But what I chiefly noticed as we were led aft, was that the ale was
passing freely, and, as I should have thought, too often for good
seamanship. That, however, was not my business, if it did seem to
explain why Asbiorn separated us. Seven desperate men might do much
among a helpless crowd, once they had snatched the arms they could
reach from those who had forgotten to guard them.

The young chief paid no heed to us as we passed into the darkness
of the low cabin. The door was closed and barred after us, and we
were left to our own devices, though in a few minutes some man on
the after deck took off the little square hatch cover which let the
light into the place. It was half full of plunder of all sorts, and
there was barely room, if soft stowage, for us.

"Well," I said to Dalfin, "if we can sleep, let us do so. I know
that every word we speak can be heard on deck."

Whereon he answered me in Erse, and I could understand him well,
for the old tongues of Scot of Ireland and Scot of Caithness are
the same, if ages have wrought some changes in the way of speaking
them here and there.

"Let these Danes make what they can of that," he said. "It will
take a man born to the Gaelic to catch aught of it through yon
hole, if he thinks he understands it in the open."

So in the Erse we spoke for a little while, and it was a hopeless
talk at best. Only we agreed that we would stand by one another
through whatever might come, and that the first chance of escape