I felt rested with the short sleep, and now seemed the time to try
to get free if ever. I got my left hand out of the bandages where I
had hidden it, and began to claw at my chin to try to free it from
the swathings that kept my mouth closed, but I could hardly get at
them, so tightly were my elbows lashed behind my back, and it
became plain that I must get them loose first if I could. It was
easy to get the bandages loose, but the knotted cord was a
different matter, for the men who tied it knew something of the
work, and the cord was not a new one and would not stretch.

Then I heard two of the Norseman talking close to the cabin
bulkhead.

"This is as good a passage as we shall ever make in the old keel,"
one said; "but we shall not fetch Tenby on this tide. Will Thorgils
put in elsewhere, I wonder?"

"We could make the old landing place in an hour," was the answer,
"and we had better wait for tide there than box about in the open
channel in this cold. There is snow coming, I think."

I heard the man flap his arms across his chest, and the other said:

"Where do these merchants want to get ashore? I expect that
Thorgils will do as they think best. He is pretty good natured."

They went away, and it seemed that I might have an hour before me.
I was sure that if he had a chance Evan would land as soon as he
could, and at some other place than at the Danes' town if possible,
so that he might get me away without questions that might be hard