"Tell him all the tale presently, for there seems to be one, and be content." "It would be strange if I were not," I answered.
Hakon held out his hand to me and I took it, and thereby pledged myself to help set him on the Norse throne.

It was a hazardous, and perhaps hopeless errand on which he was setting forth, but I did not stay to weigh all that.

I knew that at least I had found a leader who was worth following, and who had claimed friendship with Gerda from the first.
Maybe there was another thought mixed up with all this.

I will not say that it might not have had the first place.

Gerda was in Hakon's care now, and I would not be far from her.
Now, there was the bustle of clearing ship for action.