Then slowly came night, and at last I waxed lonely, for all this while I had kept a hope that I might see the sail of Halfden's ship, but there was no glint of canvas between sky and sea, and my hope was gone as the darkness fell.
So I sang, to cheer myself, raising my voice in the sea song that I had made and that Lodbrok had loved.

And when that was done I sang the song of Bosham bell, with the ending that the gleeman on Colchester Hill had made.
Thereat Beorn raised his head and, snarling at me like an angry dog, bade me cease singing of shipwreck.

But I heeded him not, and so I sang and he cursed, until at last he wept like an angry child, and I held my peace.
I did not dare sleep that night, for the wind freshened, and at times we might see naught but sky above us and the waves ahead and astern of the boat, though to one who knew how to handle his craft there was no danger in them.

But from time to time Beorn cried out as the boat slid swiftly down the slope of a great wave, hovered, and rose on the next, and I feared that he would leap up in his terror and end all.
"Bide still or I will bind you," I said at last to him, and he hid his face in his arms, and was quiet again.
Worn out when day broke was I, and again I ate and gave to Beorn, and he would eat all his loaf, though I bade him spare it, for I knew not how long yet we might be before we saw land.

And that seemed to change his mood, and he began to scowl at me, though he dared say little, and so sat still in his place, glowering at me evilly.
Presently came a whale, spouting near us, and that terrified him, so that he cried to me to save him from it, as though I had power on the seas more than had other men.