The Dragon was steered to shore, and Edmund leaping out followed the Dane with rapid footsteps to the village.

The wounded jarl was lying upon a heap of straw.
"Is it really you, Edmund ?" he exclaimed as the young Saxon entered.
"Glad am I indeed that my messenger did not arrive too late.

I heard of you when we first landed--how the Danes, when they sailed up the Seine, had seen a Saxon galley of strange shape which had rowed rapidly up the river; how the galley herself had never again been seen; but how a young Saxon with his band had performed wonders in the defence of Paris, and had burned well-nigh half the Danish fleet.
"They said that the leader was named Edmund, for they had heard the name shouted in battle; and especially when he, with one other alone, escaped from the burning tower and swam the river.

So I was sure that it was you.

Then, a week back, my men told me of a strange ship which had passed down the river to Paris, and I doubted not that it was your Dragon, which had been hidden somewhere during the siege.