Nor was there the long line of the Orkney hills to be seen, however dimly, away to the eastward as we had hoped.
"How will the tide serve us hereabout ?" asked Bertric presently.
"The flood will set in to the eastward in two hours' time," I answered.

"It depends on how we lie on the Orkney coasts whether it drifts us to the northward or to the southward.

We have been set to the westward all night with the ebb." "Wind may come with the flood," said he.
And that was the best we could hope for.

But I set the steering oar in the sculling rowlock aft, and did what I could in that way.

At least, it saved some of the westward drift, if it was of very little use else.
Dalfin curled up in the sun and slept.