Nor shall my men be behind in that matter--that is if I ever see them again," he added, looking quaintly at me, if gravely.
"Surely you shall do so," I said, "if it is in our power." "I thank you--and it is well.

I know coasts where a stranger would be a slave from the moment his foot touched shore.

Now tell me whose ship this is that has given me shelter, and what your father's name is, that I may thank you rightly." "Elfric, the Thane of Reedham, is my father," I said, "Sheriff of the East Anglian shore of the North Folk, under Eadmund, our king.
And this is his ship, and this himself to whom you have spoken." "Then, Thane and Thane's son, I, whose life you have saved, am Lodbrok, Jarl {ii} of a strip of Jutland coast.

And now I have a fear on me that I shall do dishonour to the name of Dane, for I faint for want of food and can stand no more." With that he sat down on the bench where I had been, and though he smiled at us, we could see that his words were true enough, and that he was bearing bravely what would have overborne most men.

And now the falcon fluttered from my wrist to his.
Then my father bade me hasten, and I brought ale and meat for the jarl, and set them before him, and soon he was taking that which he needed; but every now and then he gave to the bird, stroking her ruffled feathers, and speaking softly to her.
"Aye, my beauty," he said once, "I did but cast you down wind lest you should be lost with me.