were, Estein's little band showed a bold front to their foes, and
around the red shield of their leader their lives were dearly
sold.

Then for a few minutes came a lull in the fight, and men could
breathe for a space.

"The next onset will be the last," said Estein grimly.

"Their ships are sheering off!" exclaimed one.

"'Tis we who are leaving them," said another.

"Look ahead!" cried Helgi; "we shall cheat them yet."

The men looked round them with astonished faces, for a strange
thing had happened. They had drifted into one of the dreaded
Orkney tideways, and all the time the fight was raging they were
being borne at increasing speed past islands, holms, and skerries.
The scene had completely changed; they were in a narrower sound,
swinging like sea-fowl, helpless on the tide. Heather hills were
close at hand, and right ahead was a great frothing and bubbling,
out of which rose the black heads of sunken rocks.

The other vessels had been twisted off by the whirling eddies, and
were now rapidly scattering, each striving to clear the reef. Only
the four vessels bound together--Estein's, Thorkel's, Liot's,
Osmund's--swept in an unresisting cluster towards the rocks.

Liot too saw the danger, and raised his voice in a great shout:--