North Sea, and next morning from Estein's ship only two other
black hulls could be seen running before the tempest. Another wild
day passed, and it was not till the evening that the weather
moderated. Little by little the great seas began to calm, and the
drifts of stinging rain ceased. In their wake the stars struggled
through the cloud wrack, and towards morning the wind sank
altogether.




CHAPTER II.

THE BAIRN-SLAYERS.


At earliest dawn eyes were strained to catch a glimpse of
something that might tell them where they were. None of the men on
Estein's ship had been in those seas more than two or three times
at most, and the vaguest conjectures were rife when, as the light
was slowly gaining, Ulf raised a cry of land ahead.

"Land to the right!" cried Helgi, a moment later.

"Land to the left!" exclaimed Estein; "and we are close on it,
methinks."

When the morning fully broke they found themselves lying off a
wide-mouthed sound, that bent and narrowed among low, lonely-
looking islands. Only on the more distant land to the right were