When he came back his face was grimmer than ever, and a red scar which crossed his forehead was burning crimson.

He stayed to speak to the men on the wharves, and some order he gave was passed from one to another, and in ten minutes every man had left the wharves and had passed inland, with him at their head.
"Ho, that is it!" said one of the ship guard from the deck below me.
"What is it ?" I asked, for I had been talking to the man in all friendly wise, of ship and sea and strange lands.
"Why, your folk will not pay, and so we must needs take payment for ourselves in the viking's way." I said no more, nor did the man.

I think he was sorry for me; but it was not long before he called to me and pointed to the hillside above the town.

On it was a black throng of folk, slowly coming down toward us.
"Your people coming to drive us out," he said, laughing a short laugh.
Then he and his comrades bustled about the ship, setting every loose thing in place, until the decks were clear.

In the other ships the guard were at the same work, and at last they cast off all the shore lines but one at stem and stern.