foot of the penthouse, and the gunwale end of the timbers they
rested on, the run of the deck being blocked altogether by the
pile. Seeing that when the ship was to be put about the square sail
had to be lowered, brought aft round the mast and rehoisted on the
other board, the unhandiness of the thing was terribly unseamanlike.
Bertric and I grumbled and wondered at it the while we worked, only
hoping that by some stroke of luck we might be able to reach a haven
without having to shift the sail. It was to the starboard of the
mast now, which would serve us well if the wind came from east or
north, as was most likely.

Maybe that was an hour's work, and we had done all we might. By
that time the breeze had altogether gone, and the ship floated idly
on still, bright water, with the hush of the night round us. There
was time to tow her head round when we knew whence the morning wind
would blow.

Bertric coiled down the fall of the tack purchase, and nodded to
Dalfin. "Food now, if there is to be any," he said. "What is in yon
kettle?"

Now that we were forward we had seen that against this end of the
penthouse no fagots had been piled. The red and white striped
awnings of the decks were set there, carefully rolled up round
their carved supports, and they rested on a stout sea bedstead,
such as might be carried on board for the chief to whom the ship
belonged. Two more chests stood at the head and foot of this
bedstead, and they were carved, as indeed was the bed. It was plain
that all the gear on board belonged to some great house.