few minutes were fast asleep. Accustomed to judge time by the
position of the sun, they saw when they awoke that it was already
past noon, and after eating a few mouthfuls of bread they continued
their journey. For the most part their course lay among woods, and
they did not venture across an open piece of country until after a
careful examination to see that no one was in sight.

Shortly after starting they caught sight of a village in the distance,
which they afterwards learned was St. Riguier, but with these
exceptions saw no human habitation. Late in the afternoon they came
down on the bank of the Somme. This was thickly covered with long
reeds and rushes, and among these they sat down and ate the rest
of their bread, confident that however vigilant the search they
would not be traced.

"This is a very different matter to the last crossing," Beorn said.
"This is a wide river, and I fear that I could not swim across it."

"Nor should I like to try. But fortunately there is no occasion for
us to trust to swimming; for we can pull up or break off a number
of these great rushes and make them into two bunches; these will
give us ample support for our passage."

"So they will, Wulf; I should never have thought of that."

Two large bundles were soon made, the reeds being tied together by
a tough climber that wreathed itself everywhere among them, and as
soon as it was quite dark they went down to the water's edge, and
found to their satisfaction that the reeds possessed ample buoyancy
for their purpose. Wading in they started swimming, resting their