called out: